Слово 42. Молитва ко Пресвятой Богородице; здесь же отчасти и о причинах Христовых страданий

You, who surpass the ethereal divine ranks with incomparable purity, I pray, O All-Singing One: cleanse my vile soul from the lawless thoughts that are born in me due to the bad habit of carnal passions, formed over a long time, and which the crafty demon does not cease to plant in my thoughts, confusing, desecrating and scattering it always with vile and crafty thoughts, envying my salvation. my soul. Therefore, I beg You, Most Pure One, do not despise me, immersed in a pitiful manner in this foul mire, but cleanse me from this stench with the fragrant peace of Your prayers and with the sweetest light of divine love, drive away all the darkness of my soul and, with the bridle of pure, ever-present fear, curb forever the wisdom of the disorderly flesh, keeping it within the limits of purity, so that I can always pray purely My Savior, Who alone is pure by nature, and to ask forgiveness for those iniquities with which I angered Him, living like dumb cattle and committing every lawless act, without fearing His terrible Judgment, nor the unquenchable fire, nor the pitch darkness, nor the worm that constantly swarms, nor the terrible gnashing of teeth; but, like a fierce horse, biting the bit, I galloped far away - alas for me! - from my good Shepherd and Master, who did not spare his soul, but gave it up to a shameful death, enduring dishonorable passions out of his love for mankind, in order to free me from the passions to which I submitted, and so that I might again receive the glory that I had destroyed. Oh, what an abyss of generosity and philanthropy of the Lord towards the condemned! Truly, this is beyond all reason and words and is worthy of great surprise and horror on the part of those whose thoughts are filled with the fear of God, who fully believe that if God commands to follow Him, then one must close the mouth with the hand of faith, without at all objecting, like a silent child who, with love and fear, obeys the commands of his mother, staying with her. He Who created everything and possesses everything, Who is Light from Light and Sun from Sun, God the Word, identical with Him who gave birth to Him, Who contains the limits of life and death, from Whose mere sight the earth shakes, and the sea flees with trembling from His face - was condemned for the unrighteous and slaves, for the insensible earth, which, like a shadow, wanders for a small part of the time and then soon rots in the grave! Be horrified when you hear this, all creatures! He deigned to suffer everything with a mortal body, which He received seedlessly from You, Most Pure One, in order to pluck me from ancient delusion and free me from the work of demons, and to make me again a participant in His glory, from which I pitifully fell away, due to my madness, offering my ear to the most destructive serpent - alas! - and not to the Lord. And if I had not done this, then I would not have destroyed myself, and for the Lord of all I would not have become the culprit of unprecedented suffering. Therefore, the most severe torment awaits me if I do not bring repentance corresponding to my lawlessness. My transgression of His life-giving commandment, according to which I, like God, lived a life of simplicity in the divine paradise, became for Him the cause of such immeasurable suffering. Being good and generous by nature, or more correctly, being the very generosity and the very goodness, because of which He was pleased at first, taking dust from the earth, to create me in His image, brightly adorning me with honor and glory and incorruptible life, as God’s property, He did not suffer to despise me when, through the envy of the serpent, I fell away from the divine glory. And as the fallen slave grew weak and became a great mockery for the deceiver: then the Master, in His compassionate goodness, deigned to become a slave, prompted to this by an unspeakable vision known to Him alone, so that, having accepted humanity in human form, everything characteristic of a slave, except evil, and having voluntarily accepted death as a man, in this way free the slave from what he was we keep, that is, from the aphids of passions, and again decorate it with the beauty of the former incorruption. Bless Him, faithful ones, and you, bad ones, will disappear, or acquire a sober mind for yourself and, putting aside all malice, accept the divine sacrament by faith! Our faith is not a bad product of the thought and mind of man, and not some pernicious and godless deception of soul-destroying demons, such as were the ancient Hellenic venerations, full of all deception and all filth: our faith is the revelation of the divine sacraments, which, by the good will and benevolence of God, shone to us from the highest treasures, and is the property of the Existence itself, light and life, giving to believers in Him the inexpressible kindness of God, eternal dwelling and pleasure, and heaven itself, along with its inhabitants. Therefore, its mysteries surpass any comprehension of learned sages, being tightly fenced off from everywhere and sealed for them with the indestructible seals of complete ignorance. For just as when He descended to earth, He covered the way of His descent with the darkness of ignorance, so when He ascended again from the earth to the heights of heaven, He covered His darkness, as it is said (Ps. 17:12). This divine mystery is comprehended only by faith - by those who have a sober mind; and those who are led by a nasty and evil custom and the vain arrogance of Hellenic wisdom, and are inflated by the insolence of their mind - for those it serves as a strong stumbling block and a great darkness of the mind, just as for those with sick eyes - a ray of sunshine and for bats - daylight. Such a person is likened to a person from whom the poison of harmful celiac phlegm exudes. The divine sacrament of faith, being accepted by the heart with ardent love and warmed and nurtured by righteous deeds, immediately bestows health and divine light, expelling all evil from the soul. If you are prudent and well-behaved and care about piety, then do not demand from the Lord explanations of words and reasons; for he surpasses both mind and word - everything that comes from Him; accept with faith all His advice and honor them with all your soul, worship with fear, and honor yourself as dust and clay and waterless earth and always call yourself before Him. You, indeed, are a worm and clay, wetted with a little water, although the mind is hidden in you - a certain divine thing, like a pearl in a shell. Then you will understand the darkness of unreason, when it is expelled from you by divine light, and the light of the Paraclete (the Comforter of the Holy Spirit), having settled in you, will illuminate you all, like the morning star, and the divine sacrament, more than honey and honeycomb, will delight your larynx. Blessed is the one who, having accepted this into his heart with undoubted faith, departs from this life. Such a one will truly live like a god for endless ages, always enjoying through this very excellent divine vision and conversation. But I, O Lady Queen, greatly tremble and fear, and am constantly wounded in my soul by acute illnesses and horrified in my mind by how the actions of God’s righteous judgment have so far failed me? After all, with my own hands I nailed my naked Creator, hanging him on the cross, and I presented the ocet, mixed with bile, to Him out of my great inhumanity, when He thirsted, and with a spear I pierced His divine ribs, without taking pity on Him - alas! - even over the dead, and inflicted all sorts of annoyances on Him: strangling, spitting, scolding and beating. Oh, what innumerable goodness of the Master and what severity of the cruel slave! The whole creation hesitated, compassionate with the one who suffered for humanity, and I, ungrateful, could not get enough of the annoyances inflicted on Him, but even when I was dead and already lying without breathing, I attacked Him with many of my inhumanity. I should have recognized my sin and hidden myself alive in the dark abysses of the earth. But the Wise One did not lie when he said: When the wicked comes into the depths of evil, he is negligent (Prov. 18:3), continuing to remain in evil. Woe is me! Woe is me! How can I avoid the torment that awaits me? What abyss on earth will hide me from the face of God? But be merciful to me, I beg You, Lady, and beg the Lord for me, may He be merciful to my sins, which I have committed through my great foolishness, and may He grant me to bring to Him the repentance corresponding to my sinfulness, and by this will free me now from future torture and deliver me from the mouth of the terrible serpent, which swallowed me up all and holds me tightly in its nets, entangling everything like something bad. what rags, with their evil guards, from whom countless shoots are born, which, like vipers, wound my soul. But have mercy on me, O Lady, who resorts to You, and deliver me from their vile violence. Being Your unbreakable servant, Lady, and trusting in You, I joyfully submitted myself to the monastic yoke, abandoning everything, so that in this way I could get rid of the endless torments awaiting me. Vouchsafe me to carry to the end the yoke of good and perfect cultivation of the village entrusted to me by the Lord, so that I may be worthy to receive from the hand of the Lord the reward given to the workers of the last hour on an equal basis with those who worked from the first hour - so that I may then hear the voice calling those worthy inside the palace to participate in the joy of the Lord, which is worthy of those who have woven themselves bright clothes from righteous deeds and with The Groom is greeted with undying candles at midnight. To her, I beg You, Most Pure Mother of the Most High, the only consolation, hope and sweetness of my soul, divine protection, light, intercession and salvation! Vouchsafe me to receive this through Your holy prayers! You, Lady, are the beginning of my salvation; You deign to arrange a prosperous end for this and make me a participant in the incorruptible glory of Your beloved Son, born of You, Most Pure One, so that I, having been saved by You, may be worthy to glorify the One Trihypostatic God in one being, the beginningless Father, the co-originating Son and the omnipotent Spirit, to whom befits worship, glory and honor and power for endless ages. Amen. You might be interested in: