Беседа XI

That we must make great efforts to practice virtue and imitate the saints, who, being of the same nature as us, did it with zeal, and that if we become negligent, we will have no excuse. 1. I know that in the previous days I occupied your mind with deep thoughts; Therefore, today I want to offer you an easier lesson. Just as a body, exhausted by fasting, needs some rest so that it can then with living zeal again perform the exploits of fasting, so the soul requires rest and tranquility. You don’t always need to strain her, and you don’t always need to ease her; but sometimes do one thing, and sometimes another, and thus control both the state of the soul and the lusts of the flesh. Constant hard work produces exhaustion and exhaustion, and constant relaxation leads to carelessness. This happens, as everyone knows, both with the soul and with the body. Therefore, moderation in everything is a wonderful thing. This is what the God of all things teaches us through the very creations that He created for our existence. To make sure of this, let’s take into account day and night, i.e. light and darkness. Having assigned man the day for work, and the darkness of the night for calm and rest from work, (God) set a measure and limit for both of them, so that we could all benefit from them. And that the light of day is the time of doing, listen to David, who says: “A man will go out to his work, and to his work until the evening” (Ps. 103:23). And he said well: “until the evening,” because with the onset of evening the light recedes, and darkness comes and lulls human nature, calms the weary body, calms all the feelings and, like a good nurse, with her care gives all members freedom from labor and exhausting activities. When the measure of night is fulfilled, light appears and, awakening a person, makes him capable of perceiving the sun's rays with fresh feelings, and with new and ardent zeal to begin ordinary affairs. The same can be seen in the sequence of seasons: after winter comes spring, and after summer comes autumn, so that our bodies are refreshed by the change in the dissolution of the air, so that those overly compressed by the cold do not become upset, and those strongly warmed by the heat do not weaken; therefore (God) forces us to get used to winter in the fall, and to summer in the spring. In general, whoever wants to look at everything judiciously will find order and proportionality in all creations, and will be convinced that nothing was created without a reason and without a purpose. The same can be seen in plants growing from the ground. The earth does not produce everything at one time, and not every time is convenient for cultivating its growths: taught by God-given wisdom, the farmer knows the convenient time and understands when to sow seeds, when to plant trees and grapes in the ground, when to sharpen a sickle for harvest, when to gather grapes and cut off the clusters, and at what time to gather fruit from an olive tree. In a word, if you want to look at all this in detail, you will find that farmers also have a lot of wisdom. And this can be seen not only on land, but also at sea. Here you will see another kind of wondrous wisdom: the helmsman knows when to launch the ship, when to take it out of the pier, when to sail on the sea. In these people especially, one can see how much meaning the wisdom of God has invested in human nature. Travelers on big roads do not know turns as well as these (sailors) know how to navigate the waters correctly. That is why Scripture, amazed at the excessive wisdom of God, says: “He who gave 56 a way through the sea and a strong path through the waters” (Wisdom 14:3). What human mind is capable of comprehending this? You will find the same reasonable arrangement with regard to people’s eating: for each time and for each season of the year, the Lord gave us different food, and the earth, like a good nurse, brings us its gifts, obeying the command of the Creator. 2. But in order not to spread this word too much, you, as reasonable people, can figure out everything else for yourself: “Give,” it is said, “wine to the wise, and he will be the wisest” (Proverbs 9:9). This can be seen not only in our food, but also in the food of the dumb. And from many other things you can, if you wish, learn through research the ineffable wisdom and immeasurable goodness of the highest Artist-God, learn that all creatures are created for some reasonable purpose. The same, we will find, is the establishment of the Holy Pentecost for us. Just as on the main roads there are inns and hotels in which tired travelers can rest and calm down from their labors, and then continue their journey again; just as there are shores and piers on the sea, where sailors, having crossed many waves and withstood the pressure of the winds, can rest a little and then begin sailing again, - so at the present time of the Holy Pentecost - the Lord gave those who entered the path of fasting these two days in the week 57, like inns and hotels, like shores and piers, for a short rest, so that those who make this good and saving journey, and calm the body a little from the labors of fasting, and having encouraged their souls, again, after these two days, they set out on the same path with zeal. So we, since today is the day of rest, will ask your love to carefully preserve the fruits you have acquired from fasting, so that, having rested for a while, you will add new fruits to the old ones, and thus little by little collect great profits, celebrate the Day of the Lord 58, and bring your spiritual ship full into the harbor of the holy holiday. If all the creations of the Lord, as our word has shown and as experience testifies, were accomplished with a reasonable purpose, to satisfy a necessary need, then our deeds should be done not simply and not in vain, but with benefit for our salvation. And those engaged in worldly affairs will never dare to begin work until they see the benefits of it; all the more so, we need to do this and not spend the Lenten weeks carelessly, but question our conscience, test our minds and look at what we did well this week, what we did in another week, what acquisition we received the next, which of our passions we corrected. If we do not arrange ourselves in this way and take such care of our souls, then fasting and abstinence will not benefit us at all, especially when we find ourselves worse than those who make such efforts to collect money. Look, each of these people uses all his vigilance, as if every day to add something to the previous one, and is never satisfied, but the more his possessions increase, the more his zeal and zeal increase. So, if people show such vigilance where efforts are often fruitless, and wealth causes great harm to the salvation of the soul, then shouldn’t they do the same much more here, where there is great benefit from diligence, unspeakable reward and immeasurable profit? There, in addition to everything that has been said, there is a great unknown: the acquisition of property not on purpose, not only because when death occurs, it remains here and does not bring any benefit to the one who collected it; but also because he must (there) give the strictest account for the property remaining here. It also often happens that a person who has accumulated great wealth, after numerous works, hard efforts and worries, with the onset of some kind of storm, unfavorable circumstances, even before his death, suddenly becomes poorer than the poorest people - and this is seen every day. But regarding spiritual wealth, we should never fear anything like that: it is firm and immovable, and where we especially need it, it gives us great help. 3. So, while we have time, I beg you, let us use at least as much effort as these people to acquire this spiritual wealth; and we will never stop caring about whether we have done something good, whether by our vigilance we have driven away from ourselves any passion that outraged us, so that, feeling the approval of our conscience, we may taste great pleasure. The point is not only that we come here every day, constantly hear about the same thing and fast throughout Lent. If we do not gain anything from constant walking here and admonishment, and from the fasting time we do not extract anything useful for our soul, all this not only will not bring us any benefit, but will also serve to our greater condemnation, when, with such care (for us) (on the part of the Church), we will remain the same - when the angry does not become quiet, the hot-tempered does not turn to meekness, and the envious does not turn to goodwill, the lover of money will not abandon his passion and will not dispose himself to giving alms and feeding the poor, the dissolute will not become chaste, the one chasing vain glory will not learn to despise it and seek true glory, the one who does not care about love for his neighbor will not perk up and accustom himself not only to being no worse than publicans: “If,” it is said, “love those who love you, what kind of bribe do you need? Don’t tax collectors do the same thing?” (Matthew 5:46), but also to such a state of soul that you can look meekly at your enemies and show great love for them. If, by coming here every day, and constantly listening and using such instructions, and receiving help from fasting, we do not overcome the above-mentioned and other passions that arise in us, then what forgiveness, what justification will we have? Tell me, please, if you saw that your son goes to school every day, and although a lot of time passes, he acquires nothing there, would you bear it patiently? Would you not have punished the boy, would you not have reproached the teacher? And then, if you found out that everything was done on the teacher’s part and nothing was left out, and that the cause of everything was the laziness of the boy, would you not turn all your anger on the boy, ceasing to blame the teacher? The same should be true here. We, as those who have been appointed (to the level of teachers) by the grace of God, every day call you, as spiritual children, to this school, and offer you saving instruction, and we are not communicating our own inventions, but we are expounding the teaching given to us from the Lord in the Divine Scripture - we openly expound it and constantly instill it. So, when we use all our diligence and care and daily lead you on the path of virtue, but you will remain in the same state, then think, what kind of sorrow will there be for us, what kind of condemnation will it be for you, to say the least? Of course, we are relieved of all responsibility by the fact that we have not omitted anything necessary for your edification; however, since we care about your salvation, we cannot easily endure (your carelessness). And the teacher, when he does not notice any fruit from his efforts in the student, grieves and suffers a lot, seeing that he is working in vain. 4. I say this now not to sadden your love, but to excite and dispose you not to exhaust only your body with fasting and not to spend the days of Holy Pentecost in vain and without benefit. And what am I saying - the days of the Holy Pentecost, when we cannot spend a single day, if possible in our entire lives, without acquiring spiritual fruit for ourselves - either through prayer, or confession, or almsgiving, or some other spiritual deed? If Paul, such a great man, who heard those unspeakable words, which no one has heard before today, cried out for himself: “I die every day, such is your praise” (1 Cor. 15:31), teaching us that he was so often exposed to dangers for piety that every day he was close to death; and what nature did not allow (because we are all subject to death alone), was accomplished by the zeal of his will, although the man-loving God preserved him for a long time for the salvation of others - so, if he, glorious for such exploits and appearing on earth like an angel, tried every day to acquire something, take up arms against dangers for the truth, accumulate spiritual wealth for himself and never stop - then what excuse will we have, who not only have not committed any feats, but are burdened with such shortcomings, of which each individual can cast us into the abyss of destruction, and we do not even make any effort to correct these shortcomings? And if it often turns out that one and the same person has not only one shortcoming, but very many, when he is angry, unbridled, money-loving, envious, and cruel, and yet does not try to correct these shortcomings or turn to acts of virtue, then what hope remains for salvation? I say this and will not stop saying, so that each of those listening, taking from our words the medicine appropriate to him, will try, freed from the passions that burden him, to restore his health and make himself capable of virtue. And with a sick body, it happens that if a doctor repeatedly applies medicine, and the patient does not want to wait for it to take effect, but, angry and not enduring the pain from the medicine applied by the doctor, tears it off and does not receive any benefit from it, in this case no one who is right-thinking will reproach the doctor, who, for his part, has done everything. So here too, we, having compiled a medicine from spiritual teaching, offer it to you; and then it will be up to you to endure the pain, and to use medicine and, freed from the disease, to return to true health. Then you yourself will receive great benefit, and we will feel considerable joy, seeing that those who were previously sick have so quickly become healthy. So, each of you, I pray, if you didn’t want to before, at least from now on, try to remove from your soul that passion that you know that it weighs on you more than other passions, and, acting with pious meditation, as if with a spiritual sword, free yourself from this passion. God has given us so much reason that with it we can, if we want to be attentive, overcome every passion that arises in us. For this reason, the grace of the Spirit described for us the life and activity of all the saints in the Divine Scripture, so that, having learned how they, being of the same nature with us, accomplished every virtue, we would not be lazy to strive in it. 5. Was not blessed Paul of the same nature as us? I am burning with love for this husband; Therefore, I constantly turn to him and, looking at his soul as a kind of prototype, I am amazed at his mastery over passions, high courage, fiery love for God and reflect on how one person, through his zeal, acquired the whole range of virtues, but none of us wants to do even a small good deed. Who will save us from inevitable punishment, when he was of the same nature as us, was not alien to the same passions and was in such difficult circumstances every day, so to speak, being dragged, tormented and publicly tormented by opponents of the (evangelical) preaching, who often, considering him already dead, then only finally left him, as if having carried out their murderous plan? And among us, weak and so careless, is there anyone who would demonstrate such greatness of virtue? But in order for you not to hear from our lips about the exploits of this blessed one and about the courage that he showed daily (in the struggle) for preaching piety, you need to listen to what he himself says. When he, due to the false report of him by the false apostles, was forced to talk about his deeds (and this was so painful and unpleasant for him that he refused and never wanted to announce his exploits, on the contrary, he openly called himself a blasphemer and persecutor), so when he saw the absolute need to stop the mouths of the deceivers and somewhat calm the disciples, then, after much more, this is how he began to say: “If anyone dares about him, it is senseless I say, I dare and I” (2 Cor. 11:21). Look, what a God-loving soul: he calls this matter not only impudence, but also recklessness, teaching us never to disclose our affairs unless necessary, when no one forces us to do so, even if there are those among us who have done something good. “About him,” he says, “if anyone dares, I say meaninglessly, I dare,” that is, since I see a complete necessity, I decide to dare and do a reckless thing. “Are Jews the essence? And az. Are you Israelis? And az. Is this the seed of Abraham? And I" (2 Cor. 11:22). By this, he says, they are exalted: let them not think that we lack this; and we share in the same (benefits). Then he added: “Are they servants of Christ? I do not speak in wisdom, rather than I” (2 Cor. 11:23). 6. Look here, beloved, how virtuous is the soul of this blessed one. He had already called what he had done insolence and madness - although he was forced to do so, he was not satisfied with what was said. But when he decided to declare that he was much superior to them, so that no one would think that he was saying this out of pride, he again calls his words madness, as if saying: Don’t I know that I am doing something that is unpleasant to many and indecent for me? But urgent necessity forces me to do this; So forgive me for saying crazy words. Let us imitate his shadow though we, burdened with such a burden of sins - we who, even if we sometimes do something good, cannot keep it in the treasuries of the heart, but divulge and reveal it out of love for human glory, and with such inappropriate talkativeness we deprive ourselves of a reward from God. Nothing like this happened with Blessed Paul. So what? “Are they servants of Christ? - he says, “I do not speak in wisdom, rather than I.” Then he reveals those exploits of his that the false apostles did not accomplish. And how could they be committed by people who were hostile to the truth, tried in every possible way to prevent the preaching of piety and outraged the minds of ordinary people? So, having said: “more than I”, he already lists the feats of his courage and says: “in labor we multiply, in wounds more painful,... in death we multiply.” What are you saying? Your words are somehow strange and extraordinary. Is it possible to die several times? Yes, he says, perhaps, if not by deed itself, then by intention. By this he teaches us that for his preaching he was constantly exposed to dangers that threatened him with death, but the grace of God preserved the ascetic in the midst of the most dangers, so that his disciples would receive great benefit from him. “There are many in deaths,” he says. From the Jews five times fourty is perhaps one reception. I hit them with clubs, I lashed them with a single stone, I thrashed the ship three times, I created night and day in the depths. In the traveling processions there are many: troubles in the rivers, troubles from robbers, troubles from relatives, troubles from the tongue, troubles from false brethren, troubles in cities, troubles in the desert, troubles in the sea” (2 Cor. 11:23-26). Let us not pass these words without attention, beloved: each of them separately presents us with a sea of ​​trials 59 . He did not speak about one journey, but “in the traveling processions,” he says, “in multitudes,” he endured not (one) trouble in the rivers, but many and various “troubles,” and all (he endured) with great firmness. And after all this he also says: “in labor and struggle, in watching much, in hunger and thirst, in fasting much, in winter and nakedness, except for those without” (2 Cor. 11:27-28). 7. Another sea of ​​trials opens up before us. With the words: “except for external ones” (among other things), he made it clear that he had omitted much more than what was said. And he didn’t stop there, but points out to us the anxiety he experienced from the multitude of people flocking to him, saying this: “an attack that continues throughout the days, and the care of all the churches” (2 Cor. 11:28). Here again, and this feat, even if it were one, is enough to lift him to the very top of virtue. “Care,” he says, “of all churches”—not one, not two or three, but all that were in the universe. How vast is the earth, which the sun illuminates with its rays, so great was the care and concern of this blessed one. What a breadth of heart! What greatness of spirit! But what follows covers, so to speak, everything that has been said. “Whoever faints,” he says, “and I do not faint; If anyone is tempted, I will not be liquefied” (2 Cor. 11:29). This is the tender love of this husband! That's what vigilance is! This is what thoughtfulness is! What kind of mother is so internally tormented about her child, who is burning with fever and lying on his bed, as this blessed one was in pain for the weak, wherever they were, and worried about those who were tempted? Look how strongly he expressed himself. He did not say: “Whoever is tempted, I do not grieve; but “I am liquefied,” he says, showing us the great power of grief and letting us know that he is, as it were, ignited and internally burning for those exposed to temptations. I know that I have greatly expanded my teaching, although I had the intention of being brief today, so that you could take some rest from the work of fasting. But I don’t know how, having touched the wealth of virtues of this saint, I was carried away by this, as it were, strong stream of waters. Therefore, stopping the word here, I ask your love to constantly keep it in your mind and constantly think about the fact that someone who was of the same nature as us, subject to the same passions, engaged in a simple and unimportant craft - sewing leather and staying in a workshop, when he wanted and decided to indulge in the deeds of virtue and make himself worthy of receiving the Holy Spirit, received the most abundant bounties from above. Likewise, if we want to do what should be done on our part, nothing will prevent us from receiving the same bounties, because the Lord is generous and “wants all men to be saved and to come into the understanding of truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). Let us make ourselves worthy and with fiery zeal, although late, turn to virtue; and, having suppressed our passions, let us make ourselves capable of receiving the Spirit - which may we all be worthy of, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, honor, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. Zlat. ῾Ο δοὺς ἐν θαλάσσνῃ ὁδόν, καὶ ἐν ἰσχυρῷ τρίβον instead of ἔδοκας καὶ ἔν θαλάσσνῃ ὁδόν, καὶ ἐν κύμασι τρίβον σαφαλῆ - “thou hast given a way in the sea, and a strong path in the waves” (Elizab.B.) or, closer, a safe one. Those. Saturday and Sunday days of the Holy Pentecost, on which the Church eases the severity of fasting. (τὴν κυρίαν ἡμέραν) – i.e. the day of Easter or the Resurrection of Christ. You might be interested in: