Слово 23

About peace, pronounced in Constantinople on the occasion of a strife that occurred among the people, about some bishops who disagreed with each other Dear peace, longed for by deed and name, which I have now given to people, and received in return, I don’t know whether it is a sincere voice from everyone and worthy of the Spirit, or just a people’s agreement (to our greater condemnation!), violated before God as a witness! Dear peace is my work and my praise, about which we hear that it is God’s, that God is his God, and that God himself is called by it, as in the following words: “the peace of God” (Phil. 4:7); "God of peace" (2 Cor. 13:11); “He is our peace” (Eph. 2:14) - and whom we do not respect in all this! Dear world - a blessing highly praised and not preserved by many - where have you been hiding from us for so long and when will you return to us? I love and kiss you very strongly and more than anyone else, I cherish you carefully when you are with us, and I call you with many tears and sobs when you leave us. They did not cry out like that - neither the patriarch Jacob to Joseph, sold by his brothers, and, according to his father, kidnapped by a beast - nor David, to his friend Jonathan, who fell in battle, and subsequently to his son Absalom. One, tormented by grief in his parent’s heart, cried out: “A beast tore Joseph to pieces” (Gen. 37:33), a fierce and indomitable beast, and placing his son’s bloody clothes in front of him, he hugged it instead of his son’s body, finding in the same thing both food and relief from grief. Another then curses the mountains on which the battle took place, crying out: “Mountains of Gelbua, let neither rain nor dew fall on you! how Jonathan’s bow and his strength were broken!” - then he justifies the parricide, no matter how much he had offended his father, and makes peace with the dead man, perhaps because he complains about his son because he raised his hand against his father. Such is the heart of a parent! Whoever he repulsed in battle as an enemy, upon death he mourns as a friend. Nature is most powerful; She also overcomes enmity. It is regrettable that Kyoto is detained by foreigners, that Jerusalem is razed to the ground and trampled upon by the pagans, that the sons of Zion, precious and worth their weight in gold, were taken into captivity, are still scattered, and constitute a people alien to the world and wandering. What we see and hear today is also sad: the cities of our fathers have been overthrown, thousands of people are falling, the earth is burdened with shed blood and many fallen, a foreign-speaking race 156 walks through a foreign region as if it were their own. And not because of the cowardice of the defenders (no one will blame them for this; they are the same ones who conquered almost the entire Universe!), but because of our vices, because of the wicked teaching about the Trinity that took possession of us, all these disasters and the height of disasters befell us. Who will dispute this if he knows how to determine the severity of misfortune by the suffering that we ourselves have endured or shared with others? But all this is insignificant in comparison with the fact that the world has been driven out, the splendor of the Church has been stolen, the ancient dignity has been humiliated, the order has been so transformed that we, who previously became from a non-people a people, from a non-language a language, are now in danger - from the greatest people and language, we will again become neither a people nor a language, what we were in the beginning, when you did not rule over us, when we had not yet gathered under a single name and a single rank. Indeed, now it turns out that it is more convenient to endure misfortune than to maintain prosperity, because we, when battles arose against us, were strengthened and more closely united by persecution; and when they were united together, then they weakened. And who among the right-minded has not begun to mourn the present time? But who will find a word equal to disaster? There are robbers in the world who are bound by crime. In the world there live those who plot violent power, accomplices to theft, conspirators of rebellion, accomplices to adultery. Singers of the same choir, warriors of the same detachment, and swimmers of the same ship live in the world. I will not talk about inheritances divided equally, about opposing measures of government, about the succession of public ministries, about gradualism and the legal order of superiors. We rarely even see this notorious sophistry or grammar (I’m not talking about philosophy, out of jealousy for which young people rage and go crazy) indulge in sedition, but more often it maintains peace. But we have no agreement and no alliance; We can never agree on one thing, we don’t even see a way to cure such a disease; but it is as if we are teaching and learning evil, and not virtue; we work hard to stir up discord; We care little about unanimity, or don’t care at all. When others do not comply with consent; then their discord does not lead to anything important. And for some it is better to be in discord than in unanimity. For who among the sane will praise an alliance concluded for a bad cause? But if someone asked us: what do we honor and worship? The answer is ready: we honor love. For, according to the saying of the Holy Spirit, our God “is love” (1 John 4:8), and this name is more pleasing to God than any other name. What is the main thing in the Law and the Prophets? And to this the Evangelist (Matthew 22:40) does not allow us to give any answer other than the previous one. Why do we, the admirers of love, hate so much and are ourselves hated? Why do we, lovers of peace, mercilessly and irreconcilably quarrel? Why do we, those founded on the rock, falter, those established on the cornerstone, fall apart, and those called in the light, become darkened? Why have we, the servants of the Word, brought ourselves to such silence or speechlessness, or numbness, or... I don’t know what else to call it. And in food, and in sleep, and in shameful deeds, there is, as they say, a measure of satiety; everything, not just the sorrowful, but even the most pleasant, finally arouses disgust, because everything passes from one thing and turns into another. But we have no end to mutual defeats of each other, not only between those who differ and disagree in the doctrine of the Faith (this would be less regrettable, it would be excused by jealousy, one of the commendable qualities, as long as it is within limits), but also between like-minded people who have the same opponents in the same thing. This is the most miserable and pitiful thing of all. And what is the reason for this? Perhaps lust or greed, or envy, or hatred, or arrogance, or some other passion, which we do not see in the atheists themselves. The changeability of opinions is very funny. When they want to catch us, then we are pious and Orthodox, falsely resort to the truth, as if we stand for the faith, and in one thing (compared to the worst) we act commendably (although this in itself is vile) that, ashamed of vice, we go over to the side of what is more honorable, namely piety. To you (whoever you are, who has reached such a state) we can say: a crazy and fickle person, a creature of the evil one - the inventor of evil, or (more fair to say) the most foolish of people! Yesterday he was pious for you, how now he has become wicked, although he has not added or subtracted anything either in word or deed, but stands in the same way, as he breathes the same air, with the same eyes and the sun looks at the same; and if you want to ask him about numbers and measures; then the answer to this will not be new, but the same as before? However, today you have a fornicator, who yesterday was Joseph. For the love of controversy even reaches this point, like a flame running through straw and embracing the whole circle. Today is Judas, or Caiaphas, who yesterday was Elijah, or John, or another one of those who labor in the ranks of Christ, tied with the same belt, clothed in the same dark or black robe, which (according to my charter and reasoning) the severity of life requires. Yesterday we called the pallor of the face a wonderful color for tall men, or the modesty and calmness of the voice, or the sedateness and quietness of the gait, philosophy, but now we call it vanity. We attribute the same power over spirits and illnesses either to Jesus or to Beelzebub; and in this case we do not use truthful scales, but are guided by the desire to argue and irritability. Just as the same earth, for a healthy person who does not suffer from any illness, is motionless, but someone who has dizzy eyes, or who is spinning himself, moves for him, and as the state of the seer can be transferred to visible objects, or, if you like, as the same distance of pillars seems greater to someone who looks close, and less to someone who looks from a distance, because the air conceals the distance, and vision brings objects of large volume together, so we are easily deceived for the reason enmity and form different concepts about the same persons, when they are our friends and when they are not. In our country, time easily produces many into saints, and many, against all probability, into atheists. Or rather, it makes everyone pitiful, not only because they look at us as a bad example, while vice is available to everyone, even if no one is attracted to it, but also because we readily forgive everyone and everything, just to agree on one thing. Previously, it was considered unsafe to say one extra word, but now we slander the most pious people. Previously, it was not allowed to “read the law from without and call for confession” (Am. 4:5), that is, as I understand it, popular approval, and now they allow profaned people to judge the unspeakable mysteries, throwing “holy things to the dogs” and throwing “pearls before swine” (Matt. 7:6). And that's not enough; We saturate our ears with mutual insults to each other. We cannot even judge that it is not safe to entrust weapons to the enemy, and a word against a Christian to those who hate Christians. For what we have reproached today, they will reproach us with tomorrow. The enemy kindly listens to your words, not because he praises you, but because he gathers you with evil intentions, so that on occasion he can vomit his poison on those who have trusted him. Why do we endure this, brothers, and how long will we endure? When will we sober up from rapture, remove the scales from our eyes, and look at the light of truth? What kind of darkness is this, what kind of battle in the darkness of the night, what kind of storm that makes it impossible to distinguish between friends and foes? Why have we become “the laughingstock of our neighbors, the disgrace and reproach of those around us” (Ps. 78:4)? What kind of jealousy about evil? Why such endless exhaustion of ourselves? Or better said, we do not exhaust ourselves, but, as happens with those who are raging, we draw strength from the illness itself and rejoice in our exhaustion. Nowhere do we have a word, a friend, a comrade-in-arms, a doctor who can heal or cut off a suffering member, or an intercessor angel, or God; and above all, we block God’s love for mankind. “Why, O Lord, do you stand afar off” (Ps. 9:22)? And will you “continually hide” (Ps. 89:47)? And when will you “visit” us (Proverbs 29:13)? How far will it go and where will it stop? I am afraid that the present is not already the smoke of the expected fire, that soon after this the Antichrist will come and take advantage of our falls and weaknesses to establish his dominion. For, of course, he will not attack the healthy and not those united by love; but it is necessary for the kingdom to be divided within itself, for the strong mind within us to be tempted and bound, for the vessels to be plundered, and for us to suffer the very thing that (as we see) the enemy is now suffering from Christ (Matthew 12:26-29). About this “I weep,” Jeremiah speaks in his Lamentations (Lamentations 1:15); I am looking for “my eyes” for sources of “tears” (Jer. 9:1), which would satisfy my sorrow; I call on the “mourners” to create and share mourning with me (Jer.9:17). And “my stomach hurts,” my feelings are confused (Jer. 4:19), I don’t know how and with what words to relieve my grief. This is why the ancient is given over to silence, and the new to ridicule. For even that which draws tears from me turns into amusement to my enemies. Through this, our churches have lost quite a bit, but we have gained spectacles, gained in a city that, along with other things, tries to turn the divine into fun, which would rather ridicule what is worthy of praise than leave the ridiculous without ridicule. Therefore, it will be surprising if he does not ridicule me, who says this now, me, a visiting preacher who teaches that not everything should be laughed at, but that there are subjects that require careful consideration. And what am I saying: will he dare? You'll be surprised if he doesn't even punish me for wanting to do good. This is our position; And what saddens me is not that the churches have been taken away from us (a person with a limited mind would perhaps grieve over this); It’s not that evil tongues (they do their job) speak evil, because they have not learned to speak good. It is not dangerous that God could be described as a place or saddled with corruption, and that He should become the property of only the rich. Moreover, those who speak good or bad about me will not change me (just as those who mix myrrh with dirt, or dirt with peace, through such a mixture merge the qualities of dirt and peace) so that I begin to be upset by blasphemies as someone who has changed internally. Otherwise, I would pay dearly to my praisers if they made me better with their praises. This is not how it turns out in reality; whether they scold me or are surprised at me, in both cases I remain as I was. “But an empty man philosophizes,” says Job (Job 11:12). Just as foam sticks to a stone, like the winds to a pine tree, or to another thick and tall tree, so do people’s speeches come to me, and I almost become self-philosophizing in myself. If the accuser is false, then the accusation falls not so much on me as on his words, although he blasphemes my name. And if he is fair, then I would rather blame myself, who does not speak about me. For I myself am the cause of what he says; and it is not the speaker who is the reason that I am so. Therefore, ignoring his speeches as if they meant nothing, I will turn to myself and from his slander I will derive another benefit: I will begin to live more carefully. But slander also has a third, very important and majestic benefit, namely, that we are blasphemed along with God. For the same ones deny the Divinity and insult the Theologian. So, this is not scary, although many consider it terrible, but the fact that, no matter how strong someone is in his soul and sincere in piety, they do not even want to believe that he is faithful, unfeignedly virtuous and free from pretense. On the contrary, one of us is clearly thin; in another, truthfulness is just a guise and embellishment, deceiving with appearance. Although not everyone seems black, because there are blacks, not everyone is ignoble, unseemly, unmanly, intemperate, because there are many like that; but on the contrary, whether we condemn or praise someone, we pronounce a special, and not a general, sentence on each; however, we conveniently extend the accusation of evil behavior to everyone and make it a general accusation of the whole, not only because many, but also because some are evil. But what is much more terrible than this is that the accusation does not stop at us alone, but extends even to our high and venerable sacrament 157 . For the same thing happens to our judges as with almost all those who want to judge other people’s affairs; some of them are quite lenient and philanthropic, while others are very cruel and merciless. And the first to reproach us alone for vices, leaving our teaching without reproach. Others, especially when they meet many bad people among those awarded positions, blame the law itself, as if it teaches evil. So, brothers, how long will this be? Will we never become chaste, never become sober, never be ashamed? Not to mention anything else, let us at least protect ourselves from enemy tongues, which even conveniently cause harm with lies. Will we really not give up the strong habit of arguing? We still don’t understand which objects and to what extent are available to our research, and which are beyond our strength? Can we really not distinguish which studies are possible at the present time, given the long unity of things that darken thought, and which should be left to the future age, to the freedom there, in order to be satisfied with some for now, and to purify others for others, since we hope over time to achieve perfection and acquire what we want? Shall we not separate for ourselves what we should not question at all, what we must ask about in moderation, what, if not harmful to our teaching, whether it is fair or not, can be conceded to those who are eager to argue, what should be left to faith alone, and what to reason, and for what we must fight with all jealousy, however, with words, and not with weapons! For to raise a hand against someone is completely outside the customs of our court, and we reject this, leaving it to our haters. Let us not set for ourselves just one limit of piety in order to worship the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the one Divinity in the Three and the one Power - to worship without preferring One and not respecting the Other 158 (I will express myself in such a way that I too can imitate those who think a little about this); for one thing is impossible, and the other is impious, to worship without dissecting the one greatness with the news of names, for nothing is greater or less than itself, but, having established ourselves at such a limit, we will be like-minded in everything else, as worshipers of the one Trinity, adhering to one almost dogma and one body; Let us cut off and destroy, like a common disease, the unnecessary and useless questions that have now sprouted so many offspring and branches. For, not to mention anything remote, haven’t I also been satisfied with the crafty spirit of Montanus against the Holy Spirit, the insolence of Navat, or the impure purity that lures many with the splendor of expressions; the continuing fury of the Phrygians 159 to this day, both dedicating and being initiated with almost ancient rites; the madness of the Galatians 160, full of many names of wickedness; Savelli's abbreviation; The Aryan division, and the division that emerged from it of the present cunning tongues, who have an advantage to the same extent as a loquacious tongue is better than a clumsy one? Even we have almost similar differences among ourselves - we, who think sensibly about the main thing, and stand for the same thing against the same people. I mean the fraternal strife that has recently begun among us 161, by which God and man are dishonored - God, as if for us, not born at all and not nailed to the cross, and therefore not buried and not resurrected, as some evil lovers of Christ imagined, but honored in the only thing in which honor turns into dishonor, and through this cut into two sons; and also man, as if not completely accepted and respected, but rejected and eliminated by the most important part of him, while in human nature what is most important is the image of God and the power of the mind. But humanity, since the Divinity was united with it, had to be divided; people, otherwise intelligent, had to fall into error regarding their minds and, to diminish God’s grace and our salvation, assert that I am not all saved, although I have all fallen and been condemned for disobedience to the primordial and through the cunning of the enemy! And this is not the only thing that disrupts our unanimity. On the contrary, we, saved by God, fight for people, and we have so much seditious spirit in us that we squander it to please the curiosity of others, start domestic enmity for other people’s thrones, in one matter we make two very important mistakes - in ambitious people we kindle a passion for covetousness, and we ourselves find in this the support of our own passion, like people who, falling from a rapid, grab behind the nearest stone or somewhat solid bush. Meanwhile, we had to remove them from the cause and weaken them, in which case we would have done them more good deeds than now, fighting for them. Now both the intercessors and those who take advantage of their intercession are very pitiful; and it seems to me that the world is again already divided into two hostile parts, which has barely been reconciled, and then only with difficulty, not suddenly, not without shedding a lot of blood. And whoever remains in the world and does not lean towards either side, suffers evil from both sides: either they despise him or attack him. And since I, too, belong to the latter group, who rebels against this, for which reason I accepted this chair - an object of competition and envy, it is not surprising that me, after all my labors and efforts, both sides would like to oust and remove from here, so that, when there is no longer any obstacle or barrier between them, they will come closer together and attack each other with all their fury. All this can be stopped and stopped mainly by God, who connects everything; but it can also be people who are zealous for good and know the value of unanimity, which originates from the Trinity (since unity and inner peace are most characteristic of Her in the nature of everything), which is assimilated by the angelic and divine Powers, who are at peace with God and among themselves, which extends to all creation (since serenity serves as an adornment to it), which conveniently settles in us, as if in the soul, when in it the virtues accompany one another and one with the other communicate, and in the body, when in it both the members and the elements have mutual harmony, from which in the first case comes what is called beauty, and in the second - health. But I will also praise the word of Solomon, who legitimizes “time” both “for every thing” and for “war and peace” (Eccl. 3:1, 8). I will only add the following. Although it is necessary to observe the time of war and peace, and sometimes, according to the law and the word of Solomon, it is good to wage war, it is better, as long as possible, to incline towards peace, because this is both higher and more pleasing to God. And it is incongruous to assume that in private matters unanimity is best, but in public matters it is not the most useful; as if the most perfect government is in that house and city in which there is as little internal discord as possible, and if they happen, then peace is most likely restored and the illness is healed, but for the general composition of the Church something else is better and more decent; as if every person should try to be at peace with himself, because peace and dominion over the passions are desirable for everyone, but this is not how one should behave with others, but on the contrary, the deposition of one’s neighbor should be counted as glory to oneself. And although God commands to forgive those who have sinned against us not only seven times, but several times more (Matthew 18:22), in order to seek forgiveness for ourselves through the forgiveness of others, we can, however, do evil to those who have not offended us, even doing it more willingly than we accept benefits from others. Although we know what kind of bliss is in store for the “peacemakers,” who alone in the host of those being saved are called “sons of God” (Matthew 5:9), we can still think that we ourselves, even while at enmity, are doing what is pleasing to God, who suffered for us, in order to reconcile us with Himself and stop the internal struggle within us. No, friends and brothers, let's not think like that. Let us honor the gift of the Reconciler, that is, peace, a gift that, when He departed from here, He left us (John 14:17), as a kind of farewell pledge. We will know only one battle - battle with enemy force. Let us say: “brothers to those who hate us” (Is. 66:5), if only they would accept it. Let us give in some small things in order to receive in return the most important thing, that is, like-mindedness. Let us give ourselves victory so that we too can win. Look at the rules of the competition and the feats of the wrestlers: often those who are at the bottom win victories over those who were at the top. And we will imitate them, and not the greedy lovers of feasts or merchants, some of whom burden themselves without measure with the food offered, while others load the ship and tear their bellies or drown before they enjoy their gluttony, suffering great losses for a small gain. So, I cry out and testify about this, and I will not cease to fulfill the word of Scripture: “I will not be silent for the sake of Zion, and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest” (Is. 62:1). My soul disappears when I see the death of those who were not “killed by the sword, not destroyed by hunger” (Lamentations 4:9), but wounded by ambition and lust, so that their fall arouses not so much pity as hatred. If you accept my words, it will be better for you and for me. But if you dare and reject them, allowing passion to overcome reason; then my duty will be sufficiently fulfilled both before God and before people, because, as I think, none of the most peace-loving will demand more, you yourself will see the consequences, and I will not add anything cruel, for the law of fatherly love requires sparing children. But may the great Judge be merciful and peaceful, both now and on the day of retribution, in Christ our Lord himself, to whom be glory and dominion forever, amen! Northern peoples who invaded Thrace, devastated this region, but were subsequently defeated and pacified by Theodosius the Great. That is, the Christian faith. The words: υπερσέβοντες (preferring) and υποσέβοντες (disrespecting), according to the explanation of Elijah, belong to Eunomius, who denoted with them the degrees of worship of the three Persons of the Godhead. Since Montanus initially sowed his heresy in Phrygia, his followers were called Phrygians or Catafrigians. And in ancient times the Phrygian priests of Cybele were known, who accumulated themselves during initiation into the priesthood. By Galatians, St. Gregory probably means Marcellian. The Holy Theologian here refers to the teaching of Apollinaris, but calls it not heresy, but fraternal strife, because he still hoped to convert Apollinaris to the right faith, as can be seen from his 77 letter to Olympia. You might be interested in: