284. Слово в день рождения Благочестивейшего Государя Императора Николая Павловича

(Said in the Assumption Cathedral on June 25; printed in the TV. St. Ot., in the Police and Provincial Gazette of 1853 and in the collection of 1861) And kings will be your feeders (Isaiah 49:23). Although Christ the Savior gave His Church a new covenant, higher than the old, and a new Holy Scripture, revealing in a new light the secrets of God and the teaching of life: however, through this the Old Testament Scripture did not become useless. Especially the prophecies contained in it, when the light hidden in them is revealed through reflection in events, miraculously and beneficially illuminate the paths of God’s saving providence in the world and in the human race. Therefore, the Apostle Peter, then, as he himself writes an inspired epistle, and not the first, finds it still unnecessary to refer readers to the Old Testament prophetic Scripture. “Imams,” he says, “is the most well-known prophetic word, and heeding it, like a light shining in a dark place, do good, until the day will light up, and the morning star will shine in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19). On the Day of Kings, I invite you to heed the word of the Prophet Isaiah about kings, which is rather mysterious. Perhaps we will be given “permission to fortune telling” (Proverbs 1:3), and your attention will not be lost. “And kings will be your nurses, and their princesses will be your nurses” (Is. 49:23). To whom does the Prophet foretell such high nourishers and nurses? – He turns his speech to Zion, and to Zion, which is not growing and flourishing, but appears in a hopeless state: “speech... Zion: The Lord forsake me, and God forgets me” (Is. 49:14). By the name of Zion, Isaiah means, no doubt, not the mountain, but the population of Mount Zion, Jerusalem with its inhabitants; and, moreover, as a prophet of God, occupied not with human species, but with the Divine, in the image of Jerusalem he sees the city of God, the abode of true faith in God, the Church of God. To this spiritual Zion, in response to his lamentation about God’s abandonment of him, the answer is: that even if a mother forgot her child, the Lord will not forget him; - that he will be granted an unexpected abundance of children: “And you shall say in your heart: Who will beget these for me” (Is. 49:21)? - and that to him and his many children, instead of nurses and nurses, kings and princesses will be given: “and the kings will be your nurses, and their princesses will be your nurses.” Who are these kings who are the feeders of Zion? – If Samuel had prophesied about them, then we could have guessed whether these were David and Solomon. One of them elevated Jerusalem to the dignity of a reigning city, the other enriched it. One strongly nourished the sense of piety in his sons, introducing into him the ark of the covenant of God, and giving the divine service high splendor and solemnity, the other, by creating a church marked by the miraculous presence of God. But Isaiah prophesied after the flourishing times of Old Testament Jerusalem, and foreshadowed even more difficult times, before the times of many children and glory. As a fulfillment of the sad part of this prophecy, one could point to the times of the Babylonian captivity and the times of oppression of the people of God by the kings of Syria, when Jerusalem was devastated and service to the true God was stopped in it: but the times that closely follow these times do not represent the fulfillment of the comforting part of the prophecy. The kings with whom Jerusalem had relations after the captivity of Babylon were pagan, and did not feed, but almost swallowed it up; and the Maccabees, who restored it and the worship therein, were not kings. Finally, Old Testament Jerusalem, which was waiting for the dreamed Christ, but did not accept the true Christ, burdened with the guilt of the murder of Christ, fell again from the Romans: and although Julian attempted to restore it, this God-fighting enterprise was destroyed by the miraculous actions of the wrath of God. So, in order to find the fulfillment of the prophecy we are considering, we must move to the times of the new Jerusalem, that is, the Christian Church. At her birth and in her first age, she met kings, none of whom were her feeder, and many were destroyers. The milk of the teachings of Christ, in those nourished by it, invisibly turning into the blood of immortal life, at the same time, in the visible life of those nourished and nourished by it, often turned into the blood of martyrdom. Three centuries passed like this. During the cruel persecution of the Church of Christ from pagan kings and peoples, which was especially the case under Diocletian, - when Christian churches were destroyed, the shrine was desecrated, sacred books were burned, church property was plundered, spiritual flocks and shepherds were, if not destroyed, then scattered - this new Zion could cry out with the cry that the Prophet Isaiah heard: “speech... Zion: Lord leave me; and God has forgotten me." No, beloved gracious Zion of the Holy One of Israel! He didn't "forget" you. He allowed you a difficult and long trial in order to protect you from the harmful slander of recent times, as if you were increased and strengthened by human strength. On the contrary, by the fact that all human forces, no matter how hard they tried to destroy you completely, could not, He proved that He did not “forsake” you, but is secretly fighting for you, and is preparing for you a lot worthy of His goodness and omnipotence. The kings and persecutors of the Church disappear: Equal to the Apostles King Constantine appears. Is it possible not to recognize in him the first of the Kings who feed Zion, predicted by the Prophet? Under the miraculous sign of the cross, having defeated the rulers hostile to Christ, he extended the right hand of peace to His Church: and the scattered verbal sheep and shepherds are gathered: the destroyed churches are rebuilt more magnificently than before; hidden Christians are revealed; those who have not known the dignity of the Church of Christ in her struggle and suffering begin to recognize it in her victory and peace: her enemies turn into her children; and now you can really read in her heart the words of surprise that the Prophet Isaiah put into her heart over several centuries: “Who will beget these for me?” King Constantine, in the literal meaning of the prophecy, can be called the “feeder” of the Church; because he not only returned to her the property stolen by the persecutors, but also multiplied it, and generously gave what was needed for the maintenance of her servants, and for the food of her poor. But he can also be called in the spiritual mind to be the feeder of the Church; because when heresy, instead of “verbal unflattering milk” (1 Pet. 2:2), offered the infants of faith the poisoned food of evil wisdom; Then he gathered the guardians of the truth from the whole universe, and with his zeal helped them to build an indestructible and inexhaustible vessel of verbal unflattering milk and solid Divine food - the Nicene Creed. Orthodox and pious Kings followed the path of Constantine and after him, such as Theodosius, who helped the Fathers of the Church complete the work of the Council of Nicaea at the Council of Constantinople. Do you also want to know at least one of the “nursing princesses” of Zion predicted by Isaiah? Remember the mother of St. Constantine, St. Helena. Not by government actions, but nevertheless, she strongly reinforced Christianity with the high example of faith and holiness and the royal deeds of piety and charity, which especially shone in the Church of Jerusalem, but also illuminated the entire Universal Church with a comforting light. She discovered from under the ruins the high shrine of Christianity, the cross and the Holy Sepulcher, and overshadowed them, and other holy places, with churches worthy of their shrines, of which the most important ones feed the souls of believers with sacred memories and gracious impressions to this day. Do you want, children of the Russian Church, to understand whether God’s promise through the Prophet extends to our Church that “there will be kings as feeders…” for her, “and princesses as their nurses” for her? – For this, it is enough to remember the Grand Duke Vladimir and his grandmother Olga: and one cannot help but be surprised how God, “who has arranged everything by measure and number and weight” (Wisdom 11:21) in the material world, subject to the law of necessity, and to the moral world, governed by the laws of freedom, without violating freedom, extends the accuracy of measure and number. Like Equal to the Apostles Constantine, Equal to the Apostles Vladimir regenerates his pagan kingdom into a Christian one, and nourishes the Church with his benefactions. Like Elena, wise Olga promotes this rebirth: because the high example of her Christianity was one of the forces that moved Vladimir’s advisers, and of course the people, to Christ. “Time will not be enough for me to tell” (Heb. 11:32) about the great Princes, Kings and Emperors of Russia, defenders and guardians of the spiritual well-being and peace of the Orthodox Church, and nourishers of her from their bounties. Let's hasten to direct the word to the goal. If events have given us permission for prophetic fortune-telling about the kings who feed Zion; then what can this serve us? What can be the fruit of the inquiry made? – Very considerable, if we are careful. Isn't it comforting, isn't it edifying to see the wonderful ways of God in the establishment, spread and preservation of the Church of Christ? Seven centuries before its discovery, ten centuries before the birth of Helen’s son, the Lord through the Prophet spoke to this: you will be an instrument of pacification of My persecuted Church. Seventeen centuries before the birth of Olga’s grandson, the Lord, through the same Prophet, also spoke to this: you will feed the milk of the true faith to the people in which My Church will receive many children in the north, in the days of the impoverishment of Her children in the east. Let no one be embarrassed if anywhere, at any time, the true Church does not seem to be in a flourishing state. She may be tested: but she will not be abandoned. It is said, and the word of the Lord to Her will not cease: “If... the woman forgets... the offspring of her womb; but I will not forget you” (Is.49:15). Isn't it instructive to discern the mysterious relationship between the pious Kings and the supreme government of the King of the reigning? From the depths of eternity He foresees and prepares them; assigns them a time and a feat not only for their earthly kingdom, but also for His heavenly kingdom; and grants them both strength and victory over opposing forces. With this prophecy based on speculation, how the duty of prayer for a pious king and for the piety of the king is clarified! How exalted is the joy of the pious king! How hope is confirmed in a pious king! We hear from our Most Pious Autocrat the word that went forth into the ears of the whole people, with which He, combining love of peace with firmness in truth, protects the rights and tranquility of Orthodox Christianity in the east, and especially in the Holy Places of the Holy Land. Isn’t it comforting to see Him here on the path that prophecy destined for the pious kings - on the path of the guardian king and defender of God’s Zion? “Bless Zion, O Lord, with Your favor” (Ps. 50:20) both visible and conceivable. “Let all who hate Zion be put to shame and turn back” (Ps. 129:5). To the sovereign defender of Zion, “O God, grant Thy judgment to the king” (Ps. 71:1) and the judgment of righteousness and peace, victory over all enmity and deception. Let it be His destiny to take out the holy word: “For a king trusts in the Lord, and is not moved by the mercy of the Most High” (Ps. 20:8). Amen. You might be interested in: