Беседа 2. О посте 2-я

It is said: “Comfort... priests, people... speak in the ears of Jerusalem” (Is. 40: 1-2). This is the property of the word that it is sufficient both to intensify the desire in the diligent, and to excite the hunt in the careless and lazy. Therefore, military leaders, having placed the army in formation, speak exhorting speeches before entering the battle, and the exhortation has such power that it often even produces contempt for death in many. And those who are skilled in bodily exercises and teach them to young people, when they take wrestlers to the field for feats, convince them a lot of the need to work for the crowns, and many, heeding their convictions, do not spare their bodies in the competition for victory. Therefore, I, who organize Christ’s soldiers for battle against invisible enemies and prepare ascetics of piety through abstinence for crowns of righteousness, need a word of exhortation. What shall I say, brothers? Those who practice military affairs, those who engage in physical exercises, tend to strengthen their flesh with an abundance of food in order to take on work with greater strength; but whoever “has ... a struggle against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual malice” (Eph. 6:12), then it is necessary to prepare for the feat by abstinence and fasting. For oil anoints the fighter, and fasting strengthens the ascetic of piety. Therefore, as much as you take from the flesh, you will give to the soul so that it can shine with spiritual health; because it is not through bodily strength, but through constancy of the soul and patience in sorrow that victory is achieved over invisible enemies. Fasting is useful at any time for those who take it up, because demons do not dare to attack the fasting person, but the guardians of our life - the Angels - are more active with those who have cleansed the soul by fasting. But it is much more useful now, when its preaching is proclaimed throughout the entire universe. And there is not a single island, not a solid land, not a city, not a people, not a remote region where this sermon is not heard; on the contrary, military camps, travelers, sailors, and merchants still hear and joyfully accept the command. Therefore, no one excludes himself from the list of those who fast, which includes all kinds of people, all ages, all differences of rank. Angels in every church record those who are fasting. Take care, for the sake of short-term enjoyment of dishes, that you do not lose your angelic record, and before the one who recruits soldiers, you do not find yourself guilty of escaping from the military ranks. There is less danger if someone is accused of having fled from battle without a shield than if it turns out that he abandoned the great weapon - fasting. Are you rich? Do not violate the 18th post by not deigning to give him a place at your meal; do not send him away from your home, dishonorably forcing him to suffer contempt from voluptuousness, so that fasting does not slander you over time before the Lawmaker of fasts and, as a punishment, imposes on you greater abstinence from food, due to either a bodily illness, or some other sad circumstance. Poor thing, don’t mock fasting, because it’s been in your house and at your table for a long time. And for women it is as common and natural to fast as it is to breathe. Children, like flowering plants, may be watered with the water of fasting. For elders, work is made easier by long-standing familiarity with fasting, because work learned through long-term habit becomes less boring for those who practice it. A beneficial companion for travelers is fasting; for just as luxury forces one to burden oneself with burdens and carry with oneself what is necessary for pleasure, so fasting makes them light and free in action. Moreover, when a long march is prescribed, soldiers stock up on what is necessary, and not on what serves as luxury; And for us, who go out against invisible enemies and, after defeating them, hasten to our mountainous fatherland, is it not much more decent, as those living in a military camp, to also be content with what is necessary? “Suffer evil, as a good soldier” (2 Tim. 2:3), and strive lawfully so that you may be crowned, knowing that “everyone who strives will abstain from everyone” (1 Cor. 9:25). But we should not ignore what came to my mind just now, while I was saying this, namely: to the worldly warriors, as they work, the distribution of vital supplies is increased; and spiritual warriors, the less food they have, the more dignity they have. For like our helmet, it is of a different nature from perishable: the substance of the latter is copper, but ours is made up of the hope of salvation (1 Thess. 5:8); and their shield is made of wood and leather, but with us the shield is the stronghold of faith; we are also clothed with the armor of righteousness (Eph. 6:14), and they wear some kind of chain mail; and our sword in defense is the sword of the Spirit, but they defend themselves with a sword of iron; So, obviously, it is not the same foods that give strength to both, but the dogmas of piety strengthen us, and for them we need to satiate the belly. So, since the returning circle of time has brought these much-desired days to us, let us all accept them with joy, as our ancient educators, through whom the Church rewarded us for piety. Therefore, when you intend to fast, do not be sad in the Jewish way, but show yourself cheerful in the Gospel way (Matt. 6:16), not mourning the poverty of the stomach, but rejoicing in soul over spiritual pleasures. For you know that “the flesh... lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh” 19 (Gal. 5:17). Since “they oppose each other,” let us take away its boldness from the flesh, and increase our spiritual strength, so that, with the help of fasting, having won victory over the passions, we may be crowned with the crowns of abstinence. Therefore, prepare yourself to become worthy of this most venerable post; do not spoil tomorrow’s abstinence with today’s drunkenness. This reasoning is bad, this thought is crafty: “Since a five-day fast has been foretold for us, today we will plunge into drunkenness.” No one, intending to enter into a legal marriage with an honest woman, introduces concubines and indecent women into his house first, because a legitimate wife will not tolerate cohabitation with depraved ones. Therefore, in anticipation of fasting, do not introduce drunkenness to yourself, this popular harlot, this mother of shamelessness, laughter-loving, frantic, prone to outrages of all kinds; because fasting and prayer will not enter into a soul defiled by drunkenness. The Lord accepts the fasting person inside the sacred enclosures, but does not allow the drunken person to be vile and alien to the sacred. If you come tomorrow, emitting the smell of wine, and rotten wine at that, will your drunkenness be counted against you for fasting? Think not about the fact that you have not recently poured wine into yourself, but about the fact that you have not yet cleansed yourself of wine. Where shall I place you? To the drunkards or to the fasters? Previous drunkenness attracts you to yourself, and present non-eating indicates fasting. Drunkenness challenges you as its slave and rightfully will not give up on you, presenting clear evidence of your slavery, namely, the smell of wine remaining in you, like in a barrel. So the first day of fasting will not be real for you, because the remnants of rapture are stored in you. And where the first fruits are unusable, everything obviously loses value. “Drunkards... will not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:10). If you start fasting drunk, what good does it do you? For if drunkenness closes the doors of the Kingdom before you, will it be beneficial to fast? Don't you see that those who are experienced in breaking horses, assigned for riding 20 horses, when they are waiting for the day of riding, prepare for this by not giving them food? And you deliberately burden yourself with overeating. You are so much superior to gluttony and the dumb! The overburdened belly is not only incapable of running fast, but also incapable of sleeping, because, constrained by the abundance of food taken, it does not allow one to lie still, but forces one to often toss and turn from one side to the other. Fasting protects babies, makes the young chaste, makes the old man respectable: for gray hair, adorned by fasting, is more worthy of respect. Fasting is the most decent attire for women, a bridle in the prime of life, protection of marriage, educator of childhood. These are the services of fasting to each individual home. But how does he organize our life in society? At once a whole city and a whole people are brought to order, the cries are quieted, the discord is pacified, the reproach is silenced. What kind of teacher, with his arrival, stops the noise of children as instantly as the onset of fasting calms the excitement in the city? What lover of intemperance appeared during Lent? What kind of dissolute gathering was formed during Lent? Tender smiles, lascivious songs, frantic dancing are suddenly removed from the city, driven out by fasting, as if by some strict judge. If everyone accepted him as an adviser regarding their affairs, nothing would then prevent there being deep peace in the whole universe: peoples would not rebel against each other; armies would not engage in battle with each other. When fasting reigned supreme, then weapons would not be forged, courts would not be held, others would not be kept in chains; in a word, there would be no robbers in the deserts, no slanderers in the cities, no robbers on the sea. If everyone were disciples of fasting, then, according to Job, the “voice of the one collecting tribute” would not be heard at all (Job 3:18). Our life would not be so mournful and filled with despondency if fasting were the main ruler of our lives. For, as is obvious, he would teach everyone not only abstinence from food, but also complete removal and alienation from the love of money, covetousness and all vice, after the destruction of which nothing would prevent us from leading our lives in deep peace and spiritual serenity. Now those who reject fasting and pursue luxury as the bliss of life have introduced this great swarm of evils and, moreover, are damaging their own bodies. Notice the difference in faces, how they will appear to you tonight and how they will appear to you tomorrow. Today, the faces are swollen, red, moistened with a thin sweat, the eyes are also moist and insolent, due to internal darkness they are deprived of correct sensation; and tomorrow the faces will be calm, sedate, will take on a natural color, will be filled with intelligence and complete clarity of consciousness, because there will be no reason inside to darken natural actions. Fasting is likeness to the Angels, cohabitation with the righteous, learning to live a chaste life. Fasting made Moses a lawgiver. The fruit of fasting is Samuel. While fasting, Anna prayed to God: “Adonai, Lord Eloi of Hosts! If you look upon Thy servant and give me a man's seed, then I will give it before You as a gift: ... he will not drink wine or strong drink ... until the day of his death” (1 Samuel 1:11). He rewarded the great Sampson; and until he was separated from him, the enemies fell in thousands, the city gates were torn down 21, and the lions could not withstand the strength of his hands. But when drunkenness and fornication took possession of him, he was caught by enemies and, deprived of his eyes, was exposed to ridicule by the children of foreigners. Elijah fasted and locked up heaven for three years and six months. Since he saw that a lot of impudence is born from satiety, then, out of necessity, he imposed an involuntary fast on them - hunger, which stopped their sin that had already spread beyond measure, by fasting, as if by some kind of cauterization or section, interrupting the further spread of evil. Accept him, poor ones, as your roommate and table companion. Accept it, slaves, as a rest from the continuous labors of service. Accept it, rich ones: it will save you from the harm caused by satiety, and through change will make more pleasant what you neglect out of habit. Take it, you sick: this is the mother of health. Take it, healthy ones: it is the guardian of your bodily strength. Ask doctors, and they will tell you that excess health is the most dangerous thing; Therefore, the most experienced people destroy what is superfluous by fasting, so that their strength is not crushed under the burden of fattened flesh. For, by abstaining from food, deliberately destroying what exceeded the measure, they give the nutritional power some scope, support and the beginning of a new increase. Thus, the benefits of fasting are open to every kind of life, to every state of the body: fasting is equally decent everywhere - in houses and in marketplaces, at night and during the day, in cities and in deserts. Therefore, let us joyfully accept fasting, which in so many cases brings us its benefits; let us accept, according to the word of the Lord, “not... lamenting, as hypocrites” (Matthew 6:16), but simply showing spiritual joy. And I think it will not be so much trouble for me to convince you to accept the fast as to hold it, so that today no one will fall into the disastrous consequences of drunkenness; because many observe fasting both out of habit and out of shame in front of each other. But I am afraid of drunkenness, which wine hunters cherish as some kind of paternal heritage; because some madmen, as if preparing for a long journey, load themselves with wine today for five days of fasting. Who is so foolish that, without even starting to drink, he becomes crazy like a drunk? Do you know that the womb does not retain the deposit given to it? It is the most faithless ally in treaties. This is a storage-nothing pantry. If a lot is invested in it, then the harm is retained within itself, but what is invested is not retained. Be careful that when you come back tomorrow from drunkenness, you are not told what was read today: “I have not chosen such a fast, says the Lord” (Is. 58:6). Why do you combine the incompatible? What is the relationship between fasting and drunkenness? What does drinking wine have in common with abstinence? “What is the foundation of the Church of God from idols” (2 Cor. 6:16)? For the church of God is those in whom the Spirit of God dwells, and the church of idols is those who, through drunkenness, receive into themselves the impurities of intemperance. Today is the eve of Lent. But he who is defiled in the threshold is not worthy to enter the sanctuary. Not a single servant, wishing to come into favor with his master, uses his enemy as an intercessor and reconciliator. Drunkenness is enmity against God, and fasting is the beginning of repentance. Therefore, if you want to return to God through confession, avoid drunkenness, so that it does not further separate you from God. However, for a commendable fast, abstaining from food is not enough; but let us fast with a fast that is pleasing and pleasing to God. True fasting is removal from evil, abstinence of the tongue, suppression of anger, excommunication of lusts, slander, lies, perjury; abstinence from this is true fasting. This post is a great thing. Let us enjoy “the Lord” (Ps. 36:4) in teaching the words of the Spirit, in receiving saving laws, and in all teachings that serve to correct our souls. Let us beware of that fast in secret, for deliverance from which the prophet prays, saying: “The Lord will not kill with famine” the souls of the righteous (Proverbs 10:3); and: “I have not seen the righteous abandoned, below his seed asking for bread” (Ps. 36:25). For he said this not about sensual bread, knowing that the children of our patriarch Jacob went to Egypt for bread, but he speaks about spiritual food, by which our inner man is perfected. May the fast with which they threatened the Jews not come upon us: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will send a famine upon this land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord” (Am. 8:11). The righteous Judge sent this famine upon them when he saw that their minds were languishing with hunger from not tasting the teachings of the truth, and their outer man was becoming excessively fat and white. Therefore, in all subsequent days the Holy Spirit will treat you with morning and evening joy. Let no one arbitrarily deprive himself of a spiritual feast. Let us all partake of the sober cup, which Wisdom dissolved and equally offered to us, so that everyone could draw as much as they could hold. For “you dissolved your cup, and sacrificed your sacrificial offering” 22 (Prov. 9:2), that is, the food of the perfect, “those who have feelings were trained by long teaching in the judgment of good and evil” (Heb. 5:14). Having been abundantly fed with this, that you may be found worthy and worthy of the joy of the bridal chamber in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion forever, Amen. Don't neglect, don't insult. For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. She stabbed the victim and dissolved her wine. You might be interested in: