108. Слово в день обретения мощей Преподобного Сергия 531

(Printed separately and in collections 1844 and 1848) Child, if you begin to work for the Lord God, prepare your soul for temptation: guide your heart, and be patient, and do not be hasty during the time of guidance: cleave to it, and do not retreat, so that you may grow in the end. (Sir.2:1-3). Those who gathered here to the Man who diligently worked for the Lord God in His time, and received from Him an eternal reward, so abundant that for several centuries now he has been inexhaustibly giving from the abundance of it to everyone who is truly in need and unfeignedly asking - gathered, no doubt, in order to find from him help and guidance in the work of the Lord God, in order to receive the reward of salvation and bliss. Those who, having successfully completed the initial feats of serving God, are “led” to “perform”, we provide to the direct secret instruction and guidance of this God-wise Mentor, who speaks spirit to spirit, “and the anointing” of the Spirit of God common to him and them, which “teaches” them “about all things” (1 John 2:27). Since our weakness is also burdened with the duty of serving the word of truth: then, having received the blessing from this Mighty One in deed and word, in accordance with our measure, we will turn a small conversation to those who, like us, are still in the “word of the beginning of Christ” (Heb. 6:1); they do not so much “work” for God as they “start” this; They may have been starting for a long time, but everyone does not find themselves “prepared” for saving work. And with this we will offer not an unreliable invention of our own wisdom, but a ready-made teaching of an experienced sage. “Child, if you begin to work for the Lord God, prepare your soul for temptation.” The teaching for others is unpleasantly expected, and even less pleasant! I thought, another would say, that he who begins to work for God must prepare for exploits, although not small, but not difficult, but more so for consolation, for joy, for bliss: because God, the almighty and all-good, not only sees those who work for Him, but also approaches them, helps them, consoles them, rewards them. - Yes, that’s all true; this hope is true; and one must adhere to it: but one must also know that on the path to reward and bliss, among the field of exploits, and at the very entrance into it, one often, and sometimes inevitably, encounters temptation; and therefore we must be ready for this meeting. “When you begin to work for the Lord God, prepare your soul for temptation.” What is "temptation"? - The test of what, in what, or in whom, property, what strength, what superiority, or, on the contrary, what imperfection, is found, unreliably recognizable on the outside, or completely hidden in the inside. This is how the word of God explains itself about this subject: “For as silver and gold are tempted in the furnace, so is the chosen heart of the Lord” (Prov. 17:3). A thing that appears to be gold can be either pure gold, or impure, or not at all gold in the inside: in fire the gold becomes purer, the impurity is separated, the counterfeit substance is exposed. Thus, a person’s virtue can be pure and firm, made in God, and unchangeable in the power of God, or impure, due to the admixture of thoughts of vanity, selfishness and self-indulgence, or finally completely hypocritical: in the fire of temptation, its purity is exalted, impurity is separated, hypocrisy is exposed. At the same time, someone may think: we test things because we do not always recognize from the outside what is hidden in their interior: but to God, whose gaze both embraces everything and penetrates through everything, what should we test the hearts of men with? Anyone who is perplexed about this, let him notice that the artist puts gold or silver into the fire not only in order to find out the authenticity and purity or impurity of the metal, but also in order to separate and discard the unclean and counterfeit, and obtain a pure, light, durable and more valuable metal. For the first of these two purposes, the omniscient God does not need to tempt the hearts with any special experiences: but for the other, allowing people to be tempted, and perhaps even sometimes bringing temptations, is useful for the people themselves. It is useful through temptation to expose false and hypocritical virtue in order to free a person from harmful self-delusion and put him on the path of true repentance and correction. It is useful, through temptation, to raise true virtue to the highest purity, strength and perfection, according to what is said: “let him who is holy continue to be holy” (Rev. 22:11), yes, according to the promise of Christ, “the pure in heart will see God” (Matthew 5:8), yes, “he who overcomes will inherit all” (Rev. 21:7), yes, perfect, without hindrance, according to the law likeness and unity, he will come and join “the church of the firstborn in heaven, who are written in heaven, and those who are righteous in the Spirit” (Heb. 12:23). Finally, it is useful to have already purified faith, and perfected virtue, and the truly Divine love that dwells in the heart of man, covered with modesty and humility, through temptation to reveal it, so that it can be known, loved, desired to be adopted, and especially glorified by God, both as a model and through imitation. Without now entering into a discussion about the special, higher type of temptation of souls who are perfect or approaching perfection, as, for example, once “God tempted Abraham” (Gen. 22:1), with the demand for the sacrifice of the only son of promise, but in accordance with the word of Scripture that we took as the basis of this conversation, limiting our gaze to the more general, lower, initial type of temptations, for which everyone who begins to work for the Lord God must prepare, we will not hide that a meeting with temptation, which, according to the direction of Providence, should be useful, although difficult, can, on the contrary, be dangerous, although sometimes pleasant. There is an evil and violent direction of temptation, which intensifies to weaken and suppress good, and to raise evil in a person, to introduce uncleanness first into thoughts, then into desires, and finally into deeds, to disturb and upset the soul. Do not neglect this, you who wish to work for God; be prudent; Prepare strength against violence, goodness against evil. "Prepare your soul". For this you need to know where this type and this direction of temptation comes from. The holy Apostle James speaks about this: “Let no one be tempted, saying that we are tempted of God; God is not tempted by the evil, but He does not tempt anyone” (James 1:13). Another during temptation says: God sent temptation to me; and does not care when it produces incorrect, unpeaceful, unclean movements in his soul; does not notice how it opens the door to sin. No, Saint James objects to him, do not lull yourself to sleep with the vainglorious thought that you are on the path of God, because you gave your unfavorable state the innocent and even honorable name of temptation; God, like Himself, is not tempted by evil, to which His nature is completely inaccessible; so he does not tempt anyone with the evil direction of temptation, which would be contrary to His goodness. Where does this kind and this direction of temptation come from? “Everyone,” continues the same Apostle, “is tempted by his own lust to be attracted and deceived; Even lust, when conceived, gives birth to sin” (James 1:14–15). If such self-temptation is from lust, sometimes not yet decisively sinful, but capable of conceiving sin: then it is not difficult to discern numerous sources of temptation, according to the following instruction of another Apostle: “everything in the world, carnal lust, and the lust of desire, and the pride of life, is not from the Father,” John also adds, according to James, “is of this world” ( 1John 2:16). Let us also add that the world, as God’s creation, is not in itself a nest of lust, or a working church of temptations; This is not what the wise Artist and Creator God appointed him to do; but the evil artist and destroyer the devil, who is the “tempter” par excellence, as it is called in the Holy Scriptures, is trying to turn him to this, through the disobedience of the first man (Matthew 4:3). If he brazenly dared to approach in this capacity Jesus Christ himself, in whom “he had nothing” (John 14:30), in whom, that is, there was nothing sinful, or damaged, or unclean, and consequently no internal food for temptation: then should we not conclude that this hellish wind always, until the predicted decisive sealing of the abyss (Rev. 20:3 ), noticeable or inconspicuous, direct or indirect outcomes, breathes into the world, and tries to fan every spark of lust in a person, and “everything in the world”, turn it into firewood for this unclean fire? There are so many reasons, so many cases of temptation; how sometimes it is covered, and yet how great the danger must be! It is not good to be careless; you can’t indulge in luck; caution and vigilance are needed; it is necessary to find means of safety; it is necessary to have weapons ready to repel attacks; we need presence of mind, courage, firmness, unshakable determination, to stand for a long time, perhaps, in the temptation that tests the good in us, and not for a moment to yield to the temptation that tends to evil. All this does not come by itself: if you truly want to work for the Lord God; then think about this not superficially, not absent-mindedly, with deep attention, with active care; arrange your mind, arrange your heart. “Prepare your soul for temptation.” Are you asking how to do this? – I offer you further instructions from the mentor I have chosen. First . "Rule your heart." Don’t let your thoughts and desires rush around without control, like a ship without a helmsman, like a horse without a bridle. Give them control. Constantly direct your thoughts towards truth, your desires towards goodness. Curb your vain thoughts and desires, so that evil lusts do not rage and plunge the chariot of the soul into the abyss of lawlessness. Second. “Be patient, and don’t be quick to wake up during guidance.” Recklessness and inconstancy are equally harmful domestic enemies of good intentions, and defectors to the hostile side of temptation. Impermanence destroys the begun structure of the soul; Rashness, starting without reason, also prepares nothing less than destruction. He who is “not quick in the face of guidance,” that is, does not act rashly when confronted by temptation, saves himself from taking a step that, in all likelihood, would not be on the straight path, and gains time to gather strength and seek help: “But he who endures to the end, according to the immutable promise, will be saved” (Matthew 10:22). Third. “Cling to him, and do not retreat, so that you may grow to the end.” Let us remember what we heard from the Apostle: “God is not tempted by the evil, but He does not tempt anyone.” So, the more firmly you cleave to Him, the more constantly you establish your heart in Him: the safer you are from temptation, which cannot penetrate God, and therefore cannot shake you in Him. If a temptation that does not come from God “tempts” you with “evil” ones, disturbs you, raises an unclean trembling from the bottom of sensuality, leads to fermentation of evil inclinations: run to God and pray the prayer handed down from the Lord: Heavenly Father! "Lead us not into temptation." And if temptation, controlled by the Providence of God, gives you the means to discern in yourself shortcomings that you had not previously noticed, weaknesses from which you considered yourself freed; increases your experience and zeal for your correction; plunges you into humility: also run to God and pray the prayer of the Psalmist: “Test me, O God, and convince my heart; learn me, and understand my paths; and see if the way of iniquity is in me, and teach me in the everlasting way” (Ps. 139:23-24). Let us conclude with the comforting word of the Apostle for those who are tempted: “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; having been tried, he receives the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12). Amen. In the author's manuscript and in a separate publication it is entitled as follows: The doctrine of temptations, taught in the word on the day of the discovery of the relics of St. Sergius in the Lavra on July 5, 1834. You might be interested in: