Видение Христа

Do you want to see the Lord Jesus Christ? – “Come and see” (John 1:46), says His Apostle. The Lord Jesus Christ promised to remain with His disciples “until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). He is with them: in the Holy Gospel and the Sacraments of the Church (Hieromartyr Peter of Damascus says: “Christ is hidden in the Gospel. He who wants to find Him must sell all his possessions and buy the Gospel, in order not only to find Christ by reading, but to receive Him into himself by imitation of His presence in the world. He who seeks Christ, says Saint Maximus, must look for Him not outside, but within himself, that is, to be like Christ in body and soul, sinless to the best of human ability” 10). He is not there for those who do not believe in the Gospel: they do not see Him, being blinded by unbelief. Do you want to hear Christ? – He speaks to you with the Gospel. Do not neglect His saving voice: turn away from a sinful life, and listen with attention to the teaching of Christ, which is eternal life. Do you want Christ to appear to you? He teaches you how to get it. “Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me: and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and I will manifest myself to him” (John 14:21). You are adopted to God by the sacrament of holy baptism; you have entered into the closest union with God through the sacrament of holy communion: support adoption, maintain unity. Restore the purity and renewal brought by holy baptism by repentance, and nourish unity with God by living according to the Gospel and, if possible, frequent communion of the holy mysteries of Christ. “Be in Me and I in you” (John 15:4), said the Lord. “If you keep My commandments, continue in My love” (John 15:10). “He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John 6:56). Beware of daydreaming, which may imagine that you see the Lord Jesus Christ, that you touch Him, embrace Him. This is an empty game of pompous, proud conceit! This is destructive self-delusion! (Holy ascetic writers call this kind of self-delusion “opinion.” Saint John of Carpathia defines opinion as follows: “Opinion is the nourishment of the soul with vanity and vain dullness of the mind” 11). About this kind of self-deception, the Holy Apostle Paul says: “Let no one deceive you with the humility of mind that is bestowed upon him and the service of angels, even if he does not teach you, being driven madly by the mind of your own flesh” (Col. 2:18). Saint Gregory of Sinai said: “Those who speak from their own thoughts, before purity, were deceived by the spirit of “opinion.” These include the words of Proverbs: “When you have seen a man, you are wise to be wise, but have foolish hope than him” (Proverbs 26:12). 12 Follow the commandments of the Lord - and miraculously you will see the Lord in yourself, in your properties. This is how the holy Apostle Paul saw the Lord in himself: he demanded this vision from Christians; those who did not have it, he called those who had not achieved the state due to Christians. If you lead a sinful life, satisfy your passions, and at the same time think that you love the Lord Jesus Christ, then His close disciple, who reclined on His chest during the Last Supper, convicts you of self-deception. He says: “He says that he knew Him and did not keep His commandments; it is a lie, and there is no truth in it. And if anyone keeps His word, truly in this the love of God is complete” (1 John 2:4-5). If you fulfill your sinful will, and thereby violate the Gospel commandments, then the Lord Jesus Christ counts you among those who do not love Him. “If you do not love Me,” He says, “you will not keep My words” (John 14:24). Do not rush recklessly, without carefully examining your garments, in old, stinking rags, to marriage to the Son of God, to union with Him, although you are called to this marriage, to which every Christian is called. There are servants of this Lord who will bind your hands and feet and cast you into utter darkness, alien to God (Matthew 22:11-13). The servants to whose power an insolent seeker of love and other sublime spiritual states, unrefined by repentance, pompous with conceit and arrogance, surrenders are demons, outcast angels. Pitch darkness is the blindness of the human spirit, a passionate, carnal state. Sin and fallen spirits rule in a person in this state. He is deprived of moral freedom: his hands and feet are tied. Binding one's hands and feet means the loss of the ability to live a life pleasing to God and to achieve spiritual success. All self-deluded people find themselves in this state. A person emerges from this disastrous state with the consciousness of his error, rejecting it, and entering the saving field of repentance. It is difficult to get out of self-delusion. There are guards at the door; the doors are locked with heavy, strong locks and bolts; the seal of the hellish abyss is attached to them. Locks and shutters are the pride of the self-deluded, deeply hidden in the heart, their vanity, which constitutes the initial reason for their activity, hypocrisy and deceit, with which they hide pride and vanity, with which they clothe themselves in the guise of good intentions, humility, and holiness. The indestructible seal is the recognition of actions of self-deception as actions of grace. Can someone who is in self-delusion, in the area of ​​lies and deception, be a fulfiller of the commandments of Christ, which are truth from the Truth - Christ? He who sympathizes with lies, who delights in lies, who has internalized lies, who has united with lies in the spirit, can he sympathize with the truth? No! he will hate her and become her frantic enemy and persecutor. What will be your state, unfortunate dreamers, who imagined that you spent your earthly life in the arms of God, when the Savior’s saying strikes you: “I know you no better. Depart from Me, you who practice iniquity” (Matthew 7:23). My true friend in the Lord! Go to the Lord Jesus Christ, draw closer to Him along the path of the Gospel commandments; by them know Him; by fulfilling them show and prove your love for the Lord Jesus. He Himself will reveal Himself to you, He will reveal Himself on a day and hour known to Him alone. Together with this phenomenon, unspeakable love for Himself will pour into your heart. Divine love is not something that actually belongs to fallen man: it is the gift of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5), sent by God alone into vessels purified by repentance, into vessels of humility and chastity. Trust yourself to the Lord, and not to yourself: it is much safer. He is your Creator. When you suffered a sad fall, He took on humanity for you, gave Himself up for execution for you, shed His blood for you, delivered His Divinity to you: what else will He not do for you? Prepare yourself for His gifts by purifying yourself: this is your business. Amen. Saint Peter of Damascus, book one, article: “On the fourth vision.” Dobrot., part 3. John. Carp. Ch. 49. Kindness. Part 4 St. Gregory ch. CXXVIII. Kindness. Part 1. You might be interested in: