Слово на еретиков,

in which the parable of the beads (pearl) and other equally clear indications proves the need to believe that the Holy Mother of God, for the salvation of the world, conceived and gave birth to our Lord and God not according to natural laws I love Your Gospel, Master, because it feeds me when I am hungry. I thirst for Your word, because it serves as a source of thirst for me. I call whomever I want to Your food, and most of what I have found remains in abundance. I eat with many, although I am alone. I drink with the multitude, although You exude Your grace to me alone. So, how will I thank You if not by bringing myself into agreement with You? I wish this, but I cannot, because my father Adam demands the duty of nature. I make efforts, and I meet an obstacle, because I cannot find an end to my search. I explain to others what is in accordance with nature, but in myself I complicate the will with passions. I see where I am sinning, and I know; When I accuse others, I blame myself. So what? Should I remain silent so as not to be condemned? But how can I prove my desire for You? I will talk and will not stop. I wish to be condemned myself, if only to serve me for Your glory. I wish to die so that You may be glorified. I know that I will be judged less by not reproaching those who sin, but I do not cease to reprove in order to prove that You are sinless. Let the Greeks know the power of love; Let the Jews know the disposition of friendship, because I am ready to accept death for You, although they do not threaten me with fire, sword, or other weapons. Perhaps this intention will assure them that for Your sake I am ready to endure death itself. Maybe I say it, but I don’t do it. For I am afraid that if you leave me, nature will overcome me. Assure me that You will help me, the worker, and I will be able to convince the Greeks that I will endure the punishment. Convince me that You will have mercy on me, the suffering one, and I will join the ranks of the fighters, I will stand with the squads of the Greeks, because the trumpet is calling for those who are already willing from the Greeks, announcing the invasion from Hellas to the Persians, threatening us with punishment from the west. I am afraid because You hate those who sin, but I am encouraged because You died for them. I am afraid because You abhor people given over to passions and the flesh; but I have consolation, because the weakness of nature is known to You. As the Creator, you know what you created. As a Judge, you know what He has provided. You gave me an undefiled nature, but my father Adam, covering it with great uncleanness, made it weak. I added the pleasure of vanity to uncleanness, and now I involuntarily bear punishment. Corruption has been brought into my very nature, and now I am in misery, overwhelmed at sea. Have mercy on me as the Creator, be compassionate towards my weakness, having become human for my sake; do not reject me because of my passions, but dispel them by looking at the desire of my will. Do not disdain because of impurity, but look at the diligence of actions. If you turn away from me because of my vile thoughts, then look at my crying and my condemnation of voluptuousness. I have the will, but I don’t know if I have the strength. I give what I have. If you want to give what you lack, look at my disposition. I am poor, stolen by the serpent; I am weak, bound by corruption; I have no strength, overwhelmed by sin. I have lost Your gift, and therefore I do not have perfect prudence. I have lost communication with You, so I don’t know where I’m going. I have nothing. If I have anything, you gave it to me when you were born. I am extremely poor; If I become rich, all this will be Your gift. And now it is Yours, and before it was Yours. I only ask for grace. I confess that through You I will be saved, if only I am saved. I know one rich man in the Scripture: being wise and knowing You, he called himself a beggar. If a rich man ascribed poverty to himself, looking at Your power, then what will I say or what will I think about myself? Do you know this person? The Gospel told you the parable as the Lord spoke about it. All the work of saints is for man. The Lord says: there was a rich man and, having learned about the treasure in the village, he sold everything and bought the village (Matthew 13:44). Another does the same for valuable “beads, that is” pearls (Matthew 13:46). And we must find out what is special about both, and also explain the meaning of each. They both mean the same thing. But the meaning of the beads requires a short word to explain. Therefore, let us first analyze this parable. Precious beads found in the sea are worth a great price due to the very difficulty of obtaining them. He does not provide food, but praise, not the pleasure of drinking, but good fame. A large amount of money is burdensome, and he lightens the burden. It is small but powerful; comfortable to wear; it is not difficult to put it in place. It's easy to hide, but hard to find. Such is the Kingdom of Heaven; such is the Word of God, which wisely contains in a short volume the great power of the mysteries. It is not offered as food, because it is not temporary; It is not intended for use by the poor, but is comprehended by those who are enriched in knowledge. None of those who are poor in virtue can have it; It happens to be the property of the perfect. In a tall house there are steps that lead up to the top; and in the Gospel there are differences between those who approach God. Are you poor? It serves as bread for you to console yourself in poverty. Are you weak? It feeds you greens. He gives mustard to those who are fat, and those who have liver pain and who suffer from jaundice are given wine. Some are offered instead of fish, others instead of wheat. For some it serves as a sickle, for others it serves as an ax. For coarser ones, barley bread is offered. And it gives a knife for handiwork, beats with a whip made of ropes, admonishes with a rod, punishes with a cane. All of these are steps in the Gospel. All this is said in parables. He knows both those rich in virtue and those who are poor; He knows those who are weak and those who are sound in faith. It knows both those who are strong and those who are weak in piety. It kills many with the sword, cutting them off from idols and turning away wickedness from the people. It sees in secret, therefore it brings down fire from heaven to reveal the hidden and destroy what rises up against the mind of God. He uses cauterization for those whose essential members are exhausted, and removes harmful passions from the general composition of the Church. For those who are sick, it is a doctor; for the ascetics - a rewarder, for those who resist - a judge, for the unrighteous - an avenger. It is a trustee of the poor, a provider (trustee) for widows. He treats tormentors like a king, comes to the humble like a brother, greets strangers like family, and orphans like a father. Those who slander out of ignorance seem to be ignorant. And although in itself one thing, it is all this, because he can do whatever he wants, and gives useful advice to everyone. That is why there are many parables in it. That's why the meanings are different. For in all the One and the Same Unchangeable is depicted, but, like a many-stringed lyre, achieving in different ways what is beneficial for everyone. I know a man who is at the same time a doctor and a carpenter, a blacksmith and a housebuilder, a house steward and a farmer, an overseer and a teacher, a silversmith and a potter, a cook and a merchant, and knows all other arts. But, while practicing any one of the arts, it does not change in its nature. How much more unchangeable will God be, who produces many things and chooses different things? I say this to prevent objections that the Lord appeared as a Man just as figuratively as in many of His other actions. Nature is another matter, knowledge is another; another is an image, another is a hypostasis. The builder and the tiller, the poor worker and the helmsman, the winner and the giver of necessities are one and the same; and knowledge is not born for everyone, but, having been born once, with the help of exercise it produces what is required by each of these arts. Man, having been born to produce another man, does not achieve this through exercise, but naturally produces a perfect man. The Son of God did not learn through exercise how to appear as a Man, but with the help of nature took upon Himself a Man in order to become what He was not, and to be a Man among men. I say this against Marcion, who instilled such nonsense in his disciples. I turn my speech to Manes, who talked worse than Marcion about the perception of humanity by the Son of God. We are offered a parable about beads for Wednesday (currently the parable of the beads is read at the Divine Service on Friday). Let the heretics tell you where he comes from and how he is born? For me it contains a treasure of evidence; instead of a manuscript, I offer it to debtors, my opponents. Let them explain to us the birth of beads. Let them prove that he has only an image, and not the reality itself. We know what they will say. But I also know what question to propose. “One who is born by nature, without bodily intercourse, they say, cannot become a man. If he had been created like Adam, he would have had a human hypostasis. But if he was born of a Virgin without communication with her husband, then he took upon himself the image.” I will remain silent before you, heretics. There is someone to answer for me. I am silent, the beads speak for me. Tell me, how were you born? Explain your nature, and shame the heretics. Prove your importance and dispel your morning dreams. Let the shells speak of the birth of beads; let them talk about his conception. Let the slugs that live in the waters be teachers of people who think of themselves as walking on the sky. Let those who dream that they know the nature of the Most Heavenly learn from the dumb and even from the inanimate. Those who have neither law nor statutes, let them receive from the dumb the law that prescribes laws. The shame that falls on heresies is unbearable for me, because they demand from God an account of His power, and they try to find out the method of His Divine action. Debtors of sin demand an account from God, because they are trying to investigate the works of an inexplicable nature. The condemned judge the Judge, not knowing how to answer for themselves. If you comprehend the incomprehensible, then it will no longer be incomprehensible. If you understand the Divine, then it will no longer be Divine, but ordinary. If you recognize the Unknown, as the apostle calls (Acts 17:23) God, then your knowledge is the abolition of God’s power. I present as an example something in which I can explain nature. I comprehend the method with the help of some similarity, but I do not reveal the power of action. Beads are stone formed from flesh, because beads come from shells. Therefore, who will not believe that God is born from the body as Man? Beads do not come from the communication of shells, but from the dissolution (combination) of lightning and water. So Christ was conceived by a Virgin without carnal pleasure. The Holy Spirit from the composition of the Virgin formed what was received by God (accepted from God). A bead is born, not an animal living in a shell, it is born, not as a spirit appears in any form. And Christ is not merged with the Divinity, not a simple Man and was not born, as it were, in a spiritual image, dissolved with unalloyed Divinity. Beads are born as a being, but do not give birth to another stone similar to itself; so there is no other Christ except the one born of the Father and born of Mary. This stone does not only have an image, but also real existence; so the Son of God was born in hypostasis, and not only in image. A valuable bead is involved in two natures to show Christ, because He, the Word of God, was born of Mary as Man. He began to have a nature that was not new, because he became not another kind of living being. He has a dual nature perfectly, so that he has not lost his two natures. Not the first nature, God, alone appeared on earth, and not the second, Man, alone ascended to heaven. From the Perfect is the Perfect and from Man is Man, from God is God and from the Virgin is Christ. The flesh did not devote itself to the Divine, human nature did not burden the Divine nature. The Word did not humiliate itself by union with what was received, so as to lose what it had and become what it does not have. In perfection the Word has what it was, and in perfection it has what it perceived. The dissolution did not become a merger. It was not the body that was united with the body, but the person who was united with the Divine. Wine and water, after mixing them, lose their nature; but wine and gold, after mixing them, retain their nature. God covers with Himself what is received, like a golden jar (jug) of manna. The Word of God is hidden in what is perceived, like a frame in an ark. The external becomes internal and the internal becomes external, so that both unity and hypostasis are proven. What is perceived is not manna, but is united with the stamna, not as being clothed with the Divine, but as having the Divinity within itself, like beads that come from lightning enclosed inside water. Understand the order of lightning and water, and marvel at the parables of Christ. Consider how imperfect flesh serves as beads, and you will believe that Christ was truly born of a Woman. An animal living in a shell, which is not worth an ovol (small coin), gave birth to a stone that is worth more than many talents (ingots) of gold. So Mary gave birth to a Divinity incomparable with all creation. The shell, which conceived the beads, did not suffer from stomach pain, but only felt an increase in itself. And Mary joyfully conceived Christ, feeling the descended Nature in Herself. The animal in the shell, having conceived and given birth, was not subject to corruption, because it gave birth to a perfect stone, without undergoing stomach pain; and the Virgin conceived uncorruptedly, and gave birth without pain. The beads were not only conceived, but also grew with the passage of time until they were able to show their being even outside the shell; For the creation of a being, flesh was needed, and a nutritious substance contributed to this accomplishment. In the emptiness of the shell, the beads were hidden as in the womb, and in order to complete existence, they were, as it were, grafted into the nature of the animal. He grew with the help of the nature of the animal and acquired the qualities of the nature of the one who conceived. The Son was born without a carnal seed, nature bore fruit - a Son without a husband, without an accomplice in childbirth. What great mysteries! What heavenly dogmas! Nature did not give birth to its own; A son was born, not conceived by a husband. Virgo is the Mother, nature is the source, the womb is the nourisher, the Maiden is the helper! What is perceived has the qualities of nature, birth occurred upon reaching the fullness determined by nature! One wife gave birth, without a husband, because the One who was being born was alien to corruption. The Virgin gave birth because He is the source of purity; not having known sweetness, She served the birth of children, because She brought forth the One who overcomes passions. Therefore, how can we assume that only the image was perceived by the One who became involved in the nature, the essence, and the time of birth? How did Man come into existence, having experienced nature in everything except decay and the diseases of birth? Mary did not suffer anything as a wife; while giving birth, she did not suffer from stomach pain, like a virgin. She was not alien to the Born One, because she had communication with Him, providing Him with food. She became the Mother of the alien Son, communicating to Him what she had perceived. Christ grew in the womb, having no need for it according to the Divinity. He became the Son of the Woman, remaining the Son of God. I knew Mary the Mother, but in Her humanity was embraced by the Divine. He became the Son of the One Who Served, because not only by faith She showed Her readiness, but also by nature contributed to perception. If the Word received only an image, why was nature needed? If He happened only in appearance, why was the Wife needed? If it went through a pipe, why did it take time and conception? Why does He inhabit the Virgin if He wanted to happen without the participation of nature? If he was born the way he moved into the Virgin from heaven, why didn’t he appear on earth directly from heaven? If He did not take upon Himself human nature, then why did He not appear to people directly from thin air? If He had in Himself everything that was needed for building a house, then what else could He borrow from the virgin nature? God does not do unnecessary things and does not mock (does not mock). But Mary would be superfluous if Christ came as a ghost. God would laugh if he showed people birth in a manger. Let the persuasiveness of this irresistible evidence serve to expose false wisdom. I know the Truth - Christ, and, looking at the beads, I am amazed at him, as if he were God, who received man from the Virgin. I have another proof of the reality of His incarnation, namely, His growth to perfect age. If the Word had only an image, how would it be clothed with clothing? And indicate clothes that would increase. If Christ came as a ghost, show a robe that grew and became brighter, and did not decay. And if Christ came as a ghost, then how did he grow from a child to the state of a perfect man? Increasing indicates conception, and conception indicates growth; just as one did not happen instantly, so the other did not exceed the time determined by nature. Ghosts have nothing to do with nature, but, like clothes, they are inventions of art. What need was there for nature if art served as a tool for Christ? What need was there for conception from a Woman, if the bodily composition did not come from living people, but could be found in the earth? The Virgin served the divine nature, and therefore she imparted to Him a pure nature. If the service required actual participation, a person could perform it. If the service was illusory, this would mean that the Deity used human art. The Virgin’s womb served the Divine, and for her willingness to obey, She received painlessness as a reward. She offered into service a nature that was supposed to be sick, and accepted it without being sick. She brought a weak gift, but received it strong. She brought a painful womb as a gift, and accepted it intact. The doctor, who received nature from Her, for this restored (restored) Her to health. It was not man who required the Virgin to bear children, but God. Therefore, he told nature what it did not have, in order to show that he came not to harm nature, but to keep it unharmed. The one who was born was a pearl, therefore, when he was born, he came out without illness or pain. It was not rough, like anything earthly, nor fluid, like anything wet; it was a Child in Whom the perfect God was hidden under a simple nature. Therefore, the Virgin, by the power of Him who was in Her, gave birth naturally, but did not suffer anything. The seal of virginity is not broken either by the conception of Christ or by birth. Necessity forces me to prolong the word and, with a detailed explanation, prove to the heretics that Christ was born a Man, and did not appear as a ghost. We are both conceived with corruption and born with diseases. But Christ was not born like that: He was born painlessly, because He was conceived incorruptibly. In the Virgin he is clothed with flesh, but not of the flesh, but of the Holy Spirit, therefore he was born of the Virgin; for the Spirit opened the womb so that Man could come forth, creating nature and giving the Virgin the power to increase Him; The Spirit assisted at the birth of one who did not know the husband's bed, therefore what was born did not break the seal of virginity, and the Virgin remained without illness. I know that many people get back better than what they give. When artists take something, then what they receive in faulty form is returned in good condition. Moreover, God, having borrowed what was healthy, returned it not to the worse, but to the best. Therefore, having borrowed an uncorrupted nature and being born through it, he made him immune from suffering. Kings give advantages to the cities in which they ascended the throne or were born. Could it be that the Son of God would not have given virginity to the Virgin, who became His Mother, when he could have? Other landowners find sources and use cleverly devised means to improve the quality of water and air dissolution. Isn’t it all the more possible for Christ to correct what was apparently difficult for nature, and how the only one among men could do so that the Mother who gave birth remained the only one among many. Just as Christ alone was born of a Virgin, so it was fitting that Mary, who gave birth to Him, should remain a Virgin, becoming a Mother without the pains of birth. Let not your own nature blind you to the point of disbelief in the Divine. Let not your passionate body seduce your mind to reproach your human nature. Christ came not to work on passions, but to destroy sin. He did not put on a body to mock nature; He did not shrink from perception to accept, as you think, only an image. If someone thought to do something worthy of surprise through an image alone, he would certainly do even more through nature itself. If Christ honored the image of nature, then nature is beautiful when it is honored by the Divine. If He came in an image for correction, then all the more worthy of surprise is the nature of the image, which can be most effective for correction. If the image could not contribute to anything, then without it it was necessary to do what was supposed to be done. If he could not accomplish anything, appearing only in an image, then it would be in vain to put on something useless. Pay attention to the beads, and do not be deceived, for I will not stop continuing my reproof until I admonish those who object. Look, this is not a ghost, but a real thing, and marvel at the weaving of the substance. This valuable stone is indivisible; No one can separate what is perceived in this way from the Divine. Lightning and water came into agreement; two opposites combined. How is it that you do not know what is in your hands and are curious to know about what you do not have? Lightning comes from fire, and therefore fire both shines and burns. Shells come from water, and shells grow from water. How did lightning not burn the bodies in the sink? How did water and fire essentially unite and not harm each other? You cannot say it, but you are forced to believe what you see and what you touch. Let nature, which you cannot explain, be evidence for you that the Son of God is born without seed. When two opposites come into significant agreement, hypostases are visible in both natures. I anticipate your objection. I know that some of you say: “God is not born, the flesh is visible, God is impassive, nature is passionate. How did such opposites agree to form one hypostasis? You have beads, an interpreter and explainer of everything that has been said. Fire means the Divine, and water means the perceived. It was not water that received the lightning, because it is heavy and does not rise to the height of fire. The lightning, having flown down, united with the water, and the shell, as if confused, contained within itself the fire and water that had entered into the connection. The warmth of the body joined the ascendant, and the firmness of the closed valves protected the tender from spilling. Nature through the union increased what was contained in it; Over time, water and fire became beads. So the Gospel says “that the Holy Spirit will come upon” the Virgin (Luke 1:35). For what? To receive Her strength, to contain the Divinity within Herself; “and the power of the Most High will overshadow Thee.” Lightning will remain in Your nature, because what is “born” by You “Holy will be called the Son of God.” He did not say: what is born will be born again; did not say: “born” by power or the Holy Spirit, but: “born” by You [the word “By You” – “εχσου” is found in many ancient translations of the New Testament (Syrian, Ethiopian, Vulganson, etc.), in the writings of some fathers (Gregory the Wonderworker, Epiphanius, Athanasius of Alexandria, John Chrysostom, Damascene) and in the Greek manuscripts mentioned by Scholz and Matthaei (N.T. Graece Scholz, 1830. Matthaei Evang. Lucae, 1786)], in proof that the nature of the Virgin serves the Divine, and that what is perceived in Her and from Her is associated with the Word and God. If I had not said: “born” by You, then perhaps we would have the right to think that the Word took on only an image. Some lists do not contain this word: “By you.” But if, heretic, there is no word “by You,” the meaning of this addition lies in what was said: “the same is what is born,” which means the addition of what is received. Conception proves the reality of nature and rejects the idea of ​​a ghost. And the speech of the Archangel confirms that the Divinity overshadowed the Virgin for nothing other than so that Man would be born, because the Lord could instantly appear to the whole earth if he had not intended to live with people, truly uniting with man. Look closely at the beads and you will find an indication of two natures: in its brilliance an indication of the Divine, in its whiteness an indication of the perceived. In white you see what shines; in the perfection of what is perceived, you perceive the power dwelling in Him. The hardness of the beads is an indication of human nature; in smoothness - an indication of heavenly origin; in the water included in its composition, an indication of the earthly nature, in fire - an indication of the hypostasis of the Divine. There are many other objects in which one of two happens; but they are not born like beads, and are not composed of fire and water. However, look, and do not look for a model in every bead, for not everyone is a real bead and has in itself the perfections we have expressed. There are many such beads, most of which are dull. Some shells live in the depths, others in shallow places, love dirt, absorb various impurities, and rarely contain good beads. There is another reason for the imperfection of beads: if the time of its birth has not reached its fullness, then, having been born prematurely, it turns out to be rocky, therefore a lot of beads, even mined from the depths, is not approved. If the beads have not reached perfection, then they are worthless. For for the most part, only shells are found, and beads are taken out of them. Only the one who, having reached full age and completely formed by nature, is not taken out of the shells, but is born himself, is called perfect; Such beads have a great price. And if you want to know that sea animals are also water, then read the law and hear how God testifies that he commanded the waters with other animals to produce those who live in shells, for these are reptiles in the waters. Beads come from unclean animals; and Christ was born from a nature subject to uncleanness and in need of cleansing by God's visitation. Just as lightning penetrates everything, so does God. And just as lightning illuminates the hidden, so Christ cleanses the hidden nature. He also purified the Virgin, and then was born, in order to show that where Christ is, there purity is manifested in all its power. He cleansed the Virgin, having prepared him with the Holy Spirit; and then the womb, becoming clean, conceives Him. He purified the Virgin with Her purity, and therefore, when she was born, he left her as a Virgin. Before sunrise, everything becomes light-like. And if the sun, coming out, illuminates everything, what will it produce, completely enclosed in the church? If Christ, having illuminated Paul from heaven, turned him to piety and made the wolf a sheep, the persecutor an apostle, the inhuman the compassionate, and the rebellious the obedient, then how much more so did God’s Word, dwelling inwardly in Mary, make Her alien to all that is unclean and carnal? He accepted the pledge - the faith of the Young Lady, and grace not only bowed to Her, but rightly imparted to Her the power of incorruptibility. Faith brought nature as a gift, and grace, which received it, did not allow corruption to touch it, but appropriated it for itself, like a king, taking the vessel of a commoner into his own. And Mary became - not a wife, but a Virgin by grace. I am not saying that Mary became immortal, but that, illuminated by grace, She was not indignant at sinful desires. I love the gospel stone because it has become food for my soul. I marvel at the beads because they talk to me about what is told about Christ. I suggested a parable because it gave me profound knowledge. In her I recognized the dissolution of nature and the power of the Divine. I understood the agreement of opposites and the change in the natural order. I see that two centuries have been brought together into one union; grace sealed agreement and I do not find a way to separate one from the other. I understand the different forces, but the roundness of the beads does not allow me to understand how they were combined. It is even everywhere; and Christ took away inequality, and like an artist he closed two centuries, and no one can separate them. The valves of the shells are different, but the sizes of the beads are indistinguishable; those are subject to fragmentation, but he is indestructible; in this you can see two tablets of the law and a uniform, valuable index of the Gospel. In the law - earthly, in the Gospel - heavenly. Here is the shell and beads that Christ combined. With the help of grace, ascending to birth and delving into the nature of mental beads, I learned the power, understood the union, comprehended the nature. I also wish to understand the art of the All-Wise Creator. I understand that the Creator is a worker, and I understand that He does not cultivate the earth, but the harmony of natures. He does not accept to sow or reap, he does not gather grapes and puts them into the great winepress. He lends the Son to human nature in order to receive power over every soul in exchange for Him. For this duty he strengthens every earthly pasture behind Himself, and after a short conversion becomes the Lord of all, not only as the Creator, but also as the Redeemer. Not only as God, but also as the one who redeems from the work, he gives beads, so as not to lose the ovol itself in its nature. Gives the Son to subdue the slave. What great humanity! What a brave undertaking - to entrust beads to a shell and give away a precious stone for desecration! Do you see the man Merchant? Do you understand who is this who sold everything to buy beads? Do you know how this rich Owner gives everything to acquire the village and the treasure in it? This is the Father who, through the Son, purchases all that is good for humanity. He sold all of His earthly acquisitions in order to buy the field that He Himself created and gave to Adam, but he lost it with the desire of vain things. He buys a village not to take advantage of the land, but for the sake of the hidden treasure. What does a village mean? The body is human, but the treasure is the soul. So, for the sake of the soul, which He created in His image and likeness, He sells everything and sends the Son to buy this possession. The torturer would not have sold to the Divine if It did not carry humanity. He knew His power and was afraid of resale. But he sells to a person, knowing his weakness, knowing that, when he wants, he will take away both the possession and the treasure by force of deception. So, he sends his Son to the tormentor and says to him: “Give Him all other possessions, about which there is no dispute, that they are Mine. One man, by his arbitrariness, makes My sovereignty doubtful. But for confession and denial it has within itself the treasure of likeness to God. Since this is My glory, so as not to lose what I created to serve Myself, then give him the cattle and all the dumb, free only man. Give him pigs in the country of Gergesin and buy a village and a treasure, freeing the man from demonic power. Pigs, donkeys, oxen and lions do not bring glory to the one who owns them. A person brings a great gift, because his sacrifice is not from something perishable and edible, but from heavenly treasures.” This is what a village means, this is what a treasure means! The buyer is the Father, the mediator is Christ. He came as a stranger; bought as a merchant; took over as Lord. For He and the Father are one and the same Godhead. By nature he took possession, was an intermediary in payment, bought, overcame by force, took the village; and the tormentor did not even know that he had sold the treasure along with the village. Christ took the man as a slave, but the enemy did not know that he had sold his livestock with him. Christ took possession of man and at the same time took upon Himself what belonged to the slave. All the dumb were enslaved to Adam. The enemy thought that, having taken them, he had control over Adam’s body. But they followed the sold ruler, recognizing natural dominion. The torturer sold both man and all the dumb, because man, in his will, brought them as a gift to God; That is why, finally, with Israel He acquired all nations. Christ bought the village on the Cross, giving the Holy Blood as a price. He took possession of the pasture when he was resurrected; drove out the tormentors and appointed His own. The whole earth became a village, and the hidden saints on it became a treasure. He took visible possessions so that, when he wanted, he could also take hidden wealth. He took possession of the pasture of the living, but also took the invisible dead; agreed not to take the treasures for now, in order to take them on the day of the general resurrection. He left for a while, assigning guards to the treasure and caretakers to the village, so that when he commanded, the treasure would be presented to the King in resurrection. The treasure is placed in a meager vessel, for the scene of action is the meager village. God said to the prophet: “Go down to the house” (village) of the “cheaper” (Jer. 18:1). What kind of scoundrel if not God? For He will create a resurrection in that village. Until the end of time, the village is transformed into clay by human bodies; at the end it will burn the vessels, that is, the bodies of saints, with grace, the bodies of sinners with the fire of Gehenna. The transformation of the beads has already happened, because it does not remain buried in the village, but is immediately eaten (taken) by the merchant. This is the firstfruits of the Cross, because One was resurrected, just as One was bought (ηγδραδ υας). He did not buy the beads because he died, because with the Cross he put the strong man to flight, defeated him, and then took his weapons and plundered his booty. Therefore, he says: “The imam will lay down the region” (My soul), “and the imam will receive the region again” (John 10:18). Since he had power over death and before he himself died, it seemed that the beads had not so much an enemy as a nature. And while he was still on earth, he made an agreement. The Intercessor's reward was beads. For the weak-minded did not recognize the Lord and despised Him. Christ took the reward: he took the village, he took the price of the village, because the unreasonable nature followed the one who was the leader from the very beginning; has power over the living in the village; has dominion over the dead in treasure; has a perception immortalized in beads; has a guarantee, the grace of the Holy Spirit, which anointed the body of Christ to fight the tormentor, for the Father appointed this for the victory and gave it as a reward to the Winner. Let us dwell on what was said earlier and at the beginning in order to note all the details as they should in a brief review. The Word called God the Father a farmer, a builder, a merchant, a poor man, an intercessor and a lender, a bribe-giver and a generous lover. Great, truly, is the Word of the Lord: in two sayings it contains such power of knowledge! (Probably, by two sayings St. Ephraim means two parables: about the village and about the beads, which he mentioned at the beginning, and which he explains in this word) And the Gospel can also be called beads, because in few writings it embraces such the power of the mysteries, and in a poor charter it contains heavenly knowledge. And heretics say that the Son of God disdained to take upon Himself human nature. God entrusted heaven to the charter, but the Son could not take upon himself human nature! I am not saying that both are equal, but I am showing that the Father is good to us, meek and loving. Christ did not appear today in a ghost; The deity was not content with a pitiful ghost to live in on earth. The Lord of nature took upon himself the nature of the earthly ruler in order to strengthen for Adam what he had lost through deception. If Christ appeared in a ghost, then he was also the Son of God in a ghost. Look at what the heretics stoop to. They are in danger of completely denying the existence of Christ. Notice the foolishness: he has only a tongue, and no mind; it says what it wants, but does not understand what the investigation reveals. I represent the lender God, and I will show you, heretic, how He cultivated beads in the Virgin. I will also show you how the Maker lent the Divinity to nature. I also want to show how a merchant, having taken into the community with him a man who had an ovol, made him rich, so that the debt was paid, and the man was respected, and in unshakable power he had the Kingdom of God. The impoverished nature accepted God into itself and entered into a struggle with the tormentor. The Son took part in the Council of the Father, and shed sweat so as not to give room for sin in the purchase; raised the price with grace. Sin flattered the passions, but He prevailed over sin. Showed the tormentor nature and gave him a reason to think that he was dealing with humanity. He showed man the mercy of the Father, announced the sorrow of the intelligent Powers and enmity with the earthly. He convinced them to seek reconciliation, became a mediator of peace, promised reconciliation, indicated the way, namely, that peace would be acquired by the Cross, and arranged things so that the slave came to the Master, the son knew the Father. Having become a defender in the fight against the tormentor, he established dominion over the Father and truly freed the slave from bitter torment. Finally, listen to the art of the farmer. For Christ, in each of His ranks, has His own way of acting in relation to humanity and warfare with sin. Therefore, do not consider the varied interpretation strange. God is the source of various perfections. It spreads out, as it were, to the extent that someone has enough strength, and, as it were, expands, how much and when someone can understand. He grafted the Divinity into the nature of the Virgin, and, as if in a certain hole, hid His Son, so that by the perception of man, having joined the qualities, he could make the nature common. Therefore, Mary became a tree for the Father, a Mother for the Son, and for people the Source of eternal life and the East of incorruption. In grafting, the ligaments correspond to prophetic evidence, the hole - the consent of nature. The Farmer has his knife, which cleanses and makes smooth: this is the preparatory power of the Holy Spirit. There is also in the tree capable of accepting the most perfect nature; this is the faith of the Holy Virgin, the Woman. Do not doubt, O man, the reasoning of what has been said, for the unseen is seen by faith. Accept what is narrated without mistrust, knowing for yourself what the state of the invisible is. If you did not have a soul, your eyes would not see, your ears would not hear, your larynx would not taste, your hands would not function. Therefore, the soul does everything, but the body also contributes. So, with the amazing works of God, imagine that God’s power controls everything with ineffable intelligence. With earthly arts and virtues I want to assure you regarding birth. And I do not explain in different ways so that out of many, at least one can achieve success, but in order to attribute many things to Wisdom, to prove the inexhaustible means of the Divine, because at all times He has resisted sin in His special way. So - at birth, but in another way - at birth, in another way - during growth, and in another way - at manhood. And it is necessary to consider in order how each method corresponded to its time. But believe what has been said, because the Savior Himself said: “I am the vine, you are the generation... and My Father is the worker” (John 15:5, 1). And I will provide you with art confirmation of what has been said. The buds of the best trees are grafted onto almond trees; others also graft leaves; They do the same with grapevines. Therefore, what is incredible if God used an art similar to this for the invisible, and, as it were, grafted the perceived Word, or the Divine onto the perceived? However, the Virgin did not give birth from the seed communicated to Her. Let this not happen! On the contrary, She betrayed Her unexcited essence. And Wisdom created for herself a house from uncut stones. During the construction, no sounds of iron were heard, because Mary’s birth was not served by her husband, only her virginity served. The stones were native, not prepared by human hands. So in Mary there is a native perception, extracted from our nature by the Most Pure Virgin. Like stones taken from the earth, what was received grew with the help of nature, and the Divinity, due to the purity of nature, remained undefiled. The church was built without iron. Christ was born without incorruption and disease. The one earth served, just as the one Virgin conceived. The earth did not deliver the stones taken from anyone else, but gave them from itself without labor or testing. So in Virgo, no one contributed to the perception, it was not borrowed from Her. Otherwise, She would be a nourisher, and not a Mother, a keeper of the deposit, and not a source of the most perfect birth of children. The Gospel called Her Mother, and not a nourisher, but also called Joseph Father, although he did not participate in the birth at all, and named Her not for the sake of Christ, but for the sake of the Virgin, so that they would not consider Her to have given birth from fornication, as the Jews dared to say. The name does not give the nature; and we call fathers the elders who did not give birth to us. Nature gave the name, and time gave the honor, because the pledges of the betrothed - the Virgin and Joseph, gave the right to call the unborn father. Male palms, overshadowing female palms, make them fertilized, without mixing with them and without imparting any essence to them. And some of the fig trees, even healthy ones, do not bear fruit, especially those that do not grow under the canopy of male fig trees. Therefore, just as these plants, even without giving birth, are called fathers, so Joseph is called father without being the husband of the Virgin. Great mystery! All creation must be called upon to explore. And even more, the nature of the understanding must begin to testify. For what has happened is beyond all understanding. Why shouldn’t every rational nature provide evidence from itself? What is born is God, and let everything cease (transition) to serving Him; God was born Man; every nature must appear and marvel at the Creator. Let them be amazed at how He arranged everything. May they be assured that what is naturally impossible is possible for Him. Let them understand that if whatever He pleases, it happens, and He has no need for nature. Let the Greeks understand that he created everything not because there was substance, but because he wanted to. Let them be convinced that the world and everything in the world were produced without matter. For behold, without a compatible nature he produced Man, who embraces both the invisible and the visible ages. It won't take me alone to explain. Let nature, art, and intellectual works speak to me. Let the sky speak, presenting as a witness the star that it did not receive from the Creator along with the sun and moon. Let the ether testify with lightning, presenting in the shells the likeness of the birth that was to take place from the Virgin. Let the earth cry out for the treasure hidden in it, and the sea for the beads that have not yet appeared. Agriculture, the art of construction, the diligence of merchants, the ingenuity of fishermen, the council of kings, the militia of military leaders, the shouting of the people, the offering of the wise, the insight of star-readers, the confusion of tormentors, the malice of evil priests, the confession of infants, the prophecy of shepherds - let all be gathered to testify to the birth of God, so that at least by this the heretics may be convinced that Christ appeared not as a ghost, but in in human nature he was born of a virgin. The Jews say: “We do not believe that God lived with men as a Man.” But they believe that God was contained in the Divine ark. What is bigger, the ark or the man? If you believe that God was in the ark, then why don’t you believe that God was on earth among men? "We do not believe that, being God, He was crucified." Why don’t you believe that the ark in which God was was captured by foreigners? Just as the ark apparently suffered dishonor, so God the Word, being impassive, suffered dishonor in his perceived nature when he was crucified. And just as the ark of the foreigners struck and deposed Dagon, so Christ on the Cross put the devil to flight, brought his detractors to reason, and imparted to the unbelievers the involuntary knowledge of His Divine power. Don’t you believe that Christ, having died, rose again on the third day? Why do you believe that Jonah, after three days in the belly of the whale, came out healthy and unharmed? Don’t believe that the Virgin gave birth to Man and God? Why do you believe that the magnificent church was built of unhewn stones (1 Kings 6:7), that during the entire construction there was no iron in use, and yet it was the most beautiful of all buildings and churches? The blindness of the Jews is intolerable to me, because they have evidence and do not believe. The foolishness of the heretics is intolerable to me, because they believe the Greeks and do not believe the Divine Scriptures. If a house to serve God, that is, a church, was not built without iron, then Christ came as a ghost. But if the foundation of the church still exists, then do not argue, but believe. And I am ready to die for this faith. Count me among the Greeks if I do not want to die for Christ. As for my strength, I fear death, but my hope is Christ. On my own I am afraid, but in Christ I dare. He is beads, and I am clay. He is the treasure and I am the ashes. He is life and I am death. He is the truth, and I am a sinner. He is the truth, and I am a lie, because out of love for vanity I arbitrarily lost the truth. He gave me nature, and I brought it into desolation through passions. He gave me sufficient will, and I made it meager, bound by sins. He descended onto the sea and, despite many dangers, retrieved the beads from there. The deity was present in temptations and, received by Him, ascended from earth to heaven. He worked a lot in the countryside, and worked on the Cross, so that in the tomb, having discovered the treasure of the saints, he would appropriate it to himself. Let us also labor to become participants in the purchase of our Savior Jesus Christ, because glory, honor and worship are due to Him with His Beginning Father, and with His Most Holy, and Good, and Life-Giving Spirit, now and always, and to the endless ages of ages. Amen. You might be interested in: