Поучение на празднество Пресвятой Богородицы Донской, месяца августа, в 19 день

“To the chosen Voivode, victorious, as having been delivered from the evil ones, let us sing thanksgiving to Thy servants, the Mother of God!” Now, as a congregational celebration in this holy monastery, we honor the icon of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, called Donskaya, I wanted to know about this name, beloved listeners! And I learned from reliable narrators and chroniclers that when the blessed Grand Duke Dimitri Ioannovich was fighting with the wicked Tatar Tsar Mamai between the Nepryadva and Don rivers, there was this most honorable miraculous icon in the Christian regiments, brought from the Don army as a gift to the Grand Duke to help against his opponents. And through the prayers of the Most Pure Mother of God and Her miraculous power emanating from that icon, the Hagarians were defeated. The Grand Duke, triumphantly celebrating the victory, returned with the Christian army and brought with him this honest and miraculous icon, which was called Donskaya because of the victory that took place there - on the Don. Wanting to also learn about this monastery, called also Donskaya from the image of the Most Holy Theotokos Donskaya, I learned from reliable stories and from chroniclers that in the days of the blessed Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Duke Theodore Ioannovich, when the invasion of the Crimean Horde took place on the power of the Moscow state and when the Tatar king Murat Kirei approached the reigning city, the faithful came out The Tsar and Grand Duke Theodore Ioannovich with his army took up arms against the Hagarians in this place. He brought the Don Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God to his regiments and defeated the Hagaryan regiments, driving them away with the help of the Most Pure Mother of God. Wanting to give thanks to Her, he created a stone church in that place, in which there is now a meal, and placed in it a copy of the miraculous icon. From that time on, this monastery was called Donskoy. I, a sinner, zealously remember both of these victories over the Hagarians, accomplished with the omnipotent help of the Mother of God: the victory over Mamai on the borders of the Russian state between the Don and Nepryadva, and the glorious victory over the Crimean Kirey in this place - remembering, I say, both of these victories, I will remember the most ancient victory over the Kagan near the Greek Constantinople and say: Most Pure Mother of God the same grace Hers, which she showed to the Greek kingdom in ancient times, she also showed to the Russian kingdom. For with the same force with which she defeated the Kagan and other Scythians and Persians at Constantinople and drove them away from the borders of the Greeks, She also defeated the Hagarians under this reigning city and drove them away from the borders of the Russian state. And just as the Greeks then, singing songs of thanksgiving in God to the Most Pure Virgin Theotokos, called Her the Chosen Voivode, so we do now, singing to the Mother of God: “To the chosen Voivode, victorious, as if we had gotten rid of the evil ones, let us sing thanksgiving to You, Thy servants, to the Mother of God!” Hearing here the title of voivodeship, attributed to the Most Pure Virgin by the Church, I want to see Her voivodeship rank itself: how does She arm herself for battle? How does he bring out his army and build his regiments? How does one defeat adversaries, not only visible ones, but especially invisible ones? Let us all turn our mental eyes together, my listeners! And let us consider this unprecedented and unheard-of Voivode. Who is He? Virgo. Has anyone ever heard or seen that a maiden was a commander? It is fitting for a commander to have a sword in his hands: “It is not in vain,” they say, “that he bears the sword: he is an avenger to punish those who do evil” (Rom. 13:4); It is fitting for a virgin to have a needle in her hands for embroidering patterns. A spear befits a governor, and a spindle befits a maiden; the governor - an iron helmet, and the maiden - a multi-colored wreath; for the governor - strong armor, and for the maiden - valuable utensils; for the commander - a shield from enemy arrows, and for the maiden - shade from the heat of the sun. It is appropriate for a governor to go out into the field to fight with his adversaries, and for a virgin to sit hopelessly at home, in a mansion. How can a virgin be a commander? But it is Virgo who rules. What kind of Virgo? That Virgin who struck the head of the hellish serpent, waging war against the entire human race. Virgin, chosen Voivode, Most Pure Mother of God, She took into Her hands weapons, and not just weapons, but all the weapons of God, as the Apostle says: “Take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on the evil day” (Eph. 6:13). Solomon also foresaw a weapon in Her hands when he said: “Sudden anger will sharpen like a weapon” (Wis. 5:20). I look, what kind of weapon is this? And I see a sword and a spear, for in the Hellenic Bible it is written “a sword: He sharpens,” it says, “sudden anger, like a sword,” and in Jerome’s translation “a spear: He sharpens a sword into a spear.” With a spear She firmly pierces the hellish seven-headed serpent and his like-minded people, and with a sword she suddenly cuts off their heads with a single blow. He also has a helmet of salvation, according to the apostle: “And take the helmet of salvation” (Eph. 6:17). She accepted the helmet of salvation in order not only to be saved herself from the curse for the sin of her ancestors, but also to save the whole world, for through this Savior the world is saved, just as the Church sings to Her: “Christ, the Mother of God, has saved the world, having great and rich mercy” (Dogmatist). Born of righteous parents and having learned from her youth the justifications of the Lord, she has put on the armor of truth. “She took up the invincible shield - reverence” (Wis. 5:19). The word reverence comes from the word “similar”, that is, similar - reverend. “God created man in His own image and likeness” (Gen. 1:26). And all people with their rational soul, created by God, are like God, only among sinners this likeness is greatly lost, for through their sins man is no longer likened to God, but to senseless cattle (see Ps. 48:13). With holy people this likeness becomes likeness, for they keep the image of God intact within themselves. In the Most Blessed Virgin, this likeness of the image of God is not only more reverent than similar ones, but also more reverent than the venerable ones. In Her, the image of God is clearer than in all others, as evidenced by God Himself, Who in the Song of Songs says to Her: “I have likened You, My Neighbor” (Song. 1:8), that is, as if saying: “All people, and especially My saints, are like Me, but You are more like them, since you are near Me: “I have likened You, My Neighbor.” Just as a face looking into a mirror close up is reflected in the mirror better than a face looking from a distance, so is the Blessed Virgin. Staying near God closer than all the saints, more like God than them. She is like God the Father, as having given birth to His Son without a father, who was born by Him before the ages without a mother. She is like God the Son, as she who carried Him in Her most pure virgin womb and gave birth to Him incorruptibly. She is like God the Holy Spirit, as having become His Bride and a pure and immaculate church. And just as She is closer to God than all the saints, so she is more similar to Him than all the similar ones, and more reverent than all the saints. This is the shield our chosen Voivode accepted, and this shield is invincible. “She will accept,” it is said, “an invincible shield - reverence.” For who can overcome, surpass with its holiness Her holiness, which surpassed the holiness of the Seraphim? Contemplating with my mind our chosen Voivode, clothed in all weapons, armed with a shield and armor, I remember here the words of the Holy Spirit spoken about Her: “Your neck is like the pillar of David, a thousand shields hang on it and all the arrows of the mighty”; according to another translation: “and the weapons of the mighty” (Song. 4:4). According to ancient custom, all the weapons prepared for battle were stacked and stored on high pillars, that is, vezhas or towers that stood on the city wall. Thus, King David, according to the testimony of Saint Ambrose, built a high pillar in Jerusalem on the city wall for protection, and at the same time to decorate the city. For protection - so that one could see from a distance the enemy regiments approaching the city and drive them away, and for decoration because that pillar exceeded in its height not only the average, but also the tallest buildings of Jerusalem. I want to find an explanation of the mystery: why does the Holy Spirit liken His beloved and most beautiful Bride to that pillar of David? Why should Her beauty consist in having a neck as high and long as a pillar? But as always in the sacrament it is said this way, but is understood differently, so here we must understand in the Bride of the Holy Spirit not the material height, but the height of the virtues. Some believe that the pillar of David was located between Zion, standing on a high mountain, and Jerusalem, located under the mountain and called the daughter of Zion. And that pillar was between them like a neck between the body and the head, for in its height it prevailed over Jerusalem and reached Zion. On this pillar were hung shields and all the weapons for the battle and defense of Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit likens the Most Pure Virgin to the pillar of David because She, being the Daughter of David, mediates, like a neck between the head and the body, between Christ, as the Head of the Church, and the believers who make up the body of His Church, and at the same time surpasses the Church, for She is truly the highest of all and reaches Christ, as having given Him flesh. Also for this reason, the Holy Spirit likens Her to a pillar, or armory, to show that She is the chosen Voivode, clothed in all weapons, and this is our protection from enemies. For what can that pillar represent if not the fortress of the Virgin for our salvation: “A strong defense against the enemy?” ( Ps. 60:4 ) What could those shields mean but Her protection for us? What do those arrows mean if not victory over your enemies? When the enemy fights against us, She protects us with the shields of Her prayers. When we ourselves fight with enemies, She gives us weapons, strong arrows, and if we weaken, She, like a pillar, strengthens our weakness so that we do not fall. A thousand shields signify Her countless prayers to God for us. The number thousand is used here to mean countless, for the Mother of God protects us with countless prayers, strong as a shield. Yet the weapons of the strong indicate that all the grace and powers that all the saints have and with which they help us, those powers that the prophets, apostles, hierarchs, martyrs, saints and righteous people and all other saints have and with which they help, have in Herself the one Most Holy Virgin, and She alone can help us as much as all the saints; and therefore it is said of Her that She has all the weapons of the mighty. Having learned how our chosen Voivode is clothed with a thousand shields and all the arrows and weapons of the mighty, let us also see how She leads out and organizes Her regiments, for it is not appropriate for a Voivode to be without an army or without regiments. The Voivode receives his title from the word “army,” and therefore this chosen Voivode has His army, His regiments. Let's see how She leads them into battle. Do you remember Jacob’s ladder, on which “the angels of God ascended and descended?” (Gen. 28:12) Think about why the Angels of God constantly walk up and down this ladder, sometimes ascending, sometimes descending? You will not know the reason for this until you confess that this ladder is the Most Pure Mother of God, just as the Church says to Her: “Rejoice, bridge leading to heaven, and a high ladder, even as Jacob saw it!” (Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos). If you recognize that She is that Jacob’s Ladder, then learn that the Angels therefore have no rest, ascending and descending along the ladder, because the Most Holy Theotokos commands them, as they ascend, to bring to God human prayers and all kinds of needs, sorrows and sorrows, and when descending, to bring God’s mercy, help and gifts from God to people, and all this through the ladder, that is, the Mother of God, who has such care for us. The same ladder, in addition to the angelic armies, also leads the regiments of saints from heavenly heights to earthly condescension, to the human Christian race, to the aid of the Church militant on earth. Destroys the armies of saints, for the militant Church appeals to Her about this in the words of Damascus: “Praying, accept the faces of the Archangel and the multitude of the high armies of My Creator, the apostle and the prophet of the councils, and the martyrs, and the venerable, and the holy martyrs, and make a prayer, O Pure One, for us to God” (Octoechus, tone 2, on Monday at Compline, canticle 9, Art. 5). Let's see how many regiments the Most Pure Virgin is harassing and taking up arms around us! And the chosen Voivode herself rules over all of them. Let's listen to how She gathers these regiments and lines them up? She builds these regiments in order against our adversaries, and as many as there are regiments fighting against us, She places the same number of Her regiments against them. It is not in vain that the Holy Spirit says to Her: “You are beautiful, My Beloved, as dear as Jerusalem, and as terrible as an orderly army” (Song. 6:4). Let us listen carefully to these words spoken by the Holy Spirit in praise of His Bride. Why is She “kind as Jerusalem and terrible as a regiment in orderly order”? He likens Her to beautiful Jerusalem in order to express Her beautiful, immaculate virginity, and by likening Her to the orderly formation of regiments, He expresses Her terrible leadership. Jerusalem stands for the Virgin, the regiments for the Voivode. But since we have already said that this Voivode arranges His regiments in order against the enemy regiments, we will also consider the order of these regiments. The three regiments of our enemies, fighting against us day and night, are the world, the flesh and the devil. First the devil, then the world and then the flesh. The devil is the tempter with all his wiles. The world is a deceiver with all its vanity. The body is a domestic enemy with all its sinful passions. How much these three enemy regiments annoy us, oppress us and commit dirty tricks, there is no need to talk about it, for everyone knows it. The entire multitude of saints who make up the triumphant Church, according to the unanimous statement of all theologians, is divided into three hefty ranks, into three regiments (like the Angels - into three faces), according to the number of three awards prepared for reward: a regiment of teachers, a regiment of martyrs and a regiment of virgins. The Virgin commands and rules over these regiments, as the holiest of all saints. She is the commander of a regiment of teachers, for through Her we came to know the Son of God, as the Holy Spirit says about Her: “There is a teacher of the secrets, a hedgehog of the God of understanding.” She leads the regiment of martyrs, like one who stood at the Cross and like the One whose “weapon will pierce the soul” (Luke 2:35). He rules over the regiment of virgins, like the Ever-Virgin, like the Virgin both before Christmas, and at Christmas, and after Christmas, the Virgin, surpassing the Angels in virginal purity. This Voivode arranged the following banners for Her regiments. For a regiment of teachers - a banner of heavenly color, for their reasoning, their thinking about God, is directed towards heaven. The banner depicts a golden crown, for they are tested “like gold in a furnace” (Wis. 3:6). It is about this crown that the apostle speaks: “The crown of righteousness is being prepared, which the Lord will give me on that day” (2 Tim. 4:8). For the regiment of martyrs - a scarlet banner, stained with the blood shed for Christ, and on that banner is the Throne of God, for He says: “To him who overcomes I will give to sit with Me on My Throne” (Rev. 3:21). For the regiment of virgins, the banner is white, since they too are immaculate and white. And on that banner there is a cross depicted, for everyone who bears this cross knows with what cross, with what, I say, patience, purity and virginity are observed. Having brought out these three regiments, She places them against the three enemy hordes mentioned above. A regiment of teachers is placed against the devil, who expose the devil’s machinations, teach and instruct how people can destroy the devil’s machinations. Against the world is a regiment of martyrs who defeated the world and gave us an example of how to despise the world, according to the words of Scripture: “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world” (1 John 2:15). Against the flesh, She places a regiment of virgins who have conquered their flesh and overcome their natural passions. Having arranged her regiments in this order, the elected Voivode commands everyone to join the battle, fight stubbornly with our great enemies, fight with swords, spears and arrows of their prayers for us, hurt our adversaries with them and drive them far away from us. She herself acts according to the voivode’s custom: just as voivodes usually watch the fighting regiments from a high place, and send help to those who are weakening, so She stands in a high place, having been taken into heaven after Her Assumption, and stands where the saint saw Her. John the Theologian. “A great sign,” he says, “appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun.” And she appeared at the most evil time, at the most terrible time - during the devastation and confusion of the universe, for it is written: “There were lightnings and voices and thunders and an earthquake and great hail. And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun” (Rev. 11:19–12:1). Here it is necessary to know why that Woman, seen by the Theologian and depicting our Voivode, appeared not before the flash of thunder and voices, earthquake and hail, when all the elements were still in peace and quiet, but during the most terrible turmoil of earth and sky? This was in order to show that the Most Pure Mother of God, during the most fierce battle, in the most evil time, when we are fighting against adversaries, when our enemies fight against us, either with the brilliance of the lust of the eyes, or with the voice of the pride of the flesh, or with the thunder of sudden passionate obsessions, or with the shock of internal rebellions, or with a hail of various permissions of God against us, - then She, as the sun rises to our aid, to strengthen those who are conquered, to heal those who are wounded, to raise up those who have fallen in the struggle, to resurrect and re-equip for exploits those who have already died in soul, defeated during the battle, but without despair of Her help, and to prepare a reward for exploits for those who struggle well and achieve victory. In this time of war, so that the night does not cover the struggling ones with its darkness, She appears clothed in the sun, illuminating our darkness. This is how this chosen Voivode, the invincible Victorious, the Most Pure Mother of God, fights for us with our adversaries, defeating enemies invisible and visible, as was said at the beginning of our conversation. We, “giving thanks in praise,” sing to Her: “Rejoice, for Her victories will arise. Rejoice, from whom enemies fall!” (Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos). So, beloved listeners, we have seen the rank of governor of the chosen Voivode, the Blessed Virgin, heard how She arms herself for battle, how she destroys Her regiments and builds them in order, how she defeats adversaries in battle. And it’s time for me to finish my laudatory conversation about the Most Pure Virgin, it’s time to conclude it with an “amenem.” But my mind is confused by a certain thing, for it seems to me that everything that I, a sinner, said was not understandable to unlearned people, and I fear that they might go away without benefit and that I might turn out to be only a long-winded rhetorician and not a useful teacher, and therefore I will say a few more words for the benefit of the simple. Do you know what I want to say? I'll say something terrible that you won't want to believe. So be it, but I will still say it. I will say this: The Most Pure Mother of God cannot beg God for us. Yes! It can't. Do you believe it? But even if you don't believe it, I stand by my word: She can't. You ask: why can’t it? I answer: because it cannot, because we do not want to repent of our sins and constantly crucify Her Son and our God with our malice. And therefore She cannot beg Him. And that this is truly so, I will show you from Holy Scripture. The Israelites once sinned grievously and did not want to repent. And then the Lord said to the prophet Jeremiah: “If Moses and Samuel stand before Me, My soul will not bow to this people; I will drive them away from My presence, let those who are doomed to death go to death, those who are doomed to death - to death, those who are doomed to death - to death, those who are doomed to hunger - to hunger; He who goes into captivity goes into captivity” (Jer. 15:1-2). Do you know who Moses was? The one who talked face to face with God, the one who parted the Red Sea, brought the people of Israel across the dry land, performed countless miracles, and when he lifted up his hands to pray for Israel, Israel defeated Amalek. And Samuel was a prophet no less than he. However, God says: “If Moses and Samuel stand up and beg Me for those unrepentant sinners, I will not listen to them, they will not beg Me.” In the same way, let everyone know about the Most Pure Mother of God: until we stop committing mortal sins, until we seriously anger our God, until then the Most Holy Mother of God cannot pray to God for us. For the Lord God, looking from the height of His glory at our most vile and abominable deeds and seeing that we are Christians only in name, looking at this, the Lord says in Himself: “Even if My beloved Mother begins to pray to Me for these bitter sinners, I will not listen to Her: “My soul will not bow to this people,” I will cast them away.” And how can the Mother of God pray for us if we block Her lips, force Her to remain silent, do not allow Her to pray for us, block Her, if not with words and tongue, then with our very evil deeds, telling Her: “Be silent! Don't pray for us! Do you understand what I'm saying? When a sinner kills Her Son, does he not put a seal of silence on Her lips so that She will not pray for us? Then and only then does the Mother of God earnestly beseech God for us when we flow to God and to Her with repentance and tears, having the firm intention of no longer serving sin. Only then is She truly strong to beg God for us. And while we remain unrepentant and bitter, like the army of Pharaoh, She cannot beg. Whether this is so - judge for yourself. Having truly informed you of this, I will end my conversation by saying: Amen.