Against those burdened by church punishments

The short sermon “Against those burdened by church punishments” is addressed to those members of the flock of St. Gregory of Nyssa, who were dissatisfied with the excessive, in their opinion, severity of their mentor and moved away from the Church. The essay is directed against disrespect for church measures of correction. It reveals the meaning of penances and proves the divine origin of the priestly power to knit and decide. *The title of the work in Greek is Πρὸς τοὺς ἀχθομένους ταῖς ἐπιτιμήσεσι. *The title of the essay in Latin is Adversus eos qui castigationes aegre ferunt. Reason is in truth the divine and sacred work of God, an excellent acquisition that did not come from elsewhere, but united with the very nature of man, the most precious gift that descended into him from the Creator. Therefore, it is said that man was created in the likeness of God (Gen. 1:26). This is what distinguishes him from other animals, and is imprinted with this especially god-like advantage, although he has very much in common with animals. For the shape of the eyes and the composition of the whole body, both its external appearance and what is hidden in the stomach, do not give a special advantage to a person; since we see that those who live on earth and in water, and those who fly in the air, and in general all animals have the same thing. But reason makes a person the ruler of everything, and serves as a sign of his happiness. What God has in abundance, He has given to us in small measure, so that we first of all direct our gaze to Him, cognize the Mind that gives reason, and serve the One who so beautifully adorned us with His own perfection. Through the mind, we, being weak in body, become stronger than the strong, we enslave everything to ourselves and force it to serve our needs. So we tame oxen, put a yoke on them and force them to cut through the ground with plows, and by restraining a fast horse with a bridle we make it obedient, and by urging a lazy donkey with a stick we make it more agile, and we force stubborn mules to pull chariots and carry weights, we conveniently adapt huge elephants and tall camels to what we need. So we swim across the depths of the water, and on a small tree, with the help of nautical art, we cover immeasurable seas, and when we have no instructions for this path, having lost sight of the land, we safely guide our path according to the signs in the sky, and the swimmer, like the Magi, is guided by the star. The breadth and outline of the sky, and the multitude of stars, and the size of each one, and the distance and phases of the moon, and what happens to the sun when it hides its rays for a while are open to the mind. We even talk about the reasons for the vibration of the earth, and why it, having lost its natural stability, itself worries and shakes those living with everything that is on it. By observing weather signs, we anticipate droughts and predict rains. Delving with our minds into the products of the earth, we examine the properties of plants, and find some useful for healing wounds, others promoting sleep for those suffering from insomnia, others healing the liver, and others destroying inflammation of the spleen. I am not talking about knowledge, I am silent about the arts, some necessary, others serving for every pleasure, about the diverse field of occupations. But such an animal, wise, capable of activity, of work, gifted with memory, seeing both near itself and in the distance, carried away by various pleasures and various passions, leaves one thing unattended - true life and its own salvation! Observing the changes of the winds, you do not turn your gaze to the resurrection; knowing the annual changes, you do not pay attention to the change in life; By demanding from your own slave an account of his affairs, you neglect the authority of your Judge and Lord. This is not characteristic of a rational being, but of one who has perverted rationality into madness. You don’t preserve the truth, you don’t learn virtue, you don’t care about prayer; This was discovered yesterday. With what eyes do you look at Sunday, having dishonored the Sabbath? Don't you know that these days are like brothers? If you offend one, are you not offending the other? Having intelligence and reason, you do not provide for what is decent and useful, do not take care corresponding to the immortality of your nature and do not reason about your nature - who you are and what you can be. But you gave up the gift of God to the womb, voluptuousness, idleness and sleep, so that it became unnecessary, useless and vain for you. This is very shameful, childishly unreasonable and worthy of severe condemnation. It would be less evil if, not being able to judge with our own minds and ourselves what is useful for us, we believed another when he shows us what is useful. But in reality it is not so; We really don’t like teachers, we tolerate their instructions with displeasure and are burdened by their advice; we feel sick from teaching good things, like people with indigestion from nutritious food offered to them by doctors. If they reproach us, we get angry; if we hear a stern word, we are indignant; If excommunication closes the church doors on us, we are blaspheming. This is not the behavior characteristic of students: this is not the obedience of students, but the debate of troublemakers and rebels. The student who wants to acquire knowledge of any worldly art or science must stand with the child; and whoever wants to achieve perfection in piety, it is all the more useful for him to be an infant, since the Lord also honored this age with His praises, as especially capable of obedience. But the boy does not encroach on the features and lines that the teacher makes on a waxed board and does not draw new letters out of his stupid self-will, making innovations in writing; he first exercises his hand with a stylus along the lines drawn by the teacher and does not give other names to the letters, but those that he has heard; in every possible way, in word and deed, he imitates what is conveyed by the leader. And if he is punished with a whip for negligence, then he does not become impudent from the punishment, does not leave the teacher, breaking the boards, but, having shed a few bitter tears, takes up the teaching and becomes more attentive, and not careless. If another time, again in his youth, he turns out to be careless, he is ordered to remain without food, and negligence is punished with hunger; He also remains alone at school when other children go to dinner, carrying out orders with great respect. But this is not the behavior of a Christian who has heard: “Unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 18:3). If he sees a priest, with a stern look and voice denouncing a sin, he openly contradicts, grumbles through his teeth, and goes around the square and streets swearing. And if he is excommunicated from the church, he despises prayer, clearly moving away from the people and from the sacraments. It happens that even someone who has not been subjected to such punishment removes himself from the church out of anger at the bishop, turning away from God and the Lord. To such a person one can say the same thing that was said to Paul when he was still Saul: “It is cruel for you to eat the pricks of the earth” (Acts 9:5). If you yourself have distanced yourself from God, then think that he who moves away from the sun spends his life in darkness and obscurity. If you are removed from prayers as unworthy, return yourself to your previous state through repentance. There is nothing false written in the gospels, and what Christ prophesied is undoubtedly fulfilled. Through Peter He gave the bishops the keys of heavenly honors; know that if you are loosed you will be loosed, and if you are bound by spiritual ties you will be bound. If you could see the essence of the soul, I would show in you, excommunicated, the image of a condemned man, bound to the neck with heavy shackles, not having a single member free or permitted. Oh, if only punishment were limited to this life! But now, if something human happens, and death suddenly appears, like a thief in the night, know what is contained for you there too. The guardians of the gates of the kingdom are attentive and do not joke; they see a soul bearing the marks of excommunication; like a prisoner who has traces of the stench and uncleanness of prison, they drive her away from the path leading to bliss, and do not allow her to see the faces of the righteous and angelic joy. The pitiful soul, then blaming itself a lot for unreason, crying, grieving and groaning, being imprisoned in some dark place, as if in a prison, will remain there, punished by endless and forever unceasing crying. “Do not wake up,” it is said, “like a horse and a mesk, who are without reason, and bind their jaws with bridles and bridles” (Psalm 31:9). This is what the psalm says, softening the stubborn and, as it were, anointing with oil with instructions. So bow your neck, and obey the commands like a yoke. The stubborn is crushed, but the flexible and bowing is straightened; you experience over the trees also teaches this. Having bitten the bridle, do not plunge into the rapids or the abyss, but having subordinated the neck to the hand of the rider, go along the saving path. When you accept the punishment, say with a submissive spirit the words of David: “It is good for me, for you have humbled me, so that I may learn through your justification” (Psalm 119:71). the arbitrariness of the bishop; this is a paternal law, an ancient church rule, which began in the times of law and was established in the times of grace. Look at St. Paul, through his epistles, sending a sentence of excommunication against the guilty and healing with this medicine the Corinthian youth, who was infected with sin with his stepmother through the obsession of Satan, “Whom the Lord loves, he punishes, but he beats the son who he accepts” (Heb. 12, 6). For the roots of teaching are not sweet, but bitter; subsequently they produce the sweetest honeycomb fruit. Therefore, one who studies must work, and one who teaches must use punishment and severity. In the Law of Moses there still remain four tens of legal strokes, but not so in the Gospel Law. Everything is said here: here is mercy and a rod and consolation and punishment. For we do not beat you as a slave, but teach you as a free one, because your descent is from the free Sarah, and not from the slave Hagar. We respect you as the son of a free woman, and do not dishonor you as born of a maidservant. Therefore, when you sin, we subject you to free penances, not scourging your body, but crushing your soul. If we don’t do this, how will we teach you? The word of teaching and guidance to virtue are not easily transmitted; it requires various modes of instruction adapted to existing mores. Is anyone obedient and receptive to edification? A simple and gentle word is appropriate for him. Are you persistent and unbridled? He needs rods. What should we do when we do not use the rod? Is it really possible to leave someone like this without admonition? No! But with the help of the word we will give it a different form, corresponding to what will be needed. And just as a food, through a small addition of seasonings, receives the opposite taste, from bitter becoming sweet, and from sweet changing to bitter; so our word, through the application of new forms, adapts to various needs in order to correspond to the upbringing of everyone. And so, do not reproach me in corners, calling my way of teaching rude, and making your accomplices in your crimes accomplices in your curses against me; Do not sit judging the bishop in vain council. But I will not be indignant in my soul, as if I were tolerating something new, if the most stubborn of the disciples are indignant at me; for such is the quality of man, inseparable from the beginning to the end of his life, that a boss is generally difficult for all his subordinates, and even hateful for the criminal and lawless. For forbidding sin grieves; Sacred history teaches me enough about this, apart from extraneous evidence. What shepherd was better than Moses? What boss was so lenient and meek? He was everything to the people, a nourisher, a leader, a priest, a true father, a savior in war, in the desert delivering what was not sown or plowed, a lenient judge, a faithful guide; but even with all this, they were indignant against him as against an injustice, insulted him as harmful, grumbled at him as a thieves and deceivers, slandered him as an inexperienced leader and an unkind boss; he was in danger of losing the priesthood itself when Dathan, Abiron and the sons of Korah, having carried away the rebellious people with them, uncalled, intensified to be the priests of the sanctuary, built censers for themselves, almost touched the shrine and lit a mysterious fire, which burned the smokers before the incense. The leadership of the people and the position of teacher give so many reasons for indignation that even the brothers did not spare Moses; but Mariam also contradicted, and Aaron reproached, and the burden of power distorted the feeling of family love and turned those closest to him against the hard-working husband. But this was nothing to Moses; for he was still the same Moses, and did not become worse than himself, but they called and suffered punishment from God for their guilt against the leader. What happened to Moses' successors? Was not Isaiah, the teacher of piety, sawn apart? For not ceasing to cry out against idolatry, did not Jeremiah receive ditches and watercourses as punishment? Was Zechariah attacked and killed between the church and the altar? Was not our Lord Himself slain as a shepherd for the sheep? Was it not out of hatred for instructions that he was crucified? What was the reason for cutting off Paul's head? What brought Peter to the cross? What gave the Apostles one after another to various torments? Was it not that they forbade sin and taught truth? Friends of truth and teachers always seem to be enemies to the disciples they denounce. But we have not yet suffered blows for the truth; there has not yet been any danger to our body. And why should we complain much to the servants of the Crucified One? As a father or mother, I accept your rudeness and insolence. You might be interested in: