Looking at the book of Christ's kinship, at the very beginning of it one can be surprised that our Lord deigned to be called first the Son of David, and then Abraham's: "The Genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham." Why is it not written: Son of Abraham, Son of David? For among the Israelites the name Abraham enjoyed greater honor than the name of David, and when they wanted to point out and boast of their lofty lineage, they used to say: "We are Abraham's seed, and were slaves to no man" (John 8:33).

The Lord Himself, wishing to please Zacchaeus, called him the son of Abraham: "For he also is the son of Abraham" (Luke 19:9). David was the adornment of the tribe of Judah alone, and Abraham was the ancestor, honor and praise of all the tribes of Israel. Why is Christ first called not the Son of Abraham, but the Son of David, and then Abraham? In our bad human opinion, it would be fitting for Christ to be called the son of Abraham first, for, it seems to us, the life of Abraham was more beautiful, holier, and more pleasing to God than the life of David.

It is not surprising that David knew God and served Him, for he was born of parents who knew God: "God is known in Judea" (Ps. 75, 1). It is amazing that Abraham, who was born of parents who did not know God and idolaters, came to know God and pleased Him. David had many examples of pleasing God: Moses, Aaron, Joshua, the prophet Samuel, and the like.

For Abraham, no one was such an example of knowledge of God and pleasing God. If the cause of David is glorious – the victory over Goliath, then even more glorious is the work of Abraham – the ascension of his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God. David fell into the sin of adultery and murder, but Abraham did nothing of the kind and did not anger God by any mortal sin. And in spite of all this, it pleased the Lord our God to be called the Son of David rather than Abraham. What is the reason for this? What is the secret? The mystery and reason is as follows.

Saul pursued David for a long time and wanted to kill him. But David was so gentle towards Saul that, having the opportunity to kill him many times, he did not do so. In the name of God, he endured innocently, quenching Saul's malice with his kindness. This David's kindness is considered by some, as if placing it on a certain standard, to be no less a virtue than that virtue of Abraham, by virtue of which he offered his son as a sacrifice to God.

To spare one's enemy without malice for God's sake is the same as not to spare one's son for God's sake. And not only one and the same thing, but it is higher, if, for the sake of David's kindness, God desired to take upon Himself the flesh of his descendants, in order to be close in lineage to a man who was not malicious. For God draws near to kindness, and kindness to God, as if uniting into one generation and one spirit: "The gentle and the righteous," says the Psalmist, "are united with me" (Ps. 24, 21); "this kind of seekers of the Lord."

In the Life of St. Peter of Christ we read that a certain Tver bishop Andrei with his like-minded people did much evil to the saint, writing many false and blasphemous words about him and dishonoring him throughout the Russian land. He also sent those slanders to Tsargrad to His Holiness the Patriarch, and this case was considered at the conciliar court. And when the malice of the enemy was exposed and the innocence of Saint Peter was revealed, he not only did not take revenge on his enemy, but forgave him everything.

So gentle was this bishop, and therefore he is worthy to be among "this kind of seekers of the Lord." According to the second book of spiritual kinship, Climacus, he had spiritual mentors as his father, even before monasticism he had tenderness for his mother, companions for his brothers, a concubine for the memory of death, for his children the sighs of the day, for his children the body enslaved to the spirit, for his friends the angels, and therefore he was related to those who seek the Lord.

From such a good spiritual kind of virtues was born to the saint of God a good end, an honorable holy repose. For just as an evil life is followed by an evil end, or death, so a virtuous life is followed by a blessed end. From a blessed death, or from a good death, immortal life has its birth and its beginning.

Read each one in the book of a good death, in the book of the virtuous life and honorable repose of St. Peter of Christ, read about the blessedness of eternal life that he received. Read, contemplating with your God-minded mind how the saint of God dwells, rejoicing, with the saints as the holy chosen one of God, beloved, with the saints as the venerable, not malicious, undefiled, with the hierarchs as a hierarch, with the teachers as the teacher of all Russia, with the apostles as the apostolic vicar and their partaker of morals, with the prophets as a seer, with the angels as an angel who lived in the flesh, with the Archangels as an archangel glorifying God with songs day and night, with the Cherubim as one who stood before the throne of God in a cherubic manner during the service in the altar, as if on the highest, with the Seraphim as one who loved God in a seraphim.

On the day of the saint's repose, such contemplation of the eternal life which he received can truly be useful to everyone who desires and strives to gain benefit for his soul. We, without continuing our conversation any longer, will close both of these books: the book on the kinship of Christ by St. Matthew, the universal teacher, in which the vanity of this mortal life is revealed, and the book of the honorable repose of the holy hierarch of Christ Peter, the teacher of all Russia, in which our eternal life is written. Amen.     32.

Second Homily for the Feast Day of Our Father Peter, Metropolitan of All Russia, in the month of December, on the 21st day ("Behold the Lamb of God!" (John 1:29))   Celebrating with love the all-honorable memory of our father Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia the Wonderworker, when I listen to the history of his holy life and first hear what his mother saw in a dream vision before her birth, as if she were holding a lamb in her arms, the words of the Gospel come to my mind: "Behold the Lamb of God!

These words were spoken by St. John the Baptist about Christ the Saviour, as it is told in the Gospel: "The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God" (John 1:29). However, let not St. John be angry, let not my Lord be angry at the fact that I will call the holy Metropolitan Peter with the same words. Here is the Lamb of God, manifested to his mother in the form of a lamb, who retained in his life meekness, humility and gentleness, befitting a lamb, who showed himself to be a true follower of Christ, the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God!

Let us turn our mental eyes to this spiritual lamb, to the saint of God, the great among the hierarchs, Metropolitan Peter, and let us gaze at his lamb's disposition for our benefit, "with the Lord's help" (Mark 16:20). In the Divine Scriptures, the lamb is an image of meekness, humility, and forbearance, for this animal is by nature meek, humble, not malicious, and does not resist anyone.