Слово в Великий Понедельник, на утрене

: “The Lord is coming to free passion, the apostle said on the way: behold, we are ascending to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed, as it is written about Him. Come, then, we too, with purified meanings, will descend upon Him, and let us be crucified and put to death for His sake with the pleasures of life, so that we may live with Him” (on praise, stichera 1) With this morning, brothers, the holy week of Christ’s suffering began - the most important time in the whole year: therefore, each of these days has long been given the name “Great and Pure.” And these days are truly great because of the extraordinary events that took place in them; truly pure according to the special purity with which true Christians conduct them, and which they can deliver to anyone who accompanies them as they should. That is why the Holy Church now, at the very beginning of great and holy days, fills our ears with a special proclamation, inviting us to celebrate them in a worthy manner; and to make this appeal all the more valid, he addresses it to us on behalf of the Lord Himself: “The Lord is coming to free passion, as the apostle said on the way,” and so on. The Lord spoke about His path to the apostles; but is it possible for everyone who only hears it not to relate what He said? He aroused attention to His sufferings in His first disciples; but what very last student would not feel obliged to do the same? We celebrated all the important events in the earthly life of our Lord: His miraculous conception, glorious birth, marvelous bringing into the church, even more marvelous baptism, and yesterday’s entry into Jerusalem; Can we not share His last moments with Him? Now, now we must especially show love and zeal when everyone leaves Him! Doesn’t He go to the Cross for us? Will not our sins be washed away by His Blood? And we allow ourselves to be absent at this time? No, brothers, come, all of you, small and great, enlightened and simple, old and young, come, let us unite in the spirit of faith and love, and let us follow our Savior with cheerful thought; Let us not ignore a single word of His, let us share all His feelings, let us enter into the spirit of all His actions. And people before death speak and act more strikingly; especially the God-man. So, let’s deepen our attention, and most of all, let’s clear our thoughts. For, just as with eyes filled with dust one cannot see well the greatest and most obvious objects, so with a mind filled with unclean thoughts about earthly goods, it is impossible to contemplate the Divine greatness of Christ’s suffering. But, unfortunately, for many, the meaning and whole soul is never so unclean, filled with the vanities of life, as in this holy and pure week. Worries about completing various tasks before the holiday, worries about preparing various things for the holiday entertain the mind in all directions and dissipate feelings on the most vain subjects. That is why Divine services, even the most important ones, for example, the Hours of Great Friday, are almost not attended at all; other services are not fully attended; much of what is read in the Church, and what is more important, such as the narrative of the four evangelists about the life of Jesus Christ, is omitted without special attention, as extraneous; and the image of Christ’s suffering, drawn by the Church in her rites with such wise detail and touchingness, can be contemplated in its entirety only by the Angels who are present in the churches of God. Ah, brothers! This is not the kind of meaning, scattered, suppressed by earthly feelings, that Holy and Great Week requires from us! We will hear the story of the whole life of our Savior; for when is it more fitting to survey it all, if not before its end? But will he be able to grasp this life in thought if he is so distracted that he does not know his own life at all? We will witness the last conversations of the Lord with His disciples at the Last Supper, but will our heart be able to ignite with the fire of Jesus’ love if it, like the heart of Judas, is where his treasures are? So, for our own sake, brethren, if not for the sake of the Lord, we must in these days collect, as much as possible, all our thoughts and feelings and purify them, otherwise it will be impossible for us to follow our Redeemer; otherwise we will leave Him and remain: some in the court of Caiaphas, with only the outward appearance of piety; who is in Pilate's praetorium, with one face of truth, with washed hands, but with a defiled conscience; who is in Herod's palace, with apparently not malicious, but nevertheless terrible mockery of the simplicity of faith; who is with Judas, with obvious sacrilege or despair. It was not in vain that the Lord Himself said at the onset of His suffering to the apostles: “He who has a vagina, let him take it... and he who has not, let him sell his robe and buy a knife” (Luke 22:36). This means that these days you need to get rid of everything unnecessary and entertaining. What is needed is a knife—the determination to quench all worries, every sinful and carnal desire. Sell, believing soul, now sell everything and buy this wonderful knife: it is not Malchus you need to smite with it, but that old man who in you often cries out against Christ: “Take him, take him, crucify him” (John 19:15). “But where to put the worries of life?” someone will say. “The onset of a great and long-lasting holiday necessarily requires considerable care for everyday things.” We know, brothers, this situation and we grieve that when Christ is on the Cross, Christians are in the marketplace from morning to evening; when Christ in agony exclaims: “I thirst!” (John 19:28) and gets drunk with alcohol, Christians prepare a variety of foods and drinks; when Christ surrenders His spirit to the Father, Christians barely take a breath from the vanities of life. All this has become inevitable for many; but why? Who made it legal for all our everyday needs to flow precisely during the terrible days of the death and burial of the Lord? By whose command does our flesh and blood then most especially lay claim to us and make us their slaves when Christ gives up His Flesh and Blood for us? Was it impossible to satisfy most of the needs, if not all, in the past days in order to devote this week, especially the last days, entirely to the Lord? Are there not people who act in exactly this way, and for whom the carnal therefore does not interfere with the spiritual? What prevents everyone from doing this: paying tribute to the world and the flesh in advance, so that now they can be free for the spirit? “But then the marketplaces are empty.” And who made them be full on the most sacred days and make the churches of God empty, if not our dispersion and love of peace? Marketplaces will follow people, as soon as people follow where they should. But let us not, perhaps, demand a change in the everyday order of things, no matter how bad and unworthy it is for Christians; let us leave the world to rule in its place, even in these days. And at the same time, you can fulfill the requirements of the Church, you can have a purified meaning and descend to Christ amid His suffering in the spirit of faith and love. The upcoming holiday requires preparations: but how much? A good Christian will easily find a way to satisfy all the requirements of the holiday, without being distracted by thoughts and feelings, without losing sight of his Savior. And the apostles went into the city to buy things, and they prepared supper; and the wives of the Equal-to-the-Apostles bought fragrances: but look how holy and pure everything is with them! Why can’t it be like this with us? Only our vanity invents many small, unnecessary needs, and torments itself and others with their satisfaction; only the insatiability of our flesh increases through the measure the needs of bright days, which, in themselves being nourishing for the spirit, therefore require less food for the flesh. So, brothers, the upcoming holiday requires little, because it contains a lot in itself: a lot of spiritual food and drink, a lot of pleasures and sweets of the heart. If in its continuation too much seems to us necessary for the flesh; this is because our spirit does not enjoy the joys contained in the holiday itself; and does not enjoy because he is incapable of tasting spiritual blessings; but he is incapable because, being in slavery to the flesh, he always craved only sensual pleasures, and neglected to cleanse his taste and other feelings. That is why, in general, after being present, often with one body, at the Divine Service, we do not know what else to hold a holiday except in a multitude of dishes, in the noise of amusements, often extending to the darkening of meaning and all feelings. Thus, we have the entire Kingdom of God with its great events, the entire faith with its most holy sacraments, which is most expressed by the most prolonged service to the belly - meat and drink. “Truth and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17), pure delights of the heart, holy delights of the spirit, which constitute the main fruit of faith, the essence of every true celebration, are either not known to us at all, or are known by one name. The condition is truly the most deplorable! And here is the main reason for the transformation of the order of things and all celebrations, especially the real great and holy days. Being ourselves completely earthly, we also earth the feasts of God: being carnal, we make the head of our flesh from the very Cross of Christ. But let us take the opposite path, and everything will take on a different, true and correct form. Let's spend this week as it should; let us fulfill the demands of the Church, let us follow the Lord who is coming to suffer; Let us crucify with Him with all the “sweets of life” and we, without much preparation for the flesh, will find in the coming celebration something that we have never found: inexhaustible food for the spirit and joy for the heart. Enjoying the spiritual benefits contained in holidays will make us indifferent to the sensual benefits associated with them; we will stop measuring the greatness of holy days by the length of our meals and the variety of foods; and along with this, a lot of unnecessary vanities will naturally fall from us, which now take away our precious time and do not allow us to follow our Lord. In this way, the correct order of things, days and activities will be restored by itself, without effort, imperceptibly. I’ll repeat again, brothers, let’s do this holy experience; Let us decide in these days to give as much time as possible to the Lord, and as little time as possible to the world; Let us decide to gather all our thoughts and feelings and direct them towards the coming suffering of the Lord. Many times these holy days have already passed for us without benefit, perhaps even with spiritual harm; Let's carry them out at least once, as it should. Seeing them off this way usually seems boring, and that is why people are most averse to it. And I, on behalf of the Holy Church, on behalf of our Savior Himself who is coming to suffer, I dare to assure you that the proper conduct of these holy days contains such inner sweetness that whoever spends them once as he should will have no need for a new incentive to spend them in this way and always. Amen. You might be interested in: