Беседа 8

John 1:9. There was the true Light, which enlightens every person who comes into the world. 1. Why Jesus Christ, being the light of truth, does not sanctify all people. – 2. The foolishness of Pavel Samosatsky. – Answers to the questions of the pagans: what did Jesus Christ do before his coming, etc.? – You cannot properly strive for heavenly things while becoming attached to earthly things. There is a big difference between the servants of Jesus Christ and the servants of mammon. 1. Nothing prevents us from touching on these words again today, because last time the presentation of dogmas did not allow us to fully trace everything we had read. Where are those who say that the Son is not the true God? Here He is called “True Light”, and in another place He is called “truth” itself and “life” itself. However, we will examine these last words more clearly when we come to them; and now I need to tell your love about the light. If he “enlightens every person who comes into the world,” then why do so many people remain unenlightened? Because, of course, not everyone has come to know the faith of Christ. How does he “enlighten every person”? Depending on the acceptability of each. If some, voluntarily closing the eyes of the mind, do not want to accept the rays of this light, then their darkening occurs not from the nature of the light itself, but from the malice of these people, who voluntarily deprive themselves of the gift. Grace is poured out to everyone; it is not alien to either Jew, Greek, barbarian, Scythian, free, slave, husband, wife, old man, young man; she is equally close to everyone and calls on everyone with equal honesty. But those who do not want to take advantage of this gift must, in fairness, attribute such blindness to themselves. If then, since the entrance is open to everyone, and no one blocks it, some, due to arbitrary bitterness, remain outside, then they perish not from anything else, but from their own depravity. “He was in the world” (John 1:10), but not as contemporary to the world; No. Therefore (the evangelist) adds: “and the world was made through Him” (John 1:10). Through this he again raises you to the eternal existence of the Only Begotten. Whoever hears that everything is His creation, even if he were completely insensitive, even if he were an enemy and opponent of the glory of God, in any case, willy-nilly, he will be forced to admit that the Creator exists before the creatures. That is why I always marvel at the madness of Paul of Samosat - how he dared to contradict such an obvious truth and voluntarily cast himself into the abyss. He erred not out of ignorance, but, understanding the matter very well, suffered the same fate as the Jews. Just as the Jews, having in mind the judgment of people, abandoned their sound faith and, although they knew that Jesus was the Only Begotten Son of God, but, for the sake of their superiors, did not confess, so as not to be expelled from the synagogue, so Paul of Samosata, as they say, to please some woman, renounced his salvation. Truly, terrible, terrible is the predominance of vanity; it can blind the eyes of even wise men if they do not watch. If bribery can do this, the greater the passion of vanity, much stronger. That is why Christ said to the Jews: “How can you believe when you receive glory from each other, but do not seek the glory that is from the One God?” (John 5:44). “And the world did not know Him” (John 1:10). The Evangelist here calls the world a multitude of corrupt people, devoted to earthly affairs, a crowd, a rebellious and senseless people. But the friends of God and all the wonderful men knew Christ even before His appearance in the flesh. It was about the forefather that Christ himself said: “Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; and he saw and rejoiced” (John 8:56). And about David, in reproof of the Jews, He said: “How then does David, by inspiration, call Him Lord, when he says: The Lord said to my Lord: Sit on My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool?” (Matthew 22:43–44). Many times, arguing with them, He mentions Moses; and about the other prophets - the apostle. And that all the prophets, beginning with Samuel, knew Christ and foretold His coming long ago, the Apostle Peter speaks about this: “And all the prophets, from Samuel and after him, no matter how many of them they spoke, also foretold these days” (Acts 3:24). God himself appeared to Jacob and his father, like his grandfather, and talked with them, promising to grant them many and great blessings, which he actually fulfilled. How, you say, did He Himself say: “Many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear” (Luke 10:24)? How did they know Him? Of course they did; and I will try to prove this from the same words from which some conclude that the prophets had no knowledge of Jesus Christ. He says: “many... wanted to see what you see”; this means that they knew that He would come to people and do the works that He actually did. And if they didn’t know this, they wouldn’t want to see it, because no one can desire what they don’t know at all. Consequently, they knew the Son of God, and they also knew that He would come to people. But what is it that they haven’t seen or heard? What you see and hear now. The prophets, although they heard His voice and saw Him Himself, however, not in the flesh, not in the form in which He treated people and openly talked with them. He himself clearly points to this; he doesn’t just say: they “wanted to see Me,” but how? “Wanted to see what you see”; He also did not say: they wanted to hear Me, but: “what do you hear?” Thus, although they did not see His appearance in the flesh, they knew that it would happen, and they desired it. They believed in Christ, although they did not see Him in the flesh. If the pagans, thinking of reproaching us, ask: what did Christ do before, when he did not yet provide for the human race? Why did He, having left us without care for such a long time, only recently come to arrange our salvation? - we will say that even before that time He was in the world, arranged things and was known to all who are worthy. And if you say that He was unknown, because not everyone knew Him then, but only chosen and virtuous people, then on this basis you will perhaps admit that even now He does not receive worship from people, because even now not everyone knows Him. But just as today no one can deny that there are people who know Him - simply because there are people who do not know Him - so one cannot doubt this in relation to former times, because many, or better yet, all chosen and wondrous men knew Him. 2. But if someone asked: why then did not everyone believe in Him and not everyone revered Him, but only the righteous? - then I will ask: why does not everyone know Him at the present time? But what can we say about Christ? Why, both before and now, do not everyone know His Father? Some say that everything (in the world) moves by self-propulsion; others attribute the care of everything to demons; and there are also those who, besides the true God, have invented for themselves some other one; Some of them blaspheme, claiming that there is some kind of force contrary to God, and they also think that the laws of God belong to some evil spirit. So what? Is it really because some reject God that we will say the same thing, or will we agree that He is evil, since some also express this blasphemy? Away with this recklessness and this extreme madness! If we began to verify dogmas by the court of these insane people, then nothing would stop us from extreme madness. Of course, no one will say that the sun is harmful to the eyes, because there are people with eye problems; on the contrary, it is luminous in the judgment of healthy people. No one will also say that honey is bitter, because it tastes that way to sick people. So, is it not, following the example of the sick, that some argue that either there is no God, or that He is evil, that sometimes He provides, and sometimes He does not do this at all? And who can say that they are healthy people? On the contrary, aren’t these people frenzied, insane and extremely insane? “The world did not know Him,” it is said; however, those of whom the world was unworthy came to know Him. Having spoken about those who did not know Him, the evangelist briefly sets out the reason for this ignorance; He says not simply: no one knew Him, but: “the world did not know Him,” that is, people devoted to the world alone and thinking only about worldly things. This is what Christ usually called them, as for example when he said: “Righteous Father! and the world did not know You” (John 17:25). But the world, as we said, did not know not only the Son, but also the Father, because nothing leads to such disorder of the mind as attachment to temporary objects. Knowing this, withdraw as much as possible from the world and abstain from carnal affairs; from them there is a loss not in accidental, but in the highest goods. A person who is too busy with the affairs of this life cannot properly assimilate heavenly objects; but out of necessity, caring for those, he is deprived of these. “You cannot,” it is said, “serve God and mammon” (Luke 16:13). Having followed one, it is necessary, of necessity, to leave the other. And experience itself speaks about this. Those who laugh at the passion for wealth are the ones who love God the most, as they should. On the contrary, those who highly value wealth as the first good have the weakest love for God. The soul, having once been captivated by covetousness, can no longer easily and conveniently restrain itself from doing or saying something that angers God, since it has already become the slave of another master, and, moreover, one who commands it everything contrary to God. Therefore, arise and awaken, and, having considered what kind of master we are slaves, let us love only His power; let us weep and mourn the former time in which we worked for mammon; Let us overthrow once and for all its heavy, unbearable yoke and let us constantly wear the yoke of Christ, light and joyful; Christ does not command anything that mammon suggests. She commands everyone to be enemies; and Christ is the opposite: to have mercy and love. She, having tied us to ashes and dust (such is gold), does not allow us to breathe freely, even at night; and Christ frees us from this unnecessary and unreasonable concern, commands us to lay up treasures in heaven, not by untruth in relation to others, but by our own truth. Mammon, after so much work and sorrow, cannot even stay with us when we “there” endure punishment and suffer for fulfilling her suggestions; she will even increase the flame for us; and Christ, even when he commands us to give our neighbor a cup of cold water, will not allow us to lose our reward and retribution, but will reward us with great generosity. So, is it not extremely foolish to neglect a dominion so meek and so abundant in such great blessings, and to work for an ungrateful and unappreciative ruler, who neither here nor there can bring any benefit to those who follow and obey him? But not only one thing is bad, and not only one thing is harmful, that he cannot spare those condemned to execution; and also that he, as I said, exposes people who submit to him to countless evils. Very many of those who will be punished will suffer punishment precisely because they served money, loved gold and did not help those in need. In order not to tolerate the same thing, we will waste (our treasures), giving them to the poor; free your soul both from the harmful cares here and from the future torments prepared for it. Let us prepare our justification in heaven; instead of earthly acquisitions, let us collect inexhaustible treasures, treasures that can accompany us to heaven, can protect us in danger and then appease the Judge. May His favor be with us all, both now and in that day, and may we enjoy with great boldness the blessings that are prepared in heaven for those who love Him, according to 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 ages of ages. Amen. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: