196. Слово в день обретения мощей Преподобного Сергия

(Said on July 5th; printed in the collection of 1848 and in the Works of the Holy Father of 1845) Beloved, I pray as strangers and strangers, to get rid of carnal lusts that are at war against the soul. (1 Peter 2:11). Of those who are coming here, aren’t many in this place, like strangers from other, more or less distant, places who came to the one local age-old inhabitant, who became a benefactor for many strangers and wanderers, because he himself knew how to be a stranger and a wanderer? But will those who are here, as the current inhabitants of this place, refuse to be called strangers if they remember that David in his home, in his royal city, on his throne, recognized himself as a stranger to God, as well as all his fathers? “I am a stranger to you and a stranger, like all my fathers” (Ps. 39:13). So, brothers, strangers and wanderers! Let us accept from the hospitable Apostle Peter what he gives to strangers and strangers. As a parting word, as guidance and protection from errors, as a weapon against the dangers of wandering, he gives us his inspired instruction. “Beloved,” he writes, “I pray, like strangers and strangers, to flee from carnal lusts, which are at war against the soul.” What “carnal lusts” mean in the Apostolic exhortation can be understood from these very words, but not completely. Lust is desire: but not every desire is lust. Lust is, as it were, desire after desire, desire that extends beyond the limits of natural desire, passionate, not governed by law, order, and moderation. Carnal lust is actually an indiscriminate desire for carnal, sensual pleasures, as opposed to abstinence, sobriety, and chastity. Just as Saint Peter warns us against lusts that “make war on the soul”: in order for us to better know these dangerous enemies, let us call on other sacred writers for help. The Apostle Paul writes that “the saving grace of God” teaches us “that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we may live soberly and righteously and godly” (Titus 2:12). Here we encounter the name “worldly lusts,” which, however, also include carnal lusts, because they are opposed to a “chaste” life. The Apostle James writes: “lust, when conceived, gives birth to sin” (James 1:15). From this we must conclude that lusts are as diverse as sins are diverse. The Apostle John writes: “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the self, and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is of this world” (1 John 11:16). Saint John, for the most convenient overview of the lusts warring against us, indicates their three main divisions. This is the essence, firstly, of “carnal lust,” about which we have already given the concept; secondly, “lust of the eye”, the uncontrollable desire of unsatiated eyes, which does not want to use the objects of the visible world wisely, but greedily enjoy or take possession of it - covetousness, love of vain decorations, passion for spectacles; thirdly, “everyday pride”, the desire to exalt oneself above others, and to see others below oneself, the tendency to boast and be vain about certain advantages of the visible and temporary world, partly worthy of some respect, such as: birth, rank, knowledge, extraordinary deeds; partly vain and insignificant, such as: wealth, pomp and luxury. All these types of lusts can be called “carnal,” as they are called by the Apostle Peter; because their source and goal is the flesh, and not the spirit, and “worldly”, as in the Apostle Paul: because they take their food from the visible and temporary world. From what has been said so far, one can see how significant the Apostle’s brief exhortation is: “to be robbed of carnal lusts.” He teaches to move away from intemperance, from drunkenness, from carnality, from covetousness, from love of vain decorations, from passion for spectacles, from pride, from vanity, from the desire to humiliate others before oneself, which can easily turn into a desire for harm to one’s neighbors. And moreover, it teaches us to withdraw not only from deeds in which these passions and vices are manifested, but also from disorderly and passionate desires that have not been put into action, from lusts that have not yet given birth to actual sin. A vicious deed defiles the whole person, from the soul to the body, which more or less serves the vicious deed: but one who is pure from an external vicious deed is not yet completely pure if carnal or worldly lust nests in his soul. If you, Christians, according to the Apostolic word, “are the church of God” (1 Cor. 3:16), and “the church of God is holy, as you are” (1 Cor. 3:17); if, therefore, your body should be recognized as a more external part of the church of God, and your soul, heart, mind, as an internal sanctuary in which Christ should dwell and breathe the Holy Spirit: then are you sufficiently protecting the holiness of this church of God if you cleanse only the more external part of it, and in the internal sanctuary you carelessly allow internal uncleanness? A passionate thought established in the mind is an idol placed in the sanctuary of God; the lustful desire that dominates the heart is an abomination that desolates a holy place. Ordinary people do not see this inner impurity: but God, the knower of the heart, and His Angels, and the souls of the Saints, whose inner thoughts are open, see it. If we are ashamed when people like us see the revealed impurity of our deeds: let us be a thousand times more ashamed when the all-pure God and His Saints see in us the hidden impurity of passionate thoughts and lustful desires. What in an external sinful act seems disgusting even to people who are themselves not without vice, is already contained in internal lust, like grass in a seed, like a progeny in an embryo: because “lust, when conceived, gives birth to sin: but sin committed gives birth to death” (James 1:15). So, hasten to throw out from your soul the impurity that has not yet been born, so that when it opens, it does not stink your entire being. Hurry to weed out the tares that barely emerge from the earth of the heart, so that they do not grow and choke the wheat. Hurry to crush the serpent's eggs before a poisonous and deadly serpent is born. Hasten to remove from the inner sanctuary the idol of passionate thought and lustful desire before it demands murderous sacrifices. “I pray that you be freed from carnal lusts.” Brethren! Let us not be cold to the exhortations of love and meekness! Saint Peter could teach with authority, like an Apostle, or speak indifferently, like an impartial one; but he rather wanted to clothe his word with love and humility: “beloved, I pray.” Why is this so? – And because love and humility are the inseparable and highest properties of perfect Christians, and therefore the Apostles of Christ; and also because he knew the need for his admonition for our salvation, he wanted the admonition to be accepted, and also knew the natural effect of the word of love and meekness, which, like oil, penetrates everything, from which, like from a ray of the sun, the ice and cold hearts, otherwise not easily broken by force, melts by itself. He warns of danger; because he loves. He sacrifices his own dignity, humbly begging when he had the right to command: in order to open the way to our heart with his heart, and instill in us saving dispositions. Is it possible not to heed such a mentor and such instruction? “Beloved, I pray that you be freed from carnal lusts.” So that this instruction can be carried out more conveniently, the perspicacious mentor in passing points out some aids to its implementation. The first benefit is the thought that we are strangers and wanderers. “I pray,” he says, “like strangers and wanderers.” The Apostle used the name of the aliens in a simple, ordinary meaning when he wrote at the beginning of his epistle: “the chosen stranger from the dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia” (1 Pet. 1:1). But this meaning cannot take place when talking about avoiding lusts, which, without a doubt, is equally an obligation for those living in their own land, as for those traveling in a foreign land. So the name “strangers and strangers,” in the admonition of the Apostle, should have a higher, spiritual meaning. The Fatherland from which we all travel is paradise. The Fatherland, which we are all looking for, or should be looking for, is again paradise and heaven. In relation to this fatherland, to the earth, in temporary life, we are all “aliens and wanderers.” In thorough reflection about this, one can find considerable strength to repel the lusts that attack our hearts. If, for example, carnal lust approaches and calls for sensual pleasure; you can answer her: get away from me; I am a stranger and a wanderer; on the way they do not feast or enjoy luxury; a decent or unseemly hotel, harsh or not harsh food, a soft or hard bed, do not make much difference for a wanderer; Having graciously endured the hardships of my pilgrimage, I will be immeasurably rewarded with consolations in my fatherland. If lust imagines corruptible riches to the imagination and says: why do you have little? Why don’t you try to have more? answer her too: I am a stranger and a wanderer; for a wanderer it is often more convenient to carry a little with him than a lot; having preserved themselves in their wanderings, they will find treasures in their homeland that “neither worms nor aphids can destroy, nor can treacherous men dig them up, nor steal them” (Matthew 6:20). If worldly pride begins to bother you: why are you not quite exalted, not quite respectable; and tell her: do not embarrass me in vain; I am a stranger and a wanderer here, and I have such a high fatherland, before which both the exalted and the humiliated on earth are barely noticeable and equally insignificant; Whether the invisible hand of Providence leads me through the mountains or through the wilds, it doesn’t matter, as long as it brings me to that mountainous fatherland. Another aid to repel lusts is a shrewd and careful understanding of the fact that they “fight for the soul.” Lust usually approaches the soul not in the form of a warring enemy, but in the form of a friend or obsequious servant. It represents some kind of pleasure or imaginary benefit. And now, as in the initial temptation of the first people, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the desire for what is not permitted and forbidden are inspired in the tempted one, “as good tree for food, and as it pleases the eye to see” (Gen. 3:6); and now pride encourages: “Be ye like gods” (Gen. 3:5). But this is all just a bait with which the evil fisherman tries to seduce and ensnare the poor soul. This is the military cunning of the enemy, who, pretending to be peaceful, disposes a person to remain careless and unarmed in order to take him prisoner without resistance, or only due to weak resistance, plunge him into slavery of a vicious inclination, imprison him in the shackles of a sinful habit, and finally, through temporary death, transport him to the region of eternal death. Bring this to your mind when you are tempted by lust, and when a passionate and lustful thought offers you pleasure, understand that this is a bait under which there is a hidden hook that catches and draws you into captivity and death; when he apparently caresses, think that he is really “fighting for the soul”; and immediately arm yourself with courage, and with all the strength of your good will, reject evil lust; and since you feel the lack of your own strength, quickly resort by faith and prayer to “He who has been tempted in every way according to the likeness of sin,” and “He who is able to help those who are tempted” (Heb. 4:15, 2:18) by Divine power; prostrate yourself before the cross of the Victor of the sins that war against our souls; take care of His all-healing wounds. Just as the view of the copper serpent lifted up by Moses in the desert, which had the power of the cross of Christ symbolized by him, soon healed those wounded by poisonous serpents: so the view of repentance, faith and prayer at the crucified Jesus soon heals the soul wounded by the poisonous impressions of lustful and sinful thoughts. By the Cross, having conquered all evil and the very leader of evil, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by His grace grants to each of us to conquer everything that wars on the soul, with the helping prayers of the accomplished ascetic, the Venerable Father Sergius, “the great one who labored in the passions of temporal life,” and by his example calling us to similar exploits, and ready by the grace given to him to promote those who labor without laziness. Amen. You might be interested in: