в) О Боге – Промыслителе мира

He himself oversees everything under heaven. The Lord looks upon people. Job 28:24. Zechariah 9:1. We know, brothers, how this visible world and that invisible world, to which the Angels belong, were created; how, among other creatures of the visible world, man appeared; how at first he was sinless and blessed, and how later he sinned and suffered various misfortunes in this fleeting life, especially passions, sorrows, illnesses and death. We know that God created everything from nothing: everything that is above is in heaven and everything that is below is on earth; We know that the Lord Godly brought the light-like beings of the heavenly armies into existence also from non-being 206, that is, from nothing. God's world is vast and limitless! But no matter how great he is, no matter how limitless in appearance, for the Lord he, even now, when he already exists, is no more than a guard in prestige, or like a drop of morning dew descending to the earth 207 . And it exists only because it is the will of God the Creator; because He provides for His creation. “You have created all things,” says the Revelation of St. Apostle John the Theologian, “and by Your will the essence of creation” 208 . So, brethren, in order for creatures created from nothing to be what God created them to be, it is necessary for Him to provide for them, that is, to preserve their life and the strength that He gave them, to direct them to a good end, so that He would help every good, and the evil that occurs in rational creatures through distance from good, would stop or correct and turn to good consequences 209, in a word: so that not for a minute left His creation with His wisdom, omnipotence and goodness. God's providence for the world is as necessary as the soul for the body: while the soul is in the body, the body is alive and beautiful; everything in him is harmonious, in order: but as soon as the soul leaves the body, the body becomes dead, ugly: all its harmony, its beauty disappears; everything in it (the body) is destroyed and decays; It’s the same with the world: as long as God provides for it, as long as the Spirit of God revives it, there is life, beauty, order in everything, in small and great: in the movement of the luminaries and in the movement of the juices of the blade of grass; but as soon as the Lord takes His Spirit away from the world, then all life, all its beauty will disappear: “I will turn away Your face, they will be indignant: take away their spirit, and they will disappear and return to their dust. Follow Thy Spirit, and they will be created, and renew the face of the earth" 210. Thus, brethren, the Lord constantly and with love provides for peace. “Love everything that exists,” says the wise Solomon, “and abhor nothing that you have created; Below, I hate what I did. How would anything have remained if You had not willed it; or, if it had not been named from You, would it have been preserved? Spare everything, for your essence is, O Lord, dearest of souls” 211! The holy and righteous Job says that God Himself oversees everything under heaven, knowing everything on earth that He has created 212. Also, the Holy Scripture says that God cares for everyone 213. And how can the all-good Creator not provide for His creation? And people make every possible effort to care for the upbringing and health of their children; and among animals we see the most necessary care for the preservation of their children. If creatures are so concerned about their generation, will God leave His creatures without providence? To whom are they closer and more kind, if not to Him? “How can,” says one teacher of the Church, “He who created it according to the abundance of His goodness 214 not take care of His creation?” We will not talk here about how God provides for the Angels. This providence of the Lord about the creatures closest to Him is mysterious and little known to us. Is it to say that if the Angels were forever established in goodness and can no longer do evil, then the Lord God preserved them and keeps them adamant to evil for their love for Him 215 . Let us not dwell on the fact that God provides for the visible world. This industry is obvious. We see, for example, that the sun rises every day and, after the darkness of the night, illuminates the earth with the brightest light, then hides and takes away its light and, as it were, sends the moon and stars in its place, and then rises again: and this is enough for us to recognize the Providence of God over the world; in the movement of the heavenly bodies the finger of the Almighty is obvious. Therefore, every time, looking at the sun or other luminaries, you can joyfully and with a feeling of gratitude say: “In truth, the All-Good God provides for the world. It is He, the All-Good, His sun that shines on the evil and the good 216.” We see that the fire shines, warms and burns; bread nourishes, water gives drink and quenches thirst; the air refreshes and enlivens; the earth produces plants and animals multiply: and this is enough for us to say: “The All-Good God truly provides for the world.” Otherwise, how could the elements, so wisely composed, not fall apart into their component parts; How could they have their actions if the all-wise Creator of the world did not support them in their very composition and did not keep them in order? How could animals, which in themselves are unreasonable and meaningless, or rational animals - such as people - live, grow and multiply? Moreover, looking at the magnificent spectacle of vegetation and seeing how many different types of grasses and flowers emerge and then form on the earth's surface; just as trees are covered with green leaves, and others with fruits, we have the most sufficient reason to affirm: yes, there is God’s providence: plants reveal an invisible, wise power that clothes the very last flower in the same way that Solomon, the richest and wisest of all kings, did not dress in all his glory. This power is precisely the Spirit of God, the life-giving one. “God dresses like this” 217. So, God's providence for the material world is obvious. Let's talk about God's providence, which is closest to us: about God's providence for people, and let's say that the Lord God provides for kingdoms and peoples. Imagine, brothers, any kind of state or possession, with its authorities. How many authorities there are in it, from the sovereign to the last power! And do you know how necessary each, even the lowest, power in society is? So necessary that it cannot be destroyed without damaging the society in which it is installed. Authorities, brothers, like bonds in buildings, hold together social life: without them, societies will inevitably fall. Who came up with these powers in societies; who installed them? The Lord God Himself established it. “There is no power except from God,” says the Apostle; the existing powers were created by God” 218. You see, brethren, how God provides for kingdoms and nations, how He wisely bound and cemented a multitude of people into one whole with authorities, especially with autocratic, royal authority. That is why whoever resists authority resists God’s command. “In the same way, resist the authorities,” it is said, “resist God’s commandment” 219. In addition to various authorities established above, God provides for people through the conscience of each person. Conscience is our unfeigned judge: it carefully watches our thoughts and desires, words and deeds: nothing can hide from it; and whoever does not force her, whoever obeys her, she guides him perfectly, rewarding or punishing him for every good or bad thought, desire, word or deed. The entire Holy Scripture serves as proof that God provides for people. Anyone who read it with attention and reasoning could not help but notice in it that God constantly provides for the human race and is the immortal King, Judge and Father of the human race, ruling over its destinies according to His wise, good and unsearchable laws. “But how,” some will ask, “explain the so-called random misfortunes with people, if it is true that all-good Providence controls people?” And they serve, brethren, as proof that the Heavenly Father cares about us, and especially about our eternal destiny. For example, let us assume that from apparently the most insignificant reasons a fire starts and destroys an entire city; or from the same insignificant reasons, for example, from the slightest oversight - a huge ship with many people perishes in the waves of the sea; or people - sometimes because of the blind passion of one person - like animals, destroy each other in civil strife or in wars with other peoples. Short-sighted people, people of little faith, seduced by such apparently accidents, say: “Where is Providence here? This is a blind case." No: and here, brethren, we said, the wise Providence is hidden. Once in Jerusalem, during the earthly life of the Lord the Savior, a tower fell and crushed eighteen people with its fall; and at another time, the Roman governor of Judea, Pilate, in anger killed many Galileans and mixed their blood with their victims. Is this a coincidence? No, not random; all this was with the knowledge and permission of God’s Providence. The Lord asked His listeners about these two unfortunate incidents when they told Him about them: “Do you remember that these Galileans are more sinners than all the Galileans, as if they were fasting? Or are they eighteen, and Siloam fell on them, and beat them, do you think that they owe more than all those living in Jerusalem? And He Himself gave the following answer: neither, I say to you, but if you do not repent, you will all perish the same way” 220, that is, no, these unfortunates were not more sinners before God than everyone living in those cities: but the wise and all-good Providence allowed them to perish physically, both for their sins and to cleanse them, and to admonish the living, so that they would repent of their sins and change their lives, from the careless became cautious (Thoughts of St. Chrysostom). So we, brethren, hearing about unfortunate incidents with people and seeing them ourselves, must certainly keep in mind the said words of the Savior and accept these incidents as the work of God’s Providence for the salvation of people. A public calamity is an admonition for the people: and woe to the people who are not admonished by it. Brethren! The Lord, lovingly punishes us. Having punished our forefathers for their sins with sorrows, illnesses and death, will He not use sorrows, illnesses and other various means for the admonition and cleansing of our sinful souls that kill the body, but cannot kill the soul 221, but heal it from sins with the very suffering? Without a doubt, he will use it if all this turns out to be necessary. Therefore, do we see, for example? severe and prolonged illnesses in people, sometimes lasting decades, - examples of which we see in the Gospel, and even today we notice - let us thank the Providence of God, which cleanses the soul from sins with bodily illness and spiritual sorrow in order to make it worthy of the incorruptible and eternal blessings of the Kingdom of Heaven. Diseases are sent by God for sins. “Behold, you are healthy,” says the Savior to the healed paralytic, to whom do not sin, lest it be worse” 222. If we see the sudden violent death of people, let us understand it and say to ourselves: it is God who is giving us a lesson to live carefully, in virtue, in remembering death and the terrible judgment of God. Whether a bloody war is raging somewhere, let us say to ourselves: it is clear that the sins of the people have become too great and God is punishing with war and admonishing the people to turn to faith and piety. Warriors have always been the Lord's means (among other means) for punishing the sins of the people and for admonishing them 223. In general, when you see misfortunes that happen to people, you need to remember that the greatest, the only terrible misfortune is sin, and all other misfortunes serve either to cleanse sin, or to worthy punishment for sin and to admonish people who see misfortune or hear about it. If sometimes great sinners are not punished here, and live happily, carefree, then one should not conclude from this that God does not provide for people, or does not provide for everyone equally. God does not punish such people here in order to punish them there - in another life. We must always remember that there are two lives for every person: one is the present, and the other is the life of the future century, which is spoken of in the Creed. If someone is not punished here for his sins, he will be punished there: another here suffers troubles, sorrows and illnesses, but there he will enjoy bliss. All this can be seen in the rich man and Lazarus mentioned in the Holy Gospel: one was hard-hearted and had fun here all day long; and the other was righteous and sick, lying in front of the rich man’s gate, covered with purulent wounds. But the first of them was sent to torment after death - for carelessness about his soul and for inattention to the sick person, who was always before his eyes; and the latter - for the suffering he endured here, after death was carried away by the Angels to Abraham's bosom - to the Kingdom of Heaven 224. So, brethren, with undoubted faith in the Divine providence for us, let us surrender ourselves, each other and our entire life to Christ God the Savior, leaving Him to save us through the destinies known to Him, without remaining, however, idle ourselves. Amen. Conversation seventeen - About the redemption of the human race and its preparation for that We prophesy... even the Prophets rekosha who wants to be and Moses. Acts 26:22. And now, brethren, we will talk about the providence of God, but not about the general providence, but about the special, extraordinary 225. We said before that God, who created the whole world out of nothing, from the time of its appearance until now, takes care of it, watches over it from the height of His holy throne, preserves and supports it with His omnipotent word, which is why He is called the Almighty; that, starting from Seraphim, the spirit closest to God, to the blade of grass, everything enjoys His providence or care. Now we will talk about the providence that the Lord has for the lost human race, about the salvation of His intelligent sheep: “because He, like eternal Love, does not want the death of sinners, but that they should turn and live” 226. What is God’s special providence for us? “God so loved the world,” says the Lord Jesus Christ, “for He also gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life,” that is, God’s special providence for man is to redeem him from eternal destruction through the suffering and death of the Son of God, for us for man and for our salvation, who came down from heaven. Before God appeared on earth in the flesh, the Son of God, to live with people and teach them the knowledge of God and a holy, God-pleasing life, to suffer and die for them, a lot of time, many centuries passed. Why is this so? Because, as people of their own free will fell away from God, they lost their way; then it was necessary to give them time to experience all the harm from self-will, from sin; it was necessary to let them know by experience how false the words of the devil are: “you will be like gods”; it was necessary to give them time to experience their powerlessness in the fight against sin, so that they themselves with all their souls could wish for heavenly help in the face of the futility of their efforts. That is why it was the Heavenly Father who postponed the descent of His Son to earth for several thousand years after the fall of the first people. And at this time people saw and experienced every evil and every calamity that sin, the murderer the devil, the evil human will or the righteous wrath of God could give rise to - so that in the end all people began to desire and wait for help from above - everyone learned by experience that it is evil and bitter to leave God 227. So, brothers, without God or far from God, life is hard for a person. This is not even life, but some kind of ghost of life, or rather death. There is no need to explain how this happens: spiritual death is experienced by anyone who moves away from God and knows that it is very difficult. What soul of a person who does evil has not experienced sorrow and distress 228? When evil in the human race reached its extreme, when people experienced their powerlessness for good, they saw everything clearly and felt the need for a heavenly Deliverer from sin; when the torment of the enemy of the human race, the devil, also reached an extreme degree - then the fulfillment of times came, and God the Father sent His Only Begotten Son, in Whom He created the eyelids: and He, the Most Merciful, not suffering to see the human race tormented by the devil 229, came to us on earth to save us and to destroy the works of the devil 230. Meanwhile, long before the Savior came to earth, God was gradually preparing people to accept this Divine Messenger with His revelations and prophecies about Him, as well as prototypes, or preliminary similarities of what the Son of God had to do for the salvation of man. This is because prophecies and foreshadowing instilled in the people faith and hope in the future Redeemer, and, being exclusively the work of God, they irrefutably certified and continue to certify attentive and well-intentioned people in the Divinity of our Savior, to whom they relate. If He had come suddenly, not indicated to people before; then people would not have believed Him that He was the Son of God, despite His miracles, since there were many people who performed miracles by the power of God. Yes, and it happens among people that if a king or a king’s son wants to visit any cities or other places in the state, then the people are notified about this in advance, so that they prepare for his meeting and receive him properly. This is how it was done here. The coming of the Son of God to earth was announced long ago on earth, which was not done for any of the prophets or other saints of the Old Testament: an honor befitting only the King of all - God! Already to the forefather Adam, after he had sinned, God said as a consolation that the Seed of the woman, that is, the God-man, who would be born of the Most Pure Virgin and of the Holy Spirit, would erase or crush the head of the serpent 231, the seducer of men - the devil, who acted through the serpent. Then, after the flood, Abraham was told by God that his great, promised Descendant would be the author of a heavenly blessing for all the peoples of the earth 232; then to Isaac the son 233 and Jacob the grandson of Abraham 234 the same was confirmed; and in various rites of the Jewish faith or in certain events with the Jewish people and with their individuals over several thousand years, God ordained very many of the circumstances of the birth, life, suffering and death of the Son of God for the sins of people, while the Holy Spirit also predicted over several centuries about the birth, life, teaching, miracles, His death for the sins of the world and much more. So, for example, in order to first show people the unburned carrying of the fire of the Divinity of Christ in the womb of the Mother of God, the Prophet Moses was shown a bush that burned with fire and did not burn out 235; also - three youths in a Babylonian or Chaldean cave among a terrible flame were preserved unharmed 236. This very thing is explained by the church hymn during the All-Night Vigil service on Sundays or on the feasts of the Mother of God: “the pious youths in the cave saved the Nativity of the Theotokos, then formed, now in effect 237.” In order to show in advance, in similarity, the suffering on the cross for us and the death of our sinless Redeemer, Jesus Christ, the Jews, in memory of their liberation from the work of Egypt, were commanded to slaughter the blameless one every year on the feast of Passover, i.e. without any defects of the lamb and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs 238; in order to show in advance the three-day stay in the tomb of the body of the Lord the Savior, Jonah the Prophet, according to the dispensation of God, stayed in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights 239; and in order to instill in people faith in the cleansing blood of the sinless one, by the will of the Lamb of God Jesus Christ, who was slain for all, the Jews constantly used the blood of goats and calves for sprinkling and cleansing people and things 240; so that the people would first get used to believing in the saving, sufferings on the cross of the future Redeemer, the likeness of the Savior hanging on the cross in the copper snake lifted up by Moses was shown, so that the Jews, bitten by snakes in the Arabian desert, when looking at this image, would be healed 241. In addition, of the Prophets, the great Moses predicted that God would raise up for the Jews from their brethren a great Prophet like Him 242; The Prophet Isaiah foretold that the Savior would be born of a Virgin 243; Prophet Micah - that he will be born in Bethlehem 244; The prophet Malachi predicted that the Savior would come to the temple of Jerusalem, newly built after the captivity of Babylon, and that a forerunner would be sent before him 245; The Prophet Zechariah predicted the royal entry of the Savior on a young donkey into Jerusalem 246; The Prophet Isaiah and the King Prophet David predicted with such clarity the suffering of the Savior, as if they themselves were at the suffering of the Lord and stood at His cross and then described everything that happened to Him 247. Prophet Daniel, or better yet, Archangel Gabriel foreshadowed to Prophet Daniel that there were only 490 years left before the coming of Christ the Savior 248 . Thus, the most important circumstances of life, suffering, death, resurrection from the dead and ascension of the Savior into heaven were pre-written in the Old Testament in images and likenesses or predicted by the Prophets so that the life of the Savior with all his teaching and deeds was obviously the fulfillment of what was in the mind of God from eternity. That is why Christ the Savior said to His hasty brothers, who asked Him that He would reveal Himself to the world as soon as possible: “My time has not come: but your time is always ready to eat” 249; That’s why He said to His Most Pure Mother at the wedding in Cana of Galilee in response to Her words: “They have no wine” - “What is for Me and You, O Woman, My hour has not come” 250, although then soon this hour came, and He performed the first miracle. Evangelists also repeatedly note that the Jews, despite repeated attempts to seize the Lord, could not do this with Him because the hour of His death had not yet come. “I ask (the Jews) that they may have Him: and lay no one’s hands,” says St. Evangelist John, “for His hour has not come” 251 . “Are there not twelve hours in the days,” the Savior said to His disciples on the way to Judea, when they told Him that He could not go there, because the Jews so recently wanted to stone Him, “are there not twelve hours in the days; If anyone walks in days, he will not be stumbled, for he sees the light of this world” 252, that is, as if He were saying: “I know when the time of My death, My night, will come: now it has not yet come; and therefore, although I am defenseless and the Jews are looking for My death, they cannot endanger My life: until My day is over, until then no one will kill Me.” All - both favorable and unfavorable - circumstances in the life of the Savior were predicted long ago - and therefore the most unfavorable circumstances in His life disarm all unbelief, so that every mouth must be stopped and with its silence affirm the truth of the Divinity of Jesus Christ. If, for example, many did not believe in the Lord, it is not because few signs were done to assure people of His Divinity: no, “the Lord showed many good works to people from His Father” 253. People did not believe the Savior because of the corruption of their hearts and only through this fulfilled what was predicted by the Prophet Isaiah: “Lord! Who believes our hearing and opens the arm of the Lord to whom?” or: “Blind their eyes and harden their hearts, so that they may not see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, and they will be converted, and I will heal them” 254 . “This is the speech of Isaiah, when he saw His glory and the words about Him” 255. If many people hated the Lord, then this was not a matter of chance, that is, it happened so not because it was possible for anyone sane to hate the most perfect Lord for anything, but because evil naturally hates good precisely because it is good and - that this was also predicted long ago: “That the word,” He Himself said, “would be fulfilled, written in their law, that you will hate Me.” tuna" 256. “If anyone else in the scriptures,” He also said, “carried a stone that was not in the series of those who created it, this was at the head of the corner. This came from the Lord and is marvelous in your eyes” 257. If the Jewish people, the high priests and scribes mocked Him, tortured Him, crucified Him, it was because the cup of His suffering and death for the sins of the world was prepared for Him by the Heavenly Father from eternity: people were only pitiful, however, free instruments of the will of God. “Brethren,” said the Apostle Peter to the Jews, “we know that out of ignorance you did these things (that is, you killed the Author of life, Jesus Christ), just as your princes did: but God, who foretold the mouth of all His prophets, to suffer Christ, fulfill this” 258 . If the soldiers who nailed Him to the cross divided His vestments among themselves and cast lots for His clothing, then they did this, fulfilling the prophecy - that the scripture might be fulfilled, saying: “Dividing My vestments for yourself and casting lots for My imatism” 259 . When the Savior, hanging on the cross and languishing in mortal torment, said: “I thirst,” 260 he said this so that, according to prophecy, they would give Him something to drink from his father, whose full vessel stood at the cross. Thus, everything that happened to Jesus was predicted by the Prophets in detail. That is why, to assure the Jews of His Divinity, the Savior pointed them to the prophecies and foreshadowings about Him in the Holy Scriptures: “Test the scriptures,” He said, “that you believe in them to have eternal life: and that is what testifies about Me. “These are the words 261,” He said to his disciples after resurrecting from the dead, “the same words that were spoken to you while he was still with you, saying that it is fitting for all those who are written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms about me to come to an end” 262. Throughout His entire life, the Lord did, in the proper sense, the works of the one who sent Him, did His will and offered His teaching to the people (how often He Himself said 263. i.e., He did what He taught, what and what was destined to be from eternity. You see, brethren, the Heavenly Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, used everything to assure people of His Divinity and to convince us to obey Him in everything, as His beloved Son. “This is my beloved Son, in Him I am well pleased; listen to Him,” He spoke from heaven. You see how God loves the world, that “he gave His only begotten Son to eat, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” 264 . Yes, brethren, there is eternal life, there is another life for which we were created and to which faithful, repentant Christians have the right through the intercession of the Son of God. But there is also eternal destruction, from which no one will be delivered unless the only Intercessor of God and men, the God-man Christ Jesus, delivers. But He will not deliver those who do not obey Him, who do not live like Christians, like pagans, who do not know and do not fulfill His commandments, and who bear only the name Christian. Such people condemn themselves and deprive themselves of their inheritance in His kingdom. “Not everyone should say to me: Lord, Lord, he will enter the kingdom of heaven, but do the will of My Father who is in heaven” 265. Brethren! Jesus Christ is God's beloved Son: Hear him. Amen. Conversation Eighteen – About the appearance of God in the flesh He also wrote Moses in the Law and the Prophets, who found Jesus. John 1:45. The One about whom the Prophet and God-seer Moses wrote a lot in the Old Testament, about whom many other Prophets predicted, finally came - the Reconciler of sinful humanity with the just God came to earth. After a long wait for the Redeemer, joyful voices were finally heard on earth: “I have found the Messiah” 266; “I found Jesus, who was written by Moses in the law and the prophets” 267. “The people who sat in darkness saw a great light, and to those who sat in the land and the shadow of death, light came to them” 268. “Of many times and in many ways, God spoke of the Father as prophets, and in these last days He spoke to us in His Son,” 269 Who, being God, became man for us, although He did not cease to be God. The sun of righteousness, Christ our God, has shone on earth. Where and how did our righteous Sun shine on earth? From the city of Bethlehem, from the Blessed Virgin Mary. We said before that God had been preparing people in advance, for a long time, to receive, to meet the luminous Sun of truth - Christ the Lord - in various ways, namely: prophecies about Him and various prototypes. And according to these prophecies, attentive people knew long before the Nativity of Christ that Christ would be born in the city of Bethlehem, in the Jewish people, in the tribe of Judah, from a pure Virgin of the royal family; It was also known that before the birth of the Messiah, Christ, His forerunner would be born. Now, when the time has come for the Son of God to appear on earth in our humble human form, everything has come true as predicted by the Prophets. And so, to one Jewish priest named Zaxapius, whose wife Elizabeth, having lived to old age, did not have children due to infertility, the Angel of the Lord appears in the church - at the time when, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was censing in it. Let us listen to what message the Angel brought from heaven to the priest, what will of the Lord he announced to him? He brought good news to the holy elder, the news of the birth of a son from Elizabeth, and announced the name in advance: “Thou shalt call his name John,” he says. What's next? “And you,” he says, “will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth... he will be great before the Lord... he will go before Him with the spirit and power of Elijah” 270. Do you hear, brothers, who we are talking about? About the Forerunner of the Lord, about His birth. And if God sends the Forerunner of Christ into the world, then, apparently, Christ Himself will soon appear; if the Sun's day appears, it is clear that the Sun itself will soon rise. And so it was. Five months after the conception of the forerunner, Archangel Gabriel flew from the heavenly circles to Nazareth, where the Most Holy Virgin Mary lived, betrothed to Joseph the righteous to guard Her virginity and raised in the temple in the Holy of Holies, and entering her, said: “Rejoice, full of grace! The Lord is with You; Blessed are You among women." Here is the Annunciation of the Angels about the conception and birth of the Savior! The Most Holy Virgin, seeing the Angel, was embarrassed because of His words and thought about what this greeting would be like. The angel continues the gospel: “Do not be afraid, Miriam; For you found grace with God: and behold, you conceived in your womb, and gave birth to a Son, and called His name Jesus. This one will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign in the house of Jacob forever and there will be no end to His kingdom.” The Blessed Virgin says to the Angel: “How will this happen when I am not involved in the marriage?” The Angel answers Her: “The Holy Spirit will come upon You and the power of the Most High will overshadow You; In the same way, that which is to be born holy will be called the Son of God.” The Immaculate Virgin said: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be unto Me according to thy command. Here I am, the humble servant of the Lord: be with me according to Your word. May the Spirit of God come upon Me and the power of the Most High overshadow Me for conception in the womb of the Eternal Son of God. I believe that what has been spoken to me from the Lord will be fulfilled. Already my soul feels the influx of the All-Holy, life-giving Spirit of God and this overshadowing of the power of the Most High; My soul already magnifies the Lord, who unites so closely with me - and my spirit rejoices in God, My Savior, that He looked upon the humility of His servant. For behold, from now on, all generations will please, magnify, and glorify Me, throughout all the earth, at all times, until the end of the age; and the mighty God has created all this greatness for Me: holy is His name. And His mercy to all who fear Him, throughout all generations, at all times.” Meanwhile, the star of the Sun of Truth rose soon after the Angelic Annunciation to the Virgin Mary: the Forerunner - the all-holy fruit of a barren mother 271 - was born. He was named John, according to the word of the Angel. The time has come for the Lord's great miracles. Everyone who heard about the miraculous conception and birth of John the Baptist said with deep thought: “What will happen to this baby?” And his father, Zechariah, punished before by God for disbelief by the gospel of the Angel with muteness for nine months and several days, received the permission of his tongue, was now filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesying, said about his son: “You, the Child, are called the prophet of the Most High: for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His way; to give the understanding of salvation to His people, for the remission of their sins.” The great child grew and became stronger in spirit, and lived in the desert until the very day on which he appeared to the people of Israel as the forerunner of the Lord 272. Five months after the birth of John the Baptist, the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ, was born, but not in Nazareth, but in the city of Bethlehem, as predicted by the Prophet Micah: “And you, in Bethlehem, the land of Judah, are the least among the rulers of Judah; For from you will come a Leader who will shepherd My people Israel” 273. Due to the extraordinary flow of people to Bethlehem to record their names at the command of Caesar Augustus, there was no place in the house for the Most Holy Virgin and Her righteous betrothed, who came from Nazareth to also record themselves: and the born Divine Child, after being wrapped in swaddling clothes, was laid in a manger. So great is the humility of the Lord – ours for the sake of salvation! Brethren! Let us not be idle spectators of such a free humiliation of the King of glory, who dresses in light like a robe, for whom heaven is the throne and earth is the footstool. This humiliation teaches us all a great, saving lesson in humility. It is not magnificent palaces, not inflating wealth, not honors, not the glory of this world that should occupy us, creatures immortal in spirit; no: meekness, humility before God and unquestioning devotion to His holy will should be the first desire of our heart and occupy our mind so that they are visible in all our actions: pride destroyed us, humility should save us. Let us offer the gift of meekness, humility and consciousness of our spiritual poverty - to the One who is rich for the sake of our poverty, so that we may be enriched by His poverty 274. But amidst the extreme humility of the born Child of God, His glory also shines. The angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds, who, as usual, were awake that night and guarding their flock, and said to them: “Behold, the great joy that is brought to you is good news, which will be to all people. For today a Savior was born to you, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David; “Then he showed them a sign by which they could find and recognize Him. “You will find,” he says, “a midwife lying in a manger.” When the Angel was saying this, suddenly a multitude of heavenly armies stood with him, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” 275! Hear, brothers! Angels preach peace to the earth at the birth of the Lord Jesus. Is there peace in our souls? After all, the Savior brought us heavenly peace in abundance. Woe to us if we have no peace. This means that we do not come with faith and love to the Savior, Who says: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” 276 . This means that we are people of little faith, passionate: angry, proud, envious, peace-loving, vain. Peace, brothers, I, a humble servant of Christ, preach the gospel to you! Come to the infant King of the world and with hearts full of heartfelt faith and humility, receive from him peace for your souls with healing of your passions. After the Angels had departed to heaven, the shepherds hastily went to Bethlehem, found Joseph, Mary and the Baby lying in a manger and were the first to worship Him. On the 8th day after birth, according to V.’s custom. cherished, the Lord was given the name Jesus, named by the Angel even before His conception in the womb, and on the fortieth day, when the Most Holy Virgin brought Him to the church of the Lord - to place Him before the Lord and make a sacrifice according to the law of the Lord - Elder Simeon, who was promised by the Spirit of God not to see death until he saw Christ, was honored to meet Him in the church and, taking Him in his arms, said: “Today You let your servant go, O Master, according to Your word, in peace, for my eyes have seen Your salvation...” So our Lord Jesus Christ, God from God the Father born before the ages, and man from the being of the mother in time, was born, a perfect God and a perfect man, shone from the Holy Virgin Mother. Oh miracle of miracles! God, who contains the entire universe by His word, became man in order to lift man to the first bliss. “The ends of heaven and earth were terrified at this,” sings the Church of Christ, “as if God had appeared as a man in the flesh” 277. “Every angelic nature was amazed at the great work of God’s incarnation: because the inhabitants of heaven saw the unapproachable God as a man approachable to everyone, cohabiting with people” 278. Brethren! Seeing God, strangely incarnate, let us withdraw from the vanity of the world and place our minds on heaven (on the Divine): because for this purpose God came down to earth, so that he would lead us to heaven 279. But why is this extraordinary condescension of the Son of God towards us? - someone will ask. Why did the Son of God take on human nature? We answer: the incarnation of the Son of God was absolutely necessary for the salvation of people. To save a person, it was necessary to satisfy the righteousness of God for the sin of a person; but not a single person, not only for others, but also for himself, cannot give treason, (i.e., ransom) and the price of the deliverance of his soul 280, and the satisfaction of the infinite truth of God, infinitely offended by the sin of human disobedience, should also be infinite. In addition, it was necessary to crush the power of evil in man, which removed him from God and constantly removed him further and further: without which it was impossible to unite him again with God 281, who abhors sin. And to destroy human sinfulness was an impossible task for a person, no matter who he was: because it is a deep corruption of human nature, innate to every person, and to destroy it meant the same thing as to renew, to recreate a person. Who could recreate man other than the Creator? And so, through the incarnation, suffering and death of the Son of God made man, satisfaction was brought to the truth of God for the sins of men, and through His saving teaching, or commandments, through His life, through His life-giving body and blood and other sacraments, human nature was renewed, recreated, and recreated. The Savior, as a sinless God and man, with His entire earthly life and all His deeds in our stead, rendered the most perfect obedience to the will of God the Father, with complete renunciation of His will - he suffered all the sorrow and suffering and death itself awarded by the truth of God - and with such a sacrifice, infinite in its dignity, he completely satisfied Divine justice for all human sins, and just as Adam’s sin made all people guilty before God, so also the righteousness of the God-man, as the second, sinless Adam, makes them righteous before God through their faith in the God-man. “Just as Adam, for his descendants, although they did not eat the fruit of the tree, became the cause of death, introduced into the world by Adam’s eating,” says St. Chrysostom, - so Christ, for those who believe in Him, although they did not have righteous deeds, became the author of the righteousness that he gave to all of us through the cross 282.” Brethren! Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has already deigned to fulfill all the Father’s vision for us, having accomplished our salvation through His teaching, His life, death for us, and resurrection - and has already ascended with His humanity into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father. But our salvation is not complete unconditionally. In order to be among those saved, we need to accept with all our hearts the saving teaching of Jesus Christ and act on it. “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word,” says the Lord (John 14:23). It is also necessary for everyone, to the best of his ability, to imitate His life, which is the model of our life. “Whoever serves Me, let him follow Me: and where I am, there also will My servant be” (John 12:26). Having ascended from us to heaven, the Lord is always with us by His Divine omnipresence (I am with you all the days); with us is His miraculous, sweetest Name, His holy. the word, His life-giving cross and His saving sacraments. Let us call on, as often as possible, with living faith, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ: for whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, says the prophetic word (Joel 11:32); Let us use with faith and love - for our sanctification and salvation - His saving sacraments, and resort to the invincible, incomprehensible Divine power of His honorable and life-giving cross in all circumstances of our lives. With all this, let us not forget to always diligently read and listen to His word and pray to Him that He may instill faith in our hearts; when He dwells in us, then there will be grace-filled life in us, predetermining the future blessed life. Amen. Theodore. against er. book 5, ch. 10 We called the sacrament of redemption Providence on the basis of many of our church books. So, for example: the sacrament of atonement is called a saving providence in the prayer to the sweetest Jesus (at the end of the canon and akathist); in the akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos: also in other places in the canon and in various liturgical books. When counting the years from the Nativity of Christ, it is also said in some books: in the summer from the saving providence such and such. Water sanctified. they say before baptism John 7:16,8,28,55,9, 4, 10, 37,12,49, 50 Akaf. Rev. Bogor. Cond.9 Plot. on the last to Rome Demon. 10, pp. 207, in Rus. translation You might be interested in: