Слово 41. О том, что мы должны подражать хотя бы слугам нашим, чтобы ради страха Божия делать то, что они делают из-за страха перед нами, и о неизреченных благах, уготованных святым.

Paul, beloved, writing to Timothy, commanded servants to show great obedience to their masters. Think about how we should relate to the Lord, Who brought us from non-existence to existence, gives us food and clothing. Let us, if it is impossible in any other way, serve Him as our servants serve. Isn’t their whole life spent in arranging peace for their masters? Isn’t this what their business is, isn’t this what their life boils down to, to take care of the master’s affairs? Do they not devote the whole day to worrying about their master’s affairs, and often a small part of the evening to their own? We, on the contrary: we worry about our own affairs incessantly, but we do not worry about the Masters even for a little time, and this despite the fact that He does not need ours, just as masters need the affairs of slaves, but everything done for the Lord goes to our benefit. There, the service of a servant brings benefit to the master, but here the service of a slave is not needed by the Master, but it is useful to the servant himself: “You do not need my goods” (“You do not demand my good things”) (Ps. 15:2). What, tell me, is the gain for God in the fact that I am righteous? What is the harm if I am unrighteous? Does not His nature remain intact, free from loss, above all suffering? Servants have nothing of their own, but everything belongs to the master, even if they were immeasurably rich. We have a lot of our own, and it is not without reason that we received such an honor from the God of all. Will any master give his son for a servant? Not one, but all would prefer to give up their servants for their children. Here, on the contrary: He did not spare His Son, but gave us up for all of us, for the enemies who hate Him. Servants, if they are given some difficult order, do not express such dissatisfaction, especially if they are respectable, but we have left the Lord with displeasure countless times. No master has promised his servants as much as God has promised us. But what? Freedom here, they say, is often harder than slavery, because famine often happens, and then freedom itself becomes more bitter than slavery, and this is the greatest gift. With God there is nothing fragile, nothing perishable - but what? “I do not call you servants,” he says, “you are my friends” (John 15:15). Let us be ashamed, beloved, let us be afraid. We will serve the Lord, although as much as the servants serve us, we really do not reveal even the smallest measure of our service. Those in need philosophize, having only clothes and food; we are dissatisfied in luxury. If not from anyone else, let us at least accept the rules of wisdom from them. Scripture has a habit of sending people not even to servants, but to irrational beings, for example, when it orders them to imitate a bee or ants. I beg you to imitate at least the servants. What they do out of fear of us, let us do at least as much for the fear of God, because we do not find that you do even this. They experience insults thousands of times, but better than any philosopher they remain silent, having fear of us, they are indignant justly and unjustly, but do not contradict, but humbly ask, often without committing any offense, without receiving anything more than necessary, and often less than necessary, they still show love; going to bed on a straw bed, being content with only bread, and having everything else insignificant, they do not complain or express dissatisfaction. They, fearing us, return the money in full when they are entrusted with it (don't tell me about some of the corrupt servants, but keep in mind not too bad ones); if we threaten them, they will immediately submit. Isn’t all this a property of philosophy? And do not say that all this is done out of necessity, because you too will face the necessity of Gehenna, and yet you do not give God the same honor that you yourself receive from your servants. Each of the servants has an established room and does not break into the room of his neighbor, does not pollute himself with the desire for more. And all this is observed by the servants out of fear of the masters; It is rare to see a servant steal or spoil something that belongs to the servant. Among free people, the opposite of this happens: we bite each other, devour each other, and are not afraid of the Lord; we steal what belongs to slaves, we steal, we strike while He sees. The servant would not have done this, but even if he struck, it would be when the master did not see; if he began to go mad, it would be when the master did not hear. We dare to do it, although God sees and hears everything. The fear of the master is always before the eyes of the servants; We don’t have it at all. Therefore, everything with us has been turned upside down, everything is confused, spoiled: we don’t notice our sins at all, but we notice everything exactly, even the most insignificant ones, the sins of our servants. I say this not because I intend to make the servants careless, but because I want to shake our carelessness and arouse our negligence; so that we serve God at least as much as our servants serve us; so that we serve Him who created us as those who are of one essence with us serve us and have nothing from us that we have from Him. By nature they are also free: “let them have dominion over the fish” (Gen. 1:26); this was said to them too. Slavery is not their property by nature, but by position and occasion, and yet they show us great honor. We insist with all care on their service to us, but we do not perform such service to God even to an insignificant extent. And this despite the fact that we benefit from it. The more diligently we serve God, the more benefit we bring to ourselves, and the more we gain for ourselves. Let us not deprive ourselves of this benefit. God is all-sufficient and needs nothing; reward and gain return to us again. If we should also philosophize about the blessings prepared for the saints, then truly genuine peace exists where illness, sadness and sighing have escaped; where there are no worries, no labors, no anxieties, no fear that strikes and shakes the soul, but only the fear of God, filled with pleasure. There is nothing there that is expressed in the words: “By the sweat of your brow you will eat bread”; no thorns and thistles; no, “in sickness you will bear children; and your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” (Gen. 3:19, 16). Everything is there - joy, peace, fun, pleasure, goodness, meekness, love. There is no slander and envy, no death - this, physical, and that, spiritual, there is no darkness and night; everything there is clean, everything is light, everything is clear. There is no labor, no satiation, we will live there with a constant thirst for benefits. Would you like me to give you some semblance of that state? This is quite impossible, but I will try to give you some image as best I can. Let's look at the sky when it is completely cloudless, when it reveals its crown. Having spent a lot of time contemplating its beautiful appearance, let us imagine that we too will have a residence, but not like this, but as much more beautiful as a golden roof is more beautiful than a clay one; and behind this again the mountain roof, then Angels, Archangels, an immeasurable multitude of incorporeal forces, the palaces of God Himself, the Father’s throne. But the word cannot express everything that I said; you need experience and knowledge gained through this experience. How do you think, tell me, Adam felt in Paradise? And this abode is so much better than the sky is higher than the earth. But we will look for another comparison. If the present king succeeded in conquering the whole universe, and then were not bothered by wars or worries, but would enjoy only honor, would live in luxury, he would have many bodyguards, gold would flow to him from everywhere, and he would be an object of wonder, as you think he would feel if he saw that wars had ceased throughout the whole earth. There will be something similar there too. But I have not yet found a similarity to that state; therefore, I need to find another similarity. Imagine this: Like a royal child, while he is in the womb, he does not feel anything; but if it happened that, having been born, it was supposed to ascend to the royal throne, it would receive everything at once, and not gradually - such will be the state. Or it will be as if some prisoner, after enduring countless sufferings, was suddenly placed on the royal throne. But even here I have not yet found the exact image. After all, here, no matter what benefits someone receives, say, even the kingdom itself, he enjoys the fullness of pleasure on the first day, on the second, on the third; but as time passes, the pleasure remains, but is no longer the same, it constantly weakens, whatever it may be; there it not only does not decrease, but increases. Think what will happen when the soul, having gone there, will not be able to imagine either the end of those blessings or changes in them, but will wait for their increase and a life that has no end, free from all dangers, sadness, worries, full of joy and countless blessings. If, going out into the field, where we see military tents, fastened from panels, spears, helmets and shiny bulges on shields, we stop in admiration; and when we happen to see a king walking in the middle or a horse rushing with golden weapons, it seems to us that we have achieved everything, then what will happen when you see the eternal tabernacles of the saints established in Heaven? “They will receive,” it says, “into their eternal abodes” (Luke 16:9). What will happen when you see how each of them shines brighter than the rays of the sun, shining not with copper and iron, but with that glory, the radiance of which the human eye is not able to see? And this is about people. And what can we say about thousands of Angels, Archangels, Cherubim, Seraphim, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, powers, the beauty of which is unimaginable, surpasses any mind? But why won’t I stop, striving for the unattainable? “Eye,” they say, “has not seen, nor has ear heard, nor entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9). So, there is nothing more miserable than not receiving those benefits, and nothing more blessed than receiving them. May we also be numbered among the blessed, may we receive eternal blessings in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father with the Holy Spirit be glory, power, honor, now and ever, and unto 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: