Беседа, произнесенная в праздник Введения во Храм (во Святая Святых) Пречистыя Владычицы нашея Богородицы 333

1. If a tree is known on the basis of its fruit, and “the tree is good and the fruit does good” (Matthew 7:16-17), then the Mother of Goodness Itself and the Parent of ever-present Beauty, does not Her beauty incomparably surpass all that is beautiful, both in the world and in the world? Because the Power, which has perfectly accomplished everything, the co-essential and unchangeable Image of Goodness, the pre-eternal and pre-existent all-good Word of the Highest Father, wished, out of His ineffable love for mankind and mercy (or: compassion) for us, to clothe ourselves in our image, so that our nature, dragged into the depths of hell, could be called out, and the decayed one - renewed and brought to the heavenly height of His Kingdom and Divinity, having united with him by hypostasis, therefore needed the perception of flesh, and then new flesh and at the same time ours, in order to renew us on the basis of our own nature; for pregnancy and birth, which is characteristic of us humans, and then for nursing after birth and appropriate care, becoming for our sake everything that we are, he finds a Performer, the most befitting and Representative of human nature, immaculate from birth. This Ever-Virgin, whom we praise, whose miraculous Entry into the Holy of Holies we celebrate today. Because before all ages, God predestined Her for the work of salvation and the proclamation of our race and chose Her from among all those who have existed since the ages, not only in a quantitative sense, but also from among all those who have been chosen and remarkable since the ages and famous for their piety and prudence and generally useful and God-pleasing qualities and morals, and words and deeds. For in the beginning the spiritual and evil serpent rebelled against us and cast us into the underworld. And there are many things that prompted him to rebel against us and seize our nature into slavery, namely: envy, jealousy and hatred, injustice and cunning and deceit; and besides this and the like, he acquired within himself a deadly force, having generated it for himself, as the first apostate from true life. Because, having envied Adam at the beginning, seeing him dwelling in a place of pure pleasure and shining with god-like glory and being elevated from earth to heaven, from where he himself was justly expelled, and, being envious, he raged against him with extreme rage, so that he wanted to subject him to death - because envy is the mother of not only hatred, but also murder - which he brought to us, penetrated by deception, the insidious and truly misanthropic serpent. Because, completely without any right to do so, he passionately desired to tyrannize over man with the aim of mocking what God had created in the image and likeness of God; since he did not openly dare to attack, he used deception and cunning, and in the form of an animal - a snake - approaching like a friend and good adviser, but in fact - a terrible and malicious enemy, imperceptibly seizes, alas, the position, and through his advice, opposed to the commandment of God given to man, plunges into him, as if poison, his deadly property. 2. So, if then Adam, firmly holding 334 to the commandment of God, had rejected the evil advice that opposed (the commandment of God), he would have emerged victorious over his opponent and would have been above deadly harm, dishonoring the devil who attacked him with rage and deceit. Since he voluntarily succumbed to it, he was no longer counted, suffered defeat and fell into disrepair, and as the real root of the human race, in turn produced offspring subject to death, i.e. us, then if there was a need to correct the defeat and win victory (and shake off the deadly poison for soul and body) and again call us to life, and to life everlasting and unharmed... so, therefore, our nature needed a new root, i.e. - in the New Adam, not only sinless, but also not susceptible to deception and in no way invincible, able to forgive sins and make the guilty innocent, and not only living, but also life-giving, in order to impart life and remission of sins to those united with Him and close to Him in humanity 335, reviving not only those who exist after Him, but also those who died before Him. Therefore Paul, the great Trumpet of the Holy Spirit, cries out, saying: “I was the first man to live. The Second Man is life-giving in the spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45) 336. Sinless and life-giving and able to forgive sins is none other than God. Consequently, not only man, but also God had to be the New Adam, the very essence of Life and Wisdom and Truth and Love and Mercy and all other Good, in order in mercy and wisdom and truth to accomplish the renewal and restoration to the life of ancient Adam, acting with qualities opposite to those that, using the spiritual and incipiently evil serpent, caused us decay and brought death. 3. Thus, just as from the beginning the murderer, out of envy and hatred, rose up against us, so the Head of Life, out of the abundance of His love for mankind and goodness, fought for us: because He justly wanted to save His creation: this salvation consisted in the fact that in His person (“if'eavton”) this creation was recreated and saved; how evil he was, he lawlessly thirsted for the destruction of God’s creation, but it consisted in the fact that it voluntarily surrendered to him, and he tyrannically took possession of it. Just as he, acting in lawlessness and deception, lies and cunning, achieved his victory and the fall of man, so the Redeemer, acting in righteousness and wisdom and truth, inflicted a complete defeat on the leader of evil and completed the renewal of His creation. But now is not the time to talk about the wisdom of this Divine economy 337. - Because the Existing is from God, and the Existing is with God, and the Existing God is the Word of God and the Existing Son, co-originating and co-essential with the Highest Father, becomes the Son of Man, the Son of this Ever-Virgin. “Jesus Christ yesterday and today, the same and forever” (Heb. 13:8), unchangeable in Divinity, impeccable in humanity, “Who alone,” as Isaiah foretold about Him, saying: “Thou shalt not commit sin; We bear our wombs in our sins, as David testifies about himself, as well as about every person, so that, according to the perceived (human nature), we may be completely pure and immaculate, and also not in need of cleansing sacrifices, so that for our sake, on our behalf, having gone through all this with truth and together wisely, we may receive the rite of purification, as well as suffering and death and resurrection. He is born of the Virgin, because carnal lust, being independent of the will and disobedient to the law of the spirit, although for some, by the force of the will it is kept in slavery and relaxed in a chaste manner only for the sake of procreation, somehow from the beginning brings condemnation, being corruption, and is called so, and gives birth, of course, for corruption and is a passionate movement of a person who has not preserved the honor that our nature received from God, but then became like animals. 5. Therefore, God not only became Man, but also received flesh from the Virgin, pure and holy (better to say: most pure and most holy), not only the highest carnal filth, but also the foul thoughts that come from the flesh, the conception in which was not caused by the will of the flesh, but by the influx of the Holy Spirit: the annunciation (of the Archangel) and faith (of the Blessed Virgin) were the cause the dwelling of God, the dwelling of the one who overcomes every word, as unusual and existing above the word, and not the consent and experience of passionate lust; because something like this was done (from the Blessed Virgin) by Her prayer and spiritual joy. Because: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be unto me according to thy command” (Luke 1:38), the Virgin said to the Annunciator-Angel, and when she was in her womb, she gave birth. So, in order for the sufficient Virgin to be found for this purpose, God intends before all ages and chooses from among all those chosen from the ages this Maiden, whom we now sing. 6. Look where this election originates: from among the children of Adam, the beautiful Seth was chosen, who, by his decency of character and self-restraint of feelings and the beauty of virtues, having revealed himself to be animated by heaven, was for this chosen by God, and from this election this Virgin was to arise, the Chariot of the most heavenly God befitting God, and to call people to heavenly adoption. For this reason, the entire family of Seth was called “sons of God.” Because from this generation he was to be born as the Son of Man, the Son of God; therefore, the name “Seth” in translation means “rebellion,” or better said, “resurrection,” which in the full sense of the word is the Lord Himself, who promises and gives immortal life to those who believe in Him. And what a correspondence of the image! So, Seth became for Eve, as she says: “instead of Abel, whom Cain killed” out of envy (Gen. 4:25); The Son of the Virgin, Christ, became for human nature instead of Adam, who, out of envy, was killed by the chief and leader of evil. But Seth did not resurrect Abel, because he was only an image of the resurrection; Our Lord Jesus Christ resurrected Adam: because He Himself is the true Life of people and the Resurrection, by whose power those from the race of Seth were worthy, on the basis of hope, of divine adoption, being called “sons of God.” And the fact that they were called “sons of God” on the basis of this hope is evident from the first who was so named and inherited this election. It was Enos - the son of Seth, who, according to what was written by Moses, - “This is the first who trusted to call on the name of the Lord God” (Gen. 4:26) **. Do you see clearly that on the basis of hope he received the divine calling? 339. 7. So, this election, according to His foreknowledge, which began from the very children of Adam and extended right up to She who had become the Mother of God, confirmed from time to time among his descendants, reached the king and prophet David and then the successors of his scepter and family. When time called for this divine election to come to fruition, then Joachim and Anna were chosen by God from the house and fatherland of David, being childless, living chastely together and being the best in virtue, tracing their lineage and nobility of character to David. To them, in deed and prayer, begging God to resolve their infertility and promising to bring as a gift to God a child born of them, God Himself promises that this Child will become the Mother of God, and is now given to them as their child, so that the all-virtuous Child will be pregnant from many-virtuous parents, and the Immaculate One will come from very chaste ones, and chastity, accompanied by prayer and feat, will receive the fruit - to become a parent Virginity, and that Virginity which produced incorruptible flesh the One who, before all ages, was born of a virgin Father. Oh, the wings of this prayer! Oh, the boldness that she gained before God! 8. But since, behold, they thus received what they prayed for, and saw that God’s promise given to them was fulfilled in practice, then, taking care of the fulfillment of the promise that they gave to God, as honest and at the same time God-pleasing and God-loving, as soon as they nourished them, they bring to God’s church and to the local bishop the truly sacred Mother of God, now the chosen Virgin Mary. She, even at this (early) age, being filled with divine graces and not lacking a mature mind, was more aware than others of the significance of what was happening then in relation to Her, and with what was in Her power, showed this: so that She was not so much led as She of Her own accord approaches God at Her own initiative, as if naturally inspired by sacred and divine love and deeming it a longed-for and worthy of Her (the Virgin) entrance into The Holy of Holies and the dwelling there. Therefore, the then bishop of God, realizing that the Young Lady has divine grace dwelling in Her, surpassing all others, honored Her more than all others, and introduces Her into the Holy of Holies and convinces all those then present to welcome 340 what happened, with God's assistance, and at the same time with the clear will of His will, from above sending through an angel to the Virgin unknown food, which was better strengthened nature and body She was preserved and made more pure and superior than the incorporeal (angels), having Heavenly Minds serving Her, and not only once entering the Holy of Holies, but entering not for short periods of time to live there, as invited by God, as a sign of those who, thanks to Her, will open at the appropriate time the heavenly abodes, which will be given for eternal residence to those who believe Her Most Glorious Son. 9. So, in this way and for this reason, Chosen from all the ages, having appeared as the Most Holy of Holies and having a body purer and more divine than the spirits who purified themselves through virtue, as not only having been the companion of God’s words, but as having received the Most Hypostatic and Only Begotten Word of the Most Eternal Father, She is placed today in the Most Holy Inner Places of the Church, like a certain Treasure of God, having to apply it in its own time, which has come, for the enrichment and decoration 341 of everything that exists in the world and above the world: and thus, He glorifies His Mother with this 342 both before He was born from Her and after Christmas. We, seeing the salvation that has begun for us through Her, will give Her thanks and praise to the best of our ability. Because if the prudent woman described in the Gospel, having heard a few saving words of the Lord, returned with joy and gratitude to His Mother, raising and raising her voice from among the people, and turning to Christ: “Blessed is the womb that bore Thee and the breast that pissed thee” (Luke 11:27), then we, who have all the words of eternal life written down in order, and not only the words, but also miracles and Passion and, thanks to them, the Rising from the dead of our nature and the Ascension from earth to heaven, and by virtue of this, the immortal life and unchangeable salvation promised to us, shall we not ceaselessly glorify and please the Mother of the Chief of our salvation, the Giver of life, - celebrating Her conception and Christmas and, now, relocation to the Holy of Holies?! 10. But let us also transfer ourselves, brothers, from earth to heaven; Let us transfer ourselves from the flesh to the spirit; Let's move our love from unsteady things to unchangeable things; let us despise carnal pleasures, which are bait for souls and soon pass away; let us desire spiritual, grace-filled gifts, as if they remain unharmed; let us uproot our way of life and our thoughts from the turmoil of earth; Let us ascend them to the heavenly churches, to that Holy of Holies, where the Mother of God now dwells. Because in this way, with benefit for us and with God-pleasing boldness, the hymns and prayers we bring to Her will reach Her, and thus, in addition to the prosperity in this present life, we, thanks to Her intercession, will also be heirs of future and abiding blessings, by grace and love for mankind, who was born from Her for our sake, Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom belongs glory, honor and worship with His Beginningless Father and Co-essential and Life-Giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. Listed in the 1861 edition No. 52, pp. 120–130. “The first man Adam was a living soul, the last Adam a life-giving spirit”: “Divine economy” is the mystery of the Redemption, the salvation of the human race from sin and death and reconciliation with God. See the wonderful 16th omilia That is in one person, in the person of the God-man. See note 7 of another conversation about this translation option. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” That is title "son of God". Orig. "agapan" - "to love." Or: “putting in order,” but my first translation seems to me more consistent with the text, because the Mother of God is spoken of as “Treasure of God.” Those. the introduction of the Virgin into the Holy of Holies and the glorious care of Her through the angels. You might be interested in: