Беседа в 22-ю неделю. О богаче и нищем

Beloved brothers! The world calls its amusements and pleasures innocent. Knowing how God looks at them and judges them is essential for each of us. Each of us must, must certainly, at an indefinite time unknown to him, leave the field of short-term earthly wanderings, enter the realm of eternity, on its edges give an account of the use of urgent time given to gain salvation, finally either ascend to the abode of eternal bliss for the correct use of earthly life, or for the abuse of it be cast down forever into hell. This question is resolved in the Gospel now read (Luke 16:19–31). God's judgment has been announced in good time. Let us hasten to assimilate to ourselves the way of thinking taught by God, so that perverse, seductive concepts do not deviate us from God-pleasing activities and do not serve for us as the initial cause of the greatest, eternal disasters. Let us not be frivolous in determining and deciding our eternal destiny! Let us deal with this most important matter with all possible attention. It requires so much attention! It deserves such attention! Let us consider the definition of God's judgment regarding human carnal amusements, a definition announced in advance for warning and instruction; let us direct our activities according to the will of our God, and the final utterance of God will not strike us with a sentence of eternal death. It will not strike us with this sentence when, at the sudden command and demand of God, we leave this world, we leave our very bodies in it - with our souls alone we enter the world of spirits, so that there we can be numbered either among the blessed spirits or among the rejected spirits. “A certain man,” narrates the tributary tale of the Gospel, “was rich, and dressed in purple and fine linen, rejoicing brightly all the days.” Two features from the life of a rich man are exposed by the Gospel for pious, soul-saving contemplation: his luxury and his devotion to amusements. In contrast to the position of a person who is abundant in earthly goods, satiated with them, the suffering position of the sick and poor, languishing under the yoke of all deprivations, is exposed. Often these positions, so different, live one next to the other, live in mutual material and moral relations. And here, in the neighborhood, in the same place with splendor and prosperity, disaster lived and crowded. “There was a poor man named Lazarus, who lay rotting before the rich man’s gate, and desired to be satisfied with the grains falling from the rich man’s meal.” The rich man had no time for the beggar. He was concerned with ensuring that his feasts and amusements did not present any shortcomings, that the demands of elegant taste and modern fashion or custom were satisfied, that the vanity of the owner was satisfied, which needed to present to the visitors both wealth and the so-called knowledge of society, decency, life, that all the carnal desires of the visitors were satisfied, that their voluptuousness was satisfied with all kinds of voluptuous satisfaction. The rich man's servant also had no time to attend to the beggar: all her attention was focused on the quick and unmissable execution of the orders and commands of the master, who probably shone with brilliant ingenuity in his chosen field. Alas! every earthly position is taken away by death, erased, as if it had never existed. “The beggar died,” the Gospel continues to narrate, “and the angels carried him into the bosom of Abraham: but the rich man also died, and was buried.” "Bury him"! only. The career of every great person on earth who sacrificed his life for the earth ends with nothing else. What a cold saying! "I buried him." The heirs of these goods indifferently see off the owner of temporary goods into eternity. Only for the sake of decency, during a funeral ceremony, faces are forcedly dressed in sadness. They will soon be explained at a luxurious table, followed by burial, at a table at which the passing grief is poured out with cups of wine, and the coming joy is met. Soon the memory of the deceased will die! Everyone's attention will soon turn exclusively to the heirs, and exclamations will be heard proclaiming them lucky, worthy of envy. Happiness is brought by the death of the so-called close to the heart. “I buried him”: this is said not so much about burying the body in a shallow grave, but about burying the soul in the deepest grave, in the hellish abyss 141. The afterlife fate of the rich man is told in contrast to the afterlife fate of the beggar. The story of the Gospel does not stop with this. Following what has been said, she will tell about an event in a world invisible to us, waiting for us. The rich man, “he lifted up his eyes in hell, and was in torment; he saw Abraham from afar, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out to him: Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, as I suffer in this flame.” What a change of position! Temporary prosperity is replaced by eternal sorrow, and temporary suffering by eternal bliss. Recently, a beggar lay half-naked, festering at the gate of a rich man, wanting to satisfy his tormenting hunger with crumbs falling from the table, not with any more significant leftovers that the servants used; recently the rich man did not want to look at the beggar, he saw him in passing, as if not seeing him, he turned his eyes away from him, abhorring his ugliness; now the beggar enjoys, is blissful; Now the rich man asks that the beggar, having soaked the end of his finger in water, touch his tongue, cool his tongue, which has dried up and was hot in the flames of hell. It turns out that the rich man knew briefly the position of the beggar: he even knew his name. The reason for the lack of attention to the beggar was not ignorance. “Speech Abraham: child, remember that Lazarus received all the good things in your belly, and Lazarus received the same evil things: now here he is comforted, but you are suffering. And over all of these, between us and you, a great abyss has established itself, as if anyone who wants to pass from here to you will not be able to, they will pass from there to us.” Abraham answers the hellish prisoner with meekness, humility and love. He does not condemn those condemned by God, condemned to eternal torment; does not shy away from conversation with him; without renouncing his relationship in the flesh, he calls him son; does not expose him, but only reminds him of the way of earthly life, which served as the cause of eternal bliss for one, eternal torment for another. Abraham speaks about the immutability of states beyond the grave, without adding any explanation: this is an institution of God, not subject to human judgment, accepted by faith, completely clear to the one God. Encouraged by the merciful answer, the hellish prisoner makes another request to the holy patriarch: “I pray to you, father, that you send Lazarus to my father’s house: the imam for the five brothers: let him testify to them, so that not even these will come to the place of this torment.” This petition serves as a denunciation of inexperience in the spiritual ascetic life. The inexperienced asks for the greatest temptation for the inexperienced: the appearance of a being from the world of spirits, which is closed from us by God, in order to save us from the deception of fallen and evil spirits, taking the form of angels of light for the most convenient deception and destruction of people. The Patriarch shows the unfortunate person the right path, the path of studying the Law of God and following it; the patriarch informs the one who has fallen into hell information that could protect him from hell if he acquired it and used it in a timely manner. “They have,” said Abraham, “Moses and the Prophets: let them listen to them.” The knowledge provided by the Word of God is more accurate than the knowledge provided even by true and holy visions. This is clear from the Second Epistle of the Holy Apostle Peter. Mentioning the glorious transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor, which the apostle was an eyewitness, he says: “Imams, the most famous (more reliable) prophetic word, heeding it like a light shining in a dark place, do good, until the day will brighten, and the day will shine in your hearts” (2 Pet. 1:19). The deep ignorance of the hellish prisoner did not understand the deep truth taught to him. He enters into a debate with the patriarch and objects: “No, Father Abraham: but if anyone comes from the dead to them, they will repent. “Unless they listen to Moses and the Prophets,” was Abraham’s answer, “and unless someone rises from the dead, they do not have faith.” Those who do not want to become properly acquainted with the Law of God, who spend their earthly life entirely in serving sin and the world; For those who study the Law of God only in letter, neglect active study of it, trample on it with their behavior, the appearance of the blessed soul from the villages of paradise will not bring any benefit. The very resurrection from the sealed, guarded tomb will not awaken the ability to believe, killed by a sinful life and evil will. The Lord has risen, and what are the high priests and elders of the Jews doing? They bribe the Roman soldiers, who were assigned by them to the tomb and brought reliable news of the resurrection, so that the soldiers would hide and slander the resurrection of the Lord. What do the soldiers do, having been granted a vision beyond their dignity, seeing a lightning-fast angel descend from heaven, rolling away the stone from the tomb in which the body of the Lord was imprisoned, striking them with horror, from which they fell to the ground and became as if dead? They accept the pieces of silver and, under their influence, despite the terrible miracle they witnessed, they cover the miracle with the darkness of lies (Matthew 28:11–15). Neither the most amazing signs, nor the most threatening visions, nor the most delightful visions make a beneficial impression on the heart, do not bring it salvation if it is not directed towards the path of salvation by the Law of God. If it is illuminated by this lamp, given from Above as a guide for all who wish to receive bliss in eternity (Ps. 119:105), then it will achieve this bliss without the help of visions and miracles. Numerous experiences in the history of Christian asceticism serve as proof of this. The initial cause of spiritual, eternal bliss for a person is a careful study of the Law of God and living according to the Law of God; The initial cause of spiritual, eternal disaster lies in ignorance of the law of God, in living according to the suggestions and ideas of a false mind, according to the desires of the will, damaged and perverted by the state of the fall. The unfortunate rich man, apparently, had perverse, false concepts about himself, about his relationship to property, to humanity, in a word, to everything. He acted on these concepts and died. He did not acquire true knowledge of God, did not know what significance man has, what the purpose of his infinite existence is, what the purpose of his temporary stay on earth is, what his responsibilities are to God, to himself, to his neighbors, to the worlds, visible and invisible. Darkened by ignorance, darkened by the state of decline, by the example of others, by accepted customs in human society, he considered the life of the body alone, ignoring the life of the soul; he wanted to develop exclusively the life of the body, giving it all kinds of pleasures, using all the abilities of the soul in serving the body. This is what he did with his own soul, and this is what he did with his neighbors: he neglected them. He did not neglect only those of them whom he used as instruments of his will and who were accomplices of this will. He recognized his property in all respects as property, and himself as having the right to use this property at will. Scripture says otherwise. It calls sufficient people only stewards of property that belongs to God, entrusted to stewards for a time, so that they dispose of it according to the will of God 142. The rich man used both his property and his earthly life solely to please the flesh. He cast these temporary gifts of God, with which eternal gifts could be acquired, into corruption. He feasted and reveled! He feasted and lived luxuriously not occasionally, not at certain times, but every day, constantly, “having fun all day long.” He moved from one pleasure to another, constantly entertaining and distracting himself, not allowing himself to become self-reflective, lest in doing so some sad sight would be revealed, some sad memory would come to life, or disturb the joyful disposition. With such a life, God, eternity, bliss and suffering are forgotten in it - forgotten so deeply that they seem completely non-existent. And many, intoxicated with life for the flesh, not only forgot about spiritual things, but out of their intoxication began to reject the existence of God, the invisible world, and their very souls. Exactly! For their perception, the existence of these objects ceased. They would reject even the most visible death, if it were possible to reject it. They reject its meaning, calling it the destruction of man. Such a concept reconciles carnal life and approves of carnal life. He who has mastered this concept can freely “have fun all day long,” fulfill all his whims, trample on all the most holy duties, all virtues, as long as plausibility and decency are preserved in the eyes of the world. A person who has spent his earthly life in this way, alienated himself from God in time, acquired all the ungodly properties, voluntarily rejecting assimilation to God, naturally departs upon his death to a country doomed to the home of creatures rejected by God; he goes there for rejecting God. He who is alien to God is thrown into the prison of hell, even if he was not an open villain. The Gospel does not mention any virtue of the beggar Lazarus; speaks only of his suffering life and that the angels carried his soul to a part of heaven called Abraham’s bosom. The Holy Fathers even note that Lazarus had sins, for which God allowed him illness and poverty. The words said about him that he “received evil” lead to this conclusion. A similar expression was used about the rich man to mean that the property was provided to the rich man by God, and was by no means his property, as many mistakenly think about their estate. What should one look for the reason for the salvation and bliss in eternity given to Lazarus? what virtue was his virtue? The reason for his salvation, his virtue, was repentance. It is obvious that he, like the thief crucified at the right hand of the Lord, recognized himself as worthy of punishment, thanked and glorified God for punishment in time, and prayed for mercy in eternity. The Patriarch, as we have already noticed, while talking with a prisoner in hell, said nothing either about the sinfulness of this prisoner or about the righteousness of Lazarus, he only presented the eternity position of both as a consequence of their earthly position. The denunciation of the sinfulness of the one given over to eternal torment, the announcement of the merits of a resident of paradise to him were already late, unnecessary: ​​they would only serve as the cause of a new illness for the one struck by eternal death, which forever takes away not being, but the pleasure of being, and is associated with being suffering, as fierce as the cruelty of death. The Holy Patriarch spares those executed by God; does not dare not only condemn, but also add his judgment to the judgment of God; sympathizes with the sufferer in eternal torment as his member, as a member of humanity, says: “child, remember that you received good things in your belly, and Lazarus was also evil: now you are comforted here, but you are suffering.” This means: “God has given you great property, so that, through it, helping the needy and distressed, as the Law of God commands, you would work out your salvation; but you abused the gift of God, plunging it into the stench of carnality, and for this you were cast into the abyss, into the flames of hell. Also, to Lazarus, to cleanse his sins, God sent poverty and illness. He took advantage of them, confessed his sinfulness, justified and confessed the justice of God, and repented. He was elevated by angels to the villages of paradise for eternal bliss as having fulfilled the will of God.” The fathers rightly note that although this virtue of Lazarus is silent, it is clear from the consequences, otherwise the angels would not have appeared to him and would not have placed him in the eternal abode of the saints who pleased God 143. Niphon, Bishop of Constantia of Cyprus, a man of great holiness, once talking with the brethren about the benefits of the soul, recalled the following: “I was in this city (in Constantinople, where the saint lived before his episcopacy) with one of the nobles, a slave named Vasily, a Swedish artist, evil in character, a defiler, a scumbag, who wasted all his time in games and carnal sins, despite the admonitions of his master. By the wondrous vision of a merciful God, his salvation was arranged in the following way: a great famine arose, and the masters began to drive out slaves from themselves due to a lack of food. His master also kicked out Vasily. The expelled Vasily first sold his clothes to buy bread, then began to walk half naked, begging for alms. It was winter then, and he suffered greatly from the cold. Finally, exhausted, he lay down on the street. Little by little, his toes rotted away, and then his legs themselves became paralyzed. Vasily patiently endured this condition, recognizing it as punishment for his sins; he constantly repeated: “Thank God for everything.” So he spent two months on the street without cover, sighing and crying about his sins. It happened that a certain Lover of Christ, named Nikephoros, was passing along this street. He, seeing Vasily suffering, ordered him to be taken to his house, where he brought him peace and food. After two weeks, on Saturday, the sick Vasily began to say: “Good is your coming, holy angels; wait a little and we’ll go.” They said: “No, go immediately, because the Lord is calling you.” Vasily answered: “Be patient with me a little so that I can repay the debt: I borrowed ten copper coins from one of my friends and have not paid them back yet; lest the devil in the air should stop me because of them.” The angels agreed to wait. Vasily, having asked for money, sent it according to his belongings and after that gave up his spirit to God” 144. During their earthly life, people are given various positions by an incomprehensible fate: some enjoy wealth, fame, power, health; others are poor, so insignificant in human society that anyone can offend them; others spend their lives in sorrows, moving from one sorrow to another, languishing in illness, in exile, in humiliation. All these situations are not accidental: they are distributed as tasks to be solved, as lessons for work, by the Providence of God so that every person in the position in which he is placed, fulfilling the will of God, works out his salvation. Those who bear the burden of sorrows must bear it with humility, with submission to God, knowing that it has been placed on them by God. If they are sinners, then sorrows serve as retribution in time for their sins. For the consciousness of their sinfulness, for the complacent patience of sorrow, they are freed from reward in eternity. If they are innocent, then the sorrow sent or allowed, as if it befell them at the behest of God, with an all-good divine purpose, prepares for them special bliss and glory in eternity. Murmuring about sent sorrow, murmuring about God who sent sorrow, destroys the divine purpose of sorrow, deprives one of salvation, and subjects one to eternal torment. Those who are given the disposal of earthly goods must be especially protected from their abuse. Glorious and strong lands! Your purpose is to be benefactors of people and, through doing good to your neighbors, to be benefactors to yourself. Abraham has a womb in heaven, that is, an abode into which he receives earthly sufferers who are worthy of it. His position in heaven is similar to the position he chose for himself on earth. On earth he was rich, accepted strangers, helped the oppressed and the needy. His blissful position in heaven was arranged in accordance with his virtuous life on earth. And by such residence you will acquire such abodes and such a position that, with justice, it will be possible to recognize them as your property. They will never be taken away, while earthly dignities and advantages, earthly wealth, all earthly blessings are given only for maintenance. The Gospel calls earthly property “unrighteous” and “strange,” and heavenly property “true” and the property of man. “If you don’t quickly return an unrighteous property, who has faith in you in the true one? And if you don’t quickly return someone else’s, who will give you yours?” (Luke 16, 11, 12). Temporary wealth is called “unrighteous” because it is a consequence of the fall. We would not need money, nor protection from the elements, which we try to make magnificent, nor other benefits that turn into luxury items, if we had not been cast out of paradise to earth, on which we remain for the shortest time, given to us by the mercy of God to return the lost paradise. Temporary wealth is called “foreign”: it is destroyed in itself and constantly passes from hand to hand; it is not characteristic of man, it serves as an exposure of his need to help himself; denouncing his fall. Unstoppable! It did not stop and did not remain in any hands; is always given for a more or less short period, equally short before infinite eternity. Eternal property is called true as incorruptible, unchanging, always remaining the property of the one who one day receives it. It is called its own to man: man was created to possess and enjoy it; it is characteristic of man. In order to receive the true, inalienable wealth inherent in you, remain faithful to God when disposing of what is urgently entrusted to you. Do not deceive yourself: do not consider earthly possessions to be property! Do not deceive yourself: do not consider yourself entitled to dispose of this property at will! Do not deceive yourself: do not consider it sinless to use this property for luxury and entertainment! You are obliged to dispose as God, who entrusted you with the management, commanded. By using your property for luxury and entertainment, you are trampling on the law of God, robbing your neighbors of what God has instructed you to distribute to them. By indulging in feasts and amusements, you are destroying yourself. You enslave the spirit to the body; you muffle, kill the soul; you forget about God, about eternity, you lose your very faith. Developing in yourself only carnal sensations, strengthening them with exquisite and excessive nutrition, constant carnal amusements, you can no longer restrain yourself from fornication, you insatiably indulge in it. In this mortal sin you are finally burying your salvation. “Woe to you,” declared the Savior, “to the rich who abuse your wealth: for you defend your consolation. Woe to you, you who are now full, for you will hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep” (Luke 6:24–26). - “Give alms, make for yourself a place that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not fail” (Luke 12:33). Find pleasure in the creation of virtues! As soon as you touch the task of completing them, this spiritual, holy pleasure will greet you, and carnal pleasures will seem vile to you. From the alms you give, a living faith will begin to appear in you, through which you will see and experience God. It is common for mercy to give birth to faith, and for faith to give birth to mercy. Abstinence from gratifying carnal lusts brings purity to the mind, and the mind’s view of the earth and everything earthly changes: it reveals to it what it has not seen before, the corruptible in the corruptible and the temporary in the temporary; his thoughts from here begin to ascend to eternity; he finds it essential to inspect in good time, to study its vast area. “Make yourselves friends from mammon in wickedness” (Lk. 16:9), exhorts the Gospel, calling material property the mammon of unrighteousness, and the friends of the holy angels and those holy men who have already departed from here into eternity; it is fitting for them to assimilate us to a virtuous life and the participation of Divine grace during our earthly pilgrimage. “Make for yourselves friends of unrighteousness from mammon, so that when you become poor, they will receive you into eternal shelters” (Luke 16:9)! It is as if you will become impoverished, impoverished in the full sense, when, under the mysterious action of death, you leave on earth everything that belongs to the earth and borrowed from the earth, when you leave your very bodies on it! May the celestials accept you then into eternal shelters, into heavenly abodes! May God’s mercy vouchsafe us these coveted abodes for our obedience to the all-holy will of God. Amen. “All rich people are God’s servants and servants, not masters. God is the only owner and lord of all good and wealth; and he gives it to whomever he wants, and he gives it for the common good. You are torturing the clerk about the money given to him, where and for what he spent it: the Lord will also torture you about the wealth given to you from Him, and for every ruble for which you spent it, you will give an answer to Him on the day of judgment.” Saint Tikhon of Voronezh. Volume 14, letter 29 You might be interested in: