Explanatory Bible Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew

The word "im" in both Russian and Greek is vague. One can understand here both the enemies of Christ and the people who listened to Him in general.

. The kingdom of heaven is like a king who held a wedding feast for his son

In the ancient interpretations of the parable among the fathers and church writers we find, firstly, an abundance common places, and secondly, allegorical opinions, and this is understandable, because from the very first verses of the parable it is clear that it talks about spiritual objects. Ancient interpreters put it in close connection with the parable of the evil winegrowers. “Do you see,” says Chrysostom, “what is the difference between the son and the slaves, both in the previous parable and in this one? Do you see the great similarity and at the same time the great difference between both parables? And this parable shows the long-suffering of God and His great care, as well as the wickedness and ingratitude of the Jews. However, this parable contains more than the first: it foreshadows the falling away of the Jews and the calling of the pagans and, in addition, shows the correct way of life and what kind of execution awaits the careless.” Theophylact says that here “the groom is Christ, and the bride is also every soul.”

. and he sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast; and didn't want to come.

The words of Christ have a general meaning and generally point to persons sent by God to preach and attract people to His Kingdom. The word κεκλημένους (called or invited) shows that the guests had already been invited by the king earlier, and those sent were only supposed to remind them of the previous call. John Chrysostom and others draw attention to the fact that in the parable of the evil husbandmen it was said that the Son was killed by the husbandmen. Despite this, in the parable under consideration, people are called again - to the wedding feast of the Son. This gives John Chrysostom reason to think that the first parable referred to events that ended with the crucifixion of Christ; and the second - to the events after His resurrection. “There He is depicted as attracting them (people) to Himself, before His crucifixion, and here – urgently attracting them to Himself even after the crucifixion; and at a time when they should have been punished in the most severe way, He draws them to the wedding feast and honors them with the highest honor.” But Christ’s thought, revealed by comparing both parables, seems deeper. People's spiritual relations to God and His spiritual feast may not resemble their relations to ordinary everyday celebrations. Both parables reveal the same theological truth, but with different sides. In a spiritual sense, the suffering, death and resurrection of the Son can be completely equated to the wedding feast of the Lamb ().

. Again he sent other servants, saying: Tell those who are invited: Behold, I have prepared my dinner, my bullocks and what is fattened, slaughtered,

. But they despised this and went, some to their field, and some to their trade;

. the others, seizing his slaves, insulted and killed them.

A figurative presentation of even more hostile relations towards the king. Those who left under various pretexts acted relatively wisely. Besides them, there were also people (οἱ δὲ λοιποί) who expressed their anger by insulting the royal servants and killings. There is a wonderful parallel for this verse in (see also ; ).

. Hearing about this, the king became angry, and, sending his troops, destroyed their killers and burned their city.

. Then he says to his servants: The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy;

. So go to the crossroads and invite everyone you find to the wedding feast.

"Rasputia" – τὰς διεξόδους τῶν ὁδῶν - shows that what is meant here is not the main roads or the main, large paths where honored guests live, but in general the nooks, alleys, country lanes, paths where poor people huddle, walk and live.

. And those slaves, going out onto the roads, gathered everyone they found, both evil and good; and the wedding feast was filled with those reclining.

The expression “evil and good” can be understood both in a moral sense and in a physical sense - the poor, the ragged, the sick. These people are in stark contrast to the first names, who were not at all like them.

. The king, going in to look at those reclining, saw a man there, not dressed in wedding clothes,

. and says to him: friend! How did you come here not wearing wedding clothes? He was silent.

When the guests gathered, the king was not in the palace. He enters only when the feast has already begun. The contrast between the expressions “evil and good” and “those who recline” at the feast, i.e. The guests received at the royal feast in the royal palace were carried out, undoubtedly, deliberately and very subtly. Although the guests were “evil and good,” they were honored with the royal invitation and now reclined at the wedding feast, i.e. elegant clothes. The evil and vicious are transformed here into guests of honor quickly and by some miraculous force. The meaning, of course, is that the gospel messages, received by the evil and the good, quickly transform them. But the king’s gaze is darkened at the sight of one man who sat at the feast not dressed up, but in torn, dirty, “not wedding” clothes, in rags. Was this man guilty if he came to the feast directly, so to speak, from the street and if he did not have the means to buy smart clothes for himself? This question is resolved very simply by the fact that everyone who comes to the feast prepared by the King of Heaven can take for himself in the reception room of the royal palace any elegant clothes he wants and, thus, appear in decent appearance at the wedding feast of the Lamb. This is undoubtedly implied in the parable. Our church song: “I see Your palace, my Savior, adorned, and I have no clothes, but I can enter into it.”, expresses, on the one hand, the deepest humility of a Christian, and on the other, a request addressed to God to give decent clothing in the spiritual sense: “Illuminate the robe of my soul, Light-Giver, and save me”. Thus, all that is required from the sinner is the desire to acquire elegant clothes for himself, which will undoubtedly be given to him, and, moreover, free of charge. The man, not in wedding clothes, obviously did not want to take advantage of this royal favor, and, not ashamed of either the Tsar or the guests, came to the feast in his rags. Verses 11–14 have a direct bearing on prophecy. By the slave who came to the feast not in wedding clothes, of course, here it is not Judas, but in general a carnal Old Testament man (cf. ; ; ; ). Jerome interprets the expression “he was silent” as follows: “At that time there will be no place for repentance and the ability to justify, when all the Angels and the world itself will testify to sins.”

. Then the king said to the servants: Having tied his hands and feet, take him and throw him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth;

Binding, bonds, ropes are mentioned many times in the Gospels (see, 5, etc.), Christ spoke about binding and untying several times. Words: “take him by the arms and legs” ( ἄρατε αὐτὸν ποδῶν καὶ χειρῶν ) not in the best codes. Some people think that words "There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth"- not the words of the king depicted in the parable, but of Christ Himself, added to the parable.

. For many are called, but few are chosen.

The man who came to the feast without wearing wedding clothes, so to speak, became on the same level with those numerous people who insulted and killed those sent by the king (verse 6). Compared to their enormous number, the guests received by the king represent a small minority that could fit in the palace. And even among the guests themselves there was a person whose presence was undesirable and unacceptable (cf.,). Luke has a similar conclusion to the parable ().

. Then the Pharisees went and consulted how to catch Him in words.

According to Mark and Luke, the Pharisees understood that the Savior was talking about them in the parable of the evil husbandmen (;). That’s why they wanted to catch Him in the word (;). In Matthew this connection is not expressed as clearly as in other weather forecasters, but their messages throw light on his expressions. One can conclude, in the end, that the Pharisees were irritated not only by the parable about the evil winegrowers told by all the weather forecasters, but also by the marriage of the king’s son, told in this connection only by Matthew; Christ's enemies could interpret this parable to their detriment if they heard it. Thus, Matthew's testimony in the verse under discussion appears natural and coherent. As for time, both in Matthew and in the parallel stories of Mark () and Luke () it is not defined. Only one thing can be said with certainty: that these events were a continuation of the previous ones and took place on the third day of the Jewish week, or, in our opinion, on Tuesday. Perhaps the Pharisees went and consulted while the Savior was speaking parables, but more likely - after them.

They think that these were not official representatives of the party, who were members of the Sanhedrin (as in), but that the whole matter took place independently of the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees acted as a separate and independent party. The meeting took place, perhaps, among the crowd that was in the temple or the crowd surrounding Christ.

The Greek verb παγιδεύσωσιν is characteristic. In the entire New Testament it is found only here in Matthew and comes from πάγη – παγίς (; ; ; ) – net, noose, snare, snare. Since catching Christ in the word was important for His enemies, at their meeting they, of course, used all their strength and abilities in order to come up with a question as cunningly as possible, with the help of which they could put Christ in a difficult and even hopeless position .

. And they send their disciples to Him with the Herodians, saying: Teacher! we know that You are just, and You teach truly the way of God, and do not care about pleasing anyone, for You do not look at any person;

. So tell us: what do you think? Is it permissible to give tribute to Caesar or not?

Mark does not distinguish the Pharisees from their disciples, like Matthew, and Luke attributes the question to the high priests and scribes (), who “sent” to Christ “wicked people”, no one knows what (). It is clear from everything that this matter was the result of strong enmity, but at the same time also of fear of popular denunciation, and this explains why some enemies of Christ only, so to speak, stick their heads out of the crowd, but do not say anything themselves, substituting for themselves albeit crafty, but inexperienced or less experienced in casuistry students, perhaps young people. If the latter had been publicly exposed, then the real initiators of this whole affair would not have been ashamed before the people. Who were the Herodians? Most exegetes believe that the Herodians were members of a Jewish party loyal to the house of Herod, which was more political in nature than hierarchical.

The basis of the question proposed to Christ was the domination of pagan Romans over Judea. This was recognized as an evil, the destruction of which should be strived for by all means. A tax levied in favor of the pagans was contrary to the theocratic idea. Unrest took place in Judea (and not in Galilee), the leader of which was Judas the Galilean. The reason for his rebellion was κῆνσος, a property tax, which was considered a sign of slavery. The payment of taxes in favor of the Romans began in Judea from 63 BC. From 6 AD. The question of taxes became a burning issue. By presenting Christ with the question of taxes to Caesar, i.e. To the Roman emperor, who was then Tiberius, the Pharisees and Herodians hoped to put Christ in a hopeless situation. If Christ recognizes the obligatory nature of the tax, he will thereby incite against himself the people, who generally considered the tax in favor of Caesar to be offensive. If Christ rejects the tax, he will appear as a rebel against the Roman government.

. But Jesus, seeing their wickedness, said: Why are you tempting Me, you hypocrites?

. show Me the coin with which the tax is paid. They brought Him a denarius.

The Jews usually did not have any images of faces on their coins, because this was considered idolatry. The Asmonaeans minted their coins only with inscriptions in Hebrew and Greek and images of a vessel with manna, Aaron's rod, etc. On the Roman coins used to pay taxes, there were images of emperors with various inscriptions. Christ does not require any other coin, but the one with which the tax is paid. This somewhat vague expression of Matthew is replaced by other weather forecasters with a more specific one - the demand for a “denarius”, as was in reality.

. And he says to them: whose image and inscription is this?

The visual way of explaining the matter adopted by Christ showed that if the Jews were an independent people, then they would not have had coins such as the denarius in circulation and in use. The use of Roman coins indicated the dependence of the Jews on Caesar, and they had to look straight into the eyes of this contemporary reality. The meaning of the verse can be briefly expressed in only one word: “if.” If you show Me the coin with which you pay the tax, then it will be clear to you whether it should be paid or not. If you tell Me whose image and inscription this is, you will know who needs to pay the tax. The Savior does not just say: “Whose image is this?” or: “Whose inscription is this?” But both of these questions are connected: When looking at the image made on the coin, it was impossible to doubt that it was an image of Caesar, and for those who did not know this or did not see Caesar personally, the inscription on the denarius probably depicted a bust of Emperor Tiberius with an inscription. TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGUSTUS, i.e. “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus,” The letters PONTIF MAXIM may have been written on the back of the coin, i.e. “pontifex maximus.”

. They say to Him: Caesar's. Then he says to them, “Render therefore the things that are Caesar’s to Caesar, and the things that are God’s to God.”

The meaning of the answer: serving Caesar does not interfere with true service to the Lord God.

. Hearing this, they were surprised and, leaving Him, went away.

. That day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him:

In their teachings, the Sadducees generally held opinions opposite to those accepted by the Pharisees, “they did not believe in the resurrection, nor in spirits, nor in Angels, being opponents of the Pharisees” (Theophylact).

The conversation with the Sadducees took place on the same day and, apparently, soon after the conversation with the Pharisees and Herodians about the tribute to Caesar, and not at the time when the Pharisees went and consulted how to catch Him in words (verse 15), as notes Origen.

. Teacher! Moses said: If someone dies without having children, then let his brother take his wife and restore seed to his brother;

Rejecting the resurrection (cf.), the Sadducees tried to confirm their teaching by referring to the decree of Moses regarding the so-called “levirate” marriage (from the Latin word “levir” - brother-in-law), set out in Deuteronomy (). All weather forecasters repeat λέγοντες at the beginning of the verse (Mark - οἵτινες λέγουσιν ; Luke - ἀντιλέγοντες) of the previous verse. The quotation is not similar in expression among all weather forecasters; it deviates from both the Hebrew text and the translation of the Seventy. The Sadducees express the idea of ​​the Hebrew text here very briefly and in their own words. This law of coexistence is clear and has been applied in practice. According to him, if someone dies, leaving a wife with whom there were no children, then his wife should marry his brother (as in the Seventy and in the Gospels, but in the Hebrew - for a brother-in-law, which, of course, is the same thing ; the difference is only in expressions) and restore the seed to him. Ἐπιγαμβρεύειν – technical word to denote levirate marriage. Found in the New Testament only here in Matthew. In 20, marriage with the widow of a deceased brother is prohibited. But some cases are indicated when exceptions were allowed.

. We had seven brothers; the first, having married, died and, having no children, left his wife to his brother;

. likewise the second and the third, even to the seventh;

. after all, the wife also died;

. So, in the resurrection, which of the seven will she be the wife of? for everyone had it.

The example given by the Sadducees was, of course, fictitious, because in reality such combinations usually do not exist (when talking about another subject). For their purpose, they could have limited themselves to two or three brothers, and their argument would not have lost any of its force. Speaking of seven brothers (perhaps they chose seven because the number was sacred), the Sadducees obviously want to present the matter in a caricature that would seem funny even here on earth, and not just in heaven. According to some, the Sadducees also wanted to express the idea that the legal doctrine of levirate marriage, if combined with the Pharisaic doctrine of the resurrection, must necessarily lead to the doctrine of polyandry. This was a casuistic question, the solution of which was difficult for the Pharisees, as can be seen from the treatise Yevamot (Talmud, trans. Pereferkovich. T. 3. P. 10 et seq.). In Yevamot (ibid., p. 30) the following case is dealt with: “There are three brothers: two of them are married to two sisters, and the third is single; one of the married men died, and the unmarried man made (with his widow) something like an agreement (“maamar” - saying, formula), and then the second brother died; the school of Shammai says: let his wife (betrothed to him according to “maamaru”) remain with him, and the second one is free, as his wife’s sister; and the school of Hillel says: he must let his wife go with a “get” (letter of divorce) and with a “chalitza” (removal of shoes), and his brother’s wife with a chalitza.”

. Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God,

In Luke, the words of Matthew and Mark are replaced by a completely different expression, not found in the first two weather forecasters. Ignorance is a common cause of error. Jesus Christ answers the Sadducees in this sense, putting their ignorance in the foreground. It consisted in ignorance of the Scriptures, which contained a teaching unknown to the Sadducees, and the power of God, because God, who gave life to the living, can give it to the dead and always has the power and authority to restore it. “Look,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “with what wisdom, befitting a true teacher, the Savior answers them. Although they approached Him with an insidious intention, their question stemmed more from ignorance. Therefore, the Savior does not call them hypocrites.”

. for in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but remain as the Angels of God in heaven.

Comparison with Angels does not give the right to conclude that life in the future world will be incorporeal. The existence of bodies in resurrected people “is necessarily presupposed in the saying of Christ” (cf. ; ). The resurrected will have bodies, but with a limitation - the impossibility and purposelessness of marriage. “Christ does not deny that there will be both men and women in heaven, but rather assumes the existence of women, but in such a way that they do not use their gender for marriage and birth. Nemo enim dicit de rebus quae non habent membra genitaliä non nubent, neque nubentur” (Jerome).

. Oh resurrection of the dead Have you not read what God said to you:

. I am Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

IN Old Testament There are places that contain a clearer teaching about the resurrection than in the quotation given by Christ from (see; ; ; ; and others). Why doesn’t the Savior refer to these clearer passages, but prefers what is not so clear? In explaining this, Jerome assumed that they (the Sadducees) accepted only the books of Moses, rejecting the prophecies. Consequently, it was unwise to borrow evidence from sources whose authority the Sadducees did not recognize. The newest exegetes, however, admit that the Sadducees did not reject the prophets, but only considered the Pentateuch canonical in the proper sense. If so, then it is quite clear why the Savior turned to the Pentateuch of Moses to prove the resurrection. He chose a quote (), which, of course, was well known to the Sadducees, but which they did not understand. Words "God is not the dead, but the living" are not borrowed from, but are only an interpretation of the words of the law by the Savior Himself. In Luke, the Hebrew quotation is conveyed in paraphrase (in his own words); in Matthew and Mark the text itself is given, but with minor deviations from both the Hebrew and the translation of the Seventy. The meaning of Christ's words is quite clear. If the Law of Moses says that He called Himself God before people who lived but then died, this means that they are still alive, because the true and living God cannot be the God of dead and non-existent persons. Thus, the truth of the afterlife and continuing existence of people is based on the recognition of the truth of the existence of God as living and eternal. He only denies the immortality of man who denies the existence of God. Against the quotation from the law (verse 24), the Savior cites another quotation from the law, and with this weapon refutes His enemies.

. And when the people heard, they marveled at His teaching.

Mark just added: “So, you are very mistaken”, but there are no words given in Matthew. Luke doesn’t have them either, but he makes the following addition: “To this some of the scribes said: Teacher! You said it well. And they no longer dared to ask Him anything.”. Matthew here denotes the impression made on the people by the word ἐξεπλήσσοντο (cf. ; ; ; ).

. And the Pharisees, hearing that He had silenced the Sadducees, gathered together.

The defeat of the Sadducees apparently gave, at least to the scribes, some, perhaps only temporary, pleasure (). But this did not stop the Pharisees from forming more and more conspiracies and intrigues against the Savior. It is very interesting that Luke ended his speech with the words: “they no longer dared to ask Him”(), does not really lead further to any questions to Christ from His enemies, and the question of the lawyer () refers to another time and puts it in a different connection. But Matthew and Mark do not repeat Luke’s words here, and therefore the lawyer’s question does not serve here as a contradiction to what they said before.

. And one of them, a lawyer, tempting Him, asked, saying:

. Teacher! What is the greatest commandment in the law?

Νομικός (lawyer) is found here only in Matthew, never in Mark, but six times in Luke (, ), and once in the Epistle to Titus (). In Titus 3 the same word is used as an adjective. It is difficult to make a significant difference between νομικοί and γραμματεῖς. Perhaps it should only be said that νομικός is a more special name for a scribe. Unlike “wise,” which was considered a scribe, νομικός denotes a lawyer or legal adviser. Mark has no note at all that a “legalist” approached Christ, tempting Him; In general, Mark’s conversation seems only pleasant and sympathetic; at the end, the lawyer expresses praise for Christ and He for him. Mark's story throws some light on Matthew's story. Not everyone in the crowd surrounding Christ were His sworn and irreconcilable enemies. There were also exceptions. Even from among His enemies - this, apparently, is what Matthew wants to say by introducing the word “tempting”: some who came, if not completely, then almost with hostile intentions, left Him satisfied with His teaching and clarification of perplexities. But this only further intensified the darkness of that enmity towards Christ, which caused His denunciations in the 23rd chapter. This idea is well expressed by Evfimy Zigavin: “In Matthew the lawyer tempts, but in Mark he praises more. Why? Because he first tempted, being sent by the Pharisees. But after listening to the answer, he accepted it and, changing his way of thinking, agreed.”

Mark's words, omitted by Matthew and Luke: “Listen, Israel! Our Lord is one Lord", may indicate that the Savior explained here only what the lawyer who asked Him was well aware of from the so-called Jewish “shema” (see Talmud, trans. Pereferkovich. Vol. 1, pp. 40–44), which consisted of three sections and , with various doxologies accompanying the "shema". Tractate Berachot (see Talmud, trans. Pereferkovich. Vol. 1, pp. 1–39) contains various regulations regarding the reading of the Shema in the morning and in the evening and in general under various circumstances.

) the word “love” is replaced by the conjunction καί (“and”). The deviations from the Hebrew text and translation of the Seventy are minor. This second commandment is not lower than the first, but similar to it. Evfimy Zigavin says: “He said that in greatness the second commandment is similar to the first, for this one is great, these commandments are mutually connected and mutually support themselves.” But John Chrysostom, in a light expression, places the second commandment somewhat lower than the first: “Having been asked about the first commandment, he brings the second, almost as important as the first” ( οὐ σφόδρα ἐκείνης ἀποδέουσαν ). From the Gospels it can be concluded that the second commandment is no less than the first (; .)

The verb κρέμαται does not mean, as translated in Russian, “established”, but “hangs” (in the Slavic Bible - “hang”; in some texts it is singular, not plural; in the Vulgate - pendet, in German translation Luther and the new German translators - hänget and hängt, in the English translation - hang). The verb is put in the present tense of the general voice (with the meaning of the past perfect action) from κρεμάννυμι, meaning to hang, to be hanged, to hang, to depend. In the New Testament this verb is used everywhere in this sense ( ὁ νόμος. This construction is found in the New Testament (cf. 18, etc.).

. When the Pharisees had gathered, Jesus asked them:

At Mk. 12 this verse has an obvious reference to . This means that the lawyer’s question was given at the time when (according to Matthew) the Pharisees gathered for conferences. In Matthew this connection is expressed quite clearly, but not so clearly in Luke. Actually, this question serves as the beginning of further denunciations in Matthew (. In the Jewish scriptures, this entire psalm was attached to the Messiah and was considered messianic. Christ does not refute the correct (in verse 42) answer of the Pharisees, who called Christ the Son of David, and does not consider the answer insufficient, but on the contrary, he confirms it by asking His question in terms of its interpretation. The interpretation of the psalm in the sense that at the time of Christ it was supposedly a relatively recent work was completely unknown to both the Sadducees and the Pharisees (Edersheim). ledavid mismor" (psalm of David), in Greek translation Seventy as well (ψαλμός τῷ Δαβίδ).

. So if David calls Him Lord, how can He be his son?

Some thought that Christ here refutes the opinion of the Pharisees, who claimed that the Messiah is the Son of David. But the whole context is against such an interpretation. It is more likely to assume that Christ’s question was caused by rumors spread by His enemies that He was not the Son of David and, therefore, not the Messiah, as His disciples and people recognized. If so, then Christ’s question becomes clear. If He is not the Son of David and not the Messiah, then who is David talking about when he calls his son Lord? “The true answer did not occur to them. It could be as follows. The Messiah is the Son of David by his human origin, but as the Son of God, originating eternally from the Father, He is exalted above David and above all humanity, and therefore David correctly called Him his Lord. But such a dual attitude of the Messiah to the great Jewish king and at the same time a true assessment of the dignity and service of the Messiah were not known in the theology of the rabbis.”

. And no one could answer Him a word; and from that day no one dared to ask Him.

In general, the power of Christ’s answers is indicated. In subsequent history, we actually see that His enemies do not offer Him any questions in order to tempt Him.

- Friend! – one day each of us will hear these words, looking Christ straight in the eyes. And then we can hear the following words...
- Friend! How did you come here without wearing wedding clothes?

I don’t think that in the Kingdom of Heaven there is a dress code and in order to distinguish friends, they need a uniform. The properties of our soul are still easily read on our face. There the soul will be more tangible and, therefore, its essence will be more visible. On our face everyone can read how we lived.

We know that we will all be resurrected. Someone says that we will be given the same bodies that we have now, but only young and healthy ones. But it's strange. Why then die to obtain the same? After all, even if we are resurrected in the same body, then temporary life after death until the Judgment is generally meaningless.

The Apostle Paul writes that: “...we will not all die, but we will all be changed.” This means that the bodies will still be different, transformed, lighter and brighter. In fact, why does a wolf in Paradise need teeth, and a cat need claws? Why does a person also need a belly for heavy food and everything that he inherited from the beast by kinship?

No one knows the extent of physicality and transformation of the resurrected body. Whether this subtle ethereal body will be without leather vestments or our body will receive only cosmetic tuning, God alone knows..

The Apostle Thomas refused to test the quality of the Lord’s flesh and did not touch his wounds. The apostles saw Christ in the form of a man, but they do not know how this body exists now. After all, if it is the same, then He needs water, light and other conditions of existence on earth. That is, this ascended body must remain on planet Earth-2 and wait for a second landing to us. And this is nonsense. So there is some mystery here.

It is completely logical that the image of a new body will be associated with a personal measure of holiness or, at least, piety. It is obvious that the wedding clothes of Christ's friends who will gather at His Easter feast in the Kingdom of Heaven will be adorned with our personal virtue.

Holiness will determine what can be called clothing there. It is unlikely that this will be the ethnic clothing of ancient Palestine or the clothing of the Greeks, in which icon painters dress the saints.

This is a convention of icon painters, who very boldly claim that they testify to the image of a transformed being. Sandals, chitons, felonies, caps in the shape of a glass are a convention of graphics.

Of course, for lack of a wedding robe, a guest who comes to the feast not in wedding clothes will not be thrown into the outer darkness. Does Christ look at who is dressed? And the angels will not bind the soul because Christ will be sorry for Heavenly dishes or because He is ambitious and touchy. And because in response to the Savior’s question:

- Friend! How did you come here not wearing wedding clothes?

This “friend” responded with silence. This already happened when God the Father went to look for Adam, who had sinned, and he first hid from Him, and then began to make excuses and lie. That is, deception and unwillingness to be an honest and loving son brought the forefather to the face of the earth, where death and the earth are in thistles.

This passage in the Gospel can be interpreted in three ways. The most popular is reproach and edification using the example of ancient Israel, who rejected their calling. But often this interpretation is more like the plot of a history textbook ancient world. Those who were rejected have long been in the ground, and from them, at best, only teeth or fragments of bones remained. On Last Judgment The Lord will definitely not ask us for their sin

The second is transferring the parable to us. After all, the Gospel is a timeless flow of information. It is good news for each of those who read it. Here it is appropriate to remember the new ones called to the feast of Christ - all Christians around the world.

Well, or specifically about Russia. There's a trap here again. Remembering the anti-Christian revolution in Russia, they think that a foreigner-mason fooled the Russian peasant and he made a mess. But it seems to me that the Russians are not such children that they can be fooled and set down to burn down their house. Others are confident that the revolution broke the back of the Russian people completely and irrevocably. They are waiting for the death of the empire and are in mortal panic.

I think that if you want to teach wisdom and prophesy about your city, then first you need to become like a locally revered saint. Like our Ryazan blessed Love. If you want to know what God wrote about Russia, become Venerable Seraphim or Sergius.

If you want to know about the cups prepared for the world, be like John the Theologian

If you don’t have such a spirit, pay attention to yourself, as holy people advise. This is the third way.

Thus, let us accept Christ’s address to us as “friend” and see what this gospel “friend” and “friends of a friend” mentioned by the Savior did wrong.

We don’t know what this “friend” in the parable did, but we can indirectly guess about the problem from the reaction of the embittered lawyers. They took the rebuke of the parable personally and decided to kill Christ. They were upset by Christ's words because their relationship with God was easy.

Law is simpler than love. Their law, with a stretch, allowed them to kill the prophets. The severity of the law is always compensated by the possibility of circumventing it with tricks in paragraphs. The law does not imply love at all. Neither to those above nor to those below. You can hide your heart behind the law. And it's convenient.

And we do this: we go to court, we live according to convenience and with the concept that what is not prohibited is possible. Having eliminated love, and therefore God, from his life, a person finds joy in simple things: in food, cars, money, in the opposite sex, in wine and even murder. The joy of sin really exists. More precisely, not joy, but intoxication with vice and the subsequent hangover.

At first it is difficult to sin, but then a person gets used to it and lives from sin to sin, decorating his life with vices and pushing God out of it. Sin, like a drug, binds the criminal to itself. Without sin, a villain feels bad. Having become bored with one sin, the villain moves on to another until he inevitably comes to enmity with God or suicide.

A vicious person is bored with God. There is no desire to pray, that is, talk with God, and there is nothing to talk about.

But sooner or later this meeting will happen. What will we talk to Him about? About inheritance, illness, food, cars and money? Really, what do I have to say to God? Or what will we talk about with His friends at the Easter table? Behold, Christ embraced us and said:

Sit down, my son, let's talk.

And there’s nothing to talk about. They lived by different interests, often confusing good and evil with their own whims.

We are both good and evil at the same time. Very rarely at times we are even saints, but mostly boring and cold-hearted. But Christ loves and waits for such people. We still have time to look back and see how it happened that “ordinary” life ordinary people, led to the fact that they had to hear: “... the king was angry, and, sending his troops, he destroyed their murderers and burned their city.”

There is nothing wrong with a man loving his job, his land, or his wife. The bad thing is that your wife, work, money or health becomes a god. The wife-god will sooner or later give pepper. All the same, you can’t redo all of God’s work and you won’t earn all the money.

But life will pass, the wife will grow old, the health needed for work will end, and life will lose its meaning. It loses its meaning not only on earth, but also in heaven. The time will come and things will become quiet and strict around us. And we will ask ourselves simple and important questions.

In fact, why do thousands of generations, like wounded up dolls, constantly get married, plow the land and look for money? Where is the money of King Xerxes and the beauty of Nefertiti? At best, the broken gold of the ancient world is exhibited in the Hermitage, and the mummy of an Egyptian beauty in the form of a pitiful bandaged doll lies in a glass box for everyone to see. This carousel of history is spinning, and today it’s our turn to spin on it for a short time.

But in our hands we have a ticket to the Feast of God. And with this ticket you need to break the eternal circle and go to the palace of the Heavenly King for a feast. This is not a feast of abundant food and wine. And he is happy. After all, the soul feeds on joy. Right John of Kronstadt wrote that if there is no joy in the heart, then the enemy of Christ lies there.

We can hear the call of God with a heart that accepts grace. This grace is given to us not only in the temple and in the sacraments, but also outside its fence. She's everywhere. Grace is received from honest work, from loyalty to people, from everything that without God destroys and leads to sin and the loneliness of godlessness.

The best way to ruin your mood is to start thinking about yourself. The best way to ruin your life is to live only for yourself. A The best way To plunge headlong into outer darkness is to bring your problems to heaven.

The house of God is the whole world. The Liturgy is celebrated there daily. Easter does not occur in May or April. She is always in eternity. And the feast, it’s everywhere. Only in heaven will we be face to face with God, but now we just feel His hand on our shoulder.

Let us not be deceived by the ancient delusion and entourage of external piety and the false opinion that one can come to an agreement with God as with a business partner. It's not enough to just go to church. It’s not enough to read and proofread. It's not enough to argue on blogs.

This has already caught those who, after listening to the parable, wanted to kill Christ. We must live and love. In this case, the Law is just a tool to strengthen love, but not the meaning of life. Who loves a tool more than a job? The law itself cools and dries up the soul. With a cold and heavy heart that does not hear the voice of Christ, even in the temple one can be a stranger. You can be a stranger even when receiving communion at the small feast of the liturgy.

One day, man loving God reaches a stage in his development when he understands and sees that the world is full of joy. So a person finds it everywhere. And he becomes ashamed of his happiness among simple and exhausted people. The righteous man is not happy because he has everything or is completely healthy.

No. He is happy because he does not need earthly wealth. He is happy that whatever he touches reveals to him a source of grace. He is happy to see that everything that his gaze falls on is full of this grace in abundance. All this happens because in his work, and in his family, in his sleep and wakefulness, God comes first. And all this earthly happiness and heavenly gifts, and eternal joyful life are given to us for nothing, but simply as a gift out of love. So why not take it?

It's good to live this way. For a Christian, this world is wonderful. And abroad he is even better.

VOVA asks
Answered by Alexandra Lanz, 06/03/2011

Question: AND WHO IS THE ONE WHO CAME TO THE WEDDING Feast NOT WEARING FESTIVE CLOTHES? AND IS IT WORTH ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT IS UNCLEAR. MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST READ? THANKS IN ADVANCE.

Peace be with you, Vova!

I can't understand what you mean by "maybe you just need to read." What does “just read” mean? Just run your eyes over lines and words? And for what? What's the point? Did God really give the Bible to mankind, provide for the way of preserving its books, and even translate these books into almost all languages ​​of the world, only so that mankind would simply wander their eyes over its words, not understanding the meaning of what was written? Sorry, but by arguing this way, you come into conflict with her own words, which you are probably able to understand... if you force your brain to process the information received from what your eyes see:

“All Scripture is inspired by God
and useful for learning,
for reproof,
for correction,
for instruction in righteousness,
may the man of God be perfect to everyone good deed cooked" ().

What is the raison d'être of Scripture? “Let the man of God be perfect.”

How is this perfection achieved? Because when we read Scripture we can learn something from it, while it convicts us of what we do or think wrongly, it corrects us and teaches us righteousness.

But how does it do all this? Is it due to the fact that a person mindlessly runs his eyes along the lines, or due to the fact that a person strives to understand what is written?

Chapter 17 of the book “Acts” tells us that faith arose precisely from a diligent study of Scripture (). Jesus Himself commanded people to search the Scriptures (). Do you understand? Don’t just read it, running your eyes over the lines, in the hope that this “running” will somehow magically affect you, but research, i.e. compare texts, look for answers to your questions, in other words, strain, spend time and energy trying to understand what it actually says.

From the pages of the Bible, God explains to us, fallen creatures, Himself and the plan of our salvation! He wants us to have the opportunity to understand Him and worship Him, not out of fear of punishment, but because our entire being will understand Him, realize that He is truly the only One who is truly just and merciful, and therefore worthy worship. Do you understand? God doesn't just come to you and say, now you will worship Me. No! He comes to you and says: let Me explain why you can trust Me, let Me explain to you how I intended you to be, how I can make you, incline your ear and listen to what I am doing to get you out of the pit of death into which all humanity fell.

The Apostle Peter clearly says that Scripture is a lamp to which we must constantly turn (), and here he echoes David, who said: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Why could the Word of God be a lamp to David's feet? Because...

By Your commandment You have made me wiser than my enemies, for it is always with me.

I have become more intelligent than all my teachers, for I meditate on Your revelations.

I am more knowledgeable than the elders, for I keep Your commandments.

I keep my feet from every evil way, to keep Your word...

How sweet are Your words to my throat! better than honey to my lips.

I have been admonished by Your commandments; That’s why I hate every path of lies.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. ()

Can someone who simply runs his eyes over the lines of the Bible say that this makes him wiser and more intelligent, that he keeps the commandments of God, that the Word of God sweeter than honey for him? No, It is Immpossible. If you do not meditate on the Word, if you do not spend effort on understanding what is said, if you do not pray to the Author to give you understanding, then the Word will be boring and dead for you, it will not bring you any benefit and will not become FREEDOM for you from sin, fear and death .

Everyone who opens the Bible should open it with a prayer for understanding, for God to help connect everyone to the reading of His Word. intellectual abilities reader, otherwise there is no point in opening it:

Give me understanding, and I will keep Your law and keep it with all my heart ().

Thy hands created me and formed me; Give me understanding, and I will learn Your commandments ().

I am Thy servant: give me understanding, and I will know Thy revelations ().

The truth of Your revelations is eternal: give me some understanding and I will live ().

You are asking a specific question about who exactly is meant by the person who came to the wedding feast not wearing festive clothes. Have you asked Jesus this question? After all, I think you will agree that it is He who needs to be asked the question about the words written in His book, and even clearly from His lips. Why would He tell this parable if it could not be understood by those who listened to it then and read it now? Jesus never engaged in idle talk.

Jesus, continuing to speak to them in parables, said:

The kingdom of heaven is like a man king, who held a wedding feast for his son and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast; and didn't want to come.

Again he sent other servants, saying: Tell those who are invited: behold, I have prepared my dinner, my bullocks and what is fattened, slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast. But they despised this and went, some to their field, and some to their trade; 6 But the rest seized his servants, insulted and killed [them].







The king, entering to look at those reclining, saw a man there, not dressed in wedding clothes, and said to him: friend! How did you come here not wearing wedding clothes? He was silent. Then the king said to the servants: Having tied his hands and feet, take him and throw him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth; for many are called, but few are chosen ().

Kingdom of heaven(i.e. That Kingdom in which God Himself rules) like a man king, who held a wedding feast for his son and sent slaves(i.e. those people who faithfully serve the True God) call your invited ones(those who originally knew that they belonged to God, namely the Israelites) to the wedding feast; and didn't want to come.(reading the Gospels, we can see that even before the crucifixion Jesus sent His disciples (slaves) to preach the approach of the Kingdom, i.e. that very wedding feast, and sent them to preach among the Israelites, but few agreed to listen and even more so come)

Again he sent other servants, saying: Tell those who are invited: behold, I have prepared my dinner, my bullocks and what is fattened, slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast. But they despised this and went, some to their field, and some to their trade; the others, seizing his slaves, insulted and killed [them].(The people for whom the Kingdom of God was intended turned out to be too busy with themselves, and their hearts were already so hardened that they hated both the call itself and the messengers of God, raising their hand against them)

Hearing about this, the king became angry, and, sending his troops, destroyed their killers and burned their city.

Then he says to his servants: The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy; So go to the crossroads and invite everyone you find to the wedding feast.(Due to the fact that the overwhelming majority of the chosen people refused to come to the feast, God, leaving them alone, sent His messengers to where they had not even heard of Him)

And those slaves, going out onto the roads, gathered everyone they found, both evil and good; and the wedding feast was filled with those reclining.(thus, everyone who wanted to come was at the feast. Do you want to be there? That means you will be there too. However, in order to really begin to feast, that is, to participate in the marriage of the Son and His bride, you need to be dressed accordingly events, isn’t it? After all, you respect, honor and even love both the Father and the Son, don’t you? And if so, then you will definitely make sure that you are at this feast in wedding clothes that will correspond to the grandeur in everything. and the splendor of the event. Judging by what we read further, not all the people who decided to come to the wedding accepted this event as the most important in their lives, so they did not take care of getting the right clothes. They decided that. so it will come to pass that God is not so demanding, and the event is not so important that you can slip into Heavenly Kingdom and in fig leaves and dirty pants)

The king, entering to look at those reclining, saw a man there, not dressed in wedding clothes, and said to him: friend! How did you come here not wearing wedding clothes? He was silent. Then the king said to the servants: Having tied his hands and feet, take him and throw him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth; For many are called, but few are chosen.

The second part of the parable, the one you are asking about, is about those who call themselves Christians. There are Christians who, having accepted the invitation to the feast, immediately began to take care of the cleanliness and correctness of their clothes for this great event, and there are those who simply began to call themselves Christians, but at the same time remained in what they were.

What kind of wedding clothes are these? which the parable speaks of,
how is it different from what people of this world wear?,
and where can I get it?

This is clearly not something made from earthly fabrics and materials, because we know that when the Day of Judgment comes, all the works of human hands will certainly be burned (). This means that the parable is about something very, very special. Here are the Bible verses that will help us understand what kind of clothing should be worn by those who want to be at the wedding feast.

However, you have several people in Sardis who have not defiled their clothes, and will walk with Me in white [robes], for they are worthy.

He who overcomes will be clothed in white robes; And I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, so that you may become rich, and white clothes so that you may be clothed, so that the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and anoint your eyes with eye salve, so that you may see.

And around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, who were dressed in white robes and had golden crowns on their heads.

And when He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the word of God and for the testimony that they had. And they cried out with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord, Holy and True, do you not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? And white robes were given to each of them, and they were told to rest for a little while longer, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would be killed like them, would complete the number.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could number, from all nations and tribes and peoples and languages, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and with palm branches in their hands.

And, having begun his speech, one of the elders asked me: who are these dressed in white robes, and where did they come from? I said to him: you know, sir. And he said to me: these are they who came out of great tribulation; they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Behold, I come like a thief: blessed is he who watches and keeps his clothes, lest he walk naked, and lest they see his shame.

Ask Heavenly Father to guide your thoughts and help you understand what kind of clothing it is that is so important for you and me, who want not only to be at the wedding feast, but also to remain there. If you seek God's guidance in the way you think, you will surely see the answers.

May the Holy Spirit of God be with you.

Read more on the topic “Interpretation of Scripture”:

22 Nov

Solomon says try and work, but Jesus said that we should not worry about tomorrow. (Vladislav)

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Today we heard the words gospel parable about the wedding feast.

The description of the feast, the image of this festive gathering, is often used in the Holy Scriptures. But these descriptions are different.

We know the description by the prophet Daniel of the feast of King Belshazzar, a crazy celebration on the eve of troubles and misfortunes. We remember the feast organized by King Herod on the occasion of his birthday, and everything that happened afterwards. We remember both the rich man who feasted every day, and the beggar Lazar who sat at the threshold of his house.

These are all examples of the celebrations of the wicked, which, according to Holy Scripture arranged by people for fun, where wine makes life fun; and silver is responsible for everything(Eccl. 10, 19). The words “silver is responsible for everything” mean that the basis of this rejoicing is not an abundance of sincere and pure heart, close to his Creator, but the desire to please his belly, and the hope that the more money and silver is spent on this pleasure, the more happiness and fun can be acquired, the more the soul of the organizer of the festivities is pleased with vanity.

Is it not about such celebrations that the Psalter says: Let their table be before them in a net.

But there are other examples of feasting.

One of them was brought to our spiritual attention. The Lord addresses the Pharisees, priests, his disciples and us, saying:

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man king, who held a wedding feast for his son and sent his servants to call those invited to the wedding feast.

Of course, first of all, the words of this parable were addressed at the time to the high priests and Pharisees, i.e. to the most righteous and zealous guardians of the law of that time. But carried away by conceit and pride in preserving its letter, they stopped preserving its spirit, essence - they stopped listening to the words of the Truth - the son of God, who came to them for a calling from the old law to the new, to a calling for marriage, union with the Kingdom of Heaven through the acceptance of His teachings . That is why the word of the Gospel continues:

But they, having neglected[invitation] , some went to their field, and some to their trade; the rest, seizing his slaves, insulted and killed them.

So the pettiness in the performance of even the most holy work overshadowed them spiritual vision and hearing and they missed the great calling of unity with God.

And those who were beaten for calling to the feast are the prophets and all subsequent disciples and followers of Christ, his apostles, holy martyrs, everyone who piously wants to spend their lives, pleasing God.

Go[says the great steward] to the crossroads and invite everyone you find to the wedding feast. And those slaves, going out onto the roads, gathered everyone they found, both evil and good; and the wedding feast was filled with those reclining.

It is us, all Christians who once did not know God before baptism, who are being called by the Lord to the feast of faith.

He calls not for a simple holiday, but a wedding feast, calls for union with God through union through faith with the Son of God - Christ the Savior. Therefore, the life of a Christian, even if it is full of sorrows, deprivations, and sorrows, cannot be filled with despondency, for its goal is union with God, a union so faithful, sincere and pure that the Lord himself calls it marriage. And we strive for it.

And so we really see how the temple, the palace of the Heavenly King, the churches of God, are filled with people, pilgrims - for this is who we are, both evil and good, called to communicate with God, instead of those rejected, who considered themselves righteous. But let’s not think that we have already achieved the desired goal, that we are the chosen ones mentioned in the parable. It is not enough to come to church externally and externally perform church rituals; you must begin to serve the Lord in your heart.

But how? Through repentance.

The king, entering to look at those reclining, saw a man there, not dressed in wedding clothes, and said to him: friend! How did you come here not wearing wedding clothes?

What clothes are we talking about?

About the one about which the Church sings at the end of Lent:

I see Your palace, my Savior, adorned, and I have no clothes, but I will go into it: enlighten the robe of my soul, O Light-Giver, and save me.

By clothing, the “robe of the soul,” we mean the deeds of life by faith, that light, festive clothing that confirms our readiness for marriage, fidelity, union with God in service and love for Him. Clothes that will not be torn off by the wind of evil changes of times and tragic circumstances of our lives.

Do we have such clothing, is it clean, is it not defiled, is it not stained with the dirt of unclean deeds and nasty heartfelt aspirations: exaltation over one’s neighbor, envy hidden or even openly living in the heart?

We often do not want to see our sins, considering ourselves already completely redeemed and forgiven in the sacrament of baptism.

Are we being truthful to ourselves, are we not covering ourselves with lies, an imaginary truth about ourselves, are we not being crooked in our souls, are we not wanting to appear to be someone we are not, just as in the brilliant crowd of those invited to a holiday, under the friendly smiles, coldness of soul and indifference are hidden. There is no reality, but only spiritual laziness.

Vain fears and superstitions are the inseparable companions of an unfaithful heart at all times, empty worries, fussiness from unexpected changes in the world and personal life, don’t they give rise to distrust in us towards God, and hostility and anger towards our neighbors.

Isn’t our heart filled with grievances against our neighbors, against the whole world, against God, from which we withdraw into ourselves out of pride, stubbornness and loneliness.

And we ourselves break the ties of spiritual and blood relationship, and it seems that we remain completely alone in this world.

And suddenly we receive a great invitation - an invitation to the wedding feast of the King. We, all once separated by sin, rush to this call.

But what do we do on the way to this feast, along the life-long road, which is our life itself. Are we not distracted by the bustle? Don’t we want to reach the goal before others, get ahead of them, alone, hoping on our own strength to receive crowns and glory and grace at the finish line?

But it is impossible to become worthy of being invited to the King’s feast without humility of our hearts before our neighbor; we ourselves must become those who invite others to the triumph of faith before the Heavenly King, according to the words of Christ the Savior Himself: “When you make a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind , and you will be blessed that they cannot repay you, for you will be rewarded at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:13). Let us share our joy with them, and not our grumbling, we will strive to console them, to encourage them Christianly, and having done this to the least of these, we will do this to the Lord himself, before the days of judgment come

For many are called, but few are chosen.

Because the complete triumph of grace and power of the Kingdom of God, the indestructible and perfect union of the soul with God will be accomplished only at the second and terrible coming of the Lord, as Christ the Savior Himself says about this:

The king entered to see those reclining, who were in the assembly of believers, will consider the works of faith of each.

Then the word from the mysterious Revelation of the holy Apostle John the Theologian will come true: - blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Then, in the life of the next century, when The Lord God Almighty will reign, judge of the living and the dead. Then the completeness of the union of the earthly church, the church of all the saints who worked for the Lord with the Heavenly Bridegroom will be accomplished. And they will rejoice and be glad and give Him glory.

And all His servants who fear Him, small and great, will rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him.

But what will each of us hear from the Lord of the world?

And woe will be for us who lived unrepentantly, naked and without wedding garments. What abyss and darkness of the wickedness of our deeds will expose us, and what the stench of sins will envelop us, who do not have repentance, but have a proud and arrogant heart over our neighbor.

Then they will excommunicate us from the celebration, and

having tied their hands and feet, they will throw them into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

What should we do? To fulfill the ancient and ever new call of the holy prophet:

Wash yourself, make yourself clean; remove your evil deeds from before my eyes; stop doing evil; learn to do good, seek truth, save the oppressed, defend the orphan, stand up for the widow.

Then come and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; if they are red like purple, like a wave, i.e. as clean sheep's wool, I'll make you white.

But not only in the example of today’s Sacred reading do we see two different feasts, but today’s life itself gives us its own images.

Today we have two holidays ahead of us: Sunday, Little Easter, celebrated in churches, and the holiday - This City Day, celebrated in squares and parks.

Calling today's external holiday a city day, does everyone understand why it is celebrated on this day?

Who invites us to today’s city holiday, and in memory of what is it being held?

Initially, in the days of St. Philaret, they wanted to celebrate this holiday in spring days, the year the small town of Moscow was mentioned in the chronicles for the first time. But it was not this day, the day of the birth of the walls and towers and the first grand princely feast, that marked the birth of this city.

By decree of the imperial authorities it was ordered to celebrate the city holiday on the first day of each new year. But this celebration did not mark the day of his spiritual birth and was forgotten over time.

God's providence arranged it in such a way that in the middle of the last century, the government, which set its goal to eradicate the very thought and faith in God, unknown to itself, chose a day for the holiday that was connected with the history of the spiritual formation of our city, its sorrows and joys through the help of God. Having dedicated the first non-working day of this first autumn month to a city holiday, we see that it almost always falls on the day of remembrance of the Council of All Moscow Saints, on the day of remembrance of those who worked the most in the spiritual field of this city, who convened for a spiritual celebration, a feast of faith in the days joys and sorrows of the Orthodox people. There are more than half a thousand names on this list, and by commemorating these saints on one day, the Church honors them as the heavenly patrons of the city of Moscow and prayer books for our earthly Fatherland. Saints, among whom one of the first in time, we see Metropolitan Peter, the Saint of God, then by title the Metropolitan of Kyiv, who blessed this city and its inhabitants, and laid the foundation stone for its further prosperity.

But this holiday, like the morning star before dawn, precedes the day of greater celebration - the remembrance of the meeting at the city walls miraculous icon The Queen of Heaven, who from ancient times more than once arranged the salvation of the residents of our city and is its heavenly Patroness.

Saints, shepherds, martyrs, holy fools, confessors and faithful stood with faith and life for the people of God and made this city what it is now - the capital of the Russian state. But do all those who bear the Christian name live in it worthy of their title, and is it the capital of piety, faith and purity? Doesn't the image of piety and faith fade in external splendor and wasteful luxury?

Let us remember the words of today's Gospel: many are called, but few are chosen.

Let us be grateful to the Lord for not despising our wretchedness, but calling us to His fellowship, so that we may become worthy of this invitation, and having received the joy of this calling to the feast, we will invite others to this joy, striving in repentance to find pure wedding garments.

Let us ask ourselves for God's help, the protection of the Mother of God and the prayerful help of the Moscow saints, that our soul may be enlightened and covered with the garment of joy for the life of the next century. Amen

St. John Chrysostom

St. Grigory Dvoeslov

The king, going in to look at those reclining, saw a man there, not dressed in wedding clothes.

Since you, by the generosity of God, have already entered the house of the wedding feast, that is, the holy Church, then be careful, brothers, lest the King, when he comes, discover a flaw in the vestments of your soul. With great trembling in your heart you need to think about what will follow: The king, going in to look at those reclining, saw a man there, not dressed in wedding clothes..

Beloved brothers! What do you think it means? wedding clothes? If we say that wedding clothes- this is baptism or faith, then who entered there without baptism and without faith? A person who has not yet believed is outside the feast. What should we understand by wedding clothing if not love? A man comes to a wedding feast, but is not there wedding clothes who, being in the Holy Church, does not have love, even if he has faith. We are right when we say that wedding clothes- love, because this is exactly what our Creator had when he came to the wedding feast of uniting Himself with the Church. And only the love of God made it possible for His Only Begotten Son to unite with the hearts of His chosen ones. John says: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life(John 3:16) .

Forty homilies on the Gospel of Matthew.

St. Gregory Palamas

The king, going in to look at those reclining, saw a man there, not dressed in wedding clothes.

Omilia 27, spoken during the harvest.

"The King Entered", - speaks, - "seeing those reclining", i.e. those who came from among those invited. His coming in order to see and judge those reclining is a proclamation of the judgment that is to take place in due time. So, "The King entered, - it is said, - seeing that person is not clothed in a wedding garment". – The robe of spiritual marriage is a virtue, in which if someone does not put on here, in this life, he will not only be found unworthy of this bridal chamber, but will also be subjected to bonds and unspeakable torment. If the garment of every soul is the body combined with it, then he who has not preserved it, or has not purified it here (in this life) with abstinence and chastity and chastity, will then find it indecent and unworthy of this incorruptible bridal chamber, and will deservedly be cast out from there.

Omilia 41. On the 14th Sunday Gospel reading according to ev. Matthew.

St. Simeon the New Theologian

Art. 11-13 The king, going in to look at those reclining, saw a man there, not dressed in wedding clothes, and said to him: friend! How did you come here not wearing wedding clothes? He was silent. Then the king said to the servants: Having tied his hands and feet, take him and throw him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth

Do you see what the Lord says? That those who give up evil and become good and virtuous gather for marriages; those who have any wickedness or evil in themselves, although they enter into marriages, are cast out and driven out with shame by the angels, who are here called servants. Those who remained seated at the wedding table are the saints. However, I know some who think that by not having the wedding garment we should here mean those who have desecrated their bodies through fornication, adultery and murder, but this is not so. Anyone defiled by any passion or sinful inclination does not have a wedding robe. And that this is true, listen to what St. Paul says: do not flatter yourselves: neither harlots... nor adulterers... nor wicked women, nor sodomites, nor covetous people(who are also called idolaters), neither thieves, nor drunkards, nor molesters, nor predators(but I will also say on my own behalf, neither those who have hatred or envy of any brother), they will not inherit the kingdom of God(1 Cor. 6:9-10), and have no part or place in the marriage celebration of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see how every passion and every sin defiles the garment of our soul and drives us out of the kingdom of heaven?

Words (Word 45th).

St. Isaac the Syrian

The king, going in to look at those reclining, saw a man there, not dressed in wedding clothes.

If the small pupil of your soul is not cleansed, do not dare to fix your gaze on the sun, lest you lose your normal sight and be thrown into one of those intelligible places, which is tartarus, which is an image (ṭupsā = τύπος) of Sheol. This is darkness outside of God, in which those who have gone beyond the boundaries of nature in the movements of their minds wander with the rational nature that they possess. Therefore, the one who dared to enter the feast in dirty clothes was appointed to be abandoned In this outer darkness. Feast called the vision of spiritual knowledge; what is cooked on it [is called] abundance Divine secrets, filled with joy and rejoicing and delight of the soul; clothes feast is called the vestment of purity, dirty same clothes- passionate movements that stain the soul; outer darkness- [that which remains] beyond all pleasure in the knowledge of truth and Divine communication. For he who, having clothed himself in these [i.e. i.e. dirty] clothes, dares to imagine in his mind (madʕā) the highest of God and introduce and place himself inside the spiritual contemplations of this holy feast, which appears only among the pure, and, being overwhelmed by the pleasure of passions, wants to partake of it [i.e. e. feast] pleasure - is immediately absorbed, as if by some kind of obsession (šraḡraḡyāṯā), and is ejected from there into a place devoid of radiance - that which is called Sheol and destruction, which is ignorance and deviation from God.

Word 76. Brief chapters.

St. Justin (Popovich)

The king, going in to look at those reclining, saw a man there, not dressed in wedding clothes.

Blzh. Hieronymus of Stridonsky

Art. 11-12 The king, going in to look at those reclining, saw a man there, not dressed in wedding clothes, and said to him: “Friend! How did you come here not wearing wedding clothes? He was silent

The royal meal was filled by those who were invited from under the fences, from the crossroads, from the streets and various places. But then, when the king entered to see those reclining at his feast (that is, those who rested on their visible faith (in sua quasi fide), just as on the day of judgment He will visit the feasters and judge the merits of each), he found a man who did not was dressed in wedding attire. By this one person we must understand all those who are connected with each other by malice, as allies. And the wedding garment is the commandments of God, as well as deeds performed according to the law and the Gospel and constituting the clothing of the new man. So, whoever at the time of judgment is found having the name of a Christian, but not having the wedding garment, that is, the clothing of the super-heavenly (supercoelestis) [or: heavenly - coelestis] man, but having filthy clothing, that is, the armor of the old man, he will immediately receive instruction and he is told: Friend! how did you get in here? He calls him a friend as an invitee to the marriage; but accuses him of shamelessness, because dirty clothes he desecrated the purity of the wedding feast. But he remained unanswered, for at that time there will no longer be room for repentance, nor the opportunity to deny what happened, because all the angels and the world itself will be witnesses against sinners.

Blzh. Theophylact of Bulgaria

Art. 11-14 The king, going in to look at those reclining, saw a man there, not dressed in wedding clothes, and said to him: friend! How did you come here not wearing wedding clothes? He was silent. Then the king said to the servants: having tied his hands and feet, take him and throw him into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth; for many are called, but few are chosen

Entry into the wedding feast occurs without distinction: we are all called, good and evil, only by grace. But then life is subject to a test, which the king carries out carefully, and the lives of many turn out to be desecrated. Let us tremble, brothers, when we think that for anyone whose life is not pure, faith is useless. Such a one is not only cast out from the bridal chamber, but also sent into the fire. Who is this one who wears defiled clothing? This is the one who has not put on the clothing of mercy, kindness and brotherly love. There are many who, deluding themselves with vain hopes, think of receiving the Kingdom of Heaven and, thinking highly of themselves, count themselves among the elect. By interrogating an unworthy person, the Lord shows, firstly, that he is humane and fair, and secondly, that we should not condemn anyone, even if someone has obviously sinned, unless he is openly exposed in court. Further, the Lord says to the servants, the punishing angels: "bind his hands and feet", that is, the soul’s ability to act. In the present century we can act and act one way or another, but in the future our spiritual powers will be bound, and we will not be able to do any good to atone for sins; “then there will be gnashing of teeth”- this is fruitless repentance. "Many Invited", that is, God calls many, or rather, all, but "few chosen ones", few who are saved, worthy of election from God. Election depends on God, but whether we become chosen or not is our business. With these words, the Lord lets the Jews know that a parable was told about them: they were called, but not chosen, as disobedient.

Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew.

Evfimy Zigaben

The king came in to see those reclining, and saw that the man was not clothed in a wedding robe, and said to him: friend, how did you come in without a wedding robe?

Lopukhin A.P.

Art. 11-12 The king, going in to look at those reclining, saw a man there, not dressed in wedding clothes, and said to him: friend! How did you come here not wearing wedding clothes? He was silent

When the guests gathered, the king was not in the palace. He enters only when the feast has already begun. Contrast between expressions “evil and good” And " reclining”at the feast, i.e. The guests received at the royal feast in the royal palace were carried out, undoubtedly, deliberately and very subtly. Although there were guests “evil and good,” however, they were awarded the royal invitation and were now reclining at the wedding feast, i.e. elegant clothes. The evil and vicious are transformed here into guests of honor quickly and by some miraculous force. The meaning, of course, is that the gospel messages, received by the evil and the good, quickly transform them. But the king’s gaze is darkened at the sight of one man who sat at the feast not in elegant clothes, but in torn, dirty, “not in marriage” clothes, in rags. Was this man guilty if he came to the feast directly, so to speak, from the street, and if he did not have the means to buy smart clothes for himself? This question is resolved very simply, by the fact that everyone who comes to the feast prepared by the King of Heaven can take for himself in the reception room of the royal palace any elegant clothes he wants, and thus appear in decent appearance at the wedding feast of the Lamb. This is undoubtedly implied in the parable. Our church song “Your chamber, I see, my Savior, adorned, and the imam has no clothes, let me enter into it” expresses, on the one hand, the deepest humility of a Christian, and on the other hand, a request addressed to God to give decent clothes in the spiritual sense : “Illuminate the robe of my soul, Light-Giver, and save me.” Thus, all that is required from the sinner is the desire to acquire elegant clothes for himself, which will undoubtedly be given to him, and, moreover, free of charge. The man, not in wedding clothes, obviously did not want to take advantage of this royal favor, and, not ashamed of either the Tsar or the guests, came to the feast in his rags. Art. 11 -14 are directly related to the prophecy of Zeph. 1:7,8. By the servant who came to the feast not in wedding clothes, of course, here it is not Judas, but in general the carnal Old Testament man (cf. Rom. 13:14; Gal. 3:27; Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:12). Expression “he was silent” Jerome interprets it this way: “at that time there will be no place for repentance and the ability to justify, when all the Angels and the world itself will testify to sins.”

Explanatory Bible.