A conversation about the fact that there is one Lawgiver of the Old and New Testaments, also about the clothes of the priest, and about repentance

In the “Discourse on the One Lawgiver of the Old and New Testaments, also on the clothing of a priest, and on repentance” (7 chapters) St. John Chrysostom proves that the Old and New Testaments do not contradict each other, but complement each other and come from the same Lawgiver. The conversation talks about true justice, which lies in the fact that God desires the salvation of everyone, He does not distinguish between slave and free, barbarian or Greek, woman or man. The saint gives examples of prototypes of Christ in Old Testament rituals and points out the symbolism in the clothing of priests. He calls repentance the root of piety: “Repentance greatly appeases God if anyone, sincerely repenting, turns to Him,” calls for prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos, the holy apostles and martyrs, and reminds that prayer and fasting drive away demons. The year and place of the conversation are unknown. 1. One and the same Lawgiver of both the Old and New Testaments. – Why is the New Testament called that? – 2. Catching people. – 3. True justice. Different types of slavery. – 4 and 5. Types of Christ in Old Testament rituals. – 6. Repentance is the root of piety. – 7. True help and protection in disasters and misfortunes. – Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos, holy apostles and martyrs. 1. Prophets proclaim the Gospel of Christ's Kingdom, ministers of new grace explain it, and listeners, admirers and glorifiers accept the Divine word. Without thirsting for the word of teaching, one cannot find delight in the word of truth. And just as it is impossible for one who does not thirst and does not hunger to enjoy food with pleasure, so it is impossible for one who does not thirst for the teaching of the Holy Spirit to find pleasure in the word of truth. That is why the Savior says: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6). The true food of souls, the true luxury of the godly, the true wealth of the godly is the word of God speaking through the mouth of David; It is he who is proud, either as a rich man or as an enjoyer, and says: “How sweet are Your words to my throat! Sweeter than honey to my lips” (Ps. 119:103). Here is the voice of the one who enjoys; the word of God was David's delight. He often said about this: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will fulfill the requests of your heart for you” (Ps. 37:4). And in another place he boasts of the riches of the law, not only as one who enjoys, but also as one who is rich, and says: “The law of Your mouth is better for me than thousands of gold and silver” (Ps. 119:72). Do you see what is the pleasure of piety and the riches of righteousness? Therefore, we must thirst for the Divine and hunger for the Heavenly, enjoy abundantly from the royal table of Christ, firmly adhere to the Gospel of salvation, which not only has now declared itself, but was founded by the prophets and created by the apostles. The Gospel did not begin when Christ appeared; but it was planted in the prophetic books, and languished in the apostolic preaching. Therefore, Paul, wanting to show that the Gospel did not begin with the incarnation, but began to shine with the prophets, and that through the incarnation it shone, says: “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, chosen for the gospel of God, which God first promised through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh” (Rom. 1:1-3). Paul knows that the Old and New Testaments are inseparable; but for this reason, sometimes he calls this the New Testament, in order to show how the ends of the universe have been renewed (I know that this position was explained by me recently, but I repeat it to remind you); calls it the New Testament, therefore, to contrast the outdated, - the best - to distinguish from the worse, eternal - in comparison with the temporary. He also calls it the second Testament. Why the second? And in order to connect them in thoughts. What exists separately from something is not called second in relation to the latter. But since God spoke in both the first and second Testaments, the same Paul calls one first and the other second, clarifying their mutual agreement with the help of number. Therefore, Paul, proclaiming that the Kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is indivisible, calls the Gospel either belonging to God the Father or to the Son, saying: “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, chosen for the gospel of God” (Rom. 1:1). And lest anyone, having heard about the Gospel of God, think that the Son has no authority to preach, Paul in the same letter a little lower says: “God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son” (Rom. 1:9). Do you notice the amazing mind of this preacher and his perfect intelligence? So that they do not think that in the law we served one God, but in the Gospel we proceed to another, the apostle says: “I thank God, whom I serve from my ancestors with a clear conscience” (2 Tim. 1:3). “I did not run from one,” he says, “to another, but He whom I honored without knowing, I accepted, having knowledge of Him.” And again, wanting to show that the words of the Old and New Testaments belong to one mouth and one Master, he cited one testimony from Scripture, combining the Old Testament with the Gospel word, and said: “It is written: “Thou shalt not muzzle an ox that is threshing; and: the worker is worthy of his reward” (1 Tim. 5:18). The words: “Do not muzzle the threshing ox,” said Moses, and the expression: “The worker is worthy of his reward,” - Christ in the Gospels. But in order to show that one mouth said both, he united what had been separated by time - he united in view of the agreement of the truth and said: “It is written: “Thou shalt not muzzle an ox that is threshing; and: the worker is worthy of his reward." The image of this evangelical agreement is the monastery of Peter, cast today in our presence. Peter cast his nets more than once, according to the story - once, but in reality often. Every time the Gospel was preached, I see nothing else but Peter and Andrew and the host of the apostles unfolding the gospel. 2. And it was an extraordinary sight to see the Savior on the sea, and those being taught standing near the seashore. It’s a strange thing - fish are on land, but the Fisherman is on the sea! The casting of that monster was an image of the Gospel word. He found, says Scripture, fishermen who were “washing their nets” (Luke 5:2), because they despaired of success in fishing. After all, a fisherman who has not lost hope of catching anything does not wash his nets. So the Savior found them despairing of success in fishing; The Lord of Fishing stands next to them and what does he do? First of all, he teaches the word of truth; then he orders the net to be thrown in. Since words without deeds were unproven, it was necessary that the word be followed by proof with the help of deeds: according to God’s command, you will catch something that has never come across, and you will take something that is not there. “Cast down,” says the Lord, “your nets for fishing.” Peter says: “Master! We toiled all night and caught nothing, but at Your word I will let down the net” (Luke 5:4-5). I am amazed at the faith of Peter, who despairs of the old and believes in the new. “According to Your word I will let down the net.” Why did he say: “according to Your word”? Because by His word the heavens were established, and the earth was founded, and the sea was divided (Ps. 32:6, 101:26), and man was crowned with his own flowers, and everything happened according to Your word, as Paul says: “upholding all things by the word of His power” (Heb. 1:3). “According to Your word I will let down the net.” The word went down into the sea before the net: there were no fish to be found. If they were there before, then, due to the large number of people catching them, they fled. But the word of the One who “calls things that are not as if they are” (Rom. 4:17) went down into the sea—before the deep, the power of the Commander descended, and a multitude of fish were gathered together. This was the image of the Universal Church. “Having done this, they caught a great many fish, and even their net was broken. And they gave a sign to the comrades who were on the other boat to come help them” (Luke 5:6-7). It was necessary for two ships to come together for that fishing. After all, if there is no host of prophets helping the apostolic hand, and if the prophetic prediction is not followed by the action of the apostles, then what is being caught will not be caught. Therefore, the Savior, wanting to show that fishing is an image of the Church, and also wanting to teach Peter, with this example aroused courage in him and said to him: “Do not be afraid; From now on you will catch men” (Luke 5:10). “From now on,” - since you, He says, have experienced My power and understood that even unreasonable creatures obey My word and everything follows My command. Having taken this sufficient example, then apply diligence to catching people. And He did not say: “You will catch people like fish,” but: “You will catch people alive.” Fish are caught alive and then killed, and people are caught in such a way that they pass from death to life. “From now on,” he says, “you will catch people.” Why does the Savior tell him: “do not be afraid”? After all, the promise was tempting for him; why does he hear: “do not be afraid”? Since he accidentally remembered his previous sins, the Lord says to him: “do not be afraid” of yourself as a sinner, but from now on think of yourself as an apostle, obeying the commanding word of the Lord - to catch, as it were, the universe in a net. "Don't be afraid" ; Let every sinner hear from Christ: “Do not be afraid”; only from now on let him repent. So, the network (so that we follow the previously proposed order of speech) is an image of the Gospel of the Savior’s teaching. And Paul calls this Gospel either the Gospel of righteousness, or the Gospel of peace, or the Gospel of power. Since the grace of preaching can destroy wars, dispel the strife of people who disagree on the issue of godliness, and call everyone to salvation, it is called the Gospel of righteousness; since it puts an end to the war of demons, it is called the Gospel of Peace; and since it proclaims the knowledge of God in simple words, it is called the Gospel of power. Listen to what Paul says: “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16). Power then appears to be such when, in addition to a number of human considerations, the preacher will take possession of the ends of the earth, as the Savior says to Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). It would not be at all great if the Lord enlightened the universe with the help of His Divinity alone, but it is amazing that through His Body He showed dispassionate and incorporeal glory. It would not be at all surprising if the living one, shining with life-giving glory, revived the universe; but the power of the Word consists in the fact that It destroys death by death and through the insults (received by Him) shines with immortal glory. Elsewhere, Paul calls the Gospel the Gospel of peace: train your feet, he says, to be ready to “preach the gospel of peace” (Eph. 6:15). And in another he calls it the Gospel of righteousness, saying: “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: ... in it the righteousness of God is revealed” (Rom. 1:16-17). What is “the truth of God”? Since the first law was given only to the Jews, and the Gospel to everyone, he calls the latter the Gospel of “truth”: God is righteous: having created everyone equally, He enlightened everyone equally. And that would be righteous - not to save some, and not to save others - not to call on some, and not to call on others. In the Old Testament there was no righteous calling, but there was a dispensation that prepared the way for righteousness. And I do not call one unjust and the other righteous, but I call the first the way to the latter and its preparation. God gave the law to Israel. And David says: “He proclaims His word to Jacob, His justifications and judgments to Israel. He has not done this to any (yet) people, and He has not shown His judgments to them” (Ps. 147:8-9). 3. So, having revealed the truth there to one people, here, as if putting the word of truth on the scales, he distributed it evenly among all. Please note: justice consists in saving everyone equally and not making any distinction between slave and free, barbarian or Greek, woman or man; This is what Paul says: “In Christ Jesus there is neither Greek nor Jew, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free” (Col. 3:11). Do you see equal honor for everyone? Since our nature is equal, although we differ in our way of thinking, it returns nature to its ancient beauty. When Adam was created, there was not a single foreigner, neither Scythian, nor barbarian, nor Greek, nor slave, nor free, neither male nor female, because he made two from one. Nature did not give birth to slavery, but free will did. There is forced slavery, resulting from the misfortunes of hunger or captivity. There is another type of slavery - at our own prompting, when we, by marrying servants, sell our freedom and go under the yoke of slavery. But the first slavery occurred due to a bad way of thinking. And where does the root of slavery come from, listen. After the flood, Noah drank wine and, without dissolving it properly (with water), out of inexperience, got drunk, revealing the disease not of his will, but of ignorance; and became drunk, and, having become drunk, he became naked. One of his sons, entering, saw his father's nakedness and laughed. What does his father say to him after he comes to his senses? “Cursed be Canaan; He will be a servant of servants to his brothers” (Genesis 9:25) Do you see how sin gave birth to slavery? That is why the Savior says: “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). After the Liberator of the human race came and gave forgiveness to sins, it is better to say: destroyed them (because, having cut off the root, He also cut off the fruit), He calls the Gospel the Gospel of righteousness due to the fact that He enlightens everyone equally. So, the Jews believed that the Gospel He proclaimed was given to them alone. But their wait had an outcome they had not foreseen. That is why David says: “We have received, O God, Thy mercy among Thy people. As is Your name, O God, so is Your praise, to the ends of the earth; Thy right hand is filled with righteousness” (Ps. 47:10–11). And to show that showing mercy to the “ends of the earth” is a matter of justice, he added: “Thy right hand is filled with righteousness” (Ps. 47:11). When any deep and prophetic question is raised, then consider its essence, not by applauding, but by thinking through it with your mind, not just accepting the sound of the words, but exploring the meaning of the thoughts. If you sing the praises of God in accordance with the truth, and especially begin to sing the song that David sang: “We have received, O God, Your mercy among Your people. As is Your name, O God, so is Your praise, to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is filled with righteousness,” then you will find yourself praising God and filled with the Holy Spirit. One who sincerely chants is renewed in soul and becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit. Do not think that psalmody is something unimportant. Although it seems to only enchant the ear, it actually awakens the soul. So the blessed prophet Elisha, whom some kings urged to predict the future, says: “Give me a man who knows how to sing” (2 Kings 3:15). One who was skilled in singing came, and while he was singing, says Scripture, the Holy Spirit descended on Elisha. What then? Is the Holy Spirit enchanted by sounds and attracted by singing if He rests in the prophetic soul? To call the Holy Spirit to oneself, the purity of the prophet was sufficient for this. Why, then, does he say: “Give me a man who can sing”? Not in order to delight the Spirit with psalmody, but so that, while he sang, the prophet’s mind, being renewed, became worthy of being visited by the Holy Spirit. For this purpose, he calls on the Spirit to show that He is fascinated not by psalmody, but by the soul awakened by psalmody. He descended not on the singer, but on the listener. So, in general, we must examine the power of the psalms, especially the holy psalm that we read today: “The Lord reigns: let the earth rejoice; let the many islands rejoice” (Ps. 97:1). How do you understand the words: “The Lord reigns”? Does it really mean that He only recently received Royal dignity? After all, if the psalmist had said: “The Lord reigns,” then he would have explained His eternal dignity; and now he says: “The Lord reigns.” And we said it recently, and now it will be said again. Before the appearance of Christ, before the preaching of the Gospel, the devil, sin, and death reigned over our nature. Where can you see this? Paul says: just as “sin reigns in your mortal body,” so grace will reign through Christ (Rom. 6:12). Behold the kingdom of sin! Where is the devil? Listen to what the Savior says: “If Satan casts out Satan, then he is divided with himself: how can his kingdom stand” (Matthew 12:26)? This is the kingdom of the devil! Where is the kingdom of death? Listen to the words of Paul: “Death reigned from Adam to Moses and over those who had not sinned” (Rom. 5:14). Since the devilish trinity, that is, the devil, sin and death, gained power and ruled over the Holy and Most Pure Trinity, namely: the devil deceived, sin killed, and death buried, then David preaches the gospel to those under that tyrannical power and says that they should leave from under the yoke of slavery and accept the proclaimed dominion of Christ: “The Lord reigns.” The reign of death ceased, the power of sin was abolished, the power of the devil ended. “The Lord reigns: let the earth rejoice.” She who was once enslaved and now freed, who was once lost and now glorified, who was once in the tomb and now on the throne, who was once in dishonor and now in honor, should rejoice. "The Lord reigns." So in another place it is said (must give similar thoughts): “The Lord reigns, He is clothed in splendor” (Ps. 92:1). We dress outside with clothes to cover the obscene sides of our nature. Why does God cover His incorporeal nature, full of light, or better yet, shining with light? But He calls the very Body of Christ His garment: “The Lord reigned, He clothed Himself in splendor.” He calls the Flesh of Christ “splendor.” She was beautiful, without the ugliness of sin, because (the Lord) never committed sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth (Is. 53:9). “The Lord clothed himself with strength and girded himself” (Ps. 92:1). Since the belt adorns the king, and the belt is the distinctive sign of the king and the judge, Scripture introduces Him both as a King and as a Judge; Isaiah says: “And a branch shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his root; and the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and piety; and righteousness will be the girdle of His loins, and truth will be the girdle of His thighs” (Is. 11:1-2, 5). 4. This is the robe of the Savior, i.e. the robe of flesh, hidden and figuratively had by the bishop in law. Pay careful attention to how the shadows explained the truth, how the images of the Gospel shone before Christ. I speak little by little, condescending as much as possible to the ears of the simple and inexperienced, so as not to lead them around here and there. The bishop, entering the Holy of Holies, put on a podir, that is, a robe that went down from head to toe, an amice, a belt, a loincloth, a gold plate, a tiara, a “saying” on his chest, and everything that is counted in Scripture and that is visible to the eye. But one thing is the images, and the other is their meaning. In any case, neither hyacinth, nor purple, nor scarlet, nor fine linen satisfy God, because God requires purity of souls; Scripture paints the image of virtues with material colors. If God had truly been pleased with those shining garments, then why did He not clothe Moses with them before Aaron? But, although Moses was deprived of that garment, he nevertheless clothed the priests with it. Moses was not washed with water, and, however, he washed, - he was not anointed with oil, and anointed, - he did not wear priestly clothing, and dressed the priests in it. This is so that you understand that for a perfect husband, virtue is enough to decorate him. Take the priest first. The very name of the garment is ambiguous and is the subject of investigation; it is rendered in Greek. So, start with the head. What happened first? Tiara or what does Scripture call it? What after the tiara, as if it were a mediator? Therefore, the tiara is an image of clothing. Since the bishop was the head of the people, he, as the head of all, had to have a symbol of power on his head. The weakening of authority is intolerable; he who is given the symbol of his power is under the law. The law commands that the head of the bishop should not be naked, but should be covered, so that the head of the people understands that it has a head. Therefore, in the Church, during the ordination of priests, the Gospel of Christ is placed on their heads, so that the one being ordained understands that he accepts the true tiara of the Gospel - and so that he knows that although he is the head of all, he acts in submission to these laws - that, ruling over everyone, he is in the power of the law - that, demanding an account of everything from others, he himself gives an account to the law and receives instructions from it. Therefore, one glorious man from the ancients - his name was Ignatius - this one, adorned with the priesthood and martyrdom, in a letter to a certain priest said: “Let nothing happen without your will, but do not do anything without the will of God.” So, the fact that the bishop relies on the Gospel serves as a sign that he is under authority. That is why Paul speaks about the woman having a veil: a woman should have a veil on her head, which was an image of authority. So, the tiara was an image of power. There was a golden tablet on the tiara, on which letters were inscribed, denoting the name of God, which first of all shows that the power of God is the name of God. After the tiara and tablet, there were two emerald stones on the ramen, on which the names of six tribes were indicated - on each. This is a sign of priestly behavior. The law assigns to the priest an emerald, which has twofold beauty: both a beautiful color and purity like a mirror. Since it is necessary that the priest, while awake, lead an ascetic life and that the latter be a mirror for the people, the law wants the priest to wear the image of virtue on his shoulders. Why on ramen? Because the name of God is on the head: member above member. But why on ramen? Because this is a sign of action: active force depends on the shoulders. So, the law wants the beauty of truth to shine in deeds. Therefore, God once said to Jerusalem: put your heart on your shoulders, “Return, O virgin of Israel, ... I will have mercy on him, says the Lord” (Jer. 31:20–21). Scripture takes hands and shoulders for action when it says, for example, about David: “and he guided them wisely with his hands” (Ps. 77:72). And is the mind really in the hands? But “reasonably,” he says, “he was a guide.” On his chest the priest had a “breastpiece of judgment” (Ex. 28:15) with twelve embedded stones, such as: carnelian, topaz, emerald, ruby, sapphire, jasper, hyacinth, agate, amethyst, chrysolite, beryl, onyx. These twelve stones distinguished the twelve tribes. Difficult saying! Above - on the ramen there was one nature of stones, which had one name - emerald; and on the chest - lower - there are various stones. What does it mean? Since one nature gave birth to us, and different thoughts and opinions divided us, then one is assimilated to opinion, and the other to nature. So, the name of God was an active virtue that occurs through word and truth. On the edges of the priest's robe, called fringes, there were flowers, pomegranates and golden apples and vertebrae. What did this mean in the priesthood? Did God really delight in these flowers? Was it really His pleasure that the priest should be surrounded by earthly flowers? But through the priest's clothes He portrays virtues. At the top – on the head – is the name of God, on the chest – “the breastplate of judgment”, at the bottom – flowers and fruits, deeds of virtue, such as: alms, justice, philanthropy. 5. So, we must have shining and perfect decoration. Flowers of the priest: communication, conversations, good disposition, useful words, faith, gaining a good opinion, truth, truth; and between them the vertebrae are a consonance of wonderful deeds. Every virtue produces some sound. Therefore, Paul says: “The word of the Lord has come from you” (1 Thess. 1:8). Where did the sound come from? “And Jesus,” says Scripture, “went through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom” (Matthew 9:35). And the fame of Him spread throughout the whole earth. Pay careful attention. Have you seen the beauty of virtues? That priest was an image of Christ. We would not be speaking allegorically here if Paul had not given us a reason to do so. If Paul had not interpreted the powers of righteousness, we would not be able to understand this. Therefore, Paul makes that priest an image of Christ and says: “Christ did not enter into the sanctuary made with hands, which is built in the image of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Heb. 9:24). So, there was a disagreement between the Jews of that time and an investigation of a strange question. Since the apostles preached about the Savior and the king, the priest and the prophet, the Jews argued among themselves and said what was written in their law. One, they said, was the royal tribe, and another was the priestly tribe. The tribe of Levi is the tribe of the priesthood, and Judah, they said, is the tribe of the king. Consequently, if Christ is a king, then He is no longer a priest, and if a priest, then He is no longer a king. Arguing with them and adapting his speech to their concepts, Paul says: Was it not in accordance with the regulations of your priesthood that Christ rose from the dead? In you the kingdom and the priesthood were divided, but in Christ they were united. “You,” says Scripture, “are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek” (Ps. 109:4). Therefore, Paul reflects and says: if the first priesthood had been blameless, then what need would it have been to say that “a priest will arise forever according to the order of Melchizedek,” and not according to the order of Aaron? “With the change of the priesthood there must be a change of the law” (Heb. 7:12). So, our Savior is a Bishop not according to His deity, but in the image of the flesh: above, sitting with God on the Throne for our sake and a Bishop according to the order of Melchizedek. Much could be said about this, but not in this place. Please be careful. The law included burnt offerings, sin offerings, and offerings. The Savior, having come, puts an end to the offerings that had the meaning of images and offers His own Body instead of any sacrifice. Paul says about the Savior: “Therefore Christ, entering into the world, says: You did not desire sacrifices and offerings, but you have prepared a body for Me. Burnt offerings and sin offerings are displeasing to You. Then I said, “Behold, I come, as it is written about Me at the beginning of the book, to do Your will, O God” (Heb. 10:5-7; Ps. 39:7-8). Having said about the prophecy and that sacrifices and offerings and “burnt offerings and sin offerings are not pleasing to You. Then I said, “Behold, I come,” Paul abolishes the first in order to establish the second. But where are sacrifice and offering found in the Body of Christ? The Apostle Paul says: I pray to you, brothers, according to the mercy of God, “therefore, imitate God, as beloved children, and live in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us as an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet savour” (Eph. 5:1-2). For your sake, Christ is a Bishop, for His own sake, God. Do not change the words of the Living God. You were baptized into the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Why do you abolish living names and introduce names that are the product of your thoughts, saying: unborn and begotten, created and uncreated, always existing and always not existing? How can God be lenient with such empty words? A prophet was once in danger of being killed by changing one word. Pay attention to the accuracy in the transmission of even a small word. Some people called prophetic speeches, out of inexperience, “the burden of the Lord.” God speaks through the mouth of Jeremiah: “If this people, or a prophet, or a priest, asks you, “What is the burden of the Lord?” then tell them: what is the burden? I will leave you, says the Lord” (Jer. 23:33). God threatens if even one word changes; and you pervert all the correctness of dogmas, rejecting the name of the Father, denying the dignity of the Son, overthrowing the glory of the Holy Spirit? Can you really escape from the hands of God? It is difficult and terrible to pervert the word of the Living God, the Lord our God. God is angry if any of His words are twisted; and when dogmas are perverted, is He not indignant? Are you wiser than the Savior? Are you more accurate than the Gospel? Fear God's Judgment, fear that terrible name and abandon anger, accept repentance, and your faith will serve as a guarantee for your salvation, because repentance brings salvation both to those who are infected with heresy and to those who commit generally evil deeds. 6. Repentance is the root of piety. Let us repent and by our repentance persuade God to put an end to wars, and tame the barbarians, and stop enemy rebellions, and give us the enjoyment of all blessings. Repentance greatly appeases God if someone, sincerely repenting, turns to Him. I will point out an example: the people once sinned, repented and shed tears; God says: “I hear Ephraim crying: You punished me, and I am punished like an untamed calf; Convert me, and I will be converted, for You are the Lord my God” (Jer. 31:18). And what does God tell him? “Is not Ephraim my dear son? Isn't it a beloved child? For as soon as I talk about him, I always remember him with love; My inward parts are indignant for him; I will have mercy on him, says the Lord” (Jer. 31:20). Let no one frighten you: neither rumor, nor barbaric darkness, nor a thick cloud; even though the enemies were countless in number, our Defender is stronger. If you are timid at the sight of the multitude, then the prophet Elisha tells you: “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16). There are many barbarians there, and here is a detachment of Angels. They fight for pious people: an army of angels, a host of prophets, the power of the apostles, the intercession of martyrs. Do not think that the martyrs only intercede for us; on the contrary, the Angels, when disasters befall us, beg God for us - and not only beg, but also receive an answer from the Benefactor. The prophet Zechariah says: “And the angel who spoke to me said to me” (Zechariah 1:9). Here is the Angel’s prayer: “Lord Almighty! How long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which You have been angry for these seventy years” (Zechariah 1:12)? What then? Did God reject the intercession of the Angel? Not at all; but what did he answer? “Then in response to the Angel,” says Zechariah, “who spoke to me, the Lord spoke good words, words of comfort” (Zechariah 1:13). Let us pray to the Lord of the Angels, and He will send one Angel, who will scatter the entire army of the enemies. I also liked the painting, made of wax and full of piety. I saw in the image an Angel driving away thousands of barbarians, I saw trampled barbarian tribes and David, who truly exclaimed: “Lord, destroy their image in Your city” (Ps. 73:20). Let blessed David now say in relation to us: “Let their path be dark and slippery, and let the Angel of the Lord pursue them” (Ps. 34:6), that is, our enemies. God knows how to bring about different occasions for the destruction of enemies. The army of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, was numerous, and, however, one sent Angel destroyed 185 thousand (2 Kings 19:35). We humans, with the help of human thoughts, measure what happens and say to ourselves: what if there is not a single warrior in our areas? What should we do if, before the commander has time to appear, we are all exterminated? In fact, is it really because you come earlier that God will come (to the rescue) earlier? Is it really because you are not omnipresent that God is not omnipresent? Can God really do one thing and not another? The soulless sea submitted and sank; the foolish fish submitted to Peter's fishing; and the Angel, if God commands him, will he not destroy all the enemies of the truth? Let us only watch, let us only ask, let us only beseech (God)! Among the ancients, one excellent commander commanded; or I will call it by a commonly used name, so that it becomes clear to everyone: one strategist of the foreigners, Sisera, commanded; David also remembers him, saying: “Do to them as you did to Midian and Sisera, as you did to Jabim at the brook Kishon” (Ps. 83:10). Jabem was the king of the foreigners, and Sisera was the general. He had 800 iron chariots and countless troops. The Jewish people were afraid, saw the horde and were horrified. What does the Humane-loving God say through the lips of the prophetess Deborah to the defender of piety? Don't be afraid; behold, the Lord delivers him into your hands (Judges 4:14), but this feat will not be the work of your hand, but the hands of a woman. See how God punished arrogance. The men could not resist, and the woman led the army. Sisera, running away, went to a woman named Jael, and, exhausted by the heat, asked her for water; She gave him milk to drink. Notice the woman's wisdom. Since milk is a refreshing drink and induces sleep, she gave him milk to drink, so that the Scripture speaks the truth, conveying: he asked her for water, and she gave milk (Judges 4:19), in order to both give him something to drink and put him to sleep. Then, when the foreigner fell asleep, that woman, the Scripture says, took “a stake... and a hammer” (Judges 4:21) and attacked the enemy. Look at the wisdom of a woman. Why didn't she take a sword or saber, but a stake? She was afraid, like a woman, that when he woke up he would not find her holding a sword. Therefore, she does not take her husband’s weapon, but takes what was common for a woman. It was common for women, having girded themselves, to drive stakes into the wall (of the tents) and thus carry out their work (that is, building and repairing the tents). Therefore, she arranges it in a different way, in order to be above any suspicion. Since God cooperated, it was God’s work to fulfill the words of the prophecy, because it was not her feat that was here, but God’s saying: “By the hand of a woman will be your death, Sisera” (Judges 4:9). God cooperated by tying the villain in sleep, and the woman, taking a “stake... and a hammer,” struck him so hard in the church that the stake even touched the ground, and thus Sisera died at the woman’s feet. 7. God has no shortage of cases, and when He desires, it is not at all important for us if allies do not come to us: God’s weapon, God’s warrior, God’s power, God’s mere beck - everyone can. Let us say to Christ: speak the word, and Your enemies will be scattered; speak the word, and you will have mercy on Your city; say the word, and you will have pity on Your world. Let us say to Him: “Behold, Your enemies have made a noise, and those who hate You have lifted up their heads” (Ps. 82:3). Do you want to know about the feat of another woman, after God wanted this (i.e., to help her)? There was another man named Abimelech: having killed his 70 brothers and, as a result of this fratricide, having received power and having the whole people under his control, he attacked one city and began to besiege its walls (Judges 9), and when everyone was numb with fear at the sight of the war, again God strengthened the hand of the woman. He arranged it so that a certain woman, visible from the wall, took a piece of a millstone, threw it at the tyrant’s head and broke his skull. And pay attention to the immense depravity of this arrogant man, who died with him. He says to the spearman standing next to him: “Draw your sword and kill me, so that they will not say about me: a woman killed him” (Judges 9:54). His body was dying, but his arrogance remained; he left life, but did not leave vanity. And now there is no lack of God in Deborah, no lack of God in Jael. We also have the Holy Virgin and Mother of God Mary interceding for us. If an ordinary woman won, then how many times more will the Mother of Christ confound the enemies of the truth? Having dressed in full armor, that enemy thought that this was a woman worthy of laughter, and, however, found (in her) a competing military leader. He did not think that he was already standing near the coffin, and, however, a grave had already been found for him; he considered that woman, so to speak, dead, and, however, was then killed by her. We have our Lady - Holy Mary the Mother of God; but we also need apostolic prayers. Let us tell Paul, as his contemporaries told him: “Come to Macedonia and help us” (Acts 16:9). We have apostles, let us not become numb with fear! We have our Lady - the Mother of God, the Holy Ever-Virgin Mary, so let us not be afraid! We have a host of martyrs, let us not be careless! We will not only beg, but if we recognize it as necessary, then we will fast. It is better to fast a fast of desire rather than a fast of hunger; It is better to fast with a fast of love, and not with a fast of necessity. The Savior says about demons: “This generation is driven out only by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21). Prayer and fasting drive away demons, and will they not drive away barbarians? And I have already said, and I say again: let us pray to the Holy and Glorious Virgin and Mother of God Mary; let us call upon the holy and glorious apostles; let us call upon the holy martyrs! If someone, put in need, runs for help to one of the powerful people, then this person does not pay sincere attention to him. Before misfortunes, he says, you did not honor me or please me, but you do this only in difficult circumstances. Honor given out of necessity does not arouse suspicion. If you please the judge before misfortune, then even in misfortune you will find an assistant in him, since he knows that it was not need that brought you, but love. So, let us be friends of the martyrs, not out of need, but out of love. Let us grieve until the stormy time comes, as if it had already arrived, so that when winter comes, we can find spring. We say this, not commanding, but exhorting, not commanding, but begging; We ask everyone to live soberly. God is able, beyond all belief, beyond all word, to confound his enemies, and to have mercy on the world, and to honor kings, and to establish the kingdom, and to make His glory bright, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever. Amen. Affiliation of St. John Chrysostom of this conversation, as well as the one following it (to the words: “By what authority are you doing this?”) is suspected by some scientists. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: