Проповедь на Введение во Святая Святых Всепречистой Владычицы нашей Богородицы и Приснодевы Марии

In matters beyond human power and speech, the wise are not superior to those who are completely uneducated. Even if all those saved by the Son of God suddenly gathered together and became “one mouth,” then they would not have found what to say before the Mother of God, Who now enters the Holy of Holies. And even the entire creation would have stopped in powerlessness, realizing its inability to sing the worthy glory of the One who became the Mother of the Creator of everything. So, offering worthy praise to the Supreme of all creation, the Most Holy Theotokos, is beyond my strength. However, I will try with all my heart and with all my strength to sing of Her immeasurable gifts. My love for Her prompts me to do this, my duty to Her obliges me to do this. The grace given from Her allows me to always hope for Her forgiveness and philanthropy. This grace, which contains and supports everything, always remains close to those who call upon Her to tirelessly pray to the God who was born of Her. Through Her we have received assurance of faith. With this faith I also call on Her, hoping that She will be my Helper until the very end of my efforts. I don’t think I need to justify myself to you, who are standing around now and listening to me. After all, taking into account both the meager talents of the preacher and the excessive dignity of the topic of the sermon, you will easily forgive me. However, we are all together and each of us is obliged to bring, so to speak, a donation for the Mother of God. If we all together and each individually bring spiritual songs to Her at every hour, then we will receive an answer from Her. Let us glorify the Mother of God day after day, let us form a harmonious and sweet-voiced choir around Her heavenly palace. So, behind me, divine army, sing, face tuned by the Heavenly Spirit! I ask you, become my co-preachers, let's deliver this sermon together!.. We can do this if you not only open your ears to the word and pay attention to it, but also help me with sincere prayer. By doing this, you will help me not to deviate into inappropriate things, but to compose a word that sounds harmonious to your God-loving ears. So God created man, giving him the strength and opportunity to succeed. However, none of the people turned out to be worthy to accommodate God. And then God, by His good pleasure, built the All-Holy for Himself - this Ever-Virgin Royal Palace. The All-Holy One, thanks to Her utmost purity, was able to physically become the receptacle of the fullness of the Divine. And not only: for She became the Cause of kinship with God for all people - both before and after Her. The Most Holy Theotokos is the most divine principle that moved the human race from earth to Heaven. She made all people heavenly, made them children of God. This sacrament was fulfilled through the All-Holy One, Who through an ineffable birth made the Son of God the Son of Man, and She Herself became the Queen of all creation - both in this world and beyond. Preparation of the way for this glorious sacrament proceeded slowly and gradually. The promise given by God from their youth to the barren saints Joachim and Anna that in their old age they would give birth to a child was the result of their prayer. And the vow that this most wonderful married couple made to God, promising to bring Him a born child, is being fulfilled today. And today we glorify their ascent into the Divine Church together with the three-year-old Maiden, the Queen of the world, who gloriously entered the Holy of Holies. In this place, intended only for God, in the place from where God spoke to the high priests, who were allowed to enter there only once a year, today the three-year-old Virgin Mother enters and remains there for us. This is the event we are celebrating today. There, in the holiest and most intimate places of the church, the Most Holy Virgin, according to the words of the Psalmist, “placed ascents in Her heart.” Her prayers actually reached Heaven, from where they attracted the heavenly Lord to us. In this fact all the glory and superiority of the All-Holy One was manifested, since, having chosen Her, God chose the creation of a new man - a creation worthy of His Own dignity. The All-Holy One accepted the highest dignity, the highest power and ordination from Heaven in order to become the Most High Queen and be adorned with that beauty that adorns the earth and heaven. God created the Most Pure Virgin so amazingly beautiful, for the first time in history, taking all the beauty available and scattered drop by drop throughout the creation He adorned, putting all this beauty together into the decoration of Her face. The Most Holy Theotokos will never cease to love all people and give us Her rich and useful help. What word, O Virgin Mary, can describe Your divine beauty? No, Your qualities cannot be defined using definitions and words. All of them surpass the human mind and word. And yet we have the opportunity to sing praises to You, since You so kindly accept our hymns and prayers. The Virgin, who was to give birth to the One who would be “more beautiful in kindness than the sons of men,” and herself had to be incomparable with anyone and unsurpassed by anyone, so that all eyes capable of seeing would recognize in the Most Holy Theotokos the Mother of Jesus and would hear in Her the incessant preaching of the coming in the flesh of the One who was born without the participation of a carnal father. For this reason, God, who decorates wildflowers more exquisitely than the clothes of King Solomon, adorned the Virgin and made it so that the whole world now admires Her with bated breath. The human race was created by God so that through the contemplation of heaven, earth and everything that is in heaven and earth, it would move its mind to the amazing beauty of invisible forces that constantly glorify our common God and Creator. But the Most Holy Virgin was also created and adorned by God in order to convince those who see Her to admire the Creator, since She appeared on earth as a Miracle of miracles. The Most Pure Virgin surpasses the heavenly bodies themselves in Her radiance. While still in her mother's womb, the All-Holy One was endowed with both natural and grace-filled gifts. She didn’t receive any special education, and in general, she didn’t study with teachers. On the contrary, having entrusted to God the dominant mind, like that of every person, and completely surrendered Herself to obedience to Him, She completely left human knowledge aside and accepted the abundant Divine wisdom. When She entered the Holy of Holies, She was only three years old. The high priest who met Her told Her the prophetic word of David: “Hear, O Daughters, and see, and incline Your ear, and forget Your people and Your father’s house, and the King will desire Your kindness” (Ps. 44:11). Hearing these words, the All-Holy Virgin froze for a moment in reverent embarrassment, but after a moment she resolutely walked forward, leaving everyone behind her: parents, nannies, peers... All alone She followed the high priest, with childish gestures and whispers confirming that She had completely surrendered Herself to God. There, in the Holy of Holies, the All-Holy One comprehends God. She remains in the Holy of Holies, Her soul is embraced by sacred and divine zeal. The High Priest leaves Her there alone, having first convinced himself and convinced others that all this is happening according to the will of God. It was His chosen Vessel that the Most Pure Virgin was destined to become; it was She who was destined to take into Herself and bear in Her womb Him, even Whose Name is wonderful. Through the All-Holy Virgin the renewal of the world became evident. Heaven has again opened its doors for us, shedding into the delight of our souls an unapproachable and inaccessible Light to human knowledge, which “enlightens every man who comes into the world.” The seraphim stand around God, and very close to Him is the All-Holy One, Who is praised by Him Himself, as if in words from the Song of Songs: “Behold, you are good, my neighbor” (Song. 4:1). She blooms more beautiful than the Garden of Eden, She is decorated more beautiful than the visible and invisible world. She is not just next to God, but at the right hand of Her Son, Who is seated “at the right hand of the Majesty of the Father.” The Most Pure Virgin is the glory and delight of those who are in Heaven, She is the adornment and beauty of all creation. I believe that I should further extend my word, look into the mysterious depths and reveal what I saw to you, my listeners. Let us pray together that the Ever-Virgin Bride will help my words. So, in the Holy of Holies, our All-Holy Mother of God lived, not on earth, but in Heaven. She spent her years in the Holy of Holies, casting all her worries on God, carefree, uninvolved in sorrow, uninvolved in low passions, standing above pleasure, which always entails sorrow. She lived for God alone, God alone saw Her, God fed Her, God covered Her, and She looked at Him alone. Love of sacred silence is the fruit of a healthy soul. This is the standing of the mind before God, this oblivion of the lower and sacred aspiration to the highest. Any virtue is a cure for the infirmities of the soul and for the evil passions that have taken root in the soul due to its negligence and laziness. Whereas the contemplation of God is a virtue that makes a person a god by grace and gives him permission from the world and turning to God. By practicing contemplation, we rise to the highest level of life, where day and night, being in prayers and supplications, so to speak, we touch the untouchable and blissful nature of God. Those who have purified their hearts with sacred silence are enlightened by the Light that transcends mind and feeling. They see God reflected in them, as if in a mirror. It was to this work that the All-Holy Virgin gave herself from childhood, giving herself over from her youth to sacred silence, remaining alone among many in order to receive into her womb and bear the God-man. The human mind is usually interested in what is around it and below it. However, he is able, by surrendering to higher energy, to unite with God. Of course, doing this is fraught with difficulties. After all, man by nature consists of a body, is mixed with a variety of knowledge, has diverse earthly and everyday connections, which can be difficult for him to abandon. At the very beginning of Her earthly life, the All-Holy One severed these ties and moved away from people. She rose above the sting of her body and united Her mind with unceasing divine prayer. Contemplating Divine grace in this way and overcoming the diverse creeping thoughts, She sees a new indescribable path that leads to Heaven. If I am allowed, I would define this path as silence of the mind. That is why the All-Holy One is glorified as “the dawn of the mysterious day” and “the fiery chariot of the Word.” The Most Pure Virgin Herself becomes Light, and unites with the Light, and sees this Light. In the same way, any believer who has been granted the communion of Divine energy and internal transformation obtained as a result of ascetic struggle is completely likened to the Light. He feels, sees and recognizes heavenly mysteries that are invisible to any of those who are not involved in the ineffable Divine grace. Thus, those who have been purified by divine love are now able to see God. Who can describe Your greatness, Virgo? You made God the Son of Man, and man the Son of God. You reconciled the world with its Creator. You have experimentally taught us that we can see not only with feeling, and even not only with thought, but also with the help of cleansing the mind and communion of Divine grace, through which we delve deeper into God-like beauty and enjoy it. So let us maintain unity both with God and among ourselves. We will always look to Heaven. Let's learn not to cling to the earth, because we no longer belong to the earth. The first man was from earth, and we are from Heaven, like the Second Man - our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us lift our hearts to Heaven. Let us see this great spectacle, how our nature enters in an immaterial way into the same eternity where the Light of the Divine is poured. Let each of us firmly devote himself to God and thus prove the holiness of the land on which he stands. Having done this, we will have the boldness to run with thirst towards enlightenment with the highest Light of the trisolar and one-origin Radiance.