Conversations on the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ

Conversation 1. The Savior’s last prediction about His death and Judas’ challenge to betrayal (Wednesday) Matt. 26:1–5, 14–16; Mk. 14:1–2, 10–11; OK. 22:1–6 Since the first times of Christianity, Holy Pentecost has been dedicated to the remembrance of the sufferings of our Savior on the cross. And how necessary, how saving, to study the stories of the sufferings of our Lord on the cross! The Apostle Paul testified about himself: “When I was with you, I purposed to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). So he considered it important to know the crucified Christ! Sinners! How are we saved from eternal condemnation? The sufferings of Jesus Christ, only His sufferings. How can we not know, how can we not study the suffering that saves us, in its exact and complete form? Could there be anything more precious, anything more important for us than the suffering of our Savior? The Apostle calls Christ crucified by God's power and God's wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24). What a lofty, what a vast subject for reflection is the crucified Jesus! The most particular features of the one who was promised to humanity by ancient revelation were fulfilled with all accuracy in the story of the suffering Jesus. How much consolation, how much strength for faith in Jesus! The days of Jesus’ suffering are a shortening of His entire life, so pure, holy, divine. In what light do His love for people, His submission to the Heavenly Father, His heavenly meekness, His innocence and purity, His detachment from everything earthly for the glory of God appear here? And the instructions of His last days, lofty and holy, are not all the more dear to us because they were the last, forming, as it were, the testament of a dying father? What son does not value his father's last words? What student does not hide in the depths of his soul the instructions of a worthy mentor who says goodbye forever? After this, listeners, I am confident that, with your reverent love for the sufferings of the Savior, you will willingly, with love, listen to the explanation of the Gospel stories about these sufferings on Holy Pentecost. As much as our understanding allows us, we will show you from the holy Evangelists instruction after instruction, event after event, in their historical sequence; and when explaining the lofty words of the Gospel, we will adhere not to our own arbitrariness, but to the instructions of the holy fathers and Teachers of the Church. For the first time, let us explain the Savior’s last prediction about His death on the cross and Judas’s challenge to betrayal. And it came to pass when Jesus finished all these sayings, speaking (Matthew 26:1). What were the previous words about? About the coming of Christ to judge the universe (Matthew 24–25). This was the final instruction of the great Enlightener of the world. The teaching about the end of the world is the natural end of the work of the Teacher of the world. The ministry of the unprecedented Prophet, the heavenly example of Prophets, continued for three years and a half. The light of the world, the great Prophet has finished his work (John 8:12, Luke 7:16). After that, if Christ Jesus were only the Teacher of Israel, He would have nothing more to do on earth. What needed to be announced to people, He announced. The will of God for people was revealed by the Son of God in such completeness that it had not been revealed before; it is presented in such clarity, in such closeness to the understanding of everyone, as the Prophets did not reveal. – The very enemies of Jesus testified that no other person had ever spoken as this man spoke (John 7:46). But Jesus, even at birth, was called the Savior of the world; Even at His birth, heaven announced that with Him would come peace on earth and the good will of heaven among men. It is clear that He is more than the Teacher of Israel, more than the Enlightener of the world. And for poor humanity, was it enough to tell them the will of God, even in its entirety? No, to save him it is necessary that heavenly justice be reconciled with him, the guilty one. – And now the Savior, awaited for centuries, having proclaimed the will of God, like a Prophet, brings about the reconciliation of heaven and earth, like a High Priest. This is what He is now telling the disciples about. He said to his disciples: You know that the Passover will be in two days, and the Son of Man will be given up to death (Matthew 26:2). More than once the Savior pointed to His death on the cross symbolically: in this form He explained the ascension of the serpent in the wilderness (John 3:14), in this form He spoke about the destruction of the church of His body by the Jews (John 2:19). More than once he made it known in clear words that He must suffer and die in Jerusalem (Matthew 16:21, 17:22, 20:18). And now again, but for the last time, two days in advance, He predicts His death on the cross. Isn’t it clear that this death is a matter of the special will of God? Isn’t it clear that Jesus Christ goes to death with complete freedom, as determined by the will of God? He said before: the imam will lay down the area (life) and the imam will again accept the area: I have received this commandment from My Father (John 10:18). And His very deeds show the same thing. We know that Easter will be in two days. What day was it when this was said to the disciples? Six days before Easter, the Lord Jesus was in Bethany, where Mary anointed His feet with precious ointment; and this was on the Sabbath (John 12:1–2). On the day that followed there was a solemn entry into Jerusalem (John 12:12). On Monday, on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus cursed the barren fig tree and returned to Bethany for the night (Matthew 21:18; Mark 11:13,18,19). On Tuesday, in response to Peter's remark about the withered fig tree, he speaks about the power of faith and then in Jerusalem talks with the scribes (Mark 11:20,27). – Thus, on Wednesday of the Great Week, the Lord tells the disciples about His sufferings, which must take place on Easter. Passover will be in two days, and the Son of Man will be crucified. What is this combination of two circumstances? Passover is the most solemn holiday of the Jews. Connected with it, firstly, was the memory of the salvation of the firstborn of Israel from the destructive sword of heaven, which destroyed the firstborn of Egypt, and, secondly, the memory of the salvation of the entire Israeli people from Pharaoh, who was mired in the waves of the Red Sea. No matter how great these events were in the fate of Israel, the greatest importance of the Passover celebration was given by the educational significance of the Passover lamb. When the Lord Jesus told His disciples that He would be handed over to be crucified on Easter, it is not clear whether they understood His indication of the mysterious coincidence of the days of His suffering with the days of Easter. But subsequently, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, they clearly and persistently pointed out to the Jews this mysterious connection of events. Our Passover was devoured for us by Christ, said the Apostle Paul, and he ordered that we celebrate the new Passover not by eating unleavened bread, as the Jews celebrated, but in purity and meekness of soul (1 Cor. 5:7–8). We are saved, the Apostle Peter taught, by the venerable blood of the Lamb, the unblemished and pure blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:19) and, therefore, we have no need for the Passover lamb of Egypt. Then the bishops and scribes and the elders of the people gathered in the courtyard of the bishops, the verb Caiaphas, and conferred, so that they would flatter Jesus and kill him (Matthew 26:3-4). According to the story of St. John, the Sanhedrin, after Jesus raised Lazarus, decided to kill Jesus. He then gave the order to find and capture the Nazirite Teacher: but the Lord, without exposing himself to danger ahead of time, disappeared. This was a week before Easter (John 11:53, 55, 57, 12:11). – Now the Sanhedrin gathered to discuss how to carry out its decision on the death of Jesus. He decided, firstly, to act against Him only secretly; secondly, he determined that His death should not take place on the Easter holiday (Mark 14:2). Why did the Sanhedrin decide to act this way against Jesus? Let there not be a rumor among the people, for I am afraid of people (Luke 22:2). A clear conscience is not afraid of anything, but the wicked runs even when no one is chasing him (Ps. 13:5). The Sanhedrin feared the people who respected Jesus, although the consequences proved that this fear was completely in vain. A clear conscience acts openly; she does not neglect prudent caution, but she does not hide from people out of human fear and does not like measures of crafty cunning. The Sanhedrin felt that its work was far from being a matter of pure conscience, and was forced to act with flattery and measures of low cunning. So, the Sanhedrin drew up a plan for its action. Did his intentions come true? It seemed that how could people who had strong power in their hands fail to carry out what was necessary for their reasons? And yet it turned out quite the opposite. Why is this? Because before people made their decision, the One sent by the heavenly Father said: in two days the Passover will be, and the Son of man will be given up to be crucified. This is how human councils are destroyed, since they do not respond to the advice of God. People, against their will, to the detriment of their honor, do what they previously recognized as unprofitable for themselves and what they did not want to do - they do it because the will of God ordained it to be. Then one of them, said Judas Iscariot, went to the bishop, saying: whatever you want to give, I will deliver Him to you (Matthew 26:14-15). For the Sanhedrin, Judas was needed then, as the Sanhedrin intended, but Jesus was flattered. So, there is no doubt that Judas volunteered to betray not before the second meeting of the Sanhedrin took place. Judas learned that the Sanhedrin was looking for an opportunity to take Jesus secretly, and he hastened to volunteer for the services of the powerful Sanhedrin. What made Judas decide to take such a dark act? Others think that Judas, out of faith in the Messiah-king, wanted to see His earthly kingdom as soon as possible. The Cainites revered Judas for his betrayal and said that he, one of the Apostles, had insight into the mystery of the salvation of people through the death of Jesus 1. Some of the new ones say similar things. But the Evangelists do not indicate in a word or a hint that Judas had a desire to quickly enthron the Teacher, although such a thought about him would have eased their grief over their traitor brother; on the contrary, everywhere they show in Judas a soul greedy for gain, for money. The God-Man testifies: “Woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed” (Matthew 26:24). And such a strict judgment, of course, does not apply to the seer of the kingdom of Messiah. At the very beginning of his betrayal, Judas expresses his soul: what do you want, he says, to give and I will betray Him to you? He himself says that he needs money, and for money he is ready to betray his Teacher. He says the same thing in his dying confession. “I betrayed, he says, innocent blood,” and returns the ruinous pieces of silver. Thus, the passion for money caused Judas to betray. It arose long ago in the soul of Judas, was brought up and grew little by little, fed diligently. Increasing gradually, it darkened in his soul the bright thoughts about the heavenly Teacher and His deeds. The Savior, through His life, awakened the conscience of Judas to fight passion, denounced his unbelief in clear words (John 6:64). But passion grew and blinded Judas from pure thoughts of love and truth, of reverence and gratitude. She drove him to secret theft (John 12:6), and finally brought him to betrayal. And so he bargains with the villains about the price for which he is ready to give them the great Teacher, Friend and Messenger of God. It’s scary to think about what the passion for money can lead to. The word of the Apostle is true: those who want to get rich fall into many senseless and harmful lusts, which plunge people into destruction and destruction (1 Tim. 6:9). Judas’s final repentance shows that, greedily wanting to use the pieces of silver, he did not look at the consequences of his act or rejected thoughts about them, thinking that his Teacher would find a means to get rid of the hands of the Sanhedrin, as he had gotten rid of more than once. Strong passion casts a deep darkness on the soul. “Like a drunk,” says St. Chrysostom, while he fills himself with wine, does not feel any harm from it, and then he learns from experience how harmful it is: such is sin. Until it is accomplished, it darkens the mind, standing over it like a thick cloud; and then the conscience rises.” 2 And when you heard, you rejoiced (Mark 14:11). So people rejoice at villainy! Oh! How not every joy of people is worth joy! They rejoice that a cheap opportunity to do evil has opened up, an easy way to commit evil has been found, a person has appeared ready to help in the evil deed. What terrible joy! And yet, how many people have joys that are not of the best value? And I gave him thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15). Thirty pieces of silver were promised to Judas. Thirty pieces of silver, or, what is the same, 30 shekels, in our money are worth no more than 15 silver rubles. Thirty shekels is the legal price of a slave (Ex. 21:32). You see how little the Jews valued the One who did so much good to them. Evangelist Matthew speaks about the price at which the Jews valued Christ Jesus, in the words of the prophet Zechariah. In the prophet, the Lord says with a complaint: and set My price at thirty pieces of silver (Zech. 11:12). So, the price of a slave is assigned by the Jews to the Messiah Himself, the Lord. This is how the world appreciates the Savior of the world, according to the prophetic prophecy. And confession, and the time was convenient to betray Him to them without the people (Luke 22:6). Judas promised and began to look for a convenient time to betray Jesus Christ secretly from the people. Was it only at the request of the Sanhedrin that Judas wanted to secretly betray Jesus? Of course, the Sanhedrin, as they saw, was afraid of the people. But Judas was also afraid for himself. He ventured on his business only at night. In sin, do not look for firmness and courage. He is as low as he is blind. Judas, after having seen so many times the experiences of the omnipotence of Jesus, now thought that it was possible to find a time and place when Jesus Christ, even if he wanted, would not hide from his enemies. And exposing himself as a traitor to the Teacher in front of the people is already too much for Judas. O Divine Light! O love, which gives itself up to suffering for us! Enlighten the gaze of our soul so that we can see the destruction of the desires of our sinful heart. Breathe into us holy fear, so that we will tremble at sin as soon as it approaches our soul. Strengthen our will with grace-filled power to fight wickedness. My listeners! The sin of Judas is terrible, his challenge to betray the Savior for pieces of silver is terrible. But the passion of covetousness grew in Judas little by little. “Our job is to fight sin, and it is easy for us to overcome it if we conquer passion in ourselves while it is still in its infancy. Why this frivolity, why this recklessness, that we consider this or that passion of ours to be small and thereby give it the will to more and more take power over us? ABOUT! Let us not allow the evil heart to invent excuses for our weaknesses. With all firmness, with all severity, we will rise up against sin as soon as it touches our soul. We are commanded to strive against sin to the point of bloodshed, to the point of sacrifice and strength, and to all those we love. Should we give up dangerous connections with people? Let us not go to the council of the wicked, let us not stop on the path of sinners (Ps. 1:1). The eternal salvation of the soul is worth the most difficult temporary feats. Let us take care of ourselves for the glory of God's name. “Listen, all money lovers who suffer from the disease of Judas,” teaches St. Chrysostom, listen and beware of the passion of love of money. If the one who was with Christ, worked miracles, used such teaching, fell into such an abyss because he was not free from this disease - are you not more likely to be caught up in this passion if you are carefree?.. How do you hope to avoid this disease when you do not use strong medicine and do not make diligent efforts?.. This passion is the most terrible of all. passions. Henceforth are murderers, henceforth are wars and fights, henceforth all evil, no matter what you call it... There is no profit from money when the soul is poor, and no harm when the soul is rich...” 3 Glory to God. Amen. Conversation 2. Preparation for Easter (Thursday) Matt. 26:17–20; Mk. 14:12–17; OK. 22:7–14 In the previous conversation, we talked about the events of the day, which was two days before Easter (Matthew 26:2). since on the day when the Savior was crucified, the elders of the Jews did not enter the praetor, lest they be defiled, but let them eat the Passover (John 18:28), and the day that followed was the Sabbath day (John 19:31), it is clear that we were talking about the events of Great Wednesday and, intending to talk about the affairs of the next day, we will talk about what happened on Thursday of the last, week of the cross of the Savior. The first thing that the Gospel narrative presents to us from the events of Maundy Thursday is the preparation of Easter by the disciples. On the very first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying: “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” The first day of unleavened bread was the first day of the Passover festival. According to St. Mark, it was the time of Easter (Mark 14:12), or, as St. says more precisely. Luke, the day on which it is fitting to eat Easter (Luke 22:7). Although, according to the law of Moses, just as the counting of the day began in the evening, so the Passover holiday began on the evening of the 14th day of Nissan; but in the later custom of the Jews, the days preparing for the holiday also related to the holiday, and thus, instead of 7, they counted 8 days of unleavened bread. “Necessity led to this.” Due to the gathering of people to Jerusalem for Easter, many, and especially the poor, did not have enough space or other needs to celebrate Easter on the same day. Therefore, a significant part of the people, and mainly the poor, prepared and ate the Passover lamb on the forefeast of Passover, on the 13th day of Nissan, corresponding to half of March and April. The people justified their custom by also saying that they considered the beginning of Nissan to be from the conjunction of the moon with the sun, while the bookish people counted from the first quarter of the moon, i.e. a day later. Thus, the elders of the Jews, according to the narration of the Evangelist John, on the morning of the day following the celebration of the Passover by the Savior, did not go into the praetor, lest they be defiled, but let them eat the Passover (John 18:28). These people, as rich people, had every means to celebrate the Passover supper at the time prescribed by law, on the 14th day of Nissan; Moreover, they always wanted to appear as examples of legal righteousness. On the morning of the day when the Savior was already condemned, the Sanhedrin was just preparing for Easter (John 19:14). Poor people are another matter: their very poverty forced them to value not so much the letter of the law as its spirit. So the disciples of Jesus, already on the eve of Easter, begin to prepare for the fulfillment of the requirements of the law regarding the Passover lamb. Before noon on the 13th day of Nissan, they ask the Lord: where, in what house does the Lord want the Passover to be prepared? During His earthly life, the Lord Jesus did not have, as He said, where to bow His head (Matthew 8:20). He had neither a home nor any property in Jerusalem, where, according to the law, the Passover was to be celebrated (Deut. 16:5,6). Therefore, it remained to look for premises from one of the Jerusalemites, who pledged their piety to provide quarters for the celebration of the Easter celebration to everyone who did not have their own home in Jerusalem. He said: go to the city to Onsitsa and say: The Teacher says: My time is near, I will do the Passover for you with My disciples. St. Matthew does not say who was sent to prepare the Passover. St. Mark shows that two disciples were sent. Even more clearly in this case, St. Luke: ambassadors, he says, of Peter and John, i.e. most beloved students. According to St. Matthew, the Lord said to these disciples: go to Onsitsa. Since we see no reason why St. Matthew should have omitted the name of the one to whom the disciples were sent, if the latter had been called by name as the Savior, and other Evangelists do not speak about the name of this man; on the contrary, they testify that this master should have been recognized only by random signs, then there is no doubt that the Lord himself did not call this master by name and, of course, in order to show the disciples the experience of his Divine knowledge. An indication of in whose house Easter was to be prepared, according to St. Luke, the Lord ordained the following: when you enter the city, you will find a man carrying water in a poor house: by him he goes into the house, he enters, and shout to the ruler of the house: the Teacher says to you. Agree that the signs given are the most random. Agree that it was indecent for an ordinary person to announce his desires to an unknown householder in such a manner. But just as before, when the Savior sent his disciples for his donkey to enter Jerusalem, He said: if anyone says to you, “Cry, for the Lord demands him” (Matthew 21:3), so here He acts with the same authority and power. This is the same divine power with which it was commanded to catch a fish so that the statir, which they would find and found in it, would pay tribute (Matthew 17:27). If the disciples had to say to the owner: the Teacher speaks to you, then this means that the householder belonged to the number of disciples of Jesus, to the number of listeners who respected Him. And, therefore, no matter how many enemies Jesus had among the Jerusalemites, there were also people devoted to Him, people who revered Him, at least as the great Wonderworker. It was enough to say to one of them: the Teacher speaks to you, and he does whatever the Teacher wanted. In this way, the Lord shows His disciples, including Judas, a new experience of His insight into the future. My time is near. What does it mean? Does this only mean that it is time for me to celebrate Passover? But the Jews knew the time of Passover, as did the disciples of Jesus. Therefore, there was no need to remind the householder about this time. What does Jesus time mean? My time is not fulfilled, the Savior said before, when they called Him to Jerusalem for the same holiday (John 7:8). But now He says something completely different. Now, he says, the time has come, appointed for the completion of the work entrusted to Me by the Heavenly Father and My love for people - the time has come to lay down My soul for My friends. Excellently expresses to us the thoughts and feelings of the Savior, St. John. Before the feast of Easter, he tells, knowing Jesus, that the hour had come for Him to depart from this world to the Father, having loved those who are in the world and love them to the end (John 13:1). The Lord saw and knew that the time had come for Him to leave the earth. But having loved His own, whom He left in the world, He showed His love for them until his last breath; He showed them His love despite the fact that one of His disciples, as He saw, was His traitor, that Peter himself would not remain faithful to Him, and all the others would leave Him; He loved them to the end: at the last, Easter supper, He leaves them an immensely high sign of His unparalleled love for them - the sacrament of communion of His body and blood, which is to be performed on earth until the end of the world. Thus, the Lord makes it clear that if He is delivered into the hands of His enemies, this does not mean that His destiny is being accomplished against His will, contrary to His knowledge and intentions. He saw His death at Golgotha ​​and, by His will, by His devotion to the will of the Heavenly Father, by His love for those for whom His death was saving, He went to Golgotha. I will create Passover for you with my disciples. The words I will create the Passover are a common expression of obedience to the law of Passover (Ex. 12:48; Num. 9:4; Josh. 5:10). The Son of God obediently fulfilled the provisions of the law, as the will of God. He wants to celebrate Easter. But he wants to celebrate with his students. He wants to be with them, like a Father with his children, and show them this disposition through his actions. He will show you a great upper room, a plan, prepare it (Luke 22:12). The Jews called the upper room the hall located in the upper part of the living quarters and, therefore, one that was separated from noisy housing and was secluded. According to the Savior’s designation, the upper room for His supper was not only secluded, but also spacious - not only that, it was also covered with carpets, ready, (Mark 14:15), decorated in a festive way. Remember, listeners, that our Savior on other occasions loved simplicity in everything - in clothing, in food, in lifestyle. And now, when He wants to offer His disciples a mystical supper, He appoints for this not a simple place, but a great upper room, a spacious room and decorated very decently. This should be the place for the most holy mystery of the Eucharist, according to the instructions of the Savior! As they went on, they found what they had said, and prepared the Passover (Luke 22:13). Everything happened as the Lord said: and a man was met at the entrance to the city - exactly the same as the one the Lord pointed to; and the owner of the house turned out to be kind, willingly fulfilling the Teacher’s wishes; and the hall turned out to be exactly what the Lord had spoken about. How could the disciples not say in their souls that their Teacher was a great Prophet! And you prepared the Passover, i.e. They bought and prepared the Passover lamb according to the law, and prepared everything necessary for the festive supper. In the evening Jesus came at about ten o'clock. Evangelist Mark, like Evangelist Matthew (Matthew 26:20), calls the time when Jesus came to the house where the Passover was prepared, in the evening. St. Luke says: and the hour has come, i.e. for a festive dinner. What time was it? Final preparations for the celebration of the Easter holiday, i.e. The preparation of all the accessories for the Passover supper for the Jews began between 6 and 9 o'clock in the afternoon, or, in our opinion, between 1 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The Easter supper opened no later than 6 o'clock in the afternoon. So, the Savior came to the Easter room at the end of 5 o’clock in the afternoon, and His supper began no later than at the beginning of 6 o’clock. Thus, the Orthodox Church evangelically celebrates the establishment of the Last Supper by celebrating the Liturgy in the afternoon on Holy Thursday. I'll come at about ten o'clock. Consequently, the traitor Judas was not deprived of that supper at which the Lord wanted to be with the disciples as with His children. But Judas did not change. O infinite goodness! How You loved those who loved You! How much light, how much love You pour out on them! Do not deprive us of Your life-giving love. Love is eternal! Warm and soften our hardened hearts, so that they may feel the greatness of Your love for sinners, and if they temporarily waver in their loyalty to You, may it not happen to them the same as happened to the terrible soul of Judas. Amen. In. 13:1–17; OK. 22:24–30 The Zion upper room presented a wonderful sight at Christ’s last Easter supper! He, the Lord of heaven and earth, washed the disciples’ feet with the humility of a servant and with the love of a friend. Let us take a closer look at the wondrous deed of our wondrous Lord. Was it true in them, who seems to be their pain? (Luke 22:24). The Lord speaks about the coming sorrows, about the imminent cross, and the disciples begin to argue about primacy. How did the dispute about primacy between students begin? When it was time for supper, the Apostles reclined and sat down with Him, says St. Luke before he talks about the dispute for primacy (Luke 22:14). This convergence of two circumstances naturally suggests that the students’ debate about primacy was aroused on the occasion of their placement near the Teacher. – The first feeling that aroused this dispute was jealousy to be as close as possible to the beloved Teacher. Following this feeling, thoughts arose about the earthly kingdom of the Messiah and the main figures of this kingdom - thoughts that then belonged to almost all Jews. The Savior had already denounced these dreams of earthly greatness in the good-natured mother of the sons of Zebedee in the hearing of all the disciples, but even now the disciples of Christ have not parted with them. It is so difficult for even the best people to weaken their habitual opinions, their habitual inclinations, their habitual errors! The apostles of Christ only became above the opinions of the people, above their weaknesses, when they were reborn by the Spirit of grace that descended on the day of Pentecost. Jesus knew that the Father had given all things in His hands... having risen from supper and laid down your vestments... (John 13:3-5). Filled with love for His disciples, the Savior could not leave them without denouncing their weakness, which raised a dispute about primacy. But, without beginning to admonish them with words, He gives them healing in an extraordinary action, and then offers instruction. The wondrous action, in addition to being medical for the disciples, served as the final expression of the significance of the earthly ministry of Jesus. – Three great truths marked the earthly life of Jesus Christ, and He now imprints them before his disciples. – In the life of Jesus, it was expressed that the Father gave everything to Him in His hands - He entrusted Him with the salvation of mankind (Matthew 11:27-28), entrusted this whole great work to Him (John 17:3-4); He showed no less clearly in His life that He came from God - He descended from heaven, and all His works are not the works of men, but the works of the Son of God; finally, it was revealed to His gaze that death was coming to God, that death was close to Him, after which His deeds of love for people would be crowned with glory from the Heavenly Father. These three lofty truths called Him to feats of selflessness in earthly life. And according to their own inspiration, He now appears before the disciples not only as an ordinary son of man, but as a servant of His disciples, full of heavenly love for them. Among the Jews, the owner of the house, if he wanted to show special attention to guests or to his household, at the beginning of the meal, gave orders to the servant to wash the feet of those invited to the meal (1 Sam. 25:41). The Lord takes upon Himself the work of the servant. And how does this work? With the fullest zeal of a sincere servant. When He and His disciples entered the upper room of Zion, He and the disciples, as usual, reclined at the prepared meal (Luke 22:14, John 13:2). The students were at rest, arguing for primacy; and He gets up, takes off His outer clothing, takes a towel and girds Himself with it; doesn’t stop there either, he himself pours water into the washbasin; “he does not order another to do it, but does it all himself” 4. And the disciples began to wash their feet and wipe them with lentil, but they also girded them. “It seems to me,” says St. Chrysostom - that He first of all washed the traitor’s feet, since the Evangelist said: the disciples began to wash their feet, and then added: he came to Simon Peter. This explanation belongs to all teachers of the Greek Church, and we also see it in the church rite of washing the feet. I came to Simon Peter. And the verb to Him: Lord! Will you wash my nose? This unprecedented act of heavenly humility resonated with a strong shock in the hearts of the disciples. But they looked with childish humility and reverence at the service of their Teacher and Lord. “Only Peter, always fiery, always frank, turned out to be true to himself here too. - Lord, have you washed my nose? The review is strong and expressive. Here is Peter's entire confession about the Lord and about himself. Are you, he says, Who are so great, holy and high, Are you, Lord, who commands the sea and the winds, who gives sight to the blind, health to the sick, life to the dead, Are you, before whom the great Prophets are no more than disciples and servants, Do you want to wash the feet of me, Simon? Oh no! I have not become better than I was when I said to You: Lord, depart from Me, for I am a sinful man (Luke 5:8). Jesus answered and said to him: What I do, do not weigh it now, but you understand from this (John 13:7). This means that Peter’s job is to obey the will of the Lord and testify to his humility through obedience: this is also necessary because Peter now does not know the meaning of the Savior’s act and can only be understood by him later. Peter said to Him: Thou shalt not wash my foot forever. Jesus answered him: If I do not wash you, have no part with Me (John 13:8). Peter's humility after the admonition given to him turned out to be no longer humility, but a matter of selfish arbitrariness. Peter now looked like a patient who, not understanding either his illness or the power of the proposed medicine, stubbornly rejects the doctor’s help. And the answer to Peter was the same as what a doctor would say to an unreasonable patient. The Savior says: unless I wash you, whereas He only washed his feet, and Peter twice refused only to wash his feet. What does it mean? This means that the Savior’s action was not limited to the visible washing of the feet, but extended invisibly to the washing of the whole person, and that Peter especially had a need for such washing. This is how the Savior Himself explains His washing (John 13:9–10). An unclean person, no matter who he is, cannot enter the kingdom of God; and the impurities of the soul are washed away only by the grace of Christ. Therefore, it is impossible to have participation in the kingdom of Christ without being washed by the grace of Christ (John 3:3; Col. 3:9–10). This is how Peter understood his Lord and said: if so, Lord, then not only my feet, but also my head and hands require cleansing - I am unclean from feet to head. Jesus said to him: he who is exhausted does not require only to wash his nose; for he is all clean. And you are clean, but not all (John 13:9-10). To explain to the disciples the meaning of the ablution being performed, the Savior points them to the position of a person who has washed himself in water. He comes out clean after ablution, but by standing with his feet on the ground, he stains them with dust, and therefore must wash them again. With one exception, Christ's disciples were pure, as if washed by His life-giving teaching (John 14:3). All that remained was to wash my feet. It was necessary to wash away the dust and impurity that had stuck to them from contact with the world, among earthly occupations and affairs, when dealing with earthly people. Such is life on earth! While a person lives on earth, he, willy-nilly, gets his feet dirty in the dust, and is in no way saved from the impurities of sin, although his head is raised to heaven, his spirit and mind are directed to the things above, his heart beats with heavenly feelings. Who understands the Fall? Cleanse me from my secrets, David prayed (Ps. 18:13). Thus, after regeneration in the font of baptism, it is necessary for everyone to be washed by the grace of repentance; This especially needs to be repeated before St. the Eucharist, just as the Savior washed the feet of the disciples before this mystery. Do you know what I have done to you (John 13:12–17)? From the Savior’s words to Peter, the apostles learned the meaning of the washing He spoke about to Peter. But having understood this, they still did not understand everything. And the Savior shows them the other side of his action. He says to them: “You rightly call Me Teacher. But if I, your Teacher, washed your feet, then you should do the same.” This means that the followers of Jesus Christ must be distinguished by the same spirit of humility and love with which He, the Lord and Teacher, washed the feet of the disciples. What human height should not fall in the dust before the humility of the Lord? What kind of pride, unless it is satanic pride, would consider it a humiliation to serve one’s brother in his need, even if he were the last beggar, when the Lord of heaven and earth set an example of such humble service to his disciples? If He washed the feet of even His betrayer, should we, the servants, become higher than our Master? And we must show love to those who have offended us in any way we can. The Apostle Paul, bearing in mind the high example of the Lord, instructs us: “Do nothing out of jealousy or vanity: but in humility, consider each other better than yourselves; Each of you cares not only about yourself, but also about others. For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:3–5). The tongues of kings are dominated by them, and those who possess them are called benefactors. You are not like that (Luke 22:25–26). The example of the Lord has already shown the disciples that they should quarrel among themselves not for primacy, but in humility and love. Turning directly to their dispute about primacy, the Savior lets them know that, arguing about primacy, they are allowing the pagan spirit into their hearts, and not His spirit. The rulers of the pagan peoples are styled with magnificent titles, without responding to the titles with their deeds; are called benefactors, while they are tyrants; They are called kings only in order to show the weight of power over their subordinates, and not concern for their benefit. The title of Benefactors (Evergetes) was worn by the Egyptian Ptolemies, who, however, were distinguished only by the cruelty of their self-will. Such properties, such deeds are the property of the pagan world, language. You are not like that: but let the pain in you be like mine, and grow old like you serve. In a Christian society there should be no pagan rules and customs. Greater than others in abilities and talents, he should appear in his relations with others as if he were the least significant, and the senior in rank, the leader of others in power, should behave as if he were the servant of others. This means that neither pride, nor vanity, nor ambition have a place in a Christian society. Who's sick? Should you recline or serve? Won't you lie down? And I am in your midst as one who serves (Luke 22:27). These words of the Savior, preserved by St. Luke, have an obvious connection with the washing of feet, which St. tells about. John. Without this connection they would be incomprehensible. But I serve in your midst: isn’t this taken from the position in which the Savior was, washing the disciples’ feet? According to general custom, the owner of the house sits at the table, like a lord over his household; It is the work of a servant to perform an official position at the table (Luke 17:7–8). In accordance with this order, the Savior should have accepted services from the disciples, as their Lord and Teacher. But He acts differently for their instruction. You are of course abiding with Me in My adversity. And I bequeath to you the Kingdom... (Luke 22:28–30). Having exposed in His disciples the desires of earthly power, the Lord gives them the honor that their labors deserve. How many troubles, how many insults and bitter insults were inflicted on them, partly by the Teacher, and partly by the Pharisees and scribes directly! And they remain with Him to this day, while “many of the rulers, although they believed in Him, did not confess to the Pharisees and Sadducees” (John 12:42). The severity of the Teacher’s life (Matthew 8:20, Luke 9:58), the severity of His teaching (Luke 14:33, 18:25; Matthew 19:9–10), the depth of His secrets (John 6:68–69) also did not force them to move away from Him. All this is a matter of their patient love. Patience should be rewarded for your efforts. And the Lord points out to the disciples the high reward awaiting them, although not the one they dreamed of, carried away by popular opinion. I bequeath to you a kingdom, as the Father bequeathed to Me. As a reward for his earthly feat, for fulfilling the will of God, the Heavenly Father made His Son heir of all (Heb. 1:2). – The Son of God makes heirs of this kingdom those who shared with Him the sorrows of His earthly ministry. May you eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and may you sit on the throne, judging the deceitful ten tribes of Israel. What can be understood by us, wanderers of the earth, in this figurative description of the glorified state of the Apostles, consists of two advantages - the honor of being close to the King of Heaven and the participation in the power of His judgment. – The apostles enjoy bliss even before the world judgment; With their teachings and writings they are now judges over Israel and even over the whole world. – But the full glory of the saints will be revealed after Christ’s judgment over the universe. Therefore, the full meaning of the promise of the glory of the Apostles will be revealed only after the world judgment. In the same way, the dignity of the Apostles in the New Jerusalem, shown by the seer (Apoc. 21:12–14), is now a mystery to us; We are still making out the letters of the description, but we cannot comprehend the full meaning, the exact meaning. My listeners! What the Savior did for the Apostles at the last supper is a shortening of His entire life, the spirit of His entire earthly ministry. Let this wonderful image always be before our eyes; he will shed life-giving light on our lives. The face of the Savior, washing the feet of the disciples, in the form of a servant, will be our protection against thoughts of pride, against curiosity, against laziness in serving our neighbors, against indifference to the sorrows and needs of brothers and sisters, against stinginess that squeezes our hands when giving alms for Christ's sake. Amen. Conversation 4. Eating the Passover lamb; the first indication of a traitor Luke 22:15–18; Matt. 26:21–27; Mk. 14:18–21; In. 13:17–22 The Savior, having finished the instruction on washing the feet, opens the Easter supper by revealing His feelings about this evening. And during the Easter supper he tells the disciples that one of them will betray Him. And I said to them: I desire to eat this Passover with you; first I will not even accept torment (Luke 22:15). Why did the Savior now so ardently desire to share the Easter supper with his disciples? Since this supper ended the old order of affairs, and it should be followed by the implementation of what Easter transformed, the fiery desire for the last supper was the fruit of His love for fallen humanity and devotion to the will of the Heavenly Father, who entrusted the work of redemption to Him. He hurried not for joy, but for sorrow, not for consolation, but for indescribable torment; but His divine love for people and the Heavenly Father prevailed in Him over the sorrows of mankind, and He hastened to complete His great work. He also desired the last Easter supper because He decided to seal it with a sign of His special love for people, to establish the mystery of the Eucharist. I desire, I will not even accept torment before my suffering; henceforth the imam cannot eat from her (Luke 22:16); These words themselves show that they are spoken by a loving father, parting with his children: I am glad to eat the Passover with you, He says to the children, letting them see that he wants to leave them a monument of his love. I tell you that from now on I will not eat from her until they die in the kingdom of God (Luke 22:16). Another time, He can no longer eat the Passover lamb with His beloved disciples, as happened before, and as He does now, His death is so close. He will celebrate Easter with them, but already in the kingdom of God, until they die in the kingdom of God, not before the omen of Easter comes to fulfillment, until the true, eternal Easter is revealed. The Jewish Passover was celebrated in remembrance of the slaughter of the Egyptian firstborns and the salvation of Israel (Exodus 11–12). Since the final condemnation of some and the salvation of others will come at the last world judgment, where all the wicked, like those Egyptians, will be rejected, and all the righteous, like the true Israelites, will be rewarded with eternal blessings, then the true Easter will be celebrated in the Kingdom of Heaven; the eternal bliss of the saints of God - this is the true Easter, which the Savior pointed out to His disciples. And we accepted the cup, having given praise, saying: Take this, and share for yourself. For I say to you that the imam will not drink from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes (Luke 22:17-18). At the Easter celebration, a cup of wine was served after eating the lamb as a sign of love and joy. The Savior also does this, in fulfillment of the ritual law; He only adds a new thought with which he serves the cup. The imam should not drink from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes, or, as St. Matthew explains that the imam does not drink until the day when I drink new with you in the kingdom of God (Matthew 26:29). Although the risen Savior, after His resurrection, shared a meal with the disciples, but not the wine of the Easter feast; and His disciples were not yet in the blissful peace of the kingdom of God, and the new wine does not belong to the time that the Savior spent after the resurrection, appearing to the disciples for forty days. The Savior again points to the same distant future that he pointed to when he spoke about the celebration of the true Easter (Luke 22:16). He points to the kingdom that will open after His judgment over the world (1 Cor. 15:54–55). Evangelists Matthew (Matthew 26:29) and Mark (Mark 14:25) cite the Savior’s words about the cup after they spoke about the establishment of the mystery of the Eucharist. But the usual use of the Easter cup shows that the words about it were spoken then, as St. gives them. Luke. He clearly speaks of the twofold supper of Christ - the supper of the Old Testament and the supper of the Eucharist (Luke 22:19-20), whereas this is not the case in the brief narrative of other Evangelists. The Savior said at the beginning of the Easter supper: I desired to eat the Passover with you. But in the description of the Evangelists He is barely participating in something from the old Passover. And to those who recline and eat, says St. Mark (Mark 14:18), and to those who eat them, says St. Matthew (Matthew 26:21): this is the description of the Easter celebration. It is not even said that, according to the law, they ate the Passover lamb while standing (Ex. 12:11). Moreover, it is not said what and in what form other rituals of the holiday were performed. Only by chance is it indicated that two rites of the Old Passover were performed (Luke 22:16–18; Matt. 26:23). Lord of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:8) and all rituals now especially made it possible to see that the old order of affairs was ending and being replaced by a new one. And the Evangelists, attentive to the words and actions of the Lord, in their detailed description of the Easter supper present us only with the words and deeds of the Establisher of the new law. If you know this: you are blessed if you do. I'm not talking about all of you. For I have chosen them, but let the scripture be fulfilled: He who eats bread with Me, lifts up his heel against Me (John 13:17–18). These words are in the Gospel of St. John, precede the Savior’s prediction that one of the disciples would betray Him (John 13:21); according to the story of St. Luke, this was said by the Savior after the Easter supper (Luke 22:21–22), and according to the story of St. Matthew (Matthew 26:21–27) and Mark (Mark 14:18–22) - before the establishment of the Eucharist. The Savior promises bliss to those who understand His mysteries and justify their understanding by works. If, he says, you know with what thoughts, with what dispositions I celebrate the last Easter supper, where I, your Lord, wash the feet of My servants, you are happy, you are blessed when you fulfill what you know. But He knows His disciples well and says that not all of them have that active understanding that makes people blessed. He knows those chosen by Him, and He also knows the one who excluded himself from the blissful kingdom, sacrificing his conscience to his passions. The latter could not but be regrettable to the Lord. But it has long been said: My poisonous bread is raised upon My heel (Ps. 40:10). The sad work of ungrateful deceit had long been foretold; this prediction did not impose on free will the necessity of fulfilling it; on the contrary, it warned her against sin. Guardian Grace did only its job by pointing out the danger. If the will acts in its own way, that is its business. The words of Scripture cited by the Savior (Ps. 40:10), David spoke about the treacherous Ahithophel (2 Sam. 9:6, 15:31); but the fate of David was a type of the fate of the Messiah Jesus, and most of the Psalm of David literally refers to the Messiah. Judas had to be careful not to at least be another Ahithophel, if he did not already believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Henceforth I say unto you, before it shall not even be, but always that it shall be, ye have faith, for I am (John 13:19–20). Pointing forward to His future enemy sharing the meal with Him, the Savior shows that the election of a friend-enemy did not happen due to any mistake. The fulfillment of His prediction about the act of a friend-enemy should only have confirmed faith in His divine embassy, ​​which the Jews, representatives of the children of the world, believe so little. This Jesus said, being troubled in spirit, and testifying, and saying: Amen, Amen, I say to you, for only you alone will betray Me (John 13:21). If the betrayal of Judas seems an outrageous act even for a pure human soul, what was it for the God-man? The purer, the holier the soul, the more disgusting sin is for it. “The indignation of Jesus is a movement against the wickedness of the traitor,” says St. Kirill. On the other hand, could a loving heavenly Teacher not grieve over the death of one of His chosen disciples? Bitter future! But a prediction about it is necessary for believers (John 13:19). And with great sorrow, each one of them began to say to Him: “Am I food, Lord?” (Matthew 26:22) The Savior’s first clear words about the traitor had such an effect on the disciples: this is what Evangelists Matthew (Matthew 26:21–22) and Mark (Mark 14:18–19) testify! The crime that, according to the Lord, one of His disciples is ready to commit is terrible. But sincere disciples of Christ, on the one hand, are confident that the word of their Teacher and Lord is true - He also knows human hearts - on the other hand, they are already quite trained in the humble awareness of human variability. That’s why everyone was afraid for themselves; didn’t the Lord see in them a readiness to do something dirty? Each, not trusting himself, feared for himself, and asked with sorrow about himself: is he so bad that he will even decide to betray his Lord? “I was afraid of all my works,” said the righteous Job (Job 9:28; Proverbs 28:14). And truly bad, very bad, is the position of those of us who say in our souls: we cannot be like this son of sin - Judas, we would never allow ourselves anything like that. Faithful, sincere, holy self-examination prompts everyone to say: “Am I sometimes unfaithful to the Lord, although I use all the gifts of His love? Do I not also sell His love for the pleasures of the flesh, for the sound of worldly glory, for the weight of a coin? Tempt yourselves, if you are in the faith, tempt yourself, teaches the apostle (2 Cor. 13:5). Is it humiliation for a sinner to suspect himself of sin? Oh no, this is a matter of truth for him. On the contrary, he would fall into harmful self-delusion if he considered himself right in everything. He answered and said: He who dips my hand in salt will betray me to him (Matthew 26:23). “He who dipped his hand in the dish with Me,” or, as St. Mark says more clearly, “one of the twelve who dipped his hand in the dish with Me” (Mark 14:20) means the same as what was said before: he who eats with Me (Mark 14:18), only in application to a particular case. At the Easter evening, among other things, they ate bitter herbs, dipping them in vinegar. The Savior indicates participation in this ritual of the supper, speaking about the traitor. Thus, here again the very face of the traitor is not indicated, but it is only confirmed that the traitor shares the supper of love with the Lord. He only again says that the sinner is known to Him, and with kindness He wants to overcome it. The traitor is known to Him, but does not confuse the wicked with either harsh or open reproach, but convinces him with meek and silent admonition" 5 . The Son of Man comes, just as it is written about Him. Woe to that man, by whom the Son of man is betrayed: it would have been good for him if that man had not been born (Matt. 26:24). In order to console His sincere ones regarding His fate, and to awaken in the traitor some kind of concern for himself, the Savior speaks about the meaning of His fate and about the fate of the traitor. He, God's Messenger, stands above the evil will of the traitor and actually depends on the will of the Heavenly Father and his own will. The Son of Man is coming, which means “His death is more of a transition than death, as He said to the Jews: I am coming to Him who sent Me, and complete freedom remains behind Him.”6 He goes, as it is written about Him, in accordance with the will of the Heavenly Father, long ago proclaimed by the Prophets (Luke 22:22), for example, David (Ps. 21), Isaiah (Is. 53). Woe to that man, for the son of man is betrayed by him. The will of God, which the Messenger follows, in no way excuses the vileness of betrayal, as it depends on the arbitrariness of the traitor. Abuse of freedom does not cease to be a sin because it was provided for by the All-Seeing One. If by good providence it turns into a weapon to achieve a saving goal, like the betrayal of Judas, then praise and glory for that is the goodness of God; the work of evil will remains what it is. Woe to that man. If he saw Jesus as a man and betrayed him as a man, this only increases his guilt. He had ways of seeing the God-man in him. What his son of God spoke out loud against the Jews (John 15:22–25) applied to him, the Apostle, to the highest degree. He struggled with heavenly truth. Love struggled to overcome his anger, but he only grew more angry. He despised the son of God (Heb. 6:6) for money. It would have been good for him if that person had not been born. It is not simply said: it would be better, i.e. and before God, or it would be better if he had not been created. Bold inquisitiveness is not given a reason to attack the creation of man, the best of the visible works of God. It is also not said: it would be better if it were destroyed. The destruction of a spiritual being, although it may be desired by evil will, cannot be allowed by eternal truth. It would be good for him, says the Lord. He, this unfortunate man, will feel - and feel forever - that it would be good for him not to be born. His condition is similar to the condition of those who will cry to the mountains: fall on us and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb (Apoc. 6:16, Luke 23:29-30). The terrible state of a traitor is revealed by caring love for him; but she can do nothing more for him, who has given himself up to the vengeance of eternal truth. Judas answered, betraying Him, saying: I am food, Rabbi! The verb to him: you are advertising (Matthew 26:25). While the other disciples said: I eat, Lord? Judas says: food az, Rabbi? The first, as is obvious, is the fruit of reverence; the second is completely different: Rabbi is a respectful title for Christ Jesus, a title that politeness gave to every other teacher. So, Judas speaks only in the language of decency. Further, while the other disciples fearfully asked the Lord about themselves, Judas remained silent; He remained silent even when the Lord confirmed that the traitor was sharing the meal of love with Him. When the Lord announced terrible grief to the traitor, this threat, apparently, shook his heart, but not so much that sincere repentance was revealed in him. Having soon calmed down from embarrassment, just so that by his silence he would not arouse suspicions of betrayal in others against himself and thus not bring himself into trouble, he, following the example of others, asks: is it not? Judas acted before his disciples like a resourceful actor. And what was he before his conscience? Oh, how hard it was for the Heartbreaker to hear the shameless question! How could one respond to such a terrible soul without indignation? Your heavenly goodness, O Lord, meekly answers Judas: You advertised, i.e. you know yourself. Thus, “The Lord outlines for us the image and rules of enduring insults” 7 . Glory to Your long-suffering, O Lord! Conversation 5. Establishing the mystery of the Eucharist Matt. 26:26–28; Mk. 14:22–24; OK. 22:19–20; 1 Cor. 11:23–25 I desire to eat this Easter with you, the Savior said to His disciples, letting them know that His love is ready to give them a gift of special importance this Easter. And so He institutes a new supper, the supper of the New Testament, wonderful in the abundance of heavenly grace. The three Evangelists and the Apostle Paul in their stories about it reveal to us the establishment of a new supper and its mysterious meaning. To those who ate, Jesus received bread (Matthew 26:26), giving praise, breaking it, and giving it to them, saying: Take, eat... Do this in remembrance of Me. Likewise the cup at supper (Luke 22:19). The action that the Savior performed on the bread and cup is called by St. Luke and Paul with offerings of praise and thanksgiving. At St. Matthew and Mark say: having blessed, given praise. From the very first times of Christianity, the Supper of Christ has been called the Eucharist, thanksgiving. The teachers of the Church, when they speak about the new supper of Christ, either call it the supper of the Eucharist, or depict praise and thanksgiving to the Lord as a necessary part of it. All this shows that offering thanks to the Heavenly Father for His wondrous deeds constitutes a necessary part of the new service of Christ. Evangelist Luke says that Christ’s supper was celebrated in the evening, at the end of the Easter supper. And before Christ’s supper, he described to us the final action of the Easter supper—the giving of the cup. After this it is clear that the words of St. Matthew and Mark - to those who eat them - only mean that on Easter evening, while they were still at the meal, the Savior performed a special sacred rite. since the Passover of the Old Testament was about to be abolished, the Evangelists said almost nothing about how the Savior celebrated it. They describe only what is important for the Christian Church. So, Christ’s Supper was not some old Passover ritual that might not have been performed in the future; it was performed at the end of the Easter supper, as a special action, as an action with the meaning of establishing a new one; it means the decree of Christ, which is always important for the Christian Church. Take, eat: this is My body, which is broken for you... This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you. This is what the Savior says. The Apostle and all three Evangelists call the cup of the Eucharist the blood of the New Testament. The blood of the New Testament without words points to the historically prophetic action of the Sinai Covenant, when Moses, sprinkling the people with blood, said: Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has commanded to you concerning these words (Ex. 24:8). If the blood offered at the Savior’s Supper is the blood of the New Testament, then this means that the blood of the Old Testament, the covenant that ceases (2 Cor. 3:11), remains only a monument of the past, and only its representative meaning can be useful for the new faith; In its place is the sprinkling of blood, which cleanses the sins of the whole world. In the same way, in place of the Passover lamb, which was broken according to the old law, the body of Christ is offered, broken for everyone - otherwise, the Lamb of God, taking upon itself the sins of the whole world. So, here is an obvious establishment for the new Church, for all new times. Do this in remembrance of Me: this is the clear commandment of the Lord according to the gospel of St. Luke! In the narrative of the Apostle Paul, the Lord says about the bread of the Eucharist: do this in remembrance of Me, and about the cup: do this, as often as you drink, in remembrance of Me. Thus, according to the will of the Son of God, the same thing that He did, ready to die, should be done among believers, and a new supper should be celebrated in remembrance of Him, the Redeemer of the world. The repetition of His commandment by the Apostle, as much as it speaks of the need to perform it only with faith and for the revival of faith in the Redeemer, so much shows the exact will of the Son of God that His supper is not a simple rite, but a mysterious institution that must be preserved in His Church until the end of the world. The Apostle Paul, having offered a narrative about how the Lord established the new supper, added: as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until it comes (1 Cor. 11:26). This is how the Apostle of Christ understood the meaning of Christ’s Supper! It must be performed in remembrance of Christ’s death on the cross until the very second coming of Christ, at all times. Just as the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church of Christ, so no malice of hell can prevent the Savior’s supper from being constantly celebrated until He appears again on earth. Wonderful supper of Christ! Take, eat; Drink from it, all of you, said the Lord. And writing from her all the Apostles, says St. Mark. So, the traitor Judas was not deprived of Christ’s supper. It is in vain to say that Judas, due to his unworthiness, could not be admitted to the evening. It is not in a completely hopeless form that the Savior reveals to us the soul of Judas during the supper: even after the supper, He extended the word of His love to her, and kept her from committing a terrible sin. Wonderful goodness of the Lord! Drink everything from her. The Lord invites everyone to the cup and, since all times to come are before His eyes, He invites everyone, no matter what rank, gender, or age; invites children to the cup, but did not say about the bread: all, since children, due to the weakness of their age, cannot partake of the bread of the supper. If it is said about the cup: drink from it, all of you, then those who separate the laity from the cup act contrary to the will of the Lord. Those who, out of the stubbornness of their will, evade the bread and the cup do not practice piety either: they make their will a law and clearly violate the will of the Son of God. The most important thing in Christ’s supper is its terrible mystery. Take, eat, this is My body; Drink of it, all of you; this is My blood, so says the Lord. He arouses attention to what is offered as something extraordinary, and the very property of what is offered is the reason why reverent attention is required. Take, this is My body, this is My blood. He does not say: this, i.e. bread means body, but by saying: this is My body, this is My blood, makes it clear that what is offered remains bread and wine only for external senses, but in fact here is the true body of Christ and the true blood of Christ. At St. Luke says the Lord: This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you. The cups cannot be poured out, and therefore these words mean that in the cup is the blood of Christ, shed for people, by which the New Testament was established. Other Evangelists say: this is My blood of the new testament. So, the Savior makes it clear that, as in the Old Testament, they actually ate the covenant food and were sprinkled with the covenant blood (Exod. 24:5–8), so in the new one real food and real blood are offered, cleansing the sins of people, with the difference that the food and blood of the Old Testament were images of what was offered in the New Testament, and here - reality with an irrespective meaning. What the Savior offers to the disciples at the new supper, He promised to offer even before, and then he said: the bread I will give, my flesh is, even I will give for the life of the world (John 6:51). You see, food is promised, which will be given when Christ’s flesh is given up for the salvation of the world, and this food is the very flesh of Christ. Isn’t it clear that this is the same food that the Lord offered at his supper, ready for death? Is it not clear that this food is nothing other than the flesh of Christ? The Jews also understood the latter and asked: how can this one give us his flesh to eat (John 6:52)? The Savior, answering the Jews, not only does not reject what He says about His flesh, but confirms what was said in even stronger and more detailed expressions. If you have not eaten the flesh of the Son of man, nor have you drunk His blood, you have not life within you. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him (John 6:53, 56). You see, the wonderful food is truly the body and blood of the Lord; it also has marvelous properties consistent with this: it nourishes and supports spiritual life, and through it the believer is united with his Lord. The Apostle Paul, having presented the story of the Lord’s establishment of a new supper, offers his teaching for those partaking of this supper, where he says that he who partakes unworthily will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord (1 Cor. 11:27); this means that that unfortunate person, like a Jew, neglects the body and blood of Christ and is guilty like a Jew. Therefore, at the Supper of Christ, the body and blood of Christ are offered. He who eats and drinks unworthily, says the Apostle, eats and drinks judgment for himself, without judging the body of the Lord (1 Cor. 11:29). The Apostle presents the Body of the Lord as an object present at the Lord's table, an object of eating, an object of reverent attention and consideration, and, therefore, not at all an image. He teaches: the cup of blessing, which we bless, is not the fellowship of the blood of Christ? Bread, we break it, isn’t there fellowship of the body of Christ? For as there is one bread, we are one body and we are many: for we all partake of one bread (1 Cor. 10:16–17). In this teaching, the communication of blood and body is replaced by the word: we commune. Consequently, when we partake of the mystical bread and wine, we in any case do not partake of the images of body and blood, but we partake of the very body and very blood of our Lord. Moreover, given the improper meaning of the body of Christ, the communion of body and blood could not at all have the meaning assimilated by the Apostle for such people as the weak-minded, infants, severely disturbed in mind. My listeners! There should be no doubt about the actual presence of the body and blood of Christ at the Lord's Table! Isn’t it possible for the omnipotent Son of God to make bread and wine become body and blood according to His will? In Him is all the fullness of the Divine. With a word he calmed the sea and turned water into wine, raised the dead and restored health to the hopelessly ill. His power is limitless, like the power of the Creator of the universe (John 1:3). The Son of God, having loved his own, loved them to the end. Leaving them on earth, among the troubles and unrest of the world, He left a miraculous sign of His strength and power, confirming the divinity of His teaching and deeds; He left such a supper at which the faithful, until the end of the world, will communicate with the life-giving power of heavenly love and, therefore, will find peace for a conscience wounded by sin, strength in their weaknesses, consolation in sorrows, protection from enemies. Oh, how in keeping with the boundless love of the Son of God! Praise and glory to You, Limitless Love. Amen. Conversation 6. The last indications of the traitor and the meaning of the death of Christ OK. 22:21–23; In. 13:23–35 Heavenly love, ready to die for people, established the mystery of the Eucharist - the source of life for people. After the Last Supper, the loving Savior once again offers admonition to the traitor Judas and then speaks about the meaning of his imminent death. Moreover, the hand of the one who betrays Me is with Me at the table, so said the Heavenly Teacher after he handed over the cup of the New Testament (Luke 22:19–21). There is so much heavenly love at this meal, and yet the hand of the traitor is at the same meal! Isn't this terrible ingratitude? As before, the Lord does not indicate the name of the traitor, but the vileness of betrayal is even more sharp in view of the new experience of love, an experience that is extremely amazing. And these disciples began to search within themselves: who then wants to do this from them? It is easy to notice that the efforts of the disciples to recognize the traitor in the legend of St. Luke is not the same as we see in St. Matthew and Mark. According to the narration of those Evangelists, having heard the Savior’s message that one of them would betray Him, each, in fear for himself, asked Him: Is it not me, Lord? And in Luke’s narrative they are looking: which of them wants to do such a thing? There is an appeal to your conscience; here is an appeal to society. At St. Luke's question from the disciples is the same that they proposed, according to St. John. The disciples looked around among themselves, wondering who they were talking about, so says St. John then conveys how the traitor was revealed to his most beloved disciple (John 13:22–30). So there is new confirmation that heavenly Love, after the Last Supper, called the unfortunate disciple to repentance. There was only one of His disciples, reclining in the bosom of Jesus, and Jesus loved him only. Peter was beckoned to ask: who would he be speaking about? (John 13:23:24). According to Eastern custom, they ate food lying on their left side or, more precisely, leaning on their left elbow, with their head turned to the meal and with their legs outstretched; the one reclining first after the main person reclined on his bosom and with his back to him. So it was at the Jesus Supper. In the beloved disciple of Jesus, reclining near Jesus, it is not difficult to recognize St. John, Evangelist of Love. On other occasions, he is a beloved and loving disciple of Jesus and, however, does not like to talk about his name (John 21:7,20–24, 19:26, 20:2). After the sincere disciples of Jesus carefully examined their conscience and the test of conscience showed them that, despite all their weakness, they were far from the terrible sin of betrayal, it was natural, with a new reminder of the traitor, to turn with the test from themselves to others, when love for the Teacher and the Lord demanded inquiry about the traitor. This was their position. And Peter, always ardent, did not hesitate to use the means that presented themselves to him in order to recognize the traitor; he turns to Jesus’ beloved disciple and gives him a sign to ask the Lord: who is this terrible man? It is noteworthy that Peter, recognizing John's advantage, turns to his help, for not Peter, but John is the first at the meal and closest to his Teacher and Lord. Then she attacked Jesus’s breasts and said to Him: Lord, who is it? (John 13:25). John fulfills Peter's wishes with love. He lay with his back to the Teacher, in His bosom; Wanting to propose a question, he turned his face to Jesus, leaned on His chest with the tenderness of love and, combining reverence with love, asked: Lord! who is this? Jesus answered: He has it, and I have soaked the bread and will give it to him. And he watered the bread for Judas Iscariot (John 13:26). The Savior does not refuse the beloved and loving disciple the fulfillment of his desire - to recognize the traitor, while He did not reveal him to anyone else. “John, falling to His chest, asked almost under his ear, and Christ answered in the same way, so that even now he did not discover the traitor” 8. And for John he did not call the traitor by name, but pointed to him with a sign. What kind? It was customary in the East that at the end of the evening the householder, as a sign of sincere love, served a piece of bread to those sitting at the meal, dipping it in salt or stew. This is what the Savior now did in relation to Judas, and with this sign He distinguished the traitor to his beloved disciple 9 . So heavenly Love still fights with the hard soul of the traitor! So she still breathes on her the breath of tender meekness and sincere affection! What about Judas? And through the bread then Satan entered (John 13:27). Satan entered Judas, says St. Luke (Luke 22:3), even before the treacherous disciple went to the Sanhedrin to say: what do you want to give me, and I will betray Him to you? (Matthew 26:15) But then, at the suggestion of Satan, Judas went to announce his readiness to be a traitor for money; and now Satan enters Judas to finish the work of betrayal. Now he has completely taken possession of Judas as an instrument, completely obedient to the one in whose hands it is. However, this does not mean that Satan entered Judas against his will. You cannot enter a house until the doors are open (Acts 16:15). Judas's greed opened the door for Satan to enter his soul; Judas's persistence in his adopted intention, rejecting all the admonitions of heavenly love, made him into a vessel of Satan. And so Judas appears with a satanic determination to betray his Lord! How terrible are our passions! No admonitions of love, no threats of truth restrain the passionate will from sin. She freely becomes a vessel of Satan. Therefore Jesus said to him: Whatever you do, do it quickly (John 13:27). Another request of tender love, although love sees that its worries are in vain - and then the surrender of a stubborn will to an unskilled mind to do dishonorable things (Rom. 1:28). Since Judas was told: do, it is clear that do does not actually mean a command, but only allowing evil to go to its goal. This is the same thing that the Lord said to the Jews: destroy this church (John 2:19), or, as He said to them: complete the measure of your fathers (Matthew 23:32). However, the greatness of the Lord, who by His own will gave Himself up to death, also demanded obedience to Himself from Judas; only the Lord determined not the case of Judas, but the time of the case. Do it as soon as you create it, do it soon. You are ripe for evil, I no longer stop you, on the contrary, I command you to fulfill your work sooner than you would like. - Why is it said to Judas: do quickly? Because a certain time has come, the hour appointed by the will of the Father for the suffering of the Redeemer is coming. On the other hand, the unfortunate traitor, as having matured in wickedness, could no longer be tolerated in the company of the holy disciples and was expelled from it (1 Cor. 5:13). This is why no one understands from those who recline, to whom he speaks (John 13:28). None of the disciples understood what was said to Judas, with the exception, of course, of John. The traitor was indicated to him, and therefore the words that followed the indication to the traitor could not but be understandable. The other disciples, who did not hear what was said to the Savior reclining on his chest, thought that the Lord ordered Judas, who kept the monetary offerings, either to buy something for the holiday, or to give something to the poor. It was no longer possible to buy anything the next morning: on a holiday, especially Easter, nothing was sold. He accepted the bread and left before it was night. It was impossible for Judas not to see that the Lord had shown him to be His traitor. But the way Judas committed his very betrayal shows that Judas did not believe the heart knowledge of his Teacher. Judas wanted to think that his Teacher only spoke fortune-tellingly about betrayal and the traitor, that He was only a Rabbi, a respected Rabbi, but not the Lord of the heart; that one should only act carefully, and then not only will the intention be fulfilled, but one can remain in the same relationship with the Teacher. What does the evil heart not think under the influence of passions? Unwittingly submissive to the will of his Teacher and completely obedient to the suggestions of Satan, Judas hastened to leave the meeting, although it was already night. “Why does it indicate time? So that you may recognize the audacity of one whose determination was not stopped even by late times” 10. When Jesus went out, he said, “Now is the son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him” (John 13:31). Now he has become famous. Now that the death of Christ the Lord is decided by the resolve of the traitor, the Son of Man is glorified. Oh, was it now time to talk about glory? But do human thoughts about glory agree with the thoughts of God? As for the secrets of the kingdom, man cannot guess them until they are revealed. Our Savior, even when he was approaching the last days of his life on the cross, said: the hour has come, that the Son of man may be glorified. Amen, amen, I say to you: even if a grain of wheat falls on the earth, it does not die, but one remains: but if it dies, it bears much fruit (John 12:23–24). Thus the death of the Redeemer Jesus ushered Him into glory. She revealed in Him the One whom the sinful human race had long so desired for itself in its best moments and who no one else was for it. Not only Israel, but the pagans of all countries and peoples bless the name of the crucified Jesus as the Savior from the terrible wrath of God. The atoning death of Jesus, necessary for the reconciliation of the Divine with guilty humanity, opened heaven for humanity and brought down to earth the waters of grace of the Holy Spirit, and after that thousands and millions considered it happiness, bliss to call themselves confessors of the Calvary Sufferer. Then they saw in the crucified Son of Man the true Son of God, the radiance of the glory of the Father and the image of His hypostasis (Heb. 1:3), bearing all things by the word of His power. Then they knew that there was no other name under heaven by which one could be saved. The connection of His death on the cross with the sending down to earth of the Spirit of grace, regenerating the corrupted hearts of people, was shown by the Savior Himself when He said: if I do not go, the Comforter will not come, but if I go, I will send Him to you. Now God is glorified in Him, or rather, in Him. How was God glorified in Jesus crucified? God was glorified in Him, since the Son of man loved so much, so honored the will of the heavenly Father, that in order to fulfill His will he did not renounce the shameful cross, after His entire earthly life was holiness. So, the cross of Jesus is a preacher of holiness. And that's not all. In the Son of God crucified for people, the truth of God and God's goodness were glorified. The truth of God was glorified. The world has learned that it is impossible for anyone to violate the laws of the Eternal with impunity; the rights of God's truth are inviolable. Man-sinner had to die as an insulter to God's Majesty. The Son of God took upon Himself humanity, and now this Son of man, Himself pure and holy, endures the suffering of the cross for guilty humanity. If the Crucified One is the Son of the eternal Father, what prompted the Son of God to take upon Himself the sins of humanity, if not His infinite love for humanity? What prompted the Heavenly Father to sacrifice His Son for people, if not love for sinners? So the cross is a preacher of Divine love, incomprehensible Goodness! If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself and will glorify Him (John 13:32). The fundamental law of God's truth: I will glorify those who glorify Me (1 Samuel 2:30), could not receive and did not receive such complete fulfillment in anyone else as in the crucified God-man. No one else could glorify and did not glorify the Heavenly Father as the Son of God glorified Him on earth, in His life and in His death. Therefore, God will glorify Him in Himself: He will glorify Him with His power and glory, He will glorify Him with such glory that no one else can have; will clothe humanity itself with His glory, which belongs to the heavenly Father himself, will reveal in Him, the Son of man, the true Son of God, and will seat Him on the throne of His glory. And Abiye will glorify Him - and will soon glorify Him. “In the cross itself will be revealed glorious works,” 11 and after death will follow His glorious resurrection from the dead, His ascension into heaven, the sending of the Holy Spirit, which will all bring awe to the universe, make the tribes of the earth honor His teaching and worship Him as the Son of God. This is the glorification of the Son of man that will soon follow. And His glory will be revealed even more magnificently at the end of the world and after the judgment of the universe. Children! I am still a little with you: you will seek Me, and because I am a Judean, even though I go, you cannot come: and I speak to you now (John 13:33). Children! What a tender, what a sweet name! Is this not the voice of the most tender Father? Oh, how the Lord loves His sincere ones! Children! This voice of love is all the more amazing because it is also the voice of wisdom, which sees still immature children in students, but covers and protects their weakness with the breath of life-giving love. When the Savior spoke about His coming glory, the disciples, who had not yet parted with the popular opinion about the earthly kingdom of the Messiah, could think that He was telling them about this kingdom. The Gentle Teacher shows them that He will not be on earth and with them for long. And then shows them their relation to His kingdom of glory. You will seek Me, He says, and as I told the Jews, so I say to you now, you cannot come where I am going. “He reminds them that he not only now predicts when troubles are approaching, but has already foreseen for a long time, and they themselves are witnesses to this, having heard what He said to the Jews” 12. The Savior told the Jews not only that they would look for Him, but also that they would not find Him; He told them not only that they could not come where He was going, but also that they would die in their sin (John 7:34, 8:21). This is not what He says to His disciples. Nevertheless, they too will only seek Him; nevertheless, they cannot go where He goes, moreover, the latter is being acquired by them now. What does this mean? The fact that faith, united with love, tends to only seek the Son of God on earth, while cold faith seeks Him and does not find Him, and dies in sin. The most sincere of Christ cannot see from earth the glory with which the Son of God is now glorified; and even on the other side of the tomb, the Saints of God will only see the full glory of the Son of God when He Himself appears in the glory of His Father. When Christ appears in glory, your life: then you also will appear with Him in glory, says the Apostle of Christ (Col. 3:4). I give you a new commandment, that you love one another (John 13:34). What is the connection between this commandment and the previous words about seeking Christ? The Savior points with it to another path where His sincere ones can approach Him. Love, he says, one another, because I have loved you: by loving one another you will express your love for Me and therefore you will draw closer to Me. I give you a new commandment. Why does the Savior call the commandment about mutual love new, when it is also known from the law? The explanation for this is His words: just as you have loved, you also love one another. Of this all understand, for you are My disciples, if you have love among one another (John 13:35). How did the Lord Jesus love us? He loved us then, even as we were His enemies; He loved not Israel alone, but all mankind; He loved everyone so much that He laid down His life for us. Thus His love breathes self-sacrifice for everyone. The Law of Moses prescribed love for one's neighbor, but mainly for the Israelites, and barely paid attention to the foreigner. The Law of Moses allowed for evil to be repaid for evil. The Law of Moses prescribed love, but did not extend it to self-sacrifice for others, as the example and teaching of the Savior reveal. The followers of Christ should be distinguished by this, and should be recognizable by this characteristic, that mutual love will animate all their actions, all their mutual relationships; that this love, not dissolved or weakened either by the sin of self-love or by the disasters of the world, will reveal in itself not human power, but the power of God, the breath of the spirit of grace, inaccessible to the children of the old law. That is why Christ’s commandment of love is a new commandment! Divine Love! Revive in us with Your spirit the love You commanded. Amen. Conversation 7. Prediction of the fall of Peter In. 13:36–38; Onion. 22:31–34 It was hard for the loving heavenly Teacher to see a traitor among His chosen disciples. “But it was not easy to see that during His tribulations even the most ardent and, apparently, the most steadfast of His disciples, Peter, would abandon Him. But the Savior saw this in advance and, no matter how painful it was for Him to see the sad future, He cares about His disciples, instructs them, warns them so that His followers think about themselves. Simon Peter said to Him: Lord, where are you going? I answered him: Even though I am walking, you cannot now walk after Me, but follow me and walk (John 13:36). Before this, the Lord announced that He would not be with His disciples for long (John 13:33). Peter, always fiery and frank, was not only embarrassed by how others were embarrassed, but was not slow to express the movements of his soul with his question: where are you going? The question, on the one hand, is more than excusable; since it was offered by love that grieved over separation from the Teacher, love that wanted not to be separated from its Lord, just as Elisha did not want to be separated from Elijah (2 Kings 2:4-6). But, on the other hand, there was something wrong with Simon’s question. Peter could know from the words of the Lord where His Teacher was going. The Lord pointed (John 13:33) to his instructions about this, offered in the church (John 7:33–34, 8:21). In his answer to Peter, the Savior repeats the same thing about Peter that he said about all the disciples. Only by saying: “You can’t now,” he more definitely expressed what was said before. You can't go now. Why? Because I have not yet matured in spiritual life, like others, I still do not have the firmness and strength that is needed to follow the one marching to the cross. Follow Me and follow: later the time of spiritual maturity will come, and Peter will follow the path that his Lord walked, and will endure martyrdom without trembling. – The Savior spoke to him about this even after His resurrection (John 21:18–19). Peter said to Him: Lord, why can’t I now walk after You? I will lay down my soul for You (John 13:37). Love for the beloved Teacher and Lord spoke this in the language of Peter, but love that does not yet know itself from experience, love that is not alien to arrogance, love that has not been tested by the struggle with temptations. Peter understood what the Lord was telling him, but he did not want to accept what was not entirely pleasant for his pride. It is said: you cannot, said by the One who knows better than us what we are capable of. And Peter says: I can. Such is love, not strengthened by the experiences of spiritual life! That is why those experienced in spiritual life do not advise young ascetics to take on much and stop their impulses of jealousy. What did the Savior answer to Peter? That answer of the Savior to Peter, which places St. John, following the quoted words of Peter (John 13:38), we also read in St. Luke (Luke 22:34). But St. Luke, before conveying this answer, draws our attention to the admonition of the Savior and the new promise of Peter (Luke 22:31-33). The Lord said: Simone, Simone, behold, Satan asks you to sow you like wheat (Luke 22:31). Simon wanted to appear as an example of strength for others, he wanted to follow Jesus to the cross, and he never thought that he would be an example of weakness that would be tempting to others. That is not what the Lord says. Simon, Simon! By calling Peter by the name that he bore from birth, before he became Peter by the will of the Lord (John 1:42), the Lord prompts him to remember what he is in himself. Behold, Satan asks you, begs, insistently demands that you be betrayed into his power. The Savior points out what Simon no longer saw at all, points out an invisible terrible force that is ready to control people and events, reveals that the time of intensified activity of the prince of darkness is coming. Satan rises with all malice against the Teacher and their Lord himself, although he finds nothing in Him (John 14:30): what should disciples, who are not yet alien to weaknesses, expect for themselves? Satan is now presented in the same form in which he appeared before the Lord, demanding Job into his power (Job 1:11, 2:5). – Just as he rebelled against Job out of envy and malice, tormented by annoyance that the Lord loved the pious Job so much, and malice forced him to slander Job before God, as if Job did not sincerely, only for earthly happiness, love God (Job 1:8-11), so he now rebels against the disciples of Jesus, demands that their faithfulness to God be verified by experience and asks that this verification be provided to him. On his own, without God’s permission, he cannot harm anyone, either in soul or in body. With an insult to his pride, he sees himself in the need to recognize the omnipotence of the Almighty over himself, and, trembling before Him, asks for permission to act on the servants of God. He asks you to sow like wheat. What a vivid picture of a terrible trial! Just as wheat, sifted by a strong hand, is subject to rapid circulation and upheavals that instantly change, so should the position of the disciples be, at the solicitation of Satan. Terrible situation! Satan hopes that when sifting it, not a single good grain will remain, but everything will turn out to be either chaff, or dust, or small, empty grain, which easily, if it does not pass through the sieve, will fly out of it. How can you sleep with such an enemy against you! The Apostle writes to all believers: be sober and watchful, for the devil is your adversary, like a lion that goes roaring, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). We pray for you (Luke 22:32). Why for Simon when danger threatened everyone? The Lord also prayed for all the disciples that we see in St. John (John 17), but especially prayed for Simon, because his arrogance made his position more dangerous than the position of the other disciples; he, who dreamed of being first among his disciples in loyalty, will turn out to be first in infidelity. Pray, may your faith not fail. Simon's faith, faith in God and His son (John 14:1), would have been completely extinguished by the storm of troubles, and only the Savior's prayer ensured that during the fall sparks of faith remained in Simon, flaring up at the new touch of the gracious gaze of Jesus. - Pray so that faith does not become scarce. The Lord did not pray that Peter and the other disciples would be completely delivered from temptations: the actions of Satan do not interfere with the divine government of the world, they turn only against him and to the glory of God; faith, protected by the prayer of the Lord in the disciples shocked by Satan, revealed itself after the storm in a brilliant form and conquered the world. The power of God, which strengthens human weakness, always defeats evil power, so long as man does not voluntarily deviate from heavenly help. And once you are converted, strengthen the brethren (Luke 22:32). After the promise of maintaining the faith in Simon is given, a condition is offered to Simon under which the promise will be fulfilled. This condition is one that David, who turned to God, himself volunteered to fulfill: I will teach, he said, the wicked in your ways (Ps. 50:15). The Lord lets Simon know that the faith preserved in him should not only produce in himself a sincere appeal to God, sincere repentance of sin (Matthew 13:15; Acts 11:20, 14:15, 26:18), but should also lead others to strengthen their faith. Strengthen your brethren. The Savior usually calls the Apostles his brethren. Here he says to Simon: strengthen your brethren. Here are the brothers of Simon who are like Simon in weaknesses, in their tendency to fall. Therefore, if Peter had to confirm the other Apostles, then, obviously, Peter among the Apostles is nothing more than their brother, just as weak as they are, just as prone to falls as they are, but not the head of the Apostles. Simon, who undoubtedly very much remembered and understood the commandment given to him by the Lord, fulfilled it especially in relation to Jewish Christians, as we see in his epistles (1 Peter 5:8-10; 2 Peter 1:12, 3:17), and in the Acts of the Apostles, but nowhere do we see that he accepted it as an assignment in relation to the Apostles; He was so modest and moderate! He said to him: Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death. There is no doubt that Simon says what he feels; he feels in his soul the readiness for the most difficult feats. - And, however, this feeling of readiness for good was only the fruit of self-delusion, the work of a soul that did not yet fully understand itself and its weaknesses. Moreover, Simon allows himself to contradict the assurances of the Lord and, while the Lord says that only His prayer will preserve his faith in Simon, he claims that he is ready to go to prison and to death! Oh, how difficult it is for a person to become higher than himself, not to let vanity overcome him! He said: I say to you Peter, he will not cry out the loops this day, until he has denied Me three times (Luke 22:34). And after Simon hopes so much for himself, the meek and loving Lord does not express any anger or indignation towards him. – He friendlyly reveals to Simon the most private circumstances of Simonov’s imminent fall, which he sees as if they were before His eyes. On this very night the fall will follow, and what a pitiful fall! Three times Peter will deny his Lord, three times he will say that he does not know Him, and then he will cry out loud. My listeners! We see that the Apostle Peter loved the Lord, loved Him passionately, and out of love he promised many things for himself. But why did he not want to believe the Lord, that he promises too much and will not fulfill little? Because he relied on himself, on his own firmness. Is there a difference between us and Peter? There is a difference in that we love the Lord far less than Peter loved, but not in the fact that we are less deceived by our hopes for ourselves. Ah, every day, every hour we are captive to pride! – Otherwise, where is our awareness of our weaknesses? Where is the sincere confession of sins? Where is the prayer for heavenly help? If we firmly remembered our guilt before God, we would not live as carelessly as we do; the fear of God's judgment would not be as far from our hearts as it is now. We spend hours and days satisfied with ourselves. “And that’s why it happens that when Satan begins to sift through and shake us with a strong hand, when troubles attack us like a terrible storm, our faith then weakens, we find in ourselves neither hope, nor patience, nor prayer, nor contrition for sins. O good and merciful Lord! Save us sinners as you know and as you want. Amen. Conversation 8. Do not let your heart be troubled: believe in God and believe in Me The Savior's farewell conversation with his disciples (John 14:1–16:33) and His prayer to the Father (John 17:1–26), which followed His predictions about Judas and Peter (John 13:23–38) after the Last Supper, require our most reverent and intense attention. Here from His own lips we hear a confession about His person and ministry, we hear where He comes from and why He came, where and for what purpose He is going. Here we see what the world means without Him, and what our sorrows mean with Him, how He renews sick humanity and returns it to the state of the first-created man. Moreover, we see, hear, touch the love of Christ that surpasses reason, embracing earth and heaven, time and eternity, breathing in every word, in every desire. Heavenly grace! Send Thy light and Thy truth, that they may guide us in the understanding of Thy wondrous teaching. Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God and believe in Me (John 14:1). Thus spoke the Lord, calming the disciples who were confused by His predictions. According to Him, one of them will betray Him; Peter, who seemed so firm, will deny Him; It was painful in one way, threatening in another. And they were even more embarrassed that their beloved Teacher and Lord was leaving them, and they could not go where He was going; Moreover, He will suffer in the hands of His sworn enemies, who will hardly leave them alone (John 13:33). These sad feelings, in their main subject, were holy feelings. And the Savior Himself said: when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they fast. – But the sorrows and confusion of the disciples required calming, firstly, as a violation of the boundaries of what was due and, secondly, as the fruit of thoughts about the Savior that were not pure in all respects. Let not your heart be troubled, said the Lord. What does the Savior want when he says: believe in God and believe in Me? When He says: believe in God, His demand is clear. He wants the unrest of the spirit to be pacified by faith in God, the good Father and the wise Provider. Why else: believe in Me too? Comparing faith in God with faith in the Lord Jesus makes it possible to see that, on the one hand, faith in God serves as the basis for faith in Jesus Christ, on the other hand, faith in God without faith in Jesus Christ is incomplete, imperfect faith, and faith in Jesus Christ imparts completeness and perfection to it. It is not enough for a person to believe in God; he must also believe in the Son of God who came in the flesh. This is the will of God for man, and the will of salvation for him. Where is the light for the darkened human mind? Where is the peace for his conscience? Where is the true consolation in the sorrows of life? It's all about faith in Jesus Christ. Believe in God and believe in Me. Can a person say without blasphemy: believe in God, believe in Me? Oh no! Therefore, He who says this so freely does not consider it robbery to put Himself equal with God. He demands for Himself the same kind of worship that should be given to the true God. The meaning of His words is clear. Therefore, only unbelief can explain this phenomenon in the Christian world, that when they read such clear words of the Lord about His Divinity, they recognize faith in the Divinity of the Son of God not as a revealed teaching, but only as the opinion of the Church. Believe in God and believe in Me. The disciples of Christ Jesus had not yet had pure and firm faith in Him. They had the beginnings of faith, and not always true to themselves. - Therefore, the Lord himself prayed that their faith would not become weak (Luke 22:32), and demands from them that they preserve and increase their faith in Him. This was especially necessary during the upcoming strong temptations. How the Christian faith means a lot for the fight against the misfortunes of the world - this is shown to us by the beloved disciple of Christ, who says: this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith (1 John 5:4). In My Father's house there are many mansions: if not, I would tell you (John 14:2). This is the consolation that faith in the good heavenly Father provides: the sure hope of eternal bliss. The house of the heavenly Father is heaven, from where the Son of God came to earth. Holy Scripture often depicts a place of eternal bliss under the image of a house (Isa. 63:15; Ps. 33:13; Matt. 6:19; Acts 7:49; Heb. 13:14), just as it calls it a heavenly dwelling, not made with hands and eternal (2 Cor. 5:1), or a city, whose artist and builder is God (Heb. 11:10). There, according to the Savior, there are many abodes. What do many monasteries mean? Another ancient teacher wrote: “how can the Father have many mansions, if not according to the difference of merit” 13? The same explanation is stated by St. Chrysostom and other fathers 14. And there can be no other meaning here. Many monasteries cannot mean monasteries where there are many saints; since it would be said: in the Father's house there is an abode for many. Nor do they mean multitudes of bliss, because they are not talking about bliss, but about abodes. And the degrees and differences of earthly moral perfection must have a corresponding difference in the types of bliss. The Apostle Paul teaches: “there is another glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another of the stars, and star differs from star in dignity: so it is in heaven” (1 Cor. 15:41–42). The Savior had a reason and reason to point out to his disciples the difference between the heavenly mansions. He said before that He was going to the Father, where the disciples could not go now; told Peter that he would subsequently come where his Lord was going (John 13:33–36). The disciples, saddened by separation from the Lord, were troubled by doubt: will there ever be a place for all of them where the Lord is going, or will Peter alone have a part in the future kingdom? And the loving Lord says that in the house of the good and wise Father, not only is a place prepared for Him, but different places are prepared there, according to the diversity of those who will come there; He, the just one, will reward everyone according to the measure of his labors raised in the earthly kingdom of Christ. Otherwise, I would have told you. This is how the Lord begins to show the consolations of faith in His name. “If it had not been for this, I say, which was said about the Father’s house, I would have told you.” This means that He tells them what is completely known to Him, although not known to some Sadducees. This means that He loves the truth so much that no matter how bitter it may be, He would not hide it from them. So, their doubts have no place here, where He, the eternal Truth and the faithful Love for the truth, speaks. I'm going to prepare a place for you. Eternal bliss is appointed for the Saints by the Truth of God from eternity (Matthew 25:34; Eph. 1:4; Rom. 8:30). But until our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus, completed His work on the cross, no one was right before the eternal Truth. By His death the condemnation for sin was destroyed (Heb. 5:9, 10:14). He ascended into heaven as the Head of the believers, opening to them the right to be with Him in heaven (Eph. 2:16). On the throne of the Father, He intercedes for those who confess His name (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25), gives petition to those who sin (1 John 2:1), helps the weak, strength to those who strive, and, acting in the work of sanctification according to the needs of each, prepares for each his own reward. “He is now preparing the monasteries, preparing the inhabitants” 15. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself, so that where I am, you also may be (John 14:3). The father of the family goes ahead to prepare a place for his family wandering in a foreign land, and when he has prepared this place, he returns and takes the family. In such a picture, the Lord depicts to the disciples the attitude of His love towards them. What kind of return is the Savior talking about here? He had previously told the disciples that now they could not go where He was going (John 13:33–36), and made it clear that later they would come through suffering to where He was going on the way of the cross. Now He says directly and clearly that He will take them to Himself. And it is so clear that now He speaks about their transition from a life of sorrows to the afterlife. Therefore, it must be assumed that, speaking of His return to them, He means His appearance to them in the moments of their suffering death. The appearance of the Lord to believers after their separation from the body is also shown by the Apostle. He says: let us rather depart from the body and come to the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; Acts 7:56; Luke 16:23, 23:43). Yes, where I am, you will be too. It is clear in itself that here the disciples are promised a place in the same heaven, but not the same glory as the glory of the God-man. If the Saints differ among themselves according to the glory with which they are awarded, then the glory of the Son of God is inaccessible to anyone else. To console His disciples, the Lord says that His love cannot be separated from them - it will take them to heaven (John 17:24). - Poor worker of Christ! If on earth you do not have even a corner of peace, if the world feeds you only with abuse and hostility, and waters you with tears, be complacent - Christ Jesus has prepared a church for you in heaven, He is waiting for you there with eternal consolations (2 Cor. 5:1). And even as I go, you know, and you know the way (John 14:4). In confirmation of the faithfulness of His promises, the Savior points to the knowledge of the Apostles themselves: “You yourself, he says, know where and how I am going, and, therefore, you know whether I can fulfill what I promise.” Where is He going? To God the Father, to receive glory. He told his disciples that he would ascend to where he was before (John 6:62), that he would be glorified by the Father (John 13:32); The disciples even heard the voice of the heavenly Father, promising to glorify Him (John 12:28). What path is He talking about? About the path of suffering that He enters and that His followers must follow. And He spoke about this clearly; said that there is no other way to heaven except the way of the cross (Matthew 16:21–24; John 12:24–26, 13:33). He Himself knew both so clearly, saw so truly, that both life beyond the grave and His way of the cross were as if before His eyes. And His disciples had to know both. - After three and a half years, during which He so tirelessly instructed them in the secrets of the kingdom, these words of the Savior could not have been unexpected for them: “If I go, you know where I am going, you know the path that I am going, like your Leader.” If they did not yet have the proper understanding (Matthew 15:16; Mark 8:17–19), this related only to their weakness, but did not weaken the fidelity of His instructions, and at the same time the fidelity of His promises. So, do you see, listeners, what the Savior offers to the disciples to console them? “Believe in God, believe also in Me: this faith will comfort you with a living hope of eternal bliss.” Here is reliable help for all of us in earthly life, Christian hope for a blissful future - a teacher of virtues and a friend in sorrows. It can inspire us with love for the will of the Heavenly Father and give us strength to endure earthly sorrows. We are assured of the truth of this not only by the words of the Lord, but by the experiences of Christian centuries, the experiences of so many ascetics of piety. Don’t we know that Christian hope helped martyrs to endure terrible suffering for Christ, confessors to neglect the promises of the evil world, virgins to fight the disturbances of the flesh, penitents to endure feats of repentance, the rich to share everything with the poor, the poor to patiently endure poverty, the sick not to groan from illness. Whoever you are, my listener, and whatever your situation, Christian hope is your sure help. Hold on to it firmly, look to the Lord, who awaits you with a reward. Do not cling to the earth - you yourself see how annoying it is; look at the sky - your wonderful abode is there. Amen. Conversation 9. Jesus said to him: I am the way, the truth and the life. Love for truth is a gift from the Creator. Curiosity is pathetic when it chases illusory objects. Among the Savior’s disciples there was one who did not like to believe easily, but loved to reflect on the truth. And the Savior not only did not condemn Thomas, but He Himself challenged the disciples to think and question about the truth. – When He said to the disciples: “You know where I am going, and you know the path that I am going,” he spoke to them about their knowledge in order to provoke them to think and ask questions about important subjects. And Thomas understood the intention of his Lord. Thomas said to Him: Lord, we don’t know where you are going? And how can we lead the way? (John 14:5). It is impossible not to notice that if it was necessary to ask the Lord about something, Peter usually asked; Peter appeared with bold and even harsh objections. Now He remains silent throughout the entire farewell conversation. What is this from? The prediction of his fall (John 13:38) led him to think - he occupied himself with his conscience and feelings. But let's turn to Thomas. How did his question arise in Thomas’s soul? While believing in the earthly kingdom of the Messiah, which the disciples shared with the Jews, they partly did not clearly understand and partly did not want to accept what the Lord said about His departure. They wanted to believe that He was talking about some earthly place where He was going, but what kind of place this was and how the Lord would go there, they did not know 16 . Most of all, their souls were now occupied with one thing - grief over separation from the Teacher. And in this sorrow Thomas said: Lord! I can’t say that we know where You are going. No, we cannot know Your ways. Jesus said to him: I am the way, the truth and the life. No one will come to the Father except by Me (John 14:6). The Lord saw the heart of Thomas, saw that although his objection was, apparently, not gentle, it was the fruit of sorrowful love, wanting to know the truth about his beloved Teacher. And the Lord answers Thomas with gentle love. Without speaking more about the path by which He Himself goes to heaven, He shows the path along which Thomas and everyone else must go to heaven. He turns the thoughts of the disciples to His spiritual kingdom. I am the way, He says. There is no need to look for any other path to the highest goal of earthly life. Any other path is unreliable and even dangerous, just like the path of the Jewish scribes, who dreamed of land, of earthly happiness, of the earthly glory of the Messiah. Christ Jesus is our only true guide to heaven; He is not only the path to the highest goal, but He Himself leads to this goal. Whoever follows Him will not make mistakes and will not be lost - “he will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). How is this so? How is Christ Jesus our way? “I am the truth and the life,” He says. Through lies, humanity has distanced itself from God and lost both truth and life (John 8:44). No matter how much it tried to find the truth on its own, the truth was not found. There is nothing to say about the teachers of worldly vanity: these are empty, pitiful people. Philosophers, legislators, and founders of religions searched for the truth. And their teachings are more or less permeated with lies, errors, delusions, prejudices; they expose themselves to their insolvency by mutual contradictions. Truth is in God, God is truth. Christ Jesus is the Son of God, He is in the Father and the Father in Him. Therefore He is the truth in Himself and the truth for people. He is pure, clear, cloudless light. Therefore, there is not a shadow of lies or misunderstanding in His teaching. He is light for every person (John 1:9), no matter who he is, wherever he is and whenever he is, in every country, in every society, at every time. Without His light, people whose minds are damaged by innate sin and hereditary lies will not be freed from lies (John 8:44). Christ Jesus is not only the truth, but the life. The most important shortcoming of human teachings is that they do not give life to humanity corrupted by sin, they do not give the strength to change themselves, as they should change, for the highest goal of human existence; sick humanity, no matter what human means, remains sick. Christ Jesus, as the Son of God and true God, is life in Himself and life for all people. He is the bread of God, who came down from heaven and gives life to the world (John 6:33–35). He goes to die on the cross, but not only will He resurrect Himself: His death on the cross will reconcile heaven with humanity and open the streams of life for humanity corrupted by sin (Heb. 10:20). This is what the Savior says about Himself and in the ears of the Jews: Amen, Amen, I say to you, that you listen to My word and believe in Him who sent Me; have eternal life, and will not come into judgment (not subject to judgment), but will pass from death to life (John 5:24). If anyone keeps My word, he will never see death forever (John 8:51). No one will come to the Father except Me. This is an explanation of the name that the Lord gave Himself, calling Himself a path, and therefore determines the boundaries of the meaning of truth and life. Just as the path serves as a means to achieve a goal, so one cannot reach the Heavenly Father - the highest goal of the best human desires - except through Christ. Thus, if Christ is the truth, then the truth is such, without which it is impossible to go to heaven. If He is life, then life is such that no one can live without it, without which everyone is dead to God. If only they knew Me faster; and they knew My Father quickly (John 14:7). This is a direct consequence of the fact that Christ Jesus is the truth, a consequence in application to the disciples. The Lord shows the disciples on what depends their ignorance, which they confessed when Thomas said: “We don’t know, where are you going?” If they knew Christ the Lord, Who is the very truth, then, since there is only one truth, they would also know the Heavenly Father. Then they would know that the Son is the image of the being of God (Eph. 1:3), and His teaching, His deeds, His whole life reveal the Heavenly Father to people. Therefore, we would not hesitate with doubts either about the goal where Christ is going, or about the one to which the disciples, like all people, need to go. This is how the Savior spoke about Himself and to the Jews (John 8:19). From now on you know Him (the Father) and see Him, or rather, “from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” The disciples of the Lord Jesus were more attentive to His teachings and works than the Jews. They, at least, prepared themselves for the true knowledge of the Son and Father (Matthew 16:16). Therefore, the Lord Jesus adds such a comment about them, which he never did about the Jews. What is this limit from which the disciples begin to know the Father? From now on, then, as Christ approached His death on the cross. Now is the Son of Man glorified (John 13:31), said the Lord Jesus, as soon as Judas left the supper of love with full determination to betray his Teacher into the hands of evildoers. Thus, the revelation of the glory of the Heavenly Father to people begins with death on the cross. The disciples of Jesus understood that their beloved Teacher was going to death; They didn’t want to believe it, but it was impossible not to believe the clear words of the Teacher, and therefore they grieved over the imminent separation from Him. They heard His clear words: no one will come to the Father except by Me; They heard that He was coming to prepare a place for them. Therefore, they began to understand that in His suffering and death the glory of the Heavenly Father would be revealed. This understanding of the truth was weak, not firm, but it had already begun, it was already there, and these sparks of light would soon turn into full light, under the influence of the Comforter Spirit, so close to the disciples. And you see Him. The disciples of Christ already saw the power and glory of the Heavenly Father in the deeds of their Teacher, Christ the Lord - although their vision until now was not very keen. Thus, the Savior confirms what he had previously told his disciples: “you know where I am going, and you also know the way that I am going.” His words are true. Sweetest Jesus! Who should we go to? You are the way, the truth and the life for us. Our knees have weakened from addiction to sins; We see the truth, but our weaknesses are great. Strengthen us, Our Life! By Your strength, let us glorify You with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Conversation 10. Lord, show us the Father, and that is sufficient for us When did a person not want to know the Heavenly Father? The desire for truth is the best desire of the immortal soul. Unfortunately for man, his self-willed mind seeks truth in the wrong place where it should be sought; it searches with the wrong dispositions with which it should be sought, and therefore, instead of truth, it finds lies and emptiness. – This happens to the best seekers of truth until they find a better guide to the truth than reason! So it was with Philip, one of the sincere disciples of Christ! Philip said to Him: Lord, show us the Father, and it will be sufficient for us (John 14:8). What kind of request is this? What and how does Philip want? He reverently calls out: Lord! He says that if the Father were shown, then this would be enough for His disciples, so much so that they have nothing more to desire: in the knowledge of the heavenly Father, he finds peace for his immortal soul (Ps. 73:25-26). When the Lord Jesus said to the disciples: If they knew Me quickly, and knew My Father quickly, Philip took it upon himself to defend the dignity of the disciples. “They believe and know,” he says, “that their Teacher and Lord is close to the Heavenly Father. “But they think that the one who, seeing an equal, wants to see the one to whom he is equal, does not deserve to be accused. Therefore, they ask to show them the Father, as He appeared to His servant Moses (Ex. 33:8–10). Then the scribes and Pharisees would not have dared to say in derogation of His dignity: “Our fathers saw God, but what does He mean?” Jesus said to him: I have been with you for such a long time, and have you not known Me, Philip? Seeing Me, seeing the Father: and how do you say: show us the Father? (John 14:9). The Savior responds kindly to the good-natured Philip. But he accuses him of something that Philip did not see in himself. Philip thought that he knew his Lord, and he thought that the other disciples knew Him too. But it turned out to be different. Philip, like the other disciples, had plenty of time to know his Lord. And his words showed that he did not look so closely at his Lord, did not recognize Him as closely as he should have seen and known. Christ Jesus is not yet recognized by the disciples; the prejudices of the Jews still hide His greatness from their gaze. Philip was deceived in himself - he thought so much about himself that he considered himself and his fellow disciples capable of the visions of Moses - while he ignored the surest path to the knowledge of the Heavenly Father - the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Seeing Me, the form of the Father, the Lord says to him. Without a doubt, the Savior is not talking about one sensual vision: otherwise, the scribes, who knew so little of the Lord and His Father, saw Jesus with a sensual gaze. The saving vision of the Son is otherwise called faith. He who believes in Me does not believe in Me, but in Me who sent. Seeing Me, seeing Him who sent Me (John 12:44–45), the Lord spoke. This is the contemplation of a contrite spirit, thirsty for heavenly grace, the vision of a reverent and pure mind. For such a view, the Son is the essential image of the invisible God, he is that visible thing in which the invisible Divinity is reflected, moreover, in a way that It cannot appear anywhere else (Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:4). Such a Contemplator will no longer want any other revelation of God; he will not say: show us the Father 17. Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The verbs that I say to you, I do not say about Myself: But the Father abides in Me, He does the works (John 14:10). The Savior also spoke with reproach about the Jews that they did not believe in His divine dignity, did not believe that He was in the Father and the Father in Him (John 10:38). All the more should His disciple Philip have been ashamed if he had not believed that the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son: the Savior exposes His sacred, inviolable truth as being one in essence with the Father. To believe this with a sincere heart, it is enough to know that such a Messenger of heaven as Christ Jesus offers this. “It was necessary,” says St. Chrysostom, “so that then, as you hear about the Father and the Son, you do not look for any other proof of their affinity in essence” 18. But if reason requires a reasonable explanation of the truths of faith, then reason is given admonition; Christ Jesus points him to His teaching and deeds. The teaching of Christ Jesus is so pure, so holy, so high that it itself speaks of its origin from heaven. The works that Christ Jesus did could not be the works of human power - they were the works of the Almighty. “Even if I do this, even if you do not believe in Me, believe in My work: that you may understand and believe that the Father is in Me and I am in the Father” (Jn. 10:38); This is what the Savior says repeatedly (John 5:36). And He taught about His teaching: if anyone wants to do His will, does he understand the teaching that is from God, or am I speaking from Myself (John 7:17)? Thus, if the miracles of Moses and the Prophets showed their closeness to God, the miracles and teachings of Jesus Christ showed His closeness to the Heavenly Father, which Moses and the Prophets did not have. Believe Me, for I am in the Father and the Father is in Me: no matter what, have Me faith for these works (John 14:11). This is what the Savior said, addressing all his disciples from Philip. Oh, how He considers faith in His divine dignity necessary for us! This faith was necessary especially in the coming time of the Savior’s sorrows. His disciples had to be firmly convinced of His divine dignity, so as not to be tempted by the sad situation in which their Teacher was. If you, the Lord said, are not yet strong enough in spirit to contemplate the Father in Me, look at My works, miracles and teaching, and they will shed light on you, which is needed especially in the dark hours of temptation. Yes, how easily the darkness of sorrows closes the brightest, highest thoughts from our sight. - A believing soul! Whether a storm of external sorrows or a storm of internal sorrows rises up against you, believe as firmly as possible, cry out as often as possible: Son of God! You are omnipotent, save me, a poor sinner, and - by all means, you will be saved. Amen, amen, I say to you: believe in Me, the works that I do, he will also do, and greater works than these will he do, because I go to My Father (John 14:12). Here is new reinforcement for faith in Christ Jesus, and what reinforcement! The Savior assures us in His word that faith in His name will perform miracles even after His return to heaven. And His words were justified by experience. – Who, if not the Omniscient One, could speak so about the invisible future, as Christ Jesus says? Who, if not the Almighty, could promise what He promises? What kind of miracle worker among people would allow himself to say: whoever believes in Me will do the works that I do? And the Savior, even after His resurrection, said: these signs will follow to those who believed: in My name demons will give birth, new tongues will speak, serpents will be lifted up, and even if they drink anything mortal, it will not harm them (Mark 16:17-18). What does the Savior show when he speaks of faith: He will do greater things than these? The expression: and more than these, in fact, means greater, more important things, and does not mean their numerical abundance. Nevertheless, the greatness of miracles is measured both by the internal meaning of miracles, the importance of the consequences, the subject of the action, and the number of miracles. – So, the question is, is it true that faith in the Lord Jesus could and can perform miracles that are more important in number, consequences and subject matter than those performed by the Lord Jesus himself? With the exception of the miracle of the resurrection of Christ, which did not happen even then, as the Lord spoke his promise about believers, the miracles performed by the Apostles, the miracles performed by saints of different times, turn out to be truly greater in their diversity, and even more so in the importance of their consequences. The miracles performed by the Apostles converted thousands to Christ; miracles performed by preachers of faith converted millions of pagans from error to truth. How many sinners have been brought to repentance by the power of signs and wonders! Meanwhile, Christ Jesus acted only among the Jewish people. The number of miracles performed by believers of different times and peoples is innumerable; their diversity is immense, and among them the gift of speaking in different languages ​​is a gift that the Savior did not show in himself; the healing of the sick by the shadow of Peter also has no example in the life of Christ Jesus. He will do greater things than these, because I go to My Father. – Christ Jesus, returning to heaven, received the full power of the Son of God, but on earth he was in the form of a servant. How could it not be that faith in the glorified God-man, by His power, not only performed the miracles that He performed on earth, but also performed greater, more important, more glorious deeds? On earth He was exhausted according to His human nature, which He had assumed; in heaven He is in the glory and power of the Eternal. How can there not be differences in His deeds? The Savior clearly assigns, depending on Himself, those miracles that were to be performed by faith after His ascension into heaven. The only thing expected on the part of people is faith in His name. Nevertheless, it is obvious that a Christian society, where faith is never marked by miracles, has the right to consider itself a living Christian society? If only living, and not dead, faith in Jesus could work miracles at all times, then just as that Church in which miracles are performed by its believing children bears the stamp of the Church living and dear to God, so societies of Christians, where for entire centuries there was no true miracle, should be recognized as sick societies, no matter what names they adorn themselves with. This is what the Lord Jesus commands us to believe in what He says next. And whatever you ask of the Father in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son... (John 14:13–14). The Savior also shows how faith can perform miracles even after Him. This is prayer in His name. What does it mean to pray to God the Father in the name of Christ Jesus? This means asking God not on your own behalf, not with hopes for yourself, but in the person of Christ Jesus - asking with living faith in the merits and greatness of Christ Jesus and with a living consciousness of your weakness - asking as if only Christ Jesus asked for us, and not we ourselves. How can a sinner safely approach Him who is a consuming fire (Deut. 4:24; Heb. 12:29; Ps. 59:2)? We have free entry into the sanctuary of God, but because it was opened to us by the blood of Christ Jesus (Heb. 10:19). If, according to the word of the Savior, successful prayer is prayer to God the Father in the name of the Son, then we are not forbidden to pray to the Son himself. On the contrary, the name of the Lord Jesus pronounced in prayer is nothing more than prayer ascending to Him. Believe in God and believe in Me, said the Savior (John 14:1). This is how one should pray, just as one should believe. About the wonderful effects of the prayer of St. Scripture tells us so clearly and so often that all that remains is to pray as often as possible in order to be able to pray properly, and then our prayer will not be unsuccessful. How many times did the Savior himself speak about this (Matthew 18:19, 21:22; Mark 11:24; John 3:21–22, 5:14–15). May the Father be glorified in the Son. The Heavenly Father is glorified by prayer in the name of the Son, when, firstly, we ask in accordance with the will of the Heavenly Father and with submission to His will (John 5:14; James 4:15), and, secondly, receiving through prayer, we glorify the power and goodness of the Divine (James 1:17; Rom. 8:32). Let us, my listeners, carefully preserve faith in the great name of the Son of God. With this faith our salvation is certain. Amen. Conversation 11. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments To console His grieving disciples, the Savior first offered faith in Him and its high advantages (John 14:1-14). After that, he offers love for Him and its grace-filled consolations, irreplaceable by anything earthly. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. It is strange that the Savior, while His disciples are so inseparably with Him and by their very grief about the impending separation from Him prove that they love Him, expresses doubt about their love: “if you love Me,” he says. What does it mean? This means that although they certainly loved Him, they did not love Him so much that the Lord could be satisfied with the love that they now had; this means that He encouraged them to test their hearts, do they love Him as they should love Him, is this love able to withstand the test that it must undergo during His suffering on the cross? In this disposition, even after His resurrection, He tested Peter three times: Do you love Me (John 21:15)? How easily our heart deceives us - our pride so wants to present us in the best possible way, that we need to strictly test ourselves: do we love our Lord? If you love Me, the Lord says to the sorrowful disciples, and thus makes them understand that love for Him in itself contains much comfort for them. It is comforting, because its subject is so lofty, so holy, so great that, loving the Lord with deep love, they forget both earth and heaven. What do we have in heaven? And what did You want on earth? My heart and my flesh are gone, O God of my heart; My portion, O God, endures forever, says David (Ps. 72:26). If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And before His death on the cross, He speaks about His commandments, allowing us to see in Himself the One who gave the law at Sinai (Ex. 20:6) and Who has the power to give the statutes of the universe. Open before His gaze is that kingdom that will embrace all nations and all ages, and where His name will be the name of the King and Master, before whom all things on earth and in heaven will bow (Phil. 2:11). If you love Me, you will keep My commandments, or, more precisely, “if you keep, you will do.” With what meekness of love, with what gentleness of heavenly kindness the Lord declares His will regarding the fulfillment of His commandments. He does not inspire fear in the legislator and the law; He does not want His commandments to seem like a bond or a burden to us. He says that just as His commandments are a work of His love, so fulfilling them is a necessary fruit of our love for Him. He who sincerely loves the Lord Jesus cannot help but fulfill His will - His commandments: one with the other in an inseparable connection. Christ’s beloved disciple teaches about love: “Whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected” (1 John 2:5). “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments” (1 John 5:3). The verification of our love for the Lord is the fulfillment of His confessions. If we do not fulfill His will, we dream in vain that we love Him. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that the Spirit of truth may be with you forever (John 14:16). What connection does this promise have with the commandment of love? The connection of the promise with the commandment is expressed in clear words below (John 14:21), where the Lord says: he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, etc. In the high promise of the Comforter there are three persons. First, the Savior says: I will pray. Thus, the Son of God acts in the person of the Intercessor for poor humanity, upset by sins. I beg you, this is when He will accomplish His act of redemption on the cross for people; then, as the truth of God, which has closed heaven for criminal humanity, will be reconciled with humanity through His sacrifice on the cross. “Who dares to judge?” , says St. Paul. “Christ died, but also rose again; He is at the right hand of God and makes intercession for us” (Rom. 8:34). And the Apostle Peter connects the sending of the Holy Spirit with the ascension of Christ Jesus into heaven (Acts 2:33). He will give you another Comforter. The giver of an invaluable gift is God the Father, since He decided whether the work taken upon Himself by the Son was completed, whether the eternal Truth was satisfied (Is. 52:1). However, the Son is so confident in the will of the Father that before he asks Him, he says: He will give you; and another time he attributes the message of the Spirit even to himself: I will send you from the Father (John 15:26). Who will be given, or, as the Savior says differently, will be sent? The word Paraklitos actually means “intercessor,” as Jesus Christ himself is called (1 John 2:1). And this meaning belongs here to the One who will be sent. He is the Spirit of truth. The duty of the intercessor is to present the case in its proper form, to reveal the truth to the person being defended, to defend the accused. The Paraclete, the Spirit of truth, tells us the truth both about ourselves and about God; he shows us our plight, which we do not see, blinded by sins; shows us how we should behave so as not to be condemned, He does not console us with deceptive consolations, as his false friend consoled Absalom, He does not say: be calm, your work is good (2 Samuel 15:3). He speaks the truth as the Truth itself (1 John 5:6). He consoles when it is necessary to console, and he consoles powerfully, so that all the sorrows of the world give way to his consolations, disappear before them like smoke, like a cobweb. Does the soul, weary of the attacks of sin, mourn? The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Rom. 8:16). He helps us in prayer by showing us what and how we should pray (Rom. 8:26). Is it necessary to respond to the evil wisdom of the world? No wisdom in the world can stand against the answers inspired by the Spirit of truth (Matthew 10:18–20), as can be seen in the example of Stephen (Acts 6:10). Thus, the Paraclete Spirit is: a) the Face and Person of the Divine, since it is of equal honor with Jesus - the Son of God; b) there is a Person separate from the Son of God, since there is another Paraclete. We also see the personal existence of the Spirit of the Paraclete from the fact that He, as the Savior Himself says, will come (John 15:26; John 16:7,8,13) and teach all truth (John 15:26, 16:8), will not speak from Himself, but what He hears, will proclaim (John 16:13–14), will testify about the Son and His glorify (John 15:26, 16:8–13). May it be with you forever. It is a great consolation for the disciples that the Comforter remains with them for all eternity and will never leave them. Did the Savior have only the Apostles in mind when he spoke about the Comforter: He will be with you forever? Of course, the Spirit of grace remained in the souls of the Apostles even after their death. But the Savior’s promise of the Comforter applies in general to the Church of Christ, which, after the Apostles, must remain on earth until the end of the century, and in particular to the successors of the apostolic ministry. And who, other than the Spirit of God, could give life to the great body of Christ Jesus (Col. 1:24), which embraces all the nations of the earth? What mind and what power could control the movement of the spiritual ship of Christ among the waves and storms of a world hostile to Christ? The world cannot accept Him, for it does not see Him, but knows Him: but you know Him, for He abides in you and will be in you (John 14:17). How is this possible? Is it not promised that the Spirit will be poured out on all flesh? Was it not for the salvation of the world that Christ the Savior and His Spirit were sent from God the Father? But just as the Apostles represented all those who were capable of receiving the Spirit of grace and whom the Savior therefore excluded from the world, already honoring among His disciples, so the world, which cannot receive the Spirit, contains within itself all those incapable of receiving grace; this is the world of the Jews (John 14:19), depicting people hostile to Christ and His teaching (1 Cor. 2:6–8). He cannot accept the Spirit, he has drowned out the acceptability of it, stubbornly remaining a spirit of lies and malice (1 Cor. 2:14). Why can't he accept? Although he does not see Him, he knows Him. He is blind to receive Him, does not see and does not recognize Him. He has an acceptability only for the earthly, for the sensual, for that which flatters passions and earthly affections; For such things he has both intelligence and intelligence, sometimes even amazing. The world could see the Holy Spirit in His visible actions; but he did not look, did not pay attention, and with disdain and anger attributed these actions to Beelzebub (Matthew 12:24). He does not know, does not recognize the Spirit from the Savior’s instructions and, while He acts on conscience, does not recognize His voice and rejects it (Acts 7:51; 1 Cor. 2:14). The wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God: for it does not submit to the law of God, it can do less (Rom. 8:7). You know Him. The apostles already knew the Spirit, at least so much that their knowledge exceeded the revelations of flesh and blood (Matthew 16:17), exceeded even the knowledge of the disciples of the Baptist (Acts 19:1–3), much less the knowledge of those who sat in the pulpit of Moses (Matthew 11:25). For it abides in you. The disciples of the Lord Jesus were familiar with the Spirit of grace, because He lived in their hearts. It was He who strengthened them by the firmness with which they, despite the malice of their enemies, followed Jesus everywhere, and thereby revealed His presence in them. And He will live in you as constantly as the glory of the Lord dwelt in the church of Jehovah (Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 3:16), and as to him who has it will be given and abounds (Matthew 13:12), in the disciples of Christ He will be revealed in the highest and most wonderful gifts. I will not leave you, sires: I will come to you. It’s still a little while before the world will see Me, but you will see Me: as I live and you will live. In that day you will understand (John 14:18–20). The Savior had previously called His disciples His children (John 13:33). This is how He represents them now. Separating from them, like a tender Father from his children, He consoles them, but in a way that no father can console. What father, separated by death from his children, can say to them as a consolation: I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you. Ah, not even the most tender parent has ever returned from the other world to their children! Only heavenly love can say to its children: I will not leave you, orphans, I will come to you. This promise expresses the decision of heavenly love not to leave its own without a visit; and that it does not refer to the final judgment is evident from the fact that the world will not see this visitation (John 14:19), while the second coming of Christ will be seen by the whole universe. It’s still a little while before the world will see Me, but you will see Me. The Savior speaks of His imminent death, after which the Jewish world no longer saw His resurrection, but only His disciples. “God raised him up,” Peter told the Jews, “and gave him to appear not to all men, but to us, pre-chosen witnesses of God, who both ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead” (Acts 10:40–41). Thus, the vision of Jesus, which the disciples of Christ should have had and which the world could not have, extends to sensory vision. What was given to the disciples served as a sign of the Lord’s special love for them, as St. John (1 John 1:1–2). However, just as the fact that the world did not see the risen one depended actually on the inability of its spiritual gaze to this vision, so the vision promised to the Apostles, together with the sensory vision, also contained the spiritual vision of Christ, which was to be revealed from the time of the resurrection of Christ. This is how it was according to eyewitnesses of the Risen One (Luke 24:45–51). As I live, you will live too. He says about Himself that, despite the death that awaits Him and touches Him, He lives, lives as Eternal Life. Moreover, since He is the Author of life (Acts 3:15; 1 Cor. 15:45), His faithful will live in all possible obstacles to life, in the troubles and worries of the world, among internal and external temptations, even after death, not only with their souls, but also with resurrected bodies (1 John 3:2; 1 Cor. 15:48–49). On that day you will understand. On that day, during the time following His resurrection from the dead, and especially on the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit, the hearts of His faithful were illuminated by the understanding of the mysteries of God (Luke 24:45–51). You will receive strength when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, the Risen One said to the disciples (Acts 1:5–8). On that day you will understand that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. Wonderful mysteries must be revealed to the disciples of Christ, and, firstly, the consubstantiality of God the Father with the Son, according to the eternal birth of the Son; then the unity of believers with Christ, through their gracious adoption as sons to God (Eph. 2:5); and, finally, the communication of Christ with believers, according to His grace-filled presence in the hearts of the regenerated 19. It is a great gain to understand that the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father; however, this one understanding may remain without a saving influence on the life of the entire soul. – But to understand and comprehend that God abides in us and we in God is possible only with the highest illumination of a person by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the latter could not appear in the Apostles before the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit. If you have My commandments and keep them, then you love Me: and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and I will manifest myself to him (John 14:21). And what the Savior said before did not apply to the Apostles alone, as can be seen from the content. Now, in clear words, the Savior makes it known that He does not have only the Apostles in mind. He applies the commandment about love (John 14:15) and its benefits directly to everyone in general. Having the commandments is not the same as keeping them, although you cannot keep them without having them (John 4:22; Matt. 15). To have the commandments of Jesus means to accept them from Revelation and to hold them in the mind like a costly treasure (1 John 2:7; Matt. 15:12; Luke 8:18). But this is not enough for our love to be worthy of the Lord Jesus. It is necessary that not only the thought be occupied with the Lord, but that the whole soul with all its strength devotes itself to fulfilling His commandments. Then deeds will show that the soul loves the Lord (John 13:17). Christ Jesus Himself is revealed to such a soul and makes it feel that He is light for its mind, life-giving force for its will, joy for its heart. Think and be anxious about this appearance of Jesus, O my soul! It is more valuable than all the treasures in the world. Much has been promised, hearers, to those who love the Lord, and everything promised is being fulfilled. And what does the world that you serve so diligently give? Longing of the spirit. The poor are blind! Amen. Conversation 12. Lord, what will happen when you want to appear to us and not make peace? Sometimes sorrows and troubles, like wave after wave, attack a poor soul, and there is no end in sight to its sorrows. The disciples of Christ were in a similar position. The Lord clearly presented the menacing storm of troubles awaiting Him and His disciples, and to calm them down He said that He Himself would appear to those who maintained sincere love for Him. You understand, listeners, that the words that the Savior spoke to the confused disciples are saving for all wanderers of the earth. Judas’s verb to him is not Iscariot’s: Lord, what happened when you wanted to appear to us and not make the world the world? Jesus answered and said to him: If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word: and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him (John 14:22–23). The Apostle Jude, otherwise called Thaddeus, showed bewilderment, which was also in the souls of the other disciples. The chosen disciples of Christ highly revered their Teacher, but still could not part with the earthly hopes that the Jews had then, with the hopes that the Messiah would be a glorious earthly King, and the glory of His earthly reign would be the most brilliant, so that the enemies of God, the enemies of Israel, would tremble before her (Matthew 16:22, 20-24; Lk. 22:24; John 13:36). The brothers of Jesus Christ even expressed their displeasure to Him because He does not reveal His glory before the world: His brothers decided to Him: “Get away from here and go to Judea; Yes, and Your disciples see the works that You do. Show yourself peace (John 7:3–4). That's how people are! They seek only their own peace, and not the will of God. The Apostle Jude, in the hope of seeing and sharing the earthly glory of the Messiah, having heard the Savior that He would appear only to His faithful, did not understand: why did He not want to appear to the world, while how could this seem to pacify the rebellious world and comfort Christ’s faithful? In response to Judas’s bewilderment, the Savior announces a general law according to which manifestations of God’s love are carried out to people. The general law of Epiphanies is this: the love of God is poured out on the one who himself loves God in Christ Jesus, loves with sincere love, justified by the fulfillment of the will of God. Love for Christ Jesus means so much before the heavenly Father that He rewards this love with His own love. The Heavenly Father loves all sinners, calling them to repentance. But the love that those who sincerely love the Lord Jesus are rewarded with is preferential love; This is what the Lord Jesus Himself says about this to His disciples: For the Father Himself loves you, because you loved Me and believed in Me, because you died from God (John 16:27). And this is not yet the fullness of God’s mercy. We will come to Him and make our abode with Him, says the Lord about those who love Him. What a high distinction, what an indescribable happiness! Previously He said that to those who love Him, He Himself will appear (John 14:21). There is much more to be said here. – Here he says that not only He will come, but also the Heavenly Father. There, a temporary phenomenon is promised, and the phenomenon is primarily for the contemplation of the mind; here we promise a constant presence in the soul: we will create an abode with him. The Apostle speaks of this high state this way: “We are His house, if only we hold fast the hope and the hope in which we boast, firmly to the end” (Heb. 3:6). “You are the church of the living God, just as God said: I will dwell in them and walk and be their God” (2 Cor. 6:16). Without a doubt, the most complete indwelling of the Triune in those who love Him belongs to a blessed eternity, as the Seer of Mysteries saw (Apoc. 21:3). But to some extent it begins in God's elect while still on earth. In those who observe sincere love for the Lord faithfully and unchangeably amid various temptations, the indwelling of God in the heart follows the state about which the Savior said: to him we will come. But in souls that are not constantly faithful, this coming is only a temporary visit to heavenly love. Therefore, beware of neglecting the lowest poor person, if he sincerely honors the name of the Lord Jesus. Let him live in a poor hut: but his soul, perhaps, is the dwelling of the Triune God (1 Cor. 6:17, 7:22–24). You who do not love Me do not keep My words: and the word that you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me (John 14:24). Here is an explanation of who the Lord Jesus does not appear to. He does not appear to those who do not keep His commandments, those commandments that are the commandments of the heavenly Father, and by not fulfilling the commandments, He shows that He does not love either the Lord Jesus or His Father (1 John 2:3). “The Jews thought,” says St. Cyril of Alexandria, “that Christ came to destroy the ancient law... Why, so that it would not seem to others that He was announcing new commands against the will of God the Father, at his own discretion, he added: and the word that you heard was not Mine” 20. After this, Judas Thaddeus and the other disciples could see why Christ the Lord would appear to them and not to the world. He, out of His love for people, wants to be close to everyone, and to everyone who loves Him sincerely, He comes with His Father; in everyone, as the heart expands with love, He settles with His Father. But such a world as the Jewish world is, a world of vain, vain, proud, selfish, envious, voluptuous people - does such a world have love for anything divine? If there is no love for the divine in him, then there is no acceptance of the glory of Jesus - he is not able to see it. Thus, the heavenly teacher, extinguishing in His disciples dreams of earthly glory, which they secretly desired, turns their hearts to concern for pure love for God and Christ, awakens sighs about the lack of such love; makes one think that if the advantage of those who sincerely love the Lord is not available to the world, then this is already enough for those who love Him, enough so as not to be jealous of those who are evil and not to envy those who create iniquity. These verbs are in you. The Comforter is the Holy Spirit, the Father will send Him in My name, He will teach you everything... (John 14:25–26). Having said what was said about the appearance of the glory of the Messiah, the Lord said everything that He had to say during His sojourn on earth. There was much left that the Lord Jesus could still reveal to His disciples. – The disciples are ready to offer Him many questions, for example, what will happen to the Jewish world, which rejects its Savior, how and when the promises made to the Patriarchs about their descendants will be fulfilled. But the solution to all such questions is left to the time when the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, appears. The Comforter, the Father will send Him, He will teach you everything. So, until the gracious light of God shines in the depths of the soul, and the soul does not know how to derive full benefit from the instructions of the very word of God; She understands many things, but does not accept them for implementation, and is even ready to dispute others, because, in fact, her favorite inclinations, favorite prejudices of the mind, favorite passions of the heart do not approve of him. What does it mean: Comforter, the Father will send Him in My name? The Savior said about himself: I came in the name of My Father, and you did not accept Me (John 5:43), that is, I came as sent from God the Father. In accordance with this, the words about the Paraclete: The Father will send him in My name mean that the Holy Spirit will appear on earth as sent from Christ Jesus. This is what the Lord said about the Paraclete: Him I will send from the Father (John 15:26). He will teach you everything - instruct you in everything that can and should be known to the disciples of Christ Jesus. Then what was incomprehensible in the words of Jesus will be explained by them, and what was understood was not entirely true or erroneous will be understood in its exact form. And everything will remember to you: even Reh to you. This means that not only will all the words of the Lord Jesus be returned to memory, but they will be returned in the deep and extensive meaning that they had in the Divine mind of the Son of God. The Lord said few words about other subjects, but their meaning in terms of beginnings and consequences is very extensive. And this meaning was revealed in the minds of the Apostles by the Comforter Spirit. That is why in the Gospel of John we so often see explanations of the Lord’s words. These are not the opinions of John, but the words of the Spirit of truth. My listeners! In earthly life there are many strange, dark, offensive things; and the Apostles of Christ were in doubt. But the Lord Jesus told us how the light of God descends into dark hearts and minds. Let us carry out His instructions, and everything necessary for our salvation will be clear to you; questions of idleness and inquisitiveness will then not disturb the mind; and everything on which the eternal well-being of the soul depends will be easily studied by us. Amen. Conversation 13. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you Now the consolations of faith, now the consolations of love, were offered to His sorrowful disciples by the Loving Heavenly Teacher. - But the disciples were still weak, - and Love is inexhaustible in consolations. And the Loving Lord, after declaring that everything the disciples needed had already been said (John 14:26), again consoles them. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you. The Jewish world, the world of wickedness and wickedness, is raising a storm of troubles against the unparalleledly innocent Son of Man. Christ Jesus, Himself filled with divine peace, leaves peace to His friends, and what kind of peace? Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you, He says. He gives His peace, with which He Himself goes to suffer according to the will of the Heavenly Father, gives that peace that only He, the Son of God, the Intercessor of God and people, can give. The Prophet also called the Messiah the Prince of Peace (Is.9:6). And who, if not the Messiah, can send peace to a land troubled by sins? He, and no one else, can give a world where people are at peace with themselves, reconciled with God, reconciled with each other, having nothing to quarrel with each other for (Col. 1:20); He gives peace that corrects desires, purifies joys, and pacifies sorrows. His peace is the peace of God, surpassing all understanding (Phil. 4:7). People think, people even say that when they follow Jesus, they find only hardship, only suffering, only anxiety. Oh! People think and speak lies. Let them believe from experience. Let them renounce the vanities of life, which are so often annoying simply because of their emptiness; let them remove from the soul the burden of an unclean conscience, from which people have no peace even on a soft bed; let them protect themselves with grace-filled prayer from the anxieties raised by insidious passions; let them with all their desires turn to one thing that is needed for all eternity: won’t they then feel the peace of God within themselves, a quiet and life-giving peace, a lasting and faithful peace, like heavenly grace? Not as the world gives, I give to you. The world is people who live not according to the will of God, but according to the desires of a corrupt soul, according to the whims of a criminal heart. How do such people give peace? Peace, peace, they say, but there is no peace (Jer. 8:11, 14:13). Their promises are only words, their desires are only lies, their assurances are deception. Promises flow like a river from them, magnificent, brilliant promises. But in reality there is only emptiness, an offensive emptiness. Those who promise have neither a sincere desire nor the right strength to fulfill what they promised, and, therefore, by promising they lie and with lies lead into deception that offends both feelings and conscience. I aim at the destruction of My people, saying: peace, peace, and where is peace? (Jer. 6:14). The deceiver of My people, saying: peace, peace, and no greater peace: this one builds a wall, and they anoint it, it will fall (Ezek. 13:10). What does everything the world promises mean? They promise others, of course, what they themselves love, what they consider good for themselves. And what is it that the world loves! Oh, how empty, how base is all that the world loves! He loves pleasures that are light, like the wind, and empty, like the wind, pleasures that poison the soul with sins, and which leave nothing in the soul except emptiness and repentance: he loves honors and glory, which are only received, lose value and raise the alarm of new hopes, new thirst, new quest; he loves self-interest and is not satisfied with acquisitions. Let not your heart be troubled, nor be afraid. Hear that Reh is for you, I am coming and will come to you. As soon as they loved Me, they rejoiced quickly, for I said: I go to the Father, for I am a sick Father (John 14:27–28). With what tenderness does heavenly Love care for the peace of His children! She knows their weakness, knows the bitterness of the coming troubles - and, repeating her admonition, she again supplies them with seemingly expressed consolations. Firstly, the heavenly Teacher shows His disciples, as He said before, that although He is now going to death, He will come to them again to invest them with the powers of grace and then take them with Him to the abode of the Heavenly Father (John 14:2-3, 18-19). Secondly, He said that He goes to God the Father, Who is His pain: therefore, He goes for glory and joy, to receive strength and power. Therefore, whoever loves Him should rejoice in this, especially since His glorification in heaven cannot but have gracious consequences for the very believers. My Pain Father I am: these words for the Arians seemed to be the support of their false teaching. But what is the Savior talking about here? Does He compare His Divinity with the Divinity of the Father? No, He speaks of Himself as the Messenger of God the Father; He compares only his earthly state with the state in which He should be upon ascending to God the Father. So, there is not a word here about the relationship of the Son to the Father according to Divinity. God the Father sent the Son into the world, and the Son took upon Himself to create, as the Father commanded Him (John 14:31). In this position, He is a submissive executor of the Father’s will, and the Father is greater than Him. The position in which God the Son placed Himself, fulfilling the will of the Father, is the position of a weak son of man, experiencing needs and deprivations, dishonor and shame. But this position speaks for itself that it does not belong to the Son of God as the true God in essence; it must change as a temporary position, as a trait of the Messenger of God. And now, Reh to you, before it shall not even be, but when it is, you have faith (John 14:29). The faith of weak disciples could be shaken by the suffering and death of Christ Jesus, especially because they did not expect this for their Teacher. To support this faith, the Lord reveals in advance both His death and the glory that will follow death. And how could one not recognize Jesus as the Messiah-Lord, when He sees the distant future with such clarity and speaks about it with such accuracy in advance? Weak faith had to find support for itself here during His death on the cross and grow from the time of the revelation of His glory. Besides, I don’t say much to you. The Prince of this world is coming, and in Me he will have nothing (John 14:30). The Lord sees everything, sees that death on the cross is close to Him. He sees and indicates the one who will be the main figure in His suffering on the cross. The Lord Jesus spoke directly to His enemies that they were nothing more than servants of the Prince of Darkness (Luke 22:53). The world that rebels against Jesus Christ is acting under the will and influence of the Prince of Darkness, who is Satan. And have nothing in Me, says the Lord. If Satan has power over man, it is because man has sin. Sin and death are the work of the devil, and sin gives power to the devil over man. But there was no sin in the Lord Jesus. Therefore, Satan had nothing to find in Jesus. The devil raised up death against Him; but death could not triumph over the One not involved in sin and was defeated to the shame of the Prince of Darkness. But let the world understand that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, I do these things. Arise, let us go from here (John 14:31). The connection of thoughts and the meaning of words is covered in this way by the ancient teacher of the Church: “He (Satan) will come against Me - not as against a person subject to sin, but as against One who voluntarily gives Himself up and shows the world the love that He has for the Father, since by the will of the Father, who wants to save the world, I do this” 21 . Arise, let us go from here: these words, at the same time as they express the Lord’s intention to leave the place of the supper, an intention fulfilled, however, not immediately (John 18:1), also testify to the fact that He voluntarily goes to meet His sorrows. Blessed be You, Lord our Savior, in time and in eternity. Amen. Conversation 14. I am the true vine, and My Father is the worker Friends, bidding farewell to each other before parting, and after saying “I’m sorry,” more than once begin a sweet conversation of love again. – The Savior, having finished the comforting conversation about faith and love, said to the disciples: get up, let’s go from here. At the same time, He rose from the supper, and the disciples prepared to leave the upper room where it had been celebrated. But His love still wants to talk with His beloved disciples. And then, just as the Lord and the disciples were ready to leave the upper room, the Lord stopped (John 18:1) and in the parable of the vine, depicted His mysterious communication with the believers. The content of the conversation about the vine is as follows: first the Savior offers the comparison itself (John 15:1–3); then, explaining the comparison, he talks about the relationship in which His disciples should be to Him (John 15:4-11), and about the relationship they should observe among themselves (John 15:12-17). I am the true vine, and My Father is the worker - the Savior compares Himself to the vine and, moreover, says that He is the true vine. When He is called true light (John 1:9) and true bread (John 6:32), then these names indicate that in Him, in the most accurate and best form, the reality of light and bread is expressed. Likewise, when He calls Himself the true Vine, this name suggests that in no one, as in Him, is the reality of this plant reflected so fully, while Israel, depicted by the Prophets in the form of a vineyard (Is. 5:1; Jer. 2:21), did not assimilate the good qualities of this plant. – The full reflection of everything that contains the best of the vine is found in Christ Jesus, and especially in His relation to believers; the connection between Him and the believers is as real as the connection between the vine and the branches. Just as juice flows from the vine into the branches, and the branches receive life from the vine, so believers live by Christ. And my Father is a doer. The Heavenly Father is the highest and complete Actor in everything that happens in the world and, in particular, in the spiritual kingdom. He is the Vinedresser who grew the spiritual vine - Christ Jesus, who sent Him into the world in the form of a man to save people (Gal. 4:4) and from this vine grows spiritual branches - believers throughout the universe, blessing us in Christ with every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3). Do you hear another parable, as the Savior spoke in the ears of the Jews: A certain man was a housekeeper, who planted grapes, and made a stronghold for him, and a sharpener in him, and made a pillar, and was a laborer in the world, and a laborer in the house (Matthew 21:33). Don’t you think, listeners, that the Heavenly Father is the Master only in relation to the entire Church of Christ? No! In relation to every believing soul, both in relation to mine and to your soul, my brother, he is a zealous Heterarch, the Heavenly Father cares for every rod: every rod that does not produce fruit, he will cut off (John 15:2). We are each and every one of His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works (Eph. 2:10). With what fear, with what reverence we must be attentive to the matter of our salvation! The mere thought of Who cares about the salvation of our soul should make us tremble at every inclination of our soul to sin. Every rod about Me that does not produce fruit will I cut off; and every rod that produces fruit will I cut off, so that it may bear abundant fruit (John 15:2). By the name of the rod or branch of the vine, the Savior means neither Jews nor pagans, since he indicates a rod about Him, or living in Him, a rod that grew from Him, as from a grape stem. So, he is talking about Christians, about those who believe in Him. – Even those who sin but repentant Christians are not cut off from the Church. The word of God assures us of this, presenting the Church either under the image of a field, where, along with the wheat, tares grow for a time (Matt. 13:24), then under the image of a net that captures fish of all kinds (Matt. 13:47). I will cut off every rod that does not produce fruit. The rod that bears no fruit at all is cut off. This is what the heavenly Vertogradar does with a barren soul. A barren soul is one that does not bear the spiritual fruits indicated by the Apostle: love, peace, long-suffering, meekness, self-control and other virtues (Gal. 5:19–22). The fertile juices of the spiritual Vine are accepted and turned into the life of the soul by free will, and therefore it depends on free will whether or not to bear spiritual fruits - just as the answer for neglecting the gifts of heaven falls on it. The judgment of the Heavenly Father, striking barren souls, the Savior explains in detail further (John 15:6). He will cut off everyone who produces fruit, so that he may bear abundant fruit. The Savior speaks of the relationship of the heavenly Father to the fruitful soul as if he were speaking of branches. The gardener prunes some branches on the fruitful rod so that there is more fruit on the rod: without this, the rod would have many leaves, but little fruit, or there would not be as much power for the formation of fruits as there may be after taking away some branches. In exactly the same way, the heavenly Father cuts off and cleanses the spiritual rods of the souls who believe in Christ. He cleanses them with His living and effective word, which penetrates to the very depths of the heart (Heb. 4:12). He subjects them to sorrowful trials, so that the body of sin may be abolished, for no one can work through sin (Rom. 6:1, 6). Without internal or external shocks, they could mistake the peace provided by circumstances for the peace of a soul pacified by grace and, remaining without spiritual sobriety, could allow whole crowds of sins into their hearts. The Heavenly Father tests them either by struggling with passions or by external hardships, so that they not only remain steadfast in goodness, but also succeed in spiritual perfection (1 Cor. 15:58). The Prophet depicts this action of God in the hearts of believers under the guise of purifying silver in a fiery smelter (Mal. 3:2–3). You have already cleansed the word that was spoken to you (John 15:3). The Savior first told the disciples: you are pure, but not all (John 13:10). It was then that Judas was with them. Now there was no traitor between them, and He says simply: you are already clean. The purity that the Apostles now had depended actually on His word: otherwise they too were unclean. This is purity not only of thoughts, but also of the heart. This is the readiness of souls to bear the best and most abundant fruits in accordance with the expectation of the Heavenly Father (John 15:2), but only while they are ready for high deeds, and, therefore, this is not yet the perfection that the sincere disciples of Christ could have later, with a more abundant outpouring of gifts of grace upon them. You are honest for the word, the hedgehog verbs to you. First of all, the Heavenly Father is called the Heliman who cleanses the rods; here the Savior of the world cleanses souls with His word. This is because as the Father does hitherto, so does the Son also (John 10:10). What is this word by which the disciples are purified! Without a doubt, the teaching of the Savior, so lofty, so different from the erroneous teaching of the scribes, greatly cleared the thoughts of the disciples from various prejudices and Jewish errors. But the Savior, repeating the words spoken during the washing of the feet, makes it clear that this cleansing would not have followed if His teaching had not been united with the secret power of grace, without which, according to His word, it was impossible for them to have a part with Him (John 13:8). So, here is the general relationship of grace to the souls of believers! Believers in their spiritual life are in the same dependence on the Lord Jesus as the branches of the grape are from the trunk of the grape: spiritual powers, like juices from the root to the branches, pass into believers from Christ Jesus. The Heavenly Father Himself is the Worker, Who brings back every spiritual rod, a believing soul, unless it itself resists the good care of the heavenly Vertogradar. Oh, when would we firmly remember this lesson of the Savior! O that the instruction of the heavenly Teacher would be the constant guardian of our soul! Lord Jesus! This is what you want. - May what You desire for us be with us by Your power. Amen. Conversation 15. Be in Me, and I in you How great is God's love for weak humanity! The goodness of heaven enters into the same close, the same real, the same living communication with weak humanity, in which the connection between the grapevine and its branches is. How can people not be attentive to this condescension of heavenly love? How can one not look vigilantly at whether the work of God’s love requires something from them? Be in Me, and I in you, says the Lord. This is what heavenly kindness expects from people towards her. Be in Me. This means that activity is also needed on the part of man, the labors of his free will are needed. The Savior’s commandment expresses the same thing as the desire of the Apostle: if we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:25). It is necessary that our life corresponds to the desires of the spirit that gives us life, or, as St. John: He who says abide in Him must eat, even as He went out to eat, and let this one walk in the same way (1 John 2:6). With the words: and I am in you, the Savior expresses the action of grace necessary for the will to do pleasing deeds, just as with the words: be in Me, activity for the will is prescribed. The Lord says: take care that you abide in Me, and I in you; use everything to ensure that the mysterious connection is preserved inextricably. How can we abide in Him? Stay in Me - maintain fellowship with your Lord by living faith, a faith that is revealed in works, or that is promoted by love (Gal. 5:6). The Apostle Jude writes: keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life (Jude 1:21). Just as the rod cannot produce fruit for itself unless it is on the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the birth. To be fruitful, a grape branch must be connected to a grape trunk: then it receives nutritious juice, which supports both the life of the branch and its fruitfulness. In the same way, the disciples of Christ Jesus cannot bear spiritual fruits, true good deeds, if they are not united by faith with their Lord. The words of the Lord are true. It is up to everyone to believe in their experience, and experience will justify them. – Let’s say you suffer from the passion of anger. If you think without the help of Christ to acquire freedom from anger, then you will see how great the success will be. Spiritual disorder has penetrated our nature too deeply: it cannot cure itself of this disorder. We do not think that we are content as if we were of ourselves, but of ourselves, but our contentment is from God, that is the voice of the apostolic experience (2 Cor. 3:5). “The wisdom of the flesh”, i.e. a person left to himself, without grace, “enmity against God, since they do not submit to God’s law, and indeed cannot,” this is the apostolic judgment about man (Rom. 8:6–7). I am the vine, you are the birth, - this is an explanation of what was said. It is impossible for a believer to produce good fruits without Christ Jesus. – What the vine means to rods in the kingdom of nature, so does Christ Jesus mean to believers in the spiritual kingdom. The Lord exhibits the effect of God’s power on man in the same form in which a vine acts on its branches. Juices flow from the vine into the branches: in the same way, grace does not mean external instruction in piety, but is that invisible force that operates inside a person and in his spirit produces a saving transformation (Gal. 2:20). The branch does not lose its separate existence when it is united with the vine; in the same way, by the union of the believer with Christ Jesus, neither the personal existence nor the free will of the believer is destroyed. Although the clusters of a branch are formed from the juices received by the branch from the trunk, but not without the participation of the life that exists in the branch itself: that is why on the same trunk, along with fruitful ones, we also see barren branches. In exactly the same way, spiritual fruitfulness is not accomplished without the participation of a person’s free will, although through the power of grace. And he who is in Me, and I in him, will produce much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5). – Here is another encouragement for us to carefully guard our fellowship with Jesus. With His strength, we, who are feeble and weak in ourselves, can bear high spiritual fruits. I can do all things through Jesus who strengthens Me, says the Apostle (Phil. 4:13). If anyone does not abide in Me, he will be cast out like a rod and dry up, and they will gather it up and put it into the fire and it will be consumed (John 15:6). Unless anyone abide in Me. So, in vain they dream that grace is not lost. No, it depends on our will whether we will stand or not in grace. Ap. John says: Take heed to yourselves, so that you do not destroy the good that you do, but so that you may receive a full reward (2 John 1:8). And the Apostle Paul teaches: take heed, brethren, lest any of you have a deceitful heart, filled with unbelief, so as to depart from God while alive, lest anyone become hardened by you through sinful flattery (Heb. 3:12–13). If anyone does not abide in Me, he will be cast out like a rod. What a terrible fate! And what should be remembered is that the further you go, the more formidable it becomes. First the spiritual branch is thrown away, then it dries up, and then its fate gets worse and worse. It will erupt out like a rod. The one who does not remain faithful to Jesus is no longer cleansed of his sins by the heavenly Master; he surrenders to the will of his passions, the attraction of his habits and sins. The slave of passions withdraws from the church and pious people, avoids worship, prayers, and sacraments; He doesn't like all this. Thus, if for some reason the menacing voice of church excommunication does not thunder over him, he excludes himself from church communion, by his dispositions he separates himself from the union with the Church, and the invisible judgment of God confirms this excommunication. And it will dry up. A branch thrown out of the garden still retains its greenness for a short time, and then dies. In exactly the same way, one who separates himself from communion with the body of Christ retains something good in himself for a while, and then loses everything, becomes soulless for faith; piety, eternal salvation, Christian virtues do not attract his attention or attention; the spirit of grace departs from him. Thus Judas descended through the degrees of evil until he became a traitor. For a traitor, despair is possible, but not turning to God (Heb. 6:4–6; 2 Peter 2:20; Rom. 2:5). This is the son of destruction (John 17:12). And they collect. Until now the court was private and temporary. The Savior shifts the disciples’ gaze from Judas alone to his many friends, from the trial of one to the universal judgment. I'm collecting. This is the same action that He spoke about in the parable of the tares. Just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire: so it will be at the end of the age (Matthew 13:40). I gather people with the same dispositions into one society, and those similar in other bad passions are separated into other crowds, and all this is not for joy, but for greater sorrow: the friends of pride will be tormented by the fact that they will see each other, and even more so by the fact that they will suffer execution in accordance with their sin. I'm collecting. In the parable of the tares it is said that the Son of man will send His angels, and they will gather the workers of lawlessness (Matthew 13:41). And they put it into the fire. And in the parable of the tares it is said: and they will be thrown into the furnace of fire. What kind of fire this is into which sinners will be thrown is not told to us - and, of course, because we are not able to understand the things of that world. From the clear words of the Lord, it is clear only that the Angels, the executors of the will of God, will subject sinners to positive executions and executions as cruel as fire is terrible. And they burn out - or rather, they burn. If they could burn, it would be even more happiness for condemned sinners. But the terrible misfortune is that they burn and burn and still burn, never being consumed, or, as the Savior says, their worm does not die, and the fire does not go out (Mark 9:44). If you abide in Me, My words will abide in you: if you want it, ask, and it will be done for you (John 15:7). From the terrible fate of sinners, the Savior hastily turns the disciples’ gaze again to the bright image of those who sincerely believe in His name. Their new advantage is that no matter what they ask, every prayer will be fulfilled. What a wonderful advantage! What wonderful power! But isn't too much said? Or rather, is this how we understand the words of the Lord? “Whatever you ask, it will be done for you,” says the Lord. The words are clear! A thought that is not closed by anything! And why shouldn’t it be? For God everything is possible. For people? “If they abide in Christ,” says St. Augustine, “then what can they desire but what is not pleasing to Christ? What will they ask for, if not for something that is not harmful to spiritual salvation?.. If we ask, and it does not happen to us, then we ask not what abiding in Him requires, what His words abiding in us prescribe, but what the lust and weakness of the flesh wants, which does not abide in Him and does not keep His words” 22. Thus, according to this explanation of the blessed teacher, prayer can receive whatever it asks for, but the prayer of those who abide by faith and love in the Lord Jesus. – The promise that every prayer will be heard is given to those who abide in Christ, who abide after a long struggle with selfishness. The Lord hears everything, hears the prayers of spiritual young men, but fulfills those desires that are in accordance with His will (James 4:2-3). How soon will you reach the point where you can truly see whether the evil heart desires what pleases the passions? This is why our prayers are often not fulfilled. Lord Jesus! Preserve us, the weak, with Your strength in faith and love for You. Amen. How heavenly love desires that its disciples abide in it! The Savior, convincing the disciples to abide in Him, represented to them: a) that without Him we cannot do anything good (John 15:4), b) by abiding in Him, we will bear much fruit (John 15:5), c) those who do not abide in Him will suffer a terrible fate (John 15:6), d) those who remain faithful to Him will receive everything they ask for (John 15:7). Next, He presents to the eyes of the disciples new incentives to remain faithful to Him, namely: the glory of the heavenly Father (John 15:8), His love for them (John 15:9-10), the bliss of those faithful to Him (John 15:11). For this my Father is glorified, that ye may produce much fruit, and that ye may be my disciples (John 15:8). What more could a person desire than the glory of the Heavenly Father? Why should he live on earth if not to live for the glory of the Heavenly Father? Thus, the Son of God, expecting from His disciples that their heavenly Father would be glorified by their deeds, sets forth the highest, most spiritual motivation for their activity. - “For this I will be glorified, i.e. be glorified, that you may produce fruit, i.e. if you bear fruit. Such turns of phrase are not uncommon in Scripture” 23. What are the fruits that the Lord expects from His disciples? First of all, in those consequences that should occur in their souls due to their loyalty to the life-giving vine; then in those consequences that will accompany their powerful preaching - in the conversion of unbelieving souls to God. Then the Father will be glorified, then the power, goodness, mercy, and love of the Heavenly Father will be revealed before the eyes of people. Then, seeing their good deeds, they will glorify the Heavenly Father (Matthew 5:16); and even more, seeing thousands serving the true God, they will glorify the Marvelous One in His power and love! Thus, it is not through the dreams of the Jews that the glory of Jehovah will be revealed to people; it will not appear in their earthly dreamy kingdom: it will appear in the deeds of the disciples of Jesus, in the spiritual kingdom of Jesus Christ. As the Father has loved Me, and I have loved you, remain in My love (John 15:9). Inspiring His disciples with fidelity to Him, the Savior, in support of this fidelity, also points to His love for us, as the purest reflection of the love of the Heavenly Father for the Son. The love of the Heavenly Father for the Son, which the Savior speaks of here, means the Father’s love for Him as the Redeemer of the world. In this form the Savior speaks about Himself to his disciples; and for the Father’s love for the eternal Son of God there is no time when it begins, whereas here it is said: love. How was this love of God the Father for the Son, the Savior of the world, expressed? For the eyes of people, it was expressed in the fact that from eternity the best humanity in the Virgin Mary was chosen for Christ, and His humanity was sinless, endowed with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, so glorified that everything on earth and in heaven was subjugated to Him. The Father loves the Son and has given everything to Him, says the Savior about this love (John 3:35). As the Father loved Me, and I have loved you. The Father’s love for the Son is the only one that, in all its volume and greatness, cannot be reflected in any other love. But if her likeness can be reflected in anything, then her high and pure likeness is the love of the Son for believers. The Savior compares His love for believers with the love of God the Father for Him to show the depth and breadth of His love for believers. How was the love of God the Son expressed for believers? From eternity He wanted to sacrifice Himself for the salvation of people (Eph. 1:4), and at a certain time He sacrifices Himself for them, going to a shameful death; He sent down the Holy Spirit into the world, the Spirit with which He was anointed (Acts 2:3; Eph. 4:8), and called the faithful to eternal bliss. And I bequeath to you, as My Father has bequeathed to Me the kingdom (Luke 22:29), says the Savior. So while the disciples were embarrassed by His imminent death and their orphanhood, He, in support of their loyalty to Him, says that He does not leave them out of coldness of love - on the contrary, His love for them is so great, so tender, so deep, so beneficial that it approaches the love that the Father has for the Son. Be in My love! Since love is the beginning of life in the Divine and has appeared as a quickening principle in humanity, all that remains for people is to abide in the love of the Son of God. What does it mean to abide in the love of the Son of God? If, after speaking about the love of the Son of God for believers, the Savior says: be in My love, then, obviously, He requires that His love be preserved within yourself as a shrine, as a treasure. This abiding in the love of the Son is also explained by the fact that the Savior further says: as I abide in His love. Nevertheless, in the life of a true Christian, the love of the Son of God cannot but cause love for the Son of God. The Savior showed this in the parable of the branches on the vine (John 15:4–5). In the teaching of the Apostles, the love of God often means both the love of God for people and the love of people for God. For example, the Love of God was poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us (Rom. 5:5; Eph. 3:16–17; John 13:1,34,37). Thus, when the Savior says: be in My love, He desires that believers retain His love for them and pay love for His love; otherwise, being in the love of the Son of God means a state in which the love of the Son reveals His gracious actions to the soul, and the soul accepts them, or the Lord loves the soul, and the soul loves the Lord. If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love (John 15:10). Here is the means by which we can abide in God’s love! In order for us to remain in the Lord’s love for us and in our love for Him, the sure means is keeping His commandments. The Lord spoke about this more than once to His disciples (John 14:21, 23–24). Here He also presents His own example: just as I have kept the commandments of My Father and abide in His love. Throughout his earthly life, He holyly kept the commandments of His Father and, starting this or that or finishing this or that, repeated: such is the will of the heavenly Father (Luke 22:29). The Apostle says about Him: “He humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8). If the Son of God considered it a holy duty to keep the commandments of God the Father, if He preserved the love of the Father by keeping His commandments, how can we hope for the continuation of God’s love for us, or why do we dream that we love God, while we consider breaking the commandments of the Heavenly Father every day for nothing? These words are spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be fulfilled (John 15:11). What was Christ Jesus talking about now? That He abides in the love of the Heavenly Father (John 15:10). The purpose of speaking about this is indicated in the words: let My joy be in you. What is the joy of the Son of God? His joy is holy joy about His love for God the Father and about God the Father’s love for Him; This joy stemmed from the fact that He preserved the holy will of God the Father and preserved His love in Himself (John 15:10). So, He speaks of His abiding in the love of the Heavenly Father so that His pure, high, life-giving joy, which He finds in fulfilling the will of the Heavenly Father, passes into the hearts of believers. And your joy will be fulfilled. His joy is always complete in Himself; but the joy of His disciples can be replenished, can increase and pass through different degrees until it reaches its fullness. The joy of the Son of God is the highest and pure joy, it is bliss. Therefore, he wants believers to find joy in fulfilling the commandments of the Heavenly Father and to increase this joy in themselves to complete bliss. That fulfilling the will of the Heavenly Father is true, best, highest joy, we can believe this from our experience. For pleasing lusts and serving passions causes the heart only sadness, only repentance. O Heavenly Love! Preserve in us the holy fidelity to You that You wish to preserve in us. We betray You so often; Every hour, every minute we betray You. Cover us, Heavenly Love, and give us, the weak, strength to remain faithful to You, for Your glory. Amen. Conversation 17. This is My commandment, that you love one another as you have loved Having shown His mysterious union with believers in the image of a vine and its branches, the Savior later revealed that this union from believers requires loyalty to Him, and this loyalty is salutary and beneficial for the believers themselves. After this, the Savior shows what His mysterious union with believers requires in their relationship to each other (John 15:12-17). This is My commandment, that you love one another as you have loved (John 15:12). The Lord calls the commandment to love others His commandment. This is what He called this commandment before, when he called it a new commandment (John 13:34). Otherwise, this commandment is called the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2). The followers of Christ must keep this commandment holy - its fulfillment should serve as their distinctive sign (John 13:35). They must do everything to save everyone, and everyone must do everything to save everyone. Love one another as you have loved, says the Lord. In what sense does the Lord indicate here His love for believers? As a model for their mutual love and as an incentive to the same love. His mysterious connection with believers requires them to love each other. Love one another because I love you. His love for us should also serve as a model for our mutual love. The Apostle of Christ wrote to believers: “live in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us” (Eph. 5:2). What a tall example this is! No one has greater love than he sows, but he who lays down his life for his friends (John 15:13). The Savior called the commandment about mutual love His commandment. By exposing the impulse to love, He points to such an impulse that people have not yet seen in experience: He points to His love, sacrificing Himself for people; There is no higher love on earth than that which dies for friends; The world has never seen such love in its pure form. The Lord Jesus, having said that He loves people, shows how far His love for them will extend. She will stretch herself, He says, to the highest degree - she will suffer the most shameful death for the salvation of others. For whom did Christ die? According to the word of the Apostle, He died for the enemies of God and, therefore, His own; having been struck down, we were reconciled by the death of His Son (Rom. 5:6–10). And the Lord Jesus calls these enemies his friends. What wonderful Love! The world has never seen such love that would sacrifice its life for its enemies; What then should Christ’s disciples not do for others? There is no sacrifice that they would have the right to refuse after the sacrifice made for their enemies by their Lord and Master. After this sacrifice, for the benefit of others, we should not spare either wealth, or health, or our very life. We recognized love in the fact that he laid down his life for us, therefore we must lay down our lives for our brothers (John 3:16). You are my friends, if you do what I command you (John 15:14). Here is another new incentive for mutual love! And what a lofty, what a sweet impulse! Commanding us mutual love, the Lord says that if we fulfill His commandment, we will be His friends. If it means a lot to be a friend of the king of the earth, what a high distinction it is to be a friend of the King of heaven, the One by whom the whole world rests! Amazing is the love of the Son of God for humanity! Because we love people like us, He, the Lord and Master of all, rewards us with the title of His friends. Didn’t He himself say that the master will not allow his servant, who has come from the field, to immediately sit down at the table, but first orders him to serve at his master’s table (Luke 17:8–10)? Now He honors us, His servants, with the name of His friends for our love for those like us. This is not what I say to you, servants, for a servant does not know what his Lord is doing... (John 15:15). His master does not allow the slave to know the secrets of his master, does not allow him to have full trust in him. – In other respects, the Lord’s disciples are His servants. This is what He called them before (Matthew 10:24, 20:27, 24:48–50; Luke 17:10). This is what He calls them at the last supper (John 13:13, 16, 20). But others said to you, that all that I have heard from My Father has been told to you. The disciples of the Lord are not His servants, but friends in the sense that He reveals to them His secrets, which He heard from His Father. Divine truths were so revealed to them that the Spirit of truth was subsequently only the interpreter of the words of the Lord, proclaimed in the ears of His disciples (John 17:6–8). By the confidence with which the Savior revealed to his disciples the secrets of the kingdom of God, He gave His disciples to see that the times of the Old Testament were ending. “As long as the heir, says the Apostle, is in childhood, he is no different from a slave, although he is the master of all”: such was the condition of those who were under the yoke of the law. The secrets of salvation were communicated to them under the cover of images (Gal. 4:1-5). This is not the time of the new covenant. “But we all,” says the Apostle, beholding with unveiled face the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18). This trust with which the Lord reveals to His disciples the secrets of the kingdom is a new experience of His love for believers, the love with which He calls us to mutual love between us. The Apostle wrote: “You, brethren, have been called into freedom; Only let your freedom not be an excuse to please the flesh, but serve one another out of love” (Gal. 5:13). You did not choose Me... (John 15:16). Among the Jews, those who wanted to learn bookish teachings themselves chose a scribe-teacher and hired him for an expensive fee. It was not so with the disciples of Christ. They did not choose their Teacher and Lord and could not repay Him with anything for His lessons. I have chosen you and appointed you, that you may go and bear fruit, and your fruit may remain, and if you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you. The Savior Himself chose disciples for Himself, as their Master and Lord, and, as eternal love, He honored them with His friendly trust. - St. Chrysostom replaces the word: put, with the word “planted” and adds: “still continues the metaphor about the vine.” The explanation is fair: for after this the Lord speaks of bearing fruit. The Lord chose the Apostles and planted them as branches in His spiritual garden. He planted them so that they, without remaining inactive, would move forward like living shoots and bear fruits worthy of His care for them. These fruits are the fruits of the abundant grace that worked in them; these fruits are their holy life and their Church, restored by their labors. What is this immortal and eternal fruit of the Apostles? Church 24. This is the same attitude of God’s grace towards every believing soul: it is not we who choose the Lord - we love good so little and understand it so poorly - but the Lord chooses us so that we bear fruits worthy of God’s election. “What do you have,” says the Apostle, that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you didn’t receive it?” (1 Cor. 4:7) The heavenly Father “chose us in Him—in Jesus Christ—before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love” (Eph. 1:4). – One ancient writer says in explanation of the Savior’s words: “We were chosen not because we pleased God, but in order to please God. That is why He added that He chose to bear fruit, so that then, even though we were not acceptable, with the previous action of God, we would become acceptable in subsequent deeds of the Good” 25. This commandment I command you, that you love one another (John 15:17). The Savior repeats the commandment about love (John 15:12) in order to point out the grounds on which He commands love. Everything that He said about sacrificing Himself for people (John 15:13), about His friendly trust in the believers (John 15:14), about His election of them (John 15:16), was said so that they would love each other. The foundations of love are new, hitherto unknown to the world. – And these same reasons make it clear that the love commanded by Jesus Christ is not limited to the circle of the Apostles, but extends to all those to whom the love of the Son of God extends: this is love for all people, no matter who they are, whether Jews or pagans, friends or enemies. Here, listeners, is the last testament of the Savior to His followers about their mutual love! If we are His followers, we will not dishonor our calling either through vexation, anger, abuse, or hatred of our neighbors. If we are His followers, we must devote our peace, our health, our property, our pleasure, our strength to serving our neighbors. Heavenly love! Breathe into us a love worthy of our calling. Amen. Conversation 18. If the world hates you: know that it hated Me before you It is difficult for a loving heart to encounter hostility and hatred where it would like to see only peace and love. It is especially painful when love is paid with hatred, and sincerity is paid with ridicule. The soul is sometimes so embarrassed by such sorrowful encounters that it seems to begin to weaken in its love for others. That is why the Lord Jesus, after having prescribed the commandment of love, resolves the doubts that love faces from the world. If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before you (John 15:18). Who is the Savior talking about when he mentions peace? The world is a society of wicked people who do not know and do not love the truth of Christ (John 15:19). Such for the Apostles at first was the Jewish world (John 1:10, 7:7), then the Jewish and pagan world (1 Cor. 6:2). The wicked world is a society of people, whose leader is the prince of darkness (John 12:31, 14:30), otherwise called the god of this age (2 Cor. 4:4). Under his influence, people hate people and also justify their hatred by blaming those they hate. It is strange and not without fear that one can encounter such a surprise (1 John 3:13). And so the Savior inspires His servants with courage. What is there to be afraid of, what to marvel at here? - He says. If the world rebels against you because you follow your Lord, try to think and live piously, do good to others from a sincere soul, your condition is not extraordinary, your danger is not unexpected. Your Lord and Teacher endured the hatred of the world before you, and what kind of hatred? - the most cruel. Yes, the Apostles, at the time the Lord taught them this instruction, had not yet experienced much hostility from the world (John. 7:49, 9:22; Matt. 21:15). But they already knew from experience that the world was burning with anger against their teacher and their Lord. For example, they themselves said to Him: Rabbi, now I am asking You to stone Judaea, and are You still going there? (John 11:8). Especially the malice of the world against Jesus Christ was revealed in the last days of His earthly life. – What consolation is there for the followers of Christ persecuted by the world, that the world hated their Lord even before? The first consolation is that the followers of Christ, through persecution, are placed in a position consistent with the position of their Teacher and Lord. What could they desire more than conformity in everything with Him Who is so dear to them? The world's contempt for them is an honor for them, just as the world despised their Lord. Further, the thought that Christ was hated by the world is also comforting because it frees us from doubts whether the world is right, which persecutes us, or whether we are innocent, whom it persecutes. It is a well-known fact that the world, when persecuting the servants of Christ, does not consider itself guilty, but looks for the reasons for its hostility in the lives of the followers of Christ. Thus, when the followers of Christ shun the distracted and sensual life so beloved by the world, he calls this excessive severity, wild stubbornness; he passes off their simplicity and humility as the baseness of the soul. But when we know that the world also said about Christ: He is violent (John 10:20), His word is cruel (John 6:60); when we know that the world hated the Lord, despite the fact that his life was filled with holiness, purity and wisdom, hated Him, despite the fact that He did nothing but good to people, then there is no doubt that the world in vain justifies itself in hating the followers of Christ, that the reason for its hatred lies in its injustice, that it does not see truth and righteousness and does not love it. If only we were quicker from the world, the world would love its own. Because you are not from the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you (John 15:19). This is the explanation that the reason for the world’s hatred of the followers of Christ lies in the world itself. – The blind pride of the world makes the world hate the followers of Christ. If the followers of Christ belonged to the world in their thoughts, in their dispositions, in their lives, the world would love its own. He loves what he finds his own and himself in. He loves his rules, his customs, his way of thinking and acting. Let all this be unworthy of the best human needs: but what of that? The world loves its own and does not love others, its pride blinds it. And his pride is offended by the fact that the life of Christ’s followers, even without words, denounces and discredits what the world places above all else: it does not tolerate people humiliating its beloved way of thinking and doing in front of everyone, and takes revenge on those who allow themselves to do this. The followers of Christ, before they were separated from the world by the calling and teaching of Christ, also belonged to the world; they were also, as the Apostle testifies, foolish, disobedient, lost, slaves of lusts (1 Tim. 3:3–5), and then the world did not persecute them. In the same way, the world loves preachers of lies and depravity, because they love it, because they preach what the world loves. “They (false teachers) are of the world, therefore they speak worldly things and the world listens to them” (1 John 4:5). Remember the word that Az Reh told you: the slave of his master is not a slave... (John 15:20). Repeatedly the Savior spoke the parable word that He now uttered (Matthew 10:24–25; Luke 6:40; John 13:16). It is useful for His disciples in many ways. It explains to them their fate in the world. Even if I was driven out, if the Teacher was persecuted, is it surprising that the disciples are persecuted? If you keep My word, they will keep yours. Just as they listened to the words of the Teacher, so will they accept the words of the disciples. – It is difficult to encounter inattention to the words of sincere love, it is difficult to see the futility of efforts to convert people to the path of truth and holiness: but the disciples of Christ cannot be higher and stronger than their Teacher and the Lord, Whom they also did not listen to. But they do all these things to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me (John 15:21). Our weak nature does not easily reconcile with the bitter lot of the followers of Christ and anxiously asks: why such a lot for the best people? The Savior gives a profound answer: they are doing all this to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. According to the teachings of the Savior, the hatred of the world, persecuting the best people, persecutes the Lord Jesus himself, united in an internal, mysterious way with believers and acting in their souls; and the world persecutes Him because it does not know God. The world says in words that it knows God: but these are only words, and not a heartfelt conviction. A deep knowledge of God is connected with a similar knowledge of oneself; and knowing yourself, your depravity, your guilt, you cannot help but recognize the need for the Savior of the world. Therefore, whoever knows himself and God, with an open soul, accepts the Savior of the world sent by God the Father (John 3:16–17). On the contrary, the world does not want to know about Jesus Christ. He says: My God! My creator! My Provider! Good Providence! Not a word about Christ Jesus, because the name of Jesus must be combined with the recognition of oneself as an unrequited sinner. With such coldness of the world towards Jesus Christ, the world does not tolerate those who honor this venerable Name in deed and in truth. You will hate My name for my sake, said the Lord (Matthew 10:22). And this is being fulfilled and will continue to be fulfilled. - All who want to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12). If he had not come and spoken to them, they would have had no sin: but now they have no guilt about their sin (John 15:22). Having shown that the hatred of the world against the followers of Christ is actually hatred against Himself, the Lord further shows how grave the sin is - hatred against Christ Jesus. This sin is grave: a) because the teaching of Christ was very clear (John 15:22), b) because hatred against Christ is hatred against the heavenly Father (John 15:23), c) the works of Jesus were the works of the Son of God (John 15:24–25). Ignorance can sometimes excuse a person from making a mistake. But the world that persecutes the Lord Jesus cannot point out that it is not told who Christ Jesus is. The teaching of Christ Jesus clearly and completely announced the will of the Heavenly Father. If there had not been so much of the wondrous appearance of Christ, so much of the lofty teaching of Christ, if the light of the ancient prophecies had not been so fully reflected in the life of Jesus Christ, the terrible sin of stubbornness against God would not have fallen on the Jews, as Christ Jesus told them more than once (John 3:36, 9:41). Now they have no guilt about their sin - now they have nothing to apologize for their sin. The Apostle said the same thing about some Christians. “If, having escaped the defilements of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome by them, then the last thing for them is worse than the first. It would be better for them not to know the way of righteousness, than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them” (2 Peter 2:20-21). Terrible situation! Hate Me and Hate My Father (John 15:23). The Jews said in their apology that although they do not love Jesus, they honor the Heavenly Father. The Savior, on the contrary, shows that the sin of the world is also heavy because it contains hatred against the Heavenly Father. How is this possible? This must also be due to the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father; and besides, whoever shows disdain and malice towards the Messenger insults the Sender. Discard Me, the One Who Sent Me is swept away (Luke 10:16). Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him (John 5:24): thus spoke the Lord to the Jews. If he had not done any work in them, which no one else had done, they had no sin... But let the word be fulfilled: because you hated Me (John 15:24-25). Let the Jews not trust the statements of Christ Jesus about Himself, that He is the Messiah, the Messenger of God. But they saw His deeds, deeds that no prophet could do. These deeds in themselves said that Christ Jesus is such a Messenger of God as only the Messiah, the Son of God, could be. People in whom passions had not drowned out the love for truth looked at the works of Jesus in the same way and responded to them in the same way. The people were amazed, saying, “No one has appeared in Israel like this” (Matthew 9:33). When men saw the sign that Jesus did, they said, “This is truly a Prophet coming into the world” (John 6:14). I say, “Whenever Christ comes, He will do the same great signs that this one is doing?” (John 7:31). Since time immemorial it has not been heard that someone opened the eyes of one who was born blind (John 9:32). If the members of the Sanhedrin, even after seeing such miracles of Christ Jesus, pursue Him with hatred, then they no longer only hate Christ Jesus, but also the Heavenly Father, by whose power the miracles were performed. The healed blind man reasoned sensibly before the Sanhedrin: God will not listen to a sinner: but if anyone is a reader of God and does His will, he will listen to him... If he were not from God, he could not do anything. “But the Sanhedrin then brazenly revealed its hatred of Jesus and proudly said to the blind man: Should you teach us?” (John 9:31–34). Modern Jews are increasingly trying to explain the miracles of Jesus from the forces of nature. They do the same thing as the Jews, contemporaries of Jesus, who attributed them to the works of Beelzebub. If, with all the clarity of Christ’s miracles, they are not attributed to the One who alone could perform them, to Almighty God, then this is obstinacy against obvious truth, enmity against God. This situation is strange! In explanation of this terrible and strange situation, the Savior adds: let the word written in their law be fulfilled; because you hate Me Tune. This means that although the world’s hatred against Jesus depends on human free will, at the same time the will of the Heavenly Father is also accomplished, destining the Messiah to be the subject of undeserved, completely unjust human hatred. People do their own thing, they do the work of wickedness; and the Heavenly Father is doing his work of salvation for humanity. This is not the first time that wicked people, unconsciously, contrary to their intentions, contribute to the fulfillment of the good will of God and, justifying God’s plans in their fate, manifest the glory of the Supreme Ruler of the universe (John 18:14). – The words that the Savior points to are read in the Psalm (Ps. 68:5). This is one of the prophetic psalms of David, in which the fate of the Messiah is foreshadowed (John 2:17). Lord Jesus! Give us the spirit of patience and love when the hatred of the world rises against us, and keep in us warm faith in Your name and love for our brothers. Amen. Conversation 19. When the comforter comes... he will testify for me The Lord Jesus showed His disciples that the hatred with which the world would meet them was their glory as His faithful followers. The consolation is truly high! But in the situation in which the disciples were then, this consolation did not seem sufficient to them. They could speak and, of course, they said in their hearts: if the Jews did not listen to our Lord, what can our preaching do! In response to this, the Lord indicates: a) whoever will act so that His teaching bears fruit (John 15:26–27), and b) so that when they encounter close temptations they will not be shaken by their very unexpectedness, he depicts in exact form how far the hatred of the world against them will extend (John 16:1–4). When the Comforter comes, I will send Him to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He who testifies about Me (John 15:26). Words are extremely important! Who is the Savior talking about? The One about whom the Savior spoke is the Comforter Spirit. Twice before this the Savior mentioned Him, and both times He showed the Divine face in Him. This means His identity is undoubted. What personal characteristics of Him are shown here? The Savior says: Him I will send to you from the Father. In the message of the Holy Spirit, without a doubt, He is indicated as a Person; but the message itself is not such that it refers to the eternal essence of the Spirit. For the Divine there is no future or past time, while the Savior speaks of the Spirit: Him I will send. God the Son will send the Holy Spirit because He acquires the right to do so through His merits on the cross. “He, having been exalted by the Right Hand of God and having received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, poured out what you now see and hear.” This is what the Apostle Peter spoke to the Jews, explaining to them the wondrous manifestation of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:33). So, the sending of the Spirit by the Son means a temporary message, the one that took place after the Ascension of the Savior into heaven. The Spirit of truth, which comes from the Father. What does outgoing mean? Is this the same thing that is being sent? No: for a) otherwise there would be an identity in the Savior’s words, while one can see an ascent to a more important thought; b) before it was said I will send, now it is said – it comes: the difference in time indicates the difference in action; the former speaks of the Comforter, the latter of the Spirit; Just as much as the first, as an expression of a temporary situation, is befitting of the Comforter, the One Who by His very name shows His attitude towards people, so much the second - emanating - is befitting of the Holy Spirit as eternal, depicting His eternal relationship with the Father. Thus, in the words: Who proceeds from the Father, the personal property of God - the Holy Spirit is expressed, and the personal property is shown to us in the Holy Spirit that He proceeds from the Father. This is how all the Church Fathers understood the Savior’s words. In the past, teachers of the West, in defense of the doctrine invented by the West about the origin of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, pointed to the words of the Savior: Him I will send to you from the Father. Now the teachers of the West recognize this interpretation of the Savior’s words as unfair; Now everyone repeats that this speaks of the temporary sending of the Holy Spirit by the Son of God. But nowadays they use a different expression in defense of their teaching. They say: “in the words: Who proceeds from the Father, the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit is shown, but not exclusively His procession from the Father alone.” How do they know about this? How do they know that the Holy Spirit does not come from the Father alone? Where does it say that the Holy Spirit also proceeds from the Son? Nowhere. It is known that the words of the Savior we are considering are the only words of God’s revelation that speak of the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit. Other places that only speak of the relationship of the Holy Spirit to God the Father or God the Son speak of His temporary relationship to these persons of the Holy Trinity. It is clear that Western wisdom has no justification in the word of God. He testifies of Me. Who will testify about Jesus Christ? The Comforter is the Spirit of truth. So, there is no doubt that everything said by the Son about the world, about the Father, about the temporal and eternal fate of people, will be justified by the new Witness, and if, apart from the truth, they heard nothing from the Son, then the One who will be sent instead of the Son from God the Father will be a faithful Witness to the truth. This Witness is the Spirit who comes from the Father. It is clear that everything is known to Him as to God; He is omnipotent because He is God. Consequently, no enemies of truth can stand against Him; no power in the world can stop His work. And the hearts of people are in His power, and the universe is the doer of His will. On the day of Pentecost the world saw the fulfillment of this promise of the Savior. Then many of those same people who so persistently persecuted Christ Jesus and brought Him to the cross, in contrition of heart, recognized Him as their Savior and Lord. From the experience of the actions of the Spirit of the Comforter, we see that His testimony consists partly in the invisible enlightenment of the heart with the light of truth, and partly in visible miracles and signs, glorious for the name of Christ. And you testify that from time immemorial you have been with Me (John 15:27). There are witnesses for Christ Jesus in heaven and on earth. The apostles were with the Lord Jesus from the very beginning of His ministry to the human race; they saw, heard, felt what the Lord did among the Jews (1 John 1:1), saw miracles, heard His teaching, knew His holy life (Acts 1:1, 8, 20, 22; Mark 1:1). Therefore, they were such witnesses about Jesus that one could not wish for more reliable ones. By hearing, by seeing with our eyes, by seeing and touching with our hands, we will tell you about the Word of the living (1 John 1:1-3), the Apostles spoke to the world. Thus, their testimony was strong because they were completely reliable witnesses. since they acted under the influence of the Spirit of truth, were filled with it to such an extent that no Prophet was fulfilled, then their testimony was as true to the truth as it was powerful in its Divine power. Thus, in order to be a faithful witness of Christ Jesus, one must study not carnal wisdom, but the scriptures of God’s revelation and practice the works of Christian life (Col. 2:8). These are the words to you, lest you be offended (John 16:1). These words are spoken to you: this refers to the prediction of the hatred of the world and to the promise of the Comforter Spirit (John 15:18–27). Both had to be said as a warning to weak disciples against temptation: do not be tempted. The temptation for the Apostles was the danger of losing faith in Jesus Christ (Matthew 13:21, 24:9–10). In their situation at that time, they did not think that they would have to face the great evil of the world; they expected something completely different from the Messiah - they expected a visible kingdom, power, glory, peace. since the more unexpected the disaster, the more it strikes, the more easily it puts the soul close to sin, then the faith of his weak disciples could have been greatly shaken when meeting with the unexpected hatred of the world, if the Lord had not shown them in advance what awaited them from the world. Don’t we see even now that those who expect from Christianity only joys and peace, who love Christ only for His consolations, when faced with sorrows, lose heart? (Luke 8:13) You will be separated from the hosts. But the hour will come, and everyone who kills you will decide to offer service to God (John 16:2). In order not only to protect the faith of weak disciples from temptation, but to give their faith true proof of his Divine Omniscience, the Lord adds precise information about what actions will express the hatred of the world against them. He says: they will drive you out of the crowd as intolerant people. The Savior pointed to this before when he said: you will be blessed when you are separated, i.e. They will separate you from society, and they will carry your name as evil (Luke 6:22). Now this is said more clearly. And the prediction was fulfilled with accuracy (Acts 6:13, 7:56, 8:1, 9:1, 23:12; Rom. 10:2–3). The hatred of the world will not stop there. She will not only drive you out of society, but she will kill you - and, by killing, she will decide to offer service to God. If the pagans thought to please the Divine by persecuting Christians and considered their death a sacrifice to heaven, this is not so strange, given their unfamiliarity with the frank teaching about true worship. But such was the blindness of the Jews that they, knowing the law of God, which recognized the vileness of sacrificing people, out of blind jealousy, considered the death of Christians to be a reconciliatory sacrifice 26 - and in the name of the God of Israel they betrayed Christians to fire and sword. It's strange what people believe! But what an influence it could have on the hearts of people! If the very authorities for preaching about Christ not only expel preachers from society, but condemn them to death and declare this death a sacrifice pleasing to the Divine, i.e. They not only kill the body, but they want to kill the soul, they want to deprive it of all consolation of conscience, of all moral conviction of the rightness of their cause: what a grave punishment this is! How much firmness of spirit one must have in order to remain a faithful confessor of the name of Christ! The situation is difficult for those who are tempted and very dangerous for those who make others suffer! – May God save everyone from blind jealousy. The Apostle, admonishing the Jews for their erroneous zeal, wrote: I testify 6 to them that they have the zeal of God, but not according to understanding (Rom. 10:2). And they will do this to you, because you have not known the Father nor Me (John 16:3). The Savior also reveals the source of hatred towards His followers. Just as hatred against Jesus was the fruit of not knowing the Father who worked in the Son (John 15:21), so hatred against the followers of Christ will act blindly, not knowing either the Father or the Lord Jesus. Therefore, it is not the persecuted who are unhappy, but the persecutors; First, persecution should serve as a consolation, as persecution for the great name of the Lord Jesus; the persecutors are pitiful because they do not know Him Whom it is so necessary to know for eternal salvation. However, the persecutors are not equally guilty depending on the difference in external circumstances and mental dispositions. Saul, a persecutor of Christians, was pardoned through jealousy and ignorance, but Caiaphas was condemned. For the faithful, in any case, it remains the duty, together with Stephen, to pray for the darkened ones, who do not know what they are doing. But these words are spoken to you, so that when the hour comes, you will remember this, as Az Reh is for you. But these were not cut off for you from the first, for I was with you (John 16:4). The memory of the Savior's prediction regarding persecution was to serve the followers of Christ as a bright star during the darkness of persecution; it was supposed to console them, strengthen them in faith, inspire them with courage and firmness. The Savior adds: these were not killed at first, for they were with you. Although He had previously spoken about the hatred that the confessors of His name had to face against themselves (Matt. 5:10–12, 10:21–28, 16:24–25; Luke 6:22), He had not yet depicted the persecutions of the world as clearly, in such detail and in such force as He now depicted. Until then He had not spoken in such detail about the reasons for the world’s hatred against Him and His disciples. He did not say that they would clothe their hatred with the veil of serving God. He did not indicate when this hatred would be revealed. He did not combine the promises of the Comforter Spirit with the prediction of the hatred of the world. And all this because His personal presence with the disciples protected them from temptations, and therefore there was no need to talk about them, especially since the persecutions of the world were to be revealed with special force only after Christ’s return to heaven. There is no doubt that God will intercede for us, my listeners. No matter how great our weakness is, no matter how strong the enmity of the world against us, the Comforter Spirit is with us. His power is omnipotent, His help is sure. Amen. Conversation 20. If I don’t go, the Comforter will not come How weak people are! And how inexhaustible is heavenly love in its readiness to help us who are weak! When the Savior told His disciples where He was going (John 14:5), and directly announced that He was leaving them (John 16:4), although not without heavenly help, the disciples were so filled with grief over separation from the Teacher that in mute silence they gave freedom to their sadness (John 16:5–16). The Loving Teacher, after strengthening the hearts of His disciples against the attacks of the evil world, gives various consolations to alleviate their grief over their separation from Him. He explains in detail the appearance and actions of the Holy Spirit the Comforter (John 16:5–16); shows the joy that they will subsequently have when meeting with Him (John 16:17–22); shows their future high faith (John 16:23–27) and, recalling the weakness of their then faith, concludes with an appeal to firmness (John 16:29–33). Now I go to Him who sent Me, and no one asks Me: Where are you going? But because these words were spoken to you, your hearts were filled with sorrow (John 16:5–6). The knower of the heart sees what is happening in the hearts of His disciples, although they are silent. He goes to the Father and tells them clearly. Wasn’t it natural for them to ask Him: why is He going? What consequences should we expect from His return to the Father? The disciples misunderstood the intentions of Christ the Savior (Acts 1:6–7), but did not bother to dispel their confusion. And the Savior does not approve of this lack of concern in His disciples when He says: And no one asks Me: Where are you going? Grief over separation from their Teacher and Lord suppressed all other thoughts and concerns in them. But truly I say to you: if you do not go, I will go; if I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you; If I go, I will send Him to you (John 16:7). The Lord Jesus assures with His love for the truth that His departure to the Father does not serve to the sorrow of His followers, but to their happiness. He reveals to them, without their asking, the truth about which they should ask Him, He reveals that for their benefit, His death is necessary. If I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you: if I do go, I will send Him to you. What does this connection between the departure of Christ to heaven and the coming of the Comforter depend on? “If you are carnally attached to the flesh, you will not be able to receive the Spirit,” says Blessed Augustine in explanation of the Savior’s words and means that while Christ Jesus remained on earth, His disciples remained with carnal thoughts about the kingdom of Christ and therefore were unable to receive the Spirit of grace. But if the point was only that it was necessary to elevate the concepts of the disciples about Christ and His kingdom, then Jesus Christ could do this without being separated from the earth, just as the Comforter Spirit could act for this purpose in the souls of the disciples in the presence of Christ Jesus. No, that's not the point. The Lord is not talking about the connection between the condition of the disciples and the descent of the Holy Spirit, but about the connection between the departure of Christ to heaven and the descent of the Spirit to earth. So what is this connection? The connection is that before heaven and earth were reconciled by the death of the Redeemer, spiritual gifts were not sent down to believers in abundance. The blessings of the Holy Spirit had to be purchased by the Son-Redeemer by accepting the curse for people. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, being the curse of the law, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit by faith (Gal. 3:13-14). The Mediator of the world had to be perfected by suffering in order to complete the whole work of His ministry, so that he could then sanctify everyone by grace (Heb. 2:10, 11, 14). And He will come and convict the world about sin and about righteousness and about judgment (John 16:8). The Savior shows the actions of the Spirit of the Comforter in relation to the world, which is so hostile to Him and His disciples. He calls the Paraclete in relation to the world the Accuser. – The accuser’s job is to bring the conscience to the point where it, against its will, recognizes the truth, which it had not wanted to admit before, as the truth. Previously, the Savior said about the world that it did not receive the Spirit of truth because it did not see Him (John 14:17); here it says that the Spirit will come and convict the world. This means that the world, with all its reluctance to accept the Spirit of truth, must learn that the Spirit operates in it, speaks to it, convicts it, testifies against it; The Spirit of truth will convict the world - not only will it make a precise division between the world and the disciples, between unbelievers and believers, between unrepentant sinners and those seeking salvation, but will show its position to the world itself. How will this denunciation begin? In the same way that the Apostle Peter commanded to begin the work of converting the Jews - a call to repentance: repent (Acts 2:37-38). Convicting the world is not what will testify about the Son (Jn. 15:26): the world must be admonished in evil and lies, its sin must be revealed to it, the blindfold cast by pride and other passions must be removed from its eyes. Convicting the world should only help testify about the Son and bring this testimony to triumph over the world; when people belonging to the world, having heard the convictions of the Spirit, come to repentance, then they will stand on the side of the one who testifies about the Son - and they themselves will listen to this testimony. Thus, the Spirit of truth will not only be a witness of the Son for believers, but He will convict, admonish, bring to consciousness, and turn the children of the world to truth and righteousness: when God gives them repentance to the understanding (for knowledge) of the truth and they arise from the devil’s snare (2 Tim. 2:25–26). How will this reproof be carried out? There is no doubt that in relation to people external means are also necessary. The external means of the Spirit’s accuser are, firstly, the word of God, which, according to the Apostle, reveals the spirit and power of God (1 Cor. 2:4-5), and is the sword of the Spirit (Heb. 6:17), secondly, signs and wonders (Rom. 15:19; Acts 6:8). But the Spirit of truth as a Spirit can act on the spirit directly. His action, as a spirit, must be actually invisible, internal. The Holy Apostle says that the gospel of Christ has been spread by the power of signs and wonders and by the power of the Spirit of God, i.e. he distinguishes the operation of signs and wonders from the internal operation of the Spirit (Rom. 15:19): St. Luke writes that those who listened to Stephen “could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with whom he spoke” (Acts 6:10). How long will the Spirit of truth convict the world? The Savior, speaking about the coming of the Spirit, undoubtedly means that which was to be revealed and was revealed on the day of Pentecost. But the conviction of the Spirit does not extend only to the Jewish world. For the world, in the words of the Savior, generally means a society of people who do not belong to His disciples, a world of sinful people - forgetful, unjust. This is most clearly seen from the fact that the Savior indicates the ruler of the world in the prince of darkness (John 16:11), who rules over more than one Jewish world. So, the conviction of the world by the Spirit will continue as long as the sinful world exists on earth, i.e. until the end of the world. He will reprove sin because they do not believe in Me (John 16:9). He will enlighten the world about the sin that they do not believe in the Son of God. The sin of unbelief in the Son of God will be the subject of the Spirit's conviction. And the Son of God convicted of this sin (John 15:22–24). The Spirit of God will reveal with particular clarity the importance of this sin, its influence on the eternal destiny of man. Unbelief in the Son, the Redeemer of the world, is the seed and root of sins, the essence of all transgressions of the will. Unbelief in the Redeemer Son contains, as at the core, pride, and neglect of oneself, and all the indulgences of the flesh, and inattention to the dignity of those like us, and forgetfulness of God. – The hatred of the Jews for the Son of God and for God constituted a complete revelation of their unbelief, or unbelief that reached the extreme. As long as the sin of unbelief remains on the soul, salvation is impossible for it. Why did Israel not enter the land of promise? The Apostle is responsible for unbelief (Heb. 3:19). Unbelief in the Son of God is scary. For “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). And it is this fear that awakens the Convicting Spirit in the unbelieving world. About the truth, as I go to My Father and you do not see Me (John 16:10). As above (John 14:28) with the words: I go to the Father, the Savior pointed to the redemptive, reconciling heaven and earth meaning of his death, so these words have the same meaning here. You don't see Me. By this the Savior previously pointed to His glorification, invisible to the world (John 14:19). - So, the Spirit will enlighten the world about the truth that Christ Jesus passed to heaven for people by death on the cross and that He was crowned for this with glory invisible to the world, as the only Righteous One and Giver of righteousness. In this sense, he calls Christ Jesus the Righteous, i.e. in the sense of the Intercessor for the unjust, the Apostle John (1 John 2:1-29, 3:7). A sinner, committing sins in unbelief in the Savior of the world, does not think, does not care about being right, or considers his own truth so important that he does not think about repentance or faith. The convicting spirit admonishes the sinner about the truth, either showing him that he must value righteousness as the will of God, or convincing him that he cannot find the truth in himself, or arousing in him groaning for the truth that is clothed with the Redeemer of the world, Jesus Christ. This is how St. explained (John 16:10). Cyril of Alexandria and St. Augustine. He will denounce the judgment, for the prince of this world was quickly condemned (John 16:8, 11). The prince of this world is the devil (John 12:31), the father of lies and all sin (John 8:44), the culprit of the blindness in which those who do not believe in Jesus Christ remain (2 Cor. 4:4). “The Prince of Peace,” says St. “Cyril,” he is called not because he was so in truth, but because he acquired such glory for himself through deception and theft, despite the thinness of those who accept his power.” Yes, power over people gives the devil sin. since by the death of Christ Jesus truth was acquired for people, and by the grace of the Holy Spirit this truth was acquired by people, then both power and right over people were taken away from the prince of peace. The Spirit of truth, accomplishing the spiritual rebirth of man, shows the world in experiments the truth that the prince of the world has already lost his power and was expelled (John 12:31), that on the ruins of the kingdom of darkness, superstition, impurity and lawlessness of all kinds, an indestructible kingdom of light and holiness was founded. With what triumph was this judgment carried out on the world, when idols fell before the name of Jesus, temples were destroyed, the deceptions of the priests and the emptiness of paganism were revealed, despite the fierce war for paganism! It happened that the spirits of wickedness fled screaming from churches at the mere name of Jesus, as the apologists of Christianity, St., spoke about this in the ears of the pagans. Justin 27, Tertullian 28, St. Cyprian 29, St. Afanasy 30 and others. Glory to Thy divine omnipotence, Soul of truth! - Amen. Conversation 21. When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth Wonderful are the works of the Spirit of God for the sinful world, which persists in hostility towards all that is holy and the Saints of God. But these matters relate to our area, the area of ​​sinners, and we can still notice them somewhat in our experience. But the heavenly Teacher, the Lord Jesus, reveals to His Apostles how the Spirit of truth will act on them. The Lord spoke to His disciples: The imam has many more words to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth (John 16:12–13). The imam has many more words to tell you. What is this so much that the Savior still had to talk about with his disciples? All that was subsequently revealed by the Spirit of truth through the Apostles. And what He had previously spoken to the disciples about—convicting the world by the Spirit of sin, righteousness, and judgment—is a subject that is vast in content. And how much more remained that the All-Seeing One could talk about, and what He spoke about later through the Comforter! Thus, the structure and age-old destinies of the Church of Christ, the attitude of pagans and Jews towards it, the meaning of ritual and moral law in the kingdom of Christ are left to be determined by the revelation of the Comforter Spirit. That is why it was necessary for Christ the Lord to leave the earth and send the Spirit of truth! But you can't wear it now. It is impossible to place a burden on the weak shoulders of a youth that only a strong husband can bear. The disciples of Christ, while their Teacher and Lord remained with them, were still weak children, as He more than once called them; their mind was immature, not free either from popular prejudices or from their own dreams; their will was not strong in deeds of good. The Apostles were elevated to spiritual maturity by the Comforter Spirit. The Heavenly Teacher always taught His disciples only one truth; But it is another thing to instruct children in the truth, and another thing to instruct those of age. The wise Teacher says only what His listeners can accept, and leaves the rest to someone else for time. This is how the Apostles acted, following the example of their Lord (1 Cor. 3:1–8; Heb. 5:11–14). Thus, my listeners, spiritual life is gradually revealed in us. – You cannot suddenly become a holy man, mature in spiritual life, without being, after childhood, in the state of a youth. Spiritual life is a work of God’s power in us, but grace does not act in us without our participation, not without our will and activity. That is why there are spiritual ages. “The path of the righteous,” says Solomon, “is like the light of day, moving forward and growing until the full day” (Prov. 4:18). The Comforter, the Spirit of truth, will guide you into all truth - will lead you into the understanding of the complete truth. Every truth, or, more precisely, all truth, means with the Savior the entire scope of revelation about faith and moral life. The Savior, as can be seen from His own words, means His disciples as witnesses of Him (John 16:27) and, therefore, the truth that the Spirit of truth must teach them does not relate to the subjects of any philosophical, astronomical and similar research. The range of objects that the Apostles must learn from the Spirit of the Comforter has already been determined by the Savior before: He will remember everything that Reh gave you, He said about the Spirit of truth (John 14:26). All that I heard from My Father, which He told you, He Himself spoke to His disciples (John 15:15). All the basic truths of faith and life have already been communicated to the Apostles. Their minds and hearts were purified by the effective teaching of Christ Jesus (John 15:8, 13:10). But the truth of Christ was an unrevealed seed in their souls - they kept it in their souls, but without an accurate and deep understanding; the full truth, the complete revealed teaching about Christ Jesus had to be taught to them by the Spirit of truth. Thus, it is impossible to assert without insulting the truth that the reconciliation of man with God, in the sense in which it is set out in the letters of the Apostles Peter, John and Paul, was a new teaching of the Spirit of Christ. The Savior often spoke about him to His disciples, only the meaning of His words was not revealed in their consciousness (John 4:14–16, 6:51, 10:17, 12:24,31,32, 17:19–20; Matt. 20:28, 26:25; Mark 10:45) - The Spirit of truth had to clarify what was unclear in their concepts, correct what was wrong, add what was missing. For it is not on your own to say to have, but if anyone hears, say to have, and the one who comes will tell you (John 16:13). The spirit of the world loves to invent and sow lies (John 8:14). On the contrary, the Spirit of truth will not speak from Himself, but will speak only what he hears in the council of the Divine, as one who tests the depths of God (1 Cor. 2:10). In this sense, Christ Jesus also spoke about Himself: when you lift up the Son of man, then you will understand that I am and do nothing for Myself, but as the Father taught Me, I say this (John 8:28, 3:32, 12:49–50). since the Spirit of the Comforter is the Spirit of truth and will speak what was received from the Lord Jesus, He will reveal the truth not only regarding what was said to the disciples, but will also announce the future, which only needs to be said for the Church of Christ. The fulfillment of the promise of the revelation of the future is seen most clearly in the seer John, but we also see it in the other Apostles - in Peter (2 Peter 1:5-15) and Paul (2 Thess. 2:3; 1 Tim. 4:1-2; 2 Tim. 4:3-4, 3:6, 2 Thess. 2:1-12). He will glorify Me, because He will receive from Mine and proclaim it to you (John 16:14). The glorification of the Heavenly Father in the person of Jesus Christ is the highest goal of all revelation (2 Cor. 4:6). The glorification of Christ Jesus is the goal of the activities of the Comforter Spirit. By the Spirit of the Comforter the teaching of Christ Jesus in its full form, the meaning of His sending into the world and His sufferings must be revealed to the world. Great are the mysteries of God that the Spirit of truth could reveal, but the revelation of the Spirit will not be a revelation different from the revelation of Jesus - it will only be the glorification of Christ Jesus. Thus, the dreams of people who appropriated special revelations for themselves or who boldly took it upon themselves to supposedly improve the Christian religion according to the calculations of reason are false and repugnant to God. The kingdom of Christ is an unshakable kingdom (Heb. 12:28); Christ Jesus is the High Priest forever (Heb. 6:20) and has an enduring priesthood (Heb. 7:24); He will appear another time only for judgment (Heb. 9:28). We may be children and youths ignorant (Heb. 5:12–13, 6:1–2); others even dare to rebuke the Spirit of grace, but fiery torment awaits them (Heb. 10:29). The Spirit of truth will only glorify Christ Jesus; For he will receive it from Mine, says the Lord Jesus. What do the words mean: He will receive from Mine? The Roman teachers accept these words in defense of their invented opinion about the origin of the Holy Spirit from the Son and say: he will receive from Mine - that means he will receive being from My nature. But the existence of the Holy Spirit is eternal; only blasphemy can say that the Holy Spirit receives being, when there was no time when He did not have it. This means that the Lord is not speaking here about the personal existence or origin of the Holy Spirit. What is He talking about? He said: He will glorify Me, and in confirmation of this he says: He will receive from Mine. The glorification of Christ Jesus, which depended on the Holy Spirit, means the glorification of Him as the God-man - the Redeemer of the world. No one doubts this and cannot doubt it. After this, there should be no doubt that when the Savior says: He will receive from Mine, He allows us to see in Himself the Redeemer of the world. Thus, he will receive from Mine - that means he will receive from the Person of the Savior of the world, who suffered for the salvation of people. What the Holy Spirit had to receive from Christ Jesus as the Savior of the world related partly to the teaching that He proclaimed to the world, partly to those spiritual benefits that He acquired at the cost of His blood for the world. The Holy Spirit in His manifestation to the world is the Messenger of Christ the Son of God. Therefore He receives from him what is necessary for His glorification. This is how the Apostle Peter explains the appearance of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. He was exalted by the right hand of God and received the promises of the Holy Spirit from the Father, which were poured out, which you now see and hear (Acts 2:33). You see, Christ Jesus was glorified for His suffering and received from the Father the Holy Spirit, Whom He sent to earth. This is the apostolic explanation of the Savior’s words! St. Chrysostom says: “He will receive from Mine - that means he will receive from what I know, from My knowledge: for one knowledge is Mine and the Spirit” 31. The Father, who has all things, is Mine: for this reason I have decided, that He will receive of Mine and declare it to you (John 16:15). Looking at Christ Jesus as a man, one might think that He ascribes too much to Himself when He says that the Spirit of truth will depend on Him. To resolve this bewilderment, the Lord says that everything that the Father has belongs to Him; With this thought, of course, His words are not amazing: He will receive from Mine and will tell you. In what respect does Christ Jesus speak of Himself: all that the Father has is mine? Without a doubt, in the same way in which He previously portrayed Himself in relation to His messenger service. This is what Christ Jesus says in prayer to the Father: All are Mine, Thine are, and Thine are Mine, and I am glorified in them (John 17:10). “Christ is all and in all,” says the Apostle Paul (Col. 3:11), and he also writes: “God is all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28). This means that the Son of God, by His merits, received the right to be the Heir of all, as the same Apostle says (Heb. 1:2-3). The ancient Teacher explains the words of the Savior this way: “My share is all that the Father has” 32. The Roman teachers here also seek protection for their fiction about the Holy Spirit. They say: “Everything that the Father has belongs to the Son; since it belongs to the Father that the Holy Spirit proceeds from Him, then the same property belongs to the Son.” But we have already said and proved that the Savior, saying the words: all things are the Father, My essence, shows us in Himself the messenger of God, the Savior of the world, and not the personality of the Son of God. Therefore, everything that the Father has relates only to the glory that the Redeemer of the world could share with him, and does not at all relate to the Divine being. But let’s assume, although the Savior’s words do not allow us to admit at all, let’s assume that in the words of all the Father, My essence, the Divine nature is spoken of, and then the conclusion should be drawn that the Son is born from Himself. This means that if we began to explain the words of the Savior in relation to the Divinity, we would have to accept them in a limited sense and precisely in this form: everything that the Father has belongs to the Son, with the exception of the birth of the Son and the origin of the Holy Spirit. The words that the Savior then speaks fully confirm our explanation and expose the injustice of the Roman interpretation. The Savior says: For this reason, rekh, for he will receive and proclaim from Mine. You cannot say: he will accept and proclaim My nature, but they say: he will accept and proclaim my teaching, instruction, thoughts. The connection between the Savior’s thoughts is this: what the Spirit of truth will announce to the Apostles is the truth of the Son of God, and the truth of the Son of God is the truth of the Heavenly Father. Glory to Thee, Holy Soul, Soul of truth, together with the Father and His eternal Son. Amen. In what wonderful majesty the Lord Jesus appears, speaking with His sorrowful disciples! Listening to His words, they did not understand much at that time. When all His words were fulfilled with all accuracy, how thrilled the hearts of the disciples must have been every time they imagined everything that the beloved Teacher had said during His separation from them. – With what accuracy did He predict to them the hatred of the depraved world towards them, the appearance of the Comforter Spirit, His actions in relation to the world, His actions in relation to themselves. He portrayed all this as an eyewitness to events that, however, stood in the distant future, invisible to people. – And with the same accuracy He depicts to His disciples His imminent death and imminent resurrection, the disciples’ sorrows and the joy that follows them, true and unchanging joy. How much light, how much joy there is in the words of the Sweetest One for sincere faith! Away, and then you do not see Me, and again a little, and you will see Me; as I go to the Father (John 16:16). “A little time and you will not see Me”: this means that the time of His suffering and death will soon come. “A little time and you will see Me”: this indicates that His death will soon be followed by His resurrection when they see Him. “Because I go to the Father”: rising to the Father to receive glory for the deeds of the cross explains both the need for death on the cross and His resurrection. This is how the words of the Savior, which were then misunderstood by the disciples (John 16:17–18), were explained by St. Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria, Ammonius, Leontius, illuminated by the light of events. And this explanation is in accordance with: a) the Savior’s prediction that the Apostles will soon see Him after His resurrection (John 14:19); b) in accordance with the explanation that He gives after that to His words (John 16:20–22); c) this explanation is confirmed by the very situation of the disciples. During the suffering and death of the Savior, they did not see Him with their bodily eyes, and their spiritual gaze was so darkened by confusion and doubt that they seemed to lose sight of Christ and their Lord. This was clearly expressed by the Emmaus travelers to the risen Savior Himself (Luke 24:17–45). His disciples decided to themselves: what is this, which he says: little by little, and you will not see Me... You do not know what he says? (John 16:17–18). If the disciples had firmly kept in mind what the Lord had told them before about His rise and return to God the Father, then His words would not have seemed dark to them. But despite the fact that the Savior spoke so clearly to them about His imminent death, it still occurred to them that He would not die a shameful death, and at the same time they forgot His prediction about His resurrection. “If we see You, they say: Where are you going? If you go, how will we see you? 33 And it was this Jewish prejudice about His visible glory that now prevented them from understanding the words of the Savior? Oh! how many objects of faith, many rules of the life of the Gospel seem to us either unclear or unconvincing simply because our passions darken our view of them! How many doubts and difficulties are solved by a child’s simplicity of heart and mind! Jesus understood, because I wanted to ask Him... He said: Amen, Amen, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, and the world will rejoice: you will be sad, but your sorrow will be joy (John 16:19-20). The Savior saw the hearts of His disciples without their words. The evangelist had long before noticed that Jesus did not need anyone to tell Him what was in anyone’s heart—He saw everything (John 2:25). Now the Lord Jesus, despite the fact that the disciples did not tell Him about their perplexities, repeats in exact form the words that seemed incomprehensible to them, and by this repetition makes them see that His words are simple and do not contain anything incomprehensible. To explain both His words and the upcoming future, He depicts the joy that they will have after the days of sorrow. – You will weep and wail: this is an ordinary image of grief for the deceased (Luke 7:32; Matt. 2:18; 2 Kings 1:17, 3:32–33; 2 Chronicles 35:25; Jer. 22:10). Consequently, the Savior makes it clear that His suffering will end in death. You will be sadder—deep sadness. The Savior had predicted about this sadness long before, when he spoke about the groom’s friends: when the groom is taken away from them, then they fast (Matthew 9:15). The Savior's predictions were fulfilled with all accuracy. His disciples grieved so much during His suffering on the cross that they lost hope for the salvation of Israel (Luke 20:17–21; Mark 16:10–11). His mother stood before the cross with a weapon in her heart (Luke 2:34–35; John 19:25); Magdalene wept (John 20:11). And the world will rejoice. And it came true. The Jewish world, especially the Sanhedrin, triumphed when Jesus Christ hung on the cross and died: it thought that it had achieved its goal completely, having asked for the death of the Righteous (Matt. 27:39–65; Mark 15:29; Luke 23:45). But your sorrow will turn into joy. “Just as the sadness of Israel, condemned to destruction by proud Haman, soon turned into joy, so the sadness of the disciples will end in the same way. The Savior predicted that He would return to life for the joy of the new Israel. When a woman gives birth, she has sorrow... (John 16:21). The times and seasons that are appointed by the Ruler of the world for the correction of people, in St. The Scriptures are often compared to the time of suffering of a woman in labor (Isa. 21:3, 26:17, 66:7–8; Hos. 13:13; Jer. 4:31, 6:24, 22:23; 2 Kings 19:3). This is how the Savior and His disciples are depicted during His death on the cross. And you are sad now, He says in explanation of the proposed image. “Do not be surprised,” he says, “that by sowing sorrow I lead you to something useful, when a mother also becomes matter through sorrow” 34 . The Passover of Christ's suffering was a time of great sorrow for the disciples (Mark 16:10). But these sorrows were purifying sorrows. We can say that these days of tribulation changed the Apostles for the better in many ways. And the voice of the Savior touched them: do not cry for Me, but rather cry for yourself (Luke 23:28). The triumph of peace and villainy showed them what the joys of the world mean, what its hopes mean, what its dreams about the earthly greatness of the Messiah mean. The time of sorrows gave them the freedom to look deeper into their hearts and question themselves more than once whether it was because of their sins, whether it was not because of their not always worthy treatment of the great Messenger of God that He was taken from them. On the other hand, their love for their beloved Teacher suffered with Him, and the torment with which the villains tormented Him aroused even more love for the wondrous Righteous One, Whom they were deprived of. When I see you again, your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you (John 16:22). The loving Lord tells the sorrowful disciples that not only will He not remain in the power of death, but He will be a life-giving agent for them. If He meant only the first, then he would have to say: you will see Me alive and will rejoice. But He says: I will see you, and your heart will rejoice. This means that just as for the material world life-giving light comes from the sun, so the light of souls and the joy of hearts come from the eyes of the Son of God, Jesus Christ; He, the sun of the spiritual world, gives light and joy to souls according to their acceptance (John 1:8). The risen One allowed Himself to be seen by His disciples and confirmed their faith with many of His appearances, while others did not see Him (Luke 24:25; John 20:17–25, 21:14–17; Acts 10:40–41). In accordance with the gradual illumination of thought, the joy of Christ’s disciples grew and took root in their hearts gradually until it reached the point that nothing could drive it out of their hearts. On Easter Resurrection, the light of the Risen One illuminated them, and they rejoiced seeing the Lord; but they had not yet seen Him with all clarity; thoughts of lack of faith were still floating in their minds, and their hearts were troubled by fear of the wickedness of the Jews (Matt. 28:8; OK. 24:32–33, 41–43; In. 20:16–29). – At His ascension, when in their eyes He ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9), their hopes were confirmed by the promise of the Lord. On the day of Pentecost, the Comforter promised by the Lord descended on their minds and hearts, and then joy penetrated their hearts to such an extent that no one could take it away from them. Their hearts then felt joy in their very depths. - Friends of the world! Why is your joy so unreliable, so changeable? Because external objects, external circumstances give you joy, and they take it away due to their changeability, because your joy concerns only the external person, while the internal one is languishing with thirst and boredom. The joy of believing hearts does not depend on external circumstances; their joy is the fruit of the well-being of the whole person, a consequence of the revival of their spiritual nature. That is why neither the persecution of the Jewish world, nor the persecution of the pagan world, nor hunger, nor poverty, nor sword, nor fire can deprive them of spiritual joy (Rom. 8:35-39). On that day you will not ask me anything. Then “you will not ask Me about anything” 35. Day does not mean here a close, definite continuation of the hours of the day, but shows the time when the joy of the disciples became their inalienable property. Until that time, they asked the Lord: where are you going? And how can we lead the way? Show us the Father? And what is it that you want to appear to us, and not the world? What is this, which says, “Away, and you will not see Me?” (John 14:5–8,22, 16:17–18). Even after the resurrection of the Savior, they asked: Lord, will you establish the kingdom of Israel in this year? (Acts 1:6). But when the Spirit of truth descended on them, He revealed the truth to them in its full extent, and after that no doubt disturbed their hearts, they had no need to ask about anything. The light of our thoughts and the joy of our hearts - Jesus! Illuminate our dark souls with Your life-giving light, may Your light shine in us, and may Your Holy Name be glorified in us. Amen. Conversation 23. Amen, amen, I say to you, for whatever you ask from the Father in My name, He will give it to you Amen, amen: these words themselves show that the Savior wants to talk about a new subject that is important for the disciples. And He first told them about with what faith and with what success they would pray after His resurrection. Then, about their response to their faith in Him, pointing out the weakness of their faith, he concludes the instructions with an appeal to firmness. Elika, whatever you ask from the Father in My name, He will give it to you. The Savior already told his disciples about the success of prayer in His name (John 14:13–14, 15:7–16). But their situation was such that it was necessary to repeat the commandment in the form of a promise. Until now, do not ask for anything in My name. Ask and receive, that your joy may be filled (John 16:24). We have already explained what it means to pray to the Father in the name of Christ Jesus (John 14:13–14). Until then, the Apostles did not offer prayers to the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus, because they saw in Him the great Teacher, the great Messenger of God, but rarely and too unclearly that Mediator in whose name and in whose spirit they had to pray. As the Intercessor of God and men, He revealed himself to the world through suffering, death and resurrection. But they did not want to believe that He died an undeserved and shameful death. The Savior, having predicted that His disciples, through prayer in His name, would receive everything, says to them: ask and you will receive. Prayer in His name is His commandment. Why is this so? Faith in His name is so necessary for the Christian soul that it cannot live without this faith, because it is impossible to live without the Savior of the world. One must pray in His name, because without His name the salvation of the soul cannot be achieved. Ask and receive, so that your joy will be fulfilled. The purpose of the commanded prayer and the fulfillment of the prayer is that your joy may be fulfilled. Ask to have complete, pure, perfect joy. Prayer in the name of the Son, in addition to delivering what you want, purifies the very joy of receiving what you want, otherwise it does not allow you to ask for something that would not serve the pure, better joy of the soul. These things are spoken to you in parables; But the hour will come when I will not speak to you in parables, but will tell you clearly about the Father. On that day ask questions in My name (John 16:25). Here is another new consolation for the disciples! If they had not previously offered prayers in the name of the Son of God, then this also depended on the fact that hitherto, due to circumstances, teaching in parables had been offered to them, but after the resurrection this would not be the case. A parable, according to biblical usage, means not only allegorical speech, but also any hidden saying, such as the parables of Solomon, and in general such a saying that seems mysterious. Thus, the Savior says that His teaching, which He had previously offered to His disciples about His face, about His death, about its consequences, about His connection with the believers, seemed mysterious to them. Indeed, he sometimes spoke in allegorical or hidden sayings; Thus, in His farewell conversation we see the parable of the vine, the woman giving birth, and before that, the parable of the shepherd (John 10:6) and others. But His disciples recognized that even those things that were said without allegory were unclear to themselves, mysterious (John 14:9,22, 16:18). Such was their situation. The time will soon come when the Heavenly Father and His Son will be announced to them in clear words. Then they will pray in the name of the Redeemer Son. Then they will see that they should not pray otherwise. And I do not tell you that I will pray to the Father for you. For the Father Himself loves you, because you loved Me and believed, because I died from God (John 16:26–27). “Perfect faith in the Son has no need of intercession with the Father. She believes that He came from God, and loves and confesses that the Son was born and sent from God, and therefore in itself deserves to be heard.” So wrote St. Hilary 36. On the other hand, the name of the Lord Jesus is so great, so important before the Heavenly Father, that for the love of this name the Heavenly Father is ready to do everything for believers. Living faith in the Lord Jesus is heard by the Heavenly Father because the great name of the Redeemer of the world, the Son of God, intercedes with Him. The name of the Son of God attracts the love of the Heavenly Father to believers because they have a living faith, a faith that loves the Lord Jesus. Thus, the intercessory ministry of the Savior, which the Apostles so often talk about (1 John 2:1-12; Heb. 7:25, 8:6, 9:24; Rom. 8:34), is not only not excluded by the words of the Savior, but is confirmed when the importance of love for the Savior of the world is spoken of. He died from the Father and came into the world. And again I leave the world and go to the Father (John 16:28). The Savior, justifying living faith in Him, to which He promises so much (John 16:27), offers confession about His face. - I died from the Father. The departure here must be the same as the return. The return shows the transition to heaven by death on the cross; in the same way, when He speaks from the Father, He makes it possible to see not His eternal relationship with the Father, but His descent into the world in the person of the Savior of the world, accomplished according to the will of the Heavenly Father. Otherwise, this is called His sending into the world by the will of the Heavenly Father: You sent Me (John 17:25). And he came into the world: of His own will, not subject to necessity; appeared in the world - and in what world? In a world of sorrows, on a land cursed for the sins of man. And again I leave the world and go to the Father. With the same freedom, with the same Divine power with which he appeared in the world, he returns to the Father. The disciples said to him: behold, now you have spoken without hesitation... now we know: as if you weighed everything (John 16:29–30). The disciples of the Lord Jesus confess before Him that, firstly, they see nothing dark, nothing mysterious in His words; secondly, they are convinced of His omniscience, especially by recent experience; Before they asked the Lord, He Himself revealed and explained to them their misunderstanding; Isn't it clear that He knows everything? After this experience, they also believe that He came from God, that He is the Messiah - the Messenger of God. This confession of the disciples, as sincere, was confirmed by the Lord Himself when he said about them that they truly understood that He was sent by the Heavenly Father (John 17:18). But at the same time, this review of them about themselves is not infallible. If, according to the Lord, the time when He could speak without parables was still ahead, why do they say: “Here you speak plainly and do not speak any parables”? Isn’t this a denunciation in the fact that His words were not so clear to them as it seemed to them, that they dreamed too much about themselves and were carried away even to the point of contradicting their Lord? Such is our pride! How often do others think and say about themselves that the mysteries of faith are sufficiently known to them, that they are instructed and confirmed in them, and have no need for new instructions at all; but in fact, they are so ignorant of the knowledge of the truths of Christianity, just as little children know what is sometimes hidden from mature minds. Jesus answered them and said: Do you believe now? Behold, the hour is coming, and now it has come, let each one go to his own, and leave Me alone. And I am not one, for the Father is with Me (John 16:31–32). Before Him who sees the depths of our hearts, we are sometimes not at all what we think about ourselves. The Lord tells the disciples that their faith will not stand against temptation. A little more, a few more hours, and they will scatter like sheep of the flock - they will leave Their Shepherd and Lord. The Heavenly Witness to the truth gives credit to the disciples and approves of their faith; but he does not hide the bitter truth from them, does not flatter their pride, but humbles their pride with the position in which they will soon put themselves (Matthew 26:31; Mark 14:27–50). The Faithful Witness of the truth adds to this testimony about one truth that is pleasant for Him and for them, that the Heavenly Father is always with Him. Let the malice of earth and hell arise: the Father is with Him - and therefore His work, for which He came into the world, will lose nothing from the malice of its enemies; it will still be glorified by its victory over the evil of the world. This truth was to serve as a support for His disciples during His suffering. This same truth will always be fruitful in His Church. Oh, how can a Christian not be firm in sorrows, when the One in whom he believes is so close to the Heavenly Father, is His Son! These are the words to you, that in Me you may have peace. You will be in a world of sorrow: but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world (John 16:33). The same way He began His conversation with the disciples, the same way He ends it - with an admonition not to be indignant at sorrows, but to firmly believe in Him. Everything that He had hitherto told them was said only for the purpose of making them believe in Him. No matter how angry the world may rise against them, let them be calm. He defeated that world that does not have the Divine principle of life in itself (John 1:10) and therefore maliciously, but powerlessly, rebels against all that is holy. His victory over death, victory over the malice of the world is still ahead (1 Cor. 15:57), but for Him it is so certain, as if it were already over, before His gaze there is no future, but everything is present. His victory over the world is not only a motivation for our struggle with the world, but also our strength. The Conqueror of the world will clothe His followers with strength, which they will receive by faith in Him. And now His beloved disciple, a faithful witness of the faithfulness of His words, says with triumph: “The victory by which the world is conquered is our faith. Who is the conqueror of the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God" (1 John 5:4-5) "Little children, you are of God and have overcome them: for greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are of the world" (1 John. 4:4). Oh, that during our sorrows we would firmly remember the conversation of heavenly love about sorrows! The name of the Lord Jesus, the omnipotent name, can deliver everything to us. Amen. Conversation 24. Jesus said this, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said The last conversation with the disciples, according to the Evangelist, was immediately followed by the Savior’s prayer to God the Father. What else does the whole life of our Savior mean if not prayer to the Father? But He also opened in external prayer the sanctuary of His soul, especially when His suffering on the cross approached, He deigned to reveal how He prayed to His Father for the salvation of people. Blessed Augustine speaks of the Savior’s dying prayer: “Our Lord, the only begotten and co-eternal with the Father, in the form of a slave and on behalf of a slave could, if necessary, pray in silence: but He, being a man of prayer, did not lose sight of the fact that He is our Teacher. Therefore, the prayer that he poured out for us, he made known to us. Such a Teacher brings edification to his disciples not only by His conversation with them, but also by His prayer for them, and if it brings edification to those who heard the words of prayer then, then without a doubt it also to us, who will read what is written.” With desires for the edification of the soul, with feelings of deep reverence for the Divine Prayer Book, we too will begin to understand the Savior’s prayer to God the Father. There are three main parts in the prayer of our Savior: His prayer for Himself (John 17:1–5), prayer for the Apostles (John 17:6–19) and prayer for all believers (John 17:20–26). Father, the hour has come: glorify Your Son. What is this hour, so important that the Son of God points it out to the Heavenly Father? This is the hour about which He spoke before: My time has not come (John 7:6), and since the hour has not yet come: no one laid hands on Nan (John 7:30), and no one eats Him, although they came to take it (John 8:20). This is the hour about which He spoke to the Father: Father, save Me from this hour, but I have come to this hour (John 12:27). – This is the time determined in the council of God for His suffering and death, the time for sacrificing Himself for the sins of mankind. He knows this hour and does not shy away from it, He knows this hour and speaks about it, because it is the hour appointed by the will of God the Father and His own. Glorify Your Son, reveal Me to those who do not know, do not understand My great work. The cross, which the Son of God is ready to ascend, was a temptation in the eyes of the Jews, and madness in the eyes of the pagans; for both, it was an instrument of dishonorable death. Who believes our hearing, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? – the Prophet also spoke about the suffering of the Messiah (Is. 53:1). And the Son of God, who appeared in the world for people, prays to His Father, so that from the darkness of dishonor in which He plunges Himself for people, the light of His glory will shine in the face of the world: so that it will be revealed to people what a high, what important significance His suffering on the cross has for the universe, how divine love for people is revealed in them, sacrificing itself to reconcile the truth of God with criminal humanity, and with what glory the Son should be exalted for exploits of His love for people (Phil.2:3). The glorification of the Son by the Father, for which the Son prays, had to begin at Golgotha ​​with terrible signs; then it was revealed by the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead, His ascension into heaven and the sending of the Holy Spirit, through whom the mysteries of the cross of Christ were announced to people (Heb. 2:9-10). – Man himself understands little of the need for his salvation, and even less understands the mysteries of the saving God (2 Cor. 4:6). May Your Son also glorify You. The glory of God is the highest goal of all existence. The Son of God also desires it; for the glory of God He desires to be glorified. How will the Son glorify God the Father? In His resurrection and in the sending of the Holy Spirit, people will see and glorify the power, goodness, truth and faithfulness of God the Father (Rom. 3:25, 8:32; Eph. 1:19–20). Until now, God was known only in Judea, and even that was not true for everyone (Is. 1:3). With the spread of the glory of the risen Jesus Christ, the heavenly Father will be proclaimed to all the nations of the earth; then every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:11). For you have given Him power over all flesh, so that whatever You have given Him He will give them eternal life (John 17:2). The expression: as thou hast given, similar to the sayings: as thou hast not tried (Rom. 1:28) or as a testimony has been given (1 Cor. 1:6), signifies wine-making. The glorification of Jesus Christ by God the Father and God the Father by Jesus Christ must take place as a consequence of the will of the heavenly Father for the Messenger Son, as the full implementation of God’s plan for people. The Lord prays to God the Father: glorify Your Son, since Your counsel has appointed Him authority over all flesh. The power of all flesh means power over all people, as they became after the fall: the word flesh contains the thought of poverty and weakness (Gen. 6:3-12). All flesh is the same as all people with their weaknesses (Matt. 24:22; Dan. 2:18; Jer. 25:4). The incarnate Word of God, by its very incarnation, is the Head of weak humanity, and for this Head all people of all times and all countries, Jews and pagans, Greeks and barbarians, are an object of care and love; His care extends to all of them, seeking their salvation: teach all languages, He says (Matthew 28:19). The Jews thought that to them alone belonged all the promises of heavenly goodness, for them alone the Messiah would appear with His teaching and other gifts; The Apostles themselves, even after the Lord’s ascension into heaven, were embarrassed that the pagans wanted to join the Church of Christ (Acts 10:9-17). This was not the counsel of God, revealed in the Son of God, the Savior of the whole world. Yes, whatever you have given to Me, I will give them eternal life. With the words: You gave Me the same thing that He showed when He told the Jews: Do not grumble among yourselves, no one can come to Me unless the Father, who sent Me, draws him to Me... Everyone who hears from the Father and learns will come to Me (John 6:43–45). This means that the will of the Heavenly Father is such that they believe in the Son, and that it is impossible to believe in the Son with worthy faith except through the life-giving action of the Heavenly Father. So the Son of God is the Redeemer of the whole world, but eternal life will be given only to those who, having been attracted by the Father, believe in the Son of God with a living and fruitful faith (John 6:40–44). – Do not be surprised, my friends, that not everyone will receive eternal life. The Lord Jesus desires salvation for everyone; the treasures of His grace are open to everyone. But in our close circle - in the circle of this local church - does everyone enjoy the gifts of His love, does everyone sincerely desire to be saved? And who is responsible for the fact that some of us are so careless about our salvation? Couldn't the Son of the Almighty arrange everything necessary for the salvation of everyone? Oh, with what love, with what generosity He revealed to us all the ways to salvation! This is the will of the Father who sent Me, He says, so that all that He has given Me, I will not destroy from them (John 6:39). The elect come to the Son of God through contrition and humility, they come drawn by an excited thirst for heavenly grace and receive eternal life, according to His merits; they receive far more than they hoped in a spirit of contrition. Others do not come and will not receive. Others go to drink, and drink from the wells of the world, spoiled water, contagious water, and perish. This is the eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Him whom Thou didst send, Jesus Christ (John 17:3). The purpose of the embassy of the Son of God into the world is to give eternal life to people. What is eternal life? In the knowledge of the one true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. Thus, the connection of all that has been said is as follows: Father! Glorify Your Son, so that the Son also glorify You, since You have given him power over humanity, so that believers may receive eternal life, which consists in knowing You and Him who has been sent by You. Let them know the one true God. The one true God is the one whom the pagans did not know, the God besides whom all named gods are fictions of corrupt people, the only living one, to whom one must turn from idols (1 Thess. 1:9), the only true one (1 John 5:20), as well as the only wise one (1 Tim. 1:17). This is the same true God by whom Jesus Christ was sent, rejected by the Jews. The ancient world had to leave two errors - paganism, which did not know the true God, and corrupt Judaism, which, carried away by dreams of the earthly kingdom of the Messiah, did not want to accept the Messiah in the person of Jesus Christ (John 5:37-38, 8:42-43, 54-55); The world must and always keep two delusions in mind as the most destructive for it, as depriving it of eternal life: this is the idolization of creatures, renouncing faith in the personal existence of God, and the denial of the need for a Savior of sinful humanity. This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ (1 John 3:23). Let them know You... and Whom You sent... These words of Christ Jesus do not contain the slightest contradiction to His Divine dignity, just as He said before: believe in God, and believe in Me (John 14:1). He takes away the glory of the Godhead, as was only seen from the false gods invented by mankind; He speaks of Himself only as the Messiah: this is His essential thought! If they want to know His eternal properties, they can learn them from this very prayer, where He calls Himself the Son of God (John 17:1), ascribes to Himself an eternal existence to the world (John 17:5), speaks of His equality with God the Father (John 17:21–22). Let them know to You... “By knowledge,” says St. Kirill, - calls not simple knowledge of God, but faith, revealed in good deeds" 37. The remark is correct. Knowledge in the language of Holy Scripture does not mean one action of thought, but includes the action of the mind with the corresponding dispositions of the whole soul, or the acceptance of truth with the whole soul. “If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he still does not know anything as he ought to know: but if anyone loves God, knowledge has been given to him from Him” (1 Cor. 8:2-3). This is what St. teaches. Paul; This is what St. teaches everything. Scripture (Gal. 4:9; 1 John 4:1). Applying living knowledge to the great objects of knowledge indicated in the Lord’s instruction, we find that living knowledge of God is the same as repentance before the true God, and living knowledge of Christ Jesus is love for the Lord Jesus. It is also clear why the Lord Jesus indicates eternal life in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus. I have glorified You on earth, having completed the work that You gave Me, that I might do it (John 17:4). The Son of God sees Himself as if no longer on earth, as if already passing to heaven. – The cross, death, resurrection, everything else that followed, i.e. the spread of the Gospel preaching throughout the universe stands before His eyes as a reality that has already taken place. The work of the Son of God was also the work of the Illuminator of the universe, covered in the darkness of superstition and delusion; He had to proclaim about the true God and His Holy will, about His perfections and law. But this was not the end of the work that the Heavenly Father entrusted to Him; and the work of enlightening the world was to continue through the Apostles after His death on the cross. Consequently, speaking about the fulfillment of the assigned work, the Lord takes in the events ahead, speaks about the work that He accomplished by His death on the cross, about the work of redemption of people, which revealed to people the truth and love of the Heavenly Father. He now speaks in the same spirit in which he spoke to his disciples: take heart, for I have overcome the world (John 16:33). And now, Father, glorify Me with you with the same glory that I had with you, before the world was not (John 17:5). First He asked for His glorification on earth (John 17:1). Here he asks for glorification in heaven: glorify Samago with you, in communion with you, at your right hand, in heaven, so that humanity, now weak, may be clothed with heavenly glory, glorify with the glory that you had before the world was not. What was before the world was? Eternity: it preceded the foundation of the ages (Heb. 1:2, 11:3). So, the Son of God, while on earth, pointed to His eternal existence with God the Father. Before even Abraham did not exist, I am (John 8:58), He says to the Jews; see the Son of man ascending where he was before (John 6:62), He said to the disciples. Thus in Christ Jesus mankind was clothed with the eternal Word, and therefore he had glory from eternity. since the Word was a man (John 1:14) and the God-man fulfilled the work of the Father, then the God-man, the Messenger of God, having completed the work entrusted to Him, asks for glory as a righteous reward for the completed service, and received this glory. – He humbled himself, becoming obedient even to the point of death... In the same way, God exalted him (Phil. 2:8-9; Heb. 2:9). Oh, if only we, the listeners, could fulfill the work that is entrusted to each of us from above! Why take on tasks that are not given to us? Let us direct all our worries, all our labors towards fulfilling what the Heavenly Father expects of us. The common cause for everyone, and it is also the common path to salvation, is to acquire living, fruitful knowledge about the Father and His Son, our Savior. Oh, when would the light of living knowledge of the Divine illuminate all our thoughts and deeds! Then there would be no worship of the golden calf, no pagan worship of the belly or vain glory between us at all. To the Triune God be glory. Amen. Conversation 25. I have revealed Your name as a man When the Son of God prayed to the heavenly Father for His glorification on earth and in heaven, He prayed together for poor humanity, which He wants to return to the state that once belonged to Him. – He prayed briefly for Himself. But here follows His special prayer for people, a lengthy prayer, prayer first for the Apostles (John 17:6–19), then for all believers (John 17:20–26). In prayer for the Apostles, He first of all presents to the gaze of the Heavenly Father their faith in Him (John 17:6-10). I have revealed Your name to man, which You gave Me out of the world: Your besha, You also gave them to Me, and You have kept Your word (John 17:6). The Name of God is the essence of the Divine in the form in which it can be known. When the disciples of the Old Testament asked about the name of God, they were pointed to the name Jehovah as a terrible name, inaccessible to the thought and language of people. One Son of God could make the name of the Divine accessible to people, both by His natural closeness to God the Father and by His love for people. He revealed the name of God as the name of eternal love towards people and as the name of the Triune in Himself. God is seen nowhere, the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, That is the confession (John 1:18). The Son of God Himself testifies: no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and whatever the Son wills to reveal (Matthew 11:27). What do all the knowledge that the wisdom of the world had about the Creator and Provider of the world mean in comparison with the revelation of Christ? The Son of God revealed the name of God to those whom God the Father gave Him, separating them from the world, and, therefore, did not reveal the world; – the world remained ignorant of God the Father (John 17:25). These data are those who are drawn to the Son through their faith (John 6:34–47); these are the sheep of Christ, with whom the unbelieving Jews had nothing in common (John 10:26). These are the Apostles of Christ, whom He sends into the world (John 17:18), simple fishermen by rank, but pure in heart and mind, with whom He was at peace (John 17:12), but who, like Him, did not belong in their dispositions to the world (John 15:19). Your besha, and you gave them to me. In what sense does the Lord say about the Apostles to His Father: Thine besha? Does He call them by creation the property of the Father, or by their origin from the people of God? Neither one nor the other. – Otherwise, the world is the creation of the Heavenly Father, but it is the enemy of God (John 17:6-25). Otherwise, the Sanhedrin is a meeting of the children of Abraham by carnal origin, and yet it turned out to be a society hostile to Christ and God. The apostles are the flock of God, the property of the Heavenly Father in the sense that the Heavenly Father chose them as his own in His eternal council, as He separates for Himself all that is best (Eph. 1:4), chose them because, according to His foreknowledge, they are “the people who fear the name of Jehovah, of whom Jehovah of hosts said: these shall be Mine” (Mal.3:16–17); chose because, according to the disposition of their souls, they are the children of God, true Israelites (Is. 4:2), holy seed (Is. 6:13). In this position, having been handed over to the Son, they are dear to the Father and, as dear to Him, they are handed over to the Son. And I have kept Your word. What is this word of the Father that the Apostles preserved? The Savior told the Jews: “You do not have the word of Him (the Father) abiding in you, because you do not believe Him whom He sent” (John 5:38). The Jews did not have within themselves, did not keep in their souls, did not turn the prophetic teachings into rules of life: otherwise they would have believed the One about whom the Prophets spoke. The apostles were not like that. They observed, as if sacred, the teachings of the Heavenly Father, proclaimed by the Prophets, and thereby prepared themselves to accept the teachings of Christ. Now I understand that all that you have given to Me is from You (John 17:7). All that you have given to Me: everything given by the Father to Christ Jesus refers to His title as the Messiah, the Messenger of God, and, therefore, this means His teaching, deeds, gifts. He spoke this way about Himself on other occasions (John 3:31, 13:3, 5:27). since the Apostles were sincere disciples of the Heavenly Father and the same disciples of the Lord Jesus, then with all the temptations that the unbelief of the Jews presented to their faith, they finally understood that the works and teachings of Christ Jesus are the works of the Heavenly Father, that He did not do anything, did not teach anything that was not in accordance with the will of the Heavenly Father. – “You have the words of eternal life,” said the Apostle Peter. We have believed and known that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 6:68–69). They were confirmed in this faith by the testimony of heaven. Therefore, the Apostle Peter wrote: “we were eye-witnesses of His greatness. For He received honor and glory from God the Father, when a voice came to Him from the magnificent glory” (2 Peter 1:16–17). Now I have understood, says the Savior, showing that the understanding of the Apostles grew gradually until it was revealed in the confession that they had previously uttered about Christ Jesus (Jn. 16:30). For the words which you gave me, you gave to them, and they received and understood in truth, as from you I departed, and you believed, because you sent me (John 17:8). This is the path that the humble disciples of Jesus followed: they accepted with an open soul all the words that the Lord communicated to them. And this is the success that they achieved on their path: they managed so much that they became confident in the divine messenger of Christ Jesus. The words that the Father gave to the Son constitute the Divine revelation of man's salvation (John 6:68). And in this form His disciples accepted the words of the Savior. They accepted them out of feelings of need for the salvation of the soul and out of confidence that God, who promised to send salvation to people, would, in His faithfulness, fulfill His Word (John 3:33); they accepted them not as the words of men, but as the words of God, with sincere and reverent faith (John 3:34). The fruit of this was high convictions. Why? How? Very simple. Humble attention to the words of the Lord enters thoughts deeper into divine objects than the arrogant mind, which for the most part does not consider it necessary to think about heaven. When he thinks about heavenly things, he throws question after question about this, then about another and a third, and, without stopping at anything, as he should, he thinks that he knows everything (1 Cor. 8:2-3). Such was the pride of the Jewish scribes. This we know, they said about Jesus, where it comes from: but when Christ comes, no one knows where it will come from (John 7:27). A humble mind does not take on much, but reverently tries to understand the revealed will of God, pays attention to every word and patiently awaits an explanation for the incomprehensible. This is how the Apostle James commands to listen to the teaching on salvation: “having put aside all uncleanness and the remnant of evil, receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21). So the Apostles listened to Christ Jesus and finally learned who their teacher was. Of course, their faith now did not yet have either the fullness or the indestructible firmness that it later achieved under the influence of the Comforter Spirit. But they sincerely learned and believed that Christ Jesus is God's Messenger (John 16:27). And the good Lord covers their shortcomings with love and silence; with the joy of love he presents to the Heavenly Father the living and dear seed kept in the depths of their hearts, which, under the influence of heavenly dew, should give excellent fruits; He prays that the Heavenly Father will complete the work that has begun in them. This is the will of him who sent Me, He said before, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life (John 6:40). I pray for these, not for the whole world, but for those whom you have given to me (John 17:9). As an encouragement to accept His prayer, the Savior represents the one for whom He is now praying. He says that He does not pray for the whole world, but for those who are given to Him by the Father. This does not mean at all that the Lord completely excludes the world from the circle of His high priestly prayer, that because of this the power of His redemptive merits does not extend to the whole world. The Savior prays for peace further, in the same high priestly prayer (John 17:20–23). He also prayed on the cross for the world that crucified Him; He is the Intercessor of the entire human race (1 John 2:1–2). If He says that He prays not for the world, but for the disciples, then He actually shows that His disciples deserve His priority prayer and the Heavenly Father’s priority attention to them. They were given to Him by the Heavenly Father himself. This means, as we have already seen (John 17:6), that His disciples are loved by the heavenly Father and constitute His chosen flock. Having said that he is praying for the disciples, He reminds them of the high moral qualities with which they are adorned, according to His testimony (John 17:7–8). Peace, both in the eyes of God’s truth and in the eyes of heavenly Love, is not like Christ’s elect. Christ Jesus, according to the words of the Apostle, is “the Savior of all people, especially of the faithful” (1 Tim. 4:10). – Those who should serve as instruments for the salvation of the world itself, the evangelists of Christ, could they not have been the subject of special care of the Chief Shepherd Christ Jesus? So, my friends, do not forget that, whatever the priests and bishops, they, as successors of the apostles, as shepherds of the Church, are under the special protection of the Lord Jesus, and the intercession of the Lord Jesus before the Father serves as a sure guarantee of the help ready for them in the labors and sorrows of their ministry. For they are Thine, for all Mine is Thine, and Thine is Mine, and I am glorified in them (John 17:10). Your essence. And before he said: Your besha. This means that the Apostles, even after they were given to Jesus Christ, remain the dear property of God the Father. The Savior bases this particular thought about the disciples on the general thought about the relationship between Him and the Father. He does not say: “all are Mine,” but says: everything is Mine. If Christ Jesus had only said: “All that is mine belongs to You,” this would not have been much; even an Angel could have said this about himself. But only the Son of God can say to the Father: “All yours belongs to Me.” Here the equality of power and strength of God the Father and God the Son is already shown - the same attitude of the Son of God to the world in which the Father dwells is shown. What a consolation for the disciples of Jesus to know that, belonging to Christ Jesus, they belong to the Heavenly Father and that in this position they are the object of the love of the Heavenly Father! And he became famous in them. – Here is another encouragement to intercede for sincere disciples! – Christ Jesus became glorified among his disciples because they recognized Him as their Lord, and through teaching and deeds they proclaimed Him as the Messenger of God, as the Savior of the world, as the Son of God. - For His complete glorification, much was still lacking in them now; but the Lord sees the future reality, which is about to unfold from the present - He sees in weak fishermen the victors of centuries-old paganism, church planters, fearless synagogue teachers and Caesars. He sees in the faces of the fishermen all those who, having accepted their teaching, glorify His name on earth and in heaven (John 17:20). Oh, how much it means to us, the listeners, to love the Lord with a sincere heart, as the fishermen of Galilee loved Him! Their simplicity was remembered by the Savior in his intercessory prayer to the Heavenly Father, and His special love was asked for them. Truly, truly, there is only one thing that is needed. The earth and all its celebrities will pass without a trace. Amen. Conversation 26. And therefore I am not in the world, and these are in the world, and I will come to You How much tenderness, how much love is expressed in these words of the Savior! He foresees Himself already separated from the earth, and His beloved disciples left without protection, among the troubles of the earth. – He sees that the evil and crafty world, either with cunning or violence, is ready to persecute those who do not belong to the world; He knows what bitterness the earthly life feeds the poor wanderers of the earth. And He reveals to the Heavenly Father the position of His children, so that He may accept them into His protection. – They are not yet able to be comforted by the Savior’s assurance that He is omnipotent on earth and in heaven. – They needed to point to the Heavenly Father. – His weak disciples were not far from doubts, and for them He says to God the Father: I am coming to You. He goes to the Father in accordance with the will of the Father, as having finished His work on earth; He comes, that he may appear to the face of God concerning us (Heb. 9:24), with the title of eternal High Priest (Heb. 6:20). Holy Father, keep them in Your name, which You have given to Me, that they may be one, as we are. The holiness of God is the greatness of God, inaccessible to any moral impurity and in His descent to rational creatures revealed by the destruction of impurity. This is the property of God that will bring about victory over the evil and wickedness of the world, as St. John (Apoc. 6:10). In connection with the love of the Father, it is characteristic of her, as the Apostle says, to discipline the faithful for their benefit, so that they grow in holiness (Heb. 12:10). The disciples of Christ remain in the world, on the one hand, oppressed by the malice and deceit of the world, on the other, in danger from the temptations of sin. To whom to entrust them in such a situation, if not the heavenly, holy and good Father? Keep them in Your name: this is the voice of tender love and Divine wisdom. In the eyes of heavenly Love, the disciples of Christ are the property of God, which must be protected, like the pupil of an eye. In the eyes of heavenly wisdom, they are still weak children, who require vigilant guarding all the more because they do not see all the dangers for themselves, nor all their weakness. Keep them in Your name - or rather, in Your name, keep them in the knowledge and love of that great name that was proclaimed to them (John 17:6). Christ Jesus desires and prays that His disciples would live for the glory of God. This is how He lived Himself, this is how He raised them: “I have kept them in Your name” (John 17:12), He said. Let them be one, as we are. The Savior desires unity for His disciples, similar to that which He Himself has with God the Father. This is the unity of thoughts and desires in everything holy; this is unity in faith, hope and love, so that the faithful equally confess and love one Heavenly Father, one Redeemer Son and one Sanctifier Spirit, and seek the same peace - eternal peace; In this unity lies their mutual love for each other. The Apostle also asked his disciples about this unity. Fulfill, He wrote, my joy, that you may also be wise, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind (Phil. 2:2). Be diligent in guarding the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph.4:3). The model for the communication of the disciples should be the unity of the Son with the Father: that they may be one, as we are. – Arians of ancient and modern times point to this instruction of the Savior against the coexistence of the Son with the Father. In vain... The Savior does not pray that He may be one with the Father, but that believers may be one, just as He is one with the Father. The property of the sample is such that it contains much more than could be contained in the object being compared. The unity of the Son with the Father is the inseparability of their limitless power (John 10:30). – Is this available for creation? It is enough for weak people if they try to fulfill the commandment of the Apostle: according to the Holy One who called you, you yourself will be holy in all your life (1 Peter 1:15). This is what the Savior expects from His disciples! While I was with them in peace, I kept them in Thy name: those which Thou hast given Me, Thou hast kept, and through them no one shall perish, save the son of destruction, that the scripture might be fulfilled (John 17:12). And here the Savior does not lose sight of the fact that His disciples remain on earth: earthly life is so difficult! He says that while He Himself remained on earth, He kept His disciples; now their protection is only the Heavenly Father. - Blessed Augustine, in explanation of the words of the Savior, says: “We should not understand this sensually, as if the Father and the Son were keeping us alternately... When the Son kept His disciples with a bodily presence, the Father did not wait for his turn to be kept, and both kept with spiritual guarding.” This is true for the Son of God, but not for the Messenger of God. As the Messenger of the heavenly Father, Christ Jesus says that He finished His work on earth: He preserved those who were given to Him. How did He keep and preserve them? He preserved them with teaching, miracles, and example of life. He consoled them in their sorrows, strengthened them with instructions against the dangers of sin; in miracles, showing Divine power, he brought fear into enemies, and made the weak in faith strong; His life was light. And no one perishes from them, except the perishing son. It was hard for a loving Teacher to talk about the loss of a student, but he speaks, showing the reasons for it. If the heavenly Shepherd explains the loss of one of his flock, how can a human shepherd not give an account to the Judge and God about the flock entrusted to him? Oh, the Heavenly Father will demand a strict answer from every shepherd for his service, and it will be terrible for him whose negligence would be the cause of the death of the sheep. Ole, shepherds of Israel! When do shepherds feed themselves?... The weak have not been taken up, and the sick have not healed, and the broken-hearted have not been bound, and the lost have not been brought back, and the lost have not been sought... Behold, I am a shepherd, and I will seek my sheep out of their hands: thus says Jehovah the hosts (Ezek. 34:3-4, 10). Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, says the Lord (Jer. 23:1). The Faithful Shepherd says: no one perishes but the son of destruction. - In the words: son of destruction - the whole story of this son. In the language of Scripture, a son of obedience (1 Peter 1:14) means a person who loves obedience and has prepared for himself a happy portion of obedience; a son of peace (Luke 10:6) means one who loves the world and enjoys the happiness of the world. – In the same way, the sons of perdition (1 Sam. 12:24–25; 2 Thess. 2:3), the sons of wrath (Eph. 2:3), the children of the curse express their own guilt and their own sad fate with their name. From here at Ave. Isaiah's children are the same as the children of sin. Do you not eat the children of destruction? The seed is lawless (Isaiah 57:4). So, in the words of the Savior, the son of destruction is the one who, loving destruction, prepared destruction for himself. The Savior does not call the disastrous disciple by name: out of love He did not call him before (John 13:26). And isn’t this son of perdition also an image of other unfortunate sinners? In the history of the sinner, the Lord fixes His gaze on that dark border where sin reaches destruction, contrary to all measures of saving grace. So that they can see that the Heavenly Father does not favor the death of a sinner, He points out that the sinner was told in advance his entire fate. The son of destruction is destroyed, that the scripture may be fulfilled. At the same time, Christ Jesus not only has in mind the words of the psalm about the traitor (Ps. 40:10), as before (John 13:18), but He takes in His gaze the fate of Judas, destined by Scripture in the form of a sinner. – The ancient teacher said: “Judas, when he knew the prediction, should not have betrayed Christ. If they ask: how did he die in the custody of Christ, then it must be said that the evil ones do in freedom what they want; God preserves and strengthens the good, since freedom in itself is not able to preserve a person” 38. Today I come to You, and these words I say in the world, that they may have My joy filled within themselves (John 17:13). And once again the loving Teacher says that the hour has already come for His suffering on the cross, appointed by the will of the Father. If the hour has come, and He still cares not about Himself, but about the believers: what is His love for the believers! Why does He now pray in the hearing of the disciples? I say this in the world: this prayer is pronounced in the world according to the need that those who remain in the world have; They need it especially now, when he is ready to leave the world. This I say in peace. The prayer that He now pronounces is an earthly prayer and for earthly pilgrims. Will He stop praying when He ascends to the Father? Oh no! Here is His earthly prayer, there is His heavenly prayer. If anyone sins, the imams intercede with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: this is what His beloved disciple teaches us (1 John 2:1). The prayer that He now pronounces is said so that, He says, they may have My joy filled within themselves. He prays to the Heavenly Father that those who believe in Him, instead of sorrow, will be filled with the joy that He has. – And first He expressed His desires, so that His joy would pass into the hearts of His disciples (John 15:11, 16:24). Now He prays for the same thing to the Heavenly Father. And how can you not want that? His joy is pure, holy, high joy, joy about fulfilling the will of the Heavenly Father, joy about the reconciliation of heaven with earth, about the bliss of His faithful followers (Matthew 25:21-23; Heb. 12:2). – This joy cannot be accepted by weak hearts in an instant, they will not contain it; they can be fulfilled by it gradually, with a growing understanding of the great works of the Son of God. Poor wanderers of the earth! The Lord Jesus sees our every tear, listens to our every sigh. Not imams 6o Bishops are not able to suffer with our weaknesses, but are tempted in every way according to the likeness of sin (Heb. 4:15). Why do people not seek consolation from Him? Why don’t they ask Him for help? To Him, my friends, to Him with all our sorrows, to Him with all our sins. Son of God! Protect us, shelter us from our troubles and from our sins. Amen. How did the Savior plead with the Heavenly Father for His disciples in the words of His prayer? He said that: a) the great name of the heavenly Father was revealed to His disciples, and they kept His word (John 17:6); b) they knew that the teaching of the Son is a revelation of the Father Himself and the Son is His Messenger (John 17:7–8); c) they belong to the Father and the Son is glorified in them (John 17:9–10); d) they alone remain in the world (John 17:11–13). Next, He depicted the world’s hatred of His disciples (John 17:14–16) and, finally, He prayed for their dedication to the service of truth (John 17:17–19). I gave them Your word, and the world hated them, for they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world (John 17:14). The world hates them for the very teaching that they received from the Son of God; He also hates because they do not belong to the world, just as He did not belong. How is it that the world hates the disciples of Christ for the teaching of Christ? The teaching of Christ is a pure, holy, divine teaching, but the world does not like it because it rebels against passions, errors, prejudices, and to accept it with a sincere soul would mean for the world the same thing as giving up oneself. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed, for they are evil (John 3:20). On the other hand, the followers of Christ are hated by the world because, transformed by the teachings of Christ, they do not love what the world loves, do not accept what the world praises, approve of rules of life that are completely unpleasant for the world, while the world is too proud, loves its own and does not allow its judgment to be neglected (John 17:16, 13:19). It is strange to be alone in the world, but the sweetest Jesus points out to His disciples in consolation that He Himself was a stranger to the world, He is their Lord and Teacher, the highest wisdom and the highest holiness, the beloved Son of the heavenly Father. I do not pray that you keep them from the world, but that you keep them from hostility (John 17:15). After so much joy awaited the disciples from their union with His Lord, and in the world they could not expect anything for themselves except sorrows and persecution, was it not easy for them to think: why does He not take us with Him? Why does he leave us in a world that is so unfriendly to us? How often these questions are torn out from the depths of the heart when meeting the malice of the world! How often the followers of Christ sigh deeply that their sorrowful earthly life lasts for a long time! Especially those who have not yet learned through long experience the ways of God and have only recently entered the thorny path of Christ, at times are so confused by bitter temptations that they do not know what to think about the purpose of their earthly life. A sad call echoes in their soul: why, Lord, should we live any longer? We are unable to fight the world and sin; Oh, take us to Yourself, Heavenly Grace! I do not pray, but take them away from the world, the Lord Jesus answers such complaints. Why is this so? He wants His disciples to still remain in the world. For what? For their good and for the good of His Church. The apostles still had to be cleansed by the Holy Spirit; They had to go through the whole world preaching the Gospel, and work hard to spread the teachings of Christ, so that they would be called great in the kingdom of Christ. This was God's will for them! If the Lord touches you to take you from the earth, poor wanderer of the earth, believe me, this is necessary for your own sake. Look closer at yourself, look deeper into your heart; you will see that there is still a lot of earthly things in your heart, a lot of addictions to the world, a lot of dreamy pride, little firmness worthy of a disciple of Christ; you will see that to heal these diseases of your soul you still need quite a lot of time, quite a lot of trials and feats. Reverence the good things done for you by the will of the Heavenly Father. Молю, да соблюдеши их от неприязни . The world is dangerous because He inclines people to their criminal rules of life either through flattery or violence. There is no doubt that everyone is tempted by their own lust, attracted and deceived (James 1:14). But there is no doubt that objects loved by the sinful world greatly irritate our inclinations towards evil, and it takes a lot of firmness, a lot of strength to resist the seductions of the sinful world. – Oddly enough, but people seduced by sin, doing evil to themselves, want to do evil to others, and are even offended if they do not have time to do evil. – Against this harmful breath of the world, the Lord Jesus asks for heavenly help for His disciples. He prays that the Heavenly Father will preserve them from the damage that the world is ready to inflict on them (Apoc. 3:10). От мира не суть, якоже и Аз от мира несмь ( Ин.17:16 ). The Savior had previously made the same comment about His disciples. But there He explained the world’s hatred of them by the position of the Apostles. Here, in the same position, he begs the Heavenly Father to preserve them from the harmful influence of the world. – And truly, if they are not of the world, it means that they are the children of the Heavenly Father, His chosen ones; but will He leave His chosen ones without protection? Shouldn’t God take vengeance on His chosen ones who cry out to Him day and night, being patient for them? (Luke 18:7) If they are not of the world, then they love only the will of the Heavenly Father and have renounced all the blessings of the world; But didn’t the Heavenly Father Himself promise to be a father for those who once and for all renounce the world? (2 Cor. 6:17–18). Sanctify them in Thy truth; Thy word is truth (John 17:17). Спаситель молится сими словами за служителей веры Его; это ясно показывают последующие слова Его: Аз посылаю их в мир ( Ин.17:18 ). Что же испрашивает Он для них у Отца небесного? In Old Testament language, “to sanctify” means “to set apart something for God, to give it to serve Him.” Так были и вещи святые – образы новозаветных тайн. But even in the Old Testament, the consecration of priests and high priests was combined with the action of the grace of God, and was not limited to their separation to serve God. But can the New Testament sanctification of God’s servants take place without their grace-filled sanctification? The time of the New Testament is the time of the primary outpouring of God's grace on people (Acts 2:17). And the New Testament revelation knows no other sanctification than the consecration of the soul to God through excommunication from sin, except the overshadowing of the soul by sanctifying grace (Heb. 2:11, 13:12; 1 Thess. 5:23; Rom. 11:16; 1 Cor. 7:14; 1 Peter 1:15-22). То же значение освящения видно у Спасителя и из связи мыслей. If He previously had in mind the hostility of the world, the danger from inclinations to evil, irritated by a sinful world, shouldn’t we then expect special heavenly help for them? By separating the Apostles to serve the truth without sanctifying them by grace, He would only place a new burden on them, while it is already very difficult for them. – The ancient teacher says: “They need the sanctification of the Spirit so that they can pass through the universe without being stopped by evil” 39. So the prayer: sanctify them in Thy truth means: sanctify them with grace-filled sanctification for serving the truth. Thus, this prayer is the first archpastoral prayer for the sanctification of the servants of the Church of Christ: this is the prayer by the power of which those invested with the image of the Supreme Shepherd Christ bring down sanctifying grace on those devoting themselves to the service of the faith. Якоже Мене послал еси в мир, и Аз послах их в мир ( Ин.17:18 ). “For him it’s a common thing,” notes St. Chrysostom – talk about the future as about the present.” The sending of the Apostles into the world to preach the Gospel took place precisely after their sanctification by the Holy Spirit. Asking for the grace of sanctification for His messengers, the Lord points to the greatness of their service. By whom and to whom are they sent? Whose will and to whom should they proclaim? They are sent into the world: this means they must enter into relations with sinful people, who are pleased only with what flatters their passions and like the holy too little. – They are the messengers of the Greatest Bishop – the Son of God; they must tell the whole universe the will of God. They need a lot of power and strength to carry out their work before the world. The Apostles knew this great meaning and expressed it for the admonition of the world. He “entrusted us with the word of reconciliation,” said St. Paul, urging reconciliation with God (2 Cor. 5:19). “I do not look at anything and do not value my life, so long as I complete my way with joy and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, preaching the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). And for their sake I will sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth (John 17:19). What do the words mean: I sacred to myself? It is impossible to understand them about dedication for sending into the world (John 10:36), since the Savior in His prayer not only about His embassy (John 17:8–18,21,23,25), but also about His entire earthly life (John 17:4,11) speaks as about a matter already completed, meanwhile here he says: I consecrate to myself. What is not meant here is such grace-filled sanctification, which we need, since He was holy from His very birth (Luke 1:35). – Nevertheless, He uses about Himself the same word that He said about people: I sanctify (John 17:17). The basic idea of ​​sanctification there and here is the same. Christ Jesus appears as priest and sacrifice, offering Himself as the Lamb of God for consecrated sacrificial use. – Should we understand about Christ at the same time moral sanctification? The Apostle teaches: even if the Son was born, even so, learn obedience from those who suffered. And having been accomplished, all who listened to Him were made guilty of eternal salvation (Heb. 5:8–9). It was fitting that the Author of their salvation should complete their suffering (Heb. 2:10). Then he said: Behold, I come to do Your will, O God (Heb. 10:9). Thus, atoning death was a feat of good will and for the very reason that it had its high significance was that it was a feat of human nature that had endured torment. This meaning was combined with the words of the Savior St. Afansius 40 and Cyril of Alexandria. The latter wrote: “He sanctified Himself for our sins, i.e. dedicated by the Only Begotten and offered as a sacred sacrifice as a fragrant aroma to God and the Father... He is sanctified for us in the Holy Spirit, not as another sanctifies Him, but He Himself sanctifies His flesh. For He received the Spirit, which is His, and received Him as a man, and gave Him to Himself as God. He did this for us, so that the grace of sanctification would flow from Him to the whole race.”41 Glory to Thee, Sanctifier of human hearts! Amen. After the prayer of our Lord for the Apostles, His prayer begins for all believers, prayer for me and you, my listener, prayer for each of us! I pray not only for these, but also for all who believe their word (John 17:20). We saw that much in the Savior’s prayer for the Apostles did not apply to the Apostles alone. In exactly the same way, the Savior’s prayer for all believers was pronounced not without reference to the Apostles. These are her very first words. If the Savior says that He prays for all who will be faithful according to the instructions of the Apostles, is it not comforting for the Apostles to hear that they will still be an instrument of salvation for many? Christ Jesus prays for all believers. Who are these believers? Are there only the chosen servants of Christ? No, whatever the believers, “Christ asks for all the faithful the grace of the Holy Spirit, which transforms man into the image of God 42 . Even though many of them do not live up to their faith, even if they turn out to be ignorant of eternal love, He is the Savior of all, He prays for all believers; He fulfills the work of the only Intercessor, and the ungrateful will answer before heavenly Justice for not wanting to participate in the fruits of His prayer. Oh, let it not happen to us, my listener, that instead of a living sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to our Savior who loves us so much, we show coldness, inattention, and disdain for His love! Does He pray for all those who believe in Him? So, faith is the condition for the prayer of the Lord Jesus for us to exert His power over us. Faith is a duty that lies upon us, in the sense that if we do not acquire it with God’s help ready for us, then we will have nothing - neither faith nor the fruits of the Savior’s prayer. Not everyone listened to the gospel, says the Apostle in explanation of the unfortunate fate of the Jews (Rom. 10:16). This is the teaching of all St. Scriptures about our work of salvation (Acts 2:40–41; John 20:31). The more we grow in faith, the more we will participate in the high fruits of the Savior’s prayer. He prays for all those who believe in Him for their sake, i.e. according to the word of the Apostles. So, it is not enough to believe, it is also necessary that we believe according to the teaching of the Apostles. And this is because the word of the Apostles is the word of God, that the Lord Himself said: just as you sent Me into the world, I send them into the world (John 17:18). So, it is impossible for one whose thoughts are not guided by the teaching of the Apostles to have either true faith or participation in the fruits of the Savior’s prayer. The faith of the Church of Christ, as the faith that lives by the teachings of the apostles, is the faith for which the Lord Jesus prays: if we or an angel from heaven preach the good news to you, let him be anathema (Gal. 1:8). Such is the apostolic judgment against any faith that does not agree with the teachings of the Apostles! That they may all be one: as Thou Father art in Me, and I in Thee, and these in us, they may be one: that the world also may have faith, because Thou hast sent Me (John 17:21). This is what the Savior of the world desires from those who believe in Him! This is the goal that He asks the Heavenly Father to fulfill! The first thing He desires is that they all may be one. What a difference there is between people in the influence of climate, in customs, in education, in the gifts of nature, in rank and fortune! How different are the Jews and the pagans, the barbarians and the educated Greeks? But the Lord desires, the Lord prays, that believers, with all their accidental differences, be one with each other. The Apostles also desired this (Gal. 3:28; Rom. 1:14). What should be the beginning that connects everyone? At the first degree of unity, this is the faith of believers in the name of the Lord, a living and fruitful faith 43. It is equal both in the small members of the Church of Christ and in the Apostle Peter, as Peter himself teaches (2 Peter 1:1). It is common between Mr. Philemon and the Apostle Paul and with the servant Onesimus (Phil. 1:6), as Paul teaches. Through active love she unites everyone into one body under one Head - Christ: “those who are one by faith in the Father and the Son will be one by mutual love among themselves” 44. True in love, the Apostle teaches, let us all grow into Him, Who is the Head, i.e. in Christ, “from whom the whole body, being joined and held together by every helping contact, receives increase for its edification by the proportionate action of each member” (Eph. 4:15-16). Just as faith can have degrees in one person and in a whole society, so the fulfillment of the Savior’s prayer can be expressed in experience in different ways. The prototype of the fulfillment of the Savior's desire for a close union of many is represented by the primacy of the Church, where the people who believed had one heart and one soul, and not one of them said to be from their possessions, but had everything in common with them (Acts 4:32). As You are the Father in me, and I in You, that they also may be one in us. This is the highest unity, which cannot be had without entering into the unity of faith. Yes, and these will be one in us. This longed-for unity, being likened to the unity of the Son with the Father, begins when God, through Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit, mysteriously dwells and makes an abode for himself in the soul of the believer. This is communion with the Divine, the highest unity: that they may be perfect as one, as the Savior himself said (John 17:23). So, this is such a height that only those approaching the age of Christ can reach on earth (Eph. 4:13), people such as the Apostle John, who says about himself and those like him: our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, while he writes to his disciples: yes, you also have fellowship with us (1 John 1:3). Yes, and have faith in peace, for You sent me. What is this desire? Who is meant here by the name of the world? Those who are not saved in the world, since they are already shown among the believers, and the world continues (John 17:6,9) is the world, do not know the Father. So, here, as in other cases, the world means the society of sinful people. What does the Lord Jesus want for him? He, the Savior of the world, desires salvation for the world. God did not send His Son into the world, that the world might judge, but that the world might be saved by Him: this is what the Savior taught Nicodemus (John 3:17). The desires of the Savior: and the world to have faith, in all its vastness, will not be fulfilled by the world, but that is why the desire of the Savior does not cease to be a holy desire; it is all the more holy because some of the children of the world have fulfilled, are fulfilling and will fulfill it. How is the Savior’s desire for peace fulfilled or can it be fulfilled? It means a lot to the world when He sees the unity of believers in faith, justified by high fruits. Even more significant is the communion of believers with the Father and the Son, evidenced by the extraordinary power of the spirit and miracles. Then in experience, in the life of believers, the thought is expressed that Christ Jesus is the Head of the pure and holy faith, such a Messenger as the world has never seen and will never see again. – Thus, according to the dispensation of the Lord, His Church should be a visible, tangible, audible testimony to the world about Him as the only Savior of the world. And, consequently, the Church of Christ is not some kind of invisible Church, as Luther dreamed with self-willed minds like him. And I have given glory to Me; I have given it to them, that they may be one, as we are one. I am in them, and You are in Me, that they may be perfect in one; and let the world understand that You sent Me, and You loved them as You loved Me (John 17:22-23). The Savior places the great work of His love for them as the basis of His prayer for all believers. “And I gave them the glory that You gave me.” What kind of glory is this that the Lord Jesus bestowed on believers? If we were to say that this is the glory of the Saints in the blessed life, then this glory has not yet been given to believers, as the one about which the Lord speaks has been given. If glory has already been given, then it is obvious that this glory belongs to earthly life. - So, this is the glory that the Apostle speaks of: and we have seen His glory, the glory of the Only Begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). This is the glory of grace and truth shining forth for faith from the humanity of Jesus. This is the glory of our adoption as sons to God in Christ Jesus (John 17:20–23). This is the glory by which believers while still on earth are transformed more and more into the image of the glory of the Lord Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18). This is the privilege of those who believe in Christ Jesus! O my listeners! Let us cherish the high dignity of a Christian in ourselves and in others. Let us be careful not to humiliate our title in any way! What do all earthly advantages mean in comparison with the glory with which we are invested in Christ? Each of our neighbors, as a Christian, must be an inviolable, high person for us. May heavenly light enlighten the eyes of our hearts, “so that we may see what is the hope of the calling of God, and how rich is His glorious inheritance for the saints” (Eph. 1:18). The purpose for which the Savior clothed the believers with such glory is the same for which He asked for the believers the protection of the heavenly Father (John 17:21), a threefold purpose - the unity of believers in the living faith, their union with Christ and God, the knowledge of the Son of God in the world. May the God of grace and mercy be with us all. Amen. High is the dignity with which the prayer of heavenly Love invests believers even on earth. But heavenly Love is not limited to that. She also asks for the highest glory for them, eternal glory. Father, you have given them to Me, I want them, so that I am, and these too will be with Me; that they may see My glory, which you have given to Me, because you loved Me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24). With what power this prayer is pronounced! Father, I want. This is more than prayer; this is the presentation of the will of the One who is ready to die for peace, a will that is not expected to be canceled. And it cannot be otherwise. Heavenly love, sacrificing itself to fulfill the will of the Heavenly Father, fully knows that the Heavenly Father will fulfill its wills. Ready to ascend to the cross for people, according to the will of the Father, she expresses her will, and this will, as a completely holy will, will be fulfilled with all accuracy. I want that where I am, they too will be with Me, that they may see My glory. The Lord Jesus wants sincere believers to be where He is, the Son of God - in heaven; wants them to behold His glory. Wherever I am, he also will be My servant, and whoever serves me, My Father will honor him: thus He spoke in the hearing of all before (John 12:26). Here, He shows the greatness of the glory promised to sincere servants in the fact that they will behold the glory with which the Son of God was clothed before the foundation of the world, therefore, they will behold the glory that belongs to the Divine - eternal and limitless. For the expression before the foundation of the world means the same thing as “before the foundation of the world, from eternity” (1 Peter 1:10; Eph. 1:4; Rev. 13:8). What could be higher than such happiness, what is the happiness of being together with the Son of God? What could be higher than that glory, what is the glory of beholding the glory of the Divine? Is it possible to describe, is it possible to imagine this sublime bliss in your mind? And the beloved disciple of Christ, the one to whom so many mysteries of God were revealed, wrote: beloved, now we are children of God, and not having appeared that we shall be; We know that when He appears, we will be like Him; for we will see Him as He is (1 John 3:2–3). The Apostle Paul taught: He will come to be glorified in His Saints and to be marvelous among all who believe (2 Thess. 1:10). Righteous Father, even the world does not know You, but I have known You, and these have known that You sent Me (John 17:25). The Son of God wanted everyone to know the Heavenly Father, and yet the world does not want to know Him. The world has said and is ready to say that it knows the Heavenly Father, knows the Creator and Provider, even knows the One who spoke with the patriarchs and prophets about whom. – Oh, if the Jewish world knew the Father: He would not say that the Son does not know the Father, that He does not act according to His will and not by His power; he would recognize the Father in the Son and the Son in the Father. The Jew boasts of knowing the will of the Heavenly Father as announced by the Prophets. It is in vain that he boasts. If he had truly known this will, he would not have rejected Christ Jesus, whose life and personal characteristics were described with such accuracy and completeness by the Prophets. No, only the Son can communicate an accurate and complete revelation about the Father; and only those who listen to the Son can know the Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and if the Son wills, it will be revealed to Him. If the world is unjust in relation to God the Father and the Son, shouldn’t we have expected a judgment for the criminal world? Eternal love expresses deep sorrow for the criminal world and submits both the cause of the world and the state of believers to the discretion of God's truth. What does the truth of the Heavenly Father mean according to the revelation of the New Testament? Is heavenly Justice being eliminated here by the outpouring of heavenly Goodness? Oh no. The Apostle Paul teaches believers: it is right for God to repay tribulation to those who offend you, and to you who are insulted, joy is with us, in the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven, with the angels of His power, in fiery fires giving vengeance to those who do not know God (2 Thess. 1:6-8). After He prayed to the Father, that the world might have faith (John 17:21), and yet the world remained a world and did not know the Father, the Savior, in the spirit of meekness, did not Himself pronounce judgment on the world, but handed over the affairs of the world and the state of believers to the judgment of the righteousness of the Heavenly Father. O my listeners! No matter how great the Lord Jesus’ love for us, if instead of being among the sincere believers, we remain among the children of the sinful world, His love, which respects the rights of the eternal Truth, will deliver our wickedness to the court of strict truth. Do you know how scary it is for a sinner to be in the hands of God’s inexorable truth. And I told them Your name, and I will say, Yes, because You loved Me, He will be in them, and I am in them (John 17:26). Heavenly Love does not fix its gaze on the injustice of the world for long - injustice is heavy for it. She hastens to turn to those who believe in Her. The sweetest Savior announces a new promise for those who believe in Him. He says that He revealed to the believers the name of the Heavenly Father and will reveal it again - they saw the Father in the Son and will soon see it even more clearly, even more. This promise was solemnly fulfilled on the day of Pentecost by the sending of the Holy Spirit. Then they saw with all clarity the Son in the Father and the Father in the Son. Everything about the Son of God is wonderful. Don't human instructions usually end only in expanding knowledge? The instruction that the Lord Jesus promises to give to believers is not this: it will be given with the love with which the Father loved the Son, and the Son will be in them. What is the love of the Father for the Son that abides in us? This is the love that, for the merits of the Son, makes us participants in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. So, the new revelation about God the Father will not be limited to one expansion of knowledge in the mind; The Spirit of grace, the fruit of the love of God the Father for the Son, has to constantly dwell in the soul of a believer, will occupy all its powers and will be the life-giving beginning of spiritual activity; God's love for people will be revealed in the soul to the love of the soul for God, or, as the Apostle Paul says, the love of God will sustain us, who have judged this, for if one die for all, then all die (2 Cor. 5:14). O Divine Love! May Your wondrous desires be fulfilled in us! We know that if they are not fulfilled, it will only be from ourselves, from our inattention to our eternal destiny, from our senseless coldness towards our salvation. Illuminate our minds with Your light, warm our hearts with love for Your good will for us, Save us, our Savior, according to Your only goodness towards us, may we sing to You in time and in eternity: Alleluia. Amen. Conversation 30. The last prediction about Peter Matt. 26:30–35 ; Mk. 14:27–31; OK. 22:31–34 And this river Jesus went out with his disciples to the half-stream of Kedrsk, where there was a helicopter city (John 18:1). This is how St. preaches the gospel. John after he outlined the Savior’s farewell conversation with his disciples and His prayer to the Father. – St. Matthew writes: and singing she went up to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them: You will all be offended because of Me this night (Matthew 26:30–31). In the same order as St. Matthew, the events of St. Mark (Mark 14:27–28). - So, there is no doubt that when the Savior’s farewell conversations ended, when they left the Zion upper room to the Mount of Olives, the Lord once again spoke about the danger threatening Peter, which was followed by what was conveyed to St. Luke foreshadows the Savior about the coming disasters (Luke 22:35–39) So, again a sermon about Peter. Then Jesus said to them: You will all be offended because of Me this night. The temptation about Christ Jesus meant in the disciples that weakness of spirit that they allowed to themselves, embarrassed by the storm of troubles raised by the anger of the Sanhedrin. This did not mean a retreat from faith in Christ Jesus, however, it contained the beginning of a retreat, it was hesitation in faith, when the disciples, seeing Him who had hitherto been so powerful in their eyes, surrounded by shame, without strength, without help, were confused in their thoughts, fled from Him in fear and hesitated with doubts: Does He want to deliver Israel? – At the end of their farewell conversation, the Apostles said to the Lord: “Now we know that you came from God.” The Lord meekly remarked to them then: Do you believe now?.. Behold, the hour is coming, and you will leave Me alone (John 16:31–32). He shows them this weakness even now. Before that, He gave high honor to their faithfulness, with which they followed Him, despite the various troubles that they had to endure from the Jews (Luke 22:28). But this loyalty - the Heartseer sees - is not so strong as to withstand the coming troubles. Thus, the Heartseer sees and allows you to see what the will of the best people means, left to itself, without special grace-filled reinforcement, in times of temptation. If all the Apostles showed strong weakness on the night of temptation, then there is probably not a single one who did not have their own night of temptation with its sad events. “We all sin a lot,” says the Apostle, enlightened by the Holy Spirit (James 3:2). This is the lesson the Savior teaches to listeners of all times when he says to the Apostles: you will all be offended because of Me this night. It is written 6: I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. In relation to the Apostles, the Lord softens the sad future by placing this future in connection with the ancient prophecy. This does not mean that He justifies the weakness of His disciples as an inevitable necessity; He only says that the danger of human weakness had long been predicted, and therefore it was necessary for the weak to increase their attention to themselves. The Savior points to the words of the same Prophet Zechariah (Zechariah 13:7), who predicted the price at which Israel would value the Messiah-Shepherd (Mark 14:27). So, this is a prophecy about the Messiah, and by the fulfillment of this prophecy the Savior makes it possible to see in his person the Messiah, long awaited. After My resurrection I will lead you to Galilee. A loving Teacher consoles His disciples, although their weakness, of course, was not pleasant to Him. “He consoles them that the coming storm will soon pass—neither His sufferings nor their dispersion will last long. Before they have time to return to Galilee after Easter, He will no longer be in the tomb; He will appear as a Shepherd for them in Galilee, to gather them again like a timid flock; although they will leave Him, He will not leave them in caring love - He Himself will gather them. Peter answered and said: Even if all are offended because of You, I will never be offended (Matthew 26:33). The ardent Peter does not want to bear the suspicion of his readiness to leave the Teacher, so beloved and respected by him, falling on him. For other disciples He considers it possible to evade Christ the Lord, but not for himself: he says about himself that not only on this night will he be above all temptation, but he will never be tempted. What darkness does self-confidence cast upon the gaze of our souls when we remain under its influence for a long time! Amen, amen I say to you, this day, this night, before even the second loops will not cry, having denied Me three times. This was the Savior’s answer to Peter, according to the story of St. Mark (Mark 14:30). Here the review of Peter is conveyed, without a doubt, with all accuracy, since He was conveyed by Peter’s disciple. The feedback is unusually strong. His strength grows with every word. Assuring with His faithful word, the Lord says that Peter, who placed himself above every temptation for the rest of his life, now, this night, before the morning comes, not once, but three times, will not only be tempted, but will deny His Lord. The future fall of Peter is depicted with a certain accuracy. At St. Mark says that before the rooster crows twice, Peter will deny Christ three times. At St. Matthew says: before even the alector will not cry out, having been rejected. St. Matthew expresses in his own words the same thing that is said in Mark. Since the first, midnight crowing of a rooster is rarely heard, the crowing usually meant the second crowing of a rooster, which occurs after midnight before the onset of morning (3 Mac. 5:15; Mark 13:35). This is how St. Matthew, pointing to the crowing of the rooster, which makes it known that morning is near and, therefore, presupposes the first singing that preceded this later one. He - Peter - has many verbs, even more so: even if I am with You and die, I will not deny You. The same goes for all the verbs (Mark 14:31). Peter insisted more persistently than ever in his unshakable firmness, and contradicted the Lord even more sharply than before, as if he knew himself better than the Lord. Sad self-delusion! Rech in My abundance will not move forever. “You turned away Your face and were embarrassed,” said David (Ps. 29:7–8). Why shouldn't Peter remember this experience of David? He would not have been so generous with his promises then. But our mind is so darkened by insidious pride! And the other disciples did not want to be weaker than Peter, and they expressed their determination to die with the Lord. – The Savior did not say another word to Peter’s assurances, nor did he answer the disciples’ assurances: He left the events of the night to justify His predictions and to convince the disciples of their mistakes about themselves. Instead of listening to unnecessary assurances, He once again draws their attention to what a dangerous time is coming for them. And I said to them: when I send you without a vagina and without fur and without boots, you will be deprived of food quickly! They decided: nothing good. He said to them: “For now, whoever has a vagina, let him also take the fur; and whoever doesn’t, let him sell his robe and buy a knife (Luke 22:35–36). The Savior reminds the disciples of the past known to them. Then, with this past, he puts in a row the future unknown to them and known to Him. When I sent you, He says, to preach the Gospel, and in accordance with My will, you did not have with you a bag of money, a bag of bread, or boots in case of unpleasant weather: did you then see a need for anything? Yes, then everywhere they were received with love and they rushed to provide them with everything they needed. The grateful disciples felt the care of Providence for them and to the question of Christ Jesus, not like some of us who are never satisfied with our participation, always complain, always bored, that they don’t have this, they don’t have that, - Christ’s disciples answered that they had no need for anything. This is what education is like in spiritual life. Until the time comes, invisible Providence rests the weak. But then, as they become stronger, another science comes, the science of needs, trials, and sorrows. “But now,” says the Savior, “he who has a bag, take it, and also the scrip, and whoever does not have a sword, sell his clothes and buy a sword.” What do these words mean? Their literal meaning does not correspond to the thoughts of the Savior, since the Savior did not want to see the sword in the hands of the preachers of His word. It remains to recognize the tributary saying here. What is the meaning of this saying? Since the preceding words contain an image of the calm, happy life of the disciples, and this past life is contrasted with a future of a different kind, the opposite picture, without a doubt, depicts disasters, dangers, anxieties. The Savior says: now another time is coming, a time when you do not expect either help or compassion, a time when, according to worldly custom, you would have to sell your clothes just to buy a sword; so much hostility, enmity, hatred awaits you; – at this time it is necessary to have a lot of means to protect the spirit. So, this tributary saying is similar in meaning to the prophetic saying spoken to Peter by the risen Savior (John 21:18). I say 6 to you, that this which is still written is fitting, that it may come to an end for Me: and be reckoned with the wicked. For it is because of Me that the end will come, i.e. “I tell you that this word of Scripture must also be fulfilled in Me: I am numbered with the evildoers. For everything that is written about Me is coming to pass.” So, Christ Jesus will be brought to such humiliation that even, according to the prediction of the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 53:12), he will be numbered among the villains. This does not at all agree with the Jewish dreams of the Messiah, the king of the earth; it does not promise power, wealth, or honor to the followers of Christ. On the contrary, since a servant cannot be higher than his master, the disciples of Jesus must expect sorrows for themselves and endure everything for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. They decided: Lord, there are two knives here. He said to them: there is enough (Luke 22:38). Enough is enough - this is a common expression in Eastern countries when they show that they are dissatisfied with the words of another (Deut. 3:26). Jesus' disciples did not understand Him enough. While He talks about suffering and patience, about sorrows and prayer, they think that swords are needed for protection. Enough is, says the One who saw not only the situation of His weak fishermen, but also everything that was later accomplished in a number of centuries by the sword of Peter in Rome. Oh Lord! Let us see our weaknesses, let us see our sins, so that in feelings of humility we can ask and accept Your omnipotent grace. Amen. Irenaeus Contra hoses 46, 1, p.23; Epiphany Hoses 38 n.s. Opera r. 4, 707. Same 1,206 3,260. Demon. 70 on Evang. Matthew 3,382 – 384, 387. Chrysostom in Johan. Hom. 70 p.475. St. Leo Serm. 7 de passione. Victor Antiochus. In Marc. p.14 (Catena in Evangel. ed. 1840 Ox mii p. 421). Chrysostom, on Evang. Matt. 3, 394. Chrysostom Bes.72 on John 2.484 Apollinaris in Cat.Patr. in Iohan, p.342 Chrysostom in Johan Hom. 72 n.2, p.484 Chrysostom In Johan Hom. 72 p.486. Tertull. Adv. Gnost. Scorp. Car. VI. Chrysostom in Iohan. Hom. 73, p.492; Basil the Great about St. Spirit ch. 16; Augustine in John. tract. 67, n.2; Theodorite in Cant. Cant. 1; Theodore of Irakli (Catena Patrum in. S.Iohannem, p.354, Antwerpiae 1630); Grigory Dvoeslov Maral. lib. 4, p.31. Augustine in John. tract. 67, n.2. Words by Evfimy Zigaben in interpretation. on John, Vol.III, p.487. St. Hilary de Trinit. lib. 7. In Iohan. Hom. 84, p.499. St. Cyril in Johann. St. Hilary. Catena Patrum in S. Johannem, p.371. Antw. 1630. Apollinaris in Catena Patr. In S.Iohan. p.37. In Iohan. tract. 81, n.4. Zigaben Comm. T. 3. p. 516. Apollinaris Laod. in Cat. Patr. in Iohan. “Whoever sheds the blood of the wicked (i.e., a Christian), as if makes a sacrifice” - the words of Yalkut Shimeon (In Pentat. f. 245.) Apologet s. 37. Lib. ad Scapulam. In Iohan. Hom. 78. n.2. p.527. Nonn Panop. in Paraphrasi S. Johann. Chrysostom in Iohan. Hom. 79 p.532. Chrysostom in Johan. Hom. 79 p.533. Syriac translation of the Gospel. Catena Patrum in S.Iohan. p. 407. Interpretation of Ammonium in Cat. Patrum. P. 412. Tolkov. Ammonium in Cat. Patr. p. 414. In Johann. liber. 11. c. 10. Words of Ammonius in Cat. Patr. p.415. Ammonium in Cat. Patr. p. 415. Zigaben Evang. T. 3 p.580.