57. СЛОВО в день Благовещения пресвятыя Богородицы 301

The firm foundation of God stands, having this seal: The Lord knows His beings, and let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness. (2 Timothy 2:19). It seems to me that now I see this “foundation of God,” which the Apostle indicates as closed with a seal, as known only to the Lord. What is the foundation of God on which every creature of God stands firmly if not the Son of God, Jesus Christ? “For by Him all things were created, both in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, even thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers; all things were created by Him and in Him, and all things will take place in Him” (Col. 1:16,17). If it is necessary to build up the fallen creatures of God again, “no one can lay another foundation than the one that lies, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11). This foundation of God is now carried by the Holy Spirit from the heights of heaven and placed in the depths of the earth; carries from the glory of the Divine, and places it in the secrecy of humanity, closed with more than one seal - the seal of virginity, the seal of humility, the seal of silence. Truly, who besides the Lord knew You, Consubstantial of God, in this incomprehensibly diminished state, in which, however, “all God in all” was hidden (1 Cor. 15:28), when You, as the foundation of our salvation, were laid in the womb of Mary, even after the Archangel’s Annunciation in an unknown way. We marvel at the glory of God’s creative works; Let us also marvel at their hiddenness. Let us deepen our attention a little further into the foundation of God indicated by the Apostle: we must hope that in it we will find treasure hidden for us. “The firm foundation of God stands, having this seal: the Lord knows Him that exists.” Although it is true that “the firstfruits of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14), or the universal foundation of it, is the Son of God Jesus Christ: however, from the words of the Apostle it can be noted that here he speaks “about the foundation of God,” not in relation to all of God’s creatures, but in relation to some only the elect, whom the Lord uniquely knows and calls His own. “The Lord knows His being.” What does the foundation of “God” mean in this special respect? Without a doubt, it means that on the Son of God, as on the universal foundation, the human race is especially built; that which is built on Jesus Christ, as on the deepest foundation, is built in every truly Christian soul. It is clearer to say: it means the Church, whose founder is the Son of God; it means the gracious and saving gift of God in man, faith, the Author and Finisher of which is Jesus Christ. The Apostle calls this foundation of God solid or indestructible: because the Lord Himself said both about the Church in general: “I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18), and about truly Christian souls in particular: “no one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28). Since ancient times, it has been the custom to place signs or inscriptions on buildings that would show their ownership, purpose, importance, and inviolability. In this image, and on the spiritual building of God, the Apostle sees a “seal,” or in other words, a sign or inscription, which distinguishes the solid foundation of God from the unfounded and easily destructible heaps of men, and protects it inviolably from attempts by cunning or insolence, recklessness 303 or malice. “The firm foundation of God stands, having a seal.” What kind of seal? - “This,” continues the Apostle: “the Lord who exists knows Him.” Truly a marvelous seal! You see that this is an inscription; because it consists of words: but not without reason the Apostle calls it a “seal”; because it does not so much reveal and reveal 304 as it conceals and conceals; and this is the property of printing. “The Lord knows His being.” The Lord knows His own: so, do people really not know those who are God’s? - So. Very often, and perhaps for the most part, they are not known. About Moses, when he struck Egypt, delivered Israel, marked the air, water, earth, wood, stone with miracles, was it possible not to know that he was God’s? However, apparently, they did not know this enough when they grumbled against him and raised rebellions against him. Joseph was led through slavery and prison to the throne; glorified by the knowledge of the mysteries of God, endowed with power: however, his very brothers did not quickly realize that he was God’s; he was forced to reveal this to them himself: “Do not be afraid: for I am God’s” (Gen. 50:19). Who did not know the life of the angels and the heavenly teaching of John the Baptist? But how many knew that he was precisely indicated by this word of the Lord: “Behold, I send My angel” (Mal.3:1)? To the question: “Is John’s baptism from heaven? The bishops and scribes and elders, people who know more than others, were not ashamed to declare their ignorance. “And Jesus answered and said: We know not” (Mark 11:30–33). And You, the Ever-Substantial and Consubstantial One of God, even after You spoke as “no man has spoken”, performed “signs” that “man cannot do,” “except God be with him” (John 7:46, 3:2), did they know You, from Whom alone true knowledge comes, like light from the sun? If they knew, they would not say so irreverently: 305 “Is this not the son of Tekton” (Matthew 13:55)? They would not deny so indifferently: “We do not know this from where it is” (John 9:29). “If they understood the Lord, they did not crucify the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8). If blind people have not seen the lamps of the world and the Sun Himself, if they have not known the openly sent men of God and the Wisdom itself that has appeared, then it is no longer surprising if those of God’s beings are not known in the world, whom God’s special providence does not reveal to the world, while their own humility hides from it. “The Lord knows His being.” The Apostle does not attribute this knowledge to anyone other than the Lord: so, do they really not know that they are God’s? - Truly, and this should be concluded from the words of the Apostle. True, according to the saying of the same Apostle, “the Spirit itself obeys our Spirit, as we are the children of God” (Rom. 8:16), if we truly are such; and according to another Apostle, “believe on the Son of God, have the testimony in yourself” (1 John 5:10). But what evidence? - “This is evidence that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (1 John 5:11). Since this “life” of believers, until the day of the revelation of the sons of God, “is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3): it may happen that they themselves do not quite know what treasure of God they have in the meager vessels of their corruptible humanity. And the Spirit, which bears witness to their spirit, is not that Spirit which “wherever it wills, it breathes, and you hear its voice, but do not know where it comes from or where it goes” (John 3:8)? When He, “do not consider where he comes from”; then it fills you with the Divine: and when “do not weigh, it will come,” then you will not find anything in yourself other than human. Didn’t the Lord primarily choose, didn’t the Lord obviously appropriate Paul to Himself, when in revelation he said about him: “This vessel has been chosen by Me” (Acts 9:15); and, having laid His Divine foundation in it, erected on it a spiritual building not only of many souls who believed through it, but also of many great Churches, in many countries and peoples? So what? Even after this, Paul does not know whether he has achieved perfect appropriation to God. “Brethren,” he says, “I have not attained to myself; but one thing, forgetting what is behind, but reaching forward to what is before, intending to flow for the honor of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14). Truly, only the Lord Himself alone knows Himself. But why does He hide them from other people, and in some way hide them from ourselves? Why shouldn’t they know more clearly that they are God’s, to their consolation? Why shouldn’t other people know this, for their edification? It also happens 306; therefore, the seal of God cannot be completely inconspicuous, and should not be useless. But here, as in other cases, it is more hidden under the seal than what the open appearance of the seal represents. The gracious foundation of God is hidden in people: because it is placed in the very depths of the soul, so that deeper than that there is nothing human left that could weaken the firmness of the Divine foundation. This, in the words of the Apostle, is “the hidden man of the heart” (1 Peter 3:4): you cannot meet him at the crossroads, or see him in the mirror. The foundation of God is hidden from the world, partly not by intention, but by the natural consequence of its sensory formation. The world does not see the saints, just as the blind do not see the light. The foundation of grace is hidden in people, partly by the intention of the providence of God that protects them, so that hostile forces that threaten it with destruction can all the less attack it. Likewise, the foundation of an earthly, material building is hidden in the ground, because, if it were exposed and subject to the variable action of the elements, it would weaken, and weaken the entire building along with it. The foundation of God is hidden in man and from this man himself: so that he “does not imagine himself to be something that is nothing” (Gal. 6:3), and does not deceive himself with his own mind; so that he does not become arrogant and, with pride, spoil the foundation of grace in himself, which lies firmly and safely only in the depths of humility. Such and similar reflections can lead to an understanding of why the foundation or building of God, so visible as a whole, is imprinted with such secrecy in its parts and its internal composition, that only the Lord truly knows His existence. Let us revere the secret destinies of God. Let us be aroused to seek with deep attention the people of God, and God’s foundation in them. Let us not be bold in our judgments about our neighbors, not knowing in them that only the Lord knows about them 307. “The sure foundation of God stands, having this seal: The Lord knows Him who is, and let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness” (2 Tim. 2:19). Considering the “seal” or inscription indicated by the Apostle on the foundation of God, or on the building of God in man, we have so far examined the first half of it. The second half follows: “And let everyone depart from unrighteousness, calling the name of the Lord.” If only the first seal lay on the building of God, only the first inscription would be read: “The Lord knows His beings,” that is, God alone truly knows 308 those who, by living faith and never-falling love, inalienably and eternally belong to Him and His, only unearthly, but also heavenly Church; this could both comfort us and frighten us. To console is to think about the firmness of God’s foundation, inviolable to anyone, about the inviolability of God’s seal, about the safety of those who are hidden in the mystery of God’s face. Frighten - the unknown, in which you cannot remain carefree. For if 309 only the Lord knows His own, then who are those with whom we live and interact, whose suggestions 310 are formed, whose examples we follow? Who are we and ourselves? Are they God's? Are we God's? - God knows! How terrible is this word in this case! If God alone knows those with whom I am in community and who guide me; then why should I know whether flattering spirits are guiding me? Am I in company with the enemies of God? Isn’t that why I am also in danger of being and remaining alien to the true, grace-filled assimilation to God? What a terrible unknown! O Lord, who knoweth Thy creatures! You are righteous and wise, hiding them from the world, which is not worthy to know them, and which would use the knowledge of them for evil 311: but be also good for those who, although they may not yet be Yours, but wish to become and remain Yours; show a sign by which we, who do not know, could recognize what is true, good, gracious, holy, in a word, Thine in men, so that above all else we may love Thine existing things, seek Thine things, learn and follow Thine, cleave and join Thine, and through unity with Thine existing things, and consequently with You Himself, have blessed hope, and we must be Yours unchangeably and eternally. Truly, like a royal seal, hiding under itself the secret of the king, at the same time, with its inscription, it shows to whom it belongs, and thus protects against error, so as not to mistake for royal that which does not belong to the king: similarly, it is necessary that the mysterious seal, with which God seals His faithful and chosen for Himself, as known to Him alone, should be marked with some noticeable and quite faithful a sign by which one could carefully distinguish those who are of God from those who deceive, or are deceived by presenting themselves as such. This is the second mark, or the second inscription, which the Apostle noticed on the spiritual building of God in men: “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.” Great prosperity for us on earth, great hope of bliss in heaven, that by faith we can “name the name of the Lord.” Our Divine Savior concludes almost the entire work of His saving embassy from heaven to earth in the fact that He made people able to “name the name of the Lord.” Approaching the limit of His earthly career, He calls out in prayer to His heavenly Father: “I have completed the work that you have given Me, that I may do it.” What's the matter? - “I glorified You on earth”; or in other words: “I have revealed Your name to man, and these you gave Me out of the world” (John 17:4–6). From this we can almost conclude that those to whom “the name of the Heavenly Father has been revealed,” who “name the name of the Lord,” are therefore Christ’s, the essence of God. “No one,” testifies the divinely inspired Apostle, “can speak of the Lord Jesus, except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3). And whoever speaks by the Holy Spirit must be both Christ’s and God’s; because the Holy Spirit is not given to strangers. Another Apostle also testifies that “everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God” (1 John 5:1). And whoever is born of God is, in the closest way, God’s. Well? Can’t we therefore reason and conclude like this: here we call 312 the name of the Lord; we call the Lord Jesus: so truly we are Christ's, truly we are God's; Is it true that the kingdom of God is in us, and we will be in the kingdom of God in due time? From the lives and deeds of some, one can truly notice that these are their thoughts and feelings, on which, as a foundation, they build their hope for heaven and for eternity. Thus, their spiritual building has only this seal: “Thou shalt call the name of the Lord...” and no more. Let's be careful. This is a broken seal. This is an interrupted inscription. This is not a solid 313 base. It is not “everyone who names the name of the Lord” who is truly and completely established in the Lord and in His kingdom. The Lord Himself proclaims: “Not everyone who says to Me: Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:21). And even more menacing is what He further predicts: “Many will speak to Me in that day,” that is, on the day when the kingdom of heaven will open and the blessed will be called into it: “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and in Your name we have cast out demons, and in Your name we have created many mighty powers? And then,” He continues, “we will confess to them that I have never known you” (Matthew 7:21–23). O terrible accident! They called on the Lord, and therefore knew Him and believed in Him; they prophesied, cast out demons, performed miracles, which means no small miracles, and had more than ordinary faith, but the Lord does not accept them into His kingdom, and does not even know them! O incredible progress of evil and human corruption! Is it possible that the knowledge of the One True God, who also sent Him, Jesus Christ, which gives eternal life, can be without spirit and life? – We must admit this: because there are people 314 who “confess God and know, but His works are averted” (Titus 1:16). Can faith, which is given to save people 315, be useless? Namely, it is useless, as the Apostle James says: “What good is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Food can faith save him” (James 2:14)? Can it really happen that the very actions of the Spirit of God in man, which are: prophecy, casting out demons, working miracles, are mired in a confusion of properties and deeds of a corrupt, carnal man; that the heavenly fire, which, having kindled in a person, should raise a person to grief, will go out in the earthly decay, and will leave the person who has begun to be enlightened as a dark chief? – If there were no such danger; then this warning 316 would not have been pronounced: “Do not quench the spirit” (1 Sol. 5:19)! Christ Lord! If not all who name Thy name enter into Thy kingdom; which of them will enter into it? The Lord answers: “Do the will of My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). And on the contrary, why don’t some of them enter into it? “Depart,” he says, “from me you who practice iniquity” (Matthew 7:23). Christian! you “believe with your heart”; probably 317 you believe “in the truth.” But God alone knows this: the message “The Lord who is is His.” This doesn’t edify me, and maybe it doesn’t certify you either. As long as the seed lies in the ground; who knows whether there will be a tree and good fruit? You “confess with your lips” the name of the Lord and your faith: if you confessed this, like the holy Confessors and Martyrs, amid the horrors of persecution, under threats of death for the faith, your confession would not be one easy word, but also a strong deed, and then what you confess “for salvation” would be true. But without someone who knows 318 whether your oral 319 confession comes from true inner strength, from living faith. In the spring, trees also bloom that do not bear fruit, and they themselves, from the weakness of the roots and from lack of sap, wither and dry up. What if the fruit on your tree is only small 320 and rough, ugly and tasteless? What if your imaginary faith, which calls itself Orthodox, and even, perhaps, imagines itself to work miracles, what if it is accompanied by a carnal and sensual life, unrighteous and lawless deeds? No matter how much the tree was praised then, no matter how it was decorated with flowers; you can't hide the fact that it's wild. “Every tree is known by its fruit” (Luke 6:44), says the Great Vertogradar. No matter how much you extol your faith, no matter how much you decorate it with words of confession: unrighteous deeds and unclean life reveal 321 what you really are; do not deceive and do not be enticed: you do not belong to the good trees of the garden of Christ, but to the garden, “which the heavenly Father did not plant,” and which “will be uprooted” (Matthew 15:13), unless it is cultivated with new spiritual work, with deeds of righteousness and holiness. Do you want to be a good tree of the helicopter city that will not be cut off or uprooted? Bring good fruit! Do you want to be a true building of God, an ever-living temple of the Holy Spirit? Not only “name the name of the Lord” by faith, but “depart from unrighteousness” by life. There is only one solid foundation of Divine 322 hope and one building of eternal salvation, one that “has this seal: Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.” By this seal recognize those who are God among those who name the name of the Lord; By this sign, test yourself to see whether you are coming into the assimilation of God. Saint Basil the Great considers hatred of untruth to be the most reliable sign of a state of grace. “How can,” he asks, “a soul know that God has forgiven its sins?” And he answers: “if she sees herself in the same disposition as the one who spoke: I have hated iniquity and detested it” (Brief. Legal Question 12. Ps. 119:163). God's building, God's house, Christian soul! Pay attention to whether your inner foundation really has a true seal that affirms and protects. As from the abyss, as from death, as from the door of hell, “let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness” 323. Amen. Let's look at the basis of our cases. Is it not imprinted with the desire: let the world know us and let us please it? If so: then our deeds are not established on God’s basis and the Lord does not know us. Let us delve into the depths of our soul. Isn’t self-reliance and self-love the basis of our wisdom and inclinations? If so: then the foundation of God is not hidden in us and the Lord does not know us. Let's experience our life. Is it not only on coarse feelings that it is established and is it not only elevated to elemental reason? Oh, how fragile is this foundation and this building! It collapses with the elemental world and then what remains for us? Let us stop creating imaginary good on the sand of the world, let us destroy hope in ourselves, let us establish our hearts in the Lord, and in our hearts let us organize the secret work of prayer, faith, love for God, by which our present doing of good would be controlled: and then we will accept the boldness of hope that the Lord will know us as His own. Amen. “The solid foundation of God,” writes the Apostle, “stands he who has this seal: and let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.” When we see on the building of God this first seal, or the first inscription of the seal: “The Lord knows His beings,” that is, when we understand that God alone truly knows... Let's look around. Not everything is here. This seal is not intact. This foundation is not firm..." Do you not hear how loudly all Jerusalem “names the name of the Lord”? Not only the disciples of the Lord, but also the people, and even you will think that here the “foundation of God” has completely appeared, that it is no longer “the Lord” who alone “is His message,” but the whole universe sees them, because the whole city solemnly receives the Lord and, consequently, presents itself as the city of God. But hesitate, let a few days pass, and it will turn out to be completely different. The people who have proclaimed Christ the King will be more willing to exalt the pagan Caesar: “not the king’s imams, but Caesar’s” (John 19:15). There will be an hour when in all of Jerusalem, now resounding with solemn exclamations to our Lord, nothing will be heard except the rebellious cry: “Take him, take him, crucify him” (John 19:15). Unhappy people and city! Why is there such a sudden, such a terrible change in you? Because you did not retreat from untruth, although for a while you called the name of the Lord with some reverence. The bishops, scribes, princes, Pharisees did not retreat from the untruth of ambition and envy; the people did not retreat from the untruth of superstition and hired servility. It was not “God’s foundation”; and therefore it was not “solid”, but also destroyed, and scattered to the four winds. Christians, the new chosen people of God! Manage the sad example of the ancient. As from the abyss, as from death, as from the door of hell, “let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.” Amen. This word, in the editions of 1846 and 1848, is composed of two: the word for the day of the Annunciation, which was included in the first part and according to Hebrew. collection spoken in the Cathedral Church of the Miracle Monastery, 1826, and words on Vaiy Sunday of the same year, which were included in the second part and, according to the same collection, were not spoken due to weakness. According to Jew. collection: insignificant... According to Jew. collection: impudence, violence. According to Jew. collection: it does not so much announce and reveal what the effect of the inscription should be... According to Jew. collection: contemptuously... According to Jew. collection: for their instruction? – It happens like this and with such intentions... According to Jew. collection Let us consider, brethren, that, on the basis of faith, on the pledge of grace laid down by baptism, we are God’s “house” and “we are, if we hold the boldness and praise of hope even to the end” (Heb. 3:6). But will we keep it known? Does the foundation of God stand firm in us? Do we bear the stamp of this foundation? Did the Lord know us as His own? According to Jew. collection Recently we examined this, indicated by the Apostle, the foundation of God, or the building of God, the foundation of God’s faith in man, the building of the Church of God in the human race, and tried to understand the seal or inscription placed on it - a mysterious seal, a hidden inscription. Then we didn’t look through the entire seal, we didn’t finish reading the entire inscription. We will finish what was not finished then now. According to Jew. collection: this understanding can comfort us, but also frighten us. To console: because if only God knows His own, then those who do not belong to God, and therefore do not have participation in His mysteries, of course do not know them, and the less they know them, the less they can harm them (just as the Sodomites, stricken with blindness, unsuccessfully approached the walls of the house in which the family of Lot and the Angels, his guardians, were hiding from them, alien to their iniquity); and thus the building of God stands firmly, under the protection of the mystery of God. Frighten: because if... According to Jew. collection: instructions... According to Jew. collection: from the world: Righteous - as a punishment to the world, which is not worthy to know them, and which, if it knew them, would use this fame for evil... According to Jew. collection: We believe, therefore many will say; we call... According to Jew. collection: Or, if this is not said word by word, then in the hearts of many of us you can find this thought, this feeling, as the foundation on which our hopes are based for ourselves and for eternity. Thus, on our spiritual building one can only see this broken seal, this false inscription: “everyone names the name of the Lord...” and nothing more. According to Jew. collection: Yes; because there are people... According to Jew. collection: saving faith... According to Jew. collection: it is clear that this can also happen, when we are told as a warning... According to Jew. collection: maybe... According to Jew. collection: maybe you confess “for salvation.” But who knows... According to Jew. collection: this... According to Jew. collection: I notice the fruit is small... According to Jew. collection: open... According to Jew. collection: blessed. .. According to Jew. collection: Let us also believe, if you like, the reflection proposed here on the closest experience of the events now being remembered. You might be interested in: