Глава 28

"28 Ch. The Resurrection is marked by an earthquake: a lightning-shaped Angel descends from heaven, rolls away the stone from the tomb and sits on it. His clothes are white as snow - from the inner light. His fear shook the entire being of the warriors, and they became dead. While the Angel struck some with such horror, he calms the myrrh-bearers with the following words: don’t be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus crucified, Whom I serve. He is not here: He has risen, as He Himself predicted. Look at the place where the Lord lay. Glory to Your resurrection, Lord! April 26, 1856" [1, 132]. Matthew 28:5. “The angel turned his speech to the women and said: Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.” Matthew 28:6. “He is not here - He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." Matthew 28:7. “And go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead and is going before you into Galilee; you will see Him there. Here, I told you." Matthew 28:8. “And they came out of the tomb hastily, and ran with fear and great joy to tell His disciples.” Matthew 28:9. “When they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them and said: Rejoice! And they came and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.” Matthew 28:10. “Then Jesus says to them: Do not be afraid; Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” “I greet you, dear brothers and sisters, on the bright feast of the Resurrection of Christ from the dead! Rejoice, and I will say again: rejoice. For greater joy, let us listen to the Angel of the Lord, who appeared to the myrrh-bearers at the Savior’s tomb in the form of shining like lightning - and preached to them about the Resurrection of Christ. When they were in awe from his very shining appearance, he encouraged them and said: Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus crucified; He is not here - He has risen, as He said. Come and see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead and is going before you to Galilee; you will see Him there. Here, I told you. And, hastily emerging from the tomb, they ran with fear and great joy to tell His disciples. When they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them and said: Rejoice! And they came, grabbed His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus says to them: Do not be afraid; go, tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me... The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had commanded them, and when they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but others doubted. And Jesus approached and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:5–10, 16–20). Here is the end of the story of the Evangelist Matthew about the Resurrection and the appearance of the Lord. Dear brothers and sisters! Christ, having risen from the dead, no longer dies: death no longer has power over Him. For that He died, He died once in the flesh for the destruction of sin, for our redemption from death; and what he lives, he lives for God. So consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God, to all virtue in Christ Jesus our Lord (cf. Rom. 6:9-11). Christ rose from the dead, the firstborn of the dead. For just as death was through man (Adam), so through man (the God-man Christ) was the resurrection of the dead. Just as in Adam everyone dies, so in Christ everyone will come to life (cf. 1 Cor. 15:20–22)” [9, 117]. “Christians are the brethren of Christ: go, tell my brethren, says the risen Lord to the myrrh-bearing women about His disciples, that they may go to Galilee, and see Me there (Matthew 28:10). But all Christians are one Church of Christ, one His body. By this we make each other happy (Eph. 4:25), says the Apostle. You are one body, one spirit, just as you were called quickly in one (Eph. 4:4). I also pray for those who believe their word in Me, that they may all be one: as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us (John 17:20–21). - This means that all Christians are the brethren of Christ. What kind of Christians should be who have been vouchsafed such a great relationship with the God-Man? How should they live? In what kind of love with each other? For the Lord Himself said: of this everyone understands that you are My disciples, if you have love among yourself (John 13:35) (for He Himself is Love). What kind of impartiality should we have towards earthly goods, since they are corruptible and transitory and remove our souls from God? - For the slightest attachment to earthly things can separate us from love for Christ, Who demands from us - like God from creatures created in His image, a Simple Being from beings simple in soul - complete, undivided love. - He who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and he who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me (Matthew 10:37). Everyone who leaves a house, or a wife, or a father, or brothers and sisters... will receive an eternal inheritance of wealth a hundredfold (cf. Matthew 19:29). “You cannot work for God and mammon (Matthew 6:24)” [10, 284]. Matthew 28:20. “Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen." "I am with you all the days until the end of the age [Matthew 28:20]. So, Master, You are with us all the days, not a single day do we live without You, without Your co-presence. You are with us especially in the sacrament of Your Body and Blood. Oh, how truly and essentially You are in the Mysteries! You clothe yourself, Master, every liturgy with something subservient to us, besides sin, the body also nourishes us with Your life-giving flesh. Through the Mysteries You are completely with us, and Your flesh is united with our flesh and Your spirit is united with our soul - and we feel, we feel this life-giving, premium, sweet union, we feel that, clinging to You in the Eucharist, we become one spirit with You, as it is said: cling to the Lord, there is one spirit with the Lord [1 Cor. 6:17]. We become like You, good, meek and humble, as You said about Yourself: I am meek and humble in heart [Matthew 11:29]. and the Blood of the Lord, and sends sight, taste and touch as wicked witnesses for this. But we do not allow ourselves to listen to his slander and reason like this: for You, Lord, everything is possible; You create flesh for people, animals, fish, birds, reptiles - all creation; Do You not create flesh for Yourself, Who art everywhere and fulfill everything? What sculptor, making sculptures for others, is not able to make one for himself? Moreover, You transform dead matter into a living being, for example, the staff of Moses into a serpent, and nothing is impossible for You. Will You not create flesh for Yourself from bread and wine, which are so close to our flesh, being consumed as food and drink and transformed into our flesh and blood? You do not allow our faith to be tempted more than it might suffer [1 Cor. 10:1 ], You do not transform the lump of the earth into Your most pure Body and Blood, but white, soft, clean, pleasant-tasting bread; You do not create water with Your blood, but wine suitable to the color of blood (which is called the blood of the grape in the Holy Scripture [Sir. 50:17 ]), pleasing to the taste and gladdening the heart of man; You know our weakness, the weakness of our faith, and therefore you deigned to use the most suitable substances for the sacrament of Your Body and Blood. Let us firmly believe that under the guise of bread and wine we partake of the true Body and true Blood of Christ, that in the sacrament of communion the Lord will be with us all the days until the end of the age [Matt. 28:20]" [5, vol. 1, 28]. “The Church is eternal truth, because it is united with the Truth - Christ and is animated by the Spirit of Truth: I am with you all the days [Matt. 28:20]. The Church is His Body [Col. 1:24], says the Apostle” [5, vol. 1, 218]. “Holy Angels and holy men of God are our best, kindest, most faithful brothers and friends, who so often help us in various circumstances in which no other person can help. Since these brothers, who live forever and benefit us, are invisible, and we, by our physicality, want to have them before our eyes, as if they were always with us, we make images of them, and looking at their images, it seems to us that they are with us, and we call upon them in our prayers, knowing that they have great boldness before God and help us in various circumstances. Thus, the veneration of icons is very beneficial for us, in accordance with our nature, with common sense, and with Holy Scripture itself, for the images of Cherubim were also in the Old Testament tabernacle of Moses. Icons serve us as a constant reminder that the Lord is always with us: I am with you all the days until the end of the age [Matt. 28:20 ]; that the Most Holy Theotokos is always close to us, as the Head of the Church’s mental edification, as the Mother by grace of all true Christians, and all true Christians have the image of the Mother of God and their own by grace of the Queen and Mother in their homes and abundantly, worthily and righteously decorate it with silver, gold, precious stones, for there is no one dearer and more honorable to them after God than His Most Pure Mother. Both the Lord and His Most Pure Mother themselves continually testify to us, both internally and externally through miracles, that our true veneration of His saints and His Mother and His holy icons pleases Him, and is extremely useful for us” [5, vol. 2, 433]. “With the cross, just as in the sign of the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ, as living and life-giving, is always with us and always works with various forces for our salvation, by faith in Him, our God and Savior. Glory to our Lord for this, who is always with us! Behold, I am with you all the days to the end of the age. Amen [Matt. 28:20]" [5, vol. 2, 337]. “With God,” says the proverb, “everything is close.” It’s as if everything is close: all spiritual and sensory creatures, Angels, souls of the departed, all living people, all animals, all material worlds. – The Spirit of God passes through everything; the spirit is intelligent, pure, subtle and lives in every believing, pious soul. – The beauty of the countryside is with Me [Ps. 49:11 ], He says. – I am with you always, even to the end of the age [Matt. 28:20]. As for the infinite Spirit, for God there is nothing remote, but everything is before Him, at a glance. He is all everywhere and all is in Him. Everything lives and exists through Him” [5, vol. 2, 495]. "Rejoice, full of grace: the Lord is with you [Luke 1:28]! - the Lord and with every pious soul who believes in Him. The Lord's presence with the Virgin Mary, before Her conception of the Savior, is not a feature characteristic of the Most Pure Virgin alone: the Lord is with every believing soul, - the Lord is with you. These words can be said to every person who keeps the commandments of the Lord. - And the Lord is close to everyone: only people are far from Him in their hearts, in their thoughts, in their intentions and dispositions of the heart, in their words and deeds, contrary to the law of God. I am with you, says our Lord, born of the Most Holy Virgin, to the end of the age [Matt. space, until the end of time" [5, vol. 2, 483]. “How holy is the Orthodox faith and the Church! How righteous, full of God’s peace, full of infinite and indescribable beauty (imagine the names of all the saints, remember their lives, full of every virtue and miracles during life and after death)! The Church satisfies all the needs of the human spirit and saves everyone who is devoted to it and faithful until the end of their lives. Glory, Lord, to Your holy Orthodox faith! The papists, recognizing the pope as the head of the church, placed him on the throne instead of Christ and deified him, and placed Christ in the background. The Pope was made the vicar of Christ, while Christ remains with us all the days until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). But look how many errors are allowed in the papal (and not Christ’s) faith, strange errors, blasphemous ones - and you will turn away from it with indignation and horror! O human pride! O satanic pride! Dad seems to be infallible! O Jesuitism" [6, 42]. “St. Nicholas lived at the beginning of the fourth century, at the end of the persecution of the Christian faith from pagan emperors and at the beginning of its triumph under the Equal-to-the-Apostles Tsar Constantine, at the very height of the destructive heresy of the heretic Arius, who rejected the Divinity of Christ. He was present as a defender of the right faith at the First Ecumenical Council, and showed particular zeal in defending the Divine dignity of the Son of God. Just as the need was urgent then, so now we all need, for the salvation of our souls, to firmly confess before everyone the following pious mystery: God appeared in the flesh, justified Himself in the Spirit, showed Himself to the angels, preached among the nations, accepted by faith in the world, ascended in glory (1 Tim. 3:16). Or: the word is true and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). This is the great and saving mystery of the faith of Christ that St. Nicholas firmly and zealously confessed before everyone throughout his entire life, and for which he suffered bloodlessly during the last persecution. This is the great sacrament of piety, the appearance of God in the flesh on earth and His foundation of the Holy Orthodox Church, in which He always abides and will abide until the end of the age - behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the age (Matt. 28:20) - and in our time we must firmly support and confess before everyone - since now in Russia a blasphemous doctrine has appeared and is boldly preached, denying the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ - the culprit and preacher of which was the new Julian and the new Arius, Count Leo Tolstoy, who boldly raised his gray head against Christ and the Church and carried away many of his admirers with him" [9, 376] “The Lord also said to His disciples: I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, for it does not see Him, but knows Him: but you know Him, for He abides in you and will be in you (John 14:16-17). The Holy Spirit will be with you forever, the Savior said, but since the apostles did not remain forever on earth, but died the death of righteous people and martyrs, this promise applies, of course, to the successors of the apostles - bishops and presbyters and deacons consecrated by them. That is why there is sacred ordination, which apparently transfers the gifts of the Holy Spirit from the apostles to the priesthood until the end of the age (cf. Matthew 28:20). – So, don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit living in you (1 Cor. 6:19)? You are the church of God, and the Spirit of God lives in you (1 Cor. 3:16). But since the Spirit of God is always Living and Life-giving and active, He speaks in you, and acts, and quickens your hearts, and enlightens your minds” [10, 70]. “The Church is eternal truth, because it is united with the Truth - Christ and is animated by the Spirit of truth. I am with you all the days (Matthew 28:20). The Church is His body (See: Col. 1:18), says the Apostle” [10, 342]. “We often depict the sign of the cross on ourselves 1) in order to constantly remember the Lord’s greatest benefit to us - the redemption of us by suffering on the cross and death from sins and eternal torment for sins and 2) so that by the miraculous power of the Life-giving Cross we can be confirmed more and more in this confidence that the Lord, by the Cross and death, entered into eternal glory and His name is worshiped by every tribe of heaven and earth and the underworld. (Cf. Phil. 2:10) and that if we bear our cross during this life, then we too will enter into eternal glory; for the Cross is the forerunner of the highest and eternal glory; Even by the power of the Cross acting in us, we are convinced to the point of tangibility of the truth that the Lord is always with us, according to His promise: behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20), - in us and at our right hand, in no way separated from us, but remaining persistently: therefore we must be confirmed by this power of the Cross in the hope of Christ Jesus in all circumstances of our life" [8, 439]. “With the Cross and in the Cross - just as in the sign of the cross - the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Living and Life-Giving One, is always with us and always works various forces for our salvation, by faith in Him, our God and Savior. Glory to our Lord for this, who is always with us. Behold, I am with you all the days to the end of the age. Amen (Matthew 28:20)” [11, 385]. 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