Беседа 29 на псалом 119 81

Ps.119:1. Song of Degrees. 82 I cried to the Lord in my affliction, and He heard me. Why are Psalms 119 through 133 called psalms of degrees? – The benefits that sorrows bring to a person if he endures them without cowardice, and the admonition to avoid a pampered and careless life. – It is necessary to avoid deceitful, insidious people: divine punishment for this vice. – In the consciousness of oneself as a wanderer on earth lies the root of great virtue. – Dealing with evil people is very painful for the pious. – “With those who hated the world I was at peace” (Ps. 119:6). – What is the main cause of enmity between people? 1. Each of the other psalms has its own inscription, but here several psalms placed together have one inscription: “song of degrees,” or, as another translator says, of ascents. Some people call them degrees. Why, you say, are they named like that? In a historical sense because they speak of the return from Babylon and mention of the captivity there, and in a figurative sense because they instruct on the path of virtue: this is how some understand them. In fact, this path, like steps, little by little raises a virtuous and wise man and brings him to heaven itself. Others say that this refers to Jacob's ladder, which was shown to him reaching from earth to heaven. Thus, even the highest, inaccessible villages become accessible to us when steps and ladders are provided. But since those who have ascended, because they have ascended to a height, may be subject to darkness from dizziness, then not only those who ascend, but also those who have reached the height itself, must take precautions. This precaution consists in not looking at how far we have come, so as not to become proud, but looking forward, how much remains to go, and striving there. Paul expresses the same thing when he says: “forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead” (Phil. 3:13). This is the figurative meaning of this word. But we, if you like, turn to history and look at those freed from captivity. How did they free themselves from captivity? Love for Jerusalem; on the contrary, those who did not have this love did not receive any participation in God’s mercy, but remained and died in slavery. If we imitate them, we will experience the same thing. If we are not filled with love for the blessings of heaven and the desire for the heavenly Jerusalem, but are constantly attached to real life, defiled by the dirt of everyday worries, then we will not be able to reach the fatherland. “I cried to the Lord in my sorrow, and He heard me.” Do you see the benefit of grief? Do you see the readiness of God's mercy? The benefit of sorrow, because it led them to pure prayer; the readiness of mercy, because it immediately appeared to those who called. God did the same thing before, in Egypt; That’s why he said: “I saw the suffering of my people in Egypt and heard their cry from their leaders; I know his afflictions, and I am coming to deliver him from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring him out of this land” (Ex. 3:7–8). So you, beloved, when you are in tribulation, do not despair, do not be faint-hearted, but then be especially exalted in spirit, because then your prayers are purer and God’s favor is more complete, and spend all your time so that your life is full of work, knowing that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12), and that “through many tribulations We must enter the Kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). Therefore, do not love a pampered and careless life and do not want to follow the broad path that does not lead to heaven, but the narrow and cramped path. If you want to reach the highest villages, then run away from pleasures, trample on worldly pride, despise wealth, fame and power; choose poverty, contrition of spirit, repentance, sources of tears, and strive for everything with which you can acquire salvation. He who chooses this is himself out of danger, and his prayers become most sublime. If you arrange yourself in this way, and with such a heart you cry out to God, then He will certainly hear you. For this, the prophet said: “in my sorrow I cried out, and He heard me,” so that you learn to rise little by little and give wings to your prayers, so that you do not become discouraged and despair during sorrows, but benefit from them. If the prophet Elisha, a man, did not allow his disciple to reject his wife who had fallen to him, saying: “Leave her, her soul is sorrowful” (2 Kings 4:27), and expressing by this nothing more than the fact that she had great protection and justification for herself in her sorrow, then all the more will God not reject you, approaching Him with a sorrowful soul. That is why Christ pleases those who weep and calls those who laugh miserable. In the conversation about the beatitudes, He says at the very beginning: “Blessed are those who mourn” (Matthew 5:4). So, if you want to ascend these steps, then reject effeminacy and carelessness, hamper yourself with a regrettable life, and leave behind earthly affairs. This is the first degree. It is impossible, absolutely impossible, to climb the stairs and remain on the ground at the same time. 2. You see the height of the sky, you know the shortness of time, you know the unknown of death. Do not hesitate or put off, but with great haste begin this procession, so that in one day you can complete two, three, ten, twenty degrees. “Lord, deliver my soul from the lips of the unrighteous and from the flattering tongue” (Ps. 119:2). Look how the Gospel commandment shines here: “Pray so that you do not fall into temptation” (Luke 22:46). Truly, beloved, nothing can compare with the temptation of falling into the hands of a treacherous person; he is more dangerous than a wild beast. The beast appears to be what it is; and he often hides poison under the guise of meekness, so that the deceit is unnoticeable, and the one who carelessly falls into the pit. That is why the prophet often prays to God for deliverance from such attackers. If we must avoid deceitful and treacherous people, then even more so the corrupters who preach wicked teachings. Those that deviate from virtue and lead to vice can especially be called “unrighteous lips.” Therefore, the prophet asks the Lord to deliver his soul from them, because their arrows penetrate there. “What will be given to you or what will be added to you with a flattering tongue?” (Ps. 119:3) Another translator (unknown translator, see Orig. Ex.) says: “What will a flattering tongue prosper you or add” (παρέξει ... προσθήσει)? Third (unknown, see Orig. Ex.): “what would I give you, or what would my tongue add to you with deceit” (δωη ... πρσθείη ... χατ έπιθέσως)? These words express nothing more than that such a vice is great, that this kind of evil is serious. Therefore, do you see how the prophet is angry, indignant and says: “What will be given to you or what will be added to you with a flattering tongue?” , i.e. what worthy punishment is there for this evil? In the same way, Isaiah said to the Jews: “Why should we hit you again, you who continue your stubbornness?” (Isa.1:5)? He says the same thing: “What will be given to you or what will be added to you with a flattering tongue?” He either says this, or he says that in vice itself there is already punishment; You yourself, even before punishment, inflict punishment on yourself, giving birth to evil in yourself. Indeed, vice is the greatest punishment for the soul even before punishment. What worthy punishment could there be for such a vice? Here there is nothing but defeat from God. A person cannot repay him according to his dignity, because this vice exceeds any punishment; and God will strike him. Therefore, wanting to show this, the prophet immediately adds: “the sophisticated arrows of the Mighty One with devastating coals” (Ps. 119:4). Here again he calls punishments “arrows.” Another translator says (Symmachus and Theodotion): “the arrows of the strong are refined, with coals gathered in a heap” (μετὰ ανθρα᾿ κων εστοιβασμένων). The third (Aquila): “with juniper coals” (σύν αθρακίαις ὰρκευθίναις), - with such figurative expressions increasing the fear of punishment. And this - with the gathered in a heap, and this - with the junipers - contains only one idea; Scripture also means God's punishments by destructive, destructive things, calling them arrows and fire. And here, it seems to me, it also refers to foreigners, because another translator (unknown translator, see Orig. Ex.), expressing this, says: “deliver my soul from lying lips” (απο χείλους). ψευδους ). Such are their words, such are their intrigues and plots, full of lies and all kinds of wickedness. “Woe is me that my life in exile is long: I settled in the tents of Kedar” (Ps. 119:5). Another translator (unknown, see Orig. Ex.) says: “woe is me that I continued my coming” (παροικων παρείλκυσα). Third (unknown, see Orig. Ex.): “woe is me, that I have come for a long time” (προσηλύτευσα έν μακυσμω). Thus they lament about the captivity of Babylon; and Paul - about the duration of life here: “being in this hut, he says, we groan under the burden” (2 Cor. 5:4); and again: “But we ourselves, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves” (Rom. 8:23). Indeed, real life is a pilgrimage. What am I saying: wandering? It is much worse than wandering. That is why Christ called it the way: “Strait is the gate, He says, and narrow is the way that leads to life” (Matthew 7:14). And this is the best and even the first science - to know that we are wanderers in real life. The ancients professed this and therefore became especially famous. In expressing this, Paul says, “God is not ashamed of them, calling himself their God” (Heb. 11:16). Why, tell me: “them”? Because they recognized themselves as strangers and strangers. This is the root and foundation of great virtue. Whoever is a stranger here will be a citizen there; whoever is a wanderer here will not become attached to real blessings, will not care about housing, wealth, food, or anything else like that; but, just as those who are in a foreign country do everything and use all measures to return to their fatherland and every day strive to see the country that produced them, so one who has a love for future blessings will not be upset by the unfortunate circumstances here, and will not be proud of the happy ones, but will pass by all this like a traveler. That is why in prayer we are commanded to say: “thy kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10), so that we, nourishing in our souls the desire and expectation of that day and constantly having it before our eyes, do not get carried away by the present. If the Jews, who wanted to return to Jerusalem, even after liberation, mourn the past, then what excuse can we have, what justification, if we do not have a strong love for the heavenly Jerusalem? 3. Look how they mourn their stay among foreigners: “I settled,” he says, “in the tents of Kedar; my soul lived long in the land of migration; I was at peace with those who hated the world” (Ps. 119:5-6). Here they mourn not only their stay in a foreign country, but also the treatment of foreigners. Likewise, other prophets mourned this present life and said: “There are no more merciful on earth, there are none upright among people” (Mic. 7:2); and this same prophet: “Save me, O Lord, for the venerable one is no more” (Ps. 11:2). Real life is hard not only because it is full of vanity and untimely worries, but also because evil people succeed a lot in it. There is nothing more vile and difficult than the treatment of such people. It is not so much the smoke and stench that burdens the eyes, but rather the treatment of evil people that saddens the soul. Don’t you remember how our Lord Jesus Christ expressed the burden of being with them? When He said, “How long will I be with you? How long will I bear with you? (Matthew 17:17), then he pointed out what is contained in the words: “I dwelt in the tents of Kidar.” These are barbarians who usually treat those under their control like animals, live in huts and caves and reach the ferocity of wild animals. But even more intolerable are their predators, self-seekers, debauchees living in luxury. “Long lived my soul.” However, not much; only seventy years old. But the prophet calls them many not by number, but by the difficulty of the circumstances. To those who suffer, even a few years seem like many. This is how we should feel: even though we have lived a few years, we should consider them many because of our strong desire for future benefits. I say this without condemning real life - let it not be; and it is the work of God, but, wanting to arouse in you a love for future blessings, so that you do not become attached to the present, do not cling to the flesh and do not become like the cowardly, who, even if they have lived thousands of years, say that it is not enough. What could be more reckless than this? What could be rougher - while heaven and heavenly blessings await, “no eye has seen, no ear has heard” (1 Cor. 2:9), chasing shadows and wanting to spin in the abyss of real life, exposed to incessant waves, storms and shipwrecks? Paul was not like that, but he hurried and strived there, and only one thing held him back - the salvation of people (Phil. 1:23). “When I spoke to them, they were at enmity with me without guilt” (Ps. 119:7). Do you see how it shows the severity of life there? He did not say: with those who do not have peace, but: “with those who hate peace I was at peace.” Do you see the benefit of grief? Do you see the fruits of captivity? Now which of us can say that? It is desirable that we be peaceful with the peaceful; and he was at peace with those who hated peace. How can we achieve this? If we live like strangers - I again turn my speech to the same subject - if we live like strangers, if we are not captivated by anything real. Truly, nothing is so much a cause of enmity and discord as love for real goods, passion for fame, or wealth, or pleasures. When you break all these bonds and do not allow your soul to be captivated by anything like that, then you will see where the discord originates, where the foundation of virtue lies. This is why Christ commands us to be sheep among wolves, so that you do not say: I suffered this and that, and that is why I became hardened. Even though you have suffered countless insults, continue to be a sheep and you will defeat the wolves. Such and such a person is evil and wicked; but you have the power with which you can overcome even the evil ones. What's humbler than a sheep? What's fiercer than a wolf? However, the former overcomes the latter, as can be seen in the apostles, because there is nothing more powerful than meekness, nothing stronger than long-suffering. This is why Christ commands us to be sheep among wolves. But having said this and wanting to explain what His disciple should be like, and that this simplicity is not enough for him, i.e. the meekness of the sheep, he adds something else: “be..., he says, like doves” (Matthew 10:16), combining the meekness of two meek and gentle animals. This is the kind of meekness He requires from us when we turn among the wicked! Don't tell me: he's angry, I can't stand it. Then it is especially necessary to show meekness when we are dealing with the evil and hostile; then its power is revealed, then its effectiveness, dignity and benefit shines. “When I spoke to them, they were at enmity with me without guilt.” Another translator (Symmachus) says: “and as I spoke to them, they were at enmity” (καὶ ο ˝ τε), expressing either: with those who hated peace I was at peace, or: because of what I told them, they were at enmity. The meaning of these words is as follows: during the conversation itself, he says, when I especially expressed my love, when I uttered especially friendly words, then they became irritated, plotted, and nothing tamed them; but I continued to observe my virtue, despite their disposition. This is what we should do too; even if they attack our lovers, even if they are at enmity, even if they plot intrigues, we must keep ours, remembering the commandment that commands us to be like sheep and doves among wolves, in order to make them better, and ourselves to achieve heavenly blessings, which may we all be worthy of by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. The psalms in the text are translated by P. Yungerov - Editorial office of the ABC of Faith Another translator (Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion) says: "song of ascents" (άναβάσεων). You might be interested in: