Book, verb "Chrysostom"

Contents Word 1. Week, in which the Gospel parable about the publican and the Pharisees is read, interpreted by the great saint John Chrysostom. Homily 2. Lesson per week, in this week the Gospel parable about the prodigal son is read. Word 3. On Meat Saturday, the word of John Chrysostom, do not cry for the dead. Homily 4. On the Meat Sunday about the second coming of Christ, the teaching of John Chrysostom. Homily 5. On Wednesday of the Cheese Week, the teaching of the spiritual father to the spiritual children, from the words of St. John Chrysostom. Word 6. On the heel of the cheese-free week, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on purity of soul. Homily 7. On Cheese Saturday, the teaching of John Chrysostom about the benefit of the soul. Homily 8. On the Week of Cheese, the teaching of John Chrysostom about holy fasting. Sermon 9. On Monday of the 1st week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom. Homily 10. On Tuesday of the 1st week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom “let us cease from our sins.” Word 11. On Wednesday of the 1st week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom about Wednesday and the heel. Homily 12. On the Thursday of the 1st week of Lent, to the words from the book of the prophet Haggai: “The gold is Mine, and the silver is Mine.” Sermon 13. On the heel of the 1st week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom, from the holy instructions of the Gospel. Sermon 14. Tale of Archbishop Nektarios, for this reason, on Saturday of the 1st week of Lent we commemorate the Holy Great Martyr Theodore Tiron. Homily 15. On the first week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom about the benefit of the soul. Sermon 16. On Monday of the 2nd week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom about the rich and the unmerciful. Sermon 17. On Monday of the 2nd week of Lent, the word of Saint Cyril about the Passion of God. Sermon 18. On Tuesday of the second week of Lent, the teaching of the holy fathers about the creatures of heaven. Sermon 19. On Tuesday of the second week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom about those cured of illnesses by sorcery. Word 20. On Wednesday of the 2nd week of Lent, teaching from the holy fathers on how to live as an Orthodox Christian. Sermon 21. On the Thursday of the 2nd week of Lent, a teaching from a certain lover of God to the spiritual brothers. Selected from the epistles of the apostles. Sermon 22. On the heel of the 2nd week of Lent, a teaching from someone to the spiritual brothers, from a tributary. Sermon 23. On Saturday of the 2nd week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on Holy Communion. Sermon 24. On the 2nd week of Lent, the teaching of Saint John Chrysostom from the Divine Scriptures about holy fasting. Sermon 25. On Monday of the 3rd week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on the rules of Christian life. Sermon 26. On Tuesday of the 3rd week of Lent, the teaching of a certain holy elder to spiritual children. Sermon 27. On Tuesday of the 3rd week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom about those who speak in the church. Sermon 28. On Wednesday of the 3rd week of Lent, the teaching of Saint Ephraim about judgment and repentance. Sermon 29. On the Thursday of the 3rd week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on the tenderness of the soul. Word 30. On the heel of the 3rd week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom about the rich and the poor. Sermon 31. On the same day [on the heel of the 3rd week of Lent], the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on book veneration. Sermon 32. On Saturday of the 3rd week of Lent, the teaching of our father Gregory the Theologian about the Holy Divine Liturgy. Sermon 33. On the 3rd week of Lent, the story of the holy fathers about Great Lent and other fasts. Sermon 34. On Monday of the 4th week of Lent, St. John Chrysostom about the creatures of God. Sermon 35. On Tuesday of the 4th week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on prayer. Word 36. On the same day [Tuesday of the 4th week of Lent] the question: “Do they do all the evil that foreign countries do to us at the command of God?” Homily 37. On Wednesday of the 4th week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on the worship of the Honorable and Life-giving Cross. Homily 38. On the Thursday of the 4th week of Lent, the commandment of our holy fathers was found in the mind of Holy Father Basil, about humility. Word 39. On the same day [on the Thursday of the 4th week of Lent] the teaching of St. John Chrysostom. Sermon 40. On the Friday of the 4th week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom about the Passion of God. Sermon 41. On Saturday of the 4th week of Lent, the teaching of St. Basil and the telling of the angels' messages to the faithful. Sermon 42. On the same day [Saturday of the 4th week of Lent], the word of our holy father Nifont, as befits Orthodox Christians at the meal with silence. Sermon 43. On the 4th week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on fasting, and on prayer, and on almsgiving. Sermon 44. On Monday of the 5th week of Lent, St. John Chrysostom tells a soul-helping story about this present life, in the order of the parable of the court and the serpent. Sermon 45. On Tuesday of the 5th week of Lent, teaching from the Gospel about the rich man and about Lazarus. Sermon 46. On the same day [Tuesday of the 5th week of Lent], the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on Christian life. Homily 47. On Wednesday of the 5th week of Lent, a teaching from a certain monk to his spiritual brother about silence. Word 58. On Saturday of the 6th week of Lent, on the resurrection of Christ's friend Lazarus, the teaching of John Chrysostom. Homily 59. On the flower-bearing week, the entry into Jerusalem of our Lord Jesus Christ for the free passion, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom. Sermon 60. On Holy and Great Monday of Holy Week, a word from St. Ephraim the Syrian about the beautiful Joseph, how his brothers sold him to the Ishtelites. Homily 61. On the Holy and Great Tuesday of Holy Week, about the same beautiful Joseph, how the Izmaelites sold him to Pentefry and how he reigned over Egypt. Sermon 62. On the Holy and Great Wednesday of Holy Week, about the same beautiful Joseph, who knew his brothers and about the coming of his father Jacob with all his tribe to Egypt. Sermon 63. On Holy and Great Thursday, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom about the holy communion, recitation of the communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord, by the king and the prince and everyone Orthodox Christian. Word 66. On Holy Great Saturday, teaching of the Holy Father Gregory of Antioch. Sermon 67. On the holy and great Bright Week of the Resurrection of Christ our God, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom, how our Lord Jesus Christ is risen from dead. Word 1. Week, in which the Gospel parable about the publican and the Pharisees is read, interpreted by the great saint John Chrysostom. Come, brothers, listen to the voice of Christ, so that we may be more cheerful in obedience. This is the parable of the Savior for the sake of our salvation: not for the sake of the righteous, but for the sake of sinners, that they may be saved. “There were two people,” he said, “going into the church to pray: one was a Pharisee, and the other was a publican (Luke 89). From the beginning of the word we know, for we are both imams in ourselves. The Church, we understand, beloved ones, is a composition of its own body, just as the Apostle says: brethren, you are the churches of the living God. There are two people - the heart and the soul, in which there is truth and sin. The truth is that it falls through arrogance, but sin is consumed by humility. David said by the Holy Spirit: For in your sight no one living will be justified. And again he said: humble yourself, and save me. The heart is a Pharisee, which does not preserve virtue, but magnifies itself in corrections and is proud of the laziest, for it does not know anything written about itself: do not boast, - the speech, - nor speak the highest word in your pride, let no great talk come from your mouth. The soul itself says the publican, since it was created pure by God, and having become defiled in the body, it does not want to see heaven, but, beating in Persia with the conscience of evil deeds, heavy sighing and crying out in a silent voice: God, have mercy on me; There is a hedgehog: you do not want to create verbal tests with me. Thus he receives justification through repentance. Yes, no one is offended by this, because human thought is divided into two, we cut off thought from words: we fight, - speech, - flesh against soul. There are two adversaries in us, constantly fighting: for hunger rises to fasting, to virtue - magnification, to chastity - drunkenness; fornication - to spiritual purity, to love - hatred and anger, to humility - pride, to truth - lies and slander, and other evil deeds. Two, - speech, - horsemen: a tax collector and a Pharisee. And the Pharisee harnessed two horses, so that he might attain eternal life: one virtuous horse - fasting and almsgiving; and the other horse is pride, and magnificence, and condemnation. And the pride of virtue, and the horse chariot crashed, and the arrogant rider perished. No one, he says, receives honor for himself, but he who is called from God. The apostle said: Do not boast when you sit on a branch, for you do not bear the root, but the root is for you. For the publican and the publican are yoked to two horses: one evil deed is covetousness, uncleanness, gluttony; and the other horse is humility, not despair. And humble hope saved the rider: with one word you will find justification, saying: God, cleanse me, a sinner! The prophet spoke kindly: The Lord is near with all their hearts to those who call upon Him in truth. And I put my word into action. For the Pharisees, the righteous women, pretend to do all the law, and do not hear the Lord Himself saying: I have come to seek the lost. Congregate reproach against the Jews, saying: Who is the food of the prince, or is it of the Pharisee who believed in Him? Because I don’t want to accept those who repent into the community, therefore in the church the covetous people are condemned, while they remember their own virtues and magnify themselves. But when the publican heard it, he did not have boldness, not wanting to proclaim his eyes to heaven, but rather in Persia, so that he would move his soul to repentance and his heart to tenderness, for that sake Evil thoughts run away, saying: God, cleanse me, a sinner! Therefore, we, brothers, are jealous of this publican’s great humility, for the Lord Himself humbled Himself and taught us all to think humbly, so that we may receive eternal good things in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Him be the glory now, and ever, and unto ages of ages. Homily 2. Lesson per week, in this week the Gospel parable about the prodigal son is read. Behold, beloved, the days of honorable, holy and great fasting are approaching, and for this reason the gospel word speaks about repentance. Hear this parable. The Lord spoke: a certain man had two sons (Luke 79). Who is the person? - God is a lover of mankind. Who are the two sons? There are two sons - the righteous and the sinner. And the young son spoke to his father: Father, give me a worthy part of the estate. The young son is a sinner, just as sin entered the world. This is the possession - heaven and earth, sea and rivers, and God entrusts all creation to us; the law and the prophets for the sake of the messenger. Because sinners want to perish through self-government, for the sake of untruth and madness, because we are self-righteous, good and evil, and even if we desire to do good and evil. And even if my father divided his property, reksha, I betrayed the commandments. And the youngest son took off to a country far away. Foreignness, it says, is about bodily care and sinful lusts. The eldest son accepted the commandments and was justified, but my son committed sins, distanced himself from God and ruined virtues, living fornication. And there was a great famine in that country - not a famine of bread, but they did not hear the word of God. And I began to lose myself, even to reject part of the holy, honest Mysteries, even though I did not fear God; but those who fear God will never suffer deprivation. And shed, cleave to the only citizen of the country - this is the essence of besi. And he sent him to his village to graze pigs, to teach others about evil: robbery, fornication, slander, sexual abuse, drunkenness, brotherly hatred, malice, and other evil things. The sin-lover cannot have enough satiety: after enjoying himself for a little while, he will be tormented forever. Thus besi are honored by those who honor them. And he said to himself: “As long as my father’s hired servant runs out of bread, I perish with hunger; But I got up and went to my father and said to him: Father, I have sinned in heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son, but make me as one of your hired servants. And not only in speech, but also in deed. It is impossible to be saved by the word of confession; deeds do not follow. Truly the evangelist spoke, as if he had come in himself. Whenever you sin, you become beside yourself. If anyone becomes hardened by sinful malice, he is not afraid of God’s judgment, nor does he heed the teaching. Mercenaries are the essence of the announcement. When someone attains the rank of filial rank, he then sins, and seeing the worst of himself enjoys the Holy Mysteries, while standing outside the church, then, moved, he thinks of repentance. And I was still far away from him, and his father kissed him, and he kissed him, and he commanded the servant to put on him the first garment, and to give him a ring on his hand, and a saposie on his foot, and he commanded slaughter a fat calf. This is the mercy of God: it does not await sinners with judgment, but accepts those who repent. And rabbis are priests. The first garment is the cleansing of sins. The ring is the grace of the Holy Spirit. And saposi are the commandments of the Gospel and teachings. A well-fed calf - communion, and when the faithful receive it, the angels rejoice. Then the old son in the village becomes old. Tolkov. The village - the law is called, the righteous do not retreat from it, patiently. Otherwise, it’s amazing that even though the son is righteous, he still murmurs against his father. This is God’s grace, just as the righteous women are moved by God’s long-suffering: they do not envy the salvation of sinners, but marvel at God’s love for mankind. David says: How long will sinners be praised? And Jeremiah said: Why is the path of sinners sung? I planted you and took root. What's the point? You didn’t give me a kid of goats, so I could have fun with my friends. Tolkov. That is the verb, the righteous son, because I am embittered, says, and did not leave you to perish, but I was weakened, but all my life I am embittered because I am a sinner. Behold, holy from the depths of my heart, to the verb. And the father said: child, everything is mine, your essence, and yours is mine. But this brother of yours was dead, and shall live again, and shall he perish, and shall be found. But she is dead, speaking, - working for the devil with tongues that are filthy and ignorant of God. And he considers the faithful to be lost, even after baptism they commit many sins and commit untruths. And you will also find it, rexha, by repenting. And we will repent, that we may be saved in Christ Jesus our Lord. Word 3. On Meat Saturday, the word of John Chrysostom, do not cry for the dead. Keep in mind, brethren, the day of death. Many people were with us yesterday, but today they are no longer with us: either they have gone to God, or they are sick, and are heading towards death. Many of us have rebellion and weep for the dead. And I have prayed to you many times for this, and I still pray to you to accept with praise and patience your children and the compassion of death. And let us take care not just of the twisting thoughts that go to God, but rather of ourselves, who live in sins. Even if we are not punished now, when will we be converted? If death does not make your brother wise, who will turn you to him? And even if you see someone lying dead, do you not end your life when you are ready to pray to God? Or when will it be time for you to live in truth and save your soul? Therefore, I pray that you will not be mad either in the wasteland, or magnify yourself like immortality: for there is one mortal way, and one cup for all, and one bitter hour, and one the end is God's sword. Death fears neither the king, nor offends the prince, nor honors the saint, nor has mercy on gray hair, nor spares the young, nor the beauty of age, nor fears the tormentor, nor is admonished by cunning verbs, nor by possessions. redeemed, but death comes just the same. Today he was with us, and in the morning he was there before us. Today we are lovingly, but in the morning we are sadly seen off. Today in life, and in the morning in the tomb. Today it is gloriously scented, but in the morning it stinks. Today you are nourished and restless, but in the morning you are crying. He searches for them many times, and does not know their death, with the verb: where is this prince, or the offended judge, or is he an evil king? And we will hear that it has already passed onamo. Kamo? There, where the Judge is the judges, the Eternal and Righteous King, One to all, and Immortal, giving to all according to their work. Where there will be fear and trembling for everyone, and an unhypocritical and righteous judgment, where we will all stand equally: glory and unglory, kings and princes, rich and poor, slaves and freedom There will be no king of majesty, no prince of power, no judges of hypocrisy. If he was here he was cruel, but there he would not have mercy; here he will be unmerciful, but there he will be evil and tormented; here you get drunk, but there you thirst for even a drop of water; here we are ready to offend, and there we burn with unquenchable fire; here wearing red robes, but there he will appear naked; here he awaits our conversion, and there he consigns him to fire. Ole miracle! The mortal cup is terrible for everyone, but it is loved by those in trouble. The life of this age is precious to everyone, but it is vile to him. Blessed is the Lord God, who creates everything for the benefit of everyone: for death is not evil, but rather shortening of the belly. The speech of the righteous Job: death gives a man peace. The dying person will leave all the evil of this life, and sin will be changed from him, and will not bring evil to anyone, and will not anger God towards him. Hear sensibly, and listen to yourself sensibly: death is peace for the righteous, joy for children, rest for slaves, silence for the difficult, freedom for the debtor, benefit for the prisoner. All this is to justify the future life. If there had been no death, the animals would have taken it for themselves. If there were no righteous judgment of God, and reward, and eternal torment, there would be no hope of salvation. And even if they had not been afraid of torment, they would have been repressed from sin, and would not have created righteousness, and would have trampled on faith, like disobedient women. Do you see Christ God's grace and love for mankind? He created everything for our benefit. If a righteous man dies, he goes rejoicing and accepts the reward. And even if a sinner dies, don’t grieve about it, for you will acquire for yourself the deeds of unrighteousness. Even if there were immortals here, they truly cried for the dead. If we all move away from this life, let us each weep for ourselves and repent of our sins. Don’t you see how we see off the dead with songs and singing, and with incense, and with lamps, we walk after them, forming, as if we have left the dark life, and have rested to the true light. And we bury ourselves to the east, signaling the rise of the dead. However, do not mourn, brothers, for the dead, as they are unfaithful, having no hope of resurrection: for you truly mourn for the dead, as they are overcome by unbelief. Let us listen to Christ, and we believe that the hour will come, when the dead will rise again, and they will hear the voice of the Son of God, and having heard, they will live, and heaven and earth will be renewed. Therefore believe: for the dead shall arise, lest we imitate the faith of the unbelievers. Let us not tear our garments, but rather let us humble our souls, and the cup awaits us. And we do not beat Persia, lest we become like Greeks. Let us not torment the hair of our head, lest we disgrace our Head, Christ. And we will not cry for many days, so that we may not disbelieve in the resurrection. Let us not utter blasphemy with our tongue, let us not do harm to ourselves or to the dead. The Lord took away your son and worshiped Him, who chose him and created him and received the fruit of the womb that was unclean, according to Job. Worship your Creator, and praise Him, and offer Him a blameless sacrifice, as Abraham was of old to Isaac, and do not murmur, for the Creator is accepted, and do not blaspheme in any way, but be like Abraham. Is it your brother's cellar? Worship Christ who ascended and for His sake He became man and tasted death. Should you give away the baby? Worship Christ, Who was a child for your sake. Will you give me your slave? Worship Christ, for your sake who took on the image of a slave. Are you the only son in the cellar? Worship Christ and remember that for your sake God gave His only Son to death. Will you betray the betrothed maiden? Then praise God, so that the Lord will not be angry with you, and will take others away. Is it a good idea to accompany the children’s mother to the grave? Glorify God, and strengthen yourself, and do not grieve about it, little by little you will go there too. What are you doing, O man? Why are you tormented by sadness without your mind? Don’t you see how miserable the transition from this life awaits us all, and how hard is the path of death? But let’s all follow it. Oh, man, leave crying for the dead and prepare for the exodus. It is said: brother will not deliver from brother, neither father from son, nor son from father. Who is the man who will live and not see death? Or who will deliver his soul from the hand of hell? Blessed be the Lord God, who works wondrous and glorious miracles. What is a person? We may all see, but in a little while we will be invisible; let us go alone on the eternal path, and on that day we may all drink. In the meantime, stay crying, be afraid and get ready to do something. Kings and princes, do not be magnified, see the dead, who here is threatening to everyone and is terrible, but there he is evilly condemned, as if he were one of the poor. Having been afraid of him yesterday, now he trembles all over and is afraid, and, seeing the terrible power of the angels, he perishes all over. You see the terrible and menacing answer, you are afraid, wondering and thinking: where is the greatness of the king and the princes of power? No matter what happened. This is the true power. Look at the scary things. Behold the immortal howls. Oh, brothers, we need much prayer, and correction, and good deeds, and many helpers, and much intercession, for air transportation. If today it happens to go to another city, we demand those who will guide us there, and then more of these, as we can, the elders of power, and airy bribe-takers, and evil tax collectors demons? The good traveler is with us - humility and submission, love, peace, alms, purity, tears, repentance - they can lead us into the heavenly gates without harm, and keep us until there. Moreover, brothers, let us prepare first, so that we do not plunge ourselves into torment. Our life is short, and the end is near, but there is no end to the age. There is a lot of fear, but there is no deliverer. Oh, beloved, as long as we are alive in the body, let us go to our graves, so that we can see where our empty life has a home, and what happens to us in the end? And we don’t deceive ourselves. Do you see how our body stinks like worms, melting away and leaving our bones bare? Having seen this, let us correct ourselves, and take care of ourselves by looking at the kindness in the graves. Test yourself, nobles and judges, and fear God. Not mercy, and cruelty, majesty, and stinginess, come and see how we are crumbling? Look in the tombs, and sometimes you see a former king, or a prince in the bones. See the terrible sight of the excess of the body and know: who is the king, or the prince, and who is the warrior, or the governor, or the beggar, or the rich, who is young or old, Who is the Jew or the Murin, but can you recognize him in his bones? Is it not all dust, and ashes, and dust? And the former was loved, but now the essence is vile and stinking. Great is this mystery about us: we once had a lover, but now we see him in horror. We weep for him, like for our relative, but we are chilled by his corruption and worms, and we abhor him like the stinking dog: kindness because his face is blackened, and his eyes are blurry, and his hair is the neck fell away, the neck was crushed, the greyhound tongue became silent, the kindness of the hand disintegrated, the majesty of the body melted, and the fragrance was transformed into stink, youth and majesty ceased. Having understood this, brothers, believe in the resurrection of the dead: for all the dead will rise and give account of their deeds, and will receive compensation for their labors. Let us worry about this in the days when God comes to judge the living and the dead. Think, then, about man, and be aware, for after death there is no repentance: in hell, who can confess? Nobody else. Even then we will cry a lot, but no one will deliver us. For this reason, dying babies are more blessed. Moreover, brethren, do not weep and worry about your children, but take care of yourself: for we suffer death, but for a child there is peace and salvation. What answer do they have to give, accepting nothing less than the temptation of sin? Oh, blessed babies, blessed repose. Oh, death without the decay of beings. Oh, the end is blessed, have endless joy in it. What is the benefit of vanity? I am the only youth, good-born, and beautiful in face: he is the heir to the fatherland, and the rod of old age, we love our own and others, but in vain we were admired, like the bird came from my hand, and was seen by everyone, but is now invisible. Forsake, say, the one who gave birth and go to the Creator. The mother's womb departed and descended into the grave of the earth, the mother of all. Why am I not crying, or am I not sorry, tell me? Don’t cry at all, I don’t say this, about a person, I don’t even tell you to cry over the children. Even if I had spoken, I would say weakly: and I am a man, and born of a mother, and of the same nature, I have seen the father and mother screaming, I have seen the sad sea, confusion and tight. Ole miracle! This life flows, and its words are like lies. Remember, O man, the patience of Job, as with his children and his servant, and his wife, and all those who died among him, for Job was in no way troubled about this, neither did he grieve, nor did he blaspheme God, as other people, but strengthened themselves, and fell to the ground, bowing to the Lord, saying: I was born naked from my mother, naked and depart to the Imam. The Lord gave it, and the Lord took it away. As in the year of the Lord, so shall it be, blessed be the name of the Lord forever. I am a slave to Him who created me, I obey, and do not resist Him: for my children are destroyed, and not destroyed. Whose master does not own his flock? Behold, the Good Shepherd has chosen His own sheep, and little by little we too will be there. Oh, faithful ones, we imitate this, and weep a little, but as Christ wept for Lazarus: He gave the whole world a rule of weeping. He, the Creator of all creation, and the Possessor of all, shed tears, although he would raise him from the dead and punish us. With calico verbs, babies answer to those who give birth: do not weep for us, fathers, for Christ God separated us from you, as from darkness we expired into the light, and now in the land of joy We are, where there is peace, and all light and love of God, and unflickering light, and unspeakable joy, where there is no labor, no tears, no sadness, no sighing. Moreover, parents, having heard so much honor, do not cry for us, as we have gone from need to joy. And in the corruptible place we welcome the incorruptible, and together with the angels we glorify God, and for you, sinners, we pray to the Master. We are with those who were beaten by Herod as infants, and with Job's sons we are counted among the dead. Therefore, do not grieve for us, but mourn over your death, and prepare for an answer, and about us and Job say this: The Lord gave, the Lord took away, as in the year of the Lord, So be it. May the name of the Lord be blessed from now to eternity. Glory to our God, now and forever and forever, amen. Homily 4. On the Meat Sunday about the second coming of Christ, the teaching of John Chrysostom. The time, brothers, is drawing near for our salvation: this time of repentance is drawing near, this day of cleansing of our souls and bodies. Behold, a terrible voice is spoken by the mouth of God about a terrible day, in which the righteous Judge, Christ our God, will come from heaven to render to everyone according to his deeds, king and prince, the rich and the poor, the slave and the free, the offending and the offended, have the right to bring judgment. Therefore, loving us, the Lord our God, and thirsting for our salvation, He Himself teaches us the verb in which word He will ask us and how we will give Him an answer. He prefigures everything for us, passion and death are welcome for our sake. For loving us and even though He has created us heirs of His Kingdom, show us everything that is pleasing to Him. For this reason, set fast days, so that if we sin all summer long, being restless in the things of life, then in these days we will be cleansed, by working and fasting, by vigil and prayers to God approaching, washing away sins with repentance and tears, opening the doors of the Kingdom with alms, peace and love among one another, humbled by the sighing of the heart, like speech prophet: tear apart your hearts, and not your garments. And again Isaiah is disgusted by the verb: do you fast in judgments and conflicts? This is not the fast that you have chosen, says the Lord, but let us open every covenant of unrighteousness, the word of murmuring, set the old slaves free, distribute your bread to the hungry, and Bring the poor, homeless, into your house, do not offend, do not steal, do not envy, and do not have anger against anyone. If you do this, all your requests will be fulfilled, and your righteousness will shine in the days, and you will appear joyfully before Christ when He comes in His glory with His angels, and before Every age will become one in the blink of an eye. Even if someone is torn to pieces by an animal, or scattered by birds, or broken into pieces by fish, not a single person will die from them. Then he will separate me from each other, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will set the sheep at his right hand, and the goats on his feet. These are the essence of those who are on the right hand: gentlemen and those without malice, mercy, lovers of strangers, peacemakers, lovers of brothers, visitors to the sick, intercessors to widows, who mourned all the days for greseh. And even those who hear a cruel answer will hear, even those who spend their days in all unrighteousness, fornication, lies, slander, envy, gluttony and drunkenness, theft, anger and condemnation, pride and grandeur, stinginess, cruelty, and unmercifulness. As if he were rich, he did not listen to teaching, and was careless about sins and repentance, but lived out all his life in games, and in drinking, and fornication. Therefore, for the sake of this standing, you are condemned as unmerciful and hard-hearted, so the answer will be fierce. To the righteous beings standing at the right hand, the King says: Come, blessed ones of My Father, inherit the Kingdom of Heaven; Come, sons of light, and the heir of My Kingdom; Come, receive the Kingdom prepared for you. Hungry for meat to feed, and greedy to drink, naked in clothing, and so on, even in the Gospel you have heard, you have created everything. And to those standing by, the King says: Depart from Me, the curse into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angel; Depart from Me without mercy, for you have not had mercy on Me, so I will not have mercy on you; go away and accept what you have prepared for yourself, for you have neglected My salvation. Just as you did not listen to My commandments and teachings, so I will not listen to the voice of your weeping and mourning. You will not serve me, you will not feed me, you will not feed me, and you will not give me food to drink, you will not clothe me naked, and so on, servants and servants of the devil, for you have done his will and his glory. eat and be fed on the earth. Because I taught you with books, and did not pay attention, and cursed those who worshiped, and did not fast, and did not do alms, for this reason I say to you today: I do not know you, get away from Me, curse, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angel. Then they will go into eternal torment. Hear, brethren, reward for the righteous and sinners. Hear what answer they will receive, or what condemnation they will receive, for the unmerciful, the raping orphans, and the oppressive widows: for there can be no help for neither father to son, nor son to father, nor mother of daughter, neither daughter of mother, nor slave of master, but each one accepts according to his deed, and answers each one about himself. For this reason, we each strive for our own salvation, we do not flatter ourselves, we please the body. Have you heard what glory the merciful and peacemakers receive when they abstain their bodies from the waste? At the same time, let us strive in this fast to purify our soul and body, peace and love among ourselves, so that we may reach the virtue of the resurrection of Christ, glorifying the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and The Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen. Homily 5. On Wednesday of the Cheese Week, the teaching of the spiritual father to the spiritual children, from the words of St. John Chrysostom. I wish your salvation, beloved, and I also give you my blessing. For my son and child, born of the Spirit, God has given me a talent for learning, so that I will buy it for them, and not hide it in laziness. For the Lord will come and take away from Me, a sinner, at His terrible judgment, unless I make a ransom for them now: the judgment will be cruel and the answer will be evil to me. This is my talent, even to seek your souls, and to sow the Divine seed into your hearts - holy teaching, and to eradicate the sinful thorns. Whenever I see you walking in the law of the Lord, then my heart rejoices. Whenever I see you transgressing the commandments of the Lord, then sadness consumes me. Now, first of all, you spoke, my beloved child, about evil drunkenness, and you did not listen to that. And now I am very cold about you, I still see you on the holy days of fasting, overcome by drunkenness. And these days are given by the Christian for the cleansing of sins and for the salvation of the soul, but you remain an unbeliever. Don’t you think that on other days Christians renounced drunkenness? For it is written: For drunkards will not inherit the Kingdom of God, but eternal punishment is prepared for them with adulterers, and with idolaters, and with robbers; and the drunkard will destroy his soul. Many people perished in their first births through drunkenness: the saints of God, and the kingdom of the kingdom was destroyed, the saints destroyed their holiness, the mighty and brave men perished in evil, riches I was poor, I was healthy, I was sick, I died for many years without God’s judgment in vain, like a strangled woman. Many will destroy themselves through drunkenness; countless of them will rest until the time of this world, untimely for the sake of drunkenness, and judgment will be evil on them. Yes, and you know, brothers, whoever gets drunk often has an imperfect mind. In drunkenness, there is no control over worldly or spiritual affairs. A drunken king or prince will create a waste of earth, he will judge wrongly, the rulers of the court will forget wisdom in their heavy drinking. Drunkenness destroys profits and creates a lot of work. A drunk is always ready to fight, and starts a quarrel with his brothers, and collects a debt, and ruins the business. Drunkenness will not allow you into the Church of God; drunkenness separates wives from their husbands. Fasting is not acceptable for drunkenness. Drunkenness betrays illness, destroys the beauty of the body. It manifests labor, darkens the eyes, creates illness in the leg, drives away the mind, excommunicates from God, and puts it to death, sending it into an unquenchable fire. Behold, son, stop from evil drunkenness, I pray you, never drink before lunch, because it is a weakness for the body and a destruction for the soul, and because of your drunkenness there is much sorrow. This is my joy, if only you had left this evil science. Moreover, child, do not drink during this holy fast and until the Resurrection of Christ, for this is the essence of this day’s cleansing, so that the Lord may forgive you, even if you angered Him, reveling hitherto. Oh, child, do not get drunk during this holy fast, for it is evil. For the apostles did not command this for the sake of the saints’ memory during the fast, but you do honor to your wombs, reveling in holy fasting, in memory of the saints. Yes, we call ourselves Christians in vain, but we do filthy things. Oh, brother, do everything for the glory of God, so that the Lord will glorify you in His Kingdom, and here health and honor, and a peaceful life will the Lord our God give you, to Him but glory, and honor, and power, now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen. Word 6. On the heel of the cheese-free week, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on purity of soul. Let us learn, brother, that there are things that defile a person, and having seen the evil, we will run away from them. For in the church we always see this custom from many, so that we would go to church in clean vestments, and wash our hands, and wash our lips with water, and about that They are in no way concerned, as if to present their soul cleanly before God, except for any malice. Therefore, I do not forbid the verb to wash my hands and lips, as is proper. Do not wash your hands and lips with water, but with good deeds. For there is manual uncleanness, not only seeking, but also the bitterest of this uncleanness: robbery, rape, crime, theft, murder, battle. The mouth is unclean, not the uncleanness that clings to the teeth, nor to the gums, or bitter grudge, or rotten mucus, but these are the bitterest things of all: lies, slander, blasphemy, obedience, blasphemy, blasphemy, idle laughter, mocking roar, laughter, quarrel, resentment, empty conversations, condemnation, demonic songs, Hellenic fables. Yes, if you think nothing of doing these evil deeds, neither talking nor being defiled by their uncleanness, then go to the church and approach the Most Pure Mysteries with hope. If you remain in such uncleanness for a long time, you are considered to be working without your mind: washing your hands and tongue with water, but carrying harmful and harmful uncleanness inside. Tell me, if you held a bloodworm or feces in your hand, would you dare to say a prayer? And then there is great harm from manual uncleanness. But spiritual uncleanness, death and destruction are in it for those who remain in it. And how come you hesitate in bodily impurities, but in spiritual impurities you are always not ashamed of offending God? What the hell and how should I pray? It is worthy not to have any spiritual vileness. Even if you fall into crime, you will soon be cleansed. And how and in what way, I will tell you. Cry and groan with true repentance, and confess with all your heart; Give alms according to your strength, and respond to everyone peacefully; do not judge and do not have anger towards anyone, and do not do harm to another; Don’t envy, don’t steal, don’t rape anyone. Have unfeigned love with everyone: then wash your tongue, your mouth, and your hand. Yes, no more than anger God, even though you pray with anger. Scream: even if someone held you on the nose with cranky hands, begging you, not only would you not listen to him, but you would also reject him. Why do you now dare to approach God without being cleansed? For the Lord Himself speaks, unless I have cleared my conscience, both spiritual and physical, and have made many prayers, I will not listen to you: it is not carnal uncleanness, but spiritual filthiness, death and destruction. And again the Lord said: You will be justified by your words, and you will be condemned by your words. Have you heard the Apostle Paul speaking? I want to pray in every place like a venerable one, lifting up our hands, except for all anger and evil thoughts. In the same way, wives do not adorn the garments of prodigals, nor pretend to wash their faces, but serve the multitude, repenting with humility and submission, praying to God. Do all the good deeds that have been spoken of, without anger and without thoughts of evil, in the dispensation of lep, with fasting, and chastity, so that the deeds may be adorned with good deeds: and not with gold, nor with silver, nor with costly garments, nor beads But as it behooves wives to be promised piety, and to practice good deeds in silence, let them learn with submission. Glory to our God, now and forever and forever, amen. Homily 7. On Cheese Saturday, the teaching of John Chrysostom about the benefit of the soul. The Lord says: If you forgive your sins as a person, your Heavenly Father will forgive you your sins; If you do not forgive those who do evil their sins, your sins will not be forgiven you. For all of us, the Lord God, like a child-loving Father, teaches us that we may be saved. And the great one will love us more than the mother of the child. Let us think, brethren, that we sin many, and commit unrighteousness without number, but He endures and is merciful. If we commit sins before God in our days, let us understand God’s long-suffering. O man, should you say: give food and clothing to the poor? And you say: you need it for yourself. Or should I say: fast and be cheerful? And you say: the body is weak. If you say: have no anger, and do not repay evil for evil, do not torture the sins of others. And what is Imashi’s answer to this? There is no body to work for here, no wealth to give, no long way to walk, no alms to give. But pray to God for those who do evil, that the Lord God will forgive your sins too. If you do not forsake sins to those who commit evil, you cannot be saved. Just as the root of virtue is love, so the root of all evil is enmity. From the very beginning the Lord spoke about Adam’s sin: I will put enmity between the devil and men. Many people have love for the devil and do his will, but are at enmity with men. Oh, brother, if we pray to God and do not abandon malice, then we are flattered. How do we pray, saying: Our Father who art in heaven, forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors? Oh, man, you say that you have not forsaken your brother’s sins, lying to God. The Lord Himself said: If you leave it, I will leave it to you. You yourself set a limit for your love for mankind, saying: Lord forsake us, as we also forsake. Hear the prophet saying: If the Lord despises iniquity, Lord, who will stand? Oh, man, see how you bind your words with your own words, without giving to those who do evil, but you yourself will not receive from God the giving of your sin, and how can you be saved? Look, O man, Peter asking Jesus, saying: How many times, Lord, will I leave to those who do evil, seven times? The Lord spoke to him: even if a man sins seventy times seven in a day, and he says, “I repent,” forgive him. Everyone who forgives will be forgiven, and everyone who has mercy will receive mercy. Oh, be assured, we have no malice for many days, for there is cruelty in judgment. If you create forgiveness in a greyhound by repenting, you will soon receive forgiveness from God, but if you remain angry for many days, souls will perish. And whoever endures torment for the sake of the Lord, but the anger he has is unpleasant to God for the sake of malice. Even if someone works miracles, but the anger does not remain, everything is without success. If anyone dies in such evil, then the Jews and the heretic will be condemned: for they have disobeyed the commandment of God. The angry and envious warrior is like the image of the serpent, he is at enmity, and does not know, walking and rising and lying, the serpent’s poison is hidden in his hearts, and does not may accept forgiveness, but will not have time to achieve virtue. Neither virginity, nor fasting, nor tears, nor prayer, nor alms, nor the gift of anger are unpleasant to the Lord. “If,” he said, “you bring your gift to the altar, and if you have malice, you first reconcile yourself with your rival, then your gift will be acceptable.” Glory to our God, now and forever, and forever, amen. Homily 8. On the Week of Cheese, the teaching of John Chrysostom about holy fasting. Listen wisely and meaningfully, brothers, about this holy fast. The Prophet speaks about forgiveness: in time it was pleasant to listen to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you. Now is a pleasant time, behold, the day of salvation is approaching, this holy and honest Great Lent, typified by God, in which we enter, let us cleanse our souls and bodies from all things evil. These days are the essence of cleansing: from quarrel and anger, lies and slander, envy and theft, condemnation and drunkenness, fornication and gluttony. Having rejected all that evil creation, brothers, let us accept true repentance and draw closer to God through frequent prayers, tears and alms; Let us wash away our sins, not by man showing praise of our forgiveness, but by God who knows all. There is a tithe for the whole summer of this fast, but from now on we will give that part to God. If there is a lot of drinking and eating, and there is always quarrel, and litigation, and anger, and all other malice, we do not remain, then how can we accept the return of sin? But do we hear what the evangelist says? The Lord says: If a man forgives his sins, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you your sins. This is a lofty and terrible word: the power rests on us ourselves: if you say, let go, and it will be released to you; and if you show mercy, you will receive mercy; do not judge, you will not be condemned. God has created the power for you, O man, to be justified or condemned, as you please. Whenever you fast, do not become decrepit, as if you were a hypocrite, and do not condemn anyone: for you have sinned many times, but the great one has repented. And you, my dear, fast, grieve for yourself, and just keep your sins in mind. Do not be discouraged, but wash your face, so that you do not appear to be a man by fasting. And when you give alms, don’t give to a human being, so that you don’t ruin your rewards with vanity. Let us prepare for ourselves, brothers, to receive a holy and honest fast. Just as someone who wants to create an honest marriage prepares his house and does everything honest in it. Thus, we too will prepare ourselves to accept Lent with joy, and not be saddened by despondency, so that in a little time, having washed away our sins, we will appear clean in that time. If anyone here does not first cleanse himself from us with repentance, and forgiveness, and almsgiving, then he will be cast out, just as he wears filthy garments, and has his hands and feet bound. him. There, no one can help anyone, but we will all appear equally before the righteous Judge: kings and princes, rich and poor, free and slave, and everyone will accept according to their deeds. In the same way, brothers, let us strive to do what God has commanded us. It’s hard to trample on anger and envy; There is no labor to feed the greedy, naked clothes, strange to receive. For the Lord Himself says: If you do good to one of these little brothers of Mine, then you do it to Me. He Himself came from heaven to earth, and was clothed in poverty, although having withdrawn from Him, He was brought into the first Kingdom, from which we fell through intemperance. Put healing against illness - this holy great fast. First Moses fasted for forty days, and for that reason he had a conversation with God face to face, and his face was illuminated from the glory of God, like the sun, and it was impossible for anyone to see nan. And again Elijah fasted for forty days, and is still alive today, and was taken up to heaven on a chariot of fire. So many others fasted, and performed great miracles. Then the Lord our God Himself fasted for forty days, prefiguring the fast for us, giving victory to our enemies, thereby showing us to purify our soul and body. Therefore, we, brothers, strive to be like saints through fasting, prayers, and purity: fasting cleanses the body, and saves the soul, and raises it to heaven. For we do not want to die as a sinner, but rather than our salvation, Christ teaches us this verb: do not hide your possessions on earth, where worms eat and aphids smolder and stealth. steal; But hide your treasure in heaven, O reksha: if you give your excess to those who do not have, then think that you will hide it in heaven. Therefore, let us be jealous of the saints who were saved by fasting and good deeds. Therefore, the Lord our God also has the power to condemn us, because we fasted and did righteousness, but why didn’t you do the same? Brother, don’t let us hear that. But let us hear the voice of the Lord, saying: Come, blessed ones of My Father. Come, sons of Light, you who have hungered and thirsted for My sake. Come, receive the Kingdom of heaven prepared for you from time immemorial. Glory to our God, now and forever and forever, amen. Sermon 9. On Monday of the 1st week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom. We have come to the end of a good and beneficial fast; let us not grieve or become lazy, brethren; let us not neglect the commandments handed down to us from the holy apostles and from the holy fathers. Not having begun well, but having finished, he is a skilled and faithful ascetic. God did not begin all the good deeds we do, but He sees the end. The same goes for the verb: no one, having laid his hand on the head, and in vain turns back, is brought into the Kingdom. And again he said: man, repent of your sins, and do the same again, who will hear his prayer? And what is the use of his humility? The great Vasily says: a person who hastened to do good deeds and again turns to the first image will not only destroy his work, but also the gravest condemnation will accept: repentance is not judged by numbers, but by the proposal of the soul. What is there, O wretched man, all the feces and pus? Why do you move and rise above the clouds? Think about your composition, as if you are earth and you will go back to earth. Let us strive, brother, during this time for our souls, let us not become lazy, but always remember the hour of death. What is it, man? There is nothing, but grief, and ashes, stench, and feces, and a worm: rich, noble, strong, proud, vain, in one hour the sheep lay meekly, and departed lie there as if you didn’t show up. Hold on, it happens that someone who was born or not was born. There can be knitting, and knowledge can be like a convict. They did not say: I am young, I will enjoy this life, I will be nourished in this world, I will please the body, and then I will repent of the soul; Surely the lover of mankind is God, will he grant me forgiveness in all things? After all, we know that God is a lover of mankind, especially to those who repent. Who is there who would guarantee that he will grow old, or until old age, or until the morning? But until you think about these things, today, or any morning, in vain will the Divine cut-offs, who have helped you a lot since your youth, take away your soul in vain. And through the air they walk, where the opposing crowds stand, our slanderers, our lyutia tax collectors, and the word-mongers, and the myth-mongers, copulating and slandering, torturing, and bringing our sins and handwritings, even in youth and even in old age, voluntary and involuntary, thoughts and deeds. There is much fear, and much trembling, and unconfessable misfortune, even as the soul sees, who lived without repentance, even though our enemies are rebuked and trampled upon by the countless number of our enemies, and slandered, let him not ascend into heaven, and let him not see the light of the living. We then bury the dead body again, as if it were a strange miracle from our home, we carry the deceased to the grave with care. Here again we see another terrible and great mystery, seeing another dead, small and great, tormentors and slaves, all the ashes have become: one dust, one stench, worm, and rabble, like the young, likewise the old. Many times he sees them in their graves, corrupted and lying rotten, pointing to each other with a finger, with the verb: behold, he is a king, and this is a governor, and this is a tormentor; this is he, this grandson, and this is he, this daughter; and this one is the one who paints, and this one is the proud maiden. This multitude walks on the tomb with sighs and tears and sees, in truth, a great and terrible mystery: seeing how the age there is destroyed; seeing that all beauty and kindness have darkened; seeing that all power and majesty, and all reign and torment were silent; seeing that all the vanity of the world, and the efforts of wretched people, have ceased. At that hour we cry and are horrified, but when we leave, we do the same, and even more so. You who see and hear, and who think all the days, O youths and virgins, do not be deceived in your youth, while you look forward to old age. For all of them, who have been seen many times in graves, lying and rotten, just like us, sometimes magnify themselves, and paint themselves, and enjoy the pleasures of life, for their salvation it has offended, but as we see, it’s all gone into feces and pus and the stench. Otherwise, my beloved child, do not be flattered, but from those who have departed and those who lie in the tombs, learn, and be sober, and in your youth do not be lazy to create a plan for the salvation of your souls. Why are you wasting time by waiting for old age? Take care in your youth, so that death without fruit does not reap you. When you were in your youth and in strength, you grieved for your soul, until the firstfruits of sin came. In old age, do you want to worry about sins, or about the evil customs that have grown old with you? Even if there is chastity in old age, that is not greed, but infirmity in rage: for no one is dead when he is married, and no one is justified by infirmity for the sake of evil. Understand also from the gardens that are about you: when a tree is young and crooked, you will experience little need by correcting it. If you see that something outdated is crooked, it will no longer be corrected. So you, in your youth, grieved a lot about the salvation of your soul, so you will reach old age worrying. Therefore, in your youth, turn back, and repent, and confess, and strive to acquire the habit of goodness, so that you may find peace in your old age. Do not abandon the Church of God, but rather come on these holy days of fasting, so that you may be honored with the most pure Body and Blood of Christ our God, so that we may be partakers of His Kingdom, glorifying the Holy One Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen. Homily 10. On Tuesday of the 1st week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom “let us cease from our sins.” I have a lot of sadness in my heart for your sake, my child, because I still see you have changed in no way from your dissimilar deeds. It’s not like a mother grieves when she sees her children in pain, just as your sinful father sees you and his children in pain because of lawless deeds. Many times I told you, although I distracted you from your evil customs, I no longer see you diminishing. Even if someone is a robber from you, the robber does not leave; If anyone steals, there is no thief left; Whoever has hatred for one another does not rest in enmity; If anyone, by raping and robbing, is not satisfied; Even if someone eats cuts, he does not stop; If anyone commits any act, he is not freed from adultery. How can I be consoled when I see you have separated from God and withdrawn from good deeds? How rejoiced will I be, having sowed the good seed into your hearts, the words of the Divine Scripture, and I see no one like you who has grown cold and given birth to the fruit of good? But I pray you, brothers and sons, cease from despondency, and be renewed with good renewal, stop doing evil, fear the Creator, tremble at the terrible judgment. To whom are we coming, and to whom are we approaching when we depart from this light? What do we say and what do we answer? It’s scary, children, to fall into the hand of God alive! Or do we not see that in this life he has come to us? And what kind of executions did God give us that didn’t result? Wasn't our land captivated, and weren't our cities taken? Our fathers and brothers, will we soon fall like a corpse to the earth? Were not our wives and children taken into captivity into foreign lands? And those who remained, weren’t they enslaved by foreigners? Behold, we are already approaching one hundred years, the languor, and torment, and burdens do not cease today; famines and pestilence are found not only on us, but also on our livestock. We cannot take away the sweetness of our bread; our groaning and sorrow dry our bones. Who brought us to this? We ourselves know that our lawlessness and sins, our disobedience and disobedience. I pray you, brothers, look into the minds of each of you, and see your evil deeds with the eyes of your heart, hate and reject them from yourself, and seek repentance. Then the wrath of God will be quenched, and the mercy of the Lord will be poured out on us, and the plagues will be those who torment us. We will live here in joy, and after the departure of this light we will go into joy, like children to the Father and to our God, and we will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, which was created for God’s sake byhom. The Lord has made us great, but by disobedience we have been made small before God. Let us not, brethren, destroy the majesty given to us by God by disobedience: let us not be obedients, but also creators of the law. Even if we crawl, we will soon rise up, we will remember, and we will come to repentance, we will bring love to God and shed tears, we will do alms according to our strength, to the poor, as much as we can, We will provide help and deliver you from troubles, and we will always abide in God’s love and live peacefully. Even if we continue dancing, we will turn God’s wrath into mercy. We hear, brothers, that the former great city of Nineveh was full of many people, and was filled with lawlessness, and they perished. God did not want to completely destroy them, so he sent the prophet Jonah to them, so that he would preach to them the destruction of their city, like Sodom and Gomorrah. They, having heard the sermon of Jonah, soon changed from their malice, and consumed their iniquity with repentance, fasting and prayers, and great weeping and tears, from young to old, and and for three days you did not give food to the babies, and you fasted for the livestock. And thus I prayed to God, and exchanged the wrath of the Lord for the mercy of God, and was freed from death and languor from Him. God saw them, with all their hearts, and thoughts, and deeds, turning from their wickedness, and sent them mercy by mercy. What are we talking about? What have we not seen and what has not been created above us? And why does the Lord our God not punish us, even though He has changed us from our iniquities? And there is not a single summer when you are not executed by God for your sins. And we never lose the evil of our custom, but we always remain in sins, and never turn to repentance. In this time we will always suffer executions from God, but in the future we will receive unquenchable fire. At the same time, I pray, brothers, let us stop angering God from now on. Even if the many and the righteous in this world receive punishments from God just like those who sin, they will receive the brightest crowns from the Lord; a sinner to greater torment. Now, brethren, having heard it, fear and tremble, cease from your wickedness, and do good deeds. For the Lord Himself speaks: turn to Me and I will turn to you. For the Lord our God is merciful, waiting for us to turn to Himself, to save and have mercy, and to deliver us from troubles. David and I say: Lord, see our humility and forgive our sins. Return, O God, to our Savior, so that you may not forever be angry with us from generation to generation. For You are our God, and we all glorify You, with the beginningless Father, and with the most holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen. Homily 11. On Wednesday of the 1st week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom about Wednesday and the heel. Brothers, the time has come for good confession and haste to God. And now the year of purity has come, greedy fasting people have drunk. Behold, the healer of sinful harms draws near: driving away flattery and cutting off carnal pleasures. At the same time, brethren, having perked up, and our mental ears opened up, let us clearly hear the words spoken to us by the Apostle, as he teaches us: the night is past, and the day is near. Night is our life, having much rebellion and temptations in it. In the same words: let us reject dark works, and put on the armor of light, eternal life, abstinence, fasting, and purity. It is not for this reason that God created us, so that, having lived bestially, we will go into eternal torment, which is prepared for the devil and his angel. But having labored a little in this world, we will pass into eternal life, which He promised to receive for us who keep His commandments. However, we are not flattered, brethren, by those who indulge in this life: for this life is short, but the torment is long, and there is never peace or end. What kind of success does the sweetness of this life want to be? Just a lot of sadness and tears. Today there is a groan, and in the morning there is an attack, or a serious illness. And again on another day death, either to oneself, or to a wife, or to children, or to a snake, or to a slave, or to the vanity of a house, or to an estate, and all this is sorrow, and the destruction of the soul. The same is the word of the Lord: do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where aphids smolder and thieves steal; But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither aphids corrupt, nor thieves dig in, nor steal. We gather, brothers, there for ourselves, and here we distribute to the poor, so that we may find good things there. Let us move forward, brothers, and renew ourselves by fasting and purity day after day, especially in these days, even though the Lord God Himself has ordained for us abstinence and repentance, for this reason let us not Let us indulge, brethren, with carnal tenderness. If anyone in this life has lost something, gold, or any other thing, he will find it in that place; and if you waste time for repentance, or a day, or an hour, you will not find another in that place. This thing is not physical, but spiritual and rational. Even though it is visible, it is not tangible. In the same words, the Lord says: watch diligently and pray all the time, so that you do not fall into misfortune. If, brethren, we do good, we will be able to flee all evil, and stand blameless before the Son of God, when Christ, our true God, comes in the glory of His Divinity. judge the world and reward everyone according to his deeds. Since Christians are called Christ for the sake of the name, we must preserve everything commanded to us, for for our sake everything has been legitimized, according to the apostolic words: rejected all filth and carnal lust, let us live chastely and righteously, not only in these days of fasting, but also until the departure of the soul from the body. If anyone cannot fast these days of fasting due to illness for the sake of fasting, let him fast for two days from them - Wednesday and Friday - just as the saint gave us the conciliar apostolic Church, and the charter of the apostolic and patristic tradition. And if anyone does not hold him, then such a false Christian is called, regardless of whether he is warm or cold. During these two days, in addition to eating meat, Christians are commanded to abstain not only from meat, but also from fish and oil. Since on Wednesday there was a council for the murder of Christ, and on Friday our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, then it is appropriate to lament for the sake of the passion of Christ. And Christians keep fast on this day, unless the Lord’s holiday, or the Most Holy Theotokos, or the Apostle Saints, happens: a holiday is joy, not lamentation. Let us fast unhypocritically, not merely abstaining from food products, but also from drunkenness, and from fornication, and from anger, and from slander, and envy, and from theft, and from covetousness, and from gluttony, so that there may be a true fasting is not about shaming a person, but about fearing God. Although honor must be given by man, but not through the law of Christ. The Lord says: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot touch the soul; but above all, fear Him who has power and, after killing, make him a fiery kin, Him we will fear, brother. And especially when the Lord God Himself says, behold, that is worth fearing. Let us give taxes, and tribute, and honor to the authorities, as the Lord Himself said: Render unto God what is God's, and to Caesar what is Caesar's. Having heard this, my beloved child, let us spend the time of fasting days in purity, so that we may reach the Resurrection of Christ in the light. Nobody says: how can I begin to fast from now on, having wasted a week, or two, or three in negligence? But there are many mansions in heaven, and each one accepts retribution against his deeds. Let us not become lazy, brethren, but let us hastily strive to attain the righteous, through great deeds, through hunger and thirst, and through repentance. For God accepts the latter, as well as the former, worthy of the one who repents. If in these holy days of fasting we do not repent, and the hour of death befalls us, then it would be better for us not to be born. If anyone here is condemned to be burned by fire, or beheaded, or hanged, or to some other death, then he will not be in great tribulation, not eating anything for two or three days, Why does he give himself up to such torment? But we don’t want to fast until noon, and so do as we hear. Because this is a matter worthy for a Christian to take care of for each other’s sake, and not for the sake of each other. Therefore, brethren, having heard this, let us move forward immaculately to pass these days of fasting, glorifying the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages century, amen. Homily 12. On the Thursday of the 1st week of Lent, to the words from the book of the prophet Haggai: “The gold is Mine, and the silver is Mine.” Question: God says in the prophet Haggai: The gold is Mine, and the silver is Mine. Is every person enriched by God? They say, it is written: to him I will give. This is the word of the foolish and the gold-loving. Who can gather wealth from the army, or from robbery, and from theft, and from untruth, and robbery, bribery, and slaughter, and from violence, who can say that he has received it from God? But that evil meeting is for the destruction of the soul. But if someone has become rich from a right life, like Job, and Abraham, and others from their labor, they can say with Job: The Lord has given. For all the wealth that is wrong is taken away, so he gathers it, and gathers it for others, and not for himself. Good is wealth, but there is no sin in it. Speech of the Lord: I am a lover of righteousness, and a hater of robbery and untruth. If God is righteous, then have no unrighteousness, and let not your wealth come from strangers. If you do not have wealth because of your tears, and if no one is hungry because of your satiety, and if no one groans because of your abundance, then God’s bread is, such is the righteous. fruit and peace class. If anyone rightly distributes property to those who do not have, he will receive a hundredfold reward from God. If he leaves behind himself, he will be condemned to torment. There is nothing good for him because he is guilty of salvation, having abandoned his work, and the damned himself has nothing to help him. Good Solomon said: for he who gathers wealth by untruth, and whoever does not have mercy on the poor, gathers up eternal torment for the sake of violence. Not merciful to the wretched, torment yourself, but to give to others. What do you mean: many people rape and don’t accept it? Even if he robs, he robs and you hold? He gathers untruth, but do you eat? He has collected sins, that is, anger and rage, and you, having participated in his sin and wrath, have been evilly condemned. Yes, if you have something offended, then give it back, and do what Zacchaeus did, with the addition of his property, so that you will receive a reward, and he will suffer. Don’t mix your wealth with other people’s tears, they are like rust and moth. Cry because you are offended, not for yourself, but for those who offended you: you are not harmed, but you are destroyed. Yes, you are offended in the place of the Kingdom of Heaven, and they are in the place of greed, a fiery kinship. Like the prophets of weeping, they say: Woe to those who bring village to village, and to those who add house to house, and to those who build their own houses without truth. Why do you say: wealth and poverty come from God? We see someone who has become rich from robbery, and from enchantments, and from insults, and from theft, and slander, and from slandering someone else’s property. Why does he say: this wealth comes from God, and not from sin? And the harlot, having cursed her body, shall become rich, and the handsome young man shall become rich many times by his fornication: food from God is wealth, as was Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob and Joble? The same goes for the verb: if we receive good from the hand of the Lord, do we not tolerate evil? And poverty is also from God, like the verb to the rich: if you want to be perfect, give your possessions to the poor. Even if we receive righteousness from God, we distribute it according to God’s commandments, and even if we lose wealth with fornicators and drunkards, or keep it, and give nothing to the poor, those are gathered in an abomination of God, and so is loss. Consider poverty, which does not come from God: if anyone lives in drink, or in various kinds of poisons, in fornication, in madness, or in games, and loses money in games, then is it not true that he himself guilty of his own poverty? No one said that God gives all poverty and all wealth. Question: Which is more useful to bring property: to the Church, or to the poor? Answer: The Lord praises those who stand on his right hand, with the verb: Come, blessed ones of My Father. And not mentioning anything else, but only giving to the poor, and to the strange, and to the naked, and to the prisoner. But either way, if the essence of a certain Church is meager, then it is useful to give with it. And what good is there in bringing it to rich churches? In many Churches, what was collected was either stolen from thieves, or from warriors, or burned by fire. It is forbidden for anyone to build the Church, and even if there is no mercy for the poor, a fiery kinship is promised and an unquenchable fire and torment from demons. Build the Church, do not despise the poor, and have mercy on the poor: for there is one more faithful church. In the Churches, both unfaithfulness and murderers can take, and even the greedy and naked can give alms, nor can the devil steal it, but in a place that is not stolen, this wealth is entrusted. The Great Basil said: God is strong to feed His servants, but He has given us food for salvation. According to your giving, I say, I will repay you. Whether you have honored the saint, or whether you have fed the poor, you have honored God, O rekshago: make for yourselves friends from the unrighteous mammon. And the tree said: You create from these least of My brothers, then you create for Me. Glory to our God, now and forever and forever, amen. Sermon 13. On the heel of the 1st week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom, from the holy instructions of the Gospel. Listen, brethren, how many different soul-helping instructions there are: Ahab, therefore, is moved, and find joy; The Ninevites were overcome by the fasting of the wrath of God; Zinon takes away sins through alms; the harlot begged the Lord Christ with tears; Paul, confessing his sins, became a teacher of the repentant; The robber believed and moved into the race. We will accept these plasters and heal the scabs of sin. Do you see how much healing the Doctor has done for us? If you don’t want to be merciful like Zinon, then like Ahab you are moved. If you don’t want to fast like the Ninevites, wash away your sins like the harlot with your tears. Just resort to the Lord’s Prayer, with David the verb: have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy! Just expose the harm, and say: have mercy on my soul and body; have mercy on me here and in the age to come; Have mercy on me, for you weigh the weakness of the human race. The Doctor really wants your salvation. If you do not want to buy the Kingdom of God, then do not seek anything else, so as to keep your tongue from evil, and do not speak flattery with your lips, and it is sufficient for you to be saved. But if you have fasted, do not become arrogant. If you have had mercy, then you will not become proud, but think about whether you will have gained anything from the fast that has passed? Will the food go out the same way it came in? Look, what sin have you turned away? How will it be? Or some kind of attraction correction? Did you stop from anger, from slander, from swearing, or did you do any other good? Even if you were hungry from meat, you did no good without poisoning. Now the Lord says to you: Even though you could fast, why did you not reconcile yourself with your enemies? Why did you remain with enmity and envy? And why were you angry at the one who insulted you? Not exactly the same, but you also remained in wrath, which is worse than anything else: having created fornication or adultery, in one hour he created food, and ceased from lust; but hold on to your anger, and in the night and in the days, and all hours of the day, you always commit sins. Even if you write all this in your mind, you will not suffer any torment. Thus, before we even fall into the pit of destruction, we will escape from so many sins. Let us think, brother, that no one can deliver us from those torments - neither Moses, nor Noah, nor Daniel, nor Abraham the Stranger himself will rescue us from those torments. We honor God in every possible way, but we cannot give Him even the slightest bit of honor, for the servants of the Lord do so much, and the warriors do so much for princes, and so do the friends for each other. How much diligence and love do we talk to each other? When we pray to God for our sins, we pray with our lips, but our mind soars and soars. If our looking at someone else’s face with lust exposes us, then what can we answer? If we act through vanity, praying, fasting, and giving alms, then can we still see heaven? Do we speak to our brother with deceit, and then retreat from him by slandering him, so that we do not accept the torment? If he experiences what we do in singing, standing furiously, the Divine Scripture speaks to us, and commands us to stand with fear in the Church during singing; We left it behind, we talk from the slander, so what kind of torment can not the imams lift? Moreover, the imams always remember the fiery hell. For this reason he offers Gehenna and flour, so that we may escape from his troubles. Is this also the reason for our hostility towards God, because we always apply lies to Him? If you say: fast, then you offer weakness. If you say: “Have mercy,” then you announce poverty. If you say: go to Church, then you offer sorrow and idleness. Do you say: do not be angry, what can you say against this? Wherever you require illness, nor poverty, nor rudeness, nor idleness, nothing scolds you to create good humility, and do not do it. Without repenting of your sins, how can you raise your hand to heaven, or move your tongue? How can one ask for remission of sin? If you are offended, if you are slandered, if you have heard evil, or dirty tricks, or blasphemy, or reproach, then wait for the Judge, and betray this to Him. If you do not kill a stranger’s slave who has done evil, but tell his master, then it is even more worthy to entrust him to God. Did you fast from food, being careful what sin you washed away? How could there be a union? And what is the correction of attraction? Weigh as if we have a case before the Judge, where nothing will succeed: neither the cunning tongue nor the assistants will help. But let a stream of tears flow against sin: even if you have been tempted a little, you will have few tears; Even if you have sinned as a nobleman, then it is sufficient for you to shed few tears, but to repent from the heart. Weep also for your friend who has sinned. Let us repent before even the door is closed. Wherever there is sin, there will also be repentance; Where there is an ulcer, there will be healing; Where there is a fall, there will be uprising and strengthening. Not only about deeds, but also about thoughts, we will accept judgment. This is the leader, let us help ourselves, saying with David: do not betray me to the demons who offend me, for they teach us to sin, and there are also slanderers. Not a single devil opens his mouth these days, but the demons themselves say: Are we not your servants in anger, and in fornication, and in slandering the brethren, and in drunkenness, and in anger control? Let us fear that day; in that day our thoughts against us will be the most cruel slanderers! But let us not listen to the offended, but first, let us beseech the Lord. Even though the flesh is weak, we carry it, but God is strong, and He can help us. The Lord is worthy of love, and I am ready to meet Him all the days, so that we may hear the voice: enter into the joy of your Lord! It is worthy to know how to guard against the evil one. Glory to our God, now and forever and forever, amen. Sermon 14. Tale of Archbishop Nektarios, for this reason, on Saturday of the 1st week of Lent we commemorate the Holy Great Martyr Theodore Tiron. Come and hear, faithful ones, how good Christ is our God, do not leave us to the snare of the evil one’s fierce teeth, but for our salvation, He became incarnate of the Most Pure Virgin, and crucified, and buried by will, without passion, filled with the Divine, and rose from the dead, and ascended in glory. Who is more merciful and more humane than our God? And the father not only gives his child ulcers for disobedience, but also rejects him from himself. And the master also punishes his slave with executions, and chains, and famine. And about us: how God created us and almost, and why are we imams good for God? Dishonor, envy and anger, slander, and other evil deeds and untruths. He does not despise, but by forgiving us all he waits for repentance. But why do I say a lot? I will begin to tell the glorious and great miracles of the Lord, even with His saints, just as the Lord our God performed this wondrous miracle with His holy martyr. Theodore Tiron. For Christ our God do not leave us to be guilty of the enemy, and the evil tormentor will not be able to accomplish his desires. Now let us know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: before the wrath of Julian, the apostate of God, against our holy and honest Christian faith. This enemy of God has a lot of efforts to destroy Christians, and God will not be careless. Ole trouble is evil! Leave God, and give honor to the idol. The lawless one never thought about this, how to defeat the enemy, but this is always the case, how to defeat the Christians. The faithful suffer many torment from the cursed one: cutting off the wombs, cutting off the bosom, and frequent beatings, combing, teeth uprooting, tongues cutting, hands truncation, by the shin of beating, by the fire of scorching, and by many intricate evil torments, boilers, cauldrons, furnaces, frying pans, for which he is cursed in many struggles. By this means, those who are Christians will not perish in their faith: their evil heart does not boil with malice. The devil put it into his mind not to hurt or kill anyone, but to defile all the people in the city. By the honorable and Divine holy day of Lent, which has come, in this faithfulness about their sins they are cleansed in repentance, the accursed Julian called the eparch of the same mind to him, and spoke to him: Having been tempted a lot, I couldn’t force Christians to their faith, and about this I feel great sadness. Now God put a good thought into my heart: this is the first week of Holy Lent that Christians do more honestly, but I command that it is worn out for bargaining, even The food Christians have prepared for you to take and eat is mixed with the demands of our gods: the need for a Christian will be to buy this food, and not to perish with hunger. Now the evil eparch, hearing from the godless lips of the lawless king, began to say: now I see that your heart, king, is in the hand of the gods; I will depart soon, and I will do everything you commanded. God, who created us, do not leave us to defile ourselves, but warn us about the cruel meeting of the lawless. Create a godless council for Patriarch Eudoxia by sending the Great Martyr Theodore to him. That night the martyr appeared before the patriarch, and said to him: Oh, patriarch! Quickly gather together the flock of Christ, and tell everyone that they will not eat from the trade, neither food nor drink: Julian, for the criminal, defiled by the demands of idols, ordered to be carried out. The Patriarch spoke to the saint: How, Lord, is this powerful? It is possible for the rich to live without bargaining this week, but the poor and orphans need something to eat every day. The saint said to him: make a quantity of poison, and distribute to them a quantity. And the saint said, what is Kolivo? The martyr said: Give away the boiled wheat. The saint said, who are you, Lord? The verb to him: I am the martyr Theodore Tiron, sent from God to deliver you. And the holy river was invisible from him. The Patriarch, hearing this, was filled with horror and joy, and soon that night he commanded to convene the bishops, and the abbots, the priests and the deacons, and the multitude of the people, and told everyone a former miracle, as the holy martyr of Christ Theodore Tiron said to him. And the commandments were given by the bishop and the priest, and that same night they would announce it to all the people. They announced that night to the faithful. At the end of that week, seeing the God-marker unsuccessful in his evil thoughts, he commanded that he should take his desecration from the market. On Saturday, having arrived at the Holy and Great Lent, the evil one cursed the orthodoxy, and made a song of praise to the martyr of Christ Theodore, and created a holiday honorable to him. At the same time, throughout the summer, we have decided to celebrate the feast of the glorious great martyr of Christ Theodore Tiron, on the first Saturday of Lent, which was for the sake of a miracle, and from there the reputation of Theodore week, and before that the first week was called. But whoever is truly pleased is worthy of confessing the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, through quick intercession, delivered us from the work of the devil and from the accursed evil-mindedness of Julian is there? We, the true believers, will glorify the martyr of Christ with praises saying: Oh, the martyr of the luminary! Oh, God's gift truly! Oh, guardian and champion of the faithful, do not forget our poverty and thinness, but never cease praying for us! Just as you sometimes delivered the faithful from the evil plot of Julian, so now deliver us from spiritual destruction. Glory to our God, now and forever and forever, amen. Homily 15. On the first week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom about the benefit of the soul. From the very things you see, love, Lenten kindness and even benefit from it. If anyone is tempted to eat during this first week of Holy Great Lent, he will be more aware of his approach to God, and will be more cheerful during the remaining weeks. If anyone remains lazy this week, he will not know what benefit there is from fasting: it is sweeter than honey, and there is a seven-farm meal. About this David the prophet said: taste and see that the Lord is good. And you yourself know the kindness of fasting, as there is neither quarrel nor vexation: not like in drunkenness, but all silence and silence here, I have given up the evil custom of fasting. Therefore, I pray to you, believers, that we will not put off the firstfruits of the fast: for the first week of fasting has passed, but for the rest of the weeks we will be more cheerful, as it is worthy to prosper for good, as the Apostle Paul said: Forget what is behind, but stretch yourselves to what is before. Listen, faithful ones, with love: there are seven weeks of Holy and Great Lent, and from them the seventh week, which is called Great, is more honest than all of them. The hours were not much greater, but even before them were the great secrets of the Lord’s Passion. Thus, this previous week is greater than the first. Just as the tsar is more than the prince, and the prince is more than the bolyarin; and a bolyarin is more than a governor; and the governor is more than a centurion; and the centurion is the foreman. It is reasonable to know that if anyone wants to go to the king about some matter, the first thing he does is the least, even to the nobles, who would announce it to the king. If he has done evil, he is a great man, then he is more anxious to be justified. But we, brothers, not only want to appear to the Heavenly King, but also to receive the Mystery of Communion into our hearts, for these weeks are given for the cleansing of our sins, if I am good let's do it. I want to tell you a parable. Be in a certain country the king is very good, because everyone loves his own children, and is equally sad about everyone, not only about their bodies, but also about their souls, and no one is poor in that country. For the land is filled with all abundance, just as the prophet David said: from the fruit of wheat, wine and oil multiplied. And the king wanted to give everything to the poor and needy. And lay down the commandment that riches should be given to the poor. This is what the apostle said in Acts: without many people, there is one soul, distributing what anyone wants or requires. Such is this country, and such is this king. Now that good king had seven noble daughters, and commandments to all people, that those who came should honor him and his daughters. And plant them one by one: the smaller one is further away, and the larger one is planted close to you. Nezia honored everyone equally and pleased the king. Nezia honored the lesser one, but the rest in passing, without kissing the passerby. And seeing that he was a good king, he turned his mercy into anger, and commanded the servants to drive him away from him, and to hand him over to torture as a tormentor. Was it not true that this good king did he do? Do you want to understand that he is a king? Yes I tell you. The good King is the Creator and Creator of all, and the Lord, Christ our true God. And the earth, filled with good things, is the Church of God, in which the whole world of the soul is saved by repentance. The law, and the prophets there preach about Christ, and tell how he came to earth, and man became like us, except for sin, he was crucified and buried, and on the third day resurrected And then the apostles sent, thereby calling us to the Kingdom of Heaven, and all the days they did not cease teaching, crying and saying: Come, you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And again: he who comes to Me will not be cast out. What more grace is there to sow? The king’s daughters say - the seven weeks of Holy and Great Lent, which we are commanded to honor above all other days of summer, by fasting, and prayers, and almsgiving. Yes, brother, if we honor the goodness of this first week, that is, the youngest daughter of the Tsarina, who sits further from her father, then we will honor the others too. What should the Imams say on the terrible day of God’s righteous judgment, O brethren? How can we justify ourselves, since we don’t want to keep those fast days pure? But I pray that we do not say this, as we cannot pass through all the fast days like we did this first week. There is evil and guilt, and bad news is filled with guilt. If from too much overeating and drunkenness the first week of this week has passed, then if we are more accustomed to it, we will be able to pass the entire fast. I do not force anyone to fast more than by force, but just as anyone can, let us renounce worldly wickedness, drunkenness, fornication, blasphemy, condemnation, resentment, envy, lies, slander, anger, resentment, theft, covetousness, robbery and other malice. Do alms more than other days, so that with a clear conscience we will worship the Honorable Cross, and we will reach Christ’s Passion, and we will be worthy to receive the Body and Blood of the Lord. Do good to the poor and poor orphans and widows: for you always pray to God for all of us, and for their sake God has given us even more. We brought nothing into this world, and we take back everything we leave. At the same time, brothers, let us strive, through fasting and prayers, kneeling worship, and almsgiving to cleanse our soul and body, so that with love we may achieve the Resurrection of Christ. It’s not hard, if we want to do good: let us not weaken, let us not become lazy, and let us not fall into bodily pleasures, and let us not waste our labor, just as we failed in the first week. Glory to our God, now and forever and forever. [Amen.] Sermon 16. On Monday of the 2nd week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom about the rich and the unmerciful. I do not speak against the rich who live kindly and pliantly, but I reproach the wicked who have wealth and live in stinginess. About such David the prophet says: he collects, and I don’t know who collects. Many riches end their lives in evil ways, either from princes or from robbers. For the sake of wealth, be merciful and receive the Kingdom of Heaven. As if wine was dissolved for two: for the wise for joy, and for the foolish for destruction and sin; Thus, wealth is given to the merciful for salvation, but to the stingy for sins and the destruction of the soul, and for the most severe torment. Good wealth, collected by one’s own power from one’s righteous labors, is not renounced, but evil wealth, collected by unrighteousness, is cursed. The lover of money and unmercifulness, the holy books are called an idolater. For the master is not stingy with his acquisitions, but he possesses his acquisitions and guards them all the time. He will die, and his wealth will remain nothing. She has to cut down her stingy meat, rather than give something from her property, for God’s sake, to the Churches or the poor. Good is a possession and great blessing in the right hand of a merciful man; The miser has evil and is cursed, but God has no part in it. Maxim the Confessor says about this: just as a storm sinks a ship, so evil wealth destroys the soul. The glory of this world is the ruin of the soul of a fool. He who is unfulfilled is like a drunkard who loves to drink a lot; a covetous man loves to collect a lot. Just as a drunkard works to drink, so the unfed one works for his property, gathering by crooks. Retribution blinds the eyes of a covetous man, and drunkenness darkens the eyes of drunkards. He has become deaf through avarice, he does not hear the cry of the beggars, and he has created this drunken deafness, for he does not hear the Divine words. Both are servants of the devil, and not of God: for one is covetousness, for the other is gluttony; A drunkard and a covetous person are naturally brothers. Moreover, let not the covetous man reproach the drunkard, nor the drunkard the covetous man. The Apostle Paul says: the covetous and the drunkard will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven; Both do the will of the devil. Oh greedy! If you burn your light in the church, he who has been offended by you, an orphan or a widow, will come and sigh towards God, and shed tears, and extinguish your light. About the covetous hypocrite! It would be better for you not to rob and offend, than to enlighten the church of God with an unrighteous assembly. It’s better to have mercy on those you have offended. This is cruelty, and not almsgiving, to offend orphans, but to show mercy to others; enslave some, and endow others. If and when you give alms to someone, and your servants tend your flock, you will spoil the orphans’ fields; Others who work unjustly are tormented, Nazi, barefoot, hungry, injured without guilt. The others cut you tormented by the butt, and they all cry out to God weeping, and the others were robbed and the villages were deprived. Your alms are in vain, you accursed, accursed robber, unjust judge. It is better to remain your untruths and robberies, and create your servants without sorrow, rather than appease the insanely unrighteous assembly of God. This is true almsgiving, which always does the truth, and gives from its righteous labors to the poor. Saint Basil says: if you lift up your eyes anywhere, O rich man, then you will see evil: here the orphans cry for you, and sometimes the poor cry out for you God, whom you have offended and have not had mercy on; Here the slaves are naked and walking wounded, and sometimes I see your cuts being tormented by the butt, and being contained in the water. Crazy, they will all rise up against you on the day of the departure of your soul. [Amen.] Sermon 17. On Monday of the 2nd week of Lent, the word of Saint Cyril about the Passion of God. My beloved brothers and sisters, always have the fear of God before your eyes, and remember the hour of death, and those terrible torments prepared for the sinner. We are afraid of this fiery kinship, as it eternally exists; and fire, as if it is unquenchable. We are afraid of tartar, because it does not turn into heat; and darkness, as if there is no light. We are afraid that the worm is not put to sleep, for the essence is immortal; and the angels, like those above torment, are evil and unmerciful. For everyone who does not do the will of God will be severely condemned. Brothers, or those who are afraid of torment, stop evil deeds, even for the destruction of the soul, or desire the heavenly Kingdom, let us strive to live virtuously in this evil age. All the essence of this world is temporary and perishable, the wealth and glory of man is accepted by death; and its entire essence is imperishable, neither the end of things, nor the number of summers, nor the seasons of change. Let us fear, brothers, eternal torment, which is prepared for the devil, unquenchable fire and a poisonous worm. Even if it is warmer here in the bathhouse, our flesh cannot endure the burning water of sprinkling, how can we endure the burning fierce fire and the boiling tar torment? Even if we don’t tolerate the bite of a mosquito or a fly, how, brethren, can we tolerate the never-ending, fierce worm? But let us strive, in love, to overcome eternal torment through good deeds, purity, and charity, and unfeigned love. This is called hypocrisy, even being ashamed of the rich, and untruthfulness for the reward of orphans, and wretched embitterment. Therefore, have true and unfeigned love for everyone: reject all enmity and anger, and avoid drunkenness: for in many drinks all evil is committed. Let us put away envy, fornication, deceit, and other evils from ourselves by repentance, so that we may be heirs of the Kingdom of God. O darlings! We see each of us that this age is soon coming to an end: many have gone to bed in the evening, but have not risen in the morning, but have rested from this life. What then can a person do good? Neither repent nor accept the Body and Blood of the Son of God. In whatever death befalls us, God will condemn us: either in virtue or in malice. Therefore, brothers, let us pay attention to ourselves, but do not condemn the sins of others. If we do not condemn, then we ourselves will not be condemned. Everyone will give us an answer about their deeds before God: no one will help anyone: neither father to son, nor son to father, nor brother to brother, but each will save each one by his own deeds, or will destroy. Glory to our God, now and forever and forever, amen. Sermon 18. On Tuesday of the second week of Lent, the teaching of the holy fathers about the creatures of heaven. This is what the Lord says to the prophet: How long will you sin, O men, and add sin to sin, and anger the Most High, who you have created? But, leave the untruths and learn to do good; Be merciful and be saved. All creation obeys God’s commands, except only humans transgress God’s commandments. Many times the sun prayed to the Lord, saying: Lord, support all things, how long do you endure the unrighteousness of men and the iniquity of many? If you command me, O Lord, to burn me, let them not do evil to anyone. And a voice came to him, saying: I am all the light, and My eye sees, but I endure with them, giving time for repentance; or else, then I judge by them. Then the moon and stars prayed to God, saying: You have given us, Lord, a region to shine in the night, but until, Lord, do we despise their iniquities: fornication, destruction of children, robbery, thieves? Command, Lord, that we destroy evil-doing people. And a voice came to them, saying: My eye has seen everything, and I hope for their conversion; Unless they repent, I judge them. Then the sea and rivers cried out, praying to God: say to us, Lord, let us destroy the evil people who sail against us and do evil. And a voice came to them saying: I am knowledgeable of all things; but unless they repent, I will judge them. Then the earth cried out in pity for men: I am, Lord, I am condemned above all creatures, and I cannot fornication, and robbery, and theft, and sorcery, slander, and other evils. endure. For a son does vexation to his father, and daughters to his mother, and brother to brother, and commit many lies. Commanded, Lord, that I will not bring forth all the seeds for their wickedness, lest they die of hunger. And a voice came to her, saying: I see everything, and nothing will hide me, for everything is laid bare before my eyes; Unless someone repents, I will judge him then. Do you hear, people, how all creation obeys God, but why do we not do His will, and through self-desire are deprived of the glory of God? Let us, brothers, abandon our wickedness, and give thanks to the Lord at every hour. As the sun sets, all the angels of mankind go to worship God, bringing human deeds, either good or evil. For a God-fearing person, the angel joyfully goes to worship God. And the evil angel goes weeping and says: Lord Almighty, command that I will not be with this wicked sinner, for he only denounces Your name, but pleases the flesh and always adds sins to sins, and does not say a single pure prayer from the heart, day or night, and does not put his hand on alms; He only collects, and does not scatter. The Lord says: neither, do not leave them, the food will repent; Unless they repent when they come to Me, then I will judge them. Likewise, in the first hour of the day in the morning, the angels of mankind come to worship God, who gives an answer about people, even in the night they created byakhu, all our deeds and thoughts nightly and all daytime acts are declared before God. For this reason, brothers and sisters, we thank God at every hour; at the end of days, and at the end of night, at the appointed hour, and always, the angels of all of us come to worship God. Let us not, brother, no one let us pass a single night without praying to God, lest we grieve our guardian angel. The night is divided in two: the body for rest, and the soul for salvation. Glory to our God, now, forever, and forever, amen. Sermon 19. On Tuesday of the second week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom about those cured of illnesses by sorcery. In this life we ​​are brought by sorrows, or deprivation of possessions, or serious illnesses, from these torments God makes us weak. Whenever you fall into illness, and many will come to you, you will go to the sorcerer, and go to the sorcerer. You, trusting in God, be patient, as the crown brings this torment, and give thanks to God for deliverance from those torments, even while suffering from illness. Why do we call you Christians? Let us obey Christ, and do not go to the enemies of God - the sorcerer and the sorcerer: you are the enemy of God. It is better to die than to become the enemy of God. What is the guide: heal the body, but destroy the soul? What is the gain: here it is not enough to receive consolation, but instead be sent from demons into punishment and into eternal fire? Hear what happened first: Johoz the king was sick and, leaving God’s help, he sent to the sorcerer. God executed his illness so that he would remember his sins. He, forgetting God, sent to the idol Baal and asked his priests if he would live. Oh, great evil! Oh, reason is lawless! Leave God and send to the Magi to ask about your life. And Elijah met the servants of Johoz, and said to them: Come, shout to your king: forsaking God and His law, he sent to the demons to inquire about his life, and this is from God to him. verb, as if to die before the time: as if having left God, he asks the demonic servants about his life. So, brother, death comes before the time to those who go to the sorcerer. The holy apostles cursed sorcery, and the holy fathers also rejected the council, and for a long time excommunicated those who went to the sorcerers from communion; and commanded them to do heavy penance, so that that sin would be abolished. Run away, my beloved brethren, from the cursed sorcery, lest you die untimely and suffer eternal torment. But, you say, like a great man, a serious illness offends me. But he also received, like blessed Job: after the taking of the herds and the oxen, and the deprivation of all his possessions, and after the rapture of all the faces of his children, he did not blaspheme, but said with patience and heart: The Lord gave, and the Lord took away. And in the plague of evil I followed for seven years, not requiring healing through sorcery, but saying: it is better for me to die than to betray my faith into blasphemy. Likewise, the weakened one, having been sick for thirty years, neither called a doctor nor came to a sorcerer, but waited for help from God. So is Lazarus, hungry and sick, all the life of his belly, lying rich at the gate, careless and mocked, so he died, and did not seek doctors. What kind of mercy will we receive? They tolerate so much illness, but even if we get a little sick, we bring doctors and magicians into our home. Oh, brother! Just as gold is tempted by fire, so a person is cleansed from sin through illness. Let us remember, brothers, apostles, and prophets, and martyrs, the colic of passion? As long as someone continues to have troubles and serious illnesses in this world, then there is a greater reward for him in the Kingdom of Heaven. Thoughts, man, that the enchantress’s illness will not take away, but that this sin you have committed is great and fierce: having forsaken God, you have flown to demons, so what kind of mercy will you receive from Him? And how do you call on Him in your prayers? Why are you destroying my soul, and how are you answering God? Little one, for the sake of illness, left God and looked for the wise men. What else will happen in the Church? And how can you partake of the Divine Mysteries? And how did you hear what was read? Oh man! If you endured an illness with gratitude, or some other misfortune, then you will be married to martyrs on that day: they have endured torment, but you have endured illness and misfortune with gratitude. Glory to our God, now and forever and forever. [Amen.] Sermon 20. On Wednesday of the 2nd week of Lent, teaching from the holy fathers on how to live as an Orthodox Christian. Brothers and sisters, hear the teachings of the holy fathers. The point is, Christians are not people, and they only hold Christian names, but do not do the will of God and do not honor the commandments of the Lord. Always in drunkenness, and in fornication, and in other evils, darkened by the devil. Living in swearing, and in offence, and in the uncleanness of the body, and in envying each other, and in offending, and in doing many other things that are not like, but they cannot be spoken of, like They think of immortality, and thus they draw themselves to greater condemnation, into the torment prepared for the sinner, and Satan himself trembles: they do not feel hardened, and none of this imputed as if there is no God and His judgment. We, brothers, remember all these things, so that you may fear God’s righteous judgment and His terrible rebuke. Let us arise, brothers, as if from sleep from evil deeds, and let us, moreover, hate damned fornication. For this reason, Sodom and Gomorrah and their surrounding cities were burned with fire, and to this day fire burns in them to frighten everyone. But if you, who knew neither the law nor the prophet, commit adultery for the sake of destruction, and their sign of destruction remains to this day, then how much more so for us, Christians, that is, from their wives to commit fornication with others, or without marrying, to commit fornication with many. Such will be more woeful than the Sodomites that they will be condemned on the day of judgment. Isaiah the prophet said about those: they will plunge into the fire of fire, which they kindled for themselves. And again the prophet said: their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched; to eat those who defile their bodies with fornication: it is cruel because that is sin. For this reason, everyone is commanded to have his own wife. What do the Imams say about those who swear about God, and kiss the crooked cross, who defile churches and altars, to the destruction of their souls? Heaven and earth are terrified about this. It is for the sake of execution that God sends to us, when the earth is flooded beyond measure by rain, and sometimes it is dried up by the sun with heat, and fire, and other misfortunes with executions. Because of this, men swear by God, and by His saints, they desecrate the Church of God. All the powers of heaven lament, seeing human malice. And another essence is similar to these lawless deeds: they cure bodily diseases by magic, and they bring the demons’ needs to the sciences; calling the shaker a demon, and they will drive away the creator; The Greeks write words on the apple, they place them on the throne before the Divine service: even the hedgehog is cursed by the holy fathers. Therefore, for the sake of many punishments from God come to us for our untruths: the Lord did not command to aim at the charm, and to call the wise men, neither in the meeting, nor in the Czechs, nor in the crawl, nor in the birds Try to believe: because all deeds are filthy language. If anyone does this from Christians, he will be condemned more bitterly than the filthy, unless he brings repentance for it. Those who are Christians, let them cease from such deeds: for these sins are evil, company, and oaths, false obedience, slander, envy, theft, anger, drunkenness, fornication, covetousness, resentment, stinginess, adultery, sodomite fornication from youth, and fornication with cattle, and intercourse with the tribe, and so on, from them Christians are worse than the filthy the essence. If anyone from the faithful does not reprove and punish those who do such things, he will also be a partaker of their condemnation. Moreover, the presbyteri, if they do not teach such people, and do not correct them, and do not strive according to God zealously for the truth - oh, woe will such a teacher be, driven by others, they will be in an unquenchable flame! Because the priests carry the priesthood on themselves, having gain from it, but they do not do spiritual works, even for the benefit of souls, and they do not teach the teachings of the right, with which one can be saved powerfully: but by caressing and They do not lax in imposing penance, they forgive bribes for the sake of it, so that they will not be deprived of worldly temporary honor. For this reason, they are not teachers, but destroyers, and like seducers they will be condemned the more. For the sake of such deeds and negligence, there is infertility, and war, and many destructions, destruction of cattle, and, in turn, serious illnesses, and after death, eternal torment. If anyone does not listen to spiritual teaching and does not repent, he will suffer righteous torment. For many are flatterers and blasphemers, men of war, and homosexuals, murderers, thieves, sorcerers, raping girls, and fornicating with married men. We see that here, too, according to the city law, such people are executed, and others, looking at them, will be punished and will stop their evil deeds. The authorities were created by God to be evil for the sake of people who do not do the will of God, so that when they see fear and punishment, they will fear God. Moreover, let them not spare those who do evil and unjust judges. Men, having seen such evil and unrighteous people, let them not hide about them, and let them not be condemned to torment with them. For in the fourth kingdom it is said that Ahab the king spared the king of Assyria, having done evil. And God spoke to him through the prophet, saying: Because you have let go of your destroyer husband, you yourself will perish for him. King Saul, having spared Agag, lost the kingdom. And many frosts, having spared the wicked, themselves perished. For this reason, for the sake of the rulers, do not spare those who do evil, but execute them without mercy, and do not forgive them for the sake of their reward, so that the workers of iniquity do not receive judgment from God of evil. If the rulers do not take lawful vengeance on the wicked, they will be guilty of God’s judgment, and will incur a curse from the holy fathers. It is not worthy to spare those who do evil, but I will execute them, so that they do not do evil. Glory to our God, now and forever and forever, amen. Sermon 21. On the Thursday of the 2nd week of Lent, a teaching from a certain lover of God to the spiritual brothers. Selected from the epistles of the apostles. The Holy Apostle Peter says that every prophecy in a book does not happen according to its own story. It did not happen by the will of man, but by the Holy Spirit. But false prophets and false teachers deceive the foolish. Soon many will cleave their hearts to covetousness and the unclean collection of wealth, working for it as for God. About this the Lord says: Where your treasure is, there your heart will be. And again: it’s inconvenient to lead the well-budd into the needle’s ears, below the rich one into the Kingdom of God. And to the rich man I said: You have received good things in your belly, but here weep. About the poor: this one perceives evil there, but here let him honor. And again: to whom, foolishly, do you gather the property and put the living into the granary? This night the angels will torture your soul, and whoever gathers it will be to whom will it be? About those who are deceived, and those who suffer from covetousness, and who turn the thoughts of their hearts to vanishing wealth, the verb says: these are the sources of aridity, and so on. And Paul the Apostle speaks to Timothy: “We have brought nothing into this world, for we can endure what we can.” If we have food and clothing, we will be satisfied with these. But those who want to get rich fall into misfortune, both in snares and in many lusts. Because of this, many of you lost your life with the intent to win. For the love of money is the root of all evil, which is what many desire, having gone astray from the faith and nailed themselves with illness. Meanwhile, my brother, flee the illness of that evil one. For Paul speaks to Timothy: Forbid the rich not to be arrogant, to put their trust in perishing wealth, but in God who lives, who richly gives us all things for our enjoyment. Avoid, speech, the nasty talk and contradictions of the false mind. For this reason, my brother, do not complain about the truth, nor cry, ask me, lest you be found like one who carries a little sea water in a bag under his bosom, and come to a certain man the ship is full of sea water. Have you ever heard the prophet Ezra say: The Lord created wisdom, and will give it to those who love Him. And Solomon says: everyone who is wise in Divine words, we hate to eat from fools; He is beloved by those who understand, according to the grace given to him from God. John Chrysostom says: instruct one another; God gives the mind what it wants. And again the verb: who is not afraid of the judge at the trial? or who, even though teaching, insults the teacher? And the Apostle Paul speaks to Timothy, saying that the law does not apply to those who do righteousness, but to those who are lawless and not submissive. And he commands such people to hand over to Satan, so that they will not be punished for blasphemy. But let us receive salvation by listening, and not contrary to those who say: for those who do not submit to the Holy Church, like many heretics, who read the books, but do not have a good understanding, perish. And again Paul said to Corinth: Brothers, I tell you the gospel which was preached to me, that it was not according to man, neither did I receive it from man, but the teachings of Jesus Christ. And so God gives His grace not to the covetous, but to those who seek Him. As I say: do not ask too much in your prayers, reksha, do not ask for possessions. If you ask evilly, it will not be given to you. Both, many people irritate God by asking for wealth and the like, and without caring about it, even as the Lord says: seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and this is all will be added to you. For He Himself dressed in poverty, and the disciples chose Himself from the poor, and not from the rich, saying to them: do not wear gold, nor silver, nor double robe, and do not store up treasures here; but lay up treasures in heaven, where neither aphids corrupt nor thieves steal. And sending His disciples to preach, He said to them: Do not go into the houses of the rich, but to the poor, and the meek, and those who hear My words. Thus, pleasing such, he proclaims: blessed are the poor in spirit; and not the speech: the bliss of wealth. Hear how the Lord blesses the poor brethren, calling upon Himself, as Matthew the Evangelist writes. He does not call the rich brethren, and does not bless them like the poor. Moreover, he praises those who are rich in God, like Job and others. And those who collect wealth from interest, and from untruth, from bribery, and from robbery, and from the violence of the ruler, and from innkeepers’ profits, and from all kinds of malice, he reproaches them. According to the psalmist: little is better for the righteous than the abundance of sinners. For now, the wealth that is hidden in the earth, gold and silver - to be eaten away by rust, kunas and ports - to be eaten away by moths, and waste - to mold, and life - to rot, and drink - sourness, and pus, and stench, but they do not give it to the poor and those who ask; it is worthy of condemnation and torment. Moreover, in the Gospel it is prescribed for our instruction: do not worry about the morning things, what to eat, or what to put on. But look at the birds of heaven, how they do not sow, nor spin, nor toil, and the Heavenly Father feeds them. To the poor, who do not want to remain in work, it is said: if you do not want to work, then will courage give you wine, will dill give you wheat, and will spiders wear out linen for you, and Will the belts make churches for you? And again Paul says: behold, you are full, behold, you have become rich without us, you will reign, but not forever, and from this wealth you will go to eternal poverty, into eternal torment. And the poor will receive eternal wealth, where there is joy and gladness, as it is written: for whom eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and who has not entered into the heart of man, even God has prepared things for those who love Him. Moreover, brothers, I pray, do not grieve while living in poverty and cramped conditions. For this reason I bow my knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He may give us the riches of His imperishable glory, and may the Spirit of wisdom and understanding send down and enlighten us The eyes of the heart are directed toward knowledge and understanding that there is the hope of our salvation, and that there is the riches of His glory, the Kingdom of Heaven. If there is anything we cannot understand in Scripture, let us ask those who are spiritual and leading. It is good to ask God for information and reason, and even more so for forgiveness of sin, but not for wealth, even as the flower of the grass fades and its glory disappears. Let us ask for wisdom, according to the Apostle James, by faith, doubting nothing: even though the mind of man cannot comprehend, then God invisibly opens it, if only we will His will to fulfill the holy thing, as the saying goes: not everyone who says to Me: Lord, Lord, will enter into My Kingdom, but do the will of My Father who is in heaven. This is the will of God: let us grow spiritual fruit in us, which is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, mercy, faith, meekness, self-control. And David says: blessed are those who seek His testimony, and not wealth. Incline, I say, my heart to Thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. Therefore, because I love Thy testimonies more than gold, and silver, and precious stones. Glory to our God. [Amen.] Sermon 22. On the heel of the 2nd week of Lent, a teaching from someone to the spiritual brothers, from a tributary. Behold, my brother, you have heard from the prophet, and the apostle, and the Gospel, about the vanity and sorrow of wealth. And I also want to teach you the wisdom and fear of God, from the proverbs of the wise man, in which he says: Son, if you are wise, you will be wise for yourself and your neighbors; If you are angry, then you alone will bring evil to yourself. And again: son, if I hide my commandments and words within myself, then your ear will listen to wisdom, the rex of Christ, who is Wisdom, and apply your heart to reason, decision in faith. And if you seek wisdom more than gold and silver, then you will understand the fear of God, and you will find understanding: for the Lord gives understanding, and wisdom, and salvation. And again: the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and good understanding creates all good things: but the foolish one falls into all evil. The meek people are wise and will inherit the earth. The proud people and their opponents will create a desolate earth. The Lord resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And again: trust in God in everything, and do not be proud of your own wisdom, so that your foot may walk in the right way, and do not stumble. Blessed is you who find wisdom and understanding: it is better to seek wisdom than gold and silver. And again: a wise man does not forge evil against his friend, but a proud man creates a senseless quarrel. The oath of the Lord is on the proud, and the mercy of the Lord is on the humble, from now to eternity. And again: wisdom will inherit glory and honor, but madness will inherit dishonor and destruction of the soul. The son is obedient and understanding, we love our father, and we honor our mother: he is loved by God. And again: the wise man seeks wisdom and the right path, by which he has comprehended the good, and does not labor, but the foolish man will fall into a deep ditch and perish, and the last pot of the first will be his. And again: listen to the punishment of the wise, and do not reject or blaspheme the teachings of the wise, but accept them into your hearts with praise: for their teachings are life for the soul, and healing for the body from sin - permission, and fulfillment through the treasure of animals. And again: do not listen to the evil of the wife, for honey drips from the lips of an adulterous wife, even in time it will delight your larynx, but afterwards it will be bitterer than bile; Cling to it, you will find death, the body will be destroyed, and the soul will be destined for hell. And then you say: Oh, I hate you, because I hated the punishments of the wise, and my heart turned away from the teachings of the wise, and I did not listen to those who punished me, and I hated them, and in my own died of madness? And again: my son, drink water from your own vessel, and from your own jelly and spring, and keep away from strangers. And then you will find yourself in the midst of the race prepared for the prudent. And again: an adulterer and a drunkard, she will perish for poverty of mind. Accept the punishments of the wise rather than gold, and the teachings of the wise rather than silver. And again: the law of the Lord hates the troubles of the proud, and the Lord will break the bones of the proud suddenly: but the meek and loving of the Lord will find wealth and glory. And again: blessed is the man who listens to the punishment of the wise, for he will be wiser than the wise. And again: the wise one punishes the foolish one, he will accept evil, but the one who reproaches the wicked one will arouse anger against him, and revenge will be evil. And he who punishes the wise will receive honor and glory from God. For this reason the Lord says: Do not cast your pearls before the swine, lest they trample them underfoot. Pigs are called foolish people, and precious pearls are the teaching of the Lord. And again: a wise son makes his father happy, but a foolish son brings sadness to his mother. Silver is kindled, and gold is tempted - the tongue of the wise, but the heart of the foolish is full of evil. And again: the mouth of a wise man can speak lofty words, but the mouth of a fool can speak blasphemy and flattery. And again: the blessing of the Lord is on the head of the righteous, and the crown of glory is on the head of the wise: such have no sorrow in their hearts, and their treasures are filled with wealth. The mouths of the wicked speak iniquity, but the lips of the humble learn wisdom, and the great ones teach heresy. And again it is written: a weak-minded person, seeing a smart person, falls into heresies; and he who hates the teachings of a wise man falls into Judaism: such a one will be condemned together with Jews and heretics. And again the tributary says: If the righteous die, his hope will not perish forever: but the praise of the wicked is destruction, and their torment is endless. And again: a wise man endures vexation and harbors controversy; The fool on the first day confesses his friend’s anger. The righteous will not be pleased with all unrighteous things, but the unrighteous will be filled with all evil. The humble man is always in abundance of wealth, but the foolish is always in blasphemy and oath. And again: whoever guards his mouth, guards his soul; the quarrelsome, the discordant, and the disobedient destroy his soul. And again: the hearts of the wise desire the teaching of salvation, but the hearts of fools walk far from the teaching of the saved one. And again: keep friendship with a wise husband, he will be wise, but be friends with a foolish man, evil will come. The righteous will find much wealth, and sinners will find much sorrow and sorrow. And again he says: he who punishes his son loves him, and he who does not punish him hates him. And again: the wise one created the church, and the foolish one excavated it. And again: in a wise man there is glory to the prince, but in a foolish man there is contrition and fall. A prince consulting with a wise man will not destroy his reign, but consulting with a foolish man, he will lose his reign. If a prince has a good heart, he will honor wisdom in him; Madness will be honored in the hearts of the proud. Listening to a slanderer angers the one who gave him the reign; If you acquit the guilty for the sake of bribes, the court will inexorably accept you on the day of judgment. And David the prophet says: The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are upon their prayer. The righteous will call, and the Lord will hear them. The sinners will call, the judge of unrighteousness and unmercifulness, and they will cry, being sent to eternal torment. The Lord will turn His face away from them, saying to them: there is no mercy for those who have not shown mercy. Oh, woe to the one who judges wrongly, for he is judged according to his case! It is written: princedom will not save a prince, nor a bishop’s episcopate, nor any dignitary, but everyone in his rank will shine by keeping the commandments of the Lord. Isaiah says: wash yourself and be clean. Take away wickedness from your souls and learn to do good. Seek justice and deliver the wronged, judge the orphan and justify the widow. This is the word for the prince and the ruler, and not for the common people. And the tributary verb: a wise servant is acceptable to the prince and ruler. It is better to have a small portion of the fear of the Lord than unrighteous wealth. And again: the Lord destroys the houses of those who plunder, but makes the meek strong and long-living. And again the verb: sins are cleansed through alms, and iniquities are cleansed through righteousness. The Lord Himself said: I want mercy, not sacrifice. The same source of verbs says: the honey is good words, but their sweetness is the healing of the soul and diligence of the body. And again: the sinner rejoices in the quarrel, but those who do good will inherit good things. A great man will fall into evil, but a silent and humble man will fall into goodness. And again: have mercy on the poor and the wretched, on the day of cruelty the Lord will deliver, but the great man annoys the saints. And again: it is better to live in a bad church with righteousness, than in those caught up in unrighteousness. And again: whoever does not listen to the one who prays, he will begin to pray to God, and God will not listen to him. And even if he remembers enmity, he is a criminal, and his prayer will be unpleasant to God. The sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination of the Lord, as well as the offering of the transgressor, and the money-grabber, and the briber, and the innkeeper. And again: rich and poor are created, but God made both. Anna, mother of Samuil, says: The Lord makes poor and rich, humbles and exalts, raises up the poor from the earth, and lifts up the poor from the rot. And again: let not the wise boast in his wisdom, nor the mighty in his strength, nor the rich in his wealth. But let him boast about this: to understand and know the Lord, and to do justice and righteousness in the midst of the earth. The Prophet Zechariah said: direct our feet to the path of peace. David says: Blessed is the man who does not follow the counsel of the wicked. And again the tributary: son, if you are wise, you will make your soul glad. Do not wake up a wine drinker, nor offer to drink some meat: a drunkard always remains in filthiness, and at the end of his life he becomes poor. And again: if anyone is good enough to have a wife, then dearly he has precious stones, for such a one the heart of her husband rejoices. And again: a holy husband will be given an evil wife, and such a one will receive a greater crown from God; but to a sinner a wife is good to a sinner. This is unknown to many. And again: Lord my God, give my mind punishment, it is always fitting for me to speak the word. And I have set this before you as a field, and as a root in a thirsty land, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Him be the glory, now and forever and ever, amen. Sermon 23. On Saturday of the 2nd week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on Holy Communion. Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and brought deliverance to His people. For he could not bear to see man enslaved by sin, but by His mercy He sent His Son to earth, Who became human and He is indescribable, His flesh was received from the Holy Mother of God, and endured crucifixion, and tasted death for our sins. Soon our forefather Adam, who transgressed the commandment of God, disappeared from the race. For this reason, our Lord Jesus Christ, clothed Himself in our flesh, and transformed it into bread, when the bread was received at supper, blessed, broke, and gave His disciple and apostle, the verb: take, eat, this is my body for what was broken. And again in the evening, we took the cup of the fruit of the vine, and gave praise to God the Father, who gave them the verb: Behold, this is My blood of the New Testament. When the Lord Himself spoke, “Behold, this is My Blood and Flesh,” He gave to My disciples, He said to them, Do this in My remembrance. Because if you eat this Bread and drink this Cup, you proclaim My death. Moreover, brothers, let us all, gathered together from the least to the greatest, with pure hearts and unashamed faces, approach the wonderful and terrible God, Whom the angels tremble without sin. And we, who sin all our days, how can we approach without fear and accept the Most Pure Body of the Lord and His Most Pure Blood? How in this hour we promise, when the priest says: “We have sorrow in our hearts.” And we say: imams to the Lord; but we lie to the One who is the soul of all our hearts. We only honor Him with our lips. We come to Church not for God’s sake, but to see each other. Our bodies stand in the Church, but our hearts and minds are in our homes, or wherever they go. Because standing here now, my thoughts are all about wealth, how to arrange it. But he ponders and worries, as if poverty would be overcome. And our friends worry about drinking and eating, as if they were called to do so. And we care about this in no way, lest we die, and stand before God, to whom we now make false promises, like the hearts of imams to the Lord, and we ourselves condemn others with verbs in the Church, or we talk about the vain life of this world. But listen to David the prophet, who says: who is the man who loves the days and sees good things? Keep your tongue from evil, and do not speak flattery with your lips; turn away from evil and do good. What is more evil than talking about a friend in the Church, or about the life of this world, from which we can die. If anyone wants to build a house, or talk about property, then talk about it in your own house. But in the Church there is a place to cry only for your sins and pray to God, not in reality, but secretly in your soul, and wash your body with tears, and cleanse your soul. And do not occupy yourself with the sorrows of this world, nor with cold and empty words, staining your soul with sin, like a pig with stinking feces. If anyone, having such malice in himself, approaches Communion without the fear of God, with anger at someone, or enmity, or envy, such a person will be worthy of eternal punishment. But I pray, brethren, if anyone wants to partake of the Most Pure Body and Blood of Christ, if you have anger against someone in your heart, go, first reconcile yourself with him, and come with With joy and love, even in God, receive Holy Communion. If you committed fornication, or did some other evil, or if you got into trouble with someone and did not reconcile yourself; or if you were talking with someone in the Church about everyday things during the hour of the Liturgy, then do not approach the Holy Body and Blood of Christ. If you come and receive communion without restraining your tongue from evil and idle words, and without cleansing yourself from the filth of sin, you are guilty of unquenchable fire. There are twelve hours in a day, from which God has chosen one hour for this holy Liturgy. Yes, at this one hour, my brother, and children beloved by God, you cannot stand with fear and trembling until the end of the prayer to receive your salvation, yes our Lord Jesus Christ He will honor him on the holy altar, as if he were a cherub sitting on the throne. Whenever a person approaches Holy Communion with a pure heart, then even if he has sins, he will be cleansed. Wherever the inhalation is pure and holy, the essence is sacred. In the same way, righteous people will be satisfied with the incorruptible food of the Holy Communion. Hear how David the prophet encourages the faithful with the words: taste and see that the Lord is good. Yes, and we, brothers and children of the faithful, are jealous of her wife, even though by faith we touched the cut of the garments of the Lord, and at that hour we saw the flow of her blood. And glorify God for such a miracle, and you will be saved by faith. So we too, brothers, by faith let us partake of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ, so that ours too will heal sinful wounds. If someone is angry with someone because of you, and does not humble himself, then let him not enter the Church, and let him not approach the most pure communion, lest he be condemned to eternal torment; Likewise, he who defiles his soul with worldly whispers, let him not dare to approach, for he is unworthy to exist. But even if you accept the Body and Blood of Christ, may all evil deeds be rejected. Let us look down with our eyes, and raise our minds to heaven, so that we may not be put to shame at the terrible judgment of Christ, when He comes in His glory: whoever, he said, will be ashamed of Me, and I am ashamed of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation before my angels. Having heard these words, brethren, of the Lord Himself speaking, let us be ashamed of His presence on the holy altar at this terrible hour before Him, and we strive to keep His commandments, yes We will receive the kingdom of heaven, in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Amen.] Sermon 24. On the 2nd week of Lent, the teaching of Saint John Chrysostom from the Divine Scriptures about holy fasting. Come, all you faithful, beloved flock of Christ, and I will give you the usual teaching. Hear again that from the very beginning it was said about holy fasting. Now two weeks of fasting have passed. In total, ten years of this fast is intended for the healing of the soul. And we must give the tithe of spiritual purity to God, just as we did the first things holy, not only from the property of the tithe of the day, but also by fulfilling the spiritual purity, by fasting and prayers, through worship and alms, being glorified by the Lord God for having done His will. Enoch first fasted, and he was taken up in the flesh into heaven, who is still alive to this day. Noah fasted, and the present world was delivered from the flood, with the children born from him; from his tribe the present world came into existence. Abraham also fasted, and was called the friend of God, the father of all, a prophet and patriarch. Moses, having cleansed himself by fasting, spoke with God face to face, and prayed for his face like the sun. Elijah fasted and brought down fire from heaven and asked people for rain from God. Daniel the prophet tamed the lions with fasting, and the man was named to become a man. Jesus Joshua fasted, conquered the foreigners, and set the sun from flowing. The three youths were thrown into the furnace of fire, and with fasting and prayers they extinguished the fire. The Ninevites fasted and turned the wrath of God into meekness. Many, in the New Law, sanctified themselves by fasting, drawing closer to God through prayers, humility, and almsgiving. Fasting does not have humility, for there is a church without cover, and like a broken vessel, fasting is without humility. Just fast and don’t do alms; there is little benefit. The saints of God were fasting, and praying with humility, and giving alms, whose names are countless. If you say: the saints were strong, but we are weak, and cannot bend our knees; Then we will give the tithe cleanly, which the Lord our God Himself requires of us. For the summer was made three hundred and sixty and five days, and from all the days the Lord God called his tithe, for this is a good message, if you understand what he recommends. me. Thirty-six days and half, from three hundred and sixty-five, is a tenth of the whole summer. This holy fast contains seven weeks of fourty and nine days. From now on, having set down the Sabbaths and weeks, which are the days of the Lord and the holidays, they will be numbered thirty-five days. The rest attached to the fast of Holy Great Saturday, and the half of the bright and light-giving night, will be completed thirty-six days and half a day, which is also a tithe of three hundred and sixty and five days of the whole summer. For this reason, Holy Saturday is included in fasting, so that nothing will perish from God’s tithe. And when the holy fathers looked at it and commanded this Saturday to be fasted, before Christ was still lying in the tomb. And so this whole seven weeks is the tithe of God. And if we don’t give it back cleanly, what is our answer to God? How can we accept forgiveness of sin, if even in these days we cannot restrain ourselves from drunkenness, and delicacy, and other lusts? It is not abstinence for the sake of breaking the law, but by breaking the law through intemperance death comes into the world. For Adam did not keep his fast clean, as God commanded him to accept bodily death. According to their instructions, if we don’t keep all the fast days, won’t we die spiritually? Death of the soul is eternal torment, as the Apostle Paul said: a widow who feeds freely dies while alive. You know, since God loved the people of Israel, who passed through the Red Sea as if on dry ground, and gave them manna from heaven, and darkness in them perform miracles, the verb: My firstborn son. There will also be no mercy for those who did not fast. For Moses said to them from God: fast for fourty days. They only fasted for twenty days, sat down to eat and drink: and the wrath of God came upon them, and they fell twenty and two thousand evil; and the fire burned the rest because of their intemperance. What good will it do us if we just fast for a week, and then please the body and do untruths? But I pray, do not be deceived by seeing some who live fearlessly and do not care for their souls: for you are not servants of God, but of the womb, for which there is an end - destruction and death, and after death - eternal torment. Oh, brethren, I pray that as you fasted from the first day, do the same until the Resurrection of Christ. But I force no one else to fast through force, but each according to his own strength, and do not fall into weakness. But put away anger, envy, and slander from yourselves, as the apostle said: have peace and love with what is holy. Even though there is a lot to drink and nourishment, it is a swine’s life. Everyone, fast, rage and strife, and all untruths will remain. In patience you will earn this reward, so that with a clear conscience you may partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. If anyone does not receive communion on these holy days of fasting, then there is hunger for the soul. Also, give, faithfully, the spiritual food of the soul, and the body – bodily food. Do not just feed the body, but do not leave the hungry souls deprived of the gift of God, but satisfy them with holy communion. Glory to our God, now and forever, and forever and ever, amen. Sermon 25. On Monday of the 3rd week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on the rules of Christian life. Whoever is merciful and gives alms from his labor is pleasing to the Lord. And whoever lives in unrighteousness, and takes gain from the poor and orphans, and gives alms from them, and with this he wants to please God, this one is hated by God, and so on. Such is the stinking dead dog, the stench of which men cannot endure or smell, but they walk differently, turning away their faces, and their eyes cannot see. Thus, God also abhors that person who eats unrighteously, gives alms, and does not tolerate this, like an evil stench, but turning His face away from him, does not look at him. But even more so, the demon approaches him, instilling and giving him gluttony, teaching him to plunder someone else’s property and leading him to all kinds of evil, so that he can accumulate unjust wealth for himself. But it is better, brother, to give alms from your righteous estate, even if it is a small thing, and this will be great and pleasing to God. Again, I say to you, brothers: love one another, and condemn no one, do not envy, do not blaspheme, do not reproach, do not obey falsely, but in truth and in humility greet everyone, If not by giving, then by good words. Do not be ashamed to worship your eldest head, and do not be sad to stand before the most honest. For you do all this in honor of God, just as the apostle says: whatever you eat, whatever you drink, whatever else you do, do everything for the glory of God. Understand: if a person lifts a stone or something else by force, he damages his stomach. Thus, drinking and eating a little brings health to the body, but drinking and eating a lot causes illness, and creates sin and destruction for the soul. Above all, have equal love for everyone, for the rich and the poor: this love is hypocritical, loving the rich but embittering the poor. Do not ask, brethren, to reproach the weak, and the rootless, and the needy: for God has chosen them; but he puts to shame the wise, and the strong, and the rich. Listen, brethren, since the spider is small, but stretching out its webs, it catches flies in them. And many times the robber and other birds fly in and take food from this small catch. Likewise, from those weak and rootless, thin and wretched, we feed on God’s food, nourishing soul and body. Listen to Paul the Apostle to Timothy, saying: in this great house there are many vessels, some of gold, and some of silver, some of wood, and some of clay. Oviy is in honor, but Oviy is not in honor. Likewise, all people, rich and poor, need the essence of the world. Do not disparage or rebuke God’s creation, but take heed to each of you. You see a bitch in your friend’s face, but you don’t see a bitch in yourself? First remove the log from your sight, and so you will see the mote in your brother’s eyes. Whenever you create a feast, and call upon your brothers and family, or princes, or nobles, then you seek the glory and honor of this world. If you call the poor brethren, you will not be deprived of your reward from God. Do not give us money for interest, for the holy Apostle Paul considers covetous people and bribe-takers to be the same as fornicators. And in many places the Holy Scripture forbids this. And whoever among you can read and write, let him fulfill the rule prescribed. If anyone does not know how, let him go to the Holy Church of God and listen to the holy singing and reading with attention, without a word. If anyone reads books or listens to someone who is reading, he talks with God. If anyone, knowing how to read and write, does not sing Matins, the Hours, Vespers, or Nephimon to himself, then he is depriving himself of the light of God. It is fitting for those who cannot read and write to sing, for matins and the hours, and for vespers, and for nephimon. But you say: why can’t I sing if I don’t know how to read and write? Sing Psalm 50: Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy... If you do not know how to do this, then say the Trisagion and Our Father, Who art in heaven... Or if you cannot do this If you know how, then bow down as best you can, saying the prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Do this for Matins, and for the Hours, and for Vespers, and for Nephimon. Thus, it is indicated for those who are unable to read and those who are lazy to sing. And doing this all your days, glorify your Creator, and receive eternal reward from Him. If you are on the road, or doing any necessary work, and therefore have not drunk your rule, then do not imagine that it is no longer possible to send it in the morning, and God will not accept it your prayers. But I say against this: if you owe someone something, and you forget to repay your debt to him, he will also forget to ask you, but you remember that If you give it to him in your hand, then won’t he receive it from you with joy and gratitude? Likewise, God, the Lover of Mankind, will at all times accept your prayer, which you pray with zeal. Be careful about eating and drinking early: if anyone gets drunk early, his day will be changed into night. Nezius, who holds the Orthodox faith, but does not keep the commandments of God, imagines that he can be saved by one faith. Friends live piously, but are careless about the faith, like they should expect bribes: neither have they gained the Kingdom of God. Someone asked an old man: how can they help us? He said: the tree is our soul, and the ax is the devil, and the ax is our will, by which we are cut. If anyone fasts on Wednesday and Friday, eating only one meal per day - bread and water, or earthly vegetables. And when an angel comes to your soul and leads you to the third heaven, and the angels gather you - Wednesday and Friday, then they say: Rejoice, O soul, for you have worked much for our sake on earth! Even if a person does not fast to eat on Wednesday and Friday, even if he is virtuous, an angel will come to that soul and lead it to heaven, and the angels will make you sleep - Wednesday and heels, then he says to her: O wretched soul, why did you not fast on Wednesday and on Fridays, for bread, and for water, and for the vegetables of the earth, one day at a time? On Wednesday you made a Jewish council against Christ, and crucified Him on the heel. For this reason, every Christian does not deserve to eat butter and milk on Wednesday and Friday, except for the days permitted by the Church. Glory to our God, now and forever and forever. [Amen.] Sermon 26. On Tuesday of the 3rd week of Lent, the teaching of a certain holy elder to spiritual children. The elder said: if one eye dies, the other will remain to serve the body; God gave one soul, and even if we destroy it, what will we live for? Let us also take care of our souls, for by those imams the judgment is received, but the body is dust. And if you resist the evil demon, he will flee from you, and with the angels we will give praise to Christ God. Soul and body are brother and sister. The body does not live without the soul, nor does the soul live without the body. It’s funny to see when, just like the body, the soul is divided into genders. The sin of humanity is like the essence of a robe, not with prayer for a long time, even though it has become blackened, it cannot soon be washed off; So even a person is a sinner, if he does not repent for a long time, his soul becomes darkened. But having experienced a lot, and pondered a lot, and was barely able to understand how the life of this age is like a wheel spinning, and having wondered, I said: O foolish man, what is in vain? Are you restless? There is no way, brethren, to stay with this charming life, and resort to the Master and God, and ask for forgiveness of our sins. And we must each do alms according to our ability and strength, and the Lord will reward us sevenfold. The Holy Gospel says: give to the poor, he gives to Christ. But let it be in secret, according to what was said in it: what your right hand does, let it not be your foolishness, and God will reward you. The Lord does not love vanity, but humility and truth: and if you say, pray, you will please your Father. If you fast, you will be closer to your Father in heaven. Be merciful, just as your Heavenly Father is merciful: then be like Him in mercy. If you think about giving alms, do not put it off until morning, but when you think about it, then do good, since you do not have control over the morning day. And if you have faith, stay away from drunkenness and have pure love. If, as I said, I will distribute all my possessions, and if I will betray my body and burn it, for the love of not the imam, there is no benefit to me. If you don’t love love, you destroy the law and ruin all your work. Think about this and repent, cease from evil and strive for good. Cast your sorrow upon the Lord, and He will nourish you. Look at the birds of heaven, of which there are countless multitudes, such as eagles, corvids and the like, and they cry to the Heavenly Father and give them food. Fasting is not deprivation of a single food, but abstaining from all evil. There will be a true fast when you do not steal, do not falsely obey, do not slander, do not commit fornication, do not envy, and do not offend anyone. And above all, avoid fornication: for all sin, according to the Apostle, exists besides the body, and whoever commits fornication sins in his own body. Fornication does not only lead the body into sin and defile, but also darkens the soul with its deeds. About this the Lord offers a parable: a certain man had two sons, and his father divided his property. My son took the portion given to him from his father, went far away to a foreign country, and having squandered his property, lived fornication, and having destroyed everything, became impoverished. When the famine became strong in that country, the swine began to graze, perishing through the famine, and they wanted to be satisfied with the mugs that the swine eat. Interpretation. There is a man – Christ. There are two sons - the righteous and the sinner. Possessions are the life of this world and delight. And foreignness is food and clothing for the body, and wealth. And the essence of pigs is to be mad. The essence of the face is that this food is temporary. And there was famine in that country. There is hunger - even if you don’t receive Holy Communion. And he said to himself: for my sake I am perishing from hunger, and my father has so many mercenaries’ bread that he is running out of bread, and yet I am perishing from hunger. But I rose up and went to my father, and said to him: Father, I have sinned in heaven and before you, and your son is no longer worthy to be called: make me as one of your hired servants. Do not just speak in word, but do it in deed. And the merciful father will receive him repentant, and slaughter a fat calf, and put a ring on his hand, and a saposi on his nose. Interpretation. The fat calf is the Body and Blood of Christ, and the ring is the betrothal of the Holy Spirit, and saposi is baptism, and the commandments, and so on. [Amen.] Sermon 27. On Tuesday of the 3rd week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom about those who speak in the church. Behold, I say to the Christians standing in the Church, at the hour of the Holy Liturgy, a terrible service, and to those speaking inappropriate words in that Holy Place. Oh, what are you doing man? Have you promised, when the priest says: Woe is our heart! And you say: Imams to the Lord! but you only think about vanity. Were you not afraid, nor embarrassed, that you would find a lie at that hour? Oh, great miracle! The table of the King of Heaven is prepared, and the Lamb of God is slain for your sake, the coming seraphim, and the hovering cherub, covering the faces with six wings, and all the powers of heaven with the priest We pray to God for you, to spiritual fire descending from heaven, and we hold the Blood of Christ in a chalice for your cleansing: why are you not ashamed and stop talking vainly? There are only hours in the days, from which God has set aside one hour for himself to serve: you and he laugh, and see off with empty conversations, because you laugh at that Divine Should we begin the sacrament and receive the Body and Blood of Christ with unclean lips? Neither, brethren, do not do this: but accept the Body and Blood of Christ with fear and trembling, having been cleansed from all sin, and having repented purely. This gift is not given by the priest who is now serving, but by the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Do not, brothers, I pray, spend time in the Church with empty conversations, in which the great mystery is being accomplished, but we stand with fear, not speaking with anyone. one word, until the end of the service: and with our eyes we see, but with our minds we grieve, we sigh and we grieve in our hearts. Have you not seen how they stand before the corruptible king, not moving from their place, neither talking with anyone, nor seeing anything else, but with fear they stand as if armed. This, man, thought that as one approaches the earthly king with fear, is it not more appropriate to approach the heavenly King with fear and trembling? And so, entering into the Church, as it is worthy to go into prayer to God, so we enter, not having any malice or anger towards anyone, but let us dare to say: and forgive us our debts, as well as we leave our debtor. Glory to our God, now and forever and forever. [Amen.] Sermon 28. On Wednesday of the 3rd week of Lent, the teaching of Saint Ephraim about judgment and repentance. Come, all brethren, small and great, listen to my evil teaching, which speaks for your benefit. Already, my beloved, the terrible and great day is approaching, and we mock, not wanting to reach out to God in this little time. Behold, it is day, and our summer, and the months, like sleep, pass away, and like shade towards evening. The terrible and great coming of Christ is coming soon. Truly, that day is terrible and great, especially as a sinner who does not want to do the will of God and be saved. I pray you, my beloved brother, come, let us cast aside the sorrow of earthly things, for they all pass by, and they all disappear, and nothing benefits us in that terrible hour, Only good deeds come from here, the imams. For they will expose their deeds and words before the judgment of that terrible Judge. The heart will tremble and change with joy, when that manifestation becomes an act, and a speech, and a thought. Great will be the fear, brother, then great will be the trembling. O friends, who will not tremble, weep, or weep, because there will appear what he has done in secret and in darkness? Understand, beloved, behold, even as I say to you, I give notice of your love. Fruitful trees, because their inner ones offer fruits with leaves at the time, and not the outer ones, then the trees are clothed with their beauty, because the inner ones are offered by the command of God Each is a fruit by nature. So even on the terrible day, they offer the whole body of man, everything that will be created, either good or evil, and everyone will bear it before the judgment of the terrible Judge like deeds fruits, speeches are like foliage. Righteous women bear fruit that is good and beautiful. Saints bear good and prosperous fruit. Martyrs bear torment and wounds, praise and patience. Foreigners wear humility, submission, abstinence, vigil and prayer. Sinners of wickedness and foul-mouthed people, there they bear fruit that is stale and rotten, filled with stench, crying, and sobbing, and never-ending worms, in the fires that cannot be extinguished. It is terrible, O brethren, there is a judgment there for all: without a testimony, for all will appear, deeds, words, thoughts, and lusts, when the darkness of the angel and the archangel will appear, cherub and seraphim, holy prophet and apostle, and righteous persons. Why are we so lazy, brother, about our salvation? The time is ripe, and the day is approaching when the terrible Judge will expose all our secrets. And if we, brothers, knew what was coming to us for our negligence, we cried day and night, praying to God that He would deliver us from the cold and the eternal darkness. For the sinner’s mouth will stop before the judgment of the righteous Judge, and all creation, and the rank of saints, the angels, will tremble at the glory of Onago’s coming. What shall we say to Him, brethren, on the Day of Judgment, or what shall we answer, lest we waste this time through laziness? He Himself is patient now, calling us all into His Kingdom, but then the word from everyone will torment us about the laziness of this small time. And He Himself speaks to us: for your sake I became incarnate, for your sake I came to earth, for your sake I was raised, for your sake I received the blow, for your sake I was spat upon. bykh, and for your sake they would crucify on the tree, for your sake I would drink milk and gall, so that you may be sons of the heavenly Kingdom. My Kingdom has been given to you, My Paradise has been given to you, and all of you have called the brethren Yourself, and you have offered sacrifice to the Father, and you have sent the Holy Spirit upon you. And what more than all this did I have to do, and did not do, that you might be saved? I don’t want to spoil your will, so that you don’t need salvation. Cry, sinners, dead by nature, why will you suffer for me for the sake of the Lord who suffered for you? This is already prepared: the Kingdom and life, peace and joy; and eternal torment, and outer darkness, and fiery kinship, and the never-ceasing worm: wherever anyone wants to make you known by his power, go either to the Kingdom or to torment. But come, my brother, and let us all fall down to Him together, confessing our sins, and saying to Him: O Master! You endured all this for our sake, as God, but we, sinners, will always reject Your grace. There is still time, dear ones, let us strive with love and tears to repent of our sins, for there is cleansing by sin and enlightenment of the soul. And behold, you know, brother, that there is nothing sweeter than repentance in this terrible hour. Blessed is the man who always has repentance according to the word of God. Repentance, brothers, forgiveness of sins is always sought; repentance, brothers, delights the Holy Spirit within you; repentance, brethren, brings the Only Begotten Jesus into us, whenever we desire it. And evil thoughts can never come close to the souls of those who have repentance. There is repentance, brothers, an inestimable treasure and unspeakable joy. The soul that has repentance rejoices. The verb repentance is not for one day, but always happens, in the night and in the days and for every hour in the soul. There is repentance, brothers, with prayer, and fasting, and almsgiving, and without anger and the thought of evil, for the source is pure, let the garden of the soul be fruitful. The garden is fruitful - the correction of good deeds. Glory to our God, now and forever and forever. [Amen.] Sermon 29. On the Thursday of the 3rd week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on the tenderness of the soul. Beloved, having abandoned the vain and perishing works of this life, be careful lest your hearts return to the same evil. For wealth and glory perish, and kindness fades, and everything changes, as the canopy passes by, and like smoke disappears, and like conversation perishes. For this reason Solomon says: like the vanity of vanities. For this reason, David also says: in the same way a man walks, he is in vain. We will not suffer anything from this life, but we will leave all that we have, even as we were born; let us go to that terrible Judge, showing mercy to the decrepit and sorrowful, to contrition and humility, trembling, and fear, and illness, on the earth, so we will appear at that great and unhypocritical judge. Where the angels tremble, where the thrones of terrible orders will be, where the books of our deeds will unbend, where the river of fire never extinguishes, where the never-ending worm, where unwarmed winter, where there is incessant sighing, where there are incessant tears, where there is inconsolable lamentation, where there is no laughter, but crying. Where there is no message, but trembling; where there is no joy, but groaning; where there is no food, but judgment. It is truly terrible to hear, but more terrible than this will be to see, all creation suddenly rising, and standing, and answering, for deeds and thoughts, night and day. Oh dear, my brother! How did I sin? There will be truly great fear then. The path of trouble is fearful. Great is the trouble and storm of that hour, the unceasing rebellion, great the groaning. Let us listen to Daniel the prophet saying: Az, Daniel, videh, until the thrones were established, and the Ancient of Days is here. His robe is white like snow, and the hair of His head is like pure wool. His throne is like a flame of fire, His wheels are like burning fire, and a river of fire flows before Him. Thousands upon thousands stand before Him, and ten thousand serve Him. The judge sat down, and the books were unbent, and my spirit was terrified. I, Daniel, saw the vision of the coming judgment and the sight of my head, I was confused. Ole miracle! The Prophet, having seen the future judgment, was afraid, and how can we endure that terrible judgment, when we enter into things, when we appear from the sunny east and the west Nazi, and the burdens of sins on your necks to show? Then those who blaspheme the Divine Scripture will be destroyed by the heathen, and no one will afflict them. Then the slanderers of the tongues will be torn out in vain by the angels. Then the people will be hanged by the hands and the shavings will tremble and become despondent. Then the eyes of those who pity will be plucked out. Then where will father and mother be? Where are the brothers and friends and neighbors? Where is the prince of power? Where is the offense, where are the insults and divisions of those judging? Where then are the male and female slaves? Where is the decoration of the chasuble and the arrangement of the finger? Where are the wedding purples? Where are the golden hryvnias and the jingling silver coins? Where is the food and wine? Where are the horses? Where are the helicity? Where is the church restored and decorated? Where is the treasure of many names? Where are those who despise the beggars, and they themselves walk immortally? Where are those who curse the poor? Where are the wisdom that is created? Where are the tympanums and faces of those eating and drinking? Where will I take the laughing ones? Where is the servant who suffers many misfortunes without fearing the fear of the Lord? Where are those who blaspheme the holy and immaculate faith of Christ? Where are the unbelievers and those who say: give this day and take the morning? Where are those who say: God is a lover of mankind and does not torment those who sin? How many people do they want to repent then, even if they say so? How long will they begin to suffer, and no one will have mercy on them? How much do they sigh? But there is no one who delivers them. As much as they torment themselves, they say: Oh, cruelty to us! Are you the deceiver, and the destroyer yourself? He always teaches us, but we do not listen or pay attention. Verb to us and not to faith. The books are audible, they themselves are a flatterer. God’s judgment is right, we suffer worthily and righteously. For a life that is short and perishing, we will be drowned in eternal fire. For vain and unknown glory, we fall away from true glory. And for the sake of wealth, we lost the Kingdom of God. And now we see that those who did not enjoy it, and were not drunk, and were not defiled, are here rejoicing in their heavenly brotherhood. And those who wept there will rejoice here forever. Those who sow tears there will reap joy here. Having left the earthly one, the heavenly one is here. We, the wretches, have been rewarded with torment for our many sins. And now we cry, and there is no one who has mercy on us. Oh, glory to You, Christ, about everything! For Yours is the Kingdom, the glory, and the power, and the salvation of all who flow to You, and we ascribe glory to You, now and forever, and forever and ever, amen. Sermon 30. On the Friday of the 3rd week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom about the rich and the poor. Brothers, I have spoken to you many times, and now, while weeping, I am speaking about the enemies of the Cross of Christ. For they have defeated the essence of God, who please the body, thinking earthly, and do not heed what is said: brethren, our life is in heaven, from our Savior through the tea of the Lord Jesus Christ. For this reason I tell you a lot. Many people are called Christians only by title, but their deeds and customs are filthy. Everyone gets drunk and commits lies; he is the enemy of God and the destroyer of his soul. Such are truly worthy of mourning, who create the pleasures of all flesh, for they make the body fat, and prepare more poison for the worm. Oh, brother! Even if we remain here for many years, the imams will die. Just because we introduce temptation into this world, so that our love, even for God, or negligence and weakness will appear. Adam, for the sake of disobedience, death was to blame, for this is the sake of the Lord incarnate, and the commandment for us to abstain from visible sweets and temporary beauties, and to enter again into paradise, Adam was quickly driven out. If we spend our entire life with various poisons and drinks, and a lot of drunkenness, and give not a single piece of bread to the poor, but only put all the sweets into our bellies, Isn’t it true when the Apostle Paul says: God is their belly, and their glory is destruction. If we build honorable churches on earth and become glorified, but do not create righteousness and virtue, then can glory follow us? How long, brother, like a serpent we crawl on the earth, and like an eagle we can never fly to heaven, where life and the Kingdom are prepared for us, as Paul the Apostle spoke? Therefore, I say to you, beware, for we are mortal. Everyone gets drunk, and even though they may gain glory, the body becomes fat and the soul is destroyed. Therefore, for the sake of holiness, we count this life as nothing, and we too will be jealous of it, and we will not adhere to this life, lest we displease God. For the holy passions and misfortunes are countless for God’s sake, and the gluttons have a lot of diarrhea, and they accept a lot of reproach, so that they may please their belly. Such people destroy their property and soul. But we, believers, will not indulge ourselves in this life, but here we will endure a little, so that we may gain glory and honor, and receive eternal life, as the apostle tells us: by no means We are waiting for our Savior Jesus Christ. Yes, indeed, we are worthy of mourning, even if we are willingly deprived of such a vow. Our flesh is promised to be like the Lord our flesh: but we, willingly, are like the demon by committing lies. But I will make this clear to you about my two husbands. Be the only one who is rich in it, and who indulges in this life and drinks a lot, and is famous and famous in this life. And the other is poor and poor, and fasts, only to eat food in the evening, or on another day. And you cry, who lives it kinder? But we know that those who are praised more are those who live gloriously in this world and often create feasts. We will praise those who, for the sake of God, languish with fasting and prayers, and all-night sleeplessness, and according to their strength, beggars. But we go to both houses, and we will see their lives. We first go into the beggar’s house and see him toiling, or doing handicrafts, or praying to God. And again we go into the rich man’s house, and we see him either drunk or sleeping, like dead, and stinking of stench. And we see him who fears God, vigilant in the night, doing handicrafts and always staying sober. Who are you going to praise from here? Is it that he, who has not heard anything, lies as if he were dead, and no matter what you say to him, he does not answer you? Or one who always works and stays vigil? See how glorious it is to live and revel in what is more sorrowful than the dead and the demonless forest? The demon, by the permission of God, torments a person, and the drunkard is destroyed by self-desire: because the stags are bent in it, they stink, and they belch like cattle. Just think how poor such a soul, like mud in the world, becomes dirty in the body. Even if he gets up, thinking he has been sobered up, but is still sleepy and unwell, the drunken cloud still clouds his eyes and darkens him. Gather up a lot of property, there are plenty of drunkards. The drunkard destroys himself, but the one with many names is jealous of everyone, and does not have enough to collect. Collect pots of piyanago. A drunk man sometimes becomes sober, but a gatherer is always drunk in mind and worries about the gathering day and night. The rich man became deaf through avarice, and the drunken man became deaf through drunkenness: both are slaves to the devil. Oh, man! We brought nothing into the world, and we can’t take anything back from here. But if they put the same clothes in the coffin, then the worms will destroy them too. It’s hard for people to be stingy and unyielding, and even if they collect a lot, they remember little of everything. Even if he loses a little, he thinks he has received a lot of deprivation. Oh, you are unmerciful, you yourself will not receive mercy from God! Glory to our God, now and forever and forever. [Amen.] Sermon 31. On the same day [on the heel of the 3rd week of Lent], the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on book veneration. Goodness is book reverence, especially for every Christian. Blessed are those who experience His testimonies, they will seek Him with all their hearts. What do you mean, “testing testimonies”? - His commandments, I have spoken. Whenever you speak and read books, do not try to exhaust another chapter, but understand that the words speak are the same, and turn three times to one chapter. Speech: I will hide Your words from my heart, so that I will not sin You. Do not say: “the mouth only utters words”; but: “Hide it in my heart, so that I will not sin against You.” And to those who understood truly, the Scripture commanded them to eat. I say: the bridle of the horse is the ruler and temperance; Likewise, for us abstinence is book veneration. For a ship cannot be made without a nail, nor a righteous man without reverence for the book. Just as a young man stands captive to his parents, so does a righteous man stand in the veneration of books. I will mock Your commandments and understand Your ways. May we have no other joy and merriment than the reverence of books. Beauty is a sail for a ship, and book veneration is for a righteous man. Open my eyes, and I understand the wonders of Your law. Eyes, verb, mind and meaning of the heart. Other things: do not hide Your commandments from Me, understand, not as if you did not hide them from your eyes, but from your heart and mind. Moreover, if you blaspheme, you will not learn from them. You will partake of these things and desire them. Speech of Blessed Gregory: for these three things God seeks from every person who has baptism: right faith from the soul, truth from the tongue and chastity from the mind. Oh, man! You have received everything from God: reason and meaning, cunning and intelligence, and you have conquered all essence, even on earth and in the air, and in the waters and in the mountains, for your food vdana bysha. Yes, even if God were against this: truth, love, meekness, humility, alms, then the Lord will give you gifts again, which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and the man's heart sighed. Man, you are still at the bargaining for life, even if the bargain is not gone, buy with mercy mercy from God, with humility - eternal glory, with righteousness - endless life, purity is the crown of incorruptibility, meekness is entry into heaven, prayer is singing with the angels, work is peace, vigil is the Face of the invisible God, fasting and thirst are eternal good pleasure. Man, if reason and sense are at your head, the Kingdom of Heaven is near; in your own eyes - sight, even if there is grief, then to God, and even if it is down, then to the ground, and little by little you will go; in the ear of the gums - hearing the good words of books; in the noise you listened - hearing the cry of the beggars; in the nostril - sighing for sins; in the language - truth; in the mouth - prayer, and in the right hand - giving to the poor; in shuitsa there is burying of evil; in the heart - have no anger, in the body - purity, in the womb - hunger; to the knee - worship to God; in step - a procession to the prayer church, so that the pleasures of your body will not be absent. For he says, curse the essence of those who deviate from Your commandments. In the same way, he himself praises, saying: Your word is sweeter to my throat than honey to my mouth, and: Your law is more than a thousand gold and silver. And I cried out, saying: I will rejoice in Your words, for I have gained much gain. Self-interest is called the word of God, for this gift I have received is unworthy, so that I may learn from Your words day and night. Let us, brothers, understand the power of the teaching of the holy Divine books. Listen to the lives of St. Basil the Great, and St. Cyril the Philosopher, and many other saints, as they will tell you more often about them, as if you were lying down from childhood holy books, and also committed to other good deeds. See how the teaching of the holy books is the beginning of a good deed. Moreover, brethren, let us move with them to the path of their lives and to their good deeds, and let us learn the words of the books, doing the will of God, as they teach us now, and the eternal ones We will deserve life. Learn, O faithful man, to be a worker of piety and learn to live according to the words of the Gospel: stewardship of the eyes, enslavement of the body, humility of the mind, having a pure thought, wrath consumption. Be willing to do good deeds for the Lord’s sake: we deprive, do not take revenge; hate - love; persecute - endure; blaspheme - pray. Kill your sins, crucify with Christ and place all your love on the Lord, so that you may find the angel of darkness [i.e. tens of thousands], the firstborn of cathedrals, apostolic thrones, rods patriarchal, crowns of martyrdom, praise of the righteous. I thought I was poor, and in the morning I died and became dust. The verbs: “I am not worthy, a sinner, to look upon a person’s face.” Therefore, always thinking that you can be saved in Christ Jesus, our Lord, to whom be glory. [Amen.] Sermon 32. On Saturday of the 3rd week of Lent, the teaching of our father Gregory the Theologian about the Holy Divine Liturgy. What happened in the first days was when the holy fathers gathered to Gregory the Theologian and decided to him: “Father, tell us about the mystery of the holy and Divine Liturgy.” And Saint Gregory answered them, saying: “Hear, holy fathers, let me tell you that there is a holy and Divine Liturgy, and if it is honest before God.” And they began to speak. “When the priest enters the church and, wrapped in his vestments, goes to the small altar, and the Holy Lamb takes it out, and makes a prosperation, and takes up the censer, and says: “About those offered Let us pray to the Lord..." And then I heard a voice from heaven saying: “Let the first fruits of the heart be laid in the church.” Then the angel of the Lord will fly from heaven and stand at the church door. When the priest says: “Bless, Master...”, then stand in fear. And when the first antiphon begins to sing: “It is good to confess to the Lord and sing to Your name, O Most High...”, and then you hear the angel saying: “Be blessed, all of you, and be strong and stand in fear in the church of God.” And when they begin to sing the second antiphon: “The Lord reigns and is clothed with beauty...”, and they hear the angel cry out: “Rejoice and be glad, all you faithful, for Christ is Our God reigns forever: for the devil is already bound and trembles evilly.” And when the third antiphon begins to sing: “Come, let us rejoice in the Lord and exclaim to God our Savior...”, then the angel will strengthen everyone in the church with the Holy Spirit. And when the priest goes out and shouts: “Come, let us worship and fall down to Him...”, then the angel of the Lord will fly from heaven to the saint and, taking him by the hand, will lead him into the holy altar for the holy meal. And having entered the altar, he will place the holy Gospel on the holy table, that is, on the throne. The same angel strengthens the saint and says to him: “Be careful how you stand before the terrible throne of God?” Then, all in peace and in the fear of God, stand in the church, as in heaven, saying nothing to each other, not thinking evil in your hearts against each other, brother against brother, but Stand in the church, all of you with one accord in peace, as the Lord has given you His peace. And when they begin to sing the prokeimenon, hear how David the prophet teaches you. And when the honors of the Apostle begin, hear how the Apostle Paul teaches you, the verb: “Be known before God.” And when the Holy Gospel begins to be honoured, listen, O honest fathers and Christ-loving brethren, to what our Lord Jesus Christ teaches you. And when the saint says: “As soon as the catechumens go forth...,” then I saw the demon standing at the church door, with a tongue in his teeth like an arrow, and his eyes were sharp. pour fire on people, and terribly gnashing your teeth on the faithful standing in the church. And again the saint says: “Yes, none of the catechumens, but many of the faithful...”, then you saw an angel flying from heaven, eating the demon, and casting him into eternal fire. And she said to him: “Why are you standing here, wretched one, not having wedding clothes?” And when they begin to sing: “Even as the cherubim secretly form and bring the Trisagion hymn to the Life-giving Trinity, let us cast away all the sorrow of this day, for the King of all uplifting, invisibly gifted by angels chinmi...”, then all of you stand in fear, bow your faces to the ground, and pray to the Lord each for your sins. Then the angels and archangels, cherubs and seraphim, stand invisibly with the priest with fear, unable to see, their faces covered with wings. And then the cover of the church, like the sky is open, and every prayer, like lightning, ascends to heaven. And when the saint begins to cross the Holy Gifts and make the transfer, he hears an angel saying: “Holy Father, send an angel to instruct him in the Divine service.” And abiye saw two angels coming. And when they sing “Like the Cherubim,” they see how two angels gather, and the priest’s wings, and the saint’s flight to the altar, saying: “Be careful how serve the Divine Mysteries!” And when the priest says: “Let us become kind, let us become fearful...”, this thing is terrible. And when the priest says: “Singing a song of victory, crying out, calling and saying...”, then I saw the cover of the church opening, and the sky appearing, and a fiery flame the coming, and according to the flame there were many angels, and according to the angels they saw faces of kindness, and they could not powerfully confess kindness: for their vision was like a burning flame. And the fiery angels stood around the altar meal, and the six-krilatii stood around the holy meal, and the Young Child was in the midst of them, and a fiery flame attacked the priest. And when he came and said: “Our Father, who art in heaven... ", and I heard the angel saying: "Fathers of Blaze and Faith, if anyone has been with his wife on the Sabbath, either in reality or in a dream, he is not worthy of the most pure Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ." And when the priest says: “Let us take note, the Holy of Holies...”, then I saw an angel having a knife, and He sprang into his hand, and slain Him, and poured out His Blood into the holy cup, and His body was cut into bread, and the bread became the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the worthy people came together to receive the Holy Body and Blood, truly for the cleansing of sins. And when the deacon says: “We will go out in peace...”, then I saw the Divine powers ascending to heaven, filled with fear and wonder about such a mystery. Behold, brethren, the unknown mystery has come to light, let us heed how we receive the Divine Mysteries, with our wives, like cattle, alive? Truly, Paul wrote, saying: “If anyone is unworthy to eat and drink, he will receive more sin.” But we, brothers, cannot accept this, for truly it is not just bread and wine, but the true Body and Blood of Christ, burning away our sins, and cleansing and sanctifying our soul. But let us accept it as if we were born, cleansed from all filthiness and thoughts of evil, so that we too will be heirs to His heavenly Kingdom, glorifying the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and The Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen.” Sermon 33. On the 3rd week of Lent, the story of the holy fathers about Great Lent and other fasts. Listen, brothers, and sisters, and children, old and young, and all the faithful, to the Divine Scripture, even about fasting. The Lord our God Himself prefigured for us an honest fast, fasting for 40 days, just as Matthew the Apostle wrote in the Gospel: then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness, be tempted by the devil, and having fasted fourty days and fourty nights, then hungered. And from then on he commanded His disciple and apostle to do this. The apostles, baptizing the faithful, kept the commandments of the Lord: for the Lord said unto them, go into the whole world, preach the Gospel to every creature. He who has faith and is baptized will be saved, and he who does not have faith will be condemned. According to this verb and the teaching of Spasov, the apostles taught all languages to believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and baptism, and repentance, fasting, and bowing, and prayer, alms, and humility, and brotherly love, and other virtues, and there are two legal posts: the first is this holy 40th, the other is 50th, apostolic. Afterwards, the holy fathers established two fasts: the one before the Nativity of Christ and the fast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And he commanded them to be kept honestly, to fast from all evils and to be cleansed from sins, to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven with humility and alms. For the Scripture says, fasting, prayer, and almsgiving deliver a person from death. Fasting and almsgiving are two great things, because not only can a person ascend to heaven, but also to the throne of God. David, the king, did two evils: murder and adultery; When he was convicted of his sin, he accepted repentance and fasting, shed many tears and gave countless alms, and then God saw his pure repentance and contrition heart, and prayers, and alms, and his other good deeds, and forgive him his sins, and he will be counted among the prophets. Likewise, Daniel the prophet, when by the command of the king he was thrown into a den among the beasts and devoured, he tamed the beasts by fasting and prayer, and the king himself fasted, and Teach prayer, and humility, and all virtues. And three young men in Babylon from Nebuchadnezzar threw the king into a furnace, burning with fire, and quenched the fire with fasting and prayer. Moses fasted and prayed, and talked with God. Jesus Joshua fasted, conquered the foreigners by prayer and supplication, and set the sun from flowing. Having fasted, Elijah brought down fire from heaven with his prayer and raised up the widow’s son, and again with his prayer he brought down rain from heaven, and on a chariot of fire he took him to heaven and prayed for his mercy. Eliseov is more powerful. After Elisha fasted, he crossed the Jordan on dry ground with his prayer, and turned the bitter waters into sweetness, and raised up the son of the mistress of the house. By pardoning the Ninevites turned God’s wrath into mercy. Having fasted, Isaiah became worthy to see God, the cherubim are present. Anna fasted and prayed to God, and the Lord gave her fruit, and gave birth to Samuel the prophet. Having fasted Sampson, the foreigners were victorious over many, and with your prayer you made dry water from the jaws of a donkey. Joachim and Anna, fasting and praying to God day and night, received the good news from the angel about the conception of the Holy Virgin Mary. Likewise, in the new grace, the abundance of worship and righteousness, with forgiveness, and prayers, and alms, the saints were born, and they performed many miracles, but it is impossible to write them all down. By fasting all good things are accomplished. By fasting the body is cleansed, through prayer and alms sins are cleansed, and the soul is adorned with humility. Most of all, God loves repentance from people, and the angels in heaven rejoice over the only sinner repenting on earth. We, brothers, sisters and children, having listened to these words, strive to conduct a purely honest fast, with all abstinence, with bows, and with prayers, and with good deeds. For the holy fathers tired of fasting for us from the apostles, having learned about it in the word, the faithful to all to strive, and to those who have not heard to obedience and abstinence, let them not fall into ignorance, not Having heard the writings about fasting, and having heard these words, let them be moved to abstinence, and to labor, and to repentance, and to prayers, and to prostrations, to almsgiving, and to meekness, and to humility, and to all good deed. Forget about the kindness of those days: when the days of celebration and coolness come, then all the gluttons and drunkards will rejoice, and when fasting comes, then they will be offended, they will become decrepit and sad. Prudent people, fasters and abstainers will then rejoice and be spiritually glad. Whenever you have fasted, fast unfeignedly, do not appear before men, but before God, as the Lord says: Whenever you pray, then shut your door, and pray to God in secret, The Lord will reward you, and will take away from you all your sorrows and sorrows, and evil adversaries cannot come close to you. Whenever you want to give alms, even if you do it invisibly, so that you are not hated by God, like the Pharisee. If you fast, you fast not from bread alone, but also from drunkenness, and from anger, and rage, and magnificence, and condemnation, and envy, and from all unrighteousness, and from all enmity, and from all things of the flesh. lusts, so that the true faster may appear. Many people only honor the first week of fasting, but others neglect it for weakness and laziness. Oh, brother, all these days are honest, and until the Resurrection of Christ. If someone makes a church or something else, doesn’t it be good to decorate it with molding? If a mercenary does not do good, he will not only be deprived of his reward, but will also receive blasphemy. If he starts and manages well with his best efforts to the end, then he will not only receive a reward, but also praise of greatness. The same applies to fasting: if you fast and complete it to the end, you will cleanse your soul from sin and rejoice with the righteous on the Resurrection of the Lord. If you do not fast to the end, laziness for the sake of your own, then you will not only ruin your work, and have nothing in advance for remission of sin, but the demons will rejoice over you, saying: “You are ours, and not God’s”; and your guardian angel grieves over your negligence. For this reason, if you want to be a man of God, then create a fast and complete it to the end, until the Resurrection of Christ: many people through laziness destroy their rewards, a demon, and not the God-bearing Father, who commanded us to fast from food and drink and from evil deeds. And I added Holy Saturday to the fast day for this reason, because our Lord Jesus Christ was in the tomb on that day; The Mother of God with the apostles and with all the faithful in great sorrow and sorrow on that day; The Jews rejoiced, saying: “Behold, we have killed our Heir, the spoken word of Jesus, that our inheritance may be,” and for this reason, I went to eat and drink joyfully. The next morning our Lord Jesus Christ was risen. Having heard the Jewish Christ risen, they offended the great people, and their bad and small joy turned to their great sorrow, and sadness, and torment for endless ages; The Mother of God with the apostles and with all the faithful, that little sorrow was changed into great joy, and there is no end to it. Having heard, brethren, about fasting, we strive to honestly carry out fasting throughout the week, just like the first week, as well as the last, and until the Holy Resurrection of Christ, with all by abstinence from all evil, with purity of soul and body, and with humility, partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, and not by gluttony or drunkenness, so that you may be true fasters and faithful Christians you will be named. Celebrate the Resurrection of Christ and the entire Holy Week honestly, kissing each other, and having fun, and in a bright, triumphant spiritual way, and not with gluttony, nor drunkenness, nor dancing, nor games demonic, nor carnal lusts, but songs and spiritual songs. The Church accepts the faithful who come in purely; He does not accept those who defile their bodies with fornication, and gluttony, and drunkenness. When Christ had risen from the dead, then all creation rejoiced, rejoicing in the Resurrection for Christ’s sake. For this reason, brothers, we must honor the entire Holy Week, as if it were one day, and glorify the Lord, who rose from the dead, and rejoice spiritually in His Resurrection. Therefore, brother, create heaven and earth, and create man from the earth, and breathe the soul into it from Your life-giving inspiration, and breathe all creation, visible and invisible, with the word create And establish and establish the earth on the waters, and create the heavens with the same word. Therefore the archangels, angels, cherubim and seraphim, thrones and dominions, the sun and the moon and the stars of heaven, the sea and rivers and springs, mountains and hills and trees fruitful, winds and clouds, rain and hail, snow and clouds, birds and beasts, cattle and reptiles, and all creation obeys, and as they fear and tremble God and their Creator, and they continually serve human nature, without violating the commands of God. The earth yields its fruits for food for man, for beasts and birds, for livestock and for every breath of the earth. The sun, enlightening the entire universe and warming it, rising and setting, does not transgress the command of God, working by man. Only we, humans, do not fear our Creator and do not keep His commandments, but we always sin and turn away from the true path, which leads us to the Kingdom of Heaven and the food of Paradise, and into eternal life. We adhere to the path of destruction, which leads us into eternal torment, and into outer darkness, and into unquenchable fire, and into an unquenchable worm. No one is dragging us there, but we go of our own free will, not fearing God, but doing the will of the devil. The Lord himself said: “Oh, foolish people, hear and understand, for your sake I created the light, the heavens were cleared, the sea was fenced off with sand. For your sake I created the earth, lake, rivers, and springs. The sun is for the enlightenment of the day, the moon is for the enlightenment of the night, and the sky is decorated with stars. For your sake I have planted every tree and grass on the earth.” Oh, brother, see how merciful the Lord is for us and does not want to see His creation enslaved by the devil, institute for us holy fasts for the cleansing of our souls and bodies, and for driving away evil. But we, brothers, are lazy, and weak, and weak, and heavy-handed, and do not delight in fasting, and in prayer, and in every good deed, in which the soul is saved; for evil deeds you are strong and mighty, strong and vigorous, and creating things with a lighter pen. And we do God’s and the holy apostle’s and the holy father’s commandments that are difficult above all other works. But there is nothing difficult in the commandments of God, but only instructive and soul-saving. For the Lord Himself says: For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Is it so hard to keep the commandments of God, which is their essence: repentance, fasting, purity, bowing, hunger, abstinence from all evil, mercy, submission, love, humility, meekness, sobriety, brotherly love, visiting the sick, going to prison, always listening to Divine words; Don’t slander anyone, don’t slander, don’t be hostile, don’t take reproaches, don’t commit fornication, don’t be proud, come to the Church of God, and pray to God with tears, and much more. good deeds. For these things we will pray to God, and we will marry the devil far from ourselves, and we will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. The essence of this matter is destructive, and hated by God, and cursed by the holy books: lies, slander, squabbling, fighting, grandeur, pride, unmercifulness, envy, brotherly hatred, malice, resentment, anger, arrogance, hypocrisy, disobedience, disobedience, bribery, blasphemy, condemnation, drunkenness, gluttony, adultery, robbery, theft, disobedience of commandments God's, robbery, sorcery, wearing of knowledge, blasphemies, songs of demons, tambourines, snoring, harp, dancing, and playing inappropriately, and mermaids - these are all delights to the devil. Yes, having heard this, brothers, sons and daughters, let us move forward to good deeds, and let us leave all evil and run from them. We spend fast days with spiritual joy with purity, having the fear of God in our hearts, and keeping the commandments of God, with all humility and virtue, with prayers and repentance, yes Let us receive the pure and unblemished Body and Blood of Christ from the priests for the sanctification of our souls and bodies, and for the remission of sins, and we will be the church of the Living God. Glory to our God, now and forever, and forever and ever, amen. Sermon 34. On Monday of the 4th week of Lent, St. John Chrysostom about the creatures of God. God, with His Wisdom, created all creation and brought it from non-existence into existence by the Word, the Father, the Son, for that is why he said: sit at My right hand. Thus, everything that was created, everything visible and everything invisible, the heavens and the earth, and everything on it. The first thought of God was to be smart, and bodiless, and reasonable, rex, angelic powers, like a prophet who said: create angels, your spirits and servants, your own scorching fire . On those we rest, we always glorify them, incessantly in the Three Selves [that is, V40;postasekh], the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Let us formulate the second intention of God into deeds: in the beginning God created heaven and earth, but the earth was neither invisible nor adorned. And God said: let there be light, and there be light. And God will call the light day, and the darkness he will call night; the firmament will be called heaven. Therefore, if you set the high waters, from them the rain and dew of heaven come down to us. On the first day God created the light, and on the second day the firmament, that is, the sky. On the third day, God commanded the waters to gather into one congregation and appear on dry land. And God called the dry land the earth, and the liquids of the water he called the sea. And the God of the earth commanded to bring forth the seeds of the fruitful plant for food to the animals, and commanded it to be a garden of various kinds. On the fourth day, God spoke: “Let the heavenly lights be the sun, the moon, and the stars, and let them illuminate the entire celestial firmament.” On the fifth day, I commanded the waters to remove from themselves the reptiles, the birds that fly in the air, and the reptiles for fruits and for human food. On the sixth day, the God of the earth commanded the four-footed creatures, the creeping things, the beasts, and the cattle. And God saw His creation adorned with His commandment, but no man could boast of it. And God said: Let us create man, the Father said to the Son, Let us create man and let him rule over all who were brought up from the earth. And he gave self-sovereignty, and mail, and speech: “Let the sun, and the month, and the stars, and all the various fruits, and living things, from the earth and from the waters of the air, and the sky, work for you, and the earth, and the sea, and everything in them.” And God finished on the sixth day all His work that He had done. And God rest on the seventh day from all His works. And God planted paradise in Eden and brought man there. And his commandment was not to eat from every tree, but from the one tree, meaning good and evil, not to eat and not to touch it, lest you die, that is, death. We are willing to take the tree of death by crime, and not to guard the animal by abstinence, and for the sake of guilt we are a monster, God is from paradise, and death has come into us, separating the flesh from the soul, and drawing people to repentance, so that they would turn away from their evil deeds, fearing death. And for this reason, God hid the hour of death from us, so that we could always prepare for repentance. The Lord spoke, teaching us: Be prepared, for you do not know at what time the thief will come, rexha, the hour of death. Not all of them don’t die for a long time, but many of them accept the waste in vain. One drop, falling from the head, gives birth to death in vain, and the bite of another will not pass, and another, falling off a horse, dies, and another dies after drinking water or wine, and another dies with a bone. he will choke, and the other will live a day, or two, or ten, without knowing life, and so he will die. And the other dies from deprivation in vain, and every time someone dies, pity is compassionate. And let us remember all the squalor, awaiting death, and put aside anger, and let us remain in the works of demons, envy, and slander, and the taking of other people’s property, and let us renounce fornication and drunkenness, The mortal cup is still waiting for us. And if someone dies from us without repentance, then why would they be born? It would have been good if they hadn’t given birth. In hell there is no way to confess to anyone, nor to have mercy on the poor, nor to clothe the naked, nor to feed the greedy, nor to receive strange things, nor to give prison food, nor to visit the sick: everything is the same will stay here. At the same time, beloved children, hearing and waiting for that hour, let us make the current flow swiftly with our feet towards the church. Let us remember and repent: for there is time for repentance and for many tears. If we don’t repent here now and then go away, what can we do there? Everything will remain here, the gold and the silver, and all the property will remain, but we will leave here with many sins, and the children will be left behind, and the compassion will be here, and the property will be scattered. And where are they who say within themselves: “Will my children remain and let them create a memory of me?” Be it so, but the reward will not be as if you had created it with your own hand, and yet the cup of death is set before you. And also, if some children are drunkards, or thieves, or robbers, or harlots, and they will destroy your property; Therefore, if you were evil, you acquired it through theft, or theft, or insult, or slander. Even if you have acquired righteousness or through your labor and sweat, it is not ours, but God’s gift, and let us not spare it, nor do it for our own, but give it to the poor. If we don’t bring him to freedom, then we will raise torment. If we give it away, then we will do two good things: with it we will do good and we will exorcise terrible torment. When the baby dies in vain, you grieve, thinking that this is the heir to my estate, and this is the support of my old age, and this is the branch of my root, and behold, like a flower having risen, we hold our swearing hands, and suddenly fade away. As you say: “Yes, I don’t cry for him, I don’t sob, I can’t stand the natural root of the God-given summer plants that are suddenly cut off in vain. Even if you try to console me with many parables, even if you don’t cry for a dying person, you naturally won’t be able to get closer.” For the sake of man, I am not teaching you this, nor am I commanding you not to cry, but I forbid incessant crying. Because I myself was conceived in sins, I saw motherly contrition of heart and father, and brotherly and sisterly sobbing, and all the compassionate sobbing and lamentation. But first of all it is proper for our souls to weep, looking at the dead man in his grave, for then we will not see him, and we will see him off with psalms and songs. But let us leave the grave for the resurrection, and let us think that we are in a sleepy state. And again, the imams will rise again and make an answer for our deeds, day and night, and about the intemperance of lust, and about the idleness of speech, and about mixture. You go to sleep and offer the verb: “Only the husband of the dead, will they rise?” But speak evilly, oh madness! If you do not otherwise understand the mystery of the sow, then understand it from life: if you sow wheat or other seeds in the ground, then unless they rot, they will not produce fruit. If it fades into the ground, then the fruit will create fruit. Yes, even if there is a mind about the seed, then about human flesh we must understand the prepositions of the heavens. For it sows into the earthy body, and rises brightly and spiritually. It is sown in weakness and raised in strength. It is sown into decay and raised into incorruption. He is sown in dishonor, but will be resurrected in glory. What kind of honor is the body that stinks and smoldering dust? But he will already rise in glory and honor. So he writes: Adam was the first man from the earth, and the second Adam was the Lord from heaven. Yes, this is your coming, man, do not get attached to earthly things: for the Son of God will come in the glory of His Divinity with the holy angels. Then the Lord will fly to the four corners of the earth, to awaken those who have slept since forever, the righteous and the unrighteous. And the abiye will make a body from the earth, and it will be like a receptacle. And if someone is torn to pieces by an animal, or birds are carried away, or fish are crushed, then not their main body will perish, but in the blink of an eye we will all rise up and ask about created sins, voluntary and involuntary. The first is about the right faith, if we keep it well and observe it. The right Christian faith is this: to believe in the Holy Trinity, in one dominion, and in one kingdom, one power, one worship, one radiance in Three Owners, that is, Litsekh. We do not divide into three Gods one Divinity, but as we are baptized into the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. For if we created these things, we will be the same ones. And then purity of soul and body, from which comes brotherly love, and acceptance of strangers, love of poverty, forgiveness, abstinence, repentance, which is what it is: even if you are afraid of everything evil, even to wash away one’s sins with tears, not to remember malice, and not to despise the beggar and clothing, and not to take away by violence someone else’s property, and even help offended. If anyone does this, he will hear a righteous voice saying: good servant and faithful, be faithful in the least, I will set you over many, enter into the joy of your Lord. And those who are evil and unmerciful, and strangers, envious women, slanderers, brother-brothers, bribe-takers, predators, fornicators, thieves, murderers, scavengers, and the like those who have done this will hear a voice from the Judge saying: get away from Me, you who are unmerciful, who have hated your brethren and who have not loved Christ, and I will not have mercy on you. You are greedy, do not feed Me; I was naked, not clothed; I was strange and did not know Me; sick and in prison, and did not come to Me. And those evil ones, having lost their salvation through laziness, answer Him, saying: Lord, when I saw You greedy, or strange, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and not serve You? Then the Lord speaks to them: Amen, I say to you, unless you do to these least of them, my brothers, you will not do to Me. Get away from Me, the curse, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angel. Having heard rebuke and retribution against our wickedness, let us fear God. Therefore, father cannot help son, nor son can help father, nor mother can help daughter, nor brother can help brother, nor servant can help master, but each one will reap what he has already given. I pray you, children, let us turn away from malice and enter into the endless Kingdom. Let us stop from envy, and slander, and from empty laughter, so that we may not cry forever. Let us remain carnal and useless lust, so that we may not be tormented forever: there is torment for debt. At the same time, I pray to you, children, and unceasingly pray to your love, let us move forward and strive, and let us resort to the mercy of God, and the merciful God may also speak to us: according to your faith, be you, come, receive the Kingdom prepared for you. I pray you, let us arise from our deep sleep. Look how the prophet cries out, saying: “Woe is me, woe is me, for the great, terrible and terrible day is near.” Yes, if the prophet remembers that day and trembles, then we, who have sins in the dark, will we remember without fear? Let us beg the Judge here and with repentance we will atone for our sins. Let us fear the terrible voice that says: Whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before the angels of God; not sweeping away with words, but the deeds of the evil devil. Let us think, brethren, that the Judge of the universe is seated, the angels are present, and the archangels are serving, the cherubim are glorifying, the powers that exceed, and all the heavenly hosts are singing, the patriarchs, and prophets, and apostles, and saints, and martyrs with boldness coming. Before all these, the judges and princes of this world, the mighty, the rich and the poor, the simple and the wise, were judged, and the deeds of all these were rebuked before so many people. And the Judge says: Whoever denied Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in Heaven. The thoughts of the Lord saying: “My Father, these men have rejected My faith, these have driven away My apostles, these are the troublemakers of My Church, these are My and Your words. Having begged and demanded, you have been negligent about My true word and rejected My commands, these are the tormented apostles and martyrs.” These are the words of the thought, telling the King how the coming angels stand with fear, menacingly and with a single vision of destroying sinners. The thoughts of the angels are indignant, and the archangels are moved, the powers of heaven are angry with sinners and drive them out with great rage. Let us drive you out, not just from salvation, but also into eternal torment: not only is it terrible that I cannot be saved, nor reign, but I am betrayed into eternal fire. Again the Lord says: Whoever confesses Me before men, him will I also confess before My Father. Thoughts, man, how much glory then, how much praise and how much crowns, when the Judge says: “You have kept My word and My faith, you have preached My word and Having established this, you did not despise the beggar, you trampled down covetousness and respected the truth; Having mocked the world because I do not exist, and having loved the world to come, for this sake and for My Kingdom they will not separate themselves; This is my word of honor, and my Father will honor them.” All this will be for the salvation of those who confess and for the condemnation of the unbelievers. Most terrible of all, when you think about Michael and Gabriel, and all the heavenly hosts of angels approaching with fear, the son of Zebedee, James and John, and Peter and Paul, men being, sitting with the rest of the apostles; How can we not say to this: “How great is the abundance of Your goodness, Lord Almighty!” Ole miracle! Peter, and Paul, and the other apostles are seated, and Michael, the great Archangel, the commander of the forces, stands. It’s not strange for names to be verbs, but let’s follow Scripture. We do not know the names of the angels, but we believe the Scriptures. There is no envy, there is no earthly thing. The angels do not pity that they stand, but the apostles sit: for the congregations will be holy. Listen to the Lord, who says: Amen, amen, I say to you, for in the presence of all the angels there is joy for one sinner who repents. Let us love the glory of the Lord, but let us reject fleeting glory like a shadow. The Prophet called the glory of this world the wealth of the wicked, but like a dream. Why is today's life different from a ghost? Who was healthy yesterday, is sick today. Yesterday we were masters, but today we are humble. Yesterday he was rich and majestic, but today he is humble. No matter how long this life has been, everything moves and everything passes by, but the words of God cannot pass by. Therefore, for the sake of bliss, Christians who are in the dignity of existence humble themselves. Have you humbled yourself in rank? Humility will not do you any harm, but by doing this, you will become a good warrior. If you have first humbled yourself, prepared your mind, prepare for battle. Let us flee, brethren, from greatness, let us love Christ, and for Christ’s sake, that we may be rich. Having mercy on the poor and every person, he will give much wealth to his soul: the apostles for the possession of the Gospel Shepherd Christ, saying: “I am not with you in body, but I am with you in spirit, and I rejoice, your affirmation is in vain,” even in the faith of Christ, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. [Amen.] Sermon 35. On Tuesday of the 4th week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on prayer. Let those who come to the truth listen to all these. Yes, when I always say: “Pray to God and do His command,” I don’t say: “I prayed to Him much, but received nothing.” Do not give up, but pray with fear that you may receive remission of sin. If you have received grace from God, then ask and you will receive it. Many people come to the church, and having finished speaking darkly, they leave the church and do not know what the verb is saying; The mouth moves, but the ears do not hear. If you do not hear your prayers, then do you command God to hear these? Because I say to you, even if you pray truly with all your heart, you need few words. But even if you say a prayer, or stand in church, you move your lips and bend your knee, but your thoughts fly outside. The body stands inside, and the soul soars outside. Your lips say prayer, and your thoughts count purchases, purchases, offspring, transfers, loans, villages, estates, couplings and profits of all kinds. Oh, brethren, the flattering and deceitful and deceitful devil conveys the message that during prayer there is no small benefit for us, so for the sake of evil he puts evil thoughts on us, preventing us from Now pray to God about sins. When they find evil thoughts against us, then with diligence, and sober thought, and a pleasant mind, let us pour out our prayer before God. Just as veins support the body, prayers also sanctify and strengthen the soul. Just as a light illuminates a dark church, so prayers illuminate the soul. As the body is exhausted, deprived of food, so is the soul, lacking the sweets of prayer, approaching the death of the mind and relaxation. Just as a dark cloud covers the brightness of the sun, so an angry thought destroys the beauty of prayer. Never give up prayers - spiritual food. For there is a great virtue - prayer, even to God, with a clear conscience and with a painful soul. Do not extend long words, but pray often, keep your words short. Christ commanded the apostle to pray often and in few words. If you stretch out the word at length, become weak and give much power to the devil, come, and hew, and remove the verb from the mind. If you say prayers little by little and often, you will be able to remain chaste without dirty tricks. It is appropriate to thank God at the beginning of the meal and at the end. Having done this, you will never fall into drunkenness and fornication, starting and completing it with prayer, like trying with a bridle, to be satisfied with food and drink. For a meal that begins with prayer and ends with prayer will never become scarce, but, as if it is abundant from a source, God gives us all that is good. Many times the devil tempts us at the hour of prayer, forbidding us to remember our sins. Many times we lie on our bed, and nothing harms us. And whenever we say prayers or sing, then without number thoughts of evil will come to our hearts, although we know of those who have not benefited from prayer. Yes, beloved, you who know this, imitate her Canaanite: for she has a daughter who is mad, and we have a soul who sins. What does she say? Have mercy on me, Lord Jesus, Son of David, for my daughter is angry. But we say: “Have mercy on me, Lord, for my soul sins evilly,” for great is the sin of the devil. If you are standing outside the church, then call: “Lord, have mercy on me!” Verbs did not move your lips, but spoke with your thoughts, and in silence God will listen to you. Prayer does not require a place, but pray everywhere, only with all your soul. Jeremiah was a prophet in the mud, but he soon called God. And Daniel, in the den of lions, prayed to God and was saved from them. And the three boys were in the cave, begging and praying to God, out of the excess of that fire. The thief was quickly crucified, and for no reason you created a cross for him, but you also opened the door for him. Job was in hell, but he prayed to God. Yes, even if you are in the floor, you pray to God, or whatever you do, you pray to God, or you stand in a bargain for purchases, or you walk the way, you fly, that is, pray to God. Hear what it was like under Moses: the sea was in front, and the Egyptians were chasing behind, and in the midst of them Moses was present and performed many prayers in his mind. And God said to him: “Why are you crying to Me? Your mouth does not speak, but your heart cries out to Me.” Yes, and you, when you stand before a raging judge who torments you, or fall into the hands of his warriors, then pray to God: I pray for your waves to calm down. If the judge is angry with you, run to God: God is always your helper. If in sorrow you want to pray to a person, and he will not listen to you, and others lie down to sleep, then you will not answer his cold. But God does not have this: no matter who you go, everyone will listen to you, neither the goalkeeper, nor the builder, nor the intercessor, nor anyone from these; but they said: “Lord, have mercy on me!” and God will come soon and help you. Oh, the word is full of meekness, it does not wait for prayer to end. Yes, and we, brothers, strive to pray to Him with all our hearts, so that we may become worthy of the Heavenly Kingdom. Word 36. On the same day [Tuesday of the 4th week of Lent] the question: “Do they do all the evil that foreign countries do to us at the command of God?” Answer. The Lord spoke to Moses: “If you walk in My commandments, you will obey My commandments and do them. I will give you rain in its season, and the earth will give its harvest, and the trees of Poland will give their fruit and grow. And he will suffer the misery of wine, and he will suffer the end of wine in the sowing season, and eat your bread to be satisfied, and dwell firmly in your land. And I will give peace in your land, and you will sleep, and you will not be afraid, and I will destroy the fierce beasts from your land, and the army will not pass through your land, and you will marry your enemies will fall under your feet and die. And five of you will marry a hundred, and you will marry a hundred, and your enemies will fall before you with the sword. And I will look upon you, and I will bless you, and I will make you grow, and I will multiply you. And I will establish My covenant with you, and destroy the old, and destroy the old, and destroy the old from the new. And I will establish My covenant with you, and My soul will not abhor you. And I will become like you, and I will be a God to you, and you will be my people. If you do not listen to Me, do not do these commandments of Mine, nor submit to them, and your soul will be indignant at My judgments, because you did not do all My commandments, and you will destroy My covenant, and I will make it for you: I will bring upon you poverty, and wounds, and wounds, damaging your eyes, and drying up your souls. And you will sow your seeds in vain, for your adversity will take them away. And I will hide My face from you, and you will fall before your enemies, and you will marry those who hate you, and you will flee from persecution. And even if for this reason you do not listen to Me, then I will lay down many punishments on you for your iniquities, and I will crush the anger of your pride, and I will lay heaven for you like iron and earth yours, like copper. And your labors will be in vain, and your land will not yield the seed you sow, and the trees of the village will not yield their fruit. If therefore you go astray among the nations, and do not choose to listen to Me, I will add to you seven plagues according to your sins, and I will send the fierce beasts of the earth upon you, and they will consume you. and your cattle will consume you, and I will make you humble, and your ways will be desolate. Even if you are not punished by this, but you will come to Me through the wilderness, and I will come to you in rage through the wilderness, and I will strike you and I will sin seven times for your sake. And I will bring a sword against you to avenge the judgment of the covenant, and you will flee to your cities, and I will send death on you, and you will fall into the hands of your enemies. And I will take away the flesh of your sons and daughters, and I will lay your cities desolate, and I will scatter your holy city, and I will not smell the stink of your desires, and I will make your land desolate, and You will be attacked, and I will scatter you into countries, and the sword that comes will destroy you.” Glory to our God. Homily 37. On Wednesday of the 4th week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on the worship of the Honorable and Life-giving Cross. Let us reject despondency, brother, having completed the holy days of fasting, and let us sing joyfully for the rest. For this reason, the holy fathers saw that at the halfway point of the Holy Honest and Great Lent, they offered the Cross of the Lord for veneration. Let us all fall down and worship Him, having removed all anger, envy, slander, condemnation, and all malice, having cleansed our soul and body through repentance and almsgiving, and so let us worship and We kiss, faithfully, joyfully the Honest Cross, glorifying on it the nailed flesh of Christ God, and longingly not for many to enter Jerusalem by the will of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, burial and resurrection. And we do not worry about Lenten asceticism, befitting the Lord’s holy humility and love. For Christ Himself humbled Himself for our sake and became man, and He prefigured all virtues for us. We fasted for fourty days, prefiguring the fast for us: diarrhea, and reproach, and crucifixion, and death were received, and the whole Creator endured for our salvation. In the same way, we, beloved ones, strive to become like Him, through fasting, prayers, almsgiving, humility, and love. But no one said: “When will I start fasting, will I waste a week or two in laziness?” Oh, brethren, do not speak like this, for many are the essence of the abode in heaven, for whom the deeds are prepared for everyone against, while we are not lazy in trying to comprehend the first ones, purely business accepting, with hunger and thirst, and worship. God accepts the latter as worthily to the repentant, just as he did the first. If now in these days of fasting we do not repent, and if death befalls us, then it would be better for him not to be born, than to be in malice. Let us strive, brethren, to truly repent, for the Lord our God Himself calls us to the bright joy, and gives imperishable crowns to fasters. Yes, brothers, we cannot deprive ourselves of heavenly joy, which those who do good deeds will inherit. Because of our evil deeds, even in a little while they enjoy us, but they will torment us forever. The Lord our God said: Be careful that your hearts are not burdened with gluttony, drunkenness, and the sorrows of life. The holy fathers also cry out. If you were a groom, then today you will be a peacemaker. If you were a drunkard, then today a strong faster will appear. If you were a saint to the body, then today the enlightener of the soul will appear; But let us not only be Christians in words, so that what is said will not be spoken to us: these people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. If any word or letter comes from the rulers of the earth, then everyone will listen and quickly do their commandment, and I call to God all the days and all the hours, and the prophets and apostles, and saints, and martyrs, and holy fathers, but no one does His will. Let us keep up, faithfully, for the rest of the days with joy; Even if we have gone astray in negligence, we will end well, and even if we sinned all summer long, if we truly accept repentance, the Lord will forgive us everything. Why bother making prayers to God? If you are creative, do not have malice or anger, so that your labor will not be in vain. And when they sing in church, do not talk idle words, so that you do not destroy your rewards, and do not judge the sins of others, because there is joy in hostility, but everyone is concerned about their own sins, each one answers about himself and accepts them according to his deeds. If we stand before earthly rulers, no one dares to talk, but we stand in fear, we give honor to such people, we fear them, then isn’t it more appropriate to give honor to God, and Fear Him and work righteousness, for He controls our souls and bodies: He kills and gives life, brings us to poverty and makes us rich, humbles and exalts. By me, I say, kings reign and the strongest hold power. Wealth and glory are mine. Az, speech, honoring Me mail. Let us fear this, brother, and with a clear conscience accept the Body and Blood of Christ, trampling on enmity and anger, rejecting envy and condemnation, and all evil deeds. Just as the body cannot live without receiving bread, so the soul, unless it receives communion, is dead. About this Christ also says: man will not live on bread alone. To my love, give me the soul food of the soul, and the body body. This is a soulful meal, the essence and bonds of our conscience are alive. For this reason, the devil despises the faithful, so that they would receive communion infrequently, so that he would have his power over them. Dear, my heart rejoices, seeing the faithful, with their wives and children, receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord. Hear the Lord saying: eat My Flesh and drink My Blood for eternal life and will not come to judgment, but will pass from death to life. If anyone is deprived of communion, he is not worthy to stand in church. Glory to our God. Homily 38. On the Thursday of the 4th week of Lent, the commandment of our holy fathers was found in the mind of Holy Father Basil, about humility. Listen, brothers and beloved, to the great bishop who says: “If anyone from the faithful and God-loving, from the teaching of the devil, or from his own majestic and proud mind, falls into hostile nets, rexha, into anger and quarrels, or into any enmity, then let him accept the fear of God into his hearts, and tender, submissive meekness, and let him accept love holy and blessed humility, with great love, endeavoring quickly and unhypocritically and unflatteringly. Hear the prophet saying: whatever I find you doing, that is what I will judge. And sometimes he says: let not the sun go down on your anger. David says: Be angry and do not sin, and be humble in your beds. And again I say: sacrifice to God, a broken spirit, a contrite and humble heart, God will not despise. The Lord will save those who are brokenhearted and humble in spirit. And the Lord himself said: My peace I give to you. And Paul the Apostle said: May peace and love be with you from God and the Father, and the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. And again the Lord said: of this you will know that you are my disciples, if you love your enemies, and do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who do evil to you . And again the Lord said: blessed are the peacemakers, for these shall be called the sons of God. And again he said: Blessed are the Croce, for you will inherit the earth. Listen, beloved ones, to the Lord Himself, who says: “Do not let a single word fall to the ground, lest it be found like a swine harvesting the gold of the Lord.” These are the Jews and heretics, not having a good mind, for this reason they called themselves pigs, and gold is the Divine teaching. Let us, brethren, not be called by those who do not heed the Divine and soul-saving teaching, but let us be obedient, and submissive, and gentlemen, like Paul, and David, and the Lord our Jesus Christ. Paul accepted many wounds and annoyances from everyone, but endured them all with love. Likewise, David suffered many misfortunes from foreigners and from his neighbors. And our Lord Jesus Christ Himself accepted passion and death from His servants, and did not repay evil for evil, but endured everything for our salvation. But we, sinners, cannot endure even the slightest bit of guilt for the sake of salvation. For this reason, I pray you, brothers, let us dissolve the networks of hostility, which are the essence: anger, quarrel, battle, slander, envy, enmity, discord, resentment, disobedience, humility, and other malice. For the sake of malice, our prayers are unpleasant to God, but rather than anger God, we are preparing eternal torment. But the father soon turned to humility, for the sons of God desired humility. Likewise, for the sake of humility, people have spoken many times with the angels. At first, people were deceived by the flattery of the devil, and fell away from God, and began to serve the devil, and there were quarrels in them, and there were many of them. The angels of God, having seen Satan’s deceit and the evil of man, set up an army not only with demons, but also with evil people. When God saw that people had turned aside from the true path and turned aside towards malice, He was moved with His indescribable compassion and merciful heart, turning to humility towards man, not only in meaning, but also in deed: the intention that the All-Merciful One may send His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, so that for our sake He may come down from heaven and people will live, but he will defeat the devil and his servants, and so be it. For this reason, God first sent prophets preaching His dream and incarnation, even before the crucifixion and before the Resurrection. There was trampling by the demon, and salvation by man, and there was peace in heaven and on earth, by angel and man. Listen, beloved ones, what it is like to have good peace among yourself. If anyone maintains peace among himself and love for every person, he will be saved without difficulty, and his prayer is acceptable to God. If anyone goes to the church angry and does not say goodbye, then his prayer is not pleasing to God, but only angers God, and on such people the wrath of God and execution for disobeying Him there are holy words. We, brothers, will unleash our wrath and all the enmity of Satan on Satan and his servants, and we will receive the peace of the angels, without delaying even for an hour, may it be for us here and in the future world will dwell with angels and rejoice with all the saints.” Sermon 39. On the same day [on the Thursday of the 4th week of Lent] the teaching of St. John Chrysostom. Whenever you see someone living in malice, living in wealth, reeksha, in untruth, and accepting evil in nothing, do not indulge in such whims, but weep for him, because of him all the evil torments they will accept you there. And the one who lives in virtue, even if you see and accept misfortunes, indulge him and be jealous of this, as if here he will be freed from all his sins, and there he will come to great joy. For this reason, the Apostle Paul said: all who want to live faithfully in Christ Jesus are persecuted here from men, or from demons, or from evil kings by expulsion and imprisonment, and many wounds, and troubles, bonds, and prisons, and other sorrows. The Lord has spoken: Be ye sorrowful in this world, and: Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world, and there shall be sorrow and sorrow for you, but joy shall come. If anyone wants to be crowned with imperishable glory, he will live a cruel and painful life here, and there he will find glory, honor, and eternal peace. As the prophets of God lived, David said: the days of our years, in them are seventy years, or even eighty years, and multiplying their labor and illness. Thus Jeremiah wept, and Job lamented his days. And Moses said: Kill me, Lord. And Elijah fasted for fourty days and, weeping, said: Take, O Lord, my soul from Me. Daniel did not eat bread for three weeks. The Apostle Paul also spoke about them: they passed away in sweet clothes and in goat skins, deprived, sorrowful, embittered, but the whole world is not worthy of them. Nobody, I mean, gets married unless he suffers illegally or suffers illegally. But if anyone fasts and repents, prays, and gives alms, resolving every cause of unrighteousness, and abstaining from oaths, and envy, from robbery, and bribery, from taking money that is not according to the law, and from tavern buying, and from drunkenness, about those who remain in these things, the Apostle Paul said: for such will not inherit the Kingdom of God. From a soul defiled by drunkenness, the Lord does not accept either fasting or prayer. If you come to the church, stinking drunkenness, and bending your skin, where will I make you a drunkard, or a faster? It is true that drunkards will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Anna fasted, prayed to the Lord, with the verb: look upon Thy servant, Lord, and give me the fruit of the womb; and through her prayer and petition there was fruit. Likewise, Sampson fasted, defeating the foreigners by the thousand a day, and the stone gate was delighted, like the past, and the Lviv fortress did not tolerate his hand. Whenever his drunkenness is accepted, then he will become enemies, and will be deprived of his sight, and will become a reproach to children. We, brothers, are fleeing from such an illness, so that we will not be reproached by the demon, and laughed at by foolish children, and mourned by the faithful and intelligent, but with a pure heart and a sober mind. the devil and all his wiles, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. [Amen.] Sermon 40. On the Friday of the 4th week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom about the Passion of God. Listen, my brother, first of all, have the fear of God in your hearts. If a person acquires the fear of God in his heart, he can be freed from all evil. Be active in the Church of God, and not be lazy: for this is cleansing for our souls and bodies. In church, stand in fear, not talking to anyone, and you won’t play dirty tricks on those who are silent. Not only stand with fear and trembling, but also with humility, listening to the singing and veneration of the Divine books, and looking at the most honorable image of God and at all the holy icons, remembering your sins and shedding tears, be like a publican, and not a Pharisee. Most of all, listen to your spiritual father and go to him often, confessing your sins, not harboring a single sin: those who repent, for God is, and not those who repent and multiply sins - devil Even if a person, having repented of his sins, conceals even one sin, I feel slightly guilty about it, he will receive great condemnation for that. Like a bird, if it gets stuck in a net with just one fingernail, it will all die; Likewise, even if a person conceals even one sin, he will be the heaviest of all and like a mountain it will be impossible to move. Again, if your spiritual father commands you to do penance, accept it with love and keep it. Because you only want to confess your sins and thereby be forgiven, but you don’t want the commandments and penance of your father for your spiritual acceptance. It’s like this, as if they shoot a person somewhere with an arrow, and the iron in him breaks, and then they bring a doctor, and the doctor, cutting the ulcer, removes the iron. But unless he applies the potion, he cannot heal his ulcers. If the infirmity begins to endure potions, then it weakens, and even if it has suffered a little for the sake of healing, even little by little it will be healed. In the same way, we also commit sins, and the devil has shot us with them, and our sin remains in us like iron; Even if we come to our spiritual father and confess that sin, our spiritual father, like a cunning doctor, will remove sin from us, like iron, and wants to heal us according to penance for the plague against that sin. When we begin to correct penances beyond our power, then it makes it easier, even though we would have corrected little, since we would not have transgressed the commandments of God, nor disobeyed the Father’s commands. The Lord says: He who listens to you, He listens to Me, but if you reject you, He will reject Me. Even if today someone says: “I fear God, but I do not listen to man,” it is a lie before God. And there is a great deal about the communion of the Most Pure Mysteries, brethren, for the great Apostle Paul says: If anyone partakes of the Body and Blood of Christ is unworthy, then he commits a greater sin to himself accepts. Understand, brother, what is worthy of acceptance: first of all, it is fitting to confess your sins to your spiritual father, from beginning even to the end; the spiritual father gives penance against his sin, so that when he finishes the commandment and begins to strive for other good deeds, then he will give him communion; Otherwise, it will be cruel for the giver and the receiver. And even if there is evil to destroy a person, there is a lot of things that happen to the army, or besides the army. And even if a person receives communion without being corrected by his spiritual father, such a person destroys Christ within himself and cannot gain the gift of sin. It is fitting for every Christian to partake of the Most Pure Mysteries of Christ three times a summer and repent of their sins, and due to our weakness, at least once a summer during Great Lent, and then there is great cleansing. If someone does not create even that, but death happens to him, it would be better for him not to be born. But do not condemn the bishop, or the priest, or the deacon, or the monk, or the monk, brethren, and do not hold them accountable for anything, but I love you dearly, for you are the essence of intercession for us to God. For the holy Apostle Paul says: brothers, obey your teachers and repent of them, for you will watch over your souls, so that they may repay the word for you; Moreover, answer for us, and not for us for them. But if you want to come to them and talk with them about spiritual things, or about the sad things of this world, you, because the essence of sadness, can comfort us from our sorrows. Or if you have anything you need, bring it to them, because you are putting everything in the hand of God. Most of all, have friendship for your king with all your heart and do not think anything evil. For the holy Apostle Paul says: all power and all dominion came from God. Yes, if anyone opposes the ruler, he will resist God’s command. But whoever has a parent, let me honor him as God, by whom I know the light. Then a son is free when he buries the bones of his parent. Love your brother the same way, says the Theologian: if anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, it is a lie. For the Lord Himself says: love your neighbor as you love yourself. If anyone has a poor brother, or someone in his family, and gives him what he requires, then more than any other charity will be counted before God. And you also lead slaves in punishment and teach them good morals, without reprimand and wounds, knowing that you too are God’s creation, but have been given to us by God for service. In the same way, it is worthy for you to care for their souls, and to rebuke them from evil, and to bring them to repentance, and to compel them to the Church of God, for you are by nature abbesses in your homes. If anyone among you is not baptized, or dies without repentance, then you must answer for their soul before God. Have such others and advisors for yourself, who do not praise you for everything that is said, but strive to answer with justice. And even those words that are harmful to the soul are not friends, but caresses of this light, and destroyers of souls. Above all, do not have pride in your heart or mind. Hear how at first the angel became proud, and God did not spare him, but sent him into darkness, and into the abyss, and into an unquenchable fire. They did not say that for the sake of wealth there is pride in those who live well. Just as wine is poured out for two: for the wise for joy, and for the foolish for evil, sin, and injury, and loss; So is wealth: another is wealth collected by goodness, and another is wealth collected by the love of gold. The gold lover is not the master of his wealth, but he is a guardian, not a master, and a slave to the property, and not to God. The lover of money wants to cut down his meat, whether it be gold buried in the ground or sealed in a vault to be published to the poor. For the Lord has shown us an example, not to think highly, nor to rely on the abundance of your wealth. Abraham was rich, but not a lover of gold, not because he loved the floors decorated with gold, but under the tree, protected by leaves, he sat and found salvation. For Abraham was not lazy, but set out on the path, and where he saw poverty, or wretchedness, or covetousness, or greed, well-fed and girded, or naked, and clothed, and I came to the Lord Him, Abraham sacrificed a calf for His sake. And then the Lord blessed Abraham and Sarah his wife, and promised him a son, Isaac. Do not boast about your family, for you are noble, but about yourself and your deeds. If you say: “the father and imam are Bolyarin, and the martyrs of Christ are the brethren, and my mother is noble.” A little kvass leaves the whole mixture leavened. And again he said: “The sheep will be on the right hand, and the goats will be on the shoes.” Yelma is a goat, the Chadian bears no good fruit, gives no good cheese, no wave; the sheep still does good. One man aims many, and one good guides many; but one evil will corrupt many. Just as a maiden keeps her virginity until now, she is called like that, but if she is deceived and sins, then she is no longer a maiden. So even a Christian, if the gospel destroys words and begins to do filthy deeds, then he is no longer a Christian, but only by his name is he called a Christian. The Lord said: “I will put enmity between the devil and men”; For many people do what they will to the devil. But this is worthy for Christians, let them cry out in prayer to God with an exclamation, so that he may drive away the evil enemy. It is of no use to a person to be good in age, but more so to have a good soul towards God. For the oak tree is tall and beautiful, but without fruit; and the buttocks lie on the ground, but create fruit; there is a drag in all of them. Why are bees worse? What is redder than a peacock? But who bears what fruit with it? Even if you confess your deeds to a friend who reproaches you, you do not want to tell your sins to God who heals you. The scripture says: “Do not be ashamed to tell your sins to your spiritual fathers, for by these sins are cleansed.” If you honor God, then it will be at your right hand; If you do not honor God, then the devil will be at your right hand. The Lord says: “Behold, I have given you two eyes, two hands and two noses, that you may walk according to My commandments. If you do not listen to My commandments and do the works of the devil, for this reason you will reap the sickle, the plague of evil and death, and after death there is eternal torment, burning with fire. unquenchable." It’s scary and menacing, brother, to hear, but it’s even worse to see. For this sake, brothers, fear these terrible torments, and always pray to the Lord God here, repentance is pure, and do not return to past sins. Live a pure and virtuous life, leaving behind evil morals and customs and accepting good ones. Most of all, brothers, do not forget the orphans and the needy, as much as you can, give according to your strength, clothe them naked, and love one another, and know for yourself that you are loved by God yes. Glory to our God. Sermon 41. On Saturday of the 4th week of Lent, the teaching of St. Basil and the telling of the angels' messages to the faithful. The Angel of the Lord will speak a word from the Lord to those who consider themselves faithful Christians, but do not have the fear of God, saying: “Woe to that man who has wrath against him.” someone, or having boiled, or having fought with someone, or having done evil to someone, or having any kind of evil in his heart against someone, and not saying goodbye to him, he goes to the Church of God, resisting a faithful and meek person, they are promised to inherit the Promised Land and peace. Or if I light, or prosphyra, or bring some other offering, or eat a lot of food, or kiss the Gospel, he who is in malice is worthy to eat such an eternal martyr, and ever-boiling resin, and unquenchable fire. Worse than that, and greater than murder, and murder, and heresy, and all evil is more evil, and all destruction is more destructive, whenever anyone approaches the Most Pure Body and Blood of Christ, and holding anger against someone, or boiling, or fighting, or slandering someone, or marrying someone, or remembering anger against someone, then such an inexorable judgment will accept and without mercy torment eternal; It would be better for such a person not to be born: the Jews are bitter and the heretic will be condemned for unworthily accepting the Most Pure Body and Blood of the Lord. Whenever someone approaches the Most Pure Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who takes away the sins of the whole world, and hears the verb: “Let us take in, Holy of Holies,” - for this is what is said about the communion of the Holy Mysteries, the decision of a worthy and faithful person - and he who is unworthy approaches the Most Pure Mysteries of Christ, then heaven, and earth, and the underworld “Everything will be shaken, and the highest powers of heaven will all tremble, and all the mental armies will be overcome with fear, seeing human nature on earth doing every untruth.” Hear, dearly, the angel’s story told by Saint Basil. Have you heard how the holy angels, who have not sinned, tremble and fear, then how we, sinners, will escape eternal torment, a lot of punishment and teaching, not listening, a lot of fear and fear without being horrified? But be sure to know the word of the Lord, which says: Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father. This is the will of God, to have the fear of Him in your hearts, and to have His angels, humility, submission, meekness, goodness, good humor, sobriety, obedience, attention, and all other good deeds: this is the essence of angelic deeds. If we had, brothers, and we had such affairs, then eternal torment would have fled far from us, and the Kingdom of Heaven would not have been far from us, and the angels would have rejoiced byhom. And this is the essence of Satan’s work and his servants: pride, magnificence, contempt, evil disobedience and unclean drunkenness, with all malice, for their sake Satan will fall from glory God, damned absurdity. His pride and greatness were accepted by the Jews, not having faith in the Son of God, and the eternal martyr, with his teacher the devil, do not accept his teachings, brethren. But may we accept the teachings of the prophets, and the apostles, and the fathers, and that by that teaching we may receive eternal life and the kingdom of heaven, with all who have done the will of God and walked according to the commandments His, and we, brothers, strive to follow that teaching. Sermon 42. On the same day [Saturday of the 4th week of Lent], the word of our holy father Nifont, as befits Orthodox Christians at the meal with silence. Once upon a time the reverend Father Niphon walked, in the form of a man, sitting and eating at a meal with his wife, and with his children, and with those sitting with him at the meal. And before them they saw red young men in white robes, standing in that church, as many as the number of those eating was equal to the number of the young men present. Those who eat byahu are beggars. The servant of God saw and felt a miracle, saying: “Ole miracle! What is it that those who sit are wretches and beggars, but those who are coming are dressed in bright robes?” And without even thinking about it. And God show him who the essence of the upcoming bright image of the young man is - that is the essence of the angels of God. They have this order: during the meal, they stand in silence before those who eat, like the blazing servants of God. And when the word begins to be idle, or nasty, or slanderous, or blasphemous, or something displeasing to God is said at the table, or someone begins to engage in blasphemy: yes Just as the smoke of a bee drives away, so will the angels of God drive away inappropriate speech and evil conversations. Having departed as an angel of God, the dark demons come and spread all kinds of evil among the diners, and they shed foul smoke on them from the words of those at the table, and from evil conversations. And the holy angel said all this, and Saint Niphon was amazed and said: Truly, Paul the Apostle wrote the verb: “Brothers, whether you eat or drink, all to the glory of God create." Glory to our God, now and forever and forever, amen. Sermon 43. On the 4th week of Lent, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on fasting, and on prayer, and on almsgiving. Come now, children of the church, and I will give you the usual teaching about fasting, and about prayer, and about almsgiving to your congregation. Well, my love, most of the fast has passed. And each of you knows his own labor, and through it he strived for God, during the days and nights of holy fasting, and expects to receive reward from God: without asceticism no one gets married. And if, brethren, we have hitherto remained in laziness, let us advance on the remaining days, with fasting, and prayers, and almsgiving, so that we may first comprehend those who labored by fasting. Prayer appropriates a lot to God, because all virtues are corrected by it. If you say a prayer with all your heart, then like incense it ascends to God. The prophet David said: May my prayer correct this, like a censer before You. If you don’t pray to the krill, it won’t fly to God. Krill, the essence of prayer is fasting and almsgiving. Fasting is not only abstinence from food, but the abstinence of all evil deeds and the resolution of every cause of unrighteousness. Leave evil to your neighbor; fast neither in judgment nor in conflict, says the Lord. If you don’t eat meat, stay away from drinking, from quarreling, and from anger. Did you leave the evening? But you sit until late, condemning everyone and not being like a verb. But I did not choose this fast, says the Lord. What is the use of being hungry in the flesh, but doing much evil with the soul? O man, be your own judge, and a accuser of your own deeds and sins. Look for your father’s rule about fasting, and do it yourself. It is good to help a person who is hungry. If Eva had been hungry from the tree, they would not have demanded this fast today. But Elma did not subside, but fell from paradise; Now let us fast, so that we may return to Him again. Fasting makes the prophets strong. Fasting is a perfecter and preserver of the law. Fasting preserves the body and collects good deeds. Fasting is an invincible weapon against enemies, a fortress for the passion-bearer, and a demon-driver. Fasting is a vessel for chastity, a priest is a perfecter, a demon is a fortress, and a demon is a chaser, a saint is an adornment: it is impossible to perform holy services without this. Fasting raises prayer to heaven, like a krill, bringing it to a mountain procession. The post of a servant introduces the rank. Fasting is for the health of the mother, for youth - for the leader, for old age - for beauty and kindness, for the hermit - for help. A husband, seeing his wife fasting, keeps goodness himself, and the wife, seeing her husband fasting, will become like him. No one will impoverish his home by fasting often: the cook and knives are abolished by greed, and the house meal will not become scarce for the one who fasts often, and his children will not be enslaved by the demands of the food. Through alms and faith sins are cleansed; Through prayers and fasting we get rid of evil. As long as you kill the flesh through greed, you create a strong soul for God. In the same way, brothers, strive to complete the Lenten season virtuously. Believe it or not, as those who call for a king or prince decorate their house more honestly; and you, brother, having received Christ into your spiritual home with holy communion, cleanse your body by fasting, cut off thirst, adorn it with humility, so that your hand may be hungry from being robbed, and may not hear accepting evil verbs. May your mouth and tongue be hungry for shameful words and inappropriate conversations, and your eyes for seeing the kindness of others. If you post this, don’t judge your friend, make peace with your enemy, and envy no one. What is the use of being hungry, dying in the flesh, and doing evil deeds? What help is there to abstain from poison and to engage in fornication? What kind of good is it that languishes one’s body, but does not show mercy to widows and orphans? What good is it that you don’t wash your body and don’t clothe your naked people with your excess? This is not the fast I have chosen, says the Lord, but leave all untruths, rage, anger, envy, slander, drunkenness and other evils, so that you may be saved. If anyone refrains from eating bread and becomes angry, it is not human, but brutal. If anyone lies on the bare ground, and no evil remains, he is bitter to the cattle; Bestial abstinence will not save us unless we remain untruthful. Glory to our God, now and forever, and forever and ever. [Amen.] Sermon 44. On Monday of the 5th week of Lent, St. John Chrysostom tells a soul-helping story about this present life, in the order of the parable of the court and the serpent. All things, beloved, even in times, the bishops, and shepherds, and leaders are in us, for us for the sake of the priesthood of the Divine Word, and for the diffusion of the word of teaching to us, many providences and They create zeal for salvation. Because we, too, are with the people, for our sake the Lover of Mankind grazed, I said to Moses, who was angry: for it is not you who shepherds My people, but I for your sake. We, the bad ones, call on Him today, as the source of gifts that bestows undefiled, and strengthens our weaknesses with His power, and makes wise our madness, His ineffability wisdom and grace. Whenever I think about the primordial, I am amazed, and when I think, I am horrified and filled with bewilderment: how he, who was created by the hand of God, and was an interlocutor with God, by the hand of God created and honored, and to have the dwelling of paradise, and the lord of all was called God, one commandment transgressed God, I lost many blessings, and every bit of honor, and glory, and the kingdom, and all kinds of gifts in one hour were revealed and fell away, and were quickly expelled from paradise, and descended into the depths of poverty and passions? Whenever, brethren, I consider the single crime of disobedience, I am plunged into despair over the many and countless sins of ours. Whenever I raise my thoughts about the robber, and I understand how I was saved by a single word, consumed in one hour by his countless sins, I zealously flow to repentance. Even though I fell by deed, I was saved by the word. Having seen quite a few miracles, having disobeyed the Creator, this one has seen no one, but only one Christ, and He was crucified, and believed in Him. There is a lot of difference between both, only the inequality of the mind, as well as the dissimilarity between the soul and the body. The thief has no name for virtue, but simply says: remember me, Lord, when you come to the Kingdom of the Sea. Because you are natural disciples of Christ, hope and strive to have such faith, and do godly deeds, so that you may receive salvation, just as he did the thief. Every person who has been baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and has been deemed worthy to receive Divine communion, must follow this path. The Holy Gospel says: “Don’t offend anyone, don’t kill anyone, don’t do anything to them unnecessarily.” If you are offended by someone, endure to the end. If anyone stabs you on the cheek, give him the other one too. If someone understands that there is only one field, go with him and two. This has endured from those of the same faith, and no one has suffered such from Christians. And from here came the heavy yoke of Ishmael, who heard the heavy yoke and, not wanting to endure, endured. Even if they suffered misfortune from those of the same faith, they received a greater reward. No one has suffered a second beating, but has endured only one, but even more so, we dare to offend others. Every Christian should always repent to God about any sin, and not be seduced by the flattery of this vain life. But listen with all diligence, trying the parables to sow the power that I want to show your love. Be like, beloved, our life in the life of this man, I will dwell in the courtyard with my wife, and with my only son, and with one servant, in the midst of the serpent. deadly. The man heard from many that he kills all the serpents that enter into that courtyard from the beginning. And thinking to himself, he said: “Either I will leave the court, or I will kill the serpent.” [Interpretation:] But the love of money is the lust. Then go and kill the serpent, and you will find before her the Arabian goldenrod, and then he says: “If this serpent had wanted to kill us, he would not have given the goldenrod.” This one will bring me food and other things,” and do not kill her. And when you come in the morning, you will find the gold and thoughts in yourself, the verb: “This serpent is not worthy of death, but of great honor.” The serpent remained for a while, giving gold and harming him in no way, and man rejoiced with that great joy, for he had not killed the serpent. Namely, that man had a horse of great value, and when the serpent came, he bit his horse and killed it. Interpretation: This is the world, beloved, this is the life. The serpent is the ruler of the world, a wicked enemy, whom he scours under his heels, let him kill him. Zlatnik is evil lust, which leads everything to destruction. The poison of the serpent is sin, all deceiving and killing, as the Apostle James said: lust, when conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when completed, gives birth to death. For sin, for our sake, God executes us, sending death to our livestock, frightening us, so that we do righteousness and abide in His law; if we begin to be careless, the worst will be found on now. Having seen that man, his horse was killed, and insulted, and began to curse the court and the snake, saying in himself: “Even if this poisonous snake kills in this way, it becomes us kill her first, before she kills us too.” And when you come to kill her, you will find a treasure chest according to custom, and say: “Even if the horse perishes, why should I destroy the treasure chest for every day? Even if you kill a horse and a serpent, it does not harm a person.” That person will remain for a while, taking gold every day, but we will harm nothing. And when he saw the serpent of man not to be heeded, his sleeping servant came and died, and he cried out loudly. When his master came, he cursed the serpent and the court, and cursed his madness. [Interpretation:] So, on a good day we do not remember death, but if there is any misfortune or illness, then we are exhausted, and we despise this life, and we commit vows not to deeds of untruth. Even if trouble or sorrow passes, then we will continue to act evil and worse than the first, living in prosperity and without sorrow, and not fearing the judgment of God. Just as a man saw his servant sick, and could not heal him, and that servant died. Lord, bow down to kill the serpent, and when you come to the place, you will find the golden treasure, and take it, and so you will be blinded by the lust of the love of money, and you will not kill the serpent, nor be afraid, you fool, of judgment. God and execution. [Interpretation:] Because God admonishes us, our servants are taken away from us. A person who is alive without sorrow is one who does not care about death. The serpent came in the night and devoured his son, and the father began to weep for his son, beating his chest with his hands - “alas!” - calling and cursing the yard, both the serpent and himself. [Interpretation:] So we too, when someone’s children from us begin to die, for untruths and for the multitude of our sins, then in a small way we hate this life and we swear, saying: “It would be better for us not to know this life.” Oh dear, brothers! If we see our children dying and are not punished, then what do we do? Be aware that eternal torment awaits us, unless we are punished with troubles and executions. Once upon a time God became angry with Farah, the father of Abraham, and killed his son Haran, so that he would punish him: but he was not punished, even he himself perished. In the first births, the son did not die before the father. We are dances, today we weep inconsolably for the dead, but in the morning we act unrighteously, in no way afraid of death. Whenever we see off the dead, then we weep, and when we leave, we get drunk and commit blasphemies. When a man saw his son exhausted, he called a doctor and prayed to him to heal his son. And having worked a lot, they achieved nothing, and the offspring died. And his father, in great sorrow, swears to kill the serpent, saying: “As long as I am a fool and foolish, I will never tell you to fear God and righteousness?” Not long after, the serpent began to give him gold coins. He was careless, not fearing the execution of God’s assembly for the sake of the destructive, living without sorrow in the flattery of this life. Suddenly the serpent came and eat his wife. [Interpretation:] Likewise, death, like a thief comes, on a day unknown, and at an hour without tea, delights us. The woman cried out, and her husband came, weeping and sobbing. Hearing the family and friends, he fell down and cried. The man again called for a doctor, promising to give much wealth if he would deliver his wife from death, and did a lot of healing, but nothing succeeded, and the wife died. And that man was alone, secluded in his home, in great sorrow. His friends and neighbors advised him to kill the serpent in every possible way, saying that he wants to kill you too. He, going to the place, was on guard, as if to kill the snake. And seeing the beads are pure and of great value, and I took the beads and was in great joy, forgetting the death of my wife and son. [Interpretation:] Oh, madness and absurdity, how the devil flatters us with the lust of possessions, and through the flattery of this life he will create salvation for others and deliver us to eternal fire! Just as a fisherman's fishermen's fishing rod is called flattery, flattering the fish, so we too are flattered by the possessions and glory of this light. Truly, this world lives in flattery, deceived by the love of money, is always blind and deaf, and forgets evil and misfortune when it finds it. Create therefore a summer of days for the serpent, providing beads for every day. Seeing the abundance of beads, the man rejoiced and remained in food without sorrow. And suddenly the serpent bit him in the foot, and I cried out to him loudly, and family and friends flocked to him, crying and reproaching him, because he had not killed the serpent. And I called the doctors, but they didn’t succeed, the doctor was nothing. When a person despairs of human help, he runs to God, saying: “Behold, Lord, I alone have made me alive, let me repent, and I no longer want to be offended by life.” this, and I will squander what I have gathered with unrighteousness, and I will be anxious about my salvation, for I have known the flattery of this light.” And calling to help you the saints who have pleased the Lord since the ages and promising to give much wealth in alms. And the Lord listened to him, and gave him life, and the man became healthy, and forgot his vow and oath to God. [Interpretation:] Expect, brethren, a vow without fruit, and vanity from delusion. Because we are all, whenever sorrow or illness comes to us, we promise to do good. And when the sorrow passes, then we live in goodness and without sorrow, we do evil, fulfilling no less of the vow that we promised in sorrow. Elma became a healthy man and returned to his first rank and vanity, receiving beads for every day, the verb: “turn, my soul, to your rest.” And just as he was eating without sorrow, the serpent came and bit into his hand, and his whole family and friends gathered to him, diarrhea and reproach wore out many people, It says: “What was spoken by the prophet was fulfilled in you: “When I kill, then I will seek Him, and when I am kind, then I do the worst thing.” And the sick man began to say: “Lord my God, I know that I lied to You and did not keep my vow, but have mercy and heal me, Lord, I will no longer depart from my vow.” And again the merciful Lord listened to him and gave him life. Then, in goodness and abundance, little by little he began to become negligent, until he returned to his first custom and order, flattering himself with the desire to collect the estate, avarice holding your hand, do not make a vow, commit yourself to prosperity, and for every day you only count gold and silver, and add to it, having fun abundantly, but not caring about death, yet gather more thoughts, and not remember the One who says: crazy, this night your soul will be taken from you, and what you have prepared, to whom will this be? But I will live for him; the serpent will suddenly come and cut him off in the heart. I cried out to him, and his neighbors and family came to him, and reproached him a lot, reproaching his madness, as he was executed many times without being punished. He showed them beads and gold, as well as his collection. They told him: “You have been deceived, and you will inherit all the iniquities, but you have angered God and destroyed your soul.” The man began to pray again to God, saying: “My Lord, Lord, have mercy on me once again, and restore me from illness, for I will no longer lie to You.” Many doctors gathered together, and the doctors were not successful. [Interpretation:] How can anyone help if he does not help God? All doctoring is in vain, unless God heals. And so he died a mad, bitter death, leaving behind many things he had gathered through untruth. His family and friends complained about his evil death. [Interpretation:] Oh, brothers, we are all who do not repent of the delights of this life, when they are sick, or are forced by the authorities, or by a robber, or by flood, or some kind of trouble? Then we make vows to God. And when God delivers from all the evil ones, we forget and return to the bitter end. The essence of many things is that for the sake of possessions these souls are destroyed, and the others they have collected are gained, but by fulfilling the sins of evil ones they destroy their souls. Oh, brother, if you had never seen a dead man, but heard that the answer came from God, not everyone should die, but only one in the family, and it would be worthy for everyone to fear us death; or those walking in the desert, if only they had heard that a serpent comes in the night and devours one; the food was not all stored by the bykh. And we, as if we are foolish, in flattery, know that we are mortal, and we are not afraid of death. But while it is time for the imams, let us take care of the salvation of our souls. Glory to our God. Sermon 45. On Tuesday of the 5th week of Lent, teaching from the Gospel about the rich man and about Lazarus. A parable about the rich man and Lazarus, for the benefit of all of us, the rich and the poor. O rich people, be generous, lest he be judged as unmerciful; but in poverty, praising God, endure sorrows and shortcomings, so that you may receive good things, like Lazarus. There is no one in Jerusalem named Lazarus, but he is poor and sick. There was someone who was rich, having many valuable garments, and eating a plentiful meal of food, and always having many feasts, and he had many cups and vessels of gold and silver. But Lazarus was sick and festering, lying at the gate of the rich man, who neither had touch nor came to him. When the dog came, I licked its pus. This poor man is in the depths of misfortune; there is no complaint or blasphemy against the rich man. At the end, you will receive a little bit of honor, as if from an angel you were born into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man, and the burying one, will die. Colic is the honor of the rich, like a tree with many leaves that bears no fruit. Truly it was said that as long as he is still alive, his soul is not buried. I have a coffin - my flesh is nourished with various poisons and drinks. As soon as he died, he was brought to hell, and he lifted up his eyes and was in torment, seeing Abraham from afar and Lazarus with him, and crying out, saying: Father Abraham, have mercy me! Send to Lazarus, let him dip his finger in the water and cool my tongue, for I burn fiercely in a flame of fire. Why is it that no one else is righteous, but Abraham saw Lazarus? Abraham was a stranger, and this rich man was not in vain. See the wisdom of Abraham, not saying: “unmerciful, cruel,” but saying: remember that you received good things in your life, and now you suffer. Lazarus suffered evil, but now he is comforted. There is also a great gulf between us. Difference changes the righteous from the sinner. He said: Father Abraham, I pray that you follow him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, lest they too come to this tormented place. Having sinned, even about himself, he brings a prayer for his brothers. Abraham answered and said to him: They have the law, and the prophets, and the teachers. The unmerciful speech: “neither, father, nor even I myself have always heard and believed not, but the fables of the Scriptures are for me,” this verb about himself, reasoning, “but even from the dead they will arise and have faith.” And now the essence is that they say: “Who knows what is happening? Who will come from here and tell us?” But if they do not listen to the Scriptures and teachings, then whoever comes from the dead can believe. He created the Jews, who did not have faith in the Scriptures, and saw the dead raised, not with faith, but also with Lazarus, whom Christ called from the dead, to kill you want. At the crucifixion of Christ, many rose from the dead, and they did not believe in this, but they did the most cruel thing - the apostles and those who called Christ, the slayer. But even the real God, Jesus Christ, saw Himself risen from the dead, without faith. If it were for the benefit of faith, then the Lord would often resurrect. But now the most useful thing is Holy Scripture and teaching. And if the dead had risen, the devil would have deceived many with his dreams. For this reason, God did not command it to be, but the Scriptures were given to us, like an unsetting luminary, shining for the establishment of the Orthodox faith. And the devil can do nothing against these, but Scripture lays bare all his evil nets. Listen, brothers, to the Divine Scripture, so that we may be saved; and do not seek to raise the dead. Abraham's bosom - The kingdom of heaven changes, where the souls of the righteous are established; sinners will be sent to different places. Sermon 46. On the same day [Tuesday of the 5th week of Lent], the teaching of St. John Chrysostom on Christian life. Hear, brethren, many are Christians; only by title are they called Christians, but by custom and deeds, like unfaithfulness, the habit of the Hellenic deeds. For us the prophecy was fulfilled. As it is in nature, blasphemy, and blasphemy, and mockery, in the streets and in conversations, in the cities - enchantments, and sorceries, blood-eating, and strangulations, and other things of the same kind. Is it not proper for us Christians to create? And how dare you receive the Holy Mysteries? Worse than the Hellenic skill is the filthy activities, dancing, and splashing of hands at the feast, and satanic songs; Drunkenness, fornication, anger, envy and many other inappropriate things you do. Why are you calling the faithful, but doing worse things than the infidels? Oh, brethren, if you are of the true faith, do not mingle with those who commit lawbreaking. The Apostle Paul in his epistles, writing, says: neither eat nor drink with them, lest ye be partners with them: for many teach evil, and are multiplying even more. But beware, for the days are evil, and the time gathers these servants; do not be surprised, even if there be wolf shepherds. To the bishop, the Apostle Paul said: “For from you there will be wickedness for destruction.” And the Lord said: “Be careful that no one deceives you,” and “do not follow the wicked,” because many faiths are being created, but they do not know what Christianity is, and how to live in faith legal? I see that it’s not just the young people who are frantic and unreasonable, but also the old ones, and I worry about them. Sometimes on the streets and in conversations, I see a gray-haired husband who is honest, but angry and inappropriate, talking, or bringing her children with her to shame and to feasts. Oh, vernies, why are you destined for the destruction of souls? It is bad and evil when a father leads his children to death. It is fitting for a Christian to teach his children the law of God and the salvation of the soul, and not destruction. If anyone asks those who are cold-hearted: “How did the apostles and prophets live, and what did they do?” “And how many are the apostle and prophet?” They don’t know about it, and they don’t know what to say. Whether it’s about horses, or birds, or something else, then philosophers and cunning people talk and say: “There is no evil in mockery.” O man, God has given you time to live, so that you may do His will and, in truth, please Him; You have given yourself over to drunkenness, and to fornication, and to all evil, which is hateful to God. Oh, faithful ones, the Lord says to you: “Why is your time in the wilderness exhausted, and you have not heeded My teaching?” Don't you have a custom? As long as the word of teaching continues, then many people, like some evil, stand in need. If you are on the street, or at a conversation and at a game, you will remain there until noon and beyond; or you will be drinking, then you will not sleep at night, doing harmful deeds. What will you be called Christians, you who create? Worse than the filthy ones. Satan plots deeds: he taught shameful deeds, and laughers, and blasphemers, and scofflaws, and gamblers, and those who see evil deeds and who sees them will destroy them. Those who disgrace this, don’t they do the same? If a wastelander mocks what he says, then he laughs more. He would drive away the slanderous blasphemer with a beating, but even more visually, they wonder and learn from evil. Friends give bribes to the players, and even more so they light fire on their own heads. If they had not matured or marveled at them, then they too would have remained in empty games and words; but not only are they amazed, in vain, but they are also accustomed to the godless words. And when they gather at a feast, or somewhere else, it would be fitting for a Christian to speak about prophecy, and about the teaching of the saints and God-bearing fathers, but in that place they prophesy and say: “This onitsa is a scoundrel, or this onitsa is a gamer and a blasphemer, this is a speech...”, and thus many paths are prepared for themselves, leading to eternal torment. This is not Christian, but it is a vile thing, even if we play games, and talk, and commit sacrilege, and laugh evilly, and get drunk, and commit fornication, there are no lies and other evils left. These are the deeds of those who are pleasing to the devil, and they have no hope of future blessings, no hope of eternal life. For this reason, brother, let us endeavor not to commit such evils, lest we be condemned by demons to unquenchable fire. Glory to our God. Homily 47. On Wednesday of the 5th week of Lent, a teaching from a certain monk to his spiritual brother about silence. Elm, my dear brother, demand a word from Me about silence, for God’s sake. I am a whore [1] and an idle talker, always full of untruth and malice, that I will utter from an unclean heart about the capital of good, in him lives the wealth of the whole world and indescribable treasures eternal life? Silence, even for the sake of God, the desire to please God and the preservation of all His commandments, is a great deed and the fulfillment of the covenant of the Lord. Moreover, from time immemorial God has saved all His faithful servants from the first man to this day. For God commands you to be silent from all evil deeds, words and thoughts, but to open your mouth directly to the one God and pray to Him with your mind and word, with all your soul and with all your heart sing, and praise, and call, and confess to Him, and perform verbal service. This is not for temptation, but for salvation. Silence is extensive salvation, but extensive speech, apart from bookish words, is a great sin, and the beginning of destruction is vanity. At the same time, the Lord, forbidding, says: “Even if men speak every word in vain, they will give an account of it on the day of judgment.” Then from this you understand, what word shall we take from ourselves, and from which words we will be justified, and from which we will be condemned? Imams observe them, so I think that it is not appropriate to speak the truth of another, but to remain silent towards a person and not to speak to anyone about such a person, neither blasphemy, nor slander, no condemnation, but rather condemn yourself, remembering your own sins. For the prophet David speaks about much silence: for a man does not hear, and does not have reproach in his mouth. And again I said: I am speechless, and humbled, and silent from the blessings, and my illness is renewed. And he said again: I was speechless and did not open my mouth, as You had done. For David knew that Christ God is silent and meek, and does not open His mouth without mind, but for the salvation of all men. For by His Holy Spirit God the Father speaks prophetically about Christ, saying: Behold, My Servant, Who is well pleased, shall not contradict, neither shall he cry, nor shall any one hear in the midst of his voice. Him. The price taken will not be quenched, and the reed will not be crushed, so He will not open His mouth in His humility. Oh, miracle! Because silence has great honor before God, because God praises His Son, saying: he is silent and humble, and for the sake of humility he does not open his mouth. Oh, our madness! How much good are we deprived of, not having a silent tongue, nor shutting our lips from all speaking of evil and spinning words? Moreover, both God and man are scoundrels. Talking a lot leads us into many sins, but silence turns us away from all evil. For this reason, the Lord our God Himself, Jesus Christ, came to us and became human, and showed us the truth of the saying, but we all lie, as He writes: lie, sons of humanity, the poison of the asp is under their lips and their tongues weave flattery. And again the Lord said: How can you do good, or speak good, when you are evil, and be filled with sorrow and flattery? And David the prophet said: Their tongue is sharp. And again: keep your tongue from evil and do not speak flattery with your lips. And again he said: a pagan man will not be corrected on earth. But to the silent prophet God said: To whom will I look, but to him who is silent, and meek, and trembling at My words. And David said: the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and the keeping of fear is silence. For fear of God, he dare not speak of anything except the truth and righteousness of God. He works with fear, not just with the language of a verb, but with good deeds showing the thoughts of his heart. For the holy Apostle John the Theologian says: We love not in word nor in tongue, but in deed and truth. Therefore it is vanity to be truthful, or verbose to man, but lazy to God, either in confession or in praise. Above all, be silent for God’s sake, otherwise it will exhaust your hearts, but most of all I remember that it fills you with spiritual strength. If anyone silently reads books, and speaks instructively to people, and prays to God day and night, I hope that God Himself, the Trinity spiritually, lives in such a person, in the light filling his soul, and feeding him with wisdom, and drinking him invisibly, meekly and quietly showing him goodness to all. Who has not received meek silence from the saints, the gift of trust and piety? The strength of all commandments is silence, which gives boldness to confess faith in the Trinity, that is, instruction in repentance, love, and patience. How can you sin against someone if you remain silent? How offended are you if you don’t talk about anyone? If you fall into misfortune, will God not take you away? If you do not receive evil when you lie, then your truth will perish, and if you are not a hypocrite with your tongue to anyone? Why do you have time to do dirty tricks, even if you always talk with God in bookish words? How do you come out of reason and truth, if you are united in God, and always have God before your eyes? How can you maintain silence and often meet with people? What are your needs? How can you say, “I am a hermit,” without keeping your tongue silent from all the useless verbiage? For the mountain is not a desert, but the tongue is quiet, and the mind is understanding, and the mouth has measured words, and the tongue is calm with the fear of God’s judgment. We are not silent for the sake of rudeness, but for the sake of humility, and for the sake of an answer about sins in court to God. If we learn book wisdom, we must become numb from all mocking and flattering words. If we give boldness to our foolish custom, then, hoping to lead the broad way, he will lead us into destruction with our tongue. Oh, my pagan, my adversary and destroyer of my truth! Oh, my pagan, my destroyer, friend of Satan and advisor of the devils, guilty of the demon! You are called Jacob, brother of the Lord, “the fire that is,” for you burn the human race, and are scorched by the fire of Gehenna, because you are evil, and therefore drive away people who do not fight against you, you are only furious, like the poison of a serpent. And just as every thing is tormented by the human race, you, pagan, no one can torment you or overcome you, for you lead people into great sins. Oh, pagan, you are the power of sin, bringing down the brethren of like-minded people! O peacemaker to the disperser! How will I call on God by you, how will I let you go, and rage at length with evil words, confusing the brethren who reverently live towards God? Oh, pagan, do not deign to remain silent, and live quietly, without rebellion, humbly, meekly and tenderly! Oh, pagan, my villain, you are destroying me, you vain ude, vile verbiage! Oh, my evil one, you deprive me of the goodness of silence for God’s sake, and you expose me to spiritual joys, my enemy! Because of you I hate my brothers, because of you my prayer does not ascend to God, because of you my work is unpleasant to God, because you remove my mind from God, because you desecrate my soul with your brothers hatred. My heart has taken arms with you, you have become my enemy to the whole human race, for your sake I am afraid of killing every man. Whenever I see someone, your fear, like a spear, will sting me in my heart. Then I said within myself: “This man of God will not pass without sin.” Because of you, my dear, I will shoot him, and if he keeps silent, I will not restrain you, you do not have good words in yourself, as you are, such is the fruit you create. Oh, what are you teaching me with all the evil verbs? Oh, I’m running with you, can’t you lead me? You possess me and drag me into fiery hell, and you may have brought me into obedience to you. Is this why you were created by my God? May you not call on your Creator, Who created man, to bring many earths into one body and in it a soul that is intelligent and verbal, spiritual, and rational, and sensual, possessing all Ouds of the body, and each one has his own business, but they all converge on one, and our God is glorified by everyone? O pagan, I commanded you to speak the truth with every person, not to lie, not to flatter. You are filled with every evil verb, about purity and sweetness, daring, and quick, and in vain rebellious: stormy, windy, empty, angry, quarrel, blasphemy, abuse and Destroy me with slander, you flattering pagan. And again, with flattering advice, creating an image of quietness outside, but inside carrying poison under my lips, although setting me up with a friend and committing a sin. Oh, uncontrollable ude, I cannot do anything to you! I heard the Lord saying: For if your hand causes you to fall, then you will be cut off, and you will go with one hand into eternal life rather than with two. Having a hand, I will be cast into eternal unquenchable fire. The same saying: if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; you have only one eye to enter into life, rather than I who have two eyes to enter into fiery hell. Then it is more appropriate for you, my dear fellow, to cut off, so that you may cease from all the evil that you do. You will match country to country, and language to language. You raise up armies among men. You drive away the fear of God from the faithful. You blaspheme the Lord against the apostates of God. You rejected the faith of the son of humanity. I bless the idols with you. You raised the malice of men and women to the skies. With you Satan, who made his face, dances all over the world. Through you all the flattery of the enemy has appeared among men. Oh, how evil you have been, my pagan! You do not contend with the word of God, you do not leave behind slander, you are the destroyer of silence. But be a wise man, my pagan, for if you do not fear God, and do not prepare to answer Him, do not wear out your words with fear and meekness, do not drive away flattery, and do not speak the truth If you please, worry about sins, and don’t want to speak silently to God, but sincere words about God and people don’t come from you, then what will I do? We don’t know, but only God knows the heart. For this reason, for your sake, the villain, my pagan, compel the imams only to sing, and to pray, and to open the books, and to praise God, and to communicate the necessary words, otherwise whoever asks, answer. If you do not heed the fear of God, then I will make you dumb, like David saying: Reh, I will keep my ways, lest I sin with my tongue; put it with my mouth, that the sinner may never rise against me. And again: judge me, O God, and judge my spirit, who is unworthy of tongue, and unrighteous of man, and deliver me from flattery. Now, with my tongue, I confess to God that I do not accept troubles with a single strange tongue, or with a foreign tongue, but in myself I carry all the evil and destructive morals, and with all feelings internal and external, the tongue is responsible for all evil. Above all, I would like to remain silent with boldness, but I cannot. For this reason I pray to Almighty God, I always sin with my tongue, asking for deliverance and correction for all my words: “Lord my God, the Trinity Consubstantial, the Father and the Son and Holy Soul, guide me into Thy truth, and teach me to do Thy will, and deliver me from all unhelpful words. And grant me, Lord, pure verbal faith, so that I may be able to overcome my tongue, which condemns and reproaches others. But You, Lord, by Your omnipotent power and humane Godhead, deliver me, and help me, and give silence to my tongue, and a barrier over my mouth. Place Thy fear in my heart, that I may fear Thy commandments, and abide in them, learning Thy law, and calling on Thy most holy name all the days of my life, preparing for the Resurrection of Your meeting, when you come to judge on the last great and enlightened day, it is terrible to expose the whole human race, and judge in righteousness, and to render to each one according to his deeds, and to condemn the sinners, and to deliver them over to bitter and cruel endless torment, but to save the righteous and bring them into eternal life. For You are the One God, glorified in the Trinity, the Lord and Creator of all creation, and to You we send glory, honor and worship, now and ever and ever.” [Amen.] Note: [1] Whore 1) (φλύαρος) talkative (1 Tim. 5:13); 2) (ληρ ώ δης) deceitful, deceptive, liar, idle talker, liar (Nevostr). (see Complete Church Slavonic Dictionary by Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko. M., 1900. Page 49). Sermon 58. On Saturday of the 6th week of Lent, on the resurrection of Christ’s friend Lazarus, the teaching of John Chrysostom. This is the radiant forerunner of the triumph of Christ's Resurrection. Behold the memory of Lazarev, manifesting the miracles of Christ. The image of this four-day resurrection of Lazarus bears the fruits of the three-day Resurrection of Christ. This Lazarus appeared as the second Forerunner to those who sat in darkness. This first enemy was the destruction of hell. Today Christ performs His miracles throughout the whole world. Today Christ destroys the power of death and raises up Lazarus of four days, prefiguring His Resurrection. Today the Jews gathered in obedience to the tomb of Lazarus, so that they saw His Divine power, and His power on the living and the dead, they had faith in His Resurrection. Christ departed to Judea, so that without Him the death of Lazarus would be accomplished, and let them not say: having killed him with a ghost, and again raise him up; but let there be witnesses of his death, and burial, and resurrection, as the evangelist said: as if Lazarus was sick in Bethany, even Jesus loved him. Send a message to Jesus’ sister, saying: Lord, behold, the one you love is in pain. Jesus said: this illness does not lead to death, but to the glory of God. And Jesus remained in that place for two days, so that He would show a greater miracle to His disciples and to the Jewish people. But you see these women’s piety, as if they are not devoted to the sorcerer, nor to the doctor, below the point of seeking to help the sick - because that’s not the point - but to send their souls and bodies to the Doctor, who is able to give life and to kill, to save and to destroy. And the rekosta: behold, you love him, Lord, it hurts, for whatever you want, you can heal, Lord. Jesus said to them: this disease does not lead to death, but may the Son of God be glorified by it. Oh, the wonderful love of the Lord! It’s not just that he didn’t come to the healing of Lazarus, but even after death he remained for four days, so that he would show a more wondrous miracle, and turn the stink into a fragrance. The verb of Jesus to His disciple: Lazarus, our friend, is successful, but I go and stir him up. And let this show love and power to everyone. The disciples said: Lord, if you succeed, you will be saved. But Christ again creates a current against the kingdom of hell, again gathers the Jews for a miracle, and again moves His disciples to faith. The image already wants the date of His Resurrection. Mortals already want to destroy the rivets. Lazarus is already calling Adam to joy, saying to him: Arise, you who sleep. Our Savior has already come, through the Cross to defeat the devil and destroy death. When he came to Bethany, where Lazarus had died, Martha found him weeping and saying: Lord, if only you were here, my brother had not died. Maria is sitting at home. And Christ said to her: your brother will rise again. Martha said to him: We know that he will rise again on the resurrection, on the last day. And again Martha said to Him: I believe, Lord, that if you are willing, you can do all things. Oh, the wife’s trust! Oh, pitiful brotherly love! Weeping for the speech: We know that You are the Resurrection and the Life, and the Light that never fails, and the Renewal of the fallen. And Jesus went to the tomb of Lazarus, and as if ignorant, he asked: Where are you burying him? When the Jews heard, they gathered together without number to the tomb of Lazarus, wanting to see. Jesus came and commanded the stone to be taken from the tomb, and he shed tears over it. Resta Martha and Mary: Lord, it already stinks, for there are four days. Jesus said: “Have you not decided that if you believe, your brother Vayu will be resurrected?” And Jesus raised His eyes to heaven and said: We know, Father, that you have always listened to Me, but for the sake of the people standing around, let them have faith, because You have sent Me. And this river cried with a great voice: Lazarus, come out! And soon the dead man got up and left. Who can stand against God’s command? Or which bonds to hold have an animal command? The lawless Jews are already breathing with envy. We already hold death as a nightmare. The enemy is already sick, although he perceives an endless wound. The hellish state is already dying. Oh, wonderful things: the Lord is to be praised, but the Jews are planning to kill Him. Oh, cruelty-hearted books! Is it just for the sake of this, teachers, that you kill the Lawgiver? Is it for this reason that Nan rises up, for he has delivered you from the Egyptian work? Is it for this that you want to kill Him, carried Him through the Red Sea, and fed you for fourty years in the desert? Do you create His tricks now, when He raises the dead and creates healing? Whenever manna comes from heaven, and water comes out of rocks, then praise Him. Aren't you ashamed of lawlessness? It is fitting to give praise and honor to Him, but you want to kill Him in praise, stone-hearted ones. But we, having left the Jewish madness, will praise Lazarus, the friend of Christ: Lazarus, the receptacle of the Holy Spirit; Lazarus, the garden of Christ's lettuce; Lazarus, the spiritual source of God's grace; Lazarus, the second Forerunner, who sits in darkness and the shadow of death; Lazarus, destroyer of the powers of hell; Lazarus, forerunner of the three-day resurrection of Christ; Lazarus, the accuser of the Jews; Lazarus, assurance to many; His people, having seen him risen from the dead, believed in Christ, and gave honor to the great Creator: along the way, he spread the robe to the robes, and others cut branches from the trees, like babies crying: blessed is the King of Israel who comes in the name of the Lord! To him be glory, now and ever and unto ages of ages. [Amen.] Homily 59. On the flower-bearing week, the entry into Jerusalem of our Lord Jesus Christ for the free passion, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom. Like the depths of the sea, this Lenten time has passed, and for this week we will accept the feat, faith, and we will move from the miracles of the Lord to a greater miracle, the rising of Lazarus illuminated: with Mary and Martha we will bring honor and praise to the Master Christ who has fallen asleep, and like babes with branches, we will cry out with one accord: Blessed is He who comes in the name of Lord, God is the Lord and appear to us! Tell us, prophet, who is he who comes in the name of the Lord? We hear, brothers, the prophet Isaiah saying about Him: Behold, the Virgin will be with child and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel. He is the One who came down from heaven, and He wills for us, having become poor, that through His poverty we may become rich. That is, Born of the Father before the ages, and in the last years of the Virgin Theotokos. He resurrected Lazarus, who was four days old. That is, in the name of the Lord, who came by the will of passion. Instead of the malice of the Jews in the place of glory, envy advised the creator to kill Him, not only Himself, but also Lazarus with him, because of his manyness for the sake of the Lord. Today the earth is filled with joy, it lays fragrant flowers along the way, and gathers people for joy. We, like a branch of the garden of virtue, have prepared, crying out in songs: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, God our father, although we tread on the devil and death destroy, and destroy the kingdom of hell, and free those held in hell from bondage! For this reason I came to the Passion by the will of the Cross, although I would destroy the tormentor and revive the dead. The same Cross will give us weapons against the devil and our enemies. This means that we destroy all flattery of the devil. And for this reason, with the verb: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! I will come to save the fasting people and reward them for their labor. For many, it is said, the essence of the monastery in the house of My Father, is divided against each other by deed. May we not lose them for the small pleasures of life, even as the wall is troubled and like smoke disappears. The coming of Christ is drawing near. Let us strive, brothers, until the time of the imam, so that the door of repentance is not closed, death does not befall. Let us now flee by repentance, lest we hear his answer, saying: Do you now, poor man, repent, when there is no longer time for repentance? Therefore, my love, in this life we ​​will live out the custom of wrath from ourselves, we will extinguish satanic enmity, we will remain hostile to our brothers, and we will be generous and flexible towards the poor. No one departs from this world with wealth and glory, but only from business: but all the glory and wealth will remain here. Our coffin will accept our body as a worm for food, and our bones will be exposed. In this way, brothers, let us strive for good deeds, and let us end this Lenten time without laziness: ever since the end, crowns are given to the working people. Even if someone starts a deed and does not complete it, he will be put to shame: so we too will do good, so that we may receive the full reward. If anyone refrains from eating bread and is angry, he is like an eating beast, for he does not eat bread. If anyone refrains from drinking and eating fish, and lies on the bare ground, but has malice and commits unrighteousness, let him not boast, for worse than having livestock is not having it. does not act in anger, envy or untruth. But restrain yourself from bodily lusts, so that we may be like an angel. Behold, the Passion of Christ is approaching, even for us it will be accepted: that having cleansed our soul, and body, and mind, we may be partakers of His Divine Supper, crying out to Him and saying: Blessed is He who came in the name of the Lord, Who came to the free Passion for our sake, and came again from heaven to judge the living and the dead, to decide the righteous and the sinner, and render to each one according to his deeds. Glory to our God. [Amen.] Sermon 60. On Holy and Great Monday of Holy Week, a word from St. Ephraim the Syrian about the beautiful Joseph, how his brothers sold him to the Ishtelites. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, blessed God, ever delivering the righteous seed of Your servants who have loved You, grant also to me, for I am Good, yes The floods of Thy grace will boil in me with great abundance, so that I may write a bright and great disgrace - about the beautiful Joseph, who was the most honorable man, servant and support for the old age of Patriarch Jacob! This wondrous youth, from his youth, wrote down both comings of Christ: the first, which came from the Virgin Mary, and the second, which wants to frighten the whole world. Now, beloved lovers of Christ, let us rejoice in soul, so that we diligently hear these virtues of the beautiful youth. I say this, brethren, that the offspring is wonderful, and a wonderful source of chastity, and the winner is graceful with wonderful victories. The same is the image of the future coming of Christ. Take away from your soul every sorrow of earthly things, so that the soul may receive with love the sweet words: for the essence is medvena and the soul is joyful. As if the Lord was sent quickly to us; In the same way, the youth Joseph was sent from the depths of Jacob to see his brethren. His unmerciful brothers, when they saw him approaching them, began to think of the evil one, who bears peace from his father. The same is true for the Jews, always being cruel, when you see the Savior Christ, saying: This is the Heir, let us kill Him. Likewise with this verb: “Let’s kill him, so we can see where his sleepers will come?” The brethren of Joseph, eating together, having conferred their will, sold it. Likewise the abominations of the Jews, who ate Easter, killed the Savior. The descent of Joseph into Egypt signifies the descent of our Savior to earth. Just as Joseph, having established himself inside the palace, trampled all the sinful fortress and wore a bright crown of victory; Likewise, the Lord, Savior of our souls, descended into hell, and there weakened the power of death with His right hand. And even though Joseph had overcome sin, he was quickly thrown into prison until the hour of the wedding; so is our Lord, who was placed in the tomb, that He might take away the sin of the whole world. Joseph did two years in prison in great weakness; Our Lord created three days in hell, like Silenus, who will not accept corruption. Joseph was brought out of prison quickly by the commandment of Pharaoh, as a true image, speaking with dreams [and] showing the time to come; Our Lord has risen from the dead, dethroned hell, bringing our humility to His Father, preaching the Resurrection and eternal life. Joseph rode on Pharaoh's chariot and took power over all Egypt; Our Savior, the Eternal King, having entered into heaven as a bright cloud, sits at the right hand of the Father with glory on the cherubim, like the Only Begotten Son. When Joseph took over the kingdom of Egypt, he took power over his enemies, and brought his brothers against his will before the judgment and brought him in to worship him with fear and trembling, before betrayed by them to death, and bowed in fear before Joseph, not wanting him to reign over them. Joseph knew his brothers, and with one word he revealed their murderers; Having heard it, they became terrified with a great cold, not daring to speak, and not having any way to answer, knowing truly their sin, at that hour, they sold him, my dear, cursed, he must die. The one who pretends to be corrupted by them in hell, will suddenly find himself reigning over them. Likewise, on the terrible day, when the Lord comes through a cloud of air, sitting on the throne of His Kingdom, the angels will be bound and fearful and will attack Him before everyone. His judgment, since they do not want Him to reign over them. I think that then the lawlessness of the Jews, if they are crucified, they will die like a man; I do not have faith, repentance, for God exists, and suffers by the will, even though we may save our souls. Just as Joseph said to his brethren: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold, and now I reign over you and those who were unwilling.” In the same way, the Lord will show the Cross in a brighter place to those who see Him, and they will know Him, and the Son of God has been crucified, and they will take His existence away. Truly, Joseph was the true image of his Master. Because virtue will flourish on him from childhood, by his will, first of all, we tell the good deeds of this offspring. This blessed youth will live for seven years in virtue, growing in the house of his fathers, all his days in the passion of God, and in a good dispensation, and in honor of his parents. It is in vain that there is wickedness in one’s brotherhood; to tell one’s father is not much. Truly, virtue cannot grow with untruth: for fear it doesn’t matter. And for this reason I hated Joseph, without malice. The youth is virtuous, having the Holy Spirit in him, seeing the dream come true by the Most High God. His father Jacob, not realizing the envy he harbored against Joseph, lived in meekness. Loving Joseph dearly for the blossom of the good deeds growing in him from childhood. While Joseph was tending the sheep in Shechem, Joseph happened to be with his father; and their father Jacob, like a father who loves children, grieves for their sakes for those who live in Shechem. Jacob said to Joseph, his beloved son: “Go, son, to your brethren, and see their health and their flocks, and return quickly to me.” Joseph accepted the father’s commandment and went to his brethren, bringing them peace from the presence of his father. As I walk through the desert, I will not find the brothers from the flock, but I am sad for him for their sake, and man, you will find him and show him the way. When Joseph saw them from afar, he went with joy, loving them all. I went to him, when they saw him and, like a wild beast, they wanted to kill him. Joseph, walking like a lamb without malice, fell into the hands of fierce wolves. Whenever you approach them and kiss them kindly, you bring peace to them from the face of the Father. They, having risen like a beast, stripped off his motley robe, in the nude they were deceived, and gnashed each with their teeth, devouring him even while alive, Quite a fierce and unmerciful image, which manifests itself against that holy youth in various ways with its malice. Seeing that Joseph was in trouble, and no one would have mercy on him, he turned to his prayer, raised his voice with tears and sighs, and prayed to them, verb: “Why are you angry, I pray you? Ease me a little, so that I may pray. Oh, my brothers, my mother, I have died, but Jacob has been crying for her all these days, and would you like to add another cry to our father, but the first one will never be satisfied. I pray to all of you, may I not be separated from Jacob, may his old age and sorrow not descend into hell. I charge you all by the God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who called Abraham and Rexha first: get you out of your land, and your friends, and from your father’s house, and Come to the land of goodness, even if I will show you what I have given you, and I will multiply your seed like the stars of heaven and like the sand, breaking up the countless seas. Such is the Most High God, who gave patience to Abraham, I offer Isaac my son as a sacrifice, so that patience may be credited to him for praise; Such is God, delivering Isaac from death and giving a ram to him as a sacrifice is favorable to Abraham; Such is the Holy God, who gave the blessing to Jacob from the mouth of Isaac his father; Such is the God who descended with Jacob to Harran in Mesopotamia, from where Abraham came; Such is God, deliver Jacob from sorrow, give him a blessing, so that I will not be deprived of Jacob, like Rachel. Let me not cry, like Rachel. Let not the eyes of Jacob darken, longing for my entrance to him. Send me to Jacob my father; if you accept my tears, let me go to him.” I conjure him by God his father. They, the lutes, threw him into the ditch, not fearing God, but I clutched at the feet of all of them, weeping and saying: “My brother, have mercy on me!” And they were quickly thrown into the ditch. Joseph was thrown into a ditch in the desert, with bitter tears and fierce weeping, crying for the father himself and, crying, saying with guttural sighs: “Look, father Jacob, behold, it has befallen your child, for behold, I was cast into a pit as if dead. I wish I could return to you, father, and now I lie in a ditch like a thief. Father, you yourself said to me: “Go and visit your brethren and flock, and return soon.” And they were like wolves of ferocity, and with anger they separated me from you, good father. For you will no longer see me, nor hear my voice, nor will your old age be supported by me, nor will I see the gray hairs of your venerables, like a bitter dead man buried I am az. Weep, Father, for your child, and your child weeps for his father, as if he were so cruelly separated from your presence. Who would give me a dove that speaks in conversations, so that when it flies, it will announce my cry to your old age? My tears have disappeared, father, and my throat has become silent from sighing, and there is no one to help me. Oh, earth! O earth, which cried out to the Holy God for the righteous Abel, who was killed without righteousness! As there is a tradition from the beginning of our forefathers, as the earth also cried out for the blood of the righteous, so now also cry out to Jacob my father, telling him what happened to me from my brothers." When the ferocity of thee plunged Joseph into a ditch, and he sat down to eat and drink with joy, as one who overcomes a city, so also didst thou recline with joy. And they that ate and drank with great joy, lifted up their eyes, and saw the coming of the merchants of Ishmael, going to Egypt, having Velbuda, carrying aromas, and the verb to to himself: “Master, it is better for us to sell Joseph to this strange merchant, so that he may die on a foreign land, and do not let our hand be upon our brother.” And he took his brother out of the ditch, like a beast of divia, and took his price, and sold him to the merchant, not remembering the sorrow or sorrow of his father. The merchant was walking along the way, and reached the place of the hippodrome, where Rachel’s grave was: she died on the way of the hippodrome, returning to Jacob from Mesopotamia. When Joseph saw the tomb of his mother Rachel, he attacked the tomb, and lifted up his voice, crying, and began to cry with tears, and cry out in grief my soul, the verb sitsa: “Rachel, my mother! Arise from the dust and see Joseph, whom you loved, and see what will happen to him? These foreigners are led to Egypt, where they are sold by alien hands, like a villain. My brothers sold me naked for work, but Jacob does not know this, but I was sold. Open to me, my mother, and take me into your tomb, so that your tomb will be one bed for you and me. Oh, Rachel, accept your child, so that there will be no need for death! Accept, Rachel, what was deprived of Jacob in vain, just as I was deprived of you. Listen, my mother, to the sighing of my heart and bitter crying, and accept me into your grave. My eyes can no longer shed tears and my soul can no longer cry with sighs. Oh, Rachel, Rachel! Will you not hear the voice of your son Joseph? Here I come in need, and you do not want to receive me. I called Jacob, but he did not hear my voice. Now I call upon you too, and neither do you want to hear me. May I die here over your grave, and I will not go to a foreign land like a villain!” When all the Ishmaelites, the merchants of Joseph, saw him, they attacked their mother Rachel at the tomb, saying to themselves: “Behold, this young man wants us to take this spell.” create, so that he can escape from us, let us take him and bind him tightly, so that sorrow does not create for all of us.” I approached him and decided what was ahead of him: “Rise up and stop the spell, so that before you break through your grave, we destroy the gold that is on you.” I stood up to him, seeing his whole face was swollen from bitter crying, and began to ask him meekly each time: “Why are you crying so much, I see the coffin standing on the this racetrack? But having already driven out fear from their hearts, they boldly said to us, “What is your business?” And why were you sold? They are shepherds who sold the same to you to us, the verb: “Keep him, so that he does not run away from you on the way.” And behold, we are without sin, because I told you. You have spoken to us the truth, whose servant are you? Are those shepherds or someone else free? And shout to us, why is this coffin diligently attacked? We have bought you, and the Lord is yours; we love you, like a slave, even about you. If you hide something from us, then to whom should you tell: Are you our servant? They decided that they were shepherds who wanted us to run away from us, who were despondent. But be comforted, and tell us, what do you care? For you show us that you are free. We do not want you to be like a slave, but like a beloved brother. We see that you have great freedom and great intelligence in a good dispensation. You are worthy to stand before the king and receive honor with the nobles, since your kindness in the greatness of power will arrange for you to take place soon. May we know each other there, and maybe we will tell you. Who wouldn’t love such a youth, a noble being, red-eyed and wise?” Joseph answered and said to them with a sigh: “I was neither a servant, nor a thief, nor a sorcerer, but having sinned again, I was sold to you; But the son was beloved to my father, so the son was beloved to his mother. They are shepherds and brothers; but my father let me see if they were healthy; a father who cares for them, like a lover of children. I slowed down for a long time in those mountains, and for that reason let my father see them. They ate me, sold me for work, rejected me from my father with fierce envy, and could not bear to see the love that my father loved me. This coffin, which still stands, is my mother’s. When my father went from Haran to the place where he had lived before, and I passed by him, there my mother died and was buried in this tomb.” When they heard it, they burst into tears and said: “Do not be afraid, O young man; You are going to Egypt for great honor, and your image shows us about your nobility. Be more diligent in patience, having been changed by the envy and hatred of your brothers who sold you.” Homily 61. On the Holy and Great Tuesday of Holy Week, about the same beautiful Joseph, how the Izmaelites sold him to Pentefry and how he reigned over Egypt. And when his brothers had sold Joseph, and had brought the goat, slain, and bloodied Joseph’s robe, they sent it to their father Jacob, saying, “This robe.” I have found it, I have been cast down on the mountains, and I have known it, for this is the garment of Joseph our brother, and we are all in sorrow for his sake. For this reason, Father, I will send this motley robe of Joseph to you, so that it will not find its brother. Know also you, even your son; For we know all things, as Joseph is.” When Jacob saw his son’s robe, he cried out with weeping and bitter sobs, saying: “My son is this robe. The beast is angry and has eaten my son.” Sobbing and sighing, he said: “Why wasn’t my place in you taken away, my son? Why don’t you shit for me, that beast, so that it could satisfy me and leave it for you, my son? Why doesn’t that beast destroy me? Why wouldn't I bother him? Woe is me, woe is me! Is my womb trembling for Joseph’s sake? Woe is me, woe is me! Where was my son killed, so that I could tear my gray hairs to pieces over his beauty? I no longer want to live without seeing Joseph. I am the fault of your death, child. I, child, killed you, sending you into the desert to see your brothers from the flock. I will already cry, child, and lament all the hours, until I go down to hell, my son. And I will place your robe in your body, Joseph, before the eyes of tears without ceasing. This is why your robe against foreigners makes me lament, son: for everything is whole, and, like the one who does not eat, the beast took you away, but by the hands of men you were cut off and beaten If, as your brothers had decided, you were eaten, then your robe would have been torn into pieces: for the beast does not wait to first seize and then be satisfied with your flesh. If he had taken you away like that and then taken you away, your robe would have been left homeless. But since you can’t see the scratching of nails or the grabbing of teeth on your robe, then where is the blood on your robe? If only that one animal had been in the desert, then I would have been the only one lamenting and crying. Yes, I lament Joseph and weep for garments. Two lamentations and two cries. I will cry fiercely for the robe: how was my child taken away and how wasted? May I die, Joseph, my light and support! Let your robe go down with me to hell. I don’t want to see this light, my son Joseph!” The Ishmaelites, having received Joseph, carefully brought him to Egypt, thinking that through the beauty of his gold they would receive much from a certain nobleman. As they go through the city, meet them Pentephry, eunuch of the pharaohs, commander of the Egyptians. And seeing Joseph, he asked them, saying: “Cry to me, merchants, where is this young man from? For you do not bear the same image as you, for all of you are Ishmaelites, but this one is beautiful.” They answered, saying: “This youth is very good-born and wise.” He, having given them the price he wanted, bought Joseph from them with love. And you brought him into your house, and tempted him, although you would know his life. The true branch, like the seed of the righteous Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, grew in virtue and in great order in the house of Pentephrine. Living in moderation, with eyes, and words, and chastity, constantly having the Holy God before your eyes, the All-Seeing, God of the Father, who delivered you from the pit of death and hatred brothers. But both his heart was in sorrow for his father Jacob. It’s in vain that Pentefry’s dispensation of a young man, but much wisdom and good service, all that he has, is in the hand of Joseph. And not knowing anything from those who exist, except bread and meat at the table. For his master knows that the Lord is with him, and whatever he creates, the Lord makes it good in his hand. And the Lord bless the house of the Egyptian, for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the Lord came upon all his property, in his house and in his village. His master’s wife, having seen Joseph, was a beautiful and intelligent being, and her heart was wounded by Satan’s love, and she really wanted to be with him. And while you strive for that pure and true source of chastity, you end up in the pit of fornication. And perpetrating many intrigues all day long to deceive the youth: changing garments all the time, and washing and anointing faces, hanging monists, satanic anointings, and vile laughter, flattering the righteous, like a serpent. But rather than perish herself, such evil images flatter the saint’s soul. Joseph, protected by the fear of God, looked at the nude with lower thoughts. She, having seen how, with many decorations, the matter remains idly about him, more liquefied and greatly disintegrated, not knowing what else to do for him. Afterwards, they thought of calling shameless words into action inappropriately, seducing like a serpent, so as to pour out the poison of impurity, shamelessly saying to the face: “lie with by me, do not be afraid at all, but be bold with me, so that I may enjoy your beauty, and you too may enjoy my kindness. Many servants lend their hands to us, and you own the whole house: no one dares to come to us or hear our deeds. If you are afraid of my husband and do not dare to do this, then I will kill him by giving him poison.” He is invincible in soul and body, and did not plunge into the depths of the storm, but rejected from himself what she said, for the fear of God, to remain intact and without blemish. And Joseph responded to all such wiles of the devil with such chaste words and words, and with meekness: “It is not for me to commit sin to you, my lady: I'm afraid of God. My lord has given all his property to me, even in the house, and throughout the village, and there is nothing that is not in my area, except for you, my lady. That is not righteous to despise so much of my master’s love. And how will I create this evil verb and sin before God, who sees the secret?” These are similar verbs that Joseph spoke to his mistress, teaching and forbidding, and not listening to the serpent’s flattery. She is more than liquefied by the voluptuousness boiling in her, watching for hours and waiting for times, wanting to nudite Joseph. He, in vain, the wife’s lack of interest, as if he wants to seduce him, also lifting up his eyes to the Fatherly God, often praying, saying: “God my father, Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob, deliver me from this beast. You yourself see the woman’s fury, how she wants to kill me with an evil deed. Having delivered me, O Lord, from the death of my brothers, deliver me here too from this evil beast, so that I will not be alienated by evil deeds from my fathers who dearly loved You, Lord." And resisting unclean lust, you call on Jacob: “Oh, Jacob, my father, pray diligently for my sake to God. Pray, Father, because a fierce battle has risen against me, wanting to separate me from God. This death is from a woman, the bitterest ones were brought to us from the brothers first. It kills the body, but this death separates the soul from God. I know that your prayers, Father, have cried out to the Holy God for me, and for this reason I was delivered from the death of the pit. And now again pray to the Most High, that I may be delivered from the pit of death, which is torn out for your child, from the lack of cold and the fear of God. I died to my brothers, and like a beast, and like wolves of ferocity, I was torn from you, and I was brought to Egypt by alien hands; and lo and behold, you shit the beast. Pray, Reverend, for your son Joseph, so that I may not die in soul before our God.” Whenever Joseph does not want to listen to his mistress, even to be with her, eating shamelessly chaste, the need draws him to commit lawlessness. But he, seeing such shamelessness of his wife, departed in vain on the threshold, leaving his robe in her hand, and crushing all the nets of the devil, like some other eagle, when When he sees the catcher, he flies higher; Likewise, Joseph also escaped from the snare, so that he would not die in evil speech and deed. But the wife, seeing that she would escape, was horrified, and became very angry, and thought about how to lie against the righteous with evil words to her husband, and her husband heard she will become angry with rage and kill Joseph. He said to himself: “It is better for me that Joseph die, and I accept weakness; I can’t stand to see in my house the calico kindness that was despicable to me from him. And, having called the male and female servants, he said to them: “Have you seen what our Jewish servant has done? My husband put him over the whole house, he wants to be with me without shame. Joseph did not have power over my house, but did you want to deprive me of my husband?” When her husband came from the chamber, she took Joseph’s robe and showed it to her husband that she was acting like she was chaste, saying: “Did you instigate the servant?” to annoy and curse your little Jew at me, your wife, what have you done to me?” He heard that he believed the unrighteous words of his wife, and became angry with rage, and took Joseph, throwing him into prison, where the king’s prisoners held on, not remembering the blessings of God, those who were in the house and in the village, for the sake of Joseph, below having tested the word of truth, but the judgment was not righteous. And the Lord was with Joseph, and poured out mercy on him, and gave him grace before the chief jailer. And the elder guard of the prison was in the hands of Joseph and all those who were thrown into prison: for everything was in the hands of Joseph, even though the Lord was with him. At the same time, while Joseph was in prison, he had sinned against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and two men served him: an old baker and an old butler. And Pharaoh was angry with his servants and threw them into prison where Joseph was. And the best days of a certain place and the vision of both dreams in one night. The next morning Joseph came down to them and saw them and was embarrassed. And he asked them, with the verb: “What, is your countenance sad today?” They decided to him: “You have seen the dream, and reason not to see it.” But Joseph said to them: “Isn’t this food that God has given them? Lead it to me.” And the elder said to the cupbearers: “In my dream there were grapes before me; in the grape there are three summer shoots, and they are blooming, say the branches - the clusters of vines are ripe. And Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the dream and poured it into the cup, and gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.” And Joseph said to him: “This is the reasoning: three summer vines are three days; three more days and Pharaoh will remember your rank, and again will place you in your eldership and give the cup to Pharaoh in his hand, according to your first rank, as he was You are the butler.” The elder farmer also told Joseph his dream: “I thought, saying, to keep three baskets of bread on my head; And in the upper pot from all generations, even Pharaoh eats bread, and the birds of the sky eat from the pot, even on my head.” Joseph answered and said to him: “Three koshnits are three days; Three more days, and Pharaoh will take your head from you, and hang you on a tree, and the birds of the air will eat your flesh from you.” Joseph said to the elder cupbearers: “Remember me when it is good for you, and show mercy to me, and remember me to Pharaoh, and bring me out from the stronghold.” sow, as if by a thief I was stolen from the land of the Jews, and here I have done nothing evil, but I am cast into this prison.” Oh, sacred seed! O chosen seed! Oh, blessed! Why are you looking for help from a dying person? Leave God, pray to man? Have you been tempted by God's help? Why are you cowardly? God gives the kingdom and glory whenever He pleases. As long as you endure many adversities, you will receive a greater crown of victory. On the third day, the birthday of Pharaoh came to pass, and he held a feast for all his children. And I will remember the elder cupbearer and the elder baker in the midst of my youths. And thou shalt appoint the chief cupbearer to be his elder, and put the cup into the hand of Pharaoh; Hang the elder as a baker on a tree, as Joseph said. And I will not remember the elder cupbearer Joseph, but I will forget him. Two years later, Pharaoh had a dream: imagining himself standing at the retz; and as if from the river the seven kings came forth, with good appearance and chosen bodies, and grazed along the river. The other seven kings came forth to this day, evil in appearance and thin in body, and I grazed with them and ate them. And I saw the second dream: and for the seventh time the chosen and good ones came out of the one stem, and the seventh time for the friends to grow out of them: and devoured them. But Pharaoh rose in the morning, and his soul was troubled. And he called together all the storytellers of Egypt and all his wise men, and told them his dream, and did not tell it to Pharaoh. Then the elder cupbearer mentioned Joseph to the butlers and said to Pharaoh: “As he told the elder baker and me, so it happened: I will still be in my rank, but he I’ll hang you.” Pharaoh sent, called Joseph, and said to him: “I saw a dream, and tell me not to have it; And I heard about you saying, as if you heard dreams, you reason.” Joseph answered Pharaoh and said: “Without God salvation is not given to Pharaoh.” Pharaoh told Joseph his dream. Joseph heard this and said to him: “The dream of the Pharaohs is one; God creates everything, showing it to Pharaoh. Seven blessings and seven classes of good signify seven years of abundance. And seven years of thinness and seven classes of thinness foreshadow seven years of famine. Pharaoh’s dream would be repeated twice, for the word would truly be from God, and God would hasten to create it. Now look for a man who is wise and understanding, and set him over the land of Egypt, and let Pharaoh appoint rulers over the land, so that the wheat may be gathered under Pharaoh’s hand. And the food of the land will be preserved for the seven years of famine that there will be, so that the land will not be consumed in famine.” It would be good for a word to be spoken before Pharaoh and before all his servants. And Pharaoh said to all the servants: “Shall we find the calf man who has the Spirit of God in him?” Pharaoh said to Joseph: “Before God has shown you all this, there is no man wiser and more intelligent than you.” You will be in my house and let all my people listen to your mouth; “Will I be the throne more than you?” Pharaoh said to Joseph: “Behold, I have set you over all the land of Egypt today.” And Pharaoh took the ring from his hand, put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in a scarlet robe, and put a coin of gold on his neck, and made him ride on his chariot. second, and commanded that he be declared first among himself. Glory to our God, now and forever, and forever and ever. Amen. Sermon 62. On the Holy and Great Wednesday of Holy Week, about the same beautiful Joseph, who knew his brothers and about the coming of his father Jacob with all his tribe to Egypt. And when Pentephry, who had cast Joseph into prison, saw that glorious thing, like Joseph sitting on Pharaoh’s chariot with great glory, he was greatly afraid, and the great man was separated from the nobles, going to his house, and going there, he was filled with fear and trembling, telling his wife about it, the verb: “Weigh, O woman, what is the sign of today.” great, but we have great fear? Joseph, our servant, has been appointed lord over us and over the whole land of Egypt, and he sits in glory on Pharaoh’s chariot, glorified by all with honor. Because of fear and trembling, I could not appear to Joseph, having secretly separated from the Bolyars.” Now when Pentefrin’s wife heard the word, she said to her husband: “Do not be afraid, but this day I will wipe out my sin, which has been hidden until now. I loved Joseph more passionately; at the same time, all the days and hours, we paint ourselves to deceive him, in order to attract him to ourselves and be with him, but in no way can he improve his desire: for all my words are rejected, even if listen to me. I took it away and took the bream with me. He will escape. Whenever you showed him his robe, he left it with me and escaped from my hand and went out into the hundreds. And now I am the source of his power and great glory. For if I had not loved Joseph and been thrown into prison, I would not have received honor. Moreover, now it is worthy for me to have praise from him, which was the wine of his glory. Joseph is righteous and venerable; he will not remember evil, even if it is for his good. Arise, then, go and worship him with the nobles.” Pentephrius got up, went with the cold, and bowed down to Joseph with all the nobles. From now on, seven abundant years have passed and famine has begun throughout the whole earth. Jacob and his sons were exhausted in the land of Canaan. Hearing that there was wheat being bought in Egypt, he said to his son: “Why are you neglectful? Behold, you have heard that there is wheat in Egypt, go there and buy us a little food, lest we die of hunger.” The ten brothers of Joseph went to buy wheat for Egypt. And when he came, he bowed down to Joseph with his face to the ground. When Joseph saw his brothers, he knew them, but they did not know him. And I spoke to them cruelly, and said to them: “Where did you come from?” They decided: “From the land of Canaan, buy food.” And we say to them: “Spies of nature, spy on the ways of the country sowing come.” They decided: “Nor, sir, should your servants come and buy food. All are brothers and children of one father; sometimes there were twelve in number, but only one was taken from us by the beasts, having been loved by his father, who weeps for him to this day. Another, younger than us, is with our father today.” Joseph said to them: “Behold, this is for you, as spies by nature; “Do not come out from here unless you bring your younger brother, for God’s sake, to me, and then I will have faith in you, as you are by nature peace-women, and not spies.” And I put him in custody for three days, and then I bound Simeon from them and kept him; Having freed the others, he ordered them to fill their vessels with wheat, and return their money to everyone in their sackcloth, and give them food for the way, and let them go. I picked up the wheat and rested. And on the way she found silver in her sackcloth, and she was horrified. And she came to Jacob her father in the land of Canaan, and told him everything that had happened to him. Israel said: “Why have you done evil by telling your husband that you have a brother?” They decided: “When asking, ask us husbands and our family, the verb: “Is your father still alive, and is there a brother?” And I will tell him about this matter. As we eat, he says to us: “Will you bring your brother?” Jacob said: “My son will not go with you, because his brother has died, and he alone remains; evil will happen to him on the way and you will bring my old age with sorrow to hell.” But I am overcome by a famine, Jacob said to them: “Go ahead and buy us a little food.” Judas said to him: “Unless you follow our brother with us, we will not go. My husband forbade us to come to him without this.” Jacob said to them: “If all this comes to pass in me, take the gifts and the money, and your brother, and go; and bring back with you the silver that you found in your sackcloth. May my God give you grace before your husband, and let your only brother and Benjamin go.” And she rose up and came to Egypt and stood before Joseph. Joseph saw them, and Benjamin, his only mother’s brother. And he said to the builder of his house: “Bring these men into the house, and kill the livestock and prepare it; For men shall eat with me and have bread at noon.” So do man, as Joseph said, and bring the men into the house of Joseph. When they saw that they had been brought into the house of Joseph, they decided: “For the sake of the money that was returned in our sackcloth first, they are bringing us in, so as to slander us and bring “Now, may they take us as our slaves and donkeys.” He approached the man who was over the house of Joseph, speaking to him at the gates of the house, saying: “We pray to you, sir, let us come first and buy food; And when he came to the camp, he took off his sackcloth, and put some silver in his sackcloth; that weight of our silver has now returned with our hands; and he brought other silver with him to buy food; “We don’t know who put the silver into our sackcloth.” He said to them: “Peace be with you, do not be afraid: your God and God your father will give you treasures in your sackcloth; and I have your silver for what I received.” And I brought Simeon out to them, and brought water to wash their noses, and let them have pasture for their donkeys. Having prepared the gifts, until Joseph comes at noon, he heard that there was dinner there. Joseph came to the house, and brought him gifts, even the name in his hands, into the house, and bowed to him with his face to the ground. And ask them: “Are you healthy?” And I say to them: “Is your old father, his father, healthy, and is he still alive?” They said: “Your servant, our father, is still alive.” And the speech: “Blessed is this man to God.” And she bowed down and bowed to him. Joseph looked with his eyes at the sight of Benjamin, his only mother’s brother, and said: “Is this your youngest brother whom you would like to bring to me?” And he said: “May God have mercy on you, child!” Joseph was indignant: for his womb moved for his brother, and sought to weep; He went into the box, crying there. And having washed his face, he went out, holding back, and said: “Offer the loaves.” And he offered him alone, and to them especially, and to the Egyptians who were with him, especially. For the Egyptians cannot eat bread from the Jews: for every shepherd of the sheep is an abomination to the Egyptians. Sedosha is directly his firstborn in terms of his seniority, and the youngest in his minority, and men admire each other to their brother. And she took parts from him to herself. The greatest part of Veniamin was greater than all the parts of five, more than these. So I wrote and slept with him. Then Joseph commanded his steward to fill sackcloths of wheat with it, as much as they could bear, and to put the silver in each person's mouth on the top of the sackcloth, and his silver cup in Benjamin's sackcloth, and the price of his wheat, and let them go. And it came to pass according to the word of Joseph, even as the word was spoken. The morning has risen, and the men have gone away and their donkeys have been taken away. They left the city without going far. And Joseph said to his steward: “Arise, chase after the men, and catch them, and say to them: “What shall you repay me with evil for good? Have you stolen my silver cup? Isn’t this the one from which my lord drinks? He also works magic in her; You will do the evil that you have done." He will find them, I will speak to them according to these words. They decided to him: “How much does the lord of this word say?” Do not cause your servants to do according to this word. Should the silver that we found in our sackcloth return to you from the land of Canaan, as if silver or gold were stolen from your master’s house? If you find the cup from him from your servants, let him die, and we will be servants to our master.” He said: “And now, as you say, so it will be: if the cup is found with him, he will be my servant, and you will be clean.” And each one took pains, and pulled down his sackcloth to the ground, and each one opened his sackcloth. The search is completed from the elder until you reach the youngest, and you will find the cup in Benjamin’s sackcloth. And she tore her garments. Benjamin lifted up his voice with weeping, saying: “Behold, the God of my father Himself knows, now invisibly in vain all of us and testing our hearts, lest we steal.” the cup I found in my sackcloth. Woe is me, woe is me, O Rachel, my mother! What would be your child? Joseph, as they say, was eaten by the beast; and so I appeared on the land of strangers and remain at work.” And each one put his sackcloth on his donkey, and returned to the city. Below, Judah and his brothers went to Joseph and fell to the ground before him. Joseph said to them: “What have you done this thing? Don’t you know that a man is a sorcerer like I?” Judas said: “What shall we answer to the master, or what shall we say, or how shall we be justified? God, you will find the iniquity of your servants. Behold, we are the servants of our master, and we, and from him will you find the cup.” Joseph said: “Don’t let me create this verb. Man, from him the cup will be found, he will be my servant; “But you will go safe to your father.” Judas approached him and said: “I pray to you, sir, that your servant may speak his word before you, and do not be angry with your servant. You asked your servants: “If you have a father or a brother”? And we say: “We have an old father, and a child younger than him in his old age, and his brother died, and he alone remained with his mother, but his father loved him.” You said: “Bring him to me, so that I can see him.” And I said to the master: “The youth will not be able to leave their father.” You said to your servants: “Unless your youngest brother comes with you, you will not see my face.” When our father sent us back to buy food, he said to him: “We will not go unless our youngest brother goes with us.” And he said to us: “You know that only one departed from Me, and you have not seen him until now. If you understand this too, evil will happen to him on the way, and you will bring my old age with sorrow to hell.” I took the youth from my father, the verb: “If I don’t bring him to you, I will sin against my father all my days.” Today I will be your servant instead of your youth; Let this one go with his brothers. How can I go to my father when I am not with us? Let me not see the wicked, even if they find my father.” And Joseph could not resist all those who stood before him, but said: “Send everyone away from Me.” And not a single Joseph was to come. And he let out a voice of weeping, and said to his brethren: “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” And the brothers could not answer him: they were embarrassed. Joseph said to his brethren: “Come closer to me.” And getting closer. And he said: “I am Joseph, your brother, whom I will sell into Egypt. Now do not grieve; let it be cruelly revealed to you that you have sold this seed, for God has sent me before you to live. Having been exhausted, go up to my father and say to him: “This is the saying of your son Joseph: God make me lord of all the land of Egypt; Come down to me and fail to do so, and I will nourish you; For five more years there will be famine on the earth, so that you and your sons and all your possessions will not perish.” Now tell my father all my glory that is in Egypt, and you will see it, and quickly bring my father here.” And he attacked the neck of his brother Benjamin, weeping over him; and Benjamin wept on his neck. And he kissed all his brothers, weeping over them. Joseph gave them chariots at the command of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and gave them a way to go. And to everyone you gave abundant robes, but to Benjamin you gave three hundred gold coins and five exchangeable robes. And he also sent his father ten donkeys, carrying all the blessings of Egypt, and ten Muscovites, carrying bread for his father’s journey. And let your brothers go and rest. And I say to them: “Do not be angry on the way.” She came out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan, to Jacob her father, and told him, saying: “For your son Joseph is alive, and he rules over all the land of Egypt." And Jacob was horrified at the thought: for he did not believe them. But having been pierced by heart disease, he shed tears and said to them: “Why are you troubling my spirit? So that by the memory of Joseph the sadness of my heart, little quenched in me, do you want to put it into my soul?” And all the words that were spoken to him by Joseph were spoken to them. Benjamin also came to him and said to him: “The essence of this word is true.” When Jacob saw the chariots that Joseph had sent and took him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived. And Israel said: “Great are these things, and yet Joseph my son is alive. Shad, I’ll see him before I die.” And Israel itself and all its creatures rose up and came to Egypt. When Joseph heard the coming of his father, he harnessed his chariot and went out to meet his father Israel. When Jacob saw Joseph hailing, he put off his old age and left the chariot. Joseph himself was on foot and all the nobles were with him. And when Joseph drew near to his father Jacob, he attacked his neck, and wept a great cry. And Israel said to Joseph: “Let me die from now on, before I have seen your face, since you are still alive.” And after seven and ten years Jacob died in Egypt and was converted to his father. And Joseph fell on his father’s face, weeping bitterly over him, and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his burying youth to bury his father, and the burying buryers of Israel. And fourty days were completed for him: for the days of burial are numbered; and Egypt mourned him seventy days. When the day of mourning had passed, Joseph spoke to the nobles of Pharaoh, saying: “If I have found grace before you, shout in the ears of Pharaoh, saying: “Father “I have sworn to eat me, in the verb: in a grave like the fossils in the land of Canaan, bury me there.” Now that I have risen, I will bury my father and return.” And spoke to Pharaoh according to the word of Joseph. And Pharaoh said to Joseph: “Go up, bury your father, as he cursed you.” And Joseph went up to bury his father, and all the young men of Pharaoh, and the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, and all the household of Joseph, went together with him, and his brethren, and all his father's house, and clan. And I left their cattle in the land of Goshen. And the chariots and cavalry rose up, and the army became very great. And he came to the threshing floor of Atad, even though it was half the Jordan. And he cried out with a great and strong cry, and made his father weep for seven days. And the inhabitants of the land of Canaan saw the weeping at the threshing floor of Atad, and decided: “This is a great cry for the Egyptians.” For this reason, the name of that place is called: “Weeping of Egypt,” which is the half of the Jordan. And his sons made unto him such things as commandments unto them. And his sons took him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the abyss, where Abraham acquired the cave to obtain the tomb from Ephron the Hittite, straight Mamvri. And Joseph returned to his house in Egypt, he and his brethren, and all that came up with him. After the burial of their father, Joseph’s brothers saw that their father had died, deciding to themselves: “When will Joseph remember our wickedness and reward us for all what evil did I do to him?” Having come to Joseph, he decided to him: “Your father swore before he died, the verb: “So say to Joseph: forgive them the iniquity and their sin, for I will do evil to you.” And now accept unrighteousness, servant of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept bitterly when he heard the word spoken to him. And again he went to Joseph, deciding: “Behold, we are your servants, lord!” And Joseph said to them: “Do not be afraid, for I am God.” You conspire against me for evil, but God conspires for me for good, so that it may be as today, and many people may be fed.” And I said to them: “Do not be afraid, I will feed you and your houses.” And being comforted, she began to say words after their hearts. And Joseph moved into Egypt, himself and his brethren, and all his father’s house. And Joseph lived a hundred and ten years. And Joseph saw the sons of Ephraim and the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, who was born at Joseph’s thigh. And Joseph said to his brethren: “I am already dying; But when God visits you, he will bring you out of the land of sowing, to the land whereby you swear to our father, to Abraham, and to Isaac, and to Jacob.” And Joseph cursed the sons of Israel, saying: “When God visits you, take my bones from here with you.” And Joseph died, having been a hundred and ten years old, and laid him in a raz in Egypt. For all of these we glorify Christ, with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, to Him be glory and power, honor and worship, now and forever, and forever and ever, amen. Sermon 63. On Holy and Great Thursday, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom about the holy communion, recitation of the communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord, by the king and the prince and everyone Orthodox Christian. If any king or prince goes to any city, those who exist there will destroy him. And we must also create, before the Son of God, the only Son and the One without Creation, descends from heaven to mortal man. Now I have come, by the will of Passion, to accept ours for the sake of salvation. We must, with a clear conscience, accept and spiritually receive His holy Mysteries through communion. Hear, those who now want to approach the holy and most terrible Mystery, and understand how you want to partake of the Holy things, even though the heavenly powers tremble, cherubs, and seraphim, and all The angelic hosts are horrified, offering a spiritual sacrifice to God. For those who form the priests stand before the holiest, and most terrible, and most wonderful Divine table, on which is presented the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which prefigures Himself Our Lord and Savior by Himself. On this day the Lord reclined at the Supper with His disciples, and having received the bread, and having blessed, and having given praise to God and the Father, broke it and gave it to His disciples, the verb: “Take, eat, this is My Body, broken for you, for the remission of sins.” In the same way, I accept the cup, saying: “Drink of it, all of you, this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins.” Please understand that we are not speaking for the apostles alone, but for all those who believe in Him. Having risen from the Supper, and having taken up laziness, girded himself, and washed his face as a disciple, Jesus also washed the traitor’s mind with them, so that the latter should not reproach, because for this sake he betrayed Him. Deprive him of supper and don’t wash his feet, just like the rest. Oh, the greatness of the Lord, humility and goodness! Having served the Lord as a servant, and knowing who He is, betray Him, but do not say to him: “Get out, O traitor.” This is because the Creator created everything, giving us an image to have humility and kindness. When Judas left to call the Jews and betray the Lord to them, then the Lord gave much glory to the teaching of the commandment of the apostle. It is fitting for us, too, to fast and pray after receiving communion: first, let us be worthy of receiving, and then let us not be dishonored. This is what he calls dishonor, even on the morning, and on the next, or on the third day, having the first rounds of malice. For if anyone has an unhealthy womb and takes any poison, he will destroy everything and create more disease. Likewise the Holy Mysteries: if anyone who is unworthy receives evil, sins, or envy, or anger, or resentment, or lawless fornication, then he will be rewarded with something worse torment. It is fitting for us to cleanse our mind and conscience, and then receive the holy and most pure Mysteries. If anyone is defiled, he is not worthy to receive communion on holidays. For the Apostle Paul says: “Because you are unworthy to receive communion, you eat and drink as a judgment.” Whoever accepts the Mysteries of Christ with negligence, gives more space to the demon in himself, just as Satan gave the traitor to Judas with bread below. And those who receive the Mysteries of Christ with fear, repenting with humility, receive them for the remission of sins. If anyone has serious sins: evil robbery, or fornication, or envy, or anger, and all other malice, unless he forsakes these and accepts penance, he is unworthy partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. If anyone accepts God fearingly, he will receive mercy. If he is double-minded with malice, he will be condemned with Judas. At the same time, believers, let us accept the Body and Blood of the Lord for the remission of sins, for the sanctuary of the soul and for eternal life, so that we may be an apostle of the community and with them we may dwell in joy. Yes, no one will be angry with you, like Judas: he supped with Christ, thinking of betraying Him, and stayed with the apostles to slander the Jews. And no one accepted you, brothers, without considering the Body of Christ: it is not simply bread and wine, but the true Body and Blood of the Lord. Since man cannot eat cheese, meat, or drink blood, for the sake of the Lord, offer Your Body in bread and Your Blood in wine. And not in any other wine, but over it the priests perform the service and bring the bloodless holy Sacrifice to God. For this reason, brothers, we cannot accept it unpreparedly, but through love, and not through hypocrisy. Who wants you to receive the Body and Blood of the Lord, and if you are angry with anyone, first humble yourself, then take communion; or you got into trouble with someone and didn’t say goodbye, or you didn’t keep your tongue from idle words, or you got someone married, or you envied someone, and you don’t accept repentance for that, don’t proceed to Shrines: it is impossible for an unworthy person to even see, let alone approach. Do not, like Judas, who is unworthy, having received communion, fall into an incurable illness, and be guilty of eternal punishment. But let us move forward, faithful ones, virtuously, having purified ourselves by fasting, and prayers, and almsgiving, so that, having received the worthy of the Most Pure Mysteries, we may be deemed worthy to stand at the right hand of the throne of God, and here receive the mercy of God, and joyfully achieve His Resurrection, glorifying Him with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen. Sermon 66. On Holy Great Saturday, teaching of the Holy Father Gregory of Antioch. What is this silence on earth? And why is this much silence? Like the Tsar is sleeping. The earth was afraid and kept silent, for God had made progress in the flesh. God will die in the flesh, and hell will tremble. God succeeded in a little way, and from all eternity raised up those who had slept from Adam. Where are yesterday’s many rumors against Christ of the lawless? Where are there a lot of people? Where are the drakolia, the priests and the evil judges? Where are the candles, and the swords, and the countless words, and the wandering people? Truly, people have learned in vain, rubbing against the Solid Stone and erasing the former. The Lord ascended to the Tree and came down, killing me. The binder of the Sun is Christ, but resolve the eternal bonds, and illuminate the dark ones, and defeat the devil. Let the Sun go underground and create darkness for the Jews, and they will find a little joy in the midst of the inexorable darkness and fierce sadness. Today is salvation on earth for those who exist and for all eternity have been held under the earth. Two of God's love for mankind, together with humility: like a Man, he descends into the earth and is buried, but like God, he raises up the dead from hell. Yesterday we were judged, and the emphasis was placed on the cheek, and we were bound; Today the devil is bound with unsolvable bonds and condemned freedom. Yesterday Pilate's servants mocked Him, and today the gatekeepers of hell, having seen Him, disappeared, and death was trampled upon, and the power of hell was destroyed. Yesterday, when the Lord was on the Cross, all creation wept: the sun at noon darkened its light, and the earth shook, and the stone was broken into pieces to denounce the Jews, and beauty the church was in disarray, and many bodies of the departed saints rose. And from the sixth hour to the ninth darkness came over all the earth, and at the ninth hour Jesus gave up the ghost. The same night Christ was born in Bethlehem, and the same night he rose again from the dead. The shrouds are accepted at Christmas, so they are also hung at burial. Mary's angel preaches His Nativity, and the angel again proclaims His Resurrection. In the Nativity Joseph was his betrothed, and here Joseph is also from Arimathea. And just as I was born, at Christmas I kept the seals of virginity intact, so He is Risen, do not destroy the coffin of the seals. Later, I said, because the Righteous Sun had gone into hell, a rich man came, named Joseph, from Arimathea. He is rich in strength, for he receives the body of the Lord, the Priceless Bead, the Creator of all creation. And Nicodemus also came, having come to Jesus in the night. Two hidden disciples, Joseph and Nicodemus, hid the priests in the tomb in the flesh of God, reveling in each other’s love for God. Nicodemus bought myrrh and scarlet for the body of Christ, and Joseph was praised for his boldness towards Pilate. Having entered without fear, he wisely begins to ask for the body of Jesus, without using too much speech, so that he does not lead the judge into anger and does not accept the request. But when she entered, she said: “O Pilate, asking for little, I have come to you. Give me a dead body for burial, from you, the condemned Jesus of Nazareth, hanging on the Tree and neglected by all. What use is there to you from the body of this strange one? Give my body the will of a stranger, Who has no place to bow his head. Give to the strange one who had no city, no weight, no church, no monastery, no clan, no friends, no helper, but only one Mother. For the dead I pray to you, who was sold from his disciple, and expelled from his brethren, and from his servants, who were killed, and from his disciples, and from his mother, and from those who received food from him. He gave milk and gall to drink, and received the plague from those who were healed by Him. I pray to you, about Pilate, about Him Hanging on the Cross. For this One has no father on earth, no friend, no snake, no disciple, no burying one, but He is alone, and alone, like the poor One, Who created everything. Give me, O Pilate, a dead body for burial!” With these words spoken from Joseph to Pilate, Pilate commanded to give the body of Jesus. Joseph and Nicodemus fell from the Cross and buried them. The next morning, on Saturday, the bishops and Pharisees gathered to Pilate, saying: “Let us remember that He is a flatterer, even as he lives, saying: In three days I will rise. They commanded that the tomb be established until the third day, lest His disciples come at night and steal it and say to the people: Rise from the dead. And the last flattery will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them: “If you speak of an enemy of the law and a scoundrel, why are you afraid of Him? For I have already died and been buried. Have guards and soldiers as you wish, guard Him, line His grave with iron or seal it, and do not say afterward: If Pilate had not rebuked us, we would not have been destroyed. dead man. As you know, confirm the coffin. And if anyone comes from His disciple, kill him.” They, going on, strengthened the coffin with iron, and set up many guards, who neglected the Sabbath, creating evil, imagining, iniquity, to restrain the Creator and God of all. Oh, evil criminals! Why do you call the Lord a flatterer, Who has freed many from unclean spirits? Oh, damned ladders! He fed you for fourty years in the desert, and gave you manna, and brought water out of the rock. Was he a flatterer, who fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread, and showed you many miracles: enlighten the blind, cleanse the lepers, raise up Lazarus of the four days from coffin? Oh, damn it! If the flatterer is the Lord, then why are you afraid of His word? And that night I became a warrior guarding the grave, and a heavy sleep enveloped me. The angel of the Lord came down from heaven and awakened the guards, and rolled away the stone from the tomb, and sat on it, cursing with an iron seal, and said to them: O guards! where is the one you are guarding? Rise up, just as the verb is alive and alive. Look, who is stealing Him? Your priests called Him a flatterer. The prophet proclaimed good things about you: “Be terrified, O heaven, and fear, O earth, for in unbelief the generation of the Jews has come.” Sorry, the angel is invisible. Yes, and we, the faithful, are careful to fall into unbelief, and let us leave all evil deeds: envy, anger, slander, theft and all other untruths. May Christ God grant us the joy of His Resurrection. To him be glory, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. [Amen.] Sermon 67. On the holy and great Bright Week of the Resurrection of Christ our God, the teaching of St. John Chrysostom, how our Lord Jesus Christ is risen from dead. On the third day our Lord Jesus Christ arose, giving life to the world. And behold, some of the custodians came to the Jews, deciding: “Jesus, who is called Christ, has risen from the dead.” And the Jewish verb: “Why didn’t you eat Him?” And the warrior’s verb: “You who held Him, what gain do you have? But what is vanity for your souls? That is why it was said, “He is to die, and to rise on the third day; and then having died, having been put to death, he will rise from the dead with much power and glory.” In the Jew’s verb: “You are gifts from the earth, and you have given a natural body as His disciple.” The warrior answered: “Such is your unbelief and lawbreaker, and I say that I am not of faith, because I will suffer and will rise on the third day.” Woe to you, Jews, for I have risen up against Him, and you do not have faith. When the second coming comes, what will you do then? Oh, woe will be for you on that day! How can we keep Him alive, having been dead from fear of His glory? When he rose again, the place was shaken from its foundations; and the hosts of angels ransacked His tomb; and the angels rushed together, rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb. - And behold, Jesus came out of the tomb, like the Bridegroom from the palace, like flashing lightning. And I heard the angel saying to the women: Do not be afraid, but go and cry as His disciple, for He has risen from the dead to eat and is cooking for you in Galilee, there you will see And. And this one is in Galilee. If you are strong in nature, follow Him. Behold, I tell you the truth that I have heard from the angel. When the Jews heard this, they all thought they were dead. And having consulted to give a lot of money to the warrior, he prayed to them, saying: “Cry as His disciples did in the night, having come and stolen And from us sleeping. If this is heard, the hegemon will hear it, and we will satisfy him, and we will make you without sorrow.” Oh, lawlessness of the Jews! Who is it that admonishes the whole world? Woe to you, wretched Jews, for the council is evil; like a “child of God” he was quickly named, but now the dog has appeared in malice. Woe to you, hard-hearted and uncircumcised hearts, for the people of the Lord are like swift wolves, and have sharp teeth against the Lamb of God, and are strangers to His glory. Woe to you foolish ones, for you love hell and eternal fire. Hell, when the creatures come out in its treasures, a place awaits you in those places, the verb: “Whoever receives food from the Jews, who laid their hands on Christ and took me captive I will create. If they had not planned evil against the Lord, I would not have accepted the Lord. When I have received them, I will bring them down to the underworld, where their father, the devil, is shut up in eternal fire and never-ending worms, so that they may learn not to fight against the God of glory, nor speak untruths." Woe to you, wretched Jews, for you have abandoned the light and loved darkness. Isaiah the prophet spoke to you: Woe to those who put light into darkness and darkness into light, and to those who say that bitter is sweet, and sweet is bitter. Oh, woe to you Jews, when you see the Tree on which Christ is crucified, the Savior of the whole world, and the whole world worshiping him, and the Lord coming on the clouds of heaven with angelic powers will judge you. Oh, woe to you, Jews, for the council of the evils has killed the Immortal. But Toy lives forever and ever, but you are stupefied by unbelief. He reigns forever, and you who do not believe Him will be tormented forever. We, the faithful, have left the evil-wise Jews and come to the Lord’s Resurrection with joy. When Christ rose from the dead, two women came to the tomb, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, who is also the Mother of Jesus, and wept because they had not found the body of the Lord. Then, having met Him, both Marys and first received joy from Him, went back to their own places. Magdalene Mary came again to the tomb and, not having found Him, heard the voice of an angel. The second thing is that I heard from the Lord saying: I am cooking you in Galilee. And having turned, he saw the Lord standing, and thinking of the heli-master, he asked Him: “If you hang, where is the Lord supposed to eat?” Jesus said to her: “Marie!” Why are you crying and who are you looking for? Get tired of crying, accept joy. Where there is joy, there comes lamentation and sorrow. Where there is joy, there are images of joy. I am Jesus, the Son of the Virgin. I am Jesus, who took away the sins of the world. I am Jesus, who trampled death. I am Jesus, the denier of hell. I am Jesus, who brings good news to the dead the hope of resurrection. I am Jesus, who suffered crucifixion for the salvation of the whole world. I am Jesus, who rose from the dead on three days, just as he told you before. Heaven and earth pass by, but My words do not pass by. I am a dye for those who are baptized. Paul cried out for Me, saying: “If you were baptized into Christ, you put on Christ.” I am Jesus, the giver of peace and joy. Stop from tears and weeping, and be clothed with joy, and preach the good news as an apostle, for I have taken away every tear from every face. By me, Eve, who was condemned, was justified, and the exiled Adam returned, and flattery was ruined, the evil serpent was quickly trampled, and hostility fell. The Jews cry without consolation, the Pharisees weep angrily. The cross is a helper, and the tomb is a witness. Death confesses victory to Me. Through Me the human race is renewed. The dead have risen about Me. Fruits of the third day of Resurrection. This day, the Firstborn from the dead has risen and the joy of the world has been given. This day, in the forge of Petrovi and the Apostle, I preach the Annunciation of My Resurrection. Come now, cry unto My brethren and Petrov, for I am risen from the dead, and I am cooking you in Galilee, where you see Me.” Do you see the kindness of the Lord of all creation? Not a single disciple was named after him, except Peter. Why, Lord, call that one name? Even friends did not say: “Even if we die with You, we will not deny You,” but this river, and denied Me three times, and repented, weeping bitterly. Moreover, he is afraid to come before Me, because his sin has not been forgiven, for this reason, for the sake of the rivers and Petrovi. Shout to him, so that without hesitation he and My disciples will come and see Me. Rtsyte Petrovi: “Being in no way afraid, I did not diminish you from the face of glory, and I did not make you less from the face of the apostle. Even though I love John, and to him I betrayed My Mother purely, but I also gave you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Do not be afraid to come to Me, for even if you bind him on earth, he will be bound in heaven, and even if you loose him on earth, he will be loosed in heaven. Fear not, Peter, I will not leave you from sitting first with My disciples; For I have promised you that I will also end, for on the rock of your faith I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. You will save Mi's sheep. You will take care of My lambs, and you will stand at My right hand, like a ruler. Do not be afraid, Peter, if you have rejected Me; I saw your tears and forgave you your sins. It would have been good for Judas, too, if only he had repented, and would not have rushed to the tree and would not have made a promise to himself, for those who repent are God: and for this reason I descended to the earth, that I might give repentance to the world. For I have forgiven many sins as publicans and fornicators, but will I not forgive you only? Because I love those who repent, remember how I shed tears for Judas, and I wished that I would not perish. It would have been good for him if the pieces of silver were stronger in the church, if only he had repented; but still remain without repentance, for this reason we are forever tormented. But you, Petre, do not be afraid; I saw your tears and forgave you your sin. Because I have committed two evils to David - adultery and murder - I have forgiven him everything and have appointed him to the first rank of prophecy. But if I leave my house, wife and children for my sake, won’t I leave one sin? Do not be afraid Peter, I am the river: there is joy in heaven for one sinner who repents. I am the one who says: come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. It would have been good for Judas, if only he had returned to Me, and not already obliged himself to be strangled, and destroyed himself, - I would have nailed his sins to the Cross. This one was guilty, and did not curse him, but rather, I washed his nose and gave him bread, like the other disciples, and in no way did he catch him, so that he would come to repentance. And even if you don’t want to, for the sake of this, the tormented will eat forever. But you, having repented, do not be afraid to appear to Me and My disciples. Tolma, Petre, will not fail you, for your sickness will also be healed, and demons will gnaw at your ubrus and your belts, and the touch of your hand from the birth of the lame will speed up the course. And the disciples arose and went with great joy to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus commanded them, and when they saw Him, they worshiped Him. And all the prophecy will come true, even for the sake of the verb, about the passion, and about the burial, and about the Resurrection of the Lord our God. This is all Christ suffered for our sake, so that we may create immortality as heirs: and give peace to the whole world, and give joy and joy to the churches, and the Kingdom of Heaven Having promised the faithful, invincible victory, He has given His Cross to Christians. Who wouldn’t be amazed at the greatness of this mystery about us? Who wouldn’t want to glorify Him who was nailed to the Cross for our sake? And who doesn’t want to worship the Risen One from the dead? And who does not want to sing of Him who abolished the sting of death with the Cross? And if you want to know the power of the Cross, listen wisely. The cross is a demon that drives away; The cross is victory over the devil; The cross is a Christian’s praise; The cross is the king of exaltation; The cross is an offering to the rulers; The cross is an invincible force for the prince; The cross is a weapon against enemies; The cross is a covering for the faithful; The cross is the salvation of souls; The cross is a fence for churches; The cross means freedom for those who are baptized; The cross is the beauty of a Christian; The cross is to remain faithful. With this sign the walls of those comparable to them fall. By this sign the demons perish, and everything is repented to the Tree of the Cross, the powers of the deed of the Holy One are upon it. And not just now does the image of the Godfather conquer the warriors, but even before this he was victorious and overpowering. Do not be surprised, for such is the power of the Cross, for both its image and mark are victorious over the opposing regiments. Understand the power of the image: the rod of Moses is named after the image of the Cross, just as the Apostle Paul said: piyahu for from the spiritual stone that follows, the stone is Christ. This rod, the image of the Godfather, has created evil for the contrary and good for the faithful? Moses turned the rivers of Egypt into blood. Splashes, and crunches, and frogs, and hail, and intangible darkness, and darkness, and death on the firstborn, with a rod. If the rod was not applied to Nan, then everything would be conquered. With a rod God delivered the Jewish race from the cruel work of Pharaoh. He saved them with the sign of the cross, and did not bow to the truth. Whenever the Red Sea passed through, there was nothing named Moses, except the sign of the Cross. And behold, Pharaoh married them with many weapons, and an innumerable multitude of brave men with him. The sea, seeing it, was not afraid, but the rod of Moses saw the image, and was afraid: the impenetrable depth opened, and the loud voice of the waves parted, and the uncontrollable depth of the sea a wall on their right hand, and a wall on their side; and this one saved them, and drowned them. Did the image understand the power? Bow down to the true power of the Cross. Moses foresaw the Cross, wanting to shine throughout the entire universe, and thus defeat all enemies. Whenever Jesus sent Joshua to fight against the adversary, he stretched out his hand in the shape of a cross, and Joshua strengthened himself against his enemies, and I was victorious. Moreover, the image of the Cross appeared during the reign of Moses. There are many words about the Cross, and its ineffable power. The devil took great pains to erect the Cross, not knowing its power: but once it was erected, it could not be seen. Those who worship the Cross defeat the devil. The Cross of Christ is omnipotent, doing good to everyone and receiving worship from everyone. See his good deed: if anyone is poor, he will pray to him, and his house will be rich; or whoever is drowned by a storm in the middle of the sea will be brought to a quiet haven by the sign of the Cross; or if someone lies on his bed and in every trouble calls on the Cross to help him, there will be freedom from every illness and misfortune; or whoever is overcome by a multitude of sins will be saved from the storm of sin by the sign of the Cross and will reach a peaceful haven, even if there is Christ our God, nailed on the Cross, and laid in the tomb, risen from the dead, enlightening all things. To him be glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen. You might be interested in: