42. Слово на Воздвижение Честного Креста Господня (Как от креста Господня – спасение всему миру, так от распятия нашего на своем кресте – спасение наше. Особенности иноческого креста)

We now celebrate the glorious Exaltation of the honorable and Life-giving Cross of the Lord. Everyone knows why it was necessary, how it was accomplished and why it is celebrated with such greatness in the Christian Church. Remember all this. After the removal of our Lord Jesus Christ from the Cross and His placement in the tomb, the Honest and Life-giving Cross remained on Calvary and then, together with other crosses - robber crosses - was thrown into a deep cave that was right there, near the very place of the crucifixion. Over time, this place was littered with all sorts of rubbish and forgotten. When Constantine the Great converted to Christianity and his mother Helen decided in her heart to build the Church of the Resurrection on the very site of the Resurrection, then, according to God’s special guidance, the Cross of the Lord was found. The people, who were present in countless numbers, wanted to see the Cross. The Queen ordered that the wishes of the people be fulfilled, and the Bishop, lifting it up, showed it to everyone. This action of uplifting, or erection, as the crown of the labors that preceded it, together with the wonderful actions of God that touched upon it, the Holy Church established to be remembered every year, as a sign of God’s special mercy to His Holy Church. Let us thank the Lord’s providential care for us, but together we will learn from her what she obliges us to do. For remember also that each of us has his own cross, with which, at the calling of the Lord, he follows Him and on which He must, following the example of the Apostle, be crucified to Christ. Golgotha ​​is for this cross our heart; it is raised or erected by a zealous determination to live according to the Spirit of Christ, and is composed of different heart dispositions, main and inaccurate in Christian life. Just as from the Cross of the Lord is salvation for the whole world, so from our crucifixion on our own cross is our salvation. But just as the Life-giving Cross of the Lord was thrown into a pit and covered with rubbish, so we can throw our cross and throw it away with negligence and carelessness, and then we are not among those who are saved, but among those who perish. Therefore, we urgently need to clearly understand for ourselves what our cross is made of in order to truly understand whether it stands in our heart, or has been cast off from it, are we walking with this cross after the Lord, or have we turned away from the Jews, and having cast off this good yoke of Christ, we are wandering ourselves, not knowing where and why? I will explain the composition of our inner cross, especially in relation to your monastic life, sisters, with whom the Lord destined me to now celebrate the honorable Exaltation of His Cross. And your cross, that is, the monastic cross, is similar to ordinary Christian crosses, only it has its own structure and some features in the same parts. True, it is a little heavier, but also more fruitful. And if from the cross there is life in general, then from under the monastic cross there are abundant streams of life. I will not explain everything in detail to you, but I will only point out those feelings and dispositions without which you cannot take a single step in monasticism, without which you cannot live in a monastery like a monastery, without which monasticism is not monasticism, but ordinary life, only within the monastery walls. So listen. The “lower part of the cross,” the one that enters the earth, corresponds in the inner cross to “self-sacrifice,” with which the earth of the heart is torn apart and the cross is implanted into it. To reject oneself means to treat oneself as others treat the rejected. In monasticism, this action takes on a new form of mortification for oneself and the whole world. A monk is the same as a dead person buried in the ground. The walls of the monastery are his tomb. His clothes are a funeral shroud. He leaves everything outside the walls of the monastery and in all that exists has nothing akin to himself: he is alien to everything, and everything is alien to him, so that the word of the Apostle suits him perfectly: “Peace has been crucified to me and to the world” (Gal. 6:14). Whoever has acquired such a disposition has laid a solid foundation for the internal cross and monasticism. The “upper part” of the internal cross, or the one going upward, standing straight – longitudinal – is “patience”, that is, such firmness to stand in the intentional, which is not shaken by any obstacles, any displeasures and labors. Without patience, it is impossible for anyone to stand in goodness, much less for a monk to stand in monasticism. For a layman, patience is constancy in enduring all the labors to fulfill his duties; for a monk, moreover, it is the firmness of staying in his rank and in his place. Every step here is an exercise in patience, and therefore, even a step here cannot be taken without patience. Look through the monastic charter, and you will see how wide the field is for works of patience. Only one who has died to himself and the world can endure everything required here as it should. The “transverse part” of the internal monastic cross is “obedience” - such an attitude in which they do not undertake anything themselves, do not plot anything, but only listen and unquestioningly carry out the orders of others. The obedient one is like a ball that rolls without a crack wherever the blow imparted to it directs it. He voluntarily renounces independence and transfers himself into a tool for another. He acts either on advice or on command, trusting neither his thoughts nor his desires. That's why everything is open. If others do not see something, he himself reveals himself to the chosen or appointed one, so that something evil does not hide under the guise of good. Now put everything together - and you will see that mortification gives everything entry into the monastery, patience makes staying in it safe, obedience embraces all the activities of those staying inside it. Here is a three-part cross from which true monastic life flows! But what kind of life is this? - who will think. Alienation from everything, renunciation of one's will in obedience, extinguishing almost every feeling in patience - is this life?! But don't stop at just appearance. Each of the monastic virtues shown, in addition to the external - harsh - side, also has an internal, living and joyful side, which is either presupposed by it or develops from it. Thus, patience is supported and lives by the “hope” that the monastic labor is not in vain. Anticipating the desired good, hope feeds patience and makes it insatiable. Hope fills the heart with joy from the certainty of possessing what is desired, and with this joy it dissolves the sting of patience of labor. That is why the one who endures rejoices and does not suffer so much as enjoys, despite the fact that others see him as suffering much. Obedience is enlivened by “love.” Obedience is the renunciation of one’s self-activity and one’s reasoning—the actions that are most dear to us. You must have great strength to overcome yourself and abandon them. By force of will you can, of course, overcome yourself, and firm determination succeeds in this. But while she acts alone, acts of obedience are like breaking dry branches. Only love is strong to impart painless flexibility to novitiate. Love is ready for all sacrifices and cannot consider labor, waste of time, waste of strength and property to be anything. Where there is love, everything happens willingly, easily and quickly. Only obedience out of love makes all the labors to which it is obliged joyful. Finally, mortification to oneself and to the world is enlivened and brought about by the belief that this is how it should be, and it cannot be otherwise, if the one who desires this life wants to be in it what he should be. Holy faith tells us that we were created for life in God, but fell away from Him and fell into the bonds of selfishness and the charms of the world, and that therefore he who wants to rise again to life in God must die to himself and the world. This conviction of the inevitability of such an order - with a living desire for one's true good - feeds the mortification of everything and gives life to it, especially in connection with another conviction that only by this disposition can one be grafted onto Christ and, having been crucified with Him, draw complete revival from Him. Thus, the basis of the inner cross is faith with self-sacrifice, or the mortification of everything, its longitudinal part is patience, strengthened by hope, and its transverse part is obedience, inspired by love. If the cross is imagined as a tree, then its root is faith, from which, first of all, self-sacrifice and determination grow - to give up everything and take on the one task of saving the soul at a distance from everything. From self-denial is born love, ready for any obedience; out of obedience or contemporaneously with it, patience develops, crowned with hope that ascends to heaven - into the inner, behind the veil, as the Apostle says. Where all these dispositions exist, there the Tree of the Cross stands alone naked, but branches out into many shoots of various virtues, is covered with the leaves of external virtue and abounds in the fruits of good deeds. There is oblivion of the world and its customs, an unceasing stay in the monastery without an outcome, love of solitude, prayerful work in cells and churches, fasting, tirelessness in handicrafts, willingness to help each other, mutual forgiveness, mutual encouragement for good, peace, abstinence of the eyes, tongue and ears, and so on, and so on, and so on. Blessed is the soul that, having entered within itself, finds all this in its heart! This is an obvious sign that the tree of the cross has been erected in him, planted firmly and abounding in living inner strength, so that it can truly be called a life-giving tree, not only in general, but specifically for this heart. What sisters and I have - see for yourself! If all the virtues I have indicated are really in your heart, then your cross is standing - erected. If not, then know that it is buried with the opposite of unkind feelings and dispositions. I do not name these last ones, because they are self-evident. But I cannot help but apply desire, or even forgiveness: if you find that your cross has either bowed down, or completely fallen, or, even more, is covered with dust and debris of bad thoughts and desires, take care to open it, cleanse it with repentance, erect it again and plant it in your heart with a firm determination to be zealous for the salvation of your soul to the point of your stomach. Believe that without this cross there is no spiritual life and no salvation, and there is no joy in monastic life. Without the cross, no one has been saved and will not be saved. Just as the Lord entered into glory by suffering on the Cross, so all those who follow Him, through a kind of cross, enter into co-glorification with Him. Do you want to enter into this glory? - Climb first to the Cross - and from the Cross you will go to heaven. Amen. You might be interested in: