Слово на Вознесение Господа нашего Иисуса Христа. Святого Иоанна Златоустого, архиепископа Константинопольского

Blessed be God! Today it is timely for all of us to loudly pronounce a prophetic utterance, together to praise our Lord of all and to say: who will proclaim the might of the Lord? Have you heard all His praises (Ps. 105:2)? Today our Firstfruits (1 Cor. 15:20) ascended into heaven, and He who took upon Himself our flesh received the Father’s throne in order to reconcile the slaves with God, destroy the ancient enmity and give the people still living on earth the peace of the highest Powers. Today we have common rewards for victory over the devil, common rewards for struggle, common retribution for exploits, common crowns, common glory. Therefore, let us all rejoice, seeing that our Firstfruits is enthroned in those above, and that our nature takes its place on the throne at the right hand of God. If the wondrous Prophet pleases those who have a tribe in Zion and a tribe in Jerusalem (Isa. 31:9), then we should rejoice and be comforted much more, seeing that our Firstfruits has ascended to the very top of heaven and occupied the royal throne. Indeed, think, beloved, how great is the goodness of our God and how indescribable is His economy, manifested in relation to our race, expelled from paradise due to the devil’s seduction - and to what heights God suddenly raised it, having fallen under such a great curse! And how we, who turned out to be unworthy of earth, are today elevated to heaven, and our nature, which was previously considered unworthy even of heaven, took first place in heaven - nature, which was a subject of reproach for demons, today meets itself with worship from the angels and the heavenly Powers! Oh, blessed envy! O precious intrigues! Oh, envy is the cause of wonderful deeds, the culprit of our countless blessings, you gave birth to the law of immortality! That crafty demon, having envied our nature, which had a place on earth, now sees that he (human nature) is worshiped in heaven, and, having stolen, as he thought, great and incomparable, now he sees that we enjoy greater and more brilliant blessings, compared to the previous ones. That is why today I am having fun and rejoicing, and I invite you to take part in my rejoicing. Unworthy of earthly honor, we ascended to the highest kingdom, rose above the heavens, reached the royal throne; and the nature, because of which the cherubim guard paradise, marches to meet worship. Therefore, beloved, be amazed at the wise plan of your Lord and glorify Him, who has given you so much. The generosity of the gift exceeded the magnitude of the punishment. In fact, pay attention: we were expelled from paradise, and brought into heaven itself; we were condemned to death, and we were given immortality; we incurred disfavour and were rejected, but now we have been honored with the name of children of God, and not only children, but also heirs, and not only heirs, but also joint heirs of Christ. Look how much more important what the Lord has given us is compared to what was taken from us! But when you hear that He ascended and ascended, then beware of assuming that in relation to God a descent is possible in the sense of place: the Divine fills everything and is present everywhere - and there is no place where God is not located, as the overseer of everything and as the Creator of everything. The body, having received which He deigned to appear on earth, is of the same origin as ours: it is identical with ours in all respects; the ascending body is ours. And therefore, today we will all loudly pronounce that prophetic saying: God has risen with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet (Ps. 56:6), and we will celebrate this bright and brilliant triumph, since everyone, without exception, has enjoyed the gift of the Lord. Just as a humane master, having loved his servant, does not disdain, out of love for him, to put on his dress: so our Lord Christ, having loved our nature and seeing that it had fallen into the abyss of evil, that it had no hope of salvation and that it needed great condescension, deigned to accept our body. And therefore, having appeared in the world, He freed all people from error and raised them to the truth - and in the Gospel he exclaims, saying: He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Matthew 9:13). So, (the Lord) did what he wanted: he restored human nature, which was lying down, and showed such great love for mankind that the human mind cannot grasp the meaning of the events that took place. Tell me, how are we, having brought disfavour upon ourselves, found ourselves unworthy of the earth and deprived of earthly honor, suddenly elevated to such a great height? Why did the war end? Why doesn't anger show up anymore?.. In fact, what is extraordinary and filled with the greatest amazement is the fact that it was not we who turned for help, but that He Himself, righteously indignant at us, appeared as an Intercessor for us, and thus the world came into being. And Paul exclaims, saying: according to Christ, we pray as we pray to God (2 Cor. 5:20). Do you see the most amazing wisdom, do you see the Lord’s indescribable love for mankind? Do you notice extraordinary care? The sting of death has now been destroyed; now the victory of hell is ended; the power of death has now been overthrown; now enmity has been abolished; the long-term war has now faded away. People then became like angels: they united with the latter and, due to the identity of both sides, a close union arose between them. The Lord, common to all, having reconciled His Father with the human race, ascended. And that He ascended for that reason, listen to Him Himself about this: I am not for you, but I am coming. Unless I go, the Comforter will not come to you (John 16:7). As proof of our reconciliation, He promises to send us the Comforter. In fact, pay attention to what follows and with what care the Lord added: and He, says the Lord, will guide you into all truth (John 16:13). It is clear that the sent down Holy Spirit will guide all of us, who are mistaken and leaning now in one direction or the other, to the truth. Since God Himself was angry with us, and we turned away from the humane Master to such an extent, our Lord Christ, appearing as a Mediator, accomplished reconciliation. He has truly broken down the wall of the fence (Eph. 2:14). Therefore, looking to the Lord of our firstfruits, we already have good hopes. And so, no matter what you say, I am no longer afraid: whether you say about a worm, or about fire, or about punishment, or about gnashing of teeth, or about anything else, I despise everything without difficulty, looking at my firstfruits, that is, at Christ, who sits in the high places and almost converses with His people and cries: “Finally, leave your carelessness and know your nobility, reflecting on the number of gifts that you have to take possession of, after a little time.” . Living with the apostles, (the Lord) commanded them from Jerusalem, not to separate themselves, but to wait for the promise of the Father (Acts 1:4). Note also in this the care of the Lord: seeing the weakness of human nature and knowing that it is in great need of support, He bestowed the help of the Holy Spirit so that man would become invincible to the wiles of the devil. What happened is similar to how if some excellent commander notices that the soldiers under his command cannot endure enemy threats, but are struck by fear, and strengthens them all, protecting them from everywhere with a shield, helmet and other accessories of full armor: so our Lord Jesus Christ, seeing that the power of the opposing forces is great, and that therefore human nature has a great need for help, bestowed the grace of the Holy Spirit, so that a person who was previously afraid of the demonic hordes would now appear terrible to them and terrify them, and so that with his mere appearance he would put the insidious serpent to flight. Such is the grace of the Holy Spirit: wherever it appears, it puts the demonic hordes and all hostile forces to flight. You will receive, says the Lord, the power that the Holy Spirit has brought upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the last of the earth (Acts 1:8). What kind of power was this? - He told them about this a little earlier: heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons (Matthew 10:8), etc.; according to Him, there will not be a single illness so serious that it will not yield to the power of the Holy Spirit. The reason for such great benefits for us was this day. Today the angels, seeing that our nature shines from the height of the Royal Throne, received what they had long desired. And so that you understand the difference between the servant and the Lord, pay attention to the fact that when Elijah ascended, he ascended on a chariot of fire; when our Lord ascended with His flesh, a cloud served Him during His ascent. Those who saw them, says Scripture, were taken away, and the cloud was lifted from their sight (Acts 1:9). And he, that is, Elijah ascended, as it were, into heaven, because he was a slave, and Christ ascended into heaven itself, because He was Lord. Behold, two men in white clothing said to them (the apostles): This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have seen Him (Acts 1:10, 11). When a slave was to be called, a chariot was sent for him; when it is the Son, then it is the royal throne, and not just a throne, but the Father’s throne itself. Listen to what Isaiah speaks loudly about the Father: Behold, the Lord sits on a light cloud (Isaiah 19:1). Therefore He sent down a cloud also to the Son. Elijah, going up, left his mantle for Elisha; Jesus, ascending, poured out grace-filled gifts on His disciples, producing not just one prophet, but countless Elishas, ​​or better yet: much greater than Elisha, and more brilliant than him. Considering all this, beloved, let us repay our Lord with our wonderful lives, so that, just as He glorified us with His gracious gifts, so we, with our virtuous actions and wonderful lives, would make God merciful. Let us, then, glorify our Lord and disdain the alluring splendor of real things; This kind of instruction is the best: it can also guide the unfaithful to the truth, since they pay less attention to our words than to our deeds. Therefore, Christ said: blessed is he who creates and teaches (Matthew 5:19), - he said, explaining that teaching by deeds is more perfect than instruction by words, and that it, to a greater extent than the latter, is able to lead ignorant people to the true path. Let us try to please God and carefully arrange our lives in order to receive for ourselves the grace of the Spirit and, with the help of His power, to more easily practice acts of virtue, because where grace sees a sober soul, there it is poured out abundantly. Therefore, I ask you to set yourself up properly so that, strengthened by the power of the Spirit, we can safely lead this present life, receive future blessings and be worthy of the kingdom of heaven, which may we all receive by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, who redeemed us with the honest blood of His life-giving side and freed us from error and from slavery. With Him belong honor and power, all glory and splendor to the Father and the Holy Life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen 80. See Bibliot. Patr. Concionator. Fr. Combefis, vol. IV, p. p. 407–408; Full Collection Created, St. Zlat., ed. 1897, vol. III, pp. 849–853. In Curs. Compl. this word is classified as Spuria. 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