О любви

The Lord said beautifully: “...My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). What a burden, what work, to forgive a brother for light and insignificant sins, to receive forgiveness for your own sins, and suddenly become justified? He did not say: “Give me a gift of property, or bulls, or goats, or a fast, or a vigil,” so you could also say: “I do not have this, I am not able to do this.” But what is easy, convenient, and short-lived, he commanded, saying: “Forgive your brother’s sins, and I will forgive you your sins. You will forgive small mistakes, maybe a few oxen, or three denarii; and I give you thousands of talents. And you forgive only without giving anything as a gift, but I forgive you your sins and give you healing and the kingdom. And then I will accept your gift when you are reconciled with those who are hostile to you. When you have no enmity against anyone, when the sun does not set on your anger, when you have peace and love with everyone; then your prayer is acceptable, and your offering is acceptable, and your house is blessed, and you yourself are blessed. And if you are not reconciled with your brother, then how can you ask Me for forgiveness? I, your Lord, command you, and you do not heed; and you are a slave, how dare you offer Me prayer or sacrifice or first fruits, having enmity against someone? As you turn away your face from your brother, so will I turn away my eyes from your prayer and from your gift.” I also beg you, brothers. “God is loving” (1 John 4:16), and what is done without love is not pleasing to Him; How will God accept prayer or gifts or firstfruits or fruit from a murderer if he does not repent first, as he should? But, without a doubt, you will say: “I am not a murderer.” And I will prove to you that you are a murderer; better to say, let John the Theologian convict you, saying: “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15). So, my beloved brethren, let us finally prefer nothing to the acquisition of love, let us strive so hard for nothing as for this. Let no one have anything against another, let no one repay anyone with evil for evil... “let not the sun go down on our wrath,” but let us forgive all debtors, and let us establish love, because it covers a multitude of sins. What good is it, children, if someone has everything but does not have saving love? If someone cooks a big dinner, invites the king and the princes, and prepares everything richly, so that he lacks nothing, but he has no salt; will it be possible to taste such a dinner? Without a doubt, impossible. On the contrary, the expenses were in vain, and he ruined the work, and brought trouble for himself from those invited by him. It's the same here. What is the use of working for nothing if there is no love? And without it, every deed, every action, is unclean. Whether someone has acquired virginity, or fasts, or remains on vigil, or prays, or gives shelter to the poor, or thinks of giving gifts, or firstfruits, or fruits, or builds churches, or does anything else - without love, all this will not be counted as anything by God; because this is not pleasing to the Lord. Listen to the Apostle, who says: “Even if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels...if I have prophecy, and I have all mysteries, and I have all the understanding...as if I were to leave behind mountains, but I am not for love...there is no benefit for me” (1 Cor. 13:1-4). Whoever has enmity against his brother and thinks to offer something to God will be accepted on a par with the one who sacrifices a dog or the price of a harlot. Therefore, do not undertake anything without love, for love covers a multitude of sins. Oh, what a blessing we neglect! Oh, what blessings, what joy we deprive ourselves of by not acquiring love for ourselves! Not wanting to acquire it, Judas withdrew from the face of the Apostles, leaving the true Light - his Teacher, and, hating his brothers, began to walk in darkness. That’s why the Supreme Peter said: “...and Judas fell, and went to his place” (Acts 1:25). And John the Theologian also says: “...he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is walking, for the darkness has blinded his eyes” (1 John 2:11). If you say: “Although I do not love my brother, I love God,” then the same Apostle convicts you, saying: If anyone says that I love God, but hates his brother, it is a lie: for if you do not love your brother, who is in his presence, God, who is not in his sight, how can you love? (1 John 4:20). Therefore, whoever has love for his brother and has no enmity against anyone, whoever fulfills the apostolic word: ... let not the sun go down on your anger (Eph. 4:26); He truly loves God, he is a disciple of Christ, who said: Of this you understand that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:35). So, it is clear that the disciples of Christ are known here by true love. But whoever has hatred for his brother and thinks that he loves Christ is a liar and deceives himself. For the Apostle John says: ...this commandment is from Him, that he who loves God also loves his brother (1 John 4:21). And the Lord also says: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God...as thyself (Matthew 22:37, 39). Wanting to show the power of love, He added: in this failure the whole law and the prophets hang (Matthew 22:40). What an extraordinary miracle! He who has unfeigned love fulfills the whole law; because “the fulfillment of... the law is love,” as the Apostle says (Rom. 13:10). O incomparable power of love! O immeasurable power of love! There is nothing more precious than love, neither in heaven nor on earth. Therefore, the Apostle Paul, teaching that there is nothing equivalent to love, wrote this and sent it to all the ends of the universe: “Brethren, ought to love one another, and lay down your lives for one another” (Rom. 13:8). Such is love - the head of all virtues; love is the fulfillment of the law, love is immutable salvation. She originally dwelt in Abel's heart. She was Noah's pilot; she assisted the patriarchs. She saved Moses; she made David the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit; she settled in the prophets; she strengthened Job. And why not say the most important thing? “She brought down the Son of God to us from heaven. For the sake of love, the Ethereal One is incarnated, the Flightless One is for us in time, the Son of God becomes the Son of Man. By love everything is built up towards salvation; death is abolished, hell is overthrown, Adam is called out, Eve is liberated. Through love, Angels and men were made into one herd. By love the oath is resolved, paradise is opened, life is revealed, the Kingdom of Heaven is promised. She, having caught the fish-catchers, made them fishers of men. She labored with the martyrs and strengthened them; she turned the deserts into comfortable hostels. She sang psalmody to the mountains and dens. She made Angels from men; she taught husbands and wives to walk the narrow path. But where will I stop, pursuing the unattainable? Who is able to depict all the benefits of love? I think that the Angels will not be portrayed as they should. O blessed love, giver of all blessings! O blessed love, which makes those who love you blessed! Blessed, truly blessed is the person who has acquired love from a pure heart and a clear conscience! When you hear about love, do not imagine worldly and carnal love, in taverns and at feasts, between people whose belly is glory and God. Their love is limited to the time of the meal, their love is enmity against God. Friends are invited here, not enemies; there is no place for the poor here; there is laughter, applause and noise; there is drunkenness and dishonor here. The Apostle said about this love: “Whoever desires to be a friend of the world, becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4). About this love, or better to say about this charm and, so as not to express it even more strongly, about this love, which God does not despise, God Himself said that the pagans do the same: “If you love those who love, what grace is there for you... or what kind of reward do you have?” (Luke 6:32; Matthew 5:47). But we are not talking about such love, we are not proclaiming it, we are not striving for it, we mean unfeigned, blameless, undefiled, not selfish, all-embracing and distinguished by every good deed, which our Lord pointed out when he said: “Whoever lays down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). For the Lord Himself taught and created this, and laid down His soul for us, not only for friends, but also for enemies. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His beloved Son to eat for us” (John 3:16). The Apostle Paul said about this love, having Divine love in himself: “Love” does not cause evil to one’s neighbor, does not repay evil for evil and reproach for reproach, but is always “long-suffering, merciful, does not envy love... is not irritated, does not think evil, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in righteousness, covers everything, has faith in everything, trusts everything, everything.” endures." Such “loves no longer fall away” (1 Cor. 13:4–8). Whoever has this love is blessed, both in this and in the next century. He who has this blessed love is not proud, does not envy, does not hate anyone, does not despise the wretched, does not turn away from the beggar, does not leave the orphan, the widow and the wanderer uncared for. He who has it loves not only those who love him, as the pagans do, but also those who insult him. Having this Divine love, the First Martyr Stephen prayed for those stoning him, saying: “Lord, do not put this sin on them” (Acts 7:60). I also say, and I will not stop saying: blessed is the man who has despised everything earthly and corruptible, and has acquired love! His reward increases every day, his reward and crown are ready for him, the Kingdom of Heaven has been granted to him. All the Angels please him, all the Heavenly Powers praise him, he will be joyfully received by the faces of the Archangels. The heavenly gates will readily open before him, and he will enter with boldness and stand before the throne of God, be crowned with the right hand of God, and will reign with God for endless ages. Who is more blessed than him, who is higher than him, who is more honorable than him? See to what heights love lifts those who have it! The Apostle said beautifully: “Behold no one else, but rather love one another” (Rom. 13:8). “God is loving, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:16) forever. Amen. You might be interested in: