40. Слово на Воздвижение Честного Креста Господня (Господь наш Иисус Христос, крестом упразднив смерть, даровал нам в нем жизнь вечную, и всякий человек, желающий приобщиться этой жизни, должен подъять некоего рода крест. Вот сокращенное учение о жизни, даруемой Крестом)

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so it is fitting for the Son of man to be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). Mysterious and inexplicable, brothers, is the wisdom of the godmother! And the first thing that our mind cannot understand is the life that flows from the Cross. The cross is an instrument of death, and the most blasphemous one at that; Meanwhile, the Church praises him as the life-bearer, the life-giver, the Tree of Life and Immortality, the rise of the fallen, the resurrection of all, and in general ascribes to him all those blessings that a true Christian seeks in this life and which he hopes for in the future. Just as true life comes from the Cross, this has always been a temptation for the superstitious and madness for the superstitious. But what the mind does not comprehend, faith must see and contain, and we, enlivened by the Cross, are not innocent if we do not take care to recognize the life-giving power hidden in the Cross, to meditate on it and to study constantly, following the example of the Apostle Paul, who (while in Corinth), “judged not what was led, but Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2), and who the distinctive characteristic of those being saved is the experienced knowledge of the power of the Cross; “The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved the power of God is” (1 Cor. 1:18). If we must always do this, then even more so now, when the Holy Church, calling us to worship the honest and Life-giving Cross, thereby inclines our attention and heart to it. Let us learn from the mystery of the Cross in order to see how true life flows from it. We believe in our hearts and with our lips we confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, having abolished death by the Cross, gave us eternal life in it, and that everyone who wants to partake of this life must lift up some kind of his own cross. Here is an abbreviation of the entire teaching about the life given by the Cross! “We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, having abolished death through the Cross, gave us eternal life in it.” “Thou art the mystery, O Theotokos, paradise, who uncultivated Christ, through which the life-giving tree of the Cross was planted on the earth,” sings the Holy Church (Irmos of the 9th canon of the Canon for the Exaltation of the Cross). Like the tree of life in the midst of a paradise of sweetness, so is the Tree of the Cross in the midst of the earth, the deplorable vale of death. In paradise there was another tree, about which it is said: “If you take it down one day, you will die by death” (Gen. 2:17). The forefathers tasted it and died. By their disobedience, life was lost throughout its entire space: eternal life was lost, for with the fall paradise was concluded and hell appeared, the dwelling of those under wrath and oath; spiritual life was lost, for with exaltation the zealous thought of God and pleasing God, which constitutes the essence of spiritual life, fell into the mind of God, for then it was said: “you are earth and you will go back to earth” (Gen. 3:19). “By one man sin came into the world, and by sin came death, and so death came to all men” (Rom. 5:12). All of humanity began to represent one dead corpse, and the earth was generally a gloomy cemetery. And the whole human race could be said to be like the children of Israel: a field full of bones (Ezek. 37:2). But when death was established here on earth, the beginning of a new life from above was supposed to be a new existence in the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God, who said to His Father: “Behold, I go... to do your will, O my God... You did not desire burnt offerings for sin, but you have completed the body for me” (Ps. 39: 7-9). This will was then revealed in the determination to erase the head of the serpent; and the life-giving power of the future sacrifice then began to act through faith in the Coming One. Finally, at the fulfillment of times, the Only Begotten Son of God truly descended to earth, took upon himself humanity, suffered and died on the cross. By this death on the cross, death was put to death and the true life was returned to us in all its space: the eternal life was returned, for from the cross the Lord said to the thief: “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43); bodily life was returned, as this was revealed as a special sign at the very hour of the Lord’s death on the cross, when “the tombs were opened and many bodies of the departed saints arose” (Matthew 27:52). Spiritual life has been restored, for the crucified Christ the Lord became unto those who were called by power and wisdom unto salvation (1 Cor. 1:24). And thus true life reigned again on earth. The One God has a life in Himself. We can only live to the extent that God gives us life through living communion with Him. Sin separated us from God: we lost God's favor and died. The Savior, having taken upon Himself our nature, reconciled us with God by His death on the cross. God returned His favor to us, and we were revived. This is how and why the Tree of the Cross became the Tree of Life and Immortality, why the Cross is eternal light, the rising of the dead, the resurrection of all, as the Church sings (in the canon of the Life-giving Cross). But the life-giving spring from the Cross does not overflow on its own to revive those who have no life, just as the spring of paradise overflowed with four streams to water the face of the earth. We ourselves must approach him in order to revive our dead structure with his life-giving power, we ourselves must bend under his shadow, so that he gives veins to dry and dead bones, builds flesh on them, spreads skin over them and infuses his Spirit into them. But without this, the Cross will forever contain life, and we can still remain dead; Without this, everything around us will rise up and be revived, and we can forever remain dry and lifeless bones. How and with what can we partake of the life-giving power of the Cross? How and with what can we be grafted onto this one truly living olive tree? “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and come after Me,” says the Lord (Mark 8:34). “They are like Christ, the flesh has been crucified with passions and lusts,” teaches the Apostle Paul (Gal. 5:24). There is no other way to communicate with Christ, who bore the cross, than for each one to take up his own cross, which consists in the crucifixion of the carnal man with his passions and lusts. The source of our revival is in the communication to us of the saving sorrows and death of our Lord, whom the Apostle Paul sought with such zeal, who applied all his skill for His sake (Phil. 3:8). But we can be rewarded with this message not through joys, but through sorrows, which are the essence of the internal sorrows of self-crucifixion. And this is where our spiritual life begins. After the fall, man became dual. A different law entered into him, acting in his members, warring against the law of the mind and captivating him with the sinful law, as if another person entered, another man who has his own head - pride, and his own hands - greed, and his belly - carnality; This newcomer has constrained the former man, suppressed our former true life. Therefore, in order to restore and resurrect this life, it is necessary to put to death that alien person who has unlawfully taken possession of everything in us and has become the soul of all our activity. He who wishes to be saved must destroy this soul, according to the commandment of the Savior (Mark 8:35). And indeed, all those who destroy her through internal crucifixion, and only they alone, begin to live truly in the spirit. From the cross on which the crucifixion of a sinful person is carried out, from it our spiritual life actually flows for everyone with the power of Divine grace. For when a sinful person is struck at the head, pride, then instead of it humility will take root in the spirit; when his hands are nailed by greed, then non-covetousness will take its place; when the legs are broken - carnal knowledge, then chastity will be born in its place; when, finally, his very heart - self-love - is pierced, then God-loving self-sacrifice will be given. Self-sacrifice with humility, non-covetousness and chastity constitute the first beginnings, the first elements of the emerging spiritual life, which after that can only be given freedom and favored so that it grows, strengthens and comes to fullness. For the more sin is mortified, the more the spirit is revived, the more decisive and merciless the self-crucifixion, the more sure and successful is the growth of true life, according to its degrees, by which it ascends from strength to strength until it reaches the measure of its full age. Thus true life comes from the Cross. Thirsting for life, let us hasten to the life-giving waters flowing from the Cross. May the painful sorrows of bearing the cross not frighten us in this saving work. True, the procession of the cross following the Savior is regrettable, but high consolations are connected with Him. The path leading to life is difficult, but there are reliable reinforcements for those who walk there. The same Cross of Christ, which is the foundation and beginning of our revival through the inner cross, will be consolation and help for us. Whoever loves him and transfers this love, as it were, into his heart, will incessantly enjoy his sweetness and be filled with his power. He will not be confused by the waves of thoughts and lusts; the Cross of Christ, like the rod of Moses, will cut off this sea and provide him with a trouble-free passage. He will not be shaken by either the internal illnesses of the heart, parting with things dear to him, or the external embitterments of untruth, which is always at war with the truth: the healing power of the Cross of the Lord will abundantly sweeten the sorrows of the soul, just as the tree that Moses put into the spring took away the bitterness from its waters. Let all the enemies of salvation and life pass him by: the omnipotent Cross of Christ will reflect and defeat them, just as the raising of the hands of Moses struck the enemies of Israel. But what is most desirable is that he will bring down God’s blessing on all his good undertakings and labors, just as Jacob’s laying on of hands on the cross on Ephraim and Manasseh brought down abundant benefits on them and their descendants; - will bring down a blessing with which every good and useful undertaking will be accomplished easily, successfully, and profusely, from which he will flourish in the Church of God, like a prune tree, like a tree by a source of water. May we all receive the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who for our sake raised the Cross and revived us with it. Amen. You might be interested in: