Беседа 2

John 1:1. In the beginning was the Word... 1. External philosophers in comparison with St. John. - His poverty and ignorance and at the same time his incomparable superiority over the first. – 2. The barbarian peoples, having adopted Christianity, learned to philosophize. – 3. Against the teachings of philosophers and especially against the doctrine of the transmigration of souls. – 4. Why does John talk about God the Son without touching on God the Father. -What is true wisdom? – 5. The mind cannot think about several objects at the same time. – With what attention should one read the Gospel of St. John. 1. If John wanted to talk to us himself, or tell us something of his own, on his own, then it would be necessary to say about his family, about his fatherland, about his upbringing. But since it is not he, but God himself through him who speaks to the human race, it seems to me unnecessary and inappropriate to investigate this. However, perhaps this is not superfluous and even quite necessary. When you find out who he was, where he came from and from whom, and what he was like in himself, then you hear his voice and all his wisdom, then you will clearly see that the Gospel was not his own work, but the work of the divine power that acted in his soul. So - what was his fatherland like? He had almost no fatherland; he came from a poor village, from the most despicable country at that time, which had nothing good in itself. The scribes, in humiliation of Galilee, said: “Look and you will see that no prophet comes from Galilee” (John 7:52). The true Israeli also humiliates her, saying: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46). Being from such a country, John did not come from any remarkable place in it, and was not known there by his name. His father was a poor fisherman, so poor that he trained his children for the same craft. And you know that not a single artisan will voluntarily want to make his son the heir of his own craft, unless he is forced to do so by extreme poverty, especially if his craft is low. But there are none poorer, none more despicable, none more ignorant than the fishermen; however, among them, some are higher and others are lower. The Apostle occupied the very last degree in this regard. He did not fish in the sea, but worked in one small lake. And so, when he was there with his father and his brother Jacob, and with them he was repairing the broken nets, which also showed extreme poverty, Christ called him. As for external education, then from here we can already conclude that he was completely uneducated. Moreover, Luke also testifies (to this) when he writes that he was not only a simple man, but also illiterate. And that's how it should be; who was so poor, did not appear among the people, never interacted with significant people, but was busy only with fishing, and if sometimes he met with someone, he only talked with fish buyers and cooks, could he become anything better than unreasonable animals? How could he not imitate the voicelessness of the fish themselves? And this fisherman, who revolved around lakes, nets and fish, originally from Bethsaida of Galilee, the son of a poor fisherman, and poor to the point of extreme poverty, a simple man and, moreover, at the last degree of simplicity, who had not studied science either before or after his union with Christ, speaks to us. Let's find out what he's talking to us about. Isn't it about what's in the fields? Or – what’s in the rivers? Is it about the fish trade? Some people might have expected to hear this from a fisherman. But don't be afraid; We won't hear anything like that. And we will hear about what is in heaven and which no one has ever known before. He brings to us such sublime dogmas, such excellent rules of life and such wisdom as are possible only for one who speaks from the very depths of the Spirit, and speaks as if he had just come from the very heavens. Even more, and of those living in heaven, as I said before, not everyone could know this. Tell me, is this characteristic of a fisherman? Or at least a rhetorician, or a sophist, or a philosopher, or in general anyone who has studied external wisdom? No; It is not possible for an ordinary human spirit to think so much about the highest immortal and blissful Being, about the forces closest to him, about the immortal and endless life, about the nature of mortal bodies, but subsequently having to become immortal, about future judgment and punishment, about upcoming reports in words and deeds, in thoughts and feelings, also - to know what a person is, and what the world is, what a person is essentially, and what is an apparent person, but is not one in reality, what is a vice, and what is a virtue. 2. Some of these objects were inherited by the disciples of Plato and Pythagoras; and other philosophers are not even worth mentioning to us - they have all become so ridiculous. It was they who enjoyed respect among the Hellenes more than others and were considered the heads of this science. They, by the way, wrote something about civil life and laws. However, to their shame, they turned out to be funnier than children in everything. They introduced common wives for all; they perverted life itself; damaged the integrity of the marriage; They legitimized many other things, just as worthy of laughter, and thus spent their entire lives. As for the soul, they abandoned the most shameful teaching about it; they said that human souls become flies, mosquitoes, trees; claimed that God himself is a soul, and invented many other absurdities. And this is not the only thing worthy of reproach, but also their vast sea of ​​conclusions. As if carried back and forth on the sea, they never stopped on one subject, because they spoke about everything on the basis of incorrect and unsteady reasoning. But this fisherman is not like that; he expresses everything with precision, and, as if standing on a stone, does not go astray. He was honored to penetrate the most inaccessible secrets and, having the Lord himself speaking within him, was not subjected to any human weaknesses. And those philosophers, like people who, even in a dream, did not deserve to enter the royal palace, but outside them in the square remained in the crowd of people, and only for their own reasons wondered about invisible objects - they fell into great errors when they wanted to talk about ineffable objects, and, like blind and drunken people, even in the most errors they argued with each other, and not only contradicted each other, but often also themselves, constantly changing their opinions about the same subjects. And this unlearned, simple inhabitant of Bethsaida, the son of Zebedee (even if the Hellenes mocked the rudeness of these names a thousand times, I will nevertheless pronounce them even more boldly, since the more this people seem to them rude and alien to Hellenic education, the more glorious is our teaching). When an uneducated and unbooked person proclaims something that no one on earth has ever known, and not only proclaims, but also convinces, then, if he only spoke, then this would already be a great miracle; and if now, in addition to this, another thing is presented - the most important proof of the inspiration of his verbs - namely, that he convinces all his listeners at all times - then who will not marvel at the power that dwells in him? And this, as I have already said, serves as the greatest evidence that he does not teach from himself - so this uneducated man, with the Gospel written from him, embraced the entire universe, and with his body he was in Asia, where in ancient times everyone who belonged to the Hellenic schools philosophized. There he was terrible for demons, shining among enemies, destroying their darkness and destroying demonic strongholds. With his soul he moved to another country worthy of one who had accomplished such deeds. The works of the Hellenes were all destroyed and disappeared; and his deeds become more and more glorious every day. From the time he and the other fishermen appeared with him, from that time the teaching of Plato and Pythagoras, which was previously considered dominant, fell silent, so that (now) many do not even know their names, although Plato, as they say, talked with kings, at their invitation, had many like-minded people, and sailed to Sicily. And Pythagoras, upon his arrival in the great Hellas, showed here many different types of sorcery. After all, talking to oxen (they say that he did this too) was nothing more than a matter of magic. And this is especially obvious from the fact that, talking in this way with the unreasonable, he not only did not bring any benefit to humanity, but also did a lot of harm to it. Human nature is certainly more capable of studying philosophy; but he, as they say, used magic to converse with eagles and oxen. He did not make unreasonable nature intelligent (this is impossible for humans), but with sorcery he only deceived the unreasonable. Leaving to teach people something useful, he inspired them that they still eat beans or the heads of their parents, and assured his followers that the soul of their teacher was sometimes a tree, sometimes a maiden, sometimes a fish. So, was it not justly that all this was destroyed and disappeared completely? To be fair, quite thoroughly. But this is not the teaching of this simple and unlearned man. On the contrary, the Syrians, and the Egyptians, and the Indians, and the Persians, and the Ethiopians, and many other peoples, being ignorant people, learned to be wise when they translated the teaching taught to them into their own language. 3. So, it was not in vain that I said that for him the whole universe was a place of spectacle. He did not abandon those who were similar to himself by nature, and did not labor in vain on the nature of the dumb, which was a matter of excessive ambition and extreme madness. He, being pure from this passion, as well as from others, tried only for one thing, so that the whole universe would learn something useful that could raise it from earth to heaven. Therefore, he did not cover his teaching with some kind of darkness and obscurity, as those philosophers did, covering the obscurities of the teaching, as if with some kind of veil, the evil contained in its essence. His dogmas are clearer than the rays of the sun, and therefore accessible to all people throughout the universe. He did not command those who came to him, like him (Pythagoras), to remain silent for five years; He didn’t teach as if there were emotionless stones sitting in front of him, he didn’t talk fabulous things, defining everything by numbers. But, having rejected all this satanic abomination and destruction, he conveyed such clarity to his words that everything he said was clear not only to men and intelligent people, but also to women and young men. He was confident that his teaching was true and useful for everyone who would listen - and this is evidenced by all subsequent times. He attracted the entire universe to himself, freed our lives from all alien fiction after we heard his preaching. That is why we who listen to him would rather lose our lives than the dogmas he taught us. And from here, as from everywhere, it is obvious that there is nothing human in his teaching, but that the instructions that have reached us through this divine soul are divine and heavenly. We will not find in him any noise of words, no pomposity in speech, no unnecessary and useless decoration and combination of names and words (yes, this is alien to all philosophy); but we will see an invincible, divine power, an invincible fortress of right dogmas, a combination of countless benefits. Artificiality would be unnecessary in preaching the Gospel; it is characteristic of sophists, or better yet, not sophists, but foolish children, so that their philosopher himself (Plato) imagines his teacher to be very ashamed of this art, and telling his judges that they will hear from him speeches pronounced simply and as it happens, not embellished with words and not dotted with names and expressions - because, he said, it would be indecent for me, honorable men, to compose at such an age children's speeches, and come to you with them. But look at the laughter! What, according to this philosopher’s description, his teacher avoided as childish things, he himself coveted most of all. So in all cases they were driven by one ambition! And there is nothing surprising in Plato except this one thing. Just as when you open coffins, painted on the outside, you will see that they are filled with decay and stench and rotten bones, similarly in the opinions of this philosopher, if you strip them of embellishment in expression, you will see a lot of abomination, especially when he philosophizes about the soul, extolling it without measure and humiliating it. This is the devil’s cunning - not to observe moderation in anything, but, drawing into opposite extremes, to mislead. Sometimes he says that the soul participates in the divine being; and sometimes, having elevated it so immoderately and so wickedly, he insults it with the other extreme, introducing it into pigs and donkeys, and other animals, even worse. But that’s enough about this, or better yet, even then in moderation. If it were possible to learn something useful from them, then one should study them more. And since it was only necessary to discover their shameful and funny sides, then this too was said by us more appropriately. So, leaving their fables, let us proceed to our dogmas, brought to us from above through the mouth of this fisherman; and having nothing human. Let us begin to consider his sayings, and what we called you to do at the beginning, that is, that you carefully listen to our words, we remind you of the same thing now. So, how does the evangelist begin his story? “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God” (John 1:1) (“In the beginning was the word, and the word was to God”). Do you see in this saying all his boldness and strength? How does he speak, without hesitation at all, without limiting himself to guesswork, but speaking positively? The characteristic of a teacher is not to hesitate in what he himself says. And if someone, wanting to instruct others, needed a person who could support him, then in fairness he should take the place not of a teacher, but of students. If someone says: why did the evangelist, leaving the first Reason, immediately begin to talk to us about the second? – then we refuse to talk about “first” and “second”. The Divinity is higher than the number and sequence of times: therefore we renounce to say so, but we confess the Father as self-existent, and the Son begotten of the Father. 4. So, you say; but why (the evangelist), leaving the Father, speaks of the Son? Because the Father was recognized by everyone, although not as Father, but as God; but they did not know the Only Begotten. That is why, rightly, the evangelist hastened immediately, at the very beginning, to offer knowledge of Him to those who did not know Him. However, he did not remain silent about the Father in these same words. Pay attention to their spiritual meaning. He knew that people “from time immemorial” (John 1:2) and first of all recognized and honored God. Therefore, first of all he says (about the existence of the Son): in the beginning, and then further he calls Him God, but not like Plato, who called one the mind and the other the soul. This is alien to the divine and immortal nature. It has nothing in common with us, but is very far from communion with creation - I mean essentially, not by actions. That is why the evangelist called Him the Word. Having the intention of convincing (people) that this Word is the Only Begotten Son of God, the evangelist, lest anyone here assume a passionate birth, first by calling the Son the Word destroys all evil suspicion, showing both that He is the Son of the Father and that He is (born) dispassionately. Do you see how I said that in speaking about the Son he did not keep silent about the Father? If these explanations are not enough for a complete understanding of this subject, do not be surprised: we are now talking about God, about whom it is impossible to speak or think in a dignified manner. Therefore, the evangelist nowhere uses the expression: being, since it is impossible to say that there is God by His essence, but everywhere shows Him to us only from His actions. So we see that this Word a little later is called light, and again this light is called life. However, it was not for this reason alone that he called Him that; but, firstly, for this reason, and secondly, because the Word had to tell us about the Father. “I told you everything,” it is said, “that I heard from My Father” (John 15:15). He calls Him both light and life because He gave us the light of knowledge, and hence life. In general, there is not a single such name, there are not two, or three or more names that would be sufficient to express what concerns the Divinity. At the very least, it is desirable that His properties could be depicted in many (names), although not entirely clearly. It was not just that the evangelist called Him the Word, but with the addition of a member (o), distinguishing Him from all other (creatures). Do you see how it was not in vain that I said that this evangelist is speaking to us from heaven? Look where he immediately, at the very beginning, soared, raised the soul and mind of his listeners. Having placed her above everything sensible, above the earth, above the sea, above the sky, he raises her above the angels themselves, the cherubim and seraphim on high, above thrones, principalities, powers, and generally convinces her to rise above all created things. What then? Could it be that, having raised us to such a height, he could stop us here? No way. But just as if someone standing on the seashore and overlooking the cities, shores and piers were led by someone to the very middle of the sea and thus, of course, removed him from previous objects, but could not fix his gaze on anything, but only led him into the immeasurable space of vision, so the evangelist, having raised us above every creature, directing us to the eternity that preceded it, leaves our gaze to wander, not allowing it to reach any end in height, since there is no end there: Reason, ascending to the beginning, experiences what kind of beginning it is. Then, encountering: “it was,” which always precedes his thought, he does not find where to stop his thought, but, straining his gaze and not being able to limit it with anything, he gets tired and returns to the ground again. The expression: “In the beginning there was...” means nothing more than ever-present and infinite being. Do you see true wisdom and divine dogmas, not like those of the Hellenes, who assume times and recognize some gods as elders, others as younger? We have nothing like this. If God exists, as He really does exist, then there is nothing before Him. If He is the Creator of everything, then He is first of all. If He is the Lord and Lord of all, then everything comes after Him, both creation and age. I wanted to get to other considerations, but maybe (your) thought got tired. Therefore, having offered some more instructions that may be useful to you for understanding both the already proposed conversations and future ones, I will remain silent. What are these instructions? I know that many people get tired of the length of conversations. But this happens when the soul is burdened with many everyday worries. Just as vision, when it is pure and clear, is sharp and does not tire, easily examining the smallest objects, but as soon as some bad moisture flows from the head (on the face), or smoke or steam rises from below, then a thick cloud appears in front of the pupil, which does not allow one to clearly see even the largest objects, so it usually happens in the soul. When she is purified and does not have any outrageous passion in herself, then she vigilantly sees what she should look at. When she, being darkened by passions, destroys her valor, then she becomes incapable of anything lofty, soon gets tired and falls, tends to sleep and laziness, loses sight of what could contribute to her virtue and a virtuous life, and does not turn to her with jealousy. 5. So, so that this does not happen to you (I will not cease to inspire this in you), strengthen your spirit so that you do not hear the same words that were spoken by Paul to the believing Jews. And for them, he said, “the word was much and difficult to convey,” not because it was such in its essence, but “because,” he says, “you became unable to hear” (Heb. 5:11). The sick and infirm usually bother with short words as well as with long words, and consider clear and intelligible objects difficult to comprehend. But let there be nothing like that here; but let everyone heed the teaching, putting aside all worldly cares. When a listener is possessed by an addiction to wealth, it is impossible for him to be similarly occupied by the desire to listen to teachings, because the soul, one in itself, cannot contain many desires, but one desire is suppressed by another, and the soul, thus, as if torn, becomes even weaker. Meanwhile, if any desire prevails, then everything turns to its advantage. This usually happens with children. When someone has only one child, he loves this one extremely; when he becomes the father of many children, then his disposition towards them, having become divided, becomes weaker. If this happens where natural attraction and strength dominate, and where beloved objects are akin to each other, then what can we say about arbitrary disposition and infatuation, and especially when the types of love are directly opposite to one another? And the love of wealth is contrary to the love of teaching. By entering here, we enter heaven, not by place, I mean, but (by spiritual) disposition. After all, you can stand in heaven while on earth, contemplate the objects there and listen to the verbs emanating from there. So, no one bring anything earthly to heaven. No one, standing here, worry about household matters. From here it would be necessary to transfer the benefits acquired here to the house and market place and preserve it there, and not fill this place with the cares characteristic of the house and market place. This is why we come to the teaching department, to cleanse here the defilements that come to us from outside. If, even in the midst of this small lesson, we want to be corrupted by extraneous speech or deeds, then it would be better not to start. Let no one in the church worry about household affairs; on the contrary, let him reflect on the subjects of church teaching in the house. Let them be most preferable to us, since they relate to the soul, and those (household chores) to the body; It’s better to say that the teachings here are useful for both soul and body. Therefore, let them be the main thing, and everything else a passing thing. They belong to both the present life and the future, and external affairs belong to neither one nor the other, unless they are arranged according to rules based on the former. Here is the only way to learn not only what we will be after this life and how we will live then, but also how to manage our present life. This house is a spiritual hospital, built so that we can heal in it those wounds that we receive from outside (in the world), and not in order to leave here with new wounds. If we do not heed what the Holy Spirit tells us, then not only will we not cleanse our previous wounds, but we will also receive others. Let us listen with all diligence to this book, now being opened before us. Subsequently, not much work will be required (to study it), if we carefully learn its initial and main sayings, but having worked a little at first, we will then be able, in the words of Paul, “to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2). The Apostle John is very exalted, full of many dogmas, and talks about them more than about anything else. Let us not listen in passing. This is why we explain (the Gospel) little by little, so that everything is understandable for you, and so that nothing escapes your memory. Let us be afraid to become guilty before that voice that said: “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin” (John 15:22). What advantage will we have over those who have not heard (the gospel) at all, if even after hearing we go home, having nothing, but only being amazed at the words spoken? Let us sow on good ground; give in order to further encourage us (to sow). If anyone has thorns in him, let him kindle the fire of the Spirit; whoever has a rough and stubborn heart, let him make it soft and flexible, using the same fire. If anyone, while on the road, is trampled by all sorts of thoughts, let him enter into his inner feelings and not communicate with those who want to enter there for theft, and then we will see your fields fat. If we take care of ourselves in this way and diligently apply ourselves to this spiritual conversation, then, although not suddenly, at least little by little, we will renounce everything worldly. Let us be careful that it is not said about us: “Their ears are like those of a deaf adder” (Ps. 57:5). Tell me, how does such a listener differ from a beast? On the contrary, is not he more dumb than any dumb person who remains inattentive when God speaks? If being a man consists in pleasing God, then he who does not even want to hear about how to fulfill this, what is other than a beast? Think how great this evil is, if then, just as Christ wants to make us from people equal to angels, we turn ourselves from people into animals! To be a slave of the belly, to be obsessed with a passion for wealth, to be angry, to torment, to trample others underfoot is not characteristic of people, but of animals. However, each beast, so to speak, has its own special passion, and, moreover, by nature, and a person who has overthrown himself from the power of reason, who has turned away from life according to God, gives himself over to all passions, and no longer becomes a beast only, but some kind of monster of various types and different characters, and in his very nature no longer finds an excuse for himself. All evil comes from will and free intentions. But let it not ever be possible to think this about the Church of Christ! We think better of you and have hope of salvation. But the more confident we are in this, the more we will not abandon protective suggestions, so that, having ascended to the very top of virtues, we will achieve the promised blessings, which may we all be worthy of, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: