Поучение на день памяти девяти мучеников Кизических, месяца апреля, в 29 день

The celebration in honor of the saints of God is a spiritual feast, at which it is fitting for believers to feed their souls not with perishable food and drink, but with the word of God, which endures forever, and with soul-helping teaching. For it satisfies a person more than perishable food, as it is said: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). It waters our parched hearts, like a dry land, and makes them fruitful, as God Himself says through the mouth of His prophet Isaiah: “Just as rain or snow comes down from heaven and does not return until the earth has been watered, and it bears fruit and grows, and gives seed to the sower and bread for food, so shall My word be, which, if it goes out of My mouth, will not return to Me void until it has fulfilled everything I have desired” (Isaiah 55:10–11). May this feast, this spiritual food and mental drink be offered to us, who now lovingly celebrate the memory of the nine holy martyrs of Cyzicus, who pleased God with faith and love, which they sealed with their suffering blood. And let it be proposed not from human speculation, but from the Holy Gospel of Christ, transmitted to us in the presentation of the holy evangelist Luke. The Lord says to His disciples: “They will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, and leading you before kings and rulers for My name’s sake” (Luke 21:12). Our Lord Jesus Christ, leaving this world, predicts to His dear disciples what is about to happen, and, as if by will, leaves them sorrows and persecutions. People have a custom: when a father dies, he writes a will, or a spiritual will, leaving his children an inheritance of wealth, dividing gold, silver, valuable clothes and all their property among them. Having begotten us by His Blood, as the father of children, and “giving power to become children of God to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12), the Son of God, going to death on the cross for our salvation, bequeaths, as it were, riches to His heirs of troubles: instead of gold - suffering, instead of silver - patience, nakedness instead of expensive garments, drops of tears - as if valuable margaritas, bloody sweat - like scarlet rubies, blood dripping from the body - like precious stones, and all sorts of diverse sorrows and misfortunes - like the richest estate. Leaving all this in his will to His children, so that after Him they would be enriched by His sufferings, He predicts the future for them: “They will lay their hands on you,” He says, “(Lk. 21:12), that is, they will seize you as criminals, drag you with dishonor and insults from city to city, lead you to judgment before kings and rulers, beat you in their councils, throw you into prison and subject you to many different torments. What is the reason for such favor of the Lord that His heirs should suffer so much here in the world? Perhaps someone will say: this is in order to tempt them like gold in a crucible, to make them worthy of Himself and to make them worthy of glory - and he will say correctly. However, the Lord no less wants His disciples to endure suffering, also because they are His heirs, His children, His disciples and servants. As children, they must follow Him in order to become like their Father, as disciples, in order to imitate their Teacher, as slaves, in order to follow their Lord, Who gave us the image so that we would follow in His footsteps. In what footsteps? According to these: “Although He was slandered, He did not slander each other,” as St. Peter says, “while He suffered, He did not threaten” (1 Pet. 2:23). These are the feet and footprints of Christ, as if imprinted on stone: the enduring of reproaches, annoyances, reproaches, blasphemy, dishonor and cruelty of suffering. Follow these footsteps, go, imitators of Christ! You must, as children, as disciples and slaves, do only what your Father, Teacher and Lord did. For He says: “You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you speak correctly, for that is exactly what I am. So, if I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, then you should also wash one another’s feet” (John 13:13–14). It is the same in other matters: if I silently endured annoyances and reproaches, did not object to reproaches and reproaches, I, the Lord and Teacher, then you too must endure annoyances and reproaches, reproaches and reproaches, not with bickering, but in silence. If I, the Lord and Teacher, took upon myself the bonds and wounds and shed Blood, then you must also accept the bonds and wounds until the blood is shed. If I suffered on earth from my youth in labors and exploits and laid down My soul for you, your Lord and Teacher, then you must also suffer, work, perform exploits and lay down your soul for each other. “For I have given you an example, that you also should do the same as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you too” (John. 13:15–16, 15:20 ). If they laid hands on Me, they will lay hands on you. If I was handed over to the judgment seat of the unrighteous, then you will be handed over too. If they beat Me and killed me, then they will beat and kill you too. And all this you must endure, since you are My heirs.” Having obeyed this voice of the Lord, many, especially the holy martyrs, like the now celebrated Cyzitic martyrs, zealously followed in the footsteps of such suffering, saying together with Saint Peter: “Behold, we have left everything and followed You” (Matthew 19:27). Of their own free will, they surrendered to chains and prisons, stood up at judgment seats, endured torment and did not spare their souls for their Lord, and thus showed themselves to be true disciples and slaves, children and heirs, and His close friends. “You are My friends,” He says (John 15:14), friends by commonality in suffering and sorrow, which they joyfully shared. “This will be for your testimony” (Luke 21:13). The martyrs expressed some testimonies about Christ Jesus with their lips, others through miracles, and others through suffering. They testified with their lips, confessing Him to be the True God. They testified with miracles, healing the sick in His name, casting out demons, crushing idols with words. They testified by suffering, enduring unbearable torment, so that those who looked at them and saw their valiant patience were amazed with fear and saw in them the help and power of Christ, Almighty God. “Therefore, take it into your heart not to think ahead about what to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom that all who oppose you will not be able to contradict or resist” (Luke 21:14–15). Christ commands His disciples, apostles and all who profess His name with their lips at the judgment seats before kings and rulers, not to prepare themselves for answers and promises to give them lips and wisdom in a miraculous way. And this is for the greater glorification of His Divine power, so that the world will be amazed at such grace, which has made apostles out of fishermen, wisest rhetoricians out of ignoramuses, teachers of the universe out of simpletons, and the highest theologians, putting to shame all the wise of this age. The Lord gave such lips and such wisdom to His nine saints, the Kizi passion-bearers, daring confessors of His holy name, to whom the tormentor could not object to anything and was put to shame, overcome by the Truth. For in a miraculous way, “Christ, the Power of God and the Wisdom of God,” made His servants wise (1 Cor. 1:24), as is clear from the history of their suffering. However, it is necessary to understand that, commanding the apostles not to prepare for answers, the Lord does not prohibit teaching, which is necessary and useful for us, but prohibits excessive care for rhetorical eloquence in preaching God’s word and passion for debating about faith with sophistic syllogisms, as in another case he says about food and drink: “Do not worry about your soul, what you will eat and what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will wear” ( Matthew 6:25). He does not prohibit labor here, nor does he teach laziness, for everyone must work according to his strength and calling, so as not to eat bread in vain. And the apostle says: “We labor, working with our own hands” (1 Cor. 4:12). And in another place: “They ate no one’s bread for nothing, but labored and labored night and day, so as not to burden any of you” (2 Thess. 3:8). The Lord does not take away labor from people by introducing idleness, but He forbids unnecessary care of life. In the same way, here, regarding the teaching, the Lord rejects excessive verbiage and exaltation of reason, which trusts not so much in God as in wisdom and knowledge. But he does not deny the teaching, just as the apostle commands, saying: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teach and admonish one another” (Col. 3:16). There was no need for the apostles to learn in advance what to answer, for “then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45) and gave them wise lips, a tongue that speaks God, for the sake of His holy name. We, sinners, need a lot of teaching and sitting day and night over holy books in order to learn well before we start saying anything. So Saint Theophylact, in his interpretation of these Gospel words, says: “When we want to speak with infidels, it is appropriate for us to first learn and be ready to answer, as Saint Peter commands.” How does Saint Peter teach? By obedience: “Be always ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Pet. 3:15). You should be prepared, acting on the advice of Sirach: “Before you begin to speak, know” (Sir. 18:19), that is, look at what you will say, and think about how you will speak. “You will also be betrayed by your parents, and brothers, and relatives, and friends, and some of you will be put to death” (Luke 21:16). In brief words, our Lord predicted the fiercest persecution, persecution from our own people - from parents, from brothers, from relatives, from friends. For what could be greater than suffering from loved ones? A wound on the body, cutting with a sword, cutting with a razor, stretching on a wheel, burning in an oven, the teeth of animals is not as painful as the wound of the heart, wounded by grief, which is inflicted by one’s relatives, warring friends, persecutors, betrayers to death. And a cruel death is not as painful as the hostile betrayal of it by one’s loved ones. Prophetically depicting the initial Church in the Song of Songs, Solomon mentions one person complaining about his true brothers: “The sons of my mother (that is, my brothers) were angry with me” (Song. 1:5), that is, according to the translation of Blessed Jerome, they raised a fight against me, persecuted me. These words indicated that the original Church would have to suffer a lot from its brothers and complain: the sons of my mother, my brothers, are persecuting me, waging war against me. But, oh Holy Church! Why don’t you complain about Herod, who dared to insult those who belonged to the Church and killed James with the sword, about Nero, who crucified Peter head down and beheaded the head of Paul? Why don’t you complain about Diocletian, Maximian, Licinius and other countless tormentors who persecuted you throughout the entire universe, and only remember your brothers? Because, she says, there is no more severe persecution than persecution from brothers and relatives. Their persecution is more severe than the persecution of Herod, Nero and other merciless tormentors. For those attack from without, and these from within; From whom one could expect help and protection, they are the ones who are put to death. Troubles from relatives and false brothers are worse than troubles from pagans and robbers. It is not for nothing that David says to one of his household: “If an enemy reviled me, I would endure it; and if the one who hated me exalted himself over me, I would hide from him. But you, a man of one accord, my lord and my friend, who enjoyed food with me; We went to the house of God with one mind” (Ps. 54:13 et seq.). How hard it is for the heart to endure troubles like this. These persecutions were especially predicted by Christ in brief but painful words, and they came true in the militant Church. Parents betrayed their children to death, like Dioscorus - Saint Barbara, African - Saint Juliana, Theoklia - Saint Thekla. Brothers betrayed brothers, like Svyatopolk Boris and Gleb, and Boleslav Vyacheslav, Prince of Czech. Relatives of relatives and friends of friends were not spared, as much has been written about in the history of the Church and the sufferings of the martyrs. But what can we say about the holy nine martyrs of Kizi? Didn’t each of them have his own Greek relatives and friends, blinded by atheism, from whom they were persecuted and hated because of the name of Christ? Every believer in Christ then had enemies among his household and suffered hatred and troubles from them, as the Lord predicted in the Gospel. “You will be hated by everyone because of My name” (Luke 21:17). A world that is hostile to God is also hostile to His servants, for he who hates a master also hates his servant. “You will be hated by all,” says the Lord, for I too am hated by all who love this world. And do not be surprised that the world does not love you, My faithful servants, for at first it did not want to love Me. “If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before you” (John 15:18). But what is the reason for the world's hatred? “You will,” he says, “be hated.” The reason is that the servants of Christ, having left the world and followed Christ, became better, became strangers to the world and members of God. Therefore, Christ says: “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but since you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (Luke 15:19). Everything that is Christ is hated. The world loves its own, and as soon as you become Christ’s, the world will immediately hate you. Those who want to live godly and please Christ will be persecuted by the world. Why? Because they are virtuous. Evil naturally does not love the good, darkness hates the light, and the world, which lies in evil, does not love the good, and persecutes those who shine in good deeds, being itself filled with darkness and darkness. At the beginning of the world there were two half-brothers, Cain and Abel; They treated each other lovingly and peacefully, but only until one turned out to be virtuous and pleasing to God. “The Lord looked upon Abel and his gifts, but did not look upon Cain and his sacrifices; and Cain grieved greatly, and Cain rebelled against Abel his brother” (Gen. 4:4–5, 8). For what? Because he was kind and he was evil. That one was pleasing to God, but this one was not. Until Abel’s zeal for God became apparent, there was no envy or hatred between them, as can be seen from Scripture. But as soon as one turned out to be more worthy than the other before God, enmity and hatred immediately appeared. And the evil Cain rebelled and killed the good Abel. Saint Chrysostom says about this: “Until Abel showed a single highest indication of his virtue, his brother knew, but when he pleased God with his gifts and shone brighter with his merits, Cain forgot his very nature.” Hatred is a wild beast that knows no kinship. She rebels against her nature, persecutes and devours her own as strangers. O worldly malice! O hatred, which does not spare even its own for anything other than the highest demonstration of virtue! Be most kind to the world, like your own, like a brother, like your closest friend, but only show virtue, and you will see it hating and fighting against you. We are surprised at Saint Joseph, innocently thrown into prison in Egypt, thrown by that wife who was filled with a fiery love passion for him in her heart. And how could such love turn into hatred and bitter enmity? So, seeing Joseph’s contempt for herself and having his clothes in her hands, she called everyone who was in the house and said: “The Jewish servant whom you brought to us came to me to swear at me and said to me: “I will lie with you,” but when he heard that I raised a cry and screamed, he left his clothes with me and ran away. When his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying: “Thy servant has done this to me,” he was inflamed with anger; And his master took Joseph and put him in prison, where the king’s prisoners were imprisoned” (Gen. 39:17–20). Until Joseph showed his zeal for God, there was no envy or hatred between them, then he rebels against Joseph when he begins to show himself the best and brightest in virtue, when he shows contempt for sinful lusts, when he rejects frantic and lusty female aspirations, when he breaks free from the hands of a shameless woman and runs away from her; only then is he thrown into prison and iron shackles are put on him. “They bound his feet with chains; his soul was entangled in iron” (Ps. 105:18). Saint Ambrose speaks well about this. “What is the reason,” he asks, “for this torment? The only reason is that the wife saw the young man resisting her passion and rejecting her lusts.” Look, because of what the prison is opened - in order to receive the innocent, the bonds of evildoers are loosed, in order to be placed on the virtuous, adulterers are released, and the chaste is imprisoned! How blind is the furious rage and hatred of worldly people always when, bypassing the atrocities of the evil, they take up arms against the innocent! They arm themselves because they are innocent, because they are good, because they reject evil. We abuse the righteous, we do not spare his honor, we persecute the righteous because he is displeasing to us. Consider the guilt of the righteous in the fact that he is displeasing to the evil. Why is it objectionable? “He,” they say, “is moving away from our ways as from uncleanness, and therefore we will torture him with abuse and torment, we will condemn him to a shameful death.” The world gave up the holy martyrs to reproach, the most severe torment and death, because they were displeasing to it. They were disliked because they were kind, meek and pleasing to God, they moved away from all worldly uncleanness and exposed the errors and failures of the wicked. For this, they, like the chaste Joseph, suffered in prison, and each of them, like Abel, accepted death because of pleasing God. But what has the hated world achieved by hating and destroying the saints? He himself perishes, but they live forever, and their reward is from the Lord. They were destroyed by the world in many different ways, but not only did they not perish, but they did not even lose a single hair from their heads. “And a hair of your head shall not perish” (Luke 21:18). After predicting troubles, sorrows, persecutions and misfortunes awaiting both pagans and relatives, the Lord, comforting His servants, proclaims that “not even a hair of their head will be lost.” He cares so much for them that even their hairs are numbered among Him: the hairs will not perish, for at the general resurrection they will be resurrected whole with their bodies. And if the hair, which has no sensitivity, remains intact in the glory of the resurrection of the righteous, then much more the body itself, which suffered wounds and fragmentation for Christ, will rise whole with much glory. Reasoning about this, Saint Gregory the Dvoeslov says: “Since the cruel thing is foreshadowed about suffering and death, consolation is immediately given in the joy of the resurrection, when it is said: “And a hair of your head will not perish.” We know, brothers, that the flesh that is cut hurts, but the hair that is cut does not feel pain. That’s why he proclaims to His martyrs: “And a hair of your head will not perish,” as if to say: why are you afraid that the body that is being cut will not perish, when even that which does not feel pain when being cut cannot perish? For just as the wounds on the bodies of the martyrs in the next century will shine with glory like the stars in the firmament, so their hair, tormented for Christ’s sake, will not be deprived of that glory. “Through your patience save your souls” (Luke 21:19). Until we have patience, our souls are as if not ours, but someone else’s, for without patience we cannot be confident in the salvation of our souls. Patience is a sure sign that we will receive salvation. How much our Lord suffered in order to deliver the human race from slavery to the enemy! He acquired us with His Blood. Do we, wanting to save our souls from the destructive hand of someone else, want to endure at least a little? Be patient, and you will find your soul, which you destroyed with sins. You do not possess anything, not even yourself, if you live without patience, and by being patient you become master and master of yourself. Saint Gregory says: “With patience we gain our souls, for when we ourselves learn to control ourselves, we ourselves begin to gain what is in ourselves” (Conversation 35 on the Gospel of Luke, chapter 21), - that is, as if he said: by nature and being we are rulers on earth, but we are not masters of ourselves if we do not possess ourselves. We do not possess because we do not acquire ourselves through patience, but alienate ourselves, allowing ourselves to serve the world and worldly sinful lusts, and therefore the world possesses us, and not we ourselves. When we free ourselves from the world, like Joseph from the hands of the Egyptian wife, when we try to move away from worldly passions, serving God, when, having turned away from evil, we begin to do good and do it with patience (no virtue is accomplished without patience), then we begin to belong to ourselves, and not to someone else, we begin to be masters and owners of ourselves, and are not enslaved by others. Then we will become masters of ourselves when we win our souls through patience. Christ teaches us patience, for it contains all the virtues by which our souls are saved, as St. Ephraim says: “He who has acquired patience has a touch with every virtue, for he rejoices in sorrows, is skilled in troubles, rejoices in adversity, is ready for obedience, filled with love, glorifies in insults, humbles himself in reproaches, and is unshakable in adversity.” And again: “He who has acquired patience has acquired hope and is adorned with all kinds of good works.” Who can have such a virtue - patience, if not one who loves a lot? For “love is patient, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:4). But who is so full of love as the holy martyrs who laid down their souls for the Beloved? They especially gained their souls through patience, enduring much for the sake of love. What the holy passion-bearers endured for the sake of love in their suffering - the nine Kiziches or others - is narrated at length: they acquired their souls by laying them down in agony for their beloved Lord, who laid down His soul for us on the Cross. The way they loved Him is clear from the fact that they became like Him in His most pure passions. Usually one who loves to become like his beloved. If someone loves someone immensely, then he imitates him in everything, in words and character, wanting to mirror his beloved friend in everything. Christ God loved man immeasurably and became like him, as it is said: “He became in the likeness of men and became in appearance like a man” (Phil. 2:7). The holy martyrs mutually loved Christ the Lord and tried to be like and conformed to Him, enduring many torments for Him, just as He endured them for us. The holy Apostle Paul boasts in the Lord, saying: “I rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up what is lacking in my flesh in the tribulations of Christ” (Col. 1:24). And these holy martyrs, suffering for Christ, joyfully endured in their flesh what the Lord also endured, imitating Him in suffering. Saint Artema, tied to a wheel that was then lowered down from the top of the mountain, imitated the suffering of the Lord at the time when He was grabbed in the garden and dragged down the mountain through the Kidron stream. Saint Rufus, bound hand and foot, imitated the Lord, who was also bound and stumbled on his difficult journey. Saint Theognis, prostrate on the ground and beaten, imitated Christ the Lord, Who was struck on the ground and trampled under foot: “My enemies have humiliated Me,” He says, “(Ps. 55:3). Saint Theostichus, mercilessly beaten, imitated Christ, also beaten, as the Gospel says: “Then Pilate took Jesus and ordered him to be beaten” (John 19:1). Saint Antipater, tied to a pillar and severely wounded by thorns, imitated the Lord Christ, tied to a stone pillar and wounded by a crown of thorns. Saint Philemon, hung by the ribs on an iron nail, imitated Christ, hung on the tree of the cross with four nails. Saint Faumasius, after many different torments, pierced in the ribs by a spear, became like Christ, pierced in the ribs by the spear of one of the soldiers on the cross. Saint Theodotus, burned by fire in a frying pan and in a cauldron, served as an image of Christ’s fiery love for man, blazing with which, He joyfully endured all torment and death: “God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16); for “love is strong as death” (Song 8:6): and much water cannot quench it. Saint Magnus, tormented by pincers, depicted on himself what happened when the Body of Christ was removed from the Cross, for then they pulled nails from the tree of the cross and from the hands and feet of Christ with pincers. And while the already dead Body of Christ did not feel pain, Saint Magnus endured this pain in his living body, tormented for Christ by pincers. All these nine holy martyrs, each individually, depicted on themselves all the sufferings of Christ, suffering and dying for Christ their God for the sake of fiery love for Him, becoming like Him as a child of their Father, imitating the Teacher as disciples and following Him as slaves to their Master. After so much suffering, having endured troubles and persecution and accepting death, having become like Christ’s passion, the holy martyrs are now gloriously glorified with Christ. “If only we suffer with Him,” says the apostle, “that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:17). Now they receive freedom after prison, light after prison, honor after dishonor, praise and satisfaction after reproach and blasphemy, peace and joy after labors and exploits, endless life after death, after temporary sorrows they are comforted forever, as the same apostle says: “As the sufferings of Christ are multiplied in us, so is our consolation multiplied by Christ” (2 Cor. 1:5). Being partakers of Christ in suffering, they are also partakers of Him in consolation. And how many wounds on their bodies they accepted for the sake of Christ, the same number of crowns they now receive from Christ in the kingdom of heaven. They are blessed and glorified by all the holy inhabitants of heaven, as the valiant warriors of Christ, who defeated the enemy, as the faithful servants of the Lord, who served Him to the end, as His dear friends, selflessly giving their lives for Him, as the good martyrs of Christ, who obeyed His words and in fact fulfilled them, as the beloved children of God, who imitated Him and loved Him “with all with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). Oh, the most honorable face of the nine sufferers, rejoicing in the midst of the nine ranks of angels in heaven! Do not forget us, the poor, glorious heavenly citizens, graciously remember us, earthly strangers who are in exile in this life, look mercifully at us from the heights of the beloved village of the Lord, recognize our zeal for you, hear our prayers to you, our humble prayer, visit us, heal our illnesses, heal mental and physical ailments, comfort the mourning, help the suffering, deliver your prayer books from troubles and pray for us to God, One in the Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. (End of the lesson read to all holy martyrs) After much torment and suffering, having endured troubles and persecution and accepting death, having become like Christ’s passions, the holy martyrs are now gloriously glorified with Christ. “If only we suffer with Him,” says the apostle, “that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:17). Now they receive freedom after bonds, after prison light, after dishonor honor, after reproach and blasphemy praise and satisfaction, after labors and exploits peace and joy, after death endless life, after temporary sorrows they are consoled forever, as the same apostle says: “As the sufferings of Christ are multiplied in us, our consolation is also multiplied by Christ” (2 Cor. 1:5). Being partakers of Christ in suffering, they are also partakers of Him in consolation. And how many wounds on their bodies they accepted for the sake of Christ, the same number of crowns they now receive from Christ in the kingdom of heaven. They are blessed and glorified by all the holy inhabitants of heaven, as the valiant warriors of Christ, who defeated the enemy, as the faithful servants of the Lord, who served Him to the end, as His dear friends, selflessly giving their lives for Him, as the good martyrs of Christ, who obeyed His words and in fact fulfilled them, as the beloved children of God, who imitated Him and loved Him “with all with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). Oh, holy martyrs, in the midst of the nine ranks of angels, rejoicing in grief! Do not forget us, the poor, glorious heavenly citizens! Mercifully remember us, earthly strangers who are in exile in this life, look mercifully at us from the heights of the beloved village of the Lord, recognize our zeal for you, hear our prayers to you, our humble prayer, visit us, heal our illnesses, heal mental and physical ailments, comfort the mourning, help the suffering, deliver your prayer books from the troubles and pray for us to God, one in the Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.