Поучение о том, что не должно соблазнять ближнего, и о правой жизни

Those who have entered the field of piety and have laid their hands on the head should not be turned back and prevented from achieving their goal - pleasing God; but on the contrary, it should guide them to perfection. For it is said about such people: “...touch you as if you were touched by the apple of His eye” (Zechariah 2:8). Therefore, whoever does not want to violate the commandment of God should protect himself from everywhere, so as not to tempt another, especially one who has come to the Lord God and escaped the snares of the world. Otherwise, he too will be counted among those whom the Prophet reproaches, saying: “Woe to him who besieges his companion with muddy corruption” (Hab. 2:15). Woe to you who rejoice over the wicked and rejoice over the corruption of evil! whose paths are stubborn, and their course is crooked, making you far from the right path, and alien from a righteous mind” (Prov. 2:14-16). Through this they make themselves subject to the wrath of God, as the Lord pronounced His definition in the Gospel, saying: “unfortunately” if it were for a man, “yea... the millstone of a donkey” would lie “on his neck,” and he would be cast into the depths of the sea, “so that he may cause one to stumble from these little ones” who believe in Me (Luke 17:1, Matt. 18:6). For unspeakable harm and damage comes from this. So, let us describe, if possible, one incident, in order to depict in this small example the whole course of the matter and, concluding about the greatness of the harm, restrain ourselves with fear, and not put a stumbling block or temptation to our neighbor. His parents had only one son, and they loved him deeply, because they placed all their hope after God in him, expecting that in him the best and most decent last hope of their life would be fulfilled, and that in his children they would have the continuation and renewal of their family. But the young man, suddenly rejecting everything temporary, went into the desert and became a monk, leaving his family with unbearable grief. The father cries, the mother sheds tears; suddenly they are deprived of everything they had hoped for; and they reason that it is impossible for a son to be the same as he was before he left for the desert. For it is no longer possible for him to manage his father’s house, and he is incapable of bearing children, because he has renounced human life and has clothed himself in such a shrine that, although he is still in the body, but like dead men imprisoned in a tomb, he cannot engage in the affairs of everyday life. That is why the father is crying and the mother is in tears; both regret that they lost help from their son. The bride, having received betrothal pledges, is abandoned by him. If you had handicrafts, then the work is now abandoned. If you were engaged in trade; then she is left neglected. If he was in military service, he is now a stranger to it. If he held any honorable position, it was neglected. And the house was brought almost to decay by such determination of the son, because, having laid aside everything visible and attachment to everything sensible, like shorn hair, and having been naked from everything, he entered the field of piety, so that he might gain Christ, the Lord of glory. So, was such a person worth seducing and seducing? No! Who will take on such a bad deed and decide to become a traitor and plunderer of this good purchase? Or who will reach such lack of fear of God as to destroy zeal and good intentions in a person who follows a beautiful path and make him, having become alien to earthly things, not reach heaven? For whoever, after renouncing and moving away from the world, begins to limp in virtue, and soon leaves the straight path and turns his gaze back; he will serve as a parable for real life, and until death, having lost the Kingdom of Heaven, he will be unworthy of the face of saints. And his negligence will turn into shame for his parents. Friends are saddened, and enemies rejoice at his laziness and falling away. His family begs for his death because, having lost his earthly possessions, he did not go to heaven, and under the guise of piety he imposed the devil’s yoke on himself. Having rejected legal marriage, he lives in fornication and lewdness, spends his days in intemperance and drunkenness. The parents mourn the loss and together the death of his soul. But he who is deceived in his heart and walks on crooked paths is not touched by any of this, but, trampling on a reverent life, he is clothed with shamelessness and does not blush, behaving indecently. He does not put people to shame, and does not keep the wrath of God in his mind, therefore he does not give due and fitting honor to his parents, and does not show himself worthy for spiritual work. From here, finally, are born reproaches to the vow he made, blasphemy against the most reverent life, which is scary to even utter. Just as the wicked, when he comes to the depths of evil, neglects everything, so he, having reached such fearlessness, is not horrified, but is like a man who sold all his property and bought himself a valuable robe, and then, in a fit of madness, covered it with patches of dirty rags, and no longer wears it for praise and glory, but for ridicule and reproach for himself. Who will not laugh at a man who yesterday girded himself on the mountain to serve the brethren of one accord, in imitation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and today is surrounded by servants, and maidservants wash his feet, and he stretches them out on a soft bed, and again indulges in a luxurious, passionate life? Or who would not ridicule a man who yesterday locked himself in a cell and refused to meet with people, and today spends time with immodest women and gets drunk in taverns? Or who will not blame the one who yesterday voluntarily rejected worldly things and embraced non-covetousness, and today stands hopelessly in the courts, and eagerly seeks again his rights to what he himself condemned, and transferred his mind from heavenly things to the despised earthly and, caressing the judges, follows them like a slave, instead of praying and teaching in the words of God, he argues with jurists, and Is simple-heartedness and kindness replaced by cunning of character and speech? Oh, if only the visible courts would bring to mind the future judgment, and we could avoid the vicissitudes of our son’s life. And his household is pleased with his friends, especially those who see the vicissitudes of happiness of those living in the world, they are pleased as if they had brought a gift to the Lord God. The whole family boasts of the valor of the courageous ascetic. They happily ask everyone they meet, but virtue cannot hide. They hear the good rumors growing about him, glorify the Lord for this, and confirm that they are their own and relatives of the ascetic. Official people glorify him, if he is one of the officials; the soldiers marvel at him if he is from the military; artists praise him, if he is one of the artists. Thus the virtue of those who have succeeded in the Lord makes them amiable and glorious to all. Therefore, they will be crowned with glory in the Kingdom of Heaven. You might be interested in: