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To the words: “In sorrow You have given me space” (Ps. 4:2) 1. Anyone who is interested in the variety of languages and wants to learn a foreign dialect cannot learn it from himself, but adopts the ability to speak from those who know one or another language - Jewish, Roman or barbarian; So, anyone who wants to understand the speeches of the prophets must call on the God of the prophets, so that He who inspired His words to them would reveal their meaning to him. So, faithful and like-minded assembly, passing with us the same path of life, sailing on the same boat with us on this salty and bitter sea of life, glorifying the Trinity with one spirit and one heart and hastening to the same pier of the heavenly kingdom - throw me, I beg you, the anchor of your prayer! Why am I asking this? Because I just heard each of you say: “The Lord will hear me when I cry to Him” (Ps. 4:4). So, if in fact God hears your appeals, and your voices do not fill only the air, but bow God to you - according to your faith and virtue, then help all of you - captains of the ship and travelers, rowers and swimmers, bishops and priests, clergy and people - help with your prayers everyone who preaches, like a helmsman, so that his speech is directed to the harbor of truth. So, why is this “psalm of David” inscribed “to the end”, “song”? Since David’s life had a bad beginning and a good end, he (inscribed): “to the end”, “song”. He began to look evil when he saw a woman bathing: she was bathing, he was sinking into the mud; she was purified, and he was defiled; she used water for external cleansing, but it ignited from the inside. This deserved not songs and praise, but censure and reproaches. The spark of passion ignited the fire of adultery, and adultery gave birth to murder. Embraced by vicious love, having destroyed the sheep, he also killed its shepherd. Two passions produced two murders. Lust and anger, armed, the first sacrificed his wife like a sheep, and the second killed her husband. Yes, he devoured his wife like a sheep, since adultery is death to chastity. And the Scripture called her a sheep because she kept herself spotless and undefiled for her husband. The prophet Nathan said in a parable: “And a stranger came to a rich man, and he was sorry to take some of his sheep or oxen to prepare [dinner] for the stranger who came to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who came to him” (2 Samuel 12:4), calling his wife a lamb for the sake of the integrity of the bed. “Let marriage be honorable in all and the bed undefiled” (Heb. 13:4). He calls adultery slaughter, since for a chaste person dishonor is the same as murder and slaughter. But since David washed away his adultery with fasting, erased the traces of blood with tears, and every night he washed his bed with tears, after he saw a woman bathing at the wrong time, therefore at the beginning there is reproach, and “at the end” there is a “song”, at the beginning there is an eye shining with passion, and at the end there is an eye emitting streams of tears. Finally, a song, a psalm of David. The work of repentance is the fruit of salvation. And since righteousness has prevailed in abundance where sin previously prevailed; That’s why David said: “When I called, the God of my righteousness heard me” (Ps. 4:2). Having overthrown the tyranny of sin, he returned under the legal authority of righteousness: the God of my righteousness heard me.” The work of righteousness was to convert me, who had gone astray, and to raise up the fallen, as it is written: “A righteous man will fall seven times and rise again” (Proverbs 24:16). Truth was the fall. broken, but restored through repentance, - therefore: the God of my righteousness heard me.” David now calls his repentance his righteousness, because just as to sin and not repent is a double sin: firstly, that he fell, and secondly, he did not want to rise (so, God was angry with Cain not so much because he killed, but because, having committed murder, he did not repent), so the one who sinned and repented, in the same way. his repentance has fruit - justification. Or better yet, repentance itself is counted towards him as justification. So, when God accepted David’s repentance as justification, then David said: “The God of my righteousness heard me.” God saw that his soul had been cleansed and accepted his prayer. This prayer was written in tears, and the king signed his name with tears of shame. Even in the previous psalm, he mourned his persecution from Absalom, when in shame he fled from his son and could not fight with his own womb. Then prayer, appearing as a mediator, hanged the persecutor and freed the persecuted. After this, asked how he defeated Absalom, how he overthrew this second Goliath, he answered: how did I defeat the enemy? Armed with the prayer: “When I called, the God of my righteousness heard me.” The prayer ascended upward, and the persecutor hung down on the tree. Just as for my sin God stirred him up against me, so for my repentance he brought him down under the feet of my army. So now, when we sin, God raises up enemies against us. But we, being attacked by them, have no need to fight with them: we will simply check ourselves and, if there is any sin behind us, we will correct ourselves, and then our enemies will fall before our eyes. It is precisely because God often stirs up enemies against us for our sins that we are commanded not to defend ourselves from our enemies. All the same, we will achieve nothing by fighting against those whom God has stirred up against us. But do you want to see the defeat of those who attack you? Repent of what you have sinned and your enemies will fall. David called Christ God and Lord, “from Him you also are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). 2. So, if Christ is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us, and if through His intercession David’s prayer was heard, then (obviously) David referred these words not to himself, but to Christ: “The God of my righteousness heard me.” Why was David's call heard? Why? Because, denounced by the prophet Nathan, he immediately bowed to repentance. As he obediently accepted admonition, so his prayer was heard. He did not hesitate to repent, and God did not make him wait for His mercy. When a slave begs the master for something, or a warrior asks the king for mercy, then both the master and the king take into account the merits of one - the slave, the other - the warrior, of course, if the slave is not a traitor or ill-wisher of his master, and the warrior was exposed to danger for the king and is completely devoted to him; so the one who loves God, if he, like a slave and warrior, is grateful to God and quickly fulfills his orders, just as quickly his prayer is heard. And it's not me who says this. Listen to how God says in Isaiah: Do you want me to hear you when you call? See that you do exactly what I tell you: “loose the chains of unrighteousness, untie the bands of the yoke, and set the oppressed free, and break every yoke; divide your bread with the hungry, and bring the wandering poor into your home; When you see a naked person, clothe him, and do not hide from your half-blood. Then you will call, and the Lord will hear; You will cry out, and He will say: “Here I am!” (Isa.58:6-7, 9). Be like this, O man, and then you will have the opportunity to say: “When I called, the God of my righteousness heard me.” The clay called, and the potter heard; the earth called, and the sky listened. And David, having told his neighbors how quickly God heard him, continues his speech and gives thanks to the one who heard him, saying: “In tribulation You have given me room.” God spread it in two ways: both by the fact that he heard it, and by the fact that he heard it quickly, because just as it is hard and half a mercy to be heard soon, so to be heard quickly is a joy and doubly a mercy. So, soon, immediately to be heard in sorrow - he called space. "In sorrow You gave me space." Calm soon pacified the waves of sorrow; the foaming sea became smooth as a mirror; storms and hurricanes were resolved by dew; enemies and adversaries became supplicants and admirers. “In sorrow You gave me space.” I have not yet opened my mouth like a baby, but God’s providence is already giving me breasts like a mother. “In sorrow You have given me space.” When I was exhausted from hunger, you enriched me with fruits, bread, wine and oil, and thereby preserved the life not only of me, but of everyone who was with me. He speaks about this below: “You have given joy to my heart, and they have become rich from the fruit of wheat, wine and oil” (Ps. 4:8). The abundance of all this brought me joy. “In tribulation You gave me room.” Historically, the Lord extended David in tribulation in the following way. During persecution from Absalom, hiding in the mountains and deserts, he at the same time suffered hunger and need. Then - in need and hunger - God sent him, like Elijah ravens, two bread-bearing men. The first of them, Ziba, from the house of his enemy Saul, brought him two hundred loaves of bread, wine, figs and And then Barzillai the Gileadite brought him ten beds so that he would not have to sleep on the ground, rugs, so-called bedding, vessels of wine, wheat, barley, flour, beans, lentils, oil, sheep and young calves. So, when in distress and affliction from hunger and persecution God gave him abundance in pleasure, (the psalmist) said with gratitude: “In tribulation you gave me. space." When hunger oppressed me more than Absalom, then God turned the desert for me into a land flowing with milk and honey. So let none of us who are persecuted for God's sake fear hunger. “The Lord will not allow the soul of the righteous to suffer hunger” (Proverbs 10:3). David was oppressed, and the Lord gave him space. So the face of the martyrs, scourged, was oppressed and spread like a crowned conqueror; was oppressed, strewn with blows of whips, and spread like ripe bread gathered in the heavenly abodes; was oppressed, trampled like dirt, and spread, becoming heaven; oppressed like silver that is melted, and spread like incense heaped before God. “In sorrow You gave me space.” Even the thief, languishing on the cross and becoming a participant in paradise, could say: “In sorrow You gave me space.” Roadkill is a shepherd in paradise; the outcast on earth is an inhabitant of paradise; nailed to the cross - a citizen of heaven; the tyrant's associate is the king's servant; worthy of fire is a participant in the kingdom. Truly, “In tribulation You have given me room.” Salvation began with the thief and the cross. The first man, having eaten from the tree, was expelled from paradise like a thief; and now the thief, having believed on the tree, is the first to be brought into paradise. From the tree sin began, and from the tree salvation blossomed. 3. Crucified on the cross, Christ granted the thief entry into heaven. Why? Firstly, to teach the world and all people that if, like the thief, they confess the crucified Lord and King, they will be awarded equal honor with the thief; secondly, so that, seeing that Christ on the cross forgave the thief’s sins, everyone would believe that He destroyed the universal handwriting on the cross. Just as a farmer, having grafted one olive tree and made sure that it began to bloom and bear the best fruits, judging by it, receives confidence regarding all others, so Christ grafted the thief like a wild olive into a good one and was convinced from him that he could graft all nations and transplant them into paradise. Although, Who once threw Adam out of paradise like a weed, now Himself has transplanted the thief into paradise like a rose. And here, like an ascetic in a monastery, he sings: “In sorrow you gave me space.” What caused the thief grief was not the fact that he himself was nailed to the tree, but the fact that the Son of God was crucified with the thieves - which is why he said: “we are condemned justly, because we received what was worthy of our deeds, but He did nothing bad” (Luke 23:41). The further words (of the psalm) should have been fully understood by the thief; this is exactly what he could say on the cross, praying to Christ as God: “Have mercy on me and hear my prayer.” “Have mercy on me,” forgive me my crimes of robbery. Like a judge, I hang on a tree. “Have mercy on me.” (Luke 23:42). "Hear my prayer." Then, seeing that the creation has compassion for the Creator, and the whole world is shaken like one house (since the foundation suffered, the building suffered with it, and when the builder hung, his creation was destroyed), when heaven and earth rebelled against the murderers of the Lord, and they were not touched by all this, then the thief reproaches them: “sons of men! How long will you persist? (Ps. 4:3). Let it be so: when you saw four-day-old Lazarus (rising) from the tomb, you did not believe; Believe me, though, now that the coffins have disintegrated and the many-day-old dead have heard. the voice of the crucified, rose from the graves. The dead were awakened by an earthquake, and you are immersed in unbelief. "How long will you persist?" The stones fall apart like a spider's web, and you are not struck by fear? "How long will you persist?" And why are they “persistent”? Because, firstly, they were not moved by miracles, and secondly, because, out of their madness, they were seriously angry with God. Scripture testifies to this: “heavy is the stone, the weight and the sand; but the wrath of a fool is greater than both of them” (Prov. 27:3). “The stone is heavy,” but it lends itself to the strength of many hands and rises in the air like a feather. "Weight and sand", but it is transported by sea in a boat. “The wrath of a fool” - the Jewish people - is “heavier than both of them,” because not only is it not softened by admonitions, but even at the sight of miracles it turns into rage. “Why do you love vanity,” preferring Barabbas to Christ, a murderer to the Giver of Life? “Why do you love vanity,” preferring the kingdom of Caesar to the kingdom of heaven? Why did you leave the living spring, the water of which made the Samaritan woman thirstless (forever) (John 4:9), and dug up “broken cisterns” (Jer.2:13)? “Why do you love vanity”? You followed a traitorous student and plotted evil against your teacher. “Why do you love vanity,” and, moreover, “seek lies,” rejecting the truth? When were they looking for lies? When they brought hired false witnesses against the Lord, when they paid slanderers. The Evangelist Mark testifies to this: “the chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin sought testimony against Jesus in order to put Him to death” (Mark 14:55). "And you seek lies". “And they began to accuse Him, saying: We have found that He corrupts our people and forbids us to give taxes to Caesar” (Luke 23:2). But how did He forbid Him, who taught: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (Matthew 22:21)? "And you seek lies". “Nevertheless they do all their works so that men may see them” (Matthew 23:5). "And you seek lies". “If He had not been an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you” (John 18:30). What bad thing did He do? That he healed diseases, cast out demons, raised the dead, that he fed as many thousands of people with five loaves of bread? There is still food in the throat, and lies on the tongue. "And you seek lies". Beloved, let us avoid lies. A lie is a sword for the soul, “slandering lips kill the soul” (Wis. Sol. 1:11), - the soul not of the one who suffers the slander, but of the slanderer himself. Not so much hair for a barbarian and a cloak for a warrior, but for a Christian - a sure sign is abstinence from lies. And just as in war a slogan is given to distinguish between friends and foes, so in the cycle of human affairs, the friends of God are distinguished by standing in truth and abstaining from lies, and liars are struck by their own tongue like a sword. Lips that do not know lies and oaths soon bow to God with their prayer. If we respect a servant or friend of a non-lying person and do not refuse them their requests, how much more does God, out of favor towards the non-lying person, provide him with all the good things, because, seeing the tongue that loves the truth, pure and undefiled, He accepts his words as a treat on a platter. Lying is so bad that liars themselves hate the one who lies. Like flammable substances from the house, remove lies from your lips; like a fire in a bedroom, extinguish the false oath on your tongue. If a house catches fire, the tree and the body will perish, and a false oath, igniting, destroys both soul and body in Gehenna. If I say, “Don’t swear,” you refer to anger; if I say, “give money to the poor,” you imagine poverty and feeding children. And not swearing or lying is not the same as spending money out of pocket. This virtue does not require costs. Why don't we buy it? Purple and a crown are not as fitting for a king as abstinence from lying is for a Christian. For this, he is respected by his relatives, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances. Demons fear such a Christian, but angels love him and joyfully open to him the doors of the kingdom of heaven, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Creations attributed to St. John Chrysostom and in the Patrology of Min, classified as Spuria The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: