Беседа 13

To the newly enlightened, on the 8th day after baptism 1. This speech of your restless shepherd is addressed to the ears and minds of all who are entrusted to our care. But mainly it is now directed towards you, on whose cradle the recent infancy of spiritual birth, accomplished through the sacraments, is imprinted. It is through the Apostle Peter that the word of God exhorts you with these words: “Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit, and hypocrisy, and envy, and all slander, like newborn babies, love the pure milk of the word, so that from it you may grow to salvation; for you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:1–3). And we are witnesses of what you tasted. We served you by giving you such sweet food to taste. So, firmly guard the image of the holy infancy. Put aside malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander. You must preserve this innocence so that you do not lose it as you grow. What is anger if not the desire to harm? What is deceit if not when we know one thing, but try to show another? What is hypocrisy if not seduction by false praise? What is envy if not hatred of someone else's happiness? What is slander if not a caustic reproach rather than a righteous one? Anger delights in the evil of others. Envy, moreover, is tormented by the good of others. Deceit doubles the heart. Hypocrisy doubles its tongue. Backbiting insults the honor of another. The purity of your holiness, since it is the daughter of love, “does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Cor. 13:6). She is simple as a dove and wise as a serpent (Matthew 10:16), not because of the desire to harm, but because of the ability to protect herself from what causes harm. It is to this that I call you, “for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14), i.e. those who are humble and innocent like babies. Do not despise it or be disgusted. Such infancy is characteristic of the great. Pride is the false greatness of empty people. If it takes possession of thought, then lifting it up, it also brings it down, puffing it up, making it vain, making it pompous, leading to humiliation. The humble cannot be harmful, the proud cannot be harmless. What I am talking about is humility, which is not exalted in the use of temporary goods, but thinks about some eternal good, which it can achieve not on its own, but with the help of God’s grace. It cannot wish evil upon anyone, since as a result of this its own good is in no way multiplied. Pride constantly gives rise to envy. And where is the envious one, who does not wish harm to the one whose benefit he is tormented by? Consequently, envy gives rise to anger. From here comes deceit and hypocrisy, and slander, and all kinds of evil that you do not want to endure from another. So, when you observe pious humility, which in Scripture is equated with innocent childhood, then you will be blessed in the immortality of the righteous, “for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” 2. Further, whoever is not proud in relation to people, especially should not be arrogant in relation to God, because if you should not do to another what you yourself do not want to endure from him, and if no one wants to endure the disobedience of someone who is legally subordinate to him, then how much more must you beware lest someone appear in relation to God as he does not want another person to see in relation to himself? Therefore, those who deceive themselves are those who think that it is enough if they do not do to any other people what they do not want for themselves, and if they so corrupt themselves with luxury that they want to do in relation to God what they do not want to tolerate from other people. Not wanting their house to be ruined by anyone, they, however, destroy the church of God within themselves, being deaf to the words of the apostle: “Do you not know that you are the church of God, and the Spirit of God lives in you? If anyone destroys the church of God, God will punish him: for the church of God is holy; and this church is you” (1 Cor. 3:16–17). Let no one deceive himself. And why, trying to preserve their innocence in relation to others, do people harm themselves when they deprive themselves of the presence of God and are punished by Him? As a result of this, it also happens that, falling and exhausted among destructive pleasures, they not only cease to be the church of God, but even become ruins in which evil demons live, whom they begin to worship and serve, and for them it happens, as it is said, “the last is worse than the first” (Luke 11:26). Therefore, you, reborn from the incorruptible seed (1 Pet. 1:23), the same Apostle Peter, both in view of the above-mentioned harmful passions, by virtue of which people do to others what they do not love, also in view of other shameful and illicit pleasures and nasty vices, with which people, although, apparently, do not harm other people, not doing to them what they do not want for themselves, but to the Master Himself rulers do what they would not want to endure from their slaves, he exhorts, saying: “So, just as Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourself with the same thought; for he who suffers in the flesh ceases to sin, so that the rest of the time in the flesh he may no longer live according to human lusts, but according to the will of God. For it is enough that in the past time of your life you walked according to the will of the pagans, indulging in uncleanness, lusts... drunkenness, excess... and absurd idolatry" (1 Pet. 4: 1-3). For quite some time now you have served unclean, sinful deeds, like the yoke of Egypt. Already the Red Sea, i.e. Baptism, sanctified by the blood of Christ, crushed the true Pharaoh and destroyed the Egyptians. Do not be afraid of past sins, as if pursuing enemies from behind. Think about something else - how to pass through the wilderness of this life and reach the promised land, Jerusalem on high, the land of the living, so that through neglect of the Word of God, as if through aversion to manna, your hearts, these inner lips, as it were, do not harden, so that, remembering the food of Egypt, you do not grumble about the food of heaven, so that you do not commit fornication, as some of those committed fornication, and tempted Christ, as some of them were tempted. When you, if you yearn for the ungodly faith of the pagans, encounter any bitterness, like those waters that Israel could not drink, imitate the patience of Christ, make them sweet, as if throwing there the wood of the cross. If any sting of a serpent bites you, then you, like the Jews who looked at the raised serpent, looking at the cross as a sign of death defeated and struck in the flesh of the Lord, are healed by the same wood of the cross. If the Amalekite enemy decides to block and hinder your path, let him be overcome by constantly stretching out your hands in the likeness of the same cross (ejusdem crucis indicio). Be true and real Christians. Do not imitate those who are Christians in name only. I say again, and this should often be said: “It is enough that in the past tense... you acted according to the will of the pagans.” Move away and run from the dogs returning to their vomit. Move away and avoid those houses - swept and spacious - where seven other unclean spirits enter, so that the last for a person is worse than the first. Have your Purifier dwell within you. “We beseech you that the grace of God may not be received by you in vain” (2 Cor. 6:1). “It is enough that in the past time of your life you walked according to the will of the Gentiles” (1 Peter 4:3). Listen to the following instruction of the Apostle Paul: “I speak from human reasoning because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you presented your members as slaves to uncleanness and to lawlessness for wicked works, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for holy works” (Rom. 6:19). You might be interested in: