Беседа I

A word of admonition at the onset of the Holy Pentecost I rejoice and am glad, now seeing that the Church of God is showing off with the multitude of its children and you have all flocked together with great joy. When I look at your bright faces, I find in them the clearest evidence of your spiritual joy, just as the wise one said: “When my heart is glad, my face blooms” (Proverbs 15:13). Therefore, I stood up today with great zeal, having in mind to participate with you in this spiritual joy, and at the same time wanting to be for you a herald of the onset of the Holy Pentecost, as the healing of our souls. And the Lord, common to all of us, as a loving father, wanting to cleanse you from the sins we have committed at any time, gave us healing in holy fasting. So, no one grieve, no one appear sad, but rejoice, rejoice and glorify the Guardian of our souls, who opened this wonderful path for us, and accept its approach with great joy! Let the Greeks be ashamed, let the Jews be put to shame, seeing with what joyful readiness we welcome his advance, and let them know by themselves what the difference is between us and them. Let them call drunkenness, all kinds of unbridledness and shamelessness, which they usually produce, holidays and celebrations. The Church of God, contrary to them, calls fasting, despising the pleasures of the womb, and then following all kinds of virtues a holiday. And this is a true holiday, where there is the salvation of souls, where there is peace and harmony, from which all worldly pomp is banished, where there is no shouting, no noise, no running of cooks, no slaughter of animals, but instead of all this, perfect calm, silence, love, joy, peace, meekness and countless blessings reign. It is about this holiday, I say, that we will talk a little with your love, asking you in advance to listen to our words with complete calm, so that you can leave here home, bearing good fruit. We gather here not simply and not in vain just so that one will speak, and the other will applaud the words of the first, and then everyone will disperse from here, but so that we also say something useful and necessary for your salvation, and you receive fruit and great benefit from our words, and with that you leave here. The church is a spiritual hospital, and those who come here should receive appropriate medicine, apply it to their wounds, and leave here with this. And that listening alone, without actually doing it, will not bring any benefit, listen to blessed Paul about this, who says: “For those who hear the law are not righteous before God, but those who do the law... will be justified” (Rom. 2:13). And Christ, in his sermon, said: “Not everyone who says to me: Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven; but do the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). So, beloved, knowing that there will be no benefit for us from hearing unless it is followed by actual execution, let us not only be listeners, but also doers, so that actions corresponding to the words will serve as the foundation of the animated word. Open the depths of your soul and accept the word about fasting. Just as those who are preparing to receive a chaste and beautiful bride decorate the bridal chamber on all sides with veils, cleanse the entire house, do not allow a single worthless maid into it, and then lead the bride into the nuptial chamber - similarly I wish that you, having cleansed your soul and said goodbye to amusements and all intemperance, accepted with open arms the mother of all blessings and the teacher of chastity and all virtue, i.e. fasting - so that you too will enjoy great pleasure, and it (fasting) will bring you proper and appropriate healing. And doctors, when they intend to give medicine to those who want to cleanse rotten and spoiled juices, order them to abstain from ordinary food, so that it does not prevent the medicine from working and exerting its power; especially when we are preparing to accept this spiritual healing, i.e. benefits that come from fasting, we must, through abstinence, clear our minds and lighten our souls, so that it, mired in intemperance, does not make fasting useless and fruitless for us. 2. I see that our words seem strange to many; but, I ask you, let us not recklessly servile to habit, but let us organize our lives in accordance with reason. In fact, will there be any benefit for us if we spend the whole day overeating and drinking? What am I saying: benefit? On the contrary, (from this will come) great harm and irreparable evil. As soon as the mind becomes darkened by excessive drinking of wine, then immediately, at the very beginning and at the first step, the benefits of fasting cease. What is more unpleasant, tell me, what is more vile than those people who, drinking wine before midnight, in the morning, when the sun rises, emit such a smell as if they were loaded with fresh wine? They turn out to be unpleasant to those encountered and despised in the eyes of slaves, and ridiculous to everyone who has any knowledge of decency, and most importantly, such intemperance and untimely and disastrous immoderation incur the wrath of God. “Drunkards...,” it is said, “will not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:10). What could be more pitiful than these people who, for a short and disastrous pleasure, are ejected from the threshold of the Kingdom? But let it not be that any of those gathered here will be carried away by this passion; on the contrary, so that all of us, having spent the present day with all wisdom and chastity, and freed from the storm and excitement that drunkenness usually produces, enter the haven of our souls, i.e. during fasting, and could receive the benefits bestowed by it in abundance. Just as intemperance in food is the cause and source of countless evils for the human race, so fasting and contempt (of the pleasures) of the belly have always been the cause of untold blessings for us. Having created man at the beginning and knowing that he really needed this medicine for spiritual salvation, God immediately and at the very beginning gave the first created the following commandment: “You shall carry food from every tree that is in paradise; but from the tree that you understand good and evil, you shall not take food from it” (Gen. 2:16–17). The words: “eat this, but do not eat this” concluded a certain type of fasting. But man, instead of keeping the commandment, transgressed it; succumbing to gluttony, he disobeyed and was condemned to death. The crafty demon and enemy of our race, when he saw that the primordial one was spending a carefree life in Paradise, and, clothed in flesh, living on earth as an angel, decided to seduce and entice him to fall with the promise of even greater benefits, and thus deprived him of what he already possessed. This is what it means not to remain within your limits, but to strive for more. Pointing to this, the wise one said: “But through envy the devil brought death into the world” (Wis. 2:24). Have you seen, beloved, how death first came from intemperance? Look how subsequently the Divine Scripture constantly condemns amusements and says - in one place: “And the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose to play” (Ex. 32:6), and in another: “and poison and drink 2, fat, fat... and the beloved was rejected” (Deut. 32:15). And by this, among other crimes, the inhabitants of Sodom brought upon themselves the inexorable wrath of God. Listen to what the prophet says: “this is the iniquity of Sodom... for in the abundance of bread... your voluptuousness” (Ezek. 16:49). (This vice) is, as it were, the source and root of everything bad. 3. Do you see the harm from intemperance? Now look at the beneficial effects of fasting. After spending forty days in fasting, the great Moses was honored to receive the tablets of the Law; when, having descended from the mountain, he saw the iniquity of the people, he threw down these tablets, obtained with such effort, and broke them, considering it inappropriate to communicate the commandments of the Lord to a people who were drunk and acting lawlessly. Therefore, this wonderful prophet had to fast for another forty days in order to be worthy again to receive from above and bring (to the people) the tables broken for their iniquity (Ex. 24:18). And the great Elijah fasted for the same number of days and escaped the dominion of death, ascended on a fiery chariot “as if 3 into heaven” and until now has not experienced death (2 Kings 2:1, 11). And the man of desires, having spent many days in fasting, was rewarded with that wonderful vision (Dan.10:3); he tamed the fury of the lions and turned it into the meekness of the sheep (Dan. 6:16-23, 14:30-39), without changing the nature, but changing the disposition 4, while their brutality remained the same. And the Ninevites, by fasting, rejected the decree of the Lord, forcing dumb animals to fast together with people, and thus, having abandoned all evil deeds, they disposed the Lord of the universe to love mankind (Jon. 3:7). But why else should I turn to slaves (we can count many others who became famous for fasting in both the Old and New Testaments), when I need to point to our universal Master? And our Lord Jesus Christ himself, after forty days of fasting, entered into the fight with the devil and set an example for all of us so that we too would arm ourselves with the same fast and, having acquired strength through this, enter into the fight with the devil (Matthew 4:2). But here, perhaps, someone with a sharp and lively mind will ask: why does the Master fast for the same number of days as the slaves, and not more? This was done not simply and not in vain, but wisely and out of His inexpressible love for mankind. So that they would not think that He appeared ghostly and did not take on flesh, or did not have human nature, for this He fasted for the same number of days, and not more, and thus blocked the shameless lips of those who would like to argue. If even now, when this has already happened, they still dare to say this, then what would they not have dared to say if (the Lord), in His foreknowledge, had not taken away from them the reason (to argue)? Therefore, He deigned to fast no more, but the same number of days as the slaves, in order to teach us by His very deed that He was clothed with the same flesh (as we are) and was not alien to our nature. 4. So, it became clear to us both from the example of slaves and from the example of the Lord himself that the power of fasting is great and the soul has many benefits from it. Therefore, I ask your love that, knowing the benefits of fasting, you do not lose it through negligence, and when it comes, you do not grieve, but rejoice and be glad, in accordance with the words of Blessed Paul: “even if... our outer man decays, yet the inner man is renewed” (2 Cor. 4:16). In fact, fasting is food for the soul, and just as bodily food fattens the body, so fasting strengthens the soul, gives it easy flight, makes it capable of rising to heights and thinking about higher things, and places it above the pleasures and amenities of real life. Just as light ships are more likely to cross the seas, but those burdened with a large load are drowned, so fasting, making our mind lighter, helps us quickly cross the sea of ​​real life, strive for the sky and for celestial objects, not to value the present, but to consider it more insignificant than shadows and sleepy dreams. On the contrary, drunkenness and overeating, burdening the mind and fattening the body, make the soul a prisoner, overwhelming it from all sides and not allowing it to have a firm basis in judgment, forcing it to rush along the cliffs and do everything to the detriment of its own salvation. Let us not, beloved, be careless in arranging our salvation, but knowing how many evils arise from intemperance, let us try to avoid its harmful consequences. Luxury is forbidden not only in the New Testament, where more wisdom is required, great feats, great works, numerous rewards and indescribable crowns are offered, but it was not allowed in the Old Testament either, when they were still under the shadow, they used a lamp and were taught little by little, like children fed with milk. And lest you think that we condemn amusements without reason, listen to the prophet who says: “It will be cruel to those who come on the day of evil... those who sleep on their beds from ivory bones and those who are tender-hearted in their beds, who eat goats from the pastures, and feed bulls with milk from the midst of the flocks; ...drinking strained wine and anointing yourself with the first stench...as if one were standing, and not as one running” 5 (Amos.6:3-6). Do you see how the prophet denounces luxury, and, moreover, speaking to the Jews, insensitive, unreasonable, daily indulging in gluttony? And note the accuracy of the expressions: having denounced their immoderation in food and drinking wine, he then added: “like a standing thing, and not like a running one,” showing by this that the pleasure (of food and wine) is limited only to the larynx and lips, and does not extend further. Pleasure is short-lived and short-lived, but the pain it causes is constant and endless. And he says this, knowing from experience: they are all “like a worthwhile mnesha,” i.e. considered constant, “and not as if running,” i.e. flying away and not stopping for a minute. This is how everything human and carnal is: before it has time to appear, it will fly away. Such is the joy, such is the glory and power of man, such is the wealth, such is the general well-being of real life; it has nothing lasting in itself, nothing permanent, nothing solid, but it runs away faster than river streams and leaves those who cling to it empty-handed and with nothing. On the contrary, the spiritual is not like that: it is firm and unshakable, not subject to change and abides forever. How foolish would it be to exchange the unshakable for the wavering, the eternal for the temporary, the permanent for the fleeting, the one that brings great joy in the next century for that which has great torment in store for us there? Reflecting on all this, beloved, and cherishing our salvation, let us despise fruitless and disastrous amusements; let us love fasting and all other wisdom, show a great change in life and every day we will hasten to perform good deeds, so that throughout the entire Holy Pentecost, having made a spiritual purchase and collecting the great wealth of virtue, we will thus be worthy of reaching the Day of the Lord 6, with boldness to approach the Terrible and Spiritual Table, with a clear conscience to be partakers of the ineffable and immortal blessings and be filled with Heavenly grace, through the prayers and intercession of those who have pleased Christ Himself, our man-loving God, with whom to the Father with the Holy Spirit be glory, power, honor now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. "" ἠγαπημένος “instead of the usual reading here in 70, not excluding Lucian’s lists: “καὶ ἔφαγεν Ιακωβ καὶ ἐνεπλήσθη, καὶ ἀπελάκτισεν ὀ ἠγαπημένος ελιπάνθη, ἐπαχύνθη..." - "and Jacob was satisfied, and his beloved was denied: "You're fat, you're fat." ὠς εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, according to the translation of the 70; there is nothing in the Hebrew-Masoretic text that corresponds to this “as if.” In this order, deviating from the usual Greek text, this passage is read according to Min's edition. Κύρια ἡμέρα, Easter holiday You might be interested in: