Слово 4. О посте и целомудрии

Do you want to know what kind of decoration fasting is for people, what kind of defense and defense it is? Think about the blessed and wonderful race of monastics. They, having escaped from the noise of the world and ascended to the tops of the mountains and built cells in the silence of the desert, as if in some calm haven, took the post of comrades and accomplices for life. But he made them angels from people; and not only them, but also whoever observes it in the cities, he raises everyone to the very height of wisdom. Fasting has now brought us to our father's house; even today he brought into his mother’s arms those who were hitherto lazy. If he, only still expected, inspired us with so much jealousy, then how much piety will he produce in us when he appears and comes? If Adam had listened to this voice 3, he would not have heard another: “You are dust, and to dust you will return” (Gen. 3:19). But since he did not listen to that voice, then for this (he suffered) death, sadness, worries and life, which is more painful than any death. And just as fasting punished the despiser with death for self-contempt, so, on the contrary, it averted death for respect. So, when the great and wondrous city of Nineveh lay already prostrate, bowing its head to the very abyss, and was ready to accept a blow directed from above, fasting, like some kind of force flown down from above, snatched it from the very hands of the executioner and returned it to life. Let us see how the Ninevites fasted and how they got rid of the threatening wrath. “So that neither people,” it is said, “nor cattle, nor oxen, nor sheep, eat anything” (Jonah 3:7). What are you saying, tell me? And the dumb ones fast, and the horses and mules are covered with sackcloth? Yes, he says. Just as after the death of a rich man, relatives dress not only male and female slaves in sackcloth, but also horses, and force them to follow the coffin, in order to express the severity of the loss and arouse regret in everyone, so when the city was threatened with destruction, the inhabitants clothed the dumb creature in sackcloth and imposed the yoke of fasting on it. The dumb, they said, cannot be taught about the wrath of God by the word, but let them come to their senses by hunger, because if they must share the punishment with us, then let them also share the fast. If some of those present here are prevented by bodily weakness from indulging in fasting, then I urge such people to ease their bodily weakness and not to deprive themselves of this spiritual instruction, but for this reason they themselves should show all the more zeal. In fact, God commands abstinence from food so that we curb the impulses of the flesh and make it an obedient instrument for fulfilling the commandments. If, due to a physical illness, we do not take advantage of fasting and show even greater carelessness, we will cause ourselves the greatest harm. If fasting, not accompanied by good deeds, does not bring us any benefit, then all the more (we will be condemned) if we, not being able to take advantage of the medicine of fasting, show even greater negligence in fulfilling the commandments. If those engaged in worldly affairs never decide to take up a task without first determining the profit it will bring them, then all the more should we do this: not just go through the weeks of fasting, but examine our conscience, test our thoughts and notice what we managed to do this week, what the next, what new things we tried to achieve the next and from what passions we have corrected ourselves. If we do not govern ourselves in this way and show such care for our souls, then we will not benefit from the fasting and abstinence to which we subject ourselves. So, if due to bodily weakness you cannot remain without food all day, then no one sane can blame you for this. We have a Meek and Merciful Master, Who does not demand anything from us beyond our strength. After all, He requires from us not just abstinence from food and fasting, and not so that we remain only without food, but so that, moving away from worldly activities, we spend all our leisure time on spiritual ones. If we led our lives with a sober soul, showed all zeal for spiritual matters, took food only to satisfy the necessary needs, and spent our whole lives in good deeds, then we would not need the help of fasting. But since human nature is careless and more inclined to indulge in pleasure and licentiousness, the Lord, the Lover of Mankind, as a tenderly loving Father, invented for us the medicine of fasting in order to destroy in us the temptations of pleasure, and to force us to transfer our concern for worldly affairs to spiritual work. However, there are many people who, preparing to fight fasting, as if with a wild beast, protect themselves by overeating, and, having burdened and darkened themselves to the extreme, very unwisely meet the quiet and meek face of fasting. And if I ask you: “Why are you going to the bathhouse today?” - you will say: “so that you can meet the fast with a clean body.” And if I ask: “Why are you drunk?” - you will say again: “because I am preparing to enter into fasting.” But isn’t it strange to meet this most beautiful fast with a clean body, but with an unclean and intoxicated soul? Let us learn to eat food only to the extent necessary to maintain life, and not to overfill and burden ourselves with food. We were not born and live in order to eat and drink, but we eat in order to live; It was not life for the sake of food, but food for the sake of life that was created from the beginning. Life, brothers, is proportioned not to pleasure, but to necessity. So, having rejected everything that is unnecessary for nature, we will be content with only what is necessary. What could be holier than that meal, where drunkenness, overeating and all excess are banished, and instead some wonderful competition is introduced in the preservation of the laws of God; where the husband watches over his wife so that she does not fall into the abyss of perjury, and the wife protects her husband and threatens the criminal with the gravest punishment; where the master is not ashamed to accept reproof from his slaves, nor to correct his servants himself? The one who calls such a house a church will not sin. Where such abstinence reigns that even in hours of pleasure all those present care about the laws of God, everyone competes and competes with each other in this, there obviously all evil power of demons is driven out, and Christ is present in the beautiful competition of slaves. But with vice, you say, there is a lot of pleasure associated, and with virtue there is great labor and effort. But what kind of gratitude would you have, for what would you receive a reward, if the deed were not connected with labor? Indeed, I can point out many people who by nature abhor intercourse with women; Should we therefore call them chaste or recognize them as worthy of crowns? In no case, because chastity is abstinence and victory over the pleasures that tempt us. Often waves of passions, surpassing in their ferocity the waves of the sea, attack our soul and cause great confusion in it. A careless and careless person, when a storm begins, immediately becomes confused and confused, and watches with fear as the soul crashes and is drowned by passions; on the contrary, a strong and courageous man, having placed reason above passions, as if at the helm, does not cease to take all measures until he directs the boat to the quiet haven of wisdom. Let us not weaken our strength and destroy our strength by conversations with women, because from here comes an unspeakably great evil for our souls. But what (to say) if we don’t even feel it, intoxicated by addiction? This is the most terrible thing, that we don’t even realize how we relax and become softer than any wax. Just as if someone, having caught a proud and formidable lion, cuts off his mane, pulls out his teeth and trims his claws, he makes the one who was terrible, unapproachable and shook everything with one roar despicable, ridiculous and even for children, overpowered - so in the same way women who are attracted to themselves make everyone susceptible to the devil, pampered, irritable, shameless, reckless, angry, impudent, obscene, ignoble, cruel, servile, mean, insolent, talkative, and, in general, all women's bad morals are transmitted and introduced into their soul. It is impossible for someone who lives so sympathetically with women and feeds on conversations with them not to be a gossip, a chatterbox and frivolous; whether he begins to talk about anything, he will always talk about yarn and fabrics, because his tongue is infected with the property of women’s speech; If he begins to do anything, he will do it with great servility, because he has deviated far from the freedom characteristic of Christians and has become incapable of any great deed. So, if you want to prove to us with your own eyes that you do not find pleasure in speaking shameful speeches, then do not allow yourself to listen to them. Now will you ever be able to endure the labors for the sake of chastity, when you gradually relax with laughter and these shameful speeches? After all, even a soul that is pure from all this can hardly be holy and chaste. And let them not say to me: I cannot be saved unless I renounce my wife, unless I renounce my children, unless I renounce my business. Is marriage an obstacle? Your wife has been given to you as your helper. Is it (marriage) the enemy? Marriage is not shameful, but fornication is evil. With my own destruction I guarantee you your salvation. If your wife is vicious, do not pretend that this is your excuse. And Job’s wife was wicked and vicious and encouraged him to commit blasphemy. What then? Has she shaken the stronghold? Did she crush adamant? Did you master the rock? Not at all; on the contrary, she struck, and the stronghold became even stronger; the fruit was plucked, but the tree was not moved; the leaves fell off, but the root remained motionless. Just as a helmsman who causes a wreck in the very pier does not deserve any leniency, so a person protected by marriage, if he destroys other people’s marriages or looks with lust at any woman, does not deserve any apology either before people or before God, no matter how much he refers to the demands of nature. Indeed, what pleasure can there be from such a carnal desire when a person feels fear, anxiety and apprehension, is afraid of judgment and an answer, imagines the wrath of the judge and the sword of the executioner, the pit and the dungeon? After all, such a person is frightened even by shadows, fears the very walls and stones, as if they have a voice, trembles and fears everything, and torments his soul with the expectation of all sorts of horrors. Thus, marriage is not an obstacle to chastity, but rather a barrier for it. Virginity is such a great thing and requires such work that Christ, having descended from Heaven in order to make people angels and here to implant a higher way of life, did not even dare to prescribe it for such a purpose and elevate it to the level of law; and despite what the law gave to die for Him - what could be harder than this? - constantly crucifying oneself and doing good to enemies, nevertheless did not legalize virginity, but left it to the will of the listeners, saying: “Whoever can contain it, let him accommodate it” (Matthew 19:12). Great, indeed, is the burden of this matter, and the place of this virtue is very precipitous. And this is proven by those who flourished with many virtues in the Old Testament. Thus, even the great Moses, the head of the prophets, the sincere friend of God, who had such boldness that he could rescue six hundred thousand who were subject to punishment from the defeat sent by God - this such a great and glorious man, despite the fact that he ordered the sea and divided the waters, tore apart the rocks, changed the air, turned the Nile water into blood, changed all creation, performed other countless miracles and presented many examples of virtue - even he was unable to turn his attention to these competitions, but needed marriage and the security that resulted from it; even he did not dare to venture into the sea of \u200b\u200bvirginity, fearing the waves rushing from there. In the same way, the patriarch, who sacrificed his son, was able to overcome the most powerful sense of nature, could kill a son, and a son at that - Isaac, in the most flourishing age, in the best time of his youth, his only begotten, beloved, given to him against all hope, and he was able to take him to the mountain, pulled out a knife and plunged it into his son's throat - he precisely (intentionally) plunged the knife and stained it with blood - and yet, being able to complete such a great and glorious feat, stepping out of the boundaries of nature itself, he did not dare to begin the feats of virginity, but he himself was afraid of these competitions, and preferred the peace that marriage gives. In the same way, the righteous Job, who, enduring blows and not striking blows, crushed the mouth of the devil and withstood every kind of temptation, and each - to the most extreme degree - after all, everything that seems sad in life and in reality is such, was poured out on one body and fell on his one soul - even this, such a great and glorious man, who trampled so many laws of nature, did not dare to rush to this competition, but enjoyed life with wife, and became the father of many children. Nowhere has God legalized celibacy, to Whom belongs glory, honor and worship, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. Ἐκλογαί άπό διαφόρων λόγων . Under this name are known collections of conversations compiled by various persons after the death of Chrysostom on certain topics, from those related to the topics and especially liked by the compilers of the works of the saint. The passages are given partly in a literal presentation, partly in a free retelling and are borrowed both from the original works of Chrysostom, and from works only attributed to Chrysostom, which have not only survived to this day, but have also been lost. These Eclogues (selections) were widespread and were used by both private individuals and kings. Known, for example, is the luxurious collection of Eclogues, owned by the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros Botaniatus (1078–1081), registered among the codices of the Koalene Library under No. LXXIX. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” That is, the commandments not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You might be interested in: