43. Слово на введение во храм Пресвятой Богородицы (Верующие по следам Богоматери должны восходить во внутренний храм – пред лице Самого Царя и Бога. Ступени умного восхождения к Богу)

The Blessed Virgin Mary, the future Mother of the Savior and all who believe in Him, is introduced into the church! Now celebrating this action from Her life, as Her children in faith and spirit, let us force ourselves to imitate this action in its strength and significance. For the Prophet also foreshadowed: “the maiden will be brought to the king after her, her sincere ones will be brought to you... and they will be brought into the church of the kings” (Ps. 44: 15-16). Virgos are the souls of believers; the church of the kings is the inner abiding of God. If we are believers, then in the footsteps of the Mother of God we must ascend to the inner Church - before the face of the Tsar and God Himself. The introduction, however, of the young Mother of God into the church was only a sign of the ascension of all believers before the face of God. The foundation and the beginning have been laid for this, and the very path there has already been paved by the Lord Savior Himself - according to His humanity. He entered, as the Apostle writes, into “heaven itself, that the face of God might appear concerning us” (Heb. 9:24). Humanity in the person of Jesus Christ passed through the heavens and stood before the face of God Himself - not for the sake of the Lord, but for our sake. This revealed the true “way of the saints” (Eph. 9:8), hidden for the ancients under the symbol of entering the holy of holies of the tabernacle. After this, all believers have boldness to enter “into the innermost part of the veil, where Christ was the forerunner of us” (Heb. 6:19-20), - to enter by “a new and living way, which the Lord renewed for us with the veil, that is, in His flesh” (Heb. 10:19-20). By their very deed, believers enter before the face of God in this new and living way, already after leaving the body. But in order to be worthy of this, it is necessary in this life, mentally or heartily, to accomplish what will be accomplished in deed after death, that is, it is necessary here with the mind and heart to ascend into the inner curtains, stand before the face of God and establish ourselves there for an inexhaustible stay. The Mother of God ascended in degrees (steps). There are degrees of mental ascent to God. There are many of them. I'll show you the most important ones. The first step is the conversion from sin to virtue. A sinner does not remember God and does not care about the salvation of his soul, but lives as he lives, satisfying his passions and inclinations without any restrictions, as long as this does not upset his mutual relations with others. It is obvious where such a path will lead a person! But the sinner, in carelessness and negligence, does not see this. The Lord is watching over him. And it happens that either the Guardian Angel in the heart, or the word of God - through hearing - opens to his eyes the abyss into which he goes, with his eyes closed. When a sinner perceives the danger of his situation and desires to get rid of the destruction that is ready for him, then he puts in his heart the firm intention to lag behind his previous bad deeds and customs and begin life according to the commandments of God. This change in life for the better, or, as I said, turning from sin to virtue, is the first step in ascent to God. You see the one who has entered this stage, busily engaged in this one good deed. He is not present at festivities, nor in the theater, nor at balls, anywhere where passions are amused and through them they serve Satan. He is always at work: either in office, or in family work, or in deeds of piety and charity. Goes to churches for God’s services as soon as possible, and observes all the statutes of the Church; helps those in need in every possible way, conducts his work conscientiously, endures when it is necessary to endure, both for himself and for others, maintains peace and makes peace, is distinguished by constancy and sedateness, does not chat in vain, does not scold, sleeps little, eats little, and so on. This is the first step! The second stage is the conversion from external good deeds to the arousal and observation of good feelings and dispositions. External affairs are valued more according to the feelings and dispositions with which they are performed. These feelings are not always in good order, although they seem to be in good order, and therefore destroy most of our good deeds. For example, being in church is a godly thing... but vanity can be instilled into this thing and make it unpleasing. You can stand in church with pleasure, but in order to stare at this or that, or scratch your ears, as the Apostle condemns. And this destroys the goodness of being in church. The same can happen with any good deed. You can give alms and fast - so that we will be visible; you can work a lot for others - out of people-pleasing; you can retire and endure - out of contempt; you can be intensely active - out of envy; to remain in the service and to serve regularly is out of self-interest and unjust gains, so that if we trace the entire sum of our good deeds and strictly discuss the feelings with which they were performed, it may turn out that they are all nothing - destroyed by the unkindness of the feelings hidden under them. - But this is a pity! So we need to strictly watch that no bad feelings or dispositions defile our good deeds. At first, when a person just turns from sin to doing good, he, one might say, still has no time to take care of his inner self... All his concern is directed toward getting out of the habit of bad deeds and getting used to good ones. For example, he did not go to church, but spent time in some kind of pleasure; we need to get out of the habit of this bad custom and get used to the church. He didn’t give alms and spent the money on other things, squandered it, played truant - you need to get out of the habit of partying and get used to alms and non-giving; I didn’t keep fasts, but ate a lot, sweetly and sparingly - we need to get out of the habit of one thing and get used to another. So it is in everything! So, I say, at first, when someone who has turned from sin is just weaning himself from sinful deeds and customs and getting used to doing good, he has no time to monitor his feelings, although this is not impossible or unusual. Here his struggle with himself gives a high price to every work he does, even if an unkind feeling slips somewhere. But then, when he becomes accustomed to doing good and is established in the order of a virtuous and charitable life, he must certainly go inside his heart and strictly watch his feelings. Previously, the enemy tried to distract him from good deeds, when sinful habits were still strong. Now, when he has become unaccustomed to these latter things and stopped in goodness, the enemy will begin to destroy the goodness of deeds with wrong feelings. So you need to turn inside and look at your feelings. This is the time when a good worker, having come to the realization of misfortune, danger or the uselessness of work, if good deeds do not result in good feelings, sets a firm intention to go inside himself, strictly look after his heart and not allow in any case unkind feelings and dispositions, or this turn and turn from external good deeds to the fertilization of internal feelings and dispositions is the second step in the ascent to God. This is called inward abiding, attention of the mind, sobriety, discernment of thoughts, or purification of the heart. This whole thing is to drive away bad feelings and attract, excite and strengthen good ones... From the very morning, says Saint Diadochos, stand at the entrance of the heart and cut off the heads of evil thoughts emanating from there. For no matter what work we have to do, an evil thought immediately creeps out of our hearts to defile it. Our duty is to drive away a bad thought, and to reproduce a good one in its place and with this good thought to complete the deed. For example, you are going to church; and thoughts will come: dress up better so that people will look at you, or: go, go, there you will see this or that... or else: - go; If you go, they will say that you are pious, and the like. All this must be driven away and in its place a feeling of obligation to be in church for the glory of God must be reproduced in the heart, and with this feeling one must go to church. As in this, the same must be done in other matters. The more vigilantly one watches the heart and the more ruthlessly one cuts off unkind thoughts and feelings arising from it, the sooner these passionate thoughts will weaken, subdue and destroy. They will appear less and less, and finally they will calm down completely and stop bothering you, and good and holy feelings will take root in their place. Then peace and undisturbed calm will settle in the heart. It's like holding a glass of cloudy water so that it doesn't shake. The impurity will continue to settle down: the more it subsides, the cleaner the water will become, and finally it will be completely cleared. The sky, sun, moon and stars will be visible in it! This is the second stage - purification and purity of the heart through the struggle with thoughts and passions! The third step is turning from oneself to God, which consists of standing with the mind in the heart before the face of God, which in fact is entering into the inner behind the veil - that which is new and alive. The first two steps are only preparations for this, but such that it cannot exist without them. How, on the contrary, those two without this latter do not lead to the goal. The beginning of this is to establish yourself in the thought of the presence of God. Wherever anyone is, whatever they do, realize that the all-seeing eye of God is established over your heart and everything penetrates it. Just as the sun shines in the sky and illuminates the entire universe and all creatures move and act under its illumination, so let us do all our spiritual affairs, having the intelligent Sun, the All-Seeing God, established on our mental firmament. This mood comes within us by itself after pacifying our thoughts at the second degree and cleansing our hearts from passions. For this is what the Lord says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). But the being of this degree, as if standing coldly before God, is not in sight alone. This is just the threshold. The point is to strive with your heart towards God, forgetting everything - both in yourself and around yourself, to disappear in God, or to admire (ascend) towards Him. The Holy Fathers call it ecstasy, that is, a departure from the ordinary order of life and immersion in God, in Greek “ekstasis”. To make it clearer for you, I’ll tell you one or two examples: they said about one old man that he remembered himself only until the first “glory,” that is, for three psalms, and then he plunged into God-contemplation and so - intelligently (mentally) - without words he prayed to the Lord, standing motionless. They said about another elder that in the evening he stood for prayer, turning his face to the east, raised his hands, was admired by God, and so remained unchanged until the sun, having risen, brought him down from the blissful heights with the blows of its rays. This is the admiration - or the very entry into the innermost - before the face of God, of which the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos, which we celebrate, reminded us. This is its highest state, but the usual manifestation of this degree - in the beginnings - is the burning of the heart, or the excitement of feelings during reading, prayer, good deeds, at home and in church, at work and on the way. The fruit of this is prayer. A feeling arises in the heart - a person enters with consciousness inside, and wants to have nothing in his mind except God. If in this state he prays, then he does not know satiety, bowing and sighing to God. The burning of his heart pleases him, and he would always like to be in this state, as Macarius of Egypt assures, if it were possible. So, whoever began to come to such states entered the third stage, that is, began to ascend from himself to God! This is the limit of ascent, but one that has no end, for God is infinite! Here are three steps of ascent following the Blessed Virgin before the face of God! Where are we, brothers and sisters? On the first, second or third? “But no matter where anyone stands, everything is fine.” Anyone who wallows in sin and passions, not caring about salvation, is bad! And if someone has turned from sin and entered the path of virtue, he is already on the good side. Just let him not stand in one place, for this is dangerous, but everything moves forward little by little, “forgetting what is behind and stretching to what is before,” as the Apostle commanded (Phil. 3:13). Amen. You might be interested in: