Статья 2: О святой Церкви и Крещении

Faith begins from the Gospel, and a Christian begins from faith, as stated in the previous article. The assembly of Christians constitutes the Church, into which entry occurs through nothing other than faith and holy Baptism. Therefore, this article briefly offers a discussion about the Church and holy Baptism. “Therefore you are no longer strangers and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy church in the Lord” (Eph. 2:19–21). § 289. The Church here does not mean the church of God, as especially simple people call it, although the church of God can be called a church, because the faithful gather in it for common prayer, praise of God, thanksgiving, listening to God's Word, communion of the Holy Mysteries, etc., but the Church is meant - a meeting of the faithful, living all over the world, in God and Christ, the Son of God, right and true believers, preaching God's Word enlightened and holy Mysteries containing the right. From the Greek: “Ekklesia” – Church, i.e. “calling”, because the faithful who are in the Church are called out of the satanic region into the kingdom of Christ, from darkness - into His wonderful light, as the apostle teaches: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a special people, to proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9; Acts 26:18). § 290. The Holy Church has various names and likenesses, which are given to it by the Holy Word of God. 1) The Holy Church is called the spiritual Body of Christ, its holy sons are spiritual members, having and recognizing the most blessed Head - Christ, and united with this Head by faith and love. This is what the holy Apostle calls it: “Just as in one natural body we have many members, but not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, constitute one Body in Christ, and individually members of one another” (Rom. 12:4–5 see also: 1 Cor. 10:17, 12:27; Eph. 1:22–23, 4:12, 16, 5:23, 30; Col. 1:18, 24). 2) The Church is called the house of God, for He graciously deigns to dwell and preserve it in it, as in His house, sanctified by the Blood of Christ: “so that you may know how it is proper to live in the house of God, which is the Church of the Living God” (1 Tim. 3 see also: Heb. 3:6; 1 Pet. 4:17). 3) The Church is called the bride of Christ. This is what the apostle calls her: “He has betrothed you - he speaks to the faithful - to one Husband, to present you to Christ as a pure virgin” (2 Cor. 11 see also: Is. 62:5; Hos. 2:19-20; Eph. 5:32; Rev. 19:7; Ps. 45:11-12). Her “betrothors” are prophets and apostles. About this, St. John Chrysostom, in response to Paul’s words: “I have betrothed you” and so on, says this: “In this world, virgins remain before marriage, but after marriage they are no longer virgins. Here it is different: but even if they are not virgins before this marriage, there are still virgins after marriage. So the whole Church is a virgin. For he speaks to everyone - both to husbands who have wives and to wives who have husbands. But we see how he betrothed us, what dowry, what gifts he carried: neither silver nor gold, but the kingdom of heaven.” And a little later: “The image of this was the work that was accomplished under Abraham. For he sent a faithful servant to betroth a pagan damsel (see Gen. 24). And here God sent His servants to betroth the Church to His Son - and the prophets who spoke this from above: “Hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father’s house. And the King will desire your beauty” (Ps. 45:11–12); look, and the apostle, with much boldness, speaks and speaks these words: “I have betrothed you to one husband, to present you to Christ as a pure virgin” (Conversation 23). 4) The Church is called the Mother of the Faithful. “Rejoice, O barren, unbearable; shout and shout, you who have not suffered from childbirth; because the abandoned one has many more children than the one who has a husband,” God Himself consoles her through the prophet (Is. 54:1). She gives birth to her children “not from corruptible seed, but from incorruptible seed, from the word of God, which lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:23). He educates them and grows them with the food of God’s Word and the Holy Mysteries (see also Gal.4:26–27). 5) The Church is called a sheepfold. This is what Christ calls it: “Whoever does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in somewhere else, is a thief and a robber” (John 10ff.). In this holy courtyard, the faithful, like meek, gentle, peaceful, loving, simple-hearted sheep, are settled and grazed by the Lord, their Shepherd, who laid down His life for them, just as the prophet sings: “The Lord shepherds me and will not deprive me of anything, in a green place - he settled me there, he raised me by the still waters” (Ps. 23:1-2). 6) The Church of Christ is called grapes, as the prophet sings: “You brought grapes out of Egypt, drove out the nations and planted them” (Ps. 79:9 see also: Jer. 2:21; 12:10; Matt. 20:1–16; Mark 12:1–12; Luke 20:9–18). The vine in this grape is Christ, the Son of God, the Vinedresser - God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, as Christ Himself says: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser” (John 15:1). The branches attached to this true vine are His faithful ones, who are attached to this vine by faith and love, are revived by the juice of its grace, are watered and bear fruit. 7) The Church of Christ is called the Mountain of the Lord, holy and faithful Zion, in which Christ, the Son of David in the flesh, with the Father and the Holy Spirit has His dwelling place. The prophet says about this mountain of the Lord: “In the last days the mountain of the Lord will be revealed, and the house of God will be on top of the mountains, and will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will come to it. And many nations will go and say: “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob” (Is. 2:2-3 see also: Ps. 14:1, 2:6, 23:3, 47:2, 67:16, 73, etc.). 8) The Church of Christ is likened to a ship that sails on the sea of ​​this world and strives for a quiet haven of eternal peace. For like a ship on the sea with waves, so the Church of Christ in this world is constantly overwhelmed by the troubles of temptation, but is not immersed. The helmsman of this saving ship is Christ Himself, the Son of God, who commands the winds and the sea (Matthew 8:26–27). This great and safe ship is typified by Noah's Ark, according to the general teaching of the Holy Fathers and teachers. Just as Saint Noah and his entire household in the ark were saved from the global flood, and everyone outside the ark perished, so now only those who are in the Holy Church and remain its true sons are saved from the flood of God’s sinful wrath and eternal condemnation. All the rest, those who are outside, perish and are drowned in the flood of the hellish abyss. In the Holy Scripture there are other names and likenings to the Holy Church, but I leave this to those who read the Holy Scripture with attention. And the examples given are enough for the guidance and spiritual benefit of ordinary people. § 291. These names, truly great and glorious, ascribed to the Holy Church by the Holy Spirit, serve for our consolation and instruction, Christians. To consolation, for if the Church is so highly exalted by God, then you, if you are her true son, will partake of that honor and glory, and from this reasoning such joy may follow in your heart that no sorrow, sadness, or misfortune that happens in this world can truly sadden you, and so in the midst of the most ferocious waves of temptation you will dare and exclaim with the apostle: “Who will excommunicate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord?” (Rom 8:35, 39). The following reasoning serves as a guide. If the Church is the spiritual Body of Christ, and you want to be a member of this blessed Body, then judge for yourself how holy and purely you should live, what love you should have both for the most holy Head and for its holy members, that is, true Christians, how to live in accordance with the great Head and its members! Nothing foul or unclean enters into this holy communion. “What fellowship has righteousness with iniquity? What does light have in common with darkness? - says the apostle (2 Cor. 6:14). That is why the holy apostles everywhere in their Epistles so strongly exhort and encourage Christians to live a holy life, to mutual love and peace. Take note of this, Christian, if you want to be a member of the Holy Church. Holy is the Lord the Head of the Church, holy is His Body the Church. “Let us also cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, practicing holiness in the fear of God,” according to the apostolic exhortation (cf. 2 Cor. 7:1), if we do not want to be rejected from this holy society. If the Church is the house of God, the dwelling and city of the Heavenly King, and you want to be a citizen and resident of this glorious city, then with what eagerness and zeal should you obey the law Heavenly King, listen to Him and serve Him, so as not to lose citizenship and communion with the saints and blessed citizens living in this glorious city! Judge for yourself: who does not serve his King, who does not keep his law and remains without punishment, who can be a servant of Christ if he does not serve Christ the King with faith and truth? How can it be without punishment if he does not serve Him and resists the command of the Holy Spirit: “Serve the Lord with fear” (Ps. 2:11). If the Church is Christ’s bride, and you are in that spiritual and mysterious marriage, then what kind of fidelity, purity and love must you maintain towards the Immortal and Heavenly Bridegroom - Christ, the Son of God, how to be preserved from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (1 John 2:16), as from the whore of Babylon! If the Church of Christ is the mother of the faithful and yours, then how you should love her, honor her, listen to her as she who gave birth to you by water and the Spirit (see John 3:5), and obey her saving instructions! If the Church of Christ is a sheepfold, and you are among the sheep in that fold, then think about how you should listen to the voice of Christ, your Shepherd, who is the “Good Shepherd,” the Shepherd of His sheep, as He Himself says: “My sheep obey My voice” (John 10:11, 14, 27). How, I say, must you obey that good Shepherd if you do not want to get lost and fall behind His blessed flock and become food for the destructive wolf, the devil, who, “like a roaring lion, walks around, looking for someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8)! If the Church of Christ is the vine of God and you are in it, then how firmly should you hold on by faith and love to the true vine, Christ, and bear fruit pleasing to the Vinedresser-God, so that, like an uncleaned branch that does not bear good fruit, you are not cast out, and, like a withered branch, are not given up to be burned in eternal fire, as Christ says: “Whoever does not abide in Me, he will be cast out like a branch and wither; and such branches are gathered and thrown into the fire, and they are burned” (John 15:6); and His holy Forerunner says: “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 3:10). If the Church of Christ is the mountain of the Lord, and you dwell on this mountain, then you must move away from the filthy swamps and lowlands of this world, in which all uncleanness and stench are found, and rise in spirit to the heavenly mountain, in which is the dwelling of blessed spirits, peace and triumph (see Heb. 12:22-23). If, finally, the Church of Christ is a ship saving us from the wrath of God and the terrible flood of hell, and you are in it, beware of angering the Pilot - Christ, so as not to fall out of this saving ship and perish in the eternal flood of God's wrath and Judgment. For only in this ark are all who are saved saved. So, you see, beloved Christian, what the Church of Christ is, what is its splendor, and blessed are those who are its true sons. And from the above names of the Church and the attached instructions you can notice: 1) Who is a true son of the Holy Church - that is, one who rightly and heartily believes in God and Christ, the Son of God, has been washed in the bath of holy Baptism and shows the fruits of his faith and new spiritual birth, lives piously in Christ Jesus, has the true fear of God, strives against all sin and tries to do good deeds. 2) That Christians who live fearlessly and do not bring repentance and its fruits do not belong to the Holy Church, although they are baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity, since, as stated in the previous article, they do not have faith. For without faith, it is impossible to be a member of the Holy Church. 3) Whoever of them sincerely converts and bears the fruits of repentance will be accepted again into church communion by the mercy of God and will become a true son of the holy Church. You will see this even more clearly below. § 292. The Holy Church, as it was and is, and will be until the end of time, according to the promise of the Lord: “the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age,” says Christ (Matthew 28:20). § 293. The Holy Church is one because: 1) There is one God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Whom he believes, serves, worships and honors. 2) The one foundation of the Church is Jesus Christ. “No one can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11). 3) There is only one teaching of God’s Word, by which one is instructed, enlightened, strengthened and saved. 4) There is one faith that one has in the One Trinitarian God. 5) The Holy Mysteries by which one is saved are one. 6) One spiritual and mysterious Body, the Head of which is Christ. 7) There is one Spirit by which one is quickened, led and sanctified. 8) There is one hope for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century. The holy apostle briefly concluded all this: “There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all” (Eph. 4:4-6). Therefore, although the faithful and saints of God are scattered across the face of the whole earth, they nevertheless form one blessed society. § 294. The Holy Church, which exists on earth in this world, is called militant, because with God’s help it struggles against its enemies: the devil, the flesh, the world and sin. The holy apostle, the brave warrior of Christ, speaks to her: “My brothers! Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you can stand against the wiles of the devil, because our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in high places. For this purpose, take on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on the evil day and, having done everything, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girded with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; and first of all, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery arrows of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Eph. 6:10–17). The Church, which in the heavenly Fatherland, after labors and exploits, rests and looks forward to the resurrection of the dead and after it - the most perfect reward, with the glorified bodies with which it labored here - is called triumphant by the Holy Fathers and teachers, for it triumphs victoriously over the devil, death and hell and, together with the face of the angels, sings and glorifies God. Note, Christian: 1) Whoever is in the militant Church and struggles against the devil and sin, at the end of his temporary life, moves into the triumphant Church, if he is faithful to the end. For “he who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13). And again: “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life,” says Christ (Rev. 2:10). 2) After the general resurrection and the end of the universal Judgment of Christ, there will be one triumphant Church, which will endlessly see God face to face (1 Cor. 13:12), and therefore rejoice, rejoice, exclaim and in the joy of the spirit praise His infinite goodness. 3) We, dear Christian, will try to be true sons of the holy struggling Church, and may we achieve triumphant grace of Christ our Savior, to whom, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory and thanksgiving forever. Amen. “Remember us, O Lord, with good will toward Thy people; visit us with Thy salvation, that we may see the prosperity of Thy chosen ones, that we may rejoice in the joy of Thy people, that we may rejoice in Thy inheritance” (Ps. 106:4–5). Chapter 2: About Holy Baptism “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16). “When the grace and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not by works of righteousness which we had done, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, being justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4–7). § 295. Holy Baptism is like a door through which those being baptized enter the Church of God. Faith in Christ, the Son of God, is like the key that opens this door of salvation. For anyone who wishes to be baptized must first believe in Christ as the only Savior and Savior of the world, and, apart from Him, know no other means of obtaining eternal life, since “no one comes to the Father except through” Him (John 14:6), and so with this faith be baptized in the name of the Trinitarian God – “Father and Son and Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Thus, the eunuch mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles first confesses faith in Christ, the Son of God: “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,” and then is baptized (Acts 8:37–38). And Christ says: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” § 296. At Holy Baptism it happens: 1) Denial of Satan, and all his works, his angels and other things, as depicted in the statute of Baptism. This negation is uttered by adults themselves, and instead of babies, by their receivers. Satan is an evil spirit, created by a good God, but by his own will he departed from his Creator and became evil and the leader of all evil and sin. His angels are also spirits created by God as good, but with him they departed from their Creator; they are the same evil spirits of the human race as their leader, very hostile (see 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6; John 8:44). Their deeds are dark deeds, sins and iniquities. Satan is the leader and inventor of sin, into which he overthrew our first parents, and with them us, with his wickedness, took them away from God (see Gen. 3:1–7), and drew them into his dark region (Acts 26:18). He serves Satan who, fulfilling his evil will, commits sin, for “whoever commits sin is of the devil, because the devil sinned first,” according to the testimony of the Apostle (1 John 3:8). At Baptism we renounce all this, that is, Satan, his evil deeds, his evil and destructive service. For everyone who is outside the Church without true faith in Christ finds himself in the kingdom and power of the devil, serving and working for him as captives (see John 3:44; 1 John 3:8; 2 Tim 2:26; Acts 26:18; 2 Peter 2 et seq.). “Whoever is overcome by someone is his slave” (2 Peter 2:19). Those who truly and heartily believe in Christ the Deliverer and are baptized are freed from his power, according to the testimony of the Son of God Himself: “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). The prototype of this liberation of ours was the liberation of the sons of Israel from the captivity of Egypt (see Exodus 14). For just as the Israelites, having crossed the Red Sea by the power of God, were freed from slavery to Pharaoh, so Christians - the new Israel and the spiritual sons of Abraham - by faith and holy Baptism are freed from slavery to the devil. There, the leader and liberator, with the help of God, was Moses. Here is Christ, the Son of God, the Deliverer and Redeemer of the world, who delivers those who believe in Him from the power and slavery of the devil and brings them into the sweet freedom of His kingdom (see Gal. 5:1). 2) Having renounced Satan and his vile ministry, we promise until death to serve Christ - the Son of God with the Father and the Holy Spirit (see Heb. 9:14), “to serve in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life” (Luke 1:75). And just as the warriors of this world and others who enter the ranks and ranks are promised and their oath affirms that they will serve the Monarch and society faithfully (such is the power of the oath), so those who are baptized enroll in the service of Christ and promise to serve Him faithfully with the Father and the Spirit, to listen to and fulfill His commands, without which there can be no faithful service. And they repeat this promise three times, as well as the denial, and wear its sign on themselves, that is, they are called Christians, from Christ, their King. So, as you see, Christian, in holy Baptism we enter into a covenant with God. We promise to serve God with faith and truth, that is, to show obedience to Him, to shun all sin and to preserve the truth, and He accepts us into His highest mercy, which you will see more clearly in the following chapters. 1) We, Christians, who have renounced Satan and his evil deeds, must not return to him and his evil deeds again, lest we remain forever in his dark region, to our extreme misfortune. 2) Keep the vows given to God at Baptism. “He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim 2:13). Just as He accepts those who believe in Him into His mercy, He promises to keep them in His mercy forever: “My mercy toward you will not fail” (Is. 54:10). And in other places of Holy Scripture the same is said to us as a consolation. So, we must also be faithful, and be faithful until death, so that we may receive His merciful promise, according to what was said: “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10 ). 3) Let these vows be before the eyes of parents, and let them remind them to their little children as soon as they begin to grow in age and understanding and understand the word of the teaching. And let youth, inclined to evil, be restrained by them, like a bridle, from disorderly passions, and kept in the fear of God. Let these vows always be addressed to the shepherds and encourage them to diligently guard the flock of Christ's sheep entrusted to them, and to offer them often. Let these vows turn judges away from untruth, and teach them to preserve the truth, keep their hands from taking bribes, not be partial in court, wipe away the tears of the offended and humble those who offend. These vows encourage masters to treat their Christian slaves as brothers, since masters and slaves have one Lord in heaven, Whom they both promised to serve faithfully. May these vows finally be addressed to everyone, people of every rank, title, age, of both sexes, who in Baptism wrote down their names and themselves and gave them to Christ, and may they encourage them to true piety, may they be His faithful servants, and not be ashamed on the day of His glorious second coming. 4) Holy Baptism does not bring any benefit to those Christians who do not try to keep their vows given at Baptism, but return “back from the holy commandment delivered to them” (2 Peter 2:22). We see an example of this in the Israelites, who came out of Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, but with their hearts returned to Egypt again, and “indulged in excessive desire in the wilderness” (Ps. 105, etc.). They sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play, they committed sexual immorality, they tempted God, they grumbled and slandered God, and committed other iniquities (1 Cor. 10:7-10). For they did not reach the promised land, but were struck in the wilderness, as it is written about in the books of Moses, and the holy apostle writes in the above epistle: “I do not want to leave you, brethren, ignorant, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,” and so on, “but God was not pleased with many of them, for they were slain in the wilderness,” that is, for their iniquities. “And these were images for us,” and so on (1 Cor. 10:1–6). 5) Baptism is so useless for those Christians who turn their hearts to the world as to Egypt, and serve the lusts of their flesh, love honor, glory, wealth and other vanities of this world, and have and honor all of this as if they were God. For a man, instead of God, has everything to which he has attached his heart. Neither will they reach the land of the living and the village of the righteous, where all our fathers and forefathers rest, rejoice and please the Lord (see Ps. 105:8). For “outside are dogs, and sorcerers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices iniquity” (Rev. 22:15). With such Christians who, after accepting the gift in holy Baptism, turn to an ungodly and godless life, what the apostle wrote happens: “The last thing happens to such people worse than the first. It would be better for them not to know the path of righteousness than, having learned it, to turn back from the holy commandment handed down to them. But what happens to them is according to the true proverb: a dog returns to its vomit, and a pig that has been washed goes to wallow in the mud” (2 Peter 2:20–22). Christ depicts the same thing, saying: “When the unclean spirit comes out of a person, it walks through dry places, looking for rest, and does not find it. Then he says: “I will return to my house from where I came.” And, having arrived, he finds it unoccupied, swept and put away; then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and entering they live there; and the last thing for that person is worse than the first” (Matthew 12:43–45). In Holy Baptism we are freed from the unclean spirit and its dark power, and everyone is told what Christ said to the paralytic and healed: “You have recovered; Sin no more, lest anything worse happen to you” (John 5:14). From the servants of Christ, all those who were baptized hear what the Apostle said: “You have been washed, you have been sanctified, you have been justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11). But when a baptized person returns to his former path of wickedness, and, “having escaped the filthiness of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, is again entangled in them and overcome by them” (2 Peter 2:20), then the last thing happens to him “worse than the first,” according to Christ and the apostolic teaching. Therefore, a lost and corrupt Christian is worse than an honest pagan, so that the corrupt Christian delights in the sins and iniquities that honest pagans abhor. Hence it happens that for such Christians, for something small, or, worse, for nothing, it is considered to be nothing to steal someone else’s property, to steal, to break an oath taken before God the Knower of the Heart, to do lies in court, to accuse an innocent person, to acquit a guilty person, to shed the tears of the poor, widows, orphans and other defenseless people, to flatter, deceive, dissemble, get drunk, commit adultery and other iniquities without fear. to dare, from which prudent pagans turn away, as we read in stories and hear today. And where there was one unclean spirit, there are already “seven fierce spirits”, and the poor man is driven from sin to sin and from lawlessness to lawlessness, and the last thing happens to him worse than the first. 6) From here it follows that such Christians are subject to greater and more terrible judgment of God and eternal condemnation than pagans. For, according to the word of Christ, “the servant who knew the will of his master, and was not ready, and did not do according to his will, will be beaten many times; But he who did not know, and did something worthy of punishment, will receive less punishment” (Luke 12:47–48; Rom 2:5–6). 7) Those who sinned against their vows given at Baptism still have hope - true repentance (which is described in the first book). Therefore, if they want to receive mercy from God, then they must sincerely turn to God, Whom they have left. For even if they did not keep their faith in God, God remains faithful, Who promised repentance to sinners and to accept those who repent again into His mercy. We have examples of those who sinned and repented: David, Manasseh, Peter and others, who again received mercy from God. God now commands everyone to repent and calls everyone to repentance. Now His mercy is primarily at work. Now He calls, promises and accepts those who repent. Now he listens to those who cry out and sigh to Him. Now he helps those who convert and labor in the matter of salvation. “Behold, now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2), ask, seek and knock (Matthew 7:7), knock on the door of His mercy. There will be a time when there will be no place of petition, but of judgment, when His righteousness will enter into action and “will reward everyone according to his deeds” (Rom. 2:6). Now God calls sinners to repentance and promises them mercy, and then He will call them to judgment and condemn sinners. Now he says: “Come to Me” (Matthew 11:28), and then he will say: “Depart from Me” (Matthew 25:41). So, let us listen, sinners, to God who calls upon us and repent, so that we too may receive mercy from Him, and receive what “God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9). § 297. Since in holy Baptism we are made worthy by faith from God of all spiritual blessings, we must, at least briefly, touch upon that from which this Divine grace is poured out on us. This saving source from which Divine grace flows to us is: 1) God's love for us, unworthy. “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). 2) Free condescension and humiliation of Christ, the Son of God, towards our race. “He,” as the apostle teaches, “being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, becoming in the likeness of men, and becoming in appearance as a man; He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:6-8). This is the condescension of the Son of God for our sake, which He accepted according to His will and good pleasure. His Heavenly Father, and the assistance of the Holy Spirit, is the reason for all our spiritual bliss, which we receive from the generous hand of God in Baptism by faith in Him. For our sake He appeared on earth, for our sake He was born in the flesh, so that we would be born in spirit, so that we, expelled from paradise, would be brought to heaven. For our sake He endured terrible blasphemies, to stop the mouth of our enemy, the devil, who slanderes us “before our God day and night” (Rev. 12:10). But let us also look at the feat of Christ’s suffering, which He entered into for our sake. Let us first of all enter with our minds, let us also enter with our hearts into the whole of what is called Gethsemane, and let us diligently look at His struggle, which He labored there for the sake of our sins. “And he took with him Peter, James and John; and began to be horrified and sad. And he said to them: “My soul is sorrowful unto death” (Mark 14:33–34). The Son of God, our Lord, is terrified and grieved, may he take away from us the fear, trembling and horror of eternal condemnation in hell, the eternal sorrow and melancholy to which we were subjected because of our sins. He grieves his soul to the point of death, and may he deliver us from spiritual sorrow and give us eternal joy. Let's look further at the feat of Christ. As an ungrateful disciple, He is sold and given into the hands of the wicked (see Mark 14:10–11, 41–46), so that He may redeem us, sold for our sins (Isa. 50:1; Rom. 7:14). He is left alone by all the disciples: “then all the disciples left Him and fled” (Matthew 26:56) - so that we, abandoned, defenseless, helpless and rejected from the face of God, will intercede and help us, as He Himself says through the prophet: “I looked and there was no helper; and he marveled, and no one interceded; and My arm delivered them” (Isaiah 63:5). Our Intercessor Jesus is captured by the wicked and bound (see John 18:12), and may he tear our bonds to pieces. For our sins, we were worthy to be bound by hellish bonds, and to be led by the devil and his angels to the judgment of God, and to accept according to our deeds, but Jesus, the Son of God, was bound unrighteously, so that our bonds would be torn apart, so with David we sing to Him gratefully: “Thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer you a sacrifice of praise” (Ps. 116:7–8). He also gave this grace to His servants: “whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). Let us go with our minds and hearts into the courtyard of the lawless bishop, where Jesus, our Intercessor, was brought, and look at the judgment at which he who bound the sea by His command stands bound, and the righteous Judge of the whole world is judged by the lawless. “The high priests and the entire Sanhedrin,” says the evangelist, “sought evidence against Jesus in order to put Him to death; and they were not found” (Mark 14:55). They seek evidence, but do not find it, for they seek against Him who “committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth” (1 Pet. 2:22). “Many bore false witness against Him, but these testimonies were not sufficient” (Mark 14:56). For where it is not the truth that is testified, but a lie, there must be disagreement. Look also at the proceedings of that court. “Then,” says the evangelist, “the high priest stood in the middle and asked Jesus: “Why don’t you answer? Why do they testify against you?” (Mark 14:60). How does our Intercessor respond to this? What answers does it give to a lawless question? We don't hear anything! Nothing answers! “But He was silent,” says the Evangelist, “and did not answer anything” (Mark 14:61). Our Intercessor stands and is silent, as if guilty, innocence itself, and does not answer, as if convicted, the One who “has committed no sin,” like a gentle lamb, who does not open His mouth, the One about whom Isaiah prophesied: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.” (Isa.53:7). Instead of us, Jesus, our Intercessor, stands in judgment, and the Righteous One is judged for us, the lawless, by the unjust. We were subject to God's judgment, we are worthy to be bound to God's judgment, to be judged, and to be condemned forever. It is not false, but righteous witnesses who convict us. We are righteously denounced by the law of God, which we have fearlessly destroyed. We have “the handwriting that was against us” (Col. 2:14). Our conscience, irritated by the crime of law, righteously cries out against us, cries out more than many witnesses. Here we stand speechless, without an answer, in shame, for we are righteously convicted, because we are guilty. For “the whole world becomes guilty before God, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:19, 23). “Everyone has turned away, everyone has become completely worthless, there is no one who does good, not even one” (Ps. 13:3). Therefore, we are worthy of judgment and condemnation, and like worthless slaves we will be thrown “into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 26:30). But here, at the unrighteous court, the righteous and innocent Jesus, our Intercessor, stands and stands in our place, the guilty, is judged, hears false evidence and endures, so that we, the guilty, can be protected and delivered from the devil’s slander, legal condemnation, remorse, as He Himself says: “If the Son sets you free, you will be truly free” (John 8:36). For the sake of this Defender and Savior, those who believe in His name and love Him dare. Trusting in Him, they cry out with the Apostle Paul: “Who will accuse God’s elect? God justifies them. Who is judging? Christ Jesus died, but also rose again: He is also at the right hand of God, and He also makes intercession for us” (Rom. 8:33–34). Let us still stand here and look at this court, in which untruth is true, lies are true, and malice judges innocence, and we will listen to what determination was made on our Intercessor at that lawless court. We hear that they condemned Him to death. “They all,” says the evangelist, “confessed Him guilty of death” (Mk. 14:64). “They answered and said: “Guilty of death” (Matt. 26:66). And for what? “He blasphemes,” cries the lawless bishop (Matt. 26:65). How does he blaspheme? “Because he made himself the Son of God” (John 19:7). ), - He about whom the Father testifies from heaven: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17, 17:5). Let’s look at what followed that lawless definition. “And some began,” says the evangelist, “to spit on Him and, covering His face, to strike Him and say to Him: Prophesy” (Mark 14:65), “Prophesy to us, O Christ, who will be?” struck you" (Matthew 26:68). This is what followed after the lawless trial and determination. Spitting, strangling, covering the Face and hitting, ridiculing and desecrating Jesus! Who is He? Son of God, Hypostatic Word of God, Whom the Cherubim and Seraphim stand with fear! From whom? From His obscene creation, which He came to save, from His people, to whom He gave the law and sent prophets! For whom? Who is he, so honored, so dear, that “God in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16) is so dishonored and tormented? He perished for His creation, for an indecent sinner! We, the people, we, the dead, are guilty of this. Instead of us, he is spat upon, choked, suffers blows and accepts such reproach; our Gracious Redeemer and Creator pays the debt for us. Our ancestors and I wanted to be “like gods” (Gen. 3:5), and to steal God’s honor, like thieves and robbers, and therefore we were worthy, as blasphemers, to be condemned to eternal death, to eternal reproach, to be handed over to ridicule and beating to the devil and his evil angels. We must, covering our faces, stand in shame before the Righteous God, and, admitting our guilt, confess: “With You, O Lord, is righteousness, but with us there is shame on our faces” (Dan 9:7). But the Son of God suffers the execution that must be carried out on our sins here. He is ridiculed in our place, endures reproach, covering His Face and beating, so that He will give us “the power to become children of God” (John 1:12), to approach His Heavenly Father with boldness (see John 14:6; Eph.2:18), and to look with an open and unashamed face at His Most Holy Face (see 1 Cor.13:12; John 3:2). Let's look further at the feat of Christ, which He entered into and fought for us. We see that the lawless council, which committed the reproach of the Son of God and unjustly condemned Him to death, betrays Him to Pontius Pilate, the hegemon. “And having bound Him,” says the evangelist, “they took Him away and handed Him over to Pontius Pilate, the governor” (Matthew 27:2). And here again they expose the Innocent as guilty, and again the unrighteous judge the Righteous! “They began,” says the Gospel, “to accuse Him, saying: “We have found that He is corrupting our people and forbidding us to give taxes to Caesar” (Luke 23:2). Oh, human wickedness! They call Him a libertine, Who is “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6), Who taught them the true way, and healed their demon-possessed, lame, blind and lepers, and raised their dead! They proclaim the enemy of Caesar to be the One who said to them: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21). The wicked Pilate sends Him to the wicked fox Herod (Luke 23:7). And here are the Pharisees and scribes - with their slander against Innocence! “The chief priests and scribes,” says Scripture, “stood and strongly accused Him” (Luke 23:10). Herod, having mocked Him who is above all honor, again returns Him to Pilate: “Herod, having humiliated Him and mocked Him, dressed Him in light clothes and sent Him back to Pilate” (Luke 23:11). Thus the Son of God, bound and dishonored, is brought from dishonor to dishonor and from reproach to reproach. He is led along the streets of Jerusalem, led by His enemies, led in disgrace, led to shame before Angels, and men, and all creation. It is brought - both here and there - and returns! O man, this terrible disgrace hits my conscience and yours. We, for the sake of our sins, wandered through the desert of this world, bound by the darkness of God’s ignorance, as if bound by bonds. “All,” says the prophet, “have gone astray; man has gone astray from his way” (Is. 53:6). “We have gone astray from the true path, and the light of righteousness did not shine on us, and the sun did not shine on us. We were filled with deeds of lawlessness and destruction and walked through impassable deserts, but we did not know the way of the Lord” (Wis. 5:6–7). But Christ, the Son God stood up for us, leading us in reproach through the streets, so that He may guide us on the path of truth, and may He show us the way to heaven and lead us to His Father, as He says: “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). They mocked Him, nodded their heads, spoke with their lips (Ps. 21:7-8). And thus He took away dishonor from us, and instead of dishonor He earned eternal glory to those who believe in His name. He put on the garment of reproach, in order to give us a clean robe of justification, so that, dressed in it, we will appear unashamed before the most holy Face of His Heavenly Father, and we will rejoice with the prophet in the Lord: “Let my soul rejoice in the Lord; for He has clothed me with the robe of salvation and the robe of gladness" (Isa. 61:10). Let us also see what happens to our Intercessor, who was returned from Herod to Pilate, and let us hear what Pilate and His people, the house of Israel, who were looking for His coming, whom He came to save, as He Himself says: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 15:24) - what about Him judge? What definition do they believe on both sides? Here we hear different voices about Him. Pilate, a pagan who does not know the True God, His law and the prophets, recognizes and recognizes His innocence: “And Herod did not find this man guilty of anything that you accuse Him of; for I sent Him to him; cries: “Take Him, and release Barabbas to us.” Barabbas was put in prison for causing disturbance and murder in the city” (Luke 23:18–19). Pilate again recognizes and declares His innocence and wants to release Him: “Pilate again raised his voice, desiring to release Jesus” (Luke 23:20). But God’s people cry out: “Crucify Him, crucify Him” (Luke 23:21). And again Pilate justifies Him and wants to release Him. “He said to them the third time: “What evil has He done? I did not find anything worthy of death in Him; Therefore, having punished Him, I will let him go” (Luke 23:22). But the Israel of God strengthens itself and earnestly demands His crucifixion: “They continued with great shouting to demand that He be crucified” (Luke 23:23). What came from these different voices? What was the end of this dissenting court? We see that the malice of Israel overpowered the righteousness of the pagan. Pilate could not do anything with his justification against the lies of lawless people. The voices of the people and the bishops prevailed. “And he prevailed,” says the evangelist, “the cry of them and the high priests. And Pilate decided to comply with their request” (Luke 23:23–24). A seditious, villain and murderer is released, but the Son of God, innocence itself, is given over to death! “The hegemon released him, whom they had asked to be put in prison for rebellion and murder; but he gave Jesus over to their will” (Luke 23:25). We, O man, are the reason why the villain was preferred to the innocent Jesus. Our sins, cast upon Him, overpowered the sins of the murderer. For He took upon Himself the sins of the whole world, as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). Against us, our conscience, irritated by our sins, cried out to God. The law of God, which we had destroyed, asked for judgment from God, and condemned us to eternal death. But Christ the Intercessor stood up for the guilty and was given over to death. His apostle preaches to us (Rom. 4:25). “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God,” the same apostle reveals to us (2 Cor. 5:21). Let's also see what happens after the lawless trial with our innocent Intercessor. A terrible vision appears before our eyes! We see that Jesus, betrayed into the hands of inhuman soldiers, is stripped and dressed in purple to be ridiculed and mocked, crowned with a crown of thorns, and a reed is given into the hands of His saints, who performed miracles, to be mocked. So they worship Him, like a king crowned to reproach, and congratulate Him on being desecrated, like a king: “Rejoice, King of the Jews!” And the inhuman anger of the lawless is not satisfied with this! They add lawlessness to lawlessness and cruelty to cruelty. They spit on His most holy Face, before which the Angels and Archangels revere, and hit His head with a cane! “Then,” narrates Saint Matthew, “the governor’s soldiers, taking Jesus to the praetorium, gathered the whole regiment around Him and, having undressed Him, put a purple robe on Him; and having woven a crown of thorns, they placed it on His head and gave Him a reed in His right hand; and, kneeling before Him, they mocked Him, saying: “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spat on Him and took a reed and beat Him on the head” (Matthew 27:27-30). Thus, our intercessor Jesus stands and labors for us. Sin stripped us of our first woven garments and clothed us in garments of skin (see Gen. 3:6–7, 21). We wanted, on the advice of the devil, to steal the glory of God and be crowned with it, “like gods” (Gen. 3:5). We gave the handwriting against ourselves to our enemy, with which he denounced us as criminals of the law, held us in his power as captives, and dragged us with him into eternal destruction. Our consciences stung our pain more sharply than thorns and any rod. But Christ takes off His garments for us, that He may clothe us with the robe of salvation and the robe of joy; crowned with thorns, that he may give us an imperishable crown; he takes the reed in his hand, and tears up the accusatory handwriting; suffers a beating on the head, so that our ulcers with which Satan has wounded us will be healed, and the pricks of conscience will be taken away; dresses in scarlet and endures congratulations with ridicule, like a king, that he may make “us kings and priests to his God and Father” (Rev. 1:6). Thus, “our Savior was wounded for our sins and tormented for our iniquities” (Is. 53:5), “by His stripes we were healed” (1 Pet. 2:24). Let us still stand here and look further at the saving feat of our Intercessor. We see that the soldiers, having abused Him, “led Him away to be crucified” (Matthew 27:31). “And carrying His Cross, He went out to a place called Skull, in Hebrew Golgotha” (John 19:17). Let us take a closer look at where He came from and what He carried. He left the city for the city, from a place of reproach and suffering to a place of greater reproach and suffering. What does the reproached and wounded Son of God bear before the eyes of God and the angels? His Cross, on which He should be nailed and exalted. And on the Cross, the Lamb of God bears the sins of the whole world, to whom, pointing, the Forerunner said: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). On this tree the Lamb of God bears my and yours, O man, sins that could plunge us to the bottom of hell. For not only the air, but also the earth cannot withstand this heavy burden, but plunges the bearer to the bottom of hell if this Immaculate and Most Pure Lamb does not take this burden. Therefore, the Lamb of God took them upon Himself, and carries them in our place, so that we may get rid of them. “He Himself bore our sins in His Body on the tree, so that we, having been delivered from sins, might live for righteousness,” preaches the apostle (1 Pet. 2:24). “And Jesus, that He might sanctify the people by His blood, suffered without the gate” (Heb. 13:12). Let us also follow Christ, and follow Him, bearing His Cross, aggravated by our sins, and so we will ascend to Golgotha, and we will see what is happening to our Intercessor there. Here again we are presented with a terrible sight! We see that they crucified Him and two thieves with Him there - for the sake of greater reproach. One on the right, one on the left, they crucified, and in the middle of them was Jesus. “When they came,” says the evangelist, “to a place called Skull, there they crucified Him and the evildoers, one on the right and the other on the left” (Luke 23:33; John 19:18). Let us stand a little longer in this place, which is called the forehead, and let us lift our eyes and hearts to the crucified Christ, so that Christ may be depicted in us (Gal. 4:19). Let's see: what was He crucified on? On the tree of the godfather. How? They stretched Him out on that tree, nailed His arms and legs to the tree, and hung Him between heaven and earth. Who is He to whom such inhumanity was inflicted? “They crucified the Lords of glory,” preaches the teacher of the universe, the Apostle Paul, to the whole world (1 Cor. 2:8). The Son of God was hanged among the thieves to the shame of angels and men! The Righteous Judge is “ranked with the evildoers” (Is. 53:12)! Let us also, dear Christian, look at Christ, crucified for our sake, and let us more diligently consider why He suffers so terribly. “He committed no sin, and no flattery was in His mouth,” as the Apostle teaches Him (1 Pet. 2:22). My and yours, O man, are cast upon Him. “The Lord gave Him up for our sins,” testifies the holy prophet Isaiah (Is. 53:6). For you and for me, the truth of God, irritated by our sins, is paid by the Son of God, Jesus, our Intercessor, as he says through the prophet: “What I did not take away, I had to give” (Ps. 68:5). We, who wanted to steal the glory and honor of God with Adam, like predators and thieves, were worthy to suffer forever in the fire of Gehenna and pay so much to the bitter truth of God, but Christ, the Son of God, took this debt upon Himself, and so here repays for it, repays what He did not steal. Thus, He is the debt of our sins, which we owe to the King and our God and had nothing to repay except eternal death (see. Matthew 18:24–35), He blotted out your iniquities with His priceless Blood, as He says: “I myself blot out your iniquities for my own sake” (Isa.43:25). He allowed his hands and feet to be nailed to the Cross, so that he would cleanse the sins we had committed with our hands and feet: “he was wounded for our sins.” He ascended the tree and was hanged, that He might redeem us from the curse of the law. “Christ,” says the apostle, “has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, so that the blessing of Abraham through Christ Jesus may come to the Gentiles” (Gal. 3:13-14). “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, looking at which, those who were wounded by the serpents were healed ( Nu. righteous judgment for treating Him so brutally? We do not hear this, the Immaculate Lamb of God does not open His mouth for this, but we hear the opposite. We hear that he is praying for them, and not against them, asking for their forgiveness. “Jesus said,” the holy evangelist narrates: “Father! Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). O Thy long-suffering, Master, our Merciful Redeemer! O inscrutable Your love and mercy for sinners! And in such terrible torment, you suffer not so much about Yourself, but about the destruction of sinners, and even obvious enemies!.. Blessed are You, Lord, who showed us an example of such patience! Let human pride be ashamed, which does not tolerate a reproachful word, and grumbles, and seeks revenge on its brother! Let us still stand, Christian, on the place of execution and look at Christ, nailed to the Cross for the sake of our sins, and we will see what is still happening to our Redeemer. We see here that anger is dissatisfied with such fierce and bloody torment; it adds torment to torture! We hear that with a poisonous tongue, like arrows, they sting the tortured and crucified man as they pass by, blaspheme the Innocent One, and mock the one suffering such cruel torment. “Those who passed by slandered Him,” the evangelist narrates, “nodding their heads and saying: “Eh! destroying the church and building in three days! save Yourself and come down from the Cross.” Likewise, the high priests and scribes, mockingly, said to each other: “He saved others, but he cannot save himself. Let Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe” (Mark 15:29–32). He Himself speaks about this through the prophet to His Heavenly Father: “Everyone who saw me mocked me, nodded their heads, said with their lips: “He trusted in the Lord; let Him deliver Him, let Him save Him, if He pleases Him.” And below: “Many bulls surrounded Me, fat oxen surrounded me, they opened their mouths towards me, like a lion stealing prey and roaring.” And also there: “Many dogs surrounded Me, a crowd of evil ones surrounded Me, they pierced My hands and My feet, they counted all My bones, and they themselves looked at Me with contempt” (Ps. 22:8-9, 13-14, 17-18). Our conscience, man, is stung by this terrible disgrace. For us, the suffering “Son of the Living God” endures such caustic ridicule and abuse (Matthew 16:16). We are worthy of the caustic ridicule and reproach of the devil. We have destroyed the church of God - our bodies - with sins and violated the law of God, for which we must be given over to eternal ridicule and reproach to the devil and his angels, our enemies. But the Son of God, our Intercessor, stands in our place and here, endures these poisonous arrows of ridicule for us, pays for us with this indescribable dishonor and reproach, in order to save us from eternal ridicule and reproach. He hears innocently: “Eh! “He who destroys the church,” may make us temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). He hears with mockery: “Save Thyself” (Matthew 27:40) - so that he can arrange eternal salvation for us. He hears: “If you are the Son of God, come down from the Cross” (Matthew 27:40), so that we may receive adoption as sons (Gal.4:5), so that we may be “sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal.3:26). Let us stand still, Christian, on Calvary before Christ, who suffers for us sinners, and let us see what other suffering He endured for our sake. We see that His most pure lips, preaching peace and the Gospel, were clotted with terrible pain, and the tongue, preaching the remission of sins to sinners, “clung to His throat” (Ps. 21:16). And we hear that in that most severe suffering He cries out: “I thirst” (John 19:28). Who is He who cries, “I thirst”? He is the One whose “earth and its fulfillment” (Ps. 23:1), He “who waters down the mountains from His heights” (Ps. 103:13), “who gathers together the waters of the sea like a bottle, closing up the deeps into treasuries” (Ps. 33:7); He is the One who “brought water out of the rock and brought the waters like rivers” (Ps. 77:16); He is the One Who “struck the stone and the waters flowed out” (Ps. 77:20), “he broke the stone and the waters flowed out” (Ps. 104:41). He thirsts in His flesh, accepted for our sake, in suffering, and in His thirst cries out: “I thirst!” The Intercessor stands for us and endures thirst in His suffering. We should have suffered forever in the flames of Gehenna, thirsted, shouted and asked, but it was useless to ask for a drop of water, for the sake of cooling our tongue (see Luke 16:24). But Christ here, on Calvary, thirsts, may He take away from us the eternal thirst in Gehenna and give us refreshment in His heavenly kingdom, may He make us lie down “with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11), where those who recline “will not endure hunger and thirst, and the heat and sun will not strike them” (Isa.49:10), “For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will feed them and lead them to living springs of water” (Rev. 7:16–17). Thus, Christ, by His thirst, takes away our eternal thirst and gives us living water, from which the drinker “will never thirst” (John 4:14). Let's see what they will give to the thirsty Son of God in suffering. We see that He who covers the sky with clouds is not vouchsafed even cold water, but they give Him vinegar to drink: “They filled a sponge with vinegar and put it on hyssop, and brought it to His mouth” (John 19:29). And He Himself, through the prophet, says: “They gave me gall for food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Ps. 68:22). Our Deliverer eats gall and drinks bitter vinegar, so that He may take away our sorrow that has clung to our souls from the fruit of the commanded tree, and give us food and drink at His table in His kingdom (Luke 22:30). And the Holy Church sings to Him: “May we be delivered from the sweet sin, You have tasted the gall, O Sweetness of life!” (Song of the 7th tone of the 5th, on Friday at Matins). Let us stand still on Calvary and look at the end of this terrible and saving disgrace. And now, we already see that our Intercessor, the Son of God, has completed His feat, which He fought for us. “When Jesus tasted the vinegar, he said, “It is finished!” And having bowed his head, he gave up his spirit,” preaches His beloved disciple and confidant, Saint John (John 19:30). This, Christian, is how Christ ended His feat! He ended by death, the death of the cross (Phil. 2:8)! Let us look more diligently at the death on the cross of the Son of God, on which our life depends, for He laid down His life for us (see John 10:15, 17–18). We who sinned had to die not only temporarily, but also eternally, “for the wages of sin is death,” says the apostle (Rom. 6:23). But Christ, the Son of God, died on the Cross, so that by His death He might kill us, and He might revive us who died by His death. “God demonstrates His love for us by this,” says the Apostle Paul, “that Christ died for us while we were still sinners” (Rom. 5:8). Although those who temporarily believe in His name die, but since “the sting of death is sin” (1 Cor. 15:56), Christ destroyed with His death (Col. 2:14; 1 Cor. 15:55), then this death to those who die in the Lord is not death, but a transition from temporary life to eternal life. Although the earthly church of their body is destroyed, their holy faith consoles them and affirms that “they have a dwelling place in heaven from God, a house not made with hands, eternal” (2 Cor. 5:1). And just as “a grain of wheat, falling into the ground, dies and bears much fruit” (John 12:24), so the bodies of those who have fallen asleep in the Lord, buried and corrupted in the earth, having heard the command of God and the voice of the Archangel (1 Thess. 4:16), like sown seeds from the ground, from the graves will come out, “for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise incorruptible” ( 1 Corinthians 15:52). Strengthened and comforted by this hope, the faithful dare to say with the Apostle Paul: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Death! Where is your sting? Hell! Where is your victory” (1 Cor. 15:54–55)? They leave this world, fathers, mothers, brothers, relatives, but acquire incomparably greater and more perfect things. For they come to God the Father and appear to His most holy Face (see Ps. 42:3) to see Him face to face (1 Cor. 13:12). They find a favorable partnership with the holy Angels, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs and the entire heavenly council. There shines the beautiful Sun of Truth - Christ, Who never sets, is not covered by clouds, is not darkened by darkness, but always shines in His power, creates joy and delights His saints. There they will inherit blessings that “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and the things that God has prepared for those who love Him have not entered into the heart of man” (1 Cor. 2:9). There they receive glory and incorruptible wealth from the hand of the Lord. Correct reasoning about this consoles the faithful and dissolves the sorrow of death, even making it desirable, so that with Saint Simeon they greet it with a joyful spirit and say: “Now you are releasing Your servant, O Master, according to Your word, in peace, for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which He has prepared before the face of all people” (Luke 2:29-31), - and with great Apostle Paul: “I have a desire to be separated and to be with Christ” (Phil. 1:23). “So Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3), “so that by death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver those who through the fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives” (Heb. 2:14–15). Here we see, Christian, how dear our salvation has become to Christ, the Son of God! With the most severe suffering, the deepest humility, indescribable dishonor, blasphemous death, and the death of the cross, our Redeemer redeemed us from death, hell and all disaster, and returned to us the salvation that we had arbitrarily lost. Let us also look at the burial of His most holy and life-giving Flesh, which, after much painful labor and suffering, raised for the sake of our salvation, rested in the tomb for three days and three nights. “For as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so also the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:40). Christ was buried, buried our sins, and immersed our iniquities, and cast all our sins into the depths of the sea, so that they would not appear before the Face of God, if we truly and heartily believe in Him, for our sakes He died and was buried. This is what His holy prophet predicted about this: “He will convert us, and give us mercy, and will drown our iniquities, and cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Mic. 7:19). Christ rested from His works, which He began and completed for our salvation. This is how he arranged for us the Sabbath, which we will celebrate forever, having calmed down from our deeds and labors, and having entered into that rest (Heb. 4:1-11; Rev. 14:13), which is not associated with any work, sorrow or illness, but only the voice of joy and gladness is heard, as the prophet sings: “The voice of joy and salvation in the villages of the righteous” (Ps. 118:15). Christ was laid in the tomb, and our graves became unafraid to us, but became like beds in which, having rested after this much painful life, we will rest until we hear the voice of the Son of God, and having heard, we will come to life, according to His true promise (see John 5:25). Christ has risen, we who believe in His name will also rise. And what is “sown in corruption is raised in incorruption; sown in humiliation, raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in strength; the natural body is sown, the spiritual body is raised” (1 Cor. 15:42–44). Christ ascended into heaven, we will also ascend if we remain faithful to Him until death (Rev. 2:10), and endure to the end (Matt. 24:13). Then where the head is, there will be His members; where the Lord is, there will His servants be; and where He Himself is, there His faithful will also be, and they will see His glory (see John 17:24). Therefore, the apostle, to console the faithful, says: “But our citizenship is in heaven, from where we wait for the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body so that it will be like His glorious body” (Phil. 3:20-21). And again: “We know that when our earthly house, this hut, is destroyed, we have from God a dwelling in heaven, a house not made with hands, eternal. That is why we groan, desiring to be clothed with our heavenly habitation” (2 Cor. 5:1-2). Glory to God, who had mercy on us and so miraculously arranged our salvation, forever and ever, amen! From the above, O Christian, note the following: 1) You see in part the suffering of Christ, about which the Holy Gospel and other scriptures tell us and the holy faith confesses, but you will see better when you correctly judge its circumstances. For if we want to understand something better, we must reason not only about the thing itself, but also about its circumstances. So, when we want to understand somewhat the importance and greatness of the passions of Christ (somewhat, I say, because the human mind cannot comprehend them), and in thinking about them we should learn with benefit, we must reason correctly about their circumstances, which God’s Word presents to us. You see the image of Christ’s passion on icons in holy churches, but without thinking about the circumstances you see nothing more than the image of a man tortured and nailed to the Cross. But correct reasoning about them from the Word of God shows you their importance and power. Note: Who suffered? The God-wise Apostle of Christ Paul answers us with surprise and preaches: “The great mystery of piety is without controversy: God appeared in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16). So, the same God who appeared in the flesh suffered in His flesh. “They crucified the Lord of glory,” the same apostle cries out to the universe (1 Cor. 2:8). And the Holy Church sings Him and prays to the Sufferer: “Crucified, O Christ God, trampling death by death, the only one of the Holy Trinity, glorified to the Father and the Holy Spirit, save us” (Verse that is sung at the Liturgy). It's the same in other places. From whom did he suffer? The holy Evangelist answers: “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). From His ungrateful people, “that is, the Israelites, to whom belong the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the law, and the worship, and the promises; theirs are the fathers, and from them is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all, blessed forever,” the Apostle Paul sighs for them (Rom. 9:4–5). He suffered from those whom he held in special mercy more than other nations, whom he came to save, as He Himself says: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). He suffered from those whom he taught the truth, to whom he preached the kingdom of heaven, showed the way to heaven, from whom he healed the blind, the lame, the lepers, the demon-possessed and other sick people, raised the dead, and performed other miraculous and supernatural works. Christ, the Son of God, their Benefactor, Creator and God suffered from these His people! The Teacher who came down from heaven and taught the truth was betrayed and sold into the hands of the lawless by his ungrateful disciple. How much was it sold for? For thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15). For such a small price the Priceless One, Whose are heaven and earth with all their fulfillment, was sold (Ps. 49:12, 23:1; Is. 19:5)! It is hard for us to endure from everyone, but even harder from the one who receives a benefit from us. Christ’s holy and immaculate soul was not so wounded by the untruth of the pagan Pilate as by the malice of lawless Israel, endowed with so many of His benefits. How did you get hurt? Every dishonor, blasphemy, desecration, ridicule, beating, spitting, strangling, wounding, tying up, stripping, being moved from place to place, crowning with thorns, nailing to the Cross, death on the cross and every brutal inhumanity that human malice, instigated by the devil, could invent - such suffering as terrible to think! The Word of God presents us with a terrible sight of the suffering Christ. “As many were amazed, looking at You, so Your appearance will be dishonored from men and Your glory from the sons of men,” says the prophet Isaiah about Him (Is. 52:14). “In Him there is neither form nor majesty; and we saw Him, and there was no form or beauty in Him, but His appearance was ignominious, more debased than all the sons of men: a wounded man and suffering pain,” and so on (Is. 53: 2-3 et seq.). And further Himself through the prophet: “I was poured out like water, and all my bones were scattered; my heart became like melting wax in the midst of my being. “My strength is dried up like a potsherd; my tongue cleaves to my throat,” and so on (Ps. 21:15-16 et seq.). But how severe was the physical torment when the soft, pure, virgin and immaculate Body of God was wounded, pierced and tormented, so painful was the inner sadness and illness with which His immaculate, most holy and Divine soul was wounded, as He Himself says, entering into the feat of His suffering: “My soul is grieved unto death” (Matthew 26:38). And again: “My soul awaited reproach and suffering; So, terrible and indescribable was the torment of the body and soul of the Son of God, who wanted and came to heal and revive our mortally wounded body and soul. Как пострадал? Неповинно и терпеливо. Innocent, for “he committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth” (1 Peter 2:22), but on the contrary, He is the treasure and image of all virtues. Patiently, for “like a sheep He was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth” (Is. 53:7). Где и когда пострадал? In the capital city of Judea, Jerusalem, where countless people from all countries gathered for the Passover holiday. So, in the assembly and gaze of so many people, our Redeemer, a Christian, suffered like one of the criminals! In the midst of two robbers, before the eyes of Angels and people, the only Righteous and Holy One was hanged on a tree like a villain! And so the only One who was Blessed forever became “a curse for us” (Gal.3:13)! The illness and suffering of His immaculate heart is multiplied by the fact that He is recognized by His people as worse than a villain and a murderer, that a murderer was asked for freedom, and He was asked for death from Pilate, as the holy Apostle Peter denounces them: “They denied Him in the face of Pilate, when he thought to release Him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked to give you a murderer, and you killed the Author of life” (Acts 3:13-15). For whom did he suffer? For you and me, the indecent, accursed, lawless, wicked, accursed servant of His, or, more precisely, His enemy, there is one King of kings and Lord of lords! You and I are the cause of His terrible suffering. My and your sins and defilements were cleansed on the altar of the cross by the Immaculate Lamb, the Son of God. We are to blame, but the Son of God suffered execution. We have broken the law of God, but Christ the Sinless “is numbered with the evildoers” (Mark 15:28). We owe God ten thousand talents, but Christ, Who owed nothing, paid our debt for us with His Blood, as He says: “What I did not take away, I had to give” (Ps. 68:5). 2) The suffering and death of Christ must be understood according to the Flesh, received from the Virgin for our sake. For the Divinity is Impassive and Immortal, and therefore cannot suffer and die. Suffering and death are attributed to the Son of God incarnate because He suffered and died in His Flesh, received from the Holy Virgin. For in Christ we believe and confess one Person, but two natures, Divinity and humanity, inseparably united in one Person, and therefore Christ is perfect God and perfect Man. But for the sake of the unity of the Person, there is one Christ. So, when we say: Christ suffered, we mean that it was not a simple man, but the God-man who suffered, although, as said above, this suffering is understood not according to Divinity, but according to humanity. 3) Christ’s suffering was free. For the sake of us, sinners, He Himself wanted to drink this cup of suffering and death, and drank it, as we saw. This is how the holy Word of God testifies about Him: “Then I said: “Behold, I come, as it is written about Me in the scroll of the book. “I have desired to do Your will, O My God,” (Ps. 39:8-9), says through the prophet. The holy apostle cites this word about His free suffering (see Heb. 10:7). And again: “This is why the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life in order to take it again. No one takes it away from Me, but I myself give it. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again” (John 10:17–18). This is how the Holy Church believes and confesses, and sings to Him: “You have called Your Blessed Mother, O Christ, come to the passion of your free will” (On the Sunday of the Theotokos, Chapter 6 and in many other places). 4) Through such His suffering, the Son of God earned us mercy from the Heavenly Father, which we were deprived of because of our sins. He deserved remission of sins and justification for us who sinned. Thus, He delivered us from the power of the devil, condemnation, death, hell and eternal torment and brought us into His kingdom, appropriated us who had fallen away from Him to Himself, and opened for us the door to eternal life, bliss and eternal glory. Thus, by His death He revived us who had died, and He healed us with His stripes: “By His stripes we were healed” (Is. 53:5). He restored us with his humility. With His sorrow we bring joy, with His bonds we receive deliverance and freedom, with His dishonor and reproach we receive honor and glory - in a word, with His indescribable calamity, which He endured for us, He interceded for us eternal and ineffable bliss. 5) From here you see how great, grave and terrible evil is sin, which led to such a disaster that no one could take it away with its destructive fruit, except Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Lord of glory and the Lord of hosts. Great and grave is sin, so that even the slightest, in human opinion, is capable of plunging the sinner to the bottom of hell, unless the mercy of God arrives in Christ Jesus. For every sin offends the infinite majesty of God and irritates the infinite truth. “For this reason the Son of God appeared, to destroy the works of the devil,” says the holy Apostle John (1 John 3:8). 6) From this learn how great love and mercy God showed to us, the poor, that “He did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all” (Rom. 8:32, 5:8), He was so terribly dishonored for our sins, ridiculed, wounded, tortured and died a shameful death. The mind created by such goodness and mercy of God cannot comprehend, Christian! 7) You see how dear our salvation, which we lost in our ancestors, has become to God and the Son of God, our Redeemer. “We were not redeemed with corruptible things, silver or gold, from the vain life handed down from our fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:18–19). “By His stripes we are healed” (1 Peter 2:24). 8) From here, note how diligently one should thank, love, honor, glorify and praise God for all His benefits, and especially for such a great deed. 9) How zealous obedience to Him must be shown, without which there can be no true thanksgiving and reverence. 10) How must we, who believe in Christ, and confess His holy name, and have been cleansed from sinful defilements by holy Baptism, beware of sins, for Christ endured torment for our sins. 11) From here you see that true faith is the mother of good deeds, for faith presents all these blessings of God to the believer and teaches him that all these blessings that are poured out to the whole world are given to him from God, and appropriates everything to himself that is generally given to everyone. Judge for yourself how you want to sin against your conscience and not show obedience to God, by which God is offended and irritated, if you truly believe in your heart - as the property of true faith requires - that God is your God, Lord and Redeemer, who gave His Son, both for all and for you, that is, both for the sins of all, and for yours, to death. 12) Since Christ is an infinite God, Who suffered for us sinners, His Divine merits are infinite. And from here it follows that all sins, no matter how great, grave and terrible, and no matter how many there are, are forgiven to a truly repentant and heartfelt believer in Christ for the sake of His merits, so that no sin and no multitude of sins of a believer can overcome, but every sin and a great multitude of sins is cleansed by the Blood of Jesus Christ, shed for the sinner. For the Blood of Christ is of infinite importance and power, since the Blood of Christ is the Blood of God (Acts 20:28). That is why the apostle says: “The blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God cleanses us, that is, those who believe in Christ, from all sin,” that is, no matter how great and heavy it may be (1 John 1:7). 13) From this source flows living consolation to those who have sinned and those who repent, that every sin, for the sake of the name of Christ, is forgiven to the repentant. And where there is remission of sins, there all the blessings promised by God will follow (which are mentioned in the fourth paragraph). Take comfort in this, O soul that has sinned and mourns for its sins! 14) From the passions of Christ we must learn to pacify and overcome our passions, Christian, as Christ says: “Learn from Me” (Matthew 11:29). May His spiritual sorrow, which He grieved until death (Matthew 26:38), teach us to repent and grieve for the sins we have committed, but not to despair, but to place hope in His grace and God’s mercy. May His betrayal, perpetrated by an ungrateful disciple, turn us away from betraying His grace, freely given to us, but more than that, let us exhort us to use it for the glory of God and the benefit of our neighbor. May the binding of His holy hands untie our hearts from stinginess, and open our hands to helping our neighbors and giving alms, may we teach us to forgive debts to our debtors, tear up their debt records, and release those sitting in prison because of us. May the patience of unrighteous judgment and condemnation and the blasphemies heard by Him keep us from condemnation, slander, slander and idle talk. May the ridicule and reproach He endured turn us away from ridicule, reproach and other caustic words spewed at our neighbors. Let the spitting on His most holy Face not allow wives to smear their faces with whitewash, paints and other anointings in order to show themselves off and seduce the young. Let the nakedness of His most holy body teach us to wear clothes for the sake of covering nakedness and warming weak flesh, and not for the sake of ostentation, pomp, pride and vanity. May the crowning of thorns and the beating of His Divine head admonish us to expel from our minds and hearts vain, evil, nasty and other thoughts that are contrary to the will of God. May His bearing of the cross teach us from ourselves, that is, from our own will and whims, to renounce and, taking up our cross, follow Him, as He says: “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). May His crucifixion and the nailing of His Divine members to the Cross encourage us to crucify our flesh with its passions and lusts, as the apostle says: “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24), and to put to death “our earthly members: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil lust and covetousness, which is idolatry,” - according to the admonition of the same apostle (Col. 3:5). May eating bile and vinegar keep us from sensuality, excessive sweet food and luxury. May His life-giving death convince us to die to sin, the world and the flesh, and to live for Him, who died for us, according to the admonition of the Apostle: “Christ died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again for them” (2 Cor. 5:15). In a word, may His deepest humility turn us away from pride. May His all-perfect obedience, obedience even to death, “the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8), turn us away from disobedience, disobedience, and convince us to submit and obey God and the authorities in the Lord. By His poverty let us learn to despise the riches of this world, by His dishonor - glory, by His bitterest torment - voluptuousness, as the Apostle admonishes: “Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world: whoever loves the world does not have the love of the Father in him. For whatever is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is of this world” (1 John 2:15-16). From His patience and meekness let us learn to pacify our impatience, murmuring, anger and malice. Thus, let us honor the passion of Christ and Him, who suffered for us. 15) Do you finally see, Christian, in what a dangerous state are those Christians who live fearlessly, without repentance, but serve their own whims, who confess Christ, but by their deeds reject Him. They will feel what sin is, how great its grief is, when they will be forever rejected from the presence of God, and in fiery hell with the devil and angels they will drink the sorrowful cup of eternal torment, for “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). For if Christ, the Son of God, was so terribly tormented for the sins of others, how will those who sin of their own free will suffer for their sins? “If they do this to a green tree,” says the suffering Christ, “what will happen to a dry tree” (Luke 23:31)? “But the fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. This is the second death” (Rev. 21:8). § 298. In holy Baptism we are granted all those benefits that Christ deserved through His suffering and death, as stated in the previous paragraph. 1) We receive remission of all sins, no matter what the person being baptized has. It was God who mercifully promised through the prophet: “I will sprinkle you with clean water, and be cleansed from all your uncleanness” (Ezek. 36:25). Therefore, the holy Apostle Peter says: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins” (Acts 2:38). And the holy Apostle Paul says: “We were washed, we were sanctified, we were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11). 2) We are freed from death and the devil’s power and come to the kingdom of Christ, the Son of God. We become sheep of His holy flock and members of the holy Church, and therefore Him as the Head of the holy Church, so we call Him our King and Lord. 3) We become heirs of eternal life and bliss, according to His false promise: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16). Therefore, the Apostle says about Baptism: “He saved us according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:5-7). They will say: if in Baptism we receive remission of sins, this is known about adults who are baptized, but what kind of sins are there in infants? The prophet of God answers this: “I was conceived in iniquities, and my mother gave birth to me in sin” (Ps. 50:7). You see that both he and we are conceived and born in sins. Therefore, infants also require washing from sinful defilements in order to, having been cleansed, enter into eternal life. § 299. Through Holy Baptism a person is born again, or reborn, not by nature - for by nature the same person remains, the same body, soul, feelings, breath and other natural forces and actions - but by internal renewal and enlightenment of the heart, thought, mind, will, desire. Therefore, holy Baptism is called the “wash of regeneration” (Titus 3:5), and the baptized person is called a new creation: “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). So, a person who has accepted the Christian faith and Baptism has a double birth: the first is a carnal birth, in which he is conceived in iniquities and is born in sins, and by such birth every person is born a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3). This birth comes from the old Adam, and therefore our fathers and we are called the sons of Adam. The second birth is Baptism, which is water and the Spirit, and is spiritual, holy, blessed, blessed, and comes from Christ. And just as the old Adam is our father according to the flesh, so Christ is our Father according to spiritual birth, and the Eternal Father, “Father of the age to come” (Is. 9:6). This spiritual birth works: 1) By faith in Christ, as the apostle says: “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God” (1 John 5:1). 2) By the Holy Spirit: “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5; 1 Cor. 6:11). 3) Holy Baptism, as Christ teaches: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). 4) Before Baptism, adults need instruction from the Word of God, for faith begins from hearing the word of God, according to what has been said: “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). And the holy Apostle Peter says to the faithful: “reborn, not from corruptible seed, but from incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides forever” (1 Pet. 1:23). Therefore, adults need instruction before Baptism, and baptized infants need instruction as soon as they begin to grow up and understand the teaching. § 300. Since in a person who has accepted the Christian faith and Baptism, there are two births - the old, or carnal, and the new, or spiritual, then from these two births a war of spirit and flesh arises in him, or, more simply, a double inclination, movement, impulse and encouragement. These births are opposite and each of them contains its own property, and the human heart inclines and encourages what is characteristic of each. The holy apostle says about this: “The flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh: they oppose each other” (Gal. 5:17). Carnal birth inclines a Christian to carnal wisdom, and spiritual birth - to spiritual wisdom. The carnal moves him to seek honor, glory, earthly wealth, and the spiritual takes him away from this and moves him to seek eternal blessings, glory and eternal bliss. The carnal is prompted to pride and arrogance, and the spiritual - to humility. The carnal encourages one to anger, rage, malice, revenge, while the spiritual turns away from this and encourages patience, quietness, kindness, meekness. The carnal encourages us to hate our neighbor, while the spiritual deviates from this and inclines us to love. The carnal moves towards unmercifulness and cruelty, and the spiritual - towards mercy. The carnal attracts to the love of money and peace, and the spiritual - to the love of God. The carnal attracts the heart to quarrel and enmity, and the spiritual - to peace, harmony and pious unanimity. The carnal encourages drunkenness, intemperance, and uncleanness, while the spiritual leads to sobriety, abstinence and chastity. The carnal leads to lies, flattery, hypocrisy, and the spiritual leads to truth and simplicity. In short, carnal birth inclines a person to self-love, fulfilling his will and pleasing himself, and spiritual birth - to love of God, to obedience to God and the creation of God's will, and turns him away from everything that is contrary to the will of God. Such warfare occurs within the same Christian. This is an ever-present battle between the flesh and the spirit, for “the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh.” This is the Christian feat in which we must strive until the end of our lives, subdue the flesh to the spirit, and do not what we would like (Gal. 5:17), but what the will of God, the law of God and the new birth requires of us. This means “crucifying the flesh with its passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24), “departing from the fleshly lusts that war against the soul” (1 Pet. 2:11), “not turning cares for the flesh into lusts” (Rom. 13:14), “putting off our former way of life, the old man, which is being corrupted by deceitful lusts, but being renewed in the spirit of our mind and putting on a new man created according to God in righteousness and true holiness" (Eph. 4:22–24). This means “putting to death the deeds of the flesh in the Spirit” (Rom. 8:13), not “fulfilling the desires of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16), “living not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:1, 4), “not living for oneself, but for the dead and risen Christ” (2 Cor. 5:15). For in a regenerated Christian there are both two births and two people with their own properties, that is, the old and the new. The old one shows its evil property and inclines the Christian to evil and all sin, as said above, the new one also shows its good property and inclines the Christian man to good. A Christian, if he wants to preserve the new birth and be a true Christian, then he must not listen to the old man, not do his deeds, and so avoid all evil, but follow the properties of the new birth, the new man, and so be diligent in every good deed. The holy apostles encourage us to this feat everywhere in their holy messages. Christ offers us the same thing in His Holy Gospel when He commands us to enter “at the narrow gate” (Matthew 7:13), “deny ourselves, and take up our cross, and follow” Him (Matthew 16:24), take His yoke, and learn from Him (see Matthew 11:29). And the Heavenly Father speaks from heaven: “Listen to Him” (Matthew 17:5). The Holy Fathers, our pastors and our teachers exhort us to this. § 301. From the above-described properties and movements of carnal and spiritual birth, there is a twofold wisdom - carnal and spiritual. Whoever follows the carnal birth or the old man and does his will, he is wise according to the flesh and does the works of the flesh. He who mortifies the deeds of the flesh with the spirit and shows the fruits of new birth, is spiritually wise. The holy apostle shows us the works of the flesh: “The works of the flesh are known; they are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, quarrels, envy, anger, dissensions, dissensions, temptations, heresies, hatred, murders, drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and the like” (Gal. 5:19-21). This includes the numbered works (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Rom. 1:29-32; 1 Tim. 1:9-10; 2 Tim. 3:2-5 and elsewhere). The same apostle shows the spiritual fruit: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). 1) What is a spiritual man and what is a carnal man. A spiritual man is one who philosophizes spiritually, mortifies carnal deeds, and shows the fruits of the new birth, although he also has a wife, gives birth to children, carries a gun, and is adorned with orders. A carnal man is one who lives according to the flesh and does carnal deeds, even if he is covered with a cassock, hood and mantle or adorned with an outer cross. For it is not dress and other appearance that makes a Christian and a spiritual person, but living faith, adorned with fruits. And on the contrary, unbelief produces the carnal with lawless fruits, as can be seen from the apostolic teaching and the above-mentioned reasoning. 2) Do you see what a true Christian is? That is, a spiritual person who does not cleave to this world, but, leaving it, seeks spiritual and heavenly blessings, struggles against sin, and tries to do the right, true and heartfelt fruits of faith, that is, good deeds. 3) Do you finally see what a false Christian is? That is, one who, although he confesses God and Christ, the Son of God, and is baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity, yet by his deeds, like an evil tree with his evil fruits, shows himself not to be among the Christians, but among the pagans. For just as a good tree is known by the taste of good fruit, so a Christian is known by good deeds. And just as a tree is evil from the taste of bad fruit, so a false Christian is shown by evil deeds. § 302. The Word of God shows the end of carnal and spiritual wisdom. The end of carnal wisdom: “if you live according to the flesh, you will die” (Rom. 8:13), that is, eternal death, for everyone dies temporarily, carnal and spiritual, saints and sinners (Rom. 6:21, 23, 8:6; 1 Cor. 6:10; Gal. 5:21; Phil. 3, etc.). The end of spiritual wisdom: “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Rom 8:1). And below: “If you put to death the deeds of the flesh in the Spirit, you will live” (Rom. 8, etc.). So, the end to which carnal wisdom leads is eternal death and torment, for “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). The end of spiritual wisdom, towards which those who think spiritually go, is eternal life. From this it is clear that holy Baptism and the content of Orthodox dogmas do not bring any benefit to faulty Christians while they remain faulty. Therefore, every Christian should examine whether he has saving faith, as the Apostle exhorts: “Test yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; examine yourselves” (2 Cor. 13:5). You might be interested in: