Слово 3. В котором Григорий Богослов оправдывает удаление свое в Понт, по рукоположении во пресвитера и потом возвращение оттуда, также учит, как важен сан священства и каков должен быть епископ 10

1. I am defeated and admit victory over myself. I obeyed the Lord and prayed to Him (Ps. 36:7). So let the most blessed David begin my word, or, better to say, He who spoke in David and who still speaks through him! For for a beginner, every word and deed is the best order - to begin with God and end with God. As for the reason for my previous reluctance and cowardice, for which I ran away and settled (Ps. 54:8) for a considerable time away from you, perhaps those who wanted me to stay with you, as well as about the reason for my present submission and change, for which I myself returned to you, let everyone speak and think in their own way; since one hates, and the other loves, the other does not excuse me, and the other even approves of me. People find it most pleasant to talk about other people's affairs, especially if they are carried away by either favor or hatred, in which case the truth is most often hidden from them. But I, putting aside shame, will present the truth for both sides, that is, for those accusing me and for those defending me, I will diligently be a truthful mediator, accusing myself of some things and justifying myself in others. 2. And so that my words go in the proper order, I will say first about what happened to me before - about my timidity. For I cannot bear to be tempted by some of those who carefully observe all my actions, whether they are correct or not (since God wants me to mean something to Christians), and those who are tempted, if there are any, I will heal with this protective word. It is best not to put stumbling blocks or temptations in front of others, without sinning or even giving suspicion, as long as this is possible and as much as the strength of the mind is sufficient; because we know what inevitable and grave punishment the Unfalse One has determined (Titus 1:2) for those who have seduced even one of the little ones. 3. But I was subjected to this, brethren, not out of ignorance and misunderstanding, on the contrary (I will boast at least a little) - for other reasons, and not because I despised God’s laws and commands. Just as in the body, some are in charge and, as it were, presiding, and others are under command and control, so in the Churches (whether according to the law of justice, which rewards according to dignity, or according to the law of Providence, which binds everything together), God decreed that some, for whom this is more useful, guided by word and deed to their duty, remain flocks and subordinates, and others, standing above others in virtue and closeness to God, should be shepherds and teachers. to the perfection of the Church and had to others the same relationship as the soul to the body and the mind to the soul, so that both, insufficient and abundant, being, like bodily members, united and conjugated into one composition, combined and bound by the union of the Spirit, represented one body, perfect and truly worthy of Christ Himself - our Head. 4. Therefore, I do not think that anarchy and disorder are more useful than order and authority, both for everything else and for people; on the contrary, they are least useful to people who are threatened with the most important danger. For them, if they do not comply with the first requirement of reason, so as not to sin, the second is important, so that those who have sinned are returned to the true path. And since it is good and fair to be a boss and a subordinate, then, in my opinion, it is equally bad and equally contrary to order for everyone to desire authority and for no one to accept it. When everyone began to avoid this leadership, or, more correctly, ministry, then the beautiful fullness of the Church would lack the most significant things and it would no longer be beautiful. Moreover, where and by whom would our mysterious and uplifting divine service, which is most excellent and venerable among us, be performed, if there were no king, no prince, no priesthood, no sacrifice (Hos. 3:4), or all that, as the most important, the disobedient of old were deprived of as punishment for great crimes? 5. On the other hand, it is not at all strange and not out of order that many of the godly wise from the subordinates ascend to the level of superior; this is not contrary to the rules that wisdom prescribes, and is not reprehensible; as well as the fact that a skilled shipbuilder is given control of the ship’s bow, and someone who, while steering the bow, knows how to observe the winds, is given the helm; or (if you prefer) a courageous warrior becomes the leader of a detachment, and a good leader of a detachment is entrusted with the entire army and the management of all military affairs. And I was not ashamed of the degree of rank, wanting a higher one, which, perhaps, some of the good-for-nothing and evil people who judge others by their own passions will think. I understand both God’s greatness and human baseness not so little as not to recognize it as a great thing for every created nature to at least somewhat approach God, Who is the only one who is most luminous, most glorious and surpasses in purity all material and immaterial nature. 6. So, what happened to me? What was the reason for my disobedience? It seemed to many that I was not myself then, that I had become a completely different person than they knew me, that I resisted and persisted more than was permissible. Therefore, listen to the reasons, you who have long desired to know them. I was especially struck by the surprise, like a man struck by sudden thunder, I could not gather my thoughts; and therefore he transgressed the modesty to which he had accustomed himself all his life. Then some kind of attachment to the blessings of silence and solitude took possession of me. Loving him from the very beginning, as hardly anyone else involved in the sciences loved, in the most important and most dangerous circumstances for me, having made a vow to God of a silent life, even having already touched it, as if I was on the threshold, and, upon learning, inflamed with great desire, I could not bear the coercion, did not allow myself to be plunged into rebellion and forcibly distracted from such a life, as if from a sacred refuge. 7. It seemed to me that it was best to close off the senses, renounce the flesh and the world, gather within oneself, without extreme need not touching anything human, conversing with oneself and with God, to live above the visible and to carry within oneself Divine images, always pure and not mixed with earthly and deceptive impressions, to be and continually become a truly pure mirror of God and the Divine, to acquire light to the light - to less the most radiant one, to reap with hope the blessings of the future century, to cohabit with the Angels and, while still on earth, to leave the earth and be lifted up by the Spirit. If any of you are embraced by this love, you will understand what I am saying and will forgive the then state of my spirit. But my words will not convince, perhaps many, namely all those to whom this kind of life seems ridiculous, to which they are not disposed either due to their own unreason, or because others go through it unworthily; reinforced by envy, also by ill-will and the tendency of many to do worse, they call good things bad, and call wisdom vanity. And because of this, they certainly sin in one of two things - either they do evil, or they do not believe in good. 8. Besides this, something else happened to me (I will reveal my whole secret to you); I don’t know whether this is noble or not, but it was so. I was ashamed for others who, being no better than others (if not worse), with unwashed hands, as they say, with unclean souls, take up the most holy work and, before they become worthy to begin the priesthood, rush into the sanctuary, crowd and jostle around the Holy Table, as if they consider this office not a model of virtue, but a means of subsistence, not a service subject to responsibility, but by superiors who do not give an account. And such people, poor in piety, pitiful in their very splendor, are almost more numerous than those over whom they rule; so that with the continuation of time, this evil will not remain, as I think, over whom to rule - when everyone will teach instead of, as God’s promise says, being taught by God (Is. 54:13), everyone will begin to prophesy and, according to the ancient legend, according to the ancient parable, Saul will also be a prophet (1 Sam. 10:11). Other vices from time to time intensified and then ceased; but nothing has ever happened, now or before, in such a multitude as these shameful deeds and sins are now among Christians. But if we are unable to stop the striving of evil, then at least hating and being ashamed of it is not the last degree of piety. 9. But here is the last reason, which is more important than those given; for I am already touching on the most important thing in the word and will not lie (which would be impermissible for someone discussing such a subject); I did not think and now I do not think that leading a herd of sheep or oxen and ruling human souls means the same thing. There it is enough for the oxen or sheep to become the fattest and fattest. And to this end, the one who shepherds them will choose places rich in water and grain, drive the herds from one pasture to another, give them rest, raise them from their places and gather others with a rod, and most with a pipe. A shepherd of sheep and oxen has no other business; Perhaps sometimes he will have to fight a little with wolves and look after sick cattle. Most of all, he is most concerned about the oak tree, the shadow, the pipes, and the fact that he can lie down on the beautiful grass, make a bed of greenery by the chilly water under the breeze, sometimes sing a love song with a glass in his hand, talk with oxen or sheep, and eat or sell the fattest of them. But no one will ever take care of the virtue of sheep or oxen. For what kind of virtue do they have? And which of the shepherds preferred what was good for the flock to their own pleasure? 10. But for a person who hardly knows how to be under authority, it seems to be much more difficult to be able to rule over people, especially to have such authority as ours, which is based on God’s law and leads to God, in which the greater the height and dignity, the greater the danger even for those who have intelligence. And, firstly, like silver and gold, circulating everywhere, in every circumstance and deed, it should not sound like a counterfeit and unclean coin, and should not at all contain a worse substance that would require the strongest fire. Otherwise, the greater the evil that will happen, the more people he controls; because a vice that spreads to many is greater than a vice that stops at one. 11. And it is not so convenient for fabric to absorb indelible dye and close things to take on a stench or incense from one another, it does not so quickly spread into the air and some harmful evaporation is transmitted from the air to animals, producing an infection and called infection, as subordinates usually quickly absorb the vices of their superior, and even vices are much easier than the opposite of vice - virtue. This is why vice especially takes precedence over virtue. And I grieve most of all at the thought that vice is a task that conveniently excites us to competition and is carried out without difficulty, that it is easier than anything else to become vicious, even if no one guided us in it; on the contrary, the acquisition of virtue is a rare and difficult task, even though there are many attractions and incentives to it. This very thought, as I think, was what the most blessed Haggai had when he was brought to this wonderful and very true image. “Ask the priests about the law,” he says. “Will sacred meat touching a robe, any food, drink, or vessel immediately sanctify what comes close to it?” And when the priests said: “No,” “Ask again,” he said. “When something touches an unclean thing, doesn’t it immediately take on the filth?” To this they said: “He will accept it, and because of the message he will no longer be clean” (Hag. 2:13, 14). 12. What does this mean? Same thing I'm saying. Virtue is as inconvenient to human nature as fire is to moist matter; but the majority of people are ready and able to accept bad things into themselves, like reeds, which, due to their dryness, easily ignite and burn in the wind from a spark. For everyone rather accepts a small vice to a greater extent than a high virtue to a small extent. So a small amount of wormwood immediately imparts its bitterness to honey, but honey does not impart its sweetness to wormwood in double measure. Pull out a small stone - it will drag the entire river into the open; the hardest dam can hardly hold and block it. 13. So, the first thing that we should be afraid of from what we have said is that we do not turn out to be bad painters of wonderful virtue, especially an unsuitable original for other painters, perhaps not bad, but many, or so that we do not fit into the proverb: we undertake to heal others, but we ourselves are covered with scabs. 14. Secondly, if any of us kept himself, even as pure as possible, from all sin, I still don’t know whether this is enough for someone who is preparing to teach others virtue. To whom this is entrusted, he not only must not be vicious (many of those subordinate to him also abhor this), but must be distinguished by virtue, according to the commandment commanding him to deviate from evil and do good (Ps. 37:27, 33:15). He is obliged not only to erase bad images in his soul, but also to imprint better ones, so that he may surpass others in virtue more than he is superior to them in dignity. He should not even know the measure of goodness and in the ascent to perfection, consider not so much a profit what is acquired, but a loss what is not achieved, always turn what has been accomplished into a step towards the highest and think low of himself if he surpasses many, but recognize it as a loss if he does not correspond to his rank in some way. 15. He should measure his successes by the commandment, and not by the example of his neighbors (whether they are vicious or have some success in virtue), not to weigh on small scales the virtue that we owe to the Great One, from Whom is everything and for Whom is everything, not to think that the same thing is appropriate for everyone; since not everyone has the same age, the same facial features, the nature of animals is not the same, the qualities of the earth, the beauty and greatness of the stars are not the same. On the contrary, one should consider it a vice in a private person that he has done something bad, deserves punishment and is strictly tormented by the law itself, and in a leader and primate - even the fact that he has not achieved possible perfection and does not constantly succeed in good, because he needs, by the superiority of his virtue, to attract the people to order and not to curb them by force, but to bring them to order through conviction. For everything that is done involuntarily, besides being violent and unpraiseworthy, is also fragile. What is forced, like a plant forcibly bent by hand, is quickly left in the wild and usually returns to its previous position. On the contrary, what is done according to free will, what is held together by the bonds of heartfelt affection, is both very legal and at the same time reliable. Therefore, our law and the Lawgiver Himself especially commands us to feed the flock not by need, but by will (1 Pet. 5:2). 16. Let us even assume that another is blameless and has ascended to the very top of virtue; I still don’t see how, having stocked himself with knowledge, what kind of strength he relied on, he would dare to take on such authority. For to rule man, the most cunning and changeable animal, in my opinion, is truly the art of the arts and the science of the sciences. This can be confirmed by everyone if he compares the healing of souls with the treatment of bodies, learns how difficult the latter is, and understands how much our healing is even more difficult, and at the same time preferable, both in terms of the nature of the person being treated, and in the power of knowledge, and in terms of the purpose of healing. One works on bodies, on matter that is perishable and tends to fall, on matter that will certainly be destroyed and suffer its fate, although now with the help of art the disorder that has occurred in it will be overcome; for the body, having yielded to nature and without leaving its limits, will be destroyed either by disease or by time. 17. And the other cares about the soul, which came from God and is divine, which participates in the heavenly nobility and hastens to it, although it is associated with the worst (perhaps for other reasons, which are known to the only God who united it with the body, and perhaps to the one who was taught such secrets by God himself, but as far as I and people like me know) for the following two purposes. Firstly, so that the soul could inherit the mountain glory for the feat and for the struggle with the earthly and, having been tempted here by them, like gold by fire, received what was hoped for as a reward for virtue, and not only as a gift from God. And, of course, this is the height of God’s goodness, that good is made our property, not only instilled in us by nature, but also cultivated by our will and movements of freedom, inclined to both sides. Secondly, so that the soul can, gradually freeing itself from fatness, attract and raise grief to itself, so that it, becoming a leader for the service substance and turning it into service to God, is for the body what God is for the soul. 18. He who heals the body takes into account the place, case, age, season, etc., gives medicines, prescribes a way of life, warns against harmful things, so that the whims of the patient do not interfere with the art; sometimes, when and on whom it is necessary, he uses cauterization, cutting and other even more cruel methods of treatment. Although all this turns out to be very difficult and difficult, it is not so much as observing and healing morals, passions, behavior, free will and everything like that in us, tearing out what has grown into us that is brutal and wild, and in its place introducing and rooting everything that is meek and noble, establishing the proper relationship between soul and body, not allowing the best to be ruled by the worst, which would be the greatest injustice, but inferior in nature subordinating to the superior and sovereign, as, without a doubt, requires God's law, beautifully decreed for all creation - both visible and supersensible. 19. In considering all that I have calculated, I also note that the body protected by the doctor, as it is by nature, remains such, and of itself does not in the least plot or contrive against the means used by art; On the contrary, medical art masters the substance, unless sometimes some temporary disorder occurs from the will of the patient, which, however, is not difficult to prevent and suppress. But in us, wisdom, pride and the fact that we do not know how and do not tolerate easily giving up victory over ourselves serve as the greatest obstacle to virtue and constitute, as it were, a militia against those who give us help. As much effort as we should make to reveal the disease to doctors, we use so much effort to avoid treatment. We are brave against ourselves and skillful to the detriment of our health. 20. Then we slavishly conceal sin, hiding it in the depths of the soul, like some festering and malignant scab, as if, having hidden it from people, we will hide it from the great eye and judgment of God; then, under various pretexts, we excuse our sins and come up with excuses for our passions; then, having blocked our hearing, like a deaf adder that stops its ears, we take all measures so as not to hear the voice of those in society (Ps. 57:5, 6) and not to use the medicines of wisdom, which heal mental illness; then, finally (as the bolder and braver among us do), we are clearly not ashamed of either sin or those who heal sin, we go, as they say, with an open head to all lawlessness. What a disorder of the mind! Or what would be an even more decent name for such a disease! Those whom we should love as benefactors, we drive away from ourselves as enemies, hating those who reprove in the gates (Hag. 2:15), abhorring the word of righteousness (Am. 5:10), and, like those who, tormenting their own flesh, think that they are tormenting the flesh of their neighbors, we intend to cause the greater harm to our well-wishers, the more evil we do to ourselves. 21. Therefore, I believe that our medical art is much more difficult, and consequently, preferable to the art of healing bodies; but it is also more difficult because the latter looks little into the depths and is more concerned with the visible; on the contrary, our healing and care all relate to the hidden person of the heart (1 Pet. 3:11) and our warfare is with the enemy, who is fighting and opposing within us, who, using weapons against us ourselves (which is the most terrible thing!), betrays us to sinful death. And for this we need great and perfect faith, to a greater extent God's assistance, but not in a small way, as I am convinced, and our own zeal, expressed and actually shown in word and deed, if necessary, so that our souls, which are preferable to us above all, are well healed, cleansed and valued most dearly. 22. As for the purpose of both types of healing (we still have to compare them in this regard), the purpose of one is either to preserve the health and well-being of the flesh when it exists, or to restore it when it is lost, although it is not known whether this will be useful to the one who has health. For the opposite of this has often brought great benefit, just as poverty and wealth, glory and disgrace, humiliation and nobility, and also everything that by nature occupies the middle, without bending to either side, becomes better or worse according to the use and arbitrariness of those who possess it. But the goal of other healing is to give wings to the soul, to snatch it from the world and hand it over to God, to preserve the image of God, if intact, to support, if in danger, to renew, if damaged, to infuse Christ into the hearts (Eph. 3:17) by the Spirit - in short, to make the one who belongs to the heavenly order a god and a partaker of heavenly bliss. 23. This is what the nurturer of the law wants for us, and the prophets who mediate between Christ and the law, and the Perfecter and end of the spiritual law - Christ, and the depleted Divinity, and the received flesh, and the new mixture - God and man - one of Divinity and humanity, and through the One both. For this purpose, God mixed with the flesh through the medium of the soul, and distant things were combined with each other through the affinity of the mediating with both; everything was united into one for all and for one forefather - soul for the disobedient soul, flesh for the flesh that submitted to the soul and was condemned together, Christ, not involved in sin and higher than sin, for Adam, who was under sin. 24. For this purpose, the old was replaced by the new, the one who suffered was called back through suffering, each of our debts was repaid especially by the One who is above us, and a new sacrament was revealed - God’s loving view of those who fell through disobedience. For this is the birth and the Virgin, for this is the manger and Bethlehem; birth instead of creation, Virgin instead of wife, Bethlehem instead of Eden, manger instead of paradise, small and visible instead of great and hidden. For this purpose, the Angels glorifying the heavenly, who later became earthly, the shepherds, seeing the glory on the Lamb and the Shepherd, the guiding star, the wise men worshiping and bringing gifts, so that idolatry would cease. For this, Jesus accepts baptism and testimony from above, for this he fasts, is tempted, and overcomes the victor. For this purpose, demons are cast out, illnesses are healed, and the great work of preaching is entrusted to the little ones and carried out by them. 25. For this reason the nations are in turmoil and people think in vain. For this, tree for tree and hand for hand - hands, courageously outstretched, for a hand, incontinently outstretched; nailed hands - for the willful hand, hands that join together the ends of the world - for the hand that cast out Adam. For this purpose, the ascension to the cross for the fall, gall for eating, the crown of thorns for evil dominion, death for death, darkness for light, burial for returning to the earth, resurrection for resurrection. All this was for us by God some kind of education and healing of our weakness, returning the old Adam to where he fell, and leading to the tree of life, from which the fruit of the tree of knowledge, untimely and unwisely eaten, removed us. 26. We are ministers and co-workers of this healing, all of us presiding over others, we for whom it is important to know and heal our own weaknesses and ailments, or, rather, this is not so important (but the depravity of many in this rank forced me to express it this way), but it is much more important to be able to heal and skillfully cleanse others, so that both of them, those who need healing, and those assigned to heal. 27. Beyond this, doctors of the body must endure the labors, vigils, worries known to us and, as one of their sages said 11, collect sorrows for themselves from other people’s misfortunes; discovering and inventing some things themselves, borrowing and collecting others from others, they must turn this into the benefit of those who demand; and what they find or avoid, not excluding the smallest things, is not unimportant for them, but is recognized as having the power to improve health or avert danger. And what is all this for? So that a person can live more days on earth, and a person, perhaps not useful for society, but the most unfit, for whom, due to his depravity, it would be even better to die long ago and through that be freed from vice, this greatest illness. But let’s assume that he is a good person; how long will he live? Is it really always? And what will he gain from life here? To want to get rid of it, in my opinion, is the first and truest good and is characteristic of a truly sane and intelligent person. 28. But for us, when we are in danger of losing the salvation of our soul, a blessed and immortal soul, which will be eternally either punished for viciousness, or glorified for virtue, what feat is required and what information is needed in order to heal others well, and to heal ourselves, in order to correct our way of life and conquer the spirit? For the concepts and aspirations of man and woman, of old age and youth, of poverty and wealth, of the cheerful and sad, of the sick and healthy, of superiors and subordinates, of the wise and ignorant, of the timid and the brave, of the angry and the meek, of those who stand firm and those who fall are not the same. 29. And if we take a closer look, what a difference there is between those who have entered into marriage and those who are celibate! And among the latter again between the desert dwellers, between those in hostels and between those remaining in the world! Between those who are experienced and successful in contemplation and between those who simply do their duty! Between city dwellers and rural dwellers, between the simple-hearted and the cunning, between those busy with business and those living idlely, between those who have suffered a betrayal of happiness and the successful ones who have not encountered failures! All of these differ from each other in desires and aspirations - sometimes more than they differ in bodily appearance, or (if you like) in the combination and dissolution of the elements of which we are composed; and therefore it is not easy to have control over them. 30. But just as medicine and food are not given to the same bodies - some are suitable for the healthy, others for the sick - so souls are healed in different ways and ways. Witnesses of such healing are the sick themselves. Some are edified by the word, others are corrected by example. For some, a scourge is needed, and for others, a bridle; for some are lazy and incapable of doing good, and such should be aroused by blows of words; others are beyond measure ardent in spirit and uncontrollable in their aspirations, like young, strong horses running further than their goal, and such can be corrected by a curbing and restraining word. 31. Praise is useful for some, reproach for others, but both are in season; on the contrary, without time and without reason they harm. Some are corrected by admonition, others by reprimand, and the latter either by public reproof or by secret admonition. For some are accustomed to neglecting admonitions made in private, but they come to their senses if they are reproached in front of many; others, when the accusations are made public, lose shame, but they are humbled by a secret reprimand, and for such condescension they reward themselves with humility. 32. Others, puffed up by the thought that their affairs are secrets, which is what they care about, consider themselves smarter than others, and in such people it is necessary to carefully observe all, even the most unimportant actions; and in others it is better not to notice anything else and, as they say, seeing not seeing, hearing not hearing, so as not to arouse them to perseverance and, finally, to make them daring to do anything, destroying shame in them - this is a means of instilling obedience. Sometimes you need to be angry without being angry, show contempt without being despised, lose hope without despair, as much as everyone’s nature requires; others must be healed by meekness, humility and participation in their best hopes for themselves. Some are useful to win; from others it is often more useful to be defeated yourself; and one should praise or criticize the wealth and power of another, and the poverty and disorder of affairs of another. 33. For our healing is not the same as virtue and vice, of which the first is always and for everyone the best and most useful, and the last is the worst and most harmful; We have the same thing, for example: severity or meekness, as well as everything else that I have calculated, does not always turn out to be either the most saving or dangerous, even for the same people. On the contrary, for some one thing is good and useful, and for others another, contrary to the first, according to what, I think, time and circumstances require and as the temperament of the person being treated allows. Although, no matter how much care and intelligence one uses, it is impossible to depict everything in words and grasp in thought in such detail that the entire course of healing can be briefly seen; however, in actual experience and in fact, this becomes known to both medical science and the doctor. 34. In general, we know that just as it is not safe for someone walking on a high-stretched rope to deviate to the sides, and a small deviation, apparently, entails a greater one, but his safety depends on balance, so in our case, whoever, due to a bad life or ignorance, deviates in one direction or the other, it is very dangerous for him that he himself will fall into sin, and will involve those governed in it. On the contrary, one must follow the most royal path and beware, so that, as it is said in Proverbs, one does not deviate either on the right hand or on the skin (Proverbs 4:27). This is the nature of our infirmities, and this is why there is so much work for the good shepherd, who is obliged to know well the souls of his flock and to be their leader according to the law of direct and fair shepherding, which would be worthy of our true Shepherd. 35. As for the very distribution of the word (I will say finally about what constitutes our first duty, and I mean the Divine and lofty word, about which everyone now philosophizes), then if someone else approaches this task with boldness and considers it accessible to every mind, I am amazed at the wisdom (not to say: feeble-mindedness!) of such a person. For me, it seems to me that it is not a simple and demanding task to give to everyone during the life-monitoring (Luke 12:42) words and with reasoning to conduct the Economy of the truth of our dogmas, that is, our wise teaching about the worlds or the world, about matter, about the soul, about the mind and intelligent beings, both good and evil, about Providence, which connects everything and disposes of all events, as consonant with reason, so apparently contradicting the earthly - human mind; 36. also about our original dispensation and about the last restoration, about types and the truth represented by them, about covenants, about the first and second coming of Christ, about the incarnation, suffering and death of Christ, about the resurrection, about the end of the world, about judgment and reward - both terrible and glorious, and most importantly - about what should be believed - about the initial, royal and blessed Trinity. In this dogma, for those who are obliged to enlighten others, the most dangerous thing is that we, out of fear of polytheism, having enclosed the Divinity in one Hypostasis, do not leave in our teaching only bare names, recognizing the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit as one, and also, through deviation to the contrary, dividing the Divinity into three or heterogeneous and alien to each other, or unsubordinate and without beginning, so to speak, opposite Gods, and not fall into an evil equal to the first, similar to what happens to a crooked tree that is bent too much in the opposite direction. 37. And since now there are three ailments in the teaching about God: atheism, Judaism and polytheism, and of them the defender of the first is the Libyan Sabellius, the second is the Alexandrian Arius, and the third is some of our excessively Orthodox, then what is my teaching? Avoiding everything that is harmful in these three false teachings, keep within the limits of piety. And, firstly, do not get carried away into the atheism of Sabellius, following his new decomposition and composition, according to which they either affirm not so much that the Hypostases are one, but that each is nothing (for what emerges from itself and passes mutually into each other ceases to be what it is), or they imagine and create for themselves some kind of complex and strange God, similar to fabulous animals. Secondly, do not deviate into Jewish poverty, cutting apart natures with the Aryan, rightly so-called, insanity, and do not attribute envy to the Divine nature, limiting the Divinity to the Unborn, as if out of fear that God would not suffer damage, being the Father of the true and equal in nature of God. Finally, do not introduce the pagan plurality of principles that we have already avoided and do not contrast the three principles with one another or compare one with the other. 38. One should not be such lovers of the Father as to even take away the fatherland from Him; for whose Father would He be if the Son either, along with the creature, was separated from Him and separated from Him by nature (because what is alien is no longer the Son), or was mixed and merged with the Father and, which means the same thing, merged Him with Himself? Nor should there be such lovers of Christ that the Son should not even abandon his sonship (for whose Son would He be if He did not have the Father as the beginning), and the Father should not abandon the advantage of being the beginning of what belongs to Him as Father and Parent. For the Father would be the beginning of something low and unworthy, or rather, a beginning in a low and unworthy sense, if he were not the beginning of the Divinity and goodness contemplated in the Son and in the Holy Spirit - in the first as in the Son and in the Word, and in the other as in the outgoing and insoluble Spirit. It is necessary to both maintain the unity of God and confess the three Hypostases, each with Her personal properties. 39. In order to understand and express this sufficiently and in accordance with the dignity of the subject, a longer word is needed than what the present time is and, I even think, what real life is. What is especially needed for this, both now and always, is the Spirit, with whose assistance alone one can only think, speak, and listen about God. For the pure must be touched only by the pure and the like. Now I briefly mentioned this in order to make it clear how difficult it is for someone talking about such subjects, especially in a large gathering of people of all ages and different abilities, which, like a many-stringed organ, requires unequal stress - it is difficult, I say, to find a word that would edify everyone and illuminate everyone with the light of knowledge. It is also difficult because, as there is danger on three sides, that is, from thought, word and hearing, it is impossible not to stumble, if not in everything, at least in one thing. For if the mind is not enlightened, or the word is weak, or the ear is not cleared and therefore does not accommodate the word, from one of these reasons, as well as from all, the truth must be suppressed. But it is also difficult because here the very thing that makes the teaching very easy and acceptable for those who teach something else turns into harm and danger, that is, the concern of the listeners for piety. 40. For they, as those who embark on a feat for the teaching about God - the Highest Being and about their salvation - the primary hope for all, the more ardent they are in faith, the more stubbornly they heed the word, considering obedience to it not piety, but betrayal of the truth, and are more likely to give up everything than their thoughts with which they came, and the habit of dogmas in which they were brought up. And I will also note that this is an ailment of people who are more moderate and not completely bad, who, although they sin against the truth, nevertheless, since they are subjected to this out of concern for piety and have zeal, only not according to reason, perhaps they will not be judged so severely, and will not be punished as much as those who fall away from the will of the Lord through malice and wickedness. Even they, over time, may still change their faith and change due to the same concern for piety for which they resisted; if only the word touches them and, like iron on flint, either internally or externally, produces a well-timed blow to their already fertilized and worthy of light understanding, in which from a small spark the lamp of truth can very soon shine. 41. But what can we say about people who, out of vanity or arrogance, speak untruths on high (Ps. 73:8), with the grandeur of some Jannes or Jambres, arm themselves not against Moses, but against the truth and rebel against sound teaching? What can we say about the third kind of people who, due to ignorance and its consequence - insolence, with greed, like pigs, rush at every teaching and trample on the beautiful beads of truth? 42. Or about all those who have neither their own opinion nor any model, bad or good, for the teaching about God, but are ready to listen to every teaching and every teacher in order to choose the best and safest from everything, and trust such a choice to themselves - the bad judges of truth; and then, moving and returning from one probability to another, loaded and suppressed by teachings of all kinds, having changed many teachers and scattering many writings frivolously, like dust in the wind, when both hearing and mind are tired (what recklessness!), they begin to show the same aversion to every teaching and imprint on themselves the disastrous rule - to ridicule and despise our very faith, as something unstable and not having in itself nothing sound, drawing an ignorant conclusion from those teaching to teaching, like a person who, having troubled eyes or damaged ears, blames the sun or sounds - the first, that it is dark and does not shine, and the latter, that they are weak and soundless? 43. Therefore, it is easier to re-imprint the truth in the soul, which is like wax that has not yet been written, than to inscribe the word of piety according to old writings, that is, after bad rules and dogmas have been accepted, in which case it merges and mixes with the first. It is true that it is better to walk along a smooth and beaten road than along a rough and untrodden one, and it is easier to plow the land that has been repeatedly cut and softened by the plow, but it is better to write on a soul that has not yet been furrowed by bad teaching and on which the marks of vice have not been deeply etched. Otherwise, the pious painter will have two things to do - to erase the previous images and in their place to write better ones worthy of preservation. There are so many evil images and designs in us from the evil one regarding both other modifications (πάθη) of the soul and the word itself; and so much work for the one who is entrusted with this guidance of souls and care for them! But my word did not touch even more, lest it become broader than it should be. 44. If someone wanted to tame and tame a multiform and diverse beast, composed of many, large and small, meek and fierce animals, then, without a doubt, it would take a lot of work and effort to control such a monstrous creature of different properties; because not all animals love the same sounds of voice, food, caresses, whistling and other ways of following them; on the contrary, for some one thing is pleasant and unpleasant, and for others another, according to the nature and habit of each. What should the guardian of such a beast do? Of course, if one wants to manage the beast well and take care of it, one must acquire multifaceted and varied information for this purpose and use a walk appropriate to each property of the beast. Thus, since the common body of the Church, like one complex and heterogeneous living being, is composed of many and different morals and minds, it is absolutely necessary for the primate to be both simple, relative to rightness in everything, as many-sided and varied as possible for decent treatment with everyone, and equally capable of useful conversation with everyone. 45. For some, who are infants in their abilities and, one might say, not yet strong, require milk for food, that is, the simplest and most basic lessons, and cannot take verbal food befitting a husband. And if someone offered them food that was beyond their strength, then, having tasted it and become burdened (when the mind, like the body of a baby, is not yet sufficient to digest and assimilate what it has received), they would suffer damage even in their former strength. Others, having sufficiently trained their senses to distinguish between true and false, have a need for the wisdom preached among the perfect (1 Cor. 2:6), and for higher and more solid food. And if they began to give them milk to drink and feed them with plants - the food of the weak, then they would rightfully be upset that they are not strengthened according to Christ, they are not allowed to grow in praiseworthy growth, which is produced by the word, which makes a man well fed by it into a man and brings him to the measure of spiritual age. 46. ​​And who is capable of this (2 Cor. 2:16)? We are incapable of messing with the word of truth and mixing wine with water, that is, teaching that gladdens the human heart, with vulgar, cheap teaching, dragged along the earth, lost and flowing in vain, as many do. In order to gain profit for themselves from such mischief, they talk with those who come about this and that, one way or another, to please everyone, like some ventriloquists and vain talkers, for their own amusement they use words that are spoken from the earth and go into the earth, as if the more they are glorified among the people, the more they harm themselves and destroy themselves, shedding the innocent blood of the simplest souls, which will be exacted at the hands of ours. 47. On the contrary, we know that it is better to hand over the reins of government over ourselves to others who are most skillful, rather than to be ignorant rulers of others, that it is better to incline a submissive ear than to move an unlearned tongue. Having consulted with myself about this (perhaps not a bad adviser, and if not so, then at least a benevolent one), I reasoned that it is better for someone who does not know either what he should say or what he should do to learn than to teach without knowing. For happy is he who, even in deep old age, reaches the old man's word, which can benefit a soul still young in piety. Therefore, taking upon yourself the trouble of teaching others before you have learned enough yourself, and, according to the proverb, learning to make pots on a large clay vessel, that is, practicing piety over the souls of others, in my opinion, is characteristic only of extremely unreasonable and impudent people; unreasonable - if they do not feel their ignorance, daring - if, realizing it, they dare to do something. 48. The wisest of the Jews say that in ancient times they had one particularly beautiful and praiseworthy law, by which not every age was allowed to read every book of Scripture. For reading this would not be useful; because not every book is intelligible to everyone from the beginning, and one that contains a deeper meaning can even, in its external meaning, turn into greater harm to many. On the contrary, books, which are edifying in their external meaning, were from the very beginning open to everyone and were in general use; and books, which under an unimportant shell hide a mysterious beauty - the reward of intense searches and a bright life - shining and easily contemplated only by those with a purified mind, were entrusted to those who had already crossed the age of twenty-five; because only at this age can a person rise above the sensory and successfully ascend from writing to spirit. 49. But with us there is no limit between the time when to teach and when to learn, like the stones that were placed of old between the tribes beyond the Jordan and the tribes on this side of the Jordan. We do not give permission to some to do this, to others to do that, and there are no rules regarding abilities; on the contrary, all this is left without attention and merged. And we act so badly that most of us (not to say all of us), almost before we cut off our first hair and leave childish babble, before we enter the courts of God, we learn the names of the sacred books, learn to recognize the writings and writers of the Old and New Testaments (I do not say: before we wash away the spiritual uncleanness and vileness with which sin has covered us), if we only affirm two or three words about piety, and then only by hearsay, and not from a book, if we know even a little about David, if we know how to deftly put on a cloak or look like a philosopher from the waist up (oh, wonderful chairmanship and great wisdom! of course, Samuel is sacred even in swaddling clothes!) - we are already wise, and teachers, and high in the Divine, the first of the scribes and lawyers, we consecrate ourselves to the heavenly, we wish to be called from people: teacher (Matthew 23:7), we do not look at all at the letter, we want to understand everything spiritually (how many dreams! what a vast field of idle talk!); and we would become indignant if we were not highly praised. These are those of us who are even more modest and simpler than others; What are the more spiritual and noble ones? If they please, having subjected us to many condemnations and trials and reduced us to nothing, they move away from us with contempt even for community with us, as with ungodly people. 50. But if, turning to any of them, we calmly and logically ask like this: “Tell me, wonderful husband, do you consider dancing and playing the pipe to be something?” - They will probably answer: “Of course, we will.” - “And do you also consider wisdom and being wise to be something, that is, as we believe, to have knowledge of the Divine and human?” And in this they will yield to us. “What can you call the best and highest? Are dancing and playing superior to wisdom, or is wisdom incomparably superior to these arts?” I know very well that they will be so conscientious that they will even say: “Wisdom is higher than all the arts.” But for dancing and playing the pipe there are sciences, and they are learned, and this requires time, continuous work and effort, sometimes you need to spend money, find people who would explain the science, undertake long journeys, and also do and endure everything that acquires experience. And wisdom, which surpasses everything and contains all the good in its entirety (so that God Himself, although He has many names, is more pleased to be called Wisdom than by any other name), is it really considered such an easy and uncomplicated matter that everyone just has to want it and will be wise? Great ignorance to think so! But if we (or someone else more learned and smarter than us) begin to speak to them in such a way as to gradually dispel their delusion, then all this will be the same as sowing on a stone or speaking into the ears of the deaf. They have so little wisdom even to recognize their ignorance. And it seems to me that it is appropriate to say Solomon’s word about them: there is wickedness, which I have seen under the sun, a man who did not know for himself to be wise (Eccl. 10:5; Proverbs 26:12), and, what is even worse, who received the right to teach others when he does not feel his own ignorance. 51. If there is any illness, then this one is worthy of tears and sobbing. And I have repeatedly regretted this, knowing very well that conceit takes away from a person most of what he is, and that vanity is for people the greatest obstacle to virtue. But can only Peter or Paul, the great disciples of Christ, who with the power to rule in word and deed received the gift of grace and were everything to everyone, may gain everyone, be able to heal and stop the disease. For us, other people, it is important if we are well governed and guided by those who are entrusted with the correction and management of such matters. 52. But since I mentioned Paul and those like him, then, if you wish, leaving out all the others who just became famous - either as a legislator, or as a prophet, or as a military leader, or as one in charge of some other part of public improvement, not to mention, for example, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Elijah, Elisha, the judges, Samuel, David, the whole host of prophets, about John, about the twelve disciples and their successors, each of whom, with much labor and effort, in his time achieved the title of leader - having kept silent about all of them, I will present Paul alone as a witness to my word, so that from his example we can see what it means to have care for souls and whether the occupations are short-term, whether this requires little information! And in order to learn and understand this more conveniently, let us listen to what Paul himself says about Paul. 53. I will not talk about his labors, vigils, fears, suffering from hunger, thirst, cold and nakedness, about the evil intentions of the infidels against him, about the opposition of the faithful to him. I am silent about persecutions, hosts, dungeons, bonds, accusers, trials, daily and hourly deaths, about koshnitsa, about throwing stones, about beatings with sticks, about wandering, about dangers both on land and at sea, and in the depths of the sea, about shipwrecks, about dangers on rivers, about dangers from robbers, from relatives, about dangers between false brethren, about living by the labor of his hands, about the selfless gospel, about how Paul was a disgrace to Angels and men, when, standing between God and men, he fought for men and brought and united the chosen people to God. 54. Besides these external exploits, who will adequately describe his daily care, compassion for everyone, concern for all churches, compassion and brotherly love for everyone? If anyone stumbled, Paul felt weakness. Another was tempted - and Paul became incensed. And his tirelessness in teaching, the variety of methods of healing - now philanthropy, then again severity, then a mixture and dissolution of both philanthropy and severity, so that it neither relaxes with meekness, nor hardens with severity! He lays down laws for slaves and masters, rulers and subordinates, husbands and wives, parents and children, marriage and celibacy, temperance and luxury, wisdom and ignorance, circumcision and uncircumcision, Christ 12 and the world, flesh and spirit. He thanks for some, reproaches others; He calls some his joy and crown, others he accuses of madness. He who walks rightly is accompanied and sympathized with; and those who walk cunningly are stopped. He either excommunicates or affirms love (2 Cor. 2:8); sometimes he cries, sometimes he has fun; sometimes he gives milk to drink, sometimes he touches secrets; sometimes he descends, sometimes he leads with him to heights; sometimes he threatens with a club (1 Cor. 4:21), sometimes he embraces the spirit of meekness; sometimes he exalts himself with the high, sometimes he humbles himself with the humble. Sometimes he is the least of the apostles, and sometimes he promises to provide proof that Christ speaks in him. Sometimes he wants to leave and is hungry (2 Tim. 4:6), sometimes he considers it more necessary for believers to remain in the flesh. For he seeks not his own benefit, but the benefit of the children whom he has begotten in Christ through the gospel; This is the goal of all spiritual authorities - to despise one’s own in everything for the benefit of others! 55. Paul boasts in weaknesses and sorrows; as if decorated with some decoration by the death of Jesus; he is high in the flesh, but rejoices in spiritual gifts; he is not ignorant of knowledge, although he says of himself that he sees through a glass darkly and is a fortune-teller. Cheerful in spirit and exhausting the body, exhausting it like an enemy; and at the same time, doesn’t he teach and admonish us not to be proud of earthly things, not to be puffed up by knowledge, not to set the flesh against the spirit? He fights for everyone, prays for everyone, is jealous of everyone, is on fire for everyone - both for those who are outside the law and for those who are under the law; he is a preacher of the pagans, a representative of the Jews. He dared to do something more for his brothers according to the flesh (oh, if only I, who says this, would dare to do something similar!). Paul prays, out of his love for the brethren, that they would be brought to Christ in his place. What greatness of soul, what fervor of spirit! He imitates Christ, who was an oath for us, who took upon himself our infirmities, who bore our illnesses, or, to put it more modestly, he is the first after Christ who does not renounce to suffer for the Jews, and, moreover, as a wicked one, if only they would be saved. But why am I listing the details? 56. Living not for himself, but for Christ and for preaching, having crucified the world to himself and having been crucified to the world and to everything visible, Paul considers everything unimportant and low for his desire, although from Jerusalem and around even to Illyricum he will fulfill the gospel (Rom. 15:19), although he will be caught up to the third heaven, will become a spectator of paradise and a hearer of unspoken verbs for us. Such is Paul, such is everyone who is like him in spirit! But we are afraid, lest in comparison with them we should be foolish princes of Tanes (Isa. 19:11), or reaping officers, or falsely pleasing the people, I will even add, those who are pleased, and disturbing the paths of your feet (Is. 3:12), or scoffers of rulers, or young leaders, imperfect in mind and not having enough food and clothing to to lead any number of people (Is. 3:4-7), or prophets who teach lawlessness (Is. 9:15), or princes who do not obey (Is. 1:23), who, together with the decrees of the fathers, are worthy of reproach due to the severity of the famine (Is. 8:21), or priests, very far from speaking in the heart of Jerusalem (Is. 40:2), since for everything This is strongly condemned and denounced by Isaiah, purified by Seraphim and coal. 57. So, is it really, although this matter is so important and so difficult for a sensitive and sorrowful heart, although it is a real moth to the bone (Proverbs 14:30), even for a person with intelligence, the danger is not great and the consequences do not deserve attention? But great fear is brought to me, on the one hand, by blessed Hosea, when he says that judgment awaits us, the priests and leaders, as if the 13th were on guard, and like a tree stretched out on Itaviria (Hos. 5:1), stuck by the fishers of the souls of men, and threatens to reap the obscene prophets (Hos. 5:6), destroy their judges with fire (Hos. 7:7 ), hold out for a while, to anoint the king and prince (Hos. 8:10), because they reigned by themselves, and not by God (Hos. 8:4); 58. and on the other hand, the divine Micah, who does not tolerate that Zion should be built with the blood of anyone, and Jerusalem with unrighteousness, so that its elders judge it with gifts, priests answer with bribes, and prophets speak magic with silver (Mic. 3:10, 11). And what does he threaten for this? Zion will be cut down like a field, Jerusalem will be like a vegetable storehouse, and a mountain to a house will be counted like an oak meadow (Hos. 3:12). Mourning such a poverty of good rulers that there is barely an ear or a stalk left, when the prince asks, and the judge speaks out of gratification, and exclaiming almost in the following words of the great David: save me, O Lord, for I am in poverty (Ps. 11:1), - the prophet proclaims that for this their blessings will become scarce, as if consumed by prayer (Mic. 7:4). 59. And Joel commands us to mourn; he wants those who serve the altar to fight (Joel 1:13) in the difficult time of famine; he is far from allowing us luxury in the midst of the misfortune of others; he not only commands us to sanctify fasting, preach celibacy, gather the old and the young (Joel 2:15, 16) - these miserable ages, but demands that the priests go to the church in ashes and sackcloth, with deep humility cast down to the ground, as if the fields were desolate (Joel 1:10) from barrenness, the sacrifice and drink offering were poured out from the house of the Lord (Joel 1:9), and by such humiliation they attracted mercy. 60. What will Habakkuk say? His speech is more fiery, he indignantly turns to God Himself and, as it were, cries out at the Lord Christ for the unrighteousness of the judges, saying: How long, Lord, will I cry and you will not hear? When we cry to You we will offend, and will You not deliver? What kind of labor and illness did you show me, look at passion and wickedness? There will be judgment against me, and the judge will take me down. For this reason the law is destroyed, and judgment is not carried out (Hab. 1:2-4). For this the prophet has a threat and the following words: you see in contempt, and look, and marvel at miracles, and disappear: for I do the work (Hab. 1:5). But is it necessary to quote all the words of the threat? On the contrary, in my opinion, it is better to add to what has been said how Habakkuk, having first summoned to Wednesday and mourned many who have done something unjust and evil, finally calls the leaders and teachers of evil, calling the vice muddy corruption, intoxication and delusion of the mind, and says that through them their neighbors will be drunk with this, as if they look to the darkness of their souls and the caves creeping things and beasts (Hab. 2:15), that is, the habitations of evil thoughts. Such are the prophets I have numbered, and such are the instructions they offer us. 61. But is it fair to ignore Malachi, who in one place cruelly accuses and reproaches the priests for despising the name of the Lord (Mal. 1:6), and by the way adds that they bring unclean bread to the altar (Mal. 1:7), food not from the first fruits, that what gifts they would not bring to any of the leaders, or which, having brought, would dishonor themselves, such gifts, that is the lame, the sick, the corrupt, and completely unclean and despised, are brought to the King of all when they promise vows; and in another place it recalls the covenant of God with the Levites - the covenant of life and peace, the covenant of fear to fear the Lord and to be afraid at the presence of His name (Mal. 2:5). The law of truth, says the prophet about the Levite, was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his mouth: correct in peace, walk with Me, and convert many from unrighteousness. As long as the lips of the priest retain their understanding, they will require the law from his mouth. And what a high, and at the same time terrible reason for this! For the Angel of the Lord Almighty is (Mal. 2:7). I refuse to repeat what is reproachful in the following oaths; I am afraid of the truth, but I will give you what is easier to say, and at the same time useful. The Prophet, as if with special indignation and rejecting their sacred rites because of their corruption, says: is it still worthy to look upon your sacrifice, or is it pleasant to accept from your hands (Mal. 2:13)? 62. As soon as I remember Zechariah, I tremble at his sickle, as well as at everything that he testifies against the priests. But what he reveals about the famous Jesus, the great priest, whom, having first depicted clothed in a vile and indecent robe, he then clothes in a priestly and bright robe, and also that he represents an Angel speaking and commanding Jesus - let it be honored with silence as the most important and, perhaps, so lofty that should not be attributed to many priests. However, the fact that the devil stands at the right hand of this Jesus and resists him (Zech. 3:1), in my opinion, is important and should inspire considerable fear and caution. 63. Who will have so much audacity and such an adamantine heart that, hearing how the prophet persistently denounces and reproaches other shepherds, he will not tremble and humble himself? The voice of the weeping shepherds, as if their greatness had been destroyed, he says; the voice of roaring lions (Zechariah 11:3), because they suffered so much. Zechariah almost hears the very sobs, as if they were already real, and cries along with those in need. And after a few words he says even more strikingly and powerfully: feed the sheep of the slaughter, even those who have acquired the slaughter, and do not repent, and those who sell say: blessed is the Lord, and we are enriched, and their shepherds do not worry about them. For this reason I will not have mercy on anyone who dwells on the earth, says the Lord Almighty (Zech. 11:4-6). And again, extending threats together to the leaders of the people, he says: Sword, rise up against the shepherds: smite the shepherds, and the sheep will be scattered: I will bring My hand against the shepherds (Zech. 13:7); My wrath is upon the shepherds, and I will visit the lambs (Zech. 10:3). He continues his speech with such jealousy and cannot restrain himself from threats; That’s why I’m afraid that by repeating them in order, I might arouse hatred against myself. 64. Let us remain silent about the elders mentioned in Daniel, for we would like to remain silent. Let us also keep silent about what is rightly said and testified about them by the Lord: for iniquity came out of Babylon from the elders of the judges, who pretended to rule the people (Dan. 13:5). How can we listen without fear to Ezekiel, this spectator and interpreter of great mysteries and visions? How do we listen to his commandment to the guards - not to remain silent about iniquity, and about the sword coming against him (Ezek. 33:6), because this will not benefit either them or those who sin; On the contrary, is it useful to foresee and foretell either for both, when some speak and others listen, or, without any doubt, for those who announced it? 65. Just as we accept his other attack on the shepherds, either in the following words: woe will be upon the mountain, and there will be news upon news, and there will be no vision from the prophet, and the law will perish from the priest, and counsel from the elder (Ezek. 7:26), then also in the following: Son of man, tell him: you are a rainless land, and rain will come upon you in the day of wrath. his elders are among him, like lions, roaring, rapt theft, souls with violence (Ezek. 22:24, 25), and after a few words: his priests have rejected My law, and have defiled My holy, I will not separate between the holy and the profane, but everything was the same for them, and from My Sabbaths they have veiled their eyes, and they have defiled Me in the midst (Ezek. 22:26)? The prophet threatens to destroy the wall and those who anoint (Ezek. 13:15), that is, both those who sin and those who cover up sins, which is what evil rulers and priests do, deceiving the house of Israel, according to the inspiration of their hearts given over to their lusts. 66. I will not say what he says about those who feed themselves, eat milk, clothe themselves with the waves, and slaughter the fat, but do not graze the sheep, do not lift up the weak, do not bind the broken, do not convert the erring, do not seek the lost, and do not save the strong, but insult with labor and try to destroy; As a result, the sheep scattered across all the fields and mountains, having no shepherds, and became prey for every bird and every beast, as if they were neither seeking nor converting (Ezek. 34:2-6). What then? It is said: As I live, says the Lord, since this was done and the essence of My flock was made to be spoiled (Ezek. 34:8): Behold, I am a shepherd, and I will seek My sheep from their hands (Ezek. 34:10); I will gather the sheep and keep them, and the shepherds will suffer various punishments, such as bad shepherds deserve. 67. But in order not to prolong the words by listing all the prophets and everything that was said by each, I will pass by the silence of the others, but I will mention only one, who was known even before birth and sanctified in the womb (Jer. 1: 5), - this is Jeremiah. He asks the head for water and to comb out the source of tears in order to mourn as Israel should (Jer. 9:1). And no less than that, he mourns the evil behavior of the primates. 68. God, in rebuke of the priests, says to him: The priests do not speak where the Lord is, and those who keep the law do not know Me, and your shepherds are dishonest (Jer. 2:8). And then the prophet himself says: the shepherds were encumbered, and did not seek the Lord: for this reason the whole flock did not understand, and was quickly scattered (Jer. 10:21). The shepherds of the multitude have corrupted My grapes, leaving a part of My, the desired part, into the impassable desert (Jer. 12:10). After this, he again turns the reproach on the shepherds themselves: woe to the shepherds, who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture. For this reason, the Lord spoke to those who shepherd My people: you have wasted My nature, and you have rejected me, and you have not visited them, and I will visit you according to the wickedness of your plans (Jer. 23:1, 2). Jeremiah wants the shepherds to cry out and the rams to mourn, because their days are fulfilled for slaughter (Jer. 25:34). 69. But why should I repeat the Old Testament? Who, having believed himself according to the rules and definitions that Paul decreed for bishops and elders, namely: to be sober, chaste, not drunkards, not murderers, edifying, blameless in everything and untouched by anything evil (1 Tim. 3: 2, 3), who, I say, will not find himself much deviating from the correctness of the rules? What laws does Jesus give to his disciples when he sends them to preach? The essential thing in them, without going into details, is that the disciples should be such in virtue, so well-ordered and consistent with their rank and, if I must express it briefly, so much heavenly that the gospel would be spread no less through their lives as through the word. 70. But both the reproached Pharisees and the reproached scribes bring me into fear. If we desire the Kingdom of Heaven, according to the commandment we are obliged to greatly exceed them in virtue; and therefore we will be ashamed before them if we turn out to be worse than them in our vices and hear just reproaches for ourselves: serpents, brood of vipers, blind leaders, straining out mosquitoes and devouring camels, coffins full of filth on the inside, but beautifully decorated on the outside, dishes that are pure in appearance - and other similar names that the Pharisees and scribes deserved and received ( Matthew 23:24–33). 71. Such thoughts do not leave me day and night, dry out my brain, exhaust my flesh, deprive me of vigor, and do not allow me to walk with my eyes raised high. This humbles my heart, shortens my mind, puts bonds on my tongue and makes me think not about my superiors, not about correcting and edifying others (which requires an excess of talents), but about how to avoid the coming wrath myself and to some extent wipe off the rust of vices. You must first cleanse yourself, then cleanse yourself; to become wise, then to become wise; become light, then enlighten; draw closer to God, then lead others to Him; sanctify, then sanctify. A leader needs hands; a counselor needs prudence. 72. When will this happen? - they will say that they are quick to answer everything and are not firm in anything, easily creating and destroying. When will the lamp be placed on the candlestick and what will the talent, that is, the gift, be used for? - those who are more zealous for friendship than for the cause of piety will say. When will this happen and what answer will I give to you, most eminent ones? In such a matter, extreme old age is a short-term respite. For gray hair with prudence is better than inexperienced youth, prudent slowness is better than imprudent haste, a short reign is preferable to prolonged torment, just as a small share of a jewel is preferable to the possession of many without value and durability, a small amount of gold is preferable to many talents of lead, a small amount of light is preferable to great darkness. 73. As for this haste, encroachment and excessive jealousy, it is dangerous that they should not be like either those seeds that fell on stones and, being shallow in the ground, immediately sprang up, but could not bear the first heat of the sun, or that foundation laid on sand, which did not stand up with a little rain and wind. Woe to you, city, in which your king is young, says Solomon (Eccl. 10:16). Do not be quick in words (Proverbs 29:30) - the words of the same Solomon, who speaks of speed in words, that is, about something less than rashness in deeds. Who, in spite of this, will demand haste over safety and benefit? Who will undertake, like some clay product made in one day, to form a defender of the truth, who must stand with the Angels, praise with the Archangels, offer sacrifices on the high altar, perform sacred acts with Christ, recreate creation, restore the image of God, create for the heavenly world and, I will say more, be a god and create by gods? 74. I know whose servants we are, where we ourselves are placed and where we prepare others. I know the greatness of God and human weakness, and at the same time strength. The sky is high, but the earth is deep (Proverbs 25:3). And which of those cast down by sin will ascend to heaven? Who, still surrounded by deep darkness and coarse flesh, can clearly contemplate with his whole mind the entire Mind, being among the impermanent and visible, enter into communication with the constant and invisible? Even among the most purified, hardly anyone can see here even such an image of kindness as the image of the sun in the waters. Who measured water in a handful, and the sky in a span, and the whole earth in a handful, who set the mountains in measure and the hills in weight (Isaiah 40:12)? What is His resting place (Isa. 66:1) and to what of all things will He be likened? 75. Who is the one who created everything with a word, who formed man with wisdom, who united what was separated, who combined dust with spirit, who formed a living being - visible and invisible, temporary and eternal, earthly and heavenly, touching God, but not comprehending, approaching and far away? Reh: I will become wise, says Solomon, and this, that is, wisdom, depart from Me. Far more tenderly (Eccl. 7:24, 25). And indeed, the one who applies the mind will apply the disease (Eccl. 1:18). He does not so much rejoice over what he has found, as he grieves over what has not been comprehended, as usually (I imagine) happens to people who are distracted from water before they have quenched their thirst, or who, hoping to receive something, cannot grab it with their hands, or from whom the brilliance of the light that illuminates them is instantly hidden. 76. This kept me down, made me humble and convinced me that it is better to hear the voice of praise than to be an interpreter of what exceeds my strength. Greatness, height, dignity, pure beings, with difficulty containing the radiance of God, Whom the abyss covers, Whom, like the purest and for most creatures, unapproachable light, darkness conceals, Who is in everything and beyond everything, Who is all goodness and above all kindness, Who enlightens the mind and flees from the speed and sublimity of the mind, always moving away as much as it is comprehended, and causing grief to His beloved by running away and, as it were, being torn out of His hands: 77. Such and so important is the subject of our desires and quests! Such should be the leader of brides, the discourager of souls. And I am afraid that, having tied my hands and feet, they will throw me out of the bridal chamber, as not having on me the wedding robe and brazenly intruding into the circle of those reclining there, although I was called from my youth, even (I will say something unknown to many) I am committed to Him from lies (Ps. 21:11), I was brought to Him as a gift according to a maternal vow, and then myself, when in danger strengthened, love grew and reason helped, I voluntarily gave everything to the One who perceived and saved me - my property, my nobility, my health, and the very gift of speech. The only benefit I gained from all this was that I despised it, and I found something to prefer to Christ. The words of God became sweet to me, like a honeycomb; I called on reason and gave my voice to wisdom (Proverbs 2:3), learned to moderate anger, bridle the tongue, discipline the eye, tame the belly, trample on earthly glory, and in this (it is foolish to say, but let it be said) I became no worse, perhaps, than many. 78. Leading such a wise life is better than taking upon oneself power and control of souls and, when one has not yet learned to be a good flock, has not purified one’s soul as it should, to undertake the position of ruling the flock; moreover, in times when, looking at human ruin and rebellion, the most desirable thing is to run away from society, retire to a safe shelter, hide from the storm and darkness of the evil one; when the members of one body are mutually at odds, when the last remnant of love disappears, and on the other hand the word “priest”, because, according to Scripture, humiliation was poured out on the princes (Ps. 16:40), is recognized as one empty name, - 79. and it would be better if it were one empty name. Now (may blasphemy be directed at the heads of the wicked!) all fear has been banished from the heart and shamelessness has taken its place; whoever wishes, both knowledge and the depths of the Spirit are open to everyone. We are all pious only because we condemn the wickedness of others, and leave judgment to the ungodly, cast holy things to dogs, cast pearls before swine, divulging the Divine to those whose ears and hearts are not sanctified. We ourselves (oh pitiful ones!) carefully fulfill the desires of our enemies and are not ashamed to commit fornication in our undertakings (Ps. 109:5). The Moabites and Ammonites, who are not allowed to enter the Church of the Lord, walk freely with us in the sanctuary itself. For everyone we have opened not the gates of truth, but the doors of slander and insolence against each other. With us, he is not more perfect who, out of fear of God, does not utter an idle word, but the one who slanders his neighbor as much as possible, either directly or by hints, carrying labor and illness under his tongue (Ps. 9:28) or, to put it more closely, the poison of asps (Ps. 139:3). 80. We catch each other’s sins not in order to mourn them, but in order to judge them, not in order to heal, but in order to further wound and have the wounds of our neighbor as an excuse for our own shortcomings. For us, the sign of good and evil is not life, but friendship and disagreement with us. What we praise today, we condemn tomorrow; what others condemn, we marvel at; We will willingly indulge in all wickedness - we are so generous to vice! 81. Everything became as it was in the beginning, when there was neither peace nor the present order and goodness, but, on the contrary, all things, being merged and in disorder, still had a need for a formative right hand and strength. And if you want another comparison, then as during a night battle, in the dim light of the moon, not distinguishing between enemies and our own, or as in a sea battle and during a storm, deafened by gusts of wind, boiling sea, pressure of waves, collision of ships, blows of oars, shouts of commanders, groans of the amazed, in bewilderment, not having time to gather courage, we (to complete the disaster) attack each other and from each other friend we are dying. And it’s not just the layman who acts this way, but the priest who does it differently. On the contrary, it seems to me that what was spoken of old in the curse is now clearly being fulfilled: like the people, so are the priests (Hos. 4:9). 82. Not only the simple people are like this, but the strong, as they say, among the people and the leaders are different. On the contrary, it is they who wage open war with the priests, using piety as an excuse for conviction. To whomever this happens because he stands for the faith, for the highest and first truths, I do not blame him and, to tell the truth, I praise him and rejoice with him. I myself would like to be among those who struggle and are hated for the truth; I will even boast that I really belong to this number. For praiseworthy warfare is better than peace, which separates you from God. For this reason, the Spirit also equips the meek warrior (Joel 3:11) as capable of waging war well. 83. But now there are people who, with extreme ignorance and impudence, stand for small and not at all useful things and accept everyone they can as accomplices of evil, and cover all this with faith and use this respected name recklessly in their competitions. Because of this, as is natural, we are hated by the pagans and, what is most intolerable, we cannot even say that we are hated unjustly. And among our own, the most well-intentioned ones deceive us; It is not at all surprising that the people are evil, because they rarely approve of anything good. 84. Sinners do it on our backs (Ps. 129:3), and what we plot against each other is turned against everyone. We have become a new disgrace, but not for Angels and men, like the most courageous of the ascetics Paul, who fought against the principles and authorities, but for almost everyone leading a bad life, and at every time, and in every place - in the marketplace, at drunken feasts, among gaiety, among lamentations. We are even taken to public spectacles (I say this almost with tears), we are ridiculed along with the most depraved people, and nothing is more pleasing to the ear and sight than a Christian desecrated at a spectacle. 85. Our civil strife has brought us to this; Those who strive beyond measure for the Good and Meek, who love God more than required, have brought us to this. In wrestling or anything else, it is not allowed to compete in an unspecified manner, and he is subjected to ridicule and dishonor, even deprived of the right to victory, who fights not according to the rules or competes in something else out of order and deviates from the rules established for this, even if he is the most courageous and skillful. Is it possible that he who fights for Christ not according to Christ will please the World (Eph. 2:14), fighting for Him in an unlawful manner? 86. And to this day the demons still tremble at the name of Christ; The power of this name is not weakened by our vices. But we are not ashamed to insult both the venerable name of Christ and Christ Himself; we are not ashamed to hear Him cry almost out loud and every day: My name is blasphemed among the nations for your sake (Isa. 52:5). 87. I am not afraid of external warfare and the beast now rising against the Church - this fullness of the evil one 14, even if he threatened with fire, sword, beasts, rapids, abysses, even if he surpassed in inhumanity all those who have ever gone on a rampage, and invented the most painful executions hitherto known. I have one cure for everything, one path to victory, and this is - I will boast in Christ! - death for Christ. 88. But as for the battle ahead of me, I don’t know what to do, what help to seek, what word of wisdom, what gift of grace, what armor to put on against the wiles of the evil one. Who will defeat this enemy? Is it Moses, stretching out his arms on the mountain, so that he can overcome the typified and signified cross? Or after him Jesus, taking up arms in battle with the archangel of the heavenly armies? Or David, now singing psalms, now fighting with slings, and girded with strength for battle from God, or having fingers trained by God for battle? Or Samuel, now offering prayers and sacrifices for the people, now anointing one who is able to conquer to the kingdom? 89. Who will mourn this as it should? Is it Jeremiah who wrote a lamentation about Israel? Who will cry: Lord, have mercy on Your people, and do not give Your inheritance as a reproach, so that the Gentiles do not possess them (Joel 2:17)? Who will pray for us - Noah, Job and Daniel, praying together and mentioned together (Ezek. 14:14), may our fighting calm down at least a little, may we come to our senses, let us finally recognize each other, so that instead of one Israel we will not be Judah and Israel, Rehoboam and Jeroboam, Jerusalem and Samaria - these cities, now betrayed for sins, now lamented? 90. I admit that I am weak for such a battle, and therefore I turned my back and hid my face in flight. Out of complete grief, I desired to sit in solitude and be silent, knowing that time is evil, that the beloved were rejected and we became the sons of apostasy - the blasphemous grape, the true grape, fruitful, beautiful, grown by water from above, and that for me the diadem of my kindness, the seal of glory and the crown of praise had turned into dishonor. But if anyone is brave and courageous despite all this, then I applaud him for his courage and courage. 91. I’m not even talking about the internal warfare that is within us, in our passions, and which is raised against us day and night, either openly or secretly, by this body of humility and the absent-mindedness of life, which troubles and worries us through sensuality and temporary pleasures, and the dirt of dust with which we are mixed, and the sinful law, which wars against the spiritual law and intensifies to corrupt in us the royal image and everything that is embedded in us with it. divine in origin. Why is it that hardly anyone is able to overcome the nature that drags them down, unless they have already taught themselves long-term wisdom and gradually torn away from the low and associated with darkness what is noble and light-like in the soul, or have been awarded the mercy of God, or, in addition to both, have made every possible effort to lift their gaze to grief. But until I have overcome, if possible, the dust, until my mind has been purified, until I am far superior to others in my closeness to God, I consider it unsafe to take upon myself the care of souls and mediation between God and people, which is also the duty of a priest. 92. And what brought me into such fear? Do not honor me as fearful beyond measure; on the contrary, even praise my foresight. I hear about Moses himself that when God talked with him, although many were called to the mountain, and among them Aaron with two priestly sons, and seventy elders - rulers of the people, it was commanded that the others bow down from afar, and only Moses came to God; the people are not allowed to ascend the mountain (Ex. 24:1, 2); because not everyone can approach God, but only who, like Moses, is able to embrace the glory of God. Yes, even before, at the very beginning of the legislation, trumpets, lightning, thunder, darkness, the mountain, all smoking, terrible threats that if an animal touched the mountain, it would be stoned (Ex. 19:13), also other similar terrible phenomena kept others at the bottom of the mountain, and for them it was a lot, after proper cleansing, to hear one voice of God; Meanwhile, Moses ascends the mountain, and enters into the cloud, and receives the law, and receives the tablets - for the people, the tablets of writing, and for those who are higher than the people, the tablets of the Spirit. 93. I also hear about Nadab and Abihu that they, having burned incense with alien fire, were punished by the very thing in which they showed wickedness, they found destruction for themselves at the very time and in the very place of ungodliness, and although their father Aaron was second before God to Moses, he could not save them (Lev. 10: 1, 2). I know what happened to the priest Eli and a little after him to Uzzah. One was punished for the iniquity of his sons, when during sacrifices they dared to take meat out of the cauldrons ahead of time, although the father did not approve of such wickedness, but, on the contrary, repeatedly reprimanded them severely (1 Samuel 2:13, 14). Another was punished solely for touching the ark, which was being carried away by the calf; and although he supported the ark, he himself died (2 Samuel 6:6, 7); This is how God protected the venerability of the ark. 94. I also know that the most bodily vices, both in priests and in sacrificial animals, were subjected to strict examination and it was legalized that the perfect should offer the perfect; and this, I think, served as a symbol of spiritual purity. It was also not allowed for anyone to touch the priestly garment or any sacred vessel, nor to eat the very sacrifices who were not supposed to, or in an indecent place and at an indecent time, nor to counterfeit anointing oil and incense, nor to enter the sanctuary if anyone was even slightly unclean in soul and body. Moreover, they did not dare to often enter the Holy of Holies, where access was allowed only to one person and once a year. Moreover, no one dared to stretch out his gaze or touch the veil, or the purification house, or the ark, or the Cherubim. 95. So, knowing this, and at the same time the fact that everyone is unworthy of the Great God, the Hierarch and the Sacrifice, if he did not first present himself to God as a living and holy sacrifice, did not show experiences of pleasing verbal service, did not bring to God the sacrifice of praise - a contrite spirit - the sacrifice that He who has given us everything requires of us - knowing this, could I dare to offer Him an external sacrifice, equivalent (ἀντίτυπον) to the great sacraments? Could I put on the image and rank of a priest until I sanctified my hands with venerable deeds, until I trained my eye to look sensibly at the creation and only wonder at the Creator, and not to humiliate the Creator, until the punishment of the Lord opened my ears, my ear was not applied, it is not hard to hear (Is. 50:5); gold with a valuable Sardinian stone was not given, that is, the word of a wise man is listened to in the ear (Prov. 25:12); until the mouth, lips, tongue opened and attracted the Spirit (Ps. 119:131), expanded and filled (Ps. 80:11) with the spirit of the spoken sacraments and dogmas, until the lips, according to the word of wisdom, became bound by divine feeling (Prov. 15:7), so that they (I will add to this) and dissolve in good time, and the tongue is not filled with joy, does not become an organ of divine sweet singing, excited by glory, rising early (Ps. 57:9) and laboring until it sticks to the larynx; until my feet are set on stones (Ps. 39:3), perfect like the feet of trees (Ps. 17:34), and my feet are directed according to God (Ps. 119:133), neither a little nor at all shed (Ps. 72:2); until every member became a weapon of righteousness (Ps. 6:13), put aside all deadness, consumed by the belly (2 Cor. 5:4) and gave way to the Spirit? 96. Those whose pure hearts are not inflamed by the words of God, tempted by fire, when the Scriptures are revealed to him; who did not write them three times with the breadth of his heart (Prov. 22:21), so as to have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16); who has not entered into the hidden, invisible and dark treasuries of many (Isa. 45:3) in order to see their wealth and come to the state of enriching others, spiritually discerning with spiritual ones (1 Cor. 2:13); 97. whoever has not yet properly perceived the beauty of the Lord and has not visited His church, it is better to say who has not himself become the church of the Living God, the living dwelling of Christ in the spirit; who did not recognize the affinity and difference between images and reality, did not retreat from the former and did not venerate the latter, so that, having escaped the decay of writing, he could work in the renewal of the spirit (Rom. 7:6) and move completely to grace from the law, fulfilled spiritually in the exhaustion of the body; 98. who has not experimentally and speculatively explored all the names and powers of Christ, both the highest and first, and the lowest and last, belonging to Christ according to humanity, namely that He is God, Son, Image, Word, Wisdom, Truth, Light, Life, Power, Couple, Effusion (Wis. 7:25), Radiance, Creator, King, Head, Law, Way, Door, Foundation, Stone, Beads, Peace, Truth, Sanctification, Deliverance, Man, Servant, Shepherd, Lamb, Bishop, Sacrifice, Firstborn of all creation (Col. 1:15), Firstborn after the resurrection from the dead (Col. 1:18); whoever hears these names and things without benefit does not enter into communication with the Word and does not comprehend in what respect it is and is named by each of these; 99. who did not make efforts and did not learn to understand the wisdom of God in the hidden mystery (1 Cor. 2:7); who is still a baby, feeds on milk, is not included in Israel, is not included in the army of God, is not able to properly take on the cross of Christ; whoever, perhaps, has not yet become some kind of honorary member of the body of Christ - will he really willingly and joyfully accept to be placed at the head of the fullness of Christ? At least I don’t give judgment or advice on this. On the contrary, I see here the reasons for the strongest fear, and the most extreme danger for the conscious, and the importance of success, and the disastrous consequences of a mistake in business. 100. Let another, I reasoned, who is experienced in navigation and trade, sail for purchase, cross vast seas, always fight the winds and waves, gaining a lot, if possible, and suffering a lot. But for me, who stick to land, navigate the shallow and easy path of life, bow to benefits and the sea from afar, it is more pleasant to live as best I can, with a small and meager piece of bread, and eke out my days in safety and tranquility, than to rush into long-term and great danger for greater benefits. 101. For a person placed high, even that is already a loss if he does not accept more, does not extend his virtues to many, but stops at a small number of people and, as if with a large light, illuminates a small house or covers a child’s body with youthful armor. But for a person of little importance, the safest thing to do is to bear a small burden, not to excite laughter and not to increase the danger by placing upon oneself something beyond one’s strength. For, as we hear, it is fitting to build a tower only for those who have something to complete it with (Luke 14:28). 102. So, before you is a justification for my flight, and the justification is perhaps not insufficient. This very thing removed me from you, friends and brothers, to my regret, and perhaps to yours, however, out of necessity, at least as it seemed to me then. What brought me back, firstly, was my commitment to you and the feeling of your mutual commitment to me (for mutual disposition of all things strengthens love); 103. and secondly, my own concern, my own business - the gray hair and infirmity of the sacred parents, who are sick more about me than about their years - this Abraham the patriarch, a precious and equal-angelic head for me, and Sarah, who spiritually gives birth to us through the teaching of faith. For them, to be a rod in old age and a support in weakness was the first vow I promised, which I fulfilled as much as possible, so that I despised wisdom itself - this acquisition and name of everything is most precious to me, or, more correctly, I showed my wisdom in this, so as not to seem philosophical. Why did it become unbearable for me, for one reason, to lose all my work and be deprived of a blessing, which, as it was said about one of the Old Testament righteous people, he even delighted by deceiving my father with food and false hair, catching good with an evil means - through trickery. So, two reasons for my compliance and meekness; and, perhaps, there is not the slightest inconsistency in the fact that my previous reasoning could not resist these two reasons and was shaken. For I think that sometimes it is also timely to give up victory over oneself, just as there is time for any other matter; and it is better to be honestly defeated than to win with harm and illegally. 104. Thirdly (this is the most important reason for my return! Having said about it, I’ll keep silent about the others), I remembered about ancient times and, having encountered one ancient legend, I extracted from it instruction for myself in the present circumstance. For I believe that what is contained in Scripture was not written without a purpose and is not just a heap of words and objects collected for the amusement of the hearers, not some kind of bait for the ears, serving only to amuse. This is the purpose of fables and those Hellenes who, not caring much about the truth, enchant the ear and heart with the grace of fiction and the luxury of expression. 105. But we, who carefully extract the spiritual meaning from every feature and letter, do not at all agree to think (this would be unfair) that even the most insignificant actions without any purpose should be described in detail by writers and preserved as a keepsake to this day. On the contrary, their purpose is to serve as monuments and lessons on how to judge in similar circumstances, if encountered, so that we, following these examples, as certain rules and predetermined patterns, can avoid one thing and choose another. 106. What is the legend and what is the instruction? Perhaps it would not be a bad thing to tell this for the approval of many. Jonah also fled from the face of God, or, more accurately, thought to run away, but was held back by the sea, the storm, the lot, the belly of the whale and the three-day burial, which served as an image of the highest sacrament. But Jonah fled so as not to go to the Ninevites with sad and unusual news and so as not to later turn out to be a liar if the city was saved through repentance. For it was not the salvation of the wicked that upset him, but he was ashamed to be a servant of lies and, as it were, jealous of the reliability of the prophecy, which could be doubted in him, because many are not able to penetrate into the depths of God's economy about this. 107. And as I heard about this from one wise man, who did not indecently explain the apparent incongruity of the legend and was able to understand the deep meaning of the prophet, it was not such a reason that made blessed Jonah a fugitive and, having taken refuge on the sea, led him to Joppa, and from Joppa he led to Tarshish. It is incredible that he, being a prophet, did not know God’s intention, that is, that God, in His great wisdom, in His untested destinies, His unsearchable and incomprehensible ways, by His very threat ensured that the Ninevites would not suffer what was predicted in the threat. And if the prophet knew this, then it is also incredible that he would not submit to God, who arranged the salvation of the Ninevites in a manner pleasing to Him. To think that Jonah hoped to hide in the sea and escape from the great eye of God would be completely absurd and ignorant; such a thought would be unfair not only about the prophet, but also about any other person who has reason and has somehow known God and His all-surpassing power. 108. On the contrary, Jonah, as the man who reasoned about this says, of which I am also convinced, knew better than anyone else what would be the consequence of preaching to the Ninevites, and that he himself, who had planned to escape, although he would change place, would not run away from God; just as anyone else would not have escaped, even if he hid in the bowels of the earth, in the depths of the sea, invented a means to rise on wings and fly through the air, descended into the very depths of hell, or clothed himself in the thickness of a cloud, or came up with another possible way to conceal his escape. 109. On the contrary, if God wants to stop someone and hold him in His hand, then this is most inevitable, most irresistible. He speeds up the swift, outwits the cunning, overthrows the strong, humbles the high, tames the daring, suppresses all strength. Therefore, of course, Jonah knew the strong hand of God, who threatened others with it, and he did not think that he would completely run away from God. This is not at all probable. But since Jonah foresaw the fall of Israel and foresaw that the prophetic grace would pass to the pagans, he shied away from preaching, hesitated in fulfilling the command and, leaving the watchtower of joy, which in Hebrew means Joppa, that is, the ancient height and dignity, plunged himself into the sea of ​​tribulation. Therefore, he is overcome, and sleeps, and is shipwrecked, and awakens from sleep, and falls into the lot, and confesses to flight, and plunges into the sea, and is swallowed up by a whale, but is not destroyed, but calls on God there and (what a miracle!), like Christ, after three days he returns from there. 110. But let’s leave the word about this in the hope, God willing, to talk more thoroughly in the future. And now, in order for the speech to return to its subject, I will dwell on the thought and reasoning that for Jonah, perhaps, it was excusable, for the reason stated above, to renounce the prophetic ministry. But would there be any excuse or room for justification left for me if I began to persist longer and deny the (I don’t know what to call it) easy or difficult, but still yoke of service placed on me. 111. For if another had not reproached me with the fact (which one thing can be said in this case as something firm) that I am very unworthy of priestly service before God, and that first I must become worthy of the Church, and then of the altar, and first of all worthy of the altar, and then of the presidency, then another, perhaps, would not have freed me from the accusation of disobedience. But the threats are terrible, the punishments for disobedience are terrible, as well as for the opposite of this, if someone is not in the least embarrassed, does not deny and does not hide, like Saul, in his father’s vessels (1 Sam. 10:22), as soon as they lightly call him to accept the authorities, but with readiness, as for the easiest and most convenient thing, he takes on something in which it is not safe to change the intention and the customary one to correct with a new one. 112. Therefore, I struggled with my thoughts for a long time, figuring out what to do, and being between two fears, one of which forced me to stay down, and the other to go up. And after many perplexities, leaning to one side and the other, or, like a stream driven by contrary winds, bending this way and that, I finally yielded to the strongest; 113. I was overcome and carried away by the fear of being disobedient. And look how straight and true I am in the midst of these fears, not asking for authority that is not given and not rejecting what is given. For the first would mean insolence, the last would mean disobedience, and both together would mean ignorance. But I maintain a middle ground between those who are too bold and those who are too timid; I am more fearful than those who grab hold of any authority, and more daring than those who run away from everyone. This is how I understand this matter and will express myself even more clearly: against the fear of being a boss, perhaps the law of obedience will help, because God, in His goodness, rewards faith and makes a perfect leader the one who trusts in Him and places all his hopes in Him. But I don’t know who will be the helper and what word will inspire hope in case of disobedience. For it is dangerous that we should not hear the following about those entrusted to our care: “I will require their souls at your hands (Ezek. 3:18). Just as you rejected Me and did not want to be leaders and rulers of My people, so I will reject you and will not be your king. Just as you did not listen to My voice, but turned your backs contemptuously towards Me and did not obey, so it will be for you: when you call on Me, I will not look at your prayer and will not hear it.” May such a judgment of the Righteous Judge, to whom we sing mercy, not come upon us, but together we sing, of course, judgment (Ps. 100:1)! 114. And I turn again to history and, considering the most skillful men in ancient times, I find that of those whom grace has ever chosen to the rank of ruler or prophet, some readily followed the election, while others were slow to accept the gift; but neither one nor the other was condemned, both those who renounced - for fear, and those who expressed consent - for jealousy. For some were afraid of the importance of the service, while others obeyed by faith in the Caller. Aaron expressed his readiness, but Moses objected. Isaiah readily obeyed, but Jeremiah feared youth and did not first venture into the title of prophet until he received from God a promise and power that surpassed age. 115. With these reflections I calm myself, and my soul little by little yields and softens like iron; and I take time as an assistant to these reflections and as advisers - God’s justifications, which I have believed all my life. Therefore, I do not resist or counter the verb (Isa. 50:5) (the words of my Master, not called to the leadership, but like a sheep to the slaughter (Is. 53:7) led), I even bow and humble myself under the strong hand of God and ask you to forgive my previous laziness and disobedience, if I am in any way guilty of this. I was silent, but I will not always remain silent; He retired for a short time, as long as it was necessary to examine himself and give himself consolation in grief, but now he is ready to lift Him up in the church of people and praise Him in the seat of the elder (Ps. 106:32). If one should be condemned, then another can be excused. 116. But why should I continue the word? I am with you, shepherds and co-shepherds! With you, holy flock, worthy of Archpastor Christ! And you, my father, completely conquered and subjugated me more according to Christ’s than according to worldly laws. If you see obedience, return the blessing. And guide yourself with prayers, guide with words, confirm with spirit. The Father's blessing establishes the homes of children (Sir. 3:9). Oh, that I and this spiritual house, which I have chosen and for which I pray, may be established, so that it would be a rest for me in the age of the century, when from the local Church I will be sent to the Church there - to the triumph of the firstborn, written in heaven! Such and so just is my prayer! 117. Now the God of peace, who created both one and brought us back to each other, who sets kings on thrones and raises up the poor from the earth, who raises the poor from a low state, who chose David His servant, and who took from the flocks the youngest and youngest of the sons of Jesse, who gives the word to those who preach good news with much power for the fulfillment of the Gospel, Himself, feeding the shepherds and leading the leaders, let him support our right hand, let him guide according to His will and accept him with glory, so that we too may shepherd His flock wisely, and not in the vessels of an unskillful shepherd (Zech. 11:15) - one thing was set among the ancients among the blessings, and the other among the curses - let Himself give strength and power to His people (Ps. 67:36), let Himself present to Himself a glorious and undefiled flock, worthy of the heavenly court, in the monastery of the rejoicing, in the lordship of the saints, so that in His church all of us - both flock and shepherds - can collectively proclaim the glory in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be all glory forever and ever. Amen!