Conversation on Great Week

The year and place of delivery of the “Conversations on Great Week” (6 chapters) are unknown. In it St. John Chrysostom explains why this week is called Great - because the Lord has done great things for us: the long-standing power of the devil has been overthrown, death has been trampled underfoot, sin has been put to death, paradise has been opened, people have united with angels, etc. Further, the saint explains the words of the prophet David, “Praise my soul the Lord” (Ps. 146:1). They are addressed only to the human soul so that “it does not dissipate when the tongue speaks, as often happens to us during prayers and chants, so that there is agreement on both sides.” Our prayers to God must ascend from the depths of our hearts. Using examples from Holy Scripture, St. John shows the great power of singing songs to God. If prayer is combined with fasting and gratitude, it makes the soul even stronger. At the end of the conversation, the saint gives advice on how to maintain attention during prayer. Said in the Great Week about why this week (passion) is called Great, and in response to the words: “Praise the Lord, O my soul” (Ps. 145:1), and about the prison guard mentioned in Acts An exhortation to increased spiritual vigilance during Holy Week. – Why is it called Great and how do Christians and Christian kings commemorate it? - “Praise my soul the Lord.” – How can our insides bless the Lord? – Why in Ps.145 is only the soul called to this? – The great power of hymns to God. – The apostles did nothing for show and believers were attracted to them not only by their miracles, but even before the miracles by their life. – The great power of prayer combined with fasting and gratitude to God. – When is prayer combined with gratitude? – Exhortation – perform prayer with reverent attention. – How to maintain attention during prayer? 1. We completed the voyage of the post and, by the grace of God, finally reached the pier; But let us not be careless because we have reached the pier, but on the contrary, because we have reached the end, we will be even more zealous. The helmsmen do the same: when they are preparing to bring a ship with a cargo filled to the top with wheat and other goods into the mouth of the pier, they are especially active and careful so that the ship, after a long voyage, does not crash here on some rock and sink all the goods. So now we must be especially active and careful, so that at the end we do not lose the reward for our labors; That’s why we need to increase our jealousy. Those who run on the lists do the same: when they see that they are already close to the place of reward, then they especially speed up their running. Likewise, wrestlers, when, after many struggles and repeated victories, approach the crowns, then they become especially encouraged and strain their strength. Now we will do the same. What is a haven for the helmsman, a place of rewards for those who run, and crowns for fighters, for us it is the real week, the firstfruits of good things and the approach to crowns. That is why we call it Great, not because its days were longer than all the others - on the contrary, there are other days longer - and not because it had more days in number - they are equal to the others - but because in this week the Lord did great things for us. During this Great Week, the long-standing power of the devil was overthrown, death was trampled upon, the mighty were bound, his vessels were plundered, sin was put to death, oaths were resolved, paradise was opened, heaven became accessible, people united with the angels, the mediastinum of the fence was destroyed, the veil was removed, the God of peace pacified the heavenly and earthly. That is why it is called the Great Week; and just as she is the head of other weeks, so for her the head is Holy Saturday; As the head is in the body, the Sabbath is in the week. Therefore, at this time, many intensify their zeal: some increase fasting, others - sacred vigils, others increase alms, testifying with such zeal for good deeds and increased piety in life about the greatness of the blessing shown to us by God. Just as at the time when the Lord raised Lazarus, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem came out to meet him and testified in their numbers that He had raised the dead, and the zeal of those who came out served as proof of the miracle, so now the zealous veneration of this great week serves as a sign and proof of the greatness of the deeds accomplished during it. Nowadays we are not just coming out from one city or from Jerusalem to meet Christ, but from all over the universe, countless churches are coming out everywhere to meet Jesus, not holding palm branches in their hands and shaking them, but bringing to the Lord Christ alms, love for mankind, virtue, fasting, tears, prayers, vigils and all kinds of piety. And not only do we honor this week, but also the kings of our universe honor it in an extraordinary way, giving rest to everyone involved in public affairs, so that they, taking advantage of the freedom from work, diligently spend all these days in spiritual service. For this reason they now closed the doors of the courts; let them stop, they say, all kinds of litigation, quarrels and punishments; let the executioners' hands rest a little; The works of the Lord are completed for everyone in general; May there be some good from us slaves too. And not only with such zeal and zeal did they honor her, but also in another way no less. At this time, royal decrees are sent out, commanding the release of prisoners in prison from their bonds. Just as our Lord, having descended into hell, freed everyone who was held by death, so too slaves, doing what they could for them and imitating the Lord’s love for mankind, free people from sensory bonds, without having the strength to free them from spiritual bonds. 2. And we honor this week; and I went out with you, presenting, instead of palm branches, a word of edification, casting two mites, like a widow. They came out with palm branches, exclaimed and said: “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest" (Matthew 21:9)! We too will go out, and instead of palm branches, presenting blossoming souls, we will exclaim, as we sang today: “Praise, my soul, the Lord. I will praise the Lord as long as I live” (Ps. 145:1-2). And those words belong to David, and these; or better - both of them belong not to David, but to the grace of the Spirit. The prophet spoke them, but the Comforter moved his tongue. That’s why he said: “My tongue is the reed of a scribe” (Ps. 44:2). Just as a reed does not write by itself, but at the direction of the hand that moves it, so in the same way the language of the prophets did not speak by itself, but by the grace of God. But why did he not just say: “my tongue is a scribe’s reed”, but: “a scribe’s reed is a cursive writer”? So that you know that they have spiritual wisdom, and therefore there is great ease and great speed in it. People, speaking for themselves, compose a speech, think, hesitate, waste a lot of time; and there the words flowed as if from a source, did not encounter any obstacle, and even the speed of the tongue was overcome by the tide of thoughts. That’s why he said: “My tongue is the reed of a scribe”; Inside us, he says, abundant streams boil, and therefore they flow out with great speed; we don’t need any considerations, efforts or labors. However, let's see what he says in the words: “Praise the Lord, my soul.” We sing these words now together with David, because although he is not present with us in body, he is present in spirit. And that the righteous are really present and sing with us, about this, listen to how Abraham speaks to the rich man. When the rich man said: “Send Lazarus so that my brothers, having learned about the torment in hell, will be corrected,” he answered: “They have Moses and the prophets” (Luke 16:29). Although Moses and all the prophets had long since died in body, they were present in the scriptures. If you, having placed a soulless image of your son or friend, think that the deceased himself is present with you, and imagine him through this soulless image, then much more do we, through the Divine Scripture, enjoy the presence of the saints, having in it an image not of their bodies, but of their souls, because their sayings are images of their souls. Do you want to make sure that the righteous really live and are present? No one calls the dead as witnesses; and Christ calls them as witnesses of his deity, and first of all David himself, to teach you that he is alive. When the Jews were perplexed about Him, He said to them: “What do you think about Christ? whose son is he? They say to Him: David. He said to them, “How then does David, by inspiration, call Him Lord, when he says, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand” (Matthew 22:42–44)? Do you see that David is alive? If he had not been alive, Christ would not have presented him as a witness to His divinity. Moreover, he did not say: “what did David call by inspiration,” but: “calls” to show that he is still present and speaks through the Scriptures. David once sang psalms, and we now sing them with David. He had a psalter with soulless strings, and the Church has a psalter made of animate strings. Our tongues are the strings of this psalter, which produce, although different sounds, but consistent piety. Wives and men, old men and young men, although they differ from each other in age, do not differ in psalmody, because the Spirit, tuning the voice of each, produces in all one consonant singing, as David himself explained, calling every age and every gender to this consonant singing: “Let every breath,” he says, “praise the Lord” (Ps. 150:6)! “Praise the Lord, my soul.” Why did he leave the body? Why doesn't he say anything to the body? Doesn't it divide a living being into two parts? No; but he encourages the manager in advance. And that he did not separate the body from the soul, listen to how he says in another place: “O God, my God, I have been turning to You in the morning, my soul has thirsted for You, and how much my flesh has longed for You in the earth” (Ps. 62:2) *. But, you say, show me where he called the body to chant. So, he says: “Bless the Lord, my soul, and all that is within me is His holy name” (Ps. 103:1)! Do you see how the body also participates in harmonious singing? What does it mean: “and all that is within me is His holy name”? Nerves, he says, bones, veins, arteries and all the insides. 3. But how can our insides bless God when they have no voice, no mouth, no tongue? The soul can do this. But how can the entrails, having no voice, no tongue, no lips, bless God? Just as “The heavens will tell of the glory of God” (Ps. 18:2). Just as the heavens, although they do not have a tongue, mouth or lips, but, with the beauty of their appearance, amazes the audience, prompting them with their wondrous structure to praise the Creator, so in our insides, if you imagine everything, if you consider the diversity of their properties, activities, strength, harmony, structure, position, number, harmony, then you will pronounce the words of the prophet: “How majestic are Your works, Lord! You have created all things with wisdom” (Ps. 103:24). Do you see how the entrails bless God without voice, mouth or tongue? Why does the prophet speak only to the soul? So that it does not dissipate when the tongue speaks, as often happens to us during prayers and chants, so that there is agreement on both sides. If you do not listen to the words of God while praying, then how will God hear your prayer? Thus, when he says: “Praise the Lord, my soul,” he expresses the following: let prayers be offered within, from the depths of the heart. That’s why Paul says: “I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the mind” (1 Cor. 14:15). The soul is some excellent musician, there is an artist; and the body is an instrument that replaces the psalter, flute and lyre. Other musicians do not always have all their instruments, but sometimes they take them and sometimes they leave them; they do not constantly play, and therefore do not always carry instruments in their hands, but God wanted to inspire you that you should constantly praise and bless Him and for this purpose He forever united the instrument with the artist in you. And that you need to bless God continually, listen to what the apostle says: “Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in everything” (1 Thess. 5:17–18). Since one must pray unceasingly, the instrument is always with the artist. “Praise the Lord, my soul.” David said this first in his own tongue, and now, after his death, he says it in countless languages, not only among us, but throughout the entire universe. Do you see that he is not dead, but alive? How can one call himself dead who has so many tongues and speaks with so many lips? A truly great thing is praise to God; it cleanses our soul and produces great reverence in us. Do you want to know what power there is in singing songs to God? The three youths, chanting them, extinguished the Babylonian furnace, or better yet, did not extinguish it, but, what is much more surprising, they trampled the kindled flame underfoot like dirt. This hymn, having entered the prison with Paul, loosed the bonds, opened the doors of the prison, shook the foundations, and struck the prison guard with great horror. “About midnight,” says Scripture, “Paul and Silas were praying and singing praises to God” (Acts 16:25). What happened next? A completely unusual and wonderful thing. The ties were broken, the bound bound the unbound. Bonds, by their nature, hold the bound one tightly and do not give him freedom; and here the unbound prison guard came and fell at the feet of the bound Paul. The nature of material bonds is such that they hold the bound one; and the bonds of Christ are of such strength that the unbound are subdued by the bound. The guard threw them inside the dungeon, and they, being inside, opened the outer doors; he imprisoned their legs in a block, but their bound legs were released by the hands of others. Then, the Scripture says, the guard fell upon them in fear and trembling, with crying, anxiety and tears (Acts 16:29). What happened? Didn't you tie them yourself? Was it not you who guarded them in prison? But is it surprising that this power opened the prison when it has the ability to open the heavens? “Whatever you bind on earth,” said the Lord, “will be bound in heaven; and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). She loosens the bonds of sins: is it surprising that she loosed the bonds of iron? She loosens the bonds of demons and frees the souls bound by them: is it surprising that she loosed the chains of prisoners? And look at the double miracle: she allowed and at the same time tied; loosed the bonds and bound the hearts of the prisoners, since they did not know that they were free. She opened and at the same time closed: she opened the doors of the prison and closed the eyes of the hearts of the prisoners, so that they did not see the open doors, so that, taking advantage of freedom, they would not flee. Do you see how it binds and looses, opens and closes? 4. This happened at night so that the event could take place without noise and without any confusion. The apostles did nothing for show or out of vanity. The chief of the prison guard fell at Paul's feet. What about Pavel? You have seen his miracle, you have seen his extraordinary deeds. Look at his care, look at his love for mankind. “But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying,” says Scripture, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here” (Acts 16:28). He did not allow the one who cruelly bound him to die gravely; he did not remember evil. “For everything,” he says, “we are here.” Look at his humility. He did not say: I performed these miracles, but what? "We are all here". Paul compared himself to prisoners. Seeing what happened, the guard was surprised, amazed by the miracle and thanked God. Truly he was worthy of care and indulgence; he did not attribute what happened to magic. Why didn’t he think that what happened was a work of magic? Because I heard how they praised God; and the wizard never praises God. He had met many wizards since he was a prison guard; but none of them had ever done such a thing, resolved the bonds, or provided such care. Paul wanted to remain bound rather than flee in order to spare him death. He ran in with a sword in his hands and a lamp, because the devil wanted to deprive him of repentance through murder; but Paul, with a loud cry, quickly brought salvation to his soul. He not only spoke, but “cried with a loud voice, saying: ...we are all here.” The guard was surprised by such care, the unbound fell to the bound and what did he say? “My sirs! What must I do to be saved” (Acts 16:30)? How did you tie them up, and you yourself are in difficulty? Have you imprisoned them and are you looking to them for the means to repentance and salvation? Do you see his fiery zeal, do you see his jealousy? He did not hesitate, and having gotten rid of fear, he did not abandon the good deed, but immediately began to save his soul. It was night and even midnight; but he did not say: let’s wait, let the day come, but immediately began to save. This man is great,” he said, “above human nature; I saw his wonderful work, I am amazed at his love for mankind; Having suffered countless evils from me, being in extreme circumstances, then taking possession of me, who bound him, and having the opportunity to destroy me, he not only did nothing of the kind, but when I myself intended to kill myself and pierce my throat with a sword, he restrained me. Therefore, he said with conviction: “My lords! What should I do to be saved? Thus, it was not only miracles that attracted believers to the apostles, but even before the miracles, their lives. That is why Christ said: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Do you see the fiery jealousy of the prison guard? Look at Paul's jealousy too. He did not hesitate and did not ignore him; but, being in chains, in prison, in wounds, he immediately taught him the sacraments and with him to his entire household, and after spiritual cleansing and a spiritual meal, he also took a physical meal. But why did God shake the prison? He wanted to arouse the attention of the prison guard to what was happening; resolved the sensual bonds of the bound, in order to resolve the spiritual bonds of the prison guard. Christ did the opposite. When a weakened man came to him, suffering from double relaxation, sinful and physical, then He freed him in advance from sinful relaxation, saying: “Son! Your sins are forgiven you” (Mark 2:5), and then, when some doubted, they blasphemed and said: “Who can forgive sins except God alone?” (Mark 2:7), He, wanting to show them that He is the true God, wanting to condemn them with their own words, so that they could say: “with your mouth I will judge you” (Luke 19:22), says: you said that no one can forgive sins except God alone; here I forgive sins; Confess my Divinity; I condemn you with your own words (Mark 2:10–12). There is first a spiritual resolution, and then a sensual one; but here, on the contrary, sensual ties are allowed first, and then spiritual ones. Do you see how powerful chants are, how powerful praise is, how powerful prayer is? The power of prayer is always great; but if prayer is combined with fasting, it makes the soul even stronger. Nowadays we have a special purity of thoughts; Now the mind is excited and the soul contemplates everything above. That is why Scripture always connects prayer with fasting. How and when? “Do not deviate,” it says, “from one another, except by consent, for a time, to practice fasting and prayer” (1 Cor. 7:5); and in another place: “this generation is driven out only by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21); and in another place: “having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them” (Acts 13:3). 5. Do you see how prayer is combined with fasting everywhere? Then our lyre emits the most pleasant and best melody, because its strings are not sluggish, not weakened by excess of intemperance, but the mind is strong, the mind is alive, the soul is cheerful. This is how one should approach God and talk with Him alone. If we, intending to say something necessary to our friends, take them to a secluded place and then talk to them, then all the more should we do this in relation to God, i.e. enter this treasury with complete silence, and then of course we will receive everything useful we ask for. Prayer is a great blessing when it is done with a grateful and cheerful mood. When is the spirit grateful? When we accustom ourselves to thank God, not only when we receive what we ask for, but also when we do not receive it. God sometimes gives and sometimes does not; but he does both with benefit, so that although you receive, although you do not receive, you also receive through the very thing that you do not receive; although you achieve what you want, although you do not achieve it, you also achieve it through the very thing that you do not achieve. Not getting what you ask for is often more useful than getting it. If it were not often useful for us not to receive what we ask for, then God would of course always give; and not to receive with benefit means to achieve what is asked. That is why He often hesitates to fulfill our request, not wanting to torment us with slowness, but by delaying the gift, teaching us constant attentiveness. Since we often, having received what we asked, weaken our zeal in prayer after receiving it, He, wanting to increase our zeal in prayer, postpones the gift. This is what child-loving parents do: children who are lazy and indulge in childish games, they often keep to themselves with the promise of a big gift, and therefore sometimes they put off the gift, and sometimes they don’t give it at all. It also happens that we ask ourselves for something harmful; but God, knowing better than us what is useful for us, does not satisfy our prayers, arranging what is useful for us without our knowledge. However, is it surprising that we are not heard when the same happened to Paul? And he often did not receive what he asked for, but not only did he not grieve, but also thanked God. “For this,” he says, “I prayed to the Lord three times” (2 Cor. 12:8). The word: “three times” means: often. If Paul often did not receive what he asked for, then all the more should we be patient. But let's see what kind of mood he had, often not receiving what he asked for, when he did not receive it. Not only did he not grieve, but he also boasted about what he did not receive. So, having said: “Three times I prayed to the Lord about this, ... But the Lord said to me: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness,” he adds: “Therefore I will boast much more gladly about my weaknesses” (2 Cor. 12:8-9). 6. Do you see the prudence of the servant of God? He asked for deliverance from weakness, and God did not listen to him; but Paul not only did not grieve, but also boasted in his weakness. This is how we will attune our souls; Whether God gives or does not give what we ask, we will thank Him for both, because in both cases He does what is beneficial for us. If it is in His power to give, then it is also in His power when to give, what to give or not to give. You yourself do not know what is good for you as well as He knows. You often ask for useless and harmful things; but He, being more concerned about your salvation, does not look at the request, but first of all always at the benefit for you. If carnal parents do not give everything to children who ask, not because they do not pay attention to them, but because they care very much about them, then how much more does God, who loves more and knows what is beneficial more than anyone else, act in this way. Let us continually practice prayer, not only during the day, but also at night. Listen to what the prophet himself says: “At midnight I rose to praise You for Your righteous judgments” (Ps. 119:62). The king, who had so many worries, ruled tribes, cities and peoples, established peace, waged wars, always saw a countless number of affairs before him and did not have any rest, practiced prayers not only during the day, but also at night. If the king, who lived in such contentment, had so many worries, was surrounded by so many affairs, did not calm down even at night, but constantly prayed more fervently than the monks living in the mountains, then tell me, what kind of forgiveness will we receive, who live in complete peace, lead a private and inactive life, and yet not only spend whole nights in sleep, but also during the day do not perform the prescribed prayers with proper vigil? Prayer is a great weapon; prayer is a great decoration, a fence and a pier, a treasure of blessings and indestructible wealth. When we need people, we sometimes need to spend money, use slavish flattery, and a lot of trouble and effort. It often happens that you cannot turn to the masters themselves to receive mercy and even talk with them, but in advance their servants, housekeepers and overseers must be won over with money, and words, and in all sorts of ways, so that later through them you can receive what you ask for. But it is not so with God; on the contrary, He bends to mercy not so much at the intercession of others, but at the request of us ourselves. Here both the recipient and the non-receiver can benefit; and in both cases we often receive harm from people. So, if those who turn to God receive greater benefit and with greater ease, then let us not abandon prayer. God will then be especially reconciled with you, then He will especially give you what you ask for, when you ask on your own, when you present a pure soul, a vigorous mind, and pray without being distracted, as many do, whose tongue often utters the words of prayer, and the soul wanders through houses, squares and roads. All this is the machinations of the devil. He knows that at this time we can receive forgiveness of sins, and therefore, wanting to block the harbor of prayer for us, at this time he attacks us, distracting our thoughts from the spoken words, so that we leave with more harm than benefit. Knowing this, man, when you approach God, think about Who you are approaching, and the trustworthiness of Him who is ready to bestow grace on you will be sufficient motivation for you to be attentive. Look at the sky and think about Who you are addressing your speech to. If everyone, even the most careless, entering into a conversation with a person who has been in no way exalted by human honors, certainly corrects himself and encourages his soul to be cheerful, then all the more when we think that we are talking with the Lord of the angels, we will receive from here a sufficient incentive for ourselves to be attentive. If it is necessary to suggest another way in which we can avoid absent-mindedness, then I will say this: we often, at the end of prayer, walk away without hearing anything that was said; Having noticed this, we will immediately repeat it again, and if the same thing happens again, we will repeat it a third and fourth time, and not before we stop praying until we have said the entire prayer with attention. When the devil sees that we do not stop before we say the prayer with diligence and attention, then he will finally leave his machinations, seeing that his machinations only force us to often repeat the same prayer. We receive many wounds, beloved, every day from family and from strangers, in the marketplace and at home, from public and private affairs, from neighbors and friends. We apply healing to all these wounds during prayer. God has the power, if we approach Him with a cheerful thought, a fiery soul and a clear conscience and ask for forgiveness, to grant us the remission of all sins, which may we all be worthy of, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, be glory forever and ever. Amen. Quotations from the psalms are given in the translation by P.A. Yungerova. You might be interested in: