Мысли при чтении Евангелия от Матфея и других

Chapter 1, Article 20. Why are righteous people rewarded with heavenly visions at night, during sleep, and not during the day, while awake? The reason, it seems, should be the following: the Lord, according to the plans of His highest wisdom, reveals His miracles only in cases of extreme need and mostly shows His economy in a natural way. The appearance of celestial beings in a dream to righteous people is a very common and natural thing: the soul of such people communicates with the invisible world in a dream, because its connection with the body at this time is weakest and can comfortably perceive the subtle influence of the spiritual world. Meanwhile, during the day, in a waking state, righteous people are more or less surrounded by the vanity of the world, which does not allow the soul to fully ascend the mountain and converse with the bright spirits of the heavenly world. Only a special, miraculous action of God’s grace can completely direct them into the heavenly region and give them the full opportunity to contemplate the world of spirits! Do you want the edifying conversation of the celestials - keep yourself in perfect purity day and night, and, like Joseph and other righteous people, you will be rewarded with the appearance of the inhabitants of the heavenly world, who carefully monitor our life, like brothers, directing it so that we become worthy of their holy community here, but especially there, in heaven. Chapter 3, [v.] 10. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. In Palestine, the trees are mostly fruit trees. Just as the Lord raised trees so that they would bear fruit, so He created and raised people so that they would bear the fruits of virtue. Trees have God-innate strength and the ability to bear fruit - otherwise God would not have demanded fruit from them, and people have the ability to do good deeds - otherwise God would not have obliged us to virtue. Trees, by bearing fruit, achieve the goal of their existence, and by not bearing them, they deviate from it and therefore become unsuitable for others, and themselves sluggish and lifeless; so are people. By doing good deeds, they achieve the goal of their existence, and by not doing them or doing only bad deeds, they become unfit for God as tares, and in themselves - lethargic and lifeless in soul and even in body, so that they are no good anywhere except for the earth or the fire. [Verse] 11. I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I; I am not worthy to carry His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Here it is necessary to notice John’s humility and the deepest reverence for the coming Redeemer of men: I, he says, baptize you only with water, an ordinary substance that cleanses the body, and only preparatoryly, through repentance, that is, in order to prepare you for a much more important Baptism through the cleansing of your sins; He who will baptize you after me is stronger than I; I am not worthy to carry His boots; Moreover, He will not baptize you with water, like me, but with the Holy Spirit and fire! Yes, Lord Jesus, only the righteous, who comprehend Your greatness more than all of us, can fully revere Your glory, but we, sinners, blind in our minds, barely contemplate Your greatness only sometimes, and have no fear of Yours before our eyes. Next, the Baptism in the Holy Spirit deserves special attention. Oh my God! We can only partially understand the greatness of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire. We know that the Spirit of God fills everything, tests everything, and the depths of God, that He is the Spirit of truth, the Life-giving Spirit, the Spirit of purity and holiness, the Spirit of love. What kind of people should be after you baptize them with the All-Holy and Life-Giving Spirit? Oh, they must themselves be holy and life-giving, just as the Holy and Life-giving Spirit of God is. Art.12. His fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn, and He will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. So, Lord: this world is Your threshing floor, in which wheat and tares are gathered together - good and evil people. By Your wave, the wheat will one day be separated from the chaff on this threshing floor, and You will take the wheat into Your granary - the righteous to the eternal heavenly abodes, and You will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire, that is, You will plunge sinners into eternal torment in hell. It is my will to be wheat or tares; I want to be wheat, but the flesh, the world and the devil make me worthless tares. Oh, how terrified I am, Lord, so that death does not find the tares in me and after death I do not suffer the fate of the tares! Consume from me, O Lord, my Creator, all that is bad and worthless, cleanse me and transform me - unclean tares - into wheat favorable to You. Chapter 4. Jesus Christ, entering into public ministry, was tempted by the devil. And every person, the higher his service, the more strongly he is initially attacked by the devil, because the latter tries at the very beginning to destroy the beneficial trend that a person who takes upon himself to serve society can produce in society over time. Art.4. Man will not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Know now, when you fast physically, that man, a spiritual and immortal being, can live not only from bread and various foodstuffs, but from the word of God, and much more from the word of God than from bread. Eating material food is the most common way of satiation for all sensual creatures, as gross as the body; it is adapted to our planetary life, subordinate in everything to the planet on which we live. But since our life is not limited only to existence on earth, but will continue after it burns up - forever and ever, it is natural for a person to desire and demand food other than planetary, rough food - namely, eternal food, adapted to the essence of the immortal, spiritually rational nature of our soul. What kind of food is this? This is the food by which immortal spirits - Angels - live, the food by which all the worlds of the universe are sustained in their entire composition and in all their parts - that is, this is the word of God. Art.17. Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. When was the Kingdom of Heaven closer to people, if not when the King of this Kingdom Himself approached people in the flesh, when He, having sincerely shared the flesh and blood of earthly beings, lived among them for more than thirty-three years? Chapter 5. About the bliss. Art.23. If you bring your gift to the altar... [Art.] 27–33. Have you heard what the ancients said... 33 art. up to the 48th inclusive. Chapter 6. About alms. How to submit? Why secretly? So that the reward comes not from people, but from God. God has arranged it in such a way that whoever receives reward here will no longer receive it in heaven. About prayer. Art.14. About the remission of sins against us to others... About how to fast. (Secretly, not only physically, but also spiritually, free yourself from passions: do not swear, do not commit adultery, do not repay evil for evil, give to those who demand.) 33 art. Seek first the Kingdom of God... Chapter 7. Judge not, lest ye be judged... A twig... a log... Do not give what is holy to dogs... Ask, and it will be given... A general law on how to behave towards all people... Every good tree bears good fruit (about repentance: whoever is good will sincerely repent), but a bad tree bears bad fruit (a bad person will not bear good fruits of repentance). But... the evil tree is cut down and thrown into the fire. Not everyone who says to Me: “Lord! Lord!”, will enter... but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven. Chapter 8. About the healing of a leper; youth sotnikov; about the power of faith in both cases of people who demanded healing; about the healing of Petrova's mother-in-law. [Verse] 22. Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead. [Verse] 26. He stood up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great silence. About the healing of two demoniacs. Chapter 9. Healing the paralytic; about the power of faith. Art.13. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 18th century About the resurrection of Jairus' daughter. More on healing a bleeding woman below. 25 Art. He took her hand, and the girl stood up. This is the action of the Creator! It was enough to take his hand to revive him; about the healing of two blind people; silent - demonic. 36 [-38] art. Seeing the crowds of people, He took pity on them because they were exhausted and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples: The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Likewise, we need to have compassion for our flock if they are exhausted and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd. We must pray to God, the Lord of the harvest, so that He will send good harvesters to the harvest, if the harvest seems abundant, but there are few harvesters. Chapter 10, 7 and 8 art. As you walk, preach that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand; Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons; freely you have received, freely give. And at the present time, preachers should primarily tell people about the approach of the Kingdom of Heaven. This can best work on people suffering under the heavy dominion of sin. Describe this Kingdom in all detail, like a well-known earthly state, which was described by eyewitnesses. But when describing the Kingdom of Heaven, throw some light and shade, which must necessarily be in such objects that are not entirely known to us and are covered with some darkness. Heal the sick... and so on. In these words, the apostles see God in the flesh, the Creator of everything, to whom it is enough to say that there is a known deed or a known object - for this to actually come true. Can an [ordinary] person speak like that? Suppose you told me: heal the sick, and I would tell you: give means, for example, medicine, advice that I could convey to the sick for his benefit, etc. I myself am not able, I cannot: how can I restore order in the patient’s body when I don’t know well what kind of disorder has occurred in his limbs and how to help order emerge from the disorder? How will this wonderful machine listen to me? How can I not spoil it, inexperienced? That's what I would tell you. But this is not the case here. It’s said - no one says a word: they know that it will happen. And if you told me: raise the dead, I would consider you crazy in your mind and would not consider it necessary to talk to you for a long time. I would only tell you that God alone is able to raise us from the dead, and people without the extraordinary gift of God cannot do this; and when you said: cast out demons, I would tell you: are you stronger than demons, since in order to cast them out, you certainly need to be stronger than them. But since they are disembodied spirits, although the spirits of darkness were once Angels, strong in strength, then, without a doubt, they are stronger than you, who are fleshly. If you overpower them, then either God is with you, or you are God Himself. But I know that this is God speaking, and I do not find anything strange in these words. It is natural for God to manifest Himself this way. Art.9 [-10]. Take with you neither gold, nor silver, nor copper for your belts, nor a scrip for the journey, nor two coats, nor shoes, nor a staff, for the worker is worthy of food. Our work - serving the salvation of people - is very great and venerable. We must be completely devoted to our work and not think about money, food and clothing; those for whom we serve must reward us for our unvalued labors from their property. And they should never show this to us, because if we have sown spiritual things in them, how great is it if we reap their bodily things [1 Cor. 9:11]. We arrange the eternal salvation of their immortal soul, and meanwhile we ourselves receive for this fleeting, perishable things: money, food and clothing for the body. Art.14 [-15]. And if anyone does not receive you and does not listen to your words, then, when leaving that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet; Truly I say to you, it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that city. Whether they listen to us or not, we must preach. We do our job; if they do not listen to us, for those who do not listen there is a righteous Judge, who on the day of Judgment will strictly exact from them, and we will receive a reward according to our labor. Art.16 [and 20–22]. Behold, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves: therefore be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves... for it is not you who will speak, but the Spirit of your Father who will speak in you... and you will be hated by all because of My name; he who endures to the end will be saved. We only need to be spiritually wise, pure and gentle, so that the Spirit of God can be with us and in us and act through us. If they hate us for the name of Jesus Christ, we should rejoice. Let us endure: only for patience to the end is salvation promised. This means that salvation is a very important matter when it is promised as a reward to those who endure to the end. 24 Art. and further. A student is not above his teacher, and a servant is not above his master: it is enough for a student that he should be like his teacher, and for a servant that he should be like his master. If the master of the house was called Beelzebub, 15 how much more of his household?... 28 Art. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul; but fear Him more who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. If the Savior, the Creator and Ruler of the universe, was called by blasphemous names, then even more so His followers will not be ashamed to be called by the most blasphemous names. There is no need to be too afraid of those who rob and destroy only [one] house; We must be afraid of those who can rob and expose our soul. Or we must fear the One who, for our poverty through good deeds and for our evil, can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. This means that terrible Gehenna will certainly happen, just as there were the murderers of the apostles. 30 tbsp. The hairs on your head are all numbered. Such is the care of the Heavenly Father for us! Art.32. Whoever confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Heavenly Father; and whoever denies Me [glory: will deny Me]... Now there are many who deny the Savior before people. They, poor people, do not imagine what shame and horror awaits them in the future - forever and ever. They are rejected before the Father by the Son of God, the Father of the age to come. 37 Art. Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever loves a son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. If those who love their own blood more than God are unworthy of the Lord, with a pure and holy love inspired by nature itself, then how unworthy of Him are those who passionately become attached in their hearts to unrelated persons, who love not out of pure motives! 38 [-39] art. And whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. He who saves his soul will lose it... The cross was the instrument of the Savior’s death because we deserved it: He Himself was sinless. Since the world is still evil, adulterous and sinful, the flesh is capricious, and the devil draws us to its side with the sweetness of sin, the cross is still a necessary path to salvation. The Lord redeemed us on the cross - but if we ourselves are crucified to Him; He died for us and was buried - but if we ourselves die to sin and are buried in Him. 40, [42] Art. Whoever receives you, receives Me, and whoever receives Me, receives Him who sent Me... And whoever gives you drink... will not lose his reward. If you accept us, then it is the same as accepting our Lord, and by accepting the Lord, you accept His Father. But it’s a disaster if you don’t accept it. What is it like not to accept your Creator and Redeemer! Chapter 11, Article 7. What did you go to see in the desert? or a reed shaken by the wind?.. What a high testimony about John both in the face of the Witness and in the very quality of the testimony! John is contrasted with a reed shaken by the wind. Yes, the severity of John’s life was such that he could be likened to Mount Zion, which does not move forever. Oh, if only everyone could be so firm on the path of salvation! But we are all like reeds shaken by the wind: we bend from the small pressure of passions in all directions. Everything can deviate us from the right path and suppress our convictions in the truth of the immutability of the rules of Christian faith and morality. 18th century For John came neither eating nor drinking. It was an Angel in the flesh, so his flesh seemed to be completely dead. 25 Art. I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You hid this from the wise and prudent and revealed it to babes. How sweet is the living idea that the Heavenly Father is the Lord and Ruler of heaven and earth, Who, as the Master of a house consisting of many departments, is present everywhere with His Spirit. Chapter 12, [v.] 8. The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. How could it not be the Lord, when You Yourself established it! Chapter 12, art. 11, 12 and 13. About the healing of a withered hand. How much better is a man than a sheep!.. If on the Sabbath a fallen sheep is pulled out of a pit, then how much more can one be healed on the Sabbath? About the healing of the demoniac, the blind and the dumb. 24 Art. He casts out demons in no other way, the Pharisees said, than by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons. 25 [-28] art. Every kingdom divided against itself is desolate; and every city or house divided against itself cannot stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, then he is divided with himself: how can his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub, by whose power do your sons (apostles) cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges (with dignity and righteousness). If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then of course the Kingdom of God has come to you. Art.30. He who is not with Me is against Me; and whoever does not gather with Me scatters. 34. Generations of vipers! how can you say good things when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 36. I tell you that for every idle word that people speak, they will give an answer on the day of judgment. Worthy and righteous: because all of this life must be used to prepare for the future life; For us there is no idle day, no hour, no word, no deed; everything must be directed towards one goal. We have no time to idle. 37. By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. If the word is good, edifying, then it will justify us, but if it is bad, rotten, then it will condemn us. Art.38–43. The scribes and Pharisees ask for a sign. But to the evil and adulterous generation, Jesus Christ shows only the sign of the prophet Jonah. He reproaches them with the example of the Ninevites, who repented from the preaching of Jonah, and says that here there is more Jonah, therefore, they should rather repent; makes the Ninevites judges of the scribes and Pharisees in advance. Using the example of the queen of the south, who came from afar to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, he says that there is more Solomon here, therefore he appoints the queen of the south to them before His second coming as their judge. Verses 48 and 49. Who is My Mother? and who are my brothers? And pointing His hand at His disciples, He said: Here are My mother and My brothers; for whoever does the will of My Father in Heaven is My brother, and sister, and mother. Fulfilling God's commandments makes us one with God. Spiritual kinship is based on the fulfillment of God's law. Chapter 13. About the sower. Art.16. Blessed are your eyes that see, and your ears that hear. Art.17. For verily I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear. 23 art. What is sown on good soil means one who hears the word and understands it, and who bears fruit, so that some bear fruit a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. The Word of God, like the rays of the sun falling on fertile soil, having been heard and understood by a good person, certainly makes a person’s soul fruitful, because it is alive and active and sharper than any two-edged sword [Heb. 4:12]. In the earth's soil there are God-given powers to grow known plants according to their kind and likeness; the sun only excites these forces with its light and warmth. In the human soul there is also a God-given power to produce from oneself, also in kind and likeness, or in known forms, good thoughts, feelings and deeds. The Word of God awakens these forces that have fallen asleep for good, imparts to them energy and the strongest ability to bear fruits of one hundred, sixty, thirty. 30 tbsp. Leave both to grow together (wheat and tares) until the harvest; and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather first the tares and bind them in sheaves to burn them, and put the wheat into my barn. I must certainly be wheat, because that’s why I was born, and that’s why everyone is born. What use are tares to the ruler of the house, our Lord? They are only suitable for the oven. But if I am a sinner, then I am the tares. May God grant me to be wheat! Matt. Chapter 13, 31 [-32] art. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field, which, although smaller than all the seeds, when it grows, is larger than all the grains and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and take refuge in its branches. It speaks of the inner kingdom in man, which is the Heavenly Kingdom according to the heavenly gifts that the soul of a faithful Christian receives. At first, it really is like an imperceptible mustard seed and gradually grows more and more, so that it finally becomes like a large hay-leaved tree, under which many can take refuge. Examples: The Most Holy Virgin Mother of God, Who covers the whole world with Her cover; the apostles, in whose godly messages, full of spirit and strength and universal suitability, all pious people take refuge, like birds in the branches of a large tree, finding in them both food and peace; Saints of God, for example, Chrysostom, Gregory the Theologian, Basil the Great, Anthony and Macarius of Egypt and others, whose writings and deeds serve as a refuge for souls thirsting for piety, to spiritual pleasure and salvation. 33 art. He told them another parable: The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until it was all leavened. The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, which with its insignificant amount can leaven a great deal of dissolved flour. So it was and is. The twelve apostles (a very insignificant leaven for as many people as the whole world) converted the whole world to the Kingdom of Christ. 37 Art. and further. He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world; the good seed are the sons of the Kingdom, and the tares are the sons of the evil one; the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Therefore, just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of this age: the Son of Man will send His angels, and from His kingdom they will gather all who offend and those who practice iniquity, and will throw them into the fiery furnace; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth; then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. How opposite is the fate of the righteous to the fate of sinners after the general Judgment. Some will be enlightened, like the sun, in the Kingdom of the Heavenly Father, while others, in pitch darkness, will forever cry and gnash their teeth from terrible torment and in anger at themselves! 44 art. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which, having found, a man hid, and out of joy over it he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field. So it was and is: at all times and in all places on the globe there were many people who, having found the treasure of the Kingdom of Heaven, joyfully left everything they had and took up this treasure. There were also many rich people who, in order to buy this treasure, sold everything they had and bought this treasure with alms and donations. You need to look for virtue. 45. The Kingdom of Heaven is also like a merchant looking for good pearls [glory: good beads], who, having found one pearl of great price, went and sold everything he had and bought it. Nowadays, Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, who enlightened Rus' with Baptism, is likened to this gospel merchant looking for good beads. In order to buy the valuable beads of the faith of Christ, he suddenly rejected paganism and his violent passions and submitted to the easy yoke of Christ. 47 [-50]. The Kingdom of Heaven is also like a net thrown into the sea and capturing fish of all kinds, which, when it was full, they pulled ashore and, sitting down, collected the good in vessels, and threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age: the angels will come out and separate the wicked from among the righteous, and throw them into the fiery furnace. What a wonderful, incomparable comparison! Future spiritual events are presented so clearly and clearly in the simplest, most ordinary actions and objects! Imagine how they will then pull out from this worldly sea the net that was thrown by the hand of the Heavenly and Eternal Fisher of men from the beginning of the world and will be pulled out at its end; how they will sit by this net, in which there will be not fish - but all human souls, or people, and will begin to put the good ones into the vessels of the Kingdom of Heaven, and throw the evil ones out - into terrible Tartarus, to eternal destruction! Glory, Lord, to Your holy word! Chapter 14, [v.] 19–21. And he ordered the people to lie down on the grass and, taking five loaves and two fish, he looked up to heaven, blessed and, breaking them, gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to the people. And they all ate and were filled; and they took up the remaining pieces, twelve baskets full; and those who ate were about five thousand people, besides women and children. Five small loaves of bread and two fish were enough to feed five thousand men, exhausted and hungry, not to mention the women and children, of whom there were also probably many. Know, Christian, in your Sweetest Jesus Christ the omnipotent Creator of the world, Who, having no difficulty in creating out of insignificance such a huge, luminous and harmonious mechanism of the universe, of course, all the more could not find difficulty in the way of saturating the gross, material bodies of people. He could support their strength and life with His one omnipotent word, just as the whole universe is carried by His omnipotent word; but He was pleased to satisfy them with the food that He gave them in the beginning, that is, from earthly plants (what He did, He did forever well and He had nothing to correct Himself in), as such a means that corresponds to the earthly, elemental nature of man. I would have seen how these loaves of bread were broken, how long it took them to break them, how more than five thousand pieces came out of them, how then there were still more leftovers from these five loaves of bread than how many loaves there were! The Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ represents even in our time an example of this saturation of the nations with bread. Art. 25 et seq. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And the disciples, seeing Him walking on the sea, were alarmed and said: this is a ghost; and they cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately spoke to them and said, “Be of good cheer; It's me, don't be afraid. Peter walks towards Him on the water, but begins to doubt whether he can stand on the water, because the wind was contrary, and he drowns. The Lord stretches out his hand to him, lifts him up and reproaches him for his lack of faith. The Lord and Peter climb into the ship - and the wind subsides. Those who were in the ship came and worshiped Him, saying: Truly You are the Son of God. Yes, it is impossible, seeing this miracle, not to shout to Jesus Christ: truly You are the Son of God. Walking on water with the same feet as ours, and with the same body as ours, is possible only for God, for Whom, as the Creator, no creature can serve as an obstacle to the path that He walks. It would even be strange to imagine that, for example, air, or fire, or water, or earth could somehow hinder Him, because all creation can only serve Him as its Artist, Who gave it not only form and space, but also the very beginnings and essence. The abysses of the world are also nothing for Him. In an instant He is everywhere as the Creator, He is infinitely greater and higher than them. Chapter 15, Article 28. Oh woman! great is your faith; let it be done to you as you wish. And her daughter was healed at that hour. What cannot be done with faith! - That's it, you can even become a god. This is not an exaggeration: God became man in order to make a believer a god. The faith of God is a great treasure for a Christian: on earth it already unites man with God, making him a participant in Divine omnipotence, and gives him the guarantee of a future blessed inheritance in heaven. With faith, a person lives cheerfully even here, among troubles, sorrows and illnesses, comforted by the idea of ​​future blessings prepared for him in heaven by the Heavenly Father. 29 [-31] art. Having crossed over from there, Jesus came to the Sea of ​​Galilee and, going up to a mountain, sat down there. And a great multitude came to Him, having with them the lame, the blind, the dumb, the maimed, and many others, and they cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and He healed them; so that the people marveled, seeing the dumb speaking, the maimed healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and glorified the God of Israel. Glory to Thee, Father Almighty, who sent to the poor earth His beloved Son, the fullness of the Divinity and, consequently, the fullness of all life - spiritual and physical, His Hypostatic Goodness and Wisdom! What a bright picture: God in the flesh treats people like the most tender Father with children - talks with them, heals all sorts of illnesses. The Source of life communicates with sinful people who are susceptible to mental and physical illnesses - every disease or disorder in the soul or body disappears in people who believe in His miraculous power, everyone becomes healthy: the dumb speak, the lame walk, the blind see. Glory, glory to the Visitor of His people - God! 32–39 art. About feeding four thousand men with seven loaves and several fish, not counting wives and children. The Savior commands the people to sit on the ground; He takes the seven loaves and the fish, gives praise to God, breaks them and gives them to His disciples, and the disciples to the people. Everyone ate and were satisfied. There were enough loaves and fish left to fill seven more baskets. Ch.16, [vv.6–11]. Jesus said to them (the disciples): Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They thought within themselves and said: this means that we did not take the loaves. Having realized this, Jesus said to them: Why do you think within yourselves, you of little faith, that you did not take the loaves? Do you still not understand and remember about the five loaves of bread for five thousand people, and how many boxes you collected? nor about seven loaves for four thousand, and how many baskets did you pick up? How do you not understand that I did not tell you about bread: beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees? It is not without reason that the Lord turns with anger to the disciples, who thought that He was telling them about the loaves, why did they not take them. It is strange to imagine how the apostles themselves, before the descent of the Holy Spirit on them, were of little faith - so much so that even the most amazing, most obvious miracles did not make them free from unbelief. With what sorrow the Lord looked upon their unbelief! How He wanted them to believe in His omnipotence without the slightest doubt! Why was there a miracle of being fed with five loaves and two fish, why did the apostles themselves distribute miraculous loaves to the people, if not primarily to assure them of His Divine omnipotence? Art. 24 et seq. If anyone wants to come after Me, deny yourself, and take up your cross, and follow Me. Chapter 17, [v.] 2. And He was transfigured before them: and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as light. We also expect a transformation from a corruptible body to an incorruptible one, from dark to light. But this is only for the virtuous. Although the bodies of sinners will be incorruptible, they will suffer and will not be bright. 6 [-7]. And when the disciples heard, they fell on their faces and were very afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said: Arise and do not be afraid. Every time people hear the voice of the Lord or feel the presence of God, they are horrified. Yes, it’s scary when the Lord of the creature speaks to her! 15th century and further. God! have mercy on my son; He goes berserk on new moons and suffers greatly... I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not heal him. Jesus answered and said: O faithless and perverse generation! How long will I be with you? How long will I tolerate you? bring him here to Me. It was regrettable for the Lord to hear from strangers that His disciples could not cast out a demon from a person. Once again He sees that those close to Him are still not sufficiently convinced of His Divine omnipotence! Now it's the same again. This, it seems, can explain His unkind response to the man who asked to heal his son. And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him; and the boy was healed at that hour. All the Lord had to do was forbid the demon so that he would not torment the boy, and the demon obeyed unquestioningly. And now in the name of the Lord demons are prohibited at the baptism of infants. From here the greatness and omnipotence of the Lord is strikingly revealed! [Vv.19-21.] The disciples privately ask the Lord: Why couldn’t we cast him out? Jesus said to them: Because of your unbelief; for truly I say to you, if you have faith as big as a mustard seed (I’m not saying more, like a tree) and say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you; this race is driven out only by prayer and fasting. O divine power of faith! The Lord assures us that if we have even a little faith in the Lord as the omnipotent and all-good Creator of the visible and invisible world, then we can do extraordinary things through it, for example, move mountains from place to place. In fact, what is this worth to the omnipotence of God? If the earth, the weight of which is almost impossible to calculate due to the enormous amount of weight, is held in the empty space of the world, unsupported by anything, if countless worlds, most of which exceed the size of our earth, also rotate, like light balls, in the spaces of the sky by the force of attraction and repulsion, then will not some earthly mountain move from its place, according to the word of an intelligent creature, devoted to its Creator and believing in His infinite power, any mass of earthly matter? It is natural for the spirit to command material nature: it is infinitely higher, nobler and more powerful than it, at least that is how it was created and should be so. It is only because of our sins that material nature has come out from under our subordination, does not listen to us, and sometimes even becomes hostile against us. Let us regain our primitive dominion and, through living faith, become one with the Lord, the Creator of the world, then we will see what it means to be a believer, a saint, a godlike person: he becomes, as it were, a god. How great is the power of fasting and prayer! No wonder: during fasting the soul becomes dominant over the lusts of the body, generally subjugates it to itself, and the devil very often acts through the flesh; The faster, therefore, conquers both the flesh and the devil - which means that then he is close to God in his moral state and can do the powers of God most easily. If prayer is also added to this, which brings down to us the blessing and help of heaven, then a person can truly command not only material nature, but also fallen spirits. How did the Lord Himself defeat the devil? By fasting and prayer. 24 Art. In Capernaum, tax collectors come to Peter and say to him: Will your Teacher give didrachms? He answers: yes. Before Peter had time to tell the Lord about this, He said to him: What do you think, Simon, from whom do the kings of the earth accept tribute or taxes? From your own sons or from strangers? Peter says: from strangers. Jesus answers: So the sons are free? (And the Savior is the Son of the Heavenly Father.) But in order not to tempt them, go, throw a fishing rod into the sea, and take whatever fish you catch first; Having opened her mouth, you will find a statir in her: take it and give it to them for Me and for yourself. This is how the Lord of heaven and earth does it! As the Only Begotten Son of the Heavenly Father, the Lord and King of the whole world, He should not, in all justice, pay tribute to the kings of the earth for himself and for the apostles, as faithful children of the Heavenly Father; but in order not to force people who demanded taxes to speak unfavorably about Himself, He pays both very simply and very generously, as the sovereign Lord of the earth and the sea - borrowing payment not from people, but from the sea, from the mouth of the fish! Do you see His Divine sovereignty? Do you see omniscience? He sees a fish in the sea with a precious stone in its mouth before the bait is cast, and far from the sea! Matt. Chapter 18, art. 10 onwards. See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of My Father in heaven. Why should one be particularly careful not to tempt any of those who believe in the Lord? Because the Son of God Himself appeared on earth in the flesh precisely in order to find and save the lost. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. 12 tbsp. and further. What do you think? If someone had a hundred sheep, and one of them got lost, would he not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains and go looking for the lost one? and if he happens to find her, then, truly, I tell you, he rejoices over her more than over the ninety-nine who were not lost. Thus, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. Note here: It was not for nothing that the Savior used such a comparison, that is, He called Himself vaguely a certain man or householder who has a hundred sheep. By His sheep He means all His rational creatures - both Angels and men, just as He usually calls all people His sheep in the Gospel, and Himself the Shepherd. So, look: the Lord’s wealth consists, among other things, in a hundred sheep. These sheep - rational and verbal - are Angels and people. One of these sheep got lost. Who is this lost sheep? - Man, or the entire human race - from Adam to the last man who will be born on the last day of the world, because the Lord became incarnate for everyone, suffered and died. Do you see how many sheep the Lord has; because of the multitude, He does not count them according to our human counting: all people from the beginning of the world to the end are taken as one sheep; The angelic world consists of ninety-nine sheep. In order to have a sufficient understanding of the number of Angels in heaven, serving the Lord day and night (in our opinion), take the number of people - from the first person on earth to the very last one who will be born on the last day of the world, ninety-nine times - and you will receive the number of the Angels of the Lord living in heaven. Let us assume that the number of all people from the beginning of the world until now is septillion - a number that people never reach and will not reach in their accounts, because it would be necessary to count several years - the Angels will all be ninety-nine septillion. You see how the Lord God has many rational and verbal creatures, pure and holy, who know how to serve their Creator with righteousness, holiness, thanksgiving and praise, not like a person who is sinful and all filth, forgets God every day and, like an unreasonable creature, does not know about the duty of thanksgiving and praise to his Creator. And the Lord God did not abandon us, who were lost, covered with the purulent scabs of His sins and unclean sheep. Since we are covered with flesh and, due to its coarseness, could not ascend in mind and heart to our Creator, we darkened His light within ourselves, we got lost through our own negligence - He Himself clothed ourselves with flesh so that people would see the life-giving light of the eyes of their souls, so that He Himself could seek and save His sheep that perished far from Him. Look: He left for us ninety-nine of His best, faithful sheep in the mountains, that is, in the high spaces of the sky, and went to us on earth to look for one lost sheep. Having found her, He took her on His shoulder and joyfully brought her to His Father. Do you see how the Heavenly Father and His Only Begotten Son love us? Is it possible for those who themselves are trying for it to despair of their salvation? Next - about two debtors. Chapter 19, 13 [-15]. Then the children were brought to Him so that He could lay His hands on them and pray; the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said: Let the little children come and do not hinder them from coming to Me, for to such is the Kingdom of Heaven. And he laid his hands on them and went from there. That's who will easily get the Kingdom of Heaven - innocent children, if they, not spoiled by the stifling breath of the world, pass into the next century pure and simple. 23 art. Jesus said to His disciples: Truly I say to you, it is difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven; And again I tell you: it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Hearing this, His disciples were greatly amazed and said: So who can be saved? And Jesus looked up and said to them: With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. This means that the Lord can easily save a rich man, although for people it seems impossible for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, when this entrance is as narrow for him as the ears of a needle for a rope. But a rope, it is said, can pass through the eye of a needle more easily than a rich man can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Yes, Lord, everything is possible for You, but nothing is possible for You. This comforts me. I believe that Your goodness, wisdom and omnipotence will find the means to save me, a sinner. 27 [-30] art. Peter answered and said to Him: Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what will happen to us? Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in Genesis 16, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And whoever leaves houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and those who are last will be first. They left everything - that is, not only the fishermen’s nets and their most insignificant fortune, but especially the passions, whims, inclinations and habits of the world. The Lord answers: in the rebirth... you too will sit on twelve thrones to judge. The word is remarkable: re-being, that is, secondary being. Each person will have two existences, two lives: one temporary, and the other eternal and endless. Eternal life will be completely different from this temporary, planetary life; we inherit it after death, which serves as the end of our earthly existence, and that is why it is called rebirth. The apostles are appointed as judges for the twelve tribes of Israel in accordance with their concepts of the Kingdom of the Messiah. What a multitude of defendants! The entire nation of Israel, from the time of its division into twelve tribes and destined to exist until the end of the world, will come to the judgment of the twelve fishermen. But this is not what awaits the faithful followers of Christ, who sacrifice for the Lord everything that is dear to them in this life. They will receive a hundred times (it is said vaguely) more than what they left, and in addition they will inherit a blissful eternity. That life will be different in everything from the present: many who were first here will be last there. Here, primacy depends on merit to the king and society, on origin, on brilliant natural talents, on an adventurous character, on cunning, cunning and other conditions. It won't happen there. Whose moral perfection is higher than others, he will be higher, he will prevail. On earth, primacy, so to speak, is earthly, spontaneous, determined by the conditions of life on this planet on which we live, where untruth often sets its throne and where external virtues often take precedence over internal ones. Chapter 20, [Art. 1–14]. The Kingdom of Heaven is like the owner of a house [glorified: house-man] who went out early in the morning to hire workers in his vineyard [glorified: laborers in his vineyard] and, having agreed with the workers on a denarius per day, sent them to his vineyard; going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idly in the marketplace, and he said to them, “Go you too into my vineyard, and whatever comes next I will give you.” They went. Coming out again around the sixth and ninth hours, he did the same. Finally, going out about the eleventh hour, he found others standing idly, and said to them: Why have you been standing here all day idly? They tell him: no one hired us. He says to them: You also go into my vineyard, and you will receive what follows. When evening came, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward, Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning from the last to the first. And those who came about the eleventh hour received a denarius. Those who came first thought that they would receive more, but they also received a denarius; and, having received it, they began to murmur against the owner of the house and said: these last worked for one hour, and you made them equal to us, who endured the burden of the day and the heat. He answered and said to one of them: friend! I don't offend you; Did you not agree with me for a denarius? take yours and go; I want to give this last one the same as I give you. A home-loving man is our Lord Jesus Christ; He went out to hire workers into His grapes, that is, into spiritual grapes: people have the ability and purpose to expel spiritual wine from themselves - good works. The homely man went out five times to hire laborers for His vineyard: early in the morning, at the third, sixth, ninth and eleventh hours. These periods mean periods of the existence of the human race, or the existence of the world and the existence of each person individually. First it says that He went out early in the morning to hire workers. This means: soon after he created man. Thus He hired Adam and other people of the primitive world into His vineyard. They worked in His grapes, multiplying the talents entrusted to them by Him. Then we see the post-Flood patriarchs working in His grapes: Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and others; then prophets, godly kings and other righteous men. The time after the flood is equal to the third hour of the great day of the world. Then the sixth hour, the time of full light, is equal to the luminous time of the New Testament. At this time, the apostles, martyrs, saints, saints, unmercenaries and others did. The ninth hour is equal to the later time of the world's existence; the eleventh - at the latest, the last time. In all these periods there were, are and will be workers in the grapes of the Lord who multiply the wealth of the Master of the world through the development of the spiritual soil of the human soul, which has the ability to produce good deeds from itself, like sweet wine to the Holy Trinity. However, these times of the day (early morning, 3rd, 6th, 9th and 11th hours) also mean periods of life for each person individually. The Lord hires others into His grapes very early, that is, during his earliest youth, and we know people who began to work for the Lord from adolescence and worked until old age; The Lord calls others in the third hour of the day of their life - in the years of youth, and from that time they work for Him; third - at the sixth hour, in adulthood, fourth - at the ninth hour, in the evening of their life; fifth, finally, in old age, or at the very end of their lives. All receive the same price for their labors through the goodness of the generous Lord. Do not despair, my soul, of your salvation - just try to achieve it. However, I advise you to work not so much for the denarii, for the heavenly reward, but for the sake of the Lord Himself. The Lord will pay you very generously for your selflessness, diligence and devotion. Beelzebub (Heb.) – Philistine god; in the New Testament this is the name of the prince of demons. Rebirth (Church Slavic) – new being, rebirth. You might be interested in: