Беседа 15. О вере

To constantly remember God is pious, and in this a God-loving soul does not know satiety; but to describe the Divine in words is impudent, because thought is far from reaching the dignity of the object, and again the word does not clearly depict what is represented by thought. And therefore, if our thought is in many ways lower than the greatness of the subject, and words are lower than thought itself, then how could silence not be necessary, so that otherwise this miracle of theology would not turn out to be close to danger from the baseness of speech? Therefore, although in all rational beings the desire to glorify God is instilled by nature, however, speaking about Him according to his dignity is still not enough. We surpass each other in zeal for piety, but no one is blinded or self-deceived to such an extent that he begins to consider himself to have reached the very height of understanding. On the contrary, the more someone seems to succeed in knowledge, the more he will feel his weakness. Such was Abraham, such was Moses. When they came to the state of seeing God, as much as a person can see, then each of them humiliated himself most of all - Abraham, calling himself “earth and ashes” (Gen. 18:27), and Moses, calling himself “thin-voiced and tongue-tied” (Ex. 4:10), because he saw the weakness of his tongue, unable to serve the greatness of what was understood. But since now every ear is open to hearing theology, and the Church cannot be satisfied with such listening, confirming the word of Ecclesiastes that “the ear of hearing will not be filled” (Eccl. 1:8), it is necessary to speak to the best of one’s ability. Let’s talk about God, not what He is like in Himself, but how much we can talk about Him. Because we cannot grasp with our eyes the entire space between heaven and earth, we no longer refuse to look at it as much as we can; So now let us enclose piety in a few words, and let us yield victory over every word to the greatness of Nature. For both the angelic languages, whatever they may be, and the archangelic languages, even in combined connection with all intelligent nature, cannot depict even the slightest part, not only can they be compared with the whole. And you, if you want to talk or hear about God, renounce your body, renounce your bodily feelings, leave the earth, leave the sea, make the air lower than you, pass the seasons, their orderly order, the decorations of the earth, become higher than the ether, pass the stars, their miracles, their splendor, the size, the benefit they bring to the whole, the improvement, the lightness, the position, the movement and how much connection or distance they have between themselves. Having gone through all this with your mind, having gone around the sky and becoming higher than it, with one thought survey the beauties there: the heavenly armies, the ranks of the Angels, the principalities of the Archangels, the glory of the Dominions, the chairs of the Thrones, the Powers, the Beginnings, the Powers. Having passed all this, leaving all creation below your thoughts, raising your mind beyond this, imagine in your thoughts the nature of God motionless, unchangeable, unchanging, impassive, simple, uncomplicated, indivisible, unapproachable light, ineffable power, boundless magnitude, radiant glory, longed-for kindness, immeasurable beauty, which greatly affects the wounded soul, but cannot dignity is depicted to be a word. There is the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit - uncreated nature, sovereign dignity, natural goodness. The Father is the beginning of everything, the reason for the existence of creatures, the root of living things. From here came the source of life, wisdom, power, the indifferent image of the invisible God, the Son begotten of the Father, the living Word, who is God and who is with God; existing, not ascended; existing before centuries, and not subsequently acquired; Son, not acquisition; The producer, not the work; Creator, not creature; being all that the Father is. Son, I said, and Father. Pay attention to these personal properties. Being in the fact that He is the Son, He is everything that the Father is, according to the saying of the Lord Himself, Who says: “All that the Father has is Mine” (John 16:15). For indeed everything that is in the Proto-Image belongs to the Image. “We have seen, says the evangelist, His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father” (John 1:14). That is, it was not by gift and grace that visible properties were given to Him, but by natural communion, the Son has the dignity of the Father’s Divinity. For to receive is the common property of the creature; but to have by nature is characteristic of the Born. Therefore, as the Son, He naturally possesses what belongs to the Father; as the Only Begotten has everything in Himself collectively, sharing nothing with another. Therefore, from the very name: “Son”, we learn that He has a common nature with the Father; He was not created by command, but from His essence He shone forth inseparably, not in time united with the Father, equal to Him in goodness, equal in strength, sharing glory with Him. For what else is He but the seal and image showing in Himself the entire Father? And what after this, having organized the salvation of people, which He showed by appearing to us in the flesh, He tells you regarding the physical dispensation, calling Himself sent, unable to “do anything for Himself” (John 5:38, 30), having received the commandment (John 10:18), and the like, then let this not give you a reason to humiliate the Divine Only Begotten; because condescension to your weakness should not be a belittlement of the dignity of the Strong. On the contrary, consider nature to be godly, and accept derogatory words in relation to the economy. If in the present word we wanted to discuss such sayings in detail, then in an inconspicuous way for ourselves, we would introduce a great and even countless number of words into our subject. But let us return to what has been proposed, namely, that thought, when it is able to cleanse itself of material passions, leave behind every intelligible creature below itself and, like some fish, emerge from the depths to the very surface, becoming in the purity of creation, there it will see the Holy Spirit, where the Son is and where the Father is, it will see that the Spirit, co-essentially and by nature, has everything - goodness, rightness, holiness, life. For it is said: “Your Spirit is good” (Ps. 142:10); and also: “The spirit is right”; and also: “The Holy Spirit” (Ps. 50, 12, 13). And the Apostle says: “the law of the Spirit of life” (Rom. 8:2). All this was not acquired by Him, and did not subsequently arise, but as inseparable from the fire that it heats, and from the light that it shines; so inseparable from the Spirit that He sanctifies, gives life, that He is goodness, righteousness. Therefore, the Spirit consists there - there, in the blissful Nature; is not numbered among the multitude, but is contemplated in the Trinity; is proclaimed singly, and not included in combinations of many. For just as the Father is one and the Son is one, so the Holy Spirit is one. The ministering spirits in each rank represent to us a barely countable multitude. Therefore, do not look for in creatures the One who is above creation; Do not relegate the one who sanctifies to the ranks of those who are being sanctified. The Spirit fills Angels, fills Archangels, sanctifies the Forces, gives life to everything. He, shared by all creation, and acceptable to each in his own way, is not diminished by the multitude of participants. Although He gives His grace to everyone, it is not wasted on those who partake, but those who receive are filled, and He Himself does not become scarce. And just as the sun, illuminating bodies and having them as partakers in various forms, is not diminished by the multitude of those who partake, so the Spirit, communicating His grace to everyone, remains undiminished and inseparable. He enlightens everyone to the knowledge of God, inspires the prophets, makes lawgivers wise, perfects priests, strengthens kings, brings goodness to the righteous, beautifies the chaste, imparts the gift of healing, revives the dead, looses prisoners, adopts strangers. He does this through being born again. If he takes a believing publican, he makes him an evangelist (Matthew 9:9). If he is a fisherman, he makes him a theologian (Matthew 4:18–19). If he finds a repentant persecutor, he makes him an Apostle of the Gentiles 69, a preacher of the faith, “a chosen vessel” (Acts 9:15). Through them the weak are made strong, the poor become rich; To them the ignorant are wiser than the wise. Paul is weak, but by the presence of the Spirit, “heavies from the sweat of his body” impart healing to those who receive (Acts 19:12). And Peter himself was surrounded by a weak body, but, by the grace of the Spirit dwelling in him, the shadow that fell from his body drove away the illnesses of the afflicted (Acts 5:15). Peter and John were poor because they did not have “silver and gold,” but they gave health, which is more precious than gold. For the lame man, receiving gold coins from many, still remained poor, but, having received grace from Peter, he stopped begging, “leaping like a tree and praising God” (Acts 3:2-9). John did not know worldly wisdom, but by the power of the Spirit he spoke words into which no wisdom can penetrate. The Spirit abides in heaven and fills the earth: it is present everywhere and is not limited by anything. He dwells entirely in everyone and dwells entirely with God. He does not teach gifts in an official capacity, but sovereignly shares the gifts; for it is said “they share power with each other as he pleases” (1 Cor. 12:11). Although it is sent according to the economy, it acts freely. Let us pray that He may abide in our souls and not leave us at any time, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever! Amen. You might be interested in: