Беседа на святой праздник Ваий. Святого Кирилла, архиепископа Александрийского

As we now celebrate the coming of the Tsar, the faithful, let us greet the Tsar in a magnificent manner. It's time to stop sleeping. Let us raise our minds to God, let us not extinguish our spirit, let us light our lamps brightly, let us change the clothes of our souls, let us carry our heads like victors; let us shout with the people as the people; Let us sing with children like children: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord (Matthew 21:9)! Here he came, here he appeared, here the King appeared! Again He enters Jerusalem, again the cross is prepared, again Adam’s handwriting is torn to pieces, again paradise is opened, again the thief is installed, again the Church rejoices, again the evil synagogue becomes widowed, again the demons are put to shame, again the Jews go on a rampage, again the faithful are saved. Everything participates in the holiday, everything glorifies the Lord. The heavens rejoice, the mountains play. Rivers, splash, flow, cry out, seeing how our words become deeds. Hills, respond; little children, sing; disciples, proclaim; priests, speak up; theologians, glorify; you who live in Zion, go out to the meeting; peoples, gather together. Let everything in heaven, on earth, in the underworld, of every rank and age, come together: for He is coming who wants to bless everyone; The One who wants to have mercy on everyone has appeared; He who gives joy to everyone, being God, became a man, both appearing on earth and living with men (Baruch 3:38). With slaves - the Master, with debtors - the satisfaction of debts, with the lost - the Savior, with the condemned - the liberator, with the desperate - hope, with those lying down - rebellion, with the cruel - the merciful, with the fugitives - the righteous, with the guilty - the innocent, with sinners - the sinless, with the ungrateful - the generous! Do you see, beloved, the secret of true celebration? Do you see the miracles of this day? Yesterday Bethany celebrated: today the whole Church enjoyed the Divine Coming. Yesterday (the Lord Jesus) gave life to another: today He Himself comes to death. Yesterday a four-day arose: today a three-day appears. He raised Lazarus for four days in order to foreshadow the general resurrection of our nature, consisting of four elements. But Martha is having fun there, representing the image of legal service; and here Mary sits at the feet of the Lord, representing the love and commitment of the Church to Him. And the One who, six days before Easter, having given the sisters the only brother of their two, who died with all five senses, the four-day-old Lazarus, commands that his bonds be loosed, He Himself is now coming to be bound. And He comes not with pride, not with noise, not visibly surrounded by powers, principalities and authorities, not sitting on some high and exalted throne, not hiding behind some wings and fiery wheels and many-eyed, not striking everyone with trumpets and signs and wonders, but hiding in human nature: for this is the coming of philanthropy, and not justice, - leniency, and not execution. He appears not in the glory of the Father, but in the humiliation of the Mother. This coming was foretold to us from afar by the wonderful Zechariah, and, inviting creation to joy, he called out to Jerusalem like this: Rejoice greatly, daughters of Zion (Zechariah 9:9). Gabriel also used the same word to the Virgin: Rejoice, full of grace: the Lord is with you (Luke 1:28). And the Savior Himself, after resurrecting from the dead, also said to the wives: rejoice (Matthew 28:9), so that from this you might know that, in relation to the ancient definition heard by Eve: in sickness give birth to children (Gen. 3:16): The Lord cried out to the wives: rejoice, just as Zechariah preached, saying: Rejoice greatly, daughters of Zion, preach, daughters of Jerusalem (Zech. 9:9). What kind of sermon? speak clearly, Prophet! Climb to a high mountain, preach the gospel to Zion, lift up your voice (Isa. 40:9). What should we say to Zion? Behold your King is coming to you. How? You spoke about the coming, tell us about the image. Is it with chariots, or with an army on foot and horse, and with other royal pomp? No, he does. How? vsed on the yoke and the young stallion. What are you saying? Does the king sit on a donkey and thus dishonor Himself? Exactly, he answers! for He does not come with pomp like others, but how? in the form of a servant, quiet as a bridegroom, meek as a lamb. Like a quiet drop to the fleece, like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a gentle lamb led to sacrifice: so He comes, carrying on Himself not only rational, but also dumb human nature, and sitting on the dumb, teaching people not to be arrogant, deposing the mighty from their thrones and lifting up the humble, fulfilling the hungry with blessings, and letting go of the rich. with what (Luke 1:52, 53), - having only twelve people as companions, and then the poor, and through them calling the nations to Him. He is the branch that grew from the root of Jesse - He, Whom, having come out to meet today, Jewish children offer olive branches as to the merciful, and glorify them with branches as the conqueror of death, saying: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! For what does the Evangelist say? And when Jesus drew near to Bethsphagia and Bethany, to the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying: go straight to the whole (to the opposite village); And if someone forgives you, why does she refuse? The Lord cried out to him that the Lord required him (Luke 19:29–31). The disciples put the word of the Word into action: they brought a donkey and a colt, covered them with their clothes, and Jesus sat on top of them (Matthew 21:6, 7). The entire opposite is the image of real life: for this life was against God and far from Him. So, when God had already approached this weight, when, having become incarnate, He became with us: then He sends two disciples, that is, two covenants, to bring two peoples to Him - an old and aged synagogue, and a new, still unlearned people - the pagans. The word: opposite also means that the Lord sent to free from execution and call to Himself also that (Adam) who was settled in the paradise of sweetness, and whom, seeing finally saved, the ancient prophets, apostles and preachers, sacredly go to meet from the heights of the heavens He who descended to free suffering in Zion, and with their God-speaking voices, as if animated olive branches, express a song of praise: blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! -What are you saying? You see him sitting on a miserable donkey, and you exclaim: Hosanna in the highest! - The image of a servant is before your eyes, and you say: in the name of the Lord, God is the Lord! - Exactly, he answers. He sits on a donkey, and is not separated from the bosom of the Father; glorified by children, and grief - theologized by the seraphim; enters Jerusalem, but does not leave the Jerusalem above. And John also sees Him, and takes him off, and cries out: Behold, the Lamb of God, take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). And another: behold our God, behold the Lord Himself will come and save us (Isa. 35:4); therefore the eyes of the blind are opened today. One to the east calls to the Lord: behold a man, the East is His name (Zechariah 6:12); and the other addresses the command to the west: make a way for him who ascended to the west: the Lord is his name (Ps. 67:5). One says: rise up, north (Song of Songs 4:16), and the other cries: rise up the south (Psalm 77:26), having put all this together, and clearly pointing to the cross, David convenes preachers from the east, and the west, and the north, and the sea. Jeremiah sings, as if pointing the pagans with a finger to the Coming One: This God is ours, it will not be counted among him. Invent every way of cunning. Therefore, he appeared on earth and lived with men (Baruch 3:36, 38). One says to Jerusalem: rejoice and be glad, daughters of Zion (Zechariah 9:9), and the other commands the children: praise, O children of the Lord (Ps. 113:1), - and the children answer: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! The psalmist, having heard them, calls out to the Lord: from the mouth of a baby and of those who piss, you have brought praise (Ps. 8:3). The Lord commands the nations: leave the little children to come to Me (Mark 10:14). The children obeyed the voice of Elizabeth well: she said to the Virgin and Mother of God: blessed is the fruit of your womb (Luke 1:42); and the children born of Her (the Virgin) exclaim: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, O God the Lord! coming from where? - from heaven or from the Virgin, coming and happening. going where? - to suffering. In the name of the Lord, that is, in the name of the Father, as Christ Himself said: I have departed from the Father, and I am going to the Father (John 16:28). Do you hear theological dogma from the lips of children inexperienced in the word? The children, by their very nature, recognized the Lord of creation, and their fathers turned out to be ignorant; those glorified as God, and these crucified as an enemy; those sing: Hosanna, and these shout: let him be crucified (Matthew 27:22); a young and still uneducated age becomes wise, and those who consider themselves wise are enveloped in darkness; the children spread out their clothes, and the fathers divided His clothes. They take off their clothes, transforming the nakedness of the synagogue, and at the same time inspiring us to put off the old man and submit to Christ; and these cast lots for His clothing. Children accept Christ with vayas, and their fathers go with swords; these bless, and these blaspheme; those received the shepherd like sheep, but these tore the lamb to pieces like wolves. It was a strange and extraordinary sight to see babies. in the arms of their mothers they suck milk, with one hand they hold the breasts of their mothers, and with the other they offer the branches of the tree to the born God, pour out from their mouths both mother’s milk and the dogma of the Lord, and the first word - the fruit of the lips - they proclaim to God the Word, saying: Hosanna, that is, save, Who art in the highest! Who taught you, children? who made it wise? who instructed you in the word, when the time for the word had not yet come? Let the ungrateful Jew come here, let the adulterous synagogue appear. Tell me, Jew, was it not the coming Christ that all the prophets told us about? - “Exactly, he answers. But - the doubt is whether He came or not”? Not yet, he says. Fine. Let us consider the dignity of the Coming One, and then we will know whether He has come or not. Do you call the Coming One God or a simple man? - “a man, he says, like David.” Was it not David himself? - “like David.” O sage of malice! O fool of heart! Why does David himself call the One who is coming Lord from the Lord? just as recently you heard your children singing: blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, God the Lord, and appears to us (Ps. 118:26, 27; Matt. 21:9, 15); and again: the Lord said to My Lord, sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool (Ps. 109:1); and again: the Lord reigns over the tongues (Ps. 47:9); and: shout among the nations, for the Lord reigns (Ps. 95:10). What kind of King is this? “Listen to what Isaiah says about you: and they will wish that they were burned with fire.” What is this for, Prophet? For from a child was born unto us a Son, and was given unto us, whose rulership shall be upon His frame: and His name is called: Great of counsel, Angel, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Ruler, Prince of Peace, Father of the age to come (Isa. 9:5, 6). What do you say, Jew? Behold, the prophets have clearly declared Him who is coming to be God! But the shameless Jew says: "We killed not God, but man." From the first word, by the way, say to this Jew: be silent, stop, put a bridle on your lips. You rejected the law, so be it; you beat the prophets: are you not ashamed of David, who says: From the womb before the star was born the Father on high (Ps. 109:3); and again: The Lord spoke to To me: Thou art My Son. This day have I begotten Thee (Ps. 2:7)? One and the same Christ has two births - one from a Father without time, and the other from a mother without seed. wounds and strangulations: but what He has by nature, like God, man will not see and live (Ex. 33:20). However, the Jew again objects: “how does the Prophet say about the Crucified One: and we saw Him, and had no name for form or kindness” (Is. 53:2)? But you, foolish one, do you see what is written about Him: more beautiful in kindness than his sons? human (Ps. 44:3)? If you ask: “What kind of God can be recent”? I also ask you: what kind of man’s name will remain with the sun, and before the moon, of all generations, and come down like rain on the fleece, and like a drop falling on the earth (Ps. 72:5, 6)? You, perhaps, will ask again: “What kind of God is sold for thirty pieces of silver?" I will also ask you: what kind of man’s blood redeemed and sanctified the whole world? If you are tempted by the fact that you see Him today sitting on a donkey: why, foolish, do you not speak at the same time about how the children, without having been taught, recognized Him and exclaimed: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! And what about the one who sits on a colt, as a man, there is the Lord and God, for assurance of this, let yours, and at the same time not yours, David appear to me, telling about your children, and about the one glorified by them, let him say who this God-honored one is - that David, who, as it were, stands against the colt and says: You, who sit on the throne above and on the neck of the valley, O Lord our Lord, how wonderful is your name in all the earth, like one who has been taken away. Your splendor is above the heavens! From the mouth of a baby and those who piss, you brought praise to your enemies for the sake of destroying the enemy and the local - the devil. You, sitting on the yoke as a man, are the true God; and we will see the heavens of the work of Your finger. You, who sit on the yoke, founded the moon and the stars; Thou hast made man a little less than an angel; having raised man up and exalted him above all beginning and power, you crowned him with glory and honor (Ps. 8:2, 4, 6). You, visible on the yoke, are Your throne, O God, for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness, a scepter of your kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and thou hast hated iniquity: therefore, for the sake of anointing thee, O God thy God, because Thou tookst the form of a servant, anointed Thee not with the anointing of oil, but with the Holy Spirit, which is the oil of joy (Ps. 45:7, 8). That is why the Virgin who gave birth to You said: My spirit rejoiced in God my Savior, when the Holy Spirit overshadowed Her (Luke 1:47). And you, believing listener, look how the Most Holy Virgin called Her Son God. "So, She says, My God is according to His Divine essence: My Son is according to the essence He received from Me. For I gave birth to the world not an ordinary man, but God incarnate; and the reliable witness of this is the seal of My virginity. Do not, O man, wear the garment that God received from Me, lest you offend Him who is clothed with it. Do not insult the tabernacle, because it was definitely built without the help of a hand." Who has taken up residence in her. Do not separate the light from My fleshly lamp, lest you extinguish the sun that has maliciously shone upon the world, and without man became man. For I did not know man, although I knew God, who became man in Me.” Here is to you, most faithful and sacred flock of Christ, the praise of this feast: rejoice! Here is the Divine and pure teaching of the Church: have fun! Spiritual weapons have been given to you: fight the wolves of the herd; teach not to blaspheme; instruct us to strive for the truth; show that the field of our Church of Christ is clean from all tares. If you, like Lazarus, are bound by the bonds of errors or contrary teachings, today hear from the Word the command to you: “Come out, be released, arise!” If you are a student and are able to teach: go, release and bring to Christ the colt and the donkeys, many bound by error and in a country opposite to the village of faith. Let others contradict and viciously hinder the resolution of the bound, saying: “Why are you freeing the colt?” just as the blind were forbidden to cry (Matthew 20:31). Say also: for the Lord requires him (Luke 19:31); for the Lord will decide the bound. The Lord makes the blind wise (Ps. 146:7), as you have heard from the Scriptures. For when (the blind) learned about the approach of the Sun-righteousness, they rightly began to shout to Him: have mercy on us, Lord, son of David (Matthew 20:32). Strange, wonderful miracles! the blind see, and the seeing Jews become blind: they confess (Jesus Christ) as Lord, but these - who is this? they ask! For the Evangelist narrates: the people who came before Him and followed the call, saying: Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And when He entered Jerusalem, the whole city shook, saying: Who is this? (Matt. 21:9, 10). Have you seen the strange secret of the Tsar? He, sitting on a colt, shakes the city, and hanging on the cross, he shakes the universe, so that you know that He came to shake and destroy the polytheistic delusion of idols. Look at the unknown mystery of the economy accomplished through Him. When He shook the prison there in hell, and the powers above cried out to those below: Take away your gates, O princes (Ps. 23:9), so that he who says, I am the door, may come in (John 10:9); then in response to this appeal the opposing forces exclaimed in horror: who is this King of glory? Those in earthly Jerusalem ask: who is this King of glory? - And seeing Him ascending to the heavenly Jerusalem with a body, the intelligent powers, which had never seen Him, due to incorporeality, marveling at the strange image of the ascension, asked each other in bewilderment: “Who is this, coming to incorporeal lands in the body?” It is worthy of wonder how they ask who is coming, those royal powers who, at His long birth, exclaimed and praised: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will toward men (Luke 2:14)! From them the Jewish theologians-children learned well, who today say: Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven and glory in the highest. For Luke said so (Luke 19:38). And, it seems, one could see in Zion how the heavenly and the earthly mutually exclaim and greet each other. Those on high say: Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth; those below answer: peace in heaven and glory in the highest. The angels said: peace on earth; the people exclaimed: there is peace in heaven. Why? - because He appeared who cries out to everyone: peace to you (Luke 24:36), about whom the Prophet prayed like this: Lord our God, give us peace (Isaiah 20:12), that is, send Your only begotten Son, so that through Him You may be reconciled with us, seeing that our nature has been united with You through Him. Seeing this world, the faces on high cried out: Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth. that is, the perfect reconciliation of God with his enemies; Having known that peace, the youths exclaimed: Hosanna, peace in heaven and glory in the highest! For what was once hostile has now become fraternal: those in heaven and earth bring to the heavenly and earthly Christ a single confession of God and worship. That is why those on high command those below to offer such worship: let all the tongues of the fatherland worship him (Ps. 21:28); and those below respond to those above: worship Him like His angels (Ps. 97:7). David calls out to both: let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth rejoice (Ps. 95:11). The children answered: Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! With them, today we will chant and celebrate, not with pomp, but magnificently, wearing the fronds not only in our hands, but also in our souls; and, having made this whiter than snow, let us drive out from it all the deadness of ancient and leathern clothing, let us reject all pride and exaltation. For this is why the King of the bodiless does not come in chariots or with troops, but sitting on a poor and small donkey, to teach you that you should not be proud of horses and mules, in which there is no understanding. Therefore, we too will be humbled together with Christ, so that we may also be exalted with Him; We will sing with the angels, we will glorify with the children, we will shout with the people; with Bethany we will leap, with Lazarus we will rise from dead works; with the inhabitants of Zion we will rejoice, with the blind who have received their sight we will cry out; with infants and elders we will praise, with disciples we will proclaim; Like children, let us wisely scatter olive trees along the path of life through charity. Let us cut off the mass of our rough nature, and with mercy spread ourselves along the Path that says: I am the way (Jn. 14:5), so that through Him we too may receive mercy from Him and together with Him enter into the heavenly Jerusalem - to go to that great church all together, both the previous and the following - the previous one, that is, at the third hour, and the subsequent one - at the eleventh hour; the previous ones through deeds, and the subsequent ones through intentions: to all - both those who follow and follow Christ, reigning with Him, and enjoying eternal blessings, send glory and honor to Him, together with the Father and the all-holy and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and to all ages of ages. Amen 166. See "Christian Reading." 1842, II part, 3–23 countries; compare with this word placed below the word St. Eulogia, Archbishop. Alexandria. You might be interested in: