Поучение 20. О духовном нашем воинствовании. К саккудионским братиям.

Children and brothers! All of you, as I said before, spend your life for the sake of the Lord, gathering the fruits of your salvation like any jewels, and shunning guile and every reason for disorderly conduct. Therefore, none of you should have vicious boldness, no one should have lust, nor be sin-loving, nor love what passions feed on, nor be defiled in soul and mind; no one should adorn himself even with insignificant things, should not be envious, or argumentative, or give temptations, or grumble, or be lazy, or be idle, disobedient, proud, impudent, vain, deceitful and idle talker; He should not worry much about food, nor love quarrels, nor be an inventor of evil, or sleep a lot and feed his flesh like cattle, and he should also not, like Judas, betray his soul or betray his brother. For such are rejected from God, withdrawn and go astray in places of lawlessness, just as some have already gone astray or will go astray; These are people who are not patient, who do not endure all day long, and therefore do not receive the bribes of the laborers of the garden. And again, during the battle, they do not endure combat, as befits the warriors of the King Christ God, in order to please the Master; therefore, they will not receive gifts and Divine gifts, but as timid and cowardly they will be condemned, spat on and cast out during the time of retribution. For if this happens before an earthly, temporary and mortal king, then what will happen before the great and immortal King of kings, God of gods and Lord of lords? Will not everyone be judged according to the merits of their deeds, and will not everyone be rewarded according to his deeds? But oh, lest this happen to us, children and brethren! Do not turn back, and do not weaken, trying to avoid exploits, in the short time of your struggle; for it is so small in comparison with countless centuries, like one drop in an endless sea, so that through negligence we do not lose the endless glory and honor of the heavenly Kingdom. Therefore, O good brothers - warriors, fellow sufferers, companions, companions, (for no matter what I call you, you have everything); Let us strive, let us labor, let us knock, let us endure. The Lord is near to crown us, for He sees from heaven the course of each one, and weaves crowns for those who endure to the end. Therefore, be all of you pure through confession, peaceful through humility, quick to do everything out of love for service; surpass each other in obedience, shining with zeal, shining with humility. I wish you all were like this; and you can be like that if you want. And you, clerics, be careful that you sing and read, not stealthily, not vainly, not just to learn to read, or to catch some speech, or so that the euphony is not lost in reading, but for the common benefit and for the benefit of your souls - so that you are all one, having one mind and one will. May the Lord and God of my father, who pacified everything by the outpouring of His blood, give you even more unanimity in the truth about the Holy Spirit and in all good prosperity. For to Him belongs all glory, honor and worship forever and ever. Amen. You might be interested in: