Вероучительная часть (Кол.1:12–20, 2:1–23)

The purpose of the Epistle is to warn the Colossians against the false teachings that were creeping up on them. But how, for this purpose, Saint Paul first had to, on the one hand, make it clear why he was taking on this matter with such care, and on the other hand, offer such truths that would serve as a basis for warnings; then he prefaces this with a warning: a) a brief depiction of the economy of our salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ (Col. 1:12–23) and: b) a demonstration of how, in the application of this economy to people, and specifically to the pagans, God was pleased to give Saint Paul a share (Col. 1:24–29); and then he writes: c) the very warnings (Col. 2), having in the latter, that is, in his purpose to serve the dispensation of salvation of the pagans, an incentive for himself to write, and in the first, that is, in the depiction of the dispensation of salvation in the Lord, drawing grounds for warning the Colossians. The truths set forth here are such that it is enough to point them out to defeat any false teaching and reject it. Let us note in advance that the first verse of the doctrinal part, the 12th, begins with the word: thanks and so on. Others compare this thanksgiving with: “to walk” (Col. 1:10) and say: The Apostle asks the Colossians to know the will of God, so that they may walk: 1) in every work to please God, in order to attain the knowledge of God, 2) in all patience with joy, being strengthened from above, and: 3) giving thanks to God, etc. But our interpreters compare this “giving thanks” with: “we do not cease” (Col. 1:9). What gives the idea that what should be seen here is not the encouragement of the Colossians to give thanks, but the Apostle’s expression of gratitude to God and the Father, who called “us” to partake of the inheritance of the saints, that is, to the Kingdom of the Son “by His love.” And this seems all the more appropriate since from this verse the Apostle changed the persons to whom he addresses his speech: he said: “to you,” that is, to the Colossians, and now he says: “to us,” making it clear that he begins to talk about a common Christian cause, as the content of this and subsequent verses shows. This forces us to admit that Saint Paul with this verse moves on to depict the economy of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. a) A Brief Picture of the Dispensation of Salvation (Col. 1:12–23) Depicting this economy, the Apostle first: aa) shows what is the essential power of economy (Col. 1:12–14); then: bb) depicts the Divine face of the Savior Himself (Col. 1:15–20) and, finally: c) presents the Colossians themselves as participants in this salvation (Col. 1:21–23). Col. 1:12. Giving thanks to God and the Father, who has called us to partake of the inheritance of the saints in the light. "Thank you." If we combine this word with: “we do not cease”, it will come out: “we do not cease giving thanks” - we give thanks unceasingly. So Saint Chrysostom: “The sequence of thoughts of the Apostle is this: we do not cease to pray for you and thank God for the past. Do you see how he enters into the word about the Son?” Saint Chrysostom believes that the word about the economy of salvation began here. So are our other interpreters. Blessed Theodoret writes: “Let us praise the philanthropic Master, who made us, unworthy, partakers of the light of the saints. With thanksgiving, the Apostle demonstrates the ineffability of God’s love for mankind and the greatness of God’s economy for us.” So Blessed Theophylact: “having said: I pray that God will grant you such and such blessings, now he says: I thank you for what we received before. In this way he imperceptibly introduces them into the word about the Son.” So let us understand “thankfully”: “we give thanks” - and see here the beginning of the word about the economy of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle appropriately begins this word with thanksgiving: for just think about the hopelessness of our situation, and contrast it with what prosperity and what glory we have been elevated to, having expected nothing and worthy of nothing, and what a wondrous economy, moreover, and take all this into your senses; then you will not find words to express your grateful feelings: you will only cry: “Glory to You, God! glory to Thee, O God!” If only we were delivered from evils, and by some kind of ministering spirit; and that would be the greatest good. Otherwise, the Son of God descends, takes upon Himself our poor nature and, having gone through redemptive suffering and death and resurrected, places us at the right hand of God and the Father; This was followed by the grace of the Holy Spirit, which makes all believers sons and daughters of God with the promise that they will all be there, “where Christ is seated on the right hand of God” (John 12:26; Col. 3:1). Who will find enough words to adequately, not to the extent of goodness, but to the extent of feeling, thank our most merciful God? “We give thanks,” he says, “to God and the Father.” The economy of salvation is accomplished by the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit; The salvation of everyone, according to this economy, is accomplished by the Father in the Son through the Holy Spirit. Why do we thank only God and the Father? The false teachers who seduced the Colossians probably took as their starting point their false teaching the position that God is completely separated from creation. Creation, they said, cannot tolerate the actions of God. Why did many mediating forces come from God - spirits, which, descending lower and lower, finally appeared in such a way that they could enter into intercourse with creatures, create them and support them. Among these powers, in their opinion, was the Son, and Jesus, and Christ. To show that the starting point of the false teachers is false, the Apostle turns with thanksgiving to God the Father, suggesting that God the Father is not only not separated from us, on the contrary, He called us, delivered us from the “power of darkness” and placed us in the Kingdom of the Son. About the Son, after this, he will say that He is not only not one of the created forces, but, on the contrary, is the Creator of them all, Himself being one with the Father. Gives thanks to “God and the Father, who called us.” Let’s note about the reading: in Slavic it stands: “you”; but Saint Chrysostom, Theodoret, Ecumenius and almost all others read: “us.” Also, all of us, and all others, do not read: “who called,” καλεσαντι, but: ικανωσαντι, “who satisfied,” who recognized us as eligible or made us capable. Very few people read both words. Let us read: “who has pleased us.” Saint Chrysostom gives this guidance with this word: “such, he says, is the gift, that it is not only given, but also made us strong for the communion of the gift (or, as Theophylact: “that it not only made us rich, but also gave us the ability and strength to appear worthily receiving it”).” And so the word: “who has pleased” ικανωσαντι, - who made us capable, has an important meaning here. Even if a king of small talents entrusted a person with some kind of leadership, he gave him the dignity, but he could not give the ability to conduct the business of leadership. That is why such a person turns into a laughing stock. But if he had given him dignity, and made him capable of taking a place of honor and fit to govern; then it would be a real honor. The same thing is said here - that God not only gave us honor, but also made us strong to accept it; for it is an absolute honor to give and prepare in a person the ability to receive the gift. Having said this, the Apostle further shows what honor we have been granted and through which we have become capable of it, saying: “to partake of the inheritance of the saints in the light.” Communion of the inheritance of the saints is an honor, and how we have become fit for it is shown by the word: “in the light.” What is the “inheritance of the saints”? The Kingdom of Christ, the Kingdom of grace, leading into the Kingdom of glory. The next verse says that God has given us into the “Kingdom of the Son of His love.” In his farewell speech to the Ephesians, the Apostle said: “Now I commend you, brethren, to God and the word of His grace, which is able to reward and give you an inheritance in all who are sanctified" (Acts 20:32). Here the Kingdom of Heaven seems to be seen more clearly. In his speech to Agrippa, the Apostle speaks in the words of the Lord Himself about what the Lord called him: "Open the eyes of their tongues, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the realm of Satan to God, so that they may receive remission of sins and inheritance. saints by faith, even in Me" (Acts 26:18). Here the Kingdom of grace is seen. Both Kingdoms are indivisible. In this Kingdom, God and the Father made it possible to have a part. “Who satisfied us with the sacrament,” εις την μεριδα, - who made us eligible to have a part or to enter into the sacrament. In relation to the Kingdom of glory, it is more appropriate to say: to have a part, that is, to each his own, and in relation to the Kingdom of grace, it is more appropriate to say: to enter into communion, for although here everyone has his own part, against his own strength, this is not visible; it is clear that everyone who enters it has everything they need, no less than everyone else. In relation to this it is said: “The mansions are many” (John 14:2), and in relation to this: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither male nor female” (Gal. 3:28). How we became ready to enter the Kingdom of Christ is shown by the word: “in the light,” by which we mean the light of knowledge, communicated through the gospel and acceptable by faith and dispelling the darkness of ignorance, and the light of grace, given through the sacraments and by the power of rebirth, driving away the darkness of sin. Truth in the word of God and grace in the sacraments are two saving forces acting on earth in the Church for believers, and outside it for non-believers. Some “in the light” refer to the future heritage, in the sense that it will be bright. But it is better to refer to “satisfied” as a way; the power of light can be extended to the future Kingdom - here there is light, and there the light is brighter; but both are mainly spiritual, consisting in knowledge and holiness from being filled with the grace of the Spirit. The external light will only be a reflection of this. Blessed Theophylact writes: ““in the light,” both future and present: for even now God has enlightened us, revealing to us such mysteries, and in the future he will give us even more abundant and wondrous light.” Col. 1:13. May He deliver us from the power of darkness, and place us in the Kingdom of the Son of Your love. “Izhe,” that is, God the Father, delivered us from the “power of darkness.” Who is the dark power? The devil and Satan, who is a dark and unclean force. The Apostle called the “dark power” the dominion of the devil (Blessed Theodoret).” “Deliver,” he says, “from the power of darkness,” that is, from the delusion and domination of the devil. He did not simply say: from darkness, but: from power; for the devil has great power and dominion over us. It’s hard to be simply under the devil, but under the devil with power it’s even harder. He did not say: he brought him out, but: he snatched him away, showing, on the one hand, our misery and the strength of our captivity, on the other hand, the convenience and ease with which the power of God accomplished this” (St. Chrysostom). How did God the Father pluck us from such power? Having sent His only begotten Son and through Him established such an economy of salvation that destroyed the works of the devil. What is the basis of the devil's power over us? On sin. The Lord, by His death, atoned for all our sins, and everyone who believes in Him receives remission of their sins. But the power of sin remains inside, which, like a law, leads to sins. The believer is given the grace of the Spirit, which cuts off this power of sin. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus frees him from the law of sin... as if no one had to deal with sin” (Rom. 8:2, 6:6). Thus, according to the economy of our salvation, the reins of dark power are torn from the hands of the devil; there is nothing for him to take us by, there is no weapon for rape. “And give up the Son of Thy love into the Kingdom.” This is done in one act. Such is the economy that, while delivering from dark power, it at the same time introduces the Son into the bright Kingdom, or through introduction into this Kingdom it delivers from that power. “Having delivered us from darkness, he made the Son worthy of the kingdom” (Blessed Theodoret). So, God showed His love for mankind not only in liberating us from darkness. It is a great thing, of course, to free one from darkness; but to be brought into the Kingdom is even greater. Look how complex the gift is! “And give up the Son of Thy love into the Kingdom.” He didn’t just say: to the Kingdom of Heaven, but he gave the word great importance, calling the Kingdom of Heaven the Kingdom of the Son; for there is no praise greater than this, as he says in another place: “If we endure, we will also reign with Him” (2 Tim. 2:12). He honored us with the same thing, he says, as he did with the Son, and not only that, but he also added: beloved: he suddenly moved the darkened enemies to where the Son was, and clothed him with the same honor as Him. So, in order to show the greatness of the gift, he did not consider it sufficient to say: to the Kingdom, but added: Son; and this was not enough, he added: beloved” (St. Chrysostom). “Son of love” means true Son, Son of nature, co-natural. For “God is loving” (1 John 4:16). The essence of God is love. “Son of love” is the Son of the being of the Father, co-essential, consubstantial. For this reason, the entire Son is love and is loved by God the Father. “The Apostle called the Lord Christ “Son of Love,” teaching that He is loved by the Father, not as a creature and a slave, but as a Son. He is the beloved Son, that is, the true Son. God also named Isaac this way, saying: “Understand your beloved son” (Gen. 22:2), that is, the real son, the son of your nature, who is dearer to you than others” (Blessed Theodoret). Col. 1:14. O Him, the imams, deliverance through His blood and forgiveness of sins. This is an explanation of how we are delivered from the “power of darkness”: delivered through the remission of sins and liberation from the power of sin living in us - both - by the blood of the incarnate Son of God. This stops all the power of the devil over us and all his attempts to take possession of us again. The Apostle explained only one half of what was said - how we get rid of the “dark power”, and the second - how we are delivered into the Kingdom of the Son, he did not consider it necessary to explain, because in reality both happen together and one does not exist without the other. Blessed Theophylact, following the guidance of Saint Chrysostom, writes to this: “So that, hearing that the Father has delivered us, you do not think that the Son is excluded from this and has not shown us any good, the Apostle now gives everything to the Son, as he first gave to the Father. For it is the Son who is responsible for our being brought into the Kingdom, who has given us redemption through His blood and the remission of sins. For if we had not been redeemed and had not received remission of sins, we would not have been transferred into the Kingdom. So He made way for the Father's gift. It is impossible for Him to give the Kingdom to those who are in sin. Having delivered from sin, the Son opened the entrance to the Kingdom. Thus the Son delivered, and the Son brought into the Kingdom.” But in this place one can see not an explanation of the previous one, but its addition. It is said that we are delivered from the “power of darkness” because our sins are forgiven and we are given the strength to overcome them. But there is nothing mechanical here. Strength to overcome sin is given; but it must be used with one’s own diligence. Be careless, and this power will remain inactive. Sin will come and overcome. What to do when this happens? We find the answer from Saint John the Theologian: “My children, I write this to you, so that you do not sin; and if anyone sins, the imams will intercede with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). The latter is the same as St. Paul says: “In Him we always have deliverance through His blood and remission of sins.” The price of the blood of the Son of God is incessantly effective, and the path to sharing its power is always open: go and use the deliverance of its power if you have a need. Hitherto ( Col. 1:12–14 ) Saint Paul has shown what we have in Christ Jesus our Lord, or what is the essential power of the economy of salvation. Now he begins to show who this organizer of our salvation is (Col. 1:15–20). This was necessary to repel the false teachings with which unkind wise men attempted to disturb the pure faith of the Colossians. They placed Christ the Lord among the highest, but created, powers. Why does Saint Paul expose the truth that our Savior is the true God, by nature God, Whom He did not cease to be even when He became incarnate to complete the economy of our salvation. The Apostle’s thought is established on the Divine face of Christ the Lord, seated at the right hand of God the Father, worshiped by all the powers of heaven. He rose up to the contemplation of this and led us, saying before this that in the Lord Jesus we always have deliverance and remission of sins. For the reason for this, not here, but in other places expressed by him, is that He sits at the right hand of God the Father and intercedes for us (Rom. 8:34). Why, at those words, is it natural for our thoughts to ascend to this height, so that, together with the Apostle, fixing the gaze of our minds on the Divine face of Christ the Savior, we listen to his words about the Divinity of Jesus Christ the Lord. Saint Paul depicts the divine greatness of Christ the Savior, inaccessible and inconceivable to any creature, imagining that there is the Lord Jesus: a) as God, in Himself, detached from the incarnation (Col. 1:15–17); and that He is: β) as the God-man, according to the incarnate economy of our salvation (Col. 1:18–20). This division, determined by the flow of thoughts, is also visible externally in the image of speech: “Whoever is” (Col. 1:15); “And He is” (Col. 1:18). The Lord Jesus Christ, according to Divinity, is: αα) consubstantial with God the Father, the Son before the world begotten (Col. 1:15); ββ) Creator of all things (Col. 1:16) and: γγ) Almighty (Col. 1:17). Col. 1:15. He who is the image of the invisible God is the firstborn of all creation. “Image” - indicates oneness with the Father; due to what? by virtue of being born. since it was born, it is consubstantial; Being consubstantial, it is an image. “Who is the image of God,” an essential image, exactly similar, not different in anything. As the Father is, so is He. Look at the Father, look at the Son - there is no difference except birth. Saint Chrysostom says: “the word: “image” indicates απαραλλακτον, exact similarity, non-difference in anything; therefore He (the Lord) απαραλλακτος, exactly similar (to the Father), is in no way different (from Him).” Blessed Theodoret writes: “Image” means consubstantial. Inanimate images do not have in themselves the essence of what the images are, but a living image that differs in nothing has one nature with the prototype.” We read the same thing in Ecumenius: “The Apostle calls the Son the image (of the Father), due to his in no way different from Him and all-round similarity and equality, as εκμαγιον (in modern terms, as a photographic imprint of primordial beauty).” Let us also apply Theophylact’s word: “Saying: “Who is the image of God,” the Apostle here represents the Divine glory and greatness of the Only Begotten. “The image,” he says, is, that is, exactly similar, not different in anything. There is no measure for His greatness, so that (by measuring) you can tell how much is lacking in Him (against the Father). If He were an image, like a man, then you would have something to say (in this regard), because this image (human) never reaches the prototype. since He is an image, like God and the Son of God, that is, the image of God is completely similar.” The following passages of Scripture can lead to a clearer understanding of how God the Son is the image of God the Father: “He who was in the form of God was not equal with God through admiration” (Phil. 2:6); and: “Who is the radiance of glory and the image of His hypostasis” (Heb. 1:3). The last place gives the idea that God the Father sees in God the Son a reflection of the glory of His Divinity, which is why He is “the image of His hypostasis.” As in a mirror, let us use a human comparison, the one who looks into it is reflected in all precision, all as is: so, all as is, essentially, with all His Divinity, the Father is reflected in the Son. The first place suggests that God the Son, who is eternally in the image of God, or being the essential image of God, is equal to God the Father, stands on the same line, so to speak, about Divine Persons, on the same line of Divine greatness with God the Father; which is impossible to be otherwise than by consubstantiality. “Who is the image of the invisible God.” This expression gives rise to the idea that the invisible Divine nature becomes visible in the Son, in His eternal being. But you shouldn't think like that. If the Son is the exact image of the invisible God, then He is also invisible: otherwise He would not be the exact image. He is the image of the invisible God, but the image is invisible. The God worshiped in the Trinity is invisible: the Father is invisible, the Son is invisible, the Holy Spirit is invisible. Saint Chrysostom says: “if He (God) is invisible, then (His image) is also invisible, because otherwise he would not be an image.” Blessed Theophylact concludes: “So, unite both, believing that the Only Begotten is both - the image and the invisible.” And in the incarnation of God the Word, the invisible Deity did not become visible, but only His presence became, as it were, tangibly cognizable, but still mentally, and not visible. So the holy Apostles intelligently saw in the Lord the Savior the invisible Divinity and confessed: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16); So, after the resurrection, Saint Thomas, as if touching the invisible Divinity, in a mental, however, vision of Him, cried out: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28); Thus, when the Lord visibly ascended into heaven, the angels worshiped the invisible Divinity in Him, and to this day they worship Him in Christ the Savior, who sits at the right hand of God (Heb. 1:6; 1 Pet. 3:22). And the invisible Divinity will also be seen in the Visible, coming to judge the living and the dead. Ambrosiastes writes: “The Lord said to Philip: “Having seen Me, you have seen the Father: and how do you say: show us the Father?” Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?” (John 14:9, 10). The consubstantiality of the Father and the Son means that They are one, so that he who sees the Son sees the Father. But how could Philip, seeing the Son, see the Father? With mental eyes, seeing the Divine works of the Son. What the Son did, he said that it was the Father’s, showing the unity of Divine power. Jacob saw God in the same way; which is why it is called Israel, that is, a person who sees God (Gen. 32:28). So, therefore, the Lord is called the image of the invisible God, to make it clear that He Himself is God, Who is mentally seen in Him. The Father never appeared visibly in any way, as it is said in the Gospel: “No one has seen God anywhere” (John 1:18).” “The firstborn of all creation,” “that is, born before all creation” (Blessed Theodoret). If begotten, it is from the being and nature of the Father; therefore, it is consubstantial with Him; what is the direct basis of the fact that there is His image. "The firstborn of all creation." These words define the two relationships of the Son: to God the Father, that He was born of Him, and to creatures, that He was not created, but begotten before all of them. This signifies the endless distance of creation from Him. Blessed Theophylact writes: “The Apostle shows that the Son is before all creation. How to eat? Through birth See what the wisdom of the Apostle is: He did not simply say that He is before every creature, so that, hearing this, you would not think that He is special from God the Father; but he said: He was born before every creation, teaching you that He has a Father and is born of Him. And at the same time he showed that He is not and everything else is from Him: He is the Son from the Father, and the rest is all creation, created by Him.” The Arians thought they would have great support for their false teaching in this place. “The firstborn of all creation,” they interpreted, means that He stands at the head of the creatures and, as the first of them, the creation Himself. But in this case, the Apostle would not have said: “firstborn,” but “primordial” (St. Chrysostom). “And if you consider the word: “firstborn” to be equivalent to the word: “primordial”; then the Apostle would say: firstborn (in the sense of being first-created) of other creatures besides Him, born before them (in the sense of created)” (St. Athanasius the Great). But the Apostle says: “firstborn.” Born; Consequently, he is of one nature with God the Father, who gave birth to Him, and through this he is infinitely distant from creation. Born before every creature, therefore, eternal: for time, as an integral form of created existence, came into existence together with creation. Before creation was eternity; and He who is born before the creation is eternal; which again presupposes the infinite distance of the Son of God from creation. Moreover, the firstborn of every creature is subsequently called the Creator of all things. But when something happens, it comes out of nothing. Only He who is Himself can create out of nothing; whoever is himself out of nothing, like a creature, cannot create. Consequently, if the firstborn of every creature created everything, then He Himself cannot be a creature. Col. 1:16. For by Him all things were created, both in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, including thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers: all things were created by Him and about Him. “Yako” means that what is said here proves the previous one. since everything was created by the Son, it is obvious that He is before every creature and that He Himself is not a creature, but He is; otherwise he could not create from nothing; but is not specially from the Father, but is from Him and in Him by way of birth, without, however, separating from Him. “Therefore,” εν αυτω, - and at the end of the verse it says: δι αυτου και εις αυτον - all together: in Him, through Him and into Him or for Him. The Apostolic mind, enlightened by God, of course, definitely saw what shades or aspects of the creative work are indicated by each of these expressions. But we can admit that we cannot say with certainty that one expression means exactly this, another that means this, another that means that. It is better for us to believe that this is only expressed in many turns of phrase: whatever anyone thinks is necessary in the work of creation, everything is in the Creator Son, manifested by Him and invested in the work of creation. God the Son created everything Himself, by His power and for Himself. Nothing from the outside came in to help. “It was created by Him,” that is, as before this, “Firstborn,” and, as even higher, “Son of God.” The work of creation is the work of the Trinitarian God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, inseparably. Saint Athanasius the Great repeatedly expresses it this way: everything was created by the Father in the Son through the Holy Spirit, or by the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Why is the Creator the Father, the Creator the Son, the Creator the Holy Spirit, but there are not three Creators, but one Creator. The prophet David confesses this as follows: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the Spirit of His mouth was all their strength” (Ps. 32:6). If in the Scriptures of the New Testament we find more places in which creation is attributed to the Son; this is because the holy Apostles had the greatest need to prove the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God incarnate, since in Him the visibility of human nature hid His invisible Divinity; and the strongest proof of Divinity is creativity: for He who creates out of nothing is He, His essence is to be, combining in Himself all the fullness of perfections. So in this Epistle, the Apostle needed to put into perspective the Divine greatness of Christ the Savior - he says that by Him, as the Son of God and God, “all things were created,” without, of course, setting aside in his mind the Father and the Holy Spirit. Let us note at the same time that all attempts to determine what exactly belonged to the Son in the work of creation should not be considered something worthy of full consent, respect and attention. For example, such expressions are considered to explain a lot that the Son is causa instrumentalis or causa exemplaris in the work of creation: the first means that the Son is the instrument of creation, and the second that He, as wisdom, is the container of the ideas of all creatures. Both expressions seem to explain something; but both of them remove the Son from creativity: for if the Son is an instrument, then it is not He who creates, but the Father through Him; and if He is only the container of ideas, then He appears to be something at rest, and not active. Moreover, is it reasonable to say that in the Persons of God, equal in all things, one is the instrument of the other? And is it appropriate to think that only the Son has the ideas of creatures, and not both the Father and the Holy Spirit? And if they have it, then why philosophize: Son causa exemplaris? If it is appropriate to apply the work of creation to the activity of our soul; then look at how it works. Whatever she does, she always works with all her strength: mind, will, and feeling. But if you start to disassemble and separate what belongs to which force in a matter, you will never be able to figure it out with accuracy. So if in our business we cannot find such differences; Where can we guess what belongs in the work of the Trinitarian God? Which person? And this is all the more so since the similarity of the three powers in one soul to the three hypostases in one God is extremely weak, although it can be taken into account when thinking about God: for in it there is the image of God. “All kinds” – everything that exists. Then he lists “what is in heaven and on earth” - the earth with all the creatures on it and the sky with everything that is on it. Then, since with the word: “even in heaven,” another could limit himself to thinking only about the sun, moon and stars, but the Apostle needed to point out more than just this; then he added: “visible and invisible,” as if saying: I mean not only this one thing, but also what is hidden in them, I mean not only the visible world, but also the invisible, spiritual world. Finally, so that no one in this world of spirits would exclude anyone from among those created by God the Son, the Apostle retells by name their hosts, “whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or powers,” and concludes: “Everything was created by Him and about Him”—everything, everything that you might invent and recognize as existing, everything was created by Him. Saint Paul especially needed to pay attention to this invisible world of heavenly spiritual powers, because the false teachers who seduced the Colossians did not think about them as they should and put Christ, Jesus and the Son in their rank. The Apostle says that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, incarnate, is not only not one of them, but, on the contrary, is their Creator and God. He lists only four hosts of them, presumably only as an example. You can add: these and all their other hosts that exist. There is no need to list all the ranks of angels. We are not talking about them, but about the Divinity of the Lord the Savior, which is proved especially by creativity. Having said: “Everything was created by Him and about Him,” the Apostle makes it clear that nothing remains not created by Him, except, of course, the Spirit, which proceeds from the Father (Blessed Theophylact) Col. 1:17. And He is before all, and everything will take place in Him. “He often repeats the same thing in order to cut out the wicked teaching by the frequency of words, as if with frequent blows. And look, he did not say: he came into being before all, but: “He is before all,” which is characteristic of God” (St. Chrysostom, Blessed Theodoret, Blessed Theophylact). “No matter what you come up with, you will find that He exists before that, pre-exists that, existing eternally with the Father and the Spirit” (Ecumenius). “He is before all; because He alone was born of God the Father, from the unbegotten nature of God. And everything else is by His power, which He has from the Father through birth; and this is not so that the created had any kind of communication with Him by nature, but in such a way that, having received being out of nothing from the Son, acting at the behest of God the Father (or by inspiration, with one mind), it is held in existence by Him” (Ambrosiastes). “He received being, He continues to be” (Ecumenius). This is the purpose of the Apostle in this place - to show that the Lord is the Almighty. ""All things will take place in Him." For He is not only the Creator of everything, but also provides for what He has created, and rules over creation, and it stands by His wisdom and power” (Blessed Theodoret). “Everything is held together by Him. He not only brought all this from non-existence into existence, but now He also contains it all, so that if anything were taken away from His providence, it would collapse and perish. On Him, he says, everything is established, because it is enough to lean on Him, and He will support and hold firmly. So that you do not think that here He is a ministering instrument (that is, in industry, of which the Angels serve as instruments), the Apostle says that He Himself contains all this (with His ever-present power), which means no less than the creation itself” (St. Chrysostom). The Apostle showed that there is our Lord Jesus Christ according to Divinity; Now the speech begins about what He is according to the incarnate economy (Col. 1:18–20). “Having spoken of dignity, he then speaks of love for mankind” (St. Chrysostom). “I moved from theology to economics” (Blessed Theodoret). – Here two contemplations are revealed: αα) the height of the God-man (Col. 1:18, 19) and: ββ) His main work is the reconciliation of everyone with God (Col. 1:20). Col. 1:18. And He is the Head of the body of the Church, Who is the firstfruits, the firstborn from the dead, for He will be preeminent in all. “He is the Head” - the One about whom has hitherto been proclaimed, the Son of God, born before the age, who created everything, contains everything and provides for everything, the same “is the Head of the body of the Church.” The body of the Church is a harmoniously combined totality of believers in Christ the Savior, clothed in Him, quickened and regenerated by the Holy Spirit and in living union with the Lord - the totality of restored humanity. It was restored initially in Him, in His Person, and through Him and through Him all believers are restored by the Holy Spirit and, being restored, cleave to Him essentially, are one with Him and are supported by Him: so that He is the Head of them, both as their ancestor and as their holder. There, according to the order of nature, He created everything, and “all things will happen in Him”; but here, according to the dispensation of grace, everything is transformed by Him and again takes place in Him - it abides and stands. So the Church is all one with Him, and through Him with God the Father. Everything comes down to unity of command. “The Church here stands in place of the entire human race,” says Saint Chrysostom. This is according to the power of the embodied economy and its purpose. If not everyone enters her body for union with the saving Head, it is not the body that is guilty, but those themselves who do not enter. “Having said: “Head,” the Apostle wants to show the closeness of the Lord to us and at the same time the greatness of God’s love for mankind, - that He who is so high and is above all, deigned to unite so closely with our baseness” (St. Chrysostom). Every believer should constantly think about this with grateful feelings. “Which is the firstfruits,” αρχη, is the beginning of restored humanity. It was first restored in Him, and then through Him and by the power of His economy all those who are restored are restored, clinging to Him by faith. He is the beginning, as the source from which the restorative force flows, and as the ancestor of those being restored and the norm of restoration. “The Apostle represents Him as the firstfruits, expressing the idea that others are the same as He,” says Saint Chrysostom. "Firstborn from the dead." “The first rose from the dead; the first to resolve the disease of death and came out of its womb like a newborn” (Blessed Theodorit, Blessed Theophylact). “And before there were those who rose again; but they died again, showing that they did not have the power of resurrection within themselves. And He, having risen, no longer dies, as containing in Himself the power of resurrection” (Blessed Theophylact). “This power is such that it serves as the basis and source of the general resurrection of all” (Blessed Theodoret). “He started; after all, like Him, they will emerge from the depths of death, like newborns” (Blessed Theophylact). That is why he is called the firstborn from the dead. ““First born from the dead,” as the first to rise from all others, after whom all others will follow” (St. Chrysostom, Blessed Theophylact). Ambrosiast writes: “since “all this was”; then everything had to be restored, after it had fallen and been damaged by sin, also through Him, so that if it were restored through someone else, no shadow would fall on Him. Why, just as from eternity He was born before all, so again He appears first before all in the resurrection from the dead, returning to him through this his original life. Born of God before all others, He created all things that do not exist; and, being born again from the Virgin with the assumed flesh, he destroyed sin, which entered the world through the virgin Eve, and with sin, death. And so, having been born and died, He rose again in order to recreate again what was created in the beginning and fell to death through sin.” The restored humanity as it should be in this state appeared in the risen Lord. Why did He actually become his firstfruits - such - through the resurrection, or as the firstborn from the dead. “For let the One be superior in all.” “For as God, He is before all and with the Father, and as man, “firstborn from the dead” and the head of the body” (Blessed Theodoret). “He is first everywhere, first in those above, first in the Church, as its Head, first in the resurrection” (St. Chrysostom). “For He was born of the Father before all ages, and before all men He rose from the dead, by a resurrection that has no longer seen death and gives incorruption to all” (Ecumenius, Blessed Theophylact). “In all” – in all respects; In whatever respects one may contemplate Him, He will find Him first everywhere. But according to the flow of the Apostle’s speech, only, on the one hand, the natural order of things is taken into account, on the other, the grace-filled order. There the first, as the Creator and Provider, and here, as the Redeemer and Restorer. “Let it be.” This is how it was ordained in the Eternal Council of God - to be the One and the same and the Creator, and the Provider, and the Redeemer, and, finally, also the Judge. The Apostle puts this on display for the purpose that the believers’ mind and heart should be established on the One and cleave to the One. This is in opposition to the false teachers who introduced many powers (eons) and through that multi-power. Those who listen to them scatter in different directions with attention and aspirations, which yield nothing. Truly, One is our hope, and in Him is everything. Col. 1:19. For in Him you deign to dwell in all fulfillment. He proves that it has been precisely ordained from all eternity, that our Savior may be preeminent in everything: for God was so pleased that in Him alone all fullness would dwell—everything in full that would be required, for anyone and for anything, both in time and in eternity. The reason why He is like this is that He is the God-man. Why does the dwelling in Him of all fulfillment also mean that “in Him dwells all the fullness of the physical Godhead” (Col. 2:9). “The Apostle called the fullness of the Divinity “all fulfillment.” Just as the Son and the Word, like God, dwelt in Him, it was not His action that dwelt, but He Himself, with His being or His full hypostasis” (St. Chrysostom, Blessed Theophylact, Ecumenius). For this reason, everything that is needed in Him is combined: apart from Him nothing happens and nothing comes to pass before God. Ambrosiastes writes: “All completeness exists and abides in Him, He is always capable of everything: He created and recreated, He raises up the fallen and gives life to the dead. That’s why He says: “As... the Father has life in Himself, so also the Sons have life in Himself.” And again: “As... The Father raises the dead and gives life, and so the Son also gives life to what He wills” (John 5:26, 21). What is so just as for God to give Him judgment over what He has created through Him? That all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him is evident from the fact that, as we have said, He has all authority and power; and this means that He is perfect God, because whoever does not have this is not God.” God the Father, during the baptism and transfiguration from above, testified about Christ the Savior: “This is My beloved Son, in Him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17, 17:5), or on Whom all My good pleasure rests. For what? Because by Him and in Him all God’s will is fulfilled, all God’s plans and intentions, all God’s wills come to completion in Him. Nevertheless, everything that is intended to be fulfilled by Him is fulfilled in Him; because He is the Son of God and God incarnate. Therefore, God the Father rested and rests on Him with His favor. Col. 1:20. And thereby reconcile all things to Himself, pacifying them with the blood of His cross, through Him, whether earthly or heavenly. “And by this reconcile all things to Himself” - this is the main thing that God pleased to be fulfilled through His incarnate Son. “Reconciliation” conveys the idea of ​​enmity (St. Chrysostom) and, as it seems, between God and creation: for he says: “reconcile all things to Himself,” that is, God deigned to reconcile all things to Himself through His incarnate Son. What kind of enmity is this? God does not quarrel, for he is impassive; and the creature will not even dare to think about being hostile to its Creator and God. What is this hostility, suppressed by reconciliation? There is a statement from the law of God's will. Saint Paul, writing (to the Romans) about carnal wisdom, said that it is “enmity against God”; and immediately added an explanation of why he called him that: “For the law of God is not punished” (Rom. 8:7). Thus, according to him, enmity against God is disobedience to the law of God’s will. He who has stepped out from the law of God's will and remains in his disobedience to it is the one who is at enmity with God. This is what fallen man is. The Son of God became incarnate in order to reconcile him with God, that is, to introduce him into the order of life according to the will of God. But this will be the reconciliation of only man, and the Apostle says: “reconcile all things,” by which he means everything, both earthly and heavenly. How does the word “reconcile” apply here? The same as in relation to a person. When man stepped out of the will of God; then everything did not go as God had willed from the beginning - not according to the will of God: for everything fell into discord. The powers of heaven could not be peaceful towards man, due to disobedience to God (blessed Theodoret), and all creation armed itself against man. For she remained in the will of God, as having no arbitrariness, and he came out of this will, being, however, essentially connected with creation. She oppresses him, as if he is going against the established order of God. According to God’s intention, everything had to be in harmonious harmony. The Son of God came and became incarnate to destroy this discord of all kinds. Why did the Apostle, having said: “reconcile all things,” added: “pacifying” both earthly and heavenly. “One thing here indicates enmity, namely: “reconcile,” - and the other indicates war and discord, namely: “pacifying”” (St. Chrysostom). But this pacification was accomplished in the same way, that is, by introducing man into the order of life according to the will of God. For if discord occurs through action from this will; then the suppression of discord is through entering into it and remaining in it. How was it done? "Blood of the cross." Through it is reconciliation with God, through it is the pacification of all, through it is the restoration of the fallen. The whole work of the incarnate economy is this: the Son of God, having become incarnate, died on the cross and thereby removed the guilt of sin from man; then, having risen and ascended into heaven, he opened the way for the Holy Spirit to descend into humanity. And He, having descended on the Apostles and through them established the holy Church, remains in it, through the holy sacraments, reviving everyone, giving life, and keeping in the will of God with His guidance and His gracious power, everyone who clings with faith to the Lord Savior. Thus, everyone is introduced into the order of life according to the will of God; therefore, one is reconciled and one is pacified. since the Spirit of God would not have descended if the guilt had not been removed from man by the death on the cross of the Son of God, and without the grace of the Holy Spirit man would not have entered into the order of life according to the will of God and, therefore, would not have been reconciled or pacified; then the Apostle attributes all this goodness to the blood of the cross as the only source. This blood washes and with the grace of the Holy Spirit revives us for life according to God. The Apostle writes: “deign to reconcile by pacifying,” as if it were a matter that was finally accomplished. It is such and exists in its power and before the all-seeing eye of God. In reality, with the coming of the Son of God in the flesh, His death on the cross, resurrection, ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit, only a beginning was laid for it, living and richly acting. From the moment of the descent of the Holy Spirit, the reconciling and pacifying power of the incarnate economy began to operate, continues to operate, and will continue to operate until the end of the century, through the introduction of believers into the order of life according to God through the quickening of the Holy Spirit. But this is visible only with the eyes of faith. At the present time, all who are worthy of this good are gathering around Him who sits at the right hand of God Christ the Savior. If our eyes were opened and we saw this, we would actually understand that there is reconciliation of everyone with God and pacification of those on earth and in heaven. At the end of the ages, when the sky becomes new and the earth becomes new, all this will be clearly seen and understood by everyone. One can, or should, believe that the power of reconciliation and pacification through embodied economy began to act after the fall. And the powers of heaven and all creation should have armed themselves against man as soon as he stepped out of the will of God. If the creature did not suppress him after the sin, if the powers of heaven did not rise up against him immediately after he sinned, if the wrath of God did not strike him in the very act of sin, then all this is because reconciliation was already supposed to happen in advance - there was already a Reconciliator who took upon himself the work of reconciliation, which immediately began to act as soon as the need arose. We cannot know how the Angels would have treated us if not for reconciliation; but we can guess by the Angel who stood with a sword at the entrance to heaven, and by the cases in which they later struck sinners. We also cannot know how other creatures would treat us if there were no reconciliation; but we can guess by the flood, by the burning of Sodom, by the devouring of the Egyptians by the sea, and the like. since there was supposed to be reconciliation, both the Angels and the creation began from the very beginning to serve this cause, those helping more internally, and these admonishing more externally: for through it penance was imposed on the sinner. That is why we see Angels singing the joy of the birth of the incarnate God the Son, the Savior, announcing His bright resurrection, accompanying Him to heaven with exclamations and there worshiping and glorifying Him. For what? Of course, also for the sake of the fact that they matured in Him their reconciliation with their brothers in spirit, who bear the flesh, which has in due time to appear in its power. We also see that at the hour of shedding blood on the cross, the creature gave up several of the dead resurrected, isn’t it because it received the hope of revelation in the glory of the sons of God, when it too would appear in the glory of its peace with its head, for the sake of which it was involuntarily subjected to vanity and corruption. This is how God deigned to reconcile all things to Himself through His incarnate Son, pacifying both earthly and heavenly things through the blood of His cross. Let us quote what our interpreters have said about this. Saint Chrysostom says: “It is a great thing to reconcile, and what is through the Son is even greater, and this is even greater, what is through His blood, and not only through blood, but, what is even greater, through the cross; so here are five things worthy of surprise: reconciled - with God - by Himself - by death - by the cross. How wisely Saint Paul combined all this in a few words! He especially wanted to show that the Son of God accomplished the work of reconciliation not by uttering a word (as in creation: “it spoke and came” (Ps. 32:9)), but through the giving of Himself (as a sacrifice of reconciliation).” Blessed Theodoret writes: “He accomplished our reconciliation by enduring saving suffering, shedding blood, making a sacrifice for us; and combined the heavenly and the earthly.” We also read from Ambrosiastes: “in order to restore what was created by the Son through the Son, God the Father, when corruption entered among the creatures through sin and they entered into discord not only among themselves, but also with their Creator, deigned to humiliate His Son through the incarnation, so that, having become a man, He would show and teach how things that exist in the firmament of heaven can be reconciled with the Creator and on the ground. And the Son of God, in order to bring this to completion, suffered a bloody death on the cross for people.” This is how the words are explained: “deign to reconcile to yourself, having pacified the blood of His cross.” About the words: “whether earthly, or heavenly” - we read from St. Chrysostom: “What does it mean: “(pacifying) heavenly”? As for the “earthly”, this is understandable, because here everything was filled with enmity, each of us was in disagreement with himself and with many others. But how did He pacify the “heavenly”? Was there already discord and disagreement there too? No; but the earth was torn away from heaven, and the Angels took up arms against people, seeing their Lord insulted by them. And the Lord stopped this enmity. How? Translating man into heaven. He not only pacified earthly things, but elevated man to the Angels, elevated to heaven the one who was not loved there. This is a deep world! Angels again began to appear on earth, because man also appeared in heaven. God brought them down to the people, and raised the people there. First he brought down the Angels to us, and then he raised man to the Angels; the earth became heaven, because heaven had to receive from the earth. Now the sky is no longer blocked from us by an impassable barrier; and every believer has his own Angel. Where can you see this? Listen to the words of Christ: “Be careful that you do not despise one [of] these little ones... for their angels... will always see the face of my Father in heaven” (Matthew 18:10).” Having shown both the height of the economy and the manner in which it was accomplished, Saint Paul finally reminds the Colossians that: α) they too were worthy of this great gift (Col. 1:21, 22); and encourages that it will remain their eternal property if: β) they observe the necessary conditions for this - strong faith and unmoving hope (Col. 1:23). Gal. 1:21, 22. And you, who are sometimes thought to be alienated and enemies in evil deeds, now reconcile you in the body of His flesh by His death, to present you holy and blameless and blameless before Him. This is either an application of what has been said, or an example to explain it. So God reconciled you to Himself, and did not deprive you of this great gift. Or this: to make it clearer to you what reconciliation is and what it consists of, look at yourself, what you were and what you became according to the economy of salvation in Christ the Lord. Blessed Theodoret makes a paraphrase of this passage: “Make conclusions about yourself and about everyone. For you, living in wickedness and wickedness and being completely deprived of the light of the knowledge of God, became close to God, because the Lord Christ paid your debt, giving your body to death, so that you, having been awarded the title, would become holy and free from all vice.” “And you, who are sometimes alienated” - alienated from God and from the life of God. It is not indicated how this happened, because they knew it: through the fall they fell away from God, were alienated from Him and remained in this alienation; They liked life outside of God and chose a permanent way of life, in which they had lived until now. Saint Chrysostom understands the words: “real alienated”: alienated. “So that, he says, you do not imagine any necessity (in the matter of such alienation), the Apostle says: “and you who were alienated.” It is not the same thing to deliver from evil a person who, of necessity, suffered evil, and a person who voluntarily suffered it: the former is worthy of pity, and the latter of disgust. However, God, despite this, reconciled you to Himself, who departed from Him not involuntarily, not under compulsion, but voluntarily. And the Angels have long desired reconciliation, and God; only you didn’t want to.” In the word: “alienated” - and this is the thought: you not only did not expect, not only did not want, you did not even think about it, you deliberately turned away from God and ran from Him. “And think about your enemies.” Enemy in relation to God, as previously explained, is a departure from the will of God and stubborn persistence in it, in defiance of God. “Alienation” gives the idea only of inattention and coldness; and “hostility” suggests some kind of hostility and irritated resistance, perhaps not directly to God, but to life according to God, and through it, to God. To one who loves sin, everything divine is unpleasant, and if he stands on the paths of sin, it irritates and causes hostility. When someone turns to God, such dispositions are changed, hostility turns to sin, and goodwill begins to warm toward God and the Divine. “Think”, τη διανοια, - which means the entire internal structure: thoughts, and feelings, and dispositions, and plans, and sympathies, the whole face of a person with consciousness and freedom - with all this, he says, you were given over to evil deeds - evil, lawless, and walked in them, without even leaving the circle of them in your thoughts. since such an order of life is contrary to the will of God, then throughout your entire being you were imbued with resistance to God, or hostility to God. Saint Chrysostom says: “The Apostle writes: “Consider your enemies in deeds,” showing that their alienation was not only in intention, but what? “and in wicked deeds,” that is, you were enemies and acted like enemies.” What is inside is also outside: from the abundance of the heart, not only the mouth speaks, but the legs walk and the hands act. So this is what you once were, that is, before you believed and clung to Christ the Lord. Despite, however, your alienation from God and hostility towards Him, He has now reconciled you to Himself. Whatever good He has provided for all mankind, He has granted you the same. How did you reconcile? Just as he intended to reconcile everyone: “in the body of His flesh, by His death.” God was pleased that His Only Begotten Son, descending to earth, took upon Himself a fleshy body, visible and tangible, and, having died in it by the death of the cross, took away the guilt of sin from people and paved the way for them to a new life in grace. All who cling to Him by faith receive, for the sake of His death, forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God and a new, holy life. To whom and as a drawer to Christ the Lord, God Himself arranges everything, and if someone, having been called, believes and is established in faith, He reconciles him to Himself and makes him worthy of all the benefits of reconciliation. So He has made you worthy of all this. The gospel has reached you without you searching. It was God who brought it to you; and the calling of you to faith came, as it were, from His mouth. When you bowed to faith, He strengthened you in this faith and in the font of baptism, making you partakers of the death of His Son on the cross, took away your sins, reconciled with you and gave you new life. This is how God the Father, who were alien to Him, who showed yourselves to Him as enemies by disposition towards a sinful life that was displeasing to Him, reconciled to Himself by the death of His incarnate Son. But He reconciled you, alienated and enemies, without leaving you enemies and alienated from Himself; and thus He reconciled, because He transformed you from enemies into friends, and from strangers into His sons and daughters. This is expressed by the words: “present the holy and blameless and blameless before You.” - “Present” - to reveal and do: for they usually represent something that has already been done. “Before Himself” - before His all-seeing eye. What should their holiness be? Such that not even a speck of unclean dust remains in them. God Himself presents you as saints before Himself. If, when presenting a matter to others, they try to make it look perfect; Isn’t it even more so when they do something for themselves? If God, wanting to present you before Him as saints, Himself makes you such, and He knows and can do this in the most perfect way; then who can measure your holiness, and not just find something imperfect in it? The words: “holy, immaculate, innocent” - collectively mean complete holiness, comprehensive and comprehensive. If we distinguish between them, then perhaps we can do it this way: the innocent one is the one from whom the guilt has been removed; immaculate - one who is pure in himself; a saint is one who is, in addition, enriched with all kinds of good and godly deeds. Saint Chrysostom, interpreting this passage, explains the bright state of grace of the Colossians by their assimilation of what the Lord Savior has done for everyone. “The Lord Savior not only freed us from sins (justified us, removed the guilt of sin), but also placed us among those deserved and loved. He endured so much not only to free us from evil, but also in order to raise us to our original state, just as if someone, having freed a condemned person from punishment, elevated him to an honorable state. He placed us among those who have not sinned in anything, or, better, among those who not only have not sinned, but have also accomplished the greatest feats.” This, done for everyone, God the Father appropriated and gave to you, Colossians, said the Apostle. “Imagine” – the goal shows. God has made peace with you, enemies and alienated, in order to present you, or make you so perfect. But how is not indicated. He was reconciled by the death of His Son; but this is only the possibility, the beginning and the starting point to the representation and saints. How does this sanctification actually come to an end? So: the believer sets the intention and determination to live otherwise holy and blameless. The grace of God in holy baptism strengthens this decision and makes it powerful, “even if sin does not work for anyone.” He comes out of the font prepared for every good deed and then begins to become rich in all sorts of good deeds, fighting sin both within himself and without. This feat continues unchangeably, and holiness also matures. Finally, everything both inside and outside is filled with holiness; and the believer can be honored as standing before God in perfection, holy, not as having become such by himself, but as having been made so by God the Father Himself, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, by virtue of the death of His Son on the cross, according to the good will of the Father, in the holiness of the Spirit, through the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:2). But although perfect holiness exists only in the goal, nevertheless, for the sake of active zeal for that, God makes those who are so zealous completely holy: for He sees the end of everyone’s path. Thus, representing the saints is still a goal for everyone; it requires effort and time. Why can’t the word “present” be considered alien to the idea that this will finally be revealed at the last judgment. Ambrosiast, by the way, points to this. It is obvious after this that presentation as saints, and then reconciliation, is not unconditional. As before, alienation and sin were not against the will; so now reconciliation and holiness are not without will. What is required? Col. 1:23. If you continue in faith, the firmaments and the immovables are based on the hope of the gospel, which you have heard preached to every creature in the heavenly places, of which Paul was his minister. “As long as you abide.” If we put this speech in connection with the previous one, we get: God has made peace with you in order to present or make you holy. He will present it or do it if you remain firm in faith and immovable in hope. This is what is required if, when using the word “imagine,” you have in mind how this will happen at the end of everything. Blessed Theodoret writes similar to this: “You will be holy, blameless and blameless if you adhere to what you learned at the beginning and keep firm the teaching that was taught to you.” But if at the same time you keep in mind how holiness is sung in reality under the action of God, then it will be: He represents or makes you holy, if you remain firm in faith and motionless in hope, He does it, although you do not notice it. Your faith and trust give Him room to work in you with all the power of His grace. He both works and speedily leads you to your predestined perfection in holiness. One way or the other, it is obvious that Saint Paul “with these words, as Saint Chrysostom says, protects them from carelessness.” Saint Paul mentions only faith and hope as conditions for success in holiness. But where is the love? How was she separated from her inseparable companions? Love is already foreordained to be active in the pursuit of holiness under the influence of grace. Zeal for success in good deeds that create holiness is love in action. Faith and hope are the same essence for him as air, humidity and warmth are for a developing seed. Both give rise to a multitude of good thoughts, which by their influence are strong to keep jealousy in constant tension; and as long as faith and hope themselves remain in force, zeal for holiness, or active love, cannot weaken. This is the reason why the Apostle only mentioned them as conditions for achieving holiness, clearly expressing that they must be kept in force. He expressed the power of faith with the words: “foundation and firmament,” and the power of hope with the word: “immovable.” All these expressions mean one thing - steadfastness. Saint Chrysostom says: “And he did not just say: “Abide,” because there is shaky and wavering abiding, and there is standing and firm abiding. But he says: “if you remain founded, firm, motionless,” that is, not only not wavering, but also unshakable.” Faith inspires: we are perishing; but the Lord came and saved us. Believe Him and you will be saved. Whoever holds this in his heart with such conviction that he is sure that it exists, his faith is firm, has taken deep roots inside his heart and stands like a tree, firmly rooted. Hope is inseparable from faith. Faith reveals that our Savior is God, who is true, wise, good and omnipotent. And this is the essence of the basis of hope. A believer certainly already has hope. The first movement of hope is the hope of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, which certifies that apart from Him there is no salvation and that He will not abandon the believer with His help and guidance, will keep the believer on the saved path, will undoubtedly save and grant eternal life. Hope overshadows the present life and extends to the future, all under the influence of faith. “The Apostle says, as it were: if you continue in faith, then the hope of receiving future benefits is undoubted” (St. Chrysostom). Why did He combine hope with the gospel? The gospel preaches faith. But in order to arouse faith, he makes promises. Confidence of promises completes the formation of faith, and faith strengthens hope. He who is firm in the faith of the gospel is also steadfast in the hope given by the gospel. Having said this, the Apostle inspired that they should not base the hope of salvation on anything other than that on which the gospel bases it, that is, on the Lord Jesus Christ, and not mix anything with this single foundation. Saint Chrysostom says: “Who is the hope of the gospel if not Christ? “For this is our peace” (Eph. 2:14). Why, whoever bases his trust on someone else or something else, shifts from its true foundation; and destroys everything, because it does not stand on Christ (a paraphrase from St. Chrysostom). Ambrosiastes writes something similar: “For this reason, Saint Paul showed above how great and how limitless the power of Christ the Lord is, in order to teach that we must place our trust in Him alone. For everything is His, and nothing can live without Him, neither in heaven nor on earth. “And He is before all, and all things about Him will take place.” In everything He holds primacy: so if anyone thinks that he should show reverence (Divine) before any elements or Angels, let him know that he is mistaken. For He alone is the Son of God, the Head of all principality and power, whose gospel has spread throughout the whole world. So, He alone must be listened to and revered, and no one should be put on an equal footing with Him. For whoever is the head holds the weight of the body; and being separated from the head, by which the whole body is contained in life, is a corpse.” Because both faith and hope are both born and nourished by the gospel; then Saint Paul sets a special value and high significance for it, stopping the thought of the Colossians on it everywhere, as he did in the beginning. This gospel, he says, you were not the only ones who heard it, but all creation under heaven heard and accepted it - meaning, of course, by this creation the rational creature, that is, people. Having read this, everyone could not help but make the following guidance: if, as I heard and believed, and everywhere it was preached and believed, and this is by God’s command and order; then there will be no point if I allow myself to deviate in any way from the suggestions of the accepted faith or to move from the foundations of hope on which I stand. Saint Chrysostom says: “Saint Paul again brings them themselves as witnesses, and then the whole universe. He does not say: the gospel is preached, but preached and believed. This is what he did at the beginning, wanting to be the testimony of many and to establish them.” “Paul would have been his servant.” “Bykh” - was not, but became, made, staged. Saint Paul was appointed to serve the gospel among the pagans, who filled the whole universe. Why, having said that the gospel was preached and believed throughout the entire universe, he also mentioned himself, using such a turn of phrase as a transition to the presentation of what he had to say about his ministry. Saint Chrysostom says: “and he does this for identification; for he was of great importance, since he was glorified everywhere and was a teacher of the universe.” And Blessed Theodoret gives this guidance: Saint Paul would not have said this if he had never seen them. They would have noticed to him: if you were appointed a preacher for the pagans, then why did you neglect us and not teach us the teaching of the Gospel? b) The participation of the Apostle in the application of this dispensation to the Gentiles (Col. 1:24–29) Having moved on to show his service to the gospel at the end of the previous verse, Saint Paul continues to speak about this until the end of the chapter. Directly: bb) this is stated in verses 25-27, namely: I am appointed to serve the Church through the proclamation of the mystery of God about the calling of the pagans and by their very calling. To this: aa) verse 24 serves as a small introduction; a: c) verses 28-29 say: which I do diligently. Col. 1:24. Now I rejoice in my suffering for you, for I am fulfilling the deprivation of the sorrows of Christ in my flesh for His body, which is the Church. “Now” can be recognized as an investigative particle: why. He said: I am a minister of the gospel, through which you have been granted such blessings. Now he says: why do I rejoice, despite suffering, or in spite of all suffering, I rejoice in the successes of the gospel, and I rejoice because of you, that you have been worthy of the promises of the gospel. Or “now” is a particle of time; now, in my situation, in my suffering. In this case, the connection with the previous one is not visible. A new speech begins; and if someone wants to connect it with the previous one, then it must be carried out mentally, and thought out. Saint Chrysostom does it this way: “What is the connection here? It seems invisible, but really big. I, he says, am a “servant,” instead of saying: I do not introduce anything from myself, but proclaim the teaching of another. I am so confident in the truth of what is being proclaimed that I suffer for it, and not only do I suffer, but I also rejoice in my suffering.” So it is with Ecumenius and Theophylact. “I rejoice” not in suffering, but “in suffering.” Joy is another source. I rejoice, seeing that the business to which I am assigned is going successfully; I rejoice that you are partakers of the Gospel and its blessings; I also rejoice because of the certainty of hope in the future. This is how our interpreters present it. I rejoice in suffering: “I rejoice, looking at what we expect in the future” (St. Chrysostom); I rejoice, “knowing that in this way life is acquired” (Blessed Theodoret); “The Apostle lets us know that he rejoices in the sufferings he endures; because he sees his success in the faith of believers. Moreover, such suffering is not in vain, when through it the One for Whom it is endured is gained and gained in the stomach” (Amvrosiastes). "In suffering for you." The Apostle calls suffering the bonds that he endured, and endured because he taught the pagans the Gospel in its pure form, without mixing in anything from the law and without pampering it. Why, when he said: “in their suffering for you,” he, of course, meant: about you, as believers from the pagans. If we assume that the Apostle understood suffering directly for them, then we must accept that he saw them and they are his personal disciples. So Blessed Theodoret: “What reason would there be for someone who has not seen them and has not taught them spiritual teaching to directly say that he is exposed to various dangers for them?” Ecumenius and behind him Theophylact under: “about you” - they mean: for your sake, for your benefit: “I suffer for your sake, so that through this I can use you, bring us benefit.” Suffering for the gospel testifies that the preacher is as confident in the truth of the gospel as in what exists; why does he not hesitate to sacrifice his life for him? How much does this affect the firmness of the faith of believers?! But it seems that it is better to combine the word: “about you” with: “I rejoice”: I rejoice in you that you believe, stand in the faith and share in the blessings of faith. Although the Greek expression is not in favor of such an understanding; but the flow of speech through this acquires greater clarity and harmony. I am your Apostle; why I rejoice in your successes and with this joy I fill the deprivation that I experience in sorrows for Christ the Lord. “For I fulfill the privation of the sorrows of Christ.” This passage is somewhat difficult and is interpreted differently, depending on what thoughts one connects with the words: “I fulfill the sorrows of Christ, deprivation.” The flow of speech, it seems, justifies most of all this thought: I rejoice over you in my suffering and thereby replenish what Christ’s sorrows deprive me of. It is simple, introduces naturalness and ease into the flow of speech to present its content and is more consistent with the intention of the Apostle. How much more can one testify to love than by saying: joy for you replenishes all the hardships to which I am subjected? In the original it does not say: “as I fulfill,” but: “and I fulfill.” This is how all our interpreters read it. This “and” obliges us to see in the position following it a thought that is unambiguous with the previous one, one that would serve it either as an explanation or as an application. “I fulfill”, ανταναπληρω. I fulfill, αναπληρω, - when something is missing to complete the whole; and, ανταναπληρω - means that something is torn off from the whole and in its place something new is obtained, which replenishes the resulting damage. The Apostle expresses his losses, or what was torn from him, in the word: υστερηματα - deprivation, combining under this everything that the sorrows of Christ deprived him of. “Deprivation of the sorrows of Christ” does not mean a lack of sorrows, but deprivation from the sorrows of Christ, caused by these sorrows. “The sorrows of Christ” are not the sorrows that Christ the Lord Himself endures, but the sorrows that are endured for Christ, the same as the sufferings of Christ in the following place: “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also our consolation abounds in Christ” (2 Cor. 1:5). The sorrows or suffering of Christ deprived the Apostle of many things: communication with the brethren, the comforts of preaching, freedom, a sense of security of life, restful sleep, food and drink, and much more. They caused him great damage, caused great devastation, and created a great void. But, says the Apostle, no matter how great the emptiness, no matter how numerous the damages and deprivations, I replenish them all with joy about your faith and firmness in it. All that has been said together gives: I rejoice in you, in your faith and firmness in it, in my sufferings, and with this joy I fill up all the hardships that are caused to me by these sufferings, or sorrows for Christ the Lord. What a strong expression of joy! And what a strong love for the Colossians is demonstrated! This is what the Apostle wanted to show, so that later he would have reason to say: “What a great feat the Imam has done for you” (Col. 2:1). The words: “in my flesh” indicate external suffering, deprivation and sorrow, inflicted in the body and in the external position. And the words: “for His body” must be recognized as explanatory, “the sorrows of Christ.” With joy for you I replenish external hardships from sorrows for Christ the Lord and for His body, which is the Church, so that it stands, expands and enjoys prosperity. But, recognizing this interpretation as the best, we do not shy away from another, the most acceptable one, according to which the “sorrows of Christ” are recognized as the sorrows that Christ endures, only not in Himself, but in the person of believers, in the present place - in the person of St. Paul - “in my flesh; deprivation of the sorrows of Christ" is understood as a lack of these sorrows, as if Christ the Lord had not still endured what was necessary, and continues to endure it, not in the sense that the suffering and death of the Lord on the cross did not contain a sufficient redemptive price, but in the fact that the application of the work of redemption to people requires suffering, which Christ endures in the body of the Church through a mysterious, but nevertheless living union with it, as the Head. The meaning of the Apostle’s words, therefore, is this: what is lacking in the sorrows of Christ, I make up for with suffering in my flesh for the Church - His body. Here are the words of St. Chrysostom about this: “And I fulfill,” he says, “the deprivation of the sorrows of Christ in my flesh.” It seems that he said something great; but this is not a consequence of forgetting his measure, but the fruit of the great love that he has for Christ. He does not want to recognize his sufferings as his own, but recognizes them as Christ’s and says, as it were: what I suffer, I suffer for Him or for His sake; therefore, give thanks not to me, but to Him: for it is He who suffers this (in me). It is obvious that the Apostle put it this way, wanting to appropriate (attract and bind) the Colossians to Christ. As if someone, having been sent to someone, asked another: I ask you, go to such and such for me; and this one would then say: I am doing this for such and such (same here). Why is the Apostle not ashamed to say that these sufferings (which, that is, the Apostle endures) are His essence: for He not only died for us, but even after death is ready to suffer for our sake. The Apostle insistently tries to show that Christ, with His own body, suffers for the Church, and he leads the Colossians to this (so that they begin to keep in mind): it is not we who bring you to Him, but He Himself who brings you to Himself, although (apparently) we do this: for we have not taken on our own work, but His. And it’s the same as if some commander, having a special army under his command, led it into battle and then was forced to leave his post; then the wounds that he should have received would have been taken by the commander until the very end of the battle. And that the Apostle really has the thought that he is doing this for Christ (that is, suffering), listen: “for His body,” he says, wanting to say by this: I do not give this (sorrow) to you, but to Christ: for what He had to suffer, I suffer for Him. Look how strongly he expresses himself and how strong his love is! As he said in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians: “set in us... the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:19, 18); and again: “according to Christ... we are ambassadors, as I pray to God with us” (2 Cor. 5:20): so here he says the same thing: for Him I undertook to suffer, in order to draw them all the more to Christ. That is: if He, having departed (through the ascension), still owes anything, I pay for Him (the payer). This is why He said: I am replenishing the “deprivation,” in order to show that, in his opinion, Christ has not yet endured everything. For you, He says, even after death He suffers, if there is anything missing in this. In the Epistle to the Romans he does this in a different way, saying: “who also intercedes for us” (Rom. 8:34) (having said in advance that He died, but was resurrected and sits at the right hand of the Father), showing that He was not content with death only, but even after that He does infinitely many things. So, he says this, not exalting himself, but wanting to show that Christ still cares about them.” – Here are the words of Ambrosiast: “The Apostle says that the suffering inflicted on believers is inflicted on Christ Himself; because they are being persecuted for His teaching, - and he says this in order, on the one hand, to aggravate the guilt of the cruelty of the infidels, on the other, to present to the believers the abundance of God’s love for them in the fact that the Son of God even until now suffers in vain for them.” Blessed Photius in Ecumenius interprets in a slightly different way that there is replenishment of the sorrows of Christ. According to him, Christ’s sorrows are filled not with Christ’s sorrows, but with ours. Christ suffered for us; we must repay Him for this with our suffering for Him. But there is no way to do this completely: for Christ’s suffering has an infinite price, but ours - what?! With all this, however, the more we suffer, the closer we come to the measure of Christ’s suffering, and every new suffering of ours fills and completes everything that is still lacking in our suffering to the measure of Christ’s suffering. And this is the thought that St. Paul has in this place. Here are his words: “Christ, who bore strangulations, insults and scourgings and was crucified for us, not only paid everything for us, but paid in infinite measure, more than words and reason. Through this, we also became debtors to Him, that is, we must, instead of these endless and world-saving sufferings, ourselves endure and endure all kinds of suffering and sorrow for Christ and His body, in order to repay what Christ suffered for us. But it is impossible to fully repay for this, so that our sufferings are the same and equal to Christ’s and there is no lack of them against those. No matter how much and no matter what we suffer, there will still be much that is lacking against the sufferings of Christ. For how can one repay the fact that the master suffered for the slave by the fact that the slave suffers for the master? It is obvious how uneven and unequal this is. Or how can one repay sinless suffering for sinners and their offenders by the fact that sinners suffer for their sinless benefactor? Why, no matter how much someone suffers, wanting to pay for the sufferings of Christ, will always only make up for the deprivation of the sorrows of Christ (that is, what is missing in his sufferings against the sufferings of Christ).” Col. 1:25. She would have been a servant, according to God’s vision given to me in you, to fulfill the word of God. “Ezhe” - the Church of God, for which, out of love for the Lord and His work, he suffered so much and suffered such hardships. “Bykh” – made, installed by a “servant”. Previously he said that he was appointed a minister of the gospel, but here he says that he was appointed a minister of the Church. At first there was no Church; its builders were only chosen and equipped with everything necessary; equipped with the word of the gospel and grace: “When you go and teach, you baptize” (Matthew 28:19). The gospel collected material for building the Church, and grace dressed this material, adapted it to the building of the Church and put it in its place in the building itself. Then the gospel, which had already formed, refreshed, enlivened and strengthened. Thus, the service of the Church without the service of the gospel did not exist and does not exist. Why does Saint Paul say here that he was appointed a minister of the Church: “to fulfill the word of God,” - in this fulfillment he considers the main task of his ministry. “To me,” he says, “the salvation of the Church has been entrusted and entrusted with the ministry of preaching, in order to fulfill all of you with the Divine teaching” (Blessed Theodoret). Our other interpreters give the following guidance: I am a minister, and I do nothing of my own accord, but I carry out what is not commanded by man; but by God. Why should you unquestioningly obey God's appointed minister? Why are you introducing Angels here? I did not give you commandments about this (St. Chrysostom, Blessed Theophylact, Ecumenius). “According to the vision of God given to me in you.” - “According to the vision”, κατα την οικονομιαν, - according to the economy of God, according to the economy of God. The house of God is the holy Church. The Lord of this house is Christ the Lord with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Housekeepers and overseers are the holy Apostles. Each of them is given his own job; St. Paul was also given his work: “Having ascended into heaven, the Lord left us as successors to serve in the work of building the Church” (St. Chrysostom, Ecumenius, Blessed Theophylact). The Apostle speaks here about this distribution of ministries according to the economy of the Church. What exactly is entrusted to him, he indicates after this: “to fulfill the word of God in you,” that is, the pagans. At the same time, both the Apostle and the readers who knew him could not help but recall in their memory how this was entrusted to him: that in the present case it was so important that one cannot help but assume that the Apostle deliberately remembered God’s special disposition regarding him. I am your Apostle, according to God’s will: why do you allow others to come to you? Such a reminder of the special election of the Apostle revived the conviction of the truth of his preaching and made it even stronger: why? Saint Chrysostom gives such guidance, and after him others – ours. “The Word of God” is the word about salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. - “Fulfill” - to fulfill or complete the work of preaching about this salvation, or to fill the entire universe with it, like the Apostle of tongues, with which the entire universe was full. Combining the word: “fulfill” with the word: “according to the vision,” we get the guidance that the Apostle wanted to instill: if this is according to the vision of God, then know that, only by the grace of God, just as I am pleased to enlighten you with the word, so you are able to perceive this enlightenment. Without this grace, neither I could have convinced you, so darkened and immersed in such ignorance, nor you could have accepted such lofty dogmas. This is not a matter of Paul’s power or yours, but of God’s, God’s vision (St. Chrysostom, Blessed Theophylact). - “In you” - the Apostle put it in such a combination that it can be attributed both to the ministry given “in you” and to: “to fulfill the word of God in you.” There is only one thought, no matter where you place this word: for the service given in them is the fulfillment of the word of God, and the fulfillment of the word in them is the fulfillment of this service. The space of the word: “in you” is this: either “in you” - all languages, or “in you” - the Colossians, as one from the tongue. There is no need to strain to establish one definition; because that’s not the point, but both thoughts are appropriate. Blessed Theodoret, here too, does not miss the opportunity to point out that the Apostle himself saw the Colossians: “it is clear from here that, having seen them, he wrote the Epistle.” But by the word: “in you,” Blessed Theodoret means not only the Colossians, but the faithful in the whole universe. Col. 1:26. A mystery hidden from time immemorial and from generation to generation, but now it has been revealed to His saints. Explains what the word of God means, which he was entrusted to fulfill - it means “hidden secret,” and so on. The structure of speech requires adding the pronoun: which, or after: “mystery,” - or before: “now.” The first is better. It will be: “the mystery that was hidden for ages and from generations, now having been revealed to the saints.” Or, if you do not add: which, “which has appeared” must be changed into: “that has appeared”; so that it is: “now that has appeared.” This mystery is the salvation of the human race in the Lord Jesus Christ. Mystery this was hidden in God from eternity and was laid down together with the Council of God about the creation of the world. But the Apostle does not speak about this hiddenness, although it can be understood indirectly, but about the hiddenness from the ages and from generations, that is, how the ages and generations began, it was all hidden in thought, then you will go through all the generations and all the times and centuries and you will not find it anywhere. Only God knew her, but of the other creatures capable of knowing, that is, intelligent creatures, no one knew her. But how did no one know? The knowledge about it began to be revealed from the very fall and then it was revealed more and more? It was open and yet remained covered. According to God's intentions, it should not have been revealed in such certainty as it appeared in fulfillment. She remained only an aspiration for something great, without clairvoyance. And this is only in the smallest part of the human race, in the Jewish people. As for other nations, they did not have this either. But it seems that Saint Paul here understands especially that side of this mystery, with which it concerned the pagans, as the subsequent speech suggests about this (“sowing mysteries among the nations”). Predictions about the coming Savior, just as they were spoken into the ears of the Jewish people, were also appropriated only to themselves. The participation of tongues in this deliverance was predicted; but it was not definitely visible how this would happen. Why could it be thought and thought that they could not be granted this blessing otherwise than by going through Judaism? So that tongues could directly, without anything, even without circumcision, become participants in it, this was inconceivable for any human mind. This part of the secret was decidedly hidden and did not occur to anyone until it appeared in reality. “Today He has appeared to His saints.” The actual manifestation of the mystery preceded its understanding. And after that, not everyone understood it, but only the saints, and they not by themselves, but by a special revelation: “appearing”, εφανερωυη, - it became obvious, or clearly open. Acts tells how this happened in the story of the conversion of Cornelius. Saint Chrysostom says: “appeared”; therefore, this too is the work of God’s economy. "Appear to the Saints." If only to the saints, then it means that even now it is hidden (for many).” Col. 1:27. To whom God willed to say, what riches of glory are the mysteries of sowing among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. “If God wants to say it.” The idea is conveyed that even among the saints this secret is not revealed to all, but only to those of them to whom God wanted to reveal it. Blessed Theophylact writes: “So that you do not ask why the secret is revealed to the saints, and even then not to everyone, the Apostle commanded: “Whoever pleases God.” God's will is always most wise. “The Apostle could, of course, have said: worthy, but he did not say it, wanting to teach humility to those who were worthy of this, so that they, knowing that they received the revelation by the blessing of God or grace, would humbly think about themselves and not highly, as if they had received it according to their merit.” The Apostle calls all Christians saints. The case showed that not all Christians, who at first were exclusively Jewish, understood this mystery, even after God Himself, by His special action, introduced an entire pagan family into the Church through the Apostle Peter. After this, capable people began to see into it, first, of course, the Apostles, and then other believers. Following this, the Apostle of Languages ​​was erected, and the secret became almost universally known. Blessed Theodoret writes: “The Apostle called the sermon on the economy “mystery,” as it was unknown to all in ancient times and known to God alone. And this, says the Apostle, which was hidden from previous generations, God has now revealed “to the saints as He pleased,” that is, to the Apostles, and through them to those who believed. And this shows that before the law and before the dispensation of the world, God predetermined this economy of all kinds, and, the Apostle continues, made it known to us saints.” “What is the richness of the glory of the mystery of sowing among the Gentiles.” “The Apostle most admirably expressed his thought and, wanting to show the full weight of the assimilation of the economy of salvation to the pagans, from an abundance of feeling he seeks explanations for explanations” (St. Chrysostom). How rich and abundant is the glory of the mystery or economy of salvation, when you look at it in its application to the pagans! the point of view from which the Jews then looked at the pagans - from which Saint Paul did not deviate - and then imagine what they became when they became Christians - in order to get closer to the thought of the Apostle. Saint Chrysostom does this: “and in others the great glory of this mystery (that is, salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ) appears much more; For people more insensitive than stones to suddenly be raised to the dignity of Angels, solely through unartificial words and faith alone, without any labor - this is truly the glory and wealth of the mystery, just as if someone suddenly made a dog, dying of hunger and scab, vile and disgusting, no longer able to move and abandoned, into a man and showed it on the royal throne. Look: they worshiped stones and earth, were captives and prisoners of the devil - and suddenly they stepped on his head, dominated him and scourged him. The servants and slaves of the demons became the body of the Lord of Angels and Archangels. Those who did not even know that God existed suddenly became co-throners of God. Do you want to see the countless steps they have crossed? They needed, firstly, to know that stones are not gods; secondly, that not only are they not gods, but that neither the earth, nor animals, nor plants, nor man, nor the sky, or anything above the sky is also God; thirdly, that neither stones, nor animals, nor plants, nor the elements, nor the things above, nor those below, nor man, nor demons, nor Angels, nor Archangels, nor any other of those higher powers should be worshiped by human nature. As if drawing from some depth, they had to know that the Lord of all is God, that He alone must be served, that the wondrous structure of life is good, that real death is not death, and real life is not life, that the body will rise, become immortal - and man will settle down with the Angels. The man who stood so low, after jumping all these steps, Jesus Christ seated in heaven, on the throne. He placed the one who was lower than the stones above the Angels, Archangels, Thrones, Dominions. He really said it well: “What is the wealth of the secret of sowing”? It's like if someone suddenly turned stupid into a philosopher. But it’s better to say: no matter what you say, you won’t explain the Apostle’s thoughts as they should.” “Who is Christ in you.” - “Izhe” - stands instead of “hedgehog” - which allows for the structure of Greek speech. “And this,” that is, “the riches of the glory of this mystery, is Christ in you.” As if he wanted to say: there is no need to multiply words: it is enough to say: “Christ is in you.” For if He is in you, then with Him are the countless blessings bestowed on the human race in Him, all of which are in you. In one word, “Christ is in you.” Or this: all this richness of the glory of this mystery consists, or is evident, in the fact that Christ is in you. “Christ in you” with His benefits. This is what you experience and actually see how great and glorious this good is. This is “the riches of the glory of this mystery.” “Explaining what “wealth” is and what “mystery” is, he says: “Christ is in you,” that is, that you have come to know Christ and He is in you” (Blessed Theophylact). “Christ in you is the hope of glory.” “The Apostle called the expected glory “the hope of glory” (Blessed Theodoret). “For through Him we hope to gain eternal glory. Our glorious and shameless hope is Christ the Lord” (Blessed Theophylact). The Apostle inspires: the glory revealed to you through the fact that you are made partakers of the economy of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ is, of course, great, rich and abundant; but it is only the beginning of glory. The present glory in its full splendor and splendor is expected in the future. The guarantee that it will actually be revealed and that you will be partakers of it is that “Christ is in you.” Col. 1:28. This we preach, chastising every man, and teaching all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. “He who,” that is, Christ the Lord, “is the One who is above all, who rules over the Angels and has power over other powers, descended down, became a man, endured countless torments, was resurrected and ascended—this is Whom “we preach,” having received Him from above” (St. Chrysostom). “We preach”, καταγγελλομεν, - down we proclaim Him who sits on the mountain at the right hand of the Father in glory and rules over everything, “as if bringing Him down from on high” (Blessed Theophylact, Ecumenius). We, the Apostles, are the true teachers of the universe, appointed by God and the Lord Jesus Christ, equipped with the grace of the Holy Spirit and sent to the whole earth. There is no other true sermon on earth except the one we preach. Such indoctrination was very necessary for the Colossians. “Punishing and teaching”, νουυετουντες και διδασκοντες. This means teaching techniques, by which the truth is first explained, and then convinced of it, implanted in the mind and heart; They do not stop at one indication of the truth, but incline towards it and submit to it. That the latter comes first can be explained either by the importance of this matter, or by the fact that the Apostle considered showing the order of these two classes of teaching a matter of indifference: for below (Col. 3:16) these words are in the reverse order for him. - Or, perhaps, these words show the order of bringing to Christ: first, through admonition, they bring to a sense of fear of God and repentance before God, and then, through teaching, they indicate the image of reconciliation with God through faith in the Lord, Redeemer and Savior. Or, finally, “by: “punitively” you can understand the lessons of an active life, and by “instructively” - the interpretation of dogmas” (Blessed Theophylact). “All wisdom”, εν παοη σοφια. This is how all our interpreters read it and mean by this not the subject of punishment and teaching, but the method: with all wisdom. Saint Chrysostom says: “in all wisdom, that is, with all wisdom and understanding, or: speaking everything in wisdom. All wisdom is needed here; for not everyone can know this.” Ecumenius cries out: “Isn’t extreme wisdom required to convince beastly tongues?” Blessed Theophylact adds something else to this: “in order to successfully teach this, all wisdom is needed, borrowing what is needed from the Scriptures, now from reason, now from Hellenic writers: as St. Paul did in Athens.” The Apostle testified about himself that he was everything to everyone, so that anyone could be saved by his preaching. The degree of education, the character, and the external circumstances of those who accept the teaching require special attention. To be able to use everything for the success of learning is the wisdom of the teacher. “Let us make every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” - “Every person” - this is the third time it is said: for even after: “more often” - it also stands: “every person.” This is how all our interpreters read. It is true that the Apostle felt the need to direct the attention of the Colossians more to this, instilling in them that no other teaching was assigned to any of the people besides us, teachers. We are the only teachers for everyone, and we have been entrusted with one teaching for everyone, which we try to convey to everyone, chastening everyone and teaching everyone, in order to present everyone perfect in Christ Jesus. Or perhaps Saint Paul wanted to express the breadth and swiftness of his love for people and their salvation. “His holy soul was insatiable and wanted to bring every person to Christ” (Ecumenius). “What do you say: “every person”? Yes, he says, we take care of it. If this does not come true, it is not our fault. The divine Paul tried to make everyone perfect” (St. Chrysostom, Blessed Theophylact). “Let us present every man perfect” is the goal of chastisement and teaching with all wisdom. What does “imagine” mean? The teacher intends to present his students as successful in the exams; but first he takes every care to prepare them for this. It's the same with the Apostles. And they meant to present every man perfect before the face of God in judgment; but before that, all their concern was directed towards making every person such. This is the further goal, and this is the immediate one. And it is more likely that the Apostle, saying: “Let us imagine,” meant: Let us do it. All the labors of their punishment and teaching with all wisdom were directed toward this immediate goal; and that further one, upon reaching this nearest one, was already achieved by itself. What is the perfection of man in Christ Jesus? Who, having realized his unrequited guilt before God, repented and, having resorted by faith to the Lord Jesus as the only Savior, clung to Him wholeheartedly, determined to walk in His commandments unswervingly, then, having been sanctified by grace through the sacraments, actually flows along this path, succeeding in every good deed, however, placing all the hope of salvation and at the same time in the one Lord; he stands on the right and reliable path to true perfection in Christ Jesus, and if he does not leave it, he will undoubtedly achieve the degree of perfection possible for him. This is what the Apostles were all concerned about, so that, having taught everyone the true teaching about salvation in the Lord Jesus, they could be turned away from sin and passions, inspired to live a pure and holy life, and, armed with the grace of the Holy Spirit, really direct them to such a life and then keep them in it. Thus, he is perfect in Christ Jesus, who both believes rightly and lives by faith blamelessly, placing all his salvation in the Lord and grief for his love. Col. 1:29. In Him I labor and strive according to His work, which works in me with power. Then the Apostle spoke about himself along with the other Apostles, and now about himself alone, showing how he relates to the common Apostolic work - through punishment and teaching, to represent every person perfect in Christ Jesus. - How? “I labor in it,” εις δ, - this is precisely what my labors are aimed at, and not just any labors, but intensified ones, accompanied by struggle and feat. “I’m not just trying,” he says, “not how it happened; but: “I labor,” αγωνιζομενος, – “striving,” that is, with all diligence, with all vigilance” (St. Chrysostom), “with all kinds of exploits” (Blessed Theophylact), “fighting with enemies visible and invisible” (Ecumenius). The feat presupposes every internal effort - care, prayer, care, and every external struggle and overcoming obstacles both in those who accept the teaching and in its opponents. “In a word: I strive - the Apostle showed that many are fighting against him” (St. Chrysostom). But, he says, “aided by the grace of God, I willingly accept every labor and achievement, in order to make all people perfect through the teaching of preaching” (Blessed Theodoret). “According to His work that works in me.” - Κατα την ενεργουμενην, - according to His influence acting in me. He excites, He guides, He strengthens and brings every task to completion. He is active in me; I'm just a tool. He influences; I just don’t put my foot down and don’t refuse any work or feat to which He excites and leads me. “The Apostle shows that everything he does is the work of God; and this is not only out of humility, but according to the truth” (St. Chrysostom). Having said: “I toil and strive,” he raises all his labor and struggle to Christ, as if saying: “This is not my business.” Making me strong and contented for such labors and struggles with opponents, Christ is the one who gives me effective strength. “By force”, εν δυναμει, - strongly, - not only perceptibly for the Apostle, but also visible for everyone. If the Lord’s assistance was not limited to one internal action in the Apostle, but was also revealed externally, since the deeds were also external; then there is no reason not to admit that the word: εν δυναμει also indicates the miraculous power that accompanied the Apostolic preaching everywhere and manifested itself in signs as soon as the need required it. Ambrosiast writes: “I carried on the feat of fighting against the enemies of the gospel, he says, assisted by the power of signs. For whoever dared to contradict the verbal teaching, at the suggestion of the cunning devil, had to yield with shame to the power of signs.” The last verse about the labors and exploits of the Apostle in teaching and raising believers to perfection serves as a transition to admonishing the Colossians. c) Warning the Colossians against false teachings (Col. 2:1–23) In this warning, the Apostle first makes: aa) an approach to it (Col. 2:1-7), then offers: bb) a general warning against all philosophizing, otherwise from the teaching of faith (Col. 2:8-15), and finally: c) indicates certain errors that must be avoided (Col. 2:16-23). Approaching the warning of the Colossians, the Apostle, after: α) expressing his concern for them and their neighbors (Col. 2:1-3), points β) to their good state in faith and life, which, however, is in danger from the traders of words (Col. 2:4, 5); why it inspires: γ) to be firm and not change what was accepted (Col. 2:6, 7). Col. 2:1. I want to lead you, since the Imam has done great deeds for you and for those in Laodicea and Hierapolis, and no one has seen my face in the flesh. Before this, he remembered his labors and exploits in general about every believer. Now he expresses that he has the same thing in relation to them: by which he demonstrates his love for them, in order to listen with humility and attention to saving, but somewhat reproachful suggestions and admonitions. “I want to lead you” is a usual turn of phrase for the Apostle, like another: “I do not want to lead you” (1 Cor. 10:1). I want you to know. This is not the same as cold: I inform you; but it expresses the need of a loving heart, so that the beloved does not doubt that it considers his good as its own and cares about him sincerely. “It is advisable for me to assure you” (Blessed Theodoret). “Kolik feat imam” - what care I have, what care and heartache, with the readiness to undertake all kinds of labor for you. “At first he shows great love for them, so that subsequent speech will be received more favorably” (Blessed Theophylact). But such a word could echo bitterness in the heart from the thought: if his heart hurts about us, it means he fears for us. To ward off this blow, the Apostle joins them with the Laodiceans, Hierapolis and others. “So that it would not seem that the cause of such illness was their weakness (perhaps only them), he added others as well” (St. Chrysostom). He wanted to say: “What great concern I have for you and for the Laodiceans, and not only for you and the Laodiceans, but also for everyone who has not even seen me yet” (Blessed Theodoret). “And in Hierapolis” - all our interpreters do not read. In a word: “in the flesh” - the Apostle did not have the idea of ​​​​showing anything special, but only more expressively imagining that they had not seen him personally. It does not necessarily follow from this passage that the Colossians and Laodiceans did not personally see the Apostle, as was mentioned in the introduction. Col. 2:2. May their hearts be comforted, having dreamed of love and all the riches of knowledge of the mind, in the knowledge of the mystery of God and the Father and Christ. What's the concern? “Let their hearts be comforted.” – “Them,” as the speech goes, must be taken in the sense: yours. They say that the Hebrew language allows this. The Apostle took advantage of this because he needed to hold the attention of the Colossians somewhat on the uncertainty of the indication, which is greatly facilitated here: “them.” But in what “may they be comforted”? There is no mention of any grief in the Epistle. But there was a danger of disagreement in convictions, which could not but violate mutual peace and deprive the heart of the peace of mind given by complete agreement in everything. Why, when saying: “let your hearts be comforted,” the Apostle could have intended to express a desire, so that their hearts always remain in a comforting state, always taste consolation, meaning that consolation that comes from like-mindedness, as the speech that follows shows. “Dreaming”, συμβιβασυεντες. This Greek word is used when those who have fallen apart again settle the matter among themselves and restore harmony. “Those who dreamed” will be: having reconciled, or having settled among themselves what they disagreed with, εν αγαπη, - amicably. But this would give the idea that a discord had already occurred between them, and there is no hint about this in the Epistle, and at the beginning, where favor is gained, Saint Paul could not talk about this. Why, leaving behind this word the same meaning of coordination, the thought with it, as with: “may they be comforted,” should be combined with the following: may you remain in consolation, remaining in harmony, implying the mood of unanimity; εν αγαπη, - in a loving or amicable agreement. The Apostle’s concern is not for love, but for like-mindedness. Thus, the Apostle, without reproaching them for discord, strongly gives a hint about the possibility of it and clearly expresses his good desire for them that this does not happen, and thus gives, in the spirit of fatherly love, a secret warning. Blessed Theophylact writes: “This is already touching on dogma; but neither condemns them, nor completely frees them from accusation (these words are from St. Chrysostom). “I have a feat,” he says. “What do I want to achieve? So that they do not have different wisdom, but are harmonious and united all in one belief. How? Not under any compulsion, but amicably. The Apostle said this, because those who disagree with the faith usually produce divisions.” In what ways are they harmonious, being amicable? "In every wealth is the knowledge of the understanding." – “Notices”, πληροφοριας, – beliefs; “reason”, συνεσεως, – consciousness, conscience. It will be: harmonious, being in a conscious, conscientious, reasonable conviction, and not just any conviction, but a rich, strong, comprehensive conviction. I wish that you will all be filled with every wealth of rational conviction - in one - and thus harmonize you. Saint Chrysostom says: “The Apostle wants them not to doubt anything, to be convinced of everything. He talks about the conviction that comes from faith. Conviction also occurs as a result of inferences; but it has no value. I know he says that you believe; but I want you to be convinced, and richly convinced, convinced in everything, and firmly. You know how much I care that you are convinced intelligently and not unconsciously.” Regarding what does he want to be consistent in his beliefs? Concerning the knowledge of the sacrament of faith. "Into the knowledge of the mystery of God and the Father and Christ." What is the secret of God the Father and Christ? The mystery of our salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ, arranged according to the good pleasure of God the Father. “The Apostle showed with these words that the mystery of the economy is a common work between the Father and the Son” (Blessed Theodoret). The essence of the economy is that “we have access to God and the Father only through the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Ecumenius). We have fallen away from God and the Father, and we can be brought to Him in no other way than through His Only Begotten Son, who became incarnate, suffered, rose again, ascended into heaven and sits as humanity at the right hand of the Father. This is how the path to God is open to us again! And this is the secret of the economy of our salvation! In recognizing this, εις επιγνωσιν, you will come together with strong convictions and, having come together, remain harmonious in this, not allowing any discord, so as to always remain in a joyful, consoling state. This is the subject of St. Paul’s benevolent care for the Colossians. Col. 2:3. In Nemzha are all the hidden treasures of wisdom and reason. “In Nemzhe,” that is, in Jesus Christ. As God, He knows everything, like the Father, and “there is nothing unknown to Him that the Father knows” (Ekuneniy). “With the word: “treasures” - the Apostle shows the multitude (great value), with the word: “all” - that He knows everything, and with the word: “hidden” - that He alone knows everything” (St. Chrysostom). “He alone knows everything; but this exclusivity is only in relation to creatures, of course, and not in relation to the Holy and Blessed Trinity” (Ecumenius). “The Apostle expresses something especially great here. “In Him is everything.” treasures." He is self-wisdom and self-knowledge" (Blessed Theophylact). So the first thought with these words is that the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Son of God and God, Himself knows everything. And this is very suitable for the Apostle’s purpose, for it inspired: “if so, then He must give wisdom and knowledge” (St. Chrysostom). But in the course of his speech, it seems that the Apostle may even have the idea that in the knowledge of the Lord Savior lies all wisdom and all knowledge. Whoever knows Him as the Savior will, in this very knowledge, acquire all wisdom and all knowledge. The knowledge of the Lord as the Savior is the knowledge of the economy of our salvation in Him and through Him or, what is the same, the knowledge of the mystery of God, which was mentioned before this. In this case: “in Nemzha”, εν ω, – it will be necessary to recognize as referring to: “secrets”, μυστηπιου, – and: εν ω – translate: in it, – which the Greek language allows. The Apostle’s thought will be: in the knowledge of the mystery of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ there is all wisdom and all knowledge or all intelligence. This was instilled: do not value anything so much and do not strive for anything more than the knowledge of this secret; when you know it, then, even if you knew nothing else, you are wise and reasonable and omniscient; therefore, if someone comes to you as a wise man and begins to offer you wisdom that does not agree with the knowledge of the mystery of God about Christ Jesus, do not listen to him: he is not offering you wisdom, but absurd wisdom. Ambrosiastes understands these words in this sense: “The Apostle desires that the Colossians should know the mystery of God in Christ, being convinced that in this is all the wealth of wisdom and knowledge, in order to confess Christ in the fullness of the Divinity as venerable. In Christ is all the hidden mystery of God. He is the only Savior, in whom, unless any human flesh trusts, it will perish. Whoever knows Him will have true knowledge of everything. Why is it worthwhile to say that in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; so that whoever knows Him, nothing else is required for him to be recognized as wise and reasonable, as one who knows Him in Whom is all wisdom. Whatever knowledge anyone thinks he can find anywhere, he will find it richly in Him. It is incomprehensible to unbelievers how all wisdom and all knowledge are in Christ; because they do not read astrology in the Gospel, nor in the Apostle (book) of geometry, nor in the Prophets of arithmetic and music - which our (believers) do not pursue for the sake of it, because they do not belong to salvation, but rather mislead and lead away from God: for, having become occupied with them and the intricacies of their conclusions, they forget to care about the soul. What wisdom is truer and truer than recognizing what is salutary and turning away from what is harmful? What is harmful is that which prevents the soul from striving for its salvation. Why is it not unjust to say that whoever knows Christ has found the treasure of wisdom and knowledge: for he has come to know what is saving for him.” Having expressed such goodwill and goodwill, the Apostle then says: everything is fine with you, but I am afraid that you will be deceived by cunning talkers. Col. 2:4. I say this, lest anyone deceive you in contention. “This” – what is this? Everything I said. I expressed to you my good wishes that you all remain united with a strong conviction in one truth, in the knowledge of the mystery of salvation in the Lord Jesus, because this is all wisdom; I expressed this in order to warn you against cunning seducers. I am afraid and sick at heart, lest they deceive you. It's like he's begging them. So Blessed Theodoret: “I am conducting this whole speech with you, begging you not to be carried away by seductive words.” But moreover, “this” must be attributed to what is immediately ahead, to the fact that all wisdom is in Christ Jesus, or in the knowledge of the mystery of salvation in Him. If all wisdom is in this knowledge, and you have it; then it naturally follows that there is no need to accept any other teaching, no matter what red name it is called and no matter what red words it hides behind. For this purpose, that is, so that you would not be carried away by cunning, I presented to you that in Christ Jesus is all wisdom, so that you, convinced that you already possess wisdom, would reject all other wisdom, without being deceived by it. So Saint Chrysostom: “I told you this, he says, so that you would not seek knowledge from people.” So blessed Theophylact: “I said this, that is, that all knowledge is in Christ, so that no one deceives you. What about the fact that he speaks eloquently? Know in advance that if he does not speak according to Christ, then he speaks only paralogisms and sophisms.” “Deceive”, παραλογιςηται, - so that no one paralogizes you, entangles you with paralogisms, that is, false conclusions, those whose lies are covered with cunning and which through such deception cause conviction; “in a debate”, εν πιυανολογια, - in convincing, insinuating words. Ambrosiastes writes: “The Apostle warns that conversations with people who do not think well, cunningly covering up their wrongs, do not change their meaning: for the wise men of this world know how to skillfully entangle, like a net, the minds of simple people with the subtlety of their judgments, so that for the sake of worldly things they may be distracted from the hope that is in Christ Jesus.” Col. 2:5. Even though I am defunct in flesh, I am with you in spirit, rejoicing and seeing your rank and the confirmation of your faith in Christ. As if he wants to sober their minds with the authority of his apostolic power: I am with you. If I were with you personally, would you allow yourself to be carried away by the empty speeches of others? So always keep in mind that I am with you, and you will not get carried away. Keeping this in mind is not a dream, but the truth. “Though I stand in the flesh, yet I know deceivers. He placed himself between them, so that they would fear him, as if he were with them” (St. Chrysostom). Ambrosiastes writes: “The Apostle says that he is always with them in spirit, so that, always holding his face before their intelligent eyes and reverently before him, they turn away from such people. For if the spirit of the prophet Elisha saw how Gehazi chased after Naaman the Syrian in order to take a gift from him by deception in his name, and how Naaman hastily descended from his chariot and gave him more than he asked for (2 Kings 5:26); How much more could the Apostle see in spirit what he said? There was greater grace in the Apostles than in the Prophets. “Further, in order to make them more zealous zealots of the gospel truth, he says that he rejoices, seeing how well everything is going with them: so that, knowing how they have proven themselves so acceptable before God, they will remain more firmly in that and apply their hearts more and more to success in faith.” “I am with you,” he says, “and I rejoice.” For what? “Seeing your rank” - that is, the splendid order of life among yourself, and in relation to outsiders, non-Christians, and in families, and in church meetings, and in your spiritual mood, and in external behavior - “and confirmation”, στερεωμα, - the firmness of “your faith, even in Christ” - seeing, that is, that your faith is firm and not disturbed nothing from the resisters. What high praise! It was not without reason that the Apostle expressed it. This is the second weapon against seducers: have pity on yourself. So everything is fine with you now. But it won’t be so good if you get carried away by the charms of other wisdom. Lies, creeping in, will dispel all this. “Again he mixes praise with his teaching, softening his ears and preparing free access to his admonition” (Blessed Theodoret). Saint Chrysostom says: “Now he ends with praise. He calls landscaping a rank. This is the greatest praise. And about their faith he did not simply say: “faith,” but: “affirmation,” the firmness of “faith”; as if speaking to the warriors, standing tall and strong. He who is firm will not be shaken by deception or temptation. You, he says, not only did not fall; but no one has upset your rank.” “He said this both in the form of praise and as a suggestion that this is actually faith, which is distinguished by its rootedness and unshakable firmness” (Ecumenius). “Faith in itself is a firm affirmation, because it does not allow other thoughts to creep in, which, introducing division, shake the internal structure” (Blessed Theophylact). γ ) “Stand firmly in what is accepted” Col. 2:6. As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, [so] walk in Him. “He received Christ Jesus the Lord” in the same sense as the Lord Himself: “Whoever receives you, receives Me” (Matthew 10:40). They accepted the Lord when, having heard the gospel about Him, they believed in Him, that is, they believed that salvation was in Him alone, and they hoped to be saved in Him. Having believed so, they received holy baptism and in it they put on Christ the Lord. This is already a most sincere acceptance of Christ the Lord, acceptance of Him not in His word, but essentially. The Apostle reminds the Colossians of all this when he says: “As you have eaten the Lord.” “Walking in Christ Jesus” means walking in faith in Him, in the hope of salvation in Him alone, in His commandments, under sanctification by grace through His sacraments, walking in all Christian rites. So, says the Apostle, just as you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, hoped to be saved in Him, took upon yourself all the obligations that condition this salvation, so continue in all this, without retreating even an inch, according to this rite, let your life flow in all its manifestations, in thoughts, words and deeds “Keep intact the teaching that you accepted, and follow the gospel principles, showing in firm faith in yourself” (Blessed Theodoret). “The Apostle convinces and exhorts us not to allow ourselves to diminish our piety and not to deviate from the faith into which we have been honored to enter, and, having turned our thoughts into absurd fables, do not begin to accept (understand) Christ differently than as we have learned. For at that time many saboteurs of the faith were staggering to deceive the simple, deceitfully and uncleanly proclaiming Christ. It is these that the Apostle teaches here to avoid with all prudence” (Ambrosiastes). Col. 2:7. Be rooted and built up in Him and made known by faith, as you have learned, abounding in it with thanksgiving. He definitely indicates what he means when he says: “so walk in Him.” It is not the way and means that indicate, but the manner of walking in the Lord. How, he reminds us, did you accept Christ the Lord? All-heartedly, with thoughts and feelings, you calmed down in Him, and there was no hesitation in you, you all had one Lord Jesus; To Him is your love, and in Him is your hope. So, just as you accepted Him, so be in Him throughout your entire life: “rooted, built, known, abundant.” “Rooted and nazdani” - give two comparisons: “rooted” - with a tree, “nazdani” - with a building. The tree takes deep roots into the ground and stands firmly, without moving, extracting nutritious juices from the ground with the same roots. Just as, he says, a tree’s roots go deep into the earth, so with all the roots of your life, remain deep in the Lord Jesus and suck from Him the juices of spiritually grace-filled life. Do not uproot these roots from Him in order to transplant yourself to something else. If you transplant a tree, it will establish roots in another place and will live as it should. And if you, having been torn away from Christ the Lord, take root on something or someone else, then you will no longer be able to live as you should; you will seem to be living, but you will not really be alive, for the source of spiritually grace-filled life is Christ the Lord alone. He who does not abid in the Lord can neither live nor bear fruit (John 15:1–6). But the main thing that the Apostle wants to instill is immobility in faith and convictions. Saint Chrysostom says: “rooted,” that is, established; do not get carried away on one path or another, but be “rooted”; but what is rooted never moves. You see what precise expressions Paul uses!” “Do not do this so that you can walk in Christ and then walk in someone else” (Ecumenius). This means: “hold firm your faith in Christ the Lord” (Blessed Theodoret). “Nazdani”, εποικοδομουμενοι, - edifying, forming. Another comparison is with a building, but not with one that has already been completed, but still under construction. A spiritually grace-filled life in the Lord is not real estate; it is in constant motion, ever forward, higher and higher, so that as soon as such movement stops, life itself stops. But this movement is not movement or change, but growth in itself. And this growth also works in Christ Jesus. One might say to St. Paul: root and grow in Him; but another thought came to him, the usual comparison of a believer with a building, - he said: building up, - not disturbing thoughts, but enriching them more, raising two comparisons before the eyes of the mind and leaving it to the readers themselves to add what is missing in each of them for the completeness of thought: there is growth, here is foundation: building for the first comparison gives the thought of growth, and rooting for the second - of foundation; For as a root is to a plant, so is a foundation to a building, and as building is to a building, so is growth to a tree. - Being built up in Him, that is, in the Lord Jesus, for He is the foundation; He is also the creator, for without Him we can do nothing; He is also the plan of the building, for it is fitting to be “conformed to His image” (Rom. 8:29), “to be transformed into His image” (2 Cor. 3:18). He is also the necessary connections of the building. Only the material delivers will from nature, but it does not remain in its natural (raw) form, but is remade by the grace of the Lord. Thus, one can truly be created, as well as grow, only in the Lord. He who is in the Lord through faith and trust is already created: for as soon as someone enters into communion with the Lord, the creative power of the Lord begins to act in him. Ecumenius writes: “εποικοδομουμενοι, - that is, growing on the foundation of Christ.” And Theodoret: “in the word: “created” - expresses the acquisition of virtue.” Saint Chrysostom: “with my inner mood striving to achieve His measure.” These two comparisons are given an interpretation or application to Christian life in the following words: “rooted” - interpreted in: “famous” - and: “created” - in: “abundantly.” - “Limiting”, βεβαιουμενοι, - with a strong, deep conviction, standing unshakably in the faith, as we have learned. This is what “rooted” means. - “Excessively” - becoming more and more rich in it, or growing and being created. This is what “nazdani” means! “Have perfect faith, let there be no lack of it, but let it flow abundantly and abound in you” (Blessed Theodoret). ““Limiting” - that is, without allowing any doubt, any hesitation. “Just as you have learned”: you have learned faith, you must also abound in it, growing every day and ardently acquiring faith” (Ecumenius). “He says: “As if you had learned,” so that they, if nothing else, would be ashamed of themselves. In this the Apostle laid, as it were, the foundation, and in: “abundantly” he indicates the instruction. We should not change the previously accepted teaching, but should succeed in it, in order to honor ourselves, setting out to show something abundant in our faith, giving thanks to God for having vouchsafed us so much grace, and not attributing such success to ourselves” (Blessed Theophylact). The words: “abundant in it with thanksgiving” - can be understood this way: abounding in faith with thanksgiving, that God has vouchsafed us so much grace and, being so far away, has brought us closer to Himself (Ecumenius), as can be seen in all the places cited before this. But this is also possible: by abounding in faith through thanksgiving. The Greek text allows this. Saint Chrysostom says: “It abounds in thanksgiving”: for this is what right-thinking people do. I don’t say: just give thanks, but with great abundance and with great emulation.” Thanksgiving presupposes the eating of the fruits of faith and, therefore, the highest state of life in the realm of faith. bb) General warning against all kinds of views that are contrary to the faith of Christ (Col. 2:8–15) Col. 2:8. [Brothers,] beware, lest anyone deceive you with philosophy and vain flattery, according to human tradition, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ. Some wise men, dangerous to the faith of Christ, approached the Colossians. What were the points of their wisdom is definitely not visible, but it is clearly visible that it was inconsistent with faith. It seemed to be a philosophy, the human mind and, according to legend, composed by wise people, which included, on the one hand, the meaning of the elements of the world, and on the other, the influence of the world of spirits. Outwardly, it was hidden behind Jewish observations with the addition of unsparing flesh. But in general it seemed seductive and promised something great to its followers. Since the content of this wisdom has not yet been unraveled, the Apostle speaks about it in general terms, especially trying to inspire: whatever it promises, you already have all that, in its most perfect and true form, in Christ Jesus. There is no point, therefore, for you to listen to them and allow them to rant among you. “Brotherhood” was deliberately placed and could have a special power, giving a warning to hear the voice of love and reminding of the general union of brotherhood, which was formed by unity in certain views, beliefs and convictions, from which to deviate means to ruin the brotherhood, so kind and sweet. “Be on the lookout,” βλεπετε—see how a good owner looks around the house to see if a thief, or a wolf, or a bird of prey is creeping up. Look, “let no one deceive you.” “Deceiving”, συλαγωγων, - the root of this word means: to go after prey, to hunt. The robber takes prey by force, the thief gets it by cunning, the hunter by art. There could be no violence on the part of the wise men, and they could not do without cunning and cunning. As this kind of detours and approaches are usually hidden, the Apostle says: look. And in order to arouse vigilant caution, he imagines that some ill-wishers are approaching them, who, by cunning and tricks, are looking to profit from them, to get booty from them, not from their property, but from them themselves, planning to take their booty. This one word greatly sharpened the vision of the Colossians; but the Apostle also used a turn of phrase that immediately made you look around: μη τις εσται συλαγωγων, - look to see if anyone will appear there as someone hunting for you. “Do you see how he showed Taty, alien and quietly entering? Just as someone, digging up an embankment from below (under a wall), does not allow himself to be noticed, but the embankment keeps falling and falling (giving him access to the inside of the house from under the wall), so, he says, this thief does the same. So look” (Saint Chrysostom). But this thief is not sneaking up on your property, but “intends to rob your mind” (Blessed Theophylact). That’s why it was added: “philosophy.” The Apostle “shows the path along which the thief tries to approach: this is philosophy” (Theophylact). Philosophy was held in high esteem. She undertook to imagine and presented views that explained everything that exists: God, the world, man, and so on. Seeking solutions to such issues is not reproachful, but commendable (St. Chrysostom); but what kind of decisions someone makes can be very reproachful. The philosophy with which those who invented it sneaked up on the Colossians was reproachful. Why does the Apostle have a specific term before this word to show that he understands the philosophy that they have to listen to, saying, as it were: this philosophy is for you what a hunter’s net is for birds; They will entangle you with insinuating words, distract you from the faith towards themselves and destroy you. And he makes it clear that their philosophy is exactly like this, calling it “vain flattery.” Flattery, απατη, is seduction, seduction. It is true that, in general, that philosophy had an attractive appearance, but in essence it was empty, κενη; its content was dreams of the imagination, like those of the Gnostics later, which did not correspond to any reality; and she looked like a soap bubble, attracting children with its transparent beauty, but empty and fragile. “Since philosophizing (from the first time) seems to be a commendable matter, the Apostle added: “vain flattery” (St. Chrysostom), making it clear that the philosophy about which he speaks “teaches some new things that are incongruous with anything” (Ecumenius), the absurdity and inconsistency of which is self-evident. Already such an unkind quality of this philosophy was enough to turn one away from it, but for greater success the Apostle also points out its sources, which also cannot generate great confidence: “according to human tradition, according to the elements of the world.” With the words: “according to human tradition,” the Apostle, perhaps, generally wanted to indicate the human origin of that philosophy, as opposed to the knowledge communicated from above through revelation, which the Colossians already possessed. It was suggested: this is human wisdom; do not listen to him when you have wisdom descended from above. Or maybe that philosophy, in fact, either all or in some parts, was based on a tradition that has been going on since time immemorial. What comes from ancient times seems to be something sacred, evoking respect, attention and faith. The seducers approaching the Colossians also wove something like this into their wisdom in order to give him importance and thereby attract him to him. Among the Jews there were Kabbalists who taught their wisdom from the ancients through oral tradition to the worthy. And the Eastern sages respected tradition. What is meant by “elements of the world”? If this were said in our time, then one could answer: this is matter, a collection of simple elements from which the world was formed by itself. But, as you can see, that philosophy recognized the existence of the world of spirits, sought communication with it and taught to serve the spirits. Therefore, such absurd wisdom cannot be attributed to her. “In those days, astrology was in force, subordinating people’s destinies to the influence of the stars. That such positions could have been contained in that philosophy cannot be rejected. At that time, there were also some material methods in use for entering into communication with the forces of the spiritual world, like those used by our spiritualists, and others, even more crudely. It is possible to allow this in that philosophy. It is also possible that this is hinting at the Jewish material service to God; but it is impossible to say that this is exactly the case: for it is not talking about any elements (as, for example, see Gal 4:9, 10), but about the elements of the world, which gives a comprehensive idea. Saint Chrysostom says: “The Apostle speaks about the whole real world in order to show its insignificance. For if the whole world is nothing; then its elements are even more insignificant.” In general, it is safer not to assert decisively that that philosophy contained this and that, but to believe only that it was a mixture of Hellenic wisdom, fortune-telling of eastern peoples and Jewish superstitions; how it all came together into one system is left unresolved. Saint Chrysostom says that the Apostle here “shakes Hellenic superstitions and destroys Jewish ones: the Hellenes and Jews had many superstitions.” And it is even safer to hold on to the thought that this was, to put it in modern terms, a worldview incompatible with the truth preached about Christ Jesus, as the Apostle suggests with the words: “and not according to Christ.” This was a teaching that Christians should not accept. Saint Chrysostom teaches: “no matter what they (the seducers) say, one should not believe; and now we must avoid these (spontaneous wisdom).” Ambrosiastes interprets these words of the Apostle this way: “The Apostle speaks of earthly philosophy, by which those who want to be considered wise in this world are usually seduced. It is composed by the power of inference and is not alien to petty subtleties; explores physical causes, mixing in some lessons about good living; speaks of measures, numbers, qualities and quantities of elements. Whoever has once delved into these wisdoms rarely frees himself from them, being held back by probabilities and deceptive arguments and acquiring the habit of not considering anything as true as what is seen and understood in the elements and through the elements. Since what is inherent in the eyes and seen by them seems pleasant and immediately gives pleasure; then such wise men deceive some of those who despise the spiritual and do not look forward to the future, attributing all the power to the stars with their carnal mind and rejecting God's omnipotence and providence, although they know that, as is read in the Divine Books of the Hebrews, Moses did many things that the human mind does not comprehend, just as it is written in the New Testament Books, then the Lord and the holy Apostles did many such things, which the carnal mind does not want to believe. This kind of wisdom is what the Apostle calls false and empty philosophy, according to human tradition; because it is not from God, but from the weak human mind and limits the power of God to the narrow limits of its knowledge, not allowing Him to do anything more or differently than the carnal mind comprehends. Why does he convince us to be wary of such a philosophy, because it is a worshiper of the world, not God, and does not lead to Christ, but leads away from Christ.” Col. 2:9. For in That lives all the bodily fulfillment of the Divine. He begins to show why they should not listen to those seducers, and immediately hints at a new feature in their dreamy teaching. This new feature must be restored in thought so that it is clear how it turns out: don’t listen; for in Christ Jesus is all the fullness of the Godhead. In the 2nd century, the teaching of the Gnostics was in force, who invented many mediating forces, spirits of different degrees, between God and creation. Between them there was also plyroma, which means completeness. It must be assumed that the wise men of Koloss also had something like a plyroma, and they displayed it as a victorious banner of their false teaching, promising much and much more from it to their followers. The Apostle speaks against this; do not listen to their idle talk; their plyroma is empty completeness, the fruit of a sick imagination, a dream; real fullness, not dreamily, but essentially, is in Christ Jesus. Why? Because in Him dwells the entire fullness of the Divinity—not just any part of the Divinity, not the power of the Divinity alone, but the Divinity itself in all its fullness. And where the Divine is, everything is there. The Divinity dwells in Him “bodily,” that is, incarnate. For Christ Jesus is God in the flesh, God the Word, who became flesh. “This is said about Him as about a man who carries all the Divinity in Himself. Christ did not receive any private grace, like Moses. He is the God-man, and with this visible thing is united the entire Divinity of the Only Begotten” (Blessed Theodoret). “In Him,” he says, “God the Word dwells. But do not think that He is contained in a body—embraced, limited. For He was all incarnate and is all with the Father, being bodily describable and indescribable by the Divine. “Bodily” - that is, essentially, and not figuratively; as the soul is in the body, so He dwells in the perceived man. How does the soul live in the body? Unmerged and inseparable. because he said: “lives”, κατοικει; so that you do not think that God only acted in Him, as in the Prophets (for God also dwelt in them, according to what is written: “I dwell,” ενοικησω, “and am like in them” (2 Cor. 6:16; Lev. 26:12), the Apostle added: “bodily,” that is, essentially, like the soul in the body. So is Saint Cyril (understands) Or maybe by: “bodily” - he means: incarnately. It is not so, he says, that, having lived in Him, the Divinity again dwells, but remains incarnate in Him, having one hypostasis with His flesh, although (He) consists of two different natures” (Ecumenius). “The Apostle says for this purpose that in Him is all the fullness of the Divinity, so that the Colossians would be convinced that, no matter what anyone comes up with about the heavenly powers, it is all fully in Christ, and would not in any way incline to honor anyone else. For whatever may be thought of about someone else, in Him there will be incomparably more than that” (Ambrosiastes). Col. 2:10. And may you be fulfilled in Him, Who is the head of every principle and power. “And so shall you be,” και εστε. Our Slavic translation took this as an imperative and translated: “let ye be,” that is: and be fulfilled in Him, as if: be content, be satisfied with the fulfillment that you accept from Him, and do not look for it in anyone else. Or: be complete in Him, in this sense: and seek in Him alone all fulfillment, and do not turn to anyone else. But the Russian translation took this as indicative and translated: and you are complete in Him, you are already fulfilled in Him. The last translation gives the strongest thought and is more consistent with the flow of speech. Our interpreters carry out the thought expressed by such a translation. You are already complete in Him; the second reason why you should not listen to seducers. The first is that in the Lord Jesus Christ is all the fullness of the Divinity. No matter who those philosophers turn you to, they are all lower than the Lord; That’s why you have no business listening to these idle talkers. But at the same time, another could think: let all the fullness of the Divinity be in the Lord: but this is in Him, but what about us? These same well-wishers promise us a lot. As if in response to this, the Apostle says: you are already complete in Him. They still promise, but in the Lord you are already fulfilled. All your spiritual needs, the greatest and most troubling of your heart, are already satisfied in Him. What do we need? Absolution? You have. New life? Dana. Graceful help? The Spirit of God lives in you. Blissful life in eternity? You have already been resurrected, seated in heaven, made kings and recognized as heirs. “And all this is in the Lord Jesus Christ.” And not only that, but we are filled with the Divinity Himself in Him. For He is one with the Father, and we are one with Him. Through Him, therefore, we are not alien to the Father, we enter into unity with Him and accept the gift of sonship. “I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you” (John 14:20), says the Lord. And the holy Apostle Peter, having enumerated everything with which we are filled in the Lord, concludes by saying that in Him we become partakers of the Divine nature. Here are his words: “all His Divine powers, including life and godliness, are given to us by the mind of Him who called us through glory and virtue, in which honorable and great promises were given to us, so that for these sakes you may be partakers of the Divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:3, 4). It is fair to cry after this: “And from His fulfillment we have all received grace, and grace brought grace” (John 1:16). Everything said here is a more extensive exposition of what Saint Chrysostom said in response to these words of the Apostle: “What do these words mean (that is: you too are filled in Him)? That you have as much as He has; just as (the Divinity) dwelt and dwells in Him, so also in you. St. Paul continually strives to bring us closer to Christ. For example, when he says: “Rise up with Him, and make us sit down” (Eph. 2:6); and: “If we endure, we will also reign with Him” (2 Tim. 2:12); and: “How... does not He give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32). And he calls us “fellow heirs” (Rom. 8:17). Our other interpreters have the same thoughts. Blessed Theodoret writes: “In Him you are complete.” For you have enjoyed grace from Him and received the rays emanating from there.” And Blessed Theophylact explains why this is so: “because in Him our nature is united with God, and through this we in Him have become partakers of the Divine nature.” Even such a reminder was enough to ward off the Colossians from being carried away by some philosophy that could seduce them with deceptive promises: you already have this, great and glorious; and there is nothing more to promise than this. So why should you listen to these seducers? But he still intensifies his suggestion. Those charming people promised something a lot in the name of the powers of heaven. The Apostle now adds: what are these heavenly powers before the Lord? They are His creation and His servants. No matter how good they are to you, they cannot give you as much as the Lord. And how can they give you anything without the will of the Lord? They are servants: they do what the Lord commands. To instill such thoughts, the Apostle added: “Who is the head of every principality and power.” Under: “principle and power” - the Apostle combines all the ranks of the angelic world; and the word: “head” meant that the Lord is their Creator and Lord, Who holds them in His right hand and rules over them. Blessed Theodoret writes: “The Lord Christ is our head according to humanity, and he rules over the Angels and Archangels according to the Divine nature.” “With the word: “head,” let us apply the words of Ekumenia, the Apostle signified guilt. For everything created - both heavenly and earthly - is the author of Christ, as the Creator and Organizer of all things. “Without Him, nothing could have happened” (John 1:3). The heavenly powers were also created by him. Thus, everything is from Christ and through Christ, according to the good pleasure of the Father and with the assistance of the Comforter of the Spirit.” From this, blessed Theophylact draws the following conclusion: “How can you, having left the Lord, think of resorting to the Angels, of whom He is the head? With all that has been said, the Apostle completely destroys the false teaching about Angels,” which, as a dogma, the alien philosophers attempted to impose on the Colossians. Col. 2:11, 12. About Him and being circumcised quickly with a circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of sinful flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, having been buried by Him through baptism. The Apostle said: you too were filled in the Lord Jesus with all the spiritual blessings that God was pleased to combine in Him for us. Now he definitely indicates what kind of benefits they became involved in. The most necessary benefit for us is deliverance from sins and the renewal of our corrupt nature. It is the basis of all other benefits, sonship, the grace-filled Divine Descent, and future glorification. Without it, it would be impossible to receive anything else, even if God Himself wanted to give something: for there would be nothing to accept it with and nothing to apply it to. It is about this fundamental and source good that the Apostle now speaks: having put off the bodies of sin, you were buried in the Lord through baptism and were immediately united in Him. This means that you died to sin and came to life for a new life according to God, you were renewed. The last good deed of God is expressed by the Apostle in one word: “constituted” (Col. 2:12); but the first is expressed in various ways: by “burying” Christ the Lord, by “putting off” the body of sin, by “circumcision made without hands.” It must be assumed that all such expressions were needed in counterbalance to the wisdom of seductive philosophers - all, and not just one: “circumcision made without hands.” Apparently they withheld circumcision; but they did not cover up their flattery only with them, but also with many others, against which it was necessary to put both the putting off of the body of sin and the burial of the Lord. And they treated circumcision not out of respect for the law (St. Paul makes no mention of the law in his entire epistle), but out of some kind of philosophical views. It is not surprising that they attributed to it some mystical meaning, in addition to that given to it in the law, as well as to those mentioned below - food and drink, holidays, new moons and Saturdays. “O He was quickly circumcised with a circumcision made without hands.” The book of Romans calls this circumcision made without hands “the circumcision of the heart by the Spirit” (Rom. 2:29). Those, he says, offer circumcision; but you have already received the highest and most perfect circumcision. Their circumcision is circumcision of the flesh, but what you have received is circumcision of the heart; that is made with hands, and yours is not made with hands; This is done with the knife, but yours is done with the Spirit in Christ Jesus. Blessed Theodoret writes: “The Apostle points out the difference in circumcision and says: your circumcision is not carnal, but spiritual, not made by hands, but Divine, not the taking away of a small part of the body, but liberation from all damage.” Ecumenius adds: “It was not the hand of man, but the Holy Spirit who circumcised you from your sins,” which he borrowed from Saint Chrysostom, who says: “Now circumcision is not from a knife, but from Christ Himself; It is not the hand, as it were, that performs this circumcision, but the Spirit; It is not a part that is circumcised, but the whole person.” What does this circumcision made without hands consist of? “In putting off the body of sin of the flesh,” του σωματος τον αμαρτιων της σαρκος, - the body of sins of the flesh, or - sins coming from the sin living in us, which is also called flesh. Casting off the body (corpus, mass) of such sins is repentance, giving remission of sins or removal of guilt for them. But circumcision made without hands, or circumcision of the heart, means more than forgiveness of sinful lust itself. Why, “in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh,” as an expression explaining circumcision of the heart, one must see the putting off of sinful lust itself, or the sin living in us, which is sometimes simply called the flesh. Others read only: in putting off the body of the flesh, which more closely expresses the desired meaning: for such an expression directly indicates the putting off of the flesh, or carnal wisdom and lust. Below (Col. 3:9) the Apostle called the same thing “putting off the old man with his deeds,” that is, not only the mass of sins, but also the very producer of them. To explain somewhat what spiritual circumcision is, we must take into account how things are going for fallen man. Sin reigns in him, and sinful pleasure reigns. The fallen one is so greedy for this sweetness that, as soon as you lure it, he immediately runs after it. Sin exhibits sweetness, but the fallen person has the quality of lust for this sweetness. For this lust, like a leash, sin takes the fallen man, enticing him with pleasure, and leads him to his deeds. It is obvious that until the lust for sinful sweetness is taken away, sin will not cease to reign in the fallen, and there is no way for him, the poor, to get rid of the tyranny of sin otherwise than by stopping his greed for sinful sweetness. The grace that saves the fallen first of all has this suppression and does this by allowing the fallen to feel all the bitterness of sin and taste the inexplicable sweetness of life according to God. When this is accomplished in the heart of the fallen, after that sin no matter how much it reminds of its sweetness, it is not his lust that is aroused in the heart, but the memory of his bitterness and the sweetness of life according to God, with corresponding feelings. As a result of this, the will naturally rejects sin and strives for its opposite. It's like that every time. The tyrant power of sin has obviously been stopped, and it has been stopped because the leash by which it always pulled the fallen one towards his deeds has been cut off. This is the real meaning of circumcision of the heart by the Spirit. Expressing this, the Apostle in the Epistle to the Romans says to those who have received grace: “Sin... has no possession of you... think for yourselves that you are dead, for sin is to be, but God is alive” (Rom. 6:14, 11). So think of yourself that you are dead to sin and alive to God. And this is not a deceptive thought, but the essence of the work of salvation in Christ Jesus. Why did the Apostle call such circumcision the circumcision of Christ, since it is a circumcision that is performed according to the economy of salvation accomplished by Christ the Lord. You can say it differently: this is Christian circumcision - circumcision of the heart by the Spirit through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in which a person throws off the tyranny of sin. Where and how is this Christian circumcision performed? In the baptismal font. You were circumcised, he says, by the circumcision of Christ, “having been buried in Him through baptism” (Rom. 2:12): when you were baptized, you immediately cast off your body of sin, and then you were circumcised. All these actions took place at one moment. The Blood of the Lord, which poured over you through the baptismal water, washed away all the impurity of sin from you and opened the entrance into your nature for the grace of the Holy Spirit, who, having come, cut off what sin held you in its power, and the body of sin fell from you. This is the power of baptism! They bury the Lord in it; for they perceive the mysteriously redemptive power of the blood and death of Christ and at the same time die to sin. Death to sin is the installation in the heart of hatred and aversion to it, due to the feeling of its bitterness and destructiveness, accompanied by a feeling of the indescribable sweetness of life according to God. Both are reborn in the believer before baptism, while he is inclined to faith. But these are only predispositions and premonitions. In the sacrament of baptism, grace descends on them and imparts to them the Divine power of immutability and power for all time, just as will remains on their side. Col. 2:12. About the same and the co-faith of the action of God, who raised Him from the dead. “Sovostaste” in the same place where they were buried, that is, in holy baptism. “Baptism is not only a coffin, but look what it says: “about him and fellowship”” (St. Chrysostom). But just as the burial was spiritual, so was the communion. This is death to sin, and this is revival for life according to God, so that you can walk “in newness of life,” as St. Paul says in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom. 6:4). “About him,” εν ω, can refer to both baptism and the Lord Savior. No matter where you put it, the thought will not change; but the flow of speech requires that this be attributed to the Lord, because everything is said about Him. “Sovostaste” is attributed by Blessed Theodoret and Ecumenius to the resurrection from the dead, and Blessed Theophylact to both, that is, both to the rising in the spirit and to the future resurrection. The first writes: “The Apostle preaches the resurrection, since we still have a mortal nature.” The same is true for Ecumenius: “having believed that God is able to raise from the dead, you also rose from the dead. For in baptism we are resurrected, although only in possibility, and not in reality.” Here are the words of Blessed Theophylact: “We have risen in the Lord in two ways: and by the hope of resurrection, so undoubted that we seem to have already received it, although it still has to be; and spiritually, casting off the deadness of sin and receiving quickening in the spirit.” In the flow of speech, it would be more direct to understand here spiritual resurrection, or the perception of the power to live according to God in a new life. For after this (Col. 2:13) it is said that God made them (the Colossians), dead in sins, “quickened” with Christ, obviously because he quickened them to a life opposite to sin. “By faith the working of God, who raised him from the dead.” If in: “conversation” - to see the future glorious resurrection, perceived with undoubted hope; then it will be: “by faith in the action of God,” - in the omnipotence of God, that He is able to resurrect, as he showed by the example of the resurrection of the Lord the Savior. Thus, Blessed Theodoret “believing in God’s power, we await the resurrection, having as a guarantee for ourselves the resurrection of the Lord Christ.” Blessed Theophylact repeats the same thing. If, in “consecration,” you see resurrection in the spirit, or revival for life according to God, then it will be: you have consecrated, for the sake of your faith, by the action of God, who raised Christ the Savior from the dead. You have been resurrected spiritually by a divine act, received by faith; and this action is the same as that by which Christ the Lord rose from the dead. St. Paul compares them in his Epistle to the Romans: “We are buried... in Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead in the glory of the Father, so we also may begin to walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). This is how Ambrosiast partly understands this. Blessed Theophylact makes the remark that although the resurrection of Christ is attributed here to God the Father, it is nevertheless the action of the Lord Jesus Himself: “Christ,” says the Apostle, having accepted bodily death, was quickened by the Father; and he says this not because Christ the Lord Himself was weak to revive Himself, but in order to lead everything to a single source. And that the resurrection of the Lord is also His own action, He Himself says about this: “in three days I will raise up” the church of His body (John 2:19). And in Acts it is said that after He suffered He offered Himself alive (Acts 1:3).” – And our spiritual resurrection is not accomplished by the action of God the Father alone, but “according to the good will of God the Father, in the holiness of the Spirit, in obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:2). The ecumenium, explaining spiritual circumcision, gives guidance about the action of the Most Holy Trinity in it. Col. 2:13. And you, who were dead in sin and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He brought to life with Him, giving us all our sins. It has already been said before this: “sovostaste”; Why does it say again: “and He made you live”? The apostle here exposes a circumstance that strengthens the proposed conviction - not to listen to those who suggest circumcision. He said: You have no need of circumcision of the flesh, because you already have the circumcision of the heart by the Spirit, of which the circumcision of the flesh serves only as a sign. This spiritual circumcision took place in the baptismal font, where you died to sin and were made alive to live according to God. By plunging into the font, you were immersed in the death of Christ, you died to sin with Him; and as you ascended from the font, you put on the risen Lord and were resurrected with Him to live according to God. God has made you alive with Him. This death and revival is not only assigned to you by name, but is a quality in you by deed; you feel them and manifest them by deed. Now I ask you: in order to be considered worthy of such grace, was circumcision of the flesh offered to you as a necessary condition? Has God, through those who baptized you, declared to you that if you are not circumcised, you will not receive grace that quickens the spirit, and you will not even be admitted to baptism? There was nothing like that. Even in your uncircumcision God made you alive with Christ the Lord. Your uncircumcision did not prevent the life-giving grace of the Holy Spirit from descending into you in holy baptism and reviving you, dead in sins. The words: “and in the uncircumcision of your flesh” must be combined with: “he brought to life” - in this sense: both in your uncircumcision and despite your uncircumcision he brought to life. And the word: “in sins” - must be attributed to: “being dead” - in the usual sense, as all people are dead in sins, both their ancestors’ and their own: for the patterns of sin are death; and after these expressions put a punctuation mark; and between: “in the uncircumcision of the flesh” - and: “he brought to life” - do not put a sign in order to clearly imagine which expression refers to where. Who also refer to the words: “in the uncircumcision of the flesh” as “being dead,” are forced to give them a figurative meaning, because uncircumcision does not make one dead, but sin, and it is by this that they mean the uncircumcision of the heart, or sinful lust, the source of all sins. In this case, no other interpretation can be allowed. Our interpreters speak about this place in such a way that their words can suggest one and the other relationship between these words. By uncircumcision of the flesh, Blessed Theodoret means sinfulness in general. But the Apostle’s thought is expressed as follows: “The Apostle teaches that bodily uncircumcision does not harm those who have it, but mental uncircumcision is harmful to both body and soul; and this proves that physical circumcision brings no benefit to the circumcised, but the removal of sinfulness brings true salvation.” Ecumenius translates the Apostle’s thought this way: “you, who were dead in sins, due to inactivity or immobility in doing good, and uncircumcised, God circumcised you in the spirit and gave life to you, making you alive with Christ.” “Having given us all sins.” This determines not the method of revival, but the path to it. The quickening grace of the Spirit has no access to those on whom the guilt of sin lies. When guilt is removed and sins are forgiven, then grace, having gained access, enters the soul and revives it. This is what the Apostle points out here. “Having granted us sins” means: “having granted us remission of sins” (Blessed Theodoret). Before, the Apostle said: “you,” - now: “to us.” Perhaps this did not have much meaning for the Apostle. He wanted, perhaps, to say only: to you and me, that is, to all people in general. Not for you alone, the path to spiritual revival lies through the forgiveness of sins, but for everyone. Forgiveness of sins is obtained through repentance with faith in the Lord, who sacrificed Himself for the sins of the whole world. By faith, sins are washed away in the font. Here, revival is given by grace. One act accomplishes two things: it removes sins and gives new life. Col. 2:14. Having destroyed the handwriting on us with teachings that were contrary to us, even that was taken from the environment, nailed to the cross. Having mentioned the remission of sins, he continues to explain how it was granted. As above (Col. 2:11, 12) he explained the removal of the power of sin living in us, calling it either circumcision made without hands, or putting off the body of sin, or burial and fellowship with Christ in baptism; So here he explains in various ways the arrangement for the remission of sins by the death on the cross of Christ the Savior, calling it the erasing of the manuscript, taking it from the environment and nailing it to the cross or tearing it apart. He does both in order to, by presenting the same object from different sides, depict it more clearly and impress it more deeply on the mind. From here we understand that the dispensation of remission of sins is a special matter in the economy of salvation, equivalent to the dispensation of circumcision of the heart and revival by grace. “Having destroyed the handwriting on us.” “Having destroyed”, εξαλειψας, - having erased, as they erase traces of something on sand, wax and the like, as they erase letters written in some way on something. There is a handwriting on us. God blotted him out by the death of Christ on the cross. What kind of handwriting is this? The handwriting, in fact, is a handwritten promissory note. What debts do we have? Sins, as in the Lord’s Prayer we read: “forgive us our debts.” So, by the death of Christ on the cross, God blotted out our sins, blotted out original sin, and blotted out all the sins of every person from the beginning of the world to the end of it. Such is the power of the Lord's death. Everyone has his own handwriting of sins, and it lies on him and itself demands satisfaction, like the cry of Sodom for the vengeance of sins. The truth of God has endured, endures, and will endure for everyone, being satisfied with the atoning and intercessory death of Christ. But through this, each handwriting does not lose its power. If it is not erased and torn, then in due time it will be necessary to collect and pay for it. How is the erasing and tearing of this manuscript achieved? They repent with faith in the death of the Lord on the cross, and when they are immersed in the font, the water of baptism, or even more so, the gracious power of baptism, blots out sins, and the handwriting represents one pure charter, on which nothing remains written. This is what the Apostle says: God gave us sins, having blotted out the handwriting of our sins. Saint Chrysostom says: “So what? Let them stay? No; destroyed them; not only bestowed it, but completely destroyed it so that they would never appear.” Blessed Theophylact writes the same thing: “because he said that God “gave us sins”; so that you don’t think that He still left them to be somewhere, and to be visible, He says: no, that’s not it; He completely blotted them out, cleaned them out.” All those who are baptized are worthy of this; and if no one had sinned after baptism, then none of them would have had such a handwriting on them. But as they sin, the charter is again covered with sins and can only be blotted out again with tears of repentance. The power that blots out everything is one - the death of the Lord on the cross. In the death of the Lord, the handwritings of all people were blotted out, which the Apostle unites and presents as a single handwriting of all humanity. In force it is so; but in reality, everyone’s handwriting is blotted out in holy baptism or repentance through faith in the Lord, who died on the cross for us. Why did the Apostle add: “taught”, δογμασιν. Our interpreters all understand by this word faith. Saint Chrysostom says: “taught,” he says. What kind of “teachers”? By faith. Therefore, it is enough to believe. Paul does not blot out deeds by works, but by faith he blots out deeds.” Blessed Theodoret writes: “God is the Word (instead of the Old Testament methods cleansing of sins) gave us the gospel dogmas, promising us salvation for their preservation." manuscripts. Therefore, any interpretation according to which “scholars” would be combined with “manuscripts” must be considered inappropriate here. “It wouldn’t be against us.” The handwriting was against us, condemning us, demanding satisfaction. Where was it? Somewhere in the middle. Where is the middle? In the middle of everything. All creation - both earthly and heavenly, both material and spiritual - saw this handwriting that was against us, agreed that it was righteous to collect debts from us according to this handwriting, and, therefore, they were also against us. And the truth of God demanded the same - even more. Meanwhile, we could not provide anything in payment - and extreme misfortune lay ahead of us. What did the multi-compassionate God, who decided to save us, do? “This is taken from the environment” - he took our handwriting out of sight, so that no one saw it again. “Taken”, ηρκεν, – from: αιρω. The meaning of this word is accurately expressed by our usual phrase: take it or accept it from here, out of sight. So our handwriting was accepted from the environment and was no longer noticeable to anyone. “Taken from the environment, that means he made it so that it could not be seen” (Blessed Theophylact). Where did God, who graciously save us, put him? “I took it from Wednesday, but maybe hid it somewhere else. Therefore, fear takes over, as if he would never exact from us according to this manuscript. Now he has forgiven, but when he repents that he has forgiven, he begins to seek retribution: the handwriting is intact. The Apostle eliminates this fear by saying: “nailing it to the cross.” Having taken it from the environment, God did not put it aside for safekeeping, but tore it apart: by nailing it to the cross, it means tearing it apart” (from Ecumenium periphrases). “Having taken it from the environment, He neither gave it to us, nor did He keep it with Himself, but, having nailed it to the cross, tore it apart” (Blessed Theophylact). This is - It is a metaphorical expression: “since we were all under sin and punishment, He freed us from both sin and punishment. He took the handwriting there and nailed it with Him, and then, as one who had the power, he completely tore it apart” (St. Chrysostom) “With this, Saint Paul expressed the certainty of forgiveness and irrevocability.” (penalties)" (Ecumenius). All who take refuge in the shadow of the cross by faith are safe from punishment for sins according to the righteousness of God. The Blood of Christ cleanses them from all sin. They will be anointed with this cleansing blood in baptism and repentance. Col. 2:15. He drew away the principalities and powers, brought them to shame with his boldness, exposing them in Himself {having defeated them in it}. Saint Paul began from verse 10 to depict what fullness is received from the Lord Savior by those who believe in Him. He showed first that by His grace the sin that lives in us is cut off (Col. 2:11, 12); then he depicted, under the image of the tearing of the handwriting, the granting of forgiveness of sins (Col. 2:13, 14). Is everything exhausted? Not yet. There are also the masters of sin - Satan with hordes of demons. If left in place; then there will be no end to sin, and the indicated gifts from the treasury of the fullness of Christ are of no use. And the Lord destroyed their power, taking away from them all power over us: “he took away the principalities and powers.” “The Apostle says this about the powers of the devil, because human nature seemed to be clothed with them” (St. Chrysostom). Through sin and passions, demons cling to the soul, and while it is in sin, it is covered with them and appears, as it were, dressed in them. These are the clothes made from demons that the Lord took from our nature. How? By the very fact that the sin living in us is cut off and a new life is given to us, the points of contact with us or sticking to us are taken away from the demons and, on the contrary, a force is infused that reflects them. Leeches adhere to a living body and suck living blood from it; but if you pour salt water over the body, the leeches will immediately disappear. So the Lord salted our nature with the salt of grace of the Holy Spirit, and all the demons had to jump away from him, struck by Divine power and the light of faith with the love of holiness. And here, one can assume, the Apostle is talking about the same thing. Blessed Theodoret writes: “since through the bodily passions the demons had dominion over us, and Christ, having put on the body, became the conqueror of sin; then He crushed the dominion of those who resisted and showed all people their obvious weakness, giving us all victory over them with His own body.” We also read in Ekumeny: “the enemy had many bridles and chains, leashes and holds, through which he ruled over us. This began with Adam’s crime, and then intensified due to our own sins. The Only Begotten Son of God, having become man, removed all these bridles and restraints from our nature (passions, of course) and freed us from such bonds. Tightly bound by the chains of our sins, we worked for the enemy. But the Lord, having forgave us our sins, delivered us both from these bonds and from the tyranny of the evil one.” The last words of Ekumeny also suggest that the metaphor: “he has stripped away the principles and powers” ​​means that the Lord has deprived evil spirits of power over us, and precisely by the fact that, having nailed the handwriting of our sins to the cross, he tore it apart. The demons laid claim to us, holding in their hands our handwriting of sins committed by them, and pointing to this handwriting, wherever it was. It meant that we ourselves voluntarily recognize the power of demons over ourselves, because every sin is the fruit of obedience to them and disobedience to God. The enemies pointed to the handwriting, as if saying: look, they are ours, they do our will. When the manuscript is torn and destroyed, then they have nothing more to assert their power on; by tearing up the manuscript it was taken from them. Thus, by cutting off the sin living in us with the granting of new life and remission of sins or tearing up the handwriting, as the Apostle discussed above, the dark forces that surrounded us were thrown off and their power over us was taken away. But the words that follow show that they themselves were disgraced and struck down by the cross. “I will bring them to shame with boldness.” - “I will bring you to shame”, εδειγματισεν, - which word means: to expose someone to shame before everyone. “Boldly”, εν παρρησια, - boldly, clearly, right - imperiously. This means that on the cross the dark forces were exposed to shame and disgrace. They irritated the Jews against the Lord the Savior and brought Him to the point that He was given over to a shameful death. They hoped that by subjecting Him to such shame, they would push everyone away from Him, the work of salvation would be frustrated and their power would remain in force as before. It turned out to be the opposite. On the cross, it was not the Lord who was put to shame, but they, and it was not His work that was ruined, but their kingdom that was destroyed. That the Lord was not disgraced, but glorified on the cross, was obvious to everyone: the sun darkened, the church curtain was torn, the earth shook, the stones fell apart and many bodies of the dead saints arose. Those who had eyes could not help but see from this that the cross is not a shame, but a throne of glory. But even to those who did not have them, they were revealed, and what happened on Calvary forced them to confess: “Truly this is the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54). This was a disgrace too: they expected one thing, but it turned out completely different; the cross does not reject, but attracts. This is visible, but the invisible shame is more significant, namely, that they themselves created the cross, and the cross destroyed their kingdom: they themselves undermined the foundations of their kingdom with the cross. For by the cross heaven was reconciled with earth, the Spirit of grace was brought down to sanctify all and to clothe all with the power to attack all the power of the enemy. Why can’t demons look at the cross from then on? at the very sight of him they run away as if in the face of the wind. The sign of the cross is a protection for believers and a victorious weapon against invisible enemies. The Apostle expresses this in even stronger words: constituting the triumph of victory over them in him, that is, in the cross. In Slavic it reads like this: “having exposed them in Himself.” This is an inaccurate translation of the words of the original: θριαμβευσας αυτους εν αυτω. Why is the interlinear translation added: “having defeated them on it.” Θριαμβευειν - means to constitute or accept the triumph of victory. Hence the Apostle’s thought would be this: the Savior on the cross celebrated the triumph of victory over the spirits of evil, or accepted the solemn glory of such a victory. – The cross was a solemn chariot, similar to the one on which the victors were carried, glorifying them for their victory. But he was also a victorious force and a sign of victory. He was the one by whom, as predicted in paradise, the seed of the woman would erase the head of the tempting serpent. And the Lord, approaching death on the cross, said: “Today the prince of this world will be cast out” (John 12:31), that is, dethroned and deprived of power. – The Lord descended from the cross into hell and destroyed hell, having carried out those contained in it; and to those on earth, by virtue of the death of the cross, he gave power over the spirits of evil, not only the power to fight off them, but the power to dominate them and subjugate them as slaves. Saint Chrysostom says: “The devil hoped to take possession of Christ, but he lost even those he had. While the body of Christ was nailed to the cross, the dead were raised. Then the devil was defeated, receiving a mortal blow from a dead body. Just as a fighter who considers his opponent defeated, himself receives a mortal wound from him; So Christ showed that to die with boldness and authority means to shame the devil.” This ends the general warning, the idea of ​​which is this: no matter what the wise men who seduce you promise you, do not listen to them. You already have everything - forgiveness of sins, new life, and power over evil spirits. What more could you want? cc) Warnings against certain deviations from the truth (Col. 2:16–23) There are three of them: a) disagree with some Jewish customs (Col. 2:16, 17); β) do not be seduced by the humility of false teachers and the service of Angels (Col. 2:18, 19); γ) not to be carried away by some human teaching about foolish abstinence (Col. 2:20–23). Col. 2:16. Yes, no one judges you about eating, or about drinking, or about part of a holiday, or about new moons, or about Saturdays. “At first I spoke in general terms: be careful (Col. 2:4, 8). Now he indicates more definitely what he should beware of, after prefacing this with an image of good deeds in Christ Jesus. He seems to be saying: if you have received such great things, then why should you submit to such small things?” (from Saint Chrysostom and Blessed Theophylact). “The hope of life is in Christ Jesus, and the hope of salvation in Him does not allow us to mix it up with submission to any superstition or legal custom. Why should you not pay attention to those who are making noise there and whispering something incompatible with faith in Christ” (Ambrosiastes). False teaching was covered up by Jewish legality, and the false teachers were probably from the Jewish family. Perhaps they were the descendants of those Jews whom, according to Josephus, Antiochus resettled from the east to Southern Phrygia, among 2000 families. They could have brought from there also eastern wisdom, to which they mixed Hellenic philosophizing, from all three they glued together a special system of false teaching, adapting it to Christianity. Of the Jewish customs, they retained, apparently, only the rules about eating and drinking and the observance of annual, monthly and weekly holidays and, as is very likely, circumcision. The Apostle seemed to casually speak above about the inappropriateness of circumcision for Christians. Now he directly speaks against Jewish customs regarding dishes and holidays. “No one is judging you.” Let no one condemn you for not observing such and such Jewish customs. But what should we do, someone might ask? Fulfill them to avoid condemnation? No, do not carry out, but do not take such condemnations to heart and do not pay attention to them. Let them be judged; you don't look at it. – Probably, between the methods of persuasion, the sages used irony, or mockery, which can have a strong effect and, when it meets an unsteady conviction, can completely evaporate it. The Apostle warns: do not be impressed by condemnation; it's empty. “Do not obey,” he says, “those who condemn you” (St. Chrysostom). “Do not be in the least carried away by those who are trying to sow legal observations among you” (Blessed Theodoret). “He seems to praise them as alien to Judaism” (Blessed Theophylact) and thus inspires them to resist those who are drawn to him. “On food and drink.” The law definitely spelled out what to eat and what not to eat. The prohibition was based on the usefulness and unwholesomeness of food, according to the local climate; and it also meant moral lessons that clearly emerged from the properties of forbidden animals and birds. But since those wise men went into lies, it is very likely that they intertwined with this some absurd fortune-telling in the spirit of their false teaching. In The law speaks only about food; regarding drinking, the rule was laid down only for the Nazirites. Therefore, it can be concluded that those sages acted as permanent Nazirites and the Essenes seemed to be constantly practicing Nazirites. “About part of the holiday” - one of the major annual holidays: Easter, Pentecost, Tabernacles and others. They could not fully observe these holidays: due to their remoteness, they could not go to Jerusalem every year, and while celebrating at home, they could not perform everything that was part of the holiday. That’s why the Apostle said: “about a portion.” “He did not say: (in observing the holiday) tabernacles, or unleavened bread, or Pentecost, but: “about a part of the holiday”; for they did not dare to preserve everything; and if they did preserve it, it was not like feasts. He speaks about a portion, showing that most of it has already been abandoned; they did not keep everything that was former” (St. Chrysostom). But we can also point out that those wise men are all here. related, they rebuilt it in their own way, so that only something was taken from the previous one. This “about part” was taken from the celebrations of the New Moon and Saturdays. Not everything related to this could be observed by them. Despite, however, the fact that such a celebration, truncated and changed, was no longer completely Jewish, the Apostle does not want the Colossians to touch it. It is so contrary to the spirit of Christianity. The Apostle does not generally reject holidays, but from celebrating on certain days in the spirit of Judaism or the false teaching that circulated among the Colossians. Having holidays and celebrating them is an integral part of faith, as long as there is faith, whatever it may be. This is how we are made. All of them have faiths, but each in its own spirit. And Christianity has its own holidays, but in its own spirit. Col. 2:17. They are the wall of those who are to come, but the body of Christ. “Even” - directly points only to what was said before, to holidays and dishes; but the Apostle’s thought is general. He said this in the same sense as we say: this is all, meaning not only the species indicated, but the entire genus to which they belong, that is, the whole law, all the decrees of the Old Testament. “Wall” is the shadow of future things or blessings, in general of what was meant to be and what was expected. Just as someone who sees a shadow correctly concludes that there is a body that gives this shadow, and from the outlines of the shadow makes conclusions about the appearance of the body itself, fueling with all this the desire to see the body itself; so the Old Testament decrees were written in such a way that they pointed to the future, pre-depicted it as much as possible, and aroused the desire to quickly see the fulfillment of what they depicted. To nourish this desire and aspiration was the main goal of all the resolutions. Consequently, in themselves they had nothing significant, just as its shadow does not, and they had only temporary significance. But although they are a shadow, one should not leave them until the body has arrived. The Apostle adds: the body has come - Christ the Lord. The body from which the shadow fell and gave birth to the decrees of the law is Christ the Lord. Everything there pointed to Him. And therefore, with His coming it must cease. He came and the shadow disappeared. He who sees the body will not look at the shadow, and if he did this, he would insult the body itself and clearly show his foolishness. So it is here. The Lord has come; look at Him, and let the shadow pass by as if it were transitory. Let us cite what our interpreters said about this. The Apostle called the “shadow of things to come” the law, teaching that it prefigured the grace of the New Testament. The life of the Gospel represents the body; and the law is “wall”; the shadow precedes the body when light appears. Law is a shadow, grace is a body, but the Lord Christ is light” (Blessed Theodoret). “The Old Testament was a shadow; the body, that is, the truth, is Christ’s. What need is there to grasp at the shadow when the body is present?” (Blessed Theophylact). “Everything given through Moses was a shadow or image of what was to come, so that when the truth appeared, the image would cease. Just as in the absence of the emperor his image has weight, but in his presence it does not; so this (given through Moses) had to be observed before the coming of the Lord, but in His presence it no longer has any meaning. Is it really possible that someone who replaces the master in his absence can act as a master in his presence? If the suffragans of prefects (governors), when they themselves are in charge, are as private individuals; Shouldn’t it be all the more true that the slave (who replaced the master), in the presence of the master, should appear himself along with others who are in obedience to him? (Ambrosiast). Col. 2:18. Let no one seduce you with the humility he was granted and the service of the Angels, even without teaching you, maddened by the mind of your flesh. “Deceives”, καταβραβευετω. – Βραβειτον – a reward for victory in the lists, in today’s terms a prize. “The judges of those who strive are called βραβευτας; for they determine who is victorious. Καταβραβευειν means incorrectly βραβευειν, incorrectly determining who owns the victory” (Blessed Theodoret). “This word is used in the case when one wins, and the other receives a reward - when the winner is offended, hurt” (St. Chrysostom). – Another way to express it is to make sure that someone doesn’t receive an award. Καταβραβευειν, - in structure, similar to: καταργειν. This means: to divide or ruin what has been done, or else: to reward, to do so that you will not receive a reward. The Colossians appear to be flowing as if in a race. The Apostle warns them: be careful that no matter what anyone does, you will not receive a reward. Mothers-in-law, you will be mothers-in-law, and when you reach the end, you will not be given a reward. How is it possible for them to do this? By teaching your mother-in-law the wrong way. For he who walks unjustly, and who labors unlawfully, is not married (2 Tim. 2:5). How could they do this? Disturbing the faith of the Colossians, driving them away from the right faith and teaching them to believe incorrectly. The Colossians flowed right, hoping to receive the Kingdom of Heaven; rightly they flowed, for they flowed after the Lord Jesus Christ, relying on Him alone with their faith and hope. If someone inspires them, and they accept, to rely with faith and trust on someone else or something else, then the mothers-in-law will start wrong. Mothers-in-law will still be mothers-in-law, and raise the labor of the current, and have the aspiration that they will receive a crown; but when they reach the end, they will not receive what they expect; They will say to them: in whom you put your trust, go to him to receive crowns. And no one has these crowns except the Lord. His Kingdom, His and crowns. All others, no matter who anyone proposes to take His place, are nothing. And there will be a bitter and bitter deception. Saint Paul imprints this whole picture on the minds of the Colossians with one word: “Let no one deceive you καταβραβευετω.” How strongly should they have been repelled by false teachers when it was imagined in their minds what kind of slander, what kind of malice was hidden for them in their teaching? Saint Chrysostom, by the way, explained this word through: επηρεαζετω, - which means: to ruin, to harm, to pour in evil; and concluded that Saint Paul intended with this word to arouse indignation among the Colossians towards the false teachers. And success was sure. He wanted to inspire them: do not allow yourself to be seduced or deceived by such bitter and destructive deception. Who will deliberately commit deception and destruction?! But the Apostle would not have done everything if, having said: do not give in to deception, he had not indicated who and how was approaching them with deception. Who? The one who approaches with the humility destined for him and the service of the Angels. “With humility destined for him,” θελον εν ταπεινοφροσυνη, is a difficult expression to translate. - Ecumenius writes: “let no one deceive you, wanting to do this, that is, deceive you with humility.” Theophylact paraphrases the entire passage as follows: “after fulfilling their indignation, showing that they want to act villainously with them, to deprive them of their reward, the Apostle sets forth the most heretical dogma, saying: they want to deprive you of your reward, deceiving you with humility.” It turns out: no one deceives you, wanting to deceive you with humility. They refer Θελων to the previous words, and not to: “humility of mind.” θελον can also be attributed to: “nobody” - in the sense: no one who wants to; do not allow anyone who wants to deceive you. The power of speech, however, does not lie in this word: θελον; therefore, there is no need to strive for an accurate translation. The power of speech lies in humility. What kind of humility is this? Perhaps these seducers were also humble in appearance, poorly dressed, poorly fed, poorly living, unkempt, unwashed, speaking quietly and timidly, with downcast eyes. All this and the like can be assumed in them, knowing that among their beliefs was mercilessness of the body. Such a view is truly seductive, drawing attention to the speeches of those who appear in it, on the assumption of something higher in such persons. But our interpreters understand all humility as part of the teaching of these charmers, and the original part. They began like this: it is too much for us for the Son of God to descend to us to lead us to the Heavenly Father. It is enough for us to be led to Him through Angels. And, as a result of this beginning, they organized some kind of special service to the Angels, θρησκεια. Saint Chrysostom says: “What does it mean: “humility”? Some have said that we must be brought (to God) not through Christ, but through Angels; because the bringing through Christ is more than what is needed for us.” We read the same thing in Blessed Theophylact - “it is unworthy, they said, of the greatness of the Only Begotten (to teach) that the Only Begotten leads us to the Father, for this is more than is in keeping with human smallness. Why is it more blessed (to believe) that Angels served to bring us (to the Father). Based on this thought, they introduced a special service to the Angels and convinced the most simple-hearted to turn to them as if they were our saviors.” Blessed Theodoret expresses the same thought in general: “guided by humility, they said that the God of all is invisible, unapproachable and incomprehensible, and that through the Angels they must acquire God’s favor. This is what the Apostle means in the words: “by humility and the service of angels.” This position that God is unapproachable and that between Him and creatures, even in the matter of creation, there must be mediators, was the starting point for the Gnostics, and then for Arius. If this was indeed the humility of the Colossian charmers, then one cannot help but see in them the germ of the Gnostics, who developed in power in the 2nd century, and from the well-known teaching of the Gnostics about the heavenly powers, explain what the unknown teaching about the Angels of the Colossian sages consisted of. The Gnostics taught that God is infinitely powerful. The creature cannot bear His influence. Why, in order for creation to occur, a whole series of heavenly powers had to occur in advance, which, starting from those closest to God, became more and more diminished in dignity and power and approached the creatures that we know on earth. Among them there are names: Christ, Jesus, the Church, and the demiurges - the builders of the world. They called them zones, but it is obvious that these are the essence of heavenly forces, or Angels, the meaning of which in the chain of creation is misunderstood. – If we recognize the affinity of the Gnostics with the wise men of Colossus, then these provisions may somewhat explain how they looked at the Angels and why they were especially taught to address them. Whatever this service to the Angels consisted of, it is clear from history that it was strongly rooted in those areas and was carried out there for a long time. So the Fathers of the Local Council of Laodicea in Phrygia (365) had to pay attention to it and banned it in the 35th rule. This rule reads like this: “It is not appropriate for Christians to leave the Church of God, and go away, and name Angels, and hold meetings. This is rejected. For this reason, if anyone is found practicing such secret idolatry, let him be anathema: he has forsaken our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and has begun to worship idols.” In our edition of the rules, the following remark is attached to this: “heretics are condemned who do not pray to God and Christ, but only to the Angels, as if they were the creators and rulers of the world.” The affinity of these angel-worshippers with the Colossians is indicated by Blessed Theodoret in his interpretation of the Epistle to them: “this commitment (to angel-worship) lasted for a long time in Phrygia and Pisidia. That is why the Council, which met in Laodicea of ​​Phrygia, by law forbade the prayer of Angels.” The rule of the Council calls the angel worship that took place there secret; Probably, the meetings were also secret, and something was done in them through which they hoped to enter into communication with the Angels. Was it not something similar to the meetings of our spiritualists, and with some techniques and actions similar to those that the latter have? In every way the spirit is the same, both here and here: they took the Savior away from Christ, and these do the same. If, in this way, our spiritualists are placed in kinship with the angel-worshippers condemned at the Council of Laodicea, and these with the angels whom St. Paul condemns in the Epistle to Colossae; then here is the Apostolic sentence against spiritualists. “I will not lead you away from teaching.” - “You will not lead away”, μη εορακεν, - which you have not seen. “Teaching”, εμβατευων, - entering into that. Εμβατευειν - to enter: to enter into something with the mind - to explore, to teach; to enter into something in a word - to tell. The Colossian sages, if they were homogeneous with the Gnostics, said that first from God came such and such a force, from this then such and such, from a combination of them - such and such, and from a combination of these - still others and others. It was as if they were walking around the sky and talking about what they saw there, when in fact they saw nothing. Saint Paul denounces them that “they, having never seen Angels, claim this and that about them as if they had seen them” (Blessed Theophylact, in agreement with Saint Chrysostom). “Crambling madly from the mind of my flesh.” - “Crazy”, εικη, - fussing in vain, when there was nothing to puff up with, “not being puffed up with something real, but with your empty opinion” (St. Chrysostom). - “From the mind of the flesh,” “from the carnal, and not the spiritual mind” (St. Chrysostom), from a mind that reasons according to carnal principles, has become solidified, coarsened, and cannot ascend to the height of contemplation of Christian dogmas, as the Son of God and God, consubstantial with the Father, became incarnate and arranged the salvation of our race. “Doesn’t it expose the coarseness of their minds that they cannot comprehend and accept the truths clearly spoken about the Lord?” “Thus... God loved the world, as He gave His only begotten Son to eat” (John 3:16); and again: “And for their sake I will sanctify Myself” (John 17:19); also: “I lay down My life for My sheep” (John 10:15–17). There are many other similar places (Blessed Theophylact). Such truths cannot be contained, but are suppressed. The inventions of their mind seemed to them higher than revealed truths; They were puffed up with their wisdom, looking down on the believers in simplicity of heart, without mental inquisitiveness. Arrogance led to stubbornness, and they probably resisted any admonition. “They were arrogant, like stubborn dogmatists, who did not even allow true teaching to be offered to them” (Blessed Theophylact). But how did they undertake to seduce with humility, and yet get drunk? “This shows that everything with them came from vanity” (St. Chrysostom). “There is no contradiction here; for they only covered themselves with humility, but in reality they were possessed by the passion of pride” (Blessed Theodoret). “Their humility was apparent, not true. They did not have humility, but only said humbly: I will sacrifice for us to the Only Begotten - this is more than is necessary for people (not according to their measure, not to match them)” (Blessed Theophylact). Col. 2:19. And without holding the Head, from which the whole body, joints and joints are given and removed, the return of God grows. They went to the Angels, but deviated from the Lord the Savior, while the body of the Church, as it is formed by the Lord, stands and lives by Him, that is, everyone who is saved is saved only in the Lord. From this it is obvious that those wise men themselves are perishing, and you will be led into destruction. “As soon as you separated from the Head, you perished” (Saint Chrysostom). By Head, the Apostle obviously means Christ the Savior, the Son of God and God incarnate, about Whom he said in Chapter 1 that He is “the Head of the body of the Church” (Col. 1:18). You can maintain this Head by faith in the Lord, convictions in the truth about Him, love, devotion, hope of salvation in Him, generally being in living, conscious and intelligent communion with Him and relying on Him alone for your salvation. Those who turned aside to the Angels lost all this: through this they fell away from Christ the Lord, and further from God the Father, and stand outside the order of the creator of life, which the Savior Himself defined as follows: “I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you” (John 14:20). “The whole body is made of negligence.” “The Apostle again called the Lord Christ the Head, and the composition of the Church - the body. And he said everything in a figurative sense” (Blessed Theodoret). To understand the meaning of an allegory, you need to clearly understand the allegory itself. What's going on about the body? That it “grows the return of God.” How? “Souses and compositions are served and taken away.” Of course? No; all this comes from the chapter. It is difficult to understand the words: “sauces and compositions served and taken off”; It is therefore difficult to understand what they mean. The general idea of ​​the allegory is this: the body of the Church, under the action of its Head, grows in itself the return of God, that is, living the Divine life, it multiplies, strengthens and strengthens this life. The words: “sauces and compositions served and removed” indicate the way this is done. What could this mean? To understand this, we must determine what these words could mean in relation to our body. Let’s distribute the words as follows: “sauces are served”, - “the compositions are taken away”: for it is obvious that this is how they need to be correlated. “Compositions snemlemo”, δια συνδεσμων συμβιβαζομενον, is not so difficult to understand. Συνδεσμοι – ligaments that connect different parts of the body; a: συμβιβαζειν - means to adjust one thing to another, to adjust one thing to another. It will be: different parts of the body, adjusted and coordinated, connected by ligaments and held in this folded form. This directly indicates the system of bones and muscles that determine the structure of the body. But the words: “sousa is served”, δια των αφων επιχορηγουμενον, are a bit dark. `And φη – not only one thing matters; means touch, touch, action of taking and ligament. Which meaning to take in the present place depends on: επιχορηγουμενον. – 'E πιχορηγειν – has one meaning: to deliver, to add, to add to what has already been delivered or given. 'E πιχορηγουμενον – will be: being supplied. Of the meanings of αφη, this can only be approached by the action of taking, the method by which what is delivered is taken. It will be: the body that is delivered to him takes and assimilates - and thereby lives and grows. This indicates the power system. But both of these systems would remain inactive if they were not excited by nerves: nerves come from the head, disperse throughout the body and, stimulating the nutritional organs with muscles, force them to act according to their purpose and thereby support the life of the body. Having recognized this interpretation as dominant, we will not have any difficulty in understanding it allegorically. The system of bones with muscles that determine the structure of the body in the Church of God corresponds to its visible structure: under the Apostles and Prophets, shepherds and teachers of the Church stand all Christians, each with a special gift for the benefit of the Church; everyone is connected by mutual subordination, love and zeal for the common spiritual good. “As there are joints in the body, then in the composition of the Church there are Apostles, Prophets and teachers,” says Blessed Theodoret. The nutritional system in the Church corresponds to all the ways in which the knowledge of revealed truths and the outpouring of Divine grace are communicated to believers, mainly the preaching of the word of God and the Divine sacraments. They provide that which alone can nourish the Church and grow with the growth of God, namely: grace and truth. The nerves emanating from the head and penetrating and stimulating the whole body are Christ the Lord Himself, Who holds both the composition of the body of the Church and permeates it with life-giving power. Blessed Theodoret writes: “just as in the body the brain is the root of the nerves, and through the nerves the body receives sensation; thus the body of the Church receives from the Lord Christ both sources of teaching and instruments of salvation.” The whole allegory can be translated as follows: those wise men do not hold the Head, that is, Christ the Lord, from Whom the entire body of the Church, being supplied and receiving spiritual nourishing elements - grace and truth, and being contained in its composition by the closely combined spirit of peace and love, grows in the life of the Divine, acquiring more and more members and raising everyone to the highest perfection in life according to God. Let us also add to the above words of Blessed Theodoret what others said in this regard. Ecumenius writes: “Christ is the Head of both Angels and men, as the Creator and Organizer of all things. From Him, that is, Christ, is the entire body of the Church. Having said: “body,” the Apostle also adds what is characteristic of the body. Everything, he says, the body of the Church - being, through acceptance (takings and receptions) from Christ, supplied with all grace and being coordinated and combined through compositions and connections, that is, being pacified both in itself and in relation to Christ - grows by growth according to God. What kind of growth is this according to God? Growing not in body, but in living according to God.” Here are the words of Blessed Theophylact: “The Head of the Church is the Son of God, Christ the Lord; and the Church is His body. From Him the body of the Church has both simple existence and well-being. Whoever falls away from Him is lost. Just as from the brain the sensitive spirit is transmitted through the nerves to the whole body, and from the head every feeling and every movement; so the whole body of the Church is supplied from Christ, that is, receives with what (or: in order) to live and grow spiritually. When does it have this? When it is in combination (when it is well harmonized) with Him (and in itself). For only in this case does the Holy Spirit supply the body with something to grow: so if the body is not united in a living union with the Head, and with itself, or in itself, then there is neither the supply of the Spirit, nor the return of God, that is, the best life according to God.” Col. 2:20. Even if you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why do you contend with those who live in the world? The Apostle begins to offer a final warning - not to get carried away by some kind of unreasonable abstinence, to which the false teachers obliged their followers. What their lies were in this regard is not clear. It could consist in the excessiveness of abstinence, and in the price of abstinence, or in the false significance attached to it in the matter of salvation and approach to God. The last limit of abstinence is not to go beyond the point beyond which abstinence begins to upset the health of the body, and also not to extend abstinence to the point of exhaustion, depriving one of the strength to fulfill one’s duties. By observing this measure, abstinence can be to a very strong degree and not be reproachful. The only reproach here can be if someone turns one measure of abstinence into an urgent law for everyone; because, due to the different physical strength of people, this definition can be destructive for others. Why was it left and is always left free? Perhaps the wise men of Colossus sinned in this regard, as can be concluded from the lack of mercy of the body reproached by the Apostle below. But more, it seems, they sinned in that they attached too much value to abstinence, and not so much to it as to substances approved for use and disapproved, as if in them, in their very nature and properties, there was something promoting or hindering spiritual success, or to communication with Angels, which they preached as the only way to knowledge of the truth and to communication with God, or to receiving help in the work of life. From here they came up with: don’t touch, don’t taste, don’t touch. And all this was presented in such a way that it seemed to be a piece of wisdom. Saint Paul now warns the Colossians against all this. He does not touch upon the details of the error, but takes the general idea underlying it, that the material in itself can give something spiritual, and rejects its acceptance not by any strengthened evidence, but by one indication of what the Colossians have become in Christ Jesus. You died, he says, from the elements of the world; Why should you indulge in discussions about them with those who attach some special value to them? You should have immediately turned your ears and eyes away from them; and you allowed them to offer such a teaching, and to listen to them, as if you lived in the world, did not deviate from the material and did not gain insight and enter into the spiritual realm. “Die with Christ from the elements of the world.” By the elements of the world, others understand the Jewish material service to God. But the Colossians did not live under the laws of this ministry; therefore, when they died to the elements of the world, they did not die to him, but, one must assume, to something else. Why? This is indicated by the main characteristic of life in Christ Jesus. Life in the Lord Jesus is a transmigration of thoughts, feelings, and desires from the material to the spiritual, from the earthly to the heavenly, from the corruptible to the incorruptible, from the temporal to the eternal, from the created to God. Mortification in Christ Jesus is direct mortification to sin; but with this death all ties with the material are cut off. The one who died in Christ, in the very act of mortification, throws off all these bonds from himself, like a garment that restricts him, and freely enters or soars into the spiritual world to immaterial blessings, which he immediately tastes and cleaves to them. This is what St. Paul means by: “dying from the elements of the world.” And, therefore, the “elements of the world” for him mean everything material, earthly, perishable, to which every true Christian dies in Christ Jesus. In the eyes of such a person, everything material loses all value - it becomes alien to him, falls out of attention: his mind and heart are occupied with something else. Start talking to such a person about anything material, it cannot occupy him, he has no taste for this, and he will turn away from it; for his heart is full of others. And whoever of these would listen to your speeches would act against the spirit of his life, showing that material things can still occupy him. And it’s fair to treat this with reproach: what are you listening to? It’s as if your soul is connected with the material, finds taste in it, lives in the world. This is the reproach that St. Paul makes to the Colossians: “Why do you contend with those who live in the world?” “You are striving,” δογματιζεσθε. – Δογματιζειν – means to expound dogmas; a: δογματιζεσθαι - to be announced the dogmas, to listen to their presentation. Why, says the Apostle, placing yourselves in the rank of announced disciples, allow the wise to expound their teaching about material things, as if anything material could have any meaning for you? They explain to you: such and such a substance means this, and such and such means such and such. Use this and that, at such and such a time, in such and such a place, but don’t touch this. If you listen, they will fill your head with the conviction that material things have no great value for you, and they will pile up a whole mountain of material things in your attention, which will hide your God and the Lord Jesus and everything spiritual from your mental gaze. And again you will be drawn into the material. And you died to him, and you should keep yourselves dead to him, just as he was not to you. Your inner self must be clear of all material clouds, so that one sun can clearly ripen within it—God. This is how Ambrosiast talks about this: “he who is baptized into Christ dies to the world; for he renounces all superstitious delusions and begins to live by faith alone in Christ the Lord - to live in such an order in which it is fitting to live for those who live in God with the hope of Christ Jesus. By virtue of this renunciation, man and the elements of the world are called dead to each other. Saying: peace (in the word: “from the elements of the world”), the Apostle means all carnal delusion (wisdom); for everything that is visible is classified as carnal. Why does the Apostle John say: “Do not love the world, neither what is in the world” (1 John 2:15), that is, neither the elements of which the world is composed, nor the errors that human tradition has invented regarding them; but one Christ, who died for us, so that from those who were lost, as we were, he might unite us into His living body. So, those buried in Christ died to the elements, so as not to pay any attention to them; for they have learned to strive for the highest, which can bring unceasing life. But these (elements) do not give us the present and prevent us from improving the future. Whoever, after baptism, hesitates in thought regarding certain things, believing that they have some special power, shows that he is alive for the elements of the world, which he either determines to value highly, or doubts to despise. Such a one resides in a circle or in a region of the world; since, still clothed in the old man, he cannot renounce the carnal and material.” Col. 2:21. Don't touch, taste below, feel below. This is the lofty wisdom they impart to you! And you, like children at school, humbly folding your hands, allow them to announce themselves, δογματιζεσθε, with such insignificances, as if they do not understand how to judge and how to live (Ecumenius, Blessed Theophylact). “And look how the Apostle ridicules them: do not touch them and so on. Those wise men, interpreting this, pretended that doing this was something great” (St. Chrysostom). These words: “thou shalt not touch” and so on, seem to indicate Jewish regulations on food; but the Apostle had already finished with the Jewish order itself (in verses 16–17). There, food and drink are also mentioned. Here we need to understand something else, namely: some kind of superstitious wisdom regarding food and something else material - wisdom that came out of incorrect views in general on the world and its elements. Before this, the Apostle warned against the wrong views of those wise men on the spiritual world, and now he warns against the same views on the material world. But it does not concern the views themselves, but only the conclusion from them. From them it emerged that substances cannot be treated indifferently, but that they matter in the matter of spiritual life, some help, others hinder. Hence the rule: don’t touch this, don’t taste that, don’t touch that. These are negative prescriptions; but then, of course, it was self-evident: touch this, taste and touch this. Such superstitions distracted hope from God and encouraged them to rely on material things - perishable and fragile. Ambrosiastes writes: “The Apostle forbids any kind of hope in material things; for it is vain." Col. 2:22. All things are destroyed by use, according to the commandments and teachings of men. Presents reasons why one should not listen to such lessons: first, the insignificance of the objects they concern; second, that this is not God’s commandment, but human teaching. The insignificance of objects: what is material that is solid and permanent? Everything flows. You take food: what happens to it? “She turns into pus” (Blessed Theodoret). “Even the essence is destroyed by use.” “Shaming the arrogance of the local dogmatists (false teachers), the Apostle says that all this is not great, but ends in corruption in those who use it; having decayed in the womb, it is then ejected by the aphedrone, so that for the soul in this, as it is in itself, there is no benefit or harm” (Blessed Theophylact). The Apostle’s thought here is the same as that of the Savior when He taught that what does not enter the mouth, but what comes from the heart defiles a person. And he inspires: do not attach importance to these insignificant things and do not rely on them; and pay all attention to the structure of the heart and its location. They are durable and have an eternal price, and these are all little things and vanity. That’s why we should turn away from these wise men; but more also because their lessons are not from God, but are human inventions. You have accepted the teaching from God, and you should not open your ears to these strangers, whose teaching is “according to the commandment and teaching of men.” These words must be combined with: δογματιζεσθε: why do you allow yourself to be announced with such dogmas, which are a human invention? And the Jewish decrees, since they were burdened with various rabbinical additions, have already turned into human commandments from God. But more directly the Apostle had in mind the superstitions of the Greeks or some theosophists. Col. 2:23. Even the essence of the word is that it has wisdom in self-willed service and humility and unsparingness of the body, which is not in honor of the satiety of the flesh. “Even” - most closely relates to the immediately previous one, to the lessons: “Thou shalt not touch” and so on, “according to the commandments and teachings of men.” But from the content of the text it is clear that the Apostle had in mind everything that was said about the errors of false teachers from verse 16. Therefore, this text can be considered final for the entire last section (verses 16-22). “The word is lost to wisdom.” Those wise men were so able to present their wisdom that it seemed very wise, supporting such an opinion about it with their humble and stern appearance. The Apostle says: all this is only wise in appearance. What it really is, he does not explain, because after this word it is clear by itself that it exists. Saint Chrysostom says: “the word (of wisdom),” and not power, therefore, not truth. Therefore let us turn away from him who has only the word of wisdom. For some seem to be pious, and modest, and despiser of the body; but in reality he is not like that.” Let us also take some words from Theodoret: “The Apostle pointed out those who have appearances and not reality, who deceive with the pomp of words.” Let us also apply one from Ecumenium: “they have only the appearance of wisdom, and not deeds, or, better, they have only a bare (meaningless, empty), but insinuating word.” If indeed these sages explained everything that exists in this way, as the Gnostics later did; then illusory wisdom is the most suitable title for their wisdom. They imagined themselves walking in heaven and told how they were eyewitnesses of how everything happened, building a ladder of spiritual forces, some of them degenerating and coming closer and closer to earthly creatures. An attractive picture was painted in the imagination of those listening and could captivate if someone did not interrogate why and how. So now the story about the self-formation of the world from foggy spots paints a very sweeping picture in the imagination, imagining something majestic, and captivates; but it has nothing solid underneath it, and this soap bubble immediately bursts as soon as anyone begins to question why and how. The Kolossian wise men came from the spiritual world, while ours came from the material world. But the spirit of teaching is the same here and there, and its price is the same - a soap bubble. Unauthorized service, humility and unsparing of the body constituted the external practical side of wisdom. The wise men, it seems, themselves acted in this way and thereby gave a ghostly appearance of wisdom to their wisdom, which generated amazement and attracted attention. “In unauthorized service”, εν εθελοθρησκια, - in free service. Service is an image of external worship. Those sages built their faith and came up with a special order of worship for it. He was called unauthorized, perhaps because he did not conform to any of those then known; therefore, neither with Jewish. Or: is it not because it is called εθελοθρησκια that they left everyone free to outwardly honor God as they please, without establishing one obligatory rite of worship for everyone. One and the other could attract: one with news and some kind of ostentation, and this with a benefit, which is there anyone who is reluctant? Our whips have their own service. They also go to church, but their own service is sweeter to them, although it is composed very ugly. I like it because it’s unauthorized. The same thing is starting to happen among spiritualists. Some of them turn their sessions into something liturgical, but they do not refer to God, but to spirits (more precisely, to demons). The same could have happened with those sages and their disciples. "In humility." Above, “willful humility” (Col. 2:18) could be explained as the starting point of all wisdom: where can we have fellowship with God - at least with the Angels. And here it is obviously indicated in appearance, how the sages behaved and how they obliged their disciples to behave. Rubbed clothes, quiet speech, downcast eyes, disheveled hair - that’s humility! Turkish dervishes are like that. No matter how insignificant it may be, it has always attracted and continues to attract, and not just the simple ones. It is somehow difficult to free oneself from the thought that this kind of people are special, some higher, the essence of the spirit. Hence their honor and obedience. "In not sparing the body." Poor nutrition of the body is also its unsparingness; but the word of the Apostle expresses something more. Maybe they tortured themselves somehow. There have always been flagellants. And now they exist: both in enlightened Europe, and among the rude Turks, and here among the Khlysty. In itself, not sparing the body in a prudent manner and for holy purposes is not reproachful, but commendable. “And they who are like Christ have crucified the flesh” (Gal. 5:24). If the Apostle reproaches him here, then, of course, because it, in addition to the ugly appearance in which it appeared, was bad in its direction and spirit and was mixed with some kind of superstition. And the Manichaeans did not favor the body; but because they considered it not the work of God and saw evil in its very nature. Unsparing of the body, in this and a similar spirit, cannot be spared. “Not for any honor, for the satiety of the flesh.” What these words mean in the present place is difficult to determine. It seems that, as the Apostle makes clear here, how the wise men seduced and gave rise to the idea of ​​their high wisdom; then these words must also be included. They attracted people with their unauthorized service, humility and unsparingness of the body. The Apostle adds to this: and all this could be all the more seductive because they did not seek honor, so that they could turn honor into a means of eating generously. For “satiety”, πλεσμονη, does not mean simple satisfaction of the flesh with food, but extensive satiety. Writing to the Corinthians, the Apostle pointed out similar types in some teachers (2 Cor. 11:20). But these, he says, do not have this; why they could seduce all the more easily. “Not in honor” - they did not appear in an honor-inducing presence, but acted as humble; This is how they always behaved, not embarrassed by dishonor. In fact, they seemed like true Apostles. “Towards satiety,” προς πλεσμονην, indicates the goal of those who seek honor. They say they don't have it. Another thought is also possible. They do not spare the body and do not give it the honor due to it by nature, they do not take care of its maintenance and satisfaction of its natural needs. God, having created the body, did not assign an enemy to the soul, but a collaborator and helper; and they treat him as if he were an enemy, torture him, and do not nourish him. This idea is carried out by our interpreters. Saint Chrysostom says: “God gave honor to the body; but they did not use it in honor. They, he says, dishonor the flesh, depriving it of what it deserves, robbing it of its strength.” Ecumenius writes the same thing: “God, having honored man, created his body with His hands and gave him the food he needed; but they did not look at these dishes as honest, but as if they were harmful, which should be avoided.” Here are the words of Blessed Theophylact: “God honored the body and gave food so that, feeding on them, the flesh could exist. But they do not hold the body in honor, but deprive it of its due.” “To satiate the flesh” - with this interpretation will mean: to satiate the flesh - they do not have proper care for the body in order to satisfy its needs. There is another interpretation, according to which “not in honor” is contrasted with the words: “the word of wisdom.” Their teaching only has the appearance of wisdom, it only gives rise to rumors that they are wise, but in fact it does not serve their honor; They deserve not honor, but blame for such a teaching. A: “to the satiety of the flesh” - the following meaning is given: the flesh is taken as sin living in us, damaged nature, lust, selfishness. Their teaching does not serve to honor; it only satisfies and abundantly satisfies their selfhood; it feeds this sinful weakness. How far and how awkward such an interpretation is is self-evident. You might be interested in: