Τὸ νόημα τῆς ἀγάπης

Ἀντωνίου Μπλουμ, Μητροπολίτη Σουρόζ

Εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος
Τὸ νόημα τῆς ἀγάπης εἶναι τὸ νόημα τῆς ζωῆς, ἐπειδὴ ἀγάπη, παρότι πολὺ συχνὰ πιστεύουμε ἤ φανταζόμαστε, δὲν εἶναι ἕνα ἁπλὸ συναίσθημα. Ὅταν μιλᾶμε γιὰ τὸν Θεὸ, καὶ λέμε ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς εἶναι ἀγάπη, δὲν ἐννοοῦμε ὅτι Αὐτὸς εἶναι ἕνα συναίσθημα δίχως τέλος. Ἐννοοῦμε κάτι βαθύτερο ἀπ’ αὐτὸ: ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς εἶναι πλοῦτος ζωῆς και ὕπαρξης. Καὶ αὐτὸ βρίσκει ἐφαρμογὴ στὴν δική μας ἀνθρώπινη ἀγάπη.
Κάποιος ποὺ κατέχεται ἀπὸ τὴν ἀγάπη εἶναι ἕνας ἄνθρωπος ποὺ ἔχει μέσα του πλοῦτο ζωῆς, στὸν ὁποῖο ἡ αἴσθηση τῆς ζωῆς, ἡ δύναμη τῆς ζωῆς εἶναι τόσο πλήρης, τόσο σπουδαία, ὥστε αὐτὴ ἡ ἀγάπη εἶναι σίγουρη γιὰ τὸν ἑαυτό της. Καὶ αὐτὸ γεννάει χαρά, κουράγιο, ἐνθουσιασμό, καὶ πηγαίνει τόσο βαθιὰ ὥστε φτάνει πέρα ἀπὸ τὸν ἴδιο τὸ θάνατο.

Ἡ Ἁγία Γραφὴ λέει ὅτι ἡ ἀγάπη εἶναι πιὸ δυνατὴ ἀπὸ τὸν θάνατο. Πράγματι εἶναι πιὸ δυνατὴ ἐπειδὴ ἔχει τοποθετήσει τὸν ἑαυτό της μέσα ἀπὸ τὴν πληρότητα της, τὴν δύναμή της, τὴν ἔνταση της στὸ βασίλειο τῆς ἀνάστασης, στὸ βασίλειο τῆς αἰώνιας ζωῆς. Καὶ αὐτὸς εἶναι ὁ λόγος ποὺ ἡ ἀγάπη εἶναι ἱκανὴ γιὰ μιὰ ἔσχατη θυσία, ὄχι μόνο ὅταν προσφέρουμε καὶ δεχόμαστε, ἀλλὰ μὲ τὸ νὰ θυσιάζει κάποιος τὴν ἴδια του τὴ ζωή, γιατὶ αὐτὴ ἡ ζωή, ἐὰν προσφέρεται, σημαίνει ὅτι τὴν κατέχει κάποιος στὴν πληρότητα της. Εἶναι πλοῦτος ζωῆς ποὺ ἐκφράζεται μέσα ἀπὸ τὴν ἔσχατη θυσία. Ἴσως νὰ θυμόσαστε τὰ λόγια τοῦ Χριστοῦ: « Κανεὶς δὲν μοῦ ἀφαιρεῖ τὴν ζωή, τὴν προσφέρω ὁ ἴδιος ἐλεύθερα ». Ἡ ἀγάπη, ἡ πληρότητα τῆς ζωῆς ποὺ αὐτὴ ἐκφράζει, εἶναι ἄτρωτη. Οἱ ἄνθρωποι μποροῦν νὰ μᾶς πάρουν τὴ ζωή, μποροῦν νὰ μᾶς ὑποβάλλουν σὲ ὁποιαδήποτε δοκιμασία, καὶ ὅμως ἕνας ἄνθρωπος παραμένει ἀλώβητος ἐπειδὴ κανένας στὴ πραγματικότητα δὲν τοῦ ἀφαιρεῑ τὴν ζωή· τὸ πρόσωπο ποὺ ἀγαπάει προσφέρει.

Θὰ ἤθελα νὰ σᾶς δώσω ἕνα παράδειγμα. Στὴ διάρκεια τῆς Ρωσικῆς Ἐπανάστασης μία μητέρα μὲ δύο παιδιὰ κρυβόταν σὲ μιὰ μικρὴ πόλη. Ἕνα βράδυ ἦλθε μιὰ γυναίκα, τόσο νέα, στὰ εἴκοσι της χρόνια, καὶ τῆς εἶπε ὅτι ἐπρόκειτο νὰ συλληφθεῖ τὴ νύχτα γιὰ νὰ ἐκτελεστεῖ. Ἡ μητέρα κοίταξε τὰ παιδιά, καὶ ἡ καινούργια της φίλη τῆς εἶπε, « Μὴν ἀνησυχεῖς, πήγαινε καὶ κρύψου.» Καὶ ἡ μητέρα εἶπε, « Πῶς θὰ μποροῦσα νὰ φύγω μὲ αὐτὰ τὰ παιδιά. Θὰ μὲ εὕρισκαν σὲ δυὸ ὧρες.» «Ὄχι », εἶπε ἡ ἄγνωστη φίλη της, «Θὰ μείνω πίσω, θὰ δώσω τὸ δικό σου ὄνομα καὶ ἴσως νὰ ἐκτελεστῶ, ἀλλὰ ἐσὺ θὰ δραπετεύσεις.» Καὶ ἔτσι ἔκανε.
Αὐτὴ ἦταν μιὰ πράξη ἀγάπης, ποὺ ἀπορρέει ἀπὸ μιὰ τέτοια πληρότητα ζωῆς, ἀπὸ μιὰ τέτοια βεβαιότητα ὅτι ἡ ζωὴ δὲν τελειώνει, καὶ ὅτι μονάχα μὲ τὴν ὁλοκλήρωση ποὺ θὰ εὕρισκε στὸ θάνατο της θὰ μποροῦσε νὰ κάνει αὐτὴν τὴν πράξη.
Κανένας δὲν ἔχει μεγαλύτερη ἀγάπη ἀπὸ ἐκεῖνον ποὺ θυσιάζει τὴν ζωὴ του γιὰ τοὺς φίλους του. Αὐτὸς ποὺ τὸ κάνει μόνος του ἐλεύθερα, προσεγγίζει τὴν ἐκπλήρωση τοῦ νοήματος τῆς ζωῆς, ἐπειδὴ ἡ ζωὴ ἀξίζει μόνο γι’ αὐτὸ ποὺ κάποιος ζεῖ, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ φτάνει τούτη τὴν πληρότητα ὅταν ὅλα τὰ πράγματα ποὺ μποροῦν ἀνθρώπινα νὰ γίνουν, γίνονται πέρα ἀπὸ τὸ φόβο, μὲ χαρά, μὲ βεβαιότητα.
Αὐτὸ εἶναι γιὰ μένα τὸ νόημα τῆς ἀγάπης. Τέτοια πληρότητα ζωῆς, ποὺ θὰ μοῦ ἐπιτρέψει νὰ δεχτῶ νὰ γίνω ἀπόλυτα εὐάλωτος, ποτὲ νὰ μὴν κάνω πίσω, ποτὲ νὰ μὴν ἀντιστέκομαι, νὰ προσφέρω τὸν ἑαυτό μου μέχρι τὴν τελευταία στιγμή, δίχως διάκριση σὲ κανέναν μὲ μιὰ βεβαιότητα ὅτι ἡ ἀγάπη ποτὲ δὲν θὰ νικηθεῖ, ὅτι ἡ ἀγάπη εἶναι πιὸ δυνατὴ ἀπὸ τὸν θάνατο· γιατὶ ἀγαπᾶμε σημαίνει ὅτι ἔχουμε ἤδη ἀπαρνηθεῖ τὸν ἑαυτό μας καὶ γινόμαστε κοινωνία, αὐτὴ εἶναι ἡ κοινωνία ζωῆς μὲ τὸν Θεό, ποὺ εἶναι ὁ ἴδιος ἀγάπη. Ἀμήν.
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Πρωτότυπο Κείμενο

The meaning of love 1966

Anthony Bloom – Metropolitan of Sourozh (1914- 2003)

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
The meaning of love is the meaning of life, because love, in spite of what we very often think or imagine, is not a simple feeling. When we speak of God, and we say that God is love, we do not mean that He is infinite feeling. We mean something deeper than this: that God is a plenitude of life and of being. And this applies also to our human love. Someone who is possessed by love is a man who has a plenitude of life in himself, in whom the sense of life, the power of life is so full, so great, that life is sure of itself. And this generates joy, courage, enthusiasm, and it goes so deep that it is beyond death itself. The Holy Scripture says that love is stronger than death. Indeed it is stronger than death because it has placed itself by its fullness, its power, its intensity in the realm of the resurrection, in the realm of eternal life. And this is why love is capable of final sacrifice, not only of giving and of receiving but of laying down one’s life, because this life, if it is given, is also possessed in its fullness. It is plenitude of life which finds expression in final sacrifice. You may remember the words of Christ: ‘No one is taking My life from Me, I give it freely Myself.’ In that respect love, the fullness of life which it expresses, is invulnerable. People may take our lives, people may put us to any test, and yet one remains invulnerable because no one in reality is taking; the person who loves is giving.
I would like to give an example of this. During the Russian Revolution a mother with two children was hiding in a small town. One evening a woman came, as young as she was, in her late twenties, and told her that she had been discovered, betrayed, and that she was to be arrested in the night in order to be shot. The mother looked at the children, and her new friend said, ‘Don’t worry, you go, and you hide.’ And the mother said, ‘How could I go with these two children. I would be found within a few hours.’- ‘No’, said her unknown friend, ‘I will stay behind, call myself with your name and be shot perhaps, but you will escape.’ And so she did.
This was an act of love, which proceeded from such fullness of life, from such certainty that life was not ending, and that it was only in the fulfilment that she would find in her death that she could do this.
No one has greater love than he who lays down his life for his friends. Who does it himself, freely, and who in doing so, attains to the fulfillment of life because life is worth only what one lives for, and life attains this fulfillment when all is done that can humanely be done beyond fear, in joy, in certainty.
This is the meaning of love to me. Such fullness of life, that will allow me to accept, to become totally vulnerable, never recoil, never resist, give myself to the last, without discrimination to anyone and for anyone with a certainty that love shall never be defeated, that love is stronger than death; because to love means that we already have renounced a limited self and grown into communion, that is community of life with God, who is love itself. Amen.

Πηγή: Ἠλιαχτίδα 

Εὐχαριστίες στήν Ἰωάννα Ι.

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