Иерей

Give the first place to God, and then the next to the priest, the earthly Christ, the leader of your life. Hurry after him on wings, submit to him silently; Rejoice with him when you stretch upward, and submit to him when you fall, so that, having come to fear, you will rise high again (1). The hearts of the prayer books (priests) of the great-glorious Christ are also different. One is the ever-present servant of human power, depending on the circumstances, like a cane shaken by the wind, bends here and there and provides not a cure, but an example of every vice. The other, with trembling and reverent hands, offers the gift of thanksgiving to Christ’s flesh and the great sufferings that God endured on earth to deliver us from original ailments. He lives for the one Christ, he is comforted by Him, for Him, ascending from here, he renounces his heart from earthly things and from people, only the thought conquers the good, but he resists the evil, like the hard stone adamant 102. He does not care about wealth, about great thrones, about human glory that creeps down. And, wearing the skin of a mighty, royal lion, he does not hide under it the servility of a fox, in order to be a carrion, a cunning, a villain, and lapse into all types of vice. On the contrary, constantly enriching the mind with pure ideas, he even touches the heavenly Trinity, confirmed Her image in his heart, contemplating the one glory in the three goodnesses, and, finally, preparing a godlike people with pure sacrifices, makes a bloodless heartfelt sacrifice (2). Adamant – diamond, diamond. – Approx. ed. You might be interested in: