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Thursday, April 05, 2012 21:44 + in the quotation book Father, oh that You would deign to carry this cup past Me! However, not My will, but Yours be done. Gospel of Luke Chapter 22, verse 42 After the Last Supper - His last meal, at which the Lord established the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist - He went with the apostles to the Mount of Olives. Having descended into the hollow of the Kidron Stream, the Savior entered with them into the Garden of Gethsemane. He loved this place and often gathered here to talk with his students.
The Lord desired solitude in order to pour out His heart in prayer to His Heavenly Father. Leaving most of the disciples at the entrance to the garden, Christ took three of them - Peter, James and John - with Him. These apostles were with the Son of God on Tabor and saw Him in glory. Now the witnesses of the Transfiguration of the Lord had to become witnesses of His spiritual suffering. Addressing the disciples, the Savior said: “My soul is grieved unto death; abide here and watch with me" (Gospel of Mark chapter 14, verse 34)
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We cannot comprehend the Savior’s sorrows and anguish in all their depth. This was not just the sadness of a man aware of his imminent death. This was the grief of the God-man for the fallen creation, which had tasted death and was ready to doom its Creator to death. Moving a little to the side, the Lord began to pray, saying: “My Father! if possible, let this cup pass from Me; however, not as I want, but as You want.” Rising from prayer, the Lord returned to His three disciples. He wanted to find comfort in their willingness to watch with Him, in their sympathy and devotion to Him. But the disciples were sleeping. Then Christ calls them to prayer: “Watch and pray, so as not to fall into temptation: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Twice more the Lord walked away from the disciples into the depths of the garden and repeated the same prayer.
Christ’s sorrow was so great, and his prayer so intense, that drops of bloody sweat fell to the ground from His face. In these difficult moments, as the Gospel narrates, “an angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him
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Having finished the prayer, the Savior came to His disciples and again found them sleeping. “You are still sleeping and resting,” He addresses them, “behold, the hour has approached, and the Son of Man is being delivered into the hands of sinners;
Arise, let us go: behold, he who betrayed Me has drawn near .
At this very time, the lights of lanterns and torches began to appear through the foliage of the trees. A crowd of people with swords and stakes appeared. They were sent by the chief priests and scribes to arrest Jesus, and apparently expected serious resistance. Judas walked ahead of the armed men. He was sure that after the Last Supper he would find the Lord here in the Garden of Gethsemane. And I was not mistaken. The traitor agreed in advance with the soldiers: “Whomever I kiss, He is the One, take Him and lead him.” Separating himself from the crowd, Judas approached Christ with the words: “Rejoice, Rabbi,” and kissed the Savior. In response, he heard: “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
The betrayal has already taken place, but we see how Christ is trying to evoke repentance in the soul of His foolish disciple. Meanwhile, the guards approached. And the Lord asked the guards who they were looking for. From the crowd they answered: “Jesus the Nazarene.” “It is I,” came Christ’s calm response. At these words, the warriors and servants stepped back in fear and fell to the ground. Then the Savior said to them: if they are looking for Him, then let them take him, and let the disciples leave freely. The apostles wanted to protect their Teacher. Peter had a sword with him. He hit the high priest's slave named Malchus with it and cut off his right ear. But Jesus stopped the disciples: “Leave it, that’s enough.” And touching the ear of the wounded slave, he healed him. Addressing Peter, the Lord said: “Put your sword back into its sheath, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword; or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will present to Me more than twelve legions of Angels? How will the Scriptures be fulfilled that this must be so? Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave Me?” And turning to the armed crowd, Christ said: “It is as if you came out against a thief with swords and staves to take Me; Every day I was with you in the temple, and you did not raise your hands against Me; but now is your time and the power of darkness.” The soldiers tied up the Savior and took him to the high priests. Then the apostles, leaving Their Divine Teacher, fled in horror. The bitter words of the Savior, spoken by him on the eve of the night of Gethsemane, came true: “you will all be offended because of Me this night, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.” Christ accepts this bitter cup of suffering and painful death on the cross voluntarily, for the sake of the salvation of all mankind. He humbled Himself, taking on the form of a slave. Epistle to the Philippians of the Holy Apostle Paul Chapter 2, verse 7 In the Garden of Gethsemane the Savior stood on his knees and prayed to the Father: “My dear Father” - Jesus begged, “Carry this cup past.” The soul was agitated and the prayer of Jesus Christ rushed upward to the throne. Drops of sweat, like blood, flowing down the cheeks, hastily ran down from the forehead. The night enveloped the earth in black velvet and scattered scatterings of stars. “Be cheerful, friends, I ask you to help,” He seriously needed support. But the men were overwhelmed, they dozed off, Only the Son of the Most High was awake. “If possible, Father, change your decision, Help the living with Your Word.” In the pre-dawn silence the voice of Jesus pleaded, And the soul grieved to death. “Thy will be done,” He said to the Father, and rose from his knees slowly. In the Garden of Gethsemane, the Son of God received the Strength and strength of the Father. On Golgotha, the Savior accomplished all the will of Almighty God the Creator. (Marina N.)
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In the house of Caiaphas
After this, the tired Jesus was taken to Caiaphas, the current high priest, from whom, at least, the Sanhedrin was assembled. And so, before them stood a prisoner who had not committed a single crime. “They had a very difficult task before them, for they themselves could not agree among themselves on all the charges except one - that the man named Jesus should be put to death” (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine). However, since they had to bring some kind of accusation against Him, they tried to find false witnesses.
There were many people who were eager to give false testimony, but “their testimony was so false, so vague and contradictory, that the matter went nowhere.” Watching all these disputes, Jesus remained silent, which only confused Caiaphas even more until he finally asked: “Aren’t you answering anything? ... I adjure You by the living God, tell us, Are You the Christ, the Son of God?” Then Jesus (for it was no longer a secret to anyone) answered: “You said” (Matthew 26:62-64).
The Battle of Gethsemane as a School of Christian Prayer
But before we move on to the topic in the title, we will have to consider the following question: why did Christ have to endure such great torment for our salvation?
In order to answer this question, we must realize the depth of the fall of the human race, as a result of which only the God-man Christ Jesus could accomplish the work of our Redemption.
Sin is a disease of the soul, transmitted through blood from parents to children
It is impossible to imagine that the sin committed by Adam and Eve is of a certain private nature and does not affect all subsequent generations. From one blood (that is, the blood of Adam - O.S.) He produced the entire human race... (Acts 17:26). That is, all of us, who are involved in Adam by the fact of our conception and generation, are also involved in what Adam and Eve did in the Fall. As it is said that in Adam everyone dies (1 Cor. 15:22). Thus, we establish that sin is a disease of the soul, transmitted through the blood from parents to children. Therefore, David, born into a pious family, was forced to exclaim about himself (more meaning his descent from Adam and Eve): Behold, I was conceived in iniquity, and my mother gave birth to me in sin (Ps. 50:7). That is why St. Augustine writes: “Let no one think that the sin (i.e., the first people - O.S.) was small and light because it consisted of eating from the tree, and, moreover, not evil and harmful, but only forbidden , - the commandment required obedience, such a virtue that in a rational creature is, as it were, the mother and guardian of all virtues”[1]. – That is, the essence of the Fall is in disobedience to the Lord God, when, having rejected the will of the Creator, humanity begins to act in accordance with the will of the devil, imparting legitimacy to evil through such a decision (choice)[2]. The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law (1 Cor. 15:56).
The essence of the Fall is disobedience to the Lord God
It is on the basis that a person is born into this world already infected with the infection of sin that the Church decided to baptize infants. Saint Cyprian of Carthage wrote: “If great sinners who have previously sinned greatly against God, when they believe, are granted remission of sins, and baptism and grace are not forbidden to anyone, much less should this be forbidden for a baby who, having barely been born, has nothing has not sinned, except that having descended from the flesh of Adam, he has received (contraxit) the infection of ancient death through his very birth, and who proceeds to accept absolution all the more conveniently because he is absolved not of his own, but of other people’s sins”[3].
The Church Teacher Tertullian saw the violation of this commandment (about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) by our ancestors as a violation of the entire Law of God and the entire system of blessed relationships between God and man. Whoever keeps the whole law and sins in one point becomes guilty of all. For the same One who said: Thou shalt not commit adultery, also said: Thou shalt not kill; therefore, if you do not commit adultery, but kill, then you are also a transgressor of the law (James 2:10-11). By agreeing to the call of the serpent-devil (cf. Gen. 3:5), humanity (in the person of our first parents) usurped the rights and priorities of the sovereign power of God. St. Augustine writes: “Here comes pride: because man wanted to be in his own power rather than in God’s; and desecration of the shrine: because he did not believe God; and murder: because he exposed himself to death; and spiritual fornication: because the integrity of the human soul is violated by the conviction of the serpent; and Tatba: because he used a forbidden tree; and covetousness: because he desired more than he should have been content with.”[4]. In other words, humanity found itself in a hostile relationship with God. And, as a visible symbol of these hostile relations[5], God places a Cherubim and a flaming sword turning to guard the path to the tree of life (Gen. 3:24), - that is, a gap was formed between God and humanity, and no one could stand in this gap from the people themselves, for everyone was under the power of sin and could not act as a mediator between sinful humanity and God, since he himself needed such a mediator. I looked among them for a man who would build a wall and stand before Me in the gap for this land, so that I would not destroy it, but I did not find him (Ezek. 22:30). Personal sins committed by people only increased the severity of original sin, and the gap between the Creator and his rebellious creation (humanity) grew stronger and wider. The ancient Christian apologist Tatian wrote: “When people followed the most cunning deceiver and, although he opposed the commandment of God, considered him to be God, then God, by the power of His word, deprived of communion with Himself both the culprit of such recklessness, and his followers, and man created in the image of God, according to the removal of the omnipotent Spirit from him, he became dead.”[6]. Theophilus of Antioch wrote: “From sin, as if from a source, illness, sorrow, and suffering poured out on man.”[7]. That is, humanity has reaped the fruits of its wrong choice. And the need for a mediator who could establish peace between people and God grew. The news about the Mediator and the Destroyer of the power of the serpent-devil sounded back in Paradise. The First Gospel sounded like a kind of war cry, and like a sentence to the serpent. These are the words of hope given to our first parents in Paradise: And I will put enmity between you (i.e. the serpent - O.S.) and between your wife (by “wife” is meant both the Virgin Mary and the Church-Bride - O.S. .), and between your seed (i.e. those who will follow the devil and take his side - O.S.) and between her seed (i.e. Christ, Who was born virginally from the Virgin, without the participation of male seed - O.S.); it (that is, the “seed of the woman,” Christ - OS) will bruise your head (that is, Christ will crush the ideology of the devil and his power - OS), and you will bruise his heel (Gen. 3, 15). What can these last words mean: and you (i.e. the devil - O.S.) will bite him in the heel? The “heel”, as the place closest to the serpent, is the weakest and most vulnerable place of a person. What was vulnerable about the God-man? Of course, our human flesh , His Body. And in the subsequent events of Holy Week we will observe how the devil, through his followers and servants, humiliated, tormented and tormented the Body of our Divine Teacher. But He was wounded for our sins and tormented for our iniquities; the punishment of our peace [was] upon Him, and by His stripes we were healed (Isa. 53:5). And it is also said: the first man Adam became a living soul; and the last Adam is the life-giving spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). “The Last Adam” is Christ, Who comes into this world “for us as humans and for our salvation”, in order to heal, heal and, most importantly, revive us (“life-giving spirit”) in Himself through the purification of His Sufferings (Passion) and With His Blood, restore to us grace-filled communication in the Holy Spirit with God the Father. That is, to reconcile us with God, delivering us from the power of corruption and death.
So, the “last Adam” - the Son of Man - Christ Jesus comes into this world, so that, by teaching (i.e., the light of the gospel gospel - O.S.), he would destroy the handwriting that was about us, which was against us (i.e., all that demonic incriminating evidence accumulated on us - O.S.), and He took it from the environment (i.e., snatched it from the clutches of the demonic “mytniks” - O.S.) and nailed it to the cross (Col. 2, 14) . And when later, having passed through the closed doors, He will say to the disciples: Peace be with you! (John 20:19) - this will mean the cessation of hostile relations with God[8] and the establishment of peace between man and God. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 1:7); He (i.e. Christ - O.S.) is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for [the sins] of the whole world (1 John 2:2).
And we read the 36th verse of the 26th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew:
Then Jesus comes with them to a place called Gethsemane and says to the disciples: sit here while I go and pray there (Matthew 26:36).
Christian historian William Barclay writes: “There were no large gardens in Jerusalem itself, because there was not enough free space in the mountaintop city; every square meter was needed for housing construction. And that’s why wealthy citizens had their own private gardens on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. The word “Gethsemane” seems to mean “olive oil press” or “olive oil barrel” or for olives, and Jesus certainly had the opportunity to enter the garden of olive trees.”[9] Apparently, this garden belonged to one of the secret disciples of Jesus Christ, perhaps its owner was a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also studied with Jesus (Matthew 27:57).
Barclay claims that there could be many such secret disciples: “Someone gave Him a donkey, on which He rode into Jerusalem; someone gave Him the upper room in which the Last Supper took place, and now someone allowed Him to use the garden on the Mount of Olives.”[10]
Christ came to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, and we should experience the deepest reverence for the prayer struggle that lay ahead of Him. Here He stepped into the gap, which we have already read about from the prophet Ezekiel (cf. 22:30).
Blessed Jerome of Stridon writes: “Gethsemane is explained as a “fertile valley”; there the Lord ordered His disciples to sit down and wait for His return, while He Himself alone prayed for everyone.”[11] – It is not entirely clear here why the prayer of the personal struggle of the Lord Jesus Christ is called by Jerome a prayer “for all . This is due to the fact that the prayer of struggle was decisive for the destinies of many, many people: will the Most Holy Son of God take upon Himself all the sins of the human race, because Divine holiness and sins are incompatible and even opposite concepts. And in this prayerful struggle, Christ had to agree to accept what is incompatible with His God-manhood - human sins, vices and crimes. Anticipating the horror of such a struggle, He takes with Him only the closest disciples, already initiated on the Mount of Transfiguration into the mystery of His Divinity. “Why didn’t He take everyone? So that they would not fall, and took only those who were spectators of His glory[12]”[13].
And then we read:
And, taking Peter and both sons of Zebedee with him, he began to grieve and yearn (Matthew 26:37).
Origen believes that Christ chose not the place of the Last Supper as a place of prayer, since that place had already been desecrated by the betrayal of Judas, he writes: “... it was appropriate, before He was betrayed, to pray and choose a clean place for prayer. After all, He knew that just as the air differs from cleaner air, so the earth of a holy place differs from a more holy one.”[14]
From the point of view of formal neo-Protestant logic, the earth or any object cannot be holy. But from a biblical perspective, this is a mistaken idea of holiness[15].
Garden of Gethsemane
But let's return to the Garden of Gethsemane...
And then we read:
Then Jesus said to them: My soul is sorrowful unto death; stay here and watch with Me (Matthew 26:38).
Some ancient exegetes believed that Christ felt sorrow for His disciples[16]. But not all ancient commentators adhered to this point of view, insisting that Christ experienced precisely human sorrow in Gethsemane, as a True Man in all respects.
Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria writes: “And he grieves and grieves prudently, so that they may believe that He was a true Man, for it is human nature to fear death. Death did not enter the human race by nature; Therefore, human nature fears death and runs away from it”[17]. Blessed Theophylact sees another reason in this visible grief, he writes: “At the same time he grieves in order to hide Himself from the devil, so that the devil would attack Him as a simple man and kill Him, and through this he himself would be would be deposed"[18]. That is, Satan did not dare to attack Christ as the True God, for both demons believe and tremble (James 2:19), but he could attack, seeing in Him only a man.
What Christ says about: “My soul grieves mortally” is called “mortal melancholy.” This is a state when a person feels, as it were, the breath of approaching death and can no longer stop or change anything[19].
And then we read:
And going away a little, he fell on his face, prayed and said: My Father! if possible, let this cup pass from Me; however, not as I want, but as You want (Matthew 26:39).
Saint Leo the Great, Pope of Rome, interpreted this verse this way: “The Lord, having instructed His disciples to remain vigilant in prayer against constant temptation, He Himself prays: My Father! if possible, let this cup pass from Me; however, not as I want, but as You want. The first petition comes from weakness, the second from strength: He wanted the first, based on our (i.e., human - O.S.) nature, the second - on His own (i.e., Divine nature - O.S.) . Equal to the Father (i.e. in Divinity - O.S.), the Son knew that everything is possible for God; He came down into this world to accept the cross against His will (i.e., as a man - O.S.), so that now He would suffer this struggle of feelings with reason (i.e., as a God-man - O.S.). And here is shown the difference between the perceived nature (i.e., human - O.S.) and the receiving (i.e., Divine - O.S.): what was characteristic of man required Divine power, and what was characteristic of God looked at the human. The lower will (i.e. human - O.S.) was united with the higher will (i.e. Divine - O.S.), and this shows what a fearful person can pray for and what the Divine Healer cannot guarantee ( that is, without our consent and benefit - O.S.), for we do not know what to pray for as we should (Rom. 8:26), and it is good for us that for the most part what we ask is it is not given to us. God, good and righteous, shows His mercy to us when He does not give us what we ask, because it is harmful to us.”[20]
In the battle of Gethsemane we recognize in Jesus Christ the True God and the True Man
Pope Leo shows us that in the struggle of Gethsemane, more than anywhere else, we recognize in Jesus Christ the True God and the True Man. And although these natures differ greatly, they reach agreement in Christ through the subordination of the human will to the Divine will. Thus, in the understanding of Pope Leo the Great, we can and should strive to harmonize our own (human) will with the will of the Creator. That is, it is necessary for everyone to “suffer this struggle of feelings with reason” in order to achieve harmony in our relationship with the Creator. Submit yourselves therefore to God; resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).
And then we read:
And he comes to the disciples and finds them sleeping, and says to Peter: Could you not watch with Me for one hour? (Matt. 26:40).
Saint John Chrysostom says: “It is not without reason that He turns especially to Peter, while the other disciples were also sleeping; but here he reproaches him for the same reason that I indicated earlier”[21]. The Apostle Peter said that he was ready to die with the Lord, but he could not help but fall asleep during the hour of prayerful struggle of his Divine Teacher, revealing at that moment both physical and spiritual weakness. Likewise, we are often ready to talk for hours about great spiritual truths, but we stand for fifteen minutes of evening prayer - and it is difficult to understand where all our spiritual vigor and determination go. However, it is said that the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh: they oppose each other, so that you do not do what you would like (Gal. 5:17).
And we read further:
Watch and pray so as not to fall into temptation: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41).
Blessed Jerome of Stridon teaches: “We do not completely refuse to face temptation, but we pray for strength to resist it. That is why He (i.e. Christ - O.S.) does not say: “Watch and pray, lest you be tempted,” but lest you fall into temptation, that is, lest temptation consume you and hold you in its networks. For example, a martyr who shed blood for faith in the Lord was, of course, tempted, but was not caught in the net of temptation. But the one who rejects faith falls into the snares of temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. This is said against frivolous people who believe that they can achieve what they believe in. And so, as much as we believe in the ardor of our spirit, we must equally fear the weakness of the flesh.”[22]
Christ reveals the secret of real prayer - it must be conciliar in nature
But what can vigorous prayer mean if not prayer in the Holy Spirit, for the flesh is inert, but the spirit is always vigorous and active. It is said: Pray at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication, and strive for this very thing with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints (Eph. 6:18). - Here it seems that adding at the end of this verse the phrase and try about this very thing with all constancy and prayer for all the saints reveals the true secret of real prayer - it should be of a conciliar character, because Christ did not teach us to pray: “My Father,” but, on the contrary: “Our Father” (cf. Matt. 6:9), so that in deeply personal prayer requests we always have in mind all the saints, that is, all Christians. Therefore, the prayer struggle of the Son of God in Gethsemane, despite the personal nature of the struggle, needs the participation or sympathy of His disciples, for which He repeatedly tries to awaken them.
And then we read:
Again, going away another time, he prayed, saying: My Father! If this cup cannot pass from Me, lest I drink it, Thy will be done. And when he came, he found them sleeping again, for their eyes were heavy. And leaving them, he went away again and prayed a third time, saying the same word (Matthew 26:42-44).
Here we see the triumph achieved by Christ, as the Son of Man, over mortal melancholy. And He hurries to the disciples, who must also learn to overcome any fear with the power of prayer and deep trust in God, but He finds them sleeping again, for their eyes are heavy. And He retreats to the previous place of prayer struggle, where he prayed for the third time, saying the same word. Repeating the same words: Thy will be done is done in order to testify to the decision made to fulfill the will of the Heavenly Father. The threefold prayer may indicate that the Son of Man addressed in the prayer of struggle both to God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, and to His True Divinity, as we read above from Pope Leo the Great: “... and the things that are proper to God looked upon the things that are human” (i.e. i.e. the Son of God contemplated the Son of Man). Thus, Christ teaches us (as the holy fathers also commanded us), when turning in prayer to God the Father, to keep in mind both God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
We are someone and something in Christ and with Christ; and we are nobody and nothing without Christ!
Christ could address God the Father with the words: “ My !”, since He is the Son of God by nature, and we are children only by grace and pray “Our Father”; therefore, His power is in the Divine unity of the Persons of the Holy Trinity, and ours is in catholicity, to which Christ calls us with the words: may they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, so may they also be in Us united. (John 17:21).
Origen writes: “While Jesus was with His disciples, they did not sleep, but as soon as He departed a little from them, they could not stay awake for one hour in His absence. Therefore, let us pray that Jesus will never leave us even close, but will fulfill what he promised us, saying: I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). Indeed, in this way we will remain awake, because He will drive away sleep from our souls...”[23].
And indeed, we are someone and something in Christ and with Christ; and we are nobody and nothing without Christ!
Slavic Baptists
Let us come as close as possible to Christ praying in Gethsemane, and we will see Him stretched out on the earth. We will see His body covered with bloody sweat. Let us ask the Lord prostrate on the earth: Teacher! What's wrong with you? What is Your soul experiencing? Let us turn into ears to listen to the answer of our Savior.
Here, in Gethsemane, as if Christ were telling us, I feel the full weight of human sins that I have taken upon myself; the curse of God for the sins of the whole world fell upon Me... - Christ, Who often prayed to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, now lay before the Father, as if He had taken upon Himself all the sin of the world and all the curse for it, And here, in the Garden of Gethsemane, the face of the Father changed as would be for Christ the face of a strict and fair Judge - Judge for all the sins and iniquities of the world. This is the reason for the bloody sweat on the body of the praying Christ.
“My Father! If possible, let this cup pass from Me!” What a strange prayer! He left heaven for suffering and death... Throughout His entire life on earth He spoke about the suffering and death to come at Calvary. And suddenly He prays that the Father will deliver Him from this suffering. How to understand this prayer of Christ? This is the prayer of the man Jesus.
It proves the true humanity of Christ. When the cross was still far away, the man Jesus also trembled before it, and also prayed for deliverance from it, as we read about this in Ev. John 12:27: “My soul is now troubled, and what shall I say? Father! deliver Me from this hour! But for this hour I have come.” Especially now, when He was only one step away from the cross. That is why He prays three times for deliverance from the cup, the Calvary cup of suffering and death.
Christ was not released from the cross. What does this tell us? That there was no other way to save sinners besides the cross. No angel could atone for the guilt of mankind; neither the power of God, nor His boundless love - only the cup of suffering, only death on Calvary.
“Not my will be done, but yours...” These also seem to be strange words of Christ. Did Christ have a will that did not coincide with the will of the Father? No, it wasn't, but it could have been. Each person has his own will, and Christ, being not only God, but also a true man, also had His own will. But He subordinated this will of His to the will of the Father: “Not My will be done, but Yours.” In Gethsemane we see the highest form of prayer: it is prayer for the fulfillment of God's will in our lives. This is exactly what Christ prayed for in the Garden of Gethsemane.
But we may be surprised by the words in Hebrews 5:7: “In the days of His flesh He offered prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.” How was He heard? He received the strength to go to the cross of Calvary without the trembling of the soul, without the mortal sorrow with which He came to Gethsemane! An angel was sent to Him to strengthen Him (Luke 22:43). How did the angel strengthen Christ? This, of course, is a secret, and we are not supposed to speculate beyond what is written. But we will not sin if we look into it.
The Book of the Prophet Isaiah 53:10 says: “When His soul offers a sacrifice of propitiation, He will see a long-lasting offspring...” The long-lasting offspring are the countless hosts of the saved. Didn’t the Angel show this offspring of the saved to Christ, who was exhausted in Gethsemane? After all, the best reinforcement in suffering is to see its meaning, as one spiritual song says: “And sorrows are joy to me, if I know that suffering will bring praise to You...” The worst thing is senseless suffering in our lives. The fruits of Calvary's suffering and death could encourage the soul of Christ, which grieved mortally.
While Christ “with a strong cry and with tears offered prayers and supplications to him who was able to save Him from death,” His three apostles slept soundly. Three times He woke them up... He was sad to see them sleeping, but He did not condemn them - after all, they slept out of sadness (Luke 22:45) and from the weakness of the flesh: their spirit was, according to Christ, willing, but the flesh was weak (Ev. Matt. 26, 41).
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When our Lord and God Jesus Christ ascended Mount Tabor to reveal His Divine glory there, then He took with Him three beloved disciples - Peter, James and John, and was transfigured before them, and showed His glory to them. The hour of His terrible and indescribable suffering has come, and again He takes with Him the same three disciples - Peter, James and John to the Garden of Gethsemane, departs with them from the rest of the disciples, orders them to watch and pray, and He Himself departs from them within a stone's throw and begins His painful last prayer to God. If this time the Lord considered it necessary to take three disciples so that they would again be His witnesses, it means that what they had to see, hear and testify was extremely important, no less great than His Transfiguration on Mount Tabor. So, we understand that the spiritual struggle that our Lord Jesus Christ experienced while praying to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane was the greatest and at the same time the most difficult and terrible of the events of His life. Do not think, do not think that only on the Cross, in indescribable suffering, did the Lord endure terrible torment. Know that His torment, even more terrible than His suffering on the Cross, began here, in the Garden of Gethsemane, by the light of the moon. Oh, how He suffered! Oh, how I was tormented! Oh, how He cried out to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane: “My Father! if possible, let this cup pass from Me; however, not as I want, but as You want” (Matthew 26:39) . Impudent people may think: what cowardice! Why did He ask the Father to carry the cup of suffering past Him, if it was because of this suffering that He came into the world? Bold people even say that the Lord did not experience any suffering on the Cross. In the early times of Christianity there were heretics, the Docetes, who taught that the body of Jesus was not real, but a ghostly body (dokeu - to appear; hence the name Docetes). They, of course, while teaching so wickedly, were confident that the Lord Jesus Christ did not endure any suffering, for he did not have an authentic and true human body, and we know, we are deeply convinced that He was a true man, as well as a true God. We know that with His body He endured indescribable suffering and terrible torment on the Cross. We know this. But not everyone delves into what the Lord experienced in His heart; not everyone knows why His prayer to God the Father was so painful. Not everyone knows why bloody sweat dripped from His face. And I must explain this to you. When bloody sweat drips from a person's face? When do people pray with tears of blood? This is not a metaphor - this is reality, that they cry tears of blood, that sweat drops bloody. This happens when human torment reaches such a terrible intensity that no other torment can compare with it. So, already from the fact that bloody sweat dripped from the face of the Savior, we know how terrible, how amazing His mental suffering was compared to physical suffering. Why were they so scary? Why did Christ our God languish so much in anticipation of His suffering on the cross? Think about it, if one of you had to take upon yourself the sins of a hundred people around you and give an answer for them before God, how terrified you would be, how the sins of others would weigh heavily on you, for which you must give an answer to God. Don’t you know that the Lord Jesus Christ took upon Himself the sins of the whole world, of all mankind? Have you never heard the words of the great prophet Isaiah: “He was wounded for our sins and tormented for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we were healed” (Is. 53:5) . Haven’t you read what was written in the first letter of the Apostle Peter: “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we, having been freed from sins, might live for righteousness; by His stripes you were healed” (1 Pet. 2:24) . So, already in the Garden of Gethsemane He languished and suffered under the terrible weight of the sins of the whole world. He was pressed unspeakably, unbearably by the sins of the world, which He took upon Himself, for which He had to become a sacrifice to the justice of God before God, for only He and no one else could atone for the sins of the whole world. That is why bloody sweat dripped from His forehead, that is why He suffered so much, praying to His Father: “My Father! if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me...” (Matthew 26:39) . And immediately He spoke differently: “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39) . “He surrendered himself entirely to the will of God, and his sins crushed him, tormented him, tormented him, and he fell exhausted under the weight of these sins. The great saint Blessed Augustine says this: “Nowhere am I so struck by the greatness and holiness of Jesus as here. I would not have known the greatness of His benefits if He had not revealed to me what they cost Him.” We would not know the full greatness of Christ’s sacrifice if we did not know what He experienced in the terrible hour of His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. And His disciples were sleeping... What does it mean that they were sleeping? Why were they sleeping? The simple explanation is that they were very tired from the midnight march across the Kidron brook, they were weak and, as the Gospel of Luke says, they were overwhelmed with sadness - they slept out of sadness. But let’s think about whether there were other, higher mysterious reasons for the fact that they were sleeping, whether it was arranged by God? It is very likely that it was. God probably wanted them to only catch a glimpse of the suffering that Jesus experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane. Perhaps all the terrible, bottomless depth of Jesus’ prayer should be hidden from the eyes of the world. Probably so... But still, they were needed as witnesses, even if very incomplete, of the Gethsemane suffering of the soul of Jesus. They slept, but, waking up three times at the word of Jesus, they, of course, did not immediately fall asleep again and in the bright light of the full moon they saw Jesus praying and heard the terrible words of His prayer. For if not so, how would the evangelist know about what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane, how would he write what we read, how would they know about the drops of bloody sweat dripping from His forehead, how would they know the words of His prayer? They were needed as witnesses: on Mount Tabor they were witnesses of His Divine glory, in the Garden of Gethsemane they were witnesses of the entire abyss of suffering of His soul before He ascended to the Cross. So, remember that in the Garden of Gethsemane the first and, perhaps, the most terrible part of Christ’s suffering took place, for on the Cross He behaved much more cheerfully. Let us bow with fear and trembling before this immeasurable greatness of Christ’s suffering. Let us fall to the Cross of Christ and sing with all our hearts: “We worship Your Cross, O Master, and we glorify Your holy Resurrection!”
1951
Jesus brings payment
He has paid for the sins of all who will repent in His name and be reunited with the Lord. And since the Lord can see everything that was in the past, is in the present and will be in the future, in the Garden of Gethsemane Christ experienced those sins that we have not yet committed.
If Jesus had not drunk this bitter cup, completing the hardest task ever given to anyone in the universe, we would be spiritually dead. And, having sinned, we would never have the opportunity to cleanse ourselves again and return to our Heavenly Father, remaining eternal debtors. Without repentance, we would stand before God on the due day with a clear mind and have “perfect knowledge of all our guilt and our uncleanness and our nakedness.”
However, through repentance made possible by the perfect Son—the Lamb sacrificed to pay for our sins—we can gain new life and the weight of our sins and guilt will be lightened. Is there anyone in this sad world full of disappointments who does not need this gift? When in utter despair we cry, “O Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, who am full of bitter gall and bound in the everlasting chains of death” (Alma 36:18), we will be heard by the One who was in Gethsemane that night and full of mercy toward us.
“One night I dreamed... that I was in the Garden of Gethsemane, that I was a witness to the torment of the Savior... I stood behind a tree growing in the foreground... Jesus, along with Peter, James and John, passed through a small gate to my right... As He prayed, Tears streamed down his face, turned towards me. I was so moved by what I saw that I also began to cry, filled with sympathy for His great sorrow.
I longed for Him with all my heart. I loved Him with all my soul and wanted nothing more than to be next to Him... The Savior and the same three Apostles... had to leave... I could no longer bear it. I ran out from behind the tree, fell at His feet, grabbed His knees and began to beg Him to take me with Him. I will never forget the kindness and tenderness with which He bent down, picked me up and hugged me...
I even felt the warmth of His chest, to which I pressed myself. Then He said, “No, my son; they have finished their work and can go with me, but you must stay and finish yours.” I still didn't let Him go. Looking up and scrutinizing His face (for He was taller than me), I fervently begged Him, “Okay, but promise me that I will come to You in the end.” With a pleasant and gentle smile, He answered, “That will be up to you.” (Orson F. Whitney, “The Atonement of Jesus Christ,” Jeffrey R. Holland, Liahona, March 2008).
Christ's Prayer in Gethsemane: Spiritual Struggle and Victory
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against...spirits of wickedness in high places” Eph. 6:12
During the period of spiritual youth, God calls a Christian to another important type of service - to spiritual struggle and victory over evil and the source of evil, the enemy the devil. This ministry applies primarily to the ministers of the Church, but all those who follow the path of growth, along the path of sanctification and knowledge of God’s great plan of salvation are called to this type of service.
To such a Christian, the Holy Spirit reveals that this spiritual struggle began even before the creation of this world, when one of the highest cherubim, who overshadowed the throne of God, rebelled against God, for which he was cast into hell and became the enemy of God, the enemy - the devil (Is. 14: 27-15; Ezekiel 28:12-17). Studying Scripture leads to the conclusion that the overshadowing cherub rebelled against God because he did not want to recognize the Son of God as God, equal to the Heavenly Father, and did not want to worship Him.
Until a certain point in prehistoric eternity, the Son of God was hidden “in the bosom of the Father” (John 1:18) from the eyes of the inhabitants of heaven. But the moment came when the Heavenly Father “brought the Firstborn into the universe and said, Let all the angels of God worship Him” (Heb. 1:6). And here the main cherub, overshadowing the throne of God, showed his pride and did not want to worship the Son of God, his Creator, by whom “everything was created, that is in heaven and that is on earth, visible and invisible: whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers.” whether all things were created by Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16). For his rebellion and rebellion against God, the cherub was cast out of heaven and turned into an insidious enemy - the devil (Isa. 14:11-15; Ezek. 28:14-17; Rev. 12:9).
Subsequently, Satan directed all his cunning and all his hatred against people created in the image and likeness of God. He managed to tempt the first people, which resulted in the Fall with all the tragic consequences. And then God Himself sanctioned this struggle-enmity: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it will bruise your head, and you will bruise its heel” (Gen. 3:15). This seed of the woman, striking the devil in the head, was undoubtedly the Son of God Jesus Christ, who really struck the devil and his entire hierarchy at the head on the cross of Calvary, “taking away the strength of the principalities and powers, imperiously subjecting them to shame, having triumphed over them with Himself.” (Col. 2:15). “For this purpose the Son of God appeared, to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). But this was later, “when the fullness of the time had come” (Gal. 4:4), and in the beginning, throughout the entire history of mankind, one can clearly see this enmity of the devil towards people in order to destroy them. As the great Russian writer Dostoevsky said, the entire history of mankind is the history of the struggle between God and the devil, and their battlefield is human hearts.
V. Alekseev and A. Grigoriev in their wonderful book “The Religion of the Antichrist” write the following about this: “On the island of Patmos, inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Apostle John saw a war take place in heaven: “Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and angels they fought against them” (Rev. 12:7). It began with the rebellion of Lucifer, who encroached on the place of God in the Universe. Satan's temptation of Adam and Eve also brought the earth into spiritual warfare. As a result of the Fall, human history turned into an arena of invisible struggle between God and the devil. What may seem like an accident, the implementation of the will of a great man or a historical law, for a person with spiritual vision reveals itself as a continuation of the struggle in the spiritual world.”
Remembering God's promise about the coming of the Seed of the woman, the devil made every effort to prevent the fulfillment of this promise. Showing fierce hostility and hatred towards people, Satan managed to infect almost all antediluvian people with the deadly disease of sin and complete decay (Gen. 6:5), because of which God was forced to destroy the entire world of that time. Subsequently, God chooses Israel as a special people in whose midst the Son of God was to be born in order to defeat the devil and to deliver humanity from his power. In Egypt, during the formation of Israel as a people, Satan planned to destroy this people, instilling in Pharaoh the plan to destroy all Jewish male children.
It is known that the entire subsequent history of the people of Israel is full of disobedience to their God, rebellions against His rule, deviations from true worship of God into idolatry and, as a result of this, manifestations of the righteous wrath of God (Ex. 32:7-14; Num. 11:1- 2, 21:5-6; Judges 2:11-14, 3:7-8, 10:6-7; 1 Kings 8:7; 2 Kings 17:7-18, 21:1-15; Jer. 36:3). All this, of course, happened under the insidious influence of the enemy the devil, who tried to destroy Israel and, thus, prevent the appearance of the Seed of the woman. Even such men devoted to God as David was, “a man after the Lord’s own heart” (Acts 13:22), Satan was able to incite them to sinful deeds, because of which God’s wrath flared up against Israel (1 Chronicles 21:1,7,14 ).
And despite all these wiles of the evil one, “when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his only begotten Son, born of a woman, made subject to the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4-5). But the devil did not give up his attempts to destroy the Seed of the woman. Herod's intention to kill the Infant Christ (Matthew 1:16), His temptation in the desert (Luke 4:1-13), the attempt to overthrow Him from the mountain (Luke 4:28-29), the Pharisees' repeated attempts to catch Him in words, to put to death (John 5:18; 7:30-32, 44; 8:59; 10:32; 13:2) - all these are links in one chain of the wiles of the devil. Gethsemane is Satan’s last attempt to prevent Christ from reaching Calvary, when he gathered all the forces of hell against Him. This is how it is said in David’s prophetic psalm: “Many bulls surrounded Me; the fat ones of Bashan surrounded Me, they opened their mouths against Me, like a lion hungry for prey and roaring. For dogs have surrounded Me, a crowd of evil ones has surrounded Me” (Ps. 21:13-17). In the Epistle to the Hebrews, Christ's struggle in Gethsemane with these hordes of evil spirits is described in the following words: “He in the days of His flesh, with a strong cry and with tears, offered prayers and supplications to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His reverence” (Heb. 5:7). Of course, Christ prayed to the Heavenly Father not for His salvation from death at Calvary, but from premature death in Gethsemane, and was heard for His reverence, and an Angel appeared to Him from heaven and strengthened Him (Luke 22:43).
It must be borne in mind that regarding the prayer of Christ in Gethsemane, there are two points of view in the ECB brotherhood. One of them is briefly outlined above. For the first time this point of view in our brotherhood was expressed by the famous theologian I.V. Kargel in his book “Light from the Shadow of Future Goods,” where he writes: “When the minute approached for Him (Christ) to become a sacrifice, it seems as if He was not dying completely voluntary. Exclamation: “My Father! If this cup cannot pass from Me, lest I drink it, Thy will be done” (Matthew 26:42), as if confirming such a thought. However, it was not the death on Calvary that stood so terrible before His soul in Gethsemane, but the death with which He struggled here and to which Satan wanted to lead Him before He was nailed to the cross. He wanted to die the death on the cross destined for Him without hesitation.”
A similar point of view is shared by the famous interpreter of the Holy Scriptures, William Barclay, who in his book “The Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew” says: “Never again in history was there another battle with temptation such as Jesus fought in the Garden of Gethsemane, when the tempter tried to lead Him astray leading to crucifixion."
The second point of view on the meaning of prayer in Gethsemane is that Christ, being not only God, but also a true man, feared a terrible death on the cross of Calvary. This point of view on the struggle of Christ in Gethsemane is deeply and convincingly stated by the famous exeget of the ECB brotherhood G.I. Shipkov in his article “Prayer for the Cup.” It says: “What was the Holy soul of our Redeemer afraid of, and what did He pray to the Father for in the Garden of Gethsemane? The correct answer to this can only be obtained in the light of our understanding of Christ as a Divine-Human Person, as a Priest and a sacrifice in one Person. Brought to the place of slaughter, to the altar, the pure sacrifice - the human nature of the Son of Man trembles, anticipating the torments of suffering and the agony of death, and begs the Almighty: “Abba, Father! All things are possible for You; take this cup away from me"; but the determined Priest - the divine Nature of the Son of God says to the Most High: “Thy will be done!” This is the only way to understand and explain the mystery of the Savior’s mental suffering and the essence or subject of His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.”
A similar point of view on the meaning of Christ’s prayer in Gethsemane is expressed by G. H. Mackintosh in his famous work “Interpretation of the Pentateuch.” He says: “Seeing in the cross the place of redemption for sin, foreseeing in advance the suffering associated with it in this regard, He exclaimed: “Father! Oh, that You would deign to carry this cup past Me! However, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). He realized with horror what the task He had taken upon Himself entailed. His holy, pure soul shuddered at the thought that He was to be identified with the sacrifice for sin; His loving heart grieved unspeakably from the consciousness of the need to be deprived of the presence of God.”
Despite the apparent persuasiveness of Shipkov and McIntosh's arguments, some doubts and objections remain. Fear of inevitable death and severe suffering is not a universal and inevitable reaction of the human personality. There are many known historical facts when people without fear went to terrible suffering and death in the name of their beliefs, such as the first Christians. There are also cases when, in the name of love for their neighbors, people fearlessly went to death, fulfilling the words of the Savior with their feat: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13), because “ in love there is no fear, but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). If ordinary people are capable of fearless deeds in the name of love, then much more so is Christ, in Whom dwelled the most perfect love. Wouldn’t it be a disparagement of Christ to attribute to Him the fear of the Calvary feat? How can one attribute the fear of death to the One who taught others: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul” (Matthew 10:28), “Do not be afraid of anything that you will have to endure” (Rev. 2:10, 21 :8). Humans have the weakness of fearing death, and God descends to our human weaknesses and infirmities, but to attribute fear of death to Jesus Christ seems inappropriate.
The famous Ukrainian preacher I. Barchuk presented his point of view on the prayer of Christ in Gethsemane very convincingly in his book “Explanation of the Four Gospels.” He writes: “One of our very famous experts in the Word of God wrote that these experiences are quite natural to human psychology and only confirm that Christ was truly a Man. But it does not seem to us that the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8; 1 Peter 1:1820), could fear the slaughter. It cannot be assumed that the human nature of Christ could prevail over the power of His Spirit.
There is another idea that Christ was horrified to take upon Himself all the abomination of human sins. But even this idea does not stand up to criticism. Firstly, Christ took them voluntarily, and secondly, sin does not defile the one who dies for someone else’s sin.
And the content of Christ’s prayer itself is such that it is simply impossible that it refers to His death on the cross. “My Father! If possible, let this cup pass from Me, however, not as I want, but as You want.” How could Christ ask that He should pass over what He agreed to before the foundation of the world? If the Father had heard His prayer and fulfilled it, then the crucifixion would not have taken place, which means that the atonement would not have taken place, and none of the people would have been saved. Then all the prophecies about this would be untrue, and God Himself would speak untruths. It’s scary to even think what the consequences would be if the Father carried this cup past Christ.
Something had to happen that was not part of God's plan, some danger that could prevent Christ from carrying out His work of redemption to completion. We don't know what really happened, but it is clearly written that "In the days of His flesh He offered up prayers and supplications to Him who was able to save Him from death, with great crying and tears, and He was heard because of His reverence" (Heb. 5:7 ). This scripture is the key that reveals to us the mystery of the struggle in Gethsemane. Christ never and nowhere behaved and prayed as in Gethsemane “with a strong cry and with tears.” And what did you pray for? About salvation from death, and was heard.
Firstly, if we were talking about death on the cross, then Christ was not heard, and, secondly, Christ could not ask for it to pass Him by. This means that He was threatened by some other death, which He feared. Although this is not directly stated, we admit that the devil, who tried to destroy Christ at the beginning of His ministry and, when he failed, “departed from Him for a time” (Luke 4:13). And now the time has come, the last chance to kill Christ in Gethsemane. And Christ felt this onslaught of all the forces of hell, the effect of death in His body. After all, it is written that the devil “has the power of death” (Heb. 2:14). This was the reason that “His soul was grieved unto death” (Matthew 26:38). But Christ knew that even one who “has the power of death” cannot do anything without the will of the Heavenly Father, so he completely relied on the will of the Father. And the Father sent an angel from heaven to strengthen His Son.”
Summarizing all of the above, we can draw the following conclusion. The fact that such prominent workers in God's field hold different views on Christ's prayer in Gethsemane suggests that this is one of the mysteries that will only be understood in its entirety in eternity. It seems to us that the interpretation of the prayer for the cup, as the spiritual struggle of Christ with the powers of darkness, is more consistent with the spirit of Scripture (Heb. 5:7).
I. V. Muzychko Living Christianity and the mystery of lawlessness
Protestant newspaper, ru
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane (Prayer of the Cup)
Exit after the Last Supper A. A. Ivanov.
1850 26x40. Moscow, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow “It’s not long for me to talk to you; For the prince of this world comes and has nothing in Me. But so that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded Me, so I do: get up, let’s go from here.” Gospel of John
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Christ and his disciples enter the Garden of Gethsemane. Sketch. N. N. Ge. 1888 Oil on canvas. 65.3x85. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
The exit of Christ with his disciples from the Last Supper into the Garden of Gethsemane. N. N. Ge. 1889 Canvas, oil. 142x192 State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
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Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. A. I. Kuindzhi. 1901 State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
In 1882, being at the height of a grandiose world triumph, Kuindzhi suddenly went into seclusion and never exhibited again, until his death (and he still had almost thirty years to live). Only once, almost by accident, in the fall of 1901, for two weeks he opened the doors of his studio to a select circle of visitors to show a painting he had been working on for many years - “Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.”
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Prayer for the cup. A. L. Vitberg. Beginning of the 19th century. Canvas, oil. State Museum of the History of Religion
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Prayer for the cup. Alexey Egorov. 1820s. Oil on canvas. 58x39. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg Post. from St. Andrew's Cathedral in 1925 No. Ж-3331
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Prayer for the cup. F. A. Bruni. Mid 1830s. Canvas, oil. 246x134.5 State Russian Museum
Prayer for the cup. F. A. Bruni. 1834–1836 Canvas, oil. 246x134.5 State Tretyakov Gallery
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Prayer for the cup. S. A. Zhivago. 1845–46 Canvas, oil. The painting that completes the composition of the third tier of the main iconostasis of St. Isaac's Cathedral is located in the central part above the arch of the main altar. Built on the contrasts of a bright beam of light in the upper left part and a darkened right
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Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. (Appearance of an Angel) A. A. Ivanov. 1850 26x40. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
...and, kneeling down, he prayed, saying: Father! Oh, that You would deign to carry this cup past Me! however, not My will, but Yours be done. An angel appeared to Him from heaven and strengthened Him. Gospel of Luke
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane (Prayer for the Cup). A. A. Ivanov. 1840-1857 State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
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Prayer for the cup. I. E. Repin. Early 1860s. Wood, oil. 29.2x21.2 State Tretyakov Gallery
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Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. V. G. Perov. 1878 Canvas. Oil. 151.5x238. State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. Vasily Grigorievich Perov. Oil on canvas, 30, 5x53, 5 Ulyanovsk
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In the Garden of Gethsemane. N. N. Ge. 1869–1880 Oil on canvas, 258x198.5. State Tretyakov Gallery
In the Garden of Gethsemane. N. N. Ge
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Prayer for the cup. Nikolai Shakhovskoy. 1883-1907 72.5x51.5. Sketch for the mosaic of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Prayer for the cup. Hood. N. P. Shakhovskaya. Mosaic of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ (Savior on Spilled Blood), St. Petersburg Source: blog rusmosaic.wordpress.com
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Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. M. A. Vrubel. 1887–1888 Paper on cardboard, charcoal. 140.5x52.5. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
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Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane (Prayer for the Cup). Koshelev Nikolai Andreevich. Con. XIX century Sketch. Oil on paper, 31x16.8. State Museum of the History of Religion, St. Petersburg Sunday afternoon
Prayer for the Cup (“An angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him”). ON THE. Koshelev. End of the 19th century Cardboard, oil. 40.4×26.4/ State Museum of the History of Religion, St. Petersburg Sunday afternoon
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Prayer for the cup. BE Makovsky. 1895 (?). Metal, oil. 64.5x47. Sketch for the Cathedral of the Transfiguration in Sumy. Gift to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra October 14, 1964 Trinity-Sergius Lavra, church and archaeological office Signed at the bottom right with a brush in dark brown pigment: “V. Makovsksh 189(5) (?)”, the date is probably covered by a frame.
The presented composition is a sketch for the pictorial image “Prayer for the Cup”. The visual interpretation of the plot is close to the tradition of Russian realistic painting of the Itinerants, who abandoned the academic interpretation of religious motifs. Christ kneels on the edge of the Garden of Gethsemane by the stones (“And He Himself departed from them to cast a stone, and kneeled down and prayed,” Luke 22:41). His face is turned to the sky, his head is overshadowed by a light glow in the shape of a halo, his hands are stretched out in front of him, palms up - Christ asks the Father, whose presence seems to mark a faint gap in the night sky at the top left. In general, the image of the Savior is resolved very dramatically. Makovsky repeatedly turned to religious subjects in his work. In the 1870s, the artist participated in the painting of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, and in 1894 he worked on the decoration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Borki (near Kharkov) at the site of the Alexander III train crash. Among the icons he executed is the “Prayer for the Chalice” (in the altar). This composition was also performed by the artist for the Cathedral of the Transfiguration in Sumy. K. Nikolaev. Gallery on Karpovka
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Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. V. D. Polenov. 1890-1900s. Canvas (duplicated), oil. 67.5x98.5.
Signed at the bottom right in a dark pigment with a brush: “VPolenov” (the letters “V” and “P” are intertwined), the date is possibly covered by a frame. The canvas is duplicated and printed on a new stretcher. On the back of the canvas with brush No. 702. Minor abrasions of the paint layer are noted on the right side of the image.
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. Fragment of V.P. Polenov
The painting belongs to Polenov’s gospel series “From the Life of Christ” (1890-1900s). As with most of the works in this series, the image of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane differs from the traditional interpretation of the motif known from the plot of the “Prayer of the Cup.” Christ, offering prayer under the shade of an old thick olive tree in the Garden of Gethsemane, is depicted kneeling, looking up at the sky and raising his right hand to his face and his left hand to his chest. On the right in the distance there is a view of the fortress walls of Jerusalem with the road leading to it. The general mood of the picture is, as it were, dictated by the words from the Gospel: “My soul is sorrowful” (Matthew 26:38; Mark 14:34). These gospel words were chosen by Polenov for the title of the painting, under which one of the options was exhibited at the exhibition “From the Life of Christ” in 1909-1910. The author's repetitions of this plot are known: the work entitled “My Soul is Sorrowful” is mentioned in the collection of Charles Crane, USA. (K. Nikolaev. Gallery on Karpovka)
My soul is sad. V. D. Polenov. Exhibition 1909–1910 Mentioned in the collection of Charles Crane, USA
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Prayer for the cup. M. V. Nesterov. 1898 Paper on cardboard, graphite pencil, gouache, tempera, bronze 34x27.5. Sketch of the painting of the southern wall of the Church of St. Prince Alexander Nevsky in Abastumani. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
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Prayer for the cup. E. Sorokin. 1904
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Prayer for the cup. I.K. Aivazovsky. 1897 Oil on canvas, 94×72. Feodosia Art Gallery named after. I.K. Aivazovsky
Compositionally and with the help of light, Christ is highlighted in the “Prayer for the Cup.” At the bottom left are sleeping disciples, at the top are warriors and Jewish ministers with lanterns and weapons. The canvas was created for the Church of St. Sergius. In 1897, the church was restored by its future rector, Haren Vardapet. Aivazovsky reported: “... one of these days there will be consecration, and on this occasion he painted the image of the Savior praying in the Garden of Gethsemane.” Crimean Art Gallery
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Prayer for the cup. Unknown author. Until the 20th century
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Prayer for the cup Wilhelm Alexandrovich Kotarbinsky (1849-1922). 1885–1896 Fresco Vladimir Cathedral, Kyiv
V. A. Kotarbinsky, a Pole by birth, who received a classical art education in Italy, lived on his estate near Minsk, met Russian artists in Italy - the Svedomsky brothers, and with their help he learned the Russian language. They invited him to paint the Vladimir Cathedral in Kyiv. Kotarbinsky worked in tandem with Pavel Svedomsky, their tandem turned out to be so successful that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish their authorship, since Kotarbinsky did not sign his works. Together they created 18 huge paintings and 84 individual figures. Working on the paintings of the cathedral for 8 years, Kotarbinsky created beautiful frescoes, stunning in their beauty. In 1905, the Imperial Academy of Arts awarded him the title of academician “for fame in the artistic field.” The only one of the creators of the Vladimir Cathedral died and was buried in Kyiv.
Prayer for the cup. V. A. Kotarbinsky. Second half of the 1880s - first half of the 1890s. Canvas, oil.
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Prayer for the cup. Vasily Petrovich Vereshchagin. 1875–1880 Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Moscow
“Prayer for the Cup”, “Behold the Man”, “Carrying the Cross”, “Crucifixion”, “Descent from the Cross”, “Entombment” - all these six original paintings made by the artist V.P. Vereshchagin for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, miraculously survived and now have again taken their place in the altar, becoming a shrine of the revived temple.
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Prayer for the cup. Mosaic based on a sketch by V. M. Vasnetsov Church of the Savior on the Waters, St. Petersburg
Civil engineer S.N. Smirnov approached V.M. Vasnetsov with a request to work on the mosaics of the temple. The artist provided his sketches, and his daughter Tatyana created the original mosaics. Three plots: “Carrying the Cross”, “Prayer for the Chalice” and “The Savior Not Made by Hands”. The first two mosaics were placed on pillars inside the temple. “Spas” was installed above the belfry gates. Apparently, they were late with the Vasnetsov mosaics and were placed in the prepared places after the consecration of the temple (May 15, 1910). It is difficult to talk about the actual cost of the masterpieces, but according to the estimate of the temple, only two Vasnetsov mosaics cost 3,500 “Nikolaev” rubles. For comparison: the bridge across the New Admiralty Canal cost the temple builders a whole thousand less. Spas-on-water
