Омилия XXIX 127

Omilia, which has as its theme the healing of the paralytic in Capernaum, about which the Evangelist Matthew narrates; it also talks about sorrow for God's sake Based on many things, we learn to liken the words of the Gospel to a honeycomb. So this is the throat of the 128 spiritual Bridegroom of souls, adorned with beauty greater than the sons of men, as it is written in the Song of Songs - “sweetness and all desire” (Song. 5:16). To the soul that has become ignorant of Him, through wisdom and uncorrupted spirit, the same writer of the Song says: “Your mouth will dig up honeycomb, bride, copper and milk under your tongue” (Song. 4:11). The same are completely true of the Evangelists, whose word contains a narrative that can be likened to a honeycomb containing honey and milk, offering a clear moral teaching, answering not only for the perfect, but also for, so to speak, the imperfect, like spiritual milk. He says: “they will pour out”, and not “they will abundantly exude” the lips of the spiritual bride, meaning the immeasurable depth of the wisdom and power of One Heavenly Bridegroom and the many manifestations of such His wisdom and power. - Because “even if Jesus had done, even if one person had written, I could not contain the whole world to write books” (John 21:25), as the most theological Evangelist says. For us, equally, this drop is an abyss and an immense abyss. Therefore, although we spoke about the miracle of the paralytic when Mark preached the gospel to the Church, we explained this to your love 129 and nourished your souls with the grace contained in it, however, even today, carefully examining this same miracle, set forth in the narrative of the Evangelist Matthew, we will again find in it many spiritual dishes; It’s better to say that from the wealth stored in it, we’ll reveal something small today; and this little will suffice for everyone and be abundant, like the bread with which the Lord fed thousands in the desert, multiplying it as He distributed it. So, then, first, I offered you honey in honeycombs for food, outlining, along with the meaning explained more narrowly and in a moral spirit, the very history (of this miracle); Now, having scooped up the honey, I, as time permits, will cordially treat it to those gathered today for a spiritual feast. “At that time, Jesus got into the ship, went away, and came to His city. And behold, what was brought to Him was relaxed, lying on a bed.” So, earlier we showed that this paralytic is not the same paralytic who received healing in Jerusalem, about which the Apostle John narrates, and (explained) why this city (Capernaum), the only one of all cities, is called “His” city, but also by allowing you, as if spiritual companions, to taste from the honey inside (the honeycomb), and taking this gospel story as an example leading to virtue, we showed that Jesus' "city" to which He came is this world. Because, “He will come,” as the Evangelist says (John 1:11). We also said that the soul of everyone is weakened, and when, having turned, it takes up its mind, then it is brought to the Lord by these four things: self-contempt, confession of sins, a promise to abstain from evil and prayer to God. Here, hearing Matthew say that Christ, having entered the boat, crossed over and arrived at His city, we draw from this story a different, although consonant with Mark’s, but somewhat different meaning; namely: the common Savior of all, having clothed himself in our nature, crossed the sea of ​​this life of ours and came to His city - to that super-heavenly throne and to His abode, above all beginning and power and every name and dignity, cognizable in this age or in the future. For this truly is “His place,” which is the only one accessible to Him. And revealing this, the Psalmist Prophet said: “Heaven is the heaven of the Lord” (Ps. 113:24); to show thereby that heaven is the place and truly His home of God. Since, having come to His own place, the Lord did not take off our (human nature) from Himself, then for this reason this Evangelist, saying that Jesus entered the ship, crossed over, did not add: “having left the boat,” He thus crossed over to His city, but “having entered the boat,” crossed over, and came to His city along with the taken boat, I mean - in our body dwelling in the super-heavenly spheres. So, when He came to the highest city and entered truly into the Holy of Holies, and sat down at the right hand of the Father in the human nature He assumed, “eternal redemption,” to say in the words of the Apostle, “having acquired for us,” then from among the pagans who received the preaching of the truth and, based on hearing, were troubled in conscience and humbled, while still as if lying on a bed of voluptuousness, exhausted and The Apostles, that is, having separated from those who did not accept the preaching of repentance and piety, bring the Apostles to Christ, and more than the other Apostles (this is done) by those who wrote the Gospel, and there are four of them. The Lord, seeing, it is said, their faith, i.e. those who offer the Apostles, for the sake of their perfect faith - because they are our teachers and mediators in petitions to God - also grants adoption to the imperfect, saying to each of those offered in this way: “Be of good cheer, child, your sins are forgiven” (Matthew 9:2). Leave, he says, the fear of sins, because they are forgiven; leave the horror of what threatened you, because by receiving what was announced to you, you have become My son, My heir. This very thing is accomplished in action through divine Baptism, in which we are reborn with the spirit of adoption, accepting the remission of previous sins, and, according to the promise, becoming heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. But the Scribes and Pharisees, pagans and Jews do not believe in the power and grace of divine Baptism, as we believe, and say: “Who can forgive sins?” But we, who were previously relaxed both in soul and body due to pleasures and passions, and remained motionless in relation to doing good, each hear: “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house,” just like the (evangelically) relaxed one; because strengthened by divine grace and the power of Baptism in us, we become strong and flexible for the practice of virtue; and the abilities of the soul and body and the matter subject to them in matters of matter, to which, having servilely previously, we were overcome by relaxation, we direct (now) so that it is pleasing to both God and us, and, to the best of our ability, we make the eternal and heavenly abodes truly our home. And thus, differing from others by our conversion pleasing to God, we cause the surprise of those who see, glorifying God, who has given such strength and power to those who believe in Him, so that even while still living on earth, we (already) have residence in heaven. But the grace and power of Baptism, by the grace of the Giver, remains in us, although we sin after baptism, but the health and purity of the soul is not preserved. Therefore, when we sin, we have a need for sadness about the sins we have committed and for shame and repentant contrition, so that everyone can hear again in their soul what was said to the paralytic: “Be of good cheer, child!” , and having accepted mercy, change sadness to joy: because this sadness is the spiritual honey that we draw from the hard stone, according to what is figuratively said: “We have honey from the stone” (Deut. 32:13); “The stone is Christ,” as Paul says (1 Cor. 10:4). But don’t be surprised if I called sadness “honey” - because it is what Paul again says that - “sorrow is according to God, unrepentant repentance brings salvation to salvation” (2 Cor. 7:10). Because just as for those who have a wounded tongue, the offered honey seems bitter, but when it is cured of the damage, then it is perceived as the sweetest, and the fear of God, on the basis of the Gospel preaching, arising in the listening souls, actually causes sorrow, when the wounds of sins still cover the soul, when these wounds cease to exist, healed by repentance, then the souls instead receive the Gospel joy, according to what was said Savior: “And your sorrow will be turned into joy” (John 16:20). What sadness? – The sadness that the Lord’s Disciples experienced at the loss of their Lord and Teacher; which Peter experienced when he denied Him; which every pious person experiences when he repents of his sins and omissions made as a result of negligence in virtue. Whatever we fall into, we will blame no one else but ourselves; for it did not bring any benefit to Adam, when he transgressed the commandment, to shift the guilt to Eve, nor to her, in turn, to the incipiently evil serpent; because by us, created by God as autocratic and having assumed autocratic power over the passions, i.e. the inner guiding principle of the soul, no one has control or can force us by force. So, this is what saving sorrow for God consists of: blaming ourselves, and no one else, for what we ourselves have committed sinfully, and grieving about that and, through confession of our sins and grave contrition for them, appeasing God. This self-reproach and contrition began with that ancient Lamech, who openly confessed his sin and judged himself and condemned himself more than Cain; because he says: “For he will take vengeance from Cain in a week, and from Lamech in seventy weeks” (Gen. 4:24); and thus mourning himself as guilty, he, through his painful contrition, escaped God's condemnation, as the Prophet later said: “Thou hast spoken thy iniquities before, that thou mayest be justified” (Is. 43:26). This is what the Apostle also says: “Even if we had reasoned for ourselves, we would not have been condemned” (1 Cor. 11:31). Thus it is recorded that Lamech was the first who, through repentance and sorrow for sins, escaped punishment from above. After him came the Ninevites, entire cities and an innumerable multitude. These not only sinned, but having accepted the sentence of their condemnation from God, they dared to annul it through repentance and the sorrowful contrition associated with it. For they heard Jonah and believed the one who announced the Divine sentence: “Three more days, and Nineveh will be transformed” (Jon. 3:4). Having heard and believed, they did not plunge themselves into the evil abyss of despair, and did not put a stone of insensitivity on their hearts, but saying to themselves and to each other: “Who knows, if God repents, and turns from the wrath of His wrath, and we will not perish” (Jon. 3:9), each turned from his evil way and from the unrighteousness of his hands, and commanded fasting, and put on sackcloth, from the least of them to the greatest; so that the king himself sat with them in sackcloth on the ashes, repenting; and the babies were not fed, for the mothers, it seems, from strong crying, forgot their nursing babies, just as the Psalmist says: “I forgot to take away my bread because of the voice of my groaning” (Ps. 102:5-6); the livestock were not grazed, for it appears that the drivers and shepherds left them locked up in their pens and stalls, themselves constrained by great sadness; and thus, sealed by the saving competition in the saving sorrow for God's sake, they changed God's sentence regarding them and stopped the wrath from above and turned it into God's favor towards them 130. So, since almost our entire life is spent in sins, we, brothers, must acquire this saving sorrow and all lead our lives in repentance. Because if we do not do this, then, as the Lord said, the Ninevites will condemn us in the resurrection, for they repented in response to the preaching of Jonah, but we did not repent in response to the preaching of Christ, Who is God and Jonah. And then - Jonah did not preach repentance, but, as we said, he proclaimed a sentence of condemnation and deprivation of life and catastrophe and death and complete destruction. Christ came so that we might have life, and, moreover, divine adoption and the heavenly kingdom. Jonah, behold, announcing destruction, did not offer repentance and did not promise the kingdom of heaven; Christ, preaching repentance and promising the kingdom, predicted both general and inevitable destruction. For just as, He says, in the days of Noah people indulged in carnal (passions) without fear and restraint, and the flood suddenly came and destroyed everyone, so it will be at the end of this age; for the image of this world passes away. And Jonah, behold, threatened the Ninevites with the destruction of only the things visible here, but not with a terrible judgment, not with an incorruptible judgment seat, not with unquenchable fire, not with an undying worm, not with pitch darkness, not with a sorrowful gnashing of teeth, not with inconsolable weeping; The Lord also threatened with death, and revealed that both are prepared for those who are insensibly mired in passion, which is to happen after the end of the world; but this time will not come after three days, as Jonah announced (to the Ninevites), but after a long time, which also happens according to the Master’s long-suffering. So, God's long-suffering leads you to repentance, but you must be careful lest, due to your stubbornness and insensibility and unbroken and unrepentant heart, you accumulate wrath for yourself on the day of the righteous judgment and revelation of God; for the Lord will reward everyone according to his deeds; and to those who constantly, through works of repentance, with a contrite heart, seek remission of sins, he will give remission and joy, and eternal life and an ineffable kingdom; for those who insensitively and unrepentantly indulge in sins, there will be sorrow and distress and torment unbearable and endless. But even after the Ninevites, David appeared as a herald of sorrow for God, as a living image and proclaiming the work of saving and bitter contrition for the sake of God. For he conveyed the sin that he had committed in writing and showed God how great his sorrow and repentance was, and what great mercy he received from God. Because he says: “Reh: I will confess my iniquity to the Lord, and You have forsaken the wickedness of my heart” (Ps. 31:5); calling the root of evil, the passion that resides in the soul, wickedness; but through lawlessness - a sin committed by deed, which he overcame in everything, and because of which he lamented and cried - he not only found forgiveness, but also received inner healing. How he persevered in grief, let us listen to how he says again: “I was plagued all day long, and my reproof in the morning” (Ps. 72:14); and: – “As I wept and lamented, so I humbled myself” (Ps. 34:12); and: – “I will wash my bed every night, I will wet my bed with my tears” (Ps. 6:7); and - “Bykh, like a nighttime corvid, dives 131. It was like a special bird here” 132 (Ps. 101:7-8), “I ate ashes like bread, and dissolved my drink with weeping” (Ps. 101:10); and: – “My knees are weary from fasting, and my flesh is changed for the sake of oil” (Ps. 109:24); and: – “I humble myself, and the Lord saves me” (Ps. 114:5). With the same words, he cried out to the Lord: “Lord, do not reprove me with Your wrath, nor punish me with Your wrath. Have mercy on me, O Lord" (Ps. 6:1); and: – “For I know my iniquity, and I will take away my sin before me 133” (Ps. 50:5); and: “Lord, hear my prayer, and do not enter into judgment with Your servant” (Ps. 142:1-2). So, we, brethren, come and bow down and weep, as David himself, turning again, says, “before the Lord, who created us and called us to repentance, and to this saving sorrow and weeping and contrition; because the one who does not have this, he did not listen to the Caller, and will not be numbered with the chosen Saints of God, and will not receive the blessedness announced in the Gospel and the promised Divine consolation, for - “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). But what if someone says that he is sinless and should not cry? – But this is difficult and very rare and, perhaps, belongs to the category of the impossible: because it is already good if a person knows how to moderate his passions; but, equally, the word showed us another beginning and another reason for this saving cry; namely, the Disciples grieved, having lost the truly good and Teacher Christ, Whom we are now deprived. And not Him alone, but also pleasure in paradise, because we have lost it, and instead of a place without sorrows, we have accepted this place full of suffering and labor; deprived of conversation with God face to face, cohabitation with His Angels and eternal life. Who, realizing this loss, will not cry? He who is not aware of this is not among the faithful. But we, on the basis of God-inspired teaching, being in the knowledge of such deprivation, let us weep for ourselves, brethren, and weep for God, washing away the filthiness (that has happened) as a result of sin, so that we may find mercy 134 and return to paradise, and be partakers of eternal life and consolation, that may we all receive the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belongs all glory, power, honor and worship with His Beginning Father and the Most Holy and Good and Life-Giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. PG.151:364–376. Homilia XXIX. Super sanationem paralytici in Caphrnaum secundum evangelistam Matthaeum; et de trisitia secundum Deum. According to the LXX translation: The Prophet Jonah announced that in 3 days Nineveh would perish. The Greek Holy Fathers also adhere to this text. According to the Massoretic text, the Vulgate and the Syriac translation (which St. Ephraim the Syrian also adheres to): The Ninevites were told that they would perish in 40 days. Greek συμπάθειαν - compassion. You might be interested in: