Беседа 5

2 Cor.2:12–13. Having come to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, although the door was opened to me by the Lord, I had no rest for my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. The greatest virtue is to attribute everything to God. - No one can hide from the eyes of God. – There is no need to pray for the death of enemies. – Curses against enemies are funny. 1. These words seem unworthy of Paul, since they show that, due to the absence of his brother, he neglected the opportunity to promote salvation. Moreover, they apparently have no connection with (previously said). What do you want me to prove to you first? Is it that (the apostle) did not say anything unworthy of himself here, or that what he said has a close connection with the previous one? It seems to me that the latter must be proven first, because then the former will be more understandable and clearer for us. So, what connection do these words have with what was said before? Let us remember what was said before, then we will understand what has been said now. What did he say before? What he said at the beginning of the letter, namely: “we do not want you, brethren, to be ignorant of our affliction that happened to us in Asia, because we were burdened excessively and beyond our strength” (“I do not want you... not to know about the affliction... that came to us in Asia, for we were burdened much and more than the might”) (2 Cor. 1:8). Then he shows how he got rid of the threatening danger, and, having further expressed intermediate thoughts that serve to justify him, finally again makes it known that he had another sorrow. Which one, and how? The one that Titus did not find. Truly, the temptations he endured (by the apostle) constituted considerable sorrow for him and could plunge his soul into despondency. And when there was no one who could console him and, through sympathy, ease the severity of his grief, then, naturally, the spiritual storm had to increase even more. And this Titus is the same one about whom (the apostle) speaks below, and who came to him (from the Corinthians), and from him was sent back to them, and about whom he spoke so much with great praise. So, wanting to show that he grieved over the absence of Titus because of them, (the apostle) said the above words. From this it is obvious that these words have a close connection with what was said before. And that these words are not unworthy of Paul - I will try to prove this too. Indeed, he does not say that absence prevented the salvation of those who wished to join the believers; Nor does he say that because of this he despised the believers; but he only says that he had no peace, that is, he grieved and grieved over the absence of his brother, wanting to show by this what the absence of a brother means, and for this reason he left Troas. What do the words mean: “Having come to Troas to preach the gospel” (“having come to Troas for the gospel”)? “I came not without intention,” he says, “but to preach. And yet, despite the fact that with such an intention I came (to Troas), and there I found a lot of work: “even though the door was opened for me by the Lord, I had no rest,” he says, “for my spirit” (“the door that was opened by me in the Lord, I had no rest”). However, this did not interfere with the preaching work. How does he say: “but having said goodbye to them, I went” (“I denied them and died”)? That is: “I could not stay there for a long time due to constraint and heartbreak”; or perhaps because the very absence (of Titus) served as an obstacle to the matter. And this also served a lot to calm the Corinthians. “If,” he says, “just because I didn’t find a brother (in Troas), I had to hastily leave from there, although there was an open door for me to preach, for which I came there, then all the more must you excuse us by the tightness of the circumstances that rule us everywhere and do not allow us, as we would like, to either leave anywhere or spend more time anywhere, at our desire.” That is why, just as above he assimilated his travels to the Spirit of God, so here he attributes them to God, adding the words: “Thanks be to God, who always allows us to triumph in Christ and spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Himself to us in every place” (“Now thanks be to God, who always makes us victorious in Christ... and the stench of His mind is revealed to us in every place”) (2 Cor. 2:14). So that they do not think that (the apostle) is complaining and grumbling about being forced by God to be there or in another place, he sends thanks to God. The meaning of his words is this: “Sorrow is everywhere, crampedness is everywhere! I came to Asia - there I was burdened beyond my strength; I came to Troas and did not find my brother here; “I didn’t go to you - and this caused me considerable, even very great, grief, both because many of you sinned, and because for this reason I could not see you.” “To spare you,” he says, “I have not come to Corinth until now” (“To spare you, no one has come to Corinth”) (2 Cor. 1:23). So, so that, speaking in this way, he would not seem to be grumbling against God, (the apostle) adds that: “In these sorrows we not only do not lose heart, but we also rejoice; and what is most important is that we rejoice not only for the sake of future rewards, but also for the sake of present ones, since by enduring sorrows we also gain praise and glory for ourselves in this life. Therefore, we are so far from complaining and murmuring that we even call the sorrows that happen to us triumph and boast about them.” In this sense, the apostle said: “Thanks be to God, who always allows us to triumph in Christ” (“Thanks be to God who always makes us conquerors”), i.e., makes us glorious to everyone. Although to others it seems a disgrace that we suffer persecution everywhere, yet to us it is the greatest honor. That is why he did not say: “to him who makes us known,” but: “victors... to him who creates,” wanting to show that these persecutions serve for us throughout the entire earth instead of glorious monuments of constant victories won over the devil. Having pointed to the Giver of victories, he then says the reason (for these victories) and thereby encourages the listeners. “Not only,” he says, “are victories given to us from God, but also “about Christ,” that is, through Christ and preaching. “And by winning victories,” he says, “it is impossible not to become famous for us who bear the sign of victory, since we are the ones who wear it. That is why we are famous and strong everywhere. “The fragrance of the knowledge of Himself is spread by us in every place” (“And the stench of His mind is revealed to us in every place”). 2. Above (the apostle) said: “He who creates us is always victorious”; now he says: “in every place,” indicating that every place and time is filled with apostolic deeds. At the same time, he uses a new metaphor, borrowed from the fragrant smell. “We,” he says, “become known to everyone, just like those who wear valuable ointment,” calling the knowledge (of Christ) valuable ointment. And he didn’t just say “knowledge” (reason), but “the fragrance of knowledge” (“the stench of reason”), because this is exactly what our current knowledge is: not entirely clear and not completely open. That is why in his first epistle he said: “now we see through a glass darkly” (“we now see through a mirror in divination”) (1 Cor. 13:12), and here he calls the knowledge of Christ “the fragrance of knowledge” (“the stench of understanding”). He who smells a fragrance knows that somewhere there is fragrant myrrh; but what this world is like in itself cannot be known if one has not had the opportunity to see it before. In the same way we: we know that God exists; but we don’t know what He is in essence. “So, we,” he says, “are like a royal censer; and wherever we go, we exude heavenly myrrh and spiritual fragrance everywhere.” In saying this, (the apostle) had a twofold intention: firstly, he wanted to show the power of preaching - namely, that through enemies plotting they are only glorified even more, since persecution makes it possible for the whole universe to see their victories and smell the fragrance of their preaching; secondly, he wanted to convince the Corinthians to courageously endure sorrows and temptations, because through this they would gain inexpressible glory even before reward (in heaven). “For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and to those who are perishing” (“For we are the aroma of Christ to those who are being saved and to those who are perishing”) (2 Cor. 2:15). “Whether someone is saved,” he says, “or perishes, the preaching of the Gospel always retains its dignity.” Just as light, even when it blinds the weak of sight, remains light, although it blinds; or just as honey, even if it seems bitter to the sick, does not cease to be sweet by nature, so the gospel (of Christ) always retains its fragrance, although unbelievers perish. It is not the gospel that destroys them, but their own bitterness. And the destruction of the wicked even especially reveals the fragrance of preaching. Thus the power of the gospel is found not only in the salvation of the good, but also in the destruction of the wicked. Likewise, the sun especially blinds the eyes of the weak because it shines very clearly. Likewise, the Savior, although “he lies for the fall and for the rising of many” (“he lies... for the fall and for the rising of many”) (Luke 2:34), however, does not cease to be the Savior even when countless people fall. And although His coming to earth served more as a punishment for unbelievers, despite this, it always remains salutary. In this sense, Paul also says: “we are the fragrance of Christ to God” (“we are the fragrance of God”); that is, “although some of those who hear the gospel perish, yet we do not cease to be what we are.” And he didn’t just say “fragrance,” but “To God.” If we are a fragrance to God and God himself determines this about us, then who else will contradict? And the words “Christ's fragrance,” in my opinion, have a double meaning. By this (the apostle) wants to say either that they, dying every day (1 Cor. 15:31), sacrifice themselves to God, or that they are the fragrance of the death of Christ in the same way as someone would say: “this incense is exactly the fragrance of such and such a sacrifice.” So, either in this last meaning he used the word “fragrance”, or in the first one I said, that is, that (the apostles) daily sacrificed themselves to God, for Christ. Do you see to what extent he exalted temptations, calling them his triumph, and a fragrance, and a sacrifice offered to God? Further, since he said: “We are the aroma of Christ to God in those who are being saved and in those who are perishing” (“the aroma is also in those who are perishing”), so that you would not think that even those who are perishing are pleasing to God, he added: “For some the aroma of death is to death, and for others the aroma of life is to life” (“we are the aroma of death to death, and the stench of life is to the belly”) (2 Cor. 2:16), that is, by smelling this fragrance, some are saved, while others perish - so, however, that if someone dies, he himself is the cause of his own destruction, because the fragrant myrrh, they say, suffocates pigs, and the light, as I said before, blinds the weak in sight. And such is the property of goods that they not only improve what is similar to them, but also destroy what is opposite; and in this last case their strength is especially revealed. So fire, not only when it shines or purifies gold, turns out to be fire and reveals its inherent power; but even more so when he burns thorns. And Christ will reveal his greatness when “he will kill the Antichrist with the spirit of his mouth and destroy him by the manifestation of his coming” (“He will kill the Antichrist with the spirit of his mouth and destroy him by the manifestation of his coming”) (2 Thessalonians 2:8). “And who is capable of this?” ("And who is pleased with this?"). Since (the apostle) said many great and extraordinary things, calling himself both the sacrifice and the fragrance of Christ, and appropriating universal triumph for himself, he again tries to moderate what he said, attributing all this to God. That’s why he says: “And who is capable of this?” . “All this,” he says, “is Christ’s, and nothing is ours.” Do you see his difference from the false apostles? The latter boast that they bring something of their own to the preaching of Christ; but he, on the contrary, takes credit for the fact that he calls nothing his own. “For our praise,” he says, “this is the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not by carnal wisdom, but by the grace of God, we lived in the world” (“This is our boasting, a testimony of conscience, because... not in the wisdom of the flesh, but by the grace of God we lived in the world”) (2 Cor. 1:12). And just as they counted the acquisition of earthly wisdom as praise to themselves, so he, on the contrary, counts ignorance of it as praise to himself. That’s why he says here: “And who is capable of this?” . And if we ourselves are not sufficient for this, then everything that happens (with us and through us) is a work of grace. “For we do not corrupt the word of God, as many do” (“For we are not like others who preach the word of God uncleanly”) (2 Cor. 2:17). 3. “Although we,” he says, “proclaim many great things, we do not appropriate anything to ourselves; on the contrary, we attribute everything to Christ. We do not want to imitate the false apostles who take much credit for themselves. This would mean acting like a merchant when he counterfeits wine, or sells for money something that should be given for free.” In fact, it seems to me that (the apostle) here ridicules the covetousness (of the false apostles), and again hints at what I said before, that is, that they preach the divine with an admixture of their own. Denouncing the same vice, Isaiah said: “Your innkeepers mix wine with water” (Is. 1:22). Although this is said about wine, there will be no error if someone applies this to teaching. “This is not how we act,” he says; but what has been entrusted to us, we offer to others, and we teach pure teaching - without any admixture - which is why I added: “but we preach sincerely, as from God, before God, in Christ” (“but as from purity, but as from God, before God, in Christ we speak”). “We,” he says, “do not preach in order to deceive you, as if by giving you something of our own, or by introducing and mixing something from ourselves, but “as from God,” that is, “we do not say that we are giving you anything from ourselves, but we affirm that God has given everything.” The expression “as from God” precisely means - not to boast of anything as one’s own, but to attribute everything to God. “We preach in Christ” (“In Christ we speak”) - that is, “we speak everything not from our wisdom, but enlightened by the power of Christ.” On the contrary, those who love to boast do not preach in this way, but as if bringing in something of their own. Therefore, in another place (the apostle), denouncing such preachers, he says: “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you didn’t receive it?” ("Why did you accept it? Even if you accepted it, you boasted that it was not received") (1 Cor. 4:7). The highest virtue is to attribute everything to God and regard nothing as our own, to do nothing to acquire human glory, but to do everything to please God, because He (and not anyone else) will demand an account from us. In our time, this order is perverted. Nowadays we are not so much afraid of the One who will one day sit at the judgment seat and demand from us an account of our deeds, as we are afraid of those who will appear with us at the judgment. Where do we get this disease from? Where did it penetrate our hearts? From rare thinking about the future and extreme attachment to the present. That is why we so easily fall into evil deeds; and even if we do something good, we do it only for show, so that is where harm comes to us. More than once you looked at a woman with shameless eyes, and hid it both from the one you looked at and from your companions; but you will not hide this from the Eye that never sleeps. Even before a person commits a sin, It has already seen in his soul criminal lust, and inner fury, and the violent and unbridled movement of thoughts. He who sees everything has no need for witnesses or evidence. So, look not at slaves like you. Even if a person praises your deeds, it will be of no benefit to you unless God accepts them; in the same way, even if a person blasphemes them, there is no harm in it for you, unless God blasphemes. On the contrary, highly appreciating the opinion of slaves like you, and not fearing or trembling at the indignation of the Judge, be careful not to anger the Judge. So, let us despise human praise. How long will we humiliate ourselves and grovel on the earth? How long will we strive for the earth when God draws us to heaven? Joseph's brothers would not have intended to kill their brother in the wilderness if, as they should, they had the fear of God before their eyes (Gen. 37). In the same way, Cain, if he had been afraid of God’s judgment, as he should have been, would not have said to Abel: “Go, and let us go to the field” (Gen. 4:8). In fact, why did you, pitiful and unfortunate, separate your brother from your father and take him into the desert? Doesn’t God see your daring crime on the field? How have you not learned from what happened to your father that God sees everything and is present in all our affairs? But why, when (Cain) did not confess to his crime, God did not say to him: “Are you hiding from Me, the Omnipresent One who knows even secret thoughts?” Because he could not yet understand these properties of God well. What did God tell him? “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me” (“The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me”) (Gen. 4:10). These words do not mean that the blood has a voice, but are said in the same sense as we talk about obvious and obvious cases: the deed itself speaks. So, one must always have the judgment of God before one’s eyes - and all evil will fade away. In the same way, during prayers we can maintain sober attention if we remember with whom we are talking, if we imagine that we are making a sacrifice, we have a knife in our hands, and fire and firewood; if, having mentally opened the doors of heaven, we stop there, and, taking a spiritual knife, plunge it into the sacrificial animal, and devour His sober attention, and shed tears before Him. Such is the blood of this sacrifice; This altar must be stained with such a slaughter! Take care, do not allow a single thought to occupy your soul at this time. 4. Remember that Abraham, during his sacrifice, did not allow either a wife, a slave, or anyone else. Likewise, do not keep to yourself any passion that is characteristic of slaves and not free ones, but climb alone the mountain that he climbed, and which no one else is allowed to climb. If any of the unworthy thoughts become stronger in order to go up the mountain with you, forbid them from doing so, as their master, and say: “You stay here with the donkey, and I and my son will go there and worship, and we will return to you” (“Sit here... and I and the offspring... having bowed, we will return”) (Gen. 22:5). Everything that is dumb and unreasonable - both the donkey and the slaves - leave at the foot of the mountain; ascend, taking with you only what is reasonable, as he did Isaac. And you, like him, build an altar, renouncing everything human and becoming above your nature - after all, if he had not become above his nature, he would not have decided to sacrifice his son. Finally, let nothing disturb you at this time, but be above the very heavens. Weep bitterly, sacrifice confession (of sins), because it is said: “Speak thou, that thou mayest be justified” (“You have spoken your iniquities before, that thou mayest be justified”) (Is. 43:26). Sacrifice contrition of heart. Such victims do not turn into ashes, do not disappear with smoke; They do not need either wood or fire, they only need a contrite heart. This is firewood, this is fire that embraces the firewood with flames, and does not burn them. He who prays with fiery zeal burns and is not consumed - like gold tested by fire, it only becomes purer and brighter. At the same time, be careful not to say anything in prayer that could anger your Master: do not approach Him with prayer for the destruction of your enemies. If having enemies is already a crime, then think, what a crime if you pray for their destruction? You must ask for forgiveness even if you have enemies; and you still want to blame them? And how can you receive forgiveness when you blame others, and, moreover, at a time when you yourself need great mercy? You come here to pray for the forgiveness of your sins; So, do not remember the sins of others, lest they remember yours. If, while praying to God, you say: “destroy the enemy,” then you are blocking your mouth and tying your tongue, firstly, because at the very beginning of the prayer you immediately anger the Judge, and secondly, because you are asking for something completely different from what you apparently are praying for. In fact, if you pray for the remission of sins, then why are you asking for punishment? You should do exactly the opposite—pray for your enemies themselves, so that you can boldly pray for yourself. And now, by demanding the execution of sinners, by condemning them you are appropriating for yourself the place of Judge, which makes you unworthy of any pardon. When you pray for your enemies, then, even though you did not say anything in prayer about your sins, you fulfilled everything. Remember how many victims are specified in the law. The sacrifice of praise, the sacrifice of confession, the sacrifice of salvation, the sacrifice of purification and countless others; not one is against enemies, but each for its own sins or even virtues. Do you approach another God with prayer? You approach the same God who said: “Pray for... your enemies” (Matthew 5:44). How then do you cry out against them? How dare you ask God to break His own law? This disguise is indecent for a praying slave. Everyone should pray not for the destruction of another, but for his own salvation. Why do you take on the appearance of a praying slave, but speak like an accuser? Moreover, when we pray for ourselves, we scratch ourselves, yawn, and entertain ourselves with countless thoughts; and we pray with all our attention for the destruction of our enemies. Since the devil knows that at this time we are raising the sword against ourselves, he does not entertain us at all and does not stop us, in order to harm us further. But I was offended and upset, you say? So pray for the destruction of the devil, who incomparably offends us more than anyone else. This is what you are ordered to pray about: “Deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13). Truly, he is our only irreconcilable enemy, and man, no matter what he does, is always our friend and brother. So, we must all turn our anger towards the devil, we must pray to God for his destruction, and say: “Crush Satan under our feet,” because he makes people our enemies. If you pray for the destruction of your enemies, then you will be praying for what your irreconcilable enemy wants, while prayer for enemies is prayer against himself. So, why do you, leaving your real enemy, torment your own members, and thus become more vicious than beasts? You will say: “he offended me,” or: “he took away my property.” But even in this case, for whom should we cry more - the one who suffered the offense, or the one who offended? (About the offended, because) the one who became rich in someone else's property, lost the favor of God, and lost incomparably more than he gained - he, therefore, is the offended. That is why one should not pray against him, but for him, so that God will be merciful to him. 5. Look how many misfortunes the three youths suffered, who had not done any evil: they were deprived of their fatherland and freedom, taken into captivity and became slaves in a foreign and barbaric country, and finally, without guilt and in vain, they were sentenced to death - for a dream (which the Magi could not remember and explain to Nebuchadnezzar) - Dan. Ch. 1 and 2. What did these three youths do together with Daniel? What did you pray to God about, what did you say? Crush Nebuchadnezzar? Rip off his tiara? Dethrone him? No, nothing like that (they didn’t say); but - “asked for mercy from God” (“begged generously from God”) (Dan. 2:18). They did the same when they were cast into the fiery furnace. This is not how you act; but enduring incomparably less than those three youths, and often due to merit, you do not cease in prayer to curse your enemies in every possible way. One says: “Throw down (Lord) my enemy, as you threw Pharaoh’s chariots into the sea.” Another says: “smite the flesh” (of the enemy); another also says: “Reward him on his children.” Do you really not recognize that these are your words? Why are you laughing? You see how funny (your curses) are when you remember them in a calm state! And every other sin turns out to be just as shameful when you consider it, putting aside your passion for it. To a person who is carried away by anger, then remind him of the words he uttered in anger; he will blush with shame, laugh at himself, and would rather decide to endure anything than agree to recognize them as his own. Or, bring the debauched man to the harlot with whom he fell; He will look at her with disgust, as if she were an indecent woman. So now, being free from passion, you laugh at your words. They are worthy of laughter because they are typical of drunken old women and cowardly women. Joseph, sold by his brothers, became a slave and thrown into prison, did not say anything offensive against those who insulted him. What did he say? “I was stolen from the land of the Hebrews” (“I was stolen from the land of the Hebrews by stealing”) (Gen. 40:15). He didn’t even mention who it was stolen through. He was more ashamed of his evil brothers than they themselves, who had done this. We should have the same feelings, and we should feel sorry for those who offend us more than they themselves, because all the harm goes to them. Just as those who drive nails and are proud of them are worthy of pity and tears for their madness, in the same way those who offend those who have not done them any harm are worthy of compassion and tears rather than curses, because they destroy their souls. Truly, there is nothing more despicable than a soul that curses others in prayer, and nothing worse than a tongue that makes such sacrifices (to God). You are a man - do not pour out the poison of asps from your lips. You are a man - don’t be a beast. Your lips were not given to you to wound, but to heal the wounds of others. “Remember,” says God, “what I taught you: to forgive and forgive (sins). And you beg Me to be your accomplice in violating My commands, and you devour your brother, stain your tongue with blood, like madmen who tear at their own members with their teeth.” Have you thought about how the devil rejoices and laughs when he hears such prayers? Have you, on the contrary, thought how angry, how disgusted and how hateful God is when you pray like that? What could be more criminal than what you're doing? Indeed, if one who has only enemies should not approach the sacraments, then how should one who not only has enemies, but also prays for their destruction, not be prevented from approaching even the threshold of the church? So, having realized what has been said and remembering that the author of the sacrifice (we made) sacrificed Himself for the enemies, let us try not to have enemies. If we have, then let us pray for them, so that we too, having received the forgiveness of our sins, may boldly appear before the judgment of Christ, to whom be glory, dominion, honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. You might be interested in: