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A conversation saying that after the coming of the Lord in the flesh, just as the reward increased for those who live righteously, so the punishment increased for those who disobey; it also talks about various passions and virtues. This conversation was delivered on the 10th Sunday of the Gospel readings according to Luke, which is the Sunday before the Sunday of the Forefathers 472 1. The Ancient Law (Old Testament) declared that God is the Creator and Ruler of heaven, and announced to those under the Law what was then pleasing in the sight of God; but he did not present the promise of heavenly blessings, and did not promise to those who obey (the commandments of God) communion with God and a heavenly inheritance. When the King of all Christ came to us in the flesh to “call sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13), He promised great rewards to those who obey and repent and those who live according to the Gospel of Christ and keep the commandments contained in it by works of repentance. And not only great (rewards), but also having incomparable superiority: because - the kingdom of heaven and eternal light and heavenly adoption and premium abodes and divine and eternal life are promised, and to the abundance also: - “heirs with God, and joint heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17); and: “I have come,” says the Lord, “yet they have life, and they have more to spare” (John 10:10). These same words are not an empty phrase and not just a list of names, but a proclamation of unchangeable things prepared as a reward for the truly faithful and living according to Christ 473 . It is necessary, therefore, for those who intend to receive rewards to first truly and truly go through feats and make themselves residents of heavenly abodes, recipients and capable of containing the blessings that exist in them, so that they do not experience something truly worse, deprived of what is truly better. It is fair and appropriate that before the Coming of Christ, sinners at the beginning deserved greater leniency, and there was less severity in the commandments; Now, for those who sin without repentance, a terrible judgment and eternal torment are prepared: an unquenchable fire, pitch darkness, an incessant worm, pitiful gnashing of teeth, sorrow and oppression and oppression and incessant and inconsolable crying, and besides - it’s better to say: and above all this - incessant separation from God, which is the deprivation of all good and true joy. 2. That before the teaching of the Gospel came, those who transgressed the commandments of the Law deserved greater leniency, and after the Law of Grace, observance of the Gospel commandments on the part of those intending to receive the promised benefits is required with greater severity, let the great Paul teach us this. “If the word spoken by the angels is known,” he says, “and every crime and righteous disobedience will receive recompense: how will we escape, having so neglected salvation? He began to say from the Lord, who heard the message in us: I bear witness with God with signs and wonders and various powers, divided by the Holy Spirit according to His will” (Heb. 2:2-4) 474. And in another place: “To those who sin,” he says, “to us, by accepting the mind of truth, for those who do not find a sacrifice for their sins, a certain expectation of judgment is terrible, and jealousy will burn the fire that will resist” 475 .. 3. May the Lord Himself confirm these words; mourning that the cities in which many signs of His power were performed did not repent, He says: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaido! (Matthew 11:21. Luke 10:13); and adds: “It will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomort on the day of judgment than it is for you” (Matthew 10:15, 11:24). What does He tell us? – “Unless your righteousness comes out any more than the scribe and the Pharisee, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). Because before the Coming of the Lord it was not forbidden to swear in the name of God, we had no declared penalties for anger at each other and contempt; but not a passionate glance at another man’s wife was counted as adultery; neither withholding surpluses nor giving to those in need meant our voluntary slavery to Mammon; Now we will have to give an account for everything: and not only for deeds, but also for words, and not only for words, but also in our thoughts, purity and severity are required of us. “If thine eye be deceitful,” it is said, “i.e. your inner thoughts, your whole body will be dark” (Matthew 6:23); The Lord said “eye” in the singular to show that in this way He calls “mind”; because you have more than one eye. He revealed this through conclusion, saying: “your whole body will be dark”: because when one of two bodily eyes does not see, it does not mean that the whole body is blind. And from the fact that He did not say that “if it is in a bad state,” but said: “if it itself is bad”; He clearly showed that he was talking about a painful state that occurs in a soul possessed by sinful passions; Therefore, he adds, saying again: “If there is light in you (i.e., mind and prudence) - there is darkness, then how much darkness (namely: the body and the sense of sensation)?!” (Matthew 6:23). 4. Showing what the cure for such a secret painful state of the soul consists of, He calls for praying in secret to the Father and doing alms in secret and quickly cleansing the inside of the cup, i.e. our inner man: then what comes out of our mouths will neither be bad nor judge a person; but every word of his will serve for his own sanctification and for the edification of those who hear; not only this, but also in confirmation for those who doubt, this word will have confirmation in the very deeds that in another place, the Lord said: “Let your word be: to her, to her: neither, nor: but what is beyond “her” and “neither” is from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37). 5. So, brothers, let none of you nurture evil thoughts in yourself, following perversity, hatred and rancor more than righteousness, love and truth; Let no one pour into the lamp of his heart, instead of oil, dirt - shameful thoughts; Let no one accumulate treasures for himself on earth, burying and burying his mind in them. Let no one bring out through his mouth anything that comes from the evil one, being ready to swear; because he who carries this in his soul and brings it out through his mouth makes himself a dwelling place and a tool and servant of the evil one, and cannot be a servant of God, much less a son and heir of His promised heavenly and eternal kingdom. How can one receive it who thinks and speaks and does not what is characteristic of a good Master, but of an evil apostate? Therefore, he who avoids swearing should not simply say “yes” or “no,” but say it in observance of the complete truth, so that the deeds appear to correspond to the words: because in this way “yes” will be “yes” and “no” will be “no,” according to the meaning of the Gospel commandment. If the word does not adhere to the truth, but the word is broken by deeds, then “yes” will turn out to be “no,” and “no” will be “yes,” and again there will be a lie, which is from the evil one: because a lie comes from the devil, and he is its father, and the one who speaks a lie draws close to him and is adopted by him, and has no participation with the Spirit of Truth and cannot be a member of the Body of Christ; that is why the Apostle says in the Epistle to the Ephesians: “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, created by God in righteousness and in the excellence of the truth; put aside lies, speak the truth to each one of you who is sincere: for this reason we have pleased one another” (Eph. 4:24–25). 6. What does it mean: “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, created according to God in righteousness and in the excellence of the truth?” – God, having once created our Forefather Adam in His image and likeness, did not put anything bad into him, but together with his soul he breathed into him the grace of the Divine Spirit, which preserves him in renewal and takes care of maintaining the likeness (of God) in him. When he committed the greatest untruth, not listening to his Creator and, having submitted to the one who envied him, combined himself with lies, cordially accepting the slanderer of God's commandment, then, having lost divine grace, he became old and mortal, instead of being young, and having already lost the likeness of God, his Creator, he was no longer able to give birth to children like God, but like himself: decayed and perishable: because decay is inherent in those who are predisposed to death. Therefore, a New Adam is born for us, not subject to old age, “Whoever does not commit sin, flattery will be found in His mouth” (Is. 53:9), Whom we are now rich to have as Father and Parent, as the Father of the future age and the Head of eternal life. He took away our sin and removed decay from our environment. This is Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who from the Virgin became flesh for our sake, whose Nativity we today began to celebrate, commemorating the Fathers who were before the Law and under the Law 476, who in those times shone forth in virtue and reverence for God; prophecies belonged to them and promises were given to them, and from them Christ came into being in the flesh, who for our sake is now born of the Virgin for us, in order to recreate us on the basis of our own nature 477, and, through divine (holy) baptism, to renew us and make us capable again of receiving the grace of the Divine Spirit who dwelt in Him, who, according to the God-man, was clothed in the truth and the excellence of the truth, which He Himself accomplished, Having shamed the evil one to the end - who attacked him in many ways - he was righteously obedient to the Father to the end and showed Him obedience, which brings resurrection and eternal life 478. 7. Having fulfilled this himself personally, he gave it to us to keep. Because “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). If we holyly observe this, then in the next century we will also receive a body new and not involved in corruption; now, thanks to unanimity with Him and contact, with the spirit of our mind looking up at the mountain (height), we, as if by day, are marching towards prosperity; because, having regenerated us by Himself, He did not separate us from Himself: because He gave birth to us not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, and just as He Himself, by nature, being inseparably born of the Father before all ages, abides with the Father and His Spirit, so He desires that we, born by grace in the last times, should remain inseparable from each other and from Himself. And showing this in relation to His Disciples, the Lord spoke to the Father: “Grant to them that they may all be one, as I, the Father, are in You, and You in Me, that they also may be one in Us in truth” (John 17:20–21) 479. Therefore, Paul also says in another place: “Our head is the Lord, but we are members of one another” 480. Therefore, having said this, he added: “Put on the new man, and speak the truth to everyone who is sincere: we are pleased with one another” (Eph. 4:24-25), saying this directly; because for example - the eye, being our member, does not tell us that light is darkness, or darkness is light, and just as the tongue itself, being our member, does not tell us that sweet is bitter, and bitter is sweet; but what each truly represents is communicated by our members to our minds, so each of us, called by Christ, being a member of the whole Church, let nothing else be said than what he perceives to be in accordance with the truth; if not so, then he is a liar and an enemy, but not a member and not a neighbor. 8. Thus, we heard what the Lord declared regarding wrath. - “If you are angry with your brother in vain, you are guilty of judgment; whoever speaks “cancer” to his brother 481 is guilty of eating the host 482; and whoever says “freak” is guilty of fiery Gehenna” (Matthew 5:22). Because although these names seem insignificant 483, they undermine and destroy the great work of love, and give room to the devil. “Let not the sun go down,” says the Apostle, “on your anger; below you will give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:26). So the one who, due to the intensification and extension of anger, switched to insulting his brother and is indifferent to reconciling with him, having lost the light of love and being filled with darkness, the opposite of it, gives place to the prince of darkness, and becomes, as it were, his abode: because in the same place being with him now, of course, he will be thrown along with him into the Gehenna prepared for him, being guilty and responsible - unless, through repentance, he drives out, along with hatred of his brother, the root cause and leader of hatred. 9. So, brethren, let all irritation and malice and anger and shouting and reproach be far from you, along with all evil: if he who called someone “freak” with anger is found worthy of such (great) condemnation, then what can we say about other reproaches and slander that we utter, overcome by anger? Therefore, brethren, let us try to restrain this terrible beast - anger, and bridle our tongue: because when we give them freedom, we do not harm those whom we cannot see as much as we harm ourselves. So, if someone, driven by anger, utters this forbidden word, calling “freak” someone whom, on the basis of (common) piety, was considered to be a brother, let him be afraid of the Master’s sentence and not give vent to anger to such an extent; if he does this even without anger, let him still not use such irresponsible words. Because it is said: “Let not every corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but let it be that which is good for the building up of faith, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Eph. 4:29); “Let fornication and all uncleanness and covetousness (covetousness) below be called among you, as befits saints; and foul language, and blasphemies (vain talk) or blasphemy (ridiculousness), even discordant” (which is indecent for you) (Eph. 5:3) 484 .. 10. What does it mean: “They should not even be named among you”? - He does not blame us if others call us that, because it is not in our power not to suffer this, and the one who hears something unworthy is not at all to blame; and showing it in another place, i.e. - it’s not that - it’s disgusting when someone is called a fornicator, but it’s disgusting to actually be one. “Whoever,” he says, “will be called a fornicator, with such a person is beneath food” (1 Cor. 5:11). By this he is not saying here that we should take care that we are not called that, but that we should not use our tongues to pronounce names that inspire impurity; therefore, he summed it all up, concluding: “Foul language and idle talk and ridicule are not becoming for you.” It is indecent for saints what he said above; because saying: “All uncleanness must not even be named among you,” and this is the same as saying: “nor even uttered by you,” he added: “as it becomes saints” (Eph. 5:3). Here he calls “saints” not those who, having been born from people and now being with the Angels, are glorified by us as having completely pleased God and completed their lives with a beautiful and godly death, but this is what he calls everyone who are dedicated to God by baptism into Christ; because if a vessel dedicated to God is holy, like every offering to Him, especially if it is brought for the sake of sanctification, then all the more holy is a person offered to God according to the holy covenants and received through the Bath of Regeneration 485 486, as well as having received on this basis the grace of the Spirit of holiness. But what kind of covenants and obligations have we given that we have received grace from above the Spirit? - Of course, I will say briefly - to reject Satan, and to be united and numbered with Christ, Who calls us to strive so that we can enter through the narrow gate: “For the wide gate and the broad way lead into destruction, and many are those who enter through it; But you bring a narrow path into the belly, and those who find it eat few” (Matthew 7:13-14). No one burdened with the burden of glory and pride can pass through the narrow gate, and also no one who has laid on himself the burden of greed and covetousness, and also no one who has an attraction to pleasure and poking his passions. Therefore, it is indecent for Christians neither buffoonery, nor laughter, as weakening the tension of the soul, nor stupid speech, as an indication of arrogance in a person, nor immodesty in speech, as a stimulant and encouragement to fornication. But - moreover, as Paul concludes, saying - it is fitting for Christians to give thanks (to God) (Eph. 5:3). 11. It seems as if the word is inconsistent with itself, saying that foul language and ridicule are not appropriate for saints, but, on the contrary, thanksgiving. In fact, it is quite consistent with itself. Because since here he calls “saints” those who have been sanctified by the grace of baptism into Christ, he speaks directly of us, to whom he moved to inspire that we have received such grace as a gift for no other reason than to give thanks to Him who has given us this great gift, and not only bestowed it, but also given it as a pledge of the promised eternal inheritance, if only by doing good we firmly preserve this pledge to the end. Therefore, the Lord says in the Gospels: “Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be burdened with the pleasures 487 and sorrows of this life” (Luke 21:34). “If... the evil servant says... in his heart: my master will hinder his coming; and begins to quarrel and be careless about business, “the master of that servant will come on a day he knows better, and at an hour he knows better. And half of it will spread” (i.e. will cut off from the grace given to him), “and part of it will be laid down with the hypocrites 488” (Matthew 24:48–51), with the hypocrites and those who are called “Christians,” but, in reality, are not Christians. Realizing this, the great Paul adds and exhorts and prescribes, saying: “Let it be known that every fornicator, or unclean, or covetous, even an idolater, shall have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one flatter you with vain words: for for these sakes the wrath of God is coming on the disobedient sons. Do not therefore be partakers of this” (Eph.5:5-7). 12. And, behold, it seems that the Apostle speaks and expresses something painful: because here he calls the laugher and unclean a fornicator and a foul-mouthed man, and cuts him off from his inheritance in Christ. The Lord, in laying down the law for us, surpassed this sentence: because lust in the soul, which arose as a result of a passionate look at a woman, He called adultery (Matthew 5:27-28). He did this so that, having cleansed the filth in our thoughts, we would lead an angelic way of life on earth. Because for this purpose He came down to us, being in heaven as God, so that we, although still on earth, could be raised to heaven through the angelic way of life. Therefore, the divine Paul again says: “Our life is in heaven, where Jesus is the forerunner of us” (Eph. 3:20, 6:20). May it be that by following Him now in a godly way of life, and in the next century, in contemplation of the announced ineffable and eternal blessings, we will forever abide together with the holy Angels and people, glorifying Him with the Father and the Spirit, now and ever and to endless ages. Amen. According to the 1861 edition, it is listed as No. 54, pp. 180–192. “For if through the angels the word proclaimed was firm, and every crime and disobedience received a righteous reward, then how can we escape if we neglect so much salvation. which being first preached by the Lord in us, was confirmed by those who heard from Him, being witnessed by God with signs and wonders, and with divers powers, and the dispensing of the Holy Spirit according to His will? Hebrews 10:26–27, “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fury of fire ready to devour the adversaries”: That is the righteous who lived before the time of the Mosaic legislation and then in the subsequent time of the Old Testament. Those. on the basis of our own human nature, perceived and renewed in the God-Man. See the beautiful omilia of St. Gregory Palamas, pronounced on Holy Saturday (homily 18th of St. Gregory Palamas. The entire omilia is dedicated to the dogma of the Redemption. The quotation does not exactly correspond to the Gospel text that we now use. There is no exact quotation, but it reflects the meaning of what was said in Romans 12:5, 1 Cor.12:27. Eph.1:22, 5:30, 4:25. The Sanhedrin is the supreme court. Those. do not seem to be too offensive names. “But fornication and all uncleanness and covetousness must not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints”: “The Bath of Renewal” is called the baptismal font, holy baptism. Or: “fortified”, “invited to retake his former place.” The Gospel here says “by gluttony and drunkenness.” In the Gospel here: “with the unbelievers.” You might be interested in: