141. Беседа пред пренесением памятников прежнего заложения храма Христа Спасителя, для приготовления к заложению оного на новом месте

(Said in the Trinity Church, on the Sparrow Hills, June 20; printed in the collections of 1844 and 1848) The present day for those gathered here presents so much necessary business that it does not leave much time for random conversation. However, it is necessary to say at least a few words to give an account of what we are doing. Some explanation is all the more necessary because the case that has now encountered us has not encountered us before, and it is not difficult to predict that it will not occur again. What does this meeting mean? What holiday is celebrated by this church council? This is not a holiday, if we speak in church language, but a “giving away,” the end of a holiday that was not fully celebrated, and at the same time a “pre-celebration,” preparation for a holiday that will not soon be celebrated. We are called here to finish what has almost never been started, in preparation for a new beginning. What only later descendants could do after distant ancestors, we happen to do after our contemporaries, and partly after ourselves. Alexander the Blessed began the construction of the Church in these places in the Name of Christ the Savior, in commemoration of royal gratitude for the salvation of Russia. A drawing of the building was drawn up; place chosen; means of construction are given; Twenty years have passed, at the beginning of which it was thought that by the end of this time we would see the building growing. At that time, a whole church could even appear: and if this were so, then it could stand for many centuries unshaken and undamaged, then again many centuries could see it ancient and dilapidated; centuries would still be needed for the very foundations to be exposed through the ruins, and then finally a cross-shaped tablet could be found in them, a sign of the former church, with the name of its Founder Alexander, would recall the exploits of the Great Monarch, and the work of His piety, and would lead those reflecting into sublime and sad thoughts. What an extraordinary play of events that this immense field flashed before us, and we now found ourselves at its final limit! Whoever found the means to contain the weight of Europe falling upon Russia, could he doubt that there would be means to contain the weight of the building acting unbalanced on the mountainside? The one who knew how to unite the hearts of the fathers and peoples of Europe in order to create a church of a common world, could he think that the stone would be stubborn against His sovereign will and would not go into the composition of the church indicated by it? Time has revealed the truth. Alexander's successor, out of brotherly love, and out of respect for the will of his Predecessor, extending to reverence, used all possible efforts to fulfill His thought without change: but this only delayed the time of its fulfillment. Both the previous location and the previous drawing of the intended building turned out to be necessary to replace with new ones. Well? Was the enterprise of the Blessed One not blessed? It won't happen. But God's omnipotence appeared above human power, God's destinies were exalted above the loftiest and best thoughts of man. “My ways are not like your ways, saith the Lord” (Is. 55:8). “Let every height of man be humbled, and let the Lord alone be exalted” (Is. 2:11). God destroys the pride of the wicked, destroying their creations without hope of restoration; God humbles and perfects the wisdom of the pious, bringing their good intentions to fulfillment in ways other than those outlined by the self-wise human mind. Experiments with this phenomenon of incomprehensible destinies do not begin now. Let us remember one of the most ancient church-building undertakings. Jacob sees a vision of God; reveres the place where he saw it; puts a stone on it; pours oil on him; gives it the name: “Bethel,” that is, “the house of God” (Gen. 35). You will think that you see the foundation of a church that could ever be created for the true God, and which did not exist before Jacob. But when the time came to build the tabernacle of the Lord, and then the church, the tabernacle was erected not in Bethel, but in the desert of Arabia, and, having been transferred to the promised land, it was erected not in Bethel, but in Shiloh, and then in Gibeon; and finally the church was created, not in Bethel, nor in Shiloh, nor in Gibeon, but, where they had not thought before, in Jerusalem. David, the King after God's heart, undertook to create a church: but it was his son and successor Solomon who was destined to carry out this undertaking. It is not surprising if even today, the more important the church-building enterprise, the greater is the dominion of God’s destinies over human undertakings. And therefore, we do not go with sorrow or embarrassment to remove the foundation of the yet uncreated church, but with prayer and the hope of faith, and with the sacred solemnity with which it was laid. Sanctified hands will lift up what was laid down by sanctified hands; the hands of the chosen servants of the sovereign will will accept what is laid down by the sovereign hands, and the ancient holy church will preserve this, “until a new and pleasing “place of the Lord is found,” for “a habitation for the God of Jacob” (Ps. 132:5). Let us unite, brethren, in prayer, that the Lord, after the Most Pious Alexander, may grant to the Most Pious Nicholas the grace of church-building, as He granted it to Solomon after David. May He “find” the “place of the Lord,” and may the Lord be pleased with the place chosen by Him; may He build a “dwelling for the God of Jacob,” and may the glory of the Lord dwell in it. May the solemn vow of the King and the Kingdom be fulfilled; and may the promises of God be established on the Most Pious Autocrat of Russia, on His House and on His people, forever. Amen. You might be interested in: