Поучение второе на Воздвижение Честного и Животворящего Креста Господня («А я не желаю хвалиться, разве только Крестом Господа нашего Иисуса Христа» (Гал. 6:14))

He who loves to boast in this life, let him boast in what he wants, but the apostle and I should not “boast in anything, except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,” pious listeners! Let him boast, if he wants, “wise in his wisdom, strong in his strength, rich in his wealth” (1 Samuel 2:10), but our only praise is the Cross of Christ: “Only through the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Let this vain world exalt itself in its pride, let it boast of its happiness, let it delight in the temporary sweetness of sin, but our only glory and delight is the Cross of the Lord: “But I,” says the apostle, “do not want to boast, except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And to our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the Cross is both praise and glory, for He was not so much glorified by performing many miracles, enlightening the blind, healing the lame, cleansing the lepers, raising the paralytic from their beds and raising the dead, as He was glorified by enduring the Cross. It is not in vain that Chrysostom calls the Holy Cross the glory of the Son of God, saying: “The Cross is the glory of the Son, just as the glory of the Son is to the Father. The Father is glorified in His Son, and the Son is glorified through His Cross.” Let us consider in part what praise there is to the Apostle and to every Christian in the Cross of Christ? And we will do this for our benefit, “with the Lord’s assistance.” Truly, it is fitting for us to “boast only in the Cross of the Lord,” since in the Cross of the Lord we find reward for our crosses, according to the words of Scripture: “If only we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:17). For just as we are fellow members with our Head Christ, being His members, according to the word of the Apostle: “You are the body of Christ, and individually members” (1 Cor. 12:27), so our crosses have in common with the Cross of the Lord, and what the Cross of Christ has prepared for us, that is what our crosses will receive in it. Do not think, listener, that the Cross of the Lord, in which the Apostle boasts, is only a material Cross, made of wood, but understand in it most of all the suffering of the Lord, having accepted which, He left us an image to follow in His footsteps. And when I, a sinner, talk about our crosses, do not think that they are wooden or silver, or made from any other substance by human artistry. These are the sorrows, troubles, sorrows, illnesses and all other sufferings that happen to us by God’s permission, with which our Lord tests us in this life, like gold in a crucible. For “as a smelter is for silver, and a furnace is for gold, but the Lord tests the hearts” (Prov. 17:3). That's what the Scripture says. And in another place: “and found them worthy of Him. He tried them like gold in a furnace” (Wis. 3:5–6). Here are our crosses! We must bear them, thanking God and sharing in the sufferings of Christ. It is also fitting for us to understand that our Lord does not force us to wear His Cross, that is, to endure the suffering that He endured for our sake. He does not say: “If anyone wants to come after Me, take My Cross,” but: let everyone take “his own cross.” For our Lord knows that we cannot bear His Cross, but we can bear our crosses according to our strength and with His help. Each person has his own cross, some kind of, I say, misfortune: either the sinful lusts of his own nature and the struggle of the flesh against the spirit, or the temptations of the invisible enemy, or persecution, insults, insults, slander and condemnation of the visible enemy, or the deprivation of a beloved friend, children and property, or something else sorrowful, or bodily ailments and any suffering. All these are our crosses, and when a person, for the sake of God’s love, patiently bears them, then he joins in the suffering of the Lord and becomes conformed to His Cross. Our Lord considers our sufferings as His sufferings. And just as he said about these deeds to those who do good deeds: “Just as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40), so about the offenses inflicted on us, he says to those who offend us: “Just as you did it to them, you did it to me.” For the Lord suffers in us, as if in His own members, but we who suffer, as if collecting pieces left over from a meal, collect some remains from the sufferings of the Lord, according to the words of the Apostle: “I make up for what is lacking in my flesh of the tribulations of Christ” (Col. 1:24), that is, I endure in my body what He did not endure. And when the apostle boasts about the Cross of the Lord, he boasts at the same time about his own. He who boasts of his cross boasts together with the Cross of Christ. Christ began suffering, and we finish and complete it, “we make up for the lack of the sorrows of Christ in our flesh.” And just as the Cross of the Lord, that is, the suffering of the Lord, did great and glorious things, in the same way our crosses, that is, our sufferings, do great and glorious things by grace and with the help of Christ who suffered for us, as we will now see. After Adam's crime, paradise was closed to the human race, and no one could open it for more than five thousand five hundred years. Everyone, even the holy saints of God, at the end of this temporary life went not to heaven, but to hell, as Saint James testified to this, complaining about his son Joseph: “I will go down to my son into hell with sorrow” (Gen. 37:35). Who then opened the door of heaven? Christ, the new Adam. What key? The Cross, for the Cross is the key to the castle of heaven, as St. Chrysostom says: “The Cross is the key of heaven, the Cross of Christ has opened heaven.” Let's see how the thief entered heaven? Is it not the suffering of the godfather? For, although he was crucified for his evil deeds, he began to sympathize with Christ in his heart, saying: “We received what was worthy according to our deeds, but He did nothing bad.” And he immediately heard from the Lord: “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:41, 43), and at that same hour he went from the cross to Paradise. Reasoning about this, Saint Chrysostom says: “Nothing comes between the cross and paradise: the cross and immediately behind it paradise,” that is, in the middle between the cross of Christian suffering and paradise there are no barriers, obstacles or inconveniences, for they are not blocked by either a great wall, or high impassable mountains, or deep ditches, or fast-flowing rivers, but right there at the cross is paradise. We have no doubt that he who endures anything in the name of God’s love stands with gratitude at the doors of heaven: the cross and immediately heaven. So, what the Cross of Christ did, the cross of the thief also received: the suffering of Christ opened paradise, and the suffering of the thief led him to paradise. The action of both is great and glorious. We see that Christ our Savior Himself boasts about His Cross, for when He went to freely die for us, He said: “Now is the Son of Man glorified” (John 13:31). Let's see, at what hour does the Lord reveal Himself glorified? Our Lord became famous not at the time when He terrified Herod with His glorious birth, called the Magi from the east with a star and shook the Egyptian idols; not at the time when he turned water into wine in Cana of Galilee, when he filled the fishing nets with many fish, when he fed five thousand people with five loaves; not at the time when, walking on the sea as on dry land, he rebuked the winds and calmed the troubled sea, or when he was transformed on Tabor, when he raised the widow’s son and Jairus’ daughter from the dead, when he called four-day-old Lazarus from the grave. It was not then that He said: “Now is the Son of Man glorified.” When? Then, when he was already approaching the Cross, when he ascended to it. Being at the gates of suffering, He said: “Now is the Son of Man glorified.” Perhaps someone would have said to Him at that time: “Lord! You are going to dishonor, to suffering, to reproach, to spitting on, to hitting the cheeks, to being wounded, to tasting vinegar and bile, to the most bitter death. How then do You call Yourself glorified?” However, the Lord says: “Today the Son of Man has been glorified,” for, he says, I am going to suffer, to the Cross, and therefore I will be glorified. This very suffering is My glory, for “when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to Me” (John 12:32). When I die, I will fill the universe with horror, I will extinguish the heavenly lights, I will shake the earth, I will open the graves, I will bring out the dead alive, and those who do not now recognize Me as the Son of God will then say: “Truly He was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54). When I am nailed to the Cross, then I will sit at the right hand of God the Father. When I suffer, I will enter into My glory, “for thus it was fitting for Christ to suffer and to enter into His glory” (Luke 24:26, 46). Here let us also remember Paul’s cross, which he boasts about: “I was in much more labor, much more in wounds, more in prison, and many times at the point of death” (2 Cor. 11:23, 25). Isn't this Pavlov's cross? He was beaten with sticks and stones, he remained day and night in the depths when the ship capsized: isn’t all this Pavlov’s cross? Let us listen to how he boasts about him: “I will rather boast in my weaknesses” (2 Cor. 12:9), that is, in the labors and sufferings that he endured until his body was exhausted. “I rejoice,” he says, “in weaknesses, in insults, in needs, in persecutions, in oppressions for Christ’s sake” (2 Cor. 12:10). And after all this he says: “I know a man who was caught up to the third heaven” (2 Cor. 12:2). This is what the cross of suffering does! He lifts up to heaven the one still in the body, delighting him with listening to the sweet songs of angels. Looking at the material Cross of my Lord, I see the royal title written on it: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” (John 19:19; Mark 15:26). The malice of these evil people is worthy of surprise, for at first they did not want not only to write, but even in words to call Christ our Lord by the royal title, they did not want to hear that anyone called Christ King. Even at His birth, when the wise men who came to Jerusalem asked in Jerusalem: “Where is the born King?” (Matthew 2:1–3) - all of Jerusalem was in confusion. Then, at the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem for a free passion on a donkey, when the infants and the disciples with them exclaimed: “Blessed is the coming King.” This was so unpleasant to the evil people that some of the Pharisees said to Jesus: “Rebuke Your disciples,” that is, command them to stop calling You King (Luke 19:38–39). Also at the time when Pilate, having beaten Jesus and crowned Him with thorns, brought Him out of the praetorium to the people and said: “Shall I crucify your king?” - as one, everyone shouted: “We have no king except Caesar” (John 19:15). They did not want to hear anyone call Christ King. When our Lord ascended to the Cross, they no longer in word, but in deed itself, called Him King, for on the Cross there was an inscription: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” And although some of them objected to Pilate: “Do not write: King of the Jews,” but when Pilate said: “What I wrote, I wrote,” they immediately agreed with him, fell silent and looked at this title without murmur or indignation, and, reading the inscription, called Christ King, for the Gospel says: “Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was not far away.” from the city" (John 19:19–22). All of Jerusalem read this inscription, calling Christ King. What changed the hearts of evil people so much that, not wanting to hear Him called King at first, they then tolerated the written title of Him King condescendingly? Truly, this was done by the sacrament of the cross: Our Lord wanted to show in that royal title the honor of the Cross and the reward for suffering in the kingdom of heaven. The honor of the Cross is such that after the suffering of the Lord, the Cross is already placed on top of the consecrated heads and royal crowns, which is why Saint Cyril of Jerusalem called it a crown, saying: “The Cross is a crown, and not dishonor.” From ancient times it was dishonorable, since it served to execute evildoers, but it became an honorable crown after the King of Glory voluntarily suffered on it. In addition, with the royal title on the Cross, the Lord also showed the reward for suffering, a royal reward, for everyone who suffers in this life and carries his cross for the love of Christ with patience and gratitude will receive the royal title and a crown in the heavenly kingdom. Even in the Old Testament, this was typified in the person of the beautiful Joseph, and was fulfilled in the person of Christ Himself and in His Cross. Let's see what level the Lord intended for the beautiful Joseph, wanting to elevate him to the royal throne in Egypt and crown his head with a royal diadem: is it not the level of the cross? Is it not a stage of suffering: a sudden attack from fornication, a dark prison, heavy bonds, nakedness, hunger and poverty? This cross was difficult - a long-term prisoner: “They bound his feet with chains, his soul was entangled in iron” (Ps. 105:18). But let's see what followed all this: wasn't it a royal title? Joseph became famous in Egypt, from prison he ascended to the royal throne, from rags to purple, from bonds to a golden necklace, from slavery to dominion: “He made him lord over his house and ruler over all his possessions” (Ps. 104:21), - from bonds to freedom, from poverty to wealth, from dishonor to glory. In a word, his cross and suffering became a royal crown for him, his suffering was rewarded with glory and honor. And if this is how the cross of suffering, patiently endured for the love of God, is rewarded here on earth, then how much more will it be rewarded in heaven. Who reigns in heaven? Is it not He who suffered on earth, Who “endured the Cross, despising the shame” (Heb. 12:2)? A certain rumor is heard in heaven, “like the voice of a large people, like the sound of many waters, like the voice of mighty thunders, and the voice of many angels around the Throne and living creatures and elders, and their number was ten thousand ten thousand and thousands of thousands” (Rev. 19:6, 5:11). What are they saying? They command that “every creature that is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea” (Rev. 5:13) prepares greetings and slavish bow to a certain royal person sitting on the throne of God. Who reigned on the Throne of God? The holy Theologian sees there the Lamb, and the Lamb that was slain: “He looked,” he says, “and behold, in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders stood a Lamb as if slain” (Rev. 5:6). Isn’t it the One who was slain on the Cross with a spear: “One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear” (John 19:34)? Truly, He I say, the Lamb, our Lord Jesus Christ, about whom the prophet Isaiah foretold: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearers is silent” (Is. 53:7). He is truly “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), to whom every creature in heaven and earth slavishly worships and loudly cries out: “Worthy.” The Lamb was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (Rev. 5:12). Our Lord in the Holy Scriptures also has other names and likenings to His omnipotent power. He is called a lion because He defeated the world and the devil: “Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome” (Rev. 5:5). It is called an eagle because, having taken the souls of the saints, like chicks, under His wings, He carried them out of hell, according to Scripture: “As an eagle covers its nest, it flies over its chicks, it spreads out His wings, takes them and carries them on His feathers” (Deut. 32:11). He was named a Lamb because he was slain for all. And when He wanted to show His royal glory in heaven to His beloved disciple John, He showed it not in the form of a lion and an eagle, but in the form of a slain lamb, and this in order to show that the path to the crown and glory in the heavenly kingdom is not any other, but slaughter, wounds, suffering and death on the cross. The apostle says well: “We see that Jesus was crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death” (Heb. 2:9). Here let us remember all the holy prophets, apostles, martyrs, saints from time immemorial, who are already in part worthy of the kingdom of heaven, whom, according to St. John of Damascus, “the earth did not hide, but the heavens received”, by whom the doors of heaven have already been opened and who are enjoying being inside the tree of life. Why were they all awarded the crown of the heavenly kingdom? Is it not for bearing your cross, that is, for enduring troubles and sorrows on earth and walking a narrow path, for your labors and exploits? Each of them will say with the apostle: “I have fought the good fight, but now a crown is laid up for me” (2 Tim. 4:7–8). Truly, the cross of suffering, according to the power of the Cross of the Lord, does great and glorious things, for those who endure any suffering in the name of the love of Christ glorify Christ in the kingdom on high! The true bearers of their cross, the fellow-sufferers of Christ, who are like Him in suffering, have something to boast about the Cross of the Lord, for in it is all our glory and honor, all the riches of the eternal kingdom and all the hope for salvation. Finishing the conversation, it is not inappropriate to remember the cross of this world. The Apostle says: “To me the world is crucified” (Gal. 6:14). If the world is crucified, then it also has its own special cross. Truly, those who love peace, who have enslaved themselves to the vanity of this world and who have loved a temporary life more than eternal, bear their crosses, that is, they endure their sufferings, their exploits, even if they are useless, in which they sometimes boast, as the Scripture says: “We praise the sinner for the lusts of his soul” (Ps. 9:24). Isn’t it a feat to enslave oneself to some sinful passion and serve it? Isn’t it a feat to go out at night to steal or commit crimes, and not let your eyes sleep all night? Isn’t it a feat to go on a robbery, to experience hunger and thirst, to endure changes in the air - winter, heat, frost and rain? Isn’t anger, rage and the search for revenge on one’s neighbor the inner suffering of the heart? And pleasing the flesh, gluttony and immeasurable satiety even to the point of damaging one’s health – isn’t all this a cross? How many people have fallen into serious illnesses from gluttony! Isn’t it a cross to drink yourself to oblivion, and then suffer from a hangover and moan with your head tied? Isn't this suffering? How many people have lost their lives from great drunkenness! But what is the use of these vain worldly crosses, of such deeds and suffering? Let us listen to what the apostle says: “Many, about whom I have often told you, and now even speak with tears, act as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in shame; they mind earthly things” (Phil. 3:18–19). This is the benefit of worldly crosses: “their end is destruction, and their glory is in shame!” “But we do not want to boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” To Him be glory with the Father and with the Holy Spirit forever. Amen.