Беседа 24

Spoken to the people in the Church of Blessed Lawrence the Martyr on the fourth day of Easter. Reading the Holy Gospel: John 21.1–14. John 21.1–14. After this, Jesus again appeared to His disciples at the Sea of ​​Tiberias. He appeared like this: There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas, who is called the Twin, and Nathanael from Cana of Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples. Simon Peter says to them: I am going to fish. They say to him: you and I are going too. They went and immediately got into the boat, and did not catch anything that night. And when morning had already come, Jesus stood on the shore; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus says to them: children! do you have any food? They answered Him: no. He said to them: cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will catch it. They cast, and could no longer pull out the nets from the multitude of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “This is the Lord.” Simon Peter, hearing that it was the Lord, girded himself with clothing - for he was naked - and threw himself into the sea. And other disciples sailed in a boat - for they were not far from the land, about two hundred cubits - dragging a net with fish. When they came to the ground, they saw a fire laid out and fish and bread lying on it. Jesus says to them: Bring the fish that you have now caught. Simon Peter went and brought down to the ground a net filled with large fish, of which there were one hundred and fifty-three; and with such a multitude the network did not break through. Jesus says to them: Come, have dinner. None of the disciples dared to ask Him: Who are you?, knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus comes, takes the bread and gives them fish as well. This was the third time Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection from the dead. 1. The reading of the Holy Gospel, just spoken in your hearing, my brothers, prompts the mind to question, and with its impulse indicates the power of the decision. For one may ask: why Peter, who was a fisherman before his conversion, returns to fishing after his conversion; and when the Truth says: “no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9.62), why did he return to what he left? But if you see the power of the decision, it seems rather because it was precisely because it was sinless to repeat what was sinless before conversion and after conversion. For we know that Peter was a fisherman, and Matthew a publican; and after his conversion, Peter returned to fishing, but Matthew did not return to the position of publican (about Repentance, section 5, chapter 7); because one thing means acquiring a living through fishing, and another means acquiring money through the benefits of a publican. For there are many activities that either can hardly be performed without sins, or absolutely cannot. Therefore, the soul must not necessarily return to those who are entangled in sin after conversion. 2. You can also ask: why, during his discipleship at sea, did the Lord, after His resurrection, stand on the shore, while before His resurrection He walked to the disciples on the waves of the sea (Matthew 14.25)? “The reason for this will soon be discovered if the very reason that then existed is discussed.” For what does the sea mean if not the present age, which is agitated by the movements of causes and the waves of life? – What is represented by the immobility of the shore, if not the immutable eternity of peace? So, since the disciples were still in the waves of mortal life, they worked on the sea. And since our Redeemer had already become above the damage of the flesh, after His resurrection He stood on the shore. He spoke to his disciples through his actions about the very mystery of His resurrection, as if saying: I no longer appear to you on the sea, because I am not with you in the waves of disorder. Therefore, in another place after His resurrection He says to the same disciples: “I spoke to you while I was still with you” (Luke 24.44). For He was not with those to whom He appeared bodily at the present time, but He denies that He is with those from whose mortal body of flesh He had the distance of immortality. Just as there, being with them, he admits that He is not with them, so here he shows by the position of his body that He is already on the shore, and they are still swimming. 3. But the disciples were allowed a great failure in fishing so that when the Teacher appeared there would be extreme surprise. He immediately said: “Throw the net on the right side of the boat, and you will catch it.” Twice in the Holy Gospel it is read that the Lord commanded to throw the “mere fish” for fishing, namely: before suffering and after the resurrection. But before our Redeemer suffered and was resurrected, He, although He commands to throw out the shallows for fishing, does not command whether they should be thrown on the right side or on the left; but after the resurrection, appearing to the disciples, He commands them to throw the fence on the right side. - On that fishing trip, a lot was caught, but the midges were lost, but on this one, a lot was caught, and the midges remained intact. Who doesn’t know that the right side represents the good and the left represents the evil? - So, that fishing, in which no specific command was given, from which side to throw the fish, means a real church, which gathers together both the good and the evil, and does not separate those whom it attracts, because it does not know who can be chosen. This same fishing, which took place after the resurrection of the Lord, was carried out on the right side only, because only the Church of the elect belongs to the vision of the glory of glorifying the Lord, which will have nothing from doing it on the left. In that fishing, the multitude of fish breaks the net, because now, along with the elect, such wicked people are joining the confession of Faith, who are even tearing the church itself apart with heresies. But in this fishing, many fish, and large ones, are captured, and the gap is not broken, because the Holy Church of the elect, resting in the unceasing peace of Her Creator, will no longer be tormented by any disagreements. 4. But after catching so many fish, “Simon Peter went and pulled the net to the ground.” I am sure that your love understands what it means why Peter removes the marrow to the ground. Because the Holy Church was entrusted to him; he is personally told: “Simon Ionin! Do you love Me;...feed My sheep” (John 21.15, 16). So, what is then revealed in word is now indicated in deed. Since the Preacher of the church separates us from the waves of this world, it is precisely necessary for Peter to bring to earth a bowl filled with fish. For he brings fish to the solid shore, because with the voice of a holy sermon he shows believers the permanence of the Eternal Fatherland. He did this with words, he does this with Epistles, he does this daily with signs of miracles. How many times through it do we turn to the love of eternal peace; how many times do we separate ourselves from the disturbances of earthly affairs! What else does this mean, if not that we, like fish caught in the depths of faith, are drawn to the shore? But when it speaks of a sea “filled with great fish,” then it adds how many, namely: a hundred and fifty-three. Number is not alien to the great mystery, but your intense attention to such a mystery awaits profundity. For the Evangelist would not have spoken with care about the sum of the quantity, if he had not thought that it was full of mystery. For you know that in the Old Testament all activities are prescribed through the commandments of the decennial commandments, and in the New Testament the power for the same activities is communicated to diverse believers through the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit. The Prophet, foretelling about Him, says: “And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and piety” (Isaiah 11.2). But the grace for activity from this Spirit is received by the one who believes in the Trinity, believes in such a way that the Father and the Son and the same Holy Spirit have one power, one essence. So, since the seven (gifts of the Holy Spirit), which we spoke about above, are extensively explained through the New Testament, and the ten commandments through the Old, then all our virtues and activities can be fully understood by the ten and seven. So, multiply ten and seven by three, and you get fifty-one. This number is not alien to great mystery, because in the Old Testament we read that the fiftieth year is commanded to be called a jubilee (Lev. 25.11), that is, in which all the people were to rest from all activity. But true peace lies in unity. Because one cannot be divisible, for where there is a section of division, there is no true peace. But let's multiply fifty and one by three more, then we get one hundred and fifty-three. Thus, since all our activity, expressed by faith in the Trinity, strives for tranquility, we multiply ten and seven by three to come to fifty-one. And our true peace comes when we recognize the very glory of the Trinity, which we confess in the unity of the Divinity. Therefore, let us multiply fifty and one by three more, and we obtain the sum of those elected in the High Fatherland: as if the number is one hundred and fifty and three. So, after the resurrection of the Lord, the thrown trap was worthy of capturing as many fish as could represent the chosen citizens of the Higher Fatherland. 5. But meanwhile, both yesterday’s reading of the Holy Gospel and today’s reading dispose us to carefully understand why our Lord and Redeemer ate baked fish after His resurrection. For what is repeated in practice is no stranger to mystery. According to this reading, He ate bread and baked fish, and according to the one read yesterday (Luke 24:13ff), with baked fish He also ate hundreds of honey. What, according to our faith, does baked fish mean, if not the most suffered Mediator of God and men? For He deigned to hide in the waters of the human race, deigned to be caught in the midst of our death and, as it were, baked with sorrow during His suffering. But He who deigned to be a baked fish in suffering became for us a hundred honey in the resurrection. And He who deigned to depict the sorrow of His suffering in a baked fish, deigned to express both the nature of His Face in a honeycomb. For the honeycomb is honey in wax, and honey in wax signifies the Divinity in humanity. This is no different from today's reading, for He eats fish and bread. He who, according to humanity, could be baked like a fish, according to Divinity, revives us with bread, saying: “I am the bread” of the animal, “coming down from heaven” (John 6:41). So, He eats baked fish and bread in order to show by His very food that He endured suffering according to our humanity, and took care of our revival according to His Divinity. If we pay careful attention to this, we will see that it is fitting for us to imitate (Him) in quality. For the Redeemer shows His own in such a way that it paves the way for us, followers, to imitate. Our Lord deigns to use honeycomb in His food with baked fish precisely because He accepts into Eternal Repose in His body those who, feeling sorrow here for the sake of the Lord, do not reject the love of Eternal Sweetness. Sot is used with baked fish because those who suffer oppression here for the truth will be satisfied there with Eternal Sweetness. 6. And it should also be noted that, according to the legend (of the Gospel), the Lord had his last meal with seven disciples, for at it the former are mentioned: Peter and Thomas, Nathanael, the sons of Zebedee and two other of His disciples. – Why does He eat the last meal with seven disciples, if not because He foretells the Eternal Repose with Him only for those who are filled with the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit? – All present time is revealed in seven days, and perfection is often signified by the septenary number. So, at the last meal in the presence of Truth, those who are now elevated above the earthly by the desire for perfection, who are not bound by the love of this world, who, although this one rebels with temptations, does not push back their begun desires, feast. John says about this last meal elsewhere: “the blessed calling is at the supper of the marriage of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:9). For it says that they are called not to lunch, but to supper, precisely because the meal at the end of the day is supper. So, those who, at the end of the time of this life, come to the rest of Eternal Contemplation, are invited not to dinner, but to the Supper of the Lamb. This particular supper is depicted by this last meal, at which seven disciples are mentioned present; because, as we said, then inner rest renews those who now, being filled with seven-formed grace, breathe the love of the Spirit. So, brothers, do this to yourself, desire to be filled with the presence of this Spirit. What may follow you in the future, infer from the present. Think whether you are filled with this Spirit, find out whether you can reach this meal. For anyone who is not now renewed by this Spirit will truly not have this renewal at the Eternal Table. Remember what Paul says about this same Spirit: “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Rom. 8:9). This Spirit of love is, as it were, a certain seal of Divine property. Does he really have the Spirit of Christ whose soul is scattered by hatred, pride inflates, anger drives to madness, greed torments, luxury weakens? – Consider what the Spirit of Christ is. He is truly the one who makes you love friends and enemies, despises earthly things, strenuously strives for Heavenly things, humbles the flesh for vices, bridles the heart in desires. So, if you want to know the right of God's sovereignty, then think about the Face of your Master. For what we said is clearly confirmed by Paul: “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Rom. 8:9). He clearly says, as it were: “He who is not now governed by the God living in him will later have no part in the joy of the Divine glory.” But despite the fact that we are weak for what has been said, we have not yet achieved complete perfection, however, let us put on the path of God daily success in holy desire. This is advised to us by the Truth, which through the Psalmist says: “Thy eyes have seen my undone work, and in Thy book they will all be written” (Ps. 139:16). Our imperfection will not be decisively harmful for us if we, placed on the path of God, do not look back and hurry to go through what remains. For He who graciously kindles the desires of the imperfect strengthens them even to perfection through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with Him in the unity of the Holy Spirit - God, through all the ages of ages. Amen. You might be interested in: