Слово в среду недели 6-й Великого поста

“Who at the ninth hour tasted death for our flesh, put to death our wisdom in the flesh, O Christ our God, and save us.” So, our flesh has not only heaviness and plumpness that oppress us, not only weakness and frailty that constantly stumbling our feet, not only illness and mortality that turn all our plans and enterprises into nothing; but finally there is also our own wisdom, such a dangerous wisdom that it is impossible to get rid of it otherwise than by killing it, which, however, with all the need for it, we cannot do on our own, but must pray for this to Him who alone has the power and authority, how to revive and strengthen in us what is necessary for us, and also to depose in us and kill what we are perishing from. What kind of wisdom is this, and where does it come from in the flesh, which, like flesh, that is, the complexity of matter, although moving and animated, but unreasonable, should therefore be incapable of any wisdom? To understand this, it is necessary to enter into consideration of our composition and the mutual relationship of spirit and flesh. Conception, reasoning, reasoning actually belong to one soul within us; just as one flesh in us belongs to shape, color, weight and movement; and while everything happens in a person as it should, and each part of his composition, so to speak, is in its place, in its order and action; until then in our spirit there is no fatness, heaviness and senselessness of the flesh; but in the flesh there are no plans and speculations that belong to the soul. The Spirit, as ruler and leader, conceives, determines and controls; the flesh, like an instrument, obeys and serves as much as it can. But when a person, having deviated from the will of his Creator and, what is the same, from the order and law of his nature, plunges into sin and indulges in passions and lusts, then this beautiful harmony of the parts that compose him is violated; rank and obedience cease: what should remain below appears above, and what is above falls and is humiliated; the flesh - a slave - becomes a master, and the sovereign spirit turns into an instrument of the flesh. As a result of this unfortunate transformation of the relationship between spirit and flesh, they seem to change in their qualities: the spirit becomes coarse and thickens; and the flesh, without becoming in the least subtler and more spiritual, delights in certain qualities of the spirit, appears, as it were, intelligent and thoughtful, enterprising and dreamy; only all this is not for good, but for evil. That is, to be more precise, it is not the flesh itself, as a substance, that receives thought and mind, which is impossible; and the spirit, having mixed, so to speak, with the flesh, and having become in the same place with it, begins to think, judge and act according to its demands and suggestions. Such a state of spirit and flesh, obviously, is a state unnatural to man, and therefore not only reprehensible for his dignity, but also extremely harmful in its consequences. The lower side of man - the flesh - apparently acquires the highest perfection in this case, beginning to act like the spirit - the higher side: but this imaginary perfection, as alien to it, therefore does not constitute any dignity, just as it does not constitute dignity in an impostor that he falsely calls himself a king. Moreover, such an elevation of the flesh is associated with extreme humiliation of the spirit, with deprivation of its place, its purity and power. Here the same thing happens as if a subject, and, moreover, an unworthy one, became a ruler, and his natural ruler became his servant. Judging by where and how the ability for wisdom comes from in the flesh, it is already easy to foresee what it will consist of. This is the wisdom of a seditious and rebel who, having seized power into his own hands, can only retain it by the most illegal and violent means; This is the wisdom of a thief, who only thinks about how to hide the traces of his predation and increase his unrighteous acquisition with new thefts; This is the wisdom of a man who has ruined his mind, who, imagining himself to be something other than what he is, instills this in everyone, and demands that others say the same thing. In fact, look at the wisdom, that is, at the concepts, judgments and plans of carnal people - what are they made of? Directly or indirectly, openly or secretly, they are all imbued with the poison of sin, they all breathe self-love, they are aimed at satisfying not the true and essential needs of man, but various whims and demands of passions; therefore, everything, sooner or later, leads a person to destruction. In relation to God and faith, the wisdom of the flesh, in its best form, is expressed by coldness and inattention to objects of faith, as if completely non-existent or of little importance; in its ordinary state it is connected with the rejection of everything incomprehensible in faith and with the transformation, according to one’s taste, of everything that is comprehensible in it; and in its worst form it often reaches the point of pride and self-forgetfulness that, like the ancient wicked people, one is ready to say to God Himself: “depart from us; Thy ways guide the unwilling” (Job 21:14); or ask with Pharaoh: “Who is, whose voice will I listen to”! (Ex. 5:2). In relation to others, the wisdom of the flesh consists in exalting oneself above everyone else, in appropriating to oneself, if it were possible, everything that the eyes see and what the unbridled heart longs for, in turning all people into the blind instrument of their whims. Even in relation to the person himself, the wisdom of the flesh, although everything breathes self-love, constantly irritated by damaging and soul-destroying lusts, unrealistic and destructive plans, empty and deadening deeds. For, on the one hand, the wisdom of the flesh harms a person by allowing him everything, destroying the difference between vice and virtue, on the other hand, by taking everything away from him, destroying the hope of eternal life and not telling him to see anything beyond the grave and corruption. Finally breaking out from private life into the field of public action, the wisdom of the flesh, not stopped in time by the powers that be, not healed, or at least not moderated by the beneficial influence of faith and the Church, is accompanied by a shock to everything that holds up the strength of kingdoms and the prosperity of nations. Where this destructive wisdom has reigned, everyone wants to rule and no one wants to obey, human reason is greeted in the name of the Divine, and everyone follows obvious madness; they proclaim universal bliss and a golden age, but swim in the blood of their brothers; strive for impossible perfection, and lose, one after another, all possible benefits. It cannot be otherwise: for “the wisdom of the flesh,” as the apostle notes, “does not repent of the law of God, but... can submit” (Rom. 8:7). Since only in the law of God is life, freedom and bliss of man; then, no matter how much you invent other laws, no matter how many other means you invent for the well-being of man and society, they must all finally turn out to be empty, unrealizable and disastrous. What to do after this with such incorrigible wisdom, if not try to deprive it of all its strength, to eradicate it completely? For as long as it is alive, there will be no true life in man. What kind of life is this when mortal and sinful flesh makes wise decisions and orders, and the eternal spirit blindly carries out these insane orders? But how can one take away strength and life from carnal wisdom, when it has become the all-controlling principle in sinful man, the only source of his activity? The flesh itself will not renounce its dominion, no matter how unlawful it is; the spirit, even if it wanted, cannot regain its rights: for it is not difficult for it to become fleshy; and having gained strength, to cleanse himself, to free himself, to become enlightened, to take his place, to take power into his hands is extremely difficult: for this, help is needed from above, a force is needed that would remove the bonds from him, raise him from the dust, fill him with strength and life, and thus give him the opportunity to be what he should be. And this is what is asked for in the prayer we are considering! : “Who at the ninth hour on the cross tasted death for our flesh, put to death our wisdom in the flesh, O Christ our God, and save us!” You, as it were said in it for all of us, You, Who tasted death in the flesh so that we might all come to life and live in spirit, look at the disastrous state of our spirit, oppressed by the bonds of the flesh, and put to death its wisdom! Bound this unbridled beast: strike him in the very heart, so that our sin-loving flesh will stop dragging us through the wilds of passions and vices, and may turn into what it should be - into an obedient instrument of the spirit! It goes without saying that the one who pronounces this prayer must decide to take all the actions that He who died for us in the flesh Himself deems necessary to mortify the wisdom of our flesh in us: - and since no mortification can be carried out without pain and suffering, he must decide to endure this suffering. For without such determination, what would our prayer mean? It would be either deception or self-delusion. But here is our strangeness, or better yet, our madness! When we call on a doctor to remove some incurable member, we no longer resist his actions, no matter how painful they may be; and we also help him with everything we can: we groan, we scream, but we obey and give thanks for our very suffering. But with the Heavenly Doctor we mostly act the opposite. Despite the fact that we ourselves beg Him to mortify the wisdom of our flesh, when He begins His work, that is, begins to humble and strike our carnal man - either with illnesses, dishonor, or other blows: then we immediately turn back, complain and murmur, put up barrier after barrier, and thus, instead of mortifying the wisdom of the flesh, we often fall into even greater slavery of the flesh. All this is because for the most part we are not convinced of the harmfulness for us of carnal wisdom and, in general, of carnal and sinful life: if we pray for deliverance from them, it is only because the Church commands us to pray so; but on our own, in our souls, we do not feel the need for this at all. Therefore, so that we do not say such a holy prayer in vain, we must diligently think about how harmful the wisdom of the flesh is for us; we must be convinced, together with the apostle, that this wisdom is enmity against God, that it is death for us. How can you be sure of this? Firstly, by reflecting on where the wisdom of the flesh comes from in us - to which we have indicated the path for everyone - and how destructive it is revealed in us - for which the experience of both our own and other people can serve. For if we are attentive, we will see that whenever we obeyed the wisdom of the flesh, nothing ever came out of our actions for us except evil and harmful. Amen. You might be interested in: