Глава 26

"Ch. 26. The wife pours precious ointment on the head of the reclining Jesus. What, by the way, does the Lord of the world and the Creator of centuries reward her with? He gives her His almighty word as a souvenir, according to which everywhere, throughout the world, her deed will be remembered until the end of time. It is remarkable that with the Lord everything was done according to prophecies: He Himself often notes that it is necessary... to fulfill all righteousness [Matt. 3:15 ]; How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, that this must be so? [Art. 54], etc. And the evangelists note even more often: may the Scriptures be fulfilled, etc. From this alone I recognize in the Sweetest Jesus the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world” [1, 132]. Matthew 26:6. “Now while Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,” Matthew 26:7. “A woman came to Him with an alabaster flask of precious ointment and poured it on His head as he reclined.” Matthew 26:8. “When His disciples saw this, they were indignant and said, “Why such a waste?” Matthew 26:9. “For this ointment could have been sold for a great price and given to the poor.” Matthew 26:10. “But Jesus, realizing this, said to them, “Why are you embarrassing the woman? She did a good deed for Me:" Matthew 26:11. “For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.” Matthew 26:12. “Having poured this ointment on My body, she prepared Me for burial;” Matthew 26:13. “Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the whole world, what she has done will also be spoken of in her memory.” “Here is an example from the gospel story. Once, when our Savior was in Bethany - in the house of Simon the leper, a woman approached Him with a bottle of precious ointment, broke a vessel and poured myrrh on His head, and anointed His feet, which she wiped with her hair. The whole house was filled with the fragrance of peace. When others were indignant at the waste of the precious ointment, the Lord praised her and said: She has done a good deed for Me: having poured this ointment on My body, she has thus prepared Me for burial. Truly I say to you: wherever this Gospel is preached throughout the whole world, what she has done will also be spoken of in her memory (See: Matt. 26:6–13). This prophecy of the Savior, as you see, is being fulfilled to this day throughout the whole world, wherever there are Churches of the Lord; Every year her praiseworthy zeal for the Lord is praised in the ears of the entire Church and will be praised until the end of time. So, beloved, it is good to serve the Lord with all your heart, with great love! The memory of you will be preserved throughout all centuries until the end of the world! Your memory will be eternal in heaven; Eternal joy and glory to you in heaven! Moreover, even on earth it is so pleasant for you, as it is not pleasant for any of the people who do not serve the Lord with all their hearts. Proof of this are all the saints - apostles, prophets, saints, martyrs, saints and righteous ones. They served the Lord with all their hearts on earth - and from century to century they are glorified on earth; eternal glory to them in heaven" [9, 124]. Matthew 26:23. “He answered and said, He who dipped his hand into the dish with Me, he will betray Me.” Matthew 26:24. “However, the Son of Man comes, as it is written about Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed: it would have been better for this man not to have been born.” Matthew 26:25. “At this Judas, who betrayed Him, said: Isn’t it I, Rabbi? Jesus says to him, “You have spoken.” “It would have been a shame if that man had not been born (cf. Matt. 26:24): and so many are not born. Why are many people born with defective limbs, blind, deaf, etc.? “May they be pardoned in eternity, may they teach their parents humility and devotion to the will of God” [8, 145]. Matthew 26:26. “And while they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat: this is My body.” Matthew 26:27. “And he took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you,” Matthew 26:28. “For this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” “Instead of the tree of life, there is the bread of life; instead of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - the same life-giving bread of life. Then it is said: touch not, lest ye die [Gen. 3:3 ], now it is said: eat, and you will live [Compare: John. 6:51, 58]. Then Eve and Adam believed the seducer and died; now, on the contrary, we believe the words of the Lord of life: this is My Body, this is My Blood [Matt. 26:26, 28; Mk. 14:22, 24 ] and we are quickened; by what they fell, they rose; fell through unbelief in God, through disobedience, and rose up through obedience to faith. There we agreed with the devil against God and united with him - a liar - to our own death; Now we wholeheartedly agree with the Truth Himself - God the Savior and with a true heart we unite with Him for life, peace and joy. Ole terrible sacrament! Ole the mercy of God! How I partake of the Divine Body and Blood of clay and am made incorruptible [canon of communion, canto 8]!” [5, vol. 2, 507–508]. “Whose words are these: Take, eat: this is My Body, which is broken for you for the remission of sins, and drink of it, all of you: this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:26-28)? Is it not the all-good and all-powerful Creator and the all-generous Savior of the entire human race, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the whole world? Arius the heretic relegated the Creator to the ranks of creatures and did not recognize Him as consubstantial and co-eternal with the Father, One with Him and the Holy Spirit. Can a creature transform the essence of things into a completely different nature, for example, wheat bread into the most pure Body of God and red grape wine into the most pure and life-giving Blood of God? Is it not the Almighty Creator who can create and implement this? The Aryans and like-minded people, of whom there were tens of thousands, did not recognize Jesus Christ as the Creator. This was the great misfortune for the Orthodox and heretics: if they trusted Arius, they would have lost communion with the Church and eternal salvation. The heretic Arius wanted to destroy the saving Orthodox faith and introduce a heretical, destructive faith. Therefore, Orthodox bishops, clergy and Orthodox laymen strongly opposed Arius. The pious Emperor Constantine Equal-to-the-Apostles himself gathered from all over the Orthodox world holy bishops, presbyters and partly deacons, among whom was the holy Archdeacon Athanasius, who was later appointed archbishop of Alexandria in Egypt. They examined, weighed and refuted the wicked teaching of Arius and his associates and condemned them as ungodly, and compiled an exposition of the Orthodox faith, or the Creed, for all times until the end of the age, according to the clear and powerful and wise teaching of the Holy Spirit of God. And to this day we all agree and unanimously believe in this Creed and do not add a single iota to it, so as not to lose our salvation for a false addition, like Catholics, Lutherans and Anglicans. To our God, glorified in the Trinity, glory forever and ever! Amen" [6, 14]. "Take, eat... Drink from it, all of you (Matthew 26:26-27)... Does everyone eat and drink the Flesh and Blood of the Lord according to His commandments? In the Orthodox world, in other places in the church there are no communicants; in universities there are no communicants, not to mention other Christian denominations... It’s up to us. What’s going on here!.. O Divine our faith, more than the sun, shining Orthodoxy, won to us by the blood of the apostles, the martyr and the righteous, come to us! O most precious pearl! O renewal! O light! reconciliation made with the righteous God of sinners! O golden chain to heaven! O golden ladder to heaven" [6, 68]. “What a wonderful, holy, captivating mind, heart and will - the idea of ​​​​the universal Church of Christ, headed by its Founder Himself - Christ God! In the Gospel and in the liturgy, as in a mirror, all the goodness and truth of God is reflected, all the love, all the wisdom of God, all the omnipotence of God, all the wondrous economy of God for the salvation of the human race, all the Divine assessment of fallen humanity, created in the beginning in the image of God, all the wonderful communication of God with regenerated people, all the deification, the raising of human nature into heaven and its landing with God. How wonderfully blessed, with what physical and spiritual labors the saints completed their daily path of preparation, and how they were glorified by God during life and after death! How they were fragrant in spirit and body and appeared alive even after death! Delve into this idea of ​​the Church, the idea of ​​the liturgy, this preparatory part of it (proskomedia), as well as the liturgy of the catechumens and the liturgy of the faithful, look at the idea of ​​the Church as the Body of Christ, with whom faithful Christians are inseparably united; look at the interaction of the members of one on the other, earthly and heavenly, prophets, patriarchs, apostles, martyrs, saints, saints and all saints; Look at the care of the earthly Church for the underworld, or for the dead. See what kind of communication the earthly Church has with the inhabitants of heaven, or the perfect members of the Church of Christ, who have received incorruptible, eternal benefits; Look what kind of fellowship we have with all the saints; we glorify them, please them, magnify them, beg them to help us in the matter of victory over our passions and invisible enemies; how we thank God that He glorified them and made them prayer books for us, especially the Most Holy Theotokos, and to top off all our wonder at God’s mercy, we partake (some) daily of the most pure Body and Blood of Christ, sincerely communicating with the Head of the Church Himself, as a guarantee of eternal life in heaven. O holy Church! O Divine Liturgy! How Divine, holy, life-giving you are! In the Catholic faith there is no idea of ​​the Church. It has gone down the drain: there is no proskomedia in it, the most pure Blood is not given to the laity, but it is precisely what is needed. Drink from it, all of you, says the Lord, this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:27–28)” [6, 29]. “Instead of the tree of life, there is the bread of life; instead of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - the same life-giving bread of life. Then it is said: touch not, lest ye die [Gen. 3:3 ], now it is said: eat, and you will live [Compare: John. 6:51, 58]. Then Eve and Adam believed the seducer and died; now, on the contrary, we believe the words of the Lord of life: this is My Body, this is My Blood [Matt. 26:26, 28; Mk. 14:22, 24 ] and we are quickened; by what they fell, they rose; fell through unbelief in God, through disobedience, and rose up through obedience to faith. There we agreed with the devil against God and united with him - a liar - to our own death; Now with all our hearts we agree with the Truth Himself - God the Savior and with a true heart we unite with Him for life, for peace and joy, Ole of the terrible sacrament! Ole the mercy of God! Like the Divine Body and Blood of clay I partake and become incorruptible [canon of communion, canto 8]” [5, vol. 2, 507]. “I suffered greatly today for being upset with Deacon Peter Alexandrovich during mass for the monotonous and drawn-out reading of the festive Gospel and for doubting the presence of the Lord in His Most Pure Blood. ABOUT! How the devil pressed and scorched me! The sermon barely spoke in a suffering voice, in a voice of sorrow and oppression. He barely served the prayer service: he was completely relaxed. What kindness and condescension towards a brother’s weaknesses during service is needed! And the devil provokes anger because of the most plausible pretext. – We must bear the weaknesses of the weak (Rom. 15:1). – Words: The verbs that are spoken to you, the spirit is the essence and the life is the essence (John 6:63), refer to the Body and Blood of Christ. This means that the whole of Christ is equally present both in the Body and in the Blood of Christ. – Already the very torment of the soul due to doubt in the presence of the Lord in the Blood of Christ serves as proof that this thought is from the devil and is delusion, a lie, a dream. – And the words of the Lord: this is My Body, and this is My Blood (Matthew 26:26, 28) – aren’t they the same, aren’t they equivalent? Are not the Body and Blood one and the same being? The Body? - Truly. “Moreover, Jesus Christ the Son of God is the Spirit who exists everywhere” [10, 368]. Matthew 26:29. “I tell you, from now on I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink new wine with you in the kingdom of My Father.” “From now on I will not drink from the fruit of this vine until the day when I drink new wine with you in the Kingdom of My Father (Matthew 26:29). This is what the Lord says as a man: He foresaw a new heaven and a new earth, in which all chosen people will be renewed and will have everything new - and a new city, spiritual Jerusalem, and new food, and new drink, which are Christ Himself and the Holy Spirit, and a new Sun, or Lamp, which is Christ. The present one. fruit of the vine - the Blood of Christ is a figurative drink of the future true communion of Christ in His kingdom (like You will receive communion in the eternal days of Your Kingdom) [6, 118]. Matthew 26:36. “Then Jesus comes with them to a place called Gethsemane and says to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray there.” Matthew 26:37. “And taking Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with him, he began to mourn and be sad.” Matthew 26:38. “Then Jesus said to them: My soul is sorrowful unto death; abide here and watch with Me.” Matthew 26:39. “And going away a little, he fell on his face, praying and saying: My Father! if possible, let this cup pass from Me; however, not as I want, but as You want.” Matthew 26:40. “And he comes to the disciples and finds them sleeping, and says to Peter, “Could you not watch with me one hour?” Matthew 26:41. “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:42. “Another time, going away, he prayed, saying: My Father! If this cup cannot pass from Me, lest I drink it, Thy will be done.” “Do not have any addiction not only to food and drink, to clothing, to a spacious and well-decorated home, to rich household utensils, but also to your health, even to your life, do not have the slightest addiction, having surrendered your whole life to the will of the Lord, saying: for me to live and die is gain [Phil. 1:21]. Hate your soul in this world, you will keep it in eternal life [Jn. 12:25]. Addiction to temporary life, to health leads to many deviations from the commandments of God, to indulgence of the flesh, to breaking fasts, to evading the conscientious performance of service duties, to despondency, impatience, and irritability. Never sleep in the evening before the evening rule, lest your heart become white from untimely sleep, and lest the enemy stifle it with petrified insensibility in prayer. Be sober, be vigilant [1 Pet. 5:8]. Watch and pray, so that you do not fall into misfortune [Matt. 26:41]. Be on the lookout, for you do not know the hour of the day, when the Son of Man will come [Matthew 25:13]. Be on the lookout: you don’t know when the Lord will come home, evening, or midnight, or at the sound of a loop, or morning: lest he come suddenly, he will find you sleeping. And as I say to you, I say to everyone, watch [Mk. 13:35–37]" [5, vol. 1, 197]. “The covenant was boldly and ungratefully broken by the first couple, and the terrible corruption of sin and corruption infected Adam and Eve, and - since they carried in their loins the entire human race that came from them, this infection spread to all humanity - just as we see this to this day on ourselves and on all people. Through the violation of the covenant, humanity rejected God, the Source of life, enslaved itself to the enemy of God, the enemy of all righteousness and truth, combined, dissolved with the all-evil and all-evil nature of the devil, and was subjected to the curse of God and temporary and eternal death. But, since the fall of the first people was not invented by them, but by a fallen being, incorporeal and rational, strong in malice and deceit - the devil, and was accomplished through the deception of the inexperienced primordial couple from him, and therefore was not as deep as the fall of Dennitsa, then the truth and mercy of God allowed the restoration and redemption of fallen man and the elevation to the first goodness and wealth - and in the eternal Council It was determined by God - to redeem the fallen human race through the incarnation of the Son of God and His fulfillment of all the righteousness of God, through His redemptive, voluntary suffering on the cross, through His voluntary death for the guilty, and - according to His immeasurable goodness and compassion for the fallen - He took upon Himself the heavy burden of redemption and said to His Father: behold, I come to do Your will, O God (Wed: Ps. 39:8–9; See: Matt. 26:36–42). This is the greatest and saving Mystery of the Cross! This is the explanation why the One who hung the earth on the waters, who holds heaven and earth with the hand of His hand, who created all the heavenly bodies and gave firm laws to all the stars, hangs before our eyes. For the immeasurable sins of men, an immeasurably great Sacrifice was offered, for those who sold themselves to the enemy the devil - an infinitely great ransom - voluntary suffering in the flesh of the Life-Giver Himself and the death of the Sinless One. – Ask: how could the sinless and impassive God-man suffer and die – not involved in a single sin? After all, suffering is characteristic of a sinful person, and death cannot have power over a sinless person, since death is a consequence of sin and the punishment for sin is the pattern of sin, death, says Holy Scripture (Rom. 6:23). “But Christ suffered not with the Divine nature, which is not subject to suffering, but with the human nature, and died in the body, and not in the Divinity, and accepted suffering and death voluntarily, for our redemption and for victory over the universal death of men, otherwise suffering and death could not have touched His Theanthropic soul and body” [9, 110]. "Rtsy is a certain verb to the Lord - and die (Job 2:9). Job was forced to blaspheme the Lord in bodily illness and in spiritual sorrow by his wife - this is an image of the fact that the devil always forces us to blaspheme the Lord and His Most Pure Mother in bodily illness and in spiritual sorrow. - Say some blasphemy against the Lord and against His Mother and die. Yes, it happens. - Know and be strong. - Be patient and pray. Know that without God’s permission you will not endure even a moment of suffering. Mental and physical suffering is God’s will. Pray: My Father, if it is possible, carry this cup from Me, not as I will, but as You will (Matt. 26:39). Remember also that physical and spiritual suffering is sent for the benefit of the soul. The guarantee of this is the truth, the goodness and wisdom of God and the state of the soul that follows illness or sorrow. - Having suffered in the flesh from sin (1 Peter 4:1), do not be faint-hearted and do not indulge in impatient groans and cries” [10, 460]. Matthew 26:48. “The one who betrayed Him gave them a sign, saying: Whomever I kiss, He is the One, take Him.” Matthew 26:49. “And immediately coming up to Jesus, he said: Rejoice, Rabbi! And kissed Him." “Many take communion for a long time and often, but do not change internally; they do not want to leave their passions, bad habits and addictions. – This is the kiss of Judas (See: Matt. 26:48–49). The earth, which drinks the rain that descends on it in abundance and gives birth to former good ones, or is made to do so, receives a blessing from God: but the wearing thorns and thistles are not necessary to eat... (Heb. 6: 7–8)” [11, 97]. Matthew 26:53. “Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will present to Me more than twelve legions of Angels?” “Do everyone have guardian angels? There are and there should be. The nature of the spirit is unusually active and cannot help but act; we see it in our souls. The nature of a good spirit necessarily seeks activity and expansion of the circle of this activity, the spread of the kingdom of truth and goodness; how, on the contrary, the nature of the evil spirit seeks corresponding activity and expansion of the kingdom of lies and all evil. That demons are trying in every possible way to spread the kingdom of evil - we feel this in ourselves, and Holy Scripture testifies to this: the devil, like a roaring lion, walks around, looking for someone to devour [1 Pet. 5:8]. How can one not allow, even at the request of common sense, the truth that Angels act everywhere in the world, try to spread the kingdom of goodness and seek human Salvation! Oh, the word is true that there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents [Lk. 15:7 ], and just as the devil is with every person, so a good Angel is also with every person; We clearly feel both the presence of that and the presence of that, although, out of pride, we are accustomed to attributing all good thoughts, feelings, dispositions and intentions to ourselves, and not to the Guardian Angel. – Will there be enough Guardian Angels for every person? - Enough, and in abundance. When the Apostle Peter rushed with a knife at the bishop's servant - to defend his Teacher and Lord, the Lord said to him: or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will send Me more than twelve legions of Angels [See: Matt. 26:53 ]? – This means that the Lord always has enough of them in abundance to protect every person (Elisha, Jacob), and especially for the Son of God incarnate. It is also known that the Guardian Angel appeared to the Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane to strengthen Him; The angels came and served Him [Matt. 4:11 ], after forty days of fasting and temptation in the desert; The guardian angel of the Infant Savior appeared to Joseph in a dream and controlled his movements” [5, vol. 2, 543]. "The judgments of God are ever righteous upon us (Wed: Dan. 3:27): each of us dies violently from the passion to which he was enslaved primarily and unrepentantly, that is, incorrigibly: a drunkard dies from drunkenness, a glutton - from stomach pain, an adulterer - from adultery or from diseases accompanying this vice, an ambitious man - from impulses of ambition (a fight that he warmly took to heart), a stingy one - from stinginess, an irritable one - from irritability, a murderer - from the hands of others: everyone who takes a knife with a knife will perish (cf. Matthew 26:52); an evil talker - from his tongue, etc. So, brethren, beware: be attentive to yourself in this temporary life; because of your laziness, passion: recover from it quickly, otherwise you will die from it, like from a domestic murderer. The dominant passion in a person, therefore, according to the Savior, turns out to be a knife that cuts the thread of our life” [8, 353]. Matthew 26:54. “How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, that this must be so?” "Ch. 26. The wife pours precious ointment on the head of the reclining Jesus. What, by the way, does the Lord of the world and the Creator of centuries reward her with? He gives her His almighty word as a souvenir, according to which everywhere, throughout the world, until the end of time, her deed will be remembered. It is remarkable that with the Lord everything was done according to prophecies: He Himself often notes that it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness, how the Scriptures will be fulfilled, as it should be (v. 54) and so on. And evangelists remark even more often: may the Scriptures be fulfilled and so on. From this alone I recognize in the Sweetest Jesus the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world” [1, 132]. Matthew 26:63. “Jesus was silent. And the high priest said to Him: I adjure You by the living God, tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God?” “Humility, by the way, consists in tolerating unjust insults kindly and not opening your mouth to those who offend (cf. Isa. 53:7; Acts 8:32). Jesus is silent (Matthew 26:63). – Humility – don’t try to stand on your own. Humility is to be willing and quick to obey in everything to your superior and even to your inferiors” [8, 442]. Matthew 26:69. “Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a certain maid came to him and said, “You too were with Jesus the Galilean.” Matthew 26:70. “But he denied it before everyone, saying: I don’t know what you are saying.” Matthew 26:71. “When he went out of the gate, another saw him, and said to those who were there, “This one too was with Jesus of Nazareth.” Matthew 26:72. “And he again denied with an oath that he did not know this Man.” Matthew 26:73. “A little later those standing there came and said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for your speech also convicts you.” Matthew 26:74. “Then he began to swear and swear that he did not know This Man. And suddenly the rooster crowed.” Matthew 26:75. “And Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken to him: Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times. And going out, he wept bitterly.” “When you say: And do not lead us into temptation (Matthew 6:13), then you are asking the Heavenly Father to remove from you such cases in which your faith, your loyalty and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ may be shaken, especially if you are not firm in the faith; for example, so that in any case you do not deny Him, as the Apostle Peter denied (See: Matt. 26:70–75), so as not to be ashamed to confess His name, so as not to be ashamed of His Cross, His Most Pure Mother or His saints; In general, with these words you ask the Heavenly Father to remove from you, as from a weak person, enemy or carnal and worldly temptations, of which there are so many in the world around us” [11, 44]. You might be interested in: