Поучение на память преподобных отцов наших Варлаама и Иосифа Индийских, месяца ноября, в 19 день в 1705 г. («Подобно царство небесное купцу, ищущему хороших жемчужин, который, найдя одну драгоценную жемчужину, пошел и продал все, что имел, и купил ее» (Мф. 13:45–46))

On this day, a merchant and a seller came here from distant countries with expensive goods, beloved listeners! Who is the merchant? - Reverend Prince Joasaph. Who is the seller? - Reverend Varlaam. From which countries? - From India. With what product? - With precious beads. But what are beads? - Beads - every honest and precious stone, shining in some color, like beautiful Margaritas, that is, large pearls - all this is called beads. We gathered here for this holiday as if for a trade or fair, we gathered to look at the sale and buy. We see with our mental eyes the seller and merchant, the venerable fathers Barlaam and Joasaph, who came from heavenly countries for their holiday in their holy church. We hear bargaining, but we don’t see the goods. They trade in words: the seller sells without showing, the merchant buys without seeing. The young merchant trusts the old seller that he will not deceive, and the old seller wants to bargain more with the young one and does not show his goods, but only praises him in order to arouse in him more zeal and desire to buy. The seller praises his goods: “I have a precious stone, the like of which is not found anywhere, the price of which no one can estimate, for it incomparably surpasses all good and precious things. He gives light to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and health to the dumb. He drives away demons from people, makes wise the foolish, and bestows everything good and desirable to those who acquire it. Truly, that product is great and worthy, and who would not want to acquire such marvelous beads for himself! What is the price for him? Sell ​​everything you have and buy it. Where to buy? Look for it yourself, don’t be lazy! “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant who seeks”—one who seeks, and not one who is lazy. Seek and you will find and buy! For this reason, the Monk Barlaam did not show his precious stone to Saint Joasaph with his face, so that he would not be too lazy to look for it. In our current conversation, I set out, “with the Lord’s assistance and strengthening of the word” (Mark 16:20), to enter the church marketplace in order to look for good beads in the spiritual fair and truly test and find out what kind of beads they are - the only good and precious one, better, more worthy and precious than all the others, having such great power, as the Monk Barlaam tells Saint Joasaph about this. And this is in honor of the saints of God, and for our spiritual benefit. Do not expect to find real beads here, born in the depths of the earth or in the depths of the sea. These are not the ones we want to buy, and we are not talking about them, for the Monk Barlaam spoke to Saint Joasaph not about a material, visible precious stone, but about a spiritual, invisible one. Let those who want to look for them! Let him search! They say about Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, that she had one large, wondrous Margaret, that is, pearls, worth more than a hundred thousand in gold, which she dissolved in some drink and drank to the health of her beloved friend Anthony the Roman, son-in-law of the great Caesar Augustus. Stingy wife! Wouldn't it be better to give such precious beads to your beloved friend? Otherwise, she lost the beads, and not only did she not gain any glory for herself, but she became a laughing stock for subsequent births. The one that Limonary writes about did better. A certain merchant, who had a lot of beads to sell, boarded a ship to go with them to distant countries. Having learned that the shipbuilders secretly agreed among themselves to throw him into the sea in order to take possession of his wealth, he, untying his bags in front of everyone and showing them the beads, said: “Is my life in them? Am I crossing the sea for them and will I lose my life because of them? After all, I won’t take anything with me from this world.” And with these words, the merchant poured all the beads into the sea and thus saved himself from death, and the shipbuilders from sin and extortion. Likewise, we despise them in this world, leaving them as if in the sea and looking for spiritual precious stones worthy of beads. The merchant mentioned in the Gospel was a seeker of many good pearls, but found only one. You know, for a long time there were few of the best in the Celestial Empire, and there were more of the worst. You work hard and search, but you will find one pearl, and unless this one pearl is such that it surpasses many in price, you will not regret the labor of searching. It was said to a certain person who was busy with many external concerns: “You worry and fuss about many things, but only one thing is needed” (Luke 10:41–42). You will find one precious pearl - and that’s enough for you! But what pearl is so good, so precious, that it replaces many or even all others? We see that one of many is recognized as the best. But won't there be many of them? How to recognize one as the best of many? Anyone who wants to choose and buy one good pearl will come to a seller who has and sells many pearls and will say: “Do you, friend, have any excellent pearl, which alone would be better than all?” Then the seller, having shown all the pearls, will answer: “Look for yourself and choose for yourself the one that is better and which you like best.” The church's rich spiritual treasure has been opened for us. Just as at a trade or fair, the goods being sold are shown there, that is, the Divine Scriptures and their interpretations. The inmates, church teachers, sit in their places, and from their books, as if from bags, they pour out many pearls before our mental eyes. We will not be too lazy to choose the one that is the most worthy, the most precious, the best of all pearls. Here, first of all, Saint Theophylact, Archbishop of Bulgaria, opened in the Holy Church, as if at a spiritual fair, his holy goods, a book of his interpretations, and places before our eyes one pearl called “holy faith.” Let it not be surprising to anyone that I included the rank of hierarchs among the merchants, the merchant guests, for the most eminent clergy, the first bishops - the holy apostles, to whom Christ said: “Use it until I return” (Luke 19:13) were commanded to trade in spiritual goods. And therefore you, Archbishop of Bulgaria, trade with them! What are you saying, holy archbishop, about your goods, about your pearls? Let's listen to what he says: “The sea is this life, and merchants are people living in the world who want to find some kind of reason. There are many pearls, that is, many faiths that believe that they understand correctly, but one of them is the most precious: the one true faith in Christ. And just as someone who has pearls and often holds them in his hand knows what wealth he has, but others do not know, so the preaching of the right faith is for those who do not care and do not want to seek. It is fitting to seek and have this true pearl, giving everything for it.” This is what Saint Theophylact says. Truly precious are those pearls, without which it is impossible both to be a Christian and to receive salvation. The Apostle says: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” And again: “The righteous shall live by faith” (Heb. 11:6; Rom. 1:17). Therefore, it is appropriate to buy these pearls by selling everything. But the holy Apostle James, who came to the same market, does not praise the fact that we have fixed our eyes on faith alone and by faith alone we want to be enriched, that is, to receive salvation. He does not disparage the pearls of faith, but says that without others they do not bring profit, that they are good only together with other pearls, and alone they are nothing. And if you want to buy it, then buy others along with it, but do not buy it alone, for it will not bring you any benefit. “What good is it, my brothers,” says Saint James, “if someone says that he has faith, but does not have works? Can this faith save him? You believe that God is one: you do well; and the demons believe and tremble. But do you want to know, unfounded person, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works?” (James 2:14, 19–21). Faith is a good pearl, but in itself it is nothing. Let's see others! Here is a guest from Western countries, a stranger, but not with bad goods - this is Thomas à Kempis. He opens his chest for us, i.e. his book “On the Imitation of Christ,” and shows one pearl, which is called humility; a pearl, the value of which is little known to the proud children of Adam, for they do not want to understand its power and therefore do not pay any attention to it. And this pearl is so precious that it is loved by God Himself, the Heavenly King Himself loves to look at it, “living on high and looking upon the humble” (Morning Prayer 5). “On whom I will look,” He says, “only the meek and humble” (Is. 66:2). Those beads have the power to lift the beggar from the pit and make him sit with princes. Saint Basil the Great does not disparage this product, calling humility a safe repository of all virtues, not afraid of thieves. Others say that this virtue, that is, humility, is made up of those beads that, during his ministry, the Old Testament bishop wore among his decorations on a board called the “word of judgment.” She was worn on her chest and had twelve precious stones, according to the number of the twelve tribes of Israel (see Exodus 28:15), as well as the number of the future twelve apostles, but no less than the number of twelve special highest virtues, which were designated by those stones and which it is too late to list now due to lack of time. Among those beads there was one called amethyst, which signified humility, as the interpreters of Divine Scripture talk about it. Let us leave that reasoning to them; it is enough for us to know how worthy this bead is. However, let us not be content with it, for some also have crafty humility. Saint John the Theologian warns us, saying: “Do not believe every spirit” (1 John 4:1), that is, as if he is saying: “Do not believe every humility.” There is true humility, and there is hypocritical humility; Looks like a sheep on the outside, but a wolf on the inside. Another humbles himself until he receives the desired honor, and having received it, he immediately raises the head of his pride. Having praised true humility and despised the evil, hypocritical, let us move on to other beads. Saint Cyprian from Carthage, the glorious city of the land of Africa, the ancient church teacher, opening his chest, the treasure, I say, of his teaching, shows us the beads called immaculate and especially virgin purity, and praises it, calling it the beauty of all beauties, the kindness of all virtues, the sister of the Angels, the beloved friend of the Creator of all, God. But not everyone can have this bead, for the Lord Himself said in the Gospel about purity and unmarried life: “Not everyone can receive this word, but to whom it is given” (Matthew 19:11), even virgins, in whom at times a certain madness lives. Aren't the five foolish virgins put to shame at the doors of the heavenly palace, as we read in the Gospel? And Saint Chrysostom says about this product that without the help of others it will soon be destroyed. “Purity,” he says, “without its companions—fasting and abstinence—soon exhausts itself.” Therefore, let us turn our eyes to others. Some call voluntary poverty a valuable bead, because it acquires the kingdom of heaven: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20). This is a good bead, but it has nothing to do with worldly people. Let him go to a monastery or into the desert with the venerable fathers Barlaam and Joasaph, and take monastic vows! The royal goods of the ancient King Solomon also arrived from Jerusalem, and among them one beautiful bead is shown, called wisdom, and they say about it: “Blessed is the man who has obtained wisdom; it is more valuable than precious stones, and nothing you desire can compare with it” (Proverbs 3:13, 15). Truly, these beads are beautiful, but can everyone buy them? Can everyone learn philosophy, mathematics, geometry and other wisdom? It is necessary that there are also ordinary people, so that there is someone to work, grow bread, go to war and perform other government services. In addition, some deceit is sometimes mixed with these wisdoms, as the apostle says: “The wise will be caught in their deceit” (1 Cor. 3:19). Therefore, let whoever wants to buy these beads, and we will go to others. Others consider a clear conscience to be a precious bead, and this is true. The human soul is the bride of Christ. Just as a bride adorns herself with precious utensils, beads and pearls in order to please the groom, so the human soul must adorn itself, as if with beads and pearls, with many good deeds in order to be loved by Christ. But a clear conscience is also a significant adornment. With it, like beautiful utensils, the souls of the holy apostles were adorned, on whose behalf the Apostle Paul says: “This praise of ours is the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not by carnal wisdom, but by the grace of God, we lived in peace” (2 Cor. 1:12). And the golden lips say: “Just as it is pleasant for human eyes to see a beautiful face, so a clear conscience is pleasant for the eyes of God” (St. John Chrysostom. Conversations on the Evangelist Matthew). However, this bead in itself does not satisfy us, for the apostle says: “I know nothing about myself, but by this I am not justified” (1 Cor. 4:4), - that is, although I know that I have not done evil and my conscience does not despise me, I do not dare to consider myself righteous, for who can say: my heart is pure? Saint John Chrysostom also brought his goods from Constantinople: his books were like great chests. He, as a preacher of repentance, calls the tears of a repentant person beads. Pointing to the face of the repentant David, he says: “David’s eyes were adorned, as if with beads, by the rain of tears.” A person repents, cries for his sins, and each of his tears in the eyes of God is as beautiful and worthy as precious beads. It was not in vain that David said to the Lord: “You have laid down my tears before You” (Ps. 55:9). For just as someone who loves a thing always wants to have it before his eyes and constantly look at it, so God, who loves tears of repentance, puts them before Him to always look at them. It is written about a certain sinner that, having come to his senses after many falls, he became a monk and cried inconsolably every day about his sins, remembering the Day of Judgment, and lived in such contrition of heart for several years. The Lord, wanting to console His weeping servant and show how He loves and accepts the tears of a repentant person, appeared to him in a vision, dressed in priestly vestments, holding in his hands and showing a cup full of tears. Seeing the Lord, the weeping one fell at His feet and, kissing them with fiery love, asked the Lord what was in that cup? The one who appeared said to him: “These are the tears of the sinner who wept at My feet in the house of Simon the leper. I have kept them intact until now, for they are very pleasing to Me.” When the vision ended, the weeping one came to his senses, felt that his heart was full of indescribable joy and sweetness, and marveled at the inexpressible mercy of the Lord, Whom he served to the end with the warmth of his soul. In this case, we heed the words of the Lord: “These are the tears of the sinner who wept at My feet. I have kept them intact until now, and we will see from here how pleasing to the Lord are the tears of those who repent, like precious beads, and that He constantly has them before His eyes: “You have laid my tears before You.” We bow to you, Saint Chrysostom, for these beads! We want to purchase them through your prayers, but we want to see others too. From the same Constantinople comes a buyer who lived in later times, named Euthymius, a monk by rank, not the least among the interpreters of the Psalter. This monk Euthymius brings to the spiritual market from the monastery treasury - for he wrote in the monastery - spiritual beads, with which he calls the militant Church of Christ on earth, saying: “The Church through faith has grown like a mustard seed, has strength like kvass, enriches like a treasure, is beautiful like the most precious beads.” He calls the Church here beads. And because it is amazing when someone, having sold everything, wants to buy church power, if the Church is beads, and the most precious beads! “If anyone desires the episcopacy, he desires a good work,” he desires to receive good pearls (1 Tim. 3:1). And since these beads are most precious, they are not given to everyone freely; others will buy them. But this is not the meaning of the above words of the Evfimievs. I think that in his time there were no such merchants and sellers. The Church is the most precious bead, such a precious bead that the Son of God gave His soul for it, Who, having laid down His soul for the Church, wanted to be its Head. The Head of the Church is Christ, and He bought Himself this power over the Church at the cost of His soul. From this we can understand the preciousness of the beads – the Church. But since this bead will in due time be transferred to the heavenly treasury, we do not think of living here forever: we are thinking of moving there after it. Others consider the triumphant Church to be a precious bead, that is, the heavenly kingdom itself, into which the militant Church moves and where it is crowned with victorious crowns. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is pearls, as the Gospel says: “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for good pearls” (Matthew 13:45). Some interpret these words as follows: the kingdom of heaven is not so much like a merchant looking for pearls, but like the pearl itself; and everyone who wants to buy this pearl must sell everything, as the Lord Himself says: “Go, sell what you have and give it to the poor; and you will have treasure in heaven” (Matthew 19:21). But I do not understand why Saint David was not content with this pearl, that is, the kingdom of heaven, for he says: “What exists for me in heaven? And without You, what do I want on earth?” (Ps. 72:25), - that is, as if he says: “The desire of my soul is not satisfied with heaven, the desire of my heart is not satisfied with the kingdom of heaven.” What better does David want than the kingdom of heaven, we will see later. I see another precious bead in the church chest, in the explanatory Gospel. What kind of bead is this? The human soul. The soul of every person is a bead, and can any of the material earthly beads compare with it? The whole heavenly world cannot compare with him: “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). And not only in heaven, but also in heaven, among all God’s creatures there is nothing more precious than the soul, for for its sake the sky was created, as St. Chrysostom says: “Man in his soul is more valuable than the whole world, for for his sake heaven and earth, and the sea, and the sun, and the stars were created. The price of the soul is the same as the price of the Blood of Christ shed for us.” We have this bead without purchase, for it was given to us by the Creator as our gift: “He gave me a soul with Divine and life-giving inspiration,” and we just need to be able to hold it, not lose it, not destroy our souls. However, this bead - the soul, I say, ours - although by its nature, created by God, is perfect, but by grace it is imperfect and requires a lot more for its perfection, for who can be perfect? This is why many of the saints “wandered in mantles and goatskins, enduring shortcomings, sorrows, and bitterness; those of whom the whole world was not worthy” (Heb. 11:37–38); They lived their lives in so many works, wanting to achieve perfection. Behold, my listeners! We have seen so many beads stored in the church treasury and offered to us by honest sellers for purchase at the spiritual marketplace, and we have not yet found one that would be better, more honest and more expensive than all the others: all are good, all are worthy, all are necessary, but each of them is imperfect in itself, requiring something else for its perfection. Which bead is superior to all others and not only does not require anything for its perfection, but also makes up for its lack in all others? Truly none other than God Himself incarnate, Christ our Savior, about whom the apostle says: “The Rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4). Christ is a valuable Bead, more valuable than all others, as we sing to Him in the akathist: “Jesus, honest Bead, shine on me! Jesus, precious stone, enlighten me!” Saint Theophylact likens the birth of this Bead to the birth of beads in the sea, saying: “The origin of beads is described as follows: in the sea there are certain skull-skinned animals called astrids, which are usually in a closed position. Sometimes they open, and if lightning strikes, they immediately close again, receiving and transforming part of the lightning and descending dew. And this is how beads are born in them, which become white because of this. Likewise, Christ was conceived in the Virgin from lightning from above - the Holy Spirit" (Blessed Theophylact on Matthew, ch. 13). This mental Bead is more perfect than all perfections: “No one is good except God alone” (Matthew 19:17). And He not only lacks nothing, but also fulfills us all. This Bead is more worthy of all virtues, more beautiful than all beauties, better than all beauties, and Its price is invaluable! For who can evaluate God? His power is so great, as the Monk Barlaam describes it to Saint Joasaph: He gives light to the blind, hearing to the deaf, tongue to the dumb, health to the sick: He drives away demons from people, makes the foolish wise, and bestows all that is good and desirable to those who acquire Him, that is, He attracts with Him all the previously mentioned beads, for they do not remain without Him, but follow Him, like members following the head. It was this most precious Bead that the royal prophet David diligently and diligently sought, not being content with either the earthly or the heavenly kingdom and saying: “What is in heaven for me? And without You, what do I want on earth?” (Ps. 72:25); that is, as if saying: if someone asked me: “What do you desire more - the kingdom of heaven or only God Himself?” - then I would reject the kingdom of heaven and desire God. For what is heaven to me? Isn't God, the Creator of heaven, better? Someone else who thinks about God said: “I would rather be in hell with God than in heaven without God.” But how can we acquire this most precious Bead, that is, God? The gospel merchant, having found one good, precious pearl, went and sold everything he had to buy it. If you want to gain God, go and sell everything you have! Do you have many fiefdoms, cities, countries, principalities, kingdoms - do not spare anything for God’s sake. Maybe someone will say: “I am poor and wretched and have nothing, what will I sell, what will I use to buy this priceless mental Bead, God?” I will answer this: even if you are poor in substance, you can be rich in good will, you have free will, like an Autocrat of a monarchy, and are honored by God with reason as a royal crown. Soul and body are your cities, mental and physical passions are your slaves, subject to your will. Good thoughts are your army that comes before you, which you command: “Go, and they come, come, and they come” (Matthew 8:9). Sell ​​this monarchy of yours, your free will, renounce it and do the will of the God who created you. Place your mind, like a royal crown, at the feet of Christ as a sign of eternal allegiance, as a sign of obedience, according to the words of the Apostle: “We bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). Submit your soul and body to your Lord Christ, cut off spiritual passions, enslave bodily passions to the spirit. Build your army, your thoughts, into the service of the Heavenly King, always standing before Him with them. Let your thoughts, I say, always be as if standing before God. So, by giving everything you have to God, you will gain God Himself, you will buy Himself from Him, and therefore no one can say that due to your poverty you cannot gain God. But it is time to turn our mental eyes to the saints of God who are now celebrated, the venerable fathers Barlaam and Prince Joasaph. The Monk Varlaam comes to the holy righteous soul, to the chaste, pure youth Prince Joasaph, and brings a precious Bead, not material, but mental, not carried in the hands, but called by the spoken word, not visible with carnal eyes, but contemplated with spiritual eyes, that is, by faith, not tangible with the hands, but comprehended by the mind. And this Bead is Christ God Himself. The prince buys this very rich treasure and bargains: what to give? Give it everything you have! Take it! Not only everything is mine, but I also give myself for these Beads. To whom do you give yourself, good young man? God. For what? For God: I sell myself to God and buy God Himself. Let me be His price for Him, and He my purchase. Oh wonderful bargaining! O good purchase! The prince sells everything: all the royal glory, all the riches, all the beauty of this world, all the pleasure and his very will, he doesn’t even sell, but gives away for free, saying with the apostle: “I count all things as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8). He gave everything for free, but did not destroy what was given, but received it with profit in the new century: now he will receive it a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. The greatest of all acquisitions he received was Christ God. After the auction was completed, when the holy prince Joasaph recognized the dignity of the Beads and, having received them, hid them in the treasury of his soul, in his heart, when, I say, he came to know Christ God and loved Him with all his soul and with all his heart, then all the other above-mentioned beads were immediately added to his spiritual wealth. For his faith was right, and deep humility, and virginal purity, immaculate, and voluntary poverty more expensive than royal treasures, and wisdom inspired by God, and a clear conscience, and tenderness, washing the cheeks with warm tears, and joining the militant Church with the victory over invisible adversaries, and glorification in the triumphant Church with the receipt of many crowns in the kingdom of heaven, and for the soul there is eternal life in immortality, for “all things work together for good to him who loves God” (Rom. 8:28). So, reverend fathers Barlaam and Joasaph, your bargaining, and let ours be the profit! Which one? Give us at least some small particle from your spiritual heavenly wealth, from the grace of God that you have received, and fill our insufficiency, enrich our poverty! Both of you are now filled with that rich meal about which it is said: “Blessed is he who eats bread in the kingdom of God!” (Luke 14:15). Send us from there at least a grain of God’s mercy, for even dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table (Matthew 15:27). You are now drinking from a stream of infinite sweetness. Give us at least one drop of it in our hearts and sweeten the bitterness of our troubles! You now shine with the glory of God’s grace, like the sun in the kingdom of the Heavenly Father. Illuminate us with at least some small dawn of that grace and drive away from us the darkness of our sins! Look at us, gathered in this most honorable church of yours and commemorating your memory with love, from where you, now standing before the Throne of God, contemplate the face of Christ God, and having looked, remember us before our Master and our Christ God, and it will be enough for us if we are mentioned by your holy lips before the Lord in heaven, if we are enriched by your holy prayers! Amen!