Не столько удивительно, если обнаженный не получает ран, сколько удивительно, если простой, неученый, рыбарь побеждает столь сильных, несмотря ни на свою незнатность и бедность, ни на опасности и закоренелые привычки, ни на строгость предлагаемых правил, ни на ежедневно угрожающую смерть, ни на множество обольщенных, ни на важность обольстителей. Так мы должны низлагать их и состязаться с ними, а прежде слов мы должны поражать их своей жизнью; это – великое состязание, это – неопровержимое доказательство от дел; на словах сколько бы мы ни рассуждали с ними, но если жизнь наша не лучше их жизни, то не будет никакой пользы.

Вот что препятствует неверным сделаться христианами! Будем же обращать их своей жизнью. Многие и неученые люди поражали ум философов, являя любомудрие в делах и громче трубы вещая поведением и любомудрием: это сильнее слов. Если, например, я буду утверждать, что не должно помнить зла, а между тем буду причинять язычнику множество зол, то как могу привлечь его словамп, когда отгоняю делами? Итак будем уловлять их жизнью, из душ их созидать Церковь, и собирать такое богатство. Ннчто не может сравниться с душой, даже целый мир. Хотя бы ты раздал бедным бесчисленные богатства, ты не сделаешь столько, сколько обративший одну душу. "Если извлечешь драгоценное из ничтожного, то будешь как Мои уста", говорит Господь (Иер.15:19). Великое благо миловать бедных; но не такое, как избавить кого-нибудь от заблуждения; кто делает это, тот уподобляется Петру и Павлу. Подлинно, можем и мы участвовать в их проповеди, не тем, чтобы, подобно им, подвергаться опасностям, терпеть голод, мучения и другие бедствия, – теперь мирное время, – но тем, чтобы проявлять ревностное к тому усердие. Можно и сидя дома совершать эту ловитву. Кто имеет друга, родственника. домашних, пусть делает с ними это, пусть говорит им это, – и он уподобится Петру и Павлу. Что я говорю: Петру и Павлу? Будет устами Христовыми: "Если извлечешь драгоценное из ничтожного, то будешь как Мои уста", говорит Господь. Если ты не убедишь сегодня, убедишь завтра: если и никогда не убедишь, получишь полную награду; если не убедишь всех, то, может быть, из многих – некоторых; ведь и апостолы убедили не всех людей, но ко всем простирали свое слово и получили награду за всех. Бог обыкновенно назначает венцы, взирая не на конец подвигов, а на расположение подвизающихся. Если принесешь только две лепты, Он примет; как Он поступил с вдовицею (Лк.21:2-4), так поступает и с преподающими учение. Итак, из-за того, что ты не можешь спасти всю вселенную, не пренебрегай немногими, и, устремляясь к великому, не лишай себя малого. Если ты не можешь обратить ста человек, постарайся обратить десять; если не можешь десяти, не пренебрегай пятью; если не можешь и пяти, не пренебрегай одним; если не можешь и одного. и тогда не унывай и не оставляй делать то, что можешь. Не видишь ли, как в торговле занимающиеся ею заключают сделки не только на золото, но и на серебро? Если мы не будем пренебрегать малым, то получим и многое; а если пренебрежем малым, то не легко получим и многое. Богатыми делаются, собирая и малое и многое; так будем поступать и мы, чтобы, обогатившись всем, вам сподобиться царствия небесного, благодатью и человеколюбием Господа нашего Иисуса Христа, с Которым Отцу, со Святым Духом, слава, держава, честь, ныне и присно, и во веки веков. Аминь.

[1] В рус.пер. это слово пропущено

БЕСЕДА 4

"Ибо слово о кресте для погибающих юродство есть, а для нас, спасаемых, – сила Божия. Ибо написано: погублю мудрость мудрецов, и разум разумных отвергну. Где мудрец? где книжник? где совопросник века сего? Не обратил ли Бог мудрость мира сего в безумие?" (1Кор.1:18-20).

1. Для страждущих и умирающих бывает неприятна и здоровая пища, неприятны друзья и близкие, которых часто и не узнают они и даже тяготятся их присутствием. Так обыкновенно бывает и с страждущими душевно: они не знают, что нужно для спасения, и тяготятся теми, кто печется о них. Это происходит не от свойства самого дела (спасения), а от их болезни. Как помешавшиеся в уме не терпят тех, кто заботится о них, и даже порицают их, так поступают и неверующие. Но как эти оскорбляемые тем более жалеют и плачут о больных, считая крайней степенью болезни их, когда они не узнают самых близких людей, так будем поступать и мы в отношении к язычникам и плакать о них более, нежели о своих женах, потому что они не знают общего всем спасения. Не столько муж должен любить свою жену, сколько мы должны любить всех людей и вести их к спасению, будут ли они язычники, или кто бы то ни было. Будем же плакать о них, – о том, что слово о кресте, которое есть премудрость и сила, для них – безумие. "Ибо слово о кресте", говорит (Павел), "для погибающих юродство есть". Так как у язычников крест подвергался осмеянию, то они, вероятно, называли учение о нем противным своей мудрости и несогласным с своим учением; потому Павел, вразумляя, говорит: не почитайте его странным и нелепым; это дело по свойству своему таково, что погибающие не могут постигнуть силы его, так как они потеряли ум и впали в безумие. Потому они и поносят и ненавидят спасительные врачества. Что ты говоришь, человек? Христос сделался рабом, приняв для тебя образ раба, был распят и воскрес; следовало бы поклониться Воскресшему и подивиться Его человеколюбию, так как все то, чего не сделал для тебя ни отец, ни друг, ни сын, сделал Он для тебя, своего врага и оскорбителя; следовало бы удивляться Ему за это; а ты называешь безумием дело, исполненное такой мудрости! Но неудивительно; погибающим свойственно не познавать того, что ведет к спасению.

Therefore, do not be dismayed; There is nothing strange or unexpected in the fact that madmen laugh at great objects. Such people cannot be convinced by human wisdom; and if you try to persuade them in this way, you will do the opposite; For that which surpasses reason, faith alone is needed. Truly, if we want to explain (to the Gentiles) by means of the judgments of reason how God became man by entering the womb of the Virgin, and do not recognize this as an article of faith, they will only laugh. Those who wish to comprehend this by means of the judgments of reason perish. And what do I say about God? If we do the same in relation to created things, then we will also provoke great laughter. For instance, let a man who wishes to be convinced of all things by the judgments of reason require you to explain to him how we see the light? And you try to explain it to him by means of the judgments of reason. But you couldn't do it. If you were to say that it is enough to open your eyes to see, you would explain the way of seeing, and not the matter itself.

Let us leave this to the power and boundless wisdom of God, and let us be silent. In the same way, if we wish to explain divine objects with the help of external wisdom, then great laughter will follow, not because of the nature of the objects themselves, but because of the foolishness of man. After all, no word can express great things. See, if I say, Christ was crucified, the heathen will object, "Is this in accordance with reason?" He did not deliver Himself when they crucified and tortured Him on the cross: how then did He rise again and deliver others? If he had the power to do so, he had to show it before death (so indeed the Jews said); but if He did not deliver Himself, how could He deliver others? This, he will say, is inconsistent with reason. And for sure, this is beyond reason; In the cross appeared an ineffable power. To be tormented and to be above torment, to be bound and to conquer, is the work of infinite power. How the three youths, being cast into the furnace and trampling down the flame, appeared more wondrous than if they had not been thrown into it; and as Jonah, being swallowed up by a whale and suffering no harm from it, became greater than when he had not been exposed to such danger, so Jesus Christ, having died and abolished death, appeared more glorious than when He had not died. Therefore do not say, Why did He not redeem Himself on the cross? He wanted to fight death. He did not come down from the cross, not because he could not, but because he did not want to. After all, if the power of death could not hold Him, then how could the nails of the cross hold Him?

2. However, this is known to the pam, but not to the infidels. That is why the Apostle said: "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the understanding of the prudent." Hitherto He has said nothing accusatory; and now, bringing before the testimony of the Scriptures and borrowing boldness from it, he begins a diatribe and says: "Has not God turned the wisdom of this world into foolishness? Where is the sage? Where is the scribe? Where is the questioner of this world? For when the world by wisdom did not know God in the wisdom of God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe" (vv. 20-21). Having said, "It is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise," he adds proof of this from works, and says, "Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe?" In fact, which of the philosophers, who is skillful in judgment, or who of those who know Judaism has granted salvation and taught the truth? No one, but everything was done by the fishermen. Having proved this point and put to shame their vanity, saying: "Has not God turned the wisdom of this world into madness?" – he gives also the reason why this was so. "For when," he says, "the world in wisdom did not know God in the wisdom of God," then the cross appeared. What does it mean: "in the wisdom of God"? In the creatures through which He was pleased to reveal Himself. He arranged everything in such a way that man, passing from visible objects to the Creator, would be amazed at Him. Great is the heavens, and boundless is the earth: marvel at their Maker. For this great heaven was not only created by Him, but also easily created, and this boundless earth was produced by Him as nothing. That is why it is said of the former: "The heavens are the work of Thy hands" (Psalm 101:26); and of the earth: "And the earth was created as nothing" (Isaiah 40:23). Since the world did not want to know God by means of this wisdom, He taught preaching, not through judgment, but through faith. Where there is the wisdom of God, there is no need for human wisdom. To say that he who created so beautiful and so great a world is God, who has boundless and ineffable power, was to judge by human wisdom and to comprehend Him by means of them; But now what is needed is not judgment, but faith alone. In order to accept and be convinced that the Crucified and Buried One is resurrected and sitting, this requires not judgment, but faith. The Apostles did not go with wisdom, but with faith, and appeared wiser and higher than external sages, and all the more so than the acceptance of divine things by faith is higher than reasoning, since this surpasses human reason. How did he destroy wisdom? He revealed himself to us through Paul and similar men, and showed that it was useless. Neither wisdom helps the wise in the least to receive the Gospel preaching, nor ignorance in the least hinders the unlearned, and even, surprisingly, it must be said, ignorance can accept it much more quickly and easily than wisdom. The shepherd and the farmer, not carried away by reasoning and surrendering themselves to the Lord, will accept it more quickly. Thus He destroyed this wisdom! Since she herself had previously shamed herself, she then became good for nothing. When she had to show herself and know the Lord by His works, she did not want to; but now, even though she wanted to contribute to this, she cannot, because now this is not the state of affairs – there is a path to the knowledge of God that is much better than her. What is needed now is simple faith; it must be sought everywhere and preferred to outward wisdom: "God has turned it into madness," he says, "wisdom." What does it mean, "turned into madness"? He showed that it is unreasonable to accept the faith. Since people thought highly of her, He directly rebuked her. What kind of wisdom is it if it cannot find the main good? He denounced her folly, because she had exposed herself beforehand. If it has discovered nothing when it could have been investigated by reasoning, what success can be expected from it now? When are there higher subjects, when faith alone is needed, and not the art of judgment? Thus God showed her folly; And He deigned to save by the folly of preaching, which, however, is not real, but apparent. This is especially important because He surpassed it not by some other wisdom that is higher than it, but by seeming ignorance. He deposed Plato, not by some wiser philosopher, but by an unlearned fisherman. Such a defeat is stronger; Such a victory is more brilliant. Expressing the power of the cross, Paul goes on to say: "For the Jews also demand miracles, and the Greeks seek wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews, and foolishness to the Greeks, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:22-24).

3. Great wisdom in these words. He wants to show how God has conquered by not promising victory, and how preaching is not the work of man. His words mean the following: when we say to the Jews, "Believe," they object: "Raise up the dead, heal those who are possessed, show us signs." What do we say instead? We say that He who we preach was crucified and died. Not only can this not attract those who resist, but it can drive away those who do not resist; however, it does not drive away, but attracts, restrains and subdues. Again, the pagans demand of us eloquence in words and art in judgment, and we preach the cross to them too. To the Jews this seems powerlessness, and to the Gentiles it seems madness. But if we offer them not only not what they demand, but also the contrary to it, and the cross, according to the judgment of reason, appears not only not as a sign, but as something contrary to the sign, not only not as a sign of power, but as a sign of impotence, not only not as an expression of wisdom, but as a proof of foolishness, if those who demand signs and wisdom not only do not receive what is required, but they still hear from us that which is contrary to what is demanded, and yet they are convinced by this contrary, is this not the work of the ineffable power of Him who is preached?

Chrysetos did the same with the blind man: wishing to grant him healing, He destroyed blindness by producing blindness: "He laid down the clay" (John 9:15). As He healed the blind man with clay, so He drew the universe to Himself with the cross, which increased the temptation, and did not destroy it. Thus He did also at creation, arranging the contrary to the opposite; He fenced the sea with sand, bridling the strong with the weak; He hung the earth on the water, establishing the heavy and dense on the liquid and the flowing. Through the prophets, He again caused iron to float out of the water by means of a small tree (2 Kings 6:6). In the same way He restored the universe by means of the cross. As water holds the earth, so the cross holds the universe. Thus, to persuade the contrary is a sign of great power and wisdom. The cross apparently produces temptation, and yet it not only does not seduce, but attracts. Imagining all this and wondering, Paul says: "For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (1 Corinthians 1:25). Speaking of the violence and weakness of the cross, he does not mean that it is really so, but seems to be so: it speaks in relation to the opinion of the opponents. What philosophers could not do by reasoning was done by seeming madness. Who is wiser? Is it the one who convinces the many, or the one who convinces the few, or rather, no one? Is it the one who convinces in the most important matters, or who in the unimportant ones? How much Plato labored with his followers on a line, an angle, and a point, on numbers commensurable and incommensurable, equal and unequal, and having told us about these cobwebs – for all this is more useless for life than even a spider's web – and having brought no benefit either great or small, then he ended his life. How much he tried to prove that the soul is immortal, but without saying anything clear and without convincing any of his listeners, he then died. On the contrary, the cross, through the unlearned, convinced and converted the whole universe, convinced not of unimportant matters, but of the doctrine of God, true piety, the life of the Gospel, and the future judgment; He made everyone a philosopher – farmers, non-scientists. You see how "the foolish things of God are wiser, and the weak things of God are stronger than men." How stronger? By spreading throughout the whole world, it subdued everyone to its power, and while an innumerable multitude of people tried to destroy the name of the Crucified One, it did the opposite. This name was glorified and grew more and more, and they perished and disappeared; the living, rebelling against the One who was put to death, could do nothing. Therefore, if a heathen calls me a fool, he will reveal his own extreme madness, since, being considered mad by him, I turn out to be wiser than the wise; if he calls me impotent, he will reveal his own even greater impotence, since what the publicans and fishermen have done by the grace of God, philosophers, rhetoricians, rulers, and the whole universe, in general, with innumerable efforts, could not even imagine. What did the cross not do? He introduced the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, of the resurrection of bodies, of the contempt for the goods of the present and the striving for the goods of the future; He made men angels; to him everyone and everywhere became wise and capable of every virtue.

4. But among them, you will say, many despised death. Who, then, tell me? Is it the one who drank the poison from the hemlock? But I will present thousands like him in our Church, if you will: if it had been allowed to die in the time of persecution, having taken poison, then all (the persecuted) would have appeared more glorious than he. Moreover, he drank the poison, not having the power to drink or not to drink; whether he wanted it or not, he had to undergo it, and therefore it was not a matter of courage, but of necessity; Both robbers and murderers, according to the sentence of the judges, suffered even greater sufferings. But with us everything is the opposite: the martyrs did not suffer against their will, but of their own free will, and while they had the power not to undergo suffering, they showed courage stronger than any adamant. It is not surprising that he drank poison when he could not help drinking, and moreover, when he reached a very old age. He said that he was already seventy years old when he was ready to despise life, if it could be called contempt for life, which I would not say, and certainly no one else would say. And you point out to me someone who would suffer for his piety, as I can point out to you an innumerable multitude everywhere in the universe. Who bravely endured when his nails were pulled out? Who – when the limbs were torn to pieces? Who – when they tore his body to pieces? Who – when did they pluck the bones out of the head? Who – when they constantly put it on a hot frying pan? Who – when they threw it into boiling water? Show me this! And to die of hemlock poison is almost the same as to fall asleep peacefully; even such a death, they say, is more pleasant than sleep. But if some have really endured torments, they are not worthy of praise for this either, because the cause of their sufferings was shameful: some suffered because they had revealed some secret, others because they had abused their power, some because they had been caught in the most shameful crimes, and some without any reason, vainly and recklessly, took their own lives. But this is absolutely not the case with us. That is why their deeds are forgotten, and ours are glorified and increase every day. Presenting all this, Paul said, "The weakness of God is stronger than all men."

What does he say about them? That when Christ was taken, in spite of His innumerable miracles, some of them fled, and the chief of them who remained denied (Mark 14:50,68). Why did those who, during Christ's lifetime, could not bear the attacks of the Jews, after His death and burial, decide to go against the whole world, if, as you say, He did not rise, did not converse with them, and did not strengthen them? Could they not say to themselves, What is this? He could not save Himself—how can He deliver us? He could not avenge Himself during His lifetime – how can He give us a helping hand after His death? He did not subdue a single nation during His lifetime—how can we convince the whole world by proclaiming His name? Isn't it strange not only to do this, but even to think about it? From this it is clear that if they had not seen Him resurrected and had not received the greatest proofs of His power, they would not have dared to undertake such a dangerous deed. If they had had an innumerable number of friends, would they not have turned them all into enemies, changing the ancient customs and abolishing the laws of the fathers? But everyone was hostile to them, both their own and others. If they were distinguished by all the outward advantages, would they not have aroused universal enmity against themselves by introducing a new way of life? Yet they had nothing, and it was therefore natural that they were hated and despised by all. Who should I point you to? Is it against the Jews? They had an unspeakable hatred for them for their Master. Is it against the Gentiles? And these no less abhorred them, as the pagans themselves know better. Plato, who wished to introduce a new civil government, or rather a part of the government, and not touching the gods, but only changing some customs for others, was in danger of dying an exile in Sicily; although this did not happen, he was nevertheless deprived of his liberty; and if there had not been another foreigner kinder than the ruler of Sicily, this philosopher would certainly have remained forever a slave in a foreign country. Meanwhile, innovations in civil matters are not yet so dangerous as in matters of faith; the latter especially irritate people and confuse them. To say that so-and-so should marry so-and-so, or that the guards should guard in such and such a way, cannot cause much confusion, especially if such ordinances remain in the book, and the legislator does not care much to put them into effect. But to say that the gods worshipped are not gods, but demons, that the true God is the Crucified One, this, you know, is what kindled anger, what kind of revenge it stirred up, what kind of warfare it caused.