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Matthew 8:2. “And then the leper came up and, bowing to Him, said: Lord! If you want, you can cleanse me." “I am a great sinner, I often fall into sins willy-nilly and involuntarily, and I think from time to time: what if I become the eternal prey of hell? Oh woe, woe is me. But again I think: I fall into sins more involuntarily, I don’t stagnate in them on purpose, I often cry and sob because I anger my Lord, my Benefactor and Creator, and the Lord of my life is the All-Good Being, maybe He will look at me with a gracious eye at a time when I am quickly approaching death, will send me, according to His usual mercy, the spirit of contrition and tenderness, and before death I will cleanse my sinful soul, because with Him you can always find cleansing: with You there is cleansing (Ps. 129:4); He will send His light into my soul in moments that are so important for me, the most important of all the minutes of my life, and I will see the wounds of the sinful soul of my soul, in tears of repentance I will present them to the One who takes away the sins of the world and will say to Him: if you want, you can cleanse me (Matthew 8:2) and now, as You have cleansed me many times throughout my entire life - in the sight of my spiritual father, in church confession, and - only before Your face - during household prayers. ABOUT! If only this had happened before my death! I would then triumphantly leave this world. The end, they say, crowns the matter. The priest, as the representative on earth of the Chief of peace and silence, as the image of Jesus Christ, must always carry in his heart peace and a constant prayerful disposition - so that he can truly, from the abundance of heartfelt peace, teach peace and blessing to the people of God, so that in spiritual peace he can perform all services, sacraments and prayers, so that he can always be ready for prayer, which primarily belongs to the priest. If I sin gravely, I will not despair of God’s mercy, because I and every believer have such a guarantee of God’s love for people, which is able to calm every sinful soul: this is the Son of God, who took upon Himself before the face and by the will of His Righteous Father all the sins of the world and incessantly intercedes for us before Him. This pledge is always before my eyes. – I mean His most pure image and the life-giving Mysteries of His Body and Blood. Anyone who is often inclined to get angry and pout over any unpleasant word or deed is an angry, proud, impatient person” [2, 184]. Matthew 8:7. “Jesus says to him: I will come and heal him.” “I will come and heal him (the boy) (Matthew 8:7). Do you believe the words of, for example, a watchmaker, when in response to your request to fix your damaged watch, he replies: I will come and fix it. Shouldn’t we believe all the more firmly and unquestionably when the Creator of our body and soul says: I will come, I will heal him, - or: I will come, I will resurrect him (Cf.: Jn. 11:11). Just as a watchmaker gives life, so to speak, to my watches, in which the mechanism has become damaged and has ceased to function, putting into them an elastic hair and wheels instead of a soul, imparting movement to them and putting in order all the parts of the mechanism: so the Lord, the Giver of Life and our God, in an instant can resurrect the deceased as the Creator of his soul and body" [8, 243]. Matthew 8:8. “The centurion answered and said: Lord! I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Matthew 8:9. “For I am a man under authority, but having soldiers under me, I say to one: go, and he goes; and to another: come, and he comes; and to my servant: do this, and he does.” “If I, being a weak person, and not God Almighty, but if I want to do something within the limits of my ability, then I will do it: for example, I want to write an essay - and I will write it, I want to cure a disease - and I will heal it, I want to do a thing - and I will do it; for example, build a house, a church - and I will build it; or, for example, I will say to one: come and he will come; go away - and he will go away; do this and he will do it (cf. Matthew 8:9), then will not God Almighty do everything he pleases? Our God, in heaven and on earth, create all that He pleases (Ps. 113:11) - isn’t it from His word alone that everything He pleases will be done? To that speech: and bysha; He commanded: and was created (Ps. 32:9; Ps. 149:5). “We are not the creators of people, and they, according to our word, do so much.” We are not the creators of things, but things, according to our desire and action, take on thousands of forms, serve countless needs and pleasures; We are not creators of things, but we create great and small objects from matter. Will not the Creator Himself, who is everywhere and fulfills everything, by whose word everything came from non-existence into being, by whose thought, will and word all the infinite variety of things were created and exist, create everything that He pleases? – If a human doctor sometimes revives a half-dead person because of his knowledge of his work and through a skillful, well-aimed influence on the cause of the disease, then will not the Creator of doctors and healing heal every disease with one will and a word? Will not the Creator also raise the dead with one word of His? Let us give glory to God (Wed: John 9:24), we of little faith, and tell Him from the heart: everything is possible for You, Master, but nothing is impossible for You (Wed: Matt. 19:26). Amen" [10, 298]. Matthew 8:11. “I tell you that many will come from the east and the west and lie down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven;” Matthew 8:12. “And the children of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” “Weeping and gnashing your teeth. And now the devil upsets you so much, scorches you, oppresses you, darkens you, that even if you cry and gnashing your teeth. Think to what extent the words of the Lord are true: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12) - and how great is the mercy of the Lord, who saves us from the claws of the spirits of wickedness in high places (Eph. 6:12)!” [11, 284]. “An important treasure is the Christian faith: it makes a lamb out of a beast, a humble man out of a proud man, an abstinent out of a glutton and a drunkard, a chaste man out of a prodigal man, a merciful man out of a money-lover, a God-lover out of a self-lover, a hard-working man out of a lazy man, a cheerful man out of a sleepy man, a courageous man out of a timid man, a believer into God from a hypocrite,” all-moderate, from the envious - benevolent, from the deceiver and thief - truthful and honest, from the sad - ever joyful, from the powerless - omnipotent and omnipotent, from the sinner - saint, from the child of the devil - the child of God, from the earthly - heavenly! This is how important the Christian faith is! This is why we became Christians! This is what we must become according to the essential truth! This is true Christianity! If we do not change, are not renewed in spirit, but remain indifferent to all kinds of sins, then the name of Christian that we bear is an empty sound and worse, in comparison with the pagans, we will be rewarded with torment. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation [2 Cor. 5:17]. The sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" [Matt. 8:12]. [12, 24]. Matthew 8:17. “That what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled, saying: He took upon Himself our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.” "Bear the infirmities of the weak (Rom. 15:1), and thus fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2). Often in your life you will have to encounter the weak and, willfully or unwillingly, bear their infirmities. Bear them willingly and with patience, without grumbling, without displeasure and bitter expressions, meaning Christ, the Giver of Retribution, Who Himself bore We must bear the infirmities of the whole world and bear our illnesses (Isa. 53:4; Matt. 8:17). Your carnal, old man will persistently demand that you please only yourself and that you do not bear the infirmities of the weak, that you do not worry, do not spend money on them, do not tolerate them with you, but you do not listen to him at all, but strive with zeal to fulfill the law of Christ, firmly believing that for fulfilling it the crown of immortality awaits you” [8, 568]. Matthew 8:20. “And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” “The Lord Jesus Christ had no place to lay His head during His earthly life [See: Matt. 8:20 ], but had in Himself His own life and the life of all [See: John. 3:36; In. 5:26; In. 11:25; In. 14:6], but rich people build magnificent palaces for themselves, live in them, but, alas, in such a brilliant environment they do not have true life in their hearts, they cannot enjoy their vanity: they are bored and stuffy in their magnificent palaces, so that many rich people and important dignitaries would exchange their palaces for a poor man’s hut, just to get peace of mind” [5, vol. 1, 149]. “How many different kinds of sins and passions nest in the depths of your soul when the Lord opens the eyes of your heart to see them. Lord, cleanse me from my secrets, and keep Your servant from my secret thoughts (Ps. 18:13, 14). Foxes (demons) have holes and birds of the air (demons) have nests; but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head (Matthew 8:20). But what a reward is prepared for a pure heart! How the Lord glorifies them even in this life! And what have I prepared for them in the future” [6, 99]. “There is a class of people who have a special need for the consolations of Christian faith and hope. This is a class of poor people who, in their poverty, do not ask for alms, but with silence, working in the sweat of their brow, eat their labor bread (See: 2 Thess. 3:12), sometimes in great poverty due to the ingratitude of work and the large number of family members. – To these people, living in need and grief, eating bread by the sweat of their brow (cf.: Gen. 3:19), who do not perceive consolation here (cf.: Luke 6:24), it is necessary to say for consolation that the Lord chose them primarily rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven (cf.: James 2:5), that their condition is the most favorable for the salvation of their souls, because they are more rich and the nobles rely on God: for who can the poor rely on except God, in the absence of all other visible supports on which the nobles and rich rely? – To whom should one turn in need and grief, for lack of helpers in the world, if not God? So we know that the poor in their poverty learn a living faith in God and hope in Him, and therefore we most of all hear the name of God on the lips of this class of people: God will help, God will not forsake - a clear proof of the faith and hope in God living in their hearts. Meanwhile, from the rich and famous people of the world you will not hear this revered Name, or you will hear it pronounced with carelessness, out of habit and without consciousness of its greatness and holiness. So, brethren, bearing the burden of poverty, do not grumble at your fate, but bless the Lord, who draws your hearts closer to Himself through the lack of earthly goods, which could easily alienate you from God; be sure that the Lord loves you no less than those who have everything in abundance; on the contrary, there are even more of them - because instead of corruptible earthly blessings He gives you Himself - an incorruptible Treasure and inexhaustible Wealth: what could be higher than such a treasure, what could be the highest proof of His love for you? It happens in people that they see greater evidence of sincere love in the person who helps a famous person not with money or things, but gives himself over to him as his most humble servant, becoming everything to him. - So, beloved, be confident in God’s providence for you and do not be burdened by your fate. Remember the Lord, for our sake he became poor and had no place to lay his head (Matthew 8:20). Isn’t it nice to be imitators of Him and, so to speak, to share His earthly fate? Was not God's Only Begotten Son in the love of God His Father (cf. John 15:10)? Did not the Father Himself testify about Him: This is My beloved Son, in Him I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17)? And yet, the beloved Son of God did not walk the broad path, but the narrow and sorrowful path, in order to show us an example of patience and devotion to God. There is also a class of sufferers who suffer from mental and physical illnesses. There are people who are frightened by the abyss of their sins, which, in their opinion, cannot be compared with anyone else’s sins - and they despair of God’s mercy, which is supposedly ready to punish them; they exaggerate too much in their imagination each of their sins, or better yet, not they, but the enemy of the human race, the devil, and they indulge in melancholy and sadness, without immersing themselves in prayer and without betraying themselves to the mercy of Jesus Christ, who took upon himself sin and the world (cf. John 1:29) and forgives truly repentant sinners. To prevent Satan from dragging such people into the abyss of despair, it is necessary to show them the power of faith and inspire them with Christian hope for the forgiveness of sins. Will not the blood of the Son of God cleanse us from all sin? Is not He who is in us sicker than He who is in the world, that is, the devil (cf. 1 John 4:4)? And what consolation to offer the sick” [8, 222]. “So, what remains for us to do, brother sinners, when the Heavenly Doctor, with such love, with such selflessness, offers us something so strong and extraordinary for our salvation - His incarnation, His incarnation, His humiliation, His teaching and miracles, His Cross and His death? - Nothing more than urgently and with all diligence to use this medicine and live according to the instructions of this Heavenly Doctor, and not live as carelessly in this world as we lived, especially not to spend these holy days carelessly. For some, like madmen, dressed up in various costumes unusual for their faces, walk like ghosts from house to house, allow themselves obscene movements, obscene words and obscene laughter, and turn such a great and holy holiday into sinful idleness and service to Satan. When will we celebrate the Lord's feasts in a decorous and holy manner, as Christians should? When will these immodest fun stop? when we remember to keep the Sabbath day holy (cf.: Exod. 20:8) or rest, to rest from the works of sin with the rest of the Lord, for every Christian holiday should be a Sabbath to the Lord; when the Lord rests in us, having no place to lay his head (cf. Matt. 8:20), in our heart, due to constant slavery to sin” [9, 370]. Matthew 8:21. “Another of His disciples said to Him: Lord! let me first go and bury my father.” Matthew 8:22. “But Jesus said to him, Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” “You must have the most sincere, living faith in God (the centurion), which believes without a doubt that God, in His goodness and omnipotence, will fulfill every request of ours that tends to our good. You need to follow Jesus and leave the dead to bury their own dead (Matthew 8:22). This means: to serve the Liturgy calmly and decorously, without rushing, when we are asked to hurry to the funeral service of the deceased in the cemetery. Do not be afraid from lack of faith, but be cheerful from faith. Strange distrust of oneself, of the ability, of the use of language! When the singers or the sexton are silent while reading the prayer: Christ, the true Light - I get lost in my tongue after reading a few words, embarrassed in spirit, and when they immediately start singing, I speak calmly, without stumbling! O sinful flesh! How much sorrow do you bring me? How stupid you are! God! Grant me to remember more often that You brought me into the world from nothing and gave everything that I have through Your great mercy. The body of a person, an animal, the body of a fruit, for example a watermelon, a melon - one Creator, one Wisdom, from one earth; man is a fruit; animal - fruit and watermelon - fruit. Oh God! Grant me to see You, the One Wisdom, everywhere, in every fruit of the earth. – The human body, the animal body and the fetal body are the goal, the triumph of physical nature: all organic nature strives to reproduce itself. I notice that the devil is cruelly swearing at me due to my lack of prudence. God! Let this not happen from now on. Oh! May my heart never rise against God or my wife! Just as it seems to a drunken person that the earth on which he stands is spinning under him, so to a person in a fit of grief and spiritual sorrow it sometimes seems that it is not he who has changed, but God who has changed towards him. Have you not fought against sin until you bled? - Wait until you bleed. Our forefather Adam gave us over to the devil, and through him we rightfully belong to him, which is why he disputes us with God as property. But we must resist him in every possible way. From those minutes when I prayed from my heart to the Lady of the world, my soul became easy. “Do not leave me, Lady, even for the future” [2, 298]. “Beloved brethren! And we are all spiritual dead. Leave the dead to bury their dead, the Lord said to one of His disciples, who asked Him permission first to go and bury his father and then follow the Savior (See: Matt. 8:21-22), that is, leave people dead in soul, although alive in appearance, leave to bury your dead in body. The name imashi is like living, but dead ecu, the Lord also says in Revelation to one apparently pious person (Apoc. 3:1). Yes, we are dead in soul, brothers; and in the same way, the Lord often awakens our souls, killed by sin, with His effective, living word, His all-effective grace, from the dead sleep of sin; Our souls now often hear His all-vivifying word, like that dead Nain youth: “Young man, I say to you, arise,” and they rise according to His voice (See: Luke 7:14–15). The Lord touches our heart with His grace through the Word of God preached in church, or through the good advice of those close to us, or through a good thought He sends into our soul darkened by sins, or touches our sinful body with some illness sent by Him, or visits us with some losses, for example, the loss of close relatives, the loss of our property, or He threatened us with the imminent danger of suddenly losing our lives on land or at sea, or otherwise had a beneficial effect on our soul. So what? We - the spiritual dead - very often came to life from this, that is, we began to feel the vanity, the corruption of everything earthly and the necessity for the soul of true, living faith in God and deeds of virtue, which we had previously neglected; we began to heartily repent of our past disorderly life, a contrite spirit and a humble heart appeared in us, we were moved at the thought of God’s great long-suffering over us, considered ourselves the greatest sinners, mourned our errors and firmly decided and began to lead a completely different life, pleasing to God. And here a miracle takes place, very similar to the one that happened to the dead son of the widow of Nain. - The youth is sitting, that is, our soul is rising from sinful sleep, begins to speak the words of salvation - the verb begins (cf.: Luke 7:15) - and the Lord gives it, resurrected from spiritual death, to its mother, that is, the Holy Church, which is our mother, for spiritual education and guidance to the future life. Behold, beloved brethren, a miraculous resurrection from the dead, the cause of which is the Lord alone. And it is higher, more beneficial, than resurrection in the body: because here the immortal soul, redeemed by the Blood of the Son of God, is resurrected from death to life, and not a corruptible body! May God grant that there will be more such miracles with all of us. God! Seeing a widow in the city of Naina, weeping green, as if then, having mercy on her son, you raised her up for burial; Have mercy on me too, O Lover of mankind, and resurrect my soul, killed by sins. Amen" [9, 294]. Matthew 8:26. “And he says to them: Why are you so fearful, you of little faith? Then, getting up, he rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great silence.” “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? (Matthew 8:26.) Oh, Lord, grant You this living faith to us, so that we may not be fearful and, in hope of You, go forth cheerfully and with joy into every good deed. How often, in fact, are we afraid because of our lack of faith of something that should never be afraid? - People with faith and hope in God go out against the terrible with strength and by the art of the enemy and are victorious, but we - what a shame! - are afraid to enter the field of a known, memorized, ingrained word and, being forced by duty to speak out against it, we are lost from embarrassment to the point that the word freezes on our lips. Where is the faith and hope in God? [2, 306–307]. “Christ raised Lazarus from the dead with a word (See: John 11:43) - which means He is the Creator of Lazarus, the Creator of the human race. He raised up the widow’s son with a word (See: Luke 7:14) - which means that He, with the same word, created the world from nothingness. He forbade the winds and waters with a word (See: Matt. 8:26) - which means He created them with His word, to which everything obeys; He walked on the waves of the sea (See: Matt. 14:25) as on dry land, which means He is the Creator of seas, lakes, and rivers, and all kinds of sources; He transformed fire into dew (See: Dan. 3:50), water into wine (See: John 2:7-8), rivers into blood (See: Exodus 7:17), the dust of the earth into midges (See: Exodus 8:16), brought frogs out of the sea (See: Exodus 8:2) to punish the Egyptians - which means He is the Creator of the elements - in one word. By the same word of Him in the last times the earth will be turned into a huge blazing fire, and the burning elements will be destroyed (2 Pet. 3:10). This means that by the same word of the Lord the dead will all be resurrected. He turned fire into dew for three youths: Ananias, Azariah and Mishael (See: Dan. 3:50) - with one command - which means that He created fire, water and all the elements with one command. Do the atheists understand this wonderful Creativity and Providence of the Lord about the world” [4, 75]. Matthew 8:28. “And when He arrived on the other side in the country of Gergesin, He was met by two demoniacs who came out of the graves, very fierce, so that no one dared to pass that way.” Matthew 8:29. “And behold, they cried out: What have you to do with us, Jesus, Son of God? You came here ahead of time to torment us.” Matthew 8:30. “Far away from them a large herd of pigs was grazing.” Matthew 8:31. “And the demons asked Him: if you drive us out, then send us into the herd of swine.” Matthew 8:32. “And He said to them: Go. And they went out and went into the swine herd. And so, the whole herd of pigs rushed down a steep slope into the sea and died in the water.” Matthew 8:33. “The shepherds ran and, having come to the city, told about everything, and about what had happened to the demon-possessed.” Matthew 8:34. “And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they asked Him to depart from their borders.” “The Gospel speaks about the possessed, about the expulsion of demons, about their introduction, with the permission of Jesus Christ, into a swine herd and the destruction of the herd in the sea - about the request of the citizens of the city of Gadara that the Lord would move away from them, and about His return crossing to the other shore - and arrival in Capernaum (See: Matt. 8:28-34; Matt. 9:1). The story itself is clear. It tells the story of two unfortunate people possessed by evil spirits. This means, contrary to the stubborn disbelief and false belief of some overeducated and lost people, evil spirits exist in the world and do their destructive deeds, which mainly consist of the destruction of people and inflicting various vile dirty tricks on them. Jesus Christ himself, the Only Begotten Son of God, came into the world in order to destroy the works of the devil and defeat him with all his army. For this reason, the Son of God has appeared, so that he may destroy the works of the devil, says the Apostle John the Theologian (1 John 3:8). Uneducated wise men will not assure us that there are supposedly no evil spirits: for to reject their existence means to reject the entire Holy Scripture, to reject Christianity, to consider the faith of Christ and the Coming of Christ God and all His divine economy as unnecessary; finally, it means rejecting obvious facts; for evil spirits have previously corrupted and destroyed people, and now they corrupt people in various ways and destroy the unwary, by the permission of God, or as they were previously driven out of people by the Lord or, by His grace, by holy people - so they are now driven out. So, there were demons and the possessed, and they still exist now. What kind of demoniacs are there today? There are two kinds of demoniacs: real demoniacs like those mentioned in the Gospel, who are locked in insane asylums, demoniacs who are corrupted, who are tormented by demons especially when this kind of sick is brought to some shrine or when the Cherubic song is sung in the church at the great entrance, and demoniacs - under the guise of being worried and darkened and maddened by various passions, anger and malice, envy, strong carnal passion, from drunkenness or from a passion for profit, for accumulating money and increasing it with interest, from pride, ambition and vanity, and so on; to a special kind of demoniacs we must include people who are so-called liberal: that is, too freely, contrary to Christian and all common sense, those who think, the so-called nihilists, who reject the Christian faith, and Christ, and the Church, prayer and the Sacraments, the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the dead, judgment and reward according to everyone’s deeds; Among them there are such, so evil demons in human form that they set out to overthrow the state structure and overthrow the thrones of kings, to sacrilegiously encroach on the lives of the very anointed of God, whose life and safety should be inviolable; set fire to houses and all kinds of buildings and destroy people's property and turn the earth into hell, a place of tears and lamentation. These are the demoniacs we have in our time, demoniacs consciously, of their own free will, of their own evil heart! Oh, may the Lord deliver us from these evil creatures, who are destined for eternal fire along with the devil. And we will beware of another kind of demonic possession - inflated pride, envy, anger, malice, hatred, irritability, carnal passion, drunkenness, gluttony, foul language, greed, hard-heartedness, oppression of neighbors, cursing, quarrels, strife, despondency, despair and other passions that remove us from God and plunge us into the power of the devil. In the Gospel we read, let us also pay attention to the audacity of demons and their recognition of the eternal torment prepared for them. When the demon-possessed met Jesus Christ, the demons that were in them cried out: What have you to do with us, Jesus, Son of God? You came here before the time to torment us (Matthew 8:29). Look, what devilish pride and insolence! What do you care about us? - they say as if they are not subject to the power of God, which extends to the entire satanic kingdom! However, soon, feeling the unbearable torment of the presence of Jesus Christ and His invincible power, they lowered their tone and said: if you drive us out, then send us to the herd of swine (Matthew 8:31). The Lord commanded them: and they entered the swine herd and drowned everything in water. What if they were allowed to do the same to people? They would have killed everyone in an instant. But they do not dare to do this to them, but torment them, by God’s permission, enough to bring them to their senses. The Lord allowed the pigs to be destroyed in order to show the cruelty and ferocity of demons and so that the inhabitants of Gergesin, idolaters, would know what awaits them if they do not repent and believe in Him, Jesus Christ - namely, that eternal torment awaits them along with the demons. It is remarkable that the demons themselves expect eternal torment and tremble, but other people do not believe in them and do not tremble at them, and are not afraid to sin. So the Gergesin residents did not believe in Him and asked to move away from them: and He crossed to the other side. Ah, brothers and sisters, woe would be for us, eternal woe, without Jesus Christ, without faith in Him, without His grace, without good deeds, without unfeigned repentance! A person who lives without faith in Jesus Christ, without repentance and good deeds, becomes a plaything of destructive passions, one more tormenting than the other - a church full of demons, like the demon-possessed ones mentioned above, guilty of eternal torment, food of eternal fire. Let us live in repentance and virtue. Let us always be with Jesus Christ. Amen" [9, 196]. You might be interested in: