Беседа 14. На упивающихся

Evening spectacles prompt me to speak; but again what holds back my desire, dulls my zeal is the uselessness of my previous labors. And the farmer, when his first seeds have not sprouted, does not begin to sow on the same arable land another time with such zeal. If after so many admonitions, which I made without fail, admonishing you in the previous time, and which I did not stop during these seven weeks of fasting, proclaiming to you the Gospel of the grace of God, there was no benefit, then with what hopes will I speak now? Oh, how many nights have you spent in vain in vigil! How many days in vain did we gather here! And oh, if only it were in vain! For whoever, having succeeded in good deeds, then returned again to his former custom, has not only lost the reward of his labors, but is even worthy of the gravest condemnation; because, having tasted God’s good word and been rewarded with knowledge of the mysteries, he lost all this, caught up in short-term pleasure. For it is said: “The little one is worthy of mercy, but the mighty will be more severely tormented” (Wis. 6:6). One evening, one enemy attack destroyed and turned all this work into nothing. Therefore, why should there be zeal for the word now? And I would have remained silent (know this), if I had not been frightened by the example of Jeremiah, who, when he did not want to speak to the disobedient people, experienced what he himself described, namely, that he had fire in his insides, and he weakened “everywhere, and could not carry it” (Jer. 20:9). Intemperate women, forgetting the fear of God, despising the eternal fire, on the very day when, for the sake of the remembered resurrection, they should have sat in their houses and had in their thoughts that day on which the heavens will open, and the Judge will appear to us from heaven, and the trumpets of God, and the resurrection of the dead, and righteous judgment and reward to each according to his deeds - instead of having this in mind, cleanse our hearts from the evil ones thoughts, to erase with tears past sins and prepare to meet Christ on the great day of His appearance - having thrown off the yoke of Christ's service, casting off the veils of decency from one's head, despising God, despising His Angels, shamelessly exposing oneself to every male gaze, letting down one's hair, dragging clothes behind oneself and, together, playing with one's feet, with an insolent gaze, with bursting with laughter, frantically indulging in dancing, attracting to themselves all the lust of young people, forming faces outside the city at the tombs of the martyrs, they made these consecrated places a place of their own shame, desecrated the air with adulterous songs, desecrated the earth, trampling it with unclean feet while dancing; exposing themselves as a spectacle to a crowd of young men, becoming truly shameless, completely frenzied, leaving no opportunity to surpass them in fury. How can I keep silent about this? How and how much should I pay? For us, wine was the cause of the destruction of souls, wine, which by the gift of God was given to the chaste for relief from weakness, but has now become for the lustful a weapon of intemperance. Drunkenness is a voluntarily summoned demon that invades the soul through voluptuousness, drunkenness is the mother of vice, opposition to virtue, makes the courageous timid, the chaste lustful, does not know the truth, takes away prudence. Just as water is hostile to fire, so excess in wine extinguishes reason. Therefore, I was somewhat hesitant to speak against drunkenness, not because this evil is small and can be ignored, but because the word would not bring any benefit. If a drunk is not in control of his mind and is darkened, then the one who reprimands him is wasting words for the one who does not listen. Therefore, to whom would I speak, if the one who needs admonition does not hear what is said, but the chaste and sober one is clean from this passion, and he does not need the help of the word? What remedy should I use in this case, if speech is useless and silence is indecent? Should I leave him without care? But negligence is dangerous. Or say something against the Death Eaters? But I will voice a dead rumor. Just as in contagious diseases, doctors bring the bodies of the healthy to safety with protective aids, but do not even apply their hands to those possessed by the disease, so the word will be only half useful for you, serving as a protection for the uninfected, and not as a liberation and healing from the disease for those possessed by it. How are you different from the dumb, man? Was it not the gift of reason, which you received from your Creator, that you became the ruler and master of all creation? Therefore, having deprived himself of meaning through intoxication, “become like the senseless cattle and become like them” (Ps. 48:13). But I would rather say that a drunkard is more senseless than cattle, because all four-legged animals and animals at certain times have a desire to copulate; but those whose soul is bound by rapture, and whose body is filled with unnatural heat, at every time, at every hour, strive for unclean and shameful embraces. And it is not this alone that produces foolishness in them, but also the vicissitudes of feelings show that a drunken person is worse than any beast. For what kind of beast sees so little and hears so little, like a drunken man? Drunk people do not recognize those closest to them, and they often run to strangers as if they were acquaintances. They often jump over shadows, like over a stream or ditch. And their hearing is filled with sounds and noise, like a raging sea. They imagine that the earth is rising up and the mountains are going around. They sometimes laugh incessantly, and sometimes they worry and cry inconsolably; sometimes bold and fearless, sometimes fearful and timid. Their sleep is heavy, almost continuous, suffocating, close to actual death, and wakefulness is more insensitive than sleep itself; because their life is a dream; those who have no clothes, who have nothing to eat tomorrow, reign in intoxication, lead armies, build cities, divide money. The wine boiling in them fills their hearts with such dreams, such seduction. Others are driven into the opposite passions: they fall into despair, become sad, restless, tearful, afraid of any noise, and are horrified by everything. The same wine, according to different body compositions, produces different passions in souls. In those whose blood, causing excitement, it blooms on the surface of the body, it makes them bright, pleasant and joyful; and those whose weight suppresses their constitution, compressing and thickening their blood, leads them to the opposite position. Is it still necessary to talk about many other passions, about waywardness, about irritability, about the tendency to complain about everything, about the fickleness of the soul, about screams and confusion, about the acceptability of any deception, about the inability to restrain oneself from anger? Intemperance in pleasure flows from wine as from a spring, and along with intoxicating drinking the disease of lust invades, from which the impudence of the drunkards surpasses any frantic desire of animals for the other sex. The dumb ones know the rules of nature, but the drunken ones look for the female in the male field, and the male in the female. It is not easy to describe in words how many evils come from drunkenness. The harmfulness of the infection affects people not in an instant of time, but as the air gradually introduces into the body the damage that comes from it; but the harm from wine suddenly invades. For having thus destroyed their soul, and having, as it were, become speckled with all kinds of uncleanness, those who are drunk destroy their very physical constitution. They not only wither and melt from an excess of pleasures, which incite lust, but even when they are very fat, their body is filled with moisture and phlegm and is devoid of vitality. Their eyes are faded, their faces are pale, their breathing is difficult, their tongue is unsteady, their pronunciation is unclear, their legs are weak, like those of children, the separation of excesses occurs by itself, flowing out as if from a dead thing. They are pitiful in the midst of their pleasures and even more pitiful than those overwhelmed in the middle of the sea, when the waves, catching up with one another and flooding them with themselves, do not allow them to get out of the excitement. So these people’s souls are drowned, flooded with wine. Therefore, just as ships caught in a storm, when they begin to fill with water, are, of necessity, relieved by throwing off their cargo, so those who are drunk need relief from what burdens them. But by vomiting and vomiting, they are barely freed from the burden and are to that extent more pitiful for the unfortunate swimmers, because the swimmers lay the blame on the winds and the sea, on external disasters, and those who get drunk arbitrarily bring upon themselves a storm of intoxication. One who is possessed by a demon is pitiful, and one who is drunk, although he suffers the same thing, is not worthy of pity, because he is struggling with a demon that has been arbitrarily summoned. Those who get drunk also perform drunken medicine, not in order to avoid suffering any harm from wine, but in order to constantly be in rapture. The day is short for them; and the night, even a winter one, is not enough for them to drink. There is no end to this evil. Wine leads itself to more; it does not satisfy the need, but makes the need for another drink inevitable, inflaming those who are drunk and constantly arousing them to greater thirst. But when they think that their desire to drink is insatiable, then they experience the opposite of what they wanted. For the senses wither away from constant pleasure. Just as excessive brilliance darkens vision, and how those deafened by the strong noise of exorbitant defeat are brought to the point that they cannot hear at all - and those who get drunk, from excessive voluptuousness, without noticing it themselves, lose the sensation of pleasure. For them, wine is not tasty and watery, although it has not been diluted with anything; The young wine tastes lukewarm, although it is very cool, and the snow itself cannot extinguish the flame kindled within them by the excess of wine. “Who cares? Word of mouth to whom? Who should ship? Who cares about sorrows and quarrels? Who needs contrition in vain? Who has blue eyes? Do they not dwell in wine, and do they not observe where the feasts are?” (Prov. 23, 29–30). "Woe!" – this is the exclamation of the mourner. Those who get drunk are worthy of weeping, because “drunkards... will not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:10). And “rumor”, due to the confusion produced by wine in thoughts. And “sorrow” from the unpleasant consequences of this pleasure - drinking; because their legs are tied, their hands are tied from the vapors that ecstasy conveys to them. However, even before these illnesses, during the drinking itself, seizures occur with them, characteristic of those who are mentally insane. For when the meninges are filled with the fumes that sublimate evaporating wine, the head is struck with unbearable pain, and, not having the strength to stand upright on the shoulders, falls to and fro, swaying on the vertebrae. And “quarrels” he calls conversations during feasts that are immoderate and contentious. And “contrition in vain” occurs among drunkards who cannot stand on their feet due to intoxication; for staggering they fall in all possible forms, which is why it is necessary to have “contrition in vain” on the body. But who will say this to people devoted to drunkenness? Their heads are heavy from intoxication, they doze, yawn, see as if in a fog, and feel nauseated. Therefore, they do not listen to teachers who in many places cry to them: “Do not get drunk with wine, in it there is fornication” (Eph. 5:18); and again: “wine is innocent, but drunkenness is reproachful” (Proverbs 20:1); and not listening to them, therefore they gather the fruits of drunkenness. Their body swells, their eyes are wet, their lips are dry and burning. Just as ravines seem full while spring streams flow through them, but after the flood they remain dry, so the lips of drunkards, while filled with wine, are full and wet, but as soon as it has flowed through them, they turn out to be dry and devoid of moisture; constantly raped and poured with wine beyond measure, they also lose their vital moisture. For what human constitution would be so strong as to resist all the evil consequences of drunkenness? Is there any way for the body, which is constantly hot and always drunk with wine, not to become weak, frail, and exhausted? This causes trembling and relaxation. Because from excessive drinking of wine, breathing is interrupted, the nerves lose their tension, and shaking occurs throughout the body. Why are you bringing Cain’s curse upon yourself, shaking and spinning all your life? For the body, when it has no natural support, of necessity sways and sways. How long will this wine last? How long has this drinking been going on? Finally, there is a danger that you will turn from a person into dirt. So you are all dissolved in wine, and you have rotted with it from daily intoxication, giving off the smell of wine, moreover, burnt out, like a vessel no longer good for anything. Isaiah mourns such people: “Woe to those who rise in the morning and strong drink, those who wait for the evening: for I will burn the wine: for I drink wine with harps and pipes, but they do not look at the works of the Lord, and do not consider the works of His hand” (Is. 5:11-12). It is the custom of the Jews to call any drink that can produce intoxication strong drink. So, the people who, when the day comes, “look where the feasts are” (Proverbs 23:30), look into places where wine is sold and in taverns, receive each other to drink together, and worry about such things exhaust all their spiritual care, the prophet laments for the fact that they do not leave themselves a little time to think about the wonders of God. For they do not allow their eyes leisure to look at the sky, to study its beauty, to consider all the amenities of creatures, in order to understand the Creator from their orderly order. But as soon as the day begins, they decorate the places of their feasts with colorful carpets and colored curtains, show zeal and care in preparing drinking vessels, arranging cooling vessels, cups and vials, as if for show and for spectacle; as if a variety of vessels could hide satiety from them, and the exchange and transfer of cups could provide sufficient delay during drinking. At the same time, there are some princes of parties, chief cupbearers and founders of the feast: order is invented in disorder, and in an unseemly matter - a device, so that, just as squires attach importance to worldly authorities, so drunkenness, like a queen, is surrounded by servants, and its shame is covered by excess zeal! Moreover, wreaths and flowers, fragrant ointments and incense, and thousands of invented extraneous amusements provide greater entertainment to those who are perishing. Then, as the feast continues, challenges begin to see who can drink more, competitions and feats between those seeking the honor of surpassing each other in drunkenness. And their legislator of these exploits is the devil, and the reward for victory is sin. For whoever pours more whole wine into himself receives victorious crowns from others. Truly, “the glory is in their cold” (Phil. 3:19). They compete with each other and take revenge on themselves. What word can follow the vileness of what is happening? Everything is full of foolishness, everything is full of confusion! The vanquished revel, the victors revel, and the servants laugh; hands refused to serve, lips do not accept, the womb is torn, but evil does not cease. The poor body, deprived of its natural strength, weakened, unable to withstand the violence of excess. A pitiful sight for Christian eyes! The one who blooms with age, is full of bodily strength, distinguished in the military lists, the one lying down is carried home; he cannot stand upright and walk on his own feet. He who should be terrible to his enemies becomes a reason for the laughter of children in the marketplace. He was deposed without a sword, killed without enemies. An armed man, in the prime of his life, has become a prey to wine, ready to suffer from his enemies whatever they please. Drunkenness - loss of reason, exhaustion of strength, untimely old age, short-term death. Drunken ones - what other than pagan idols? “They have eyes and do not see; they have ears and do not hear (Ps. 113:13-14); my arms became weak and my legs went numb. Who intended this? Who is the culprit of these evils? Who dissolved this hell of fury for us? Human! You made a battle out of a feast. You throw away young men, led out by the arms, as if wounded, from the battlefield, killing the flower of their youth with wine. You invite him over as a friend for dinner, but throw him away dead, extinguishing the life in him with wine. When, in the opinion of others, they are satiated with wine, then they begin to drink, and drink like cattle, as if from a spring that suddenly appeared, in which as many springs have opened as there are those who are reclining. For as the feast continued, a young man, courageous in the build of his shoulders, not yet drunk, came to them, carrying a huge vial of chilled wine. Having pushed away their cupbearer, he stands in the middle and, through curved tubes, equally divides the intoxication of the feasting people. Here is a new measure of intemperance, so that, evenly indulging in intemperance with each other, no one will surpass the other in drinking. For, dividing the pipes among themselves, and each taking the one facing him, like bulls, as if from some reservoir, they drink without taking a breath, hastening to draw as much into the larynx as the cooling vessel gives them from above through the silver water pipes. Inclining your gaze to your poor belly, measure the size of the vessel you are drinking; its capacity is equal to one boiler 68. Look not at the vessel to see if you will empty it soon, but at your own belly, because it has been full for a long time. Therefore, “woe to those who rise in the morning, and to those who persecute strong drink, who wait for the evening,” and to those who spend the day in rapture; because they no longer have time to look at the works of the Lord, and to think about the works of His hands. “I will burn the wine.” The heat produced by the wine, communicating with the flesh, becomes an arson for the enemy's kindled arrows. Wine drowns reason and intellect and excites, like a swarm of bees, passions and voluptuousness. What chariot, drawn by young horses, rushes so disorderly, throwing off its driver? Any ship not steered by a pilot and carried along the waves, wherever it happens, is not safer than one that is drunk? After such troubles, men and women, having formed common faces together and betrayed their souls to the wine-loving demon, sting each other with the stings of passions. On both sides there is laughter, shameful songs, adulterous body positions that excite lust. Tell me: are you really laughing and enjoying shameful pleasure, when you should be crying and groaning about what happened before? Sing fornicating songs, abandoning the psalms and hymns that you have learned. Do you move your legs and jump like crazy, dance obscenely when you should bend your knees to worship? Whom will I mourn? virgins who have not entered into marriage, or those who already wear the yoke of marriage? Some came home no longer having virginity; others did not return to their husbands chaste. For if some escaped bodily sin, then, without a doubt, they accepted corruption into the soul. The same should tell me about men. You looked bad, and they looked at you bad: “Whoever looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her” (Matthew 5:28). If chance encounters are so dangerous for those looking in passing, then what are the deliberate gatherings where one can see women who have no shame from intoxication, taking on a dissolute appearance, singing tender songs, the mere hearing of which can arouse in the intemperate the whole fury of voluptuousness? What will they say or how will they justify themselves who gather a swarm of countless evils at such spectacles? Will they say that they did not look to arouse lust? So, according to the immutable determination of the Lord, they are subject to condemnation for fornication. How will Pentecost receive you who have so desecrated Easter? On Pentecost there was a clear and visible descent of the Holy Spirit for all, but you first made yourself a dwelling place for the opposing spirit, became an idol’s church, instead of becoming the church of God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. You have brought upon yourself the oath of the prophet, who speaks on behalf of God: “I will turn your holidays into pity” (Am. 8:10). How will you rule over slaves when you yourself, like slaves, are enslaved by “foolish and destructive” lusts (1 Tim. 6:9)? How will you instruct your children when you yourself lead an unreasonable and disorderly life? So what? Should I leave you in this state? But I am afraid that the disorderly person may become even more depraved, and that he who is wounded by him will not be “devoured through much sorrow” (2 Cor. 2:7). For it is said: “healing will satisfy great sins” (Eccl. 10:4). May fasting cure drunkenness; psalm - shameful songs; let tears be the medicine of laughter. Instead of dancing, kneel; instead of applauding, hit your chest; and let elegance in clothing replace humility. And most of all, may alms redeem you from sin. For “the deliverance of a man... is his own wealth” (Proverbs 13:8): receive many unfortunate people into the fellowship of prayer, so that the invention of the prophet may be forgiven you. When “the people sat down to eat and drink and rose to play” (and their game was idolatry (Ex. 32:6), then the Levites, armed against their brothers, sanctified their hands for the priesthood. So you, who fear God, who were grieved by the shame of reprehensible deeds, we command the following: if you see those who repent of the indecency of what they have done, have compassion with them as with your own with your sick members. If you see those who disobey and despise your sorrow for them, “go out from among them and separate yourself... and do not touch uncleanness” (2 Cor. 6:17), so that in this way they will come to the knowledge of their own sin; glory and power forever and ever. Amen. A measure of liquids containing about 12 cubic inches. You might be interested in: