Слово третье в Великий Понедельник

Among the church features of the first three days of the present week, the main one is that every day on the clock the entire Gospels are read. It is not difficult to guess why this reading was established: obviously, so that, approaching the day of the Lord’s death, we, following the reader of the Gospel, would repeat and review in our minds His entire life, so that when He proclaims on His Cross: “It is finished” (John 19:30) we could more clearly and separately imagine what He did during His earthly life for our salvation. For this alone, and at the same time because hearing the Gospel is a great sweetness for the soul, it was to be expected that if ever, then during these three days our churches would be filled with listeners. But in reality something else turns out, almost the opposite. Only the Angels who stay in our churches listen to this reading of the Gospels in significant numbers: but in most churches there are not many people, not very many. Even among those who constantly go to church, some now try to come later in order to appear for one liturgy, when the hours for reading the Gospels have already ended. What are they afraid of? - Obviously, fatigue from standing for a long time. But was not the Lord weary for us? The day after tomorrow you will hear from Saint John how He, “weary from the journey, sat on the fountain of Jacob” (John 4:6). However, this fatigue did not prevent Him from doing His work, talking with the Samaritan woman and bringing her to the consciousness of his sins. And when the disciples say to Him: “Rabbi, eat,” He does not abandon His work, does not turn to food, but says: “It is my food to eat, that I may do the will of Him who sent Me and complete His work” (John 4:31, 34). This is how our Lord acted for us! And we are afraid to stand an extra hour for Him!.. For how long does the reading of the Gospels last? A lot, if two hours. - So, all you need to do is sacrifice only six hours in the whole year in order to listen from the lips of a clergyman to the stories of all four evangelists about the earthly life of the Savior! “And we cannot make such a sacrifice, that is, so small and worthless!.. And look how the same people who complain about fatigue in church treat themselves on other occasions!” How many nights are spent from beginning to end playing a game that depresses both body and soul! How many hours are lost at balls in whirling, which, if it had not become commonplace from frequent use, could have been imposed as a punishment! – There is no length of time, no fatigue; They themselves say that they are left without legs, and they rush back to the same place where, unfortunately, they take away not only their legs, but often their soul and conscience. – Many people show similar long-suffering in other cases where it is a matter of pleasing the flesh and the world! We do not have this patience for church and worship alone; We don’t have six extra hours a year for the Savior alone! And what time! When He goes to the Cross for us! Let us stop so recklessly revealing our ingratitude and insensitivity. Let us understand the soul-saving intention of the Church, and begin to take advantage of her care for our salvation. For the Rule of reading the Gospels in these days is very beneficial in that those who do not know how to read themselves, of which there are very many, can at this time listen to all the Gospels, from beginning to end, and thus gain some understanding of the entire life of the Lord in its Divine fullness and totality, stand not only for an hour or two, but for the whole day. “But for this very reason,” someone will say, “there is no need for me to be present in church at this time; for I can read myself, and I can read the Gospel at home much more comfortably. Do you know what we will tell you in response to this, beloved? The fact is that if you do not want to listen to the entire Gospel in church, then we will not suddenly believe that you will begin to diligently read it at home. Why is this so? Because if you really loved to read the Gospel at home with attention, then it would attract you to listen to it in church. – Yes, the Gospel is not a book that, once you’ve read it, you don’t want to read it, no matter how good it is; The Gospel, on the contrary, can be read with boredom at first, but the more you read and get to know it, the more it will begin to attract you, so that every day you will find something new in it to feed your soul and heart. And this should be so for two reasons: firstly, because the subject of the Gospel is the earthly life of the God-man, our Lord and Savior, and this is a subject in which there is mystery upon mystery, the depth of which cannot be understood not only by us, but also by the Angels. For it is not in vain that Paul said: “Great... is the mystery of godliness; God appeared in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16)! It is not in vain that the Evangelist John noted at the end of the Gospel that if all of the Lord’s deeds “were written in one form, then the whole world would not be able to contain the books that were written” (John 21:25). Each time, opening the Gospel, you can see only one part of the immeasurable picture, and then a small one; but you can never embrace everything, even if you spend your whole life reading and thinking about what you read. Secondly, the Gospel is inexhaustible and always new in edification, because it was not written by human hand, but by the Holy Spirit, who led and controlled this hand. Because this Spirit knows everything, experiences... the very depths of God: then, despite the extreme simplicity and artlessness of the speech of the Gospel, it is structured so wisely that it never loses strength and sweetness for the reader and listener, no matter how many times one reads and listens, but on the contrary, it becomes the more nourishing the more our heart becomes familiar and, so to speak, becomes related to it. Therefore, I say, it is difficult to believe that he would not want to stand an extra hour to hear the Gospel in church, who is accustomed to finding pleasure in reading it at home. On the contrary, the reason, in all likelihood, that they do not want to hear it in church is that they have never read it properly at home and have not found a taste for it. Perhaps they sometimes picked up the New Testament and read for several hours, but they read with compulsion and boredom, as happens with many who have spoiled their taste from reading thin and soul-sucking books. In this case, reading the Gospel as a medicine may even seem quite unpleasant. But when, despite this, they continue to read, the trouble gradually disappears, a spiritual hunger for what they read awakens; it becomes sweeter for the soul from day to day, and finally turns into a daily necessity. Whoever has achieved this is ready to hear the Gospel anywhere again, especially in church. For the Gospel heard in church from the pulpit, from the lips of the clergyman, often has special power and effect in comparison with its reading to those at home. – Where does this special action come from? Perhaps also from the sacred solemnity of reading. For what is done at home, by ourselves, easily, for that very reason does not have such a strong effect on the soul. On the other hand, our soul in church is much more receptive to the action of the word of God, being predisposed to this by the holiness of the place, and by seeing sacred rites, and by hearing touching chants. But most of all, the reason for the special effect of the Gospel in the church is the grace of God, which accompanies this reading everywhere, but especially in the church, as a natural and permanent dwelling of grace. Therefore, anyone who thinks to replace hearing the Gospel in church by reading it at home is gravely mistaken and loses a lot. In case of need, when it is impossible to do otherwise, such a replacement is tolerable and good; otherwise, it is not only unpraiseworthy, but also constitutes sin. Thus, my brethren, the great week has begun for us now with an involuntary denunciation of what to do? – The Wise One noted long ago that “the wounds of a friend are better than... the kiss of an enemy” (Proverbs 27:6); Better, we also say, reproof, even punishment from the Church, than praise and magnification from the world. When will we say and you will hear something not so pleasant, but beneficial for the soul, if not in these days? These are, for the most part, throughout the whole year, days of repentance and self-correction in everything, during which it is necessary to examine everything that is bad in us and contrary to the cause of our salvation, examine and correct. Otherwise, our houses will be ready for the holiday better than our souls and hearts. For among them, among the poorest people, a complete transformation is currently taking place: everything is swept up, cleaned and put in order. Is it really possible that in the midst of the pre-holiday renewal, only one soul will remain among us with the same disorder and illnesses? - Yes, it won’t! Amen. You might be interested in: