Беседа 8. Говоренная во время голода и засухи

“The lion will roar, and who will not fear? The Lord is the God of the verb, and who will not prophesy” (Am. 3:8)? I will make a prophetic introduction to the word and, offering my advice and my thoughts on what is useful, I will take as a collaborator for the upcoming work the inspired Amos, who healed sorrows similar to the disasters that oppress us. For in ancient times, when the people abandoned their fatherly piety, trampled upon the strict observance of the laws and fell into idolatry, this very prophet was a preacher of repentance, exhorting them to conversion and threatening punishments. Oh, how I would like to use at least a little of that jealousy that we see in this ancient history! Just God forbid we see an ending corresponding to what happened then! For that rebellious people, like a stubborn and unbridled young horse gnawing at the bit, was not turned to the useful, but having turned away from the straight path, until then they ran disorderly and tore from the hands of the driver, until, having plunged into abysses and rapids, they suffered a worthy death for their disobedience. Let this not happen to us now, my children, whom I gave birth to by the gospel, whom I brought with the blessing of my hands! On the contrary, may your hearing be favorable, your soul submissive, may it accept admonitions with gentleness, and may it yield to the one who speaks, like wax, to the one who sets a seal, so that from this hunt alone I may receive the comforting fruit of my labors, and when you depart (from here) you may praise as a reward the admonition we have made! What is it that the word wants to show, however, delaying the announcement of what is expected, the hope of hearing still keeps souls excited? We see, brethren, that the sky is captured, pure and cloudless, producing that dull clarity of air, saddening with that purity, which we greatly desired before, when for a long time, covered with clouds, it left us in darkness and deprived us of the sun’s rays. The earth, extremely parched, unpleasant to look at, hard to cultivate and barren, has cracked and receives the illuminating ray directly into the depths. Our abundant and never-drying springs have become scarce, the flows of large rivers have dried up: small children ford them and women cross them with burdens. Many of us have nothing to drink and suffer from a lack of the essentials for life. We are the new Israelis; we need a new Moses and his miraculous rod, so that the stones struck now will satisfy the needs of the thirsty people, so that the wonderful clouds will pour out extraordinary food for people - manna. Let us be afraid that famine and executions will make us a new proverb for posterity. I saw the sown fields and cried a lot about their barrenness, shed tears because the rain did not fall on us. Some seeds dried out before germination, remaining the same in the blocks of earth with which the plow covered them; others sprouted a few and, having produced greenery, wilted pitifully from the heat, so now is the time to turn 40 the Gospel saying and say: there are many laborers, but the harvest is not even small (Luke 10:2). Farmers, sitting in the fields with their hands folded on their knees (the usual position of mourners), mourn their wasted labors; they will look at young children and begin to cry; they will look at their wives and burst into tears; they will touch and feel the dry leaves of the sprouted stems and sob loudly, like fathers who have lost sons who have reached the flowering age. Therefore, let it be told to us by the same prophet whom we mentioned shortly before at the beginning of the conversation! He says: “And I withheld the rain from you before the three months of the harvest, and I will rain for one city, but I will not rain for one city, and part of it will be needed, and part of it will dry up without the rain: and two and three cities will gather together to drink water and will not be satisfied; Do not turn to Me before, says the Lord” (Am. 4:7-8). So, we understand that for deviation and for negligence God sends blows on us, not with the intention of crushing, but with the desire to correct, just as good fathers correct careless children: they become irritated and rebel against the young, not thinking about doing any evil, but from childhood negligence and from the sins of youth leading to diligence. See how the multitude of our sins has deprived the climate itself of its natural properties and brought about extraordinary changes in the seasons. Winter, while dry, did not have its usual wetness, but shrouded it in ice and dried up all the moisture, and passed on without snow or rain. Again, spring, although it showed one of its distinctive features, namely warmth, did not add humidity. Both heat and cold, having exceeded the limits assigned to nature in an unprecedented way, have mercilessly agreed to harm us, depriving people of food and life. What is the cause of this disorder and confusion? What kind of revolution of times is this? Let us examine this as having reason; Let's judge as reasonable. Is there no Ruler of the universe? Has the most perfect Artist - God - forgotten His housekeeping? Is he really deprived of power and power? Or does he have the same strength and did not lose his power, but became cruel to us and changed his extreme kindness and thoughtfulness into hatred of mankind? No one sane will say this. On the contrary, the reasons why he treats us differently are clear and obvious. We take it ourselves, but do not supply it to others; we praise charity and deny it to those in need; from slaves we become free and have no pity for slaves like us; being hungry, we are filled, but we pass by the one who is poor; Having the generous giver and treasure keeper of God, we have become stingy and uncommunicative with the poor. Our sheep are prolific, but there are more naked than sheep; The storerooms are crowded with the multitude of things stored in them, but we do not have mercy on the crowded. For this reason God does not open His hand, because we have blocked brotherly love. For this reason the fields are dry, because love has grown cold. The voice of those praying is heard in vain and dissipates in the air, because we did not listen to those pleading. And what kind of prayer do we have, what kind of petition? You men, with the exception of a few, spend your time shopping; and you, wives, serve them in labor for mammon. Few already remain here with me and in prayer; and their heads became heavy; they yawn, constantly turn around and watch to see how soon the psalmist will finish his poetry and how soon they will be freed from church, as from a prison, and from prayer, as from bondage. And these young children, who left their books in schools and united their voice with ours, seem to find more relaxation and fun for themselves in this activity, turning our sorrow into a holiday, because for some time they are freed from the annoying teacher and from worrying about lessons. And many people of perfect age and vile people entangled in sins 41 walk carelessly, freely and cheerfully around the city, while they carry in their souls the cause of evil, they brought on and caused this disaster. Foolish and blameless infants, who have not been the cause of sorrows and do not have the knowledge or ability to pray according to custom, hurry and gather for confession. Come out into the middle, you, defiled by sins; you fall down, cry and moan; and leave the baby to do what is appropriate for his age. Why are you, the accused, hiding and bringing to justice someone who is not liable? Is the Judge deceived by the fact that you are putting out a fake person for yourself? Of course, the baby also had to be, but with you, and not alone. Look, the Ninevites, propitiating God with repentance and mourning the sins that Jonah, saved from the sea and the whale, denounced, did not assign only infants to repentance, while they themselves continued to live in luxury and amusements; On the contrary, the fathers who sinned before others were humbled by fasting, punishment fell on the fathers, and the babies cried involuntarily, as if in addition, so that sadness would take hold of every age, both conscious and unconscious of themselves, the first by choice, and the last by necessity. And God, seeing such humility that they condemned themselves to excessive torment of all kinds, had mercy on the suffering, freed them from punishment and gave joy to those who wept knowingly. What a harmonious repentance! What wise and unanimous grief! And the foolish were not left exempt from punishment, but they were also forced to cry out in need; the calf was separated from its blood 42, the lamb was driven away from its mother's breast; the infant was not in the arms of its parent. Mothers were in special places, children were in special places. Everyone answered and responded to each other in plaintive voices. Hungry children looked for sources of milk; mothers, tormented by natural pity, called their offspring to themselves with compassionate voices. The same number of hungry babies burst into tears from the strongest crying and fought; Those who gave birth had their hearts wounded by natural suffering. Therefore, the inspired word, having committed repentance to their writing, preserved it as a general lesson for life. The old man wept among them, tore and tormented his gray hair. The young man, blooming with age, wept even more. The poor man sighed; and the rich man, forgetting about luxury, learned to suffer as a chaste matter. Their king changed his splendor and glory into disgrace, laying down his crown and sprinkled ashes on his head; having cast off the scarlet robe, he put on sackcloth; leaving the exalted and magnificent throne, he dragged along the earth in a pitiful form; rejecting the royal amusements characteristic of him, he cried along with the people; became one of the common people when he saw that the common Lord of all was angry. This is the way of thinking of benevolent slaves! Such is the repentance of those possessed by sins! But we commit sin with all our might, but we approach repentance carelessly and lazily. Who among us, when praying, sheds tears in order to receive rain and irrigation in time? Who, in order to atone for sins, in imitation of blessed David, wetted the “bed... with tears” (Ps. 6:7)? Who washed the feet of strangers and wiped away the dust of travel in order to appease God in time, wishing for the end of the drought? Who fed the child who had lost its father, so that God would now increase bread for us, like an orphan beaten by the severity of the winds? Who looked upon the widow, constrained by the difficulty of food, so that now she could receive the necessary food as a reward? Tear up the unrighteous scripture so that through this your sin may be resolved; blot out the obligation to pay heavy growth, so that the earth will give birth to what is usual for it. Since your copper, and gold, and everything that does not give birth, gives birth contrary to nature, then the earth, which by nature is capable of giving birth, becomes hard, and as a punishment for those living on it, it is condemned to sterility. Let the worshipers of covetousness, who accumulate wealth to the point of abundance, show what power or benefit their treasures have if an angry God prolongs the punishment even longer! Soon those who hoard it will become yellower than gold, if they do not have bread, which was despised yesterday and today for the convenience of having it in abundance. Imagine that there is no one selling, that there is no bread in the granaries. What is the use of heavy bags of money then? Tell me: will you not be buried in the ground with them? Isn't earth gold? Will not useless clay lie next to the clay of the body? You have acquired everything, but you do not have one thing necessary - the ability to feed yourself. Make at least one cloud out of all your wealth; figure out a way to produce a few raindrops; awaken the earth to fertility; end the disaster with your proud and majestic wealth. Perhaps you will call on one of the reverent men for help, so that through his prayers, like Elijah the Tishbite, a poor man, who has no property, no shoes, no home, no warm corner, or other benefits of life, will grant you relief from disasters, covered with one tunic, like Elijah with a mantle, a student of prayer, a table-fellow of abstinence. And if you receive the help you ask from such a person, won’t you then laugh at wealth, which requires many worries? Wouldn't you spit on gold? And silver, which you previously called omnipotent and all-loving, will you not throw it away as uncleanness, having learned that it is a weak helper in need? For you, God condemned you to this calamity: because you, having had, did not give; because you passed by those who were hungry; because you did not pay attention to those who were crying; because you showed no mercy to those who bowed to you. And because of a few disasters come to a whole nation, and because of the evil deed of one, many eat its fruits. Achar committed sacrilege, and the entire regiment was beaten (Joshua 7:1-26). Even Zimri committed fornication with a Midianite woman, and Israel suffered punishment (Num. 25:6-15). Therefore, both privately and publicly, we all inherit our lives; Let us be attentive to drought, as to a teacher who reminds each of us of his sins. And we will blissfully say in the words of the courageous Job: “the hand... of the Lord has touched me” (Job 19:21); and above all, let us attribute our misfortune mainly to sins. If it is necessary to add something else to this, let us say that sometimes similar misfortunes are sent to people to test the soul, so that in difficult circumstances worthy people will be revealed - whether they are poor or rich, because both are correctly assessed through patience. At this time, it especially turns out 43 whether one is sociable and brotherly loving, whether the other is grateful and not slanderous, on the contrary, and with upheavals in life, doesn’t he immediately change his way of thinking. I know (not having studied by ear, but having known people through my own experience) that many, while their life is prosperous and, as they say, carried by a fair wind, if not completely, at least to some extent, testify to their gratitude to the Benefactor; and if, in the opposite situation, things take a different turn, and the rich become poor, bodily strength replaces illness, glory and nobility - shame and dishonor - they are ungrateful, utter blasphemy, neglect prayer, complain about God as a procrastinating debtor, and do not turn to Him as to an angry Master. But get rid of such concepts from your thoughts! On the contrary, when you see that God does not give you even what he usually gave, reason with yourself: “God is not powerless to give food. And is this possible? He is the Lord of heaven and all things; He is the wise Steward of annual revolutions and times; He is the Ruler of the universe, who determined that the seasons and their mutual rotations should follow one after another, like a decorous round dance, and with their diversity satisfy our various needs, so that in due time there would be wetness, and then heat would come, and cold would have its place throughout the year, and we would not be deprived of the necessary dryness. Therefore God is powerful. And if He is powerful, and we admit this, then has His goodness failed? And this reasoning is not firm. For what need would there have been for the evil to create man in the beginning? Who would force the Creator to take dust against his will and form such beauty from clay? Who would convince of the need to give man reason in His image, so that from here he would draw the strength to study the arts and the ability to philosophize about heavenly objects that are not touched by the senses? And reasoning in this way, you will find that goodness is inherent in God, and to this day it does not become scarce in Him. Otherwise, tell me, what would prevent this phenomenon from being not a drought, but a complete ignition, so that with a slight change in the sun’s usual path, as it approaches the above-ground bodies, everything visible would not burn up in an instant? Or what would prevent fire from raining from heaven, following the example of past punishments for sinners? Come within yourself, man, and gather your thoughts. Do not act like foolish children who, having been punished by a teacher, tear his books, or tear their father’s clothes when he does not give them food for a while for their own benefit, or scratch their mother’s face with their nails. The helmsman is discovered and tested by a storm, the fighter by the field, the military leader by battle, the generous by misfortune, the Christian by temptation. And sorrows expose the soul like fire exposes gold: are you poor? do not be discouraged; for excessive despondency is the cause of sin, when sorrow drowns the mind, confusion produces whirling, and ingratitude is born from lack of prudence. On the contrary, have hope in God. It cannot be that He does not pay attention to your shy situation. There is food in His hands for you, but He is slow to give you in order to test your firmness, in order to find out your disposition, whether it is not like the disposition of people who are incontinent and unappreciative; because they too, while food is in their mouths, praise, caress, and place above all else; but if the meal is postponed for a short time, as if with stones, they throw blasphemies at those whom they recently, out of voluptuousness, bowed to on a par with God. Review the Old and New Testaments; in both you will find that many were nourished in different ways. Elijah's home was Carmel, a lofty and uninhabited mountain; the desert contained the hermit, but the soul was everything for the righteous, and his hope in God was the path of life. But with this type of life, he did not die of hunger; on the contrary, the most predatory and most voracious birds brought him food, those who were in the habit of stealing other people's food became servants at the table of the righteous; at the command of the Lord, having changed their nature, they became faithful guardians of bread and meat. And we learn from spiritual history that Elijah wore these corvids. And the Babylonian ditch contained an Israeli youth, a captive due to unfortunate circumstances, but free in soul and in his way of thinking. And what followed after this? Lions, contrary to their nature, observed fasting; and the feeder of this young man, Habakkuk, flew through the air, because the Angel carried the man along with the food, and so that the righteous would not suffer from hunger, the prophet was carried for a short time across the entire space of land and sea that is between Judea and Babylon. And this people in the desert, ruled by Moses! What kept him alive for forty years? There was no man sowing, no ox drawing a plow, no threshing floor, no winepress, no granary; without sowing and cultivating the land they had food; the stone gave them springs that did not exist before, but which flowed out when needed. I will not list in detail the actions of God's Providence, which were repeatedly revealed to people in a fatherly manner. But show some patience in misfortune, like the courageous Job, do not give in to excitement, and do not throw into the sea if you are carrying with you any cargo of virtue. Keep gratitude in your soul like a precious treasure, and you will receive great pleasure for gratitude. Remember the apostolic saying: “Give thanks in everything” (1 Thess. 5:18). You are poor; but, without a doubt, there is another poorer than you. You have enough bread for ten days, and he has enough for one. As a kind and well-meaning person, give up your surplus to the poor. Don’t hesitate to give from a little; Do not choose your own benefit over the common misfortune. Even if you have only bread left for food, but there is someone standing at the door asking, then bring this one bread from the pantry, and, placing it in your hands, raise it to heaven, say such a plaintive and at the same time grateful word: “I have only one bread, which You see, Lord, and the danger is obvious; but I prefer Your commandment to myself and give it to my hungry brother. Give it to the needy slave too. I know Your goodness, I place my trust in Your power; You do not put off Your mercies until the right time, but lavish gifts whenever You please.” If you say and do this, the bread you give in extreme need will be a seed for farming, will bear fruit a hundredfold, will become a guarantee of food, and will seek mercy. Say it in the words of the Sidonian widow, in such circumstances remembering her story in good time; “The Lord lives!” (1 Kings 17:12). If you give from the remainder, then you too will have a “bounty of oil,” flowing with grace, and a “water-bearer of flour” that never fails (1 Kings 17:14); because the mercy of God towards the faithful, like wells from which they always draw and which are never exhausted, surpasses them in this, rewarding them doubly. Poor person, lend to the rich God. Trust the One who, instead of the oppressed, always takes His own face and gives thanks from His own. The guarantor is reliable; He has treasures scattered everywhere, both on earth and in the sea. And if during the voyage you demand your debt, then in the middle of the sea you will receive everything in full and with growth; because He is generous with increases. The disease of the hungry - hunger - is suffering that arouses pity. The height of all human misfortunes is hunger: such an end is more painful than any death. In other dangers, either the edge of a sword inflicts quick death, or the swiftness of the fire instantly extinguishes life, or animals, having torn apart the main members of life with their teeth, prevent prolonged pain. But hunger is a slow evil, a prolonged torment; death lurking and lurking within, threatening every minute and still slowing down. For it depletes natural moisture, cools warmth, compresses bodily volume, and little by little drains strength. The flesh, like a web, adheres to the bones; the skin loses color because with the depletion of blood, the ruddy color disappears; there will be no whiteness, because the surface of the body darkens from exhaustion; the body turns blue because, as a result of suffering, the fused pallor and blackness produce a pitiful appearance; they do not hold their knees on themselves, but involuntarily bend; the voice becomes thin and weak; the eyes languish in their sockets, vainly inserted into the vagina, like dried kernels into a nut shell; the stomach is empty, sunken, has neither shape nor volume, nor natural elasticity in the insides, lying close to the spinal bones. What kind of punishment is worthy of someone who passes by a person with such an emaciated body? What else can be added to such cruelty? Isn't he worth classifying him among the fierce beasts, recognizing him as a villain and murderer? Whoever has the opportunity to heal evil, but puts it off voluntarily and out of covetousness, can, in fairness, be condemned on a par with murderers. The torment of hunger often forced many to transgress the limits of nature, it made a person touch the flesh of his fellow tribesmen, and that the mother of her son, whom she brought into the world from the womb, again took into the womb without mercy. Jewish history, written by the industrious Joseph 44, presents us with such deplorable events when terrible suffering befell the Jerusalemites, who suffered just punishments for their wickedness before the Lord. Look, our God Himself often left other sufferings without healing, but compassionately showed mercy on those who were hungry. For he says: “I have mercy on this people” (Matthew 15:32). Therefore, at the final judgment, where the Lord calls the righteous to Himself, the generous one takes first place. The feeder of others takes precedence among those awarded honors, the one who gives bread is called before all, the helpful and gracious is brought into life above all other righteous people. But the unsociable 45 and the stingy are given over to the fire before other sinners (Matthew 25:34-46). It's time to call you to the mother of commandments; take special care that this time of market and purchase does not go in vain for you; because time flows and does not wait for the slow; the days hurry and pass by the lazy. And just as it is impossible to stop the flow of a river, unless someone, having captured it at the first meeting and the first impulse, uses the water as it should, so it is impossible to hold back time, which is forced forward by non-stop rotations: and the past cannot be returned back, unless someone catches what is coming. Therefore, the commandment, like something running, keep and fulfill; take it from all sides and squeeze it in your arms. Give little and get much. Resolve the original sin by donating food. For just as Adam passed on sin to us through evil eating, so we will atone for this evil eating if we satisfy our brother’s need and hunger. Hear, peoples! listen, Christians! The Lord says this, not speaking with His own voice, but, as with organs, proclaiming through the lips of slaves. Let us, verbal creatures, not be more hard-hearted than the dumb. For they use as something common what the earth naturally produces. Flocks of sheep graze on the same mountain; many horses on one plain find food for themselves; and no matter what kind of animal you take, they all allow each other the necessary enjoyment of what they need. But we hide the common property in our bosom, and we alone own the property of many. Let us be ashamed of what is told about the love of the pagans. Among some of them, a philanthropic law establishes one table and common food, and the numerous people become almost one family. Let us leave the outsiders and turn to the example of these three thousand (Acts 2:41-42); Let us be jealous of the pre-eminent society of Christians: they had everything in common, life, soul, harmony, a common table, indivisible brotherhood, unfeigned love, which made a single body out of many bodies, and brought different souls into the same like-mindedness. You have many examples of brotherly love in both the Old and New Testaments. If you see a hungry old man, call him and feed him, like Joseph did to Jacob. If you find an enemy in extremes, do not apply vengeance to the anger that holds you, but feed him, like Joseph did with his brothers who sold him. If you meet another person, depressed by his labors, shed tears, like Joseph did over Benjamin, the son of old age. Perhaps you are also tempted by covetousness, like Joseph’s mistress, and you are drawn by your clothes, so that you neglect the commandment and love this lover of gold and peace more than the Lord’s commandment. When a thought comes to you that is hostile to this commandment, dragging your chaste mind into the love of money, forcing you to neglect brotherly love, but holding you back in the first place - and you throw off your clothes, leave with anger, be faithful to the Lord, like Joseph to Pentephry. Supply the poor even for one year, as he supplied for seven years. Don’t sacrifice everything to lust; give something to your soul. Imagine that you have two daughters: prosperity here and life in heaven. If you don’t want to give everything to the best, then at least divide it equally – both the incontinent one and the chaste one. Take care that when you need to come to Christ and appear before the face of the Judge, the life here does not turn out to be too rich, but another life is naked and dressed in rags - a virtuous life, having the appearance and name of a bride. Therefore, do not present the bride to the Groom ugly and unadorned, so that when He looks, he does not turn away his face, and when he sees, he does not hate and renounce the union with her; but dress her in decent attire, keep her beautiful until the appointed time of marriage, so that she, too, with the wise virgins, will light a lamp, having an unquenchable fire of knowledge and not lacking in the oil of merit, so that the inspired prophecy will be confirmed by the very deed, so that what is said will be fitting in your soul: “The queen appears at your right hand, in robes of gold adorned.” Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear... and the King will desire your kindness” (Ps. 44:10-12). For the psalmist predicted this about the whole, predicting the beauty of the whole body, but in its own sense this will also befit each soul, since the Church is a collection of individuals. Think about the present and the future, and do not lose the latter for the sake of vile self-interest. Your body will leave you - your difference in real life. At the appearance of the expected and undoubtedly destined Judge, you will bar yourself from the reward of honors and heavenly glory, and instead of a long and blissful life, you will open unquenchable fire, Gehenna, executions and bitter centuries of torment. Don’t think that I’m frightening you with false horrors, like some mother or nurse, as they are in the habit of doing with young children and using fictitious stories to silence you when they cry inconsolably and for a long time. But these are not fables, but teachings preached in a true voice. Know that, according to the Gospel prophecy, “one jot, or one tittle, shall not pass away” (Matthew 5:18). And the body, which had decayed in the tomb, will rise, and the soul, the same one that was separated by death, will again live in the body - and there will be a detailed exposure of what has been done in life, not according to the testimony of others, but according to the testimony of conscience itself. Each one will be given his due by the righteous Judge. To Him be due glory, power and worship forever and ever! Amen. Here: sinner, defiled by sins. It is revealed, shown. You might be interested in: