Word to the Publican and the Pharisee

1. When looking at the meadow, already from a distance one is struck by a lovely variety of flowers - the beauty of which, however, can only be seen when you get close enough to them that you can take them with your hands. The same thing can be observed, beloved, in relation to the church, only here, as flowers, readings from the inspired Scriptures are offered to those who wish. Amazing phenomena could be observed in these spiritual gardens; here you can see jubilant prophets, leading apostles, triumphant martyrs, angels helping people, teachers struggling in the struggle for piety; here you can see the abundant grace of the Spirit, the verbal flocks sealed by the Master’s blood, and finally that which is above all that has been said - the pinnacle of blessings, the confirmation of hopes, the head of pleasure, the perfection of joy - I mean the Gospels of Christ, in which the improvement of our life is proposed. So, let us turn our eyes here - to the Lord Christ, who gives all pleasure to His servants. Here we will see how illnesses are driven away from them, the sea is calmed, the winds cease, death is forbidden, hell is deprived of prey, demons are expelled, sinners turn to their Master. These gifts were offered by Christ in the divine gospels, in which we are told how the righteous shine more than the sun, and how the members of the sick are strengthened, relaxed, carried on beds, begin to walk, tax collectors become evangelists, leprosy is shaken off like dust by His will, fever is driven out by the word of the Lord, the dead come to life, coffins bring prisoners back to life; in them the pride of the Pharisee is humbled, the humility of the tax collector is exalted. With the abundance of such benefits, it is not difficult to get enough of crumbs. And I am sure that this time too you will listen to my words with the usual condescension, filling the treasuries of your souls with the saturation of the preached benefits. And if you, with God’s help, take part in this meager meal, then I, encouraged by your love, am ready to take on the work of teaching. So, let me remind you of what I recently read: for all of you rich people, I am a poor host who has come to arrange this spiritual feast for you. “Two men,” says the evangelist, “entered the church to pray: one a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector” (Luke 18:10). The Pharisee is a boastful zealot of righteousness, who reaped the fruits of virtue ahead of time, who was enriched with more pride than money, who shook the fruit of virtues with empty arrogance, the owner of arrogance, the accuser of all nature, an inhumane accuser, a merciless slanderer, an agitation that threatens the prayer of the publican. And let no one take my words for simple slander: after listening to the very speeches of the Pharisee, everyone will be convinced of the truth of what I said. “God!” he says, “I thank You that I am not like other people!” Do you consider yourself more righteous than everyone else? “I am not like other people.” What are you doing, Pharisee? Let people like you not deserve your attention; but the Unchangeable and Lover of Mankind became a man: though think about Him, and give up your arrogant speeches! Say at least this: “like other people, robbers, offenders, adulterers.” Are all predators except you, Pharisee? All the unrighteous, are you the only righteous one? Are all fornicators, and the virtue of chastity is unique to you? “I am not like other people, robbers, oppressors, adulterers, or like this tax collector” (Luke 18:11). This man’s thought has just begun to take wing, he has just begun to spread the wings of his soul to soar to heaven, and you burden him with the weight of your speeches, preventing his confession from flying to the Lover of Humanity. Why do you trample on someone who is lying down? Why do you put wood on his fire (Sir. 8:4)? Why do you blame someone whose conscience is relentlessly striking even without you? "Or like this publican." But what deeds of the publican do you know? Is he engaged in robbery? Does he appropriate the works of others? Does it steal someone else's? Is he reaping where he did not sow? Collecting where you haven't lost it? Sets up nets for travelers? You, Pharisee, have not observed anything like this, but you see him before you as pitiful, worthy of pity and help. He lies prostrate, hits himself on the chest, like a receptacle of evil, does not dare raise his eyes to heaven; maybe he expects accusations from the stars or - rather - thinks that his many sins are written in the firmament of heaven; as a defendant, he stands far from the sanctuary. “Be merciful to me” (Luke 18:13), he exclaims, as if already condemned. Have you not read what is written: “Do not mock a person who is in the sorrow of his soul” (Sir. 7:11)? He is in grief; instead of many accusers, gloomy thoughts surround him everywhere; remorse prompts him to beat his chest; he became his own executioner. Doesn't his depression bother you? Doesn't this downcast face arouse compassion in you? Doesn't the sight of this man, who does not dare raise his eyes to heaven, soften your heartlessness? When he was a publican, then you had to reproach him in this way, and then he should have been ashamed not only before you, but also before every person. And now, when he realized his sins, when, seeing the wounds of his soul, he resorted to the Doctor, who healed without compensation, when, remembering his sins, he fell to the unforgettable evil ruler, now in vain, oh, Pharisee, you humiliate him. "Or like this publican." Are there other tax collectors who have not yet fallen in love with the sweet cry of repentance? If you really have such a strong desire to accuse sinners, turn your tongue against them, who are still caught in the nets of greed. And against this, your hostility is unnecessary and in vain. Not only will you not harm him, but you will also further encourage the Lord to hasten to forgive him. 2. “The publican,” they say, “standing afar off, did not even dare to raise his eyes to heaven” (Luke 18:13). It is exactly as if he himself had uttered these words of Manasseh: “I am not worthy to look and behold the heights of heaven because of the multitude of my untruths” (2 Chronicles 36:23). After all, many vices were then collected in the soul of the publican: an indefatigable passion for money, boundless love for untruths, insatiable theft; the publican is a common evil for human nature, a lawful offender, a predator who cannot be accused, a fearless thief, an undetectable robber, irreparable harm, a wolf of intelligent sheep, a beast in the form of a man. himself, but could not find it anywhere. After terrible efforts, he finally found a way of relief: he remembered the Lord’s call to sinners: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Remembering these words, he hurried to the church of God with a burden weighing on him; Exhausted under its weight, unable to bear it any longer, he fell on his face and said to the Master: “Be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13) I have no good deed behind me, I am burdened with only vices, my iniquities have outnumbered the sand of the sea, they have multiplied more than the hairs on my head. I already see how those who are offended by me call upon me Your judgment; I hear that open books will be placed before Your throne, in which, of course, the cries of travelers are written. No untruth can escape Your incorruptible eye; The time has passed for justification, there is no room left for escape. I don’t dare raise my eyes to the sky, but I’m afraid to look at the earth, the witness of my crimes. Even soulless nature exposes the great sinner. Therefore, resorting to You, the Lord of all, I find only this prayer for help: “God! be merciful to me, a sinner! The pile of my evils is great, but what is it compared to the abyss of Your goodness? For human strength my salvation is impossible, but for You, Master, everything is possible. Of course, if You came to earth for the sake of the righteous, then I came to Your church in vain, disdaining my craft; but if You pay attention to sinners, or - better to say - for their sake You condescended to Your creation, then do not abandon my unjustified hope in You, but heal my broken heart, revive me, dead from sins. The harlot touched You and washed away the dirt of her vices; You touched the faithful wife with the hem of Your garment and dried up the flow of her blood; approached the paralytic lying on his bed, and he stood up and carried his bed; passing by, You saw a blind man and restored to him the gift of sight; having anointed a vessel made of clay with clay, You corrected a bodily defect, opened access to the light and showed man the beauty of creation; You saw a crying woman, and, having struck hell before Your resurrection, you brought Lazarus out of there, snatching a man from death, as if from the mouth of a lion. Seeing a man falling to You in grief, terribly struck by the misfortune of the loss of a child, You immediately bowed to his prayers and called the maiden; At Your call the maiden stood up, and death ran away. The Canaanite wife cried out to You, seeing her daughter tormented by a demon, and crying out: “Have mercy on me” (Matthew 15:22), she was not deceived in her hope, because, having accepted her faith, You drove the wolf away from the sheep and removed the rabid inhabitant, granted healing to the girl and calmed the mother’s sadness. With a few loaves You fed the people in the desert. And I am hungry with the hunger of righteousness and I ask for a small crumb of Your love for mankind: have mercy on me too, as one of those blessed by You! My soul is wounded, like that of a harlot before repentance; Everyone abhors me, as a woman who was bleeding before healing and who was considered unclean by law; I am more relaxed in soul than I am relaxed in body; I suffer through the eyes of the soul, as a man blind from birth suffers through the eyes of the body; I am dead from constant falls, my soul is imprisoned in the body, as Lazarus was imprisoned in the tomb. On me alone were burdened almost all the disasters that oppressed those whom You had mercy on, each individually. But You, who have had mercy on everyone, have mercy on me too: “God! be merciful to me, a sinner! What does the philanthropic Judge, the generous rewarder of those who undertake the path of repentance, have to do with this? And He curbed the boasting of the Pharisee, and was touched by the repentance of the publican. After the first of them shook the fruit of the soul with his words, as if with strong winds, and the second, having humiliated himself, did not meet another accuser, each of them received his due. In fact, the Lord released the one who became his own accuser free from condemnation, and the Pharisee, who exposed his virtues, turned out to be poorer than the tax collector. A turnaround took place with both: for one, poverty gave way to wealth, the other fell from wealth to poverty. Really, what does the Lord say? Amen “I tell you that this one went to his house justified rather than the other” (Luke 18:14). Oh, what an evil is the disease of pride! The Pharisee entered the church rich, as if crowned with the flowers of virtues; The publican entered with him, deprived of all justification. But the latter, having humbled himself in good time, was exalted, and the latter, having exalted himself to an inappropriate height, suffered a shameful exposure. How useful it would be for him to remember the instructions he had forgotten! How beneficial it would be to listen to this prophetic voice: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you” (James 4:10)! How useful it would be for him to hold his tongue in time and preserve the wealth acquired through many labors! In one unfortunate moment, he lost those virtues that had taken a lot of time to acquire. Maybe the Pharisee didn’t hear what was written, that “everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord” (Prov. 16:5)? Didn’t know these beautiful words: “Let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:3)? He probably knew both, but the power of vanity took over in him. Let us try to acquire the humility of a tax collector and lighten the burden of the sins that weigh upon us; let us hate the pride with which the Pharisee destroyed the wealth of virtues. Let us remember that “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). To him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen. Creations attributed to St. John Chrysostom and classified in the Minya edition as Spuria.