Беседа 70

“Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how to catch Him in words.” (Matt. 22:15) The intention of the Jews is to convict Christ of rebellion against the authorities. - How Christ denounces them. - Who were the Sadducees? – The fictionality of their story about a wife who had seven husbands. – Properties and reality of the future resurrection. – Depiction of the battles, exploits and victories of the hermits over drunkenness and gluttony. – Comparison of the meals of sensualists and hermits. 1. “Then”: when is this? When it is most necessary to be contrite in heart, to be amazed at the love of God for mankind, to be afraid of the future (judgment) and, looking at what has already happened, to believe what is about to happen. The Savior's words were clearly confirmed by the events themselves. In fact, publicans and harlots turned to faith, prophets and righteous people were put to death: knowing this, the Pharisees should not have doubted what they heard about their destruction, but should have believed and come to their senses. But this does not stop their malice; it never ceases to torment them and intensifies even more. And since they could not seize Jesus (because they were afraid of the people), they chose a different path and, in order to expose Him to danger, intended to accuse Him of violating public decrees. “They send,” it is said, “to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying: Teacher! we know that You are just, and You teach truly the way of God, and do not care about pleasing anyone, for You do not look at any person; So, tell us: what do you think? Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not" (Matt. 22:16–17)? They had already been paying tribute since the time when the management of their public affairs passed into the power of the Romans. So, knowing that not long before Theudas and Judas, intending to cause an indignation, were killed for this, they wanted to subject Jesus with their question to similar suspicion. For this purpose, they sent not only their disciples, but also Herod’s soldiers, thinking through this, on both sides, to dig a ditch for Him and lay out nets in order to catch Him in either case. If the Savior would have spoken in accordance with the opinion of the Herodians, then the Pharisees could have reproached Him; If He had spoken in accordance with them, Herod's followers would have accused Him. True, He has already paid the didrachm; but they did not know this, and therefore in one case or another they hoped to catch Him. However, they more wanted Him to give an answer contrary to the opinion of the Herodians. With this intention, they also sent their disciples, so that by their presence they would induce Him to such an answer and, on this basis, betray Him to the hegemon as a thief of legitimate power. The Evangelist Luke also points to this, saying that they questioned Him before the people in order to have more witnesses. But what happened was completely contrary to their intention, and they only revealed their madness in front of a large number of spectators. And look with what flattery they approach Him, and how cunningly they conceal their intention. “We know,” they say, “that You are just.” How did you say before that “He deceives the people,” and is “possessed by a demon” (John 7:12, 10:20), and “not of God”? How did they not long before conspire to kill Him? But what don’t people do when they want to harm others! Since not long before they had impudently asked Him; “By what authority do You do this” (Matthew 21:23)? and could not get an answer, now they hope to piss Him off with flattery and persuade Him to say something contrary to the established laws and supreme authority. Therefore, they declare to Him about His justice, and, thus, recognize Him for what He really is, only not from the bottom of their hearts and not willingly - and add: “you do not care about pleasing anyone.” See how clearly these words reveal their intention to force Him to say something that could offend Herod and bring upon the Savior suspicion of stealing power, as a man rebelling against the law, so that they could then subject Him to punishment as a troublemaker and the thief of supreme power. By saying to Him: “You do not care about pleasing anyone,” and: “You do not look at any face,” they were hinting at Herod and Caesar. “Tell us: what do you think”? Now you respect and call teacher the one whom you despised and insulted so many times when He talked to you about your salvation! However, they still think about Him the same way as before. And look how cunning they act; They don’t say: tell us what is good, what is useful, what is in accordance with the law, but: “as it seems to you”? They are only looking for ways to betray Him and convict Him of opposing the supreme authority. This is also shown by the Evangelist Mark, who, more clearly revealing their insolence and murderous intent, says that they asked the Savior this way: should we give taxes to Caesar, or not (Mark 12:14)? So they breathed with rage and were tormented by the desire to destroy Him, although they pretended to pretend that they wanted to please Him. What is He? “Why do you tempt Me, you hypocrites” (Matthew 22:18)? Don't you see that now He is beginning to speak to them with greater severity? Since their malice had already matured and was openly revealed, the Savior cuts their wound deeper, reveals their secret thoughts, reveals to everyone with what intention they came to Him - and thus, at the very beginning, confuses them and forces them to remain silent. And He did this, wanting to pacify their anger, so that in the future they would not harm themselves with such undertakings. Although they verbally showed Him great respect, called Him a teacher, testified that He is fair and does not look at faces, but He, as God, could not be deceived by this. So, from His words they had to conclude that He was not convicting them by guesswork, but He also knew their innermost thoughts. 2. But the Savior did not stop at one reproof. Although it was enough to bring them to shame by exposing their intentions and revealing their wickedness, He is not content with this, but also stops their lips in another way. “Show Me,” He says, “the coin with which the tax is paid” (Matthew 22:19). When they showed Him, He now, as in other cases, pronounces the sentence with their own lips, and makes them themselves admit that they must pay tribute to Caesar - which was His main and solemn victory over them. So, He asks them not because He does not know what answer should be given, but because He wants to convict them in their own words. When they asked Him: “Whose image is this?” They answered: “Caesar’s”, then He said to them: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (Matthew 22:20). Paying tribute does not mean giving, but giving due; and in confirmation of this He points to the image and inscription. And so that they do not say: “Are you subordinating us to people?”, he adds: and “God’s to God.” And we need to give our due to people, and to God – what we owe in relation to Him. That is why Paul says: “give to everyone their due: to whom to give, to give; to whom quitrent, quitrent; to whom fear, fear; to whom is honor, honor” (Rom. 13:7). However, when you hear: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” understand by this only that which does not in the least harm piety; everything contrary to piety is no longer a tribute to Caesar, but a tribute and rent to the devil. Hearing this answer, the Pharisees fell silent and marveled at His wisdom. After this, they should have believed and recognized themselves as defeated. Indeed, He presented to them obvious proof of His divinity by revealing their secret thoughts, and meekly silenced them. What then? Did they believe it? No; but “forsaking Him, they went away” (Matthew 22:22). After them, the Sadducees approached the Savior. What madness! He had barely managed to stop the mouths of the Pharisees when these came to Him, when they should have refrained from doing so. But insolence is so shameless and reckless that it even attempts the impossible. That is why the evangelist, amazed at their madness, points to him, saying: “that day they came” (Matthew 22:23). “On that day”: when is it? On the very day on which the Savior exposed the wickedness of the Pharisees and put them to shame. Who are the Sadducees? These are people who made up a special sect among the Jews, different from the Pharisees and much worse than that - who claimed that there is no resurrection, no angel, no spirit. They were rougher than the Pharisees, and completely devoted to physical things. The Jews had many different sects. That is why Paul says: “I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest teaching in our religion” (Acts 26:5). However, the Sadducees, having approached the Savior, do not directly begin to talk about the resurrection, but invent some kind of fable and talk about an incident, in my opinion, unprecedented, thinking to put Him in difficulty to refute both: both that there will be a resurrection, and that it will be as the Savior intended. And they, like the Pharisees, approach as if with meekness, saying: “Teacher! Moses said: If a man dies without having children, let his brother take his wife for himself and restore seed to his brother; We had seven brothers; the first, having married, died and, having no children, left his wife to his brother; likewise the second and the third, even to the seventh; after all, the wife also died; So, in the resurrection, which of the seven will she be wife” (Matthew 22:24–28)? See with what wisdom, befitting a true teacher, the Savior answers them. Although they approached Him with an insidious intention, their question stemmed more from ignorance. Therefore, the Savior does not call them hypocrites. And so that He would not ask: why did seven have one wife? The Sadducees refer to Moses, although their entire story, as I have already said, in my opinion, was fictitious. Indeed, the third would not have taken her for himself, seeing that her two husbands had already died; and if a third had taken her for himself, the fourth and fifth would not have taken her; If even these had agreed, then the sixth and seventh would certainly not have decided to do so, but would have turned away from it, fearing the same fate, since the Jews were prone to such fears. If even now many have similar fears, then even more so did the Jews have them then, who already avoided such marriages, despite the fact that they were obligated to do so by law. That is why Ruth, the Moabite, married a distant relative when there was a closer one, and Tamar, for the same reason, was forced to deceive her father-in-law so as not to remain childless. Why did the Sadducees come up with the idea that one wife had not two or three, but seven husbands? Through this they hoped to further ridicule the doctrine of the resurrection. That is why they say: “everyone had it,” thinking that after this He has nothing to say. What about Christ? He answers both, meaning not their words, but their intention, and just as before, he reveals their innermost thoughts, partly revealing them to everyone, and partly leaving their conviction to the conscience of those who question them. Now see how He shows both, that is, that there will be a resurrection, and that it will not be the same as they imagine it to be. What does He tell them? “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God” (Matthew 22:29). Since they refer to Moses and the law as those who know it, the Savior shows that this very question exposes them to ignorance of Scripture. That is why they tempted Him, because they did not understand the Scriptures properly and did not know the power of God. Is it surprising, He says, that you tempt Me, Whom you do not yet know, when you do not even know the power of God, so many proofs of which have been presented to you, and yet you have not known it either from Scripture or from the general principles of reason? After all, from the general principles of reason one can know that everything is possible with God. 3. And, firstly, the Savior answers the question. Since the reason that they did not believe in the resurrection was their opinion that the order of things would always remain unchanged, then He first of all eliminates the cause of the disease, and then heals the disease itself (since the latter came from the first), and shows the properties of the resurrection: “for in the resurrection,” he says, “they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but remain as the angels of God in heaven” (Matthew 22:30), - or, as the Evangelist Luke says, “sons of God” (Luke 20:36). So, if they don’t get married on Sunday, then the question of the Sadducees is irrelevant. However, the sons of the resurrection are not called angels because they do not marry, but because they do not marry because they will be like angels. With these words, the Savior destroyed many other concerns (about worldly pleasures), which Paul concluded all in one word, saying: “for the image of this world is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:31). Having explained what the resurrection will be like, the Savior further shows that it will actually happen. Of course, this truth also followed from the above; but He, not content with the previous words, adds new evidence to them. He meant not only one question, but also the very thoughts of the questioners. Thus, when they ask Him not with evil intentions, but out of ignorance, He in His answer communicates more than what was required for the question; and when questions are inspired by mere malice, he does not even answer what is asked. So, He again stops the mouth of the Sadducees with the words of Moses, since they themselves referred to Moses: “And regarding the resurrection of the dead,” He says, “have you not read what God said to you: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Matthew 22:31–32). God is not the God of those who do not exist and are completely destroyed, who will never be resurrected; did not say about Himself: I was; but he said: I am the God of the living and the living. Just as Adam, although he was alive on the day when he ate from the tree, was immediately subjected to death after the pronouncement of God’s judgment, so the forefathers, although they died, remained alive according to the promise of resurrection. How is it said elsewhere: “to have dominion over both the dead and the living” (Rom. 14:9)? This saying does not contradict the previous one, because here we are talking about the dead who will one day come to life. However, there is a difference between the words: “I am the God of Abraham” and the saying: “he rules over both the dead and the living.” You need to know that there is another death, about which it is said: “Let the dead bury their own dead” (Luke 9:60). “And when the people heard, they marveled at His teaching” (Matthew 22:33). But this benefit was received not by the Sadducees, who, having been defeated, withdrew, but by the people who listened to Him in simplicity of heart. So, if this is the resurrection, then let us make every effort to be awarded primacy in the future life. If you wish, we will show you such ascetics who are still here, before the resurrection, leading a life equal to the angels and succeeding in it, and for this we will again retire with you into the desert. I will again talk with you about those who struggle there, because I see that you listen to them with great pleasure. So let us now look at these spiritual armies, let us look at pleasures not disturbed by any fear. These ascetics, like warriors, live in tents, but not with spears, not with shields and armor (I stopped at this in the previous word). You will see that they have nothing like this, and yet they perform feats that they cannot accomplish even with weapons. So, if you are able to see these feats, then give me your hand, and we will both go and look at this war and at the orderly ranks of those warriors. And they fight every day, kill their enemies, and conquer all those lusts that usually overwhelm us. You will see their enemies thrown to the ground and having no movement - you will actually see the fulfillment of the apostolic word: “those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts” (Galatians 5:24). Do you see many dead people lying, killed with the sword of the Spirit? That is why there is no drunkenness or satiety there. This is shown by their very meal and the sign of victory erected on it. Drunkenness and satiety are overcome by drinking water, and they lie defeated and dead. And this is a diverse and many-headed beast. Like the fabulous Scylla and Hydra, drunkenness has many heads: here fornication grows in it, there anger; here is dullness of mind and heart, and there is shameful love. For spiritual warriors, all these enemies have been killed. Ordinary warriors, even if they have won a thousand victories, are defeated by these enemies, and neither shields, nor spears, nor other weapons can withstand the attack of these hordes. On the contrary, you will see that these giants, these brave warriors, who have shown countless experiments in their courage, are bound by sleep and drunkenness without any bonds, without any mortal blows and wounds, lying as if wounded, or you will even find them in an even worse state. After all, the wounded, at least, still have movement; but they don’t even have this, but suddenly after defeat they become motionless. Now you see that spiritual warriors are much stronger than ordinary ones, and are more worthy of surprise, since with one desire they kill their enemies, by which they are defeated. They so weaken the passion for drunkenness - this mother of all evils - that it no longer causes them any worries; and as soon as the military leader is deposed and the head is cut off, then the whole body lies inactive. Moreover, in spiritual warfare, every warrior achieves such a victory. And here it is not the same as in battles with external enemies, that as soon as someone receives a wound from one and falls, he can no longer harm another; but everyone must defeat this beast, and whoever has not dealt him a fatal blow and has not brought him down, he never ceases to bother him in every possible way. 4. Do you see the glorious victory of these warriors? Each of them erects such trophies that armies gathered from all corners of the universe cannot erect. They rejected from themselves everything disordered and reckless: crazy words, frantic thoughts, unbearable pride and everything that drunkenness weaponizes against a person. They imitate their Master, about whom Scripture says with amazement: “He will drink from the stream along the way, and therefore will lift up his head” (Psalm 109:7). Do you still want to see many other kinds of dead? Let's look at the lusts that come from voluptuousness, which are served by skilled cooks who prepare various delicious dishes. I am ashamed to list them in detail; I will only mention the birds brought from the shores of Phasis, the richly seasoned sauces, the liquid and dry foods, and the rules established for feasts. Like the rulers of cities and military leaders who place warriors in formation, so the legislators of feasts lay down the rules and prescribe what should be served first and what after. Others first offer birds roasted over coals and stuffed with fish; and others begin with other dishes, these feasts contrary to the law, and argue a lot about the quality, order and quantity of them, and boast about what they should be ashamed of - some that they spent half the day in the feast, others the whole day, and others even the night. Look, poor man, how little food your stomach needs - and be ashamed of the immoderation of your worries about satiating it! Those angels have nothing like this - both these and all other lusts are dead. They eat food not for satiety and pleasure, but to satisfy a natural need. There are no bird catchers or fishermen between them. They are content with bread and water. Confusion, noise and disturbance, all this is completely expelled from there, and both in their dwellings and in their bodies there is great silence; on the contrary, sensualists have a disorder in everything. Imagine the inside of their stomach, and you will see a lot of rubbish, a stream of sewage, a watered (painted) coffin; and what happens after that, I’m ashamed to talk about - disgusting belching, vomiting, eruptions from below and from above!.. But you will see not only these desires killed there, but also others, even stronger ones, arising from them, that is, voluptuous ones. You will see that they are all defeated along with their horses and all their baggage. And the convoy, weapons and horses of shameful deeds are shameful words. But here the horse, and this rider, and the weapons lie in the dust. On the contrary, you will see something completely different among the slaves of voluptuousness, and their souls will be dead and defeated. And not only over gluttony did those holy men win a brilliant victory, but also over other passions: covetousness, love of glory, envy, and in general over all illnesses (mental). Now don’t you see that these soldiers are stronger than the soldiers of the king of the earth, and that their meal is better than their meal? Who would contradict this? No one, not even the gluttons themselves, no matter how crazy one of them may be. Truly, the meal of holy men leads to heaven, but the meal of sensualists leads to Gehenna. This one is prepared by the devil, and that one by Christ. For this one, voluptuousness and unbridled luxury give the rules, and for that one, love of wisdom and chastity. Here is Christ, and there is the devil. Where there is drunkenness, there is the devil; Where there is obscenity and satiety, there the demons rejoice. The rich man mentioned in the Gospel had such a meal; but for that (after death) he was not given even one drop of water. On the contrary, the desert dwellers do not care about such a meal, but about the angelic life. They do not marry, do not commit violence, do not eat much, do not indulge in effeminacy; but except for the very few needs that are inevitable for a corporeal being, they live as incorporeal. Who can defeat enemies so easily if not the one who, while eating, at the same time gains victory? That is why the prophet says: “You have prepared a table before me in the sight of my enemies” (Psalm 23:5). We will not be wrong if we apply these words to this meal. Indeed, nothing constrains the spirit more than insane lust, lust, drunkenness and all the evil that comes from here. Those who have experienced it know this well. If you consider the means by which this meal and the meal of the sensualists are prepared, you will clearly see the difference between the two. By what means is the meal of sensualists prepared? By shedding many tears, plundering the property of widows, plundering orphans. On the contrary, the desert dwellers' meals are righteous labors. The latter is like a beautiful and comely wife who does not need any external adornment, but has natural beauty; on the contrary, she is like a vile and disgusting harlot who, although she uses various rubbings, cannot hide her ugliness, and the closer she gets to someone, the more she reveals it. Such is the meal of sensualists: the closer you come to it, the more you will see its vileness. To do this, look at the feasters not when they meet, but when they get up from the table, and then you will see all their disgustingness. She, being free, does not allow her interlocutors to say anything shameful; and this one, like a dishonest harlot, does not allow anything chaste to be said. This one seeks the benefit of its accomplices, and this one seeks destruction. This one does not allow you to insult God, but this one makes you insult Him. So, let's go to those (lovers of abstinence). There we will learn how many ties we are connected; there we will learn to arrange a meal full of countless blessings, sweetest, cost-free, free from all worries, envy and slander, free from all illness, full of good hopes, bringing many victories. There are no mental disturbances there, no illnesses, no anger; everything is quiet, everything is peaceful. Do not point out to me the silence of servants in the houses of the rich, but imagine the noise of those feasting - not the one that comes from their conversations (although this is already worthy of ridicule), but the internal noise that occurs in the soul and gives them captivity to many enemies; imagine the rebellion, excitement, darkness and storm of their thoughts, from which everything comes into confusion and disorder, similar to what happens in a night battle. On the contrary, in monastic monasteries there is nothing like this; there is great silence, great silence. That meal is followed by a sleep like death, and this one is followed by sobriety and wakefulness; that one subjects to torment, and this one leads to the kingdom of heaven and immortal rewards. So, let us strive for this meal so that we can enjoy its fruits, which may we all be worthy of, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ. To him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen. You might be interested in: