Беседа XIX

“And Cain said to his brother Abel, Let us go into the field” (Gen. 4:8). 1. Just as incurable wounds do not respond to either acute or softening medicines, so the soul, once it has become a captive and indulged in some sin, if it does not want to think about its own benefit, does not correct itself, no matter how much someone inspires it; She, as if completely deaf, does not receive any benefit from the admonition, not because she cannot, but because she does not want. However, with the will (of a person) it is not the same as with bodily wounds. In bodily nature, illnesses are often incurable, but with the will it is not so: on the contrary, often an evil person, if he wants, can change and become good, and a good person, if he is not vigilant, can become corrupted. The Lord of all, having created our nature free, although He does everything on His part and, following His love for mankind and knowing the secrets hidden in the depths of the soul, exhorts, advises and warns against evil deeds, but does not force, but by offering appropriate medicine, leaves everything to the will of the patient. This is what happened now with Cain. After such (God’s) care for him, look into what frenzy he fell into. He had to, having realized his sin, take care of correction; and he, like a drunk, adds another ulcer to the first illness and wound and, not taking the medicine offered to him with such zeal, on the contrary, hastening to carry out the planned murder, begins the matter with cunning and guile, and with flattering words deceives his brother. This is how a person who gives himself over to evil becomes like a beast. Just as great and honorable (by nature) is this rational being, especially when it strives to do good, just as cruelly does it resemble fierce beasts when it deviates towards evil. Having fallen into their savagery, this meek and reasonable creature far surpasses them in cruelty. Let's see what happened in the present case. “And Cain said,” it is said, “to his brother Abel: let us go to the field.” The words of a brother, but the intention of a murderer. What are you doing, Cain? Don't you know who you're talking to? Don't you think you're talking to your brother? Don't you think he was born from the same mother as you? Don't you understand the vileness of your enterprise? Aren't you afraid of the Judge, Who cannot be deceived? Don't you tremble at the thought of crime? Why are you dragging your brother into the field and taking him away from his father’s embrace? Why are you depriving him of his fatherly help? What strangeness is it that you are now dragging your brother into the field - now you are trying to do something that you have not done before and, replacing brotherly love with the guise of friendship, you want to act hostile towards him? What a frenzy! What ferocity! Let us suppose that you are blinded by your mind; You don’t pay any attention to brotherly affection, you don’t even know nature itself; but why did you arm yourself so much against someone who did not offend you in any way? For what guilt and on the part of the parents do you want to cause them such grief, and to be the first to commit this terrible deed, do you want to be the first to show them this violent death? Is this how you pay them for their education? What devilish trick aroused you to this matter? Can you really say that the favor of the common Lord towards him (Abel) made him proud before you? Was it not to turn you away from this murderous intention that God subjugated your brother and placed you under your authority, saying: “His appeal is to you, and you have it?” Indeed, these words must be understood about the submission of a brother (to Cain). And some say that God told him this about the sacrifice he made: “his appeal is to you,” i.e. gift, “and you have this,” i.e. you will use it yourself. So, having proposed both (explanations), I leave it to your discretion to accept the one that seems more consistent to you. But it seems to me that this is said about my brother. “And it came to pass, while they were on the ground, that Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him” (Gen. 4:8). A terrible act, destructive insolence, a hateful deed, an unforgivable sin, the plan of a brutal soul! “Against your brother Abel,” he says, “and kill him.” Oh, vile hand! Oh, pathetic right hand! However, it is not the hand that should be called vile and pathetic, but the intention that this member served. Therefore, let's say this: oh, daring, vile and pathetic intention! And no matter what we say, we will not say everything that it deserves. How his hand did not become numb! How could she raise the sword and strike? How did his soul not fly out of his body? How was she able to carry out this lawless undertaking? How did she not waver and change her intentions? Why didn’t you think about nature? Why didn’t you think about its end before doing the deed? How could he, after committing the murder, look at his brother’s body trembling on the ground? How could he see a corpse lying on the ground and not immediately fall into exhaustion from the sight? If, after so many years, every day we see people dying, dying a natural death, and people who are not at all close to us, we lament and, even if our enemy died, stop enmity, then all the more Cain should have shuddered and immediately given up the ghost when he saw that the one with whom he had recently talked was a brother from the same mother and from the same father, born from the same womb, having attracted God to himself favor, suddenly lies, lifeless and motionless, and trembles on the ground. 2. But let's see what, after this ungodly act and after such a crime that does not deserve any apology; - Let's see what kind of condescension and love for mankind the God of all shows. “And God spoke to Cain” (Gen. 4:9). Is this one thing, that He honored with His conversation the one who committed such a crime, which shows goodness? If we often abhor people like us when we see them committing a similar crime, then we should be all the more surprised at the good God who has shown so much patience - and quite rightly so. He is a Physician and a loving Father. As a Doctor, He uses all measures and means to restore health to those suffering from severe diseases; and as a loving Father, He desires, by the power of fatherly love, to bring (children) who, through carelessness, have lost their nobility, to their former prosperous state. Since His goodness is immeasurably great, He wants to show the one who dares to commit such lawlessness His great love for mankind, He says to him: “Where is Abel, your brother?” (Gen.4:9). Is God's condescension great and immeasurable? (God) asks not because he does not know; no, He did the same with him (Cain) as with his father: nothing prevents us from telling about this again. In fact, seeing him (Adam) hiding from the shame of his nakedness, God asked: “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9), not out of ignorance, but wanting to encourage him, so that through the confession of his fall he would wash away his sin (from ancient times and from the beginning it was customary for Him to demand from us confession of sins and grant forgiveness), so now He asks Cain and says: “Where is Abel, your brother?” The philanthropic Lord assumes the appearance of ignorance in order to induce the person who committed such a crime to confess his sin with a question and so that he can receive some forgiveness and (take advantage of) philanthropy. “Where is your brother Abel?” What about reckless, insensitive, stubborn and shameless? He should have thought that (God) was asking not out of ignorance, but in order to hear a confession from him and admonish us not to pronounce a sentence on our brothers before the case is considered; it would be necessary to think about the guardianship of the Lord - how He, wanting to keep him from the enterprise and knowing the plan of his soul even before bringing him into action, used protective measures; It would behoove him, having thought about all this, to stop his fury, tell what happened, show the ulcer to the doctor and take medicine for it; and it further enlarges the wound and intensifies the hardening of the ulcer. “And speech,” it is said, “we don’t know.” Look what a shameless answer! Are you talking to a person who can be deceived? Or do you not know, pathetic and unfortunate, who is talking to you? Don’t you understand that He asks out of His great goodness, wanting only to find a reason to show His love for mankind and so that, after He has done everything on His part, you no longer deserve any apology, since you brought yourself to punishment? “And I say: we don’t know. Food am I my brother’s guardian?” Notice here how conscience denounces how he (Cain), forced, so to speak, by conscience, did not stop at this word: “I do not know,” but added: “Am I my brother’s guardian?” I just didn't expose myself. Yes, if everything was done according to the (natural) order and according to the law of nature, then you should also be the guardian of brotherly happiness, because nature instilled this in (you), and those born of the same mother should be guardians of each other. And if you did not want this and refused to be your brother’s guardian, then why did you become a murderer, kill the one who did not offend you in any way, and also thought that there was no one to convict you? But wait and see that the murdered one himself will be your accuser, the one lying dead will loudly accuse you, the living and walking one. “And God said: What have you done this?” 127 (Gen.4:10). These words are also significant. Why, he says, did you do this? Why did you commit this godless insolence, a vile act, an unforgivable deed, an unbearable madness, a new and unprecedented murder, introduced into human society for the first time by your hand? Why did he do this great and terrible deed, worse than which there is no sin? “The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the earth.” Am I a man, and I hear only the voice that comes out of my mouth? I am God, and I can hear both the one crying through blood and the one lying on the ground. This is how far the voice of this blood carries, which rises from the earth to heaven and, bypassing the heaven of heavens and higher powers, reaches the very throne of the King and complains about your murder, denouncing the wicked deed. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the earth.” Have you caused such an offense to a stranger and outsider? No, to your own brother, who did not offend you in any way. But perhaps My favor brought this murder upon him, and you, not having the strength to resist Me, poured out your indomitable rage on him? Therefore, I will impose such a punishment on you that both your crime and the punishment imposed on you for it cannot be forgotten, but so that what happened to you will be a lesson for all those who follow. And because you did this and carried out your evil plan and, out of strong envy, decided to kill, “you are cursed on the earth” (Gen. 4:11). 3. Do you notice, beloved, the difference in the curse? Do not let this pass without attention, but judge the severity of the crime by the severity of the curse. To what extent this sin (Cain) is greater than the crime of the primordial (Adam), this can be seen by anyone who wishes to do so from the difference in the curse. There (the Lord) said: “Cursed is the earth because of your deeds” (Gen. 3:17), and poured out a curse on the earth, taking care specifically of man; and here, since the deed is disastrous, the insolence is flagrant, the crime is unforgivable, then (the perpetrator) himself is subject to a curse: “You are cursed,” he says, “on the earth.” He acted almost in the same way as the snake, which served as an instrument of the devil's plan; Just as he brought in death through deception, so this one, having seduced his brother and led him into the field, armed his hand against him and committed murder. Therefore, just as the Lord said to the snake: “Cursed are you from all the beasts of the earth” (Gen. 3:14), so also to this one, because he did the same. Like the devil, driven by envy and malice, and, unable to bear the indescribable benefits bestowed upon man from the very beginning, as a result of this envy, decided on the deception that introduced death; So this one, seeing that the Lord favored his brother, was moved to murder out of envy. Therefore, God says to him: “Cursed are you from the earth.” Cursed, i.e. You will be from the same land, “even if you opened your mouth to receive the blood of your brother from your hand” (Gen. 4:11). You will be cursed by the very earth that was stained with blood shed so villainously and by such an unholy hand. Then Divine Scripture, defining the curse more clearly, says: “Whenever you make earth, he will not apply his strength to you” (Gen. 4:12). Great is the punishment, heavy is the burden of indignation. He says, you will work, you will begin to make every effort on your part to cultivate the land, saturated with such blood, but you will not receive fruits from these great labors; no matter what efforts you make, they will all be fruitless for you. Yes, and the punishment will not stop there, but “you will be groaning and shaking on the earth.” This is the greatest punishment yet - to moan and shake incessantly. Since you, he says, have used your bodily strength and the strength of your limbs for evil, for this I condemn you to constant groaning and shaking, so that not only you yourself have a constant lesson and reminder of your lawless act, but also everyone who sees you, by your very appearance, as if in a loud voice, would be admonished not to dare to do such things, so that the punishment imposed on you would inspire everyone not to stain the earth with such blood. For this reason, I am not subjecting you to quick death, so that your deed is not consigned to oblivion; I will make you drag out a life worse than death, so that you will know by experience what a crime you have committed. “And Cain said to the Lord: My great guilt is forsaken by me” (Gen. 4:13). We can learn many things that are very useful for our salvation from now on, if we only want to be attentive. “And Cain said to the Lord: my greatest guilt is that I shall be left behind.” Here's a full confession! So great, he says, is the sin I have committed that I cannot receive forgiveness. Now, (someone) will say, he confessed (the sin) and confessed it with great accuracy. But there is no benefit from this, beloved, because confession is untimely. This should have been done in due time, when it was possible to bend the Judge to mercy. Now remember what I recently said, that on that terrible day and at that impartial trial, each of us confesses our sins, having before our eyes those terrible punishments and inevitable torments, but will not receive any benefit from it, having missed time. Repentance takes place and has untold power, while the punishment has not yet been determined (at the final judgment). Therefore, I beg you, as long as this wondrous medicine can be effective, let us use it; and while we are still in this life, we will accept the medicine of repentance, knowing for sure that there will be no benefit to us from repentance when the spectacle closes and the time of exploits ends. 4. But let's return to the subject. Cain needed to confess his sin, fall (before God), beg and ask for forgiveness at the same time when he was asked by the Lord: “Where is Abel your brother?” but at that time he rejected medicine, and now, after the verdict, when everything is already over, when the blood of his brother lying on the ground loudly accused him, he confesses and does not receive any benefit from it. Why did the prophet say: “The righteous is the first word to himself” (Proverbs 18:17). So this one, if he had preceded the reproof of the Lord, perhaps he would have been rewarded with some love for mankind due to the infinite goodness of the Lord. There is no sin, no matter how great, that overcomes God’s love for mankind if we repent at the appropriate time and ask for forgiveness. “And Cain said...: My greatest guilt will remain with me.” Confession is sufficient, but not timely. “And he says...: If you drive me out 128 this day from the face of the earth, I will hide from your presence, and I will be groaning and shaking on the earth: and it will be 129 whoever finds me will kill me” (Gen. 4:14). Look, what touching words, but spoken inappropriately and untimely, did not have any power (before God). “And he said: If you drive me out this day from the face of the earth, I will hide from your face, and I will be groaning and shaking on the earth: and it will be that whoever finds me will kill me.” If You, he says, made me cursed by the earth, if You yourself turned away from me and subjected me to such punishment that I should groan and shake; then nothing will stop anyone from killing (me) who is in such a state and deprived of Your blessing. I will be defenseless against anyone who wants to kill me, because I myself cannot defend myself with my relaxed, trembling limbs; Moreover, when they find out that I am deprived of Your protection, then anyone who wants to will boldly kill me. What about the humane and good Lord? “And the Lord God said to him: It is not so” (Gen. 4:15). Don’t think, he says, that it will happen like that. No, it is impossible for anyone who wants to kill you, but by continuing your life I will increase your sorrow and teach a lesson to subsequent generations, so that your appearance will serve as an admonishment for them and no one will follow your example. “And the Lord God said to him: not so; “Whoever kills Cain will take revenge seven times.” Perhaps we have already said a lot and we have brought (your) body into considerable fatigue? But what to do? Seeing your attentiveness and ardent zeal for listening, I want to consider and explain the rest if possible. What does it mean: “he will take revenge seven times?” But again I am afraid that the abundance of words will prevent you from retaining what has been said in your memory, and may seem like a burden to you. If you are not tired, then be patient; Having explained the presenting place, we will finish the word. “And the Lord God said to him: not so; Whoever kills Cain will take revenge seven times. And the Lord God put a sign on Cain, so that everyone who finds him will not kill him” (Gen. 4:15) Are you afraid, he says, that they will not kill you? Do not be afraid: this will not happen, because whoever does this exposes himself to punishment seven times greater; For this purpose, I am putting a sign on you, so that no one kills you out of ignorance and suffers such a severe punishment. 5. But it is necessary to show you more clearly how the killer of Cain is subject to the sevenfold punishment. Please be careful. If now, when, as we often told your love in previous days, it is a time of fasting and we enjoy such silence and are free from thoughts that disturb our minds, if we do not now carefully consider what is offered in the Divine Scripture, then at what other time can we learn this? So I advise, I ask and pray, and just as I am not hugging your knee, let us listen to what is said with a tense mind, so that we can return home with a noble and high acquisition. What does it mean: “he will take revenge seven times?” Firstly, the number seven in Divine Scripture is taken to mean plurality, and this can be found in many places, for example, “bring forth unfruits seven” (1 Samuel 2:5) and the like. And here you are shown the severity of sin, that he (Cain) committed not one sin, but seven sins, and for each sin he had to suffer great punishment. How can we list them? If you calculate, then the first sin is that he envied his brother for God’s favor towards him: and this one sin was already enough to punish him with death; the second - that he (was jealous of) his own brother; the third - that he used cunning; the fourth - that he committed murder; the fifth - that he killed his brother; sixth - that the first committed murder; the seventh - that he lied to God. Have you managed to remember what was said, or, if you want, we will list these sins again so that you can see how each of them and one was enough to subject him (Cain) to the greatest punishment? Who will forgive a person who envyes another because he enjoys God's favor? Here is one, but the greatest and unforgivable sin. Then this sin is even greater when a brother is subjected to envy, and one who has not offended him in any way: here again this is an important sin. The third sin is that (Cain) used cunning, deceived his brother, led him out into the field and was not ashamed of nature itself. The fourth is the very murder he committed. The fifth, who killed his half-brother; sixth, that he was the first to introduce this type of murder; the seventh, that, being questioned by God, he dared to lie. So, God says to Cain, whoever tries to kill you will be punished sevenfold. So don't be afraid of it. Behold, I am putting a sign on you, by which everyone who meets you will recognize you. Your relaxation for life will be useful for subsequent births; and what you did alone without witnesses, everyone will know, seeing you groaning and shaking, and with this trembling of your body, as if speaking and appealing to everyone like this: “No one dare to do such a thing as I did, lest you suffer the same punishment.” 6. Hearing this, beloved, let us not just listen to what is said and not only look at it, so that, gathering here every day, we can enjoy a spiritual meal, because there is no benefit from just listening without actually doing (what we hear). No, thinking about why Cain brought himself to such an unforgivable and grave sin - that out of envy of his brother, who had not offended him in any way, he dared to do such a cruel thing, i.e. to kill our own brother, let us be careful not so much so that we ourselves do not suffer harm, but rather so that we do not cause harm to others. He who truly suffers evil is the one who wants to harm his neighbor. And in order for you to be convinced of the justice of this, look here too, who suffered the evil - the one who killed or the one killed? Obviously the murderer. Why? Because even to this day he who was killed is glorified by the lips of all, blessed and crowned as the first martyr for the truth, as blessed Paul also says: “Abel, who was dead, still speaks” (Heb. 11:4). And the murderer even then led a life more miserable than all people, and in subsequent times he was subjected to universal condemnation and presented in the Divine Scripture as rejected and cursed by God. And this is still in real, final life. And what should follow with both in the next century; and what will each of them, according to his work, receive from the righteous Judge, bliss or the opposite, what word can describe? No one can depict either these joys or sorrows. One will be received by the Kingdom of Heaven and the eternal abodes, and the faces of the patriarchs, prophets and apostles, and the council of all saints, where he will reign for endless ages with the King Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God and God; and the other will be seized by fiery hell and all other eternal torments, and he will suffer for endless centuries, and with him all criminals like him, especially those who in subsequent times indulged in the most vile passions, for which the greater punishment is determined by the common Master. Listen to what blessed Paul says: “For those who sin lawlessly will perish lawlessly” (Rom. 2:12), i.e. will suffer a lighter punishment because they have not received reproof, threat, or correction from the law. “And those who sin in the law will receive judgment by the law.” These, i.e., who acted like those and with the help of the law, will be subjected to the most severe and unbearable punishments. And quite rightly so, because neither the law nor the examples of others who suffered such misfortune made them more prudent and modest. Therefore, I beg you, at least from now on, let us understand by the examples of others and direct our lives towards obedience to the Lord and obedience to His laws. Let neither envy, nor hatred, nor carnal love, nor worldly love of glory and lust for power, nor gluttony, nor any other unclean passion possess our spiritual aspirations; but having cleansed ourselves from all impurity of temporary pleasures and leaving behind all shameful and base passions, let us hasten to that blessed life and to those ineffable blessings that God has prepared for those who love Him and which may we all be worthy of through the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, honor, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Chrysostom ἐποίησας τοῦτο according to Lucian. and Bodleian. sp., and contrary to Alec. sp., where τοῦτο is absent. Zlat. ἐκβάλλεις according to Lucian. and Bodleian. sp., as well as heb. text, and contrary to Alex. sp., where ἐκβαλλεῖς – “drive out.” Zlat. ἔσται according to the above. sp. both in the text and contrary to others, where this word is absent. You might be interested in: