Беседа 19

About unity between brothers and love between neighbors (Sir.25:2). On enmity and peace with the Donatists - (De lite et concordia cum donatistis) 1. The first reading of the Divine words from the book called "The Preacher" (Ecclesiasticus) 7 indicates three certain excellences worthy of attention: love between brothers, love between neighbors and husband and wife living in harmony. These benefits, of course, are pleasant and praiseworthy in human affairs, but they are much more praiseworthy in Divine affairs. Because who does not rejoice in the harmony between brothers? But one must mourn that this great quality is rarely observed in people. Everyone praises it, but very few possess it. Happy are those who have in themselves that which they are forced to praise even in others. Everyone praises the living brothers in agreement. And why is it difficult for brothers to live in harmony? Because they argue about the earth and want to be the earth. From the beginning it was said to sinner man: “You are dust, and to dust you will return” (Gen. 3:19). From here we can also conclude about the words that the righteous should hear. If it is rightly said to a sinner: “You are dust and to dust you will return,” then it is rightly said to a righteous person: “You are heaven and you will return to heaven.” And aren’t the righteous the essence of heaven, when it is very clearly said about the apostles: “Heaven preaches the glory of God”? And what exactly is said about them here, the following words sufficiently convince us of this: “and the firmament speaks of the works of His hands.” Those whom the psalmist called heaven, he also called the firmament. “Day imparts speech to day, and night reveals knowledge to night. There is no language and no dialect where their voice is not heard." Whose voice? Of course, the voice of heaven. Consequently, this is said about the apostles, it is said about the proclaimers of the truth. From here the following is clear: “Their sound goes through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world” (Ps. 18:2-5). “There is no tongue and no speech where their voice is not heard” (Ps. 19:4). When the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles, and God began to dwell in the sky, which he created from the earth, they, through the action of the Holy Spirit, began to speak in the languages ​​of all nations. Therefore it is said: “There is no language, and there is no speech where their voice is not heard.” And since after that they were sent to preach the Gospel to all nations, then “Their sound goes through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” Whose words? The words of heaven, about which it can rightly be said: “You are heaven and to heaven you will return,” just as it is rightly said to a sinner: “you are dust and to dust you will return.” 2. So, if the brethren want to be in harmony with each other, let them not become attached to the earth. And if they do not want to become attached to the earth, let them not become like it. Let them seek possessions that cannot be divided, and then they will be in agreement among themselves. Why is there discord between brothers? Where does the weakening of piety come from? Where does one womb come from, and not one spirit, if not because while their soul is deteriorating, everyone cares about his part, tries to increase and multiply his share and wants to own property alone, if someone begins to separate from his brother? Whose property is this so good? - they sometimes ask. “Ours,” others answer. -What a wonderful property! But is it all yours, brother? - No, I have a friend; perhaps, God willing, he will sell me part of his. - God forbid! - the flatterer answers this. But what, “God willing”? So that one person finds himself in a straitened position and sells his share to another. But let God do it, let him do it for you. “For the wicked boasts in the lust of his soul; the covetous man pleases himself” (Ps. 9:24). However, what could be worse than when one gets rich at the expense of another's poverty? And yet this happens often. The self-interested person feels calm. Maybe he used violence; perhaps he constrained the other and forced him; maybe he tortured and tortured not just anyone, but his brother. It’s better, you say, for me to buy it than for someone else. “But he who is in distress, if he is pious, has consolation.” Let him be comforted by the words of Scripture that you just heard. Let him suffer need, and his brother have abundance in everything. But the latter abounds in dust, being alien to righteousness. Remember what is said to the poor: “Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases: for when he dies he takes nothing away” (Ps. 49:17-18). Try, poor man, to gain what you do not lose when you die, and what you will gain while living in eternity. Try to have righteousness and you will not repent. Are you sad that you remain poor here on earth? But the One who created the earth was also poor here. The Lord your God comforts you, your Creator comforts you, your Redeemer comforts you. It is not your hungry brother who gives you consolation, because the Lord was pleased to be our brother. He alone is our most reliable Brother, with whom we should be in agreement. I called Him not hungry. But perhaps I will find Him hungry too. It is true that He hungers, but He wants to have us, He wants to find us. He paid a great price for us - Himself. Nothing can be added to this price. He gave Himself and became our Redeemer. And He did not sacrifice Himself for us in such a way that the enemy, having freed us, would instead possess Himself. He gave Himself to death, killing death. By His death He killed death. Without being destroyed by it, he himself, having destroyed death, delivered us from death. Death lives when we die; she will die when we come to life, when it is said to her: “Death! where is your sting? (1 Cor. 15:55). 3. And then someone turned to this brother of ours against his brother, with whom he did not agree, and said: “Teacher! tell my brother that he should share the inheritance with me” (Luke 12:13). “He took everything, he doesn’t want to give me even a part, he doesn’t listen to me, let him listen to You.” - But what does the Lord care about that? What do we usually say when we are in this life, being ourselves earthly, reptiles on the earth, thinking about earthly things, not wanting to sadden anyone - we say, thereby, for the most part, causing even greater sadness? - Go, brother, and give your brother part of it. “But that’s not what the Lord said.” And what is more truthful than Him? Who will find such a judge to whom he could turn against his brother’s greed? And didn’t that man rejoice that he had found great consolation? He was, without a doubt, expecting great help, calling out to such a great Judge: “Teacher! tell my brother to share the inheritance with me." What did He answer him? “Who made Me a judge or a divider between you?” (Luke 12:13–14). The Lord rejected the request, did not fulfill what was asked of Him, and did not provide the desired help. What was special there? What did He (the Lord) lose from this? And how difficult would it be for Him to provide this benefit? However, the Lord did not provide it. Where is what He Himself says: “Give to everyone who asks you” (Luke 6:30)? However, He Himself, Who gave us an example of life, did not do this. How are we going to do this? Or how will we give when we incur some expense, if we do not provide benefit where there is no expense, where we pay nothing and lose nothing? The Lord did not fulfill that request, and yet He did nothing. He refused less and gave more. He said clearly: “Give to everyone who asks you.” What if someone asks you, I am not saying that it is not useful to give, but that it is criminal to give? What if any man seeks what the false witnesses sought from Susanna? What if any woman asks what the woman asked Joseph? Is it necessary to follow this command here as well, as a guideline: “Give to everyone who asks you”? Let this not happen. Will you act in this case contrary to the commandment of God? Rather, we will fulfill the commandment of the Lord in the case when we do not give evil to those who ask; At the same time, we do not violate that command, because it is said: “Give to everyone who asks you.” It is not said: “Give everything to anyone who asks you,” but: “Give to everyone who asks you,” give in general; come on, at least not what he asks. He asks for something bad, give him something good. This is what Joseph did. He did not give what the shameless wife asked for, and gave what she had to listen to so as not to be shameless. He did not fall into the pit of lust and gave another person advice of chastity. “Let it not happen,” he answered, “that I should do this for my master, and that I should defile the bed of him who has entrusted everything to me in his house” (Gen. 39). If a slave, bought for money, showed such fidelity to his master, then what kind of fidelity should a wife show in relation to her husband? This was precisely Joseph’s instruction: I, as he says, a servant, will not do this to my master, but will you, wife, do this before your husband?! Susanna also gave to those who asked, and she did not leave false witnesses without instruction, if they only wished to accept the advice of chastity given to them. Not only did she not agree, but she also did not keep silent about why she did not agree. If I agree with you, she reasoned, then I will sin before God. If I do not agree, I will not escape your hands. But “it is better... to fall into your hands than to sin before God” (Dan.13). Well, is it better to fall into your hands than to sin before God? You also sin before God (Deo peristis) by wanting to commit violence against me. – Keep this rule, brothers, always before you. Give when they ask you, at least not what they ask. This is what the Lord did. What did the man ask for? On the division of inheritance. The Lord gave, but what did he give? Condemnation of passion. What did you ask for and what did you receive? “Tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” The Lord said: “Who made Me to judge or divide you?... See, beware of covetousness.” And I'll tell you why. Perhaps you are asking for half of the inheritance in order to be rich. "A certain rich man had a good harvest" ... Great success was expected. There was a lot of grain in the field. And he reasoned with himself: “What should I do? I have nowhere to gather my fruits.” And having thought it over carefully, he said: “This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and I will gather all my grain there.” I will make bigger granaries than the old ones. “And I will say to my soul: “Soul! You have a lot of goodness... eat... have fun." And God says to him: “You are crazy, who seems so prudent to yourself! You know how to tear down old granaries and build new ones, but you yourself remain a ruin, you, who should have destroyed the old in yourself and no longer thought about earthly things. Insane! What did you say and to whom did you say it? He said to his soul: have fun, you have a lot of good things. But on this very night they will take from you your soul, to which you promised all this. who will get what you have prepared? (Luke 12:13–20). So, “Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich... for when he dies he takes nothing away” (Ps. 49:17–18). 4. This is the instruction the Lord gave to the dissenting brothers, so that as a result they would be in agreement with each other, so that they would try to free themselves from covetousness and be filled with the truth. Let us take care of such a legacy. But how long will it take us to talk about this agreement between earthly brothers, which is so rare, so fragile, so difficult to achieve? Let's talk about that agreement, which only should be and can be true agreement. Let all Christians, all believers, born of God and from the womb of the Mother Church through the Holy Spirit, be our brothers; let them be brothers, let them own an inheritance, distributed and not shared. This inheritance is God Himself, whose inheritance they themselves are, and He is mutually their inheritance. How are they His inheritance? “Ask of Me, and I will give the nations as Your inheritance” (Ps. 2:8), and again: “The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup” (Ps. 15:5). In this heritage there is agreement, there is no arguing about it. Other inheritances are acquired through litigation; this inheritance is lost due to litigation. Therefore, people who do not want to lose it try to avoid strife. And when it seems, perhaps, that they are at enmity, however, they are not at enmity. But perhaps it sometimes seems that they are at enmity or think about them that they are at enmity when they want to express concern for the brethren. You see how sympathetic their litigation is, how peaceful, how benevolent, how fair, how worthy of respect. Here we are, it seems that we are bickering with the Donatists, but we are not at enmity. He is at enmity who wishes evil to his enemy. He quarrels who wants his opponent to suffer some harm, but seeks gain for himself, tries to take away from him and take for himself. That's not how we act. This is known to you, it is known to you who bicker, it is also known to you who have left division. You know that this litigation is not a malicious one, that it is not aimed at harming the enemy, but rather to his benefit. We only wanted those with whom we seemed to be litigating, or still seem to be, to be attracted to communication with us, and not to force them to look for us. And our words are different, and not those that were heard from the lips of the man who turned to Christ when He was on earth, asking for the division of property with his brother. We also make a request to Him who is in heaven, but we do not say: “Tell my brother that he should share the inheritance with me,” but on the contrary: “Tell my brother that he should share the inheritance with me.” 5. That we want this, our open deeds speak of this. That we wanted this is proclaimed not only by our words, but also by our writings (literae) intended for them (the Donatists). Do you like episcopacy? Own it with us. We do not hate anything about you, we do not dishonor anything, we do not desecrate anything, we do not anathematize anything, except human error. We reject human error, not divine truth. What you have from God, we recognize, and what you have that is not praiseworthy, we correct. I recognize the sign of my Lord, the seal of my Master, the features of my King in the one who leaves me. I search, I find, I try to bring him closer, I approach, I take, I lead, I correct the fugitive, but I do not distort his image. If someone thinks to look for and find such a person, this does not mean enmity, but love. We have already said that it is possible in one church for the sake of peace to maintain harmony between the brethren. This great thing is agreement between brothers. Let there not be two bishops. But we have already said that they should sit together in the basilica: one in the pulpit, the other like a stranger. This one is in the Christian pulpit, this one is in another (haeretica), but so that he sits next to him, like his comrade. In the same way, let him preside over his own meeting, and this one over his. We further say that repentance for the remission of sins was preached by the apostles to all nations, starting from Jerusalem. What answer will you give to that church which was founded by the apostles among all nations, beginning from Jerusalem? We said further: suppose that Caecilian committed a bad deed. But is it really possible that one person acting badly, or two, or five, or ten, can denigrate so many thousands of believers, in countless numbers living all over the face of the earth? We also said: Abraham believed, and all the tribes were promised to him. Caecilian sinned, and did all the nations really perish, so that, consequently, what was done by wickedness turned out to be greater in comparison with what was promised by the truth? This was said and read (leguntur). Against such examples and evidence borrowed from divine books, pointing to a church spread throughout the entire circle of the earth, the unity of which church in the name of the Lord we maintain, they (Donatists) absolutely could not answer anything. 6. So, the cause of the Church is recognized as right, established, strengthened and strengthened, as it were, on a stone foundation, which even the gates of hell cannot overcome. Next, we moved on to Caecilian’s case, already calm for him, no matter what he did. Because is it possible that, even if he, as a person, turns out to be guilty of something, because of the guilt of one person we were condemned or rebaptized? And we said: the cause of the Church is just, and Caecilian’s sin does not harm her in the least. Neither Caecilian's righteousness makes the Church more glorious, nor does his crime make it worthy of blame. But let's see what his actual business is. We wanted to investigate impartially, like the work of a brother, and not like the work of a father or mother. Our Father is God; our mother is the Church. Caecilian was and is our brother. If good, then a good brother; If he's a bad brother, he's still a brother. If we find him innocent, then where will you be, who have appeared powerless in the very slander of men? If he turns out to be guilty and subject to trial, then in this case we do not lose so much, because we preserve the unity of the Church, which is invincible. Even if he turns out to be completely guilty, I will anathematize the man, but I will not leave the Church of Christ. That's what we'll do. Moreover, we will not consider him to belong to the clergy, among the bishops whom we consider faithful and innocent. That's what we'll do. Is it really because of Caecilian that you will re-baptize everyone? When all this was expressed and admitted, the case of Caecilian began to become clear. He turned out to be innocent, but he was slandered. He was convicted in absentia once and acquitted three times. Condemned by the party, justified by church truth. All this was read and approved. Then they asked if anyone had any objections to that. After this, all means of slander were exhausted, and when they could no longer present anything against the obvious evidence and against the innocence of Caecilian, a trial was pronounced against them. And yet they say: we won. Let them conquer, but themselves, so as to be in the possession of Christ. May He who redeemed them conquer them. 7. And yet we rejoice for many. Many of them saved themselves by admitting defeat because they were not defeated. Human error has been defeated, but man remains whole. After all, the doctor does not argue with the patient. And if the patient deals with the doctor, the disease is overcome and the patient recovers. The doctor is trying to win; This is what the disease wants - to win. If the doctor wins, the patient recovers; if the disease overcomes, the patient dies. So in our competition, the doctor fought to save the patient, and the patient fought for the disease. Those who paid attention to the doctor’s advice won and overcame the disease. We see them healthy and rejoicing with us in church. They reviled us before, because they did not consider us brothers. The illness darkened their thoughts. We love them even at a time when they revile us and become bitter, and tried to serve the sick who are angry against us. We resisted, argued and, as it were, quarreled, and yet we loved. All those who try to serve such sick people are annoyingly unpleasant, but they are unpleasant for salvation. 8. You also sometimes come across people who lazily say: it’s true, lord (domine), it’s true. There is nothing to object to. But my father died there (that is, in the Donatist community), my mother was buried there. Behold, you point to the dead and the buried. But you are still alive, and you have someone to talk to. Your parents were Christians from the Donatus party; their parents, perhaps, were also Christians, and their grandfathers or great-grandfathers were, of course, pagans. And so, were the first ones who became Christians indifferent to the truth when they left their pagan parents? Did they not follow the authority of their dead parents and prefer the living Christ to their dead parents? So, if there is true unity here, outside of which you are inevitably subject to eternal death, then why do you want to follow your dead parents, dead to you and to God? What do you say? - answer. “You’re telling the truth, there’s nothing to tell you.” But what to do? And so a kind of lethargy takes possession of such people. They are possessed, as it were, by lethargy, suffering from an unpleasant illness, ready to die in their sleep. Others turn out, on the contrary, to be too fanatical (phrenetici) and dangerous (molesti). A person possessed by sleeping sickness, although he is threatened with death, is not, however, dangerous for the one who serves him. Fanatics are dangerous; having lost common sense, they, mad and frantic, walk everywhere with weapons, looking for someone to kill, someone to blind. We heard that they cut out the tongue of one of your elders. These are fanatics. But you need to experience your love, and they should be loved. Many of them, being admonished, shed tears. Many have improved. We know that some of the most frantic ones came to us. Every day they mourned their past, they could not hold back their tears, looking at the rage of those who, having not recovered from the frenzy of madness, continue to rage. So what should we do? Love makes you help people like that too. Although we are unpleasant for both, awakening the one overcome with sleeping sickness and restraining the madman, however, we love both. 9. However, although a good deed is the agreement of brothers among themselves, look where: in Christ, among Christians. Also love between neighbors. What if someone is not yet your brother in Christ? However, he is a man and your neighbor. Therefore, love him too, so that you can gain him too. Thus, while living in harmony with your Christian brother, you must also love your neighbor, with whom you do not yet have agreement, because he is not yet your brother in Christ, because he has not yet been reborn in Christ, has not yet learned the mysteries of Christ; Even if he is a pagan for now, even if he is a Jew, he is still your neighbor, because he is a man. If you love him too, then you thereby achieve a different kind of love and you already have two gifts: harmony between brothers and love for your neighbors. Of all those who live in unanimity with their brothers and love their neighbor, the Church consists, betrothed to Christ, submissive to her husband, so that the third thing that is spoken of in Scripture (Sir. 25:2), namely, “a wife and a husband, living in agreement with each other.” Therefore, we convince your love and exhort you in the Lord, despise the present, my brothers, which, when you die, you cannot take with you. Beware of sin, beware of untruth, avoid unclean passions. Then our fruit will be unharmed in us and our reward will be full of joy with the Lord. After all, even if we tell you what we should say, if we preach what we should preach, and try to be pure before the face of God, not keeping silent about what we fear, not keeping silent about what we love; so that if the sword of God’s punishment comes to anyone, he will not find something to blame the leader; however, we do not want reward for ourselves without you, but only with you. After all, the Apostle Paul was confident of his reward, and yet what does he say? “For now we are alive, as you stand in the Lord” (1 Thess. 3:8). I speak to you and your love at the command of the Lord, fathers and brothers. I speak for my brother, your bishop, to whom you should be a joy if you obey the Lord our God. It is in the name of the Lord, through his efforts, that this church was made for you with the pious, generous, reverent offerings of the believing brothers. This church was made for you, but you yourself constitute an even greater church (sed vos magis estis Ecclesia). A church has been made for you, into which your bodies enter; but your thoughts must be directed to where God enters. You honored your bishop by desiring to call this basilica Florentia [after Bishop Florentius, who is believed to have served in Ippon of Diarrite]; but you are his glory (florentia); so the apostle says to the Philippians that they are his “joy and crown” in the Lord (Phil. 4:1). Everything that happens in this world disappears, passes on. What is real life, if not what the psalmist said: “like grass that... blooms in the morning... is cut down in the evening and withers” (Ps. 89:6)? So is all flesh. That is why Christ appeared, that is why there is new life, that is why there is eternal hope, that is why the consolation of immortality is promised to us and has already been shown in the flesh of Christ. The flesh of Christ, which is already immortal, was received from us, and He showed us what He fulfilled in Himself. For us He took on a body. After all, for Himself “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Look for flesh and blood here: where is it in the Word? But since He truly wanted to suffer for us and deliver us, He took upon Himself the image of a slave and He who was here came down here so that He Who was not there would appear. He who created man wanted to become a man, and he who created a mother wanted to be born from a mother. He even ascended to the cross, died and showed us what we also knew: birth and death. He experienced in Himself these primordial, ordinary phenomena for us. We knew birth and death, we did not know resurrection and eternal life. The first two, birth and death, He humbly took upon Himself; He showed the other two great and new phenomena, being glorified. He rose again in the flesh, ascended, and sat down “at the right hand of the Father.” He deigned to be our head and prayed for His members, because when He was here, He said, “Father!.. I want them to be with Me where I am” (John 17:24). Let us expect the same for our flesh: resurrection, glorification, incorruptibility, immortality, eternal rest. We will try to achieve this. That will be glory (florentia), true glory. This is the name here of the book of the Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach You might be interested in: