НЕДЕЛЯ 4-Я ПО ПЯТИДЕСЯТНИЦЕ

About the healing of the centurion's servant One day Jesus entered Capernaum. In this city there lived a centurion (the leader of a hundred soldiers), whose beloved servant became very ill. The centurion heard a lot about the miracles of Jesus. He asked the Savior for help, but did not dare to call Him to him, considering himself unworthy to receive Him into his home. This centurion was a pagan, but he loved the Jews and helped them. The Jewish elders asked the Savior: “Visit him, he is worthy of such mercy: he loves our people and built us a synagogue.” (Synagogues were houses where people gathered to listen to the Holy Scriptures. Almost every city had synagogues, but there was only one temple in all of Judea - in Jerusalem.) The Savior went to the centurion. On the way, He met his friends, who conveyed to Him the centurion’s request: “Do not labor, Lord, for I am not worthy for You to enter my house. And I did not consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will recover. I myself am a subordinate person, however, when I give orders to my subordinates, they obey me; Everything is subordinate to you.” Jesus, having heard these words, turned to the Jews who surrounded Him and said to them: neither in Israel have I found such faith (Matthew 8:10). Those sent returned home and found that the patient had already recovered. How kind and courteous the Roman commander is to his servant! It is not bad for us Christians to learn from this centurion how to treat employees kindly. Look at the kindness and care he shows towards his servant. This servant fell ill; the illness confined him to bed, all hope of recovery had already disappeared, death was already ready to make him its victim. The centurion sees all this and with pain in his heart realizes that neither he himself nor anyone else can help his servant. But then he hears that a great miracle worker has come to the city, and a spark of faith and hope is lit in his soul. The centurion has forgotten everything: wealth, his high position, and the opinion of his fellow believers (pagans) about himself - with only concern for the sick servant, he prays to the Savior for his healing. Yes, another father would not treat his son with such love as the centurion treats his servant. Oh, if only we Christians had such a fatherly, loving attitude towards employees! But, unfortunately, this is not the case with us in reality. Most owners are cold and indifferent towards their employees. They look at employees as labor. As long as they are healthy and work hard, they are good. If for some reason an employee becomes incapable of his work, due to old age or sudden illness, we hasten to remove him from us as quickly as possible. Few of us will try to be patient with him, to invite a doctor; and a hospital visit is a rare occurrence. And yet how expensive it is for a sick employee! Owners do little good to employees in other cases. But what is most regrettable is that many deliberately distract them from the church, forcing them to work on holidays and Sundays. What a grave sin all such owners take upon their souls! How to answer them at the Last Judgment! Even worse and more ruthless are those employers who deprive the mercenary of his bribe, that is, do not give due wages to the working person. A person, working at your work, perhaps sheds not sweat, but blood, and you deprive him of the pay that he has earned through such hard work - aren’t you treating this worker mercilessly?! Isn't this obvious lack of mercy towards one's neighbor? And you, whom the Lord has destined to be servants, can learn from the servant of the Capernaum centurion. We saw how the centurion cared for his sick servant, looking for all kinds of means to alleviate his illness! Undoubtedly, the reason for this is the honest and faithful service of this servant. And you, employees, if you want to enjoy the love of your masters, work without laziness and guile; whoever your master is, serve him conscientiously. Take care of your property, do not hide anything from it, remember that evil acquired by evil will perish. But, while working for your masters, do not forget to work for the Lord, and you can please Him and achieve the Kingdom of God. Don’t say: how can we please God in our rank! I will give you an example that even in such a title you can please God and achieve heavenly glory. We will talk about the holy martyr Julia. Saint Julia was born in Africa, in Carthage, around the 6th century after the Nativity of Christ. At that time, the Persians attacked this city, defeated it and took many inhabitants prisoner. Among them was the young girl Julia, the daughter of a venerable Christian, who was sold into slavery to a pagan merchant. The captive was also a faithful servant of the non-religious master: always hardworking, honest, modest, and most importantly, pious. For her diligent and honest service, the owner and his entire family loved and respected Julia very much. The Lord blessed the owner's house: the merchant's business was going as well as possible. One day, going with goods to Gaul, he took Julia with him as a necessary, faithful, intelligent and managerial assistant. They sailed by sea and finally landed on an island in the Mediterranean Sea, where they stopped for a while. Having seen from the ship that a noisy pagan festival was being celebrated on the shore, the owner hurried there and with his companions took part in it. He bought a calf, sacrificed it and began to feast with everyone. During the feast, someone noticed that there was only one girl left on the ship, who was crying about something. It was Julia: she mourned the blindness and wickedness of the pagans. They immediately reported this to the elder of the island. He, having learned that Julia was a Christian and that she was hardworking, honest and at the same time firm in her faith, suggested to the merchant: “Would you like, I will buy her from you and then I will certainly force her to renounce God.” “You will never be able to force her to renounce her faith,” said the merchant, “she would rather die than renounce Christ. As for the fact that you would like to buy her from me, I will say one thing: your entire fortune is not enough to buy such an honest, hardworking and faithful slave.” Encouraged by such a decisive answer, the elder decided to force Julia to renounce her faith at all costs. When everyone at the feast became drunk and Julia’s owner fell fast asleep, the elder demanded Julia to come for questioning and began to force her to participate in the pagan celebration. Julia resolutely refused. Then he began to beat her; then, after various torments and tortures, he crucified her on the cross. The holy virgin endured all the suffering with amazing patience. When Julia’s owner woke up and found out that she was hanging on the cross, he hurried to her with the greatest sorrow, but it was too late: the martyr gave up her spirit in front of him. Her pure, holy soul, like a white dove, flew into the sky in full view of everyone. The owner was very sad about her death; but her co-religionists who were here mourned the martyr even more. Here, Christians, is an example of how you can serve people and please God. The Mystery of Uncomplaining Service Saint John of the Climacus says that, having come to one cenobitic monastery, he heard a lot about the virtuous life of the local cook. “Seeing that in his service he had constant tenderness and tears, I asked him to reveal to me how he was granted such grace? At my persistent request, he answered: “I never thought that I served people, but God; I considered myself unworthy of any silence and, looking at this fire, I constantly remember the eternal flame.” Truly great is the Christian God The Capernaum centurion, whom you heard about in the Gospel, teaches us the truth that faith has great power. Many saints teach the same thing. Let's imagine one example of the Christian faith. Born of pious parents, Saint Basil the Great, from childhood, acquired sincere faith and firm rules of Christian piety. While his other peers wasted their energy and time on worldly pleasures and pagan entertainment, Vasily turned all his efforts to studying the word of God and acquiring virtues and Christian wisdom. Having become the Bishop of Caesarea, Saint Basil fought against the heretics of that time - the Arians, who distorted the Holy Orthodox Faith. In defending the truth against the enemies of the Orthodox faith and the Christian Church, he showed such zeal and firmness that, in the words of St. Gregory the Theologian, he was for the Orthodox “a solid wall and stronghold,” and for heretics, “a rock that crushes the stone.” For such zeal for the Orthodox faith, the Lord rewarded Saint Basil with special grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit, manifested by the saint during his lifetime. At that time, the famous Jewish doctor Joseph lived in Caesarea. Foreseeing in spirit his conversion to Christ, Basil the Great sometimes invited him to his place and convinced him to leave the Jewish faith. But in response I always heard the same thing: “I want to die in the faith in which I was born.” When Saint Basil fell into an illness from which he was supposed to die, that doctor came to visit him among his friends. Seeing the great weakness of the archbishop, he advised to prepare everything necessary for burial, assuring that Saint Basil would not live until the morning. Having learned about this, the Saint asked: “And if I live until the morning, what will you do then?” “I am ready to die myself,” replied the Jew. “So,” said the saint, “you will die to sin and live for God.” “I understand what you are talking about,” answered the Jew, “and I swear that if you live until the morning, I will fulfill your will.” Then Saint Basil began to fervently pray to the Lord, so that for the sake of saving the doctor’s soul his life would extend until the morning. His prayer was heard. When morning came, Saint Basil sent for the Jew, but he did not want to believe the servant and he himself hurried to the saint. Seeing him alive, he exclaimed: “Truly the Christian God is great, and there is no other God besides Him; I am ready to fulfill my word. So, holy father, commanded that Holy Baptism be administered to me and my entire household.” “I myself will teach Holy Baptism,” the archpastor said then. “You can’t get up: you’re very weak,” the doctor objected. “The Lord will strengthen me,” and Saint Basil the Great stood up and went to church with him. Having baptized the doctor and his entire family, and after the Liturgy, having communed them with the Holy Mysteries, the great saint returned to his home and by the evening of that day he departed to the Lord in peace. This happened on January 1, 379. These are the miracles that right, sincere and firm faith in God and His Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, performs. Holy faith makes a person firm on all the paths of his life, strengthens and revives him where all human means are powerless. Let us more often kindle in our hearts the life-giving flame of the faith of Christ, let us accept with all our souls everything that the Holy Church and the word of God teach us. About spiritual poverty, or about Christian humility The Gospel of this Week teaches us, through the example of the Capernaum centurion, the virtue of humility. The ancient Church revered humility as the crown of all Christian virtues, the main beginning of Christian perfection, the best adornment of the followers of Christ (Tertullian, St. Cyprian, St. John Chrysostom). In the history of the ancient Christian Church we meet many ascetics known for their truly Christian humility, and especially among monasticism. Here are several church-historical examples of marvelously beautiful Christian humility. I. One of the remarkable teachers of the Church, famous for his education, Clement of Alexandria, did not want to have any other position than that of a teacher in a catechetical school. I. Saint Ephraim the Syrian always refused the degree of presbyter and bishop and remained a simple, modest deacon. The dying testament of Saint Ephraim the Syrian testifies to his great humility. In it he expressed what had filled his soul all his life: he expressed his broken spirit. He wrote: “Whoever places me under the altar, let him not see the altar of my God; It is indecent for a stinking corpse to lie in a holy place. Whoever buries me in the church may not see the Church of Light; Empty glory is useless to the unworthy... Take me on your shoulders and run with me and throw me as an outcast... Oh, if only someone would show you my deeds! You would spit on me. Truly, if the smell of my sins could be noticed, you would flee from the stench of Ephraim... Do not cover me with aromas - this honor is of no benefit to me; Burn incense in the sanctuary, and help me with prayers; dedicate the aromas to God, bury me with psalms... Do not put me in your coffins - your decorations will serve me nothing. I promised God to be buried among strangers; I am a wanderer, like them; So, brothers, place me with them. Look, Lord, I beg You, have mercy on me. I pray to You, Son of the Merciful, do not repay me for my sins.” III. Blessed Jerome, although he had the degree of presbyter, in fact remained a simple monk, considering himself unworthy to serve at the Throne of God. IV. Emperor Theodosius the Great, at the request of Ambrose of Milan, performs public repentance at the gates of the church. Constantine the Great, subduing his sense of being the ruler of the whole world, did not sit on the throne at the First Ecumenical Council, but stood out of respect before the assembled fathers of the Church. V. The Venerable Svyatosha (diminutive of the name Svyatoslav), Prince of Chernigov, monastically Nicholas (Nikola), was the son of David and grandson of Svyatoslav. And he thought how deceptive everything is in this vain life and that everything earthly flows, passes by, but future blessings are imperishable and eternal, and the endless Kingdom of Heaven, prepared by God for those who love Him. And leaving his reign, and honor, and glory, and power, and imputing all that to nothing, he came to the Pechersk Monastery and became a monk. It was in the summer of 1106, February 17th day. All the monks who were with him recognize his virtuous life and obedience. He spent three years as a cook, working for the brethren; He chopped firewood with his own hands for cooking, often even carried it from the shore on his shoulders, and with difficulty his brothers, princes Izyaslav and Vsevolod, kept him from doing this. However, this true novice asked and prayed that he could work in the cookhouse for the brethren for at least another year; after this they assigned him to the monastery gates, since he was skilled and perfect in everything. And he stayed here for three years, not leaving anywhere except the church. From there he was ordered to go serve at the meal. Finally, by the will of the abbot and all the brethren, he was forced to have his own cell, which he built himself. And to this day this cell is called Svyatoshina, as well as the vegetable garden, which he dug with his own hands. They also say about this blessed Saint that no one has ever seen him idle; He always had handicrafts in his hands, which is how he earned money for his clothes. The Jesus Prayer was constantly on his lips: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” He never ate anything other than monastic food, although he had a lot, but he gave it all to the needs of the strange and the poor and to the church building. There are still many of his books in the Pechersk Monastery. Even during his reign, this blessed prince Saint had a very skillful doctor named Peter, a Syrian by birth. This Peter came with him to the monastery, but, seeing his free poverty in the kitchen and at the gate, he parted with him and began to live in Kyiv, treating many. He often came to the blessed one and, seeing him in much suffering and immeasurable burden, admonished him, saying: “Prince! You should take care of your health and not destroy your flesh with immeasurable labor and abstinence: you will someday become so exhausted that you will not be able to bear the burden that lies on you, which you were pleased to take upon yourself, for the Lord’s sake. God does not want fasting or backbreaking labor, but only a pure and contrite heart, and you are not accustomed to the kind of need that you are enduring now, working like a forced slave; and to your pious brothers, Izyaslav and Vsevolod, your poverty is a great reproach; How can one go from such glory and honor to the last squalor, to the point of exhausting one’s body with such food! I marvel at your stomach: how it endures! I used to be burdened with sweet food, but now I take harsh potions and dry bread. Beware, someday the illness will gather from everywhere, and you, having no strength, will soon lose your life, it will no longer be possible for me to help you. And you will leave inconsolable crying to your brothers. So also your boyars, who served you, thought someday to become great and glorious through you; now they are deprived of your love and blame you; They built large houses for themselves, and they sit in them in great despondency. You yourself have no place to lay your head, and it seems to them that you have even abandoned your mind. What prince does this? Is your blessed father David, or your grandfather Svyatoslav? Or which of the boyars did this, or even had the desire to follow this path, except Varlaam, who was the abbot here? If you don’t listen to me, you will die before your time.” And so he often spoke to him, sitting with him in the kitchen or at the gate, having been taught by the prince’s brothers. The blessed one answered him: “Brother Peter! I thought a lot and decided not to spare my flesh, so that the struggle would not arise in me again: let it humble itself under the yoke of much labor. The power of God, it is said, brother Peter, is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). The present temporary sufferings are worth nothing in comparison with the glory that will be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18). I thank the Lord that He freed me from slavery to the world and made me a servant to His servants, these blessed monks. Let my brothers take care of themselves: each must bear his own burden. I left everything: my wife, and children, and house, and power, and brothers, and friends, and slaves, and village, for the sake of Christ, so that through this I might become an heir to Eternal Life. I became poor for God's sake in order to gain Him. And when you heal, don’t you also order us to abstain from food? But for me, dying for Christ is gain, and sitting on a weed heap, like Job, is a kingdom. If the princes did not do this before me, then let me appear as their leader: maybe one of them will be jealous of me and follow my trail. You and those who taught you don’t care about anything else.” Prince Svyatosha lived after that for another thirty years, without leaving the monastery until his repose into Eternal Life. When he died, almost the whole city was at his burial. VI. The Monk Theodosius of Pechersk, the famous abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, once returned at night from the Grand Duke Izyaslav. The prince’s servant, who did not know the ascetic, rudely told him: “Monk, you are always idle, and I am constantly at work; get on the horse and let me into the chariot.” The Monk Theodosius, without saying a word, exchanged places with the driver and drove him the whole night. In the morning, the servant was frightened when he saw that the boyars he met were bowing to Theodosius, even dismounting from their horses, but the monk brought him to the monastery and ordered him to be treated well. VII. The Venerable Kirill of Belozersky, elected abbot by the brethren of the Simonov Monastery, was afraid of the honors bestowed upon him, resigned his rank and settled in a small cell as a simple monk. The humility of Saint Cyril of Belozersky was such that he once said to a certain monk, who at first respected him, and then hated and reviled him in front of everyone: “Everyone is mistaken about me, considering me righteous; only you speak the truth and know all my unworthiness.” When one prince was planning to go to the Monk Kirill’s monastery for a meeting, he, having learned about this, wrote to him to dissuade him from the trip: “I inform you in advance that you cannot see me; I will leave the monastery and go wherever God leads. Do you think that I am a kind, holy person here? No, truly I am more sinful and unhappy than everyone else and am filled with stench. If you come to me, all people will say: “I went for Kirill.” I. One commoner went with his sick son to the Monk Sisoes, who lived in Egypt. The patient died on the way. The father was not embarrassed by this, took the dead man and brought him to the monk. Knowing the latter’s humility, the villager did not openly ask him for help, but, entering with his dead son in his arms, bowed to the monk and at the same time laid his son at the feet of the elder, and he himself left the cell. Not knowing that a dead man was lying in front of him, and thinking that the one who bowed did not want to get up, the monk said to the deceased: “Get up and go!” The dead man came to life, stood up and came out to meet his surprised father. Then the father again went in to Sisoy and told him what had happened to his son and how he had brought him dead to him. The ascetic was greatly saddened when he heard this, and forbade the common people and his disciples to tell about everything that happened before his death. II. A demon-possessed man came to the desert monastery where the Monk Vissarion lived. The brothers offered a prayer for him in church, but the demon did not leave the unfortunate man. Then the monks began to reason: “What should we do? No one will drive out this demon except Vissarion, but how can you ask him about it? If we start asking, he won’t go to church. What if we do this: tomorrow we will bring the demoniac before everyone else to the church and seat him in the place of the monk. And when Abba rises, we will say to him: “Wake up your brother, father!” And so they did. And so when Vissarion, entering the church, began to pray, the monks said to him: “Wake up your brother, father!” And the monk said to the demoniac: “Get up and get out of here,” and the demon immediately left the man. III. One day, visitors came to a certain old man in Thebaid; with them was a demoniac, who was brought in so that the elder could heal him. They begged the elder for a long time, and finally he said to the demon: “Get out of God’s creation!” The demon answered: “I will go out, but first give an answer to my question: who are the goats and who are the lambs?” The elder answered: “Goats are like me, and who are sheep, God knows.” The demon, hearing this, exclaimed in a loud voice: “I am leaving because of your humility!” And he left immediately. The Solovetsky novice performed his obedience in the skete courtyard. One day a wild cow attacked him and seriously injured him. Brought up in an unconscious state, with a broken head, wounds on his face and injuries on his body, he was sent to a monastery for healing. Upon arrival at the monastery, the novice immediately went to the elder Naum, and as soon as he entered the corridor where his cell was located, the elder himself came out to meet him. “What, brother, do you believe that everything is possible with God, that He can heal your ailments?” – the old man asked him. In response to an affirmative answer, he again asked: “Do you firmly and with all your heart believe?” After the second confirmation, Elder Nahum poured water into a wooden ladle and, making the sign of the cross, served it, saying: “Drink in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” The novice drank. “Drink more.” The novice refused the third ladle, then the elder poured it on the novice’s head, saying: “In the name of the Holy Trinity, be healthy.” Water poured from his head onto his neck and all over his body, and the patient felt completely healthy. You might be interested in: