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The Prophet, having once seen God on the Throne, exalted in glory, and feeling his uncleanness and frailty, exclaimed in horror: “... I am a cursed man, like... this man... having unclean lips... and I have seen the King of the Lord of Hosts before my eyes” (Is. 6:5). What, brethren, should we now tell us that God is in vain, not exalted in glory, but diminished by dishonor, not on the throne, but in the tomb? What should we call ourselves, thinking that these plagues, this tomb, are the work of our hands? Oh, we are accursed people, whose sins not only brought down the Son of God to earth, but also carried us to the Cross and imprisoned us in a tomb! Ah, if sin had not erected a terrible mediastinum between heaven and earth, and we all, like the prophet, would have seen God exalted in glory: the Son of God would have appeared in the human world, as He appears in the angelic worlds; would visit the earth as a householder and friend. With what joy would His intact sons greet and see off His innocent forefather! And now!.. Oh, “who will give our head water, and let us comb out... the fountain of tears” (Jer. 9:1), let us weep day and night over this image, let us weep over the fact that not only did we ourselves fall from the heights of immortality into dust, but we also cast down the Son of God into the tomb! Such, brethren, is the power of sin! It seems like a momentary oblivion of duty, and outrages an entire eternity; takes place in a small area of ​​the earth, but shakes all the heavens; harms, apparently, one person, and the Son of God Himself must suffer to blot it out! Ill-fated forefather, would you have stretched out your hand to the forbidden fruit if you had foreseen what is now before our eyes? Would you want to become like God if you knew that this desire would make God die on the Cross? But the past is irrevocable! A person can only have the present. And because what is impossible for our forefather is completely possible for us, his descendants: we can save our Lord from new suffering. In fact, brothers, the fruits of the forbidden tree grow not only in Eden, but everywhere; The serpent-tempters still do not stop whispering in everyone’s ears: “You will not die by death; You will be like God” (Gen. 3:4–5). By breaking the law of God, we repeat the crime of our forefather; and by repeating it, we thereby again make our Savior suffer. Before committing every lawlessness, He appears before the judgment of our conscience, as He once stood at the trial of Pilate, and expects a verdict from us: it is our will to let Him in and crucify Him. By remaining steadfast in righteousness, true to the truth, we set Jesus free; and by indulging in sin, plunging into iniquity, we condemn Him to the Cross! Crucify your Savior!.. Crucify not out of ignorance, as the Jews did, considering Him the son of a tekton, but with the perfect knowledge that He is the Only Begotten Son of God!.. Who does not shudder at the mere thought of this? Wouldn’t he rather hasten to give his hand to be cut off than agree to raise it against his Lord and Judge? - Yes, brothers! “But what is the use of these fiery feelings of zeal when our deeds show the opposite? In fact, are we not constantly sinning? - Well, do we sin to please our Savior? Do our sins constitute a healing balm for these ulcers? I will repeat: it is in our will to believe or not to believe: but it is an undoubted truth that when we indulge in iniquities, we thereby betray our Lord to death. This is not my word, not fortune-telling from the human mind, but a direct and strong suggestion of the Apostle, who says that people who “have tasted the gift of heaven, and were partakers of the Holy Spirit” (and who among Christians was not partaker of the Spirit, at least in the sacrament of baptism?), that such people, that is, all of us Christians, “falling” from a holy and pure life into the abyss of wickedness and depravity, “the second crucify” the Lord (Heb. 6:4–6). With this testimony, all doubt must be silenced; after this, there is no middle ground: you must either lead a virtuous life, or belong to the number of Jesus’ crucifiers: “Whatever is not with Me is on Me” (Luke 11:23), says He Himself. Which of us is not on You, Lord? Who can stand before this tomb and, kissing these wounds, say: I did not give you the kiss of Judas? - Alas, “everyone has turned aside, and was without the keys: you do not do goodness, not even one” (Ps. 13:3). How much after this, and how do our current worship and magnification differ from those nods of the head, from those greetings: “Hail, King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:29), with which the Divine Sufferer was greeted in Pilate’s praetorium? The worship of sinners to their crucified Savior can have one tolerable meaning, one common sense: when they are united with a firm determination to no longer follow the path of lawlessness, to love purity of conscience and to correct their lives. In this case, the sinner at the Holy Sepulcher is like a prudent thief who directly entered heaven from the cross through repentance. And it is such, brethren, as worshipers among sinners that our Lord now seeks. “If you truly speak the truth” (Ps. 57; D), He now broadcasts to us through the prophet, “if in fact your words and magnifications of Me are not just an idle sound, if you really want to show your love for Me: then “you will judge the sons of mankind with justice” (Ps. 57:1); “Purge away wickedness from your souls. Learn to do good” (Isa. 1:16–17). With these feelings, do not be afraid to appear at this tomb, although it was made by your hands; Do not be afraid to kiss these wounds, although they were caused to Me by your sins: boldly lay down at the foot of My Cross the entire burden of your sins. But, having laid it down, do not return for this burden. The cross of your Savior (if you no longer have the desire to lighten it) will not droop under any weight, but you yourself can be crushed by it and cast into the abyss before you have time to turn to Me and get closer to My Cross. Despite the glory that I now enjoy, I continue to appear to you in the full image of My past exhaustion, so that the most foolish among you may know what your sins cost Me, and where they are leading you. Come to your senses and repent! Otherwise, your every worship of My Cross will one day turn into new evidence against you.” Can we, brethren, say anything better to this voice than the prayer of the thief: “Remember me, Lord... in Thy Kingdom!” (Luke 23:42). But, praying through the lips of a prudent thief, we will also take his heart. He no longer left the cross to continue the path of lawlessness; We will not depart from this tomb to the former path of our untruths. Let us return by a different path - the path of faith and piety, purity and truth, humility and meekness. It is best to begin the burial of your old man at the Holy Sepulcher. Amen. Golgotha ​​and Cross packs! Pack the coffin and the Shroud! So, there are also Pharisees and scribes who, by killing the innocent, “will be inspired to offer service to God” (John 16:2); there are also Judases, kissing with their lips and betraying with their hands; there are also Pilates and Herods, swearing at the truth and washing their hands in the blood of the righteous! But, brothers, are there still faithful and courageous Johns among us to accept the Divine sonship from the cross? Are there any prudent centurions worthy to stand guard at the tomb of the Son of God? Are there Josephs and Nicodemuses who dare to come to Pilate and ask for the Body of Jesus? Are Salomes and Magdalenes there to receive the first news of the Resurrection? The Lord, according to the testimony of the Psalmist, once came from Heaven “to the sons of men, to see, even if they understand, or seek God,” and did not see a single one: “everyone turned away... without the keys, they did not do goodness, not even one” (Ps. 13: 2–3). Now, brethren, in order to see closer, the Lord comes, not from heaven, not from the Throne of Glory, but from the Cross, from the tomb; He begins to see no longer the sons of men, but the sons of His grace: if you understand the power of His death, crucify Him in the spirit. What, Lord, do You see between us now? Is it more or better than before? You see repeated worship, you hear numerous magnifications, but also on Golgotha ​​you saw the nodding of the head, and in Pilate’s praetorium you heard: “Rejoice, King of the Jews!” You see tears in the eyes of some; you hear groaning from the lips of some, but many also returned from Golgotha ​​“with their breasts bruising” (Luke 23:48); and, despite this, Your breasts remained on the cross to be wounded by the spear. No, brothers, this is not what is needed for our Lord and Savior; not for worship and magnification, even the most zealous, not for sighs and tears, even the most bitter, He deigns to appear to us hanging on the cross and lying in the tomb. There must be more at this tomb: here is judgment... for “the world” (John 12:31), judgment for our thoughts, morals and deeds. Here, at the present time, the reckoning of the Householder with the slaves, of the Savior with the souls redeemed by His blood, must take place. “Come,” He tells us through the Prophet, “... come, and let us be exhausted” (Is. 1:18). “Look what I have done for you! “I had your head, and it was crowned with thorns; I had your hands and feet, and they were pierced; I had your heart, and it was opened for you with a copy; I had your flesh and blood, and I gave it for everyone, and to this day I feed you with it in communion. I gave up my one spirit from the Cross, not to you, for at this moment you would not have been able to preserve it, but to the Father; but after My ascension into heaven, I also sent down to you the Holy Spirit from the Father. This is what I have done for you: I am all yours! Reveal what you have done for Me, or even more so for yourself; for all Mine is for you: “Come and let us be filled!” Can we, brothers, deviate from this calling? So, servant of the altar, stand at this tomb and give an account. In order to tear apart the veil of the church, which closed the Holy of Holies from you, and to give you free access to the Throne of Grace, your Savior ascended to the Cross. How do you use your precious right and how do you stand before the Throne of Grace? Do you bestow blessings on yourself and those around you? Do you proclaim to them the ways of the belly? Are you setting an example of a good life? If you rightly rule the word of truth and salvation; if there is no greater joy for you than to see or hear that your spiritual children “walk in the truth” (3 John 1:4) of Christ; if, in case of need, you, following the example of the great Shepherd, are ready to lay down your soul for your sheep, then good for you; You are a priest according to the order of Jesus, approach this tomb with boldness, kiss these wounds, and breathe from them a new spirit of courage and love for new exploits. At the end of your service on earth, you will descend into the tabernacle not made with hands in heaven, “where Jesus was seen as our forerunner” (Heb. 6:20). But if your hands rise up, and your heart constantly spins down; if incense ascends to heaven, and thoughts always wander on earth; if, while standing before the Lord's table and breaking the bread of life for others, you yourself are hungry in spirit, and instead of manna, you are looking for the meat of Egypt, then get away from this tomb; here is holy land: your place is not here, but in the courtyard of Caiaphas. Lord of the fate of your neighbors, who is given the right to knit and decide, stand at this tomb and give an account. And you have no authority, “except it had been given to you from above” (John 19:11); and you perform God's judgment. Do you remember this and hold the scales of righteousness with the fear of God? So that you do not fear for the truth of losing, in case of need, the name of a friend of Caesar, the affection of the mighty of the earth, the Calvary Sufferer acquired for you the name of a friend of God; so that you can always distinguish innocence from crime, weakness from malice, He, to help the twinkling of your conscience, gave the lamp of His word; Do you use this means for the benefit of your neighbors, and do you firmly follow the path of law and duty? If you do not look at faces, you will fight for the truth, no matter how despised it may be by others; if your lyphostroton is not washed with either the blood or the tears of those unjustly condemned: then approach your future Judge and Lord, kiss His wounds and breathe from them new strength to defeat lies and deceit, to battle temptations and enticements, to perform the sacred act of truth. There, at the world court, you will stand at the right hand, receive mercy and be crowned with the crown of righteousness. But if you, having the power to release an innocent person and knowing his innocence, are nevertheless ready to deliver him into the hands of his enemies, so as not to offend their pride; if, instead of judging and protecting innocence, you mock her misfortunes and force her to drag from one court to another; if your truth consists only in washing your hands before the people, then get away from this tomb: your place is not here, but in Pilate’s praetorium! Confidant of wisdom, you, who spend your whole life in the search for truth, in knowledge of the secrets of nature, stand at this tomb and give an account. So that you do not wander in vain through the labyrinth of human errors, and do not disappear in vain thoughts about the beginning and end of things and man, - for this, the Only Begotten Son of God Himself, “who was in the bosom of the Father” (John 1:18), “came into the world and gave us light and understanding, that we might know the true God, and that we might be in His true Son Jesus Christ” (1 John. 5:20). Is this leniency and guidance in your favor? After much work and effort, have you come to know what the truth is? Are you convinced that it does not exist either on earth or in heaven, except in Him Who is truth and the Source of all truths by His very essence, in the Only Begotten Son and Word of God? Having been convinced of this, do you remember that “there is truth in Jesus” (Eph. 4:21); that it consists “not in the exceeding wisdom of men, but in the manifestation of the Spirit and power” (1 Cor. 2:4); not in highbrow dreams, but in “putting aside... the old man, which is corrupted by evil lusts, and put on the new man, created according to God in righteousness and in the likeness of the truth” (Eph. 4:22, 24). If you rightly correct the word of truth, “not hiding it in untruth” (Rom. 1:18), neither your own nor public opinion; if you look at the service of truths as serving God Himself; if the glory of God and the good of your neighbors, and not pride and self-interest, move and guide you in your research, then approach with boldness the tomb of the greatest Witness and Creator of truth; kiss the wounds suffered for the truth, and draw courage for new exploits for the truth. Loving her here, you will accept for her and from her everything in heaven; you will be presented to where there is one truth, one light, one joy. But if the holy truth in your studies serves only as a means to achieving other earthly goals; if you are ready to defend with equal zeal a lie that is beneficial to you; if the fruit of your research was only doubts, transformation of minds, indignation of consciences; if you are ready to mock the truth, because it, like Jesus before Herod, seems strange to you, then get away from this tomb: the holy “riot” of the cross is not for you; your place is not here, but in Herod’s court! Do I need to introduce everyone by name? Everyone who bears the name of a Christian, stand at this tomb and give an account. You were baptized into the death of Christ; you have put on the white robe of Christ’s merits; you have received the betrothal of the Holy Spirit; united forever with Christ, renouncing the world, the devil and all his ministries. How do you do all this? Where is the innocence and spirit? Where is the faith and loyalty? Reveal now, at this tomb, what are you: a student or a traitor, a friend or an accuser? If you spend your whole life as if you had not entered into any obligation with your Savior; If you act in all cases, as if there were no judgment or eternity for you, then why are you here now? Why do you disturb the mortal peace of the Divine Sufferer? What is the communion of this cross and your beliar? What fellowship is there between this tomb and your mammon? – You have other deities: go, worship them; you have other ulcers: go, kiss them. So, brothers, at the tomb of Christ there is only a place for innocence or repentance. Souls faithful to the Lord, Josephs, Nicodemus, Salome, Magdalene - appear! This is your place, this is your time! The Divine Sufferer needs the Shroud: clothe Him with your holy thoughts; He needs myrrh: imagine your prayers. Angels of God, appear and replace us, unworthy of facing the great guard! But, brothers, earthly Angels, like heavenly ones, are always on Divine guard; they always bear "the marks of their Lord" (Gal. 6:17). Their very belly is always “hidden... with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). What are we talking about ourselves? How can we reconcile our uncleanness with the inaccessibility of this sacred place? Shall we dare to approach the tomb of the Life-Giver? But will not kissing with unclean lips be a new plague for the most pure Body? Do we dare, persecuted by our iniquities, to leave the Lord lying in the tomb? But who are we going to? (John 6:68). “There is... no other name under heaven... in which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12), except His all-sanctifying name. What shall we do, brothers? Let us do what Peter did when he rejected the Lord. Having left this church, having moved away from this tomb, in some holy solitude, let us wash away our former iniquities with bitter tears, and let us vow not to henceforth reject the Lord and His Holy Law. After such repentance, the Lord will not reject us either; and if he does not give us the keys, as a repentant apostle, then at least he will not close the doors of the kingdom from us. Amen. One pious hermit had to say something to the brethren who were expecting instruction from him. Imbued with a deep sense of human poverty, the elder (Reverend Macarius the Great, Egyptian), instead of any instruction, exclaimed: “Brothers, let us begin to cry,” - everyone fell to the ground and shed tears. I know, brethren, that you too are now awaiting words of edification, but my lips involuntarily close at the sight of the Lord resting in the tomb. Who dares to rant when He is silent?.. And what can you say about God and His truth, about man and his untruth, that these plagues would not say a hundred times more powerfully? Whoever is not touched by them, will he be touched by the weak word of man? There was no sermon at Golgotha: there was only weeping and beating of one’s heart (Luke 23:48). And at this tomb there is no place for ranting, but for repentance and tears. Brothers! Our Lord and Savior is in the tomb: let us begin to pray and cry. Amen. : “Let all human flesh be silent, and let it stand with fear and trembling and think of nothing earthly within itself! The King of kings and Lord of lords comes to sacrifice and be given as food to the faithful.” This is the teaching of the Church for all these days! “The events now being remembered,” she seems to say, “are above the word of man; the mind itself cannot contain them: therefore, let us abandon all ranting, remove all earthly thoughts, let us stand in silence with spiritual fear and trembling; Let us watch, listen and learn.” Obeying this voice of the Church, I, brothers, would not have opened my weak lips if I had not seen the need, and had not had the goal of bringing both you and myself closer to this desired silence of spirit and body, which the Church requires. Oh, how it is needed here! How necessary it is for us, as we surround the tomb of our Savior, to silence everything carnal within ourselves, to elevate our minds and hearts above everything earthly! The King of kings and Lord of lords comes to slaughter: will we be distracted spectators of this slaughter? Slaughtered, He wants to give Himself as food for the faithful: is there a place for the cries of flesh and blood? Oh, may everything earthly now disappear from our minds, and may Jesus remain alone with His Cross! Is He not enough for our mind? Isn't He enough for our hearts? What miracles, what secrets are not hidden in these plagues! Look! Do you see how God is an immutable truth, for which sin is unbearable to the point that it affects even the Only Begotten Son, who bore our sins? Do you see how God is incomprehensible wisdom, whose paths are as far apart from our paths as heaven is from earth? Who could expect the world to be saved from the Cross? Who could have thought that the eternal belly would be enclosed in a coffin? Do you see further how God is perfect love, “no longer falling away” (1 Cor. 13:8), pursuing those he loves to the depths of hell itself, and making himself a sacrifice for them? Do you see, finally, how all the properties in God are one: love is the same truth - merciful, and truth is the same love - cleansing and healing? It is you who can see through these ulcers, in vain grief - to God: look down through them, at the world, and the secrets of the existence of the world and man will be revealed to you. Here is an explanation of everything that has happened: for what is the cross made of? From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Whose hand made it? The one who reached out to the forbidden fruit. Here is an explanation of our present. We are all under the cross, burdened with various disasters: for what? So that, like the Sufferer of Calvary, having completed the field of suffering, he would ascend through it into primeval glory. Here is an explanation of our future. The tomb of Jesus is empty: why? Because all the coffins will one day be empty, giving up their dead. The monk “was not given to see corruption” (Acts 2:31), so that all like Him would one day be clothed in blissful immortality. It was not in vain that at the hour of His death the earth itself shook, the sky itself darkened, the veil was torn, the dead rose from their graves: on Golgotha ​​the fate of not only humanity, but the whole world was decided; there all creation is redeemed into the freedom of the glory of the children of God! There are so many secrets in the tomb of Jesus for faith and hope: is there any less for love? Do you want to know how to love God and your neighbor? – Don’t ask anyone about this: look at the crucified Lord and you will know what true love means. Do you want to know to what extent patience, humility, devotion and gentleness should be extended? Don’t think too much about these virtues: look at the crucified Lord, and you will see where their limit is and what the measure is. Are you looking for incentives to repent, means to warm a heart frozen from sin? Embrace the life-giving Body with your thoughts: if it does not warm your heart, then only the flames of hell remain for it. You will find everything in the Savior’s tomb, you will learn everything from the Cross: only, presenting yourself to this tomb, silence everything earthly within you, remove vanity and worries from yourself, part with the world, remain alone with Jesus. Oh, stay! Can’t you really be with Him for even one hour? And why stay? In order to receive forgiveness of sins from Him; in order to hear: “Today you will be with Me in paradise” - justification, so that later you will be in paradise of eternal cohabitation. Without this, what is the use of standing at the Cross, of worshiping the tomb? With scattered thoughts, the good impressions received here will immediately dissipate; the fire of heavenly love, kindled from the tomb, will soon go out from the insolent breath of passions; The cries of flesh and blood will not slow down to drown out the quiet voice of an awakened conscience. The Holy Church sees this danger, and that is why she so carefully warns against it. Let all human flesh be silent, brethren, and let it stand here with fear and trembling, and let nothing earthly think within itself. Amen. When children gather at the grave of their father, or subjects at the grave of their ruler, then after tears and lamentation, the first thing they do is find out the last will of the deceased. In the past days, brothers, we too have lamented, sighed and prayed, remembering the suffering and death of our Lord. The time is now, surrounding His tomb, to find out His last will for us. It cannot be that He departed from us to the Father without leaving us some kind of testament. But behold, the book of the covenant is on His feet! Let us dare, brothers, let us dare to open up this sacred book, so that we will see and hear “what the Lord says about us” (Ps. 84:9). O brethren, He “speaks peace to His people” (Ps. 84:9). “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you: not as the world gives, I give to you” (John 14:27) “And I bequeath to you, as My Father bequeathed to Me, a kingdom” (Luke 22:29). My God, is this a will for us? Lord, should we sit on the throne on which You sit? But Your Kingdom, Your will! Without You we are all nothing, with You each of us is everything! It was not in vain that you ascended the Cross: after this miracle, there are no miracles, everything is natural. It is Your will that where You are, Your servant should also be (John 12:26). It is not for the servants to contradict this holy will. We are ready, Lord, ready to share with You the glory of Your Kingdom. But tell us, what do we need to accept this Kingdom? You yourself did not suddenly ascend to the throne. It cannot be that it was given to us to ascend it suddenly. “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and come after Me” (Mark 8:34). “Whoever does not accept his cross and comes after Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). Not a light scepter for the Kingdom, but a scepter! Not a golden crown of thorns, but a crown! He who speaks from the grave can demand life. He who laid down His life for us (John 10:15–17) will not give us stones instead of bread (Matthew 7:9). Ready, Lord, ready to accept the cross from Your hands. But what should we do when we faint under this cross? -You Yourself know how “the spirit... is willing”, and “the flesh... is weak” (Mark 14:38). You yourself cried out for help when you were abandoned on the cross by the Father. Where should we turn when we are exhausted under the cross on the way to the Kingdom that You have bequeathed? “Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God and believe in Me” (John 14:1). “...without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). But “if you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you” (John 15:17). “Amen, amen, I say to you: believe in Me, the works that I do, he will do the same and greater works, because I am coming to My Father” (John 14:12). “Amen, amen, I say to you, for whatever you ask from the Father in My name, He will give it to you: hitherto, do not ask for anything in My name: ask, and you will receive...” (John 16:23, 24), “...and whatever you ask (from the Father) in My name, these things I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13). “These words have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace: in a world of sorrow you will be: but be of good cheer, (for) I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). After such promises, brothers, there is no place for fear and doubt. The covenant is true: sealed with blood, witnessed by heaven and earth, accepted and confirmed by the Father! And after such a covenant there is no room for ranting. And they do not add their own words to human covenants; shall we dare to add to God’s covenant? Everyone who “has ears to hear” heard, heard the last will of his Lord: if you want the kingdom, accept the cross; If you faint under the cross, turn to the Father; The Father will hesitate to hear, the Son will appear to help. “Only be faithful... until death” (Rev. 2:10), and whoever you are, you will sit on the throne (Rev. 3:21) bequeathed to you. Heaven and earth will pass away, but the word of Him who died will not pass away (Matthew 24:35), will not pass away. All that remains is to hand over the priceless will to someone for safekeeping. But who can become a matchmaker between earth and sky? You are one, “the Advocate of God and men” (1 Tim. 2:5). We have received this covenant from You, but we dare to entrust it to You for safekeeping. You bequeathed, You will fulfill! Reflecting on the extraordinary event that we are now remembering, delving into the cause and purpose of the death of our Lord on the cross, I involuntarily, brethren, stopped with this thought on one event in the history of the people of Israel, which, despite its smallness in comparison with the event of Golgotha, has a remarkable similarity with it. The Israelites, as the holy historian writes, had a fierce war with the Moabites. The king of Moab exhausted all means to repel the enemies, but without success. Finally, besieged within the walls of his royal city, he turns to the last extreme: he takes his firstborn, who has already shared the throne with him, raises him to the wall of the city, and in the eyes of all enemies, brings him as a propitiatory burnt offering. Such an unprecedented act accomplished something that neither courage nor weapons could do: the besiegers immediately stopped the siege and warfare and returned home. And there was, says the sacred historian, “great repentance in Israel... and they returned to their land” (2 Kings 3:27). Is it necessary to say in detail, brothers, how this striking incident leads to what we now remember? Ah, and before us is the sacrifice, and before us is the beloved Firstborn, offered as a burnt offering by the hand of the Father! And why was He brought? Warfare, terrible war, has been going on between man and God for a long time. The Heavenly King did everything to admonish His enemies: he thundered curses against them, and showered them with gifts and blessings, and forced the heavens to tell His glory, and commanded the earth to shake from the glory; wrote the law both on hearts of stone and on tablets of stone; but the abuse continued! The blinded descendants of the unfortunate forefather continued to believe more in the destroyer serpent than in the Creator and Provider; no one put aside the insane desire to be “like Bozi” (Gen. 3:5); everyone walked boldly against the rules of heaven. What does the King of Heaven finally do? Alas, He also takes His beloved Son, “And in Him make the heir of all, and in Him also make the worlds” (Heb. 1:2), He takes Him, and in the face of the whole world lifts Him up on the Cross, saying: “Whoever has seen Him will be put to shame by the death of My Son!” (Luke 20:13). And much was truly brought to shame. The sun was humbled, hiding its rays in the middle of the afternoon; the earth was humbled, shaking at its foundations; the stones and the veil of the church were disgraced, tearing apart at the moment of the death of the Son of God; death itself was put to shame, giving freedom to rise from the graves of many bodies of the departed saints (Matthew 27:52). But people, people, oh, they were not ashamed! The son has been slain, but the battle continues! The sacrifice has been made, but spiritual Jerusalem is under siege! Do we see much repentance before Calvary? Only two - Petrovo and Judino, but the latter of them immediately ended in eternal warfare. How much also happened from repentance on Golgotha ​​of those who, “seeing what happened, struck their breasts”? Beating each other, they returned, as the Evangelist notes, home, while the body of the Divine Sufferer continued to hang on the cross. What do we see now at this tomb? The spectacle of a bloody sacrifice gathers many spectators around it every time; flesh and blood involuntarily fall silent, for a while, at the sight of the bloody flesh of the Son of God; the world, driven by the cross, apparently runs away and hides itself; With the death of the Lord, the conscience of many comes to life, but several days of sadness pass, the image of the Divine Sufferer is carried away from the eyes, and again the battle with heaven begins, and again they rush to break the seal of peace and the covenant confirmed by the blood of the Son of God. What is the reason for the small effect on our hearts of the death of the Son of God? Small sacrifice? But the King of Heaven has no other Son. Isn't the cross big and heavy? But it made the earth shake. Is there not enough fire in the burnt offering to warm cold hearts? “But turn and see, even if there is sickness, it is His sickness!” In us, in ourselves, brothers, the reason for our insensibility and fossilization: and is it difficult to discover it? In order for the image of the suffering and death of Christ to have a constant effect on our life, it is necessary for this to pass from the shroud into our soul, so that it remains there not for two or three days, but always. Only in this form, assimilated by the soul and heart, can this Divine image act on our lives and save us from sins. But how many Christians are there for whom the image of the suffering of their Savior is constantly depicted in their soul and heart? And can he be depicted there when we think so little and so rarely about the death of our Lord on the cross? In this church there are people who have devoted themselves to science: I ask them in the name of the crucified Lord: how many times have they thought about His death the way they constantly think about the subjects of their science? In this church there are people dedicated to the service of truth, justice and laws; I ask them: have they delved, at least once in their lives, into the great dispute between heaven and earth, into the great litigation of God with man, with the zeal with which they delve daily into the unimportant litigations and bickerings of men? In this church there are a considerable number of people who will buy; I ask them too: have they measured with their minds at least once the entire magnitude of the Cross of Christ, have they weighed the entire severity of their sins? I don’t think there are many people among us who are able to give an affirmative answer to these questions. How, after this, can the Savior act on our hearts, when He Himself is not in this heart, when He remains on cold boards and curbs! As is the sowing, so is the harvest. We devote only a few hours a year to the remembrance of Christ’s suffering, and precisely in these hours we noticeably become better; Some people get good impressions from them for many days. But try to do more for your Lord, decide to devote at least a few hours every week to thinking about His death; In this way, allow His image to enter your soul and become close to it, and you will see what a change will occur in your thoughts, feelings, and then in your deeds and life itself. The Lord, having entered the church of the soul, will not leave those who sell and buy there, he will drive them out and make it clean. You yourself, by placing yourself on Calvary as often as possible, you yourself will learn to look at everything from its holy height; and looking from there, you will see something completely different in the whole world than what you imagined before; You won’t even want to look at many things that now catch your eye; and on the contrary, in many ways that are now completely unnoticeable to you, you will discover true greatness; the wide paths of the world leading into the abyss will appear to you with all their tortuous danger; and the narrow path leading to the Kingdom will appear in all its heavenly straightness and brevity. In a word: looking from Golgotha, you will involuntarily look straight into Heavenly Jerusalem. After this, nothing in the world will force you to take your eyes off heaven and be separated from your Savior. The Church does everything to help us in this great work: it sets aside two days each week to remember the suffering and death of Christ. If we, together with her, every Wednesday and Friday, even if only a little, shared these memories, then the image of Christ’s suffering would have long ago filled our entire soul. But this wonderful remedy remains unused; Many of us don’t even know what Wednesday and Friday mean. After this, how can the image of Christ’s suffering be in our soul when we do not try in the least to revive and affirm it in it? And if he is not revived and not established in the soul, how can he revive and confirm the soul in goodness? But such frequent reflection on the death of the Lord can make our life dull; this would mean extending Holy Week over the whole year. – And we are afraid of this, afraid to stay with our Savior and His Cross for several longer than the appointed days and hours? Alas, this very thing constitutes our illness; This is why it happens that the Cross of Christ does not have any effect on our morals and life. How many weeks, months, maybe years do we spend for the world and with the world; and when we need to spend time with the Lord, we look at “days” then, “and months and times!” (Gal. 4:10). Exactly, frequent reflection on the sufferings of the Savior should drive away from us many crazy joys, drive out the riot of feelings, extinguish the flame of passions, force us to break more than one unclean connection, but along with this deprivation (if we can call the rejection of what destroys us deprivation) a source of new consolations and pure joys will open for us from under the Cross of Christ, of which we now do not know at all: we will learn what it is tenderness of the heart, peace of the soul with God and conscience, firmness amid the vicissitudes of earthly happiness, peace of mind on the bed of death; but we will await the transition to another world not like unfaithful slaves caught in flight, but like children returning to the Father. Ah, brothers, no matter how much we try to forget the frailty of our earthly existence, the last hour will finally strike for us, the Great Heel will come for us too - the terrible day of death, after which we will have to rest in the heart of the earth until the general resurrection! Then everything will naturally fall out of your hands, and one cross will be placed in them. But can this weapon protect us then if throughout our lives we have never taken it in our hands and have not learned to use it?.. Let us take care in advance to make friends with the death of our Lord; let us, like Joseph, take Him down from the Cross, and place Him in a new tomb, in our hearts, “where,” perhaps, “never again” He lay (John 19:41); and we, like the myrrh-bearers, at any time convenient for us, will go to this Divine Sufferer and cry over Him about our sins. The Lord will not remain in our debt: we will thus share with Him His temporary death, and He will share eternal life with us. And without this constant fellowship with the Cross of the Lord in your heart, do not expect action from Him in your life. Our cold worship and kisses can no more resurrect us than they can revive Him. Amen. By the mercy of the Lord, we again reached the sufferings of Christ in the most honorable days, we still worshiped yesterday with the most pure passion of Christ, and now we stand above the very tomb of our Savior and Lord. Many of our brethren, who departed from us last summer to heaven, now behold the glorified Jesus; but for us, covered with flesh, subject to misfortunes and sorrows, we must still look to the suffering Jesus. Which is better? – Jesus is one and the same, in heaven and on earth, on the throne of glory and in the tomb. And if we, from time to time, are in heaven in thought, then the inhabitants of heaven, I think, not only in thought, but with their whole being, are now with us on earth, at the common tomb of our and their Savior. With Him there is no change! Look: the same plagues, the same crown of thorns, the same heart open to all sinners. Our sweetest Jesus is all one and the same! What's wrong with us? What are we like? – I no longer ask, are they the same as those who came out of the baptismal font? Looking for the innocence of our early days is the same, I think, as looking for Adam’s innocence. Are we the same, at least, as we were recently, after confession and the Sacrament of Communion? Alas, when our Lord is one and the same, and we are all almost the same! – He is the same in love for us, in humility and patience; but we are the same in love for the world, in pride, in resentment and intemperance! – He is one and the same in the desire to save us with His blood; and we are the same in our unwillingness to lag behind the insane demands of flesh and blood! Now we repent and cry about our sins, and tomorrow we are ready to rush headlong into the same abyss! With years we bow down, but with sins we become younger; We lead, one after another, to the grave of friends and acquaintances, but we don’t even think about our own grave. O sin, where did you get the power to tyrannize over us like this? About passion, who gave you the right to drag us to the bottom of hell with such impunity? “Son of man,” the Lord once asked the prophet, before whom there was a field of dead bones, “will these bones live?” (Ezek. 37:3). And we, Lord, dare to ask You, will our bones come to life? Will our inner man rise from the grave? Will there be an end to our corruption? Will the “day” of our “salvation” ever come? “Now, brethren,” answers the Apostle of the Lord (2 Cor. 6:2), “now is the favorable time, now is the day” of our “salvation”; for now is the day of reconciliation with God of the whole world. If sowing Blood was meant to cleanse the whole world, is one thing missing for you? And if you now, at the tomb of the Savior, do not part with sin, then when will you do this? You saw on the third day how a sinner washed away all her sins with her tears; You heard yesterday how the thief went from the cross to heaven through heartfelt confession. This is the path to follow, this is the example to follow! What's easier than that? Have you no tongue to confess with the thief the crucified Lord? Are there no eyes for washing, together with the sinner, with the tears of His most pure feet? How! You cannot hold back your tears in the theater, at the sight of fictitious disasters, and persons who are completely alien to you, and have never even existed, and you will not shed tears at the sight of your Savior hanging on the Cross for you, at the thought of your own destruction from sins? Just decide from now on to be faithful to your Lord; just stop loving sin sincerely, take the right path and don’t look back; - and we, despite all our unworthiness, in the name of the Lord who rested in the tomb, promise you pardon and are ready to become a witness of your salvation at His Last Judgment. But if, my dying brother, you leave this sacred ceremony as you leave a theater after sad spectacles; if these bloody ulcers suffered for you do not force you to take care of healing the ulcers of your conscience, then know that the Lord will not always rest for you in this form in the tomb; no, He will rise and appear to you, surrounded not by us, His weak servants, but by tens of thousands of Angels, and will demand from you an account of your deeds and His Blood - not with our weak lips, but with the voice of many thunders (Rev. 10:3). Then it will be too late, like the holy fools, to seek the oil of love and good deeds. The lamp will go out, the doors will be closed (Matthew 25:10) - and you will remain in total darkness. “Have ears to hear and let him hear!” (Matthew 25:30). Amen. Among the various means to which the judge of Jesus turned to free the Divine Prisoner from execution on the cross, it was that our Lord, after the cruel scourging performed on Him, was immediately taken by Pilate from the praetorium to the people, in the hope that the sight of the body drenched in blood, the head crowned with thorns, would bend the hearts of His enemies to pity. “Indeed, this sight was so touching that the first judge, looking at the Divine Sufferer, could not contain the feelings of pity and compassion, and loudly exclaimed: “Behold a man!” Behold,” that is, as Pilate would say to the Jews, “your sacrifice!” Look how, to please you, she is tortured! how little human image remains in this man! The Holy Church, in order to arouse in each of us spiritual participation in the suffering of our Savior, in the previous days used various means for this: and now, as if at the conclusion of all methods of persuasion, she wears before us the very image of the most pure Body of the Lord in the form in which it, taken from the Cross, was laid in the tomb, and worn out, leaves it before us until the very day of the Resurrection; so that we, having all the convenience of looking at the wounds of our Savior, know by the number and depth of them how numerous and serious our sins are, involuntarily receive an aversion to a lawless life and stop crucifying our Savior again with our sins. The judge of Jesus did not achieve, as we know, the goal of his good intention; fierce: “Crucify him, crucify him!” (Luke 23:21) - was the answer to his touching exclamation: “Behold a man!” We are, apparently, much happier than him in this regard; for, wearing this holy image before you, we never hear what he heard, but listen to the opposite: everyone swears not to give a kiss, “like Judas..”. But, my brethren, despite all this, is it possible to be firmly confident that we are now able to do more for our beloved Lord than His Roman judge? There is only one true sign of success in this case: a decrease in wickedness and vices among us, an increase in faith, love and other virtues. Is this decisive sign in our favor? Shepherds of this city, last week you received confession of sins from the lips of all its inhabitants: tell me, is it possible for you, appearing now before this Great Shepherd, to declare that this summer your hearing suffered less from the terrible story of dark affairs? Rulers and judges, in whose hands are the scales of law and truth for our entire country, tell me, can you now testify before this Judge of heaven and earth that the weight of crimes lying on your scales does not increase, but decreases, that those who bear the name of Christ begin to annoy you less with their untruths than the enemies of the Cross of Christ? – And when our shepherds and rulers cannot, brothers, present good testimony for our morals, then who and what will now vouch for us before our Lord and Savior? What should altar servers do now amid such futility of their ministry? Should they not therefore take this holy image from our eyes, and should they not hide it, like the Ark of the Covenant, among the Holy of Holies, so that it would be there an object of pure contemplation and worship for only the Angels of God who are present in our churches?.. But what will we present to you in return for this that is more touching?.. And if from the Cross and the Shroud of the Lord some return straight to the path of unrighteousness, then what? what will happen if this touching sight does not appear before their eyes? - Or, perhaps, like the judge of Jesus, we, brethren, should wash our hands over this image before all of you and say, like him: “we are innocent of the blood of this righteous man”; We did everything on our part so that you would understand the price of this Divine Blood, so that it would not fall on your heads. But, alas, what would we achieve in this way? Should our own innocence occupy us when your soul is perishing?.. No, like Jeremiah, who sat and wept on the ruins of his beloved Jerusalem, we, brothers, must sit mentally at the ruins of the image of God in you, must, until the last minute of your and our lives, use all means to ensure that this image is again restored in all its glory. And we will do this; Let us, according to our conscience and the example of the Apostle, insist “timely,” and even “untimely,” until the heavenly Master Himself calls us from His spiritual guard. But, fulfilling the duty of our calling, at the same time, brothers, we pray to you yourself, not to completely neglect the salvation of your souls, to pay at least some attention to the abyss of sin in which many are still located. It is impossible for such people to be completely satisfied with their sinful state, so that their conscience has not long ago inspired them that unless they repent, they will certainly perish. Probably, many of these have already made a vow more than once to correct their lives, to leave all harmful and dishonest habits, to reconcile with God and conscience... What was the matter, beloved? When is it better to begin this repentance, if not now, at the Holy Sepulcher? “Now, now is the time favorable, behold, now, now is the day of salvation!” (2 Cor. 6:2). The time is favorable; for everything around us now encourages repentance; day of salvation: for the day of the death of the Lord, raised up for the salvation of the whole world. With this in mind, we now especially consider it our duty to raise our voices and, in the words of the Apostle of Christ, to cry out to each and every one: “Be reconciled with God!” (2 Cor. 5:20). Great and small, noble and inglorious, rich and poor, wise and foolish - everyone who is a sinner - and, therefore, everyone who is a man - “be reconciled to God!” Stop annoying the Almighty and Good One with your sins; stop wearying His mercy with your bitterness and unrepentance, so that you will not cry and beg, but no one will hear you. “Make peace!” Let every sinner fall before this tomb and say with tears: Lord and Master of my life! I fully feel how much I have offended Your kindness and long-suffering, wandering hitherto along all the paths of sin and iniquity, constantly doing the will of the flesh and my bad thoughts. Forgive me my foolishness, pride and anger: I myself did not know what I was doing. Now I see all the abomination of my deeds, and I come running to You with repentance. End of unbelief and bitterness! An end to evil and lawlessness! - Henceforth I am Your servant, a doer of Your law, a zealot for the glory of Your name. As much as I loved sins, I will love Your holy law a hundred times more. Accept my confession and grant me strength to fulfill my vow. Such a prayer from a repentant and contrite heart will be, brothers, the most pleasant offering for our Lord and Savior resting in the tomb. To receive this gift from sinners, He now appears in this holy image. May this phenomenon not be without fruit for each of us! Amen! “There is a custom... that I will release one thing to you at Passover: if you want, (yes) I will release to you the King of the Jews; And you cried out, saying: not this one, but Barabbas. But Barabbas is a thief” (John 18:39–40). Here, finally, in the midst of the lawless trial of Jesus, is the voice of the people about Him - that voice, in favor of which there are now so many false and insane exclamations in different countries! Here, finally, is the verdict on Jesus and the so-called free public assembly - that verdict, the imaginary impartiality of which entire kingdoms and peoples are so pathetically seduced! – And Pilate, like today’s sages, was confident in the superiority of virtue over vice, which is why he considered it completely sufficient to place only the innocent Jesus before the people’s assembly along with Barabbas, in order to save Him from execution on the cross; but what happened? Instead of the voice of God, which is sometimes used to call the voice of the people, a terrible voice of the spirit of malice was heard from the lips of the Jews: “Not this one, but Barabbas!” .. Stop it, unfortunate voters! What did the Prophet of Galilee do to you that you condemn Him so mercilessly to death? Was it not He who opened the eyes of your blind men? Healed your lepers? Cast out demons? Raised the dead? Didn't He teach each and everyone the ways of the eternal life? On the other hand, what did Barabbas deserve your love and preference over Jesus? Wasn’t it because of him that the hailstones and peaceful scales trembled for so long? Is it not him who is still cursed for robbery and murder by wives deprived of spouses, mothers deprived of children? Don’t you yourself, finally, pray daily both in the church and in your homes for the coming of the Messiah, Who now stands before you, awaiting your verdict? No one can say anything to the contrary; and yet everyone cries out: “Not this one, but Barabbas!” Why? Because the Divine person and the holy teaching of Jesus do not correspond to the passions and popular prejudices of the Jews; because He does not satisfy and does not show a desire to satisfy those dreamy expectations that everyone has created in his mind regarding the person and actions of the Messiah. There is no doubt that the unfortunate Jewish voters in this case followed not even their own, albeit erroneous, opinion, but someone else’s instigation; There is no doubt that the Pharisees and scribes have now instilled in them many very false concepts about the face and actions of Jesus: that He is “a friend of the tax collector and a sinner” (Matthew 11:19); that He “keeps not the Sabbath” (John 9:16); what if “he casts out demons, except for Beelzebub, the prince of demons” (Matthew 12:24); that even if he were innocent, “then one man will die for the people, and not the whole tongue will perish” (John 11:50) - from the vengeance of the formidable Romans, if He is recognized as the Messiah and King of the Jews. But, my brethren, is the best result of all this the lawless sentence which the Jewish people now pronounced upon Jesus? Does this unfortunate public blindness inspire less disgust and horror? – If the Son of God, the Savior of men, handed over to the judgment of popular opinion, could not find a preference for himself over Barabbas and was condemned to death, then what innocence and what virtue can be sure that the voice of a blinded people will not sacrifice them, if not to their own, then to alien passions and whims? So, you see, when and where the blindness of the opinions and judgments of the people appeared in full force, to which the false wisdom now imagined to subordinate the improvement of human societies! The question of this was resolved at Golgotha, during the trial of the Savior of the world. – And what do we see among those peoples who in recent days, jealous of Pilate’s example, had the madness to surrender their public good to the opinion and judgment of one and all? How many wise and virtuous people have already been exchanged for Barabbas and robbers! “But the Jews, with all their blindness, still showed themselves to be wiser than the sages of the present century: they only asked for Barabbas’ freedom, but did not leave him as head and leader over them, and in our unfortunate times Barabbas comes straight from prison to sit on the lypho-stroton, and with hands unwashed from blood they brazenly take the rod of popular government!.. Let us thank the Lord, my brothers, for the fact that we are far from these crazy vacillations of a perverse mind, far both in place, and even more so in the spirit that prevails in our blessed Fatherland. Meanwhile, having now gathered at the foot of the crucified Savior of ours, Who came “to pacify all things with His Cross” (Col. 1:20), let us think about what a Christian, under present circumstances, “befits to create” as being pleasing to God and therefore beneficial to the soul, and what to reject as being repugnant to God and therefore harmful to the soul. What worries and troubles the unfortunate kingdoms and peoples today? The idea of ​​how best to organize human society, to whom to entrust power and strength in it: one or all and everyone. First of all, let us note, my brothers, that this very question in the eyes of a true Christian is already unbelief and blasphemy. As if the Providence of God, without whose will not a single hair falls from our heads, could leave the fate of entire kingdoms to the mercy of chance, and did not reveal His sovereign will on how and from whom they should be governed? Isn’t it said with all clarity in the word of God that the Most High Himself owns “the kingdom of men, and to Him He delights and gives it” (Dan. 4:22). Doesn’t God Himself say through the mouth of the Wise One: “By me kings reign, and the mighty write righteousness” (Proverbs 8:15). Is it not He Himself who therefore forbade all disobedience to the holding power, saying: “there is no... authority except from God; In the same way, if you resist authority, you resist God’s commandment” (Rom. 13:2). After this, why should we be perplexed and question what has been decided and approved by God Himself? But let us imagine for a moment that the lot of kingdoms and the way of governing nations is given to the will of the people themselves: what example is best to follow in choosing it, if not the example of God Himself? For the kingdoms of men obviously cannot have an institution better than the one instituted by the Kingdom of God. But it was established in such a way that not only strict order and subordination, but also autocracy are visible everywhere in it. To be completely convinced of this, let us walk with our thoughts through the immeasurable Kingdom of God and, first of all, we will ascend, albeit unworthy, to heaven. Do you see the countless hosts of Cherubim and Seraphim, the immeasurable faces of Archangels and Angels? All are bright, all are pure, all are powerful, all are blissful: but all maintain an unchangeable order and subordination. The lower ones receive illumination from the higher ones, the higher ones - from the highest ones, these - from the first and oldest; and all are united forever under one Head - the Only Begotten Son of God, Who is the Lord of the Cherubim and Seraphim, the Beginning-Leader of the Archangels and Angels. Isn’t a similar order and order seen in the sky we see? In the middle is the sun, like the head and king, around it, according to immutable laws, the planets revolve, followed by satellites, or moons. The comets themselves, in their peculiar race, maintain their dependence on the sun: they return to it alone and leave it from it alone, as if having received a new purpose. If this order, this strict subordination, is disrupted even for one minute, our whole world will shake at its very foundations. Let's come down from heaven to earth and see what's on it. Here, after the fall of the ruler of the earth, our ill-fated ancestor, there is no longer primitive perfection and harmony; and yet, everywhere there is dependence and subordination of the lower to the higher, everywhere the law of unity. There is not a single division, greater or lesser, among earthly creatures that does not represent some kind of hierarchy, which is why they are not called headless societies, but kingdoms, in which beings endowed with the most excellent qualities are even called kings. Let's look at the man himself: in his body there are many members, but they are all ruled by the head, and she is one. There are many abilities in his soul, but the mind reigns over all, and it is one. Anarchy and equality reign among wild animals on earth; for this reason, not one of them can meet with another living creature, so as not to inflict or suffer death, at least harm and fear. Let us finally go down in thought, in the light of the word of God, even into hell (may the Lord grant that we go there with one thought, and precisely so as not to ever go there in reality!). Where is there more rebellion and anarchy than in hell? For where did hell and Gehenna come from, if not as a result of the rebellion of Angels in heaven against the Almighty? – But the spirits of evil also understood that, with perfect equality and anarchy, no society could exist: and those who in heaven did not want to obey the Almighty Creator and Benefactor, in hell must servile before the commands of Satan, the destroyer of all things!.. Do you see now how the whole world, visible and invisible, is held together? -He behaves with obedience and subordination. Do you see, first of all, what is the main law that rules in the Kingdom of God? – The law of order and autocracy. How, after this, can one think and assert that human kingdoms can exist differently than how the Kingdom of God exists! All the more so when the statute of the kingdoms of the earth is spoken by the Lord of heaven and earth Himself! Let us now look at the world of God from the other side. It is obvious that he is not the same as he came from the hands of the Creator; that evil has crept into him, harming his perfection and the bliss of creatures. Since this evil could not come from God, where did it come from? – From the abuse of that very freedom that is now so unreasonably placed at the forefront. The Archangel rebelled against God in heaven: and he rejected with himself, as the Seer of Mysteries puts it, “a third of the stars” (Rev. 12:4), that is, the Angels. The first-called man rebelled in Eden against the commandment of God, and, expelled from the paradise of sweetness, he spread sin and curse along with him across the face of the earth. This is where the evil in the world comes from - from sedition and rebellion! To be even more convinced of the truth of everything we affirm, look, my brothers, finally at the image of the Divine Sufferer, now before our eyes! Why did the Son of God come down from heaven, endure such terrible suffering, and die on the cross? In order to reconcile heaven with earth, satisfy eternal justice for our sins, restore to us the opportunity to again be children of God (John 1:12), and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven; so that together with us we can restore everything that has fallen and rebelled through us, and unite, as St. Paul puts it, “under one head” (Eph. 1:10). This means that the Son of God became incarnate and suffered precisely in order to blot out with His Cross the consequences of our rebellion in Eden, which weigh so terribly over us and the whole world. If our ill-fated ancestors, seduced by the destructive advice of the destroying serpent, had not dreamed of being “like God,” and had not boldly rebelled against the commandment of their Creator and Benefactor, then there would have been no sin and curse, no disease and death on earth; and therefore there would be no need for this terrible sacrifice of the universal redeemer. Then the Son of God would appear among us, as he appears in the world of Angels, surrounded by greatness and glory: and now you see how His head is crowned with thorns! See what His hand and nose are decorated with - nail ulcers! You see what His heart is filled with - a copy! Remember all this, Christian, and being like your Savior, Who, being the Only Begotten Son of God, “not by admiration,” as the apostle says, “was not equal to God, but having made Himself humble, He took on the form of a servant... He humbled Himself, being obedient even to the point of death... those of the cross” (Phil. 2:6-8), - you too ascend to spiritual heights both material, private and public, not through exaltation and pride, but through faith, humility, devotion and love for everything that has been given to you for guidance from above, and placed over you by God Himself. Amen. You might be interested in: