A word in the week of Cheesecake

“On the rivers of Babylon, there is a gray horse and a mourner” (Ps. 137:1). This is what the unfortunate captives say - Jews who have lost their dear, sacred fatherland. Like the leaves of a weeping willow, bending over the rivers of Babylon, they sighed and cried for their native Jerusalem. The proud enemies, laughing at the unfortunate ones, said to them: “Sing to us from the songs of Zion. “How can we sing,” they answered, “the song of the Lord in a foreign land?” ( Ps. 136:3-4 ). Songs of the homeland, songs of the Lord, is it proper to sing in a foreign land? Full of bitter sadness, irresistible sorrow, everyone made a vow to the unchanging memory of dear Jerusalem: “If I forget you, Jerusalem, my right hand will be forgotten: cleave my tongue to my throat, lest I remember you, lest I offer Jerusalem as at the beginning of my joy (Ps. 137:5-6). What does it mean, brethren, that the church these weeks repeats to us the lamentable song of the Babylonian captives? Is this really just to remind us of the past of the Jews? True, this past was bitter, almost bitter. But what need do we have for someone else’s past if it has passed and did not concern us? No, it is not the Jews that our mother, St., cares about. the church, and about us - their children. She calls us to cry, for ourselves we cry for the captives of Babylon. Who are we on this earth? What does peace mean to us? All creation sighs and groans, awaiting the freedom of the children of God. Destructive storms, earthquakes tearing apart mountains and cities, famine, plagues - these are the groans of nature. The earth is a cemetery; death and death at every step! Everywhere you look, there is grief, everywhere there is sorrow. How many troubles, how many diseases, how many deaths! But that's not all. Who likes sorrow? Who can love sorrow? We cry, we groan under the weight of the troubles with which the world oppresses us. But, there are troubles in the world that they not only do not fear, but which they consider as happiness, which they love, for which they give their whole life and ruin themselves for eternity. What does peace mean in the eyes of millions? They can't get enough of them. They are delighted with him. But this is not God’s judgment on the world. According to the judgment of God, the world is “Babylon the great, the mother of fornications and abominations” (Apoc. 17:5). “Everything in the world is of this world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). The son of the world does not hear, does not feel, does not want to know the voice of the saint about the world. The whirlwind of light, the glitter of gold, the seduction of honor, the sweets of lust captivated him and enchanted his mind. Without thinking about anything, he hurries to drink from the waters of Babylon until he is full. Oh! let him stop while there is time. The judgment on Babylon - on the sinful world - has been pronounced and will not change. The blessings with which the world is consoled are funeral flowers that adorn the path to destruction. His joys are poisoned by the poison of sin. Is the light seductive? But this is precisely his ruin. How many iniquities have been justified by the court of the world! How much wickedness there is in his view of people's lives! The most criminal, base, vile deeds are colored with the names of innocent weakness, venial sin. To make a joyful life even more joyful, to make a lawless life even more lawless, the world has drawn up its own laws, under which not only Christ’s law of self-sacrifice on the cross, the crucifixion of the lusts of the flesh and spirit are forgotten, but sometimes the suggestions of the natural conscience are also forgotten. Woe to you, Babylon the Great - mother of abominations! How can we not cry on the rivers of Babylon - the destructive world? He so persistently, and so unnoticed by us, traps our souls into destruction. How many centuries have they been preaching to us: “Do not love the world, nor anyone else in the world; if anyone loves the world, the Father’s love is not in him” (1 John 2:15)? And people, as before, love the world that destroys them. “Turn away my eyes, O Lord, from seeing vanity. Make Thy servant Thy word to fear” (Ps. 119:37–38). Weep, sinner, while there is time. Time flies and takes with it salvation from Babylon. Mourn both your joys and your sorrows. Mourn over joys: they contain much madness, terrifying destruction; mourn grief: there is a lot of unforgivable cowardice in it. Cry, sinner, wandering far from your homeland, from your heavenly homeland. Where is our fatherland? Where is our Jerusalem? People fell in love with the world so much that they forgot about their homeland. How terrible this is, especially for the Christian soul! She was redeemed by the blood of the Son of God not for the world, but for eternity. Where is our homeland? There - in heaven, “we are not the imams of the city that is here, but we are seeking the one to come” (Heb. 13:14). And, oh, that we would look for him, as all the righteous did! How great is our loss - those who lost our homeland! If a rich man suddenly lost all his treasures: his loss would mean nothing compared to the loss of heaven. Collect all earthly losses, collect all the misfortunes of time: they mean nothing with the loss of your heavenly homeland. They cry about the loss of honor; they cry about the loss of some gold, they cry about the loss of relatives according to the flesh. What does this crying mean? Baby crying! Is it really the case that we are wandering away from the heavenly Father, expelled from His bright face? We have lost something without which the rich people of the world, the famous, and the smart of the world are so poor, so insignificant, in the most possible way. What the ear has not heard of, what the eye has not seen, what has not entered the human heart, what the mind is not able to imagine—we have lost such blessings, such treasures, such joys, expelled from our eternal homeland. Children removed from their parents shed tears. How can we not shed bitter tears, we who are removed from our true Father? What has our soul become after tasting the first sin? She was beautiful, like the image of God himself. And now? Vile and ugly. Innocence, righteousness, high and pure thoughts are lost. Sin covered her with scabs of passions. The sight of a dead man is ugly: a sinful soul is much worse. Beauty, fabrics, stones, ruinous decorations - do you think - they color the soul? They gild the coffin - even worse: they increase the ugliness, multiplying the scabs of the soul. Incline Your ear, Lord, and hear me, “For I am poor and needy.” I am your lord and a stranger, like all my fathers. Hide not Thy commandments from me” (Ps. 39:13, 86:1, 119:19). Cry, sinner, having lost your heavenly Jerusalem. Repeat the vow of the holy captive Jew: if I forget you, O Jerusalem, my right hand will be forgotten. Who are we on this earth? Captives of the flesh, slaves of sin. Do we notice that when we want to do something good, it is extremely difficult for us? Why this difficulty? Why this reluctance, this laziness to do good? Is this really natural? It can't be. Woe to us sinners! We have served sin since our youth; We were born in sins. Doubly woe to us from ourselves. We have cultivated passions in ourselves, and they have complete control over us. One, from a young age until the grave, nurtures a passion for money in his soul, another – anger, one – worldly vanity, another – pride. From time to time, eternity comes to our minds, the fear of God’s judgment visits our soul like a guest. But then they will say: oh, now is not the time - we need to do this and that; then, having somehow performed a prayer, having disturbed the soul with some memories of our untruths, we begin to sin again. Oh, woe to us sinners! Sins have taken such hold of us that we have become like weak and senseless children - we are afraid to deny our habits something. We were given grace-filled forces for good: but we squandered them or are squandering them. By repeating yesterday and now sinful thoughts, sinful feelings, sinful desires, we have strengthened the habit of sin in our souls and weakened and weakened the gracious determination to create God’s law. By postponing repentance day after day, we have lost our sincere desire to repent. There remains in us a feeling of goodness, a sigh for goodness, and even that is weak, and even that is fruitless, and even then, from time to time, it is less often revealed. What is our life? A series of vanities, a series of sins. Concerns about food, worries about the house, worries about trade or rank, replace one another. Thus, our immortal soul is in constant service to decay. Where are the virtues by which a person is considered “less than an angel” (Ps. 8:6)? We live as “foolish cattle” (Ps. 49:13), we live with the same desires, the same pleasures as they do. Oh, cry, sinner, a prisoner of passions and sin! Wash your unfortunate captivity of sin with your tears, pray to the Most High for the return to you of the freedom of the children of God. He won't refuse; will accept you repentant with love and invest you with new strength for the feat against sin. Whether sooner or later, we need to return to our homeland. Sooner or later, our wandering life on earth will end. How can we return to our Father's house? With what shall we appear before Him? And, firstly, what will be our way out of this life? “The death of sinners is cruel” (Ps. 33:22). And how can she not be fierce? Conscience, hitherto lulled by vanity, now, when vanity disappears, begins to torment the sinful soul. Gehenna opens before her, which she had not wanted to think about until then. Eternity opens before her with its torment for the sinner, something she thoughtlessly forgot about. Before her is the need to appear before the formidable and impartial Judge, whose laws have been desecrated. Oh, weep, sinner, before the time of useless weeping is past! Beg the Lord with tears for a peaceful death, such as the death of a faithful Christian! Otherwise, your entry into eternity will be bitter, and eternal life will be even more miserable. Temporary life was given to you only so that, tempted, purified by the sufferings of life, you would return to your Father’s house - like a smart son, with firm love for the Lord, with wisdom experienced in goodness. Well? How are you ready to appear before your Lord? Where are your deeds for good? Where are the virtues? Where is chastity? Where is the abstinence? Where is the meekness? Where are the tears for sins? Where is the fight against passions? What weakness have you overcome in yourself? What sin did you fight until you bled? Don’t you think that they will judge your deeds there just as lightly as you judge here, or as the evil age judges? There the judgment is not according to your passions, but according to the law of justice; not according to human opinions, but according to the eternal truth of God. There all the secret movements of your heart will be exposed, all the vile thoughts hidden here under various covers of day and night will be revealed. And - the whole eternity will be an eternity of torment for the sinner. Oh, eternity, eternity! How immense is your continuation! How immeasurable is your longitude! I add up the series of centuries, add thousands of years to thousands of years and - all this is not eternity. And all this is not the end of the sinner’s torment. Heavenly Father, to whom I must return from a distant land! Strengthen the weak stranger in the paths of Your commandments! Enlighten me, strengthen me in Your fear! Give me sources of tears, so that I may wash away my sins with them, and, sowing with tears, I will reap my fruits with joy in eternity! Let the fear of Your judgments penetrate me to the very marrow of my bones, dispelling before my eyes the temptations of Babylon - the sinful world! Thine is the strength, Glory to Thee forever. Amen. You might be interested in: