Омилия XVII 54 .

On the Gospel of the New Week (Fomina Resurrection) 55, explaining the Mystery of the Sabbath and the Lord's Day 56 Today we celebrate the New Day of the Lord; better to say, we are renewing the new Day of the Lord. Our word sets itself the task, as far as time allows, to expound a little more deeply to your love the mystery of the Day of the Lord. And although this mystery is great and sublime, and therefore not easily accessible to everyone, it is nevertheless worthy to give thanks to the Lord of all, for whom this day is so called, who, thanks to His coming in the flesh, revealed to those who approach by faith such things that, one might say, surpass both mind and word. Keep an eye on the essence of what is being said; because even if someone cannot understand everything, he will nevertheless understand the universal meaning from small things, for the teaching of the Spirit is like light. So, God, in six days, not only created this entire sensory world and beautified it, but also a single one, composed of sensory and spiritual elements, creating and reviving a living man and giving him power over living beings and plants on earth, on the seventh day he rested from all His labors, as Moses, the subsequent contemplator who was long before him, taught us, the creation of the world, or better to say, the Holy Spirit, Who loved mankind. through his mouth he proclaimed it to our lips and souls. But “God blessed, they say, the seventh day, and sanctified it” (Gen. 2:3). Why did He both bless and sanctify this day, on which He did nothing, and not the first, which seemed to be more excellent? Why did Moses say this only about this day, and not about the first one, on which God created the universe from nothing and illuminated it with a new light, although he had not yet established the appropriate order, building everything according to rank and type. And if not this, then why not the day following this, on which He established and expanded this great cavity, I mean the existing heaven around us, and after the first - this second (heaven)? Why, in turn, not the day that exists after this, or the subsequent ones, during which the earth, after the waters receded, began to exist and took on all its order and decoration, invested and characteristic of it, and the sky received two great lights like certain eyes, and from the waters, at the command of God, birds and aquatic animals appeared according to their kind? But leaving this aside, let us ask: why, more than others, God did not bless the sixth day, on which he brought out of the earth not only the living soul of reptiles and four-legged animals, but also revealed the worthy work of His council, leading everything in his person, combining into one sensual and spiritual, the only and greatest work, because by grace it imprinted Himself in itself, and is in His image and likeness a living being created and knowing Him, namely - revealed a man on earth? Why did He not bless and sanctify this day, namely the seventh day, which was a day of inactivity? Wishing to give an explanation and resolve the difficulty, it is especially necessary for me, due to the presence of more learned ones among my listeners, to first refute wrong views. Since there are those who believe that the number itself (“7”) is sacred: such are Josephus (Flavius) and Philo and others who, like them, do not recognize that God was born, nor that the Virgin gave birth, and who believe that the number itself, as such, has a divine quality; because they cannot imagine that the Virgin gave birth without marital ties, without seeds and painlessly. And claiming that on the basis of this sacredness of the number “seven”, the only one of the days, the seventh, received a divine blessing, they are also mistaken not only regarding the concept of God, but also destroy the concept of the seventh day itself, because every number is produced (born) from unity, and since “seven” is a number, then, therefore, it is not underived. But from nothing else, they say, is multiplicity produced from unity; and the unborn is not the one who is from the multitude, but who is not born from anyone, which is a quality that the number “seven” does not possess. What follows is a discussion in the spirit of the philosophy of that time about the concept of derivative, generating and non-derivative numbers, which we omit here due to its specificity and difficulty for the modern reader to understand. Then the Saint points out that he cannot contradict objections showing that the number “seven”, taken only as an abstract number, is in itself in no way sacred - those who hold a similar opinion resort to the phases of the moon associated with the alternation of weeks - and in connection with this he says the following: that if on this basis they consider the number “seven” sacred, then, it must be said that other numbers are by no means inferior to it, and among them especially the initial one, because this entire sensory world is one, and the whole sky is one, or no more than two, and one sun in the world, and one moon, not to say that everything is combined in the One, Who exists first of all and through everything, who exists above all - God, Whom, as truly One, everything proclaims. If the universe, representing the star circle and each of the poles, is closed in a circle, and the circle consists of two principles: a point and a line, and nothing could exist outside of these two principles, especially from the category of the sensory world, then, consequently, the number “two” is the most applicable and necessary for the world. Since in everything there is not only a line, but also a plane, then, consequently, the number “three” should enjoy equal honor for the same reason; and I won’t talk about other honorable aspects of this date. Since each of the above is not only a circle, but also a firmament and a sphere, and this cannot exist except four (elements?), because, in addition to everything else, necessity itself requires them, then wouldn’t the number “four” be among the honorable numbers? In addition, for other reasons, the number “five” should not be disrespected; but especially among the others is the number “six”, for it is superior to the other parts that make it up and is the first in the number of perfect numbers, because everything (the creation of the world) was completed on the sixth day. So, based on this, it follows that those who revere the number “seven” deceive themselves, in essence, revere not only the number “seven”, but simply any number: because each of them equally has sufficient grounds for respect. And since the number, together with everything that exists, was created by God, and everything created by God is beautiful, and very beautiful, as the Creator Himself testified through Moses, then if anyone were to take any number and carefully study it, he would find that it is beautiful and “very good” both in itself and for other reasons, miraculously representing something to which it corresponds. However, none of the days, taken by their number, is superior to the other in this regard, because Moses does not say that the number of any of the days was praised by God, but the deeds performed by Him on each of the days were crowned with praise; therefore, the seventh day was worthy of praise not because of its number (but there was another reason for this). So we indicate the reason why God deliberately blessed him and sanctified him, starting from the very words of Moses, namely: “For God rested on the seventh day from all His works that He had done” (Gen. 2:2). Then adding: “And God bless the seventh day, and sanctify it,” immediately indicates the reason for the blessing, repeating the same thing: “For God rested from all His works which He began to do” (Gen. 2:3). Consequently, there are works of God which He did not begin to do, 57 and which He did not rest in doing, as the Lord Himself revealed to us, saying: “My Father is working hitherto, and I am working” (John 4:17). So, God, wishing to give us feasible knowledge of such matters, and to show that it is precisely these that we should seek more than all things sensory, the seventh day, on which he rested from the creation of the sensory world, blessed and sanctified it as a kind of return, by way of repose, from the lower world (ton kaato) to that which belongs to the better and supra-worldly sphere. Because, to put it in the words of the great Dionysius: God, due to the excess of goodness, is outside of Himself, and due to the conservation of all properties, He returns to this in everything, according to the super-essential force that can move (ekstatikin), which essentially has a statistical character (anekphytiton) of Himself; Having descended philanthropically, as much as He desired and as much as there was a need for it, and having created this sensory world of ours in six days, on the seventh - to the height characteristic of Him, which, however, He did not leave, He, as it answered the Divine, returned (to Himself), and the peace of that day showed more blessed, teaching us to desire to ascend, as far as possible, into that peace, which lies in our mental contemplation, and through him in the ascent of our thoughts to God. The Apostle clearly encourages this peace; because having presented the words spoken by God through the Psalmist about the people of Judah, namely: “For they swore in My wrath, lest they enter into My rest” (Ps. 95:11), he then adds: “There is no mention of the seventh day: and God rested on the seventh day from all His works” (Heb. 4:4). And a little further: “Let us also sweat and enter into that rest” (Heb. 4:11); because the one who enters will also rest from his labors, just as God does from His. But do you want to know more clearly what this peace is and how we will enter it? – If we assimilate those Divine deeds which, being beginningless, cannot be characterized as “begun”, but which have nothing to do with the sensory world 58 ; So, if we understand these things, we will understand even more the meaning of this peace and entering into it. What are these things? – Let the Psalmist help us in this matter, writing about God: “The works of His hands are truth and judgment” (Ps. 110:7). This means that the work of God, which has no end, consists in the knowledge of everything that exists and in the foreknowledge of the future, which if anyone called “Truth”, he would not be mistaken in the name. The work of God, beginningless and endless, is judgment and foreknowledge; because everything that exists, even before its existence, needed divine foreknowledge and judgment so that it could come into being; and after implementation - so that it would not perish over time, but, in one case, would change over time for its own or universal benefit, or, in another case, would remain unchanged. The beginningless work of God is to pay attention to Himself; for without beginning He was moved to self-contemplation. Truly, who, by sensibly researching, could bring up many things related to this. And each of us, brethren, avoiding the mundane and very tormenting worries and related affairs, let us open our ears, listening to the teaching of the Spirit; first of all, he will be praised by the Lord, who did not approve of Martha, who cared about many things, although Her concern was for Him; “But Mary,” he says, who sat nearby and listened to the words of the teaching, “the good part of the chosen, even though it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42). Do you see a matter that has no peace? And then, he who receives in his mind these words of the teaching of the Spirit and exercises his mind in them, and in the mind of his soul prefers them to any other passion and earthly thought, and as a result of this, he himself shows concern for his life in order to be saved, and he himself will take action, namely Truth and judgment, in his heart, as the Psalmist Prophet says, “speaking the Truth.” When you withdraw your mind from every reasoning, even if it is good, and gather it all into yourself, achieving this through persistent attention and unceasing prayer, then, in this way, you too will enter into divine peace and receive the blessing of the seventh day, remaining in self-contemplation, and through self-contemplation you will be led to the vision of God. For they say that the outcome (result) of prayer lies in the rapture of the soul to God. This is one of the reasons for the blessing given to the seventh day, which Moses, demonstrating in the law, established the seventh day to be celebrated; but inaction refers to objects of bodily use, while activity is appropriate for the soul. Again, He who composed the universe in six days foresaw man’s inclination to the worse, and, as a result of this, his return to earth, and even his fall and imprisonment in hell, and - through man - the decay and decline of this whole world, as well as their renewal that would come as a result of (or “through”) His incarnation. This renewal took place through the descent, through death, into hell of the incarnate God and the calling of souls there, promised by him on the Sabbath; and this, behold, He foresaw the work of the seventh day; and that is probably why this single day was worthy of blessing. But this, behold, was prepared in secret on the seventh day, i.e. on Saturday, and everything was revealed and perfectly completed on the eighth day, the day of the Lord's Resurrection; Therefore, this day is significant and is called by us “The Lord's Day.” As Friday appears in relation to Saturday, so Saturday appears in relation to the Lord's Day, which clearly surpasses it, just as completion and truth surpass beginning and image and shadow. This excellence and holiness of the Lord's Day results from the blessed consummation of the work on that day and the expected general resurrection and perfect entry of the worthy into the divine rest and rebirth of the whole world on that day. So, no matter how many arguments someone gives for honoring the Sabbath, the same, with an addition, will apply to the eighth day: because this day is the completion (or “perfection”) of the Sabbath day. Honoring this eighth day, i.e. Lord's Day, and Moses secretly introduced; for the Year of Jubilee, which was legitimized by him and called the “Year of Atonement,” was not related to the number of years, according to the law, numerical weeks, but was after all of them, and was the eighth, announced after the last of these years; Moses does the same thing in weeks of weeks. But in this way, the Legislator not only secretly introduced the veneration of the eighth day, which we call the Lord’s Day (i.e. Sunday), as the day sanctified by the Resurrection of the Lord, but also commanded to combine it with the festival, which he called the “Day of Trumpets”, and calls it “original”, i.e. as if the border and limit of all festivities. This clearly shows that the eighth day should also be called “holy” by us, foreshadowing, as it were, the divine and all-glorious and sacred dignity of the Lord’s Day, which is to come after everything of the Old Testament has passed. Thus, he also revered the seventh day for the reason that it leads to the truly honorable eighth day; and just as the Law given through him deserves respect, as leading to Christ, so the seventh day deserves veneration, as leading to the eighth day, on which the Resurrection of the Lord occurred, for it was the eighth; because, just as after seven days, the eighth comes in a row, so, when you examine, you will find that after the seventh of all resurrections narrated throughout the ages, the Resurrection of the Lord was the eighth in a row 59 (Matthew 27:52-53); thus, not only did it take place on the eighth day, but it is also listed as the eighth after those who preceded it; but it is also the first, directly related to the expected uprising of all in Christ, or better yet, the resurrection, for the reason of which Christ, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep and the firstborn from the dead, is glorified. In the same way, the Lord's Day is not only the eighth day, due to the fact that it is numbered as the eighth after the days preceding it, but at the same time it is also the first day in relation to those days that follow it; this is so that, thus, at the same time the very day that we call “the Lord’s” would be the first and the last, but Moses called it not “the first”, but “one”, as being very superior in its significance to other days, and being the beginning of the future age, a single and non-evening (endless) Day. Let the superiority of the Lord's Day over other holidays be clearly visible on this basis: every other day, going around the course of the year, brings with it a holiday once a year. The Lord's (Sunday) day brings us four times every month, through continuous periodic following throughout the year, making it truly a “year of remission” and a year “pleasing to God.” Therefore, establishing for us to celebrate this day after each past week, the Lord first appeared to the Disciples gathered in the house, while Thomas was not with them, and presented Himself alive, giving them peace, and through His breath, renewing 60 that first breath given to man by God at the beginning of the world, bestowed the grace of the Divine Spirit, putting in them the divine power to knit and to absolve sins, making them partakers of the authority that is in heaven, saying to them: “Receive the Holy Spirit. For whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven them: and whose sins you hold, they hold fast” (John 20:23). So, the Lord bestowed this power and grace, appearing on the very day of His Resurrection, that is, of course, on the Lord’s Day; then, after the expiration of the intermediate seven days, and this is to say - on the Lord's (Sunday) Day, which we celebrate just today - again appears in the same way, and in the same house, Himself renewing this celebration and leading the doubting Thomas to faith; for, according to the beloved Evangelist of the Savior and Disciple: “In these days I brought the disciples back inside, and Thomas with them. And Jesus came to the shut doors, and to the hundred in the midst of them, and said, Peace be unto you” (John 20:26). Do you see that on the Lord’s (Sunday) Day there was a meeting of the Disciples of Christ and the coming of the Lord to them? - Because it was the Lord's (Sunday) Day when for the first time He appeared to them gathered, and again after seven days, when it was the Day of the Lord, He appears to them gathered. The Church of Christ constantly represents these sacred meetings, performing divine services, especially on Sundays, when we are with you and tell you general principles related to the matter of salvation and encourage you to piety and to a pious life. Therefore, let no one, out of negligence or constant concern for earthly things, abandon these Sunday, sacred and God-given meetings, lest, being rightly abandoned by God, he suffer something similar to what happened to Thomas, if such a person comes at the wrong time; and if one day it happens that, being overly busy, he does not come, then let him repay the debt later, offering himself to the Church of Christ, so as not to remain unavailable to him; sick in soul with unbelief, expressed in deeds or words, and, however, not coming to the physician of Christ and not allowing sacred treatment, like the divine Thomas 61, because there are, yes, there are not only thoughts and words, but also deeds, as manifestations of faith, for it is said: “Show me faith by your works” (James 2:18), and whoever does not have them is, of course, far from the Church Christ and having given himself over to vanity, has his faith dead, or better said, has no faith, having himself become dead as a result of sin. Some wonder how Christ, being clothed in flesh, entered by the “closed door”; but apparently such people do not know how to compare the spiritual with the spiritual and to know this through each other, as the divine Apostle says (1 Cor. 2:13). For if He did not violate the birthright of the Virgin who gave birth to Him, by no means unraveling them, but at birth keeping the signs of virginity intact, although He was then clothed in a passionate and mortal body, then what is surprising if, having immortalized the body He had assumed and now possessing immortal flesh, He entered with the doors locked? But when He already possessed an immortal and impassive body, how could He at the same time have wounds and pierced places on his hands and sides? After all, the Evangelist narrates that the Lord said to Thomas: “Bring your finger to this, and see my hand: and bring your hand and place it in my side: and be not unfaithful, but faithful” (John 20:27). So how did He get wounds? – After all, a mortal and passionate body could not show wounds and pierced places, and at the same time remain whole and healthy; but He was able to reveal to whomever He wished, along with the dispassion and immortality of the body, the wounds and ulcers that He had previously raised, and at the same time, so that this His body would no less remain dispassionate and immortal. From this I also conclude that those who suffered for Christ bear wounds on their bodies in the form of eternal adornment; because, for example window openings, although they do not contribute in any way to the solidity of the building, are not disgraceful to it, but are the most necessary utensils of houses, letting light inside and allowing the living to see what is happening from the outside - in the same way, behold, the suffering on the body endured for the sake of Christ, and the traces left by them, became for those who had them, as it were, windows letting in the non-evening light and, in the radiance of that light, are recognized as a work of divine beauty, or, better said, radiance, and do not reflect the ugliness of the wounds; not to mention the fact that they do not run counter to dispassion, but belong more to immortality. The body of Christ had within itself a source of divine light, from which it shone spiritually and enlightened the doubting Thomas, so that immediately, in perfect theology, he exclaimed: “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). The Lord said to him: “For when you saw Me, you believed: they who saw no blessings, yet believed” (John 20:29), showing by this that those who looked with their own eyes on the glory (of Him) do not possess anything greater than those who through them 62 were brought to faith in Him. If He said not “those who have faith,” but “those who believe,” this was said in the divine and foreknowledge of the One who knows everything before it happens, for whom the future is, as it were, already happened. A thought has now occurred to me that I will reveal to your love. - Seeing that when Thomas was absent, he was unfaithful, and when he became friends with those who believed, he no longer sinned in faith, it occurred to me that a sinful person, if only he had fled from communication with the bad and turned to the righteous, he would never have sinned in righteousness and, thanks to it, in the salvation of his soul. This, I think, is what the Psalmist Prophet also wants to say when he gratifies those who shy away from mixing and mixing with bad people. And another Prophet: “Do not speak to many for an evil purpose”; and - the author of Proverbs: “Fire will kindle in the congregations of sinners; he who walks with the wise will become wise” (Sir.16:7; Prov.13:21). So, brethren, let us come together and often give ourselves to the Church of God: because everyone who is truly pious zealously gives himself to her and steadfastly remains in her; and when each of you enters it, let him take the example of the more pious; and they can be recognized by their appearance alone - in silence and in prayer of concentration. So, let him pay attention to the more pious and much more different ones who fear the Lord, and having entrusted himself to them, let him cling to them and together with them may he stand before God; and when he comes out after the dismissal, since this is the Lord's Day, then being free from all earthly affairs - for the sake of the Lord, for Whom this day is so named, let him diligently seek: is there anyone who imitates those Apostles, who, as if completely withdrawn, remains waiting 63 for the Lord - through prayer in silence and psalmody and through another way of life corresponding to this. Let him too join such a person, and with faith enter his cell, as if into some heavenly place that has the sanctifying power of the Spirit within; and let him sit next to the inhabitant and remain with him as long as possible; and let him talk with him about God and about divine things, asking and humbly learning, and in prayer calling for help for himself: because I know perfectly well that to him who does this, Christ will come invisibly, and will give inner peace to the one who thinks in this way and will add to faith and give steadfastness (styrigmon), and in due time will unite him with the elect in the Kingdom of Heaven, which may we all receive in Himself, now for our sake He died and rose again, and then the King of the ages will come with glory: for to Him belongs glory forever and ever. Amen. PG.151:220–236. Homilia XVII. In qua ostenditur Sabbati et Dominicae mysterium; necnon in Evangelium primae post Pascha Dominicae. “The Day of the Lord” (and Kyriaki, Dominica) is the name in Greek and Latin for that day, which we call “resurrection.” What is emphasized here are those things about which it cannot be said that God began to create them, for these are things that are characteristic of God and therefore beginningless, etc. coeternal with him. The Saint speaks about them below. Here is a somewhat loose translation of the phrase. See previous note. It seems that here St. Gregory Palamas has in mind the following resurrections of the dead: 1) Resurrection of the dead youth Prophet. Elijah (1 Kings 17:22). 2) The resurrection of a dead youth by the Prophet Elisha (2 Kings 4). 3) The dead man who touched the bones of the Prophet Elisha was resurrected (2 Kings 13). 4) The resurrection by the Lord of the youth of the widow of Nain (Luke 7). 5) The resurrection of the daughter of Jairus by the Lord (Mark 5, Luke 8). 6) The Lord raised Lazarus (John 11). 7) Evangelist Matthew narrates that immediately after the Savior’s death on the cross: “many bodies of the departed saints were resurrected; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many." Transl. free. This refers to God breathing life into people (Gen. 2:7). That is who was precisely looking for God to heal his unbelief and not leave the meeting of the Apostles, but be with them. Those. through the Holy Apostles, who saw the Lord Jesus Christ with their own eyes. Orig. – “wishing”, “thirsty”, “loving”; we translated here as “waiting”, adhering more to the general idea of ​​the text than to the verbal translation. You might be interested in: