3. That the Teacher is philanthropic.

Being both man and God, the Lord helps man in everything and makes him happy in everything. Being God, He forgives sins; being a man, He educates him to sinlessness. Therefore man is rightly pleasing to God, (because) he is the creation of God's hands. God produced all other things by His omnipotent word, but created man with His own hands and breathed into him something that is peculiar to Him, God alone. Man, created by the hand of God and in the image of God, created by God Himself, is therefore a creature pleasing to God, either because of himself, or because of something else. If man is pleasing to God because of himself, then the unconditionally good God has decided concerning man in His counsel, which means that there is something good, and the charm of love in man means that there is something that we call the breath of God. But if we suppose that man is pleasing to God because of something else, then God created man for nothing else but because of this something; this means that creation could not be perfect without man: because then it could not have come to the thought of its Creator. Without humans, God would not have created the things He created for humans. Originally, God fulfilled His will hidden in Him alone perfectly through the external act of His creative omnipotence, so that man in himself, therefore, is the cause of his own being. And God saw whom He had in man; and man became what God was pleased to make him. There is nothing that God cannot bring to pass. Consequently, man is God's creation, he is certainly pleasing to God because of himself. But this shows that in general what is dear to someone is worthy of affection and love. If, however, there is nothing worthy of love, which at the same time would not constitute an object of Divine love, and man, as is shown, is a worthy being of love, then it follows that he is also pleasing to God. And how could he not have been loved by God, when for his sake the only-begotten Son of God, the Word (Logos), the object, the abundant source of our faith, the Lord, Who Himself clearly confesses and declares: "The Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me" (John 16:27); and again: "And I loved them, as I loved Me" (John 17:23)? So, what does the Teacher want from us? What does He preach both in word and deed? He gives commandments and prohibitions; some - clearly - for fulfillment, others - to prevent on our part actions that contradict those commandments. But it is equally certain that there is another kind of word, the teaching word; it is addressed to the intellectual faculty, expounds the subtleties, and its content is the contemplation of mysteries. However, this time we will not talk about this word. "But it is fitting that we, for our part, should testify by our very deeds to our love for Him Who so lovingly leads us along the path of perfection; – that we live according to the precepts of His commandments, that we not only do what is commanded, but avoid what is forbidden, but also warn ourselves with examples of moral life, partly encourage ourselves; in this way we will be like the Teacher in our way of acting, and His word about the image and likeness (Gen. 1:26) will be fulfilled as far as possible. Living, we wander as if in thick darkness; Therefore, we need a true and knowledgeable guide to life. But the best guide is, of course, not one of the blind, who, according to the expression of the Scriptures, will lead the blind into a pit, but the Logos, who has a penetrating eye and despises in his heart. - As there is no light that does not shine; just as there is nothing moving that does not move; - no love that would not evoke love: so there is nothing morally good that would not be useful and salutary. And so, let us follow the commandments which the Lord proclaims by His life; for the Logos, clothed with visible flesh, taught this and that virtue both by word and by example. If the Logos is accepted by us as law, then we will learn that His laws and commandments are the shortest and closest paths to heaven. These are the laws of love, not of intimidation.

4. That the Logos is the Teacher of both husbands and wives.

Embracing this good guidance of Love with a love that is ever fuller and stronger, let us trust – clinging to such a strong rope of faith – to the Lord in the conviction that this virtue should be the work of both husbands and wives alike. For if they both have the same God, then it means that they both have one and the same Teacher; this means that they also have one Church; this means that there is one and the same law of proportion for them, the same natural shame, the same food, the same marital relations, the same breathing, sight, hearing, reasoning, hope, Christian love; all this should be equally characteristic of them. But if all the conditions of life are common to them, then they participate in equal measure, which means that they also participate in grace, the path of salvation is the same for them, Christian love is equally valuable to them; and therefore they are subject to one and the same thing, and to their education by the Logos. The children of this world, it is said, marry and are given in marriage (Luke 20:34). Here (on earth) there is a difference between the male and female sexes; but on the other side of the grave there is no such distinction. The reward for a holy life here on earth, a sympathetic life, is promised not to a husband or wife, but to a person in general, a reward where the sexual desires, which here separate the two human sexes, disappear. There is also a common name for husband and wife, this is the word "man". In the same way, the Attics used the word (p a i d a r i o n) (child) to call a creature not only male, but also female; As witnesses to this, we can put forward the comedian Menander, who in his work "Zaushennaya" says: "My daughter; dear child, By nature it is very delicate. In the same way (a r n e V ) (sheep) is a mutual name for sheep both male and female. - So the Lord is our Shepherd forever. Amen. Without a shepherd, neither a sheep nor any other animal can live. In the same way, children cannot live without a Teacher, household members without a Master.

5. That all who seek the truth are children of God.

That pedagogy is bringing children to something is revealed from this very word. It is therefore recommended that they do not lose sight of the children spoken of in the Scriptures, and then assign a Pedagogue to them. Children are us. Scripture often calls us by this honorific name; still more often it expresses this simple religious concept symbolically, alternately using various other words for this. Thus, the Gospel says: Standing and guarding, the Lord called out to the disciples who were finishing the fish: Children! Do you have any food? (John 21:5) He calls the men who were in the position of disciples children. - It is also said that children were brought to Him to lay His hands on them, and to pray; But Jesus said, "Let the little children go, and forbid them not to come to me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 19:13-14). What the Lord wanted to say by this, He Himself interpreted in the words: "Except ye be converted, and be as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matt. 18:3). He does not speak allegorically about regeneration here, but recommends to us to imitate the simplicity of childish feeling. - And the Prophetic Spirit calls us children. Children, He says, plucked branches from olive trees and palm trees, and went to meet them. They cried out to the Lord: Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord (Matt. 21:9; John 12:13), i.e. "light, glory and praise with humble supplication to the Lord," for such is the meaning of the word "Hosanna" in translation. And it seems to me that by the reminder in this place of prophecy the Scripture wants to make the rebuke light-hearted. Have you never read, "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou made praise"? (Matt. 21:16; Psalm 8:3) Urging the disciples to be attentive to Him, since He wants to return to the Father; by the announcement that He would soon be separated from them, arousing in the hearers a jealousy that they should all the more abundantly store up the fruit from the tree of truth, plucking it from it in great numbers as never before that moment. On this occasion, the Lord again calls them children in the Gospel. Children! He says, "I will not be long with you" (John 13:33). And again He compares the kingdom of heaven to children who sit in the street and say: We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; We sang to you songs of lamentation, and you did not grieve; and He adds something like this. And it is not only the Gospel that thinks so, but David also says: "Praise the Lord, little children, praise the name of the Lord" (Psalm 112:1). And through Isaiah the Lord says: "Behold, I am, and the children whom the Lord hath given me" (Isaiah 8:18). Are you surprised to hear that men of age, and of Gentiles at that, are called children by the Lord? But it turns out that you are bad, it means that you know the Attic dialect, in which beautiful and blooming girls, and namely free ones, are called p a i d i s k a i, and those belonging to the slave class are called p a i d i s k a r i a; As long as they are still girls, they are called by this flattering and honorable name in relation to the flourishing state of childhood. And when the Lord says: "Let the lambs stand at my right hand" (Matt. 23:33), by this word He means children with their simple minds, because by nature children are lambs, and not men or sheep. He gives preference to lambs, highly appreciating in people innocence and simplicity of mind, the gentleness of their nature. And again, speaking of the calves that still feed on milk (Amos 6:4), He has us in mind; and when He speaks of guileless and gentle doves (Matt. 10:16), He has us in mind. Through Moses (Leviticus 15:29; 12:8; Luke 2:24) He commands the sacrifice of two young pigeons or a pair of turtledoves, which means that God is pleased with the innocence of these tender creatures, the simplicity and ability to forgive that is characteristic of these young animals. What makes people like these animals equally pleasing to God is their reconciliation with Him through the cleansing of sins. Further, by its timidity, the turtledove symbolically depicts the nature of sin, which inspires terror. And that by the chicks He means us, the Scripture testifies to this, saying: "As a bird gathereth His Shevks under her wings" (Matt. 23:37). Therefore, we are the Lord's chicks. - In an amazing and mysterious way, the Lord denotes the simplicity of the soul through childhood. He calls us, now children, sometimes chicks, sometimes infants, in other places sons, often youths, and young people, or new people. "My servants," He says, "will be given a new name (new, i.e., young, heavenly, unused, simple, childish, true name), which will be blessed on earth (Isaiah 63:15). Again He figuratively calls us foals, who did not bear the yoke of sin, free from the bonds of evil; in the prostate of the senses aspiring to the Father; not horses neighing at his neighbor's wife (Jeremiah 5:8), but free and newborn; playing with the joy of faith, galloping forward to the truth; moving swiftly on the path to salvation, trampling and crushing the things of this world with their feet. Rejoice with joy, O daughter of Zion; Rejoice, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee, righteous and saving, meek, sitting on a donkey and on a colt (Zech. 9:9; Gen. 49:I). He was not satisfied with the expression on the ass, but added on the young one, and by this he points to the rejuvenation of mankind brought about by Christ, and to the never-aging heavenly existence of simple feelings.

As such foals, therefore, as small ones, our Divine Foal Tamer brings us up. And if the young animal of which the Scripture speaks is an ass, how much more is the colt of an ass. He binds his colt to a grape dose, it is said; i.e. a simple people who were in childhood. He tied to the Logos, which is symbolically called the vine. Wine flows in the vine, blood flows in Christ. Both serve as a drink for a person that gives him life; wine for the body, blood for the spirit. That the Lord also calls us lambs, the Holy Spirit is a reliable witness to this in the Prophet Isaiah: "As a shepherd He shall shepherd His flock, and will take the lambs in His arms" (Isaiah 40:11). He makes the sheep still tender a symbol of simplicity of morals.

That is why we also introduce the word children into the name of the most beautiful and highest of the blessings of life and call them "the teaching of the child" p a i d e i a and "the education of children" p a i d a g w g i a. We consider the education of children to be their friendship with virtue from infancy.

The meaning of the name children was revealed to us more clearly by the Lord in connection with the dispute that took place between the apostles, which of them was greater (i.e., more powerful). Then the Lord placed a child among them and said: "Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same shall be greater in the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matt. 18:3). The name children was not used by Him, therefore, to denote a minor, as some have supposed; and His words: Except ye be as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven, except as nonsense, which is to be understood; for we are not little children who tend to lie on the ground; and we do not crawl on it like snakes, as we once did, wriggling with our whole bodies to achieve the goal of foolish desires; on the contrary, with a feeling turned forward, turning away from the world and sins, touching the earth only with the edges of our garments, as if we only visibly belonged to the earthly world, we strive for sacred wisdom, which seems foolishness only to those who are sophisticated in evil (Psalm 51:4) (1 Corinthians 2:14). In truth, therefore, children are those who recognize the one God as Father, being simple, innocent, and pure worshippers of the Unicorn. To those who move forward in the Logos (the Word) He calls and says that they should not be concerned about earthly things, and invites them only to turn to the Father, in imitation of children. That is why He says in the following: "Do not be anxious about tomorrow two: for tomorrow will take care of its own" (Matt. 6:34). Thus putting away from ourselves the cares of life, we must, in accordance with His commandment, gravitate only to the (heavenly) Father. And whoever fulfills this commandment, both before God and before the world, is truly like a little child; before the world he appears like this because here he is considered a fool; before God - because he is loved by God. But if there is one Teacher, the Heavenly Teacher, as the Scriptures affirm (Matt. 23:8), then with consistency all people on earth can be called disciples, for in reality the matter is as follows: perfection is contained in God, the Constant Teacher; but the childish and imperfect is characteristic of us, who are constantly in the position of disciples. Therefore, in many places of the prophetic writings, the perfect is denoted by the word man. David speaks of the devil: "The Lord abhors a man of blood" (Psalm 5:6). He calls the devil a man, because he is perfect in evil. And the Lord is called a man, because He is perfect in righteousness. Thus the Apostle in his Epistle to the Corinthians says: "I have betrothed you to one man, that I might present you to Christ as a pure virgin" (2 Corinthians 11:2), i.e. as children and consecrated to the one Lord. But most beautifully he explains the essential concept in the Epistle to the Ephesians, saying: "Until we all come to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: that we may no longer be babes, tossed about and carried about by every wind of doctrine, because of the cunning of men, because of the cunning art of deception, but by true love we return all things to Him, who is the head, Christ (Ephesians 4:13-15).

This is what the Apostle says for the edification of the body of Christ, which is (his) head and man, the only one who is perfect in righteousness. But we are little children, who must guard against the haughty winds of false doctrine (Col. 2:18; Eph. 4:14) and have no right to believe those who want to impress upon us something other than what our fathers taught us; we attain perfection by forming the Church, and acknowledging Christ as its head.

Here it will be appropriate to explain the word n h p i o V baby. It is not at all identical with the word "stupid"; this meaning is characteristic of the word n h p u t i o V; n h p i o V is equal to n e h p i o V, and h p i o V means subtly sensitive; n h p i o V, this word means, therefore, a newborn, meek, quiet, gentle in soul.

Blessed Paul explained this word especially clearly in this way, saying: We could appear as Apostles of Christ; but they were quiet among you, as a nurse tenderly treats her children (1 Thess. 2:7).

The child, therefore, is quiet; and, especially, gently, softly and simply, guilelessly and unhypocritically, straightforward and sincere, and these traits are the foundations of simplicity and truthfulness. On whom, it is said, shall I look: the humble and the contrite in spirit (Isaiah 66:2)? Such is virginal speech; it is gentle and unfeigned. That is why the bride is usually called "tender" and the child "soft-hearted" (Ill. VI, 400). We are soft-hearted if we do not persist in refusing to obey persuasion, if we show a willingness to do good, if we do not harbor hatred in our hearts, if we do not stain our feelings with malice and deceit. The ancient generation was deceitful and hard-hearted (Acts 2:40; Phil. 2:15; Matt. 12:39; Mark 8:38), but the choir of children, i.e. we, the new people (2 Corinthians 3:17), are tender as a child. The Apostle admires pure-hearted children in his Epistle to the Romans; and he gives a definition, so to speak, of children in the words: "But I desire that you should be wise in good, and simple and evil" (Romans 16:19). For we associate the meaning with the word n h p i o V not negatively, although boys, under the guidance of grammarians, speak of n h privatium, although the detractors of childhood call us madmen. But you see how by this they insult the Lord, considering those who seek refuge in God as fools. And when they—this is worth listening to—consider children to be simple-minded, then we rejoice at this definition. Simple-minded are newborn souls, having only recently become rational after ancient madness, having appeared in a young form in accordance with the New Testament; only recently have we learned to know God after the coming of Christ. For no one knows the Father except the Son, and to whom the Son wants to reveal (Matt. 11:27; Lk. 10:22). Yun is a new people in contrast to the ancient; he learned to learn new blessings. And we're reaching the full age, the never-aging virtue. Constantly our knowledge is mature, constantly we are young, constantly tender, constantly new. Those people who have joined the new Logos tend to be new. But that which takes part in the eternal is also characteristic of being immortal. Therefore, the expression "childhood" for us is equal to the spring of life, for the truth in us does not grow old and our morals are saturated (breathed) with truth. Truth blossoms forever, it is always equal to itself, it never changes. It is said: Children! They will carry you in their arms and caress you on their knees. As his mother comforts someone, so will I comfort you, and you will be comforted in Jerusalem (Isaiah 66:12-13). The mother calls the children to her: in the same way we seek out our mother, the church. Every weak and tender creature, because of its weakness, in need of help, is something pleasant, worthy and beautiful; and usually everyone readily helps such a small creature. As (earthly) parents look with special joy at their pets: a horse at his foal, a cow at his calf, lions at their lion cubs, deer at their fawns, a man at his little child; in the same way, the Heavenly Father of all receives those who come to Him, and as a result of their regeneration by the Holy Spirit, sees in them His reverent children, loves them, supports them, protects them, and for this reason calls each of them a child. In my opinion, the name Isaac is also related to childhood. Isaac means "laughter." The curious king saw him playing with his wife and helper, Rebekah (Gen. 26:7). The king, his name was Abimelech, I think, signifies the heavenly wisdom that descends upon the mysterious play of children. Rebekah is interpreted to mean "patience." This is a truly reasonable game for children: laughter is supported by patience! And the tsar looks at this game as the spirit of the children of Christ, who spend their lives in patience, rejoices. In a similar way, Heraclitus imagines his Zeus, who is engaged in games. For what is more fitting for a perfect sage than to play and remain joyful with patience and a good way of life, celebrating his life as if he were celebrating a festive celebration together with God (and like Him)? The prophet's hint can also be understood in another way, namely, that we, like Isaac, rejoice and greet our salvation with laughter. And he laughed when he was saved from death (Gen. 26:7 ff.); He joked and rejoiced with the savior, his bride. The bride is our helper in achieving salvation: the church. She is given a name meaning firmness; it is called "patience," Rebekah, either because she alone is eternal with constant joy, or because she is composed of the patient faithful—these are of us, the members of Christ. It is a living testimony to the existence of people who endure to the end, and represents in their person a joyful gratitude to God (for life). The Church, therefore, is a mysterious play of children and a helper in salvation that gives sacred consolation. - The King, furthermore, is Christ, who looks down on our laughter. And looking through the window, as the Scripture says, He draws into gratitude and praise, into joy and triumph, and also looks at patience and then at the union of all these things in His own. Only belonging to the church. He shows her his face, which is necessary for her, for through her royal Head she also attains perfection. And what is this window through which the Lord appears? This is the flesh in which He appeared. — The Lord Himself is Isaac (because it is possible to understand the matter in this way). Isaac was a type of the Lord; being a child of men, he was the son of Abraham, as Christ was the Son of God. As Lord, He is a sacrifice; but, being the Lord, He did not perish at the same time. Isaac carried wood for the sacrifice: in the same way the Lord carried the tree of the cross. But He laughed mysteriously, prophesying that He would fill us with joy, saved from destruction by His blood. (Only in the dissimilarity is that) Isaac did not suffer, yielding the beginnings of suffering to the Lord, and through the fact that he was not sacrificed, symbolically depicting the Divinity of the Lord, for after the burial the Lord arose, as if He had not suffered, remaining, like Isaac, untouched by death.

In confirmation of the above, I can cite another important point. The Holy Spirit calls the Lord Himself a child, thus prophesying about Him through Isaiah: "Unto us a child is born; The Son is given unto us, dominion is upon His shoulders (Isaiah 6:9). Who is this baby? This is the one in whose image we are children. Through the same prophet, the Spirit thus declares His greatness: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God. The Eternal Father, the Prince of Peace. To the increase of His dominion and peace there is no limit (Isaiah 9:6). O great God! O perfect child! The Son in the Father and the Father in the Son! And should not the upbringing of children be perfect after this through this Infant, who, guiding us, His little children, is our common inheritance? He stretched out his arms to us. Of this Child and John, the greatest prophet of those born of women (Luke 7:28), testifies: "Behold the Lamb of God" (John 7:28). I, 29, 36). Since the Scriptures call little children lambs, then God the Logos (the Word), Who became man for our sake and willed to become like us in all things, called the Lamb of God, i.e. the Son of God, the Child of the Heavenly Father.