Гимн 2. О том, что страх раждает любовь, любовь же, Божественным и Святым Духом, искореняет из души страх и остается в ней одна 121 .

How will I sing, how will I glorify, how will I worthily praise my God, who has overcome the multitude of my sins? How can I even look at height 122? How will I lift up my eyes, how will I open my mouth, Father? How will I move my lips, how will I stretch out my hands to the heights of heaven? What words will I find, what sayings will I use? how dare I say? How can I ask for forgiveness of my immeasurable falls and many sins? “Truly, I have done deeds that exceed all forgiveness. You know, Savior, what I'm talking about. By unnatural deeds I surpassed all nature and became worse than the dumb: all the animals of the sea and all the livestock of the earth. Having transgressed Your commandments, I truly became worse than reptiles and beasts 123. So, having desecrated my body and soul, how will I appear to You? How can I look at You? How can I even dare, wretch, to stand before Your face? How can I not run away from Your glory and the brilliant light of Your Holy Spirit? How can I not go alone into darkness, having done the works of darkness and being excommunicated from the host of saints? How can I, who bear condemnation from here already from my deeds, then endure Your voice, sending me into darkness? All trembling and trembling, possessed by fear and horror, I cry out to You: I know, Savior, that no one else has sinned before You as I have, nor committed such deeds as exactly what I, the unfortunate one, did, being the author of death for others. But on the other hand, I know this and am confident, my God, that neither the greatness of crimes, nor the multitude of sins, nor the shamefulness of deeds will ever exceed much, better than Thy great love for mankind and that exceeding the mind and word of Thy mercy, which You abundantly pour out on fervently repentant sinners, cleansing and enlightening them, without envy making them partakers of the light 124 and fellow members Your Divinity and (which is wonderful for angels and for human thoughts) often talking with them, as with Your true friends 125. O infinite goodness, O inexpressible love! Therefore, I fall to You, fervently crying: just as You accepted the prodigal son and the harlot who came to You, so, O Merciful One, accept me also, who repents from the soul... Having, O my Christ, counted the drops of my tears as if they were always flowing springs, wash my soul with them, and wash away the defilements of my body, which are from passions. Cleanse my heart from all wickedness, because it is the root and source of sin. Evilness is the seed of the wicked sower; and where it is, there it grows and rises up, and produces very many branches of wickedness and malice. Having uprooted these roots from the depths, O my Christ, and having cleansed the field of my soul and heart, plant Thy fear in them, O Merciful One. Let him take root and grow well, so that he may grow high in the guardianship of Your commandments, hourly grown by the multiplication of tears and tearful streams, being watered by which, he grows more and more and rises upward. In proportion to fear and with it, humility also increases, and with humility all passions disappear, and with them a horde of demons is driven away. All the other virtues around this queen of virtues are like guards, friends and maids accompanying the mistress. When they are gathered together and connected to each other, then among them, like a tree when waters come out (Psalm 1:3), the fear planted by You grows, and little by little it shows a color that is unusual for me. Extraordinary, I said, because every breed gives birth according to its kind, and the seed of all trees in each of them is according to its kind. Your fear also shows the color of an unusual breed and the fruit that is also unusual and unsuitable for it. Since fear is naturally full of despondency and constantly saddens those who have acquired it, making them like slaves who deserve many blows, who from hour to hour await the beating of death, seeing its scythe and not knowing only the last moment. Having neither hope nor complete confidence in a perfect pardon, they tremble and tremble at the end, languishing in uncertainty and constantly awaiting the final judicial verdict 126. So, the color that fear brings is inexplicable in appearance and even more inexplicable in image, because when it blooms, it is visible, but immediately disappears, which is neither natural nor consistent, but contrary to the nature of nature, surpasses all nature. Meanwhile, the color seems so beautiful that it surpasses every word and captivates my whole mind to contemplate itself, not allowing it to remember anything inspired by fear, but then it makes me forget all these things, and soon... flies away. The tree of fear is again without color; when I, surrendering to sadness, sigh and fervently cry out to You, I again see color on the branches of the tree. Having fixed my gaze, O Christ, on one color, I then do not see a tree, but an increasingly blossoming color, which, attracting all of me to itself with love, turns into the fruit of love and disappears. This fruit does not tolerate being borne by the tree of fear, but when it is fully ripe, then it seems alone without the tree, because in love there is absolutely no fear, but without fear this fruit cannot be born in the soul. Truly this is a miracle, surpassing words and every thought, that a tree cultivated with the help of labor gives flower and bears fruit, but its fruit, uprooting the entire tree, remains alone on its own. How a fruit can exist without a tree is something I absolutely cannot explain. Meanwhile, love remains and abides without the fear that gave birth to it; therefore, it truly is all joy, and the one who has acquired it fills him with joy and joy, tormenting him with a feeling outside the world, which fear is completely unable to produce, because, being among visible and sensible things, how can he remove from them the one who has it, and with feeling combine all of it with the invisible 127? The color and fruit born of fear, being outside the world, is capable of delighting the mind and lifting the soul with it and carrying it away outside the world. But how love takes them outside the world - I would like, you say, to know exactly? It is impossible to express this clearly, as I have already said; however, listen and I will tell you. This love is the Divine Spirit. Those (disciples) spoke about this 128 when the Lord became invisible to them. She is that all-perfecting and enlightening Light that was in them 129. However, this Light is not from the world, nor anything from the world at all, nor is it a creature, since He is uncreated and exists outside all creatures, as uncreated among created things. Understand what I am telling you, child. For He is separated from them. The uncreated cannot in any way become a creature. But if He wanted, then it is possible for Him to do this, because the Word, through the assistance of the Spirit and the favor of the Father, truly became an invariably perfect man. Being by nature uncreated by God, It became created in an ineffable way, and having deified what was perceived, in two actions and two wills it showed me a double miracle: visible and invisible, contained and uncontrollable, appearing as a creature among all creatures, and not accidentally and ghostly becoming a creature, as some thought. It was not at all illusory, but, being among sensory creatures, the Word was visibly united with what was perceived, like a creature. Having taken the creation and hiding or raising it to a height in His glory - this is His dwelling, a glory that surpasses our understanding, It then suddenly hid 130. For the Creator of everything, being inconceivable for all creatures, as God who fills everything, how else could he hide himself? Or you will begin to move the Lord from one place to another and will claim that He thus hid from the eyes of the Holy One. Apostles 131 ? Away, lest you ignorantly fall into blasphemy. If you wish, then listen to the actions of love, and you will learn how it is above all. Just what exactly? But have you not heard the words of the Apostle (I Cor. 13:1-3) that to have love is higher than to speak in the tongues of angels and all men, to have all faith so as to move mountains, to have all knowledge and to know the depth of the sacraments, to squander all wealth and become a beggar yourself and even give up your body to be burned for Christ? Love is so much higher than all this that without it, not one of these virtues, nor all of them together, will bring any benefit to the one who has acquired them. Therefore, whoever is deprived of love and all the above-mentioned virtues, where, tell me, will he end up? what will it do? How dare those who question him call themselves faithful? So, listen to my words about love. Whether I sit in my cell at night or during the day, love is invisibly and unknownly present to me. Being outside all creatures, but at the same time with everyone, she is fire and light (αἴγλη), she becomes a cloud of light and becomes the sun. So, like fire, it warms my soul and ignites my heart, arousing in them desire and love for the Creator. When I ignite with my soul and become like fire, it, like a luminous radiance, flies all around me, emitting brilliant rays into my soul, and enlightening my mind and making it sighted, showing it capable of the heights of contemplation. This is exactly what I called earlier the color of fear. Seeing this Light and being filled with unspeakable joy, I did not rejoice for long at what I saw, since, having brought me divine joy, He departed, taking with Him my mind, and feeling, and every worldly desire. Having followed Him, my mind wanted to catch the Light that appeared to me, but did not find it created and could not be completely outside of creatures in order to catch this uncreated and elusive Light. However, my mind went around everything, trying to see Him: it searched the air, turned around the sky, went, it seems, in search of the abyss and the ends of the world; but I didn’t find anything in all this, since it was all created. Therefore, I cried, was sad and burned inside, and being in a frenzy, as if insensitive, I spent my life like this. Afterwards He came when He wanted, and descending in the form of a light cloud on my head, seemed to completely sag and made me, who was in a frenzy, scream. However, having flown away again, He left me alone; when I carefully began to look for Him, I suddenly found Him all within myself again and recognized Him, seeing it inside my heart, truly like a luminary or like the disk of the sun. Appearing in this way and being clearly recognized by me, He put the crowd of demons to flight, drove away timidity, inspired courage in me and, having exposed my mind from worldly feelings, clothed me in the clothes of intelligent feelings. Having separated me from the visible and combined with the invisible, He gave me to see the Uncreated and rejoice in the fact that I was separated from created things, visible and perishable, and united with the Uncreated, Imperishable, Beginningless and Invisible to all. For this is love. Let us flow, faithful ones, zealously to work, let us hasten, careless ones, awaken, lazy ones, so that, possessing love, we may become even more partakers of it, and thus moving from here and being with it and outside of visible things, with it we may appear to the Creator and Master. So that otherwise, finding ourselves without it, that is, without love, among visible things and among creatures, we would not be left, like creatures, in fire and tartar and terrible torment. If it were possible to be saved without her, O my Christ, then how? - No, no, this is in no way possible. If we separate ourselves from the light, how can we escape the darkness? If we lose joy, how can we free ourselves from sadness? Once outside the bridal chamber, how will we rejoice within it with those who are there? Having been cast out from the kingdom, from Your sight, I say, Savior, what other salvation can we find, what consolation, or in what other place? It is truly and completely impossible to find such a place, even if some people unreasonably imagined it. For he who speaks of him is foolish. But perhaps someone, objecting, will say unreasonably: how can there be no other place of salvation or rest outside the kingdom of heaven, outside the palace and the assembly of the righteous? “Foolish one,” says love, have you not heard that your forefather Adam, having transgressed one commandment in paradise, was naked from divine glory and, together with Eve, was immediately expelled from paradise, receiving instead of pleasure 132 a life full of sweat, and a righteous sentence from God to live and die. So, suppose, it will happen during the judgment with those who will truly be naked from divine glory, like Adam 133. The first of all virtues, the queen and mistress, truly is love. She is the head of them all, clothing and glory. Without a head, the body is dead and soulless. Likewise, a body without clothes will not be naked? Likewise, virtues without love are vain and useless; So naked from divine glory is the one who does not have love, and even if he had all the virtues, he will appear naked and, not enduring his nakedness, will wish to hide better, since along with shame he will also have condemnation and will hear from the Judge of all: I do not know you. Having come to earth, the Creator took on soul and flesh, and gave us the Divine Spirit, Who is love. So, if you want and desire to receive the Divine Spirit, completely believe in God, also renounce yourself, without hesitation take the cross on your shoulders and die, child, by your will, so that you can become a partaker of immortal life. Let not the deceivers deceive you with their false speeches that (not from now on, but only) after death those who die receive life, so that, having believed, you will not be careless and lose the sacrament of life. Listen to the words of God, listen to the Apostles and teachers of the Church. What does Christ cry out for hourly? – Rivers of the divine source of ever-living water will flow from the womb of those who believe in Me (John 7:38). Saying this, what does He call water, if not the grace of the Spirit? He pleases the pure in heart (Matthew 5:8), saying that they will see God here. And all the Apostles and teachers cry out that from here we must still receive both the Holy Spirit and Christ himself, if only we wish to be saved. Listen to the voice of the Master, listen to the words of the Word, as He explains the kingdom of heaven, which people must still receive from here, saying that it is like a pearl of great price (Matthew 13:45). When you hear about a pearl, what do you mean? Would you say that it is a stone or something generally held and somewhat visible? Away from blasphemy, for this is a mental pearl. And the merchant who found her, tell me now how he found her? If she is uncontrollable and invisible, then where did he find her, how did he see her - teach me? How, having sold everything, bought something that he could neither see, nor hold in his hands, nor invest in the depths? By faith alone, of course, and hope, he was as determined as if he had it,” you answer. But the Lord did not say, as you believe, that he found it in hope, took it in hope and sold the property. Why should you be mistaken, why should you rely on empty hopes 134? You expose yourself that you do not want to search, you do not want to find, you do not want to sell your property and take the kingdom of heaven, which is within you, if you wish, as the Master said. But perhaps you are a beggar and have neither gold, nor possessions, nor wealth; and having heard that that priceless pearl is being bought by selling all one’s property, can you tell me how I, a poor person, will be able to acquire this divine and beautiful pearl? So I ask you to listen wisely. If you possessed the whole world and all that is in the world, and having squandered it, you distributed it all to orphans and widows and the needy beggars, and you yourself became a beggar, and you would think that you paid a completely equal price, saying: give me a pearl, because I have given all that is mine; then I would immediately hear in response from the Lord: what do you call all this yours? Naked you came from your mother’s womb and naked, of course, you will go to the grave again; What, foolish one, do you call yours? You are completely insensitive, you have not accepted the kingdom and will not receive the pearl. If you had completely squandered all your property, if you had become very poor and approached, saying: look, O Savior, on the contrite heart and soul, terribly tormented and greatly burned; Look, Master, at me naked, perplexed, alien to all virtue and not having anything to give as a ransom for You, the Word, and have mercy on me, only my God who is kind! For what worthy thing will I find in the world, O my God, that I could give in exchange for You, who created everything? For what did the harlot give you, what did the thief offer? or what wealth did the prodigal son bring to You, my Christ? - if you say this, you will hear: yes, they brought Me gifts, truly brought Me wealth: having given what they had, they received a pearl, more excellent than the whole world. If you wish, bring this to Me, and, of course, you will receive... Approach Me with this, and I will immediately show you the pearl that they received. If you give away your very soul, do not think or consider that you paid something completely worthy. For I, of course, have power, I also have pearls, which if the whole world were to receive, and with this world, myriads of other worlds, then not a single pearl would be missing from My treasures; and if you come to Me, as the harlot came, then I will give you a gift, just as I gave her. So God will tell you and teach you how the thief and the harlot, glorified in the world, came to Him, and how the prodigal son was received as soon as he turned. The robber was saved by faith, although he did a lot of evil. And righteously, because at a time when everyone denied Me, everyone was tempted, when I hung on the tree, he alone confessed Me as God and King and with all his heart called out to Me as immortal. That is why he received the kingdom first of all. What about the love of a harlot? what speech will present it? Carrying it in her heart, she approached Me as God and the Lord of everything visible and invisible, and brought it as generously as anyone had ever done before. Seeing the latter, I accepted her and did not take that love from her; but, having given her the pearl, he also left her love, or better yet, he kindled it even more, turning it into a great flame, and lowered her like a most honest maiden. For suddenly, having passed the whole law, like a wall, or, like a ladder, surpassing all the virtues, she reached the end of the law, which is love, and left Me, keeping her unharmed until death. In the same way, the prodigal son, turning with all his heart, unfeignedly repented, and although he had previously been My son, he came to Me not as a son, but asked Me to become as one of My hired servants. And not only did he speak with his lips, but also with his soul and deeds he showed what he said in words. His humility prompted Me to compassion: having immediately enriched him, I immediately glorified him, since I saw him come to Me with all my soul, that he did not turn back at all in his heart, as many do. So, whoever approaches Me in this way, unfeignedly prostrating himself before Me (so that every creature can hear), I will immediately accept him. But if someone wanted to receive My grace by cunning and came hypocritically, having malice inside or relying on their own works, being obsessed with arrogance or envy; he will have absolutely no part with Me. God proclaims this to you and everyone through us every hour. If you wish, I will clearly prove to you with other (arguments) that here you must still receive the entire kingdom of heaven if you want to enter it after death. Listen to God speaking to you again in parables. To what do I compare the kingdom of heaven? Listen, it is like a mustard seed, which a certain man took and sowed in his field; and it sprang up and truly became a great tree (Matthew 13:31). So tell me, listener, what is this grain? what do you think about him? speak frankly; otherwise I will speak and proclaim the truth. Of course, He called the kingdom of heaven grain for you. This grain is the grace of the Divine Spirit. And the field is the heart of each person, where the one who receives the Spirit throws it inside, hiding it in the inner parts so that no one sees it, and guards it with all care, so that it grows and, becoming a tree, rises to the sky. So, if you say that not here, but after death, all who ardently desire it will receive the kingdom of heaven, then you are perverting the words of our Savior and God. For if you do not take the mustard seed that He spoke about, if you do not sow it in your field, then you will be left without a seed at all. If you have accepted the seed, but choke it with thorns, or give the grain to be stolen by the birds, or carelessly leave your field without irrigation, and your seed will not sprout, will not grow, and will not bear fruit; then tell me, what benefit will this seed have for you? When at another time, if not now, will you receive this seed? - After death, you say. But you are deviating from the natural order: in what field, I ask you, will you then hide this grain? With what labor will you cultivate it so that it grows? Truly, brother, you are full of error and completely deceived. For this time is a time of labor, and the future is a time of crowns. Here you must get a pledge for yourself, said the Lord; here must perceive the seal. If you are prudent, then light the lamp of your soul from here before darkness comes and the gates of action are closed. Here I become a pearl for you and buy myself. Here I am wheat to you and like a grain of mustard seed. Here I am leaven for you and leaven your mixture. Here I am water and delightful fire for you. I am here for you with clothes, food, and all kinds of drink, if you wish. This is what the Lord says. So, if from these things you come to know Me as such and in this way, then you will also have Me there, and in an indescribable way I will become everything to you. If you leave here, not knowing the actions of My grace, then even there you will find in Me only a merciless judge. O my Christ and my God, do not judge me then and do not punish me for having sinned much before You, but accept me as one of the last of Your hired servants, and grant me worthy from now on to serve You, my Savior, and to receive Your Divine Spirit - the guarantee of the kingdom, and there to enjoy the glory of Your palace, contemplating You, my God, forever and ever. Amen. In P. r. (or P. to, - this is how we will further designate the Patmos. manuscript or the actual copy of it), as well as in l. n. (i.e. in the Latin translation) this hymn is number 17. To avoid repetition, the words: ὕπἐρ τὴν ἀλόγων φύσιν are left without translation. In P. r. or only in the copy of it (which we used) a whole sheet was apparently omitted here due to an oversight of the copyist until the words: “Fixing his gaze on one color”... Wed. in Greek publication of creative work Simeon NB. μέρος II, λογ. 55; εὐχὴ τῆς Ἁγίας Μεταλήψεως σ. 84 2, i.e. 55 hymn of the present translation. Here we had to deviate from a literal translation, since it would be too heavy. The negative answer here is too clear to need to be cited. Therefore, we leave the following phrase: ὄντως οὐδαμῶς ἰσχύσει without translation, as was done in Latin. translation. Here we mean Luke and Cleopas. Note Greek ed. Rev. Simeon obviously means Luke. 24, 31 – 32. When the hearts of Christ's disciples, through the Holy Spirit, were inflamed with love for the Lord, then their eyes were opened to the knowledge of Him. We are talking about the ascension of Christ. In l. n. here the following explanation is inserted: hoc illi dicebant evanuisse Dominum; sed rem ex se melientes plane - they spoke of this as the disappearance of the Lord, judging, of course, the matter by their own standards. The ascension of Christ must be understood in accordance with His divine nature; this is clear from the preceding words: “For the Creator of all things, being inconceivable for all creatures, like God who fills all things, how else could he hide himself?” Consequently, when Christ disappeared, from the gaze of those present, as God, He did not move spatially (localiter), although, as a man, He moved spatially; which Simeon also testifies to when he writes about the ascension of Christ in this way; “Having taken upon creation (his humanity, of course) and hiding or raising it to a height in His glory (this is the spatial movement of Christ as a man), It (the Word) then suddenly hid itself.” This is a note. taken from Min's edition and belongs to Latin. translator, only quotes from Simeon are corrected according to the original text. In P. r. here it’s a little different: γέμοντα, καὶ πόνων, οἶ μοι βίυν - which, in a pitiful way, immediately gave birth to death and life, alas for me! full of sweat and labor. Latin the translator obviously had this last reading in mind. In l. n. this place is conveyed in more detail as follows: “Think also about the future time when the judgment will be carried out; because whoever in reality will be naked from divine glory, like Adam, will immediately be expelled from paradise and, of course, from the kingdom of heaven and the heavenly palace, even if he had no sin, but appeared empty of virtues.” MR. gr. t. CXX col. 538С. Latin The translation" of this hymn was probably made from a more extensive version, since we read in it: “Why” are you mistaken? Why do you rely on empty hope for others, in vain, of course, for believers, do you want to prepare destruction and great torment for yourself? But He inspires you to first find the pearl, and when you see that it is incredibly and infinitely precious, then, having sold everything, buy it. You object: “in hope,” and thereby show that you do not want to search,” etc. col. 530CD. You might be interested in: