Похвальная беседа о святом отце нашем Мелетие, архиепископе Антиохии великой, и о ревности собравшихся *3

Praises to St. Meletius, who instilled great love for him in the Antiochians, and the Antiochians who preserve this love. - Manifestations of this love at the entrance of St. Meletia to the pulpit. – The circumstances of the saint’s expulsion from Antioch are an example of love for enemies. – Exile strengthens even more love for the saint, its manifestation upon his return. – Journey of St. Meletius to Constantinople, death at the Ecumenical Council and the bringing of his relics to Antioch. Satisfaction by the successor of grief over the death of the saint and an even greater strengthening of love for the deceased and memory of him. St. Meletius is an intercessor before God for the Antiochians. 1. Looking around this sacred flock from all sides and seeing the whole city present here, I don’t know who should I please first - Saint Meletius, that he enjoys such honor even after death, or your love, that you show so much favor to your shepherds even after their death. Truly, blessed is he that he was able to leave such a charm of love in all of you; Blessed are you, too, that, having accepted the pledge of love, you have to this day constantly preserved it unchanged in relation to the one who gave it to you. Already the fifth year has passed since he went to the longed-for Jesus, but you hastened to meet him today with such seething jealousy, as if you had seen him yesterday or the day before. Therefore, one can envy him for producing such children; but one can also envy you that it was your lot to have such a father. The root is noble and amazing, but the fruits are also worthy of this root. In fact, just as some wondrous root, hiding in the depths of the earth, although itself not visible, nevertheless reveals its good power through its fruits, so similarly blessed Meletius, hidden in this tomb, although he himself is invisible to us to our bodily eyes, nevertheless reveals through you his fruits, the power of his grace; and if we were to remain silent, then this celebration and your ardent zeal are enough to shout louder than a trumpet about the love of Saint Meletius for children, because he kindled such love for himself in your soul that you warmly accept his name and are excited at its very name. Therefore, now I, not simply, but deliberately and with intention, constantly insert this name among my words, and just as someone weaving a golden crown and showering it with pearls, with many stones makes the diadem more brilliant, so I, today weaving a crown of praise for this blessed chapter, insert in my words constant mentions of his name, as if with many pearls, hoping thereby to make it more pleasant and brilliant. This is the law and this is the property of those who love - to become attached to the names of their loved ones alone, and to treat the very names with ardor, which you also experienced in relation to this blessed one. At the very beginning, when he arrived in the city and you accepted him, each of you called your child by his name, thinking through this name to introduce the saint into your home, and mothers, bypassing fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers, gave their newborn children the name of blessed Meletios. Pious jealousy conquered nature, and from that time on, children were kind to their parents not only out of natural love, but also out of disposition towards such a name. This very name was considered both an adornment of kinship, and an affirmation of the home, and salvation for those called by it, and the consolation of love; and just as those sitting in darkness, as soon as one lamp is lit, light many lamps from it, and everyone brings them into his house, so when this name, like light, appeared in the city, everyone brought the name of this blessed one into his house, as if lighting a lamp and, as if acquiring through such a name a treasure of countless blessings. Truly, what was happening then was a training in piety: out of necessity, constantly remembering this name and containing the saint himself in the soul, they found in his name a weapon to drive away any insane passion and thought; and it became so commonly used that everywhere, in the streets, in the marketplaces, in the fields, and on the roads, this name was heard from everywhere. However, it was not only his name that you had such affection for, but also his appearance. As you did with his name, so did you with his image. Many inscribed this holy image on rings - instead of stones, and on seals, and on cups, and on the walls of rooms, everywhere - so that they could not only hear his holy name, but also see his bodily image everywhere, and have double consolation in separation from him. Immediately after his entry, he was expelled from the city, because the enemies of the truth were pursuing him; and God allowed this, wanting to show both his virtue and your courage. Since he, having come as if Moses to Egypt, delivered the city from heretical error and, having cut off the rotten and incurably diseased members from the rest of the body, returned the whole church to perfect health, the enemies of the truth, not enduring such correction, then persuaded the king to expel him from the city, hoping in this way to triumph over the truth and destroy the correction that had previously taken place. But the opposite of what they expected happened, and your zeal was revealed even more, and his ability to teach shone even more clearly: his (skill) is that in less than thirty days he was able to so confirm you in zeal for the faith that when countless winds later blew in, this teaching remained unshakable; and your jealousy was revealed in the fact that you so carefully accepted the seeds sown by him within less than thirty days that they took root in the depths of your soul and did not succumb to any of the temptations that occurred after that. 2. It would be unfair to omit what happened during the expulsion itself. When the head of the city, having seated the saint on a chariot near him, drove quickly through the square, stones like hail fell from all sides on the head of the head, because the citizens could not bear separation and wanted to lose their real life rather than see this saint torn away. What did this blessed one do then? Seeing the stones being thrown, he covered the leader’s head with his clothes, and shamed his enemies with excessive meekness, and together he taught his disciples how to show kindness to those who offend them, and how not only should they not do any harm to them, but if they are in danger from others, then they should reject it with all zeal. Who was not amazed then, seeing the fierce love of the citizens, and being amazed at the high wisdom of the teacher, his humility and meekness? Truly, what happened then was unexpected. The shepherd was driven out, but the sheep were not scattered; the helmsman was thrown out, but the boat did not sink; the farmer was persecuted, but the grapes bore more fruit. Since you were bound to each other by a union of love, neither the temptations induced, nor the dangers that arose, nor the distance of the journey, nor the length of time, nor anything else could separate you from communion with the blessed shepherd. He was expelled in order to become distant from children; but the opposite happened: he united with you even more closely by bonds of love, and went to Armenia, taking the whole city with him. His body, of course, remained in that fatherland, but his heart and mind, soaring with the grace of the Spirit, as if on some wings, and constantly being present among you, contained all this people in his soul. You experienced the same thing. Sitting here within the boundaries of this city, you flew to Armenia every day with the spirit of love, looked at the holy face, listened to the most pleasant and blissful voice, and then returned again. For this reason, God allowed him to be immediately expelled from the city, in order, as I said before, to show the enemies attacking you both the firmness of your faith and his experience in teaching. This is also clear from the fact that, having returned after the first exile, he stayed here not only thirty days, but (entire) months and years, not one or two, but more, and since you gave sufficient proof of firmness in the faith, God allowed you to fearlessly enjoy your father again. Truly, the greatest pleasure was to see his holy face. Not only when he taught or spoke, but also when they simply looked at him, he was able to introduce every teaching of virtue into the soul of the spectators. Therefore, when he returned to you and the whole city crossed onto the road, some came close to him, touched his feet, kissed his hands and listened to his voice; and others, detained by the crowd, only looking at him from afar, received from seeing him as if a sufficient blessing, felt no worse than those who were nearby, and thus left with complete contentment. And what happened under the apostles, the same happened under him. Just as during the time of the apostles, those who could not approach and be close, from their shadow, which stretched out and touched them from afar, received the same grace and left equally healthy - so now those who could not approach felt, as it were, some spiritual glory emanating from this holy head and reaching to the most distant, and they all left, from the mere sight of it, filled with every blessing. 3. When finally the common God of all was pleased to call him from this life and put him in the rank of the angels, this did not happen simply, but the letter of the king, moved to this by God, calls him not to some close or neighboring place, to Thrace itself, so that the Galatians, and the Bithynians, and the Cilicians and Cappadocians and all those living near Thrace would recognize our treasure, so that the bishops of the whole earth, looking at His holiness, as an initial example, and having received in him an obvious, clear example of service in this dignity, they had a true and clear rule according to which churches should be organized and governed. Then many from many places in the universe flocked there, both for the sake of the greatness of the city, and because of the presence of the king in it; The bishops of the churches were all summoned there by royal letters, because the churches, having recovered from a long war and storm, began to enjoy peace and silence. Therefore, then he (Saint Meletius) also arrived there. And just as during the three youths, when they were about to be glorified and crowned, having extinguished the power of the fire, trampling down the pride of the ruler and denouncing every form of wickedness, spectators from the entire universe sat (the satraps and high and local authorities from all over the earth were convened for a different reason, but became spectators of these ascetics), so it certainly happened now that a brilliant assembly of spectators was formed for the blessed one: bishops convened for a different reason were present, who ruled the churches of the whole earth, and contemplated this saint. When they had seen enough of him, and truly recognized his piety, wisdom, zeal for faith and every virtue perfect in him, befitting a priest, then God called him to Himself. This also happened out of pity for our city. If he had given up the ghost here, the burden of this misfortune would have become unbearable. Who could see this blessed one taking his last breaths? Who could see the eyelids of his eyes closing and his lips closing, speaking his last words? Who, seeing this, would not lose heart from great misfortune? Therefore, to avoid this, God arranged that he gave up the ghost in a foreign country, so that in the intervening time, having thought about misfortune and accustoming our minds to grief, we would not be shocked in our souls when we see him arriving dead, as indeed happened. When the city met his holy body, although in such circumstances it lamented and wept greatly, it soon abandoned this weeping, both for the above reason and for another, which I intend to talk about. Namely: the humane God, taking pity on our sorrow, soon showed us another shepherd 3, who with great precision preserves the features of his predecessor and represents an example of all virtue, who, upon ascending the throne, immediately took off our sad clothes and extinguished the sorrow, and renewed the memory of the blessed one even more. The pain disappeared, despondency was completely eliminated, and love flared even stronger, although this usually does not happen even with the loss of those most loved. When someone loses a beloved son or a wife loses a respected husband, then, as long as the memory of him remains alive, grief consumes the soul more powerfully; and when the passage of time softens the grief, then along with the strength of the grief the vividness of the memory fades away. With this blessed one it was the opposite: despondency had already been completely banished, and the memory of him did not disappear along with sadness, but increased even more. And witnesses to this are you, who, after so much time (after his death), like bees on a honeycomb, surrounded the body of blessed Meletius. The motivation for this was not a natural disposition towards him, but a sound judgment of the mind: therefore, the memory of him did not fade away with his death and did not weaken over time, but increases and grows more and more not only in those of you who saw him, but also in those who did not see him. This is what is surprising, that even those who were still very young during his lifetime are themselves inflamed with love for him. Thus, you, elders, have an advantage over those who did not see him in that you were with him and enjoyed holy communion; and those who have not seen have this advantage over you that, without having seen this man, they show love for him no less than you who have seen him. Let us all pray together, superiors and subordinates, wives and husbands, elders and youths, slaves and free, having the blessed Meletius himself as a participant in this prayer (and now he has greater boldness and more ardent love for us), so that this love grows in us, and so that we all may be rewarded, just as we are here near his tomb, and there we will have the opportunity to be near his eternal abode, and receive the prepared blessings, which we We will all be worthy of the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Memory of St. Meletia is celebrated on February 12, and on the same day, in the year 387, the conversation was most likely delivered. You might be interested in: