Слово о пророке Данииле и о трех святых отроках, как ответ тем, кто утверждает: «время лукаво, не могу спастись»

Let us think about what is told about the prophet Daniel and the holy youths Ananias, Azariah and Misail. These righteous people lived in those days when the Lord, for the sins of the people, delivered Jerusalem into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. From a young age they were constantly attentive to themselves, which is why they turned out to be well-versed in so many different temptations and sorrows. These God-loving youths endured great difficulties during the confusion that occurred during the Babylonian captivity, when everyone saw how mercilessly the chosen people were oppressed by the Assyrians, for Jeremiah says: “I was not ashamed of the priestly face, I did not have mercy on the old” (Lam. 4:16). “The princes hanged Bysha in their hands... and the young men in the treasure were exhausted” (Lam. 5:12–13), and so on. The holy city was devastated by the wicked, the church of God was burned with fire, the hands of the wicked touched the holy vessels and placed them in idol churches, the prophets were bound with iron bonds, but the youths did not turn back their hearts, did not slander God, were not shaken by doubt, as someone says in one place: “Behold, this evil is from the Lord: that I will endure the Lord against this” ( 2 Kings 6:33). Then they are taken into captivity; They are subjected to immense fatigue during the journey; they endure cruel treatment, nakedness and hunger, so as not to be defiled by forbidden food. After this they are brought to Babylon; there a new feat awaits them: the king ordered the selection of youths of the royal and princely families, beautiful in appearance and intelligent, to serve at the royal court. According to the testimony of the Holy Scriptures (Dan.1:3-6), Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael were numbered among the chosen ones. The hater of goodness, seeing that neither during the siege of the holy city could he turn them away from the Lord, nor during the journey did he persuade them to eat unclean foods, enters the heart of the lawless king and inspires him to give the command: “all the days from the king’s meal and from his wine, feed them for three years” (Dan. 1:5), so that at least by the power of the tormentor force them to taste the forbidden food. And mark the malice of the serpent, who appointed not one day and not one month, but extended the feat up to three years, in order to overthrow the lovers of piety with fear and longevity. They, not at all brought into fear by this and not ashamed of the paternal law, secretly asked the chief of the eunuchs to give them “seeds of the earth” (vegetables), “so that they would not be defiled by the king’s meal” (Dan. 1:8). They were afraid of the danger of disobedience and resistance. And then, when the chief of the eunuchs did not agree to give them vegetables, they did not abandon their God-loving intention. And the Lord, Who glorifies and exalts those who glorify Him, wanting to preserve them for the most brilliant exploits, instructs the eunuch Amelsar to give what they ask. And so that you can understand God’s work in what is happening to them, both in book wisdom and in appearance they turned out to be superior to those who ate royal dishes. If they turned out to be fearful and indecisive, they would resort to the following reasoning: “What should we do, brothers? Necessity compels us; the king threatens us with death; Why should we bring upon ourselves the torment of disobedience? It was so pleasing to God. He Himself sees the coercion that we endure, therefore He will forgive us, who, out of necessity, break the law. We live in exile (in a foreign land), we are kept in slavery, we have lost our country. And if physical exhaustion happens to us from harsh food, who will take care of us or visit us? We have no father, no mother, no brothers, no clan; there is no one who could come to us in sorrow, because everyone is poor, everyone is on someone else’s side, everyone is kept as a slave, and we do not see any of our own in prosperity, except those who receive daily food from the king’s table. And even after death we will not be honored with burial, but will throw our bodies to be devoured by dogs.” However, the servants of God did not think of anything like this, and they chose such food not because they had an addiction to food from vegetables, but because they decided to voluntarily suffer for the truth. Consider, then, what glory to those who were satisfied with the royal meal and drank the fragrant royal wine, but did not want to work for the truth, and what glory to those who rejected the pleasures of life and took up labor for the truth. May the Lord grant us also to have a part with the last and with all His saints! Amen. You might be interested in: