Поучение 2-е в неделю по Богоявлении. О покаянии

“Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is drawing near” (Matthew IV, 17). Repentance is the first New Testament commandment; repentance is the initial New Testament virtue, introducing all other Christian virtues. Both the Forerunner of the Savior and the Savior Himself began preaching to fallen humanity with a call to repentance and with the promise of the Heavenly Kingdom for satisfactory repentance. “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is drawing near” (Matthew 3:2, 4:17). Repentance gives its mighty right hand to a person who is in a deep abyss, in the hell of the Fall - it takes him out of there, lifts him above the earth; leaves only when he leads the saved into the gates of eternity. Having called on Divine grace to the aid of our feeble-mindedness, we strive to explore the meaning of repentance in order to accept this gift of God, offered to us by God Himself, and, having accepted it, work out our salvation through our repentance. Two properties, two abilities are planted by the merciful God in human nature, with the help of which it, after its fall and alienation from God, can arise from the fall and restore communion with God. These two properties: the property of repentance and the property of faith. God turns to these two properties to save people. He invites their free will to use these two properties for salvation. A person died by free will, and it is his free will that allows him to be saved. “Repent and believe” (Mark I, 15). For repentance, God grants forgiveness of sins and access to Himself, and reveals Himself to faith, and grants that knowledge of God that a person is capable of, which he cannot acquire by his own means. Faith provides the mind with knowledge that exceeds reason: the mind, through judgment and research, accepts only those knowledge that are subject to its comprehension; faith assimilates to the mind knowledge that is inaccessible to its comprehension. Such is all revealed knowledge about God and the mysteries of Christianity. – Repentance introduces into the heart feelings of grace, alien to fallen nature, teaches the mind and heart true worship, teaches God to offer to God the only sacrifice acceptable to Him from fallen human nature: contrition and humility of spirit (Psalm 50:19). The human spirit, having come to this state, enters into communication with the Spirit of God, which is the renewal and salvation of man. The Monk Simeon the New Theologian speaks about faith: "In order to gain faith and believe the words of God, there is no prohibiting obstacle. For this reason, if with all our soul we want to gain faith, then we find it immediately, without any labor, because faith is a gift of the all-good God given to our nature; we have it depending on our will, we have it whenever we want. Therefore, we see that both the Scythians and barbarians, and all nations have faith naturally, believe each other’s words, and demonstrate (in various other ways) faith among themselves” 2. This natural faith, by which we can believe in God, must be distinguished from active faith, which appears in the soul from the fulfillment of the Gospel commandments, and from living faith, poured into the heart by the Holy Spirit 3. Everyone can believe in God and the Gospel (Mark I, 14–15; Acts XX, 21); active faith is acquired by the ascetics of Christ; living faith is a gift of God, the property of the Saints of God alone. In the same way, repentance is natural to us. This is the action of our conscience. It consists in the awareness of one’s mistakes and regret about them. Just as by natural attraction and conviction, when we want, we trust each other: so, by natural attraction and conviction, when we want, we repent of each other’s mutual mistakes. Repentance, being the satisfaction of a natural heart requirement, brings peace and pleasure to the heart. It restores disturbed peace and order between people, resolves misunderstandings, heals souls from enmity and memory of malice. But we repent of each other only when we want to do so; Without will, the natural ability of repentance remains inactive. The incomprehensible God, after the creation of man, having given him all the means to preserve life, left the choice of life or death to his free will: in the same way, at redemption, God, incomprehensible both in goodness and in His mind, having completed redemption, left it to our will to accept or reject redemption. He first invested in us the natural property of repentance: the means that we use to destroy hostility and restore peace among ourselves, He wanted to use as a means to destroy hostility and restore peace between God and humanity, between the rejected and lost creation and its almighty Creator. Repent! He speaks to humanity, calling humanity to Himself. Your salvation is accomplished by God; your death was trampled upon and killed by God, without any of your participation, assistance, or labor: arbitrarily reject the death you arbitrarily accepted! arbitrarily accept the blessed eternal life that you arbitrarily rejected! For this purpose, use the property of repentance that was well-timed in you, a property that is completely dependent on your will! Nothing heavy or new is placed on you: use the method of reconciliation among yourself as a method of reconciliation with God! Just as initial faith consists in believing the words of God, so initial repentance consists in the awareness of one’s sins and one’s sinfulness, in regret for them, in bringing this awareness and condolences through sincere confession and fervent prayer before the face of God, with the determination and promise to leave a sinful life, and to accept the Gospel commandments as a rule of conduct. Such repentance will be followed by forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, assimilation to God, according to the clear testimony of Holy Scripture, which says: “I have known my iniquity, and have not covered my sin. Reh: let me confess my iniquity to the Lord, and you have forsaken the wickedness of my heart” (Ps. XXXI, 5). Such repentance was required of those who accepted Christianity before their baptism (Acts II, 38); With such repentance the souls of Christians are healed from the ulcers with which sin wounds and defiles them after receiving baptism (1 John I, 9). The Gospel is received by faith (Mark I, 15); living according to the teachings of the Gospel strengthens faith - faith from hearing, theoretical, little by little turns into active, practical faith. A similar thing happens with repentance from living according to the Gospel commandments. The own light of fallen nature, as damaged by sin, weakly illuminates human activity; in this light we see few of our errors, we see only the most gross and tangible ones. When our activity is illuminated by the light of Christ’s commandments, then our self-view changes; we begin to see many shortcomings in ourselves that we had not noticed at all before. Our damage by sin then appears in astonishing variety before our mental eyes! It is revealed to us both that sinfulness, which constitutes our sad common heritage with other people, and that private sinfulness, which is acquired by each person from his inattentive, reckless life that preceded a life devoted to piety. With the multiplication of incentives for repentance, repentance itself intensifies and deepens. It cleanses the eye of the soul. A cleansed eye sees more stains on the robe of the soul than it saw, being clogged and ulcerated by sin: it is natural that such vision intensifies and deepens repentance. It operates in successful ascetics incomparably more than in those beginning the feat. Moral Christian success is success in repentance: because success in repentance comes from especially careful fulfillment of the Gospel commandments. All the Saints abounded in feelings of repentance; They concentrated their activities in repentance, and performed the commandments as the payment of that terrible debt (Luke XVII, 10), which, even with constant payment, remains unpaid, which, due to the perfection of the Lender and the weakness of the debtors, becomes unpayable, even if it is paid continuously. Repentance in mature Christians acquires a special, extensive meaning. When Saint Isaac of Syria was asked: “What is repentance?” he answered: “A contrite and humble heart” 4. This same great mentor of perfect Christians said: "If we are all sinners, and not one of us has risen above temptations, then there is not a single virtue, the highest repentance. Doing it can never achieve perfection. It always befits everyone who wants to receive salvation, both sinners and righteous. There is no limit at which it could be recognized as completed, and therefore repentance cannot be limited either by time or by the deeds (of the ascetic) until death." 5. When the grace of God overshadows faith, then the Christian ascends to a life above natural. In the same way, repentance, being overshadowed by Divine grace, elevates its worker to a supernatural life. Overwhelmed by the feeling and thirst for repentance, the Holy Fathers entered into endless seclusion for him, indulged in crying and sobbing from the contemplation of their sinfulness and that of all mankind; they forgot food because of their groaning, and roared from the abundance of sadness, like lions wounded by hunters. Having recognized the dignity of repentance brought in silence, they said: “Outside silence there is no perfect repentance” 6. Others of the Fathers, due to the contemplation of their sinfulness, with humility endured slander, humiliation, expulsion and death itself, weeping and condemning themselves, as if guilty of what the slander accused them of. The holy martyrs, accepting terrible torment and the death penalty, saw in them the longed-for cleansing of their sinfulness. While grace was demonstrating their election and holiness by clear signs, they were concerned about repentance. So the martyr Timothy, who openly said to the tormentor: “The Spirit of Jesus Christ dwells in me,” and who also said that the Angels of God are present during his torment and strengthen him, invited his young wife, Mavra, to participate in the martyrdom with the following words: “Leaving the short-term, go, O Mavra! with me to this wonderful feat, for which we will be worthy to receive crowns from our Savior, God, and He He will forgive us all our sins when we voluntarily give ourselves up to death for Him.” Mavra, filled with the Holy Spirit, boldly appeared before the tormentor and confessed Christ. By order of the tormentor-hegemon, the hair of the martyr was plucked out. She said to the hegemon: "Now I have learned, hegemon, that my Christ has adopted me for himself, without remembering my sin, which was done in ignorance and consisted in the fact that, having listened to your crafty advice, I adorned my hair to deceive my blessed husband. You did well by plucking out my hair: with its removal, a great sin will be taken away from me." When, at the command of the tormentor, Saint Maura’s hand fingers were cut off, she said to him: “And by this you did me a good deed: by taking away from me the fingers with which I placed vain ornaments on myself, you arranged for me liberation from my second sin.” When the martyr was thrown into a cauldron of boiling water, she said to the hegemon: “Again, I thank you for commanding me to wash me from my sins committed in the world, so that with a pure heart I may approach my God and receive the crown of life.” Blessed Mavra performed the difficult feat of martyrdom, confessing her sinfulness and recognizing martyrdom as the purification of sinfulness. This is what she thought and said, despite the fact that the boiling cauldron did not cause her any harm, and she endured the cutting off of her fingers without any pain. Saints Timothy and Mavra ended their lives by being crucified on crosses, one against the other. Before her death, the martyr said to the people ahead: “Brothers and sisters! remember that we acted humanly, living among people; also that after this we have completed the work of God, being servants of God, and are already accepting crowns from our Lord Jesus Christ. And you, living in accordance with human nature, strive to do what is pleasing to God, so that you may receive forgiveness of sins and receive crowns from our same Master." 7. The above words of Saint Isaac are accurate and fair: "Repentance is heartfelt humility." Because of their deep humility, the greatest saints of God did not seem to see the grace-filled gifts with which they abounded - they saw only their own sinfulness, which has already been washed away by Divine grace, which testified by its obvious presence in the chosen vessels the removal of sinfulness. Among the properties that distinguish holy men is the fact that they always have their sin before their eyes, although it is forgiven by God, they mourn it, as if it had just been committed and not yet worthy of forgiveness. Thus, Saint David, weeping, says: “My iniquity. I know, and I will take away my sin before me” (Ps. L, 5). They say about the holy Apostle Peter that throughout his life he remembered his renunciation of the Lord, and every night, when he cried out the loops, Peter indulged in bitter sobbing, just as he indulged in bitter sobbing and crying on the very night of his renunciation (Matthew XXVI, 75). The Monk Sisoes the Great, an Egyptian desert dweller, was filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit; but, upon the approach of death, he expressed a desire to remain for some time in earthly life in order to improve in repentance 8. The greatest saints of God had this opinion about repentance: it was formed in them from constant and thorough cleansing by repentance, and the ineffable greatness of God, the insignificance of man and the severity of his fall become clear to man. In accordance with the poverty of strength, - more correctly, by the great mercy of God, the field of repentance is depicted here in the painting of the word. Using this outline, let everyone examine themselves and determine their place in the field of repentance. Blessed are those who, having heeded the calling of God, realized their sinfulness, repent of their sins and sinful life, decided to confess them, cast out of themselves the criminal love of sin by sincere reproof of sin, and enter into a life opposite to sinful life, into a life according to the will of God, according to the teaching of the Gospel. Blessed are those who, having worked in the field of repentance, saw in themselves with the eye of the soul, through the action of Divine grace, the fall of humanity in general and their own in particular, saw that we are all poisoned by sin, that our very nature is poisoned by it - saw the effect on themselves and on humanity of the fallen angels and the grave captivity in which we are among these enemies of God and ours. Viewers of this spiritual vision can be completely immersed in the boundless sea of ​​repentance 9 . A hundred times blessed are those who, having been cleansed by repentance, because of their purity, were able to assimilate the incomprehensible humility of Christ, to be crucified with Christ, and from the cross, involuntary, or apparently arbitrary, given by Christ, cry out to Christ: “What is worthy of our sins is acceptable: “Remember us, Lord, when you come in Your Kingdom” ( Luke 23:42), at the hour of our separation from the body, on the brink of eternity. God's saving gift - repentance - requires that we accept it with the greatest reverence and care. Careless, contemptuous behavior in relation to the gifts of God entails terrible disasters, which naturally arise from such behavior. How can the greatest, spiritual, essential, eternal disaster not arise when we, accepting the gift of God, reject a proper study of both the gift itself and the use that should be made of it? Unfortunately, many act extremely carelessly and ignorantly with the great gift of repentance! They do not want to learn that repentance cannot be combined with an arbitrary sinful life. Living in a sinful life out of sympathy for it, out of attachment to it, at certain times they resort to repentance, so that, having washed themselves for a minute, they again plunge into sinful filth. O terrible deception of ourselves! O terrible mockery of the gift of God! O terrible curse against God! “The last pot of the first was for them” (2 Peter II, 20, 21). With such hypocritical repentance, such playing with the great sacrament and mockery of it, a sinful life is imprinted, strengthened, and becomes an inalienable property of a person. The following words of Saint John the Theologian apply to arbitrary lovers of sin: "Whoever sins does not see Him (the Lord Jesus Christ), nor know Him. Children, let no one flatter you... Whoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed abides in him, and cannot sin, for he is born of God. For this reason the essence is revealed children of God and children of the devil” (1 John III, 6–10). The children of God and the children of the devil are evident, the sign of their difference is clear; deception is impossible. Those who lead an arbitrary sinful life, drowning in carnal pleasures, even if they are called Christians, are the children of the devil; on the contrary, the sign of the children of God is that they lead their lives according to the behest of the Gospel and the Holy Church, and the sins into which they fall due to weakness are hastily healed by repentance. Even the most righteous person cannot be completely sinless: and for him, healing through repentance is necessary, as the same holy Apostle John testified. “If we say that we are not sinners, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John I, 8-10). Christians of the primal Church, leaving the faith of the pagans, also left their life (1 Peter IV, 3, 4). The holy Apostle Peter calls this life “the shedding of fornication.” Not to mention popular entertainment, all the institutions of the pagans represented a varied service to voluptuousness, which, like a flood, enveloped the entire society. Sinful, depraved life was the life of the pagans, the soul of their society! it cannot in any way be combined with Christianity. Let us love repentance and receive salvation. Let us accept from the hand of the Lord the lifelong gift of repentance - and in due time we will receive the eternal gift of salvation. The all-merciful “God has given repentance to life” (Acts XI, 18): He will give to those who truly repent, those who are reconciled with Him, who have become assimilated to Him through repentance, blessedness in eternity, “for the Lord’s salvation is salvation” (Ps. III, 9). To him be glory forever and ever. Amen. A word about Faith. Kindness, part 1. Callista and Ignatius Xanfopoulov, ch. 16. Dobrotol., part 2. Hieromartyr Peter of Damascus on eight intelligent visions, book. I Kindness, part 3. You might be interested in: