О покаянии, о будущем Суде, об удалении от обращения с женщинами и о роскошной жизни

Our Lord and God Jesus Christ tells us in the Gospels: watch, “for at this hour, remember not, the Son of Man will come; strive to enter through the strait gate” (Luke 12:40. 13:24), leading into life. Let us go this way, brothers, to inherit eternal life. The procession along this path is sorrowful, but the rest is blissful; the procession thereof is cruel, but the reward is joy; their procession is crowded, but their resting place is spacious; the procession thereof - repentance, fasting, prayer, contrition, vigil, humility, spiritual poverty, neglect of the flesh, spiritual diligence, reclining on the bare ground, not washing the body, hunger, thirst, dry eating, nakedness, alms, tears, crying, sighing, kneeling, dishonor, persecution, theft, strangulation, handicrafts, dangers, slander; to march with it means to be slandered - and to endure; to be hated - and not to hate; to endure evil and repay with good, to forgive debts to debtors, to lay down one’s life for friends, and, finally, to shed blood for Christ when circumstances require it. Such is the procession through the narrow gates and the narrow path that leads to the blissful reward, to the Heavenly Kingdom. But the wide gates and the wide path lead to destruction. Processions along this path are joyful in the present, but mournful there; here they are light, but there they are painful and painful; here they seem unimportant and insignificant, but there those who have completed the journey and have not repented are surrounded like wild animals, according to the word of the prophet, for it is said... “in the day of cruelty... the iniquity of my heel will pass over me” (Ps. 48:6), that is, the vices of this life, or the procession along the wide path, which the Apostle listed in part, saying: “which is adultery, fornication... studiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, zeal, envy, rage... strife... envy" (Gal. 5: 19-21), laughter, cries, fun, harp, pipes, dancing, baths, soft clothes, expensive dinners, applause, noisy life, carefree sleep, various beds and beds, folding, brother-hatred, slander and, worst of all, unrepentance and failure to remember the passing from life. Such are the processions along the easy path along which many walk, but in accordance with this they find refuge for themselves: instead of luxury - hunger, instead of drunkenness - thirst, instead of peace - torment, instead of laughter - lamentation, instead of harp - crying, instead of bodily obesity - a worm, instead of carelessness - indecision, instead of dancing - being with demons, instead of empty activities, sorcery and other undertakings - pitch darkness, fiery hell and the like. On that terrible day of Judgment, everyone will be required to report: has he preserved, without desecration by heresies, that wonderful confession that he confessed in front of many witnesses, saying: “I renounce Satan and all his works,” not from one or two works, but from all the works of the devil. So, in this wonderful renunciation they will demand an account from us at that hour; and blessed is he who has kept as he promised. For in one word he renounces every worthless deed of the devil: fornication, fornication, murder, uncleanness, lies, envy, theft, slander, vexation, irritability, memory of malice, enmity, quarrels, drunkenness, gluttony, idle talk, pride, bliss, ridicule, piping, demonic songs, covetousness, brotherly hatred, divination, idolatry, sorcery. This and the like, which every Christian renounces, will require an account from him at the terrible hour of interrogation. But we will return again to our subject and say: night and day, beloved, look to the last hour and never forget the unquenchable fire. Let the psalm continually be in your mouth, for the invoked name of God drives away demons. Where there is a psalm, there is God. Where there are devilish songs, there is the wrath of God and grief. Where there are sacred books and readings, there is the joy of the righteous and the salvation of souls. Where there is a harp and a lyric (a lyric is a song accompanied by dancing), there is a darkening of husbands and wives, and a holiday of the devil. What is the use, beloved, to rejoice and triumph here for an hour, and there to suffer for whole centuries? Let us think that on that day all the ends of the earth will not bring us any benefit: let us think that no one there will be able to help, but everyone, bearing his own burden, will stand waiting for the determination that will come to him. Having this in mind, beloved, “let us live chastely and righteously and godly,” as the apostle teaches (Titus 2:12). Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, put aside dark deeds, and let us no longer imitate pagan customs. As we commemorate the saints, let us remember everyone who cannot work with their own hands: widows, orphans, strangers, the poor, the sick, those imprisoned. Let us honor the holidays by celebrating not magnificently, but Divinely, in a Christian way. We will not crown the vestibules, make up faces, undead the ears with pipes and harps, we will not clothe ourselves in soft clothes, in the glitter of gold, indulge in gluttony and drunkenness, lust and licentiousness, but let us leave this to the pagans and Jews. We, all of us together: small and large, husbands and wives, will celebrate the holidays in a Christian way, “in psalms and songs and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19), and in angelic sweet songs; Let us not crown the vestibule with laurels, roses, flowers - this is typical of pagans and Jews, but let us crown the vestibule with an honest and life-giving cross, saying with the apostle: “Let me not boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14). The Kingdom of Heaven belongs not to those who recline carelessly and rest, not to those who go to taverns, not to those who luxury and laugh, but to those who weep and repent and cry out to Him day and night; they will be comforted by the Comforter. Manasseh perfectly depicted the wrath that threatens unrepentant sinners, saying: “The wrath of Your rebuke against sinners is intolerable.” Woe to the fornicator, woe to the one who gets drunk and also to the slanderer! Woe to those who drink wine from tambourines, harps and pipes, “but do not regard the works of the Lord” (Is. 5:12)! Woe to those who mock the Divine Scriptures! Woe to those who waste the time of repentance in absent-mindedness and ridicule! They will seek time that they have wasted badly, and will not find it. Woe to those who are engaged in the game of grain, because they alienate themselves from the Body and Blood of Christ! Woe to those who desecrate the holy faith and agree with heretics! Woe to those who take wages from a mercenary, because to take it away means shedding blood! Woe to those who judge unjustly! Woe to those who resort to soothsayers! Woe to those who do what they should not do! Woe to those who suffer from envy and hatred! Woe to all who will be destined to become one at that hour, when they hear: “Depart from Me, O curse, into eternal fire!” (Matthew 25:41). To the Lord be glory and dominion forever. Amen. You might be interested in: