294. Беседа в день Вознесения Господня, и обретения мощей Святителя Алексия

(Said in Chudov Mon. May 20; printed in the Works of the Holy Father in 1854 and in the collection of 1861) No one living in the body saw the resurrection of Christ in that secret moment of the night or deep morning when it took place. This was so, perhaps, by the very nature of this action, in which the visible body of Christ, being transformed into spiritual and glorified, acted beyond the limits of the visible world. But at the same time, it was probably arranged this way because faith had not yet matured for this lofty contemplation: for the heavenly and Divine manifestation for those prepared for it by faith, purity, love of God, and humility is an enlightening and life-giving light, but for the unprepared and unrefined it is striking lightning. This was probably how it was arranged in order to give place to the sublime feat of faith and the highest reward for it, according to the judgment of Christ: “they who have not seen blessings have believed” (John 20:29). On the contrary, many saw the Ascension of the Lord with their own eyes when it took place. This was, of course, because the faith of many was now ripe for this Divine contemplation. This was, of course, also in order to give reinforcement to those who were weak in faith, as Thomas was seen on the day of the Resurrection of Christ, with obvious evidence. The Holy Evangelist Luke testifies that the risen Lord, apparently also ascending, was seen not only by the eleven Apostles, but also by others “who were with them” (Luke 24:33). If the Lord himself deigned that His divine spectacle should be so accessible, let us also move our thoughts in the footsteps of the eyewitnesses of it, so that, if possible, we can see closer and more clearly what the heavens looked at with the same surprise as the earth. Let the Gospel narrative be our path, and the holy Evangelist Luke our guide. He writes: “I carried them out as far as Bethany” (Luke 24:50). That is, on the fortieth of the days during which the risen Lord “appeared” to the Apostles, “and spoke even about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3), He appeared to them in Jerusalem; then, preceding them, he led them through the streets of the city, and came out of it through the gates through which the path to the Mount of Olives lay. What about Jerusalem? Did he at that time see the Crucified and Risen One, and in his bitterness did not believe his eyes? Or did he see Him, but, due to unbelief, was not worthy to recognize Him, as once happened with believers, but wavered by doubt, on the way to Emmaus? Or, in the blindness of unbelief, did he not see Him at all, Whom the believers at the same time saw, heard and touched? One way or another, in any case, what a terrible blindness! What a pitiful fate! Christ appears among the Christ-killing city not yet as a Judge, but as a Savior; He is ready to heed repentance and have mercy: but the self-condemned city “does not understand ... the time of its visitation” (Luke 19:44), and the Savior walks through its streets and comes out of its gates only in order to obviously fulfill His preliminary word: “your house is left to you empty” (Matthew 23:38). Brethren! Yes, we are afraid of unbelief. Beware of inattention to God's grace-filled visits, which can finally turn into disastrous blindness. Perhaps they will say: why these suspicions and fears? Are we Jews? To what blessed visitation were we inattentive? – True, we are not Old Law Jews; by the grace of God, we are the new Israel. But we know that ancient Israel, chosen by faith and grace, for unbelief after faith, for sins after the Law, sometimes more private, sometimes more public, was repeatedly correctively punished, and finally, as not accepting correction, rejected: who told us that nothing like that could threaten the new Israel? Blessed visits are not as rare as some people think. When you hear the Gospel reading in church: then does not Christ the Savior pass before you? isn't he talking to you? is he not working miracles before you? And if after this some leave the church as if they had never seen or heard anything like that; continue to live according to their passions and sensual desires, as if Christ, and His teaching, and His example belonged to another world, and not the one in which they live: then do such people not resemble these Jerusalemites, past whom Christ passed, uncomprehended by their attention and faith, and “left them their house empty”? And who knows how much longer He, in His mercy, will delight in these inattentive and disobedient grace of His children of the new Jerusalem, “gathering, ... as a kokosh gathers his chicks under a wing” (Matthew 23:37), and whether he will refrain from the judgment word: “your house is left to you empty.” Let us return to the Evangelist and follow him further. “He brought them out as far as Bethany, and lifted up His hands and blessed them” (Luke 24:50). The risen Lord appeared to His disciples not only in Jerusalem, but also on the way to Emmaus, and in Galilee on the mountain, and on the shore of Lake Tiberias: why did He finally appear to them not right in the place that He had chosen for His ascension, but in Jerusalem and led them out of it? There is no doubt that like every action of His Divine wisdom, so this too is filled with deep signification. This means that grace retreats from the old Jerusalem, which Christ, who was promised to it, "did not receive..." (John 1:11), His blood poured out for the salvation of the world took upon itself to its own condemnation, and by its unbelief and murder of Christ prepared for itself abandonment and destruction. And just as He who came not to destroy the souls of men, but to save from among those who were perishing, began to choose for Himself those who were being saved, took the best stones from the old city, and with the art of heavenly architectonics - the word of truth and salvation, cleansed and prepared them for a new building: then, in order to show that He does not serve the old, the outdated, He does not put a new cloth on an old robe, nor pours new wine into old bottles, and he builds a new robe of salvation, new vessels of grace, a new living city of the heavenly kingdom on earth, He carries the living stones He has chosen from the old city to a free, clean, high place, in order here to bless His newly created Church, just as He once blessed His new heavenly creation. “He brought them out as far as Bethany, and lifted up His hands, and blessed them.” He raised his hands to heaven, and stretched them out on those being blessed, as a sign that he imparts a blessing that is heavenly and beyond heaven, and as extensive as His hands reach, in which “all the ends of the earth” (Ps. 94:4). What words did you use to bless? – Saint Luke did not write this: but we believe that it was a stream of Divine grace, life and power, which not only filled the upcoming vessels, but extended and extends to the entire Church of Christ until the last true Christian before the second coming of Christ. It is more than likely that the words of Christ conveyed by Saint Matthew belong to this blessing: “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). “And when you had blessed them, you departed from them and ascended to heaven” (Luke 24:51). Please note that the Evangelist does not say: “ever blessed” when he finished blessing: but “ever blessed” when he continued to bless. What a wonderful course of action! The Lord blesses, and does not yet end the blessing, but continues to bless, and, meanwhile, ascends to heaven. What does it mean? That He does not want to stop His blessing; but continues to endlessly bless His Church and all who believe in Him. Let us consider, brethren, that if we believe, both now and over us His hand, and His gaze, and His blessing are stretched out. What joy for those who love him! What shame and fear for those who forget Him in the vanity of the world! The limit from which the ascension of the Lord begins is the Mount of Olives. Why was she chosen for this and not another place? - One might think, because even before it was a chosen place for Him, which He sanctified with His repeated stay and prayer, especially because here His saving suffering for us began, equal to death, spiritual sorrow, and arduous prayer, stretched out to the shedding of bloody sweat. Having turned the place of the beginning of the suffering into the place of the accomplished glorification, He through this signified that His suffering and glorification constitute one harmonious composition of God’s saving economy for us, one golden chain, worked out in the crucible of the wisdom of God, for lifting to heaven the fallen humanity from paradise. Christian! If fate brings you, in the nights of dark and troubled circumstances, to a place of sorrow and hardship: try to discern here some trace of the path of Christ. If He, innocent, for our sins, deigned to endure sorrow and the pain of death: will you not submit to bear without comparison a lesser sorrow, no doubt, for some of your guilt before God, although, perhaps, innocently before men? Following Christ, although from afar, pray with strong prayer and devotion to the will of God; and hope that your salvation will not appear far from your sorrow, if only you stay on the path of Christ - on the path of purity and patience devoted to God. “He who endures... will be saved to the end” (Mark 13:13). And where is the limit to which the ascension of the Lord extends? If some answer to this is possible for the human word: then it can be found in this saying of the Apostle: “He who descended is also the one who ascended above all the heavens, that all things may be accomplished” (Eph. 4:10). Let us add to this the word of the Evangelist that the ascended Lord “is seated at the right hand of God” (Mark 16:19); Moreover, the hearer should not imagine anything physical or sensual in his mind. You sometimes hear that a person says about another person: he is my right hand, and you do not think that a person has become a hand, but you understand this in such a way that he is close to another, like his own hand, and at his will he acts excellently, just as the right hand works excellently in comparison with the left. How much more should you not apply corporeal concepts to the Incorporeal, and limit the place of the Incontainable and the Omnipresent. Hearing that Christ “sits at the right hand of God the Father,” think that he has the same omnipotent power with the Father, the same glory with Him, the same royal providence for the whole world, and especially for the Church of those who are being saved. In general, do not boldly direct the flight of your testing thought to this immeasurable height: there is “light... unapproachable” (1 Tim. 6:16). If your eye faints before the created light of the visible sun, how will not the eye of your mind, uncleaned from dirt, faint before the light of the eternal Sun of spirits, before Whom even the highest of the Angels cover their faces? And the Apostolic gaze could not far follow the ascending Lord: a cloud lifted Him up and hid Him from them. And as they at this time “worshiped Him” (Luke 24:52): so you, after the humble gaze of faith towards heaven, fall, son of dust, humbly into the dust, and inexpressible greatness with almost silent reverence. The action of the Lord’s ascension upon the Apostles, witnessed by the Evangelist, may seem unexpected: “returning to Jerusalem with great joy” (Luke 24:52). One would think that they would be very saddened by the separation from their Divine Teacher and Savior: but they are very happy. Why is this? They rejoice because their faith is now perfect, and their mind will open to the understanding of the mysteries of Christ: they believe and know that Christ, just as by His resurrection he crushed the doors of hell, and opened the exit from it to believers, so by His ascension he opens the doors of heaven, and opens the entrance to it for believers. They rejoice because their love is perfect: it is sweet for them that the beloved Savior ascends to heaven in bliss and glory, although they themselves remain on earth for exploits and suffering. They rejoice because their hope is perfect; they expect and have a presentiment that the ascended Lord, according to His promise, will soon send them another comforter, the Holy Spirit; and that, finally, according to the angelic foreshadowing, “this Jesus was ascended... into heaven, he will come the same way” (Acts 1:11); and will come in order to fulfill His other promise: “again I will come and take you to Myself” (John 14:3). O blessed ones before heavenly bliss! But if, brethren, we desire similar bliss; Let us know that it is not denied to us either. Listen to what the Apostle Peter says in general about those who believe in Christ and love Him: “You love him, having not seen him, and now you do not see what is worthless; but if you believe, you rejoice with joy unspoken and glorified” (1 Peter 1:8). So, keep a living faith in Christ, kindle love for Him in yourself, be confirmed in your hope in Him: and you, to the extent of your faithfulness in this feat, while still on earth will “rejoice with unspeakable and glorified joy.” Finally, let us not ignore, but take for our instruction and imitation the way in which the Apostles preserved and nourished the feeling of grace given to them in the Ascension of the Lord. They “bang in the church, praising and blessing God” (Luke 24:53). Heirs of the sky! Why do our thoughts and desires roam the earth so much? Let us gather them on the threshold of heaven; “Let us be in the church,” by inseparable union with her in faith, diligent communication in her prayers and sacraments, active obedience to her statutes and teachings of life. This is our way to heaven, and there is no other. “Instruct” us “Lord in Thy path,” and may we “walk” “in Thy truth” (Ps. 85:11), leading us with our prayers to our immortal shepherd Saint Alexis. Amen. You might be interested in: