Во имя Отца, и Сына и Святого Духа!

Сегодня Православная Церковь отмечает великий двунадесятый праздник Преображения Господа нашего Иисуса Христа, которое занимает одно из важнейших мест в священной истории.

Евангелист Матфей повествует о Преображении «по прошествии дней шести» (Мф. 17:1). А именно после исповедания апостола Петра при Кесарии Филипповой. Тогда на вопрос Спасителя за кого Его почитают ученики, Петр возглашает «Ты — Христос, Сын Бога живого» (Мф. 16:16). Этим апостол Петр свидетельствует свою веру и веру других апостолов в то, что Господь Иисус есть ожидаемый Мессия, а не просто пророк или праведник. И вот Господь как бы в ответ на это исповедание являет Себя в божественной славе на горе Фаворской.

Апостол Павел в одном из своих посланий пишет о Христе: «уничижил Себя Самого, приняв образ раба (a figure of a slave)» (Фил. 2:7), который Господь Иисус принял в Воплощении. Очевидно, что образ раба — это лишение славы, бесславие.

Итак, образ и преображение (figure and transfiguration). Вернее, образ раба и преображение! Что же значит слово «преображение»? Это изменение образа. В момент преображения на горе Фавор Господь являет ученикам Свою славу, которая у Него была изначально, каким Он всегда был и есть, в Его Божественной славе и величии!

Апостолы в момент Преображения увидели Христа, беседующего с пророками Моисеем и Илией.

Перед Преображением, когда Господь спросил учеников: «за кого люди почитают Меня, Сына Человеческого? Они сказали: одни за Иоанна Крестителя, другие за Илию, а иные за Иеремию, или за одного из пророков» (Мф. 16:13-14). А в ветхозаветные времена Моисей и Илия считались главными пророками, олицетворение тех самых закона и пророков (Лк. 16:16), о которых упоминает Писание. И явление их перед Господом на Фаворе показывает апостолам, что Христос, как и было исповедано Петром, не Илия, не Иоанн, не Иеремия, ни Моисей, ни даже ангел, но Сам Бог! («Пришел еси от Девы, не ходатай, ни Ангел, но Сам, Господи, воплощься, и спасл еси всего мя человека»!)

Божественную славу, которую скрывает Христос под зраком (образом – figure) бесславия, Он открывает на миг своим ученикам дабы укрепить их в вере, что Он Сын Божий и Мессия.

Но что происходит в этом момент с самими апостолами? Апостолы тоже изменяются, тоже преображаются. Апостолы во время Преображения чувствуют такую радость, такой духовный покой, что хотят оставаться в этом состоянии постоянно и уже никуда не идти: «Господи! Хорошо нам здесь быть» (Мф. 17:4). (И каждый, кто удостоился уже в земной жизни прикоснуться к этому состоянию, уже никогда не захочет чего-то другого.) Именно потому апостол Петр говорит, казалось бы, странные слова: сделаем здесь три кущи: «Тебе одну, и Моисею одну, и одну Илии» (Мф. 17:4). Куда идти и зачем? Когда вот тут, на горе Фаворской, уже есть радость Царства Божия, явленного в силе и славе.

Снова вспомним исповедание Петра возле Кесарии Филипповой, после которого Христос говорит ученикам, что «Ему должно идти в Иерусалим и много пострадать от старейшин и первосвященников и книжников, и быть убитому, и в третий день воскреснуть» (Мф.16:21). А апостол Петр, как говорит Евангелие, «начал прекословить Ему: будь милостив к Себе, Господи! да не будет этого с Тобою!» (Мф. 16:22). И слова Петра о кущах, по мысли святых отцов, не только, говорят о радости, но и о переживаниях, о страхе от мысли, что Христос будет унижен и казнен. И Петр этими своим предложением сделать три кущи, как бы говорит: зачем идти туда, в Иерусалим, где будет унижение и страдание, избиения и смерть? Останемся здесь, где так радостно и так хорошо.

Переживания апостола Петра — понятные и естественные для каждого любящего человека. Но вспомним, что ему уже однажды сказал Христос: «ты думаешь не о том, что Божие, но что человеческое» (Мф. 16:23). Потому и пришел Сын Божий на землю, чтобы искупить грехи людские смертью крестной: «на сей час Я и пришел» (Ин. 12:27), — говорит Господь перед своими страданиями. Также и Апостол Павел говорит, что Христу надлежало вкусить смерти за всех людей (Евр. 2:9). И только тогда – «Как в Адаме все умирают, так во Христе все оживут» (1Кор. 15:22).

Братья и сестры! Праздник Преображения — это не просто воспоминание евангельской истории, бывшей две тысячи лет назад. Преображение, если так можно выразиться, — наша жизненная программа. Православие некоторыми богословами именуется религией Преображения. Действительно, Бог каждого из нас, по слову апостола Петра, призвал «из тьмы в чудный Свой свет» (1 Пет. 2:9). Также апостол Павел говорит: «поступайте, как чада света» (Еф. 5:8).

Если в жизни своей мы пребываем в Боге, то, делаясь причастными Ему (ср. 2Пет. 1:4), мы сами становимся светом. Потому то, Господь наш Иисус Христос, который «Свет истинный» (Ин. 1:9), и «свет миру» (Ин. 8:12), Сам же и апостолам Своим говорит: «Вы — свет мира» (Мф.5:14) и повелевает всем ученикам Своим: «да светит свет ваш пред людьми, чтобы они видели ваши добрые дела и прославляли Отца вашего Небесного» (Мф. 5:16).  Апостолы на горе Фавор смогли увидеть Христа Преображенного, потому что сами преобразились. И поэтому, чтобы увидеть святость, свет, благодать церковной жизни сквозь толщу внешнего, немощного, переходящего нужно самим начать преображаться и «ходить в обновленной жизни» (Рим. 6:4). Восходить постепенно к Богу, очищать ум и чувства, укреплять в благом делании волю — вот путь к нашему личному преображению. И пусть на этом пути Господь избавит нас «от всякого злого дела и сохранит для Своего Небесного Царства» (2 Тим. 4:18), дабы и мы с сонмом апостолов и праведников воздали Ему славу, честь и поклонение на веки вечные! Аминь.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
Today the Orthodox Church celebrates the great Twelve Feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ, which holds one of the most important places in sacred history.

The Evangelist Matthew tells of the Transfiguration “after six days” (Matt. 17:1), namely after the confession of the Apostle Peter at Caesarea Philippi. When the Savior asked His disciples who they thought He was, Peter declared: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). With this, the Apostle Peter bore witness to his faith, and the faith of the other apostles, that the Lord Jesus is the awaited Messiah, not merely a prophet or a righteous man. And so the Lord, as if in response to this confession, revealed Himself in divine glory on Mount Tabor.

The Apostle Paul in one of his epistles writes of Christ: “He humbled Himself, taking the form of a servant” (Phil. 2:7), which the Lord Jesus assumed in the Incarnation. It is clear that the form of a servant means deprivation of glory, dishonor.

Thus, form and transfiguration — or rather, the form of a servant and the Transfiguration! What does the word “transfiguration” mean? It is a change of form. At the moment of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, the Lord reveals to His disciples the glory He had from the beginning — who He always was and is, in His divine majesty!

The apostles at that moment saw Christ speaking with the prophets Moses and Elijah. Before the Transfiguration, when the Lord asked His disciples: “Who do people say that I, the Son of Man, am?” they answered: “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets” (Matt. 16:13–14). In Old Testament times Moses and Elijah were considered the chief prophets, the very embodiment of the Law and the Prophets (Luke 16:16). Their appearance before the Lord on Mount Tabor showed the apostles that Christ, as Peter had confessed, was not Elijah, not John, not Jeremiah, not Moses, not even an angel — but God Himself! (“Thou didst come from the Virgin, not as a mediator, nor an Angel, but Thyself, O Lord, having become incarnate, and didst save me, the whole man.”)

The divine glory which Christ concealed under the appearance (form) of dishonor, He revealed for a moment to His disciples to strengthen their faith that He is the Son of God and the Messiah.

But what was happening at that moment with the apostles themselves? They too were changed, transfigured. The apostles, during the Transfiguration, felt such joy and such spiritual peace that they wished to remain in that state forever and go nowhere else: “Lord, it is good for us to be here” (Matt. 17:4). (And anyone who has been found worthy in this earthly life to touch this state never desires anything else.) This is why the Apostle Peter uttered what at first sounds like strange words: “Let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (Matt. 17:4). Why go anywhere else, and for what? Here, on Mount Tabor, is already the joy of the Kingdom of God, revealed in power and glory.

Let us recall again Peter’s confession near Caesarea Philippi, after which Christ told the disciples that “He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Matt. 16:21). But Peter, as the Gospel says, “began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!’” (Matt. 16:22). The words of Peter about the tabernacles, according to the holy fathers, speak not only of joy, but also of his inner fear and anguish at the thought that Christ would be humiliated and killed. By proposing to build three tabernacles, Peter was as if saying: why go there, to Jerusalem, where humiliation, suffering, beatings, and death await? Let us stay here, where it is so joyful and so good.

The feelings of the Apostle Peter are understandable and natural for any loving person. But we recall what Christ once told him: “You are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (Matt. 16:23). For this very reason the Son of God came into the world — to redeem the sins of mankind by His death on the Cross: “For this purpose I have come to this hour” (John 12:27), said the Lord before His Passion. The Apostle Paul also writes that Christ had to taste death for everyone (Heb. 2:9). And only then: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22).

Brothers and sisters! The Feast of the Transfiguration is not simply a remembrance of a Gospel event that happened two thousand years ago. The Transfiguration, if we may say so, is our life’s program. Some theologians even call Orthodoxy the religion of the Transfiguration. Truly, God has called each of us, in the words of the Apostle Peter, “out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). Likewise the Apostle Paul says: “Walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8).

If in our life we abide in God, then by becoming partakers of Him (cf. 2 Pet. 1:4), we ourselves become light. For this reason our Lord Jesus Christ, who is “the true Light” (John 1:9) and “the Light of the world” (John 8:12), also said to His apostles: “You are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14) and commanded all His disciples: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

The apostles on Mount Tabor were able to see Christ transfigured because they themselves were changed. Therefore, in order to see the holiness, the light, the grace of Church life shining through the outward, frail, and passing, we ourselves must begin to be transformed, to “walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). To ascend gradually toward God, to purify our mind and senses, to strengthen our will in good deeds — this is the path to our personal transfiguration. And may the Lord on this path deliver us “from every evil work and preserve us for His heavenly kingdom” (2 Tim. 4:18), so that together with the apostles and the righteous we may render unto Him glory, honor, and worship unto the ages of ages! Amen.

Today, several days before the Transfiguration we have heard about the events that took place after the Transfiguration. Right after the apostles descended from the mountain of the Transfiguration.

On that mountain they saw the Kingdom of Heaven, its powerful energy and grace, and they wanted to stay there… But that impulse, though very good and proper, was not timely. People, that got to know the power of God, should also fully realize their weakness, and with that their inability to live in the Kingdom of Heaven, until cleansed from sin. It’s a great difference – to see the glory of God and to be sons of God.

And we are now going through the time of self-discovery – the time of the Dormition fasting.

The time of fasting for the apostles, after they have witnessed the Grace of the Lord, was that descent from the mountain, when they encountered the father and his sick child.

Now they saw the demonic kingdom, which also came in its power. And somehow the apostles could not withstand that power, so they appeared to become weak and grievous. They, as all the people, were a part of that tragedy. They could not fight against it all by themselves. They did not require only a good king, or a good law, but something much more than that.

“Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. (Acts of Apostles)

What should they (and all the Christians) better know and do? To make our transition from the kingdom of the world with its devil’s power and logic, from being a worshiper of this world, even without visible idols, but complete dependence on the goods of this world – thinking of them and treating them as the life itself, or the most essential part of it…

The apostles could do many things. You remember how they gave several loaves of bread and fish and fed five thousand people, with the Lord’s blessing.

But now they could not do it.

The disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”

So, Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Those two actions, that tear us from the inner paganism and move the soul closer to God, as the only source of everything for people, by fully realizing that, by cleansing the conscience and the soul, by getting to know the distance from God through fasting, and then overcoming it through the true prayer (based on fasting).

The only means to overcome the very power of this world. And not only the power, we should say, but the craftiness, the flattery (the humanism) and the false wisdom of this world and its king.

This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. Amen

Today we have read about the Feeding of the 5,000 is also known as the «miracle of the five loaves and two fish».

In Exodus (1–10), we read: ‘Let My People Go’ (said by Moses).

Today we here: “Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.”

Seemingly similar words but there is such a great discordance! As in the first situation, “let them go to the Lord” and in this situation – “let them go from you, oh Lord”.

Everyone can be mistaken, and often it is the intention that counts, and the disciples wanted good for the people. But the Lord wishes eternal life, and the Kingdom of Heaven, that is in this unity with Him, which is impossible without Him.

And in our current state, the state of discord, the contradictory state, the state and condition of sin – that is, when we have to choose between good and good, and when too much good can be harmful for us… as there is often no concordance, symphony, or harmony. And we should choose something which is not quite good right now and here, for the sake of obtaining something better, or even the best…

And we also remember the words from the Gospel of Matthew 6:33: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

That is when the need of the earthly things takes over us, we can guess where those things will lead us, lead our life: to constant competition, aggression, and then also the other words from the same Gospel come into effect: “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

But all this begins and can be seen even in this life: if you put your goal lower, so will be the achievement, and if we put our goal higher, we could achieve all that though is lower than our goal, but still is quite good for us.

So, let us not give too much power to the things that tell us (or demand from us) to leave Christ, check and tempt them and give them right priority, and putting all our hope (for all things, both food physical and spiritual) in the One who is our only hope, Who once, temped by Devil to use His divine power to make stones to bread for Himself, preferred to suffer there for our sake. But today the Lord cares that the people who follow Him are not hungry. And he shows the sign not just equal to Moses’ (mentioned today) [when that one had given manna in the desert], the Lord doing this today ‘with power’, as God, and the apostles as a collective Moses…

So let’s put our hope in the only one Who is Love, and Who cares for us and Who has the words of eternal life, and Who Himself is the Bread of Life. Amen

Two blind men follow Christ and shout, «Have mercy on us, Jesus, Son of David.» The promise given to David that the Messiah would appear from his descendants (Isaiah 11:1; Os. 2:1; Jer. 23:5; Ezek. 34:11-12) was well known to the people of Israel. At that time there was a great expectation of His coming. These blind people know, confess and proclaim in the streets of Capernaum that the Messiah has come, that He is here. The already have the firm foundation for Faith!

An amazing thing is that those who are deprived of bodily vision by God’s Providence can have intelligent eyes so enlightened that they can distinguish the great deeds of God hidden from the wise and reasonable, able to see with their eyes… So, in them we see genuine faith in front of us.

They ask only for mercy. And we will learn such prayer. No matter how great our needs and sorrows are, we need nothing but that the Lord be merciful to us. One thing we ask of the Lord: that we may be partakers of His mercy. Even if He does not heal us and does not deliver us from the trouble in which we find ourselves today — if His mercy is with us, it will be enough for us, we will be comforted, and then – saved!

And they — let’s pay attention to this — do not say, each of them separately, «Have mercy on me,» but both pray for each other: «Have mercy on us.» They are friends in misfortune, and their prayer is one, and it unites them both with each other and with God!

The blind follow Christ, crying out to Him for help. But He doesn’t seem to notice them. A lot of people were walking next to them and everyone was shouting.

He wants to see that their prayer is genuine and that their awareness of trouble is real. Sometimes He does not immediately answer our prayers, so that our prayer may be more precious to us, which we cannot receive at our first word, more real, suffered. The Lord wants to teach us to be persistent in prayer, to always pray, and not to be discouraged, not to yield to despondency.

And another important detail. When Christ entered the house, the blind followed Him and there approached Him. Because He did not answer them on the street, they were forced to follow Him into the house. The Holy Fathers see a special meaning in this. Sooner or later, each of us must meet Christ alone. It is good to pray in the temple with everyone, with a large gathering of people, when a great holiday and a common celebration involuntarily captures us.

But in the end, everyone has to meet Christ personally, and this is crucial. Whether it will be in the temple or in our home prayer, or when trouble visits us. The Lord Himself is looking for this to happen to us. The doors of Christ are always open to those who persistently follow Him. But this meeting with Christ must be intimate (in secret). That is why, when the blind were given sight, Christ sternly told them: «See that no one finds out.»

Today’s Gospel reminds us that our prayer must be joined with unwavering faith. Christ asks the blind, «Do you believe that I can do this?» and then he says: «According to your faith, let it be done to you.»

He could, says St. John Chrysostom, heal all the blind, dumb and deaf on earth at once with one word. But what would that mean? Man would be put on the same level with unreasonable beings, without free will and free choice, deprived of his high destiny. But that’s why a person is called a person, because one always faces a choice of good and evil. If one chooses the good, one enters into friendship with God and becomes a child of light, the heir of His heavenly Kingdom. If one chooses evil, becomes inferior to unreasonable beings, plunging into the utter, entire darkness.

Is it not the same thing that happened to the mute, whose healing is further described in today’s Gospel? He is a wordless being.

Unfortunately, today, nowadays, everything is being done to turn people into wordless creatures by propaganda of lust.

First, Christ cast out the devil from the mute, and only then did he begin to speak. Imagine that the Lord would have freed him from his dumbness and left everything else as it is. What would have happened? With a tongue free, untied from the restraining bonds, a mute would blaspheme God and man, and praise sin. The Lord shows us today how terrible such freedom is, because it is all around us.

And where can we find deliverance from the current universal blindness and dumbness. He strikes at the root of evil and eliminates the cause. Only by the power of God can the power of Satan, which has bound our people, be crushed. Only by genuine faith can we gain the gift of sight. Only when we fully see our infirmities will we find a strong and persistent prayer. Only by doing our best to fulfill the commandments will we be able to see our infirmities.

Let it be so! Amen.

Проповедь в Неделю 7-ю по Пятидесятнице

Двое слепых следуют за Христом и кричат: «Помилуй нас, Иисусе, Сыне Давидов». Обетование, данное Давиду, что от его потомков явится Мессия (Ис. 11:1; Ос. 2:1; Иер. 23:5; Иез. 34:11-12), было хорошо известно Израильскому народу. В это время было великое ожидание Его пришествия. Эти слепые люди знают, исповедуют и возвещают на улицах Капернаума, что Мессия пришел, что Он здесь.

Удивительное дело — те, кто Промыслом Божиим лишены телесного зрения, могут иметь разумные очи столь просвещенными, что различать великие деяния Божии, сокрытые от премудрых и разумных. Перед нами подлинная вера.

Они просят только о милости. И мы будем учиться такой молитве. Как бы ни были велики наши нужды и скорби, нам не нужно ничего, кроме того, чтобы милостив был к нам Господь. Одного мы просим у Господа: чтобы быть нам причастными Его милосердию. Пусть даже Он не исцелит нас и не избавит от той беды, в которой мы сегодня оказались — если милость Его будет с нами, нам будет довольно этого, мы будем утешены, а затем – спасены!

И они — обратим и на это внимание — не говорят, каждый из них в отдельности, «помилуй меня», но оба молят друг за друга: «Помилуй нас». Они — друзья по несчастью, и их молитва едина, и она их объединяет и друг с другом, и с Богом!

Слепые следуют за Христом, взывая к Нему о помощи. Но Он как будто не замечает их. Много народу шло рядом с ними и все кричали, а потом, может быть, когда Христос проходил, они просто забывали обо всем. Он хочет увидеть, что их молитва подлинна и что их осознание беды реально. Он не отвечает порою сразу на нашу молитву, чтобы углубилась наша молитва и чтобы стало более дорогим для нас избавление, которое мы не можем получить по первому нашему слову. Господь хочет научить нас быть настойчивыми в молитвах, всегда молиться, и не унывать.

И еще важная подробность. Когда Христос вошел в дом, слепые последовали за Ним и там подошли к Нему. Оттого, что Он не ответил им на улице, они вынуждены были войти за Ним в дом. Святые отцы видят в этом особый смысл. Рано или поздно каждый из нас должен встретить Христа наедине. Хорошо молиться в храме со всеми, при большом стечении народа, когда великий праздник и общее торжество невольно захватывает нас. Но в конце концов каждый должен встретиться лично со Христом, и это имеет решающее значение. Будет ли это в храме или в домашней нашей молитве, или когда нас посетит беда. Сам Господь ищет, чтобы это с нами произошло. Двери Христовы всегда открыты для тех, кто неотступно следует за Ним. Но эта встреча со Христом должна быть сокровенной. Потому-то, когда слепые прозрели, Христос строго сказал им: «Смотрите, чтобы никто не узнал».

Сегодняшнее Евангелие напоминает нам, что молитва наша должна быть соединена с несомненной верой. Христос спрашивает слепых: «Веруете ли, что Я могу это сделать?» и отвечает им: «По вере вашей да будет вам». Он мог бы, говорит святой Иоанн Златоуст, сразу всех слепых, немых и глухих на земле исцелить одним словом. Но что бы это значило? Человек был бы поставлен на один уровень с неразумными существами, без свободной воли и свободного выбора, лишенный высокого своего предназначения. Но человек потому и называется человеком, что всегда стоит перед выбором добра и зла. Если он избирает добро, он вступает в дружбу с Богом и становится чадом света, наследником Его небесного Царства. Если он избирает зло, он становится ниже неразумных существ, погружаясь во тьму кромешную.

Не то ли же самое случилось с немым, об исцелении которого далее говорится в сегодняшнем Евангелии? Он — бессловесное существо. Мы часто повторяем, что сегодня все делается, чтобы превратить людей в бессловесных существ пропагандой похоти.

Вначале Христос изгнал диавола из немого, и только потом тот стал говорить. Представьте, что Господь освободил бы его от немоты и оставил все как есть. Что бы произошло? Свободным, развязанным от стесняющих его уз языком немой стал бы хулить Бога и человека, и восхвалять грех. Господь показывает нам сегодня, как страшна такая свобода.

И где можем мы обрести избавление от нынешней всеобщей слепоты и немоты. Он поражает корень зла и устраняет причину. Только силою Божией может быть сокрушена сила сатаны, сковавшая наш народ. Только подлинной верой можем обрести мы дар прозрения. Только видя сполна наши немощи – обретем сильную и настойчивую молитву. Только изо всех сил стараясь исполнять заповеди – сможем увидеть наши немощи.

Ду будет так. Аминь!

по проповеди прот. Александра Шаргунова

Today in the Gospel we heard about a man who received healing, although he did not ask for it.

When the devil-possessed Gadar residents, after healing two demon-possessed and the death of their pig herd, asked Christ to leave them, He, having left the healed one as a witness, entered the boat, crossed the lake and arrived in His city, that is, in Capernaum.

And so, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic: “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” He didn’t say “now you are well”, but “your sins are forgiven”, making it clear that the cause of disease is sinfulness and that He, as God, has the power to heal both.

Then some of the scribes who did not want to believe in His Deity said in themselves: He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins except God?

And Christ, seeing their thoughts, said: Why do you think evil in your hearts? for is it easier to say: sins are forgiven you, or say: get up and go?

What is primary and what is the consequence? Of course, the remission of sins is primary, and healing is the result of the remission of sins. And after that He says to the paralyzed: Get up, take your bed and go to your house. And formerly paralyzed got up, took his bed and went to his house, and the people, seeing this, were amazed and glorified God.

Not always people get sick because of obvious sins. One saint from ancient Kiev Russ, Pimen, was paralyzed since his childhood, and in this state, as a teenager, his parents brought him to Kiev Pechersk Lavra. He lay in his cell all his life, and he was granted great spiritual gifts from God, and he was told that he would be healed before his death, which was fulfilled. He was given a gift to beg for the health of others, but not his own.

He had fewer sins than any of us, but he understood that the disease was given to him for salvation.

Unlike many other people, he understood that we are all born alien to the kingdom of God, and that in our natural state we cannot enter there. Christ gives us Holy Baptism, thereby opening the door to His Kingdom, but in order to enter this Kingdom and become its citizens, we ourselves must work and labour. And first of all, we must learn to love God and cut off our fallen will before the will of God, our desires — before His Commandments.

And the Lord gives everyone the burdens and sorrows that serve as a medicine for one’s soul to gain the aforementioned, to get it anyway, anyhow.

If this is a disease, and it is not healed, then you need to take it as a medicine — bitter, but saving — and endure to the end, that is, how much it is needed.

There were three people in another monastery: one vigorously performed his obediences (monastic chores), the other perfectly kept the monastic enclosure and was silent, and the third was just sick, but thanked God for that, and didn’t do anything else, and in the end they appeared to be all in equal dignity.

And that paralyzed, healed by the Savior in Capernaum, like all people who have ever been sick, was sick because without sorrows and illnesses a person cannot be saved.

And Christ, seeing the faith of those who brought him, forgives his sins.

We can see how illnesses can cure not only personal sins, but the sins of the community, of families, of all the people, — that become compassionate, forget about their own chores and businesses and express an active love to the poor ones…

So, the illness can be a final shelter, and some kind of a protective mechanism against the corruption of the whole human nature…

And if we want to be healthy, we would first of all want to seek healing for our souls. We would want to repent of our sins, not only saying in confession, but trying not to sin anymore either by deed, word or thought, as we say.  With the soul, and not with the body, the healing of the whole person begins. Who forgets about salvation because of health, loses everything. The one who seeks first of all the Kingdom of Heaven can be much easier given health as well. Amen.