ВОЗДЕРЖАНИЕ

It is, of course, a wonderful thing to approve and praise abstinence, but to possess it is even more wonderful. And, no doubt, those who talk and listen a lot about it are greatly encouraged to abstinence. For this reason, God was pleased to glorify the virtues of holy men in the Holy Scriptures, so that all people would be inclined to imitate them and so that, carefully following in their footsteps, they would lead a temperate life. If during competitions in gymnastic schools many, at the sight of crowned athletes, become inflamed, undress and endure a lot of intense and intense labor in order to earn crowns of olive or laurel branches, then with what swiftness should we intensely take care of abstinence at the sight of others already crowned by God - so that we too, through good saving deeds, may earn this decoration - heavenly crowns. How is it not painful and how not deserving of great anger is the fact that athletes are lured by the laurel or olive leaf and the glory of this transitory life, and we are not in the least encouraged by the gifts of Christ to abandon all lust and prefer the fear of God to desires? Further, not only people, we see, imitate their own kind, but also irrational beings. Often, when doves see one of them flying away, they all immediately follow it, and a noble foal frolicking in a herd of horses carries the entire herd along with it. And among you, as if in the flock of Christ, there is a wonderful young branch - the most self-controlled Joseph, who with his heavenly agility calls us - his fellow servants - to imitate him. So, let us sing a spiritual dance together with the beautiful young man, praising his abstinence not only in words, but also through imitation of his deeds. He was a zealous and constant guardian of abstinence, although he could give orders to the queen herself and lead a rich and pleasure-filled life in pomp and luxury. Although he could be the master of such and such great benefits, however, having discussed that wealth, power and glory pass along with real life and that the benefit from them is only temporary, and that there is no end to virtue alone, he therefore threw a kind of bridle on pleasures - the fear of Christ. He ridiculed the wealth, pomp and promise of his mistress, considering suffering in prison more pleasant than life in beautiful palaces - although for those who are extremely handsome in body, it is difficult to control pleasure. He presented such an example of abstinence that with the beauty of his soul he obscured the beauty of his body, that in view of the beauty of his body he should be likened to some beautiful star, and in view of the charm of his soul he should be likened to the Angels. We should be amazed not only at the young man’s abstinence, but also at the dangers to which he was exposed because of it, considering the work of serving pleasures more difficult and more terrible than even death. He will be amazed by those who carefully examine his virtue and who weigh the times at which he kept his soul pure. He retained freedom of mind before the appearance on earth of the Lord and Creator of the universe. He was brought up in the house of the wicked; many persuaded him to do very bad things; he had no teacher of abstinence. Everyone was a slave to pleasure - they indulged their belly, did nothing pious, nothing holy; however, living among so many such wicked people, when he saw his intemperate mistress reclining, he did not turn out to be a traitor to heavenly treasures, but kept the temple of the Holy Spirit unemptied, preferring to die than to serve pleasures. He had not yet heard the words of Paul that our bodies are members of Christ (1 Cor. 6:15); but before he heard the divine voice, he, teaching us in the churches how we should fight and keep our souls intact, showed himself to be not inferior in importance to those who were honored with heavenly promises. If I, Joseph may say, who lived before the Nativity of Christ and did not hear the exalted Apostle Paul, who exclaimed that our bodies are members of Christ, thought that it was fitting for God’s servants to command pleasure, and did not turn out to be a waste of abstinence, although many dangers were prepared before my eyes, then to what extent should you live in abstinence with fear and trembling, so as not to be unworthy of honor and lest the members of Christ become members of the fornicators! This word can protect every soul with abstinence; this word easily extinguishes burning lusts. Rain falling on a fire does not suppress the flame as easily as it makes the bad lusts allowed into the soul fade away. The great Job can tell us the same words, who not only was a careful guardian of abstinence, but even laid down a law for his eyes, according to which they should not look at the face of a girl, for fear that sparkling beauty would somehow deceive his mind (see Job 31:1). Who would not be surprised and amazed at the sight of this man, who truly bravely fought the devil and destroyed all the cunning plans of the evil one, fleeing from the face of a young woman and turning his eyes away from the contemplation of a beautiful maiden? Seeing the devil approaching, he did not run away, but, relying on his own strength, remained in place like a lion; When he saw the girl, he did not stop or hesitate to examine her beauty, but immediately left. Without a doubt, he thought that in the fight against demons a courageous and courageous spirit is needed, and in the matter of caring for abstinence, victory is conceded not as a result of a person’s communication with girls, but as a result of moving away from them. So, whoever makes a promise of virginity will receive advice from the most abstinent of all people, who himself, even before the incarnation of Christ, was such a zealous guardian of abstinence. One should not listen with disdain that even before the incarnation of Christ there were righteous people who represented such an example of abstinence. After all, then there was no evidence that would encourage such virtue with such force, and even the virgins were not charged with the crime of their negligence in maintaining abstinence. How is this so? But for this reason, the highest God, the Creator of the universe, took our image in order to remove the chastity of the Angels from heaven. So, if even after such an honor people indulge in sensual pleasures, it is impossible to express the magnitude of their recklessness, due to which, by making the members of Christ the members of a harlot, they weaken the manifestation of God’s mercy towards them and, as far as depends on them, make it useless for them. Demons listen and are afraid, because God does not allow them to unite with Him, but He unites us with Him. And after this, some of the faithful dare to sever their connection with Christ and unite with harlots? It is not as great an evil to fall from heaven into the mud as it is to become a member of Christ, to lose divine honor and become a member of a fornicator. Therefore, when vicious lust inflames the soul, immediately remember Christ, think that Paul is standing before you, admonishing you and saying: “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I therefore take away the members of Christ to make them the members of a harlot?” (1 Cor. 6:15). If you bring these words to mind, you will immediately see how lust will run away from you. If a chaste and well-behaved mistress, by her very appearance, immediately makes chaste her maids, devoted to shameful passion, then what is surprising if the memory of Christ immediately mortifies the lust that troubles you? Always have a shining cross before your eyes, and during this time you will leave clean from sins. Just as the pillar of cloud - the image of our cross - covered the Jewish people so that they would not suffer any evil from the Egyptians (see Exodus 13:21), so the cross before our eyes, contemplated by us, immediately drives away all evil lust. After all, he is the salvation of our soul and the saving antidote to vile lusts. In fact, the infirmities of the body are healed by the art of doctors, and the sick soul is immediately healed by Christ’s sayings. Therefore, we ask and beg those people who have sinned and still serve the pleasures of the flesh to awaken and come to their senses, so that they do not find themselves completely in the power of passions, not be carried away by their onslaught and voluntarily fall into bitter slavery, but in order to resist in military ranks, strengthen their minds with the fear of Christ and drive out the cruel mistress from the fortress, so that after removing all vice and many sins, we can with the holy and with a pure soul proceed to the divine and terrible Mysteries of the great God and Savior Jesus Christ (5). The wife should not, says [the Apostle Paul], abstain against the will of her husband, and the husband [should not abstain] against the will of his wife. Why? Because great evil comes from such abstinence; This often resulted in adultery, fornication and domestic disorder. After all, if others, having their own wives, indulge in adultery, then much more [will they indulge in it] when they are deprived of this consolation. Well said: do not deprive yourself; what I called deprivation here, I called above duty, to show how great their mutual dependence is: to abstain to one against the will of the other means to deprive, but by will - not. Thus, if you take something from me with my consent, it will not be a deprivation for me; he who takes against his will and by force deprives. Many wives do this, committing a great sin against justice and thereby giving their husbands a reason for debauchery and leading everything into disorder. Unanimity should be preferred over everything; it is most important. If you want, we can prove it with experience. Let there be a wife and a husband, and let the wife abstain, while the husband does not want it. What will happen? Will he not then indulge in adultery, or, if he does not commit adultery, will he not grieve, worry, get angry, quarrel and cause his wife a lot of trouble? What is the use of fasting and abstinence when love is violated? No. How much grief will inevitably arise from this, how much trouble, how much discord (12)! You might be interested in: