Слово третье в Великий Четверток на Страсти Христовы

And one simple hearing of the Gospel story about the sufferings of Christ is enough, my brothers, to see that these sufferings were terrible. When you imagine that they were endured by the most pure flesh, the most holy soul, for whom, by their very purity, any torment should have been much more sensitive than for our rough body, for our fleshed spirit; then the Lord’s suffering becomes even more terrible. And when, following this, you think that not only the Most Holy One, but also the Almighty suffered in this way, that it was not an ordinary person or an Angel who hung in agony on the cross, but the Only Begotten Son of God Himself; then, struck by horror and bewilderment, you ask: what could be the cause of such an unprecedented event, or, more precisely, a mystery and miracle? It is clear that it was not Roman soldiers who lifted the Son of God to the Cross; It is clear that He endures torment and death not because a treacherous disciple betrayed Him, that the Pharisees and scribes, blinded by passion, asked Him to die, that a man-pleasing judge condemned Him and handed Him over to death. When the Divine Sufferer wanted to show his power, then His only word was: “I am”! (John 18:6) threw the entire Jewish spirit to the ground. And now, when He melts on the Cross in agony and cries out: “I thirst”! (John 19:28) now the darkening sun, the trembling earth show that all creation is ready to rise up in defense of its Master. Who bound the “lion of Judah”? (Gen. 49:9) Who gave the Son of God to be crucified and die? - God's justice. - For what? - For the sins of people. - How is He guilty of our sins? - By taking them upon Himself for us. - Why did you take it? – In order to free us from punishment for sin and reconcile us with God. - How to reconcile? - Having satisfied justice for sins with his death. - Here is the ladder on which the Son of God ascended to the Cross! This is the nail with which He was nailed to the Cross! These are the thorns from which the crown is woven on His head! Do we need the evidence of the word of God for all this? They are countless. Ask the prophets, and they will tell you that this Sufferer, hanging on the Cross, bears our sins and suffers for us, that He is “sick for our sins and tormented... for our iniquities, that the punishment of our peace is upon Him, and by His wound we are all healed" (Isa. 53:4-5). Ask the apostles, and they will tell you that God “is in Christ the peace reconciling to ourselves through His Cross" (2 Cor. 5:19), that the mercy of God "hath made sin for us, that we may be the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21), that the Son of God "gave Himself food for us, that He might deliver us from all iniquity" (Titus 2:14). hear that His most pure Flesh was given to torment and death “for the life of the world” (John 6:51), that His most pure Blood is shed on the Cross “for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28) of the entire human race. So, this Cross, standing on Golgotha, is the universal altar! This Sufferer hanging on him is a cleansing sacrifice for the sins of all the fallen sons of Adam! Who demanded this sacrifice? – Heavenly law and truth, the unchanging holiness of God’s being and the immutable order of the moral world. And first, the holiness of God's being. That God is as holy as he is good and merciful is an indisputable truth. We cannot even imagine an unholy God. What does this holiness consist of? – The fact that God eternally loves only what is good and holy, and eternally turns away from everything evil and lawless; in that just as the only thing that is perfect and right comes from God, so no uncleanness or filth can come close to Him; in the fact that He, as omnipresent and all-fulfilling, does not tolerate sin anywhere or in anyone, and uses everything to destroy it. So holy is the Lord our God! See now, what is before this holiness? Before her is the human race, fallen, ugly and unclean; before her is a whole countless host of creatures called people, each of whom has deviated from the purpose of his existence, dissolved his blissful union with the Creator, and assumed the character and rules of action of the enemy of God; Before her, this holiness, there is a whole abyss of sins, crimes, untruths and iniquities!.. Can the purest eye of God endure this disgusting sight? Can the thunder of Omnipotence fail to move against this dark horde of vices? Can the most holy bosom of the Creator calmly carry within itself this sea of ​​evil? It can't! - “Cursed is everyone... who does not abide in... the words of law and righteousness”! (Deut. 27:26). This is the definition of God’s truth expressed once and forever! As a result of this, the sinner had to inevitably perish, for he has no means not only to reward for sin before the court of eternal justice, but also to free himself from the destructive inclination to fall into new sins. And the entire sinful human race would have perished in this way if the Intercessor, Redeemer and Supporter had not appeared - the Only Begotten Son of God! At a time when the immutable truth of God was ready to pronounce judgment and condemnation on the human race perishing in sins, this Only Begotten Son leaves the throne of glory to the Love of the Father, accepts the face of the intercessor, appears before the Father and proclaims: man, created in Our image, perished in sin; his iniquities separated him from Us forever; the holiness of Our being cannot tolerate a criminal; but Our love cannot help but strive for the restoration of the fallen. For this, a sacrifice is needed for his sins: may I myself be the sow sacrifice! May all the iniquities of the sons of men come to Me! May I bear the full weight of the punishments due to a sinner. “Behold, I will come... do Thy will, O God!” (Ps. 39:8–9). The loving intercession was accepted, and the Son of God was made the son of man, so that he might bear the iniquities of all the sons of men. Everything that He, having later appeared on earth, does and endures, all this is aimed at blotting out our sins: for this He is laid in a manger, for this He accepts circumcision, for this He flees to Egypt, for this He is immersed in the waters of the Jordan, for this He endures reproaches from the scribes, for this He has no place to bow His head, for this He weeps on the tomb of Lazarus, for this He sweats. bloody sweat in Gethsemane, for this he accepts a kiss from a traitor. It would seem that feats would be enough for human truth; but it is not sufficient for Divine truth: it requires more - the death of the criminal! And lo, to complete all the sacrifices, this last one is offered: the Son of God - on the Cross! Heavenly justice itself could not have demanded greater satisfaction for sin: an all-perfect sacrifice was made; for life itself was sacrificed - the life not of an ordinary person, but of Him who is man and God. What do you see after this on the Cross? You see that the All-Holy God, who does not tolerate lawlessness anywhere, strikes sin with curse and death in the person of His Only Begotten Son Himself. What do you see in the Cross? You see that the all-good God, who does not leave His creation without help, loves His most obstinate children, and to save them He Himself ascends to the Cross. What do you see in the Cross? You see the mysterious, wonderful combination of truth and mercy, judgment and forgiveness, holiness and compassion, fear for unrepentant sinners and hope for repentant sinners. This is the height of Divine wisdom, which invented a means to defeat sin with all severity, and not destroy a person with all his uncleanness. In fact, let us imagine for a moment that the goodness of God, separated from Divine truth, would proclaim forgiveness to the sinful human race without the sacrifice for sins that was now offered on Calvary. – What would we think then about God and His holiness? Wouldn’t they imagine (and rightly so) that He, even if holy, is more merciful than righteous? What if He gives the law, demands fulfillment, and threatens punishment: then He does all this not according to the inner, immutable requirement of His being, but according to one changing arbitrariness? – That you can break the law and not be rejected by the Lawgiver? Such a thought, and in this case it is inevitable, could seduce even a person inclined to sin; such a course of action on the part of the Supreme Lawgiver and Judge could lead to disorder in more than one of our worlds. What would happen to sinners then? What would instill in them holy horror and aversion to sin, when they are not filled with fear even when they see the Cross of the Son of God before them? Then the Law of God would lose the respect due to it, virtue would lose its dignity, sin would lose all its horror... And would the most repentant sinner be reassured, not seeing before the eyes of the truth of God’s sacrifice for his sins? If we sometimes easily look at our iniquities and consider them to be unimportant; If we are ready to accept forgiveness for our sins, without thinking that a sacrifice is needed for them, it is because we do not have a feeling of true repentance: that our conscience has not opened as it should. But look at those who understood what sin means and were imbued with a living feeling of repentance, in whom conscience began to act with all its strength! Ah, they become judges and enemies to themselves; do not run away, but seek punishment; not satisfied with anything, they are ready to deprive themselves of everything, of life itself, which they abused against the will of the Creator. And what would they be presented with as reassurance if they did not have the Cross of Christ, could not point out the wounds of the Lord, the Body and Blood of the Son of God, sacrificed for our sins? Let those who, in the blindness of their minds, dare to say that the work of our salvation could be accomplished without the Cross of Christ, be silent. Take away the Cross and there is no Christianity; take away the Cross - and there is no salvation for the world; take away the Cross - and sinners will all return to the court of truth and wrath; take away the Cross - and there is no rest for the repentant; take away the Cross - and sin will reign uncontrollably over everything! But who can shake you, holy and blessed Tree? By the hand of almighty love you have been planted in the middle of the whole earth for our salvation, and you will stand indestructibly until there remains on earth even one sinner seeking his salvation! You will stand as a sign of God’s truth and love for repentant sinners, as a pledge of wrath and eternal torment for the unrepentant. Many waves and attacks came towards you, and everyone was crushed: those who again fight against you will also be crushed. Stand, divine Tree, and spread your heavenly branches throughout the entire earth! May all the fallen sons of Adam gather under your shadow, and may they come to life by eating your fruits! But what will you produce for us who are now thinking and talking about you? Will we take refuge under your shadow on the day of judgment and retribution?.. Let us hide, beloved brethren, if now we, like our ill-fated ancestor, do not hide from the face of God, who calls us to repentance; Let us hide ourselves if, bowing to the ground in churches before the Cross of Christ, we do not run away from it when He meets us, in the midst of our life, in sorrows and temptations sent for our admonition; Let us hide ourselves if, sanctifying ourselves by faith in the merits of our Divine Intercessor, and accepting forgiveness of sins in His name, we do not crucify Him again with our iniquities. Let us fall in spirit before this life-giving Tree and say to the One Crucified on it: we see, Lord, we see how unbearable sin is for the truth and holiness of God’s being; We see what it cost You, Lover of Mankind, to redeem us from the curse of the law and eternal punishment; We see what threatens us if we do not take advantage of Your unconditional sacrifice made for us; We see, and we vow to live the rest of the time not to lusts and passions, not to the world and the devil, but to You, our Lord and Redeemer! Amen. You might be interested in: