Слово 30. О союзе трех добродетелей, то есть о вере, надежде и любви

1. “Now, after all that has been said, these three remain, all connecting and containing: faith, hope and love, and love above all,” for this is what God is called (1 Cor. 13:13). 2. According to my understanding, faith is like a ray, hope is like light, and love is like the circle of the sun. Yet they constitute one radiance and one luminosity. 3. The first can create and create everything; the second mercy of God protects and makes it not shameful; and the third never falls, does not cease from the flow, and does not allow the wounded to rest in blissful rapture. 4. Whoever wants to talk about the love of God is attempting to talk about God Himself; spreading the word about God is sinful and dangerous for the inattentive. 5. The word about love is known to the Angels; but also as they become enlightened. 6. “Love is God” (see 1 John 4:8); and whoever wants to define in words what God is, he, blinded by his mind, attempts to measure the sand in the abyss of the sea. 7. Love in its quality is likeness to God, as much as people can achieve; in its action, it is the rapture of the soul; and by nature it is a source of faith, an abyss of long-suffering, a sea of ​​humility. 8. Love actually is the putting aside of every contrary thought; for “love... thinks no evil” (1 Cor. 13:4–5). 9. Love, dispassion and sonhood differ from each other only by their names. Just as light, fire and flame are united in one action, so one should reason about these perfections. 10. As love becomes scarce, fear occurs in us; for he who has no fear is either filled with love or dead in soul. 11. It will not be at all objectionable, as I think, to borrow comparisons for lust, fear, thoroughness, jealousy, service and love of God from human actions. Blessed then is he who has the same love for God as a passionate lover has for his beloved. Blessed is he who fears the Lord as much as convicted criminals fear the judge. Blessed is he who is as diligent and diligent in piety, as prudent servants, diligent in serving their master. Blessed is he who is as zealous for virtues as jealous husbands are, depriving themselves of sleep from jealousy of their spouses. Blessed is he who stands before the Lord in prayer, as servants stand before the king. Blessed is he who strives continually to please the Lord, as some strive to please men. 12. A mother is not so attached to the baby she breastfeeds, as the son of love is always attached to the Lord. 13. A true lover always imagines the face of his beloved, and with delight embraces his image in his soul. This lust does not give him peace even in his sleep, but even then his heart talks with his beloved. This usually happens in physical love, as well as in spiritual love. Someone, wounded by such love, said this about himself (at which I am surprised): “I sleep out of the need of nature, but my heart watches” (Song. 5:2) out of my great love. 14. Note, O wise brother, that when the spiritual deer destroys the poisonous snakes, then “the soul desires and dies” (Ps. 83:3) from love for the Lord, being burned by its fire, like some kind of poison. 15. The effect of hunger is somehow vague and unclear, but the effect of thirst is clear and palpable; she is recognized by her inner heat. Therefore, he who loves God says: “My soul thirsts for the mighty, living God” (Ps. 41:3). 16. If the presence of a loved one clearly changes us all, and makes us cheerful, joyful and carefree: then what change will not be made by the presence of the Heavenly Lord, who comes invisibly into a pure soul. 17. The fear of God, when it occurs in the feeling of the soul, usually cleanses and destroys its impurity. “Nail,” says the Prophet, “my flesh to fear Thy” (Ps. 119:120). Holy love in its action consumes others, according to the words of the Song of Songs: “thou hast attracted our heart,...thou hast attracted our heart” (Song. 4:9). And some she enlightens and pleases with her action, according to what has been said: my heart trusts in Him: “And help me, and prosper my flesh” (Ps. 27:7); and “the heart rejoices, the face blossoms” (Proverbs 15:13). And when a whole person is internally united and fused with the love of God, then in his outer appearance, on his body, as in a mirror, he expresses the luminosity of his soul, this is how Moses the Seer of God became glorified. 18. Those who have reached this equal-to-the-apostles degree often forget bodily food; I think that they very often do not want it. And this is not surprising, because often those who are tormented by this desire reject food. 19. I also think that the bodies of these incorruptible ones are not subject to disease for ordinary reasons; for they have already been purified, and in some way become incorruptible from the flame of purity, which suppressed the flame of passions in them. I also think that they take the food itself without any pleasure; for just as underground water nourishes the roots of plants, so these souls are nourished by heavenly fire. 20. Increasing the fear of God is the beginning of love; and the perfection of purity is the beginning of Theology. 21. He who has completely united his feelings with God secretly learns His words from Him. But when this union with God has not yet been completed, then it is difficult to talk about God. 22. The Word, co-present with the Father, creates perfect purity, putting death to death by His coming; and when she is killed, the student of theology receives enlightenment. 23. The word of the Lord, given from the Lord, is pure, and endures forever; he who does not know God speaks about Him by guesswork. 24. Purity made his disciple a theologian, who himself established the dogmas about the Holy Trinity. 25. He who loves the Lord has loved his brother first; for the second serves as proof of the first. 26. He who loves his neighbor can never tolerate slanderers, but runs away from them like from fire. 27. He who says that he loves the Lord, but is angry with his brother, is like a man who in a dream imagines that he is running. 28. The power of love is in hope; for with hope we wait for the reward of love. 29. Hope is enrichment with invisible wealth; hope is the undoubted possession of the treasure even before receiving the treasure. 30. Hope is peace in labor, it is the door of love; it kills despair, it is the guarantee of future blessings. 31. The impoverishment of hope is the destruction of love; Our works are connected with hope; exploits are based on it; she is surrounded by God's grace. 32. The monk with good hope kills despondency, killing the second with the sword of the first. 33. Eating the gifts of the Lord gives birth to hope; for he who has not tasted them cannot but have doubts. 34. Hope is destroyed by anger; for hope does not put to shame, “but an ardent man is disgraceful” (Prov. 11:25). 35. Love is the giver of prophecy; love is the culprit of miracles; love is an abyss of radiance; love is the source of fire in the heart, which, the more it flows, the more it inflames the thirsty. Love is the affirmation of the Angels, eternal prosperity. 36. Tell us, O you, most beautiful of virtues, where do you tend your sheep? Where do you rest at noon (Song 1, 6)? Enlighten us, give us drink, instruct us, guide us, for we long to come to you. You have dominion over all. You have wounded my soul, and my heart cannot endure your flame. So, having sung your praises, I go. You rule over the power of the sea, and you tame and kill the indignation of its waves. You humble a proud thought like a wound, and, with the muscle of your strength, you have wasted your enemies (Ps 88:10, 11), making your lovers invincible from all warfare. 37. But I want to know how Jacob saw You established at the top of the ladder? Tell me, what was the type of ascent? What does the very image of the ladder mean, and the arrangement of its degrees, those “ascents” that “a certain lover of Thy beauty thought in his heart” (Ps. 83:6)? And how many are there, I want to know? And how long does it take to climb it? He who saw You and fought with You, told us about the leaders (Angels) of only one ladder; but he didn’t want anything more, or, better to say, he couldn’t open it. Then She, this queen, seemed to appear to me from heaven, and as if speaking in the ear of my soul, said: Until you, My lover, are freed from this plump flesh, you cannot know My beauty, what it is. Let the ladder seen by Jacob teach you how to compose a spiritual ladder of virtues, at the top of which I establish myself, just as my great secret place says: “Now these three remain: faith, hope, love; more beloved than all" (1 Cor. 13:13). You might be interested in: