Беседа 49

“And when Jesus heard it, he departed from there in a boat to a desert place alone; and the people, having heard about this, followed Him from the cities on foot.” (Matt. 14:13) Exposition 14:13–32. Why does Christ retire into the desert after the news of John’s death? – The attachment of the people to Christ. – Imperfection of the faith of the disciples. – Why did Christ perform some miracles by his own power, others in the name of the Father? – The multiplication of loaves testifies that Christ is the Creator of everything visible. - The method of performing a miracle and its purpose. – One should not seek human glory. – Spiritual benefits should be preferred to sensual ones. “Charity is superior to all arts.” - Every art is worthy of its name as long as it serves to satisfy the necessary. – Against luxury in shoes and clothing. 1. Notice that the Lord withdrew every time when John was betrayed, when he was killed, and when the Jews heard that Jesus was gaining many disciples. He wanted to act more often as a human being, until the time came to fully reveal His divinity. Therefore, he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that He was Christ; He wanted this to become known after His resurrection. For this reason, he did not strictly punish the Jews, who had not previously believed in Him, but, on the contrary, excused them. He does not retire to the city, but to the desert, and, moreover, on a ship, so that no one would follow Him. Don’t ignore the fact that John’s disciples have now become closer to Jesus. They notified Him of what had happened (with John) and, having left everything, became His disciples. So, in addition to misfortune, they were corrected a lot by the fact that Jesus had already inspired them about Himself with His answer. But why did the Lord not leave before receiving news from them, although he knew about what had happened without notice? In order to show in everything the reality of the incarnation. Not only by appearance, but also by his very deeds, He wanted to assure him of the truth, because he knew the evil cunning of the devil, who was ready to do anything just to destroy the thought of His incarnation in people. These are the reasons why Christ withdraws. But the people attached to Him do not leave Him, but follow Him; and the incident with John did not frighten Him. Such is affection! This is love! This is how she conquers everything and eliminates difficulties. It was for this that the people soon received a reward. “And Jesus went out,” continues the evangelist, “and saw a multitude of people and had compassion on them, and healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14). Although their zeal was great, the benefits of Christ exceeded the price of all zeal. Therefore, the evangelist gives special mercy as the reason for healings in this case; Christ heals everyone, and does not ask about faith here, because those healed show their faith by the very fact that they came to Jesus, left the cities, carefully sought Him and did not leave, even when hunger forced them to do so. Christ intends to give them food. But he himself does not begin this, but waits until they turn to him with a request, everywhere, as I have already said, observing the rule: not before starting to perform miracles, as at the request. But why didn’t any of the people come up and ask Him about it? They respected Him immensely, and with the desire to be with Him they suppressed their feelings of hunger. But His disciples did not come and say, “Feed them,” because they were still imperfect. But what are they saying? “When evening came,” says the evangelist, “His disciples came to Him and said: This is a deserted place and the time is already late; Send the people away so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves” (Matthew 14:15). If the disciples, even after performing this miracle, forgot about it, and after the boxes thought that Christ was talking about bread, when He called the teaching of the Pharisees kvass, then all the more, having not yet seen such a miracle in experience, they could not expect something like that (Matthew 14:16). And although Christ first healed many sick people, however, the disciples, seeing this, did not expect a miracle over the loaves. They were still so imperfect! You will notice the wisdom of the Teacher, how directly He leads them to faith. He did not suddenly say: I will feed them; they would not soon believe this. “But Jesus,” says the evangelist, “said to them,” what exactly? “They don’t need to go, you give them something to eat” (Matthew 14:16). Didn't say: I will give; but - you will give - since they still considered Him a simple man. Even after this, they did not rise in concept; on the contrary, they answered like a simple person, saying: “We have here only five loaves and two fish” (Matthew 14:17). That is why the Evangelist Mark says that they did not understand what was said: “because their heart was hardened” (Mark 6:52, 8:17). So, since they were still crawling on the earth, the Lord himself begins to act and says: “Bring them here to Me” (Matthew 14:18). Although “the place is deserted,” here is He who feeds the universe; although “the time is late,” the One who is not subject to time is talking to you. John also mentions that the loaves were barley, and he speaks about this not without purpose, but with the intention of teaching, so that we do not become vain about expensive dishes. This was also the meal of the prophets. “Taking five loaves and two fish,” continues the evangelist, “he ordered the people to lie down on the grass, and looked up to heaven, blessed and broke them, and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to the people. And they all ate and were filled; and they took up the remaining pieces, twelve baskets full; and those who did eat were about five thousand people, besides women and children” (Matthew 14:19–21). 2. Why did Christ look up to heaven and bless? He had to prove about Himself that He was sent from the Father, and that He was equal to Him. The evidence for these truths apparently contradicted one another. He proved His equality with the Father by doing everything with authority; and they would not have believed what was sent from the Father if they had not acted in everything with great humility, and had not begun to attribute everything to the Father, and to call upon Him in every matter. That is why the Lord, in confirmation of both, does not do either one or the other exclusively, but works miracles sometimes with power, and sometimes through prayer. Then, so that in these actions of His there is no contradiction again, in less important matters He looks to heaven, and in the most important things He does everything with authority, from which you must conclude that in less important matters He does this not out of need for assistance, but to give honor to Him who gave birth to Him. So, when he forgave sins, opened paradise and brought a thief into it, when he sovereignly abolished the old law, raised many dead, tamed the sea, revealed the secrets of the heart, opened the eyes - which deeds are characteristic of God alone, and not of anyone else - in none of these actions do we see Him praying. And when he intended to multiply the loaves, which was much less important than all the previously calculated actions, then he looks to heaven, both in confirmation of His embassy from the Father, as I noted above, and as our teaching not to begin the meal before giving thanks to Him who gives us food. But why doesn’t he create the loaves again? To stop the mouths of Marcion and Manichaeus, who do not recognize Him as the Creator, to teach by His very deeds that everything visible was produced and created by Him, and to prove that He is the one who gives fruit and who said in the beginning: “Let the earth produce greenery and grass”; also: “let the water bring forth living creatures” (Gen. 1:11, 20). And a real miracle is no less important than the creations of reality or reptiles. In fact, reptiles, although created again, were nevertheless created from water. And to make so much out of five loaves and two fish is no less important than to produce fruit from the earth and reptiles from water; this meant that Jesus had authority over the earth and the sea. Hitherto He had performed miracles only on the sick; and now he is providing general benefit, so that the people do not remain mere spectators of what happened to others, but themselves receive the gift. And what seemed wonderful to the Jews while wandering through the desert (since they said: “But will He be able to give bread? Or prepare a meal” in the desert? (Ps. 77:20), the Lord showed the same thing in practice. For this purpose, He leads them into the desert, so that the miracle would not be subject to any doubt, and no one would think that something was brought from a nearby village for food. For this purpose, the evangelist also mentions time, and not only about the place. From here we learn something else, namely: we learn the moderation of the disciples in satisfying the necessary needs, and how little they cared about food. There were twelve of them; and they had with them only five loaves of bread and two fish. They cared so little about the carnal, but were concerned only with the spiritual! And even these few loaves were not withheld, but they were given away, as soon as they were asked. From here we must learn that even though we have little, we are obliged to give to those in need. When they are ordered to bring five loaves, they do not say: what shall we eat ourselves? How can we satisfy our hunger? - but they obey immediately. In addition to what has been said, in my opinion, Christ does not create the loaves again in order to lead the disciples to faith: they were still very weak. That's why he looks at the sky. They had repeatedly seen examples of other miracles, but they had never seen such a miracle. So, he took it, broke it and distributed it through the disciples, doing them honor through this. However, He did this not so much for their honor, but so that when the miracle happened, they would not remain in unbelief and would not forget about what happened when their own hands testified to it. For the same purpose, he first allows the people to experience the feeling of hunger; For the same purpose, he waits for the disciples to come and ask, through them he seats the people, through them he distributes bread, wanting everyone to be predisposed to a miracle by their own consciousness and experience. For the same reason, he also takes bread from the disciples, so that there will be many testimonies about what happened, and the miracle will become more memorable for them. If, despite all this, they forgot, then what would have happened if such measures had not been taken? The Lord commands people to lie down on the grass, thereby teaching the people the simplicity of life; I wanted not only to nourish the body, but also to teach the soul. 3. So, the Lord chose such a place for this, gave nothing more than loaves and fish, offered everyone one common food and did not give more to anyone than the other, in order to teach humility, abstinence, love - so that we would still be disposed towards each other and consider everything common. “And he broke it and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to the people.” He broke the five loaves and distributed them, and these five loaves did not run out in the hands of the disciples. But the miracle didn’t end there yet. The Lord made it appear that there was an excess, and the excess was not in whole loaves, but in pieces, to show that these were definitely leftovers from those loaves, and so that those who were not present when the miracle was performed could recognize that it happened. For this reason, Christ allowed the people to feel hunger, so that no one would mistake the miracle for a dream; For this reason he made twelve baskets of the remainder, so that Judas would also have something to carry. The Lord could satisfy hunger even without bread, but then the disciples would not have known His power, because this was also the case under Elijah. And for this miracle the Jews were so surprised at Him that they even wanted to make Him king, although with other miracles they never attempted this. What word can describe how the bread was wasted, how it spread through the desert? How did they get enough for so many? There were five thousand who ate, besides wives and children; and this is a great praise to the people, that both wives and husbands followed Christ. How could there be leftovers? This is also no less important than the first. Moreover, there were so many leftovers that the number of baskets was equal to the number of disciples - no more, no less. The Lord gave the pieces not to the people, but to the disciples, because the people were not as perfect as the disciples. After performing the miracle, “immediately Jesus forced His disciples to get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, until He let the people go” (Matthew 14:22). If in His presence they could think that something dreamy and not real had been accomplished, then they could no longer think so in His absence. That is why, leaving the disciples to strictly examine what had happened, he ordered them to take with them monuments and evidence of former miracles, and move away from Him. And in other cases, having accomplished something great, Christ sends away the people and disciples from Himself, inspiring us through this to never pursue human glory and not to attract crowds to Himself. And with the word: “forced,” the evangelist expresses that the disciples did not willingly separate from Him. Christ sent them away under the pretext of letting the people go, but in fact, intending to climb the mountain. He did this again for our learning, so that we would not always try to be with the people, and would not always avoid them, but, on the contrary, would benefit from both, and would alternately be in solitude and then in society, depending on the need. Let us also learn to be with Jesus, but not for sensual gifts, so as not to deserve reproach like the Jews. He says: “You are looking for Me, not because you saw miracles, but because you ate bread and were filled” (John 6:26). That is why He does not often perform such a miracle, but only twice, in order to teach them not to serve the belly, but to constantly cleave to spiritual blessings. We too will cleave to them, we will begin to seek the heavenly bread and, having accepted it, we will put aside all worldly cares. If the Jews, leaving their homes, cities, relatives and everything, remained in the desert and, despite hunger, did not leave Jesus, then much more should we, who are approaching such a meal, show greater wisdom and love spiritual goods, and then seek sensual ones. And the Jews were not blamed because they sought Him for bread, but because they sought Him mainly and only for this reason. He who neglects great gifts, and desires small ones and those that he must neglect by the will of the giver, is deprived of the first; on the contrary, if we love the first, then he also applies the last, because they serve as an addition to the first. So they are of little value and unimportance in comparison with the first, no matter how great they may seem in themselves. So, let us not care about sensory goods, let us consider both the acquisition and loss of them to be an indifferent matter, like Job, who, although possessing goods, did not cleave to them, and, having lost them, did not seek them. That is why they are called goods (cρηματα), because we must use (cρησωμεθα) them for needs, and not because we must bury them in the ground. Just as every artist knows only his art, so a rich man does not know how to forge, or build ships or houses, or weave, or anything else like that; and therefore let him learn to use his wealth as it should, to be merciful to the poor, and then he will know the art better than all those who have ever been counted. 4. And truly, this art is superior to all others. For him, a workshop is made in heaven. His tools are not iron and copper, but goodness and good will. The teacher in this art is Christ and His Father. Therefore it is said: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). And what is surprising is that this art, being so much better than all others, requires neither labor nor time to practice it. You just have to want it, and everything is done. Let us see what the end of this art is. So what happens to be the end of it? Heaven and heavenly blessings, ineffable glory, spiritual palaces, bright lamps, dwelling with the Bridegroom and all that which no word, no mind can imagine, so in this too it differs greatly from other arts. Most of the arts are useful to us only in this life, and this is useful in the next century. If it is so much superior to the arts that are necessary for us, such as medicine, architecture and others like them, then it is even more superior to those that, according to careful research, cannot even be called arts. Why do I not consider all such unnecessary arts to be arts? Why, for example, do we need the arts of cooking and seasoning food? No matter what. On the contrary, they are even useless, extremely harmful, because they damage the soul and body, easily accustoming them to voluptuousness, which is the mother of all illnesses and suffering. Besides these arts, I would not also call painting and the ability to draw patterns arts, because they only introduce unnecessary costs; and the necessary arts, which serve to support our life, must deliver and prepare what we need. This is why God gave us wisdom, to invent ways to maintain our existence; But to depict animals on walls, or on clothes, tell me, is it useful for anything? That is why a lot needs to be thrown out in the craft of shoemakers and weavers. They introduced a lot for show; what was needed was spoiled, and art was mixed with artifice. The same thing happened with architecture. As long as it builds houses and not theaters, as long as it deals with what is necessary and not what is superfluous, I call it art. In the same way, the art of weaving, as long as it prepares what is needed for clothing, and does not imitate cobwebs, does not waste labor on works that are ridiculous and magnificent beyond measure, I call it art. I will not take away this name from the shoemaker's craft, as long as it is engaged in the preparation of shoes. But when it transforms men into women, and through shoes gives them the appearance of pampered and weak, then I classify it as a harmful and unnecessary craft and can no longer call it art. I know that by dealing with such subjects I will seem petty to many; but that won't stop me. The reason for all evil lies precisely in the fact that many consider such sins to be of little importance, and therefore do not pay attention to them. Another will say: what sin could be more unimportant than the fact that a person wears beautiful, light-colored boots that hug his feet, if only this can be called a sin? Do you want me to sharpen my tongue against him and show all his vileness? Will you listen to me without anger? However, even if you get angry, I don’t care much about it. You are guilty of this recklessness, you who do not consider this sin to be a sin, and thereby force us to arm ourselves with reproof against such luxury. 5. Let us therefore examine and consider how great this evil is. When you embroider your boots with silk threads, with which it is indecent to decorate even clothing, what reproaches, what laughter is this worthy? If you disdain our opinion, then listen to what Paul said, who strictly forbids this, and then you will feel how ridiculous it is. What does Paul say? “Not with braided hair, nor with gold, nor with pearls, nor with costly clothing” (1 Tim. 2:9). Are you worth any apology when Paul does not allow his wife to wear precious clothes, but you allow such splendor in boots, and invent thousands of outfits worthy of ridicule and censure? For these threads they build ships, recruit oarsmen, a helmsman and a shipmaster, set sails, sail across the sea; for them, the merchant, leaving his wife, children and fatherland, entrusts his life to the waves, goes to the country of the barbarians, is exposed to countless dangers, and you, after all this, take these threads, sew them on your boots, decorate the skin. What could be worse than such nonsense? This was not the attire of the ancients; on the contrary, it was decent for husbands. From this I conclude that over time our young men will use women’s shoes without any shame. And, what’s most intolerable of all, the fathers, looking at this, are not indignant, but consider it nothing significant. Do you want me to say something even more intolerable? That is precisely what is being done when we have many poor people. Do you want me to present to you Christ, tormented by hunger, naked, persecuted, bound? How many thunderbolts are you worthy of, who do not want to pay attention to Christ, who does not have the necessary food, and yet you decorate your skin with such care! Christ, when giving instructions to His disciples, did not even allow them to have boots, and we not only do not know how to walk barefoot, but also how to put on shoes as we should. What could be messier, funnier than this? All this shows a person who is pampered, rude, cruel and vain. Will there be enough leisure to do anything necessary for someone who wastes time on such excesses? Will such a young man have enough time to take care of his soul, or even think that he has a soul? He is petty who is forced to be surprised by magnificent shoes; he is cruel who despises the beggars for her; he is alien to all virtue who spends all his efforts on such outfits. Looking with curiosity at the kindness of the threads, the liveliness of the colors, the patterns woven from them, will he find time to look up at the sky? Is there time to marvel at the beauty of heaven for one who is addicted to the beauty of skins and has fallen into the earth? God stretched out the sky and set the sun on fire in order to attract your gaze to grief; and you force yourself to sink into the ground, like pigs, and obey the devil. This truly evil spirit invented such vile things in order to distract you from heavenly beauty and draw you to earth with them. And God, who shows the sky, prefers the devil, who shows skins, or even not skins (because they too are the work of God), but pomposity and cunning. Hanging to the ground, a young man walks, who should philosophize about heavenly things; he is vain about his boots more than about any important merit; He barely steps through the marketplace, causing himself unnecessary sorrow and grief, fearing that in bad weather he might get his boots dirty with mud, or in the summer they might get dusty. What do you say to this, man? With such luxury you have reduced your entire soul to dust, and carelessly looking at the fact that it crawls on the ground, you care so much about your boots! Think about what they are used for, and be ashamed of the opinion you have about them. Boots are made to trample on dirt, manure and any uncleanness on the floor. If this is unbearable for you, hang them around your neck or put them on your head. 6. You laugh listening to this; and I have to cry, seeing the madness of such people and their concern for boots. They would rather get their bodies dirty with mud than these skins. Such people, as petty as they can be, are, on the other hand, money-loving. Anyone who is used to taking crazy care of such decorations needs to spend a lot on clothes and everything else, and therefore have a large income. If his father is generous, then such a person indulges more and more in this vice, and allows reckless whims to intensify; and if he is stingy, he is forced to resort to other dishonest means in order to have money for such expenses. That is why many of the young people sold their beauty, became jesters for the rich and stooped to other servile services, in order to acquire only the opportunity to fulfill such their whims. From this it is clear that such a person will be money-loving and vain, more careless than anyone in necessary matters, and will inevitably fall into many offenses. It is also undeniable that he must be hard-hearted and vain. He is cruel when, seeing a poor person, out of passion for clothes, he does not deign to look at him, and although he decorates his boots with gold, he does not even pay attention to the beggar who is melting from hunger. He is vain when he tries to catch the attention of the audience with insignificant things. It’s not so much, I think, that a military leader is proud of his victories as a dissolute young man is proud of the elegance of his boots, long clothes, and hairstyle, although he owes everything to the art of others. And if they are vainglorious about other people’s things, then how can one not be vain about one’s own? Should I say even worse, or is this enough for you? So, let's finish our word. Yes, and I said this for those who are stubborn and do not find anything indecent in such outfits. I know, however, that many young men will not even pay attention to my words, because they are already drunk with passion. However, one should not remain silent because of this. If the fathers have intelligence and are still strong, then they can, even against their will, convert them to proper decency. So, don’t say: this is not important, and the other is not a problem. This is precisely what ruins everything. It is necessary to teach them regarding such subjects and, apparently, in the smallest things, to make them sedate, magnanimous, disdainful of dress. Thus, they succeed in the most important things. What is less important than learning the alphabet? However, those who begin with it become rhetoricians, sophists, philosophers. But those who do not know the alphabet will never learn these sciences. Nevertheless, we say this not only for young men, but also for wives and girls. And they are subject to the same reproaches, especially since the girl especially needs modesty. So, apply everything that was said to the young men to yourself, so that we do not repeat the same thing again. But it’s time to conclude our word with prayer. Pray with me that young men, especially Christians, may live modestly and reach an old age that suits them; After all, those who don’t live like that won’t live well to old age. But whoever in his youth lives like an old man, I wish him to live to deep gray hairs, become the father of good children, bring joy to his parents, and, above all, to God, who created him; to be completely freed not only from the disease of showing off shoes and clothes, but also from all mental illnesses. Like the uncultivated land, so is youth left neglected: it produces many thorns. So, let us start the fire of the Spirit, burn out evil lusts, cultivate the fields, prepare them to receive seeds; We strive so that our young men will be more chaste than other old men. It is worthy of surprise when chastity shines in a young man. He who is chaste in old age deserves a small reward; his very age makes him chaste. It is wonderful to be able to enjoy silence in the midst of excitement, not to burn in the oven, not to indulge in debauchery in youth. Thinking about this, let us be jealous of blessed Joseph, who shone with all these virtues, in order to be worthy of the same crowns, which we all will be worthy of, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. You might be interested in: