A conversation about Peter's denial, and about the cross, and how Joseph served as a type of Christ

1. We must take advantage of this opportunity, on the one hand, to pay the debt to Joseph, and on the other, to proclaim the glory of the cross. Today Joseph is crowned and the cross grows; today Peter denies and the thief delights; Today the law is fulfilled, and Christ, predicted by the prophets, is glorified; Today, the word spoken about the death of the Lord is being fulfilled in its full sense: the sinner is entangled in his own net (Ps. 9:16). And what kind of sinner? The inventor of sin is the devil. And what kind of net was this that he prepared? The cross is nothing else. It was he who prompted the Jews to build a cross, thinking by cunning to catch Him Who cannot be outwitted, and to put to death Him Who remained free among the dead. The evil one did not understand that the cross would dull the sting of sin, erase the head of his pride, stop his blasphemous lips, tear off the wings of his rebellion and make him weak and powerless. Today, the word of the prophet David is also justified: “a testimony for Joseph” (Ps. 80:6), i.e., in Joseph the Lord figuratively destined what He wanted to accomplish on Himself in the last days. In Joseph there are many similarities with the Lord. For example: his relatives were plotting against Joseph)... 1 A multi-colored tunic was taken from Joseph, and that tunic, “woven on top” (John 19:23), which the Lord had, was taken by the soldiers and divided among themselves. “They divided,” says the evangelist, “My garments among themselves, and they cast lots for My clothing” (John 19:24). Joseph was slandered before his father; in the same way, the Lord was slandered before the Father - the Jews, calling Him the son of a carpenter, and their imitators, children of heretics, teaching about Him as of another substance. Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites, and the Lord By Judas the Pharisees. Joseph, thrown into an empty ditch, came out unharmed; and the Lord, buried in a new tomb, rose again for three days. What can I say? Joseph put the Egyptian woman to shame, the Lord humiliated the synagogue; the Lord appeared to the disciples after the resurrection. Joseph, imprisoned by two eunuchs, interpreted their dreams, after which one of them was eaten by birds, and the other returned to his fatherland; The Lord, crucified in the midst of two thieves, gave the unfaithful to hell as food, and made the faithful the first citizen of paradise. [Joseph sent chariots to his father], the Lord showed his Father the gospel chariot drawn by four animals; Joseph was declared to be eaten by a beast, and then proclaimed almost a king, and the Lord was crucified as a man and glorified as God. And here is another prophecy relating to the cross: “he ascended on high, took captivity captive and gave gifts to men” (Eph. 4:8). What's the height? Who is the ascendant? What captivity? What are these “gifts to men”? Height is an honest cross, like an incomprehensible sacrament; the one who ascended is the Lord Christ, because “He who descended, He is also the one who ascended” (Eph. 4:10). What does it mean – “captivated by captivity”? This means: at His coming the Lord recreated those enslaved to sin by grace, giving people gifts. What gifts? The remission of sins, the grace of adoption, the inheritance of the kingdom, the guarantee of immortality and the promise of sitting on the right hand. And who is the witness of this? The Lord Himself, who says: “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to Me” (John 12:32), i.e., when I am crucified, then everyone will believe in Me. You have just heard an even clearer testimony about the cross; it is Isaiah the prophet who exclaims: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearers is silent” (Is. 53:7). What kind of "sheep" is this? What lamb? What slaughter? What kind of haircut? Who are these slaughterers and shearers? Sheep and lamb - Lord Christ, representatively: sheep - in view of the wave of baptism, lamb - in view of sacrifice according to the flesh; piercing is a perforation of the rib, healing the rib. Who are these slaughterers and shearers? The Sadducees and Pharisees: first they cut Him off with blasphemies, and then killed Him through slander. After all, just as in everyday life a person who is shaved does not suffer pain and becomes handsome, so Christ, receiving blows, accepted them as shorn, without suffering pain and then perceiving the beauty of the resurrection. It is written about Him: “You are more beautiful than the sons of men” (Ps. 44:3). In agreement with Isaiah, Jeremiah also proclaimed: “I, like a meek lamb,” went to the slaughter (Jer. 11:19). He should be called a lamb, because He did not resist suffering, did not rebel against the slaughter. The Jews killed the Savior, but we are also involved in this murder: the blame lies with them, and the success went to us; their blows, but freedom is ours; punishment for them, but blessing for us. The light comes, Christ is glorified. David’s prophetic word regarding the remembered cross is also being fulfilled today. “And they gave me gall for food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Ps. 68:22). Remember, beloved, how the Lord, hanging on the cross, cried out: “I thirst!” (John 19:28) - and immediately one of the soldiers ran up and, soaking a sponge with vinegar mixed with gall, offered it to the Lord. Why, however, did the Lord, who once drew water from a cut stone, feel thirsty? Of course, what was written had to be fulfilled: “And they gave me gall for food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” This is the kind of wine the Jewish grapes produced! “Their grapes are from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah” (Deut. 32:32). Theirs is the grindstone, vinegar and bitterness, but the fruits, pleasure and immortality are ours. The prophet’s admonition applies to us: “taste and see how good the Lord is” (Ps. 33:9). 2. What else remains to be said to us? The Lord, calling His disciples, told them directly: “You will all be offended because of Me this night, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered” (Matthew 26:31). Do you see how everything is witnessed, how accurate everything is? Nothing superfluous, nothing justified by the case? “You will all be offended because of Me, for it is written: I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.” This is the precision of the Holy Spirit! The prophet cried out, and the Holy Spirit responded with action. The prophet did not say: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will perish, but he said: “and they will be scattered,” i.e. They will be tempted for a while, but a little later they will be confirmed in the faith. He calls the Lord the Shepherd, since He is the good Shepherd, who left ninety-nine sheep to find one that was lost, i.e. who left the heavenly powers and came to the fallen Adam. The apostles are called sheep, as they are obedient to the saving rod, grazing on His body and having stalls in the abodes of the kingdom of heaven. After all, just as in real life, when a wolf breaks into the flock and kidnaps a sheep, the rest of the sheep get scared, jump back and run, but as soon as they hear the shepherd’s pipe, they immediately run and gather together, so the disciples of the Lord, having seen the cross, retreated and ran as if from a wolf, but as soon as they heard about the resurrection of the Lord, they immediately gathered around Him, recognized Him and did not separate from the heavenly abodes. So, this is what the Lord says to His disciples: “You will all be offended because of Me this night” (Matthew 26:31). Peter, wanting to show to what extent he was ready to defend the teacher, and to present himself as more devoted to the Lord than other disciples, but in fact, as if in order to emphasize his renunciation, began to say to the Lord: what are you saying, Lord? Will we all be offended because of You? Are you counting me among everyone? So you trust my firmness! And I will deny You - I who walked on the sea (Matthew 14:29)? I, who was worthy to be a witness of Your transfiguration on the mountain (Matthew 17:1)? I, who put a herd of demons to flight? I who heal every disease? Was it not I who recognized You before everyone else and confessed that “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16)? And You accepted this testimony of mine, blessed me and called me the rock of the Church, saying: “You are Peter, ** and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). So, will I renounce You, the highest of the apostles, the pillar of the church? No, I am confident in myself and loudly declare: “even if all are offended because of You, I will never be offended.” (Matthew 26:33)! The Lord says to him: Why are you speaking and objecting, Peter? Do you think that I am telling a lie to you, but are you confident in your steadfastness? Doesn’t this ardor make you worse? Transfiguration, you were not mistaken in Me, wanting to build three tents, equating Me, the Master, with My friends (Matthew 17:4) Didn’t you beg Me not to go to Jerusalem because of the threats of the Jews (Matthew 16:22)? I did not want to reprove you, Peter, but you distrusted My divine foreknowledge. Look, I predict to you what will happen to you: let these events teach you what kind of person you are. Amen, “Truly I tell you, this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times” (Matthew 26:34)! Peter again, in self-delusion, neglecting the variability of the human spirit, answered the Lord: Why do you frighten me? I am not afraid of death and will not renounce You. To this the Lord said to him: it is good that you are so ready to stand for Me, but a little later you will know: the time is at the door - when both your cooperation and My foreknowledge will be revealed. However, when will our conversation end: it’s already evening? When the Lord was taken and brought into the bishop's courtyard and all the disciples fled, only Peter followed Him into the bishop's courtyard, as if intending to fulfill his promise. When the Lord was kept in chains inside the courtyard, Peter sat in the outer courtyard, firm and unyielding, as if he had already won the victory. What happened? When he had sat here for quite some time, without seeing either a drawn sword or a rock to overthrow, without hearing either the threat of deprivation of property or impending expulsion, a little servant, an insignificant slave, approached him and asked him: what are you doing here, man? Where is the strength of your Teacher? Here He is in chains, and soon He will be on the cross. Peter, forgetting about his determination, answered her: what are you saying, girl? I don't know Him. Oh, what a deal! The one who just said: “even if it were necessary for me to die with You” (Matthew 26:35) now renounces. When this first renunciation took place, Peter, embarrassed by it, seemed to jump away from the fire laid out in the courtyard and walked away to the gate. So what? Another maid again met him there. Amazing thing! There is neither a warrior nor a sword anywhere, but a weak maid met Peter and began to say to him: why are you worried? What do you want? Why are you torturing yourself? Haven't you always been seen with this Galilean? Why are you hiding at the gate? To this Peter not simply, but with an oath answers: “I do not know this Man” (Mark 14:71)! As the Lord predicted, this is what happened. The second renunciation was followed by a third; It happened like this: “A little later those standing there came up and said to Peter: Surely you are one of them, for your speech also convicts you. Then he began to swear and swear that he did not know this man” (Matthew 26:73–74). Where is Peter’s such decisive promise? You, who said before: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), now say: “I do not know this man” (Mark 14:71)? Perhaps Peter was unwittingly on guard at these words and did not say: I do not know God the Word, but said: I do not know this man. He attributed it to what he saw, not to what he thought. Why did the Lord in foreknowledge say: “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven” (Luke 12:10). What about Peter? “I don’t know this Man,” he said, “and suddenly the rooster crowed” (Matthew 26:74), this inexorable accuser of Peter, a previously invited witness of the Master’s verdict, an accuser of renunciation, a proof of foreknowledge and a reminder of repentant tears. 3. But let’s confine ourselves to what has been said about this, let’s rather engage in a conversation about alms, convincing your love with these gospel words: “Make for yourself friends with unrighteous wealth, so that when you become poor, they will receive you into eternal abodes” (Luke 16:9). He said well: “for ever.” Here, no matter how magnificent your house is, it will decay with time and will certainly be destroyed, or even before its destruction, death will drive you out of your magnificent home; then, in addition to death, vicissitudes of fate, malicious intent and slander can easily deprive you of this shelter. It’s a different matter there – in eternal shelters: there you don’t need to fear either decay, death, destruction, or the threats of slanderers or anything like that. That is why the Lord called this unshakable and imperishable dwelling eternal. “Make friends for yourself with unrighteous wealth.” This is the Lord’s love for mankind, His kindness and condescension! It was not without a purpose that He made such an increase, but since many rich people’s wealth was collected through robbery and greed, He says: this is bad, and you should not have collected money like that; but since you have already collected, then leave behind robbery and greed and use your money for what it deserves. It is not that I say that you should give alms while robbing, but that you, having stopped greed, should use your wealth for alms and philanthropy. He who does not refrain from robbery cannot give alms; but even if he gave a lot of money into the hands of the needy, robbing the money of others and being greedy, he will be considered by God on a par with murderers. Therefore, you need to give up greed in advance and then give alms to the poor. Great is the power of almsgiving! However, let no one take frequent reminders of this as a reproach to the listeners. And in competitions, spectators encourage those runners whom they see as being closer to the reward and having more hope of winning. Likewise, seeing that you always accept words about alms with great zeal, I myself often offer admonitions about this. The poor are the doctors of our souls, benefactors and intercessors, because you do not give them as much as you receive; you give silver, and you receive the kingdom of heaven; you alleviate poverty and reconcile yourself with the Lord. Do you see how uneven the reward is? This is on earth, and this is in heaven; this one dies, but this one remains; this is corruption, and this is above all corruption. This is why our fathers placed the poor in front of the doors of houses of prayer, so that the mere sight of the poor could, even in the most careless and inhumane, awaken the memory of almsgiving. When a host of old men stand here, bent over, dressed in rags, withered, dirty, with sticks, barely able to hold on, often blind and mutilated all over, then who will be so stony as to resist this old age, infirmity, mutilation, poverty, pitiful clothing and, in general, everything that inclines him to compassion, and remain invulnerable to all this? That is why they stand in front of our doors, with their appearance, stronger than any word, inclining and calling those who enter to love humanity. Just as washbasins are usually placed in the entrances of houses of prayer, so that those who go to pray to God first wash their hands and then stretch them out to pray, so the poor fathers placed them in front of the doors, like fountains and washbasins, so that we, as we wash our hands with water, having first cleansed our souls with love for mankind, then proceed to prayer. Truly, water by its nature does not wash away the impurities of the body in the same way as alms by its power erases the impurities of the soul. Therefore, just as you do not dare to enter prayer with unwashed hands - although this is a lesser fault - so never enter prayer without alms. Moreover, often, even though we have clean hands, we do not stretch them out to pray without first washing them with water: this is a habit. We will do the same with alms. Even though we are not aware of any significant sin, we will nevertheless cleanse our conscience with alms. You acquired a lot of bad things for yourself at the market: the enemy upset you; the judge forced you to do something inappropriate; you spewed inappropriate words; a friend persuaded you to do something sinful, and you were guilty of many other things, which is easy for a person to be guilty of who moves in the marketplace, sits in courts of law, and participates in city affairs; in all this you come to ask God for forgiveness and protection. Throw silver into the hands of the poor and wipe away these impurities, so that you can boldly cry out to Him who can forgive your sins. If you make it a habit to never approach this sacred vestibule without alms, then, willingly or unwillingly, you will never omit this good deed: such is the habit. And just as you never - let's say this - allow yourself to pray with unwashed hands, because once and for all you have made it a habit, so in relation to alms, if you make it a law for yourself in the same way, then, willingly or unwillingly, you will fulfill it every day, prompted by habit. Prayer is fire, especially when it is sent by a sober and awake soul; but this fire also needs oil in order to reach the very vaults of heaven, and oil for this fire is nothing more than alms. Add this oil generously, so that, encouraged by a righteous deed, you can pray with greater boldness and greater zeal. Just as those who do not know anything good about themselves cannot pray with boldness, so those who have done something right and after a righteous deed begin to pray, encouraged by the memory of the good they have done, offer prayer with great zeal. Therefore, in order for our prayer to become stronger, thanks to the fact that our soul during prayer will be encouraged by the memory of good deeds, we will come to prayer with alms and carefully remember everything that was said; and above all else, keep in mind my comparison, by which I said that the poor, standing in front of the doors of houses of worship, serve the same purpose in relation to the soul as the laver does in relation to the body. If we always remember this, thus purifying our minds, we will be able to offer pure prayers, acquire great boldness before God and achieve the kingdom of heaven, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom the Father with the Holy Spirit of glory, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. The second part of the comparison is missing from the text. Creations attributed to St. John Chrysostom and classified in the Minya edition as Spuria. You might be interested in: