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When any sinful desire comes to a person either by accident, or from natural weakness, or from a devilish temptation, then his soul is sick. And just as a sick person in body is in the midst of hope and despair, for he either hopes to recover, or, not hoping to recover, expects death - so the soul is between committing sin and abstaining from it. She sways with confusion, like a reed in the wind, when, on the one hand, conscience forbids sin, and on the other, sinful desire attracts him to a planned evil deed. When, in this doubt, he begins to gradually lean toward desire, which pushes him to sin, rather than to conscience, which forbids sin, then illness begins, and he is sick until he gives birth to lawlessness. When he comes to sinful principles, he begins to die. When sin is finally committed, then grace is taken away from it, and it becomes dead, for just as the soul is life for the body, so grace is life for the soul, and just as the body becomes dead after the departure of the soul, so the soul becomes dead after God’s grace is taken from it through sin (1). Anyone who follows Christ through repentance and fights hard against thieves, that is, with their passions and sinful lusts, needs the help of God's grace, without which we usually cannot do anything. It must be inherent in a person so that, having repented, he does not return to his previous sins (1). The sign of good sheep is indicated in the words spoken by the Lord: “No one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28–29). Here we mean the powerful hand of our Shepherd Christ God: the hand of omnipotence and the hand of His grace. By the hand of omnipotence He contains everyone, good and evil, righteous and sinners, faithful and unfaithful, for everything in the universe is in His power. With the hand of His grace He holds only those who themselves adhere inseparably to Him, for just as He loves those who love Him, so He preserves with His grace those who hold on to His right hand. Therefore, no one will snatch those who are His true sheep from His hand, that is, no sinful deception can tear them away from His grace, just as the Egyptian harlot could not tear away the beautiful Joseph, just as the righteous Lot was not corrupted by the temptations of Sodom, and just as the chaste Susanna was not persuaded to anger God by the lawless judges of Israel. If one of the sheep holding on to the hand of the Lord accidentally staggers and falls due to human weakness, as happened with David, then he immediately gets up from his fall, and runs even more warmly to God with repentance, and is made worthy of the former grace. And then the words of the psalms come true on him: “When he falls, he will not break, for the Lord strengthens his hand” (Ps. 37:24). Untrue, goat-loving sheep are snatched from the hands of the Shepherd Christ by all sinful charms, removed from His grace and numbered among the goats. Even violence cannot tear true sheep from the hand of the Shepherd, as the Apostle says: “Who will separate us from the love of God: tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or the sword?” (Rom. 8:35). Untrue sheep are separated from God by every slightest sinful lust. It is not any sorrow, but carnality, not crowding, but space, not persecution, but peace, not hunger, but indulgence and drunkenness, not nakedness, but the adornment of vestments, not misfortune, but well-being, not the sword, but carnal lust that cuts off and removes the sinner from the right hand of the grace of the Lord. So, it is possible for everyone, by examining his conscience, to easily know himself whether he belongs to the number of true sheep or not. If you, a man, are quick to anger God, but not quick to repent, know that you are among the goats. If you are not quick to anger God, but quick and warm to repentance, then trust in the mercy of God and you will be counted among the sheep (2). “Every sacrifice will be salted with salt,” said the Lord (Mark 9:49), “and if it is not salted, it will stink.” Likewise, the soul is a genuine sacrifice to God, according to what has been said: “A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit” (Ps. 50:19), but, not being salted with the salt of grace of the Most Holy Spirit, it will stink of all kinds of madness and be filled with worms of various passions. If anyone studies all the wisdom of this world, but is not seasoned with the salt of the Holy Spirit and does not participate in the Lord’s grace, then it will be very indecent and, as one who does not have the royal image inscribed in himself, is placed outside the palace of Christ: “If anyone,” says the apostle, “does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Rom. 8:9) (3). Just as branches cannot give birth to anything from themselves without a root, so you cannot wish or create anything good without God’s grace. The Lord is the root, you are the branch. Until then, you can do anything pleasing to God as long as you are with God, but when you separate from God, then you will fall into all evil. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it is on the vine, so neither can we unless we abide in the Lord. For “without Me you can do nothing,” said the Lord (John 15:4–5), because He is the root and source of all good (3). You might be interested in: