Безумие

Here we ask this: who in the world would be so insane that he could truly be called insane without sin? I think that bookish people, who study philosophy only externally, will say about the unbookish and illiterate: “He is a simpleton and an ignoramus.” Artists who are skilled in their craft and famous in their art will say about people who do not know the same art: “He can’t do anything.” People are insidious, cunning, able to turn a lie into truth, and vice versa, seeing a gentle-hearted and simple person, they will say: “He is a fool.” O people! I don't believe you. Look among yourselves: you will find enough crazy people among yourselves. The apostle says about philosophers: “professing to be wise, they became fools” (Rom. 1:22). Someone from the Patericon says the following to artists: “Your work is a real matter for you, but God’s work is like an empty matter.” But Christ Himself, interceding against the treacherous on behalf of gentle and simple-hearted people, calls them to Himself. “The gentle,” it is said, “and the righteous have united with Me” (Ps. 24:21). You too, O holy truth, respond from above, saying: “The sons of men are deceitful in the wrong balance” (Ps. 61:10). But what can we do? Who in the world is truly mad? One of the God-minded people says this to his friend: “If you know everything, but don’t know God, then you know nothing; if you don’t know anything, but you know God, then you know everything.” Or, simply put: if you went through all external wisdom, all science and all art, but you do not know God and are lazy to please Him, then you know nothing, you are a simpleton, you are stupid; if you do not know any of the earthly wisdoms, but you know God and please Him without laziness, then you are wise. Let us now see how wise is the one who pleases God, and how simple and ignorant is the one who does not know how to please God. Saint Callistus, from the words of Saint John Chrysostom, in one of his Sunday words says this: “Every sin is madness, and every sinner is a madman.” This saint shows even more clearly who is mad. A sinner, moreover, an unrepentant sinner, who does not want to turn to God, but falls into greater and more serious sins, according to what is written in Solomon, when the wicked falls into the depths of evil, he becomes negligent; such a sinner is truly insane. Why is he mad? Because knowing about death, knowing about the Last Judgment and the punishment of Gehenna and not being afraid of all this is extreme madness. In addition, to hear about the Kingdom of Heaven, about the eternal reward prepared for those who love God, and not desire all this is the extreme degree of stupidity, and therefore such a sinner is truly insane (1). Every unrepentant sinner is insane and has no reason. The mind or reason in a person is one bright candle, dispelling the darkness of ignorance, and showing what is good and what is evil, and always instructing on the bright path of God’s commandments. When a person, having not listened to the good, within the mind that enlightens him, deviates according to his evil will, for the thought of evil is in man from his youth (see Gen. 8:21), and follows his own lusts, doing inappropriate things (although he knows, according to the testimony of his mind, that to sin mortally is evil, for which he must be executed forever, but he neglects this and does not care about sin his own), then a person loses his mind, destroys his reason and, like a madman, wanders in the darkness of his violence. The psalmist says about these: “They did not know. They didn't understand. They walk in darkness” (Ps. 81:5). And Saint Callistus: “Truly, those who live in malice and disorder do not have the lightness of the Divine mind, for just as the rays of the sun are covered by dark clouds, so our mind, in the soul, shining clearly as at noon, is darkened by violence, and what violence is greater than sin?” So Chrysostom says: “There is nothing more evil than sin.” He creates the insane even before the great in mind. Solomon was wise, but how mad was he when he served sin? And many other wise men perished because of sins. It is fitting to pray diligently to the Lord, so that, having driven away the riot of sin from us, he would enlighten our minds with the light of reason of the Holy Gospel. “Lord, give me understanding, and I will learn Your law and keep it with all my heart” (Ps. 119:34). Teach me goodness, punishment and reason (3). Every sin is always preceded by madness, while virtue and good deeds are preceded by reason. Madness never gives a person peace and complete consolation unless right reason itself calms and consoles the soul with its enlightenment. For just as a blind man cannot have peace until he sees the light, so a madman cannot have peace until he comes to reason (3). You might be interested in: