Беседа 24

Hebrews 11:13–16. All these died in faith, not receiving the promises, but only saw them from afar, and rejoiced, and said about themselves that they were strangers and strangers on earth; for those who say so show that they are looking for the fatherland. And if they had in their thoughts the fatherland from which they came, they would have time to return; but they strove for the best, that is, for the heavenly; therefore God is not ashamed of them, calling Himself their God: for He has prepared for them a city. 1. The first virtue, and the universal virtue, is to be a stranger and a stranger in this world and have nothing to do with the things here, but to be in such an attitude towards them as alien to us - like those blessed disciples of whom (the apostle) says: “they wandered about in mantles and goatskins, enduring shortcomings, sorrows, and bitterness; those of whom the whole world was not worthy” (Heb. 11:37–38). They called themselves strangers, and Paul said something even more about himself: he not only called himself a stranger, but said that he was dead to the world and the world was dead to him: “to me,” he says, “the world is crucified, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14). And we behave like (local) citizens, and arrange all our affairs in life like living citizens. What the righteous were to the world, i.e. strangers and dead, then we are for heaven; and what were they for heaven, i.e. living citizens, then we are for peace. That is why we are dead because we have deviated from the true life and chosen a temporary one; This is why we anger God because we do not want to lag behind earthly blessings, while heavenly bliss is destined for us, but, like worms, we crawl from one land to another, and from this again we return to that, and in general we do not at all want to come to our senses and lag behind human affairs, but, as if plunged into a deep sleep or stupefied from intoxication, we are carried away by dreams. Just as people indulge in sweet sleep, not only at night, but also at the onset of morning and even daylight, lie in bed and are not ashamed to indulge in such pleasure, turning the time of work and activity into time of sleep and laziness, so we, with the approach of day, after the night has passed, or better to say, already after the day has come - and it is said: do “while it is day” (John 9:4), - we do the things characteristic of the night, we sleep, we dream, we enjoy dreams. Our eyes closed – both mental and physical; We make empty speeches, we talk nonsense. We would not feel if someone inflicted a deep wound on us, stole all our property and set fire to the house itself; or better to say, we don’t even expect others to do this, but we do it ourselves, we hurt and amaze ourselves every day, we are shameless, we know no decency, no honor, and we neither hide our shameful deeds nor allow others to do this, but with complete shamelessness we make ourselves a laughing stock and the subject of countless insults for all who see and pass by. Don’t you know that vicious people themselves laugh at their own kind and condemn them? God has placed in us a judgment seat that is incorruptible and never changes, even if we have fallen into the depths of evil; That’s why vicious people themselves condemn themselves, and if someone calls them what they really are, they are ashamed, angry, and offended. So, if not in deed, then in words, they condemn their actions in conscience, or better, condemn them in deed. After all, if they secretly and secretly carry out their deeds, then this gives clear evidence of the opinion that they have about these deeds. Evil is so obvious that everyone condemns it, even those who commit it; and virtue is such that even those who do not follow it are surprised at it. The fornicator praises chastity, the covetous condemns injustice, the irritable is surprised at gentleness and condemns cowardice, and the depraved - debauchery. Why, you say, do they do this themselves? Out of extreme negligence, and not because they considered it good; otherwise they would not be ashamed of their deeds and abandon them when someone else denounces them. Many, having been convicted, could not bear the shame and killed themselves: such is the testimony within us of what is good and decent; So good deeds are brighter than the sun, and those opposite to them are the most vile! 2. The saints were strangers and strangers. How and in what way? Where does Abraham admit that he is a stranger and a stranger? Maybe he admitted it too; and that David recognized himself as such is certain. Listen to what he himself says: “I am a stranger with You and a stranger, like all my fathers” (Ps. 39:13). Those who lived in tents and purchased burial places for money were obviously such wanderers that they did not even have where to bury their dead. So what? Did they not call themselves strangers in relation to only one land of Palestine? No, in relation to the whole universe - and this is fair: they did not see anything in it that they wanted, but everything was strange and alien to them. They wanted to practice virtue, but here there were many vices, and therefore everything here was alien to them; they had not a single friend, not a single close person, except for a few. How were they strangers? They did not care about the local people and proved this not with words, but with their deeds. How and in what way? (God) said to Abraham: leave your imaginary fatherland and go to a foreign land (Gen. 12:1) - and he did not stay there out of love for his loved ones, but without regret he left, as if it were a foreign land. (God) said to him: offer (sacrifice) your son (Gen. 22:2), - and he offered him as if he had no son at all, he brought him as if he were not endowed with human nature. He considered his property to be common with all those who came, and did not value it; he gave the first place to others, was exposed to dangers, suffered countless disasters; did not build magnificent houses, did not live in luxury, did not care about clothes or anything else that happens in this world; on the contrary, he lived the life of a high city, was hospitable, brotherly, merciful, long-suffering, despised property, real glory and everything else. So was his son. When they persecuted him and attacked him, he did not resist and yielded, like one who was in a stranger’s land - after all, strangers, no matter what they are subjected to, endure everything, since they are not in their fatherland. And he endured the deprivation of his wife like a wanderer; he lived a higher life, maintaining chastity and all abstinence; Having given birth to a son, he had no communication with his wife; and he married her already when the flower of his youth had passed, showing that he did this not out of passion, but to serve the fulfillment of God’s promise. And Jacob? Was he not looking for only bread and clothing, such needs as are characteristic of true wanderers who have come to extreme poverty? Being persecuted, did he not yield, like a stranger? Didn't work for hire? Didn’t you suffer countless disasters while traveling everywhere like a wanderer? By enduring all this, they showed that they were looking for another fatherland. Oh, what a difference! Every day they languished with the desire to free themselves from here and return to their fatherland; and we are the opposite. When some kind of feverish illness occurs, then we, leaving everything, like little children, cry and fear death - and we rightly endure this, because we do not live here like strangers, and do not rush there, like to the fatherland, but go as if to execution. That is why we grieve because we do not use things as they should, but have distorted the order of things; That’s why we suffer when we should rejoice; That’s why we tremble, like some murderers and robbers, when they have to appear in court and when they remember all their deeds, and that’s why they fear and tremble. Those men were not like that, but they themselves hurried there; and Paul even sighed about how, as he himself says: “we, being in this tent, groan under a burden” (2 Cor. 5:4). Such was Abraham and those like him; they were, says (the apostle), strangers for the whole universe and were looking for a fatherland. Which one? Isn't it the one that was left? No; what prevented them if they wanted to return there and be its citizens? They were looking for the heavenly fatherland. So they were in a hurry to leave here and so pleased God; therefore God himself is not ashamed to be called their God. Oh, what an honor! He wanted to be called their God. But what, you say, is important in the fact that He is not ashamed to be called their God, when He is called the God of earth and the God of heaven? This is important, truly important, and a sign of great bliss. Why? Because He is called the God of heaven and earth as well as the God of the Gentiles; He is the God of heaven and earth, as their Creator and Organizer; and He is not called (God) of those saints in this sense, but as their close friend. Let me explain this to you with an example. For example: in large houses, when some of the chief servants are distinguished from others and are very distinguished, they manage everything and have great boldness before the masters, then the master is called by their name; and many are called that. But what am I saying? Just as He could be called the God not of the pagans, but of the universe, so He could also be called the God of Abraham. You don't know what honor there is in this because we don't have it. Now God is called the Lord of all Christians, although this is beyond our dignity; if He is called the God of one man, then think how much greatness there is in this! The God of the universe is not ashamed to be called the God of three people - and rightly so, because the saints are equal not only to this world, but also to their countless multitudes: “Better is one righteous man than a thousand sinners” (Sir. 16:3). So it is obvious that they called themselves strangers in this sense. Let us even assume that they called themselves strangers in a foreign land: then what does David say? Wasn’t he a king, wasn’t he a prophet? Didn’t he live in his own country? Why does he say: “I am a stranger and a stranger among You”? How – “foreigner”? “Like,” he says, “all my fathers.” Do you see that they too were aliens? We, he says, now have a fatherland, but not a true fatherland. How – “alien”? Earth; therefore they too were aliens of the earth. As they are, so is he, and as is he, so are they. 3. Let us also be strangers, at least for now, so that God will not be ashamed to be called our God. But it would be a shame for Him if He were called the God of wicked people; He himself is ashamed of such people, and on the contrary considers it an honor for himself to be the God of good, honest people who practice virtue. And we refuse to be called masters of our bad slaves and reject them; When someone comes and says to us: So-and-so has done a lot of bad things, isn’t he your servant? - then we immediately say: no, in order to ward off shame, because there is a relationship between slave and master, and dishonor passes from the first to the last; much more is God (ashamed). But those men were so glorious, they had so much boldness (before God) that He not only was not ashamed to be called them (God), but he himself said: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (Ex. 3:6). Let us, beloved, be strangers too, so that God will not be ashamed of us, so that he will not be ashamed and betray us to hell. These were the ones who said: “Lord! God! Have we not prophesied in Your name? and was it not in Your name that they cast out demons? and didn’t they do many miracles in Your name?” (Matthew 7:22). But Christ, look what he says to them: “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23), as the masters of bad servants who resort to them would do in order to ward off shame from themselves. I don’t know you, He says. But how do You punish those you don’t know? “I don’t know,” He says in a different sense, i.e. I reject you, I refuse you. Let us not hear this menacing and terrible saying! If those who cast out demons and prophesied were rejected because they led lives that did not correspond to their words, then how much more so are we? But how, you say, can those who prophesied, performed miracles and cast out demons be rejected? They could subsequently change and become vicious; therefore, their previous virtues did not bring them any benefit. It is necessary to have not only a glorious beginning, but an even more glorious end. In fact, tell me, isn’t the speaker trying to make the conclusion of his speech brilliant in order to get away with applause? Isn't the city ruler more brilliant at the end of his reign? A warrior, if he does not show a brilliant end and is not a winner to the end, but, having defeated everyone, is the last to be defeated, will he not lose the benefit of all his labors? A helmsman who has sailed a whole sea, but crashes a ship at the pier, does not he lose all his previous labor? And the doctor? If, having saved the patient from his illness, he upsets him when he could have completely restored him, then doesn’t he spoil the whole thing? This is what happens with virtue: whoever does not attach a proper and appropriate end to its beginning ruins everything and perishes. Such are those who at first entered the field cheerfully and proudly, and then lost heart and became weak; That’s why they lost their reward and were not recognized by the Lord. Let those of us who are devoted to the love of money hear this. It is the greatest lawlessness: “for the root of all evil,” says (the apostle), “is the love of money” (1 Tim. 6:10). Let those of us who want to increase their fortune hear, let them hear and leave behind covetousness, so as not to hear what those (those rejected by the Lord) heard. Let us listen now and observe this, so as not to hear then; Let us listen now with fear, lest we then hear as punishment: “I never knew you; Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity” - even then (I did not know you) when you prophesied and cast out demons. One might think that these words express something else, namely, that even then they led a vicious life, since at first grace acted through unworthy people. If she acted even through Balaam, then even more so she could act through the unworthy, for those who would benefit from it. If miracles and signs could not deliver from punishment, then much more, even if someone received holy orders, even if he achieved the highest honor, even if grace acted at his ordination and in everything else, for the benefit of those in need of primates, such a one will hear: “I never knew” you, even when grace acted in you. Oh, what purity of life is required there! How strong she alone is to lead us into the kingdom of heaven. How without it a person perishes, even though he could show countless signs and wonders! Nothing is as pleasing to God as a virtuous life: “If you love Me,” says (the Lord), “he didn’t say: do miracles, but what? – “Keep My commandments” (John 14:15); and again: “You are My friends,” not when you cast out demons, but “If you keep My commandments” (John 15:10, 14). The first is a gift from God; and the latter is both a gift from God and at the same time a matter of our diligence. Let us try to become friends of God, and not remain His enemies. We constantly say this, we constantly convince ourselves and you of this, and yet there is no success. That is why I am afraid, and I would like to remain silent, so as not to increase the danger for you, since to hear often and not do so means to offend the Lord. But I also fear another danger from silence for myself, if I, placed in the service of the word, began to remain silent. What do you say we should do to be saved? Let us begin to practice virtues while we have time. Let us divide virtues for ourselves, as farmers divide agriculture; in one month we will overcome in ourselves the tendency to slander, insolence, and unjust anger, let us make it a law for ourselves and say: now we will correct this; in another month we will learn patience; in the third - another virtue, and, having acquired skill in it, we will move on to a new one, just as in learning we, while maintaining the old, acquire a new one. After that, we will move on to contempt for wealth, and, firstly, we will keep our hands from covetousness, and then, give alms; Let's not mix everything together - with the same hands we both kidnap and give alms. Then let's move on to another virtue, and from that to another. “Likewise, foul language,” says (the apostle), “and idle talk and ridicule are not becoming for you” (Eph. 5:4). Let us do this too. There is no cost, no labor, no effort required. All you have to do is want it, and everything will be done. For this you do not need to undertake a long journey, or swim across a boundless sea, but just try, show diligence and put a bridle on your tongue against inappropriate insults. Let us purge from our souls anger, vicious lusts, the tendency to sensual pleasures and luxury, the love of money, the habit of swearing and perjury. If we cultivate ourselves in this way, first plucking out the thorns and then planting the heavenly seed, we can receive the promised benefits. The Worker will come and gather us into the granary, and then we will receive all the blessings that may we all be worthy of, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, power, honor and worship, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: