Поучение первое на память святого великомученика Димитрия, месяца октября, в 26 день («Я ношу язвы Господа Иисуса на теле моем» (Гал. 6:17))

On this day, Friday, when, according to custom, the Lord’s free suffering for us is remembered, I look with my mental eyes at Golgotha, and with my sensory eyes at the icon of the Lord’s suffering, and I see my Lord crucified on the Cross. I see a warrior with a bloody spear standing at the Cross, beloved listeners! I see a warrior with a spear... Who do you think? Longinus the centurion, who is considered to have pierced the side of Christ, to have seen the flowing water and Blood, and to testify: “Truly, He was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54). Please, Centurion Longinus! Give up your place at the Cross on the 26th of October to the guest who has now visited us with his honest memory - the holy Great Martyr Demetrius, my dear Angel, the governor of Thessalonica! The centurion can give way to the governor! I see a warrior who stood at the Cross of the Lord that day, the holy great martyr Demetrius, for we celebrate his memory on the present day of the crucifixion of the Lord. Why did you come, good warrior, with a spear to the crucified Christ? Is it not with the intention, like Longinus the centurion, to strike the side of Christ with a spear? “No,” he says. “I came to show my Lord the spear, bloodied with my blood, with which I was pierced for His holy name. He came to show me the wound in my ribs, which he took for Him from the wicked tormentor. I came to show my heart, crushed by love and a spear. I came to show Him my sufferings, which I endured for the sake of His love. I came to show Him my faithful service, in which I laid my soul on Him.” Good coming to you, brave and faithful warrior of Christ! Welcome to your arrival, our most welcome guest! Good coming to you, glorious, not only Thessaloniki, but also the universal governor! Show us the wounds that you accepted for Christ, and say about yourself in the words of the apostle: “I bear the wounds of the Lord Jesus on my body,” or better and more correctly say this: “I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus not only on my body, but also inside my body, in my very heart, pierced for Him!” It is a touching sight to see our Lord Jesus Christ crucified on the Cross! It is a touching sight to see His warrior, Saint Demetrius, tormented for Him! It’s touching to see both, pierced by a spear in the ribs, bleeding blood, accepting wounds, dying for each other! Let us turn our eyes, O my listeners, to both of them, whom this Friday day presents to our eyes: to our Lord Christ, crucified on Friday, and to His faithful warrior, the holy Great Martyr Demetrius, now celebrated on Friday. Looking at their ulcers and discussing the apostolic words: “I bear the ulcers of the Lord Jesus on my body,” let us think: how can a Christian become a bearer of the ulcers of the Lord? Let this be in honor of the Lord Jesus, who was wounded for us, and in praise of the holy Great Martyr Demetrius, who was wounded for the Lord Jesus, and for us, to wound our hearts with love for the Lord Jesus. “I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus on my body.” Bearing the marks of the Lord Jesus is accomplished by Christians in three ways, beloved listeners! Firstly, by martyrdom, as we see among the apostles and passion-bearers. Secondly, by voluntary self-mortification, as we see among the saints, and thirdly, by heartfelt love for God, as we should all do. The plagues of the Lord Jesus are worn by martyrdom. This is how the holy Apostle Paul wore them, beaten with sticks and thrown with stones. This is how the holy great martyr Demetrius wore them, pierced by a spear, and all the other passion-bearers who endured various types of torment for Christ also wore them. And all these passion-bearing ulcers are called the ulcers of the Lord Jesus, because we are His members, and He is our Head, and when the members suffer, the head endures these sufferings as if it were its own. Just as the good deeds done to the servants of the Lord, the Lord imputes to Himself and at the Last Judgment says to these benefactors: “Just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40), so also the insults inflicted on His servants He imputes to Himself, and on the day of the Last Judgment says to the tormentors: “Just as you did it to one of these, you did it to Me.” You beat My servant Paul with sticks, you beat Me, you threw stones at him, you threw them at Me. You pierced My servant Demetrius with a spear, you pierced Me; you cut me with swords, threw me into fire, gave me My servants to be eaten by beasts - you cut me, threw me into fire, gave me to be eaten by beasts. “Just as you did it to one of these, you did it to Me.” Thus, the sufferings of God’s servants are imputed by the Lord to Himself; the wounds and ulcers that His servants endure for the Lord are, as it were, His own wounds and sufferings. And therefore the apostle said: “I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus on my body.” The second image of bearing the wounds of the Lord Jesus among Christians occurs when someone, wishing to follow the most perfect path of salvation and trying to please God more perfectly, mortifies his body with various types of mortification, such as those, for example, who rejected the world and themselves, who chained themselves with iron belts and chains, who clothed themselves in thorny hair shirts, who brought their flesh into weakness with many different types of mortification, even to the point of wounds and wounds. body exhaustion. Those of whom the apostle speaks know this: “They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, enduring disadvantages, sorrows, and bitterness; those of whom the whole world was not worthy wandered in deserts and mountains, in caves and caves of the earth” (Heb. 11:37–38). Their exploits and labors, although they are voluntary and are accomplished without the shedding of martyr’s blood, are like the wounds and wounds of Christ, in which the Apostle Paul boasts after many self-mortifications: “I,” he says, “bear the wounds of the Lord Jesus on my body.” The same holy Apostle Paul counts our killings as the sufferings of the Lord, saying: “We always bear in our body the death of the Lord Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body” (2 Cor. 4:10). Listen: “The Death of the Lord Jesus in Our Body.” Whether we have killed ourselves with the help of God, whether we have died to sin, such our deadness is the death of the Lord Jesus, for we are His body, according to the Scripture: “You are the body of Christ, and individually members” (1 Cor. 12:27). And just as we ourselves are not our own, but Christ’s, according to the words of Scripture: “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:19–20), so all our good deeds, all our exploits and labors, all our sacrifices are not ours, but Christ’s, as performed with His help: “Without Me,” says Christ, “you can do nothing” (John 15:5). So, He who kills himself bears the death of the Lord Jesus in his body, bears the marks of the Lord Jesus on his body. The third bearing of the plagues of the Lord Jesus is in the God-loving heart, which is both invisible and unsearchable and difficult to examine. For who can know the secrets of the heart? The first two images of bearing the wounds of the Lord Jesus - suffering for Christ and self-mortification - are not feasible for everyone, but the third image - bearing the wounds of the Lord in the heart is possible for every Christian, if only he wishes it. Suffering for Christ is difficult, and not only for us, but also for the believers who came before us, it was terrible. Many ran away from the tormenting hands and hid wherever they could; others even rejected Christ out of fear. But now, thank God, there is no longer persecution for Christ. However, even now there are many who are innocently tormented and insulted, although not for Christ, and not for rejecting Him. Such, if they thank God for their suffering, then they bear the marks of the Lord Jesus on their bodies, like the apostles and the martyrs of Christ themselves. Self-mortification is not feasible for everyone. Christ Himself says in the Holy Gospel: “Not everyone can receive this word, but to whom it is given” (Matthew 19:11). If they at least partially mortified their passions, as far as they could bear it, then the laity would at least have abstinence! There is no harm to anyone from the heartfelt love of God. For what work, what inconvenience is there in loving God? We will leave the first image of bearing the wounds of the Lord, that is, martyrdom, for the innocently tortured and insulted. May the Lord strengthen them in patience and grant them the crown of martyrdom! Another image is complete self-mortification, we will send you to a monastery for the monastic rite. Let him live there and get his hair cut! Let us consider the third image—carrying the wounds of the Lord Jesus in the heart, that is, loving God with all our hearts—for it also serves as the cause and beginning for those two. For martyrdom is endured for the sake of the love of God, and self-mortification is accomplished in the name of love for God, and “all things work together for good to those who love God” (Rom. 8:28). To carry the wounds of the Lord Jesus in the heart means to have a heart wounded by love for the Lord Jesus, who was wounded for us by the nails and the spear on the Cross. In the Song of Songs I see a certain face, as if a girl, sitting under a beautiful garden tree, under an apple tree full of beautiful apples, and saying: “As the apple tree is among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. I love to sit in its shade, and its fruits are sweet to my throat” (Song. 2:3). And then again I see this face as if exhausted from some internal wound, groaning, sighing from the depths of the heart and saying: “I am faint from love” (Song. 2:5), and also: “I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem: if you meet my beloved, what will you say to him? That I am faint from love” (Song. 5:8). I look at this from afar with my mental eyes, and look, as it were, into a perspective or a pipe - in the light of the interpretation of Divine Scripture. And instead of an apple tree I see a tree of the cross (for that apple tree was a prototype of the Cross). On the tree of the cross I see the members of my Lord stretched out like branches: arms, legs and the entire pure Body; and on them, like beautiful apples on the branches, I see bloody wounds, scarlet, I see, I say, Christ our Lord, crucified on the Cross, all wounded and bloody. O wondrous vision! O touching sight! I ask the interpreters of Holy Scripture: who sits under that wonderful tree and faints from pity? Some say that this is the holy Church, redeemed by the honest Blood of the Son of God and betrothed by His death to Him as a bride. She grieves, left after His ascension to heaven on earth under the cross in suffering, troubles and persecution, and laments that she does not see Christ, her Bridegroom, with her carnal eyes. She contemplates Him only with the eyes of faith and is deprived of His most sweet and most amiable contemplation. And therefore, sighing, he says: “I am exhausted from love.” Others say that it is the human soul, truly loving Christ with all its heart, looking with mental eyes at its crucified Lord, compassionate with Him in its heart and, warmed by the flame of seraphim love, melts away like wax, according to the saying of the Psalmist: “My heart has become like melting wax in the midst of my insides” (Ps. 21:15); and therefore he says: “I am exhausted from love.” But I, thinking within myself, say: there is one bride of Christ - either the Church or the soul; one in society, the other individually. It’s amazing to me that she calls herself wounded love. Does Divine love have its own bow and arrows with which it shoots and wounds the heart of its bride? While thinking about this, I saw Jonathan, prince of Jerusalem, son of Saul, leaving the city without a squad, with only one boy carrying a bow and arrows, and going into the field. I also see David, the king’s son-in-law, hiding far in the field, behind a stone. It seemed surprising to me, firstly, that the prince goes on a campaign without glory - without nobles and servants, with only one youth, and goes not on a chariot or on a horse, but on foot, like a commoner. Secondly, it seemed wonderful to me that David, such a brave warrior, whom the Philistine Goliaths could not resist, was afraid of something, hiding, clinging to a stone. When I was surprised at this, the Old Law history of the royal deeds in Palestine came up to me and said the following. Do you know what the love is between Prince Jonathan and David? From that hour when David killed Goliath, Jonathan's soul united with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him with all his soul (see 1 Sam. 20). Do you also know how much King Saul hates his son-in-law David, how he seeks to kill him? Only yesterday the king's anger against David was renewed. Yesterday there was a holiday and dinner with the king, during which Prince Jonathan deliberately mentioned his beloved friend to his father. King Saul, having heard the name of David, was so inflamed with great rage that, grabbing a spear, he wanted to hit Jonathan his son with it and kill him; and he would have killed him if Jonathan had not jumped up and left the table. Find out also that on the eve of yesterday David secretly came to Jonathan, and they, sitting in a secret place, talked with each other for a long time with tears and confirmed their love with eternal oaths: “And again Jonathan swore to David his love for him, for he loved him as his own soul” (1 Sam. 20:17). And Jonathan gave the following advice to David: “You leave here so that my father does not find out about you, and hide this morning and after morning in one place near a stone,” he showed him the place and the stone. “Tomorrow, during dinner, I will deliberately mention you to my father and see how my father treats you: is he still embittered against you, or has he already stopped being angry?” And I will inform you about this in this way: I will go out into the field myself (since I don’t trust anyone), so that no one finds out our secret and tells the king and so that we both do not suffer. Therefore, I will come myself with only one little boy, although I do not trust him either. And when I approach the place and the stone where you will be hiding, I will release three arrows and send a youth to collect the arrows. And if I shout to him in a loud voice: the arrow is near you! - then you know that I bring you peace, that your father is not angry with you. And then you will come out to me from behind the stone. If I tell the boy: The arrow is far from you, then when you hear this, know that my father has not stopped being angry, he is embittered against you, and then go away and hide where the Lord will direct you” (see 1 Samuel 20:17 et seq.). I wonder again: why did Jonathan wish to express his sincere love and affection in no other way, but only with a bow and arrow? Why did he shoot no more, no less than three arrows? Reflecting on this, I see with my mental eyes an honest old man, adorned with the rank of bishop, similar to Basil the Great - his brother Saint Gregory of Nyssa, and I hear from his lips the godly words that he speaks on behalf of the betrothed bride: “God shot me, His bride, like an arrow at the target, with His Only Begotten Son, about whom it is said through Prophet Isaiah: “He has made Me a sharpened arrow” (Is. 49:2). That arrow, piercing me with the sharpness of faith, attracted the archer to me with it, according to the saying: “I and the Father are one,” and: “Let us come to him and make our abode with him” (John 10:30, 14:23). Having heard these godly words of the church teacher, I understood that Jonathan’s love for David, and the bow and arrows, and shooting were a transformation of God’s love for us. God the Father is a Sagittarius. God the Son is an arrow set for shooting; the goal is the soul or God-loving heart. Where the arrow hits, the archer also comes there, if only to see if it hit? In whose heart the Son shoots, the Father and the Holy Spirit are drawn there. But let me see, from what bow does God the Father shoot this arrow, His Son, into hearts filled with love? I look again at the city of Jerusalem and at its outskirts, and I see the mental prince Jonathan, Heavenly Christ, our Savior, coming from Jerusalem into the field of Calvary, carrying, like a bow, the Cross on His shoulders and bloody drops on His Body, like arrows in a quiver, with which he wants to shoot and wound many. He will also shoot animals with them, that is, the bestial hearts of men, and will make them His fair catch, captivating them with love for Himself. “We met a Cyrene man named Simon; this one was forced to bear His Cross” (Matthew 27:32). This boy went with the prince to collect arrows. The prince goes with the boy - Christ with the Cyrene - straight to Golgotha. There is also a secret place there, called the tomb, and a great stone at the door of the tomb. Is David hiding there, or, better to say, the forefather Adam himself? Isn’t there the head of Adam there? I think so. Eat. It means that Adam and David and all the forefathers who are there with them will have some message from the Shooter. After a short time, the Cross on Golgotha ​​appeared, and on it were the structures of our Lord Jesus Christ, sinews and all the flesh, tense, like a string on a bow. This bow of God the Father, He pulled it, He gave His Son to die on the cross in our place. Then a warrior came with a spear and struck him in the side of Christ. It was a quiver of arrows that opened. “And immediately Blood and water flowed out” - these were the arrows that fell from the quiver, for as many drops of the most precious Blood of Christ and pure water were shed from His ribs, the same number of His arrows were released, with which He shoots, pierces and wounds the hearts of men. First of all, how they wounded the heart of the Most Pure and Most Blessed Virgin Mary, His Mother, who stood at the Cross! For when She saw Her Son pierced and bleeding, she immediately felt as if Her heart was being pierced, in fulfillment of the prophecy of the God-Receiver Simeon: “And a weapon will pierce your own soul” (Luke 2:35). These arrows stung the heart of the beloved disciple, Saint John the Theologian, who stood at the Cross, who saw and described all this. These arrows also stung the hearts of those who, knowing the Lord innocently betrayed to death, cried, sobbed and returned “beating their breasts” (Luke 23:48). These arrows also shot the animals. The sinner Magdalene, who stood at the Cross, was a beast, but how her heart was wounded by the arrow of Divine love, shot from the bow of the cross! Oh, what an excellent catch for the archer God! For from a sinner she became righteous, from a wicked woman she became pure, from a harlot she became a virgin. Saint Chrysostom says about her: “At first she was a harlot, and now she is a virgin, a sister of Christ, the bride of the Word” (teaching on Great Wednesday). The robber was also a beast, he brutally attacked on the roads and committed robberies. When the arrow of Divine love struck him from the bow of the cross, his heart was wounded. Oh, what an excellent catch for the archer God! For from a beast he became a lamb, from a thief he became a confessor of Christ, from a predator he became a resident of paradise. “Today you will be with Me in Paradise,” the Lord told him (Luke 23:43). Those arrows of Divine love, emitted from the bow of the cross, from the bowstring, i.e., reached the flesh and veins of Christ, reached Saint Peter, who, like a wild beast, was hiding somewhere far away in a secret place and weeping bitterly: “Tell the disciples and Peter” (Mark 16:7). Don't be afraid, Peter, don't despair! Christ loves you and asks you: “Simon the Jonah! Do you love Me? (John 21:16). Don't be afraid, Adam! Don't be afraid, David! Do not be afraid, holy forefathers! Arrows are falling near you, God's mercy is close to you! Let it be known to you that the wrath of the Heavenly King against you has already ceased, that the Son of God, Who is our peace, has already reconciled Him with you. Blessed and blessed is the one to whom it can be said: the arrow is near you, the love of God is close to you! Get close to her, and she will come even closer to you, shoot you in the heart. But the one to whom they say: the arrow is far from you, you are far from the love of God is damned and damned: “But those who depart from it will perish” (Ps. 73:27). O sinful people! Let us prepare our hearts as a target for shooting; Let’s put them to meet these arrows of God, let’s come closer to them, so that they quickly hit us and sting us with Divine love, so that everyone can exclaim with David: “I will love you, O Lord, my strength” (Ps. 17:2). But we also learn what is the secret of the triple number of Jonathan's arrows? These three arrows served as the transformation of the Three Persons in the One God, who wound us with Divine love. God the Father stings us with the arrow of His Divine love, “for God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16). Is there anyone in heaven who would give his only begotten son to death for someone? Nobody. And God the Father gave His Only Begotten Son to die for us. It is not surprising that Abraham did not spare his son and sacrificed him, for he did it for God, but what is amazing is that God did not spare His Son for our sake. Who are we? Mortality, pus and worms! God spared Isaac, restraining Abraham’s hand, so that he would not slay him, and did not spare His Son, did not restrain the murderous hands that crucified Him, but allowed Him to be slaughtered for us. O Divine love! Know, ungrateful world, how God loved you! God so loved the world, so loved it! God the Son stings us with the arrow of His Divine love, having loved us with the greatest love, as it is written in the Gospel: “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (John 13:1). "Until the end!" Just as someone who wants to drink the cup for the health of his beloved friend drinks it to the end, to the last drop, so the Son of God loved us, loved us “to the end” and, drinking the Cup of His suffering for us, drank it to the ground, to the end. For there is not a single particle of love left in Him that He would not show to us, not a single drop of Blood remains that He would not shed for us. He loved us so much that He emptied Himself for us; He loved us not only more than all creation, visible and invisible, more than Angels, Archangels, Cherubim, Seraphim, all the Heavenly Powers and the entire earthly kingdom, but also more than His most holy soul, for He laid down His soul for us on the Cross. It is written that “greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). And it would not be so marvelous if the Son of God “laid down His life for His friends,” that is, for the righteous, for the saints, to whom He says: “You are My friends, I no longer call you servants, but I have called you friends” (John 15:14-15), but the marvelous thing is that He laid down His life not for friends, but for His enemies, for us, I say, sinners, and in this is His greatest love to us, unworthy, as the apostle says: “God demonstrates His love for us in that Christ died for us while we were still sinners” (Rom. 5:8). God the Holy Spirit stings us with the arrow of His Divine love, filling our hearts with love, according to the apostolic word: “The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom. 5:5). Oh, if we would put our hearts towards these Divine arrows and their sweet accents, if we would receive them with zeal and be wounded by them, we would be fair bearers of the wounds of Christ! But let us turn our mental eyes to the now celebrated true bearer of the plagues of Christ, the holy Great Martyr Demetrius. In his youth, he bore the spiritual wounds of Divine love in his heart, loving his Lord with all his soul, with all his heart and with all his thoughts, and, being wounded by these wounds, he was dead to sin and alive to God. He had the sweetness of his Lord, the name of Jesus the Sweetest, in himself like a honeycomb, believing in his heart and confessing with his lips (see Rom. 10:10). Having come to full age, he bore the marks of the Lord Jesus on his body in the second way, that is, by mortification, killing himself in the apostolic manner and saying: “I do not beat so much as only to beat the air; but I subdue and enslave my body” (1 Cor. 9:26–27). Finally, he bore as a martyr, pierced with spears for Christ, imagined in his suffering the suffering of Christ, and therefore now tells us in the words of the Apostle: “I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus on my body.” O teacher of nations, holy Apostle Paul! Your work about the Thessalonians, to whom you wrote two letters, is not in vain. It was not in vain that you sowed the seed of God’s word there. The good land is the city of Thessaloniki, he grew good fruit to God - the Great Martyr Demetrius, who gave offspring not a hundred, and not sixty, and not thirty, but countless souls to God, now teaching them with words to believe in Christ, now instructing them on the path of salvation with the image of his virtuous life, now strengthening them in faith through the feat of suffering. And just as you said: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1), so he now tells us: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ, bear the stripes of the Lord Jesus, just as I bear them in the name of His love.” His soul was united with God by an incomparably greater unity in love than the soul of Jonathan with David or David’s with Jonathan. And the sign of that love is spiritual arrows and a material spear: his heart was wounded by spiritual arrows, but his body was wounded by a material spear. And he now boasts of both of these wounds before heaven and earth, before angels and men: “I bear the wounds of the Lord Jesus in my heart.” I loved Him with my heart, I died with my body for Him, and I live in Him with my soul, for “my hope of immortality is fulfilled. Love never fails” (Wis. 3:4; 1 Cor. 13:8). The good warrior of Christ holds a spear in his hands, as if ready for battle. But, O brave warrior of the Lord! In these evil times, more than ever, our life is a battle: outside there is battle, inside there is fear. Hasten to us with your spear, as the Church calls to you in verses of praise: “Come, martyr of Christ, to us who demand your merciful visit!” Come to the aid of the great Sovereign, the blessed Christian Monarch and the entire army! Help them against their adversaries, as Nestor once did against Leah! Grant them victory and victory, driving away their enemies with your prayers sharper than a spear. For all Christianity, ask the Lord Jesus, whose plagues you bear, for peace. peace, health and prosperity! Guide us to the love of God and grant us through your prayers to see our beloved Lord in His kingdom. Amen.