Поучение на память святой великомученницы Екатерины, месяца ноября, в 24 день («Агница Твоя, Иисусе, Екатерина зовет велиим гласом: Тебе, Женише мой, люблю и Тебе ищущи страдальчествую и сраспинаюся» (Тропарь общий мученице))

Entering the feast day of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine into this most venerable church of hers, bowing according to pious custom to her local icon and kissing it, I was surprised, pious listeners, I was surprised, I say, at such an image of her on the venerable icon, that the maiden holds a cross in her hand. The cross befits the hands of bishops, priests, and the consecrated rite, for they carry the cross in their hands, overshadow it, and bless it. It is appropriate for a girl’s hands to wear gold rings or fragrant flowers, or red apples, or anything else befitting a girl’s face, and not a cross. The cross is not given into the hands of girls, and they are only allowed to touch it with their lips. Why do we see here the holy virgin of Christ Catherine depicted with a cross in her hands? This is what I now want to briefly talk about “with the Lord’s assistance” and consider for what sacrament does a virgin’s hand carry the honorable cross of the Lord? The Holy Cross is primarily a sign of the Christian Orthodox faith. You will not see the cross among the wicked who do not believe in our Lord Jesus Christ. The cross is where faith is, and faith is where the cross is. Some Orthodox Christians adorn themselves with the cross, protect themselves with the cross, and boast about the cross along with the apostle, who says: “But I do not want to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14). The cross in the hand of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine is a sign of her true faith in Christ Jesus, and not only faith, but also deeds, for the cross is in the hand, and just as the cross signifies faith, so the hand means deed: the cross in the hand is faith with deeds. I heard somewhere such a spiritual parable: one day all the virtues gathered in one place, formed a council and agreed to divide a good person among themselves so that each virtue had its place in a special part of the person allocated to it, as if in its own cell. First of all, prudence received the brain, repentance received the hair, so that together with Magdalene they could wipe the feet of Christ. Love is in the heart, chaste modesty on the face. Good silence has chosen its place in the mouth, and fasting with abstinence has chosen its place in the stomach. Holy hope found a place in the eyes to look with hope at God: “As they are slaves in the hands of their masters, and as they are slaves in the hands of her mistress, so our eyes are toward the Lord our God, until He has mercy on us” (Ps. 123:2). Hard work was given arms and shoulders, patience a backbone, obedience legs. And holy faith, as the primary virtue, without which it is impossible to be saved, took for itself two parts in man: the ear and the hand; ear - so that it can be heard, for, as the apostle says: “How can we believe in Him of whom we have not heard?” (Rom. 10:14); hand - so that it can be fulfilled by the deed itself, according to the word of Saint James: “Show me your faith without your works” (James 2:18). I turn again to the Holy Great Martyr Catherine: in her hand is a cross, so that her faith along with her deeds will be evident. You ask: what are her good deeds? I will answer: read the story of her life and suffering, and you will see there. I still ask with surprise: why does a girl’s hand carry a cross like a priest’s hand? Who allowed her to bear such a priestly cross? But before I consider and find out this, I will ask: who was the first priest in heaven? You will say that by the command of God Himself, Aaron was the first to receive this consecration, but he was not the first to begin making sacrifices; there were those who made sacrifices before him. Melchizedek, you say, had the priestly rank, but he was not the first to receive it. Abraham also sacrificed his son. This is true, and his sacrifice was marvelous, but I am not asking about who made what sacrifice, but about who first began to offer sacrifices to God? You will say: Noah built an altar after the flood after leaving the ark and made a sacrifice. But I will not call Noah the first priest, the first priest. Which of the priests who made sacrifices to God was the first? Righteous Abel. He was the first to begin to honor God with acceptable sacrifices, he was the first priest in the heavenly world. If you don’t believe me, believe Saint Ambrose, who says: “The first, after Adam’s crime, to bear the image of our Savior was Abel, who was a virgin, a priest and a martyr: a virgin as an unmarried one, a priest as one who made sacrifices to God, a martyr as one innocently killed by his brother.” Heed the words of this teacher! He calls Abel the first priest, that is, priest, because he was the first to begin making sacrifices. But who appointed or dedicated Abel to this priesthood, to the priesthood? Faith. This is what the apostle says: “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain.” And at that performance, God Himself sang “axios” - worthy, in the words of the same apostle: “He received evidence that he was righteous, as God testified of his gifts” (Heb. 11:4). Here again I will turn my speech to the Holy Great Martyr Catherine. Seeing the cross in her maiden hand, and considering her faith and sacrifice, even if I do not call her a priest, as a maiden, I will not hesitate to liken her to a priest, but with the righteous Abel and put her on an equal footing. If Abel was called a priest for the sacrifice he made with faith, then let the Great Martyr be a priest equal to Abel for the sake of the sacrifice she offered with faith to Christ God. What sacrifice did she make? Not from the fruits of the earth, not from the firstborn of livestock, but she sacrificed herself to the Lord her God. Let us listen to what she says to the Lord: “Accept me as a blameless sacrifice, sacrificed to You with love.” It was not for nothing that the Church in the troparion called her a lamb: “Thy Lamb, Jesus, Catherine.” For just as the Lamb of God Christ, slain for all, became an acceptable sacrifice to God the Father, so she, the mental lamb, having given herself to the eternal slaughter for Christ, became an acceptable sacrifice to Christ, being herself both the bearer of the sacrifice and the victim. Carry, holy great martyr, the cross in your hand, as the priestly rank carries it! Axios - worthy! The cross serves as a sign of cavalry, that is, brave warfare, victory and victory. The Holy Great Martyr Catherine had this war in her life, and a war with three fierce adversaries, who are the world, the flesh and the devil. The world seduced the beautiful maiden with its charms, the flesh inclined her to natural lusts, but the devil created all sorts of intrigues to turn the bride of Christ away from love for Him. The bride of Christ fought bravely in those battles and, with the help of her Lord, defeated her enemies: she rejected the world, rejected carnal lusts, drove away the devil, and therefore, like a cavalier, like a brave knight, she carries a cross - an invincible weapon - in her hand. The cross is a sign of mortification performed to maintain purity, and especially virgin purity, for she cannot live without the cross: virginity is united with the cross, the cross with virginity. Look at the cross, and you will see virginity on the cross and under the cross. Who's on the cross? Isn't He the One who is the Source and beginning of virgin purity? Who is under the cross? Is it not the Virgin, the Immaculate Mary, the Mother of God, together with the virgin John? Virginity and the cross are inseparable friends. The Holy Virgin Catherine, observing her immaculate virginity, nailed herself to the cross of self-mortification, according to the apostolic covenant: “Mortify your earthly members” (Col. 3:5), and therefore rightly bears the cross as a sign of mortification and her virgin purity. The cross is a sign of spiritual, Christian, cross-wisdom and strong wisdom, like a strong weapon, for spiritual, cross-wisdom is a weapon against those who oppose the Church, as the apostle says: “The word about the Cross is foolishness for those who are perishing, but for us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the understanding of the prudent”; and further: “Greeks seek wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:18–19, 22–24). People in the heavenly world have a double wisdom: the wisdom of this world, which was, for example, among the Hellenic philosophers who did not know God, and spiritual wisdom, as it was among Christians. Worldly wisdom is foolishness before God: “Has God not turned the wisdom of this world into foolishness?” - says the apostle (1 Cor. 1:20). Spiritual wisdom is considered foolishness by the world: “For the Jews it is a stumbling block, and for the Greeks foolishness” (1 Cor. 1:23). Worldly wisdom is weak weapons, weak warfare, weak courage. But what kind of weapon spiritual wisdom is, this is clear from the words of the apostle: “The weapons of our warfare are mighty in God for the destruction of strongholds” (2 Cor. 10:4); and again: “The Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword” (Heb. 4:12). The image and sign of worldly Hellenic wisdom are the Sodomo-Gomorrah apples, about which it is said that on the outside they are beautiful, but inside they are stinking dust. The cross serves as the image and sign of Christian spiritual wisdom, for by it the treasures of the wisdom and mind of God are revealed and, as if with a key, opened to us. Worldly wisdom is filled with useless dust, but with the word of the cross we received all the blessings: “Behold, through the Cross joy has come to the whole world.” When we see the cross in the virgin hands of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine, then from this cross we also know about her spiritual, Christian wisdom. The kingdom of heaven itself is likened to such a wise virgin: “The kingdom of heaven will be like unto virgins” (Matthew 25:1). For the kingdom of heaven, when it desires to appear to us on the last day, will take the cross in its hands, according to the words of Scripture: “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven” (Matthew 24:30), that is, the cross of Christ. It will come to us with a cross. And this is to shame this foolish world, which considers itself wise, and is mad, and to shame the demons and all those condemned with them. For with the cross, like a strong weapon, like the sharpest sword, he will defeat his enemies and cast them into Gehenna. Who does not know how the holy great martyr and wise virgin put to shame and conquered all the wisdom of this world with the power of spiritual, Christian wisdom, overcoming the Hellenic philosophers, who were considered the wisest? Let those who don’t know be convinced by her life. For us, who praise her for the wisdom of the godmother, it is enough to liken her to the ancient courageous Judith, who, being wise and strengthened by God, cut off the head of the sleeping Holofernes, the terrible and strong commander of the Assyrian warriors, at night, and took it to her city of Bethulia. When in the morning Holofernes' bed-keeper entered his tent and saw his master beheaded, he exclaimed, weeping, in a loud voice: “A certain Jewish wife has disgraced the house of King Nebuchadnezzar, for behold Holofernes is on the floor, and there is no head on him” (Judith. 14:18). A horde of Hellenic philosophers, having chosen, as if for a commander, one of the wisest of all, set him up for debate against one wise maiden. Let's look at the exploits of both. One is armed with sophistic syllogisms, the other takes the word of the cross like a sword. This one praises idolatry, but this one praises the One True God, Christ, the Savior of the world, who voluntarily suffered death. One brings poetic fables, and the other announces prophetic predictions. The Hellenic chief of the philosophers is intoxicated with his wickedness, like Holofernes with wine, darkened by madness, like the darkest night, and the courageous maiden, with the word of the cross, like with the sharpest sword, cuts off, as it were, the head - his insane reasoning. And the philosopher was speechless, like a mute, he could not say anything against her, but the other philosophers were in confusion, staggering like drunken people. All their wisdom was swallowed up, and, without meaning to, they showed that they were defeated. Thus, just as in ancient times “one Jewish wife disgraced the house of King Nebuchadnezzar,” so here one Christian virgin, Saint Catherine, disgraced the house of the wicked king Maxentius. What am I saying - I shamed the very chief of hellish darkness and the commander of the hordes of demons, old Satan, like Holofernes, beheaded him with the word of the cross, struck him with the weapon of the cross, won, erased his head. Well, wise and courageous maiden, you carry a cross in your hand as a sign of your wisdom, as a sign of your courage! The cross is also a sign of love and martyrdom, accepted for the sake of love for a loved one. Was it not through the cross that God showed His love for the human race? The Gospel says: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16). What did He give Him for? To death on the cross. The Holy Church sings in the irmos: “Thou hast laid down steadfast love for us, O Lord, for Thou hast given Thy Only Begotten Son to die for us.” And the Son of God died for us on the Cross for the sake of love for us. There is no greater love than not only to love, but also to die for those you love. Seeing the cross in the virgin hands of Saint Catherine, we already know her true love for Christ God, our Savior, for the sake of which she suffered as a martyr for Him, saying: “I love You, my Bridegroom, and I seek You, I suffer and crucify You.” Love is not true without the cross, without suffering for the loved one. And just as it is said about those who do not firmly believe: “For a time they believe, but in times of temptation they fall away” (Luke 8:13), so it can be said about those who do not truly love: they love for a time and in times of adversity they fall away. Saint Peter at the beginning, when he was not yet firmly established in faith and love, considered himself to truly love the Lord and said: “I am ready to go with You to death” (Luke 22:33). When the time of adversity came, the time of the Cross, suffering, martyrdom, he immediately fell away: “I do not know this Man” (Matthew 26:72). True is the love that does not run from the cross, is not afraid of suffering, is ready for wounds and death for the sake of the beloved, which does not fall away during adversity, but dares. Such love for the Lord God is demonstrated by the cross held in the hands of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine, who in the warmth of the spirit of love speaks in the words of the Song of Songs: “My beloved is mine, and I am unto him” (Song. 2:16). My beloved Christ, the Son of God, has shown me His mercy, but I show Him my love. He, loving me, was crucified on the Cross, but I, loving Him, am crucified with Him on the cross of my suffering. He died for the love of me, but I die for the love of Him. He laid down His life for me, and I lay down my life for Him: “My beloved is mine, and I am His.” Therefore, truly she bears the cross as one who was crucified with Christ, as one who suffered for Him and died for the sake of love for Him. Finally, the cross is like a scepter - a sign of the Kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, for through the cross, through suffering, the heavenly kingdom is acquired, just as Christ “had to suffer and enter into His glory,” according to the words of the Apostle: “If only we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:17). The Holy Great Martyr Catherine holds in her right hand a cross, this scepter of the heavenly kingdom, like a queen. She suffered with Christ, and with Christ she reigned, as she says in the troparion: “I suffer for Your sake, so that I reign in You and die for You, and live with You.” So, listeners, we have learned the secret of why the Holy Great Martyr Catherine, the bride of Christ, carries a cross in her virgin hand: as a sign of her faith and priesthood, for she sacrificed herself to God; as a sign of his warfare and victory over the world, flesh and the devil; as a sign of self-mortification and preservation of one’s immaculate virginity; as a sign of spiritual wisdom, for, armed with it, she defeated and put to shame the Hellenic philosophers; as a sign of love for God and suffering for Him and as a sign of receiving the kingdom of heaven. Consequently, she wears the cross in her hand with dignity. We bow to you, O dear bride of Christ, Holy Great Martyr Catherine! With zeal we kiss your honorable icon and together the cross that your right hand holds. With love we celebrate your holy memory! You, reigning with Christ, look upon us with a merciful eye and intercede for us mercy from Christ God, as one who has boldness towards Him, so that through your prayers we may receive salvation. Amen.