В) О Лице Иисуса Христа и о совершенном Им деле спасения.

The essence of the dogma of the incarnation of the Son of God After the people have been sufficiently prepared to receive the Redeemer,” the new Adam comes forth from the virgin land. The woman, the source of the curse, wears out the dew of blessing. The true Noah appears (Gen. 5:29)... Rootless Melchizedek (Heb. 7:3), born without a mother, born without a father, comes to inherit the kingdom and the eternal priesthood. The long night of fear and universal expectation is finally over; and the morning light penetrates the darkness of the Old Testament sanctuary, open not so much to the daily as to the eternal East. Heavenly manna pours out from the stash that hid it. The rod of Jesse vegetates instead of the withering rod of Aaron" 566 . “According to the will and predestination of God the Father, the Son of God, consubstantial with the Father, descends to earth, without leaving heaven; under the shadow of the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son are of one essence, enters the womb of the Virgin, purified by the Spirit (stichir. on Blagov.) Saints; accepts the human soul and body and unites with Himself the God-man Jesus Christ into a single Person, preserving the properties and actions of the Divinity and humanity unchanged in seven unions, in order to thus be born into our human life, to pass through its degrees and states and through death itself, and all humanity, fallen by sin and gravitating towards hell, but clinging to the incarnate with co-naturalness and faith, on the shoulders of Divine power to lift up and exalt higher than from where it fell - into the heavenly eternal kingdom of God" 567. This is the essence of the doctrine of the atonement. Jesus Christ – God and man Our Redeemer “is God, for our re-creation can be accomplished by the power of the one Creator; but together also man, so that we may safely and boldly approach Him” 568. “In order to recognize the Lord Jesus as the Savior of the world, who has sinned against God and was condemned to death by God, this requires complete confirmation that He is the Only Begotten Son of God and the true God” 569 ... “The Holy Scripture testifies a hundredfold and incessantly to the Divinity of Jesus Christ” 570. The Divinity shone clearly throughout the life of Christ 571 . “The birth of Jesus Christ is marked by a series of incidents in which, together with the deepest humiliation, His Divine glory is revealed”... The Evangelist John “through the lips of the greatest of those born of women proclaimed the eternity of Christ and His immeasurable greatness” (John 1:27) 572. The power of the Divinity of Christ was manifested, among other things, in the calling of Peter and Andrew, James and John (Matthew 4). Nothing other than the Divine can be “the power that, in a few sounds of the word of Jesus, acts so suddenly, so supernaturally, so victoriously over the strongest natural affections, feelings, and ideas” 573. During his call to the apostleship, Christ also demonstrated Divine omniscience 574. He showed the same property when healing the paralytic 575. “In response to the question of John’s disciples: Is He really the expected Messiah, Jesus pointed to his miracles” (Luke 7:18–22) 576. The miracles of Jesus Christ, proving that He is the Messiah, also confirm His Divinity; because the true Messiah must be God. But “miracles, while demonstrating the presence of Divine power, do not decisively demonstrate the Divine essence in the person of the miracle worker, because they can also be performed by humans, using water and the power of God” 577. “In fact, the miracles that the Lord Jesus performed on others during His earthly life, even the most wondrous of them, the resurrection of the dead, were also performed by the Prophets, although not with the same authority as He” (1 Kings 17:21, John 11:43). Therefore, to verify the Divinity of Jesus Christ, some amazing miracle was needed. Such a miracle really happened. “The strongest evidence of the Deity of Jesus Christ is in His resurrection. He himself gave this thought” (John 2:18–19). “It has never been, and cannot be imagined, possible for a person to resurrect himself, and therefore by the self-resurrection of the Lord Jesus the most perfect confirmation is given that He is the true God, ruling (over) life and death, and the Divine Savior, having the power to resurrect all people killed by sins.” The miracle of the resurrection, as the most important, is attested by incorruptible eyewitnesses more than other miracles 578. So, Christ Jesus, in the image of God and by admiration is not equal to God (Phil. 2:6), “that is, to be and be considered equal to God was not (for Him) the stealing of another’s dignity, since He is the essential image of God” 579. Ap.'s words Paul reveal to us another new feature in the face of Christ, who, as the Divine Person, must be one of the Persons of the Holy Trinity. As the image of God, He must be the second Person of the Holy Trinity. This can be confirmed by a lot of evidence. How “the Messenger and Son of God” John the Baptist testified about Christ (John 3:21. 36.) 580. “The apostles confessed Him as Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 14:13–36). “During the miracles (which accompanied Christ’s death on the cross), some of the guardians of His body recognized Him as the Son of God.” Jesus Christ Himself spoke of Himself as the Son of God. So, after healing the paralytic, “defending his deed, Christ declared himself the Son of God and the Judge of the world (John 5 ch.).” In the house of Caiaphas, not fearing the consequences of his confession, Christ confessed Himself as the Son of God 581. Earlier, He clearly testified about Himself: I and the Father are one (John 10:30). “The word (of Christ) was firm, like the word of Truth itself, and was confirmed by His miracles.” But He Himself “also recognized that for human identification one’s own testimony about oneself is not sufficient” (John 5:31). And so “by what overabundant measure this deficiency is made up for. God the Father... moved from His unknown height, bowed the heavens, clothed His unapproachable light in a bright cloud accessible to contemplation, reduced His infinite knowledge and revelation of the infinite into the likeness of a human voice, and He Himself preached the consubstantial Divinity of the slave form bearing Jesus, calling Him His beloved Son (Matthew 3:17, 17:5): for The beloved son in sacred language means the only begotten Son (Gen.22:2. 12.16; Judg.11:34; Jer.6:26; Am.8:10; Zech.12:10); and the only begotten Son can be no other than one in essence with His Father” 582. There are other places in St. Scriptures in which Jesus Christ is called the Only Begotten Son of God the Father; “for example, in the following sayings of the Evangelist: The Word became flesh and dwelt in us, and we saw His glory, the glory of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14); No one has seen God, nowhere: the Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, is the one who confesses (–18).” From these words of the Evangelist one can see that the Word, which has existed from eternity in the closest communion with God, which Himself is God, became flesh, that the eternal Word became incarnate (1 Tim. 3:16), that “the Son of God took on human flesh, except for sin, and became man, without ceasing to be God 583. “So that no one thinks that the Son of God took on one flesh or body, but so that they recognize in Him a perfect man, consisting of body and soul,” - for this “in the Creed, after it is said about the Son of God that He became incarnate, it is also added that He became man.” “There is evidence of this from Holy Scripture. The Apostle Paul writes: there is one Advocate for God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5)”; “the essential image of God”, equal to God, diminished Himself, taking on the form of a servant, becoming in the likeness of humanity, and being found in the image like a man (Phil. 2:7), “that is, he truly and completely took upon Himself the small and slave image of man, just as immutably and unchangeably the great and glorious image of the Lord and God was and is in Him 584. Ap. Paul was so convinced of the humanity of Christ that in the whole world he counts only two people, of whom he calls one first, and the other second and last. He says: the first man from the earth has a ring; the second man is the Lord from heaven (1 Cor. 15:47; cf. 45)" 585. The meaning of the hypostatic union of Divinity and humanity in the Person of Jesus Christ So, in Christ “there are inseparably and unmerged two natures, Divine and human, and, according to these natures, two wills.” With two natures in Him, “one Person, God and man together, in one word: the God-man” 586. So, the Word co-originating with the Father “becomes closer to us than to the Angels; because the angelic nature only approaches Him, and the human nature is in the unity of His Hypostasis” (Heb. 2:16) 587. This is the method that “God’s inexhaustible means of mercy” has determined from time immemorial for the salvation of man. “This is no longer the approach of only the Divinity to man, but the union of the Divinity with humanity in the Person of the God-man Jesus Christ, in whom, according to the Apostle’s explanation, lives every fulfillment of the physical Divinity (Col. 2:9).” “The highest spirituality dwells in Christ and not only draws closer to the lower spirituality of the human soul, but penetrates, embraces and fills the very physicality of His humanity with Divine powers.” “And since the humanity perceived and deified by Him, like humanity, is one in nature with the entire human race, then it is open to all people and an inexhaustible source of Divine grace, life-giving, all-healing, saving power” 588. In the God-Man, “the edges of the abyss that separated sinner man from God converge, and man’s original communion with God is restored to greater than its former perfection” 589 . The birth of Jesus Christ, alien to original sin. His Conception by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Jesus Christ is the only person in the world. The more exceptional such a person is, the more persistently the question arises about his origin. This or that solution to this question should influence the clarification of the matter for which Christ appeared in the world. The origin of the Redeemer must be extraordinary 590 because the ordinary birth of man from man necessarily produced people infected with sin from which there was no strength to free themselves. Therefore, the wisdom of God removed Jesus from original sin: Christ was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the influx of the Holy Spirit upon Her. Before the conception of Jesus in the womb of the Virgin, the heavenly Messenger comes to Nazareth. After a joyful greeting, the Angel “foretells (Mary) the conception in the womb, the birth of the Son, His saving name, His Divine dignity, a miraculous reign, an endless kingdom.” “Love for virginity draws a short word from Her heart: how will this happen if I don’t know a husband? In order to correctly understand this word, it is necessary, firstly, to assume, as tradition says, that Mariam had previously committed herself with a vow to preserve virginity throughout her life: for not being bound by this vow and betrothed to her husband, what reason would she have to ask about the possibility of giving birth to a son: what will this be? Secondly, one must take into account the law of Moses (Num. 30), according to which the vow of a virgin or wife could be destroyed by one word of the father or spouse and only then became firm when the father or spouse heard about it and did not reject it. From this consideration it must be concluded, also in accordance with tradition, that the vow of virginity, which, in response to the prediction of the birth of the Son, forced Mary to say: what will this be? was already known to Joseph and recognized by him and that he betrothed the Most Pure Virgin to himself in order, under the name of a husband, to be the guardian of Her virginity, who needed to hide under the outer cover of the marriage union in such a people who, attracted by the visible blessing of marriage, did not comprehend the heights of virginity.” “Mariami’s renunciation of her earthly husband gives the Angel the opportunity to announce to her the dignity of the Bride of God, to which She is predestined: the Holy Spirit will come upon You, and the power of the Most High will overshadow You. The Annunciation is accepted; The angel departed; The Word became flesh; The virgin conceived; there were signs of conception: having been found in the womb of the Holy Spirit.” Conception from the Holy Spirit was confirmed to the perplexed Joseph" (Matthew 1:20) 591. Thus the prophecy of Isaiah about the birth of Immanuel from the Virgin was fulfilled 592. If the Virgin conceived from the Holy Spirit without a husband, then it should be said with the Angel: by the same thing that is born is holy (Luke 1:35) 593. High moral dignity and purity of the Virgin Mary The influx of the Holy Spirit suggests another reason for the holiness of the conception and birth of the God-Man, namely the purity of the Virgin Mary and Her high moral dignity. “If the Virgin Mary was awarded the highest election of God, then reason why this was done? Will you say: by the special grace of God? – I don’t argue, but reason further: can the grace of God be in conflict with the truth of God? - No, without a doubt... So, if the Virgin Mary was awarded the highest election by the grace of God, then equally and by the truth of God. She was exalted above all by election, because above all she appeared worthy of election, by Her spiritual qualities and dispositions and, by the way, by the purest virginity with which She, like the sun, rose, obviously, above all that was ancient, and indeed above all the world to come.”594 “Her embarrassment at the high Archangel’s greeting was the movement of a deeply humble soul. Holding this confusion in silent reflection signified wisdom, firmness and calm greatness of spirit... In a decisive saying: behold the handmaid of the Lord: be unto me according to thy word,” the obedience of faith expressed itself. If, as the Apostle teaches, Christ dwells in the hearts by faith (Eph. 3:17), already approaching humanity and having become part of it through the incarnation, then the most excellent and strongest faith was needed for the Virgin Mary, so that initially the Son of God might dwell in Her through the incarnation, so not yet close to humanity both because of the height of his Divinity, inaccessible to any creature, and because of the mediastinum that sin has created between Divinity and humanity"! 595 In view of the high moral perfections of the Blessed Virgin, “The Archangel called Her grace-filled, that is, filled with the high gifts of God, exceeding natural kindness, and blessed among women, which, according to the property of the sacred language, meant: blessed above all the wives of the entire human race” 596. In explaining the purity of the Most Blessed Mary, alien to ancestral sin, it must finally be said that “before she became the Mother of God, according to the explanation of the Church Theologian (John verse, on Blagov.), she was purified by the Spirit, so that She would be a worthy vessel for the incarnation of the Son of God” 597. Thus, both the moral dignity and purity of the Virgin Mary speak for the fact that what is born of Her is holy. Virgin Mary – Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Although Jesus Christ was born from the Most Holy Virgin not according to His Divinity, which is eternal, but according to humanity, She was worthily (should be) called Theotokos because the one born of Her at the very conception and birth from Her was, as he always is, the true God.” The name of the Mother of God “is taken from the following words of the Prophet Isaiah: behold, the Virgin will be with child and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel, as it is said: God is with us (Is. 7:14). Righteous Elizabeth also calls the Blessed Virgin the Mother of the Lord. And this name is equivalent to the name of the Mother of God. Where do I get this from, that the Mother of my Lord may come to me (Luke 1:34),” said Elizabeth, “and thus proclaimed the incarnation of the Son of God as already accomplished.” “In terms of the quality of the Mother of the Lord, the Virgin Mary surpasses in grace and proximity to God, and consequently in dignity, every created being, and therefore the Orthodox Church honors her above the Cherubim and Seraphim.” Since the Virgin Mary “was and continues to be a Virgin before birth, during the birth and after the birth of the Savior, therefore she is called the Ever-Virgin” 598. The Greatness of the Face of the God-Man and His Incomprehensibility for Our Reason From what has been said about the Face of Jesus Christ, one can see how high it is. Christ is “the Son of God, the radiance of the glory of the Father and the image of His Person (Heb. 1:3); He is the Son of man, who sincerely partook of flesh and blood (Heb. 2:14); He is God in order to have the power to bear human infirmities; He is a man in order to make men partakers of the Divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4); He is the son of Adam, so that he may be the second Adam of the new children of God; - Abraham, in order to present Himself in the image of Isaac as the purest, most perfect sacrifice to the Lord; - David, to inherit and restore the kingdom of grace" 599. As high as the Face of the God-Man is, it is equally incomprehensible. No one can comprehend the secrets of the incarnation. “Before the immeasurable height and depth of the mystery, thought loses its wings. Contemplation faints before the power of the invisible light, like the bodily eye before the visible sun. The word becomes numb before the immensity of contemplation. What mind will penetrate into the eternal council, in the sanctuary of the Trinitarian Deity, inaccessible to creation? What kind of hearing will accommodate, in response to the permission of God the Father, the permission word of God the Word, which, however, once touched the ear of one of the Prophets: Behold, I come to do Your will, O God (Ps. 39:9; Heb. 10:9)? How were the heavens not shaken and crushed by the descent to earth of one who lives above the heavens and cannot be contained by the heavens? How is it that the earth, cursed in the deeds of the first man and desecrated for many centuries by the sins of the human race, was not consumed by fire when God descended on it, Who is fire that consumes unclean things (Heb. 12:29)? How is the womb of the Virgin, which received the fire of the Divine, not scorched? When and how did the Holy Spirit prepurify her for this and raise her to a purity worthy of direct contact with the purity of the Divine? How, above the laws of nature, was born in her a new Adam, Who is the Lord from heaven, and the Lord from heaven did not disdain to put on the form of a servant, in the natural image of the Old Adam, who is dust from the earth, going into the earth? 600 Who will understand the combination of opposites that is seen in the Face of the God-Man? He is at the same time “newborn - and existing before all ages; the baby is the father of the next century; The Son of Man, but the Son of the Virgin, now and hereafter the true Son of the Virgin, and now and ever and unto ages of ages also the true Son of God; recently among earthly creatures, but He is the One by whom in the beginning everything was created, both heavenly and earthly; Today he is silent among the dumb, but he speaks ever and bears all things with the word of his power” 601. But “let us block off the hearing, the mind, and the heart from the inquisitive spirit; Let us honor with silent reverence the Divine mystery, into which even the Angels only wish to delve. .. Do not seek those who are superior to you, and do not test those who are strong for yourself (Sir.3:21), teaches the wise. No small wisdom is hidden in one who calmly remains in ignorance of the unseen, out of piety and humility” 602. The ministry performed by Jesus Christ for the salvation of people Without going into the study of the inaccessible and without neglecting the knowledge available, we can “understand Jesus Christ (as) the only begotten Son of God, Consubstantial with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, the true God, omnipotent, all-good, all-wise, and nourish our faith with the confidence that He, as omnipotent, is completely able, as all-good, is completely willing, as all-wise, is ready to arrange perfect means for us both timely and eternal bliss" 603. How did He arrange for us eternal bliss? To save fallen man, Christ performed the prophetic, high priestly and royal ministry. This is clear from His very name: “Christ” means the anointed one. This is how Kings, High Priests and Prophets were called from ancient times 604. Prophetic ministry of Jesus Christ. High dogmatic teaching of the New Testament “After considering the various meanings of the Hebrew word by which a prophet is called, we can actually call him an interpreter of God’s secrets 605. Christ was indeed “the Messenger of our confession (Heb. 3:1), who, without a doubt, is higher than all the messengers of God, not only earthly ones, such as Moses and the Prophets, but also heavenly ones, such as the Angels, who are sent to serve for those who want to inherit salvation (Heb. 1:14); who proclaimed the Divine confession of the Divinity, revealed secrets hidden for centuries and unknown to the Angel, taught the most perfect teaching of life and salvation” 606. “The teaching brought to earth by the incarnation of the Son of God and more revealed to the understanding of believers by the descent of the Holy Spirit, contains a more definite concept of the Trinitarian being of God. It represents the event of prophecy, the truth of prototypes, redemption already accomplished, grace in its universality, the fulfilled promise of the kingdom of Faith and the continuation of the promise of the kingdom of Glory. Jesus Christ “confessed God, not only as Creator and Almighty, but, what is especially wonderful and desirable, as a Father who has mercy, who loves and saves” (John 3:16). Explaining saving truths was part of the purpose of the incarnation of the Son of God. He Himself says about Himself that “For this purpose He was born and for this purpose He came into the world, that He might testify to the truth (John 18:37)” 608. In addition to high dogmatic teaching, Christ gave people a perfect moral law. The moral law of the Old and New Testaments is the same. “The true spirit of the Old Testament was the spirit of love”; “The stiff-neckedness of the Jews clothed him in slavery.” “I bear witness to this by the very commandments of the Law of Moses. Love the Lord your God, he writes.” But the Jews “for so long did not understand the power (of this commandment), for so long they crushed their teeth on the hard bark of writing and did not know how to taste the sweet grain contained in it - that when Love Itself appeared on earth, She found the commandment of love completely forgotten and preached it as a new one: a new commandment I give to you, that you love (John 13:34); “As the Father loved Me, and I loved you, remain in My love (John 15:9)” 609. The law of love is called new because Christ “exalted it in understanding, turning it primarily to the spirit from writing and from the external to the internal.” Thus, “the commandments of Moses forbade murder, adultery, perjury, insult: the Lord forbade anger, and fornication, and a just oath without need, and resistance to the offender, commanding instead to love enemies,” “because all are the creation of one God and came from one man” 610 .... Christ “lightened (the law) in application to life, by the power of revealed grace, according to the most perfect the way of His life; delighted him in fulfillment with the spirit of sonhood and freedom from curse, fear and slavery” 611. This is how one can express the essence of the New Testament moral law. “You need to love yourself only for God, and partly for your neighbors, you need to love your neighbors only for God, and you should love God for yourself and most of all. Love for oneself must be sacrificed for love for one’s neighbors, and love for oneself and one’s neighbors must be sacrificed for love for God (John 15:13; Matthew 10:37)” 612. Christ not only exalted the spirit of the commandments of Moses, but at the same time indicated the highest motives for fulfilling them. “The Old Testament, as a preparatory one for Christian perfection, spoke openly about earthly rewards, because, applied to the concepts of the people to whom it was given, it necessarily had to clothe spiritual contemplations of heavenly bliss in sensual images of earthly well-being. The New Testament, as revealing the perfection of the kingdom of heaven, in its spiritual power and high purity, usually indicates heavenly rewards to its ascetics and sufferers, and not only neglects earthly rewards as unimportant, but sometimes even considers them to be a loss. They will accept their reward, says the Lord about hypocrites who seek human glory through virtue: that is, they received their reward on earth, from men, and therefore will not receive it in heaven, from God. The Ancient Law caressed with earthly well-being: you will be blessed, you will live long on earth; The Gospel threatens earthly well-being as dangerous, and despises this well-being as a guarantee of heavenly bliss” (John 12:25) 613. The teaching of Christ in general, and moral teaching in particular, is remarkable in its form of expression. “Not only the Jews and the Jerusalemites left the city, the temple, the priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, and came to an empty place to listen to the Son of Tecton, about whom they do not know what the message is of this book, without having studied (John 7:15); but also the inhabitants of the country of Tire and Sidon, this mixture of Samaritans and pagans, people, as the Prophet describes them, sitting in darkness, rose up from their darkness and came to where the Light appeared, shining in the revelation of tongues (Luke 2:32)” 614. From this one can understand “how wondrous power dwells in the word” of Christ, “to whom man spoke like nothing else” 615. He taught as one who had authority. “He says to us: His words are spirit and life (John 6:63). Commands: and with the commandment unites bliss and the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3). He commands us to believe: and promises: believe in Me, even if you die, you will live (John 11:25). Calls to follow Him: and promises: where I am, there My servant will also be (John 12:26)” 616. The power of the word of Christ was not the power of a despot ruler, but the moral power of a meek teacher. “Being meek and lowly in heart, He offered His teaching not by commanding, but by pleasing those who would freely accept and implement it.” “He does not restrict the student’s freedom with strict commands. Does not intimidate with threats. Does not lead down the dark paths of speculation. Indicates what everyone is looking for - bliss; then he points out the path to bliss: and leaves it to the person himself to decide what to do” 617. All this is so simple that “what is hidden from the wise and prudent is revealed even to infants. What is more mysterious than bliss, which everyone is looking for everywhere and no one can find anywhere? What is more incomprehensible than the kingdom of God, because everything of God is incomprehensible? Is it therefore simple to explain the way to achieve bliss and the kingdom of God? On the contrary, what is more familiar and simpler than the poverty that we meet among ourselves everywhere? And with it the unparalleled Teacher explains the secret of how to achieve bliss and the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20). He presented His teaching according to the degree of understanding of the listeners, and, as they improved in the comprehension of heavenly teaching, He revealed it more and more 618. The High Priestly Ministry of Jesus Christ. The cross He bore As a Prophet, Christ communicated to people the sublime teaching of faith and morals. But this could not end the great work of man’s salvation. Man needed to make amends for the sin that offended the truth of God, he needed to suffer punishment for sin in order to be reconciled with God and live in communion with Him. This sacrifice for man's sin was made by the incarnate Son of God. He is “the Holy Hierarch of our confession (Heb. 3:1), the great Hierarch, not according to the order of Aaron, temporary, but according to the order of Melchizedek, eternal - He offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins on the altar of the cross, and with this one offering made all those who are sanctified forever (Heb. 10:14) 619. The cross, which the Son of God incarnate took and bore, belonged to men 620. In its beginning it was made from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The first man thought to taste only its fruit, but barely touched it when the entire weight of the forbidden tree, with all its branches and shakes, fell on the back of the violator of the Lord’s commandment. Darkness, sorrow, horror, labor, illness, death, poverty, humiliation, the enmity of all nature, in a word - all the destructive forces seemed to burst out of the fatal tree and took up arms against it; and the son of wrath would have plunged forever into hell, if Mercy, according to the eternal advice, had not stretched out Her hand to him and kept him in his fall. The Son of God took upon himself the burden that oppresses man, took upon himself his cross and left him only to adhere to this cross. Who will weigh its weight? Who can count the diverse multitude of crosses from which he, like drops of the sea, is made up?... The whole life of Jesus was one cross: and no one touched his burden, except to burden it” (Is. 63:3). Christ took upon Himself the heavy cross of suffering from the very moment of His incarnation. “The Divine unites with humanity, the eternal with the temporal, the all-perfect with the limited, the uncreated with its creation, the self-existent with the insignificant: what an immense and incomprehensible cross is already made up of this! The God-man, whose descent the heavens glorify, appears here in the most humiliated age of humanity, in the smallest city of the smallest of the kingdoms of the earth; there is neither home nor cradle for Him; besides poor parents, barely a few shepherds are involved in His birth 621. They count eight days of the New Being for the Beginningless One and enslave Him to the bloody law of circumcision. The Lord of the church is brought into the church to place Him before the Lord, and He who came to redeem the world is redeemed by two chicks (Luke 2:22.24). Then, while He is still silent, the weapon of the word of the cross is already sharpened against Him in the mouth of Simeon, and the heart of His Mother passes through (Luke 2:34.35). Some foreigners come to exalt Him with the name of the king of the Jews; but this small glory arouses the anger of the king of the Jews against Him, makes Him the innocent guilt of bloodshed and forces Him to withdraw from the people of God into the country of idolaters. The all-encompassing Wisdom of God does not gain wisdom from God and men except with age. The Source and Giver of grace receives grace (Luke 2:52). For thirty years the Lord of heaven and the King of glory hid from heaven and earth in deep obedience to two mortals whom He was worthy to call His parents. What did Jesus then not endure from the day of His entry into solemn service for the salvation of the human race! The Holy One of God, who is coming to sanctify people, together with sinners seeking purification, bows under the hand of man and receives baptism: truly baptism, that is, immersion, is not so much in the waters as in the abundance of the cross! He who searches hearts and bellies is himself brought into temptation. The bread of heaven is given over to earthly greed. He, before whom every knee must bow, in heaven, on earth and under the earth, allows the prince of the underworld to demand worship from Himself (Matthew 4:9). The Intercessor of God and men reveals Himself as a man; but they either don’t recognize Him or don’t want to recognize Him. His teaching is considered blasphemous (Matthew 9:3), His deeds are considered lawless (John 9:16), His miracles are considered to be Beelzebub (Matthew 12:24). If He works miracles and worships on the Sabbath, He is called a Sabbath breaker. If He converts the lost and accepts the repentant, He is blamed as a friend of sinners (Matthew 11:19). There they are looking to catch Him with a word (Matthew 22:5); here they lead Him to the top of the mountain in order to cast Him down (Luke 4:29); someday they will throw stones on Him (John 8:59); Some people do not allow Him to bow His head (Matthew 8:20). He resurrects the dead; - envious people conspire to kill Him Himself (John 11:43–6.53). The people at the gates of Jerusalem welcome Him as king; - all earthly authorities rise up to condemn Him as a criminal. In the chosen host of His friends He sees an ungrateful traitor and the first instrument of His death; the best of them serve Him as a temptation, thinking about human things while He goes to the work of God (Matthew 16:23)... The cross will follow Jesus to Tabor itself, and the word of the cross is not separated from the word of glorification... For a long time Jesus bore His cross, as if not feeling its weight; Finally he was given over to him like a lion, so that he might break all his bones (Is. 38:13). Let us follow Him with Peter and the sons of Zebedee to the heirloom of Gethsemane and penetrate with a watchful eye into the darkness of His last night on earth. He no longer hides the cross that crushed His soul: My soul is sorrowful even to death (Matthew 26:38). And prayerful conversation with the Consubstantial Father does not free Him, but holds Him under the weight of suffering: My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass by from Me: yet not as I will, but as You will (Matt. 26:39). He who bears all kinds of power through His power now needs strengthening from the Angel (Luke 22:43)” 622. The suffering of Christ did not end there. The student betrays his Teacher with a flattering kiss. The bound Christ is abandoned by His closest followers. In the house of Annas and Caiaphas, “he is interrogated by denunciations of false witnesses, and after confessing himself as the Son of God, being found worthy of death, he suffers various insults. At this time, Peter, who dared to see, but not share the fate of his Teacher, is denied Him three times in the courtyard of the Bishop. "... Next - the trial of Pilate, of Herod and again of Pilate, where the people demand death for Jesus and freedom for the thief Barabbas, where "the judge beats Jesus, crowns him with thorns, clothes him in purple, and shows the people in this shameful form," and finally commands kill Jesus. “About midday, being led to the place of execution, Jesus faints under the weight of the cross”... “At Golgotha, some, out of love for the dying man, bring Him, as usual, wine mixed with sama; but His scoffers mix it with bile. Ascended to the cross, Jesus sees the swearing people and the soldiers sharing His vestments... He hears blasphemy from one of the thieves crucified with Him... Finally, calling His Father, he tasted the heart, displaced with gall, and exclaiming: “Having been accomplished, He commends His spirit to God”... 623 The sinlessness of Jesus Christ That Christ laid upon Himself the cross of the sinful human race is proven, first of all, by the fact that the Redeemer did not have His own sins, for which He would have to undergo the greatest suffering. He had no original sin. His life was also free from sin. “Christ do not commit sin (1 Peter 2:22). No matter how much the prince of darkness proclaimed through the mouths of his like-minded people that this man is a sinner (John 9:24), in order to obscure the innocence desired for us, this Divine holiness - it was shone with the light of midday by the very condemnation of Jesus. Laughing at the vacillations of those rebelling against Him, Providence commanded one from among them to preach about Him what His followers did not believe: His teaching, His life, His signs. Pilate, at the very time when he gives in to the cries of the bloodthirsty crowd: crucify, crucify Him (John 19:15), he himself does not cease to cry: I find no guilt in Him (John 18:38)” 624. While Pilate was drinking Jesus and beating Him (John 19:1), “the increasing sufferings revealed more and more what was pure and holy in this Sufferer; every wound inflicted on Him was a new opening of the light hidden in Him: for soon His tormentor again becomes His defender, and in order to stop the lips of slanderers, to enlighten those deceived by slanderers, to change the opinion of almost an entire people, He does not look for means of persuasion anywhere except the Face of Jesus himself. He again proclaims His innocence, and when proof of this innocence is expected, the judge only points to the accused: Behold the man! behold He whom your false witnesses represent as unworthy to live among men! the surest evidence of him is found in himself. Watch and judge! look at what state He is in, how He looks at His enemies, how He accepts His suffering.” “The silence that Christ maintains between the exclamations of the defender and between the cries of slanderers and slanderers, this deep gaze, through human turmoil immersed in the fate of God, these motionless members, so to speak, resting in suffering - all this presents us with the image of a man of the highest patience, courageous, meek, humble, invincible in love by any universal enmity, invincible in peace with everyone, a dispassionate, pure, holy man, and - to unite these traits into one that embraces them - a man completely devoted to God" (John 14:31. 12:50. 5:30; Luke 22:42. 23:46) 625. So the righteous perish! take up the righteous! This highest, the only Righteous One, He, whose name is: the Lord is our righteousness (Jer. 23:6), who is the very truth, in essence, and our righteousness, according to the grace given to us from Him, the Holy of holies and the holy of those who are sanctified, living among sinners, was put to death!... The beloved Son of God, in whom the Father is well pleased, is hated, mocked and slain by the sons of men, the sons of wrath and destruction!” 626 Christ suffered for the sins of all people If Christ did not suffer for the sins of people, then it would be completely incomprehensible “why He, Who is feared and trembled by all, was horrified (Mark 14:35), Who has no one to fear, because there is no power that would be terrible for the Almighty - why He Who is the source of joy and bliss for everything that can be involved in joy and bliss was grieved. It is obvious that this horror and this tightness was not actually His; but He was subjected to them because He received our illnesses and bore our illnesses (Matthew 8:17). But why did He sing and bear our ailments and illnesses, if not in order to heal them, or at least, to the point of complete healing, to alleviate them so as not to leave us to be tempted beyond our might (1 Cor. 10:13)?” 627. If Christ took upon Himself our suffering, then at the same time He had to first assimilate our sins, as if He were His own. The suffering of the One, who did not commit sin (1 Pet. 2:22), is extremely mysterious, and has the most blessed explanation for us in the fact that He was wounded for our sins, and tormented for our iniquities, the punishment of our peace was upon Him, by His wound we were healed (Is. 53:5) 628. “He bears our sins and suffers for us (Ps. 53:3-4); The cup that His Father gives Him is the cup of all the iniquities we have committed, which would have drowned the whole world if He alone had not accepted, held, and dried it up. It was dissolved, firstly, by the disobedience of Adam, then by the corruption of the first world (Gen.6:12; 2Pet.2:5), the pride and wickedness of Babylon, the bitterness and unrepentance of Egypt, the betrayals of Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37), the anger of the Synagogue, the superstitions of paganism, the violence of the sages, and finally (since the Redeemer bore on Himself the future sins of the world) temptations in Christianity itself... 629 Thus, the bitterness of the cup of Christ’s suffering is “the bitterness of our sins, this is the burden of our guilt before God and the executions we deserve, which the Lamb of God took upon Himself, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29); and thus He grieved, grieved, was horrified, and was grieved in soul even to the point of death because His patience was exhausted, but because with His inner suffering He cleansed our inner impurities, atone for our guilt, and satisfied the Justice of God that was irritated with us” 630. The Savior suffered voluntarily, out of love for the Heavenly Father and for the world The God-man took upon Himself the cross of the greatest suffering for the human race, not out of any necessity, but according to His own will and the will of God the Father (John 10:17–8) 631. Indeed, “who crucifies the Son of God? Warriors? They are almost as much passive instruments as the cross and the nail. Pilate? He seems to have exhausted all efforts in defending the Righteous One and solemnly expressed his opposition to the shedding of His Blood (Matthew 27:24). People? How could he seek the death of the One Whom he tried to make king? High priests? Elders? Pharisees? They admit that they have no power over anyone’s life: it is not worthy for us to kill anyone (John 18:81). Traitor? He already testified in the church that he betrayed the blood of an innocent woman (Matthew 27:4). Prince of Darkness? He could not touch the life of Job: now he himself is condemned and expelled. But who better than the Crucified One can know the crucifiers? And what does He say? – they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34). Caiaphas touched upon the true reason for this matter, saying that one man must die for the people; however, I don’t even talk about this about myself, but the Bishop since that year (John 11:51); he sounded like a cymbal on which the gospel was to be preached to the church that day, but he himself did not understand his gospel. Thus, what they did not want, could not, did not know, was accomplished in front of the whole world by those very people who did not want, could not, did not know... 632 We must notice here what an insignificant web was the entire interweaving of visible causes that produced the great Golgotha ​​event. How is it that this web in its first threads was not torn apart either by the inspiration of the wrath of God, or even by the wind of human vanity? Who bound the lion from Judah with it?... The blasphemers of Calvary do not even know what they are saying, just as the crucifiers do not know what they are doing; in fact, it is not men here who swear at God’s majesty: God’s Providence laughs at the riot of man, without violating freedom, forcing him to serve His highest Wisdom. It is not the wicked servants who outwit the Lord: the All-Good Father does not spare the Son, so as not to destroy the wicked servants. It is not earthly enmity that hurts heavenly love: heavenly love hides itself in earthly enmity, so that through the death of love it can kill enmity and spread the light and life of love through darkness and the shadow of death. God loved the world and gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:61).” “If the heavenly Father, out of love for the world, betrays His Only Begotten Son, then likewise the Son, out of love for the world, betrays Himself; and as love crucifies, so love is crucified.” “Without this, could (the cross of Jesus, made up of the enmity of the Jews and the riot of the pagans) not only hold on itself, even to death, holding in its hand the life of all living things, but even touch the shoulder of Him, for whose deliverance more than twelve legions of Angels were waiting only for a wave. In vain the dark horde raises arms to take Him captive, and prepares bonds for Him: sanctifying its path with the fire of malice, it does not see that He is already captured and bound by His own love, like death, strong (Song. 8:6). The lawless assembly cries in vain: we are imams of the law, and according to our law we must die: He will die not otherwise than according to this law of His: greater love has no one than sows, but whoever lays down his life for his friends (John 15:13). The detractors vainly repeat: if you are the Son of God, come down from the cross: the Son of God thereby makes Himself known, that He will not come down from the cross until He has exhausted Himself entirely in the intense desire of love for His Father, to whom He finally betrays His Spirit, and for men, for whom He exhausts the water of purification and the blood of life. For this knowledge of love, for He laid down His soul for us (1 John 3:16) 633. The deepest foundation and original internal composition of the cross of Christ Let us finally enter the very “inner sanctuary of the sufferings of Jesus.” To understand the “deepest foundation and original internal composition of the cross,” let us recall the teaching about the relationship of the Persons of the Holy Trinity among themselves. They are united in mutual relations by the unity of nature, properties, will, eternal determinations and actions. So, “although the Son cannot do anything about Himself, He also cannot create anything in spite of Himself. He does not seek His own will (John 5:30), but because He is the eternal heir and possessor of His Father's will. He abides in His love, but in it he himself accepts into his love everything that is dear to the Father, as he says: The Father loved Me, and I loved you (John 15:9-10). And thus the love of the Heavenly Father, through the Son, extends to the world: the love of the Consubstantial Son of God both ascends to the Heavenly Father and descends to the world. Here, let him who has eyes see the deepest foundation and the original internal composition of the cross, out of the love of the Son of God for His all-holy Father, and love for sinned humanity, cutting one another, and holding one another, apparently dividing the one, but truly uniting the divided. Love for God is jealous for God: love for man has mercy on man. Love for God requires that the law of God's truth be observed: love for man does not leave the lawbreaker to perish in his unrighteousness. Love for God strives to defeat the enemy of God: love for man humanizes the Divine, in order to deify humanity through love for God; and, meanwhile, how the love of God lifts up the Son of man from the earth (John 12:32. 34), and love for man opens the embrace of the Son of God to the earthly, these opposite aspirations of love come into contact, co-dissolve, are balanced and form that wondrous cross-cross in which forgiving mercy and judging truth meet, the truth of the Divine and the world of humanity kiss, through which heavenly truth shines from the earth and truth no longer penetrates with a menacing eye from heaven; The Lord gives goodness to the earth, and the earth gives its fruit to the sky (Ps. 84:11-13)” 634. The meaning of Christ's suffering on the cross for us This is how the voluntary suffering of Jesus Christ restores peace between God and man, “puts to death our Old Man, that is, the sinful power in us, born in us from Adam and nourished by our own sins”; “they atone for all sins, destroy all their consequences” 635; “they are opening for us the nearest passage to paradise, which Christ Himself announced, even from His cross, saying to the repentant thief: today you will be with Me in paradise (Luke 23:43)” 636. The God-man, having taken upon himself the punishment for all human sins, through suffering and death brought “more than abundant satisfaction for all the sins of the world” (Eph. 5:25–7). “He is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins not of Jerusalem, not of Israel, but of the world (John 1:20), of the whole world... Being all Descendants of one sinner and children of wrath by nature (Eph. 2:3), we have inherited the sorrowful necessity of being the cause of the sufferings of the Son of God.” In accordance with our universal need for an atoning sacrifice, Christ “offered Himself as a sacrifice for all and acquired grace and salvation for all.” “With three days of death on the cross, which, according to the co-presence of the Divine, is no less than eternity, (He completely) satisfies the guilty to eternal justice”; because “one drop of His blood was enough to wash away our iniquities and quench our Gehenna,” and it was “shed in streams.” “By the cup of His free, innocent Theanthropic suffering, Christ exhausted and abolished the cup of eternal torment of humanity condemned for sin. By His death He penetrated into the closed region of universal human death, in order to dispel its darkness with the light of Divinity, in order to break its bonds by the power of Divinity.” After Christ's atoning sacrifice, man does not need to make satisfaction for sin. Yes, he cannot do this. We can and “must be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ in love, humility, charity, patience, but we cannot imitate Him in His characteristic actions of redemption, which is satisfaction for sins. To recognize the need for our satisfaction (means) to reduce the price of His merits” 637. So “the death of Jesus Christ on the cross delivers us from sin (Eph.1:7), curse (Gal.3:13) and death (Heb.2:14-5)” 638. – The power of the Savior’s suffering on the cross began to manifest itself “even before the death of Jesus on the tree of curse,” the prayer flourishes in the mouth of the thief: remember me, Lord, in Thy kingdom... Together with the shaken earth and the cracked stones, the hitherto stony heart of the pagan is crushed and immediately wears out the ripe fruit of the lips confessing to the Savior: truly this is the Son of God. With what irresistible attraction those who left Jesus alive gather around His cross and tomb! Most importantly, the victory of the cross appeared in Joseph of Arimathea. While he knew Jesus as a prophet and wonderworker, he did not have the courage to reveal himself as His disciple: he hid himself in fear for the sake of the Jews (John 19:38). But when he learned that Jesus died the death of a condemned man, He who was ascended from the earth drew him to Himself with such force that he did not heed either honor or fear of man, and did not hesitate to reveal even before the government his participation in the Crucified One: daring, he went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus (Mark 15:48). Was it not by this force that the grains that had long since rotted in the city of death showed extraordinary fruit, and many of the bodies of the departed saints arose? The further the power of the cross extends, the more solemn its actions” 639. The Royal Ministry of Jesus Christ At the Annunciation, “the faith of the Most Holy Virgin Mother of God required the preliminary recognition of the Son prophesied to her, not only as the Son of God and the Savior of men, but also as a King, as essential for the sacrament of the Incarnation: He will reign in the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end. From this we must conclude that from our faith, along with recognition in the person of Jesus, the Son of God, the God-man, our Savior, we also require recognition in Him of our King, as essential for saving faith. In fact, this belief is clearly necessary when the Lord Jesus, although usually moving away from human glory, although one day, realizing that they wanted to come and capture Him and make Him king, hastened to hide from this (John 6:15); but during His solemn entry into Jerusalem, at the request of the Pharisees, He forbade the exclamations addressed to Him: Blessed is the coming King, not only did he not forbid, but also confirmed that if people had remained silent, the stones would have proclaimed Him King: if they were silent, the stone would cry out (Luke 19:38-40). Likewise, when the name of the King threatened Him with death, He only corrected the inaccurate concept of His kingdom, saying: My kingdom is not of this world; but to Pilate’s question: Art Thou a king? answered without hesitation: you say that I am the King, you say rightly that I am the King (John 18:36–7) 640. Indeed, the work of our salvation can be completed only by such a person who has royal power; The Redeemer must undergo a royal ministry to complete His work. Suppose a person received knowledge of God and even saw Him in the face of the God-man; from the teachings and life of Christ I learned the path leading to God; made sure that God would not require a new sacrifice for sin, that God’s justice was abundantly satisfied by the death of Christ, that God was ready to enter into communion with man. But this is actually only a preparation for salvation, and not yet the restoration of man to primitive innocence and close communion with God. Sin created destruction in man: in the restored man, in contrast to death, there must be life. The sinner is a slave of sin and the devil: the one who is being saved must tear out the root of sin and plant the seed of good in its place, grow this seed and kill every manifestation of sin, and at the same time and through this free himself from the dominion of the devil. Thus, for the final salvation of the sinner, it was necessary to regenerate him, to make him a new creature, it was necessary to guide him on the path of salvation and lead him to eternal bliss. Our Savior does all this. The original royal ministry of Christ began even before His death. “In the days of the flesh, in many different ways, He gave life and healing to people, so that no one, under any circumstances, would be left without hope of His help.”... 641. This hope is fully justified and was realized immediately after the death of Christ on the cross. “The Savior of the world,” after he was crucified and died in the visible world, in the invisible world he descended even to hell, and illuminated the souls of the faithful, and brought them out from the shadow of death, and opened the doors of heaven and heaven to them; and, again in the visible world, the light of resurrection showed” 642. The Descent of Jesus Christ into Hell. Resurrection from the Dead “Christ descended into hell in order to preach victory over death there, to deliver souls who were awaiting His coming with faith” (1 Pet. 3:18–9) 643. Before Christ’s descent into hell, “the Patriarchs, Prophets and Righteous Men of the Old Testament, although they were not plunged into the deep darkness in which the unbelievers and the wicked are mired, nevertheless did not emerge from the shadow of death and did not enjoy the full light. They had the seed of light, that is, faith in the coming Christ; but only His actual coming to them and the touch of His Divine light could illuminate their lamps with the light of true heavenly life. Their souls, like wise virgins, were near the doors of the heavenly palace; but only the key of David could unlock these doors... 644 “The key of David, which unlocks all doors, is the God-manhood of Jesus Christ, by which, as the Divinity penetrates all states of humanity, so humanity enters into the inner Divinity. The all-revealing movement of this key is the resurrection of Christ. To them the prison is opened and gives up the prisoners, paradise is opened and receives the exiled, the sky is opened and awaits the chosen ones” 645. Thus, the procession of the God-Man as King begins from hell. “Together with His resurrection He brought (into heaven) the Patriarchs, Prophets and Saints of the Old Testament” 646. The significance of the resurrection of Christ in the salvation of people. What did hell, earth and heaven become after the resurrection of Christ? The descent into hell and the resurrection of Christ are important in the salvation of people 647. “What is hell, after Christ has risen after descending into hell? The fortress into which the winner entered under the guise of a prisoner; a prison whose gates are broken and the guards are scattered; this is truly, according to the image of Christ, the monster that swallowed the Prophet overthrown from the ship; but, instead of devouring and destroying him, it became for him another, although not so calm, ship to carry him to the shore of life and safety. Now it becomes clear how someone hoped to pass through hell itself safely: even if I walk through the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with Me (Ps. 22:4), - You, Who came down from heaven for us, like us, walked on the earth and, like us, descended into the shadow of death, so that from then on you could pave the way for Your followers into the light of life.”648 . “Now that Christ is risen, what does the earth turn out to be? - She is a breeding ground for heaven; the short-term and destruction-ending life of a person in the body is the beginning life of a chick in an egg, to which, upon breaking the shell, the highest and most extensive circle of life opens; it is only necessary that the embryo of the chick be embraced, penetrated and excited by the warmth of the mother’s blood, that is, it is necessary that the embryo of heavenly life in a person be embraced, penetrated and excited by the life-giving power of the Blood of Christ. Now that Christ has risen, and when He, as the God-man, has been given all power in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18), not only has heaven become accessible, but has even been united with earth in such a way that it is difficult to find the limit and difference between them; for both the Divinity appears on earth and humanity appears in heaven; The angels whom Jacob saw ascending and descending on the ladder of heaven now walk in hosts on the earth, as messengers of the Son of man, who rules in heaven.”649 One can even say that by the resurrection of Christ “the appearance of everything that exists changes” 650. The Resurrection of Christ “confirms us unshakably in our faith and consoles us with perfect hope,” and arouses love for God The light of Christ's resurrection must bring about a change in ourselves 651. Christ “was resurrected in order to resurrect into the New Man, that is, to awaken in us the grace-filled spiritual power that lived in us before Adam’s sin” 652. “Before the resurrection of Christ, dark and unsteady opinions circulated among people about the immortality of the human soul; but the resurrection of the soul with the body was thought least of all even by those who were more intensified to think than others. The gaze of the chosen people on this subject was not bright either. When Christ the Savior, denouncing the Sadducees, in the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, revealed the thought of the resurrection of the dead, then not only the Sadducees, but also those who thought better than them were amazed at the news of this discovery: when the people heard it, they marveled at His teaching (Matthew 22:32-3). And the less they knew the future life, the less, of course, they knew how and had the less motivation to prepare for it. Christ the Savior, through His teaching, in place of shaky opinions about immortality, put the solid truth of the resurrection and through His resurrection made this truth even experimental (John 5:28-29; 2 Cor. 5:10) 653. Without the resurrection of Christ, our faith would not have sufficient firmness and vitality. If Christ has not risen, your faith is in vain (1 Cor. 15:17), one of the non-vain preachers of the faith admits. “The pagan also believes, but in dead deities or creatures, just like himself, mortal and perishable; How can faith be strong when its deity is perishable, or life-giving when it is dead? The Jew believes and believes in the living God, but according to the writing of the law, which kills the sinner but cannot raise him up: what can we expect from this faith, except what we see from it? She killed the Christ-killing people of the Jews, scattered their bones throughout the universe and together with them destroyed herself so that the Jew and his faith have no hope, except in Christianity. Some sages of antiquity, who understood the absurdity of paganism, but did not penetrate into the sanctuary of Divine truth, invented faith in the unknown God and erected an altar to this name, perhaps not objectionable to some of the sages of modern times, because he does not appoint great sacrifices for himself; but if God is unknown, then it is also unknown how we should serve Him, and in this case, can our service be pleasing to Him and saving us? Thus, faith founded on ignorance is destroyed by the same ignorance. We Christians believe in the living God, according to the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, who frees us from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2). We know, we dare to say with the Apostle, in Him we have believed, and we know that He is able to preserve our tradition (2 Tim. 1:12). How will we be notified? - Most likely, the resurrection of Togo. He is the same believer. If He, in His very Person, cast His faith into the grave and was brought down to hell, resurrected, elevated, enthroned His faith, then we know that He is able to confirm, preserve, and justify our faith.” The Resurrection of Christ is the support of our hope. “Even if in this life we ​​have confidence in Christ,” says the steadfast preacher of the faith, “we are the most wretched of all men (1 Cor. 15:19). Unbelievers find in unbelief the benefit that they can blithely enjoy the pleasures of this life and enjoy the affection of the world: an unenviable, in truth, benefit and nothing more than damnation; for when it is said: “We are the most wretched of all men,” this also means that all men, that is, unbelievers, are more or less wretched. But if we, believers in Christ, were to take away the assurance of the resurrection, then we would truly be more damned than all damned people. The world, according to the word of the Lord, loves its own, and those who are not of the world, and therefore Christians, if not always openly persecuting, then surely always hate them inwardly. Peace lovers enjoy: Christians either, renouncing pleasures, suffer deprivation, or, allowing themselves pleasure, must suffer repentance. But let not the world flatter with evil pleasure, to make us desperate like him. If everything why the present is valued is lost; Not everything has perished for us yet, or better yet, nothing has perished. Our hope is founded deeper than the present world and raised above it. Christ rose from the dead, and became the firstfruits of those who had died (1 Cor. 15:20; cf. Rom. 8:11; Eph. 2:4–7),” “that is, the resurrection of Christ is the beginning of the resurrection of all dead people - the resurrection is no longer into temporary life, as was the resurrection of Lazarus and others before him, but into eternal life” 654. “When the abundant love of God, through the resurrection of Christ, unshakably confirms us in faith and comforts us with perfect hope; What should our heart then feel if crude sensuality has made it incapable of feeling spiritual influences? What if not the same love of God with which God, like the eternal sun, shines for us, inflaming us for God? The love of God will sustain us, explains the Apostle, who judged this, that if one die for all, then all die (2 Cor. 5:14). And in another place, as soon as he named Christ Jesus, who died, and moreover also rose again, Who is at the right hand of God, Who also intercedes for us, he immediately exclaims in uncontrollable delight: Who will separate us from the love of God (Rom. 8:34-5)? Truly, if, according to the explanation of Love itself, no one has greater love than he who lays down his life for his friends (John 15:13); but (and if) without measure, great Love, who were also its enemies, loved us even to death for us, and death on the cross: can we be so ungrateful and insensitive that for our sake the resurrected Love would not resurrect our love for its own sake” 655? Ascension of Jesus Christ to Heaven “Just as by His resurrection Christ crushed the doors of hell and opened the exit from it to believers, so by His ascension He opens the doors of heaven and opens the entrance to it for believers”; He “ascended into heaven in order to draw by the all-encompassing power of His Divinity all humanity congenial with Himself from earth to heaven” 656. “If the fall of the Old Adam turned man’s aspirations from above to below and below; Didn’t that resurrection and ascension of the New Adam, the God-man, Jesus Christ, with great force turn this desire in its original direction, set up a ladder to heaven? “Having acquired the right to the gracious gifts of the Holy Spirit through His merit on the cross,” the Savior, upon His ascension into heaven, graciously draws all humanity to Himself. “Didn’t the descent of the Holy Spirit kindle a spiritually burning fire in humanity, which naturally comes with grief, causing grief to what it dwells in” 657? Where did the Savior ascend to, “where is the limit to which the ascension of the Lord extends? If some answer to this is possible for the human word, then it can be found in this saying of the Apostle: He who descended is also He who ascended above all the heavens, that all things may be accomplished (Eph. 4:10). Let us add to this the word of the Evangelist that the ascended Lord is seated at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19),” i.e. “He has one omnipotent power with the Father, one glory with Him, one royal providence for the whole world, and especially for the church of those who are being saved 658. In the God-man who sits at the right hand of God the Father, “we already have what is promised to us in the future” (Eph. 2:4–7) 659. The ascended Savior “at the right hand of God the Father unceasingly intercedes for us (Rom. 8:34) and from there he sent and is sending to the church His Holy Spirit, filling everything with creative power, especially filling the church of Christ with gracious power” (Eph. 4:8) 660. Words, ed. 1848 1, 15. Words, ed. 1861 3, 63. Words, ed. 1848 1, 99; Wed ed. 1861 3, 21–2. Read in General love spirit. Ave. 1868 5, 156. Materials, collected. arch. Gregory 1874 18; Words ed. 1848 1, 119–120. Words, ed. 1861 3, 7. Words, ed. 1848 1, 91–2. Words, ed. 1848, 1, 104. Bib. East. 410; Wed Catech. 37. Words, ed. 1848 1, 72. Words, ed. 1861 3, 22; Wed Shower. Thurs. 1869 March. 83. Words, ed. 1848 1, 119. Ibid. 72; Bib. East. 407; Wed Words, ed. 1848 2, 105. Bib. East. 413.423–4. 409. 422. 417. 420. Words, ed. 18481, 72–3. Cat. 34; Words, ed. 1848 1, 119. Words, ed. 1873 1, 233. Catech. 34; Wed Words, ed. 1848 1, 14. Words, ed. 1861 3, 35. Words, ed. 1861 3, 105. Words, ed. 1882 4, 496. Words, ed. 1848 1, 144. Words, ed. 1848 1, 161–3. “So that those who do not know the secret of conception (of the Blessed Virgin) cannot offend the one who conceived, She was betrothed to her husband before this conception; and so that this sign of the Lord (foreshadowed through the prophet Isaiah) would be clear to everyone who is sane, that the Virgin conceived without a husband, conception followed the betrothal, before she even dreamed of it (Matthew 1:18), before Joseph received his wife (-24) into his home. An angel was sent to Joseph, so that he would not remain in bewilderment, to reveal this secret and indicate this sign; and for others who could not see and hear the Angels, no less than the Angel, the faithful witness of the sign and the messenger of the mystery was Joseph himself, known to everyone as the righteous (–19), who therefore could not deceive people, much less slander God and the Holy Spirit.” Words, 1848 1, 12–3. Words, ed. 1848 1, 145. Words, ed. 1848 1, 153–4; Wed 180; ed. 1874 2, 371; ed. 1882 4, 499. 627–31; ed. 1861 3, 45–6. 61–2. 345–7. Words, ed. 1861 3, 56–7. Words, ed. 1848 1, 208. “Since the birth of Christ was completely holy and alien to sin, it was also painless, because among the punishments for sin, God determined for Eve to give birth to a child in illness (See John of Damascus. God. Book 4; Chapter 14; Art. 6).” Catech. 35–6; Words, ed. 1861 3, 35; Wed “Read. in general love etc. » 1868 5, 145–9; Words, ed. 1848 1, 16. Words, ed. 1873 1, 123–4. Words, ed. 1861 3, 63–4. Words, ed. 1874 2, 295. Words, ed. 1882, 4, 495–6. “The name “anointed” comes from the anointing with the sacred oil, through which the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given... Jesus, the Son of God, is called the Anointed because all the gifts of the Holy Spirit are immeasurably communicated to His humanity, and thus to Him belongs in the highest degree the knowledge of the Prophet, the holiness of the High Priest and the power of the King.” Catech. 28; Wed Words, ed. 1848 1, 67, 7–8. Read in general l. d. pr. 1873 2 books. 147; Wed Zap. on Gen. 2, 147. Words, ed. 1882 4, 496; Wed Cat. 37; Bib. East. 400. 404. 408; Words, ed. 1848 1, 171–2. Bib. East. 449–450; Wed Words, ed. 1848 1, 12–4. The Old Testament was “a time of shadows and fortune telling; (then) it was only necessary through the fog and clouds to receive the light of the approaching Sun of Truth, in anticipation of the illuminating day.” Zap. on Gen. 3, 68; Wed Words, ed. 1861 3, 311. Words, ed. 1861 3, 332. 334; .156. “God the Word comes down from heaven; clothed with light, like a robe, puts aside the robe of glory; puts on the clothing of poverty - in human nature; comes into the world; voluntarily goes to meet bickering, deprivation, disasters, persecution, unjust condemnation, long-suffering death; Why are there so many extraordinary things, so many extreme feats of strength? He answers: Yes, I testify to the truth.” Ibid. Words, ed. 1848 1, 88. Bib. East. 450; Words, ed. 1874 2, 302–3; Catech. 96; Wed Words, ed. 1861 3, 119; ed. 18481, 142. Bib. East. 450; Wed 413. Christ “first creates and then teaches (Acts 1:1); first he fulfills the law, and then he commands or advises, and does not destroy by example what he edifies by word or authority.” “In His word and in His example He became a way for us to lead us to the truth, and through the truth to true life.” Words, ed. 1873 1, 167, ed. 1861 3, 335. Words, ed. 1848 2, 321–2. Words, ed. 1874 2, 347–8. Words, ed. 1848 1, 92. 2. 7. Words, ed. 1861 3, 51. Catech. 85; Words, ed. 1848 2, 164; Wed Words, ed. 1861 121. Words, ed. 1848 2, 300. 301; Wed 1, 127–8. The Savior completed his prophetic ministry after His resurrection. Before the resurrection, the apostles did not fully understand His teaching. “The Word of God, the mysteries of the kingdom of God, the saving teaching and saving deeds of Christ are Divine objects; Consequently, in order to contemplate them purely and clearly, a person needs the Divine light, the light of Christ, the light of the Holy Spirit and the opening of the mind by the power of this light. Until this is accomplished in man, although he hears the word of God and even sees it in action, he does not comprehend its space of height and depth, since his spiritual eye consists in the lower natural light and is adapted to this light only. That is why the Apostles, after they had already seen with their bodily eyes the resurrection of the son of the widow of Nain, could not yet rise with a contemplating mind to resolve the question: what is it to rise from the dead? That is why the Lord said to the Apostles: the imam has many more words to say to you, but you cannot bear it now. When can they bear His word and understand His works? He answers: When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth (John 16:12-3). But what prevents the Spirit of truth from coming sooner? Again the Gospel answers: You did not have the Holy Spirit, because Jesus was not glorified. Finally He is resurrected. Instead of the fact that until now the Divine in Him was immersed in the human, from now on the human in Him ascends into the Divine. Thus, His humanity opens up and is filled no longer with the hidden, but with the revealed light of the Divine, and pours it out around itself; The God-man is the sun of all humanity and you begin to separate the clouds and darkness that surround it; His Divine light strikes the eyes which faith in His resurrection opened and directed towards contemplation, and still opens them, or elevates them to a new, heavenly, Divine vision or understanding of the word of God and the works of God... The sun, when it rises, opens up a whole world of diverse beauties: and the gracious light, the light of the Holy Spirit, whose action in the hearts the Apostle likens to an illuminating day and a shining star, quickly and suddenly opens up the boundless realm of spiritual understanding. However, both natural light and Divine light have their dawn and their full day in relation to those who are sanctified: for the Apostles, a clear dawn arose when the Lord breathed and said to them: receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22); the full day was revealed in the descent of the Holy Spirit in tongues of fire.” Words, ed. 1848 1, 39; Wed 41. 37. 66–7; Cat. 43; Words, ed. 1861 311. “By the name of the cross of Christ we mean, firstly, the instrument of His suffering and death; secondly, His very suffering and death on the cross; thirdly, in a broader sense, all the succession and variety of suffering, humiliation and gradual killing of Him, and the internal cross of sorrow, in a deep feeling, and even earlier in the premonition of the visible cross and suffering. » Words, ed. 1848 1, 130. See more details Words, ed. 1848 1, 9–11. Words, ed. 1848 1, 26–8. Bib. East. 422–3; Wed Words, ed. 1848 1, 116; 2 103; ed. 1874 2, 307. Words, ed. 1873 1, 170. Ibid., 232. 235; Wed ed. 1848 1, 160. Words, ed. 1873 1, 218. Words, ed. 1848 1, 125. Christ “lifted up and bore the burdens that oppressed us, in order to at the same time raise us up from the fall; With His life He fulfilled the law of God, which we violated.” Ibid. 183.14; Wed 2, 29; ed. 1885 5, 539. Words, ed. 1848 1, 28. Words, ed. 1848 2, 103. However, this does not mean that there were no guilty people for the murder of the Innocent One. No! Who could not, if only he wanted, understand what even the desperate Judas understood and preached? But even if they understood, they did not crucify the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:8). Words, ed. 1848 1, 30–32. Words, ed. 1874 3, 313; ed. 1877 3, 413. “Read. in General East. and others Ros." 1870 1, 39; Catech. 40; Words, ed. 1873 1, 170. 173. 124; ed. 1861 3, 66. 43; Wed Ibid. 144–5; Words, ed. 1848 1, 107. Cat. 39; Wed Words, ed. 1848 1, 234; ed. 1861 3, 156. “According to the eternal counsel of God, Christ is not only a suffering sacrifice, but also an eternal priest, who by divine power ministers our salvation. God, in the Prophet, speaks this great and saving truth with an oath confirming it: The Lord swears and will not repent: You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek (Ps. 109:4).” Ibid. 225. Words, ed. 1848 1, 33. Words, ed. 1861 3, 47. Words, ed. 1848 2, 122. Ibid. 1, 52; Wed Words, ed. 1861 3, 43. Catech. 41–2. “What can one think about the state in which Jesus Christ was after His death and before the resurrection - this is depicted by the following church hymn: in the carnal tomb, in hell with the soul like God, in paradise with the thief, and on the throne was you, Christ, with the Father and the Spirit, fulfilling everything, indescribable.” Ibid. Words, ed. 1848 1, 52. Words, ed. 1848 1, 37; Wed ed. 1861 3, 312–3. Words, ed. 1848 1, 51. “Is it necessary to found faith, to create hope, to kindle love, to enlighten wisdom, to cry out prayer, to bring down grace, to destroy disaster, death, evil, to give vitality to life, to make bliss not a dream, but reality, glory - not a ghost, but the eternal lightning of eternal light, illuminating everything and striking no one? For all this there is enough power in one miraculous word: Christ is risen.” Words, ed. 1848 1, 44 – “The suffering on the Cross and the death of Christ the Savior is a battle against evil, His resurrection is a victory over evil,” ed. 1885 5, 578. Words, ed. 1848 1, 35. “Before the resurrection of Christ, “many people knew only the land on which they appeared for a short time and soon disappeared, unknown where; others have heard something about hell, as an abyss that threatens to swallow everyone and does not give anyone back; Few thought about heaven as such a high dwelling, to which someone saw a ladder only in a dream, and only one from which the ascending Angels of God were visible, but no people were seen.” Words, ed. 1848 1, 35; Wed ed. 1873 1, 140–2. “Let us believe one of the faithful witnesses of the resurrection of Christ, that it has regenerated us too, if not in action itself, then at least in hope” (1 Pet. 1:3). Words, ed. 1848 1, 35. Words, ed. 1874 2, 313. Words, ed. 1861 3, 22–3; Wed Catech. 41; Words, ed. 1877 3, 430–1. Words, ed. 1848 1, 44–5; ed. 1861 3, 22. Words, ed. 1488 1, 245; Wed 36, 47. Words, ed. 1861 3, 6.; ed. 1874 2, 313. Words, ed. 1848 1, 52. 58; Wed ed. 1861 3, 300; ed. 1882 605. “You sometimes hear a person say about another person: he is my right hand, and you do not think that a person has become a hand, but you understand this in such a way that he is close to another, like his own hand, and at his will he acts excellently, just as the right hand works excellently in comparison with the left.” Words, ed. 1861 3, 6; Wed Cat. 43–4. Words, ed. 1848 1, 45. Words, ed. 1882 4, 497; Wed ed. 1848 2, 17.