Омилия на 23-е воскресное Евангелие 220 .

Discussion in the sixth week on the Gospel of Luke, which tells: “When Jesus came ashore, he was met by a man from the city who had been possessed by demons for a long time:” (Luke 8:27). “He who is of God listens to the words of God” (John 8:47), says the Lord; that is, he obeys the commandments of God, putting words into deeds, living and acting according to the teachings of Christ, and doing the will of the Heavenly Father, and becoming an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ (Rom. 8:17). But whoever does not listen to God and commits sin, and is attached to it without looking back, is a slave of sin (John 8:34), not from God (1 John 3:10), but from the evil one (Matthew 5:37), perverting the nature received from God with evil will, and making it resemble the father of destruction. Therefore, the Lord said to the Jews: “Your father is the devil, and you want to fulfill his lusts” (John 8:44). And such people are more unfortunate than even those who are clearly possessed, although they escape the attention of many. Because those possessed by demons torment their bodies and sometimes physically harm those who meet them; and those who resemble the evil enemy through evil lusts and deeds destroy their own souls and the souls of those carelessly approaching them. And at the hour of death, along with the body, they shed their demonic bitterness, and those who sin unrepentantly have an immortal and incurable ulcer. And we all pity the man who is clearly possessed by a demon in body, but we not only do not pity the murderer and the lover of money, the proud, the shameless and the rebellious, and all such, but we also hate them. For he is involuntarily exposed to suffering, and he who loves to sin brings upon himself a self-chosen disaster, sometimes suffering from internal painful depravity and evil behavior. Since many of the people of the devil’s rage against us cannot notice from his attacks on the soul and the promotion of sin, God allowed us to be possessed by demons in the body, so that from their example we all would know how terrible the state of the soul is, which through its crafty deeds has made him an inhabitant in itself. When he came down (Ps. 17:10) to earth to deliver us from the violence of the devil in our souls, he drove away demons and those who were clearly possessed by demons throughout the body, clearly exhibiting and certifying the liberation and healing of the soul produced in secrecy by this freedom and wholeness. Because even when He gave spiritual healing to the paralytic, those who saw Him not only did not glorify Him, but also slandered Him (Mark 2:1-7). Therefore, he also healed the relaxation of the body, so that they would know, as He Himself told those present, that “the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” (Mark 2:10). That is why He especially drives away demons from those possessed by them, so that we know that He also drives them away from our souls and gives us eternal freedom (John 8:36). For “when He came ashore,” according to the story of the Gospel now read, “a man from the city met Him, possessed by demons for a long time, and not wearing clothes, and not living in a house, but in tombs” (Luke 8:27). He went out, he says, but did not come to the shore, to show that he reached here after crossing, when in the interval he tamed the stormy wind and calmed the sea with His prohibition. For from Galilee, entering into a boat with His Disciples, He told them, as the Evangelist says above: “Let us cross to the other side” (Luke 8:22). From here it is revealed that both by foreknowledge and by His great mercy, on His own impulse, He came to the aid of those who had been suffering from demons for a long time, fiercely. Luke says that there was one possessed by many demons, and Mark also speaks of one who had one unclean spirit (Mark 5:2); and Matthew says that these were two people who lived together and were possessed by many demons (Matthew 8:28). The reason why some Evangelists talk about one thing, and one about many, both possessed and demons, was indicated by both Luke and Mark. For the one about whom Mark speaks, the unclean spirit, then questioned by the Lord, says: “My name is Legion, because we are many” (Mark 5:9). Because a legion is a detachment and a numerous host of angels or people or demons united and established with each other, paying attention and rushing to one thing and one goal. Therefore, those possessed by demons, as if moved and directed by a similar crowd, both in tombs and in the mountains, incessantly lived next to each other and converged, and both they and the evil spirits tormenting them are called in the singular, then in the plural. Not only did a legion of unclean spirits meet Jesus in the person of that man, but they also “fell down before Him and cried out in a loud voice: What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God! I beg You, do not torment me” (Luke 8:28). Because, it is said, the Lord “commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man” (Luke 8:29). Out of mercy, the Lord, deliberately landing on the shore where this demon-possessed man lived, commanded the demonic legion to leave the man, but did not indicate where to go. Therefore, this nasty host of wicked spirits, overwhelmed by bewilderment and fearing that the Lord would now not be handed over to the future punishment prepared for them by fiery hell, where they would remain in complete immobility, since all activity for them would cease, was forced to come and fall before Him and turn to the Lord with humble and true speech, testifying that He is the Son of the Most High God, and at the same time and slyly suggesting with this testimony, as if by some kind of flattery, to convince the Lord of everyone. The Lord allowed this testimony to teach those in the ship. Because they, seeing the wonderful things He did at sea then, said to each other in bewilderment: “Who is this, that both the winds and the sea obey Him?” Now they have learned who He is, namely, that He is the Son of the Most High God. Because the devil always cooperates with God’s intention, although not preferring it and not having it in mind. Therefore, one of the God-bearing men says that evil does not contribute to good by good will. The Lord, wanting to show those present that this terrible demon was not alone, but a large crowd, asked him: “What is your name?” He said: “My name is Legion, for we are many” demons (Mark 5:9). And the legionary militia is composed, they say, of six thousand. “And they asked Jesus,” says the Evangelist, “so that he would not command them to go into the abyss.” Do you see that, according to what was said above, fear forced them to come and fall before Him, and to act truthfully and humbly in behavior and speech? Note also the almighty power of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ. For the demon unwittingly recognized Him as Lord of the abyss. And who looks into the abyss (Dan.3:54)? – Of course, He who sits on high (Job.22:12), surpassing everything and having everything in His power (Jer.23:24). Pay attention also to the fact that a horde of demons has no power to be anywhere unless it is allowed or permitted. Therefore, when the Lord commanded it to go out, and did not order it where to go, it was overcome by great fear and came up with a refuge for itself in the pigs grazing on the mountain in order to escape through them. But they themselves had no power over them, much less over people or anything else that exists. For it is said: “Right there on the mountain a large herd of pigs was grazing; and the demons asked Him to allow them to enter into them. And He allowed them. The demons came out of the man and entered into the pigs; and the herd rushed down a steep slope into the lake and drowned.” So, the demons, looking for a place for their escape and having a bad intention, asked permission to enter the pigs, since they were driven out of people by the Savior, and they realized that not from one or two, but through one they were driven out from every person. The Lord allowed them, so that we could learn from what happened with the pigs that they would have wanted to consign a person to final destruction if they had not previously been invisibly restrained by His power. “The shepherds, seeing what had happened, ran and told it in the city and villages.” Now remember the dissolute son mentioned in the Gospel, who escaped from the pigs, in order to understand who these shepherds are, or better yet, who is like them. For the life of a swine, due to uncleanness, indicates every evil passion, and swine are those who wear clothes stained with the filth of the flesh, and in front of them stand like some kind of shepherds, distinguished among them by voluptuousness, and turning care of the flesh and self-sufficiency into the satisfaction of lust (Rom. 13:14). But neither time nor, as you see, the noise of the crowd allows us to enter into a detailed explanation of what kind of nakedness of the soul this is due to sin, which is indicated by the example of the demoniac, and what kind of dwelling in tombs it is (Mark 5:5). For it is said, “he did not put on clothes, and lived not in a house, but in tombs.” And what kind of shackles and chains and bonds that he broke and ran away. But we, especially the monks, will avoid staying and living together with pigs in the fields, because “bad communities,” as Solomon put it 221, “corrupt good morals,” and in most cases everyone is either already like, or becomes like, their accomplices. What is the benefit of once withdrawing from the world and choosing for refuge the dwellings dedicated to God, but leaving them every day and again mingling with the world? Tell me, how can you wander through the squares and avoid the passionate inflammations that bring about the death of the soul, which separates a person from God? This is death entering us through our windows (Jer. 9:21), that is, feelings, through which these forefathers lost their immortality. Let us all avoid, some - presiding over the evil, even if they were invisibly superior to many in breed, glory, strength of body and abundance of means for life, and others - likening to pigs, taking into account that future lake of unquenchable fire (Apoc. 20:15), into which they will fall, alas! irrevocably obeying the leadership of demons, and seeing the abyss into which the dying are cast, until the end of their lives they were likened to pigs (Luke 16:23). And having escaped irrevocably from the truly fetid life of sin, then we will well and properly approach the source of incense, which, by the goodness of Christ, pours out, as you see, through the tomb from the resting place of our native martyr of Christ, and by their anointing, sanctified and strengthened, we will begin to preach both in villages and in cities, wherever we may be, the most sacred power and action of this sacred world. To preach, I mean, not with tongue and words; because whose ear has not heard about the many wonderful actions he performed? - and a change in life for the better. So that everyone seeing us would say: This is “the change of the right hand of the Most High” (Ps. 76:11), with which the great Demetrius was written in the book of the living, and with which he transforms those who approach him into a most sacred state. Through His intercession may this come true, and may we all be worthy of the promised heavenly abodes (John 14:2) and dwelling in them with the saints, grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever, amen. Two homilias (this and the previous one - A.A.) of St. Gregory Palamas for the Gospel readings from the Gospel of Luke, which are not among the omilias placed in Min's 151 volumes of Greek. series. These two homilys were published, accompanied by a Russian translation, by Bishop Arseny of Novgorod: “Three works of St. Gregory Palamas, hitherto unpublished.” Novgorod 1895, pp. 45–55. An obvious slip of the tongue or typo; these words are given by the Apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 15 - but borrowed from the Greek. poet Menander. You might be interested in: