Слово 39. О том, что Бог дал нам много путей для того, чтобы не грешить, если хотим, и что тому, кто намерен получить Царство Небесное, следует соблюдать все заповеди; соблюдающий же одни и нарушающий другие узнает в геенне, чем он отличается от других людей.

Once again, beloved, I am forced to speak about the subjects of real life. What to do? I wouldn't want to, but I have to. If it were possible, silently and without speaking about anything that happened, to destroy it by silence, one should remain silent; but if the opposite happens, if what happened when we are silent is not only not destroyed, but becomes even more burdensome, it is necessary to speak. He who reproaches sinners, if he does nothing else, will at least not allow them to go further. There is no soul so shameless and insolent that, listening continuously to how some denounce it, it does not feel shame and does not abandon the great untruth. After all, there is, there is at least a little shame in a shameless person, because God planted shame in our nature. Since fear is not enough to restrain us, He has prepared many other ways to prevent us from sinning, for example, reproaching a person, fear of established laws, love of glory, the influence of friendship. All these are ways to avoid sinning. Often what is not accomplished by the action of God happens because of fear of people. The following is desirable: first teach not to sin, and then we will correct this by doing it with the help of God. Why then does Paul convince those who intend to influence their enemies to do this, instilling not the fear of God, but that retribution awaits him? “By doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head” (Rom. 12:20). Meanwhile, he wants virtue to be fulfilled. So we have, as I said, some shame. By nature we have many goods that dispose us to virtue - for example, all people are inclined by nature to pity, and not a single good is embedded in our nature as firmly as this. On this basis, they have the right to ask: why is it that most of all it is in our nature to lament with tears, to bow down, to feel readiness? Every person is not by nature careless, not by nature is vanity alien to him, not by nature is he above envy, but compassion is inherent in everyone by nature, even if someone is cruel and harsh. And what is surprising! We also pity animals - in such an abundance we have pity. If we see a lion cub, we experience something, especially when we see a creature of the same nature. Look how many are crippled. This is enough to arouse our compassion. Nothing pleases God more than almsgiving. Therefore, priests are anointed with oil, as well as kings and prophets: oil is a symbol of God’s mercy. Moreover, they learned that the boss should have more compassion; It seemed to them that even the Spirit can descend on a person for the sake of compassion. Since God shows compassion and mercy to people, therefore they are anointed with oil. It was the priesthood that He established according to His mercy. Kings are also anointed with oil, because it is said: “You have mercy on everyone, because you can do everything” (Wis. 11:24). If someone wants to praise a boss, he will not find anything more decent to say to him than about mercy. Think that the world was created out of mercy, and imitate the Lord. “The mercy of a man is towards his neighbor, and the mercy of the Lord is towards all flesh” (Sir.18:12). Whether you talk about sinners or about the righteous - we all need the mercy of God, we all use it, even if it was Paul, or Peter, or John. You don't need our words - listen to what they say themselves. What does that blessed one say? “I received mercy because I did this out of ignorance, in unbelief” (1 Tim. 1:13). So what? After that he didn't need mercy? Listen to what he says: “I have labored more than all of them: not I, however, but the grace of God which is with me” (1 Cor. 15:10); and of Epaphroditus he says: “For he was sick at the point of death; but God had mercy on him, and not only on him, but also on me, so that I would not add sorrow to sorrow” (Phil. 2:27); and again: “We were burdened excessively and beyond our strength, so that we had no hope of staying alive. But in themselves they had a sentence of death, in order to rely not on themselves, but on God, who raises the dead, who delivered us from such a near death, and delivers, and in whom we hope to deliver again” (2 Cor. 1: 8-10); also: “I got rid of the lion’s jaws. And the Lord will deliver me” (2 Tim. 4:17–18). And everywhere we find how he rejoices that by grace he was saved. Peter was also like this out of mercy. Listen to how Christ speaks to him: “Satan asked to sift you like wheat, but I prayed for you, so that your faith would not fail” (Luke 22:31-32). And John was like that out of mercy. In a word, everything. Listen to what Christ says: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). We all need God's mercy. “The mercy... of God,” they say, “is on all flesh.” If they needed God’s mercy, what can we say about the rest? Why, tell me, does He send the sun on the evil and the righteous? What if He had withheld the rain for a year, would He not have destroyed everyone? What if he sent a flood? If – excessive rain? What would happen if He sent flies? What can I say? Wouldn't everyone have perished if He had done as He once did? “What is man, that You remember him” (Ps. 8:5)? It is timely to say now: “If only He reprimands, everyone will become like one grave. Like a drop of water from a tub, so, they say, the nations are before His face; they will be counted as spitting, as the tilting of scales.” Just as it is easy for us to move the scales, so it is easy for Him to destroy everything and revive it again. The One who has such power over us sees how we sin every day and does not punish us - does He really not leave us out of mercy? Likewise, our property is also by mercy. He looked down on the earth and filled it with living beings. For what? For you. Why did he create you? By goodness. There is nothing better than oil: it is a source of light, and there mercy will also be a source of light. “Your light will open early,” they say (Is. 58:8), if you show mercy to your neighbor. Just as oil holds this light, so almsgiving gives us a great and amazing light there. Paul had a great understanding of this kind of mercy. Listen to what he says: “Only that we may remember the poor” (Gal. 2:10), and in another place: “If it is fit for me also to go” (“if it be fit for me also to go”) (1 Cor. 16:4). And everywhere, above and below, you see how he cares about it. Also: “Let ours also learn to practice good works” (Titus 3:14), and again: “this is good and beneficial for people” (Titus 3:8). Listen to what another says: “Alms delivers from death” (Tov.12:9). “If You, Lord, notice iniquities, - Lord! who can stand” ( Ps. 129:3 )? “And do not enter into judgment with Your servant” (Ps. 143:2). “Great is a person and precious is a merciful person, but it is difficult to find a truthful person.” (“Great is a man, and when a man strives, do righteousness”) (Prov. 20:6). This is what a merciful person means! Even more: God is to be merciful. Do you see what the power of God's mercy is? It accomplished everything, it created the world solely out of goodness; for his sake He threatened Gehenna so that we would achieve the Kingdom; We achieve the kingdom through mercy. Why did He, the One, create so many? Is it not out of goodness? Is it not out of love for humanity? If you start asking: “Why this, why that?” - You will see only goodness everywhere. Let us be merciful, so that mercy may be shown to us. We collect mercy not so much for ourselves as for ourselves on the day when the flames of fire will rage. Mercy moderates the fire and serves as a source of light for us, through it we will be freed from fiery hell. On what basis will He take pity on us and show mercy? Compassion comes from love. Nothing can please God more than with mercy. We have five senses, and just as all of them should be used according to need, so should all the virtues. If someone were chaste, but had no compassion; or if someone gave alms, but was greedy; or he would abstain from someone else’s, but not give from his own - everything would be in vain. One virtue is not enough for us to boldly approach the Throne of Christ, but we need many virtues, different, of different qualities, of all kinds. Listen to what He says to His disciples: “Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20), and also: “whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments... he will be called least in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19), that is, in the resurrection, which means: “not will enter the Kingdom"; He obviously calls the very time of resurrection the kingdom. “If,” they say, “he breaks one... he will be called the least” - so, we must keep all the commandments. Look how impossible it is to enter without alms, but even if this alone were left, we would go into the fire. “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” But for what and why? “For I was hungry, and you gave me no food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me no drink” (Matthew 25:41–42). Do you see how, having no other guilt, they died for this reason alone? And the virgins were expelled from the bridal chamber only for this, although they maintained chastity. “Pursue to have peace with everyone and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). Of course, think that even without purity you cannot see the Lord. But purity alone does not make one able to see Him in all cases: often something else interferes. Also: if we do everything, but do not bring any benefit to our neighbor, we will never enter the Kingdom. How is this known? From the case of the servants who were entrusted with talents. Virtue there was all pure and lacked nothing; but since he was hesitant in action, he was rightly cast out. You can fall into Gehenna just for backbiting: “Whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be subject to fiery Gehenna” (Matthew 5:22). If someone does everything but is angry, he will not enter. And let them not reproach God for cruelty when He casts out those who have fallen into this sin from the Kingdom of Heaven. Even if among people, when someone commits lawlessness, he is removed from the eyes of the king, even if he has violated just one of the established laws; if, further, by accusing, they allow themselves to slander, they lose power; if someone is caught in adultery, he is considered unworthy and perishes, even though he has committed countless righteous deeds; if he commits murder and is caught, then this is enough to destroy him - if human laws enjoy such protection, much less the laws of God. But, they will say, He is Good. How long will we continue to give this stupid reason? I said “stupid” not because He was not Good, but because we consider His goodness useful for the above, although we have already spoken about this thousands of times. Listen to what the Scripture says: “Do not say: His compassions are many, He will cleanse the multitude of my sins” (Eccl. 5:6). It does not at all prevent us from saying: “His bounties are many,” it does not convince us of this, and on the contrary, it wants us to constantly say this, and this is what Paul tends to do with all his teachings; it only prevents us for the sake of what follows: “Do not be surprised,” it says, “at God’s love for mankind because you sin and can say: He will cleanse the multitude of my sins.” We talked so much about goodness not so that, trusting in it, we should allow ourselves everything, but so as not to despair of sins, but to repent. The goodness of God leads you to repentance, and not to greater unrighteousness. If you become vicious through goodness, you bring a special slander to it before people, because many, I see, accuse the long-suffering of God, so that you will be punished for not using it as it should. God is Merciful, but He is also a Right Judge: while He forgives sins, He nevertheless rewards everyone according to their deeds. He leaves untruth, destroys iniquity, but He also tests. But how does this not contradict one another? It does not contradict if we separate both by time: He destroys unrighteousness here, through baptism and repentance, but He creates the test of what is perfect there, through fire and torment. If, they will say, I commit countless untruths, and am overthrown and deprived of the Kingdom for one of them, then why should I not commit every evil? This is the word of an ungrateful slave; however, we will refute this word too. Do not do evil in order to benefit yourself. We will all equally be deprived of the Kingdom, but in Gehenna we will not all suffer the same punishment, but some will suffer more, others will suffer less. If you both, you and he, have not kept, but one has not kept the greater, the other the less, you will equally be deprived of the Kingdom. But if you have not observed the same, but one in the greater, the other in the less, you will feel the difference in Gehenna. Why, they will say, does He threaten those who do not give alms that they will go into the fire, and not just into the fire, but into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels? What is this for and why? God is not so angry at anything; He places this before all evil. Indeed, if one should love even one’s enemies, then what punishment would not be worthy of the one who destroys his friends, and in this respect is worse even than the pagans? So the size of the sin made it go with the devil. “Woe to him who does not give alms.” If this was the case in the Old Testament, much more so in the New. If, where the acquisition of property, the use of it, and the care of it were permitted, such prudence was directed to the relief of the poor, how much more is it required when we are ordered to abandon everything? What didn't they do? They gave tithes and tithes to orphans, widows, and proselytes. And someone told me with surprise: “So-and-so gives tithes!” What a shame if what was not amazing among the Jews became amazing for Christians. If it was dangerous then to evade tithes, think how dangerous it is now. Then: “drunkards will not inherit the Kingdom.” But what do many people say? If he and I are in the same position, it is no small relief. What does it mean? First of all, because you and he will not suffer the same punishment, this is simply not a relief. Communication in suffering then provides consolation if the suffering is moderate; if they are excessive and plunge us into a frenzy, this ceases to provide relief. Tell someone disfigured by flour, thrown into the fire, that so-and-so is suffering the same thing, he will not feel relief. Didn't the Israelis die together? What relief did this bring them? Didn't this make them even more upset? Therefore, they said: “Here, we are dying, we are perishing, we are all perishing!” ("We were consumed, we perished, we disappeared") (Numbers 17:12). What kind of consolation is this? It is in vain that we console ourselves with hopes. There is only one relief - not to fall into that unquenchable fire at all. Having fallen, it is impossible to get relief where there is gnashing of teeth, crying, where there is an undying worm and an unquenchable fire. What kind of relief are you thinking about, tell me? You'll be left with yourself. Let us not, I ask and implore you, deceive ourselves in vain, let us not console ourselves with those words, but let us do what is able to save us. You have been offered to sit with Christ, and you are haggling about it? What punishment should we suffer for these words alone, even if there were no other sin! We are so ignorant, so pitiful and miserable, that while such an honor is offered to us, we say this. And when you think about those who did the right thing back then, won’t you languish even more? And when you see that there are both slaves and nobles there, who have worked a little here and there and are admitted to the Royal Throne - won’t this be worse for you than any punishment? If now, seeing how some enjoy fame, you suffer from this alone, even if you did not suffer any harm, more than from any punishment, you cry over yourself, shed tears, consider yourself worthy of a thousand deaths, what will you feel there? If there were no Gehenna, wouldn’t the mere thought of the Kingdom be enough to destroy and destroy you? And that this will be so can be found out by experiencing circumstances. So, let us not in vain console ourselves with such speeches, but let us be attentive, let us take care of our salvation, let us be concerned about virtue, let us stimulate ourselves to do good deeds, so that we may be worthy to achieve great glory in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father and the Holy Spirit be dominion, glory, honor, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. Ἐκλογαί άπό διαφόρων λόγων . Under this name are known collections of conversations compiled by various persons after the death of Chrysostom on certain topics, from those related to the topics and especially liked by the compilers of the works of the saint. The passages are given partly in a literal presentation, partly in a free retelling and are borrowed both from the original works of Chrysostom, and from works only attributed to Chrysostom, which have not only survived to this day, but have also been lost. These Eclogues (selections) were widespread and were used by both private individuals and kings. Known, for example, is the luxurious collection of Eclogues, owned by the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros Botaniatus (1078–1081), registered among the codices of the Koalene Library under No. LXXIX. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: