37. Слово В день Благовещения Пресвятыя Богородицы

(Spoken in the Annunciation Church of the Miracle Monastery on March 25; printed separately and in collections of 1835, 1844 and 1848) And Miriam said: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior: for I have looked upon the humility of my servant: behold, from henceforth all my kinsmen will bless me. Luke 1:46–48. Finally, the silent Mariam speaks; and Her word, filled with spirit, like a river, flows and plays like incense, rises and smells like lightning, shines and illuminates. Now read, the beginning of the solemn word spoken by Her, when Elizabeth greeted Her for the first time with the title “Mother of the Lord” (Luke 1:43), how much it already contains! She glorifies God, and lifts up to Him not her voice, but her very soul: “My soul magnifies the Lord.” He rejoices, and transforms His joy into prayer and spiritual sacrifice: “My spirit rejoiced in God my Savior.” He humbles himself and preaches the condescension of the Most High: “look at the humility of His servant.” She prophesies, and Her prophetic gaze pierces through all times to their very end: “from now on, all my people will please Me.” So it was necessary for She to become fruitful in the word, in whom the Word had henceforth indwelled; Before It comes out of Her, like the fruit of the womb, It appears in Her, like the fruit of the lips confessing to the Lord: “Mariam said.” Marvelous is the word of Mariam: but majestic is Her silence. Let us leave it to the reverent and attentive to delve into the minds of Her words, which are so often heard in the Church: let us pay attention to what is not so open to attention. Let us listen to Mariino’s silence, and learn from Her to use the treasure of the word thriftily. I will not speak about the silence in which the Blessed Virgin grew up and was raised: because this is hidden by the silence of the Holy Evangelists. Anyone who has heard what tradition says about this has the image of the most perfect pious upbringing, and can judge whether the absent-mindedness that is so readily allowed to children in our time is consistent with this image and whether it promises blessed fruits. The day of the “Annunciation,” that is, the joyful announcement of the upcoming incarnation of the Son of God, begins to reveal the hidden life of the Mother of God in God. The Angel's Word reveals in Her the virtue of silence. Suddenly he enters Her solitude and says to Her: “Rejoice, full of grace: the Lord is with You; blessed art thou among women” (Luke 1:28). How many questions were presented to the surprised Mariami! Who is this unknown person? What right does he have to violate the Virgo’s privacy? What does the unheard-of greeting mean, which places the unknown Virgin above all the wives in the world? But nothing brings Her out of Her usual silence. She feels the movement of the spirit: but Her lips do not move. She is in no hurry to respond to greetings; is silent and thinks. “I was troubled by his words and thought” (Luke 1:29). The Angel, having calmed Her spirit with one word: do not be afraid, - for the words of the heavenly Powers are not without power, and therefore do not remain without action, - continues the annunciation that had begun. In explaining the name “Graceful,” she adds that She “found grace from God” (Luke 1:30). Then he predicts Her conception in the womb, the birth of the Son, His saving name, His Divine dignity, a miraculous reign, an endless kingdom. How many more subjects to test and rant about! But the Blessed One does not want to experience the mysteries of grace. The Blessed One does not dare to rant about what is above words and reason. And now She would not have broken Her silence if love for virginity had not torn from Her heart a short word: “How will this happen if I don’t know a husband?” ( OK. 1:34) In order to correctly understand this word, it is necessary, first of all, to assume, as tradition says, that Mariam had previously committed herself with a vow to maintain virginity throughout her life: for she was not bound by this vow, and was betrothed to her husband, what reason would she have to ask about the possibility of giving birth to a son: “What will this be?” Secondly, one must take into account the law of Moses (Num. 30), according to which the vow of a virgin or wife could be destroyed by one word of the father or spouse, and only then became firm when the father or spouse heard about it and did not reject it. From this consideration it must be concluded, also in accordance with tradition, that the vow of virginity, which, in response to the prediction 190 about the birth of the Son, forced Mary to say: “What will this be?” was already known to Joseph and recognized by him; and that he betrothed the Most Pure Virgin to himself in order, under the name of a husband, to be the guardian of Her virginity, which needed to hide under the outer cover of the marriage union in such a people who, attracted by the visible blessing of marriage, did not comprehend the heights of virginity. Due to these circumstances, no matter how far Mariam was from not believing, or doubting, or contradicting, or being curious, she was nevertheless forced to ask the Angel: “What will this happen if I don’t know where my husband is?” Although I have a husband by betrothal, I do not have a husband by vow of virginity; this vow has been pronounced, confirmed; As much as I do not want to abolish it, the law does not allow it, which says: “A person who promises a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath, or sets a limit on his soul, will not defile his word; all the trees will come out of his mouth, let him do it” (Numbers 30:3); The Lord does not violate His laws: how will it be that the vow of virginity will be preserved, and the law will be fulfilled, and a son will be born? - You see that only extreme necessity dissolves the sacred bonds of Her silence, or better to say, grace itself is poured out in Her lips; The secret of Her betrothal to Joseph is revealed, in order to hide under this secret another, the deepest secret of Her betrothal to God; Mariam's renunciation of her earthly husband gives the Angel the opportunity to announce to Her the dignity of the Bride of God, to which She is predestined: “The Holy Spirit will come upon You, and the power of the Most High will overshadow You” (Luke 1:35). The Annunciation is accepted; The angel departed; The Word became flesh; The virgin conceived; there were signs of conception: “you were found in your womb by the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18). “It is holy from the Spirit,” writes the Evangelist Matthew: but this mystery was not announced to Joseph for a long time, and he no longer knew what the womb revealed: “you will find riches in the womb.” For if he knew the secret of the Bride of God, could he think about “reproaching” Her, could he decide to “let go” of Her? But he thought about the former, and decided to do the latter. “Not even if you reprove her, you want to let her go” (Matthew 1:19). There are so many miracles of silence here that I don’t know if we have enough words to express the silence. Joseph sees in Mariami what he did not expect, and what he cannot understand: but he is silent and does not question Her. Mariam sees herself in danger of being subjected to grave suspicion, and even condemnation: but she remains silent and does not reveal her secret. Where is the angel who brought good news to Miriam? Why is he silent and does not calm Her down from her new embarrassment? Where is Joseph's guardian angel? Why does he not appear for so long and not protect the righteous, when his pure soul can so conveniently be darkened by the thought of unrighteous, and even blasphemous suspicion? And - if you don’t boldly ask about this - why does He Who Sends Angels remain silent for so long? Why does He hesitate to enlighten His righteous one and save She in Whom is the salvation of the world? “Behold,” exclaims Saint Chrysostom, pointing to Joseph in these circumstances, “behold the husband’s meekness: not only as if he did not torment, but as if it were lower than anyone, lower than the one who was being looked upon, but thinking within himself, and trying to hide the guilt from the Virgin herself. Below it is said that you want to reject You, but let go. What a meek and quiet husband.” And again: “When you keep Yu in the house, it is illegal to be seen; Convict and lead to the judgment, put him to death in need: he does nothing of these, but he already arranges for himself above the law. Befitting of the grace that has come, there have already been signs of high living for many” (on Matthew Conversations 4). In fact, it is clear that the heart of the righteous already anticipated Christ’s commandments to have “a simple eye” (Matthew 6:22) and “not to judge, lest you be judged” (Matthew 7:1). Therefore, he sees signs of his mother, and yet does not want to indulge in thoughts of suspicion about the Virgin; has a law authorizing the spouse, and yet does not want to judge the betrothed. “If you don’t want to expose Her, you want to let Yu in” 191. You see what sublime virtues Joseph’s silence contains. But Mariami’s silence is even higher. He, by silence, eases the difficulty of others, and at the same time finds a way to end his own difficulty: but in silence She bears Her danger, and with each day of silence She increases Her difficulty. What does this incomprehensible feat of silence mean? – That Mariam is a perfect vessel of Grace. For as a material vessel it is worthless when it flows; Likewise, a spiritual vessel is not worthy if it does not preserve the Grace infused into it in inviolable, humble silence, but flows and is exhaled needlessly and without benefit with an idle, or immodest, or impatient, or vain word: and on the contrary, as a perfect material vessel would be one that would contain not only what was poured into it, but also the very spirit of it in its interior without the slightest loss, and which no blow could crush, nor air or fire destroy: thus, a perfect spiritual vessel is one who, having “the sacrament of faith in a clear conscience” (1 Tim. 3:9), in peace of heart, and in the silence of his whole being, preserves the grace entrusted to him with such firmness that no blows of troubles can crush, no passion, no temptation can destroy. If Mary spoke about Her secret with Elizabeth, then because this secret had already been revealed to Elizabeth by the Holy Spirit, and He Himself spoke through the mouths of both: and if She began to talk about this with Joseph; then either by human trust, or by human fear, and therefore not by Divine prompting, she would speak about the Divine secret. Now She is hiding from the one to whom, probably more than anyone else on earth, Her heart was revealed, since She chose him as the guardian of Her virginity; conceals itself with the obvious danger of not only “conviction,” but, as Saint Chrysostom explains, with the danger of “judgment” and “death”: such silence most reliably testifies that She holds the Word received into Her bosom tightly, preserves it completely, loves more than a chosen and betrothed husband, more than any earthly consolation, more than Her very life; in this silence an unceasing, pure, great sacrifice is made to God the Word. It is not surprising that Divine revelation remained silent for a while in order to allow such great virtues to mature and be revealed for our instruction. Mariam's silent sacrifice was accomplished; Joseph's thought was firmly established in dispassion; then the word of heaven came to crown the feat of silence, ending Mariami’s difficulty, and revealing to Joseph the great secret of piety. “I thought this to him, and behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying: Do not be afraid to accept Miriam your wife; that which is born in her of the Spirit is holy” (Matthew 1:20). Whoever has enough constant attention to follow Mary along the entire path of Her life: he can always see in Her the same character of deep silence, perfect silence, unentertained concentration in her interior, in a word - life hidden in God. Neither the highest joy nor the deepest sorrow could change this main feature of Her spirit. The Word is born, the Angels praise; shepherds preach; Should the Mother of the Word remain silent and not triumph in the word? But She is silent and does not waste words, but only observes what she hears. “Mariam kept all these words in her heart” (Luke 2:19). Does Simeon pierce Her soul with a formidable prophecy; Does Jesus himself, still in his youth, leave the Mother and, as it were, renounce Her, proclaiming that He is “worthy to be among those who are His Father”: the Mother of the Word does not contradict, but remains silent. “His mother kept all these sayings in her heart” (Luke 2:49, 51). Finally, She “stands” at the “cross” (John 19:25) of Her beloved Son, and the weapon prophesied by Simeon actually pierces Her soul. Strangers could not remain indifferent; and even then, just as He was carrying His cross, “many people and women were following His footsteps, even weeping and weeping at Him”; and after the crucifixion, “all the people who came to this shame, having seen it happen, smitten their breasts and returned” (Luke 23:27, 48). What should we expect from the Mother of the Crucified One, standing at His cross? Sobs, complaints, screams, torments? – We don’t see or hear anything like that; the witness does not even retell to us a single word of Her. She suffered, without a doubt, as no one ever suffered on earth except the Crucified One Himself: but the abyss of Her suffering did not overwhelm and drown Her, constantly falling into the equally immeasurable abyss of Her patience, humility, faith, hope, unconditional devotion to the destinies of God. Look, Christian soul, at the sacred image of spiritual silence presented to you by the Gospel, partly in the person of Joseph, and especially in the person of Mariam, and recognize the hidden, majestic beauty of Her soul, about which the Prophet wrote: “all glory to the queen’s daughter within” (Psalm 44:14); know and love this spiritual beauty; love and strive so that you too, at least in part, may be clothed with this beauty of the princess’s daughter, and, following the footsteps of Her virtue, achieve her bliss; for “the virgins will be brought to the king after her” (Ps. 44:15). Do you encounter anything incomprehensible in faith? Do not rush to be curious or contradict: but in silence listen to the word of faith, and patiently wait for the time when the one speaking in parables will deign to explain them to you with living words and experience. Do you notice something strange in the words or deeds of your neighbors, and, as it seems to you, wrong? Do not rush to reprove and judge, unless the position of father, or shepherd, or mentor, or boss calls you to this. Do not be righteous like the Pharisee, who considered himself the only one in the whole world: “I am not, like other men, predatory and unrighteous” (Luke 18:11); but be “righteous,” like Joseph, “that is,” explains Saint Chrysostom, “good and meek” (on Matthew Conversations 4). Are you afraid that any of your works of faith or love will be subject to false judgments and criticism? Do not proclaim your virtue for this purpose, so that, while protecting its glory, you do not lose its purity. “Open” not to man by contradiction, but “to the Lord” by prayer, “he will make your way also: and he will bring forth your righteousness like the light, and your destiny like the noonday” (Psalm 37:5-6). Does well-being visit you and does joy expand your heart? Do not widen your mouth for vanity; but compose in a grateful heart the words of a beneficent Providence. Does disaster befall you and sorrow fill your soul? Do not multiply the cries and groans, in the multitude of which echoes of perseverance and disobedience to the fate of the Most High are heard for the most part; but “be patient with the Lord, be of good courage, and let your heart be strong” (Ps. 26:14). Do not, under any circumstances, waste your words recklessly, verbal creature of the Creative Word! If by the Word God created all things; and man was created in the image of God: then what majestic actions should be performed by the word of man! In fact, it healed the sick, raised the dead, brought down fire from the sky, stopped the sun and the moon, and, most importantly, having become an instrument of the Incarnate Word of God, it transformed and is transforming people corrupted by sin into a new creation, pure and holy. This is how the human word acts when, firmly enclosed in the crucible of reverent silence, and kindled by secret inner prayer, it receives its characteristic purity and power, or better said, it becomes a participant in the power of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. And do we turn this powerful, creative, sacred weapon to unclean, destructive, sacrilegious actions - to slander, slander, blasphemy; or with frivolity do we crush it into light dust and scatter it to the wind in vain idle talk?.. Someone said about himself: “I have put nine thoughts in my heart, and I will speak the tenth with my tongue” (Sir. 25:9). This is how those who know its value treasure their word. At least, Christian, “do not be hasty with your lips” (Eccl. 5:1); let yourself consider whether the word that you birth into the world will be for the good of you and others, and which, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem, will live until the final judgment and will appear at it as a testimony either about you or against you. Accept the advice of the Apostle’s word: “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but let it be good for the building up of faith, so that it may give grace to those who hear; and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you are marked on the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:29–30). Amen. According to Jew. collection: upon promise... According to Jew. collection: sees, and does not suspect; knows the law and does not judge. According to Jew. collection: the greatest... You might be interested in: