Беседа 8

Matthew 2:11. And entering the house, they saw the Child with Mary His Mother, and, falling down, they worshiped Him; and, having opened their treasures, they brought Him gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. What prompted the Magi to worship the Child. -Why are they retiring to Persia? – In order to achieve His goals, God sometimes allows His enemies to fall into error. -Why is Christ sent to Egypt? – Prophecy of Os. 11:1 receives its proper fulfillment in Christ. – The change that happened to Egypt shows the power of Christ. - Desert living in Egypt. - Glory to the great Anthony. – Life in the world cannot serve as an obstacle to the imitation of monastics. 1. How does Luke say that the Child was laid in a manger? Because she who gave birth immediately laid Him there. Due to the multitude gathered for the census, it was impossible to find the house, which is what Luke points out when he says: “She laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7). But then she took Him and held Him on her knees. She soon, upon arrival in Bethlehem, was delivered from her pregnancy. So, from here you can see the whole economy, and that all this did not happen simply and not by chance, but according to divine providence, and was fulfilled as a result of prophecy. But what made the Magi bow when neither the Virgin was famous, nor the house was magnificent, and there was nothing in the whole appearance that could amaze and attract them? Meanwhile, they not only worship, but also, having opened their treasures, bring gifts, and gifts not as a person, but as God, because frankincense and myrrh were symbols of such worship. So, what prompted and forced them to leave the house and decide on such a long journey? The star and divine illumination of their thoughts, which little by little raised them to the most perfect knowledge. Otherwise, they would not have shown Him such honor, under circumstances so unimportant in all respects. There was nothing great there for the senses, there was only a manger, a hut and a poor mother, so that you could openly see from here the wisdom of the Magi, and know that they did not approach a simple person, but as God and a benefactor. That is why they were not tempted by anything visible or external, but worshiped and brought gifts, not similar to the coarse (offerings) of the Jews; They did not sacrifice sheep and calves, but, as if they were true Christians, they offered Him knowledge, obedience and love. Matthew 2:12. Having received a revelation in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by a different route. Look from here, what is their faith - how they were not tempted, but were obedient and prudent! They are not embarrassed, they do not reflect within themselves, saying: if this baby is really great and has any power, then why should we run away and leave secretly, and why does the angel send us out of the city as slaves and fugitives, while we came openly and boldly appeared before such a multitude of people and before the furious king? They neither said nor thought anything like that, and this is a special matter of faith - not to seek reasons for what is not commanded to be done, but only to obey the commands. Matthew 2:13. When they departed, behold, the Angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and says: Arise, take the Child and His Mother and flee to Egypt. Here one may have some confusion regarding the Magi and the baby. Even if they themselves were not embarrassed, but accepted everything with faith: however, we must investigate why both the Magi and the Child do not remain in the same place, but the Magi retire to Persia, and the Child and his mother flee to Egypt? What then? Was the Baby really supposed to fall into the hands of Herod, and, having fallen, not suffer death? But then they might doubt that He took flesh, and not believe the greatness of the economy. If, after these and many other human actions, some dared to call the perception of the flesh a fable, then to what depths of wickedness would they not have sunk if He had acted everywhere in a manner befitting God and His power? As for the Magi, God soon sends them out, partly because He sends them as teachers to the Persian country, and partly because He prevents the tyrant’s fury, in order to teach him that he is undertaking the impossible, and to quench his rage and divert him from this futile work. It is characteristic of the power of God not only to openly overcome His enemies, but also to allow them to fall into error without difficulty. Thus, it was He who allowed, for example, the Jews to deceive the Egyptians, and, having the right to openly give their wealth into the hands of the Jews, He commands this to be done secretly and with flattery - which, no less than other signs, made Him terrible for enemies. 2. So the inhabitants of Ascalon and other cities, when they took the Ark of the Covenant, and, being amazed, exhorted their fellow citizens not to be hostile and not to resist, then, along with other miracles, they presented the above, saying: “Why should you harden your heart, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? Behold, when the Lord showed His power over them, they let His people go, and they went away” (1 Sam. 6:6)? They said this because, in their opinion, this work of God, no less than other openly accomplished signs, proved the power and greatness of God. So here, what happened was enough to horrify the tyrant. Imagine, in fact, how much Herod had to suffer and suffer, deceived and ridiculed by the Magi? So what if he didn't become the best? It is not the one who arranged this that is to blame, but the excessive blindness of the one who did not heed the sufficient suggestions given to him to give up evil, but became even more embittered in order to be subjected to the most severe punishment for such madness. But why, you say, is the Child sent to Egypt? The main reason was shown by the evangelist himself, saying: Matthew 2:15. that what was prophesied would come true: “I called my son out of Egypt” (Hos. 11:1); And at the same time, the beginnings of good hopes for the entire universe were already foreshadowed. Since Babylon and Egypt, more than the whole earth, were kindled by the fire of wickedness, the Lord, showing at the very beginning that He will correct and make better the inhabitants of both countries, and thereby assuring that good things should be expected for the entire universe, sends the Magi to Babylon, and He himself and his mother come to Egypt. In addition, we learn from here something else that will greatly contribute to our wisdom. What exactly? That we should expect temptations and slander from the very beginning. In fact, look how all this begins immediately from the very shrouds. As soon as Christ was born, the tyrant goes on a rampage, and there is a flight to foreign lands, and a completely innocent mother runs away to the country of the barbarians. After this, you, having been worthy to serve some spiritual cause, if you endure the most severe adversity and are exposed to countless disasters, should not be embarrassed and say: what does this mean? When I do the will of the Lord, I should be crowned and glorified, bright and famous. But, having the example of Christ, endure everything courageously, knowing that this is especially how it should be with spiritual people, and that their lot is to be exposed to temptations from everywhere. Look what happens not only to the mother and the boy, but also to the Magi: they secretly leave, like fugitives, and the mother herself, who never left her home, receives the command to set off on a long and sad journey, because of this wonderful child and the spiritual pangs of birth. Here’s another amazing thing: Palestine builds forges for Him, and Egypt accepts Him and saves Him from slander! In this way, the foreshadowings came true not only on the children of the patriarch, but also on the Lord himself: His deeds at that time foreshadowed many of the subsequent events, such as, for example, the event regarding the colt and the foal. The angel who appears speaks not with Mary, but with Joseph. And what does he tell him? “Arise, take the Child and His Mother.” Here he no longer says: “his wife,” but “his mother.” Since the birth was completed, the doubt ended, and the husband was convinced, the angel already openly talks with him, not naming either the Child or his wife, but: “Take,” he says, “the Child and His Mother and flee to Egypt,” and shows the reason for the flight: “for Herod wants,” he says, “to seek the soul of the Child.” 3. When Joseph heard this, he was not tempted and said, “What strangeness is this?” You said before that He would save His people, but now He doesn’t even save Himself, and we need to run away, retire and move to a distant country? This is contrary to what is promised. But he doesn’t say anything like that, because he was a faithful husband; not even curious about the time of return, about which the angel did not say definitely: “be there until I tell you.” He was not upset by this either, but, being ready to endure everything, he joyfully showed humility and obedience. And God, the lover of mankind, dissolved these sorrows with joy, as He usually does with all saints, not allowing them to be in constant danger, and not leaving them in complete peace, but arranging the life of the righteous from the union of both. So He arranged it here too. Look: Joseph saw that the Virgin was with child; this plunged him into confusion and extreme anxiety, because he suspected the Virgin of adultery. But an angel immediately appeared, destroyed suspicion, and dispelled fear, and Joseph, seeing the Baby born, was overwhelmed with the greatest joy. Again this joy is replaced by considerable sorrow. The city is indignant, the king goes berserk and searches for the newborn. But this anxiety was followed by new joy - the star and the worship of the Magi. After this joy, fear and danger again, it is said that Herod is looking for the soul of the Child, and again the angel orders him to run and move, as is characteristic of man, because the time has not come to work miracles. If the Lord had begun to work miracles from His first age, He would not have been recognized as a human being. Therefore, the church is not only being built, but womb-bearing takes place during the usual nine-month period; then illness and birth, and feeding with milk, and long rest, and waiting for an age suitable for husbands - and all this in order to make the sacrament of housebuilding more understandable. Why, you say, were these signs at first? For the mother, for Joseph, for Simeon, who was already close to death, for the shepherds, for the wise men, for the Jews. If they had wanted to delve more thoroughly into the events of that time, they would have gained considerable benefit from this for the future. If the prophets do not speak about the Magi, then do not be embarrassed; They did not predict everything, just as they did not keep silent about everything. If people were witnesses to incidents that had never been heard of before, this would plunge them into great confusion and bewilderment; in a similar way, if they had known everything before, then nothing would have excited them to investigate, there would have been nothing left for the evangelists to do. If the Jews are perplexed about the prophecy: “Out of Egypt I called my Son,” as if this were said about them, then we answer them that prophecies, by the way, also have such a property that much that is said about some is fulfilled on others. So, for example, about Simeon and Levi it ​​is said: “I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel” (Gen. 49:7); meanwhile, this did not come true on them, but on their descendants, just as what Noah said about Canaan came true on the Gibeonites, the grandchildren of Canaan. The same thing happened to Jacob, as we see; The blessing given to him: “Be lord over your brothers, and let your mother’s sons worship you” (Gen. 27:29) was fulfilled not over him (even how could this be, when Jacob himself feared and was horrified by his brother, and bowed to him many times?), but over his descendants. The same must be said in the present case (about Christ). Who can be more accurately called the Son of God? Is it the One who worships the calf, or served Beelphegor and sacrificed children to demons, or the One who is Son by nature and honors the One who gave birth? So, if Christ had not come, the prophecy would not have received its proper fulfillment. 4. See how the evangelist also hints at this, saying: “Let it come to pass,” and showing that this would not have been fulfilled if the Son of God had not come. This sheds considerable light and glory on Virgo. What the whole (Jewish) people boasted about, she could already assimilate for herself. That which the Jews boasted and magnified excessively when speaking about their return from Egypt (which the prophet also hints at, saying: “Did I not bring foreigners out of Cappadocia, and Assyrians out of the pit” (Amos 9:7) 6), is also the advantage of the Virgin. It is better to say that both the people and the patriarch, by their arrival in Egypt and their return from there, represented the image of the return of Christ. And they went to Egypt, fleeing from death by hunger, and Christ - avoiding death prepared by deceit; but, having arrived there, they were delivered from hunger, but Christ, having come there, sanctified the whole country with His coming. So, see how the power of God is revealed in the midst of humiliation! The angel, having said: “flee to Egypt,” did not promise to accompany them, neither there nor from there, in order to make them understand that they have a great companion - a born Child, who, by His appearance, changes all things, and forces the enemies themselves to serve in many ways for the economy of salvation. In fact, the magicians and barbarians, leaving the wickedness of their fathers, come to worship Him. The August decision about the census turns out to be a case for the birth of Christ in Bethlehem. Egypt receives and watches Him in flight from slander, and thus receives the opportunity to make Him close to itself, so that when it hears the apostolic sermon about Him, it can boast that it was the first to accept Him. This honor belonged to Palestine alone; but Egypt turned out to be more zealous than the latter. And now, if you come to the Egyptian desert, you will see that this desert is better than any paradise; you will see there in human form countless faces of angels, hosts of martyrs, assemblies of virgins; you will see that all the tyranny of the devil has been overthrown, and the kingdom of Christ is shining; you will see that Egypt, once the father of poets, and sages, and magicians, who invented all types of sorcery and passed them on to others, now flaunts itself as fishermen, and, despising everything that was before, everywhere glorifies the publican and the tabernacle-maker, and boasts of the cross. And this happens not only in cities, but even much more in deserts than in cities. Throughout this country one can see the army of Christ, and the royal flock, and the way of life characteristic of the powers on high. And you will find this there not only among husbands, but also among women: and they are wise no less than husbands. They do not take shields, do not mount horses, as the glorious Greek legislators and philosophers command, but they enter into a different, much more difficult battle. They, like their husbands, are in a battle with the devil and the powers of darkness, and in this battle the natural weakness of the sex does not serve as an obstacle to them, because the success of such battles depends not on the nature of the body, but on the will of the soul. That is why wives often surpassed their husbands in their exploits and erected the most glorious signs of victory. The sky, speckled with a host of stars, is not as bright as the Egyptian desert, where monastic tents appear everywhere. 5. Whoever knows ancient Egypt, fighting against God and raging, the slave of cats, who feared and trembled before the garden onion, will be fully confident in the power of Christ. However, we do not need to particularly resort to ancient legends, because to this day there are still remnants of unreason, testifying to former madness. And, however, all those who previously reached such madness now philosophize about heaven and heavenly things, laugh at their fatherly customs, grieve for their ancestors and regard their wise men as nothing. They themselves learned that the teaching of their sages was only the chatter of crazy old women, and that, on the contrary, the true and heavenly wisdom was that which was preached to them by the fishermen. That is why they, while carefully preserving the teaching, especially try to justify it with their lives. Having renounced all acquisitions and crucified themselves to the whole world, they go even further, using their bodily strength for the benefit of the poor. Despite fasting and waking, they do not want to be idle even during the day; but, spending the nights in sacred songs and vigils, the days are spent in prayer and together in handicraft, imitating the apostolic zeal. If the apostle, they reason, when the eyes of the whole universe were fixed on him, labored, labored, engaged in crafts, and spent whole nights without sleep in such exploits to feed the poor, then how much more should we, who live in the desert and have moved away from all city noise, use our hours of quiet leisure for spiritual work. So, we should all be ashamed, both rich and poor, when they, having absolutely nothing but their hands, try with all their might to work so that the poor get profit from their labors, while we, even with our countless possessions, regret using even our surplus to help the poor. What answer will we give, tell me? How do we apologize? Think about how these ascetics were previously covetous and, along with other vices, pleased the belly? There were cauldrons of meat, which the Jews remembered, there was a great gluttony; and, however, as soon as they wanted, they immediately changed, and, having accepted the fire of Christ, rushed to heaven. Previously, they were more intemperate than anyone else and prone to anger and voluptuousness, but now with meekness, dispassion and other virtues they imitate incorporeal forces. Anyone who has been to this country will agree with what I say. And if anyone has never entered those tabernacles, let him remember that Egypt produced the most glorious man after the apostles, the blessed and great Anthony, about whom everyone speaks incessantly to this day, and let him consider that he was in the same country where Pharaoh was. And, however, this country did not serve him at all to harm, and he was also honored with divine contemplation, and led the kind of life that Christ’s laws require. Anyone who carefully reads the book containing the narrative of his life, in which he will find many prophecies, will be convinced of this. So he predicted both about those infected with Aryan evil and about the harm that would come from them. Then God showed him everything and presented the future before his eyes. And the fact that none of the heresies has such a man serves, along with other things, as the greatest proof of the truth of our teaching. But in order not to tell you about this, read for yourself what is written in his book, find out everything in detail, and learn from it a lot of wisdom. Only, I ask you that you do not limit yourself to just reading, but try to imitate what is written, without apologizing either for place, or for upbringing, or for the wickedness of your ancestors. If we decide to pay due attention to ourselves, then nothing like this will serve as an obstacle to us. And Abraham had a wicked father, but did not inherit his iniquity; and Hezekiah was the son of Ahaz, but became the friend of God; and Joseph lived in Egypt, and was adorned with the crown of chastity; and the three youths, living in Babylon, in the royal house, at the most luxurious meal, showed the greatest wisdom. And Moses was in Egypt, and Paul in the world; but nothing served as an obstacle to any of them in their deeds of virtue. So we too, thinking about all this, will give up inappropriate excuses and pretexts, and decide on virtuous deeds. Then we will attract great divine love to ourselves, and we will beg the Lord to assist our deeds, and we will be worthy of eternal blessings, which we all will receive through the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Synodal translation: “Did I not bring Israel out of the land of Egypt and the Philistines out of Caphtor?” You might be interested in: