Беседа в память св. Васса *21

Conversation in memory of St. Vassa is spoken of horrors, and in response to the words: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29) The teaching should benefit the speaker and the listeners, and a martyr has no need of people’s praise. The horror of the earthquake and God's mercy towards people, even those who aroused His anger with their sins. An explanation on behalf of the Lord of the words “I am meek and lowly in heart” through the contrast of the humility of the Lord incarnate with the arrogance of people and His Divine glory with His humiliated state, accepted voluntarily, for the sake of saving people, to teach them humility. An exhortation to humility and a reminder of righteous judgment after death. A depiction of this judgment, the parables of the foolish virgins, and an exhortation to take advantage of the present life for repentance. 1. Since such an abundant source of teachings usually flows to you, lovers of Christ, and now through the priests and teachers who preceded us a rich spiritual meal has already been offered to you, we should hold back the poor dewdrops of our speeches, especially since we are overcome by long-term bodily ill health, and weakness of voice, and, moreover, worries, one after another. But since you too are overcome by an insatiable thirst to hear about the divine and you encourage us to speak, then, with the help of the grace of the Savior, we will offer to your meekness in short words what is useful and appropriate for the time. I think it is proper for us who speak and for you who listen to acquire for ourselves what is best and most useful through reasoning. The venerable and much-praised martyr and Bishop Vass, who today organized this celebration for us, already has awards for his exploits, does not at all require more praise from us, but he himself constantly makes prayers for us to the Lord, because through the feat of martyrdom he acquired boldness before Him and received from Him the crown of immortality, which Christ prepared for other believers. Abundant, according to the divine apostle, are the gifts of the Master, who in ancient times distributed the gifts of martyrs to those who sincerely called upon Him, and especially now, when soon we are faced with a year-long remembrance of past horrors and the humane anger of that terrible threat calls us to praise. We truly saw anger, shining with love for mankind, when we were girded with the fear of earthquakes, when we saw the wavering creature, when the earth shook violently, and the Lord did not abandon His mercy, when we expected a bitter death, when we thought that houses would suddenly become tombs, when, seized by an earthquake, we found neither a place nor a way of refuge, when, having reached noon, we did not hope to see the evening, when a sword hung from above, and from below the charity was strengthened with prayer, when the people unanimously cried out: have mercy, and the Lord bowed to mercy, as He, with a stunning gaze, supported the trembling creature with His hand. But why not say briefly: “Had it not been for the Lord of hosts to help us, our soul would have entered hell” (Ps. 93:17)? Truly, who is not amazed by the greatness of the Savior’s love for mankind? Whose minds are not prompted to gratitude by what happened then, and not only then, but also by what happened after, and by what happened to us recently? He shook the strongholds of the earth, shook the foundations of buildings; houses were tossed about like barges in the waves of the sea; As soon as He turned the judge’s gaze, we all wavered, like those on the water. Great is fear, but much greater than fear is His love for mankind. Having shaken the creation, He did not overthrow it; Having shaken everything, he did not level it to the ground, did not deprive the earth of the beauty of the creatures. He shook the roofs only for our remembrance and did not even bring us a taste of destruction. Such is the depth of His mercy towards us! He even shook the foundations of the earth, as one who cares for us, as one who loves mercifully. He saw us criminal and grieving; I saw those who loved theft; I saw “house to house and village to village joining together, so that they may take away something from their neighbor” (Is. 5:8); I saw those who did not show mercy to orphans “and those who did not pay attention to the judgment of widows” (Is. 1:23); saw teachers do the opposite of what they say; saw disciples insult church decorum with spectacular riots; I saw how we spend our lives in anger and hatred; I saw how we combine deceit with hatred; I saw how we, with storms of pretense, drown the simplest people, like small boats; saw us intentionally kill; I saw how we offend as much as we can; I saw how love is wrecked, and deception floats safely in the sea of ​​​​life; I saw how we reject the truth and resort to lies; to say briefly: he saw that we serve mammon more than the Lord - and he shook the earth, as a mentor to us, children, and showed us the feelings of a tenderly loving mother, who often, wanting to wean her nursing baby, crying without a way, from such a habit, strongly shakes his small cradle, not in order to amaze, but to frighten the little one. Likewise, the Lord of all, holding the universe in His hand, shakes it not in order to overthrow it, but in order to turn those who live in disorder to the salvation. 2. And let no one reproach us for comparing the Lord with a tender loving mother, when the Lord himself compared himself with a bird, saying in the Gospels: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to you! how often have I wanted to gather your children together, as a bird gathers its chicks, and you did not want to” (Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34)! So, the Lover of Mankind shook the soulless earth in order to keep the animate one from disorderly movement; threatened with bodily death so that we would beware of spiritual destruction. Do you see, O Christ-loving one, how great is the Creator’s mercy towards us? Do you see a threat shining with humanity? Do you see mercy ahead of indignation? Do you see the verdict overcome by goodness? And this is not at all strange: He is still the same meek and humane Master, constantly concerned about our salvation, Who clearly cries out in the Gospels, as was recently read to us: “Come... learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:28–29). Oh, how great is the condescension of the Creator, and the created one does not revere! “Come... learn from Me,” when the Master himself came to console the fallen slaves. This is how Christ treats us: he shows mercy when a sinner should be executed; when the race of those who angered Him should have been destroyed, He speaks meek words to the guilty: “Come... learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.” God is humble and man is arrogant; The judge is meek, but the defendant is proud; The artist speaks with the voice of a poor man, but the clay speaks like a king. “Come... learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.” You were not convinced by what preceded, you were not ashamed by what followed and what happened recently, how both then and now, having shaken the creation, He again established it, having mercy. So, “come... learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.” He does not have a scourge that kills, but a healing nature. Come and see the indescribable love for humanity. Who doesn't love a gentleman who doesn't hit? Who is not surprised by the judge who asks the defendant? You are, of course, struck by the meekness of these words: I am the Creator and I love My work; I am an artist, and I spare those whom I have created; if I began to use My honors, then I would not have delivered fallen humanity, and if I had not given easy medicines to him, who was incurably sick, then he would not have strengthened; If I had not treated the fallen one favorably, he would have died; if he had only threatened, he would have died; therefore I will cover him as he lies with plasters of goodness; Out of compassion, I humble myself greatly in order to restore the fallen. He who stands cannot restore the overthrown from his fall unless he himself gives up. “Come... learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.” I do not boast in words, but in deeds I have proven to you that I am “meek and lowly in heart”; by what I have become, understand this. Look at My appearance, think about My dignity, and worship My condescension for you; Judge where I came from and where I am talking with you; Having heaven as my throne, I stand on earth and speak to you; I am glorified in grief, and (here), as long-suffering, I am not angry - “for I am meek and lowly in heart.” If I, the son of the King, had not been meek, I would not have chosen a slave as my mother; If I, the Creator of invisible and visible existence, were not meek, I would not have come to you; If I had not been meek, I, the Father of ages, would not have allowed me to be wrapped in swaddling clothes; If I had not been humble, I, who possess the wealth of all nature, would not have accepted the poverty of the manger; If I were not meek, then I, whom even the cherubim cannot look upon, would not live together with the dumb; If I had not been meek, I would not have accepted the spittle from lawless lips, who by spitting gives light to the blind; If I had not been meek, I, who freed the slaves, would not have endured the slavish strangulation; If I had not been meek, I would not have given my backbone to be scourged for the captives. But why don’t I talk about the most important things? If I were not meek, I would not pay, when others must suffer, and I am not at all guilty, for them the mortal debt; but I paid to allow the sentence of condemnation for those who are kept below in hell, since I am not only the King of the living, but also the Lord of the dead. That’s why I went through one and the other path of house-building; He appeared as a man, and was dead for a short time, so that he might bestow the gift of My incorruptibility on everyone, including those under the earth. “Come... learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.” My humiliation is from will, and not from nature; I have an unapproachable being, a thought that comprehends everything. “Come... learn from Me, for I am meek and humble in heart,” and not in dignity; I am moderate by choice, not by power: by power I am terrible to the angels, by choice I am humble to people. “Come... learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.” I do not speak in accordance with the fact that I am, but I speak in accordance with My mercy; more power I love goodness. I, who speak this to you, am the King; My power is great, but I do not overcome your weakness with My inherent power. I do not say: “Come... learn from Me” that I am the Master, the Lord of creation, “look upon the earth and make it tremble” (Ps. 103:32), Who measured the heavens with a span and holds the earth with the hand (Is. 40:12), but: “Come... learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.” So I am meek: you sinned, and I suffered scourging; so voluntarily I am humble: I, the Master, came to free those who are in slavery, they beat Me, the Liberator, on the cheeks, and the slaves crucified Me, and I, at the same time, begging My Father for them, said: “Father! forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34), So, “Come... learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart”; come, I beg and ask, I am not ashamed to beg, I prefer to call my slaves so as not to be forced to punish, “Come... learn from Me” meekness before you see something terrible from Me; come, now I am healing, and in a short time I demand an account. I now spare, and a little later I pronounce judgment; Now I am a lover of mankind, and a little later I will appear as a righteous Judge. “Come... learn... for I am meek and lowly in heart.” Either honor meekness, or fear power. Come, present My face in confession (Ps. 94:2), because such humility of Mine is limited to a certain time. 3. Only real life is a manifestation of My long-suffering; the time will come when the door of this goodness of Mine will be closed; the time will come when the shedding tears of sinners will bring no benefit; the time will come when sounding trumpets from everywhere will announce My second coming, when the angels, flying over the whole earth, will present myriads of the dead for judgment, when the seat of judge will be set up for Me and I will come on the powers on high, when the principalities and powers will accompany the One who comes, when the lights of My kingdom will illuminate the whole world, when the books of everyone’s everyday affairs will be opened, when (there will come) the exact fulfillment of the laws and the exact reckoning for deeds, when the defendant will stand, having only deeds as defenders, when thoughts will accuse and conscience will denounce, when evil spirits (will stand), listening to the words of the Judge, when the furnace will await the sentence of this Judge, when the word: have mercy, finally, is useless to those who cry. So, come before I close the doors of My mercy; before the triumph of life ends soon; before the spectacle of life passes, since the appointed time of death is at the gate. Come before I begin to judge, because if I go ahead and sit down to carry out judgment, I will no longer have mercy. Therefore, I presented a clear example of the foolish virgins, whose lamps of life, not having the oil of righteousness, went out - how the doors of the bridal chamber were closed for them, and how I answered their knock from within: “I do not know you” (Matthew 25:12), foretelling a word to sinners at judgment. So, brethren, if we have learned from the words of the Savior the goodness of the Lord, then we will not be inattentive to the Judge who speaks kindly before judgment, we will not waste time of repentance, we will clothe our souls with good deeds and alms. Let each of us acquire what is necessary for eternal life, and let us leave behind harmful deeds. If we maintain unshakable faith during good deeds, then with us the creation will remain unshakable. Let us adorn our souls with chastity, and acquire for ourselves the firmly unappreciated pearl of pure faith; Before the time of our life ends, before the appearance of the world, and the color of glory, and all earthly pleasures are destroyed, we will please the incorruptible Judge. He Himself says: “As I live, says the Lord, I do not want the sinner to die, but to turn and live for him” (Ezek. 33:11). If He wanted to punish a sinner, He would remain silent; He wants to have mercy, and therefore he exhorts; spares, and therefore convinces; He frightens you with a prediction in order to prevent real danger from you. When God threatens, he wants to save; and when he is silent, he intends to punish. We learned this from examples. He threatened the Ninevites and spared them; He kept silent about the Sodomites and punished them. He has prepared crowns if we do not bring torment upon ourselves. He wants to abolish Gehenna, close the prison of darkness, wants to leave all his anger for the devil alone, wants to sit as Judge not in order to punish anyone, but in order to crown everyone. So, having such a Master, let us hasten to grasp the voice filled with goodness, let us obey the one who says: “Come... learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart,” so that we may be worthy to hear that longed-for and blessed voice that will say: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you” (Matthew 25:34), by which yes Let us all be worthy to enjoy the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, be glory forever and ever. Amen. Affiliation of the conversation with St. John Chrysostom is questioned on the basis mainly of syllable characteristics. In Minh's edition it belongs to the Dubia department. You might be interested in: