Поучение в 30-ю неделю. О спасении и совершенстве

“If you want to learn to live, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17), said our Lord Jesus Christ to a certain young man, who, as we heard in the Gospel read today, asked the Lord: “O good teacher, what have I done, will I inherit the eternal life?” (Luke 18:18) - that is, what should I do good in order to be saved? When the questioner asked again: what were the commandments? “The Lord pointed out to him, as a Jew who believed in the true God, the commandments of God towards his neighbor. The young man answered that he had kept all these commandments, and then asked again: “What is it that I have not yet finished?” – what else am I missing? The Lord said: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor: and have treasure in heaven: and come after Me, I will take up the cross” (Matthew 19:20–21; Mark 10:21; Luke 18:22). From the Lord’s answers to the young man, we learn that two blessed states are prepared by the Lord for those who believe in Him: the state of salvation and the state of Christian perfection 216. From these same answers of the Lord it is clearly seen that the blessed state of salvation is available to all Christians in general; but perfection can only be achieved by those Christians who at once distribute their property to the poor and, renouncing all ties with the world, follow Christ, taking up the cross, i.e. having undergone with zeal and love all the hardships, all the dishonor and disasters that will be allowed to them, as befits the true fortunes of Christ, rejecting all the excuses presented by carnal wisdom, hostile to Christ, hostile to the bearing of the cross. Brethren! First, let us consider what the conditions of salvation are, since receiving salvation is desired by all Christians and is available to all Christians. We mentioned above that the Lord taught His all-holy teaching to the Jews who believed in the true God, which is why He listed only the commandments in relation to neighbors, without mentioning the faith that the Lord spoke about on other occasions. It is necessary for those who want to be saved to believe in God, the Creator and the Redeemer. “Behold, this is the eternal life,” said our Savior, “that they may know You, the only true God, and Him who Jesus Christ sent” (John 17:3). “Whoever believes in the Son (of God) will have eternal life: but whoever does not believe in the Son will not see life, i.e. will not receive salvation, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). It is necessary for those who wish to be saved to belong to the Orthodox Church, the one true Church, and to obey its regulations. The Lord likened the one who disobeyed the Church to a pagan, a stranger to God (Matthew 18:17). Each of us, pronouncing the Creed, confesses that he believes in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, confesses, therefore, that, besides this one Church, there is no other Church, much less there are no other Churches, even if different human societies appropriate the name Church. It is necessary for those who wish to be saved to be baptized in the bosom of the Orthodox Church in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as the Lord Himself said: “Whoever has faith and is baptized will be saved; and those who do not have faith will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). It should be noted that in the Greek language, in which the entire New Testament was written by the apostles, 217 the word “baptism” (baptisma) in the exact sense means “immersion.” Wherever the words “baptism, baptize, baptized, baptized” are used in the New Testament, we must understand immersion, immerse, immersed, immersed. For this reason, immersing vessels in water, as dishes are usually washed, is called in the Gospel: baptism of vessels (Mark 7:8). Throughout the universe, the holy sacrament of Baptism was performed by immersion during the twelve centuries after the birth of Christ; from the twelfth century in the West they began to use dousing instead of immersion; subsequently, in some Western societies, dousing was replaced by sprinkling. For those who wish to be saved, it is necessary to repent of their sins and purify them through confession, as the Holy Scripture testifies: “If we say that we have not sinned, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, and may forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9). By the Sacrament of Repentance, the purity acquired at Baptism is maintained and renewed, our unity with Christ, given to us by holy Baptism, is maintained and renewed. “You are baptized with the second baptism according to the Christian sacrament,” says, at the command of the Holy Church, the priest performing the sacrament of Repentance to the Christian who repents before him. The Sacrament of Repentance has been changed in the West, and rejected by Protestants. It is necessary for those who wish to be saved to partake of the holy Mysteries of Christ, the all-holy Body of Christ and the all-holy Blood of Christ. “Amen, amen,” said the Lord, “if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man, nor drink His blood, you will not have life in you. Eat My flesh and drink My blood, and you will have eternal life” (John 6:53–54). The great mystery of the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is accomplished through the invocation and influx of the Holy Spirit during preceding and subsequent prayers, which together constitute the Divine Liturgy. Without the Divine Liturgy performed by an Orthodox bishop or priest, the bread offered cannot be transubstantiated into the Body of Christ, nor the wine offered into the Blood of Christ. All the ancient liturgies of the universe are completely similar to each other in essential parts: in all of them the Holy Spirit is invoked for transubstantiation, and the proposed images are blessed by the clergy, i.e. prepared bread and wine. In later times, the invocation of the Holy Spirit was excluded from the Roman liturgy, and Protestants completely rejected the liturgy. So, for those wishing to be saved, firstly, it is necessary that he correctly believed in God, belonged to the Orthodox Church, was baptized in its bosom, anointed, cleansed of sins by repentance, and partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ; secondly, it is necessary for him, as the Lord told the young man, to keep the commandments of God. The Lord first pointed out the commandments that prohibit gross, mortal sins. He repeated what Moses had already said to ancient Israel: “Thou shalt not kill; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness"; then he ordered us to honor our father and mother; finally commanded to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 19:18–19). Why didn't the Lord say anything about love for God? Because love for God lies in love for one’s neighbor, and the one who cultivates love for one’s neighbor, along with it acquires in his heart an invaluable spiritual treasure - love for God: “If we love one another,” said St. John the Theologian, “God abides in us, and His love is perfect in us” (1 John 4:12). What does it mean to inherit salvation, to be saved? This means: to assimilate oneself to the Redeemer, to remain in this assimilation throughout one’s earthly life, and after death, due to such assimilation to the Redeemer, to be transferred with one’s soul to the villages of blessed spirits, to enjoy holy pleasure with them in anticipation of the general resurrection of the dead; then, at the resurrection of the dead, to unite with the body, which the Lord will revive and make incorruptible, and with the body to inherit deep, eternal bliss. Our Lord Jesus Christ is Life and the Source of life, we are made partakers of this life by faith in the teachings of Christ, Baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Baptism, sealed through the anointing of the baptized with holy myrrh. Confirmation replaced the laying on of hands by the apostles on the newly baptized. The Apostles sealed Baptism with the laying on of hands and sent down the Holy Spirit on the newly baptized (Acts 19:6). We support and nourish our assimilation to the Lord, bringing repentance for the sins into which we fall due to our weakness, partaking of His Body and Blood, living according to His all-holy commandments. Anyone who neglects to live according to God’s commandments, does not constantly heal himself with repentance, does not support his assimilation to Christ by communion of His Body and Blood, cannot help but lose his assimilation to Christ, cannot help but lose salvation. “If you keep my commandments,” the Lord said to His disciples, “you will remain in My Love. If anyone does not abide in Me, he will be cast out like a rod and dry up, and they will gather it up and put it in the fire and it will be burned up” (John 15:10, 6). What does Christian perfection mean? Before this question, silence is more convenient than an answer; It’s more convenient to cry than to wail. What can a beggar say about the magnificent royal palaces, into which he is constantly denied access because of his rags, because of his stench and poverty, because of his complete inability to appear in a decent manner in the royal palace? If this beggar had the opportunity to look at the outside of the royal house or often see it, then such a sight should only aggravate the grief of the beggar, for whom his plight seems all the more burdensome, the more magnificent and rich the objects, inaccessible for enjoyment, reach his vision. Such a beggar will do the right thing if, having abandoned vain dreams of a palace inaccessible to him, he takes care of finding out the means of how to provide himself with his daily bread, and of the very delivery of this daily bread. And for us, brethren, bound by worldly cares and responsibilities, it is much more likely to take care of our salvation, to carefully fulfill the commandments of God, than to dream and philosophize about Christian perfection. Such dreams, such wisdom are almost always wrong, because about the spiritual, i.e. Only one spiritual person can reason about a perfect Christian; only one spiritual person can understand and evaluate him (1 Cor. 2:15). Whom has the world recognized as saints? Whom did he please and praise? False prophets, false teachers, hypocrites (Luke 6:26). How did he deal with the true saints of God? He rejected them, showered them with reproaches and slander, persecuted them as enemies of human society, and subjected them to the most severe persecutions and sorrows (Luke 6:23; Matt. 23:34). Let us look, brothers, at the path indicated by the Lord to Christian perfection! This very path is already inaccessible and incomprehensible to us. The Lord commands those who wish to strive towards attaining perfection not to gradually give alms, as is required of those who are being saved, but commands them to sell all their property and the entire price received for it at once, and at the same time, with greater haste, to distribute it to the poor; thus, break all ties with the world, all relationships with the world, and follow Christ by taking up the cross. What does it mean to take up the cross and follow Christ? To take up the cross means to embrace with faith and love all hardships, all persecutions, sorrows and reproaches from the world, as Christ lifted them up; to take the cross means to crucify the flesh with its passions and lusts, to live in the flesh not for the flesh, to mortify the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit, to live by the Spirit, to be controlled by the Spirit (Gal. 5:24–25; Rom. 8:12–13). What does Christian perfection mean? This is a tangible and obvious renewal of a Christian by the Holy Spirit, which can only be accomplished on those who died to sin and to the world on the cross of Christ. A person renewed by the Spirit becomes a God-bearer, becomes a church of God and a Priest, officiating in this Church, worshiping God in Spirit and Truth. The apostles and all other saints of God were granted such perfection in varying degrees (Col. 1:28; Phil. 3:15) 218. Blessed are God's chosen ones, called by God to perfection! But truly happy are those to whom the merciful Lord grants salvation. To this happiness, brothers, we are all called, without exception. The path to salvation has been shown to us by the Lord with all clarity. Those who have not previously cared about their salvation can now take care of it. As long as the field of earthly life is not terminated for a person, repentance, and therefore salvation, is quite possible for him. Let us stop being despondent, let us stop being in negligence, so that death does not suddenly creep up on us, “like a thief in the night” (1 Thess. 5:2), and take away from us the opportunity to acquire from God the gift of salvation, which is so necessary for us for eternity. “Be prepared,” our Savior tells us, “for at that very hour the Son of Man will come” (Matthew 24:44), “and will reward everyone according to his deeds. Blessed is he who does His commandments, so that the area for them may be upon the tree of the living, and the gates may enter into the city. Without are dogs, and sorcerers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and everyone who loves and commits lies” (Rev. 22:12–15). Amen. The state of Christian perfection, the spiritual state, as opposed to infancy in Christ (1 Cor. 3:1), is mentioned in the New Testament (Phil. 3:15; Col. 1:28; Heb. 5:14) and in the writings of St. fathers (Goodness, part 1. Ladder of the Divine Gifts, set out by the touching monk Theophan, St. Macarius the Great word 3, chapter 12, 13, 14, etc.). In the prayer for kathisma 17 we read: “Complete me to Your perfections, and thus bring me to the present life.” With the exception of the Gospel of Matthew, which was written in Hebrew and translated into Greek. The Hebrew text was soon lost, and all the holy fathers of the first centuries refer to the Greek text Kindness, part 1. Rev. Simeon the New Theologian. Chapters Active and Theological, ch. 132 You might be interested in: