Поучение на неделю пред Рождеством Христовым и на день представления святого Петра, Митрополита Российского, Чудотворца («Родословие Иисуса Христа» (Мф. 1:1). «И иная книга раскрыта, которая есть книга жизни» (Откр. 20:12))

On this week's day, two teachers came here to church with two books to teach us, my beloved listeners! Two teachers: one ecumenical - the Holy Evangelist Matthew, the other all-Russian - Saint Peter, Metropolitan and Wonderworker of Moscow. Both opened their books for our benefit: the universal teacher, Saint Matthew, opened the book of human birth: “Abraham gave birth, Isaac gave birth, Jacob gave birth,” and so on. The All-Russian Teacher, Saint Peter, unfolded the book of human death, for on this day he arranged for us the celebration of his repose. This is also a book of kinship, for temporary death, or blessed death, gave birth to eternal life for the monk. Let everyone read the book they want, but I will read part of both. What words should I read in them? I will read the following: in the book of human birth I will read a word about the vanity of this temporary and mortal life, and in the book of human death I will read a word about the bliss of heavenly immortal life, which Saint Peter received after his death. And I will read it not only for myself, but so that everyone can hear and benefit, “with the Lord’s assistance and strengthening of the word.” I ask you to listen carefully to your love. In the Genealogy of Jesus Christ we have two parts: the first about the forefathers, from whose tribe Christ was born, and the other about the Ever-Virgin Mother, from whom Christ was born. The race of Christ, coming from the tribe of the forefathers, has been explored, told and described, but the birth of Christ from a virgin Mother is unexplored, indescribable, remains indescribable to this day and will forever be incomprehensible. It was about him that the prophet said: “Who will explain His generation?” (Isa. 53:8). We will postpone this second part until the upcoming holiday of the Nativity of Christ, but we will consider the first now. Delving into these words of the first chapter of the book of the kinship of Jesus Christ, we can find in them something hidden that can teach and be useful for us, but is not known to everyone. Who, listening only to the names read in it, would think that he would receive any benefit from them for himself? But he will get it if he looks diligently. Among the kings of Jerusalem there were two who were opposite in character to each other: Josiah and his son Jehoiachin. Josiah accidentally found the book of the Law of God - by chance, for the former idolatrous kings destroyed the books of the Law of God in the Church of Solomon. Josiah, having found the book and read it, was touched and contrite in heart, and came into the fear of God, and tore his clothes, and wept before the Lord (see 2 Kings 22:11), showed an image of repentance. This is not what his son Jehoiachin did. When the book of the holy prophet Jeremiah about the Law of God was read before him, he not only was not moved, but became angry and, cutting and tearing the book, burned all its leaves in the fire. The same reading of the Law of God served to benefit one, and corrupted another. In a similar way is the book of the kinship of Christ now offered to us. Let none of us be Jehoiachin, tearing her leaves as if with a razor, cursing her with his tongue and saying: “What good are those names to me? This one gave birth to one, this one to another - what is that to me?” But let us be like Josiah and prepare ourselves for heartbreak. At the very beginning I said that in the book of kinship I intended to read about the vanity of this mortal life. First, let us consider the vanity of greatness, the highness of humanity on earth. Truly, at the first glance we see the high-born kinship of Christ according to the flesh. We see now patriarchs, now princes and brave military leaders, now kings. Patriarchs are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Princes and military leaders - Judas and his brothers, who defeated many regiments of adversaries. The kings are David, Solomon and their heirs. Truly there is great nobility here. And why cannot each of the high-born princes and boyars boast of the antiquity of his family, if Christ Himself wanted to have His origin not from a simple, but from a high tribe, and commanded by the Holy Spirit His Apostle Matthew to write a book of His kinship at the beginning, so that subsequent generations would know to what high family Christ belonged? But if we consider with reason the book of the kinship of Christ, we will clearly see the great vanity of high kinship in this mortal life and the futility of boasting about it. Who was Abraham, Isaac, Jacob? – Cattle breeders and nomads who moved from place to place, had neither their own city, nor village, nor permanent home and lived in tents in the steppes. Who were Judas and his brothers? – Slaves of the Egyptians who made bricks, builders of walls. Who were Perez, Boaz, Solomon? - Sons of harlots. Who was David? - Son of Jesse, a Bethlehem villager, shepherd of sheep. Who was Joachim, Christ's maternal grandfather? - A resident of one poor village - Nazareth of Galilee: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” - said the Jews (John 1:46). Who was Joseph, considered the father of Christ? - Carpenter. Look how changeable worldly happiness is: the tribe of Israel was first raised from rot to a height, even to the royal scepter, then from the royal throne it was humiliated to the common people and from the scepter to the carpenter’s axe. God deigned to reveal the history of those events, albeit briefly, to us at the beginning of His Gospel, so that those who wish to be true listeners of the Gospel, imitators and doers of it, would first of all see and recognize the vanity of majesty and honor, nobility and glory of man, so that no one would boast in anything. “Do not boast,” says Scripture, “do not multiply arrogant speeches; Do not let insolent words come out of your mouth; but let him who desires to boast boast in this, that he understands and knows the Lord” (1 Samuel 2:3, 10). The greatest nobility is to please God, to be praised by God and people for good deeds and to be bright in virtues. For what is the benefit of being great by kinship, but by very small deeds, rising to heaven by kinship, and descending to the abyss by an evil life, like Capernaum, to whom Christ said: “And you, Capernaum, who were exalted to heaven, will be cast down to hell” (Matthew 11:23)? The Book of the Kinship of Christ, as it is said, reveals to us certain secrets that we either do not know or do not try to find out, counting the ancestors of Christ by name and in order. She counts them three times into fourteen generations, and if you add them together, it turns out forty-two, according to the number of camps (or stations) of Israel that they had from the time of the exodus from Egypt until they came to the Promised Land, for they stopped with delay in forty-two places. After such a number of births, the Lord wanted to carry out His incarnation in order to show that He had come to deliver the human race from slavery to the hellish Pharaoh and lead it to the promise of heaven. Let us see: did all the ancestors of Christ, counted by name, get rid of hell and receive the kingdom of heaven? No, only those of them who either did not sin, or, having sinned, truly repented, while those who died in sins without repentance died. How many are there in the kinship of Christ who have not sinned? We do not dare to count more than three, indicated in the Scripture itself, where it is said about them: “You did not grant repentance to your righteous Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who did not sin against you” (2 Chronicles 36). How many have repented? Jesus, the son of Sirach also counts no more than three, for he says: “Except for David, Hezekiah and Josiah, all have sinned gravely, for they have forsaken the law of the Most High” (Sir. 49:5–6). So, out of so many generations, out of forty-two, there were only six whose salvation there could be no doubt: three who had not sinned and three who had repented, while the rest were in doubt. For some of them died as idolaters, others died in other grave sins, excluding perhaps those who were covered by God’s mercy, unknown to us, and those who, coming from the same houses, were outside the line of direct kinship of Christ, such as Daniel and the three youths, and before them Moses, Aaron, Joshua and the like, and also including the last perfect saints, that is, Saint Joachim with Anna, the parents of the Mother of God, Saint Joseph the Betrothed and the Most Pure Virgin herself, who surpassed all saints in holiness. From here one can profitably see how “many are called and few are chosen” (Matthew 20:16, 22:14; Luke 14:24). Many were related to Christ, but few received a part with Christ; in the book of kinship are written, and from Christ's Books of life are blotted out. Let us note here: not one of the persons proud of their high kinship counts their fathers and ancestors, boasting of their former high ranks, honors, and power, but does he know for sure how many of them there are among them who inherited the kingdom of heaven? Will there be a dozen of them, or maybe seven, or five, or three, or two, or just one? Are not the majority of them, or are they not all, condemned to eternal torment? If they suffered the fate of those who perished in agony, then how can a grandson or great-grandson boast of those who are considered the enemies of God and numbered among hellish demons? But even if they all received the kingdom of heaven for some of their virtues, and the heir left after them on earth prepares Gehenna for himself with his evil deeds, then what benefit does he have from the holiness of his ancestors, if he himself is a sinner, and while they rejoice in paradise, he is sent into the unquenchable fire? Therefore, let no one boast either of his high family or the holiness of his ancestors, but let everyone think about his own life. For just as the nobility of ancestors is vain and subject to change, so the holiness of ancestors can only be useful to virtuous heirs, but does not help the wicked in anything. And vice versa, the holiness of grandchildren and great-grandchildren who lived virtuously and pleased God will not help the forefathers who died in grave sins without repentance, for Christ Himself did not want to deliver such His ancestors. Who is more holy than Christ? But He did not deign to provide any help to those of His ancestors who were condemned to Gehenna by the righteous court of God for many and immeasurable sins. Therefore we too will be afraid! If the Son of God did not spare many of His forefathers according to the flesh, who died in sins without repentance, then will He spare us, distant and called from paganism, if we do not repent? Truly He will not spare, for He is Righteous! Let us consider another secret in the book of kinship, which reveals to us the vanity of temporary life. The family of Christ is described by two evangelists - Matthew and Luke. Saint Matthew uses the word “gave birth” to each person mentioned: one “gave birth” to this one, another “gave birth” to another, and Saint Luke, instead of the word “gave birth,” writes this: “Jesus, when he began His ministry, was about thirty years old, and was, as they thought, the Son of Joseph, Eli, Matthat, Levi,” and so on. This passage of the Gospel in the Arabian translation reads like this: “Jesus was the son of Joseph, who was the son of Eli, Eli was the son of Matthan, Matthan was the son of Levi,” and so on. Matthew says: “begat, begat,” and Luke: “was”; the one who brought into the world with the word “gave birth”, the one who was brought out of the world with the word. And that one was, and this one was; now there is not a single one, only their names remain, written in the book, and there are not a single person themselves: there were and there are no. Abraham was “born”, the patriarch Abraham was the father of many nations, he was - and he no longer exists. David “was born”, “King David” “was”, “was” - and he no longer exists. Solomon “was born”, Solomon “was” wise, “he was” - and he is no more. All the others were born and some were princes, others were military leaders, they were - and they are no longer there. Where is their glory, where is their honor, where is their power? “Was” – and now it’s no longer there. All one after another appeared in this world, and all one after another, without slowing down for very long, departed from the world. We entered into this life through some doors of birth, and out of life through the other doors of death. What did they take with them, what did they take from here? Maybe wealth or titles of one's nobility? Maybe rank, beauty of face, strength of body or wisdom, or some other advantage? Truly, they took nothing away. They took it all away from here, but did not keep it for themselves, but put it in a coffin for incorruption. What do they say when they have lost everything? Let us listen to the news from that world announced in the Divine Scripture. For those who were sinners here say there: “What benefit has arrogance brought us, and what has wealth brought us with vanity? All this passed like a shadow and like fleeting rumors; like a ship through the waters, and like a bird through the air, and like an arrow shot at a target, leaving no trace of its movement, so our whole life will soon pass, but we will be left having nothing” (Wis. 5:8 et seq.). Where did you leave it? The bodies rotted in the coffins, but God knows where the souls were. What did you leave behind? Nothing, just the names written in the book of kinship, except for those who, having lived here holy, pleased God. For they were awarded the best there, and they left behind us an image of a virtuous life. The book of the kinship of Christ became like a tomb. The tomb is full of the bones of the dead, and the book is full of the names of the dead. And just as in the tomb we see the coffins of many different people, rich and poor, high-ranking and simple, who were covered and leveled by a single land, so in the book of kinship, cattle breeders, patriarchs, slaves, princes, kings, shepherds, and carpenters are equally mentioned. It does not mention either patriarchal or royal titles, and the crafts of the common people are not humiliated, but it is written simply: such and such “gave birth” to such and such; “there was” such and such, but now there is not one. Truly, “all is vanity of vanities,” as Ecclesiastes says: “I saw all kinds of creatures created under heaven, and they are all vanity” (Eccl. 1:2). So, we read in the book of birth, albeit briefly, a word about the vanity of this mortal life. Now it’s time to turn to another book, the book of human death, good death, giving birth to eternal life. “And another book was opened, which is the book of life” (Rev. 20:12) Today we celebrate the honorable repose of our father Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, wonderworker. This death of his can be called his death, for we read about his holy life and his blessed death in the book, and we sing his service from the book, and this book is the book of death. For, as the Scripture says, “Abraham died, and the prophets” (John 8:52), and the saint of Christ Peter also paid the debt to death, died, but died an honest death: “The death of His saints is honorable before the Lord” (Ps. 115:6). He died an immortal death: “the hope of his immortality is fulfilled” (Wis. 3:4) - and this book of his death became the book of birth, for through temporary death he was reborn for eternal life. Death, the good death, has books of its kinship, and kinship not bad, but beautiful, good. For just as from a good root a good branch grows and from a good tree good fruit is born, so a good death has its origin from a good family. What kind of good death this is, we will now see. Do not think, my listener, that I am talking here about the carnal nobility of the bishop of God, for from his youth he despised his family. I am not talking about his carnal, but about his spiritual and virtuous race, that is, about his godly life, in which virtue was born from virtue. Humility gave birth to love for God, love for God - contempt for the world, contempt for the world gave birth to abstinence, abstinence - mortification of bodily feelings, mortification of feelings gave birth to purity of the flesh and spirit, purity - mental contemplation of God, contemplation of God gave birth to tenderness and tears. Finally, from all this, a good, blessed, honest, holy death was born, leading to peace, for “the righteous, even if he reaches death, will be in peace” (Wis. 4:7). I find two books of such spiritual, virtuous kinship, from which a good death arises: one from Saint David the Psalmist, the other from Saint John Climacus. The Psalmist wrote this book of spiritual, virtuous kinship as follows: “He who is innocent in his hands and pure in heart, who in his soul is not carried away by vanity and has not sworn evilly to his neighbor, will receive a blessing from the Lord and mercy from God, his Savior. This is the generation of those who seek the Lord” (Ps. 23:4–6). Climacus, in that book of spiritual, virtuous kinship, writes: “Let the one who can and wants to work with you over the burden of sins be your father. Let tenderness be your mother, able to wash you from defilement. Let him be your brother who encourages you and joins you in your journey to those above. Take as an indissoluble companion the memory of the death's outcome. May your dear children give you heartfelt sighs. Make your body your slave, and your friends the holy Angels, who will be useful to you during the exodus of death. This is the generation of those who seek the Lord.” The great saint of God Peter wrote both of these virtuous books - the Psalmist and the Climacus - in the book of his heart, and in his life he fulfilled those good deeds by deed himself, and he became one of those most excellent spiritual relatives in whom the above words are fulfilled: “This is the generation of those who seek the Lord.” According to the first book of spiritual kinship, he was “blameless in hands and pure in heart,” for, according to the apostolic word, he was “holy, not involved in evil” (Heb. 7:26). Holiness gave birth to innocence in him, and gentleness gave birth to purity of heart. Innocence in him came from holiness, and purity of heart - from gentleness. And therefore he became the kind of bishop he should be: “This is how our High Priest should be: a saint, not involved in evil.” And the one who is kindly is a relative of our Most Kindly Lord Jesus Christ. The holy Theologian once saw in the revelation of the Lord appearing in the form of a Lamb: “The Lamb stands on Mount Zion” (Rev. 14:1). And the mother of Saint Peter, before his birth, had a vision: it seemed to her that she was holding a lamb in her arms. And Christ is the Lamb, and Saint Peter of Christ is the lamb. The lamb is akin by nature to the lamb and is similar in disposition to it. The Lamb Saint Peter truly became like the Lamb of Christ in the character of gentleness and showed himself to be kindred to Him through this virtue, for nothing makes a person spiritually related to Christ God like gentleness. Looking at the book of the kinship of Christ, at the very beginning one can be surprised that our Lord deigned to be called first the Son of David, and then Abraham: “Genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” Why is it not written: Son of Abraham, Son of David? After all, among the Israelites, the name of Abraham enjoyed greater honor than the name of David, and when they wanted to point out and boast of their high family, they usually said: “We are Abraham’s seed and were not slaves to anyone” (John 8:33). The Lord Himself, wanting to please Zacchaeus, called him the son of Abraham: “Because he is also the son of Abraham” (Luke 19:9). David was the adornment of the tribe of Judah alone, and Abraham was the ancestor, honor and praise of all the tribes of Israel. Why is Christ called first not the Son of Abraham, but the Son of David, and then Abraham? In our bad human opinion, it would be fitting for Christ to be called the son of Abraham first, for, we think, the life of Abraham was more beautiful, holier and more pleasing to God than the life of David. It is not surprising that David knew God and served Him, for he was born of parents who knew God: “God is known in Judah” (Ps. 75:2). The amazing thing is that Abraham, born of parents who did not know God and were idolaters, knew God and pleased Him. David had many examples of pleasing God: Moses, Aaron, Joshua, the prophet Samuel and the like. For Abraham, no one was such an example of knowledge of God and pleasing God. If the work of David is glorious - the victory over Goliath, then even more glorious is the work of Abraham - the ascension of his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God. David fell into the sin of adultery and murder, but Abraham did nothing of the kind and did not anger God with any mortal sin. And with all this, it pleased the Lord our God to be called the Son of David rather than Abraham. What is the reason for this? What's the secret? The secret and the reason is this. Saul pursued David for a long time and wanted to kill him. But David was so gentle towards Saul that, having the opportunity to kill him many times, he did not do so. In the name of God, he endured innocently, quenching Saul’s anger with his kindness. Some, as if placing it on some kind of standard, consider this Davidic kindness to be no less a virtue than that of Abraham, by virtue of which he raised his son as a sacrifice to God. Kindly sparing your enemy for the sake of God means the same as not sparing your son for the sake of God. And not only the same thing, but higher, if for the sake of David’s kindness God wanted to take upon Himself the flesh of his tribe in order to be close in kind to the kindly husband. For God approaches gentleness, and gentleness approaches God, as if uniting into one race and one spirit: “The gentle and righteous,” the Psalmist says, “have united with me” (Ps. 24:21); “this generation of those who seek the Lord.” In the life of Saint Peter of Christ we read that a certain Tver bishop Andrei and his like-minded people did a lot of evil to the saint, writing many false and blasphemous words about him and dishonoring him throughout the Russian land. He sent those slander to Tsar-grad to the Holy Patriarch, and this case was considered at the cathedral court. And when the wickedness of the enemy was exposed and the innocence of Saint Peter was revealed, he not only did not take revenge on his enemy, but also forgave him everything. This bishop was so gentle, and therefore he deserves to be among “this generation of those who seek the Lord.” According to the second book of spiritual kinship, Climacus, he had spiritual mentors as his father, even before monasticism he had tenderness as a mother, brothers as associates, a cohabitant as the memory of death, children as daily sighs, a slave as a body enslaved to the spirit, as friends as Angels, and therefore was related to those who seek the Lord. From such a good spiritual kind of virtues, the saint of God had a good death, an honest, holy repose. For just as an evil life is followed by an evil end, or death, so a virtuous life is followed by a blessed end. From a blessed death, or from a good death, immortal life has its birth and its beginning. Everyone read in the book of a good death, in the book of a virtuous life and honest repose of St. Peter of Christ, read about the bliss of eternal life that he received. Read, considering with your God-thought mind, how the saint of God dwells, rejoicing, with the saints as the holy chosen one of God, with the saints as the reverend, kindly, innocent, with the hierarchs as the hierarch, with the teachers as the All-Russian teacher, with the apostles as the apostolic vicar and a communicant of their morals, with the prophets as the seer, with the Angels as the Angel, angelically having lived in the flesh, with the Archangels, as an archangel, praising God with songs day and night, with the Cherubim, as a cherubim, standing before the throne of God during service at the altar, as if on the highest, with the Seraphim, as a seraphim who loved God. On the day of the repose of the saint, such reflection on the eternal life that he received can truly be useful to anyone who wishes and tries to gain benefit for his soul. We, without continuing our conversation any longer, will close both of these books: the book about the kinship of Christ by St. Matthew, the universal teacher, in which the vanity of this mortal life is revealed, and the book of the honorable repose of St. Peter, the All-Russian teacher, in which our eternal life is written - let us close, I say, both of these books with the words: Glory to our God now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.