98. Слово по освящении храма 493

(Printed in the 1844 and 1848 collections) But you, son of man, show the house of Israel the church, and let them cease from their sins. (Ezek.43:10). If this word is not in vain in the sacred books; if, as the Apostle assures, “the tree was written in advance for our punishment” (Rom. 15:4): then to which of us is this word? To whom is this command given? To whom is this exhortation sent? After others, perhaps the command also extends to me: to show the church to those who can look at it with attention, especially now, when the church has just appeared in its essence and action, because “the glory of the Lord is in the church” (Ezek. 43:4)? Shouldn’t it be, perhaps, that those present in this church and those who see this newly revealed shrine 494 should be reminded of the ancient admonition: “let them cease from their sins”? The sins of the Jewish people - coldness towards the true faith, addiction to pagan superstitions, greed, luxury, untruth, oppression by the strong of the weak, disobedience of those subordinate to the authorities, growing to the point of disorder in private and public life, after fruitless denunciations from the Prophets, after private and short punitive visits from God, finally attracted the decisive judgment of God. Jerusalem was taken and destroyed by the Babylonians. Solomon's Temple was burned. The Jews were taken into Babylonian captivity. Legal worship ceased: because although priests remained, there was no legally defined and consecrated place for worship. It is not surprising if the grief of the Jews reached despair: because in the previous punishments of God with famine, war, pestilence, they had consolation and hope in the holy church, which showed that their union with God was not completely interrupted, and that the path to propitiating Him was still open; but when God, rejecting the sinful people, rejected His Holy Place, then the rejection seemed final and the wrath inexorable. In this seemingly hopeless time, God takes the Prophet Ezekiel from among the captives of Babylon and leads him in spirit to devastated Jerusalem; on the ruins and ashes of the church, he shows him the whole church, its structure, dimensions, laws, the presence of the glory of God in it; and commands the seer, through narration, to show the other Jews this equally majestic, equally comforting sight, which they could not see with ordinary eyes. “You, son of a man, show the house of Israel the church.” That is: tell the house of Israel that the church of God is not completely destroyed; that one can see it in the spirit, although it is not there for the eyes of the body; that his mysterious image floats over its ruins; that there it is a question of its structure, dimensions, laws, and this happens when they are preparing to build a new church; that, consequently, there is hope to see a new church of God, and there is hope for the Jews to once again be the people of God, because God will not build a deserted church. “Show the house of Israel the church.” Those who hear this now may think that this does not concern them. We are not Jews, they will say, we did not have the misfortune of losing our church due to our sins; but we have the blessing of God to see the church, erected by pious 495 zeal, and consecrated by the grace of God. I also acknowledge the blessing of God on your work; I rejoice with you; I call for the continuation of God's blessing. But do not rush into your controversial thoughts. You will immediately hear something that does not concern only the Jews. “Show the church,” says the Lord, “and may their sins cease.” Show the church: but not simply, not for curiosity alone, not for consolation alone with this vision, but so that this vision produces an action in those who see it, and a strong and decisive action: “let them cease from their sins.” O Lord, “reprove, and punish, and teach, and convert, like a shepherd of his flock” (Sir. 18:13)! How can the vision of Your church have this healing and saving power? Can it help those who sin, “let them cease from their sins”? Oh, if You taught us how to successfully use this means for our correction and improvement - we, who, after the desire and intention to cease from our sins, sometimes do not even notice how we fall into sins, sometimes old, sometimes new! There is no doubt that this reflection and desire is shared with me by many, and thus it is revealed that the word of Divine revelation, which we are now engaged in, does not concern only the Jews, but can usefully touch the heart of everyone who has sinned before God. Be careful. The matter definitely concerns us. The vision of the new church presented to the Jews through the Prophet, of necessity, had to bring to their memory the former church created by Solomon, and the inevitable fate of the former church, which cannot change for the future. God determined this fate when, after the completion and consecration of the church, in a vision he said to Solomon, among other things: “If you and your children turn away from Me, and do not keep My commandments and My commandments; “And this church, which I have sanctified to My name, I will reject from My presence” (1 Kings 9:6-7). How immutable this fate is, the Jews learned through sad experience in the destruction of this church by the Babylonians. God indicates all this when He says to Ezekiel: “Show the house of Israel the church.” That is: present to the house of Israel the image of the new church, and thereby bring to memory the fate of the former church, which, as based on eternal truth, cannot but be the fate of the new one; and let the Jews consider what they should do. If the vision of a new church is pleasant and desirable for them, then let them take care of preserving the church. If they care about preserving the church, then let them remember that sins destroyed the church. If they know that the church is being destroyed by sins, then let them stop being destroyers of the church. “Show the house of Israel the church, and let them cease from their sins.” You see how strongly the vision of the church exhorted the Jews to cease from their sins. But isn’t it also, Christians, what the vision of the new church now tells us? The Lord of the Christian church, the Lord of this church, is not the same God who once erected the church of the Jews with His good pleasure, sanctified it with His grace, twice rejected it in His wrath for sins, and gave it over to desolation? True, in the Christian church, primarily before the ancient Jewish one, God is the God of mercy and grace in His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners: but has He ceased—can the eternal cease—to also be the “God of righteousness”? So, doesn’t the fate of the first church in the world extend to all the churches to the last in the world? And over this newly consecrated church, is not the definition pronounced from the Most High, threatening and protecting at the same time: “If you and your children turn away from Me and do not keep My commandments, then I will reject this church, which was sanctified by My name, from My presence,” either by the visible rejection of desecration and desolation, or by the invisible removal of the blessing and a beneficent hand, concealing the gracious power of the sanctuary? And from this, doesn’t this exhortation follow by itself: “show the church, and let them cease from their sins”? Let the builders of the church be careful not to be its destroyers. Let those who are comforted by the gracious vision of the church reject 496 that which leads to the deprivation of this vision, sowing grace. “Let them cease from their sins.” Will anyone say: I want to stop sins, but I don’t know how to achieve this? - Fine. I will show you one of the closest means for teaching this. This means is a church. For, in addition to the glorification of God, in the church they do nothing else than to lead a person away from sins and turn him to virtue. Is this not what the Prophetic and Apostolic writings that are read here teach? Is this not what the sacred songs that are sung here teach? Is this not what is taught by the examples of the Saints who are presented here daily? Come, listen, and you will learn and become wise. I will show you the church, so that you may cease from your sins. Will anyone else say: I wish to cease from sins, but I do not have the power to free myself from them? I do not argue against this confession, and I hasten to show you a close, open repository of spiritual power. This repository is a church. What is more powerful than the Word of God, by which all things were created, and by which all things are created? This is where it works. What is stronger than prayer, which crosses the clouds and bows to the Most High? Here she lives as in her home: for the church, according to the word of Scripture, is a “house of prayer” (Luke 19:46). What is more beneficial than the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who “came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15)? Here He is present both spiritually, according to His immutable promise: “Where there are two or three congregations in My name, I am in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20), and more palpably than spiritually, in His most pure Body, broken for us, for the remission of sins, and in His Divine Blood, shed for us, for the remission of sins. What are all the sacraments performed here if not vessels in which the grace-filled Divine power, victorious over evil, beneficial for good, is enclosed and open - visibly enclosed, invisibly open; closed for the searching mind, open for the believing heart; closed for an inattentive and unrepentant sinner, open for a sincerely repentant and striving for his correction? Come, begin, cleanse yourself, strengthen yourself, and you will overcome evil and achieve good things. I'll show you the church; may you cease from your sins. “Behold a voice from the church speaking to me, and a man,” that is, an angel, “standing near me” (Ezek. 43:6), says the seer of the church. If only our eyes, the brethren of this holy church, were open to see the mysteries: and we would see in this church Angels entering with us, serving with us, as sent “to serve for those who wish to inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14). What do you think these pure and faithful servants of God say when they see us in church, inattentive, not cleansed, lazy in prayer, not approaching the sacraments, not putting aside all worldly concerns, not hating sin with complete hatred? Don't they marvel at the incongruity of our arrangements? What, they say, what do these people need a holy church for if they do not care about their sanctification? Is it really so that he would only be a witness to their negligence, to bitter condemnation for not taking advantage of such a close and convenient aid to salvation? “Son of man, show” this new “house of Israel a church, and let them cease from their sins.” As much as my measure has been given, I have shown you, brethren, the church as a means and aid of sanctification. May the grace of God, now dwelling here and emanating from here, help you, if any of you have not yet left, to leave a careless sinful life, and be established in piety and in all virtue, so that you may live in the Church of God, and you yourself will live in the Church of God, in whom the Spirit of God lives and will live forever. Amen. According to Jew. collection listed as pronounced on October 1, 1832, without indicating the place of utterance. According to Jew. and Turk. collection: his... According to Jew. and Turk. collection: our... In collection 1844: let them beware... You might be interested in: