Слово в понедельник недели 1-й Великого поста, на утрене

By your very presence here now, brothers, it is clear that you have a good intention to devote this week to preparing yourself for confession and communion of the Holy Mysteries. While many of your brethren are still devoted to sleep, or are groaning from the heavy tribute recklessly brought yesterday to carnal knowledge, you, together with the altar servers, hastened to go to the holy church in the morning and enjoy the first dawn of Great Lent. We greet you with this feat of zeal and love! Whoever can (and are there many who could not?), it is best to begin the field of holy worship now, together with the Church, because the Divine service of this week is especially adapted to the feats of holy repentance, and is especially rich in objects that arouse tenderness of the heart. Judging by this, we could only invite you to be attentive to what will happen here during this Holy Week, and then leave you to your own zeal for the work of your salvation. But since, even with the abundance of healing means and the known methods of their use, the living voice and instructions of a doctor are never superfluous, then allow us, in the duty of spiritual doctors, to offer your love some good advice. Let us converse as simply and naturally as possible, so that from our very words it can be seen that we are conversing during Lent, which is not appropriate for the flowers of eloquence, but for the tears and ashes of repentance. During this week, the Holy Church, firstly, will itself offer you, brothers, the most effective means for healing souls and sanctifying our hearts; and you must use every effort to master these means and use them as you should: this is your first, main and irrevocable duty! But, making use of the Holy Sacraments and soul-saving institutions of the Holy Church, you will not fail to use, on your part, all the means within your control that lead to the same goal: this is your second, also sacred duty! Let's talk separately about how best to fulfill this and that duty; Let us consider those means of salvation that are in your own hands, and which, not having been determined by the Church, but given to the freedom of everyone, therefore require prompt instruction regarding their use. What are these means? For each and every one, this is pious meditation, pious conversations, some pious deeds, and especially prayer; for some - reading sacred and soul-saving books. Don’t be bored, brethren, if we go into some detail regarding each of these studies: advice regarding this can be useful to you not only for this week, but also for the whole year, for the rest of your life. For, if you are disposed (as you should) to seek salvation through repentance, not temporary, but eternal, then your entire subsequent life should serve for you as a preparatory Pentecost for the celebration of eternal Easter in the abodes of the Heavenly Father. One of the main means of spiritually healing ourselves, which is in our own hands, as I said, is pious and repentant meditation. There are three main subjects about which, brethren, each of you, in the spirit of repentance, must certainly think about with yourself in these days. This is, firstly, you yourself, who intend to begin confession and holy communion; secondly, these very sacraments; thirdly, how you should behave after accepting them for the rest of your life. You should, as soon as possible, thoroughly take care of yourself, collect your thoughts and direct them to your conscience, your life and your relationships. It is difficult to find a better and more useful activity than this at any other time, but now it is a necessity!.. Otherwise, without knowing yourself, how can you proceed to confession and ask for healing, not knowing what your illness is? Such self-examination can be performed in different ways, depending on each person’s ability; but the closest thing is if it begins with a general overview of your life, if you follow in thought the traces of your existence, from your origin to the light until now. It will not be superfluous if you pay attention to who you “came from”, when and where you saw the light, in what state you were destined to live and act. In these preliminary circumstances of our life, first of all, the intentions for each of us are revealed to the wisdom of God; for these circumstances do not at all depend on us, while our whole life depends on them. Having learned in this way the very first will of God about you, you will then remember how your soul awakened to the consciousness of itself, what objects and faces struck your first attention, where your first desires rushed, what you especially liked or turned away from yourself, how you entered into relations with the world, with people, with God, how you learned what is good and what is evil, how both had their first effect on your hearts, how then both began to be expressed in your inclinations and actions. This will present to you a touching picture of your primitive humanity and, no doubt, of your primitive fall. For although we all come into the world already with the sin of Adam, with an inclination towards evil, and, therefore, already damaged; but in everyone’s own life there is an unfortunate point in time, from which a series of his own, arbitrary falls begins, and in which, therefore, something similar to what happened to Adam during his fall is repeated over each of us. From the years of adolescence you will then shift your attention to your youth, and, despite the flightiness of this age, you will try to resurrect in your memory at least the main features of your youth; for this is the age at which we ourselves lay the foundation for our entire future life, our character is formed, and the question is first decided: what will we be for God, for ourselves and our neighbors? Here we will present ourselves to your attention: those mentors and leaders who especially influenced you; that knowledge and work that you liked and occupied you with; those faces and objects to which the heart yearned; those hopes and fears that agitated your chest; those sins of knowledge or ignorance, insolence or despondency, with which everyone’s youth is so rich; those punishments or rewards that prompted your first steps on the path of duty, or stopped you from falling into the depths of freethinking and vice. This consideration of the paths of your youth will explain a lot to you in your life; for here, for the most part, is hidden the reason why we are as we are or are not as we should be in relation to the law of God. For this, your thought will naturally turn to the age of manhood, to the rank that you are destined to pass through, to the type of life that you happen to lead. Here you will carefully note your position in the world and the circle of your activities, the relationship of your character to your rank and type of life; who are the people who influence your destiny, and those whose destiny you influence; on what your successes and failures have depended so far, what misfortunes you have been exposed to, what diseases you have suffered from, what losses you have suffered, what is your relationship to society and your family; who are your well-wishers and friends, who are your enemies and enemies, and why do both of them have this and not another attitude towards you? All this should be considered not superficially, as strangers and spies in a foreign land, but as owners of the house, who want to know the state of their affairs and home. And all this, however, is only preliminary work, just a start to the matter. Having gathered again all the powers of the mind, armed with all impartiality, you will then begin the main task on yourself, try to find out what state you are in in relation to your salvation. Here we must keep in mind mainly three things: 1) where do we belong - to the number of converted people, in whom the work of salvation has already begun, or to the number of people who have hitherto not thought at all about salvation, who have remained in a state of sin and spiritual insensibility? 2) if we have not yet had the good fortune to cross the mediastinum that separates the small number of those being saved from the crowd of people who are perishing, then what especially consists of our sinfulness and impurity, what passion most dominates in us and what especially feeds it and strengthens it? 3) if, on the contrary, by the grace of God, the beginning of spiritual renewal has already been laid in us, then how do we walk along the new path of grace, with the same strength, or with the same success as we should, and if not so, then what hinders our spiritual growth and fruitfulness? “Here, I say, are the three main questions that we must keep in mind whenever we want to know what state we are in in relation to our salvation!” Whoever resolves them as they should, the image of his moral existence will be revealed to him, he will know who and what he is for heaven and eternity. To make this matter easier for one and all, the Lord, the wise and merciful, gave several mirrors in which, when you look diligently, you see yourself with all your shortcomings. This is the mirror - the Ten Words of Moses, where all our main duties to God and neighbor are indicated. Such is the mirror – the Savior’s Sermon on the Mount about the beatitudes, in which the virtues of a true Christian are so touchingly outlined. These are the mirrors - many passages from the epistles of the Apostle Paul, in which he depicts the actions of spiritual people and carnal people; for example, the twelfth and thirteenth chapters of Romans, and all of Philippians. Use any of these mirrors; but it’s better if you use them, although not suddenly, all of them. Moreover, just as when standing in front of a mirror, in order to see ourselves better, we turn our faces to it in different directions, it is useful to do the same when looking into the mirror of God’s law. Try to turn to him alternately with all sides of your being - not just the spirit with his mind and conscience, but also the soul with its desires and inclinations, and the body itself with its constitution, habits, requirements and infirmities, and finally the most external state, with its advantages and disadvantages in relation to the matter of our salvation. One must place one’s mind before the mirror of God’s word so that it can be revealed what kind of thoughts it has, what beliefs it is guided by, is there the light of faith in it, does it always shine and sufficiently illuminate the paths of life? One must put one’s will before the mirror so that the goal to which it constantly strives is revealed, whether it is in heaven or on earth; so that the motives by which she moves are revealed - whether they are pure and worthy of a Christian; so that the rules that we follow appear, are they taken from the Gospel and conscience, or from the customs of the world and the inspirations of worldly pride? We must place our heart with its feelings before the mirror of God’s word in order to see how it lives and why it beats, what pleases and saddens us the most: success in virtue or success in earthly enterprises? You can also usefully use other techniques to compare yourself with the example of a true Christian, outlined in different forms - in the word of God; for example, it is useful to consider yourself in your relationships, as a member of the family, as a member of society, as a member of the Church; compare the image of your thoughts, rules and life with the image of thoughts and life of righteous people, or sinful people, depicted in the word of God, especially a state similar to us. In encouragement to this holy work, it must be said that whoever does not engage in it superficially, does not get bored and does not abandon it from the first failures, which may be due to inexperience, he will certainly achieve the goal, see himself as he is, and will be able to say what he lacks and what needs to be done. With the illumination of the light of God’s grace, to which one must constantly turn one’s mind and heart, it may soon be revealed: has the work of our salvation already begun in us? – It is supposed that, despite all the occasional deviations and involuntary punctuations, on the path to salvation, the main goal of action and the rule of behavior, the main incentive to work and the beginning of animation is the thought of God and eternal salvation. It is necessary that if you, considering yourself a poor sinner, are imbued with faith in the Son of God, in His sacrifice on the cross for us, and try, as much as possible, to conform yourself to His teaching, to sanctify yourself by the grace of His Most Holy Spirit. On the contrary, if the beginning of your thoughts, feelings, actions is self-love, if some passion dominates inside you, then, even if in your unclean behavior, as between thorns, the flowers of worldly virtues sometimes appeared, you are not among the converted people, your path is not the path of a true Christian. In the same way, it is not difficult to find out what particular passion dominates us and what feeds it, if we have the misfortune of being among the unconverted sinners. For, although the roots of the dominant passion are far hidden in temperament, in the way of upbringing and in our external relations; but its branches usually cover the entire circle of our domestic and social existence; “The stench of death” (2 Cor. 2:16) from its hellish flowers carries far in all directions, its unfortunate fruits are scattered throughout all our entrances and exits. In such a time, even one superficial opinion of other people about us can often serve as a fairly accurate indication of our spiritual illness; for people, being not so capable of assessing our virtues, always almost correctly guess our dominant shortcomings. You can recognize the prevailing vice in us because nothing is so difficult to part with as it is, nothing is so painful to touch as it is: the mere thought of leaving it behind costs considerable effort. As for the last subject: are we properly following the path of piety, if we have entered on it? He who needs to know this will easily find out if he pays attention to the following: is the evil that has hitherto remained in him diminishing and weakening? Is he less likely to be subjected to the attacks from which he previously suffered, and what leads to them? Does it become easier for him to perform those virtues that previously seemed so difficult to him? Does Christian humility and faith in the Son of God increase in him? If conscience answers at least one of these questions: no, then there is no need to doubt or think anymore; we must hurry again with complete repentance, so that the heavenly fire does not go out in the soul. And otherwise, we should not suddenly be satisfied with the affirmative answer of conscience, but look - lagging behind one shortcoming, are we not falling into another, the opposite one, are we not falling into the other extreme, for example, from people who are cold to the faith, are we not becoming dreamers, or zealots beyond reason? Guided by these and similar feelings, brothers, you will hasten in these days to get to know yourself and your state of mind as accurately as possible. Everyone take care of yourself! For if you don’t do this now, then when will you do it? – There is no need that you are learned and know human nature and yourself as a scientist: what is required here is not scientific self-knowledge, but Christian self-examination. Aren’t there people who have compiled entire learned books about the soul, but never in their lives have they considered their soul in relation to their salvation? No one even cited an inability to think as an excuse for their simplicity. How? You know how to count your money, even if there are thousands of them, but you cannot reconsider your responsibilities, count your sins and shortcomings? “Which member is sick in the body, you immediately hear, but where the illness is in the soul, you don’t feel it?” It can easily happen that, having turned a testing gaze on yourself, you, out of habit, cannot keep it on yourself for long. In this case, turn it more often - and you will get used to standing face to face with yourself in front of the mirror of the word of God and conscience. To succeed in this matter, leave all other matters for a while; get away from people and the noise of everyday life, especially dedicate the silence of the night to this. This is what David once did. Otherwise, that is, if you cannot now properly engage in self-knowledge, then it is better to leave fasting until another week; for you hear what is said not by any ordinary preacher, but by an apostle of Christ: “Let a man tempt himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and let him drink of the cup. He who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment for himself, without discerning the Body of the Lord! (1 Cor. 11:28–29)... Amen. You might be interested in: