14. Слово на Благовещение Пресвятой Богородицы (О радости. Что значит, что Благовещение, светло празднуемое, всегда почти совершается в пределах святого поста – времени плача и сетования? Как Сын Божий входит в общение в нашим естеством, которое он назвал храмом, так и нам должно вступить в Церковь,

“Teach the good news, O earth, great joy; praise, O Heaven, the glory of God.” Chorus of the holiday Now we, brethren, celebrate the Annunciation, which means good news, a proclamation of joy, we celebrate brightly according to the voice of the Church, which calls everyone to joy - both heaven and earth, and Angels, and men, all creation, visible and invisible. “Preach the good news,” she sings, “to the earth, great joy, praise the heavens of God’s glory, - let the heavens rejoice and the earth rejoice... let all creation rejoice, and let the voice sing” (Stichera on the lithium and on the verse). In the midst of such universal joy, what is more appropriate for us to talk about, if not about joy? We all love joy, we all seek joy. The bonds of sorrow are painful for us; sadness oppresses the chest, darkens the head, affects the soul, upsets the body. If anyone is rich, he is ready to give up all his wealth if only his joy will be returned to him; If anyone is famous, he is burdened by the most flattering glory if he lacks joy; If anyone is in honor, he despises all honors when his heart languishes in joyless ruin. With all that, however, brothers, that the desire for joy is so natural and so universal, we can rejoice both for our own good and for our evil, for praise and condemnation, to rejoice and please God, to rejoice and to offend Him, judging by the objects and circumstances of our joy. That’s why you need to be able to distinguish joy from joy, so that you can rejoice not into condemnation, but into salvation. Let us learn this from the Holy Mother of our Church, who now pours out joyful admiration for us and for our sake. Here, first of all, the circumstance of time gives us a very clear instruction. What does it mean that the Annunciation, brightly celebrated, almost always takes place within the framework of holy fasting - a time of crying and lamentation? Isn’t it clear that God instills in us by this statute of the Holy Church that we should not know any joys other than those that the Annunciation reveals to us? - Indeed it is. We cannot rejoice without God’s special permission, without His direct permission to rejoice. For where are we? - On earth - a place of sorrows and troubles. The paradise of sweetness was concluded by the Fall, and the fallen were told - to the husband: “bear with sorrows” - to the wife: “bear with pain” (Gen. 3, 16-17). There is no joy given to our family: it is prohibited. Just as our forefather, sitting straight up in heaven, sobbed and beat his chest with grief, so we, his sons, must spend our lives in tears and pain. God punished us so that we would be contrite and live with a sorrowful consciousness of our guilt: feeling the wrath of God on ourselves, is it proper to indulge in joy and amusements? If a slave, while under punishment, has fun, doesn’t this show that he is not afraid of his master, despises his threats, and does not value his punishment? Isn’t that what we, the condemned, will discover in relation to God, arbitrarily arranging our own entertainment? And we ourselves reproach the one who in days of trouble puts on bright clothes, doesn’t God even more? In oblivion about execution, indulging in joys, we not only deprive ourselves of all mercy and compassion, but even more attract execution for self-will and inattention to Divine orders. But if God Himself reveals and grants us some kind of joy, then such joy, despite the place of exile, is blessed, and I must say - one and blessed, because just as God imposed sadness and sorrow on us, so He alone can cancel it, or at least dissolve it with joy and consolation. The blessing of God resolves everything. In this case, it is not reprehensible if someone rejoices, but if he does not rejoice, especially if he does not know how to rejoice, or does not even know about joy. Such joy even comes as a merit, because it means accompaniment to the Divine order, readiness for active participation in it. That is why a person who fears God will not allow himself to exchange sorrow for joy, to voluntarily lay aside the garment of lament that is imposed on everyone. He, indeed, laments more, and if he rejoices, then only with that joy that God Himself allowed to rejoice. This kind of God-sanctioned joy actually already exists. It was brought to us now by the Archangel Gabriel - to us, exiles, from heaven from the face of God. He appeared to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary and said: “Rejoice, O Blessed One!” (Luke 1:28). And now, for those sitting in the land and shadow of death, a ray of joy shines for the first time, in the dark vale of crying they hear for the first time: Rejoice! Let's pay attention! - “Rejoice, Blessed One! The Lord is with you." The widowed earth is again betrothed to Heaven. We have moved away from God, but God has not abandoned us. He Himself comes, looking for us, the lost, and lifts us onto His shoulders and brings us to Himself. It does not come soon to tempt patience and arouse a thirst for help, and meanwhile prepare, cleanse and indicate the village chosen for yourself: “Rejoice, full of grace!... Blessed are you among women!” The wife stands on behalf of our family as the firstfruits of the blessing lost by the wife. The Most Pure Virgin receives the grace that our foremother deprived us of. “You have found grace from God. And behold, you conceived and gave birth to a Son, and called his name Jesus” (Luke 1:30-31). “From foot to head” there was no “wholeness” in us, and “there is no plaster to apply, lower than oil, lower than duty” (Is. 1:6): Jesus comes, the Healer of all our ailments, both mental and physical, comes not an Intercessor, not an Angel, but the Lord Himself incarnate. “This one will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will reign in the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32-33). God - our King - gave us in freedom some part of his unlimited power over ourselves, so that, freely sacrificing ourselves to Him, we served Him in the most perfect way; but we were indignant and turned the advantage of freedom into a reason for self-will; fled from the Kingdom of God, and where to? – Captivity and slavery, first of all, to the prince of this age, through him to sin, and through sin to death and hell. Finally, the Lord Almighty comes to bind (Matthew 12:29) the strong man, to overthrow (Luke 10:18) from the throne, to drive him out (John 12:31) and to imprison him (Apoc.20:3) in the abyss, and to restore to us again freedom in the true service of God, to restore the sovereignty of God, to erect in us and through us His grace-filled Kingdom. And here we are, brothers, joy, blessed by God! Rejoice, for the Kingdom of God has been established. The Lord Himself came into the world, accomplished the work of our redemption, founded the Holy Church, and with it He saves those who come to God through Him. Therefore, we should rejoice in this joy alone - so rejoice that there are no other joys for us, so that we do not notice them, and do not even attach the name of joy to them. An exile, when, by the good pleasure of the Tsar, they announce his return to the fatherland, he has only this joy in his heart; the prisoner, having received freedom, only rejoices in freedom alone; the patient, having recovered, is completely, so to speak, absorbed in the joyful feelings of health. We should do the same: we can only rejoice that “God our King... has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth” (Ps. 73:12), feel this joy and then confess it out loud to everyone with high preaching. Let someone ask: what is our first joy? - Let's tell him: the one that the Only Begotten Son of God came to earth. - Which is the second? - The one that he delivered us from all ulcers, both mental and physical. - Which third? - The one that he defeated our enemies - the devil, death, hell. -What is the fourth? - The one that he founded His Kingdom on earth - the one Holy Church, with which, bringing people to himself, fills them with all kinds of “blessings in heavenly things about Christ” (Eph. 1, 3). Enumerating thus, brethren, all the blessings brought to earth by the Son of God, we will not wait until it is finally possible to mention other joys named on earth, even those that are considered innocent: perhaps there will be a thousandth place left for them, and then with great restrictions. Thus, brothers, the Holy Church, established by our Lord Jesus Christ, is a city on a mountain, which alone cannot hide: everything else is insignificant before it. Remember that the entire history of the human race is fenced off by two wonderful limits: first, an earthly paradise, short-lived, and at the end of centuries - a heavenly paradise and an endless hell; between them lies an uninterrupted chain of changes, which have one inscription: “and weeping, and pity, and grief” (Ezek. 2, 10, 4). There is only one joyful, bright, wonderful thing in these confines of darkness - the works of salvation accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ: His Holy Kingdom, the Holy Church, as the prophet Isaiah saw from the distant past in the hidden future: “and it will come to pass,” he says, “in the last days, the mountain of God will be revealed and the house of God on the verge of the mountains” (Is. 2:2), a house filled with light and bliss. Cling, Christian, with all your attention to this mountain and to this wonderful house, and remain so eternally, together with your thoughts and hearts. Daniel, while in captivity among the Babylonians, made it a law to go more often to the country where Jerusalem is and to worship its church - the only true one. Imitate this holy deed too. When you get up, remember that there is a Church of God on earth, bow down inwardly and rejoice in the mercy of God shown to us in it. When you go to bed, remember that there is the Church of God, for the sake of which you safely lie down, fall asleep and get up. And among ordinary deeds, remember more often the wonderful deeds of Divine economy in His Holy Church, from which comes blessing for every good deed. If a monument is erected in any city, then at first they talk and think about it alone - at home and outside, at work and in freedom: the general attention of everyone is turned to it. But what they do for the monument at the beginning, we must do continuously in relation to the Holy Church: always keep in mind and heart that there is this house of salvation on earth, rejoice in that primarily, and thank God, who erected this wonderful monument in our race. But, brethren, this joy of ours will not be complete and even sincere if we do not internalize it for ourselves, if we do not make it out of common joy together and into private joy for ourselves. We do not consider the one happy who only imagines a royal feast, but the one who is worthy to be at it and enjoy it; We will not please the sick person who only watches how one, the other, the third receive healing, while he himself remains sick, nor the one who sees how many around him are mercifully accepted into the royal favor, while he himself remains in contempt and inattention. What comfort is there to only look and marvel at the wonderful work of God in our race, without participating in its fruits? The Holy Church was not erected on earth to be an object of idle curiosity, but so that we would enter it, become partakers of its blessings and bless God. And the holy Prophet, who saw the elevation of the mountain and the house of God on top of it, saw at the same time how all the nations unanimously cried out: “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will tell us the way, and we will walk along it” (Is. 2:3). Remember the parable about those invited to marriages! The fact that they knew about the marriage, and were even invited, did not help at all: participation was required, but they refused, and therefore they are despised as uninvolved. It is a great good that the Church of God, like a tabernacle, overshadows us, that it exists in our race and pleases those who enter into it: let us not forget that this good can only abide in it through us, only when everyone in particular has a living participation in this good. By refusing to participate in it, we thereby, as it were, belittle it in its entirety and, therefore, from simple indifference we come to undermine the general good, which is characteristic only of malice. Do you see now what else is required to make our joy complete? – Each of us requires living communication with the body of the Church of Christ in order to transfer all the benefits contained in it into ourselves. And the Archangel did not limit himself to just announcing the birth of the King and the Kingdom, but did not stop the gospel conversation until he said: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you,” and heard: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord” (Luke 1:35, 38). Here it is depicted how the Word became flesh, and at the same time there is hidden instruction for us - how to fill in what is missing to the perfection of our joy. That is, just as the Son of God enters into communion with our nature, which he later called the church, so we must enter into the Church, which is His body. When the Most Blessed Virgin Mary suggested to the Archangel: what will this be? - how, that is, God will arrange the flesh in it - the Archangel answered: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” The Holy Spirit alone can bring us into living communion with the Kingdom of Christ, which consists not in words, but in power, that is, in the power of the Spirit. Attract the Spirit so that, like “living stone” (1 Pet. 2:5), you may rest somewhere in the spiritual building of the church of the Church of Christ; become the dwelling place of the Spirit, so that you may be included in the dwelling place of God (Church) by the Spirit. And for this, approach the vessels of grace - the Holy Sacraments - and drink living water from them until your thirst is quenched; just open your mouth with perfect devotion to God. And in the Most Blessed Virgin the Holy Spirit began to act towards the communion of God the Word with the flesh not before she completely surrendered herself to His omnipotence, in the words: “behold the handmaid of the Lord” (Luke 1:38). Place yourself in the hand of God, then, in the deep silence of the natural movements of your spirit and body, the word of the Spirit will be imprinted on you, leading you into mysterious communion with the Holy Church, and through it with the Lord and Savior Himself. Then your heart will rejoice with joy unspeakable, for “the kingdom of God... is truth, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). And here is the second subject of true joy - if we have already experienced the gracious mercy of God towards ourselves, have been accepted into the bosom of the Holy Church, have been united to the people of God, are counted among the sons of the Kingdom and walk among its blessings and promises. These two joys - that is, that there is a Holy Church on earth and that we ourselves belong to the living members of this one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and should occupy us all the time of our lives, to the exclusion of all others, for which therefore we should have neither time nor heart. It seems so simple and so natural to notice these objects of joy and rejoice in them. But, turning to ourselves, we do not find that. Our true joy is lost, and therefore all joy. True, having lost true joy, we have now invented many outside joys for ourselves, but what are these joys? There is almost no need to mention our deception in this case, nor to reveal our delusion: each of us knows this ourselves from experience. Give a hungry person a stone instead of bread - he immediately knows that it is not bread; so we too have already experienced all the blessings we have invented and know that they are not joyful: wealth is not joyful, fame is not joyful, all the pleasures of the senses are not joyful - taste, smell, touch, hearing, and sight, even those that are known under the name of high pleasures. The emptiness in the soul, confusion and languor of the heart clearly show that there lies deception and seduction. But what a miserable relaxation we have! We clearly realize that we are in deception, and we do not have the strength to give up the custom of living in deception, therefore, in word and deed, we pursue false pleasures with the confidence that for us they are a ruin of the spirit, even with the collapse of the spirit itself. We do not taste false pleasures, we deviate from the true ones and thus stand in some joylessly uncertain middle; we spin around and act according to someone’s suggestion, like tools; We complain to each other about this order and we all remain in it as before. Oh Lord! When will we finally get rid of blindness! Solomon indulged in false pleasures, when he carried within himself the source of true pleasures - God-given wisdom; but, having learned by experience that everything on earth is one ruin of the spirit, he immediately left everything and again turned to the truth. Let us, brethren, allow ourselves to hope that we are only partially blinded, only for a while. The merciful Lord will not allow us to remain forever in this smoke, in this fumes and sensual intoxication. Let us awaken, God willing, and again we will know and confess true joy, and then “no one will take our joy away from us” (John 16:22). Only, brethren, let us strengthen this hope for the time being, with at least one visible deed of piety: let us reverently look at our Holy Church, honestly preserve its statutes, and unswervingly walk in its decrees. Then God, who does not forget “the works and labors of love” (Heb. 6:10), will have mercy on us for this alone and will lead us from the external by the action of His Spirit to the internal. Let criminal and ungodly superstition invent its own service without the Church and its noble order in holy fasts, in holidays, in sacred service. Let us better remain in the humble part of people devoted to the Church, without cancellations and wicked wisdom; we will still be at least partly on the side of the truth, we will be imprisoned within the Apostolic realm. And may we be obscene; Maybe God will finally say to someone about us: “slaughter and eat” (Acts 10:13). In this hope, let us more often turn to the Most Blessed One - our Joy - with prayer, that good things may visit us and place them in our hearts, just as She was the first to be brought good news from the Throne of God. Amen. You might be interested in: