Поучения на литургии, в первый день Пасхи

What we prayed for during the Holy Pentecost, and what we asked of our Lord, is now completely given to us by His grace: we achieved the suffering of Christ in the most honorable days and now we worship His holy and glorious resurrection! - Joyful, brethren, is this holiday on earth; how bright and solemn it should be in heaven! - Oh, if only we could all achieve in the same way that blessed day of resurrection, and partake of that non-evening Easter in the kingdom of the Heavenly Father, of which there will be no end! – But we will achieve, we will certainly achieve this bliss if we look at our entire earthly life as at the Holy Pentecost, as a preparation for the great day of the general resurrection. Who can now close the doors of eternal life that He opened for the faithful servants of the Lord? Who can snatch us from the hands of Him - the Almighty? (John 10:28). Isn't the price paid for us enough? Wasn't all the blood shed on the cross? Is not all the spirit devoted to the Father? Now not only love, but the very glory of our Savior demands that we be saved. It is true that we, like Him, have many evil and powerful enemies: but on Calvary all the forces of hell were exhausted and trampled underfoot; and with the help of grace, all that remains for us now is not so much to fight our enemies as to pursue them, defeated, and collect the fruits of victory. – Will the world turn against us? He is defeated in the person of the prince of the world himself; “and... the victory that has overcome the world” (1 John 5:4), - the death and merits of our Redeemer, have all been given to us: by living faith in His Cross, like a shield, all the temptations of the world will be reflected. Will the flesh change? - She is weak and bowed down; but vigil and prayer can lift this weight from the earth with their wings and make it strive for heaven. Against flesh and blood, mortal and sinful, we now have the Divine Body and Blood, which we feed on in the Eucharist. Moreover, the Spirit of grace, sent down to us by the risen Lord, is the spirit of strength and strength; If, having acquired it, we do not quench it, then all the barriers of carnal temptations will be crushed before us. Will the prince of darkness himself finally dare to stand in our way to heaven? And he will stand for his own destruction; for he was already struck at the head with the cross. This is now such a dragon on whom, in the words of the prophet, a small “child” (Isa. 11:8) can safely lay his hand—a baby in Christ. If he has “nothing” of his own in us, just as he had “nothing” of his own in our Savior (John 14:30), then all his terrible roars around us will be like the voice of an animal guarding our houses. – The Risen Savior has given us all the strength necessary for life and piety – all the means necessary for preserving ourselves unharmed from the world, the flesh and the devil have been sent down: after this, our salvation depends on us – on our fidelity to our Savior and His Divine teaching. If only we would not bury in the ground of carelessness the talents of grace given to us, we would do the work of our salvation, “until there is day” (John 9:4); and He will fulfill His vow, will “instruct us” (John 16:13) through the word and His Spirit into all truth, will clothe us with “power from on high” (Luke 24:49), and will send down consolation into our hearts in the midst of all earthly sorrow. If only we, having come out of Egypt - natural corruption, did not turn our faces and hearts back to him - having freed ourselves from slavery to Pharaoh - the god of this age, we did not then put on ourselves the bonds of sin; - having entered the desert of self-sacrifice, they did not stop at the waters of bickering, did not pour out the calves and did not bow to them; - and He will not forget His duty - He will scatter in our faces all the enemies of our salvation, He will guide us through the very Jordan - the stream of death - and lead us into heavenly Canaan. The journey through the desert of the world is painful, brothers, and difficult for those who seek the city above; – but the promised land is boiling with honey and milk! -The six days of earthly work are sometimes long and gloomy; but the seventh day of eternal rest is filled with indescribable joy! Shall we complain about the thorns and thistles that we meet along the way, having ourselves sowed the whole earth with them and constantly growing them with our sins? Shall we put off ascending to heaven just because we need to go there along the ladder of the cross? And now, in the land of exile and disaster, it is joyful to sing the song of victory over death, although this victory has not yet been mastered by us: how delightful it will be to celebrate the great day of renewal there - on the new land of promise, where to the joyful voice: “Christ is risen!” Heaven and earth, the entire host of creation will answer: “Truly he is risen!” Let us hasten, brothers, there in spirit, before we come in flesh! Why sit inactive on the rivers of Babylon and be content with the mere memory of the mountainous fatherland? Look! The royal doors are open, and the Throne of Grace is visible to everyone: this is an invitation home, a call to supper! Let us hasten, brothers, let us hasten: the risen Savior is calling us! Amen. That is, brethren, who is resurrected? He in whose person all the rights of innocence and humanity were trampled upon on Golgotha. Who only offended the enemies of the truth because he committed no sin, “there was flattery in his mouth” (Isa. 53:9). Который пришел для спасения самых ожесточенных грешников, возлюбил нас всех любовью вечной, беспримерной и умер за всех нас на кресте. Why was he resurrected? - In order to testify that the teaching He taught for our salvation is completely true, that the sacrifice He made for the sins of the whole world has been accepted, that the rights to the eternal kingdom, which He gave us before death, have been confirmed, that His will, that we all should be where He is now (John 12:26) and see His glory, will be fulfilled. What should happen as a result of the resurrection of our Lord? -That not a single dead person will remain in the grave, that the entrance to eternal bliss is open to all of us. After this, how can we not rejoice, triumph and greet each other on this resurrection? – We rejoice and have fun when any relative or friend of ours rises from the bed of a serious illness; and now our only Friend and Savior, Leader and Head, our Mentor and Redeemer, has risen from the grave! – We triumph when we make any earthly acquisition, receive special dignity or honor; and now, in the person of the risen Savior, everything that was lost in Adam has been returned to us, the greatness of the children of God, all rights to the Kingdom of Heaven have been handed over to us! - We greet each other with the end of great dangers: plagues, captivity, siege from enemies - and now we are all freed from hellish, insoluble bonds! - Oh, truly “this is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!” (Ps. 117:24) Without any exaggeration, we can say that the glory of the resurrection of His, our Savior, is more significant for us than for Him. Even without the resurrection, He would have remained the beloved Son of the Father, and would have enjoyed with Him the glory that “before the world was not” (Jn. 17:5): and many of us, without His resurrection, would not have known, perhaps, probably even that He was not “that flatterer” (Matthew 27:63), for whom the malice of the Jews wanted to pass Him off. After this, how can we not rejoice and sing in honor and glory of the risen Lord? But what, brothers, does this holy glory require of us most of all? – Even before the resurrection, the Lord, in the state of His humiliation, did not accept all glory. Thus, He forbade the unclean spirits when they wanted to confess Him as the Son of God before the people (Mark 1:25); Thus, He turned away from those who, in zeal not according to reason, “wanted... to snatch Him away, that they might make themselves a King” (John 6:15); thus, He did not even accept the name of good from the lips of one scribe, saying, “that... no one is good, except one God” (Luke 18:19). Moreover, brethren, after the resurrection, sitting in glory at the right hand of the Father, the Lord and Our Savior does not accept all glory. - In what, Lord, do we dare to ask You, like the prophet, and in what will we hide You, coming out of the tomb? (Micah 6:6). What do all our sacrifices mean after the one You made for us on the Cross? - Is it in gifts and offerings? But the gifts of the Myrrh-Bearers remained unused at Thy tomb; The very sir of Joseph and the myrrh and scarlet of Nicodemus were left by You on earth (John 20:7). - Do we celebrate with nothing but worship and kisses? But the imperative: “Do not touch me” (John 20:17), impeded the worship of Magdalene herself, not yet dissolved by the spirit of living faith in Your Divinity. With what, Lord, with what will we hide You? How can we show our gratitude and love for You? How will we show that we are truly Yours, and You are ours? “If you love Me,” the Lord Himself answers us, “keep My commandments... If you have My commandments and keep them, then you love Me” (John 14:15,21). So, here, brothers, is a sign of true gratitude to the Risen One: fulfillment of His commandments! The sign is the surest; for all other signs can be deceiving, but this one never can. This is the gift of love, favorable to the Conqueror of hell and death: the constant creation of the will of His Father, who is in heaven! – The gift is not only acceptable, but also required from everyone, for the acceptance of which the arms of the Lord are stretched out on the Cross. This is the true glorification of the name of the Crucified Savior: walking in His footsteps in purity and truth - by which glorification, not only He, but also we and Him can most glorify. In fact, brethren, if in our thoughts, feelings and deeds we constantly express the way of life of our Lord, then without controversy, without difficulty we will stop the mouths of all His enemies. The Jew, looking at us, will then say: “It is true that Christ truly rose from the tomb, and was not stolen by his disciples, as our ancestors slander; for, behold, He is alive in Christians! His spirit (and what a Divine spirit!) breathes in their morals, in their actions, in their whole lives.” “It is true that Christ is the Teacher of truth, and not our prophet,” the Mohammedan will say, looking at us: “for our prophet (as the Mohammedans call the founder of their false faith) does not produce this in his followers; we do not have such purity, peace and love, such humility and selflessness. All this can only happen to Christians from God Himself, and, truly, their Savior is God.” The prince of darkness himself with his minions will experience a new defeat for the glory of our Savior if we, daring in the name of the Risen One, walk in purity and truth, despising all the machinations of the enemy, repelling all his temptations, trampling on all his malice and pride. So, I say, the risen Lord will be glorified by our good life, and together with Him we will be glorified; for such glorification will constitute our salvation. On the contrary, brothers, if we magnify the Lord with words, but darken His name and faith in Him with deeds, kiss the cross and sacred bread with our lips, and do indecent deeds with our hands; then all our current glorification of the Risen One will turn into an insult to Him and a shame for us: we will be like Pilate’s soldiers, who said in words: “Hail, King of the Jews!” (Mark 15:18), but in reality they hit Him on the cheek and beat Him on the head with a cane. Let this not happen, brothers, let it not happen! Amen. Yes, brothers, He is risen! Risen truly and from the truth! The “great stone” (Mark 16:4) did not hide the Source of life; the custodian did not keep the “Lion of Judah” in chains of death (Rev. 5:5); Caiaphas's seal melted from the fire of God's truth! The Son of Man was to remain “in the heart of the earth” for no more than three days (Matthew 12:40): but even this short period was shortened to the extreme possible. For the time that elapsed from the death of the Lord to His resurrection belongs to only three days, and in itself does not amount to fourty hours. So hastened the triumph of truth over lies and slander, of innocence over malice and untruths! Let the Jews now stand over the tomb of Jesus, and let them judge for themselves what happened; one of two things: either “let the dead one be given, or the resurrected one be worshiped” (Verse Resurrection). Oh, how in this case all the calculations of human wisdom are put to shame, and how obvious is the inscrutability of God’s ways! Did the Jewish priests think, lifting Jesus to the Cross, that they were thereby introducing Him as the great High Priest into the Holy of Holies, so that He would appear to the face of God for us, “with one... offering... for those who are sanctified forever?” (Heb. 10:14)... Did Pilate, putting an inscription on the Cross of Jesus and refusing to change it, at the request of the Jews, that he, as a servant and messenger, was proclaiming the dignity of Him to whom all power in heaven and on earth is now committed? (Matthew 28:18). Did unfortunate Judas, accepting the thirty pieces of silver, think that he was taking not the high priests, but God Himself, long ago set and witnessed by the prophet, “the price of the valuable thing, which was valued from the children of Israel?” (Matthew 27:9). Come now, earthly wisdom, and look at your madness! Come, holy faith, and see what is the end of your patience and hope! What was done on earth out of malice and greed, blindness and violence, was established in heaven out of pure love and was the result of the greatest wisdom. On Golgotha, it seemed, the entire order of the world, both moral and sensual, had been transformed, but there it was completely restored! In the tomb of Jesus, apparently, all the holy hopes were buried forever, and they were confirmed there forever! So, “bow up and lift up your heads” (Luke 21:28), you who, like your Lord, suffer for truth and righteousness: in His fate the fate of all true crusaders is indicated! There is a God, judge of the earth, avenger of the innocent and defender of the just! There is a law that no Caiaphas or Pilate can either eclipse or overthrow! Human malice can do a lot: it can deprive you of your good name, plunge you into poverty, burden you with chains, cover you with wounds, lead you to the cross; They may seal your very coffin and surround it with guards, but here is the limit to all persecution and all unrighteousness! Destroying the body, the malice of enemies cannot touch your spirit, cannot change in you, without your will, a single good thought, a single holy feeling: this is your property, inalienable, eternal! Over your immortal spirit, “there is only one... lawgiver and judge, able to save and destroy” (James 4:12); The One who created him immortal, “fear Him” alone (Luke 12:5); for He, in case of unfaithfulness and unrepentance, can cast not only your body, but also your soul into fiery Gehenna. And everything else on earth, no matter how terrible and powerful it may be, is terrible only for people who live for the earth, and not for those whose life is in God, hope in heaven, treasures in their conscience, joy in the Gospel. Several years of suffering, struggle, purification will pass, and you, like the Savior, will be presented to a place where there is no illness, no sorrow, no sighing: where there is only truth and “righteousness lives” (2 Pet. 3:13), and where for everything endured on earth, they are rewarded in such a way that those rewarded do not remember previous illnesses for real joy. And isn’t it this very thing, brothers, that inspired all the ascetics of piety, who, like the great hero of heroism who has now risen from the grave, have always been persecuted from the world! “We know that we are eternally present, Who can redeem me” and “on earth to resurrect my skin that suffers this” (Job 19:25-26), Job once said, “and he blessed the name of the Lord on the puss!” “For He who believed... is able to preserve my tradition” until the day of His coming (2 Tim. 1:12), Paul once wrote, and with joy he went into prison and under the sword! Let us, brethren, turn our gaze as often as possible to the face of the Risen Lord. If we are His true followers, then it cannot be that the world does not pursue us with its malice or its temptations. Who will inspire us with courage if not He, our Lord and Savior, who ascended to the Cross for us! His warfare is our warfare, and His victory is our victory: what happened to Him will happen to all of us: if “we suffer with him, let us also be glorified with him!” (Rom. 8:17). Amen. He is risen - and “whoever... does not die, death does not possess him” (Rom. 6:9). He is risen, and received the power to resurrect everyone who died in Adam. He is risen and now resurrects in the spirit of those who turn to Him with faith and obedience! So, you, who in your thoughts love to embrace the fate of all mankind, and would like to find a means to free it from all evils, rejoice and be glad! This remedy was found in heaven, there is a Savior sent by God Himself, Who will “take away... once every tear from the eye” (Rev. 21:4) of every sufferer. After this, all that remains for us is to follow His plans, spread His light, pour out His life. - You, who sigh under the weight of a nature inclined to sin, do not know how to overthrow the yoke passions, - be encouraged and comforted! The mystery of spiritual existence was revealed on Golgotha; there is the Looser of the bonds of sin sent by God Himself! After this, all that remains for us is to use the means of grace revealed to Him, to be instilled in Him with faith and love, to walk in His footsteps - and a “pure heart” will be created in us, and a right spirit will be renewed in our womb (Ps. 50:12). You, who seek immortality, have been chasing glory all your life; if you want true immortality, unfading glory, then do not look for them anywhere except the tomb of Christ: here is the source of life and incorruption! The Risen Savior will make you immortal not only by name, as the world and history do, but will give your entire being eternal life. Oh, brothers, how good and comforting is our faith! What a great joy it is to be a Christian! Where is there so much light and life as in the Gospel? Where is there so much hope and consolation as in the Cross? Where is a Savior like ours? We alone, Christians, bear the cross, and we alone celebrate the resurrection! What is more inevitable on earth than the first, and what is more necessary than the last? -Where all earthly wisdom is lost and does not know what to do, is silent or grumbles - I mean above the grave - there the Christian faith especially exerts its Divine effect - it illuminates, consoles and lives. The cross standing on our graves speaks more about the destiny of man than all the systems of philosophers. Let us recognize, brothers, our treasure, and let us learn to value it as we should: let us not be so frivolous as to be blown about by “every wind” of opinions and “teachings, in the lies of men, in the deceit of the wiles of flattery” (Eph. 4:14). Many can promise salvation, but only One can give it - the One who ascended to the Cross for this and rose from the grave. Having ascended voluntarily from the cross, they do not speak lies, and they do not rise from the grave to lie. Let us be faithful both in deeds and in life to the Risen One, as He was and is faithful to them. Amen. Святой Амвросий Медиоланский , любомудрствуя о празднике Рождества Христова, замечает, что со времени его день начинает возрастать, как бы показуя сим начало и обилие света духовного, воссиявшего на весь мир из Вифлеема. With no less justice, brethren, we can note that the time of the Resurrection of Christ is the very same year in the year when all nature is renewed and, as it were, resurrected after the cold of winter. Looking at spring “from the windows of the church,” you involuntarily see in it a certain sign with which the earth annually greets the Conqueror of hell and death. The sad signs on Calvary happened once, for the Savior died once; and the joyful signs of the Resurrection are always repeated: for Christ, having risen from the dead, “to him... does not die” (Rom. 6:9). He could have died and been resurrected at another time of the year; meanwhile, He rose again precisely when all of nature can greet Him with its co-resurrection. And who is it more fitting for her to greet with her great renewal? - If in it, after the fall of its king - Adam, any order remained, if winter is always followed by spring again: then nature owes this remainder of life to no one else than the Head of life, the second Adam, Who, having decided to erase the traces of the fall of the first Adam, immediately, after his fall, took into His hands that scepter of dominion, which our unfortunate forefather could no longer control. In the same way, if nature, after many short-term renewals, through spring and summer, once sees an enduring spring over itself, puts on the beauty of Eden: then all this will happen not as a result of anything else, but because the Lord sanctified the whole earth with His Blood from the Cross, and imparted to all the elements the life-giving principle of renewal and immortality. Who, therefore, should nature greet with its resurrection, if not the Risen One and with Himself, as the Church sings, “who has risen all things”? (Magnification on the Sunday of Antipascha). The connection between the resurrection of nature and the resurrection of the Lord is not only of time, but of the deed itself. Nature is now resurrected temporarily, because its Resurretor has now risen, and therefore he himself will someday be resurrected eternally. This concept of the relationship of spring to our festival increases, brothers, both the joy of the holiday and the pleasantness of spring. The Resurrection of the Lord becomes, if possible, even more majestic for us when we imagine that his actions are not limited even to the entire human race, but extend to all of nature. And the spring of nature takes on a certain sacred appearance when we learn that this renewal of the earth comes from the same beginning with our spiritual renewal, that it is also the fruit of the redemption of Calvary. After this, it is clear what it means when the Church sings that in the resurrection of the Lord “heaven and earth and the underworld” rejoiced. The Resurrection of the Lord is a truly universal holiday: for on Golgotha ​​with God, as the apostle puts it, “the whole world was reconciled” (Col. 1:20). But, brothers, this universal world will remain outside of us if we do not introduce it into our hearts! “Everything around us will be renewed, but we will remain old if we do not try to be new.” Look at the face of nature: spring for the whole earth, everything is blooming and beautiful, but the dried trees are now bare and ugly, and spoil the beauty of nature with their appearance. So are sinful souls: they, like dry trees, will remain dead when everything is renewed. since in Eden everything must be beautiful; then sinful souls will be dealt with as gardeners deal with dry trees, that is, they will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, it is necessary, brethren, it is absolutely necessary, to be renewed in advance and, drinking the water of life, warmed by the sun of grace, begin to bear fruits of grace - we must be resurrected “here” so as not to die an eternal death “there”! Amen. You might be interested in: