Words about nature

Contents Introductory Word Word about spring, first Word about spring, second Word about spring, third Word about summer, first Word about summer, second Word about winter What is, brethren, the nature that surrounds us, and the sensory world in which we live and move from our cradle to the grave? Those who are wise define this differently, but for common sense and Christian feeling, the best concept of the visible world is when it seems to be a revelation of the perfections of the Divine, a mirror in which, as the apostle puts it, “the invisible essence of God ... is visible, His most everlasting power and Divinity” (Rom. 1:20). since this mirror was not placed in vain, and is always before the eyes ours, then it naturally follows that the world around us should be for us not only a field for our action, but also a school for instructing us on how to act and what to achieve. Looking at the order that exists in the world, at the laws that prevail in it, at the goals achieved through each thing in particular and all together, we ourselves must through this accustom ourselves to order, correctness, good intentions and constancy. This is how the best people of all times and places looked at the world, and devoted every free time from the affairs of their calling to spending time in the depths of nature and conversing with it. Nature was their favorite book. Of the saints of the Old Testament, one can point in this case not only to the holy forefathers, who spent their entire lives with their flocks and, therefore, outside cities and villages, but also to the great legislators, prophets and ascetics, for where, for example, did Moses prepare for the great title of leader of the Jewish people? Not at the court of Egypt, but in the desert of Midian, among the mountains and valleys of Arabia. Here he received his first revelations; here he is dedicated by the appearance of a burning bush to the title of the god of Pharaoh. Where was the heavenly Elijah honored to see the revelation of the glory of God and talk with God? Not at Solomon's temple, but in the wilderness; Carmel and Horeb were altars on which he offered the bloodless sacrifice of prayers and praises. And the New Testament, like the Old, originated and was formed among the church of nature. The Forerunner spent his entire life in the Jordanian desert, preaching repentance. Our Savior Himself was born not in palaces, but in a manger, and was baptized not in the font of Siloam, but in the Jordan; He carried out the work of ministry for the most part in the open air, on the mountains and on the shores of Lake Tiberias. The greatest mysteries in His life, which sealed the work of our salvation, also took place before the face of heaven and earth: He was transfigured on Tabor, crucified on Golgotha, and ascended from Olivet! Following such great examples, the greatest of the holy men of subsequent times loved to place themselves far from the rumors of cities and villages. Among the deserts of Egypt and Palestine, Antonia, Macarius, Euphemia, Pachomius, Savvas, and Theodosius flourished. The deserts gave the world such great lamps as Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom. And to this day nature and life among it remain a favorite way of life for all sublime souls in whom everyday worries and relationships have not suppressed the pure feeling of nature. What in the nature around us should attract our attention? Everything, for everything proclaims the glory of God, serves as a reflection of the perfections of the Creative. In churches made by hand, most of those present are silent; in the church of nature, according to the remark of the prophet king, everyone speaks glory. Therefore, when the same seer received an order from above to call the choir of creatures to song, he called on everyone and everything to do this, even that which, in our understanding, serves to discord: “Praise the Lord...” he exclaims, “snow, bareness and a stormy spirit” (Ps. 149: 7-8). But if such things are capable of praising and glorifying the Lord, all the more capable of that is what is visible distinguished between the creations of God or greatness and power, like the sun, the moon, the stars, the sea, mountains and abysses, or grace and usefulness, like singing birds, like flowers and grains. Likewise, the same contemplator of nature heard how “the day vomits the days, and the night proclaims the night” (Ps. 18:3). man, the more instructive the seasons should be. The very fact that they have a striking resemblance to the ages of our lives shows that they contain great lessons for our lives. What lessons? We have undertaken to reveal and depict this very thing in our special interviews with you. For we, by our very calling, are called to be interpreters for you not only of the revealed word of God, but also of the natural word, written in the book of nature. And the present time of year is apparently conducive to this, for now, after winter confinement and stuffy rooms, everyone is more or less close to nature and, getting closer, involuntarily enters into many relationships with it. It is precisely this circumstance that we want to take advantage of to begin our interviews with you about the seasons. Let us consider the moral significance of each of them and show their relationship to our fate and our morals. In addition, let us focus on some special phenomena of certain times, just as those skilled in painting, looking at a picture in general, focus on what is especially noteworthy in it. May the Lord grant that after our interviews we all become more attentive to the seasons, and stop looking at them as a simple modification of the so-called theater of nature, and begin to see in them a visible image of the invisible perfections of God, an instructive mirror of our own lives and a model for our behavior! Amen. While we perform various divine services in our small and man-made churches and move from celebration to celebration, the great and man-made church of nature also does not remain without changes; and in him one series of service is replaced by another; Various celebrations are celebrated in honor of the one and the same Lord and Master of all. So, looking at the present spring decoration of nature, at the developing greenery everywhere, at the scattering flowers everywhere, and comparing all this with the former nakedness and deadness, who will not say that now nature, which had fallen into a winter sleep, seemed to have awakened from sleep and, imitating the Holy Church, began to celebrate the day of resurrection! To pass this festival without attention would mean to show criminal indifference to its Founder Himself, Who, obviously, is not some kind of person, but the Almighty Creator of nature Himself. For even if a simple artist does not put a picture before the eyes of everyone in vain, how much more cannot the wisdom of God turn the entire face of the earth, as is happening now, into a living, great and varied picture, without intending to teach through this a lesson to those before whose eyes it is displayed. Let us not be inattentive to the intentions of the wisdom of God, and let us hasten to go with our thoughts into the vast church of nature to receive teaching from the magnificent spectacle that is now taking place in it. Many instructive thoughts and feelings are aroused in the soul in the middle of spring, but all of them can be reduced into three main lessons. And firstly, spring brings to mind the creation of the world, our primitive state and our fall; secondly, spring serves as an instructive image of our spiritual renewal from sinful death, and shows what we should do for this and what to avoid; thirdly, spring represents the future renewal of all things at the end of the world and our resurrection from the dead. Let's look at all this in more detail. We were not and could not be witnesses to that miraculous action of God’s omnipotence, by which the entire visible world, with all the diversity of creatures inhabiting it, with all their perfections and beauties, was brought out of non-existence and established in its present order. But the spectacle of the origin of things, by its very essence, is most capable of arousing in us a feeling of reverence, love and devotion to the Creator and Lord of all. And so, the wisdom of God has invented a means to replace it for us with another similar spectacle. Every spring we see quite clearly an image of the primeval origin of things, which, lacking the primeval enormity, which, however, our weak eye probably could not bear, replaces it with its own repeated repetition. Remember how Moses describes the creation of the world: the first action of Omnipotence, after creating substances from nothing, was the command: “let there be light” (Gen. 1:3). The appearance of each spring begins with the same thing, the same omnipotent force commands the light of the sun, which shone weakly in winter, to rush onto the face of the earth - and everything begins to take on a different appearance: the day grows, the air becomes warm, the appearance of all things brightens and cheers, and everything in nature prepares, as it were, for some kind of celebration. The new omnipotent action was the voice: “let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one, and let the dry land appear” (Gen. 1:9). Similar things happen now. During the winter, water, in the form of snow, covers the entire face of the earth, so that in this case its primitive stay under water is repeated, but with the approach of spring, the ancient command again takes force - to gather water “into one collection”, and the snow from the action of the sun’s rays turns into water, streams and channels appear everywhere, flow from different opposite sides together, and uncontrollably rush down until they gather into “one collection” - in ocean. The earth, washed and moistened, emerges from under the snow cover with new strength, as if newly created for man. But she is ugly and naked, she needs clothing and adornment in order to appear before her Master... All this will not be slow to appear by the power of the primeval command: “let the earth sprout the former herbs” (Gen. 1:11). Every spring, after the descent of the spring waters, as if by some miracle, a whole countless kingdom of plants rises from the depths of the earth. Truly a kingdom! What life, what luxury, what grace in the very last grain! Where in a week you saw one bare, dead mass of earth, now under every bush, on every hill, in every vale, a multi-colored, fresh, fragrant carpet is ready for you, on which beautiful flowers are scattered here and there, like living yachts and topazes. Truly, Solomon himself was not so clothed in his glory as many of the flowers of the field are clothed and adorned. And how many are there? Take all your numbers and they won't all be countable. So powerful is the word: “let the earth sprout!” Thousands of years have passed, and perhaps thousands more will pass, but the earth does not and will not cease to fulfill it with all its might. During spring, each time, in some way, the very remains of the heavenly tree of life appear, scattered among a myriad of medicinal herbs and flowers, which at this time exude streams of bodily health for a person. The creation of the plant kingdom was followed, at the beginning of the world, by the creation of the kingdom of living beings: the water was commanded to be filled with fish, the air with birds. A repetition of this wonderful action can be seen every spring. This is the main, and for many animals the only, time of birth. Look into these abysses of water in the sunshine from above, you will be amazed at how many new, living creatures there are. When did they happen? Today, yesterday or in a few days! But even without the sun, in the darkness of the night, the water swirls, as if someone is hitting its surface and producing a sound that echoes the surrounding area. Who is this? Heavy sturgeon or playful perch. With these sounds, the inhabitants of the waters seem to let you know that their abyss is not empty, that there are living creatures there, and that God’s word to the fish: “fill the waters” (Gen. 1:22), the thinness has not yet returned. The air, in fulfillment of God’s command, does not lag behind the water. How many new birds does he accept into his ramen every spring! Look how mothers and fathers teach their chicks to fly! How the whole family, even strangers, help their weak and inexperienced flight with their screams and cries! But many countries, due to the severity of the climate, are poor in their air inhabitants. To replenish this deficiency, before the beginning of each spring, led by an unknown force, numerous hosts of birds rush to these countries to take idle places, fly over immeasurable spaces, seas and mountains, but always arrive on time and in such numbers as is necessary so that the festive feast of nature is not left without guests. Finally, those birds that spend the winter with us, with the onset of spring, receive a new nature, as it were, appear in greater numbers and with new strength, having been silent and solitary until then, they become loud and try to attract attention to themselves. Looking at all this, how can one not remember the almighty command of the Creator: “and the birds... multiply... on the earth” (Gen. 1:22). Look down from above, below your feet, here, too, every spring there is a new phenomenon: whole generations of reptiles, which were nowhere to be seen in winter. Many of them are disgusting, some are even poisonous - what to do? Sin made them this way for us. Meanwhile, do not think that their appearance was a matter of some chance. No, they also appeared not of their own accord, but by the voice of the Almighty. The same word that commanded the sun and moon to stand on the firmament and decorate day and night, the same word said: “let the earth bring forth the living soul... and every creeping thing... after their kind” (Gen. 1:24-25), and now it brings them out, and no matter how much you try to translate them, it will bring them out until the end of its existence. For a person who is more deviated from nature, the seasons have less of an effect, but they still have an effect, especially spring. Willingly or unwillingly, at this time he approaches nature, enters into living communication with all creatures, and throws off many of the needs of everyday life. In fact, look at a person in winter: it is as if he is not on the face of the earth, he hides in houses, and when he appears in the world, it is difficult to recognize him as the ruler of the earth, so he is shrouded from head to toe in beasts and deaths. This is not the king of nature, but a kind of monster of all living things. Spring comes and man changes. He is no longer in a makeshift prison, confined within four walls, but in freedom, under a clear sky, in the clean air. In the field, in the forest, on the waters - everywhere a person seems to be newly created, or multiplied. And the earth, one might say, again comes under his dominion: with the onset of spring, the fields begin to furrow under his plow, rivers and seas begin to foam under his oar, the air is cut through by his sails, the very clouds part to make room for his aerial balloons. How many needs suddenly disappear from all living things when spring comes! If it had always continued, then, obviously, we would not have the need for huge dwellings, nor for a variety of clothes, nor for various means, which we now, of necessity, use to protect ourselves from the cold and storms of winter. For herbivores, spring time is the most luxurious feast: juicy and fragrant food is everywhere. Isn't that what it was like in a state of innocence? Along with an abundance of grace and decoration everywhere: spring does not spare rich clothes for anyone: many of the animals at this very time receive from the hands of nature, as renewals for the holiday, new clothes according to their appearance, and the entire kingdom of plants, from head to toe, changes its clothing, and no inventive taste will surpass those patterns with which fields and meadows are dotted in spring. Isn't that what it was like in a state of innocence? Everything living, even the unreasonable, apparently feels the advantage of spring time, and expresses its contentment and joy in whatever way it can, especially by singing. Have you ever listened to this singing? It conveys a deep feeling of life, contentment and some kind of sacred delight. This is the joy of a being resurrected from the dead, who, after everything was lost, suddenly received in abundance everything that he needed. What tirelessness of the singers! What diversity in what we sing! The very midnight is resounding with sweet sounds. A true all-night vigil of nature! In this case, the unreasonable world approaches the angelic world, where pure spirits, surrounding the throne of God, proclaim the glory of the Almighty day and night. Who, looking at these beauties of spring nature, at the joy and general contentment of creatures and listening to the choirs of birds, resounding in every grove and field, is not ready to repeat from the heart and soul what was spoken by the Creator at the end of creation: “and this is great!” (Gen. 1:31). Everyone, perhaps more than once, expressed the desire for spring to last as long as possible. But it is short-lived, shorter than all the seasons, as if as a sign that our stay in paradise was not long. Why does God’s omnipotence present us every year during spring with such a resemblance to the creation of the world and our primitive state? Is it not so that, seeing before us the repetition of the creative actions of the almighty power of God, we learn to revere the One who, when He sends His Spirit, everything is created, and when He turns away His Face, everything is troubled and ready to turn into insignificance? Transforming in the spring the entire face of the earth and, one might say, the entire world surrounding us, clothing it in a few days with beauty and splendor, the wisdom of God seems to be saying to all of us: look what I can do for you, if you are worthy of it! Look what you have lost through sin, and what you can achieve by freeing yourself from its all-destroying dominion! Yes, my brothers, no matter how beautiful spring is, but even among it there are, obviously, traces of our great, ancient losses. Reminiscent of our primitive state of innocence and bliss, it at the same time tangibly lets us know that everything beautiful around us is only one remnant of former perfections, that we, with all creatures and with all nature, are in a state of deprivation and fall. For take a closer look at the image of spring, and under the new clothing and decoration of nature you will see ancient nakedness, illness and frailty; listen to the majestic chorus of rejoicing creatures, and you will notice how it is disturbed by the deep groans of suffering creatures. Here is a vast, blooming heliport, everything is so beautiful in it, but why these withered trees, disgracing everything that grows green and blooms around them? This did not happen in heaven. Do you see, further, how the blood of a lamb being tormented by a tiger flows on this green velvet carpet? This did not happen in heaven. Look at the ruler of the earth himself, how unnaturally he is bent over the plow! In the midst of the festival of nature, when everything around him sings and rejoices, his gaze is dim, his face is sad, heavy sweat falls from his brow, and at the meal, after such labors, a piece of stale bread awaits him. This did not happen in heaven. And what is it under these flowers that decorate this recent hill so luxuriously? Here is the grave of a young man who was the only joy of his elderly mother and was lowered into the ground only a month before. This did not happen in heaven. Moreover, there were no these disorderly cries, with which violent intemperance often fills the spring air and tries to drown out the pure and holy chorus of creatures praising the Creator. Thus, the current spring, delighting the eyes and hearts with the semblance of primeval perfection, at the same time with its many phenomena makes it clear that this perfection has been lost by us, that we, along with all the nature surrounding us, are in an unnatural state, and that, therefore, we must diligently think about how to get out of this unfortunate situation and return to ourselves and nature that paradise spring, which, once begun, would never didn't end. Enough for the first time with this lesson from real spring! Amen. The more we, my brothers, reflect on the present season, the more clearly we see that it was not in vain that we chose it as the subject of our interviews from this sacred place. We were stopped by the thought that, having become preoccupied with external nature and its spring splendor, we could lose sight of our internal nature and Christian edification; instead, it is revealed that spring, involuntarily drawing attention to itself with its splendor, at the same time with many of its phenomena awakens moral self-awareness in us, clearly reminds everyone of the state of his soul and conscience, and even foretells what must happen in him and for its spiritual renewal. Therefore, without a doubt, our Savior, for the clearest depiction of heavenly truths before the people, often took comparisons from spring nature: for example, in order to show in what close and essential union all who believe in Him should be with Him, so that they will not be left without spiritual fruit, He compares Himself with a grapevine, and them with branches, which, at the onset of spring, are usually pruned and cleared by a heligrader. Following this great example, we intend to portray spring before you as an image of our spiritual resurrection from sins through faith and repentance. This image will present itself to everyone’s gaze as soon as we pay attention to the reasons from which sensual and spiritual spring occurs, to the phenomena that occur among them, and to what favors and harms them. The very origin of spring already conceals a great lesson for us. Seeing that spring comes from the multiplication and intensification of the light and warmth of the sun on earth, one can easily think that the sun is approaching the earth in spring. Meanwhile, in the spring it is further from the ground than in winter. Where does the abundance of light and warmth come from at this time? Because in spring the earth takes on a new, completely different relationship to the sun. In winter, it was indirectly related to it, which is why the rays of the sun, despite its proximity to the earth, mostly slide across it without producing heat, and in spring the earth turns our side directly to the sun, which is why the rays, despite the great distance of the sun, falling directly and being absorbed by the earth, warm the air and produce heat. This is where spring comes from - from the direct turning of the face of the earth towards the sun! Isn’t that where spiritual spring comes from? And doesn't it happen in the same way? The sinful soul is hard, insensitive and lifeless, like the earth in winter: why? Is it because the eternal Sun is far from her? No, the Lord is closer to the sinner than to the righteous by His mercy. For He Himself said: “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17). And the Apostle of Christ assures that “where sin has multiplied, there grace abounds” (Rom. 5:20). What prevents the rays of the eternal Sun from reviving the poor soul of a sinner and bringing about spiritual spring in it? The same thing that prevents the sensual sun from producing spring in winter on earth: not the direct position of the sinner in relation to the eternal Sun - God. But the earth never completely turns away from the sun, but in some part is always turned towards it in the middle of winter itself, which is why there remains on it, even in the middle of winter, albeit a short one; in the soul of a sinner, unfortunately, much more and worse can happen. Having given herself over to sin, loving darkness more than light, she completely turns from the luminous East to the dark West, completely turns away from the face of God. At the same time, the poor soul is naturally and inevitably covered by dark night and the deep darkness of sin, so that if any light remains in it, it is perhaps similar to what happens on earth at the poles during the northern lights, sometimes striking the vision with various phenomena, but not giving any life-giving warmth. And with such a lack of divine light and warmth, what kind of spiritual life can we expect? Therefore, in the sinful soul, as in nature in winter, everything is naked and covered with snow and ice, and this can be so palpable that the most peace-loving and sinners, pointing at one another in this regard, often say: “This is a man who is cold to goodness! This is not a person, but a stone!” But no matter how the sinful soul is covered with snow and covered with ice, it always has the ability to turn to the eternal Sun, and when it turns sincerely and becomes face to face with Him, then everything begins to take on a different form, and spiritual spring begins in it. How? The onset of spring in nature is revealed primarily by the abundance of light and warmth. So it is with a sinful soul. The first action of her turning to the Lord is that she begins to be illuminated by the light of God’s face. Although this illumination at first cannot be complete and complete, because the sinful soul, even if it desires, is bound and oppressed by evil habits and cannot suddenly turn its whole being to God. However, with constancy and fidelity on the part of the converted sinner, the light of grace gradually intensifies, like the light of spring, and like it not only warms the atmosphere of the soul, but, penetrating the entire icy surface of the heart, reaches the very depths of the spirit, awakening in it the remains of primitive forces and the seeds of good dispositions! For the light of grace is not like the light of earthly wisdom, which, like the night lighting of the streets, illuminates but does not warm at all, can even cause a fire, but cannot give life to a single blade of grass in the field. On the contrary, where the grace of Christ shines, there the whole human being comes into the same state as nature at the onset of spring. The person then himself feels that something extraordinary is happening to him, that he is approaching some kind of renewal and rebirth. The second sign of spring is usually the flow of water: the entire surface of the earth begins to melt and weep at this time, the very sands are wet, the very stones are wet. The same is true at the beginning of a person’s spiritual renewal through repentance: he is completely filled with contrition and tears. Just as in a state of insensibility of sin he wanted to constantly have fun and laugh, so now his dominant inclination is sadness for Voza, deepening into himself and tears. For no matter what the sinner now looks at in the light of the Face of God, to Whom he has turned, everything brings him to shame and contrition: whether he looks at himself and his soul - he sees how it is disfigured by sin, how it is all covered with ulcers and corruption - and cries, if he looks at his Redeemer and His Cross - he sees how expensive the atonement for human sins was, how little he used this precious benefit, how often even rejected the grace of pardon - and cries. The very sight of God’s mercy makes one mourn and cry, just as the meekest glance of a father brings to tears his son, who appears before him for the first time after returning from the path of destruction. “My eyes have known the issue of the water,” says Saint David, “because I have not kept Your law” (Ps. 119:136). So strong and lasting was the feeling of tearful tenderness in him, despite the great dignity of the king of Israel, which required from him a bright and cheerful face. Spring streams usually stop after a while, but these “outflows” of the waters of repentance often flow until the end of a person’s life. The earth, washed and moistened by spring waters, begins to be covered with greenery and flowers, all places on it take on a splendid appearance, capable of providing shelter and pleasure, and often food, to the traveler. It is the same with the soul, washed with tears of repentance: good thoughts and feelings surround it on all sides, between them, like fragrant flowers, appear various pious vows and humane intentions: then, like Zacchaeus, they decide to distribute half of their property to the poor and, if someone is offended by anything, to reward them with fourfold, then, like the Psalmist, they take a vow not to give sleep to their eyes and always dozing, until some holy place is visited, or something is arranged for the glory of the name of God, then, like Mary of Egypt, they condemn themselves to special feats of self-sacrifice. No matter how diverse nature is with spring flowers, the soul, renewed by grace, is more diverse and richer in the colors of virtues: there is in it the white color of innocence and purity of heart, and the red color of philanthropy and love for others, and the blue color of contemplation and spiritual wisdom, and the yellow color of abstinence and hard work. In nature, not all flowers are fragrant, some even emit a heavy smell, but in a blessed soul every flower of virtue is fragrant and gladdens the heart. The singing of birds is inseparable from spring flowers in nature. The soul that has loved the Lord is not deprived of this sign of joy. Indeed, whose voices are heard in the deserts of Thebaid and on the peaks of Lebanon and Carmel? The heat of the day and the cold of the night do not interrupt them. Didn't the Angels of God choose a place for their stay here? Was it not the forefather David who rose again, and not finding a place for himself in Jerusalem, withdrew into this solitude, for the sounds of his ten-stringed psalter are most repeated here? No, these are Saints Anthony and Euthymius with their squads, this is the great Pachomius and Savva the Sanctified with their brethren. They renounced the world and all its pernicious pleasures, devoted themselves to the exploits of a solitary life, and indeed live in the flesh as disembodied, surprising the very Angels with the exploits of fasting and self-sacrifice, but since their souls were renewed with grace, since there is spiritual spring in their hearts, then, despite their toiling life, there is unceasing spiritual joy inside them, and as “from the abundance... the hearts of the mouth speak” ( Matthew 12:34), then in no royal palace is so much singing heard as in their wretched cells, not one of the birds can compare with them in tirelessness. Sensual spring is similar to spiritual spring in that it harms and disfigures it. Spring is usually harmed by excessive drought and excessive rain: in both cases, the vegetation suffers, future fruits deteriorate, and some trees die altogether. There is also a drought in spiritual spring, when the soul is deprived of the grace-filled irrigation from above from the Spirit of God, and it is deprived when the inner prayerful desire of the heart, by which it is attracted by the all-irrigating grace of the Spirit, becomes impoverished. The lack of rain is usually made up for by watering, and this should be done in the matter of spiritual renewal. Water the hardening earth of your heart with tears of repentance until the grace of the Holy Spirit sprinkles on it. This precious water is often lacking in the treasure of the heart, in which case throw yourself on the ground and pray for the opening of the abysses of the heart, a humble prayer for this in itself will be cool from the heat. The harmful excess of moisture in spiritual spring does not occur in the same way as in sensual spring - not from above, but from below. For the grace of the All-Holy Spirit cannot give gifts in excess, harmful to the recipient, but the one who accepts them may not be able to use spiritual irrigation correctly, namely: when, instead of, like the earth, absorbing the required share of spiritual moisture, everything else is transferred to others, for their spiritual benefit, like low-lying places and without drainage, everything is retained in themselves and, without giving movement to what has been received, they are thus converted into a certain form spiritual swamp. This phenomenon happens rarely, but it does happen. For the most part, excessive and harmful humidity, which hinders spiritual growth, occurs because, having been intoxicated in various ways with good, but not free from daydreaming, feelings, they forget to come out from under the shadow of the self-made fences of piety into the clean air, under the open sky of God’s omnipresence, and place themselves under the sun of eternal love and mercy, shining from Calvary. The very tears of repentance, so beneficial for watering the hardening earth of the heart, can turn into harm with their excess precisely when the sorrow for God, from which they flow, turns into a spirit of despondency and spiritual despair, which deadens everything. After drought and excess moisture, the worm is the most damaging thing in spring. How unpleasant it can be to see a tree covered with flowers and cobwebs! In this case, this small animal seems to be an expression of some evil principle, which, as if envying the beauties of spring nature, tries to hide it from view with its web. But trees cannot be blamed for the fact that, among the flowers themselves, they are covered with a worm and a web, but when this worm and a web appear in the soul on the flowers of virtues, then the cause of this is always the person himself. This worm is self-love and self-delight in one’s perfections; it arises immediately and grows quickly as soon as the soul, renewed and blossomed by grace, forgets its insignificance and dreams that its renewal is due to its own effort and exploits, and not to the all-pervading power of the grace of Christ. Oh, beware, beloved soul, whoever you are, of this infernal worm! And on a tree it is disgusting, a hundred times more disgusting in you. On the tree it spoils the color, makes future fruits unusable, but the tree itself remains intact: in the soul, the worm of pride can spoil not only the color and fruits - the very essence of spiritual life, and turn a person from the grace-filled vine of God's grapes into a rod incapable of anything. Let us finally point out the ways in which spiritual spring is not similar to sensual spring. Firstly, for sensual spring there is an unchangeable, definite time of year - it cannot be in the middle of winter. There is no specific time for spiritual spring; it can always happen when only a sinful soul turns to God. This should bring joy and produce hope in the souls of sinners who have not yet become mired in sins to the point of not thinking about their salvation at all. On the other hand, sensual spring is always followed by summer, no one can violate this divinely established order, but spiritual spring can suddenly change to winter, the most cruel, as long as the soul, having become so careless about itself that it grieves the Spirit of grace that renews it, turns away from the all-holy Face of God and rushes into the former darkness of sin. If anyone, then people who have experienced the action of the grace of Christ, “have tasted the good word of God” (Heb. 6:5) and have become partakers of life in God, should firmly remember the warning of St. Paul: “Be careful to stand and be careful lest you fall!” (1 Cor. 10:12). Amen. Nowadays, naturalists love to look at the nature that surrounds us as a treasured church of antiquities, filled with all kinds of monuments of long-past events, and they try, through the collection of these monuments, without writing or tradition, to restore the history of the primitive world. Giving justice to their tireless labors and wishing them at the same time a very close acquaintance with the everyday life of Moses, which alone conveys a more true concept of the first days of the world and man than how much information could hitherto be extracted about that from all the difficult discoveries on the surface and in the bowels of the earth, we note that the nature that surrounds us, testifying both in appearance and in its interior about the terrible and sad past, at the same time for the attentive the observer can serve as a herald of a great and joyful future. The book of nature in this respect is similar to the book of Revelation, in which history and tale are combined and, so to speak, mixed with prophecies and omens. Therefore, the duty of the natural scientist is not to stop when considering nature on the knowledge of the past alone, but also to direct, albeit from time to time, his gaze to that great and glorious future, which, according to the remark of St. Paul, “looks forward” and for which all creation is preparing (Rom. 8:19). The time of year we are considering is also not without divinatory meaning. This is how our Lord and Savior Himself looked at spring. Remember His last conversation with His disciples on the Mount of Olives about the last days of the world. Wanting to explain to them the signs He indicated of the future end of the world and His coming, He drew their attention to what happens to the trees when spring comes. Take, He said, the example of a fig tree: “When its branches become soft and put out leaves, then you know that summer is near; So, when you see all these things, know that it is near, at the door” (Matthew 24:32–33). In a similar way, the Apostle Paul, in order to clarify the possibility of the future rise of our bodies from the dust of the earth and to protect the Gospel teaching about this from confusion, also turns to spring, and in the fate of the seeds resurrected at this time from the death of winter, he finds the fate of human bodies, which, like seeds, have to take on a new and better form on the day of general resurrection. Following these instructions, let us look, brothers, at spring, as an image and herald of future world events. Spring depicts the future renewal of the world by the uncertainty of its arrival. Everyone knows in winter that spring must come, but exactly when it will begin, not a single sage can say. In the same way, we all expect eternal spring in the new world, but when the end of the present world follows, this is unknown to anyone (incomprehensible). In vain, pious, but careless curiosity, having quickly convinced itself, then tries to convince others that it has found a way to foreknow the time of the end of the world, despite this, years and centuries come and pass, showing that they are forever placed in the power of the Lord of times and years, and therefore are not subject to any calculations and calculations by humans. It would be in vain for unbelief to take from here the pretext and reason to reject the future re-existence of the world and to undermine the teaching of the Gospel, which is so joyful for all those who suffer and are burdened, about the reward awaiting each and every one for deeds and sacrifices for virtue. After long and gloomy days of waiting, the majestic day of fulfillment will finally come: a new heaven and a new earth will appear, “in them alone righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13), and from where all sorrow and all sighing will be banished forever. Where is this new heaven and this new earth now? Here, under this old sky and this outdated earth. How a new future can be hidden for a time under the old present, this is shown to us every year by winter and spring. Nature in winter and nature in spring are so opposed to each other that it seems that they are not one, but two natures, completely different, and if someone had never seen spring, then in the middle of winter it would be difficult for him to imagine that where everything is covered with snow and ice, numb in dead insensibility, after a while everything could come to life, blossom, girdle with joy and beauty. Meanwhile, in nature, during the winter, there is all the reserve for the beauties of the coming spring - winter itself is nothing more than the necessary preparation for the secret of renewing the forces of nature, exhausted by summer fruiting, to take place under its uniform and rough cover. So, under the rough veil of the present image and composition of things, in the inner church of nature, a mysteriously beautiful view of the future new heaven and new earth is being prepared. When the preparations are completed, the secret work is completed, then the veil will be taken away and the great day of universal renewal will come. How will the veil be lifted? Just as it rises every year at the beginning of spring. And here every time there is, one might say, a rebirth of all the things surrounding us, and the sky and earth take on a new appearance: the sun, drowned in the fogs, barely throwing rays, humbly and as if reluctantly walking up the horizon, suddenly accepts its characteristic majesty, ascends to the top of the vault of heaven, throws out streams of light and warmth, the earth awakens from its winter sleep, throws off the shackles of ice and snow, is imbued with warmth and life, and wears out everything that was stored in its depths. Something similar to this, but on a much larger scale, will happen, according to the teaching of the word of God, at the end of the world. And then the main agents will be light and heat, but they will melt not only the surface of the earth, not the icy crust, but the very composition, the very heart of the earth, then, in the words of the Apostle, the very elements “will be destroyed when burned” (2 Pet. 3:10). Where will so much light and warmth come from? Where are they not now? Hit stone against stone and fire appears, strike ice against ice and there is fire. There is a flame inside every thing; you just have to excite it, and it will embrace everything visible. Just as with the onset of spring, everything that lay inside the earth and was capable of coming to life comes to life and comes to its surface, and what remained on this surface takes on a new form, so on the day of universal rebirth, all human bodies, resting like seeds in the womb of the earth, will come to life and rise from the dust. And with those of our brethren whom this great day of renewal finds alive, according to the assurance of the apostle, a change of a different kind will occur: they, without dying, will receive a new body, in accordance with the new image of a better being, 3 and since then everything will be accomplished with extraordinary power, this change, according to the assurance of the same apostle, will follow with extreme speed, as if “in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:52). Let us take from the spring, following the example of the Apostle Paul, a way to eliminate confusion about the truth of our future resurrection, from which the kindest souls sometimes become confused. For the carnal understanding, accustomed to dwell only on what the eye sees and the ear hears, and which does not know how to ascend from the visible to the invisible, the teaching of the Gospel about the resurrection of human bodies may seem incomprehensible, even unnatural. Where will the flesh come from, which has long since turned to dust and mixed with the earth, or scattered through the air? Moreover, how can those be resurrected from bodies that, having turned into the earth and become part of its vegetation, through them became food, and therefore, an accessory to other human bodies? All this seems incomprehensible and dark. And how, you thought, does St. Paul answer all this? “It’s madness...” he exclaims, “having sown, it is not the body of the future that is sown, but a bare grain, if it happens, wheat or something else from the others: God gives him a body as he pleases, and to every seed his own body” (1 Cor. 15:36-38). The comparison is very correct and therefore very convincing. For what do we really sow in the fall? Not stately and tall stems, not golden ears, but bare grain, which, during the winter, freezes, and before the onset of spring, from the increased warmth of the earth, loses its appearance and enters a state of decay, but this very decay and death serves as the basis, beginning and condition of the future stem and ear, so that those grains that did not die in this way before the onset of spring cannot produce nothing, they remain in the ground and turn to dust. Likewise, human bodies consigned to the earth are the seeds of future new bodies, in which we must be clothed on the great day of resurrection. Being in the depths of the earth, they decompose into their component parts, are cleansed through corruption from all types of frailty, and thus are prepared for the fact that from them, in due time, through the action of the almighty power of God, a pure, primeval corporeality will arise, capable of worthily clothing the immortal human spirit for all eternity. With this same comparison, taken from the seed in the spring, a completely different bewilderment is resolved: how will those bodies rise on the day of resurrection that were mixed with other bodies and apparently turned into their composition? Take the seeds of different plants in the fall and mix them as you like, then throw them into the ground and mix this earth as much as possible: you will not mix up the spring shoots, not a single seed will forget its nature: a grain of wheat will become wheat, a rose a rose, grapes a grape, everything will retain its nature, its appearance just as you would have planted it especially. Is it surprising after this if our bodies, despite their varied mixing in the dust of the earth, each retain their own nature? What constitutes in them the seed and basis of the future, eternal body, cannot be mixed with anything, cannot be transformed into anything, is indestructible and will be preserved entirely until the day of the general resurrection. All those who have fallen asleep in the sleep of death will rise on this great day. But, my God, how different will be the fate and characteristics of the rebels! The bodies of the righteous will be pure, luminous, adorned with all the perfections that are only possible for the human body, and the bodies of sinful people will express all the inner ugliness of the unclean and rejected soul. An amazing truth, apparently distant from all experience, and yet, allowing itself to be seen in part every spring by the simplest eye. Look at any garden: with the new spring, everything in it has been renewed, blooming and fragrant, and some branches and trees, which during the winter did not retain their inner life, are now bare, dry, dead and disgrace the beautiful appearance of other trees. Spring brought with it life, new clothing and beauty to the entire kingdom of plants; they alone were left with winter nakedness and ugliness. Why? Because the inner life in them has faded, the ability to take food, breathe air and move their juices has been lost. And here is a true image of a sinner on the day of future resurrection! And he will remain intact amid the general transformation of things, since human nature is indestructible and immortal, but he will be like a withered or frozen tree. When under the new heaven, on the new earth, everything comes to life and enjoys a new, better way of being, he will appear dead in spirit, ugly in body and subject to the fate of withered trees. Yes, my brethren, if a gardener does not tolerate for long so that his garden will be disfigured by dry trees in the spring, then can the Heavenly Gardener tolerate the sweets of sinners in the future paradise? And He orders that dry and dead trees be collected and thrown into eternal fire. Eternal, we say, because under the new heaven, on the new earth, everything will be eternal. What and how can this terrible fate be avoided? Obviously, not by our purity and righteousness, for where is a man who can live and not sin? What? By faith in the Lord Jesus, whose merits cover all our iniquities, whose All-Holy Blood is powerful to cleanse us from all sin. Sincere repentance for our sins, combined with the abandonment of evil habits and dark deeds, with feasible reward for our untruths and iniquities with deeds of love and humility. This is the way to a new earth and a new sky! There is no other and cannot be! Amen. How in our poor land everything blooms for a short time! How long has it been since we welcomed spring? And now it’s the end of it. The waters that cheered our city with their spring floods have long since flowed into the sea, the rivers have returned to their banks and are flowing with the same humility, the spring flowers have all faded and given way to summer fruits, the round dance of birds has fallen silent, the appearance of nature, without losing all its decoration, has become more courageous and sedate, everything shows that we are already in the middle of summer. The time of year is not as tempting as spring, but it surpasses all other times in the richness of its phenomena. Here a person reaps the fruits of his year-long labors, here nature reveals itself in its formidable powers, makes its power known with thunder and lightning, here often terrible scourges appear: hail, locusts, and so on. So many things to think about! And is it really proper for a Christian to think about all this only in relation to his earthly life, to his economy and economy?.. Ah, each of us has another economy, where sowing is not for one summer and harvest is for more than one year. Woe to the one who, having given himself up to caring for his fields and lands, forgets the field of his own heart, woe to the one who, decorating his gardens with all kinds of plants, neglects the garden of his soul! For what good does it profit if a man gains the whole world, but loses his own soul? And she will perish if we do not take care to save her, she will perish if all our time and abilities are, as often happens, absorbed by earthly concerns. With these thoughts, brethren, let us move on to our conversations about the present season, and in accordance with its properties and relation to our time of faith, we will consider summer as a time of ripening and harvesting of fruits, as a time of special phenomena in nature, as a time of special actions on the fate of man by the Providence of God. Lightning and thunder are among the most special summer phenomena in nature. This summer is especially rich in these menacing phenomena, so that they involuntarily make many people talk. Let's talk about them from this sacred place. Whose voice is this, brothers, thundering from the sky during thunder? Where does this terrible fire come from, before which all our fires are so weak and insignificant? Natural scientists explain this phenomenon in nature by force, the so-called electric force. Let us not interfere with their useful observations of this power. Let us just ask, what kind of power is this? No sage can answer this question. A force that is revealed by this or that, producing this and that, but what it itself is - no one knows. Is there really no meaning and meaning in this power? Is there really no being to whom it belongs? If thunder does not thunder without a hand to move it in our poor theatres, then doubtless there is a right hand that makes heaven and earth tremble in the vast atmosphere of nature! Whose right hand is this? Has anyone ever seen her? Saw. Who? Saint David. Tell us, God-inspired sage and prophet of Israel, what kind of electrical force is this, which we are thinking of finding out, but which none of us understands in the least? I don’t know your scientific discoveries, answers the Psalmist, but I will tell you what I saw and heard during the thunder. And I saw power, but the power of Jehovah, and I heard a voice, but the voice of God, “the voice of the Lord on the waters... The voice of the Lord in strength, the voice of the Lord in splendor. The voice of the Lord crushing the cedars... the voice of the Lord cutting off the flames of fire, the voice of the Lord cutting off the wilderness... the voice of the Lord making the trees grow" (Ps. 29:3-5, 7, 9). See how the ear of the prophet followed the thunder everywhere, and everywhere heard only the voice of God! But are only prophetic ears capable of this? Look at the very last commoner, caught by a thunderstorm in the field he is cultivating; with a flash of lightning, he reverently bares his head and marks himself with a cross. What is this if not a consequence of the fact that he hears the voice of God? And why does he hear? Because the false knowledge and soulless insensibility of the cities did not have time to drown out in him the feeling of nature, which always immediately recognizes the closeness of the Creator to itself. And does he recognize them in some people? No, in the most unreasonable animals. Transport your thoughts to the sultry countries of the equinoctial lands, where life and vegetation are at their highest, but where hurricanes with thunder and lightning are also raging to the highest degree, and stand at the entrance to this cave. In ordinary times you will see there a struggle to the death between all living things: a terrible snake fights a tiger, a lion fights a hyena. But then a thunderstorm comes, and the earthly battle subsides. All living things strive for the cave, both large and small animals, which in ordinary times do not tolerate each other. Now they are all together, calmly lying one next to the other, and you yourself can hide under its arch. What reconciled everyone, united cruelty and bloodthirstiness? The voice of God, the presence of Him whose word never returns. Oh, if the voice of God, thundering from the clouds, always did over people what it does over lions and tigers!.. There is no insensitive person who, during strong strikes of thunder, would not be shaken and would not feel a certain kind of horror. Everyone sees what a terrible force is bursting over his head, everyone feels that in one moment he will be thrown into dust. What does the voice of God, thundering in the clouds, want to inspire us with? Mercy or Wrath? Ah, this is not how heavenly mercy is proclaimed, this is not, without a doubt, how the Most High spoke to us when we were in paradise in a state of innocence, this is not how He appeared to His chosen ones later, when He deigned to honor them with His revelation. A coward passed before Elijah, and the Lord did not pass in a coward; fire passed, and not in fire, but in a thin spirit of coldness. If He appears to us in fire and in cowardice, it is because we are all like the ancient Israelites, who from Sinai had to pronounce the law in lightning and thunder. Therefore, every time, brothers, when I hear thunder, I imagine the ill-fated fall of our first parents; it seems that I hear the voice of God walking in paradise and asking: “Adam, where are you!” (Gen. 3:9). And then it was necessary to exchange the quiet voice of a friend for the voice of a seeker and a judge, for our forefather, persecuted by conscience, was already hiding from the One to whom he had always been ready to fly on windy wings. And now, after so much time has passed, with the increase of crimes and insensitivity, when the hearts of people have become clothed, when it is so hard for the ears to hear, now a thunderous voice is needed to make Himself known. Yes, at least make Himself known, for there are people who are ready to say with Pharaoh: and who is God? Is food strength and intelligence in the Most High? There is, the sky answers with a thunderous voice, there is so much that in an instant a person can be turned to dust. In fact, brethren, if any phenomenon in nature, then thunder shows that all the threats of God to unrepentant sinners must come true in all force and accuracy. Looking at the quiet azure of the sky, cooling off with the light breath of the breeze, reclining on the velvet of flowers woven by the hand of spring, one can easily think that only goodness lives in the sky, that the law has no necessary fence, that one can break it and not be afraid of anything. But now, the sky begins to frown, clouds appear, the approach of clouds is heard, and the criminal’s brow, shining with the desire of sensuality, also begins to darken, inside him the voice of conscience also begins to be heard, she begins to cry out to him: “Stop, unfortunate one, heavenly wrath is upon you.” There is God, the judge of the earth, there is the avenger of innocence and the punisher of crimes. Do you see what arrows He has? If here, on the land of mercy, He is angry and terrible, then how will He appear in the land of righteousness and during the time of retribution and judgment? And how will you stand before His Face? There are still moments, gloomy and pitiful, moments of doubt, a consequence of our damaged nature and ordinary cooling towards faith, when we feel an involuntary disbelief in the most holy truths, we ask, for example, if not others, then ourselves: “Will our huge world really be destroyed, as Scripture teaches, and everything will burn from fire?” But where can we get fire for such a huge mass of matter? Lightning begins to flash, intensifies more and more, the rain pours in streams, but does not stop the heavenly fire, but seems to multiply it, the whole sky is in flames, the air burns from end to end, the earth groans and trembles, and unbelief dissipates, for we see how everything around us is filled with fire, as soon as we awaken it, and how easy this awakening is! If our atmosphere ignites - and everything on earth, the earth itself will burn, and from the brilliance of God’s lightning that tempting thought will disappear, how the fire of hell can always burn and not burn out, for lightning shows that even now there is fire, which does not need any food, and which, as it were, has a natural property - to strike and pursue. How, however, this fire of justice, in accordance with the property of our present redemptive state on earth, is bound and curbed by mercy and patience! How many thunders thunder every year! How many of them will fall to the ground! How many chapters attracting the wrath of heaven! But how a little amazed! In general, it belongs to rare cases. Meanwhile, the beneficial benefits of thunder and lightning are constant, everywhere. Wherever a cloud with thunder passes, the air is refreshed, the earth with all its plants receives new strength and life. In this regard, thunder and thunderstorms serve as a living symbol of temporary misfortunes that befall us: misfortunes are sent to us by wise providence for the same purpose as thunder roars, to bring us to our senses, to make us look around where we are and what is wrong with us, to turn to heaven, to remember our God, the final end and eternity. If we do not close our ears to the inner broadcasts of our conscience during misfortunes, then, enduring them in the spirit of faith and repentance, we see in ourselves the same thing that happens to the earth during a thunderstorm: the air of thoughts becomes purer, the heart becomes softer, everything good arises from the depths of the soul. Even if, after misfortunes, something in our fate, as after a thunderstorm, seems to be refuted, broken, then this is to our great benefit, for this refuted, broken thing was the very thing that attracted heavenly wrath to us, and without being refuted and destroyed, it would have refuted and destroyed us forever. Let us not forget, finally, brethren, that moments of thunder are always moments of fate, and we, having begun to hear the voice of God from heaven, can never be absolutely sure that we will listen to his very last broadcast. This formidable unknown should force us to spend the time of the storm in feelings of faith and repentance, in such feelings with which we could appear before the One whose voice we hear. Therefore, it is best for anyone to be at prayer during a thunderstorm. This is the best warning against lightning. Get on your knees, raise your eyes and hands to the sky and say: “Lord, I hear Your voice, forgive me if I am not ready, like my forefather, to appear before You, but I do not want to run away from Your most angry Face. Here is my criminal head, strike, if you wish, with Your truth, only having struck, cleansed, accept into the arms of Your love!” Whoever cannot put himself to prayer during a thunderstorm, for example, being surrounded by people or for another reason, stand for prayer internally, gather your thoughts, direct them to heaven, and say in the depths of your heart: “Righteous God, be merciful to me a sinner!” There is no need, brethren, to prove the usefulness of this advice; it is more necessary to point out and expose the unfortunate custom of some during a thunderstorm. In order to show false generosity, to appear above others, at this time they put on a completely inappropriate mask of dispassion, even insolence, invent various means of blaming others, utter indecent jokes, and dare to wickedly mock heaven itself. What could be more indecent than this behavior?.. What is crazier than fighting with heaven?.. It will not enter into an argument with you, will not diminish to your baseness, but instead of generosity, you reveal your empty insignificance. In fact, brethren, do not think that this insolence in these people comes from any kind of generosity; no, its source is either pretense or insensibility. Alas, it is not the first time for a man to pretend before the very sky! An example of this was given by Cain. And insensibility comes precisely from a lack of spirit and from an excess of flesh. The great spirit is revealed in a person, first of all, through the fact that he knows how to understand and feel the great, to bow before the infinite. “Only fear God,” says the Wise One, “he is great,” for whoever fears God fears no one, and when is it more fitting to fear Him, if not when heaven and earth tremble before Him? Amen. After other seasons, our last season has finally arrived - winter! What a contrast in all visible nature with what happened in the summer and especially in the spring! Then everything and everywhere was in full swing with life, now there is numbness and death everywhere! The fields froze, having lost both their natural and artificial diversity and were shrouded in a white shroud of snow for the whole winter, the waters froze, hiding, as if in a coffin, under a thick crust of ice that does not bend under the greatest weights, the trees froze and, having shed their leaves, stand motionless, like dry skeletons planted in the ground, the very air froze, no longer enlivened by all-tearing lightning, nor the all-shaking sounds of thunder, nor the sweet singing of birds, nor the fragrance of flowers. The sun itself, this universal source of life and movement, every day, sinks more and more from heaven to earth and seems to become impoverished in light. Of the animals, some retired to warm countries, others stopped their activities and hid in the bowels of the earth, and others, without moving away from our eyes, plunged into a sleep similar to death. One person remained, as before, on constant guard over labor and sorrow. But it is winter time and for him there is a time of some inactivity and involuntary rest. And the plow, and the oar, and the scythe, and the sickle now stand idle, only one endless struggle of man lasts against the fury of the elements, which with the onset of each winter apparently becomes fiercer again. Woe to the one who lost his way on the field amidst the blizzard! Woe to the one who, although sitting in a hut, does not have something to cover his nakedness with, or light (light) a fire on his hearth! Such is winter! The time of year is gloomy, inhospitable, soporific, deadening! How did she enter the circle of seasons? Was it originally introduced by the hand of the Creator, or did it come after sin disturbed the order of nature? If the words of God are silent about this, it would be bold to attempt to resolve this issue, so as not to subject the unchanging preaching of the Gospel to the changeable fate of the lessons of human wisdom, which through the mouth of one rejects what is affirmed through the mouth of another. Instead, it will be much more useful to note and say that if winter is now so difficult for man and hostile to him, it is because, as a result of the transgression of the commandment of Eden, he fell from the height of godlikeness and independence under the unusual and therefore destructive dominion of the rough elements. If a person were immune to cold (and he would be such, remaining in a state of primitive perfection), then winter, even if it existed in its present form, would not have had the destructive influence on him that it does now. Then, instead of the exhausting concern for constant protection from the cold, each of us could calmly indulge in our business and instructive contemplation of new phenomena in nature, which are represented by winter and which other seasons do not have. Given our current, as the apostle puts it, “enslavement to the elements... of the world” (Gal. 4:3), for this very reason, obviously, it is not so easy and convenient for us to now notice in the structure of the earth the greatness and goodness of the creative Hand, but on the other hand, precisely because of this sad and unusual enslavement for us, it is even more necessary for us to delve into this in order to somehow come to terms with our bonds and stop looking at the whole season, as hostile to our well-being. No, winter, for all the severity of its appearance, like all other seasons of the year, is not an enemy and destroyer, but our friend and helper; it is full of such phenomena and pictures that involuntarily make every attentive viewer revere the Creator of years and times. To be convinced of this, let us, in accordance with the present season, make at least a brief overview of winter phenomena in nature, imitating the Psalmist, who did not consider even his prophetic dignity alien - to turn from contemplating the mysteries of the kingdom of grace to considering hail clouds and winter storms. The descent of winter upon us is rarely not accompanied by storms and darkness, reminiscent of that primeval chaos from which the whole real world was once exhumed. Anyone who has been on a field or among the waves of the sea at such a time knows the cruelty of such moments. This is a time of horror and destruction! Can we then expect any consideration or order in this chaos? Meanwhile, during such storms, not a single snowflake falls from the sky, which would not, firstly, be inspected, tidied up and even decorated with all care, and which, secondly, would not indicate on the face of the earth its place and relationship to other similar atoms. To be convinced of all this, you should only carefully catch a few snowflakes, flying in this darkness in millions, and examine them with a magnifying glass: they will amaze you with the regularity and at the same time the elegance of their appearance. The variety in details is endless, but the main and essential form is all the same: it is the appearance of a star, the neck is based on one line placed in the middle of the other - or a cross! Is it possible after this to deny the existence of a certain all-artistic Hand, from which, during storms and blizzards, this wondrous multi-cross of stars every time rains down on us from the clouds? There is apparently no need for such a significant form for a Christian (for who pays attention to the appearance and composition of falling snowflakes, except for a small number of naturalists?). But the omnipotent right hand of the Creator is such that nothing can come out of it without thought and meaning, and so, every snowflake has an appearance not only correct and graceful, but, one might say, sacred, and even those who, overwhelmed by pseudoscience, would not want to see the Christian Sacraments even in the Gospel, will be forced to encounter reminders of them in the most ordinary phenomena of the same elemental world to which they are accustomed to limit their research. After this, you involuntarily expect that even after the end of the storm and blizzard, in the snow that has fallen from the sky, not disorder will appear, but something also worthy of attention. And indeed, take the trouble to go out into any field at this time, and look with attention at this new snow-white cover that covers the entire surface of the earth: everything that fell from the sky, no matter how it swirled in the air, no matter how much it argued with each other, but finally fell in order, settled down in a friendly manner and made up many different figures, each of which is worth attention. How many lines are there, straight, broken, converging, diverging, concave, convex, circular! All the geometry is here! And despite the cold and lifelessness of winter, not only everything is in its place, but nothing is devoid of taste and splendor. Do you notice how gracefully this rough and ugly ravine has been transformed by snow? What a regular and thin cornice above it! What playful inward curves! What a clean finish! This is marble from a sculptor’s chisel! And how many such marbles, such sculpture! All this grace and all this artistry in the decoration of snowy masses will go unnoticed not only where there is no man, but also where he is, for how many would want to philosophize about snow? But the creative Hand has no need to know whether or not there is an audience for its works, producing everything in weight, number and measure, it satisfies itself and cannot produce otherwise than in accordance with its dignity, that is, well-measured and magnificent. We come to the same kind of thoughts and feelings when we pay attention to the freezing of water. At the end of winter, they will hastily break the ice without any rules and throw it in rough blocks into your glaciers, but do you know how many laws were observed during its formation in the fall? Here, on the most insignificant channel or pond, what once happened in the same form to huge mountain ranges during the formation of these terrible masses of stone, which cannot be looked at without surprise and fear, was repeated in the same form. All this and much more sufficiently convinces everyone that the harsh and heavy clothing that winter, with its appearance, throws on the surface of the earth to protect what is entrusted to its depths from excessive cold and death, that, I say, this clothing, although apparently put together in the most random way, falls from the clouds at different times and in parts, but in its entirety it is arranged each time by the Hand of the multi-artistic, according to a predetermined model, in proper proportions and with all possible decorations. Do you want to see the grace of this clothing in all its beauty? Go to any grove during frost. At this time, winter apparently competes with spring in ingenuity and grace. Victory is difficult, because spring has many colors, but winter has one color - white. But here almost more is made from one color than from many there! These luxurious curtains cover from the roots to the top both large and small trees! This is a lot of pearls and diamonds sparkling in the light of the sun and moon! This motionless, majestic appearance of plants, as if carved from ivory! This is a significant silence and silence! This twilight during the day and half-light at night! It is obvious that without these winter paintings the amphitheater of nature would lose one of its best decorations. And how many of them there are in every grove and oak grove, in every garden and alley! How much a person would value such a phenomenon if he could produce it! But for the celestial Artist it means nothing. The south wind blew - and the luxury disappeared, and everything was exposed! A day later the north wind will blow again - and again the same splendor and luxury! From what happens in winter on the surface of the earth, and for the most part even under the feet of man, let us now direct our gaze and thoughts to the winter sky, which, as can be assumed in advance, will not lag behind the earth in revealing creative omnipotence and all-providential goodness to man. Throughout the summer, and even autumn, our air sky, as is known, often presents the most menacing and instructive pictures for humans with its rain, thunder and lightning. In winter, these all-shaking voices of Jehovah are not heard from the sky, but instead of them other, more meek and silent signs appear over a person’s head, but all the more telling for his gaze and reflection. In fact, when will you see in the sky, if not in the cold of winter, then two, then three suns, and as many or more moons? The luminary of the day seems to feel that he alone is not enough and is not enough to fight the scum (frost) and cold that deadens the earth, and multiplies his face, the moon follows his example. What regular, majestic and at the same time significant figures sometimes surround these luminaries in winter! Especially when there is a cross between them! Here, not only common people, but also the natural scientist, if he is not insensitive from the arrogance of his mind, is ready, abandoning all philosophizing, to fly with reverent thought to this miraculous sign of universal salvation, and to kiss it in the spirit of faith and love. When looking at such a phenomenon, the prophetic words of the Gospel involuntarily come to mind: “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven: and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn” (Matthew 24:30). I would like to know what a Jew and a Mohammedan feel when they see the sun and moon in the sky, crowned in this way with a cross of rays? I would like to see our imaginary Old Believers at this time and ask them: “Why is the cross in heaven never with eight ends, but always four-pointed, that is, the way the Holy Church depicts and honors it? Would there really not be enough light and rays in the sky if it were necessary to show on earth a cross with eight ends?” But here is a new wonderful phenomenon in the sky, the beginning, meaning and purpose of which, like some prophetic symbols, have not yet been solved by anyone. We want to talk about the so-called northern lights, so-called only northern lights, because they also happen on the southern edge of the earth, but are invisible to us, who live in the north. Has anyone seen them? In the middle of the dark night, a dark semicircle suddenly appears in the north, at the very end of the sky, which is soon surrounded by light, similar to the best morning dawn. From the midst of this semicircle, streams of rays and light then erupt upward and to the sides, which often form various remarkable figures of mountains, forests, palaces, churches, even the likeness of living beings and fighting armies. At other times, the center of this wonderful light appears in the form of a certain throne with a rainbow crown on top of it, so that whoever is familiar with the Holy Scriptures involuntarily recalls the mysterious manifestation of the glory of God, as it is depicted in the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:26) and in the wonderful Revelation (Apocalypse) of John (Rev. 4:3). Where does this light come from and what does it mean without the sun, these midnight illuminations of half the sky and half the earth? In response to this, science has so far been unable to say anything reliable. Meanwhile, for any unscientific viewer it is clear that it is like a certain impulse of the earth, among the long month-long nights at the poles, to replace the light of the sun for itself and surround itself with its own radiance, independent of it. Is this possible? Not only is it possible, but there certainly must be no time. For in the word of God it is decisively promised for our earth, after its future cleansing and re-creation by fire (2 Pet. 3:12), such a state in which, to illuminate itself, it will no longer have any “need for the present sun” (Rev. 21:23). But all this is still in the future, perhaps very distant, do these phenomena serve, they will ask, for anything now? .. They serve, and not for little: through these radiances, the darkness of the nights at the northern and southern ends of the earth is very beneficially moderated, those nights, which, continuing continuously for several months, without such temporary insights would be unbearable for all living things, especially for humans. Isn’t this a new impulse to revere the all-providential goodness of the Creator, about whom in this case, too, it is necessary to say in the words of Saint David: “For the darkness shall not be darkened from Thee, and the night shall be enlightened as for the day: as is its darkness, so is its light” (Ps. 139:12). From the great and distant, and therefore, although majestic, but unknown to many of us, phenomenon, do you want to move on to the closest, very small, but nevertheless remarkable winter phenomenon?.. For this, let us descend from the heights of the air, leave the edges of the globe, turn to our homes and enter the first house we come across, not of a rich man, but, if you like, of the very last of the common people. What is this here on the half-broken glass?.. Some rare patterns unknown to art. The material is apparently the simplest - snow and ice, but the skill in the work is extraordinary! Who is this invisible cunning man who can so skillfully build from nothing? If you ask science about all this, she will say that here the external cold fought with the internal heat, and this fight was reflected in patterns on the glass. Okay, but why was it reflected by such painting?.. Internal heat, continues science, was deposited on the glass in the form of moisture, and external cold, thickening it, clothed it in different forms. Why such and not others? Why do these forms resemble creatures from different kingdoms of nature? Science is silent... Let's look at the painting itself. Some of the lower layers are laid out like sands on foothill valleys, like sometimes clouds in the sky, but lo and behold, above them there is already a semblance of stones! Here are whole rows of crystals! How did these species from distant mountains appear on this glass?.. On top of the stones, and sometimes along with them, there are plants large and small - where are they from? Isn't this the essence of the herbs and flowers that grew under your window in the summer? But among these plants there are those that are not only in your garden, but also in our area, which grow only in another, often the most remote part of the globe. By what miracle were they transported from such a distance to your house, to your glass? No matter how much you argue, you can’t help but finally say in response that in this phenomenon, despite its smallness and insignificance, one can see the action of that all-creative force, which in the small, as well as in the great, exceeds our comprehension, for which there are no distances or obstacles, for which everywhere and always there are ready models for all kinds of works. Thus, wherever you turn your thoughts - whether to the mountain, to the heavenly bodies, or to the valley, to what is under our feet, to the edge of the globe, where human courage has not yet reached, or to the first hut that comes along the way - winter, with its appearances, everywhere presents objects that awaken in our souls the thought of that Right Hand, Which, having once been extracted. everything from insignificance, has not yet ceased to show everywhere the wealth of His creative power, as inexhaustible as it is inexplicable for the human mind. After this, it is not at all surprising when you hear how the holy Psalmist calls on “fire, hail, snow, bareness and stormy spirit” to praise the name of the Lord, and calls them those who do “His word” (Ps. 149:8). Rather, one should be surprised at how man, being a rational being, often sees in these phenomena nothing but the dead movement of matter and chance. No, in the world of God there is no place for chance. Here everything is weighed, measured, determined! The seasons, which have such a great and varied influence on the fate of man and all animate beings, especially could not be left to the unreasonable flow of the forces of nature, especially winter, since the time is especially harsh and can be detrimental to humans. Therefore, opening the Holy Scriptures, wherever we find an image of winter, we everywhere find it presented as a direct product of the power of God. “By the command of the Lord,” says the wise Sirach, “the snow pours out... Like soaring birds the snow falls, and like the spring that settles when it falls... Islanu throws salt on the ground like salt, and when frozen it becomes sharp at the ends. The cold north wind will howl, and the ice will freeze from the water... and like the water will be clothed in armor” (Sir. 43:14, 19-22). And in the book of Job, the Lord Himself, in demonstration of His omnipotence and human powerlessness, asks the righteous man: “Have you come into the treasures of snow, and have you seen the treasures of hail... From whose belly comes ice; Who gave birth to Slana in heaven" (Job. 38:22, 29), that is, as if the Lord was speaking like this: can you not only bring winter down from heaven to earth, but even understand how I send it every year for so many centuries at the appointed time for your good? Guided by these instructions from the word of God, let us try to rise, my brothers, to a true view of the nature that surrounds us, and winter will become for us what it should be according to the Creator’s intention, that is, an essential part of the same great mirror of nature, in which, according to the testimony of St. Paul, “the essence of the invisible of God from the creation of the world by the mind of the created was visible” (Rom. 1:20 ) for our instruction, comfort and guidance! Amen. You might be interested in: