Беседа II

At the beginning of creation: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). 1. I am filled with great joy today, seeing your kind faces. And truly, it is not so much that child-loving parents rejoice and have fun when their children surround them on all sides and give them great pleasure with their beauty and their helpfulness, as I now rejoice and rejoice when I see how this spiritual council of yours has flocked here with such decorum and with a lively desire to listen to the Word of God, and how you, having despised carnal food, hasten to a spiritual feast and by your very deeds justify the words of the Lord: “not about bread.” man alone shall live, but also by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Let us also act like the farmers: just as they, when they see that the earth has already been cleared and freed from harmful plants, throw seeds in great abundance, so we, when, by the grace of God, this spiritual field has been cleared of painful passions, when the amusement has stopped and no one has confusion and storm in their thoughts, but there has come a great silence and calm in the minds flying and soaring to heaven itself, so to speak, and contemplating spiritual objects instead of carnal ones, let us talk a little with your love and venture today into more subtle reflections, offering you teaching from the Divine Scripture. If we do not do this now, when there is fasting, contempt (of the pleasures) of the belly and such a proper mood of thoughts, then when will we be able to offer this to your love? Is it then, when there is amusement, excess in food and great carelessness? But then we cannot do this properly, and you, flooded by waves of thoughts, like some kind of cloud, will not be able to accept anything from the proposed teaching. But if there is a time for such teachings, it is now, when the slave no longer rebels against her mistress, but, having become quiet, shows great obedience and obedience, taming the impulses of the flesh and remaining within her limits. And fasting is the tranquility of our souls, the adornment of the elders, the mentor of the young, the teacher of the chaste; he adorns every age and gender with a kind of diadem. There is no noise, no shouting, no cutting of meat, no running of cooks anywhere today; all this has stopped, and our city now resembles an honest, modest and chaste wife. When I think about the sudden change that has occurred today, and remember the turmoil of yesterday, I am amazed and amazed at the power of fasting, how, having entered into the conscience of everyone, it changed the thoughts, cleansed the minds not only of those in power, but also of ordinary people, not only of free people, but also of slaves, not only of men, but also of women, not only of the rich, but also of the poor, not only of those who know Greek, but also among barbarians. But what can we say about those in charge and ordinary people? Fasting even inclined the conscience of the one wearing the diadem to the same obedience as others. Today you will not see the difference between the meals of the rich and the poor, but everywhere the food is simple, alien to sophistication and whims; and they begin a simple meal with greater pleasure than when a lot of exquisite dishes and wine were offered. 2. Do you see, beloved, from what has been said, the power of fasting? Therefore, today, with greater zeal than before, I decide to speak with you, knowing that I am throwing seeds into rich and deep soil, which can soon bring us abundant fruits from sowing. Let us consider, if you like, the meaning of the words read to us today from blessed Moses. But listen, I ask you, with attention to our words, because we will not speak from ourselves, but what the grace of God will inspire us for your benefit. What is this? “In the beginning God created heaven and earth.” Here (first of all) the appropriate question is: why does the blessed prophet, who lived many generations after (the event), tell us this? Not without reason and not without purpose. In the beginning, God, who created man, himself talked with people, as long as people could hear him. So He came to Adam; thus denounced Cain; This is how he talked with Noah; so visited Abraham. When the entire human race fell into great wickedness, even then the Creator did not turn away at all from the entire human race; but since people have become unworthy of conversation with Him, wanting to resume communication with them, he sends Scripture to people, as if to those far away, in order to attract the whole human race to himself. This Scripture was sent by God and brought by Moses. What does Scripture say? “In the beginning God created heaven and earth.” See, beloved, this is the special excellence of this wonderful prophet. All the other prophets spoke either about what was to happen after a long time, or about what was to happen at the same time, but he, the blessed one, who lived many generations later (after the creation of the world), was honored, by the guidance of the highest right hand, to utter what was created by the Lord of all even before his birth. That is why he began to say this: “In the beginning God created heaven and earth,” as if calling to all of us with a loud voice: I am not saying this because of the teaching of people; Who called these (heaven and earth) from non-existence into being, He also moved my tongue to tell about them. So, I ask you, let us listen to these words as if we were listening not to Moses, but to the Lord of the universe himself, speaking through the mouth of Moses, and let us say goodbye for a long time to our own reasoning: “for the thoughts of men are fearful, and their thoughts are sinful” 7 (Wis. 9:14). With great gratitude, let us accept what is said (by Moses), without stepping out of our boundaries and without experiencing what is higher us, as the enemies of truth did, who wanted to comprehend everything with their minds, without thinking that human nature cannot comprehend the creation of God. If you comprehend what lies before your eyes and what, according to God’s love for mankind, human wisdom produces, then how will you, a human being, comprehend what God has created? And what excuse can you have, what excuse, when you are so crazy and dreaming about what is above your nature? To say that everything came from a ready-made substance, and not to admit that the Creator of the universe produced everything from nothing, would be a sign of extreme madness. So, stopping the lips of the foolish, the blessed prophet at the very beginning of the book said this: “In the beginning God created heaven and earth.” When you hear: “create,” then do not invent anything else, but humbly believe what is said. It is God who creates and transforms everything, and arranges everything according to His will. Notice here the extreme condescension: (Moses) does not speak about invisible forces, does not say: “in the beginning God created Angels or Archangels”; It was not in vain and not without purpose that he chose this path of teaching for us. Since he speaks to the Jews, who were tied to the present and could not contemplate anything comprehended by the mind, he first raises them from sensory objects to the Creator of the universe, so that, having learned the Artist from works, they would worship the Creator and not stop at creatures. If even after this they did not cease to idolize creatures and pay respect to the lowest animals, then to what madness would they not have reached if He had not shown such condescension? 3. Do not be surprised, beloved, that Moses follows this path, first of all turning his speech to the rude Jews, when Paul, in the time of grace, after such a dissemination of the sermon, began to talk with the Athenians, teaching them instruction from visible objects, saying this: “God, who created the world and everything in it, this Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in churches made with hands, nor by hands. accepts the pleasures of men” (Acts 17:24–25). Since he knew that such instruction corresponded to them, he chose this path. Consistent with those who received instruction from him, he, guided by the Holy Spirit, taught the teaching. And in order to convince you that the reason for this is the difference of persons and the rudeness of the listeners, listen to how, in the Epistle to the Colossians, he no longer goes this way, but talks with them differently and says: “For by Him all things were created, even in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, whether dominions, whether principalities, whether powers: by Him all things were created.” ( Col. 1:16 ). And John, the son of thunder, proclaimed: “All things were made by Him, and without Him they were nothing” (John 1:3). But Moses (taught) not so, and rightly so, because it would not be prudent to give solid food to those who still need to be fed with milk. Just as teachers who receive children from their parents teach them the first rudiments of learning, and those who receive children from these teachers impart to them more perfect knowledge, so did the blessed Moses, and the teacher of languages, and the son of thunder. He, having accepted the human race at the very beginning, taught his listeners the first rudiments; and these, having received it from Moses, passed on the most perfect teaching. Now we have learned the reason for the condescension (of Moses) and the fact that he, under the inspiration of the Spirit, expounded everything, adapting himself to the listeners. But at the same time, he purges all heresies that appear in the Church like tares with these same words: “In the beginning God created heaven and earth.” Whether a Manichaean, who claims that matter existed before, or Marcion, or Valentinus, or any of the pagans, comes to you, say to them: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” “But he doesn’t believe the Scriptures?” So turn away from him as from a frantic and insane person. Whoever does not believe the Creator of the universe and, as it were, accuses the truth of lying, how can he ever deserve forgiveness? These people have a feigned appearance, and, putting on the mask of meekness, hide a wolf under sheep's skin. But do not be deluded, but hate this one even more for the very fact that in front of you, a slave just like him, he pretends to be meek, but has raised a battle against the Lord of all, God, and does not feel that he is going against his own salvation. We will hold on to the indestructible foundation and turn again to the beginning: “In the beginning God created heaven and earth.” See how the Divine nature is revealed in the very image of creation: how it creates contrary to human custom - first it spreads out the sky, and then it underlies the earth, first (it makes) the roof, and then the foundation. Who saw, who heard (similar)? This never happens in human creations, but when God commands, then everything yields and obeys His will. Let us not test the works of God with our human mind, but, looking at what has been created, we will marvel at the Artist. “For the invisible things of Him,” says Scripture, “from the creation of the world were made visible by the minds of the created things” (Rom. 1:20). 4. If the enemies of truth insist that it is impossible to produce anything from something that does not exist, then we ask them: was the first man created from earth or from something else? No doubt they will agree with us and say that it is from the earth. So let them tell us how flesh was formed from the earth? From the earth there may be dirt, brick, clay, tiles: but how did flesh come into being? Like bones, nerves, veins, fat, skin, nails, hair? How can one existing substance produce so many different quality things? They cannot even open their mouths to this. But what can we say about our body? Let them tell us about the bread that we eat daily; How does it, being monotonous, turn into blood, phlegm, bile and various juices? Most of the bread is the color of wheat, and the blood is red or black. Thus, if they cannot tell us about what is before our eyes every day, much less can they tell us about the other creatures of God. But if they, even after such a wealth of evidence, begin to stubbornly maintain their co-questioning, we, despite this, will not stop telling them the same thing: “In the beginning God created heaven and earth.” This one saying can overthrow all the supports of opponents and destroy to the very foundations all human reasoning, and lead them themselves to the path of truth, if only they want to give up arguing. The whole earth, he says, “is invisible and unsettled.” Why, tell me, (God) made the sky bright and perfect, and the earth ugly 11? And He did not do this in vain, but so that you, having cognized His creativity in the best part of creation, would leave other bewilderments and not think that this happened due to a lack of power. Moreover, He made the earth ugly for another reason. Since she is our nurse and mother; from it we originated and we feed, it is for us both a homeland and a common coffin, to it we return again, and through it we receive countless benefits - so that people do not begin to revere it beyond what is necessary for what is useful and necessary, it shows you in advance ugly and unsettled 12, so that you attribute the benefits received from the earth not to the nature of the earth, but to the One who brought it from non-existence into existence. That’s why he says: “the earth is invisible and unsettled.” Perhaps we have brought your mind into a tense state too soon and too early with abstract reasoning; therefore, we consider it necessary to stop the word here, asking your love to remember what was said, and always have it in fresh memory; and when you leave here, then, along with the sensual meal, offer a spiritual meal: let the husband convey something of what is said here, and let the wife listen, let the children learn, and let the servants receive a lesson, and thus let the house be a church, so that the devil will run away from there and this crafty demon and the enemy of our salvation will hide, and the grace of the Holy Spirit will rest there, perfect peace and unanimity will protect the living. Remembering what was said before, you will more readily accept what is offered later; and we will also expound with great zeal and abundance what Divine grace will give when we see that what is sown grows. Likewise, the farmer, when he sees that the seeds are growing, then looks after the fields with great zeal and eagerly begins to sow other places. 5. So, in order to arouse more zeal in us, show the exact preservation of what has already been said and combine great concern for life with true dogmas. “Let your light shine before men,” says (the Lord), “so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Let life correspond to dogmas, and dogmas will be the heralds of life. “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26), and works without faith are dead. If we contain sound dogmas, but do not care about life, there will be no benefit to us from dogmas; and again, if we care about life, but are lame in dogmas, there will be no benefit in this case either. Therefore, it is necessary that our spiritual house is strong on both sides. “Everyone...,” says the Lord, “who hears these words of mine and does them, will be like a wise man” (Matthew 7:24). You see how He wants us not only to listen, but also to do and show with deeds what we hear, calling the one who acts in accordance with the words wise, and the one who does not go beyond words, a fool. And this is fair, because the latter, says the Lord, “built[m] his church on an arctic fox,” from which she could not withstand the pressure of the winds, but immediately fell (Matthew 7:26–27). Such are careless souls who have not established themselves on the spiritual rock. (In the words of the Lord) we are not talking about a building and a house, but about souls that are shaken by small temptations. Under the name of wind, rain and rivers, the Lord showed the effect of temptations on us. A firm, cheerful and sober person is strengthened even more by this, and the more sorrows multiply, the more his courage increases; but a careless and careless person, as soon as a light breeze of temptation blows on him, he immediately wavers and falls, not because of the nature of the temptations, but because of the weakness of his will. Therefore, we need to be sober, watchful and be ready for everything, so that we can be restrained in happiness and not lose heart in sorrows, but maintain great prudence, constantly sending gratitude to the man-loving God. If we arrange our lives this way, we will receive great grace from above and will be able to lead our present life in safety, and in the future life prepare for ourselves great boldness, which may we all achieve, by 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 to the ages of ages. Amen. Chrysostom reads: “Λογισμοὶ γὰρ ἀνθρώπων (instead of “θνητῶν” – “mortals,” as is usually read in publications) δειλοὶ καὶ ἐπισφαλεῖς αἱ ἐπίνοιαι αὐτῶν (instead of “ἡμῶν” – “our”). You might be interested in: