Поучение второе на день памяти иже во святых отца нашего Петра, Митрополита Всероссийского, месяца декабря, в 21 день («Вот Агнец Божий!» (Ин. 1:29))

Celebrating with love the all-honorable memory of our holy father Peter, the Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, the wonderworker, when I listen to the story of his holy life and first hear what his mother saw in a dream vision before birth, as if she was holding a lamb in her arms, the words of the Gospel come to my mind: “Behold the Lamb of God!” These words were spoken by Saint John the Baptist about Christ the Savior, as told in the Gospel: “The next day John sees Jesus coming to him and says: Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:29). However, let not Saint John be angry, and may not my Lord be angry at the fact that I call Saint Metropolitan Peter with the same words. Here is the lamb of God, revealed to his mother in the guise of a lamb, preserving in his life meekness, humility and gentleness befitting a lamb, revealing himself to be a true follower of Christ, the Lamb of God. Here is the lamb of God! Let us turn our mental eyes to this spiritual lamb, to the saint of God, the great Metropolitan Peter among the saints, and let us take a closer look at his lambish disposition for our benefit, “with the Lord’s assistance” (Mark 16:20). In Divine Scripture, the lamb is an image of meekness, humility, and gentleness, for this animal is by nature meek, meek, gentle, and not opposed to anyone. All other animals show their anger, rage, and resistance: some gore and kill with their horns, others bite with their teeth and devour other people’s flesh, others beat and trample with their feet, others torment with their claws. The lamb's nature alone has nothing of the kind in itself; it is not irritated, does not become furious with rage, and does not resist those who offend it. That is why the prophet Isaiah likened our Lord to this animal, who was to come in free passion. “Like a sheep,” he says about Him, “is led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearers is silent, so He does not open His mouth” (Is. 53:6). All these mentioned virtues: meekness, humility and gentleness - can be considered as one, for meekness walks along with humility, as the Lord says: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29); and again: “Whom will I look upon, only the meek and humble?” (Isa. 66:2). And kindness does not lag behind them and, as being friendly to them, finds grace with the Lord with them, approaching Him, as David said on behalf of the Lord Himself: “The gentle and righteous have united with me” (Ps. 24:21). However, each of these virtues has a special interpretation of its strength. Meekness means holding back anger, taming rage. A meek person is one who, being saddened by someone and having the opportunity to take revenge, does not take revenge, is not angry, and the insulted person does not insult. Humility is a sincere awareness of one’s insignificance, contempt for oneself. A humble person is one who, knowing his weakness, sinfulness and obscenity, does not exalt himself in his mind, considers himself lower than everyone else, and even though he has succeeded in some virtue, however, filled with the fear of God, he calls himself an indecent slave. Gentleness is either a clear conscience, innocent of any evil, or simplicity of heart, adorned with righteousness, or forbearance, non-retribution of evil for evil. All these three virtues were found in the meek, humble and gentle lamb - the great saint of God Peter. But there is not enough time to talk about all of them in detail now. At this hour, it is enough to talk about one of the above-mentioned virtues - about meekness (putting aside all others for the future, if the Lord wills and we live), and this, as combined with the other two, will partly show us their strength. For just as when playing the harp and cymbals, when one string is struck, the other strings also make a quiet sound, so in a conversation about meekness, humility with gentleness will also respond somewhat. If you want to overcome your enemies without fighting, to win without weapons, to tame without difficulty, be meek yourself, and you will overcome, conquer, tame others. If you don’t believe me, look with me at the book called the Apocalypse, and you will be convinced from it. I look at this book and see Saint John the Theologian crying. Why are you crying, beloved disciple of Christ? Shouldn't you rather rejoice, having been granted so many revelations? You see the Throne of God and God Himself sitting on it, holding in His right hand the book of His unknown secrets of God, sealed with seven seals. I cry, he says, because “no one was found worthy to open and read this book.” At this time, one of the most honorable twenty-four elders sitting around the Throne of God said to him: “Don’t cry; Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome, and is able to open this book and open the seven seals thereof” (Rev. 5:4–5). But I, having heard these words: “Here is a lion,” I look at what this lion is like, and I see, together with the holy Theologian, “in the middle of the Throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, there stood a Lamb, as if slain. And He came and took the book from the right hand of Him who sat on the Throne. And when He took the book, then the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb. And they sing a new song, saying: “Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals from it, for Thou wast slain, and with Thy Blood hath redeemed us to God” (Rev. 5:6–9). What is surprising here is that it is said: “Behold a lion,” but we saw not a lion, but a lamb: the name of a lion, but the image of a lamb, and then, the image of a lamb, and the power of a lion. It is not surprising that a lion defeats anyone, for he is the king of beasts, strong, formidable, stealing and roaring, terrible not only for animals, but also for people. But what strength does the lamb have? What thunderstorm? What is he stealing and what are his weapons? Who is afraid of him, how and whom can he defeat? But in order to more clearly understand the strength, strength and courage of the Lamb, let us go together with Saint John the Theologian to the sand of the sea and look at his warfare, see what adversaries he fights with and how he fights? “And I stood on the sand of the sea,” says the apostle, “and I saw a beast with seven heads and ten horns coming out of the sea.” And in another place: “I saw another beast coming out of the earth; he had two horns." And further: “They will wage war” (Rev. 13:1, 11, 17:14). I look: who do they want to fight against? And I hear the voice of an Angel saying to the Theologian: “They will make war with the Lamb.” Again I am surprised: so many such terrible beasts are arming themselves against one Lamb! Will not each of the lesser beasts overcome him? One wolf drives a thousand sheep, but so many animals gather against the apocalyptic Lamb! Can the Lamb overcome them? The Angel announces that he will overcome: “The Lamb,” he says, “will overcome them; for He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings” (Rev. 17:14). How did the Lamb defeat those animals? The theologian says that He “threw them alive into the lake of fire” (Rev. 19:20). I turn to meekness: meekness has the form of a lamb, and the strength of a lion. Who turned out to be worthy to receive the book of the mysteries of God with the seals of gifts? Quiet Lamb. Who was worthy of praise from the heavenly inhabitants? Gentle Lamb. Who has the power to defeat those terrible and fierce beasts that come from the sea, from the earth and from the abyss? The Meek Lamb: "The Lamb shall overcome them." The Lamb that John the Theologian saw was an image of the meekness and quietness of the Lamb of God Himself, “who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29), Christ our Savior. What good did His meekness and quietness not do? What advantages did you not receive? What fierce animals have you not defeated? Let everyone see this in the Divine Scripture. It’s time for us to turn our mental eyes and conversation to another lamb - the saint of God who is now celebrated. When I consider the holy life of our father Peter, the All-Russian Metropolitan, like the saints, I see that both before and after his appointment to the All-Russian shepherd, he had opponents. For a certain abbot Gerontius wanted to steal that great dignity not by the good will of God and not by human choice, but by his own power-hungry arrogance. He dared to take the saint’s clothing, utensils and pastoral staff. When Saint Peter, by the grace of God and by the consent of all Russians, accepted the priesthood and arrived from Constantinople to Russia, some, at the instigation of the enemy, did not want to recognize him and resisted him. Bishop Andrei of Tver, having sharpened his tongue like a razor out of envy, spoke lawless, false and blasphemous words about the righteous, and sowed them not only with his lips, but also with his writings. The saint of God, like a gentle lamb, meekly endured all this, and when his enemies were exposed at the council trial and trial, he had mercy on them, granting them forgiveness. Considering all this, I will truly call him a lamb and at the same time a lion: a lamb for meekness and a lion for patient generosity. Like a lion, courageous with generosity, not taking revenge, but enduring with meekness and without malice, he defeated his opponents, and in particular he defeated and put to shame the common enemy of all, the all-evil devil, the teacher and chief of all evils, and defeated, abolishing his intrigues. "Behold, the lion has won." Like a lamb, for his meekness he was honored, with the acceptance of many gifts from God, in the Book of Life, in which it is written in the name of those to whom it is said: “Rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20), - the meek and gentle Saint Peter, Metropolitan of All Russia, is recorded as a lamb. "Behold the lamb of God! " Speaking in this way about the lamb meekness of the saint of Christ, I remember the beatitude spoken in the Gospel by the mouth of Christ: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5) - and immediately I have pity for the meek. For, it seems to me, they were granted by Christ differently than others: the kingdom of heaven was given to the poor, eternal consolation to those who mourn, endless satiation to the hungry and thirsty, mercy to the merciful, contemplation of God to the pure, adoption as sons by the Lord God to the peacemakers, and the kingdom of heaven to the persecuted, and to all other worthy people a great reward in heaven, but to the meek only earth: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." That is, Christ seems to say: you beggars, go to heaven; you who cry, go and be comforted in heaven; you, who are hungry and thirsty, go to heaven and be satisfied with the sweets of heaven; for you, merciful ones, the mercy of God is prepared for you at the Last Judgment; you who are pure in heart, go and contemplate God; you peacemakers, be sons of God; you, poor exiles, also go to the kingdom of heaven, and you, the meek, stay here, inherit the earth, and you will be blessed on it: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” O Lord, Merciful! All Your servants are happy with You, everyone is happy in heaven. Only the meek are unhappy, only they are granted earthly bliss from You. But is earthly bliss comparable to heavenly bliss!? Perhaps, Lord, even the meek! Have mercy on them and take them to heaven, to heavenly bliss! Say: blessed are the meek, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven! But our Lord will not change His holy word, written in the Gospel, for the sake of my obscene prayer. And the interpreters of the Divine Scripture do not command the meek to be cowardly, saying that the land that the Lord prepared as an inheritance for the meek is not an earthly land, but a heavenly one, that is, that the Lord called the heavenly kingdom itself the land of the meek. So, for example, Saint Theophylact says: “Some people think that here we mean a mental land, that is, a heavenly one, that the land that the meek will inherit is the kingdom of heaven, and this is indeed so.” Other teachers explain these words in exactly the same way. Again, I have pity for heaven: isn’t it dishonorable for heaven that it is called earth? Heaven is the throne of God, and earth is the footstool. The sky is of an incorruptible nature, and the earth is all dirt and decay. The sky is bright, and the earth is dark. Heaven is inhabited by Angels, and earth by people. No filth will reach heaven, and the earth is filled with all kinds of filth. Why is heaven so dishonored when it is called earth? How can a footstool be compared with a throne, corruption with incorruptibility, a dark thing with a light thing, people with Angels, the foul with the non-foul? But since these words were spoken by the mouth of the Lord Himself, there can be no dishonor for heaven, for He who is able to make earth heaven and heaven earth said them. He who created everything visible and invisible is free to make His footstool a throne, and change corruption into incorruptibility, and darkness into light, and man into an Angel, and the foul into the unfilthy, like the Almighty. He called heaven the land of the meek, the promised land, boiling with the honey of eternal sweetness and the milk of eternal satiation, which King David also prophetically mentioned, saying: “I believe that I will see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living” (Ps. 27:13), that is, according to the understanding of the interpreters of Divine Scripture, in heaven. For this land on which we temporarily live is not the land of the living, but the land of the dying. The land of the living is heaven, where there is no death and eternal life reigns, where all unspeakable blessings are prepared for those who love God. Be you, heaven, the land of the meek, and you, meek, inherit heaven as if it were earth: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). And therefore, again turning to the meek lamb, the saint of God, who is now celebrated, I will say: blessed is the meek and holy Peter, for he inherited not the earthly land, but the heavenly one. Amen.