Омилия XXXVIII 186 .

On the 1st morning Sunday Gospel (Matthew 28:16–20); it also says that divine baptism is not enough to save a person if at the same time he does not show diligence to keep God’s commandments He who exists before all that came into being and who, by goodness, created all that exists from that which does not exist, is in everything, although above all. Consequently, He was in the world before He appeared in the flesh, but the world did not know Him because it did not want to know Him; because those who wished, they knew. Therefore, behold, those who knew God joined Him; and those who did not know - fell away; just like Paul, who wanted and greatly desired and strove to find out: for what reason they were condemned by Christ our Lord, speaking about the Greeks, he writes: “Because I was not tempted to have God in my understanding, (for this reason) God gave them over to an unskilled mind” (Rom. 1:28). So, these were those who did not desire and did not know God, like everyone else like them. Who were those who knew Him before the Divine Incarnation? – There were many of them and, perhaps, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were first and above all, which is why God justly accepted them. And not only them, but also the entire race descended from them, so that they began to be called “the people of God,” and then - oh the ineffable greatness of the gift! - they even became His clan (family): because He had to reveal Himself to the world in the flesh; and He not only received it from them, but also came primarily for their sake, as the Lord Himself says in the Gospels: “I was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24); because seeing that they had fallen away from their fatherly piety and virtue, and had fallen away from the knowledge of Him, He did not allow, for the sake of their pious fathers, to despise them, but, bowing to the heavens, He descended, becoming in human likeness, living among people and speaking and acting divine things. And not only speaking and acting, but also generously bestowing upon them the blessings characteristic of God: cleansing the lepers in their midst; enlightening the blind among them; drawing together the relaxed; correcting the crippled (crippled), casting out demons from those possessed by them; and, in one word, healing every disease, every weakness and madness, and with a single command returning the dead to life. But since they not only rejected Him, their Benefactor, who came to them, but also, to express this in sum, they put Him to death, and then to death on the cross, alas, what madness! - as a wicked person, - for their sake, God who came to them in the flesh, then they were rightly abandoned and rejected by Him who said to them: “Behold, your house is left empty” (Matthew 23:38); and their rejection became the reconciliation of the world, and through their opposition we were shown mercy; in addition, - oh, the depth of the wealth and wisdom and understanding of God - to say again in the words of the Apostle: “God shut everyone up in disobedience, that He may have mercy on everyone” (Rom. 11:32-33). So, we just heard how the Evangelist Matthew preached the gospel, saying: “A dozen disciples went up into a mountain in Galilee, as Jesus commanded them. And having seen Him, they worshiped Him: and they began to doubt” (Matthew 28:16-17), but when the Lord approached and talked with them, then they too were confirmed (in the faith); for it says (further): “Jesus approached, saying to them: All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Now go and teach all languages” (Matthew 28:18–19). It is precisely for this reason that, a little earlier, we cited these apostolic words that the rejection of the Jews became the reconciliation of the world and that we were pardoned thanks to their opposition; because He said to His Disciples earlier: “Do not go into the way of the tongue, and do not enter into the city of Samaria. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:5-6), now He says: “Go and teach all languages”; for when we were previously unfaithful, and did not want to know the God who existed in the world and through the beauty and order of the universe, then (having left us) rightly the Lord turned Himself directly and through His Prophets to those who humbly knew Him 187; now, when they became unfaithful, nothing prevented the righteous judgment of God from showing us mercy and, through the holy Apostles, teaching us about Himself. And therefore this immediately followed: “To Me is given all power in heaven and on earth,” so that we, whom the righteous judgment of God did not previously allow, as unfaithful, to be on an equal basis with the faithful, have mercy and call (now) to heavenly (goods). Now, since both those who were earlier and those who were later, both of them and all of them doomed themselves to unbelief, God, according to His power, given by His righteous judgment, has pardoned those whom He wished. He desired and had mercy on us who were among the pagans, or better yet, on all of us, since He is the God of all; because God wished to begin His mercy with us, and not with those who persist to this day; but he didn’t completely turn away from those either; because through us and for them, if they wished, the door of salvation is opened, and those of them who come to our Church are joyfully received; because they stumbled not in order to fall, but so that, as a result of their error, salvation would come for us, who were previously in unbelief, which would inflame their jealousy and attract them to a similar salvation, unless they deliberately close their eyes and stop their ears, so that if they see, hear and believe, they would not happen to be saved. And something similar happened as if someone had a vessel containing a source of oil, arranged it so that it would bend over other vessels: then an abundant stream flowing out, not only the vessel to which it is attached, but also the other vessel, in turn, fills to the brim. Because the abyss of divine bounty, contained in the worshiped (Divine) Body, inclining towards the pagans, while the Jews seemed to reject them, embraced in its embrace those who believed not only from among the pagans, but also from among the Jews. “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” – This must be understood in relation to human nature (the God-man); because the power that, as God, He had from eternity, and the strength and glory and heavenly height and dignity, now and as a Man, He accepts. By this He says: To me, raised from the dead, was given all authority in heaven and on earth. Death no longer reigns over the body: because its mortality is swallowed up by life, which is in Me. Death is no longer the last and final fate of man: because it was replaced by immortal life in Me, and through Me all mortals will pass into life. Death will no longer keep the bodies of mortals in the earth: because I will seat My earthly Body on the throne in heaven, and with it, reigning over the heavens, I will come again and judge the whole earth, as the King of the universe, and I will leave those worthy of the earth in it; and those found righteous, I will take them to heaven along with their bodies and give them the kingdom of heaven. “Go therefore,” he says, “teach all nations, baptizing and teaching them,” and this belongs to the authority that He accepted; for He did not say: “teaching” only, but also “teaching 188 all nations.” “Teach” only referred to the Apostles fulfilling His commandment; but to make disciples and baptize, and then from all nations and generations in the mass gathered, is no longer the work of only those who teach, but also those who obey, and moreover, the divine grace and power of Him who gave such a command; that showing, and Paul said: “Grace has been given to me and the obedience of faith to all nations” 189. “Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Do you see that the same nature and the same dignity of the Three Worshiped (Divine) Persons is here clearly proclaimed? Because the Three have one Name; one sanctification that comes from Them; united faith in Them. Often the Gospel spoke about Them, but not so clearly. And during the Baptism of the Lord, the trinity was clearly shown, but Their one nature and one dignity were not so clear. Now the Lord commands everyone to preach this and imprint it from the very beginning in the hearts of believers: because without this basic dogma and faith in this truth it is by no means possible to lay the foundation for piety. Not only baptizing, but also - “teaching them to keep all the commandments you have received”; on the basis of which it is clear that baptism alone is not enough to make a person a disciple of the Gospel, but there must also be observance of God’s commandments, and then all the commandments; because (Christ) says: “Keep often,” not just some commandments, but “all the commandments given to you.” Consequently, James the Brother of God wrote well, saying: “Whoever keeps the whole law, yet sins in one thing, he will be guilty of all” (James 2:10); because as a result of any sin, someone who has fallen into it and does not want to rise out of the pit through repentance becomes a transgressor of the law of grace. So, “say thus,” he says, “and do so, for by the free law you have received judgment” (James 2:12); because the law of Christ is the law of freedom; for through divine baptism He has freed us from the law of sin and death. So if we do not strive to preserve to the end the freedom given to us, doing this through impeccable deeds and words, or if it is lost (due to sin) - to restore it through repentance, we will be condemned by the same law that freed us, as having not preserved the freedom given to us. Therefore, the divine Paul says this about himself: “In this way I flow, not as if I were unknown; in this way I strive, not as if I were beating the air. But I mortify my body and make it my slave, so that by preaching to others, I myself will not be enslaved” (1 Cor. 9:26-27). And he encourages us to similar jealousy: “Don’t you know,” he says, “as if they flow into disgrace, they all flow away; Is it the only one who receives honor?” (1 Cor. 9:24). He did not say this in the sense that only one accepts the victorious palm of salvation, but in the sense that only those who show great diligence accept the reward, be it one person or many. Because this victorious reward of the highest calling is inexhaustible and irreducibly given to everyone. Therefore, again, speaking to everyone, he adds: “Try this way, that you may comprehend” (1 Cor. 9:24). But even showing the method of running, he says: “If everyone strives, he will abstain from everything”: (1 Cor. 9:25) without ever indulging in any of the forbidden pleasures. Then, as if those who were baptized believed and argued that on the basis of baptism itself, and without the presence of works, they can be pleasing to God, he, on the basis of images taken from the Old Testament, shows and convinces that no one can please God unless, with firm faith, he abstains from evil passions, words and deeds. For he says: “I do not want you to be led away, brethren, for all our fathers were under a cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all of Moses was baptized in the cloud and in the sea. And all the same spiritual drink is eaten: And all the same spiritual beer is drunk: I drink from the spiritual stone that follows: the stone is Christ. But God is not pleased with the greatest number of them” (1 Cor. 10:1–5). These were all images of the sacred Sacraments that are performed among us: the sea - the waters of baptism; cloud - the Divine Spirit mysteriously overshadowing those being baptized from above; food and drink - the Body and Blood of Christ, which we daily, one might say, partake of: therefore, soulless and insensitive matter - this stone - Paul called “spiritual”. Because just as “animate” is a body that has power and moves on the basis of the soul, so “spiritual” is a body that is supernaturally under the influence of the Divine Spirit. So, since this stone, miraculously being under the influence of the Spirit, contained a source of water carried within itself and flowed out of it abundantly, it was rightly called “spiritual” by Paul and, moreover, was taken as an image of the Body of Christ; because it also has an effect from the fullness of the Divinity dwelling in it and abundantly provides the source of eternal life for those who come with faith. But let's return to our topic today. - The Divine Paul, saying that these people who were before us were partakers of all in the form of the presented Sacraments, added: “But God was not pleased with the greatest number of them; I was defeated in the desert. This was an image for us, that we should not be the lust of the evil, as they also desired” (1 Cor. 10:5-6); This clearly states that just as those who had a tendency to evil lusts were not helped in any way by the provided images of the Sacraments, and they did not avoid being abandoned by God, which is why, having perished outside, they were not saved into the promised land - so too, if we prefer life in sins, neither divine baptism, nor the divine Sacraments that follow it will deliver us from eternal condemnation; but, just as they lost the promised land, so we, living without repentance and not obeying God’s commandments, will lose our heavenly inheritance. Therefore, the Apostle again speaking to us, adds: let us not resist, brethren, and let us not harden our hearts, as was the case with those in the day of temptation in the wilderness. – For this is what the Apostle says (literally): “Who is angry? - have they not sinned? and their bones fell in the desert. Whom did he swear not to bring into His chamber, apparently because he resisted? and we see that we are not able to understand” (Heb. 3:17–19). “Let us commit fornication, as none have committed fornication from them, and fall in one day twenty-three thousand. Let us not tempt Christ” by unbelief in His promises to us and by resistance to His commandments and commandments, “as we were tempted by them, and destroyed by serpents. We do not murmur, as there is no one who murmurs from them, and perishes from the Destroyer" (1 Cor. 10:8-10). Because in our midst we can see the same bad deeds and the same terrifying disasters, and we can draw the conclusion that for our sins we suffer grievously and are subject to the same dangers as they. Because who doesn’t see that the fire of greed (love of money) is burning among us, and its flame is rising high, and, perhaps, has captured everything: public forums and people’s assemblies, and peasant affairs, and business agreements and trade? It has already penetrated into sacred institutions, and has even encroached on holidays, and with its aggravated and in most cases associated with deception, madness for profit and vanity, it makes holidays for us - not holidays. How do those people differ from the serpent that once whispered to Eve and from those snakes biting in the desert who, through whispering and deceit, stir up civil internecine strife? How many of our citizens completely neglect chastity, being dissatisfied with legal marriage, but resorting to fornication and unlawful cohabitation? For this and similar reasons, many of our citizens have already become food for the sword or victims of robbery, while others will still become unless they repent; and even if someone here escaped the coming wrath, after death he will not escape the inevitable wrath against those who lived without repentance. For the Apostle says: “For these sakes the wrath of God is coming on the disobedient children” (Eph. 5:6): the present wrath and the wrath to come. Therefore, brothers, let us each turn from our evil deeds; We will not do evil, and no evil will befall us; but let's learn to do good. And those sins that we have committed, through confession and appropriate repentance, we will throw off ourselves; if we are unable to fully maintain ourselves in virtues, then by our humility before God and communication with the poor in those blessings in which we abound, and by a kindly attitude towards those who have offended us, we will attract forgiveness from Above and by this, according to God’s love for mankind, we will make up for our lack of good deeds, so that the Lord, according to His promise, will continually be with us; because, having commanded the Disciples to baptize and teach, he added: “Behold, I am with you all the days, even to the end of the age.” So, those who heard this with their own ears, in obedience to God’s will in their age, left this world; so now this promise of Christ belongs to us, who believe in Him from birth to the end of the age, and who demonstrate this faith through works; so that, on the basis of our life here, already having the Lord with us, in Him we may receive both this and future blessings, to the glory of Him, and His Beginning Father, and the Co-essential Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. PG.151:473–485. Homilia XXXVIII. In primum Matutinum. Quod non sufficit Divinum Baptisma ad salvandam homnem, nist studaet divina servare mandata. Those. - to the Jewish people. "Μαθητεύσατε " i.e. - as if making all nations disciples. Further, in St. Gregory Palamas we find this verb expressed literally. We do not find such an exact quotation; it is partly compiled from Eph.3 and Rom.1:5. You might be interested in: