82. Слово в день св. пророка Илии 454

(Printed in the 1844 and 1848 collections). And you went to that stronghold fourty days and fourty nights to the mountain of God Horeb. And he went into a cave and dwelt in it, and behold the word of the Lord came to him (1 Kings 19:8-9). In many churches, like here, the memory of the Holy Prophet Elijah is celebrated according to a special Church rite. Those who are zealous gather in the first church of the place, and, with the presentation of the sacred signs of faith, with the singing of spiritual songs, they travel to another church, especially dedicated to the memory of the Prophet, and here a solemn Divine service is already performed. What was the thought of our God-wise Fathers in this institution, which was not done for many other Saints, and even for many of the Lord’s feasts? In order to answer this question with reason, let us note the general rule of the Holy Church: to present visible images and likenesses of what is remembered or contemplated spiritually on its holidays. So, remembering the Baptism of the Lord, she leads you to the river and performs prayers over the water; celebrating the Resurrection of the Lord, she awakens you at midnight, and with the abundant light of the lamps in the church depicts the day of eternal life in the mountainous Jerusalem, where the lamp is the Lamb, where the sun is not needed, where there will be no night. By this rule, by these examples, one can guess that our walk on the cross on the day of Elijah the Prophet is for our edification a presented, reduced image of many of his walks on the cross, in truth, that is, combined with feat and suffering for the sake of God and piety, and in particular the image of his great and wonderful journey to Mount Horeb, where he was honored to contemplate the solemn appearance of the Divine. And so, with reverent attention, let us recall to ourselves the walk of the Prophet Elijah during a time of rainlessness and famine to the stream of Horath and here his miraculous feeding on the ministry of corvids; then his journey to Zarephath, and there were miracles of an inexhaustible handful of flour, inexhaustible oil, the resurrection of a widow’s son; the return journey to the land of Israel, and the miracles of bringing down rain on the earth, and fire from heaven on the sacrifice; fleeing before Achaab to Israel, perhaps with the desire to convert the wicked Jezebel to God by the power of the miracles that had been performed, and the return departure of the soul for the sake of his own, not because he who strives for heaven values ​​earthly life, but because he did not want to bring triumph to wickedness, as a reprehensible piety; finally, the great journey, as I said, for which the Angel prepares the Prophet with two meals in a row, no doubt because the faster did not want to eat enough, while this 455 was necessary to strengthen him for the long journey - a wonderfully difficult journey for fourty days and forty nights without food, however, sufficiently rewarded with a conversation with God and an incomprehensible blissful feeling for us: “there is the Lord” ( 1 Kings 19:12). I will not talk about the last journey of the Prophet from Gilgal to Bethel, from Bethel to Jericho, from Jericho beyond the Jordan, during which Elijah tried to hide himself and the glory of his ascension from Elisha. With our still very earthly movements of mind and heart, we cannot catch up with the traveler hastening to heaven. I am especially stopped by the question about the Horeb journey of the Prophet, similar to the question about our current walk on the cross: what kind of idea was there to send him on such a long and extraordinary journey? If they were to ask: why was he sent during the rainlessness to the stream of the Horaths? The answer is not difficult: at least one of the means of life, water, was still preserved there naturally. Why go to Sarepta? - Because there was no water in Horath, but in Zarephath a believing woman was found who was worthy to be miraculously saved from famine and to serve for the preservation of the man of God. But why go to Horeb? For a conversation with God? For the appearance of God? But didn’t God talk to Elijah both in Horath and Zarephath? Isn’t it the same for the Omnipresent to appear in the desert of Judea or Arabia? Do not accuse me of curiosity or impudence on these issues. Listen quietly; I'm looking for guidance. Truly God can talk with the believer everywhere; everywhere He can allow Himself to be seen by the pure in heart. However, it cannot be concluded from this that Elijah did not need to go to Horeb: for God commanded him to go there, and God cannot command anything unnecessary or useless. Graceful communication is always ready for man on the part of God; but man, for his part, is not always ready to communicate with God, and requires more or less preparation, depending on the state he is usually in and what he is preparing for. “Cleanse me this day and morning: and let the garments be worn out: and let them be ready on the third day” (Ex. 19:10–11). With this command, God himself was obviously preparing the Jews for the great revelation on Mount Sinai. “Be prepared and not be troubled, to keep Thy commandments” (Ps. 119:60), the Psalmist says to God: and by this he makes it clear that if in order to fulfill God’s commandments in order, without confusion, preparation is needed, how much more so for receiving grace-filled communications and spiritual revelations. The more special the communication to which God called the Prophet Elijah, the more special the preparation for it was required, which consisted in his fourty-day procession of the cross. Elijah's walk was in the world, but from the world to God; in the flesh, but from flesh to spirit; on the earth, but from earth to heaven. His move was from the world: because hour after hour he left behind him the incomprehensible madness of Achaab, and the indomitable malice of Jezebel, and the abominations of the false prophets, and the disastrous blindness of the Israeli people. Like the moon from fog and clouds, the soul of the Prophet was freed from the dark, sad and unclean memories of worldly vanity, vice and wickedness; exalted in lightness, in calmness, in purity, and by the power of likeness, more and more 456 revealed herself to God, Who is light and peace. Elijah's progress was from the flesh to the spirit: for although he had not previously submitted to the flesh, but stood before God in spirit, which is why he was able to hear His voice and accept His commands; but when he had to enter into immediate, and after the hidden, open communication with God in some way, then extreme purification and refinement of the outer man was required, so that this mortal vessel would not disintegrate from the touch of the highest spiritual power. A sick eye cannot bear ordinary light, which is pleasing to a healthy eye: but to look safely into the sun, eagle vision is required. Thus, a carnal person, infected with sin, is not capable of grace-filled sensations of even the lowest degree: but in order to look with a frank face at the glory of God, or even to stand close to it under a veil, for this purpose both one who has been cleansed from the defilements of the flesh and who has partaken of the spirit requires a new erection. Therefore, just as Moses’ communion with God at Sinai was accompanied by a fourty-day fast, so Elijah’s communion with God at Horeb was preceded by a fourty-day journey, in which he fed on nothing other than thinking about God and prayer. Elijah's move was to heaven and to God: for although he probably did not know in advance what would happen to him at Horeb; but going to this mountain, which is adjacent and at its base is one with Sinai, which is why it is called “the mountain of God,” without a doubt, he remembered the glorious Epiphany of Sinai, and with this reverent memory he not only “approached the tangible mountain, and the burning fire, and the cloud, and the darkness, and the storm, and the sound of the trumpet, and the voice of the word” of heaven, but, as contemplator, and to the heavenly Speaker himself, “His voice then shook the earth” (Heb. 12:18–19, 26), and thus, when Elijah’s feet flowed all over the earth, Elijah’s spirit continued to ascend to heaven, and was preparing for high communion with God. This, brethren, is the great procession of Elijah; This is his holy holiday, on which he did not work at all for the flesh, did not at all concern himself with the world, as if he were celebrating the one God. By this we can judge what our, albeit small, religious procession, and our, although not so perfect, spiritual holiday should be like. When in a sacred procession they lead you from one holy place to another for an extended prayer service and solemn service: think that they want to prepare you for communion with God, as much as possible, pure, as close as possible. And if you are attentive, then complete every ordinary journey from your home to the church of the Lord, if possible, as an active preparation for communion with God. Even better, may your whole life, following the example of the Saints, be nothing more than a continuous cross, preceded by the cross of Christ, controlled and protected, a consistent progression of the cross of Christ, from flesh to spirit, from earth to heaven, from the world to God. May it be your holiday not only that you are free from hard slave labors, but most importantly that you are free from pleasant work, distraction, vanity, and vanity of all kinds. Make your mind, your heart and your very feelings idle in every possible way from every creature that seduces, worries, confuses, so that you can accept God in your mind, in your heart, in your inner feeling, through contemplation, desire, sensation, through spiritual teaching, through pure prayer, through good and holy deeds. After this, what can we say about those who, without reverence, without reflection, without attention, go to a Church holiday, as to a worldly spectacle, to a holy place, as to a place of sensual amusement? May God preserve them so that they do not join the feasts of Ahab and Jezebel: but that they participate in the feast of Elijah the Prophet, of course, this cannot be said about them. Generous acquirer of spiritual gifts, who did not refuse Elisha’s discontentedly modest request to have twice as much as you! Do not refuse us who boldly ask: intercede before your God and ours to increase the grace of those who celebrate your day with you through prayer and abstinence, or, with the widow who nurtured you, through deeds of philanthropy and mercy. But even on those who do not yet comprehend the height and purity of your holiday, bring down from the heaven that is kind to you, not the consuming fire of wrath, but the enlightening light of grace, so that these too will finally, through truth and righteousness, come to the holy mountain of God and dwell in it forever. Amen. According to Jew. collection: Word on the day of the holy, glorious Prophet Elijah, spoken in his church on Vorontsov Field, July 20, 1830. According to Jew. collection: the fasting man for the first time did not want to taste as much as... According to Jew. collection: more and more directly... You might be interested in: