В. Обьяснение некоторых наиболее употребительных церковных песнопений

1. Conversation about singing in honor of the Mother of God “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice, full of grace Mary, the Lord is with you. Blessed are You among women and blessed is the fruit of Your womb, for You have given birth to the Savior of our souls.” This prayer book included the words with which the Archangel Gabriel and the Righteous Elizabeth greeted the Blessed Virgin. When the archangel appeared before the Virgin Mary with the good news of the incarnation of the Son of God from Her, his first words were: Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with You, blessed are You among women (Luke 1:28). And righteous Elizabeth, delighted by the coming to her of the future Mother of the Lord, among other things greeted Her with the words: “Blessed is the fruit of Your womb” (Luke 1:42). The remaining words of the prayer: “To the Virgin Mary,” and: “For you gave birth to the Savior of our souls,” were added to the words of the Archangel and Elizabeth by the Holy Church. Judging by the expression used here: “Theotokos,” it is assumed that this prayer, in its present composition, has been introduced into general use since the time of the Third Ecumenical Council, at which, contrary to Nestorius, who called the Blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of God, the name of the Mother of God was approved for Her, and that the compiler of this prayer was St. Cyril of Alexandria, accuser of the wicked Nestorius. "Mother of God." The Most Holy Virgin Mary is called the Mother of God in the sense that He who was born of Her at the very conception and birth from Her was, as always is, the true God (Orthodox Catechism, ch. 3). Otherwise, She gave birth to One who, being the true God, at the very moment of conception in Her womb accepted human nature into the unity of His hypostasis, so that even in the incarnation from Her he was and after the incarnation invariably remains a single Divine person, as he existed from eternity before the incarnation. Another way: She gave birth to the Lord Jesus not according to His Divinity, but according to humanity, which, however, from the very minute of the Incarnation became inseparably and hypostatically united in Him with His Divinity, from the very minute of His Incarnation was deified by Him and became His own Divine Person, so that both the conception, and the stay in the womb of the Virgin during a certain time of pregnancy, and the birth from Her belonged to His Divine Person (Blessed Macarius Dogmatic Theology, part 3). Therefore, the Holy Church worthily and righteously calls the Mother of the Lord Jesus the Mother of God, and not the Mother of Christ, as Nestorius called her, who taught that She gave birth to a simple man, with whom, after His birth, God the Word was united - and united only morally, and not hypostatically, i.e. without accepting human nature into the unity of His Divine hypostasis. "Virgin Mother of God" The Most Holy Theotokos is called the Virgin because she preserved virgin purity and immaculateness before her birth, during her birth, which was born in Her from the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20), and after the birth of the Savior. Otherwise, for this reason, she is called the Ever-Virgin 9). "Rejoice, O Blessed One." According to its original use, the greeting: “Rejoice” belongs to the community (Matthew 27:29. John 19:3) and is still used among the Greeks in those cases where we say hello. This greeting was used by the apostles. For example, the Apostle James at the beginning of his letter wishes those to whom he writes to rejoice, i.e. hello. The Apostle John in his second letter, offering instructions on how to behave in relation to certain heretics, advises not to enter into private relations with them at all, not to receive them into the house and not to tell them to rejoice, i.e. hello (2 John 1:10). Joy, which is the object of welcoming well-wishes, is one of the most desired goods: what would human life be like, with all its external comforts, or prosperous circumstances, if there were a lack of joy - such a good, those who possess it recognize themselves as calm and happy even in the midst of external hardships? Therefore, it is not surprising if the desire for this good, so consistent with love for one’s neighbor, turned into a greeting. The archangel addressed Mary with a similar greeting, however, in the mouth of the celestial being, the greeting - “Rejoice” is not only an expression of goodwill, similar to many desires without fulfillment, but at the same time congratulations to Mary on the real joy sent to Her from heaven. What kind of joy is this? The joy characteristic of Her, as one of grace: Rejoice, O One of Grace. The archangel called Her “graceful” in the sense that She, as can be seen from his further speech, found grace from God (Luke 1:30), i.e. was honored with special, extraordinary mercy from the Lord, who chose Her to serve the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God. Through this election She appeared truly grace-filled, i.e. full of grace or mercies of God. “The Lord is with You, blessed are You among women.” The greeting of the archangel: The Lord is with you, like his greeting: “Rejoice,” also belongs to the number of ordinary everyday greetings. A certain Boaz, a wealthy Israeli landowner, comes to his field during the harvest and addresses the reapers with the greeting: The Lord is with you (Ruth. 2:4), i.e. may God's blessing be upon you, or: and God help you, as we usually express in such cases. However, in the mouth of the archangel greeting the Most Blessed One, these words, like the previous one - “Rejoice,” mean not so much a desire for God’s favor towards Her, as Her confirmation that this favor actually rests on Her. What it consists of is shown in the remaining words of the greeting: “Blessed are you among women,” which, in connection with the further speech of the archangel, can be stated as follows (Luke. 1:30–33): “The blessing of God to women, revealed in their childbearing, belongs to You to such an extent that it cannot belong to any wife in the world, for you will be the Mother of Him Who in His very essence is the Son of the Most High, will sit on the throne of David, as his descendant, as the spiritual King of the spiritual kingdom, will reign forever. So, You are happier than all the wives in the world, as one who has been worthy of God’s extraordinary blessing. But at the same time, You have become worthy of blessings and praises from all people; from now on, as the Mother of God the Word, all will bless You.” Thus, the archangel’s words of greeting to the Blessed Virgin (Luke 1:30) conclude a confession of Her greatness and glory. The words of the archangel: “Blessed are You among women,” the righteous Elizabeth repeated when greeting Mary, but to them she added: “And blessed is the fruit of Your womb.” With this greeting, inspired by the Holy Spirit, she confessed that the Son of the Virgin Mary is at the same time the beloved Son of God the Father, that on Him rests all the fullness of the Father’s favor, and that at the same time He is that promised seed about which all the tribes of the earth will be blessed (Gen. 22:18), and which will therefore be the subject of eternal blessings from all the tribes of the earth. “As you gave birth to the Savior of our souls.” Archangel Gabriel and righteous Elizabeth greeted the Virgin Mary as the Mother of the Savior of the world conceived in Her womb; but we, repeating their words, greet Her as the Mother of the Savior of our souls already born from Her. This is the meaning of the prayer of greeting to the Mother of God, so often repeated by us. However, the point is not only what these words mean in themselves, but also what they express in ourselves when we pronounce them. Do they express our love and reverence for the Mother of God, are they pronounced from a heart that feels a deep need to praise the Most Honest Cherub, or are they just cold greetings, similar to worldly expressions of politeness, a matter of duty, custom accepted by the church and supported by decency alone? It is not good if anyone, without any heartfelt sympathy for the glory of the Mother of God, utters or hears uttered exclamations in Her honor. And in everyday life, bosses do not always value external expressions of respect for them from their subordinates, various congratulations on this or that joy, if these expressions or congratulations are not combined with evidence of sincere devotion and love. So, if in earthly relations expressions of respect for the highest have value only with heartfelt sympathy for them, all the more so the greetings of praise in honor of the Mother of God should be animated by heartfelt love and deep reverence for Her. In earthly relationships, however, it often happens that either vanity, content with only external signs of respect, or ignorance does not distinguish between sincere respect and simple courtesy and flattery. But this cannot happen in heaven: it cannot be that the inhabitants of heaven, illuminated by true glory, value expressions of mere external respect, so that those who - partly by renunciation from the flesh, partly by the special action of enlightening grace - are illuminated by the highest, most extensive knowledge - are deceived in distinguishing between sincere and insincere greetings. So, as long as our greetings in honor of the Mother of God are pronounced with the lips without the participation of the heart, let no one hope to please Her with them. However, besides sincerity, other conditions are required for these greetings to be pleasing to the Mother of God. Can the father of a family be satisfied with the expressions of love and respect for his son, even if they come from a sincere heart, if this son leads a vicious life and through evil deeds causes grief to the parent’s heart? And the Mother of God cannot be pleased with our welcoming praise, even if it seems sincere, if this praise comes from a soul mired in sins and unrepentant. Praise is not red in the mouth of a sinner. Until he shows correction, his praises will only upset the Mother of God. So, if we do not want to upset the Mother of God with our praises, we will be zealous for the fulfillment of God’s commandments and imitate Her perfections. Imitation of Her purity, Her humility, Her boundless devotion to the will of God, this is what pleases Her most of all. (See “Review of the Most Common Church Prayers,” Archpriest V. Nechaev, now Vissarion, Bishop of Kostroma). 2. Conversation in which the troparion to the saints is explained “The rule of faith and the image of meekness, self-control of the teacher, show you to your flock the truth of things: for this reason you have acquired high humility, rich in poverty, priestly father (or saint) (name of the rivers), pray to Christ God that our souls will be saved.” This church verse, sung in honor of St. Nicholas, also applies to all saints in the general service to them and is also sung in honor of some, who are celebrated at a special service. This verse (troparion) has such extensive use because it contains features characteristic of all the saints glorified by the church. Here is the Russian translation of this verse, which may not be easily understood by everyone in Church Slavonic expression: “The truth of things has revealed in you before your flock a rule of faith, an example of meekness, a teacher of self-control. Therefore, you have reached heights through humility, riches through poverty. Father Hierarch! Pray to Christ God for the salvation of our souls.” The first part of the verse is based on the words of St. Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians. The Apostle, contrasting in this epistle the fruits of spiritual life with the works of the flesh, speaks of the latter: “the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22, 23). So, among the fruits of spiritual life the apostle lists “faith, meekness, self-control.” These virtues, without a doubt, are characteristic of all true Christians, especially the shepherds of the church. Therefore, the Holy Church, glorifying the memory of the saints of Christ, who pleased God with zeal for acquiring these fruits of spiritual life and for establishing them in others, calls them the rule of “faith”, the image of “meekness”, teachers of “temperance” and adds that the “truth of things” revealed them as such. This means that the praise he describes is by no means exaggerated: the very fact, the very truth of things confirms them. Just as Christ the Savior, in proof that he came from God, repeatedly referred to His works, so the works of the saints of Christ allowed everyone to see in them what true shepherds should be. Thus, the saints of Christ were the “rule of faith” for their flock. By faith, which the apostle talks about when calculating the fruits of the Spirit, we mean actual fidelity to duty in relation to God and neighbors, as opposed to infidelity, perfidy, and violation of duty (Matthew 23:23, Rom. 3:3). It requires that a person sacredly fulfills the obligations and promises he has assumed, not only under favorable conditions, but also under unfavorable ones. Like God, faithful in His promises despite human unfaithfulness (Rom. 3:3), a person who is faithful to his duty and word, truthful, undeceitful, always remains so, despite numerous temptations and temptations and examples of impunity for unfaithfulness. For the truth of God, in which he once believed, he is ready to suffer and die rather than betray it. His relations with his neighbors are quite conscientious. The word given to him is stronger than all formal guarantees and oaths. He does not like to be imposed on with his services, he is not ambitious, not seeker, does not like to take on various honorary positions, but if he accepts any obligation and assignment, he will use all his efforts, sacrifice personal peace of mind and benefits, in order to honestly and conscientiously fulfill what he has undertaken. His only guidance in relations with his neighbors is the law of God and the conscience enlightened by it. Following this guidance, he is inaccessible to the suggestions of pride and self-interest, which thinks to justify itself with such reasoning: “others lie, why don’t we lie too? Others deceive and profit from deception, why should we lag behind them? Others go into large debts in order not to pay them - why shouldn’t we try this easy way of getting rich? Others receive a large salary for a position, a large payment for work, but they themselves do nothing, leaving this boring task to others - why shouldn’t we follow their example? Others are not embarrassed even by family responsibilities - you never know, for example, there are mothers who shy away from personal participation in raising children for the sake of the pleasures of social life - you never know there are husbands and wives who fearlessly violate marital fidelity: why shouldn’t we allow ourselves similar benefits? But let others argue this way, a person, faithful to his duty, conforms his behavior not with human opinions and accepted customs, but only with the will of God. The fear of acting in disagreement with her keeps him not only from dishonorable deeds, but also from selfish thoughts and desires, inaccessible to the gaze and judgment of people, but open before God, the Knower of the Heart. The saints of Christ, glorified by God, were also the rule or example of such unchanging fidelity to duty in relation to God and people. They looked at their ministry as the ministry of stewards, from whom it is required that everyone prove faithful (1 Cor. 4:2). Therefore, during persecution, they were for the most part the first to seal their fidelity to Christ with blood. Equally, they extended their loyalty in serving the salvation of their neighbors to the point of selflessness; they knew no rest in the performance of pastoral duties, with the vigilance of sentinels they protected their flock from false teachings and deception by the spirit of the times and, by their example, encouraged them to be faithful in the fulfillment of their duties. "And an image of meekness." In dealing with people, faithful and unfaithful, the saints of Christ followed the meek and affable shepherd Christ. Calling to Him those who labor and are burdened, i.e. exhausted and oppressed by the Pharisees' injunctions, countless, strict and petty, and embarrassed by the Pharisees' reproaches for their sins, He said to them: “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29), i.e. trust My guidance and do not be afraid to be My disciples: you will find in Me a Teacher who is not mercilessly strict and harsh, like the Pharisees, but meek and condescending to your shortcomings, able to suffer with your weaknesses and, with His loving compassion, encourage, console and strengthen you to fight sin. All shepherds of Christ’s flock should act in the spirit of imitating the example of Christ’s meekness in dealing with people. “To the servant of the Lord,” writes St. Paul to Bishop Timothy, “we must not quarrel, but be friendly to everyone, teachable, kind, and instruct our opponents with meekness, lest God give them repentance to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 2:24, 25). All the saints of Christ, glorified by God, acted in accordance with the example of Christ and the instructions of the apostles. Zeal for the glory of the name of Christ and the salvation of their neighbors sometimes prompted them to raise an accusatory and threatening voice against the erring, false-minded and wicked, and to subject them to church condemnation; but this was after the measures of meek admonition proved unsuccessful, and those who were strictly rebuked and condemned, if they repented, were never rejected by the saints of Christ, but with the same meekness and love were accepted into communion with them. The saints of Christ not only themselves did not irritate anyone with harsh treatment, but meekly and complacently endured the bitterness of others, looking to the Chief Shepherd and together to the Lamb Christ, Who, “being slandered, did not slander each other, and while suffering did not threaten, but handed it over to a righteous Judge” (1 Peter 2:23). Truly they were an image of meekness, i.e. their behavior was a living embodiment of meekness. "Abstinence of the teacher." The saints of Christ, glorified by God, taught abstinence not only by word, but also by example. Regarding them, it was impossible to say what Jesus Christ said about the Pharisees: “they bind heavy and unbearable burdens, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves do not want to move them with a finger” (Matthew 23:4). And remembering the words of Christ: whoever does and teaches, he will be called great in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:19), the saints of God, teaching others to abstain, themselves were abstinent in everything. They abstained from food and drink; they were great fasters and did not like exquisite dishes and drinks; they kept their tongues, did not condemn and did not talk idlely; they were self-controlled in spirit, did not give free rein to the dreams of the imagination, were vigilant over thoughts, waged a merciless battle against the thoughts of pride and earthly vanity. In a word, they were great ascetics and therefore were elected to the priesthood for the most part from the monastic rank. And the ascetic teachers did not need to convince others with lengthy speeches of the need and benefits of abstinence: their taciturn words, supported by their example, had great power of persuasion. Anyone, looking at the lives of such teachers of abstinence, could easily reason: if they, having the same weak nature as I, could successfully fight against carnal knowledge, against intemperance of the tongue, against sinful thoughts, why shouldn’t I test my strength in the same struggle, with the hope of similar success? If they were supported in the feat by the grace of God, is it possible to think that I will be left without its help if I embark on the same feat? Thus, the saints of Christ, as experienced ascetics, were trustworthy teachers of abstinence. “For this reason you have gained high humility, rich in poverty.” This part of the church verse we are considering is based on the Savior’s saying about the blessedness of the poor in spirit. Poor in spirit, i.e. humble-wise, truly blessed, for, according to the promise of Christ, theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3) with all its “rich” blessings, with all its “exalted” gifts. The saints glorified by God also achieved this wealth and this height of bliss through spiritual poverty, or humility; but this path led them to the goal because they followed it with faith, meekness, and self-control. Therefore, it is not simply said: you have acquired high humility, rich in poverty, but “for this reason” (i.e. for the sake of faith, meekness, abstinence) “you have acquired”, etc. Humility in itself cannot make anyone blessed if it is not combined with other virtues. Without humility, no virtue is pleasing to God, but it itself, without success in spiritual life, also has no value or meaning. Without this prosperity it would be false humility. True humility is not limited to the mere recognition of shortcomings and sins in oneself, but is combined with a sincere desire to free oneself from them and an active desire for possible perfection. This happens in any kind of activity: successes in the sciences, in the arts, in social life are always the fruit of a humble consciousness that we are far from perfect in mastering the true, beautiful, useful, that the successes we have achieved in this are very insignificant in comparison with what can still be done ahead. Likewise, in moral terms, true humility serves as an incentive to excel in spiritual life. This can be seen in the example of the Apostle Paul. It is known that out of humility he called himself the first of sinners. Anyone who knows that this apostle performed great and numerous feats of self-sacrifice and love for God and his neighbors, that he worked more than other apostles in spreading the gospel, will perhaps not immediately understand how such a great righteous man and worker calls himself the first of sinners. But that is why the apostle was a great righteous man, that is why he worked so hard and so successfully for the glory of God, that he possessed great humility. A humble awareness of his shortcomings, a humble recollection of his errors before turning to Christ, a humble comparison of his unworthiness with the great gifts of grace given to him - aroused in the apostle zeal for self-correction, for the fight against the old man, with sinful inclinations and habits, for acts of self-sacrifice and love for God and neighbors. The same should be Humility in every Christian, otherwise it will be false, feigned humility. Unfortunately, in many Christians, humility is not only not accompanied by a struggle with those shortcomings and sins that they humbly admit, but is also combined with denial or justification for them. Someone willingly calls himself a great sinner and in confession with a sigh says: no matter what he has done, he has sinned, but when he hears from his confessor the question: is he guilty of this or that sin? - either he does not admit guilt at all, or he begins to mitigate his guilt with weakness, circumstances, examples of others, etc. Isn’t it clear that the humility of such people is only in words, but in fact they contain pride and conceit? Christian! If you want, like the saints of Christ, to reach the heights of heavenly bliss through humility, acquire true humility; remember that it consists of sincere self-condemnation and is combined with a strong desire for correction, with an active desire to excel in fidelity, meekness, abstinence and other virtues. (See “Collection for lovers of spiritual reading,” Archpriest V. Nechaev, now Vissarion, Bishop of Kostroma). 3. Conversation in which the troparion to the holy martyrs is explained “Both a communicant in character, and a vicar of the throne, having become an apostle, you gained your deed, inspired by God, in a vision: for this reason, correcting the word of truth, and for the sake of faith, you suffered even to the point of blood, holy martyr (name of the rivers), pray to Christ God for the salvation of our souls.” In the aforementioned church song - the troparion to the holy martyrs, in a few expressions, the image of the holy holy martyr is outlined in all its greatness and beauty, that is, that martyr of Christ who accepted martyrdom in the holy rank of bishop or presbyter; such, for example, are the holy martyrs: Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage (August 31), Basil, Presbyter of Ancyra (March 22) and others. “And a communicant in character.” The expression: “participant in character” means the same as morally similar, like-minded - to whom? The apostles, as can be seen from the following words. What traits of character were the holy martyrs similar to St. apostles? The holy apostles were characterized by constant, selfless, zeal for bringing the light of Christ’s teaching into the darkness of idolatrous paganism and unbelieving Judaism, emanating from a fiery love for the Lord and erring humanity, and also, emanating from the same love, constant, never resting day or night, paternal care for the reborn children of the Church of Christ - caring, not resting until the teaching of Christ is firm and safe from various heresies, false teachings and temptations is established in them, until Christ is actually imagined in them (Acts 20:18-21, 29-30; 1 Thessalonians 2:3-8; Gal. 4:19). We find exactly the same property in the holy martyrs of Christ. Each of them burned with love for the Lord and for his neighbors and, as a result, each lived not for himself, but solely and entirely for the eternal salvation of his neighbor. To enlighten the ignorant with the light of truth, to protect those who knew this truth from betraying it, and to return those who betrayed it back to the fence of the Church of Christ - this was a constant task, a constant, never resting, concern of the Hieromartyrs of Christ! “And the governor of the throne became an apostle.” Unique St. To the apostles, the holy martyrs of Christ are called vicars or, all the same, successors to the apostolic thrones, i.e. apostolic authority to teach, minister and shepherd the flock of Christ. And that they were worthy instruments of the grace of the Holy Spirit is evident from the fact that they, being partakers of the apostolic power, were, as said above, equal to the apostles and that like them, as will be seen from what follows, they suffered for Christ. “Thou hast found the deed, O God-inspired, in the vision of the sunrise,” the church hymn goes on to say. What deed did this holy martyr of Christ achieve that elevated him to vision? Under such an “act,” as can be seen from the teachings of St. Fathers of the Church, one must understand in man his asceticism, as a warrior of Christ. In true Christians it reaches such a high degree of spiritual progress to which only a mortal man can ascend. The soul of a person who has reached the highest degree of spiritual success, according to the teaching of one church song, is so bright, pure and transparent that in it, like in a pure mirror, the light of the three faces of the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is reflected (see the antiphon of the 4th voice in the Octoechos). In this state, the soul of a Christian, incomprehensible to himself (John 3:8; 1 Cor. 2:14; 2 Cor. 12:2-4), as a reward for his exploits, is awarded at times wonderful and ineffable visions. According to the teachings of Christian ascetics, “a person then ascends to the third heaven, hears ineffable verbs, which cannot be eaten (that is, it is impossible) for a person, under the feeling of being, to hear, tastes ineffable blessings, which the eye cannot see and the ear cannot hear, becomes a servant of the mysteries of God and rests in blissful peace, perfect in the perfect God: then he copulates with the highest powers cherubim and seraphim and accepts their word, wisdom and understanding." (See Philokalia part 4, p. 67). “For this reason, correcting the word of truth, and for the sake of faith, you suffered even to the point of blood,” i.e. you suffered to the point of bleeding for zeal in correcting or preaching the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15) and for faith - “for faith’s sake.” For what faith? For the sake of faith, of course, Christian; but more precisely and closer to the connection of speech by faith here we must understand fidelity to the word of truth corrected by the holy martyr, characteristic of all true servants of Christ and builders of the mysteries of God, according to the word of the Apostle: “but it is required of stewards that everyone prove himself faithful” (1 Cor. 4:1-2). In Holy Scripture, the word faith is repeatedly used in the sense of faithfulness (See, for example, Matt. 24:23. Rom. 3:3). That each of the holy martyrs of Christ was faithful to the word of truth that he corrected, this guarantee is that for the sake of this fidelity, as the song says later, “he suffered even to the point of losing his blood.” “You suffered even to the point of death.” Here we mean primarily the martyrdom and martyrdom suffered by the Hieromartyr of Christ for his fidelity to the word of truth, but also in general all his ascetic-suffering pastoral activity. The Hieromartyrs of Christ, being faithful servants of what was entrusted to them to proclaim the teaching of the truth (2 Tim. 2:2; 4:2), true shepherds of the Church of God, and not mercenaries (John 10:11-12), good warriors of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Tim. 2:3), - how much effort they had to make, how much sorrow and struggle they had to endure during their pastoral activities! On the one hand, they had to support those from the sheep they shepherded who were weak in faith and heal those wounded by sin, on the other hand, they had to return those who had been driven away and find those who were lost, so that both of them would not perish forever. They did not shirk their heavy and difficult duty in the face of any threats from the enemies of the true faith, nor in the face of any torment, nor in the face of martyrdom itself - they decided on everything so as not to betray the truth, which they had to give an account of at the terrible judgment of God. Indeed, no matter which Hieromartyr of Christ we take, each of them, as the shepherd of the Church of Christ, in word and in deed was the leader for his flock to St. martyrdom. They were the first to go to torment, and like angels in the flesh and men in heaven, they went to this torment with extraordinary joy, as if to some high triumph. To see this more clearly, it is worth reading the pre-martyrdom letter of Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, to the Romans - this is a touching outpouring of the feelings of his lofty soul. “Oh, if only I were not deprived,” he writes among other things, “of the animals prepared for me! I pray that they will rush at me greedily. I will lure them so that they will immediately devour me, and not like they were afraid of some and did not touch me. If they don't want to voluntarily, I will force them. Forgive me: I know what is good for me. Now I'm just starting to be a student. Neither visible nor invisible - nothing will stop me from coming to Jesus Christ... It is better for me to die for Jesus Christ than to reign over all the earth. I seek Him, who died for us, I desire Him, who rose for us” (chap. 5–8)... So they were completely immersed in God, so all the other holy martyrs of Christ soared in heaven with their spirit and were thereby inspired to endure suffering. “Holy martyr (so-and-so), pray to Christ God for the salvation of our souls.” The holy martyrs of Christ spent their entire earthly lives caring for the spiritual salvation of their neighbors. Can they not take care of them after they move to heaven, into eternal bliss? No, “love no longer ceases” (1 Cor. 13:8). If on earth, in a mortal body, out of fiery love for their neighbors, they tirelessly cared for their spiritual salvation, then can it be assumed that in heaven - in eternal bliss, after detachment from the burdens of a weak body, they abandoned this concern? No, they died with this concern (see the dying prayer of the sacred. Blasius), this concern passed with them to heaven. This is the only difference between their present heavenly care and their former earthly care: before on earth in their weak body this care was accompanied by sorrows and suffering for them, but now it constitutes joy and bliss for them; Previously, their concern was constrained by various earthly obstacles, but now “there will be no more death” for them (Apoc. 21:4), - now, being before the face of God (1 Cor. 13:12), before the very throne of God’s grace, they can easily and conveniently, with the gifts of the abundant grace of God fulfilling them, contribute to the eternal salvation of all who with faith resort to their help and prayers. (Compiled from the book: “Collection of explanations of some church hymns” by priest N. Voinov). 4. Conversation in which the troparion is explained to the monks “In you, father (or mother), it is known that you were saved in the image: having accepted (or having accepted) the cross, you followed (or followed) Christ, and in your deed (or deeds) you taught (or taught) that you despise the flesh, which passes away, but adheres to the souls, things that are immortal; In the same way, the angels will rejoice, O venerable (or venerable) (name of the rivers) Thy spirit.” The saints, in whose honor this church hymn (troparion) 10 was composed, are those who have pleased God in their monastic life. This song indicates how these holy men of God, “subservient to us” (James 5:17), men and wives, before entering the path of monastic life, belonging to different ranks and states, were able to find “the only thing needed” (Luke 10:41–42) - the treasure of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 13:44) and preserve with their asceticism and to increase this treasure in oneself to the level of righteousness and honor possible for a limited person, that is, holiness (Luke 1:75; Eph. 4:24). We offer a feasible explanation of the troparion in honor of the saints, some of whose expressions are not easily understandable for the attention of a right-thinking Christian. “In you, father, (or mother), it is known that you are saved in the image.” In Russian: what has been carefully preserved in you is what (was created) in the image. What is created in the image of God is the soul, for only the soul, and not the body, is endowed with nature, strength and properties capable of manifesting the truth and holiness of God. It is about the soul, as we will see below, that the church hymnist speaks, applying to it the thought expressed in the opening words of the church song. Thus, these words can be stated for clarity as follows: “You are truly a reverend father; you are truly a reverend mother, for in you, according to your name, true reverence, true holiness has been preserved; your soul, created in the image of God for this reverence, did not allow itself to be entangled by the seductive lusts of the old man and, purified by deeds, rose to the level of spiritual perfection possible on earth - to becoming like God in reverence or holiness.” How the soul reached this high state in reverend men and wives is further revealed in song. “Having accepted (or accepted) the cross, you have followed (or followed) Christ.” Having heeded the saying of the Lord: “Whoever does not accept his cross and comes after Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38), the reverend men and women, desiring to follow in the footsteps of the Lord, followed Him with the cross. What cross did they take? The cross of generous enduring, for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, hardships, sorrows, bitterness (Heb. 11:37), the cross of struggle with various temptations not only from the world or unkind people, but also from the flesh or one’s own pride, and from the devil. The cross in all these forms is inevitable for every true Christian. Having thrown off everything that tied them to the corruptible and vain world, and deciding to go to meet all the sorrows that are inevitable for a true Christian, they immediately followed Christ. How did the saints follow Christ? Following Christ here, obviously, must be understood not in the literal sense, which was possible only in the days of the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ, but in the spiritual and moral sense, namely, in the sense of following the path of the pure and holy life of the God-man and His saving teaching (1 John 2:6; Phil. 2:5). This procession of the saints was firm and decisive. Just as during the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ, the holy apostles, hearing His calling voice to follow Him, immediately responded with readiness to this call and followed the Lord (Matthew 4:20,22), so the reverend men and wives, feeling in their hearts the voice of God’s grace calling them to salvation (Apoc. 3:20), immediately obeyed this voice and followed the life and teachings of the Lord. And it is truly wonderful and incomprehensible for a spiritual person, who understands nothing above and beyond his earthly feelings (1 Cor. 2:14), the procession of God’s chosen ones to the kingdom of heaven! Having felt within themselves the voice of God’s grace calling for salvation, they, in order not to drown out this voice in the charms of the vain world, selflessly leave all its charms and take refuge, for the most part, “in deserts, mountains, caves and abysses of the earth,” where they began to work out their salvation in arbitrary “hardships and sorrows” of asceticism and in constant “bitterness” from the primordial murderers (Heb. 11:37–38). The laborious spiritual feats of salvation of holy reverend men and wives are innumerably diverse, but the general character of all these various deeds, as the song goes on to say, was “contempt of the flesh and diligence for the soul.” “And in your deed (or deeds) you taught (or taught) to despise the flesh.” Deya (acting), that is, by deed, an example of ascetic life. The word “flesh” in the Holy Scriptures has different meanings: either it means the whole nature of man, consisting of soul and body (John 1:14; 17:2; Matt. 24:22; Gen. 6:12), then primarily only his body (Luke 24:39; 1 John 4:2; Phil. 3:4), then passions and lusts arising from the sinful body (Gen. 6:3; Gal. 5:17, 24). In the church song we are explaining, “flesh” (σάρξ) is opposed to the soul (ψυχὴ) and therefore must be taken in the meaning of the human body, in the second of the meanings we have shown. So the holy venerable men and women, without words, by one example, by the deeds of their ascetic life, taught people “who had eyes to see and ears to hear” (Matthew 13:13, 16), taught to despise the flesh. What did this contempt reveal? If a thing is despised, it means that it is left neglected, without any care for it; Moreover, they try to either destroy such a thing or alienate it from themselves: just so, the holy reverend men and women, during their earthly lives, completely neglected their body, not only did they not care at all about its decoration and strength, but through long vigils and fasting, frequent prayers and various prayers, taken upon themselves either voluntarily or out of obedience, by physical labor they also tried to mortify their body (1 Cor. 9:27 ). For example, it is enough to point to the saints: Alexy, the man of God (his memorial is on March 17), and Mary of Egypt (her memorial is April 1). The first, for seventeen years, so exhausted and exhausted his body with deeds of piety that he was not recognized even by his parents. The second spent forty-seven years in a barren desert, not caring about clothing or food, and as a result her body was so exhausted that the Monk Zosima, by the will of God, saw her, considered her a spirit. What prompted the monks to despise their bodies? Answer: “It passes away.” The human body passes away, that is, it is perishable, not eternal (1 John 2:17). This is the reason that prompted the monks to treat their bodies with contempt! They were not hostile to their body, like some of the ancient heretics (such as the Gnostics and Manichaeans), who recognized the body as the work of a demon and the cause of evil in the world; They did not intentionally distort their body, as the eunuchs now senselessly act, considering the body to be the main source of sin; on the contrary, their contempt for the body was inspired in them by the thought that it would pass away. Having desired first and above all the kingdom of God and his righteousness (Matthew 6:33), constantly occupied with the thought that they are “strangers and strangers on earth” (Heb. 11:13), that their true “life is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20), naturally, they had to disdainfully treat their body, which is not eternal, which, as material, as taken from the earth, should early Is it too late, according to the sentence of God righteously pronounced for man’s sin, to go back to the earth and decay (Gen. 3:19). All the attention, all the care of the saints was directed to the soul, as an immortal being. They taught by example, “to be diligent about souls, things that are immortal.” The soul by its nature, in contrast to the body, is a thing, i.e. a creature that is immortal, but by its very nature, damaged by sin, it is prone to evil. Therefore, diligence or care for the soul should consist not only in improving its powers more and more in accordance with their purpose for life in communion with the most perfect Being, in whose image it was created, but at the same time in purifying it more and more from innate evil, resisting its wrong aspirations and inclinations, turning it away from the errors of the mind, from addiction to vanity and sin of the heart, from temptations and enticements that weaken even good will. Such care for the soul, obviously, cannot be combined with care for satisfying the body in all its requirements. Demands of the body, for example, sleep, rest, food, dress, sexual desires, etc. cannot always be satisfied without harm to the soul, and satisfaction with it can sometimes be accompanied by the enslavement of the soul to the body, its humiliation before it. Is it surprising if the reverend men and wives cared more about the soul than the body, trying to give precedence to the immortal soul over the perishable body? It was impossible to treat the soul and body with the same care, just as “no one can work for two masters” (Matthew 6:24), and therefore the monks were left with one of two things: either to take special care of their corruptible body and thereby subordinate their immortal soul to it and plunge it into “decay”, or, on the contrary, to give predominance to the soul over the body, to humble their body before it, to make it its obedient slave, faithful and an obedient instrument in her achievement of eternal blessed life (Gal. 6:8). The holy monks chose this latter. “In the same way, the venerable (or venerable - name of the river) thy spirit rejoices with the angels.” It was difficult for the saints to subordinate the body to the soul, to raise the soul to possible moral likeness to God! But just as silence usually comes after a storm, so for the monks, after several years of their spiritual struggle, there came, still here in earthly life, as the Venerable Mary of Egypt put it, “a time of peace” - this is a time of spiritual silence, spiritual peace, spiritual dispassion, the spiritual predestination of eternal bliss. Thus, even on earth, the Lord rewarded His chosen ones with heavenly joys, heavenly peace; all the more so must this be said about them after they ascend to heaven. Upon their transmigration into heaven, the soul of the saints or their spirit rejoices along with the angels, that is, as having reached equal angelic perfection through their earthly asceticism, they, upon their transmigration in spirit to heaven, enter into joyful communion with the angels, together with them they surround the throne of the Almighty and are blissful, constantly praising the Redeemer, by whose power they passed “from the sorrow” of earthly asceticism to heavenly endless joy and bliss (Apoc. 7:9–14). (Compiled from the book. “Collection of explanations of some church hymns” by St. N. Voinova). 5. Conversation explaining another troparion to the monks “With your tears you cultivated the barren desert and with your sighs from the depths you brought forth fruit in a hundred labors, and you were a lamp of the universe, shining miracles (name), Our Father, pray to Christ God that our souls may be saved.” Partly the Church Slavonic arrangement of words, partly the conciseness and figurativeness of some expressions make this sacred song, full of deep thoughts and edification, far from understandable to everyone. This song is a troparion composed in honor of some saints. In it they are glorified for the fact that, in order to find salvation, they settled in wild, uncultivated deserts, turned them into cultivated and fruitful places, and themselves became known to the universe. Such, for example, were the reverend men: Savva the Sanctified (December 5th day), John Climacus (March 30th day), Pachomius the Great (May 15th day) and others. In what sense should we understand this transformation by holy ascetics into the most fruitful valley of the wild desert? How did they cultivate it and bring it to wonderful fruiting? This is perfectly revealed by the church hymn 11 we took for explanation. “With the streams (currents) of your tears you have cultivated the barren desert.” Having settled in the wild, barren desert “mountains, dens and abysses of the earth” (Heb. 11:38), the reverend men began to lead a life corresponding to the desert - in arbitrary “hardships and sorrows, solitary asceticism and in constant “bitterness” from the original murderer (Heb. 11:37); but soon, under the overshadowing of the omnipotent grace of God, they appeared “in the good vegetation of the desert” (see the troparion to Savva of Zvenigorod, commemorated December 3), with their “venerable” “virtues they blossomed redly, in it (see the kontakion of St. Theodosius, commemorated January 11), “like an olive tree in a mental paradise” (see troparion to Savva, Archbishop of Serbia, commemorated January 12), “restored by fasting, vigil and faith” (see troparion for the presentation of the relics of the blessed princes Theodore, David and Constantine, commemorated September 19). Thus, barren, wild deserts, not inhabited by any people, with the installation of the ascetics of God in them, turned into instead of a mental spiritual paradise, where more and more “beautiful” and diverse “crowns of virtue” were cultivated and perfected (see the service of St. Sergius on polyeleos sedalene). But it is not only in the spiritual and moral sense that we must understand the cultivation of the deserts of St. hermits, but also in the literal sense. According to the teachings of St. Apostle Paul, “Godliness is profitable for all things, having promise for this life and for the life to come” (1 Tim. 4:8). “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” said the Lord Jesus Christ, “and all this,” i.e. everything necessary for earthly life “will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). This was fulfilled in the most obvious way over the holy inhabitants of the wild deserts. A strong and irresistible desire to achieve eternally blissful consolation in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:4) carried them into the wilderness of uninhabited barren deserts, where it was impossible to find them either food, drink, or clothing, where they could inevitably die either from the unbearable heat and heat of the sun, or from the unbearable cold, where their accomplices were only the birds of the air, and the earth’s fierce beasts and deadly reptiles. But they did not care at all about earthly needs and dangers. They entrusted these concerns to the Lord, firmly believing that He, who feeds the birds of the air (Matthew 6:26), who dresses the lilies of the field more luxuriously than King Solomon himself (Matthew 6:28–29), that He alone can save them from cowardice and from all earthly dangers and troubles. And their living faith in the all-good providence of the Lord was fully justified. For them, the barren deserts turned into a kind of Edenic paradise, where, by the power of God’s grace, they were fully provided for earthly necessities. So, either the birds of heaven or angels brought them food, then suddenly branchy and fruitful trees appeared near their home, on the one hand feeding them, on the other, sheltering them from the scorching rays of the sun, then a source of water suddenly made its way to quench their thirst. Let us add to this that the holy life of the hermits attracted many from distant places to settle in the vicinity of desert monasteries, and the country, hitherto uninhabited and barren, was covered with villages and cities, flowering pastures, groves, gardens and fruitful, well-cultivated fields. So the desert dwellers truly cultivated the barren deserts both in the spiritual sense and in the physical sense. The success of the spiritual and physical activities of the desert dwellers depended on God’s blessing on their labors, but this blessing was attracted by their tears, so that truly, with streams of tears they cultivated the barren desert. The expression: “your tears flow in streams” indicates the abundance and constancy of tears in the hermits of Christ. Indeed, not a day, not two, but the entire time of their earthly life they spent in crying or heartbreak. And for some of them this heartfelt contrition was expressed in copious physical tears. This is what is known about the teacher. Arseny, that throughout his life, sitting at needlework, he had cloths in his bosom to wipe away the tears falling from his eyes (see in the ancient Patericon, edition of the Athos Panteleim Monastery, chapter 3, art. 2). And the more the holy desert dwellers cleansed their sinful hearts from their sins with tears, the more they noticed in it sinful impurities worthy of crying. So Abba Pimen told about Abba Dioscorus that he cried for himself in his cell, and his disciple lived in another cell. When a student came to the elder and found him crying, he asked him: “Father! What are you crying about? He answered him: “I’m crying for my sins, child.” The student told him: “You have no sins, father!” But the elder answered him: “I assure you, my son, if I could see my sins, then four more people would not be enough to mourn them with me.” At the same time, Abba Pimen said: “he is truly a man who knows himself” (the same Pater. Chapter 3, Art. 22). But, pouring out their spiritual grief in continuous tears, the desert ascetics sooner or later began to feel the cleansing effect of their sins: such a saving sensation made tears for them not a burden, but a pleasure, and finally turned them into a necessary need for them. “Who will not be surprised and who will not glorify, who will not bless the great mercy of Your goodness, Savior of our souls? As you deign to accept tears instead of reward for Your healings. O power of tears! What are you achieving? Enter into heaven itself with much boldness without restraint”: this is how one hermit, who has tasted the power and sweetness of tears, exclaims in gratitude of the spirit to God (see “Flowers from the garden of St. Ephraim the Syrian”, Chapter 11). “And those who sighed from the depths with a hundred labors brought forth fruit.” This figurative expression is taken from the Gospel parable about the seed of the word of God. “And what is sown on the good ground, behold, hear the word and understand: whoever bears fruit and creates a hundred, and sixty, and thirty” (Matthew 13:23). Under “works”, in relation to St. Desert dwellers must understand labors to acquire salvation or, in general, exploits of salvation - labors and exploits in which the fruit of the “living and active” seed of the “word of God” is manifested (Heb. 4:12; Gal. 5:22, 24). A person’s pure and holy life is the product of “the uncorrupted seed of the word of the living God, who abides forever” (1 Peter 1:23); therefore, like its beginning, always “living and active” (Heb. 4:12), it never remains fruitless (Isa. 55:10–11), always bears greater or lesser fruits: “one hundred, one hundred, one sixty, one thirty” (Matthew 13:23), depending on the degree of assimilation by the cornfield of the heart of the human seed of the word of God. Field of hearts of St. desert dwellers was cultivated in all perfection and fertilized with the seed of the word of God 12; therefore, their pure and holy life brought the most abundant, hundredfold fruit. By the will of the All-Provident God, who wants all people to be saved, this fruit was revealed not only in them personally, but also in others. Having achieved spiritual perfection, the ascetics of the desert, like “a city standing on the top of a mountain” (Matthew 5:14), despite their deep solitude, could not hide from the eyes of the world; People of different ranks and classes soon began to flock to them from all over the world and to settle near them, wanting, under their guidance, as people experienced in spiritual life, to follow the path to eternal salvation. With all their love for solitude, the saints did not turn them away from themselves. ascetics, so as not to be the cause of their eternal destruction; with their deeds of repentance, combined with tears and heartfelt sighs, and also with wise instructions, they were an image for their disciples (see the troparion of St. Sergius on Chapter 4) and actively “regenerated” them, “like the life of the tree of paradise” (see the troparion for the transfer of the relics of the good princes Theodore, David and Constantine; commemorated September 19). But from this spiritual fertilization of the barren deserts, their appearance naturally changed. From the multitude of pious workers who settled under their shadow, bound together by the same rules of monastic life, from the monastery buildings erected among them and St. churches, from the fans of the shrine arriving to them from different parts of the world, they were, so to speak, renewed in appearance, revived, decorated, became not wild, uninhabited deserts, but populated places, prolific, well-maintained, as if some kind of cities. “And having made the desert like a city, you gathered in it many monks,” sings St. Church of the Venerable and God-Bearing Father Sergius (see in the service to him on the verse on Chapter 6). And all this from the “sighings from the depths” or, in general, from the pure and holy life of the first inhabitants of the barren deserts! In this regard, the words of God’s promise for piety were literally fulfilled on them: “and your everlasting deserts will be built, and your everlasting foundations will be a generation of generations, and you will be called the builder of fences” (Is. 58:12). “And you were the lamp of the universe, shining with wonders.” Thus, according to the church song, the holy hermits of the wild, barren deserts were lamps that emitted not only their place of earthly habitat, but together the whole world, that is, everyone living in the world, rays of miracles. What were these miracles? Firstly, their very desert life was wonderful, beyond ordinary human concepts. So in wild uninhabited deserts, sometimes too hot (like those in the east), sometimes too harsh (in the north), in deserts filled with fierce animals and deadly reptiles, they could live in complete solitude and often lived for many years, not being provided with clothing, food, or weapons. So the Monk Paul of Thebes lived for ninety-one years in the sultry, rocky desert, not seeing the face of a man (his memory is January 15). What can we say about the spiritual life of St. desert dwellers, about their exploits of salvation? Who was not surprised and amazed by their “cruelty of lifestyle”? Secondly, they were wonderful in St. desert dwellers those grace-filled gifts that appeared in them as the fruit of their living faith and as a reward for the heights equal to the angels they had achieved. Thus, very many of them were not at all enlightened by any sciences and yet reached amazing wisdom both in understanding the word of God and in exposing its false interpretations, and in resolving various perplexities and doubts in the matter of salvation. The fame of this wisdom attracted to them not only monks from various monasteries, but also kings and princes themselves. Even pagan philosophers were amazed at the extraordinary wisdom of simple hermits of the deserts and sometimes this wisdom was caught in the trap of the Christian faith (see the life of Anthony the Great, commemorated January 17, and Theodosius of Kiev-Pechersk, commemorated May 3). Further, the holy desert dwellers were adorned with the gift of performing various miracles in the literal meaning of this word. So, through their prayer, the empty granaries were suddenly filled with bread in quantities sufficient not only to feed those who labored in their monasteries, but also to benefit the poor and needy; Thus, through their prayer, abundant sources of water were opened in waterless places, holy churches were erected without any earthly means, those suffering from various ailments were healed, and the dead were resurrected. Finally, they were wonderful in St. desert dwellers have the gift of spiritual insight and the gift of prophecy. Thus, with the gift of clairvoyance, they foresaw in others the innermost thoughts, desires and intentions, the movement of some strong passion; by gift of prophecy they predicted future events, as well as the day of their death. How wonderful is the life of St. desert dwellers, and the grace-filled gifts that adorned them made them “all-bright stars that shone throughout the whole world and were overcome by the darkness of passions” (see Kontakion of St. John the Great, November 4). “Our Father, pray to Christ God that our souls may be saved.” Being in their earthly life nurseries of holy monastic life, “fathers giving birth” to sons of the kingdom of heaven (1 Cor. 4:15), St. The desert dwellers, even after their death, continue to be the same fathers for all who strive to imitate them in a holy life, for all who seek from them grace-filled help in various sorrows and embitterments of this life. If while still on earth, being burdened by a weak body, they, out of love for the eternal salvation of their neighbors, did not turn away from themselves any of those seeking eternal salvation, sacrificed their solitude for them, with fatherly love “fertilized” their souls and led them “to reverence” and holiness (see the troparion of St. Savvaty, the Solovetsky Wonderworker, Commemorated September 27); Moreover, after their death, being before the face of God (1 Cor. 13:12), illuminated by the gifts of the abundant grace of God that overshadows them, they will not fail to intercede before Christ God for all who turn to them for grace-filled help on the sorrowful path to salvation. So, approach them with faith and humble prayer, all who labor in the labors of salvation and are burdened with the passions and various sorrows of this life, in the firm hope of good hearing! And your hope will not be in vain. Like fathers who care for their children, they will lovingly remember you before the throne of the Most High and will not “forget to spiritually visit you and enlighten you” (see both troparions to St. Sergius). Their love for the eternal salvation of their neighbors, after their death, expanded; the means to promote this salvation have increased; Now it’s up to you to pray to them. Only “he who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and the door is opened to the one who asks” (Matthew 7:8). (Compiled from the book “Collection of explanations of some church hymns” by priest N. Voinov, published in 1893) 6. Conversation explaining the troparion to the martyrs “Thy Lamb, Jesus (the name of the rivers), calls with a great voice: I love You, my Bridegroom, and seeking You, I suffer and am crucified and buried in Your baptism, and I suffer for Your sake, for I reign in You, and I die for You, and I live with You: but as a blameless sacrifice, accept me with love sacrificed To you. Through your prayers, for He is merciful, save our souls.” In the first centuries of Christianity, the holy church, like “crimson and fine linen, was adorned with the blood” (see the troparion to all saints) of countless martyrs and, to the glory of the ineffably wise God, in the host of these martyrs there are not only male persons, but also very many different titles and states of virgins and wives, in the expression of the word of God, “the weakest vessels” (1 Peter. 3:7). With all the weakness of their nature, they were in no way inferior to the men either in their uncontrollable zeal to suffer for Christ, or in their steadfast adamantine enduring of various unimaginably cruel torments for Him - and thereby justified to themselves in all evidence the truth that in Christ Jesus there is no difference between the sexes male and female, but they are all one (Gal. 3:28), that the power of God is in weakness is made perfect (2 Cor. 12:9). How could these weak creatures decide to boldly confess the faith of Christ before the wicked rulers - kings (Matthew 10:18)? How could they endure the most severe torment for the Lord? What animated them, what gave them strength in martyrdom for Christ, this highest of all Christian feats? The answers to this can be seen in the troparion we have given, common to the holy martyrs. "Your lamb, Jesus." The holy martyr is called “lamb.” In what sense? In the same way in which all the martyrs of Christ are called lambs: they are called lambs because for Christ, the Lamb of God, they were slain as lambs (see the 2nd troparion sung on the blameless on Saturday, chapter 5). The words of St. were fully justified on them. Apostle Paul, taken from the psalter: “For for Your sake (i.e. for the Lord) we are put to death all the day long, counted as sheep of the slaughter (Rom. 8:36, Ps. 43:23, Matt. 10:16). The martyrs of Christ are also called “lambs” because they were mostly from a virgin state - from those who did not want, out of love for the Lord Jesus, their heavenly Bridegroom, to bind themselves to earthly marriage. “Your lamb, O Jesus, calls with a great voice,” i.e. cries out loudly (Matthew 25:30, John 11:43, Rev. 5:12; 7:10), from the abundance of a heart full of feelings (Luke 6:45). What is calling? “I love you, my Zhenisha.” The expression of the troparion: “I love”, more precisely from Greek (ποθῶ), means - I love deeply, I yearn, I yearn for someone. The love of the martyrs for Christ was alien to the calmness that is characteristic of satisfied love. They were tormented and tormented by an impatient desire to unite with Christ. Their love for Christ was all the more restless and impatient because it was combined with zeal for the glory of His name. The holy martyrs, burning with fiery love for the Lord, could not indifferently see the public desecration of His holy name; at the sight of persecution for the Lord, their loving heart, so to speak, yearned for the Lord, holy zeal for His glory consumed them - for the Lord, for His name, they were ready to give up everything and endure everything. This character of love for Jesus Christ is expressed no less clearly in the following words: “And I seek You in suffering.” In the book "Song of Songs" the mysterious bride - the holy church - is presented with a suffering heart searching for her beloved Bridegroom - the Lord. A similar suffering of the heart, known for beings who love each other and are far from each other, was also experienced by the saints, the martyrs of Christ. Having loved the Lord more than anything else in the world, but not yet seeing His face (1 Cor. 13:12), not having yet moved through holy martyrdom to His glorious kingdom, to His divine bridal chamber, they sought Him with their hearts, seeking the closest union with Him. "God! You are our God,” they cried to Him; “We have been seeking You since the early dawn, Our soul thirsts for You, our flesh yearns for You, show us the light of Your face, O Lord... hear our prayer, give ear” (Psalm 62:2, 4, 7; 83:9). Therefore, the martyrs joyfully rushed to suffer for the name of Christ, seeing in this suffering a happy outcome to their impatient search for Christ, the closest path to eternal union with Him. “And I am crucified and buried in Your baptism.” By what baptism of the Lord were the holy martyrs crucified and buried? That baptism with which, for the eternal salvation of people, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself impatiently wanted to be baptized during the days of His earthly life (Luke 12:50) and with which His holy apostles were baptized (Mark 10:39). This is the baptism of the sufferings on the cross and the death of the Lord, this is immersion in them as if in waters (Rom. 6:3–4; Col. 2:11–12). It is by this saving baptism for all people that the Lord and the holy martyrs, as well as the holy apostles, were crucified and buried. “And I suffer for Your sake, so that I may reign in You.” This expression is taken from the words of St. Apostle Paul: “If we endure” with the Lord or for the Lord, “we will also reign with Him” (2 Tim. 2:12). “Enthronement” is understood here in the sense of glorification in the eternal kingdom of the Lord: “while we suffer with Him,” says St. the apostle in another place - “that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:17). The firm confidence of St. martyrs, that they endure martyrdom for the Lord, for His holy name, for faith in Him, for love for Him, gave birth in them to the firm hope of an eternal kingdom, eternal glorification with the Lord, and this hope inspired them, gave them strength and strength in cruel torment for the name of Christ. “And I die for Thee, and live with Thee.” This expression is taken from the words of St. Apostle Paul: “This is a true saying: if we die with Him (the Lord), we will live with Him” (2 Tim. 2:11; Rom. 6:7–9). Without embarrassment, without fear, even with joy and gratitude to the Lord, the holy martyrs heard death sentences from the wicked judges. They were firmly convinced that just as Christ, risen from the dead, “to whomever dies no more, death has no possession of Him” (Rom. 6:9), so they, dying for the Lord, for His holy name, in accordance with His death (Phil. 3:10), by the power of His glorious resurrection, will come to life in their very bodies and will live forever with Him in the glorified body, according to His immutable promise: “believe in Even if I die, I will live” (John 11:25). “But as an immaculate sacrifice, accept me, who have offered myself to You with love.” “You, Lord,” as the martyr says, “graciously accepted the sacrifice of Abel, smelled the stench of Noah’s sacrifice, did not reject the sacrifices of all the Old Testament righteous; but I have been inflamed with ardent love for You, having become ignorant of You alone, not of dumb animals, not “the blood of goats and calves” (Heb. 9:12), but I offer my very life, my own blood, as a sacrifice to You, “who through the Holy Spirit offered Himself blameless to God” (Heb. 9:14), and therefore accept me, having sacrificed myself with love to You, just as graciously as you graciously In the Old Testament, sacrifices were accepted by God from immaculate animals, free from bodily defects, which pious people brought to Him as sacrifices.” “By prayers, for He is merciful, save our souls.” The holy martyrs who moved into eternity, as worthy brides of the Divine Lamb - the Lord Jesus Christ, as wise virgins, were honored with His blessed wedding supper (Matt. 25:10. Apoc. 19:7-9). But while this holy supper has not yet been filled with the number of those reclining predetermined by the Lord (Matthew 22:10), they pray to the Lord for those spiritual sisters and brothers of theirs living on earth who, like them, desire to be worthy of the marriage of the Divine Lamb and ask for their gracious assistance and help in this. During their lifetime, the holy martyrs prayed for their neighbors. After they moved to heaven, after being separated from their weak body, and approaching the throne of their Divine Bridegroom, they began to have even greater prayerful boldness before Him for the spiritual salvation of their neighbors. So, weak and infirm in the matter of salvation, turn to the prayers of the holy martyrs of the Lord for yourself. And the Lord, through their prayers, will bow to mercy on you and save your souls. (Compiled from the book “Collection of explanations of some church hymns” by priest N. Voinov). 7. Conversation about the Mother of God dogmatists Orthodox worship in its sacred songs is church theology, in which the holy church publicly reveals to its children the teachings of faith and Christian morality. The liturgical songs of the Orthodox Church, contained in the Octoechos and other liturgical books and arranged in a certain order, reveal deep spiritual meaning and significance by their content and order of placement. Wanting to contribute to the knowledge of the meaning of the sacred songs as part of the liturgical rite, we present an analysis of some of the songs and services of the church octoechus, and among them the Theotokos dogmatists. The Theotokos dogmatists call eight (according to the number of voices) church songs sung in honor of the Mother of God at Sunday Vespers, after the stichera, I cried out to the Lord, when the servants left the altar with the censer and when they entered the altar again. In the Theotokos dogmatics, the incarnation of the Son of God is glorified, and this dogma is revealed in them completely and consistently through all eight voices, and it is precisely shown: 1) who became incarnate? 2) from whom? 3) how and 4) why did he incarnate? Who incarnated? Sovereign Lord (1st voice) Christ, the salvation of our souls (2nd voice), the eternal Son, born before the age of the Father (3rd voice), God, who was pleased to become man (4th voice), Immanuel, the God-man (chapter 5th), the Only Begotten Son, who rose without flight from the Father (chapter 6th), Heavenly King, Christ our God, according to love for mankind appeared on earth and lived with people (chapter 8). From whom did he incarnate? From the Virgin Mary, who therefore appeared as heaven and the church of the Divine, destroyed the hostile sinful barrier between God and people, introduced peace and opened the kingdom (Chapter 1). She gave birth to a Virgin and remained a Virgin (chapter 2), because she did not accept the temptation of her husband and gave birth to a Son without a father (chapter 3). She is the Queen, the Mother, the Intercessor of life (chapter 4), the unartificial (not knowing marriage) Bride, who gave birth to Christ without a seed and remained incorruptible after His birth (chapter 5), She is pure, all-blessed (chapter 6), the Virgin Mother of God, above the sayings of the word and the knowledge of reason (chapter 7), in a word, the brideless Mother (chapter 8th). How did you incarnate? Without a husband, without a father from the Most Honorable Virgin, Mother-Lady; born in the flesh, without change, confusion and separation of the divine and human natures; but the two natures, having united with each other, retained their properties intact (chapter 3). He was incarnated without seed (chapter 5) and inexpressibly, because, being by nature God, he became by nature man and is known not in two persons, but in two natures unfused (chapter 6). The Lord became incomprehensibly incarnate in the image of birth (chapter 7) and is the Son, one in hypostasis, but in two natures, perfect God and perfect man (chapter 8). Why did you incarnate? In order to, by His Divine omnipotence, defeat our enemies (chapter 1). Christ, our righteous Sun, will enlighten and instruct us in sinful darkness more than the pillar of fire once enlightened and instructed the Israelites in the desert. The Lord will save our souls from the captivity of sin, just as Moses once saved the Israelites from Egyptian slavery (chapter 2); God deigned to become human in order to renew His image in people, damaged by passions. Having found His sheep (a sinful man), which had gone astray and was kidnapped (by the devil) on the mountains (among sinful passions), He took it on His shoulder (through incarnation), brought it to His Father through the work He accomplished - redemption, His resurrection and ascension into heaven, and, having united with the heavenly powers, thus saved the world (chapter 4). Delving into the content of each dogmatist, as they follow one after another in the order of voices, one can make sure that the dogma about the incarnation of the Son of God, about His two natures, about the ever-virginity of the Mother of God and about the purpose of the incarnation is gradually revealed in them. This revelation follows in the dogmatists of the seven voices, and the dogmatist of the eighth voice constitutes the conclusion of everything previously stated. Thus, in the dogma of the first voice, the revelation of dogma begins with an indication of the universal glory of the Blessed Virgin. This, as it were, recalls the promise about the seed of the woman, given to the first parents in paradise and fulfilled on the Most Holy. The Virgin who gave birth to Christ the Savior. Ch. 1st: “Let us sing to the Virgin Mary, the song of the bodiless and the praise of the faithful (fertilizer). She came from man, but gave birth to the Master, became heaven and the church of the Divine, destroyed the barrier of enmity (which sin had established between us and God), introduced peace (having given birth to our Reconciler with God) and opened the kingdom.” The dogmatics of the second voice shows the relationship of Old Testament prototypes to New Testament events. Ch. 2nd: “The Old Testament, educational shadow passed when grace appeared - the Savior of the world. Instead of the bush, which burned and did not burn, the Virgin appeared, at the birth and after the birth (of Jesus Christ) she remained a virgin. Instead of the pillar of fire (which guided the Israelites at night in the Arabian desert), the righteous sun shone for us (which guided and enlightened us in the darkness of sin - in the desert of this world). Instead of Moses (who led the Israelites out of Egypt and gave them the law from God), Christ appeared (who saved us from the enslavement of the mental Egyptians - the enemies of our salvation, and gave us a new law of grace).” For this, in the dogma of the third voice, the very birth according to the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ is shown, the image of this birth and the image of the union of two natures in Him. Ch. 3rd: “The birth of our Lord Jesus Christ from the Blessed Virgin Mary is truly worthy of wonder. The All-Immaculate Mother of God did not accept the temptation of men; meanwhile, without a father, she gave birth to a Son in the flesh, born from the Father before without a mother. The Son of God, being born from Her, did not undergo the slightest change (for in Him neither the Divine nature changed into human, nor human into Divine) or confusion (by which something in between would emerge from the two natures), or separation (by which there would be two persons in Him, two Sons, two Christs), but both natures retained their properties intact in the person of Jesus Christ.” Since it is necessary to know the purpose of the incarnation of the Son of God, this is revealed in the dogma of the fourth voice. Ch. 4th: “The purpose of the birth according to the flesh of Christ the Savior is to again renew in us the image of God, which had been corrupted by passions, and (like a good shepherd looking for his stolen sheep) to find us, drawn into the snare of the enemy and into the mountains of eternal destruction, in His person to bring our nature to the Father and unite us all with the heavenly powers.” Further, it is incomprehensible to us how the Mother of God, being a Virgin, gave birth to Christ and how after the Nativity she remained a Virgin: this somewhat approaches our understanding through the content of the dogmatist of the fifth voice. Ch. 5th: “The Old Testament prototypes of the seedless birth of Jesus Christ and the ever-virginity of the Mother of God were the Red Sea, Moses, and the Israelites. The sea was divided when Moses struck him with the rod: Christ was incarnated in the womb of the Blessed Virgin when Gabriel announced to Her the mystery of the incarnation of God the Word. Just as Israel once passed through the sea on dry land, so Christ was incarnated from the Virgin without seed (by the influx of the Holy Spirit), the sea remained impassable after the Israelites crossed it: so the immaculate Virgin remained incorruptible after the birth of Emmanuel.” Since we do not yet know how in the person of Jesus Christ the two natures Divine and human are united, this is stated in the dogma of the sixth voice, that is, that the two natures are unfused and inseparably united in one person of the God-man. Ch. 6th: “Whoever does not please the Most Holy Virgin, who does not sing of Her most pure Nativity! The Only Begotten Son of God, who had shone forth from the Father before the ages, was ineffably born of Her and, being by nature God, became by nature man for our sake; but through this He was not divided into two persons, but remained unfused in two natures as one person.” However, under all circumstances, the incarnation of God the Word is a mystery, understood more by faith than by the testing mind.” Therefore, in the dogma of the seventh tone it is said that the incarnation took place in a supernatural way. Ch. 7th: “Thus the Most Holy Virgin became a Mother more than nature and remained a Virgin more than word and reason. What language can explain Her wonderful Nativity! And Her conception is glorious, and the image of the birth of God the Word from Her is incomprehensible. But... wherever God wants, the order of nature is overcome (deeds are accomplished above the laws of nature).” In the dogmatics of the eighth tone, the dogma of the incarnation of God the Word is presented in a positive and concise manner. Ch. 8th: “So the King of heaven, out of His love for mankind, appeared on earth (in the flesh) and lived with people (as a man). Having become incarnate from the pure Virgin and taking upon Himself human nature, He became one Son in two natures, but not in two (persons), but in one (Divine) hypostasis. Therefore, preaching that He is truly perfect God and perfect man, we confess Him as Christ our God.” (See “Chernigov Diocesan Gazette” 1867 No. 1). So wisely the Venerable John of Damascus, to counteract the Nestorian, Monophysite and Monothelite heresies, set out in the Theotokos dogmatics the Orthodox teaching about the incarnation of the Son of God and the ever-virginity of the Mother of God! (Compiled according to source). Appendix to conversation No. 7 13 A. On the dogmatics of the first voice “Let us sing to the Virgin Mary the universal glory that vegetated from man and gave birth to the Lord, the heavenly door, the song of the bodiless and the fertilizer of the faithful. So the sky and the church of the deity appeared. By sowing the barrier of hostility, having destroyed, peace was introduced and the kingdom was opened. This is the affirmation of faith, the champion of the Imam of the Lord born from Her. Take heart, take heart, people of God: for He will conquer the enemies, for He is omnipotent.” This church hymn makes up the last Sunday stichera on “I cried to the Lord” in the 1st tone. This song, like all the last stichera of other voices for Sundays, is called: “Theotokos”, because it contains the glorification of the Mother of God, and “Dogmatic”, because with the glorification of the Mother of God it combines the revelation of the dogma or teaching about the face of the Mother of God and the incarnation of the Son of God from Her. The creator of dogmatists and the stichera in general on “I cried to the Lord” is St. John of Damascus, who lived in the 8th century. Glorifying the Mother of God in the dogma of the 1st tone with various names characteristic of Her greatness, and pleasing Her for her good deeds to the human race, the hymn writer encourages those under Her protection and having a champion in the person of Her Divine Son to acquire saving boldness in the fight against enemies and firm confidence in victory over them 14. Let us pay reverent attention to individual expressions of this dogmatist. “Worldwide glory (let us rejoice).” From the time the Blessed Virgin Mary heard and accepted from the Archangel Gabriel the “good news” for the whole world, She became worthy of worldwide reverence and glorification. Even during Her life, Her prophetic word about Herself had already begun to be fulfilled: “For from now on all the generations will call Me blessed” (Luke 1:48); with the spread of faith in Jesus Christ, the Savior of men, everywhere, all the ends of the universe began to resound with the glory of His Mother (Cheti-Menaion, August 15th). And to this day we see the fulfillment of this prediction of the Most Holy Mary about Her blessing from all generations. “Her voice, says one godly teacher of the church (Filaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, see His Words and Speeches, 1st ed., vol. 1, p. 494), is heard by all peoples, centuries, the ends of the universe, and the peoples, centuries, ends of the universe answer Her: behold, we fulfill Thy word, we all bless Thee, O Virgin Mother of God” (midnight office for all days)! Kings and subjects, rich and poor, all give Her glory and worship; They pray to Her for intercession and help. There is not a single service in the Christian church in which the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary is not glorified. Prayers to Her, short or long, are heard incessantly. In addition, in Her honor, the Holy Church established special celebrations in remembrance of various events of Her life. So she celebrates the Conception of the Blessed Virgin, Christmas, Entry into the Church, Annunciation and Assumption. Famous fathers and teachers of the church spoke many words in honor of the Most Holy Mary, composed akathists, canons, and songs of praise for Her glorification. And this glorification of the Mother of God in the Christian Church will never cease and will never diminish as long as there are lips grateful for Her countless benefits to the human race. “Let us never be silent, O Mother of God, to speak Your strength unworthy” (canon of prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos tr. 2). But the glory of the Blessed Virgin Mary is not limited only to the earth. It is the object of reverent gaze and wonder of the celestials: “Rejoice, angels, verbose miracle!” (Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos Ik. 2). They are filled with such feelings of reverence and gratitude to the Most Holy Mary that they recognize themselves as weak and weak to glorify Her worthy! “The mind and the most peaceful song of Thee, the Mother of God, amazes” (Canon 1 on Epiphany 9 Irm.)! Church tradition points us even to the very expressions of this angelic glorification. Thus, at the Minute of the repose of the Mother of God, the words of Gabriel’s greeting, often repeated by the angels, were heard by those present: “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women” (Luke 1:28) (Cheti-Menaion on the 15th of August). So both heaven and earth “glorify” the Blessed Virgin Mary! “Thy memory, pure Virgin, the principles and powers and powers, angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, glorify with cherubs and fearsome seraphim, but we sing and exalt the human race to all ages” (Canon 2 on the Dormition, paragraph 8, tr. 1). “Blessed in heaven and glorified on earth, rejoice, unbrided Bride” (Irmol. can. ch. 2, p. 9. Irm. 16)! So great is the glory of the Blessed Virgin Mary! Her glory makes not only people, but also angels, revere Her and marvel at Her! It is, in the fullest sense, worldwide! "Frozen from man." The Most Holy Mary, who acquired “worldwide fame” for Herself, was of earthly origin, “vegetating from man,” which even more arouses surprise at Her glory. It would not be so surprising if it were acquired by a being placed by God on the highest ladder of creation, possessing all the perfections of mind and will; but that the Most Holy Mary, “vegetated from man,” came from the midst of the human race, which through sin lost the powers and perfections initially bestowed upon it, - that She ascended to such a degree of greatness and glory that none of the creatures had and will not have - this increases our surprise at Her glory. The word “vegetated” involuntarily reminds us of Aaron’s rod, miraculously “vegetated” (Num. 17:8). Who would have thought that this rod, long deprived of plant powers, would sprout, flourish and bear fruit? Who would have thought that from among the human race, which through the Fall was deprived of its former close communication with God, “the true Vine will vegetate”, which will “grow for us the fruit of life” (Theotokos, 3 hours), such a “wife” will arise (Gen. 3:15), which will become “a worldwide miracle and hearing” (Canon Hodig. paragraph 9, glory), “blessed from all generations” (Luke 1:48), “more honorable than the cherubim and more glorious than the seraphim without comparison”? But our surprise at the “worldwide glory” of Mary, “who has vegetated from man,” is also accompanied by a feeling of gratitude to the Most Holy Mary and glorification of Her, because Her glory is also our glory. Coming from the same nature with us, “like the daughters of Adam according to the race” (Triod. Lent. week. raw. morning. can. p. 1 Bogor.), and having risen to such an unparalleled degree of greatness and glory, the Most Holy Virgin Mary adorned and exalted with Her all human nature, just as a special, unprecedented flower or fruit would become the adornment of everything. the helicity that grew it. “O lily,” exclaims the inspired compiler of the dogmatist in his eulogy on the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, oh lily, growing among the withered stems! O rose, which flourished from the thorns and filled everything with its divine fragrance! All generations worthily bless You, as the chosen adornment of humanity” (Selected words of the Holy Department in honor of and glory Rev. Bogor. ed. Athos. Panteleim. mon., p. 19). "And the Lord who gave birth." How did the Most Holy Virgin Mary, “vegetating from man,” gain “worldwide fame?” - What put Her above all creatures, made Her a surprise for angels and people, a worldwide “miracle and hearing?” Her birth of the Creator of earth and heaven, the Lord of angels and men. Mary carried the Being of God in Her womb! Her womb contained the Inconceivable One! Therefore, if we magnify and please the holy people, who with their deeds have come closer to God than us, is it possible for angels and men not to please and exalt Mary, Who not only came closest to God, but also She herself contained Him bodily, Who through the birth of the King of all and “Lord” and Herself became the Queen of heaven and earth, Mistress and Mistress of both angels and men? “We are all perplexed to bring the song of Ti, O Lady, according to our heritage: glory is Yours above all” (Oct. ch. 5, Saturday on the eternal canon. Bogom. p. 1, tr. 1). "Heavenly Door" The Blessed Virgin Mary is called the “door” because through Her God the Word appeared in the world in the flesh. The Most Holy Mary was of earthly origin, but the door is called “heavenly,” because the One born of Her is not only a person, but also God, whose presence is revealed primarily in heaven. In some church songs, the Most Holy Mary is also called “the one door” (Can. Grateful. Most Holy God. p. 3, tr. 4, service. 8 Sep. verse on Praise. 4), because only through Her alone did God the Word become incarnate. Why did he become incarnate from Mary? Because She alone was worthy of this - because of Her virtues and purity, which none of the earth-born had in such abundance and totality, and with which She surpassed the angels themselves. “Someone might be surprised,” says St. Demetrius of Rostov, that after the crime of Adam, the Word of God did not soon come to earth for the incarnation and salvation of the fallen human race, even until half the sixth thousand years. But there was not a single virgin on earth who was pure not only in body, but also in spirit. She alone is the first and last to find herself like this” (Selected words of the Holy Father, p. 130). “Rejoice, One who is pure and kind among women! Rejoice, there is only one door, through which the Word passed through as one.” (From the canon of grace to the Most Holy Theotokos)! But calling the Most Holy Mary the Door primarily indicates one of Her virtues, namely virgin purity. This can be seen from that place in the book of the prophet. Ezekiel, from where the hymn writer borrowed the very word door (namely, chapter 44, verses 1 and 2). The Prophet speaks here about the “holy gates” he saw in a vision, facing the east, which were “closed,” and conveys what the Lord told him about these gates. “And the Lord said to me: This gate will be closed and will not be opened, and no one will pass through it: for the Lord God of Israel will enter through it, and it will be closed” (v. 2). In this prophecy, under the image of the closed gates of the saints - remaining closed even after the Lord passed through them - the constant closing of the gates, or doors of the virginity of the Most Holy Mary, is foreshadowed, both before the miraculous passage of the Lord through them, and during and after this passage. “The door seen by the prophet Ezekiel, which no one else has passed through, except for one God, the Virgin Mother of God, we honor with songs” (Irmol. canon. chapter 1, paragraph 9. Irm. 18). “Rejoice, faithful teacher of chastity” (Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos Ik. 5)! "Mary the Virgin." In accordance with the prophecy contained in the book of the prophet. Ezekiel, which we have just seen, the “gates” of the virginity of the Most Holy Mary remained “closed” during the passage of the Lord through them. She remained a “Virgin” even after she became “Matter!” Her birth of the Son of God did not in the least damage Her virgin purity, because She conceived the Divine baby “unartfully and without seed, by the influx of the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:35). One and unparalleled by Her birth, the “Lord” of all, the Most Holy Mary, due to the seedless conception of God the Word, is one and unparalleled among mothers by Her “ever-virginity.” “You have found grace,” cries St. Andrew of Crete to the Most Holy Mary, grace that Sarah did not receive, which Rebecca did not experience, which Rachel did not know; You have found grace, which neither the glorious Anna nor Fennanna, her rival, was awarded. For although they became mothers from childlessness, they lost their virginity along with childlessness, and You, having become a Mother, preserved Your virginity unharmed.” (Selected words of the Holy Father, p. 109). “The burning furnace,” sings the holy church, “is not found to water, except Babylon: another husbandless mother and a virgin did not appear” (Irmol. can. ch. 3, p. 7, Irm. 3). The concept of Mary’s “ever-virginity” is of great importance in the doctrine of the incarnation of the Son of God. “If the Mother had not remained a Virgin,” says St. Proclus, then the Born would be a simple man and the birth would not be surprising” (Patrolog. tom. XXV, col. 684). Ever-virginity is such an integral feature of the dignity of the Mother of God that, according to the teachings of St. Epiphany, the name "Virgin" is inseparable from the name Mary. “Is it possible,” he says, that anyone, ever and in any nation, would dare to pronounce the name of Saint Mary without at the same time uttering the word: “Virgin” (Ibid. tom. XXII, col. 705)? “Virginity is foreign to mothers and childbearing is strange to virgins: on You, Mother of God, both are settled” (service, September 8, can. p. 9. Irm.). “Rejoice, you who have gathered in the same way! Rejoice, you who combined virginity and Christmas” (Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos Ik. 8)! "Ethereal Song" The Blessed Virgin Mary is an object of veneration not only on earth, but also in heaven. She is glorified and sung not only by people, but also by angels. How great the veneration and reverence of the disembodied for Mary can be seen in the face of St. Gabriel, “the great commander of the immaterial angels” (Service of the Annunciation in the morning, 2nd chair). Even just proclaiming to Mary the secret of Her conception of God the Word, he was already “honestly in awe” of Her (Can. Blagov. on 3, tr. 4). The Holy Church puts the following words into the mouth of St. Gabriel the evangelist: “With fear of You, as a servant of the Lady, I stand before You, with fear of the Young Lady, now I look ashamed of You: for as rain on the fleece, the Word of the Father will come down on You” (Can. Blagov. p.4. tr.4). The angels' reverence for Mary, their veneration and glorification of Her is understandable. She, the Mother of God, through the birth of the King of all and the Lord and She herself became the Queen not only of the earth, but also of heaven, the Lady and Lady not only of people, but also of angels. How can slaves, even if they were “bodiless,” not reverence, honor, and glorify the Mother of God, their Mistress, Queen and Lady? “Rejoice, for the heavenly invisible armies always glorify You and magnify You as the former Mother of God” (Can. Odig. p. 8, tr. 2). “Rejoice, Undefiled One,” calls to the Most Holy Mary of St. John of Damascus, - having Divine dignity by Her birth; therefore all the heavenly powers bow down to You!” (Selected words of the Holy Father, p. 41). But, constituting for the angels an object of reverent veneration and glorification for her superiority before them, as the Mother of God, as the Queen of heaven and earth, the Most Holy Mary serves for them primarily as an object of joyful and grateful glorification, as an accomplice in the matter of saving people. If the angels are so rich in love for us that they have joy even about one repentant sinner (Luke 15:10), it is understandable what their joy was about the universal salvation of people - how great was their joy when Divine Wisdom invented the highest means to deliver us from destruction, to return us to our former dignity and glory, which we had lost in the person of Adam. This means consisted in the incarnation of the Son of God. The mystery of the incarnation had long been revealed to the angels, but they did not know which of the people would most closely serve this mystery - which of them would be so pure as to contain the “most holy Word”; For a long time, the heavenly servants of Jehovah were perplexed, “who will be this piercing one like the morning” (Song of Songs. 6, 9. Said about earthly life. Most Holy. Bogor. Publ. Athos. Pant. mon., p. 67). And finally, on the dark horizon of the world, the “Daily Lady” of unsetting light appears - this is Mary, whose virtues and purity force God to bow the heavens and descend into Her chaste womb for the salvation of people! It is clear after this that just looking at the Most Holy Virgin Mary fills the angels with deep joy and draws from their pure hearts a song full of praise and gratitude to Her for her miracles in the matter of our salvation. So! “Every creature rejoices in You, O Gracious One,” - not only the “human race,” but also the “angelic council” (for the worthy one at the liturgy of Basil the Great). “Rejoice, joy of the angels” (Canon of Grace to the Most Holy Theotokos, p. 5, tr. 2)! "And fertilizer for the faithful." “Fertilizer” from Greek actually means decoration. The Most Holy Virgin Mary, “vegetated from man” and acquired for herself, through the incarnation of the Son of God, unparalleled and only glory, is the “decoration” of all humanity in general, as we have already said above (see “vegetated from man”). But, unfortunately, not all people believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, not everyone honors and knows His Mother, therefore, not everyone can understand and appreciate the honor, the glory that humanity has received in the person of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Therefore, the Most Holy Mary is an adornment primarily for believers, “the fertilizer of the faithful.” For the faithful, She serves not only as an ornament, but at the same time as an object of praise, for they only can appreciate the honor of having Her as their decoration, their glory. But among the faithful She constitutes adornment and glory, especially for those close to Her in the flesh. It actually originated from the Jewish people, a people who alone of all peoples at that time were “believers.” As is known, the Most Holy Mary had as her parents pious people, believers, for the faith, whose piety She was given to them. So! The environment in which the Most Holy Mary was formed, raised, and brought up were “believers”! The vertograd, which produced this “unfading flower” (Canon of Grace to the Most Holy Theotokos, p. 1, tr. 3), was the heliport of believers! It is clear that the reflection of the glory that became the property of the Most Holy Mary falls primarily on the environment from which She came. “For this the heavens and the church of the Divine appeared.” The Most Holy Mary constitutes an adornment - “fertilization of the faithful” because not only did she become worthy of heaven and the closest grace-filled communion with God, which is the main object and goal of the desires of true believers and what is the bliss of the angels, but she herself became “heaven and the church of the Divinity.” In what sense and why is the Most Holy Mary called “heaven and church of the Divinity”? “Now heaven has appeared.” The word "heaven" has several meanings in holy scripture. It means, firstly, the sky or “firmament” we see (Gen. 1:8). The Most Holy Mary was likened to the visible sky in the sense that, like it, shining at night with numerous luminaries, She “shone with the light of the virtues, like the stars” (St. John of Damascus, see Selected Words of the Holy Fathers, p. 38). Like the sky in which the great luminary shines during the day - the sun, driving away the darkness and darkness of the night and illuminating all objects on earth, the Most Holy Mary revealed to the world from Her purest bowels the “Sun of Truth” - Christ, “who shone the light, enlightened the morning and showed the day (Irmol. can. ch. 4, p. 5, ir. 18) to those who sit in darkness” ( Matthew 4:16). “What shall we call You, O Blessed One? - the sky, as if you were the sun of righteousness” (God. for 1 hour). Secondly, “heaven” in the language of holy scripture means the world of spirits, the angelic world (Gen. 1:1). Most Holy Mary became like this heaven with her purity and holiness of life. “Rejoice, you who reveal the life of angels” (Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos Ik.7)! Finally, heaven in holy scripture, as a place of the special presence of God, is called the “throne of God” (Matthew 5:34). Mainly in this sense, the Most Holy Mary in church songs is called “heaven”, “heaven” new 15 (Irmol. can. ch. 6, p. ir. 9), “earthly” (can. 1 on Usp. p. 4, tr. 1), “animated” (can. 2 on Usp. p. 1, tr. 2), “verbal”, i.e. spiritual (October ch. 2, canon. Bogor., tr. 1), - because in Her there was a special 16 presence of God, and in Her, incomprehensible to angels and people, “the fulfillment of the Divine dwelt carnally” (Irmol. can. ch. 8, p. 9, ir. 15), “one of the Trinity” (Bogor. in the second morning, ch. 6), - and She “she appeared as the throne of God, on which Christ sat in flesh” (Oct. ch. 6 second morning canon 2, paragraph 3 of the Theotokos). And just as the Most Holy Mary contained in Her womb the One for whom “the heavens cannot suffice” (1 Kings 8:27), Whom “the mountain of heavenly majesty cannot contain” (Irmol. Ch. 1 p. 9. Irm. 25), then She is called in some church songs “the highest” (canon of the prayer service to the Most Holy Theotokos according to Ven. eats Bogorod.) and “the width of heaven” (Irmol. ch.8, p.9, ir.23), and “Her womb is the most spacious” of them (Ibid., ir.1) - “To you, who is highest in the heavens and the heaven and throne that was on earth, the Mother of God, we will please all generations” (Irmol. canon. ch. 1, p.9, ir.23). "And the church of the Divine." In churches, as well as in heaven, there is a special presence of God, graciously felt by believers. The special presence of the “Divinity” was also in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and therefore the name “church of the Divinity” is adopted by the Blessed Mary in the same sense as the name “heaven”, in the highest meaning of this word. “Thou hast appeared to the Trinity, an honorable church, in which the Father of love, the Son of flesh, the Holy Spirit, by invasion, have made an abode for Thyself” (Canon of the Most Holy Trinity, paragraph 1 and now. Theotokos). “Rejoice, Hodegetria, dwelling place of Christ our God, and the ineffable and divine house, Virgin, of His glory” (Canon Hodegetria, paragraph 5, glory tr.). In addition to this general similarity between man-made churches dedicated to God and the Most Holy Mary, the animated “church of the Divine,” one can also find some particular features of this similarity. In churches there is usually no such obvious manifestation of the glory of God as in heaven; but believers can graciously experience the glory of God’s presence in them as well, to the extent of their acceptability. And the Most Holy Virgin Mary - the animated “church of the Savior” - during Her earthly life, although She did not reveal by Her appearance the greatness and splendor with which She “appeared” before the astonished gaze of the celestials, “at the right hand of the king in robes of gold, clothed and speckled” (Ps. 44:10), - “all the glory” of Her was on earth “inside” (Ps. 44:14), hidden, closed from bodily eyes; but those who, through the grace-filled action of faith, were able to penetrate and see beyond the external, recognized in Her the “church of the Divine.” “Where do I get this, that the Mother of my Lord may come to me” (Luke 1:43), exclaimed righteous Elizabeth, having heard only Mary’s greeting and having not yet heard anything from Her Herself about “the greatness the Mighty One has created for Her” (Luke 1:49). However, just as sometimes the “cloud of the glory of the Lord” so filled the tabernacle of Moses and the temple of Jerusalem that those present could not bear this revelation of glory (Exodus 40:33–35; 1 Kings 8:6, 10, 11), - and the Most Holy Mary - the church of the Divinity - sometimes allowed believers to see and feel the manifestation of Her “inner” glory outside. St. Dionysius the Areopagite, three years after his conversion to Christianity, was honored to see the Blessed Virgin Mary face to face in Jerusalem, describes this meeting as follows: “When I was brought before the face of the God-like, most luminous Virgin, such a great and immeasurable Divine light bathed me from the outside and inside, and such a wondrous fragrance of various aromas spread around me that neither my weak body nor my very spirit could bear it.” such great and abundant signs and firstfruits of eternal bliss and glory. My heart fainted, my spirit fainted from Her glory and Divine grace” (Tale of the earthly life. Divine Mat., Athos. ed., p. 263). “Rejoice, Most Pure One, places of consecration of glory” (Canon of Grace to the Most Holy Theotokos, p. 5, tr. 2)! Churches, as a place of the special presence of God, constitute an object of reverent worship and reverence for believers: and the Most Holy Mary - the “church of the Divine” - is an object of worldwide reverence and glorification (see “worldwide glory”). Finally, Christian churches represent that extraordinary feature of similarity with the Most Holy Mary - the “church of the Divinity” - that just as in them during the liturgy Jesus Christ, “as an offering to His Father, is ever slain” (canon for communion, paragraph 9, tr. 1) and is received by believers under the guise of bread and wine, so in the womb of Mary He was a sacrifice, humiliating Himself to acceptance of human nature: Therefore St. Andrew of Crete thus appeals to the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Rejoice, O Altar, on which the living burnt offering is mysteriously offered - the Lamb, Christ! “The mystical meal of a sacred rite that transcends the mind, at which the heavenly bread—Christ, the universal Lamb, was offered as a fragrant and living sacrifice, giving life to those who partake” (Selected Words of the Fathers, p. 67)! “Rejoice, living table, containing living bread” (Canon of Grace to the Most Holy Theotokos, paragraph 3, tr. 1). “Having destroyed this barrier of enmity, you have brought in peace and opened up the kingdom.” Our forefathers, through the Fall, placed themselves in a “hostile relationship with God and through this subjected themselves and their descendants - the entire human race - to countless and terrible misfortunes in time and eternity. “Obstruction”, or, more precisely, from Greek. The “mediastinum of enmity” that sin built between God and man would have been forever “indestructible” if the Lord Himself, offended by man’s sin, “rich in mercy” (Eph. 2:4), had not predestined to reconcile him to Himself, accepting satisfaction for Him in the person of His Only Begotten Son. And at a predetermined time, the Only Begotten Son of God, the Lord of glory appeared in the flesh on earth and, by His humiliation through suffering and death on the cross, which He suffered for the sins of people, “destroyed the mediastinum of enmity,” established “peace” between God and people and “opened” to man the “gift of paradise” that he had lost, creating again its inhabitants. But in the work of saving man, in the accomplishment of a great work by Jesus Christ - the destruction of hostility and the establishment of peace - another person from among even the people themselves took part - this is the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her participation in the work of our salvation was so great that after Jesus Christ and about Her - and only about Her alone - one can say with the hymn writer: “Having destroyed this barrier of enmity, she brought in peace and opened up the kingdom,” because She served the work of our salvation in the most immediate and special way, she served in a way that no one else had ever done either from people or from angels. Indeed, delve into the matter of redemption, O pious Christian. In order to save people, to reconcile them with God by bringing the highest sacrifice to God’s justice, the One of the Trinity, the Only Begotten Son of God had to be incarnate, had to descend into the human womb and be born a man, like all of us. But whose womb could contain the Inconceivable One? The purest spirits even stand before the throne of God with fear and trembling, but here man had to become this very throne! What purity, what holiness was required from a person in order to become a “church” - a receptacle for the “Divinity!” What if there were no such pure being in the human race to contain the Purest One? How then would the work of our salvation be accomplished? But God, having predestined from eternity to send His only begotten Son to earth, from eternity also foresaw - who will be the “door” of His appearance on earth - who will become the “ladder” reaching to heaven, along which the Son of God will descend? This “door”, this “ladder” turned out to be the Blessed Virgin Mary. By Her virtues, by Her purity, She brought down into Her womb God the Word, Who, having “killed hostility” (Eph. 2:16), became “our peace” (Eph. 2:14) and “opened paradise” to us (Verse. Resurrection on the Lord, I cried ch.5). So! After Jesus Christ, we must venerate the Most Holy Mary as the co-worker of our salvation, because “for her sake, Christ has given us the Savior of all” (Week Evening, Theotokos, ch. 6). Therefore, we have been taught to cry out to Her: “Rejoice, Unmade One, the salvation of the world” (Canon of Thanks to the Most Holy Theotokos, paragraph 1, tr. 3)! “Rejoice, all-wonderful reconciliation of all to God” (Ibid. 5, tr. 5)! “Rejoice, Key of the Kingdom of Christ!” “Rejoice, for through her heaven has been opened” (Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos Ik.8)! This is the affirmation of faith, the champion of the Imam of the Lord born from Her. The greatness of the Most Holy Mary as the Mother of God, Her merits, Her participation in our salvation, made Her, in the words of the hymn writer, a “affirmation” - a stronghold, or in Greek. (άγχύρα) the “anchor” of our faith, i.e. confidence in Her unceasing concern for our good and salvation, confidence that, as the Mother of God, She “is able, able and willing” (Triod. Lenten Mondays, 2nd week of the morning according to 2 verses to the Theotokos) - has the full ability to help us in every need, trouble and sorrow. “Strong is our Lady,” says St. Demetrius of Rostov, for the Queen is all visible creatures, ruling over the creatures above and below, and all the elements obey Her, and heaven and earth, air and sea listen to Her, and all the nasty souls, possessed by fear, tremble, fearing the name of Her saint, leading the Mother of God" (Works of St. Demetrius of Rostov, 7th ed., Part III. p. 117). Our confidence in the help and intercession of the Most Holy Mary should be strengthened in us by the thought of Her as “from a frozen man.” The Most Holy Mary came from the same nature as us. She also carried our elemental body, She experienced and experienced various kinds of sorrows and sorrows, and therefore She can fully understand and appreciate our sorrows, our sorrows and knows how to console us. Thus, the Most Holy Mary experienced the greatest sorrow at the sight of the suffering on the cross and the death of Her Son, Jesus Christ, when, according to the prophecy of the righteous Simeon, “a weapon passed through Her soul” (Luke 2:35) of the most severe torment and tightness of the heart! She will fully understand our grief, when our heart is ready to break into pieces at the sight of the suffering or death of a person close to us or loved by us, and will find joy for our excited heart! She in Herself, as the Lady, can provide us with comfort and help. But She is also strong through Her “intercession” before God for us. As the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, what cannot She ask for, intercede for us before Her Son and God? Her “Motherly prayer can do much for the mercy of the Lord” (Bogor. at 6 o’clock). For thirty years the Lord Jesus Christ showed Her filial obedience on earth (Luke 2:51), fulfilled Her desires (John 2:3) - and in the agony of death on the cross, He took care to appoint Her, instead of Himself, a beneficial guardian (John 19:27), from whom, as from a son, She could expect the fulfillment of the desires of Her heart. Could it be that in heaven, where everything holy and Divine receives its full development and strength, the Lord despised Her prayer and intercession for us, for whom He Himself laid down His soul? No! He sits on the throne of His glory with the same human heart that He received from Her pure blood and, therefore, with the same filial feeling that He had for Her in earthly life. So! “This way,” the Most Holy Virgin Mary, “who has the affirmation of faith,” we, at Her intercession, are our champion in troubles and dangers, imams of the Lord born from Her! “Be of good cheer, be of good cheer, O people of God,” protected by such a strong Champion. And how can “people of God” not have this boldness, i.e. Christians who, since they were redeemed by the “honest blood” of Mary of the “born Lord,” have become members of His mystical body - the church (Eph. 1:22, 23), belong to Him (Rom. 8:9), are among His “chosen flock” and have Him as their “good shepherd” (John 10:11)? “He will defeat his enemies, for he is omnipotent.” So! Your champion is “all-powerful, strong and strong in battle” (Ps. 23:8)! Remember the hopeless situation in which the Israelites were, seeing the sea in front of them, and pressed behind by the “all-army of the Pharaohs,” but remember also how the “victorious right hand” of God “glorified itself magnificently in the fortress” then: “for she, like the almighty, who had erased those who were contrary, made the path of the depths new for the Israelites” (Can. Resurrection 1 ch. item 1, irm.1). He who saved Israel at sea will save you in danger; just resort, call with faith to Him! “Be brave, be brave, people of God: for He will conquer the enemies, for He is omnipotent!” (Compiled from the book “Explanation of the Dogmatists of the Eight Voices” by D.S. Borzetsovsky). B. On the dogmatics of the second voice “Pass away the canopy of the law, grace having come. Just as a bush was not scorched by fire: so the Virgin gave birth, and the Virgin remained: instead of a pillar of fire, the righteous sun rose: instead of Moses, Christ, the salvation of our souls.” In the present dogmatics, the hymn writer, St. John of Damascus, pointing out the Old Testament prototypes that related to the New Testament, shows together what great advantages over the Old Testament we have acquired for ourselves through the Mediator of the New Testament (Heb. 12:24), Jesus Christ, and at the same time makes us see the height of the greatness of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as His Mother and as an Assistant in the acquisition of New Testament blessings by us. Let us, with God's help, examine individual sayings of this dogmatist. “Pass away the canopy of the law, grace having come.” Under the law, the shadow of which has passed, is, of course, the law given through Moses to the Old Testament believers. The rules of this law embraced a person’s life from all its sides - moral, ritual and civil, concerned his life, both domestic and social, and, therefore, left their stamp on all the actions of a person and on his very way of thinking. The law, whose shadow has passed, is opposed in dogmatics to the grace that has come. By it we generally mean the totality of all the gifts of redemption of consecration - the totality of everything that has been done and is being done for our salvation since the coming of the Redeemer, the Founder of the new testament, a new order of relations between God and man, our Lord Jesus Christ. What does the canopy of the law mean, having passed on the grace that has come? It means prefigurations, pre-images of the New Testament grace that existed in the times of the law, or, more precisely, it means those persons, events and actions in which for the Old Testament believers who lived under the law of Moses there was a pre-figuration, a pre-description of everything that relates to the person of Jesus Christ, the founder of the New Testament church, to the events of His life, to His actions and to the entire New Testament church. The word canopy, or shadow, in the sense of pre-depicting the New Testament blessings in the Old Testament, is used by St. Pavel. Thus, he calls the requirements of the ritual law the shadow of future blessings (Heb. 10:1), the shadow of heavenly things (Heb. 8:1), the shadow of things to come, i.e., in general, of what will be (Col. 2:17), and contrasts this shadow with the body of Christ (Col. 2:17), i.e., the appearance of Christ in the actual body, and the image of things, i.e. essence, truth of things. The Old Testament prototypes in relation to the New Testament are called in the dogmatics we are considering and in the apostle a canopy or shadow, firstly, by their resemblance to the shadow cast by an illuminated body. Just as this shadow is not a real object, but only a visible reflection of it, so in the Old Testament events, persons and actions that serve as a prototype in relation to the New Testament, there is only a hint of the future and through them the expectation of the future, sometimes very distant, is only aroused. But just as by the shadow of an illuminated body one can determine the outline and size of the body itself and distinguish it from other bodies, so by the Old Testament images relating to the New Testament one could judge, at least in general terms, what was to happen in New Testament times. Secondly, by its similarity to the pictorial outlines that a painter sketches on a canvas or board when preparing to paint some kind of picture based on these outlines. No matter how pale and vague these features and appearances are, they still make it clear what the figure of those objects will be that will show off in the picture at the end of it, what its general character will be. Similarly, under the Old Testament images, the contemplation of believers was foreshadowed in general terms, and even with some details, what was to be revealed in all its fullness and vividness in the new testament. So, the first words of the dogmatist: “pass away the shadow of the law, grace has come” give the following meaning: the time of the law has passed, passed, when the blessings of the New Testament church were shown to believers in the shadows, representatively, fortune-telling, and the time came when they really appeared, when with the coming of Christ the Savior, the source of grace, everything that the Old Testament prototypes and prophecies pointed out was accomplished. In the further words of the chant under consideration, particular features of the correspondence between the Old Testament prototypes and New Testament events and persons are indicated. “As if a bush were never scorched, so the Virgin gave birth, and the Virgin remained.” The Most Holy Virgin Mary conceived in her womb the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, without artifice, by the influx of the Holy Spirit upon Her. Therefore, the Son of God received from Her blood a human nature not involved in sinful filth, hereditarily, through natural birth, passing from parents to children: He was born from Her sinless in humanity itself. This had to be because only the Sinless One could save sinners, could sanctify sinful human nature. But how could Mary remain a Virgin at the conception and birth of the God-Man and remain a Virgin at birth? “Vetias of many things,” it is said about this incomprehensible matter in the akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos, “like dumb fish, we see about You (the Mother of God): they are perplexed to say: like a hedgehog, the Virgin abides, and you were able to give birth” (Ikos. 9). But if not to explain this incomprehensible dogma, then the Old Testament prototypes can serve to strengthen our faith in it. One of these prototypes of a “new miracle and magnificent” (Irmol. can. Chapter 3, paragraph 9, Irm.1), the immaculate conception and birth of the Most Holy Mary of Her Divine Son, was, according to the instructions of the dogmatist in question, a miraculous bush seen by Moses. The compiler of the dogmatist shows us exactly what the similarities between the bush and the Blessed Mary were. Just as the fire of the bush did not burn the bush, because it was not a simple fire kindled by a human hand, or arising from any physical conditions, because the bush this time was the place of the special presence of Almighty God, Who, as the Supreme Ruler of nature, can, at His will, violate and change its ordinary laws - so the conception and birth of the Most Holy Mary of the Lord Jesus did not damage Her virginity, because this conception and birth did not take place. according to the ordinary laws of nature, but by the power and influx of the Holy Spirit, and because He who was conceived and born of Mary is Almighty God, who miraculously could preserve Her womb undamaged by the fire of His Divinity. So, “the bush in the mountain is not scorched, in reality it was prescribed to You, the Bride of God: You received the Divine immaterial fire in the material womb without burning” (canon for the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, paragraph 7, ir.)! That Moses saw in the burning bush not only a miracle, but at the same time understood its meaning, and, moreover, not only in relation to the modern state of the Jews 18, but mainly in relation to the ever-virginity of the Mother of God, that he saw in this bush the “Virgin miracle” (Irmol. can., 9 p., ir.), this is a direct indication in church hymns; for example, in the canon of thanksgiving to the Most Holy Theotokos it is said: “Moses, having understood in the bush the great mystery of Thy Nativity, O Holy Virgin incorruptible” (item 7, troparion 2), and in many others. Based on this educational similarity with the bush seen by Moses, the Most Holy Mary in church hymns and in the writings of St. fathers itself is called the Burning Bush. Those icons of Her in which She is depicted surrounded by a fiery radiance have the same name. “Rejoice, burning Kupino” (poem for the evening of the Annunciation)! «Вместо столпа огненного, праведное возсия Солнце». Just as God was present in the pillar of fire, speaking to Moses from a burning and unburnable bush, so Jesus Christ, in the form of a man, in the form of a servant, was at the same time the Son of God, our true God, incarnate from the Most Holy Virgin Mary and not scorched or damaged Her virginity. Further: a pillar of fire shone for the Israelites in the midst of the darkness and gloom of the night; in its light, they could clearly see and distinguish each other and surrounding objects - they could freely and unhindered continue their journey to the promised land (Ex. 13:21; 14:20). Jesus Christ is, as He called Himself, the light of the world. His teaching drives away all darkness and gloom of sinful passions and delusions; it gives the spiritual eye of people the opportunity to clearly see and correctly understand both themselves and the surrounding objects. “I have come as light into the world,” the Lord taught, “so that whoever believes in Me will not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). I am the light of the world; if you walk in Me, you must not walk in darkness, but have the light of life (John 8:12). “What is a pillar of fire,” says the blessed one. Augustine, if not the Lord Christ, who disperses the darkness of unbelief and sheds the light of truth into the hearts of people"? (De Cantico Exodi). But shining on the Israelites before crossing the Red Sea, the pillar of fire with its cloudy back side on their persecutors, the Egyptians, produced the opposite effect: the darkness of the night and the difficulties associated with it in continuing their journey increased even more for them (Ex. 14:24, 25). Jesus Christ, enlightening His followers who truly believe in Him with the light of His teaching, has the opposite effect on those who do not believe Him, serving as a “stumbling block” for them. It further blinds their minds and produces disorder in their intentions and actions, hastening their destruction. According to an expression borrowed by the compiler of the dogmatist from the prophet. Malachi (Mal.4:2), Jesus Christ is still the “righteous sun”, i.e. Unlike the sun we see in nature, which illuminates with its rays everyone without distinction - both “evil and good” (Matthew 5:45), Jesus Christ, “the light of the world,” in His relations with people is consistent with the degree of their acceptability, on the basis of His highest omniscience and perfect knowledge of human hearts. “I came into this world for judgment,” so taught the Lord, “so that those who do not see,” sitting in darkness and the shadow of sin, but desiring enlightenment, “see, and those who see” all the rightness, all the truth of My teaching, but do not want to follow it, “will be blind” (John 9:39). Truly, He is “girt about His waist with righteousness, and entwined with Truth about His sides” (Isaiah 11:5). The pillar of fire not only illuminated the path to the promised land for the Israelites, but also guided them, showed them the time and the very direction of this path, and, of course, only those who followed this guidance could hope to enter the promised land (Deut. 1:33). Jesus Christ, the light of the world, not only enlightens the mind of man with His teaching, but also directs his will by the power of His grace and the example of His life so that we steadily follow the path leading to eternal life. And in vain would a person begin to look for another leader, another path, other than Christ the Savior. He is the only leader to the mountainous fatherland. “I am the way and the truth and the life, He Himself spoke about Himself; no one will come to the Father except by Me” (John 14:6). “If anyone serves Me, Jesus Christ taught, let him follow Me, and where I am, he will also be My servant” (John 12:26). These are the representative features of the similarity between the pillar of fire and the light of the world - Jesus Christ. But what a similarity and great difference there is between image and truth! What a great advantage the benefits given to us by Jesus Christ, as the Light of the world, compared with the benefits that the Jews received from being in the midst of their pillar of fire. This advantage is also seen in the following features. The pillar of fire shone only for one small, selected part of the people, namely the Jews. Jesus Christ, like the sun, illuminates all the ends of the universe with the light of His teaching, “enlightening every man who comes into the world” (John 1:9). “Jew and Greek, barbarian and Scythian, slave and free” (Col. 3:11) - everyone, without distinction of nationality, rank or condition, uses the light of this teaching - of course, unless they themselves arbitrarily close their eyes from the light. The pillar of fire shone and showed the Jews the way, but it did not warm or enliven them. Jesus Christ not only enlightens and guides man with the light of His teaching, but, like the sun, warms his cold heart with His grace, pours life-giving power into it, so that the dead in sin, illuminated by this light, rises to a new life - to a life of light and bliss. The pillar of fire shone and guided the Israelites only until their arrival in the promised land, after which it did not appear, and only a memory remained of it. The Lord Jesus not only, like the sun, which shines on the earth even covered with clouds, continues to enlighten us with His teaching in this life, for His spiritual communication and presence with us will continue, according to His promise, all the days, until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20), but also, like the sun moving away from us at night, with the coming of day, rising again above us with its former splendor and radiance, having ascended from us in His flesh to heaven, with the advent of the once “great day” and the only one, “the second will come” to us. The brilliance and radiance of His glory will then be so great that even the most righteous, illuminated by this radiance, “will shine like the sun in the kingdom of His Father (Matt. 13:43), and He will be for them an eternal lamp where there is no longer sun and moon” (Apoc. 21:23). “Instead of Moses, Christ is the salvation of our souls!” Moses, who foresaw the coming of Jesus Christ as a prophet like him (Deut. 18:18), was also a prototype of Him. Moses was an extraordinary prophet, because with the title of prophet he combined the title of legislator and leader of his people. Like him, the Lord Jesus, filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit more than all the prophets, appeared as the lawgiver of the new covenant and the leader of the salvation of those who believe in Him. Moses, says Blessed Augustine, freed the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery: so Christ freed the entire human race from the power of Satan (De cantico Exodi). This prophetic significance of Moses as the deliverer of the Jews in relation to Christ, the “Savior of our souls,” was expressed especially clearly in the passage of the Jews through the Red Sea. The waters of the sea parted, separated, and became empty to make way for the Jews, as is known, after the moment when Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and struck the waters with his rod (Ex. 14:21). This miraculous blow of his staff, according to church hymns, was cruciform, which very clearly symbolized the miraculous cross of Christ the Savior. “Moses, the divine forerunner of old, led Israel through Thy cross in the Red Sea,” sings the holy church (Irm. canon. ch. 1, p. 1, ir. 5). The strike of the rod of Moses on the waters of the sea for the Jews made the path of the depths of the sea convenient and accessible for crossing and through this saved them from the great danger that faced them from the Egyptians who were chasing them: so the death on the cross of Christ the Savior made for those who believe in Him convenient and transitory that path to heaven, which seemed to be forever closed to people due to their sins; she delivered them from sin, curse and death, which made the death of people inevitable - she finally delivered them from the power of the devil, which he had over people as a result of the Fall. She completely destroyed the kingdom of the devil and his angels, who thought in the cross to seek destruction for the cause of our salvation. It will one day become condemnation and the cause of eternal destruction also for all like-minded enemies of the cross of Christ. Christ is “the salvation of our souls” - He saved our souls from eternal destruction, while Moses delivered the Jewish people only from external destruction. Consequently, as much as the soul is higher and more excellent than the body, as much as eternity is more valuable than time, so much the work of Christ is higher, more expensive and more excellent than the exploits of Moses. And if the Jews, miraculously delivered from the Egyptians through the mediation of Moses, sang from the depths of their feelings a song to God, a song of triumph and joy (Ex. 14:32; 15:1-21), - what a heartfelt song of praise, triumph and gratitude should pour out from our hearts to Jesus Christ for the eternal salvation of our souls! “Having received the song of Moses, I cried out to my soul: Become a helper and protector for salvation; This is my God and I will glorify Him” (Irmol. can. ch. 2, p. 1, ir. 9). But glorifying with gratitude the Lord, who gave us in Christ the source of spiritual enlightenment and salvation, let us exalt in our grateful songs the “Mother of Light” and our Savior, the Mother of God, from whom He shone and who through this became an accomplice of our salvation and more honorable than all the angels. “Rejoice, O Illuminated One, through Whom darkness was driven out and light was introduced! Rejoice, O full of grace, through whom the law was abolished and grace arose! Rejoice, the beginning of joy and the end of curse” (St. Andrew of Crete). To you, the Burning Bush and the Holy Virgin, Mother of Light and Mother of God, we magnify the hope of all of us (Irmol. can. ch. 3, p. 9, ir. 8). (Compiled from “Soulful Reading”, 1872, January). B. The Dogmatist's Explanation of the Third Tone “Why don’t we marvel at Your Divine Nativity, Most Honorable One? Having not accepted the temptation of men, O All-Immaculate One, you gave birth to a Son in the flesh without a father, who was born before the Father without a mother, who underwent no change, or confusion, or division: but both beings retained the properties intact. Likewise, Mother of God, Lady, pray to Him that the souls of the Mother of God who Orthodoxy confess Thee will be saved.” The dogmatism of the third voice, which is brought to the attention of pious readers, contains two dogmatic truths: the first is about the inexperienced birth of the Most Honorable and All-Immaculate Mary of the God-Man, as a result of which She, having become Matter, remained, as she was, a Virgin; the second - about the unchangeable, unmerged and inseparable union in the Son born of Mary of two natures: Divine and human - about the complete preservation in Him of the properties of both, Divine and human natures, as a result of which the Most Holy Mary, as His Mother, God and man, is the mistress and therefore a strong accomplice to the salvation of those who pray to Her for salvation. Now let us begin, with God’s help, to understand as best we can the individual expressions of this dogmatist. “Why don’t we marvel at Your Divine Nativity, Most Honorable One?” God-man is the same as God-man; Consequently, the Nativity of God means the birth of the God-Man. How can we not be surprised - how can we not be surprised at such a birth, when it is so supernatural and wonderful? What exactly is supernatural and miraculous contained the birth of the Most Holy Mary of the God-Man, why exactly Mary and the Son born of Her are worthy of our surprise - the hymn writer will show us in the further words of the dogmatist. “Thou shalt not accept the temptations of men, O All-Immaculate One.” One thing about the Most Holy Mary is worthy of our deep attention and surprise, that She did not accept the temptation of men, i.e. Throughout Her entire life, She did not change the high vow of virginity, which She made from a young age out of Her purest love for God. She did not know the sweets of married life in order to serve God alone more freely and better. Such love for God, which rejects everything, even the permissible and lawful pleasures and joys of earthly life, always and in everyone deserves our surprise, but in the person of Mary it is predominantly high and amazing. The people from whose midst the promised Messiah was to come—this people highly valued married life not only because they valued the blessing of having many children, but also because of the hope of finding in someone, if not one of their children, then at least one of their descendants, the promised Messiah. Therefore, those spouses who were deprived of childbearing were considered to be under the wrath of God 19 and suffered reproaches from people. Isn’t the Most Holy Mary now worthy of our amazement? She came from that generation of Her people, from which, according to the promises, the Messiah was supposed to come - from the tribe of Judah, from the tribe of David in a direct line (Gen. 49:10; 2 Sam. 7:12–16). She was born from pious people who pleased God, to whom she was given according to the promise and revelation of an angel. She herself, finally, from infancy, spent a life pleasing to God in His holy church and was not deprived of revelations and angelic appearances. Could all this not have strongly disposed Mary to enter into marriage in the hope of meeting, in the immediate continuation of her lineage, the promised Messiah, Who, judging by the prophecies and all the signs of His coming, was to be born on earth at the exact time in which She lived? But the purest love for God, the holy desire to serve Him alone unhindered throughout Her life - in Mary they were always higher both in mind and in heart. One day, sitting alone in her room, in the house of her spoken only husband, her guardian, Joseph, She saw the Archangel Gabriel appearing to Her with the good news of the birth of Her Son. Mary was amazed and expressed her bewilderment to the archangel: how will this happen if I don’t know my husband (Luke 1:34)? Those. How can I be a mother when I made a vow to God not to know my husband and do not want to change this vow? How can we not be surprised by such love for God in the person of Mary? Truly, as the compiler of the dogmatics calls Her, She is Most Honest and All-Immaculate. “Thou hast given birth to a Son in the flesh without a father.” If the Most Holy Mary, out of Her greatest love for God, did not accept the temptation of men, is worthy of our deep surprise, then how should this surprise intensify and grow in us at the thought of that wondrous event that She, who did not know a husband, gave birth? Examples of virginal purity and chastity can still be seen in the person of sincere virgins, brought after Her King in joy and joy and who lived at the church (Ps. 44:15, 16); but for any virgin who has not known her husband to give birth is unheard of and unprecedented! There have been several cases of extraordinary births of children from elderly parents who had completely lost hope of ever having them; such, for example, was the birth of Isaac from the aged Sarah, but not without the assistance of Abraham she gave birth to him; The birth of John the Baptist from the barren womb of Elizabeth, who had grown tired in her days, was also miraculous (Luke 1:7); but even this, according to the expression of the church song, “to the priest Elizabeth bore not without seed” (Canon Pret., Ikos.). “About the miracle of the new,” exclaims the compiler of the dogmatist in another place, “about the miracle of the new of all ancient miracles! Who knows a mother who gave birth without a husband?” (Bogor. Resurrection on verse 3 of chapter.) “Rejoice, you who have gathered in the same way! Rejoice, you who combined virginity and Christmas!” (Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos, Ik. 8). "Before the age of the Father was born without a mother." The birth of the God-man by the Virgin, who did not accept the temptation of men, is an unheard-of, unprecedented, unique event. Finding nothing similar and equal here on earth, among the human race, it approaches in its mystery and wonder the eternal birth by God the Father of His Only Begotten Son: The Most Holy Mary gave birth without a father, just as God the Father gives birth without a mother. Not only the human mind, but also the premium one, i.e. angelic, is amazed (Irmol. can. ch. 2, paragraph 9, ir. 2) at the thought that this one, born of God the Father without a mother before the age, before any beginning and time, the Only Begotten Son of God and God, is together the Son of the Virgin, born of Her without the participation of an earthly father. “No one has undergone change, or confusion, or division: but both beings have retained the property intact.” The birth of the Only Begotten Son of God from the Blessed Virgin Mary - the birth of the Eternal in time, the Invisible and Spiritual in the form of a servant, in the flesh - is an incomprehensible miracle of the wisdom and goodness of God, is, as the Apostle says, a great mystery of godliness (1 Tim. 3:16). How could God become human, how could the Divine, unlimited nature enter into a close, continuous connection with human nature - limited, perceive it into the hypostatic, i.e. personal union with oneself is a great mystery, before which the word is dumb, as it is said in the akathist to the Sweetest Jesus: “we see things of many things, like voiceless fish, about You, Jesus, our Savior: they are perplexed to say how the immutable God and the perfect man abide” (Ikos 9). But we have been given an Orthodox understanding of how we should believe in this incomprehensible mystery without falling into error. The teaching about it was precisely defined at the 3rd and 4th Ecumenical Councils, which condemned the heretical teaching about the person of the God-Man, and in the writings of the fathers and teachers of the church. “The skin has undergone no change or confusion.” These words of the dogmatist contain the doctrine of the person of the God-man, as defined by the Orthodox Church, contrary to the wicked heresy of Eutyches, condemned at the 4th Ecumenical Council, and his followers, known as Monophysites or Mononaturalists. Some of them taught that in Jesus Christ there are not two natures, Divine and human, but one – Divine. The human nature in which Jesus Christ was born, according to their teaching, completely changed from the union with His Divinity and ceased to be consubstantial with it. Others of the Monophysites, not recognizing the complete change in Jesus Christ from human nature to Divine nature, allowed in Him a fusion, a mixture of these two natures, so that, according to their teaching, Jesus Christ was neither God nor man, but something third, a mixture of both. Contrary to these two equally false and contrary to the Orthodox faith, the hymn writer, following the teachings of the Orthodox Church, says about Jesus Christ that He did not suffer any change or confusion. “Skin has undergone no change.” In Jesus Christ, just as the Divine nature did not change into the human, so the human did not change into the Divine, but both retain their distinctive properties. This is clear from the Gospel teaching about the face of Jesus Christ. In the Holy Gospel, Jesus Christ is equally assimilated with both Divine and human properties. As God, He, by His power, performed countless miracles of various kinds: healed the sick, raised the dead, cast out demons, tamed a storm, walked on water, fed thousands of people with a few loaves of bread; as God, He knew the innermost thoughts and intentions of others; how God finally, by His own power, rose from the grave and was resurrected. As a man, Jesus Christ hungered, thirsted, rested from work, indulged in sleep, was exhausted in prayer, hid from the crafty intentions of His enemies, and finally, as a man, He was in the power of His enemies, was dragged by them from court to court, was beaten, mocked, ridiculed, condemned to suffering on the cross and death. So, “through a double action,” in the words of St. Hippolytus, - “Divine and human action, He revealed Himself to both - both the infinite God and the limited man, fully preserving in Himself both natures, with the action belonging to each nature, or, what is the same, with an essential property for each” (De theolog. et incarn. contr. BEgon. et Helic. n. 11, IV). Our very reason cannot allow a change in Jesus Christ from either the Divine nature into the human, because the Divinity is not limited and unchangeable (Mal. 3:6), or the human nature into the Divine, because although human nature is changeable, due to its limitations, it can only change in a limited way and only with the preservation of its essential properties. The Monophysites, recognizing the loss of human nature in Jesus Christ due to his union with the Divine nature, compared the first with wax, the second with fire. But the following comparison is much more correct: if iron is put into fire, then it is completely imbued with fire, but without becoming fire itself - and, conversely, fire does not become iron; just as in Jesus Christ each of the natures retained its properties and remained what it was. The very dogma of redemption is distorted as a result of the false teaching of the Monophysites about the change of natures in Jesus Christ, because if the Divine nature in Him changed into human, then His sufferings, as a man only, could not have the same value in the eyes of God that they have as the sufferings of the God-man; if human nature in Jesus Christ was changed into Divine nature, then His suffering would be only a ghost, and not real suffering, because Divinity cannot suffer. "Or confusion." The two natures in Jesus Christ, united in Him in an incomprehensible way by a close, inseparable connection, did not merge, but at this union, they did not mix so that, having lost their distinctive properties, they formed something third - neither the Divine nature, nor the human, but a mixture of both. To think the way the Monophysites thought is disgusting and inconsistent with the Gospel teaching about the person of Jesus Christ. In the Holy Gospel, either purely Divine or purely human properties are attributed to Jesus Christ, but we do not find any merging or mixing of them in the Gospel. So, “if in different properties” (according to the Gospel teaching), let’s say in the words of St. Gregory of Nyssa, “the nature of the flesh and the nature of the Divine are revealed, then how can we count two natures as one?” (Prot. Apollin., ch. 40). And reason cannot allow either that the Divine essence, unlimited, unchangeable in itself, could be limited, lose, lose anything of itself, nor that crude, limited human flesh could merge with the simplest Divinity. “There is nothing absurd in the fact,” says Blessed Theodoret, that related natures, having united, undergo confusion and are absorbed by one another, but between the Divine and human natures the difference is infinite and their mixing is a sheer impossibility” (Conversation 11 between Geranist and Orthodox, in “Chronicles Reading” 1846, 1, 376). Finally, the confusion of two natures in Jesus Christ would overthrow the very dogma of redemption, which is conceivable only with the perfect preservation and integrity of both, because Jesus Christ could suffer and die for the sins of people only as a perfect man, and communicate the value of His suffering and death only as a perfect God. "Or divisions." The doctrine of the inseparability of two natures in Jesus Christ - Divine and human - is directed against the heresy of Nestorius. Nestorius did not recognize in Jesus Christ one person, as God and man together, but divided in Him the Divinity and humanity into two different persons. He taught that Jesus Christ was born and lived as a simple man, and that the Divinity of the Son of God was only inherent in Him, only morally united with Him during His baptism for the holiness of His life, so that, according to the teachings of Nestorius, there were two Christs - Christ the man and Christ the God. Such a heresy clearly contradicted and went into complete discord with the teaching of Holy Scripture about the one person of Jesus Christ, for in Holy Scripture the properties of human nature are attributed to the Divine nature of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 2:8; Acts 3:15, etc.) and, conversely, the properties of the Divine nature are attributed to human nature (John 3:13; 8:58, etc.). Isn’t it clear to those who are attentive to see that Jesus Christ was one person—both God and man. The false teaching of Nestorius, who divided God and man in Jesus Christ into two persons, distorts the meaning of the dogmas of incarnation and atonement. What, for example, would be the meaning of the saying of the holy Evangelist John that the Word became flesh (1:12), if, according to the teachings of Nestorius, the Word of God, the Only Begotten Son of God, was not incarnate, was not conceived in the womb of the Most Holy Mary, but only dwelt in the one born of Her, as He dwelt, for example, in Moses and other holy people? Could the suffering and death of Jesus Christ have any value in the eyes of God if He is only a simple man, according to the teachings of Nestorius, and not God at the same time? Therefore, disagreeing with the teachings of Holy Scripture, subverting the main tenets of our faith, the heresy of Nestorius was worthily and righteously solemnly condemned at the third ecumenical council, which took place in Ephesus in 431, and was anathematized. So! “Do not tear apart, like Nestorius, Orthodox Christian,” we conclude with the words of St. Proclus, - do not rend the garment of the economy of salvation, which is worn out from above; do not tear apart the union of two natures, lest you also be separated from God” (History of the Three Universes. personal Ep. John, p. 157). “But both creatures retained their properties intact.” Two natures or, as the compiler of the dogmatist puts it, two beings in Jesus Christ, united with each other in the womb of the Virgin Mary at the moment of the incarnation of the Word of God from the Most Holy Mary, retained their properties completely intact and undamaged during this union. The divinity of the Only Begotten Son of God, before the incarnation, omnipotent, unlimited, equal in everything to God the Father, remained so after the incarnation. Likewise, human nature, which the Only Begotten Son of God was pleased to accept into the unity of His being out of love for people, remained unchanged in Him, retaining in its entirety, except for sin, all those properties and components (soul and body) that it has in other people. Holy Scripture clearly teaches about this when it attributes to Jesus Christ both Divine and human properties, which we have already seen above (see no changes). The doctrine of the integrity of human nature in the person of the God-Man was rejected by the 4th century heretic Apollinaris. He taught that Jesus Christ had only a human body, and the soul, the main and integral part of human nature, was replaced in him by the Divine. But, contrary to this teaching, the gospel ascribes to Jesus Christ, as a man, not only a body, but also a soul (Matthew 26:38; Luke 23:46), a soul with a mind that was gradually perfected in Him as His bodily growth (Luke 2:52), with a will different from the Divine will (Luke 22:42), with the ability to feel, for example, joy, sorrow and others feelings of the human soul. The very dogma of atonement is unthinkable if Jesus Christ did not accept the human soul. “If only Christ,” says St. John of Damascus, in his statement of faith, “if Christ, having received the body, had not received the human soul, he would not have healed what he did not receive” (book 3, chapter VI). “In the same way, Mother, Virgin, Lady, pray to Him for the salvation of the souls of the Orthodox Mother of God who confess Thee.” The most honorable and all-immaculate Mary gave birth, as we saw above, to the Son in the flesh; therefore She is the Mother. She gave birth without a father, not accepting male temptation; therefore She is also a Virgo. She gave birth not to an ordinary son in the flesh, but before the age of time, born from a Father without a mother, she gave birth to the Lord of heaven and earth, angels and men; therefore She herself became the Lady - also the Mother, the Virgin, the Lady. In Her maternal relationship to the begotten Son, the Lord of all, the Most Holy Mary is closest to Him of all beings and can most powerfully intercede with Him in Her prayers for us. “Mother’s prayer can do much for the mercy of the Lord” (Bogor. at the sixth hour). Therefore, those who desire the very first and best good for themselves - the salvation of the soul, must resort to Her and ask Her maternal prayerful intercession for them before Her Son. Likewise, Mother, Virgin, Lady, pray to Him for the salvation of the souls of Christians who confess Thee to the Orthodox Mother of God. To Orthodoxy confess the Virgin Mary as the Mother of God means to recognize that She gave birth not to an ordinary person, as Nestorius taught and therefore called Her the Mother of Christ, but to the true God. And only those can hope for Her prayers who confess Her in this very Orthodox sense. But woe to those who follow the non-Orthodox teaching about Her of Nestorius, who is anathematized by the Church: together with him they must share his condemnation. (Compiled from “Soulful Reading”, 1872, February). D. On the dogmatics of the fourth voice The dogmatist of the fourth voice reads like this: For Your sake, the Godfather, the prophet David, sang about You, proclaiming greatness to You: the queen has appeared at Your right hand; You are the mother of the intercessor of the life of the show, without a father from You the benevolent God will become human; May He again renew His image, which had been corrupted by passions, and may He find the lost pea-grass sheep, take it to the frame, bring it to the Father, and unite His will with the heavenly forces, and save, Mother of God, the world, Christ, having great and rich mercy. This church song, sung by the holy church in honor of the Mother of God and Christ the Savior born from Her, contains a sublime and not immediately understandable Christian teaching. We will understand this teaching more clearly if we pay attention to each word of the above church song. So, let us begin gradually, word by word, to understand this teaching. “For Your sake, the Godfather, the prophet David, proclaimed in song about You, greatness to You.” What is being said here? The fact that the Godfather Prophet David, long before the birth and glorification of the Mother of God, in his hymns or psalms, proclaimed about Her before the One Who gave her greatness and glory, i.e. before God. This means that it is not only us, enlightened by the light of the Christian faith, who know the glory and greatness of the Mother of God. People who lived before the coming of Christ had at least some understanding of it. God, who wanted to save the human race and long before the birth of the Savior chose a special tribe from which He was to come, revealed to people, as much as they could understand, both about the miraculous birth of the Savior and about She who was to give birth to Him. St. was awarded a clearer revelation of this. the prophet David, called the Father of God in the sacred song, because from his offspring came the Mother of God, who gave birth to Christ - God. It was this Godfather, the prophet David, who sung about the Mother of God before God, who created greatness for Her. What did he proclaim in his song? “The Queen appears at Your right hand.” When the grace of God illuminated the prophet, he saw the Savior Christ God in the glory in which He sits in heaven as the King of kings and Lord of lords. Contemplating the glory of this great King, he at the same time saw the queen before His throne; therefore, when he sang in his psalm the power and goodness of this strong King, at the same time he exclaimed: the queen appeared at Your right hand in robes of gold, covered with gold (Ps. 44:10). What thought did the Godfather Prophet David express in this exclamation? We will see this from the further words of the church song. “You are the Mother of the intercessor of the life of the show, without a father from You the benevolent God will become human.” This is what the prophet of God wanted to say with his exclamation. This queen, who appeared at the right hand of the throne of the great King and adorned with such glory, is the first and most powerful intercessor before Him for all who seek mercy from Him. In fact, who is it most convenient to be an intercessor before the King, if not the queen, who stands at the right hand of His throne and has been awarded great honor by Him? If earthly queens, by their intercession with kings, often saved many condemned people, and often asked for mercy for entire nations, then all the more can be expected from the intercession of that Queen of Heaven, whom the prophet David saw. But was it the prophet’s own idea that the queen, standing at the right hand of the throne of the great King, is an intercessor before Him for all those who seek mercy? No! The Prophet, embraced by the divine spirit, when he wrote his psalm, did not bring into it his own thoughts. At the same time, he calls himself the cane of a scribe-cursive writer, i.e. In this case, he was nothing more than an instrument in the hands of God. His tongue, moved by the Spirit of God, involuntarily said: The queen has appeared at Your right hand. Therefore, the thought contained in these words is the thought of God. Listen more carefully to the words of the church song, and you will see that the revelation to the world about the intercession of the Queen of Heaven came from God Himself through the prophet David. You are the Mother of the intercessor of the life of the show, without a father from You the benevolent God will become human. Simply these words of the church song can be expressed as follows: “Mother of the belly! God, who was pleased by You to become human without a father, showed You as an intercessor.” So, when there was no Mother of God yet, i.e. when She had not yet been born, God, through the prophet David, pointed to Her to people as an intercessor; all the more so now we must believe and resort to the Mother of God as our intercessor, when She is exalted above all and really stands before the throne of the King of Heaven. In the further words of the church song, we are even more convinced that God Himself pointed to the Mother of God as our intercessor. Here the teaching is revealed to us about why God deigned to become man without a father from Mary the Virgin Theotokos: so that He might renew His image, which had been corrupted by passions. God created us in His image, He created us so that we would become more like Him, improving in our virtues. But we, having forgotten the commandments of God, gave ourselves over to sinful passions and became evil; therefore, the image of God in us has become darkened, as if it had decayed from our passions. In order to renew this image in us, God deigned to take upon Himself human nature from the Virgin Mother of God and, having become human, showed us what a person should be like, created in the image and likeness of God. But this is not enough: He did even more for us. Listen to what is sung further in the same church song: “And the sheep found the lost pea, took it to the frame, brought it to the Father, and joined His will with the forces of heaven.” Just as a shepherd of sheep looks for a lost sheep in the mountains and, having found it, brings it to the flock on his shoulders: so the Son of God, having taken upon Himself human nature and showing in it what a person should be like, created in the image and likeness of God, did not wait for people to look closely at the renewed image of God and try to become like him. He Himself began to look for lost people, called them to Himself with a meek voice, entered the houses of sinners and still calls them to Himself and looks for everyone who sins, in order to lift him onto His shoulder and bring him to the Father, to unite him with the heavenly powers, always glorifying God and always being blissful with Him. He does this not only for many sinners, but also for the entire human race, in order to make everyone saints and blessed, to save the whole world, as further stated in the church song. “And the Mother of God will save the world.” These few words combine those great and good goals of the incarnation of the Son of God, which were discussed before in dogmatics. For the renewal of the image of God in man, and the bringing of lost man to the Father, and his union with the heavenly powers - all this constitutes what is called the salvation of the world, that is, of all people living in the world, of all nations, under the condition of their true faith in Christ the Savior. “Christ have great and rich mercy.” These final words of the dogmatist we are considering show us the motivation by which Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, deigned to become human on earth to accomplish a great work - the salvation of the world. Such a motive was His great and rich mercy, or mercy towards us. This mercy is truly great and rich - both in the severity of the humiliation and suffering He accepted for the salvation of a person unworthy of mercy due to the severity of his sins against God the Benefactor, and in the gifts with which man was enriched as a result of this humiliation and suffering, such as the renewal in us of the image of God and other benefits that we have already considered according to the guidance of the dogmatist. Let us marvel, revere and thank our Savior for His great and rich mercy towards us sinners, and out of gratitude we strive to please Him with a good life, so as to be eternally united with Him and His heavenly powers. Let us love Him, as He loved us first (1 John 4:19)! Let us also give thanks to the Most Holy Virgin Mary, Who, having become worthy to receive God the Word into Her bosom, thereby became the culprit, accomplice and Intercessor of our life and the blessings we acquired through Her of the Divine Son! (Compiled from “V. Thu.” 1889). D. On the dogmatics of the fifth voice “In the Black Sea, the image of the unmade Bride was sometimes painted: there is Moses, the divider of the water, and here is Gabriel, the minister of miracles. Then the depth of Israel's procession was waterless: now the Virgin gave birth to Christ without seed. The sea, after the passage of Israel, remained impassable; Immaculate after the birth of Immanuel, his life is incorruptible. He who was before him appeared as a man, O God, have mercy on us.” In this song in honor of the Mother of God, the holy church testifies to us that the great glory of the Mother of God was also known to the people of the Old Testament, i.e. who lived before the coming of Christ the Savior into the world. We already know that at that time the bush in which God appeared to Moses represented the Mother of God; We know that the Godfather Prophet David also sang the glory of the Mother of God, depicting Her as appearing at the right hand of the King - Christ, dressed in robes of gold and speckled. This church hymn shows us another image that gave Old Testament people some idea of ​​the face of the Mother of God. “In the Black Sea, unartificed Brides are sometimes painted.” This was when the Jewish people, to whom God entrusted to keep His promise of the Deliverer, freed from the slavery of Egypt, walked into the land promised by God through the barren and sultry desert. On this path, a terrible misfortune befell the Jews. When they approached the Red Sea, which there was no means of crossing, they suddenly saw behind them the Egyptian king Pharaoh with a strong army on horses and chariots. This armed force rushed quickly to catch up with the unarmed Jews and return them again to captivity. Death was inevitable: the Jews had one of two options - either surrender into the hands of their tormentors and again begin hard work under their yoke, or throw themselves into the sea and drown. It was in these sorrowful moments that God revealed salvation to them where they did not expect it at all. He told them that the Red Sea would become their refuge and protection from their enemies. It is this unexpected salvation that the Jews found in the Red Sea that serves as a prototype of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And before the coming of the Savior into the world, the entire human race was in the same disastrous state as the Jews before crossing the Red Sea. Sin took such hold of people and corrupted them that even among the Jewish people, who alone kept the revealed word of God, the truth began to be eclipsed. All the sages of the world, who undertook to teach people good, realized their powerlessness and refused to correct the sinful human race. His death was inevitable! But in this time of trouble, God sent salvation to people where they did not expect it at all. The poor, unknown Virgin Mary was told by God that from Her would be born the Savior of the world, who would conquer sin and unite people with God. It is now clear what the words of the church song mean: in the Chermny Sea, the image of the unartificed Brides is sometimes painted. Just as salvation unexpectedly came to ancient Israel from the sea, so salvation from the Virgin was revealed to the entire human race. But this is only one feature of the prototype of the Mother of God revealed in the Red Sea. Other features of this prototype are revealed to us in the further words of the church song. “There is Moses, the divider of water: here is Gabriel, the servant of miracles.” The Prophet Moses, the leader and legislator of the Jewish people, stood with the Israelites before the Red Sea when they were faced with great danger from the Pharaohite army. He did not know in these terrible moments that the sea would become a refuge and protection for the Israelis. But as a husband who firmly believed in God, he did not share fear with them, but told them: “Do not be afraid, the Lord will show you salvation.” And through this great man, the Lord announced to the people of Israel about the wonderful salvation that he was preparing for them. “Tell the children of Israel: let them go, and so that they do not doubt, strike the sea with your miraculous rod.” In a similar way, the revelation of God about the redemption of the sinful human race by the Son of God was communicated. God chose for this the archangel Gabriel - one of the seven highest spirits standing before the throne of God. The Archangel, until it was revealed to him by God, did not know where salvation would be revealed to the perishing human race. But he, just like Moses once, firmly believed that the Lord would save people. And it was this archangel that God sent to announce to the Blessed Virgin Mary that the Deliverer of the world would be born from Her. The heavenly messenger, alien to earthly fears, was supposed to dispel Mary’s bewilderment when She asked: “how will this happen if I don’t know where my husband is?” - the news that this birth will be accomplished by the action of the omnipotence of God. Who does not see that in both cases the servants of miracles chosen by God are similar to each other? There Moses, the divider of water: here is Gabriel, the minister of miracles. Further, the church hymn shows us a new similarity between the miracle over the Red Sea and the miracle over the Blessed Virgin Mary. “Then the depth of Israel’s procession was waterless: now the Virgin has given birth to Christ without seed.” When Moses struck the Red Sea with his rod, it parted and opened its dry bottom for the passage of the Israelite people. This was accomplished by the action of the omnipotence of God. A strong wind sent by God in a few minutes dispersed the waves of the sea and dried up its bottom, so that the Israelites could walk along the bottom without getting their feet wet - without getting wet. In a similar way, when the Archangel Gabriel announced to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she would conceive and give birth to a Son, who would be the Savior of the entire human race, She at that very moment accepted into Her womb the incontainable God, Who deigned to receive human flesh from Her. This wonderful, seedless conception of the God-man took place in the Virgin Mary by the almighty action of the Holy Spirit, about which the archangel told the Virgin Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come upon You and the power of the Most High will overshadow You.” This Spirit of God is the Source of life, Who, even at the beginning of the world, hovered over the waters and breathed life into all creatures, and now brought about the fact that the virgin Mary without seed gave birth to the Son. Everyone can now see that the Red Sea, which reflected the gospel of the Virgin Mary, served as a clear image of the miraculous birth of the Son from Her. But not only these features of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the unartificial Bride, were reflected in the Red Sea. The church song goes on to say: “The sea, after the passage of Israel, remained impassable. Immaculate, after the birth of Immanuel, remains incorruptible.” Only for one people of Israel such a miracle happened that they could walk through the sea as if on dry land. The Egyptian army, chasing the Israelites, followed them into the opened seabed, but it only managed to reach the middle of this bottom. Moses, at the command of God, on the other shore again struck the sea with his rod - and its waves again united, covering the Egyptian army. From that time until now, the bottom of the Red Sea has never been opened again. It is this impassability of the Red Sea, which the Israelis passed without water, that serves as the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the unblemished Bride. The Virgin Mary, both before the birth of Christ the Savior, was a Virgin, and after His birth she remained a Virgin; Her virginity was not broken even after the birth of her Son, just as the Red Sea, impassable by anyone before the Israelites, remained impassable even after their miraculous crossing. And the ancient Israelites, looking at the impassability of the Red Sea, after the passage of their fathers through it, could see here an image of the eternal virginity of the Mother of God, although She was not yet in the world. There were Israelis who listened to the word of God and with all their souls awaited the appearance of the Savior into the world; for it was revealed to them through the prophets that Christ would be born of a virgin. Behold, the Virgin will be with child, the prophet Isaiah announced, and will give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel, as we can say: God is with us. Having such a prophecy, the Old Testament people could see the image of the Blessed Virgin painted in the Red Sea, just as they saw it in the bush that burned and was not consumed. You see how much the song of praise in honor of the Mother of God teaches us! She reminds us of the annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the Archangel Gabriel, of the miraculous birth of Christ the Savior from Her without a husband, by the power of the Holy Spirit, of Her constant virginity both before the birth of the Savior and after His birth. But at the same time, she clearly tells us that this Orthodox teaching about the Mother of God was known, although not as clear as to us, people who lived in ancient times, even before the Savior came into the world - that when the Mother of God was not yet in the world, Her image was painted for them in the Red Sea. But like other songs of praise in honor of the Mother of God, this church song offers us high teaching about the Savior born of Her. At the end of the song it is added: “He who was born before, appeared as a man, O God, have mercy on us.” Here is another new name of Christ the Savior, which we have not heard in previous songs of praise in honor of the Mother of God. Syi and before Syi, i.e. existing, always living, who was, is and will be. This is the name with which God called Himself when He appeared to the ancient forefathers and prophets, and whom He commanded to call Himself always. This is the holy name of God, which in the Old Testament, i.e. before the coming of the Savior, was pronounced by people, like outcast slaves, with fear and trembling, and only on important occasions, because the Divinity was inaccessible to people. But now we can boldly pronounce this holy name of God always and everywhere. Now we can, like children to the Father, appeal to the Existing One and the First Existing One for mercy. Why? Because it is He who existed and who existed before, who appeared as a man; He came so close to us that He took on our human flesh, and with a meek, merciful voice Himself calls all people to Himself. That is why we now always cry out to Him in church songs: He who was and who was before, appeared as a man, God, have mercy on us. But to whom do we owe such happiness that we can always turn to God and call Him by the name that people previously uttered with fear and trembling, like slaves, and not like children? – To the Most Holy Virgin Mary, Theotokos, from Whom Jehovah took flesh and appeared as a man. Let us thank the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, whom we have blessed, for such an indescribable good! Let us diligently and unceasingly sing songs of praise in Her honor that the Holy Church teaches us. (Compiled from “Sunday Readings” for 1889). E. On the dogmatics of the sixth tone “Who will not please You, Most Holy Virgin? Who will not sing of Your most pure Nativity? The Only Begotten Son, who has risen from the Father, is flightless: He who passed pure from You, indescribably incarnated. God is by nature, and man was by nature for our sake, not divided into two persons, but not cognizable into two by nature. Pray to him, pure, all-blessed one, to have mercy on our souls.” The five songs of praise in honor of the Mother of God, which we discussed earlier, give us a clear idea of ​​Her face. These songs reveal the ineffable miracle of which She became the instrument, and the ineffable good received through Her by all earthly beings, and the divine glory with which the memory of Her is adorned throughout the entire universe in all ages. Of course, these songs do not convey the teaching about the Mother of God in its entirety, for this is a teaching that the mind cannot understand and the tongue cannot express. But nevertheless, from the five songs of praise in honor of the Mother of God that we have examined, a sufficient understanding of Her is obtained, so that nothing more remains but to pour out one’s feelings of reverence and praise before Her. The sixth church hymn in honor of the Mother of God, combining into one whole concept revealed about Her in five cantos, gives us words to express these heartfelt feelings of reverence and praise. “Who will not please You, Most Holy Virgin? Who will not sing of Your most pure Nativity? Is there anyone who would not sing a song in honor of the Theotokos? She is glorified by all the disembodied ranks of angels as more honorable than the cherubim and more glorious than the seraphim. She is called by all people who believe in Christ the Savior, from the east of the sun to the west. Her glory, now shining to all ends of the earth, extended its rays in times long past - in the times of the Old Testament, to people sitting in the land and shadow of death, and aroused these last to look at Her with faith and love - when She had not yet appeared in the world - and in all future centuries, as long as the world stands, Her glory will never fade and praise in Her honor will never cease. Among such a numerous choir of glorifiers, who will not please You, the Most Holy Virgin, who will not sing of Your Most Pure Nativity? Is it only those who have not been reached by the gospel sermon, or those who are so suppressed by false faith that even when they hear it they do not understand. So, whoever believes in Christ the Savior must please, he cannot help but please the Most Holy Virgin Theotokos and cannot help but sing of Her Most Pure Nativity. For a believer in Christ, it is impossible to refrain from praising in honor of the Mother of God, for, having come to know Her greatness, we at the same time learn to worthily know God Himself and worthily honor Him. “The Only Begotten Son, who has risen from the Father, is fleeting: the same from You, pure, has passed through indescribable incarnation.” This is what unheard-of knowledge of the Divine the Mother of God has brought us to! We now know about the Son of God, who rose from the Father before all ages - without flight and is the only begotten Son of God, born from the very being of God the Father. We also know that the eternal Son of God, miraculously and incomprehensibly born of God the Father and equal to Him in everything, as the true God, was miraculously and incomprehensibly born in time, taking upon Himself human flesh, from the Most Holy Virgin Mary. The Only Begotten Son, flying away from the Father, passed away from You, indescribably incarnated. Was it ever possible to think that God, inaccessible not only to us mortals, but also to the heavenly powers of the angels, would take upon Himself our human flesh! But for us, who know the Orthodox teaching about the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, this is an undoubted and indisputable truth. “God is by nature, and man was by nature for our sake, not divided into two persons, but inseparably cognizable into two natures.” Wonderful is the eternal birth of the Son of God from a Father without a Mother! Miraculous is also His birth in time from a Mother without a Father! But besides this, the incarnation of the Son of God is in itself a wondrous miracle, incomprehensible to our minds; Being God by nature - of the same nature as God the Father, He became man for our salvation, taking upon Himself the same nature or nature as each of us, i.e. consisting of soul and body. So He is true God and at the same time true man: by nature He is God, and by nature He was man for our sake. As God, He is immortal; as man, He died. As God, He is everywhere - in heaven and on earth - as a man, He once lived on earth and then ascended to heaven. As God, He does not tolerate any sorrow or sorrow and is eternally blissful; as a man, He grieved and endured suffering. And yet He is one and the same, one and the same person, and not two faces; There are only two natures in Him - divine and human. His single face with two natures is not divided into two, so that one belongs to the divine nature and the other human, and His two natures - divine and human with a single face do not merge into one. He is God by nature, and by nature he was man for our sake, not divided into two persons, but inseparably cognizable into two by nature. As perfect God and perfect man, Jesus Christ is one person - no one can understand this, no one should understand the incomprehensible. This is the highest mystery for the human mind. It is enough for us if we know that Christ our Savior is true God and true man. Knowing this, we can always be comforted that He, as a man, is close to us, like our own brother - and as God - He can do everything for us. And in such sorrows and great needs that we experience in our lives, what could be more comforting than this? And how can we not rejoice that we are honored with such knowledge about God our Savior! There was a time, and it lasted for a very long time, when people did not have such knowledge and, therefore, could not use the same consolation that we use. But to whom do we owe such comforting knowledge? The Most Holy Virgin Mary, about whom we know that, having given birth to Christ, She gave birth not to an ordinary person, but to God, and therefore is called the Mother of God. You see how beneficial for us is the knowledge of the Mother of God, which the Orthodox Church gives us in its sacred songs! Along with this knowledge, our knowledge about God our Savior is revealed and clarified, for the teaching about the Mother of God and the teaching about God our Savior are closely related to each other. And the more we recognize one of them, the more the other becomes clearer. Whoever always listens to these sacred songs in honor of the Mother of God and reflects on everything that is said in them, will more clearly and clearly imagine the face of our Savior, Who is true God and true man. And the more the concept of the face of the Savior becomes clearer, the more reverence for the Most Holy Virgin Mary who gave birth to Him will increase, the more Her greatness will be revealed to us. If the perfect God and perfect man born from Her are not divided into two persons, but are one person, then the Most Holy Virgin Mary should truly be called the Mother of God, and worthily and righteously exalted above all not only people, but also angels. And being as close to God as His Mother, She can ask Him for everything that is needed for our salvation. That is why the Holy Church, singing the glory and greatness of the Mother of God, teaches us to always turn to Her in prayer and ask Her to be an Intercessor for us before Her Son, the God-Man. “Pray to him, pure, all-blessed one, to have mercy on our souls.” So, the holy church, with its song of praise, teaches us to pour out reverent feelings before the Mother of God, at the same time teaches us to offer prayer to Her. But let us not forget that prayer to the Mother of God should be imbued with the same reverence as praise in Her honor. For, although She came from among the human race and is accessible to all our prayers, she far surpasses all people in Her perfections that adorn Her. She is pure and all-blessed! As pure and all-blessed, She can only listen to pure prayer - a prayer in which she will ask Her for help in good deeds and cleansing from all sinful impurity, in order to please God and receive mercy from Him. But She will turn Her ear away from our prayer if we ask for anything to please our passions and to the harm of our neighbors. Let us remember this and, caring for the purity of our hearts, we will cry out to the Mother of our Savior, whom we glorify: Pray to Him, pure, all-blessed one, to have mercy on our souls. (Comp. on "Sunday" read." for 1889). G. On the dogmatics of the seventh tone “You are known to the Mother of God, more than by nature, to the Mother of God. Thou art the Virgin, more than words and reason. And the tongue cannot describe the miracle of Your Nativity. I am glorified because I exist in pure conception, the image of birth is incomprehensible. Wherever God wishes, the order of nature is overcome. To the same You, the Mother of God, we all diligently pray: pray for our souls to be saved.” The greatness of the Mother of God is unattainable, Who is not only above all earthly beings, but also above the heavenly ranks of angels, Who is closer to the throne of the Most High than any of the created beings! Her glory is indescribable, sung in heaven by all ethereal forces and on earth by all peoples and tribes! The more we focus on the face of the Mother of God, the more we delve into the Orthodox teaching of the church about Her, the more we will be motivated to sing and glorify Her. But who should all this praise and celebration be directed to? The Mother of God Herself, when for the first time she learned about Her greatness, which the mighty Lord had created for Her, glorified His holy name, and when she foresaw that all generations would please Her, she sang the mercy of God throughout the generations of those who fear God (Luke 1:49, 50). Therefore, all the greatness bestowed upon Her and all the glory that shone upon Her was directed to the glorification of God Himself, and by this She made it clear to all of us that all songs and all doxologies, no matter what were composed in honor of Her, would always relate to the glorification of God Himself. Indeed, in all the wonderful greatness and glory of the Mother of God, what appears before us if not the greatness and glory of God Himself? God, marvelous in His saints, has not shown so many great miracles in any of the saints as in the Most Holy Virgin Mary, Theotokos. The seventh hymn of praise in honor of the Mother of God, remembering these miracles, guides us to ensure that, by glorifying the Mother of God, we thereby glorify God Himself. “Thou art known to the Mother, more than nature, to the Mother of God.” This is the first miracle that appeared on Our Lady! She was a Virgin and made a vow of virginity before God for life. Elder Joseph, to whom she was betrothed, was only Her guardian or trustee, since, according to Jewish customs, a virgin who had lost her parents could not be left alone; but he was not Her husband. And yet, not knowing her husband, this immaculate Virgin became a mother - you were known to be a mother. How? More than nature, i.e. above all natural laws, or miraculously. For has it ever been heard of that a virgin should become a mother? “It’s strange for virgins to give birth!” This could only be accomplished by miraculous power, like the recovery of sight for a man born blind or the resurrection of the dead. But those miracles were performed on many people, and only one Most Holy Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, miraculously became a mother. Mother knew you, more than nature, to the Mother of God. “Thou art the Virgin who abides above words and understanding.” This is the only Mother in the world who miraculously gave birth to the Son, and after His birth remained a virgin. The Son of God, who was incarnated through the Virgin Mary, received true human flesh in Her womb, was in the womb, like every person, for nine months and was born from Her, but even after this birth, the Virgin Mary remained a Virgin. How? More than words and reason, says the church song, i.e. so wonderful that it is impossible to explain it in words or comprehend it with reason. The birth of Jesus Christ from the Blessed Virgin is inexplicable and indescribable. It is a great miracle, before which the human tongue must be silent and the mind humbled in deep reverence. “And the tongue cannot describe the miracle of Your Nativity. I am glorified because I exist in pure conception, the image of birth is incomprehensible.” Truly, in the case when the ordinary laws of nature are eliminated and when a matter is accomplished in a new, unprecedented way, then there is no room for the ranting of human language. He can express and explain only his powerlessness in the face of an unspeakable and inexplicable secret. He can only express the perplexities of reason. It is this impotence of the human language, these bewilderments of the mind that the church song expresses when remembering the image of the birth of the Son of God from the Most Holy Virgin Theotokos. In the miracle of Your birth, the tongue cannot say: I am glorified for the pure conception of the being, the image of birth is incomprehensible. Nothing more can be said about the image of the birth of Jesus Christ from the Blessed Virgin Mary, except that we do not know this and cannot know: the image of birth is incomprehensible. However, humble faith can find the solution to this mystery in the truth that what is impossible with man is possible with God. This truth is revealed in the sacred words of the church song in honor of the Mother of God. “Wherever God wills, the order of nature is overcome.” The Blessed Virgin Mary was surprised and perplexed when the Archangel Gabriel announced to Her the birth of Her Son. How will this happen, She asked him, where I don’t know where my husband is? But She immediately calmed down when the archangel pointed out to Her the experiences of God’s omnipotence and reminded Her that with God every word cannot fail. We are perplexed when we look at the miraculous birth of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, and ask in bewilderment: “how did this wonderful birth take place?” But we must immediately calm down when we remember the almighty power of God, which created all the laws of nature and itself always stands above these laws, so that, when it pleases, it can change them. How did the birth of the Son take place from the Blessed Virgin Mary? Just as the glorious conception took place, just as the bush burned and was not consumed, just as the Red Sea, impassable for anyone, once opened its dry bottom for the passage of Israel. And how many such cases were there when the power of God overcame the ordinary laws of nature and produced new and wonderful phenomena! Wherever God wishes, the order of nature is overcome. That's how many miracles happened over the Blessed Virgin Mary! She, being a Virgin, became a Mother. She, having become a Mother, remains a Virgin. The birth of the Son from Her was so miraculous that even human language cannot explain it. Who performed all these great miracles? They were accomplished by the almighty power of God! And is there any other created being, not only among people, but among angels, over whom the power of God would manifest so many actions that overcome the order of nature, as the Most Holy Virgin Mary the Mother of God? Is there anyone else in whom the glory of God's omnipotence would shine brighter than in the Mother of God? It is clear after this that all the praises that ascend to the Blessed Virgin Mary from the world, not only below, but also from above, all of them relate to the glory of God, which shone so brightly in the Blessed Virgin Mary, Theotokos. All created beings, no matter what height they stand, have no greatness of their own, but all their greatness comes from God. The Lord kills and gives life, brings down to hell and raises up; The Lord brings you down and makes you rich, humbles and exalts. He raises up the needy from the ground and raises up the poor from the rot, making him sit with the mighty people and giving them the throne of glory as an inheritance (1 Samuel 2:7, 8). But if the Lord looked upon the humility of the Blessed Virgin Mary and found Her, more than anyone else, worthy to fully manifest His glory over Her; if He elevated Her not only above the earthly world, but also above, placed Her closest to His throne and awarded Her the unheard-of honor of being and being called the Mother of God: then we, of course, should offer more diligent prayers to Her than to any of the saints. The greatness of the miracles that happened over Her serves as a sure guarantee for us that, through Her intercession, God will do everything for our salvation, even if we were on the brink of death. And Her closeness to the throne of the Most High is a firm support for our hope that She will bring all our prayers to Her Son and our God. It is only necessary, we repeat, that the subject of our diligent prayers be the salvation of our souls. Let us offer this diligent prayer to the Most Holy Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, as the Holy Church teaches us in her song of praise in Her honor. By the same to you, the Mother of God, who knows everything, we pray diligently: pray for our souls to be saved. (Compiled from “Resurrection Reading”, 1889). H. On the dogmatics of the eighth tone “The King of Heaven, for his love for mankind, appeared on earth and lived with men. From the Virgin, pure flesh is received, and from Her, passed with perception. There is one Son, purely by nature, but not by hypostasis. In the same way, the perfection of that God, and the perfection of man, truly preaching, we confess Christ our God. Pray to Him, Brideless Mother, to have mercy on our souls.” From the seven church songs in honor of the Mother of God, or “dogmatists,” which we previously discussed, we now know how the glory and greatness of the Mother of God should be sung. In these sacred songs it is clearly revealed how exalted the Most Holy Virgin Mary is, universally glorified and glorified, how many benefits have been revealed to us through Her and through Her, and how worthily and righteously we can magnify and honor Her. But where does this glory and greatness of the Mother of God come from? Why does the Mother of God appear before us in such a radiant radiance? From the same songs of praise in honor of the Mother of God, it is clear to us that this glory, this greatness is not Her own, but from God. Strong, i.e. God, as She Herself said, created greatness for Her. On her, as the purest creature of all created and closest to God, the radiance of the Divine was reflected more clearly, just as natural light is reflected more brightly in pure water and more powerfully illuminates the objects closest to it. Contemplating the glory and greatness of the Mother of God, sung in seven church songs of praise, we at the same time contemplated the glory and greatness of God Himself, for both are inseparable. In fact, while glorifying our Lady Theotokos, is it possible at the same time not to glorify Christ, our God, who became incarnate through Her? And while praising Christ God, who has shown us so many mercies, is it possible at the same time not to glorify the Mother of God, through whom these mercies were poured out on us? In the last song of praise in honor of the Mother of God, the Holy Church focuses our attention on the Son of God incarnate from Her - the Heavenly King, in order to, by depicting His glory, thereby magnify the honor of the Mother of God. “The King of Heaven, for his love for mankind, appeared on earth and lived with men.” Who is this King of heaven? This is the Son of God - the second person of the Holy Trinity, the radiance of the glory of the Heavenly Father and the image of His hypostasis. This is the eternal Word of God the Father, through Whom everything visible and invisible was created, the Lord of all created things in heaven and on earth. This is the King of Heaven! Great is the glory of this King! His omnipotence, wisdom and goodness were clearly expressed in countless creations filling the world above and below. All the angels, all the powers of heaven sing His praises, bring honor and worship; all creatures of the earth testify to His glory. And here He, the great King of heaven, shows before the whole world above and below a new proof of His greatness, a new divine property, hitherto unknown, at least on earth, this is indescribable love for mankind. Of all the creatures of heaven and earth, bowing before the great Heavenly King, doing the will and praising Him, only the devil and man dared to show their disobedience and did not give due praise to their Creator and Benefactor. It seems that one would have to expect the formidable wrath of the Heavenly King against man as against the devil, and the inevitable overthrow of man into the abyss of eternal destruction. But the King of Heaven did not do this. And at a time when it was necessary to show justice against the apostate with all his might, he showed indescribable love for him. What did He do? The King of Heaven, for his love for mankind, “appeared on earth and lived with men.” But how did He appear among people? He appeared to the ancient patriarchs, consoled them when they mourned their fall, and proclaimed to them the path to union with God. He appeared to Moses in a bush that was burning and not consumed and announced the imminent deliverance of the people of Israel from the yoke of Egypt. The Israelites saw his shadow in the pillar of fire that led them through the desert. Joshua saw him before the walls of Jericho when he received instructions on how to defeat his enemies. Gideon and Manoah saw Him and were delighted with the news from Him about deliverance from the foreigners. Habakkuk saw him coming out to distressed humanity from a shaded thicket. And many righteous people, expecting mercy from God, were honored to see Him. But in all these phenomena there was only momentary consolation for distressed humanity; in them only partly the philanthropy of the King of Heaven was manifested; they were a reflection of the wealth of goodness that the King of Heaven finally revealed to people. After more than five thousand years, people were honored with such a phenomenon among their Heavenly King, which no one could have imagined before. He appeared among people and lived among them not as the King of Heaven - surrounded by greatness and glory - and not as an angel towering above mortal human nature. No! He lived among them as a person, as their own brother, with the same body and soul that each of us has. How did this indescribable miracle of the mercy of the King of Heaven happen? “From the Virgin we receive pure flesh, and from Her we pass with perception.” Guiding people for five thousand years through His temporary appearances, He raised in them one chosen righteous generation, from which finally came the most pure and immaculate Virgin, as the perfect fruit of the entire Old Testament economy of God for the salvation of man. And it was from this most pure and immaculate Virgin that the Heavenly King deigned to accept our human nature: soul and body. It became a ladder for the descent of the King of Heaven to earth. But He walked along this ladder with perception, i.e. in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, he took upon himself our human nature and was born from Her. From the Virgin we receive pure flesh, and from Her we pass with perception. What could be greater than the miracle of mercy and goodness of the Heavenly King, when, in order to save perishing people, He hid His divine greatness under a humble human image and, being the Son of God the Father, became the Son of man, the son of the Virgin Mary! “There is one Son, by nature, but not by hypostasis,” sings the Holy Church. What do these words mean? The fact that the Son of God, having become the Son of man, always remains the one Son or the only second person of the Holy Trinity. You hear in this song an incomprehensible word hypostasis. It is incomprehensible because the word is not Russian, but Greek. Hypostasis in Russian means person or person. So, after His incarnation, or after taking upon Himself human nature, consisting of soul and body, the Son of God - the Heavenly King remained as before as one person, Who now had two natures - one Divine and the other human. Or else, as they say in the church song, He became purely nature, i.e. began to have two natures - divine and human. In His Divinity He is one with God the Father, and in His humanity He is one with us. How one person - the King of Heaven - is God and man, the human mind should not inquire about this, for this is an incomprehensible mystery. It is enough for us to believe what we have been taught and to firmly confess our faith. That is why the Holy Church, in its song of praise, depicting before us the great miracle of the goodness of the Heavenly King in His incarnation, does not try to lift the veil that hides the secret from us, but calls us to believe and confess our faith. “By this is the perfection of that God, and the perfection of man, truly preaching, we confess Christ our God.” We couldn’t wish for a more gratifying truth for us! In fact, what could be more comforting than the truth that Christ, our Savior, is perfect God, of one nature with God the Father, and perfect man - of one nature with us? For if in Christ the divine nature and our human nature were united immutably and unchangeably, then through Jesus Christ, united with Him like branches with a vine, with living heartfelt faith in Him, we can enter into the closest union with God Himself. If we unite with Him in this way, then He will never abandon us, but will take us to Himself and make us reign with Him in eternal glory. And no evil force, no tricks of the evil one will tear us away from Him and deprive us of that light and bliss, that honor and greatness that surround the King of heaven, Christ our God. What should our living heart faith consist of, which should connect us with Christ? The Holy Church briefly but very clearly offers us a lesson of such a binding faith in her song of praise, which we explain. Here she teaches us to look upon Christ our Savior as perfect God and perfect man; but, at the same time, so that we preach about it, so that we boldly speak about it to every unbeliever, without fear of any dangers, no attacks, - so that we preach about it not only in word, but also in deed itself - with our whole lives - so that in our whole life it can be seen that we are disciples of Christ and fulfill His holy commandments. Only such faith can firmly bind us to Christ. Through such living faith, all the saints who are now close to the throne of the Heavenly King and from whom we ask intercession for ourselves before Him were united with Him. This is exactly the kind of faith that the Holy Church teaches us when it sings in its song of praise: in the same way God is perfect, and man is perfect, truly preaching, we confess Christ our God. Many difficulties and obstacles appear to us in life in order to unite with Christ with the kind of faith that the Holy Church requires of us. We believe with all our hearts that Christ, our Savior, is true God and true man, but we cannot boast that our life justifies our faith, and that by our deeds everyone can immediately recognize us as disciples of Christ. Our sinful habits and the worldly temptations that surround us make us violators of the commandments of Christ and remove us from Christ our God. Our earthly life is a path of continuous struggle with obstacles to salvation and a path of continuous falls. But let us not despair that we too can achieve union with Christ our God. We have a strong helper on this sorrowful path and a zealous intercessor - the Most Holy Virgin Theotokos. She came from among us, knows all our needs, our weaknesses and sorrows; but She is exalted above all the saints and is closest to the throne of the Heavenly King. It is to Her that the Holy Church teaches us to turn for help in the matter of our salvation. “Pray to Him, Brideless Mother, to have mercy on our souls.” In these brief words, the holy church reminds us of the divine glory that was reflected in the Mother of God. Just as the King of Heaven, who became incarnate through her, showed a great miracle, for, without ceasing to be God, he became man and in His one person united two natures - divine and human, so in His mother He showed an indescribable miracle, for She became a Mother, without ceasing to be a Virgin, and, being one person, there is both a Mother and a Virgin. This is what the Holy Church wanted to tell us by calling the Mother of God the Blessed Mother. This is how the glory of the Heavenly King was reflected on His most blessed Mother! Let us remember this divine glory of our intercessor and intercessor and, strengthening our hope in Her with such thoughts, we will offer up a warm prayer to Her all the days of our earthly wandering to the palace of the Heavenly King, Christ our God, may she, the Blessed Mother, pray to Christ our God to have mercy on our souls. (Compiled from “Resurrection Reading”, 1889). 8. A conversation explaining the song: “He rejoices in You” “He rejoices in You.” This song can be translated into our language as follows: “Gracious One! All creatures rejoice in You: hosts of angels and generations of men; from You - a consecrated church, a mysterious paradise, praise to virginity - from You God became incarnate, and the child was the One who was and is before all ages, who is our God. He made Your womb a throne and made Your womb more spacious than the heavens. All creatures rejoice in You, O Blessed One: glory to You!” The main thoughts in this song are as follows: The Most Blessed Virgin Mary gave joy to all creatures: heaven and earth, angels and men, because from Her God became incarnate and became man. To help you understand the meaning of this song even better, I will explain some of its expressions. In the song, the Blessed Virgin Mary is called the consecrated church. If we usually call churches buildings dedicated to God and sanctified by the presence of God, then all the more this name befits the blessed Virgin Mary; She completely dedicated herself to God; The Holy Spirit descended on Her and the power of the Most High overshadowed Her; the Only Begotten Son of God dwelt in Her and was born from Her in the flesh; the fullness of God’s grace abides in Her to this day. The Blessed Virgin Mary is called a verbal (mental, spiritual) paradise. The earthly paradise was the place of blissful dwelling of our innocent ancestors; the Most Holy Virgin Mary is the source of endless bliss for all Christians. The earthly paradise had in its midst the tree of life; the most blessed Virgin gave birth to us self-existent life - our Lord Jesus Christ, who destroyed death and gave us eternal life. The Blessed Virgin is called virginal praise. And indeed, our Savior was born on earth not from a conjugal seed, but from the Most Pure, Immaculate Virgin - the highest praise for virginity! From God was incarnate and the child was born before this age, our God; for Thy throne is false, and Thy womb is made wider than the heavens: in these expressions the mystery of the incarnation of the Only Begotten Son of God from the Virgin Mary is revealed, as much as possible and accessible to us. The Virgin Mary, although she is not called the Mother of God here, nevertheless, if not more, the expressions: “from Him God was incarnate and the child was born before the age, our God,” can relate directly only to the One who should worthily be called the Mother of God; These expressions are nothing more than an explanation of the concept: “Mother of God.” When this song is sung in church in honor of the Mother of God, you involuntarily imagine in your mind: these are all the ranks of angels: cherubim and seraphim, thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, authorities, angels and archangels - they form one great heavenly cathedral and, contemplating the most blessed Virgin Mary, they rejoice and reverently sing a song of praise to Her. On the other hand: here are all the people, of all centuries and times who believed and now believe in the Redeemer of our Lord Jesus Christ: forefathers, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs, saints and all true Christians living on earth, form another choir, rejoice, reverently looking at the Most Holy Virgin Theotokos, and silently, together with us, send Her a song of praise. It is impossible, my brothers, to listen to these touching hymns in honor of the Mother of God without heartfelt tenderness, without reverent worship before the Mother of God. The knees involuntarily bow when our lips and hearts pronounce, following the clergy, the words of praise of church songs. You only care about one thing, so that your prayer and praise are pleasing to Her - our queen and intercessor - so that your voice does not disturb the general worldwide choir of angels and people praising Her. Amen. (See Explanation of the service, Archpriest V. Vladislavlev). Now our conversation will be about the so-called antiphons. Antiphon is a Greek word, in Russian - counter-sounding, counter-singing, answering with another voice. In the ancient Christian church, when the composition of the services was not yet brought to such completeness and certainty as now, the psalms formed the main and essential part of them. They were sung differently during different services. Sometimes they were sung by the whole congregation together; sometimes they were sung alternately, dividing into two choirs; sometimes, finally, one side of those gathered for the service sang the first part of the verse, the other answered it, finishing the verse, or one proclaimed the initial words, and everyone else sang further. The method of psalmody, when two choirs alternately proclaimed one verse after the other, or when one side began and the other finished a verse, was called antiphonal. Hence the psalms sung in this way received the name antiphons. Then, actually for antiphonal singing, they began to compose special verses, either choosing them from the psalms, or composing new ones, in the spirit and pattern of the psalms. And these verses also received the name antiphons. Subsequently, antiphons of both kinds became part of the divine services and have remained unchanged to this day, at least in name, because some of them are not sung by either two or one choir, but are simply read. Antiphons are part of the actual festive services. Antiphons at Vespers. In former times, at Sunday Vespers, the entire first kathisma was sung in antiphonal chant. It was divided into three antiphons; each of them was followed by a small litany. On festive vespers, only one first antiphon (the first three psalms) was sung. Subsequently, they began to sing - both on Sundays and on holiday vespers - only some verses from these psalms, and read everything else. Since these verses are heard incessantly, I consider it not useless to present them here in Russian translation. First choir. Blessed is the man (alleluia) who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. Alleluia (ps. I, beginning of the first verse). Second choir. But the way of the wicked will perish. Alleluia (ps. I, end of verse 6). 1st. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice before Him with trembling. Alleluia (ps. II, 11). 2nd. Blessed are all who trust in Him. Alleluia (ps. II, con. 12th verse). 1st. Arise, Lord! Save me, my God! Alleluia (ps. III, v. 8). 2nd. And upon Your people is Your blessing. Alleluia (end of verse 3). That is how shortened the first antiphon was in singing. However, there are places where these antiphons are all sung, as, for example, on Mount Athos. Antiphons at Matins. They were all compiled by St. John of Damascus. The Sunday morning antiphons, like the entire Sunday service, are divided into eight voices and in general they are all called sedate, because their content is mainly borrowed from the psalms inscribed: songs of degrees, or sedate songs (Ps. CIX–CXXXVIII). They depict the thoughts and feelings of the sons of Israel, returning from Babylonian captivity to their native land and settling again in Jerusalem. In a spiritual sense, they express the state of the soul, thirsting for salvation, wanting to be freed from the captivity of sin, from slavery to the devil and to return to the primitive state of purity and innocence, to enter the village of God, into the abode of heavenly bliss, from where it was cast out by the murderous enemy. This final meaning is clearly revealed in the antiphons. In them, each first two verses are composed of the main thoughts of the psalms; only the third verse always has a special content, containing praise to the Most Holy Spirit, a confession of His consubstantiality and equality with God the Father and the Son, or a depiction of His life-giving effect on our souls. On all holidays the first antiphon of the fourth tone is sung. “From my youth many passions have fought me,” etc. I consider it not useless to bring here several antiphons and convey them, if possible, in Russian speech, starting with this, which is known to everyone. It is borrowed from Psalm CXXVIII. “Many passions have attacked me since my youth; but, my Savior, intercede and save me. “Haters of Zion! you will be put to shame by the Lord; you will dry up like grass before the fire.” “Every soul is given life by the Holy Spirit, exalted by purity, and sacredly and mysteriously enlightened by Trinity unity.” The first antiphon from Psalm CIX: “Lord! I cry to You in my sorrow; hear my lamentations." “Hermits always have divine aspirations; they are alien to the vain world.” “To the Holy Spirit belongs honor and glory, as to the Father, and together to the Son. Therefore, let us sing the sovereignty of the Trinity.” Antiphon 2 from Psalm CXX: “God! Thou hast lifted me up to the mountains of Thy laws; Enlighten me with good deeds, so that I may glorify You.” “Word! You, taking me with Your right hand, protect me, keep me so that the fire of sins does not burn me.” “By the Holy Spirit every creation is renewed, striving toward the primitive (the state of innocence). He is equal to the Father and the Son." Third antiphon from Psalm CXXI. “When they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord,” my spirit rejoiced and my heart rejoiced.” “There is great fear in the house of David: there are thrones of judgment and all the tribes and peoples of the earth are judged.” “The Holy Spirit should be given honor, worship and glory, as the Father and the Son, because the Trinity, by nature, is of one essence. The degrees, except for the eighth voice, all consist of three antiphons. The eighth contains four antiphons. Antiphons at the liturgy. On the twelfth feasts of the Lord, at the beginning of the liturgy, instead of the psalms: “Bless my soul the Lord” ... “Praise my soul the Lord” and the blessed ones, antiphons from the psalms most closely related to the celebrated event are sung. To the verses of the first antiphon is added: through the prayers of the Mother of God, Savior, save us; second: Save us, Son of God (resurrected from the dead or born of the Virgin - in accordance with what is being celebrated), singing Ti: alleluia; third: troparion of the holiday. Here, for example, are the antiphons on the day of the Epiphany. Antiphon 1 from Psalm CXIII: “When Israel came out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a foreign people - (Savior! for the prayers of the Mother of God, save us!)” Judea became His (God's) sanctuary, Israel became His dominion (Savior! etc.). “The sea saw and ran, Jordan turned back (Savior! etc.).” “What happened to you, O sea, that you ran, and to you, Jordan, that you turned back (Savior! etc.)?” Antiphon 2 from Psalm XXIV: “I am glad that the Lord heard my prayer voice (Son of God, baptized in the Jordan! save us who sing to You: Alleluia) ...” “Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore will I call on Him all the days (Son of God, etc.).” “The diseases of death surrounded me, and the troubles of hell befell me; I encountered sorrow and torment; but called on the name of the Lord (Son of God, etc.).” “The Lord is good and righteous, and our God is merciful (Son of God, etc.).” The third antiphon is composed of verses 1–4 of Psalm CXVII, after which the troparion: “I am baptized in the Jordan, O Lord,” etc. (See the book “On Church Liturgy” by I.I. Belustin). In accordance with their very content, the verses of the antiphons are short, like our sighs are short, and are sung in such a tune that expresses, although a strong, but quiet feeling of the soul, fixing its eyes on grief, and the peaceful desire of the heart, seeking love and bliss in the Lord God. This combination of Old Testament songs with New Testament ones, showing the unity of faith, church and ministry of both testaments, awakens in the soul of a Christian who truly and intelligently celebrates God, a living and bright feeling of spiritual joy. Here the prophetic voice merges with the voice of the church, triumphant in the fulfillment of prophecies, and the reverent delight of the believer’s soul intensifies. Therefore, the very singing of liturgical antiphons always has a solemn character. (Sunday Thursday 1851 No. 30). Here, brethren, is the briefest concept of the antiphons of the Orthodox Church, which, both by the way they are performed on two choirs and by their deep content and edification, captivate our ears and touch our mind and heart. (Compiled according to the source. Priest G. Dyachenko). “By the Holy Spirit every soul is alive and exalted in purity, illuminated by the triple unity of sacred mystery.” These words are very often sung at the all-night vigil, before the reading of the gospel. Despite the frequent use of this verse, many of its words, especially in the second half of it, are very incomprehensible to most Orthodox Christians. That is why we consider it necessary to give an interpretation of this church verse. “Every soul is animated by the Holy Spirit.” What kind of life does the Holy Spirit give to the human soul? One can also understand here natural life, which all earthly beings receive from the same Holy Spirit. In the creation of the world and its inhabitants, including man, as can be seen from the word of God, together with the Father and the Son, the third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit, also participated. So in the word of God He appears to be floating at the beginning of creation on top of the water (Gen. 1:2. Ps. 147:7); after the creation of the world, all three Persons of the Holy Trinity hold council on the creation of man (Gen. 1:26); in the book of Job, the Holy Spirit is directly called the Spirit of God, who created man (Job 33:4). Likewise, in the words of the church song: Every soul is alive by the Holy Spirit; it is expressed that the soul of every person, like all other earthly beings, owes its life, the activity of its powers and abilities to the Holy Spirit. But besides natural life there is another life, grace-filled life. The Holy Spirit is called the Source and Giver of this special life in relation to the human soul in the words of the church song we explain. The human soul is created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27); therefore, her life should manifest itself in likeness to the Prototype, in reflecting His perfections. Primordial people really lived this life, but through the Fall they lost it. The image of God, located in the highest powers of the soul and abilities - the mind, heart and will, was distorted and therefore it became incapable of demonstrating the activity that was due to it - to ascend to likeness to God. With the multiplication of the human race, the further people walked along the path of sin and spiritual separation from God, the more they became possessed by spiritual death. She finally prevailed over them with such strength that there was not one among them who understood and sought God, there was not one who did goodness (Rom. 3:11-12). In this regard, humanity was truly likened to a field full of dry bones, into which the spirit of life had to be introduced, which had to be given veins and flesh so that they would come to life (Ezek. 37:6). By its own natural forces, as if it were dead, it could not come to spiritual life. Higher, Divine help was needed to return him to primitive perfection. And so, according to the will and good pleasure of God the Father, who does not want the death of a sinner, but to turn the wicked from his way and live to be him (Ezek. 33:11), for the salvation of a perishing man, the Only Begotten Son of God appears in the flesh - the Lord Jesus Christ. The suffering of the Cross and the death of the Savior, having fully satisfied the justice of God who was angry for the sins of mankind (Rom. 5:10), spiritually unite man with God (John 17:20, 21, 26), and thereby pave the way for him from spiritual death to life. But the Savior’s merits on the cross can only serve a person for good when he voluntarily assimilates them to himself, that is, when, having recognized his salvation in them, he joyfully accepts His divine teaching, nourishes his heart with it and fertilizes it in his activity - and through this he unites with the Savior, like a wild branch with a fruitful vine (John 15:1-6; Rom. 11:17). But just as a wild branch by itself, without the help of a gardener, cannot grow together with the root of a fruitful tree in order to feed on its juices and bear fruits characteristic of it, so a natural man cannot by himself be grafted onto his Savior in order to feed on the juices of His divine teaching and bear fruit to the shrine; For this he needs to be reborn, renewed and sanctified with his whole being (John 3:3). Without such rebirth, renewal and sanctification, he will hear the Divine truths of salvation with his hearing - and will not understand: he will see in vain, and will not be able to see (Matthew 13:14). Who will revive him into spiritual life, renew and sanctify him? Who will disperse the darkness of his mind, in which he wanders like a bird in a snare, and give him enlightened heart (Eph. 1:18)? Who will revive his spiritual powers? Of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity, this work belongs to the Holy Spirit itself, as the Life-Giving Lord and as the Holy One 20). He, in fact, is the Acceptor of the redemptive merits of the Lord Jesus Christ for people, the Continuer and Finisher of the work of human salvation that He began (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7–14). Upon rebirth by the Holy Spirit into a new life of grace, a person’s soul is elevated in purity; those. she appears in a primitive state of purity and innocence, and in this state, while still in the mortal body, she rises and becomes above everything earthly and temporary. A bird, whose wings are not burdened with any weight, freely and easily rises from the ground and flies to the sky; so the human soul, whose highest powers and abilities are not burdened by the weight of earthly and sensual attachments, freely and easily, like an eagle on the wings (Ex. 19:4), with its thoughts and dispositions rises from the earth and flies upward to its heavenly Father, the Source of pure, spiritual joy and bliss (Matthew 5:8). When the soul with its purity becomes above everything earthly and sensual, then, according to the expression of the church song, it is illuminated by the Holy Spirit with a triple unity, that is, by the grace of the Holy Spirit it reaches such a state that in its three main powers - mind, heart and will, with all their differences constituting one essence of it, is reflected, as in a pure mirror, the light of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity - the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, constituting, in their consubstantiality and inseparability, one being of God (John 14:23. Eph. 3:17. 1 Cor. 3:16). In this state of divine enlightenment, the human soul, even on earth, achieves angelic dispassion, so that the hereditary inclination to sin, although it remains in it (1 John 1:8), but already loses its deadly power, and the dangerous enemies of its free striving for God - the flesh, the world and the devil - no longer mean anything to It. Therefore, it is said: everyone who is born of God does not commit sin, for His seed abides in him: and cannot sin, for he is born of God (1 John 3:9). Thus, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, a regenerated man, while still on earth, anticipates and begins the revelation of the kingdom of glory - that state of light, life and bliss when the Triune God will be, according to the words of the Apostle, all things in all (1 Cor. 15:28). Sacred secret. This state of a blessed person is sacred and mysterious. It is covered with a veil of mystery for outsiders, especially those who have not been reborn into spiritual life, immersed in the flesh or sensuality (Gen. 6:3), who think only about earthly things (Col. 3:2), carnal, sinful; but even for himself this state is incomprehensible: he feels it, but cannot give an account of how he entered into it. The peace of God flowing throughout his entire being surpasses all understanding (Phil. 4:7). (Compiled from the “Soulful Reading” for 1863, May). The Gospel mentions the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ (Matthew 12:46, 47, John 2:12; 7:3, etc.), but these, of course, are not the natural children of the Virgin Mary, but either the children of Joseph the betrothed from his first marriage, and therefore the stepsons of Mary, or, according to others, the children of Mary of Cleopas, the sister of the Mother of God. This troparion, in its content, is applicable to all venerable men generally glorified in heaven, although for most of them special troparions have been compiled by the Holy Church that relate more closely and more honestly to them. For the venerable holy women, this troparion alone is sung by the holy church. There are few holy desert dwellers for whom the church is supposed to sing the troparion shown: The following psalter shows only 13 of them. According to her instructions, the indicated troparion is sung to the following holy persons from the ascetics of the barren deserts: 1) St. Theoctietes (his memory is September 3rd); 2) the venerable father and confessor Khariton (his memory is September 28th); 3) Venerable Hilarion the Great (October 21); 4) Venerable Joannikius the Great (November 4); 5) St. Neil (comm. November 12th); 6) St. Savva the Sanctified (comm. December 5th); 7) St. Theodosius, general lives of the chief (memory Jan. 8); St. Ephraim the Syrian (mem. Jan. 28); 9) to the venerable and confessor Procopius Dekapolit (mem. Feb. 27); 10) St. John Climacus (mem. March 30); 11) St. Arseny the Great (his memorial is May 8); 12) St. Pachomius the Great (mem. May 15); 13) Venerable Pimen (memorial August 27). In honor of other desert dwellers, the church has compiled special troparia. Many of the holy desert dwellers withdrew into the wild, barren deserts for the sake of saving their souls, due to the strong influence of the word of God in their hearts. So, for example, Anthony the Great (Comm. Jan. 17) had an uncontrollable determination to leave all worldly delights and settle down, for the salvation of his soul, in the solitary desert, as a result of the words of the Gospel he heard in the church of God: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and have treasure in heaven” ( Matthew 19:21). In view of the high importance of Sunday dogmatists, their frequent use in church and their low accessibility in form to the understanding of the majority of Orthodox Christians, we here give a verbatim explanation of them. This dogmatic conclusion, the expressed confidence in overcoming enemies with the help of the Almighty God, serves as the reason for its use at a solemn prayer service on the day of the Nativity of Christ in memory of the deliverance of “the Russian church and state from the invasion of the Gauls and with them twenty languages.” In the dogmatics we are considering, the Most Holy Mary is called “heaven” mainly in the last highest meaning of this word, as can be judged by the connection with the further words of the hymn writer: “and the church of the Divinity.” We say “special” because the gracious presence of God can be in every believer worthy of this presence, which is why in some places of Holy Scripture believers are called “churches,” for example, I Cor. 3, 16, etc. Discussing the need for the incarnation of God for the salvation of people, Saint Andrew of Crete says further: “how could all this come to fruition if the Pure and Inviolable Virgin, Who contained the Inconceivable, had not first served the sacrament?” (Selected words of the father. p. 49) This meaning was as follows: the bush represented the Israelites, the flame engulfing it signified the persecution to which they were subject; its failure to burn from the fire depicted the invalidity of the persecution for the extermination of the Jews, the Divine voice heard from the midst of the cuppa was an image of the presence of God, who, according to the expression of the prophet, accompanied them in all sorrows (Is. 63:8). (Record on the book Ex., Archimandrite Philar. in the Reading. General. Love. Spirit of Enlightenment for 1871, January, p. 3). Even members of the Jewish hierarchy looked at it this way. See in Chetya-Minea 9 September. the reproach of Bishop Issachar to the childless Joachim, later the parent of Mary, and the refusal to accept a sacrifice from him. In the Symbol of the Orthodox Faith, from the Persons of the Holy Trinity, the property of the Holy is attributed to one third Person, not because, of course, It has a superior holiness over it, for all the Persons of the Holy Trinity are consubstantial with each other and equally holy, but because the sanctification of man belongs to Him.