I know that you do not like to hear this; But I'm sorry. I say this out of concern for your salvation, and wishing that you would rather suffer a little trouble here and be delivered from eternal punishment, than that you would be subjected to eternal torment after rejoicing a little here. After all, if you listen to my words and put aside your former carelessness, especially now, when there is not much time left for you during the Holy Forty Days, then you will be able to wash away your sins and deserve great mercy from God. The Lord does not need many days and (long) time; no, if we wish, then in these two weeks we will have time to correct ourselves from many sins. If He showed such love to the Ninevites because they performed three days of repentance, how much more will He not despise us, if only we show sincere repentance, and, abandoning sin, enter the path of virtue. So also of them, that is, the Ninevites, the Divine Scripture testifies: "God saw that every man had turned from the way of his evil one" (Jonah 3:10). Therefore, if He sees that we too have turned to virtue and have turned away from sin, and are zealous for doing good works, He will also accept our conversion, and having freed us from the burden of sins, He will give us His gifts. It is not so much that we ourselves desire deliverance from sins and seek salvation, as He hastens and hastens to grant us both deliverance from sins and the blessedness of salvation.

But if anyone sees himself still in the grip of a (sinful) habit and still in the same sins, let him do violence to his soul, demand an account of such carelessness, and do not allow it to continue further, but, ceasing to obey the sinful habit, stop its striving, restrain the thought, bring to mind the terrible day, meditate on the communion of this terrible meal, on the brilliance of the fire that proceeds from it and its scorching power, and what is required of the approaching soul, pure from all defilement and uncleanness, and having expelled from itself iniquitous thoughts, so that, having thus prepared and, as far as possible, purified ourselves during these days, we may be partakers in this enjoyment (of the holy mysteries), and be worthy of those ineffable blessings which God has promised to those who love Him, through the grace and love of mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, With Whom be glory, dominion, and honor to the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

DISCOURSE 25

"And Noah was six hundred years after the flood of waters came upon the earth" (Gen. 7:6).

1. I want to take up again the same subject about which I recently talked with your love, and consider again the story of the righteous Noah. In fact, great is the wealth of virtues of this righteous man, and we must, as far as possible, examine everything in detail, in order to be of the greatest benefit to you. Only strain, I beg you, to pay attention, so that not a single thought contained (in this narration) is hidden from you. But first it is necessary to remind your love where our previous instruction stopped, so that, having begun the word today, we may unite it with the preceding and the following. In this way, the present word will be clear to you. Where did our teaching stop? "The Lord said to Noah, Enter thou and all thy family into the ark: for I have seen thee righteous before me in this generation; and every clean beast thou shalt take seven, and of the unclean cattle two... for after seven days I will pour rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will destroy all that exists that I have created from off the face of the earth," from man to cattle. "Noah did all that the Lord commanded him" (Gen. 7:1-2, 4-5). At this point we stopped speaking, and stopped teaching. You yourselves, perhaps, remember when we told your love about the reason why God commanded Noah to bring in from the clean by seven, and from the unclean by two. Let us consider further reading today, and see what the divine Scripture tells us after Noah's entry into the ark. If at any other time, then especially now we must show great zeal – now, when, for the sake of the Lenten time, we so often enjoy the most pleasant conversation with you, and are free from satiety with pleasures, and, with an excited mind, we can attentively listen to the proposed teaching. So, it is necessary to say how we began today's reading. "And Noah was six hundred years," it is said, "as the flood of water came upon the earth." Be careful, please, and do not skim these words superficially. In these brief words a certain richness is hidden, and if we strain our minds, we can learn from them both the extraordinary height of the Lord's love for mankind and the great increase in the malice of the people of that time. "And Noah was," it is said, "six hundred years." It is not without reason that the Divine Scripture has told us here the number of years of the righteous, and not only so that we may know how old the righteous man was, but because it has already informed us that "Noah was five hundred years" (Gen. 5:31). Having informed us of such a number of years, (the Scriptures) then told us about the strong desire of people for vice, "for the thinking of the heart of man is evil from youth" (Gen. 8:21), which is why God said: "My Spirit shall not forever be despised by men; for they are flesh" (Gen. 6:3), foretelling them with these words about His great wrath. Further, in order to give them ample time to repent and avoid wrath, (God) says: "Let their days be a hundred and twenty years," that is, I will endure even after five hundred years, because this righteous man did not cease, for five hundred years, to admonish all of them in his own name, and, if only they would listen, he inspired them to abandon sin and turn to virtue. With all this, says God, even now I promise to endure another hundred and twenty years, so that they, taking advantage of this time as they should, will turn away from wickedness and begin to do good. However, (God) was not satisfied with this promise of a hundred and twenty years, but still commands the righteous man to build an ark, so that the very appearance of the ark would give them sufficient admonition, and none of them would be ignorant of the greatness of the threatening punishment. The very fact that this righteous man, who had attained the highest perfection, was so concerned about the building of the ark, could have already led all the prudent to fear and apprehension, and forced them to propitiate such a meek and humane Lord. If, indeed, those barbarians, that is, the Ninevites... Again, they must be presented as an example, so that the excessive impiety of these (Noah's contemporaries) and the great gratitude of them (the Ninevites) may be more clearly revealed. And our Lord Himself, on that dreadful day of judgment, will set some servants against others, and then He will pronounce condemnation (on sinners), rebuking them for having received the same means and blessings (as the righteous), and did not strive like them in virtue. He often makes comparisons and unequal sides, in order to subject the careless to all the greater condemnation. That is why he said in the Gospel: "The Ninevites will rise up to judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for they have repented because of the preaching of Jonah; and behold, here is greater than Jonah" (Matt. 12:41). As if He had said so: barbarians who did not use any special guidance, who did not hear prophetic teachings, who did not contemplate signs, who did not see miracles, but who heard from one man who had escaped from shipwreck such words as could plunge them into utter despair and bring them to extremity, to contempt for his very words – these barbarians not only did not disregard the words of the prophet, but, having received a short period of three days, they showed such strong and zealous repentance that they rejected God's decree. It is they, he says, who will condemn this generation, which enjoyed such great care from Me, was brought up in the books of the prophets, and saw signs and wonders every day. Further, in order to show both the extreme unbelief of the Jews and the unspeakable obedience of the Ninevites, the Lord added: "For they repented because of the preaching of Jonah; and behold, there is more Jonah here." They, he says, when they saw the poor man, Jonah, accepted his preaching, and brought the strictest repentance; but these, seeing the much greater Jonah, the Creator of all creation, Who was converted among them, performed so many and great miracles every day, cleansed lepers, raised the dead, corrected natural defects, cast out demons, healed diseases, and granted remission of sins with full authority, did not show the same faith as the barbarians.

2. But let us return to the order of the word, so that you may know both the extreme insensibility of Noah's contemporaries and the great gratitude of the Ninevites, how these, being limited to a period of three days, did not despair of their salvation, but, hastening to repent, washed away their sins, and were counted worthy of the mercy of the Lord, and they, having received a hundred and twenty-year respite for repentance, did not use it for good. That is why the Lord, seeing their extreme corruption and complete stagnation in vice, brings upon them a speedy destruction, and thus destroys and uproots the evil leaven of their wickedness. That is why it is said, "And Noah was six hundred years after the flood of water came upon the earth." Now we know that when God's threat and prediction was made, Noah was five hundred years old, and when the flood came, he was six hundred years old. This means that a hundred years have passed in between; but even these hundred years they did not make use of, although the very construction of the ark by Noah so strongly enlightened them. But perhaps someone will want to know why the Lord, having said: "Their days shall be a hundred and twenty years," and having promised to endure so many years, brought the flood before the end of these years. And this is the greatest proof of His love for mankind. He saw that people sin incorrigibly every day, and not only do they not use His ineffable long-suffering for their own good, but also multiply their wounds; therefore he shortened the term, so that they would not become worthy of even greater punishment. And what, you ask, would be an even greater punishment than this? There is, beloved, a punishment that is greater, and more terrible, and unending – punishment in the age to come. Some, having suffered punishment here, although they will not escape the torment there, will nevertheless suffer a lighter punishment, reducing the greatness of the torments there by the sufferings here. Listen to how Christ speaks about this, prophesying woe to Bethsaida. "Woe unto thee, Chorazin," saith He, "woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the powers manifested in you had been manifested in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, that the land of Sodom shall be more pleasing in the day of judgment than unto thee" (Matt. 11:21,24; 10:15). Do you see, beloved, how by the word "more joyful" the Lord has shown that those who have been subjected to such a great punishment here, who have suffered such an unusual and strange burning, although they will be punished there, will be punished very lightly, because they have already experienced such wrath here? Thus, so that Noah's contemporaries, in multiplying their iniquities, would not deserve a greater punishment, the good and humane Lord, seeing their impenitence, shortened the time that He had promised to endure. Just as in relation to those who show themselves to be obedient, He, in His inherent goodness, cancels His sentences, accepts those who convert, and delivers them from threatening punishment, so, on the contrary, when He promises to grant either some blessings or time for repentance, but sees that people have become unworthy, then He cancels His promises. For this reason He said through the prophet: "Sometimes I will say of a nation and a kingdom, that I will root it out, and crush it, and destroy it; but if this people, upon whom I have spoken these things, turn from their evil deeds, I will put aside the evil which I have thought to do them" (Jeremiah 18:7-8), and further: "And sometimes I will say of any" nation and kingdom, "that I will establish and establish it; but if he does evil in my eyes, and does not obey my voice, I will take away the good with which I would have done him good" (Jeremiah 18:9-10). Do you see how He takes from us a reason to show us either mercy or wrath? For this reason, even now, since (Noah's contemporaries) did not take advantage of the proper increase in time, He shortens the period. That is why Blessed Paul also said to insensitive people who rejected the salvation granted to us through repentance: "Do you despise the riches of God's goodness, meekness, and longsuffering, not understanding that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But according to thy stubbornness and impenitent heart, thou hast stored up for thyself wrath for the day of wrath, and the revelation of righteous judgment from God" (Romans 2:4-5). Do you see how this wonderful teacher of the universe has clearly shown us that those who do not make proper use of God's long-suffering, which is given to us for repentance, deserve greater condemnation and punishment? That is why even now the loving God, as if justifying Himself and showing the reason why He brought the flood before the end of the time, points out to us the number of years of the righteous man, and says: "And Noah was six hundred years." For those who have not wanted to change for a hundred years, what profit would they have gained from twenty years, unless they added to their sins? For His part, God, wishing to show the immeasurable greatness of His unspeakable love for mankind and goodness, did not fail to announce to them seven days in advance that the flood was approaching, so that they, being amazed at this shortness of time, would discover some kind of change.

3. See the Lord's love for mankind also from the various ways in which He, like a skilful physician, healed the illness of these people. Since their wounds were incurable, He gave them such a long respite, wishing that they, even though they had been brought to their senses by the length of time, would deflect His wrathful sentence. Since God cares about our salvation, he usually always predicts what punishments he wants to bring about, only in order not to bring them. If He had wanted to lead, He would not have said; but He foretells with the intention that we, having learned of these things and been made aware of them by fear, should turn away our wrath and revoke His sentences. Nothing pleases Him so much as our conversion and transition from sin to virtue. See how He healed the illness of these people. At first He gave them such a long respite for repentance, then, when He saw their insensibility, for which they did not take advantage of such a long time, already before the very doors, so to speak, of the flood, He predicted, however, not three days in advance, as in the Ninevites, but seven days in advance. Knowing the boundless love of humanity of our Lord, I boldly say that even in seven days, if they had wanted to sincerely repent, they would have averted the calamity of the flood from themselves. And when neither the former long delay nor the last short period could turn them away from sin, God brought a flood upon them when Noah was six hundred years old: "And Noah was six hundred years old, since the flood of water came upon the earth." Do you see, beloved, how useful it was to know the number of years of the righteous man, how old he was when the flood came? Now let us consider what is said next. When the flood came, it is said, "Noah and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, entered into the ark out of the waters of the flood" (Gen. 7:7). "And of the clean beasts, and of the unclean beasts, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, they entered in two by two, male and female, and entered into the ark unto Noah, as God commanded Noah" (Gen. 7:8-9). It is not without reason that it is added, "As God commanded Noah," but in order to give praise again to the righteous man, because he did all things as the Lord commanded, and omitted nothing that was said to him from Him. "In seven days," as the Lord promised, "the waters of the flood came upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month" (Gen. 7:10-11). Notice the accuracy of the Scriptures, as it shows us not only the year, but also the month, and even the day on which the flood occurred, in order to bring the following people to their senses more strongly and to make the event more terrible, it says: "On this day all the fountains of the great deep were opened, and the windows of heaven were opened; and rain poured down upon the earth forty days and forty nights" (Gen. 7:11-12). See what condescension the Holy Scriptures use here as well, how they speak of everything in a human way. Not that there are slabs in heaven, but the Scriptures are expressed in our usual words, as if to say: the Lord only commanded – and the water immediately obeyed the command of the Creator, and, flowing from all sides, drowned the whole world. And that God brought a flood of forty days and nights, and this again serves as the greatest testimony of His love for mankind. In His great goodness, He wanted at least some of them to come to their senses and avoid ultimate destruction, seeing before their eyes both the death of their neighbors and the calamity threatening them. In fact, one may think that on the first day a considerable part of the people were already drowned, and on the second even more; and so it was on the third and other days. That is why God appointed the flood to last forty days and forty nights, in order to take away from them any reason for justification. If He had willed and commanded, He could have drowned everything in an instant; but since He heeded His love for mankind, He appointed such a length of time. Further it says: "On this very day Noah entered into the ark, and Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, and all the beasts after their kind, as God commanded Noah (Gen. 7:13-14). When, that is, the flood began at the command of the Lord, Noah entered into the ark with his sons and his wife, and with the wives of his sons, and the beasts of all kinds went in with him. "And the Lord God shut the ark behind him" (Gen. 7:16).

4. Notice here also the condescension in the word. "God shut the ark behind him" – to show us that He has made the righteous man in perfect safety. "Shut it up," and moreover "from without," so that the righteous could not see how everything was perishing, and thereby feel the strongest sorrow. He was already grieving and indignant when he only imagined in his mind this terrible flood and imagined the destruction of the human race, the total extermination of all animals, and people, and cattle, and, so to speak, the destruction of the earth itself. Even though those who perished were evil people, the souls of the righteous usually feel great sorrow when they see people in misfortune. Therefore, you will find that all the righteous and prophets interceded for the guilty, for example, the patriarch (Abraham) for the Sodomites (Gen. 18:25). And of the prophets, for example, one said: "O Lord God! wilt thou destroy all the remnant of Israel" (Ezek. 9:8), and another: "Thou hast left men as fish in the sea, as creeping things, which have no ruler" (Habakhek 1:14)? If, therefore, the righteous man was already troubled in spirit and grieved in heart, then in order that the very sight (of universal destruction) should not plunge him into still greater contrition, God shut him up in the ark, as it were in prison, so that he could not see with his own eyes what was happening and thereby become timid. Naturally, seeing the extreme increase in the water, he would have become anxious not to drown himself. Thus, sparing him, God the lover of mankind does not allow him to see either the swiftness of the waters, or how the destruction (of people) and the desolation of the universe took place. When I think of the presence of this righteous man in the ark, I am amazed and amazed, and attribute everything to the same love of God.

Those who sail on the sea, even if the waves increase, can look up to the sky, see the tops of the mountains and a distant city, and receive at least a little relief from this. And even if the storm grows stronger and furious to the extreme, they nevertheless, after ten days or more, after many dangers and storms, being thrown to the ground and somewhat calmed, forget all these misfortunes. But this is not the case at all; on the contrary, Noah lived for a whole year in this unusual and strange prison, not being able even to breathe the air. How, indeed, could he do this, when the ark was firmly shut on all sides? How did he endure, tell me, how did he endure? Even if their bodies were of iron and adamant, how could they live without the use of air or wind, which usually refreshes our body no less than air, and without being able to nourish the eyes with the sight of the sky, or with the variety of flowers that adorn the earth? How could they, having lived like this for so long, not become completely blind? And if we wanted to judge this on human grounds, we would have to consider whence they obtained sufficient water to drink while they lived in the ark. But, leaving this, (I ask)

How could this righteous man, with all those who were in the ark, endure so long? Only with the help of a higher, omnipotent power. Was it not the work of a higher power that the ark rushed hither and thither, without a helmsman, and did not perish from such a pressure of the waves? Nor can it be said that the ark was (built) in the likeness of a ship, and from this it was possible, with the help of art, to direct its course. The ark was firmly guarded on all sides, and, by the command of the Lord, the swiftness of the water did not harm it; on the contrary, having risen above it, he kept his inhabitants in perfect safety.

Therefore, beloved, when God does something, do not dare to examine His works for human reasons: they exceed our understanding, and the human mind is never able to comprehend and comprehend what He has done.

5. Therefore, when we hear God's commands, we must believe and obey His words. As the Creator of nature, He transforms and changes everything by His will. "And the Lord God shut the ark after him." Great is the virtue, and the faith of this righteous man is also strong. After all, she helped him both to build an ark and to endure a cramped life in such a dwelling, together with animals and all other animals. For this reason the blessed Paul, remembering him, in praise of him, exclaimed thus: "By faith Noah, having received a revelation of things that were not yet seen, reverently prepared an ark for the salvation of his house; by it he condemned the world, and became heir of righteousness by faith" (Hebrews 11:7). Do you see how faith in God, like a strong anchor, sustained him in the fact that he built the ark and could live in it? It also served him as a means to salvation: "by it," it is said, "he condemned the whole world, and became heir of righteousness by faith." Not that Noah himself condemned (his contemporaries); no, the Lord condemned them by comparison (them with Noah), because they, having all the same things as the righteous man, did not follow the same path of virtue as him. So Noah, by the faith that he showed, condemned these people who showed complete unbelief: they did not believe the prediction (of the flood). And I, in spite of all this, am especially amazed at the virtue of the righteous man, and the ineffable goodness and love of mankind of the Lord, when I think how he could live among the beasts, that is, lions, lynxes, bears, and other wild and indomitable animals.

Remember here, beloved, the high power that the first man enjoyed before the crime, and meditate on the goodness of God. Since the disobedience of the first man diminished the authority granted to him, and then God found another man who tried to restore in himself the ancient image, preserved the purity of virtue and showed deep obedience to the commandments, He also raises him to his former dignity, as if by experience showing us the greatness of the power that Adam had before the disobedience. In this way, the virtue of the righteous man, supported by the grace of God, restored its former power, and the beasts again recognized their submission. In fact, the beasts, as soon as they see the righteous, immediately forget their nature, or rather, not nature, but their cruelty, and, remaining the same in nature, they turn from fierce into meek. And so, this very thing happened to Daniel. Being surrounded by lions, he remained fearless, as if he were among sheep: the boldness of the righteous man restrained the nature of the beasts and did not allow them to show their brutality. In the same way, the wondrous Noah easily lived together with the beasts, and neither the narrowness of the place, nor the length of time, nor such confinement, nor the deprivation of air, could bring him into a daze, but everything was relieved to him by faith in God, and he lived in this terrible prison as we do among meadows and groves. The Lord's command made it easy for him to do what was difficult. Such is the property of the righteous: when they endure for God, they do not look at what is being done, but reflect on the cause, and easily endure everything. In the same way, Paul, the teacher of tongues, called prisons, attacks, daily dangers, manifold and intolerable sorrows easy, not because they were such in themselves, but because the reason for which they were allowed placed him in such a disposition that he did not pay attention to the calamities that befell him. Listen to what he says: "For our slight affliction for a short time produces eternal glory beyond measure" (2 Corinthians 4:17). Hope, he says, of future glory and eternal bliss helps us to endure these continuous sorrows with good humor and to consider them light. Do you see how love for God takes away the strength of misfortunes and does not even allow (believers) to feel their weight? That is why Blessed Noah endured everything complacently: he was nourished by faith and hope in God. "And he shut," it is said, "and the Lord shut after him. And the flood continued on the earth forty days, and the waters abounded, and lifted up the ark" (Gen. 7:17-18). See again how (the Scriptures) increase the fear and increase the event by their story. "There was a flood," it says, "on the earth forty days, and the waters multiplied, and lifted up the ark, and it rose above the earth; and the waters increased and multiplied greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters. And the waters of the earth increased exceedingly" (Gen. 7:17-19).

6. See how (the Scriptures) tell us in detail about the strong pressure of the waters, how they rose more and more every day. "The waters of the earth were exceedingly increased," it is said, so that all the high mountains that are under the whole sky were covered; the waters rose up over them fifteen cubits, and the mountains were covered" (Gen. 7:19-20). The Lord, the lover of mankind, wisely arranged the ark, so that the righteous would not see what was being done.