Третья заповедь блаженства «Блаженны кроткие, ибо они наследуют землю»

Lesson 1-e. Explaining the Third Beatitude 1. Let us continue, brothers, our conversations about the beatitudes of the Gospel. The third beatitude tells us: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” So, “meekness” is the third step of the ladder leading to heaven. 2. Christian meekness is not some kind of natural quietness of disposition, an imperturbable state of mind, nor is it a weakness of character, or cunning restraint, outward, hypocritical meekness. All such qualities also exist in people who are alien to Christ, and these qualities do not constitute Christian virtue, they do not constitute a saving feat for the soul. a) But what is meekness, what does it consist of and what are its properties? “In order for us to more accurately depict her, let us turn,” says one famous preacher, “to the Gospel: there we will see a shining, beautiful and majestic image of her. This is how the Lord teaches meekness and depicts it: “I tell you: do not resist evil. But whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also: and whoever wants to sue you and take your shirt, give him your outer garment too. Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you; that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:39–45) “Learn from Me: for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). From these words of our Divine Mentor you see, brethren, that meekness is a quiet mood of the soul, established in Jesus Christ by faith and love, calmly enduring all evil caused to us by people or the cunning of demons, not indignant or irritated by various oppositions and obstacles to our intentions, willingly forgiving human insults and being kind to our enemies in every possible way, out of respect for their human and Christian humanity. dignity. A meek person never repays evil for evil, insult for insult, does not raise his voice in anger at those who sin and offend; “he will not contradict, nor cry, and no one will hear his voice” (Matthew 12:19); meek, “when you are reproached, do not reproach; when you endure suffering and misfortune from others, you do not threaten with vengeance, but you leave it to him who judges righteously to take revenge on you” (1 Peter 2:23). Here is a majestic image of meekness! This is her being! Meekness in relation to God consists in unconditional devotion to Him, by which meek souls believe His word, submit to His will, fulfill His commandments with reverence, and are careful not to offend His justice; in all events of life, even in the greatest misfortunes, they do not murmur at God’s Providence, but bless God, saying with Job: “As the Lord willed, so it was: blessed be the name of the Lord forever” (Job 1:21). A truly meek Christian is also meek with his neighbors. He does not boast before others, does not become angry, does not repay evil for evil, does not offend anyone, and does not take offense at anyone. Having conquered the enemy’s anger, he is ready to turn the other to the one who struck him on one cheek; I am ready to give a shirt to someone who wants to take outer clothing, as long as his compliance brings benefit to the offender. And is it possible to offend someone who is not offended by anything, who is not irritated by anyone, who blesses those who curse, and prays for those who persecute? He cannot even have enemies, since with the love that dwells within him he defeats enemies who become his friends. We know many examples of meekness in the lives of the holy righteous, but the highest example of meekness remains for us the Savior Himself, about whom Isaiah prophesies: “Behold My Servant... here is My chosen one, in Whom My soul delights. He will not cry, nor lift up His voice, nor let it be heard in the streets. He will not break a bruised reed, nor will he quench the smoking flax” (Isa. 42:1-3). And indeed, the Savior was the embodiment of meekness and humility. How much anger, malice and contempt fell upon Him during His earthly life! His most holy teaching was called blasphemous, His miracles were explained by the power of Beelzebub. Who wouldn’t be embarrassed at the same time and lose their calm spirit?! Who wouldn’t be embarrassed by the malice and ingratitude of a people of the same tribe?! Who would not utter at least some irritating word?! But there was not even a shadow of anything like that in the meek and humble heart of the Savior. Not for one minute did He change His usual meekness, and therefore could say out loud to the whole world: “Take My yoke on you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). Let us remember His inexpressibly meek reproach to Judas for his treacherous kiss: “Do you betray the Son of man with a kiss” (Luke 22:48); remember the entire history of His suffering, starting with the interrogation of the high priests and ending with His eternally unforgettable prayer on the cross for His inhuman enemies: “Father, let them go; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). b) Jesus Christ promises the meek that they will inherit the earth. These words were spoken in relation to the then concepts of the Jews, the listeners of Jesus Christ. The Jews knew that God had promised the meek patriarchs to give the land of Canaan as an inheritance; They also knew that for grumbling, disobedience and unbelief they were expelled from this land, endured slave captivity and experienced other misfortunes. When they turned to God with humble meekness and asked for His mercy and forgiveness, He returned them to their homeland. Therefore, the words of the Lord that the meek “will inherit the earth” can mean both the inheritance of the earth with its riches and abundance of fruits, and heaven with its spiritual bliss. c) How are these words now fulfilled over Christians? First of all, they were fulfilled literally. When the Lord gave this commandment, the pagans ruled the universe, and the church consisted of a few followers of Christ. Was it possible to think then that a small herd of meek people would defeat the fierce pagans and take away their possession of the land? And yet, it came true. Constantly meek Christians, despite the countless number and all the rage of the pagans, enduring shame and torment, yielding to force, blessing those who persecuted, triumphed over their enemies and took possession of the universe. Thus, the Lord is always able to fulfill His promise, because the whole earth is the Lord’s, and the Lord, especially loving the meek, rewards them with benefits, as He Himself said: “Whom will I look to? Only against him who is meek and silent and who trembles at My words” (Isa. 66:2). d) But, giving the promise to “inherit the earth,” the Lord here also means future eternal blessings. What land are we talking about here? This is not our present earth, which will one day be burned up with all the works on it (2 Pet. 3:10); but the land of the living, where they live and do not die, is the land about which the holy Apostle Peter writes: “The heavens are new and the earth is new according to the promise of God” (2 Pet. 3:13), - this is the land that Saint John the Theologian saw in revelation: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth; The first heaven and the first earth have passed away” (Rev. 21:1). This land will appear after the destruction of the corruptible world, and on this new earth, the land of the living, in the eternal kingdom of the Heavenly Father, is the inheritance promised to the meek. Just as earthly fathers usually joyfully introduce meek and obedient children into the inheritance of their estate, so the heavenly Father has prepared an eternal inheritance for His meek and obedient children. And they are worthy of this reward: they imitate the Only Begotten Son of God, Who on earth was meek and humble in heart, obedient to the will of the Father. 3. Such, brother Christians, are the captivating features of Christian meekness, such is the high reward for those who are meek and humble in heart. May God, by His omnipotent grace, help us to internalize the spirit of Christian meekness and be guided by it in our thoughts, feelings, words, deeds and throughout our lives. Amen. Lesson 2. On the means to overcome evil with good “Do not be overcome by evil,” says the apostle, “but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21). What do these words indicate? The fact that the fire is not doused with oil, i.e. that it is impossible to stop and suppress evil with evil, and that the evil that we suffer from our enemies and offenders can be stopped and suppressed only by good. What are the means to overcome evil with good? a) The first remedy is to do some good to your enemy. There lived one old man who, when robbers came to him and said that they had decided to take everything that was in his cell, calmly answered them: “Take, children, whatever you like.” And then they took everything and left, leaving one bag. He took it and chased after them, shouting: “Children, take from me what you forgot in the cell.” They, struck by the elder’s gentleness, returned everything to his cell, saying to each other in repentance: “Truly this is a man of God!” b) The second remedy is to humble yourself before the enemy. Two bishops quarreled among themselves. One of them was rich and the other was poor. The rich man was looking for an opportunity to do harm to the poor man. The poor man, having learned about this, said to his clergy: “We will defeat him.” The clergy answered: “Who, sir, can resist him?” “Wait and see,” the poor bishop told them. And so, when the rich bishop was walking accompanied by many people, the poor bishop fell at his feet with all the clergy and exclaimed: “Forgive us, lord, we are your servants!” He, amazed by this, himself fell at the feet of the poor bishop and said: “You are my lord and father!” And from that time there was great love between them. c) The third remedy is mental self-accusation before the enemy. One monk, offended by his brother, came to him to make peace with him, but he did not accept him and did not open the door for him. The rejected monk then went to one experienced elder and told him about this. “Do you know,” the elder told him, “why the brother who offended you did not want to reconcile with you? When you went to him to make peace, you justified yourself in your soul, and mentally accused him. I advise you to do this: although your brother has sinned against you, strengthen in your soul the thought that you sinned against him, and not he against you; Blame yourself and justify him.” The monk acted on the advice of the elder, went to his brother, and what? Before he could push the door, he opened it immediately and greeted him with open arms. d) The fourth means is to meekly admonish the enemy. There was a nobleman in Alexandria who, despite all the admonitions of St. John the Merciful, did not want to hear about reconciliation with his enemy. Once the saint invited him to his home church for the Divine Liturgy. The nobleman has arrived. There were no pilgrims in the church; the patriarch himself served, and in the choir there was only one singer, whom the nobleman began to help in singing. When they began to sing the Lord’s Prayer “Our Father,” the saint also began to sing it; but in the words: “Give us this day our daily bread,” Saint John suddenly fell silent himself and stopped the singer; so the nobleman alone sang the words of the prayer: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Then the saint said to him: “Look, my son, at what a terrible hour and what you say to God: leave me, just as I leave! Are you telling the truth? Are you leaving it? These words struck the nobleman so much that he was in tears, threw himself at the archpastor’s feet and exclaimed: “Whatever you command, lord, your servant will do.” On the same day he made peace with his enemy and with all his heart forgave him all his insults. d) The fifth, finally, remedy is patience. A certain monk lived in a cenobitic monastery, and here five brethren loved him, and one insulted him. The monk could not bear the insult and went to another monastery, thinking to find peace. Then eight brothers began to love him, and two began to hate him. He retired to the third. Here seven loved him, and five hated him. What to do? “I’ll go,” said the monk, “somewhere else, I’ll feel better there.” And the fourth one went to the monastery. On the way, once sitting down to rest, the monk began to think. “What will happen,” he said to himself, “if I run from place to place? After all, then I won’t find peace in the whole world. I’ll be more patient.” And with these words he took the charter and wrote: “I will endure everything for the sake of Jesus Christ the Son of God!” Having tied this writing to his belt, he came to the new monastery and remained to live. As it happened in the past, so it happened here. After a very short time they began to offend him again. But he was no longer discouraged. As soon as he received an insult from someone, he immediately read his writing and immediately calmed down. At last his patience completely triumphed. Those who insulted him asked for forgiveness and stopped insulting him. 3. We have now shown you sufficient means, brothers, to defeat your enemies, if you have any. What do these tools show? What do they teach? They show and teach that evil, as we said at the beginning of the word, is defeated not by evil, but by good, not by hatred, but by love. There is nothing to add to this, for you yourself know that the word of God teaches the same thing. All that remains is to ask the Lord that He Himself, by His all-effective grace, remove anger and malice from our hearts and set our hearts so that we will live in peace with everyone forever and never have the need to make peace. Amen. Appendix to catechetical teaching Church historical examples showing the power of Christian meekness 1. At the time when Leo was pope, or, which also means, archbishop in Rome, a wild and warlike people appeared - the Huns. The leader of this people was Attila, rightly nicknamed “the scourge of God,” for he burned, robbed and killed people without any compassion; he himself boasted that grass would not grow where his horse passed. Now he had already burned and destroyed up to five hundred cities and was approaching Rome. Fear gripped the inhabitants of Rome, everyone fled from the city, throwing away their weapons, as they considered the enemy invincible. Only Saint Leo did not run and was not afraid of Attila. At the request of the emperor, he met the invincible conqueror with a weapon that turned out to be sharper than all swords; this weapon was the kind, meek word of a servant of God. “Attila, you conquered the whole universe,” said Saint Leo, “now we ask you, conquer yourself, do not destroy our city, have mercy on us!” The words of Saint Leo were so convincing and gentle that they softened the cruel barbarian, and Attila said to Leo: “Your words touched my heart. Whoever you are, a man or an angel, Rome owes its salvation to you. Elder, in one minute and in a few words you did more than all the numerous warriors who fought with me; I admit myself defeated! You see, kind affection and a request can always do much more than anger. (“Sunday reading.”) 2. In the monastery of St. Cyril, one of the brethren, named Theodotus, hated his abbot so much that he could not indifferently hear his voice. The hostile disposition could not hide from the brethren, who, knowing the justice, purity of life and humility of St. Cyril, were surprised at the causeless and persistent malice of Theodotus. No matter how much they tried to persuade him to calm down and love the abbot, nothing could work to pacify his hardened heart. Tormented by a constant hostile mood and confusion of thoughts, Theodotus did not find any other way to extinguish the enmity in his soul than to leave the monastery, but, on the advice of one elder, he decided in advance to reveal to the Monk Cyril the confusion of his thoughts. One harsh word, one slightest reproach from the abbot could have a disastrous effect on a hardened heart filled with malice, and the work of reconciliation would completely collapse. But St. Cyril, who through his ascetic life had cultivated a spirit of deep humility and meekness, completely shamed his enemy in a fatherly manner—with his loving and meek treatment. Wanting to completely heal the monk’s mental illness, the perspicacious Cyril said to Theodotus: “Beloved brother! Everyone was deceived - considering me a good person, you alone truly judged, considering me evil and sinful - truly I am sinful and indecent.” This manifestation of the abbot’s deep humility and self-abasement finally had the effect of pacifying the hostile monk: he fell at the feet of the Monk Cyril and with tears repented of the fact that in vain he harbored enmity towards him. The reconciled monk found peace in his heart and from then on he especially loved the monk, remaining in his monastery until the end of his life in perfect monastic obedience and gentleness. (“Thu – Min.”) You might be interested in: