Слово в неделю св. жен мироносиц, сказанное в тамбовском женском монастыре 6-го апреля 1858 года.

“Glory and honor to everyone who does good” (Rom. 2:10). It is not in vain, brothers, after the greatest celebrations in honor and glory of the Lord who died for us on the cross and rose again, St. The Church now celebrates in honor of those persons who were honored to be the closest witnesses of His death and resurrection. These persons are, on the one hand, St. the myrrh-bearing wife, and on the other - St. men Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. All of them, in truth, are worthy of such a high honor, not only because they served in the two most important mysteries of our salvation - at the death and resurrection of Christ the Giver of Life, but even more - for their unchanging love for Him, revealed especially at a time when He was abandoned by everyone. Pious sisters in the Lord! You should mostly be close to the example of St. the myrrh-bearing wives and every feature preserved from their lives is edifying. Listen! As soon as they recognized Jesus Christ, as soon as they heard His teaching, and some received from Him healing from evil spirits and ailments, they left everything - their homes and families - and followed Him. The Lord and his twelve disciples walked through the cities and towns of Galilee, “bringing the good news of the kingdom of God”: St. the wives accompanied Him everywhere and served Him in whatever way they could, and many “served Him” even “from their possessions” (Luke 8:1-3; Mark 15:4). The Lord went with His disciples to Jerusalem, clearly predicting the suffering and death on the cross awaiting Him there: St. wives. The Lord was betrayed by one of His disciples and all the disciples, leaving Him, fled: only St. wives; They wept and wept bitterly, accompanying the Divine Crusader to Golgotha ​​(Luke 23:27). The Lord is on the cross, almost everyone is gloating around Him and mocking Him: St. the wives who came for Him from Galilee stand from afar together with His most pure Mother and beloved disciple and look at Him in deepest sorrow (Luke 23:49). The Lord is buried: St. the wives noticed the place of His burial and rushed to the city to prepare precious ointment and aromas so that they would anoint His body (Luke 23:55-56). Great Saturday has barely passed, St. The myrrh-bearing wives “very early” go to the tomb of the Lord with the prepared incense - and here the most desired reward was already awaiting them... They were the first to receive from the Angel the news of the resurrection of the Life-Giver, - the first were honored to see Him risen and hear from Him the sweetest voice: “Rejoice”, the first announced His resurrection to the saints themselves. to the apostles (Matthew 28:1–10; Luke 24:1–11). You too, all monastic and non-monastic sisters, learn to love the Lord with the same deep, constant and inexhaustible love with which the saints loved Him. myrrh-bearing wife. One of you has left the world and everything worldly in order to completely devote yourself here to serving the Lord and have committed yourself to Christ with voluntary vows of a virgin, ascetic life: try to keep these holy vows to the end, no matter what sorrows, hardships and labors. The higher your vows, the greater the feat and struggle on your part: the higher the reward in store for you in the palaces of your heavenly Bridegroom. Others of you, although they live in the world and did not take upon themselves the fact that not everyone can bear, all of you, however, united yourself to Christ with vows of baptism - vows to be His followers and to fulfill His commandments in everything: keep these saving commandments always and unswervingly, no matter how hard they sometimes seem to you in the midst of the temptations of the world, and remember firmly that only by this you can show your love for the One who said: “Whoever loves He will keep My commandments" (John 14:15. 23), only through this will you be worthy to hear from Him: “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is abundant in heaven” (Matthew 5:12). I appeal to you, pious men, brethren in Christ! And for you there is an upcoming lesson directly from St. husbands - Joseph and Nicodemus, a lesson in the same true love for the Lord Jesus, although you, no doubt, understand that the lesson is from St. the myrrh-bearing wives does not refer to only wives. We must remember the circumstances in the midst of which the saints lived. Joseph and Nicodemus to understand the greatness of their devotion to our Savior. Joseph was a rich man and a famous member of the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of the Jews (Matthew 27:57; Mark 15:43); Nicodemus belonged to the sect of the Pharisees, was a prince of the Jews, that is, one of the elders, and a teacher of the people - one of the scribes (John 3:1.10). And the members of the Sanhedrin, the elders, the scribes and the Pharisees - they were the main enemies of the Lord Jesus, they were the ones who laid down the advice back in the days of His preaching, “if anyone confesses Christ, he will be excommunicated from the congregation” (John 9:22), they condemned and handed Him over to death. And yet, despite all this, Joseph and Nicodemus did not hesitate to go against the general prejudice and blindness of their brethren, they did not hesitate to come to Jesus, to confess Him “who came from God” and even to be disciples of Jesus, although at first secretly “for fear of the Jews” (John 3:2; 19:38). Nicodemus was not once afraid to defend the Lord in the assembly of bishops and Pharisees when they innocently reproached Him (John 7:50-51). Joseph boldly opposed his fellow members of the Sanhedrin and “did not adhere to their advice and work” when they condemned the Lord to death, although one could not do anything against them all (Luke 23:51). When, finally, the Lord was crucified on the cross and abandoned by everyone: then Joseph and Nicodemus no longer began to hide their faith in Him, they put aside all Jewish fear, and decided to do everything out of love for the Crucified One. Joseph boldly goes to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus; Nicodemus brings with him to Golgotha ​​about a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes. Both, together with deep sorrow and tears, remove the bloody body of the Divine Teacher from the cross, wash Him, sprinkle Him with incense and, wrapping Him in a clean shroud, lay Him in a new tomb, in Joseph’s garden. The malice of the blinded Jews was not slow to open itself against pious men; they were persecuted, deprived of everything, imprisoned. But the resurrected Life-Giver consoled them with his appearance and included them in his chosen flock. So we all, brothers, must be ready to make all kinds of sacrifices out of love for the Lord. Neither wealth, nor nobility, nor power, nor high education - nothing should be dearer to us than His Holy One. faith and St. commandments. And if anything were to become an obstacle for us to unswervingly follow Christ and to fulfill His will: let us reject this obstacle from ourselves, no matter how precious it may seem to us, and let us serve our Lord with all our souls, so that we may receive from Him reward according to our labor (1 Cor. 3:8). Brothers and sisters in the Lord! Always remember that in Christianity “glory and honor to everyone who does good” - to everyone, without any distinction of gender or age. Amen. You might be interested in: