Против исследователей естества Сына Божия

The Heavenly King, the Immortal Lord, the Only Begotten Son, Beloved of the Father, Who, by His sole goodness, by His power created man from the earth, overcome by the bounties of His benevolence, for the sake of that very man whom His most pure hands created, came down from heaven to save and heal all those who suffer. For through the action of the evil one, everyone became weak in evil: the damage became severe and incurable: neither the prophets nor the priests were able to completely heal the ulcers. Therefore, the Holy, Only Begotten Son, seeing that all nature was exhausted in evil, by the will of the Father, descending from heaven, was incarnated in the womb of the Holy Virgin and, by His good pleasure, being born of Her, came, with grace and generosity, to heal those possessed by various infirmities, and with His word to heal all diseases. He delivered everyone from the stench of their own ulcers. But those who were ill due to healing, instead of giving thanks to the Doctor for healing, began to enter into the study of the essence of the Doctor, which is incomprehensible. A terrible miracle! The useless unbridledness of foolish mortals! Which of them heard or saw that ulcers that had rotted over time were healed? And you, unfortunate one, were yourself healed by the Doctor, and, out of your rudeness, enter into the study of His essence? Because the Doctor took on your image for your sake in order to heal you, then you enter into the study of His nature. Listen to what I will say to your rudeness and insolence: if you want to enter into the study of the essence of the Doctor, then you will not find either the path or the end of your research, for for anyone who intends to follow this path of research, this path immediately turns out to be impassable. This path is impassable and deserted under his feet, there is neither shelter nor rest on it. What will you do, unfortunate one, in the impassable desert, not finding shelter and peace for yourself? Where will you get to, senseless, in terrible impassability, having neither shelter nor end in front of you? Where will you go, little one? The study of the Only Begotten Son is an immense sea. And you are the same as a small lump of earthly dust plunging into him. If you want to set out into this sea of ​​research, where will you be, unfortunate one? Has anyone ever seen a loose heap set out to explore the entire depth of the great sea? Or has anyone ever heard of a loose substance that dares to explore the power of the wind, scattered everywhere even by a weak breath of wind, having in itself neither independence nor strength to withstand the wind for one moment? And the straw dares to experience the power of fire! The study of God is a consuming fire. Why, unfortunate one, are you burning yourself in a terrible flame? Tell me, foolish one, how to depict in my mind the boundless, glorious and terrible Creator of all creation, before whose gaze every creature melts like wax in the face of fire. Every visible and invisible creature melts before His sight, like wax, in the twinkling of an eye; and you, reckless, in your rudeness and insolence, think to comprehend the Great, Terrible, Glorious and Incomparable? You are in rapture, unfortunate one, not knowing yourself, nor your nature, nor your insignificance. And you do not know, insignificant one, how you yourself were created; How, without knowing yourself, do you enter into research about the terrible and glorious Lord? Look, unfortunate one, at these wise men who came from afar with fear to bow to the born King. They did not find the King lying in purple, nor the bright diadem on His head, but they saw the Child lying in a wretched manger, and immediately, opening their treasures, they brought gifts with heartfelt joy. Do you see the abundance of faith in the Magi? In a wretched manger they found the Heavenly, Holy King, born in the flesh for the salvation of the entire universe; They found Him in the manger and did not enter into the investigation. What is more humiliating than a small manger? The Magi found Him in such squalor - and not one of them began to enter into a study of the nature of the Born; and you, unfortunate one, see the Only Begotten, sitting in great glory at the right hand of the Father, together with the Father, and glorified with Him, and you inquisitively ask about Him! Are you really not afraid, unfortunate one? Are you not trembling, foolish one? Without knowing yourself, you enter into research about the Creator! Who would not be afraid, because the Lord God, the Only Begotten of the Father, sits on high at the right hand of the Father! Angels, Archangels, Cherubim and Seraphim with fear and trembling stand before Him in horror, always looking down, and the ashes and dust thrown on the earth are included in the study of the Creator! The cherub at the throne covers his gaze with his wings, because it is unbearable for him to look at the glory of the terrible Lord; and the earthly man, who does not know himself, and also the hour of his own death, enters into the study of the Lord and Creator of all things! Listen, unfortunate one: whoever enters into research about his Master promises to tell wonderful things about the Divinity and the Only Begotten beloved Father. You say that you see the incomprehensible Deity, glorified in His greatness; Therefore, speak first about the creature, and with your wisdom and your own meaning make it clear which servants perform the service before the Divine; tell and show, like light, the nature of the Angels, the distinctive sign of the Cherub, the characteristic image of the Seraphim, the face of Gabriel, the truly scorching fire of Michael, since they are all servants of the Divine and spirits. How does the fire look, because there is light around them? What also breathes the spirit of service? Where are the eyes of flaming fire? Where are the nostrils for breathing in the spirit? What is their height: is it of sufficient size or only noticeable up close? Are they something intangible or tangible? Tell us all this, you, reckless and inquisitive beyond measure, explain what we do not know: what wings do the fiery ones have, what legs do the flaming ones have? Tell me, how do they bend their fiery muscles under fiery wings? And how is the fiery face again covered with wings, finding it unbearable to look at the immortal fire of the Master of glory? If in this you concede victory over yourself, a daring ignoramus, being unable to speak clearly about the creations of the useless Lord, then how can you delve into inquisitive questions about the Creator Himself? For this pitiful one really concedes in this, and says: “The nature of Angels is invisible: woe, on the heights of heaven are the servants of the Divine, invisible by nature.” Tell me about the visible; Take, daring one, into your mouth this burning coal, visible to us and given to all of us for our use, and taste it fearlessly, as a confirmation to all listeners, as well as spectators, that it is possible for you to explain the nature of the Lord, the terrible Creator. And if this is not possible for you, impudent broadcaster, then go, shed tears, mourn for yourself; because, having abandoned faith in the Holy Creator, which can save everyone who wants to be saved by it, you took up the weapon of your own death; Having sharpened the sword, he voluntarily thrust it into his heart and, also forgetting the glory of the Father, became an inquisitive interrogator about the Creator. How pitiful and damned, and at the same time very shameless, who wants to enter into research about his Creator! Thousands of thousands of Angels, Archangels glorify Him with fear and worship Him with trembling; and earthly people, filled with sins, fearlessly rant about the Divine! The body does not become numb, the heart does not tremble; on the contrary, I accept boldness and boldly speak about Christ, the Son of God, who willingly suffered for me, an unworthy sinner. The birth of the Savior always shines like light; Why do you imagine one thing instead of the other? Tell me, bold one, what I will ask you: if a blind man, who has never seen the rays of the sun, wants to reason with another who has eyes capable of seeing this sun and its rays, and the blind from birth, out of stubbornness, says that this sun has no rays and walks without light across the heights of heaven, who, listening to the blind man, will believe him in this? On the contrary, isn’t it a blind man who, hearing about light, that the sun always has rays, must be convinced with all faith that what is affirmed by those who have seen the sun’s rays is completely true? But perhaps the blind man will not be convinced of what he hears. After a thousand times of reflection, he imagines and draws in his heart the image of the sun, and in no way can he imagine its true appearance, because he has never seen with his bodily eyes the shining sun and its rays; and does not even believe those who have seen the sun exactly. Likewise, all of us, if we do not want to believe the holy prophets and apostles, who say about the Only Begotten Son from the Father, that He became man and was born of a Virgin from the Holy Spirit, we will be worse than this blind man, because the holy prophets and apostles saw Him - they saw Him with the Holy Spirit, and others even looked at Him with their bodily eyes. Another saw by the Holy Spirit the presence of the Son with men, another saw His conception and birth from the Virgin, and clearly signified His name, namely, that He is our God, always present with us; the other, while he was still in the womb of the woman giving birth to Him, saw His Master coming to him through the Holy Spirit, and leaped in his womb for great joy. And he again saw this Most Pure Lord with his bodily eyes, and he himself baptized Him in the Jordan River; he also cried out, saying with boldness: “Behold, the Lamb of God, take away the sins of the world by grace” (John 1:29). And the apostles saw with their bodily eyes with complete certainty that He really had our body, they saw the miracles and knowledge that He performed before the disciples, they saw His suffering on the cross, and resurrection, and ascension to His Father, and sitting at the right hand of the Father. All this, as true, with full certification of the truth, the holy and venerable evangelists handed over to us in writing. If we do not want to believe all this, then it will turn out that we are blind in the eyes of faith and that each of us, according to our own wisdom, imagines conception and birth as we wish. Here we have a path in the Divine Scriptures; Let us follow this path with faith, because without faith no one can know everything that is written about our Lord, the Savior of the world. But if you want to listen to me, believe without entering into research. Have you heard, beloved, that God the Father sent the Only Begotten Son for your salvation; Let us certainly believe, because God is Holy and does not lie. Have you also heard that the Only Begotten was incarnated in the womb of the Holy Virgin and was born by Her from the Holy Spirit; Convince yourself in your heart that this is really so, as you hear every day in the Holy Gospels, clearly looking with the eyes of faith at the deeds themselves. With all faith, with the eyes of your heart, look at the Lord in every place and at every time, with your heart’s desire follow Him from place to place; may your soul rejoice, seeing how the Lord heals all sorts of ailments with grace, casts out demons with power and authority; marry Him at Cana and drink the wine of His blessing; It’s better to say, contemplate the splendor of the Lord, do not turn your eye away from contemplating the Holy Face, from His sweetness; precede Him also in a deserted place and behold the greatness of the virtues multiplying in the holy hands of His dominion. With love, brother, walk with Christ wherever He goes. If you follow Him and walk with Him, evil will not touch you and the evil one will not come near you. Follow Him to that supper, at which He revealed the Holy Mysteries to His disciples. Be a reasonable spectator, as He washes the feet of His disciples, and judge with yourself, peering in wonder, with fear through the eyes of pure faith, say to yourself: “God the Creator, who in goodness created man from dust, Himself washes the feet of His creature.” Look at this, brother, and, glorifying, worship His favor. Look more closely at how, blessing the bread, he crushes it into the image of His own most pure Body, and how again he blesses the cup in the image of the Blood and gives it to His disciples, and be a partaker of His Mysteries. And having left there, enter with your Lord into the courtyard of the lawless Caiaphas and wait courageously to see the reproaches that the Lord endured for you; and you will prove to be a perfect friend of the Lord. Follow Him to the place of the cross; present yourself as a minister; see how blood and water flowed from His side for the redemption of your soul, brother. Look carefully where He is placed; morning with the women at His tomb; see the Angels coming there; listen to what the Angels say to the wives: “The Lord has risen, as He spoke to you” (Matthew 28:6). Be a reasonable, perfect, undoubtedly believing spectator of all this, because everything really happened like that. For if you do not clearly contemplate all this with the eyes of faith, then you cannot rise from earth to heaven and spiritually look at the sufferings of Christ. When the eye of faith shines like light in a person’s heart, then clearly, brightly and purely he contemplates the Lamb of God, who was slain for us and who gave us His holy and pure Body for constant communion, so that this communion would be for us for the remission of sins. He who has this eye of faith clearly and brightly contemplates the Master and, with the conviction of perfect faith, eats the Body of the immaculate Lamb. The Only Begotten Son of the Heavenly Father, without going in the least into inquisitiveness about the faith of God, because the faith of God is active in us, contemplates the future and is always called faith, and not inquisitiveness. Do you believe, beloved, that the Only Begotten Jesus Christ was born on earth in the flesh for your sake? Why else are you indulging in inquisitiveness? If you are curious, then you should be called not faithful, but inquisitive. Be innocently faithful; partake with all faith of the Most Pure Body of the Lord, in full conviction that you are truly tasting the Lamb Himself. The Mysteries of Christ are immortal fire. Therefore, do not be inquisitive, lest you be burned in the communion of the Mysteries. Patriarch Abraham offered earthly dishes to the heavenly Angels, and they ate. It is truly a great miracle to see how the disembodied on earth eat the flesh offered as food. But every mind and every word surpasses what the Only Begotten Jesus Christ, our Savior, did for us. For food and drink, He gave us fire and spirit, that is, His Body and also His Blood. But I, brothers, do not become brave, because I can talk about the Lord’s Mysteries, or even touch these hidden and terrible Mysteries. And if I wanted to use insolence and began to talk about them, it would turn out that I am not able to comprehend the Mysteries of God, that I am insolent, unreasonable and fight only with the air, although I cannot touch it at all due to its subtlety, because this mystery is higher than my nature. On the contrary, I will better glorify God and the Father, who was pleased with His Only Begotten True Son to save me, an unworthy sinner who believes in Him in simplicity of heart, avoiding inquisitiveness and any encroachment that is offensive to God. I am mortal, from dust and rings, from a dusty nature created by goodness; I voluntarily recognize the insignificance of my nature and do not want to enter into research about my Creator, because the Incomprehensible by nature is terrible. I bless His sovereignty and worship Him forever. Amen. You might be interested in: