97. Слово по освящении храма Святаго Духа на Московском Даниловском кладбище

(Said September 25; printed in Christian Reading of 1832 and in collections of 1835, 1844 and 1848) The grace of giving is before everyone living (let it be), and do not withhold grace from the dead. (Sir.7:36). It is true that it is not the right place to rejoice in a cemetery: however, I do not hesitate to admit that I am now with joy in this place, where for many years many people daily bring their sorrows. I rejoice, thinking about the condescension of God’s grace, which did not reject this new home offered to her by faith; because she deigned to have it consecrated according to the order of the shrine. I rejoice, thinking about this church, instead of the dilapidated one, the new one, instead of the one close to destruction, perpetuated, instead of the meager and inconvenient one, well-appointed and splendid. I rejoice, remembering in faith and hope the departed servant of God, who brought me the first concern about the insufficient arrangement of the church that was here, and two more similar ones, and entrusted generous donations for each of the three, with such strict caution, so that “not to know what the right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:3), which is not indicated by the name I demanded his handwritten writing about this matter back from me so that his handwriting would not reveal it to people. O soul, who loved the splendor of the house of her God! God sees your name, which I do not pronounce, in obedience to your will: and may he preserve it in the book of life; may it be adorned in heaven with glory, undoubtedly better than that from which you wisely hid on earth; let him tell you where you rest with Him that your good thought did not remain idle, and that your giving met both good hands and an abundance of other gifts, so that the good fruit exceeded the good hope. I rejoice, thinking about every servant of God, no matter how much or how much, who contributed to the creation and decoration of this church, and especially who bore all the care and labor of this dispensation. – And why not sometimes say something in the Church about certain private people, unless you want to say something about human appearance? – The ignorant woman was the one who anointed the head of the Lord Jesus with fragrant ointment; and this deed of hers, apparently, was simple, characteristic of a woman’s way of thinking: however, for the goodness of her intentions, the Lord then commanded that she and her deed be spoken of in the Churches of the whole world. You can talk in the Church about what is being done for God and the Church. - Why am I happy when I think about the builder of this church? - Not only that he generously served God here through acquisitions and labor, but especially that he entered into this work when he was not drawn to it by any need, by any obligation; - then, as he already had another church in his care; - then, as the coldness discovered by some towards this matter presented an unfavorable example, and we, who were looking for help for it, found ourselves helpless. I don’t speak about this more clearly because I don’t want to not only complain about anyone, but I don’t even want to complain in my thoughts: May God guide us all to the best; He will surely not leave His Church without needy help in time, as I said regarding this church even in moments of helplessness, and as, by the goodness of God, it turned out to be the case. I rejoice, thinking about our poor and helpless brethren, who at this church are finding new homes for themselves, and the means for constant charity prepared for them, with the same free goodwill that acted in the creation of the church. Having said this, on my part - out of gratitude, for others - as a consolation and edification, I will add for the one who does good in the Church: let him not attach his heart to human praise if he hears or hears it; let him not accept human bribes, vain and insignificant, for what he did for God, the true and eternal Giver of rewards; may he rejoice with us, but not about himself, but about the Lord, who blessed him with the acquisition, and the intention of using it well, and the successful fulfillment of the intention. Finally, I rejoice now, thinking about our departed brothers who lie here. For if it was not in vain that pious antiquity introduced the custom that they should be placed under the Church; if there is benefit for them from the prayers offered here for them and the great bloodless Sacrifice: then it seems to me that they celebrate with us when prayers and sacrifices for them are renewed here, extended to three altars, strengthened. And that the souls of the departed benefit from the prayers and sacrifices performed for them, it would not be inappropriate to say a few words here, for the sake of our common consolation and edification. There are people in Christianity who deprive themselves of the consolation of praying for the dead. What kind of people are these? - Without a doubt, those who, whether noticeable or unnoticeable to themselves, love to speculate more than to believe. Why do they not accept prayers for the dead? - There is no other reason for this, except that it is not clear how the effect of prayer can extend so far - even from one world to another, from the visible to the invisible. To a person reasoning in this way, I would ask: is the ordinary mind understandable to the effect of the prayer of a living person for another living person, especially if the prayer is offered for someone who is absent, or for someone present, but is offered to ask for something moral and spiritual, such as: forgiveness of sins, correction from vices, taming of passions, enlightenment, confirmation in virtues? Two souls, each with its own mind, will, inclinations, freedom, aren’t they two separate worlds for each other, separate all the more so because they are blocked by bodies? How does the prayer of one extend its effect to another? Let them answer these questions as they wish. If they bother to explain how the separation of being and freedom does not interfere with prayer for the living, this will explain how the same separation does not interfere with prayer for the dead. If they say that the effect of prayer for the living is possible, although inexplicable by reason; then I will say: do not reject the action of prayer for the dead just because it is inexplicable, or seems so. But in my opinion, in matters of faith, it is safer to think less and believe more, and to be established not on your own wisdom, but on the Word of God. The Word of God says: “For what let us pray as we should, we do not know.” Consequently, by reason, without grace, we do not know whether it is possible to pray for someone. “But the Spirit himself,” continues the Apostolic Word, “intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered” (Rom. 8:26), in the prayer of each, according to his particular condition; and the same Spirit, for general guidance in prayers, especially public ones, clearly expresses what one should pray for. For example: “I pray, first of all, to make prayers, intercessions, petitions, and thanksgivings for all people” (1 Tim. 2:1). Again: “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death; let him ask, and he will give him life, for those who sin do not lead to death. There is sin leading to death; I say not this, but let him pray” (1 John 5:16). And again: “Pray for one another so that you may be healed. For much can the prayer of a righteous man be made hastened” (James 5:16). Let us also listen to how the Holy Apostle Paul both prays for others and demands the prayers of others. “We always pray for you,” he writes to the Thessalonians, “that our God may make you worthy of the title and may fulfill every good pleasure in goodness, and the work of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 1:11-12). And further in the same letter: “otherwise, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may flow and be glorified, as it is in you” (2 Thess. 3:1). And in another epistle: “Praying at all times with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and in this time being vigilant with all patience and prayer for all the saints and for me, that the word may be given to me at the opening of my mouth, with boldness to speak the mystery of the gospel, concerning which I preach in chains” (Eph. 6:18–20). Without collecting any more evidence from Holy Scripture about prayer in general, as a well-known matter, let us apply to the special subject of this reflection the evidence that has been given so far. If we don't know what to pray for; and to enlighten our ignorance the Holy Scripture was given to us, “able to make us wise unto salvation,” even to the point that “the man of God will be perfect and prepared for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:15-17): then from the wisdom and goodness of the Spirit of God, who spoke this Scripture, we should expect that it will not only satisfactorily instruct us what to pray for, but also He will protect us with prohibitions so that we do not pray about things for which prayer would not be pleasing to God. This aspiration is justified by the deed itself. Now we have seen how the Holy Scripture, commanding prayer “for all people,” protects the believer from prayer that is not pleasing to God and not useful to people: “there is a sin that leads to death; That’s not what I’m saying, but praying.” From this it follows that if there is no special, definitive commandment in the Holy Scriptures about praying for the dead, but it is derived only from more general concepts and commandments about prayer; but if, moreover, there is no prohibition against this prayer in the Holy Scriptures, as indeed there is no: then this very non-prohibition, the very silence of the Holy Scriptures is already proof that praying for the dead is not disgusting to God, and is not useless to people. The hunter of doubts will ask: is it not unnecessary to pray for those who died with faith and hope? – I answer: isn’t it unnecessary, apparently, to pray for the Saints? However, Saint Paul commands to pray “for all the saints.” Is it not superfluous to pray for the Apostles, who are the disseminators of grace to all others, and the first of the Saints in the Church: “God has made the Apostles first in the Church” (1 Cor. 12:28)? However, the Apostle Paul demands that non-Apostles pray for him, and, moreover, when he was already approaching the crown for the exploits of the Apostleship. There is a prayer in favor of the Gospel itself: “let the word of the Lord flow and be glorified,” although the Gospel itself is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16): - is it possible to be afraid of excess in prayer for believers? Or, they will ask, isn’t prayer for those who have died in sin futile? - I answer: in vain - for those who died in mortal sin, spiritual death, and in this state suffered by bodily death - for those who inwardly fell away from the spiritual body of the Church of Christ and from life by faith, through their unbelief, impenitence, decisive and final resistance to the grace of God. Where the signs of this bitter death are clear to an enlightened and impartial eye; there is no place for the consolation of prayer: “there is sin leading to death; That’s not what I’m saying, but praying.” – But what can the prayer “for a brother who sins a sin not leading to death” do? Can “give him a belly.” Is it really possible for someone who has died physically? – Saint John, whose words we are now guided by, does not say: “yes”; but he doesn’t say “no.” He does not forbid praying for the dead, but he does forbid praying for a desperate and hopeless sinner. The all-discerning wisdom of God, in the Divine Scripture, does not loudly proclaim the commandment to pray for the dead, perhaps so that, in the hope of this 490 benefit, those living do not become lazy and, before physical death, work out their salvation with fear. But when he does not forbid this kind of prayer: does this not mean that he still allows him to throw, although not always decisively reliable, but sometimes, and perhaps often, a helpful rope, to those who have been torn away from the shore of temporary life, but have not reached an eternal refuge for souls, which, between bodily death and the last world judgment of Christ, sway over the abyss 491, now exalted by grace, now reduced to the remains of a damaged nature, now enraptured by Divine desire, now entangled in the coarse, not yet completely shed, clothing of earthly thoughts? And this, perhaps, is why prayer for the dead has existed and exists in the Church since ancient times, not as a solemnly proclaimed, essential member of the faith and a strict commandment; but as a pious tradition and custom, always supported by the free obedience of faith, and private spiritual experiences. Let us provide some evidence for this. “Grace of giving,” writes the Son of Sirach, “be before everyone living, and do not withhold grace from a dead person” (Sir.7:36). What does “the grace of giving” mean here? If it is a gift to the altar; then the words: “withhold no grace over a dead man” obviously mean: make a sacrifice for the deceased, or, which is the same, pray for the deceased. If anyone wants to consider it more probable that “the grace of giving” means doing good to the poor; then the words: “withhold no grace over a dead man” will mean: give alms in memory of the deceased. Did the Son of Sirach have another thought: they both offer one thing, they have a common basis - that the living can and should do good and soul-helping deeds for the sake of the deceased. In the history of the Maccabees we find precisely sacrifice and prayer for the dead. Judas offered it for the soldiers who died in the sin of taking military spoils “from the gifts of idols,” with which the pious should not have desecrated his hands (2 Mac. 12:39–46). Since the formation of public Christian worship, prayer for the dead has become part of it, as a part that constantly belongs to its composition. All the ancient rites of the Divine Liturgy testify to this, beginning with the liturgy of Saint James, brother of the Lord. Therefore, there is no doubt that prayer for the dead is an Apostolic tradition. “Even if you have left a sinner,” says Saint Chrysostom, “as much as you can eat, you are worthy of helping: not with tears, but with prayers, and supplications, and alms and offerings. It’s not just that this was intended, below we create in vain, the memory of those who have passed away in the Divine mysteries, and for them we approach, praying to the Lamb lying down, who took away the sin of the world, but may there be some joy for them from here. Below in vain he stands before the altar, terrible mysteries being committed, crying out: for all those who have fallen asleep in Christ and for those who commemorate them” (on 1 Epistle to Cor. Conversations 41). And further he says: “We are not lazy, for we help those who have departed and offer prayers for them. For what is common is the purification of the universe. For this reason, we pray reliably for the universe then, and with martyrs, with confessors, with priests we call them. For we are all one body, and even the brightest ones are uds. And perhaps there is forgiveness for them from everywhere, as if from prayers, from gifts offered for them, from saints named with them.” “The most pious Sovereign,” writes Eusebius about Constantine the Great, “chose the Church of the Apostles, which he created in Constantinople, as the place of his burial, in the hope of participating in the prayers performed there in honor of these Saints, and in order to unite in the Church with the people of God, to be honored to take part in the Divine service, in the mystical sacrifice, in the prayers of believers, even after his death” (O life. book IV. – “It should not be denied,” says Blessed Augustine, “that the souls of the departed, from the piety of their living neighbors, receive joy when the sacrifice of an Intercessor is made for them, or alms are done in the Church: but this is useful only to those who in life deserved that this would be useful to them later” (On Faith and Love, Chapter 110). Saint Gregory the Dvoeslov 492 presents a remarkable experience of prayer and sacrifice for the deceased, which happened in his monastery. One brother, for violating his vow of non-covetousness, in fear of others, was deprived of Church burial and prayer for thirty days upon death; and then, out of compassion for his soul, for thirty days a bloodless Sacrifice was offered with prayer for him. On the last of these days, the deceased appeared in a vision to his surviving brother and said: “Until now it was bad for me, but now I am prosperous; for this day I received communion” (Conversation, book IV. ch. 55). But let us be careful not to prolong the words to the point of fatigue after a brief sacred service. For the attentive, enough of what has been said is enough for everyone to confirm to themselves the following, not unfamiliar, but often forgotten rules: First: pray for the departed with faith and hope of God’s mercy. Second: do not live carelessly yourself, but try with pure faith and immediate correction from sins, to strengthen your hope that for you, after your death, prayers will bring joy to your soul, and will help it in achieving eternal peace and bliss in God, ever blessed and glorified forever. Amen. In the department ed. and in collection 1835 and 1844, the word inserted here: late... In the department ed. and in collection 1835 and 1844, the words are inserted: now arising by faith, now weighed down by deeds incongruous with it... According to Turk. collection: in their conversations... You might be interested in: