Омилия VI 10 .

Exhortation to Lent. It also briefly talks about the creation of the world. It was said during the first week of Lent He is very skilled in evil and many cunning—it would be better to say, much experienced—a spiritual and incipiently evil serpent. In some ways he knows how to fetter our good disposition and deeds; and if he were not able to prevent this from beginning, others would invent tricks that would make the accomplishment of this unusable; and if he could not render this task unusable somewhere in the middle of the road, again he knows other tricks and other ways in which he nullifies the completed work and, moreover, leads to the death of those who are not entirely attentive to the matter. And, first of all, it presents us with many difficulties and inaccessibility, and therefore brings on us negligence and despair, as if we are striving for the impossible and too difficult and therefore, of course, cannot bring intention into action; in addition, he instills in those who strive and unbelief regarding the rewards promised by God. But we, brethren, through spiritual courage, disposition, and faith, having passed this trap, let us take into account that just as the earth does not produce useful fruits if you do not work on it, so the soul, without the presence of spiritual exploits, will not produce anything pleasing to God and serving for salvation. The earth is indeed difficult for farming, but every rational soul is naturally disposed towards virtue. Since, due to primary condemnation, we are condemned to spend our lives in work and care, and no one can avoid this, then we will perform the necessary virtue, and what has involuntarily become inherent in us, we will bring to God as a voluntary gift, giving the temporary for the permanent; and for (our) labors we will accept a happy lot, acquiring eternal rest through temporary labor: for, working now in virtue, we, of course, will achieve the promised rest in the next century. Because He who promised is faithful, Who is also a ready Helper for those who willingly entered into the feat of virtue; and with the help of Him, Strong in everything, can anything be unsuccessful?! But when, having taken this to mind, we diligently venture into deeds of virtue, then the evil one, who knows that good is not good if it is not done in a good way, tries to seduce us so that we do not do good with a godly goal, namely, driven by the desire to praise God, but for the sake of being seen by people, in order to thus deprive us of reward from God and spiritual and heavenly gifts. We will also show this diligence of his to be impracticable, reflecting, on the one hand, on the greatness of the blessings prepared for those who live God-pleasingly, and on the other hand, on the insignificance of human glory, not only comparable to the future greatness of glory from God, but also not worth the deprivation and exhaustion of the flesh. But even after such a victory over him, this evil one undermines us, in every way instilling pride in us, as the ultimate and most evil quagmire, and convincing us to be arrogant, as if we were performing virtue with our own strength and knowledge. But we will remember the Truth itself, which says that “without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5); and thus let us avoid the manifold tricks of the evil one, acting in the right way and doing good in appropriate humility, knowing that just as if someone, keeping precious ointment in a vessel, pours it into rubbish, or throws rubbish into a vessel with ointment, he will equally render the ointment unusable and destroy it, so in relation to virtue, if someone despises it through idleness or mixes corruption into its commission, in the same way, one way or another, it will render her unusable and kill her. And I say this now to your love because of the time of fasting, so that we can keep it unmixed with any evil; for this evangelical Pharisee, although he fasted twice a week throughout the year, did not receive any benefit from fasting, for he had it mixed with pride and condemnation of his neighbor. Doesn't it mean that fasting doesn't bring any benefit? – But to what extent fasting is useful for those who perform it in a godly and appropriate manner was revealed by Moses, Elijah, and the Lord Himself. For Moses, while fasting for many days... (but, I pray, strain your will and rise up when this time is given, along with Moses’ ascent to the mountain to God, so that thanks to this, as along the road, in turn ascending, you too will ascend, and no longer to the mountain, but to heaven to Christ, who ascends and descends with us...). So, Moses, while fasting for forty days on the mountain, sees God in vision, and not in fortune-telling, as it is written, and talks with Him and speaks as someone speaks to his friend, and is taught by God, and himself teaches everyone about Him, saying that He is Ever-present and does not depend on anything, but also calls non-existent as existing, and from non-existent to bring everything into being, and does not allow it to come (again) into non-existence, He - Who in the beginning, with a wave and a single desire, produced from nothing the entire total sensory creation. For it is said: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1); not empty, of course, and not completely devoid of all moisture: for the earth was mixed with water, both of them were heavier than air, and every kind of living creature and plant; the sky is made up of various lights and fires, of which it all consists. So, in this way, God created heaven and earth in the beginning, created it as a kind of matter - all-encompassing and potentially all-bearing, perfectly for a long time setting aside the opinion of those who mistakenly believe that matter occurred on its own... 11 After all, man was created, who received greater honor from God and great providence both before creation and after creation, so that this sensory world, created for his sake, was created before him, and then the Kingdom of Heaven, also prepared for his sake before the creation of the world, would have been created before him; and a special will was manifested regarding him, and by the hand of God and in the image of God he was created in such a way that he did not have everything from this matter and according to the sensory world, like all other living beings, but he had only a body, and his soul would be from a supermundane (element), or better yet, from God Himself, through an ineffable inspiration, as something great and wonderful, and surpassing everything, and supervising everything, and ruling over everything, leading God and at the same time, of course, revealing Him; in a word, as a perfect work of the all-surpassing wisdom of the Artist. Therefore, he had paradise as his abode, especially planted by God Himself, and receives the opportunity to contemplate God and have a personal conversation with Him, and there he received advice and commandment from God, namely: a fast commanded and corresponding to that place, so that if he fulfilled and observed it, he would remain immortal and not familiar with labor and sorrow for eternity. But, alas, he voluntarily preferred the incipiently evil serpent instead of the goal of this commandment and advice and, violating the fast commanded to him, accepted death instead of eternal life, instead of the destiny of pure joy - the much painful and very appropriate abode of sin; Moreover, he is condemned to hell and the darkness there. And our nature would have remained in the underworld under the yoke of the deceiving serpent, if Christ, having come and starting with fasting, had not completely destroyed his tyranny, freed us and revived us, as Moses predicted. For, while fasting then on the mountain, he accepted the God-made tablets, and with them the law written by the finger of God on two tablets; at the same time, instructing the sacred people in him, by this very act he pre-wrote and prefigured everything related to Christ, appearing as the liberator and savior of Abraham’s tribe, as Christ later appeared as the liberator and savior of the entire human race. And Elijah, having also fasted for 40 days, himself saw God on the mountain, but not in the fire, as the representatives of Israel had done earlier, but, due to a godly fast, bypassing the vision of God in the fire, he saw Him in the voice of a passing subtle wind, which more closely corresponds to the words of the Master, who says: “The Spirit (is) God: and whoever worships Him is worthy to worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). For this voice (in the vision of the Prophet Elijah) foreshadowed the truth and the preaching of the Truth itself, which announced all the ends (of the earth); the passing wind foreshadowed the Spirit and grace. But in the vision of God that happened during his fast, Elijah also received the power to anoint a prophet in his place and bestow upon him doubly the grace that dwelt in himself, and to be taken up from the earth, of course, as an obvious prototype of the subsequent Ascension of Christ to heaven. And Christ Himself, fasting in the desert, powerfully defeated the common tempter and, taking away his power over people and completely destroying his tyranny, freed our nature and made him a laughing stock for all those who want to live according to His Gospel; and He fulfilled the prophecies of the prophets, and what was accomplished by them in the form of an image, He actually proclaimed as grace and truth. Do you see the gifts of fasting and through what, what and how great things He has honored us with? But also on the basis of the opposite, i.e. satiety and immoderation, one can see the benefits that fasting brings. For during the previous two weeks satiety and excess had greatly taken possession of (our) city; and therefore - confusion and screams, fights and riots, dissolute songs, satanic dances and obscene laughter; and this week the coming fast changed everything to more worthy behavior and, having banished the worries of vanity associated with many expenses and restraining the hard work of an idle stomach, transferred us to works of repentance and convinced us to make food that does not perish, but food that endures eternal life. Where is now the slaughter of dumb animals and children, and all kinds of preparation of delicate dishes, and the care of cooks? Where are the people crossing the roads and the riotous screams that pollute the air? Where are those everywhere who are banging the rattle and playing the flutes, making merry at home and at meals, and those reclining, clapping their hands and, to the accompaniment of the tympanums and flutes of the performers, drinking immoderately? Where are those who spend day and night in feasts? Where are those looking out for where the drinking will be, taking each other to drunkenness and the shame that comes from drunkenness? “But as soon as fasting began, all the evil disappeared, and all the good came in its place. Instead of obscene songs, now the sacred psalm is sung with the lips; instead of inappropriate round dances there is now saving sadness and tears; instead of chaotic running and wandering, there is a common aspiration for all into the sacred Church of Christ. For just as gluttony produces a numerous swarm of sins, so fasting is the root of all virtues and the beginning of the divine commandments. There is no doubt that intemperance is both an ancient and a new evil, although in time it is by no means older than its opposite, fasting. Because of the intemperance of our forefathers in paradise and their contempt for the then more ancient fast, death entered the world and sin reigned, bringing with it the condemnation of our nature, from Adam until the (coming) of Christ. Because of the intemperance of those who were from Adam, who lived in the same world where we live, and their contempt for more ancient abstinence, the flood came over the whole earth. For it is God who says to Noah at that time: “My Spirit shall not dwell in these men, for they are flesh” (Gen. 6:3). What is the work of carnal people? – Isn’t it gluttony, and drunkenness, and debauchery, and the evil that comes from it? Because of the cursed luxury and intemperance of the Sodomites, heavenly flames destroyed them. For this is what Ezekiel the Prophet says: “This is the iniquity of Sodom... pride 12 (editor’s note). in the abundance of bread" (Ezek. 16:49). For because of this luxury, they even forgot the law of their nature and had unnatural mixtures. What deprived Esau of the firstborn of the privileges of the birthright and cast him out of the fatherly prayer (blessing)? – Isn’t it debauchery and reckless begging for food? What condemned the sons of Eli, the high priest, to death and led him to be forcibly abducted from life at the news of the death of his sons, him, who did not show proper concern for their upbringing? – Isn’t it untimely to remove pieces of (sacrificial) meat from the cauldrons and eat them? But the entire Jewish race, while Moses was fasting on the mountain for his sake, enjoyed himself all this time, eating and drinking, engrossed in games, as it is written, and his amusement was the worship of an idol: for then the making of the golden calf took place. Thus, licentiousness is the cause not only of sin, but also of wickedness (i.e., sin against faith itself). And, on the contrary, fasting and abstinence serve not only virtue, but also piety; for fasting must be accompanied by abstinence. Why? – Because satiety with despicable foods prevents the feeling of purifying grief and sadness for God and heartfelt contrition, which transforms repentance that is unwilling to repent into saving repentance. For without having a contrite heart, true repentance cannot be achieved. What crushes the heart and makes one grieve over one’s sins is restriction in food and sleep and withholding of feelings. Therefore, just as this rich man of the Gospel, saying to himself: “eat, drink, be merry” (Luke 12:19), made himself, unfortunate, worthy of eternal fire, so we, brothers, on the contrary, command ourselves to abstain and fast, and to watch and limit ourselves, and to humble ourselves and suffer for the sake of our salvation. For in this way we will complete our present life beautifully and pleasing to God and inherit eternal well-being, which may we be worthy to receive through the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ; to Him belongs glory, power, honor and worship, with His beginningless Father and the life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. PG.151:76–88. Homilia VI. Ejusdem homilia exhortatoria ad jejunium? In qua etiam mundi origo breviter perstringitur; dicta fuit ferja quarta primae hebdomadis. Next, St. Gregory Palamas briefly outlines the structure and wonder of the world created by God. These views express the ancient idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe cosmos, which prevailed even in the time of St. Gregory Palamas; we leave them out. as insignificant. – Approx. translator The original says “luxury”_ You might be interested in: