Благородство

Talk about Christian nobility, which is great, highly exalted and incomprehensible. To be the son of God (see 1 John 3:1), to have fellowship with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3), to be the temple of the Holy Spirit and the house of Christ (1 Cor. 6:19, 15) how magnificent! What honor, glory and nobility greater than this can be for a person! All the glory and honor of kings and princes gives way to this, like darkness to light. But a Christian loses it through sin. God is light, and in Him there is no darkness. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, but walk in darkness, then we lie and do not act in the truth (1 John 1:5-6). High Christian nobility forbids us to cleave our hearts to corruptible and vain things, and it does not consist in honor, glory, titles, a noble family of this world, but in inner spiritual beauty, created in the image of God and renewed by the grace of Christ, the Son of God. Vain honor and glory are unworthy of this nobility, even if it were gathered together from the whole world. And just as for a royal high title is a low honor, and for his purple - rags, so for Christian dignity as heavenly, earthly honor is not befitting. So, how, being a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people taken for inheritance (1 Pet. 2:9), do we dare to dishonor such a highly venerable family with the servile ambition of this world and, like the radiance of the sun, its glory with the darkness of vain glory? Christ, the Son of God, the wrath that threatened us all with eternal death, turned us away from us who believe in Him, and delivered us from eternal death; moreover, He brought us into such high mercy before God that He gave those who believe in His name the power to become children of God (John 1:12), and this honor is so high that all the glory of this world is nothing before it. All the nobility and greatness of this world is only an empty name and title, not having the thing itself, like a bubble of water or a fur inflated with air, which appears externally as something, but has nothing inside. Christian nobility is true, eternal and incomprehensible; Christ earned it for us with His Blood. How great the honor and nobility of this world is revered by the sons of this age is impossible to say. But both true wealth and true nobility are not that which is considered such and called so by their lovers (often people extol what they love, although it in itself is not commendable), but that which is called, and is in essence, and according to sound reason and the Word of God, which is the true rule of our thoughts. Look, man, when you boast about the nobility of your ancestors, as the Jews boasted about the patriarch Abraham: our father is Abraham, whom Christ denounced: if you were children of Abraham, you would have done the works of Abram (John 8:33, 39), then are you doing such praiseworthy deeds as your ancestors did? If you command people, then don’t passions command you? If you are called a master, does not sin rule over you? If you judge people, does not your conscience judge and condemn you? It is vain praise to have good ancestors, but not to imitate their deeds. It is bad and senseless to command people, but to obey passions. Slavery and meanness are not domination: service is not freedom, to be called a master, but to be a slave of sin (John 8:34), to dominate in body over people like oneself, but to serve with a noble soul and submit to sin. Poor is that judge who judges people with his tongue and pen, but is himself constantly convicted and judged by his conscience. But even that flower is beautiful on the outside, but rotted inside, or when a storm of misfortune and misfortune comes, or when death comes, which bypasses no one, it falls and does not appear, and it happens as if it never existed. Then the high-born and noble from the simple and the master from the slave are no different, for attack, and especially death, makes everyone equal. Then everyone will know that the honor, nobility and high birth of this world is an empty name and title, like a flask that is inflated, but empty. And what happens to the soul, which lived in a noble body, dominated people, commanded people, but itself served passions and sin, denounced and judged people, but was itself convicted and judged by conscience and the law of God? We know that God does not look at the face of man (Gal. 2:6). He does not look at the king and his subject, nor at the master and his slave, neither at the noble nor at the common, but at faith and good deeds. From Him everyone will receive according to what he did while living in the body, good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10). Moreover, we read in His Holy Word: the judgment of those in authority is strict, for the lesser deserves pardon, but the strong will be severely tortured, or, according to another translation, tormented. The Lord of all will not be afraid of the face and will not be afraid of greatness, for He created both small and great and equally provides for everyone; but the rulers will face a strict test (Wis. 6:5-8). The honor and nobility of this world without Christian true nobility is subject to greater judgment and condemnation. It is necessary for a noble person who is in honor, but does not live like a Christian, not only for himself, but also for his subordinates, whom he not only did not correct, but also seduced, to give an answer to the righteous Judge, whose judgment no one can escape. But people, not considering the truth and the charm of the present and the future, leaving the truth, take up the charm in the same way as small and foolish children, leaving gold, grab hot coals with their hands, burn themselves on them, then become bitterly sick and cry. Here again, I am not condemning noble persons - that will not happen - but ambition and love of glory, which cannot be combined with true Christian nobility and faith, according to what has been said: how can you believe when you receive glory from each other, but do not seek the glory that is from the One God (John 5:44)? And I admit that the business of the pagans is to chase after vain glory, who only seek what is subject to their feelings, and what they do not know, they do not seek. Christians are ashamed to imitate the pagans in this; faith must raise their hearts to a different and incomparably better nobility. Christians are as mistaken in this as those who, leaving a bag filled with gold, grab another, beautiful on the outside, but empty on the inside and only inflated with air; or even like those who, having thrown off the royal scarlet robe, want to cover themselves with tattered and stinking sacks and, leaving the high title of royal sonship, want to be and be called a simple peasant and a slave - at which everyone would deservedly laugh. They, ungrateful ones, sin grievously against God, Who called them to high and great things, to true and lofty nobility, but they, having left it, are chasing after the vile and imaginary. They will ask: “What is true Christian nobility?” Answer: To be a true Christian, a son of the Holy Church, a living member of the body of Christ, to have communion with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, the son and heir of God, to serve the living and immortal God with faith and truth, and so on... This nobility incomparably surpasses all the glory of this world. All the glory of the kings and princes of this world is nothing before him. This glory is not visible now, but will be revealed on the last day. We are now, says the apostle, children of God; but it has not yet been revealed what we will be. We only know that when it is revealed, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is (1 John 3:2). But vain love of fame does not allow a poor person to reach true glory. The love of fame, I say, and not the glory of this world, does not allow. Another thing is to have glory and honor in this world; another thing is to desire and seek glory and honor. Many true Christians and saints can and do have glory in this world, but they do not seek it, and even avoid it. Love of fame is a sign of addiction to the world, which must be removed from the Christian heart.