Слово о суде и об умилении

Come, all brothers, listen to advice from me, the sinful and unlearned Ephraim. For, my brothers, that terrible and menacing day has already befallen us. And we, beloved, indulge in distraction, not wanting to come to our senses in this short time and take care to appease God. Now days, years and months pass like a dream and like the shadow of an evening, and soon the terrible and great coming of Christ will come. For this day is truly terrible for sinners who did not want to do the will of God and be saved. Therefore, I beg you, my sincere brothers, let us cast off our concern for earthly things! For everything passes, everything disappears, nothing will benefit us at that hour except the good deeds that we have here. For everyone will bring their deeds and words to the Throne of the Just Judge. The heart will tremble and the insides will change when deeds are revealed, thoughts and speeches are strictly examined. Great fear, brothers, great trepidation, friends! Who will not tremble, who will not cry, who will not shed tears, because everything that each of us has done in secret and in darkness will be revealed there? Understand, my brothers, I tell you this. As a proof of your love, I will present as an example fruitful trees, which in time, from within themselves, along with the leaves, also produce fruit. It is not from the outside that trees are clothed with their splendor from somewhere, but from within themselves; according to the command of God, each one produces fruit according to its kind. So on that terrible day, all human bodies will lose everything that has been done, good and bad. And everyone will bring deeds to the Throne of the terrible Christ as good and pleasant fruit, and words as leaves. The saints will bring forth beautiful and good-colored fruit, the martyrs will bring the praise of patience in torment and bitterness; the ascetics will bring feats, abstinence, vigils, and prayers. And sinful, wicked and defiled people, with shame, crying and lamentation, will bring there vile and rotten fruit - a worm that never dies in unquenchable fire. The judgment seat there is scary, brothers, because without witnesses everything is revealed, deeds and words, thoughts and desires, while there are still to come thousands of thousands of Archangels and Angels, Cherubim and Seraphim, righteous and saints, prophets and apostles. So, why don’t we rejoice, beloved brothers? The time has come, the day has come when the terrible Judge in the light will examine all our secrets. If we, brothers, knew what awaited us, we would continually cry day and night, begging God to deliver us from this shame and eternal darkness. For the sinner’s mouth is stopped before the judgment seat, the whole creation trembles, and the very orders of the holy Angels tremble from this glory of His coming. What shall we say to Him on the Day of Judgment, if we spend this time in negligence, brothers? For He is long-suffering and draws us all into His Kingdom. But he will demand from us an account for our negligence in this short time; He will tell us: “For you I was incarnate, for you I visibly walked on earth, for you I was beaten, for you I was strangled, for you I was crucified, I was lifted up on a tree, for you, earth-born, I was given blood to drink, to make you holy, heavenly. I gave you My Kingdom, I called you all my brothers, I brought you as a gift to the Father, I sent you the Spirit. What could I have done more than all this and have not done to save you? I just don’t want to force the will, so that salvation does not turn into necessity for you. Tell me, sinners and mortals by nature, what have you endured for the sake of Me, the Master who suffered for you?” So, here is the Kingdom and life, peace and joy, as well as eternal torment in total darkness. Let's go wherever you want, freedom is given to everything. Come together, let us all worship Him and weep before the Lord who created us, saying: “All this, Master, You endured for us, and we, sinners, unconscious, have forgotten Your great mercy. What will the generation of sinners render to You, the incomprehensible, good and merciful God? You, who have enlightened the entire universe with grace, You, who have enlightened the eyes of the one born blind, enlighten the eyes of our hearts, so that we may love You, Master, and always fulfill Your will with love!” Here is the Chalice of Your terrible Blood, full of light and life! Grant us understanding and enlightenment, so that with love and the sanctity of faith we approach it, and it will be for us for the remission of sins, and not for condemnation. For whoever approaches the Divine Mysteries with an unworthy soul condemns himself by not purifying himself to receive the King into his bridal chamber. Our soul is the holy bride of the immortal Bridegroom. Marriage is celebrated when the Divine Mysteries are tasted and drunk by the holy soul. Therefore, be attentive to yourself so that you keep the bridal chamber undefiled, and desire to receive the Heavenly Bridegroom, Christ the King, so that on the day of His coming He will make an abode with you with His Father; try to earn yourself praise before the holy Archangels and enter heaven with great glory and joy. For, brother, what does God require of you, besides your salvation? If you do not rejoice, do not want to be saved, do not walk in the straight paths of God and do not want to fulfill His commandments, then you kill yourself, you cast yourself out of the heavenly palace. Holy God, the only sinless one, did not spare His Only Begotten for your sake, and you, unfortunate one, do not have mercy on yourself. So, sober up a little from your sleep, insignificant one! Open your mouth, call on Him. Pray often, shed tears unceasingly, practice relaxation, love meekness, desire abstinence, practice silence, practice psalmody. Love God with all your soul, as He loved you; become the church of God. And the Most High God will dwell in you, because the soul that has God in itself becomes a holy and pure church of God. For when the Lord dwells in the soul, the Heavenly Angels rejoice over it and try to show preference to it, because it becomes the church of its Lord. Blessed is the man who loved You with all his soul, but hated the world and everything in it, in order to have You alone, the All-Holy Master, the beautiful pearl, the treasure of life. If someone so sincerely loves God, then his thought is never on earth, but it is always on the mountain (in the heights), where is what he has loved and what he longs to possess. There he feels sweetness, there he is enlightened, there he is always saturated with the sweetness and love of God. Who will be able to speak in a worthy manner about the sweetness of God’s love? The Apostle Paul, who tasted it and was satisfied with it, himself cries out and says: “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, lower than the power... neither the height”, nor the depth, nor the depth, “not any other creature can separate from the love of God” a soul that has tasted its sweets (Rom. 8:38-39). The love of God is an immortal fire that rises from the earth and hates earthly things. And the holy martyrs, who tasted it and were satisfied with it, teach us that the love of God is a tender bond, but that not even a two-edged sword can cut it. The torturers cut the limbs of the saints, but could not cut their love. Oh, what tender bonds of God's love! And the sword did not cut, and the fire did not extinguish, and the abyss, and other bonds, and executions did not drown her. Who, therefore, will not be surprised or who will not desire such love? For God gave this love to His Church, so that it would always be adorned with the same love. It becomes a pledge of God in the soul; she is the pillar and affirmation of the holy soul. The same love brought down the Only Begotten Son to us. With the same love he opened heaven; the strong one is bound by the same love, by the same love the soul became the bride of the Immortal Bridegroom, in order, as in a mirror, to reflect His splendor. The impassive and pure Bridegroom suffered for this love. And if the soul is outside of love, then the Heavenly Lord does not take good care of it. God never wants to force her will, therefore, once and forever, he gave her the freedom to lead the life that she wants. Therefore, who will be able, who will have the strength to glorify and sing songs to God the Savior for the gift that we have all received from His grace? Glory and worship to His favor! Listen, brothers, to excellent advice from my baseness. Let us always try, as long as we have time, to live purely and worthy of God, so that the Holy Spirit may dwell in us and God’s love will increase in us for the constant fulfillment of God’s will. Let us, brothers, have no other concern except one—how our souls will find light. Let us not bind her with any earthly things or possessions; Let us decorate it with fasting, prayers, vigils and tears, so that the soul will gain some boldness before the Throne of the terrible Judge, when every soul will appear with fear, when there will be a separation of the elect from sinners, when the “sheep” will stand on the “right hand” and the “goats on the left.” Make sure, brothers, that the coming of the Lord is near, to reward everyone according to his deeds, to rest His saints and His chosen ones in eternal light, and to punish the sinners who have offended Him. Blessed is the man who will gain boldness at that hour and hear the voice: “Come, ye blessed of My Father, all ye elect, inherit My kingdom.” Then everyone, seeing himself in the light, will begin to examine himself and reflect, saying: “Is it really me? And how did I appear here, unworthy?” The Angels will begin with great joy to glorify the saints and tell them their lives, exploits, abstinence, vigils and prayers, arbitrary poverty, complete non-covetousness, patience in thirst, firmness in greed (hunger), constant persistence in prayer, joy in nakedness for the sake of the love perfect in Christ - all this will be told to the righteous with great joy. And the righteous will answer them: “Not one day on earth did we have a single good deed.” But the Angels will again remind them of the place and time and, marveling at themselves, will glorify God, seeing that the bodies of the saints in heaven shine more than light, because they endured arbitrary sorrows on earth. For they found a treasure hidden in the village, and, having sold everything that they had on earth, they acquired it, and with patience they hid (kept) the beautiful pearl and undefiled clothing. The labor of achievement is small, brothers, but the rest is great. The feat of abstinence is short-lived, but its repose in the paradise of sweetness will continue forever. If anyone recognizes in himself that he has sinned before God, having weakened in his intention, and sinned arbitrarily, then while there is time, let him shed tears with zeal and weep incessantly, so that with his tears he can attract grace into his heart. Let him gain tenderness for himself and wash his body with tears and sighs. Great is the power of tears, brothers; Tears can do a lot when a person praying to God, as in a mirror, reflects Him in his heart. I want, beloved, to depict to you the power of tears. Anna, through prayer, acquired the prophet Samuel, admiration (tenderness) and praise in her heart. The sinful wife in Simon's house, weeping and washing the Lord's holy feet with tears, received remission of sins from Him. Tenderness, brothers, is the healing of the soul; it gains us remission of sins; tenderness, brothers, instills in us the Only Begotten Son when we long for Him. Tenderness, brothers, attracts the Holy Spirit to the soul. Make sure, brothers, that there is no joy on earth sweeter than that which comes from tenderness. Have you, brothers, experienced the power of tears? Have any of you been illuminated by this joy of tears for God? If any of you, having experienced this and enjoyed it, ascended above the earth during fervent prayer, then at that hour he was completely outside his body, outside this whole century and no longer on earth. Such a person talks with God and is enlightened in Christ. A great miracle, brothers: the earthly man converses with God in his prayer! Holy and pure tears for God always wash the soul from sins and cleanse it from iniquities. Tears for God at all times give boldness before God. Impure thoughts cannot in any way come close to a soul that has constant tenderness for God. Therefore, what is higher than its sweetness? What is equivalent to this bliss when a soul praying to God reflects Him Himself in itself, as in a mirror? When the soul, brothers, longs for God, then in its prayer it unceasingly contemplates Him and thinks about Him night and day. Tenderness is an indestructible treasure; a soul that has tenderness that lasts not one day, but until the end of life, night and day rejoices with unspeakable joy. Tenderness is a pure source that irrigates the fruitful plantings of the soul. By fruitful plants I mean virtues and merits, always watered by tears and prayers. Continually plant these fruitful and flowering plants in your soul and water them with tears in prayer. Plantings watered by tears and prayers bear good-colored fruit. Your beautiful plantings will be useful for the soul and chosen, brother. He who prays with tears that what is watered by them may increase, bears new fruits every day. Do not be an imitator of a relaxed and sinful person, who speaks every day and never acts, is lazy in his undertakings, does not have pure prayer and tenderness, knows about himself that he is always a sinner, and is constantly afraid of punishment, has no excuse at all for the sins of his relaxation. Therefore, I beg you, my reverend brothers, who fear God and always do what is pleasing to Him, intercede before Him for me, the pitiful one, so that His grace may descend upon me through your prayers, so that my soul may be saved in that terrible and great hour when Christ comes to render to each one according to his deeds. Glory to the One, Immortal, Holy, Most Pure and Terrible, Good and Merciful God, Who by His grace moved our tongue to the sweet singing of words about Judgment, love and tenderness, to the edification of the soul, to the enlightenment of the heart and to the benefit of the mind, so that every soul, repeating this sweet singing and enjoying it, would be drawn to eternal life! Amen. You might be interested in: