Огласительное поучение седьмое

[To those preparing in Jerusalem for enlightenment, spoken without preparation, on the words from the Epistle to the Ephesians: For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, etc. (Eph.3:14).] 1. Yesterday I told you enough about the sovereignty of God; enough, I say, meaning not that my word was completely perfect (for it is completely impossible for a mortal being to achieve this), but how much I could say due to my weakness. Then at the same time I showed you all the subterfuges of the godless heretics, who are mistaken in many different ways. Now, having discovered their shame and spiritual poison and mentioned all their teaching (which I did not to harm them, but to bring them great benefit), let us again go against them and accept the saving lessons of the true faith, uniting the property of the fatherland with the property of the sovereignty of God and believing in one God the Father. For we must not believe in only one God, but together we must piously acknowledge that He is also the Father of the Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. 2. That is why we judge more highly than the Jews, who in their teaching, although they recognize one God the Father (and they rejected this many times, falling into idolatry), do not recognize that He is the Father and Lord of our Jesus Christ, thinking against their prophets, who say in the Divine Scripture: You are My Son; Today I have given birth to You (Ps. 2:7). But to this day they rebel and gather against the Lord and against His Anointed (Ps. 2:2), thinking that it is possible to please the Father without honoring the Son, but do not know that no one comes to the Father except (John 14:6) through the Son, Who Himself says about Himself: I am the door, and I am the way (John 10:7; 14:6). How can one be worthy of coming to God who deviates from the path leading to the Father and runs from the very doors? They also contradict what is written in Psalm 88: He will call Me: You are my Father, my God and the rock of my salvation. And I will make him the firstborn, above the kings of the earth (cf. Ps. 89:27-28). Since they stubbornly insist that these words were spoken to David, or Solomon, or to someone else, then let them explain to us how the throne of this king, proclaimed by their prophets, is like the days of heaven... like the sun, before Me, it will forever be firm, like the moon (cf. Ps. 89:30, 37-38). How they are not ashamed by what is written: from the womb before the morning star your birth was like dew (Ps. 109:3); also this: will abide with the sun, and before the moon of the generation of generations (Ps. 72:5), which is completely unreasonable to attribute to any of the people? 3. But let the Jews, due to their usual unbelief, be mistaken whenever they want, regarding both these words and other similar ones. We, on the contrary, accept the pious teaching of faith when we worship the one God, the Father of Jesus Christ (for the One who gives everyone the power to give birth is an impious thing to deprive of this very power). We believe in one God the Father, and thus faith in Christ, even before we begin to expound the teaching about Christ itself, will dwell in the hearts of those who hear, being in no way separated from what is said about the Father. 4. For the very name of the Father, when He is uttered, already makes it possible to understand the Son, just as, having uttered the name of the Son, we immediately imagine the Father in our minds. For if the Father, then, without a doubt, He is the Father of the Son; and if the Son, without a doubt, He is the Son of the Father. Therefore, lest from these words: in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, visible to all and invisible, when we later add to them: and in one Lord Jesus Christ, anyone would draw the impure conclusion that the Only Begotten in the order occupies second place after heaven and earth, before we named heaven and earth, we called God Father, so that, thus thinking about the Father, we also thought about the Son. For between the Son and the Father there is nothing that separates Them. 5. So, although God is the Father of many, not in the proper sense, but by nature and in the very truth, he is the Father of one only, the Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did not begin to be a Father in time, but from eternity the Father of the Only Begotten; for He was not before without a Son, and He did not beget Him afterwards, having thought with Himself. This Father, before all beings, before all knowledge, before time and all ages, has the property of the Father; Therefore, the Father should be honored more than by His other perfections; The Father, who became such not through passion, not from copulation, not from ignorance, is a Father without exhaustion, without diminishment, without change. Every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning (cf. James 1:17); A perfect Father, who begot a perfect Son and gave all things to Him who was born: all things were handed over to Me by My Father (Matthew 11:27), He says. Therefore, the Only Begotten honors the Father: I honor My Father (John 8:49), says the Son; and again: I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love (John 15:10). And therefore we say with the apostle: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. For this purpose I bow my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and on earth is named (2 Cor. 1:3; Eph. 3:14-15), and we glorify Him together with the Only Begotten. For whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; on the contrary, he who confesses the Son also has the Father; and we acknowledge that the Lord Jesus Christ is to the glory of God the Father (1 John 2:22–23). 6. So, we worship the Father of Christ, the Creator of heaven and earth, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in whose honor a church was erected right here before us. Let us not listen to the heretics who separate the Old Testament from the New, but we have faith in Jesus Christ, who says about the church: Or do you not know that I must do what belongs to My Father? (cf. Luke 2:49). And in another place: Take this from here, and do not make My Father’s house a house of trade (John 2:16). With these words He clearly shows that the church that was formerly in Jerusalem is the house of His Father. If, out of unbelief, anyone would like to have more proof that the Father of Christ is and the Creator of the world, then let him listen to the words of Him Himself: Are not two small birds sold for an assarium? And not one of them will fall to the ground without the will of your Father (Matthew 10:29). Also: Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your Father in heaven feeds them (Matthew 6:26). And again: My Father works until now, and I work (John 5:17). 7. However, so that anyone, either by simplicity or malicious intent, from these words of Christ: I ascend to My Father and your Father (John 20:17), does not conclude that He is equal in honor to righteous people, I make it necessary to first make the following limitation, that although the name of the Father is one, His meaning is different. And Christ, knowing this, said with caution: I ascend to My Father and your Father; He did not say: to our Father, but separately said first about Himself: to My Father, Who is His Father by nature, and then added: and to your Father, as He is to them by adopting them as sons to Himself. Although we have received full right to cry out in our prayers: Our Father, who art in heaven (Matthew 6:9), but this is a gift of God’s love for mankind. For we call Him Father not because we were naturally born of the Heavenly Father, but we are honored by indescribable love for mankind to say so because by paternal grace we were transferred from slavery to the state of adoption through the Son and the Holy Spirit. 8. If anyone wants to know why we call God Father, let him listen to the good teacher Moses, who says: Is not this your Father, who adopted you, created you and formed you? (Deut.32:6). Also to Isaiah the prophet: now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are clay, and You are our teacher, and we are all the work of Your hand (Is. 64:8). Truly, the grace proclaimed by the prophets clearly revealed that we call Him Father not by nature, but by Divine grace and adoption. 9 . And so that you learn even better that not everywhere in Divine Scripture only the natural Father is called Father, then listen to the words of Paul: For although you have thousands of instructors in Christ, yet you have not many fathers; I have begotten you in Christ Jesus through the gospel (1 Cor. 4:15). Of course, Paul was the father of the Corinthians not by natural birth, but because he taught them and begat them spiritually. Listen also to the words of Job: I was a father to the poor (Job.29:16). Here he called himself a father, not because he gave birth to the poor, but because he had care for them. And the Only Begotten Son of God Himself, having been nailed in the flesh to the tree of the cross, when He saw Mary, His mother according to the flesh, and John, the beloved disciple, said to him: Behold, your mother, and to Mary: Behold, your son (John 19:27, 26), wanting to teach them proper love. And what Luke says: Joseph and His mother marveled (Luke 2:33), He does not explain in the proper sense. Heretics, seizing on these words, say that He was born of husband and wife. But just as Mary is called the mother of John out of love for him, and not because she gave birth to him, so Joseph is called the father of Christ not because he gave birth to Him (for, according to the Gospel, he did not know Her, how She finally gave birth to Her firstborn Son (Matthew 1:25), but for taking care of His upbringing. 10. This is said to you in passing, as if to remind you. Let us now add other evidence to prove that God is not called the Father of men in the proper sense. Isaiah reads these words addressed to God: You alone are our Father; for Abraham does not recognize us, and Israel does not recognize us as their own (Isa. 63:16). Is there any need to research more about this? And the psalmist says: (God exists. - Ed.) Father of the orphans and judge of widows (Ps. 67:6). Is it not obvious to everyone that God, who is here called the Father of orphans who have recently lost their own fathers, is called such not because they were born of Him, but because He cares for them and preserves them? So, God is the Father of people, as already said, not in the proper sense; by nature, and not by adoption, there is only one Father, Christ; Moreover, He became the Father of men in time, and the Father of Christ is before time, as He Himself says: And now glorify Me, O Father, with You, with the glory that I had with You before the world was (John 17:5). 11. So, we believe in one Father, God, unsearchable and unspeakable, whom no man has seen: the only begotten Son... He has revealed (John 1:18). For who is from God; He saw the Father, whose face the angels always see in heaven (John 6:46); Moreover, everyone sees it in proportion to their rank, and in full light it is left to the Son with the Holy Spirit to see the Father. 12. Having brought my word to this point and briefly mentioned all those places in which God is proclaimed as the Father of men, I am extremely amazed when I imagine the ingratitude of people. God, out of ineffable love for mankind, deigned to be called the Father of people, the heavenly one - the Father of the earth, the Creator of centuries - the Father of those who exist in time, Who holds the whole earth with his hand - the Father of those who on earth are like locusts, and man, leaving the heavenly Father, said to the tree: “You are my father,” and to the stone: “You gave birth to me” (Jer. 2:27). That is why, as I think, it is said in the psalm to the human race: and forget your people and the house of your father (Ps. 44:11), whom you chose as your father, whom you accepted to your destruction. 13. Yes, not only trees and stones, but some chose Satan himself, the murderer, as their father. The Lord, denouncing such, said: You do the works of your father the devil (John 8:41), who is the father of men, not by nature, but because he deceives them. For just as Paul was called the father of the Corinthians for teaching them pious teaching, so the devil is also called the father of those who arbitrarily unite with him. Let us not agree with those who poorly understand these words: The children of God and the children of the devil are recognized in this way (1 John 3:10); as if there are some among people who are saved or perished by nature. We enter into this holy adoption not out of necessity, but out of good will. And the traitor Judas did not by nature become the son of the devil and the son of destruction. For otherwise he would not have been able to cast out demons in the name of Christ in any way before; Satan does not cast out Satan. Likewise, Paul would not have become a preacher of the Gospel from a persecutor. The acquisition of adoption depends on the will of each, as John says: And to those who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the power to become children of God (John 1:12). For it was not before faith, but through faith that we were worthy to become children of God. 14. So, knowing this, let us lead a spiritual life in order to be worthy of adoption as sons to God. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God (Rom. 8:14). There is no benefit for us to bear the name Christians if Christian deeds do not accompany this; otherwise, so that these words would not apply to us: if you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham (John 8:39). For if you call Father the One who impartially judges everyone according to their deeds, then spend the time of your wanderings with fear... Do not love the world, nor the things in the world: whoever loves the world does not have the love of the Father (1 Peter 1:17; 1 John 2:15). So, beloved children, let us bring glory to the Heavenly Father with our deeds: so that they (people - Ed.) may see our good deeds and glorify our Heavenly Father (Matthew 5:16); let us cast all our worries on Him (see 1 Pet. 5:7). Our Father knows what we need before we ask (see Matt. 6:8). 15. And in honoring the heavenly Father, let us also honor our fathers according to the flesh, since in the law and the prophets the Lord Himself clearly commanded: Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long on earth (Ex. 20:12). Let those here who have fathers and mothers especially heed this commandment: Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord (cf. Eph. 6:1). The Lord did not simply say: whoever loves father or mother is not worthy of Me (Matthew 10:37), so that, due to your foolishness, you would not correctly understand what was said in a wrong sense, but added: more than Me. Then we must follow this commandment when earthly fathers philosophize contrary to the Heavenly Father, and when they do not in the least hinder us in the work of piety, but we, on the contrary, are carried away by debauchery and forgetting their benefits shown to us, despise them, then in this case the following saying falls on us: whoever curses his father or mother, let him die (Matthew 15:4). 16. The excellent and first task of Christian piety is to honor our parents, to reward the labors they endured in raising us, and to try with all our might to bring them peace. For even though we have returned quite a lot to them, we will not be able to give birth to them again ourselves. Let us deal with them in such a way that, having been put to rest by us, they will affirm us with their blessings, which the troublemaker Jacob wisely delighted, and so that the Heavenly Father, having accepted this good disposition of our will, will deign us, together with the righteous, to shine like the sun in the Kingdom of our Father (cf. Matt. 13:43). May glory be to Him with the Only Begotten and Savior Jesus Christ and with the Holy and Life-giving Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen. You might be interested in: