Беседа 11 на псалом 41 41

Ps.41:1. As laziness strives for the fountain of water, so my soul strives for You, O God. And about why the psalm, being introduced into life, is pronounced with singing. And about God's long-suffering. Praise for the attention of listeners during the previous conversation and the need to diversify the subjects of teaching. – Why was psalmody introduced into the Church? – Through sacred songs the soul is cleansed and sanctified. – Sacred songs are especially auspicious when eating and afterward. – The power of love for God depicted by the Psalmist. – How can you love God without seeing Him? – Three motives for this love: the highest beauty of the divine Being, His countless benefits and His greatest love for man in general and for each individual. – An exhortation to show ardent love for God not only in words, but also in deeds. – Love for God protects us from earthly attachments, passions and despondency in misfortunes. – The beneficial effect of singing psalms on the soul of a Christian. 1. Recently, when I talked about Melchizedek 42, you were surprised at the length of my speech, and I was surprised at your diligence in listening and prudence, according to which you, despite the length of the speech, followed me to the end, although my speech was not only long, but also contained many difficult things. Meanwhile, neither its vastness nor its difficulty weakened your zeal. Now I will try to reward you for that work by offering you a clearer conversation. There is no need to always keep the soul of your listeners in tension, because it will soon become exhausted; There is no need to always give her relaxation and peace, because this makes her inactive. It is necessary to diversify the teachings and touch on subjects that are either more generally understandable or more difficult. Then I said that shepherds, when wolves attack their flock, leave the pipe and take up the sling; and now, when the holidays of the Jews, who are worse than any wolves, have passed, we will leave the sling and take up the pipe again, we will stop talking about difficult subjects and turn to others that are clearer, we will take the Psalter of David and engage in that chorus that we all sang today. What is this chorus? “As laziness strives for the source of water, so my soul strives for You, O God.” But first we need to say why psalmody was introduced into our lives and why the prophecies themselves are predominantly pronounced with singing. What is singing used for? Listen. God, seeing that many people are careless, are burdened by reading spiritual scriptures and reluctantly take on this work, and wanting to make this work desirable and destroy the feeling of fatigue, combined a melody with the prophecies, so that everyone, enjoying the harmony of the melody, would offer up sacred hymns to Him with great zeal. In fact, nothing, nothing so elevates and inspires the soul, does not detach it from the earth, does not deliver it from the bonds of the body, does not dispose it to philosophize and despise everything worldly, like consonant singing and a harmoniously composed divine song. Our nature is so delighted by songs and harmonious melodies and has an inclination towards them that even infants, when they cry and are restless, are lulled to sleep by them. The nurses, carrying them in their arms and walking back and forth, hum to them some children's songs and thereby put their eyes to sleep. Often travelers, on a hot afternoon, driving pack animals, continue their journey singing, and with these songs they ease the burden of travel. And not only travelers, but also farmers, when squeezing grape juice, picking or peeling grapes, or doing something else, often also sing. And sailors, working with oars, do the same. Even the women, when they are spinning and straightening the tangled yarn with a comb, sometimes each separately, and sometimes all together sing some kind of song. Nevertheless, women, travelers, farmers, and sailors do this in order to ease the difficulty of work by singing, since the soul, with the sounds of a harmonious song, can more easily endure boredom and work. Therefore, since our soul has an inclination towards this kind of pleasure, so that evil spirits would not spoil everything by introducing depraved songs, God established psalms to protect us from them, from which there is both pleasure and benefit. Harm, destruction, and many other evils can come from worldly songs, because everything that is bad and immoral in them, penetrating into the soul, weakens it and corrupts it. On the contrary, spiritual songs bring great benefit, great edification, great sanctification, and serve as a guide to all wisdom, because their words cleanse the soul, and the Holy Spirit quickly descends into the soul singing these songs. And that those who really sing them with understanding call upon themselves the grace of the Spirit, listen to what Paul says: “Do not get drunk with wine, from which comes debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit... ; further indicates the way of being filled with the Spirit: singing, speaking, and making melody in your hearts to the Lord” (Eph. 5:18, 19). What does it mean: “in your hearts”? This means: with understanding, not so that the mouth pronounces words and the soul wanders somewhere around external objects, but so that the soul listens to what the tongue says. 2. Just as where there is dirt, pigs run, and where there are flowers and fragrances, there are bees, so where there are depraved songs, demons gather, and where there are spiritual songs, the grace of the Spirit descends there and sanctifies the lips and soul. I say this not so that you just praise me, but so that you teach both children and wives to sing such songs not only when doing yarn and other work, but especially at meals. Since the devil plots his intrigues mostly during feasts, with the help of intoxication, satiety, obscene laughter and mental relaxation, then especially then, both before and after the meal, you need to protect yourself from him by shielding yourself with psalms and, getting up from the table, together with your wife and children, sing sacred songs to God. If Paul, having unbearable wounds on himself, carrying a log on his feet and being in prison, at midnight, when everyone was resting in a particularly sweet sleep, together with the Force sang the praises of God, and neither the place, nor the time, nor worries, nor the inclination to sleep, nor fatigue from such labors, nor anything else forced him to stop singing, then how much more should we, enjoying the prosperity and gifts of God, sing Songs of thanksgiving to God, so that if something unclean enters our soul from intoxication and satiety, through psalmody we can drive away all unclean and vicious desires. And just as many of the rich, having soaked a sponge with balm, wipe the tables with it, so that if any stain remains from the food, they can wipe it away and make the table clean, so let us do the same, instead of balm, filling our mouths with spiritual melody, so that if from satiety some impurity occurs in the soul, we can wash it away with this melody, and standing up we will all exclaim together: “You, Lord, You have made me glad with Your creation, and I will admire the works of Your hands” (Ps. 91:5). Let prayer also join the psalmody, so that together with our souls we may sanctify the house itself. Just as those who bring jesters, dancers and obscene women to feasts invite demons and the devil there and fill their houses with many outrages - because from here come quarrels, fornication, adultery and many evils - so those who call to themselves David with the psalter, through him call to themselves Christ. And where Christ is, not a single demon will ever dare not only to enter, but even to look; on the contrary, peace, love and all blessings will flow there as from springs. They turn their house into a spectacle; and you make your home a church. Truly, where there is a psalm, prayer, the rejoicing of the prophets and the God-loving mood of the spirit of those singing, there the meeting can unmistakably be called a church. Even if you do not understand the power of words, at least train your mouth to pronounce them. And the tongue is sanctified by these words when they are pronounced with diligence. If we acquire such a skill for ourselves, then neither by will nor by laziness will we ever leave this wonderful activity, because the skill will encourage us, even against our will, to perform this wonderful service every day. With such chanting, whether someone is old or young, or with a rough voice, or completely unfamiliar with the harmony of singing, there will be no guilt. What is required here is a chaste soul, a cheerful mind, a contrite heart, a strong thought, and a clear conscience. If with these qualities you join the holy choir of God, you can stand alongside David himself. There is no need for a psalter, no stretched strings, no bow, no art, and no instruments; but, if you want, you can make yourself a psalter by mortifying your fleshly members and tuning your body in accordance with your soul. When the flesh does not desire “what is contrary to the spirit” (Gal. 5:17), does not obey his commands and carry them out on this beautiful and wondrous path, then you will compose a spiritual melody. There is no need for art, which is acquired through long-term practice, but only firm determination, and we will gain experience in a very short time. This does not require a special place or a special time, but in any place and at any time you can sing mentally. Whether you go to the market, whether you are on a journey, whether you sit in the company of friends, everywhere you can awaken your soul, you can cry out in silence. So Moses cried, and God heard. Are you a craftsman? Sitting in the workshop and doing work, you can sing. Are you a warrior, or are you sitting in court? You can do the same. 3. You can sing without a voice, when the soul inside makes sounds, because we sing not for people, but for God, Who can hear hearts and penetrate into the innermost depths of our soul. Paul also testifies to this when he says: “The Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses; for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be expressed. But he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom. 8:26, 27). So he speaks not in the sense that the Spirit groans, but in the sense that spiritual men, possessing the gifts of the Spirit, pray for their neighbors and offer petitions, do this with contrition of heart and with sighs. We will do the same, and every day we will turn to God with psalmody and prayers. However, so that we not only pronounce words, but understand the very power of words, let us explain the beginning of the psalm. What kind of beginning is this? “As laziness strives for the source of water, so my soul strives for You, O God.” This is the property of those who love - not to hide love in silence, but to reveal it to their neighbors and say that they love. Love is fiery in nature, and the soul cannot bear to keep it in silence. That is why Paul, inspired by love, said to the Corinthians: “Our mouth is open to you, Corinthians” (2 Cor. 6:11), i.e. I cannot hide and keep love in silence, but always and everywhere, both in my soul and on my tongue, I carry you. So the blessed prophet, nourishing love for God and burning with this love, could not remain silent, but sometimes he said: “As laziness strives for the source of water, so does my soul strive for You, O God,” and sometimes: “I turn to You in the morning, my soul has thirsted for You,” like an impenetrable and waterless and deserted land (Ps. 62:1-2), - so said another translator (unknown, see Orig. Ex.). Not having the strength to depict love in words, he looks for comparisons everywhere, in order, at least in this way, to show us his love and make us participants in love. Let's listen to him and learn to love the same way. Let no one say to me: how can I love God Whom I do not see? And we love many without seeing them, such as: absent friends, children, parents, relatives and family, and the fact that we do not see them does not at all serve as an obstacle, but this is the most special thing that ignites love and strengthens affection. That is why Paul, speaking about Moses, that he, leaving treasures, wealth, royal glory and all other honors of Egypt, decided rather to suffer with the Jews, and then, showing us the reason for this is that he did all this for God, adds: “as if seeing the Invisible” (Heb. 11:27). You do not see God, but you see His creation, you see His works - heaven, earth, sea. And whoever loves, when he sees the work of his beloved, or shoes, or clothes, or anything else, he is inflamed with love. You do not see God, but you see His servants and friends, i.e. men who are holy and have boldness before Him. Serve them now, and you will have no small consolation for your love. And between people we usually love not only our friends, but also those whom they love. If one of our loved ones says: I love so-and-so, and I consider every benefit shown to him as done to me, then we do everything and try in every possible way to please this person, as if we see in him the most beloved. The same can now be done in relation to Christ. He said: I love the poor, and if they receive any benefit, I will repay the same as if I had received it myself. Let us do everything to alleviate their lot, or better yet, let us spend all our property on them, believing that in their person we feed God. And that in fact, by feeding them, we feed God Himself, about this, listen to what Christ says: “For I was hungry, and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink...; I was naked, and you clothed Me” (Matthew 25:35–36); and He gives us many opportunities to satisfy our love. Love is usually aroused in us by the following three objects: either physical beauty, or a great deed, or the love of another for us. Each of these objects, in itself, can ignite love in us. Even if we have not received any benefit from some person, if we hear that he constantly loves us, praises us and is surprised at us, then we ourselves immediately become attached to him in soul and love him as a benefactor. And in God not only this, but all three perfections can be seen to such a high degree that it is impossible to express them in words. And, firstly, the beauty of this blessed and incorruptible Being is inexplicable, incomparable with anything, superior to any word and above all understanding. However, beloved, when you hear about beauty, do not imagine anything corporeal, but understand some incorporeal glory and inexpressible splendor. 4. Depicting this glory, the prophet says: “Seraphim stood around Him; each of them had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And they called to each other and said: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts” (Is. 6:2, 3), - out of amazement, out of amazement at this beauty, this glory. And David, imagining this very beauty and admiring the glory of this blessed Being, says: “Gird Your sword on Your thigh, O Mighty One, with Your Beauty and Your goodness” (Ps. 45:4, 5). That is why Moses often expressed a desire to see Him, because he was wounded by love for Him and loved this glory. That’s why Philip said: “Lord! show us the Father, and it will be enough for us” (John 14:8). However, no matter how much we talk, we cannot imagine the slightest, or even the weakest semblance of Divine beauty. But do you want us to count His benefits? And they cannot be depicted in words. Therefore, Paul said: “Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift” (2 Cor. 9:15), and also: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9); and again: “Oh, the depth of wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His destinies and unsearchable His ways!” (Rom.11:33). And what word can describe the love that He showed us? Marveling at her, John said: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16). If you want to hear His own words and know His love, then listen to what He said through the prophet: “Shall a woman forget her suckling child, so as not to have compassion on the son of her womb? but even if she forgot, I will not forget you” (Is. 49:15). And just as the Psalmist says: “As laziness longs for the fountain of water, so does my soul long for You, O God,” so Christ said: “How often have I wanted to gather your children together, as a bird gathers its chicks under its wings, and you were not willing” (Matthew 23:37). And the prophet also says: “As a father is generous to his sons, so the Lord is generous to those who fear Him; and again: for as high as the heavens are above the earth, the Lord has established His mercy on those who fear Him” (Ps. 102:13, 11). And just as the prophet looks for similarities to express his love, so God uses some similarities to express to us the love that He shows in the dispensation of our salvation. The Prophet cites the example of a thirsty deer and a parched earth, and God cites the love of birds for their chicks, the care of fathers, the height of the sky from the earth and the compassion of mothers, not because He loves us only as a mother loves a child, but because, apart from these models, similarities and examples, we have no other strongest expressions of love. And that He loves us not only as a tender mother of children, but much more, listen to His words: “If a woman forgets her suckling child..., then I will not forget you.” With these words He expressed that His love for us is more ardent than any other love. Imagine all this together, and you will arouse ardent love in yourself, kindle a bright flame. After all, love for people is usually ignited in us by nothing so much as by the memory of the benefits that we have received from them. Let us do the same in relation to God. Let us imagine how much He has done for us - the sky itself, the earth, the sea, the air, earthly plants, various flowers, animals, reptiles that live in the sea, in the air, the stars of heaven, the sun, the moon, in general everything visible, lightning, the order of times, the succession of day and night, the changes of the seasons. He breathed soul into us, endowed us with reason, honored us with the greatest power; sent angels, sent prophets, and finally, His Only Begotten Son. And then He continues to call you to salvation, both Himself and through the Only Begotten Son. And Paul does not cease to convince and say: “in the name of Christ... we ask: be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). God did not limit himself to this, but, taking the firstfruits of your nature, he set Him “above all Principality, and Authority, and Power, and Dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come” (Eph. 1:21). Truly, now is the time to say: “whoever knows the power of the Lord will not publicly proclaim all His praises?” (Ps. 105:2). And again: “What will I render to the Lord for everything that He has given me?” (Ps. 115:3). Indeed, what can compare with such honor, when the firstfruits of our race, who offended God so much and was humiliated so much, sits at such a height and has such honor? And not only count general blessings in your mind, but also those that concern you personally - for example, how you were once subjected to slander and got rid of the accusation, how you once fell into the hands of robbers on a stormy and dark night and escaped their intentions, how you were never rewarded after the loss you suffered, how you were exposed to a serious illness and received relief. 5. Count all the blessings of God shown to you throughout your life, and of course you will find many of them not only in your whole life, but also in one day. And if God wanted to present to us all the benefits that we, without realizing or understanding, receive from Him every day, then we could not even list them. How many demons are running around in this air! How many forces are contrary to us! If only God allowed them to show us their terrible and disgusting faces, would we not be horrified, would we not die, would we not be destroyed? Reflecting on all this, as well as on our sins, which we commit consciously or out of ignorance - and it is no small blessing that God does not punish us for our sins every day - we can nourish within ourselves love for God. In fact, when you think how much you sin every day, how many blessings you receive every day, what patience you use, what forbearance, when you think that if God punished every day, you would not live even a short time - in the words of the prophet: “If you see iniquity, Lord, Lord, who can stand?” (Ps. 129:3), - then you will give thanks to Him, and you will not grumble about anything that happens to you; on the contrary, you will see that even if you had suffered countless evils, you would still not have suffered a worthy punishment. With such a state of mind, you will ignite great love in yourself and will be able to say along with the prophet: “As laziness strives for the fountain of water, so does my soul strive for You, O God.” Here it is appropriate to pay attention to why the prophet cited this particular animal as an example? The doe feels very thirsty and therefore often resorts to water sources; and this feeling of thirst occurs in her both from nature and from the fact that she devours snakes and feeds on their meat. Do the same: consume the mental serpent, put to death sin, and you will thirst for the love of God. Just as a vicious conscience makes us unclean and plunges us into despair, so when we kill our sins, cleanse ourselves of vices, we will be able to open our eyes to spiritual thirst, call on God with great zeal, ignite the strongest love in ourselves, and sing this refrain not only in words, but also in our deeds themselves. The blessed man did not sing psalms to us, or better yet, the grace of the Spirit, so that we would utter only words, but so that we would carry them out through deeds themselves. Therefore, do not think that you come here just to utter words; no, when you sing along to this chorus, consider it a contract between God and you. When you said: “As laziness strives for the source of water, so my soul strives for You, God,” you made an agreement with God, wrote an obligation without paper or ink, loudly confessed that you love Him more than anything, that you prefer nothing to Him and are burning with love for Him. So, if, upon leaving here, you see some beautiful and shameless woman who begins to seduce you and attract you to her love, then tell her: I cannot follow you; I made an agreement with God in the presence of the brethren, priests, teachers; I confessed and promised through this refrain to love Him “as laziness strives for the source of water”; I am afraid to break the agreement, and I have love for Him alone. If at the marketplace you see silver, or golden clothes, or people proudly performing, accompanied by servants, on golden-braided horses, then do not be deceived by this splendor, but sing again within yourself and tell your soul: recently we sang: “As laziness strives for the source of water, so my soul strives for You, O God”; I applied this saying to myself and made it my own. So let us not love these worldly blessings, so that the love of God remains pure in us and does not weaken due to division. This wealth can bring us every other wealth, every treasure, every honor, every glory, every celebrity. Let us keep it, and we will not need anything else. If others, having given themselves over to shameful love and inflamed with passion for some beautiful girl, often, despite the threats of their parents, the reproaches of friends and the ridicule of strangers, do not leave her, but out of affection for her they neglect their home, and their father’s inheritance, and fame, and a good name, and the admonition of friends, he considered it a great reward for himself for all this when they please their favorite, even if she was ignorant, dishonest and whatever it may be, can those who love God as they should ever be sensitive to human joys or sorrows? No, those devoted to this love will not even look at the splendor of real life, but will laugh at every prosperity, despise every disaster, attached with love to God, not seeing anything else but Him alone, imagining Him everywhere and considering themselves the most blessed of all. Even if they were in poverty, even in dishonor, even in chains, even in sorrows, even in extreme misfortunes, they will consider themselves happier than the kings themselves, finding some wondrous pleasure among all their sufferings in the fact that they endure them for their Beloved. 6. That is why Paul, being in the midst of daily mortal dangers, in prisons, in shipwrecks, in deserts, being subjected to scourgings and other countless punishments, rejoiced and was glad, rejoiced and boasted, and then said: “We boast in the hope of the glory of God, and not only in this, but we also boast in our tribulations” (Rom. 5:2-3), then again: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings..., and am filled the lack in my flesh of Christ’s sorrows for His Body” ( Col. 1:24 ); and, moreover, he called it a gift of grace, confessing and expressing himself this way: “it has been given to you for Christ’s sake not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him” (Phil. 1:29). Let us also try to have the same frame of mind and will joyfully endure all the disasters that befall us. And we will be able to endure them if we love God, as the prophet loved. His love can be seen not only from this chorus, but also from his further words. Having said: “As laziness strives for the fountain of water, so does my soul strive for You, O God,” he continues: “My soul thirsted (to appear) to the mighty, living God (saying): when will I come and appear before the faces of God?” (Ps. 41:3)) He did not say: my soul loved the living God, or: my soul loved the living God, but to express his disposition, he called love “thirst,” showing us two qualities of his love, its ardor and constancy. Just as those who are thirsty feel thirst not for one day, or two, or three days, but throughout their entire lives, because nature prompts them to do so, so this blessed man and all the saints were not just one day in a feeling of contrition, like many of the people, and not two or three days - such contrition is not at all surprising - but constantly and every day they continued to reverently love and intensified their love. Expressing this, he says: “My soul thirsted for the mighty, living God.” Here he wants to both explain the reason for his love and show you how you should love God. He showed this in the following words: “my soul thirsted for God, adding: living.” He seems to be calling out and convincing everyone who is attached to the things of life: why are you madly deceived by your bodies? Why do you crave fame? Why do you chase pleasure? None of all this remains forever and lives permanently, but everything goes away and passes away, everything is more insignificant than a shadow, more deceptive than dreams, fades faster than spring flowers; one leaves us with real life, and the other dies even earlier. The possession of these things is precarious, pleasure is fragile, transformations are rapid. But there is nothing like that in God. He lives and abides forever, without undergoing any change or transformation. Therefore, leaving behind the temporary and fleeting, let us love the Eternal and Ever-present. He who loves Him will never be ashamed, will never lose or be deprived of his Beloved. He who loves wealth is deprived of the object of his love at the onset of death or even before death. The same thing happens to those who love temporary glory. And physical beauty often passes much faster than the objects we have named. In general, everything in life is short-lived and fleeting, and as soon as it begins and appears, it immediately disappears. But love for spiritual objects is not like that at all: it lives and blooms constantly, does not know old age, is not susceptible to decay, is not subject to any change or transformation, and is not afraid of the obscurity of the future. Those who have acquired it, benefit them here too and protect them on all sides, and after leaving here it does not leave them, but goes there with them and accompanies them and will reveal them as bright as the stars themselves on that future day. Blessed David knew this and therefore loved God unceasingly, and could not hide his love within himself, but in every way tried to reveal to those listening the fire that burned inside him. Having said: “My soul thirsted for the mighty, living God,” he added: “When will I come and appear before God?” Look how it burns. Look how it burns. Knowing that, upon leaving here, he will see God, he is burdened by the delay, does not tolerate delay, but here he reveals to us an apostolic disposition of spirit. So the apostle sighed to delay his departure from here (2 Cor. 5:2). The Psalmist felt the same thing, and therefore said: “When will I come and appear before God?” If he were a simple and humble man, living in humiliation and poverty, and despising real life, then this would be, although a great thing, but not as great as now, when the king, enjoying all pleasures, achieving such great glory, winning thousands of victories, defeating many enemies, enjoying fame and celebrity everywhere, laughs at all these benefits, at wealth, glory and all pleasures, and ardently strives for future benefits. This is characteristic of an exalted spirit; this is a sign of a soul wise and inspired by heavenly love. 7. Let us also imitate him and will not be surprised by the blessings of the present in order to be surprised by the future, or better yet, we will be surprised by the future so as not to be surprised by the present. If we constantly think about those blessings and imagine the kingdom of heaven, immortality, endless life, rejoicing with the angels, being with Christ, enduring glory, life alien to all sorrow; if we remember that tears, and reproaches, and slander, and death, and sorrows, and labor, and old age, and illness, and infirmities, and poverty, and slander, and widowhood, and sin, and condemnation, and punishment, and torment, and in general everything that is sad and unpleasant in this life, has no place in that life, but on the contrary, peace, meekness, goodness, love, joy, glory, honor abide there, light and other blessings that are impossible to describe in words, then nothing real will deceive us, but we will also be able to say like the prophet: “When will I come and appear before the faces of God?” And with such a state of mind, we will not fall into pride from worldly happiness, nor into despondency from misfortune, and neither envy, nor vanity, nor anything else like that will take possession of us. So, let us not come here in vain, and sing the choruses not without attention, but take them for ourselves instead of the batons and, thus, leave here. Each of these verses can instill in us great wisdom, teach us the right faith and bring the greatest benefit to life; if we carefully examine every word in them, we will acquire great benefits. Therefore, one should not refer here either to poverty, or to lack of time, or to laxity. Even if you were poor and, due to poverty, did not have a Bible, or, having a Bible, did not have free time, remember only the refrains from the psalms that you sing here not once, not twice or thrice, but many times, and when you leave here, you will receive great consolation. Indeed, look what a treasure the real chorus has revealed to us. Let no one tell me that before the interpretation he did not know its power; and before interpretation, this refrain is understandable to anyone who listens and has any desire to understand. If only you accustom yourself to say: “As laziness strives for the fountain of water, so does my soul strive for You, O God.” My soul thirsted for the mighty, living God: when will I come and show myself to the faces of God?” - then even before the interpretation you can be filled with all wisdom. And not only this, but every chorus can give us the same richness. If, for example, you say: “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord” (Ps. 112:1) and try to understand what you are saying, then you will compete not with the rich, not with the ruler, not with the handsome, not with the strong, not with the one who has magnificent houses, not with the authority, not with the food in royal palaces, and not with anyone else, but with the one who lives in piety, in wisdom, in the fear of God; and you will compete with him not only for the sake of his future fortune, but also for his present. Indeed, such a person is more powerful than those people here too. When an illness occurs, then the one clothed in purple does not receive any relief from the illness either from the bodyguards or from all the splendor, but while his family, his relatives, and everyone surround him, and golden clothes lie on him and under him, he himself lies and burns as if in a flame. But he who lives piously and fears God, even if there is no father, no servant, and no one else with him, will only turn his gaze to heaven not many times, but twice or thrice, and will extinguish every flame. The same can be seen during misfortunes and all unexpected circumstances: rich and famous people become embarrassed, but those who live in piety and wisdom endure everything fearlessly. But even before all this, even if no disaster occurs, the conscience of a God-fearing person enjoys a pleasure higher and purer than the soul of a rich man. This one, even among external pleasures, feels heavier than all those tormented by hunger, remembering his iniquities and spending his life with a bad conscience, while he, not even having the necessary food, is more complacent than those abounding in all kinds of pleasures, feeding on good hopes and every day expecting himself to be rewarded for his good deeds. However, so as not to tire you with the vastness of the conversation, I leave it to the most diligent to analyze each refrain and explore the meaning contained in it, and I end my speech here, offering this advice to your love: do not come here in vain, but accept and keep these refrains like jewels, constantly think about them at home and retell all this to your friends and wives. Whether any suffering befalls you, or lust, or anger, or some other crazy passion is aroused, chant them unceasingly, so that in this life we ​​may enjoy great peace, and in the future life we ​​may be worthy of eternal blessings, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom to the Father with the Holy Spirit be glory, power, honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. The psalms in the text are translated by P. Yungerov - Editorial office of the ABC of Faith Of course, the 7th conversation “Against the Jews,” spoken in Antioch, in September 887 AD. See vol. 1, p. 726. You might be interested in: