Беседа на 15-е воскресение Евангельских чтений по Луке, имеющая своей темой исправление и спасение начальника мытарей Закхея

It also speaks against the love of money 579 1. Recently, when the Evangelist Luke spoke about the healing of lepers, and then those blind according to the flesh, we also had this as the starting point of our spiritual conversation for your love 580; Today we will take as our topic the soul-blind Zacchaeus who lives in Jericho and his spiritual insight. This was a great miracle in relation to him, and no less in comparison with the miracle in relation to them (blind according to the flesh): because he also had the inner eyes of his heart darkened, just as this blind man had the outer eyes of his face darkened: because he, as the Gospel story tells, could not see Jesus at all; He, too, was freed from spiritual darkness, having received his sight through a single word of the One who, in the beginning, with a single word, established light and shone on all sensory (belonging to the material world) creation. Because, just as once upon a time, before God said: “Let there be light, and there was light” (Gen. 1:3), darkness was over the abyss, so now, before the Lord said to Zacchaeus: “Today it is fitting for Me to be in your house” (Luke 19:5), the terrible darkness of the love of money, pressing, lay on his soul: because his thoughts were entirely buried along with gold in dark places where lovers of money hide gold and silver: “Where your treasure is 581, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21), says the Lord. 2. So, first let's look at what the Gospel narrative says about him 582. “At this time Jesus entered while passing through Jericho.” What time is this? - Then, when He cleansed 583 lepers, when He enlightened the blind 584, when, as a result of their story, He attracted Zacchaeus with many others to the desire to see Him. So, “Jesus entered and passed through Jericho”; - not only Jericho, but Judea and Galilee, and in general - the whole earth: because He did not come to remain here bodily, although, as He deigned, for our sake He took on our body - but to pass (our land) and ascend into heaven, from where He descended, taking our confusion with Himself 585 and placing it above all beginning and power; but also for the benefit of the teaching, He went around and passed through all the places in Palestine. Because, just as at the beginning of the world, having gathered all the daylight into one disk and setting the sun to be the king of the day, He did not allow it to stand still, but made it so that it went around the world, so having gathered the fullness of the Divinity in the body and revealing Himself as the King of the whole world - a truly earthly and heavenly King, visible and invisible, terrible and ever-present, He did not allow Himself to remain in one place, but favored to go around the earth until he accomplishes salvation - unshakable and indestructible - in the middle of the earth, as David foretold, saying: “God is our King from before the age: He brought salvation in the midst of the earth” (Ps. 73:12): because, going around it, the Lord brought salvation. Since the sun does not generally flow around the entire sky, but only the very central part of the axis 586, so the Sun of Truth Christ (Mal. 4:2), bypassing the central part of the universe - as far as it was necessary - passed through these places of this zone, and thus, entering, passed Jericho. 3. “And behold,” says the Gospel, “a man called Zacchaeus, and he was an old publican, and he was rich: and he sought to see Jesus, who is, and was not able to from the people, because he was small in age (stature)” (Luke 19:3). And not only was he small, but he was also far from Jesus: because if he had approached, then, although he was short in stature, he would not have lost the sight of Christ. I think that the Divine power of Jesus beckoned him in an indescribable way and encouraged him to follow: because he gravitated (toward Christ), because he had a good disposition and a soul receptive to virtue, and therefore ardently desired and strived to see Jesus, but was not allowed to do so by Divine power, as a person who had given himself over to things contrary to Christ’s way of life, namely, tollhouses and wealth, which, I think, the Evangelist makes clear in brief words understanding, as if expressing some surprise in relation to him, saying. “Here is someone named Zacchaeus,” he introduced him, as if caught in the nets of evil. - “And he was a chief of publicans and a rich man.” Because this expression: “Behold the man,” is said in relation to people worthy of mention and exceptional 587. And the fact that the name of this man is mentioned speaks in favor of this interpretation: because he did not belong to the number of people about whom David says: “I will not remember their names in my mouth” (Ps. 15:4). The fact that the Evangelist testifies that he was not only a publican, but also the chief of publicans and therefore a rich man, by this he showed that he was a very outstanding person in relation to evil. But since Zacchaeus was short and far away, so that he could not see Jesus, the “forerunner,” they say, “climbed on the buttock, so that he could see that he wanted to pass by it.” Look at the strength of his desire and conclude on this basis about the manner of his action: because although he could not break through the crowd, he did not retreat - it would be better to say: he retreated and fled - but not from his own desire, but from the crowd; and, running ahead, climbed a fig tree that grew by the road to see the Desired One from there. 4. So he wisely and lovingly acted in this way, moved by a strong desire and ahead of the road and rising on the wings of a strong desire and ascending a tree. What did Jesus, the Hypostatic Wisdom of the Beginningless Father, do, speaking through Solomon: “I love Me who loves me; those who love 588 will find grace in Me” ( Proverbs 8:17 ), “ Who also appears favorably to them in the paths ” ( Wisdom 6:16 )? - He anticipates Zacchaeus and sees him first, and turns to him and announces to him that he will come to his house. Because, “as Jesus came,” says the Evangelist, “to the place” - (obviously the place where the fig tree, as if some heavenly fruit, bore Zacchaeus on its branches, because of his God-inspired desire) 589, “looked at the sight of him, and said to him: Zacchaeus, having shed tears: today it is fitting for Me to be in your house” ( Luke 19:5). It seems to me that Jesus, walking modestly and not standing out in any way from the crowd (around Him), was not easy to recognize among the crowd for those who had never seen Him before; but even from an elevated position it was difficult to see Him in person, since He attracted many people (crowded around Him) to Himself. Therefore, He who sees people's hearts and knows the heart desire of Zacchaeus, looks up and turns and calls him by name, the one whom He had never seen with bodily eyes before - in order to humanely present Himself to his vision and tenderly let Him know Him and show that he is not only loving, but also beloved (by Him) 590. He also tells him to hasten to go home in order to both fulfill and receive the results of his love for God from the One who gives super-abundantly what we ask or have in our minds. 5. “But he wept and received Him, rejoicing” (Luke 19:6). Because if before he saw Christ, he ran to see Him and did everything to achieve this, then really, after he saw and personally heard and, moreover, received such a (merciful) promise, he would not have shown haste and diligence? So, since he saw that the promise (given to him by the Savior) was fulfilled in practice, he rejoiced, becoming one with the Beloved and (himself) already becoming a source of great mercies; those who see, not seeing with understanding (the change that has taken place in him), “murmur against Jesus, yearning, as if a sinful man were in the dark” (Luke 19:7) 591. But the Publican, competing with the One who not only came down to us in the flesh, but, out of His inexpressible love for mankind, also took away our reproach, “standing up, speaking to Jesus.” This expression “became” is an indication of an established will, decisive and at the same time humble; So, standing up and graciously silencing those who reproached him, “he said to Jesus: Behold, the half of my substance, Lord, will I give to the poor: and whoever I have offended, I will repay in fourfold” (Luke 19:8), and thus revealing himself to be just (or: righteous), he thereby nullified the reproach of those who murmured against the Lord and said that He came to a sinful man”; because, having given back fourfold what was due to the offended, as required by the Law (Ex. 22), he thereby “avoided evil,” and by distributing half of his property to the poor, he thereby “did good” and showed himself purified in everything. Therefore, the Lord said to the Pharisees: “Give alms from those who exist, and all will be clean to you” (Luke 11:41); now, by such deeds, he has publicly confirmed His righteousness (“epipsifisomenos”) and, on the basis of this, presenting His defense against those who murmur against Him: “Today,” he says, “salvation has come to this house, Zane and Zacchaeus 592. “There is a son of Abraham”, as having now become faithful, as righteous and hospitable and loving of the poor, “for the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:9-10); directly speaking to those who grumble against Him: I went in to rest with a sinner, but (I did this in order) to change him and save him, revealing him instead of a lover of money - a lover of God, instead of an unrighteous - a righteous one, instead of an inhospitable - hospitable, instead of an insensitive - merciful - which you see: it has already happened. 6. But look all at Zacchaeus: how he loved and sought Christ, and how, in turn, he became loved by the Lord and called and close to Christ. Therefore, if anyone is a publican or the chief of publicans, and on the basis of this he has become rich in a malicious manner and is collecting (wealth) in an unrighteous manner, let him imitate the path to salvation that this chief of tax collectors (Zacchaeus) followed, and in a noble manner let him repay (the offended) and squander what he has collected in a malicious manner. If anyone has suffered the plunder of his property or is in some way in poverty, let him rejoice and give thanks: because he is rich in saving poverty; It’s better to say: let him himself make it saving by thanking God for his poverty, to which the rich tax collector, having resorted, joyfully saved himself, as you heard about him today. This is where this gospel story ends. 7. When translating the thought to a further meaning, focus your attention on what follows. – Since Zacchaeus in translation means “justified,” then on this basis I imagine the Pharisees declaring themselves righteous, who, in reality, behaved like tax collectors, as the Lord says in the Gospels, “eating the houses of widows and hypocritically praying for a long time” (Matthew 23:14). So, when one of these people desires to know the truth, he seeks to see and know (it), just as Zacchaeus sought Jesus: because He is the Truth; powerless, as small (spiritually) and imperfect, he, following the example of the small Zacchaeus, raises his thoughts to the fig tree: - the pedantry of the Law and Jewish customs - thinking from there to draw theoretical and practical truth. Seeing his good goal and his love for the truth, the Lord, as if then walking along the path of the way of life prescribed by the Law, reveals Himself to him and turns to him with an appeal and orders him to get down from the fig tree, i.e. leave the Law, which does not bear any greater fruit, and show diligence in relation to grace and the way of life indicated in the Gospel, thanks to which it is possible to accept God within oneself and acquire salvation. So, having shown obedience to the Word, teaching and calling, as for example. Apostle Nathanael (because Christ saw him first, who was under the shadow of the fig tree John 1:49), i.e. living under the shadow of the Law 593 or the great Paul (because even him, “in the righteousness of the law,” as he himself writes, “was blameless” (Phil. 3:6), Christ first foresaw and called 594 ... So, if anyone in this way shows obedience to the Word, calling and teaching, he literally becomes Zacchaeus, and half of the previously belonging to him teachings of the Law leaves to the poor Jews, such as: the way of thinking, circumcision, subservience, immersion, blood sacrifices and, in a word, everything inherent in the base letter. On the basis of the words of the Law, as well as the proclamations, presenting and proving that Jesus is the Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, and if he has ever offended any of the faithful, calling him an infidel, or as such fearlessly done evil, he makes amends many times over, serving the multitude of the faithful, and leading the multitude of the unfaithful to faith in Christ 595 . Here, we have briefly presented the allegory. 8. But since Zacchaeus was previously, as the Gospel narrative says, a lover of money (because he collected gold on the basis of the ordeal and, growing rich, kept it for himself) 596, and then became a lover of poverty; It’s better to say: he himself became voluntarily a beggar and a poor man: having given out one thing and made up for another, shall we praise virtue or condemn evil? – Because the size of the conversation does not allow us to do both. But since the word is for the sake of us present here, and of them I don’t know who would be a voluntary owner of poverty, while almost all of us are subject to the love of money, then let us, speaking briefly and in proportion to the time about the love of money, expose the harm that comes from it; you, as for us, freeing you from this. The love of money is the cause of all evils, covetousness, stinginess, stinginess, callousness, unbelief (or: treachery), misanthropy, robbery (or: aggressive greed), untruth, greed, usury, deception, lies, perjury and everything similar to these vices; because of the love of money, robberies of churches, robberies on the roads and, one might say, every kind of theft occur: because of the love of money, there are not only robbers on the roads and robbers and pirates, but also in the urban environment - fraudulent weights and fraudulent scales and ambiguous measures and excessive filing of silver and counterfeiting, violations of boundaries, evil rivalries between neighbors; it divided the people into classes and separated friends, and destroyed all kinship; because of the love of money, it happened that people betrayed and betrayed their fatherland and betrayed their army; the unrighteous judge betrayed the law; witness - truth; and above all, each of them betrayed his soul. Thus, according to the word of the divine Apostle: “The love of money is the mother and root of all evil... which, having given themselves over, some have wandered away from the faith and subjected themselves to many sorrows” (1 Tim. 6:10). 9. But think carefully about the words of the Apostle: he does not say that the “rich” have strayed from the faith, but “those who have given themselves over to the love of money”; as in another place, he says that “Those who desire to get rich fall into temptation and into the devil’s snare” (2 Tim. 6:9). So, don’t say: “We, in the majority, are poor people; and why do you speak against the love of money to us, who have almost no money?” – I say this 597 for the reason that, as a result of lust (for money), we have an illness in our souls and need to cure it. If you say that you are not sick with this illness, then prove it in practice, not seeking to free yourself from poverty, but placing it more desirable and higher than wealth, but rejoicing in it and thanking God as making 598 an easier path to salvation for you. If anyone is rich, let him hear that it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (Mark 10:23), but let him know that Abraham was rich, but was saved (because he was hospitable and poor-loving, but not money-loving) 599; and Job, tested by both wealth and poverty, was once rich and at the same time said about himself: “If they put gold into my fortress,” “if they rejoiced, do I have much wealth?” ( Job 31:24–25 ) 600 .. Consequently, the passion for wealth is an evil, which, if one does not heed oneself, both the poor and the rich suffer foolishly. Since it happens that bad wealth is paired with an even worse companion: arrogance and hope in wealth, therefore, in the Epistle to Timothy, the divine Paul says: “Forbid the rich in this world not to be arrogant, to put less hope in riches that perish, but in God” (1 Tim. 6:17): because humility in people testifies to the knowledge of the truth; he who is proud on the basis of wealth, which more than anything else we have, is a truly earthly matter, and who hopes for it, is truly a foolish person and is by no means dissimilar to those rich men whom the Lord presented for comparison: one of whom, having Lazarus lying at his outer gate, out of arrogance did not even look at him; the other, talking with his soul about those benefits that were greatly added to those that he had already collected, placed all his hope in his wealth; therefore the first was perceived by the unquenchable fire; from the second they inexorably demanded his soul. Do you see the end of those who are committed to wealth? Therefore, David says: “Even if wealth flows, do not apply your heart” (Ps. 61:11); and Solomon says: “Trust in your wealth, this one will fall” (Proverbs 11:28); and in another place again he compares the thirst for profit with hell and destruction, saying: “Hell and destruction are not satisfied: so are the eyes of the foolish” (Prov. 27:20) 601. The Lord says: “Woe to you who are rich! 602 Woe to you who are saturated” (Luke 6:24). 10. But we, brothers, will grow rich in good works; from the property that we have, let us fill the bellies of the poor, so that we may be worthy of the promised announcement 603 and blessing, and inherit the kingdom of heaven, which may we all receive through the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom befits glory, power, greatness and splendor with His Beginning Father and the Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. According to the Sofolk edition, Ikonoma is listed as No. 62, pp. 269–279. Alas, this emilia of St. Gregory has not reached us. “Mixing” or “composition” – i.e. our human body, which the God-man took on in the Incarnation. Orig.: “not among the many who are counted.” Desires to see the Lord Jesus; The brackets belong to the original. Orig.: “to show not only the lover, but also the beloved”; from the previous and following text we can conclude that this refers to Zacchaeus. who not only loved the Lord Jesus, but was himself loved for Him. Orig.: “They murmured, saying that Jesus had come to a sinful man.” “Better to give alms from what you have, then everything will be clean for you”: The parentheses belong to the original. Probably St. Gregory saw before his own eyes similar cases of conversion of learned Jews to the faith of Christ. “I’m saying this” – contributed by us. “Did I rely on gold for my support, did I rejoice that my wealth was great”: Orig.: “Hell and destruction are insatiable: so are human eyes insatiable.” In the Gospel: “Woe to you who are rich!”_ The text does not indicate which words of the Savior St. Gregory means. You might be interested in: