Слово на отдание Пасхи

The Holy Psalmist, depicting in the psalms various states of the pious soul, noticed one such thing among them, in which the very remnant encourages a person to rejoice and solemnly glorify the name of the Lord. “And the remnant of thoughts,” he says, turning on behalf of the pious soul to God, “celebrates Ti!” (Ps. 75:11). It is unlikely, brethren, that we are not now in a similar state. During the fourty days of the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ, each of us had so much time, motives and occasions to reflect on all the circumstances of this glorious event that now everyone probably has some remnant of pious thoughts, and, moreover, such that fills the soul with joy and encourages us to triumph again in honor of the Risen One. Without a doubt, this remains is different, depending on the state of each: for one is more capable of reflecting on spiritual objects, the other less; one thought more diligently in the past days about the festival, the other spent them without much thought; he who turned with prayer in spirit to the Risen One received from Him Himself the secrets of contemplation, but he who did not turn, therefore himself, is deprived of this grace. I can only speak about what now remains in my mind from my own thoughts about the holiday. Perhaps in this case I will agree with some of you: in this case, from the common remains there will be a common, and therefore greater, celebration. And even if we do not agree on the same thoughts, there will be no harm; for, firstly, the feeling of reverence and love for the Risen One will remain the same for everyone; and secondly, the diversity of the thoughts of the pious will provide new food for the souls of the pious. When I turned my last gaze to the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ, my thought, brothers, stopped at the time until which this celebration continues for us. Not before the lapse of fourty days do we cease to celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord, and this is because the Risen One remained on earth after the resurrection for fourty days. Why and why did He stay on earth for exactly that many days, no more and no less? – In a life such as the life of our Lord, everything must be strictly calculated and nothing can happen by chance. In addition, since the earthly life of the Lord is a model of our life, so that, according to the Apostle, the same thing should be thought in us, that “and in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5), then the reason why the Lord remained, after the Resurrection, on earth for forty days, should also be relevant to our life. Where is she and what is she wearing? In response to this, I must say, firstly, that the fourty-day continuation of time has been important since ancient times, and is found in the Holy Scriptures only in special cases. So the Israelites, after leaving Egypt, before entering Canaan, wandered in the desert for fourty years; and Moses prepared at Sinai for fourty days to receive the law; for the same number of days Elijah goes to Horeb, where the appearance of the glory of God awaited him; The Lord Himself spends the same number of days in the desert before assuming the office of the universal Intercessor and Teacher. Thus, the number fourty can be called the number of preparation for something great. The Lord, after the Resurrection, was destined for the greatest heights - the throne of glory, sitting at the right hand of God the Father, ruling the Church and the whole world. Therefore, did not His fourty-day stay after the Resurrection on earth constitute for Him, that is, for His humanity, some kind of preparation for receiving the fullness of divine glory? It is true that the Divinity in Him is united hypostatically with humanity, but it is united and acts without violating the laws of humanity; therefore, it revealed itself on earth gradually, and sometimes was completely closed: this is what it says about Him, that He increased “in wisdom and... grace with God and men” (Luke 2:52); Thus, He Himself said during His earthly life that “of the days... of the last hour no one knows, not the angels... not the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32). Therefore, there is nothing inconsistent with the dignity of the God-man if He, according to His humanity, during the fourty days after the Resurrection, gradually approached the height of Divine glory to which He was to ascend upon His ascension into heaven. But what, you may ask, is the relationship of this event in the life of the Lord to our lives? – This is no small thing: remember the fortieth day after death! Since ancient times, the Holy Church has been in the habit of continuing the commemoration of the dead, especially to this day: why? Is it because with our souls, during this time, something similar is happening to what happened with the Lord before His ascension into heaven; that is, that they, although detached from the earth, have not yet ascended to heaven, and are in a state of some kind of preparation? He, as a sinless one, had nothing to cleanse himself from during this time, and it was only necessary, so to speak, to gradually rise by humanity to the boundless greatness of the Divinity that dwells bodily in him; and we, without a doubt, will need to cleanse ourselves of much when leaving this world: for no matter how hard we try to be free from what is in the world, the dust of earthly vanities imperceptibly rests here on the purest soul. Bearing in mind this great and difficult feat that confronts the soul after death, and wishing to help it at such an important time, when it is decided where to go - whether to the mountain, to the throne of God like its Savior, or to the depths of hell, like the enemy-redeemer - the Holy Church prays for the dead especially during the fourty days after death; and many phenomena from another world testify how necessary these prayers are for the departed, and how valid they are when performed in the spirit of living faith in the Redeemer, and living Christian love for the departed. And we, beloved brethren, knowing this, must, firstly, make every effort to free our souls as much as possible throughout life from everything earthly, unclean and sinful: for all this, like a burden, will lie on it after death and will not allow it to rise up in grief. Secondly, we must, as diligently as possible, pray for our dead brothers: this is the best sacrifice of love that we can make to each other. This, brothers, is the remnant of my thoughts at the tomb of the Savior. Probably some of you have more left: may such thank the Lord and hasten to use what is left for the edification of themselves and others! For we all, according to the word of the apostle, must edify one another. For our part, it is enough that the small remnant of thoughts conveyed to you now, in the words of the Psalmist, “celebrates” - disposes the soul to joy and glorification of the Risen Lord. For how can one not rejoice, imagining that in our lives the events of His divine life are repeated, and that with us, after death, something similar happens to what happened to Him after the Resurrection? How can we not thank our Savior and Lord, thinking that He has left us in every way “an image that we may follow His footsteps”? (1 Pet. 2:21). In all respects, I say; for no matter how great the glory in which we will see Him tomorrow, on Olivet, it does not belong to Him alone, but to all who truly love Him. O brothers, a majestic, unspeakable fate awaits us! Let us sing and never cease to sing to the Risen Lord: “Gloriously is he glorified”! (Ex. 15:1). Amen. You might be interested in: