Слово умилительное

Contrite, my soul, lament over all the blessings that you received from God, and which you did not keep. Contrite for all the evil deeds that you have committed. Contrite over all the things in which God has been patient with you. Contrite and repent, so that they do not betray you into utter darkness. Repent, poor soul, so as not to be disgraced before the Last Judgment Seat of Christ. Alas for me, a sinner who has desecrated the purity of my heart with my weaknesses! My negligence and my laziness have darkened the boldness of my heart. Evil lust, like a master to a slave, gives me orders, and I immediately obey with fear, like a child; she misleads me, and I take pleasure in it. And who will mourn for me or comfort me? Only my Savior Himself, in His characteristic goodness, looked upon me, the desperate one. Woe to me, a sinner, because I alone am ulcerated! Woe to me, because You, Lord, created me pure, and I, through my negligence, have defiled myself with sins! Being equal to the Angels, I belittled myself. “My iniquities have increased. Lord, you have multiplied” (Second Chronicles, chapter 36, prayer of Manasseh), and there is no end to their multitude. How can I beg You, my Savior, because my lips are full of slander? How can I sing songs to You, because my conscience is defiled? How can I love You because I am filled with hatred? How will the truth dwell in me, because I have armed myself with lies? How can I call upon You, because I have not kept Your commandments? But You Yourself, being undeceitful, do not despise me, insignificant; do not reject me, vile one; don't leave me, hopeless. For my enemy is very pleased to see that I despair of myself; This is the only way he is amused, so that out of despair he can see me as his captive, but You Yourself, with Your mercy, disgrace his hope, snatch me from his teeth, deliver me from his malicious intent, and from all the forces he directed against me! Therefore, I beg everyone whose conscience is saddened by indecent deeds: do not despair of yourself, do not bring joy to your opponent. But without shame, approach God, weep before Him, and do not lose hope in thinking about yourself. For our Lord is very pleased with those who repent, and awaits our conversion. He says: “in all these... turn to Me” (Jer. 3:7). And also in the Holy Gospel he says: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Therefore, let no one despair of himself, even though he has sinned. God “is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Heb. 11:6); and whoever rejects Him and does not repent, he is strict with them. In what way can a person seek Him and find Him? First of all, one must observe love for the brethren, for it is said: “God is loving” (1 John 4:16). Therefore, if someone has acquired love, then he has acquired God; if anyone has acquired humility, then he is like Christ; and whoever is not humble is a stranger to Christ. If someone has acquired obedience, then he imitates God; and whoever contradicts is a stranger to Christ. If someone submits to the boss, then he imitates the Angels; and whoever is disobedient to him is in league with the devil. If anyone loves the truth, then he is truly a friend of Christ, and whoever loves lies is a disciple of the devil. If anyone loves his brother, he is loved by God, and whoever hates his brother is hated by God. If anyone slanderes brother against brother, he is condemned with the devil; and whoever suffers for his brother is the heir of Christ. If anyone abhors those who creep in sin, then he condemns himself; and whoever has compassion for the fallen and sympathizes with him makes his soul pure. If anyone divulges his brother’s inclination, he will defile his soul; but whoever tries to hide it out of compassion will be covered in the day of wrath. If someone is proud or arrogant, like a person who has succeeded in life and considers himself perfect, then he has lost his work and will not receive a reward; and whoever humbly tries to hide his good deeds will be exalted by the Lord and will receive a reward from Him. If anyone boasts of successes or is arrogant, he will fall; and whoever humiliates himself and belittles himself exalts himself to greater heights. If someone quickly becomes angry or irritated, then he is outside the righteousness of God, and Christ does not dwell with him; but whoever has acquired strength and loved modesty is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. If someone turns away from a brother who has sinned, then he is in error, and in his thoughts there is futility (loss, loss); and whoever sympathizes with him out of love is perfect in virtues. If someone turns away from a brother stranger, then God turns away from him; and whoever accepts him with love, God accepts him. If anyone finds pleasure in building institutions and houses, then he is trying to deprive himself of eternal benefits; and whoever strives for spiritual things and strives for this will know the sweetness of eternal blessings. If someone loves light clothes, then he is not clothed with a divine robe; and whoever covers himself with ordinary clothes has the care to put on a spiritual robe. If anyone is careless or absent-minded during prayer and psalmody, he irritates God; and whoever enjoys psalmody with zeal and diligence receives communion with the Holy Spirit. If anyone is not diligent in profiting from the Scriptures and in reading them, and does not read them with love, then he is a barren tree; and whoever diligently tests the Scriptures bears abundant fruit, “like a tree planted by the waters that come out” (Ps. 1:3). If someone, during night prayers, enjoys sleep and prefers it, then he is clearly a carnal person, and not a spiritual one; and whoever diligently forces himself to watch, seeks Christ with love. If someone multiplies empty speeches, then he makes himself vile before God and people; and whoever accustoms himself to silence glorifies God and will be loved by many. If one of the brethren has excess and does not give to the poorest, then he is alien to the shrine, and others will enjoy his benefits; and whoever lends to the poorest is the heir of the Kingdom of Heaven. If anyone, being strong and healthy, exalts himself before the weak and humble, then he is cursed by God and will hear from Him the words: “Whoever exalts himself will humble himself” (Luke 14:11); and whoever helps and sympathizes with the weak will hear from the Lord: “Because you have made one of these least of my brethren, you have made one for Me” (Matthew 25:40). If anyone angers the brethren by slandering one another, then he is hated by angels and men, but whoever calms the angry and saddened will be called the son of God (Matthew 5:5). If someone despises fasting and fulfills the will and desire of the flesh, then there is no purity and innocence in him; and whoever exhausts himself with fasting is a worker of all purity, chastity and innocence. If anyone enjoys gluttony and food, then he is clearly servile to the spirit of gluttony; and whoever devotes himself to abstinence and curbs himself by it, will easily overcome passions and thoughts. If anyone finds pleasure in dating women and is cheerful with them, then he is servile to evil passions and has no peace with his conscience; and whoever avoids such encounters and moves away from such a habit does not fight, and is at peace with his conscience. If anyone delights in carnal nobility and hopes for it, then he has not dedicated himself to God, but plays with his thoughts, and he himself serves as their playground; and whoever separates himself from relatives according to the flesh and has no partiality for them has truly renounced the world and serves God. If someone, having received an order, grumbles, then he is clearly deprived of the reward for obedience; and whoever readily carries out orders retains the brightness of his soul. If someone, when given advice, turns away and, condemning the adviser, madly rebels against him, then he pushes Christ away from himself and remains without any benefit. With such thoughts, all of us, brothers, should adorn ourselves and take up arms. Therefore, let us be attentive to ourselves, my beloved brethren, so that through carnal passions we do not deprive ourselves of eternal blessings. Alas for me! What sins and what pleasures are in store for us - and there is no one who strives, no one who lusts! On the contrary, we prefer the present, the temporary, the impermanent, but we do not even bring these eternal benefits into our thoughts. What blinding! What an enemy deception! Alas for me! What torments are prepared as punishment for sinners like me who live carelessly; and there is no one who fears or trembles, but as if in idle talk we honor what is suggested to us, having fun with the passions of the body, because we are bound by them, like iron chains, and there is no opponent, but being bound, we rejoice! O all-destructive machinations of the unclean serpent! How he has darkened the minds of everyone, so that we might think wrongly and love what is harmful more than future blessings. So, come, my brethren, come, fathers, come, servants of Christ; let us break our hearts and weep day and night before the Lord. Come, let us remind ourselves of this hour and the inevitable need, and in contrition we will shed tears. Come, let us remember these indescribable and indescribable blessings, and we will be contrite. Come, let us remember this terrible and terrifying throne, and the shame that awaits us before it, and we will weep for ourselves. Come, let us remind ourselves, brethren, that the righteous “will be enlightened like the sun” (Matt. 13:43), and sinners will turn out to be like burnt on a pot and, contrite in heart, we will be zealous for good deeds. Come, my brothers, and through love let us establish ourselves in the fear of God, so that we may be worthy of eternal blessings. Come, let us fall to God in contrition and simplicity of heart, because He is good and merciful and saves those who repent. Therefore, let us beg Him to bring us into His Kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever! Amen. You might be interested in: