Слово четвертое в Великую Субботу

There is a sermon today that no one on earth has heard and will not hear, no one on earth has read and will not read, which, however, is worthy of being revered by both earth and heaven itself. What kind of sermon is this? The one about whom the holy Apostle Peter testifies in his epistle. “Christ,” he writes, “suffered alone for our sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit, and preached about him and them that are in spiritual prison, to those who sometimes resisted, while waiting for God’s patience, in the days of Noah” (1 Pet. 3:18–20), “Let them receive judgment according to man in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit” (1 Pet. 4:6). Do you see now Who spoke the sermon this day? Our Lord and Savior Himself, who died for us on the Cross. Do you see where it is said? In hell, when, after the separation of His most pure soul from the body, He descended in His spirit into this prison of the souls of the dead. You see who the listeners of this sermon were: the souls of Noah’s unfortunate contemporaries, who opposed God’s patience when Noah preached and threatened on behalf of God with a flood. You see, finally, what the purpose of this single sermon was: so that these unfortunates, having suffered judgment and punishment both by the flood waves and imprisonment for three thousand years in hell, would take advantage of the descent of the Savior into it and come to life in spirit according to God. Shall we expect that we too, like Noah's contemporaries, will ever have a sermon preached not on earth, but in hell? But our beloved Savior, Who alone has the keys of hell and death, since only, according to the assurance of the word of God, He descended into hell from the Cross on this present day. Shall we imagine that He will come down there again for us not from the Cross, but from the throne of His glory? No, He will appear to everyone even when the entire human race appears before Him for Judgment, at the end of the world; will no longer appear to preach, but to pronounce the final judgment. Let us therefore work out our salvation on earth: we will use the means that are provided to us for salvation in the word of God and the sacraments of the Holy Church. Who can say that these funds are not enough? - Therefore, to the one who, living among these means, destroys his soul through negligence, the words should be addressed with all power and justice - to ancient Israel: your destruction, Israel, will come from you. From which may the Lord, who died for our salvation, save us all! Amen. You might be interested in: