Беседа 79

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory” (Matthew 25:31), “and will separate one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” He will praise some because they fed Him to the hungry, gave Him drink to the thirsty when He was a stranger, brought Him into the house when He was naked, clothed Him when He was sick, looked after Him when He was in prison, visited Him - and He will give them the kingdom; and others, accusing them of opposite actions, will be sent into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. (Matthew 25:32–36, 41) Description of the Last Judgment. – The death of Christ is a triumph and deliverance of the universe from evils. - How many high priests were there? - The love of Christ. – An exhortation to imitate His example. - About forgiveness of insults. – Memory malice is prohibited in the Old Testament. - A good person cannot suffer any harm from insults. 1. We must now listen to these sweetest words, which we never leave in our minds, with all care and tenderness, since these words contain the very conversation of Christ. He attaches great importance to philanthropy and almsgiving. Therefore, in previous words he spoke about this in different ways, and here he speaks, but much more clearly and powerfully, representing not two or three, or even five persons, but the whole universe. True, even before, speaking about two persons, He meant not two persons, but two sides: one obedient, and the other disobedient. But here He offers us a word about this that is both more terrible and more solemn. That is why he no longer says: “The Kingdom of Heaven will be like this” (Matthew 25:1); but directly points to Himself, saying: “When will the Son of Man come in His glory.” Now He has appeared in disgrace, reproach and reproach; and then He will sit on the throne of His glory. And often mentions fame. Since the time of His death on the cross, which was considered a shameful execution, was approaching, He raises the mind of the listener to the highest, presenting to his gaze the judgment seat and the entire universe. And this is not the only reason why His word becomes terrible; but also because the heavens seem empty. After all, He says, the angels will be with Him, and they will testify how much they served, being sent from the Lord to save people. And in every way that day will be terrible. “All nations (that is, the entire human race) will be gathered,” He says further; and he will separate one from another, as a shepherd separates his sheep” (Matthew 25:32). Nowadays they are not separated, but are all mixed; and then there will be a division, and the most precise one. First He separates them in places, and reveals each one; and then by the very names he shows the internal disposition of each, calling some goats and others sheep, and showing that the former do not bear any fruit - since goats cannot produce even a small fruit - and the latter - an abundant fruit - since sheep bring great benefit by giving sheep, milk, lambs, which a goat does not provide at all. However, dumb animals do not bear fruit, or they bear it by nature, but people do so at will. Therefore, those of them who do not bear fruit are subject to torment, but those who bear fruit receive crowns. The Lord does not subject sinners to torment before he judges with them, which is why, having placed them, he pronounces accusations. They answer him with meekness, but without any benefit for themselves; and this is quite fair, since they neglected what He most desired. After all, the prophets everywhere said: “I want mercy, not sacrifice” (Hos. 6:6), and the Lawgiver encouraged this by all means, both in word and in deed, and nature itself taught this. Note at the same time that those condemned did not have only one or two virtues, but all of them. They not only did not feed the hungry, did not clothe the naked, but even, which was much easier to do, they did not visit the sick. See also how easy His commandments are. He did not say: I was in prison and you set Me free; I was sick, and you raised Me up from the bed of sickness; but said: “They visited Me;... came to Me.” But even then, as He was hungry, it was not difficult to fulfill His demand. He did not ask for a sumptuous meal, but only the most necessary things, necessary food, and, moreover, he asked with prayer. Thus, everything made them worthy of punishment: the ease of fulfillment of the request, since He asked for bread; and the mournful appearance of the one asking, since He was poor; and natural compassion, since He was a man; and the attractiveness of the promise, since the kingdom is promised; and fear of punishment, as Gehenna threatened; and the dignity of the recipient, since God himself received in the person of the poor; and greatness of honor, since he deigned to descend; and the legality of alms, since He accepted His. But despite all this, the love of money completely blinded those captured by it, even with such great threats. And as He said above that those who do not accept the poor will be punished more than the Sodomites, so here He says: “Because you did not do it to one of the least of these” of My brothers, “you did not do it to Me” (Matthew 25:45). What are you saying? Are they your brothers? And why do you call them lesser brothers? Because they are brothers, because they are humiliated, because they are poor, because they are rejected. He especially calls such people into His brotherhood, that is, the unknown, the despised, meaning not only monks and those living in the mountains, but also every believer. He wants the worldly person, when he is thirsty, hungry, naked or wandering, to receive all kinds of help from us. Baptism and communication in divine mysteries makes us brothers. 2. Then, so that you can see from the other side the justice of the sentence, He first praises those who properly fulfilled their task, and says: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry, and you gave Me food,” and so on. (Matthew 25:34–35); so that the condemned do not say that they had nothing, He condemns them, pointing to their comrades, just as He condemns the virgins, pointing to the virgins, the drunken and overeating slave - pointing to the faithful slave, the slave who hid his talent - pointing to the slave who presented two talents; and in general, condemns every sinner, pointing to those who have fulfilled their duties. And this comparison is sometimes taken from an equal, as, for example, here and in the parable of the virgins; sometimes from more, as, for example, when it is said: “The Ninevites will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented from the preaching of Jonah; and behold, there is more Jonah here. The queen of the south will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, here is greater than Solomon” (Matthew 12:41–42). And again from an equal: “They will be your judges” (Matthew 12:27); and again from more: “Do you not know that we will judge angels, much less the [deeds] of this life?” (1 Cor. 6:3)? As for the present place, Christ here takes the comparison from an equal; compares the rich with the rich and the poor with the poor. But He explains the justice of His sentence over those condemned not only by the fact that slaves like them, under the same circumstances, fulfilled their duties; but also because the condemned turned out to be disobedient even in those things in which poverty did not serve as an obstacle at all, such as, for example, when they needed to give water to a thirsty person, come to someone in prison, or visit the sick. Having praised those who fulfilled their duties, the Savior reveals what love He had for them from the beginning: “Come,” He says, “you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” What blessings can be compared with this name - blessed, and, moreover, blessed from the Father? And why did they receive such an honor? What is the reason for this? “For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink,” and so on. How much honor, how much bliss there is in these words! He did not say: “receive,” but “inherit,” as your own, as your father’s, as yours, as belonging to you from time immemorial. Before you came into existence, He says, this was already prepared and arranged for you, since I knew that you would be such. And why do they receive such an award? For shelter, for clothing, for bread, for cold water, for visiting, for coming to prison. Everywhere He demands what is necessary; and sometimes, however, it is not necessary, because, as I said, the sick and those in prison require, without a doubt, not only a visit, but one - release from bonds, and the other - from illness. However, the Lord, being condescending, demands from us what we can do, and even much less than this, leaving us to be zealous for more. And to those who are condemned he says: “Depart from Me, you cursed—not from the Father, since He did not curse them, but their own deeds—into eternal fire, prepared not for you, but for the devil and his angels.” When He spoke about the kingdom, then, having said: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom,” he added: “prepared for you from the foundation of the world”; but when speaking about fire, he did not say that, but added: “prepared for the devil.” I have prepared a kingdom for you, He says, but fire is not for you, but for “the devil and his angels”; but since you plunged yourself into the fire, you blame yourself. And not only in these, but also in the following words, He, as if to justify Himself before them, presents the reasons for their condemnation: “For I was hungry, and you did not give Me anything to eat” (Matthew 25:42). Even if an enemy came, wouldn’t the suffering be strong enough to touch him and bend the most merciless? Hunger, cold, bonds, nakedness, illness, homeless wandering everywhere - and this is enough to end hostility. But you did not do the same with your friend - with your friend-benefactor and Master. We are often moved when we see a dog hungry, we bow down when we see animals in need; and you, seeing your Lord, do not bow down? How can you excuse this? And if that were all there was, wouldn’t that be enough of a reward? I’m not talking about the fact that (having done a good deed) you will hear such a joyful voice in the face of the universe from the Father who sits on the throne and you will receive the kingdom; but the fact that you have done a good deed does not sufficiently reward you? And now, in the face of the universe, at the manifestation of this ineffable glory, the Lord himself proclaims and crowns you, recognizes you as a nourisher and a host of strangers, and is not ashamed to say this in order to make your crown more brilliant. That is why those are righteously punished, and these are crowned by grace, even though they have shown countless benefits, yet the granting to them for such an unimportant and insignificant thing - heaven, a kingdom, and such a great honor - is a gift of bounties of grace. “When Jesus finished all these words, he said to his disciples: you know that in two days the Passover will be, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified” (Matthew 26:1-2). Again, at the right time, Christ mentions suffering, after he spoke about the kingdom, about future reward and eternal torment; He seemed to say this: why should you be afraid of short-term evils when such benefits await you? 3. Here pay attention to the new way in which Christ hides in the first of the words mentioned that which could especially sadden His disciples. He did not say: you know that in two days I will be betrayed; but what? “You know that in two days there will be Easter,” and after that he added that He “will be handed over to be crucified,” showing that what is about to take place is a sacrament, a holiday and a triumph about the salvation of the universe, and that He goes to suffer, foreseeing everything. Therefore, since this alone was already enough to console them, He does not say anything now about His resurrection, because it was unnecessary to talk about it again after so much had already been said about it. In addition, by mentioning the ancient blessings brought by the Passover to the Jews in Egypt, He, as I said, shows that this very suffering delivers from countless evils. “Then the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people gathered together in the court of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and they decided in council to take Jesus by cunning and kill him; but they said, “Only not on a holiday, lest there be disturbance among the people” (Matthew 25:3–5). Do you see an extraordinary disorder in the affairs of the Jews? Undertaking lawless deeds, they go to the high priest, hoping to receive permission where obstacles should have been expected. And how many high priests were there? By law, there must be one; but then there were many of them. From this it is obvious that the affairs of the Jews at this time began to decline. Moses, as I said, commanded that there should be one high priest, and when this one died, then there should be another, and the time of the life of the first determined the time of expulsion of unintentional murderers. Why then were there many high priests? Because recently they have been elected every year. The evangelist shows this when, speaking about Zechariah, he said that he was “a priest from the order of Abius” (Luke 1:5). So here we are talking about those high priests who were formerly high priests. What did they discuss? Is it about taking Jesus secretly, or about killing Him? About both together. They were afraid of the people, which is why they waited until the holiday passed: “But they said: not on the holiday.” The devil did not want Christ to suffer on Easter, so that His suffering would not become known; and they - so that there is no disturbance. Note: they are afraid not of the wrath of God and not that the holiday time may increase their atrocities, but everywhere - dangers from people. However, seething with anger, they again changed their minds. Having said: “Not on a holiday,” then, having found a traitor, they did not wait for time, but committed murder on a holiday. Why did they take Him at this time? Because they were seething with anger, as I said, and they hoped to find Him at that time, and in everything they acted as if blinded. True, He Himself took advantage of their malice to perform His ministry; but they are therefore not innocent, but deserve countless torments for acting according to their own intentions. Moreover, at the very time when it should have been possible to give freedom to everyone, even the guilty, they killed the Righteous One, who had shown them countless benefits, and who had left the pagans for them until time. But what philanthropy! He again offers salvation to such criminal (stubborn) people full of all sorts of untruths, sends the apostles to death for their salvation, and through the apostles prays to them. “We ask in the name of Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20). Having such examples, I do not say: we will die for our enemies, although this would be required; but since we are extremely weak, I say for now: at least let us not envy our friends, let us not hate our benefactors; I don’t say yet: let’s do good to evildoers, although I would strongly like to do this; but since your heart is rude, at least we will not take revenge. Are we really here as a spectacle, is our life really a game? Why do you sometimes act completely contrary to the commandments? It is not without purpose that all the others are depicted, as well as those actions sufficient to admonish the Jews that Christ performed in his very suffering; but so that you imitate goodness and follow His love for mankind. He cast down those who came against Him, and healed the servant’s ear, and spoke meekly to them, and while on the cross He performed great miracles: He darkened the rays of the sun, opened up stones, raised up the dead; he frightened the judge's wife with dreams, at the trial itself he showed perfect meekness, which could attract them no less than miracles; He predicted many things at the judgment seat, and on the cross itself he exclaimed: Father! forgive them their sin (Luke 23:34)! And after the burial, how much did you do to save them? And after the resurrection, didn’t He immediately call the Jews? Didn’t he grant them remission of sins? Didn't he do them countless good deeds? What's more unexpected than this? Those who crucified Him, who breathed murder, after they crucified Him, became sons of God. What can compare with such thoughtfulness? Hearing this, we will be ashamed that we are so far from the One Whom we are commanded to imitate. Let us at least recognize how great this distance is, so that at least we can blame ourselves for the fact that we are at enmity with those for whom Christ laid down His soul, and do not want to be reconciled with those with whom He himself did not refuse to taste death to reconcile. Or are there costs and a waste of money, how do you dissuade yourself from giving alms? 4. Think about how much you are guilty and not only do not refuse forgiveness to those who have offended you, but also hasten to those who have upset you, so that you too have a reason to receive forgiveness, to find an excuse for your own untruths. The pagans, not expecting any great benefits, often acted prudently in such cases; and you, having such hopes in mind, refuse forgiveness and hesitate, and do not decide in advance, out of obedience to the law of God, to do what will happen by itself over time, but would you rather have the passion go out in you without any reward for you, than with a reward? If your passion fades over time, then it will not benefit you at all; On the contrary, a great punishment awaits you, because you did not, according to the inspiration of the law of God, do what time has done. If you say that the memory of an insult inflames you with anger, then remember whether the one who insulted you did you any good; and think together, how much evil have you plotted against others? Did he slander and dishonor you? Imagine that you, too, have slandered others. How can you receive forgiveness when you yourself deny it to others? But you didn't slander anyone? For this reason, you listened as someone else was slandered, and you agreed. And this is not without sin. Do you want to know how good it is to forgive offenses, and how much it pleases God? He punishes those who rejoice when they see those being justly punished by Him, because although they are righteously punished, you should not rejoice. And the prophet, having exposed many untruths, added: “Do not worry about Joseph’s misfortune” (Am. 6:6); and again: “Neither will she who lives in Tzaan escape; the mourning in the village of Etzel will not let you stop there” (Mic. 1:11). Although Joseph, that is, the tribes that descended from him, and the others neighboring them, were punished by God’s determination, He wants us to have compassion for them too. If we, being angry, when we punish a slave and see that one of his comrades is laughing, become even more irritated and turn our anger against the latter, then much more will God punish those who rejoice when they see those being punished by Him. And if we should have pity and not attack those who are being punished by God, then even more should we have pity on those who sin against us. This is a sign of love, and God prefers love to everything. Just as in the royal scarlet robe those colors and colors that decorate the chlamys are considered precious, so here too those virtues that contain love are precious. And nothing preserves love better than by forgiving the wrongs of those who are guilty before us. Doesn't God also care about the offended? Doesn't He send the offended to the offended? Doesn’t he send him to him from the very altar, and doesn’t he call him to the meal after reconciliation (Matthew 5:23)? However, that’s why you don’t need to wait for him to come to you; otherwise you've lost everything. This is why God especially assigns you a great reward, so that you can precede him; so if you are reconciled at his request, then love will no longer be the fruit of the command of God, but of the zeal of the one who offended - which is why you remain uncrowned, while he receives a reward. What are you saying? Do you have an enemy and are not ashamed? Isn’t the devil enough for us to still make enemies for ourselves from among those like us? Oh, if only he would stop enmity against us! Oh, if only he were not the devil! Don't you know how great the pleasure is after reconciliation? What is need if it is not clearly revealed during the enmity itself? Only after the enmity has ceased can one learn well that it is much more pleasant to love the one who has offended than to hate. 5. Why should we imitate violent people, devouring each other and fighting against their own flesh? Listen to how strongly it is said about this in the Old Testament: “In the path of righteousness there is life, and in its path there is no death” 24 (Proverbs 12:28). “Man harbors anger towards man, but asks the Lord for forgiveness” (Sir. 28:3). But God allowed revenge: “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” (Ex. 21:24): why, in this case, does He blame it? Because He allowed this not so that we would actually act this way towards each other, but so that out of fear of punishment we would not dare to offend. Moreover, such vengeance is characteristic of short-term anger, and rancor is characteristic of a soul overwhelmed by anger. Have you been harmed? But it is by no means as great as the one you inflict on yourself through rancor. In addition, no harm can be done to a good person. Let us imagine that someone, having children and a wife, leads a perfect life; let him have many opportunities to get harmed; Let him have enormous wealth, power, many friends, enjoy honors, and yet lead a perfect life (this must be added) - and let us imagine that disasters befall him. Let, for example, some evil person cause damage to his property: but what does this mean for someone who values ​​his property as nothing? Let him kill his children: but what does this mean for one who is confident in the resurrection of the dead? Let him kill his wife: but what does this mean for one who has learned not to cry for the dead? Let him dishonor him: but what does this mean for someone who imagines everything real as a grass color? Let him, if you like, wound even his body and throw him into prison: but what does this mean for one who knows that “even if our outer man decays, our inner man... is renewed” (2 Cor. 4:16), and that “from tribulation comes patience” (Rom. 5:3)? I am sure that such a person will not suffer any harm, but on the contrary, as explained before, will receive benefit: he will be renewed and become skilled. So, let us not torment ourselves with the insults of others, thereby causing harm to ourselves and weakening our spiritual strength. Torment comes not so much from the malice of our neighbors as from our cowardice. That’s why, if someone offends us, we cry and give in to despondency; if something is stolen from us, we experience the same thing, like small children who are irritated by their peers, who are more frisky, embarrassing them not with something important, but with trifles, and if they see that they are angry with them, they do not cease to annoy them, and if they see that they are laughing, they retreat from them. But we are more senseless than children - we cry about what we should laugh at. Therefore, I beg you, let us leave such childish feelings; Let us strive for heavenly things. Christ wants us to be men, and perfect men. Paul also commanded the same, saying: “Brothers! Do not be children in mind: be infants to evil” (1 Cor. 14:20). So, let us be babes to evil, and avoiding sin, let us adhere to virtue in order to be worthy of eternal blessings, grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 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