Поучение на день памяти святых мучеников Адриана и Наталии, месяца августа, в 26 день

“Thy martyrs, O Lord, Adrian and Natalia, in their sufferings, received incorruptible crowns from Thee, our God” (Common Troparion of the Martyr) Today we celebrate the two holy martyrs - Adrian and Natalia, pious listeners! In this martyrdom duo, only one person shed his blood - Saint Adrian - and truly he is called a martyr and honored with the crown of martyrdom by Christ God. Another person - Saint Natalia - did not shed her blood, however, she was not deprived of the martyr’s crown and title. One person suffers, but both are crowned. What is the reason for this? The reason for this is explained in the history of the lives of these holy martyrs, at the end of it, where it is said: “After the suffering of the holy martyr Adrian and Saint Natalia completed her course, she was a martyr without shedding blood, for she had much compassion for the holy martyrs, serving them in chains and looking at their suffering, and also fled from her home and fatherland for the sake of chastity.” Here is the explanation of her martyrdom: she had much compassion for the holy martyrs, especially Saint Adrian, with whom, according to the law of marriage, she was one body and one spirit according to the faith of Christ, she had compassion while serving the holy martyrs and looking at their suffering, and she herself fled from home and fatherland for the sake of preserving her chastity. And for all this she was awarded the crown of martyrdom and standing in heaven, called a martyr and without shedding blood. Let it be known to us that among the servants of Christ there is a double martyrdom, committed both in deed itself and in spirit. When carried out in practice, it is accomplished with the shedding of blood, and when fulfilled in the spirit, it is accomplished without the shedding of blood. Martyrdom with shedding of blood is known to everyone, but martyrdom without shedding of blood is known to few. Therefore, having passed over in silence the martyrdom that takes place with the shedding of blood, let us now talk about a thing that is not known to everyone - about voluntary, spiritual, bloodless martyrdom in the name of Christ and let us see what his exploits are and what crowns await him? The feat of bloodless, spiritual martyrdom is a serious one, because natural, natural passions in a person are twofold. A person, gifted by God with a rational soul, has two sides in his nature: lustful and violent. Both of these passions are born, live and die together with a person: just as the lustful, from youth to old age, to the grave, does not leave a person, so the furious one stays in him from the beginning of life until his very death. The lustful lives and dominates in a person’s body, and the violent in his soul. Therefore, anyone who wants to undergo spiritual martyrdom for the sake of love for Christ must accomplish the double feat of fighting against these intense passions: carnal and spiritual - lustful, I say, and with furious passion, that is, defeating both natural carnal lusts and spiritual passions. For one thing is carnal passions, the other is spiritual passions, just as lustful and violent are not the same thing. Carnal passions are contained in visible carnal feelings, such as: voluptuousness, lust, carnality, and other things that delight the senses. Mental passions are contained in the invisible and unknown heart, such as: anger, rage, malice, rancor, hatred and similar passions, contained as evil thoughts in the heart and in due time coming out in action. The holy Apostle Paul mentions these carnal and spiritual passions, saying to the Colossians: “Mortify your members on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil lust” (Col. 3:5). This is about carnal passions. He speaks about spiritual things as follows: “Put aside everything: anger, rage, malice, slander, foul language of your lips; do not tell lies to one another” and so on (Col. 3:8–9). From these apostolic words it is clearly seen that there are two passions: carnal and spiritual, requiring a double feat from those who wish to perform bloodless and spiritual martyrdom. The same is evident from the words of Saint Chrysostom, who, in his eulogy on the day of remembrance of the holy martyr Barlaam, speaks of bloodless martyrdom as follows: “Someone will say: how can you imitate the martyrs when the time of persecution has passed? Truly, now is not the time for persecution, but the time for martyrdom; not a time of struggle, but a time of crowns; people do not persecute, but demons persecute; the tormentor does not embitter, but the devil embitters; You do not see burning coals, but the kindled flame of lust. They, the martyrs, trampled the burning coals, you trample the fire of nature. They entered into a fight with beasts, you must curb your anger, like a fierce, indomitable beast. They endured unbearable torment, you must conquer the nasty and evil thoughts coming from your heart. In this way you will imitate the martyrs, for now “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). So says Chrysostom. These words of his indicate both feats of spiritual martyrdom, necessary in order to fight against the lustful and against the violent. For, calling in spiritual martyrdom carnal lust fire, and spiritual passion - rage and anger - an indomitable beast, he thereby indicated two passions - carnal and spiritual, and together the double feat of spiritual martyrdom, that is, the quenching of the fire of lust and the taming of brutal cruelty, rage and anger. Having understood the twofold feat of bloodless spiritual martyrdom, let’s see: how difficult is the struggle with the opposite in these feats, how are the opposite defeated, and how bright crowns await the victorious? How great is the struggle in the first feat of spiritual martyrdom, that is, the struggle with the flesh, let those who are not married, widowed and virgins give an answer to this question. There is no need to talk about a well-known thing, except to briefly recall how displeasing to Christ the Lord God is the one who does not stubbornly fight passions and lusts, but is constantly overcome by them, loves them more than his own salvation and wallows in the mire of his own bad deeds. How abominable every fornicator is to Christ the Lord, born of the Most Pure and Immaculate Virgin, the Source of all purity, and therefore He arms himself against him as against His enemy. For according to the apostle: “The carnal mind is enmity against God” (Rom. 8:7), that is, a person who has immersed his entire mind in carnal defilements and meditates only on them with his mind, dreaming only about carnal sinful lusts and desiring them, is the great enemy of God. Therefore, it is necessary for God to arm himself against him as against an enemy in order to take revenge on him for his enmity. We read in the writings of the wise Solomon how the Wisdom of God wants to prepare for battle: “He will take full armor,” he says, “His jealousy, and will arm the creation for vengeance on its enemies, will put on the armor of righteousness and put on the helmet of unfeigned judgment, will take the shield of invincible reverence, and will sharpen sudden anger like a weapon,” that is, suddenly “He will sharpen His anger like a sword” (Wis. 5:17–20). Let us be surprised here, first of all, that the Wisdom of God, Which, according to the Apostle, is “peaceful, modest, full of mercy” (James 3:17), suddenly turning into rage, wants to raise a war, sharpen His anger like a sword; then let us consider against whom She sharpens this sword and with whom She wants to wage war. Scripture says that She wants to raise a war against the foolish and gathers great strength from all over the world for this war: “She will raise up the world for war against the foolish,” that is, according to the interpretation, all four elements that make up the world, together with the Wisdom of God, will raise up a war against the insane. Who is so mad that he irritates the Wisdom of God and challenges Her to battle? Truly, none other than a person who has given himself over to evil deeds, carnal, prodigal, for the Holy Scripture calls such a fool, saying: “An adulterer prepares destruction for his soul for his poverty of mind” (Proverbs 6:32). It is against whom, as an enemy, the incarnate Wisdom of God, Christ, wages war. This is how great the rage and anger of prodigal sin arouses God! Truly, all sins are unpleasant to God, irritate Him and encourage Him to take angry revenge, but to an unequal extent, for “every sin that a person commits is outside the body,” as the Apostle says, “and the fornicator sins against his own body” (1 Cor. 6:18), - against the body that Christ redeemed with His venerable Blood and prepared to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, He is especially angry with the fornicator and inflicts the wrath of vengeance against him, as is also clear from the Apocalypse. The Holy Theologian sees the Lord walking among the seven lamps, and “out of His mouth comes a sword, sharp on both sides” (Rev. 1:16). Let's see, against whom has our Lord prepared and sharpened this sword? Let us listen to His holy words spoken to the Theologian: “Write to the angel of the Church of Pergamum: This is what He who has a sword sharp on both sides says: “I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to lead the children of Israel into temptation, so that they would eat things sacrificed to idols and commit fornication. So you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which I hate. Repent; but if not so, I will quickly come to you and fight with them with the sword of My mouth” (Rev. 2:12, 14–16). Let us see how displeasing to the Lord is everyone who does not struggle with the passions of his body, does not conquer, but loves them, who does not quench the fire of lust in himself, but kindles it even more, attracted by lust, as the Scripture says: “Everyone is tempted, being carried away and enticed by his own lust” (James 1:14). How can someone who wants to stubbornly resist his passions for the sake of the love of Christ overcome them? By killing yourself. “Mortify,” says St. Paul, “your earthly members” (Col. 3:5). Such was this holy ascetic, who said to himself: “I pacify and enslave my body” (1 Cor. 9:27). And no one can overcome his flesh, overwhelmed by passions, except by mortifying it. However, I will not continue the words about mortification of the flesh today because of the shortness of time. Anyone can do it himself. It is enough to see in the lives of the saints how many exhausted themselves with various mortifications, extinguishing the flame of carnal lust. Suffice it to say that the one who mortified his passions is a good ascetic and a martyr without blood. How bright a crown awaits one who resists the passions, conquers the flesh and quenches the fire of lust by mortification, one can understand from the brief words of St. Cyprian, who speaks of virginity like this: “Virginity is the sister of Angels, the conquest of the passions, the queen of virtues, the inheritance of all good things,” and in another place: “Purity is the adornment of the noble, the exaltation of the humble, the nobility of the noble, the consolation sad, multiplication of all self-interest, beauty of poor people, honesty of piety, diminishing of sins, multiplication of rewards, girlfriend of the Creator of all God.” Oh, what a glorious and radiant crown of praise awaits the one who overcomes the flesh and maintains purity! Such a person will not only be glorified in the next century, but will also be revered by people and God in this life. The Old Testament Joseph, who, being tempted to sin by his criminal wife, avoided it, was glorified as the king of Egypt. But this is said not only about the purity of those who are virgins, but also about the purity of those who are married and widowed. It was precisely this kind of purity that the holy martyr Natalia preserved, who observed chastity both in her marriage and lived purely in widowhood until her death. It is also said this about the purity that is acquired through repentance, for even such purity the Monk Ephraim pleases with high praise. Saint Chrysostom ascribes to this purity, acquired through repentance, the honor of virginity, when he speaks of the sinful wife who wept at the feet of Christ: “At first she was a harlot’s wife, but now she is a virgin, a sister of Christ, the bride of the Word.” The one who quenches the fire of lust and conquers his flesh will receive the same honor and crown as a martyr who tramples on the coals of fire. But it’s time for us to turn to another struggle in the second feat of spiritual bloodless martyrdom, to the struggle, I say, to tame the beast of anger and rage, spiritual passions. A person is not aroused by anger and rage on his own unless someone angers him, but is prompted to this either by hypocritical friends or by his obvious enemies, insulting and persecuting him, who either offend him in word, condemn and discredit him, or insult him in deed. Because of this, anger and rage are naturally aroused in a person, and he in turn pays back with cruel words and vindictive deeds. They become beasts towards each other: the one who offends torments, as if with teeth, with evil words and deeds, and the one who takes revenge torments, repaying evil for evil and insult for insult. And the one who, with God’s help, can tame this beast, angry, I say, rage, both in himself and in his neighbor, is a good ascetic and a brave fighter. But to tame this fierce beast, natural, I say, rage and anger, great strength is needed, great strength, which is contained not in Sampson’s hair and not in armor and weapons, but in the most meek and gentle patience: with patience you will win, without malice you will tame. Let's ask the wise Solomon, who would he call the strongest and strongest? He answers us that there is no one stronger and stronger than a meek and patient person: “A man who is long-suffering is better,” he says, “than a brave man, and one who restrains anger is better than a conqueror of cities” (Prov. 16:32), that is, patience and taming anger are stronger than the courage of knights. Why is he who is long-suffering better and stronger than the mighty, and who subdues anger better than he who conquers cities? Because the patient tames the beast in himself and in his neighbor, the extreme rage, I say. First in himself, and then in his neighbor, for no one can tame his angry enemy before he has tamed himself, no one can destroy someone else’s angry passion until he himself has eradicated it in his heart, and no one can overcome anyone’s malice unless he himself first becomes gentle. But it is a much more difficult struggle and feat to pacify one’s own beast, one’s own rage, than to pacify someone else’s. Taming someone else's rage is a matter of art, but taming one's own is a matter of a strong and strong soul. Someone else's rage is aroused by chance, but one's own is natural, natural, and in order to overcome something natural, incomparably greater strength is needed than to defeat any enemy. Many defeated entire kingdoms, but could not defeat themselves. Alexander the Great is worthy of all ridicule, who, having conquered so many kingdoms, conquered Asia and Africa, but could not tame his closest friends in anger: Philots, Clitus and Calisthenes. Because “a long-suffering man is better than a brave man and a man who restrains anger is better than a conqueror of cities,” because he first of all conquers the angry passion in himself, and then tames the rage of his neighbor with meekness. How he does this is explained by Saint Chrysostom, who says: “There is nothing stronger than meekness, for just as water quenches a kindled fire, so a soul, more fiercely than a fiery furnace burning with anger, is quenched by a word spoken with meekness.” And in another place: “In battle, an indication of courage is that a warrior kills an adversary, but victory is even clearer when you defeat the offender with patience, for God gives you the strength to win not by intertwining your hands, but by patience.” So says Chrysostom. So, it is clear that a patient and meek person is much stronger than a strong fighter and brave warrior, for he wins without weapons, overcomes without warfare, which is very well explained in the Apocalypse in the story of the Theologian’s vision of the Lamb. Raptured in spirit to heaven, Saint John the Theologian saw the Throne of God and God sitting on it in ineffable glory, holding in His right hand a book of unknown Divine mysteries, sealed with seven seals. And “The mighty angel declared with a loud voice: “Who is worthy to open this book and to open its seals?” And no one could, neither in heaven nor on earth." And Saint John began to cry: “I,” he says, “wept a lot.” Why? Because “no one was found worthy to open and read this book, and even to look into it.” Then one of the elders sitting around the Throne of God consoles the weeping John, saying: “Do not weep; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome and can open this book and open its seven seals” ( Rev. 5:1–5). Having heard these words: “Here is a lion,” let us turn our mental eyes to Him and see what this Lion is like? And so we see, together with Saint John, although not with such a quick and clear mental eye, that “in the middle of the Throne and the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders stood a Lamb as if slain. And He came and took the book from the right hand of Him who sat on the Throne. And when He took the book, then the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb. And they sing a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the book and to open the seals from it, for You were slain and redeemed us with Your Blood” (Rev. 5:6–9). Leaving aside the study of the book and the seals, we will speak only of the Lamb. Isn’t it amazing that it was said: “Behold a lion,” but we saw not a lion, but a Lamb: the name is lion, but the image of a lamb? And then: the image of a lamb, and the strength of a lion: “Behold, the Lion has conquered.” It is not surprising when a lion defeats someone, for he is the king of beasts, strong and formidable, “stealing and roaring,” terrible not only for animals, but also for people. But what strength does the lamb have? What thunderstorm? What is he “stealing”? What is his struggle and who is afraid of him? How and who can he defeat? But in order to more clearly understand the power, strength and courage of the Lamb we saw, let us follow Saint John the Theologian to the sand of the sea and see what His warfare is like, how and with what adversaries He fights? “And I stood on the sand of the sea,” says the Theologian, “and I saw a beast with seven heads and ten horns coming out of the sea” (Rev. 13:1). And further: “And I saw another beast coming out of the earth; he had two horns” (Rev. 13:11). And then: “The beast that comes up out of the bottomless pit” (Rev. 11:7). They all gathered for battle. Against whom do they want to raise this battle? We hear the words of the Angel saying to the Theologian: “They will make war with the Lamb” (Rev. 17:14). Let us be surprised again: so many terrible beasts take up arms against one Lamb! Can't each of the lesser beasts alone overcome the Lamb? One wolf drives a thousand sheep, and in the Apocalypse so many animals gathered against one Lamb! Can the Lamb overcome them? The angel tells that the Lamb will overcome them. “The Lamb,” he says, “will conquer them; for He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings” (Rev. 17:14). How did the Lamb defeat those beasts? The theologian says that they were “thrown alive into the lake of fire” (Rev. 19:20). Let us understand this explanation of the power that patient meekness and gentleness have. The image of the Lamb is depicted with meekness, but has the strength of a lion. Who is worthy to receive the book of the mysteries of God with gifts and seals? Quiet Lamb. Who is worthy to be praised and worshiped by the Heavenly Powers? Gentle Lamb. Who is strong to defeat those terrible and fierce beasts that come from the sea, from the earth and from the abyss? The Meek Lamb: "The Lamb shall overcome them." Who rules over things below and above? Patient, the slain Lamb, for “Lord of lords and King of kings.” This Lamb, seen by the Theologian in the Apocalypse, is an image of the meekness and at the same time the invincible power of the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29), Christ, our Savior, who in His free suffering, “like a sheep, was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb, before its shearers, was silent” (Isa. 53:7), “though He was reviled, He did not revile in return; while he suffered, he did not threaten” (1 Pet. 2:23). What good did His gentle and long-suffering meekness not do, what honor did it not receive? What fierce beasts did not the power of His meekness defeat? Everyone can be convinced and judge this from the Holy Scriptures. In addition to the beasts of hell, the devil, I say, and death, defeated by the free suffering of the gentle Lamb, we will also talk about evil people. The beasts were the Jewish bishops, and with them the scribes and Pharisees, who gnashed their teeth at Him, intending to devour Him alive. The beasts were Pilate and Herod, who outraged our Lord. There were beasts that beat, spit on, crowned with thorns, and nailed our Lord on the Cross. Haven't all these animals been defeated by Him and thrown into the abyss of hell? We will add to this that this gentle Lamb of ours, with His meekness and long-suffering, turned other animals into His sheep. The beast was a publican, unrighteously stealing the property of others. The beast was a robber who ambushed people on the roads and killed people. The beast was a harlot, trapping human souls to destruction. The beast was the prodigal son, mired in sins away from his father and squandering his father’s estate with harlots. How many beasts God's justice could consume from the land of the living! But the meekness and long-suffering of the Lamb, our Lord, sparing them in His mercy, transformed them into good sheep, made meek from those who were beastly, and made His beloved friends from those hostile to Himself. And from here we can clearly see that the lamb’s meekness with patience and kindness overcomes everything that is contrary. And therefore, if you want to overcome your enemies without fighting, win without weapons, tame without labor and subjugate, be meek, patient, quiet, gentle, like a lamb, and you will overcome, win, tame and subdue. Saint John Chrysostom convinces us well of this, who says this: “As long as we remain sheep, we will overcome and overcome, even if countless wolves surround us” (Conversation 33 on the Gospel of Matthew). We will not only overcome, he says, but we will also overcome if we become sheep. So, we see that patience with meekness, taming furious and angry ferocity, wins in the struggle and spiritual feat and makes a martyr, even without blood. How bright is the crown of this feat? I will boldly say that it is brighter than the crown of the prophet Daniel, who tamed the lions in the den, for he stopped the lions’ mouths and made them meek not with his human strength; the power of God performed this miracle. A patient, meek, kindly man tames fierce beasts - anger, I say, and his own rage and his neighbor’s with his own strength, although not without the help of God. Therefore, how can the crown of such a beast tamer be small? So, we have examined the twofold feat of spiritual bloodless martyrdom and its bright crowns. It is time for us to turn our mental eyes to the martyr now celebrated. The Holy Martyr Natalia, whose memory we honestly celebrate today, became a martyr without shedding her blood. She accomplished her martyrdom through spiritual exploits, defeating the lustful and violent within herself, extinguishing the fire of lust and preserving her chaste purity. For when the inhabitants of the city of Nicomedia, the homeland of the holy martyrs Adrian and Natalia, wanted to force the widowed Saint Natalia into a bad marriage, then she, as is told in her life, firmly keeping her faith in Christ, her Lord, and wanting to keep her widowhood blameless, left her house, all her property and relatives, and secretly fled to Byzantium. This is the quenching of the lustful fire: she stopped the mouths of beasts, taming the furious in herself and in others. Moreover, living among wicked and evil people and serving the holy martyrs who were in chains and in prison, what insults and insults did she not receive from her neighbors and from the prison guards, the servants of demons! Enduring all this with silence, with her kindness and meekness, she overcame brutal morals and for this she was awarded the crown of martyrdom and standing in heaven with those good ascetics who “quenched the power of fire and stopped the mouths of lions” (Heb. 11:33–34). We, celebrating with love the honorable celebration of this martyr, let us lift up our humble prayers to her, who stands before the Throne of God, so that the King of Glory Christ prays for our Most Pious Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Duke Peter Alexievich, struggling for the Christian Fatherland against the adversaries, so that he may be granted from above help and the power to subdue without harm to himself the rage of those at war, like a burning flame, and tame and curb the brutal swaying of the lion of Sweden. Also, let us pray to God for the most noble Princess and Grand Duchess Natalia Alexievna, who bears her honorable name, that the Lord may grant her long-term health and eternal salvation. Amen.