Think about it, if one of you had to take upon himself the sins of a hundred people around you, and give an account for them before God, what horror you would be filled with, how you would be weighed down by the sins of others, for which you must answer to God. Do you not know that the Lord Jesus Christ took upon Himself the sins of the whole world, of all mankind? Have you never heard the words of the great prophet Isaiah: "He was wounded for our sins, and bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we were healed" (Isaiah 53:5).

Have you not read what is written in the first Epistle of the Apostle Peter: "He Himself bore our sins in His Body on the tree, that we, having been delivered from sins, might live for righteousness: by His stripes you were healed" (1 Peter 2:24). Thus, already in the Garden of Gethsemane, He languished and was tormented under the terrible weight of the sins of the whole world. He was oppressed unspeakably, unbearably oppressed by the sins of the world, which He took upon Himself, for which He had to become a sacrifice to God's justice before God, for only He and no one else could atone for the sins of the whole world.

That is why the bloody sweat dripped from His forehead, that is why He was so tormented, praying to His Father: "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me..." (Matt. 26:39). And immediately He spoke differently: "Both are not as I will, but as Thou wilt." He gave Himself over entirely to the will of God, and His sins crushed Him, tormented Him, tormented Him, tormented Him, and He fell exhausted under the weight of these sins.

The great saint Blessed Augustine says: "Nowhere does the greatness and holiness of Jesus strike me so much as here. I would not know the greatness of His blessings, if He had not revealed to me what they cost Him." We would not know the full greatness of Christ's sacrifice if we did not know what He experienced in the terrible hour of His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.

And His disciples slept... What does it mean that they were asleep? Why did they sleep? A simple explanation is that they were very tired from the midnight journey through the Kidron Stream, found themselves in weakness and, as the Gospel of Luke says, were overwhelmed with sorrow – they slept from sorrow. But let us think whether there were not other, higher, mysterious reasons for their sleeping, whether it was not arranged by God. It is very likely that it was.

Perhaps it was God's will that they only catch a glimpse of Jesus' suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. Probably, all the terrible, bottomless depth of Jesus' prayer should be hidden from the eyes of the world. Probably so... Still, they were needed as witnesses, even if they were very incomplete, of the Gethsemane sufferings of Jesus' soul. They slept, but when they awoke three times at the word of Jesus, they, of course, did not immediately fall asleep again, and in the bright light of the full moon they saw Jesus praying, heard the terrible words of His prayer.

For if it were not so, how would the Evangelist have known about what was in the Garden of Gethsemane, how would he have written what we read, how would he have known about the drops of bloody sweat that dripped from His forehead, how would they have known the words of His prayer? They were needed as witnesses: on Mount Tabor they were witnesses of His Divine glory, in the Garden of Gethsemane they were witnesses of the entire abyss of His soul's sufferings before He ascended the cross.

Thus, remember that in the Garden of Gethsemane the first and perhaps the most terrible part of Christ's sufferings took place, for on the cross He behaved much more cheerfully. Let us bow down with fear and trembling before this immeasurable greatness of Christ's sufferings. Let us fall down before the cross of Christ and sing with all our hearts: "We worship Thy Cross, O Master, and we glorify Thy holy Resurrection!" April 1, 1951 WORD ON PASSION.

TWELFTH A difficult sorrowful path has been traveled, the Via dolorosa has ended. They came to the terrible Golgotha, dug a pit, immersed the cross of Jesus in it and strengthened it. They take off Jesus' clothes – that's it, they take off all the clothes... Oh, Lord! What are they doing?! The angels, cherubim, and seraphim, who have seen this, cover their faces with their wings in terror. How could they see the nakedness of Him Who adorned all nature created by Him with ineffable beauty, and now stands naked and awaits a terrible execution!

Два воина поднимают Иисуса на крест, два других стали на табуреты и страшными гвоздями прибивают ко кресту те пречистые руки, прикосновение которых возвращало зрение слепым, мановением которых утихла буря на озере Генисаретском и престал веять ветер. Прибили воины руки Иисуса. Прибили и ноги Его гвоздями страшными… Повисло Божественное тело… И так страшна, так невыносима была боль при этом!

Как раздирались язвы гвоздиные под тяжестью тела Иисусова! Казалось бы, должен изойти из груди Его стон – стон мучений… А стона не было, и вместо стона услышал мир, что Он молился о распинавших Его: "Отпусти им, Отче, не ведают бо, что творят". И начались шестичасовые неописуемые страдания Богочеловека. Над головой Его на кресте была прибита белая дощечка, на которой черным было написано "Иисус Назарянин, Царь Иудейский".

Так никогда не писали о распятых: так написал Пилат, чтобы излить свою злобу на книжников и первосвященников, предавших ему Иисуса. Он знал, что праведен и невинен Тот, кто предан ему. Он не хотел распять Иисуса, он всеми силами старался спасти Его, но когда услышал провокационные слова: "Если ты отпустишь Его, ты не друг кесарю" , тогда опустились руки его, тогда не смел он боле противиться иудеям, но свое раздражение на них он излил в этой записи на кресте, ибо надпись эта обличала иудеев, распявших Христа.

Было написано, что распяли они своего царя, и это читали иудеи, во множестве сошедшиеся на праздник со всех концов тогдашнего света. Они не знали, что было до суда и на суде, они читали и думали: "О вы, кого вы распяли!? Царя нашего распяли!" Книжники и фарисеи волновались: как можно, чтобы такую надпись читали все! Побежали к Пилату и просили его: "Не пиши: Царь Иудейский, но что Он говорил: Я Царь Иудейский.

Пилат отвечал: что я написал, то написал" (Ин. 19, 21-22). Получив такой ответ, злейшие враги Христовы хотели свою злобу и раздражение утолить злобными насмешками над распятым Иисусом. Они подходили ко кресту и говорили: "Других спасал, а Себя Самого не может спасти. Если Он Царь Израилев; пусть теперь сойдет с креста, и уверуем в Него. Уповал на Бога; пусть теперь избавит Его, если Он угоден Ему. Ибо Он сказал: Я Божий Сын" (Мф. 27, 42-43).