Слово 33

Against Arians and about myself Where are those who reproach us for poverty and are proud of wealth; the sign of the Church is that it is large in number and that the small flock is despised; measure the Deity and weigh people; grains of sand are highly valued and luminaries are humiliated; Do they collect simple stones in a treasury and neglect pearls? They do not know that it is not so much sand and simple stones that are more abundant than stars and semi-precious stones, but rather that the latter are purer and more precious than the former. Again you are indignant, again you arm yourself, again you insult, you new faith 228. Hold back your threats for a moment, let me speak. We will not insult, but reprove, not threaten, but reproach, not strike, but heal. Does this seem like an insult to you too? What arrogance! And here you are making the equal a slave? 229 And if not, then give room to my boldness; for a deceived brother also exposes his brother. Do you want me to tell you the same thing that God said to stubborn and bitter Israel: “My people, what have I done to you and how have I offended you and how have I burdened you” (Micah 6:3)? Especially to you, the insulter, I have a word. It is true that we view each other’s circumstances poorly, and having broken unanimity by diversity of faith, we have almost become more inhuman and cruel to one another than the barbarians themselves, who are now at war with us 230, and who were united by the now divided Trinity, not to say that we are striking not strangers, strangers, not foreigners (which would be at least a small consolation in disaster), but belonging to almost one We plunder the house, and (if you wish) the members of one body destroy each other, and we ourselves are destroyed. And this is not where the whole disaster lies (although this is great), but in the fact that we consider our decrease to be an increase. However, since we are placed in such a position and believe, depending on the time, we will compare our circumstances with each other. You present to me your king, and I will present to you my own; you are Achaava 231, I am Josiah 232. You show me your meekness, and I’ll show you my insolence. It’s better to say that your audacity has already been repeated by the lips of many and in many books, which the coming time, I think, will accept as an immortal monument of deeds; and I'll tell you about mine. What kind of boldly rushing people have I brought against you? What kind of warriors did he arm? What kind of military leader was he appointed, seething with anger, surpassing the arrogance of the rulers themselves, and not a Christian, but one who would consider his wicked actions towards us to be a decent service to the demons he revered? Have I kept anyone under siege who prays and raises his hands to God? Did the sound of trumpets stop any psalmody? Has anyone mixed the mysterious blood with the blood shed by murderers? Has anyone been forced to replace spiritual cries with destructive crying, and tears of contrition with tears of suffering? Has any house of prayer been turned into a burial place? Did he deliver any sacred and inviolable vessels for the people into the hands of the wicked, either to “Nebuzaradan the archmagir” 233 (2 Kings 25:15), or to Belshazzar, who wickedly drank from the sacred cups and suffered punishment worthy of his madness? “Beloved altars,” as the Divine Scripture says (Hos. 8:12), but now desecrated! Has any shameless youth mocked you, at our instigation, and the one who sings is shameful? Have I especially mocked the great and Divine sacrament through anyone like that? The venerable pulpit, the suffering and peace of venerable men, which changed many pious priests who taught the Divine mysteries from above! Has any pagan spirit risen up against you - an evil tongue that brings Christianity to shame? The shyness and honesty of virgins, which cannot tolerate the gaze of husbands, even chaste ones! Has any of us disgraced you, betrayed even what was hidden from view to reproach, and presented to the eyes of the wicked a pitiful spectacle worthy of the fire of Sodom? I keep silent about murders, which are more bearable than shame. Have we unleashed any kind of beasts on the bodies of the saints (which some have done), putting human nature to shame and turning it into guilt only because we did not join in their wickedness, were not defiled with them by communication, which we run from like snake venom, which does not harm the body, but denigrates the depths of the soul? Who was charged with the crime of even burying the dead, whom the animals themselves respected - moreover, a crime worthy of another spectacle and other animals? Which bishops' aged flesh was covered with iron claws in the presence of disciples who could do nothing but tears - flesh crucified with Christ, victorious through their suffering, watering the people with precious blood, and finally put to death in order to be buried and glorified with Christ - with Christ, who conquered the world through such slaughters and sacrifices? Which Elders were divided among themselves by the opposing elements - fire and water, so that an extraordinary lamp arose on the sea when they burned together with the ship on which they sailed? Who (I will close most of our disasters) was accused of inhumanity by the leaders themselves who carried out such orders? Although they served the desires of those in charge, they nevertheless hated the cruelty of will: one thing was forced to do by the circumstances of the time, another was inspired by reason; one was the king’s iniquity, and the other came from the consciousness of the laws by which they had to be judged. Or should we also mention the old, because this is also the work of the same fellowship? Have I cut off the hands of anyone, living or dead, and have I lied against saints in order to arm myself with slander against the Faith? Whose exiles did I list as blessings and did I show disrespect to the sacred councils of the sacred philosophers, looking for submissive ones among them? On the contrary, I made them too martyrs, exposed to danger for a good deed. To which of the almost ethereal and bloodless husbands did I bring harlots - I, accused of immodest speech? Which of the pious, having expelled from the fatherland, did I deliver into the hands of lawless people, so that, imprisoned like animals in gloomy dwellings and separated from each other (which is the most painful thing in this sad event), they languished with hunger and thirst, receiving meager food and then through narrow wells and not being able to see those suffering with them? And this was endured by those “of whom the whole world was not worthy” (Heb. 11:38). So honor the Faith! So you accept strangers! And you don’t know most of these things? That's how it had to be; because there are so many things to do, and there is so much pleasure in doing them! But the sufferer is more mindful, why talk to me about something distant? Some of their violence exceeded the demands of the time, like boars rushing at a fence. I demand your sacrifice yesterday, this old man and father like Abraham, whom you, upon his return from exile, met with stones in the middle of the day in the city, and we (if it is not offensive to you to talk about it) took care of the murderers themselves, who were in danger. “How can I forgive for this,” says God in one place of Scripture (Jer. 5:7), for what should I praise? Or better yet, for which of these deeds should you be crowned? Since these are the nature of your deeds, then tell me my lies, so that I may either be ashamed or cease to be evil. What I really want most is not to sin at all. And if this is impossible, having committed a lie, I wish to return to the true path, which constitutes the second division of right-thinking people. For although I am not “first,” like the righteous, “who is right in his litigation” (Prov. 18:17), at least I rejoice when another heals me. They say your city is small, and not a city, but an empty, boring and sparsely populated village. But if this is bad, the best, then here I suffered more than I myself acted. And if I endure not of my own free will, then I am unhappy (let it be said), but if I endure voluntarily, then I am a philosopher. What kind of accusation is this if no one blames the dolphin for not living on land, and the ox for not living in the sea, and the eel for being an amphibious animal? “But we, you say, have walls, and spectacles, and horse races and royal palaces, the beauty and grandeur of porticoes, this incredible work - an underground and airy river 234, such a brilliant and famous pillar 235, a crowded marketplace, an excited people, a praised assembly of noble men. But why don’t you talk about the advantages of the location, about the fact that land and sea seem to argue with each other as to which of them belongs to the city more, and with their gifts they enrich this king of cities? So, is our untruth that you are great and glorious, and we are low and came from the low ones? In this, many are wrong before you, or, better said, everyone you surpass. And it is necessary to put us to death because we did not build cities, did not surround them with walls, do not boast of horse lists, nor wrestling, nor hound hunting, nor a mad passion for all this, nor the whimsicality and splendor of the baths, nor the preciousness of marbles, nor paintings, nor the golden-shiny and various incisions that almost resemble nature itself? We did not split our seas 236, we did not mix up the seasons in order to make our life more pleasant and safe; and you are a new creator, you probably did it yourself! Add, if you wish, other accusations - you who speak in the words of God: “The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine” (Hag. 2:9). We do not think highly of wealth, to which, “if it increases”, our law commands not to be “added” (Ps. 61:11), we do not calculate our annual and daily income, we do not boast about the load of the table and seasonings for the insensitive belly, for we do not praise everything that, having been accepted by the larynx, becomes equally honest, or, better said, equally dishonest and vomited; but we live simply, without stocking up for tomorrow, not much different from animals who have neither vessels nor supplies. Or will you blame me for my worn out clothes and ugly face? For I see that very low people are exalted by such things. But you will not touch your head and will not pay attention to what the children noticed in Elisha (I will remain silent about what follows). You won’t blame me for being uneducated or for the fact that my pronunciation seems harsh and rude to you. And what can you say that I am not talkative, not funny, I cannot please those with whom I am with, I do not attend public meetings, I do not know how to carry on a conversation and exchange a word with whom it will happen and how it will happen, so that my speeches are unbearable, I do not go to the new Jerusalem, to Zeuxippus 237, I do not go from house to house to caress and satiate my belly; but mostly I sit at home, gloomy and sad, in silence occupied with myself - a sincere judge of affairs and, perhaps, worthy of bondage for being useless? How can you forgive me for all this and not blame me? Oh, you are also supportive and humane! But I behave in an ancient and philosophical way, so that for me there is one sky, and it is for everyone, and I also consider the circulation of the Sun and the Moon, and the order and arrangement of the stars, the equality and usefulness of day and night, and also the succession of seasons, rains, fruits, the life-giving power of the air, to be common to all, I think that rivers flow equally for everyone, this is a common and unenviable wealth, that the earth is the same, that it is our mother and our coffin, that We came from it, and we will return to it, without having any advantage over each other. And what is even more important, I recognize common reason, the Law, the prophets and the very suffering of Christ, through which we were recreated. I am not saying that one was recreated and the other was not, but all of us, who participated in the same Adam, were deceived by the serpent, and were killed by sin, and were saved by the heavenly Adam, and were raised to the tree of life, from which we fell, by the tree of dishonor. And I was led astray by Samuel's Armathem (1 Samuel 1:1) - this small fatherland of the great, led me astray by the fact that he did not dishonor the prophet and became famous not so much in himself as through him, did not serve as an obstacle for him to be dedicated to God before birth, and to prophesy, seeing “long before” (Is. 41:26), not even this one thing, but to anoint kings and priests and judge, those who came from noble cities. I heard about Saul (1 Samuel 9) that he, looking for his father’s donkeys, found the kingdom. And David himself is taken from the flock of sheep and shepherds Israel (1 Samuel 16). What about Amos? Is it not then that the prophetic ministry is entrusted to him, when “he was a shepherd and gathered syquimores” ( Am. 7:14 )? Why did I not mention Joseph, who was a slave and distributor of grain in Egypt and the father of many thousands promised to Abraham? And Abraham (I will say the most important thing) was not a migrant? Wasn't Moses first abandoned, and then became a lawgiver and leader of those who hastened to the promised land? And aren’t his stories great and wonderful? I was led astray by both Carmel Elias, who preceded the fiery chariot, and the mercy of Elisha, which had more power than silk threads and gold, forcibly converted into clothing. I was also led astray by the desert of John, which contained more in those born of women, and together with his food, belt and clothing. I dared to do something more; I found God himself to be the protector of my wretchedness. I will be placed along with Bethlehem, dishonored along with the manger; Is it any wonder if you, who dishonor God for the manger, despise the preacher for the same reason? I will present as an example both fishermen and poor people who preach the gospel, who are preferred by many to the rich. Will you never stop being proud of cities, will you never respect the despicable and dishonorable desert? I’m not saying that gold is born in sand, that precious stones are the product and gift of simple stones. And if I opposed them to what is dishonest in the cities, then perhaps I would not use freedom of speech for good. But our preacher is foreign and alien, perhaps one of the people who is too narrow-minded and carnal will say. What about the apostles? Were they not strangers to many nations and cities into which they were divided, so that the Gospel would spread everywhere, so that everything would be illuminated by the Trinity Light, enlightened by the truth, so that the darkness of ignorance would be dispelled for those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death? It is said: “We should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision” (Gal. 2:9). Do you hear Paul speaking? Let Peter the Jew, what does Paul have in common with the pagans, Luke with Achaia, Andrew with Epirus, John with Ephesus, Thomas with India, Mark with Italy - what do they all (not to mention each separately) have in common with those to whom they went to preach? Therefore, either reproach them, or do not blame me, or prove that you, standing for the true teaching, have been slandered in vain. But since until now I have discussed this with you simply, I will become more philosophical and lofty. Everyone is tall, O man! one fatherland - the heavenly Jerusalem, in which our life is hidden. Everyone has one family, and if you want to look at the lower, it is dust, and if at the highest, it is the breath to which we have become involved, which we are commanded to keep and with which we must appear in judgment and give an account of the observance of our heavenly nobility and image. Therefore, everyone is noble who preserved this breath with virtue and striving for the Prototype, and everyone is not noble who defiled it with vice and took on an alien image - the image of the serpent. These long-standing fatherlands and breeds are only the amusement of our temporary life and acting. For the fatherland is called that which everyone anticipated either by violence or by his own disaster, and where everyone is equally strangers and strangers, no matter how much we play with names; and a noble family is called either one who has been rich for a long time, or one who has recently become rich, on the contrary, an ignoble one - which originates from parents, either through misfortune, or out of love for justice, the poor. For can it be called noble from ancient times, something that partly begins now, and partly is destroyed, and is not given to some, and is attributed to others? This is how I talk about it. And therefore I will leave you to think highly of coffins and fables, and I myself will try, as far as I can, to free myself from seduction, in order to either return or preserve nobility. In such and such thoughts and for such and such reasons, I came to you - a small man, having an humble fatherland, and I came not of my own free will, not of my own call, as many are now striving to become primates, but called, forced and submitted to fear and the Spirit. And if my word is false, then let me fight here even longer in vain and not lead anyone out of error, but on the contrary, let the desire of those who pray for the loss of my soul come true! But after I came here, and perhaps not with power, meaning nothing (I will boast a little about the deeds of unreason), did I imitate any of the insatiable people, was I jealous of anything temporary, although I had such examples before me, although without examples it is difficult and rare not to be bad? Have you and I ever entered into a dispute about which churches, about which treasures, although you are rich in both beyond need, and we are poor in both? Have we stood with jealousy for some broken royal decree? Have you pleased any bosses in order to turn them against you? Have you discovered whose insolence? What has been done against me? “Lord, do not impute this sin to them” (Acts 7:60), and then 238 I said, by the way, remembering the words of Stephen, and now I pray. “They slander us, we bless; they persecute us, we endure; They blaspheme us, we pray” (1 Cor. 4:12). And if I am unfair to you in that, seeing violence, I endure, then forgive me this injustice, and I suffered from others when violence was done to me. Thank you for counting meekness as madness! For much more sublimely than I should reason, imitating you, I reason like this: what does this amount to in comparison with the spitting and slaps that Christ endured, for Whom and for Whom we are exposed to danger? All this cannot be compared with one thing - with the crown of thorns that crowned our Victor, from Whom I also learn to be crowned with the sorrows of life; I cannot compare it with one cane, with which the worn-out dominion was terminated; I cannot compare it with gall alone, with vinegar alone, with which bitter tastes were healed; I cannot compare it with long-suffering in suffering alone. If He gives himself over with a kiss, he denounces, but does not amaze. If it is delayed suddenly, it reproaches, but it follows. If you cut off your ear out of jealousy, Malchus will be indignant and heal you. If anyone runs away in one “veil” (Mark 14:51), he will cover. If you ask to bring down the fire of Sodom on those leading Jesus, it won’t bring it down. If He accepts a robber hanged for a crime, He will lead him into paradise through goodness. For the Lover of Humanity, may everything be philanthropic! And the same is true in the sufferings of Christ! How else will we repay for these sufferings, if even then, since God died for us, we ourselves will not forgive even the slightest thing like this to us? Besides this, I have thought and am still thinking about something (see, isn’t this quite fair?) about which I have already spoken wisely with you more than once. They have houses in themselves, and we have Him who lives in houses: they have churches, and we have God, and we ourselves, through the worshiped Trinity, can become living churches of the living God, animated sacrifices, reasonable burnt offerings, perfect offerings and gods. They have nations, we have angels; They have audacity - we have faith; they threaten - we pray; they overthrow - we endure; They have gold and silver - we have a purified teaching. You built yourself a house of two and three floors (remember the words of Scripture: “a spacious house with cut windows,” Jer. 22:14), but it is not higher than my faith and the heavens to which I strive. Is my herd small? But don’t rush along the rapids! Is my fence too small? However, it is inaccessible to wolves, it will not allow a robber inside, neither thieves nor strangers will cross it. I know well that I once saw it as more extensive, and that of those who are now wolves, I will need to classify many as sheep, and perhaps even as shepherds. This is what the Good Shepherd preaches to me, for whom I lay down my life for the sheep. I am not afraid of the small number of the herd, because it is more convenient to survey it; I know my people, and my people know me. They know God and are known by God. My sheep listen to my voice, which I myself listened to in the word of God, which I learned from the Holy Fathers, which I taught equally at all times, regardless of the circumstances, and which I will not stop teaching, with which I was born and will depart. I call these sheep by name (because they are not nameless, like the stars, which, if they have their own count, then have their own names), and they follow me, because I raise them “on still waters” (Ps. 23:2), they follow every similar shepherd (see with what pleasure they listened to his voice), but they will not follow a stranger’s shepherd and will run away from him, because they already have the skill to distinguish a familiar voice from someone else. They will flee from Valentine's division of the One into two, believing that the Creator and the Good are not two Beings, also from Depth and Silence, and from fabulous eons truly worthy of depth and silence; they will flee from Marcion's God of elements and numbers, from Montan's evil and feminine spirit, from the substance and darkness of Manes; from the arrogance and purity of Navat, contained in mere words, from Sabelli's decomposition and fusion, or, so to speak, absorption, in which the Three gather into the One, but the One is not defined in the three hypostatics; from Ariev and Ariev's followers introduced alienation of natures, and from the new Judaism, limiting the Divinity to one unborn; from Photinus below and beginning from Mary Christ. But they will worship the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit - one Divinity - God the Father, God the Son, God (if you are not upset) the Holy Spirit, one Nature in three Persons: rational, perfect, independent and separate in number, but not in Divinity. Let anyone who threatens me now give these expressions to me, and let anyone who wants to appropriate others for himself. The Father will not tolerate being deprived of the Son, nor the Son to be deprived of the Holy Spirit; but they are deprived if the Son, or the Spirit, is in time and a creature, for what was created is not God. And I do not tolerate being deprived of completing 239: “One Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph. 4:5). If this baptism is taken away from me, from whom will I receive a second one? What do you say, those who drown or cross? Is it possible to be spiritual without spirit? Does he who does not honor the Spirit participate in the Spirit? And does he who is baptized into creature and fellow servant honor the Spirit? No, and you won't say that much. I will not lie to You, Father Without Beginning! I will not lie to You, Only Begotten Son! I will not lie to You, Holy Soul! I know Whom I confessed, whom I renounced, with Whom I united; and I do not agree, after having learned the correct expression, to learn from the infidels, and after having confessed the truth, to be attached to a lie, to go into the font for perfection and come out more imperfect, to proceed to baptism with water for revival, and to become like a baby who dies at the moment of maternal permission, so that death accompanies his birth. Why do you make me, through the same thing, blessed and unhappy, newly enlightened and unenlightened, divine and at the same time godless? Is it not so that my hope of re-creation will be crushed? Briefly say: remember the confession! Who were you baptized into? In the Father? - Fine! However, this is Jewish. In the Son? - Fine! This is no longer Jewish, but not yet completely. In the Holy Spirit? - Wonderful! It's perfect. But were you simply baptized in Them or in their common name? - Yes, and in a common name! What name is this? - Without a doubt, the name of God. Believe in this common name, “make haste and reign” (Ps. 44:5), and you will pass from here into the bliss there, which, in my understanding, is the most perfect knowledge of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and to which may we also attain, in Christ Himself, our God. To Him be glory and power with the beginningless Father and the life-giving Spirit, now and always and unto ages of ages. Amen. That is, the Arian teaching. St. Gregory has in mind those who considered God the Son and God the Holy Spirit to be created. This refers to the imperial war. Feodosia with the Goths. What is meant here, according to Elijah’s remark, is the aqueduct built by Valens and running in some places underground, in others supported in the air by arches. Ducang. Const. Chr. L.1, p.18. According to Elijah’s remark, this refers to the pillar on which the equestrian statue of Constantine the Great was placed, which is called ανθήλιον. Here is a hint that the sea is, as it were, divided into two parts by the Cape of Constantinople. Helen, according to Nicephorus (Lib.8. C.30), built a beautiful church in Constantinople and called it the new Jerusalem. And Zeuxippus was the name given to public, famous and extensive baths. Ducang. Constantinop. Chr. L.1, p.88. Zeuxippus was visited with great zeal by the inhabitants of Constantinople. And Elijah notices that, according to some legends, in Zeuxippus there was a meeting place for heretics, and therefore he guesses that the Holy Theologian Zeuxippus himself ironically calls the new Jerusalem. 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