XXVII. Презрение мира

“What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, but destroy or harm himself?” (Luke 9:25). “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). “Friendship with the world is enmity against God... whoever wants to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “And the world is passing away, and so is its lust” (1 John 2:17). “Set your mind on things above, and not on earthly things” (Col. 3:2). Like grass growing on the roofs of houses, it quickly dies and dries up before delight, such is the well-being of all those who live lawlessly, such is the pleasantness of all the things of this life, it suddenly appears and disappears, for it has no strength or solid root. We should not attach our hearts to them, but, understanding how vain and fickle they are, we should desire the eternal, immortal and unchangeable (Commentary on Psalm 128). In this way we can despise the glory of this world if we talk about another, much more excellent and true glory (Conversation 29 on the Evangelist John). Human glory is like a mask, which on the outside only seems beautiful, but on the inside is empty and has nothing noble or glorious in itself (Conversation 3 on the Evangelist John). The glory of this age quickly flees, but the glory that flows from spiritual things always abides (Discourse 27 on Romans). Vain glory is always harmful: often ridicule inflicts, and before future torment, it exposes countless people to troubles (Conversation 17 on the Epistle to the Romans). He who is so captivated by voluptuousness that he only tries to please everyone is baser than any slave (Conversation 9 on 2 Epistle to the Corinthians). He is not glorious who loves glory, but he who despises it; The glory of this world is not glory, but a shadow of glory (Conversation 29 on 2 Corinthians). There is no better way to obtain glory than to avoid glory, for glory follows those who avoid it, and avoids those who seek it (Conversation 7 on the Epistle to the Philippians). Glory among wicked people is more dishonor than glory (Discourse 2 on Titus). He who does not accept glory from people is like God (Ibid.). Discourse on the contempt of the world First. To despise the world or to renounce the world is nothing more than not having an attachment to perishable and vain things, such as honor, wealth, and others. Second. Not only monks alone must renounce the world, as many incorrectly think and say, but also all Christians, for, as can be seen above from Scripture, “to set your mind on things above, and not on earthly things” (Col. 3:2) is commanded to everyone, although monks especially have this duty. Reasons for despising the world First. Whoever loves the world and has friendship with it becomes an enemy of God, which is scary, for it is impossible to love both God and the world: “You cannot serve God and mammon,” says Christ (Matthew 6:24). Second. It is of no benefit to a man if he had the world under his power and destroyed his soul, says Christ (Matthew 16:25, 26). Third. The world will remain, but just as we entered the world naked, so we will leave the world, and we will take nothing with us, no silver, no gold, no estates, no honor, no glory. Fourth. For a person, wealth and honor are unnecessary burdens and worries. Who has more care and vanity than the rich and the rich? Fifth. The more a person loves the world, the more he moves away from God; and on the contrary, the more one despises the world, the more one approaches God. Sixth. One who is addicted to the world of satiety does not know how, for example, someone who has acquired a small honor seeks a greater one, and so strives to rise higher and higher. Seventh. The more someone is partial to the world, the more he will be tortured before the judgment of God. Eighth. No matter how much you live and enjoy worldly beauties and pleasures, you will have to reluctantly part with them and go to God’s judgment. Ninth. The world is fickle: today we are praised, and the next day we are scolded; today they honor, and then they dishonor; today they worship, and then they trample under foot; today they dignify us, and a little later they laugh at us; Today we ride in a chariot, and the next day we sit in prison; Yesterday there was music in the house, and today there is crying; Yesterday we wore purple and fine linen, but today we walk around in rags. And you will hardly find anyone who would reach the end of his life in one constant happiness; Every day there is some change for almost everyone. This is how the world plays with us. “But to those who love God,” although many troubles and misfortunes befall them, “all things” “work together for good” for them, as the Apostle teaches (Rom. 8:28). Tenth. When we die, we will certainly regret that we loved the world and everything in the world. Ask every dying person what opinion he has about worldly things, what about honor, about wealth, about fame, about voluptuousness? Far from what he had during his life: now he considers all this dirt, vanity, or even an obstacle to salvation; now he repents, regrets, laments that his mind has been occupied with this vanity all his life; now, righteously, but too late, he talks about all this; now with Solomon he admits that “all is vanity of vanities, all is vanity” (Ecc. 1:2). Eleventh. Worldly things burden man so much that he cannot even think about God and eternal salvation. Look at the money-loving rich man, where is his heart? “Where his treasure is, there his heart will be also,” according to the word of Christ (Matthew 6:21). Today he has income, tomorrow he counts expenses, on the third day he thinks about new ones. Sitting in the house, he makes sure that the goods put up for sale do not go to waste; he stands in the church, and here his heart will not calm down, and then, now to the chests, now to the benches, then to other places where goods are sold, his thoughts rush; He worries about it during the day, he worries about it at night, and he worries about it in his sleep: a painful and useless worry! Why should there be any care for the soul, where mammon has taken possession of the heart? Twelfth. Addiction to worldly things is the cause of many and great sins, such as: those who want to get rich often and for the most part obtain wealth through usury, untruth, and extreme insult to their neighbor, and contempt for the law of God; he who loves fame and honor often achieves this through flattery, sycophancy, sneakiness, and slander against his neighbor; those who indulge in luxury, for example, patrimonial owners, impose excessive and intolerable taxes on the peasants and almost deprive them of their daily food, and force them to wander half-naked, with their wives and children; judges and clerks trample the truth and the oath, honoring the nasty profit more than God, so that they have something to live luxuriously; and so the work of God, to which they were assigned, is abandoned, which causes crying, tears, cries of the violated, the offended, crying to heaven. Insolence, atrocities, violence, bitterness and other lawlessness from evil and destructive people are multiplying more and more. Thirteenth. Christians are all called to eternal life and heavenly blessings: this is only what they should seek in every possible way. “Take hold of eternal life, to which you have been called,” says the Apostle Paul to Timothy (1 Tim. 6:12). Fourteenth. Christians are all strangers and strangers in this world, their fatherland is heaven, where their Father is: “Our Father who art in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). Therefore, we must strive to the heavenly fatherland with our thoughts, and not cling to the earthly. Fifteenth. Christians are like merchants who must burden the ship of their soul with decent goods worthy of the heavenly fatherland, such as virtues. Sixteenth. Preferring the temporary to the eternal is senseless and very crazy, which is nothing other than a shadow or dream visions to prefer to true things. Seventeenth. The pagan business is to seek earthly things and cleave to them, for they do not have the eternal hope acquired by Christ, as they are unenlightened by the light of the Gospel. Eighteenth. It is impossible to serve the world and Christ, to enjoy the world and to bear one’s cross with Christ, without which no one will be saved. “You cannot serve God and mammon,” says Christ (Matthew 6:24). Nineteenth. We show great ingratitude and contempt for Christ when we abandon the heavenly blessings acquired for us by His most precious Blood, and seek perishable, earthly things. It is impossible to search for the temporary and the eternal at the same time. Twentieth. Especially great ingratitude and contempt for Him occurs when, having abandoned Him as our Creator and Father, we love His insensitive creation and cleave to it. Twenty-one. It is great madness to love a meaningless and insensitive creature with whom we cannot be mutually loved. An insensitive, meaningless, dead thing cannot love us: and it is not fitting for us to love it, but only God who loves us, and our neighbor, created in His image. Twenty-second. Those who despise the world here receive a hundredfold, for they have faith in the whole world. The sky listens to them - they command the clouds and give rain. They command the sun - and it stands. They forbid the sea - and runs away from them. They turn fire into dew. Lions submit to them like lambs. They move mountains, for them impassable places become smooth roads, they walk on the sea as if on dry land, the sky rains down manna for them, they pour out water from stones. Kings submit to them, their enemies fall before them, rivers return. They crush strong cities with their voice. They abhor wealth, but have everything: “We have nothing, but we possess everything” (2 Cor. 6:10). They avoid honor, but everyone respects them; They move away from everyone, but attract everyone to themselves; they hide, but cannot hide; they avoid comforts, but inside they are comforted sweeter. The more they humble themselves, the more they exalt themselves: “Everyone... who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14), according to Christ’s word. Twenty-third. Finally, having despised the world, they acquire Christ with all the heavenly and eternal treasure and with him they will reign forever and ever. If anyone says that all creatures were created for the sake of man, I answer him: First. Thus, creatures must serve and work for man, and not man for creatures; The one who cleaves to them with heart and love serves them. Second. One must use them, and not abuse them - use them in moderation, and not excessively, for the sake of need, and not for the sake of sensuality. Third. These creatures are like certain traces and evidence by which we recognize the Creator and come to Him: from creation we recognize the Creator and we learn and are convinced of Him to love and honor that He has created such a wondrous thing for us. Fourth. Created to serve us, so that we may serve God; and when we do not serve God, then their service to us is useless, and this results in great ingratitude to God. Man, as rational and created in the image of God, is God’s closest servant, and as a mediator between God and creatures, using their service, he must thank God and serve Him. So, for example, slaves serve their master so that he serves the monarch and society; and if he does not serve, then their service, due to his negligence, is in vain: so the creatures serve man, so that he serves God as a reasonable person, and thanks and praises God for all of them. And when a person does not fulfill this, then he uses creatures in vain, and therefore he is ungrateful to his Creator and offends. You might be interested in: