461. Слово при посещении города Вереи

And I came to you, brethren, and did not come because of excellent speech or wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God: for I do not judge the things that are in you, but rather Jesus Christ and him who was crucified. ( 1 Cor. 2:1-2 ). Having come to you, brethren, unknown in person, little known in their way of thinking and life, I am at a loss what to tell you and how to speak to you. May this bewilderment be resolved, and may the Divine Apostle Paul now be my and your mentor. He, bringing to memory the Corinthians and telling us at the same time how for the first time he came to them with the preaching of the Gospel, says to them: “I came to you, brethren, not in excellent speech or wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God: for I do not judge the things that are in you, but rather Jesus Christ and him who was crucified.” Do you hear what this stranger who came from God says to these citizens? He “proclaimed” to them “the testimony of God.” Do you notice how he spoke to them? “Not because of excellent speech or wisdom,” that is, he did not use artificial eloquence to attract them to himself, he did not scatter the treasure of knowledge before them, but, as much as possible, in a simple word he offered them the main and necessary teaching. Therefore, “and I have come to you, brethren,” now, according to the same duty of service of the Gospel, which our Lord initially entrusted to the Apostles, and from them, through the continuous succession of sacred ordination, extended to our unworthiness, “I do not come for superiority of speech or wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.” I do not care about the art of the human word, nor about the wealth of human knowledge: the Word of God has no need for these insignificant aids, and the Wisdom of God even hides its secrets from the wise and prudent, and reveals it to infants. I wish, as far as God grants, to proclaim to you in the simplicity of the word and in the purity of truth the “testimony of God,” or more precisely, not to proclaim it as new, but as known in your thoughts and feelings, to renew it for general edification. What is the “testimony of God”? The Apostle means by this name the teaching of the Christian faith. This is obvious from his own words, with which he, having mentioned the testimony of God, immediately defines the subject of this testimony: “for I do not judge what is in you, but rather Jesus Christ and him who was crucified.” The Apostles accepted calling the teachings of the Christian faith the testimony of God from Jesus Christ Himself: for, appointing them as preachers of this faith, He said to them: “You will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the last of the earth” (Acts 1:8). And in another case, he explained the same purpose to them in the following words: “Going... teach all tongues, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). The teaching of the Christian faith can be called the testimony of God either because this teaching testifies about God, or because God testifies about it. It testifies of God against pagan errors, that He is one, eternal and unchangeable in His being and in His will, omnipotent and wise, righteous and good. It testifies against the ignorance of the Jews that the One God is Trinity, God the Father, beginningless and unbegotten, the Son of God, born of God the Father and consubstantial with Him; The Spirit of God, proceeding from God the Father, equal to the Father and the Son in Godhead and glory. It testifies to all people in general that God is the Creator, Provider and Savior. He especially testifies to people, as sinners, that God “does not want the sinner to die, but to be converted... and I live to be him” (Ezek.33:11); that for this purpose God the Father deigned to send His Only Begotten Son and His Holy Spirit to earth; that the Son of God, having become incarnate from the Most Pure Virgin Mary, in His person united Divinity with humanity, in order to reconcile and unite all other humanity with Divinity; that this God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ, suffered and died in order to put to death our old man, that is, the sinful power in us, born in us from Adam and nourished by our own sins; – resurrected in order to resurrect a new man in us, that is, to awaken in us the grace-filled spiritual power that lived in us before Adam’s sin; – ascended into heaven, so that by the all-encompassing power of His Divinity all humanity congenial with Himself would be drawn from earth to heaven; that, at the intercession of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit who came to earth, “breathing wherever he wants” (John 3:8), breathes most effectively and perceptibly in the word of the Gospel and in the sacraments of the church; that this Spirit, through His invisible, often “coming from nowhere” action, convicts, admonishes, encourages the sinner to turn to God, teaches the one who does not know how to turn, strengthens and inspires the one who is exhausted in the feat of conversion, and thus introduces “the kingdom of God” “inside” a person (Lk. 17:21), which is “truth, ... peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17), - in order to finally bring man completely into the kingdom of God, when Jesus Christ appears, to call the blessed of His Father to inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. Here in a few words is a significant testimony of the Christian faith about God and His saving works. Is there a need for confirmation that this testimony, which is so important in its content for people, is true and worthy of all acceptance? God Himself mutually testifies about it and certifies its authenticity! I’m not talking about the fact that even for the pagans He “has not left Himself unwitnessed, doing good, giving us rain from heaven and fruitful times, filling our hearts with food and joy” (Acts 14:17) - or, on the contrary, by withdrawing His fruitful blessing from the earth, reminding people of their spiritual barrenness, and calling them to bear fruits worthy of repentance. I’m not talking about the miracles that served as authenticating evidence of the law, which “was our guide in Christ” (Gal. 3:24), nor about the prophecies, which also from afar gave Divine testimony to the Christianity still expected in the world. I hasten to cite the Divine testimony that the Founder of Christianity Himself presents about Himself and about the truth of His teaching, with such strength of confirmation that it even allows one to disbelieve Him without this testimony: “If,” he says, “I do not do the works of My Father, do not have faith in Me: if I do, if you do not believe in Me, believe in My work, that you may understand and believe, for the Father is in Me and I am in Him” (John 10:37–38). And again: “The works that the Father has given Me that I will do: those works that I do testify of Me, that the Father has sent Me. And the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me” (John 5:36–37). What kind of things is He talking about? About those whom John’s disciples pointed out more clearly as an immutable testimony about Himself: “the blind see, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the blind hear, the dead are raised, and the poor preach good news” (Matthew 11:5); and finally, the Resurrector of the dead Himself, having been put to death “having been in the flesh” (1 Pet. 3:18), comes to life in spirit, and in His body allows one to feel the wounds testifying to former mortality and present immortality: who but God can do such things? Consequently, in them He Himself speaks and testifies about Jesus Christ, about His teaching and about His faith. But what kind of testimony does He and God the Father present: “He Himself bears witness”? That which God the Father gave to His beloved Son on the Jordan with His voice and the manifestation of His Holy Spirit - on Tabor also with the verb and manifestation of light and glory, finally, among Jerusalem itself and among the people, when in response to the prayer of Jesus: “Father! Glorify Your name, a voice came from heaven: I have also glorified it, and again I will glorify it” (John 12:28). True, this testimony was not clear to everyone at that time, but soon it became clear to all peoples and tribes of the earth, with new amazing signs of divinity, when the Holy Spirit, having filled the Apostles, suddenly began to proclaim through them the greatness of God in all human languages. By this testimony of God - and would it have been possible otherwise? - the fishermen caught the wise men, the beggars conquered the lords of the earth, half of the human race was convinced to accept this testimony, and, moreover, in such a way that for him it completely changed his way of thinking and living; the martyrs signed this testimony with their blood; and the Church, protected and affirmed by the testimony of God, having defeated through it the malice and rage of external enemies, the tricks and insolence of domestic violators of peace and harmony, not being overcome by the temptations that are increasing at the end of the ages, to this day solemnly proclaims the testimony of God, and mutually accepts from God the testimony that, according to the immutable promise of its Founder, even until the end of the world “the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). What should we, brethren, think, what should we feel, listening to the testimony of God, which we received in our parents and forefathers, and which we so often hear again, proclaimed, repeated, and reminded for us? “It is fitting for us,” I will say with the Apostle, “to pay more attention to what we hear, lest we fall away.” For, “as soon as we flee, we are so careless about salvation, which began to be spoken of by the Lord, who heard in us that we bear witness with signs and miracles, and with various powers, and with the Holy Spirit divided according to His will” (Heb. 2:1, 3-4). Apparently, there is no fear that any of us will stray so far from the testimony of God as to return to pagan errors or Jewish ignorance. But there may be people who “confess God, but His works are rejected” (Titus 1:16), or violate the purity of His faith and deviate from the unity of His Church, “choosing teachers for themselves,” as the Apostle long ago foresaw and said, “according to their own lusts, scratching their ears” (2 Tim. 4:3), or with rude hearing and untrained feelings, choosing teachers unbelief and debauchery. “For this reason,” I say again with the Apostle, “it is fitting for us to pay attention to what we hear, lest we fall away” (Heb. 2:1). We do not serve, like the pagans, many gods: but “it is proper ... to pay attention,” is not God a womb for us? Are we not working more for wealth than for God? Are we not serving the idols of passions? Doesn't our pride want to make ourselves idols for others? We are not exalted, like the Jews, by the childhood of Abraham: but “it is proper... to take heed” - are we not also boldly and unreasonably exalted in the name of Christians, without having become true children of God through spiritual rebirth, through living faith, and through holy life? “It is appropriate” for those who, through thoughtless dissent and disobedience of the Church of Christ, dare to cut into pieces the living body of Christ, to rend His unsewn tunic—it is “appropriate” for them to “take heed” to what they are doing and what testimony they will follow? Are not seven pillars erected to support the house of the Wisdom of God? Are not the seven spirits of God sent to govern the universal Church? Are not the seven sacraments given for the sanctification of souls? How dare some, with dreamy thoughts, crush this or that pillar of the house of God, and think that there may be a time when the seven spirits of God stop breathing in the Church; - to put it more clearly, or do they damage and destroy the visible affirmation of the Church in the priesthood, or do they not want to recognize other church sacraments? Whoever you are, Christian, it “befits” you to diligently “pay attention,” lest any word of iniquity hide in your heart, lest you fall away and be rejected from God, but lest you be saved and enter into His all-blessed kingdom. Amen. You might be interested in: