ДОМ

Don't you see how rich people invite singers and flute players after dinner? They make their house a theater - you make your house a sky; and you will do this not when you change the walls or rearrange the foundation, but when you call upon the Lord of Heaven himself to your meal. God does not despise such suppers. Where there is spiritual teaching, there is humility, honesty, and modesty; where husband, wife, and children are united in harmony and love by the bonds of virtue, there is Christ in the midst. He seeks not a golden roof, not shining columns and not beautiful marbles, but the beauty of the soul, spiritual beauty, food, abundant righteousness and fruitful alms. When He sees such a meal, He immediately comes and takes part in the meeting. He himself said: you saw Me hungry and fed me (see Matt. 25:35). So, when you hear the beggar below crying loudly and then give the one who asks something from what is on the table, then in the person of the servant you invited the Lord to your meal, fully filled it with blessings and with this firstfruits laid a very important foundation for your barns to be filled with many good things (1). Everything that happens in the world, and is done, and is produced, has an establisher and a finisher, and only the world does not have a ruler? If there is no God, what are you doing in his domain? Do you remain in the house of God and do not recognize its owner? Either be grateful for the home, or leave home. Why do you disgrace the house by belching blasphemy (3)? “Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house: they shall praise Thee continually” (Ps. 83:5). The house of God is the law; here God dwells as in His dwelling place and through it appears as the one who fulfills the commandments. Those who live here are blessed, firstly, because they live with God, and then because this place is inaccessible to malice and that it has accurate knowledge of the present and clear foreknowledge and contemplation of the future. That is why those who live there will praise God forever and ever, already anticipating the life of the Angels, who constantly praise the Creator, and connecting the future with present praise (3). Christ never entered the resplendent house, but was in the house of the publican, the chief of the publicans, and the fisherman, leaving the royal chambers and those who were clothed in costly garments. So, if you also want to call Him to your home, then decorate it with alms, prayers, all-night vigils and fervent prayer. This constitutes an adornment for King Christ, and external pomp is an adornment for Mammon, the enemy of Christ. So, let no one be ashamed to have a poor house if it has such decorations; equally, let none of the rich be proud of a magnificent house, on the contrary, let him be ashamed, and, leaving it, let him be jealous of the first thing, so that he can receive Christ on earth and be rewarded with eternal settlements in heaven (7). If now, in order to have bright houses with healthy air, we spend a lot of money, undergoing hard labor during construction, then think, shouldn’t we sacrifice our very bodies in order to create bright abodes for ourselves where that ineffable light is? There are disputes and strife over borders and walls; there is nothing like it; there is no envy, no slander; no one will argue with us over borders. Moreover, this house will certainly need to be left, but it will remain with us forever. Over time, this one inevitably undergoes rotting and numerous damages - it never ages. A poor man cannot build this; he can build it with two mites, like a widow. Therefore, it is extremely regrettable to me that with so many blessings ahead of us, we are careless and careless. To have brilliant houses here, we are trying in every possible way; but in order to create even a small refuge for ourselves in heaven, we do not care about it, we do not think about it. Tell me: where would you like to have a home? In the desert or in one of the small towns? I don’t think so, without a doubt - in capitals and big cities, where there is more glitter. But I am leading you to a city whose builder and artist is God. There, I beg you, arrange and build a home for yourself - with less expense and less labor. This house is built by the hands of the poor, and it is the best building; and those that are being built now are a matter of extreme madness. If someone took you to Persia in order to look at this country and then return, and meanwhile began to advise you to build houses there: would you not call him extremely insane for advising you to waste money on nothing? How can you do the same on earth, which you will soon leave? Yes, you say, I will leave everything to the children. But they too will leave soon after you, and often before you; so do their descendants. Thus, this also becomes a cause for grief for you when you do not see heirs after you. But there is no need to fear anything of the kind; there the gain remains constant for you, and for your children, and for your grandchildren, if they imitate the same virtue. Christ himself is in charge of that building; the one who builds it does not need to provide overseers, nor care, nor worry. When God takes over the matter, why bother? He Himself collects everything and erects a dwelling. And not only is this amazing, but also the fact that He creates it as you like, or even better than as you like and as you desire, because He is the best artist and is very concerned about your benefits. Even if you were a beggar and wanted to create such a house, it will not give rise to envy against you, it will not arouse slander, because none of those who are familiar with envy sees it, but the Angels see it, who only know how to rejoice at your well-being. No one will invade the borders of your house, because there is not a single neighbor there who suffers from such a disease. Your neighbors there will be the saints, Peter and Paul, all the prophets, martyrs, a host of Angels and Archangels. For the sake of all this, let us distribute our property to the poor in order to inherit those monasteries (8). Imagine two houses: one filled with those celebrating a wedding feast, and the other with mourners. Let us mentally enter into both and see which one is better. The house of mourning will be full of wisdom, and the house of marriage - disorder; look, here in fact: immodest speech, disorderly laughter, even more disorderly movements, clothing and gait, full of shamelessness, actions characterized by madness and obscenity; In general there is nothing here except ridiculous and worthy of ridicule. I’m not talking about marriage - let it not happen! - but about what happens in marriage. Here human nature is perverted; those present turn from people into dumb animals; some neigh like horses, others kick like donkeys, everyone is in disorder, everyone is in confusion; there is nothing decent, nothing noble; here is a great celebration for the devil - cymbals, flutes, songs filled with adultery and debauchery. This is not how it happens in the house of mourning - everything happens decently there; there is deep silence, perfect silence, great contrition; there is nothing obscene, nothing disorderly. If someone begins to speak, then all his words sound as if they are filled with wisdom; and, what is worthy of surprise, in this case not only husbands, but also servants and wives are wise. This is the nature of grief. They try to console the mourner and express many thoughts filled with wisdom. Immediately prayers begin so that the grief does not go beyond its limits; readily console those who suffer; they count many examples of similar lamenters (10). You might be interested in: