3. But this is said against the wicked; and after this the speech immediately turns to the consolation of the elect. For immediately it is said, "To those who are beginning these things, lift yourselves up, and lift up your heads, for your deliverance draweth nigh." Truth exhorts its elect, saying to them, as it were, in this way: when the calamities of the world are multiplied, when, in the movement of the Forces, the dreadful Judge appears, then raise up your heads, that is, rejoice, because when the world which you did not love ends, then the redemption which you desired is near. For in the Holy Scriptures. In the Scriptures, the head is often taken for the mind: as the head governs the members, so the mind disposes of the thoughts. Thus, to raise heads means to elevate minds to the joys of the Heavenly Fatherland. Consequently, those who love God are commanded to rejoice and rejoice at the end of the world, because they immediately find the One whom they love, when the one whom they did not love passes away. It is impossible that the faithful, who desires to see God, should grieve over the upheavals of the world, knowing that in these upheavals he dies. But it is written: "Whosoever willeth the friend of the world to be, there is an enemy of God" (James 5:4). Consequently, whoever does not rejoice at the approach of the end of the world discovers that he is a friend of the latter, and through this very fact is an enemy of God. But away from the minds of believers, away from those who know by faith that there is another life, and by their deeds love it. For grieving over the destruction of the world is characteristic of those who have planted the roots of their hearts in love for it, who do not desire the future life, who do not even believe in its existence. We, knowing about the eternal joys of the Heavenly Fatherland, must hasten to them as soon as possible. We should be willing to go faster and take the shortest way to reach it. For what misfortunes is this world not subject to? What sorrow, what vicissitude does not oppress us? "What is this mortal life if not the way?" "And think, my brethren, what it means to be tired of the difficulties of this path, and yet not to want it to ever end. But that this world must be rejected and despised, our Redeemer explains this by a providential comparison, when He adds: "See the fig tree and all the trees: when they are already broken, seeing for themselves that the harvest is near." In the same way, when you see this happening, know that the Kingdom of God is near. Obviously, His thought is as follows: just as the nearness of summer is known by the fruit of trees, so the nearness of the Kingdom of God is known by the destruction of the world. With these words it is clearly shown that the fruit of the world is destruction. He rises in order to fall, he grows in order to destroy everything that grows by death. But the Kingdom of God is well compared to summer, because when it is opened, the clouds of our sorrow pass away, and the days of life are illuminated by the light of the eternal Sun.

4. All this is affirmed as an indubitable truth, when the following thought is added: Amen, I say unto you, For this generation shall not pass away, until all these shall be. Heaven and earth pass by, but My words cannot pass away. In the nature of sensible things there is nothing firmer than heaven and earth, and nothing in nature passes so quickly as the word. For words, until they are spoken, are not words, and when they are spoken, then they are no more; for they can only be pronounced in successive order, one after the other. Therefore (the Saviour) says: heaven and earth pass by, but My words have not passed away. The meaning of His words is as follows: Everything that is firm with you is not firm for eternity without change, but everything that seems to pass away with Me is decidedly firm and holds without change; for My apparently passing word expresses thoughts that are constantly unchanged.

5. Behold, my brethren, we already see what we have heard. Every day the world is subjected to new, more and more multiplying disasters. Look around, how many of you are left out of the innumerable people; And in spite of this, scourges still befall us daily, unexpected events oppress us, new and unforeseeable blows strike. Just as in youth the body blossoms, the chest is strong and unharmed, the neck is muscular, the sinews are full, but in the years of old age the body becomes contorted, the withered neck bends, the chest is cramped by rapid breathing, strength weakens, and the speaker's words are interrupted by shortness of breath, and even if there is no fatigue, for the most part health itself is already a disease for the senses, so the world in its first years, As if in his youth, he was powerful, strong for the spread of the offspring of the human race, flourishing in bodily health, fat in abundance in everything, but now he is burdened by his very old age and as if being drawn to imminent death from hour to hour by multiplying calamities. "And so, my brethren, do not love him whom you see not being able to stand long. Impress upon your soul the admonitions of the Apostle, which he gives us, saying: Love not the world, nor that which is in the world. If anyone loves the world, there is no love for the Father in him (1 John 2:15). "Three days ago, brethren, you learned that by a sudden storm the vineyards of many years were devastated, the houses were destroyed, and the Churches were overthrown to the ground. How many people, healthy and unharmed, thought in the evening that they would do this and that tomorrow, and that very night they died an accidental death under the ruins!

6. But we, most beloved, must reflect that in order to accomplish this, the invisible Judge moved the breath of the subtlest wind, stirred up a storm from one cloud, and shook the earth, shook the foundations of so many buildings. What will this Judge do when He Himself comes in person, and His wrath is kindled for vengeance on sinners, even if it is unbearable, when He strikes us with the thinnest cloud? What flesh can stand before His wrath, if He raised up only the wind, and shook the earth, gave only motion to the air, and overthrew so many buildings? Speaking of such power, Paul says: "It is terrible to fall into the hand of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). The same power is expressed by the Psalmist when he says: "God will come, our God, and will not be silent: a fire shall be kindled before him, and a storm shall be round about him" (Psalm 49:3). The direction of this Last Judgment is accompanied by storm and fire, since the storm suffocates those who are burned by fire. And so, most beloved brethren, keep that day before your eyes unceasingly, and that which seems difficult to believe is made easier by comparison. For of this day the Prophet says: "The great day of the Lord is near, near and swift, the voice of the day of the Lord is bitter and cruel. Mighty is the day of wrath, that day, the day of sorrow and need, the day of needlessness and vanishment, the day of darkness and gloom, the day of clouds and mist, the day of trumpets and cries (Zeph. 1:14-16). About the same day the Lord also says through the Prophet: "I will shake heaven and earth (Hagg. 2:22). If, then, as we said before, He shook the air, and the earth could not stand, who will stand when He shakes the heavens? "But what shall we call those horrors which we see, if not harbingers of the wrath to come?" For this reason it is necessary for us to consider that the horrors of today are as different from the last fear as the face of the forerunner is from the power of the Judge. And so, most beloved brethren, think about that day with full attention, correct your life, change your habits, overcome temptations to evil by resistance, and cleanse the sins you have committed with tears. For it is all the safer to behold the Coming of the eternal Judge, the greater fear you now anticipate His striving.

Discourse II, delivered to the people in the church of St. Up. Peter on the 50th Sunday. Gospels: Luke 18:31-44

At the time of it, we sing (Jesus) about his tenth disciple, and said to them, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all that is written about the Son of man will come to an end. For they shall betray Him with their tongues, and mock Him, and reproach Him, and spit upon Him, and kill Him that smote Him: and on the third day He shall rise again. And they are not of these understandings: and this word is hidden from them, and I do not understand those who speak. And when he was approaching Jericho, a certain blind man sat down by the way, begging. And when he heard the people passing by, he asked what it was. And she told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he cried out, saying, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And the previous ones to him, let him be silent. And he cried out more and more: Son of David, have mercy on me. And when Jesus arose, he commanded him to be brought to him. And when I draw near unto him, ask him, saying, Whatever thou wilt, I will do thee; and he said, Lord, that I may see. And Jesus said to him, "See: thy faith shall save thee." And he regained his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people saw it, and gave praise to God.

1. Our Redeemer, foreseeing that the souls of the disciples would be troubled by His sufferings, foretold them long ago, both of His suffering and of the glory of His Resurrection, so that when they saw Him dying according to the prophecy, they would not doubt that He would rise again. But since the disciples, still fleshly, could not understand the words of the mystery, He proceeded to perform a miracle. Before their eyes, the blind man receives sight so that the heavenly deeds may confirm in the faith those who did not understand the words of the heavenly mystery. But the miracles of our Lord and Saviour, most beloved brethren, must be understood in such a way as to believe in the truth of their events, and moreover to understand that they inspire us with something special in their significance. For His works by His power point to one thing, and by mystery they speak of another. From history we do not know who this blind man was, but we know whom he mysteriously represents. The blind man is the human race, which, in the person of the progenitor, having been expelled from the paradise of sweetness, having no idea of the clarity of the light above, suffers in the darkness of his condemnation; but by the appearance of the Redeemer he is enlightened to the point that he begins to see and desire the joy of the inner light, and on the path of life he turns to good activity.

2. It is remarkable that the blind man, according to the legend, receives sight when Jesus approached Jericho. For Jericho signifies the moon, and the moon in the sacred language serves as a symbol of the infirmities of the flesh, because when it decreases in its monthly course, then it serves as an image of our death. Thus, when our Creator approaches Jericho, then the blind man receives sight, which means that when the Godhead takes upon Himself the weakness of our flesh, then the human race receives the light it has lost. For in so far as God tolerates the human, to that extent man receives strength for the Divine. This blind man, according to the Scriptures, sat exactly by the way and begged for alms; and the Truth itself says: "I am the way" (John 14:6). And so, the blind man who has no conception of the clarity of the eternal light; but if he already believes in the Redeemer; now he sits by the wayside; but if he believes, but does not want to ask for the eternal light to be granted to him, and does not pray, then he is blind, although he sits by the way, but does not beg for alms. And if anyone has believed, and has known the blindness of his soul, and prays for the light of truth to be given to him, then he is a blind man, sitting by the wayside and begging alms. And so, whoever is aware of the darkness of his blindness, who has an idea of that light of eternity which he does not have, cries out with his heart and cries out with tenderness: Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. But let us listen to what follows the cries of the blind man. And the previous rebuke to him, let him be silent.

3.

And so, the previous rebuke to him, let him be silent; for before Jesus draws near to the soul, the crimes we have committed, imprinted in our imagination by their images, confuse us during the prayer itself.

4. But let us hear what the blind man who desired to see did in spite of this. It is said, "More than he cried out, O Son of David, have mercy on me." Behold, he cries out more and more who is silenced by the crowd; Thus, the more we are constrained by the oppressive noise of carnal thoughts, the more ardent and persistent we must be in prayer. This noise prevents us from crying out, since even in prayer for the most part we suffer from the imagination of our sins. But it is precisely the louder it is necessary to raise the voice of the heart, the stronger it encounters obstacles, until it exceeds the noise of intolerant thoughts, and by its tension and perseverance it reaches the holy ear of the Lord. What we are saying now, I think everyone has experienced for himself; for when we direct our souls from this world to God, when we turn to prayer, then during our prayer it becomes unpleasant and burdensome for us that very thing which we formerly did with pleasure. Thoughts of sins are removed from the eyes of the heart by the power of holy desire; their imagination is overcome by cries of repentance.

5. But when we make a strong effort in our prayer, then we impress upon our minds the image of Jesus passing by. That is why the Gospel further says: "When Jesus arose, he commanded him to be brought to Himself." "Behold, He Who had passed by before stops; thus, when during prayer we still hear the noise of dreams, then we feel that Jesus seems to be passing by. When we make a special effort in prayer, then Jesus stops to restore the light in us; then God dwells in the heart, and the lost light returns to us.

6. However, in this event the Lord also inspires us with something else, which we can usefully understand about humanity and His Divinity. For the cry of the blind man was heard by Jesus passing by, and the miracle of sight was performed by stopping. To pass by is characteristic of humanity, and to stand is characteristic of the Divine. According to mankind, He was born, grew, died, rose again, moved from place to place. Thus, since there is no changeability in the Godhead, and to pass is the same as to change, so this passing was precisely according to the flesh, and not according to the Godhead. But according to the Divinity, it is characteristic of Him to always stand, because He is omnipresent, moving neither forward nor backward. Thus, Jesus who passes by hears the crying blind, but he who stands gives sight; for, according to His humanity, He, sympathizing, took pity on the cries of our blindness; but the light of grace sheds upon us by the power of His Divinity.

7. And it is remarkable that He says to the blind man who came up, "Whatever you will, I will do it." Did He who could give sight not know what the blind man wanted? But He wants us to ask, although He Himself knows beforehand what we will ask for, and what to grant us according to our request. He commands us to pray without ceasing, and in spite of this, He says: "For the tidings of your Father, which ye require before your petitions" (Matt. 6:8). Consequently, he recognizes that it is necessary that we ask Him, in order to stir up the heart to prayer. Wherefore the blind man immediately added: Lord, that I may see. For example, a blind man asks the Lord not for gold, but for sight, because although he may have something, he cannot see what he has without sight. And so, most beloved brethren, let us imitate him who, as we have heard, received healing both in body and in soul.