Слово на поминовение Иоанна Семеновича Грибоедова, стольника Его Царского Величества («Человекам положено однажды умереть» (Евр. 9:27))

Nothing is more known than death, and at the same time there is nothing more unknown than the hour of death, beloved listeners! Nothing is better known than death, for who does not know that everyone who lives must die, as the Scripture says: “It is appointed for men to die once, and then the Judgment.” And there is nothing more unknown than the hour of death, for who can know when he will die, as Scripture says: “Man does not know his time” (Eccl. 9:12)? We all know very well that we will die, and none of us knows when and who should die. For death does not distinguish between time, does not count years, does not wait for old age, does not spare youth, does not ask about readiness and does not give time to an unprepared person: it reaps everyone without mercy or distinction and destroys the living on earth. Just as someone who goes out into a field with a scythe does not look, does not separate the grass from the flowers and the flowers from the grass, but mows everything at once, grown and just sprouted, withering and beginning to bloom, and, having dried, rakes everything into one stack, so death, which is usually depicted with a scythe, coming out into this world, cuts people indiscriminately, like a mower of grass and wildflowers: young as well as old, young men, as well as the decrepit, those beginning life, as well as those of long standing, the strong, as well as the weak, wrapped in swaddling clothes, as adorned with gray hair; and having dried everyone up with death, he rakes them into coffins like hay into haystacks. Therefore, the Psalmist says: “The days of a man are like grass; like a flower of the field it fades. As soon as the spirit has passed through him, he is no longer there, and he no longer recognizes his place” (Ps. 102:15–16). Now we are commemorating the noble officer who was in the regiments of His Royal Illustrious Majesty, Mr. Ioann Semenovich, a faithful servant of Christ, before his time, in his youth, cut down by the sickle of death, like an unripe ear, like a beautifully blooming flower, who left behind an inconsolable cry to his parent, the steward of His Royal Illustrious Majesty, the noble lord Semyon Feodorovich, with whom we sympathize in our hearts. Remembering the one who passed away in his youth, we could complain about blind death, not looking at youth, not listening to prayers, not pleading with tears, stealing from life an elderly person, but who can comprehend the fate of our God and Creator, who has life and death? Scripture explains why the destinies of God sometimes determine the death of a young person. “Despised,” it says, “caught up, lest malice change his mind, or deceit deceive his soul” (Wis. 4:10 et seq.). We will also add the following to this: he dies in order to no longer see the evil of this world, “lying in evil” (1 John 5:19), so as not to be burdened with the troubles of this troubled time, so as not to be overwhelmed like a ship by the waves of the sea - everyday sorrows. As we remember him, let us remember our own death and talk about its knownness and obscurity. We already said at the beginning that we know that death will befall everyone, but we do not know at what time and hour to whom this will happen. It is known, I say, that everyone must suffer the death that began with our first parents. Maybe someone would ask me: where did death come from, where did it appear? I would answer him: death was conceived in paradise, it was born in paradise. Who gave birth to her? Our ancestors, Adam and Eve. How did they give birth to her, in what way, since there was no carnal mixture between them yet? They gave birth to her by transgressing the commandment of God, to put it simply, by sin not of the flesh, but of the soul, fulfilling the evil advice of the enemy. That is why Scripture says: “Death entered the world through sin” (Rom. 5:12). Who gave the name of death - “death”? The mouth of God called her that even before she appeared. There was no sin yet, death had not yet been born, and God already called it death, saying to our first parents: “On the same day that you eat from the commanded tree, you will die” (Genesis 2:17). How amazing it is that death was born through a sinful act in a holy place, in paradise! It would not be surprising if she was born in hell, for hell and death are one united friendship, but what is amazing is that she was both conceived and born in paradise. From that time on, death became known to everyone, for the single judgment of God spread to the entire human race: “You will die by death, for you are earth and to earth you will return” (Gen. 3:19). That is why the apostle says: “It is appointed for men to die once.” The enemy lied, enticing our first parents in paradise to transgress the commandment of God, for he falsely told them: “You will not die the death, but you will be like gods” (Gen. 3:4–5). And those who believed his lies not only did not receive deity, but also lost paradise, and suffered the death penalty, both themselves and their children, and the entire human race along with us. "It is appointed for men to die once." Before the Fall, Adam and Eve were like gods, for they were immortal, passionless, and did not know illness. When they transgressed the commandment of God, their divinity was immediately taken away from them, and both they and all human nature were doomed to death. Well says David: “I said, you are gods and all the sons of the Most High; you, like men, are dying” (Ps. 82:6–7). If death was associated with human nature, then what could be closer and more famous than it? For just as in a carnal marriage there is nothing closer than the wife, and for the wife closer than the husband, and nothing is so known to them as one is to the other, for “both are one flesh” (1 Cor. 6:16), so in conjunction with death: we are by our very nature associated with death, and therefore nothing is known to us more than death. Everything that happens in human life is unknown or guessed, expected, and expected with doubt. One death is known, beyond doubt. A baby will be born, and people wonder about him: perhaps that baby will be a perfect husband, perhaps he will live to a venerable old age, perhaps he will be rich, perhaps he will be brave, healthy, strong, perhaps he will be famous, honest, perhaps he will be wise, a ruler, etc. But God knows whether he will be like that or not? Everything is doubtful, everything is unknown, expectation is unreliable. But if you were to ask: will he die? Then everyone will say without a doubt: of course he will die. Whether he dies soon or not soon, he will still die, for no mortal can escape death. Everything is doubtful, one death is certain: “It is appointed for men to die once” (Heb. 9:27). Philosophers are wise that everything that moves has two places: from where and where, from which place it moves and to which it moves. Our life on earth moves. It moves, growing from infancy to youth, from youth to courage, from courage to old age. Moves while walking, sitting, driving, working. It also moves according to the inconstancy of fortune or happiness: today rich, tomorrow poor; today healthy, tomorrow sick; today glorified, tomorrow dishonored; Today we love, tomorrow we hate. It is also driven by changes in disposition, for at times a person is kind, at times angry, sometimes humble, sometimes proud, sometimes sober, sometimes drunk, sometimes warm towards God, sometimes far from Him, sometimes pleasing to God, sometimes angering Him. In short, our whole life on earth is movement. Such movement, philosophically speaking, has two places: from where and to where. Where? - From the mother's womb. Where? - To the grave. Born to live; lives to die. And just as birth is known, death is also known. A person cannot enter into life except through birth from a mother, but it is also impossible for a living person not to die. The psalmist says: “What man will live and not see death?” (Ps. 89:49). But just as there is nothing in our life more known than death, so there is nothing more unknown than the hour of death. We know that we will die, but we do not know when we will die: today or tomorrow, sooner or later, day or night. Many, going to bed at night, did not wake up and were found dead. Others, having risen from a night's sleep and seen the day, died without waiting for night. Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, feasts in the evening, and it is already late; bright and cheerful. And he sees a certain hand of an invisible person signing his death judgment on the wall: “Mani, fekel, fares.” And Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was killed that night. Did he know the hour of his death, did he think that he would die that night? No! He hoped for a long life and endless happiness. Holofernes, the Assyrian commander, also rejoiced, drank to the health of the beautiful Judith, drank a lot to her love; fell asleep on the bed late in the evening and lost his head: the body remained on the bed, and the head was cut off by a woman’s hand and carried away far before daylight. Did he know the hour of his death, did he think that he would die that night? No! He hoped for a long life, boasted of taking the Jewish city of Bethulia by evening, like a bird, and devastating it with fire and sword, but the hour of death overtook him and did not allow him to rise from his sleep. The rich man of the Gospel, to whom the field brought abundant fruit, is sad, he is sad that he has nowhere to gather those fruits, and says: “I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and I will say to my soul: “Soul! You have a lot of good things for many years: rest, eat, drink, be merry.” And God says to him: Madman! this night your soul will be taken from you; who will get what you have prepared? (Luke 12:16–20). I thought I would live a long time, and unexpectedly died. I expected to live for many years, but did not live one day. Oh, how unknown is the hour of death! Someone advises well: you don’t know where death awaits you, and therefore expect it in every place. You don’t know what day and hour you will die, so be prepared for death every day and every hour. We commemorate the servant of God Ioann Semyonovich, who died not in his old age, whom we thought would live longer. But thanks be to God that he died a Christian death, with the hope of resurrection and eternal life, as one of those whom the Holy Scripture blesses, saying: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord” (Rev. 14:13). Blessed is the servant of God John Semyonovich, who died in the Lord. Before reaching old age on earth, he departed into an ageless life, where his years would not become scarce. For the Lord God, old age is not calculated by the number of years, but by virtuous reason, as the Scripture says: “Wisdom is the gray hair of a man, and the age of old age is an immaculate life; Having died in his early years, he fulfilled long years; for his soul was pleasing to the Lord” (Wis. 4:9 et seq.). Usually a young tree is transplanted from one place to another, rather than an old one, so that it is better accepted. And the servant of God was planted from the earthly garden of our life into the garden of Eden in his youth, so that he would flourish there “like a tree planted by the springs of water” (Ps. 1:3) of God’s mercy. Let the parent who weeps for him be comforted by the hope that in due time, during the migration from this life to the future life, he will see him as alive, for in God everyone is alive and not dead. And let him see him in the grace of God among the righteous, resting in a bright and cool place. The Church intercedes and begs the Most Good God for this with her prayers and the offering of a bloodless Sacrifice. May he, who has passed away, have rest with the saints in the villages of paradise, and may he have eternal memory on earth among the living! Amen.