Песнь под сению Креста

(Adapted from Exodus 15) I sit down under the sacred canopy of the tree of the cross, and begin a song of praise, a song of thanksgiving to my Creator and Savior. I do not run away from the scorching rays of the sensual sun under the shadow of the cross: I run away from the heat of sins, from the heat of temptations. Alas! the world is filled with fierce temptations. Cool, joyful under the canopy of the Holy Cross! from under its roots flows a spring of living water: the teaching of Christ. The voice of my song is not heard in the vain world. My mind and heart sing mysteriously. May my Savior hear them. A pillar of cloud and fire once walked in the air before a host of people of Israel, guiding them through the wild, terrible desert. The invisible and at the same time visible providence of my God guided me along the path of difficult and regrettable earthly life. I lived before in Egypt. Pharaoh, his king, constantly occupied me with making plinths and other hard work, and occupied me with incessant care for material things. When the thought of serving my God came to me, Pharaoh reproached me for idleness, multiplied my worries about temporary, earthly, vain things, so that it was impossible for me to even think about God. Moses - this name and face depicts the law of the Spirit - in miraculous ways brought me out of Egypt: from life for the flesh, for the world, - into the desert. The path through the desert is difficult! There the hot sand ripples underfoot; there the feet are wounded by sharp stones and thorns; there the scorching sun burns the traveler; the thirst there is unbearable; there are no cauldrons or Egyptian meats there; there are tents, there is no comfortable and quiet shelter; There, dead nature languishes, torments thoughts and eyes. I had barely reached the Red Sea when I saw behind me hostile horsemen and thundering chariots. Before me was the sea; before me and behind me was a terrible, inevitable death. But my God was also here. He is the source of life, and death is subject to Him. In the midst of the sea a way was opened for me: in life in the midst of the world the path of salvation suddenly appeared before me. Horsemen rushed in pursuit of me, chariots rushed: they all died at sea. “We will give thanks to the Lord, for he has been glorified; he has thrown horse and rider into the sea” (Ex. 15:1). The furious horse is the wordless aspirations and desires of my flesh; the rider sitting on it is a sinful thought. Thundering chariots are the vain glory of the world, this is its greatness. It will pass and become silent, drowning in the sea of ​​oblivion. What is so insignificant as the knocking and creaking of wheels and iron in chariots! Man's only good, his only treasure is God, his Creator and Savior, his life and pleasure, his eternal property. To Him be the praise, to Him be the glory! “Lord, destroyer of battles; the Lord is His name.” What is impossible for men is possible for Him. “The chariots of Pharaoh, and his strength were thrown into the sea: the chosen horsemen of the tristats were drowned in the Black Sea” (Exodus 15:3–4), in the cry of a person about his sinfulness. “It thickens like a wall of water, it thickens the waves in the midst of the sea” (Ex. 15:8). The temptations of the world have lost their power, their action is fettered, they have not conquered my heart; it became insensitive to them, passed among the wet waters, as if between stone rocks. “Thy right hand, O Lord, is glorified in strength: Thy right hand, O Lord, crusheth the enemies” (Ex. 15:6), it gave me strength, took away the strength from sin, which hung over me like a wall of waves. You petrified the waves that were eager to devour me, to drag my soulless corpse into the unknown abysses of hell. “My Helper and Protector” (Exodus 15:2). On my way to You, my promised land, enemies, the sons of foreigners, are still waiting for me. And they knew that Thy holy providence was over me, that Thy hand leads me, and protects me, and fights for me; they know that Your hand is strong. They are afraid of Your hand, but they envy me, gnashing their teeth at me. “When the nations heard” Thy mercies toward me, “they were angry”: the inhabitants of Philistine were upset; the rulers of Edom were worried; the princes of Moab were overcome with trembling, and the hearts of all those living in Canaan weakened (Ex. 15:14–15). Save me, my God, from all the sons of foreigners, from everyone and from everything who is alien to Your Holy Spirit, and therefore for a Christian is a son of a foreigner. May my foot not get stuck in any nets, may I not fall into some disastrous abyss invisible to me, unknown to me, incomprehensible to me. Take away the strength of all the enemies of my soul, just as You took it away from the chariots and horsemen of Pharaoh; petrify them so that they are without any movement, without any action, just as You petrified the waters. Save me, Lord, my God! My enemies are strong and great! If you leave me to my own devices, they will kill me like a lion kills a weak lamb; They will erase me like a millstone erases a grain of wheat. “Thy greatness of Thy arm shall be made to stone” (Ex. 15:16) all who hate my salvation, all who resist my march to Thee, “until Thy people shall pass by, O Lord, until these Thy people shall pass by, even as Thou hast gained. I have planted Thy heritage into the mountain, into Thy ready dwelling, which Thou hast made, O Lord, holy, O Lord, which Thy hands have prepared” (Ex. 15:16-17). When the waters of the Red Sea covered and drowned the army of Pharaoh, his tristates, his horsemen, his chariots, “Mariam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, the high priest of the Israelites, and Moses, their lawgiver, took the tympanum into her hands,” accompanied by the faces of the wives of Israel, she sang the song: “Let us drink to the Lord, gloriously we are glorified: the horse and the horseman was thrown into the sea" (Ex. 15:20–21). The soul, abiding in the service of God, studying in the Law of God day and night, unites into one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17), becomes related to His holy Law, becomes his sister, a prophetess, as borrowing from it gracious inspiration. When she sees her deliverance from the death of sin, from drowning in the vain cares and pursuits of the world, from the power and violence of Pharaoh: then she attunes her heartfelt feelings to the wonderful world of Christ, and, touching them like strings with Divine thoughts, utters wondrous, prophetic sounds, sings praises to God, mysteriously, spiritually, delightfully. O you women of Israel, souls of the faithful servants of the Lord Jesus! Take your tympanums, join in the singing of the inspired prophetess! Let us sit in order under the sacred canopy of the Cross, “having crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24), with a pure mind and heart, with pure lips, “let us sing praises to the Lord,” the great God, our Savior, “gloriously glorified” by His unspeakable benefits to us and to the entire Christian and human race. Amen. You might be interested in: