Неизвестный автор Два друга. Василий Великий и Григорий Богослов 186

The Christian religion, in the person of Constantine the Great, ascended the throne of the Caesars and became dominant in the Roman Empire, and therefore in Athens. But the Athenians had not yet forgotten the noisy celebrations of their former paganism; idolatry and the conquered still continued to ignite their imagination with various memories. It reminded them of the glory of their heroes, poets, orators and philosophers with books and monuments, elegant works of science and art, pagan customs and morals. In Athens at this time, two Cappadocians studied and attracted special attention - Basil from Caesarea and Gregory from Nazianza. Deciding to enrich themselves with the treasures of worldly wisdom, they attended the schools of Caesarea, Alexandria, Byzantium and finally came to Athens. Here they became close and became friends. With all their love for worldly sciences, in the most enlightened and most corrupted city, they shunned all secular entertainment; they were recognized by their important and modest steps, distinguished from their peers and called “two Christians”; meanwhile they were loved, admired, and respected. Vasily was revered as an old man in a youthful body: human philosophy had no incomprehensibility for him, but he was imbued with a higher, unearthly philosophy, and apostolic service awaited him. Gregory was looked upon as a poet, full of power and pleasantness, but he was preparing to sing the greatness of the New Testament and preach the mysteries of Revealed theology. At the same time, in Athens, a young Greek was distinguished, under philosophical clothes hiding the purple of the Caesars: it was Julian, the grandson of Constantine the Great, gifted with the happiest abilities, but corrupted to the utmost extravagance by the Platonists of that time. While maintaining the appearance of a Christian, he was secretly devoted to paganism, and introduced into the Eleusinian sacraments 187, he promised to restore the pagan religion in place of the Christian. But the time has finally come for the Cappadocian youths to leave Athens and return to their fatherland. Friends and teachers did not want to be separated from them and asked them to stay. “The city sees you as its future speakers,” they were told. “He intends for you wreaths and ceremonial chariots, and the opinion of the whole people will be on your side.” Vasily did not hesitate, but, noticing that the convictions of his friends and mentors were shaking his friend and he was weakly resisting them, he said to Gregory: “Stay if you want, but I’m leaving half of myself with you.” Having said this, he broke away from the embrace of friendship and sailed to the shores of Asia - to his Caesarea. Having parted with his friend, Gregory, however, was inconsolable: the separation proved to him that no society could replace for him sincere feelings of friendship, so pure, so sincere and so strong, which united him with Vasily. Therefore, after a little time, he left famous Athens almost like a fugitive. At the same time, his younger brother Caesarea, who studied medical sciences in Alexandria, arrived in Nazians at the same time. Vasily and Gregory were received with joy into their families. Emilia, Vasily's mother, and Macrina, his elder sister, forgot all the sorrows of their widowhood. Gregory found his father bishop of his small city of Nazianza. The father blessed God, who returned to him, for the consolation of his old age, two sons, enriched in knowledge and virtues. But, in order to quickly sever ties with the world and not be carried away by the example of Gregory’s brother Caesarea, whom Emperor Constantius took to court, both of them - Basil and Gregory - in different places, but almost at the same time, received Holy Baptism, each being about thirty years old. Vasily immediately began to look for a refuge in which they both could devote themselves to the pious pursuits of monastic life, and meanwhile wrote to Gregory, inviting him to live in the desert, as he promised him. But Gregory, restrained by his father’s old age, apologized and responded with the following letter: “I confess, I did not keep my word - to unite my life with yours in the school of new philosophy, I did not keep the promise made back in Athens, where friendship, if my expression is sufficient, merged our souls into one. So, I did not fulfill my promise - but not of my own free will. One duty imposes silence on another: the law of friendship must yield to the law of filial love. However, if you like, I do not completely go back on my word and am ready to spend some time with you, but you will also pay me the same - you will visit me, and this small sacrifice made to friendship will be mutual; your visit will be pleasant to my parents" 188. But Vasily did not agree to the proposal, which corresponded so little to his intentions. Another time he left Cappadocia and visited Egypt, the land of ancient wonders and the refuge of the great desert dwellers. In Thebaid, among the vast deserts, intersected by naked hills, dry streams and ruined cities, the zealous followers of the Gospel found the first safe refuge from the persecutions of pagan intolerance. These hermits were people whom the world terrified and drove away from itself with its crimes, shameful pleasures and wicked customs. Having a will as strong as death, they patiently endured the heat of the sun, relentlessly mortified sensual desires, and with the ever-present severity of life they gradually weakened the dominion of the flesh in themselves, so that their spirit could gain the freedom of the children of God. Vasily saw them - and decided to assimilate their way of life: he decided to spend his life in fasting, prayer, vigil and bodily labor - in a word, in all exercises that subjugate the flesh to the spirit. Two years after that, Vasily, trying to introduce the customs and rules of desert life into Cappadocia, retired into the depths of the forests separating Cappadocia from Pontus on the northern side. In this, his home tradition was his guide. During the last persecution, his great-grandfather (a strong Christian and one of the highest rulers of Neocaesarea) took refuge in these impenetrable forests for two years with his wife, children and slaves. He and his household lived here by catching animals; the rock exuded clean water to quench thirst; a hundred-year-old oak offered them its hospitable shade; caves overgrown with moss served as a place for them to rest and sleep at night. The pleasantness of this secluded refuge delighted Vasily’s soul. He stopped on the bank of the Iris River, which flows into the Euxine Pontus 189, in a place that was surrounded by water, forest and rocks, as if by a triple fence. There were several friends with him. On the other side of the river, his mother and sister with several servants built themselves a hut, or, better yet, founded a monastery. Meanwhile, Gregory still lived in Nazianza, and Basil, after useless relations with him, wrote the following to him through one of his brothers. “Although my brother Gregory 190 wrote to me that you have long wanted to live with me, and you want it decisively, but, having been deceived many times in my hope, I stopped believing it, and with my affairs I didn’t even have time to think about it; then I was going to go to Pontus, having, if God willed, the intention of putting an end to my wanderings there. It was with difficulty that I gave up hope regarding you; Someone rightly said: hopes are the dreams of those who are awake. Now I am already in Pontus and have begun a new life; here God showed me a refuge consistent with my goal. What we often imagined in pleasant moments of relaxation, I now saw in reality. Here is a high mountain, covered with dense forest and irrigated on the northern side by bright, cooling waters! At its base stretches a flat valley, watered by mountain springs and surrounded by a forest of heterogeneous trees, scattered without art and serving as a kind of fence. It seems to me that Calypso’s island was not so beautiful, although Homer is most surprised by it. Moreover, my desert is almost also an island, because it is closed on all sides: on two sides - by deep ravines, on the third - by a river falling from the heights, which in itself is like a continuous and impassable wall, and on the fourth - by a mountain that blocks all paths into the valley, so that there is only one entrance to it - and that one is known to me alone. Moreover, other heights adjoin my refuge, boldly rising with their peaks and dominating the surrounding area; from them the view embraces my entire valley and all the turns of the river, giving the viewer the same pleasure that you feel looking from Amphipolis to Strymon. But Strymon, due to the slowness of the flow and the sleepiness of its waters, is almost not worth the name of the river; on the contrary, mine, and in itself being faster than others that I have seen, becomes even more ferocious when it hits a nearby rock and, reflected from it, is cast into a dark abyss. This paints a beautiful picture for me and every viewer, and it brings the greatest benefit to the natives, for the abysses dug by water feed countless fish. Should I talk to you about the air of my valley and the coolness blowing from the river? Let others be amazed by the multitude of flowers and the singing of birds - I don’t have time to do this. The best advantage of my refuge could be considered to be that, due to its advantageous position, it is rich in all kinds of fruits, but for me the most pleasant thing about it is the silence and tranquility, for it is not only removed from the noise of the city, but also inaccessible to the traveler; Only hunters, chasing the beast, sometimes come to us. By the way, this country also produces animals, but not bears and wolves, like yours, but deer, wild goats, hares and similar animals. So, do not think that I, like a fool, am going towards danger, exchanging your Tiverin, the abyss of the world, for such a beautiful country, but approve of the path I have taken. And Alcmaeon laid down his wandering staff when he found the islands of Echinada" 191. According to this first letter, Gregory did not come to Vasily, but answered him with a letter in an almost negative tone 192. When Vasily, in his second letter 193, depicted to him the inner state of desert living as a school of work and virtue, Gregory, moved by such an image, finally arrived at the hermit Iris and found him among a crowded society of Christians. This pious society grew from day to day, accepting into its fold people persecuted by the vices and passions of the pagans. Christian wisdom drew them into the silence of the desert with the hope of serene worship of the Lord. All property was forgotten there; the newcomers were called brothers and were subject to the same rule, in accordance with the spirit of the New Law, according to which the whole life of a Christian should be a service to the Lord, an exercise of piety and preparation for death. Hard work served them as a useful distraction after prayer, and the change of physical and spiritual activities made both of them more pleasant. Soon the mountain was cleared of excess forest and made convenient for agriculture, the ravines were leveled, and in places that were previously impassable, a garden appeared, rich in fruits and necessary vegetables. Gregory gladly took part in desert activities and, gifted with an inventive imagination, knew how to give them an elegant appearance. He and Vasily made a special estate for themselves, so that it would be a monument to their desert industriousness. At this time, Vasily, using the advice of his friend, wrote ascetic rules, which were subsequently adopted in the monasteries of the East and West. Having stayed with Vasily for several months, Gregory, recalled by his father, left the desert and then expressed his love for desert living and his memory of it in the next letter to Vasily. “Who will return to me those past months in which I shared your hard labors? The voluntary sorrow of that time is much better than the real involuntary joy. Who will return to me those psalmody and vigils, those liftings of the heart to God on the wings of prayer, that life, as if disembodied and incorporeal, that society of brothers imbued with unanimity, as if inspired and torn away from the earth by you, those deeds of virtue, the motivation for which we have set forth in the rules and regulations, that exercise in the Holy Scriptures and the light revealed in it under the guidance of the Holy Spirit? But let us descend to our lower occupations. Who will return to me that shift of daily labor: carrying trees, cutting stones, planting and watering plants? What about our golden estate? She is more precious than Xerxes: under her shadow sits not this glorious king, tired of pleasures, but an unknown hermit, exhausted by labor. “I planted it, Apollos, that is, you, watered it, and God increased it” as a monument to our labor (cf. 1 Cor. 3:6). But it is easy for us to wish, but it is difficult to get what we want. Help and assist me, breathe into me your virtue and, if we have acquired something useful, preserve it with your prayers, so that our useful things do not disappear like a shadow at sunset. I breathe you more than air, and I delight my life with the constant thought of you” 194. But the solitary life for these two lofty souls was only rest and preparation for a more extensive field. Here they tested, exercised and strengthened their strength, as the chosen instruments of Providence, as the future lamps of Christ's Church. Soon, leaving the desert, they were to accept the priesthood, and then, when one of them was in Caesarea and the other in Nazianza, the people unanimously called them to episcopal thrones. It is touching to read their letters dating back to this time; in them friendship speaks the language of consolation and encouragement. Here is Gregory's letter to Vasily. “I liked the beginning of your letter - and what won’t I like about yours? You were taken - and so was I; both of us were forced to enter the priesthood. But is this what our souls were striving for? We are witnesses to each other, witnesses more reliable than all others, that only solitary and modest wisdom occupied our thoughts. But it was apparently better for us not to remain in this state; at least I don't know what to say about it until the Economy of the Holy Spirit is explained. Now that the matter is already over, it is necessary, as I think, to submit to necessity, and especially at the present time...” 195 Julian sat on the throne of the Roman Caesars at that time! Reprinted from: Christian Reading. St. Petersburg, 1838. No. 2. P. 94–110. The Eleusinian sacraments or Eleusinian Mysteries are an ancient pagan cult in honor of the goddesses Demeter and Persephone in Eleusis (near Athens), which arose around 1500 BC and was closed by Emperor Theodosius the Great in 392. The cult was esoteric in nature and implied a special dedication. – Ed. Greg. Nazianz. Operum editio. Paris, 1630. T. 1. Er. 4, 8. P. 769 (hereinafter – Greg. Nazianz. Opera). Wed: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 1. To Basil the Great // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 417. Basilii Caesariensis Cappadociae Archiepiscopi opera omnia. Paris. 1750. T. 3. Ep. 14. P. 93 (hereinafter – Basil. Caesar. Opera). Wed: St. Basil the Great. Letter 14. To Gregory, friend // St. Basil the Great. Creations. T. 2. pp. 473–475. See: Greg. Nazianz. Opera. T. 1. Er. 6, 10. R. 770. Compare: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 2. To Basil the Great // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 417. See: Christian Reading. St. Petersburg, 1827. Part 27. P. 174; Basil. Caesar. Er. 2. R. 70. Compare: St. Basil the Great. Letter 2. To Gregory the Theologian // St. Basil the Great. Creations. T. 2. pp. 442–448. Greg. Nazianz. Opera. Er. 9, 13. P. 774. Cf.: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 6. To Basil the Great // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 420. Greg. Nazianz. Opera. Er. I, 15. P. 775. Cf.: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 8. To Basil the Great // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 422.