Беседа на литургии, в первый день Пасхи

The children of the Church of Christ now greet each other with this delightful news. The very shepherds and teachers of the Church are now accustomed to begin their interviews with the proclamation of this message. But from the lips of other Christians, the sweetest news of the resurrection, of necessity, comes in a brief form; It is fitting for her to hear it in full detail from the lips of a minister of the Church. So, brethren, allow me, in order to increase common joy, instead of teaching, to now offer you a story about how the resurrection of our Lord took place. Many of us, of course, already know all the circumstances of this glorious event. But whoever loves the risen Lord cannot become bored with the story of His resurrection, and just as he himself joyfully repeats it to others, so he is joyfully ready to hear it from others. And, without a doubt, among us standing here there are a considerable number of those who have seen the image of the resurrection of Christ only in picturesque images: by conveying to such the full news of the resurrection, we will fulfill part of the angelic duty. But, first of all, brethren, let us raise our thoughts to the risen Savior and our Lord, with the prayer that He may bless our conversation and remove from all of us not only the spirit of bitterness that the good news of the resurrection found in the Pharisees and Jewish scribes, but also the spirit of lack of faith and spiritual relaxation with which some of the very followers of Christ met it. The wisdom of God has such a rule, brethren, that all important events in the kingdom of grace are foreshadowed in advance; so that people, knowing what to expect, can prepare themselves all the more conveniently for what they expect. Therefore, the resurrection of the Lord was predicted long ago and repeatedly. Even the Godfather David sang that the Lord would not allow “His Reverend to see corruption, and would not leave His soul in hell” (Ps. 15:10). Then one of the prophets directly pointed even to the time of the resurrection, saying: “He will heal us in two days, and on the third day we will rise again and live before Him” (Hos. 6:3). Finally, the Lord Himself almost always spoke about His future death (and He spoke about it often), and at the same time mentioned the resurrection. His predictions about this were so numerous and so clear that the very enemies, as we heard yesterday, considered it necessary to surround His tomb with guards until the third day. Who would have thought after this that Jesus’ own disciples would forget for a time what His enemies so firmly remembered? And yet, many of them, if not all, clearly forgot! Thus, those who buried Jesus, Joseph, Nicodemus and others, with all their zeal for Him, clearly buried Him forever. Otherwise, why use so much aloes and myrrh that even a living person could lose his life from their abundance? Why wrap the deceased in a shroud and place the funeral sir on His head? And the love of the myrrh-bearing women, despite its ardor, was preparing to show the Body of Jesus such honor, which was not at all befitting of one who would soon be resurrected, and the Angel, not without reproach, said: “Why are you looking for the living with the dead? ...remember the words spoken to you while you are still in Galilee” (Luke 24:5,6). Among the apostles themselves - (forgive us, great founders and pillars of the Church, that we, weak and small reeds, dare to remember your hesitation!) the expectation of the resurrection of the Teacher, if not weakened completely, was so hidden in the depths of the soul under the weight of gloomy thoughts and feelings that a double “peace be with you” and a breath from the own lips of the Risen One was necessary (John 20:19-22), so that again ignite their faith. With such oblivion of Jesus' predictions about His resurrection, it is not at all surprising if His tomb was abandoned by all His followers. But in this case, the very miracle of the resurrection would remain without any witnesses - that miracle on which the firmness, one might say, of our entire faith depends. This deficiency had to be filled: and so, by the secret order of the wisdom of God, the enemies of Jesus themselves do what they did not do, and even His friends could not do in this form: they go to Pilate, ask for permission to seal the tomb of Jesus, seal it and assign a custodian. More precautions could not have been taken in the present case. Anyone who knows the severity of Roman military laws can imagine with what vigilant vigor the guards stood over the tomb of Jesus, expecting from hour to hour the imaginary kidnappers, against whom they were commanded to remain vigilant. - And thus, brethren, the guard in the tomb was He, before whom all hell trembled at that time!.. Who, resting in the tomb carnally, was, according to His Divinity, on the throne... with the Father and the Spirit, fulfilling everything, indescribable!.. But the terrible “year of the dark region” (Luke 22:53) was already approaching its end; the great Worker could not remain “in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40) beyond the rest of the Sabbath day; and with its end, at the very onset of the first day of the week, which was once the first day of creation, that is, Sunday, a glorious uprising from the grave followed. I say - at the very beginning of the day: for the holy women, having gone from home to the tomb of Jesus, according to the testimony of the Evangelist Mark, “early morning” (Mark 16:2), and having come to this tomb, according to John, “while darkness still existed” (John 20:1), had already found it idle and without guards. How did the resurrection itself follow? – This question, brothers, could only be answered by the Risen One Himself. Such miracles are the secrets of omnipotence; therefore they are informed only by the wisdom of God. As for the reason for the Resurrection, holy writers sometimes attribute this miracle to God the Father, saying that Jesus Christ rose from the grave in the glory of the Father (Rom. 6:4), that God the Father “raised Him up from the dead” (Rom. 8:11), and sometimes to the Risen One Himself, claiming that He “had the scope both to lay down His soul” and also to “receive it” (John 10:18). That's how it should be! As the Son of man, our Savior could only be resurrected by the almighty “power of God” (2 Cor. 13:4), and as the Son of God, as the eternal Word and Creator of everything visible and invisible, He resurrected Himself. For all its inner secrecy, the miracle of the resurrection was not slow to make itself known to the whole world in the most majestic way. At the resurrection, according to the testimony of the Evangelist Matthew, “he became a great coward” (Matthew 28:2), that is, a strong shaking of the earth occurred. At the death of the Lord, this served as an incriminating sign for the whole of Jerusalem, which was then gathered at Golgotha; now there was no one to admonish the shaking earth except the guards; for all Jerusalem was still sleeping: however, she shook no less than before, and could not help but shake; because from its depths, as from a mother’s womb, was now emerging the great “Firstborn from the dead” (Col. 1:18) - emerging not according to the universal law of birth into eternal life, according to which, as a result of the redemption of the world, all who rest in their graves will one day rise from the womb of the earth, but according to a special, extraordinary action of Divine omnipotence, which, having worked the sacred mystery in the soul The God-Man, and moving along with it all the forces of nature, again forever paired her with the flesh that rested in the grave. During the reverent service of the earthly elements, the resurrection of the Lord was honored to serve the forces of heaven: one of the Angels, “descending from heaven” (Matthew 28:2) - an expression used in Scripture on the most important occasions - rolled away the stone that blocked the entrance to the cave where the tomb of Jesus was located. The rolling away of the stone, which was completely unnecessary for the Risen One, for His body, as can be seen from the appearance to the disciples, passed freely through the closed doors, was necessary for the followers of the Lord, especially the holy women, so that when they came to the tomb, not hindered by the stone, they could sooner know that they were seeking in vain for the living with the dead. Moreover, the rolling away of the stone by the Angel served instead of a solemn announcement to the guards about the resurrection of the Divine Dead, whom they were guarding: for the Risen One Himself, it seems, did not deign to show the guards His face, from whose extraordinary glory, in the first minutes of the resurrection, they could have disappeared from the face of the earth. The appearance of the Angel who rolled away the stone, according to St. Matthew, was “like lightning,” and his robe was “white like snow” (Matt. 28:3), the most natural image of the appearance in our world of beings of the heavenly world, who, emanating from the face of the glory of God, should bring to us on their face the reflection of this glory, which belongs to them, however, and by their very essence - innocent, and therefore luminous. Now the brightness of the face and clothing was required in the heavenly messenger by the very correspondence “with the glory of the Father”, revealed in the resurrection of the beloved Son. At the sight of the Angel, the guards became, as the Evangelist puts it, “like dead men” (Matthew 28:4). All the fearlessness of the Roman warrior turned into nothing from one presence of a higher being: from one, I say, presence; for it is not at all visible that the heavenly messenger said anything to the soldiers; he only rolled away “the stone from the door of the tomb, and sat on it” (Matthew 28:2). But this sitting affected everything. Therefore, the soldiers, as much as their returning consciousness and strength allowed, immediately left the tomb with news that was most terrible for the enemies and murderers of Jesus! Now let's briefly talk about the first appearances of the risen Lord in order to give an idea of ​​how He acted in the first minutes after the resurrection and how faith in Him began to be resurrected among His followers. We have already noticed, brothers, that the holy women who were present at the burial of the Lord by Joseph decided to anoint His body with myrrh. As soon as the Sabbath rest, which hindered the fulfillment of the holy intention, had passed, they, even before dawn, went to the grave with aromas. They did not know at all about the guards assigned to the tomb of Jesus; - they were afraid of one thing: “who will roll away... the stone from the door of the tomb?... Be so great” (Mk. 16:3-4).. This fear did not, however, hinder Magdalene’s zeal to leave all her other companions behind her and come, before them, alone to Vertograd. What must have been the astonishment of the holy wife when she found neither a stone near the cave nor a body in the cave! In a confusion of feelings, not thinking about her other companions, Magdalene immediately rushed back to Peter and John, “having taken the Lord from the tomb,” she cried inconsolably, “and we do not know where he laid Him” (John 20:2). But Peter and John knew no more than she where the Most Pure Body had gone; and instead of answering, followed by Magdalene, they themselves rushed to the tomb to find out the secret. This holy mystery, meanwhile, had already been revealed to others. The other wives, who followed Magdalena to Vertograd, also did not find either a stone near the cave or a body in the coffin: but, instead, they soon saw two young men in shiny clothes. These heavenly messengers (that was them) brought them out of bewilderment and fear, declaring that now was no longer a time of sadness and confusion, but of joy - that the Buried One had risen, in accordance with His prediction, and would appear to His followers in Galilee - and that they should therefore, as soon as possible, go back to rejoice with this news to all the disciples of Jesus (Luke 24: 2-9). Two of these disciples, that is, Peter and John, were themselves now near the helicopter city when the holy women came out of it: but for them the hour of joy and bliss had not yet arrived. Instead of the Angels seen by the wives, they found in the tomb only the funeral clothes of the Risen One; and, not seeing anyone in Vertograd, they turned back - John with faith, Peter with surprise (John 20: 2-9). Only Magdalene remained on holy guard at the tomb. Amidst tears—the usual consolation of sad souls—she leaned into the cave to take another look at the place where the Body of Jesus lay; and behold, two young men, in white robes, are sitting, one at the head, and the other at the feet of the coffin! In any other case, this unexpected phenomenon would have produced fear and aroused the thought of a heavenly being appearing: but to Mary, whose soul was entirely occupied with the precious loss, everything seemed natural, except for the absence of a buried body. To the question of the Angels: “Why are you crying?” Without any fear, she answered the same thing that she said to the apostles: “I have taken my Lord, and do not know where I have laid Him” (John 20:13). At these words, Maria involuntarily turned her face back and saw that someone was standing not far away. It was the Lord Himself: but the gaze, through tears, amid spiritual confusion, was not suddenly able to recognize, among the tree shadows, the beloved Teacher. Thinking that it was the heli-grader, Maria continued to look into the cave, where the presence of two persons involved in her situation promised more satisfaction to her holy curiosity. Even when the Lord Himself asked her: “Why are you crying, who are you looking for?” - Magdalene, with a strong feeling, but without special attention to the questioner, answered: “Lord, if you took Him, tell me where you laid Him, and I will take him.” "Maria!" - the Lord finally said in that voice from which seven evil spirits once came out of her to torment her. - "Rabbuni!" - she answered in amazement, and wanted to throw herself with joy at the feet of Jesus to hug them. But now was not the time for earthly zeal. “Do not touch Me,” said the Lord, holding back the impulse of holy love; “I have not sighed to My Father: go therefore to My brethren, and say to them: I will ascend to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God” (John 20:15-17). After this, Mary immediately hurried to the apostles. At the same time, the zeal of the other holy women who were at the tomb was also rewarded. When they returned with the Angelic news of the resurrection to the apostles, behold, on the way, suddenly, “Jesus Himself saw me, saying: Rejoice!” In oblivion of everything earthly, the wives fell at His feet, rejoicing and trembling with joy: the Risen One no longer seemed to them the son of Mary alone, but the only begotten of the Father, filled with grace and truth. “Do not be afraid,” said the Lord, “go, tell my brethren, that they may go to Galilee, and there they will see me” (Matthew 28:9–10). Thus ended the first two appearances of the Risen Lord. At first glance, it is clear, brothers, that the Risen Lord was very busy with the thought of quickly calming His disciples who suffered from His Cross. Both from the Angels and from Himself, during both appearances, the same command is repeated: that the wives should go quickly to the disciples with the news of the resurrection. The bliss of the Risen One seemed to Him to be incomplete until it was shared with those whom He “loved to the end” (John 13:1), and who for this reason are now called not disciples, but brethren: “the hands of my brethren.” Meanwhile, Peter and John, having been in the cave at the tomb, now did not see the Risen One themselves, did not even see one of the Angels! - Without a doubt, because for them, as we noticed, the hour of complete joy has not yet arrived; and according to the state of their souls, it was more useful for them to first hear about the resurrection from others than to immediately see the Risen One themselves. Magdalene’s mistaking the Lord for the heli-master (which, however, depended very much on her extreme confusion of spirit, grave sadness, and even the special position of her body near the cave) shows that the glory of the resurrection was already hidden under the roof of flesh, although it had solemnly passed through the gates of death, but had not yet been raised to the full height of heavenly greatness. On the other hand, in the resurrected body of the God-man, new qualities were already revealed (and will be revealed even more in subsequent appearances to the apostles), befitting only glorified bodies. The appearance to Magdalene at the tomb and to the wives on the way, judging by the time of both, could not have happened otherwise than with the ability to be transported instantly from one place to another - to be visible and invisible at will. As a result of this same ability, no doubt, the Angels at the tomb were visible to the women, then invisible to Peter and John, and again visible to Magdalene. In addition, from the Savior’s words to Magdalene, it is clear that He still had to ascend to the Father. Which one and why? – The future ascension to heaven from Olivet followed forty days later; and the Risen One says: I will not ascend, but I will ascend, that is, now, or soon. – Therefore, isn’t this a temporary ascent to the heavenly world? And isn’t this what Saint Paul points to when, counting the main events in the life of the Lord, before the words “ascended” into heaven, he puts: “appearing to be an Angel!” (1 Tim. 3:16). In fact, if, according to Scripture, “all the angels of God were to worship the Risen One” (Heb. 1:6), then there seemed to be no need to deprive them of this bliss for fourty days. Finally, brethren, let us not leave without attention the one who is destined to receive and spread the first news of the resurrection, not John, not Peter, not James - the supreme apostles, but the weak but zealous women who walked with the aromas. The aromas remained unused: but those who carried them, for their love, themselves became “the fragrance of Christ” (2 Cor. 2:15). “The wife,” notes Gregory the Great, “received the first lie from the mouth of the serpent, and the wife, first, heard the joyful truth from the mouth of the Risen Lord Himself; so that whose hand dissolved the drink of death, the same might give the cup of life” (Conversation 25). And we note for all wives that, following the example of the myrrh-bearers, they can edify the salvation not only of themselves, but also of others. The apostle did not command the wife to teach (1 Tim. 2:12), that is, like husbands, in Christian assemblies: but for children, the mother is the first teacher, appointed by God Himself. Let them hear from your lips the first news about their Savior and His resurrection; – and you will be the myrrh-bearer for your home church. Should I finally tell you about the last circumstance that accompanied the Resurrection of the Lord? - Oh, how hard it is on such a bright day to be the narrator of an event that so much darkens and humiliates human nature! But we cannot help but give space in our narrative to what the wisdom of God allowed to become in the history of the Resurrection of Christ; We can only and must mourn what the spirit of malice has managed to produce in people like us. When grief took place the Divine ascent to the Father of truth and bliss; down - in the courtyard of Annas and Caiaphas, a new, terrible descent was taking place, brothers, to the father of lies and death! Having heard from the Custodian about the resurrection, the enemies of the Crucified One, instead of awakening from insensibility and bitterness, coming to their senses, admitting their error and washing it with tears, conceived a new, grave untruth and slander. It is not truly known how their crafty conscience explained the miracle of the resurrection to itself: whether by the theft of the body by the disciples of Jesus, or by the action of dark forces, as they had previously explained the miracles of Jesus Himself: only the unfortunate begged the guards who testified to the resurrection to say: that “the disciples of Jesus came at night and stole him for us sleeping” (Matthew 28:13). Nothing could be more absurd than this lie: for how Should a Roman soldier refer to sleep during the guard? On the other hand, how can the guard testify to the fact that she slept? - And should the disciples dare to kidnap, for whom the voice of a slave was terrible? “If anyone else had decided to steal the body, he would have done it before the guards were assigned to the coffin; and with the guard, he would not hesitate in the cave, remove the burial shrouds and the sir from the head, and lay them out in the order in which Peter and John found them. – If anywhere, according to Chrysostom’s remark, then here “you lie untruthfully to yourself” (Ps. 27:12). But there was no other lie; That’s why they seized on the fact that the first and last fell into an evil mind. The legibility and judgment of the people, “who know no law” (John 7:49), were a little valued: more terrible was Pilate, who, for his persistence in the praetorium in judging Jesus, could now cruelly take revenge on the scribes by proclaiming a truth terrible for them. But gold at that time was stronger than any truth at the Roman court; Therefore, the high priests boldly said to the guard: “If this is heard by the hegemon, we will satisfy him, and we will make you without sorrow” (Matthew 28:14). Hearing this, brethren, many of us, in holy zeal, may think, why did not the Risen One immediately appear in triumph to His enemies and force them to faith? - But what would be the benefit of this phenomenon? – Forced faith is not faith. Moreover, the malice of Jesus’ enemies could have persisted in their unbelief even when the Risen One appeared to them; I could say that the one who appeared either did not die, or was not revived by Divine power. The Risen One acted wiser: He did not appear to Jerusalem Himself, so as, by the way, not to give cause for unrest to the numerous people who flocked to the holiday, but to those worthy in Jerusalem He sent such messengers of His resurrection from Himself, who, like Him, themselves rose from the dead, and therefore had every right to be trusted: I mean those holy people who, according to the testimony of the Evangelist Matthew, rose from graves at the hour of the Lord’s death, and “after the resurrection... they entered the holy city and appeared to many” (Matthew 27:53), - no doubt with the news of the resurrection. And for the stubborn enemies of the truth, whole hosts of witnesses will be raised from among the disciples of Jesus, who will perform all kinds of miracles in the name of the Risen One and will give their lives for the truth of His resurrection. Paul alone will convert the darkness. – The Savior’s own visible activity in relation to the Jews ended with His death. Now, having assumed power on earth and in heaven, He should have had in mind not the Sanhedrin with the Pharisees, but the whole world, and to prepare His disciples for its conversion. His last days on earth, before his ascension to heaven, were dedicated to this last, great goal, as subsequent appearances to His apostles testify to this. But we will talk about these phenomena in due time. Now, brothers, let us dare once again, in the spirit of faith and love, to lift our gaze straight to the face of the risen Lord. With what Divine light this face now shines, in which there was neither appearance nor kindness on Calvary! -Where does this light come from? - All from the Cross. If, let us say in the words of the Risen One Himself, “a grain of wheat, falling into the ground, would not die; then one thing will remain”: now, killed on Calvary, “it will bear much fruit” (John 12:24). Lifted up from the earth by the Cross, the Son of Man will draw everything with Him (John 12:32). Now, cowardly before and the trembling voices of the slaves, the apostles will be clothed with irresistible power from above, will carry the name of the Crucified One to the utmost limits of the universe, will erect a cross where the throne of Satan was, will force those whom the entire universe called gods to worship the cross. Now hosts of martyrs will appear, who for the name of the Risen One will themselves go to the cross and despise all the cruelty of the tyrants. Now societies of holy hermits will arise, and with feats of self-sacrifice they will surprise the disembodied Angels. Everything on earth will take on a different appearance: the whole world will “turn from darkness to light and from the realm of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18); and all this because on Calvary heaven was reconciled with earth, because through the cross all sources of light and life were opened. - Let us stop, brothers, from fearing and running away from the cross; let us love him, in whatever form, wherever and whenever he meets us; Let us kiss him, even if it were necessary to betray his very spirit to the Heavenly Father. We should very much be where the risen Lord and Savior is now; and the way there is neither closer nor surer than from the cross; or better to say, there is only one way there - the cross! Amen. You might be interested in: