Беседа на день честного и животворящего Креста. Максима Маргуния, епископа Корфского (ХVІ в.)

If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and come after Me (Matthew 16:24). A certain king had to fight with one strong enemy of his, and, intending to go in order to defeat him, he called all his subjects to follow him against that enemy, and announced to them that after the victory they would receive great gifts and great honors from him. Wouldn't everyone follow him with all their zeal? It is clear that everyone would go in the hope of receiving the promised gifts and honors. And if everyone is in a hurry for such a temporary matter, which exists today and is not tomorrow: then how much more befitting is it for us to follow in the footsteps of the true King, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who calls us because He is going to battle with the great enemy the devil in order to defeat him, and declares to us that He will give us a great gift and great honor, and not something temporary, which is here now, but will not be tomorrow, not something corruptible, but incorruptible and eternal, which does not perish. The kings of this world sometimes hesitate to give what they promised, because they themselves are fickle, that is, their minds quickly turn to other subjects. But Christ never changes his mind, because He is not changeable, that is, from what He is, He does not become different. So, let us follow Him, brothers, and let us go to war with our enemy - the devil, this indomitable beast; and when we go, we will take up our strong weapon, the cross, according to the word of our commander - Christ: if anyone wants to walk after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and come after Me. What is the motivation for this? But whoever wants to save his soul must destroy it (Matthew 16:25). God, who created heaven, man and the whole world, did not create man simply, as he created the whole world (heaven, earth and everything in them), but with some special care and art. The Divine Scripture inspires us with this, saying: And God created man, in the image of God created he him (Gen. 1:27); and even before his creation he held advice on how to create such a creature: let us create man in our image and likeness (Gen. 1:26). To this man, in addition to many other gifts with which he is endowed, God also gave self-control, so that he may be free, which is a special, predominant property of a rational being, since a rational being is a free being, and a free being is also a rational being. God created man as a master, not a slave, a master, not a subordinate. Therefore, calling the earth-born to follow Him, God does not force him to do this, but says: “Whoever wants”; He does not force him because he created him free: for the gifts of God are immutable (Rom. 11:29), that is, what God gave remains, and He does not repent that he gave it. He does not force a person, because he calls him not to small things, but to great ones - to those that are worth it for a person to take on them. Therefore the Lord says: whoever wants; and he says this not by name (let no one dare to say: “He is not calling me,” and let him not apologize), the Lord says to everyone: whoever wants, and therefore everyone must want in order to be saved. And whoever does not want to be saved is insane. However, many now do not want to be saved. You ask: “Who is this who does not want to be saved?” And I'll tell you who he is. He who does not want to follow Christ does not want to be saved. And who does not follow Christ? - One who commits fornication; he who commits adultery, who loves money, who is covetous, who is unjust; one who does all kinds of evil. To such Blessed Paul says: Do not flatter yourselves: neither harlots, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor defilers, nor the covetous, nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor molesters, nor extortioners, will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-10); and in another place he says: God judges the fornicator and the adulterer (Heb. 13:4). You say, “How can I follow Christ when I don’t know how”? And you should have known this when God created you intelligent and gave you intelligence, so that you would know how to do what and what is good. But since you do not know this, then learn this from your Teacher - Christ; listen to what He says to all of us, calling us to follow Him. He commands us to do three things: let us deny ourselves, let us take up our cross, and let us follow Him. But how does anyone deny himself? remembering yourself and loving yourself? How is it possible to both reject oneself and love oneself?... - He who loves his soul rejects carnal pleasures; whoever denies himself controls the members of his body so that they are obedient to the soul - he puts to death the wisdom of the flesh, which, as Paul says, is enmity against God (Rom. 8:7), - he cuts off the lusts of his body, which wants to eat a lot, sleep long, drink too much, and fulfill its other evil lusts. Therefore, Paul says in another place: those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom. 8:8), that is, those who fulfill their evil desires cannot be pleasing to God: for whoever wants to please God does the will of God, just as a servant who wants to please his master does his will. So, he who loves himself rejects himself, and he who loves himself rejects carnal lusts, which, as you heard, are at enmity with God - he also rejects what he has, that is, wealth, fame, pride and everything else. Paul also understands this when he says: even if our outer man decays, yet the inner man is renewed (2 Cor. 4:16), that is, to the extent that someone turns away from his carnal lusts, his spiritual blessings increase. How can anyone take up his cross? Before we know this, let’s find out: what kind of cross is this? Theologians say that there are four crosses: the first is knowledge, the second is salvation, the third is life, and the fourth is suffering. The cross of knowledge is called, because it reveals everything that only we can know about God, and the very height of wisdom. The word of the cross, says the divine Paul, is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved the power of God is. Where is the wise man? where is the scribe? where is the questioner of this century? Has not God put on the wisdom of this world (1 Cor. 1:18, 20)? Do you hear that the cross, although it seems madness to the Greeks and Jews, is the power and wisdom of God? But why is the cross the power of Christ? - because through the cross death was destroyed by the power of God and the Father, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ, who died on it. Paul tells the Romans this, saying: I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for the power of God is for salvation to everyone who believes. And first to the Jews and the Greeks (Rom. 1:16); He says this in another place: let me not boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Galat. 6:14). Again, why is the cross the wisdom of God? - because God saved the dead through the cross. Listen to what else Paul says: But we preach Christ crucified, stumbling block to the Jews, foolishness to the Greeks, and Christ to those who are called Jews and Greeks, the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24). Why? - because God’s madness, that is, the cross, which seems madness, is wiser than men: what the wisdom of men could not do, the cross did and saved man, and what the strength of men could not do, the power of the cross did. Therefore, Christ, in order to appear in the power of God and wisdom, did not call to Him disciples who were wise, or strong, or noble, but God chose the weak, weak and humiliated in the world, as the divine Paul says (1 Cor 1:27-28). It is this height of wisdom and depth of knowledge that constitute the two ends of the cross, its height and depth, that is, the upper end and the lower; and then there is the length of strength and the breadth of love. Here are the four ends of the cross! This is what Paul meant when he said: that you may be able to understand with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height (Eph. 3:18). Here is the cross of knowledge for you! - And there is another cross, which is called the cross of salvation. Our Lord Jesus Christ describes this cross, saying: I died from the Father - this is the upper end of the cross; and came into the world - this is the lower end of it; I am leaving the world again - this is one end of the diameter of the cross; and I go to the Father (John 16:28), - this is the other end of his breadth. – The third cross of life is the killing of the souls that are on earth, about which Paul speaks: put to death your fishes that are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil lust, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for their sake the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience (Colossians 3:5). When someone cuts off the lusts of his flesh, then what the divine Paul speaks about happens: “as much as the outer man decays, so much the inner man is renewed”; that is, to the extent that a person abandons the lusts of his body, the desires of his soul become stronger. And we need to abandon bodily lusts if we want the desires of the soul to intensify: for a person cannot fulfill both desires; two masters opposing each other will never agree, will never come together. Body and soul are completely opposite; and Paul says: “the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh” (Galatians 5:17). If so, then no one can cope with this duo. About this Christ says: No one can work two masters: either he will love one and hate the other...: you cannot work for God and for mammon (Matthew 6:24). You cannot fulfill the lusts of the flesh and the desires of the soul; You cannot love God and love the body. Just as darkness has no affinity with light, so the deeds of darkness have no affinity with the deeds of light. Darkness is the devil, and light is Christ. So, when someone mortifies his passions, then he will take up the cross of Christ, the cross of life. – There is also a cross: this is the cross of suffering. And one must bear it, sometimes even die for Christ out of love for Him, as did the apostles, martyrs and all those who shed their blood out of love for Christ... -Did you find out how many crosses there are? Now it’s easy to learn how to wear a cross; Yes, this became known to you already from what we said before. However, listen to how Paul teaches to bear the cross. I have been crucified to Christ, and therefore I do not live, but Christ lives in me (Galat. 2:19–20); and one more thing: I always carry the death of the Lord in my body (2 Cor. 4:10). What kind of deadness? - sorrows, persecutions, insults, strangulations, which he endured out of love for Christ. Paul bore such deadness in his body. Paul also forces us to do this when we say: Be imitators of me, just as you were imitators of Christ (1 Cor. 11:1). This is how the cross is worn! But it is not enough to wear a cross: you must also follow Christ. For He is the Good Shepherd. And whoever is a sheep of Christ loves to follow him alone. Therefore, Christ says: If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me: and where I am, there also will My servant be (John 12:26). Every heretic is a follower of the first heresy leader... We alone are Christians from Christ. Let us follow Him, let us listen to His voice like His rams. If we follow others and not Christ, we will get lost, lose the path that is Christ, and suffer the same thing as those who did not follow Christ, but followed in the footsteps of people. If someone says that we too are following in the footsteps of people, i.e. either the fathers of the Church, or the apostles: then let him know that if we follow in the footsteps of the apostles and fathers, then we follow not those who distort the words of the Gospel, not those who wander along a different road than the one Christ pointed out, but those who walked together with Christ, never distorted His words, did not interpret the Gospel as they wanted, and did not invent their own dogmas; we follow not the heretics who wrote new laws, but the apostles who preached the faith of Christ, the fathers who explained and confirmed the preaching of the apostles, and the teachers who strengthened the faith of Christians - the same faith that the apostles preached and the holy fathers and ecumenical councils confirmed. And if we follow such people, then we follow Christ Himself, for He said: “Whatever the apostles bind and loose, that will be bound and loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18); and again: “he who listens to them listens to Christ, and he who rejects them rejects Christ (Luke 10:16). The Holy Fathers not only did not distort the apostolic sermon, but also clarified and confirmed it. So, when they speak in accordance with Christ, then we follow in their footsteps out of necessity, since Christ commanded us to follow them. Therefore, let us run away from all those who do not agree with Christ, and distort the words of the Gospel and the Apostles, as they please and want, and let us look at them as erring heretics, and as members cut off from the Orthodox Church. But let us also, brothers, look after ourselves carefully, lest we be torn away from our Head - Christ, and let us walk the narrow and sorrowful path, bearing the cross as a strong weapon, and there, together with Christ, we will defeat our enemy - the devil, and as soon as we defeat him, we will find the true path of Christ, leading to the kingdom of heaven, which may we be vouchsafed in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Him be glory forever. Amen 22. See “The First Journey of the Most Reverend Porfiry to the Athos Monasteries and Hermitages,” part 2. Appendix to the 2nd section of this part. Moscow, 1881, pp. 324–328. You might be interested in: