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The Word of God does not please the rich, the glorious, and those who are in the joys of this age, but those who study the law of the Lord, those who hope in the Lord, the poor in spirit, those who weep, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who have been driven out for the sake of righteousness, those who endure reproach for the sake of the name of Christ, and so on. This is what the bliss of this world consists of: in honor, the lovers of which come to eternal dishonor; in wealth, which forever makes its stewards poor and wretched; in sweetness, whose servants eternally taste sorrow! And so you see that this three-part bliss, which the one who in a dream eats and drinks something sweet, is revered and worshiped by everyone, has found a great treasure, but, having awakened, feels hunger and thirst, sees himself in contempt and poverty. The same thing certainly happens to lovers of peace, who in a short time, as in a dream, revel in the abundance of luxury and worldly fun, are consoled by honor and wealth, but, at death and after death, feeling as if awakening from a dream, they see everything the opposite. Instead of brief sweets, eternal ones feel sorrows. Instead of wealth, they experience squalor and poverty. Instead of honor and glory, they see themselves in eternal dishonor and disgrace. Therefore, it is righteous and true, but they repent late, and become ill, and sigh in distress of spirit. Then they will recognize that these worldly joys, so false and charming ages of this gaiety, will be followed by true sorrows. Then they confess their error, but at the wrong time. God is the treasure and source of consolation, joy, cheerfulness and all true bliss, and without Him there cannot be true consolation, true joy and gladness, true life and bliss. Christians are not called to worldly luxury and fun, but to battle, labor and exploits. No small amount of work and feat is required - to defeat oneself, one’s corrupted nature, and the enemy the devil. Christians are promised peace, fun and all kinds of sweetness, but in the next century, although even now, the true servants of God will not be deprived of their consolation and joy. In order to feel the consolation of the Gospel, one must first have fear and sadness, which comes from the knowledge of poverty and one’s wretchedness. Consolation is the consolation of the sad, not the cheerful. There is no God where there is joy and joy in this world, when people rejoice about wealth, about honor, about glory, about luxury, when they rejoice, feast, laugh, dance, get drunk, sing unworthy of Christians, shout and perform other indecent gaiety. God departs from such people, for he is offended by their outrages, but the evil spirit of this world comes there, for deeds pleasing to him are done there. God comes to sorrowful and contrite hearts and, like into idle vessels, pours out living water of cooling and consolation. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and will save the humble in spirit (Ps. 33:19). The Lord is near, healing the brokenhearted and binding up their wounds (Ps. 146:3). For a sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit: God will not despise a contrite and humble heart (Ps. 50:19). I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Matthew 9:13)... Christ came to call us to repentance. Pay special attention to the words: I came to call for repentance. Not fun, not meals, not festivities, not feasts, not masquerades and so on, but repentance, but weeping, but tears, but sobbing and the cross, our Lord offers us here. You see what the Christian life means here. Read the Gospel of Christ and you will see. Christians also have fun here, but it is spiritual. They rejoice not about gold, silver, food, drink, honor and glory, but about God their Savior, about His goodness and mercy towards them, about the hope of eternal life, and so on. From this you see that Christians are mistaken, who spend their days in the gaiety of this world, love to ride in carriages, organize banquets, go on visits and receive guests, organize dances and other fun, abandoning the duty of worship and duties to the fatherland. There is no repentance in them and therefore they call Christ in vain: Lord, Lord! - for they do not do what Christ says: repent. Think about this and run away from such things as Sodom and Gomorrah, so as not to perish with them. It is impossible to calculate how many temptations, sins and iniquities there are in such [pleasure] meetings and festivities. There are so many words and deeds, so many sins; how many persons, so many criminals. God and His holy Angels go far from here. There is a place for the devil and his evil angels, who rejoice with those who rejoice and rejoice over their destruction. Therefore, their destruction does not sleep if they do not feel it soon. They have forgotten God and his righteous judgment; they say that they know God, but deny by works (Titus 1:16). So the rich man of the Gospel rejoiced, but, being in torment, he shouts and exclaims: Father Abraham! have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame (Luke 16:24). So the one who has been doused with wine asks for a drop of water, but does not receive and will never receive. We also need to be wary of today’s rich people, who have fun every day, violate God’s law, and don’t even want to look at the poor Lazarus. Piety is followed, like a shadow and persecution follows a body. Therefore, a pious soul should expect not joy, but sorrow in this world.