The Holy Gospel has told us today that the Pharisees, not satisfied with the miracles performed by the Lord, demanded of Him a special miracle: a sign from heaven [860]. The demand for such a sign, in accordance with some strange concept of signs and wonders, was repeated more than once, as the Lord also testified: this generation seeks a sign [861]. The Sadducees, who differed so much in their faith from the Pharisees, took part in the demand of the Pharisees [862]. The desire for a sign from heaven was sometimes expressed by the people. Thus, after the miraculous multiplication of the five loaves of bread and the feeding of the crowded assembly, in which there were five thousand men, with the exception of wives and children, the eyewitnesses of this miracle, the participants of this meal, said to the Lord: "Wherefore dost Thou do a sign, that we may see and have faith in Thee?" Our fathers poisoned manna in the wilderness, as it is written: Bread from heaven gave them food [863]. For them, the wondrous multiplication of the loaves in the hands of the Saviour seemed insufficient: it was accomplished with silence, with holy humility, which permeated all the actions of the God-Man, and they needed a spectacle, they needed an effect. They needed the sky to be covered with thick clouds, so that thunder roared and lightning flashed, so that bread fell out of the air. Of the same nature was the demand for a miracle from the God-Man by the Jewish bishops and the leaders of the people, when the God-Man deigned to be taken up on the cross. The bishop, cursing, tells the Gospel, with the scribes and elders and (Pharisees), saying: "Thou hast saved another, can he not save Himself? If there be a King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we believe in Him [864]. They recognize the miracles performed by the Lord as miracles, and mock them together; mocking, they reject them; rejecting the miracles granted by the mercy of God, they demand a miracle according to their own composition and discretion, a miracle which, if it were to be performed, would destroy the purpose of the coming of the God-Man to earth, would not follow the redemption of men. Among those who wanted to see a miracle from the Lord, with which frivolity, curiosity, and recklessness intended to amuse themselves, there is also Herod [865]. This needed a sign for a pleasant pastime; when he did not get what he wanted, he showered ridicule upon the Lord, and thus gave himself a moment of amusement. What does it mean – the general demand for miracles from the God-Man, expressed by people of such diverse tendency, a demand combined with disregard for the amazing miracles performed by the God-Man? Such a requirement is an expression of the concepts of carnal wisdom about miracles.

What is carnal wisdom? This is a way of thinking about God and about everything spiritual, borrowed by man from his state of fallenness, and not from the Word of God. The quality of enmity to God and resistance to God, with which carnal wisdom is infected and filled, is expressed with particular clarity in the demand from the God-Man for miracles according to the concept of a falsely named mind, in the inattention paid to miracles, in the rejection and condemnation of the miracles performed by the God-Man in His ineffable goodness. He accomplished them, being God's power and God's wisdom [866].

Part One

It was a grave sin to demand a miracle from the God-Man, a demand made on the basis and from the principles of carnal wisdom. The God-man, hearing this bold, blasphemous demand, sighed in His Spirit, saying: "Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say unto you, if a sign be given unto this generation. And leave them, depart [867].

There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents: so, on the contrary, the celestials are saddened by man's fall into sin and the sinner's rejection of repentance [868]. In the grace-filled contemplation of God's infinite goodness to mankind, in the contemplation of God's goodwill that all men might be saved, the great Macarius ventured to say that the all-holy, impassible God himself is embraced by the weeping proper to God for the destruction of men. The Spirit of God is not alien to the highest understanding of our lamentation, and the Spirit, having dwelt in man, intercedes for him with sighs that cannot be uttered [870]. Such a sigh was aroused in the Son of God by the demand for a miracle, a demand that was proud and foolish. He sighed in His Spirit, saying, "What does this generation seek for a sign?" This question was God's answer to God's demand for a sign, which was hostile to God. What a deep weeping is heard, the weeping of God in this answer! In it one hears, as it were, an expression of bewilderment produced by the absurdity and audacity of the petition! It shows the loss of hope for the salvation of people who have uttered a petition that is contrary to the Spirit of the Giver of salvation. Those who are sealed by carnal wisdom, who persist in it, who are incurably infirm, are abandoned by the Lord: He gives them over to themselves, He gives them over to perdition, accepted arbitrarily, retained arbitrarily. And leave them, go away. Exactly: for the wisdom of the flesh is death [871]. It is characteristic of the dead not to feel their mortification: it is characteristic of carnal wisdom not to understand and not to feel the destruction of man. Because of its unconsciousness of its perdition, it is not aware of the need for revival, and, on the basis of a false consciousness of life, it has rejected and rejects true life, God.

Can a sign from heaven have a special certainty? Those who demanded such a sign, of course, demanded it, attributing to it this certainty. Can we conclude that a sign from heaven is necessarily a sign from God? from the Divine Scriptures the opposite is evident. The very expression "a sign from heaven" is very vague: then, and even now, most people who are not familiar with the sciences refer to heaven that which takes place in the air and in the space above the air. Thus, the sun, the moon, and the stars are recognized as being in the sky, while they float in space; Rain, thunder, lightning [872] are called heavenly phenomena, while these phenomena occur in the air, in the earthly atmosphere, and belong positively to the earth. The Holy Scriptures tell us that, by the action of the devil, fire fell from heaven and burned the sheep and shepherds of the righteous Job [873]. It is obvious that this fire was formed in the air, as lightning is formed in it. Simon the sorcerer amazed the blind people with miracles, who recognized the power of Satan at work in them as the great power of God [874]. Simon especially astonished the idolaters of the Romans, when, in a large assembly of them, declaring himself a god and his intention to ascend to heaven, suddenly began to rise into the air; Blessed Simeon Metaphrastes tells about this, borrowing a story from the most ancient Christian writers [875]. A terrible calamity is the lack of true knowledge of God in man: it mistakes the works of the devil for the works of God. Before the Second Coming of Christ, when Christianity, spiritual knowledge and reasoning will be extremely impoverished among men, false Christs and false prophets will arise and give great signs and wonders, as to deceive, if possible, even the elect [876]. In particular, the Antichrist himself will lavish miracles, smite and satisfy carnal wisdom and ignorance with them: he will give them a sign from heaven, which they seek and thirst for. His coming, says the holy Apostle Paul, will be accomplished by the work of Satan in all power, and in false signs and wonders, and in all the flattery of unrighteousness in those who are perishing, not loving the truth, so that they may be saved [877]. Ignorance and carnal wisdom, having seen these miracles, will not stop at all to ponder: they will immediately accept them according to the affinity of their spirit with their spirit, because of their blindness, they will recognize and confess the action of Satan as the greatest manifestation of the power of God. The Antichrist will be received very hastily, thoughtlessly. People will not understand that his miracles have no good, rational purpose, no definite meaning, that they are alien to the truth, full of lies, that they are monstrous, all-malicious, senseless acting, which is trying to surprise, to lead to bewilderment and self-forgetfulness, to deceive, to deceive, to carry away with the charm of a luxurious, empty, stupid effect.

It is not strange that the miracles of the Antichrist will be accepted unquestioningly and with enthusiasm by apostates from Christianity, enemies of the truth, enemies of God: they have prepared themselves for an open, active acceptance of the messenger and instrument of Satan, his teaching, all his actions, having entered into communion with Satan in the spirit in good time. It is worthy of deep attention and lamentation that the miracles and deeds of the Antichrist will lead to embarrassment for the very chosen ones of God. The reason for the strong influence of the Antichrist on people will lie in his infernal cunning and hypocrisy, with which the most terrible evil will be skillfully covered, in his unbridled and shameless audacity, in the most abundant assistance of fallen spirits, and finally, in his ability to work miracles, albeit false, but amazing. The human imagination is powerless to imagine a villain, such as the Antichrist will be; It is not characteristic of the human heart, even a corrupt one, to believe that evil can reach the degree that it will reach in the Antichrist. He will trumpet about himself, as his forerunners and icons trumpeted about themselves, he will call himself a preacher and restorer of the true knowledge of God: those who do not understand Christianity will see in him a representative and champion of the true religion, and will join him. He will sound the trumpet, he will call himself the promised Messiah; The pupils of carnal wisdom will exclaim in greeting Him, seeing His glory, power, genius abilities, and the most extensive development in the elements of the world, they will proclaim Him a god, and will become His companions [879]. The Antichrist will show himself to be meek, merciful, full of love, full of every virtue; those recognize him as such, and will submit to him because of his most exalted virtue, who recognize fallen human truth as truth, and have not renounced it for the truth of the Gospel [880]. The Antichrist will offer mankind the dispensation of the highest earthly well-being and well-being, will offer honors, wealth, splendor, carnal comforts and pleasures; seekers of the earthly will accept the Antichrist and call him their master [881]. The Antichrist will reveal to mankind a disgrace of astounding miracles, inexplicable by modern science, similar to the cunning performances of the theater; he will strike fear with the thunder and wonder of his miracles, satisfy with them reckless curiosity and gross ignorance, satisfy human vanity and pride, satisfy carnal wisdom, satisfy superstition, perplex human learning; all men who are guided by the light of their fallen nature, who have alienated themselves from the guidance of the light of God, will be drawn into obedience to the deceiver [882]. The signs of the Antichrist will mainly appear in the air layer [883]: in this layer Satan predominates [884]. Signs will have the greatest effect on the sense of sight, enchanting and deceiving it [885]. St. John the Theologian, contemplating in revelation the events of the world that must precede his death, says that the Antichrist will accomplish great works, and will cause fire to descend from heaven to earth before men [886]. This sign is indicated by the Scriptures as the highest of the signs of the Antichrist, and the place of this sign is the air: it will be a magnificent and terrible sight. The signs of the Antichrist will complement the actions of his cunning behavior: they will catch the majority of people following him. Opponents of the Antichrist will be considered rebels, enemies of the public good and order, will be subjected to both open and covert persecution, will be subjected to torture and execution. The evil spirits sent throughout the universe will arouse in people a general lofty opinion of the Antichrist, a general rapture, an irresistible attraction to him [887]. The Scriptures depicted in many ways the severity of the last persecution of Christianity and the cruelty of the persecutor. The decisive and definite line is the name given by the Scriptures to this terrible man: he is called a beast [888], because the fallen angel is called a serpent [889]. Both names faithfully depict the character of both enemies of God. One acts more secretly, the other more openly; but to the beast, which has a resemblance to all beasts [890], uniting in himself their manifold ferocity, the serpent gave him his power and his throne and a great region [891].

Only with the special assistance of Divine grace, under its guidance, will God's elect be able to resist the enemy of God, to confess the Lord Jesus before him and before men.

A direct consequence of what has been said is that the Pharisees and Sadducees, demanding from the Lord a sign from heaven, demanded a miracle in the nature of the miracles of the Antichrist. The fact that they demanded just such a miracle explains the Lord's behavior in relation to their demand. Once, at such a demand, the God-Man expressed deep grief, refused the demand more than decisively, no longer wanted to be with those who allowed themselves to make a demand, and withdrew from them. On another occasion He gave them the following formidable answer: "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh a sign: and a sign shall not be given unto it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet." All those who required signs are called generations because of their affinity with each other in spirit; they are called an adulterous generation, because they have entered into communion with Satan in their spirit,[893] having broken communion with God; they are called the evil generation, because, being aware of the miracles of the God-man, they pretended not to be aware of them; despising and blaspheming the miracles of God, they asked for a miracle in accordance with their unfortunate mood, their spirit. The petition for a sign from heaven was not so much a petition for a miracle as a mockery of the miracles of the God-Man and the expression of an ignorant, perverse concept of miracles. The sign of Jonah the prophet, according to the explanation of the Saviour Himself [894], signified the signs that accompanied His death and resurrection. Then a sign of God was given from heaven! Then the sun, seeing the Lord crucified, was darkened at noon; there was a deep darkness everywhere that lasted for three hours; the curtain of the temple of Jerusalem was torn in two of its own accord, from the upper edge to the lower; an earthquake occurred; the stones were scattered, the tombs were opened; Many saints were resurrected and appeared to many in the holy city [895]. At the very resurrection of the Lord, an earthquake followed again; the light-bearing Angel descended from heaven to the tomb of the Lord, as a witness to the resurrection, and struck with terror the guards assigned to the tomb by seekers of a sign from heaven [896]. The guards announced the Lord's resurrection to the Jewish Sanhedrin. He, having received a sign from heaven, expressed the contempt and hatred for it that he had expressed for all the previous miracles of the God-Man, bribed the guards, and together with them took care to cover the miracle of God with the darkness of falsehood [897].

Let us now turn to the consideration of the miracles wrought by our Lord Jesus Christ. They are God's gift to humanity. The gift was not given out of duty: it was given solely out of grace and mercy. Men were obliged to behave in relation to the gift and to the Giver of the gift with the greatest reverence and prudence, because the Giver of the gift declared Himself to be the God who received mankind for the salvation of men, and the gift to be His testimony. The gift had an undeniable dignity. But since the acceptance of salvation was left to the free will of men, it was left to men to consider the miracles of Christ, to discuss their authenticity and quality, to conclude from them about their Accomplishor, so that the recognition and acceptance of the Redeemer would be the result of free, positive conviction, and not of hasty, frivolous, as it were forcible infatuation. The miracles of Christ had complete definiteness. Concerning all of them we can say what the Lord said to the Apostle Thomas: "Bring forth thy finger, and see my hands: and bring thy hand, and put it into my side: and thou shalt not be unfaithful, but faithful" [898]. The miracles of Christ were tangible; they were clear to the simplest people; there was nothing mysterious about them; anyone could see them comfortably; There was no room for doubt and perplexity as to whether it was a miracle or only a miracle.

The miracles of the God-Man had a multitude of witnesses, most of whom were either hostile to Him, or inattentive, or sought only bodily help from Him. The miracles were irrefutable. The worst enemies of the Lord did not reject them, they only tried to humiliate them by blasphemous reinterpretation and by all the means that were inspired in them by deceit and malice. In the miracles of the Lord there was no vanity, no effect; not a single miracle is performed for the sake of men; all miracles were covered by the veil of Divine humility. They constitute a chain of blessings to suffering humanity. At the same time, they expressed with all satisfaction the power of the Creator over the material creation and over created spirits, expressed and proved the dignity of God, Who took upon Himself humanity, Who appeared as a man among men.

One of the miracles of the Lord, having a mysterious meaning, was not accompanied by any visible beneficence to any of the people, signifying the beneficence that was ready to be poured out on all mankind. The miracle was the killing of the barren fig tree, rich only in leaves [900]. This tree is mentioned in the Scriptures [901] among the trees of paradise in the story of the fall of the forefathers. It served them as its leaves to cover their nakedness, which the forefathers did not notice until they fell into sin, which sin revealed to them. Perhaps the fruit of the fig tree of paradise was the forbidden fruit. The Lord did not find fruit on the fig tree: He sought it on it untimely, He allowed His flesh to desire food untimely, which depicts the incorrectness of the desire of the forefathers, which, like all the infirmities of men, the Lord bore upon Himself and destroyed by Himself. Not finding fruit, the Lord rejected the leaves, destroyed the very existence of the tree: another tree, the tree of the cross, was already being prepared as an instrument for the salvation of men. The tree, the instrument of the destruction of men, is slain by the command of the Saviour of men. The mysterious miracle was performed in the presence of only the confidants of the mysterious teaching, the holy Apostles. It was accomplished just before the entry of the God-Man into the feat of redemptive suffering for humanity, before the ascension to the cross.

The Lord's miracles had a holy meaning, a holy purpose. Although they were great blessings in themselves, in the form of divine providence they served only as a testimony and proof of the incomparably higher beneficence. The Lord, having accepted mankind, brought to mankind an eternal, spiritual, priceless gift: salvation, healing from sin, resurrection from eternal death. The word of the Lord and the way of life manifested this gift with all satisfaction: in life the Lord was sinless, all-holy[903]; His word was full of power [904]. But men have fallen deep into the darkness and darkness of carnal wisdom; their hearts and minds are blinded. It turned out that a special condescension to the sickly state of people was necessary; it turned out to be necessary to give the clearest testimony for their bodily senses; it turned out to be necessary to impart vital knowledge by means of the bodily senses to the mind and heart, which died in their proper death, eternal death. To help the word of God, God's miracles are given. In order for people to understand and accept the spiritual gift, which is seen only by the eyes of the soul, the Lord added to the spiritual, eternal gift a gift similar to it, a temporary, bodily gift: the healing of human bodily illnesses. Sin is the cause of all ailments in man, both spiritual and physical, it is the cause of temporal and eternal death. The Lord, having manifested His power over the consequences of sin in human bodies, thereby revealed His power over sin in general. Carnal wisdom sees neither spiritual ailments nor eternal death: but it sees bodily ailments and the death of the body, it recognizes them, they have a great effect on it, they take care of it. The Lord, healing all the sick with a single word, with a single command, raising the dead, commanding unclean spirits, revealed His power, revealed God's power over man, over sin, over fallen spirits, manifested clearly for the bodily senses, for the very wisdom of the flesh. Seeing and feeling this power, it could and should, in a logical sequence, recognize the Lord's power over sin, not only in relation to sin to the body, but also in the relation of sin to the soul, to recognize the Lord's power over the soul itself, all the more so since in some of the Lord's miracles, as, for example, in the resurrection of the dead, His unlimited Divine power over both body and soul was revealed. The body was revived; the soul, which had already departed from this world to the world of spirits, was called into it, united with the body, from which it had already been separated forever. Signs were given to man within himself, not anywhere outside; man was given proofs of his salvation in himself, not far from him. Testimony to the eternal salvation of soul and body was given through the temporary salvation of the body from bodily ailments and bodily death. With a correct and pious view of the miracles of the Lord, they turn out to be filled with Divine reason: the demand for a sign from heaven turns out to be, as it was, devoid of meaning. There are rare cases when the power of the Lord was manifested outside of man over objects of material nature; But these cases did happen. They constitute a testimony that the Lord's power over all nature is an unlimited power, the power of God. These miracles serve as a supplement to those miracles that were good deeds to mankind in the very composition of man, so that the definition of the meaning that people had to give to the Redeemer of men would be the most accurate. As the purpose of the Lord's coming to earth was the salvation of man, so the Lord's care was focused on man, on the most elegant creation of the Lord, on His image, on His verbal temple. The land of our exile and suffering wandering, the earth, all material creation, in spite of its immensity, has been left unattended by Him. If some miracles have been performed in the midst of matter, they have been performed to satisfy the needs of men.