Слово 37. На евангельские слова: Егда сконча Иисус словеса сия и проч. (Мф. 19:1)

1. Jesus, having first chosen the fishermen, then Himself casts in the seas and changes places one after another. For what? Not only in order to win more lovers of God by His coming, but, as I think, also in order to sanctify a larger number of places. He is made for the Jews by the Jews in order to win the Jews, for those under the law - under the law, in order to redeem those under the law, for the weak - for the weak, in order to save the weak. He is made all things to all men, in order to win all. But what do I say: to everyone for everyone? What Paul did not want to say about himself, I find, was borne by the Savior. For He not only becomes a Jew, not only takes upon Himself all sorts of indecent and humiliating names, but, what is most indecent of all, is even called sin (2 Cor. 5:21) and an oath (Gal. 3:13). Although He is not like that in reality, He is nevertheless named. For how can the One who frees us from sin be sin? How can we swear to the One who redeems us from the curse of the Law? But He is called this way in order to show His humility to this extent, and thereby teach us humility, which leads to heights. So, He becomes, as I said, a fisherman, condescends to everyone, casts nets, endures everything, just to bring a fish out of the depths, that is, a person swimming in the fickle and salty waves of life. 2. For this reason, having now finished this saying, he departed from Galilee and came to the borders of Judea on the floor of the Jordan (Matthew 19:1). He comes to Galilee - and this is for good, so that people sitting in darkness will see the great light (Matthew 4:16). He moves to Judea to be convinced to rebel from the letter and follow the spirit. Now he teaches on the mountain, now he talks on the plains, now he goes into the ship, now he rebukes the storms; sometimes he tastes sleep in order to bless the dream; sometimes he labors to sanctify his work; sometimes he cries in order to make his tears commendable. Moves from place to place, Uncontainable by any place, flightless, incorporeal, incomprehensible, Which is the same and was, and begins to be; was above time and comes, obeying time, was invisible and becomes visible. In the beginning there was no, with God there was no, and there was no God; the third was, confirmed by the very number, He who was not, exhausted, and that which was not, took on, not making two through this, but deigning from two to become One, because God is both: both received and accepted, two natures, flocked into one, but not two Sons (let this dissolution not be dishonored by a false interpretation!). That's just how He is! But what about me? Again I descend to the words of men. For how can one call the simple such and the non-quantitative so much? But forgive the word - a small instrument; I'm talking about the Highest! The Great and Long-suffering One, an indescribable and incorporeal Nature, will also tolerate the fact that we talk about Him as a body and use words that are far from corresponding to the truth. For if He took on flesh, He does not disdain such words. 3. And many people walked after Him, and healed them (Matthew 19:2), where there was a vast desert. If He had remained at His height, if He had not descended into weakness, if He had remained what He was, keeping Himself unapproachable and incomprehensible, then perhaps few would have followed Him, I don’t even know if few would have followed; Is it only Moses, and he is so much that he can barely see the back of God. For although Moses dissolved the cloud when he was out of bodily heaviness and brought the senses into inactivity, could he see the subtlety and incorporeality of God (or, I don’t know how another would call it), while still being a body and penetrating with sensual eyes? But since God is exhausted and descends for our sake (by exhaustion I mean exhaustion, as if weakening and diminishing glory), then through this he becomes understandable. 4. Excuse me for stopping again and falling into human weakness. I am filled with anger and sorrow for my Christ (you also share my feelings!) when I see that my Christ is being dishonored for the very thing for which justice demanded that He be honored most. Tell me: is He material because He humbled Himself for your sake? Is He a creature because He cares for the creature? Is it because it is under time that it visits those under time? However, He endures everything, endures everything. And what's surprising? He suffered blows, suffered spitting, tasted bile for my taste. He still endures stoning not only from those who slander, but even from us who consider ourselves pious. For, when discussing the incorporeal, to use names characteristic of the corporeal means, perhaps, the same as slandering, the same as stoning; but, I repeat, may an excuse be given for our weakness! We do not arbitrarily throw stones, but because we cannot express ourselves otherwise, we use the words we have. You are called the Word and are above the word; You are above the light and are called Light; you are called Fire not because you are subject to feelings, but because you purify light and worthless matter! You are called the Sword because you cut off the bad from the good; With a shovel, because you clear the threshing floor and, discarding everything that is empty and light, you put only the full weight into the higher granaries; With an axe, because through much patience you cut down the barren fig tree, because you destroy the very roots of evil; By the door due to the introduction; The way, because we walk straight; Lamb, because You are the sacrifice; High Priest, because you sacrifice the body; Son, because You are from the Father! Again I set in motion slanderous tongues; again some are raging against Christ, or, better said, against me, who is honored to be a preacher of the Word; I become, like John, a voice crying in the wilderness - in a desert that was once waterless, but is now very populous. 5. However, as I said (I return to my word), many people walked after Him, because He condescends to our weaknesses. What then? Said: And the Pharisee came to Him, tempting Him, and said: Is it worthy for a man to let his wife go for any reason (Matthew 19:3)? Again the Pharisees tempt, again those who read the Law do not understand the Law, again the interpreters of the Law need new teachers! The Sadducees were not enough tempting about the resurrection, the lawyers were asking about perfection, the Herodians were asking about kinson and others were asking about power: someone also asks the Untempted about marriage, asks the One who is Himself the Creator of marriage, Who from the first Cause created this entire human race. Having answered, he said to them: Shall they bear it, for He who created from time immemorial created I the male and female (Matthew 19:4)? He knew which questions to solve and which ones to stop the mouths of those asking. When they ask Him: by what means did you do this (Luke 20:2), then, due to the extreme ignorance of those who asked, He Himself asks: Was John’s baptism from heaven, or from man (Matthew 21:25)? And the mutual impossibility of giving an answer binds the questioners. Therefore, we, imitating Christ, can sometimes stop the mouths of curious interrogators and resolve their inappropriate questions with even more inappropriate questions. For we ourselves are wise in empty things (if we can sometimes boast of the deeds of foolishness). But when Christ sees that the question requires reasoning, then the questioners are not rewarded with wise answers. 6. He says: the question you propose shows your respect for chastity and requires a lenient answer. As for chastity, as I see, many have the wrong concept, and their law is unequal and incorrect. For why did the law curb the female sex, but give freedom to the male, and a wife who plots against her husband’s bed commits adultery and is subject to strict prosecution for this by the laws, but a husband who commits adultery with his wife is not subject to responsibility? I do not accept such legislation, I do not approve of the custom. Husbands were legislators, and therefore the law was turned against wives, and therefore children were given under the authority of their fathers, and the weaker sex was left in disdain. On the contrary, God did not establish this, but: honor your father and mother (Exodus 20:12), - this is the first commandment, combined with promises: may it be good for you, and: whoever curses his father or mother, let him die (Exodus 21:16). You see, he honored the good and punished the evil. Also: the father’s blessing establishes the homes of children, but the mother’s oath uproots them to the ground (Sir. 3:9). You see, the legislation is the same. One Creator of husband and wife, one dust - they are both one image; one law for them, one death, one resurrection; we are born equally from husband and wife; Children are obligated to repay one debt to their parents. 7. How come you demand chastity, but don’t observe it yourself? Are you demanding what you didn’t give? Why, being yourself flesh of the same dignity, do you not legislate equally? If you pay attention to the worst, then the wife sinned, Adam sinned; the serpent deceived both; One did not turn out to be weaker and the other stronger. But consider the best. Both are saved by Christ through suffering. He became flesh for the man, but also for the wife. He died for his husband, and his wife is saved by death. Christ is called from the seed of David (which is what you might think a husband is honored by), but he is also born from a Virgin - this is already an honor for wives! And both, it is said, will become one flesh (Matthew 19:5); and let one flesh have equal honor. Paul instills chastity by example. What example and how? This mystery is great: I speak into Christ and the Church (Eph. 5:32). It is good for a wife to honor Christ in the person of her husband; It is good for a husband not to dishonor the Church in the person of his wife. The wife, he says, should fear her husband, because she fears Christ; but let the husband also love his wife, because Christ also loves the Church. Let us delve into these words with great care. 8. The milk flows and there will be oil (Proverbs 30:33); explore and perhaps you will find something more nutritious in them. It seems to me that here the word of God does not approve of bigamy; for if there are two Christs, then there are two husbands, two and wives; and if there is one Christ, one head of the Church, then there is one flesh, and let all other flesh be rejected. And if it keeps you from a second marriage, then what about the third? The first is law, the second is leniency, the third is lawlessness. And whoever transgresses this limit is like a pig and has few examples of such shame. Although the Law grants divorce for any fault, Christ does not do so for any fault, but allows only separation from the adulteress, but still commands that everything else be endured wisely and excommunicates the adulteress because she is damaging the race. Regarding everything else, let us be patient and wise, or, better said, be patient and wise, you who have taken upon yourself the yoke of marriage. If you see that your wife has put on make-up or make-up, wipe it off, or she has an insolent tongue - chastity, or an unseemly laugh - make it modest, or you notice immoderation in expenses and drinking - limit, or untimely exits from the house - put a barrier, or an absent-minded gaze - correct it, but do not cut it off, do not hastily separate from yourself, for it is unknown who is being subjected to danger, excommunicating or being excommunicated. The source of water, it is said, may it be yours, and may no one who is stranger share with you; let the lot of your graces and the tree of love speak to you (Prov. 5:17–19). So, do not be a strange river and do not try to please others more than your wife. And if you strive for inudu, then you make shamelessness a law for your member. This is what the Savior teaches. 9. What about the Pharisees? The word seems cruel to them, since everything good did not like and is not liked by both the then and the present Pharisees. For what makes a Pharisee is not only the origin, but also the way of life; Thus, I consider as an Assyrian and Egyptian anyone who by his will puts himself on a par with them. What about the Pharisees? They say: If there is a fault between a man and his wife, it is better not to marry (Matthew 19:10). Now do you just find out, Pharisee, that it is better not to get married? And before, I didn’t know when I saw widowhood, and orphanhood, and untimely death, and applause followed by crying, and coffins near the bridal chambers, and childlessness, and misfortunes from children, and unresolved births, and children losing their mother at birth, and finally everything that happens with this, both funny and sad, because you can say both here. It's better to get married; and I agree to this, for marriage is honorable and the bed is undefiled (Heb. 13:4), but it is better for the moderate, and not for the insatiable, not for those who want to show the flesh more respect than it should. When marriage is actually marriage, and a conjugal union, and the desire to leave behind children, then marriage is good, because it increases the number of those pleasing to God. But when he inflames the coarse flesh, covers it with thorns and becomes, as it were, a path to vice, then I will say: it is better not to marry. 10. Marriage is a good thing, but I cannot say that it is higher than virginity. For virginity would not be recognized as something high if it were not that the best was the best. Let those who bear the bonds of marriage not be upset! It is fitting to obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29). On the contrary, virgins and wives, unite together, become one in the Lord and serve as an adornment to each other! There would be no celibates if there were no marriage; for where would a virgin come into the world? Marriage would not be honest if it did not bring forth virgins to God and life. Honor 269 your mother, from whom you come; honor also you 270 who came from your mother and mother, although she is not a mother, but the bride of Christ. Visible beauty is not hidden, but invisible beauty is visible to God; all the glory of the king's daughter is within: her garments are draped with gold, she is speckled (Ps. 44:14), that is, both by deeds and by contemplation. And let the one who enters into marriage belong to Christ, and let the virgin be entirely Christ’s! Let one not cleave completely to the world, let the other not be at all from the world! What belongs to the married woman in part belongs to the virgin entirely. You have chosen the angelic life, you have become in the rank of the celibate - do not fall into the carnal, do not fall into the material, do not combine with matter, while you lead a celibate life. A prodigal gaze will not protect virginity; the prodigal tongue enters into fellowship with the evil one; legs walking disorderly expose illness or are set in motion by illness. Let the thought also be virgin: let it not spin, let it not wander, let it not carry in itself images of what is evil (such an image is already a part of fornication), let it not create hated idols in the soul! 11. He said to them: not all can bear this word, but to them it has been given to eat (Matthew 19:11). Do you see the height of this virtue? It turns out to be barely usable. And is it not above the flesh that he who is born of the flesh should not be born into the flesh? Isn’t it an angelic property for a soul connected with the flesh to live not according to the flesh and to be above nature itself? The flesh connected her with the world, and her mind raised her to God; the flesh was burdened, but the mind was inspired; the flesh imprisoned him, but love loosed them. Strive with all your soul, virgin, for God! I give the same law to husbands and wives. Do not imagine as good everything that seems good for many - neither clan, nor wealth, nor throne, nor dominion, nor beauty, delivered in the goodness and harmony of the members - this play of time and disease! If you have exhausted all the power of love before God, if you do not have two objects of love, that is, both the fleeting and the permanent, and the visible and the invisible, then have you been wounded so much by the chosen arrow and have you come to know the beauty of the Bridegroom so that you can say in the words of the marriage description and the wedding song: You are sweetness, and All desire (Song. 5:16)? 12. You see the currents contained in lead pipes, how, when strongly constrained and directed towards one place, they so often deviate from the natural properties of water that, constantly pressed from behind, they rush upward; So, if you concentrate your love and become completely united with Christ, you will strive for grief, and not fall down and not be overwhelmed. You will remain entirely Christ's until you finally see Christ Himself, your bridegroom. Keep yourself unapproachable in word, and in deed, and in life, and in thoughts, and movements of the heart, for the evil one tortures you from everywhere and is always looking out for where to overthrow you, where to hurt you, if he finds something unprotected and open to attack. The more purity he sees in you, the more he becomes more inclined to defile, because stains are more visible on clean clothes. Let not the gaze of the eye, laughter attract laughter, the shortness of walks attract nocturnal gatherings, and the night attract destruction! For what is gradually taken away and stolen, although in the present it produces insensible damage, nevertheless later completely destroys the thing. 13. Not all, he says, can bear this word, but to them it is given to eat. When you hear: to whom it was given, do not fall into heresy because of this, do not introduce different natures: earthly, spiritual and average; for some hold false opinions and think that some by nature are destined for complete destruction, and others for salvation, while others are placed in such a state that their own arbitrariness leads them to bad or to good. And I agree that one has more or less ability in comparison with another; but ability alone is not enough for perfection, and the mind must awaken the ability for nature to come into activity, just as a pyrite stone, if struck with iron, itself becomes iron. When you hear: to whom it is given to eat, add: given to those who are called and those who have the disposition to do so; for when we also hear: neither willing nor current, but a merciful God (Rom. 9:16), I advise you to mean the same. Since there are people who think so highly of their merits that they attribute everything to themselves, and not to the One who created and made them wise, not to the Giver of goods, the Word of God teaches such that God’s help is needed in order to wish good; Moreover, the very choice of what is due is something Divine, a gift of God’s love for mankind. For it is necessary that the matter of salvation depend both on us and on God. Therefore it is said: neither the one who wants, that is, not one who wants, nor the flowing only, but also the merciful God. Then, since the very will was from God, the apostle rightly attributed everything to God. Whether you are running or striving, you still need the One who gives the crown. Unless the Lord builds a house, those who build it labor in vain; and unless the Lord preserves the city, he who watches it in vain (Ps. 127:1). I know, he says, that running does not depend on the lungs, war does not depend on the strong, victory does not depend on warriors, and the pier is not in the power of skilled swimmers, but it is up to God to arrange the victory and bring the boat into the pier. 14. And perhaps what is said and understood in another place and what came to my mind on the occasion of what was said, needs to be added here in order to share my wealth with you. The mother of the sons of Zebedee asked, suffering from love of children and not knowing the extent of what she was asking for, but she was excused by the excess of love and goodwill that she should have for children, because there is nothing more compassionate than a mother; and I say this to make it a duty to honor mothers; So, the mother of the sons of Zebedee asked Jesus, so that one could sit on His right hand and the other on His left. What about the Savior? First he asks: can they drink the cup that He Himself has to drink? And when they said: we can, and the Savior did not contradict this (for he knew that the same cup would lead them, or, better said, would lead them to perfection), then what does he say? They will drink the cup, but those who sit on My right hand and on My left cannot give My food, He says (Matthew 20:23), but to them it is given to eat. So, neither the sovereign mind, nor work, nor words, nor wisdom, nor fasting, nor vigil, nor reclining on the bare ground, nor flowing streams of tears mean anything? Does all this mean nothing? But by some pre-election, Jeremiah is sanctified, and others are separated in their mother’s womb? 15. I am afraid that the absurd thought will not be added to this, as if the soul had another life, and then was united with this body, and for the life there, some receive the gift of prophecy here, while others, who lived badly there, are condemned. But since it is extremely absurd and incongruous to allow this to happen with the teachings of the Church (although others are amused by such teachings, it is not safe for us to be amused by such talk), then in this place add to the words: to whom it is given to eat: that is, to those who are worthy; and in order to become worthy, they not only received from the Father, but also gave to themselves. 16. The essence is eunuchs, those who were born from their mother’s womb, etc. (Matthew 19:12). I really wish I could say something strong about the eunuchs. Don’t think highly of yourself, eunuchs by nature! It may be that you are involuntarily chaste, because your chastity has not been subjected to temptation and has not been proven by experience. What is done well by natural inclination does not deserve approval; and what is done according to free will is commendable. What honor is there to the fire that it burns? Burning is its natural property. Or the water that flows down? This property was given to her from the Creator. What honor is it to the snow that it is cold? The sun that shines? It shines involuntarily. Show me you mean well. And you will show this if, being carnal, you become spiritual; if, carried away by the weight of the flesh, you become inspired by the mind; if you, born low, turn out to be heavenly; if you are bound by the flesh, you will appear above the flesh. 17. So, since it is not commendable to understand this about one bodily thing, I demand something else from the eunuchs. Do not commit adultery in relation to the Divine! Those who have joined Christ, do not dishonor Christ! Perfected by the Spirit, do not make the Spirit equal to yourselves! Even if he were still pleasing to man, says Paul, he would not be a servant of Christ (Gal. 1:10); if he served the creature, he would not be called a Christian. For why is the name Christian important? Is it not because Christ is God (unless I accept this name not out of passion, as a person attached to Christ by earthly love)? Although I honor Peter, I am not called a Petrian; I also revere Paul, but I have never been called a Paulian. I do not agree to borrow a name from man, being created from God. Thus, if you are called a Christian because you recognize Christ as God, then call yourself and be a Christian in both name and deed. But if you are called in the name of Christ because you love Christ, then you attribute to Him no more than if you had adopted to Him one of the other names that are given to people according to their occupation or trade. 18. You see these zealots of horse races: they are named by their color and by the side on which they stand. But you know these names even without my reminder. If in the same sense you are called a Christian, then your name is very unimportant, even if you are proud of it. And if you are called in the sense that you confess Christ as God, then prove your confession by deeds. If God is a creature, then even now you serve the creature, and not the Creator. If the Holy Spirit is a creature, then you were baptized in vain, and although in two parts you are healthy (it would be better to say, in both parts you are not healthy), yet in one you are in extreme danger. Imagine that the Trinity is one pearl, having the same appearance and equal brilliance everywhere: if one part of this pearl is damaged, then all the pleasantness of the stone will be lost. When you dishonor the Son in order to honor the Father, the Father does not accept your honoring. The Father will not be glorified by the dishonor of the Son. If a wise son makes his father happy (Prov. 10:1), then how much less will the honor of the son be an honor for the father? And if you accept this: child, do not glory in your father’s dishonor (Sir. 3:10), then the father will not be glorified by the dishonor of his son. If you dishonor the Holy Spirit, then the Son does not accept your honor, for although the Spirit is not like the Son from the Father, yet from the same Father. Either give honor to the whole, or dishonor the whole, in order to at least show a mind that agrees with itself. I don’t accept your half-hearted piety; I want you to be completely pious (and how I still wish this! Forgive the movement of my heart; I also feel pain for those who hate!). You were my member, and although you are now cut off, perhaps you will be a member again, which is why I speak condescendingly. 19. This is what it is for eunuchs to maintain chastity in the consideration of the Divine, for fornication and adultery are called not only sin in the consideration of the body, but also any sin, especially lawlessness in the consideration of the Divine. Perhaps you will ask: how can we prove this? It is said: I have gone astray in my undertakings (Ps. 106:39). Here you also see the shameless act of fornication. It is also said: and committed fornication with a tree (Jer. 3:9). You see that there is also a religion (θρησκεία) that is adulterous. So, while maintaining bodily chastity, do not commit fornication mentally. Do not force us to conclude that you involuntarily observe carnal chastity, because you are not chaste in that in which you have the opportunity to be a fornicator. Why have you committed your wickedness? Why do you all strive for evil so much that one and the same thing has become called either eunuch or wicked? Join the husbands, and finally reason as is typical for a husband. Avoid women's meetings; do not add shameful teaching to your shameful name. Do I want me to continue the word, or is that enough of what has already been said? However, may the eunuchs also be honored by the following words of Christ, for they serve to their praise. 20. The essence is eunuchs, says Christ, who were born from their mother’s womb; and they are eunuchs, who are gathered together from men; and the essence, which they have distorted to themselves, is the Kingdom for the sake of the Heavenly: He who is able to contain it, let him contain it (v. 12). It seems to me that the word, evading the corporeal, depicts the highest through the corporeal; for it was small, perhaps even extremely weak and unworthy of words, to stop the concept at only bodily eunuchs, but we must imagine something worthy of the spirit. So, some seem to be naturally disposed towards good. When I say: by nature, I do not demean the will, but I assume both – the inclination towards goodness, and the will, which puts the natural inclination into action. And others are such that teaching purifies them, cutting off passions in them; and I mean them by eunuchs, who were gathered together from people; when an instructive word, separating good from bad and eliminating one and prescribing the other (as for example, in the commandment: turn away from evil and do good (Ps. 33:15)), creates spiritual chastity in them. I also praise this kind of eunuchs, I even highly praise both the mentors and the disciples, the former because they know how to cut off, and the latter because they endure cutting off even better. 21. And those who have distorted the Kingdom for themselves for the sake of the Heavenly. Others did not have mentors, but became praiseworthy mentors for themselves. Your mother did not teach you what she should, nor did your father, nor the priest, nor the bishop, nor any other of those who are entrusted to teach, but you yourself, having activated your mind, ignited the spark of good with your free will, distorted yourself, cut off the root, destroyed the instruments of sin, acquired such a skill in virtue that it became almost impossible for you to strive for evil. Therefore, I praise this generation of eunuchs, even more than other generations. He who is able to contain, let him contain. Choose whatever you want: either follow the teacher, or be a teacher for yourself. It is only shameful if the passions are not cut off; and whoever cut them off, do not consider it different. For the mentor is a creature of God, and you are from God. Although the mentor will anticipate your honor, although goodness will be your own doing - in both cases it is equally good: 22. Let us only cut off passions from ourselves, so that some root of sorrow may spring up and do dirty tricks (Heb. 12:15), let us only follow the image, let us only honor the Archetype. Cut off bodily passions, cut off also spiritual ones, for the more honest the soul is than the body, the more honest it is to cleanse the soul rather than the body. If cleansing the body is one of the praiseworthy deeds, then look how much more important and higher the cleansing of the soul is. Cut off Aryan's wickedness, cut off Sabelli's evil faith: and do not unite more than is necessary, and do not divide wickedly; do not combine the Three into one Person and do not make the Three different by nature. It is commendable to confess the One if you understand unity well; It is commendable to confess the Three, if you divide correctly, that is, you allow the division of Persons, and not the Divinity. 23. I command this to the laity, this I command to the priests, and likewise to those who are entrusted with authority. Help the word, everyone who has been given the opportunity to help by God. It is a great thing to prevent murder, to punish adultery, to curb rapacity; it is incomparably higher to instill godliness and teach sound doctrine. My word, struggling for the Holy Trinity, will not have as much power as your command, if you stop the lips of evil-minded people, help the persecuted, stop the murderers, prevent murder; I mean not only physical, but also mental murder; for every sin is the death of the soul. 24. With this let the word end; I still have a request to make to those gathered here. Husbands and wives, bosses and subordinates, elders, youths and maidens, people of all ages! Suffer any damage to property or body; Just do not tolerate damage to the doctrine of the Divine. I worship the Father, I worship the Son, I worship the Holy Spirit, or better yet, I, who say this, worship before all of you, and after all of you, and with all of you, our Lord Christ Himself, to whom be glory and dominion forever. Amen. Committed to marriage.