Слово на Рождество Христово. (О том, как должно сретать день Рождества Христова). Святого Амвросия, епископа Медиоланского

And coming (wolves) to the church, seeing the Child with Mary, His Matter, and falling down, they worshiped Him: and opening their treasures, they brought Him gifts, evil and frankincense and myrrh (Matthew 2:11). It is well known how great the joy is and how large the gathering of people is on the day when they celebrate the birthday of the king of the earth. Its leaders and commanders, as well as all the warriors, diligently dressed in the best clothes, girded with expensive, shining gold belts, usually then rush in the most brilliant splendor to appear before the face of their king. For they know that the king’s joy will increase when he sees the special beauty of their decoration, and that he will be so much more cheerful the more devotion they show during his triumph (after all, the king, like a person, does not look at the hearts and judges the disposition of those around him by their external actions; therefore, the one who loves the king more, on the day of his triumph, appears to him in more beautiful clothes). Then, since they know that on the day of his birth the king is generous and distributes a lot of favors either to his closest assistants in governing the state, or to those who in his palace are considered insignificant and insignificant people, they first hasten to fill his treasuries with various wealth, so that no matter how much wealth he wishes to distribute, it will not be exhausted from him, and so that his desire to give gifts will sooner cease than his reserves of wealth become depleted. And they do this the more diligently, the more reward they expect in the future for this care. Brothers! If the sons of this age, for the sake of temporary glory and honor, celebrate the birthday of their earthly king with such preparation, then with what care should we celebrate the birthday of our eternal King Jesus Christ, Who, for our zeal for Him, will generously reward us not with temporary glory, but with eternal glory, and will grant us the honor of not an earthly ruler passing on to a successor, but will grant us the dignity of the heavenly kingdom, which has no successor? And what reward will be for us in this kingdom, the Prophet speaks about this like this: eye has not seen, nor ear heard, and the heart of man has not sighed, what God has prepared for those who love Him (Is. 64:4; 1 Cor. 2:9). With what clothes should we adorn ourselves? Speaking here about myself, I mean our souls, since our King Christ demands not the splendor of clothes, but the mood of the souls - he does not look at the decorations of the bodies, but looks at the hearts of those who serve Him - he does not marvel at the shine of the perishable belt that girdles the loins, but admires the spiritual and physical chastity that binds sinful lusts with shame. Therefore, let us strive to appear before Him tested in faith, adorned with mercy, beautiful in our morals and habits. And whoever sincerely loves Christ, let him adorn himself more brightly with the observance of His commandments, so that He can see that we truly believe in Him, since we appear in such splendor during His triumph, and so that He will rejoice the more, the more pure He sees us. Therefore, before the day of His Nativity comes, let us discipline our hearts, clear our conscience, sanctify our spirit, and in purity and immaculateness we will begin to welcome the coming of the all-holy Lord, so that the day of the Nativity of Him Who was born of the Most Pure Virgin may be celebrated by His pure and immaculate servants. And whoever remains unclean and defiled on that day does not honor the coming Nativity of Christ. True, in body he is present at the triumph of the Lord, but in his spirit he is far removed from Christ, for the unclean cannot have communion with the saints, the covetous cannot have communion with the compassionate, the corrupt cannot have communion with the virgin; and if an unworthy person enters into such communication, then the less he knows himself, he causes the greater the insult. Wanting to show himself obliging, he is in fact impudent, like the man mentioned in the Gospel who, having been called to the wedding feast, dared to enter the assembly of the saints without having a wedding garment; and while one shone here with righteousness, another shone with faith, the third shone with chastity, he alone, who had a vicious conscience, in the radiance of all, aroused only disgust with his terrible awe. And the more shone the holiness of the righteous reclining here, the more obvious was the depravity of the sinner, who, perhaps, would not have caused such disgust if he had not appeared in the host of saints. Therefore the king's servants bound his hands and feet, took him and threw him into utter darkness (Matt. 22:11–13), not only because he was a sinner, but also because, being a sinner, he appropriated to himself a reward, a certain holiness. So, brothers, as we celebrate the day of the Nativity of our Lord, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of sins, fill our treasuries with gifts of various kinds, so that on that holy day there will be something to comfort strangers, ease the sorrows of widows, and clothe the poor. For will it be good if in the same house, among the slaves of one master, one will have fun, dressed in silk clothes, and another will mourn, walking in rags - one will be satiated with food, and the other will endure cold and hunger - one will suffer from yesterday's intoxication, and this one from yesterday's fasting, due to lack of food? And what will be the effect of our prayer when we ask to deliver us from the evil one, but we ourselves do not want to treat our brothers with mercy and love? Let us imitate the Lord. If He was pleased to make the poor, together with us, participants in heavenly grace, then why cannot they participate with us in earthly well-being? Brothers in the sacraments should not be strangers to each other in their means of living; In addition, we more accurately acquire intercessors for ourselves before the Lord when, with our support, we feed those who bring thanks to God for this. The poor person, by blessing the Lord, also benefits the one with whose assistance the Lord is blessed. And as Scripture says: woe to the man through whom “the name of the Lord is blasphemed.” (Rom. 2:24), this is what it says: “Peace be to that man through whom the name of the Lord our Savior is blessed.” And how great is the merit of a benefactor, when in his home he provides help alone, but in church he begs the Lord through the lips of many, and what he himself would not sometimes dare to ask from God, then, through the intercession of many (who have received a benefit from him), he unexpectedly receives. Glorifying such our help, the blessed Apostle says: (in the Lord) we trust that He will also deliver (us): to those who help you also through prayer, so that from many people the gift in us may be given thanks by many for us (2 Cor. 1:10, 11), and in another place: that the offering may be acceptable and sanctified by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:16). Amen 49. See Ambrosii episcopi Mediolanensis opera, vol. II, pag. 239–240. Basilene. 1567. ann. Comp. "Christian Reading", 1835, part IV, pp. 235–241; "Sunday Reading" ХVII (1853–54), 345–347 pp. You might be interested in: