Седьмая заповедь блаженства. Блажени миротворцы, яко тии сынове Божии нарекутся

Lesson 1-e. The Seventh Beatitude Explained 1. The Lord, pleasing the peacemakers, inspires us all to seek peace and adhere to it; for without peace, according to the Apostle, “no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14), Who is our Peace, as it is said: “For He is our peace, having made both one” (Eph. 2:14), and Who for this purpose came to earth to restore peace on it and “set in His church the word of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:19). 2. So, those who want to receive eternal bliss must be peacemakers. How to fulfill this commandment? a) Firstly, each of us should not allow passions to disturb ourselves, but reflect at the very beginning the motives of passions: and in every possible way keep ourselves in a peaceful disposition, as the Apostle commands: “Be at peace within yourself” (1 Thessalonians 5:13); “And the God of love and peace will be with you” (2 Cor. 13:11). What causes quarrels, discord, and disagreements between us? Because we have not learned to restrain the impulses of passions in our hearts, eradicating them at the very bud; have not learned to be peaceful within ourselves, in the depths of our souls. Why is each of us obliged to acquire a peaceful spirit, that is, to bring ourselves into such a state that our spirit is not disturbed by anything. One must be like a dead person or completely deaf and blind in the face of all the sorrows, slander, reproaches, and deprivations that inevitably happen to everyone who wants to follow the saving paths of Christ. And who will not say that people who have acquired such a mood of spirit are truly blessed, because they have acquired Divine grace, the source of “peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17), and are not indignant at anything contrary? Saint Theophylact of Bulgaria says: “Peace, like unto man, and in the soul from passions, mother there are divine graces, and gives birth to this in us; But the indignant soul, which makes war with other people and with itself, I do not think, would be worthy of divine grace.” Many of us know this truth from our own experience. So, let us, my brethren, take every effort to acquire a peaceful mood of spirit; let us gain peace from passions, and we will acquire divine grace, which will make us blessed and children of God. “Blessed are the peacemakers: for these shall be called the sons of God.” b) By pacifying ourselves, we must, secondly, be peacemakers in relation to our neighbors; We must act friendly to everyone, not give reasons for disagreement and prevent it by all means, if it happens because of something, for example, because of an insult, someone’s injustice, or because of someone’s encroachment on our property or rights - by all means try to stop this disagreement, even if it means sacrificing something that belongs to us, for example: our property, our honor, or primacy, unless it is contrary to our duty, service, and is not harmful to anyone; We should try to reconcile others who are at war with each other, if we can; and if we cannot, then pray to God for their reconciliation: for what we are not able to do, God is able to do, Who can make even a brutal heart into a lamb. He who has learned the full importance of peace in a person’s church, civil and family life, natural and grace-filled, and the extreme harm of disagreement and discord, from which everything comes into disarray, will try by all means to act in harmony with everyone, and will contribute to the preservation of peace and harmony between people: “for the Lord has called us into peace” (1 Cor. 7:15). A special responsibility to be reconcilers lies with the pastors of the church, who, by the way, are appointed to reconcile everyone with God and with each other. They must extinguish family disagreements, disagreements between husband and wife, parents and children, and all kinds, ranks and conditions of people, and they especially have a great reward - the name sons of God, if they diligently try to establish peace and harmony between people. They also have the duty to reconcile with the church those suffering from the disease of schism and those who unrighteously enmity against it, and in general all those infected with the satanic spirit of enmity against this heavenly and immaculate Mother, and moving away from her, and through that from God Himself. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, praising the peace and harmony of people, says: “Of all that people strive to enjoy in life, is there anything sweeter than a peaceful life? Whatever you call pleasant in life is pleasant only when it is connected with the world. Let there be everything that is valued in life: wealth, wife, children, home, relatives, friends; let there be beautiful gardens, places for cheerful feasts, and all the inventions of pleasures, let all this exist, but there will be no peace - what good is that?.. So, peace is not only pleasant in itself for those who enjoy the world, but also delights all the blessings of life. Even if some misfortune happens to us, as usually happens to people, during times of peace, and it is more bearable, because in this case evil is tempered by good... You judge for yourself: what kind of life are those who are at enmity with each other and suspect each other? They meet gloomily and one abhors everything in the other, their lips are silent, their eyes are averted, and the hearing of one is closed to the words of the other. Everything that is pleasant for one of them is hateful for the other, and on the contrary, what is hateful and hostile to one is liked by the other. Therefore, the Lord wants you to multiply the grace of the world in such abundance, so that not only you yourself can enjoy it, but so that your life serves as a cure against the illness of others... He who prevents others from this shameful vice shows the greatest benefit, and can rightly be called blessed, he does the work of the power of God, destroying evil in human nature, and instead introducing the communion of good things. The Lord calls the peacemaker the son of God because he who brings such peace to human society becomes an imitator of the true God.” c) However, there are cases when disagreement is better than peace, and it is necessary to neglect the world itself: such is the world of lawless people, about which David speaks: “I am jealous of the wicked, the world of sinners is in vain” (Ps. 72:3), - when everything goes according to their desire, when they become rich in property and untruths of all kinds, when they receive awards and distinctions, bloom in health, etc. “Let them not think,” writes the saint Gregory the Theologian, - as if I were arguing that every world should be treasured. For I know that there is wonderful disagreement, and the most destructive unanimity, but we must love a good world that has a good goal and unites with God. But when it comes to obvious wickedness, then one should rather go to fire and sword, rather than partake of the evil kvass and be given to the infected.” “Peace is especially established then,” writes St. John Chrysostom, “when what is infected with disease is cut off, when what is hostile is separated. For through this alone it is possible for heaven to unite with earth. For the doctor will then save parts of the body when he cuts off an incurable member from them, and the military leader will restore calm when malicious like-minded people are brought into discord. This is what happened during the Babylonian pandemonium: the evil world was destroyed by good disagreement, and peace was restored... Unanimity is not always good: even robbers agree.” 3. So, “blessed are the peacemakers,” i.e. firstly, those who pacify themselves from passions and suppress them in themselves, and try in every possible way to maintain a good peace with their neighbors; secondly, those who always try to reconcile the warring parties by all means in their power. They will be called sons of God, i.e. they will be honored with the greatest honor in the face of all angels, all men: for there is no higher honor than for a mortal man to be called the son of the immortal and blessed God and to become immortal and blessed himself, and to inherit the kingdom of heaven, becoming an heir of God and a joint heir of Christ. The very bliss of the peacemakers will be indescribable and especially great, since they themselves established in people the greatest good of the world, and contributed to both the temporary well-being and eternal bliss of people. Let us, my brothers, all be peaceful and peace-loving. In the name of the Lord I ask this from each and every one of you. Amen. Appendix to catechetical teaching Examples of Christian peacemaking and love of peace The highest example of all peacemakers is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who is called by the prophet “Prince of Peace” (Is. 9:6), and by the apostle “for this is our peace,” says the holy Apostle Paul (Eph. 2:14). Let us remember how He established peace among His disciples, when at the supper “he was quick in them, who seemed to be in pain” (Luke 22:24), - the Lord, in order to pacify them, Himself accepted the position of minister and washed their feet. When the Apostle Peter wanted to defend his Teacher against the Jews with a sword, He said to him: “Plunge the knife into the scissors; the cup that the Father has given me, shall I not drink it” (John 18:11)? And, having healed Malchus’s ear, which had been cut with Peter’s knife, He gave Himself over to His enemies. But the main goal of the heavenly Reconciliator was to give all people the peace of God, to reconcile sinners with eternal justice, and for this what did He not sacrifice? “I exhausted myself, I took on the form of a servant, ... I humbled myself, becoming obedient even to the point of death, death on the cross” (Phil. 2:7–8). The life of the holy saints of God represents high examples of Christian peacemaking and love of peace. Here are some of them: 1. Saint Gregory the Theologian, having learned that the fathers of the 2nd Ecumenical Council were arguing about the rights of his priesthood in Constantinople, voluntarily renounced these rights, declaring: “I am no better than the prophet Jonah, throw me into the sea, so that the excitement that has occurred for my sake will subside.” 2. Abba Paul Cosmit and Timothy. The brothers, living together in the monastery, often argued among themselves. Finally, Abba Paul once said: “How long shall we live like this?” To this, brother Timothy answered him: “Do me a favor, when I insult you, bear with me, and I will tolerate it when you insult me.” By doing this, they were peaceful and calm the rest of their days. 3. Saint John the Merciful, Patriarch of Jerusalem, in addition to his extraordinary mercy towards all the poor and needy, was also distinguished by his deep love of peace. The extent to which his love of peace extended is shown by the following incident from his life. One cleric, punished by Saint John for some offense, was extremely displeased with him. The saint thought of calling him for admonitions, but, busy with various matters, he forgot about it. Soon, during his service of the Liturgy, reading the words of the Gospel: “If you bring your gift to the altar and remember that one, as if your brother has something for you, leave that gift before the altar and go first, humble yourself with your brother, and then come and bring your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24), he remembered that cleric, and, calling him to him, fell to him in feet, asking him for forgiveness and reconciliation. Struck by such humility of his archpastor, the cleric himself falls at his feet and, shedding tears, for his part asks him for forgiveness. Returning to the altar, with such humility, the saint of Christ cried out to the Heavenly Father: “Our Father, forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” A stranger came to some old man and said: “My brother and I quarreled with each other: but, unfortunately, he does not want to reconcile, although I am trying with all my might to do so. Man of God, do me a favor and persuade him!” The elder gladly took upon himself the work of the stranger and, calling his brother to him, began to talk about love and harmony... At first it seemed that the bitter brother had softened, but suddenly he said: “I cannot reconcile, for I swore by the cross to be at enmity with him forever.” Then the elder, smiling, said to him: “Your oath has such power: sweetest Jesus! I adjure myself by Your cross that I will not fulfill Your commandments, and I want to obey the will of Your enemy the devil. My friend! We must not only reject what we decided to do in an evil hour, but we must repent of it: we must lament what we have sinned against our soul. If Herod had repented and not acted according to his oath, he would not have committed the greatest crime in the world: he would not have killed the Forerunner of Christ.” Having heard these words from the elder’s mouth, the stranger immediately reconciled. 4. St. Sergius - as a pacifier of princes. Reverend Sergius was given by God to the Russian land precisely at such a difficult time, when the Tatars filled almost all its borders, when the civil strife of the princes reached the point of bloody massacres, when these strife, lawlessness, Tatar violence and the rudeness of the then morals threatened the Russian people with complete destruction. Those were troubled and alarming times. Reading the chronicles, every now and then you come across news that such and such a prince went to the Horde to gain the title of grand duke, another ruined or completely took away the inheritance of a neighbor, a third persuaded Lithuania or the same Tatars to go as an army to Moscow... Blood flowed in streams in these princely quarrels and discords, and only the wise, powerful word of the saints, and such great ascetics as St. Sergius, kept the princes, and not always, from these disastrous strife and bloody wars. Here are a few stories about the peacemaking exploits of St. Sergius: a) There is information that even in the early childhood of the Don Hero, during the life of Grand Duke Ioann Ioannovich, in 1358 the Monk Sergius traveled to his hometown of Rostov to persuade the Rostov prince Konstantin Vasilyevich to recognize the power of the Grand Duke of Moscow over himself. b) In 1363 we see the holy abbot again traveling to Rostov. They think that St. Sergius came to Rostov not only on pilgrimage, but also had instructions to convince the old Rostov prince not to start anything to the detriment of the Grand Duke of Moscow. Indeed, we see that Prince Constantine pledged thereafter to be completely dependent on the Grand Duke of Moscow. c) A year passed, and the hermit - the conciliator of the princes - had to set off again, this time to Nizhny Novgorod. It was necessary to convince Prince Boris Konstantinovich, who arbitrarily seized Nizhny Novgorod from his brother Dimitri, to leave the city and not quarrel with his brother. When the exhortations were unsuccessful, the Monk Sergius, according to the authority given to him, closed all the churches in Nizhny; worship stopped. Boris was forced to submit, especially since a strong army came from Moscow, under the command of his brother, Dimitri (Suzdalsky). And Boris came out to meet his brother and confessed. This was in 1365. d) Another restless neighbor of the Moscow prince was Oleg, Prince of Ryazan. Cunning and treacherous, he violated treaties more than once, entered into relationships either with Olgerd and the Tver prince, or with Mamai and Tokhtamysh. The Grand Duke more than once sent proxies to him with peace proposals, but Oleg did not want to hear about peace. Then the Grand Duke called upon St. Sergius and personally asked him to take on the task of convincing the stubborn Prince of Ryazan to reconcile. In the late autumn of 1385, the humble elder set off, as was his custom, on foot to Ryazan. His gentle admonitions softened the heart of Oleg, who sincerely opened up to him in his plans and “took eternal peace and love from generation to generation with Grand Duke Dimitri.” This world was subsequently sealed by a family union: Oleg’s son Theodore took in marriage the Grand Duke’s daughter Sofia Dimitrievna. Thus, under the constant care and paternal leadership of Saint Alexy, and thanks to the active participation of the abbot of Radonezh, our venerable father Sergius, the power of the Grand Duke of Moscow gradually increased, and under its banner the Russian land, weakened by the discord of appanage princes, began to gradually unite. Little by little, these princes got used to the idea of ​​​​the need to submit to the power of the Moscow prince, and the people awakened to the consciousness of the need to unite together in order to throw off the hated Tatar yoke with common forces. God knows: the Grand Duke of Moscow, left to his own devices, could have achieved any success in this great undertaking, without the assistance of the church in the person of such holy men, filled with the Spirit and power, as were the saints of God - Metropolitan Alexei and God-bearing Sergius, abbot of Radonezh. 5. It is known about Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk that when a proud and unrestrained landowner hit him on the cheek, the holy bishop, who lived in the spirit of the Christian world, immediately bowed at the feet of his daring insulter, who should have bowed opposite him; the daring insulter was amazed and completely changed for the better. You might be interested in: