Беседа 1

Paul's humility. - Unity of the church. – We must seek grace from God, not from people. – The meaning of humility. 1 Corinthians 1:1–3. Paul, called by the will of God to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ, and Sosthenes, brother, of the church of God which is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, in every place, to them and to us: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 1. Do you see how Paul at the very beginning put down pride and overthrew all the arrogance of the false teachers, calling himself called? It was not I myself, he says, who invented what I was taught, and it was not through my own wisdom that I comprehended it, but because I was called when I persecuted and devastated the Church. Here, one might say, everything belongs to the Caller, and nothing belongs to the called, except obedience. "Jesus Christ". Your teacher is Christ; and you consider people to be the leaders of teaching. “By the will of God,” because God wanted you to be saved in this way. We ourselves did not do anything, but by the will of God we found salvation: we were called because it pleased Him, and not because we were worthy of it. "And Sosthenes the brother". Again he expresses humility, placing next to himself someone who was much smaller than him; and the distance between Paul and Sosthenes is great. If, despite such a distance, he placed the inferior along with himself, then what can those who despise those of equal honor say? "Church of God". Not this or that, but “God’s”. "Located in Corinth". Do you see how with every expression he casts down their arrogance, raising their minds to heaven in every possible way? She calls the Church of God, expressing that there must be unity in it, because if it is of God, then it is united and united, not only in Corinth, but throughout the entire universe. The name of the Church is not a name of division, but of unity and harmony. "Sanctified in Christ Jesus". Again he cites the name of Jesus, not people. What is sanctification? Washing, cleansing. He reminds them of the uncleanness from which He delivered them, and teaches them humility, since they are sanctified not for their own good deeds, but according to God’s love for mankind. "Called Saints". And the very thing that you are saved by faith does not come from you, says; You were not the first to begin, but were called, so even this little does not entirely belong to you. Although you began, burdened with many evils, you owe this not to yourself, but to God. Therefore, in the letter to the Ephesians, he says: “by grace are you saved through faith, and this not of yourselves” (Eph. 2:8). And faith does not entirely belong to you: you yourself did not believe before God, but you obeyed when you were called. "With all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ". The name is not so-and-so or that, but the Lord. “In every place, with them and with us.” Although the letter was written only to the Corinthians, he mentions all believers throughout the universe, showing that the Church should be one everywhere, although it is located in different places, and even more so in Corinth. The place separates, but the Lord unites them, as common to all; therefore, in order to instill unity in them, he added: “with us and with them.” The latter is more important than the former. Just as those who are in one place, when they have many masters who disagree with each other, are divided, and the place does not in the least contribute to their being in unity, because the masters give them different orders and each demands his own, “you cannot,” it is said, “serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24), so those who are in different places, when they do not have different masters, but only one, do not lose agreement from place to place, because one Lord unites them. So, he says, you Corinthians must be in agreement not only with the Corinthians, but with everyone throughout the entire universe, as having a common Lord; therefore I added a second time: “with us”. So that any unreasonable person does not think that he allows for division when he says: “the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he again adds: our Lord and those. And to make this clearer, I will read as the meaning of the speech requires: Paul and Sosthenes to the Church of God located in Corinth, and to all who call on the name of our Lord and theirs, in every place, whether in Rome or wherever they are, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Or it can be this way, and, it seems to me, it will be even more accurate: Paul and Sosthenes are sanctified in Corinth, called saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours, i.e. Grace to you and peace to you who are sanctified in Corinth and have become called, not to you alone, but together with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and theirs. If the world is from grace, then why are you arrogant, why are you arrogant, you who are saved by grace? If you are at peace with God, then why do you cleave to others? This means making a division. Why, if you are at peace with this or that, do you also have grace? And I wish that you get both from God, from Him and for Him. Both will not be firm unless it comes from a wave from above; and if it does not relate to Him, it will not bring you any benefit. There is no benefit for us if, although we are at peace, at least with everyone, we are at enmity with God; and again there is no harm for us if we, although in disagreement with everyone, are at peace with God. In the same way, there is no benefit if we deserve approval from everyone, but offend the Lord; and there is no danger if everyone turns away and hates us, but God accepts and loves us. True grace, true peace comes from God. He who has grace from God does not fear anyone, even if he endures many evils, not only man, but the devil himself. And whoever has offended God fears everyone, although apparently he is safe. The human race is fickle: not only friends and brothers, but also fathers, often changing their location for unimportant reasons, persecuted worse than any enemy the one they gave birth to, whom they raised, and children persecuted their fathers. Look here. 2. David had grace before God; Absalom had grace before men; and what was the end of both and who received more praise? You know this. Abraham had grace before God, and Pharaoh before the people, who, to please him, betrayed the wife of a righteous man: which of them turned out to be more glorious and blessed? Everyone knows this. And what can we say about the righteous? The Israelites had grace before God and were hated by the people - the Egyptians, but they surpassed those who hated and defeated them, you know, with what glory. Therefore, let us all take care of this: let the slave try to find grace before God before before the master; Let the wife seek grace before the Savior God before her husband; let a warrior seek favor from above before from the king or the boss: in this way you will earn favor from people. But how can we find grace before God? How could it be otherwise, if not by humility? “God,” says (Scripture), “resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (Proverbs 3:34); and: “a sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; hearts... You will not despise the humble, O God” (Ps. 50:19). If humility pleases people, how much more does God. Thus the pagans found grace; so the Jews also fell from grace: “for... they did not submit to the righteousness of God” (Rom. 10:3). A humble person is pleasing and pleasing to everyone, lives in constant peace and has no reason for enmity. Whether you insult him, reproach him or say anything to him, he will remain silent and endure it with meekness and will have such peace with everyone that it is impossible to express, and at the same time with God. And God’s commandments are aimed at this, so that we can be at peace with people, and our whole life is good when we are at peace with each other; No one can harm God: He, by His nature, is not subject to the influence of evil and is above all passion. Nothing makes a Christian more admirable than humility. Listen to how Abraham says: “I am dust and ashes” (Gen. 18:27); or God about Moses - that he was the meekest of all people (Numbers 12:3). No one was more humble than him: ruling such a people, drowning the king and the entire Egyptian army in the sea like flies, having accomplished such deeds in Egypt, in the Red Sea and in the desert, having received such a testimony, he behaved like an ordinary person. And the son-in-law was more humble than his father-in-law and accepted his advice; was not offended and did not say: “What is this? after such and such matters, have you come to advise me?” Many people do this, even if we offer them the best advice, disdaining the advisee for his modesty. But he's not like that; on the contrary, he did everything with humility. That is why he despised the royal palaces, because he was truly humble; humility makes our mind sound and elevated. In fact, isn’t it a sign of his high wisdom and great soul that he despised both the king’s house and table? The kings of the Egyptians were revered as gods, and enjoyed countless riches and treasures: but he left all this, rejected the very scepter of Egypt and withdrew to the captives and oppressed, exhausted with “clay and bricks,” despised by his very slaves, “them,” they say, “the Egyptians abhorred” (Ex. 1:12); he preferred these people to the rulers. This is how the humble can be tall and generous! After all, pride is a sign of a low mind and an ignoble soul, while meekness is a sign of a high and great soul. 3. If you wish, we will explain both with examples. Tell me, who was higher than Abraham? And he said: “I am dust and ashes” (Gen. 18:27); And again: “Let there be no discord between me and you” (Gen. 13:8). He was so humble that he neglected the spoils of the Persians and rejected the spoils of the foreigners; he did this according to the height and greatness of his soul, because he is high who is truly humble, and not imaginary and feigned. One is greatness of soul, and the other is arrogance; this can be seen from the following. Suppose that one considers dirt to be dirt and disdains it, and another marvels at dirt as gold and considers it to be something great: which of them is a tall man? Isn't he the one who is not surprised by dirt? And who is low and pathetic? Isn’t he the one who marvels at it and considers it something great? So it is here. He who calls himself earth and ashes is high, because he says this out of humility; and whoever does not consider himself earth and ashes, but is exalted and arrogant, is low, because he considers small things to be great. Therefore, the forefather (Abraham), out of greatness of soul, said the words: “I, dust and ashes,” - out of greatness of soul, and not out of arrogance. Just as in the body there is one thing - fullness and corpulence, and another - swelling, because although in both cases the body is fat, one comes from illness, and the other from health, so here something else - arrogance - is the same as swelling - and another - greatness, this is fullness. Or let’s also assume that one is tall, and the other, although small, takes up stilts and becomes tall: which of them, tell me, will we call tall and big? Is it not the one who is tall by nature? Of course, it’s his, because the other’s height is not his own, but he, standing on stilts, turns from low to high. Such are many of the people who exalt themselves with wealth and glory, which do not constitute greatness. High is the one who has no need for anything like that, despises everything (earthly) and has greatness in himself. Let us be humble, so that we may become high: “Whoever humbles himself,” says (the Lord), “will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12). An arrogant person is not like that; on the contrary, he is the most insignificant of all; and the bubble is inflated, but its fullness is empty; That’s why we call such people inflated. The humble man, even with his greatness, does not think much about himself, knowing his humility, but the insignificant one, even with his smallness, imagines a lot about himself. Let us achieve greatness through humility; Let us remember the nature of (everything) human, so that we may be inflamed with a desire for the future. There is no other way to become humble than by love for the divine and contempt for the present. Just as someone who expects to receive a kingdom, if he were offered some private honor instead of purple, would consider it as nothing, so we will laugh at everything present if we are inflamed with a desire for future honor. Look at the children, when they play in formation - how they place soldiers and heralds and lictors in front of them, and in the middle one of them walks in the form of a commander: isn’t this child’s play? Such are human differences, and even worse: today they exist, but tomorrow they are not! Let us be above them and not only will we not desire them, but we will also be ashamed when someone offers them to us. Having thus rejected love for them, we will be inflamed with divine love and will be worthy of immortal glory, which may we all be worthy of by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father with the Holy Spirit be glory, power, honor, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. These conversations were delivered by the saint in Antioch around 390. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” In synod.trans. “feared” – I.I. You might be interested in: