Word 4th. Answer to those who are perplexed about Holy Baptism

Dogmatic treatise of St. Mark of the Ascetic “Word 4. An answer to those who are perplexed about Holy Baptism” is compiled in the genre of questions and answers. Researchers suggest that the monk is polemicizing with the Messalians, who teach that the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist are of secondary importance in the life of a Christian, and the main place is occupied by spiritual achievement. In contrast to this opinion, Rev. Mark says that the center of Christian life is union with Christ, revealed through Baptism and realized in the Eucharist. Considering the effect of the Sacrament of Baptism, St. Mark touches on the theme of ancestral sin. Adam committed a crime, and for this he was overtaken by death (alienation from God). According to the monk, man inherits from Adam not crime, but death, because... It is impossible for those who come from the dead to be alive. A person is freed from original sin in Holy Baptism, which “is perfect and gives us perfection, but does not make perfect the one who does not fulfill the commandments.” According to Rev. Mark, the power of sin after Baptism is so great in a person because of the love of sin, and not because sin remains inside him. Keeping the commandments and spiritual deeds are of secondary importance as a way to preserve the grace of Baptism and achieve perfection. *The title of the work in Greek is Περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος. *The title of the works in Latin is De baptismo. Question: Since some say that Holy Baptism is perfect, affirming in the words of Holy Scripture: “You rose up and were baptized and washed away your sins” (Acts 22:16); and again: “Wash yourself, [and] be clean” (Isa. 1:16); and again: “but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified” (1 Cor. 6:11), and citing many similar passages as proof; others say that old (ancestral) sin is killed by deeds, and these also cite the word of Scripture as proof: “let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit” (2 Cor. 7:1), moreover, finding in ourselves after Baptism the very effect of sin: what will we say to this, or who will we believe? Answer: We should believe the apostolic preaching and remain in the same confession, and not tempt the power of God with human opinions, and not again arbitrarily remain under the yoke of slavery, but maintain our freedom by doing the commandments, by which all truth is found in proportion (with this doing), and know definitely that for omitting them, according to proportion, we fall under the action of sin. And since you, submitting more to curiosity than to the word, have considered God’s preaching to be vain, therefore your faith is also vain, and you still remain in your sins. Question: We do not say that preaching is vain, but we want to learn the truth. Answer: And if we consider the sermon to be true, then we will fulfill all the commandments and then we will see whether we are under the influence of sin. For Holy Baptism is perfect and gives us perfection, but does not make perfect those who do not keep the commandments. So, let us not give faith to human opinions, but rather believe the Divine Scripture, it says that “Christ died our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3), and that we “were buried in Him through Baptism,” and “we died free from sin,” and that “let sin not possess us” (Rom. 6:4, 7, 14), if we fulfill His commandments; if we do not fulfill them, then we are unfaithful and rightly are kept in sin. For faith consists not only in being baptized into Christ, but also in fulfilling His commandments. According to Scripture, it is obvious that we are mysteriously “buried by Him through Baptism” (Col. 2:12) “and raise us up with Him (God the Father), and make us sit in heavenly places” (Eph. 2:6). However, He also gave us commandments, so that, having fulfilled them, we would gain the grace of perfection given to us; and if we do not fulfill them, then it will turn out that we have fallen under the influence of sin by our own will. If we say that sin is destroyed by works, then “Christ died without death” (Gal. 2:21), and everything said will be false, and Holy Baptism is not perfect; but, as they say, perfection is acquired from exploits. And therefore, among them the law of freedom is vain and every law of the New Testament is rejected; they also consider Christ unrighteous, who commanded the works of freedom to those who were baptized, still involuntarily enslaved to sin, as they say; and the grace of God is no longer grace, but the reward of our deeds. For if it is by works, it is not by grace; if by grace, then the deed is no longer a deed, but a commandment of Him who freed us and a deed of freedom and faith. Saint Paul providentially wrote the same thing to the Galatians, admonishing them also as having similarly disbelieved. We do not reject the grace of God: let this not happen! We do not deny the faith contained in preaching. But if even after Baptism we are still in sin, this is not because Baptism was imperfect, but because we are negligent of the commandment and are in pleasures of our own free will. For this very reason, the Divine Scripture convicts us, saying: “Like a dog... returning to his vomit,” so man, by autocratic will, returns “to his sin” (Prov. 26:11); for neither God nor Satan compels our will even after Baptism. Or have you not heard that the commandments of Christ, given at Baptism, are the law of freedom? As the Scripture says: “Thus speak and do such, for he who has the law of freeness accepted judgment” (James 2:12). And the holy Apostle Peter, having said: “give virtue to your faith” and so on, adds, saying: “for he must not bear these... forget, receive the cleansing of his ancient sins” (2 Pet. 1:5, 9). Did you understand from what was said (that this is said) about cleansing through Baptism, which occurs mysteriously and is gained effectively through the fulfillment of the commandments? If, after being baptized, we were not freed from the sin of our fathers, then it is obvious that we cannot perform works of freedom. If we can do them, then it is obvious that we have been mysteriously freed from slavery to sin, according to what is written: “For the law of the Spirit of life...has set me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2); Because of our negligence in keeping the commandments of Him who cleansed us, we fall under the influence of sin. Or let them prove that the baptized cannot perform the commandments of freedom and therefore Baptism is not perfect; or, having heeded our proof that they (that is, those who were baptized) received such power, let them realize that they too were freed by the grace of Christ, but they gave themselves over to slavery to evil, because they did not fulfill all the commandments, and therefore again became assistants (to the enemy). Let them accept reproof from their own testimonies: “Let us cleanse ourselves,” says Scripture, “from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit” (2 Cor. 7:1). How can a slave of sin cleanse himself from all filth, not having such freedom and power, but being kept from sin? If you have strength in passions, then understand that they support you not by force, but because of your will. So, everything that the Divine Scripture tells us about purification advises us as free, not to dwell in such thoughts, but to love freedom, as having the power to bow to whatever we want, for good or evil. Question: If we have been liberated by Holy Baptism, why have we not yet seen the air of freedom, as those who struggle see it? Answer: Because arbitrary passions and negligence about the commandments that they fulfilled darken us. For, as we said above, man is freed by the gift of Christ; of his own free will, where he loves, he remains there, even though he was baptized, because autocracy is not forced. When Scripture says that “the needy delight the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 11:12), it says this about its own will, so that after Baptism each of us is forced not to deviate towards evil, but to remain in goodness. If we suffered violence from evil spirits, then God, who freed us, could have made us immune to involuntary change in every possible way; Now this is not the case, but He delivered us through Baptism from forced slavery, abolishing sin through the Cross, and decreed the commandments of freedom, and allowed our autocratic will to remain or not to abide in the commandments. Therefore, to the extent that the commandments are fulfilled, they mean freedom and love for the Liberator, and to the extent that they are neglected or impoverished, they show our addiction to sweets. Others are stumbled by their own thoughts and say: “We want to fulfill the commandments but cannot, being held by the power of sin, and therefore we must first strive and blot out sin in order to be able to fulfill the commandments of freedom,” not understanding either what they say or what they claim. If you have no freedom at all and cannot fulfill the commandments, then by what deeds and deeds will you blot out sin, in your words? The exploits of the faithful are commandments. You say: “I cannot fulfill the commandments unless I first purify myself through labors.” Show me, as you say, feats other than the commandments, and I will submit to your way of thinking. If you point to prayer, this is a commandment; if you talk about overthrowing thoughts, this is also a commandment; if it is about fasting and vigil, this is also a commandment; if you point out alms or rejection of your soul, this is a commandment; if you say “death”, or “cross”, or any other act of virtue, they are all commandments. And therefore, those who have received the strength (to fulfill) the commandments as faithful ones, the Lord commands to strive in them, so as not to return back, not so much as to blot out sin through them, but so as not to return to it again. For these commandments do not eradicate sin: this is the work of the single cross, but they only preserve the limits of the freedom given to us. Otherwise, tell me, if you eradicate the sin of Adam through works, then how did “Christ die for our sins according to the Scriptures”? But they cannot contradict this, but only ask inconsistently, considering everything according to their own opinions and not obeying the truth of Holy Scripture. They say: “If sin is destroyed by Baptism, then why does it act in the heart again?” We have repeatedly indicated the reason for this, that is, that it acts not because it is left within us after Baptism, but because it is loved by us, when the commandments are omitted. For Holy Baptism gives perfect permission, but to bind oneself again to addiction or to remain resolved through doing the commandments is a matter of autocratic will, because a thought that becomes rigid in some kind of sweetness or irritation is a sign of autocratic addiction, and not that sin is left within us. Since we, according to Scripture, have the power “to cast down thoughts and to lay down every offering on the mind of God” (2 Cor. 10:4, 5), then for those who cast them down, an evil thought in themselves is a sign of love for God, and not of sin, for it is not the attack of a thought that is sin, but the friendly conversation of the mind with it. If we don’t love it, then why are we slow in it? It is impossible for anything that we hate from our hearts to speak to our hearts for a long time without our evil participation in it. For even if the hated thought dominates and possesses the mind (I do not contradict that this also happens), however, this is not a remnant within us of Adam’s sin, but of the crime of Baptism. For when, after Holy Baptism, being able to fulfill all the commandments, we do not fulfill them, then, even without wanting to, we are kept in sin until we beg God through repentance, turning to all His commandments, and He will consume the sin of our autocracy. There are two reasons for the action of evil in us, and both of them depend on ourselves: one acts due to insufficient fulfillment of the commandments, the other inevitably contains us for the sake of our evil deeds after Baptism, which only God destroys, being begged by alms, prayer and patience of the sorrows that befall us (sorrows). But this too is given to us by perfect grace, secretly given to us by Baptism. Question: Did Paul also sin after Baptism because he was involuntarily subjected to the Action of sin? For he says: “I see another law... fighting against the law of my mind” (Rom. 7:23). Answer: Likewise, those who poorly understand the Scriptures misinterpret and are deceived. Read this chapter first, and you will see that Saint Paul is not talking about himself after Baptism, but puts himself in the place of the unfaithful and unbaptized Jews, admonishing them that without the grace of Christ bestowed by Baptism, it is impossible to overcome sin, for, having said: “I am a damned man: who will deliver me from the body of this death?” - he adds: “I thank my God Jesus Christ our Lord.” Therefore he says: “The law is spiritual: I am carnal, sold under sin” (Rom. 7:24, 25, 14). And therefore, everything that relates to the law speaks spiritually, not although they are under the law, but under grace, which is the spiritual law written in us. So, if we understand the words of Saint Paul, being in a state of “spiritual judgment” (1 Cor. 2:13), then through these we can understand the truth, how for us, who have mysteriously received the grace of the Holy Spirit through Holy Baptism, what is said about the church, the law and the sacrifices comes true. He called us the Temple of the Holy Spirit and encourages us to offer “spiritual sacrifices” (1 Pet. 2:5), calling "Jews in secret" and not "revealed", and (meaning) "circumcision of the heart by the Spirit, [and] not by Scripture" (Rom. 2:29, 28); and even that same spiritual law, the heavenly Lawgiver, Christ wrote by the Spirit to the faithful, “not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of the heart of flesh” (2 Cor. 3:3). Just as he said about these that all this was in secret, so understand exactly about each of the things that were said transformatively, that is, that were... And since we have not yet firmly believed in Christ, we do not consider ourselves debtors to all His commandments and have not denied ourselves, according to His word, therefore we do not know the above-mentioned secret, having received it from Baptism itself. When we reproach ourselves for this lack of faith and believe Him sincerely in all the commandments, then, having accepted within ourselves the experience of the above things, we truly confess that Holy Baptism is perfect and that the grace of Christ has been poured out (on us in it) abundantly, therefore expecting our obedience and doing the commandments, the power to fulfill which we have received through it. Therefore, those of us who have not yet fulfilled the commandments of freedom have not reached free Jerusalem: “For Jerusalem which is on high is freedom, which is the mother of us all” (Gal. 4:26), reviving us “by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Tit. 3:5). But we are still on the path, and perhaps we are mistaken, walking along pathless paths, for arguing and contradicting the truth are signs of an ignorant path, and not of the right procession. Therefore, blessed Paul, seeing us slow (to enter) on the perfect path, says: “Try this way, that you may comprehend” (1 Cor. 9:24). If we have not yet reached the city, then when we see the church and, having entered inside it, will we be worthy to be led to the altar? But what am I saying about the city, the church and the altar, when we have not yet gone through the “beasts of reeds, to forbid” which (Ps. 68:31) the prophet prays to God, so that the firstborn sacrifices of the mind, which were ordered to be offered to “those in the secret place of Judah” (Rom. 2:29), will not be damaged by the beasts? Or, in your opinion, is a Jew “in secret,” according to the word of the Apostle Paul; But the church has not yet been built by the son of David, and the purification has not yet been built, but will it be built by you now? For you clearly preach this very thing, saying that Adam’s sin is destroyed by deeds, and not by the grace of Christ, which is infused into us secretly by Baptism, and is revealed when, having followed the path of the commandments as it should be, we offer our natural thoughts to the Bishop of Christ, as healthy sacrifices, and not damaged by beasts; for truly many in their Meanings are damaged by beasts, and it is precisely those who deviate from the right path, I mean, from the patience of sorrowful ones, and, moving away from the right path, walk along paths, blaming others for these dishonors more than themselves. Only a few of them walk the right path, and then, guarded by prayer and bound by hope, they are beaten by temptations, and thus reach the city and the church and are offered up as a sacrifice. The city is a bright and lawful reasoning about Christ, which, when it piously manages affairs, (a person) has peace and acts correctly; when he sins, then he is given over to his enemies for destruction. The church is the God-created sanctuary of soul and body; the altar in this church is the erection of hope, on which, on every occasion encountered, the original thought, like a firstborn animal, being lifted up from the mind, is sacrificed for the purification of the one who lifts it up, if only he lifts it up immaculately. This church also has “an inner veil, where Jesus the forerunner came about us” (Heb. 6:19, 20), and lives in us according to the word of the Apostle, who said: “Or do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you? Are you truly unskillful” (2 Cor. 13:5)? It is an inner, secret and pure heart container, which, if it does not open with rational and mental hope in everything (in God) and right and undoubted faith, then it is impossible to reliably recognize the Living One in us or to know whether our reasonable sacrifices were accepted or not? As before among the Israelites, fire consumed the remnants (of victims), so it happens here too, for when the faithful heart opens with the above-mentioned hope, the Heavenly Bishop accepts the original thoughts of the mind and consumes it with Divine fire, about which he said: “Fire came into the earth, and whatever I want, if it were already on fire” (Luke 12:49). We called original thoughts the hearts that were not in the second thoughts, but from the first attack and their emergence were immediately brought to Christ, for those brought to Him out of many thoughts, the Divine Scripture calls lame, blind and ugly, and therefore unpleasant to the Master and the Heavenly King and God. So, that after Baptism we ourselves are guilty of every evil thought has already been proven by the evidence of Holy Scripture. If we need to show this with the help of natural inference, then again we will tell you, who claims that after Baptism, without your own fault, you are under the influence of Adam’s sin, and who admits that you can destroy it with your exploits. Know for certain that you resist the Scripture and are offended by your own words. For if, as you say, evil thoughts are the sin of Adam, then learn from St. Paul that you have “put on Christ” through Baptism (Gal. 3:27), you have the power and weapons to cast them down: “for the weapon of our warfare,” he says, “is not carnal, but mighty in God, we stand firm for destruction: we lay down thoughts that cast down, and every exaltation taken against the mind of God” ( 2 Cor. 10:4, 5). If, having power over them, you do not overthrow them at the first attack, then it is obvious that you are voluptuous out of unbelief, agree and make friends with them, therefore, you are guilty of such an action, and not Adam. Question: How can, out of unbelief, indulge in voluptuousness and agree with (evil) thoughts, one who has shut himself up in a cell and fasts every day, abstains, observes poverty, lives like a wanderer, remains on vigil, sleeps on the bare ground, prays and endures many such sorrows? Answer: You rightly said that he who does all this endures many sorrows. If we performed the above-mentioned obvious virtues without sorrow, but with joy and hard work, we would not be sensualists in our minds. For it is impossible for someone who is sick about bodily labor not to talk with encouragement and not to console the passionlessness that occurs during labor; if he did not want this, he would not grieve about the labor. We are subjected to this because we indulge in evil suffering not for the sake of desire for future benefits, but only for the fear of the temptations that befall us now, and we consider an evil deed to be our sin, and the thought that precedes it to be someone else’s action. And for those who consider this action not their own, but someone else’s, it is impossible to get rid of it. Sometimes, even without our consent, some vile thought and hated by us, like a robber, unexpectedly attacking us, forcibly contains our mind. However, know for sure that this (thought) also originated from ourselves, for either after Baptism we gave ourselves up to some evil thought until it was fulfilled by deed, and therefore, although unintentionally, we became guilty, or, of our own free will, we hold within ourselves some seeds of evil, which is why the evil one is established in us; and he, having held us back with evil seeds, will not leave until you throw them away; the vile thought, remaining in us through doing evil, will then be driven out when we bring to God works worthy of repentance. And therefore I do not even call this Adam’s sin, but rather the sin of one who has done evil and contains its seeds. If you tell me that both of these (reasons) were preceded by a thought, and you seek to find out who is guilty in this case, I answer you: “You yourself, as having the power to purify it (that is, the thought) at the beginning of the first assault, and did not purify it, but talked with it until it was carried out in practice. If, before the deed, you were in no way able to overthrow it due to the weakness of your mind, then how do you say that after it is completed in deed, you can eradicate it, which is already confirmed by your deeds and rightly supports you? If you admit that you can eradicate it with God’s help, know that even before the matter, if you wanted this, God would have helped you. And when you see help coming to you in your heart, know for sure that this grace did not appear from outside, but was given to you mysteriously at Baptism and has now affected you to the extent that you, having hated the thought, have turned away from it. Therefore, Christ, having delivered us from all violence, did not forbid the attack of thoughts on our hearts, so that some, being hated from the heart, would be immediately destroyed; others, as long as we love them, remained so long that the grace of Christ and the human will were revealed - what it loves: whether labors for the sake of grace or thoughts for the sake of sweetness. Let us not be surprised that we are subject to such an action not only of those we love, but also of the violent actions of those we hate (thoughts); for just as some evil kinship (acts together), so our lusts and desires (of thoughts) act together one with the other, and each (lustful), having become entrenched in his work, transfers it to his neighbor (closest lust), so that (a person), strongly attracted by habit to the first, can be carried away by the second even against his will. For who can escape pride if he is filled with vanity? Or who, having had his fill of sleep and given himself over to pleasure, will not be overcome by the thought of fornication? Or who, having given himself over to covetousness, will not be bound by unmercifulness? How can those who are satiated with all this not be tormented by irritability and anger? Therefore, we must know that through our own fault we are under the influence of sin, for we have already been freed from slavery, according to Scripture: “The law of the Spirit of life,” says (the apostle), “has set me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2), and it is already in our will, having heard the commandments of the spirit and having learned from them, to walk in the flesh or in the spirit. But it is impossible for those who love human praise and indulgence in the body to walk in the spirit, and it is impossible to live according to the flesh for those who inwardly choose the future over the present. And therefore it behooves us, who have gone astray in many ways, from now on to hate human praise and the intoxication of the body, through which, even without our will, evil thoughts vegetate in us, and with the disposition of our souls to say this prophetic word to the Lord: “Have you not hated those who hate You, O Lord, and for all Your faults? I hated with complete hatred: I became my enemies” (Ps. 139:21, 22). For truly the enemies of God are evil thoughts that hinder the fulfillment of His will in us, since He “wants to be saved as a whole man and to come into the understanding of truth” (1 Tim. 2:4), but they interfere with this. The Lord said about them that they are not from Adam, but “come from the heart,” and therefore they defile a person (Matt. 15:19); It is obvious that not from a believing heart, but from a vain one, for he says: “How can you believe, receiving glory from each other, and not seeking glory that is from the One God?” (John 5:44). So, when we hate vanity and believe in Him (God) in everything, smashing every thought about Him with heartfelt and single-minded hope, then, just as at the beginning of faith (acquired by) Baptism, the Body of Christ was truly faithful, so in mental hope and rejection of thoughts, a firm believer and pure mind becomes the food of Jesus, who said: “Mine is food, yes.” I will do the will of My Father” (John 4:34), who, according to Paul, “wants all men to be saved and to come into the understanding of truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). The truth (the apostle) means to be found, as was said above, in mental hope, which no longer appears from hearing, but is believed to be from the action of the All-Holy Spirit; and she, according to Scripture, “is a message to those who hope” (Heb. 11:1). The unbaptized, or the vain, cannot come to the knowledge of this truth. For those who are baptized in the Catholic Church through Baptism are given mysteriously (grace) and live in them secretly. Then, as the commandments are done and mental hope is made, it is revealed to believers according to the word of the Lord: “believe in Me,” as the Scripture says, “rivers of living water will flow out of his belly. This is what he says about Dus, whom the believer wants to receive in His name” (John 7:38, 39). So, we believe that through Baptism we have mysteriously received freedom and cleansing, according to the word of the Apostle: now “washed,” now “purified,” now “justified,” now “sanctified” (1 Cor. 6:11). And so he writes to the Corinthians, who have not yet been purified by the rejection of thoughts through mental hope and not sanctified by the heartfelt action of the Spirit, but who were still evil, who offended and deprived, and even the brethren (1 Cor. 6:8), in order to show that those who were baptized by the power of Christ mysteriously received cleansing and sanctification, but through their own lack of faith, everyone falls under the influence (of sin), being “drawn by their own lust and we are deceived,” as the Scripture says: “the same lust, when conceived, gives birth to sin, but the sin of sin gives birth to death” (James 1:14, 15). So, from one’s own lust mental sin is born, and from this comes the commission of an action corresponding to it, which Scripture calls death. And that from Baptism itself there is in us the grace of the Spirit, “teaching us,” according to the word of the Lord, “all truth” (John 16:13), learn also from Divine Scripture and from works. First, look in the Acts of the Apostles what blessed Peter says to the large congregation: “Repent,” he says, “and be baptized every one of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins: and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Do you at least now understand how through Baptism the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit are granted according to the measure of faith? To the extent that anyone departs (from faith), he immediately becomes obsessed with sin. Therefore, the 12 men of Ephesus were baptized without faith, this is how St. Paul denounces them. He asks them: “Have you received the Holy Spirit by naturally believing? They decided to him: but even if the Holy Spirit is present, we hear. I say to them: why are you being baptized? They rekosha: in John's baptism. Paul said: John therefore baptize with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people, that they may believe in Him who comes after him, that is, in Christ Jesus. And when I heard Paul being baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, I laid Paul’s hand on her, and the Holy Spirit came upon her” (Acts 19:2–6). Are you convinced now that the Holy Spirit is given to firm believers immediately after Baptism, but to the unfaithful and evil-believing it is not given even after Baptism? And that we ourselves offend and quench Him within ourselves, learn from the words of the same apostle: “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thess. 5:19), and also “do not offend the Holy Spirit of God, by Him you are marked on the day of deliverance” (Eph. 4:30). We brought this evidence not because every person who was baptized and received grace was therefore considered unchangeable and no longer in need of repentance, but (wanting to show) that from Baptism, by the gift of Christ, we were given God's perfect grace to fulfill all the commandments, but then everyone, having received it mysteriously and without performing the commandments, as they are purified, is under the influence of sin, which is not Adam's, but sinner, because he, having received the power of action, does not perform deeds. Impoverishment comes from unbelief; and unbelief is not the sin of others, but of the one who does not believe, which is, finally, the mother and introduction of all sin. Whether we want to be perfect quickly or slowly, we must completely believe in Christ and fulfill all His commandments, having received from Him the power to do so. And this (means) not that we are obligated to fulfill each commandment one after another, but to combine the individual ones together, thus we must fulfill all the commandments in totality, for there are the most important commandments, which embrace many others. By this only deed we must overcome our unbelief and not neglect the general (main) commandments, through which the grace given to us is effectively revealed; about which Saint Paul, that this may be accomplished in us, prays, saying: “For this sake I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that the Lord may grant you...to be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts with all confidence and understanding through faith” (Eph. 3:14, 16, 17). 3:17), and then you will know what is said, that “The kingdom of heaven is within you” (Luke 17:21). And it is necessary to know that those who often fulfill the commandments enter the Kingdom in proportion to this; those who want to achieve perfection must do everything in general, but the totality of all commandments is renunciation of one’s soul, that is, death. And just as he who lives in the body is insufficient for this perfect action, so before the outcome he cannot but be subject to the attack of thoughts due to the above-mentioned impoverishment. So, if any of the faithful, living according to the commandments, has acquired some spiritual effect in proportion to this, let him believe that he has already (first) received its power, for he received through Baptism the grace of the Spirit - the cause of all good things, I am saying not only secret and spiritual, but also obvious virtues. And let none of the virtuous think to do anything good by their own strength, for a good person does not speak a word on his own, but “from good things he brings forth good treasures of his heart” (Matthew 12:35), meaning by the treasure of the Holy Spirit, hidden in the hearts of the faithful. “Just as the Kingdom of Heaven is a hidden treasure in a village, which a man found hidden, and... went to sell everything... and bought... that village” (Matthew 13:44, 46). This goes very well with what has been said, for he who knows for sure that, according to the word of the Apostle, he has within himself the hidden Christ from Baptism, having left all the things of this world, abides in his heart, keeping it “with all care” (Proverbs 4:23), and, according to the parable, seeking “the issue of life” (Proverbs 8:35). Therefore, one should not think that Adam’s sin is eradicated by deeds, as well as one’s own (sins) that occur after Baptism, but only by Jesus Christ: “For He is the one who works in you to will and to do good will” (Phil. 2:13). Having added “about good will,” the apostle hereby shows that being good about virtues depends on our autocracy, and it is impossible to do them, or to eradicate sins, without God; but what was said: “without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5) and: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (John 15:16) has the same meaning. And perhaps we should also understand what was said: “all things were made by Him, and without Him nothing came into being” (John 1:3). Since there is our participation in everything, also “no one will come to the Father except by Me” (John 14:6). Therefore, the prophet did not say: “from Jerusalem to Your church they will bring You the king’s gifts,” which actually happened; but on the contrary: “The kings will bring you gifts from Your temple to Jerusalem” (Ps. 67:30); since the royal mind of everyone first from the secret church of the heart receives good and good advice from the living Christ within and brings them into a virtuous life, which (the prophet) called Jerusalem, and again brings them to Christ Himself who previously bestowed them through a good thought. We said this, not closing the future, but recognizing that we received strength to fulfill the commandments, and were released from the bonds of death, and hence are debtors of work. If we do not fulfill God’s commandments, then the grace given to us is not revealed; for how could we, who died in sin, be able to do good on our own if the Lord Himself had not revived us by the washing of rebirth and given us the grace of the Spirit? So, we understand that we have been given the perfect grace of the Spirit to fulfill all the commandments, which does not accept application from us, but gives us the application of growth in Christ and strengthens its workers until death, “until we attain to the union of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, into a perfect man, according to the age of the fulfillment of Christ” (Eph. 4:13) according to the spiritual succession mentioned above. Question: So, the one who is baptized receives whom mysteriously: Christ or the Holy Spirit? For you sometimes said that Christ lives within us, and sometimes the Holy Spirit. Answer: By Baptism we receive the Holy Spirit; and since He is called both the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ, therefore by Baptism we accept both the Father and the Son, according to what was said: “I and the Father... let us come and make our abode with him” (John 14:23) Question: Therefore, is the Spirit (Holy) Trinity? Answer: We do not call Him Trinity in One Person; but, since He is inseparable from the Father and the Son, therefore we confess in Him the Trinity according to His Divinity and power. For just as in the Father there is the Son and the Spirit, and also in the Son there is the Father and the Spirit; so in the Spirit there is Father and Son, not by the fusion of the Three Hypostases of the One Divinity, but by the union of the same one Council, and Divinity, and Being. And therefore, whether we specifically name the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit, we call the Trinity in one name, according to the image mentioned above. Question: How does the scripture say that there is a “Heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb. 12:22), but you said that it is in the heart? Answer: We know that not only Jerusalem, but also other blessings that the righteous should receive in the resurrection are in grief; their betrothals and firstfruits in the hearts of firm believers from now on act spiritually, so that, being assured of the future, we despise everything present and love God to death. Therefore (the apostle) did not say: you have come, “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb. 12:22) - for we have all been made capable of receiving these things from Baptism, and only firm believers are worthy to receive them, who die every day for the love of Christ, that is, standing above every thought of this life and not thinking of anything else besides, when we have reached the perfect love of Christ, which is the inner opening of the heart, “where Jesus the Forerunner appeared for us” (Heb. 6:20). Looking for this at the beginning of everything, Saint Paul said: “I persecute, even if I comprehend, I was also comprehended,” that is, that I may love as I was loved by Christ (Phil. 3:12). And when he achieved this love, he no longer wanted to think about anything: neither about the sorrowful for the body, nor about the wondrous in creation, but he left everything openly and said: “Who will separate us from the love of God, whether sorrow, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or trouble, or the sword?” And again: “We know,” he says, “that neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor Principalities, nor Powers below the Power, nor the present, nor the future, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35, 38, 39); for I did not want to think about any of these, but only to abide there (in the love of Christ). Question: Just before this you said that the Spirit (of God) lives inside us completely and does not accept application from us; does the apostle, on the contrary, say that we have the firstfruits of the Spirit, and not the perfect Spirit? Answer: He said: “Firstfruits,” (meaning) not some part of the whole, without introducing any division of the Spirit; for He does not divide and does not change, but (he said this), showing our container, which cannot contain every action of the Spirit except by a perfect commandment, that is, by death, since death for the truth (of Christ) is a commandment of God. Just as the sun, being perfect, pours out from itself perfect, simple and equal grace to everyone, but everyone, as far as he has a cleansed eye, receives the sunlight, so the Holy Spirit made His believers from Baptism capable of accepting all His actions and gifts; however, His gifts do not operate in everyone in the same measure, but are given to each one as he does the commandments, insofar as he testifies with good deeds and shows the measure of faith in Christ. Therefore he says: “God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying: Abba, Father” (Gal. 4:6), and: “The Spirit itself is obedient to our Spirit, for we are the children of God” (Rom. 8:16). And that no one destroys Adam’s sin by himself, but only Christ according to the measure of faith in Him, listen to the words of the Apostle that “Christ died for our sin, according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3); and also “God makes His love for us, because while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8); and also “we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ has risen from the dead in the glory of the Father, so we too will begin to walk in newness of life, etc.; and that he who has died is freed from sin” (Rom. 6:4, 7); and that “by grace is salvation through faith, and not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8, 9); and again: “For sometimes there was darkness, but now there is light in the Lord: as children of light you walk” (Eph. 5:8); and again: “We are not the children of a slave, but free... By the freedom with which Christ freed us, stand” (Gal. 4:31, 5:1); and again: “as if you are free, and not as a cover for those who have evil, freedom” (1 Pet. 2:16). Do you see how the Scriptures call those deeds, through which, as you say, sin is destroyed, works of renewal, freedom and light? It also shows the perverted directions of autocracy, which you call Adam’s sin, for to have freedom as a cover of the heart, or rather of malice, and to offend the Holy Spirit, “and to do the will of the flesh and of the mind” (Eph. 2:3), “having been made in the Spirit, now you are finished in the flesh” (Gal. 3:3), and: “We are not of the flesh, but should live according to the flesh” (Rom. 8:12). Knowing this and the like, and what to do or not to do depends on our autocracy, Divine Scripture condemns not Satan, and not Adam’s sin, but us. If you want to listen intelligently, I’ll tell you the most important thing. You call different thoughts (transforming from one type to another) Adam’s sin: but blessed Paul obviously and clearly convicts us of this evil as guilty, saying: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2). If this does not (depend) on our will, but on Satan’s torment, and is a remnant of Adam’s sin, then why are we convicted of sin, subject to its action involuntarily and being tormented by Satan? So will we suffer innocently? Or perhaps, in your opinion, God Himself is unrighteous, He commanded us the supernatural and demands from us that which is beyond our strength? But this is not true. Let this not happen! I will ask you and give me the answer: “Should we offer the power of piety that our nature has to God daily or not?” Of course, you will tell me: “We must, because God gave this to our nature and established commandments consistent with our strength.” Therefore, if the benefit brought to Him today is today’s debt, then show me what you paid (to God) for your ancient debt or Adam’s? I’m telling you that not only can’t you show this, but you also can’t fully fulfill your daily duty. And how is this obvious? From the fact that we do not always abide in the same virtues. How much you have applied to virtue today, so much have you exposed yourself as a debtor to the past, clearly demonstrating the strength of your nature, for today’s application turned out that yesterday’s lack depended not on nature, but on will. This is why we fall under the influence of sin. Question: But let this be so, but I know one thing: if Adam had not transgressed (the commandments), I would not have experienced the attack of evil? Answer: And you said this incorrectly: not to experience the attack of evil is (belonging to) an immutable nature, and not human, for if we are of the same nature as Adam, then he must also be like us and we like him. So, let this first man himself assure you that he was neither immutable, nor, in particular (inclined only to one side of evil), evil, but arbitrarily changed, and violated the commandment not by the compulsion of nature, but by the consent of the will. Consequently, just as he was accessible to Satan’s attack, having the power to listen or not to listen to him, so are we. Lawyer: Only now I yield to You, because You do not deny Satan’s attack. The ascetic answers: I have never denied this before, for I know that Job was tempted by the devil, (I remember) and the words of Scripture: “Our struggle is not... against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, and against the powers, [and] against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness” (Eph. 6:12), and again: “Resist... the devil, and flee.” from you" (James 4:7), and also: "your adversary the devil, like a lion, roars, looking for someone to devour" (1 Pet. 5:8). But since you believe that evil (evil) thoughts are not yours, but someone else’s, sometimes saying that this is the sin of Adam, sometimes that it is Satan himself, sometimes it is the attack of Satan, therefore we say that Adam’s sin is one thing, Satan is another, Satan’s attack is another, and another is our evil thoughts, although the causes that produce them are in the attack. For Satan is the very person of the devil who tried to tempt the Lord, Adam’s sin is the transgression of the commandment by the first man, Satan’s attack is the appearance of an evil thing (deed) in one’s thoughts alone, which even in order to get closer to our mind finds (convenience) only due to our lack of faith. For when we receive the commandment not to care about anything, but to “guard your heart with all care” (Prov. 4:23) and to seek within us the present Kingdom of Heaven, the mind departs from the heart and from the above-mentioned discipline, immediately gives way to the devil’s attack and becomes available to evil advice. But even then the devil does not have the power to set our thoughts in motion, otherwise he would not have spared us, forcing us to induce every evil thought and not allowing us to think anything good, but he only has the power to instill a perverse teaching in the mind of only the first thought, in order to tempt our inner disposition, where it tends: whether to his advice or to the commandment of God, since they oppose each other. And therefore, in what we love, we immediately arouse our thoughts to this (enemy) indication and biasedly converse in thought with the object that appears, and in what we avert, we cannot hesitate, but we hate that very enemy. If, even though hated, it remains (this also happens), then this does not depend on our new disposition, but is strengthened on us from the previous perception; and therefore (such an admonition) stands motionless in place, and as a one-thought (occurring in only the first thought) is prevented by heartfelt indignation from passing into multi-thought and passion, for a one-person phenomenon, hated by those who listen to itself, does not have the natural (power) to force the mind into the passion of many-thought only with the help of heartfelt voluptuousness. Therefore, if we completely retreat from voluptuousness, then even the appearance in one thought of previously accepted images (or impressions) can no longer harm us or condemn our conscience for not protecting ourselves regarding the future. For when the mind recognizes its unsuccessful resistance to previously accepted images (impressions) and confesses to God its previous guilt, this temptation itself is immediately abolished, and the mind again has the power to listen to the heart and “with all guarding” guard it through prayer, attempting to enter the inner and safe cages of the heart, where there are no longer the winds of evil thoughts, stormily howling and casting the soul and body into the rapids. voluptuousness and into a stream of resin; there is no wide and spacious path, paved with words and images of worldly wisdom, which deceives those who follow it, even if they are very wise; for the pure inner cages of the soul and the house of Christ receive within themselves our mind, naked and bringing nothing from this age, whether it can be justified by reason or not, except these three, named by the Apostle, “faith, hope and love” (1 Cor. 13:13). So, whoever loves the truth and wants to work heartily, according to what was said above, can not be carried away by previously accepted impressions, but listen to his heart, succeed (in achieving) the inner and draw closer to God, only let him not neglect the labors of prayer and living (according to God), for he cannot help but work with his heart who carefully refrains himself every day, not only externally, but also internally from mental soaring and carnal pleasures. Thus, we recognize the attack that occurs in one thought as compulsory, because even though it is hated, it still remains. But conversation with incoming thoughts (we call it) voluntary. This also happened to those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s crime: they could not forbid the enemy, but they completely rejected the conversation with him and the addiction. Question: Consequently, we necessarily accepted the crime of Adam, which is our sin, consisting of thoughts? Answer: This is not Adam’s crime, but an exposure of everyone’s voluptuousness. But we also did not receive the crime by succession, for if we had transgressed the law due to succession, then it would be necessary for all of us to be criminals and not be accused of God as having violated it due to the necessity of natural succession. Nowadays this is not the case, for we do not all transgress the commandment and we do not all keep it, therefore, it is obvious that this crime does not arise from necessity, but from sensuality. Question: since, as you say, the Lord came for the sake of this crime, why did He not destroy it in Baptism, but even now everyone has the power to transgress or not to transgress (the commandments)? Answer: Crime, being arbitrary, as stated above, is not inherited by anyone involuntarily, but the resulting death, being forced, is inherited by us, and is alienation from God; for after the first man died, that is, he became alienated from God, and we could not live in God. Therefore, the Lord came to revive us with the washing of restoration and reconcile us with God, which He did. So, what we have received is not a crime, since Adam himself did not fall into it out of necessity, but of his own free will; We inherited death involuntarily, since he too was involuntarily overtaken by death, which reigned “over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the crime of Adam” (Rom. 5:14). Question: Let us agree that Adam arbitrarily fell into crime and that therefore we, being of the same nature with him, arbitrarily fall away (from God). Was it really possible that the enemy did not act on him involuntarily? Answer: Indeed, the attack was involuntary, but the attack (of thoughts) is neither sin nor truth, but an exposure of our autocratic will. That is why it is allowed for him to attack us, in order to honor those who bow to the commandment as faithful with crowns (of victory), and to show those who bow to sweetness as unfaithful as worthy of condemnation. But we also need to know this that it is not immediately after each of our changes (actions) that judgment is given according to it, whether we turned out to be skillful or worthy of rejection, but when throughout our entire stay in this life we will be tested by battles, winning and being overcome, falling and rising, wandering and being taught on the good path, then only, on the day of the outcome, after counting everything in proportion to this, we will be judged or praised. So, not attacking is a sin. Not at all! For although it involuntarily (without our consent) shows us things in one (only) thought, we have received from the Lord the power of spiritual activity, and it is in our self-power to experience both harmful and beneficial at the first thought and to reject or accept thoughts that multiply not out of need, but from spiritual disposition. But suppose, in your opinion, that these also arise involuntarily and successively: why does Divine Scripture condemn us for evil thoughts? Or how can we prevent those thoughts that, without our consent, disturb us, occurring involuntarily and successively? If you object to me that, according to the testimony of Scripture, we can prevent them by the grace of Christ, which we received from Baptism, then understand that for this reason we are found guilty as having from God the power and strength to restrain them from the first attack and not restraining them. If someone blames someone else for his evil, then he not only sins without fear, but also blasphemes God, who allowed people to be persecuted innocently. Question: Why do I, being baptized, pray to God and call upon His grace, and with all my will I want to get rid of and free myself from evil thoughts, but I cannot? Isn’t it obvious from this that Adam’s crime left us this as an inevitable legacy? Answer: It would behoove us, as reasonable people, to know what we hear, but since our soul, darkened by voluptuousness and vanity, has fallen into the depths of ignorance, it does not listen to the commandments of Scripture, nor the natural order, nor the consideration of experience, but follows only its own intentions. For whoever, believing the Divine Scripture and fulfilling the commandments of the Lord, does not, in the process, acquire consideration of thoughts and make sure that they hold us not by power, but by our lack of faith and impoverishment (in fulfilling) the commandments. That is why we are not all of the same disposition, and we are not all disturbed by the same thoughts, because the causes of thoughts depend on our will. For if they (i.e., these reasons) were forced from (the crime of) Adam, we would all be equally troubled by sin and inevitably held by it, and would have no need either for the admonition of Scripture or for the apostolic council, being by succession in the power of nature and the voluptuous will. But now this is not the case, not at all! For we see that we are not all equally disturbed by thoughts, not at the same time, not by the same objects; but everyone, insofar as he believes in the Lord about future blessings, despising human glory and voluptuousness, holds back his thoughts and is so much calmer than the one who loves voluptuousness, that is why we differ from one another both in thoughts and in life. And since many in this way we manage to go against the truth and seek to quench our thoughts not by the faith of Jesus, that is, not by doing His commandments, not by abasement of ourselves in everything and humility with contrition of heart, but with secret voluptuousness, understanding with vanity and man-pleasing, with self-conceit and self-expression, discord, contentiousness, exaltation and other similar (passions), from the satisfaction of which desirable thoughts multiply, and from failure - irritable thoughts; Therefore, we cannot, as holding the causes (of evil) within ourselves, reject the actions inherent in them. If this word is false and we are troubled by thoughts without our fault, then we will examine ourselves carefully, as if confessing to God Himself. For who does not know that we daily give room within ourselves to the above-mentioned passions in deed, word and thought? And we love those who help us in this as benefactors, and those who hinder us in this we turn away and hate as enemies? If we love the above-mentioned passions so much that we even obviously defend them, then how can we hate the attack that occurs in one thought? If the first thought is accepted, how will the thoughts that depend on it not follow? Question: But even if we assume that this is exactly what happens, however (it is known) from the Gospel that the Lord promised to “take vengeance... on those who cry out to Him day and night” (Luke 18:7)? Answer: The Lord speaks this parable not to those who are immersed in voluptuousness of their own free will, but to those who are struggling from their former habits and who do not agree with them; For these, as those who were offended by enemies, He promised to take revenge, but He denounces them as having rejected the helping commandment, saying: “What... Do you call me: Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46). And he likens such people to a holy fool, according to Scripture, who builds his church on the sand of his own will, and not on the stone of the Lord’s commandments (Matthew 7:26). Therefore, do not rely with an unsteady mind and unreasonable intention on all your opinions as true, sometimes saying: “After all, I was baptized, I pray to God and with all my will I attract His grace, wanting to get rid of evil thoughts, but I cannot”; sometimes again expecting the vengeance of the Lord, which He promised to do in the Gospel, and presenting himself everywhere as innocent, which is worthy of great reproach. However, I ask you and I briefly about the meaning of your opinion and ask you to give me an answer, knowing (in advance) that, being forced by the truth, you will either say words that are even more sublime, or you recognize your guilt: why does the Lord, having said that He will soon take vengeance, not do it soon, but hesitate and leave you in evil thoughts, although you pray, as you said, with all your heart and without doubt (without combining them)? He said: “I believe that the Lord hesitates (to take vengeance) not for the sake of anything else, but only for the sake of my patience, for as much as anyone endures while fighting, so much will he be glorified.” The Orthodox elder said: “I thought that you would pronounce the answer as if possessed only by praise, but you added blasphemy. For in order to ascribe to yourself false patience, you claim that the Lord lied in His word and say that evil thoughts, which proceed from the heart according to the word of the Lord and defile a person, no longer lead, as the Scripture says, to wickedness, lust and all sin, but serve as the cause of patience and glory from God. But I have never seen those possessed by evil thoughts being praised by the Divine Scriptures, either in the Old or New Testaments, but, on the contrary, as being guilty of this themselves, they are blamed and condemned. For God hates both evil thoughts and the heart that gives birth to them. Therefore, having them, we should cry as sin-loving ones, and not be arrogant, as those struggling with an evil alien to us. Know for sure, O man, that the Lord looks at the hearts of all people, and for those who hate the first appearance of evil thoughts, He immediately intercedes, as He promised, and does not allow the multitude of many thoughts to rise up and defile their mind and conscience; and those who do not cast down the first vegetation of thoughts through faith and hope in God, but, as if for teaching and testing themselves, enjoy them, leaves them as unfaithful without help, to be beaten by subsequent thoughts, which he does not remove, for he sees that we love their first attack, and do not hate them at their first appearance. If someone does not believe what has been said even based on this explanation, then let him understand the truth by learning by doing it himself. If he neither believes the Scripture nor wants to be convinced of this by deeds, he obviously loves the sweetness of heaping, for what is more voluptuous than this (opinion), which advises (considering) sin in thoughts to be alien, and makes a person proud and exalted as innocent, instead of confessing and crying about evil thoughts? Question: You said above that we did not inherit the crime of Adam, but the death that occurred from this; So, if death rules, then evil thoughts also rule? Answer: Oh evil! Why did the Lord come in the flesh? Is it not for this, without a doubt, that one will die for all, according to the Scriptures, and “will abolish him who has the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14)? If you believe that death, which originated from Adam, reigns without (the participation of) our trust, then it is obvious that you deny both the Coming of the Lord and recognize Baptism as imperfect, if the paternal law, or, better said, death, rules over those baptized without their own guilt. Therefore, listen, O man, how by the grace of Christ you have become a new Adam and have nothing in you of the old, by necessity, except what came from your own malice and voluptuousness. The Lord came for us, died for us, delivered us from the death of our forefathers, cleanses us and renews us with Baptism, places us in the paradise of the Church, allows us to eat from every tree of paradise, that is, (commands) everyone baptized in the Church to love and tolerate his shortcomings, and not condemn everyone in his changes, and in what seems good to us - to love, and in what seems evil - to hate, which is the tree the knowledge of good and evil, having tasted of which, the mind immediately falls into the same shortcomings and, through a crafty search for the sins of its neighbor, recognizes its exposure, which it did not know before, when it was covered with compassion. Therefore, the Lord commanded those placed in the church paradise, saying: “Judge not, and you will not be judged: [and] condemn not, lest you be condemned: let go, and they will let you go” (Luke 6:37), and a little higher than this he says: “If you will, let men do it to you, and you do likewise to them... for there is a law and prophets” (Luke 6:31; Matt. 7:12); for the law says: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18), but the prophets (say): “In the same way you have done this to your neighbor, so shall you.” How many times have we profaned these commandments! How many times have you condemned your neighbor without compassion! How many times have we hated or offended someone who has not offended us in any way! If this is so, then why else do we blame Adam for our evil (deeds)? For even if we fell into the death he deserved, we, like him, arbitrarily violated the commandment. Three things happened to Adam, and not one, as you think, namely: a defeat by Providence (of God), a crime due to his own unbelief, and death by the righteous Judgment of God, which followed not a providential attack, but a crime due to his unbelief. So, we inherited by succession not crime, but death, for it was impossible for us, (descended) from the dead, to be alive until the Lord came and gave life to all who believe in Him. We have the first appearance of a thought (i.e. the first thought about something comes to mind, regardless of our arbitrariness) just like him, but whether to disobey or not disobey the commandment is in our will, just as it was with him; and that the crime that occurs through thoughts depends on our will, and is not forced, we are assured of this by those who, as the apostle said, “have not sinned in the likeness of the crime of Adam” (Rom. 5:14); if they, descending from Adam, were able not to sin in the likeness of Adam’s crime, then it is obvious that we can do this too if we wish. Why do we offer apologies for our sins and say lies against God that He unrighteously allowed us to be overcome by alien evil? We must know for certain that after all Adam’s guilt has been destroyed by the Lord, each of us, if he suffers any evil, suffers it through his own fault, having rejected through his unbelief, that is, voluptuousness, the perfection that he received mysteriously in Baptism. For even if a person did not yet know what he received, being imperfect in faith and meager in doing (good), God gave him what was perfect, for Scripture says: “every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). But this very perfect (gift) is not acquired simply and not by chance by anyone, even if he uses all human wisdom and all worldly knowledge for this, but only by doing the commandments of Christ, and this is in proportion, for according to the difference of doing and this gift is revealed to us differently. So, let no one praise himself in words and images, without having that praise that the Apostle mentioned when he said: “Do not praise... this man is skillful, but God praises him” (2 Cor. 10:18); but even the one who receives praise from the Lord must follow the correct way of thinking and know for sure that no matter how much someone strives against his unbelief, succeeds in faith and receives any benefit not only from simple knowledge, but also from action, he has not found and cannot gain anything more than what he first received mysteriously through Baptism, that is, Christ: “for as soon as,” says the Scripture, “he was baptized into Christ, he put on Christ” ( Gal. 3:27); Christ, as a perfect God, gave those who were baptized the perfect grace of the Holy Spirit, which does not accept application from us, but is revealed to us and appears as we do the commandments and gives us the application of faith until we achieve everything “into the union of faith... in a perfect man, according to the age of the fulfillment of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). So, what we bring to Him, having been regenerated, this is already from Him and by Him was hidden in us (before) according to what is written: “Who... understands the mind of the Lord, or who was His counselor? Or who gave to Him first, and will be rewarded to Him? For from Him and by Him and in Him are all things” (Rom. 11:34–36). To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.