In response to the words of Isaiah: Let the wicked be lifted up and not see the glory of the Lord

If you read the Holy Scriptures with a pure spiritual eye and listen carefully to its words, then everyone will understand what is said in it. The words we read in this book are in awe and horror; everyone who listens to them with reason shudders with fear. The terrible definition spoken against the wicked is in them. It is said: Let the wicked be lifted up, and not see the glory of the Lord. The wicked will be carried away to a place where no voice of praise is heard. Meanwhile, everything cries out for God, daily proclaims His glory, and dumb creatures do not cease to praise Him. The heavens will tell the glory of God, but the firmament will proclaim His handiwork (Ps. 19:1). The earth utters His praise, the sea preaches His wondrous power. You will not find anything that does not glorify the Lord your God. And the insignificant mosquito proclaims the glory of his Lord. Where will the wicked go so that he does not see the glory of the Lord? Where will they cast him away to remove him from the sight of God’s glory? Will he ascend to heaven? It will reject him and will not accept him. Will he want to stay on earth? She won't let him do this. Will it fall into the sea? It will spew it out. Therefore, I think, beloved, that from this world he will descend into pitch darkness, full of fear and horror, where there is no praise, where no voice of praise is heard, because it is far from God and God does not allow His glory to be there. Torment and groaning, sorrow and distress, the consuming and ever-eating worm, the scorching and unquenchable fire stop the mouths of the wicked from all praise, from all glorification. Suffering prevents them from seeing or speaking; Because of the gnashing of teeth, the lips are unable to make a sound of praise. A tongue that continually cries out “Alas!” cannot utter praise; Eyes covered with darkness do not see the light of glory. The one whose limbs are worn away by a worm thinks of nothing but his own misfortune; Whoever is scorched by Gehenna sees only its flame. Come, sinners, let us weep here, so as not to weep there. Come, let us bear grief and suffering, so that our grief does not worsen there. All the righteous and saints, through sorrow and suffering, pleased God and propitiated Him with tears. For nine hundred and thirty years Adam mourned his fall, which removed him from God’s glory in paradise. The beauty on his cheeks was damaged by the tears shed by his eyes; hot streams of tears caused painful purulent scabs. Also, Enoch, who pleased God and did not taste death, for three hundred and twenty years, looking at Abel’s tomb, carried grief and sadness within himself. Decayed, rotten, disfigured, he saw the first dead man and wept bitterly, shed copious tears and was laid to rest without tasting death. Righteous Noah grieved over his sinful race, for he knew that punitive justice would destroy him with a flood of water. For five hundred years he kept his virginity pure, and for this God preserved him from the destruction that befell the human race. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob spent a miserable and difficult life in this world, in troubles and temptations, they lived and ended their lives. Who can describe the temptation that befell Job? For seven years he sat on rot. How much did he cry when he saw how the worms were grinding and eating his flesh, and nothing was left for him except his bones? Who endured as much as he did? Whoever hears the story about him, his spirit is filled with sorrow. David wet his bed with his night tears (Ps. 6:7), ate ashes like bread, and dissolved his drink with weeping (Ps. 101:10). How many tears were shed from the eyes of Jeremiah, this man of suffering, who spent all the days of his life in weeping and tears? His lamentation exceeded all measure, but he also prayed to God to give water to his head and a source of tears to his eyes (Jer. 9:1). Ezekiel, who ate the scroll where it was written... weeping and pity and grief (Ezekiel 2:10), since he had to take upon himself the iniquities of his people, for three hundred and ninety days (according to the Hebrew text) he lay on both sides, bent by the sins of his people, his house became a tomb for him, the great iniquities of the people entangled him as if with fetters, and for one hundred and ninety-five days he had to lie on each side (Ezek.4:4-9). And about the Lord Himself of high and low, of all limits and ends, it is written that, after His descent from heaven, when He was on earth, He wept for Jerusalem. It is not written about our Lord that He laughed, but it is written that He cried and shed tears. When He shed tears over Lazarus, then he wept for all the dead, because he saw how death destroys and consigns His image to decay. As the Good One, He grieved over His beloved image, because He saw how it was deprived of its beauty and decayed in the tomb, becoming terrible and terrible. The soul is killed by sin; she needs grief, crying, tears, sadness, loud lamentations about her misfortune, which overthrew and destroyed her. Weep, weep and groan for your soul, because it has become far away from God, and return it to Him again. Weep for her more than a mother whose son was stolen and thrown into the grave by death and who laments the separation from her beloved. For sin separates man from God, and His goodness regrets that its image, filled with Divine beauty, perishes. It would be unfortunate for you if one of your ox were lost, even though you owned it for a short time, but you still grieve over its loss. God is even more sorry when His image perishes. The soul is much more kind to God than all the creatures He created. But sin makes it dead, and you do not understand this, sinner. Grieve for yourself for God's sake, because He grieves for you. Your soul was killed by sin, bring it back to life with tears. Delight God, may He rejoice that your soul has been brought back to life by you. There is a bird that resurrects its chicks, and when its children die, it returns life to them. When this bird has chicks, it rejoices over them immensely and, out of great love for them, embraces (covers) them with its wings, strangles them, and they die. But as soon as he sees that they are really dead, there is no movement or fluttering in them, he grieves and grieves for three whole days, does not eat or drink from intense grief and sadness, does not separate from them and, as if saving them, does not move from his place. And then she inflicts a wound on herself with her beak, sheds her blood on them and, according to God’s dispensation, her chicks become alive from the dead. If a bird knows how to bring its chicks back to life, then you, sinner, resurrect your soul, killed by sin. If God takes pity on the pelican and brings its chicks back to life, how much more does He take pity on your soul, which you do not want to bring back to life. If the Creator, seeing a pelican, in grief for its chicks wanting to kill itself, takes pity on it and resurrects its children, then, of course, when a soul is killed by sin and separated from God, all the more does He regret His image separated from Him. Therefore, weep and grieve for your soul, which is separated from God. He regrets you like a mother regrets her only begotten son. He who laughs at a dead man hates the parents of the deceased, and he who mourns and laments proves his love with his tears. So, if someone rejoices in himself when he is killed by sin, then he hates God, who grieves and regrets it. God grieves and sympathizes with a soul that has become dead, and therefore whoever laughs and mocks at this causes God even greater sorrow. Just as the one who laughs and jokes in front of those burying the deceased increases their grief and sadness, so the one who rejoices over his sins causes even greater sorrow to God. A father burying his beloved son does not grieve as much as God regrets a soul killed by sin. Mourn your soul and prove your love for God, who Himself grieves and regrets the soul killed by sin. God regrets the death of the soul, which is His image. Therefore, whoever rejoices at this, and does not sympathize, is completely like Satan. Whoever approaches the dead man, seeing the weeping performed over him, becomes contrite in spirit and weeps with those who weep. And when a soul dies from sin, the cry for it reaches the sky, and the Heavenly Powers lament, and God Himself grieves. Therefore, whoever rejoices at this and does not cry for his soul is truly a lost man; he does not know that he has a soul. Weep, sinner, for your soul, shed tears for it and bring it back to life. Her resurrection is in your eyes, her uprising is in your heart. Are you dead and do not weep for your departed soul? Weep first for your soul, and then weep for others. You cry for a dead body from which the soul has been separated, and you do not cry for a soul that has died and been separated from God. Tears shed on dead flesh do not bring it back to life, but if they are shed about the soul, they resurrect it and bring it back to life. It was not for the sake of the flesh that you were given tears, sorrow and sadness, but for the sake of the soul God gave them to you, so that you could bring it back to life. Bring tears as a gift to God, shed tears from your eyes; with your tears and God's goodness, your dead soul will be brought back to life. Behold, the Merciful One is waiting for you to shed tears from your eyes before Him, and with them He will cleanse and renew the damaged image of the soul. You killed your soul, and return it from sinful death. It was not another who killed and destroyed you; your own will has killed and deposed you. If another had killed you, he would have had to raise you. But since your own will killed you, then this same will should restore you. In the festival of hands, the church will fall and be destroyed (Eccl. 10:18), - this is what Ecclesiastes teaches you. Recreate your desolate and fallen soul. When your house falls, no one else will build it up; If you yourself do not restore your home, it will remain in ruins forever. By sin you brought your soul to fall - raise it up by repentance; You brought it down with vile untruths; restore it with good deeds. If you put to death sin, then you can say, like God: I will kill and make life (Deut. 32:39). I kill sin so that it does not have dominion in my members, and I bring righteousness back to life when I do good; I defeat the hated untruth, expel it from the soul and heal the soul with truth and integrity. Mental thoughts are scattered in the world like dry bones; gather them together and revive them with God’s help. Prophets like Ezekiel, your thoughts are dry like bones; proclaim to them the word of God, the Giver of the dead; clothe these bones in skin, unite them in God with an unslothful spirit and a strong mind; prophets and call upon the spirit to enter into the dead, and they will live. Breathe into her the spirit of life (Ezek.37:4-10) - Divine teaching. Near the jaws of hell, where the murderer-sin dwells, the bones of the soul are scattered - its thoughts scattered over earthly objects; call to them, raise them up and resurrect them, show an amazing miracle and in your uprising depict the resurrection that Ezekiel saw. If there is joy in heaven over a sinner who converts, flows to repentance and is accepted by God, then there is sorrow over a sinner who does not convert, and God is very sorry if you do not flow to repentance. Return to Him, and you will bring joy to the Angels who rejoice over you. Your sinful soul has been redeemed by the blood of the Son of God, because all the worlds could not be a sufficient price for you: the earth, the sea, and everything on them is a small price in comparison with you. All the heavenly ranks, which are flame and spirit, did not accept death for your redemption. The Father gave up His beloved Son to death for you as the price of redemption. He is the only begotten Son, but the Father did not spare Him and gave Him in your place. For the sake of your life, He gave over to death the Origin of all living things; The One before whom death trembles, the Father bound and cast into death; she nailed Him to the Cross and wrote the handwriting of your debts with nails. Look at what price you were redeemed! Do not be lost to the One who bought you! His life accuses your life if you live in sin. His death cries out against your death if you do the works of death. His Precious Blood cries out to the throne of the Divine that it was shed for you, and you are perishing from sin. He who bought himself a slave, if the one he bought dies, loses not only the slave, but also the price given for him. So both the suffering and death of God from our negligence remain fruitless for us, because He gave Himself for the sake of your soul, and you did not get rid of death. He did not spare His beloved Son, but gave Him up to death for you; if you perish from sin, then you offend the One who redeemed you. With the price given for you—the suffering and death of God—death is abolished. Since your soul was purchased for life, let not death destroy your life. The soul that lives in God can give life to others. If you want to hear, then here is the evidence for you. Elisha, who preserved the life of his soul, brought back two dead men to life: one while he himself was still living in the world, and the other after his departure from here. His soul lived in God and imparted life to his body. And when she was separated from her body, he gave life to another. The soul of the prophet borrowed life from God, and after it was separated from his body, he gave life to someone who, like himself, was dead. Do you see life in the remains of martyrs? Who wouldn't believe that they are alive? Do you see that their graves are full of life? Who can doubt this? These are strong strongholds that protect from predators; these are fortified cities protecting from conquerors; these are high and strong pillars for those who resort to them, because they deliver from the destroyers, and death does not approach them. Whoever is infected with envy and deceit, this poison that is deadly for the soul, let him seek a cure for this poison from them, so that he does not harm him. Whoever deceived, pray so as not to deceive again. Whoever stole, pray so as not to steal. If you are far from love and filled with anger at your neighbors, ask for their help in prayer in order to be reconciled with your neighbors. Whoever is possessed by the spirit of fornication, who is inflamed with unclean lust, let him be anointed with oil burning before him, and the unclean spirit will immediately be put to shame and run away. These are doctors who are vigilantly concerned about our health, because they have within themselves the medicine of life, the healing of soul and body, spiritual medicine that heals both soul and body. They only require faith from you, but they give you everything you ask for. If there is no doubt in your soul, then, even if you were dead, you will receive life! God dwells in these bones, through whom they perform all miracles. Praise be to You, and to us Your bounties, O God, who dwells in the righteous! You might be interested in: