Отдел первый. Воплощение Бога Слова. Рождество, младенчество и отрочество Иисуса Христа

I. The Eternal Word. Righteous Zechariah and Elizabeth. Annunciation of the Most Holy Virgin Mary. Birth of John the Baptist The entire history of the human race revolves around two greatest events - the Fall and Redemption. The first of these events, when man, having violated the commandment of God, poisoned himself and his entire nature with the fruits of sin and death, left an indelible stamp of sinfulness on the entire historical life of Old Testament humanity, and the last, having lost in itself the source of true spiritual life, lived only in the hope of future redemption, promised to man after the Fall itself. This atonement, as it gradually became clear in a whole series of promises and prophecies, was to overthrow the kingdom of sin and death established on earth and again establish the kingdom of grace as the source of true spiritual life. But the restoration of the lost source of true life, the installation of life in the place of death is tantamount to the creation of new life on earth, and redemption as a result of this could only be accomplished again through that Divine Word, through which the very creation of the world took place in the beginning. Therefore, as the writer of life of the Old Testament, St. The prophet Moses began his story about the creation of the world with the significant word “in the beginning” (Gen. 1:1), and the writer of the New Testament, St. Evangelist John, began his narrative of redemption with the same word “in the beginning” (John 1:1) in order to declare that the Divine Word, which had to recreate the fallen human race, is the original Word, the very same one that was with God in pre-time existence and which was Himself God. “It was with God in the beginning. All things came into being through Him, and without Him nothing came into being” (John 1:2–3). But It is not only the cause of the creation of all existence, but at the same time it is the source of true life. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). Fallen humanity, having lost the source of true life through its fall, could find it again only in this Divine Word, and this true life alone could become the light that was supposed to illuminate man’s path from destruction to salvation. To give sinful humanity the opportunity to join this source of life and light, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father” (John 1:14). Just as at the beginning of all things the mystery of creation, incomprehensible to reason, was accomplished, so after the fulfillment of time, the equally incomprehensible mystery of the incarnation of God the Word was accomplished. “And without question,” says the apostle, “the great mystery of godliness: God appeared in the flesh, justified Himself in the Spirit, showed Himself to the angels, preached among the nations, was accepted by faith in the world, ascended in glory” (1 Tim. 3:16). This great mystery of piety is the subject of the biblical history of the New Testament. The incarnation of God the Word took place “according to the fulfillment of times” and was accompanied by events that were predicted by the prophets, as signs by which the time of the coming of the Messiah could be known. One of the main signs, as predicted by the prophet Malachi, was to be the appearance of a harbinger or angel who was to prepare the way for the Deliverer of the world. This harbinger was St. John the Baptist, and with the announcement of his birth the New Testament story begins. During the reign of Herod the Great in Judea, in one of the priestly cities located near Jerusalem (Utah), there lived a pious couple - the priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. Both of them were true Israelis, traced their ancestry back to Aaron and in their lives fully met the highest requirement of their faith and their law, since “both of them were righteous before God, walking according to all the commandments and statutes of the Lord blamelessly” (Luke 1:6). But even this righteousness before God, which established peace in their souls, could not suppress the secret sorrow in their hearts that depressed them both. Their glorious family, which had given servants to God for more than one and a half thousand years, threatened to cease completely, since both of them were already advanced in years and had not yet had children. It is known what a disaster and shame infertility was for the biblical woman. To eliminate it, many women shed streams of tears and turned to God with a fiery prayer to remove this reproach from them (Gen. 31:3; 1 Sam. 1:11). The birth of a child was considered a special blessing from God, which served to ensure that the name of his father “will not be blotted out in Israel” and “will not perish among his brothers” (Deut. 25:6; Ruth. 4:10). The ancient peoples in general had a strong desire for posterity, but the chosen people also had a higher desire, at least through posterity, to join the expected Messiah. In view of all this, one can understand how great was the sorrow of the pious Zechariah and Elizabeth. Years passed after years, and fiery tearful prayers for the gift of children remained, as it were, unheard. But when advancing years had already forced the righteous couple to abandon all hope of fulfilling the fiery desire of their hearts, it was accomplished in fulfillment of God’s destined plan and under extraordinary circumstances. At the Temple of Jerusalem, after its renewal, the service was performed in the correct order of priests, as was established by David; and when it was the turn of Abiin, to which Zechariah belonged, he went to Jerusalem for a time for priestly service. As a clergyman, he had premises in those side annexes that were attached to the church. The duties of the priesthood were very complex and they took up all the time. These duties consisted of offering sacrifices and censing with the offering of prayers for the people standing in the porch and in the courtyards and for all of Israel. Incense was performed with special reverence, as a symbol of prayer ascending to God, and it could be performed by priests only once. And so, when it was Zechariah’s turn to offer incense, he, in white priestly vestments, at the sound of a silver trumpet, announcing that it was time to offer the morning or evening sacrifice, entered the sanctuary of the church to offer incense. Being in such a sacred place, separated only by a curtain from the Holy of Holies as the place of the co-presence of God Himself, righteous Zechariah could not help but be filled with feelings of special reverence. The other priests and Levites accompanying him had to leave, and Zechariah was left alone in the mysterious co-presence of the Divine. He throws incense onto the burning coals and a column of smoke envelops him and the sanctuary, signaling a prayer for the praying people and for all Israel. At the same time, a prayer was usually offered for the forgiveness of the sins of the people, the clergyman himself and his family, and for God to accept the sacrificed lamb as atonement for the praying sinners. But as a righteous man and undoubtedly, like many other true Israelis, “waiting for the consolation of Israel” and “expecting deliverance” (Luke 2:25,38), Zechariah could add to this a prayer that the long-awaited hope of Israel would soon be fulfilled and the Messiah foretold by the prophets would come. And when he offered up this prayer, which could not but be mixed with the secret desire of his heart for the gift of offspring, suddenly the Angel of the Lord appeared to him. “When Zechariah saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him” (Luke 1:12). But it was a good messenger, Archangel Gabriel, who had to announce to the righteous Zechariah a message that was to serve as a guarantee of joy for him, and for the righteous Elizabeth, and for all Israel, and for all mankind. The time has come for the fulfillment of the fiery prayers of Zechariah and all those who are of the same mind with him. The Messiah is soon to come, and the righteous priest will have the great honor of being related to Him even in the flesh; he will have a son who will prepare the way for the Savior of the world. “He will be a Nazarite, will not drink wine or strong drink, and will be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb, and will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God” (Luke 1:15–16). This news was too unexpected and joyful for Zechariah’s trembling heart to be able to immediately perceive it. The gospel of the coming of the Messiah may be true, he thought; but as for the birth of a son from Elizabeth, already depressed by years, is this possible? For this doubt, he had to suffer temporary muteness, which was supposed to serve to strengthen his faith and a sign of the fulfillment of the gospel. When the righteous Zechariah and Elizabeth, living in their peaceful house, joyfully counted the days and weeks that brought them closer to the fulfillment of the promise given to them, in the north, about one and a half hundred miles from them, in the small town of Nazareth, another, even greater, even more joyful and at the same time terrible sacrament took place. In this town lived a relative of Elizabeth, the young Virgin Mary, who, as the holy fruit of the tearful prayers of Joachim and Anna, the same righteous couple as Zechariah and Elizabeth, was dedicated to God and, as a vowed virgin, was only betrothed to protect this virginity to her righteous and already elderly husband Joseph, a carpenter by trade. Raised from childhood at the church and under the beneficial influence of its constant educational sacred rites, destined from birth to serve as the purest vessel of the great mystery, the young maiden, who at that time was already an orphan, was entirely devoted to the fulfillment of her vow and spent her time in vigilant prayers. Like all pious people among the chosen people, at each time of the morning sacrifice, the hour of midday prayer and the time of the evening sacrifice, she retired to her special room assigned to her and secretly devoted herself to prayer. It was at one of these moments that a great event took place. In the sixth month after the mysterious revelation of Zechariah in the church, when Rev. The Virgin indulged in prayer in solitude; the same Archangel Gabriel appeared in Her room and said to Her: “Rejoice, O Blessed One! The Lord is with You; Blessed are You among women!” (Luke 1:28). The appearance of a stranger, mysterious to Her, in Her secluded maiden room and, moreover, at the very hour of prayer, naturally should have confused Her, and She began to ponder within Herself what kind of greeting this would be. “And the Angel said to Her: Do not be afraid, Mary, for You have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son, and you will call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end” (Luke 1:30–33). Glorious, great, joyful, but at the same time incomprehensible words! After all, She is a virgin by vow, and the words of the messenger turn out to be contrary to nature and incomprehensible to the human mind. “How will this be,” Mary said to the Angel, when I don’t know my husband? " ( OK. 1:34) This was not doubt, of which Mary’s sincerely believing heart was incapable, but only the bewilderment of Her simple, human mind. Then the Angel answered Her: “The Holy Spirit will come upon You, and the power of the Most High will overshadow You; therefore the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). The same creative work of God will be accomplished over Her, which was accomplished “in the beginning” (Gen. 1:1) over the newly created formless substance, when the Spirit of God hovered over it, fertilizing the dead substance. Nothing is impossible with God, and as proof of this, the Angel pointed out that Elizabeth, Her relative, already known to everyone as barren, conceived a son in her old age, and she was already in her sixth month. This was enough for Mary, and all the strength of Her faith and trust in God was expressed in Her response to the Angel: “Behold, the Servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). And the Angel departed from Her. Having received such a great and mysterious gospel, Rev. The Virgin felt an irresistible need to share this joy with someone dear to Her heart. And with whom was it best to share Her, if not with Her elderly relative Elizabeth, who herself received a similar joy and who was a second mother for Her during Her upbringing at the church. And so She immediately set off on her journey. The path was not close and difficult; but inspired by the unknown power of joy, She walked on foot the entire distance of one and a half miles that separated her and, entering the familiar house of her kindred, enthusiastically greeted and kissed Elizabeth. This unexpected appearance of Mary and Her greeting filled with extraordinary delight greatly struck Elizabeth, and immediately “the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and exclaimed with a loud voice, and said: Blessed are You among women, and blessed is the fruit of Your womb! And where does it come from for me that the Mother of my Lord came? For when the voice of Your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped joyfully in my womb. And blessed is she who believed, for what was spoken to her by the Lord will be fulfilled” (Luke 1:41–45). Even more delighted by such a greeting, Mary expressed the delight of Her holy and pure heart in a majestic song, which, composing, as it were, a fabric from the most gracious sayings of the Old Testament, shows how deeply She knew and understood the Holy Scriptures. “And Mary said: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, because he has respected the lowliness of his handmaid, for from now on all generations will call me blessed”... (Luke 1:46–48) The kindly, hospitable shelter of Zechariah and Elizabeth kept the Most Rev. Virgin for three months, after which She returned to Nazareth. And soon after Her departure the promise of Zechariah was fulfilled. Elizabeth gave birth to a son, and his birth delighted not only the righteous parents themselves, but also all the neighbors and relatives who sincerely rejoiced with them. On the eighth day, according to the law, circumcision was performed and together the name was given to the newborn. The mother, who knew her husband’s secret, wanted to give her son the name John, but the relatives opposed this, because such a name was not at all in their family, and insisted on giving the baby a name in honor of the father. Then they had to turn to Zechariah himself to resolve the dispute, and when they asked him by signs what he would like to name his son, Zechariah demanded a tablet and wrote on it: “His name is John” (Luke 1:63). Everyone was surprised at the coincidence of his desire with the desire of Elizabeth, but this surprise turned almost into fear when suddenly after this Zechariah spoke again and explained to those gathered about the whole vision and promise that had happened to him in the church, where the Angel of the Lord, announcing to him about the birth of a son, at the same time predicted him to be John, that is, the son of the grace of God. This story sank deeply into the hearts of everyone who heard it, and they involuntarily thought about the future fate of the baby, and “Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying: Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, that he has visited his people and created deliverance for them... And you, baby, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to make His people aware of salvation in the forgiveness of their sins, by the gracious mercy of our God, with which the East visited us from above, to enlighten those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet on the path of peace. The child grew and was strengthened in spirit” (Luke 1:67,68,76–80). II. Christmas. Circumcision of the Lord. Meeting of the Lord Jesus in the Church. Adoration of the Magi. Flight of St. families to Egypt and return to Nazareth Upon his return to Nazareth, Pres. The Virgin Mary had to finally go to live with Her betrothed Joseph; but when the influx of the Holy Spirit manifested itself in Her with obvious signs of pregnancy, this even served as a source of no small grief for Her. Suspicious rumors spread among the neighbors about Her breaking her vow of virginity, and when this rumor reached Joseph, he, too, was quite embarrassed by this and, now considering his position as the guardian of virginity unnecessary, wanted to leave Her completely. As a righteous man, it was difficult for him to do this, and he pondered what to do in this difficult case. But soon his difficulty was resolved by the Angel of the Lord, who, appearing to him in a dream, said to him: “Joseph, son of David! Do not be afraid to accept Mary your wife, for what is born in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a Son, and you will call His name Jesus; for He will save His people from their sins. And all this happened, that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, who says: Behold, a virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel, which means: God is with us” (Matthew 1:20–23). This revelation, which spoke so much for such a righteous man, who undoubtedly, together with many other similar righteous people, had long and ardently awaited the salvation of Israel, completely calmed Joseph, and he, in order to free Mary from any shadow of reproach from those around him, took Her to his home, where the Most Holy One. The Virgin expected the fulfillment of the great promise. But the circumstances were such that the birth had to take place not in Nazareth, but in another, distant city, which was predicted by the prophets. The Jewish people at that time were subordinate to the ruler of the world, Rome, and from the time of Pompey they paid him tribute. Emperor Augustus now sat on the Roman throne, who used all the forces of his governmental genius to restore order in a vast empire that had just experienced the horrors of civil upheaval and civil strife. Most of all, financial affairs, which had fallen into complete disarray during the civil unrest, needed to be streamlined, and for this purpose the emperor ordered a census of the population in all provinces of the vast empire. The emperor was so interested in this important state matter that he made with his own hand a summary of statistical data for the entire empire, indicating citizens and allies, the number of taxes and taxes. Three such censuses were carried out under him, namely at the beginning of his reign - in 726 from the founding of Rome, in the middle of his reign - in 746 and at the end of his reign - in 767 from the founding of Rome. Now the second of these censuses was taking place and, gradually moving from province to province, it finally reached Judea, which also had to carry out the decree of the supreme ruler. Actually, Herod the Great was the king of the Jews at that time, but as a Roman protege he was entirely dependent on the Romans; With servile readiness to fulfill all the wishes of Caesar, he gave the order throughout the entire country to immediately submit to the required census. In order not to cause unnecessary and useless unrest and discontent among the subject peoples, the Roman government usually left each province to carry out its orders in the way that was most consistent with the national character and its customs. Therefore, in Judea, the census was carried out not according to the Roman method, but according to the ancient Jewish one, according to which everyone had to register not at their place of residence, but in the city from which the family of this or that person came. Since Joseph traced his ancestry to King David, to record his name he had to go to Bethlehem, as the homeland of his great royal ancestor. This apparently happened at the end of 749, therefore in winter. But since the winter in Palestine is not always severe and after the November rains sometimes even flowers appear in the fields, to which the herds are driven, then, despite the distance of the journey, Joseph decided to take with him Mary, who also came from the family of David and could not help but feel a desire to visit the homeland of Her royal ancestor, especially now, when the time of the birth of the promised Son of David was approaching. The journey, as usual, took place slowly and was now and then interspersed with stops in numerous villages and cities, which at that time almost completely covered the entire now sparsely populated and deserted country. But finally they passed Jerusalem and ten miles from it to the south, on one of the limestone ridges, their native Bethlehem rose. To get into the city, it was necessary to make a rather difficult climb up the mountain, and this climb was especially difficult in this damp winter time, when the rains loosened and made all the roads leading to it slippery; it was even more difficult for the Most Rev. Mary in Her burdened state. But with all the greater joy the Nazareth travelers reached one of the suburban inns or hotels, where they planned to spend the night. When, however, they arrived at the hotel, it turned out that it was already completely crowded with newcomers and there was no room for them. In order to find themselves at least some kind of shelter from the approaching night, they, as a last resort, decided to camp for the night at least in the cave adjacent to the hotel, which also served as a stall for domestic animals. And there, in this wretched environment, the King of the world was born - Christ! A greatest event had taken place in the world, which should have completely reborn him, but he knew nothing about what had happened and, exhausted by worries about the endless topic of the day, was plunged into a deep sleep. Only a few poor and simple-minded shepherds from a neighboring village were awake, who took turns guarding the flock entrusted to them from wolves and robbers. Although these were completely simple people, as residents of a village located almost under the walls of the glorious homeland of the great King David and not far from Jerusalem with its temple and atoning sacrifices, for which, by the way, their herds were mainly intended, they were undoubtedly imbued with a common expectation of the Messiah, and they more than once whiled away the leisure of boring, cold nights with simple-minded reasoning about His imminent appearance in the world - if only in order to overthrow the yoke of the pagans, who were now subjecting the people of God to a shameful count in order to burden an already poor people with new taxes. All around them there was a dead silence, broken only by the faint bleating of the sheep; above their heads stretched a cloudless sky, dotted with a pattern of brightly sparkling stars, silently looking, as thousands of years ago, at the very meadows where royal David once grazed his flock. And suddenly, in the midst of this silence of the night, “an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them” (Luke 2:9). This phenomenon struck them with extraordinary horror, but the Angel immediately reassured them, saying: “Do not be afraid; I bring you good news of great joy, which will be to all people: for today a Savior has been born to you in the city of David, who is Christ the Lord. And here is a sign for you: you will find a Child wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger” (Luke 2:10–12). As soon as they listened to this extraordinary news and did not have time to discuss it at all with their simple minds, they saw a new sign that confirmed what the Angel had just told them. The night sky with countless stars suddenly lit up with an extraordinary radiance, in which a numerous heavenly army appeared, and a solemn angelic song was heard over the sleepy earth: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14). When the angelic choir fell silent and the shepherds, amazed by everything they had seen and heard, came to their senses again, they immediately decided to go to Bethlehem to see what exactly happened there and what the Lord told them about. On the way, they stopped at a suburban hotel and there it was that “they found Mary, and Joseph, and the Child lying in a manger” (Luke 2:16), everything was exactly as it was announced to them, and the first bowed to the newborn Christ. They were the first among people to become the evangelists of His coming, since immediately after this they began to tell everyone about “what was announced to them about this Child. And all who heard were amazed at what the shepherds told them. And Mary (who knew more than anyone the terrible circumstances of the sacrament of birth that took place) preserved all these words, placing them in Her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, as it had been told them” (Luke 2:17–20). The compassion of those around him for the young Mother and Her wonderful Child apparently resulted in the immediate relocation of St. family to more comfortable accommodation in a hotel, or in one of the private houses in Bethlehem. There, on the eighth day, it was done to St. He was circumcised as an infant as a seal of His association with the chosen people, and at the same time He was given the name Jesus, which means Savior. This name, especially in its simplified form Oshea or Hosea, was very common among the Jews of that time. It was dear to them as the name of their glorious leader, who victoriously led them into possession of the promised land, and the name of the high priest, who led the captives returning from Babylon; but henceforth, not only for the Jews, but for all humanity, it was to receive an infinitely more sacred meaning, as the name of the Son of God in His life on earth. The Hebrew name "Messiah" and the Greek "Christ" denoted His ministry as an anointed Prophet, High Priest and King; but "Jesus" was a personal name which He bore as a true Man among other men. On the fortieth day after childbirth, Rev. The Virgin Mary, who according to the law until that time could not leave the house, brought the Baby to the Temple of Jerusalem to cleanse herself and bring Him to the Lord. In such cases, according to the law, it was necessary to offer a one-year-old lamb as a burnt offering and a young dove or turtle dove as a sin offering (Luke 2:22; Lev. 12:1–8; Num. 18:16); but according to the usual leniency that distinguishes the Mosaic legislation, persons who, due to their poverty, could not make such a valuable sacrifice, were allowed to offer instead two turtle doves or two chicks of pigeons (Lev. 12:6–8). With just such a modest sacrifice, Mary appeared in the church to the priest. At the same time, Jesus, as the Firstborn Son, was offered to the Lord and, according to the law, was redeemed from the need to serve in the church with the usual payment of five sacred shekels (Num. 18:15–16). No further details are given about the cleansing and bringing to the church in the Gospel narrative, but this visit to the church was marked by the fact that during it the Savior of the world was recognized as right in the Child. Simeon and Anna. In Jerusalem at this time, as in other places in the country, there were quite a few especially pious and believing people who most felt the severity of the time they were going through and especially longed to finally see the salvation of Israel. Among them belonged a certain Simeon, “a righteous and pious man, looking forward to the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25). He was already a very old man, who had seen many great upheavals in his lifetime and experienced many severe emotional anxieties. He had moments of grave doubt, which were all the more difficult to bear for such a believing and righteous soul, and one such moment even served as an instrument of his highest test and, at the same time, his highest joy. According to legend, reading the famous prophecy of Isaiah about the birth of the Messiah from a Virgin, he doubted the possibility of this and for this doubt “it was predicted to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he saw Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:26). The promise was unusually joyful for him, but years passed after years, increasingly imposing on him the burden of senile infirmity, and the Messiah still did not come. In the last years of his life, he became an almost permanent inhabitant of the church and its vestibules, where he constantly offered up prayers for the speedy fulfillment of the promise given to him. And then the Most Holy One appeared in the church. The Virgin with her divine Child. At the sight of this Holy Child, the divinely enlightened soul of the righteous old man rejoiced. With his prophetic spirit, he realized that this is the consolation of Israel, this is the Messiah, the Savior of the world. After performing the legal rite over the Baby, Simeon took him into his senile, weak hands, thanked God and pronounced that majestic speech, which became the favorite song of the Christian world: “Now,” he said, “Thou releasest Thy servant, O Master, according to Thy word, in peace; For my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared before the face of all nations—a light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of Your people Israel” (Luke 2:29–32). Joseph and Mary were amazed at everything they heard, and he, turning to them, blessed them, adding the Most Holy One herself. Meaningful words to the Virgin, the full power of which She could only understand later. “Behold,” said Simeon, pointing to the Child, “This One lies for the fall and the uprising of many in Israel and for the subject of discord, and a weapon will pierce Your own soul, so that the thoughts of the hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34–35). When Simeon finished his blessing to the baby’s parents, the ancient old woman Anna, known to the church visitors as the prophetess, approached them. She was the same righteous woman as Simeon; she came from the tribe of Asher, therefore from Galilee. She was already 84 years old and in her memory not only the conquest and capture of Jerusalem by Pompey the Roman took place, but there was also a fierce struggle between the Asmonean brothers Aristobulus and Hyrcanus, which undermined the moral strength of the people and contributed to the seizure of the throne of David by the cunning Edomite Herod. The entire reign of Herod, with its horrors and bloodshed, took place before her eyes and aroused in her an even stronger desire to see the salvation of Israel. Naturally pious, she, having lived with her husband for only seven years, after his death devoted herself entirely to the work of “serving God day and night” (Luke 2:37). And for this selflessness she was also honored to see the Savior of the world. Seeing Him, “she glorified the Lord and spoke about Him to all who were waiting for deliverance in Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38). Represented by rights. Simeon and Anna, the Savior of the world appeared to Israel as the chosen people, but He was not slow in appearing to the pagans, who were also supposed to take part in salvation, and this Epiphany to the pagans took place under extraordinary circumstances. When St. the family was in Bethlehem and lived quietly there under the cover of poverty and obscurity; nature itself had already announced the appearance of the Messiah to the remote ends of the earth. From the distant east, noble travelers, the so-called Magi, arrived in Jerusalem and, to the amazement of the inhabitants of the Jewish capital, asked where Christ was born. These were the Chaldean sages who, engaged in scientific observations of the celestial bodies, were famous for their predictions about events and revolutions taking place in the world, as they were, according to popular opinion in ancient times, in connection with changes in celestial phenomena. During their scientific observations of the sky they knew well, their attention was struck by an extraordinary star, never before seen by them. Every appearance of a new star, according to their teaching, testified to the appearance on earth of some great man who had a great influence on the fate of the world; but this new star was so extraordinary that it aroused special interest among the Magi. What could she foreshadow? – They knew the famous prediction of Balaam about the star that was about to rise from Jacob; then, as a result of the dispersion of the Jews and the translation of the Old Testament into the common Greek language, the pagans were well acquainted with the expectations of the Jews regarding the coming of the Messiah, so that even such famous Roman historians as Tacitus and Suetonius talk about this, conveying the current opinion that a King will soon rise in Judea, who will conquer the whole world; finally, the Chaldean sages could be especially well acquainted with this hope of Israel thanks to the prophet Daniel, who belonged to their class, who with particular expressiveness predicted the coming of the Messiah and even determined the time of His coming with exact numbers (weeks). All this was sufficient reason for the Magi to explain the appearance of a new extraordinary star precisely in the sense of the birth of the Messiah, and if they received a special revelation at the same time, then they sent three members from among themselves to actually make sure that the great event had taken place and to bring gifts and worship to the newborn great King. When, however, they arrived in Jerusalem, no one there, except for a few chosen ones, knew about the appearance of this extraordinary King; but the appearance of the wise men involuntarily attracted general attention and the purpose of their arrival was immediately reported to Herod. This news struck the suspicious king like a thunderbolt, who at that time, depressed by years and illness and already feeling an unbearable remorse for all the sins and bloody crimes of his vicious life, was in a state of almost insane frenzy. Having already shed entire streams of blood in order to exterminate everyone who had even the slightest right to the throne he had stolen, he was positively frightened by the news that now the Messiah, the true Son of David, was born, to whom the throne illegally occupied by him rightfully belonged. All of Jerusalem became alarmed along with him. To investigate such an important matter, Herod immediately “gathered all the high priests and scribes of the people” and demanded that they answer him the question: “Where should Christ be born?” (Matthew 2:4). It was not difficult for Jewish learned theologians to answer this question, since the prophet Micah clearly predicted that Christ would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). Then Herod, secretly calling the wise men and finding out from them the time of the appearance of the star in order to more accurately determine the time of the birth of the Messiah, sent them to Bethlehem, giving them an insidious assignment: “go, carefully investigate the Child, and when you find it, notify me, so that I too can go to worship Him” (Matthew 2:8). Knowing nothing about the bloodthirsty intention of the king, the wise men set out on their journey and with great joy saw that the star they had seen in the east again appeared before them and led them exactly to the place where the newborn Messiah was. “And entering the house, they saw the Child with Mary His Mother, and falling down they worshiped Him; and having opened their treasures, they brought Him gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11), thus showing the Child in His wretched cradle honors that they did not show to Herod himself in his luxurious chambers. Having brought their gifts and bowed to the miraculous Baby, the Magi would certainly have returned to Jerusalem to share their joy with Herod and give him the opportunity to also bow to the Messiah; but the revelation that came to them in a dream revealed Herod’s bloodthirsty plan to them, and they “departed to their country another way” (Matthew 2:12). At the same time, Joseph received the highest warning about the danger threatening the Baby, and at the direction of the Angel, he hastily moved with his family to Egypt, which had long been a natural place of refuge for all those persecuted in Palestine, and remained there until the death of Herod. Meanwhile, the king, seeing himself deceived by the Magi and suspecting them of complicity with the royal Infant, became even more furious, which took on a completely sinister character. He had no means of recognizing the royal Infant from the seed of David, and least of all, of course, he would have looked for Him in the cattle stall at the inn. But he knew that the Baby, whom, as a result of a visit to the Magi, he began to look at as a future rival for himself or his house, was still an infant, and since in the East mothers usually breastfeed their children for two years, he did not stop in the face of the most terrible crime and issued a bloodthirsty command - to kill all the babies with their husbands. sex in Bethlehem and its environs "from two years old and under" (Matthew 2:16). Nothing is known about the manner in which this command was carried out. Children could be killed secretly, gradually and in various ways, or, according to the generally accepted assumption, the beating could be carried out at one specific hour. The commands of such tyrants as Herod are usually covered in impenetrable darkness; they lead everyone into horror and numbness, in which it is unsafe to speak even in a whisper. But it was impossible to silence the desperate cry of the mothers, from whom their babies were taken away with such cruelty, and those who heard this cry involuntarily imagined that it was as if their great foremother Rachel was crying again, whose tomb stands along the road about two miles from Bethlehem, and joined her voice to the sobs and screams of the unfortunate mothers, who wept inconsolably for their beaten babies. But this was Herod’s last crime, and he soon died, dying in despair and in terrible agony from a disgusting disease. Having received a message about the death of Herod, Joseph returned from Egypt and wanted to settle in Bethlehem, but having learned that the throne in Judea had passed to Herod’s bloodthirsty son Archelaus, he headed, at the direction of the Angel, again to Galilee, which was under the control of Herod’s second son Antipas, and again settled in his former city of Nazareth. III. Life of St. family in Nazareth. Twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem. The Rise of Jesus The Savior of the world, having been born in a cattle cave and reclining in a manger, deigned to spend all the years of His growth in a city that did not at all correspond to the human concept of greatness and glory. Nazareth was one of the insignificant towns of Galilee, which, being occupied by a mixed population of Jews and pagans, did not enjoy good fame among true Jews. The corrupted Greek-Jewish language and the dubious nature of the religion placed this area so low in the opinion of the Jewish scribes that they even formed the conviction that “a prophet does not come from Galilee” (John 7:52). But this bad glory, shared by all of Galilee, fell with particular force on Nazareth, which even the Galileans themselves treated with contempt (John 1:46). The reason for this is unknown, but it could lie either in his close relations with the pagans, who had an unfavorable influence on his religious and moral life, or in the very character of the inhabitants, who were distinguished by extreme unbelief and cruel violence, as Christ himself later had to experience (Matthew 13:54-58; Luke 4:16-29). Finally, and in general, it was such an insignificant city that no historical memories from the life of the chosen people were associated with it, and even its very name is never found in the Old Testament. But despite all this, Nazareth, located in one of the most beautiful basins of Galilee and surrounded on all sides by picturesque hills, was a convenient place where St. the family could, in silence and obscurity, raise the divine deposit entrusted to its care until the time came for the Messiah to speak for the salvation of the world. And there the divine Child grew up under the wretched roof of his betrothed father, Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth. According to the expressive testimony of Ev. Luke, He “grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him” (Luke 2:40). As a true Man, the Infant Christ experienced the infirmities of human childhood, so that He achieved physical and spiritual adulthood with the same gradualness as it is achieved by ordinary people. At the same time, this early childhood was already His conscious preparation for great public service: He studied St. Scripture, in order to comprehend with His human mind the will of the Heavenly Father who sent Him, and He soon proved the depth of this study and understanding in the most amazing way. Since the time of the Babylonian captivity, the Jews with particular zeal fulfilled the law, which ordered all adult men to gather in Jerusalem for the three great annual holidays. On the greatest holiday, namely Easter, women usually went to Jerusalem, taking with them their more or less adult children, precisely when they reached twelve years of age. The gatherings for these holidays were a highly important event for the population, which, among its best representatives, sent their best wealth to be donated to the people's sanctuary. Joseph, as a true Israelite, unacceptably fulfilled this requirement of the law, and when the youth Jesus reached the age of twelve, which imposed on Him the obligation to fulfill the law, then St. the family went to Jerusalem to celebrate a great holiday in this significant year of the life of their Son under the shadow of the church. Nazareth was located about one and a half hundred miles from Jerusalem, and since the path of the worshipers went through a densely populated area, the party of worshipers, gradually increasing in new batches from intermediate cities and villages, towards Jerusalem itself grew into a huge caravan, which moved to St. a city with sacred chants and in an ecstatic spiritual mood. For the Easter holiday, tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of people flocked to Jerusalem not only from all over Palestine, but also from all over the east and even the whole world, wherever the Jews lived. As a result, the city could not accommodate all the newcomers, and the worshipers usually settled outside the city - in hastily built huts from freshly blossoming willow branches, intertwined with each other with sufficient density for shelter. The holiday lasted a week and took place, in addition to the usual eating of the Paschal lamb, in continuous sacrifices, performed with special solemnity by the priests, whom the divine Youth could see in all their vestments for the first time here. These religious institutions were also accompanied by a multitude of purely worldly entertainments, since the numerous influx of people attracted all kinds of industrialists and traders to Jerusalem, and the holy city thundered with festive excitement, and sometimes with popular revelry, restrained only by the reinforced garrison of the Roman army, which vigilantly watched everything that happened in the city from the heights of the fortified tower of Antony occupied by them. At the end of the holiday, caravans of fans returned the same way. Under the influence of the festive mood, the road was enlivened with fun and music. In places, travelers stopped to refresh themselves with cold spring water or refresh themselves with dates or cucumbers. Elderly elders and women usually rode mules, which were led by the bridles of adult men, and children played near their parents or relatives. With such a movement of a large caravan, it was very easy for a time not to notice the absence of their child, even for child-loving parents, who could assume that he was going somewhere with other children or relatives. But with what horror Joseph and Mary were struck when, during a great halt, they could not find their Jesus in the entire caravan and when no one could even tell them where exactly He was! When all the searches turned out to be in vain, the parents had only one thing left to do - return to Jerusalem to see if He remained there, and they actually left the caravan the very next day and hastily set off on their way back. This lonely path was even unsafe for them, since the country at that time was in a state of turmoil and bands of rebels were prowling everywhere, who, under the leadership of Judas Gamala and the Pharisee Zadok, rebelled with arms in their hands against the Roman proconsul Coponius, who imposed taxes on the people according to the new Roman system, developed on the basis of the census. Such a restless state of the country not only made it difficult for them to travel, but also increased their fears that, given the fierceness of the warring parties under the walls of Jerusalem, their Son would not be exposed to any danger. In truth, on that day of sorrow and fear, weapons passed through the soul of the Most Holy One. Virgin Mothers! Upon arrival in Jerusalem, Joseph and Mary began a most thorough search; but neither that day, nor during the following night, nor even on the morning of the third day could they find Jesus anywhere, until finally they found Him in the church, where He “sat among the teachers, listened to them and asked them,” showing such extraordinary curiosity and such spiritual wisdom that “all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers” ​​(Luke 2:46-47). This meeting apparently took place in one of those church annexes that were specifically intended for public teaching by scribes. Such meetings were called schools, to which everyone had free access. The teacher or rabbi occupied a place on a special elevation, and students or listeners were located below him in a semicircle. On the occasion of the festive season and the gathering of people in the school where Jesus found himself, there were several teachers, apparently the most famous for their time, and all of them, as representatives of an obsolete law, were amazed at the spiritual power of this unknown representative of the New Testament. Finding Him here in this school assembly, His poor and simple Galilean parents were struck with fear at the sight of their young Son boldly conversing with the great priests and teachers of the people, whom they themselves were accustomed to regard with reverent reverence. Amazed by all this and excited by a mixed feeling of joy on the occasion of the happy discovery of the Son and reproach to Him for the anxiety He caused to the parents, Most Rev. The Virgin Mary interrupted His wonderful conversation with a motherly reproachful question: “Son, what have you done to us? Behold, Your Father and I sought You with great sorrow” (Luke 2:48). And to this question the divine answer sounded: “Why did you look for Me? Or did you not know that I should be concerned with the things that belong to My Father?” (Luke 2:49) Here, for the first time, from the lips of Jesus a testimony was heard that His Father is God, and at the same time He manifested a clear consciousness of His divine messengership, in order by His own example to expound to people the duty of remaining in “that which belongs to the Heavenly Father.” He lets His earthly parents know that He is first of all the Son of God, and only in a secondary sense their Son; therefore, first of all, He must follow the paths of God, and then human ones; and if so, then where could they look for Him if not on this very path of God? Nowhere else should they have sought Him except in that which “belongs to His Father.” First of all, of course, He meant by this the church, as the House of the co-presence of God. But this saying also has a deeper meaning. It indicated that the natural relationship of sonship for the young Jesus had to give way to that higher calling in which the whole purpose of His life was concentrated in fulfilling the will of God, and before this higher calling all the simple demands of everyday life were supposed to recede into the background. This answer was too high for His simple parents, and “they did not understand the words He spoke” (Luke 2:50), at least in their deepest meaning. And this was a truly sad omen of the misunderstanding with which the Savior of the world constantly had to encounter in the fulfillment of His sublime teaching, as the evangelist testifies: “he was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive Him” (John 1:10–11). But although the consciousness of His divine origin flashed in the soul of young Jesus with such miraculous power, He, with all the simplicity of the duty of obedience to his parents, “went with them and came to Nazareth, and was in obedience to them” (Luke 2:51). And Rev. His Mother, for Whose all these extraordinary actions and words of Her Son were only new confirmations of the terrible secret of His conception known to Her, “kept all these words in Her heart” (Luke 2:51). Upon his return to Nazareth, a silent story began for Jesus, during which for eighteen years the evangelists did not report a single event from His life. This was the time of the silent growth and maturation of the child Jesus into a perfect man, by whom He already appears in history, eighteen years after the significant visit to the church and the self-revelation of the Divinity in Him. As the God-man, He, endowed with all the perfections of physical and spiritual nature, “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). By his human nature, subject to all its needs and infirmities, He had to work and help his elderly father in his carpenter's craft (Mark 6:3), teaching us the saving lesson that no height of man's destiny frees him from the duty of hard work. In his everyday life, He was in constant and close relations with the related family of his aunt Mary, who was married to Alpheus or Cleopas and had several sons and daughters. This family, after the death of his father, in all likelihood was taken into his care by Joseph, and after his death, the two widows continued to live together, so that both of these families merged into one and in the minds of their neighbors, their children became, as it were, siblings, as is said more than once in the Gospel narrative 1. It was among these native peers that Christ grew up. Along with his physical development came His spiritual development and education. Like all Jewish children of that time, He undoubtedly received some education either at the local Nazarene school, or from Joseph himself, who, as a “righteous” man, was of course quite well-read in the law and Jewish writing in general and could teach his god. Reading and writing lessons for my son. That Jesus knew how to write is shown by His repeated allusions to the outline of Hebrew letters, as well as the message that He bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. But the main subject of study was St. Scripture, and His knowledge was deep and extensive, even apparently He knew it all by heart, as is clear not only from His direct references, but also from the numerous references that He made to the Pentateuch and other holy books. books on the prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Joel, Hosea, Micah, Zechariah, Malachi, and especially on the Psalter. It is also possible to believe with probability, although it cannot be said affirmatively, that He was also familiar with the non-canonical books of the Jews. This is a deep and thorough knowledge of St. The Scriptures gave special poignancy and strength to the half-indignant question with which He so often addressed his learned co-questioners: “Haven’t you read?” The language the Savior usually spoke was Aramaic, that is, a mixture of Hebrew and Chaldean. Pure Hebrew at that time was already a completely dead language, and only more educated people knew it, acquiring knowledge of it at school. But Jesus was obviously familiar with him, because some of His quotes from St. The Scriptures point directly to the Hebrew original (Mark 12:29–30; Luke 22:37; Matthew 27:46). He probably also knew the Greek language, because it was a common language in cities such close to His homeland as Sepphoris, Caesarea and Tiberias. From the time of Alexander the Great, and especially due to the close relations of the Jews with the Ptolemies and Seleucids, Greek influence was strong in Palestine. In Phenicia and Syria, the works of Greek poets were read in the original by the educated classes, and in some cities, like Gadare, there were higher Hellenic schools. The Greek language was, in fact, the usual means of mutual communication, and without it Jesus could not have spoken with strangers - with the centurion, for example, whose servant He healed; with Pilate, who of course did not know the native language, but as an educated person and ruler was obliged to know Greek; as well as with the Greeks, who wanted to talk with Him in the last week of His life. Some of the texts cited by Christ from St. The Scriptures are taken directly from the Greek translation of seventy interpreters, even in those places where He departs from the Hebrew original (Matt. 4:7; 13:14, 25). Whether He was familiar with the Latin language is much more difficult to decide, although not impossible, since there were many Romans in Judea at that time, Latin inscriptions were on current coins, and quite a few Latin words were used in the community, such as legion, codrant and others, which were later used by Christ himself. But all this external education was a secondary matter for Him. His main education was penetration into the will of the Father who sent Him, and in these unknown years of everyday life that spirit of self-sacrifice matured in Him, which manifested itself in the history of His subsequent service for the salvation of the human race. According to another legend, these brothers and sisters of the Lord were children from the first marriage of Joseph the betrothed. But both traditions are equally consistent with the gospel narrative. You might be interested in: