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Before the sun rises there is darkness and night, but as the sun rises, the darkness recedes and the light shines. So before the coming of Christ, who is the righteous Sun, darkness covered the entire universe and the night was deep. But as soon as this brightest Sun shone and emitted its warmest rays over the entire universe, the most favorable and sweetest day for our souls dawned. Then the prophetic word was fulfilled: “The people walking in darkness will see a great light; To those who live in the land and shadow of death, the light will shine” (Is.9:2; Matt.4:16). “The night has passed and the day has approached; Let us therefore reject the works of darkness and put on the weapons of light. As during the day, let us behave decently, not indulging in feasting and drunkenness, nor in sensuality and debauchery, nor in quarrels and envy; But put on our Lord Jesus Christ, and do not turn the cares of the flesh into lusts,” says the apostle (Rom. 13:12–14). Let us also act according to the apostolic exhortation and be sons of light and day. All people walk before the sun shining in the heavens, and the sun looks at everyone and everyone. So people walk before God, who is omnipresent and looks at everything, and whatever anyone does, thinks, begins, or conceives, all the eyes of the Lord see. “The Lord looked from heaven and saw all the sons of men. From His prepared dwelling He looked at all who lived on the earth. He who created their hearts and considers all their deeds” * (Ps. 33:13-15). And also: “Your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to reward everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds” (Jer. 32:19). And again: “The eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun and look at all human paths and penetrate into hidden places. He knew everything before it was created, as well as after it was done” (Sir 23:27-29). We must before God, as before the all-seeing and rewarder of everyone along his path, walk with apprehension, fear and reverence, and do whatever His holy will pleases, so that we do not anger His Majesty. “See therefore that you walk carefully, not as fools, but as wise,” the apostle tells us (Eph. 5:15). O man! God looks at you and no matter what you do, what you think, what you begin, what you conceive, what you love, what you hate, what you console yourself with and what you are offended by, what you seek, what you run away from, how you treat Him, your Creator, how you treat your neighbor, He sees. How and what you say, how and what you ask and answer, he hears and will reward you according to your path and according to the fruit of your undertakings. “Look...,” beloved, “act... carefully, not as fools, but as wise!” When the sun shines in the sky, everything is clear. Everyone sees the path to follow, where to go, what to do and what to avoid. He sees, distinguishes one thing from another, and useful from harmful, and so on. “A man goes out to his work and to his work until evening” (Ps. 103:23). So it happens in the soul, which Christ, the righteous Sun, enlightens. Such a soul sees everything clearly, knows the charm and vanity of this world, knows good and evil, vice and virtue, harm and benefit, the path to destruction and the path to eternal life leading, and does deeds that are pleasing to God and useful to itself. The word of God is as sweet to such a soul as God Himself. Such a soul considers everything pleasant and dear in this world to be nothing, remembering the word of the Savior: “What is it good for a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26) - and always strives for blissful eternity. She has only one thing on her mind, how to please God, her Creator, and be among those saved. Blessed is the soul that is illuminated by the Divine Light! When the sun goes down, there is night and darkness. Then people see nothing, do not distinguish one thing from another, and walk like blind people, fall into a ditch, and do not know how to avoid harm. This is the state of those souls in whom the light of Christ did not shine! They touch like blind people, do not separate good from evil, do not distinguish between benefit and harm, and fall from sin to sin. They grab hold of what is in itself nothing, and put aside what is great. They think that they are following the straight path, but they do not know that it is leading them into the pit of destruction. These are, in essence, those who have united themselves with the vanity of this world and are only learning how to collect great wealth, earn high honors, become famous in this world, etc., but they care little about the eternal treasure of salvation and consider it to be the last thing. This is worthy of surprise, or rather regret! They see that those who die and depart from this world leave everything in the world and leave the world naked, just as they entered the world. However, they try so hard to get rich, as if they will live in peace forever. And it is surprising that it is not the pagans, who have no hope, who are confused in such vanity, but that this is done by Christians, called to eternal life and eternal blessings, which they always hear about in the Gospel. O poor and damned man! Because you don’t see the deception of this world, you chase after what is small and soon disappears like smoke. How do you leave what is true and remains forever! Everything we have in this world, except virtue alone, leaves us, but what we receive in eternity will never be separated. But in order for a person to be freed from such blindness and darkness and enlightened by the light of Christ, he must approach Christ, the True Light, and ask Him with the blind: “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!” (Matthew 20:30), and always look at the example of His holy life, and follow His holy footsteps. Then the true Light - Christ, will enlighten such a person. Because when we have light in front of us and look at it, we are enlightened. So the soul, when it comes to Christ and looks at the image of His most holy life and follows Him, is enlightened by His light. The closer we are to the light, the more enlightened we become. Light is Christ. Whoever comes closer to this Light will become more enlightened and will no longer walk in darkness. “I am the Light of the world; Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). For he who walks in Christ will not walk in darkness, but he who moves away from this Light will certainly walk in darkness. The sun warms the whole sky and, as it were, revives it. So God, the eternal Sun, with the warmth of His love, warms and revives all creation, and most of all the human race. “For in Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). And most of all, He poured out all the warmth of His love on us, sending His Only Begotten Son to us - to us who had departed from Him and perished. “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. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:16–17). “Praise the Lord, all you nations; praise Him, all nations; for His mercy toward us is steadfast, and the truth of the Lord endures forever” (Ps. 116:1-2). Praise you too, my soul, to the Lord! Blessed be the name of the Lord from now to eternity! Think, Christian, about this great matter and thank God! Everyone looks at the sun and, wanting to warm themselves with its warmth, reaches out to it. Likewise, all the faithful look to God and are warmed by the warmth of His mercy. “The eyes of all trust in You, and You give them their food in due season; You open Your hand and satisfy all living things according to Your good pleasure” (Ps. 144:15-16). “Hear us, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and those who are in the sea far off” (Ps. 64:6). You too, Christian, lift up your eyes to God - may you be warmed by the warmth of His mercy - and speak more often to the Prophet from the depths of your heart: “I have lifted up my eyes to You, Who lives in heaven! Behold, as the eyes of servants are directed to the hands of their masters, as the eyes of a servant are directed to the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes to the Lord our God, until He has mercy on us” (Ps. 122:1-2). Without the sun, no fruit grows or ripens. So without God, the eternal Sun, no good deed begins, is done, or is accomplished. Our good desire, our good beginning, the middle and the end are His work. He begins, works and completes in us. Without Him we cannot do anything: “for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Therefore, Christian, learn: 1) To recognize your weakness, damnation and insignificance, to recognize that you yourself are nothing more than a withered tree that cannot bear any fruit. 2) Learn humility from this. 3) Attribute every good deed that you have done or are doing to God alone - so that you do not appropriate His work for yourself, and do not steal His glory, and thus do not sin seriously. 4) At all times, sigh to God - may He not take His almighty hand away from you, since without God’s help you will fall into sin from sin. Repeat often the prayer of the psalmist: “Do not forsake me, O Lord my God! Do not retreat from Mene; come to my help, O Lord of my salvation!” ( Ps. 37:22–23 ). 5) When God sends you adversity, sorrow and sadness, He wants to correct you and create you as a fruitful tree. Be patient with your Lord as you endure a doctor who treats you with bitter medicine. Bitter medicine is sorrow and sadness for the flesh, but with it the sick soul is healed. “Trust in the Lord, be of good courage, and let your heart be strengthened, and trust in the Lord” (Ps. 26:14). The sun never stops its movement, but always moves from east to west and emits its light and warmth into the heavens. Likewise, God never stops doing good and always does good to us - such is His nature. God is essentially good, so that “no one is good, ... only God alone” (Matthew 19:17), according to the testimony of the Savior, and therefore cannot help but do good. The sun shines and emits its warmth on both the evil and the good. So the eternal Sun, God, does good and evil, pious and wicked. “Bless the Lord, O my soul” (Ps. 102:1). Let us also imitate our Creator in this matter and do good to the good and the evil, to those who love and hate us, according to the admonition of the Apostle: “Be imitators of God, as beloved children” (Eph. 5:1). “For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). The sun emits heat equally to all things. But some things melt from its heat like wax, while others harden like clay. So God equally does good to everyone and sends down the warmth of His goodness. But some people are softened by His goodness and repent, while others become hardened and perish, as, for example, Pharaoh became hardened and perished, which is what is happening in the world today. “O man! ...Or do you neglect the riches and kindness, meekness and long-suffering of God, not realizing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” ( Rom 2:3-4 ) Beware, O man, of being hardened by the goodness of God, but rather be moved to repentance and think about the long-suffering of God for your salvation! The sun in clear and calm water is clearly visible, and its likeness is displayed. So God, the eternal Sun, appears in a quiet, immaculate and pure soul and depicts His image in it. “Beloved, having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God,” the apostle exhorts us (2 Cor. 7:1). Let God, the eternal Sun, dwell in us, and let His holy image be depicted in us. Bulky and dense things cannot accommodate sunlight: the earth, stone and wooden walls, and so on. But glass, clean water, crystal, etc., on the contrary, contain. Likewise, the mind, darkened by the sins and lusts of this world, cannot accommodate God’s enlightenment. Like fits into like. “Therefore it is said: “Awake, you who sleep, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Eph. 5:14). Repent and cleanse your soul with repentance and tears, and drive away the cloud of your vain thoughts - and then Christ will enlighten you! The closer the sun gets, the smaller the shadow, and the more it moves away, the larger the shadow. And when the sun sets, the shadow disappears. So the more God approaches a person, the less a person becomes in himself, the more he humbles himself and humbles himself. He sees his unworthiness and insignificance and God’s majesty, and therefore humbles himself. On the contrary, the more God moves away from man, the more man is exalted, exalted, and proud. And when God completely withdraws from man, man perishes, just as a shadow disappears when the sun sets. Beware, man, of arrogance, lest you fall like the devil. Don't be arrogant, but be afraid. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14). Anyone who wants to be enlightened and warmed by the sun must come out of a dark place and stand in front of the sun. So, the one who wants to be enlightened by God, the Eternal Sun and warmed by the warmth of His sweetest love, must leave the darkness of sin, hate the lawless and unclean life, and turn to Him, approach with repentance and contrition of heart, and pray. And then his heart will be illuminated by His Divine light and his heart will be warmed by the warmth of His Divine love. “Come to Him, and be enlightened, and your faces will not be ashamed” (Ps. 33:6). So, Christians, let us turn to God with all our hearts, let us be enlightened by His light and warm ourselves with love. Sick eyes cannot look at the sun and see it. Likewise, a soul sick with guile, vanity, pride, conceit, self-love, and the love of this world cannot see the eternal Divinity. God is seen by the simple and sound eye of the soul. God, without God Himself, cannot be known and seen. And He reveals Himself to simple and gentle babies. “I hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes” (Matthew 11:25). Let us, Christians, be simple and pure in heart, then we will see God. Whoever looks at the sun a lot, diligently attentively, his eyes become darkened and damaged. So, whoever examines God, the Eternal Sun, with curiosity and tries to learn His incomprehensible secrets, his mind becomes darkened and he falls into great delusion. Beware, man, of experiencing what you don’t need to know. We must reason about God only as His Holy Word revealed. Whoever goes to the sun, the shadow follows. Whoever moves away from the sun, the shadow recedes from him. So then, whoever approaches Christ, the Righteous Sun, and follows Him with faith and love, hatred, malice and persecution of this world will inseparably follow. The world, blinded by the lies of the devil, does not love the truth of God. And therefore, just as he hated and persecuted Christ, the Truth itself, so he hates and persecutes a Christian who adheres to the truth. The Apostle wrote about this: “And all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). However, beloved Christian, do not grieve that the world hates you. Christ is incomparably greater and better than the whole world, and His love is sweeter than the whole world. Whoever Christ loves and has mercy on is not harmed in any way by the hatred and malice of this world. Just make sure that you are Christ’s. Christ will not forsake His own. He endured and suffered so much for you; will He leave you in your need? Hear His comforting promise to His servants: “I am with him in sorrow; I will deliver him” (Ps. 90:15). And how to find out who is Christ’s, the apostle shows: “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24). And again: “Let everyone who confesses the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness” (2 Timothy 2:19). Be Christ, and the whole world, and all the devils will not harm you, since He is incomparably the strongest of all, and all earthly and underworlds tremble before His Divine power. When the sky is covered with thick and dark clouds and a great storm comes, it seems that the sun leaves us. However, even at such times it always emits its subtlest rays on us. Thus, when a dark cloud and a storm of temptation come upon us and cover us, it seems that God has abandoned us. However, God does not abandon His faithful one even in such darkness, but with His hidden power preserves him. “And God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13). Do not despair, beloved Christian, when any temptation befalls you, but pray and call on Him. Then expect help from Him, according to His false promise: “Call on Me in the day of your trouble, and I will deliver you, and you will glorify Me” (Ps. 49:15). God expects your patience and effort in temptation, not despondency and indignation. “Trust in the Lord, be of good courage, and let your heart be strong, and trust in the Lord” (Ps. 26:14), without whose advice and will nothing happens. When the bad weather and storm pass, the sun shines most pleasantly for us. So when the storm of temptation passes, the favorability and graciousness of God’s goodness is felt in the human heart. Then the sweetest bucket in the soul shines. Then the soul is comforted, filled with peace and tranquility, like the sweetest supper. Then in such a soul “mercy and truth will meet, justice and peace will kiss each other” (Ps. 84:11). Then the soul tastes and sees “how good the Lord is” (Ps. 33:9). Such sweetness follows temptation in the human heart. Tolerate the temptation that comes, Christian, and then you will feel a favorable and sweetest feeling in your soul. In addition, when we look at the sun, Christians, let us remember that Christ the Lord said: “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43). The chosen ones of God will be clothed with such great and wonderful glory that they will shine like the sun. Let us look with the eyes of our souls at this glory and despise the deceptive glory and honor of this world. Translation by P. Yungerov – Editorial office of “The ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: