О святом Иоанне Предтече ***

1. Let us celebrate in honor of John the Baptist, and let us crown with our love the one greater than whom “there was no one born of women” (Matthew 11:11), according to the word of the Lord. Truly, nothing surrounded the prophet with such honor as the fact that he baptized the Lord. Let us head towards the Lord's baptism, which most adorned the forerunner of the King of heaven, and with our love let us penetrate into those places of Judea from which we received access to blessings as a fruit; It’s better to say: let’s describe those deeds in words and collect here the fruit of what we read a little earlier. Let us assume that Jordan, having received its Creator who came in the flesh, flows among us; and let us think that John the Baptist is standing on the banks of the river, and we will begin to contemplate Christ the Lord coming to His servant to be baptized by him, and with a finger pointed from his side, and from heaven - by the descent of the Spirit; and we, admirers of the consubstantial Trinity, will worship the witness of the Father and the witness of the Son, and the witness of the Holy Spirit. Let us follow the book of the Gospels, which guides us to what we passionately love, and, walking along the divine sayings, as if in footsteps, we will run up to the all-glorified mystery of the universe. “Then,” says (Scripture), “Jesus comes from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him” (Matthew 3:13). The Lord came to the Jordan, since the Treasure of Wisdom did nothing untimely and unreasonably, but everything that the Lord undertook for our redemption, He accomplished at the proper time. Being God and Creator of all time and all distance, He established the time, and by the actions of the then condescension, as with flowers, he strewn the beginnings of what He had done. Then when did Jesus ascend to all the stages of nature; when the perfection of His body and soul shone forth; when, in the course of thirty years, He became a perfect man; John the Baptist, as if recognizing Him whom he had known for a long time, thanks to his father, even in the womb of his mother, removing his right hand from His head with fear and great trembling, says: What is this, Lord? What does this extraordinary miracle mean? What is this humble and what is this quiet spectacle of this appearance? Do you bow your head before me, O Head of the Church? Do you bow your head before me, you who bowed the heavens and descended to earth? Do you bow your head before me, having God as your head? Do you bow your head before me, which the cherubim worship? Do you bow your head before me, which is revered and before which the seraphim tremble? You bow your head before me, who united Adam and Eve in marriage in paradise, as in a palace, and with a word placed a crown on their heads, and added the blessing of an abundance of children, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Gen. 1:28); in a word, he brought out of him nature, the harmonious composition of nature, who sent the Son as an opponent of death, so that He would plant a greater number than what it pruned; turning the course of life at will; filling the heads that bow to you with all sanctification; not contained anywhere; pouring out rivers of mercy, Do you want to plunge into this river with others? Creator of the springs - Have you decided to dwell in them? Do you demand baptism, which You gave me to communicate it to those in need? And what need do You have for the baptism of repentance, You Yourself showing mercy to those who repent? What need do you have for this kind of medicine, healing the wounds of others with one command? Why do you need repentance when you do deeds worthy of praise? Didn't You condescend to people only as a lover of humanity? You bear the image of a servant, which you created for yourself, and through it you sanctified your image, which the devil crushed; You have updated this image as you wished; You have become the Father of us all. Is it not in You that the exiled Adam is called back? Is it not in You that the once condemned race reigns? Was it not through Mary that You raised up the fallen Eve? Do you not use every means possible to make people equal to angels? Do you not drive out lawlessness from the land, as something malicious against the human race? Don't you bring improvement into life as an educator of human nature? Aren't you driving away the dark night of deception? Do you not command the day of the knowledge of God to rise for those who wish to contemplate its beauty? Do you not spread the light of truth in the souls of all? Do you not scatter the clouds of wickedness like smoke? Is it not like the sun of truth, clothed with a white cloud of body, that you scatter the rays of the Divine everywhere? Are you not a virgin in your look and deed, and appearance, and thought, and mind, and soul? Was it not from the Virgin that he gave himself a virgin body? Does it really need repentance and contrition? So, why will I baptize You now, Creator of the river and Giver of baptism, who through love for mankind became a man? There is no trace of iniquity in You, and the stain of sin has not desecrated Your spotless flesh, and deceit has never taken possession of Your lips. The poison of asps is hidden in the lips of Jews, because the Jews are a generation of vipers, and their tongues are cunning; in Your mouth the springs of eternal life flow, because, being Life, You speak and bestow life. So, how, Giver of present and future life, do You come to these poor waves? All the others who are baptized by me hear from me: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2), and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God. In relation to You, who is being baptized, what should I say? What should I say? Say: repent? Who will accept Your repentance? What other God is greater than You? To say: repent, the kingdom of heaven is “at hand”? And to the kingdom will I preach the good news of the kingdom? And will I talk with You about You? Or do You not know what You are? Do you not know the kingdom of heaven, which You came from heaven to bring to people? Should I tell you: believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Will I exhort You to believe in You? And who has ever been admonished to believe in himself? “He who comes... must believe that there is” God (Heb. 11:6); You are God and the Son of God, although you appeared as a man, and you are worthy of everyone believing in You. Should I say to You: Believe in Your Father? But when did You appear to those who were unbelievers and hostile to the Father? When were You separated from the divinity of God Who gave birth to You? So, what should I tell you? Believe in the Holy Spirit? But He exists in You and with You. “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” (Matthew 3:14). The only begotten Son of God to the son of Zechariah? Born of a virgin to one born of a barren woman? Who did not violate the virginity of His Mother to the one who gave birth to barrenness? He who was welcomed from the womb to the one who recognized Your dominion from the womb? Made human to the voice of the desert? So high to one who is so insignificant? Lord of all creation to a servant unworthy of Your goodness? The rich by nature to the poor by nature, and the rich only by Your grace alone? Heavenly and earthly to one who is only earthly? Having divinity from above and humanity from below - to one who vegetates only from below? Such a Lord - to me - an insignificant servant? But the slave does not free the master, the candle does not illuminate the sun, the clay does not correct the potter, the sheep does not graze the shepherd, the forerunner does not adorn the king. The river does not contain Your deity; the river does not measure Him Whom the sky does not contain; The Jordan does not wash its Creator; water recognizes the Creator; Do these streams not know the light, and do I dare to serve You? My soul is confused, my hand, trembling, is afraid to approach Your all-holy body. 2. What should I do? What to do? And I tremble You, Lord, and passionately love You; and I do not dare to run, and I do not dare to approach; and I am afraid to be baptized, and passionately desire to receive sanctification. I demand that you be baptized: I have learned to worship you, and not to baptize; rather, I bow my neck under Your right hand. Bless me, O Blesser of the years of the righteous; Make me joyfully enter the Jordanian streams today, just as You did when I recently jumped in my mother’s womb. Yes, says the Lord, I am surprised at your fear of God, Baptist, but I desire obedience. You have become a preacher of My kingdom, but you must become a servant of My economy. I came to you because it is useful both for you and for those who are like you; I. came from heaven, and am entirely in the bosom of the Father, to unite creation with the Creator; I have come to take the fugitives alive; I came as a man, where I was already before, as God, to make people gods; I took the poor Mother from your midst, so that you could call upon My Father with boldness; I am fed like a child with milk, in order to offer Myself to the faithful as food; I was clothed with swaddling clothes, that I might break the bands of iniquity; I did not recline on a royal bed, but in an insignificant manger, so that after My reclining in the manger, no one else from words would suffer from foolishness, like a dumb man; I received in My flesh the circumcision which I had first made lawful, that I might bring in circumcision not made with hands; as the firstborn, I, the Only Begotten, offered the sacrifice established by the law in order to change this kind of sacrifice and make Myself an amazing sacrifice. I fled to Egypt, but did not cease to be a refuge for everyone; I became a little child, a perfect man, as you see, to give perfection to the imperfect; I went through all the degrees of age in order to strengthen each age with gradual success. I also arrived at the river to arrange for the earth-born to ascend to heaven; and I accept this baptism in order to give My disciples the baptism of rebirth. I endure immersion in water, just as I endured carnal birth. As a legislator, I honor the rights of the law in order to renew the symbols of grace; As a healthy doctor, I take part in the medicine of the sick, although I have no need for this, in order to invent newer help for the sick, help from the font. For the sake of sinners I accept the cross, and will I really turn away from the safe font? I have to endure a three-day death, and will I really not make a dive that is not associated with any pain? I burn with the desire to descend into the very depths of hell, and will I really not plunge into the waves of the river? So, perform baptism on Me, on Me, who has to baptize and save those who wish; baptize Me, who intends to raise human nature, immersed in sins, to heavenly heights; baptize Me as a man on earth, and above glorified by the angels, as God. Be a speedy minister of My sacraments; change your refusal into a kind action; stop your tongue and set your right hand to work; boldly lay your hand on top of My head, which was taken from your mortality for your sake; receive the benefit of My baptism, so that you may be called by the name of the Baptist. "Leave Now" ; first perform baptism, and then do theology; first baptize, and then bow down. “For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). Nothing so adorns the sublime. as a voluntary indulgence, because true height does not neglect humble deeds. “Then ... admits Him” (Matthew 3:15) John, calling to Him: behold, Lord, I fulfill Your command; What I have learned without knowing it before, I do with joy. Behold, I place my right hand on Your head, as You have commanded it; I am Your servant and the son of Your servant; and my hand is Your creation. and this river is the product of Your dominion, and these springs are Your creation, and this baptism is Your gift; and You alone know what sacrament you are performing. Be baptized, be baptized, please; and save, as you wish, those whom You have created. I am blessed, thanks to You I was unusually born and amazingly raised in the desert, and now I am honored with this service; Blessed am I, chosen by You to serve such a great sacrament. O right hand, how greatly art thou exalted! O mortal organ, how much honor you have! Humane-loving and generous Lord, after You have united grace with the waters and bestowed by Your immersion, as it were, some leaven of sanctification, emerging from the waters (I humbly pray, Lord!) lift up and embrace human nature, lying at its last gasp and exhausted, look upon it, voluntarily burning, raise it, spread out on the earth, as on a bed and sick various types of illness; as a doctor, drive away these diseases. The lame are waiting for You, so that they can run according to Your word; The blind are waiting for you to see; All the dead are waiting for your voice in order to be resurrected; Those burned by the heat of misfortune are thirsty for your coming; appear to everyone like the dew of healing. “And having been baptized, Jesus immediately came out of the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw...the Spirit of God descending like a dove and descending on Him” (Matthew 3:16). Oh, terrible and wonderful sacraments! The sky from above greets Him whom the river washed shortly before; and the Holy Spirit theologizes about Him Whom the servant baptized. And behold, a voice from heaven saying: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). This is the one who was baptized, not out of His own need, but out of love for mankind alone, testified by the Holy Spirit, proclaimed by Me, who clearly saw Him; before the ages, born of Me and born of the aunt in the flesh of Mary, consubstantial with Me and you; coeternal with Me and having the same image with yours; The Creator of Adam and the Branch of David; Creator of the Virgin and Son of the Virgin; perceived by the mind and appearing as a visible image; contemplated by faith and sight; perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity. This is My beloved Son. This is both the one who works miracles, like God, and the one who suffers, like man, He is My Son, because the cross does not separate from Me the One who is inseparable by nature. He, pierced even by nails, is My Son, because His nails do not harm the divine essence. He is My Son, even if He suffers, because suffering cannot touch His divinity. He, and the one who voluntarily dies, by His nature is an opponent of death, My Son, because to die according to divinity is not something natural, He does not want this and cannot, since death does not overcome life, and death does not overcome immortality. He, who rises from the dead, is My Son, because, as the Creator of the universe, He will resurrect the church of His body, which He allowed to be destroyed by enemies. He, who ascends with this flesh into heaven, from which he never departed, is My Son. He who receives Him receives Me along with Him; he who worships Him worships Me; He who believes in Him believes in Me; he who belittles Him belittles Me, since insulting the Son is an insult inflicted on the Father; He who accepts Him and gives no place to excessive curiosity, but who worships Him without unnecessary investigation, is blessed. This is My beloved Son, in Him I am well pleased. Sinners, flee to Him who will take away the sin of the world; condemned, embrace the humane Judge; deadened by sins, hasten to the Source of life. These are the most beautiful gifts of the festival in honor of the Baptist; all of them were delivered to us for our sake by the Lord Christ our God. To Him is glory and power, with the Father and His All-Holy and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. These conversations in the Minya edition belong to the category of Spuria, that is, unfoundedly attributed to St. I. Chrysostom. Source: Works of our holy father John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, in Russian translation. St. Petersburg edition. Theological Academy, 1896. Volume 2, Book 2, Works of St. John Chrysostom, considered doubtful, About Saint John the Baptist, p. 865–871.