Беседа 13. Побудительная к принятию святого крещения

The wise Solomon, analyzing the times for everyday affairs, and for everything that happens, determining his own time, said: “there is a time for everyone and a time for every thing: ... a time to live and a time to die” (Eccl. 3:1-2). And I, preaching a saving sermon to you, would slightly change the saying of the wise and say: a time to die, and a time to be born. What is the basis for this change? That Solomon, speaking about the subject of birth and corruption, and following the order of bodily nature, preferred birth to death. For it is impossible for someone who has not been born before to experience death. And I, intending to spread the word about spiritual rebirth, put death before life. For only having died in the flesh are we born in spirit, just as the Lord says: “I will kill and make life” (Deut. 32:39). Let us therefore die that we may live; let us put to death carnal wisdom, which cannot submit to the law of God, so that strong spiritual wisdom may be born in us, the result of which is usually “life and peace” (Rom. 8:6-7). Let us bury Christ who died for us, so that we may rise with the Author of our resurrection. Therefore, for every task there is a suitable time; there is a time for sleep, a time for waking, a time for war, and a time for peace, but the time for baptism is the whole of human life. It is impossible for the body to live without breathing, and it is impossible for the soul to exist without knowing the Creator, for ignorance of God is death for the soul. But he who is not baptized is not enlightened; and without light, just as the eye does not see what it can see, so the soul is not capable of contemplating God. Therefore, any time is useful for salvation through baptism, whether it be night, or day, or hour, or instant, or even the shortest part of time. But the time more appropriate for this should be much more appropriate. What time is as convenient for baptism as Easter Day? For this day is the memory of the resurrection; and baptism is a powerful means to resurrection. Therefore, on Sunday, let us receive the grace of resurrection. For this purpose, the Church, “through lofty preaching” (Prov. 9:3), long before summons her pupils, so that those with whom she has been sick for a long time, give birth at this time, and, having nourished them like milk with words of catechumen, give them the solid food of dogmas to eat. John preached a baptism of repentance, and all Judea came out to him. The Lord preaches the baptism of sonhood, and who of those who have placed their trust in Him will not obey? That baptism is preliminary, and this is perfect; this is removal from sin, and this is appropriation to God. There was a sermon there by one person - John, and attracted everyone to repentance, and the prophets teach you: “Wash yourself, and be clean” (Is. 1:16); The psalms admonish you: “Come to Him and be enlightened” (Ps. 33:6); The Apostles preach the gospel to you: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you will receive the promise of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38); The Lord Himself invites you to Himself, saying: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28); for all this was now proposed in the reading. And you put it off, think about it, hesitate? Having been exposed to the teachings since infancy, has not yet begun to approach the truth? Always learning, have you not yet come to knowledge? You experience it all your life, you look out until old age; When will you become a Christian? When will we know that you are ours? You've been waiting for a real year for a year. Be careful that your promises do not extend beyond the limits of life. “Do not consider what will give birth; find the day” (Proverbs 27:1). Don't promise what is not yours. We call you to life, man: why are you shying away from the calling? We call for the sharing of benefits: why are you passing by the gift? The Kingdom of Heaven is open; The caller is not deceitful; the path is convenient, there is no time, no expense, no hassle. Why are you delaying? Why are you retreating back? Why are you afraid of the yoke, like a young woman who has not experienced the yoke? It is “good, ... easy” (Matthew 11:30); It does not rub the neck, but adorns it, because it is not tied to the neck with a belt, but demands that the one who attracts it be free. You see that Ephraim is accused “like a young man who is goaded with a goad” 64 (Hos. 4:16); because he wanders disorderly, despising the yoke of the law? Bend your unbridled neck; be a yoke 65 of Christ, so that otherwise, by loosening your belt and being self-willed in life, you will not become caught by the beasts. “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. 33:9). How can you explain the sweetness of honey to those who don’t know? "Taste and see". The feeling in experience is clearer than any word. The Jew does not put off circumcision because of the threat that every soul that is not circumcised on the eighth day will be “perished” from among his people (Gen. 17:14). And you put off “circumcision made without hands in cutting off... the flesh,” performed in baptism (Col. 2:11), having heard from the Lord Himself: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he will not enter the Kingdom of God” (John 3:5). There is pain and ulcers, and here is irrigation of the soul and healing for heart ulcers. Will you swear to the Dead for you? Therefore, decide to be buried “in Him through baptism” (Rom. 6:4). If you are not “conformed... to the likeness of His death,” then how will you become a partaker of the resurrection (Rom. 6:5)? Israel was baptized “into Moses... in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Cor. 10:2), presenting you with prototypes and delineating the truth that was revealed in recent times. And you are running away from baptism, which is not represented by the sea, but is performed in reality, baptism not in the cloud, but in the spirit, not in Moses, who served you with you, but in Christ who created you. If Israel had not crossed the sea, they would not have been separated from Pharaoh; and if you do not pass through the water, you will not come out from under the bitter torment of the devil. He would not have drunk from the spiritual stone if he had not been baptized representatively; and no one will give you true drink unless you are truly baptized. He, after baptism, is “the bread of angels” (Ps. 77:25); How can you taste the “Bread of animals” (John 6:51) if you do not receive baptism first? He ascended through baptism into the land of promise; How can you return to heaven without being sealed by baptism? Or don’t you know that there is “a flaming weapon... guard the path of the tree of life” (Gen. 3:24), which is terrible and scorching for the unbelievers, but accessible and pleasantly illuminating for those who believe? And the Lord made it turning: when it sees the faithful, it turns backwards, and when it sees one of the unsealed, it meets him with its tip. Elijah was not horrified by the chariots of fire and horses of fire approaching him, but, desiring the mountain procession, he dared to do something terrible, and joyfully mounted the chariot, although he was still living in the flesh (2 Kings 2:11). And you, when it is necessary not to ascend into chariots of fire, but to ascend to heaven by water and the Spirit, are you not in a hurry to be called? Elijah demonstrated the power of baptism on the altar of burnt offerings by burning the sacrifice not with fire, but with water. In other cases the nature of fire is opposed to water; but since at this time water was mysteriously poured onto the altar three times, it became the beginning of fire and kindled the flame like oil. “Bring me,” he says, “four pots of water, and pour it on the burnt offering and on the logs... And he said: double it. And double it. ...Triple it. And triple it” (1 Kings 18:34). And this Scripture shows that whoever comes to God is assimilated to Him by baptism and that in souls who approach through faith in the Trinity, a pure and heavenly light shines. If I were distributing gold in church, you wouldn’t tell me: tomorrow I’ll come, tomorrow you’ll give it; but, asking to hurry up the distribution, he would demand it now, and would be indignant at the delay. But when the Greatly Gifted One offers you not the goodness of a substance, but spiritual purity, you come up with pretexts and calculate the reasons, while you should have hastened to the gift. Oh miracle! You are renewed without being refined, you are created again without preliminary crushing, you are healed without feeling pain: and you value this grace at nothing! If you were a slave among people, and freedom was declared for the slaves, would you not have appeared on the appointed day, would you not have hired intercessors for yourself, would you not have begged the judges in order to be freed by all means? Of course, I would have endured the slap in the face, this final blow inflicted on slaves 66, if only after that I would be freed from insults. And when a preacher calls you, a slave not of people, but of sin, to freedom, in order to deliver you from captivity, to make you a fellow citizen of the Angels, to declare you a son of God, adopted by grace, and an heir of the blessings of Christ, you say that it is not yet time for you to accept what is being given. What crafty obstacles! What vile and empty idle time! How long will these pleasures last? How long will this fun last? For a long time we lived for the world; We will finally live for ourselves. What is equivalent to a soul? What is the balance of the Heavenly Kingdom? What advisor is more worthy of faith than God? Who is more prudent than the Wise? Who is more beneficial than the Good? Who is closer to us than the Creator? It did not benefit Eve that she believed more in the advice of the serpent than in the advice of the Lord. What reckless words: “I have no time to be healed; do not show me the light: do not bring me closer to the King!” Isn’t that exactly what you’re saying, or even crazier than that? If you had public debts, and a debt assignment was announced to those in debt, and meanwhile someone out of malice tried to deprive you of a share in this forgiveness, of course, you would be indignant and raise your voice, as if you were being deprived of your share in the general mercy. And when not only forgiveness of the past, but also future gifts are preached to you, inflicting an insult on yourself that no enemy would have done to you, do you believe that you have properly discussed your case and come up with something useful for yourself, that is, not to take advantage of forgiveness, but to die in debt? Moreover, you know that the debt of ten thousand talents would have been forgiven if he had not renewed the claim against himself through inhumanity towards his fellow servant (Matthew 18:23-35). And we need to be careful not to endure this, if, after receiving this grace, we do not forgive our debtors: we need to be careful so that the gift remains with us inalienably. Enter into the secret place of your soul, bring to mind your deeds. If you have many sins; do not be discouraged because of their multitude. “Where sin abounds, grace abounds” (Rom. 5:20), if only you accept this grace. For to the one who owes much, much will be forgiven, so that he may love more (Luke 7:41-43). And if your sins are not great, not important and do not lead to death, why are you worried about the future, who endured the past not without courage, and, moreover, not yet being guided by the law? Imagine that your soul is now standing, as it were, on a scale, and on one side the Angels are pulling it towards you, and on the other - the demons. To which of them will you bow your heart? What will win over you? Is it the pleasure of the flesh or the sanctity of the soul? Whether it is enjoyment of the present or desire for the future; Will the angels receive you or will those who still possess you hold you back? During military operations, military leaders communicate a conventional sign to their subordinates, so that the allies can more conveniently call on each other, and they can be separated from the enemies when mixed up with them during the battle without confusion. No one will recognize you, whether you are ours or one of our opponents, if you do not prove unity with us by mysterious signs, if the “light of the countenance” of the Lord has not been marked on you (Ps. 4:7). How will an Angel challenge you, how will he snatch you away from your enemies, if he does not know the seal? How can you say: “I am God’s” if you don’t bear the signs? Or don’t you know that the “Destroyer” passed through sealed houses and killed the firstborn in unsealed houses (Ex. 12:23–29)? Unsealed treasure is conveniently stolen by thieves; an untagged sheep can be lured away safely. Are you young? Bring your youth to safety with the bridle of baptism. Have your blooming years passed? Do not lose the parting words, do not destroy the protective means, do not count on the eleventh hour as on the first; because even those who begin life must have death before their eyes. If one of the doctors promised by some means and industry to turn you from old to young, would you not wish that the day would come on which you would see yourself returned to a flourishing age? And when baptism promises that your soul will prosper, which you have brought to decay and through iniquity have made decrepit and defiled, you despise the Benefactor and are in no hurry to take advantage of the promise. Will you not wish to see what this great miracle of promise means? How is a person reborn without a mother? how does one who is outdated and “smoldering in the lusts of deceitful desires” (Eph. 4:22) again come into strength, become youthful and return to truly blooming youth? Baptism - redemption of captives, forgiveness of debts, death of sin, rebirth of the soul, bright clothing, inviolable seal, chariot to heaven, preparation of the Kingdom, the granting of sonship. Is it really possible for you, unfortunate one, that so many and great blessings are preferable to carnal pleasure? I understand your slowness, although you cover it with words; the very deeds cry out, although your voice is not heard. “Leave me alone; I will use the flesh for vile pleasures, I will wallow in the mire of pleasures, stain my hands with blood, take away what belongs to others, live by deception, break oaths, lie - and then I will be baptized when I finally stop doing evil.” Therefore, if sin is beautiful, stick to it to the end; and if you are harmful to the one who sins, why do you become stubborn in harmful deeds? He who tries to free himself from bile will not increase it in himself through a disorderly and intemperate lifestyle. It is necessary to cleanse the body of what bothers it, and not increase the disease beyond its strength. The ship is visible above the water as it lifts its cargo of goods; but if you put more in it, it will sink. Be afraid, too, lest you suffer something like this and, having committed sins that exceed the measure of forgiveness, do not suffer shipwreck before you enter the desired harbour. Doesn’t God see what is happening and know your thoughts? helps you in your iniquities? It is said: “Thou shalt mourn iniquity, for I will be like thee” (Ps. 49:21). You yourself, seeking the friendship of a mortal man, attract him to yourself with good deeds, say and do what you guess he will be happy about; But wanting to enter into communion with God and hoping that you will be accepted by Him in the dignity of a son, and meanwhile, doing what is contrary to God and dishonoring Him by breaking the law, you hope thereby to achieve communion with Him, how do you most offend Him? Be careful that, in the hope of redemption, while accumulating a multitude of evils for yourself, you do not end up accumulating sins and not receiving forgiveness. “God is not mocked” (Gal. 6:7). Don't trade on grace; do not say: “The law is beautiful, but sin is more pleasant.” Pleasure is the devil’s oud, leading to destruction. Pleasure is the mother of sin, and sin is the “sting of death” (1 Cor. 15:56). Pleasure is the food of the eternal worm; it consoles the enjoyer for a while, and subsequently produces offspring that contain more bitterness than gall. This slowness expresses nothing more than the following: “Let sin reign in me first, then the Lord will someday reign.” First, my ouds “I will present the weapons of unrighteousness to sin, and then, in time, I will present them also to the weapons of righteousness to God” (Rom. 6:13). So Cain made sacrifices; what was better was for his own pleasure, and what was worse was for God who created and bestowed. While you are capable of work, you spend your youth in sins; and as soon as the members have weakened, then you offer them as a gift to God, when you can no longer use them for anything and, of necessity, must be left inactive, because the strength has been lost from long-term exhaustion. Chastity in old age is no longer chastity, but the inability to indulge in intemperance. The dead will not be crowned; He is not a righteous man who cannot do evil. While you have the strength, overcome sin with your mind; for this is virtue - to shun evil and do good. And when a vice from fatigue becomes inactive, this in itself does not deserve either praise or punishment. If you stop sinning because of age, it will be by the grace of your weakness. And we praise those who are good by choice, and not those who are forced by some necessity. And who firmly set the limit of your life? Who determined the date of your old age? Who is your reliable guarantor for the future? Don't you see that death snatches away children and carries away those who come of age? Life is given more than one term. Why are you waiting for baptism to be a gift of fever for you, when you will no longer be able to utter saving words, and perhaps you will not be able to listen to them clearly; because the disease will settle in the head itself; when you no longer have the strength to either raise your hands to heaven, or stand on your feet, or bend your knees to worship, or learn to profitably pronounce a confession firmly, or unite with God, or renounce the enemy, or even, perhaps, consciously follow the order of the occult, so that those present will remain in doubt whether you have felt grace or are insensitive to what is being done; Even if you accept grace with consciousness, you will have talent, but you will not bring profit from it? Imitate the eunuch. He found a catechumen and did not neglect the teaching: a rich man lifts a poor man onto a chariot, a proud and arrogant man takes a simple and low man and, having learned the Gospel of the Kingdom, accepts faith with his heart, and does not delay accepting the seal of the Spirit. For how soon they met water; “This, he says, is water. This word came out of joy! This is what you are looking for! What forbids me to be baptized?” (Acts 8:36). Where the will is ready, there are no barriers. The caller is philanthropic; the minister is ready; grace is inexhaustible; If only you are diligent, there will be no obstacles. We have one rebel, blocking our path to salvation: let us overcome him with prudence. He instills in us slowness; let us rise to work. He deceives our hearts with empty promises; let us not remain ignorant of his plans. Is it not he who, although he does not advise us to commit sin today, nevertheless urges us to hide the truth until tomorrow? Therefore, the Lord, destroying his evil advice, says: “Today if you hear My voice” (Ps. 94:7). He teaches: “today” is for me, and “tomorrow” is for God. The Lord cries out against this: “today” you will hear My voice. Understand the enemy: he does not dare to advise that we should completely fall away from God; knows that this is hard for Christians to hear; but by seductive means he achieves his enterprise. He is wise, “to do evil” (Jer. 4:22). He sees that we people live in the present, and that everything we do is done for the sake of the present; therefore, cunningly stealing “today” from us, it leaves us with hopes for “tomorrow.” Then, when tomorrow comes, this evil man of ours comes again and demands “today” for himself, and “tomorrow” for the Lord. So always, taking away the present from us through pleasures and presenting the future to our hopes, it imperceptibly takes us out of life. I once saw such cunning in a shrewd bird. Due to the weakness of their strength, it was easy to catch her chicks: she herself rushed in, like ready prey, and twirled under the hands of the hunters, and did not allow herself to be taken by the hunters without difficulty, and did not drive them into despair of being left without prey, but in various ways, enticing them with hopes, while they were busy with her, she gave the chicks time to escape safely, and then finally flew away herself. Be afraid that you too will experience something similar, hoping for the doubtful while missing out on the obvious. So, come and surrender yourself entirely to the Lord, add your name, join the Church. The warrior is included in the lists; the ascetic, having signed up, goes out to perform the feat; A city resident, having entered the number of citizens, becomes a member of city communities. You are obligated to do all this as a warrior of Christ, as an ascetic of piety who has residence in heaven. Write yourself in this book so that you can be rewritten in the book above. Learn, learn the gospel way of life, faithfulness of the eyes, restraint of the tongue, enslavement of the body, a humble opinion of oneself, purity of thought, extermination of anger in oneself! They force you to do so; apply it yourself; take away - don’t sue; hate - love; persecuted - be patient; blaspheme - pray; Mortify yourself to sin, crucify yourself with Christ, turn all your love to the Lord. "But it's difficult!" Which blessing comes easily? Who, while resting, erected a victorious monument to himself? Who, indulging in luxury and enjoying the sounds of the flute, adorned himself with the crowns of patience? No one takes a reward without running the race. Labor gives birth to glory; The crowns bring exhaustion. “Through many tribulations it is fitting for us to enter the Kingdom” (Acts 14:22), I also say. But these sorrows are followed by bliss in the Kingdom of Heaven, and labor for sin awaits Gehenna torment and lamentation. For, if we consider strictly, then the workers of lawlessness do not get by with the devil’s deeds without difficulty. Do you need to sweat for chastity? But the fornicator is drenched in sweat, he is exhausted by voluptuousness. Does abstinence take away anything from the body as much as vile and rabid intemperance spoils? Those who spend their nights in all-night prayers have sleepless nights, but the eyes of those who constantly commit lies are much heavier. The fear of being caught and the passion for pleasure completely drive away all peace. If, avoiding the narrow path leading to salvation, you follow the long path of sin, I am afraid that, continuing to walk along the broad road, you will not find a refuge appropriate to this path. “But it’s difficult to protect a treasure!” Stay awake, brother! If you want, you will have assistants; prayer that guards the night, fasting that guards the home, psalmody that edifies the soul. Take them into your community; let them keep vigil with you, guarding your treasures! Tell me what is better: having become rich, we have to endure the worry of guarding the jewelry, or not have anything to protect at the very beginning! No one rejects goods out of fear of deprivation. In this case, not a single human endeavor would succeed if we began to count failures in every activity. Along with agriculture comes barrenness of the land, with trade comes shipwreck, with marriage comes widowhood, with raising children comes their loss. However, we take on things, relying on the best hopes and the fulfillment of what we want, placing our trust in the organizer of our affairs - God. In words you respect the shrine, but in reality you spend your life among the outcasts. Be careful that you do not repent over time of your evil undertakings, when repentance will no longer be of any use to you. May the example of the virgins make you wise; They, not having oil in the vessels, when they were supposed to ascend with the Bridegroom, then already noticed that they lacked the necessary things. That is why Scripture called them holy fools because, having spent the time of drinking the oil walking and shopping, they themselves did not notice how they had deprived themselves of the grace of the bridal chamber. And you, putting off year after year, month after month and day after day and not accepting oil, this food of the light, do not finally fall into a day that you do not drink, and on which the sources of your life will become scarce. There will be poverty and inconsolable sorrow everywhere, because the doctors will refuse you, your family will refuse you. Then, embarrassed by rapid and dry breathing, because a strong fever burns and devours your insides, you will rise from the depths of your heart and will not find anyone sharing your sadness. You will say something quietly and weakly, but there will be no one listening; and whatever you say will remain disdainful as nonsense. Who will give you baptism then? Who will remind you, who have lost your memory from suffering? Your neighbors are despondent, those not participating in the grief neglect it, a friend hesitates to remind you, fearing to embarrass you, and maybe the doctor is deceiving, and you yourself are mistaken in yourself due to your natural love of life. Night! There are no assistants; the baptizer does not come; death is near; those who come for the soul are in a hurry. Who will deliver you? Is God despised by you? Will He listen then because you listen to Him now? Will he give you another reprieve, because you made good use of the given one? “Let no one... flatter himself with vain words” (Eph. 5:6). For “all destruction will suddenly attack you” (1 Thess. 5:3), and an upheaval will come upon you like a storm. A formidable Angel will come, forcibly lead and drag away your soul, bound by sins, often turning to what it leaves here, and weeping silently; because the instrument of crying has already closed. Oh, how much will you torment yourself! How you will rejoice, uselessly repenting of your undertakings, when you see the brightness of the righteous during the solemn distribution of gifts and the despondency of sinners in the deepest darkness! What will you say then in your heartache? “Woe is me that I did not throw off the heavy burden of sin, when it was so easy to lay it down, but attracted a heap of these evils! Alas for me that I have not washed away my filth, but am branded with sins! Now if I were with the Angels, now I would enjoy heavenly blessings. Oh, my crafty reasoning! For the temporary pleasure of sin I suffer immortally, for the pleasure of the flesh I am now consigned to fire. God's judgment is righteous! I was called, and I did not listen; I was taught, and I did not listen; They presented me with evidence and I laughed.” So and similarly you will speak, mourning yourself, if death snatches you away before baptism. Either fear Gehenna, man, or desire the Kingdom. Don't despise invocations. Do not say: “Have me denied” (Luke 14:18) because of this and that. No excuse is sufficient for an apology. I have to cry when I think that you prefer shameful deeds to the great glory of God and, due to the pleasantness of intemperance, inextricably attached to sin, you separate yourself from the promised blessings, blocking yourself from seeing the blessings of Heavenly Jerusalem. There are ten thousand angels, hosts of the firstborn, thrones of the apostles, presidencies of prophets, scepters of patriarchs, crowns of martyrs, praises of the righteous. Desire that you too, washed and sanctified by the gift of Christ, may be numbered among them; for to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. This refers to the Roman custom of releasing slaves, as they said, per vindictam. The master of the slave being released brought him to the praetor, gave him a slap in the face with the assurance that he could go wherever he wanted. Revival, new life. You might be interested in: