Часть 2

The first word in the week of Vai, at the all-night vigil So, the resurrection of the four-day dead did not remain without effect - the daughter of Zion awakened! And look with what triumph the One Who hitherto had no place to bow his head meets! It is fucked in a way that neither David nor Solomon was ever fucked. Looking at the signs of zeal now shown to Him, probably more than one good Israeli thanked God in his soul, and thought that the wavering of minds and consciences produced throughout Judea by the teachings and miracles of the great Prophet of Galilee had finally ended, that from now on He, recognized by everyone as the long-awaited Messiah and Savior, would assume all His rights over the people of Judea and begin in peace and in silence to accomplish the work of saving the daughter of Zion. And yet, my brethren, all this meeting and all this solemnity and zeal were only a momentary spectacle. A few days will pass, and the same people who now, unconscious of joy, exclaim: “Hosanna to the Son of David” (Matthew 21:9), will surround Pilate’s praetorium with no less a crowd, and will cry out in abundance: “Take him, take him, crucify him!” (John 19:15) Judging by this, one might even think that the signs of joy and zeal, now lavished in such abundance at the meeting of the Lord coming to Jerusalem, were not the result of true feeling, but the fruit of hypocrisy and the desire to put one’s victim to sleep, in order to more accurately bring him to the place of slaughter. Meanwhile, Jerusalem now truly rejoices with all her heart; hypocrisy lies only in the hearts of some, incorrigible and insensitive Pharisees. Where does the extraordinary vicissitude of thoughts and feelings, minds and hearts that will soon follow? From destructive frivolity - from the fact that the daughter of Zion, as the Savior Himself noted, did not understand the “time of visitation” (Luke 19:44) and did not take the trouble to think about what was required of her, so that the holy joy that had now taken possession of her would remain with her forever. Just as they became delighted by chance, carried away by appearances, so, by chance, they will become enraged with bitterness, relying on what malice and slander will inspire. Much could be said against this criminal frivolity of the Jews, but what would such accusations serve us for in this case? The daughter of Zion has already been judged and condemned by Him who once chose her from all the daughters of men. It is enough to look at each of the descendants of ancient Israel to recognize with horror the mark of God’s wrath on him. Instead of condemning the Jerusalemites, it is much more useful to turn to ourselves and see if the same thing is happening to us? Our annual fasting, during Great Lent, our repentance and confession, our communion of the Holy Mysteries, what is all this if not the solemn meeting of the Lord and Savior coming to our soul just as He was now walking to Jerusalem in perish? Which of us is not, moreover, one of the zealous Jerusalemites? Just as they cried out: “Hosanna to the Son of David!”, so each of us says: “I believe, Lord, and I confess!” 16 Every one calls himself the chief of sinners; everyone swears not to kiss like Judas; each one casts not only his own garments, but also himself to the ground before the cup of the Covenant. Is it possible, it would seem, to doubt the sincerity and firmness of such feelings and promises? “And the Lord every time relies on our words, believes our lips and hearts, and gives us His Body and Blood!” But what comes out of all this? How long do we remain faithful to our vows? Several days pass, and we are the same as before: again the same sins, the same passions, the same carelessness about our soul and conscience, the same cruelty towards our neighbors, the same insane devotion to sensual pleasures. Judging by this, it would be appropriate to think about us that we repent, confess, and receive communion not from the disposition of our hearts, but hypocritically. But this does not happen in us. We would truly like our own salvation; and every time we begin confession and communion, we hope to become better. What prevents that? Pardon has been accepted, the grace of sanctification has been given, the soul and conscience are lighter and lighter; where does evil and uncleanness come from again? Who again plunges us into the abyss of sin and destruction? Our frivolity... We do not take the trouble to strengthen the holy work of repentance, we do not take measures against previous sinful inclinations, being satisfied with a few days of fasting, we stop at the mere appearance of the Sacrament - and the good that began in us, is not supported, not nourished, suppressed - weakens, withers, disappears. And how many times in our lives does this ill-fated adventure repeat itself! The Israelis only once, on the day of the Lord’s Entry into Jerusalem, turned out to be so frivolous and perjury before Him; we do the same thing every year; and many will probably do the same for the rest of their lives... Alas, could anything be more unfortunate? Let us turn our attention, my brethren, to such a disastrous state of our souls. Now one of the Great Lents is ending. May it not, like the previous ones, be a repetition of our infidelities before the Lord! May it become a truly Great Fast for us because, in its continuation, we left forever the path of sin and destruction and began a pure and holy life! Amen. Second word of the week Vaiy Today the grace of the Holy Spirit has gathered us, and we have all taken up Your Cross, saying: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Hosanna in the highest! (Matthew 21:9) (This is how the Holy Church sings now) But which of us took the cross? We all took the vaiy, but no one took the cross, except perhaps the celebrants. And yet, brethren, the Church does not look at our faith, but speaks of the cross; leaves the visible and turns to the invisible! This is how it should be at a real celebration; otherwise we will be far surpassed by the ancient Jews. They, apparently, had much more than we now have, for their fronds were from dates and palm trees, with which our poor branches cannot be compared; Moreover, some of the Jews laid out their very vestments on the path of Christ, which no one has ever done among us. How then can we surpass the Jews if we do not have the invisible? They had everything, only one cross was missing; Their elders were only still making the cross at that time, but having made it, they then placed it not on themselves, but on Jesus. Thus, the entire cross remained for the Christians. And that is why the Church with such joy invites everyone to accept it: “all have taken up the cross” 17 - forgotten and rejected by the Jews! But, brethren, the Church can always rightfully proclaim this about the cross, for it is founded on the cross, and grows under the cross, and conquers and is crowned with the cross. But are we right to proclaim this way with the Church? Ah, if we really all took up the cross of Christ, then the world would long ago have become a paradise, and the disasters from which we all suffer so grievously would disappear from the face of the earth! True, in Baptism we all accept the Cross of Christ, but for many this bearing of the cross continues no further until they come of age and begin to understand themselves and act! For some, perhaps the first action of the so-called adult mind is that they forever lay down the cross placed on them at Baptism: they begin to act and act as if they had never had any cross on them! We all appear with a cross in our hands and in a tomb, but you yourself know, brothers, what this phenomenon is like! How many of those lying in the tomb with a cross take up the cross themselves? For the most part, it is placed in their hands already in the grave, without their consent, perhaps even against their will!.. There are people who, throughout their lives, are called to specially bear the Cross of Christ, and as a sign of this, as well as to strengthen their vows, they solemnly accept it from the hands of the Church. But how many of these Simons of Cyrene, who were put (on their shoulders) to “bear the cross” (Matthew 27:32), carry it to the place of execution, to their death? Alas, some, not having had time to leave Sinai of their lofty vows, already cast down the taken cross and break it, like Moses did the tablets, only not out of the holy zeal of Moses, but according to the voice and demand of the passions and charms of the world! Thus, I don’t know, brethren, how many of us can rightfully sing with the Church: “we take up the cross with the words”? We can all speak and sing, but actually take up the cross, much less take it and hold it always, take it and carry it constantly - oh, since there are few, few! What to do? Change the song of the Church? Put a frond instead of a cross? But if we neglected the cross, the Church would not part with it. Without the cross, the Church is not the Church, just as a Christian is not a Christian. It is better, brothers, that we also rise up from spiritual relaxation and be zealous to go where it leads - to take what the Church gives. In fact, if ever a Christian needs a cross, it is in these days. The courtier puts on all the signs of his service when he needs to appear before the king; a warrior diligently inspects all his weapons when he faces a military review from his commander; the student repeats all the lessons and exercises himself in all the experiments of science when preparing for the test. Soon, brothers, we too will have to appear before our King; How will we appear if we do not have the sign of royal service - the Cross? Soon we, spiritual warriors, will also have a spiritual review on Golgotha; how to appear before the Leader, without the main weapon - the Cross? The test of our faith and love will soon open at the foot of the tomb of Christ; Can we expect success if we do not have in our hands the only instrument of heavenly wisdom - the Cross? And may our King receive us from his throne on Calvary; otherwise He will receive - from the Cross! Let our Military Leader sit on trophies; otherwise He sits - on the Cross! May our Master teach His wisdom from some magnificent pulpit; otherwise He teaches it - from the Cross! After this, how can one appear to such a King, such a Leader, such a Mentor - without the Cross? That is why the Church now reminds us all in advance about the cross, advising us to take it up in advance, so that during the coming days we learn, at least to some extent, how to act with it. For, out of the habit of having a cross in your hands and carrying it, it can easily happen that for some, even when taken, it will fall out of their hands, just as a weapon falls out of an inexperienced warrior. So, we need to take up the cross, take it in advance, and everyone, that is, brethren, what should we do? First, reject the wisdom of the mind and captivate it into the obedience of faith; let him learn to philosophize not “according to the elements of the world, but... according to Christ” (Col. 2:8) - this will be a cross for the mind, which, after the fall, is naturally taken “on the mind of God” (2 Cor. 10:5). We must renounce our will and enclose it in the will of God and in the law of the Lord, begin to seek not our glory, or wealth, or pleasure, but the glory of God, the salvation of ourselves and our neighbors: this will be a cross for our self-loving will, which strives to make itself the focus of everything. One must accustom one’s heart to skillfully feel the bitterness of worldly joys and the sweetness of Christian deprivation, to skillfully rejoice in suffering, to consider deprivation as an acquisition - this will constitute a cross for the sinful heart, which now cannot hear about sorrows and the cross without a shudder. Finally, one must bend one’s entire being, as far as possible, under the cross and arrange one’s entire earthly life so that it serves to put off the old man, to mortify passions, to curb pride and worldly pleasures. When we, brethren, do all this, or at least begin to do it, then it will not be in vain that we will chant: “We have all taken up the cross”; until that time, as you wish, this song is not ours, and serves us as a reproof! Amen. Third word of the week Vai “And when he came near, he saw the hail, weeping over it” (Luke 19:41) The Gospel indicates to us three occasions when our Lord wept: He wept yesterday, at the tomb of His friend Lazarus; he will cry in the Garden of Gethsemane, while praying to the Father, while the cup of suffering passes by (Luke 22:41–42); and he weeps now - as he looks at Jerusalem, he who is perishing. The tears of Gethsemane are so lofty and mysterious that it would be bold to talk about them to everyone; and the tears of Bethany are not without mystery, for why, apparently, cry at the tomb of one who at that very moment was to be called out of the tomb? The tears of Jerusalem today are simple and clear: the Lord weeps for Jerusalem, because Jerusalem does not understand the time of its visit, it does not weep for its sins. So these are our tears, beloved listener; for they were shed by the Lord, without a doubt, not about Jerusalem alone, but also about you and me, living sinners! These are tears for you, disobedient son of the Church, who, having overthrown the holy yoke of faith placed on you by your pious parents, indulged in freethinking and mockery of sacred objects! These are tears for you, cruel ruler, who, having forgotten the common nature of us all and the common hope of eternal life for all of us, torment your henchmen, as if they were created not for the glory of God and not for their eternal salvation, but for hard work to satisfy your whims! These are tears for you, an insensitive rich man who enslaved his soul to soulless metal, buried his heart and all his holy feelings in unrighteous accounts and calculations! These are tears for you, unworthy shepherd of the Church, who, instead of being the mouth of God for the people, a representative before God about human ignorance, you stand between the altar and the assembly of the faithful, like a wall that has been painted (painted), and it is not the mercy of God that is written on it, but your own judgment and condemnation! The Lord still cries for every sinner. For how can one not cry when he apparently goes into the abyss from which there is no return, and, having eternal life in his hands, madly exchanges it for vanity and corruption? How can one not cry for a sinner when so many means used to reconcile him with God, to restore his rights to the lost paradise, to acquire the Kingdom of Heaven for him, remain empty and without fruit? “And when he came near, he saw the hail, weeping over it” (Luke 19:41). The tears of the Lord did not help Jerusalem! He did not understand the mystery of the grace-filled entrance into it and the tears shed over him, and for this he was handed over to this day to be trampled underfoot! The tears of the Lord will not help you and me, beloved listener, if we, like the Jerusalemites, remain insensitive to our sins. In order for our sins to be washed away with these priceless tears, it is necessary that our own tears about our sins be mixed with them, so that the sadness that fills the heart of the Lord passes into our soul and drives out from it all the unclean and harmful joys of sin. Therefore, do not be surprised if, instead of joy, we invite you to tears. Let the prophet exclaim: “Rejoice..., daughter of Zion!” (Zechariah 9:9) - This voice is to pure souls; they can and should, according to the Apostle, rejoice not only now, but always (Phil. 4:4). But we should weep more than rejoice, for we are still in sins and unrepentance; Sinners cannot rejoice, says the Lord Himself. This holy sadness for God will not, however, interfere with the true joy that a sinner, like us, has, and can only grow from tears. In fact, look how joyful the Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord will be for us if we spend the coming week in tears of repentance! He will be so bright as he has never been before, for which may the Lord vouchsafe us all with His all-powerful grace! Amen. The fourth word in the week of Vai For what city is this our beloved Savior crying on such a joyful day? About Tire, Sidon, Egypt, Babylon? That is, about any of the cities that did not know the true God, and therefore perished in the abyss of depravity and wickedness? No, the Resurreator of Lazarus weeps over that city, which from all the cities on earth was chosen by God Himself into a special dwelling for Himself, to which so many prophets were sent, where the only church of the Living God in the whole world stood - weeps over that city, among which the mystery of universal redemption was now to be accomplished on Golgotha, so that later from it the salvation of the whole world could be proclaimed!.. And on what day do these bitter tears flow from the eyes of the Lord over Jerusalem? On that day when almost the entire city comes to meet Him; when they spread not only branches, but also “their vestments” along the way before Him (Luke 19:36); when they solemnly proclaim Him the Son of David, from the soul and heart they sing Hosannas to Him in the highest and accept Him as they have never accepted any of their rulers! What, then, draws tears from the eyes of the Lord about Jerusalem on such a day? The unreasonableness and unrepentance of its inhabitants. This day was for them the day of a special visit from God, the day of a decisive test of life or death; and they, in the blindness of their minds and hearts, darkened by passions, do not see the full importance of this visit; despite external signs of zeal for the Son of Mary, they are incapable of accepting from Him the Kingdom of Heaven, which He, along with Himself, brought to earth; They are completely close to decisively rejecting Him and their salvation in Him. “And as you drew near, seeing the city, weeping for it,” and saying: “If only you had understood... the time of your visit!” Otherwise, hidden “from your sight!” (Luke 19:41–42, 44). This is what draws tears from the Lord and turns for Him a day of universal joy into a day of sorrow and lamentation. In order to further understand the power of these tears of the Savior over Jerusalem, let us remember that He only had a few days left to remain on earth, and that, despite His three-year wandering through the land of Judea, His repeated visits to Jerusalem, the many conversations spoken there, the many miracles performed there, Jerusalem had never yet decisively revealed its opinion about Him. The actual entrance to Jerusalem, according to prophecy, was to serve this purpose; now it had to be decided whether the new prophet and Teacher would be accepted for what He really was, that is, the promised Messiah and Son of God, or whether he would be unrecognized and rejected. The consequences of both were incalculable for Jerusalem and the entire people of Judah. The Messiah, accepted with faith and love, had the power to benefit this people in time and eternity; The Messiah, rejected, led with him rejection for him in time and in eternity. In order to protect Jerusalem from this misfortune, everything possible was done on this day, as the day of the last and decisive experiment. To complete the previous miracles, a new, greatest miracle was created - a four-day-old dead man was called out of the grave. At the very entrance to Jerusalem, not even the fact was forgotten that the promised Messiah, in accordance with the prophecy of the prophet, was to appear before Jerusalem, by the way, in the form of a meek King riding on the foal of a donkey. And the daughter of Zion, apparently, was excited by her insensibility: crowds of people, each more numerous than the other, flow to meet the Resurrector Lazarus; cries, some louder than others, rush from all sides in honor of Him. But all this is only a consequence of a momentary, involuntary delight; Under all these signs of fleeting zeal lies the usual coldness of souls and hearts. The crowds will disperse as quickly as they formed; the cries will fall silent, and the Son of David will remain with only His disciples! - Not only that: of these people, who are now showing so many signs of zeal for Jesus, not one will appear in a few days at Pilate’s praetorium with a wild cry: “Crucify, crucify Him!” (Luke 23:21) The Savior will foresee all this; before Him, both the secret unbelief and hard-heartedness of the Jews, and its terrible consequences for this people, were completely open - and His loving heart was filled with sorrow to the point that the most universal joy around Him could not stop His tears: and, “seeing the city, weeping for it” (Luke 19:41), and saying: “If only you had understood... you” (Luke 19:42 ) the time of “your visitation!” (Luke 19:44) If you understood and understood what this day means and how important it is for you - that now, that is, once and forever, your fate must be decided! Otherwise, hidden from your sight; but you closed your eyes so as not to see the miracles and signs that were performed for you; I closed my ears so as not to hear the truth that was proclaimed to you so many times; and therefore you will have to reap the bitter fruits of your blindness and stubbornness: “for the days will come against you, and your enemies will lay guard against you, and will surround you, and will embrace you on every side, and will crush you and your children within you, and will not leave one stone upon another within you: for you did not understand the time of your visit” (Luke 19:43-44). What happened, my brothers, this day with Jerusalem, the same thing happens with each of us. For its salvation, each soul must accept within itself the Savior of men, must assimilate Him by faith and love into an eternal destiny, unite with Him in spirit and be blissful, or, having rejected Him, like Jerusalem, remain in a state of sin and alienation from eternal life. In order for the sinful soul to know its Savior, turn to Him with faith and surrender to Him completely, for this purpose the Providence of God constantly uses many means that equally affect everyone. But besides this, there are in a person’s life, as now with Jerusalem, days of special visits from God, when the call to repentance becomes louder and directly sounds in the sinner’s ears; when the grace of salvation appears to him, so to speak, face to face, and seems to say: one of two things, either repentance and mercy, or unrepentance and destruction! At this time of visitation from above, the sinful soul itself, like the inhabitants of Jerusalem now, feels the importance of what is happening to it, and joyfully sets out to meet the coming Lord, that is, it begins to express a desire to learn the path of truth, is inflamed with a sense of goodness, and even, apparently, reaches holy delight, in which it is ready not only to cut branches, but also to spread its vestments, that is, to renounce what is closest and most precious. It is good for that soul which, having sought the Lord in this way, or even more so having been sought by Him, does not limit its appeal to Him to one external and fleeting expression of love and zeal in order to accomplish, for example, some work of external piety, or to help its neighbor in something, but having surrendered to Him, as the eternal King and Lord, begins the rest of its life to walk in His footsteps and fulfill His holy will! The Lord accepts such a soul under His protection and into special fellowship with Himself, becomes for it a mentor and shepherd, a nourisher and guardian, a doctor and a comforter, and does not leave it in any case until, having cleansed, strengthened, sanctified and perfected, He brings it into His bright chamber. But woe to the soul that, like Jerusalem, not understanding the day of its visit, is satisfied with the mere appearance of turning to the Lord who seeks it, and does not show the worthy fruits of conversion! The consequence of this inconstancy and this unfaithfulness is then even greater darkness in the mind, the gravest bitterness in the heart, the deepest descent into sensuality, complete oblivion of God and conscience, with the final impoverishment of God’s grace, without which man is the son of wrath and destruction. What visiting days are these? When and how do they happen? It is difficult to give completely definite answers to all this, for, firstly, each person is led by the Providence of God along his own path; on the other hand, with the grace of God, everything can serve as a means to awaken us from the sleep of sin. It is enough, therefore, to note that the soul at this time of visitation itself feels the unusualness of its position, sees itself between heaven and hell, as if in the middle, hears a voice commanding it to leave the path of lawlessness; and is ready for everything that faith and conscience require. If, however, it were necessary to give a few specific instructions to someone, then we can say without hesitation that among such days of God’s visitation to a sinner belongs, firstly, the day of confession and Communion of the Holy Mysteries. In confession, we each time appear, even before our death, before the judgment of God Himself and hear from the mouth of the altar server such a sentence by which our fate is decided and whose power is recognized and affirmed in heaven. What an important and sacred hour therefore is the hour of our confession for us! And in the Sacrament of Communion, each time the Hypostatic Word Himself appears before us, under the guise of bread and wine, enters inside us and unites with us for our sanctification. Is it possible to have a greater sign of the Savior’s grace and closeness to us and, therefore, is it possible to desire a better moment to change our lives? The days of God’s special visitation should include serious illnesses, when a sinner who has descended to the gates of death, and for him the same as to the gates of hell, one might say, already sees with his own eyes the abyss of hell that awaits him for his sins and unrepentance. Rising from the bed of such illness, many completely change their lives, turn to God and the Church, and become true Christians; and others, alas, having promised the Lord their correction, then return back and wallow in even greater carnality and wickedness. Other cases in which our lives, honor, or property are in obvious danger, to the point where we lose hope of salvation, should also be honored as days of God’s special visitation. In this case, the most sensual and inveterate sinners turn to God in prayer, pronounce vows of repentance, and Providence often rejects the danger, moreover, in such a way that the saved one himself feels it and recognizes the finger of God over himself. But alas, this feeling, this recognition does not always produce the saving effect on the sinner that should have been expected, so that as time goes on, many forget both the danger and their vows, and rush to their former sins and iniquities! The day of a special visitation of God also marks the death, especially sudden, of people with whom, in one way or another, our very existence was closely connected. Here, having encountered death, seeing the open grave of a brother or friend, spouse or daughter, again the most hardened sinner feels an awakening of conscience in himself, realizes that he is in vain thinking about finding and establishing his happiness on earth, that he must prepare for another world. All this ends for some with a firm determination to completely change their morals and behavior. Particularly joyful events in life should also be indicated as days of special visits of grace. When the heart spreads with joy, then the gaze involuntarily rises to grief - to the sky, filled with self-satisfaction, a person feels around him, as it were, a certain breath of the spirit of grace and generosity, and conscience, more or less clearly, but always reminds a person of the need to be kind in order to preserve the mercy of God. In all these and similar cases, with all justice, one can turn to the sinner the words of the Savior to Jerusalem: Oh, if only you would understand the time of your visit! You, who, despite the multitude of sins and all the impurity of your previous life, were honored yesterday with communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord, if only you understood the power of this Sacrament and the greatness of God’s condescension bestowed upon you! You would then see that this is the best opportunity to change your life, to break off the criminal relationship that oppresses you, to reconcile with your brother who is at enmity with you, to stop extravagance and insane luxury, to stop tilting the scales of truth and truth. The Lord, who gave you His Body and Blood, clearly wants to assimilate you to Himself and be one with you. Does He not have enough strength to free you from the captivity of sin, to heal your spiritual ulcers? So, arise, strengthen yourself, defeat the evil that lives in you with the power of grace - and you will cease to be a slave of passions and a victim of the enemy of God! Rising from the bed of a serious illness and beginning to live as if again, if only you understood the time of your past visit! You would see that now it is appropriate to begin life again, not only in body, but also in spirit, that the very severity of the past illness has already freed you from most of the bonds by which you were tied to the world, and by which the enemy dragged you to hell. Do not leave your soul and conscience in mortal illness when your body has recovered! May you be healthy and whole, not half! Weeping over the grave of your wife or son and, in the midst of grief, indulging in fruitless murmur and despair, oh, if only you understood the time of your visit! Then it would not have been in vain that the gates of eternity would have opened before you, into which the face you loved went: you would have seen in them eternal life, prepared for you there, and you would have stopped chasing vanity and corruption and sacrificing everything for them. Instead of drawing with fruitless regret the souls who have gone back into this vale of deprivation and tears, you yourself would have rushed in spirit after them, and in this sweet longing you would have long ago found peace for your torn heart. Rejoicing at the happiness that suddenly visited you and not remembering yourself from the excess of spiritual joy, if only you understood the time of your visit! You would see that earthly joy itself, for its fullness, requires peace with God and conscience, that with the increase in your well-being, the number of means for you to do good without any labor for you has increased, and that you can do nothing better at this moment than make a vow to be faithful to the Lord, who benefits you. And many more similar appeals could be made, for in the right hand of Providence, as we have noticed, all the events of our lives, and each of them is directed towards our salvation. But of these cases, if not all, then surely more than one will fall to the lot of each of us. Let everyone pay attention to himself and to what happened to him in his life; may he apply to himself both the tears and the words of the Savior to Jerusalem; and let him learn not to neglect the days of God’s visitation, remembering that otherwise, for unrepentance, each of us will face the same thing that happened to the infidels in Jerusalem, that is, he will be abandoned by the grace of God and given over to the sacrifice of his own passions. May the Lord save us from this terrible disaster! Amen. The fifth word of the week of Vai “On the morning of the day, many people came to celebrate the feast, hearing that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, having received dates and going out to meet Him, and I called (saying): Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!” (John 12:12–13) Where does such a change in the actions of our Savior come from?.. He Who forbade the unclean spirits, that they should not know His being as the Son of God (Mark 3:12), now hears with favor the Divine hosanna from the children of the Jews: He Who turned away from the people “who wanted to snatch Him away, let him make for himself a king” (John 6:15), now freely allows Himself to be called the King of Israel; He who solemnly acknowledged that His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36) is now surrounded by all the splendor of an earthly king. What does this mean? Or has the eternal predestination, that “it was fitting for Christ to suffer and come into His glory” (Luke 24:26), changed, and He, like in heaven in inviolable peace, sits on the throne of the Father, and on earth, without fighting with enemies, goes to sit on the “throne of David” (Luke 1:32)? But the High Priest of the Jews, in an inspiration incomprehensible to him, had already pronounced the sentence, “for we have no cause, that one... should die for the people” (John 11:50), but Satan had already stretched out his hand to put “into the heart of Judas... that he might... betray” (John 11:50). 13:2), his teacher; but the Heavenly Father has already dissolved the cup of wrath, which the Son of His love must drink to the dregs; but the wood of the cross has already grown, the nail has been sharpened, the spear is pointed, death is blowing over His head, and the tomb from which He called His friend seems to have opened its bowels in order to receive Jesus Himself. And under the cloud of these disasters, which is ready to burst over the head of Jesus, He makes a royal entry into Jerusalem - into the place of His condemnation, His death, His tomb? Dearest our Savior! We do not dare to dispute the glory that is due to You forever and ever; we would like, if possible, to increase it with our praises; but we would like to learn from You why You, going to the Cross, are clothed with this glory, especially since we must follow You to Your Cross, to partake of Your death. Is it not in order to illuminate the darkness surrounding Your Cross with the rays of sowing glory? Or, more importantly, because Your Cross, so terrible in our eyes, is for You the Throne on which You go to sit with the glory of the King? If for You Your Cross is a Throne, then for us, to whom You have bequeathed Your Kingdom, there is no other throne except the Cross. But how little do we understand this glorious mystery of Yours and together of our Cross! May it illuminate, even now, at the onset of Your suffering, our minds and hearts! The conversation about the Cross is not alien to the glory with which You are now clothed, especially since at Tabor, Moses and Elijah, who appeared to You, spoke of Your outcome (Luke 9:31). The Cross of Christ, being erected in the middle of the whole earth and for the salvation of the whole earth, is equally open to the sight of everyone; but not everyone sees the same thing in him. The world looks at him - and, seeing the fierce illnesses of Him hanging on him, he runs, crying: “I do not know this Man” (Matthew 26:74). He looks at the law - and, seeing in it the fulfillment of God's justice, nodding his head, says: “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Gal. 3:13). The mind looks - and, seeing the extreme humiliation surrounding the Cross, proudly asks: “food... from this burdock they collect “figs?” (Matthew 7:16). Finally, faith looks at the Cross - and, seeing on it “God’s power and God’s wisdom” (1 Cor. 1:24), flows itself to the Cross, crying: “Remember me, Lord, when you come in Your Kingdom” (Luke 23:42). What kind of power is this, so strong that it attracts a person to the cross? What kind of wisdom is this, so secret that it is enclosed in a tomb? Behold the power of the Cross, killing everything generated in us by sin. Behold the wisdom of the word of the cross, indicating a new, Divine life in this mortification! If we are afraid of the Cross, then this is because we do not see what should be crucified in us; and if they point out something like this to us, saying, let this be drunk, we proudly answer: food, are we blind? “I find not a single guilt in this man” (Luke 23:14). But if we, leaving prejudice towards ourselves, decided to sincerely examine ourselves, to put to the test what we find good in ourselves, to judge our inner man, I do not say, according to the law of God, before whose light all our righteousness is only darkness, but even “according to our law” (John 19:7), that is, according to the law of our conscience; we would see that, despite the fact that many words have been erased in it, this definition has not yet been erased: “you must die” (John 19:7). Will a carnal man doubt this? Come and see. Shouldn’t you admit that your mind, this illegitimate ruler of a lawless kingdom, “he always understands what is on earth, and what is in his hands, he finds with difficulty, but what is in heaven” can neither know nor accept? (Wis. 9:16). “For he must die” (John 19:7). What is your will, this servant of her servants, who does not want good and does this, but who hates evil and does this? (Rom. 7:15). I must die. That there is a law within you, constantly warring against the law of your mind and captivating you with the law of sin? (Rom. 7:23). Ubo must die. That evil lust lives inside you, which, constantly tempting and deceiving you, constantly conceives sin, and this gives birth to death? (James 1:15). Must eat to die. Finally, convinced by your own and everyone around you by the corruption of sin, which, without a doubt, cannot be the work of God, should you not also admit that you, like everyone else, in Adam attempted to steal the Divine glory and, as a sign of this attempt, tasted through the mouth of the father of men from the forbidden fruit? If so, then all the good thoughts remaining in the heart will cry out: “according to our law, you must die, because you have created for yourself the Son of God,” making Himself equal to God (John 19:7). So many glances at yourself, so many confessions; so many confessions, so many sentences to death, so many crosses. “But what is the use of these crosses?” - asks the old man who is being nailed. “Die,” answers faith. - There is no heaven for you. He is the inheritance of him who comes after you, whose boots you are “not worthy to bear” (Matthew 3:11). Who is this coming?.. By name - behold, a new man, descending from the cross, and created by the cross “according to God in righteousness and in the excellence of the truth” (Eph. 4:24). Behold, the “hidden man of the heart,” brought out by the cross from the prison (1 Pet. 3:4) of the flesh, in which he was bound by the chains of delightful lusts. Behold, “the son of God” (John 1:12), born not of the blood of a woman, but of the blood of the Lamb slain on the cross. By properties, this is a warrior of Christ, bearing the wounds of his Leader on his body and conquering the whole world with these wounds. Behold, a disciple of Christ who does not want to appear to know anything, “but Jesus Christ was crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). This is a “new creation” (Gal. 6:15), animated “not by the living soul of earthly Adam,” but imbued with “the life-giving spirit of heavenly Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45, 49). By appointment - this is a priest who, according to the order of Jesus, sacrificed himself on the cross, goes to turn everything into the sacrifice of the Lord. Behold the prophet who, having sealed the teachings of his Lord with his blood, comes to proclaim the wisdom of the word of the cross. Behold the king who, having conquered the enemies of his kingdom with the cross of the Savior, comes to accept the heavenly inheritance. Behold, he who was crucified to Christ and rose again with Him. Rise with Christ! This is the only hope that animated the ascetics of faith in the midst of the most severe persecution and made them rejoice in their suffering. “Leave me,” one of them cried, “leave me to be food for cruel beasts, so that they, crushing my mortal body in their mouths, may make it sweet bread for the Lord’s table. I don't want to have any other coffin than their womb. If they close their lips against their will, I will irritate them so that they will tear me to pieces. If you feel,” he continued, “the presence of Christ within you, then it is easy for you to understand what I am hungry for: “I desire to be allowed to be with Christ” (Phil. 1:23).” If we, the listeners, felt the presence of Christ within ourselves, then not only would we not move away from the Cross of Christ, but perhaps we ourselves would begin to seek it, beg others to crucify us on it, consider the wounds placed on us as mercy, and consider as an enemy the one who would attempt to take us down from the cross before our death. But we, being far from Christ, do not dare to approach His Cross. For without Christ we can find nothing in him but death. Happy would we be if we noticed the glorious effect of the Cross on others. But the mystery of the spiritual resurrection is the fruit of the death of the cross, although it is accomplished with all glory in the soul of believers, but this glory, like the glory of the presence of God in the tabernacle, is hidden here under rough skins - mortal flesh, and we, not seeing the vegetation of either our own cross or the cross of others, casting it down like a barren tree, we run under the canopy of the trees of the world, hoping not only to be satisfied with fruits their flesh, but also to hide in them from the face of the Lord who seeks us. Stop, soul flowing to its own destruction! Look again at the Cross from which you are running away! He is no longer on earth, but in heaven; not on Calvary, but on Zion; not for the offense of the Jews, but for the healing of tongues. “This one is clothed in a white robe,” and the fins in their hands, which surround the throne of the Lamb, “who are they and where did they come from? “These are the ones who came out of great tribulation... and made their garments white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:13–14). So, in vain you run away from the cross on earth, it will meet you in heaven: you will find it at the gates of Heavenly Jerusalem, just as it stands before the gates of earthly Jerusalem. How will you enter this gate? But let us suppose that the evil spirit, your patron, just as he himself once penetrated into Eden, through some underground paths brought you to the middle of the city of God. How will you appear in the stinking rags of sin among a host of people clothed in vestments whitened by the blood of the Lamb? Or, like those men of Gilead, you speak to the Heavenly Leader: “Like our garments... we have worn out our long journey!” (Joshua 9:13). Your path is truly long: through the world, through eternity it is impossible to achieve an eternal home. But since no deceit can hide before the gaze of heavenly spirits, then you, like Dennitsa, will be cast into the abyss of hell. But why are we thinking about invading the bright city of God? Not purified by the cross, we would not have found anything for ourselves in it, even if God’s mercy, as our heart usually flatters itself, allowed us to enter it and dwell in it. In order to enjoy the blessings of heaven, one must feel their value; In order to feel, instruments of feeling are needed. Do we have them? Do we have those eyes of heart that alone can look at “the riches of the glory of God’s heritage in the saints!” (Eph. 1:18). Oh! Many of us hardly even know that, in addition to the physical eye, there is a spiritual eye. Do we have those ears that alone could listen to the wisdom of the Savior on earth, and that alone can hear it in heaven? Oh! We can hardly believe those who tell us about this rumor. Do we have that taste with which believers eat the Lord, and without which we will remain hungry at the very source of blessings? Oh! Hardly anything has passed into our mouths except Egyptian meats. If our spiritual senses, by which the blessings of heaven can be felt, are contained, then even if heavenly paradise were open to us, we would not find any pleasure in it, just as someone deprived of bodily senses would not receive any pleasure from living in earthly paradise. Shouldn’t the Cross of Christ be more desirable for us, which not only opens our eyes to see, but also bestows blessings that we could see; not only awakens the ears to hear, but also contains secrets that should be heard; not only cleanses the palate, but also imparts what is eaten – the glory of the Lord Jesus? Wonderful is Your wisdom, O Lord, that heals us! All our diseases came from a single tree: she contains all the remedies against them in a single tree. And if our weak gaze could penetrate into the interior of this Divine tree, we would see in it an artistic church in which the Holy Spirit, this great Renewer of the old man, will sit “digesting and purifying his whole being like silver and like gold” (Mal. 3:3), in order to transform it again into the pure image of the Divine. But if we cannot see the secrets of this in ourselves, let us see it in the people subservient to us. Let us see it in the meek Abels, in the chaste Josephs, in Jobs, Zechariahs, Johns, and even more so, let us see it in the thief. Providence, it seems, especially established his cross at the Cross of the Savior in order to show how great the power of the Cross of Christ is, how short, convenient, and safe the path from the cross to heaven is. It would seem that this path, whose ending is so glorious, should become a royal path for everyone, and the path of the world, whose last point is to the bottom of hell, should be run away, like a dangerous crossroads; that Golgotha, where the Savior was crucified, should turn into a sovereign city of the whole world, and Jerusalem, in which He was condemned, should become a place of criminals; that the death of Christ should be renewed on the tongue and in the heart of everyone, and life alien to Christ should be blotted out from the memory of everyone. Seems... But what do we see? The path of the world, wide in itself, is constantly expanding; the path of the Cross, already narrow, seems to disappear before its breadth. Let us keep silent about the enemies of the Cross of Christ, who came from us, but did not run away from us: they will one day be forced to look with tears at Jesus, who has now been pierced by them. Of those who swore at baptism, like Peter, not to leave Jesus, even if it cost their lives, how often they deny Him out of the mere fear of some slave; Of those who accompany Him along the way of the cross and are present at His crucifixion, and even make certain offerings of faith, how many return back without receiving Divine sonship! Even of those who bear the Cross of the Savior, how many fold it, like Simon of Cyrene, without receiving any fruit from their bearing? There are also those who are crucified with Christ, but since they are not crucified for Christ, they are not resurrected with Him. Who enters heaven when so few ascend to the cross? Ah, our dearest Savior, in vain did You hasten to ascend to heaven in order to prepare a place for Your followers; they themselves found a place on earth for themselves! Living on earth, You were a friend to publicans and sinners; It is unlikely that these publicans and sinners do not make up the majority of your friends in heaven. Christians are sons of the kingdom! May sacred zeal for our title awaken in our hearts! If we have allowed tax collectors and sinners to precede us in the Kingdom bequeathed to us, we will not at least allow them to remain its only heirs. Jesus Christ now again begins the journey from Bethany to Golgotha; let us follow Him, taking into our hands not the Vaiy - a symbol of Jewish hypocrisy, but the Cross - a sign of love for Christ. Do we need the cross? Let everyone look at himself and see the cross within himself. This cross has been placed on each of us by God Himself. It is our will to make it the Cross of Christ or the Cross of the Thief, but it is not our will to lay it aside. He will remain our eternal heritage and will constitute either our eternal bliss, taking us with him to heaven, or eternal shame, dragging us with him to hell. Amen. The sixth word of the week of Vai Why do we now take branches into our hands, or better yet, accept them from the hands of the Church? Obviously, in memory of the fact that our Lord and Savior was met with similar branches on this day, at His solemn entry into Jerusalem. But the symbols and rituals of the Church are such that, while bringing to memory the past, they always contain teaching and a lesson for the present. What do the current branches teach us?.. They, one might say, sensually depict for us the lofty truths of Christianity. Without the sun, the branch is bare and as if dead, although it contains everything that will appear in the summer. There is, but cannot be revealed outside, because this requires the power of heat. So it is with our soul. In her, since she is the image of God, there is a capacity for everything good and holy. But in itself, in the natural state of man, all this is dead and lifeless. The light of Christ is needed, the warmth of the grace of the Spirit of God is needed. With their only action, under their only shadow, a sinner man comes to life from sins and passions for a new life in God. But the light of Christ and the grace of the Spirit, although they act on all people, do not produce spiritual revival in everyone. Why? This current phenomenon is explained to us by the same branches. The spring sun will affect all the trees of the earth, everything that grows on the face of the earth, but not everything will be clothed with greenery on the trees, some branches will remain bare and dead. Why? Because they have lost the ability to accept life from the light and warmth of spring. These are precisely the unrepentant sinners. There is no faith in them, no repentance, no desire for salvation, therefore neither the light of Christ nor the warmth of the Holy Spirit is valid for them. But a withered branch can no longer restore life to itself, the most skilled gardener is not able to do this, and a sinner, no matter how hardened in sin, as long as he lives on earth, can come to life. For the branch does not have freedom, but the man has it. Therefore, the branch cannot be blamed for the fact that even in the middle of spring it will remain bare and dry. But man can always be blamed, because it is in his power to always cease to be a dry branch and begin to turn green and bloom. But dry branches, although they are innocent in their dryness, are collected so as not to spoil the appearance of trees and gardens, and they serve as food for the fire. Judge, will the sinner remain forever in the heliport of the Lord if he resembles a withered branch? No, and this boastfulness will be collected and cast into the fire. The second truth depicted by the current branches is our relationship to our Savior. Do you remember what He compares this relationship with? Branches with a tree. He calls us, His followers, branches, and Himself the root and the trunk, he names and adds that just as a branch cannot be fruitful and even have life if it is not on the trunk: so we, if we do not abide in Him, that is, we will not abide in such a close, living union as a branch with a tree. Teaching is important, on the implementation of which our spiritual life depends. And, I repeat, our branches bring it to our memory. Look at any of them: how soon it is separated from its stem, it has already begun to lose life, and soon it will lose it completely, for the life of a branch not on the stem is death. By placing it in water, you can extend the life in the branch for a while, but do not replace the stem; water may even encourage the branch to produce small leaves. But all this is fragile, and must end in death. The first word for the day of midwifery “The half of the days have come, from the saving beginning of the uprising, sealed by the Divine Pentecost, and the lordship of both is shining, and uniting both” 18 Walking through the holy field of Great Lent, we stopped, my brothers, in the middle of it and worshiped the Cross of Christ, because under its shadow the Holy Church has established a place of spiritual rest for those who walk this field as they should - in the spirit of faith and repentance. In the same way, now, passing through the divinely illuminated circle of Pentecost, we now stop in the middle of it and celebrate the day of Midsummer for the same purpose, that is, so that, having quenched the thirst of the spirit with the waters of the grace of Christ, we gather with new strength for the further procession. For festivities, like fasting, constitute a kind of intense activity for the spirit and can exhaust its strength with the very excess of spiritual joy. On the other hand, the world is never as dangerous as during celebrations: just look, it will invade the soul with its vanity, darken the imagination, darken the heart, fill the eyes of the soul with dust, and make a slave of flesh and blood out of those celebrating according to God. Therefore, having completed half of the festivities, everyone needs to look around to see if anything similar has happened to them, look around and prepare for the future. For we still have great Mysteries ahead of us: we must be on Olivet and receive a blessing from the ascending Lord; one must go up to the upper room of Zion and partake of the grace of the Spirit. All this requires sober, good thoughts, an undistracted mind, a Christian heart, a vigilant conscience, that is, such perfections that do not come by themselves, but must be gained through labor and asked from above; and this is precisely what the present celebration of the so-called Mid-West reminds us of. How God-illumined and instructive is the circle of Pentecost, among which we now stand! On the one hand, the Resurrection of the Lord with all its light, joy and joy, on the other, the Descent from heaven of the Comforter Spirit with all His gifts, behind is an Angel sitting on the stones of the tomb in shining vestments and proclaiming: “there is no place here” (Mark 16:6); ahead are tongues of fire resting peacefully on the heads of the apostles (Acts 2:3); here and here, unbelief and slander are at the feet of faith, for, just as at the tomb of the Lord, malice dared to inspire: “Cry as His disciples, having come in the night, stole Him for us sleeping” (Matthew 28:13), so in the upper room of Zion foolishness dares to proclaim about the apostles, “as if they were filled with wine” (Acts 2:13). But the wisdom of God will never be put to shame by his children: the Risen One “was justified in Dus..., as the apostle puts it, and the Spirit was justified in Him, and therefore He and the Other... were believed in the world” (1 Tim. 3:16). But the light does not shine on just the edges of the circle in which we are: the entire middle of it, just like the sky with stars, is dotted with various festivals. So, let's turn to the past: we see - on the feast of Antipascha, Thomas, no longer with unbelief, but with faith, not only in Sunday, but also in the very Divinity of his Teacher; we see a holiday in honor of the holy myrrh-bearing women, worthily crowned and blessed for their simple but unchanging love and zeal for Christ; We see the miraculous healing of the paralytic, who for a long time did not have a person who would throw him into the font, and who waited for the God-man, who, even without the font, commanded him to take the bed and go to his home. Each festival and event has its own special light. Thomas, by his example, shows us how dangerous it is to indulge in doubts, and how “blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed” (John 20:29). The holy women with righteous Joseph testify that no gift is forgotten from our Lord, neither the highest and greatest, nor the smallest and simplest, as long as it is offered with faith and love. From the lesson spoken to the paralytic: “Behold, you are healthy: let no one sin, lest he suffer the worse” (John 5:14), we learn that the cause of our illnesses is our sins and that, therefore, the first remedy against them is always not so much the drops prescribed by doctors, but rather those that flow from the eyes from a contrite and humble heart. That's how much light there is behind us! How gratifying it is to exclaim with the apostle: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). How sweet it is to hear from the lips of holy women, falling at the feet of the Risen One: “Rabbi!” (John 20:16). Let us look forward, to the other final limit of Pentecost, here again are miracles and mysteries, and light and life, and joy and teaching. How soul-instructing is the Lord’s conversation with the Samaritan woman, whom we will witness next week! Whoever does not understand from this conversation what true service to God consists of has himself to blame. The miraculous healing of the blind man, to whose memory the next week is dedicated, like the healing of the paralytic, reveals in all its power both the Divinity of our Savior and the blindness of the world, mired in sins and passions, which, therefore, seeing does not see and hearing does not hear. Regarding the Ascension of the Lord, everyone knows how bright and joyful the Olivet is for the spirit, how precious for faith and love the blessing of the One Ascending into Heaven. It is more necessary to point out the memory of the seven Ecumenical Councils, celebrated on the weekday following the Ascension, more necessary because this memory is also very nourishing for the spirit and heart, and yet almost no one knows about this church festival. There are so many steps to the upper room of Zion, to tongues of fire, to noise like a storm of breath! Great is the circle of Pentecost! There is something to nourish the heart! There is something to occupy the very spiritual eye! We now stand in the middle of this divinely illuminated circle! Shouldn’t we therefore also be God-blessed? At the very least, one should not be dark, like the world and its servants. Who is the brightest of us and who is the darkest? Shining is the one who, with the resurrection of the Lord, either rose to a new life through repentance, or, having been resurrected first, ascended to a new level of life in God and virtue; he is bright who, remembering that his Savior and Lord did not remain on earth, but ascended to heaven, and himself does not cleave to anything earthly, does not collect treasures, or, moreover, collects them, only not here, but there, where, according to the expression of Scripture, neither aphids corrupt, nor thieves dig through and steal; bright is the one who, following the instructions given to the Samaritan woman, worships God in spirit and truth; but as a result of serving in spirit, he does not forget, however, to express his zeal for the faith, like the myrrh-bearing women, and with offerings from his honest labors; bright is the one who is zealous for the grace of the Holy Spirit and, like the apostles, will prepare himself to receive it through fasting and prayer. For such people, the present day is truly the day of Midsummer: having passed the holidays, they were not like miles for a traveler, showing one distance of time. No, they found in each of them food for their spirit, joy and joy for their heart, pleasure for the very feelings, which among carnal people do not know any other excitement than the material, and among non-carnal people they know how to participate in spiritual delights. Such people will now drink not just water, but with it the grace of the Spirit; for not only the lips of the body will open for her, but also the lips of the heart, those lips about which the holy Songsinger says: “I will open my lips, and they will be filled with the Spirit!” 19 For those, on the contrary, who spent the past weeks, just as they spent their entire lives, without thinking at all about what was happening in the church, what was happening inside their souls, for those this holiday, like all others, if it exists, it is only in one name. But the enemy of souls, who holds such people captive, has his own festivals, his own circles, his own correspondences. We have the holiday of the Resurrection, he has the holiday of spiritual death; we have the Ascension into heaven, he has the overthrow from heaven and clinging to the earth; for us it is a gracious inspiration by the Holy Spirit, for him it is a pernicious inspiration by the spirit of the world. The Savior lifts up the paralytic and orders him to take the bed; and this enemy of God and men throws the healthy to their beds and takes away from them the strength of not only the body, but also the spirit. The Savior opens the eyes of those born blind; and it blinds and gouges the eyes of those who were brought out of darkness into the light, but did not want to remain sons of light. Beware, my brothers, of these actions of the spirit of malice; for woe to him who becomes his slave! Amen. The second word for the day of midwifery And we always come before you, brothers, not with our thoughts and speculations, but with what we find in the word of God and the holy fathers of the Church that is appropriate for the day and place. Nowadays it is all the more necessary to act in this way, for for this day there is a ready-made sermon delivered by our Lord himself. Would we be forgiven for not paying your attention to this sermon? You heard the beginning in today's Gospel, where it is said: “At half-time of the feast Jesus went up into the church and with a bowl” (John 7:14). Below the Evangelist says what exactly the Lord taught on this day, let us listen to Him: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink: believe in Me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow out of his belly” (John 7:37–38). In order to better understand the connection of this sermon with the time in which, and the circumstances under which it was delivered, we must remember, brethren, that on the Feast of Tabernacles, among other rites, there was also one solemnly taking water from the source of Siloam and carrying it to the Temple of Jerusalem. One of the main priests, accompanied by a choir of Levites, set out from the church for this, went down the mountain on which he was located, drew water from the Siloam spring with a golden vessel, brought it on the head to the church amid the sound of trumpets and organs, and poured it there on the altar. This sacred ceremony was one of the most majestic and was accompanied by such joy among the people that the Jews formed a saying: “he who has not seen the joy of the sacred water on the Feast of Tabernacles does not know joy.” The water itself, carried in this way, partly meant the past - those waters that the Jews miraculously received more than once during their wanderings in the desert; partly the future - the gifts of grace that were to be poured out (during the coming of the Messiah) on His followers. Now imagine that while the high priest was carrying the water of Siloam to the church, when the crowds of people were unconscious with joy and joy, Jesus Christ stopped at one of the elevated places at the church, and with a majestic voice cried out: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink: believe in Me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow out of his belly” (John 7:37-38). That is, as if He were saying this to the Jews: the water that you go after with such triumph, which you drink with such joy, although it is the purest, it quenches the thirst of only one body and only for a while, but in you there is a thirst of the spirit that no water can quench. Do you want to quench this thirst, quench it forever? Turn to Me, believe in Me, surrender yourself completely and forever to Me. I will give you such water that whoever drinks it will never be thirsty. On the contrary, you yourself will become a life-giving source for others, unceasing, inexhaustible. “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink: believe in Me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow out of his belly” (John 7:37–38). One can judge what attention such a sermon, delivered in such a place and at such a time, should have attracted. Without a doubt, most of the people following the high priest stopped before Jesus Christ and began to listen to Him. Of those listening, some immediately spoke: “This is truly a prophet,” others: “This is Christ!” (John 7:40–41). When the enemies of the Lord, the Pharisees and scribes, not tolerating the actions of such an extraordinary preaching, immediately sent their servants to take the Preacher and bring him to them for trial, then the sent ones themselves turned into listeners and, returning to those who sent them with nothing, in their justification they said: “Never has a man spoken like this, like this Man” (John 7:46). But we should be concerned not so much with the effect of the Lord’s preaching on the Jews, but with its relationship to us and our salvation. And we now go out to the water to bless it and carry it in triumph to the church, and for us this sacred rite is a source of joy and spiritual joy. And, without a doubt, our water is just as higher and holier than the water of Siloam, just as the grace of the New Testament is higher than the letter of the law of the Jews. But is it possible to say about our water that it quenches all the thirst of the immortal spirit? Only the ignorant could claim this. Therefore, at our present sacred rite, it is proper and proper to proclaim in the ears of all the sermon of the Lord spoken to the Jews on the occasion of the water of Siloam: “If anyone thirsts,” the Savior spoke to the Jews, and now he speaks to us. And who doesn't thirst? And in the body, thirst is renewed sometimes several times a day, but in the soul it is always there. The mind thirsts to know, wants to know everything more and more and cannot be satisfied with anything. The heart thirsts for sensations, always new and new, and will never say – enough! Desires are tireless in their search, and give them anything and as much as you want, never stop them or fill them. Man uses different methods to satisfy the thirst of his being. The main four of them are: Knowledge and wisdom - with them we think to quench the thirst of the mind. Mental and sensual pleasures - with them we hope to quench the thirst of the heart. There are various types of acquisitions - they are used to try to quench the thirst for lust and lust. Honor, dignity and distinction - they serve to quench the thirst for sublimity and perfection. The first word on the day of the Ascension of the Lord “He brought them (the Apostles) out as far as Bethany and lifted up His hands, (and) blessed them. And when you blessed them, you departed from them and ascended to heaven. And they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy" (Luke 24:50–52) Thus ended the earthly career of our Savior and Lord! He suffered much, and was glorified much. There was no sorrow like His sorrow, and there was no glory like His glory. “He humbled himself, becoming obedient even to the point of death, death on the cross. Therefore God also highly exalted Him and gave Him a name that is above every name, so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:8-11). Will we ever see this glory of our Lord? Not only, brethren, will we see, but each one, in his own measure, will enjoy this glory, unless he makes himself unworthy of it. We will see, for the Lord in His last great prayer Himself prayed to His Father about this: “Let them see,” He said, “the glory that you have given to Me” (John 17:24). And the Angels, after the Ascension of the Lord, appeared to the apostles, testified that the Lord would come to all of us on the last day in the same way as the apostles saw Him ascending into heaven (Acts. 1:11). We will even participate in the glory of the ascended Lord, unless we make ourselves unworthy of it, for for this purpose He ascended to heaven, in order to prepare it for the reception of all His true followers. Az, and you will” (John 14:2–3). That this merciful determination regarding us did not change at all even after the Ascension, Saint Paul is a witness to this, who says that on the last day of the Lord’s coming, believers “will be caught up in the clouds to meet Him in the air” (1 Thess. 4:17). This means that, even in appearance, something similar to what happened now with the Lord Himself on the Mount of Olives will happen to us. O brethren, do you feel the full importance of this promise? All the mercy and all the love of our Lord for us? What is He and what are we? And yet He wants us to be where He is now, to be with Him throughout all eternity. The Lord is crowned with glory for ascending to the Cross; our entire merit lies in the fact that we lifted Him to the Cross; and yet, He, having carried the Cross alone, does not want to enjoy glory alone, but wants to share it with all of us. Can there be love greater than this love? Is there a purpose higher than this purpose? But, brethren, is this unparalleled benevolence of our Lord beneficial to us? Does the loftiness of our destiny elevate our spirit above the earth? Does our heart turn away from everything base and sinful? Does the heaven that is open to us make us in any way heavenly? There is only one path, brothers, by which we can also reach the heights of holy glory—the same one by which our Lord ascended into glory; that is, the path of the cross, the path of purification, self-sacrifice, the path of external and internal suffering. Do we remember this? And, remembering, are we going to heaven the way of Christ? Lucky people of the world, you will be the first to answer. Surrounded by the blessings of the world, do you firmly remember that there are blessings that “eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and which the heart of man has not sighed, but which God has prepared for all who love Him!” (1 Cor. 2:9). Do you strive for these benefits? Does the memory of them save you from addiction to perishable goods, to everything temporary? Are you ready to count everything that you possess, like the Apostle Paul, as “dung” (dung, dung) (Phil. 3:8) in order to gain or not lose Christ? Will you joyfully leave all the beauties of the world, as soon as the hour comes to go to the abode of the Heavenly Father? Do you know how, among the pleasures of earthly happiness, to participate in bearing the Cross of the Lord? Do not say that this is impossible, that it cannot be combined with deeds selflessness, greatness, power, wealth, glory and other earthly blessings. Examples of people who combined earthly greatness with heavenly, temporal wealth with eternal, the glory of God with human, clearly show the possibility of this. So, do you realize this precious opportunity in yourself? Turn them into a means of acquiring eternal blessings? Make them an object of self-sacrifice, the purer the more arbitrary it is? If the Favor of earthly happiness elevates you, brothers, above everything earthly and brings you closer to heaven, then stay there! The Ascending Lord blesses your height. Just be careful that you don’t fall asleep on this Tabor, and when Moses and Elijah talk about the cross on which the old man should be crucified, you don’t talk about creating not one, but three tabernacles for this man. Remember that the path to heaven is not from Tabor, but from Olivet; and to Olivet one must go through Gethsemane and Golgotha. You, who groan under the weight of earthly disasters and temptations, must not forget your cross. But you can forget the Cross of the Lord! Are you alien to this oblivion? It is possible, even when going with the Savior to Golgotha, to carry not His cross, but the robber’s. Do you have this terrible flaw? If not, if you suffer innocently or, like a prudent thief, blot out your guilt with the power of faith and tears of repentance, then you, despite your supposedly unfortunate situation, are more blessed than all the lucky people in the world. For you will go from the cross to paradise, and they will pass from the paradise of earthly sweets into utter darkness. But, brothers, do you feel the advantage of your position in relation to the eternal destiny of man? Are you completely convinced that, due to your ill-fated lot, you, even without effort, without labor, are more like your Savior than others, closer to His Cross and, therefore, to heaven? Does this precious feeling save you from despondency and murmuring? Does the self-defeating complacency of the world's fortunate reward you? Does it strengthen your weakening thoughts and hands? See, brothers, how the race of the cross ends! Is there any glory like the glory of the ascended Lord? This is how your journey will end, just follow Him steadily. Let them bow their heads over you and pour their hearts on you: this all happens to you, as to Him, “that the Scripture may be fulfilled” (John 19:36), that the will of the Heavenly Father may be fulfilled. Let them place you in the very coffin, assign guards, and put seals: you will pass harmlessly “in the midst of the very shadow of death (Ps. 22:4), just follow Him faithfully; just remember that “even if someone suffers, he will not be married, unless he is tormented lawfully” (2 Tim. 2:5), - if he does not dissolve his sufferings with devotion to Providence, he will not sanctify his sorrow by faith in the Redeemer. It is painful, brethren, to serve as the rabble of the world, to be the subject of persecution, to live in poverty; but this is the path of the Lord! Will you leave it because it leads far, farther than all worldly paths - to heaven? Remember that the Lord constantly looks down on you from above and blesses your patience. A few years will pass, perhaps days of testing, and you will be with Him, enter into His glory, enjoy what is above the whole world. “Before you will comprehend” (1 Cor. 9:24), or rather, you will be comprehended by your Lord. But why do we limit our interview to the happy and the unhappy? The path of the Lord must be the path of one and all. Our Lord suffered equally for all of us; The sky is open to everyone equally. So, I ask each and everyone: how much in our life can we point to and say that it was done this way or abandoned by us because we are destined for heaven, that we should have no time with our Lord? Can we point to anything similar in our actions? Have we refrained from sin at least once, have we done at least one virtue, at the thought that our Lord is looking at us from heaven? Ah, brothers, no matter how small this question is, there are hardly any people among us who cannot answer it in the affirmative. What does our faith in the ascended Lord mean? Do we believe or not believe Him? If we believe, where are we? If we don’t believe, why bear His name? He who truly believes in his heavenly destiny cannot be earthly; for him this confidence is, of necessity, the beginning that animates his entire image of thoughts and feelings, his entire life and all relationships. As destined to inherit the throne, but removed from this destiny for a time by circumstances, he never forgets that he should once have been a ruler, wherever it is decent, he reveals the height of his rank; Thus, a true Christian in all circumstances of life, on all occasions, remembers that he is an heir of heaven, a joint heir with Christ - and acts in accordance with this destiny. Looking at him closely, peering into his life, everyone, even an unbeliever, will notice that he looks not so much at the visible as at the invisible, lives not so much in the present, temporary, as in the future, eternal, that his heart is somewhere far away, not in this world, that his belly is hidden high, in God. This is precisely how Christians once seemed to the pagans. But, brethren, is there much of this in us? Is there anything unearthly, heavenly, or Christ-like? If there is, then we, like the apostles, can return to our homes from the Mount of Olives with joy. The blessing of the ascending Lord in this case belongs to us, as well as the promise of the Holy Spirit. When He descends, He will not pass by those who belong to Christ. Otherwise, the reproach made by the Angels during the Ascension of the Lord belongs to us, and with even greater force. With greater, I say, strength; for they were told: “Why are you standing looking at heaven!” (Acts 1:11), - only because they, out of their love and zeal, continued, longer than necessary, to look at heaven, which received their Lord and Teacher. But we should be told something else, something contrary: sons of humanity, why are you standing looking not at heaven, but at earth? Why do you cling to the earth with all your heart, why do you constantly strive for what is temporary and perishable? Or do you think that “the earth stands forever” (Eccl. 1:4), and therefore eternal dwellings can be founded on it? But there will be a time when “heaven and earth, which you love, will pass by” (Matthew 24:35). Or do you think that the Lord left the earth forever and gave it to the sacrifice of your passions? But He will come just as He left, will demand an account from the rulers of the earth, will demand these talents, and will carry out judgment over the whole earth. Why are you standing there, looking at the ground? Turn your eyes to heaven, look at your Savior, who has been looking at you for a long time. Take the path to heaven, which has long been lying before you, for the sake of ease on it, throw off all the burdens of sin that oppress you, take the cross in your hands, and flow to your Savior, while He blesses you on this path, until the open sky is closed, while the Angels, heavenly and earthly, invite you to the abodes of the Heavenly Father. We hear, we hear, blessed inhabitants of heaven, your voice, and we want to enter the path of the Lord; just strengthen us and accompany us with your help. Most of all, You Yourself, merciful to our Savior and Lord, You Yourself have not abandoned us, orphaned in spirit and weak. Look down from heaven on our good will and weakness, see and bless us on Your path, clothe us with strength from above and strengthen our wavering feet until we go to Your Holy Mountain and unite with You. Amen. Second word for the day of the Ascension of the Lord Among home conversations about the subjects of faith, more than once, brethren, I have heard the question: why was it not pleasing to our Lord and Savior, after His resurrection from the dead, to remain on earth in order to visibly govern His Church? For some, the question of this was accompanied by visible regret that the Lord does not now dwell on earth, just as He did before His Ascension into heaven. If there is ever an appropriate time to say something in response to such bewilderment, then on this day, when it can easily come to mind and cast a sad shadow on the brightness of a real holiday. And why would we hesitate to do this, when the reason and purpose for which our Lord did not deign to remain forever on earth after His Resurrection were so often indicated by Himself and His Apostles? After this, this subject can be subject to reverent reflection by one and all. Considering the various passages of Holy Scripture regarding the Ascension of the Lord into heaven, first of all, brothers, we see that this glorious event did not in the least depend on any random causes, so that it could have happened or not. No, the Ascension of the Lord, like His death and Resurrection, was most precisely included in the plan of our salvation; and for this reason it was predicted and sung in all its greatness by the Prophets. “About,” says, for example, Saint David, “God shouts, the Lord shouts with a trumpet” (Ps. 46:6). And he, inviting the heavenly powers to create a path for the Lord ascending to heaven, calls out: “Lift up the gates of your princes... and the King of glory will come in!” (Ps. 23:7). Therefore, the Apostle Peter, after the Descent of the Holy Spirit, declared in the hearing of all the Jews that “it is fitting for heaven ... to receive Christ Jesus until the years of the dispensation of all” (Acts 3:21), that is, until the end of the world. Exactly, it's appropriate! For the time of the Lord’s humiliation ended forever with His Cross and Sepulchre; After the Resurrection and His acceptance of all power on earth and in heaven (Matthew 28:18), the time of glorification naturally came for Him. But our rough land, corrupted by sins and weighed down under a curse, is clearly not a place of peace and glorification, but of temptation and wandering. Therefore, on the very first day of His Resurrection, the Savior announced to Magdalene that He was already ascending (John 20:17) to the Father, although He then remained on earth for fourty days. A sign that His most pure humanity, heavenly by the Cross, immediately after the resurrection from the dead was already rushing up into the heavenly world, to the Father; and if He remained on earth, then out of special love for the disciples and out of need to continue conversations with them, even about the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). And when this need was satisfied, when these holy bonds ceased to have power, then the Savior’s Humanity, glorified for the feat of the cross, like fragrant incense, of itself rushed from Olivet to the eternal Sun - where, in accordance with His purity and glory, and where He should be until the time when, by His action and power, everything will be cleansed and enlightened, both below and below. the earth itself, stripped of rudeness and curses, will become capable of being a place of visible, eternal dwelling of God with people (Rev. 21:3). It is fitting, we will say in the words of the Apostle, “heaven... receive (Christ Jesus) until the years of the dispensation of all!” (Acts 3:21) This very thing was also required by the new, great destiny of the Son of Man after His resurrection. Just as in a state of humiliation He was destined to be a sacrifice for everyone, so in a state of glorification He was destined to become the manager and head of all. But where usually is the place for the chapter? Is it not at the top of the whole body? According to this very law (if the law is also needed for the Lawgiver) it is also done now: as the Head and Ruler of the whole world, the God-man is seated “at the right hand of God the Father in heaven, above all principality and authority, and power and dominion” (Eph. 1:20-21), so that, in the words of St. Paul, “he may lead with himself all things... even in heaven and even on earth” (Eph. 1:10). Even if we do not take into account other beings higher than us, but bear in mind only our fellow humans, then even then it will turn out that our Savior should have chosen as his place of residence after the resurrection not our downward, visible and sensory world, but the heavenly, invisible and spiritual one, for where are more of the descendants of Adam, in ours, or in that world? Without a doubt, a hundred times more there than here. There are all the forefathers, prophets, apostles, martyrs, great ascetics, and countless other people. There now, for this very reason, that is, among a large number of people, among the best members of humanity, there must be one who Himself is the best of all. All this is fair, someone might think, but for us it is not at all comforting: the angelic world could, even without the presence of our Lord, be maintained in its rank and order; the world of the souls of the departed also had less need of His presence, not being subject, like us, to temptations and constant struggle. With us, with us, poor, frail, subject to all temptations and misfortunes, our Savior should have remained with us, just as the most skillful doctors remain with those of the sick who are most exposed to danger and least promising. Do you think, brothers, that we were forgotten by the Savior during His ascension into heaven? Well, if we tell you that it was precisely us who remained on earth that He was most good and meant that it was for our good that He hurried to heaven? “There is no need for you,” this is what the Lord Himself said to the disciples, so that I go: if I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you: if I go, I will send Him to you (John 16:7). Is it not clear after this that He went to heaven for us and our good? Ask: why is it better for the Holy Spirit to be with us now, and not our Savior? Or why couldn’t He be with both of us together, which would seem even better? To understand this, brethren, it is necessary to remind you that although all the persons of the Holy Trinity participate in the work of our salvation, each in a special way, namely: to God the Father, the Holy Scriptures assimilate the supreme command of this matter, the sending to earth of God the Son and God the Holy Spirit; To God the Son belongs the redemption of us from sin and death through His incarnation, suffering and death for us; The grace of the Holy Spirit predominantly brings about the purification, enlightenment and sanctification of the redeemed human race. In accordance with this plan of our salvation, how could the Father not accomplish what the Son should have done, that is, be born, suffer and die for us; so it was not fitting for the Son to personally accomplish that which belongs to the grace of the Holy Spirit, that is, to cleanse, regenerate and sanctify us for a new life of grace. In addition, each part of the Divine plan for our salvation had to be put into action in its own time and in its place. The Son did not come in the flesh first to redeem us from sin, as the Father arranged everything for this work and prepared the human race to receive Him. The Holy Spirit did not begin the great work of sanctifying people until the Son redeemed them, reconciled them with God and prepared them to receive His gifts. Therefore, each Person of the Most Holy Trinity, when he performed His work, gave way to the special actions of another Person: thus, the Father, when He finished His orders regarding the human race and saw the Son ready to take dominion over everything, immediately after His resurrection He gave Him power. “To Me,” says the Son, “all power in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). So the Son, at the end of His great work on earth, that is, after the redemption of people by His death, after the descent into hell and after the resurrection, visibly and solemnly departed to heaven, so that by His exaltation he would open the way for the invisible, grace-filled all-effect of the Spirit of the Comforter. This was required, as we said, by the Divine order of our salvation, for the further application of the merits of the Redeemer to the human race, the grace-filled cleansing and sanctification of the redeemed, was no longer appropriate for Him, but for the Most Holy Spirit. Do you want to go further with reverent thought? I will not hesitate to lead you, led by faith in the words of the Savior. “If I do not go,” He says, “the Comforter will not come” (John 16:7). This means that between His ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit there is, in addition to the spiritual, a certain essential connection, according to the power of which without the first the latter could not exist, as the words of the Evangelist suggest; “The Holy Spirit was not with him, for Jesus was not glorified” (John 7:39). What does this mean? The fact that, due to our coarseness and carnality, we ourselves could not directly receive the Holy Spirit: for this, a certain intermediary organ was required through which the grace of the Spirit could be poured out on us. This God-bearing and spiritually communicating body is the most pure Humanity of our Savior, from the fulfillment of which we had the grace to receive grace. But for this, He Himself had to reveal Himself in all His strength, and for this, leaving the earth, which cannot contain the glory of the Divine, to ascend above all heavens, to sit at the right hand of the Father. There, on the throne of glory, the Humanity of our Redeemer was illuminated with all the glory of the Divinity, and by His closest union on the one hand with the Divinity, on the other with us, it revealed to the Most Holy Spirit the immediate convenience of shedding the grace of His gifts on all humanity, on all flesh. This very thing, one must think, was pointed out by the Savior Himself when, speaking to the disciples about the future coming of the Holy Spirit, He affirmed that He would receive from Him. For the all-merciful Comforter, as if from Him, the most merciful, accepted the convenience of descending on humanity as He descended on the day of Pentecost, that is, in all the fullness of His grace-filled gifts. No matter how meager this contemplation may be, brethren, the power of the Savior’s words is also visible from it: “Unfortunately... Yes, I am going... If I am not going, the Comforter will not come!” (John 16:7). The coming of the Holy Spirit was more necessary for us than the visible presence of the Savior with us, for the work of redemption was accomplished by Him, and the work of grace-filled sanctification was to be accomplished by the Holy Spirit; meanwhile, without His ascension into heaven, the grace of the Spirit could not be poured out. Then we could complain if the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church did not replace the completely visible presence of the Savior in it, but who can say this? What has the Holy Spirit not done and is not doing for the Church and for every believer? In the beginning, it was necessary first of all to form the apostles: and they, who, having walked with the Savior for so long and heard His conversations, could not free themselves from wrong concepts, after the descent of the Holy Spirit immediately became different people, began to proclaim the word of faith to one and all, and on the first day Peter alone converted whole thousands to Christ. To accelerate growth in the new city of Christ, it was necessary to impart to the believers various extraordinary gifts, and the Holy Spirit began to share them in such abundance that each of the believers was given the manifestation of the spirit for the benefit. It was necessary to form the Sacraments for the visible sanctification of believers; and under the action of the Spirit - the Sanctifier - they immediately received the beginning of the seven Sacraments, embracing and sanctifying all the main changes in a person’s life. For the shepherds of the Church, guidance was needed in the further development of its splendor and the protection of its laws - and at the Ecumenical Councils the Holy Spirit enlightened their minds to reflect all heresies, to establish all dogmas, to lay down laws for all cases. And the countless hosts of martyrs? Who inspired them with firmness if not the Holy Spirit? And the numerous hosts of desert dwellers? Who raised and perfected them in humility and love, if not the grace of the Spirit? And the many luminaries of the Church, universal teachers? Where did they get their illumination from, if not from His light? And now, is there even one person who could rightfully say: for my salvation this or that is missing? Of course, someone will say, fear is now easy for those who want it; but with the Savior Himself it would have been even easier, and His one word could have stopped many from sin. It seems so, beloved, but it would not be so in reality. How many people stopped sinning when the Savior Himself preached on earth? But then, you will say, He was in a state of humiliation, which is why they didn’t listen to Him like that. And now, do you think that the Savior would have remained on earth in glory? But can our land accommodate this glory? And if it did, then shouldn’t everything else on earth also take on a different form? Then there would be no place at all for the present order of things, and what would be done at the end of the world would have to happen. But where would there be a place for repentance in this case - repentance, without which we are all nothing?.. So, instead of regret, we should thank our Savior for ascending into heaven. For just as He descended from heaven for our good, so He ascended into heaven for our salvation, in order to intercede for us before the Father, in order to send down the Holy Spirit to us, in order to rule everything from heaven and direct everything for our good. And thanking the Savior for His ascension, we must prepare and go to Him ourselves. But here is our strangeness and our misfortune: They would like to bring Him to earth, but we don’t want to go to heaven to Him! Meanwhile, where is better? Obviously, with Him, rather than with us. Why are we so reluctant to go to our Savior when we have to go, that is, at the hour of death? Because we do not feel living love for Him: the lover runs to the beloved. Because we are too attached to earthly things and cannot break the bonds of the world and the flesh. Let us stop being too sensual and earthly, and we ourselves will immediately feel the desire for the heavenly; and over time, perhaps, we will say to David: “Woe is me, for my coming will continue!” ( Ps. 119:5 ) “When will I come and appear before the face of God?” (Ps. 41:3). Amen. The third word on the day of the Ascension of the Lord Do you remember, brothers, what the Church invited us to when we celebrated the Descent of the Lord to earth? “Christ on earth,” she cried, “Ascend!” 20 If such an invitation was then appropriate and necessary, much more so now that Christ has ascended into heaven. When He descended to earth, then, apparently, it was better to remain with Him on earth, it was even possible for His sake to come down from heaven, as many Angels did, but now there is clearly no reason to remain without Christ on earth, it is better to go to Him, to be in heaven. "Christ in heaven,... be exalted!" “And who,” you say, “would not want to be in heaven if our coarse flesh did not prevent it?” But, brothers, was it not our flesh that Enoch had? And yet, he was “translated into heaven” (Gen. 5:24), without seeing death, that is, he ascended there with the flesh. Was it not our flesh that Elijah had? And yet he was caught up into heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:11). Was it not our flesh that Paul had? But he was in the third heaven and heard unspeakable verbs. Wasn't Mary of Egypt our flesh? But when she prayed, Saint Zosima saw her a lad from the ground. Wasn’t it our flesh that all the martyrs had, and what did they not do with this flesh? All ascetics? And what miracles did they not show in this flesh? The flesh truly attracts everyone to the earth, for it is earthly; but it attracts and retains only those who themselves are happy with this attraction, whose spirit has become so grounded that it has lost the ability to strive, in accordance with its nature, to heaven. For those who know how to resist the demands of sensuality, the flesh itself gradually weanes itself from the earth, takes a higher direction, and becomes spiritual; and without exaggeration we can say that if these people had not been quickly released from the bonds of the flesh by the hand of death, then over time they would have lifted up their very flesh to heaven. But let us yield to the flesh its heaviness, let us not contend with the dust and dust; Let us give this honor to those who can accommodate it. Let the flesh remain on earth: what prevents the spirit from ascending to heaven? Doesn't he have the ability to be - in his thoughts - where he wants? What prevents you from using this precious ability to be, as often as possible, in spirit and heart in heaven, with your Savior, among your heavenly brothers? Is this difficult? And yet, how few people aspire, even allow their thoughts and desires to aspire to heaven! Where are there no thoughts, what are they not thinking about? But ask the most thoughtful people, how often do they think about heaven? And without this, is it surprising that the spirit, constantly occupied with earthly, worldly, corruptible things, finally becomes earthly, coarse and filled with ruin and vanity! “But what good is it if our thoughts fly to heaven, when all the rest of our being remains on earth? Does it help the poor man that his thoughts will live in the royal palaces? This does not help the poor, but it will help us to think about heaven. For the king's palace is not reserved for the poor, but heaven is reserved for us: thinking about heaven, we will think about our own; and thinking about something often is not a small thing. For a person, everything begins with thoughts. Start thinking more often about any subject: this subject will be closer and closer to you; then it will enter your soul, fill it with itself, displace all other objects, and turn into the controlling principle of all your actions. This also happens when a person often ascends in thought to heaven; he is filled with a feeling of contempt for the world, becomes elevated above everything sinful, and easy to do good - heavenly. “But,” you say, “there will still be time to think about heaven when we ascend to heaven, after death; Now enough earthly worries: why preface the order of things? Then, that the real order of things is disorder; then, whoever does not advance will be completely late; then, that without voluntary ascension in the spirit during life, involuntary ascension after death is not only of no use, but will also turn into a source of torment. So, brethren, no matter how terrible this truth is, it is not subject to any doubt, for it is already being expressed very palpably. What happens to those who climb too high mountains? The view is beautiful, but breathing becomes heavy, pain is felt in the head, feeling becomes dull and, finally, completely lost. So it is with those who, without their own preparation, are forcibly conveyed to heaven by the hand of death. The mountain element, in which pure spirits bliss, is unbearable for an unclean heart, it cannot breathe it, and of itself falls from the heights of heaven - into hell! That is why, so often and so strongly, sacred writers inspire us in advance to wean ourselves from the earth, to ascend to the heights with our minds and hearts. This is necessary not for our Creator - He has always been and will be blessed even without us - but for us, so that we, having passed on to heaven without preparation, do not find ourselves there, instead of bliss, torment. For heaven is not blessed for everyone, but only for those who themselves have become heavenly. “But how to train the mind to rush to heaven? External objects and needs constantly dissipate it and turn it towards the earth.” It is true that a person has many obstacles to steadily looking with his mind at heaven, but there are no less motivations to look there. You only need to once and forever affirm in your soul the thought that there - in heaven - everything is ours, the best: after this, the eyes of the mind, and even the body, will often involuntarily turn to heaven. In fact, we have no difficulty in constantly remembering our home, but where is our eternal home? There. It is not difficult for us to remember those near and dear to our hearts, but where are there more of them: on earth or in heaven? There. Those in charge of us are rarely left wondering: where is our King and Lord? There. Thus, I say, we only need to awaken the thought of what heaven means to us, and thinking about it will become a necessity for us. But, dear brother, I will say in conclusion: think or don’t think about heaven, and you will be in heaven; love the earth as much as you want and cling to it, but you will leave it forever. Your place is not here, but either in heaven or in hell! So, it is better to use everything, endure all the difficulties, only to appear in heaven capable of heaven, rather than being carried away by temptations, or overcome by difficulties, and then being thrown out of heaven. Amen. The fourth word for the day of the Ascension of the Lord Not without a special reason, beloved sisters in the Lord, this good mountain, and not another place, was chosen for residence by the first founders of your monastery; It was not without a special purpose that this church was erected on this mountain, not just any other, but in honor and memory of the Ascension of the Lord. It is obvious that those who chose this mountain for monastic residence, those who built this church for daily prayers in it, constantly had in mind the event now celebrated by the Church, that is, the Ascension of the Lord from Olivet to heaven. Therefore, we will not disagree with their thoughts if we say that they wanted your good mountain to be likened to Olivet, and that those living on it, through the exploits of monastic life, would reach the ascent to where our Lord and Savior is now. But the holy Mount of Olives was the site of more than one Ascension of the Lord into heaven. No, this ascension from her, one might say, was a reward and crown for what was accomplished on her by the Lord before, during His earthly life. Therefore, if we want, like Him, to be once received from the local Olivet into heaven, then we must, as long as we remain on earth, do on this mountain similar to what He did on the Olivet. What did the Lord do at Olivet? Here the Savior, firstly, showed an example of meekness and humility when, in accordance with the prophecy, going to Jerusalem, he sat on the foal of a donkey. The day when this was done was the most solemn. He was to appear before the face of Jerusalem in the form of the Son of David, the King promised by the prophets. Among the followers and admirers of Jesus were, as is known, the princes of the Jews, who could surround His appearance before Jerusalem not only with all the amenities, but also with possible splendor. But the Son of David, even on this day, mysterious for Him and for Jerusalem, appears without any luxury and bliss, mounted on the simplest and poorest animal. For what? May we learn from His example to disdain the pomp of the world, may we understand that our true distinction should not be outside, but inside us - in our soul and heart, that purity, humility and meekness are the first and best adornments for the followers of Jesus. And everyone, especially us, beloved sisters in the Lord, us who had the holy determination to leave forever all the red of the world and dwell on this mountain to serve the one Lord. Woe to us if we imagine to be different from others in any of those things in which the children of this age find distinction, honor and glory! It will be a great grief if we allow ourselves to be fixed on us by anyone other than the Heavenly Bridegroom of souls and hearts, our beloved Savior! If, according to the Apostle, Christian wives living in the world should be adorned, not with external braiding of hair, not with gold, or with vestments... but with the secret of the heart, in the uncorruption of a meek and silent spirit" (1 Pet. 3:3-4), then we, as having solemnly renounced the world, are not at all content to think otherwise. Meekness of heart, humility of spirit, purity of body, obedience, fasting and prayer: this is our adornment! On Olivet, secondly, there was that single moment in which the Lord wept for Jerusalem. It is known what was the cause of these tears: this was a foreshadowing of that terrible unbelief and bitterness in evil, which the inhabitants of Jerusalem were to experience during the suffering and death of the Lord, and for which the unfaithful city would be condemned to rejection and trampling by the pagans. “And... seeing,” the Evangelist says, “the city, weeping for it, saying: if only you had understood on this day, the hedgehog to your peace: now it is hidden from your sight!” (Luke 19:41–42). And from your mountain, although in the distance, our city is visible, beloved sisters in the Lord! Those of you who can look at him with eyes similar to those with which our Lord looked from Olivet to Jerusalem, will probably not be able to restrain from time to time tears of Christian love. For if Jerusalem, the chosen and beloved city, was the cause of sorrow and tears for it, then can our cities boast of the purity of morals and the wealth of Christian virtues? Therefore, such a person will do a good and truly Christian deed if, from time to time, looking from here at our city and imagining how, in the words of Saint David, quarrels pass around it day and night, how interest and flattery dominate its hundredfold, how many souls perish in it from temptations, and some fall to such madness that they turn themselves into an instrument of temptation - they will shed tears of compassion for our city and together with him a warm prayer to the Lord, may he give those living in him the grace of faith and repentance, may he remove from them the pernicious spirit of luxury, sensuality and covetousness. But this is who can, and for the rest of you it is enough if, remembering the tears and words of the Savior on Olivet about Jerusalem, they turn to their own soul and say: oh, if only you, my poor soul, would feel how many times the Lord called you to repentance, and how many times you ran away from Him and again indulged in sin and passions! In that case, you would have abandoned all other activities long ago and started crying day and night about your sins! On Olivet, thirdly, the Lord’s conversation with the disciples took place about the end of the world and His Second Coming; that conversation in which He indicated the signs of this coming, the great sorrow that would then come to all those living on earth, and proposed rules for how to behave for those who want to meet the Bridegroom with unquenchable lamps. Without a doubt, you too, on your mountain, gather from time to time for mutual conversations. What is their subject? We do not forbid talking about everything useful for the soul, and even for the body. Teach, admonish, strengthen, comfort each other with the word of faith, love and hope. But you will do very well if, sitting on the height of your mountain and looking at the streams of water flowing at its foot, (as, probably, the apostles looked from Olivet at the streams of the Cedar stream) you remember the last conversation of the Savior at Olivet with the disciples and, remembering it, talk with each other about the last days of the world. Imagine how then “the sun will darken, the moon will not give light, the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be moved” (Mark 13:24, Matthew 24:29); “Then our land and the works on it will be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10); how instead of the present ones there will appear “a new heaven and a new earth, in which one truth dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13); how then thrones will be set up, the Judge will sit and the books will be unraveled, how all tribes and languages ​​will gather for the Judgment, how the verdict will be pronounced, and some - the righteous - will go into eternal life, and others - sinners - into endless torment. From the end of the world, which may not come soon, turn your thoughts to the last days and the end of your own life, which in any case is not far from each of us, and imagine how the light will dim in your own eyes, how your hearing will close, how all your senses will leave you, how the soul, having been separated from the body, will go to God for judgment, and the body will lie in the ground, until the day of the general resurrection. Such conversations will occupy your time in the best possible way, and each time they will leave in your soul a new disposition towards deeds of piety, a new aversion to sin and sensual pleasures, they will make you more humble in spirit and more patient in enduring sorrows and temptations. And vain worldly conversations, although, apparently, pleasantly occupy the ear, but leave emptiness and dryness in the heart, making a person sad and incapable of exploits. Avoid these soul-harming conversations, especially those combined with idle curiosity and gossip of your neighbors. They are also intolerant in the world by people who know how to understand their dignity; and in a monastery it is a true ulcer for the soul and heart. On Olivet, further, in the helicity of Gethsemane, the last prayer of the Lord was offered, that wondrous prayer in which He asked the Father three times, that the cup of suffering might pass by, if possible; He prayed with such strength that, according to the Evangelist, His sweat was like a drop of blood dripping onto the ground. This Gethsemane prayer must (always) serve as an example and joy to all of us. It is obvious that the minute in which it was brought to the Father was an extraordinary moment in the very life of the Savior, that at that time He, as the Head and Leader of our salvation, was subjected to both the greatest external temptation and the most difficult internal struggle. How did you emerge victorious from both? By prayer. Which one? Threefold, worth a drop of bloody sweat. This is where and in what we should seek consolation in moments of sorrow and temptation - in prayer! People can do little for us here, just as the apostles, despite the Teacher’s invitation to watch and pray, soon fell asleep. Truly valid, all-replacing help is from the only Lord. So, when you see any temptation above you: be it an insult from someone, a loss, or some kind of attack, or an attack from passion, or despondency and heaviness of soul and body, hurry into your inner cell and, having closed the doors, prostrate yourself before the Heavenly Father and pray that the cup of temptation may pass by, and even more so, may your unclean will pass by and may His all-holy will take its place. Do not be discouraged if your prayer is not heard soon: the Only Begotten Son was not suddenly heard, but turned to prayer three times. Do not lose your spirit if the temptation does not pass soon after that: your Savior Himself went from Gethsemane not to the top of Olivet, but to Golgotha. It is enough if, as a result of prayer, your will is reunited with the will of the Lord; if you betray and, so to speak, plunge your fate into the abyss of His wisdom and goodness, who know a hundred times better than us when and what to do with us; They can, for example, contrary to our prayers, deliberately prolong the temptation for us, as was done with St. Paul, so that we do not become arrogant and learn to expect everything not from our own mind and strength, but from the power of God, which is accomplished in our weaknesses - but they will never leave us to be tempted more than we can bear. Let us say in conclusion that not only for the Divine Son, but also for His Most Pure Mother, Olivet was one of the favorite places to visit. There, as Tradition says, She mostly retreated there, after the ascension of the Son and Lord, to pray; there she received from the Archangel the joyful news of Her Assumption; Her Most Pure Body was buried there; That's why it was taken from there to heaven. There is no doubt that your dormition, sisters in the Lord, will follow on this holy mountain; from this Olivet you will have to appear before the Heavenly Bridegroom. Try to make your death similar to the Dormition of the Mother of God. And she will be such if you, remaining until the Lord commands, on this Olivet, spend your days as She spent them, that is, in purity and humility, in patience and prayer, in deeds of faith and Christian love. For this purpose, often direct your thoughts after the Lord who ascended into heaven, remembering that where He is now, there we all must soon be. Do you see how the all-merciful One, ascending, blesses us all? Let us fall and worship Him as the Savior and Lord and, strengthened by His blessing, we will go out to the work of our salvation until the evening of our lives. Amen. Fifth Homily for the Day of the Ascension of the Lord Do you remember, brothers and sisters in the Lord, what we talked about with you here on this day last year? We talked about the Ascension of our Lord and Savior into heaven. Now we intend to talk with you also about ascension; but not the Lord’s, but our own, and we hope that this conversation will not only not be contrary to the spirit of the present celebration, but will serve as a natural conclusion to our conversation last year. For why did our Lord ascend into heaven? Is it for yourself? No, He ascended for us to open the way to heaven. “I am coming,” He said to the disciples, “I am going to prepare a place for you; in order to follow your thoughts and direct all your activities. I said that each of us is destined to ascend to heaven. When? Not until after death. Until His death, the Lord Himself remained on earth, although the earth was not worthy of Him, submitting to all the severity of its earthly stay. Moreover, until death we must remain complacently on earth and complacently endure everything that happens to us, all temptations and all sorrows, remembering that all this bitter and difficult is a necessary medicine for the cleansing of our soul and conscience. We note this with intention, for the history of holy ascetics testifies that the enemy more than once tempted simple souls with the promise of their ascension to heaven before death. This is lovely! There are indications that even after death, souls do not suddenly ascend to heaven. These instructions include the Lord’s fourty-day stay on earth before the Ascension. Could He not have ascended soon after the Resurrection? But He remains forty days. If He, the Head and Leader, remained for so long, then it is very likely that His followers, no one precedes Him in this regard by being taken to heaven, so that He may, as the Apostle puts it, take precedence in everything. The prayers of the Church, which last up to forty days, also lead to the same idea that the soul after death does not suddenly ascend to the heights of heaven. These prayers obviously form a kind of ladder; What would this ladder serve for if the soul did not have to rise, or if this sunrise ended earlier? With what does the soul ascend to heaven after death? With a body or without a body? Obviously without a body. The Lord ascended with most pure flesh. It could be expected that His followers would be exalted in the same way. And this, of course, would be if our flesh could achieve the purity required for heaven. For those who achieved this purity ascended to heaven with their flesh. Thus, it is testified about the Most Holy Virgin that after three days, Her tomb turned out to be empty; the same is told about Saint John the Theologian; The same applies to some other great ascetics. But for others, this ascension with the flesh would not be a reward, but a punishment. For a mortal body, not being completely cleansed, would be a burden in heaven. Therefore, the Wisdom of God ordained that when the soul goes to heaven, the body turns into earth, so that in its depths it can be cleansed, recreated and made suitable for staying with the soul in heaven. The sixth word for the day of the Ascension of the Lord Do you remember, brethren, what we talked about this past year? We talked about the Ascension of our Lord and Savior into heaven. Now we intend to talk with you also about the ascension to heaven, but not of the Lord, but of our own. For each of us, as holy faith teaches, also faces an ascension to heaven. And the Lord Himself, according to the teachings of the same faith, ascended into heaven for no other reason than to point out and open the way there for all of us. “If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everything to Me” (John 12:32), said the Lord before His suffering. “I am going to prepare a place for you,” he said on the eve of His death, “and if I prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself” (John 14:2-3). And in His last prayer to the Father, He said: “Father, these you have given Me, I will, that where I am, they also may be with Me” (John 17:24). After this, there cannot be the slightest doubt that we, following the example of the Lord, are destined to ascend to heaven. When should it happen? At the same time as the Ascension of the Lord took place - after death. Until his death, He Himself, despite His purity and perfection, remained on earth, subject to all the disadvantages and burdens of an earthly stay; all the more so do we need to endure them complacently—we, for whom they serve as purification. The Lord ascended forty days after the resurrection. It is very likely that the Christian soul does not reach its predetermined heights before this time, for it was not in vain that the God-wise Fathers, for whom the secrets of the spiritual world were revealed, were not in vain, I say, who especially established prayers and offerings for the departed until forty days. If these prayers form a ladder, it is, without a doubt, because the soul has to ascend to a height. With what does the soul go to heaven? The Lord ascended with His Most Pure flesh. Our unclean flesh is unworthy of heaven, therefore it remains down, is resolved into its component parts, so that through this resolution it can be purified and transformed into its first splendor. However, here too everything depends on cleanliness. We know about the Most Holy Virgin that after three days, when the apostles opened the tomb, they no longer found the Most Pure Body; John the Theologian assimilates the same tradition; the same thing applies to some other saints. Thus, it can be boldly, but piously, affirmed that there are holy souls who, like the Lord, even before the resurrection of the dead, already go to heaven, so to speak, not naked, but clothed with bodies or the firstfruits of glorified bodies. Does the soul ascend to heaven by its own power, or by someone else’s? In a pure soul there is a natural desire for grief, just as a fragrance naturally strives upward, therefore a pure soul, freed from the bonds of the body, naturally soars to heaven. But the path to heaven is a great thing. If somewhere, then along this path we need leaders and assistants. Therefore, it is said about the soul of Lazarus that it was carried to Abraham’s bosom by Angels. The same thing, one must think, happens with other souls. First Homily on the Day of Pentecost, at the All-Night Vigil The Apostle Paul, once passing through Asia Minor with the gospel, found people in Ephesus who called themselves disciples of Jesus, but did not have the grace of the Holy Spirit. To the question to them: “If you have received the Holy Spirit by nature,” these half-Christians answered: “If you have the Holy Spirit, you have heard” (Acts 19:2). Upon further interview, it turned out that they were baptized only by the baptism of John, which, as is known, was performed in repentance, in the name of the Savior, yet to come, and therefore the Holy Spirit, like the current Baptism, did not have and did not communicate. We, brethren, by the goodness of God, have all been baptized with the Baptism of Christ, which cannot exist without the Holy Spirit; why we all participated in His gifts of grace, at our very entry into this world. Moreover, each of us not only often heard about the Holy Spirit, but also repeatedly cried out to Him with the Church: come and dwell in us! But what if some apostolic man now stood among us, and with the voice of Paul, in the name of Almighty God, asked: “You, who celebrate in honor of the Holy Spirit, who daily with the Church dare to proclaim: “We have seen the light of truth, we have received the heavenly Spirit!” 21 – “if you have received the Holy Spirit by nature”? What would we say to such a question? Alas, the impoverishment of the Spirit has become so common among Christians that it has ceased to be considered a flaw. Stories about extraordinary gifts of grace seem now to be stories about something that happened in another world, not ours; Many of the most honest Christians would have been no less surprised than the teacher of Israel if they had been decisively told that in order to see the Kingdom of God, it is necessary for everyone to be born of the Spirit (John 3:3). Is it natural, brethren, for Christians to have such a state of soullessness? And can it continue without extreme harm to us? If it is unnatural and dangerous, then how can we get out of it, and what should we do in order to acquire and, having acquired, preserve the grace of the Holy Spirit? Why can we be sure that we are definitely in a state of grace and have the Spirit of God within us? – These questions are so important that they can and should occupy the mind of a Christian at all times; all the more so we need to pay attention to them in these days, when we triumph in honor of the Comforter Spirit, and we pray to Him to come and dwell in us. But first of all, let us turn ourselves in prayer to this All-Holy Spirit, so that He Himself will grant me to speak, and for you to receive, the word of truth and salvation - for what do all the words of the preacher and all the attention of those listening mean, if His all-edifying anointing is not added? That true Christianity cannot exist without the Spirit of God, that a real follower of Christ is the one in whom the grace of the Spirit lives and acts - this important truth is said and repeated in countless places of Holy Scripture. Even through the prophets, God said that in the last days, that is, after the coming of Christ, He will give people a new law, written not on tablets, but on hearts, and that therefore, as a necessary means to the end, the grace of the Holy Spirit will be poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28). The last great prophet of the Old Testament, John the Baptist, believed that the difference between his baptism from Christ was that the latter would be given the Holy Spirit, as a necessary gift of the new, higher covenant (Luke 3:16). The Savior Himself always spoke about the grace of the Holy Spirit with special power, as a gift necessary for His followers. Thus, to Nicodemus, who came to Him for instruction on what he should do in order to enter the blessed Kingdom, He said directly that for this he needed to be “born again - of the Spirit” (John. 3:3, 5), and that anyone in whom this spiritual birth has not occurred, no matter who he is and no matter what he does, cannot see the Kingdom of God, much less enter it. Subsequently, speaking to the Jews during the great holiday and inviting them to drink the living water flowing into the eternal belly, the Savior again meant by this water nothing more than the Holy Spirit. “This speech,” notes John, “is about Dus, whom the believers want to receive” (John 7:39). Talking with his disciples about the necessity for His followers to partake of His Body and Blood, He at the same time testified with power that this heavenly eating cannot really take place unless it is accomplished in the Spirit. “It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh profiteth nothing” (John 6:63). Therefore, parting with the grieving disciples before His death, the Savior found nothing better to say to console them than that the Holy Spirit would come to them instead of Him: “If you do not have it, that I should go: for if I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you: if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). And after the resurrection, appearing to the disciples, He did not bring them from heaven any other gift except the Holy Spirit: “I breathed and said to them: receive the Holy Spirit!” (John 20:22). And ascending into heaven, He commanded them above all to wait for the coming of the promised Comforter, and not first to go out to the work of worldwide preaching, but having been clothed with His power (Acts 1:4). The Savior Himself spoke so much about the Spirit and delivered so much in His presence! This is what all the apostles spoke and wrote about the necessity of the Holy Spirit when they became organs of the Spirit and learned through experience His necessity. St. Paul is especially noteworthy in this regard. In all his epistles, he does not speak about anything so often and so strongly as about the Spirit and His actions: he desires nothing more for his disciples than the grace of the Spirit; he rejoices in nothing so much as in the presence and fruits of the Spirit in them; warns against nothing more than the loss of the Spirit. Not having the Holy Spirit is the same as not being a Christian. “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Rom. 8:9), according to St. Paul, he is not a Christian. Therefore, as we saw at the beginning of our conversation, upon coming to Ephesus, the first thing the apostle did was to find out whether the Christians there had the Spirit, and since they did not have it, to teach it to them. In general, the New Testament is completely filled with the Spirit. From the Spirit is produced in him the beginning of life in Christ, and new birth into eternal life; we are commanded to expect all success and spiritual perfection from the Spirit; All the gifts necessary for a Christian in the fight against temptations are assimilated to the Spirit; The Holy Spirit appears to be both a Teacher of all truth, and a Comforter who consoles in all sorrow, and a Witness to the blessed union of a Christian with God and the Savior, and a Supporter of the eternal promises and blessings of the life to come. Therefore, a true Christian is called a spiritual person, and non-Christians and false Christians are called carnal people who do not have the Spirit. Thus, the whole essence of active Christianity, according to the Holy Scriptures, consists in being born of the Spirit, in filling oneself with the Spirit, in walking in the Spirit, in kindling the Spirit in oneself and others. Whoever delves into the nature of our holy faith will be convinced for himself that it must definitely be this way and not otherwise, that without the Holy Spirit it is impossible to be a Christian. For what is the essence of true active Christianity, which alone is worth this name, for alone it gives the right to eternal life in Christ? The essence of this Christianity does not consist either in enormous and deep knowledge, or in the strength and swiftness of good things, or in feelings that come and remain without beneficial consequences, or in a superficial correction of one’s behavior, which the world itself urgently demands, or in cutting off some of the branches of the evil root of our pride - but in the complete eradication of sin and lust, in the renewal of all the forces of the spirit and heart, in the re-creation of the innermost principle of activity and life. Who can accomplish all this, penetrate to the last foundation of our existence, contain there the source of corruption and death, and open the sources of life, if not the Spirit of God, by whose power we live, move and are? A Christian is obliged to crucify his flesh with its passions and lusts: who will lift up his flesh on the cross if there is no Spirit of God? The human spirit itself is carnal, and therefore cannot raise its hands against its nourisher and accomplice; Moreover, he himself needs a cross and death: who will crucify him to the flesh and to the world? A Christian must be in Christ, constantly cling to Him by faith, like a branch on a vine, and only in this state of unity with Christ can he be a living tree worthy of the heavenly city; What kind of earthly gardener can graft us into this Divine vine, without the Spirit of God? A Christian is obliged to wage war not only with flesh and blood, but also with the spirit of wickedness in high places, with the forces of hell; Will our own strength be enough in this struggle? Will the proud Lucifer be afraid of our wisdom, our courage, our patience and constancy, if all this is not invested with the power of the Spirit of God? Briefly: a Christian must be a new creation, created in Christ for good works; Is it possible for a creature to create itself? We were created by the Spirit of God, and by Him, and by Him alone, we are recreated. Where there is no Spirit, there is no spiritual life, just as where there is absolutely no air, there is no bodily life. Therefore, those in the greatest error are those who want to be virtuous and do not try to acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit: they sow on stone, write on water, want to fly without wings, to breathe without air. And the natural mind can emit rays of light from itself, and produce a rainbow radiance of thoughts around itself; but this light does not have the warmth necessary for the growth of good deeds, and is not able to produce that day of knowledge of God and piety, among which the walker will never stumble (John 11:9). It is possible to squeeze drops of good feelings from a natural heart from time to time; but all these drops, no matter how abundant and fresh they may seem, in their very merging will never produce living water that can quench the thirst of the soul, and for the most part evaporate idly in the air, without softening an obstinate disposition, without reviving a withered conscience. You can, finally, drench your entire behavior with commendable deeds, dissolve all your words with secular kindness, destroy the entire image of your earthly existence, and for this be known as a man of noble rules, an example of how one should live, but it is impossible, absolutely impossible, without the grace of the Holy Spirit to do that without which everything else is small and insignificant, that is, to change one’s naturally evil heart, to renew one’s fallen heart. spirit, to renounce one’s unclean will, to die forever to self-love - this is higher than man, this is the work of the all-powerful grace of the Holy Spirit! By speaking in this way, and it is impossible to speak otherwise without grossly contradicting the truth, are we not, brethren, pronouncing a grave sentence on ourselves? Your own position is open to you, the thoughts and feelings of our brethren are familiar, you know what the ordinary affairs and occupations of each and every one are; tell me: are there many people about whom it could be said that the Holy Spirit dwells in them? Does everyone know even one? Among the incessant conversations about subjects of all kinds, did you ever hear any word about the Holy Spirit? And for whom would one of you be honored, who in any of your congregations would dare to begin a speech about the Spirit, “Whom the believer wants to receive!” (John 7:39). What does our Christianity mean after this? Where are we all going, and where do we think we will arrive by going this way? Can our poor spirit forever replace the Spirit of God for us? And if only we, without the Spirit of God, could remain at least with our own spirit! But this is impossible! In anyone who does not have the Spirit of God, the spirit of malice certainly lives and operates in him. Until time, this presence of it in a person who has not been regenerated by grace is not so noticeable, and is not accompanied by visible destruction (although even here, from time to time, looking at the actions of such people, everyone involuntarily says: there is an evil spirit in this person)! But at death, when all the veils fall, when a person becomes alone in the midst of heaven and hell, then the terrible influence of the spirit of malice will be revealed in all its strength over souls that do not have the Spirit of God in themselves. If, brethren, the gentle call of grace is not strong enough to awaken and attract us to the Holy Spirit; then let the fear of falling without Him to the corrupting influence of the spirit of malice do this! For, as we said, one of two things is inevitable for a person: one must be either a temple of the Holy Spirit, or a nest of the enemy of God! Amen. Second Homily on the Day of Pentecost, at the Liturgy After our conversation yesterday about the absolute necessity for every Christian of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, clearly not the last thought should be for each of us, how to acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit? Where and what are the means to achieve this? And are there any obstacles in this matter that cannot be overcome? Imagining the full importance of these questions, and entering into the position of the soul, offering them out of the fullness of the holy desire to be a church of the Spirit of God, how joyful, brethren, it is for us to answer you in this case with full confidence that the acquisition of the grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit is very convenient for each of us, that for this there are many of the most effective means, and that one must be surprised how many Christians live and die without the grace of the Holy Spirit. You really should be surprised! For what has not the wisdom of God done and is not doing, so that each of us, I do not say, could acquire, but could not, so to speak, run away from the Spirit of grace and generosity? Without any exaggeration, let us say that the wisdom of God created a whole new world for this purpose! Yes, brothers, the whole world! For what else is the Church of Christ if not a new world of grace among the ancient world - the natural? You know what it cost to create this new world (for this the Son of God Himself had to die on the Cross!). What does this whole new world of grace consist of, if not a means to bless us with the grace of the Holy Spirit? Delve deeply into the composition of the Church, analyze its great and small parts, delve into its institutions and actions - and you will see that in the Church, just as everything came from the Spirit of God, so everything leads to this Spirit: all the Sacraments and rituals of the Church are directed towards this, all its power and rights, all its rewards and punishments are directed towards this. And how early the action of the means that serve to sanctify us with the grace of the Holy Spirit begins on us! We still do not have the consciousness of our existence, as soon as we know how to breathe air and cry, when the Church takes us from the hands of our parents, and in the font of baptism gives birth to water and the Spirit. For the sensual eye, the beneficial effect of this mystery is imperceptible; but it's great! This, in the words of the Apostle, “... is the bath of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit!” (Titus 3:5). And the seal of the king of the earth is strong and important: all the more indestructible is the seal of the Holy Spirit, with which we are sealed upon leaving the holy font, in the sacrament of anointing. We do not see the seal after sowing, but God sees and knows His beings; The angels behold and are in awe, rejoicing; the demons do not see and hate and tremble. After renewal through the baptism of us in the Holy Spirit, everything that is good and holy becomes natural to us, therefore easiest and closest. And if we, having come of age, had not lost the grace of baptism by our falls and resistance to the Spirit of grace, we would have grown in the house of God - in the Church of Christ - by grace and all its gifts, just as our Lord and Savior Himself grew. As we grow in years, one might say, the means of grace increase for us. As those born of the Spirit, we need spiritual light, spiritual nourishment, spiritual healing; and all this is offered to everyone in abundance by the Holy Church. The light of God’s word always shines here. The words of Holy Scripture, which come from the Spirit, are themselves spirit and life. Who, reading or hearing them with a simple heart, has not felt as if transported to another world? Haven’t you felt the breath of the Spirit of grace over you? Have you started breathing the heavenly air yourself? That's how it should be! If, often reading the most ordinary writer, we are imbued with his spirit, then all the more we cannot help but come into fellowship with the Spirit of God, diligently practicing His inspired word. There is spiritual food in abundance for all of us in the Church. Not to mention the very word of God, which not only enlightens, but also nourishes the soul, not mentioning the chants and teachings, which also serve to spiritually feed the hungry, in the Church there is such manna for the spirit that is not in heaven itself: this is the waste of the Body and Blood of Christ! Can the Body and Blood of Christ exist without the Spirit of Christ? Therefore, he who partakes of them worthily, and this dignity consists mainly in faith, humility and repentance, therefore, accessible to everyone, not only partakes of the Body of Christ of the Holy Spirit, but he himself, according to the expression of the Apostle, becomes one spirit with the Lord. There are also many spiritual medicines in the Church for healing wounds inflicted on the spiritual person by our world and flesh. From what fall are repentance and confession not strong enough to restore us? “Everything,” the Savior Himself said, “everything that you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). After this, it is up to us, having lost the grace of the Spirit, to immediately resort to the sacrament of repentance to return what was lost; for the Spirit of grace is the spirit of mercy and generosity. If He Himself persecutes the sinner in all the most obstinate paths of his life, will the persecuted one hide? And all the other Sacraments of the Church are visible, permanent conductors of the Holy Spirit. Just as some things, brought to an extraordinary state through the special action of science, need only be touched in order to extract a spark of fire, and through it oneself come to a similar elevated state, so it is in the Sacraments. Here the grace of the Holy Spirit becomes, one might say, visible and tangible, so that one contact with faith already serves to sanctify the soul and body. What, finally, are our very churches if not houses of the Spirit? How often does one who enters a world pot and stays in it for a long time involuntarily and imperceptibly become fragrant in his very clothes; So often and with the proper disposition, one who visits the churches of God is imperceptibly spiritualized and begins to breathe heaven. Finally, in each of us there is a constant, sure and valid means of attracting the Spirit of God. This is prayer, or the aspiration of the mind, heart, thoughts and desires to God. Everything is promised to prayer by the Lord Himself; Moreover, with it you can always acquire what is necessary, that is, the grace of the Holy Spirit, without which there is and cannot be anything truly good in us. With so many and varied means for acquiring the grace of the Holy Spirit, is it not fair, brethren, when we say that a Christian who does not have this grace in himself is something strange and unnatural? Even if there are not churches of God everywhere, the word of God is not everywhere, the Sacraments are not everywhere (although all this can easily be everywhere), but where is there no prayer? This golden key is always in everyone's hands. Therefore, the apostle, inviting to receive the Holy Spirit, does not say: seek Him, deserve it, strive to achieve it; but he says simply and directly: “be filled with the Spirit!” (Eph. 5:18). As if we were all standing in the middle of a sea of ​​grace, and we only had to bow a little in order to be completely immersed in it. And indeed, those whose spiritual eye was open saw themselves so surrounded, one might say, constrained on all sides by sources of grace, that they cried out in amazement: “Where shall I go from Thy Spirit?” (Ps. 139:7). And one of these blessed people, as if already completely immersed in the abundance of God’s grace, exclaims to the Lord: hold back the waves of Your grace. “And I,” another good soul will think with sorrow, “and I have spent so much time and so many means in order to be worthy of the grace of the Holy Spirit, and to this day I do not see any traces of it in myself!” We regret your deprivation, beloved soul, waiting for the Spirit of God! But if you truly desire to be His church, then you will, you will certainly be one! Or maybe you already are what you want to be, although you yourself don’t know how this often happens. The presence of the Spirit of God, as they usually think, should be marked by some extraordinary sensory signs: a completely unfair thought! Such signs may or may not exist. One sign inseparable from the presence of grace, as we will see at greater length in our conversation tomorrow, is our spiritual rebirth, or a change in our being, especially our evil will, for the better. Therefore, instead of complaining about the unsuccessful use of the means of grace, let the one who complains about this better consider his heart and his life; It could easily be that he himself, following the traces of bad thoughts, torn to the ground, ulcers of conscience, completely healed, many good undertakings that seemed impossible, but then completed successfully, perhaps, I say, by these and similar signs in us of the highest and Divine power, he himself will soon have the consolation of finding in himself traces of the Spirit of God. But even in that case, beloved brother, when, having carefully examined yourself, you really do not find in yourself any signs of a gracious overshadowing from above, do not rush to accuse the means you used to acquire grace as invalid. These means can be very effective; your zeal in using them can be very great, grace itself can descend on you with each use of these means, and yet, despite all this, you can remain without grace, and remain so through your own fault. It's hard to understand how this can be? Remember, for I tell people who are not unfamiliar with the sciences, remember what happens to a person in whose body, in order to heal it, they want to arouse elemental warmth through art. No matter how much you excite this warmth in him using a fire-exciting machine, it will not be aroused, and the patient’s body will remain without any change until it is disconnected from the earth. One touch to the earth destroys all the power and all the effect of fiery excitation. This is the order of nature; so in the highest order of grace. Anyone who wants to partake of the grace of the Holy Spirit must certainly be disconnected from the earth; one must separate oneself from everything earthly with one’s soul and heart, begin to philosophize on things above, seek those on high, look not at visible goods, which are perishable, but at invisible ones, which are eternal. Try, whoever you are, to put yourself in such a state; and then say that it was in vain that you used any means of grace for your sanctification. And without this, there is nothing to be surprised that these means remained without action: they always act and produce their own - they communicate what should; only what is communicated does not remain in you, but returns to its beginning. How did the apostles wait for the Holy Spirit? “These all,” says the book of Acts, “endured with one accord in prayer and supplication...” (Acts 1:14). Weren’t they prepared to receive grace? Prepared by a long stay with the Teacher, prepared by the very reception of the Holy Spirit from His mouth, after the resurrection. And yet, they pray, edify one another, and prepare themselves for the descent on them the promised Comforter. Do the same, desiring to be worthy of His blessed overshadowing; and perhaps for you, as for the apostles, no more than ten days will pass before you, like them, will begin to speak in a new language the greatness of God revealed to you. The first word on the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit Celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, celebrating in the church dedicated to the name of this All-Holy Spirit, we will not find, brethren, another subject for reflection, closer to the real celebration, more edifying and comforting for us celebrating, than the very descent of the Holy Spirit. Reflection on this glorious event can provide healthy and sweet food both to our mind, for it contains many important and lofty truths, and to our heart, for this event is proof of God’s greatest love for the human race; the very memory and imagination will be sanctified by the recollection of the image of the descent of the Holy Spirit, for in it the spiritual is hidden under the guise of the sensory and hidden in a very amazing way. Therefore, leaving all other subjects, let us turn, brothers, to the narrative of the Evangelist Luke, who, one of all the sacred writers, wrote for us the story of the descent of the Holy Spirit. But in order to listen to this narrative with greater benefit, in order to more conveniently enter into the very spirit of the narrated event, let us first touch upon some truths that serve to explain it. I. When we say that the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles, then first of all, brethren, we must remember that His descent should not be considered similar to the descent or coming of man. The Holy Spirit, like God, is omnipresent; He has nowhere to descend and nowhere to come; He is already everywhere and fills everything. Only limited beings, not God, can go and come. All these expressions, as St. Chrysostom notes, are used about God out of necessity, for in human language there are no words to express Divine actions as they are in themselves; and all these expressions mean nothing more than a new manifestation of the power of God, a special revelation of His presence. Where the power of God is revealed, where He palpably reveals His presence: there, according to our weak concept and even weaker expression, God seems to come. So, the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, strictly speaking, is not the descent of God the Spirit to them, but the manifestation of His power in them, the revelation of His special presence in them. In the same way, brothers, when we say that the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles and began to act in them; then one should not think that He did not act before in the human race. The Holy Spirit, as the Church wisely sings, “is everlasting, is, and will be.” He was in the Old Testament patriarchs - Adam, Noah, Abraham and others; was among the prophets; was pure in every soul; every righteous man had Him; Without Him, not a single truly good deed has ever been accomplished. Despite, however, this constant presence of the Spirit of God in the holy men of God, one should not think that His descent upon the apostles was not something especially important. No, it is extremely important, extremely beneficial for the entire human race - for the following reasons. In the eternal council of God about the salvation of the human race destroyed by sin, it was ordained, brethren, that the Son of God, having appeared at a certain time on earth, redeemed people from eternal destruction with His death and, after completing this greatest deed, ascended to heaven in order to enjoy the glory of the Divine there. Why Providence did not deign that the Son of God should remain until the very end of time on earth, in order to visibly govern His Church, of which He is the head and Lord, we cannot say anything about this as being absolutely true: for the Apostle himself only says that “heaven had to receive the Savior until the time of the consummation of all things” (Acts 3:21), and why this is so, he does not say anything. For us in this regard, it is enough to remember the words of the Savior to the disciples who mourned His departure: “It is better that I depart from you” (John 16:7) - and, remembering them, believe that it is really better that our Savior should be in heaven, and that the Holy Spirit should be with us on earth. So, since the Savior’s stay on earth was supposed to be short, then in the same eternal council of God it was ordained, brothers, that after the Savior’s departure to heaven, the Holy Spirit would come, so to speak, taking His place, to complete what He had begun, to make the apostles capable of preaching the Gospel to the whole world, to dispose the hearts of people to accept their preaching, to teach them a living faith in the merits of the Redeemer, to impart to them new ones. spiritual strength for the fulfillment of the new law of grace, in short: to assimilate to the human race those Divine gifts that were acquired for it by the suffering of the Son of God. Therefore, the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles is, as it were, His solemn entry into the high position of the Sanctifier of the sinful human race, it is the solemn consecration of the new, universal, eternal Church, such a consecration, after which the Sanctifier has already begun to act visibly and constantly in it. And from this it is obvious, brethren, how important and beneficial for the entire human race is the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles. If He had not descended on them, then the work of the Savior of the human race would have remained imperfect; the apostles would have been unable to preach Him to the whole world; the world would not know about its Savior; there would be no Christian faith in the world, and our forefathers and we, brothers, would all remain in the darkness of idolatry. 2. Just as all the most important events in the Kingdom of Grace were previously predicted by the prophets, so that people, knowing what to hope for, would hope the more firmly: so the descent of the Holy Spirit was predicted more than once. So for another six hundred years, God, comforting, on the occasion of a famine, the people of Israel through the prophet Joel, said that He would not only give them their daily bread, but in the last days, that is, in the days of the coming of the Messiah, “he would pour out His Spirit on all flesh” (Joel 2:28–32). God said something similar to this through the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 36:26). But the contemporaries of these prophets, hungry for bodily bread, cared little about spiritual food, and the comforting prediction did not touch hearts devoted to passions. John the Baptist, according to the duty of his title, preparing the Jews for the meeting of the Messiah, also prepared them for the reception of the Holy Spirit. He repeatedly announced that after his baptism with water, the baptism with the Holy Spirit would soon be revealed and that the last baptism was inexpressibly more important than the first (Matthew 3:11). But even this proclamation did not produce a thirst for the Holy Spirit in hearts dried up from passions. No one asked what kind of baptism this is, where and how to find It? The Savior Himself from time to time pointed to the future coming of the Holy Spirit. So He directly told Nicodemus, who came to Him at night to teach him, that in order to receive the Kingdom of God he must certainly be reborn from the Holy Spirit (John 3:5). But this Israeli teacher knew so little about the Holy Spirit that, as you know, he thought that they were telling him about a new birth from the womb. Then the Savior, on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (on which, among other rituals, water from the Spring of Siloam was poured onto the altar) publicly preached in the church that everyone who thirsts should come to Him, because whoever believes in Him will himself become a source of living water (John 7:37–39). This, as the Evangelist John notes, He spoke about the Holy Spirit. But hardly anyone truly understood Him; for there was a dispute among the hearers about His face, and nothing more. The apostles themselves, nourishing the hope of the earthly kingdom of the Messiah, thought little (if they only thought) about the Holy Spirit. And the Savior, seeing their inability, did not tell them about Him, or spoke very little. But when the time came for Him to separate from His disciples, He, in the last conversation - on the eve of His death, to console them, not only revealed that they would soon receive the Holy Spirit, but also revealed the beneficial properties of their future Comforter. “And because,” He said, “that I must leave you, your heart is filled with sorrow; but I truly tell you that it is better that I depart from you: for if I do not go, the Comforter will not come, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father. True, I still have much to say to you, but you cannot bear it now. When He comes, He will guide you into all truth: He will teach you everything, He will reveal to you the most the future will remind you of everything that I spoke to you about. He will no longer leave you, but will remain with you forever” (John 16:6-15). Nothing could be clearer than this prediction, and the disciples apparently calmed down. But the terrible death of Jesus Christ, which, despite all the predictions, they could not agree with their hope of His earthly kingdom, completely eclipsed in their minds the promise of the Savior: no one thought about the Comforter; everyone just cried and lamented! The resurrection of Jesus Christ dispelled the cloud of sorrow, but did not revive the desire for the coming of the Holy Spirit. The disciples again began to dream of an earthly kingdom: “Lord,” they asked Him, “if in this year you will establish the kingdom of Israel” (Acts 1:6); and if the Holy Spirit comes in this summer, no one thought to ask about that. The Savior, seeing the extreme inattention of the disciples, again turned their thoughts and desires to the Holy Spirit, and so that they would wait for Him all the more diligently, he predicted that He would come after a few days (Acts 1:5); finally, just before his ascension into heaven, he forbade them to leave Jerusalem until His coming, and tied them, so to speak, like little children, to the place where the Holy Spirit was supposed to descend on them. Isn't it painful for the heart, listeners, to hear about such inattention, about such coldness towards the Holy Spirit? The prophets proclaim Him, the Forerunner leads Him to the meeting, the Savior Himself depicts His coming as the greatest good deed, and no one heeds, no one comes to the meeting, everyone moves away, everyone runs away. O Divine Comforter! What drew you to earth, to people? To people who did not look for You, who did not think about You? And do they seek You more now, do they think more about You now that You have already come? Are we still looking for You, as we repeat daily: come and dwell in us! The first disciples of the Gospel, at least, subsequently compensated for their inattention to the Holy Spirit with fiery zeal. 3. Indeed, brothers, the blessing with which the Lord overshadowed His disciples as He ascended into heaven seemed to impart a completely new direction to their minds and hearts. The Comforter, whom they had previously expected so little, became the only object of their thoughts and desires. No one even thought of leaving Jerusalem, they didn’t even go home, but they all stayed together. There were all one hundred and twenty people (including the Blessed Virgin), but there was one soul, one heart. The strongest prayer joined the strong unanimity. Despite the Savior’s promise to send the Holy Spirit soon, they incessantly prayed for His descent: they prayed because they did not consider themselves worthy of such a great gift; they prayed, because they realized that without prayer nothing important happens; They prayed, because the very desire of the soul for the Holy Spirit was already the purest prayer. Nine days passed in such a holy disposition. Can you imagine, brothers, how long these days were for hearts burning with thirst for the grace of the Holy Spirit! Or maybe they were very short. He who truly prays is not bored by the length of time; he does not even know how much time there is. For us, the question of prayer is almost always inseparable from the question: for how long?.. When the apostles thus, through unanimity and prayer, unnoticed by themselves, approached and rose to the Holy Spirit, the fiftieth day came after the Jewish Passover, a very solemn day, for the celebration of which many of the devout Jews flocked to Jerusalem from all over the world. The subject of the celebration was the remembrance of the Sinai legislation: for on the fiftieth day after the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, the law was given to them on Mount Sinai, given, as is known, amid thunder, lightning and storms. Moreover, on this same day, according to the law, the firstfruits of the harvest were sacrificed to God, which in Palestine ends during our spring. All the Jews, according to the law and zeal, hurried to the church: but the apostles did not consider it necessary to go to the church, abandoned forever by the Lord of the church Himself - they stayed in their home church. But the holy day could not help but arouse even more sacred feelings in their hearts. The memory of God's descent onto Mount Sinai involuntarily aroused hope: whether the promised Comforter would not descend on that same day. And such hope inflamed hearts even more with prayer. One hundred and twenty purest voices rushed to the sky! One hundred and twenty purest hearts opened for the Comforter! The Divine Fire was already beginning to kindle within them; The Holy Spirit has already moved at the foundation of their being; He could no longer hide His invisible presence, and the power of grace, through prayer, broke through the forces of visible nature. Suddenly we heard a noise, like what happens during a storm, from a strong gust of wind. The noise came from the sky, from the upper parts of the air, but soon penetrated and filled the entire church in which the disciples were with the purest breeze. At the same instant, in the middle of the church, in the air, many tongues of fiery color appeared; hovering over the heads of the disciples, they descended on them and rested. “If,” says Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, “who saw the apostles at that moment, he might think that there were crowns of fire on their heads” (Catechism 17). Stormy breathing was the nearest harbinger, and the appearance of fiery tongues was a visible sign of the coming of the Holy Spirit. Being the purest, incorporeal Spirit, He chose this sensual sign in order to manifest His presence all the more palpably. “For,” argues Saint Gregory the Theologian, “just as the Son of God appeared visibly on earth, so the Holy Spirit also had to appear visibly” (Conversation 44). So before, when He descended on Jesus Christ in the Jordan, He chose the appearance of a dove as a sign of His appearance. There is no doubt, brethren, that it was not in vain that the Holy Spirit chose these and not other signs: with the Wise One nothing happens without a purpose. What was the goal? Fire, as explained by the Fathers of the Church, expressed the effect that the Holy Spirit had to produce both in the apostles, making them fiery zealots of the faith, and in the whole world, burning the thorns of wickedness. Tongues expressed the gift of speech given to the proclaimers of the Gospel. Fire and storm showed that the legislation of the New Testament is no worse than the Old, which was given in the midst of fire and storm; and the meekness of the fire that rested on the apostles, in comparison with the ferocity of the fire of Sinai - the latter killed, showed that the New Testament is filled with mercy and grace that was lacking in the Old. The stormy breathing and vision of fiery tongues did not last long, perhaps a few moments: but the Holy Spirit forever filled the souls and hearts of the apostles. Oh, who can imagine what breath, what fire was in these hearts! How they were purified, transformed, adored! This was, brothers, a truly new, better creation! In this moment, more was done than during the entire stay of the disciples with Jesus Christ, more was given, more was accepted. We can say that the whole world, Jesus Christ Himself, through the action of the Holy Spirit, was now, as it were, transformed in the minds of the apostles; for from now on they no longer “understood anyone according to the flesh, whereas before they understood Jesus Christ Himself according to the flesh” (2 Cor. 5:16). Perhaps, if you had asked the apostles themselves about this state, they would have said no more than what St. Paul said about his stay in paradise: “if in the body, we do not know, if apart from the body, we do not know: God knows!” (2 Cor. 12:2). The first miracle was followed by another, greater one. Having hitherto been able to speak only one natural language - Hebrew, and, moreover, in its simplest dialect - Galilean, the apostles and other believers suddenly began to speak now in all the then known languages. There was still no one to listen to them: but they all spoke and could not help but speak: the Holy Spirit moved the heart, the heart moved the lips, and the words flowed out by themselves, like water flows from a source. So, in Saint David, when the Holy Spirit descended on him, the heart itself belched out “a good word... the tongue became the reed of a scribe” (Ps. 44:2). Each one said what the Holy Spirit gave him to broadcast. There was one giver, but the gifts were different: the sea of ​​grace, so to speak, spilled into the sources, depending on the quality of the hearts, fast, slow, noisy, quiet, more or less deep, but alive and bright in all hearts! The apostles spoke of the “greatness of God” (Acts 2:11), that is, the unappealing perfections of God, the wonderful works of Providence, which were now revealed to them in all their fullness and light. Who wouldn’t want to know exactly what and how they were broadcasting? To see, so to speak, the first experiments in their fiery broadcasting? But Providence hid this from us. It was a broadcast for themselves, their prayer of thanksgiving. They began to broadcast to us afterwards, and their broadcast spread throughout the entire universe. We, brothers, should only note here what prayer means. Prayer preceded the descent of the Holy Spirit; in prayer He descended, bringing prayer with Him. How holy and powerful is prayer after this! How kind it should be for someone who wants to acquire and preserve (and everyone should acquire and preserve) the Holy Spirit! “Pray,” says one great ascetic, “pray like the apostles, and for you no more than ten days will pass before you receive the Holy Spirit.” 4. We have seen, brothers, the action of the Spirit of God, we have heard the voices of spiritual people: let us now look at the actions of the world, let us listen to the voice of carnal people. The sound of violent breathing was probably heard not only by the believers; The voices of one hundred and twenty people were, of course, heard for some distance, thundering to the glory of God. Therefore, many of the foreign Jews who came to the holiday immediately flocked to the apostolic church. Everyone was amazed! Firstly, to the fact that they heard the apostles praising God in foreign languages, while prayers were usually performed in the sacred language of Hebrew; secondly, to the fact that they have never heard of such lofty truths, such holy feelings; but most of all they were amazed that everyone: Roman, Greek, African, Indian heard their own natural language, while everyone knew that the speakers were all Galileans, people completely unfamiliar with foreign languages. From surprise they turned to horror, for everyone saw the extraordinary, heard the miraculous, but no one could understand what they saw and heard. “Everyone was terrified and perplexed... saying, “What will this be?” (Acts 2:12). But soon there were people who decided (as often happens now) to explain to others what they themselves did not understand at all. “What’s surprising here,” they said? This is the effect of wine; wine made them forget decency - and so they think freely, pray in common languages, and are vain about their knowledge.” “And when they curse, they say that they are full of wine” (Acts 2:13). Despite all the absurdity of this oath, there is something in it, brethren, that is worthy of pious attention. And the Apostle Paul contrasts wine with the Holy Spirit when he says: “Do not get drunk with wine... but rather be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). This opposition is not in vain. And Saint David says that the righteous “are drunk with the fatness of the house” of God (Ps. 35:9). This expression is not in vain. And the bride, a believing soul, described by Solomon, says that she “was even brought into the house of wine, and invites others to drink it and get drunk” (Song. 2:4-5). There are even more secrets here. What does all this mean? It is likely that whoever is filled with the Holy Spirit, to whom He “breathes according to his inheritance,” is beside himself, and in his actions and in his very form something strange is revealed, going out of the ordinary order, suitable to what is seen in a person in a state of noisy fun. So Saint David, filled with the Spirit of God, with a royal crown on his head, like a baby, galloped publicly before the ark of the covenant (2 Sam. 6:16). But carnal people do not know any other delight than the sensual; intoxication with the Holy Spirit, holy mockery from the abundance of grace is alien to them; they judge by their own experience, and they blaspheme! - “Swearing verbs, as if they were filled with wine.” Thus, brethren, the world always errs when it undertakes to judge the actions of God’s holy men, when it brings them under its own rules, under its own so-called order, but in fact, the disorder of things. Read the lives of the saints, and you will see that many of them were considered strange people, lacking, if not intelligence, then prudence. Already death revealed the general delusion, and showed everyone that “the whole world is not worthy of them!” (Heb. 11:38). Thus, at the very descent of the Holy Spirit, the words of the Savior were again confirmed that “the world... does not know Him” (John 14:17). He will never know Him. But at the same time, it was also justified that the Holy Spirit, “coming... will convict the world of sin” (John 16:8). Hearing the blasphemy of the Jews, Peter and the other apostles stood before them and pronounced an accusatory word. This reproof was brief and simple, but since the Holy Spirit spoke through the mouth of Peter, his words penetrated the hearts of those who heard and defeated their stubbornness. After listening to him, Saint Luke narrates, “they were touched in their hearts and said, brothers, what should we do?” (Acts 2:37). “Repent,” answered Saint Peter, “and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ... and you will not only be forgiven, but you yourself will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit; for... the promise of the Holy Spirit is not given to us alone, but to you, and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:38–39). After this, the Jews immediately repented, believed, were baptized, and the new Church of one hundred and twenty grew to three thousand people. Thus ended the event we are celebrating - the complete triumph of the Holy Spirit over those who did not believe! If, brethren, among us, who are now celebrating the descent of this Most Holy Spirit, any soul, moved by hearing about Him and wanting to acquire Him, asked: what should I do? The answer is the same for her: “Repent, believe, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” One obstacle - sin removes the All-Holy One from our hearts, and therefore there is only one way to acquire Him - repentance, dissolved in living faith in the Redeemer. Whoever decides to cleanse his heart with true contrition for sins should have no doubt that the Holy Spirit will visit his poor heart. And what kind of doubt? The promise was not given to the apostles alone, it was given to us, it was given to all those who are far away, whomever the Lord calls. After this, everyone - great and small, rich and poor, learned and unlearned - everyone can ask boldly: no one will be denied! O all-merciful Soul! How have we sinners deserved such great love from You? Glory, endless glory to You, the Sanctifier of our souls and hearts! Gratitude, eternal gratitude to the Son of God, our Redeemer, Who begged the Father to send You to us! Doxology, unceasing praise to God the Father, Who, without sparing His Son for us, gave us His Most Holy Spirit! Oh, Holy and All-Good Trinity, who so loved us unworthy, glory, glory, glory to You! Amen. Second Word on the Day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit “And the nations appeared to them (the apostles), divided as if they were on fire, but they sat on one of them” (Acts 2:3) So, this is the Divine baptism “with the Spirit... and fire: (Luke 3:16), with which the first preachers and disciples of the Gospel were so visibly and solemnly supposed to be baptized! This is that sacred “fire” (Luke 12:49), which the Savior came to bring down to earth, and in relation to which He so strongly desired that it would ignite! So, it will ignite! From the secluded upper room of Zion it will penetrate into the noisy synagogues of the high priests of the Jews, into the magnificent palaces of the Roman Caesars, into the proud porticoes of philosophers, into the forgotten huts of farmers; it will illuminate the ugliness of idols will destroy the temples of false gods, embrace all humanity and, in the words of the prophet, will boil and purify it, “like silver and like gold... until all the unclean descendants of Adam are transformed” (Mal. 3:3) into the pure image of God. But for this very reason, brothers, the Divine fire that now rested on the apostles should burn in our hearts. We cannot, like those disciples of John, say: “Even if the Holy Spirit was present, we heard” (Acts 19:2). No, we all not only heard about Him, but also accepted Him, and when did we accept Him? Almost along with life. True, the church in which the Church, through the mouth of a minister, invoked the Holy Spirit upon us during baptism, was not filled with violent breathing; no fiery tongues were visible above us; We were not, like the apostles, an object of surprise to those around us, but the word of God assures that we were then “washed, but sanctified, but justified... by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11); that from this blessed time the Spirit of God lives in us, as a guarantee of our justification, as a guide to eternal bliss. But, brethren, this Most Holy Spirit, although there is a Spirit of power and glory, can be insulted by us, and can even be completely extinguished in us. So, do we preserve the precious deposit of the Holy Spirit “living in us”? (2 Tim. 1:6). Has not His Divine light been extinguished by criminal neglect of Him? Driven out by a bad conscience, did He not give way in our hearts to the corrupting spirit of the world? These questions should always be important for a Christian, but especially they should occupy us in these days, dedicated to the glorification of the Spirit of God; for with their permission, each of us can and should find out whether he not only worthily celebrates the descent of the Comforter, but also whether he bears the name of a Christian worthily; because whoever “...does not have the Spirit of Christ, this one,” according to the word of the apostle, “carries Him” (Rom. 8:9), is not a Christian! In order, brethren, to prepare our conscience to answer these important questions, let us notice, in the light of the word of God, some traces of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer and apply these remarks to ourselves. The Word of God reveals to us that all three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity act in the restoration of fallen human nature; but it also teaches that this great work is in some way, as it were, divided between Them. It assimilates to God the Father the supreme command of the matter of our salvation - the sending to earth of the Son and the Holy Spirit; To God the Son - the redemption of man from punishment for sins; To God the Holy Spirit is the sanctification of the sinful human race. The private actions and gifts of this great Sanctifier are countless. The Word of God shows us only the most important of them, as if deliberately leaving everyone to experience the others through their own experience. Namely, the Holy Spirit, as “...the Spirit of truth, enlightens the mind of the believer, guiding you into all truth” (John 16:13); as the Spirit of holiness, cleanses the heart from the filth of sins: “Be baptized in the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5); as the Spirit of power, inspires to overcome all obstacles and difficulties: “be clothed with power from above” (Luke 24:49); as the Spirit of grace and generosity, fills the soul with heavenly consolation:... “The Comforter...Who comes from the Father” (John 15:26). I. So, the first fruit of the presence of the Spirit of God in man is true enlightenment. How weak and slow in mind the apostles were until they received the Holy Spirit! The lofty teaching of the Savior for the most part did not fit into their concept; His majestic promises brought them no comfort; the purity of His morality seemed incomprehensible; the simplest parables often left them bewildered. But as soon as the Spirit of truth descended on them, all the prejudices that filled their minds disappeared; in His light they saw everything in its present form, saw what their Teacher had to do, and what remains for them to do. The great mystery of redemption was revealed to them in all its fullness and grandeur; They did not demand any more, but whoever teaches them - they themselves became teachers of the entire human race. “So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8)! He does not have that infallibility of mind so that his words and writings could serve as an immutable rule of faith and activity for others, for “all are not apostles” (1 Cor. 12:29); he does not have the gift to penetrate into all the secrets of Providence, to notice the mutual relationship of the great ways of God, to embrace the future fate of Christianity with contemplation, for not “all are prophets”; he may be unable to teach instruction to others, for "all are not teachers"; He may not even be able to explain what the Holy Spirit does in his heart, for “all are not interpreters” (1 Cor. 12:30), but he happens and cannot help but be truly enlightened. No one knows more firmly than he the transcendent perfections of the divine nature, His ever-present power that supports the entire composition of the world, as well as the existence of every creature, His superior goodness, which does not want the destruction of the most despicable creation and awaits the conversion of the most embittered sinner, - His infinite wisdom, which knows how to extract the greatest good from the greatest evil, to plant life in the very corruption. No one sees better than him the poverty of human nature, how sin by birth comes from Adam to all his descendants, how in the heart of man by nature “does not dwell... good” (Rom. 7:18), how... “lust, when conceived, gives birth to sin in man, sin... gives birth to death” (James 1:15). No one understands more fully than he the importance of the benefit shown to the human race in sending him the Intercessor; no one is more convinced than he is of the beneficialness of the Gospel teaching, of the holiness of the Christian Sacraments, of the vanity of earthly blessings, of the future bliss of the righteous and the future destruction of unrepentant sinners. And how could it be otherwise? The Holy Spirit knows everything, the very “deep things of God” (1 Cor. 2:10): will He leave in darkness the one who is worthy to be His church? No, He will never allow him to seduce himself with idle hope in the mercy of the Creator and the merits of the Intercessor, but He will discover that faith without deeds is dead; will in no way allow him to have false concepts about serving God, to limit piety to works of external piety, or to conclude it in one fruitless contemplation of the mind; will not tolerate him being mistaken in the knowledge of his duties, and calling good evil, and evil good, darkness light, and light darkness. As the Spirit of truth, He will guide him into all the truth necessary for him, and free him from all darkness harmful to his salvation. II. The Holy Spirit cleanses the heart from the filth of sin. The light of natural knowledge can be very brilliant, so that for the most part it blinds a person with pride; but it almost never warms or corrects the heart. They see the truth, but either use it “in lies” (Rom. 1:25), or hide it in untruth: they recognize the advantage of a pious life, but are content with one cold surprise at the ascetics of piety; they curse the disastrous consequences of a vicious life, and meanwhile they do not cease to be slaves of passions, captives of sin. This is not the light that comes from the Father of lights! This is not the wisdom of which learn in the school of the Holy Spirit! Where this most pure Spirit dwells, there sin must disappear. No matter how rough and insensitive the heart, which has become His dwelling, may be, the Holy Spirit will soften it to the point that it will be ready to pour out in tears, fly away in sighs; no matter how proud and arrogant it may be, the Holy Spirit will humble it and force it to fall into the dust before the Almighty; no matter how strong and numerous the bonds tying it to the earth may be, when the Spirit takes it up into the sky, then, like an eagle, it will soar over the abyss of worldly vanity. What were the apostles before the Spirit of God descended on them? People disposed towards good, but carnal, whose minds and hearts were filled with dreams of the earthly kingdom of the Messiah. Each of them wanted to dominate the others and sought earthly glory. But the fiery baptism of the Spirit of God completely regenerated them. There was nothing unclean left in their hearts or tongues. They no longer mention earthly thrones and crowns; preach one faith and repentance. “So it is with everyone born of the Spirit!” (John 3:8). The Holy Spirit imparts a new, spiritual direction to all human powers and abilities. As much as sin seemed charming to him before, it becomes disgusting. He feels within himself a certain holy need to withdraw and love virtue. Previously, the most spiritual pursuits were darkened by the impurity of carnal motives; now the most ordinary things cease to be carnal; for the Holy Spirit teaches them to do them for the glory of God. And those who walk in the spirit sometimes fall, burdened with the flesh: but tears of repentance soon make even brighter the place that is darkened by sin; and they sometimes omit cases of doing good; but this omission, with the assistance of grace, itself turns into an abundant source of good thoughts and feelings. III. The Holy Spirit imparts spiritual strength and strength. Virtue in itself presupposes the victory of the spirit over sensuality. But how difficult is this victory in a damaged person, in whom the flesh by nature dominates the spirit, in whose heart by nature good does not live, but evil, and lives and acts incessantly and strongly! Here, as one holy father put it, a baby must fight a giant, a lamb must defeat a tiger, a drop must extinguish an entire furnace. Who will support a person in such an unequal struggle with sin? Who will help him rise above himself? No one but the Holy Spirit! But, with this Helper, everything is possible; under His all-powerful, all-creating overshadowing, no good thought will fail, no holy desire will return to the heart. The carnal man is weak because he is scattered throughout the world; because he limits all his hopes and concerns to one real, impermanent life; because he attempts to make himself the owner of what should never belong to him; because, finally, he acts not by what is powerful in him, but by revealing his powerlessness and betraying him. The Holy Spirit destroys all these sources of spiritual impotence, concentrating all human activity in one beginning of love for God and neighbor, turning him to obtain what is precisely intended for him, for which he was created - forcing him to act with the highest powers of his immortal spirit, directing his gaze into eternity, inaccessible to any earthly power. What experiments of courage and firmness the apostles did not display when, according to the Savior’s promise, they were clothed with power from on high! What can be equal to the fearlessness with which they proclaimed the Divinity of the crucified Jesus in the ears of those same high priests who lifted Him to the Cross? Nothing could separate them from their beloved Teacher, “neither death, nor life... neither present, nor future” (Rom. 8:38). Meanwhile, what has not been excommunicated before? The most zealous of them rejected Him three times out of fear of the slave girl. IV. The Holy Spirit fills the soul with consolation. People devoted to the world usually look with some pity at those who, having heeded the voice of grace, withdraw from amusements and distractions, and consider them pitiful people who invent torments for themselves. “Unfortunate ones,” exclaims one teacher of the Church, “unfortunate ones, they see the cross, but do not see the anointing! Thus, there is much sorrow for the righteous, much more than what peace lovers see and even imagine! Meanwhile, all worldly pleasures cannot in any way compare with the joy and peace with which the Holy Spirit fills the heart of a believer. In fact, brethren, what is a happier thought than the fact that we have freed ourselves from the torment of conscience, cast off the heavy yoke of passions, come to know the rightness of the Lord’s ways and the sweetness of virtue, and come out of an obstinate and sinful race? But this joyful thought is always the lot of people who walk in the Spirit. What feeling is more comforting than the fact that we are children of God and heirs of Christ, that the Heavenly Father with all His Angels rejoices at our turning to Him, that He invisibly blesses all our good undertakings, prepares crowns for all our deeds, that the Holy Spirit Himself dwells in us? But this feeling cannot but be in a heart sanctified by grace. What can we say about those unspoken consolations of the Holy Spirit, which no one knows, just accept? “Those who are worthy to be the children of God and born of the Holy Spirit,” says one of the great ascetics Macarius the Great, “are governed by various images from the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, as if being at a royal supper, they rejoice and rejoice with inexpressible joy; at other times they are like a bride rejoicing over her groom; sometimes they, being in the body, are like angels, incorporeal; sometimes they are inflamed with such joy and love that if it were possible, they would want to accept everyone into their womb, without considering whether he is good or evil; sometimes they appear like a man, dressed in all the royal armor and going out to battle; sometimes in great silence and silence of the spirit they calm down, immersing themselves in spiritual sweetness. These actions,” continues the same holy father, “occur in those people to the highest degree, who are already close to perfection, however, everyone can test what he eats, where he lives and with whom he stays, who gives food to his heart: the Spirit of God, or the spirit of the world?” If so, brothers, then we too will test ourselves in order to find out to whom we belong. And, firstly, let's see what is happening to our mind? Have the will-o'-the-wisps of carnal wisdom dimmed in him, for whom the wisdom of the word of the cross seems like a riot that blinds a person with pride to the point that he considers himself to have the right to prescribe laws for the very wisdom of God. Has our poor mind learned to find the highest wisdom in “counting all our natural knowledge as loss for the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, which surpasses all things” (Phil. 3:8)? Have we come out of the natural ignorance of ourselves, our duties, our destiny and the means to achieve it, about the enemies with whom we must fight, and about the crowns to which we must look, from that ignorance in which the spirit of the world deliberately keeps its captives, so that they do not believe “and are not freed from the snare” of it (2 Tim. 2:26)? Do we vividly imagine the vanity of worldly goods, the impurity and vileness of criminal pleasures, the unhappy state of people enslaved by the flesh? Do we clearly see the depth of our damage, all our irresponsibility before God, all the weakness of our nature, sold under sin? Has our heart been transformed by the Holy Spirit? What serves as the basis of our activity – love for God, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, or love for the world, flowing from the “student of the abyss?” (Rev. 9:2). Where is the model with which we try to conform our lives - in the Gospel, or at the crossroads of the world; in the assembly of the righteous, “written in heaven” (Heb. 12:23), or in the crowd of sinners like us? Where do our feet flow more willingly: to houses of mourning, or to houses of joy; whether to the place where they gather in the name of Jesus Christ, or to the place where the world reigns with its lusts? How do we fulfill our duties, as befits the servants of Christ, “in simplicity of heart... and as before God, or before our eyes, working as people-pleasers?” (Eph. 6:5–6). Have those whom duty or chance made dependent on us cease to sigh because of our hard-heartedness and pride? Do tears flow abundantly when we turn our gaze to our sinful life? Are we trying through good measures to return to the path of salvation those who have been led away from it by our seductive life? Are we endowed with power from on high? Can we bear it without grumbling if the Lord were pleased to test our faith with the misfortunes of this age, poverty, illness and other disasters? Have we risen above that base fear which forces the carnal man to accept all the most vile forms, in order to gain or not lose any benefit or pleasure? Shall we decide to remain on the side of justice even when everyone has deviated to the path of unrighteousness? Are you ready to defend the known truth with the courage that distinguished the first preachers of the Gospel; and is it possible, like them, for the glory of the name of God and for the salvation of the brethren, to reject, if necessary, all earthly hopes, all benefits, life itself? Can we say about ourselves that nothing can separate us from the love of God, and can we prove this by deeds? May those of us, brethren, bless the Lord who, looking into ourselves, will find in themselves these traces of the Spirit of God. Such do not require anyone to teach them, for “the very anointing of the Holy Spirit teaches you about all things” (1 John 2:27). Only the following advice of the apostle should be addressed to such: “Do not quench the Spirit!” (1 Thessalonians 5:19). Follow Him earnestly wherever He leads you; do not enter into consultation with flesh and blood about this, do not say that this good deed is very difficult, that sin is very small. “Do not quench the Spirit”: do not count your good deeds, do not take too much delight in the perfections that grace helped you acquire; remember firmly that we are indecent slaves who did only what we were commanded. “Do not quench the Spirit”: do not seek empty excuses when He reproaches us in conscience for committing any sin, rather throw yourself into the dust before the merciful Creator, expecting mercy from Him alone; Do not be afraid that grief over sin will plunge you into dangerous despondency: the Comforter knows how to heal the wounds that are revealed to him. Do not quench the Spirit: flee from every thought of sin; move away from association with vicious people, turn your eyes away from all sights where lust and worldly pride can shake the strongest conscience. Do not quench the Spirit: as long as He burns in you, “your whole being” (1 Cor. 3:21–22), you are mightier and higher than all; but when it fades away, the whole world will not replace this loss for you. But woe, brothers, to souls who do not have grace-filled communion with the Spirit of God! The spirit of the world that they breathe is the spirit of the enemy of God - the devil; “He captured them alive into his will” (2 Tim. 2:26)! However, it is up to them to free themselves from the terrible snares of the devil, turn to the Lord and receive the Holy Spirit: for the apostle calls to everyone: “be filled with the Spirit!” (Eph. 5:18). Use the remainder of natural light and arbitrariness to cleanse your conscience, dead works, encourage yourself to do good, do it as much as you can. “Be filled with the Spirit”: use reading and listening to the word of God, with a sincere desire to conform your behavior to it; meditate more diligently on the high truths and comforting promises contained in it; attach to your heart the touching examples of the repentance of sinners described in it. “Be filled with the Spirit”: turn your eyes to heaven more often and with childlike simplicity, reveal to the Father of mercy and generosity the wounds of your conscience, beg Him to heal them: if earthly fathers do not give their children stones instead of bread, then the Heavenly Father, without a doubt, will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. “Be filled with the Spirit”: with Him you will acquire such bliss as has never entered your heart, with Him you will enjoy what the world has never given and cannot give. With similar reflections ourselves, brothers, we must honor the present day of the great renewal of the human race, which ancient Israel honored with the voice of trumpets and organs. The poverty of the soul, dominated by the flesh, the need for each and every one to be filled with the Spirit, the means leading to a grace-filled communication with Him - these are the subjects that should occupy the mind and heart of each of us during these great and holy days dedicated to the glorification of the Spirit of God! May the communion of this all-good Spirit be with you all! Amen. The third word on the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit “As these words have spoken to you, your hearts will be filled with sorrow. But I tell you the truth: I am not you, but I am going: if I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you: if I go, I will send Him to you, and when He comes, He will convict the world.” (John 16:6–8). (The Savior’s words from His last consoling conversation to His disciples). This is what human untruths produce! The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of love and peace, the Spirit of grace and generosity; He, both in essence and in His actions, is the only Comforter, unchangeable, divine, but since the world, mired in evil, does not know Him, and if it knew Him, it cannot accept Him; since the spirit of the world that people who are devoted to the flesh breathe is completely opposite to the all-holy Spirit of God, the Comforter becomes an accuser, the One whom the Son of God asked from the Father, deserved by His death, as the greatest Benefactor for the human race, as the supreme Giver of all goods, He himself comes to expose sin and pronounce judgment! “And He will come and reprove the world.” Oh, how effective this reproof must be! This is no longer the weak voice of the preachers of truth, which often disappears in the air, out of reach of the ears, not only the hearts of those listening. This is a denunciation of the Almighty and Omniscient! He exposed the sin of Adam, and death still collects the terrible taxes of this sin from the entire human race; denounced Noah's contemporaries, and their memory perished noisily in the flood waters; He denounced the cities of Sodom, which had grieved the Lord, and their place was not found on the face of the earth; denounced the apostate synagogue, and in Jerusalem not one stone was left upon another! Here, everyone who is convicted must cry out with David to God: “Where shall I go from Your Spirit, the Accuser, and where shall I flee from His presence? Will I ascend to heaven? He's there. Will I go to hell? He's there. Will I fly on the wings of dawn to the final limits of the universe? And there His hand will find me, His right hand will hold me” (Ps. 139:7-10). Meanwhile, the number of people who are subject to the conviction of the Holy Spirit is so great, brethren, that I do not know whether anyone can exclude themselves from it. The Comforter, according to the Savior, must convict the world: who is not in the world? Who dares to say about himself that he is completely pure from everything earthly and sinful? This means that the conviction of the Holy Spirit concerns one and all; This means that we are all among those convicted: and woe to those of us who, being unworthy of the consolation of the Holy Spirit, do not at least take advantage of His conviction! The Divine Accuser convicts sinners of sin in order to give them the truth of God; This is why he opens wounds of conscience, in order to heal them. So let us hasten to understand the mystery of saving reproof, in order, through obedience to the Accuser, to turn it into the mystery of our salvation. Having foreshadowed the coming of the Convicting Spirit, the Savior, to console His disciples, revealed what this reproof should consist of. “And He came,” the Savior continued to speak to the disciples, “and will expose the world about sin, and about truth, and about judgment. It is a sin because they do not believe in Me; But about righteousness, because I go to My Father, and you do not see Me; about judgment, because the prince of this world was condemned” (John 16:8-11). These words indicate not only the essence, but also the blueprint of the great revelation. The world is convicted of sin that is hidden or unknowable; about the truth that he rejected and persecuted; about the court, transformed or forgotten by him. He is exposed about his sin in order to lead him to the knowledge and acceptance of the truth of God; denounces his own truth in order to save him from judgment; Finally, he is convicted of the judgment, but knows that he is guilty of God in all respects, that there is nothing left for him but repentance. Who does not know, brethren, the general corruption of morals that prevailed between Jews and pagans at the time when the Son of God appeared to cleanse the sins of the world? And yet, the world has never been so arrogant about its truth as at this time. In vain John the Baptist preached repentance both in word and in life; in vain the Savior Himself cried out: repent! The world did not recognize its sins: the corrupt Pharisees continued to consider their hypocrisy as true piety; the violent Sadducees continued to find wisdom in their freethinking. According to the judgment of the world, all his minions were holy; on the contrary, Jesus Christ, who denounced the world, was right with the lawless. Finally, instead of repenting, the world began to persecute its Accuser and, to top off its crimes, lifted Him to the Cross! After this, it seemed that nothing could lead the world to repentance. But, behold, the Accusing Spirit comes, and everything takes on a new form. As soon as Peter, after the descent of the fiery tongue, uttered a few words of accusation, “three thousand souls” admit themselves to be sinners and demand baptism! (Acts 2:41). A few days later, the same miracle is repeated on another “five thousand” souls (Acts 4:4). Those miraculously convicted of sin become, in their turn, extraordinary accusers of others; here and here hosts of preachers of repentance are formed: and, in a few years, something is accomplished that could not be expected in entire centuries. What a touching sight the whole world of that time began to imagine! Now the word of repentance comes to Rome, appears at the court of the Caesars, and is proclaimed in the ears of the gods of the earth. What fruits of repentance can we expect here? But there are no barriers for the almighty Accuser: several conversations about repentance filled with spirit and power, and among the palaces of Domitian and Nero, where the very throne of Satan was, a society of people is invisibly formed, who under scarlet and gold hide the cross and the poverty of the Gospel! Now the word of humility and faith reaches Greece, where there were as many idols as there were philosophers, and as many philosophers as there were passions; The sages of the world hear for the first time that they are sinners, do not believe, doubt; but the power of the word of the godfather, leaving their mind unattended, strikes the heart - and, instead of an altar to the unknown God, an altar to the known Redeemer is soon erected! Finally, the word of the Gospel no longer fits within the boundaries of Rome, it reaches where the weapons of the conquerors of the world could not penetrate, the warlike Parthian, the wild Scythian hear the reproof, hear and repent; many of them do not yet know what the law is, and yet, convicted by faith, they recognize themselves as lawless. “The spirit... of compunction” (Zech. 12:10), foreseen by the prophet, is poured out over the whole earth: and millions of people begin to cry about what happened in Judea. Peoples, what's wrong with you? You were not in Judea, you did not crucify Christ, you accepted Him as an outcast: why do you grieve over His death? Is this your sin? “Ours,” entire tribes and languages ​​answer, “He bears our sins and suffers for us... the punishment of our peace is upon Him, by His wound we are healed” (Isa. 53:4–5). This is how the conviction of the Holy Spirit was accomplished over the pagan world! Oh, if only it would end along with ancient paganism! If only Christians had not forced the Holy Spirit to begin a new conviction with their sins! The Christian world continues within itself the sins of the pagan world, and the Spirit of God continues over it the reproof prepared for the pagans. And, firstly, from time to time the Divine Accuser raises up special zealots of piety, who, as if driven by some secret power, preach repentance to their contemporaries. Every century has them, every country sees and hears them. The life of these people is a mirror in which the imperfections of peace lovers are presented even more clearly than in their words. And is it not because the world has always persecuted truly pious people that their life, in the words of the holy writer, is torment for him? For sinners who do not see or do not listen to animate accusers, the Holy Spirit placed an inanimate accuser, who, however, can impart life to the dead through sins. This is the word of God. Give it to anyone: a Mohammedan, a pagan, a Jew - he may not believe its Divinity, but after reading it, he will say that he did not fulfill everything written in it, and admits himself to be a sinner. What Pharisee could ever resist the reproof of the Gospel? What Sadducee did not tremble at the threats it contained? And a weak shepherd of the church, who does not correctly rule the word of truth, who does not care about his flock; and a selfish judge, looking at the faces of those judged instead of the truth; and a bestial ruler who lives by oppression and the tears of his subordinates; and a crafty servant, not caring about the benefit and honor of his master; briefly: every sinner clearly sees his sin in the word of God. And all this is produced by one, so to speak, letter of the Gospel, intended to convict gross sinners. The spirit of the Gospel teaching is even more accusatory: the most righteous, penetrating into it, always found new shortcomings in themselves, so that as a person grows in virtue, the Gospel itself seems to grow in its demands. Finally, those who cannot read or hear the words of God are not without a accuser. Instead, the Sacraments of the Church are served. O you, who foolishly reject or humiliate these organs of God’s grace, learn to better see in them the wisdom of God and the good of mankind! Tell me, how can we instill in entire nations the great truth that man is sinful by nature, and therefore constantly needs to repent? In Christianity, this important truth and many others are instilled, so to speak, by themselves - through the sacraments. At the entrance of every person into the world, the Church declares in baptism that he is a sinner; upon leaving the world, he repeats in the consecration of oil that he is a sinner. Throughout his life, he calls everyone several times to the judgment seat of repentance and says: you are a sinner! A wonderful sight! The king and the last slave, the sage and the commoner are cast down at the foot of the Crucified One, and in the hearing of such a person they confess their sins! Who forced millions of people to be so frank and overcome their natural reserve? Only the Spirit of God could so convict the world of sin that the recognition of sin became a national duty!.. What can we say about the inner convictions of the Holy Spirit in the conscience of sinners? Who among us has not ever heard this reproof? Who hasn’t made a vow to themselves to improve their life? Who has not repeatedly regretted not fulfilling this vow? At least the Teller has done His job. He took upon Himself the duty to expose our sins, and He exposed them: none of us can say that he is sinless. This is enough for the glory of the Accuser and our salvation. There was a time when the whole world sinned, but did not know that it was sinful! “But sin, not imputed, is not under the law” (Rom. 5:13). The second subject of the Holy Spirit's conviction is the world's unbelief in the truth. “Of righteousness, as I go to My Father, and you see me not” (John 16:10). Convicted of sin, the world has always found disastrous joy in rejecting or hiding the truth of God (Rom. 1:18). This is what he did with the Hypostasis Truth when she appeared on earth in the person of the Son of God. Neither the purity of the teaching, nor the holiness of the Divine Teacher, nor the miracles performed by Him, nothing could convince the obstinate and sinful race that the words of the eternal life were being proclaimed to them. When the Herald of Truth, for the highest reasons, but unknown to the world, deigned to ascend to the cross and then hide forever from human sight, the evil world considered this decisive proof that His work was not from God, that the religion He proclaimed was a human invention. The very resurrection of the Savior did not bring to reason the stubborn enemies of the truth, and gave rise, as we know, to the last desperate attempt - to obscure the truth of God with slander (Matthew 28:13). Who could have expected that of these same people who so persistently pursued the truth, many would soon become its defenders and would gladly shed their blood for it? But where God acts, nothing is impossible. The Accuser arrives and the Sauls begin to preach the Gospel. The world doubted the truth of the face of Jesus: the Holy Spirit showed the injustice of this doubt by His very descent. Everyone had to admit that if the Savior had not been what He said He was, then God would not have sent the Comforter in His name, and the Comforter would not have acted for His glory. The world did not believe the truth of the teachings of Jesus: the Holy Spirit inspired the apostles to explain this teaching in such a way that the most incredulous mind, when it began to judge impartially, could not help but recognize the greatest wisdom in it. The world considered the rules of gospel morality unnecessary and overly strict: the Holy Spirit showed by experience that the truth of faith is not only infinitely higher than legal righteousness, but also incomparably more pleasant and easier for those who have it. The world rejected the promises of Jesus Christ: the Holy Spirit showed their immutability by fulfilling all the ancient prophecies about the spiritual kingdom of the Messiah, and by teaching extraordinary spiritual gifts to believers in Jesus Christ. Finally, the power of miracles and various revelations communicated by the Holy Spirit to the preachers of the Gospel ensured that the most stubborn enemies of the truth no longer found excuses for unbelief. The vainly denounced world, in the person of pagan philosophers, strained its last efforts against the Christian faith; in vain Celsus, Porphyria, Hierocles exhausted themselves in objections: either reducing Christianity to their paganism, or raising paganism to Christianity; Less than three centuries later, their works were forgotten and destroyed, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ became a textbook for the entire human race. The accuser began and completed His work! I did it, brothers, but I didn’t finish it! Alas, as if by some disastrous necessity, everything that disfigured the pagan world had to be repeated in Christianity; so that from among Christians there will appear people who, with pagan shamelessness, open their lips and sharpen their pens against the truth of God and the Gospel! And what century has not seen these pitiful people? What country has not suffered from them? How long has it been since entire kingdoms were shaken by the destructive whirlwind of unbelief, and altars were threatened with the same transformation as thrones? The Word of God, as a warning to believers, even decisively says that with the continuation of the existence of the world, unbelief will not decrease, but will increase; that, before the very end, the enemy of God, “knowing that time is short” (Rev. 12:12), will raise up new false prophets and false Christs, and will attempt to destroy the very name of Christians. With this sad certainty, isn’t it gratifying, brethren, to know that the world, always at war against the truth of God revealed in Christianity, has always found, and will always find, the Revealer of its wickedness in the very Spirit of truth; that holy faith, with which our eternal bliss is inextricably linked, is left not to the protection of weak people, but to the preservation of Him, the Almighty? No! The Omniscient foresaw our infidelity and weakness in preserving the truths of Revelation, foresaw that we, like the ancient Israelites, would betray the ark of the New Testament to our enemies; and therefore he entrusted him no longer to the sons of Levi, but to His All-Holy Spirit. Do you want to see how this great Accuser does His work and defends the truth of faith and the Gospel entrusted to His custody? Delve into the history of the Church, and it will show you this, it will show how at all times people appeared to defend the truth, how the triumph of unbelief always turned to its disgrace, how the most desperate efforts against the Church of Christ were resolved into nothingness. After this, let the new enemies of the truth exhaust themselves in slandering the faith: this will only prove that they were “predestined of old for... condemnation” (Jude 1:4) and destruction: those of little faith will be tempted, but the deposit of faith will remain inviolable. Let those unfortunate times come when the very servants of the word, swayed by fear or profit, betray the truth; Even this betrayal is not terrible for faith: the Holy Spirit will find its defenders; He will create them if necessary. New apostles will appear and, inspired by the Spirit of truth, will joyfully go out to battle against the kingdom of darkness. They will contrast the constantly changing opinions of the world with the constant immutability of the gospel faith; his varied errors will force him to lament the unity of the apostolic confession; His wicked rules will be put to shame by the holiness of Christian morality. Thus, when the genera and types of wickedness will, like shadows, come and pass, increase and decrease in the direction of the light of faith, the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church will stand motionless on the cornerstone, “having this seal: the Lord who exists knows Him!” (2 Tim. 2:19). The third and final subject of the Holy Spirit's conviction is the judgment of the world. And about judgment, “for the prince of the world is condemned” (John 16:11). Do you remember, brethren, what judgment the world pronounced when the Son of God appeared in it to destroy the works of the devil? He called the One who lived and died for the truth and glory of God the accomplice of the prince of darkness: “through Beelzebub he will cast out demons” (Matthew 12:24); and presented himself and his area of ​​sin in the form of the Kingdom of God, threatened by danger from Jesus Christ. That is, light was called darkness, and darkness was called light, hell was called heaven, and heaven was called hell! Can there be a greater transformation of truth and judgment - untruth, the gravest of this untruth? O Soul of truth, hasten to denounce this lawless judgment of the world; let him feel the impartiality of Your judgment; Reveal before the face of the universe that “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, ... the lust of desire and the pride of life, is not from the Father” (1 John 2:16), but from the prince of the world - the devil! But how to accomplish this reproof? For this, it would be necessary to let the peace-loving people experience the severity of the judgment that awaits them, to make them now also experience that there is not one end to “good and evil... the one who eats and the one who does not eat” (Eccl. 9:2). But the Holy Spirit, like the Son of God, who brought Him down through His merits, comes not to destroy and punish, but to correct and save the world. What then? Will the lawless court of the world remain without conviction? No, the humane Accuser finds a means to accomplish His work; He denounces the lovers of peace, but not in their own person, in order to give those convicted time to repent, but in their boss and head, whom they imitate and serve, in the devil: “and about judgment, because the prince of this world is condemned” (John 16:11). In fact, brothers, the corrupt Pharisees, who saw the first acts of Jesus Christ, could still be told that they were performed not about the Spirit of God, but about Beelzebub. But was it possible to support this slander after Christianity began to spread and overthrow idols and false gods everywhere? Then, of necessity, everyone saw that the Son of God really came to destroy the works of the devil. What losses, what shame did this enemy of God and people not endure? Driven out of hearts by the grace of the Holy Spirit, he was then solemnly expelled from idols, which, with the spread of Christianity, all fell silent, from churches and churches, which were either destroyed or turned into churches of the true God. Finally, as if in more visible and private proof of the invisible universal victory of Jesus Christ over the devil, the Holy Spirit imparted to each of the leading Christians the power to cast out demons with one word. Even just the name of Jesus, uttered by anyone, sometimes drove out the devil. So this previously powerful enemy then became weak and insignificant! He, as one Church father put it, was then like a dead snake without a sting, which is given to children for fun. For the defenders of Christianity, such public shaming of the devil served as national proof of the divinity of the Christian faith. “Your Pythia,” they said in the ears of the Senate and the Roman people, “have fallen silent, your Apollo has become speechless. Why? Because they did not say it themselves, that the devil lived in them. He was cast out by Jesus Christ, and now you have lost your gods; Yes, you know that there is no other God except the One Whom Christians worship.” In fact, no matter how angry and bitter the ancient world was against Christianity, with the passage of time it became completely clear that the destruction of idols and everything idolatrous is the best praise for Christianity. Soon the rudest pagans began to despise those idols that could not defend themselves against the invisible power of the Cross. But, seeing the shame of the devil, the world had to understand in this shame something greater and more important. In the condemnation of the prince of the world lies the condemnation of the world itself, in the terrible fate of the ruler of darkness the once and for all future fate of the entire region of darkness is depicted. “And about judgment, because the prince of the world is condemned” (John 16:11). So, people devoted to the world and the flesh - no matter what time and country you belong to - know that the Holy Spirit, out of His love for mankind, is pleased to convict you again of sin and truth; but do not expect a new reproof of judgment: He has once and for all shown you your future destiny in your head, the prince of peace. You, who do not know, or do not want to know, what will happen to sinners beyond the grave, who doubt the truth of God and the existence of torment, look at your head - the prince of peace, and learn the truth from him. What you do not believe, he already endures, thereby showing you that you will endure the same if you do not turn from unbelief. You, oral Christians, who think that for salvation it is enough to believe as the fathers believed, and not to do the righteousness of the fathers, not to fulfill the law of love, you hear the accusation: “The prince of the world is condemned!” And he believes that God exists, knows the truths he opposes better than you, and knows how to transform himself into an Angel of Light more cunningly than you; but, because he has no love, he is condemned! You, imaginary lovers of mankind, who cry out that the Creator’s mercy is limitless, that He cannot consign a single sinner to eternal fire, hear the reproof: “The prince of the world is condemned!” The goodness of God, equal to all, did not spare the proud; His high dignity among creatures - he was an Archangel - did not prevent him from being subjected to eternal execution. You, who cannot understand how a rational being will forever be tormented by torment and will never repent, will not resort to the mercy of the punisher, look at the prince of the world, and from his stubbornness and bitterness know that for moral beings there is a certain terrible extreme of sin, for which, having passed, they do not return. Like him, every sinner can and should see his judgment and punishment in the prince of peace. The chapter condemns the whole body; in the person of the ruler, the entire region of darkness is cursed. And isn’t that why, by the way, brethren, the world has always rebelled with such care against the teaching about the existence of the devil? Unhappy, he feels that the fate of the spirit of malice is closely connected with his own fate, and this is the source of his unbelief! By interceding for the devil, he defends himself. “And about judgment, for the prince of the world is condemned.” This is how the conviction of the Holy Spirit over the world was accomplished and is being accomplished! The world is convicted of sin, which it does not recognize, in truth, which it rejects, in judgment, which it turns into. This reproof, having begun in Eden, will end in Zion. It embraces all ages and all peoples. Its types are as countless as the ways of the wisdom and omnipotence of God are countless. The entire history of the Church, even the entire history of the human race, is the history of this conviction. And whoever decides to look at all events from this side and in this spirit will constantly find new reasons to revere the actions of the Accuser Spirit, Who does not leave a single means for converting the sinful human race from darkness to light, from the realm of Satan to God. The time to ask now is: what does the world do from the conviction of the Holy Spirit? What are people doing? What did you and I make of it, listener? How do we use this reproof? Do we always listen to him, do we always hear him? Do we at least remember that we have a Teller? Now,” the Savior cried, foreshadowing the coming of the Accuser, “now is the judgment of the world” (John 12:31). Should we not say all the more, brethren, that now, after the coming of the Accuser, now is the judgment of our world? What's missing for the trial? The judge, God almighty, is here; The Redeemer, who shed His Blood for us, is here; the witness, our conscience, is here. So, now, now, judgment is given to our world, not to that which is outside of us, but which is within us, in our soul, to the world of our thoughts, desires, passions. What are we saying to you, listener, at this trial? What have we done out of the love of God the Father, out of the grace of Jesus Christ, out of the communion of the Holy Spirit? Shall we say that we admit that we are sinners, but where are the fruits of repentance? Let us say that we believe in the Gospel, but where are the fruits of faith? Shall we say that we deny the prince of darkness and all his ministry, but why do we remain in the region of darkness, why do we do the works of darkness? What should be respected more in court: our words or our deeds; imaginary faith, or active unbelief? The ancient world was exposed and judged for being hostile to the Christian faith: the question is, has the victory of Christianity over the world been decided in our hearts? Have idols fallen in it? Has the noise of passions died down? Did that saving change of thoughts and feelings take place in him, that new birth, without which it is impossible to see the “Kingdom of God” (John 3:3), without which the name of a Christian is an idle title? - Oh, if we, carrying the name of Christ on our lips, darken it with our lives; if, renouncing His enemy in words, we imitate him in our deeds: then now is not only judgment, but also condemnation of our world. It would be better for us to know nothing about the Redeemer than, having known it, not to fulfill what He commanded; It would be better for us to be outside the Kingdom of Grace and do works of natural righteousness, rather than, having received the grace of the Holy Spirit, lead the life of tax collectors and pagans. The accuser will be “justified in His words”: He has done everything for our admonition; and therefore he will conquer, “always judging” us (Ps. 50:6). But what will His victory cost us then? Now He overcomes us for us; then He will conquer us for Himself; now His victory is our eternal salvation; then it will constitute our eternal damnation. So, “now, while there is time, let us not harden our hearts” (Heb. 3:15); let us apply the hearing of our hearts to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and let us strive to surrender ourselves to His guidance. “Let us sweat” (Heb. 4:11), for, with all His long-suffering, the Accuser does not leave stubbornness and negligence unpunished; He reproaches with meekness for a long time, but when those who are reproached abuse His mercy, then meekness changes into severity. When sinners continue to persist in their sins after this, then the conviction of the Holy Spirit, in the words of the prophet, turns into a kind of hostility against them. Before they turned away from the Accuser, now He turns away from them; Before they resisted Him, then He Himself, apparently, puts obstacles in their way, does not bless the most laudable undertakings, so that they learn not to abuse His gifts. Finally, when this last resort remains without fruit, the Holy Spirit leaves the sinner to himself. Do you know, brothers, what it means to be abandoned by the Holy Spirit?.. God forbid that any of us should really know this! So, while there is time, let us surrender ourselves to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and take advantage of His saving conviction. To the accuser, the Soul of truth, we are just as little able on our own to benefit from Your reproof as we are little worthy of Your consolation! You Yourself, O All-Good One, come and dwell in us, and expose us, and, having exposed us, cleanse us from all filth, and thus save our souls! Amen. The fourth word on the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit “The Holy Spirit is, always is, and will be” 22 No matter how joyful, brethren, this present day is, no matter how bright the triumph now celebrated by the Church; but, if we compare our current celebration with that Apostolic Pentecost, then some kind of sad feeling is born in the heart. There the Comforter reveals His presence visibly and solemnly: storm and fire serve as His messengers, and in the little upper room of Zion the miracles of Sinai are repeated; here, our weak prayers to Him, the Almighty, must penetrate through this roof, which always remains closed over our heads, and we, without having a single sensory sign from above, are forced to assure ourselves that He, the All-Good, hears us and is present among us. Then the preachers of the Gospel, having been endowed with power from on high, suddenly became able to understand and proclaim in the ears of the whole world the wisdom hidden in God; and short, unartificial, but full of strength and spirit, their broadcast turned entire tribes and peoples to Christ, forcing them to reject false gods, abandon prejudices, conquer skills and passions; Now, ministers of the word must, through difficult and long study, gain information to communicate to others the proper concepts of faith; and, despite all the aids of art, despite all the efforts of jealousy, their most lengthy and eloquent conversations often cannot turn into true Christians even those who were born and raised in the depths of Christianity. This contrast would not have seemed so sad if the extraordinary abundance of spiritual gifts in ancient times had been the lot of the apostles alone, their collaborators and first successors. Destined for extraordinary, worldwide, difficult service, they also needed extraordinary gifts, emergency help. But in the Apostolic Church, everyone, from first to last, was filled with miraculous gifts. “To each,” this is how the Apostle Paul describes the Church of Corinth, “to each is given the open operation of the Spirit for the benefit: one... word of wisdom - the ability to express in words the highest objects of Christian wisdom; to another, the word of knowledge is the gift of active understanding of the truths of faith and their use in life; to another, faith is firm confidence in the authenticity of invisible future blessings, and, resulting from this, patience and courage; to others, gifts of healing - physical and mental illnesses; to another, the actions of forces are the product of such phenomena that exceed all human forces; “to another prophecy” - a prediction of the future, an explanation of the truths of faith, through comparison of the present with the past and future; another distinguishing between true and false spirits and their revelations; otherwise different languages ​​- the ability to speak different languages ​​without first learning them; interpretation of tongues to another” is the gift of explaining in a known language what is said by someone in an unknown language (1 Cor. 12:5-11). Therefore, when the Corinthian Christians gathered in church to pray, then, according to the testimony of the same apostle, each of them had either a new psalm inspired by the Holy Spirit, or a new teaching, or a new language, or a new revelation, or an interpretation of previous revelations. Similar things happened in all other Christian Churches. In Ephesus, when Paul first arrived there, there were several disciples who were called Christians and did not have spiritual gifts; but it was immediately revealed that they were baptized only by the Baptism of John, and not by Christ, and this deficiency was immediately filled through the laying on of hands on them by Saint Paul; after which they, like other Christians, began to speak in tongues and prophesy (Acts 19:1–7). So truly, brethren, that comforting word of promise was then fulfilled: “And it shall come to pass in the last days... I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh” (Acts 2:17). And now? We do not dare to think that even now this promise does not have its previous effect on any of the Christians. Who can know what is happening in the entire Church of Christ, which is scattered throughout the world, gathered from all languages, tribes and tribes, and in its most chosen members, in their actions and talents, is known to the one Knower of the Heart? But, on the other hand, eternal and universal experience prompts us to recognize as true that even if today miraculous gifts still exist elsewhere; then in a meager measure, without the visibility, universality and completeness with which they appeared in the primacy of the Church. What does this mean? Why were the first Christians so rich in the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, but we do not have them? Is this not a sign that the Holy Spirit is now much less favorable towards the Church of Christ? Didn’t He even abandon her for the sins and wickedness of Christians? These questions are so close to the real celebration, and so important in themselves, that they cannot be left without resolution. But who is able to resolve them as they should? In order to assure others of the reality of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church, one must first vividly feel His presence in one’s heart; and such a feeling can more likely be expressed by silence than by ranting. In order to explain more precisely why the Holy Spirit, while continuing to rule the Church of Christ and dwell in it, does not, however, impart His wonderful gifts to its members, for this purpose one must have one of those tongues of fire that now rest on the apostles. Thus, with all the importance of the above questions, we, due to the weakness of our understanding of spiritual things, would have to leave them without resolution, if we did not have in this case an experienced, one might say, raised by the Holy Spirit Himself, leader - St. Chrysostom, who in his time, for in his time there were no longer miraculous signs, resolved the same questions for the edification of his listeners. Let's follow his leadership. According to St. Chrysostom, one should not grieve and complain that the visible and tangible miraculous signs of the Holy Spirit are no longer in the Church; One can even rejoice that they have stopped, and consider it an honor for the Church. “One should not grieve” because the miraculous gifts that existed in ancient times did not bring salvation to people, but a good life saved and can always save without them. “We can rejoice” because the existence of visible sensory signs was, among other things, a consequence of the weakness and spiritual childhood of many first-converted Christians; and their cessation is a sign of the strength and spiritual maturity of the Church of Christ, and provides its members with an opportunity for greater merit in the faith. Indeed, brethren; if where should one begin to judge the importance or unimportance of possessing sensory miraculous signs, then precisely with how much did they contribute to salvation? This is the only true rule. So, did the matter of salvation depend in any way on sensory miraculous signs, on prophecies, on visions, on healings, on the knowledge of languages? Not at all. And, firstly, as St. Chrysostom notes, there were great saints who did not do anything miraculous, at least they became great righteous people before they began to be miracle workers. “What sign,” he asks, “did John create so many cities that attracted him to himself? For nothing is miraculous, hear the evangelist saying: John do not perform a single sign. Where did Elijah come from so wonderfully? Is it not from boldness towards the king? Is it not out of zeal for God? Is it not from lack of wealth? Is it not from your mantle? Is it from the cave and the mountains? Create signs for everyone from now on. But when Job performed some sign, the devil was horrified? Not a single sign, but a shining life and the most steadfast adamantine patience. What sign did David do when he was still young, saying to God about him: “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart”? (Acts 13:22). Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, whose dead you raised, whose leper you cleansed? All of these were not performed by wondrous signs, but by disdain of possessions, contempt of glory, and liberation from worldly things. If they didn’t have this, and were slaves of passions, then even if they had raised up the numbered dead, not only would they have used nothing, but they would have imagined themselves to be the beauties.” “How long,” concludes the golden-tongued teacher, “do we pretend to create miracles for our laziness? This face of saints did not shine with miracles! 23. On the other hand, we find that many, possessing the gift of miracles, not only did not know how to derive any spiritual benefit from it, but also completely perished. A terrible example of this is Judas! No one doubts that he, like the other apostles, performed miracles: he healed lepers, cast out demons, and perhaps raised the dead; and, however, he lost not only his apostleship, but his very soul! Miracles did not save him, for he allowed the demon of greed to take possession of him, became a tatem and betrayed his Teacher. And that not only Judas died, and perhaps will die with miracles, is clear from the fact that at the Last Judgment, according to the testimony of the Savior Himself, many will say to the Judge: “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name have we created many mighty powers?” (Matthew 7:22). How many miracles! What signs! And yet, what will the Lord say to them? “No more than I have known you, depart from Me, you who practice iniquity” (Matthew 7:23). The words are completely unexpected! The verdict is terrible, but completely fair! “They will be surprised,” Chrysostom argues, “for having worked such miracles, they are tormented: you are not astonished. For all grace is given: we must suffer in the same way; rather to those who honored them so much, as if they were not worthy of giving grace, they were ungrateful and insensitive” 24. So, if there were great saints who did not possess the gift of miracles, and if some of those who possessed this gift perished, if it was sometimes given to the wicked and unfaithful, then is it not clear, brethren, that our salvation does not in the least depend on the possession of miraculous gifts? And if so, then there is no good reason to be sad, no longer seeing miracle workers among Christians. There is only one miracle, the failure of which we must always grieve over us, this is the correction of our, evil by nature, heart, the renewal of our life, spiritual revival; but to perform this miracle, which is necessary for each of us, Providence has done everything that is necessary, so it is entirely up to us to experience it on ourselves. “The main thing of good,” argues St. Chrysostom, “that is, those gifts of the Holy Spirit, without which our salvation is impossible—we imams are baptismal gifts; all by accepting the remission of sins, sanctification, communion of the Spirit, the birth of sons, the inheritance of eternal life. What do you want to multiply? Signs? But it was abolished." Don't look for what is not there, use what is there. “Imashi faith, hope, love, and that eternal one. Seek these therefore: these are great signs” 25. More, in fact. All wonderful gifts cannot replace one virtue; on the contrary, one virtue is strong enough to reward all signs. “Even if I speak with the tongues of men and with the tongues of angels,” the Apostle Paul writes about himself, “if I speak prophecy and know all mysteries and all understanding, and if I speak all the faith, even as I have left behind mountains, I am not an imam of love, I am nothing” (1 Cor. 13:1-2). This is what one love means! They will ask us for it at the Last World Judgment, where the final reckoning will be made in the gifts of God given to us, and in what we have made of them - love, I say, they will ask each of us then, and not miracles, not signs. “Come, blessed of My Father,” says the righteous Judge Almighty, “inherit the kingdom prepared for you” (Matthew 25:34). For what? Was it because they raised the dead, cast out demons, prophesied, and worked miracles? No, but because, seeing their Savior in need in the person of his younger brothers, they served Him: they fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the sick, brought the strange into the house. Not a word about miracles, but all about deeds, about life, about love. “You should not look for signs,” concludes St. Chrysostom, “but for the health of the soul. Even if, out of inhumanity, you took alms, you stretched out your dry hand; Even if you left the disgrace, you came to church, you corrected the leg of the one who limped; If you turn away your hair from the kindness of strangers, you open the eyes of the blind; If instead of satanic songs, study spiritual psalms, - dumb, you said. These are the greatest miracles! This sign is wonderful! 26. “But the ancient signs,” someone will say, “were very useful for the conversion of infidels; and therefore there remains reason to mourn their cessation, if not for oneself, then for others.” Zeal for the good of others is commendable! Sorrow worthy of a Christian! But do you know what? If this sorrow and this jealousy did not remain in our words alone, but always expressed themselves in actions, then long ago, perhaps, there would not have been a single pagan left without miracles. “Greeks,” according to St. Chrysostom, “are not led to faith by signs like our lives.” “For those who create signs,” he continues, “many times they deceive the people, but they cannot reproach a pure life. It is we who are to blame, and not the lack of miracles, for the fact that they remain in error. For although they begin to neglect their ancient dogmas, and seem to admire ours, they live their lives for our sake. It is convenient for people to philosophize (there are many of them who have done this too), but they seek evidence of the truth from deeds. And righteously. When he sees one who is covetous, stealing, and with his fellow tribesmen, as if treating with animals, the very same one who was commanded to love his enemies, he will imagine the lie to be spoken. Show me, he says, faith from your works; but we don’t have this; and even more so, seeing us more cruel than the beasts tormenting our neighbors, he calls us a plague in the universe. This holds back the Greeks and does not allow them to join; For this reason, we will accept punishment for these people” 27. It is about this, therefore, about the decline of morals among Christians, which seduces the infidels, that we should grieve; and not that we have no signs for their conversion. Let us do for their salvation what depends on us: and God will certainly do what depends on Him, and without a doubt does it, although we do not know through whom and how. “So be it,” they will also say, “we should not grieve over the cessation of miraculous signs; but it would be foolish to rejoice at this. Is it possible to compare our poor times with that blessed time, when the Church of Christ, adorned with the gift of miracles, apparently showed to the whole world that she was the chosen bride of the heavenly Bridegroom? Not only can it be compared, but, precisely in relation to signs, in some ways it should even give an advantage to our times over the ancients. Let us impartially examine the reasons for the great sensory signs in the Apostolic Church, and the truth will reveal itself. Let us ask, firstly, why were so many miracles performed at the beginning of Christianity? – Did the perfection of the people who lived then bring them down from heaven? No, not perfection, but need. Then one of the great moral revolutions had to take place, a new faith was to be introduced among people. “And everywhere,” notes St. Chrysostom, “if something strange and wondrous wants to happen, or a new way of life is introduced, God usually creates signs, giving guarantees of His power to those who have it to accept His laws. Thus, when you wanted to create man, you created the whole world first, and then the law that was in paradise was given to him. And when Noah had given the law, he showed great miracles, and with them he renewed all creation... and under Abraham he showed just as many signs; that is, victory in battle, plague on Pharaoh, freedom from troubles. And the Jews gave the law; it showed marvelous and great miracles first, and then gave the law. So here (during the time of Jesus Christ and the apostles) a high certainty was introduced into the human race (the Christian faith) and even I have never heard of laying down laws, which it affirms by showing miracles. Whenever the kingdom preached (by the apostles) did not appear, from the signs that were shown, what was done clearly works” 28. “All this was all the more necessary,” he argues in another place, “because people who lived then, as if they had abandoned idols a little, had lost their meaning, their hearts were insensible and frozen, earthly things were more wise and lustful, - lower in thought they concerned themselves with insensible talents, not knowing at all what the incorporeal, the only exactly conceivable by faith, grace. For the sake of this sign, let them not abide in unbelief and unheard-of miracles” 29. “In general,” concludes St. Chrysostom, “during the time of the apostles, the beginning and foundation of faith was laid. Just as a good worker of the earth takes great care of the tree he has planted for the sake of youth, fencing it off everywhere, strengthening it with stones and thorns, so that the wind does not tear it up, harm and trample the cattle, or other evil happens, when it grows and gains strength, it takes away the supports, the tree itself is strong. stay safe. We see what has come true about faith. When little has grown, and greatness is weak, and again planted in the hearts of others; from all countries, dangerously strengthened and protected; which has taken root and taken on strength and has claimed very high branches, having taken away Christ's support and defense. In this way, from the beginning I gave gifts to unworthy beings; faith needs no help: now even the worthy do not accept, through the strength of faith, the need for protection has been abolished” 30. So, here are the true reasons for the abundance of miraculous signs that we are amazed at in the First Church: the need to prepare people to accept a new religion and a new way of life; the need to protect and strengthen the newly planted garden of faith; the need to assure sensual people that they are indeed provided with supernatural benefits. Thus, all need and some poverty were the cause of miracles and signs, and not wealth, not any kind of perfection, not merit. What then? After this, do we really regret that now there are no more such needs for the Church of Christ, and therefore there are no signs? This would mean the same as if an adult, having reached the fullness of mental and moral strength, began to regret that he was deprived of some of the amenities and decorations of childhood; it’s the same as if one of the citizens began to grumble at his fate because he had to live at a time when his fatherland came into power and glory, and not at its very beginning and foundation. On the contrary, having maturely reflected, we must thank God that He did not deign to make us witnesses of great changes in the fate of the Church, the continuation of which requires miracles and signs, because people living during these upheavals, although they hear and see many things that do not happen in all other centuries, but by some unfortunate fate, rarely and little take advantage of the advantages of their time. In fact, how many of the contemporaries of Noah and Abraham turned to the path of righteousness? We don't know anyone. How many of the Jews who saw Moses' miracles remained faithful to God and entered the Promised Land? Only two people: Joshua and Caleb. Moses himself, who performed so many miracles, died outside it. How many of Jesus Christ's contemporaries took advantage of hearing the teaching and seeing His miracles? Very few. Who knows, listener, what would have happened to us if we had lived in those times of miracles that seem so enviable to us? Who can guarantee that we would have remained among the small number of Jesus’ friends who stood on Calvary, before His cross, and would not have been carried away by the stream of universal temptation to the side of His enemies and crucifiers? If even now, fully knowing who Jesus is, believing that He is our Redeemer, God and Judge, therefore, knowing more than what was known then to many of His very disciples; if, I say, even now, despite all this, we betray our Lord, again crucify Him with our sins: then shouldn’t it be possible to conclude from this that, if we were contemporaries of our Savior, we would belong to the number of His most stubborn enemies, perhaps those very people who betrayed, condemned, crucified Him? This means that we should thank God that we do not live in times of miracles, which are times of grave temptations, that we do not see signs that, in all likelihood, would not convert us to faith, but would only make us more guilty and irresponsible. “But I would like,” you say, “to be not among the spectators of miracles, unconverted and evil people, but among the faithful, who possessed miraculous gifts.” Do you think this was not fraught with danger? We have seen that many of those who performed miracles will not be recognized by the Savior as their own and will go into torment. Now let’s say in addition that for some, if not all of these unfortunate people, the miracles and extraordinary gifts that adorned them probably served as a stumbling block on the path to salvation (of course, not on their own, but through their fault). The proof of this sad truth is provided by the same Apostolic Church, which we want to envy. The Corinthians, as we have seen, were distinguished by many talents. What came of it? “The one who has the greatest (of wonderful gifts), in the words of Chrysostom, takes advantage of those who have acquired the most wonderful things; these things are sick, and I envy the rich” 31. Envy, as usually happens, led to all mental ailments, disagreements, disputes and disorder, so that if Paul, as an experienced and zealous doctor, had not rushed to the aid of the ailing Church and had not taught it the medicine of humility and love, then, probably, more than one Corinthian miracle worker would have heard the terrible saying: “No one knows you better!” (Matthew 7:23) - The same could happen to us if we had the gift of miracles. “If,” St. Chrysostom argues, “if there are no signs, other than those who have superiority, like the word of wisdom, or the testimony of reverence, we are vainglorious, we are exalted, we are separated from each other: what if there were more signs for that, where dissolution would not follow?” 32. This means, looking at the matter from this side, we should thank God that we are delivered from the temptations of having such dangerous gifts that we are not destined to carry in our depths a sacred fire, but a jealous and terrible one, the flame of which could turn on ourselves. But is that one thing we should thank God for, that we are freed from the temptation to abuse miracles? Don’t we still have many, most important advantages that did not exist at all in the early days of Christianity? Our first advantage is to live in times of peace, to see the triumph of the Christian faith and its victory over its enemies. We only know from hearing the baptism of fire with which the disciples of Jesus were supposed to be baptized, but the first Church experienced all the cruelty of this baptism. Glorious promises were ahead, invisible, but before their eyes was poverty and death for the name of Christ. “Every believer,” says Chrysostom, “befittingly should be like a disgrace, driven out from the fatherland, the last cruel suffering, hated by everyone, called the common adversary of both one’s own and those of others.” This is the situation in which both faith and believers were then! Not one of the heads on which the tongues of fire now rested was saved from the sword of the persecutors. Meanwhile, not the first Christians, but we were given, in the words of Chrysostom, “to see the triumph of the Church, the conversion of the whole universe, the barbarians’ wisdom, the change of ferocious morals, the spread of reverence, the event of prophecies” 33. We are given the opportunity to enjoy the peace that was purchased with the streams of blood of martyrs, the sweat and tears of ascetics, and the sighs of the entire Universal Church. We have not worked and yet we enjoy all the fruits of our labor. “I foresee what is best for God” (Heb. 11:40). Truly the best! - Over the course of eighteen centuries, how many new lights have been kindled by the Holy Spirit in the firmament of the Church, which can serve as a guide for a comfortable voyage to the eternal fatherland! How many new examples of selflessness, love and all other high virtues have been given! How many spiritual experiences have been left of successful warfare against enemies visible and invisible! The formerly narrow path to the Kingdom of Heaven, one might say, has spread for us from the many who have passed along it; the thorns covering it seem to have been dulled by the feet of countless ascetics of God; the vial (chalice-ed.) of temptations and sorrows, it seems, has already been completely drunk by them, and we can only touch it with our lips for our sanctification. Finally, we are given the high privilege of faith without miracles. To believe the promises of God without seeing, to expect their fulfillment without requiring proof, constitutes the great dignity of the human spirit, and at the same time such bliss, which the apostles themselves lacked. “Blessed,” the Savior Himself said to the Apostle Thomas, “who did not see and believed” (John 20:29). Do you want to know what this blessedness consists of? “This,” answers Saint Chrysostom, “is that a believer without signs believes in God without deposits, believes His only word, and thus shows the purest obedience: in the fact that for the sake of signs We ourselves are debtors to God, but we have God for our good lives and deeds for the sake of the debtor.” 34 “Indeed,” the same teacher argues in another place, “when Christ comes and all the Angels are with Him, and God appears, and everything is subjugated to Him: will not the Greeks also be convinced that they will worship God and say that God will be imputed to them? for the sake of the Greek, is it worship and knowledge? As soon as a sign appears, the reward of faith is diminished,” “So,” concludes St. Chrysostom, “if there were signs and now, it would be the same,” that is, our faith would lose most of its value. But in thinking this way, are we not demeaning the gift of signs and wonders? Shall we not belittle the dignity of the primal Church, which possessed this gift? Not at all. The gift of miracles in itself is always equally important, because it comes directly from God and is given for great purposes. But in relation to people, this gift is especially important only in the case when it is acquired through their special labors, there is a reward for their faith, patience and love, or, better said, when there is, as it were, a natural (although not always revealed) consequence of the restoration of the image of God in them and union with God, the action of that, in the words of the Savior, “the faith of God” (Mark 11:23), to which everything is subordinated, “and everything is possible” (Mark 9:23). In this case, the gift of miracles is extremely important, for it is one with holiness, although in this case it is important because of what it presupposes in a person, and not what comes from him. There are cases when a person, who himself is not mature in spirit for the gift of miracles, who has not even begun to mature, suddenly receives it from above for some special purpose. Then the external miracles performed by such a person, not being a consequence of an internal miracle - the restoration of the image of God in his soul, do not give him moral perfection, but, on the contrary, can, as we have seen, from his carelessness, even turn into harm. In exactly this way, the gift of miracles was given to the majority of Christians in the Apostolic Church, given due to special circumstances and needs, without special merit on the part of those receiving, immediately after baptism. Only in a few pure, exalted, deified souls (such as Pavlova, Petrova and other holy men), miracles were, one might say, as much the fruit of their own faith and spiritual perfections as the gift of God. But such a few souls in all other times, as sacred history testifies, stood above the laws of visible nature; when they wanted and needed, they performed miracles. Only these souls are least inclined to seek the gift of miracles and show it to others. We do not humiliate the primacy of the Church with our opinion about signs and wonders. Its inner grace and godlikeness depended not on signs, but on the great virtues with which some of its members were adorned. Signs, as previously said, being a consequence of need, presupposing sensual people, in general, reminiscent of spiritual childhood, not only did not increase the internal perfection of the primal Church, but, one might say, served to make up for its shortcomings, to cover up its weak side. This was a certain temporary remnant of the Old Testament, which, being given to sensual and rude people, therefore almost entirely consisted of signs. “Therefore,” someone will say, “the Church of Christ, with the passage of time, has achieved greater strength and become higher.” What then, beloved? Did the grapes planted by the Heavenly Father drink in vain the water of life, were they consumed in vain and served as food for eighteen centuries? Didn’t the mystical body of Christ grow at that time, remain in infancy, and not come to the measure of Christ’s age? We constantly repeat that the human race is developing in its strengths, the mind is maturing, sciences and arts are being improved, human societies are growing and strengthening, everything is gradually going for the better; Is it possible that the Society of Jesus Christ alone is not making further progress? Is one Church left behind all institutions? Where is the promise? Where is Providence? No, this cannot be; It is impossible for the work of God to remain without progress when human affairs are so successful... If we are weak and imperfect, then we must recognize our weakness, and not spread it, in apology for ourselves, to the entire Church. There will be pure souls who will justify Providence, who will prove with their lives that the Church of Christ is closer and closer to the beauty in which she, like a bride, must appear at the marriage of the heavenly Bridegroom. But these souls constitute the actual Church of God, that small flock to which the kingdom has been bequeathed; This is what St. Chrysostom meant when he asserted that miraculous signs stopped because people became more spiritual; We also need to understand them, admitting that now there is even less need for sensory signs than in the time of Chrysostom. At the very least, it is most impermissible to judge the state of the entire Church by our weaknesses and shortcomings. We, with our weaknesses, shortcomings, and vices, form only a shadow, which, however, the darker and longer it is, the higher the building implies. It would be possible, brethren, to say a lot more to explain the important truth we are considering; but it’s time to put an end to the word and put together what was said separately and from different sides about the subject. What comes out of everything we have said? The same thing that we heard from the lips of Chrysostom at the beginning of our discussion; that is, that we not only should not grieve over the cessation of miraculous signs, but we can also rejoice at this event, as proof that the Church has now gotten rid of many former troubles and needs, as a sign that the society of true believers, and with it all of humanity, has achieved greater perfection, and finally, as a condition for many of our advantages and the basis of new spiritual merits. Let us give thanks, brethren, to the Heavenly Father, that He, dividing the gifts of His grace to the human race, and proportioning them to the various states, ages and needs of it, did not forget us during this division, who are destined to live in later times, and, not deigning to give us that which was not necessary for us and would be a burden, He gave in abundance everything necessary for salvation, and, besides this, many such blessings as did not exist in all previous centuries. Our gratitude should mainly consist in using the spiritual advantages given to us, and the rightness of life, purity of desires, height of thoughts to prove that we belong to the most perfect Church, we live in better times. Whoever does this will learn from experience that the gifts of grace can change over time, but “the Holy Spirit is ever present, and is, and will be.” Amen. The first word for the day of the Holy Trinity “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!” With these great and holy words, the pastors of the Church usually begin all their interviews with us, my brothers. But on other days these holy words serve only as the holy title of church words and conversations; and today they can constitute the very subject for teaching. For now we celebrate in honor and glory of the Most Holy, Consubstantial, Life-Giving and Indivisible Trinity: what is it more appropriate to talk about now, if not about those Persons in whose honor the celebration is celebrated? It is difficult, however, to look at the sun; It is even more difficult to look at the Most Holy and All-Worldly Trinity: there vision is lost, here the mind becomes blind! So they went blind: Arius, Macedonia, Sabellius, Nestorius! So even now those who dare to look directly with their own eyes at the bright face of the creative Being are going blind. But we will not do it this way; and, imitating the example of the godly and universal teachers, let us arm our weak vision with a trumpet, which, while bringing the spiritual sun closer, at the same time moderates the brilliance of its rays for us. This trumpet is the word of God spoken by the prophets and apostles. This means for our goal is the most reliable, for in the word of God either the Father Himself speaks about Himself, or the Son Himself, or the Holy Spirit Himself. Do they not know themselves correctly, or do they not know how to speak about themselves as they should? What does the word of God reveal to us about God? It reveals that God is one in all the power of this word, that, however, this one, in His essence, God consists of three Persons. For the same one who appeared alone at Sinai and spoke through Moses: “Hear to Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4). The same one on the Jordan was revealed in three forms, and then through His evangelist he proclaimed: “There are three who testify in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one” (1 John 5:7). And the Son of God Himself, Who confessed Him, was “not seen anywhere” (John 1:18), sending the apostles to turn the whole world from darkness to light, commanded them to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. After this, it is by no means an indifferent matter for us to confess the one or triune God: no, to recognize, honor and preach the Most Holy Trinity is our immutable duty, because this is the basis of our faith, the object of our love and the guarantee of our hope. This is the eternal belly! For who will redeem us with his blood, if not God the Son? Who will sanctify us with His grace, if not God the Holy Spirit? Therefore, in one God we confess three - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. God the Father is so called because He, being the source of all Divinity, pre-eternally begat the Son and pre-eternally produced from Himself the Most Holy Spirit. God the Son is so called because He was born from eternity by the Father from His own Being, and in time He, as a man, deigned to be born from the Most Holy Virgin Mary. God the Holy Spirit is called so because He is eternally inspired by the Father and He Himself animates all things, especially spirits and rational souls. How the Faces of the Divine differ from each other is clear from their very name. God the Father, according to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, serves as the beginning of the Son and the Spirit, He Himself is beginningless and innocent; God the Son is born, but does not give birth or produce the Spirit; God the Holy Spirit comes from the Father, but is not born, and He Himself does not give birth or produce. Patronymic, sonship and descent - these are the three distinctive properties of Divine Persons! Differing in this way from each other, these three Persons constitute one and the same God: the Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God, but not three Gods, but one Divinity, one in strength, one in will, one in power, one in glory and power. Thus, following the word of God, the Holy Church teaches about God, teaching without supposing that everything possible is said about God, and that what is said fully and completely expresses the image of the Divine being. No, the Church, despite her dignity as the bride of Christ, is far from this self-confidence. She calls the doctrine of the Holy Trinity a sacrament, that is, such an object of faith that exceeds our mind; and what exceeds the mind cannot be spoken: what is spoken is no longer a sacrament. What is most generally understood in the sacrament of faith we are considering is the good deeds with which each Person of the Most Holy Trinity marked Himself in relation to people. From this side there is nothing unclear, no bewilderment. God the Father is our greatest Benefactor, since He called us out of oblivion, honored us with His image, did not abandon the fallen, but sent His Only Begotten Son to redeem us and the Most Holy Spirit to sanctify us. God the Son is our greatest Benefactor, because, during our ill-fated transgression of the commandment of Eden, He took upon Himself all responsibility for our sin and the whole severity of our fall, and to restore us to primitive perfection, He then took on our nature, lived among us, died for us and rose again for us. God the Holy Spirit is our greatest Benefactor, because, despite His unparalleled holiness, He did not disdain us sinners and uncleans, He overshadows the Church and everything in it with His grace, gives birth, strengthens and heals us, dead in sins, in the Sacraments, enlightens us through the prophets and apostles inspired by Him, He even deigns to dwell mysteriously in every believing soul, for preparing it for the eternal dwelling of the entire Holy Trinity. Briefly, the entire teaching of the word of God about the actions of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit consists of a narrative about Their benefits, in different forms, to the sinful human race. And against this most sublime, comforting and all-enlightening teaching, the short-sighted human mind has more than once rebelled with its pitiful perplexities and objections! But he, arrogant and daring, would like the entire fullness of the Divinity to be open to him! and the poor mind cannot bear the radiance! What would happen if the Triune appeared to him in all the fullness of His mysterious all-perfections? But if it is difficult for the mind to lift the eyes of grief and see the uncreated light in its very origin, then let the poor and weak look around at least around themselves. For it was not in vain that another wise pagan noticed and said that the Trinity shines and shines throughout the world. In fact, whether we pay attention to the largest or the smallest forces of nature, we will see triplicity in each of them: their very shades are triplicate. Thus, all things are contained primarily in time and space; but time is threefold: past, present and future. Space is also threefold: length, breadth and height, or, what is the same, depth. How does the whole world continue to hold on? By force of medial, mid-ripple and rotational. What does each day consist of? From morning, noon and evening. What is each night made of? From dusk, midnight and dawn. What do we see in each thing? Shape, color and heaviness. With all this and many others, all visible nature expresses the triplicity of the power that extracted it from insignificance; but besides this, each of the three Persons of the Divine, one might say, left a certain imprint of His personal existence on all things. For the essential difference between the Divine Persons, as we said, is fatherland, sonship and spiritual descent. Now look, which of the creatures around us does not have the ability to give birth and be born? Which, despite its rudeness, does not even have its own spirit? Everywhere is birth, everywhere is the spirit, like traces and signs of the Trinitarian. But if the Divine Trinity shines throughout the world, then in man, created in the image of God, It is reflected with greater completeness. There is trinity everywhere and in everything, starting with the visible composition of our nature. Our body with the ability to give birth, our soul with the ability to feel and suffer, our spirit with the ability to inhale the highest, Divine and animate the lower, sensual, what is this, if not an earthly, limited, but, like a heavenly, consubstantial and indivisible trinity, in which the three are one! (1 John 5:7). Let's take the human body: there is a visible tripartite composition - bones, flesh and juices. Let's take the soul: it is also tripartite - feelings, concepts and desires. Let's take the spirit, there are three again: mind, will and freedom. Each of the faculties is also threefold in action: the mind receives an impression from an object, judges and concludes; freedom sees, chooses and determines; the will is impelled to lust, strives, achieves. In the midst of such triplicity in everything created, sensory and spiritual, to go against the triplicity in the uncreated, does not it mean to close your eyes and not see the light at noon? Such is the fate of those who, having rejected the guidance of the word of God, surrender to the guidance of their poor mind! Moving from delusion to delusion, they often reach the point where they begin to doubt their own existence. Regretting such foolishness and wishing prayerfully for the erring enlightenment from above, let us turn, my brethren, to the subject of our conversation, let us ascend in thought above all created things, let us approach the throne of the Trinitarian, as we have received the boldness to do so through the merits of our Divine Redeemer, let us fall in awe of the greatness of the inscrutable perfections and as a testimony of our love and gratitude for countless the blessings of the Most Holy Trinity upon us, let us offer our whole being as a gift to Her. Let us offer our body to God the Father, that it may be an instrument for the fulfillment of His most holy will; Let us offer our soul to God the Son, so that it may be inspired by the power of His Cross; Let us offer our spirit to God the Holy Spirit, so that, flaming from His dew-bearing breath, it soars above all that lies below. It is good for him who, even in this life, began, as the Holy Church sings in our teaching, to shine with the “Trinity unity of the sacred mystery!” 35 Amen. Second Word on Monday of the Holy Spirit In our time, the word “spirit” has become the most commonly used and is applied to everything. I’m not talking about rational nature, where everything is turned into spirit; the spirit, they say, of writings, books, the spirit of words and actions, the spirit of such and such a person, such and such a society, an institution, and so on. In sensual nature itself, spirit is apparently found everywhere: “vegetative spirit,” “animal spirit,” “nervous spirit,” and so on. There is deep silence about the Spirit of God alone. One might think that this is out of reverence, but at the same time, out of ignorance and oblivion. What will we gain with all other spirits, without the Spirit of God? Would there be spirit in the whole universe if the Spirit of God were not in it? “Fill the universe with the Spirit of the Lord” (Ps. 33:5), which is why it is alive and constantly moving; That is why it blooms and smells fragrant, bears fruit and supports itself and everything living with it: “I will turn away Your face, and they will rebel: “Take away their spirit, and they will disappear and return to their dust.” Thou shalt follow Thy Spirit, and they shall be built up, and renew the face of the earth” (Ps. 103:29-30). It's the same with a person! Where will he get the spirit if it does not come from above? He himself has a spirit, but it is not his, but a spirit, so to speak, borrowed, from God; take this spirit, and what remains? The one Spirit of God is the source of true inspiration... The third word for the day of the Holy Trinity Where can I get tears to mourn what happened yesterday during the evening service? How to depict the shame and abusive contrition of the Holy Church, the joy and triumph of the enemy of God, the obvious disregard for the glory of God, the obvious worship of flesh and blood? Who could have expected this from an enlightened city? From that part of its inhabitants that is reputed to be the most educated? So, this is where our imaginary education leads us! To the fact that we have completely forgotten in whose name we were baptized, in whose blood our sins were washed away, whose seal of sanctification lies on our poor soul! In other cases the law of decency operates strongly; here even decency had no effect. It was in vain that the Holy Church called everyone to evening prayer with its festive ringing: we heard this, and neglected it, as if it did not concern us. In vain did the hosts of believing children of the Church flow peacefully and amicably, according to the voice of the mother, under her sacred roof: we saw this and flowed against the general flow; They rushed, like little children, not to the church of God, but to a place of vain amusements. Thus, instead of one church, two appeared yesterday: one of the true God, the other of the enemy of God. Which one was more complete, on whose side did the victory remain? We don't know. But even a dispute about it serves to our great dishonor. For would the world dare to raise its banner so brazenly and at such a time if it did not see hope for success, and did not know in advance our frivolity? Would the world, I say, dare to call us to itself at such a time if it were not sure that we, like slaves, belong to it entirely at every day and hour of the day? Because, I repeat, at what time? The only thing in the whole year, sanctified by everyone, that can be holy for a person, which the Church itself especially values, which is why it distinguishes it as the greatest holiday. And at this time, leave the church for a spectacle, indulge in the pleasures of the senses, applaud and lose your temper, when the Church itself is in tears and on its knees! Truly, this evil spirit was especially jealous of our city for something, and invented a means of inflicting such shame and such dishonor on our faith. Only his infernal skill, from the most ordinary and reprehensible thing, was able to create such an opportunity for a fall for many faithful souls. For we condemn not the singing that we listened to, not the art that we admired, we condemn the fact that for singing, which, no matter how skillful it may be, is still nothing more than the pleasure of the senses, such a great holiday is neglected and the church of God is forgotten; we condemn the temptation presented publicly; We condemn frivolity and coldness towards faith that go beyond the limits of decency itself. For, if we had been led even by decency alone, then even then there would not have been what was. How, everyone would think in this case, everyone else will go to church, and I, unfortunate one, will be drawn to the theater at the same time! So, am I some kind of monster, or an infidel? What will those I meet think of me? What will these same foreigners, whom I go to listen to, say about us when they return to their fatherland? Here they amuse us, and there, in their homeland, in conversations with neighbors and friends, they will begin to amuse us. “We were,” they will say, “in a country famous for Orthodoxy and zeal for the faith; we saw the way of life and customs of its inhabitants - and did not know what to think about them: so what we saw was not like what we had heard before! What is bad in us, and what we are trying to free ourselves from, is all there with them, and is revered as perfection. It is impossible to praise them better and more sensitively than by saying that, in everything they do, they are like us: they think so little and lowly about their own things! There are some commendable qualities, probably remnants of venerable antiquity: but the coldness towards faith and the Church is incredible! Especially in the upper class: it is often difficult to find out what faith they are, or whether they have any faith. For, judge for yourself, this is what happened in one of the most significant cities: “a holiday was approaching, one of the first of the year, in the name of the Holy Trinity; Their church, on its part, used everything to gather and attract them to the evening service, which, they say, is particularly solemn. For our part, we did not use any special means; They only scattered, as usual, a few announcements that that same evening we would show our skills in playing and singing. In our countries, in this case, we would be left without listeners and would be forced to sing to the same walls, because everyone would go to church. They're the opposite! We don’t know how many people were in the church; but our house, despite its vastness, was so full that we even felt ashamed at the thought that we had taken so many people away from the church of God, which, although not ours, but as a Christian church, is worthy of all respect. But it would not have even occurred to us to dare to set such a time for displaying our art and enter into a dispute with their Church, if some of them had not pointed out to us this time as the most convenient and best; if they had not even undertaken to help us and participate in singing with us. Since these people are reputed among them to be noble people, we were carried away by their opinion. But judge from this case, from these very people, what kind of piety should be in this city! This is how the sons of foreigners will speak about us, returning to their fatherland, and they will tell the truth: for we, it seems, set it as a special pleasure and honor not to reveal our faith to them; We are afraid as if they will not think of us that we are Christians... But what has our holy faith done for us that we treat it this way and are afraid to show it? How has the Holy Church offended us that we run away from it on days like these? Alas, we have forgotten the terrible word of the Savior: “Whoever... will be ashamed of Me... in this adulterous and sinful generation, and the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of His Father, with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38). At least we took the Jews as an example of how to celebrate our holidays. For look at any Jew on his holiday. Since the evening he had abandoned all his affairs, not discerning whether they were important or small. Not being in the synagogue on the day of the holiday and not hearing the service would have been a cruel punishment for him. Scatter heaps of gold in front of him at this time, he will not touch them; for this is prohibited by law. Give him anything because he went to see some spectacle during prayers: he will turn his face away from you with contempt. This is how a Jew celebrates, deprived of his fatherland, church, and heavenly blessing! What about us? When we need to pray, we run to the theater; when we need to cry about our sins, clap our hands without memory, and from the fatigue of the night we cannot raise our heads in the morning and attend the liturgy! Will this make us different from unbelievers? Is this the advantage of the New Testament? Is this why the Holy Spirit came down? Is this our gratitude to our Redeemer for the Cross and His Blood? “But what have we done,” one of the guilty will think, “to make our offense seem so important and great?” This very thing makes us even more armed against what we have done, that is, that we not only acted extremely badly, but also do not see the evilness of our act, like those suffering from insanity, who in this situation imagine that they are completely healthy. What have we done? They neglected the Church, dishonored the holiday, disgraced the faith, and humiliated the great name of the Holy Trinity. And for what? From what need or need? To hear an extraordinary singer? Could there be a more insignificant apology? What if the king of the earth, even some lesser ruler, invited you to his house on his name day; and at this very time you did not go to him, but would have gone to listen to this singer; How would they look at your action? Wouldn't you then condemn yourself for your criminal frivolity? But such recklessness does not happen between people: we only do this with God! And by doing this, we also think that this is not an important thing! No, it is so important that in the ancient Christian Church, when faith and love were in force, for such an act they would have excluded us from among the believers, or would have forced the Prague church to mourn our frivolity for many years. Nowadays the Holy Church does not deal with us in this way, leaving the guilty to the judgment of their own conscience. But will we use this maternal blessing for evil? No, if we are truly noble not only in name, but in feelings and spirit, as we present ourselves, then, having made a mistake, we ourselves will stand against ourselves; Let us immediately dress up the internal court of conscience; We will be our own informers and accusers; Let us demand not mercy and forgiveness, but punishment and satisfaction. Do not be afraid, the punishments of the Church are not like worldly executions: they are not so much punishment as healing for the soul. Do you want us, together with you, now, on the basis of the Charter of the Holy Church, to determine your penance? Of the guilty, if not all, then most of them possess in abundance the gifts of earthly happiness, which, having pampered sensuality, made it already greedy for carnal pleasures; and in our city there are a considerable number of poor people who almost wash every piece of bread with their tears. So, let each of the guilty choose for himself any act of charity, and allocate a certain part of his ordinary expenses to atone for his offense through alms. The remedy is the easiest and at the same time the most effective. For no virtue is spoken of so directly in Scripture as of almsgiving, that it atones for sins. So, let us hasten to the homes of those suffering from poverty, orphanhood and illness, and, providing assistance to our brethren, we will say: “Do not think that we came only to show you mercy, no, we came and receive it from you. God gave us happiness, but you sorrow; We have the opportunity to serve you, and you can provide a great service to us: let us enter into an alliance of mutual benefit! Alas, we had the misfortune of being carried away yesterday by the vanity of the world, forgetting to care for our souls and, worst of all, becoming the cause of temptation for our brothers in Christ. Offer a prayer to the Lord for us, may the sin of our criminal frivolity be forgiven, and we will not regret perishable goods in order to sweeten the sorrow of your earthly lot.” When, my brothers, we do this, the temptation we created yesterday will be destroyed, the honor of the Church will be saved, the devil will be mocked, joy will be restored to the Angels of God, and due worship will be given to the Holy Trinity. Thus, with the help of God’s grace, our very fall will not serve to harm us and others, but to our common good and salvation. Amen. First Word on the Day of Pentecost The Holy Apostle Paul in one of his epistles, discussing man’s means to know God, noted that one of the closest means to this goal is external nature itself; the invisible properties of God, “thought by creatures, they are visible, and even His most... ever-present power and Divinity” (Rom. 1:20). This truth is constantly justified by experience, for not only “the heavens will tell the glory of God” (Ps. 18:2), but also “the day of days belches out the verb; but understanding also proclaims the night of night” (Ps. 18:3); but never in the whole year does the ever-present power of God appear in nature, as during a real holiday. We can say that at this time the Divinity is, as it were, visibly and tangibly transformed before our eyes in nature, so that we see It as if it were a holy interior. In fact, what are we celebrating today and what are we worshiping? We celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit, we worship the Trinity, consubstantial and indivisible. Look at all of nature. What is in it now if not the Holy Trinity? Second Sermon on the Day of Pentecost “We celebrate Pentecost, and the coming of the Spirit, and the offering of promise, and the fulfillment of hope, and the sacrament is great, because it is great and honest” 36 When the Holy Church wanted to focus our attention on the greatness of the Easter holiday, then for this purpose she showed us this greatness, so to speak, in a concentrated form, calling its feast a feast and triumph of triumphs. Wanting to indicate the greatness of the present celebration, the Holy Church acts in the opposite way, takes the holiday and decomposes it, so to speak, into parts, and, indicating the importance of each, thereby makes it clear about the great dignity of the whole. “We celebrate Pentecost and the coming of the Spirit, and the offering of promise, and the fulfillment of hope, and the sacrament is great, because it is great and honest.” In fact, when you look closer at the most external image of the current holiday; then you find in it not just one celebration, but a whole collection of celebrations. What is not celebrated today? Celebrates the Old Testament, for today is the fiftieth day, that great day on which the law was given to Israel on Mount Sinai. The New Testament is now celebrated, for on this day the New Testament Church has been established and sanctified by the descent of the Holy Spirit; Now the first appeal of the pagans to her followed. Now faith celebrates, for now the worship of the Holy, Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity, the most sublime object of faith, is being performed. Hope now celebrates, hoping that with tongues of fire everything on earth will be called into unification and, rushing to the last times, to the future, in the resurrection, the restoration of everything that has fallen. The invisible world celebrates our departed brethren, now receiving from the Church the holy gift of prayers for their reassurance. Celebrates the most visible nature, which is allowed today to appear together with people before the throne of grace. Truly a cathedral of holidays! Full of joy and fun! It seems that we are already above time and space. All barriers are taken away: the living and the dead shake hands with each other; the spiritual descends to the senses, the carnal approaches the spirit. The triune God begins to be all things in all. O longed-for completeness! O blessed state! Why are you nothing but weak sketches? When will you appear whole and all-real? When all creatures throw off the shackles of corruption, are freed from enmity and form a single blissful family around a common Father! But the wait is already sweet and gratifying; It is gratifying to see the pledges and pre-images of this future blissful state. The present celebration serves as one of these striking pre-images: let us delve into its composition and, following the example of the Church, show the meaning of each part. “We celebrate Pentecost”: this is the first subject of celebration and joy. What was Pentecost for the Jews? A holiday in honor and memory of the legislation of Sinai. It took place on the fiftieth day of Easter, because on this day, after the exodus from Egypt, the law was given on Mount Sinai. Since by this time the harvest in Palestine was ending, the Jews on this day, in addition to ordinary sacrifices, offered sheaves of newly harvested bread as a gift to God. Thus, already in the Jewish holiday the spiritual - the law - met with the sensual - the fruits of the fields. Since the law of Sinai is unchangeable and has not been abolished by the coming of the Son of God, then the feast of the law of Sinai is a triumph for the Christian no less than the Jew: We celebrate Pentecost! "And the coming of the Spirit." Here is the second thing of joy. If the sounds of the trumpet and the smoking of the smoke of Sinai are worthy of grateful remembrance, how much more are the tongues of fire and the descent of the Holy Spirit of the Comforter; for what would have happened if the Holy Spirit had not now descended on the apostles? They would remain unable to go out for world preaching; and the world, not instructed by them, would remain with its idols and wickedness. We, like our ancestors, would have remained in the darkness of paganism. But the Comforter descended, and by His descent enlightened and revived the apostles, established the Church, brought with Him a new law, breathed storm and fire, and renewed the face of the earth. How not to celebrate such an event? “We celebrate Pentecost and the coming of the Spirit.” But the Holy Spirit, in addition to other benefits associated with His descent, also brought that great benefit that along with this the whole person of the Most Holy Trinity was revealed. In the Old Testament, until the very end, it was especially visible to one Father; in the New, before the Ascension of the Lord, it is the Son who acts on us primarily; from the time of the descent of the Holy Spirit, the era of the grace of the Spirit begins. Along with this, a series of revelations about the Divine ends... (Not finished]. The third word on Monday of Pentecost “And I will give wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and smoking smoke: the sun will be transformed into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and enlightened day of the Lord has even come: and it will be that everyone who... calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:19–21) This is one of the prophecies about the current festival, which is therefore given by the holy Apostle Peter in his current sermon to the Jewish people. Reading this prophecy with reverence, each time I involuntarily asked myself: what kind of miracles were these in heaven and signs on earth, what kind of fire and blood and smoking of smoke would this be, for the darkening of the sun and the turning of the moon into blood, foretold by the prophet? True, in the upper room of Zion, where the apostles were gathered on the day of Pentecost, “there was a noise like a storm of breath” (Acts 2:1), but this breath did not harm anyone, but only attracted general attention to the apostles. It is true that at this time the pagans also appeared, “dividing like fire” (Acts 2:3), but these pagans did not scorch anyone with themselves, but rested in peace and silence on the heads of the apostles. Where is the fire and blood and smoking smoke? Where is the darkening of the sun? Where is the transformation of the moon into blood? Thus, one might think that the prophecy was not fulfilled; But is it possible that what was foretold by the Holy Spirit would not be justified in practice? No, what was prophesied by the prophet could not fail to be fulfilled, and it was fulfilled, only not in one, so to speak, day, but over the course of an entire space of time; for this prophecy, although it actually goes to the glorious descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, as the beginning of the New Testament, at the same time embraces not only this event and beginning, but also the further fate and confirmation of the entire New Testament. And I will give a New Testament. How decisively all this was accomplished a few years later, with the destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of Judea! How much blood, fire and smoke there is! How many times, behind this darkness and fire, neither the sun nor the moon was visible on the horizon of Jerusalem! And all these formidable events served nothing other than the abolition of the Old Testament and the establishment of the New Testament in power and, therefore, were, as it were, an accompaniment of its appearance. The same can be said about some subsequent times, for example Diocletian, when the last struggle of Christianity with Judaism and paganism ended. Were not all the inhabitants of the empire (which is almost the same as the whole world) then inflamed with fierce persecution of the followers of Christ? Didn’t streams of the blood of martyrs and confessors flow everywhere? Did the sky give any special signs? And didn’t terrible events happen on earth? And what did all this serve for, if not for the final establishment of the New Testament religion and the destruction of Judaism and paganism? Our time has been destined to see a new triumph of Christianity in the weakening of Mohammedanism in front of it and, therefore, a new outpouring of the Spirit of truth and grace from above onto the earth. And look, behold, behold, there are signs in heaven and miracles on earth, again there is blood and fire and smoking of smoke everywhere, the sun of the Christian empire is turning into darkness, and the moon of Mohammedanism is drenched in blood! Indeed, who could have expected entire armies to appear in heaven fully armed? This has not been heard since the destruction of Jerusalem and the story of Josephus. And this is what, to amazement, enlightened Germany sees in its sky; sees and involuntarily recognizes in what he sees a harbinger of bloody battles! Read also what happened at the end of last summer with the appearance of the moon in our Volga countries: it seemed to be subjected to some kind of terrible execution, as if it ended in torment and torment: such transformations in its appearance were terribly sad! But, I confess, among the present circumstances, I am especially struck by one sign on earth - this is the terrible earthquake from which the ill-fated Brussa suffered and continues to suffer. It was necessary to open up in all its strength and fury to the underground fire and continue for so long at the very time when the bloody dispute between Mohammedanism and Christianity was going on! It was necessary for a volcano to open up in that city and in that place, which can be called the cradle of Muslim strength and strength! All this must be done not somewhere far away, but, so to speak, before the eyes of Constantinople!.. How many, I think, of the most Mohammedans, look in horror at this spectacle, recognize in it the finger of God, and imagine seeing heavenly wrath in this! Oh, if at the same time something else came to mind, that this is not some kind of chance, but the last voice to them from heaven of the Son of Mary, may they return from the deception of Mohammed. And what about our brothers in faith? And they must also be struck by this formidable and all-crushing phenomenon; but for them it is not horror, but consolation; the words of the prophecy are now coming true over them: “When you see this happening” (Luke 21:3), then “look up and lift up your heads, your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28). Yes, unfortunate and therefore even more beloved brethren, he is approaching you! And no one can stop it or slow it down. Where people act, success can still be doubted; and when the power of God appears, there is no longer room for doubt: for that “speech was commanded and created!” But, someone might ask, is the end of Mohammedanism really going to follow soon? Should we then follow how almost the entire Christian West rebelled for his invincibility and decided to sacrifice itself? Yes, my brethren, this must follow; for it is so pleasing to the Lord, and, one might say, this has already followed, for Mohammedanism is now nothing more than a corpse that remains to be buried; This burial, and not life, which no longer exists, may slow down for some time. What, then, should be said about the efforts of the Western powers in favor of Turkey? What they say, and rightly so, about skillful but arrogant doctors who, in a fit of pride, take hopeless patients into their arms and promise them recovery when the patient soon dies from the drugs, is that they killed him! The decrepit skeleton could have lived for some more time under the beneficent canopy of Russia: but he could not endure those strains of strength, those movements unnatural to him even during his fortress, which forced him to weaken his limbs. Having been placed, my brothers, as witnesses to such remarkable times and such important events, shall we be like little children who, not understanding what is happening before them, only marvel at it and stretch out their eyes and hands? No, more is required of us and offered to us! The kingdom of Ishmael, once powerful and for so long a thunderstorm and scourge for Christianity, is falling before us. How can one not rejoice at this for the fate of our brethren, upon whom this scourge weighs heavily, and not revere the ways of Providence, which, as a punishment for Eastern Christianity, sent this enslavement, but when the time came, he himself, in the face of the whole world, broke the bonds and led the people faithful to him to freedom! Our Fatherland has been granted from above to begin the fulfillment of the highest destinies over the East; Being sensitive to this great and holy honor, let us be courageous in enduring the burdens of such service, remembering that such a feat leads to a considerable reward and will be accompanied by a blessing for Russia forever and ever. The unbelief and pride of the Western peoples did not hesitate, having become Muslim, to go contrary to the ways of Providence, and thus, in this case, it was unreasonable to unite their fate with the fate of the sons of Hagar. Let us regret from our hearts this decline of Christianity and learn not to trust ourselves to earthly wisdom and spontaneous enlightenment, which can blind entire nations to the point that they are ready to forget the Gospel and the cross and lay down their souls for the Al-Koran of Mohammed. Finally, seeing how in the fate of kingdoms and peoples everything is accomplished not according to the calculations of human pride, but under the finger of the Almighty, and that with Christianity even earthly greatness is connected, and with Mohammedanism - humiliation and weakness, let us firmly believe in the Providence of God and love the Cross of Christ, the only true source of not only eternal salvation, but also earthly prosperity. Amen. The fourth word on the day of Pentecost Isn’t it true, brothers, that this holiday is one of the most joyful? Why is this so? Because this, one might say, is not a holiday, but a whole cathedral of holidays. Just like a cathedral! Where is thought not being transferred today? And into the past, and into the future, and into the world above, and into the world below - it embraces everything. It is transported into the past and in the past to what is most important. For what do we remember? We remember Holy Pentecost, the day on which the law was given to Israel on Mount Sinai, and which, for this reason, constitutes the most important festival of the Old Testament. We remember the descent of the Holy Spirit, the event that ended the earthly life of our Savior, and which served as the foundation of the New Testament and the Christian Church. From the past we are transported in thought to the most distant future; for we offer prayers for all our dead brothers, we pray for a shameless presence at the Last Judgment. We ascend in thought to the heavenly world, and there we worship the Trinitarian Divinity, gratefully confessing the mercies poured out on us, the fallen, in the mystery of redemption. Finally, we descend with our thoughts down into the sensory world, and decorating churches with branches, we bring visible nature into participation. Thus, the real celebration can be called global. After this, how can he not be joyful? If ever, then now the soul remembers the heavenly state, when the visible and the invisible were at the same time; if ever, then now we can anticipate the future heavenly state, when the spirit and flesh will return to their previous combination, and the world of God will be renewed along with man. This effect of the festival is partly felt by the most carnal people; how strong it should be over those people who live by the spirit! But where does this combination of different elements come from in this festival? It is useful to know the source of joy in order to increase and strengthen the joy itself. Why do we now remember Pentecost of the Old Testament? Because on this day the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles. Why did he come down on the fiftieth day? Perhaps because it shows that the new law of the Spirit, brought by the Comforter, is from the same source from which the ancient law, given at Pentecost, flowed. Why do we, on the occasion of the descent of the Holy Spirit, celebrate a festival in honor of the entire Holy Trinity? Because with the appearance of the Holy Spirit, the third and final Person, the entire Holy Trinity was revealed in all its clarity. And when is it more fitting to give thanks to the entire Trinitarian Divinity for the redemption of us who have fallen, if not after the end of the entire Divine economy, which ended with the descent of the Comforter? Why do we now commemorate the dead and raise our thoughts to the end of the world, ours, and the future resurrection and judgment? Because, having reached the end of the past, we naturally rush into the future. Why, finally, is visible nature in its plant kingdom now included in the sacred rite? Because, on the one hand, visible nature always reaches its renewal around the present time, and on the other hand, because this renewal is attributed to the creative breath of the Spirit of God. “Take your Spirit, and they will be created,” says Saint David. This is where the completeness of the holiday comes from! This is where the abundance of joy comes from! - Joy and edification!.. The fifth word on the day of Pentecost When we celebrated Easter, the Holy Church, to express to us the greatness of this holiday, called it the feast of feasts and the triumph of solemnities, that is, as if the head and focus of all other holidays. About the current celebration, to express its greatness, the Holy Church proclaims something else and calls it a decisive and final holiday. In fact, this is not a holiday, but, one might say, the completeness and crown of all holidays. What is not celebrated today? Celebrates the Old Testament, for on this fiftieth day after the exodus from Egypt, the Israelites received the law from God from above at Sinai. Celebrates the New Testament, for today is the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, with which the foundation and beginning of the Church of Grace, all of Christianity, was laid. The invisible world celebrates, for on this particular day the Holy Church sends up prayers for the souls of departed brethren, extends its motherly boldness to the point of interceding for mercy for those in hell; celebrates the visible and sensory world, for on this particular day the Church opens its churches to all nature, unites, one might say, its churches with the church of nature, recalling thereby the primitive state of man in Eden, and prefiguring the future state in Zion, when there will be no sensory churches, but everything will be a church. Faith now celebrates, worshiping the greatest of the sacraments of its Saints, the Life-Giving and Ever-Substantial Trinity; hope now celebrates; for the Holy Church now ascends from the present to the future, foresees the end of the Kingdom of grace, the advent of the kingdom of glory, and prays for prosperity in the future judgment; He now celebrates love, embracing with his prayerful disposition the visible and the invisible, heaven, earth and the underworld. Truly, this is not a holiday, but a whole cathedral of holidays, decisive and final completeness! It seems that we are all already above the temporary and perishable; we are at the very throne of the Trinitarian Godhead; the living and the dead shake hands with each other; the spiritual descends to the senses and touch; the carnal and material ascends and approaches the spirit; the trinitarian God begins to be “all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28). O longed-for completeness! O state of peace and affirmation! Why do you appear to us in only passing reflections and sketches? When will you appear completely and truly? When will all God's creatures throw off the shackles of corruption, forget enmity and division, and gather in peace, and form one blessed family of the one all-blessed Father? But it’s already sweet and gratifying to expect this! It is gratifying to see a preview of this future state! And that’s why this celebration is one of the most joyful. Every time, as if at this time another, better world opens up before us, as if everything appears in a different, higher form; as if some new life is breathing everywhere: both in churches and in our homes. The most sensual people today involuntarily feel this among us. What can we say about the spiritual? He must be all in spirit... Word for the first day of August The Grand Duke of Russia, Andrei Bogolyubsky, had to go to war against the Bulgarians. As a prince, faithful not only in name, but also in deed, he had the custom of going into battle not only with carnal weapons, but also with spiritual ones, protected by faith, armed with prayer and hope. As a sign of this, the icon of the Savior and the Honorable Cross were always worn before his army; and it rushed towards the enemy no sooner than by pouring out warm prayers in front of this icon and kissing this cross. Such living hope and prayer did not fail to bear undead fruit. The enemies of the Fatherland, no matter how strong they became, could not resist in the face of the Orthodox army; their pride and strength were crushed to the point that almost all of their cities became the lot of the winner. That this famous victory was the fruit not only of the courage of those who fought, but moreover of the action of help from above, the indisputable proof for everyone was the extraordinary heavenly light, which, during the most stubborn battle, emanated from the icon of the Savior and the Honorable Cross, and was visible to everyone. Before the days of joy and celebration had passed, news of a similar joyful event was received from Greece. The same living faith produced the same effect: and there the enemies of Christianity, the Saracens, were defeated and scattered by the blessed Greek king Manuel; and there, during the battle, undoubted signs of special help from above were visible. Such a combination of miraculous signs, victories and joy of all Orthodox Christianity could not but be expressed by some special sign of gratitude to God, the benefactor, and not leave an everlasting trace for posterity. And indeed, the Orthodox rulers of Russia and Greece, through mutual communication with each other, and with the blessing of the entire consecrated Council, were not slow in establishing a new bright festival in memory of the joyful miraculous event, which we now piously celebrate. It is ordained for all ages not only to celebrate in honor of the invincible power of the Cross of Christ and to perform the worship due to it, but in memory of its victorious march in the Christian regiments, to now wear it out of the church, carry it along the streets and paths, and consecrate water in wells and rivers, so that in this very way, before the face of heaven and earth, we can testify to our faith and our gratitude to the Life-giving Cross and extend his victorious and all-sanctifying power on everything around us. This is the origin of the current celebration! It is together the triumph of the Church and the Fatherland, the most comforting and instructive triumph! In fact, isn’t it comforting to see how the beneficent right hand of God’s special Providence has been extended over our Orthodox Fatherland in all centuries? Isn’t it gratifying to think that the greatness of Russia, which all her friends marvel at, and which all her enemies tremble, that this greatness and power are not the fruit of a random coincidence of circumstances, not the effect of unclean politics and human calculations, not even the consequence of national courage and strength alone, but the fruit of living faith in God of our pious ancestors, their good morals and the resulting blessing from above? The ancient Israelite did not have a more touching prayer appeal to God than when he said: God of my fathers, God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; Likewise, an Orthodox Russian, in the spirit of faith and hope, can boldly speak to the Lord: God of my fathers, God who miraculously enlightened Vladimir with faith, who crowned Bogolyubsky with victory, who blessed the weapons of Donskoy, who raised up Minin and Pozharsky for the liberation of the Fatherland, who exalted Alexander the Blessed above all the kings of the earth! What could be more inspiring than this holy and sweet prayer!.. But, brethren, praying such a prayer and daring before God in the name of our pious ancestors, we must imitate, as much and as constantly as possible, their zeal for faith, their purity of morals and simplicity of life, their boundless self-sacrifice where the danger of the Church and the Fatherland was concerned. Our pious ancestors conquered nations and kingdoms with the Cross of Christ; Now, thanks to the Providence of God, which has exalted our Orthodox Fatherland, the name of Russia alone overthrows or restrains the most powerful enemies. Meanwhile, we, like our ancestors, have very dangerous enemies, against whom, as often as possible, we must call upon the invincible power of the Cross of Christ for help. These are our evil inclinations and passions. Who are they not strong enough to defeat? And who, struck down by them, can remain and be a true son of the Church and the Fatherland? Meanwhile, there is no defense against these enemies - neither intelligence and knowledge, nor kindness of heart and gentleness of character, nor skill in virtue itself; One almighty power of grace, one Cross of Christ alone can make us conquerors of passions. Let us, like our ancestors, use this weapon, given by God Himself, to defeat our invisible enemies, in the firm confidence that their defeat, necessary for our private well-being, is very important for the well-being of the entire Fatherland, for if its greatness is the fruit of God’s blessing, then our sins, weakening this blessing, thereby harm not only us, but also the entire Fatherland. In this case, the great difference between us and our pious ancestors comes to our attention. For them, the Cross of Christ was everything to everyone. When they started something, they were baptized, or when they finished it, they were baptized again. They protected themselves with a cross when going to sleep; they made the sign of the cross, rising from sleep. They sat down to eat with the cross; they rose up from her with the cross. The sign of the holy cross expressed sudden joy; it also testified to sudden sadness and danger. This is how it was with our ancestors! In our country, unfortunately, the sign of the cross is beginning to become rare, and when it does appear, it is mostly in such a form that it is difficult to recognize. The children of the Church, who are suffering from schism, are jealous, of course, not according to reason, grafting salvation onto the eight-pointed cross; but it is also not good, very bad, that among some Christians the cross has become, one might say, completely endless, so that you don’t know what name to give to that unfortunate line that they draw on themselves instead of the sign of the cross. Let this not happen between us, beloved! Our Lord and Savior stretched out His Divine hands on the cross, allowed them to be nailed, and in this form, amid terrible torment, gave up His spirit to the Father for us; Will we be burdened by the fact that this position of Him on the cross is correctly depicted on ourselves? Amen. The first word on the eternity of the Exaltation of the Venerable Cross of the Lord This evening service differs from all others in that during it the erection of the Cross of the Lord takes place, in memory of that glorious erection that once took place in Jerusalem, after the discovery of this cross by Queen Helen, Equal to the Apostles. The large number of the present gathering shows that the spectacle of the erected Cross is dear to Christians. But, brethren, our Savior and Lord did not come down from heaven for show; He did not ascend to the Cross for show; Even now the Cross of Christ is not erected for spectacle. Where this Cross is, there should be not only the eyes, but also the heart of a Christian. The exaltation of the Cross of the Lord depicts everything “that was and is in the life of our Lord, and everything that should be, and what, perhaps, is not in our life.” Let's delve into this in more detail. The erection of the Cross depicts, firstly, the entire life of our Lord. For what is this life made of? From inscrutable humiliation and equally inscrutable glory, which, despite their opposition, connecting with each other and crossing each other, thereby forming a cross. “He who was in the form of God,” this is how the apostle depicts the life of our Lord, “was not equal to God by admiration, but made Himself a little lower, taking on the form of a servant, becoming in the likeness of humanity, and being found in the likeness of man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even to the point of death, even death on the cross” (Phil. 2:6-8). Here is the ladder of descent of the Son of God! Who can count all its steps? “In the same way,” the apostle continues, “God has exalted Him and given Him a name that is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11). This is the ladder of the ascension of the Son of Man! Who can indicate its final limit? So, Christian, seeing the cross brought down to the ground, imagine, as much as you can, the various kinds and types of humiliation of your Lord: how He leaves the throne of glory, descends to earth and dwells in the womb of the Virgin; how, at birth, he is placed in a manger, suffers circumcision and flees from Herod to Egypt; how he spends thirty years in the obscurity of Nazareth, in obedience to mortal parents, in the labors of woodworking; how he then receives baptism from a slave, is tempted by Satan and preaches the Kingdom of God amid all kinds of hardships, slander and dangers; how he is betrayed by a disciple, condemned as a rebel and ascended to the Cross; how he is guarded in the grave itself, “like a deceiver,” and at the same time descends into hell to preach to the world of spirits; how, finally, in the midst of His very glory, already after His ascension into heaven, He continues to be, especially in the person of His true followers and members, the subject of controversy, enmity and persecution. Imagine, I say, Christian, all this at the sight of the Cross of the Lord being brought down to the ground, and think, why did your Lord endure and continue to endure so much humiliation? He could enjoy the glory that He had with the Father “before the world was not” (John 17:5), and leave you to your misfortunes, but He did not, but was pleased to leave His glory, and endure all kinds of humiliation in order to cover your shame, restore to you the glory you lost, cleanse your sins with His blood, and make you again the heir of heaven. Be grateful to the unparalleled condescension, learn to appreciate the greatness of your Lord on the cross, learn to use it to your advantage through imitation of Him, begin to bear that part of the Cross that falls to your lot, to cleanse you from the defilements of the flesh and spirit. For this reason, the cross is brought down to the ground, so that you, lying on the earth in sins, can stand for it by faith and ascend with it to the heights: do not let this precious opportunity pass you by! When raising the cross, we must imagine something else - imagine the gradual glorification of the Son of Man, which began in the midst of deep humiliation: how the Archangel announces the conception and the Angels sing of the birth of the Eternal Child (Luke 2:13–14); how the twelve-year-old Child in Jerusalem puts to shame the wisdom of all the scribes (Luke 2:47); how a voice from heaven calls Him the beloved Son at Jordan (Matthew 3:17) and at Tabor (Matthew 17:5); how the blind, according to His word, see, the deaf hear, unclean spirits flee, the dead are raised; how children sing Hosanna, how on Golgotha ​​itself the sun darkens and the earth shakes; how hosts of the righteous go to heaven behind the Conqueror of hell and death; how He rises from the grave, is preached from the Angels to the apostles, and through them to the whole world; how “all authority in heaven and on earth” is given to Him (Matthew 28:18); how He ascends from Olivet into heaven, “sits down at the right hand of God” the Father (Mark 16:19), begins to rule the whole world, for the good of His Church; how he conquers, one after another, all his enemies, until “the last enemy is destroyed, death” (1 Cor. 15:26); all this and the like must be imagined at the sight of the erected Cross, for the Son of Man ascended to such a height of glory by no other means than the Cross. But for whom is this glory? For you, Christian, and for your salvation. The Son of God already has an abyss of glory, but you are unglorious, and He wants to honor and glorify you with Himself. That is why the kingdom He acquired is all bequeathed to you (Luke 22:29). Do not be indifferent to the glory of your Savior acquired for you, remember the height to which you are called, do not grieve much in the midst of earthly humiliation, do not look at the heights of the world: heaven awaits you, the throne of glory is prepared for you, you will be above all; just do not humiliate and do not lose by your sins the new heavenly dignity bequeathed to you. Thus, the erection of the Cross of the Lord brings to us, brothers, the whole life of our Lord as a memory. But at the same time, since a Christian should “conceive the same mind as in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5), and since Christ, having suffered for us, “left us an image, that we should follow His steps” (1 Pet. 2:21), together with this exaltation of the Cross, as we said, what should be (and what, perhaps, not) in our life is depicted. Thus, brethren, we too have before us a glory similar to that into which our Lord and Savior ascended; but there is also the same path to this glory that He walked, the path of the Cross and self-sacrifice, the path of humility and patience until death. There is no other way to heaven, and there cannot be. So, seeing the cross bowing to the ground, ask yourself, Christian, are you able to bow in this way in humility and patience for the glory of God and the good of others, are you ready to part with worldly honor so as not to lose the glory of God, do you reject worldly pride, do you feel that you are earth and ashes, a sinner unworthy of mercy, do you recognize the need to mortify your pride and have you actually mortified at least once, have you suffered at least one offense, have you forgiven at least one enemy from the heart, have you cried at least once about your sins, do you even know from a little experience what the cross is and what Christian humility is? Whoever thereby finds in himself and his life priceless traces of the humiliation and humility of his Lord, let him throw himself at the foot of the Cross, and let him thank the Lord for the great gift of His grace. For true self-sacrifice comes from above; our nature only knows how to be arrogant and exalted, but coming from above, it, sooner or later, lifts a person to where it comes from: to heaven, to the abode of the Heavenly Father. Likewise, when raising the Cross, one must think about the need to ascend from virtue to virtue, from faith to faith, from love to love. High is the ladder of Christian perfection! The stages of spiritual exploits are endless! No matter how high you, a Christian, stand, you are always not yet in your place. One true rule: “forgetting what is behind, always reach out to what is before” (Phil. 3:13). Whoever thinks that he has already reached the very top, thereby shows; that he is still standing. The greatest ascetics always considered themselves to be unachieved. So, seeing the Cross lifted up on the mountain, look, Christian, in your conscience, what can be done to purify and exalt your very virtues, if you have them. First and most of all, we pray to you, brothers, that this sacred rite will not be the subject of a mere spectacle! May the sign of the Cross of Christ be reflected not only on the surface of your body, but also in the depths of your hearts! The cross saves, but not only when it is worshiped, but also when worn, not just on the neck of the body, but on the neck of the soul. Worship him not in one church, where he is so decorated, but wherever you meet him, whether in offense from a neighbor, in the loss of property, in illness, or in any other sadness: bow to him and kiss him in this case too. By this, and only by this, you will prove that you worship not gold and silver in the form of a cross, but the true Cross of the Lord, which on Calvary was covered not with precious stones, but with blood and tears. Amen. Second word on the day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross “When you answered men, you decided: His blood be on us and on our children” (Matthew 27:25) Your wish has come true, O apostate people! Princes and leaders are destroyed, “the walls of your city are overthrown, your altars are dug up, your prophets see... vain things, ... its priests sigh; infants asking for bread, ... you who were friends with him rejected him ", the Most High Himself " was covered ... with a cloud, so that your prayer would not reach Him (Lamentations 2:14–16, 4:4, 1:2, 3:44). Christians! We, being “divine branches,” have been worthy by the grace of God to take the place of the “natural branches”—the Jews—and to cling to the good olive tree—Jesus Christ, from which they were broken off (Rom. 11:17–21). What feeling does this betrayal of the right hand of the Most High produce in us? Do we say in shameful self-praise: “Branches have been broken off, let us cling on?” But have we thought about how they broke off from the tree of the animal and how we clung to this tree? “We were broken off through unbelief” (Rom. 11:20), but we stand by faith. Faith is not “from us, but a gift from God.” The same merciful God who gave us the deposit of faith can return it to them; the same just God who sent them the spirit of insensibility, “that those who see may not see, and those who hear may not hear” (Luke 8:10, Rom. 11:8), can send us “the power of flattery, so that we may believe” unrighteousness (2 Thess. 2:11). So, we should not become arrogant, looking at the rejected Jews, but be filled with fear, lest God, who “spared not the natural branches... will not spare” us (Rom. 11:21). The example of this people should awaken us from sinful carelessness. Let's expand on this idea. Our orthodoxy seems to be the first stone, which we turn from a stone of salvation into a stumbling block, basing our carelessness in the matter of salvation on it. Trusting that we are called to the Lord’s Supper, we boldly go “to our villages, to our purchases,” not thinking that our places at the Supper may have long been occupied by those who came from the east and west, whom we considered unworthy of the grains that fall from the Lord’s table. Having been planted by grace, so to speak, at the feet of the Savior, instead of “composing His words in our hearts,” we fall asleep, encouraged by His closeness, while He, having uttered a regretful reproach: “Sleep and rest” (Matthew 26:45), may have long ago departed from us. Holding in our hands the thread of right faith, instead of ascending along it to the throne of grace, we descend into the abyss of hell, all the more fearlessly because we imagine we have the thread of salvation in our hands. Thus, the mystery of faith, being expelled from the heart by our bad conscience, gives way to the mystery of lawlessness. But “except... God does not spare the natural branches, lest he... spare us” (Rom. 11:21). The Jews were the only people to whom were entrusted the “words of God” (Rom. 3:2). When the pagans, walking in the vanity of their minds, exchanged “the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of... the corruption of man and birds and four-footed creatures” (Rom. 1:23), the Jews denounced them, saying: “The gods who did not make heaven and earth, let them perish from the earth... for there is no spirit in them” (Jer. 10:11, 10:14). When the pagans, seeing inside and outside themselves the struggle of two opposing principles, good and evil, worshiped both, considering them co-eternal, the Jews proclaimed: “The Lord our God, the Lord is one: there is no God but His” (Deut. 6:4, 4:39). When the pagans, seeing suffering virtue, cried out: “there is one case... for good and evil... for him who eats and for him who does not eat” (Eccl. 9:2), the Jews answered: “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are at their prayer” (Ps. 34:16). The message is that the Lord will deliver the righteous from death, and keep the wicked tormented in judgment. What else was missing to the orthodoxy of the Jews? Meanwhile, when instead of the fruits of faith they produced thorns of unbelief, the Most High turned His face away from them; they are scattered, made a proverb and a reproach to all nations. Christian! Even if the Church, of which you are called a member, were “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15), even if everyone who knew you revered you “as a prophet,” and your wisdom was “like the wisdom of an angel of God” (2 Sam. 12:20), but if you enter into “the law of perfect freedom... do not abide in it (James 1:25), then you flatter in vain. your heart" salvation - you will be rejected. “Do not be arrogant about your orthodoxy, “but be afraid” (Rom. 11:20). According to orthodoxy, the appearance of worship is the favorite support of our sinful carelessness. The externality of worship is a ladder along which we must ascend from the depths of sensual thoughts to the heights of spiritual understanding, and we, on the contrary, descend more and more along it from this understanding into the depths of carnal wisdom. The appearance of worship is the foliage of the animal tree, which should hide the fruits of the spirit from the unclean gaze of carnal men, and we hide in it, like our first parents, the nakedness of our spirit from the Lord, who seeks us. The appearance of worship is the garment of Christ, to which one touch with faith could heal spiritual ailments, and we, like Christ’s crucifiers, often cast lots about it - by sacrilegiously appropriating its dignity for our own use, even tearing it apart with reckless debates about its reality. Thus the letter of appearance kills the children of the new Israel, just as it killed the children of the ancient. “But if... God has no mercy on the natural branches, lest he... spare us” (Rom. 11:21). What nation had greater pomp in outward worship than the Jews? Their church, in its vastness, looked more like a city than a place of worship. The firstfruits of the fruits, the firstborns of the animals exceeded the needs of the entire tribe of Levi, oxen and sheep were slaughtered by the thousands in the courtyard of the tabernacle: the hemp was smoked on the incense altar; I took out the oil that burned on the candlestick, and I took out the showbread at the table. The splendor of the sacrificial rites was elevated by the splendor of the festivities. Strict rest was repeated every six days; every month the voice of the sacred trumpets was heard; Every year tabernacles were built, and the Passover lamb was slain; every seven years the fields were left unsown, the grapes unharvested; every fifty years the right of freedom was returned to slaves, the right of ownership to those who had lost property. Having entered the land of Judea, one might have thought that this people had no other occupation than performing rituals. Meanwhile, when the cloud of rituals, instead of serving, according to the intentions of the legislator of Sinai, as a barrier from the uncircumcised, became an obstacle to seeing the rising “Sun of righteousness” (Mal. 4:2), then the Jews not only did not receive the healing “that shone forth in His wings,” but were also condemned to remain in darkness and the shadow of death, from which the pagans were driven out. Christian! Even if you turned all your days into sacred festivals and celebrations, even if the number of sacrifices you brought to the altar exceeded the number of your sins; but if you “do not lift up your heart with your hands to the Most High” (Lamentations 3:41), if the inner sanctuary of your spirit is filled with the abomination of desolation, you will be rejected. “Do not be arrogant about the appearance of your worship, but be afraid” (Rom. 11:20). What does a sinner who is limping on both knees not rely on? The long-suffering of God, which should give wings to return to the Heavenly Father, this long-suffering is often a pretext for wandering further away from Him. Knowing that the doors of repentance are open, we move further and further away from them, not thinking that the time may come when they will be closed and when the Master of the House will say to those who interpret them: “We do not know you” (Matthew 25:12). Seeing the Heavenly Father stretching out His hands to us all day long, we run from His embrace, not thinking that these hands will one day accept the sword to destroy the disobedient. Oh! perhaps we would have been less wasteful in the gifts of grace if God’s long-suffering had not opened up to them all its treasures. But let us beware, listeners, “let God not spare the natural branches, and he will not spare us” (Rom. 11:21). What people more than the Jews have seen signs of God's long-suffering? Moses passes the law on the mountain, and they worship the calf under the mountain, and meanwhile the decree of their destruction is canceled. God sends them the bread of Angels, and they hunger for the meat of Egypt and, meanwhile, the fire sent down by the justice of an angry God is soon extinguished by His mercy. God strikes their enemies with a high arm before them, and they enter into shameful relationships with them: and, meanwhile, the plague that struck them is recalled; With the passage of time, God's mercy, so to speak, grew tired of mercy on the hard-hearted people, and justice handed them over to the reproach of the tongues. But as soon as he was taken to Babylon, God’s mercy, as if repenting, again turns its face to him, consoles him, and finally leads him to the land of his fathers. Jerusalem was rewarded, the church was restored, and the daughter of Zion again turned to her lusts. It seemed that the Most High forgot the impartiality of God’s destinies, enduring with much patience the people who, having drunk on the blood of His servants and prophets, were preparing to wash their hands in the blood of His Son, whom He “sanctified and sent into the world” (John 3:17). No! I did not forget, but I expected that “the vessels of wrath would be perfected into destruction” (Rom. 9:22); and when “the time has come to destroy” (Eccl. 3:6), “He who is on high will bend his bow and slay all the red daughter Zion, shake His sanctuary, and strengthen His right hand until He dies” (Lam. 2:4). Christian! do not use the long-suffering of the Divine for evil, otherwise you are storing up “wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (Rom. 2:5), which “will not come with discretion,” but then, as you imagine, to have “peace and confirmation.” The thought of God's long-suffering is often the food of our carelessness; however, it must be admitted that this food rarely satisfies her. The gaze fixed on mercy often stops against the will on Divine justice, and we, trembling, look for the nearest support for our weakened knees and, unfortunately, we almost always find sinners like us in the multitude. We live as others live: this is the answer that we usually make to our conscience when it prompts us to test, “if you are in the faith” (2 Cor. 13:5). If all who live like us are rejected, then “who... can be saved” (Matt. 19:25) - this is the justification that we counter to her reproaches: as if the names of sinners should be inscribed in the book of life solely because the number of the chosen ones who could fill it is small; as if the Almighty cannot raise up children for Abraham from the stone, when these children are turned into stone by their bitterness. Consider, listeners, if you can, the countless number of Jews who participated in the sin of deicide; to this number add the number of their children; connect the latter with the number of their descendants. What a terrible multitude! Meanwhile, all Israel is scattered, all Judea is thrown into desolation. Christian! Get off the wide path of the world, otherwise its breadth and the multitude of those walking along it will not save you from the wrath of heaven. Unable to hide from the wrath of heaven in the crowd of sinners like us, we often resort to the shadow of the Divine promises, but unfortunately, not with a spirit of repentance, as it should be, but with a spirit of bitterness, which would like to put Divine mercy in conflict with its justice, so that, if possible, it would be the first to destroy the latter. If we are rejected, as we often falsely reason, then the words of Scripture: “for the gifts and promises and calling of God are unrepentant” (Rom. 11:29): “I will draw all to Me, they will be one flock and one shepherd” (John 12:32, 10:16), will not be “her and amen” (2 Cor. 1:20). But do we know, listeners, by reasoning in this way, who the people are, over whom God’s judgment has been carried out for so many centuries? This is the people whose patriarch was once told: “And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant” (Gen. 17:7). Do you know who these people are who are held in universal contempt? These are the descendants of the king, to whom it was once promised: “If your sons forsake your law and do not walk in My destinies..., I will visit them with the rod of iniquity and the stripes of unrighteousness; But I will not destroy My mercy from them” (Ps. 89:31, 88:33–34). Do you know which church has been turned into ruins? This is the church about which God Himself said to Solomon: “You have sanctified this church which you have created, and set My name there forever: and My eyes and My heart will be there all the days” (1 Kings 9:3). Do you know what kind of city, which is now stripped of all its splendor, has been given into the hands of tongues? This is Jerusalem, about which God spoke through the mouth of the prophet: My mercy towards you will not fail, “below the covenant of your peace will cease” (Is. 54:10). After this, who dares to apply to himself the words of Scripture: “The solid building of God stands, having this seal: the Lord knows Him who is” (2 Tim. 2:19): “unrepentant... the gifts and calling of God!” (Rom. 11:29). Christians! The Church does not lose hope of seeing the once scattered children of the circumcision gathered under its wing. “The blindness of Israel came until the fulfillment of tongues came. Therefore all Israel will be saved” (Rom. 11:25–26). Let us be careful that the time of their conversion will not be the time of our rejection. “It’s time for us to wake up from sleep!” (Rom. 13:11). Amen. Third Homily on the Day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross The Holy Church will solemnly remember now, brethren, the discovery of the Precious Cross of the Lord. This joyful event followed, as we know, three centuries after the Resurrection of the Lord, and was accomplished by Saint Helena, the mother of Equal-to-the-Apostles King Constantine. When this pious queen visited places sanctified by the life and suffering of the God-Man, the Holy Spirit aroused in her heart a desire to find the Cross of the Lord, which until that time, due to the troubled circumstances of the Church, oppressed by persecution, remained unknown. It was also difficult for the porphyry-bearing seeker to make this acquisition; for Jews and pagans, not tolerating the worship of the Crucified One, tried to destroy all traces of His life. The Cross of the Lord, together with the crosses of those crucified with Him on Golgotha, was buried in the ground, and in that very place the Romans later erected a temple to one pagan deity. But the zeal of the Equal-to-the-Apostles queen overcame all difficulties. The site of the Cross was found, at the direction of one Jew, and the church that stood on it was destroyed. When they then began to dig up the ground, at first an indescribable fragrance was felt; then three crosses were revealed, one of which had an inscription on it, the same one that Pilate put on the Cross of the Lord. Despite this instruction, the queen’s enlightened piety sought an even surer sign. Saint Macarius, the then Patriarch of Jerusalem, used for this purpose a means that only the most living faith in the Crucified One could inspire. At his command, one sick man who was near death was brought. The saint touched him first with one, then with another cross, but without any action; when he touched the third one, on which there was an inscription, the sick man stood up and became completely healthy. This miracle made everyone understand that this is the true Cross of the One Who is the Resurrection and Life. The Cross found in this way was transferred with triumph to the Temple of Jerusalem, where the holy Patriarch erected it before the people from the pulpit, so that everyone, both great and small, could enjoy the sight of the Life-Giving Tree. The Holy Church, delighted by the acquisition of the Divine treasure, decided that the memory of the discovery of the Cross of the Lord should be celebrated annually on this day. This is the origin of the current festival. (Rufin. Church. East. Book 1, chapter 7). A great and important lesson, brothers, lies for us in this event. And every Christian, unless he bears this title in vain, has his own cross, on which he must crucify his sinful flesh with its passions and lusts. This cross must consist in complacently enduring the shortcomings of our fallen nature and natural disasters - in the struggle against the common inclination towards evil and the temptations of the world - in correcting, with the assistance of grace, our evil heart and in renewing the strength of soul and spirit. And therefore, celebrating the discovery and erection of the Cross of the Lord, everyone must carefully consider whether his own cross is preserved intact? Isn’t he buried in the earth, in vain worries about earthly and perishable things? Isn’t there in the soul and heart, instead of the Cross of the Lord, a robber’s cross, or a church of some coldless passion? We said that the presence of the true Cross of the Lord was revealed by three signs: fragrance, the image of the name of the Lord Jesus and the revival of the sick person. By these same signs, everyone can distinguish the true cross from the false one: the true cross must be fragrant with innocence or repentance, must have the mark of the sweetest name of Jesus on it and, finally, must be life-giving. There are a lot of troubles and sorrows in the world, brothers, because there are even more sins and passions; but the suffering that comes from our sins does not in itself constitute the Christian cross. The ambitious person is tormented by an insatiable desire for distinction and advantage; the envious is consumed by grief for the good of his neighbor; the sensualist is tormented by the inability to satisfy his unclean lusts; all these and similar people suffer, and often more than those who suffer for the sake of truth; meanwhile, who does not recognize their suffering as arbitrary torment of sin, deserving not respect, but reproach? Who will not say that they bear the robber’s cross? After this, it would seem completely impossible to make mistakes in recognizing such crosses and accept them as true, but in fact, the completely opposite happens. When we look at the misfortunes of other people, then indeed, by some ill-fated gift of insight, we soon learn what they will perceive according to their deeds; We even often find them worthy of this even when there is no guilt in them, but do we act this way when we turn our gaze to our own misfortunes? Oh, in this case it is usually not considered necessary to enter into consideration of one’s actions; they assume that any anger inflicted on us cannot possibly have a cause in ourselves; They look at themselves as Angels, confirmed in goodness, for whom it is impossible to fall, and therefore at the first appearance of disaster they cry out: what a temptation! what a cross! Indeed, could someone tell us in this case, what is the temptation when you tempt yourself and others with your criminal plans, daring dreams, opposition to truth and duty? What cross, when you yourself built it for yourself with your oblivion of God, violation of the rights of humanity, pride and deceit? “Lay down your staff to the ground,” God once said to Moses, “and lay it down to the ground, and become a serpent; and Moses fled from him” (Ex. 4:3). You too, one might say, cast down many of those who boast of imaginary, or real, only deserved, sufferings, cast down your crosses to the ground, reject the bias with which you look at them, judge sensibly and rightly about your previous behavior: will you not, like Moses, see a terrible transformation? Will it not be revealed that what you have hitherto considered a temptation is not the cross, but the serpent, a sin you have committed, and that you will accept it according to your deeds? The true cross is fragrant. It, as we said, actually consists of complacently enduring suffering that we do not deserve. There are natural disasters from which no innocence can hide, no wisdom can defend itself. Such are illnesses, loss of friends and relatives, the destructive ferocity of the elements, and so on. He who does not faint in faith under the blows of misfortune bears the true cross: the witness Job, who, having lost everything, in dust and ashes, blessed the name of the Lord (Job 1:21). His disasters stem from evil people like us: our property can be stolen by secret or open enemies; our honor may be darkened by slander, and we will be deprived of everything; in this case, sometimes there is a lack of means to prove one’s innocence and expose deceit. He who, with trust in the heavenly Judge, endures earthly injustice, bears the true cross: witness Joseph, who was deprived of everything for his innocence, but remained faithful to the God of his fathers (Gen. 39:9-10). In our own hearts there is a constant struggle between good and evil, between conscience and lusts: we must constantly watch over ourselves, moderate ourselves, deprive ourselves, curb, punish, so as not to fall under the inclination to evil, not to become a playground of passions, not to be empty of good deeds, not to become dead to God. He who courageously walks this path of internal self-correction and stands with courage to guard his heart bears the true cross: the witness Paul, who fought with the villain of the flesh, the angel of Satan (2 Cor. 12:7), and all the ascetics of piety. These crosses, not depending in their origin on the will of man, are laid by God Himself. But for zeal for heroic deeds, the field of voluntary crucifixion is open. Your condition promises you joy and pleasure in life; Meanwhile, you can create happiness for many if you sacrifice this fortune: make this sacrifice, it will be a true cross; it was worn by Moses, who did not want to be called the son of the king’s daughter, but rather agreed to suffer with the people of God (Heb. 11:24). You cannot see without contrition of heart how faith among Christians is diminishing, love is diminishing, wickedness is increasing; nourish this saving contrition within yourself, it will be the true cross: Elijah bore it because he could not endure wickedness in Israel (1 Kings 19:14). Some powerful man, given over to passions, tramples with impunity the rights of truth and humanity; many suffer, everyone condemns in secret, and there is no one to reprove; if you have a duty to expose untruth, expose it; The danger that you will be exposed to through this will constitute a true cross: it was borne by John the Baptist, who denounced Herod and Herodias (Mark 6:18). To put it briefly: every act of piety, every labor of love is a true cross, for it emits the fragrance of innocence. “So, someone will say, but what to do with those countless crosses that place our passions and sins on us? Is there any way to take away the stench of sin from them? Yes, brothers, yes. The thief from the cross, no doubt a thief's, went to heaven. The short words: “Remember me, O Lord, when You come into Your Kingdom” (Luke 23:42), changed everything. The same can be true of every suffering sinner. Faith, repentance and prayer completely compensate for the lack of truth, for the goodness of God not only forgives, but even turns into some merit the suffering we deserve, as long as we sanctify it by faith in the merits of our Redeemer. From this alone it is clear, brothers, how necessary a second sign is to distinguish the true cross, and how necessary it is for the all-sanctifying name of the Lord Jesus to be inscribed on it; for most of the crusaders, being sinners, can become true crusaders only through repentance and faith in the Redeemer. But besides this, there are other reasons why no one’s cross can have value without sanctification by the merits of the Son of God. And firstly, when we talk about human innocence and righteousness, we do not mean these virtues in the strict sense. As a matter of fact, among people there is not a single righteous person, not a single one who suffers completely innocently. In fact, even if we did not deserve certain sufferings due to our known sins, did we not have sins that remained unpunished? And have they ceased to be sins because they have just remained without sad consequences for us? Did not Providence, having allowed our crimes to remain unpunished for a time in order to incline us to repentance through mercy, have the right to resurrect punishment for us when we, admiring our virtue, forgot that we were sinners? But let us not deserve it, let us assume the impossible: “who will be clean from filth: no one, even if he lived one day on earth” (Job 14:4-5), let us not deserve our misfortune by any of our own sins; Isn’t our sinful nature itself the subject of heavenly wrath? Oh! We constantly keep in mind our rights when it is necessary to participate in the inheritance of a high name and any property from our ancestors, but we do not remember that the sins of the fathers can be passed on to children, that in addition we have a common inheritance from the common father of men - innate sin, that hereditary corruption of our nature, which alone is capable of taking away the value of all our virtues and sufferings. How can we dare to present ourselves to the heavenly Rewarder with our most so-called innocent sufferings, if they are not sanctified by faith in the merits of the Divine Redeemer? Only the union of our cross in the spirit of faith with the Cross of Christ can make our cross worthy of the gaze of the heavenly Judge; Only under the roof of Christ’s merits can we say to the apostle: “I suffer, but I am not ashamed!” (2 Tim. 1:12). For indeed then we have nothing to be ashamed of; no dark stains of sin remain in us; everything is made white “by the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14). Therefore, faith in the merits of the Redeemer must be an indispensable distinguishing feature of every true cross and crusader. True crucifixion itself is completely impossible without the grace of Jesus Christ. Earthly wisdom talks a lot about patience in the midst of adversity, about courage in the midst of dangers; but her disciples have not yet shown any experience of true cross-bearing. What do we see in them in moments of grave temptation? Either proud insensibility, or cowardly murmur, equally unworthy of a person. Human strength was often called upon to fight against adversity, but rarely, rarely did it not fall at the very beginning, especially as the blows of misfortune continued. This is how it should be: when a person relies only on himself, then he is weaker than a cane shaken by the wind. Only those who suffer in the name of Jesus and in the spirit of living faith in Him know how to suffer without grumbling and even rejoice in the midst of suffering, for, in addition to the confidence that “a slight sorrow... will carry away the burden of eternal glory” (2 Cor. 4:17), they feel that they can do everything “through Jesus Christ who strengthens them” (Phil. 4:13), that Providence, having allowed them to suffer, will not allow them to be tempted more than they can endure, but “with temptation he will create excess” (1 Cor. 10:13). Therefore, the true sufferers were always the most ardent lovers of the Cross of Christ, and did not move one step away in spirit from Calvary, for they knew for sure that, having lost sight of the Cross of Jesus, they would at the same time lose their own cross or fall under it. But why, urging us to unite our crosses with the Cross of Jesus, do I talk all about the need for this union for us? Do you, Christian, have no other ties, besides need, that unite you with your Savior? What has He not done and is not doing to gain your love? To whom could your tears and sighs be more appropriately dedicated than the One who shed His Blood for you? Who has more rights to your cross than He Who Himself endured the Cross for you and Who will more accurately appreciate your patience, your struggle with a sinful nature, your renunciation of what is often most precious to the heart than He, Who renounced everything for us, left the throne of the Father, appeared in the form of a slave, and died the death of a criminal? Considering all this, brethren, it is truly impossible not to regret from the bottom of our hearts that destructive inattention to the true benefit of our sufferings, due to which we neglect to sanctify them through faith in the merits of our Intercessor! When we are exposed to disasters for our iniquities, we still occasionally remember Him and call on Him for help; but when we endure without doing anything bad, we usually consider it completely unnecessary to resort to Him. In this case, we have one thing both in our hearts and on our tongues - our innocence. As if the Cross of Christ should accept us into its shadow only when we come to it burdened with all untruths! It’s as if Jesus Christ was appointed to be “the minister of our sin” (Gal. 2:17), and not the finisher of our righteousness! For what happens as a consequence of sowing ingratitude! The fact that our sufferings do not bring us spiritual fruits, that we soon become exhausted under the weight of them, and often, having begun to suffer for the truth, end in the suffering of unrighteousness. We, in the deceit of our hearts, sacrifice to our Savior the worst part of our cross, blackened by our sins, and reserve for ourselves the best, on which our innocence is depicted; and His truth takes away from our cross what is best in it - its life-giving, and leaves what is worst in it - the deadness that burdens us. Meanwhile, the true cross, brothers, by its very essence, is always life-giving, and this, as we said, should serve as the third sign distinguishing it from the false cross. Let someone spend a very long time in serving the world, in satisfying his passions, in scattering and forgetting God, in carelessness about the soul and eternity; if Providence finds him worthy of sending temptation to him, and if he endures it in the spirit of repentance and faith, then an extraordinary change will happen to him: he will feel in himself such a return from his previous sinful life as no one had noticed in him before; in his soul such strength will be revealed to perform virtues, the existence of which he himself never imagined. And this is very natural. For why does life in the spirit diminish in us and, finally, become completely impoverished? Why do we become exhausted in doing good to the point that it finally becomes a law for us to do only evil? Because we cease to be vigilant over our thoughts, to control our desires, we leave, so to speak, the heliport of our soul without supervision. Because, entertaining ourselves with needs and amusements, we do not find time to look at ourselves in the mirror of the word of God, much less correct the shortcomings we perceive in ourselves. Because, whirling in the whirlwind of worldly vanity, we forget that we are not our own, but belong to the One who bought us with His Blood, that eternity awaits us, that judgment awaits us. These are the main reasons for our spiritual insensibility and death! But the disasters we endure, if only we know how to use them, necessarily stop the action of all these disastrous causes. They force us to go deeper into ourselves and see the poverty of our spirit and heart; turn us to faith and its eternal promises; make it pleasant for us to exercise in the word of God and in prayer; bring to our memory what our Savior did for us, and what we should do for Him; They expose to us the vanity of worldly goods and the delusion of those who limit all their desires to them. All this, of necessity, detaches our heart from the earth and directs it to heaven, turns us away from the temporal and disposes us towards the eternal. And therefore, if someone, being exposed to sorrows, feels that his faith is not made more alive, his hope is more sublime, his love for the Savior and virtues is more ardent, his disgust from sin is more decisive; then this is an undoubted sign that the cross from which he suffers is not yet the true cross, because it is not life-giving. All this happens for the most part because, during the onslaught of misfortunes and temptations, they indulge in their sensitivity alone, without turning to the thought of God, limit their gaze to the present life and do not take the trouble to think about the high and beneficial purpose of human suffering for the life to come. The removal of these causes returns the cross to its life-giving nature, and it begins to produce a saving effect on revitalizing and strengthening the strength of the spirit. And at the same time, carrying the cross becomes not as terrible as it is when the bearer is devoted to sensuality. The spiritual sweetness of the cross makes one forget its material bitterness, just as one forgets the bitterness of medicine when they see that it saves from death. From considering the properties of the true cross, it is already revealed by itself, brethren, what its spiritual elevation should consist of. The more perfect the truth for which we are subjected to suffering, or the sincere repentance with which we endure deserved suffering; the more closely we unite our suffering with faith in the merits of Jesus Christ, and the more through prayer we attract His grace to ourselves; Finally, the more willingly we turn the temptations sent to us by Providence into means to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, the higher our cross generally becomes, the closer we come to the great Model of all true sufferers - the Lord Jesus. If any of us has acquired such a quality that he can, out of humility, endure with indifference the insults inflicted on him by people who have not done him any favors, then let him learn to endure with the same indifference the grief from those whom he considers among the friends who have benefited him; - and his cross will be erected. If any of us has hitherto renounced only coarse pleasures, sensory passions, then let him renounce the most subtle whims, let him renounce pride, according to which they seek the miraculous and extraordinary even in deeds of piety, and want to excel over others in the most rigor and humility - and his cross will be erected. If someone does not shy away from the cross because he imagines the bliss of paradise that should follow his transference, then let him accustom himself to do without this, although permissible, but not yet completely pure impulse - and his cross will be erected. Already high is the cross of one who knows how to endure the disasters sent to him by Providence without a murmur, although he allows himself to pray to the Heavenly Father for them to stop; Even higher is the cross of the one who, being imbued with the conviction of the dignity and benefit of the misfortunes of this age, like David, prays to the Lord to tempt his faith and patience with these misfortunes (Ps. 138:23); Even higher is the cross of the one who, due to his success in self-denial, wears a cross, and does not notice that he is wearing a cross, but sees in it only the will of God, good and perfect. Generally speaking, the degrees of spiritual elevation of the cross are as countless as the degrees of aversion from evil and commitment to good are as numerous as the expressions of our faith and love for the Lord. Oh, if only we could be sure that each of us knows about these degrees more than just memory and hearing! If only our Savior, now accepting our worship from the Cross, would find in the heart of each of us even a faint image of His own Cross! Then we could boldly look now at His Cross being erected; for they would see in it a sign of our victory over the world, a guarantee of our future bliss. And now it is erected for some of us, perhaps only as a sign of future judgment and rejection. At the very least, brothers, let us not remain forever idle spectators of an alien exaltation and strive to take part in the suffering of our Lord; Let us cleanse ourselves, at least little by little, from the defilements of the flesh and spirit. May the Great Crusader, who laid down His soul for all of us, help us in this holy deed of the Cross, and may He accomplish it in us by the power of His Holy Spirit! Amen. The fourth word on the day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross What have we heard, brothers? Who confesses and preaches together in the hearing of everyone in such a wondrous way?.. Three most powerful monarchs confess and preach, one of whom, our Alexander the Blessed, is now already before the throne of the King of Glory. What is the subject of their royal confession and preaching? The fact that the course of previous relations in Europe between the powers was not based on those principles on which the wisdom of God established the peace and prosperity of peoples; that the consequence of this deviation of royal wisdom from the rules of the Gospel was nothing more than terrible disasters for nations and kings; that, finally, they, taught by difficult experience, made a vow in the face of heaven and earth, in all relations among themselves and with those under their control, to henceforth act according to the commandments of God the Savior, recognizing Him alone as the supreme Autocrat of nations and kings, and inviting each and every one to turn with all their hearts to the law of love taught to Him. And when was this unprecedented confession of the monarchs made, when was this wondrous sermon proclaimed for the first time? On this day, when the Holy Church remembers one of the greatest triumphs of the Cross of Christ, its worldwide exaltation! Tell me, brothers, has there ever been anything like this? Is this not the greatest triumph of faith over unbelief and temptations of the century? Christian self-sacrifice over worldly pride? Is this not a new exaltation of the Cross of the Lord? Alas, brothers, the world needed this exaltation! The Cross of Christ, which for so many centuries has been the adornment of the best part of the human race, has recently been lost by entire nations. For what can we call, if not the loss of the Cross of the Lord, the terrible apostasy from the faith that was revealed in Western Christianity? But the Providence of God did not allow the dominion of darkness to establish itself; and the Cross of the Lord was again found by those who destroyed him and, through the sacred union of kings, erected before the face of heaven and earth. Let us, brethren, focus our attention on this miracle of Providence that has taken place in our days; and for the consolation of faith, let us remember how wickedness wanted to bury the Cross of Christ in the ground: to abolish faith in the crucified Savior, and how all his efforts and imaginary successes turned to the greater strengthening and glory of Christianity. It would seem that among Christian peoples there can be no place at all for a spirit hostile to Christianity. Over the course of eighteen centuries, was it possible not to recognize and experience all the beneficial properties of faith in Jesus Christ? True, this faith has as its goal not earth, but heaven; preaches the Kingdom of God, not man; promises a bliss that is more eternal than temporary, but even in an earthly sense, has not Christianity extended the greatest blessings to all its followers? Has it not been proven by experience that “piety is profitable for all things?” (1 Tim. 4:8). Who tamed the barbarians who destroyed the ancient civil world, and raised from this stone a child for Abraham? Christianity. Where and how were the most precious remains of the ancient world, its sciences, arts and discoveries saved? Under the shadow of Christianity. From what root did most of what is now best among Christian peoples in laws, customs, morals, and mutual civil and family relations grow? From Christianity. Why does the smallest part of the world that we inhabit dominate the whole world? More than all other reasons, because the light of the Gospel teaching had previously dominated over her. These are truths justified by the experience of centuries and peoples, recognized unanimously by the wisest of people, and not completely rejected by the very enemies of Christianity. After this, I say, could it be expected that there would ever be a clear falling away from Christ among Christian peoples? But what evil and terrible things cannot happen from human nature fallen and darkened by sin? It is not surprising if, imbued with the poison of sin, having lost even a sense of health, it sometimes displays a strong aversion to the heavenly healing contained in the Christian faith; It is not surprising if darkness flees from the light, lest its deeds be exposed, for they are evil. Moreover, if he does not fall asleep and falls asleep below, he who guards Israel - his Church, then the prince of darkness is constantly vigilant, “going around and flattering the whole world” (Rev. 12:9), “and seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). That is why at all times there have been in the depths of Christianity, and probably always will be, enemies of the Cross of Christ, people of destruction, about whom it must be said that “they came forth from us, but were not taken away from us” (1 John 2:19). But this, as it were, innate evil, this internal illness, this domestic betrayal and enmity, this persecution of the faith of Christ from Christians themselves, never intensified to such an extent, did not raise their heads so proudly, did not appear with such shamelessness in the face of God and people, as at the end of the past century, which in all fairness should be called the century of temptations. To destroy the altars and their servants, to destroy, if possible, the very name of a Christian - this is an insane goal, towards the achievement of which thousands of minds and hands began to work, using all means to achieve this: force and cunning, truth and lies, intelligence and madness. And the just God in His anger allowed the apostate plans to be fulfilled! After many private falling away from the faith, finally, an entire numerous people, famous for their success in the arts and frivolity, an entire people, at least in the person of their “heartless” representatives, abandoned the sign of the cross, denied the Redeemer and His salvation, and finally renounced “all God and the word of honor” (2 Thess. 2:4) and began to worship the cold-free idol, calling it human reason!.. What was not done later at the foot of this idol, on the ruins of the altars and throne? The most sacred objects are dragged along the heaps everywhere and are turned to the most dishonorable uses! Thousands of servants of the faith are being led like lambs to the slaughter! The Tsar himself, the benefactor of the people, dies by executing a criminal! The last minutes of the dying victims are poisoned by blasphemy and temptations... But I cannot, brethren, continue to portray the times of the apostate; the walls of this church would tremble when hearing about all the furies and cruelties that were committed in the name of a false reason. Suffice it to say that the name of Christ was desecrated by Christians, just as it had never been desecrated by infidels; The Cross of Christ is buried deeper in the ground than the anger of the Jews and the hatred of the pagans once could have buried it. The other peoples of the West, although they did not participate in this apostasy, were already apparently leaning toward the same abyss of evil in which faith was lost and the prosperity of the unfortunate Gauls perished. True admirers of the Crucified One were apparently left with only one gratifying thought: that such a falling away from faith, an increase in lawlessness, the drying up of love, a rebellion of kingdoms against kingdoms, a son against father, that all these terrible phenomena, in their very extremeness and multitude, serve as a harbinger of the approaching end of the world, the coming of the Judge, the final victory of good over evil. But, in the inscrutable destinies of Providence, another consolation was prepared for the faithful, and another triumph for faith. A transformation of the world was soon to follow, not yet material, but civil. This sinful land had once again to see the erection of the Cross of the Lord, no longer accomplished by a weak, although porphyry-born wife, but by a host of kings, in the face of the whole world. This miracle did not happen suddenly, but the more visible to the weak human eye, so to speak, was the whole image and all the details of the procession of God’s Providence in the fate of kingdoms and peoples. Let us follow this procession, brothers. The first effect of the extermination of Christianity among the Gauls, and at the same time the first execution for this, was that unbelief, having destroyed everything sacred, rushed against itself; the enemies of God and Christ became irreconcilable enemies of each other; together with faith and the Church, disappeared, despite all efforts to maintain it, and social order, and mutual trust of citizens, and the peace of families, and the curbing of youth, and the consolation of old age, and the tranquility of the deathbed. Self-interest and pride became the only springs of public and private life, and horror and fear became the autocratic managers of everything; but this form of rule by rejected spirits, so constant in hell, could in no way have a lasting existence among people. In vain did elemental wisdom exhaust all means of maintaining not prosperity, but at least social existence; In vain did insolence attempt all desperate measures: nothing could replace the broken alliance with heaven. Finally, forced by necessity, the same people who, destroying the altars, cried out: “Exhaust, exhaust to the ground” (Ps. 137:7), began to preach in the haystacks and marketplaces that there is a Highest Being, there is another life, law and truth, there is an eternal reward and an eternal punishment. To turn directly to rejected Christianity seemed even more shameful in the extreme; and the false wisdom itself began to formulate a new faith, which would provide salvation without the Savior, in which the name of Jesus would stand, and there would be no Divinity and His Cross. But without this anchor, established in the depths of Divine and human nature, no faith could stand, amid the disturbances of minds and hearts, passions and delusions; and the church of the so-called love for God and neighbor, not being consecrated by the presence of the Lord of the church, embodied love for God and neighbor, remained completely empty for three years. Proved in this way by bloody experiments, the necessity of Christianity for the earthly well-being of civil societies was the reason that, finally, he who received all the fruits of mutual errors and warfare between kings and peoples, and who, in the ecstasy of happiness, did not want to know anything on earth higher than himself, that, I say, this giant of warfare, known to each of us without a name, considered the restoration of faith to be the first work of his royal art and divine services, and, not content with all the crowns that victory placed on his head, he looked for a crown at the foot of the altars. It was already a great triumph for faith in these unfortunate times to see among one’s admirers the one before whom everything on earth bowed. But this respect was a tribute to necessity, and not to free will; a consequence of calculation, not love. Faith was revered as a means, not as an end; seemed more patronized than patronized; Royal churches belonged to her, but the hearts of many kings were far away. Meanwhile, the complete desecration of faith required full reward, triumph, not mixed with slavery; the cross was not meant to be lifted just from the ground, but erected above everyone and everything, by the hands of the pure anointed of God, and not by the wayward condescension of the arrogant son of happiness. But who will carry out this erection and how? Will this miracle perform?.. The thought becomes weary, brothers, running through all the ends of that great chain of events by which peoples and kings were drawn from all countries to one place to accomplish this truly worldwide exaltation. For this, a voice and a call were necessary, similar to the one by which all the sons of Adam would one day be called before the throne of the universal Judge. In fact, was it not the Archangel with a trumpet who invisibly flew through all the countries of the West?.. Twenty (twenty) peoples suddenly rise from their places and go north, apparently for earthly purposes, to satisfy the pride of one person, but in the thing itself for one great, unknown to anyone, the cause of God. A battle begins similar to that in which Jehovah of armies himself once marched among thousands of his beloved people. On the one hand, strength and pride, on the other, meekness and Christian humility; on the one hand - unbelief, on the other - faith and hope; on the one hand, earthly wisdom, on the other, heavenly Providence. Who will win: the Lamb or the dragon? Everyone expects the fall of the first, but the last is overthrown; is overthrown, and the world begins to take on a new form. After each defeat of a global enemy, the political resurrection of a nation takes place. The first voice of gratitude for the unexpected salvation from slavery automatically rushes to heaven; the first gaze of freedom involuntarily stops at the sign of the cross, under which the liberator of nations, the Orthodox people, fights; “This victory” becomes the rallying cry of all those liberated; the armies of earthly kings turn into a single, great army of the King of Heaven; leaders and conquerors are made preachers of the greatness of God; signs of heavenly help excite faith, and faith attracts new signs; the earth clearly enters into a union with heaven, and the tabernacle of God dwells among humanity renewed by disasters! What will be the fruit of this unparalleled confluence of great events in the history of mankind? What will be the sign of the sacred inspiration of faith that has declared nations and kings? What will follow after the final overthrow of the enemy, after the liberation of all nations, after the restoration of all thrones? What will the church of world glory be crowned with? The worldwide exaltation of the Cross of the Lord. Having reached the capital of freethinking, the three victorious monarchs, the true representatives of the three main Christian confessions, forgetting all types of love of glory, in the invisible presence of the Triune God and in the visible assembly of all nations, perform prayers of thanksgiving at the place where the head of the martyr king fell, and where the student festival was held in honor of the idol of wickedness. Not content with this, the Christ-loving monarchs, in the name of this Triune God and His Only Begotten Son, in the face of the world, enter into a sacred alliance with each other, the purpose of which is not an attack on anyone, not even the defense of kingdoms, but a humble confession of the shortcomings of the previous way of thinking and actions in Europe in the mutual relations of peoples and kings; recognition of the heavenly autocracy of the Lord Jesus over oneself; a vow to govern nations and all their actions according to the spirit and rules of the Gospel; an invitation to all kings to the same union with Christ and among themselves, and to both their own and foreign subjects - to mutual brotherly love and to Christian perfection in life. Tell me, brothers, was there ever a union of kings similar to this? Isn't this a complete triumph of faith over unbelief? Isn't this the true exaltation of the Cross of the Lord? Who, other than the almighty Lord of hosts, could perform this miracle? To turn the greatest desecration of faith into its greatest glory? To teach such a great lesson to kings and to instill in them a deep consciousness of the need to subordinate the image of mutual royal relations to the holy and beneficial laws of God the Savior? Make human wisdom pronounce judgment on itself and bow down at the foot of the cross? Only God could and did produce this miracle! And most of us, brethren, were witnesses of this; and in the midst of our Fatherland, the liberation of peoples and the inspiration of the faith of kings began; and our blessed monarch was the first instrument of Providence in the erection of the Cross of the Lord! Shouldn't we rejoice when we see how the Lord does not abandon His Church and does not allow the gates of hell to overcome it? Shouldn't we rejoice when we see how the rulers of the nations, taught by difficult experiences, willingly bow their crowned heads under the easy and good yoke of the Gospel, and call the peoples subject to them to do the same? Shouldn't we rejoice when we see Christians of different confessions reunited by the triple union of faith, love and hope, and by this reunification prefiguring that great blessed unity when there will be one flock and one Shepherd? Shouldn’t we, finally, rejoice, imagining the special mercy of God towards our Fatherland in assigning it special glory and serving, more than all nations, for the great restoration of thrones and altars? But, rejoicing at the new triumph of the Cross of the Lord, let us not forget our responsibilities that stem from here. When the Providence of God intensifies its vigilance in protecting the Church from new, greatest dangers, then each of us must intensify our zeal in protecting the inner church of our faith from the impurities and temptations of the evil and corrupt age. When the rulers of nations do not hesitate to confess the shortcomings of the previous way of acting in Europe, and vow to strictly follow the rules of the Gospel in everything, then all the more should their subjects, as often as possible, delve into their behavior, correct their shortcomings, repent of their sins, and revive in themselves and others the holy determination to be Christians in more than one name. Finally, who would be so insensitive as not to respond in heart and deeds to the royal call to honor all people as one’s brothers, and to show them signs of love and respect? So, brothers, the great lesson of Providence, the striking proclamation of the monarchs should not remain without effect, but should arouse in each of us a new zeal for our salvation. You know that every Christian, according to the word of the Apostle, has his own cross, on which he must crucify “his flesh with its passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24). Therefore, celebrating the worldwide exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, everyone should examine whether his own Cross has sunk to the ground, whether his own Cross has been buried in the ground - in worries about the earthly and carnal. For what is the use if the Cross of the Savior of the world is raised to heaven, and our cross, like a weight, will hang on our neck and drag us to hell? So, if this misfortune befell anyone (and how few are there who are not at all affected by it), he must immediately take up his cross and raise it above all thoughts, must decide to fight passions and evil habits, to live a life worthy of a Christian. This finding and erection of our cross will be more pleasant for our crucified Lord than the finding and erection of His own Cross, for He ascended this Cross not for Himself, but for us. Amen. Prayer of Saint John Chrysostom from the Follow-up to Holy Communion Stichera at Great Vespers Week Vaiy Catavasia on all days of the year, Song 1, Tone 4 Irmos 1 Canon of the Nativity of Christ On Saturday of Pentecost, at Little Vespers, at the verse, self-concord, tone 2 Stichera for the Day of Pentecost Discourse on the Gospel of Matthew 46 Discourse on Matthew 24 Conversation on the Gospel on the Acts of the Holy Apostles 40 Discourse on Matthew 32 Discourse on the Gospel of John 72 Discourse on Matthew 14 First Discourse, on Pentecost Second Discourse on the Gospel on the Acts of the Apostles Gospel Discourse on 1 Corinthians 29 Gospel Talk on 1 Corinthians 6 Powerful Voice 4 Antiphon 1 I cried out the stichera to the Lord You might be interested in: