Беседа 4

About the love of God and the love of the world 1. Two kinds of love exist in this world, which are constantly at enmity with each other: love for the world and love for God. Whichever of them wins, that one attracts the lover as if with its weight. Because we approach God not on wings or on legs, but by feeling. In the same way, we are tied to the earth not by bodily fetters or bonds, but by feelings opposite to those. And Christ comes in order to change your affections and, instead of love for earthly things, arouse in you love for heavenly life. Because of us, He who created man became Man; God takes the form of man in order to deify man. Here on earth we have a struggle ahead of us, a struggle with the flesh, a struggle with the devil, a struggle with the world. But let us hope that the One who established this struggle will not leave us without His help; He admonishes us not to boast in our own strength. He who trusts in his own strength trusts in human strength. But “cursed is the man who trusts in man” (Jer. 17:5). Burning with the flame of this pure holy love, the martyrs, with the power of their spirit, burned the hay of their flesh. They ascended unharmed in spirit to Him from Whom they were inspired. Full glory will be received by them along with their most despised flesh at the resurrection of the dead. That is why it is “sown in humiliation” in order to rise in glory (1 Cor. 15:43). 2. To those excited by this love, or rather in order to excite, the Lord says the following: “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and... whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37–38). He does not destroy love for parents, wife and children, but puts it in order. He did not say: “who loves,” but: “who loves... more... Me.” This is the same as what the Church says in the book of Song of Songs: “and his banner over me is love” (Song.2:4). Love your father, but no more than the Lord. Love your parent, but no more than your Creator. Although your father gave birth to you, he did not himself form you. Because who and what you will be, he did not know when you were born. The father raised you, but it was not he who produced the bread for you, the hungry one. In the end, having left something for you on earth, your father leaves for you to follow him, and by his death makes room for your life. The Father - your God - whatever he preserves for you, he preserves with Himself, so that you receive an inheritance together with your father and do not wait in anticipation of the inheritance until the owner leaves, but are united with Him who always abides, you who also have to always abide. Love your father, but no more than your God. Love your mother, but no more than the Church, which gave birth to you for eternal life. From your very love for your parents, finally conclude how to love God and the Church. If this is how you should love those who gave birth to you so that you would die, then how should you love those who gave birth to you for eternity so that you would always remain. Love your wife, love your children in the name of God, teaching them to honor God with you, with whom when you unite, you will not fear any separation. Therefore, you should not love your children more than God, and you would love them badly if you did not take care to bring them to God with you. Perhaps the hour of martyrdom will come for you too. You will want to confess Christ. If you confess, you may receive temporary death. But your father, wife or son seduce you so that you avoid suffering, but with their seductions they cause you to actually die. Then only you fulfill the words of Christ: “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me,” when such seductions do not affect you. 3. However, sometimes the carnal sense is inclined to be seduced by its own people, and in some way our impressionability succumbs to them. But correct the unevenness of the corruptible garment and gird yourself with virtue. Does carnal love torment you? – Take up your cross and follow the Lord. After all, your Savior Himself, although God in the flesh, although God together with the flesh, nevertheless showed human weakness when he said: “My Father! if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me” (Matthew 26:39). He knew that this cup would not pass Him by. It was to drink it that He came by His will, and not by force, He had to drink this cup. He was omnipotent and, if He wanted, He could bypass it, because He is God with the Father, and because He and the Father are one God. But, being in the form of a servant, precisely what He received from you and for you, He gave forth the voice of the flesh. He was pleased to portray you in Himself, so that in Him you also find weakness in order to learn patience. He showed you a desire by which you too can be tempted, and at the same time taught you what kind of will and what desire you should give preference to. “My Father! - He says, - if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. This is human will; “I show a man,” as if the Lord were speaking, in the form of a slave I say: “My Father! if possible, let this cup pass from Me.” This is the will about which Peter was also told: “When you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and lead you where you do not want” (John 21:18). But did the martyrs win when they preferred the spiritual will to the carnal will? They loved this life and concluded from this how one must love that eternal life if one loves this transitory one. He who has to die does not want to die, and yet he will inevitably die, although he constantly drives away the thought of death. There is nothing you can do, although you don’t want to die, you can’t do anything, because you have no way to avoid death. What you fear will come against your will. What you are avoiding will happen. You work hard to delay death. But do you really want to avoid it completely? So, if those who are attached to this life care so much about only delaying death, then how much care should they take about avoiding death? Now, don’t you want to die?! Change your attachments and you will see that there is death, not the one that will happen whether you want it or not, but the one that depends on your will to avoid. 4. So, observe whether there is any kind of love in your heart, whether a spark shines from the ashes of the flesh, whether your heart is so strong that it not only does not fall under the weight of temptation, but burns even more with love, observe whether you do not smolder like tow, which is extinguished by a light breath, or burn like solid wood, like coal, which flares up more strongly with a breath. Understand that there are two deaths: one temporary - this is the first death, and the other eternal - this is the second death. The first death is for all, but the second is only for the wicked, the wicked, the unbelieving, the scoffers, and all those who oppose sound doctrine. Look, remember these two kinds of death. Maybe you would like to avoid both of them. I know that you love life and do not want to die, and from this life you would so much like to move on to another life, a better one, so that you can change for the better alive, and not be resurrected after having died first. This is what you would like. This is how human feeling is configured. Such, as it were, are the will and desires of our very soul. Loving life, she hates death, loves her body and does not want what she hates to happen to it. “For no one ever hated his own flesh” (Eph. 5:29). The apostle points to this property in another place when he says: “we have from God a dwelling in heaven, a house not made with hands, eternal. That is why we groan, desiring to be clothed with our heavenly habitation... because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up in life” (2 Cor. 5:1-4). You do not want to be unclothed, but you want to be clothed. But you should take care that, having been stripped of the clothing of the flesh as a result of death, you find yourself clothed in the armor of faith, to which the apostle points out and says: “lest we be clothed and find ourselves naked” (2 Cor. 5:3). The first death will strip off your flesh, which will decay and in due time will rise again. Whether you like it or not, it will happen, because you will not be resurrected because you want it, but if you don’t want it or don’t believe it, then you will not be resurrected. Try your best to have what you want after the resurrection. After all, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself said: “The time is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God; and they will come out, - without distinction, both good and evil - all who are in the tombs, will hear the voice of the Son of God - and they will come out, they will be cast out of the abyss. No creature will be able to hold the dead when the voice of the Creator is heard. “All,” says the Lord, “who are in the tombs will hear the voice... and will come out.” Having said “all,” He seemed to produce a merger or confusion. But listen further about division. “They will come forth,” he says, “those who have done good into the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil into the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:28–29). This judgment, for which the wicked will be resurrected, is the second death. Why, Christian, are you afraid of this first death? She will certainly come to you, against your will. Now, you want to free yourself from the barbarians so as not to be killed. You want to get rid of a strong man, you do not spare your property, you force your children to endure hardships and, having gotten rid of them, you die the next day. You should try harder to get rid of the power of the devil, who is dragging you along with him to the second death, when the wicked standing on the left side hear: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). You should take care of getting rid of this second death. Perhaps you will say: How? Not property, of course, not money; just be fair if you want to avoid the second death. Your enemy may take the money from you and then take you captive, and you will not have anything to redeem yourself with, since all your property will be owned by the one who also owns you. You won’t lose justice if you don’t want to. She dwells in the inner treasury of your heart. Try to have it, try to master it, so that later you can get rid of the second death. If you do not want this second death, it will not happen, since you will have, if you want, a means by which you can get rid of it. Our will receives righteousness from God and drinks it, as if from its source. Everyone approaches this source without hindrance if he approaches with dignity. Pay attention to the help that is given to you. Your silver saves you from the enemy. Sometimes you get rid of the first death with your property. The blood of your Lord will deliver you from the second death. He had blood and received blood for this purpose, that He might shed it for our salvation. The blood of your Lord is shed for you if you want, and not for you if you don’t want it. Perhaps you will say: my Lord had the blood to deliver me. But when He suffered, He gave it all away. What else does He have left that He can give for me? But, having once shed blood, He shed it for everyone. The blood of Christ is salvation for those who follow Him and punishment for those who reject Him. Will you, who are afraid of death, still doubt that it is better to get rid of the second death? And then you get rid of it if you take up your cross and follow the Lord, because He picked up His cross and sought His servant. 5. And do not those who are so attached to this present temporary life convince you that you need to love eternal life? How much do people do just to live these few days? Who can count the labors and efforts of all those who want to live and soon die? How much do they do even for a few days? What do we do for eternal life? What can you say if you remember what is done because of these few days on earth? Maybe the one living today will die tomorrow?! And so, because of the unknown, for the sake of a few unknown days, what do people do, what do they invent? And if, as a result of illness of the body, they fall into the hands of a doctor, if salvation is expected from knowledgeable and experienced persons, if there is a doctor who can console the despairing - what they do not promise him and how much they give in advance, even if nothing was known yet! Just to live a little, they give away the money they live on. Or, when someone falls into the hands of an enemy and a robber, if it is a father, then the sons, wanting to protect and deliver him, rush to his aid and give what he would have left them, thinking to save him in order to bury him later. How many harassments, how many requests, how much effort they use - who can count all this? But I want to say something more terrible and even incredible if it had not happened. Why say that people give just to live, and leave nothing for themselves?! To live only a few unknown days under constant fear and toil - how much do they spend? How much do they give? Oh people, people! I have already said that they even spend what they live on just to prolong their lives. But listen to something worse and more serious, more criminal, even unlikely, as I said, if it had not happened. Just to live a little, they sacrifice even what they could provide for a permanent life. Listen and understand what I have to say. This has not yet been said, and yet many of those to whom the Lord has deigned to reveal this in advance have already become agitated, although it has not yet been expressed by me. Leave those who, in order to gain the opportunity to live a short time, give away and destroy what they use to support their very life. Look at those who, in order to gain the opportunity for a short life, destroy what would secure for themselves the right to eternal life, namely, faith and piety, which are, as it were, property with which eternal life is acquired. Suddenly an enemy will come to you and, frightening you, will not say: “Give me money and you will live,” but will force you to reject Christ, promising to save your life. But when you do this, although you will gain the right to live a little longer, you will lose the right to eternal life. Tell me, you who are afraid of death, does this mean loving life? Why were you afraid of death if not because you love life? But Christ is life. And why are you striving for this insignificant, short-lived life in order to lose your blessed life? Or maybe you didn’t lose faith and didn’t have anything to lose?! So, hold fast to what you can achieve eternal life. Look at your neighbor, how much he does in order to live even for a short time. Think about it, you who have already renounced Christ, what great evil have you done for the sake of these few days of your life? And don’t you really want to despise these short days, so that you will never die again, so that you can abide in an eternal day and so that, under the protection of your Creator, in the eternal kingdom, you become equal to the angels? What did you ruin, what did you not do? You did not take up your cross in order to follow the Lord. 6. Look how prudent He wants to see you, Who said to you: “Take up your cross and follow Me” (Luke 9:23), and also: “He who saves his life will lose it; but he who loses his life for My sake will save it” (Matthew 10:39). Whoever saves his soul will lose it. And whoever loses it will save it. In order to destroy your soul, you will take care of it, and when you destroy it, in the end you will save it. There are two ways of saving, and between them one destruction is indicated. No one can lose his soul for Christ's sake unless he first saves it. And no one can save his soul in Christ unless he first destroys it. So, save it so you don't lose it. Lose to save. But how do you save it first, so that you have the one you lose? When you think that you are truly mortal in one respect only, when you think about the One who created you and created your soul by inspiration, and remember that you owe it to the One who gave it, that it should be returned to the One who directed it and arranged it. You save your soul when you keep it in faith; if you believe, you will save it. You were lost before you began to believe. You have saved your soul, having been dead in unbelief and made alive in faith. Such are you now that we can say to you: “I was dead and is alive, I was lost and is found” (Luke 15:32). You found your soul in true faith when you came to life from the death of unbelief. This is what it means that you saved your soul. Destroy her, but let your soul be a seed for you. Because the farmer also finds wheat by threshing and winnowing and again loses it when sowing. That which perishes in the seed is found on the threshing floor. What is in the harvest perishes when sowing. So, he who loses his life will save his life. But if you want to reap, why are you lazy to sow? 7. Notice when you save your soul and when you destroy it. But how would you save it if He, about whom it is said in the psalm: “You kindle my lamp, O Lord,” had not kindled the light in you (Ps. 17:29)? And you will save your soul, if only He lights this lamp in you. See also how you can destroy her. One should not frivolously lose something that should be so carefully guarded. The Lord did not say: “Whoever loses it will save it,” but: Whoever “loses it... for My sake.” Perhaps, when you see the body of a shipwrecked merchant on the shore, you will weep for him with regret and say: Unhappy man! You lost your soul because of gold. You are rightly grieving here, you are rightly sorry. Cry for someone you can’t help now. Because of gold he could lose his soul, because of gold he could not save it. He was capable of the destruction of his soul, but he turned out to be less suitable for acquiring it. At the same time, you should think not about what you destroyed, but why you destroyed it. If because of self-interest, then here lies a lifeless body, and where is what seemed so attractive? And yet, self-interest prevailed, for the sake of gold the soul was destroyed, but for the sake of Christ it did not perish, and oh, if only it had perished! Do not be unreasonable and be firm: obey your Creator. He who created you will teach you and make you wise. Do not be embarrassed to lose your soul for Christ’s sake. You entrust to your Creator what you seem to be losing. Of course you lose; but He takes, from whom nothing is lost. And if you love life, destroy it to save it. Because when you save, although what you destroyed will no longer exist, the reason for which you destroyed will remain forever. In any case, the life that can no longer perish is preserved. Because Christ, who set you an example in birth, death and resurrection, “having been raised from the dead, dies no more: death no longer has power over Him” (Rom. 6:9). You might be interested in: