Homily for February 19th: [Pronounced in 1871 in the Academic Church]

Delivered on February 19, 1871 in the Academic Church. I pray to you for my child, who Onesimus gave birth to in my bonds, sometimes it’s indecent for you, but now for you and me useful, which I sent to you: you are his, that is, my womb, receive (Phil.1:10-12). All of Russia is accustomed to calling its beloved Monarch the Liberator, and this day, the day of the accession of the most pious Sovereign to the throne, by his will, became the first day of civil freedom for many millions of our brothers and compatriots. Ten years have already passed since this great deed was accomplished for the Russian land - and it was accomplished, with the blessing of God, by a unanimous impulse of autocratic power and the voluntary sacrifice of the owners, peacefully. Let us bless the Lord Almighty, who controls everything in His providence and who has called forth decisive thought and action at a time when everything is already ripe for the fulfillment of a great undertaking. A pious spectator of the destinies of Russia cannot help but focus on the fact that this day is dedicated by the church to the memory of the apostles Archippus, Philemon and Apphia. Philemon is one of the owners, ap. Paul, enlightened by the faith of Christ, whose slave, Onesimus, the same Apostle, being in bonds in Rome, acquired for the Church of Christ, and although he himself was deprived of freedom, he interceded for him before his master and in the person of Onesimus gives us to see perhaps the first example of liberation from slavery with the assistance of the name of Christ. Apphia, glorified together with Philemon, was probably his wife. And Arkhippus, whom ap. In his letter to Philemon, Paul calls him his relative, was the head of the home Church and close to Philemon. So here we see how, even before state orders, even under the yoke of a pagan government, by the hand of an apostle, by the hand of a prisoner, on the basis of the teachings of Christ, in the quiet of a peaceful family, the first grain of those civil rights was laid down, which the state was later to bestow on a huge class of slaves in the Roman Empire, and then in all Christian nations. From here we could see how the great word of moral and spiritual freedom, brought by Jesus Christ to earth, having brought about civil freedom, traveled around different regions and peoples, and finally bore its fruit in the Russian land. In the present case, I would like to draw your attention to how in the words of the Apostle, addressed to Philemon with intercession for Onesimus, the program of this beneficial work was outlined and how it was accepted by the ancient church, so that from here you can see the attitude of our time to the example of the apostle and the ancient church. I pray to you for my child. The apostle begins his speech secretly and does not suddenly express the subject of his request. Onesimus fled from his master. But the intercessor, without naming him, tries in advance to position Philemon in his favor. I pray to you for my child. One would think that this was really about his son according to the flesh, if it were not known that the apostle was a virgin. Continuing his covert speech, the apostle adds: I pray for the child whom I gave birth to in my bonds. So the one for whom he asks is his son in spirit, a recently born son, born during his imprisonment in Rome, therefore, the more dear to the father, the less he himself can take care of him. Who is this? The Apostle finally decides to name his name: Onesima. How are you, Onesimus? his master could say. Is this the wicked Onesimus who fled from me? Yes, the apostle continues: Onesimus, there is no time for you to be indecent. I know that he insulted you and caused you harm. You are his master, according to the laws of the state, you have power over his life and death. He definitely wasn't useful to you. But that's before; not now. After he was reborn by grace, and through the action of the same grace he became my son, not ashamed of my bonds, not tempted by my cramped situation, and willingly accepted the yoke of Christ, now he is useful to you and me. First of all, it is good for you. I am aware, first of all, of your rights to him, and knowing him I can clearly see what benefit he can bring to you, my associate or collaborator (v. 1) in the Gospel. He is useful to you, but not in the same sense in which you could count on his strength and abilities before, as his worldly master, but useful to you as a servant of the Gospel. In the same respect, it became useful for me. But, adds the Apostle, I sent him forth; I'm returning it to you. You, that is, my womb, accept it. I return the one who fled from you, I return him to you, his master, but not bound, but voluntarily appearing with repentance. He comes to you like my son, I will say more like my heart. And he expresses his intercession for him even more forcefully: accept him not as a slave, but as a higher servant, a beloved brother, more than me, since more than you, both in the flesh and in the Lord (p. 16). In Christ Jesus, having received freedom and adoption as sons of God the Father, he is no longer a slave, but our brother; brother, according to my feelings, especially to me; but if you are dear as a beloved brother to me, then, of course, even more so to you, the Apostle adds with dignity. Yes, he, spiritually, has already ceased to be your slave; He is your beloved brother, both according to the flesh, as one called from among the Gentiles, and in the Lord, according to faith in Jesus Christ. Thus, in external relations, he should no longer remain your slave; as our co-worker in the Gospel, he is worthy to be called and to be by all rights your beloved brother. Thus, the apostle gradually, with his convictions, brings Philemon not only to forgive the guilt of his former slave, but also to the need to recognize his freedom and civil equality. Without forcibly terminating civil relations, without directly demanding from the master, by the force of spiritual authority, the release of his slave, by persuasion in advance he brings the slave into the bowels of the Church, educates him morally in the spirit of the Gospel, and even then intercedes for him before the master, or, more strictly speaking, leads him to think that now his former slave can no longer remain a slave. The Apostle also adds: I wanted to keep him with me, so that, instead of you, he would serve me in prison for the gospel: but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your good would not be forced, but voluntarily (vv. 13, 14). Despite all the enmity with which the state power armed itself against the Gospel under Nero, despite all the injustice and cruelty of the relations in which the slave was placed in the Roman state, the apostle does not want to give rise to any shock and disruption of civil order. To grant freedom, to release his servant to the work of the Gospel, let him remain in the power of the master. And St. Philemon did not demand new incentives to satisfy the intercession of the apostle of tongues. Onesimus received freedom and was appointed bishop, according to ancient legend, of Veria Macedonia. Both Philemon and Onesimus, due to their labors in the gospel, were canonized by the church as apostles. So carefully, so wisely, but together and so diligently, the Apostle acted in obtaining for his spiritual son the rights of civil freedom, which he himself knew how to use for the cause of the Gospel. And if we remember that the ancient states were all founded by the enslavement of the greater mass of the people to a small circle of selected society, then we can judge how beneficial the views and aspirations of the Apostle of Languages ​​were for the entire renewed world. With the spread of the Gospel, those great ideas became more and more common, which were supposed to lead to an alleviation of the lot of the outcast slave class and the equalization of their rights with other citizens. Christianity preached the unity of the origin of the entire human race from a single blood - the purity and innocence of man in the beginning, his infection with sin and, as a result, the spread of moral and physical disasters throughout the entire human race. Then the works appeared as the fruit of violence, contrary to nature, as the fruit of the enslavement of mankind to the author of sin. Now, Christ the Son of God came to earth to destroy the works of the devil; there must be no sin in His kingdom; He grants moral and spiritual freedom to all who believe in His name, to all who are adopted as sons of His Father. He has neither slave nor freedom. For everyone there is one baptism, one table of the Lord. Therefore, in Christian society, the relationship between slave and master could no longer remain in its previous form, especially when, due to his spiritual gifts and moral dignity, the slave received the place of primate and teacher in the church. – All these great ideas matured and spread with the growing Christian society; moral convictions gained more and more strength; relationships changed more and more often. When, finally, after a century of struggle, Christianity triumphed over its enemy and the cross defeated the dark forces of its enemy, then one of the first orders of St. Constantine V. was to expand as much as possible in favor of slaves the means to achieve civil freedom. With three laws, he abolished the various restrictive conditions with which this matter was arranged in the pagan empire. And showing the source of their moral convictions in the Gospel, the churches were given the right to accept announcements of the freedom of slaves. The pious successors of Constantine supported and expanded this highly beneficial work. The pastors of the church turned the pious zeal of their spiritual children and the church’s own property to the redemption of those suffering in slavery, and presenting the granting of freedom to them as a particularly godly deed, they disposed the masters to do so, at least in their dying testaments. But it was necessary to care about more than just improving the external position of this unfortunate half of the church family. The mental and moral state of those previously deprived of the beneficial effects of enlightenment also required all the care of the church. How deeply the worthy primates of the Church were aware of this urgent need, we can see from the pastoral instructions of the great saint of the capital of the eastern empire, St. John Chrysostom Fr. Drawing attention to the multitude of slaves with whom noble and rich people liked to surround themselves in the squares and at spectacles, the saint of Constantinople condemned this custom. “What need is there for many ministers? - he said. -No. One servant is enough for one person. But I don’t strictly argue: let you have one more servant. If you gather many, it is not for the sake of humanity, but out of vanity. If you care about their benefit, then do not keep them in your service, but having bought them and taught them the arts, so that they can be supported at their own expense, set them free. Otherwise, when you beat them, when you keep them in chains, this is no longer a matter of philanthropy. I know that by doing this I annoy those listening: but what should I do? I am committed to this, and I will not stop talking about it, whether there will be success or not.” (Conversations 40 on 1st sequence to Cor.). Taking care of the moral education of slaves, the saint inspired: “Let our servant be taught duties in relation to God. If we have ordered our slaves, then it is less difficult for us to imagine virtue. If they are trained in the law of God, they will not irritate us, they will not give rise to reproach, to anger, to abuse. Or maybe you yourself will be ashamed of your slaves when they are so good; and they will help you and instill goodwill in you” (Conversations 45 on Acts). “Everyone knows,” he said on another occasion, “that our slaves are impudent, uneducated, stubborn and not very capable of learning virtue: but this does not depend on nature, but on the lack of care of their masters for them. No one cares about anything more than that they serve; If someone cares about morality, then it is for the sake of their own peace of mind, so that they do not cause trouble with their drunkenness, theft, etc. If even where father, mother, uncle, educator, teacher, peers look, where a person is supported by the dignity of noble birth and many other circumstances, if even there hardly anyone escapes bad communities, then what to think about those deprived of all this, living with worthless people, treating whomever they want without fear, not knowing any supervision over their communities? Under such circumstances it is difficult for a slave to be a good person. At the same time, they do not use teaching, neither external nor ours (that is, Christian)” (Conversation 4 after the last to Tit.). And this is one of the reasons why the zealous saint spoke so persistently about multiplying churches for the rural population. There were still few Christians here in his time. In the construction of churches, in the establishment of worship in villages at least once a week, he saw the best means of converting the common people to the Christian faith (Conversations 18 on Acts Apostle). That is why he himself declared before his Constantinople listeners his desire to leave the city and go to the villagers and preach to them. “How many do you think,” he said, “how many of your brothers in the villages need teaching, and even their teachers (i.e., simple rural shepherds) need it. But you keep me chained with you. You put everything on us.” (Conversations 9 after Colossians). Here, finally, is the reason why the church demanded that slaves be freed from work every Saturday and Sunday to attend church and be instructed in piety, and this commandment was recognized as apostolic (Constit. Ar. VIII. p. 33. Rules of St. Apostles Peter and Paul 1). Thus, by improving external life, education, instruction in the law of Christ, St. John wanted to arrange the temporary and eternal welfare of his younger brothers. Turning from ancient times to our time and from distant countries to our fatherland, and without the need to prove that the position of slaves in the ancient pagan world, and our compatriots who were in serfdom, is not the same; but nevertheless, I think everyone will agree with us that the granting of our brethren the precious rights of civil freedom, as in its source, comes from the same teaching of the Gospel and in its spirit stands as high as the work of the first Christian emperors; and in its vastness and one-time execution, and as not only a proposal, but also the actual liberation of twenty million, it stands above it. “Now it remains for the church to complete the work of moral and religious education of these huge masses of people. We all feel the enormity of this task. May we not find ourselves powerless, and what is even worse, careless in its implementation. This would mean that we are not worthy not only of the high service entrusted to us, but also of our time. Let us call upon the Lord, the Liberator of our souls, for help, and in the spirit of apostolic love, taking as an example the zeal of the great Fathers and shepherds of the Church, we will work, each according to our strength, to spread Christian principles of life among the people and strengthen our brothers in faith and piety. I sent him to you, you, that is, my womb, accept him. - Amen.