Беседа 18

1 Timothy 6:13–16. Before God, who gives life to all, and before Christ Jesus, Who testified before Pontius Pilate with a good confession, I command you to keep the commandment purely and blamelessly, even until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in due time will be revealed by the blessed and only strong King of kings and Lord of lords, the only one who has immortality, Who dwells in the unapproachable light, Whom no man has seen and cannot see. Honor and eternal power to him! Amen. We must adhere not to human wisdom, but to faith. – Human affairs are fleeting. 1. Again he calls God as a witness, as he had done shortly before, - at the same time increasing fear, and making the disciple more unshakable, and revealing that these are not human orders - so that (Timothy), accepting this commandment as if from the Master himself, and always having in his mind the witness from whom he heard it, the memory of this excited his soul. “I command you,” he says, “before God, who gives life to everything.” It contains both encouragement in the midst of danger and a remembrance of the resurrection. “And by Christ Jesus,” he says, “who testified before Pontius Pilate.” Again (borrows) the instruction (from the example) of the Teacher. What he said has the following meaning: as He did, so, He says, you should do. He testified for this purpose, so that we would follow in His footsteps in good confession. (The apostle) does the same thing in the letter to the Hebrews, saying: “Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God”; and again: “Consider Him who endured such reproach from sinners, lest you become weary and faint in your souls” (Heb. 12:2, 3). He says this even now to the disciple, as if expressing himself in the following way: do not be afraid of death, because you are a servant of God, who can revive everything. But what does he call a good confession? That, being asked by Pilate: “So are You a King? - He answered, “For this purpose I was born,” and again: “For this reason I came into the world, to testify to the truth” (John 18:37). These were the ones who listened to Me. So, either this is why he says this, or because, having been asked, is He the Son of God? - said: “you say that I am” (Luke 22:70). And He testified and confessed many other things. “Keep the commandment purely and blamelessly, even until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ,” that is, until your death, until your exodus. However, he did not say that, but said: “even before the appearance,” in order to encourage him more. What does it mean: “Keep the commandment purely”? Do not incur the slightest reproach either for your beliefs or for your life. “Which in due time will reveal,” he says, “the blessed and only strong King of kings and Lord of lords, the only one who has immortality, Who dwells in the unapproachable light.” Who is this said about? Is it about the Father or about the Son? Without a doubt, about the Son. “Which in His time the blessed one and the only mighty one will reveal.” And this again (says) as a consolation, so that (Timothy) would not be either surprised or afraid of the kings of the earth. “In His time”, that is, in due time, in due time, so as not to grieve that it has not yet come. And from what can we see what He will reveal? Because He is powerful; and He alone is powerful. Therefore, the Blessed One will reveal - (Who is) bliss itself. He says this, making it clear that there is no sorrow or grief there. And the word: “one” was used either to contrast Him with people, or to mean His unbornness, as we often say about people whom we want to distinguish. “The only one,” he says, “has immortality.” So, what then? Doesn’t the Son have it? Isn’t He immortality itself? How is this (possible) when He is the same being with the Father? “Dwells,” he says, “in the unapproachable light.” Is He Himself a different light, and is the one in which He lives different? Is He really determined by place? No. Not for the purpose of making us think so, but to show us the incomprehensibility of the Divine nature, (the apostle) said that God lives in unapproachable light, explaining the teaching about God as much as it was possible for him. Do you see to what extent the tongue is weak when it wants to proclaim something great? “Whom no man has seen,” he says, “and cannot see,” just as no one has seen and cannot see the Son. “To him is honor and eternal power.” Amen. In due time and even out of necessity, here (the apostle) explained the doctrine of God. Since he called God as a witness, he says a lot about this Witness in order to touch the student more. That is: glory to Him; we can only say this, we can only do this, without experiencing who He is. If His power is eternal, then do not be afraid of anything, and even if this does not happen at the present time, His honor always remains, His power always abides. “Admonish those who are rich in this present age, so that they do not think highly of themselves” (1 Tim. 6:17). He said well: “at this time,” because there are others who are rich in the age to come. He commands this, knowing that nothing excites arrogance, pride and arrogance so much as money. Then he immediately humbles them, saying: “And they did not trust in unfaithful riches” (1 Tim. 6:17), because from it gives rise to pride, while he who trusts in God does not become proud. Why do you trust in a thing that suddenly passes away, and this is what wealth is? How then, you say, can they be arrogant? living,” he says, “who gives us everything abundantly for our enjoyment” (1 Tim. 6:17) He said well: “all things abundantly,” pointing to the changes of the seasons, air, light, water and everything else. Do you see how abundantly and with what generosity He gives us all this? If you are looking for wealth, then look for lasting, solid wealth that comes from doing good deeds. (The apostle) points to this, saying: “so that they may do good, be rich in good deeds, be generous and sociable” (1 Tim. 6:18); the former relates to money and the latter to love. Sociable, speaks, talkative, friendly. “Laying up for yourself treasures, a good foundation for the future” (1 Timothy 6:19). There is nothing unreliable there, there is an unshakable foundation, there is nothing fickle there, but everything is unshakable, unchangeable, solid, constantly abiding. “To achieve,” he says, “eternal life” (1 Tim. 6:19), because doing good deeds can give us the enjoyment of it. “Oh, Timofey! keep what is given to you” (1 Tim. 6:20). Don't reduce it; it is not yours; you have been entrusted with someone else's; don't turn it down. “Turning away,” he says, “worthless idle talk and the contradictions of false knowledge.” 2. Well he said that way! Indeed, where there is no faith, there is no knowledge. When something is born from our own thoughts, then this is not knowledge. He says this, perhaps, because some then called themselves Gnostics, as if they knew more than others. “Having given themselves over to whom,” he says, “some have wandered away from the faith” (1 Tim. 6:21). Do you see how again he commands not to even gather in the same place with such people? “Turning away,” he says, “disputes.” Consequently, there are contradictions that should not even be answered. Why? Because they remove you from faith, because they do not allow you to stand firm and unshakable. Therefore, we should not adhere to this, but to faith, which is an unshakable stone. Then neither the rivers nor the winds rushing towards us will be able to cause us any harm, because we have firmly stood on the stones. Thus, in this life, if we choose this true foundation, we will stand without again experiencing any calamity. He who has chosen this wealth will not suffer any calamity - he who has (chosen) this honor, this glory, this honor, this pleasure. All this is unshakable, does not experience any change; Meanwhile, here everything changes and is subject to transformation, everything is impermanent. What do you want? Glory? “It won’t work,” it is said, “His glory is behind him” (Ps. 49:18), and often even leaves him during his lifetime. These are not the perfections of virtue: they all constantly remain. Here, the one who has become famous, having achieved power, as soon as power passes to another, becomes a person of little importance and one of the subordinates. A rich man, when attacked by robbers, slanderers, and malefactors, suddenly becomes poor. But this is not the case with us. If a person who is abstinent is attentive to himself, then no one can take away his abstinence. No one will make the one who owns and governs himself a subordinate who has no power. And that the latter power is more significant than the first, you learn from comparison. In fact, tell me, what is the use of ruling all nations and being a slave to passions? What harm is it to not control a single person, and to be above the rule of passions? Here is freedom, here is power, here is kingdom and power! Another kind of power is slavery, even if someone surrounds himself with a thousand diadems. When many masters rule within him, namely, love of money, voluptuousness, anger and other passions, then what is the use of a diadem? The power of passions is great when even the crown itself is unable to free a person from this slavery. Just as when someone, being a king, fell into slavery among the barbarians, and they, wanting to show their power over him to a greater extent, would not remove from him either purple or diadem, but would force him in this form to carry water, and prepare food, and perform all other work, in order to thus bring more honor to themselves, and subject him to greater reproach - so in the present case, these passions treat us more cruelly than anyone else. barbarian. He who despises them will laugh at the barbarians; and whoever bows before them will suffer much more evil from them than from the barbarians. The barbarian, when he acquires great strength, tortures the body; and passions torment and torment the soul from everywhere. The barbarian, when he acquires great power, puts him to temporary death; and passions commit eternal death. Therefore, only those who have acquired inner freedom are free; likewise, a slave is only one who submits to senseless passions. No master, no matter how cruel he may be, gives such strict and cruel commands (as the passions). Shame your soul, they say, without need or reason; insult God; do not know nature itself; whether it be the father or the mother, put aside all shame and rise up against them. These are the commandments of the love of money. Sacrifice me, it says, not calves, but people. True, the prophet also says: “sacrifice people, for the calves have become scarce” 7 (Hos. 13:2); But the love of money does not command this, but: devour men, even though they are calves; sacrifice people; sacrifice those who have committed no injustice; kill the one who did you a favor. And again: be hostile to everyone, be the common enemy of everyone - both nature itself and God; collect gold - not for pleasure, but in order to protect it and experience greater torment through it. After all, it is impossible for a lover of money to be together and devoted to pleasure, because he is afraid that the gold will decrease, that the treasuries will become scarce. Stay awake, it says, suspect everyone - both slaves and friends; be someone else's guardian. If you see a poor man dying of hunger, do not give him anything, but, if possible, remove even his very skin. Break oaths, lie, swear, accuse, slander, and even if you had to go into the fire, suffer a thousand deaths, die of hunger, fight illness - do not refuse. Are these not the laws prescribed by the love of money? Be impudent and shameless, insolent and rude, criminal and dishonest, ungrateful, insensitive, unfriendly, irreconcilable, merciless, a parricide, more of a beast than a man. Surpass every serpent in severity, every wolf in rapacity; transcend the cruelty of animal nature. Even if you had to become as evil as a demon, do not refuse; know no good deed. Isn't that what it says? And we obey him! But God gives contrary commandments. Be friendly with everyone, be meek, loved by everyone, do not insult anyone in vain or without reason, honor your father, honor your mother, have a good opinion, be not a man, but an angel; do not say anything shameless or false, do not even think about such things; help those in need, do not bring trouble on yourself by robbery, do not be impudent or insolent. And there is no one who would listen to this! Therefore, is Gehenna unjustly threatened? Isn't it just what we deserve - fire? Is the worm undying? How long will we wander along the rapids? How long will we walk on thorns? How long will we pierce ourselves with nails and be grateful for it? We submit to cruel tormentors and turn away from the merciful Master, Who says nothing offensive, rude, cruel, or unreasonable, but commands everything that is necessary, profitable and brings us great benefit. Let us finally rise up, turn around, prepare ourselves, love God as we should, in order to be rewarded with the blessings promised to those who love Him 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, probably in Antioch around 397. Translation from the Septuagint. – I.N. You might be interested in: