Слово 42

(1) What is the mystery of the Resurrection of Christ? How does the Resurrection of Christ happen in us, and how does the resurrection of the soul happen with this? – Said on Tuesday of the second week of Easter. 1. My beloved brothers! Easter has come, the joyful day of the Resurrection of Christ, the wine of all joy, visiting us once a year, and for those who understand the mystery of the Resurrection, happening every day and even continuously, it has come and filled our hearts with all joy and inexplicable consolation, not only because it stopped the work of all-honorable fasting, but even more so because it showed our souls perfected by that work, and called all the faithful to peace and thanksgiving, as you can see. So, let us give thanks, brethren, to Christ the Lord, who made us worthy to sail across the sea of ​​fasting and led us with joy into the harbor of the Resurrection; let us give thanks to all, both those who completed the course of fasting well, in deeds of virtue, with zeal and a warm disposition, and those who were found not so courageous and were cowardly in their exploits, due to weakness of heart and spiritual corruption. For He also gives crowns and rewards to zealous ascetics, even much greater than they should; He again shows condescension to the weakest, as if he is merciful and humane, because he looks more at the disposition and will of our souls than at the bodily labors with which we exercise and strive in virtue, either more because of greater zeal, or less in comparison with the zealous because of the weakness of the body - and thus, according to the zeal of each, he distributes rewards and gifts of the Holy Spirit, and or makes someone for the zealous. exploits of the famous and glorious, or leaves him still in humiliation, as one who needs even greater feats for complete purification. But, if you consider this blessed, let us think and study more precisely what is the mystery of the Resurrection of Christ our God, which mysteriously happens in us if we desire it, and how Christ is buried within us, as in a tomb, how he unites with our souls, resurrects in us and, together with Him, resurrects us. Christ our God, after being hanged on the Cross and nailing the sin of the whole world to it, died and descended into the depths of hell; then, rising from hell, he again entered His immaculate body, and immediately rose from the dead; and then at last ascended into heaven with power and much glory. In the same way, now, when we, leaving this world and worldly vanities, upon confessing the passion of Christ the Lord, enter into the tomb of repentance and humility, He Himself descends from heaven, enters our body, as into a tomb, unites with our souls and resurrects them, dead in sins, and, having resurrected, gives the grace to see the glory of this mysterious Resurrection. Thus, the Resurrection of Christ is also the resurrection of us who have fallen into sin and are dead. The Resurrection and glory of Christ is, as we said, our own resurrection, which happens, is manifested and seen in us through His Resurrection, performed in us by Him. The resurrection of the soul is its unity with life (eating life). For just as a dead body, if it does not accept a living soul inside itself and does not unite with it unmergedly, cannot live alone, by itself, so the soul cannot live a true and eternal life alone, by itself, unless in an ineffable way it unites unmergedly with God. The soul, despite the fact that it is immaterial and immortal by nature, is dead and insensitive before it is united with Christ, before it sees that it has united with Him and has risen, before it knows and feels: since there is no knowledge without vision, nor vision without feeling, that is, first someone sees a thing and, seeing it, he knows, and then he feels. I say this in relation to the spiritual, but in relation to the physical there is a feeling even without vision, as, for example, a blind man, having tripped his foot on a stone, feels pain. In the spiritual, if the mind does not come to a state of contemplation in order to contemplate what is beyond understanding, then it cannot feel the mysterious influence from that influence. So, the one who says that he feels the spiritual before he comes into the state of contemplating what is above the mind, words and thoughts is like a blind man who feels the good and evil that he experiences, but does not know what is under his hands and feet, and what can live or kill him, because he does not have eyes to see and know it. Why does it happen so many times that he raises a stick to hit an enemy, but hits a friend, despite the fact that the enemy is standing in front of him and laughing at him! Many, many people believe in the Resurrection of Christ, but there are few who truly understand it. Those who do not see the Resurrection of Christ in this way cannot worship Jesus Christ as the Lord. Why does the sacred song, which we often have in our mouths, say: The Resurrection of Christ, without believing, so what? Having seen the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the Holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless one. How does the Holy Spirit move us to sing: Having seen the Resurrection of Christ, that is, that we saw the Resurrection of Christ - when we did not see it, since Christ was resurrected more than a thousand years earlier, and even then no one saw how He was resurrected? Doesn't the church song want to teach us to tell lies?! It won't happen! Stop slandering! On the contrary, she bequeathed to us to proclaim with these words the perfect truth, recalling the Resurrection of Christ, which happens in each of us, the faithful, and is not simple, but luminous, shining with the radiance of His Divinity and incorruptibility. The luminous presence of the Spirit indicates the Resurrection of the Lord that took place in us, and even more so, it gives us the grace to see the risen Christ the Lord Himself. That is why we sing: God is the Lord and appear to us; and, wanting to show his second coming, we add after that: blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. So, in those in whom the risen Christ appeared, He is of course both spiritually visible and seen with spiritual eyes. For when Christ comes into us by the grace of the Holy Spirit, he raises us from the dead, as we were before, and gives us life, and makes us see Himself alive in ourselves, immortal and incorruptible. And not only this, but He gives us such grace that we clearly recognize how He resurrects us and glorifies us with Himself, as all Divine Scripture attests. These are the divine sacraments of Christians! Such is the hidden power of our faith, which the unbelievers, those of little faith, or, better said, half-faiths who have half faith, do not see and cannot see. Unbelievers, people of little faith and half-believers are those who do not show faith by their actions. Without works, even demons believe and confess Christ as God exists. We know that demons often cried out that You are the Son of God (Mark 3:11). At other times they shouted about the Apostles: these men are the servants of the Most High God (Acts 16:17). And they were servants of Christ. But such faith is of no help either to demons or to people. And there is no benefit from such faith, because, as the Apostle says, it is dead. Faith without works is dead (James 2:20), just as, on the contrary, faith promotes works (James 2:22). Why is such faith dead? Because he does not have within himself the life-giving God, who does not acquire into himself Christ, who said: He who loves Me will keep My commandments... and I and the Father will come and make an abode with him (John 14:23), so that by our presence we can raise from the dead the one who acquires such an active faith, revive him and let him see Christ Himself, risen in him and resurrected him. This is why faith without works is dead, or, better said, those who have faith without works are dead. True faith in God is always alive and living, and gives life to those who approach it and accept it with good will. Even before the actual fulfillment of Christ’s commandments, she brought many from death to the stomach and showed them Christ and God. And if after that they had remained in His commandments and kept them even to death, then they would have been preserved by these commandments the same as they were in the beginning by faith alone. But as they changed in their dispositions and fell again into their former sins, they lost their faith and righteously lost the true spiritual wealth that is Christ. That we too may not suffer, I ask you, to observe, to the best of our ability, the commandments of Christ, in order to be worthy of both present and future blessings, that is, the sight of Christ the Lord Himself. May we all benefit from the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. Amen. You might be interested in: