About repentance, and about reading about the (sin) of David with the wife of Uriah.

Today we read about blessed David, singer and teacher of chastity. After all, every time the sounds of his spiritual lyre are heard for us in the psalms, he delights our ears, and attunes our thoughts in the spirit of chastity. That is why the grace of the Spirit has arranged it so that every day almost every Christian soul has his songs on their lips, to the delight of the ear and for the benefit of the soul. But I was always surprised and perplexed, reasoning with myself and asking this kind of question: why, above all the scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, does everyone love this book of David so much and he alone does not leave everyone’s lips? Moses was a great lawgiver who contemplated God face to face; By inspiration from above, he revealed to us the secret of the universe and, preaching about the Creator, announced: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). His book is the greatest of books and full of all wisdom, and yet we open it in each of the churches only once or twice a week. Will you say that this book belongs to the Old Testament? But then what can you say regarding the reading of the holy Gospels, where the miracles of Christ’s coming are depicted, where God turns among people and death is driven away by a word, where demons are cast out by command and lepers are cleansed by a word, where the blind are healed of their natural deficiency with clay and five thousand people in the desert are satisfied with five loaves, where the way to heaven is opened for a thief and the harlot becomes purer than the stars, where the streams of the Jordan are sanctified for the sanctification of our souls and the Only Begotten Son from the Father is proclaimed from heaven, where Christ renews our life, and renewing, preaches for the salvation of the human race, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied” (Matthew 5:3, 6). But notice, we read these commandments in churches once or twice a week. True, royal crowns are not suitable to be displayed to the people every day. But what can we say about the blessed Apostle Paul, the preacher of Christ, who captured the universe with his fourteen messages, as if with spiritual nets, and attracted the whole world to salvation; about Paul, caught up to the third heaven and into paradise itself, a witness of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, inaccessible to human words (2 Cor. 12:4)? After all, we even read his writings only twice a week, that is, although we carry his message on our lips, we focus on reading it and are established in it only at this time. What, then, is the reason why the grace of the Spirit established that the works of blessed David should be proclaimed every day and every night? After all, we all carry it on our lips instead of peace. In the church, the all-night vigil begins and continues, and ends with the psalms of David; whether the morning doxology - it begins, and continues, and it ends with David; seeing off the deceased to his resting place - both the beginning and the end - blessed David; maidens in their homes work at the loom - and they begin, and they continue, and they end with the songs of David. Amazing thing! Many, having no idea about the rudiments of literacy, recite all of David by heart. But not only in cities and churches does he shine so brightly at all times and for all ages, but also in the fields, and in deserts, and on uninhabited land, with great zeal he stirs up sacred ceremonies for the glorification of God. In monasteries there is a sacred choir of angelic ranks - and at the beginning, and in the middle, and at the end they have David; in the abodes of the ascetics there are the faces of virgins imitating Mariam - and at the beginning, and in the middle, and at the end they have David; in the deserts there are men crucifying their flesh, talking with God - and at the beginning, and in the middle, and at the end they have David. And all people, falling at night under the power of natural sleep, are drawn into the abyss; David alone is awake and awakens the servants of God to angelic all-night vigils, turning the earth into heaven and making people equal to the angels, decorating your life in every possible way, being everything to everyone and in every way elevating our life to an angelic one: growing up with children, admonishing young men, confirming virgins in chastity, granting strength to elders, calling sinners to repentance with the exhortation: “Glorify the Lord, for He is good” ( “Confess... to God that he is good” (Ps. 118:1), encouraging those who repent with the words: “Do not remember the sins of my youth and my ignorance” (Ps. 24:7), disposing those who have been blessed to gratitude with the saying: “What will I repay to the Lord for all His good deeds to me?” ("What I will repay to the Lord for all whom I have repaid") (Ps. 115:3), often again calling those who sin to confess their sins with a reminder: “If You, Lord, will notice iniquities, - Lord! who can stand?" ("If you see iniquity, O Lord, Lord, who will stand?") (Ps. 129:3), teaching those in need of God's mercy to say: "Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy" (Ps. 50:3), calling those called to the sanctuary, affirming with the words: "Do not cast me away from Thy presence" (Ps. 50:13), placing those drawn to the judgment seat in the mouth of the words: “Deliver me from the slander of men” (Ps. 119:134), inspiring those who fear the uprising of enemies to pray: “Deliver me from my enemies, O God” (Ps. 58:2), rousing those who endure and benefit to gratitude with the words: “When I endured, I trusted in the Lord, and... I bowed down to me, and heard my prayer” (Ps. 39:2). Oh, great lyre, the souls of people throughout the universe, like some kind of strings, tuning to a single confession! How could such and such a great man, the adornment of human morals, for whose praise there are no words, who established an angelic life on earth and was crowned in heaven with the praises of angels, by what permission could he fall into two major sins at once? After all, the most important of the commandments is “Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Ex. 20:13–14), and these were precisely the two most important sins that he was allowed to fall into. Often, having gone deep into myself and thought about all this, I am thrown into amazement, and just as a ship in the sea, carried to and fro without a helmsman, is overwhelmed by the waves, so often my mind is completely overwhelmed and entangled in confusion of thoughts: like a man adorned with so many virtues, a king and a prophet, a servant of Christ and His father, a slave by nature, a father by flesh ("The Book of the Kinship of Jesus Christ, the Son of David" (Matt. 1:1)), exalted by virtues more than by a royal crown, dressed in scarlet, and with sincere humility saying: “Lord! My heart was not lifted up and my eyes were not lifted up, and I did not enter into what was great and beyond my reach. Have I not humbled and calmed my soul, like a child weaned from its mother’s breast?” (“Lord, my heart is not exalted, my eyes are lifted up lower, we walk lower in the great, lower in the wondrous than I. Even if not in humbleness of mind, but exalted my soul as if it were given away.”) (Ps. 131:1-2), crowning the limits of kindness and saying: “Lord my God! If I have done anything, if there is injustice in my hands, if I have repaid with evil the one who was with me in the world" ("Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is iniquity in my hand, if I have rewarded those who repay evil") (Ps. 7:4-5), not only personally renouncing arrogance, but also not tolerating arrogance in others, in his words: "Whoever does it will not live in my house insidiously; he who speaks a lie will not remain before my eyes” (Ps. 100:7), who boldly said to God: “You... tempted me,... and found no iniquity in me” (Ps. 16:3)? However – what then? Why refer to his own words? After all, they often say: “He who testifies to himself does not deserve faith; let another testify to his worth, let another proclaim his crowns, let another approve of his life; such evidence will be more reliable.” But who can be more reliable than God himself, who said: “I have found a man after My heart, David, the son of Jesse” (Acts 13:22)? What could be more reliable than this evidence? How, flaunting so many distinctions, recognized as a man after God’s heart, how could he come to the point of falling into two major sins? “Don't kill. Do not commit adultery." And suddenly the prophet of God is a murderer and adulterer, as the passage of the holy book read to us today says! I do not humiliate the prophet - let him not - but I say this for your edification, so that when you reach spiritual heights, you will guard yourself so that you do not fall. So, after all, the apostle said: “If anyone thinks he stands, be careful lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). That is why David himself often said: “Do not destroy” (Ps. 57:1); That’s why he himself prayed: “And even to old age and gray hair, my God, do not forsake me” (Ps. 70:18). So, why was he allowed to fall into such a sin? For three reasons, and I will now explain why; just pay full attention to this. First of all, so that righteous people - ascetics or hermits - are careful about their own lives and do not say: “I have succeeded in many ways, I am adorned with many virtues: I fast, I am awake, I pray, I cry, I am clothed in sackcloth, I have exhausted my body with deeds; I am no longer afraid of the devil’s uprising; crowns have already been prepared for me.” Do not be mistaken, man, do not be exalted in thought; your works cannot compare with the works of David. Listen to what he says: “My knees are weak from fasting, and my body has lost fat” (“My knees are weak from fasting, and my flesh has changed for the sake of oil”) (Ps. 109:24); or: “When they were sick, I dressed in sackcloth, I exhausted my soul with fasting” (“I, when I was cold, clothed myself in sackcloth and humbled my soul with fasting”) (Ps. 34:13), Listen to what he says about how he stayed awake: “At midnight I got up to praise You” (Ps. 119:62), and again: “Seven times a day I glorify You” (Ps. 118:164); listen to what he says about his crying: “I am weary with my groanings: every night I wash my bed, I wet my bed with my tears” (Ps. 6:7); listen to what he says about the hardships to which he subjected himself: “I eat ashes like bread, and I dissolve my drink with tears” (Ps. 101:10). But why should I bring you the words of the prophet David, when I can again remind you of the testimony of God himself? “I have found a man after My own heart, David the son of Jesse.” And yet, after so many exploits, he was involved in such a sin. So, do not be presumptuous, but take care every day about your own progress, remembering the admonition of the apostle, which says: “If anyone thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.” Here is the first reason. And here is the second: so that sinners do not despair of their own salvation, but if someone sins every day, he would bring repentance every day. Even if you have sinned a thousand times, repent a thousand times. There is nothing worse than despair: once someone, having sinned, surrenders to despair, hope for healing is already lost for him. Have you not observed that if the doctors find the patient hopeless, they no longer continue the treatment, but say to the patient: “Even if you promise to reward us, we cannot take it; your illness can no longer be cured; The art of medicine is powerless to fight your illness.” This is what they say when they have no hope. On the contrary, if they expect the patient to recover, then they take all measures and give medicines that will contribute to his recovery. In the same way, if someone, because of his sins, comes to despair, thinking that he no longer has the opportunity to be saved by repenting, he thereby pushes himself into even greater sins. In this case, if you remember that even from such greatest sins as adultery and murder, correction and salvation were possible for the prophet, then no matter how countless your sins, you will still resort to repentance. However, my speech tends not to encourage sin, but to incite those who sin to repent, since God, being humane, blots out great sins. Indeed, what is greater than murder and adultery? And yet, listen to what the prophet says, having himself sinned with these very sins: “I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and You took away from me the guilt of my sin” (Ps. 31:5). That is why Christ, turning among people, granted remission of the greatest sins: he brought the thief into paradise, made the publican an Evangelist, turned the persecutor and blasphemer Paul into an apostle for the whole universe - so that you, having sinned, would not fall into despair, but by confessing your sins would achieve healing. “Confess the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever” (Ps. 117:1). This is the second reason. The third one remains. Our Savior deigned to save us by His coming according to the flesh; He had to take upon Himself our mortal body and live with people. But since He was God and the only sinless one, He allowed righteous people of their own free will to fall into the sins characteristic of people: He did not himself call them to sin, but allowed their will to act at their own discretion. This is exactly how Abraham sinned, showing distrust of God, and for this he received punishment from God: “and they will enslave... your descendants, and oppress them for four hundred years” (Gen. 15:13). Then Moses sinned by not giving glory to God when he brought water out of a stone for an ungrateful people, and for this God said to him: “You will see the land of promise, but you will not enter it” (Deuteronomy 34:4). So God allowed this one to fall into sin, so that only He himself would be sinless in the human body. That is why the prophet David, when he had already confessed his sin, said to God: “I have sinned against you alone and have done evil in your sight” (“I have sinned against you alone and have done evil in your sight”). Why? “So Thou art righteous in Thy judgment and pure in Thy judgment” (“For thou shalt be justified in Thy words and overcome Thy judgment at all times”) (Ps. 50:6). When that day comes, he will say: “Behold our mortal body, sitting at the right hand of the Majesty of God: “Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool” (Ps. 109:1).” On that very day, when people appear for judgment, the body that He received from our generation will also be revealed. Above is the body and below is the body - because “they will look,” it is said, “on Him whom they have pierced” (“they will look upon the one who pierced him”) (John 19:37; Zech. 12:10). But one, ours, that is, is burdened with sins, and the other, not involved in sin, but requiring the condemnation of sins, is Divine. This is what it means: “so that You are righteous in Your judgment and pure in Your judgment” (“so that You may be justified in Your words and triumph over Your judgment”). How? “For He committed no sin, neither was there any deceit in His mouth” (Isa. 53:9). To him be glory forever and ever. Amen. The following conversations are classified in the Patrology of Min (vol. 13) as Spuria You might be interested in: