Слово в неделю третью Великого поста, сказанное в Предтеченской церкви архиерейского дома 23-го февраля 1858 года.

“If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and come after Me” (Mark 8:34). The whole life of a Christian should be the fulfillment of this commandment of the Savior. But they are especially dedicated to her, according to the intention of St. Churches, days of Christian fasting and repentance. True fasting and repentance certainly require self-sacrifice from us - otherwise they are impossible - and consist precisely in the fact that we, each on our own cross, “crucify our flesh” “with passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24), and try to put to death our “old man with his deeds”, i.e., put off and cleanse our sins (Eph. 4, 22). The feat is not easy for our weak forces, especially since during this Lent it should last the whole Pentecost! What is our St. doing? leader? We had barely completed half of the difficult race when she took the saint out of the altars and placed before us. the cross of the Lord Jesus himself, in whose footsteps we walk, so that we, looking at the high example of our “Forerunner” (Heb. 6:20) and Chief Leader, would be encouraged after the path we have traversed and strengthened for the further work of fasting and repentance. Is it possible to find a closer and more reliable remedy? Tell me, for whom did Christ the Savior suffer? He suffered not for Himself, but for us; He is pure from all sin and completely innocent, but He deigned to take upon Himself the sins of all mankind, and for them He died on the cross in order to redeem us with His death from eternal torment for our sins and to gain us eternal bliss. And for whom do we suffer or should we suffer on our crosses? We suffer for ourselves and for ourselves. We exhaust our flesh, which wars against the spirit, we deny ourselves vicious habits and pleasures, we do not give food to our passions, we lament our sins, we lament, we grieve... in order to cleanse ourselves from all lawlessness, to protect ourselves from the fire of hell, to gain the kingdom of heaven for ourselves. So, if Christ suffered for us, solely out of love for us: will we really refuse to suffer for ourselves, out of love for ourselves? Is it possible that out of gratitude to Him alone we will not find enough strength in ourselves to carry our cross after Him and continue the feat of fasting and repentance? And what is this suffering, what is this cross that we must bear? How small and insignificant they are before the cross and the suffering of our Savior, which continued throughout His life! It seems to you regrettable to abstain for a certain time from your favorite foods that fatten the body, and to generally be more moderate in food and drink: and Christ is the Sufferer, how did He fast for us? He fasted for forty days and forty nights in a row, without eating any food or drink, until he finally became hungry; on the cross He was tormented by such a mortal thirst in the midst of His torment for us that He exclaimed: “I thirst,” and to quench this thirst they brought ocet with gall to Him! You are burdened with the fact that during your fast you must visit the churches of God more often and intensify your prayers both in churches and in your homes. And remember how much Christ prayed for us, having no need for prayer for Himself at all, how, having retired, He spent whole nights in prayer. Remember especially His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane shortly before the sufferings on the cross, which was so strong, fiery and prolonged that His body exuded bloody sweat. This type of humility, humiliation, sadness, which is required by contrition for sins and the very time of repentance, also burdens you. And Christ was in what humiliation for our sake throughout his entire life, what humiliation he endured before his death, what shame and reproach he suffered on the cross, when His “appearance” was, in truth, “dishonored and humbled more than all the sons of men” (Is. 53:3)! On our crosses, if our old man is killed little by little, then he is killed in a moral sense. And Christ suffered physical suffering for us: He was beaten, spat on, strangled, He was “scarred for our sins and tormented for our iniquities” (Isa. 53:5), He experienced “the diseases of hell” on the cross (Psalm 17:6) and tasted the most shameful and painful death. Let us finally look at the consequences of His suffering. With His cross our Savior defeated the world lying in evil and the devil. So, if during the days of fasting and repentance these enemies of our salvation attack us even more than ever, let us not be afraid of them and not lose heart: under the banner of their Conqueror we are able to repel all their attacks. By His cross, our Savior adopted us as sons of God and acquired for us an inexhaustible abundance of the grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit: therefore, if we are exhausted in the struggle, then let us cry to our heavenly Father, and He will give the Holy Spirit himself “to those who ask Him” (Luke 11:13), the all-powerful Spirit, “to help us in our weaknesses” (Rom. 8:26 ). The Lord not only defeated our enemies with his cross, but also gained us friends and brothers in the person of the angels of God and the inhabitants of heaven in general: we will call on these helpers of ours, especially our guardian angel, when we feel the impoverishment of our strength during the deeds of fasting and repentance. The Lord, through His suffering on the cross, “entered into His glory” according to His very humanity (Lk. 24:26) and the entrance to the kingdom of heaven to eternal glory has been opened for us: Fix your eyes on this longed-for glory, to which the path of the cross leads, and be inspired by the thought that if we “suffer” with Christ, “we will also be glorified with Him.” Thus, brethren, “let us persevere with what is set before us”, “we still strive” for fasting and repentance, “looking unto Jesus, the author of our faith and perfecter, Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, neglecting the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12: 1 and 2). And if we accomplish this feat, as befits Christians and sons of the Orthodox Church, then we will prepare to worthily meet the bright resurrection of our Savior and will be worthy to be participants in His triumph and glory. Amen. You might be interested in: