Беседа 11

1 Thessalonians 5:19–22. Don't quench the spirit. Do not disparage prophecies. Try everything, hold on to the good. Refrain from all kinds of evil. A means to avoid slander. - The story of a slave. – Special techniques of beggars in order to obtain food. - A call for mercy. 1. Some kind of thick haze, darkness and fog are spread over the entire earth. Pointing to this, the apostle said: “You were once darkness,” and again: “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that the day should overtake you like a thief” (Eph. 5 and 1 Thess. 5:4). So, due to the fact that now the night is, so to speak, moonless and we are walking in the middle of this night, God gave us a clear lamp, kindling the grace of the Holy Spirit in our souls. But, having accepted this light, some made it brighter and clearer, like, for example, Paul, like Peter, like all the saints; and others were extinguished, like the five virgins, like those who suffered shipwreck in faith, like the Corinthian fornicator, like the Galatians who fell away. Therefore, Paul now says: do not quench the spirit, that is, the gift, because that is what he usually calls the gift of the Holy Spirit. His unclean life extinguishes him. Just as someone who pours water, or throws earth onto this light in a lamp, or, even without doing anything like that (without doing anything), only pours oil out of it, extinguishes the light, so it happens with the gift of grace. If you brought in earthly things, if you indulged in worries about current affairs, then you have already extinguished the spirit, or at least you have not done anything like that, but if from somewhere from the outside the temptation that came from somewhere rushed strongly towards you, like some kind of wind; and if the flame in you did not burn much, or there was a lot of oil for it, or you did not close the hole (in the lamp), or did not close the doors, then everything perished. What makes up this hole? Just as in the lamp, so in us (there is a hole); this is the eye and the ear. Do not allow the strong spirit of wickedness to invade these openings, otherwise it will extinguish the lamp, but protect them with the fear of God. Doors are our mouths; shut them, block them, so that light can pass through them and they repel an attack from the outside. For example, if someone offended you or insulted you with words, you shut your mouth, because if you open them, you will raise a storm. Don’t you see in houses when two opposite doors stand one directly opposite the other, and when a strong wind rises, then as soon as you close one of the doors and there will be no through wind, the wind will not do anything, on the contrary, it will lose a lot of strength? So here too there are two doors: your mouth and the mouth of him who insults you and slanderes you. If you close your mouth and do not allow the air to flow freely from the opposite side, you will destroy all the (power) of the wind; if you open them, he will become indomitable. So, let us not quench it (the spirit). But it often happens that this flame goes out without any extraneous reason. When there is not enough oil, when we do not give alms, the spirit fades away. Since he himself came to you by the grace of God, when he does not find this fruit in you, he flies away from you, because he does not abide in an unmerciful soul. And what happens after that, when the spirit dies away, those of you who walked on a moonless night know about this. And if it is difficult to walk at night on the path that leads from earth to earth, how can one walk safely on the path that leads from earth to heaven? Do you really not know how many demons there are at this distance, how many beasts, how many spirits of wickedness? But if we have that light within us, then they will not be able to harm us; and if we extinguish it, they will immediately catch us, immediately take everything from us. So the robbers first extinguish the lamp, and then they rob: they see in this darkness, because they do the works of darkness; and we are not accustomed to such light. So let's not extinguish it. Every evil deed extinguishes this light: slander, insult, and every sin, no matter what you indicate. As it happens with fire - that everything alien to it destroys it, and everything akin to it strengthens it, so it is with this light: what is dry, what is hot, what is fiery, strengthens the spiritual flame. So, let's not bring anything cold to it, nothing wet; it destroys him. However, there is another explanation (given from the message of the place). In those days many prophesied, some true, others false. (The apostle) also mentions this in his letter to the Corinthians, (saying) that for this reason God gave the discernment of spirits (1 Cor. 12:10). It was the devil, being evil, who wanted to destroy everything in the Church through this gift of prophecy. As a result, both of them predicted the future - both the demon and the spirit, although the first was false, and the second was true, and there was nowhere to get a sign by which one could be distinguished from the other, since both of them (prophets) taught without giving an account, like Jeremiah or Ezekiel. But over time (the false prophets) were exposed and (the ability) to discern spirits was granted. Therefore, since at that time many of the Thessalonians prophesied, as the apostle hints at elsewhere, saying: “do not be in a hurry to be shaken in mind and be troubled either by the spirit, or by the word, or by the message, as if sent by us, as if the day of Christ was already coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:2), then, having said: do not quench the spirit, he opportunely added the following words: “the prophecies are not humiliate." So, he wants to express the following thought here: for the reason that you have several false prophets, for their sake do not oppose the true prophets and do not turn away from them - do not quench them, that is, “do not despise the prophecies.” 2. Do you see what his words mean: tempt everyone. Since he said: “do not despise prophecies,” so that they would not think that he gives everyone the right to prophesy, he says: “test everything, hold fast to what is good,” that is, true prophecies. “Abstain from every kind of evil” - not only from this or that, but from every kind. Test both the false and the true, so that with knowledge of the matter you can distinguish one from the other, and move away from the former and adhere to the latter. In fact, we will only especially hate the former and love the latter when we begin to do everything not simply and without testing, but after precise research. “May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23). Notice the teacher's love. He adds prayer to the exhortation, and moreover, in the epistle, since both instructions and prayer are needed. That is why we, having first taught the instruction, then pray for you, and those initiated into the mysteries know this. True, Paul rightfully did this, having great boldness before God, but we are in humiliation and lacking boldness; but since we are assigned to this, we do the same, despite the fact that we are unworthy, to intercede and even take the place of the last disciples. Precisely, due to the fact that grace acts through the unworthy, not for their sake, but for the sake of those seeking benefit, we join ours (prayers). “May you be sanctified,” he says, “to the fullest, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved in all their integrity without blemish at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What does he mean here with the word spirit? Gift (of the Holy Spirit). If we go out with burning lamps, we will enter the bridal chamber; and if with extinguished ones, then no. That is why he says: your spirit is all-perfect; when we fully retain the gift (of the Holy Spirit), then our spirit will remain unharmed. And the soul, he says, and the body - no evil will touch either the soul or the body. “He who calls you is faithful, and he who will do [this]” (1 Thess. 5:24). Look, what humility! After he said the prayer, he said: do not think that this will be fulfilled because of my prayers, but as a result of the intention for which God called you. If He called you to salvation, and He is true, He will undoubtedly save you because He desires it. "Brethren! pray for us” (1 Thess. 5:25). Oh, what humility! But if he said this out of humility, then we are not out of humility, but for the sake of great benefit and because of the desire to acquire something great through you, we say: “pray for us too.” If you have not received significant benefit from us, nothing that would be worthy of surprise, then at least (pray for us) for the sake of our very dignity, for the sake of our name itself. Someone had children, and although they did not receive any benefit from him, but since he was their father, he reproached them with the fact that they also did not benefit him, saying: even for one day you did not call me father. That’s why we say: pray for us too; and we say this not just for the sake of talking, but sincerely wanting your prayers. If I have taken upon myself the responsibility of interceding for all of you and will have to give an account of this, then your prayer becomes all the more necessary for me. For your sake I have taken on great responsibility; therefore, you should give me great help. “Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss” (1 Thess. 5:26). Oh, what warmth! Oh, what thoughts! Since he, being absent, could not greet them with a kiss himself, he greets them through others. This is what we do when we say: kiss him for me. So you also keep the fire of love within yourself - distance is not an obstacle for it, on the contrary, it fills the separating space and is everywhere. “I adjure you by the Lord to read this letter to all the holy brethren” (1 Thess. 5:27). And here it is not so much instruction as love: so that, thus, he says, I can talk with them too. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, amen” (1 Thess. 5:28). And he not only commands (to read the message to everyone), but with a spell, doing this according to the desire of his fiery heart, so that even if they did not want to pay attention to his request, for the sake of the spell they would fulfill what was commanded to them. Then they were very afraid of this; and now even this has been trampled under foot. And it often happens that a punished slave, conjuring Him both by God and Christ, says: God grant you to die a Christian - and no one listens, no one pays attention to this; if he conjures (the punisher) with his own son, then everyone immediately, albeit against his will, although with gnashing of teeth, reduces his rage. Again, another, who is drawn and led to the middle of the square, in the presence of Hellenes and Jews, conjures the one who is drawn with the most terrible oaths - and no one listens to him. What will the Hellenes not say when a faithful man conjures a faithful Christian, and this does not bring him any benefit, on the contrary, we discover even more contempt for him? 3. Would you like me to tell you one incident that I myself heard about? I am not saying what I have made up, but what I have heard from a person worthy of trust. One slave was married to an evil, criminal, vagabond man. Her husband did a lot of evil, and the lady decided to sell him, because his misdeeds were unforgivable, meanwhile the lady was a widow, she was not able to punish the man who was ruining her house, so she decided to sell him. But, considering it wicked to separate a husband from his wife, she, instead of divorcing them, decided to sell her wife together, despite the fact that this slave was useful to her. Then the slave, seeing herself in a difficult situation, came to one respectable person who was briefly acquainted with her mistress, who told me about this, and, falling at her knees, with many tears, begged to intercede for her before her mistress. Having exhausted many words, she finally added one terrible spell, hoping through it most of all to convince her. The spell was of this kind: do not despise my petition, lest Christ despise you on the day of judgment. Having said this, she left. But the woman whom the slave asked, being preoccupied with some urgent matters usually encountered in domestic life, forgot (about her request). Then, at midday, that terrible spell suddenly came to her memory. She was very alarmed, went immediately, interceded with full zeal, and arranged the matter. That same night she suddenly saw open heaven and Christ himself; however, she saw as much as it is possible for a woman to see. And it was precisely because she was awarded such a vision that she paid full attention to this spell - because she was afraid of it. I told about this so that we do not neglect spells, especially when someone begs us for good deeds, for alms, for philanthropy. But there sit beggars without legs, and they look when you pass by them. Since they are not able to follow you, they hope to hold you back with the fear of a spell, as if with some kind of fishing rod, and, stretching out their hands to you, they conjure to give one or two obols; and you, despite the fact that you are conjured by your Lord, pass by. When you are bewitched by your eyes, by your absent husband, son or daughter, you immediately give in, your heart comes into strong movement, warms up; and when they conjure you by the Lord, you pass by. I knew many (women) who, hearing the name of Christ, passed by; but when those approaching them praised their beauty, they softened, melted with pleasure and extended their hand. Thus, they themselves forced the unfortunate beggars to decide on this laughable task. Since they, using strong and mournful expressions, did not touch their souls, they had to resort to a means through which they could give them special pleasure. Thus, our great wickedness forced both the poor and the one tormented by hunger to speak in praise of our beauty when he asked for alms. And, oh, if only this! But, what is even more intolerable, it forced the poor to become buffoons, swearers and buffoons. When a beggar, shaking and turning cups, glasses, or ladles in his hands, rings them, or, having a pipe, plays shameful and voluptuous songs on it and sings in his voice, meanwhile a crowd surrounds him, and they give him, some a piece of bread, some an obol, some something else, hold it for a long time and amuse themselves with it, both men and women, what could be more intolerable than this? Не достойно ли это горьких слез? Конечно, это мелочи, – они и считаются за мелочи; но они порождают в наших нравах великие пороки. After all, every shameful word, every seductive song weakens the heart and corrupts the very soul. You do not deign a word to the beggar who calls on God and asks you for countless benefits; and whoever instead imagines some childish things, you look at him with surprise. Но я скажу вам то, что мне пришло теперь на мысль сказать вам. What is this? When you are exposed to poverty or illness, then you will learn to thank the Lord from no one else, but from the beggars wandering the alleys. Spending their entire lives in beggary, they do not blaspheme, do not get annoyed, do not complain, but always talk about their poverty with thanksgiving, calling God great and philanthropic. The one who is fading from hunger calls God loving of mankind; and you, living in abundance, if you do not appropriate for yourself what belongs to everyone, you call Him cruel! How much better (the beggar) is than you! How will he condemn us then! God has ordained that the poor should be all over the world – our common teachers and consolation in misfortune. Perhaps you have undergone something that you would not want to? But this cannot be compared with what he endures. Have you lost your eye? And he did both. Are you suffering from a long-term illness? And he is possessed by an incurable disease. Have you lost your children? And he – and his own bodily health. Have you suffered a great loss? But you have not yet reached the point where you need others. Therefore, thank God. You see that they, being in the most extreme poverty, ask from everyone, but receive from a few. When you pray to the point of exhaustion and do not receive what you ask for, then think how many times you heard a beggar asking you, and you did not listen to him, yet he was not annoyed or insulted you. You did this out of hardness of heart; but God, out of love for mankind, also does what he does not heed you. So, if you do not consider yourself worthy of blame for the fact that out of hardness of heart you do not listen to a servant like you, then can you blame the Master when He does not listen to His servant out of love for mankind? Do you see what inequality, what injustice? 4. Let us constantly think about this - about the lower ones, about those who have suffered greater misfortune than us - and in this we will find an incentive to thank God. There are many such instructive examples in life. A vigilant and attentive person can learn a lot by looking at houses of worship. Indeed, in churches and at the tombs of martyrs, beggars sit in the vestibule so that we, looking at them, will receive great benefit. Just think that when we enter the earthly royal palaces, we cannot see anything like this - important, famous, rich and intelligent men come out to meet you from everywhere; and in the truly royal palaces, that is, in the church and houses of prayer built over the tombs of the martyrs - the possessed, the poor, the poor, the old, the blind and the crippled. What is this for? In order for you, looking at them, to learn, firstly, that if you enter (the church) with some arrogance, you must, at the sight of them, leave arrogance, bring your heart into contrition, and then go in and listen to what they are reading - because those who pray with pride cannot be heard - further, that when you see an old man, you should not be proud of your youth - because these old men were young - also the fact that you, when you are too proud of your military rank and the power granted to you by the king, should think that among them there are people who were once noble in the courts of the kings, and finally, that you, when you hope for bodily health, should pay attention to them and humble your pride. Thus, by constantly coming here, the healthy person will not dream much about his health, and the sick person will receive considerable consolation. However, not only for this reason do they sit here, but also so that you become more merciful and bow down to mercy, also so that you reverence the love of God for mankind - because if God does not disdain them, but placed them in the threshold of His house, then much less you (should not disdain them), - finally, so that you are not too proud of the magnificent palaces of the earth. So, do not be ashamed when a beggar calls your name, and do not push him away when he comes to you and hugs your knees, for they are in some ways the wonderful dogs of royal palaces. I called them dogs not because I wanted to humiliate them, no, on the contrary, to give them great praise. They guard the palace of the King of Heaven; therefore feed them; with this you can honor the King himself. There, that is, in the earthly royal palaces, everything is pride; everything here is humility. From the very threshold you will fully learn that everything human is insignificant; From those sitting there you learn that you cannot please God with wealth. Their sitting and gathering serves as a kind of edification for the entire human race, loudly proclaiming that human deeds are nothing, that they are shadow and smoke. If wealth were good, then God would not have placed the poor in the threshold of His house. And if He allows the rich here, then do not be surprised, because He does not allow them in so that they remain rich, but so that they put aside pride. Listen to what Christ says to them: “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24); and again: “Jesus said to His disciples: Verily I say to you, it is difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven”; and Christ also tells them: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:23–24). He receives the rich here for this reason, so that they hear these words, so that they love eternal wealth, so that they desire heavenly blessings. And is it surprising that God does not consider the poor unworthy to sit in His vestibule? He does not consider them unworthy to be called to His spiritual table and become partakers of His supper; on the contrary, a lame and crippled old man, dressed in rags, a dirty and unkempt old man, together with a handsome young man, even dressed in scarlet and having a diadem on his head, begins to partake of the meal and is awarded the spiritual supper - both are awarded the same thing, and there is no difference. 5. Thus, Christ does not consider them unworthy to be called to His table with the king - and they and he are called together - and you, perhaps, consider it humiliating for yourself if others see that you give to the poor, or talk to them? Oh, what arrogance, what arrogance! Be careful that we do not suffer the same thing that the rich man never endured. He, too, did not want to look at Lazarus and did not give him either shelter or shelter, and Lazarus lay outside his house, outside the gates, and did not receive a single word from him. But look how, when he was in dire need of his help, he did not receive it either. If we are ashamed of those whom Christ is not ashamed of, then we are ashamed of Christ by being ashamed of His friends. Let your table be filled with the lame and the maimed; Christ comes in their person, and not in the person of the rich. You may laugh hearing this. Therefore, so that you do not think that these are my words, listen to what Christ himself says, and do not laugh, but tremble. “When you make lunch or dinner,” He says, “do not invite your friends, nor your brothers, nor your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they invite you and you receive reward. But when you make a feast, call the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed that they cannot repay you, for you will be rewarded at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:12–14). There is more glory here if you love it. In fact, from the former there is envy, hatred, gossip, slander, and great fear that something indecent might happen; Moreover, if those called are more important than you, you stand before them, like a slave before a master, fearing reproaches and slander from them. But on the part of the latter, nothing like this happens; but no matter what you give them, they accept everything with pleasure, and for everything there is great gratitude, loud glory and deep respect. Everyone who learns about this praises not so much those (who treat the noble) as those (who treat the poor). If you, rich man, who convenes leaders and rulers, do not believe this, then do an experiment, convene the poor, fill the table with them, and you will see if not everyone will praise you, if not everyone will love you, if not everyone will consider you as a father. There is no benefit from those treats, but for these heaven and heavenly blessings are prepared, of which may we all be worthy, 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 unto the ages of ages. Amen. These conversations were delivered by the saint in Constantinople in 399. You might be interested in: