Слово 43. Песнь благодарственная к Пресвятой Троице, произносимая во всю светлую седмицу Пасхи

Glory to Thee, Most Gracious God, Father Almighty! Glory to You and worship and splendor from all visible and rational creation, now and forever! How can I, earthy and passionate, an ungrateful creature of Your most pure hands, worthily sing and glorify the indescribably radiant power of Your divine majesty and the unexplored abyss of Your grace and love for mankind towards us, the ungrateful? Despite the fact that we retreated from Your goodness and terribly disrespected it with all kinds of malice, upset Your love for mankind with disobedience and disobedience, You still did not cease to have mercy on us, provide for us and nourish us; did not cease to turn us from the path of our error to the path of Thy truth through wondrous miracles, laws, prophets, saving commandments, signs from heaven, signs on earth and in the sea. We, the accursed, even with such kindness towards us, continued to remain insensible, grieving You in various ways with all sorts of wickedness and unspeakable iniquities. But even after this You did not turn away from us and did not leave us, for the abyss of Your goodness is unexplored and endless, and being overcome by it, You, Who alone are invincible and omnipotent, deigned to send Your co-original and co-essential Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to help and for the conversion of our accursed and ungrateful race. This is a great proof of Your perfect goodness towards us, for You did not spare Your only begotten beloved Son, but gave Him up to shameful suffering and bitter death in order to save us ungrateful ones. What a great and terrible mystery this is! How great is Your love for us, the wicked and ungrateful, and what kindness! Couldn't the One All-Powerful One have saved our race in any other way? Truly, the Lord could heal us with one divine wave. For what is impossible for You? Everything works and obeys you, as the Lord and Creator; but such was your favor before You that Your innumerable love for mankind towards us, the accursed, and the abyss of Your generosity would become known, and that You not only with the wave of Your omnipotent divine power can do great and wondrous things, but You also accomplish this through means that we consider insignificant and weakest. What is weaker than human flesh, suffering, the cross and death, with which You have disgraced the principalities and powers of darkness, and Himself who has the power of death, the proud and majestic Satan and the devil, who through various wickedness and evil deeds has killed us fools for a long time? Now You have subdued and given him to be trampled under the feet of those who piously serve Your divine glory, and they now trample him and mock him, driving him away like a worthless bird with the image of the invincible sign of the cross. Such is the divine power imparted by Your goodness to the sign of the cross that it puts demons to flight, drives away illnesses, and raises the dead, as if from sleep. How can we, weak and wretched, thank you for this kindness of Yours to us? You do not demand anything of ours, for everything belongs to You - what is in heaven, and what is on earth, and what is in the seas and abysses: You are the Creator and Lord of all this. Out of your great goodness, you demand and desire only one thing from us, this is our salvation and honest conversion and repentance, for the sake of which you gave up your only begotten beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to death, by whose life-giving death we, who were hitherto dead, were revived, were delivered from the dark abysses of hell and received the ascent to heaven. The entrance to paradise, which was once closed by the crime of our forefather, has again become available to us through the obedience of the second Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ, whose divine and life-giving resurrection we celebrate annually, filling our souls with divine joy and unspeakable spiritual joy. Therefore, let us sing and exclaim from the depths of our hearts: “Blessed are You, O Lord God of our fathers, praised and exalted forever, and blessed is the name of Your glory, praised and exalted forever, Amen.” You deigned to visit us with the east from above, that is, with the appearance of the mental sun of truth - our Lord Jesus Christ. We were killed by wickedness, but You revived us with the light of Your good faith. We were Your enemies, sons of the devil and children of wrath by nature; You have made us your friends, sons and beloved children, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the gift of your Holy Spirit, washing us with the divine bath of rebirth. We, darkened by all sorts of charms of the false mind of external sages, You illuminated us with the rays of God's understanding and the treasures of infallible theology and wisdom; Abundantly illuminated by them, let us bless without sin the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the one God in three Persons, beginningless, uncreated, co-essential, infinite, Creator of everything visible and invisible, good, loving of mankind, giver and author of all good. Falling before Him with fear, let us sing and cry: “Save us by Your grace, Most Holy Trinity, Creator and Sustainer of everything! Grant us in this life to serve You piously and always do what is pleasing and dear to You with all thanksgiving and pure living; in the future life, grant us to be numbered among the divine face of Your chosen ones, where the pure voice of those celebrating is heard, the voice of ineffable joy, for You are our God, loving, faithful and righteous, and we are Your people, by Your grace, and we know no other besides You, we call Your name, and glorify the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one Divinity and kingdom. To you is due all glory, honor and worship forever and ever. Amen". You might be interested in: