393. Слово по освящении соборного Христо-Рождественского храма, воздвигнутого тщанием ее превосходительства Агафоклии Александровны Полторацкой

(Said by Archbishop Philaret of Tver at the Tver Nativity Monastery, July 18; published in the collection of 1820 and 1821) The glory of the Lord entered the church, along the path of the gates looking to the east. And he took my spirit, and brought me into the inner court: and behold, the house of the Lord was filled with glory. And fear, and behold a voice from the church speaking to me, and a man standing near me, and saying to me: Son of man, have you seen the place of My throne, and the place of the soles of My feet, where My name will dwell among the house of Israel forever? (Ezek.43:4-7). These words are part of the narrative in which the prophet Ezekiel describes the great vision of the church. For better attention, let us present the most important circumstances of the vision and repeat the content of the words we have now read. The Temple of Jerusalem, destroyed by the Babylonians, lay in ruins. The prophet was in captivity in Babylon. One day, in his own words, “the hand of the Lord was upon him” (Ezek. 40:1), and in a Divine vision he was brought to the land of Israel. Here, on the mountain, it seems to him like the building of a city and a church. Someone appears and measures the church in all its parts. This part of the vision, in which the Prophet is shown the plan and the creation of a new church that should follow, is followed by another, in which the consecration of the church is presented to him. The prophet is brought out of it by the eastern gates, and the glory of the Lord enters into him by the same gates. Therefore, the Spirit again takes the prophet to the church, and he sees that “the house of the Lord is full of glory.” Finally, to complete the vision and to explain what was seen, a voice is heard from the church, and the Lord of the church himself says to the Prophet: “Son of man! Have you seen the place of My throne? It is not difficult to see that what has happened today in this church is similar to this prophetic vision. The similarity may not be accidental. Probably, the God-wise rites of the Church, in order to impress upon us that the consecration of the church is definitely a Divine work, in the rite of this consecration they imitated the rite of the Divine vision of Ezekiel. After, instead of measuring all parts of the church, we marked all its parts with the holy cross, which is the universal measure of the entire building of the Church of Christ - after the spirit of the mystery led us out of the church - the “procession of the King of glory” was proclaimed (Ps. 23:7), and the glory of the Lord, the glory of Jesus crucified, as on the Cherubic chariot, resting invisibly on the sacred remains of those who suffered for Him martyrs, really entered the church, only not “along the path of the gates of those looking to the east,” but through the gates leading to the east, for the New Testament Church no longer expects a visit to the East from on high, as the Old Testament expected, but rather itself marches to the East of heights, in the footsteps of “he who ascended to the heavens to the east” (Ps. 67:34), to the new highest revelation of His glory. So, now if anyone had the eyes of Ezekiel, he would, without a doubt, see here “the house of the Lord full of glory.” Imagine, viewer of this newly appeared house of the Lord, that the Lord, now filling this place with His Divine glory, asks you, like Ezekiel: “Son of man, have you seen the place of My throne?” But why did I say: imagine? It's like we're making you imagine something that doesn't really exist. It is not out of our own will that we torture you with this question: we approach you only in order to make it more intelligible to you; This “voice” comes “from the church,” from its very interior, from its very essence. If the rite of consecration is not a chain of idle rites, but a secret action animated by the Spirit of the Lord; if the church of God is not like an artist’s building, but the Spirit of the Lord truly breathes here and to you, the presence of God truly says to you: “Son of man, have you seen the place of My throne?” “Why is this being asked?” someone will ask each other. I answer: the question proposed by God to the Prophet could not and cannot be useless. Let us deepen our attention and gain instruction. The point is that everyone carefully and impartially examines himself to see whether he sees in the spirit and feels, as he should, the presence of the glory of God in the church of God. No one would say to this that there is absolutely no need for such a test, because the glory of God is invisible and incomprehensible. I don’t know if anyone has found this thought in their minds: but it is noticeable that it lies in the hearts of many, like a soft head on which they doze in churches, remaining in them without attention or feeling and not lamenting their absent-mindedness and insensibility. Let us test whether it is possible to awaken them with the clear light of this very glory, which they consider completely invisible. Look how visible she is in the tabernacle of Moses and in the temple of Solomon. “And Moses ended,” says the book of Exodus, “all works. And the clouds covered the tabernacle of testimony, and the tabernacle was filled with the glory of the Lord. And Moses was not able to bring into the tabernacle of witness, for a cloud had overshadowed it, and the tabernacle was filled with the glory of the Lord” (Ex. 40:33–35). “And the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord into its place in the Church of Debir, into the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim,” the book of Kings narrates. And it came to pass when the priests came out from the sanctuary, and the clouds filled the church of the Lord. And it is not right for the priest to serve on behalf of the cloud, for the church has been filled with the glory of the Lord” (1 Kings 8:6, 10-11). So the glory of the Lord infused into the tabernacle and church during their consecration, and from that time on it dwelt in them hopelessly, so that true worshipers of God entered these sacred places in order to see the glory of the Lord, in order to feel its presence; and did not find anything more desirable for themselves than to be in this blissful feeling. “Thus I have appeared to You in holy things,” David cries out to God, “to see Your power and Your glory” (Ps. 62:3). And in another place he says: “I have asked one thing of the Lord, this I will require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may behold the beauty of the Lord, and that I may attend His holy church” (Ps. 26:4). Well? Has the glory of the church and the tabernacle ended with the tabernacle and the church? Did the Divinity really reveal its presence more in the Old Testament sanctuary than in the Christian Church? Can't be! For the whole “law” of Moses, according to the Apostle’s explanation, “had” only a “canopy... good things to come, and not the very image of things” (Heb. 10:1) heavenly and divine: consequently, in the Old Testament sanctuary, not the open light of the glory of God was visible, but only the shadow of this light, which is why the glory of God appeared there in the form of a “cloud”. “But for us,” says the same Apostle, “God has pleased the ministers to be of the new covenant, not of writing, but of the spirit: for writing kills, but the spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6). From this he further concludes that the glory of the New Testament priesthood far exceeds the glory of the Old Testament: “if,” he says, “the ministry of death of writing was formed in stone in glory, since the power of the son of Israel cannot behold on the face of Moses, the glory for his face passing away: how much more will the ministry of the spirit be in glory? (2 Cor. 3:7-8). Finally, he adds that we can not only see the glory of the Lord, but also partake of it ourselves and gradually be transformed into its likeness: “but we, all of us with revealed face beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18). So, do not believe the crafty blindness, which dares to assure that you cannot see the sun in the sky, and that in front of it you are still blind; for although it is true that even a clear eye becomes blind before it, it is blind not because of a lack of vision, but because of an excess of vision. Do not believe false reason, which, being blind to the contemplation of the glory of God and fleeing the shame of admitting its blindness, dares to assure that faith sees no more than it in the Church. Do not believe the crafty and lazy flesh, which, not tolerating the coercion that should dispel its sensual slumber, dreams for its peace of mind that those who walk in the spirit are no more awake than it is. There is a mysterious vision of the invisible glory of God in the church for the eye of faith; there is a living sensation of the presence of God in him for the sense of spirituality. And therefore, Christian, if the state of faith is desired for you, if the assurance that you are on the path of the spirit is precious: then put yourself with all severity in this Divine test, do you see the glory of God, do you feel the presence of God in the church? “Have you seen the place of my throne?” I also see another refuge where some want to escape from this difficult test. Is it possible, they say, to demand from everyone a vision of what was shown to the Prophet? Oh, if only this dark tabernacle, which they want to erect on Tabor, were created as if it were a dwelling of humility, and not as a cover of flesh, “burdened with sleep” and in the midst of the Tabor light! At least, just as Peter proposed setting up tabernacles on Tabor for himself and his fellow disciples, and for the transformed Savior Himself, but not for Moses and Elijah, who were right there “in glory,” “unknowingly speaking” (Luke 9:31–33): so those who are on the mountain of the Lord, “in the village and glory,” do not know what they are saying (Ps. 25:8) God, they want to set up for themselves a dark place of ignorance, and they think that here it is “good for them... to be” (Luke 9:33). Why do you think that in the midday (or maybe already evening) light of Christianity, it is appropriate for you to hide from the vision of the glory of God, which the patriarchs and prophets longed to see at the dawn, even in the night of the Old Testament, “and saw and, and... rejoiced” (John 8:56)? A visit to the East from above, the incarnation of the Son of God revealed to the world more than what the prophets saw; as He Himself says to the Apostles: “Blessed are the eyes that see even as you see. For I say to you, that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see, and to hear what you heard, and did not hear” (Luke 10:23-24). The cloud, which “lifted Him up from the sight” (Acts 1:9) of the Apostles, did not hide anything from their faith and ours. That which blessed the eyes of the Apostles remained visible after Christ’s ascension in His glorious promises: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20); “Where... there are two or three congregations in My name, I am in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). And therefore, the Apostle not only imparts to the prophets and apostles the vision of the glory of the Lord, but to everyone, only, of course, true and worthy Christians: “we... all beholding with revealed face the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed into the same image” (2 Cor. 3:18). Listen, Christian, and understand that they do not require prophetic dignity from you, but they require qualities common to all true Christians when they ask: do you see the glory of God in the church? “Have you seen the place of my throne?” No refuge, no excuse. Or tell me what you see, and then we will say to you: “Blessed are the eyes that see!” (Luke 10:23) Or admit that you do not see, and then seek “colluria to anoint your eyes, that you may see” (Rev. 3:18); and if you neglect this, then know that total darkness awaits your blindness. Let us finally enter into the very act of spiritual testing; and so that through this test those who do not yet have spiritual experience and do not have the gift of discerning spirits and spiritual actions can recognize themselves, let us first turn not to the state of vision and sensation of the spiritual, perhaps unfamiliar to many of us, but to the state of unseeing and insensibility, not only common to everyone by carnal nature, but often encountered with those who try to walk in the spirit. Let us remember that three hours before this place was nothing more than a composition of stones, trees and metals, and if any spirit lived in this composition, it was perhaps the spirit of the artist and builder of this building. Let us think that now it is not at all the same; “This is not to bear,” in the words of Jacob the Seer of God, “but the house of God and this is the gate of heaven” (Gen. 28:17). Let us remember with what feeling we looked here before at the simple work of human hands. Let us compare with this the feeling with which we now look here at the sanctuary of God, newly created by the power of the mystery. If the same, as before, sensual gaze measures the space of a building, or rests on shining decorations; if the same, as before, scattered thought passes from the vestibule to the altar of the church, and does not know where to stop; if the heart remains coldly indifferent to everything that happens here, or is aroused only by curiosity, fed only by news; if the spirit, not feeling itself, continues to slumber on the “rock” (Gen. 28:18) and does not awaken by any internal movement in order to find out that it has found itself in the gates of heaven,” then there is nothing further to experience; we must say decisively that we do not see the dwelling of the glory of the Lord and the place of the throne of the Lord; We were not at all at the consecration of the church; a barrier more impenetrable than a stone wall separates our spirit from the spiritual sanctuary of God, although with our body we stand within the walls of a church made by hand. This is a state similar to the state of idols and idolaters, as the Psalmist describes them: “Idols have a tongue of silver and gold, the work of men’s hands: ... they have eyes, and will not see; they have ears and do not hear; let those who do things be like them, and all who trust in her” (Ps. 113:12, 13, 16). How shameful, and sorrowful, and terrible, in the face of the living God, to be in a state of insensitive idolatry! Whoever, by the grace of God, notices something better in his insides, measure the degree and test the purity of his vision according to the vision of the true Seers of God; and, seeing the spiritual light, thank God, the Giver of Light, and flee from the ghosts of a lying spirit no less than from the darkness of the flesh. When the Prophet, who gave us the subject of this conversation, saw the glory of God in a pure, Divine vision, then, he tells about himself: “I fell on my face” (Ezek. 3:23, 43:3). Similarly, another Prophet, when “he saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, and the house of His glory was filled; Then he exclaimed: O accursed me, for I am touched, as I am a man of unclean lips, among men of unclean lips I live, and I have seen the King of the Lord of Hosts before my eyes” (Is. 6:1, 5). If you, a Christian, from the moment when the procession of the “Lord of hosts, ... the King of glory” (Ps. 23:10) was proclaimed through these gates, cast yourself in your spirit before His greatness, so that, like one who fell on his face, you see and feel only your baseness and the height of the Worshiped One and lament your unworthiness to be in His presence: then dare to believe that this feeling of yours insignificance and unworthiness are impressed upon you by the proximity and presence, although not yet visible, of the glory of God; and that if you establish yourself in this humble state, then the spirit will lift you up, like Ezekiel, and show you “the house of the Lord full of glory.” When the holy feeling of the presence of God visited the Divine Psalmist, then he found that no, even the smallest, part of his being was exercised by himself or other creatures, but everything in him without a trace was turned to the acceptance and proclamation of the glory of God: “all my bones cry: Lord, Lord, who is like You” (Ps. 34:10). If in you, Christian, your mind only thinks about God, and your heart seeks only God, and in your very feelings only these spiritual movements are reflected, then good for you: the spirit will already lift you up, and soon, perhaps, you will clearly see the place of the throne of God. When Jesus Christ, after His glorious resurrection, appeared to His two disciples on the way, then although their bodily eyes did not recognize Him, their hearts were inflamed with an inexplicable feeling of His presence. “Isn’t it our heart,” they said later, “that there was grief in us, while we were speaking on the way” (Luke 24:32). So in you, brethren, is your heart illuminated and expanded by the light of joy, striving through prayer towards God; whether the flame of love is kindled and melted, and especially when you see earthly joy and love dead for you: then blessed is your joy and love, and blessed is He who is secretly revealed and clearly hidden in it. Behold the One who said to His own: “I will see you, and your heart will rejoice” (John 16:22). Behold the One who promised: “Whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and I will appear to him Myself” (John 14:21). Neither time nor the subject allows us to speak any more about the highest degrees of the mysterious vision of the glory of the Lord. “The secret of the Lord is to those who fear Him, and He will show His covenant to them” (Ps. 24:14). He Himself in the spirit will show them what the tongue of the flesh is vainly silent about. But what shall we say for those whose spiritual eyes are either completely blinded by unbelief, or damaged and darkened by distraction and negligence? Where can we find “colluri” for their healing? To the prophet, after the vision of the church, God gave a command for those deprived of this vision: “Son of man, show the house of Israel the church, and let them cease from their sins” (Ezek. 43:10). As if the Lord had said this: the house of Israel does not see the church and complains about the Babylonians, who deprived it of the joy of this vision. Tell the house of Israel that it is not the Babylonians who deprive them of the vision of the church: it is their sins that deprive them of the vision of the church. Show them the drawing shown to you of the new church: and if they want to behold His glory, then let them cleanse for this purpose their feelings and hearts, darkened and defiled by sins. “Show the house of Israel the church, and let them cease from their sins.” If we, who boast in the name of the new Israel, like the ancient ones, are deprived for the impurity of sin of the spiritual joy of spiritually contemplating the glory of the house of the Lord and the place of His throne, then for us it is said: “show the house of Israel the church, and let them cease from their sins.” Looking at the sacred splendor of the visible church, let us think about the incomparable inner glory that mysteriously dwells in it; and if our spirit is not enlightened by Divine vision, if our heart is not enlivened by a heavenly sensation, then in order to heal our soul, we will use every effort to preserve ourselves from the sins that darken it and plunge it into spiritual insensibility. King Lord of hosts! You alone are the light of lights, the life of lives. Enlighten and fill with Your life both those who served You in the creation of this church for Your glory, and all those who visit Your holy church, so that now they may see Your glory “in the mirror and fortune-telling” (1 Cor. 13:12) of the sacred mysteries, and one day they will see You Yourself, as You are, and will live in You, “Lord ...To the Almighty”, when You Yourself will be the “church” (Rev. 21:22) of the Heavenly Jerusalem. Amen. You might be interested in: