Н. Фетисов Святой Григорий Богослов как учитель жизни 678

The kind world is my work and my praise. St. Gregory the Theologian 679 St. Gregory the Theologian is one of those holy fathers of the Church whose name is remarkably unanimously glorified by East and West. A deeply enlightened shepherd of the Christian Church, a serious theologian-philosopher, an exalted poet, a Christian who shone with piety of life, he aroused reverence and respect for himself even among his contemporaries. “Gregory of Nazianzus is the mouth of Christ, a chosen vessel and a deep well,” St. wrote enthusiastically about him. Basil the Great. “In theology, Gregory was great,” says the eloquent and learned Evagrius, later a Nitrian desert dweller, who listened to his lessons in the Holy Scriptures about Gregory of Nazianzus. Blessed Jerome, a man famous for his learning and extensive knowledge of Christianity, despite his fifty years, despite the consciousness of his own dignity and authority that never left him, leaves his Syrian deserts and hurries to Constantinople to listen to the famous Gregory the Theologian. With a feeling of deep gratitude, he remembers him later in many of his writings as a great teacher, catechist, scientist, and expert on the Holy Scriptures 681. Rufinus, Bishop of Aquileia, cannot find words to praise Gregory of Nazianzus. “Gregory,” he says, “is an excellent husband in all respects, glorious in word and deed. There is nothing more honest and holy than his life, more glorious than his eloquence, purer and more just than his faith, more complete and perfect than his knowledge, since he alone is such that parties who disagree with each other could not argue about his faith, and his merit before God and God’s churches is that whoever dares to admit anything in faith that is not in agreement with Gregory, thereby exposes himself to the fact that he is - heretic. A clear sign that a person adheres to the wrong faith if he does not agree in faith with Gregory” 682. “Does the authority of the Eastern bishops in the person of Gregory alone seem insufficient to you? - another teacher of the Western Church, Blessed Augustine, asks Pelagius. “After all, this is such a person that he himself did not say anything other than what is known to everyone in the Christian faith” 683. The glory and charm of Gregory did not die along with his contemporaries and the generations closest to them, but, like the true memory of a righteous man, they consistently passed from generation to generation. Quite some time after the death of Gregory, Maximus the Confessor called him a glorious and God-bearing teacher, a great preacher of the Church, the divine mouth of Christ, great in theology 684, St. Theodore - the most important theologian 685, St. Sophronius - master of theology 686. The entire Third Ecumenical Council refers to Gregory the Theologian as an indisputable authority, the Seventh repeatedly applies to him the title “co-name of theology.” And the militant Christian Church on earth, wishing to glorify its highest head with hymns - the Lord Jesus Christ, finds nothing better than to turn for material for this - words and thoughts - to the works of the great Gregory the Theologian. Thus, with the words of this great teacher, she glorifies the risen Lord even on the feast of feasts - the day of Holy Easter, the born God-man - on the feast of the Nativity of Christ. From Gregory the Theologian she draws inspiration and expression for him on the day of Epiphany or the Baptism of the Lord, on the day of Pentecost, on the day of celebration of saints in general. It is not surprising, therefore, that those who ascended to this sacred place today, on the day of remembrance by the Church of St. Gregory the Theologian, out of respect and reverence for this “man of desires” (Dan. 9:23), the chosen vessel, the mouth of Christ, wants to offer his word in honor and memory of him, wants to take, as Gregory’s contemporaries said, the shuttle 687 of his spirit and, to the extent of the talent given to him, although, perhaps, in the amount of [talent] alone, for the edification and tenderness of those gathered, try to stretch a mental thread, extend at least to the point that on the basis of it we can all begin prayer 688. Having been honored by the Lord in heaven with the same glory as St. Basil and John Chrysostom, as the Lord Himself testified in a mysterious vision to the Euchaite bishop John (11th century) 689, Gregory of Nazianzus as a person during his life differed sharply from them. St. Basil, a branch of the rich and noble family of Cappadocia, was a man of strength, who strongly tempered his nature in long ascetic deeds. Excellent knowledge of the world and people with the amazing tact of behavior developed from this, the glory of learning and eloquence were combined in him with a wonderful gift of an organizer and administrator. John Chrysostom, the son of the wealthy Antiochian aristocrat Secundus, who tempered his nature with the long experience of the desert and monasteries, is also before us a deep connoisseur of light and people, a man of amazing integrity, strength and amazing dispassion. Gregory the Theologian by his character represented something completely different. As a unique original thinker, soaring like an eagle in the mysteries of the knowledge of God, the same name as the writer of the fourth Gospel, St. Gregory was more reminiscent of him in his spiritual make-up. He had the same rare depth and strength of feeling, which made his character more feminine than masculine, as in the immortal Galilean fisherman, the same quiet, subtle, poetic inspiration that calmly reigned over the earth from the holy depths of the blue sky. If Basil the Great and John Chrysostom by their nature were not created for a quiet inner life of self-deepening, if their nature was more inclined to a purely external life and activity for others, then Gregory the Theologian did not have precisely this active nerve of his contemporaries. He, “a timid and cautious shepherd” 690, who, by his own admission, was even reproached for inactivity 691, lacked perseverance and that toughness that gives people the opportunity not only to despise the baseness of their opponents, but also to oppose them and suppress them. Without being too lethargic and excessively hot 692, he brought into his active life a strong desire for peace and quiet. He considered himself entitled to turn his rudder, as the proverb says and as he himself testified to his friend Philagry, and to act as the helmsman acts when he notices the approach of a storm, namely, to withdraw into himself and see only from afar how others are shocked in front of each other and shake each other (letter to Philagry) 693. Hence, although both Basil the Great and John Chrysostom were not silent in their Words about peace and tranquility as a general Christian disposition, neither one nor the other spoke about it in the same way as Gregory the Theologian. Just as the holy apostle and evangelist John can be called the most sublime singer of love, its teacher, despite the fact that other apostles also preached about love, so Gregory the Theologian, as a teacher of life, is primarily before us a teacher of peace and unanimity of people in mutual relations. “The kind world is my work and my praise. Dear world. “I love and kiss you very much 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” 694. “I grieve that I cannot, having ascended one of the high mountains, with a voice corresponding to my desire, in front of the whole universe... cry out... to all those who think ungodly: “Sons of humanity, how long is hardness of heart; love vanity and seek lies” (Ps. 4:3) 695; “We will stop our own disagreements. “I am the guarantor of peace” 696, “a timid and prudent shepherd” 697, who came to bring “not a sword, but peace” 698 - this is what St. said. Gregory in his sermons, and these words, one might say, were the basis of his entire preaching life. Peace, harmony, according to the deep conviction of St. Gregory, exist from time immemorial in the universe. They alone can perfectly say what the Word who created everything proclaimed: “when the universe was realized and ordered by God, building with Him, when He prepared His throne in the wind, and when He made the clouds strong, when He laid the foundations of the earth and established the fountains of the heavenly places as firm, and by the spirit of His mouth bestowed all power” (cf.: Proverbs 8:27-28; cf. Gregory). Having thus protected the universe from time immemorial, the world cannot completely disappear from the face of [the earth]; having been shaken, it is restored and, having departed, will certainly return, like that plant that, if you bend it with your hands and then leave it free, will again unbend and reveal in itself the property that it can be bent by force, but not straightened. 699. Conviction in this eternal peace and harmony on earth, St. Gregory commands, first of all, to be drawn from the concept of the Christian God. “Let us think [for this],” he says, “first of all, about the most excellent and highest of all things—God” 700. The Christian God - Existing 701, is the One 702 [Deity], indescribable 703, superior to all sensations and thoughts 704, Consistent with Itself, always identical 705, but at the same time It defines Itself in relation to every other that exists outside of It, as possessing, namely, all these others, unable to have anything outside of Itself; It is not something, but it cannot be deprived of anything; It is everything: “It is life and lives, light and lights, good and blessings, glory and glory, the True and the Truth” 706. This is His metaphysical unity, and translated into the language of ethics, this is His peace, love and the absence of any disagreement and separation. In this He has so much agreement with Himself and with the secondary that, along with other names, whatever God wants to be called, it became primarily His name - “peace” (Eph. 2:14), “love” (1 John 4:16) 707. Man is οιχονοούμενον 708, in the words of Gregory the Theologian, θεια μοιρα 709, is the creation of God in His image 710, and this with logical necessity forces everyone to conclude that the metaphysical nature of God (unity) and ethical (peace and love) should have clearly visible in humans 711. He, like the Creator, in his inner ideal existence is self-affirming, independent, eternal, detached from all partial forms of existence and conscious of himself as one in everything and everything in unity. He can desire, imagine, feel, but desire, imagine, feel like his Highest Creator everything, and this all gives the same content to his mind, his will and his feelings, harmoniously peacefully uniting these abilities, but at the same time affirming them in their own characteristics, without denying the separate existence of each of them separately. In this consciousness of oneself in the image of God, in this similarity with Him in one’s inner life and its law of love, peace for man is the guarantee of his definition in relation to the rest of the plurality. From the consciousness of his godlikeness, a person can easily conclude about the unconditional dignity of other people who are equal to him; I am, it turns out then that they are, and they are actually me. And if my self wants to know the world and strive for it, then others also want to know this world. Hence, the consequence of the genuine natural relations of everyone to another should be the same amiable, praiseworthy peace. An example of this world of living beings after God is the ministering forces or spirits surrounding Him - Angels 712. They, standing around God and illuminated by the purest illumination from the First Cause, invariably remain in their dignity, in which the main thing is peace and serenity. Along with the luminosity from the all-praised and Holy Trinity, they also receive the ability to be one 713. But, no matter how clearly the nature of the spirit speaks of peace and harmony, beyond this, St. Gregory the Theologian, “listening to the voice of God, let us look again “to the heavens above and to the earth below” (Is. 8:22) and delve into the law of creation. Heaven, earth, sea - in a word, the whole world, this great and glorious book of God, in which the preached God is revealed in the most silence, this world, as long as it stands firmly and in peace [agreement] with itself, without protruding from the limits of its nature, until in it not a single creature rebels against another and does not break those bonds of love with which the Artist - the Creative Word has bound everything, until then corresponds to its name and truly is peace (χοσμος) and incomparable beauty, until then nothing could be imagined more glorious and majestic than it. But with the cessation of the world, the world will cease to be a world. “In fact, don’t you notice,” the great teacher addresses the listener, “that the law of love governs the sky when it harmoniously imparts light to the air and rain to the earth?” But the earth and the air do not imitate parental love when they give all animals one thing - food, another - the opportunity to breathe, and thereby support their life? Is it not the world that is governed by the seasons, which, meekly dissolving among themselves, gradually take one place of the other and, in the middle times, soften the severity of the extreme ones, thereby serving at the same time for pleasure and benefit? What can we say about day and night, which are equal to each other, evenly increasing and decreasing, of which one calls us to work, and the other to rest? What can we say about the sun and the moon, about beauty and the multitude of stars that appear and set in order? What can we say about the sea and the land, which, uniting peacefully with each other, favorably and philanthropically transfer man to each other and richly and generously lavish their treasures on him?.. What can we say about the proportionality and harmony of the members, about food, about the birth and habitation determined for each animal, of which some dominate, others are subordinate, some are submissive to us, others are free? If all this happens and is ordered and governed according to the original laws of harmony, as if everything flowed together, one had breath, then is it possible to draw another conclusion from this, except that everything preaches to us about friendship and like-mindedness, that everything is prescribed to us by the law of unanimity? 714 True, from the time when man in paradise allowed the arrogant impulse of his mind, contrary to the commandment of God, to comprehend what was still incomprehensible to him, the universe, coming out of the hand of the Creator as a cosmos, changed. Man himself, this unity, entered into a struggle with nature, lost the ability to clearly sense his connection with God and, hence, dissolved his unity, his kinship with people 715. Insolence, ardor (but not ardor 716) or the same impulse to know, to feel more than one should, “this immeasurable greatness of spirit,” have now become common in man. As a result, a person does not want to recognize a brother in his neighbor, and Judah and Israel no longer establish the same authority, and we are no longer Christ alone, but Paul, Apollos and Cephas 717; the hand despises the eye, and the eye despises the hand, the head rebels against the feet, and the feet are alien to the head 718; the words “mine, yours, old, new, more learned or spiritual, nobler or lower born, richer or poorer” 719 appeared; there was a desire to be on the right, on the left, in the middle, above, below 720. And because of all this, everything among us began to become confused and waver, because of all this, the boundaries of the universe are troubled by suspicion 721, many fall into the abyss, take the side of the goats (cf. Matt. 25:32-46), not only the lower ones, but even those who, having been teachers of Israel, “did not understand these” (John 3:10) 722. But, despite this, the world, having wavered in this way, still did not disappear from the face of the earth, and apparently having left, it can quickly return. “The universe is affected by sin, but not incurably,” St. Gregory consoles 723. Behind the transformative light, commensurate with the forces of those who receive it, the shadow of Truth and the mystery of the great light 724, that is, the Old Testament written Law 725, appears on the earth. the very Word of God 726 accepts humanity into His Divinity and in His teaching and life of the God-man offers means to restore the shaken peace on earth. For this, the Redeemer, according to the Theologian, had to survive all earthly competitions and enter into all human relationships, so that through this humiliation and condescension of God all humanity would be exalted and purified, so that under all restrictions the image of Divine life would be revealed and the highest and eternal moral example would be presented to humanity 727. In short, by this Redeemer we humans are returned again to God 728. Now the serpent, who considers himself the wisest, having approached the new Adam (man), will meet in him God Himself and will crush his malice against His fortress, just as a stormy sea crushes against a solid rock 729. By fulfilling the new commandments of Jesus Christ, 730 people can easily recognize this Divinity, their unity, their kinship with others and prepare for everyone the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. This means that the sure guarantee of the peace of the universe, despite its visible constant outrages and disagreements, again remained in man. Let a person, guided by the thought of God, of Christ, look deeper inside himself, here he will recognize how similar he is in spiritual nature to God Himself 731. From this similarity to God or knowledge of God, let him move on to the same thought of similarity to God and knowledge of God in other people, and it will turn out that all people are siblings, children of one common Father, the same image of His Immortal, equally restored or enlightened after the fall of the forefathers by the blood of one Redeemer, Christ the God-Man, and the whole universe is one common fraternal family, in which peace and love should be the main rule of life. This, in brief, was Gregory the Theologian’s sermon on peace. It is impossible not to see that, in its foundations, it represents nothing more than the spiritualization of Plato’s philosophy (in its later form - Neoplatonism), and therefore it is clear that it could make a corresponding impression more and especially on Gregory’s educated contemporaries. Only those who, according to the spirit of the times, were guided in their dogmatic studies by the rules of dialectics 732, who were driven crazy by worldly wisdom and delved into all sorts of new concepts, could profitably listen to such logic of St. Gregory in Words about Peace. The rest, most likely, went to listen to Gregory, more carried away by the grace and causticity of his speech, which, despite the weakness and provinciality of the reprimand 733, sounded, according to contemporaries (like the sophist Polemon), like an Olympic pipe 734. In order to instill in this simple mass of people the true concept of peace in the universe, it was necessary to add something else to the words of the preacher. The latter himself had to convince with the living example of his life of the beauty and consistency for a Christian of a peaceful mood, with his own life to clearly support his obscure theological and philosophical justifications in his sonorous, beautiful speeches, and Gregory the Theologian was clearly aware of all this. His feminine nature was precisely created in order to seek everywhere and in everything, first of all, this peace and tranquility for himself and others. Therefore, does St. live? Gregory in Athens, among the riotous students, whether he moves as a monk to the secluded wooded mountain of the “sunless” Pontus, whether he returns to the small settlement of the Diocesarians 735 Nazians, whether he accepts the modest title of presbyter and chorebishop, whether he becomes the bishop first of the poor dirty town of Sasima, then the patriarch of the brilliant luxurious capital of Constantinople, or again, finally, retires to Arians, having given up the light and thinking of enjoying only the garden with its stream and pleasant shade, everywhere he wants to know and see only the world and the world around him. From every period of his life we ​​have amazing evidence of how truly dear and kind this world was to him, in himself and in others. Here is St. Gregory is still a young man, with the first fluff emerging on his cheeks, in the Athens school. Young people at all times are more or less similar to one another: they have always loved school activities and love to diversify them with all sorts of pranks and pranks. In the time of Gregory, the Athenian student youth had in use a rude custom of receiving a newcomer. This reception was called “baths”, and every new student at the Athens Academy was afraid of it; its purpose is at the very first stages to eradicate any arrogance of the newcomer and subordinate him to comradely authority 736. Knowing how difficult, how far from peaceful, this rude method of paying for one’s placement in the school of knowledge can affect the young aristocrat of Cappadocia - St. Basil, St. Gregory convinces his comrades to accept his fellow countryman without this ancient custom. And then, when the Armenian school ferrein 737, instead of a bathhouse, decided to drag Vasily into one meaningless argument, then St. Gregory, with a deft dialectical trick, rescued Vasily and gave him the opportunity to win a brilliant triumph over the pranksters. Already here in Athens, St. Gregory began to cherish the desire that, after completing his education, he would retire into the desert and turn his thoughts entirely to another world. But concern for his parents, the fear that the feat of solitude will not give peace and tranquility to his elderly parents, makes him prefer the “many and burdensome worries” 739 of his father’s Tiberian estate to the “sunless” 738 secluded Pontus. Soon he had to fulfill his desire - to break away from his father's estate and go to Pontus, to Basil the Great, but not for long - from Christmas to Easter. Two years later, the same desire for peace for his father and the Nazianz flock, embarrassed by Father Gregory’s reckless signature of the Arian Creed, prompts him to flee again - now from the desert to Nazianz, consoling himself that God gives parents children so that “they can have help in them and with them, like rods, they can support their trembling limbs” 740. Gregory flees to Pontus, excited by the unexpected consecration of a presbyter, runs like an ox wounded by a horsefly 741 in order to find a cure in his divine friend, but after a few months, remembering his father, who was exhausted from the desire to have him with him 742, he returns to Nazianza, delivers his first sermon and publicly asks for forgiveness, tries in himself, and in his father, and in the flock to bring peace by declaring that, along with a sincere reluctance to serve the God of Moses and Jeremiah, he already has a desire to serve like Aaron and Isaiah 743. When Basil the Great (still a presbyter) had misunderstandings with Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, Gregory shelters the former in Pontus, and tries to reconcile the latter with a series of letters with the hidden Basil: “If I have any significance with you,” Gregory wrote to Eusebius, “then please make peace with Basil” 744 . When Basil the Great, after some obstacles, thanks to the accidental presence of Gregory the Elder, father of Gregory the Theologian, himself became the bishop of Caesarea, Gregory, who dearly loved his friend Basil, wrote him only a congratulatory letter, but did not appear personally to testify to his friend the bishop of his joy. In this case, the great Gregory again had in mind the world - the new bishop with his flock, because slanderers, seeing Gregory of Nazianzus at this time with Basil in Caesarea, could easily say that the new bishop surrounded himself with his own supporters 745. However, as soon as Vasily was drawn into strife and difficulties with the civil authorities, Gregory immediately wrote to him and promised to immediately arrive himself to restore the once again shaken peace in the Caesarea flock. Gregory, unexpectedly for himself, was appointed by his friend Vasily as bishop of the dirty and poor city of Sashima. The eloquence, refined education and theological depth of the Nazianz presbyter seemed to be forgotten at this appointment and were mercilessly sent to this horse changing station, to this settlement of agents, drivers and traveling traders 746. Gregory could not help but grieve from such undeserved bullying by his friend, but at the moment of his episcopal consecration, for the sake of his beloved idea of ​​peace, he decisively condemned his independence and lack of meaning, and found the strength, without any irony or sarcasm, to publicly thank his friend for his kindness and devotion, for which he did not allow him to bury his talent in the ground 747. Not at all inclined to fight with the Tian bishop Anfim, who began to incite the Sasima flock against Vasily, Gregory considers it best to leave Sasima and retires into the desert; however, he cannot refuse his father’s request to come to Nazianz, so that there, in his own metaphor, he can support the wings of a strong but weary eagle, free the Nazianzian flock from Arian discord and give it peace and unanimity. In 373 there was a popular uprising in Nazianza. The governor of the province, as a punishment for the rebels, promised to reduce the city to the level of a settlement and even destroy it completely. To prevent this punishment, on the one hand, and to console and calm the trembling people, on the other, in the role of the people's intercessor before the angry ruler and the tribune-peacemaker before the people, we see none other than St. Gregory, Bishop of Sasima. In 379 St. Gregory is invited by the bishop to Constantinople, the capital city of the Greco-Roman Empire. This center of the struggle of all kinds of parties, not only of heresy and schism, but even of Orthodoxy, gave Gregory a huge field for activity in the spirit of peace. In beautiful, powerful Words, he condemned the empty logomachiy 748 and the game of antitheses of the false mind of his new flock. This is precisely, according to St. Gregory, was the reason for the reckless partisanship between them, the lack of an impartial attitude between them towards each other. The meetings themselves where St. spoke. Gregory, according to his own assurance, resembled a raging sea, but only until his sermon began. As soon as “he cried a word against the storm, and the storm subsided.” All the actions of Gregory in the high rank of capital patriarch remained imprinted with the same spirit of peace. Let us recall the insult inflicted on Gregory by the fashionable philosopher of that time, Maxim the Cynic, who was favored by him. He wanted to take the see of Constantinople for himself from Gregory, and by insidious flattery he even achieved sympathy for this from the Bishop of Alexandria Peter and some Egyptian bishops. If Gregory were a man who could harbor enmity against persons who had wronged him, he might have found it difficult to suppress his feelings of vengeance towards Peter and the Egyptians who sided with Maximus, the protege of the pitiful shop of a pipe-player 749 . But in fact, like a true peacemaker, he took the first opportunity to reconcile with them, and did everything in his power to ensure a true and lasting peace. Let us further recall how, after the unsuccessful invitation to peace of the assembled bishops at the Second Ecumenical Council, when it became clear to Gregory that the voice of calm and reason was useless during the stormy meetings of this Council, he with sincere simplicity expressed his readiness to renounce not only the honor of the chairman of the Council, but also the see of Constantinople. He decided to sacrifice himself to the world and, going to the Council, declared to the fathers that whatever their decision regarding him, he himself asked them to raise their thoughts to higher objects and be like-minded with each other in love. Do they really want to become a proverb and byword for discord and partisanship? As for him personally, he is completely ready, if that is what they want, to become the second Jonah. Although he is completely innocent of causing this whole storm, let them throw him overboard to save the ship; some friendly fish from the abyss of the sea will come to save him! Gregory could no longer show a stronger love for the world. By this he clearly showed that he loved peace and tranquility to the point of selflessness. Gregory spent the following days after his removal from the See of Constantinople in his small estate, away from noise and light, enjoying only the shade of his own garden and the murmur of a stream. Here, on a bed of tree branches, in a bed of reliable hair shirt and among the dust, soaked with tears, leaving behind all the vanity of the sinful world, he completely turned his gaze to another world, from there drawing the foundations for his own peace and tranquility. In complete peace with those around him, trembling with the joy of union with God - this real peace and tranquility, St. Gregory reposed in 389 or 390. So, we see that the life of St. Gregory was the realization of that love for peace and harmony, which he persistently substantiated and preached in his Words. It, in its entirety, despite its most diverse directions, perfectly complemented Gregory’s theoretical instructions about the world, full of the depths of philosophical speculation, and made them accessible and understandable to every listener. Undoubtedly, the time in which he lived also required a persistent preaching of peace and harmony from Gregory. His time was a time of essentially empty infighting among inflamed partisanship. Then, according to one historian, everyone argued, everyone talked, everyone stood passionately - some for this, some for another, but they listened little to each other 750. “Suppose, if you like, that the ships are torn by a strong storm,” St. figuratively characterizes this time. Vasily, - that darkness covers everything with fog, that it is impossible to distinguish either enemies or friends. And isn’t the current storm of the Church stronger than any sea disturbance? By him all the boundaries of the fathers were shifted, all the foundations and all the strongholds of dogmas were shaken. By attacking each other, we are overthrown by each other. Whoever is not overthrown by the enemy is hurt by the defender. If the enemy is deposed and falls, then your comrade-in-arms attacks you. As soon as the enemy has passed by, they already see each other as enemies” 751. Such a fierce time of disputes, and, moreover, everywhere - in baths, in shops, on the streets, even in places of revelry and debauchery, disputes that touched upon the deepest secrets of theology, undoubtedly required from a true Christian an ardent and persistent preaching about peace and unanimity, deep self-analysis of each and complete impartiality towards the other. The sermon about peace, the philosophical justification of this world for lovers of wisdom of that time were completely modern. But isn’t this the sermon about peace and harmony of people that our age also needs? Fifteen centuries have passed since the time of Gregory, but even now, because of the love of God and Christ, have we not divided Christ, because of the truth have we not begun to lie to each other, for the sake of love have we not learned to hate, because of the stone (see: 1 Cor. 10:4) have we not wavered, because of the Cornerstone have we not crumbled? 752 Isn’t it our illness now to believe in ascension in our hearts, but not confession, but renunciation, not theology, but blasphemy; Is it not now that everyone is more wasteful than the other in the wealth of wickedness, as if they were not afraid of wickedness, but so as not to become more moderate and more humane than others? Where do we have one mouth and one voice? If there is, then perhaps only for the purpose for which in ancient times those who created the pillar 753 wanted to have it. Is it not that our world and order have been distorted to such an extent that we, who previously became a people from a non-people, a language from a non-language, are now in danger of again becoming a non-people and a non-language from the greatest people and language? 754 And is it not now that there live in the world only robbers who are bound by crime, in the world live those who plot violent power, accomplices of theft, conspirators of rebellion, accomplices of adultery? We, the sons of God, do not have agreement and union, we can never agree on one thing, we do not even see a way to heal such a disease, but it is as if we are teaching and learning evil, not virtue; we work hard to stir up discord; We care little or not at all about unanimity 755. This means, beloved, how modern, how necessary for us is the sermon about peace and harmony! Such preachers of peace and unanimity, as the remembered St. was in his time. Gregory the Theologian, dear to us and always eternal. Like Angels, they convey to us glory in the highest to God and the so passionately desired, long forgotten peace and goodwill among the universe. Let us therefore incline our hearts to the words and lives of these messengers and organizers of peace on earth. We saw that St. Gregory the Theologian, not only through the example of his personal life, showed love for peace and its necessity, but in beautiful words he also revealed the means that are necessary for the establishment of this peace. These means are within ourselves. Let a person, according to the instructions of St. Gregory the Theologian, in the light of the idea of ​​the Christian God, he comes to know himself. Let him know that he, like breath, is a particle of the Divine, in reflection - the same God. And if the Last One, who embraces everything that exists in accordance with Himself, is still Unity, Peace and Love, then every person must be this same Unity, Peace and Love. Having clearly defined himself as a consistent manifestation of a diverse plurality of feelings, desires and ideas with the unity of himself, he can easily construct the same definition of all others. “I - it turns out - observe that all these others - they - are themselves independent entities, like me; I observe their free unity with me, I see that this unity exists both through me and through the other. I observe them as myself, myself as them” 756. “I observe all this and define myself towards them as love, goodness - in general, as peace, unanimity. Like the alabaster of the world, if it dissolves itself in the myrrh, says one of the later mystics of Christianity, St. Nicholas Kavasila, - freely communicates this world to everything external, so man, the bearer of the Divine, clearly aware of this godlikeness, is the easiest conductor of peace and love in the society around him" 757. To this peace and harmony in honor and memory of the holy ecumenical teacher and theologian Gregory, in conclusion, we will call you, brothers, and our humble word. This is why this word of ours is intended to “catch” the world. There is nothing more pleasant for deceased saints if the survivors, out of gratitude to them, remember their covenants and instructions. We should also remember, in gratitude for the great services to the Christian society of Gregory the Theologian, his pastoral covenants. These are the covenants: in the name of God the World, in the name of ourselves, as the image of this God, we will put an end to the disagreements and unrest that have arisen! Let Gregory the Theologian himself, a timid and prudent shepherd, be the guarantor of peace, for he said: “Let us put an end to our own disagreements. the guarantor of peace is I” 758, “a timid and prudent shepherd” 759, who came to bring “not a sword, but peace” 760. Amen. Reprinted from: Faith and Reason. 1909. No. 17. pp. 563–581. This article represents a public theological reading at the Kiev Religious and Educational Society on Sunday, January 25, 1909 (memory of St. Gregory the Theologian). St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 23 // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 1. P. 285. Borrowed from the work: Archbishop Filaret (Gumilevsky). Historical teaching about the Fathers of the Church: In 3 volumes. St. Petersburg, 1859. Vol. 2. P. 190. Compare: Sozomen. Church history. VI, 30. See blzh. Jerome in the book “On Famous Men,” ch. 117; in the essay “Against Jovinian”; in a commentary on the book of Isaiah, ch. 6, and many more etc. According to the translation given by Vinogradov: Vinogradov N., priest. The dogmatic teaching of St. Gregory the Theologian // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 1. P. 875. Borrowed from: Vinogradov N., priest. The dogmatic teaching of St. Gregory the Theologian // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 1. P. 875. Canon for Saturday of Cheese Week. ῾О της θεολογίας μυσταγωγός (Photius Constantinopolitanus. Bibliotheca. Codex 231 // PG. T. 103. Col. 1089). This refers to a shuttle in a loom - a block with a thread wound or strengthened inside; the word is used in a figurative sense. – Ed. Wed: St. Ephraim the Syrian. A word of praise to Basil // St. Ephraim the Syrian. Creations. M., 1849. T. 3. P. 101. See about this the printed prologue dated January 30, as well as the article: Petrov N.I., prof. About the appearance of St. John Chrysostom // Proceedings of the Kyiv Theological Academy. 1907. December. pp. 581–582. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 26 // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 1. P. 318. Wed: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 6 // Ibid. P. 135. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 87. To Philagry // Ibid. T. 2. St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 22 // Ibid. P. 280. St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 26 // Ibid. P. 318. St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 13 // Ibid. P. 173. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 22 // Ibid. P. 278. St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 6 // Ibid. P. 131. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 30 // Ibid. P. 374; Word 38 // Ibid. P. 442. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 28 // Ibid. P. 333; Word 22 // Ibid. P. 282. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 40 // Ibid. P. 462; Word 26 // Ibid. P. 326; Word 27 // Ibid. pp. 328–329; Word 38 // Ibid. P. 444, etc. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 22 // Ibid. P. 283. St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 22 // Ibid. P. 283. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 6 // Ibid. P. 131; Word 23 // Ibid. P. 286. Living creature, here prepared (Greek). Wed: PG. T. 38. Or. 38, paragraph 11. Col. 321, 324; see: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 38 // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 1. P. 446. Divine particle (Greek). See: Carmina dogmatica, VIII. De anima, v. 77 // PG. T. 36. Col. 452; St. Gregory the Theologian. Dogmatic poem 8. About the soul // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 27. Compare: He is the same. Word 14 // Ibid. T. 1. P. 182. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 38 // Ibid. P. 446. Wed: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 40 // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 1. P. 462. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 6 // Ibid. P. 131. Compare: He is the same. Word 23 // Ibid. P. 292. St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 6 // Ibid. pp. 132–133. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 14 // Ibid. P. 189. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 32 // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 1. P. 393. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 6 // Ibid. P. 128. St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 42 // Ibid. P. 506. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 26 // Ibid. P. 324. Wed: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 15 // Ibid. P. 199. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 40 // Ibid. P. 463. The Old Testament, according to Gregory the Theologian, also had the goal of giving man unity of spirit in the union of peace (see: St. Gregory the Theologian. Homily 24 // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 1. pp. 294–295). See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 37 // Ibid. T. 1. P. 432–433; Word 38 // Ibid. P. 447. For more details, see the study: Vinogradov N., priest. The dogmatic teaching of St. Gregory the Theologian // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 1. P. 828. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 38 // Ibid. T. 1. P. 443. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Dogmatic poem 9. About the covenants and the coming of Christ // Ibid. T. 2. P. 29. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 20 // Ibid. T. 1. P. 259. Wed: St. Gregory the Theologian. Dogmatic poem 4. About the world // Ibid. T. 2. P. 18. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 29 // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 1. P. 355. Wed: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 33 // Ibid. P. 410; A poem in which Saint Gregory retells his life // Ibid. T. 2. P. 210. Wed. at the blzh. Jerome in De viris illustribus, cap. 117 (“On Famous Men,” 117); about Polemon - in Philostratus in “De Vita Sophistarum et Callistrati” (“On the life of the Sophists and Callistratus”); see Philostratorum et Callistrati opera recognovit. A. Westermann. Paris, 1849. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 33 // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 1. P. 409. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 43 // Ibid. P. 519. There may be an alliance here. – Ed. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 4. To Basil the Great // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 419. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Poems about myself // Ibid. P. 182; Word 43 // Ibid. T. 1. P. 524. St. Gregory the Theologian. Poems about myself // Ibid. T. 2. P. 181. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. A poem in which Saint Gregory retells his life // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 203. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 1 // Ibid. T. 1. P. 21. Wed: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 16. To Eusebius // Ibid. T. 2. P. 429. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 45. To Basil the Great // Ibid. Wed: St. Gregory the Theologian. A poem in which Saint Gregory retells his life // Ibid. P. 204. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 10 // Ibid. T. 1. P. 165. Logomachy is a verbal struggle. – Ed. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. A poem in which Saint Gregory retells his life // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 213. See: Lebedev A.P. Ecumenical Councils of the IV and V centuries. 2nd ed. Part 1. St. Petersburg, 1896. P. 104. St. Basil the Great. About the Holy Spirit 30, 76 // St. Basil the Great. Creations. T. 1. P. 165. Wed: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 6 // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 1. P. 126. Wed: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 22 // Ibid. P. 279. Wed: St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 23 // Ibid. P. 286. Fisher Kuno. History of new philosophy. Hegel Trans. N. O. Lossky. T. 8. St. Petersburg, 1905. P. 361. See in: Alexy Elisavetgradsky (Dorodnitsyn), bishop. Byzantine church mystics of the 14th century. // Orthodox interlocutor. 1906. May. P. 191. St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 22 // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 1. P. 280.