Слово в неделю Православия, сказанное в Казанском С.-Петербургском соборе в 1844 году.

“As we celebrate the day of Orthodoxy, Orthodox people will especially glorify the Author of all good things, God, Who is blessed forever” (From the sequence of the week of Orthodoxy). We all know, brothers, from our own experience that very often the blessings that we constantly use do not seem like blessings to us at all, or, at least, they lose a lot of value in our eyes. Ah, isn’t this extremely true in relation to our priceless treasure - the Orthodox faith of Christ?... Now St. The Church, celebrating the triumph of its Orthodoxy, calls on us to thank the Author of all blessings for this priceless treasure. Here is an excellent opportunity for us to refresh our minds on the most important truth, which is most necessary for us to remember, and which, unfortunately, we so often forget. And when, if not on the triumph of Orthodoxy, to solemnly proclaim from this sacred place for all the Orthodox to hear, that our first and highest good on earth is, indisputably, our holy, fatherly, Orthodox faith?!.. The first and because we are people; and because we are sons of Russia. A person can be looked at from two sides: as a being, superior to all on earth by nature, and as a being, most unfortunate of all on earth due to his fall. And the correct view of a person must certainly embrace him from both these sides. Well, what good can be called the first for man, as a being, the most excellent of all earthly creatures? In this regard, every good for him is good only because it satisfies one or another need of his nature. Consequently, the first good in the strict sense can only be for us that which would satisfy the highest needs of our being. What are these needs? Without a doubt, not bodily needs: for the lower animals also have these needs; This means that sensual benefits for people are not of great value. Without a doubt, not spiritual needs, which are also common to us with all animals, although with us they are to a higher degree than with them; This means that spiritual goods - knowledge, art and the like - for us as people are still not the highest goods. No, we have needs, or more justly, there is one spiritual need, which no lower animal has, which belongs to us in fact, as people exalted above all earthly creatures, and is common to us with incorporeal, most perfect spirits. This is the need for mysterious communication and unity with God himself (John 17:21), in whose image we were created; the need for life in God, by God and for God (Rom. 6:10), whose grace is as necessary for our spirit as air and food for the body, knowledge and law for the soul. There cannot even be a higher need than this, not only in us, but in created beings in general. And this highest need of our nature is completely satisfied by the God-given faith of Christ: here the all-good Lover of Mankind himself calls us into grace-filled unity with Himself, he himself shows us all the necessary means for this, he himself, together with the heavenly Father, comes to us and creates an abode in us for Himself (John 14:23), so that a Christian is a true believer and “abides in love”, in truth, “abides in God, and God abides in him” (John 4:16), “no one lives himself, but Christ lives in him” (Gal. 2:20). This highest need of ours is satisfied only by it alone - the Orthodox faith of Christ, namely, the faith that was brought to earth by the Son of God, the true Savior of men, preached at the beginning of His St. the Apostles, and since then has been observed and preached, in all its purity, by His Orthodox Church: “I am the way and the truth and the life: no one will come to the Father but by Me” (John 14:6), - Christ Our Lord Himself testified; “Without Me you cannot do anything; If anyone does not abide in Me, he will be cast out” (John 15:5-6). And where the truth of Christ has been changed and disfigured by human errors, is it possible to assert without contradiction that even there the true faith of Christ, when Christ is one, the truth is also one, and there can be no communication between truth and error?... It follows that the Orthodox faith for us, as people, is not only the first and highest good, but also the only good. It alone elevates us to the level of people and gives us the opportunity to live a truly human life; only she alone truly distinguishes us from lower animals, and likens us to the most perfect spirits; She alone makes us children of God, partakers of the Divine nature. If we now look at ourselves as beings who are the most unfortunate of all on earth due to their fall into sin, we will again see that in this respect not only our first, but even our only good is the same Orthodox faith of Christ. For what are these misfortunes of ours? The fact is that our sins have endlessly angered our Creator and are driving us away from Him; in that they have deeply damaged and are constantly damaging more and more all the forces of our being; that they have deprived us of eternal bliss and are preparing eternal destruction for us; in short: all our misfortunes are in our sins themselves, and everything else necessarily follows from them. Who among us does not know, brethren, that only the faith of Christ, the Orthodox faith, frees us from these misfortunes and can free us? In her holiest sacraments she cleanses us from all sins; and by purifying, she at the same time and thereby reconciles us with God and makes us His sons; regenerates, renews and sanctifies our entire nature, imparts to us all the grace-filled gifts for our subsequent success in piety, for our gradual ascent from strength to strength, from glory to glory. Eternal torment - a sample of sin - is then no longer for us if we remain true Christians until our very death; no, - heavenly thrones, heavenly crowns, eternal glory and bliss with Christ: then this is our destiny! Oh, merciful God! Not only do You, by Your infinite grace, free us from the greatest disasters, pluck us from the very abyss of hell, You also give us such blessings, place us at such a height that we would not even dare to think about.... The faith of Christ is so priceless for us - sinners! And let us not forget that “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” except the name of Jesus Christ (Acts. 4, 12); there is, therefore, no other path to salvation except the true, undamaged faith of Christ, that is, the Orthodox faith; There is, therefore, no other guide to salvation except the true Church of Christ, i.e., the Orthodox Church. As sons of Russia, we, without a doubt, should consider for ourselves the first benefit that, on the one hand, has hitherto had the most beneficial influence on the fate of our fatherland, and on which, on the other hand, its future well-being may most of all depend. But in this and other respects, no matter how much we reflect, in all fairness, we must attribute this important advantage to the Orthodox faith of Christ, which, according to the words of the Apostle, “having” in itself for people “the promise of the life to come,” at the same time “has” for us “the promise of the life of the present” (1 Tim. 4:8). In fact, how many good deeds have already been done - and what good deeds has the Orthodox faith performed for us? Was it not she who at the beginning changed our wild, pagan customs, softened our morals, and, by its very nature, transforming the soul, sanctifying the heart and ennobling the entire inner being of man, naturally transformed little by little our very outer life? This one benefit is already the greatest benefit! Didn’t she bring with her the first rays of enlightenment to us, and preserved this beneficent light for our ancestors in the midst of all the storms and political unrest? Wasn’t she the first to significantly form and preserve for us our ancient native word; elevated and improved the spirit of our domestic laws? Three more blessings, and the greatest blessings! But what is most important - didn’t the Orthodox faith sow, root and grow in all the sons of Russia this boundless reverence and love for their crowned ones, as God’s anointed ones, this complete, unconditional obedience to them, which at all times has been the main source of our happiness? Hasn’t the Orthodox faith also always taught our good princes and most pious monarchs to love their subjects as brothers in Christ, to spare nothing for them, to work for their good to the point of self-sacrifice, and thus to pour out a new inexhaustible source of happiness on our dear homeland?... There were, brothers, we all know this, there were once terrible times for our homeland when, Apparently, there was no longer any hope for salvation left for her: oh, who would have saved her in those moments if not for the Orthodox faith? It was she who kindled in our pious shepherds an uncontrollable zeal to boldly call on all Orthodox Christians to defend the fatherland; It was then that she tamed our internal strife, extinguished secret sedition, suppressed petty calculations of pride and inspired all classes with one noble thought - to sacrifice property and life to the fatherland. And our Christ-loving warriors appeared invincible, fighting for Holy Rus', fighting for the Orthodox faith! But we would not have enough time or strength to calculate in detail everything that our saint did for the good of our homeland. faith: “having ears to hear” will “hear” and understand even from the little that is said. Based on the past, it is easy for us to judge the future. The Faith of Christ is always the same, unchangeable in its essence, unchangeable in its actions on the human race. Consequently, both now and henceforth, she will forever remain our first benefactor, if only we remain faithful to her. Centuries-old experiences have proven that nothing nourishes so much true love among peoples for the fatherland and for their relatives as the Christian faith, which commands to “lay down” one’s very “soul for one’s friends” (John 15:13); nothing nourishes so much perfect devotion and obedience among peoples to God’s anointed ones and to all authorities in general, as the Christian faith, which teaches us that “the Most High rules the kingdom of man, and He will give it to him” (Dan. 4:22), that “by them kings reign, and the mighty write the truth” (Prov. 8:15), that “there is no authority except from God,” and that because “if you resist the authorities, you resist God’s command” (Rom. 13:12). Centuries-old experiences have testified that nothing gives human societies the best and most useful members as the Christian faith. For which members in society can be called the most useful? Justice answers that these are those zealous citizens who sacredly fulfill all the private duties of their rank, whatever it may be, loving it sincerely and being satisfied with it; These are those worthy fathers of families, those educators and mentors who do not instill in their children and pets any other fear than the fear of God, no other honor than the honor of doing good, loving their homeland and eventually sacrificing everything precious to it; these are the noble and rich, constantly busy with the participation of the lower and unfortunate of their fellow citizens, and always adorning themselves with truth and charity; these are zealous shepherds of the Church, who “have a blind eye and a lame foot” (Job 29:15); in a word: these are all kind and pious souls, for whom love for humanity is not a calculation of selfishness, but a most sacred duty and involuntary attraction. These are true statesmen, no matter what level in society they stand - at the first, or at the very last! And these true patriots are formed by Christianity alone: ​​for it alone has the means to make people good. Add to this, beloved, that the Orthodox faith, over the course of centuries, merged, so to speak, inseparably merged with the life of our fatherland, became the soul of our political body and the first of the fundamental principles of our nation - and you will understand that now one of two things is inevitable: if we, like our fathers and grandfathers, truly value this treasure, we will guard our fatherly faith like the apple of our eye - it will forever will not cease, as before, to do good to the sons of Russia. But if we betray the faith of our fathers, we stray into crossroads: oh, then - judge for yourself - what then should happen to our fatherland? It’s finally time, brothers, for us to learn those most important lessons that are contained in the truth we have considered. The Orthodox faith is the first good for us both as people and as sons of Russia. So, first of all and most of all, let us glorify and thank God, the Author of all good things, for the fact that He has deigned us from birth to recognize this treasure and use it; because through the Orthodox faith He exalted, exalted and glorified our fatherland among other nations. Let us thank Him especially now, when St. The Church, and when we celebrate, together with her, the triumph of Orthodoxy. Let us not cease to give thanks always - on all the other days of our lives: for do we not always take advantage of the benefits of St. faith? Isn’t it always the triumph of Orthodoxy even in our fatherland for the Orthodox Church, so that its entire existence with us, throughout the centuries, is not one continuous triumph? The Orthodox faith is the first good for us both as people and as sons of Russia. Let us guard this blessing more than all our blessings, guard it with zeal and vigilant care. Let us be jealous of St. faith, as our pious ancestors were once jealous of it, who constantly put it above all else, did not agree to betray it for any treasure in the world, on the contrary, in cases of need, out of commitment to it, they themselves sacrificed all their wealth, joyfully subjected themselves to persecution and suffering for it, joyfully tasted death itself, and thus preserved for us ancient Orthodoxy in all its purity and salvific value, and bequeathed to us, as the most precious heritage. The Orthodox faith is the first good for us both as people and as sons of Russia. And therefore, without relying on our own strength alone, let us begin, as often and fervently as possible, to cry out to the Lord God, may He Himself, the Almighty, strengthen us all in orthodoxy to the end, may He preserve our dear fatherland in orthodoxy throughout the generations, and may He not cease to pour out upon it through the Orthodox faith a more and more inexhaustible abundance of His mercies and bounties. Amen. You might be interested in: