To the words: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9)

1. When God created this beautiful world in the beginning, He created miracle after miracle, not enslaving to the law of nature, but arranging everything by the power of His power. Thus, “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Do you see order and consistency? First - the cover, and then the base. He, just as I said, did not submit to either the law of nature or the requirements of art, but (created) by the power of His power. The roof is built, but the foundation is not: everything is held together by the power of the Creator. Ask the heretic: tell me, how did the roof appear when there was no foundation yet? Show me the reason, explain the method. Are you silent and hiding behind faith? But isn’t such a trick on your part worthy of condemnation? When it comes to earthly and worldly things, do you refer to faith, but at the same time you try to try and find out everything when it comes to the matter of the divine and heavenly? "He created the heavens and the earth." He created the earth as a foundation, and in turn established it on the waters. Do you see what's at the base of the building? Above is earth, and below is water. Builders usually do the opposite. They lay the foundation of a building not before removing the water from the foundation site, but God established the very foundation on the waters, teaching you to marvel not at the strength of the foundation, but at the power of the Creator. Try to be more attentive to my words, through them I want to arouse you to wisdom. So, when God created this beautiful world, He created everything else in such a way that each of His creations consists of a single essence. If my words are unclear to you, I will make them clearer if you listen carefully. He created everything else in the aggregate from one essence - both what is above and what is below (because both this is the world and this is the world: after all, these are two worlds), but each of the phenomena of this and the other world is from one essence. Let me explain with an example: heavenly beings are all incorporeal, earthly beings are all corporeal, heavenly beings are spiritual, earthly beings are sensual, heavenly beings are invisible, earthly beings are visible. Everything on earth is corporeal: the sky, the sun, the moon, the earth, the sea, trees, plants, bulls, sheep, and horses; everything is visible, everything is sensual, everything is bodily, everything is accessible to touch and sight. Everything in heaven is invisible, spiritual: angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, powers, cherubim, seraphim. Neither this is invisible, nor this is not invisible; neither this is corporeal, nor this is incorporeal, but just as this is corporeal, so is it incorporeal: each is from one essence - both heavenly and earthly. And the first are from bodies, the second from incorporeal, some are corporeal, others are incorporeal. Man alone is created from a double essence, higher and lower, soul and body. One invisible and imaginable is the soul, while the body is sensual and visible. So, why are these two whole worlds created each from a single essence and there are neither above - bodies, nor below - incorporeal, and only man, by nature, is both corporeal and incorporeal? Find out the reason and be convinced of the wisdom of the Creator. Since these two worlds are different in nature, one is corporeal, the other is incorporeal, one is invisible and the other is visible, one is spiritual, heavenly, and the other is sensual, earthly, so that the difference in works does not inspire the idea of different creators and so that it cannot be said that one created the heavenly and the other earthly, God placed a dual animal on the borders of these two worlds - to announce the creation and earthly and heavenly. Man is a creature of two worlds: the one above has a soul, and the one below has a body. It connects these two worlds, serves as a bridge between them, having one Creator in common with them, who created both the heavenly and the earthly; like a virgin, his soul is contained in his body. And since its nature is twofold, its requirements are twofold. Watch the word carefully. There is a body and there is a soul. The Creator has ordained food for the body, and the word for the soul; the body feeds on bread, and the soul on teaching; the body has clothing - dresses, has clothes and the soul - virtue. “The queen stood at Your right hand in the gold of Ophir” (Ps. 44:10): Scripture is not talking about sensual clothing, of course, here, but about clothing with virtue, because “all the glory of the daughter of the King is within; her clothes are embroidered with gold” (Ps. 44:14). So what? Man is dual and his nature is dual, and his soul needs a mind that teaches, admonishes, overcomes passions, and corrects damage. This is a lesson for us: to take care not only of the sensual meal, but also of the spiritual. With this in mind, I have prepared a treat for you from the words of the Apostle Paul and invite you to take advantage of it. Here before us is this tent maker, teacher of the universe, terrible for demons, driving away illnesses, laboring both in heaven and on earth, entering paradise, ascending to the third heaven, inexhaustible and unstoppable in his art and in its application, shining with exploits. Here he is in front of us. I do not know the extent of his praise. I am a lover of its beauty; it is, of course, not physical, so as to be subject to decay, but spiritual, which will never fade. The body collapsed, and its image in its radiance is not inferior to the sun. The sun flows around the heavenly circle, and Paul flows around the earth instead; it brings sensual light; and he sheds light into souls; it moves away at night, and he shines at night. He took the kings and taught them piety; took women and made them more courageous than men; He took the young men and raised them more wisely than the elders; every creature, every age was corrected by the one who owned a shoemaker's knife and sewed leather; I will never forget about his craft. He is more beautiful than a bride in all her splendor, more glorious than kings, more generous than the rich, stronger than warriors, more reliable than walls; his tongue is a lyre, he is sweeter than honey, deeper than the sea, higher than the heavens, warmer than fire, sharper than iron; the vessel of divine grace, the church of God, the mouth of Christ, the lyre of the Spirit, the teacher of the catechumens, the leader of the faithful, successful everywhere, the wall that never falls, with his messages he conquered the universe and the (ancient) ark. 2. Indeed, just as Noah, having knocked together boards, built an ark, so Paul, with his writings, built a spiritual ark, and, moreover, better than the first. The dumb ones entered Noah's ark, dumb ones and remained dumb, but this one takes the dumb ones and regenerates them. For example: a wolf entered the ark and a wolf came out; a wolf enters the ark of Paul's writings, and a sheep comes out of it; the sorcerer enters and is corrected; The governor enters and becomes the best. That ark saved only Noah with two or three names, and this ark caught the universe in its net. It floats everywhere every day and its boards are not destroyed, because they are anointed with the Spirit, not with resin. The (new) Noah came out of the ark, but he continued to float; Paul died, but the ark lived; Every day he casts his net and is not drowned, because he has grace from the Pilot of the universe, which controls him. So this is what these messages are, these saving boards! Let us now finally curb our tongue and concentrate on explaining one reading, using the whole conversation for this: such is the abundance of the Scriptures. Sitting and listening to Paul's story about how he was caught up into the third heaven and heard ineffable verbs that cannot be conveyed to man, and then his words: “And so that I would not become exalted in the extraordinaryness of the revelations, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, an angel of Satan, to afflict me, so that I would not become exalted” (2 Cor. 12:7), I was afraid that one of the listeners, not knowing the meaning, would simply will be tempted, and decided that it was necessary to pay general attention to this expression and study it in detail. For those who do not know, the matter will be explained, and for those who know, it will be even more intelligible and understandable: those who know will remember, and those who do not know will learn. From many who do not know the real meaning of these words of the apostle, I heard that, in their opinion, this means that the apostle was handed over to the power of Satan. Is this possible? They say the apostle was betrayed to Satan so that he could strike him in the head: that is why the apostle suffered from a headache. What does this mean? Teacher of the universe, citizen of paradise, the ship of Christ, as I said, the lyre of the Spirit, the vessel of election, flowing around the universe, plucking out the thorns of sins, sowing the seeds of piety, laboring on land and sea, spending day and night in the depths of the sea, crowned in prison, triumphant in victory at the judgment seat, flowing through the entire universe, a vigilant ascetic and fighter, whose clothes drove away diseases, whose life put death to flight, was it he who was given over to the power of Satan? But his entire behavior testifies against such a proposal. Here is one of many examples. A fornicator appeared among the Corinthians. Did Paul hear about him and what did he say? “And you became proud, instead of weeping, so that the one who did such a thing would be removed from among you. But I, being absent in body, but present with you in spirit, have already decided, as if I were with you, to deliver him who has done this deed in your congregation in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, together with my spirit, by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 5:2-5). Now imagine the power with which Paul acted: he handed over the fornicator to Satan, so that Satan would defeat him, so that this punishment would serve him to cleanse his sin. That this is exactly what happened, the apostle writes about this in his second letter: “therefore I ask you to show him love, so that Satan does not harm us” (2 Cor. 2:8, 11). You betrayed Satan - and you say, “so that Satan does not harm us”? After all, Satan, he says, knows no limits. I betrayed when it was necessary, I will take away when I found it necessary; I handed over to Satan as an executioner, just so that our man would improve; Now let's take it back. If we leave him for any further time, Satan will harm both him and us through him, because Satan knows no limits. I gave him a sinner to correct him, but if we leave him any longer, Satan will kill him, just as he killed Judas. Therefore he says: “therefore I ask you to show him love, so that Satan does not harm us.” As it is beautifully said: now our brother should no longer belong to Satan, because he has been cleansed from fornication by repentance; Let us see that the enemy does not steal what belongs to us. When it belonged to Satan, I gave it to him to make what was his ours. Oh, the wisdom of Paul! With the help of the wolf he saved the sheep! With the help of a sea robber, he helped a shipwrecked sailor; with the assistance of the enemy, he returned the warrior to duty! Yes, I use the devil's scourge as a bitter medicine. But as soon as he corrects it, I take it away from him. Let him punish the fornicator so that he will feel what he has done. When his sin is cleansed, when the dirt is washed away and the wound is erased, then let his soul show itself steadfast. As for me, I will not leave the gold in the fire, I will take it out so that it does not melt completely. The business of the wise is to know when to stop how much gold to put into the fire and when to take it out. “So that Satan does not harm us, for we are not unaware of his devices” (2 Cor. 2:11). And whoever knows his intentions has the power to keep him within proper limits both in time and in relation to measure, snatching away his victim from him in due time and handing over the sinner to him in due measure for the destruction of the flesh. This beast is insatiable and will never be satisfied with our flesh; that is why it is said: “to the destruction of the flesh,” so as not to kill him completely, so as not to touch his soul. This is exactly what God says about Job: go, smite his flesh, but “only save his soul” (Job 2:6), - which indicates the limit of the devil. So this servant of God, imitating the Master, by the power of God put a prohibition on Satan, which he did not dare to violate. And, of course, he would have violated it if he could have defeated Pavel. The devil wanted to do something similar when Paul was in prison. When the prison shook and the chains of the prisoners fell apart, then the watchman, waking up, grabbed a sword to kill himself, at the suggestion of the devil. Taking advantage of the fact that the shepherd was inside and could not protect the sheep, the wolf wanted to catch it. But the shepherd, although he was in chains, overpowered him, restraining the watchman with the exclamation: “Do not do yourself any harm” (Acts 16:27–28). Oh, the philanthropy of the shepherd! Bound - and has mercy on the one who binds! He left his own and took care of his good! “do not do yourself any harm”! You see open doors, but I am a well-meaning inhabitant; the doors are open, but I stay inside; and until I save you, I will not leave here. This is why I came here, so that, by freeing myself from chains, I could free you from your sins. You tied it, I allow it. “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.” So what? The wolf stood ready to kill, pushing the prison guard towards the sword; the shepherd shouted; the wolf heard and left the sheep. And the shepherd took what was already ready to become the prey of the wolf. And the watchman says: “What must I do to be saved” (Acts 16:30)? Be baptized in the name of Christ. Oh, how easy baptism is! How unspeakably philanthropic! The prisoner saved the prison guard, the prison became a church! When, he says, should I be baptized in order to be saved? The dungeon does not hinder, the place does not hinder. Grace is not bound by place, not constrained by time. Let the prison also be a church. 3. The apostle of Christ never forgets his craft, but everywhere he catches him in his net: in court, at sea, on the islands, on land, in the desert, and throughout the entire universe. After all, an ordinary fisherman, if he does not see the sea, does not spread his nets. And this one was not a sensual, but a spiritual fisher, and therefore he caught on a ship, and on a mountain, and in springs, and on roads, and in meadows, and on rivers, and no place interfered with his craft. But no matter what I say, I always point to the same thing. Why exactly? And to the fact that he who had such power to command the devil, and show him boundaries and prescribe measures - how does he himself surrender to the devil? Have you not heard what Christ said: tread “on serpents and scorpions and on all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19)? What then do the words of the apostle mean: “a thorn was given to me in the flesh, an angel of Satan, to afflict me” (2 Cor. 12:7)? Misunderstanding of many passages of Holy Scripture for the most part occurs precisely because they do not know the idioms of the language and their interpretations. The expression “to do dirty tricks” (give a slap in the face) is referred to by some only as referring to the head, while “dirty tricks” generally mean bitterness and humiliation. The enemy depressed him, humiliated him: in this sense, “dirty deeds”, instead humiliated him; It's not just about the head. He himself uses this saying elsewhere in this exact sense. As a simple person, he also uses folk phrases to express his thoughts. “Even to this day we suffer hunger and thirst, and nakedness and blows, and we wander” (1 Cor. 4:11), and we are reproached by our enemies, we endure snares, hindrances, obstacles, insults, i.e. we are dejected, slandered, scourged, endured troubles, thrown into prison, condemned to death, expelled, given over to hunger. He called all this anger a dirty trick (a slap in the face) and humiliation. Be careful not to pass by without attention: this is where interpretation is required. So what? Let's say it more clearly. Stick to the interpretation I gave you, follow what I said. So, dirty tricks mean all kinds of oppression, grief, no matter how it is caused: whether by prison, or prosecution, hunger, or in any other way. Now, what do the words mean: “And so that I would not be exalted by the extraordinaryness of the revelations, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, the angel of Satan, to oppress me, so that I would not become exalted. Three times I prayed to the Lord to remove him from me. But the Lord said to me: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:7–9)? Notice who this angel of Satan is. He did not say: an angel of Satan was given to me, but: an angel of Satan. The Holy Scripture has a custom - this has already been said many times, but it must be said now; to say “the same is not painful for me, but edifying for you” (Phil. 3:1). After all, I teach, and I don’t engage in verbiage, I plant, and I don’t just pass by. I am not a passerby, but a sower. A passerby goes to make his way, and a sower digs up the soil, then scatters the seeds, then covers them with earth so that they are deeper, and so that the naked seed does not become prey for the birds of the air. So, what the farmer does for seeds, I do the same for thoughts. Just as crows are dangerous to seeds, so are demons, devils, and everyday worries dangerous to thoughts. That is why I am trying to embed my instructions deeper into your hearts, so that when you leave here, under the influence of everyday worries, you do not yield them to the devil. After all, what I leave open will, of course, be stolen; and what is buried deeper will be preserved. It's not a matter of time, but of will; You don't need rain, but you need diligence. Listen with diligence, carefully hide in your heart what will be said, and then no one will be able to steal it from you. So, what custom of Scripture did I have in mind above? The fact that it often gives names in accordance with character and calls a person not by the name that his parents initially gave him, but by the one that he himself deserves by his depravity or virtue. For example, it calls the one who shows shamelessness a dog, not as a proper name, but to designate his vice; it calls the predator a wolf, not by the name given by the parents, but by malice; and in general, it calls those who do things characteristic of a bad person by appropriate names. But so that you cannot reproach me for superficiality of judgment and to confirm these words of mine, I want to present you with witnesses. "The vision that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw of Judah and Jerusalem". Notice: “about Judah and Jerusalem... Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth, because the Lord says: I raised and raised up sons, and they rebelled against Me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's manger; but Israel does not know [Me], My people do not understand. Alas, a sinful people” (Isa. 1:1–4). To whom is the Lord speaking this? To the Jews. The people are full of sin. He talks about their iniquities, sins, incorrigibility, cruelty, and vindictiveness. First he said: “about Judea and Jerusalem,” and below he says: “Hear the word of the Lord, princes of Sodom; Hear the law of our God, O people of Gomorrah! Why do I need your multitude of sacrifices? says the Lord. I am satisfied with the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle, and I do not want the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. Bear no more vain gifts: incense is disgusting to Me... Your new moons and your holidays My soul hates” (Is. 1:10–11, 13–14). What Sabbaths does He hate? What new moons? What victims? What bulls? What kind of lambs? The Sodomites did not know any of this: the inhabitants of Sodom lived before Moses. The Sodomites lived before Abraham, they lived in the time of Lot. The Sodomites perished; it is said about them that they were destroyed by fire. First he said: “About Judea and Jerusalem,” and then he moved on to the Sodomites, and thereby pronounced condemnation. To whom are these words addressed? Follow his speech and the meaning of his words will be clear to you; and if you understand, you will find consistency. He does not speak to the Sodomites, but to the Jews, only calling them Sodomites. Since they inherited the rights of the Sodomites, the name of those is applied to them. The Sodomites are those who imitate their deeds. Similarly, in another case it is said: “dogs that cannot bark” (Is. 56:10), not because they were dogs by nature, but because they had acquired their disposition. John - an inhabitant of the desert, an exalted soul, an indomitable spirit, walking on the earth and touching the firmament, the fruit of the barren, the resolution of the father's dumbness, the voice of the voiceless, crying in the desert - in the womb (the womb was a desert, because it was barren), a dual messenger, looking at children, trampling on everything that is transitory, came to the Jews and said to them: “serpents, generation vipers” (Matthew 3:7, 23:33), not because they were snakes by nature, but because they were cunning at heart. Again another prophet: “these are fattened horses: each of them neighs at the other’s wife” (Jer. 5:8). Are these words addressed to horses? Of course not; but to people who are intemperate and dissolute. Christ himself told the Jews: “Your father is the devil” (John 8:44). So, they were children of the devil and had the nature of the devil? Of course not; they only imitated his character and thus earned his name. In explanation he adds: “Your father is the devil; and you want to do the lusts of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning." So, stick to the rules that dogs (called in Scripture) are shameless, wolves are predators, snakes are treacherous, asps are deceptive, donkeys are foolish, horses that love women are incontinent and dissolute, ravens are unclean, sodomites are imitators of their deeds and morals. Of course, it is not the very nature of their evil, but their character is corrupted. Note carefully: names are given in accordance with character, names are derived from location. And this is not only in Holy Scripture, but also in everyday use. When we see a meek person, we say: this is a sheep; when meeting a shameless person, we say: this is not a person, but a dog; when we see deceit, we say: this person is a snake. You see, folk custom follows the same rule. If we see a person full of many vices, we say: this is the devil, not because he is really a devil, and not because he has a common nature with the devil, but in accordance with his direction, by virtue of which he imitates the devil in his deeds, as far as is possible for man. So, names from characters. Therefore, when you hear the words of Paul: “I have been given a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan,” do not mean the devil, but those who work for the devil - Greeks, Jews, demons, as for example then Alexander Kovacs was such a demon-angel of Satan for him: “Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm” (2 Tim. 4:14). “Angel of Satan” is anyone who does the works of the devil. Such were those who threw him into prison, such were those who scourged him. So, people for him are Satan’s angels, since they do the works of the devil, harm the Gospel, hinder the preaching, scourge him, persecute him. Notice that now all the difficulty is removed. 4. Observe that he who says this also suffered: and Paul was exposed to human things. After Christ ascended, He entrusted both His preaching and His work to the apostles. After all, Christ came to us as a mediator from the Father, sent to establish peace. After all, people had a war against God and He sent a messenger - not a slave, but a Son. Oh, the care of the Messenger! Oh, the philanthropy of the Sender! When you hear about the Sender and the Sent, keep in mind not the change of place, but the condescension of the economy, because although He was with us, He was also with the Father. So Paul says: “God himself exhorts through us; In the name of Christ we ask: be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). Are you a messenger instead of Christ? Yes. Where is the Messenger himself? Left. Where did you go? To the Father. For what? What an amazing thing! In human relations, when one nation sends an embassy to another, the envoy enjoys immunity under international law; if anything happens to him, a great war breaks out between the nations. With God it is the other way around. A Messenger came from the Father to the people and was killed; It was then that peace came to pass. But the ambassadors, coming, bring gifts and receive gifts. What then? What gift did He bring me? An extraordinary gift! Just as the Messenger was extraordinary, so was the gift. He brought His blood as a gift, He brought His body as a gift to me. And what did He take as a gift from me? I believe. And who gave me her grace? I believed, He gave grace, the enmity was resolved. Do you see how easily all this happened? Do you see the speed of reconciliation? An envoy, when he comes to any state, does not enter into conversations in the market or with any of the poor, but goes straight to the king. And this Messenger came and immediately entered into a conversation with a harlot, a robber, a sorcerer, and a publican. This is His love for mankind! Of course, He did not come to this or that, but to our whole race, and He came clothed in my clothes; if He had come undisguised and openly, like God, then He would have scared away the prey; That is why He came to man as a man. And when he came, he took our firstborn, calling the apostles, and entrusted them with an embassy: be My messengers. Will we be able to be them? “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). You were crucified, but what awaits us? “Receive the Holy Spirit” - and: “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). With you, since I myself rule the embassy: after all, I do not leave you. After this, He ascended and entrusted them with an embassy. And there is no reason to be surprised at this, if even the Tsar-Father himself asks. “God himself exhorts through us; We ask in the name of Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20). The offended one himself asks. About what? "Make your peace with God". Oh, humanity! Oh, unspeakable goodness! So when He ascended, He entrusted His ministry to the apostles. And the state of affairs was difficult, the universe was full of thorns, wickedness reigned, evil pursued, altars burned, fat desecrated, blood flowed, nature was perverted, the pains of birth were despised, laws and customs were destroyed, they sacrificed their daughters and sons, and all other festivals; a chorus of rhetoricians, assemblies of philosophers, orgies of demons, the power of the devil, and sophisticated swords, rapids everywhere, cliffs everywhere, the rule of habit, the sorrows of fathers, wickedness and dissipation of children, the corrupt laws of kings, slaves and masters, rulers and private people, rich and poor - all intertwined in wickedness and had many tricks at their disposal. There were twelve apostles in total, or rather eleven, because one of them became the prey of the enemy. And so Paul - who did not have the power of speech, who did not have at his disposal neither wealth, nor a sophisticated language, nor a great fatherland, nor the nobility of the family, nor the strength of the body, naked, lonely, mute than a fish, the unknown of the unknown, the simpleton, the unlearned - went around the universe, scattering the seeds of piety everywhere, and everyone opposed him: one attacked and scourged, another grabbed and dragged into prison, the third he grabbed and threw into the frying pan, others reviled, and so countless enemies. “Without are attacks, within are fears” (2 Cor. 7:5). “Servants of Christ? (I say in madness): I am more. I was much more in labor, immensely wounded, more in prison, and many times near death. Five times the Jews gave me forty stripes minus one; three times I was beaten with sticks, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the depths of the sea; I have been on journeys many times, in dangers on rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from fellow tribesmen, in dangers from pagans, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the desert, in dangers at sea, in dangers among false brothers, in labor and exhaustion, often in vigils, in hunger and thirst, often in fasting, in cold and nakedness. In addition to extraneous adventures, I have a daily gathering of people, taking care of all the churches. Who is exhausted, with whom would I not be exhausted? Who is tempted, for whom would I not be enflamed” (2 Cor. 11:23–29)? The brother fell, he grieved; the enemy plotted, he suffered. “You know that all those in Asia have forsaken me” (2 Tim. 1:15). Elsewhere: “My little children, for whom I am again in birth pangs, until Christ is formed in you” (Gal. 4:19). Where did he get the strength to endure disasters, both external and internal, scourges, sorrows, drowning, troubles, prison, judgment, frying pans, intrigues? To resist the crowd, kings, family, strangers, malicious false brethren, exhausted brethren, the mistrust of strangers, the bitterness of loved ones? How did his body withstand all this? How did your soul bear it? He wore bonds, lived in prison, wrote messages; he was expelled from everywhere where he was subjected to slander. Here are the angels of Satan, there is the angel of Satan, many are the angels of Satan, some (dragging) to judgment, others to prison. He did not have enough strength - he was dying, his soul was exhausted. He did not see dogs - and suffered bites, was subjected to machinations from everywhere. He falls to God and says to Him: I ask You, let me rest a little. How will I bear all this? The angel of Satan attacks me, enemies, conspirators, pagans, Jews, false brothers, weak brothers. I am suffering from birth pangs and cannot give birth. But others plot evil: today in prison, tomorrow in the sea, then in the abyss, then in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, in the brazier, in the oven, on the road. How will I bear all this? I have one soul, I have one body. I ask You: deliver me so that I don’t have to endure dirty tricks. God did not answer him. He fell to Him a second time: deliver me, I ask You, let me rest a little. I am a man, and one at that, and You have entrusted me with the universe; I am alone, and everyone is throwing arrows at me from everywhere. So, one time he begged God: I ask You, deliver me from dirty tricks; but God did not answer him. He approached Him a second time, with the same request, and already felt nauseated, like a pankratiast fighter who is bitten and hit on the head by many opponents. God did not answer his second request either. I approached Him for the third time, and then I finally heard an answer from him. Why such a delay? So that you learn not to back down after the first (request), so that you learn, if you ask for something useless and receive the opposite, not to be upset. You often ask for what you consider useful, when it is not useful. God pays attention not to your tears, but to misfortune. Likewise, a child often asks his mother for bread, but if (he asks) for something harmful, which he should not ask for, then the mother does not give it to him, not paying attention to his sadness, but only to the benefit. Likewise, a person suffering from fever constantly pesters the doctor to give him a cold one, but the doctor does not give it to him, because he does not pay attention to his desire, which is harmful in his present situation, but beneficial for his health in the future. Likewise, Paul did not know how to ask for useful things. What kind of condescension do we deserve if the glorious apostle in despair approached God and said to him: give me a little rest, deliver me from disasters, give me some weakness, I am alone, and you have entrusted me with the universe. Once he fell to God and He did not answer him; he asked again, and finally for the third time he began to ask: “I prayed to the Lord three times about this” (2 Cor. 12:8). About what? “To remove” from me the angel of Satan - my opponents. For what? So that I can preach without hindrance, so that I have no slanderers and enemies, so that there are no scourges, no troubles, no prisons, no judgment, no nakedness. With this I come to You, I ask for this. I am exhausted, exhausted, suffering, stricken from everywhere. So, what does God tell him, tell me? God did not relent to his request, did not give him what he asked, but said: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). “My grace is sufficient for you.” Do you pay attention to what you endure, but not what you do? What your enemies do against you, you pay attention to, but what I do for you, you don’t pay attention to? They scourge you, but I give grace. Were you in prison or not? – I was, and I asked for your help. – Did you see Satan’s angel there or not? – I saw him attacking me. – Did he tie you up or not? What did I do then? Did I shake the walls? Didn't you open the door? Didn't you resolve the bonds? Didn't the jailer bring you to you as a prisoner? How did Satan's angel harm you? On the contrary, has My grace not benefited you? Has not this miracle made you more glorious? “My grace is sufficient for you.” Do you want both? Don't you want whips? How do you look for miracles? You don’t want troubles, but are you looking for signs? When you are scourged, you see, but when you raise the dead, you don’t see? When your clothes were torn, did you see, but when your word put illness to flight, did you not see? When you appeared bound before the court, you saw this, and when Festus said to you: “You are not convincing me to become a Christian” (Acts 26:28) 1 - did you not notice this? You have received a great weapon - the power of the Spirit, defeating intrigues, glorifying you. What else do you want? So that you don't suffer? But in what way would My strength be revealed? It would have been discovered, but not in the same way as now. How? Paul says with sorrow: Woe is me! I am the messenger of the kingdom, a disciple of Christ, I proclaim immortal deeds, and I am scourged, insulted, and brought to judgment! But do not be disheartened by this, it makes you more glorious. If you had not tolerated this, you would not have become so famous. You were in prison. If you weren’t tied up, you would simply come out, they would hold you and let you go; and now - you were tied up and she allowed you to be tied up. Your feet were driven into stocks, and grace shook the walls. I say this so that no one will be embarrassed by the intrigues against us. We say this not to equate ourselves with Paul (we are not so crazy), but to show that God condemns the humble to the same thing. “My grace is sufficient for you.” We are not deprived of it either. Where is the grace? The praise is all the greater (since) thousands of enemies did not succeed in their machinations. Even more zealots armed themselves, but they did not succeed in separating me from you. Where is the grace? They even raised up the Jews against me. “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Never shy away from sorrow; it is inherited along with the Gospel. “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Is it not you who scourge and regenerate those who scourge? Is it not you who endure intrigues and admonish those who plot evil? “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” So, do you want (to hear) what Paul heard? Will this be enough for you? In this case, I wish to be scourged, to endure dishonor and insults. “Therefore I am content with weaknesses, with insults, with needs, with persecutions” (2 Cor. 12:10). O obedient slave! He fell to God, wanting to get rid of sorrows, and when he learned that the Lord not only did not want, but also wanted the opposite, he said: you want me to endure sorrows, and I want this and thank you for it. I didn’t just say – I want it, but – I like it, I passionately desire to endure scourging, expulsion, oppression. “Therefore I am content in weaknesses, in insults, in needs, in persecutions, in oppressions.” For what? “So that the power of Christ may dwell in me” (2 Cor. 12:9), to Him be glory forever and ever. Amen. It was not Festus, but King Agrippa who said these words. Creations attributed to St. John Chrysostom and classified in the Minya edition as Spuria. You might be interested in: