Поучение в неделю по Воздвижении Честного и Животворящего Креста Господня («Какая польза человеку, если он приобретет весь мир, а душе своей повредит?» (Мк. 8:36))

Both are pleasant: both the soul and this world, beloved listeners! Both, I say, are loved by people: spiritual salvation and the pleasures of this world. Any soul is as close to the body from the mother’s womb, as born together with it, according to the words of David: “Deliver my soul from the sword and my only begotten dog” (Ps. 21:21). This world is also loved, which, as Scripture says, God Himself loved: “God so loved the world” (John 3:16). The only thing that gets in the way is that the world, people, and their salvation, which God loved, are one thing, and the world and unpleasing human vanity in this multi-passionate life are another. Love the soul, for we live by it, we are moved by it. Take away the soul and the person will be dead. This world is also loved, for in it we enjoy, in it we find peace, in it we have everything we need in our present life. Love the soul, because it, reviving all our feelings, gives them the strength to enjoy earthly blessings. Without the soul, not a single feeling could act in any way, or enjoy anything. This world is also loved, for it presents to our senses everything necessary for pleasure: to sight - wealth and the beauty of faces, to hearing - pleasant singing and music, to taste - food, to smell - fragrant aromas, and to touch - voluptuousness. Any soul, for who among earth-born would like to lose it? Who would not want to live with a soul for a thousand years or more, endless centuries? This world is also loving, for who does not desire good for himself in it? Who does not seek his benefits? Who is not happy about honor and glory? Who is not concerned about having wealth and not being poor? It is difficult to discern which is better: the soul or this world? The Gospel says that the soul is better: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” But why does our multi-passionate and lustful life love this world so much, forgetting about our soul? What to do? How to recognize: is the soul better, or this world? May your love allow me to put both - soul and world - on the scales and see what outweighs: the soul, the world, or the world, the soul? And this way we find out which of them is better. May Your honorable and life-giving Cross, Christ my Savior, be a scale for me, on which You, being hanged for our salvation, laid down Your soul for us and outweighed the whole world, as You yourself say in the Gospel: “Take courage: I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). People usually consider the best and love that which, according to everyone’s reasoning, is more pleasant, more expensive, and more profitable. Suppose we had such a thing that was more beautiful than all the visible beauties in heaven, more expensive than all the innumerable treasures of all the kings of the earth and more profitable than all the benefits in the universe - wouldn’t we say that it is the best? And if she were given to us, would we not love her most? But let’s begin, by reasoning, to weigh what is more beautiful: the soul or the world? What is more valuable: the soul or the world? What is more profitable: the soul or the world? Let us put one next to the other, for controversial things, placed against each other, are compared and evaluated better. However, truly, it is difficult to weigh the soul and the world, as difficult as weighing the flame of fire. Once the Angel Uriel proposed this difficult task to Ezra, telling him: “Weigh the weight of fire for me.” Ezra did not undertake such a task. Who can weigh the flame? And he answered the Angel: “What kind of person can do what you demand of me?” ( 3Ezra 4:5–6 ). Ezra did not know modern mathematics, but she would have answered like this: first weigh the wood, find out how much weight it contains, and then light it; then you weigh the remaining ashes and coals, and how much weight they lack compared to the firewood before they were lit, so much of it went into the flame. We will not heed mathematical curiosity, but we will weigh the soul like a fiery flame, and this world like coals and ashes. First, let's get down to the question: what is more beautiful - the soul or the world? But what should we turn our attention to first of all: to the soul, or to this world? Let's look at what we see first. Our soul is invisible, we do not contemplate it with our bodily eyes, but only with our mental eyes. This whole world is before our eyes with all its actions; we look, as it were, at its face, we see right through it. What then? Isn't this world beautiful? There are so many high and lofty, bright and bright ranks, honorable and most honorable ranks, so many gold, silver, pearl jewelry, precious stones, beautiful clothes, so many beautiful pleasant faces, having natural beauty and adorned with elegant utensils! “Their daughters are adorned, adorned like a church” (Ps. 143:12)! It has so many magnificent houses, bright chambers, built according to marvelous models! And for all that, how sweet and amiable there are in it friendships, society, feasts, amusement, joy, fun, and above all - sinful sweets! This world is so beautiful and pleasant that human eyes and hearts are attracted to it, just as iron is attracted to a magnet, and few people want to tear their eyes and hearts away from it. It was not in vain that David prayed: “Turn away my eyes, lest I see vanity” (Ps. 119:37). Someone would say: “Holy David! Turn your eyes away from vanity, do not look at vanity, turn away from it!” But David replies: “No! I myself cannot in any way turn my eyes away from vanity; only Almighty God can turn away my eyes, for they are firmly immersed in vanity and are steadily contemplating it. I do not have the strength to overcome my eyes, and only the power of God can do this: You, Lord, turn away my eyes, so that I do not see the vanity of the world.” But if it is difficult to turn your eyes away from this vain world, then it is even more difficult to turn your heart away. This bustling world is so beautiful and pleasant for us! But what is our soul, which we do not see? How do we think about it? Does she have any beauty of her own? But first of all let us ask: what is the soul? Saint Damascus answers philosophically: “The soul is an intelligent spirit, always living, always moving, prone to good and evil will.” Blessed Augustine, theologically, says: “The soul is a created nature, invisible, rational, incorporeal, immortal, most godlike, having the image of its Creator.” Leaving the philosophical answer, I pay attention to the theological one: the soul is the most God-like nature, that is, it is closest to God, has the image of its Creator, and I ask: what is more beautiful than God? Nothing. He is the Source of all wisdom and all beauty, and His beauty can reach us in part in the most beautiful creatures. But I do not want to take this world and all its beauties not only as a likeness, but also as a shadow of the beauty of God, and I move on to the best and most beautiful creatures of God. I lift my eyes to heaven: isn’t it more beautiful than any earthly beauty? And first of all, I will learn from the beautiful creation of God visible in heaven, saying with David: “I have been edified by the works of Your hands” (Ps. 143:5); As I look at the heavens, “the work of Your hands, at the moon and the stars that You founded” (Ps. 8:4). The sky at night is beautiful, dotted with stars and illuminated by the moon! The sky is beautiful even during the day, shining with the sun illuminating the universe! How wonderful is the Creator who created them! The sky with its beautiful luminaries exists before time. There will be a time when the stars will fall from the sky like leaves from a tree, and the sky will be rolled up into a scroll (see Isa. 34:4; Rev. 6:14). The Creator will remain unchanged in His beauty: “They will perish, but You will remain” (Ps. 101:27). Let us also consider invisible creatures, that is, Angels, whom only our mental eye contemplates. Their beauty is indescribable, surpassing the moon and stars, varied, for there are many ranks of angels in heaven, and each of them surpasses each other in both place and beauty. The Angel is beautiful, the Archangel is more beautiful, the highest ranks are more beautiful than the Archangels, they are surpassed by the Cherubim, the Cherubim by the Seraphim, the beauty of which no earthly language can depict. How more beautiful is their Creator than all the ranks of angels! O beauty indescribable, incomprehensible to the human mind! Let us move here to spiritual beauty and again recall the above-mentioned theological words that the soul is most God-like and has the image of its Creator. Let us consider in our reasoning one word: “most like God,” that is, closest to God. Which of all the creatures of heaven and earth is like God? None, except for two rational creatures: the Angel and the human soul, for in these two creatures the image of the Holy Trinity is revealed: just as the Angel has memory, reason and will, so the human soul has memory, reason and will. I’ll ask again: of those two rational, God-like creatures, the Angel and the human soul, which is more like God? I know you will say that an Angel is more God-like, as disembodied, closest to God in his place, always present before His Throne, as the Gospel says: “Angels always see the face of the Heavenly Father” (Matthew 18:10). But if we turn to the Divine Scripture, we will see that the soul is more God-like than the Angel, for about Angels we do not read anywhere in it for God to say: “Let us create an Angel in Our image and likeness”; and only about the human soul do we read this: “And God said: “Let us make man in our image and likeness” (Gen. 1:26) - that is, let us create the human soul, for in it, as it is said, lies the image of God. And although both of these creatures - the Angel and the soul - have memory, reason and will, they do not have it to the same extent. The angel has a will, but not autocratic, but directed only towards the choice of good. An angel does only what God commands him: they are “His servants, doing His will” (Ps. 102:21). Man has free will, like God, and thereby is similar to God. For just as God creates what he wants, so He gave man the freedom to do what he wants, and with this freedom the human soul is most closely similar to God, more like an Angel. It is not in vain that God says to the human soul in the Song of Songs: “I have made you like me close to me” (Song. 1:8), that is, he has made you closest to me, more, I say, like me than an angelic creature. That is why the above-mentioned Theologian, answering the question: what is the soul? – called her most godlike. If the human soul is more like God than the heavenly spirit, the Angel, then it is more beautiful than the beauty of an angel, but not by nature, but by the grace granted to it by the incarnation of the Son of God and His shedding of Blood for it. Truly, she surpassed the beauty of angels, for the Son of God was not united with an angelic nature, but with a human one, as the apostle says: “For He does not receive angels, but He receives the seed of Abraham” (Heb. 2:16) - and this is for the redemption of the human soul with His Blood, for the renewal in it of the ancient likeness to God and especially for its better decoration. A father who has one daughter does not adorn her with all kinds of precious ornaments more than his slaves? The groom, who has a beloved bride, does not want to see her decorated? The human soul is the only daughter and bride of Christ our Savior. Daughter - for He revived her from death to life with His Blood, bride - for He united with her in such a strong union of love that He did not refuse to die for her love. It is not in vain that the Song of Songs says: “Love is as strong as death” (Song 8:6). And just as it is written about Christ the Lord Himself in the book of the Apostles: “He is so much more excellent than the angels, inasmuch as he inherited a name more glorious than them” (Heb. 1:4), so one should think about the human soul: it is as close to God and similar to His beauty, as it is closer united with Him than the Angels, and therefore it can say about itself in the words of the prophet: “My soul will rejoice in my God; for He has clothed me with the robe of salvation, He has clothed me with the robe of righteousness, as He has placed a crown on a groom, and He has adorned me with ornaments like a bride” (Isaiah 61:10). Would you like to collect here in one place all the beauties of the world (if it were possible to collect them), put them next to the beauty of the human soul and see which is more beautiful: this world or the soul? If the human soul, redeemed by the Blood of the Son of God, the bride eternally associated with Him, is more beautiful than the beauty of the sky, than the radiance of the stars, moon and sun, than the beauty of Angels, Archangels, Cherubim and Seraphim, if it is similar to the very beauty of the Creator, then what can the beauty of this world be worth in comparison with it? Nothing more than darkness in comparison with the sun, a pig wallowing in the mud in comparison with the King sitting on the throne in glory, a toad in comparison with an eagle soaring high: one abominable disgrace, worthy not of sight, but of spitting and trampling underfoot. If all worldly beauty cannot be compared with one smallest star visible in the sky, if it is similar only to earthly grass and flowers that bloom in the morning and fall in the evening, then how can it be compared with spiritual beauty? It is not only incomparable, but also cannot be likened, for this accursed world is not like God, but perhaps only its master, whom it serves, that is, the devil, the prince of this age, this dark one, this darkened one, this accursed one, this abominable one, this terrible monster, this blackest Ethiopian, who can never wash himself or be whitened. Those who deepen their minds and hearts into pleasure and love for the vain, ugly and very short-lived beauties of the world bring themselves vain labor: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). But let's move on to the second question - what is more valuable: the soul or the world? And again, first of all, let us turn our eyes to this world. How do we evaluate this world? If it were possible to gather together all the riches from all corners of the universe, and not only from the treasuries of all kings, but also from the very depths of the earth and from the depths of the sea, and if it were possible to collect all the gold, all the silver, all the pearls, all the most precious stones and put them in one place, then the human mind would not be able to immediately appreciate all this. I will find an appraiser who will evaluate all this. But I’ll wait a little and first see how people love this world, how they value worldly riches? They value it more than their soul. For the sake of temporary wealth, a person considers his soul for nothing, puts it in gold, silver and other things, for he carries it as money to buy. A warrior goes to battle for the sake of self-interest, carries his soul, God knows, will he return home with it? A merchant goes with his goods on a long journey for the sake of profit, carries his soul, God knows, will he bring it back? He crosses the sea with his goods on a ship, carries his soul, God knows whether he will land with it on the shore and whether he will not destroy it in the waves of the sea? A robber goes on a robbery to get something, carries his soul, who knows whether he himself will be killed? A thief goes to steal, carries his soul, who knows, they won’t catch him and hang him? In short, a person sacrifices his soul for worldly acquisitions, not to mention the fact that by taking, robbing and kidnapping from another, he angers his neighbor, and at the same time God, and destroys the salvation of his soul. Besides, what is going on in the affairs of merchants? Selling each other the worst for the best, setting prices higher than the real one, they swear, swear by their souls and send their souls to hell! I will bring here into the middle a true connoisseur who will immediately appreciate for us all the most precious riches of the whole world. Your love knows Saint Andrew the Fool, who is revered on the second day of October. Let's talk a little with him. Saint Andrew, beloved servant of Christ the Lord! You have been honored with many revelations of God. Tell us, what do you see in the first revelation that happened to you? “I see,” he says, “a certain young man, very beautiful, descended from heaven and holding three crowns in his hands: one gold with precious stones, the other pearl, and the third, the largest, woven from white and red flowers.” Saint Andrew! What do you think when you see these crowns? “I’m thinking,” he says, “to buy one of them, a crown of flowers and therefore not as expensive as gold and pearl.” Go to the one carrying them and bargain! Approaching the young man, Saint Andrew says: “Are you selling these crowns? For if I myself cannot buy them, then you will wait a little, and I will go and tell my master, who will give you as much gold as you want for them.” Let us listen to what the beautiful young man who came down from heaven answers Saint Andrew. “Believe me, beloved,” he says, “that even if you bring me the gold of the whole world, I will not give you a single flower, not to you, not to anyone else, not to your imaginary master.” Listen people! This is the price of all the riches of the whole world: they are not worthy of even one flower of paradise. But, oh beautiful young man! Why is one flower of paradise so dear to you that you do not want to take gold collected from all over the world for it? The young man answers: “Because the flower of paradise has such beauty that the mind cannot imagine and the human tongue cannot convey. It has a joyful power, because with its beauty and indescribable fragrance it so amuses and delights the human heart that if a person constantly looked at it, he would not want to eat or drink and would not feel any suffering from it; Moreover, this flower does not fade and blooms forever. Let's look at the riches of this world: do they have such power as that flower of paradise? Do they not fade and lose their beauty? Do they truly make the human heart happy? They amuse, but for a very short time, and at the same time fill them with great sorrows for a long time. To whom the apostle exclaims: “Listen, you rich: weep and howl for your troubles that are coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are rusty, and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire: you have laid up for yourselves treasure for the last days” (James 5:1–3). Yes, everyone knows the price of all worldly riches, not worthy of a single flower of paradise! But let us begin to evaluate the Christian human soul. If one flower of paradise is so precious that the wealth of the whole world cannot equal it, then all the more valuable is the human soul, for the sake of which heaven was planted by God and filled with all sorts of blessings. The soul has the same weight as the Blood of the Son of God, for the apostle says: “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:18–19). Weigh the Blood of the Son of God, and you will weigh the honesty of your soul. Appreciate the incarnation of the Son of God, appreciate the most pure milk of the most pure virgin breasts of the Mother of God, with which She nourished the Divine Child. Appreciate all His sufferings, appreciate all His Blood shed for the salvation of our souls, appreciate the Cross and His death. And if you can appreciate all this, then you can appreciate the value of the soul. Let everyone judge at what great price the Son of God valued the human soul: above all heaven, above all Angels, above His Divine Throne and the entire heavenly kingdom, for for her sake, leaving all this, he came down to earth, did not spare Himself and laid down His soul for her on the Cross. Look here for the price of the human soul! So, everyone who for the sake of this world will harm his soul, that is, will lose the salvation of his soul, brings himself vain and vain labor: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). Getting to the third question: what is more profitable - the soul or this world? - I will answer it in brief words and will not continue the conversation, since I myself am already exhausted. What is more profitable: the soul or the world? I answer. What is more profitable is what is more durable, what can last longer, and from which a person can benefit for a longer time. If this world is profitable for any of us, let him tell us whether he knows how long he will receive benefits from it: a year, two, ten or a hundred years? Truly, he does not know whether he who is surrounded by worldly goods will live one day, from morning to evening, or from evening to the dawn of another day? For everyone is constantly reminded by the gospel trumpet: “You fool! This night your soul will be taken from you; who will get what you have prepared? (Luke 12:20). How long is a soul given to a person? Not only for this temporary life, but also forever, for although a person dies temporarily, his soul is immortal and lives after human death, according to Scripture: “The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and torment will not touch them; and also: In the eyes of the foolish they seemed dead, but they are in peace, their hope is full of immortality” (Wis. 3:1-4). At the general resurrection of the dead, which we expect, the soul will again be united with the body, and “this corruptible will put on incorruption and this mortal will put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15:54). Oh how long! For the soul will live forever. So, the soul, as immortal and eternal, is more profitable for us than this world, which exists today and perishes tomorrow. Thus, having compared the soul and the world, I will say with boldness that the soul is better than the world, therefore it is proper to love it and take every possible care for its salvation. Mad and extremely mad is everyone who, for the sake of this world, which has no beauty, is of little value and is unprofitable, rejects and destroys his beautiful soul, more precious than all not only earthly, but also heavenly treasures, more profitable than the whole world! “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” Amen.