Слово 29. О земном небе, или о богоподражательном бесстрастии и совершенстве, и воскресении души прежде общего воскресения

1. Now we, lying in the deepest ditch of ignorance and in the darkness of passions, and in the mortal shadow of this body, in our audacity, begin to philosophize about the earthly heaven. 2. The splendor of the firmament is the stars, and the adornment of dispassion is the virtues; for dispassion, as I think, is nothing more than the heart’s heaven of the mind, which considers all the cunning of demons to be children’s toys. 3. So, a truly dispassionate person is called and is one who has made his body incorruptible, raised his mind above every creature, yet subdued all his feelings to the mind, and presented his soul to the face of the Lord, always reaching out to Him, even beyond his strength. 4. Some also say that dispassion is the resurrection of the soul before the resurrection of the body; and others that it is the perfect knowledge of God, which we can have after the Angels. 5. So this perfect, perfect, imperfect perfection, as someone who tasted it told me, so sanctifies the mind and snatches it away from the material, that often, however, upon reaching this heavenly haven, from life in the body, it is lifted up to vision by rapture to heaven. The Psalmist speaks about this, who, perhaps, knew this from his own experience, “for the powers of God on earth were greatly exalted” (Ps. 46:10). Such was the Egyptian 129 who, when praying with others, could not leave his hands stretched out to heaven for long. 6. Among impassive people, one is more dispassionate than the other. For one strongly hates evil, while another is insatiably enriched by virtues. 7. And purity is called dispassion, and rightly so: for purity is the beginning of the general resurrection and incorruptibility of the corruptible. 8. Dispassion was shown by the one who wrote: “the mind of the Lord is imam” (1 Cor. 2:16). The Egyptian showed dispassion when he said: “I no longer fear the Lord” 130. Dispassion was also shown by the one who prayed that passions would turn on him again 131. Who, before the future heavenly lordship, was awarded such dispassion as the Syrian 132? For David, so glorious among the prophets, says to the Lord: “Loose me, that I may rest” (Ps. 39:14); and this ascetic of God cried out: “Weaken the waves of Thy grace for me.” 9. That soul has dispassion, which has acquired the same skill in virtues that passionate people have in sweets (passions). 10. If the height of gluttony is that a person forces himself to eat food when he does not want to eat, then the height of abstinence is to suppress his innocent flesh with abstinence even when hungry. If the limit of fornication is when someone lusts at the sight of animals, and even soulless creatures; then the limit of purity is to have the same feeling for everyone as for inanimate objects. If the extreme degree of love of money is when a person cannot stop collecting wealth, or is not satisfied with it; then the height of non-covetousness consists in not sparing your body. If the extreme limit of despondency is considered to be when someone is at peace and has no patience for everything; then it is rightly called the height of patience if a person, being in oppression, considers himself to have joy. If the abyss of anger means when a person is angry in private; then the depth of long-suffering is shown in a person when he remains in equal calm in the presence and absence of those who slander. If there is extreme vanity, when a person, not seeing anyone around him who would praise him, reveals vain actions; then it is a sign of complete lack of vanity, so that even when visiting others, you should never be robbed by a vainglorious thought. If there is a sign of destruction, that is, pride, when someone is exalted in small and insignificant deeds 133; then the saving sign of humility is to think humbly about oneself even during great undertakings and perfections. And if a sign of complete enslavement to passions is that a person soon obeys almost everything secretly received from demons; I consider it a sign of holy dispassion when someone can truthfully say with David: “I have not known the evil one who turns away from Me” (Ps. 100:4), and I do not know how he came, and why he came, and how he left; I became insensitive to all this, being completely united, and trusting to always be with God 134. 11. Whoever has been deemed worthy to be in this dispensation still in the flesh has God Himself living within himself, who guides him in all words, deeds and thoughts. Therefore, through inner enlightenment, such a person knows the will of the Lord, as if hearing a certain voice, and, being above all human teaching, says: “When will I come and appear to the face of God?” (Ps. 41:3). For I can no longer endure the action of this lust; but I am looking for that immortal beauty that You gave me before this mortal coil. 12. But why say too much? The dispassionate “no one lives for himself, but Christ lives in him” (Gal. 2:20), as he said, “he who fought the good fight, finished his course, and kept the Orthodox faith” (2 Tim. 4:7). 13. A royal crown is not made from one stone: so dispassion will not be achieved if we neglect even one virtue. 14. Imagine that dispassion is the heavenly chamber of the Heavenly King. Many monasteries are villages within this city, and the wall of the heavenly Jerusalem is the forgiveness of sins. Let us hasten, brethren, let us hasten, to gain entrance into the halls of this chamber. If, O disaster, the burden of sinful habits, or time itself, holds us back, then let us at least try not to lose one of the monasteries near this palace. If we are still in the church, or we are weak, then we strive in every possible way to enter inside its wall. For whoever does not manage to enter there before his death, or, better said, who does not cross this wall, will find himself in the desert of demons and passions. For this reason, someone said in his prayer: “By my God I will cross the wall” (Ps. 17:30); and another prophet speaks on behalf of God: “Do not your sins separate between you and Me”? (Isa.59:2). So, friends, let us destroy this mediastinum of the fence, which we have built through our madness and disobedience. Let us still strive here to get rid of sinful debt; for in hell there is no one who can heal. Brethren, let us leave our worries; for we have registered ourselves among those free from care. It is impossible to apologize either by fall, or by time, or by the weight of the burden; for those who received the Lord through the rebirth of St. through baptism, He gave “the scope to be children of God” (John 1:12), and says: “become ye undone and understand that I am God” (Ps. 45:11) and dispassion. Glory to Him forever and ever. Amen. Blessed dispassion “raises the wretched mind from earth to heaven, and raises up this poor one from the dungeon” of passions (1 Samuel 2:8); all-praising love “seats him among the princes, with the holy angels, among the princes of the Lord’s people” (Ps. 112:8). Rev. Typha (Act. tale, p. 274, art. 1). In Slavic translation: “in a bad image.” The darkness does not tolerate the appearance of light; the disease does not remain when health returns; passions do not act when dispassion appears. (PG 88, p. 1153.) You might be interested in: