Слово в неделю Антипасхи или Фомину, сказанное в Предтеченской церкви архиерейского дома 30-го марта 1858 года.

“Be not unfaithful, but faithful” (John 20:27). The truth of the resurrection of Christ is so important that all Christianity is based on it: “if Christ does not rise, our faith is in vain” (1 Cor. 15:17). Therefore, it is not surprising if St. Thomas, who had not witnessed the first appearance of the resurrected Life-Giver to his disciples, wanted to be convinced of this truth so clearly that he did not even believe his fellow disciples, who told him: “I have seen the Lord” (John 20:25). And the Lord did not reject Thomas’s desires, despite his unbelief; on the contrary, eight days after his resurrection, he again appeared to the apostles, when Thomas was with them, commanded him to touch his hands and ribs and said: “Do not be unfaithful, but faithful.” Brothers! Not only for the Apostle Thomas, not just for his closest, immediate disciples, the Lord granted the full opportunity to be convinced of His resurrection: it is granted to all of us. The truth of the resurrection of Christ is confirmed for us by such events, nothing could be more convincing than that. The first of these events is a wonderful, sudden change that occurred in the apostles. Look what's wrong with them. Not so long ago they were timid, fearful people, and when their Teacher was put to death, they were so afraid for their own fate that when they gathered together, they concluded “for fear of the Jews” (John 20:19). And now? Suddenly they become bold, decisive; They themselves fearlessly go to the congregations of Jews, appear among the Pharisees and scribes, appear before the Sanhedrin and everywhere preach about the risen Christ. They are banned, threatened, and imprisoned. In vain: nothing holds them back. And before they were devoted to their Teacher and even assured Him that they were ready to die with Him; but as soon as He was taken by the bishop’s servants, “everyone left him and fled” (Matthew 26:56), and Peter himself, who seemed the most zealous of all, rejected Him three times. And now? They suddenly become devoted to their Teacher to the point of complete self-sacrifice. They leave their homes, relatives, the very fatherland, scatter throughout all countries of the world, endure all kinds of labor, hardships, persecution, torment, devote their entire lives to preaching about Christ crucified but risen, and finally taste violent death for Him, sealing with their own blood the truth of their preaching. How could all this happen if Christ was not resurrected - not resurrected, contrary to his predictions and promises to the apostles - if they did not see Him after the resurrection, and were not decisively convinced of His resurrection and His Divinity? If such a moral change that took place in the apostles is amazing, then the mental change is no less amazing. They were simple fishermen, unliterate people (Acts 4:13), and before they did not understand much in the teaching of their Teacher, no matter how clear and publicly accessible it was, they could not free themselves from the prejudice of their compatriots regarding the kingdom of the Messiah. And now? They suddenly become the greatest sages and preach the most perfect teaching about God, the world and man, which no other person has ever reached, reveal concepts about the Messiah that cannot be purer and more worthy, proclaim a morality so sublime that humanity has never heard. If Christ was not resurrected, then there was not and could not have been the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles. Where could these fishermen get their lips and wisdom with which they enlightened, amazed, and conquered the universe? The second event is a wonderful, unexpected change in the Jerusalemites and in the Jews in general. Didn’t they condemn our Lord to death, didn’t they frantically shout before Pilate: “Take him, take him, crucify him?” And just a little fifty days had passed after His death, as soon as the Apostle Peter proclaimed on the day of Pentecost before the crowds of people gathered in Jerusalem for the holiday: “Men of Israel, listen to the words of these: Jesus of Nazareth,” whom you, “with the hands of the wicked, nailed, killed, God raised from the dead,” in accordance with ancient prophecies, - as on the same day you believed in Christ and were baptized up to three thousand of these same Jews (Acts 2:22–41). A few days later, another similar sermon about the risen Christ attracted up to five thousand more to Him in Jerusalem (Acts 4:4). In the following days, in the same city, more and more “believers of the Lord are joined, a multitude of husbands and wives” (Acts 5:14). What does all this mean if Christ was not resurrected, if the Jews, especially the Jerusalemites, who had full opportunity to know the truth, at least not many were not convinced of the reality of His resurrection, despite the rumors spread about the theft of His body by His disciples? Would you say that the apostles attracted people to faith in Christ with their miracles? Is it true. Proclaiming to the Jews about the risen Christ, the apostles confirmed their words with miracles. But where did they get the power to work miracles if Christ did not rise and send the Holy Spirit upon them? And do not forget that, having accepted faith in Christ, the Jews immediately became objects of hatred of their other compatriots who did not believe, and decided to endure everything - oppression, persecution, torment, death itself, for the sake of the name of Jesus, who was once crucified by them.... How can we explain such a phenomenon if Christ really did not rise from the dead? We do not mention other subsequent, equally striking events that confirm the truth of the resurrection of Christ: the miraculous conversion of Saul, one of the greatest enemies of Christianity, the miraculous spread of St. faith not only between Jews, but also pagans, despite all the obstacles from the pagan priests, the mob, the sages, the rulers themselves, thousands of deaths to which Christians were subjected for over three centuries, entire rivers of the blood of martyrs. We also do not point out how Christianity defeated its enemies in all subsequent centuries, how it transformed and elevated humanity in all respects, what beneficial influence it had on the world of sciences, arts, especially morality, what a countless number of miracles the history of the Church of Christ represents from its beginning to the present day. If Christ was not resurrected, if He is a simple man, and not the God-man: tell me, how did all this happen and is happening in His name? Let us give thanks, brethren, to the risen Life-Giver: He requires from us faith in Himself, but He has also given us all the means to be convinced of His resurrection and Divinity, so that our faith is not a blind, dark faith, but a reasonable, bright, solid one. And to each of us, in fairness, we can say the same thing that He said to the Apostle Thomas, who felt His ribs and ulcers: “Do not be unfaithful.” Amen. You might be interested in: