Омилия XXV 104 .

Said on All Saints Sunday Truly, “God is wonderful in His saints” (Ps. 67:36). Because when anyone considers the struggles of the Martyrs that surpass nature, how, being in the weakness of the flesh, they shamed the mighty in evil, how, as if not feeling suffering and wounds, they fought with their bodies with fire, with a sword, with various and destructive forms of torment, resisting with patience; and while the bodies were crumbling and joints were torn and bones were crushed, they faithfully kept the confession of Christ sound and unbroken and undamaged and unshakable, as a result of which they were graciously given the wisdom of the Spirit and gigantic strength; or when anyone imagines the patience of the Saints, how they, as if being disembodied, endured long fastings, vigils and other various types of suffering of the body, and at the same time voluntarily, in the struggle against evil passions, against various types of sin, in the internal and in ourselves invisible warfare against the principles, against the authorities, against the spirits of evil, completely resisting them, and exhausting and killing the outer man, renewing and mortifying the inner man. deifying, thanks to which they were graciously given the gift of healing and the action of powers 105, so that when someone judges and thinks about how much this surpasses our nature, he is amazed and glorifies God, who gave them such grace and power; for although they had good will, without God’s power they would not have been able to rise above nature, and those in the body would not have been able to overcome the incorporeal enemy. Therefore, the Psalmist Prophet, saying: “God is wondrous in His saints,” adds: “He will give strength and power to His people” (Ps. 67:36). And consider carefully the meaning of the prophetic words: so, although He says that God will give strength and power to His people, because God is not partial (and He gives His sovereign help to everyone), but He is marvelous only in His Saints. Because, just as the sun from above generously emits its rays to everyone equally, but only those who have eyes see them and those who do not close them; those who have pure (unclouded) eyes enjoy the radiance that they see vigilantly due to the purity of their eyes, which is not available to those whose vision has become dull due to illness or darkness or something else; - so God from above provides abundant help to everyone, - for He is an inexhaustibly flowing, saving and illuminating Source of Grace and Goodness; - not just everyone, but only those who have shown good will and through deeds have demonstrated love for God and faith, enjoy His grace and power to practice virtue and achieve perfection, or even to perform miracles; who completely distanced themselves from everything bad, firmly adhered to God's commandments, and had their soul's gaze fixed on the very Sun of Truth - Christ, who not only invisibly from above extends a helping hand to those who strive, but also through the Gospel, admonishing, directly tells us out loud today: “Everyone who has confessed about Me 106 εν εμι, etc. – i.e. “in Me”, “about Me” - “thanks to Me”, “because I am in him”, “by My strength”, “with My support”. As the Apostle Paul says: “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13); glory: “I can do everything about him who strengthens...” The Lord says: “Be in Me, and I in you. Just as the rod cannot produce fruit for itself unless it is on the vine, so also you, unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4) before men, let us also confess it before My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32). You see: that neither we can boldly express faith in Christ and confess Him, without His strength and assistance; nor can our Lord Jesus Christ declare good things about us in the next century, without there being a reason for this on our part? For, revealing this, He did not say: “Everyone who confesses Me before people,” but: “Everyone who confesses Me,” because in Him and thanks to His help anyone can boldly confess Piety. So then: “Let us confess also Az,” - not “him,” but: “about him,” i.e. due to the good state and steadfastness of the confessor, which he showed in regard to piety. Because look at how He then says regarding those who are fainthearted and betray piety: “Whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:33). Here He did not say: “Whoever will deny Me; Why? – Because, being abandoned by help from God, the one who rejects rejects God. Why, then, was he abandoned and forsaken by God? - Because he was the first to leave God, loving temporal and earthly things more than the heavenly and eternal blessings promised by God. So, in turn, Christ will deny not “about him,” but “him,” as having found nothing in him that he could declare in his favor. Since he who has love for God abides in God, and God in him, as the theologian beloved of Christ says, then he who truly loves God makes a just confession about God, because God abides in him who loves Him; since he also abides in God, so does God will create in him 107 recognition in his favor. So, the words: “Everyone who confesses about Me, we will also confess about him,” show the indestructible connection between God and the one who confesses Him, a connection from which those who reject are far removed. Thus, Divine retribution contains Divine justice; on the basis of similarity they correspond to each other. So, this is how things stand with regard to the correspondence between rewards from God and what we bring to Him. Judge, then, what an enormous superiority God’s reward is to those who confessed Him about Him 108. – Because each of the Saints, being a servant of God, confessed in this temporary life and before the face of mortal people; moreover, during the short time of this century and in the face of a small number of people like him, as we said. Our Lord Jesus Christ, being God and Lord of heaven and earth, confesses good in favor of this man in the everlasting and unceasing world, before the face of God and the Father, in the presence of the Angels, Archangels, and all the Heavenly Powers standing around, in the presence of all people from Adam and even until the end of the world, because everyone will be resurrected and appear at the judgment of Christ. And then, when everyone is present and sees everything, He will proclaim and glorify and crown those who have shown faith in Him to the very end. What is the need to try to show these higher-natural crowns, the superiority of these future awards, which neither our earthly eye can see, nor our ear hear, nor imagine in our hearts? But what word is worthy to depict what we now see; namely, the glory that God gave to the tombs of the Saints and the remains of their bones, the wonderful fragrance perceptible in them at all times, the sources of peace, the gifts of healing, the action of powers, the manifold and saving manifestations for us in them? I will say again that on their part they brought what a person could bring to God; namely, the boldness of every Saint to confess God, for a short time, as I said, and in the presence of certain princes and kings; they sing and magnify them - honoring and glorifying and falling, and not only to them, but also to their icons, as Lords, and more than - Lords and Kings - kings and princes and all their subjects, bowing before them to such an extent, of their own free will and rejoicing, that they also want to leave them to their children more than anything else, as if some kind of blessed inheritance and source of the highest well-being. And this is an example and proof and, as it were, a forerunner of the future ineffable glory, which the spirits of the righteous still have in heaven and which in the next century they will receive along with these bodies, which have passed with them to the end of the struggle for God. Revealing this abundance of glory and future blessings, the Lord said to His Holy Disciples and Apostles: “Amen I say to you, because you who walked after Me in the restoration of life, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you also will sit on the double throne, judging the deceived tribe of Israel”; Regarding all simple believers: “Everyone,” he says, “whoever leaves house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or village, for My name’s sake will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life; (a) whoever loves father or mother more than Me is worthy of Me” (Matthew 19:29, 10:37). Because since God and the Father gave His beloved Son for us, and the Only Begotten Son of God Himself gave Himself for us, He rightly demands that we neglect all those close to us by kinship if they turn out to be an obstacle to piety and a way of life that corresponds to this. And what do I say: close relatives? - For when time calls, it is required that everyone lay down their soul; which together is just and necessary if anyone wants to receive eternal life; since the Son of God Himself laid down His life for us; therefore, again He says: “Whoever does not take his cross and comes after Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). The cross is to crucify the flesh with its passions and lusts. So, when there is a peaceful time for piety, then through virtue, mortifying evil passions and lusts, a person thus takes up his cross and follows the Lord. When the time of persecution comes, then, having despised his life and betrayed his soul for piety, a person will thus take up his cross and follow the Lord and thus inherit eternal life. For Christ says: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39). What do these words mean: “Whoever loses his soul will find it”? – Man is special: the outer man, I mean the body, and our inner man, namely the soul. Therefore, when our outer man gives himself up to death, by this he destroys his soul, which is separated from him; when, for Christ and the Gospel, he thus destroys her, then, truly, he will gain her, giving her heavenly and eternal life, and in the general resurrection having her as such, thanks to her, he himself - I mean, and in the flesh - he will become just as heavenly and eternal 109. But since this is a difficult and great work only for the perfect, and so to speak, an apostolic work: to crucify the flesh with passions and lusts, to be ready for extreme dishonor and the most shameful death for the sake of good, to destroy one’s soul for the sake of the Gospel, then the Lord, allowing, says, serves as a consolation to those who do not have the strength for such a feat that surpasses nature: “Whoever will receive you,” i.e. The Apostles and the Fathers and Teachers of piety who followed them, - “He accepts Me,” he says, “and those who accept Me, accept Him who sent Me” (Matthew 10:40). So, with these words encouraging the reception of the Saints, He prepares for the perfect that they will be received, and for those who are inferior to them in virtue He brings salvation in that they will receive these perfect righteous. But do you see: what is the great reward for those who receive those who live according to God and Teachers of the Truth? – For he who receives them receives the Father and the Son. But how is it worthy to receive these righteous people? – Not only to show them hospitality and provide rest, but also to show them obedience. Therefore, fearing that there would be those who would reject them, in another place He said to His Disciples: “Cast away from you, they are sweeping away Me; sweep away from Me, the One who sent Me will be swept away” (Matthew 10:16). But he who shows hospitality to the people of God and provides them with rest, if only he does this in the name of God, will receive a great reward; and revealing this, the Lord said: “Whoever receives a Prophet in the name of a prophet, he will receive the reward of the prophet; and he who receives a righteous person in the name of a righteous person, he will receive the reward of a righteous person” (Matthew 10:41). How will the prophetic reward and the righteous reward be received? - Just as the Apostle says: “Your abundance is in their deprivation: and their abundance will also be in your deprivation” (2 Cor. 8:14); so in the name of God he who receives and gives rest to the righteous, as if he does this not on a large scale, but also gives something small, will receive great benefit; for Christ says that “Whoever gives one of these little ones a cup of cold water to drink, except in the name of the disciple, Amen, I say to you, he will not lose his reward” (Matthew 10:42). In these words and motives, He expresses concern not only for the righteous and disciples, but much more for those who receive them; because if He cared only about them, He would limit itself only to exhorting and demanding to accept them and put them to rest, and would indicate how to do this; and so, adding: in the name of the Prophet and the Disciple and the Righteous, He expresses great concern for those who receive them, directing their thoughts to the better, so that the reward follows them along with virtue. The Church of Christ, honoring even after death those who lived truly in God, every day of the year commemorates the Saints who reposed on this day from here and departed from this mortal life, presenting for our benefit the life of each of them and their death, whether the Saint died his own death or ended his life with a martyr’s death. Now, after Pentecost, gathering everyone together, She sends out a common hymn to them, not only because they are all mutually connected with each other and, according to the Master’s prayer, represent one thing: “Grant to them,” the Lord turns to His Father in the Gospel, “that they may all be one: as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us in truth” (John 17:20). So, not only for this reason, the Church of God brings a common hymn to all of them, but also because it has concern during Holy Pentecost and the following Pentecost, to declare and sing all the works of God. So, after everything was announced, as you know, namely: how this whole world was created by God in the beginning; how Adam was cast out of paradise and from God; how the ancient people were called; just as he, having sinned, was rejected from closeness to God; how the Only Begotten Son of God, having bowed the heavens, came down for us and for our sake did unprecedented things, and taught the way of salvation, suffered and died for us, was buried as a Man, and how God was resurrected on three days, and into heaven, from where he descended, then ascended in the flesh, and having sat down at the right hand of the Father, he sent from there the All-Holy Spirit. So, after all this has been sung by the Church of God, now adding the rest and declaring together, namely: - what great and how numerous Fruits for eternal life were gathered by the Coming of the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ and the power of the All-Holy Spirit - She creates the memory of All Saints together and gives a hymn and honor to everyone today. So, we, brothers, will honor the Saints of God. How will we honor? – If, in imitation of them, we cleanse ourselves from all filth, flesh and spirit, and retreat from evil, then finally, through abstinence from evil, we will be awakened to their holiness; if we keep our tongue from swearing and perjury, from idle talk and abuse, and our lips from lies and denunciations, and thus bring them praise. If we do not cleanse ourselves in this way, then rightly each of us will hear from them what God said to sinners: - how do you dare to remember and pronounce with your tongue the very names of the Saints and tell their lives, full of virtue and purity, - while you yourself hated the virtuous way of life and rejected purity from your soul and body?! “If you saw my lord, you flowed with him, and you considered your participation with the adulterer. Thy lips have multiplied malice, and thy tongue has weaved flattery (deceit): thou hast slandered thy brother, and thou hast laid offense against thy mother's son" (Ps. 49 et seq.). Neither God nor the Saints of God accept praise from such lips, brothers; for if each of us, when our hand gets dirty with excrement, does not allow ourselves to use it before we wash it, then will God accept what is offered from unclean bodies and lips if we do not first cleanse ourselves? Because sin, deceit, envy, hatred, greed, betrayal, shameful thoughts and words and the dirty deeds that follow them are much more disgusting than dung. But how can someone who has fallen into this cleanse themselves from them again? - By repentance, confession, doing good, diligent prayer to God. So, when, in the celebrated memory of the Saints, we are idle from our work and occupations, let our occupation be to retreat and become free from the sins and defilements into which someone has fallen. If even then (on the feasts of the Saints) we joke around to the detriment of our soul and are indifferent to the holiday and get drunk, how can we, while we desecrate the day, say that we are celebrating the Saints! But let us not celebrate this way, brethren, I pray, but let us present our bodies and souls as pleasing to God precisely on these holidays, so that through the prayers of the Saints we ourselves may become participants in the glory and joy of that never-ending, that may we all receive the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom befits glory with His Beginning Father and the Most Holy and Good and Life-Giving Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages. centuries. Amen. PG.151:320–332. Homilia XXV. Dicta in Dominica Omnium Sanctorum. This may be referring to the art of medicine. The Slavic and Russian texts of the Gospel here equally do not notice the subtleties of the Greek original. The Lord says: “Everyone who confesses That is - with His almighty support. This place fully corresponds to the homily 11th 137С. You might be interested in: