Слово на славное Успение Пресвятой Богородицы и Приснодевы Марии. Преподобного Иоанна Дамаскина

There is no earthly being, even if he has thousands of tongues and lips, who could worthily praise the sacred exodus of the Mother of God; Even if the tongues of people scattered throughout the world were united, they would not be able to utter praises befitting Her: for She surpasses all laws of praise. However, since God is pleased with what we offer out of love and zeal, and the Mother of God is pleased with what is kind and pleasing to Her Son: then we will begin to praise Her, calling on the help of That Word, which was incarnate from her and fills every mouth opened to Him, and which alone was for her all-glorious praise. Now the holy and animated ark of the living God, who bore the womb of Her Creator, rests in the church of the Lord not made by hands; and David, Her forefather and God-father, plays, the angels rejoice, the archangels splash, the thrones triumph, the powers glorify, the principalities rejoice, the powers rejoice, the dominions rejoice, the cherubim sing, the seraphim glorify. Now Eden accepts the paradise of the new Adam, in which condemnation is permitted and the tree of life is planted - in which our nakedness is covered, for we are no longer naked and stripped of clothing: The Only Begotten Son of God Himself became man, and I, a mortal, become immortal and take off my garments of skin; I put off corruption, and put on the robe of the Divine. Now the virgin, immaculate and uninvolved in earthly passions, but nourished by heavenly thoughts, does not go to the earth, but, like the animate sky, is placed in heavenly tabernacles: since the Lord of earth and heaven and the Creator of every visible and invisible creature in Her made Himself a seedless child and revealed Her to be the treasury of His indescribable Divinity, dispassionately forming himself in Ney and remaining uncontainable. Now the treasure of life, the abyss of grace (I don’t know how to pronounce this with bold lips) is covered with life-giving death and fearlessly approaches the one whose Destroyer she gave birth to, if we can call the sacred and living departure of the Mother of God death. Indeed, how could She who gave birth to life for everyone submit to death? True, She yields to the law laid down by the One born of her, and, like the daughter of Adam, is subject to fatherly condemnation: since Her Son, Who is life itself, did not reject this law. But, as the Mother of the Living, She is transported to Him, for if God says: let not (primeval man) stretch out his hand, and take from the tree of life, and cut it down, and live forever (Gen. 3:22): then how could it be that She who gave birth to unceasing life, having neither beginning nor end, should not live forever? Those who darkened the eye of the soul and fell asleep in the sleep of death, the Lord God, depriving them of paradise, anciently expelled them from Eden. And the One who conquered every excuse of sin and bore the fruit of obedience to God and the Author of all life, will she now not accept heaven? Will heaven not open the doors to Her with joy? Eve, having given her ear to the serpent's broadcast and softened her feelings with the pretext of flattering sweetness, is condemned to death together with Adam and is placed in the underworld of hell. But how will death devour this Most Blessed One, Who turned Her ear to the word of God, was filled with the action of the Holy Spirit, had the Father’s favor in her womb, gave birth to God the Son without natural illnesses and was completely united with God? How will the underworld receive Her? This is completely incompatible and alien to the God-bearing body and soul. Death was also afraid of the sight of the Mother of God: because, having touched Her Son, she was taught by what she suffered, and, having learned from experience, she became wiser. She (the Mother of God) did not walk along the terrible and dark paths of hell, but a straight, wide and easy path to heaven was prepared for Her: for if Christ said: where I am, my servant will also be, then how much more will His Mother dwell with Him? She gave birth without illness; Her departure was also painless. The death of sinners is cruel (Ps. 33:22); but what shall we say about the One by Whom the sting of death—sin—was put to death? Isn’t Her death the beginning of a new and better life? Truly, the death of the venerable Lord of the Powers is honorable, and the repose of the Mother of God is most honorable. May heaven now be granted, may the earth rejoice now, may men leap. In the most glorious city of David, in which the written law was fulfilled and the law of the spirit was given, in which the Lamb of God took away the sins of the world and slain Himself as a fat calf, in which Christ was seen by the apostles after the resurrection from the dead, in which the All-Holy Spirit in the form of tongues of fire was poured out on the apostles, in which the Mother of God lived after the resurrection of Christ from the dead, - in visible Zion, blessed The Virgin was reclining on the most blessed bed. With what honors was She adorned by the One Who commanded that honor should be given to parents? Those who, in order to ensnare people, were scattered throughout the world and with many tongues of the spirit drew people out of the abyss of error to the spiritual table of the heavenly Bridegroom - those from all ends of the earth were gathered by a cloud like a network of some eagles: where the corpse is, there the eagles will be gathered (Matthew 24:28) (although this saying was pronounced about the second and glorious coming of the One who spoke it, nevertheless, it is not inappropriate and here to take advantage of its sweetness). So, the self-seers and servants of the Word arrived in order to dutifully serve his Mother and receive from Her, as an honorable and precious inheritance, a blessing: for who doubts that She is the source of blessing and the outpouring of all good things? Their followers and successors also arrived to take part in the service and together in the blessing, since those who have common labor have common fruits. The God-chosen order of the Jerusalemites also appeared: it was necessary that the branches of the ancient patriarchs, who foreshadowed the carnal birth of the Word of God for our salvation, should take part in the burial. The assembly of angels did not remain indifferent: since everything that is worthy of the honor of standing before the Most High King must be brought before him by the Mother according to the flesh, the all-blessed and supreme of every creature and of all generations. In the radiant radiance of the Spirit stood before Her all those who looked at her with a pure eye with reverence, fear and unshakable love. Here followed the godly initial songs: for it was necessary to sing of boundless goodness, infinite power, immeasurable condescension towards us - to sing that God became man and abides with both - that, filling everything and carrying everything with the verb of His mouth, He dwells in a cramped place. Then Adam and Eve, the forefathers of our race, exclaimed with joyful lips: “Blessed are You, Daughter, who allowed the punishment of our crime. You, having inherited from us a corruptible body, gave birth to us a robe of incorruptibility. You, who borrowed existence from our loins, rewarded us with well-being, resolved illness, tore away the shrouds of death, and returned to us ancient life. We closed paradise, and You opened it with the tree of life. Through us, sorrows came from good things: through You, from sorrow, great good came to us. And how did you taste death, Immaculate One? You are the bridge to life and the ladder to heaven; death for You will be a voyage to immortality. Verily, blessed are You, O All-Blessed One.” At the same time, the entire crowd of saints applauded, saying: “You have fulfilled our predictions, You have brought us the expected joy. Through You we have been freed from the bonds of death. Come to us, Divine and life-giving vessel. Come to those who desire You, who has fulfilled our desire.” The gathering of saints who were still on earth, surrounding the Mother of God, also said to Her: “Abide with us, our only joy on earth. Do not leave us orphans, Mother of the good and merciful God, whose children we are called through You. You can stay if you want: and there is no obstacle for You to leave if You strive. If You go away, O tabernacle of God, let us also go away, who have become Your people through Your Son. Happiness is both to live with You alive and to die with You dying.” The apostles said similar things to the blessed Virgin; when they saw that the Mother of God was hastening towards the exodus, then, prompted by Divine grace, they turned to the original songs. And when everyone had woven a multi-colored wreath of sacred songs, they brought thanksgiving, uttering the last words befitting the dying, which expressed the transience of this life, and also proclaimed the secrets of future blessings. Then the King Himself came to His Mother in order to receive Her holy and immaculate soul with His Divine and most pure hands. She herself said: “In Your hands I commend My spirit. Accept My soul, which loves You, which You have preserved innocent. To you, and not to the earth, I commit My body: preserve intact this body in which You deigned to dwell, and which You preserved virgin at birth. Transfer Me to Yourself, so that where You are, the fruit of My womb, there I too may cohabitate with You: for I long for You, who has come to Me. Be a consolation for My beloved children, whom You have deigned to call brethren. Add blessing upon blessing to them through the laying on of My hands.” At the same time, She raised her hands and blessed those gathered. After uttering these words, She heard: “Come, My blessed Mother, into My rest. Arise, come, my neighbor, good in women: for now the time has come for the gathering of fruits. Beautiful, My neighbor, and there is no blemish in You. The stench of Your peace is more fragrant than all others” (Song 2:10,11; 4:7,10). Hearing this, the Most Holy One gave up her spirit into the hands of the Son. And what happens when this happens? Some of the angels carry the immaculate soul and ascend with it to heaven, others surround the holy body and glorify the Mother of God with angelic songs. And standing before the most holy body with fear and love, joy surrounds the all-blessed village, hugging and kissing it, being filled with sanctification and blessing from touching the body. Then illnesses fled away, the air and sky were illuminated by the ascension of the spirit, and the earth by the position of the body; The nature of water did not lose the blessing either: for (the body) is washed with pure water, which does not purify, but is purified. Then the hearing of the deaf was restored, the sight of the blind was restored, and the manuscripts of sinners who came with faith were destroyed. What then? The body is wrapped in clean shrouds, and the Queen again rests on her bed; the angels with their tongues send up a song befitting them, the apostles with the God-bearing fathers proclaim divine hymns inspired by the Holy Spirit. And then the ark of the Lord departing from Mount Zion, worn on the venerable shoulders of the apostles, is transferred through the medium of the coffin to the heavenly church. They carry him in the middle of the city, like a bride, adorned with the impregnable Radiance of the Spirit, and so they bring him into the most sacred place of Gethsemane, with angels flowing in front and behind and overshadowing him with their wings; accompanied by the entire congregation of the church. King Solomon, when transferring the ark to the church he created, gathered all the elders of Israel to Zion in order to transfer the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Zion; and the priests lifted up the arks and the tabernacle of meeting, and the priests and the Levites lifted them up; and the king and all the people went before the ark and offered countless sacrifices; and finally, the priests brought the ark of the covenant into its place in the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim (1 Kings 8:2–7). So now, during the transfer of the ark (not the covenant of the Lord, but) the Word of God Himself, the new Solomon, the Prince of Peace and the highest Creator of the world, gathered together both the highest ranks of the worldly Powers and the leading men of the New Testament, i.e. e., the apostles with the entire Jerusalem church, and leads the soul through the angels into the true and original Holy of Holies, placing it under the wings of the four-shaped animals and seating it on His throne in the inner curtain, where Christ Himself as the Forerunner bodily ascended... It is not superfluous to add to the word here that when those who carried the blessed body of the Mother of God came to the foot of the mountain, then a certain Jew (a slave of sin who entered into a covenant with lies), imitating the servant of Caiaphas, who struck Christ on the cheek, became an instrument of the devil and, excited by a sudden satanic suggestion, rushed to that most Divine village, which even angels approach not without fear, and, grabbing the bed with both hands, wanted to drag him to the ground. But the fruits preceded the deed, and he plucked a bitter vine worthy of his intention: he was deprived of hands, and the one who committed the crime with his own hands could be seen handless until then, until he changed his intentions to faith and repentance. Immediately those carrying the bed stopped, and that unfortunate man, placing his hands on the life-giving and miraculous coffin, from being armless again became healthy, since misfortune usually gives rise to saving intentions... But let's return to the subject. The body is transferred to the sacred Gethsemane. Again - kisses and hugs, again - praises and sacred hymns, again - appeals and tears. The all-holy body is laid in the all-glorious tomb, but from there on the third day it ascends to heaven: for this Divine dwelling, this unearthed field of heavenly bread, was not fit to be kept in the caves of the earth. But just as God raised from the grave on the third day a holy and immaculate body, co-hypostatic with God the Word, so the Mother had to be abducted from the grave and move to the Son; and just as He Himself descended to Her, so it was fitting for Her to ascend into the best tabernacle, into heaven itself. She who received God the Word into the house of Her womb was to settle in the Divine habitations of Her Son; and just as the Lord said that He deserves to be in those who are His Father (Luke 2:49): so it was fitting for the Mother to dwell in the kingdom of the Son, that is, in the house of the Lord, in the courts of our God. It was necessary that He who preserved Her virginity at Christmas should preserve her body incorruptible after death. It was necessary that She who bore the Creator in her arms as a Child should live in the heavenly tabernacles. It was necessary that She who saw Her Son on the cross and then took into Her breast the sword (of suffering), which she escaped at birth, should see Him sitting with the Father. It was necessary for the Mother to become revered by all creatures: for although the inheritance always passes from the father to the sons, but now the rivers return to their course: since the Son entrusted to the Mother everything created. So, come, we too will celebrate the feast of the Exodus of the Mother of God. Let us now praise her, enriched by the fact that we are we and are called the people of Christ. Let us honor her with purity of soul and body, let us delight Her, truly, according to God, the purest of all. Let us serve Her with mercy and compassion for the poor: for if we do not please God with anything more than with mercy, then who will argue that the same pleases His Mother? She revealed the indescribable abyss of God’s love for us: through Her we were given peace and grace, from Her we received the grape of life, from Her the branch of immortality was torn away, in Her God became man and man became God. What is more wonderful, what is more blessed than this? The souls of the young woman, with the prophetess Mariam, will form a face, killing the ouds even on the earth (for this is a mysterious tympanum); let us exclaim at the ark of the Lord of souls, and the walls of Jericho, that is, the hostile strongholds of the opposing forces, will fall. Let us leap spiritually with David: inasmuch as the ark of the Lord now rests. Let us cry out together with Gabriel, the representative of the angels: “Rejoice, full of grace! The Lord is with you! Rejoice, inexhaustible sea of ​​joy. Rejoice, united destruction of sorrow. Rejoice, medicine that heals the sorrow of every heart. Rejoice, You, by Whom death was driven away and life was given”... “And you, the holiest of holy tombs, after the life-giving tomb of the Lord (I speak to you as to the living)! Where is the pure gold that the hands of the apostles hid in you? Where is the abyss of grace? Where is the sea of ​​healing? Where is the viviparous source? Where is the much-loving body of the Mother of God?.. “What are you looking for in the tomb of the One Who ascended to the heavenly villages? The coffin answers. How could I hold Her? I do not have the strength to resist God's commands. Having left the shroud, that holy body, which imparted holiness to me and made me the Divine Church, being raptured from here, the mountain, carried by the angels, archangels and all the heavenly Powers, departed. Now I am guarded by angels; now Divine grace dwells in me. I am the eternal source of healing; I have become a city of refuge for those who flow in. Come with faith, people, and draw upon the gifts that flow like a river. Come, you who have acquired undoubted faith. Those who are thirsty, come to the water, Isaiah urges; you who have no money, come and buy bread without price (Isa. 55:1). I exclaim to everyone in the Gospel: whoever thirsts for healing of ailments, liberation from passions, permission from sins, peace in the heavenly kingdom, come to me with faith and draw from the stream of powerful and multi-useful grace (since grace benefits differently and in accordance with the needs of everyone). It was not from my nature that I acquired grace. Every tomb is full of stench, but I accepted the precious myrrh and partook of the incense; and this ointment bears inalienable fruit. I received a source of joy as a guest and was enriched by its eternal flow.” This is what, beloved fathers and brothers, the all-glorious tomb tells us. And that this is so is clear from the Euthymian story, where the following is written. “When in Constantinople, in Blachernae, the church of the All-praise and All-Holy Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary was being built (in the first years of the blessed memory of Emperor Marcian), Emperor Marcian and Empress Pulcheria looked for the most holy body that had received Christ, and, calling on Patriarch Juvenal of Jerusalem and the bishops of Palestine, who were then in the city on the occasion of the convocation Council of Chalcedon, they said to them: “We have heard that in Jerusalem there is a church in honor of the Mother of God and Ever-Blessed Mary in a place called Gethsemane, where Her body was laid; Therefore, we want to transfer these remains here so that they will be the protection of the entire state.” To this Juvenal responded as follows: “Although the events of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary are not written anywhere in inspired books, we know, however, from ancient and most faithful tradition that at the time of this blessed Dormition, all the saints and apostles who preached the Gospel in different countries of the world gathered in Jerusalem, being caught up in an instant through the air. Here an angelic sight was presented to their eyes, and the Divine singing of the heavenly Powers was heard. So with heavenly glory She gave up the holy soul into the hands of God. Her God-receiving body, with the singing of angels and apostles, was buried in Gethsemane, and at this place the angels sang incessantly for three whole days; when this singing stopped, the Apostles who were present there opened the coffin, because one of them, namely Thomas, who was not at the burial and came on the third day, wanted to venerate the God-receiving body. But the most sacred body was not found: only funeral shrouds lay, and an indescribable fragrance emanated from them - and the coffin was closed again. Struck by surprise at such a mysterious event, the Apostles decided among themselves that the Word of God and the Lord of glory, who deigned to accept flesh and humanity into the unity of His hypostasis and preserved the virginity of His Mother, - and after Her appearance, before the general resurrection, wanted to honor Her pure body with incorruption and transmutation. At that time, the most holy and first Bishop of Ephesus, Timothy and Dionysius the Areopagite, were with the apostles, as well as the blessed Hierotheus, as Dionysius himself writes about this.” Hearing this, the kings asked Juvenal to seal and send to them that sacred tomb along with the holy shrouds of the Mother of God; and when this tomb was received, it was placed in the revered church of the Most Holy Theotokos in Blachernae. What will we say in response to the coffin? Your grace is abundant and eternal. Divine power is not limited to places: neither are the blessings of the Mother of God, because if they were limited to the tomb, then only very few would receive them; now they are heard unenviably in all corners of the world. So, let us try to make our memory a repository of the Mother of God. How? – She is a Virgo and loves virginity; She was clean and loved cleanliness. So, if we cleanse our soul with our body, we will be illuminated by Her grace: because She flees passions, turns away from bad thoughts, does not allow inhumanity and quarrels, rejects vain vanity, opposes the proud, and considers all malice a deadly poison. She rejoices in fasting, abstinence, and psalmody; she is satisfied with purity, virginity, chastity: with them She maintains eternal peace and kindly kisses them; peace, love, mercy, humility She hugs and accepts in her arms like Her pets. To put it briefly: sad and indignant at every vice, She rejoices at every virtue as if it were her own gift. So, if we turn away from vices and love virtues and acquire them as our interlocutors, She will often come to Her servants, drawing with Her an abundance of all good things, and will take with Her Her Son Christ, all the King and Lord, so that He may dwell in our hearts, and to Him, with the Father and the All-Holy Spirit, be glory, honor, power, majesty, splendor now and ever and to the ages. centuries. Amen 176. Curs. Compl. Patrolog. Migne, series graeca, vol. XCVI, col. 721–754; compare “Church. Led." 1900 No. 33, countries. 1305–1311. You might be interested in: