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A spiritually minded person is like a tree, listeners. Everything a tree depends on its root. As is the root, so is the tree. And as the root is in the tree, so is the faith in a spiritually minded person: as is the faith within, so is the person. In a tree, the more the root spreads and deepens, the more the tree grows and rises, the more its branches spread and its fruits multiply. Thus, the more faith in a person deepens and multiplies, the more the person grows spiritually, ascends, and the more numerous spiritual fruits grow. We all call such a spiritual person a great man, even if he was small by his natural age, or of the lowest rank, or if he was humiliated and spat upon by everyone. The inspired psalmist described such a person: and he will be like a tree planted by springs of water, which will yield its fruit in its season, and its leaf will not fall off. And whatever he does will prosper (Ps. 1:3). And one more thing: the righteous will flourish like a date and multiply like a cedar in Lebanon (Ps. 91:13). Such a person is adorned with the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, mercy, faith, meekness, self-control (Gal. 5:22-23)… Just as fire has the ability to warm, water to irrigate, and light to enlighten, so living faith has the ability to show good deeds. Do you want to know what it is and what its fruits are? Look in the book of Genesis, chapters 15 and 22, how Abraham, the father of all the faithful, in his old age, at the command of God, lifts up Isaac, his son, as a sacrifice. Do you see how faith operates in the holy elder? He slaughters the only son, the heir, according to the promise of God, the one about whom God said: in Isaac your seed will be called (Gen. 21:12). For Abraham believed God that He was able to raise him from the dead (Heb. 11:19), therefore he did not hesitate to slaughter his heir. And therefore Scripture testifies about him: Abraham believed God, and this was counted to him as righteousness (Rom. 4:3). Read also the book of Exodus and you will see how the great Moses refused to be called the son of the daughter of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and rather wanted to suffer with the people of God than to have temporary sinful pleasure, and considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth for himself than the Egyptian treasures. Why? For he looked to the reward (Heb. 11:24–26). Faith was the reason that Moses deigned to suffer with the people of God in the desert rather than to be in Egyptian glory. He is firmly confident, strengthened by faith, that after such labor and acceptance of suffering there follows an eternal and great reward from Christ. And if you take the trouble and read the book in which the lives of the saints and many different sufferings of the martyrs are described, you will learn even better how strong and effective faith is. There you will see that neither sorrow, nor oppression, nor hunger, nor nakedness, nor trouble, nor sword, nor death, could separate the soldiers of Christ from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:35). They were counted like sheep that are slaughtered (Ps. 43:23). For the sake of Christ, they accepted bonds instead of decoration, prisons - instead of royal palaces, all reproach and blasphemy - instead of honor. They hurried to diarrhea death, to be devoured by wild beasts, to be burned in fire, to be drowned in the sea, as if to a sweet marriage. Beatings, wounds, tearing and crushing of members were accepted as if in other people's bodies. And what forced them to accept so many different sufferings with joy, if not faith and faith’s sister - love for Christ Jesus, and for that eternal and ineffable blessings in the palace of heaven? Do you see how they sealed their faith with their blood and death? From these passion-bearers, turn your mind to the spontaneous and spiritual martyrs - the venerable fathers - and look at their feat, which they fought against flesh and blood, against the world and the devil. What prompted them to leave the beauty of this world and settle in the impassable desert, to live with animals rather than with people? What prompted them to die every day to sin and the flesh, to subdue the flesh to the spirit by fasting, labor, hunger and thirst, to wash themselves with the hottest tears, to sigh from the depths of their hearts, to moan incessantly like a desert turtle dove, to be burned by the heat of the sun, to shake from cold and frost, to wander naked through the mountains, through dens 10, over abysses earthly? What, I say, prompted them to spontaneously suffer, if not living and real faith and love associated with faith? All these above-mentioned martyrs, having received by faith the notification that nothing worthwhile can be repaid for the love of God, with which He loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son for it, and that the present temporary sufferings are worth nothing in comparison with the glory that will be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18), gave themselves over to such various and painful passions. You see, beloved, what are the fruits of living faith. You can also know that just as a tree is known by its fruit, so faith is known by its works. Faith lives in him and intercedes for eternal life for the one in whom its fruits appear. There is no living faith in whom the works that come from faith are not visible, as the Apostle James wrote: just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead (James 2:26). And if faith without works is dead, then it no longer exists. What causes living faith and how does it multiply? Living faith is a gift of God and is like a kind of divine seed, which is infused into everyone who is baptized at Baptism. The seed is that from which a person is said to be born of God. The Apostle Saint John the Theologian says about this: everyone born of God does not commit sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God (1 John 3:9). Just as a seed sown on earth grows and is multiplied by moisture, so the seed of divine faith sown on the earth of the human heart grows and is multiplied by the moisture of the Word of God, says the Apostle Paul: faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom. 10:17)… In addition, the lives of the saints of God, who have succeeded in faith and its fruits, need to be read and considered more often, so that it is more convenient for them to imitate their faith. For it is truly written about this: everything that was written before was written for our instruction (Rom. 15:4), says the holy Apostle Paul. Thus, when we learn from the law of the Lord and pray earnestly to the Creator of the law, we will certainly all come to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the full stature of Christ (Eph. 4:13). Try and pray to God to give you true, living and heartfelt faith in Christ. True faith in Christ is heartfelt trust in Him as our Redeemer, Savior, Intercessor and Helper. Eternal salvation should not be sought or expected from anyone or anything other than Him. This faith brings joy and consolation to the heart, creates true fear of God, turns away from worldly vanity, honor, wealth, glory and teaches one to despise all this. She teaches us to esteem the suffering of Christ highly and dearly, exhorts us to love God and our neighbor, teaches us humility, commands us to often pray and sigh to God, and changes the whole person. Take note of this, beloved Christian, and do not be seduced by the vain faith of false Christians, who have faith in their tongues, but atheism in their hearts. Know for sure that there is no living, Christian faith there, where there is passion or love for wealth, honor, glory and the sweetness of this world. True, living faith takes a Christian away from all this and moves him to the desire and search for heavenly and eternal blessings. For true, living faith is a spiritual gift from God and therefore teaches us to seek spiritual blessings within a person. It enters the human heart from heaven, moves and delights the human heart towards heaven and the heavenly, and leads it away from earthly things. Moreover, true faith strives against all sin, and therefore where there is sinful and fearless living, there is no true faith, but only oral and hypocritical. Look at this place in Holy Scripture: 1 Cor. 6, 9–10; Gal. 5, 19–21; Open 21, 8; Jacob 2:14 and until the end of the chapter, and so on - and beware of sinning against your conscience, lest you fall under God’s wrath and destroy your faith. And where there is no true faith, there is no Christ, there is no salvation, as long as a person remains in such a state. We must cherish our faith more than our life, for we must lay down our lives for our faith. Like a lamp in a house, so is living faith in the human heart. The lamp is lit by a person. The lamp of faith is lit by the Holy Spirit through the heard Word of God, according to Scripture: faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom. 10:17). When the lamp in the house burns and shines, everything is clear in the house, those living in it see everything, those walking do not stumble, and everyone does their job, because the lamp illuminates. Thus, when the lamp of faith shines in the heart, a person clearly sees everything spiritual: the invisible God as visible and other invisible things as visible, he sees and does deeds befitting the Christian calling. When there is no lamp in the house, the house is dark. Thus, when there is no lamp of faith in the human heart, there is nothing else there but darkness and all kinds of error. So that the burning lamp in the house does not go out, oil must be added. So that the lamp of faith in the heart does not go out, one must: 1. Read or listen to and talk about the Word of God and other Christian books. 2. Pray diligently to God. 3. Communicate the Holy and Life-Giving Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ. 4. Do works of mercy. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy (Matthew 5:7). Signs of the lamp of faith burning in the human heart: 1. Such a person reads or listens to the Word of God and studies it diligently. 2. He sincerely calls on God, prays and thanks Him for all his good deeds. 3. With all zeal he tries to live worthy of the title of Christian and the Gospel. 4. He shows his faith in God by good deeds, as the apostle demands: show me your faith by your works (James 2:18). 5. He is wary of every sin, and fights against every sin, and does not allow it to take possession of him. 6. In this world he lives as a wanderer and stranger and always raises his heart’s eyes to the heavenly fatherland and sighs, and therefore does not cleave to worldly things with his heart, but uses everything with fear and out of need. Nothing in this world brings such joy, except God alone and the hope of eternal life. 7. A clear sign of the lamp of faith burning in the human heart is spiritual joy, felt in the heart, joy in the Holy Spirit, joy in God, which is depicted in the psalms: my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God (Ps. 83:3), for where there is faith in God, there is love for God; Where there is love for God, there is joy in God; what we love, we rejoice in. Faith is the guide to invisible, spiritual and heavenly things. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1). She represents the invisible as visible and the future as the present. Therefore, a faithful soul with living faith sees all this and strives for it, with little or no thought for the present. But whoever does not have such faith considers only what is great and desires and seeks what he sees. Christians, let us try to have the lamp of faith in our hearts, and it will show us everything invisible, spiritual, divine and eternal - and then we will be Christians. The whole essence of Christian bliss depends on living faith. You see a dry branch on a tree, which is dry because it has no juice to revive it. Understand that a Christian can be like this, like a withered branch, who does not have living faith, showing his life through love and other fruits. Such a person has no participation with Christ, Who is the true vine (John 15:1), nor with true Christians, for they are spiritual members of His body (Eph. 5:30); alien to the hope of eternal life while he remains so. God threatens such a person with His judgment. Already the ax lies at the root of the trees: every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire (Matthew 3:10). This incident and reasoning teaches you, Christian, to look around whether you have faith, which shows itself by its fruits, that is, by good deeds. A small child always resorts to his mother for all his needs; if he wants to eat, drink or anything else, he asks his mother; When he sees any trouble, he runs to his mother. And although he accepts some kind of punishment from his mother, he does not separate from her, but sticks with her and cleaves to her, loves her and asks her for everything. Such is the Christian faith, which recognizes and has God as the Father. She leaves everything besides God behind and resorts to Him alone in all needs, speaking to the prophet: You are my hope, my part in the land of the living (Ps. 141:6); and again: my soul clung to You, and Your right hand received me (Ps. 62:9). True Christian patience comes from faith and cannot exist without faith. Since our flesh always wants to follow its will, to be in the pleasures and amusements of this world, it is horrified by any trouble and, if it happens, it is embarrassed and indignant. But faith, living in the heart, tames and pacifies this confusion, imagining that everything happens according to God’s providence; that God sends punishment not out of anger, but out of love: the Lord punishes whomever he loves (Heb. 12:6); that soon this disaster will end; that temporary sorrow will be followed by eternal joy; that the goodness of God is insulted by impatience and indignation - and so the troubled and agitated heart tames and consoles. So Saint David, in sorrow and sorrow, consoled his soul with faith. Why are you sad, my soul? and why are you embarrassing me? trust in God! For I confess to Him, saying: You are the salvation of my face and my God (Ps. 41:6)! True faith is like a spark ignited by the Holy Spirit in the human heart, which emits the warmth of love. This Divine spark is kindled and inflated with God's help by reading or listening to God's Word, thinking about the previously past deeds of God, prayer, communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, and outside it manifests itself, like a good tree, with the sweet fruits of love: patience, meekness, mercy, fidelity, self-control, brotherly love, peacefulness and other Christian virtues. These are the fruits of the good tree; these are signs of a good heart, purified by the faith of Christ; these are witnesses of one who lives not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:1). These witnesses will appear at the world court of Christ and testify to the true and unfeigned faith in God’s chosen ones, by which they were justified and with the help of which these wonderful fruits grew. The righteous Judge Himself will pronounce this, like some treasure, and declare them before the whole world: I was hungry, and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you accepted Me; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. As for the unbelievers, their evil deeds will be witnesses of their unbelief: I was hungry, and you did not give me food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger, and they did not accept Me; I was naked, and they did not clothe Me; sick and in prison, and they did not visit Me (Matthew 25:35–36, 42–43). And one more thing: I will reprove you and bring your sins before your face (Ps. 49:21). Therefore, test yourself, beloved Christian, whether you remain in faith, although you confess God Christ, the Son of God, with your lips. The apostle exhorts this test: test yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; examine yourselves (2 Cor. 13:5). Know for sure that there is no saving faith in those in whom there are no good works, but there is some kind of oral, hypocritical or, as the Apostle teaches, dead: for just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead (James 2:26). Therefore, Christ says: not everyone who says to Me: “Lord! Lord!”, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Heavenly Father (Matthew 7:21). The will of the Heavenly Father is that we repent of our sins, believe in Christ and listen to His holy teaching, as He Himself says: this is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; Listen to him (Matthew 17:5). And what this Heavenly and preached Teacher to the whole world teaches us, His holy Gospel presents to us. Saving evangelical faith is nothing more than a comforting perception of the Gospel, brought into the heart by the Holy Spirit, or heartfelt trust and undoubted hope in the grace of God, freely promised for Christ’s sake, that is, hope for the remission of sins and eternal life. There cannot be true evangelical faith without knowledge, feeling and recognition of one’s poverty and wretchedness. For in order to feel the consolation of the Gospel, one must first have fear and sadness, which comes from the knowledge of one’s poverty and wretchedness. Consolation is the consolation of the sad, not the cheerful. And where living consolation is felt through the word of the Gospel, there faith has its place. Evangelical faith cannot exist without consolation. Holy gospel faith has its place in the heart. Just as sin, fear and sadness occupy and crush the heart, so the grace of Christ, which takes away sin, fear and sadness, but gives hope and consolation, is infused into the heart by faith. Therefore, everyone should try to have faith in the heart, and not just in the mind and on the tongue. Faith cleanses the heart of the believer from everything that belongs to the world, that is, from addiction to honor, glory, wealth, voluptuousness and from all sinful customs. For unequal with unequal, for example, fire and water do not combine. Thus, faith - a heavenly gift - does not combine with the earthly and perishable, but always strives for heaven and takes the heart of the believer to where it came from, seeks the invisible and eternal, and therefore regards everything that belongs to this world as vanity or delusion. Therefore, the faithful are commanded: do not love the world, nor the things in the world (1 John 2:15). Faith renews a person, makes him disposed towards goodness, filled with love, merciful, patient, meek and loving other Christian virtues. For faith is the Divine seed from which Christians are spiritually born and therefore bear such fruit as the seed. The root of the tree deepens in the earth, and faith lies in the love of mankind and the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. The root holds up the whole tree, but faith holds up the faithful heart. From the root a tree begins and grows, and from faith a Christian begins and grows, for without faith there cannot be a Christian, just as there cannot be a tree without a root. The more the root of a tree grows, the larger the tree becomes, so the more faith grows, the more successful the faithful one is. As a tree has branches, leaves and fruit, so does a faithful man have deeds, words and thoughts. The more the tree rises to the top, the more it grows, so does the faithful: the more he grows in faith and its fruits, the more he strives and admires the heavenly and eternal. The more a tree is burdened with fruits, the more its branches descend, and so does the faithful: the more fruits of faith decorate it, the more humble it is. For the more one is enlightened, the more he sees in himself weaknesses, shortcomings and damnation. The tree, whatever fruit it receives from the root, gives it to everyone as food, and the faithful heart, whatever mercy and grace it receives from God by faith, gives it to everyone. He can be merciful, generous, a peacemaker, he wants and seeks salvation for everyone through prayer, advice and timely reproof. The more a tree is cleansed, the better and more fruit it bears, so is the faithful: the more he is punished, suffers persecution and suffers, the more sweet fruits of virtues he bears (see John 15:2). A tree is shaken by storms and winds, so a faithful heart is tempted by the flesh, the world and the devil. The root of a tree, planted in the ground, strengthens it so that it does not fall from storms and winds, and faith, established in God’s love for mankind, holds and strengthens the faithful so that he is not overcome by temptations. When the roots of a tree begin to deteriorate, the tree begins to dry out and the fruits become scarce, so when faith begins to deteriorate, the faithful become impoverished in their deeds. Just as the root of a tree rots and the tree withers, so when faith in the faithful becomes completely impoverished, the faithful person becomes corrupted. Faith becomes impoverished and disappears from inattention, laziness and from abandoning the means by which it is strengthened. So, faith is the source of all good deeds. Faith represents future goods as present and invisible things as visible. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the assurance of things not seen (Heb. 11:1), as described by the Apostle Paul, from which hope is born. Faith shows God as a Father who loves mankind, the Father of generosity and all pleasures (2 Cor. 1:3). From this comes love for God, and from love for God comes love for one’s neighbor. Faith teaches that God sends the cross to His faithful not out of anger, but out of love, for whom He loves He punishes (Heb. 12:6), and thereby comforts them in suffering and teaches them patience. When faith shows human weakness, it teaches that a person cannot bear temptation on his own, and thus convinces him to seek help from God, Who can do all things and has promised help to the tempted (see Matt. 19:26; 1 Cor. 10:13; Heb. 2:18). From here sighing and prayer arise in the faithful. Faith presents to the faithful the greatness and omnipotence of God and its own wretchedness and meanness. From this, humility and self-abasement are born in the faithful. Faith exhorts the faithful to carefully walk and communicate in this charming world, so as not to become stained with its filth and thus not lose God’s mercy and not fall under His righteous wrath. From this will follow the fear of God, which takes a person away from all evil. So, true faith is the root of all good deeds. Many pagans hear that Christ came into the world and performed miracles, but they do not believe. Even the devil himself and his evil angels know about this and tremble at His holy name, but this knowledge is completely useless for them. Likewise, knowledge of Christ’s coming into the world will not benefit Christians if they do not have living faith in Him in their hearts. And in order to have living faith in Christ, everyone must recognize and acknowledge their spiritual poverty and wretchedness. For true faith in Christ provides living and real consolation to the soul. And in order to receive consolation, one must feel grief, sadness and fear of judgment. For consolation - for the sad, consolation and medicine are given to the sick, as Christ says: it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick (Matthew 9:12). The property of faith is to appropriate the benefits and merits of Christ, shown to the whole world, to oneself. Where every faithful person, you and I, with faithful Paul, must confess from the heart: I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Gal. 2:20). I believe that both for the sake of everyone, and for the sake of me, the indecent one, he was born of the Virgin, lived in the flesh on earth, endured blasphemy, dishonor, suffering, crucifixion and death on the cross, and both for everyone and for me, unworthy, he earned from God mercy, remission of sins, grace, blessing, adoption, the inheritance of eternal life and bliss, which by my own strength I could not and cannot deserve and receive. He humbled himself in order to exalt me, the humble one; He became poor in order to make me, a beggar, rich; He endured blasphemy and slander in order to protect me from the slander of the devil; was bound in order to free me from eternal bonds; I was tried and convicted in order to free me from condemnation; He accepted ulcers and wounds in order to heal me, who was wounded; He endured reproach and dishonor in order to honor me, who had been desecrated by Satan; He died in order to revive the dead, and as for everyone, so for me, who believes in His name, he became the Deliverer, Savior, Intercessor and Author of eternal bliss. And if every faithful person must apply and assimilate this great work of the Son of God to himself, then he must honor it as if it had been accomplished for his sake alone... For the sake of you and me, Christ came into the world. You and I must meet and honor Him, such a great Benefactor, as our own with a grateful, humble, loving, obedient and patient heart. All our bliss lies in faith. By faith in Christ we are delivered from our sins, anger, curses, the power of the devil, eternal condemnation, hell and eternal torment, and we are made worthy of God’s mercy, grace, blessing, the Kingdom of God and all eternal blessings according to His unfaithful promise. If we keep our faith, all these blessings will be ours, and if we destroy our faith, we will lose all these blessings and again fall under every calamity: the wrath of God, curse, dark power, eternal condemnation and torment. We try to protect our perishable and temporary treasure from thieves. Moreover, one must preserve the spiritual, eternal treasure - the holy faith, so that Satan, like a cunning and crafty thief, does not steal it. We take care of physical health and life. Much better health and spiritual life must be taken care of so as not to die forever. We warn ourselves against enemies who want to destroy our corruptible body and take away our temporary life. Moreover, we must beware of spiritual enemies, who are trying to destroy our soul and take away eternal life from us. The Apostle Peter exhorts us to this caution and diligence: be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him with firm faith (1 Pet. 5:8-9). Faith is maintained by prayer, reading or listening to the Word of God, and so on. Faith is the root of piety and the source from which good deeds flow like streams. From faith is the fear of God, contempt of the world, mortification of the flesh with passions and lusts, renunciation of oneself, that is, anger, malice, hatred, lust, love of money and other ailments; love for God and neighbor, sighing and desire for a blissful eternity, and so on. And from this understand that that Christian does not have faith, who lives in evil or is addicted to the world, that is, to honor, glory, wealth and worldly carnality. In a word, he does not believe the Word of God who does not try to correct his life according to the rule of the Word of God. How can you not try to do what is commanded in Scripture if you truly believe that God, your Creator and Lord, commands you to do this? You listen to the king of the earth and even the lower authorities and fulfill their commands - will you not listen to God, the King of Heaven, and fulfill His commandments? You believe the king of the earth, a man who often does not stand in the truth as a man, if he promises something, and for this sake you serve him, and you are afraid if he threatens you with anything - will you not believe in the true and unfalse God, and will you not hope and expect what he promises, and will you not be afraid of what he threatens, when you definitely believe His holy Word? You see that you must first believe the word without a doubt, that it is God’s Word and is true and not false; and that it is the same as for everyone, so it was told to you and to me by God; and what he commands, as he commands everyone, so he commands you and me; and what he promises, as he promises to everyone, he promises to me too; and what it threatens, it threatens everyone, me and you and others. For God does not look at faces, but He has declared His word to everyone. You ask: “What do you need to do to have living faith?” Answer: Christ tells us: ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7). We must ask, seek and knock. We must pray, work, and reflect on the ways in which this faith, with the help of God, is kindled in the heart. Living faith is known by works, like a tree by its fruit. We call that tree good, which bears good fruits. Fruits come from inside the tree - from its roots and sap, because as the root and sap in a tree are, so are its fruits: if the root and sap in a tree are good, then its fruits are good. Likewise, faith is learned from good deeds, from the inside, from the heart and without any hypocrisy. And just as pure streams flow from a pure source, so from a heart purified by holy faith, good deeds occur and appear. And just as a vessel filled with balm or having some part of it emits a good odor, so the human heart, filled with the spiritual balm of holy faith, emits a good odor of deeds pleasing to God and useful to people. The signs of living faith are: 1. God, Whom faith sees and cleaves to Him, like a little child to its mother, to honor from the heart in the manner described in His holy word, that is, not in substance and appearance only, but in spirit and truth, since God Himself is Spirit (John 4:24), and to honor Him alone more than all the light, for all the light is like nothing before Him, and to recognize and call Him from the heart as our God, although He is all God, just as He is called the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob because of their faith, although He is God for all nations (see Ex. 3, 6, 15-16; Mark 12, 26). From there will follow true and sincere obedience and submission to Him. For if He is your God, then you must listen to Him as your God, do His will and command, just as you listen to your father because he is your father. 2. It is unhypocritical to avoid all sin, because He is offended by all sin. You do not want to offend your father and do not dare to do anything indecent in front of him, much less should you offend your God, Who is everywhere and sees everything, and do not do anything displeasing before Him. Every sin is contrary to the Christian faith, therefore faith struggles against every sin. Faith loves to rest in a clear conscience and cannot be without a clear conscience. So the holy apostle wrote: having faith and a good conscience, which some rejected, suffered shipwreck in faith (1 Tim. 1:19). On the one hand, to know and honor God, but on the other hand, to sin against one’s conscience and thus offend and anger God is a clear contradiction. Think about this carefully and you will find out this truth for yourself. 3. We thank Him from the heart for all the blessings we have received and will continue to provide, of which there are many - without number, so that we cannot live even a minute without His blessings. We are enclosed in His blessings, and surrounded by them, body, soul, and breath, and we owe all our makeup to Him, and so on. 4. Call on God from the heart and unfeignedly, and in all your needs resort to Him alone, and ask for help. Just as a little child runs to his mother, and stretches out his hands, and asks her for protection and everything, and does not know anything else except his mother, so faith clings to God alone, and asks Him for everything, and does not know anyone for its needs except God. For faith knows that God alone can do everything and that hope in Him is firm, and apart from Him all hope is unstable and vain. 5. The Incarnation of the Son of God and all His most precious views as the only source of our salvation are great and dear and to be revered most of all. For faith sees that as much as this work of God’s goodness is great and incomprehensible to the human mind, so much must we honor and worship Him with all humility and gratitude. 6. To obtain freedom from sin, the devil, hell and all disaster and damnation, and to receive eternal life with eternal glory, there is no other Mediator other than Jesus Christ. For He alone is the Redeemer and Savior of the whole world, and therefore the beginning, middle and end of eternal salvation must be attributed to Him alone. Faith sees that all its spiritual bliss lies in one Jesus Christ. He is wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption for her (1 Cor. 1:30). Trusting in this Redeemer, Savior, Helper and Defender of the Almighty, he dares and triumphs over all his enemies, and thereby consoles himself in all temptations inflicted by the devil and his evil servants, and exclaims with the preacher of faith: if God is for us, who can be against us (Rom. 8:31)? 7. A clear sign of living faith is to follow Christ, wearing your cross. For the faithful soul has been united to Christ, as the bride to the groom and as the body to the head, and therefore wants to be inseparably with Him both in suffering and in glorification, as the bride is with the groom and the body is with the head. For it is not proper for the bride to be separated from the groom, nor for the body to be separated from the head. The apostle wrote about this this way: Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, so that we would follow in His footsteps (1 Pet. 2:21); and one more thing: you must have the same feelings that were in Christ Jesus, and so on (Phil. 2:5). And the Lord himself says: I have given you an example, so that you should do the same as I did to you (John 13:15). 8. Do not attach your heart to anything in this world, that is, neither to wealth, nor to honor, nor to glory, nor to its other treasures, but always look at future and eternal blessings, think about them, desire them and be comforted by them; think about things above, and not about earthly things; seek the things that are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1-2), as the apostle teaches. For living faith comes from heaven and therefore arouses and moves the faithful soul to heaven. And the faithful soul sees that in this world it is on the way and on a journey, and therefore does not have a permanent city here, but is looking for the future, of which God is the artist and builder (Heb. 13, 14; 11, 10). Hence, we see the desires and sighs of faithful souls in the psalms, which they raise to the heavenly fatherland and its blessings, wandering in this world as if on a foreign land. 9 . Faith has the fear of God and spiritual joy and gladness. And they act alternately in a faithful soul, that is, she feels fear and trepidation, and then she feels joy and joy. Sometimes faith is hidden, and then the soul fears and trembles. Sometimes it appears, and then the soul is consoled, rejoices, rejoices and exclaims in spirit. 10. Faith is humble, patient, gentle, loving, merciful, merciful, peaceful, and so on. For where there is faith, there is the grace of the Holy Spirit, which produces all this in a faithful soul. This is what the Apostle says to every Christian: show me your faith by your works (James 2:18-21), just as Abraham showed his faith by his works. Read the Holy Scriptures, and especially the psalms, which vividly depict the actions of living faith. For faith, being a spiritual gift, is known from spiritual actions occurring in the heart. Then we will understand what faith is when we feel its actions in our hearts - which is what I sincerely wish for both myself and you.