Беседа 18

John 1:35–37. The next day John and two of his disciples stood again. And when he saw Jesus coming, he said, Behold the Lamb of God. Having heard these words from him, both disciples followed Jesus. 1. Why St. Did John the Baptist often repeat the same thing? – Some catechumens delayed accepting baptism until the last moment. – 2. The prophets and apostles preached the absent Jesus Christ, and St. John the Baptist preached Christ present. – 3 and 4. The teaching of Jesus Christ should be preferred to any other. – The more food the body is given, the more it is relaxed; The more food the soul is given, the more it is strengthened. – Aversion to meat is a sign of illness in the body; aversion to the Word of God is a sign of illness of the soul. -What is her food? – Against theater and spectacles. 1. Human nature is careless and is easily carried away to destruction, not because it was created that way, but because of arbitrary negligence. That is why it is necessary to exhort her a lot. And Paul, writing to the Philippians, on this impulse says: “It is not burdensome for me to write to you about the same things, but it is edifying for you” (Phil. 3:1). The earth, having once received seeds, soon bears fruit and does not require secondary sowing; but our soul is not like that. It is desirable, at least, that he who sows often and puts a lot of care into it should at least once receive fruit. And first of all, the proposed teaching is not easily imprinted on the soul, because there is a lot of fossilization in it, it is surrounded by countless thorns, and besides, there are many slanderers who steal these seeds. Then, when the seed takes root and takes root, it again requires the same care so that it can sprout into growth, and, having sprung, remain intact and not suffer harm from anything. However, in earthly seeds, when the ear reaches maturity and receives the proper strength, it is no longer afraid of harmful dew, heat or anything else; but in the matter of teaching it is not so. Here and after everything is completely arranged, often one bad weather and storm damages everything, under unfavorable circumstances, under the slander of insidious people, or during a confluence of other various temptations. We say this not without a purpose, but so that when you hear John repeating the same words, you do not accuse him of vanity and consider him an empty and boring person. He, of course, wanted what he said once to be heard, but since at first not many heeded what was said, due to deep sleep, then by repeating the same thing he awakens them again. Look: he said: “He is the one who comes after me, but who has stood before me,” and: “I am not worthy to untie the thong of His sandals” (John 1:27), also: “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11, Luke 3:16), and: “On whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, He is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God” (John 1:33–34). But meanwhile no one listened to him, no one asked: what are you talking about, and about whom, and why? Then he said again: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), but this did not bring them out of their insensibility. Thus, he was forced to repeat the same thing, as if softening the rough and hardened earth with new plowing and words, like a plow, raising a depressed soul to throw seeds into its depths. That is why the Baptist does not spread his word, caring only about one thing - to bring them and unite them to Christ. He knew that if they only accepted Him and believed, they would no longer need another witness about Him. And so it happened. If the Samaritans, having listened to Christ, said to the Samaritan wife: “It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we ourselves have heard and known that He is truly the Savior of the world, Christ” (John 4:42), then the disciples (John) could have been converted to Christ much sooner, as indeed was the case. They, having come (to Christ) and listened to Him one evening, no longer returned to John, but so devoted themselves to Christ that they took upon themselves the ministry of John and themselves began to preach about Christ. “He first finds his brother Simon and says to him: we have found the Messiah, which means: Christ” (John 1:41). Pay attention to the following: when John said: “He is the one who comes after me, but who has stood before me,” and: “I am not worthy to untie the thong of His sandals,” he did not catch anyone; As soon as he began to talk about the arrangement of our salvation and talk in simpler words, his disciples followed Christ. But this is not the only thing that should be taken into account, but also the fact that not so many are brought (to Christ) when they are told something great and sublime about God, as when they speak about His goodness, His love for mankind and what relates to the salvation of those who listen. When they heard that He took away the sins of the world, they immediately hurried to Him. If it is possible, they say, to wash away your sins, why hesitate? Here comes the One who will free us from them without difficulty. Is it not extremely foolish to postpone such a gift until another time? Let the catechumens hear this, postponing their salvation until their last breath. “John stood again...and said, Behold the Lamb of God.” Christ says nothing, but the Baptist says everything. This is what happens to the groom. It is not he himself who immediately begins to speak to the bride, but stands in silence, and others point him out and hand him the bride; and when she appears, he does not receive her on his own and takes her away, but someone else gives her to him. When he accepts it from the hands of others, he already wins her over so much that she does not remember those who combined her with him. So it was with Christ. He came to betroth the Church to himself - and at first he did not say anything himself, but only stood in front; His friend John gave Him the right hand of this bride, entrusting to Him the souls of people through His word. But, having accepted them, Christ so favored them that they no longer returned to the one who handed them over. 2. Not only this, but something else should be noticed here. Just as, at the conclusion of marriages, it is not the girl who comes to the groom, but he hurries to her, even if it were the son of a king and even if he wanted to marry one from the poor and lower class, even a slave - so it was here. It was not human nature that ascended to heaven; but (God) himself condescended to him - despicable and wretched. After the marriage was completed, He no longer allowed him to stay here, but, taking him upon Himself, brought him into his father’s house. But why doesn’t John take his disciples separately and talk to them specifically about Christ, in order to thus transfer them to Christ, but in the presence of all the people says to them: “Behold the Lamb of God”? So that it does not seem like a matter of his intent. If they had gone to Christ, being especially convinced by John and as if to please himself, then they could also soon have retreated from Christ; but now, having decided to follow Christ according to the power of the teaching addressed to everyone in general, John’s disciples remained firm in this, since they followed not out of pleasure to the teacher, but out of their own zeal and for the sake of their own benefit. All the prophets and apostles preached Christ in His absence: some - before His coming in the flesh, others - after His Ascension; John alone preached about Him in His presence. That’s why he is called the groom’s friend, since he alone was present at the wedding; he arranged and accomplished all this; he started this business. “And when he saw Jesus coming, he said, Behold the Lamb of God.” He said this, showing that he was testifying not only with his voice, but also with his eyes. He marveled at Christ, in joy and delight; and does not immediately turn the word of conviction to the disciples, but at first he is only surprised and given over to amazement at the appearance of Christ; shows everyone both the gift with which He came and the image of redemption. The word "lamb" expresses both. And John did not say: “he will take away,” or “he who takes,” but “takes away” the sins of the world, as if Christ had always done it. In fact, He not only took upon Himself sin when He suffered, but from that time until now He will take up sins, not as if He had always been crucified (He once offered a sacrifice for sins), but as with this one sacrifice He always cleanses sins. Thus, just as calling Him the Word shows the superiority of His nature, and the name of the Son expresses the difference between Him and other beings, so the words: lamb, Christ, prophet, true light, good shepherd and other expressions used about Him with the addition of the term (o) show their great difference from ordinary expressions. There were many lambs, prophets, Christs 16), sons; but John presents a great difference between Him and all those. And he confirmed this not by adding only a member, but also by adding the word: only begotten, since Christ has nothing in common with creation. If, however, it seems untimely to anyone that these words were spoken at the tenth hour (that was the time of day: “It was about,” it is said, “the tenth hour” (John 1:39)), then, in my opinion, such a person is greatly in error. For many people who are servile to the flesh, of course, the time after satiation is not entirely convenient for important matters, because the soul is burdened with food. But this was a husband who did not even eat ordinary food, who spent the evening with the same sobriety with which we spend the morning, or better yet, much more (because among us the remains of evening food often fill the soul with dreams, but he did not burden this vessel with anything like that); Therefore, it is not surprising that John talked about such subjects in the evening. Moreover, he lived in the desert near the Jordan, where everyone came with great fear for baptism, caring little at that time about the affairs of everyday life, just as the people stayed with Christ for three days, remaining without food. It is the duty of the zealous preacher, as well as the careful farmer, not to abandon his work until he sees that the implanted word has taken root. But why didn’t John go through all of Judea preaching about Christ, but stayed by the river, waiting for His coming, so that later, when He came, he could show Him to the people? John wanted the deeds themselves to testify to Christ, and John’s special goal was only to announce His coming and to convince at least some to listen to the Eternal Life. John leaves a greater testimony to Christ himself, namely the testimony of works, as Christ himself says: “I have a greater testimony than John: for the works that the Father gave Me to do, these very works that I have done, testify of Me” (John 5:36). Look how powerful this testimony was. John threw only a small spark - and suddenly the flame rose high. Those who until then had not even heeded the words of John finally say: “everything that John said about Him was true” (John 10:41). 3. Otherwise, if, i.e., John preached, going around all of Judea, it might seem that this was being done according to human appearances, and the preaching would be suspicious. “When the two disciples heard these words from him, they followed Jesus” (John 1:37). John also had other disciples; but they not only did not follow Christ, but also looked at Him with envy. “Rabbi,” they said to John, “He who was with you at the Jordan and about whom you testified, behold He baptizes, and everyone comes to Him” (John 3:26); and another time they appear with the accusation: “Why do we and the Pharisees fast a lot, but Your disciples do not fast?” (Matthew 9:14). But the best of them did not do this, and as soon as they heard about Christ, they followed Him. And they followed not out of contempt for their teacher, but most of all out of obedience to him, and presented the greatest proof that they did so out of sound conviction. They did this without being prompted to anything that would be suspicious, but followed Christ only because John predicted about Him that He would baptize with the Holy Spirit. So, they did not leave their teacher, but wanted to find out if Christ would give anything more than John. And notice how their thoughtfulness was combined with modesty. They did not suddenly come and ask Jesus about important and necessary things; and not openly in the presence of everyone, and not in passing, and as it happened, they wanted to talk with Him, but in private. They knew that the words of their teacher expressed not only humility, but pure truth. “One of the two who heard from John about Jesus and followed Him was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter” (John 1:40). Why didn’t the evangelist mention the name of the other disciple? Some explain that this disciple who followed Christ was the same one who wrote about it; others think differently, but that he was not one of the chosen disciples, but the evangelist spoke only about more remarkable persons. But what is the use of knowing the name of this disciple when the names of seventy-two disciples are not said? The same can be seen in Paul. “We sent with him,” he says, “also a brother, praised in all churches for his gospel” (2 Cor. 8:18). And Andrei was mentioned for another reason. What is this reason? So that you, knowing like Simon and Andrew, only heard: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19), so that you do not doubt this extraordinary promise - so that, I say, you also know that the beginnings of faith were laid by his brother even before Simon. “And Jesus turned and saw them coming, and said to them, “What do you need” (John 1:38)? From here we learn that God does not precede our desires with His gifts, but when we begin, when we discover a desire, then He also gives us many ways to salvation. “What do you need?” What does it mean? Is it for him to ask the leader of the hearts of people who penetrate into our thoughts? But He asks not in order to find out (how is this possible?), but in order to bring them even closer to Him with a question, to give them more boldness and to show that they are worthy to talk with Him. They were probably ashamed and afraid, as people who were unfamiliar with Him and had only heard testimony about Him from their teacher. In order to destroy all this in them - shame, fear, He Himself asks them and does not leave them to walk in silence to His dwelling. However, perhaps the same would have happened if He had not asked the question, because they would not have stopped following Him and would have followed His footsteps to His dwelling. Why does He ask them? In order, as I said, to calm their confused and restless hearts and inspire them with boldness. Meanwhile, they expressed their devotion to Christ not only in following Him, but also in the matter itself. Not yet being His disciples and not hearing anything from Him, they already call Him teacher, count themselves among His disciples and show the reason why they followed Him, namely, that they wanted to hear something useful from Him. Notice their prudence. They didn’t say: teach us dogmas or anything else necessary, but what? “Where do you live?” They, as I said above, wanted to talk with Him about something in solitude, listen to Him, learn from Him; therefore, they do not postpone their intention, they do not say: we will come the next day and listen to You when You speak in the assembly of the people, but they show all their zeal for listening, so that they are not restrained from doing so by the time itself. The sun was already leaning towards the west: “it was about ten o’clock,” it was said. Therefore, Christ does not tell them to accept his home, does not assign a place for conversation, but only attracts them more and more to follow Him, showing that he accepts them to Himself. Therefore, He also did not say anything like this: now is not the time for you to go to my home, tomorrow, if you want to hear anything, but now go home; but he talks with them as with friends and people who have been with Him for a long time. Why does He say in another place: “The Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Luke 9:58), but here: “come and see” (John 1:39) where I live? But the words: “has no place to lay his head,” show that He did not have his own shelter, and not that He did not live in any house. This is what the adjective expression indicates. Further, the evangelist says that they stayed with Him that day, but for what purpose, he does not notice this, because the purpose in itself is clear. For nothing else, they followed Christ, and Christ attracted them to Himself, as for edification; and in one night they enjoyed His teaching in such abundance and with such desire that they both immediately went to attract others to Christ. 4. From here we too will learn to prefer listening to divine teaching over everything, and we will not consider any time inconvenient for this; but, even if you had to enter someone else’s house, even if you were a stranger and had to get acquainted with noble people, even if it was untimely or at any time, we will never miss such an acquisition. Let food, suppers, baths and other everyday affairs have a specific time for themselves, but the study of heavenly wisdom should not have any specific hours: all time should belong to it. “Preach the word, be persistent in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2). And the prophet says: “He meditates on His law day and night” (Ps. 1:2). And Moses commanded the Jews to do this at all times. Everyday affairs, I mean baths, if they are necessary, then, when they happen often, they relax the body; but the edification of the soul, the more it multiplies, the stronger it makes the soul that receives it. Nowadays we spend all our time in empty and absurd idle talk, we gather for this at dawn, and in the morning, and at noon, and in the evening, we even appoint special places for this; and listening to divine dogmas once or twice a week, we become burdened and tired. Why? Because we poorly dispose our soul: we completely destroy in it the desire and jealousy for such objects. Therefore, we have no desire for spiritual food. In addition to other signs of illness, it is strongly proven when you don’t want to eat or drink, and we feel disgust for both. If this, when it happens in the body, serves as a sign of a serious illness and produces weakening, then even more so when it happens in the soul. How can we strengthen her, fallen and weak? What deeds, what words? Let us turn to the words divine, prophetic, apostolic and all others. Then we will learn that it is much better to feed on these words than on unclean food, as untimely gatherings and rantings should be called. What is better, tell me: to talk about people’s affairs, judicial matters, military affairs, or about heavenly objects and about what is going to happen after our departure from here? What is better: to talk about a neighbor and his affairs and generally to engage in other people's affairs, or to talk about angels and subjects related to our own benefit? Your neighbor's affairs don't concern you at all; and heavenly objects also apply to you. Yes, they say, you can say everything about this at once. But why don’t you think like that about what you conduct empty and vain conversations with each other, but, spending your whole life on this, you never exhaust the subjects for such conversations? I'm not even talking about what's much worse than this. People who are still modest talk about those subjects among themselves; and the more idle and careless in their conversations circle around jesters, dancers, runners, desecrating their hearing, corrupting their souls in such conversations, intoxicating their nature with voluptuousness and bringing into their imagination all sorts of vicious images with such conversation. As soon as the tongue pronounces the name of the dancer, the soul immediately imagines his face, hair, thin clothes and himself, which are more delicate than all this. Another arouses the flame in the soul in an even different way, introducing into the conversation a prodigal woman, her words, clothes, slutty eyes, voluptuous glances, braiding hair, rubbing her face, tinting her eyelashes. Don’t you feel something terrible even when I tell you about this? But do not be ashamed and do not blush: it is already an inevitable, natural thing that the power of a story has such an influence on the soul. If only when I tell you, if, standing in the church and far from such objects, you already feel something from just listening, then think what should happen to those who sit at the spectacle itself, with complete freedom, outside this respectable and important meeting, and with great shamelessness watch and listen to what is happening there. But why, someone inattentive will say, why do you blame us, losing sight of the fact that this matter is natural and already necessary, as you say, has such an influence on the soul? But that the one listening to this becomes pampered is a natural thing; and listening to this is not a matter of nature, but a sin of will. That one who approaches fire must suffer harm, this is necessary and this is a consequence of the weakness of nature, but it is not nature itself that draws us to fire and the harm that comes from it: this depends solely on the perverted will. So I want this not to happen, for this to be corrected, so that you neither arbitrarily fall into the abyss, nor plunge into the abyss of evil, nor run into the fire against your will, and thus do not make yourself guilty of the flames prepared for the devil. So, may we all be worthy, having been freed from him, to move into the bosom of Abraham, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, be glory forever and ever. Amen. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” In the general meaning: “anointed”, which were the high priests, kings, etc. You might be interested in: