О жене грешнице, помазавшей Господа миром

There are many venerable and worthy of God who piously sing praises to the Most Pure Lord; but, by the grace of faith, even I, unworthy, was deemed worthy to praise Him with them, because grace never rejects a single person who wants to be saved. Just as a spring, constantly exuding pure streams and abundant streams, never prevents anyone who wants to enjoy the gift of pure, abundant waters, so Divine grace is open to everyone, so that everyone can enjoy as much as they want. For when the Savior in the Gospels calls everyone with His Divine voice, without in the least distinguishing between the poor and the rich, and says: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37). That is why I, although unworthy, became a partaker of His grace and desired to boldly, with tears, sing of Him in order to receive remission of sins, like that sinner wife who, in spiritual fervor, boldly entered that longed-for house where the Debt Resolver lay. I see this and will take even greater boldness to become extremely persistent in asking, for I see an excess of spiritual fervor, this most powerful and beautiful persistence. Come, Christ-loving, perfect listeners, and enjoy the wonderful story of this great and wondrous woman, who hourly calls us to an extraordinary spectacle. I call a spectacle the disgrace that this wife created for Angels and men. How did she openly enter, completely uninvited? How did she approach Him reclining and declare all the secrets of the heart, retelling it all without sound or voice? Do you see the extraordinary commitment of the soul, how it has established itself in its persistence? The courageous wife was not afraid of either the murmur of her family or the cruel reprimand from those who were coming; she reasoned to herself: “If I make my face, as if on iron and copper, show no shame at all, then I will not be able to save myself from the vile tide of my debauchery. I will neglect humiliation in front of people, imputing their insults to nothing! Briefly, this time of wonderful persistence in comparison with the previous time of my shamelessness. Then, shamelessly standing at the crossroads, I invited everyone to a shameful affair, going out to meet everyone in indecent outfits, braiding hair to hair, with a radiant smile on my cheeks, giving myself a seductive appearance in order to attract every handsome and handsome young man to me; Then I was completely the devil’s snare, trapping souls in eternal damnation. Therefore, now I must put in the work, heal quickly and do good instead of those bad deeds. I’ll go and see the great Doctor, who accepts everyone and despises no one. I will tell Him everything that I did with my body to seduce the young. I will use my beautiful hair, which previously shone to the delight and temptation of many, instead of a towel or a drying pad, and I will turn my eyelids, along with the apples of my eyes, with which I gave shameful signs, into sources of tears. And I will soberly follow in the footsteps of the Holy Physician in order to fall before Him.” Having such an intention, this wondrous wife sought time, keeping in her soul the firm thought of tightly hugging the feet of the Lord. Having learned that Simon, one of the Pharisees, had called the Savior to him, she was very happy about this, and with great ardor she went to one of the world-makers to buy a vessel of peace. And, heading there, she said to herself: “Where can I get excellent peace that would be worthy of the Holy and Great Physician, so that he could accept it along with my tears; I will give you a generous payment just to achieve your goal. And I will torture the world-maker himself mercilessly, or, better said, I will conjure him in the name of the God of his holy fathers (as they believe), so that he will give me an excellent, royal world Physician to honor, charging me a high price.” And, coming to one of the world-makers, he cheerfully says to him: “Peace be with you, world-maker! I am looking for an excellent, royal, dear world, the like of which has never happened anywhere, because above all is He Whom I love, and it is impossible for anyone else to equal himself with Him.” Mirovar answered her: “Your words are arrogant, wife. Who doesn't know who you are? You always spend time on city crossroads, and in the city you have a great many lovers. To whom of all of them do you want, wife, to offer this excellent royal myrrh? What can he give you for the ointment that you want to buy for such a price? I want to sell it, but, however, I would like to know to whom you will take it with zeal and embarrassment. Will it go to any of the nobles of the royal court? And among the kings there was no other king in Israel greater than David; Is your new lover from his family? Tell me, wife, because I want to be sure, since the price is high, and your very zeal amazes me; tell me who he is? Then the wonderful wife answered the world-maker with spiritual confusion, saying: “Fear the God of your fathers, man. Give me a vessel of peace so that I can quickly arrive. Fear God, who gave such strength to the hand of Moses that he could use a rod to divide the waters of the sea, stop them in the form of steep cliffs, and lead the people through dry sand (Ex. 14:22). I conjure you, young man, with the holy bones that Moses carried with him through the depths of the sea (I mean the remains of the ascetic Joseph, who openly defeated the serpent in the cave). I conjure you, young man, with that holy voice that spoke to Moses in the burning flame and in the unburnt bush. I conjure you, young man, to those who on the mountain, without damaging His glory, gave radiance to the face of Moses. I conjure you, young man, with the holy ark, which stopped the flow of the Jordan River until it was completely drained. I conjure you, young man, with the holy power that in the blink of an eye destroyed the seven walls of the city of Jericho, and with the holy hands of Joshua, who, lifting them into the air, with a word stopped the flow of the elements, so that one day was equal to two. That's how much I told you, called on the name of God, the names of all the saints who obeyed God; Finally, give me peace, and take whatever price you want for its vessel, just give me excellent peace and let me go, so that I can quickly see my great, most beloved, Most Pure Beloved.” The mirovar again answered his wife: “I see your generosity in the price for the vessel of peace. What harm will it do to you, wife, if you tell me about your Beloved, Whom you have now acquired in love? And you aroused in me a desire to know Him. I can’t give you peace, wife, if you don’t tell me who He is.” She answered him: “Why are you putting such pressure on me, asking me in detail about something that is impossible to say? My soul is on fire, my heart is burning. When will I see Him and will He fill me with joy? Fear, man, God, the Most Pure Lord, and reassure me with a kind answer. Fear, O man, the Holy God, Who called Abraham, glorified his son Isaac, and named Jacob Israel and made him patriarch of the twelve tribes. Fear, O man, God, Who gave Samuel to Anna, who fervently prayed in spiritual sorrow. Fear, man, the Righteous God, Who delivered the lamb Susanna from the fierce wolves. Bow to my request, young man, and give me, as I already told you, a vessel of excellent royal peace. If you, man, saw the flame of my heart, you yourself would hasten to let me go from here.” Myrovar, wanting to find out about the vessel of peace, again told her: “Listen, wife, you conjured a lot and also tortured me to give you myrrh, but I repeatedly asked you to tell me: is He really above all people and there is no one more beautiful than Him on earth, that you are so wounded by His beauty, and want to bring excellent myrrh to the Beautiful? Is this a descendant of the righteous King David, or the great Abraham, a friend of the Most High? Tell me who is He? Why are you so passionate about looking at His beauty? The wife said to the world cook: “Why are you forcing me so much to tell you my secret? I came to buy myrrh, not to talk. Fear, man, the Most Pure God, have pity on me and let me go quickly, so that you can come to me with care to my great Beloved, and with all respect give me the vessel of peace. Do not hesitate, man, do not be the cause of eternal sorrow for me, deprived of such a treasure.” Mirovar said to her: “If there is no envy in you (otherwise you can think about it), then reveal your Benefactor to me; I will gladly, having been satisfied, give you the royal peace that you are looking for. However, I think that you will find in me a companion to your good expectations.” The wife, seeing that the world master was asking her so many questions, was very surprised at his jealousy - why he tried so hard to find out about everything, and finally answered the world master: “Everyone, I think, knows in the city how I acted, every hour desecrating myself with fornication, and entrapping others in the same defilement. But by chance I saw this Saint who appeared on earth, the Doctor and the Savior; and immediately my soul became a captive and was drawn after His most pure beauty. For with my own eyes I saw awe-inspiring healings, unparalleled signs and great compassion in Him. He accepts sinners, and comes to publicans, and does not reject lepers, and does not drive the wicked away, but accepts everyone with equal mercy, and is not angry with those who come to Him. Seeing all this, I was amazed and said to myself: “Why should I live, unhappy, if I don’t come to Him? My sins are numerous, and so are my indecencies; My damage is great. Why am I in negligence? I will not find another time like this and another equally Humane Doctor.” I am so sure that this great Ruler who has appeared is God, for he commands everything with his word, heals everyone with his word, and forgives sins with full power. Having found such a Doctor, you should not remain careless about your healing. That’s why I hasten to give this good Authorizer a handwriting of my debts. I know that I have sinned beyond measure and beyond every word, and it is impossible to depict my lewdness. But before the enormity of His mercy, all my iniquities are like a drop. I know for sure that if I only draw close to Him, I will immediately be cleansed of all sins and evil iniquities, removing from myself every indecent deed, because He is Heavenly and Most Pure. So, here, young man, I have expressed to you all the secrets of my heart. Finally, give me peace; You’ve been delaying me for quite some time now, wanting to know who I’ll take the myrrh to.” Having listened to all this with pleasure, the myrrh-maker said to his wife in heartfelt joy: “I testify to you my gratitude, most faithful wife, who revealed to me her wonderful intention. You have suddenly found a great, heavenly Beloved. He sanctifies everything with one word. You want to do a divine, praiseworthy and very useful thing for all generations, wife. Truly, this is the greatest salvation, firstly, for yourself, and for all sinners. You are the daughter of the fathers, a relative of the saints, who believed in the Holy God as they should. But I want to offer you a little advice. Accept it graciously, without any complaint. And you yourself know very well that the Pharisees, being evil, oppose Him, because He is the Great and Humane God, forgives sins according to His compassion. Therefore, if they see that you are going there, they will immediately close the doors of the house, they will be ready to mercilessly insult you, to inflict strong blows on you; but when you hear this, do not become timid at all, but be harder than stone in your soul. If you were not ashamed of the deeds of the prodigal, should you not be ashamed even more here for the sake of salvation? Everyone - freemen, slaves, doorkeepers, and servants - will brutally attack you and insult you with dishonor. Having despised all this, boldly enter the One Holy One with great humility, as she herself said before, embrace with love the feet of the Most Pure One; and you will be blessed. For behold, I heard, He is in the house of a certain Pharisee, Simon. Go in peace, enter with joy, approach with fervor, so that your gift may be accepted. Here is an excellent, dear, worthy of the Savior ointment I give to you, faithful wife, pray for me too.” Taking a vessel full of excellent ointment, the wife went with joy and haste, and prayed, saying to herself: “Who will help me to find the door open, to immediately enter and fall at the feet of the holy Physician? Having embraced them, I will never let them go until I receive forgiveness of my debts. I will earnestly pray to the Lord, Who knows all my secrets, before I approach Him. He knows everything. I’m going to the good Doctor, I’m going to see the humane and compassionate, good Savior of the world.” And the wife began to pray to the holy Lord God: “Behold, Lord, You are reclining with him in Simon’s house, and You are revered as a simple man, and You, Christ, know the secrets of my heart and know the thoughts of my soul. Why did I bring the precious myrrh? So that, upon entering, I may fall at the most pure feet of Your Divinity, and so that You will deliver me from the shameful deeds that I have done. I know, Master, that You are God, and in Your compassion, O Good One, you save everyone; you do not want even one sinner to perish, who falls to You, Savior, according to His own will. I once saw You on the streets and believed that everything is possible for You. Therefore, do this for me, O Most Merciful Savior, so that I may enter without hindrance where You lie.” With such thoughts, and having spoken even more to herself, she reached the house where Christ was, and saw that all the doors were open; and she entered with joy, immediately stood behind the Lord, and with great faith touched His feet. Bowing her head along with her heart, she began, with sighs, to water His feet with streams of tears, in the strongest love, joyfully kissing them, wiping them with her hair, diligently anointing them with myrrh, and saying: “Behold, Master, You alone know how I dared to do this. Not in complete ignorance of my worthless deeds, Lord, did I shamelessly approach You, the Most Pure God, but, wanting to be saved, I fell to You, Master, as publicans fearlessly fall. Accept, Christ, the desire of my poor soul. May my boldness be imputed to me, may my prayer be accepted, may my persistence become a perfect prayer, may this ointment serve to appease Thy, Most Pure One, may the contrition of my heart be turned into enlightenment for me! From a young age I heard the exclamations of many that God was born of a Virgin, and, wanting to know, I asked how the Incorporeal One could be incarnated? My parents told me: “This is a fatherly tradition, it says that the Holy God will be born on earth in the flesh from the Virgin.” So, what I heard about in my youth, now, really, I see it before my eyes, that is, the great Holy God as a mortal, we see Him in our flesh, and wants to save us. I look at You not like that Pharisee Simon, who called You to dinner on this day, but I see God, the great Creator of the universe, Who created everything with one Word. I am the lost lamb from Your flock. Return me, Savior, to Your fence, because You are the only good Shepherd who gathers the lost into Your courtyard. I am Your dove, Lord, kidnapped by a fierce hawk. My soul is on fire, wounded by love for Thy great shrine, O Lord. According to Your love for mankind, Most Pure One, remove from me the vile slander of iniquities. According to Your goodness, O Compassionate One, cleanse the scabs of my sins, washed with tears instead of peace. Your grace opened my lips, and I dared to say this before You, in order to become a wonderful example for sinners whom You, the Good One, came to save. Hey, Savior, I beg You, do not despise the tears of a poor heart. For I know that nothing is impossible for You, but You can do everything.” She prayed with her heart to the Creator of human hearts “as one” (Ps. 32:15), and instead of the royal peace she received the peace of life, instead of the perishable – incorruptible and abiding forever. The ointment was not so fragrant before the world of the word of the Lord. She brought beautiful myrrh and love, and received remission of sins, because Christ the Savior, as the Forerunner and God, justified the intention of the perishing soul: he did not reveal the secret falls to which the wonderful wife had previously been subjected, but first proclaimed her debts, and then proclaimed her love. So, having declared this in my mind, beloved and faithful, I immediately came to the most intense amazement, how she, having entered, suddenly approached without fear, how she appeared in the face of everyone, shedding tears before the eyes of those reclining and having dinner there, how with great freedom she let down her hair, how without shame she watered the feet of Christ, how no one sent her out at all, how no one was in the least indignant at her; on the contrary, her crying was sweet to everyone, and her sighs were pleasant to everyone. Everyone was speechless and, together with the food, were saturated with the spectacle, looking at the strange miracle that appeared during the supper, at the strange thing that happened suddenly. A harlot wife, uninvited, entered and stood behind the meal with her hair loose on her chest, with a vessel of the excellent world in her hands, and none of those eating or those present asked: “Why did you come in so quickly?”, No one asked: “What are you looking for here, wife?” On the contrary, for everyone this miracle was delightful, for everyone it was a strange and pleasant sight. All the Archangels were in awe; The Cherubim and Seraphim stood in fear, seeing the greatest boldness of the woman, who passionately held on to the feet of the Lord. The cherub does not dare to look at the Lord, and the sinful wife kisses His feet. The Seraphim covers his face with his wings, but the sinner’s wife stands openly. Angels cannot approach the Throne, and the wife wipes the Lord’s feet with her hair. O woman full of faith! How can I praise the excess of love in your enterprise, carried out with such ardor? How can I glorify, O wife, the great desire of your perfect soul, striving for God? Who loves as much as you loved? Or which person will be accepted as you are? The Savior arranges all this by grace for the salvation of the human race, so that those who are terribly obsessed with sins can be given the boldness to come to repentance. Meanwhile, while the wife was praying and crying, the Pharisee, seeing this, was greatly embarrassed. Regretting already that he had called Christ into his home as a Prophet, and having cultivated a bitter thought in his heart, he said to himself: “I thought that He was a Prophet, a perfect Prophet, knows the future, and clearly knows the past. And now it turns out that he doesn’t know exactly what’s in front of his eyes; He is the same as everyone else.” Our Lord, who always penetrates into the secrets of hearts as the Creator, did not immediately strictly rebuke the evil one, but with kindness brought the hidden things to light. With genuine meekness and great benevolence, he mysteriously tells him what he was thinking about. “Simon, Simon, I will tell you a parable, and I want you to be a judge of My words. One lender had two debtors; one owed him fifty gold coins, and the other owed him five hundred. Both of them fell into poverty. The great lender, seeing their grief, forgave both the debt equally and clearly showed everyone his great compassion. How do you yourself talk about these two debtors? Which of them should love the one who forgives the debt more? Is it the one who has been forgiven little, or the one who has been forgiven much? After all, the lender forgave the debt to both.” Simon answered: “Whoever is forgiven more must love much more.” The Lord said to him: “You have judged well. So, listen, I will tell you about your ignorance. You yourself, out of respect for Me, called Me to your house, but you did not wash My feet with water, like the Prophet, and the wife you see washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You, Simon, did not even give me a kiss, but she does not stop kissing my feet. You never anointed my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with dear ointment. Therefore, I tell you: “Many of her sins, about which you think that I do not know, will be forgiven her, because she hastened to prove her love in the hope of forgiveness. He who loves little is given little. However, do not be tempted by the salvation of this sinner, because I came to save many sinners, to enlighten the darkened. Since Rahab, who received the spies, firmly believed in the God of the fathers, Joshua, recognizing her strong faith, saved her, so that her name was written down in all generations, and her glory in the twelve tribes of Israel. So I have now accepted this wife. With unwavering faith and with perfect commitment she loved Me with all her heart and with all her soul; and I accept her, the chosen one, and she will be among the righteous who loved Me, and her sins will be forgiven her. Her name will not be blotted out forever and ever, and what she did will be retold from generation to generation in her memory. And everyone, having heard about her deed, will themselves become lovers of good deeds and will become partakers of rich and eternal good gifts.” Oh, if only we could become imitators of her and, having confessed the impurity of our souls, be cleansed with tears and become worthy of the love of the Holy God! Glory to Him - the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now, and always, and forever and ever! Amen. You might be interested in: