Слово первое в субботу недели 5-й Великого поста

“To the chosen Voivode, victorious, as having been delivered from the evil ones, let us sing thanksgiving to You, Thy servants, to the Mother of God.” After getting rid of evils and disasters, it is most natural and pleasant to rejoice and give thanks. But do you know, brothers, over whom and in whose favor the victory was accomplished, for which we will now sing thanks to the elected Voivode? It was committed, as history tells, in favor of the Greeks and their capital city - Constantinople, which was suffering from a cruel siege - it was committed over the Kagan, the leader of the Scythians, among whom, in all likelihood, were our ancestors. Thus, we give thanks for a benefit alien to us - we celebrate our own defeat! What does it mean? – That the Christian faith, in this respect, as in many others, changed the order of things and taught us to look at events differently: to regard the wisdom of the world as violence, and the violence of the cross as the only wisdom; to impute tears of repentance as a source of spiritual bliss, and worldly joys and laughter as evil and destruction; to value deprivation before wealth, to boast about suffering, to triumph in humiliation. If we had hitherto remained in the darkness of paganism, then the memory of the miraculous defeat of our ancestors under the walls of Constantinople would have been the subject of public sadness and lamentation; but, since we are brought out of this darkness by the grace of God into the wonderful light of Christianity, we remember it with our victors, we give thanks for our own defeat! And in doing so, we act completely justly; for in the face of our fleshly ancestors, darkened by the darkness of paganism, unbelief rushed against faith, wild ferocity against the civil order, greed for spoils against peaceful property. On the contrary, in the person of the inhabitants of Constantinople (who are also our ancestors by faith), through the sending down of miraculous help from above, they were rewarded with trust in God and prayer: such virtues by which we live and breathe, from which we expect temporal and eternal salvation. The triumph of faith, wherever it is revealed, is the triumph of all believers; the reward of fiery prayer, no matter who it descends on, is the reward of all those who truly pray; the victory of Christianity, in whatever form it may be, is a victory common to all Christians. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that we are now celebrating, in some way, our own defeat. This is entirely in the spirit of our holy faith; for “the spirit of true Christianity consists in always triumphing in victory over oneself.” Let us reveal this thought in honor of our chosen Voivode, Who is the best leader and assistant in this internal battle. Our holy faith, brothers, coming from the God of love and peace, is all filled with grace and generosity; but at the same time she brings with her cruel abuse. A Christian must not repay evil for evil (Rom. 12:17), “love the very enemies” (Matthew 5:44), pray for the very crucifiers (Luke 23:34); but at the same time he must always be a warrior and a winner. Do you remember,” our Lord and Savior Himself asked, “Do you remember that He came and brought peace to the earth? “No, I did not come to create the world, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). And in another place, inviting us to courage and struggle in spiritual battle, He Himself says: dare, that is, stand and fight courageously, “for I have conquered the world”! (John 16:33). The Apostles of Christ also very often call for spiritual warfare, offer all kinds of weapons for this, give advice, encourage courage, point to the crowns prepared for the victors; Christian they have a warrior, from cradle to grave. What kind of abuse is this that our holy faith brings with it? -What is this victory that every Christian should strive for? This is a person’s fight with himself; this is victory over passions and flesh, over everything that is hostile to God and ourselves. A Christian must, first of all, overcome the world with its charms, temptations, power, deceit and contagious impurity. He must defeat the spirits of evil in high places, with their invisible and visible attacks. But the main battlefield for a Christian is his own heart. External enemies mean little to him if there is no rebellion within; attacks from outside are harmful only when there are traitors within the person himself. And all the strength and all the courage of a Christian should be directed against this domestic evil. Going against your favorite habits, against the demands of your flesh, against the desires of your own heart is often more difficult than going against the darkness of your enemies: but - you have to go! He who does not wage this internal battle is a Christian by name alone. Only victory over ourselves makes us true Christians. Without this, Christianity and man remain alien to each other. Without this there is no and cannot be salvation! To be completely convinced of this important truth, one has only to remember in what state man is now and why we were given our holy faith. – It was given for our salvation, in order to save each of us from those terrible evils that burden everyone. But what is the essence of these evils and disasters from which Christianity should free us? – Mainly that we are not our own, that we are in slavery, in captivity, in extreme oppression and poverty. Who is our enemy and oppressor? Sin, feelings and passions. They rule in us, everything else submits to them and suffers. The mind suffers, filled with lies, deceptions, exhausted in the service of vice; the will suffers, constantly moving in the wind of sensual desires and passions; freedom suffers, not having the strength to turn to the law and following blindly the feelings; The body itself suffers from unnatural pleasures, although the sin living in us most of all warms and nourishes it. After this, how can we be saved if not by fighting with ourselves, with what is in us that is hostile to ourselves? “And what else can our holy faith do but provide us with the means to emerge victorious from this battle?” It really is! Delve into the essence and composition of Christianity; and you will immediately see that everything in him is directed towards this necessary goal - to free man from the captivity of passions, from the slavery of feelings, from the humiliation of the spirit under the dominion of the flesh; and since the source and seat of this evil is in himself, in order to make him a winner over himself. Therefore, the Christian himself, as we said, looks at many things completely differently than a natural person. What for the latter seems to be the greatest evil, for example, suffering, poverty, humiliation, because all this hurts his pride, for the first one seems and should seem good; for it frees him from internal slavery and returns him to freedom of spirit. It is according to this holy law that we celebrate our present celebration, despite the fact that the event we remember is incompatible with national pride. It is truly incompatible with pride; but is perfectly compatible with love of God, with love of neighbor, and with pure love of ourselves. For in the person of the Greeks, delivered by the intercession of the Mother of God from the Scythian siege, faith, hope and prayer were awarded: and these are the very virtues in which our salvation lies. The rumor about the miraculous defeat of the soldiers under the walls of Constantinople, which spread among our ancient ancestors, undoubtedly contributed to the development in them of respect for the Christian faith, and predisposed them to abandon paganism, which then followed - first privately, in some individuals, and then among the whole people, under Saint Vladimir. Therefore, our very faith is, in a way, the fruit of the defeat that our ancestors suffered from the elected Voivode. Shouldn’t we, brothers, with great zeal now flow to the most pure image of this Voivode, Who, having delivered the Greeks from evil, also brought evil upon our ancestors in order to bring good upon them over time (Rom. 3:8), which we now use? But, thanking the Mother of God for the external victory over us, let us not forget to ask for the internal victory over us, being firmly convinced that in this final victory, over ourselves, lies the entire triumph of our faith, that our very salvation depends on it. Amen. You might be interested in: