Слово второе в Великую Среду

The Holy Church now points out to us in her hymns around the Savior primarily two persons: one apostle and one harlot wife. The opposite is striking. The apostle, by his very rank, was not far from the third heaven; the harlot, like a great sinner, was close to the very abyss of hell. So what? In fact, the opposite turned out to be the case. Two days later, the former apostle became a victim of hell, and the harlot entered the ranks of the myrrh-bearing women. The passion of love of money came, took possession of the apostle’s heart, and turned him into a vessel of destruction, into a son of rejection. Holy repentance came, took possession of the harlot’s heart, cast her at the feet of the Savior of the world, and introduced her to the holy face of the myrrh-bearers. What can we conclude from these two examples? The fact that as long as we are on earth, everything can be made of us; we can pass, so to speak, from heaven to hell, and from hell to heaven. Judas' closeness to Christ did not save him from sin and despair. Why? Because he neglected himself and allowed passion into his heart, after which the devil himself entered. The harlot's distance from Christ did not prevent her from achieving salvation. Why? Because she came to her senses, abandoned sin forever, confessed her uncleanness and changed her life. There is, therefore, no such high virtue that is not threatened by the most severe fall; and there is no fall so severe from which it would be impossible to rise and ascend to the very heights of virtue. Therefore, no matter how high one stands in perfection, one should not indulge in pride and carelessness. “Be sure to stand... be careful lest you fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). Equally, no matter how low someone falls, no matter what abyss of sin they find themselves in, let them not despair, like Judas. Our Lord has repentance for all sinners. Leave sin, turn to the Lord, bring repentance and confession: and you, like the harlot, will be forgiven and accepted into the mercy of the Lord. In particular, from the example of Judas, let lovers of money learn how dangerous the passion of love of money is. If she made a traitor out of an apostle, then what can she make out of you? If the apostle is driven to despair and death by her, will you survive her anger? But we, as one of those suffering from the love of money will say, do not betray Christ, we are ready to serve Him from our possessions and really serve, if possible. Of course, you do not betray Christ like Judas, for you cannot betray Him in this way. But remember, didn’t you sell your faith and conscience? And this is the same as if you sold Christ. Remember, did you not betray your neighbor out of love for silver? And in his person you betrayed Christ. And – why say too much? Whom does the money lover love more: Christ or money? Obviously money; for if he loved Christ, he would not love gold and silver, which He forbids to love. But, as anyone might think, my love for wealth does not lead me to the worst possible deeds. Let's face it, but isn't it enough that it prevents you from doing good deeds? Without the love of money, your soul would be like the paradise of God, various virtues would grow and blossom in it, but now, since the love of money does not allow them to grow, it looks like bare sand; Is it a great consolation that not even thorns, that is, bad deeds, grow on this sand? – The love of money really removes a person from some bad deeds, for example, from luxury, games and carnality; but on the other hand, it gradually reduces the circle of good it does. The money lover from day to day becomes insensitive to everything except profit; he can be inhuman even to himself. His own needs are reduced; he would like to be freed from all of them, so as not to be subject to waste; For this purpose I would like to become incorporeal, to turn into a spirit. And this disembodied spirit, having already risen above most of the needs of its own nature, is stuck to a block of metal! Lut is a beast of love of money! And, meanwhile, this fierce beast threatens, my brothers, each of us. Old age is especially susceptible to this mental illness; and whoever does not take measures against him in advance will inevitably be exposed to this spiritual infection. This is all the more unfortunate because such elders often have many spiritual perfections. But love of money and stinginess darken and spoil everything. The example of the pardoned harlot, as we said, should serve to encourage sinners to repentance, and not to continue sin, not to delay repentance until death. For if the righteous, as the example of the apostle shows, is unsafe, then on what will the sinner establish his hope? You might be interested in: