Слово четвертое в Великий Пяток

You have now listened, my brothers, to the terrible story of the sufferings of the God-man. Behold, before your eyes is the very image of the Divine Sufferer, already taken down from the cross and resting in the tomb. After this, it is appropriate to say about us the same thing that the Apostle Paul once said about the Christians of the Church of Galatia: “Whose presence Jesus Christ was ordained to be, was crucified in you!” (Gal. 3:1). Why then does the Holy Church bring in this way not only the hearing, but also the very vision of each of us the suffering and the Cross of our Lord? In order, without a doubt, for each of us, struck by this closeness, to now abandon other activities and turn all our attention to our Savior and Lord, so that each of us himself now enters into direct conversation with Him. Yes, my brethren, if ever you can do without our teaching, then on this day, and if we have now ascended to this sacred place, then not for an ordinary conversation with you, but to remind you of the need for your own conversation with your Savior. Will anyone say that he is incapable of this? Alas, we can and do talk with everyone and about everything ourselves, but we cannot talk with our Lord and Savior, with Him who died for us on the Cross!.. If this pathetic impossibility really exists in someone, then what does it mean? The fact that we are insensitive and ungrateful towards our Savior, that we never thought as we should about our attitude towards Him, did not turn our souls and hearts to His Cross: - if we looked at Him sometimes, then we looked at him as a simple spectacle; if they worshiped Him, then just as a pagan worships his hand-made images. No, the Cross of Christ is not like these soulless statues; he is completely drenched in life-giving blood, which, according to the apostle, speaks a hundred times better than the blood of righteous Abel (Heb. 12:24). Our Lord crucified on this Cross, although He now rests as if dead in the tomb, He is dead to the unbelieving Jews, and for you, Christian, He is God’s power and God’s Wisdom even in the tomb. Will the wisdom of God not give us an answer if we only ask it with faith and humility? So, whoever you are, beloved listener, the first wise man or the last ignoramus, the greatest and most important person in the world, or the most insignificant member of human society, stand at the tomb of your Lord and begin a conversation with Him. Ask, firstly, where this Cross and the tomb come from, for which the Son of God endured so much terrible suffering, suffered death and burial, say with the prophet: “Who is this who came from Edom, and why are his garments scarlet, like from Bozrah!” (Isa. 63: 1-2). Say and hear how he answers you in the voice of the same prophet, like the day of retribution! come... “the summer of redemption has arrived” (Isa. 63:4); the long-predicted hour of redemption of the human race has come, the time has come to satisfy the heavenly truth for its sins and reconcile it with God: “for this reason, do not intercede, lower than the Angel, but the Lord Himself saved us” (Is. 63:9), saving us not by the gospel only in words, not by setting only a good example, as they could serve for salvation and people like us, and having become a propitiatory sacrifice for us, having endured for us the very death to which we were all subject, as transgressors of the law of God. Do you want to know who demanded such a great sacrifice for sins? - And he, in the voice of Saint Paul, answers you (Rom. 3:22-24) that this was demanded by the truth of God, irritated by our sins, that without this cleansing sacrifice we could not be tolerated by the holiness of God’s being, unapproachable for sinners, that without this solemn satisfaction to the law, the entire order of the moral world would lose its strength and immutability. Ask further with faith and love what a person should do after this, redeemed from sins and curses at such a great price - what should you do yourself so that the suffering and death of the Son of God does not remain fruitless for you? For it cannot be that the blood shed on Golgotha ​​washed and sanctified everyone, even those who did not want to, against our will, so to speak. And the Lord, through the voice of the same apostle, will tell you that for this we need, firstly, living faith in Divine merits and His intercessory death for us (Eph. 2:8), and secondly, life according to this faith, that is, a pure, righteous and godly life (Eph. 4:20-23), which is without repentance for sins, without correction of our hearts and morals by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and The death of the Savior will remain without any fruit for us, and not only will not save us from the wrath of heaven, but will serve to our greater (greater) condemnation (Heb. 6:4-9). Having received with reverence these broadcasts from the Holy Sepulcher, then, beloved listener, turn to your conscience and your life, and consider: do you have such faith in the Savior, and is there a life worthy of this faith? Do you think, desire and act as befits a Christian, and as your Savior commanded you to think, desire and act? And if it turns out that the work of salvation has not yet begun in you, or has begun at some point, but is then forgotten and abandoned; then think about what awaits you, for whom the Son of God Himself died, and which, however, you do not think about His death, no matter how it did not exist, or if it did not concern you, or if it were something unimportant. If the thought of such ingratitude on your part towards your Redeemer and the idea of ​​the terrible fate that awaits those who despise the Blood of the Son of God touches you (and how can you not touch it if you have a heart?); when you see that you can no longer continue your criminal indifference to the death of the Redeemer, raised for you; that you absolutely must adapt your life to it: then turn again to your conscience and ask yourself what you need to do and do from now on, how to behave, what to leave, what to change, in order to stop being a Christian in one name. Having realized all this, having decided to live a Christian life, stand at the tomb of your Savior, call on His grace for help, vow to be faithful to your conscience and the Gospel; and go to your house, go and, having thought again, again calling on the Lord for help, immediately begin the work of your salvation - in the firm confidence that the Lord will not leave you with any admonition, or consolation, or blessed success. Behold, my brothers, a subject for each of us to discuss with our Lord who rests in the tomb! This is the text for the sermon that everyone must now say to himself! You see what should be the conclusion of this sermon! This conclusion, not like in our sermons, should consist not of words, but of deeds. Our whole life should change from this sermon. If you take up this important subject this very hour, as you should; then you will have no need for our teaching, you yourself will soon become able to teach and edify others: and if you do not pay attention to this, if you limit yourself, now as before, to ordinary listening to church hymns and readings, a few adorations before the Holy Shroud and fleeting sighs; then even if an Angel came down from heaven and spoke to us, we will not receive fruit from his preaching; and, with all our apparently good thoughts and feelings, with all our worship and even tears, we will remain the same as we were, sinners, with the same passions in our souls and ulcers in our conscience. Therefore, through your own salvation, we beg you, brethren, to think at this tomb about what we called you to, to think not superficially, not in passing, but as if it were a matter of your life and death: for exactly here we are talking about our life and death - endless life, eternal death. Here, in this tomb, is either our eternal justification, or our eternal condemnation: from here the path is either to heaven or to hell! Choose any; but you must definitely choose one of the two! In fact, my brethren, if earthly justice does not leave death and an ordinary person without vengeance, will heavenly justice leave the Blood of the Son of God without vengeance if we turn out to be its despisers? - Now we can, perhaps, limit ourselves to one bow of the head before our Judge lying in the tomb, one cold kiss to the image of His wounds; You can, perhaps, look at them with indifference and walk away with the arrogant air of a freethinker; you can feel, think and do whatever you want at this tomb: He who lies in it, like ordinary dead people, will now say nothing; but it is necessary to appear before this Dead Man even when He is no longer in the tomb, but on the throne of glory and omnipotence; It will be necessary to give an account to Him where He will no longer be surrounded by the humble servants of the altar, but by Cherubim and Seraphim. Have ears to hear and a mind to listen, let him hear and listen! Amen. You might be interested in: