О СОВЕРШЕННОМ ОБРАЩЕНИИ К БОГУ ОТ ПРЕЛЕСТЕЙ МИРА И ГРЕХОВ

What happens in the baptismal font? The Holy Apostle Paul, speaking about the holy sacrament of baptism, compares its hidden power with the death and resurrection of the Lord. By plunging, he says, into the font, we die; Coming out of the font, we are resurrected. We die in the font for a carnal and sinful life, and we rise from the font for a spiritual, holy, godly life. Or do you not understand, just as we were baptized into Christ Jesus, we were baptized into His death? We are therefore buried in Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ has risen from the dead in the glory of the Father, so we too will begin to walk in newness of life. ...Our old man will be crucified with Him, so that the body of sin may be abolished, for no one will work against sin for us 43. So, just as the resurrected Lord is bright, so our nature becomes bright, having been renewed in the bath of rebirth 44 by the grace of the Holy Spirit. But let us not think, brethren, that grace alone produces everything here, and that it produces only externally or somehow mechanically. No, its saving action takes place invisibly - inside. The grace of the Spirit flowing 45 in baptism captures a series of internal changes of the heart and movements of the spirit and from them forms a new hidden heart of a person in us 46 . Therefore, the holy Apostle Peter calls baptism of good conscience an inquiry from God, 47 the formation of a special, grace of a strong, moral character. What and how it happens and should be here, I will explain to you with a few thoughts. The All-Merciful Lord, having created man in His image and likeness, thereby showed him the final goal in internal communication with Himself, protecting its achievement with known conditions at hand to man. God laid the path to achieving this goal in the zealous fulfillment of His holy will, which He imprinted on the pure and immaculate conscience of man, but did not bind him in the direction of his activity, but gave him the freedom to act as he wants, at his own discretion, so that he would arbitrarily and self-willingly determine himself to steadily walk in the known will of God. In order for man to have the opportunity to master his freedom, He, in the same spirit in which freedom dwells, introduced the fear of God, or a feeling of complete dependence on God Almighty, all-provider and all-rewarder. These are all the elements of our spiritual life according to the original dispensation. Combining together, they would form a moral spiritual person, whose life would be built and carried out in such a way that a person, in a sense of his complete dependence on God, would self-willingly determine himself to steadily walk in the holy will of God, interpreted by conscience, in the confidence that through this he will remain in inner communion with God, the source of life, and bliss in Him. This is what man is destined for, and this is how his life would always go, just as it always goes this way with the Holy Angels, if not for the fall. The fall upset the internal order of spiritual life. Man fell away from God, and direct communication with Him ceased; the feeling of dependence on Him froze or weakened - and man no longer had the strength to cope with his freedom, which did not rush to follow the will of God, especially since conscience either completely stopped interpreting the will of God, or began to interpret it crookedly. Thus the elements of spiritual life disintegrated, and there was no more spiritual life. Meanwhile, the nature of man remained the same, and his purpose remained the same. Therefore, his restoration could be accomplished only through the restoration of his original spiritual powers and their elevation into a predetermined mutual combination. This is what the sacrament of baptism performs after preliminary preparing a person for that by a number of moral changes... To explain this, I will give you one example. The Holy Apostle Peter preaches after the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Those who listened, after listening to the sermon, exclaimed: what should we do? 48 Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ... and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit 49 . Let's figure out what's here! The sermon enlightened the conscience; an enlightened conscience resurrected the feeling of dependence on God, or the fear of God, and now - a cry from the heart: what should we do? In response to this they receive: repent, believe, accept grace through baptism. To repent means to decide to leave deeds that are contrary to God, to turn to God 50 and to determine one’s freedom again to walk in His will, as it was originally determined. The repentant would be ready for this, but how to proceed to this when he feels, on the one hand, his moral powerlessness, and on the other, unpeace with God, whom he has always angered, and with his conscience, which he has always offended. In the healing of these main infirmities, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is given to him as the only means to peace and reunification with God, and the grace of the Spirit as the support of moral strength and firmness. Do you notice how here, in the new grace-filled dispensation, all the former elements and forces of spiritual life, weakened and disintegrated in the fall, are raised again to their meaning and union! The feeling of dependence on God is resurrected in repentance, conscience is enlightened by the word, freedom is strengthened by grace, communication with God is mediated through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Intercessor of God and men... Thus all the elements, each with its own special revitalizing medicine, come to life. All that remains now is to merge them together, to collect them, like rays, into one focus. This is done in the baptismal font, which in this regard is like a gracious crucible, where from the previously restored elements of spiritual life by all-effective grace a new creation is created in Christ Jesus 51, the hidden man of the heart is formed 52. We emerge from the font new in precisely this sense; we feel like we have tasted new life and begin to feel blissful. Look what is said about those who were converted by the preaching of the holy Apostle Peter. Having received the word, it is said, they were baptized 53. And then it is added: they began to dwell in teaching, communication, prayer, they were all together, they had everything in common, as if they were one soul and one body, they remained unanimously in the church, constantly praising God, and lived in joy and simplicity of heart... 54 As soon as they were baptized, they began to live a new life. This new life is recognized by all those who are baptized and is their destiny and inheritance. Having now collected into one thought all the principles of spiritually grace-filled life, corresponding to its original structure, we will see that everyone who is baptized in their inner mood is as follows: by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, having reconciled with God and receiving grace-filled power from Him, a Christian feels determined and strong to steadily walk in the will of God, about which he is zealous with readiness for any kind of work or sacrifice, feeling here also temporary joy in communion with God and anticipating the endless joy that will be in eternity. This is what the conscience consists of: questioning the good, or education of a Christian moral character. I bring this to you so that you do not forget that the power of baptism consists not only in the grace-filled renewal of the natural powers of the spirit, but also in a moral change of character, or both. According to God’s dispensation, moral changes first take place in a person’s spirit, and then grace, indwelling a person through the sacrament, imprints them on him and thereby renews his very nature. A Christian no longer has only nature, but also grace. In appearance, he is the same as all non-Christians, but in reality he is a dissolution and confusion of nature and grace. Copper, for example, alone produces a dull sound, but when combined with silver it sounds cleaner and more resonant, although at first sight the difference is not noticeable in both. Copper alone is our nature; copper combined with silver is the same nature blessed in baptism. Take an apple from a wild apple tree and a garden apple. In appearance they may be completely similar, but the inner dignity of both is completely different. Thus, a Christian and a non-Christian seem to be the same in appearance, but their inner character, not only their character, but also their composition, is not the same. All the strength of Christians lies within. Christians themselves cannot help but be aware of this difference and change, not to the detriment of their humility, but to give glory to God who saves them. Not everything in a person perishes by falling. Traces of the former beauty remain on all his forces, only they are scattered and disintegrated. It's the same as a broken mirror. When the internal structure of spiritual life is resumed, then it is the same as a whole mirror, which clearly reflects all the features and parts of the face of the beholder. Turning inward, can a Christian fail to recognize within himself this wholeness given to him? Before baptism, a person is the same as a paralytic in all his parts: neither standing nor moving. After baptism, he is the same as the healed one, about whom it is said that he walked, jumping and praising God 55. So, can the feeling of vigor and strength inherent in a Christian blessed in baptism not be evidenced in consciousness? And one more image. Telescopes have three compositions. When these compositions are pushed one into another, the tube does not show things as it should, but when they are moved apart in proportion, everything is then clearly visible in them... The tube is an image of our three-component structure: spirit, soul and body. In the fall, the spirit submitted to the soul, and the soul and spirit to the body, and man began to see his relationships poorly and behave badly in them. In a new birth of grace, the spirit is elevated to its rights, holds the soul in its rank, and through it the body... Man then receives a predetermined order of the parts of nature, clearly recognizes his relationship to heaven and earth and holds himself with dignity in these relationships. Can such a redevelopment be hidden from the eyes of the mind and conscience?! Do you see now what the power of holy baptism is and how its saving effects in us cannot hide from us?! Now go inside yourself and decide for yourself: is there what holy baptism gives or not? If there is, let us thank the Lord, without self-exaltation, however, for everything is from Him; if not, we will expose ourselves, and reproach ourselves, and hasten to make up for this through the sacrament of repentance, in which sinners are again baptized not in the font, but in tears, although they receive a new life the same as that given in the font. Amen. About an integral feature of Christian life. Remember my last conversation. There we saw that the believer must come out of the baptismal font zealous exclusively for pleasing God, with a willingness to do anything for the sake of that sacrifice. This heat of zeal for God, with love and selflessness, constitutes such an integral feature of Christian life that, in whom it is, he lives; whoever does not have it is either dead or frozen and asleep. This is the seed of life and, together, the life force. It is the fruit of the combination of grace and freedom. Man completely surrenders himself to God's guidance; grace, having come, receives it, fulfills it, combines with it, and from this hidden treasury of life comes a man of renewal 56, zealous for good deeds 57, chosen to be holy and blameless before God in love 58. When adults are baptized, they really become such immediately after baptism, for they immediately, on their own behalf, represent all the necessary dispositions of the heart to be combined with grace. Regarding those who are baptized as infants, the Divine economy of our salvation has deigned to establish such an order that everything that depends on the grace of God for the beginning of Christian life in us is given immediately, and renewal is accomplished by grace; that which depends on our freedom is postponed until age, until the first confession and communion, when a person self-consciously and self-willingly surrenders himself to grace, and then the renewal that was previously accomplished, as if independently of him, by grace alone, is assimilated to his person and begins to take place together with grace and freedom. Then he, too, is strong by the grace of God, zealous exclusively for pleasing Christians to God with complete self-sacrifice. Everyone knows that up to this moment, so decisive in life, everything almost depends on parents and successors, and then on them, and on our freedom; further - and from those diverse relationships in life into which an incomprehensible combination of circumstances puts everyone. From the effects on our consciousness and freedom of all these influences and from the way we use them, it turns out that for some it is all light, for others it is all darkness, for others it is neither light nor darkness... I mean by this that some, after a wonderful childhood and adolescence, having come to consciousness, love Christianity with a strong love and are zealous for it unswervingly, ascending from strength to strength and striving to achieve fulfillment according to the age Christ 60, others deviate from the Lord into the path of passions, into slavery to the spirit of the world and its prince, and live in oblivion of God and ungodly orders; still others do not know to whom they belong - either to Christ or to the world; they outwardly participate in all orders of Christian life, but turn their thoughts and hearts to another area, and place their joy, pleasure and happiness in other objects; These are Christians who do not have the spirit of Christ! Their concern is not about the Lord, but about one thing: how to live peacefully and comfortably on earth, among all the orders into which the random situation of temporary life places them, without, however, revealing themselves to be alien to the Christian order, and without declaring themselves to be outspoken fighters against God and Christ. So, if, turning back, we want to conscientiously determine what we are in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom we exclusively served in holy baptism, then some will turn out to be zealous lovers of the Lord and Christian life, others devoted to the world and passions - Christ-fighters, others - external Christians with a peace-loving heart. To whom of these should I speak now? The first ones do not require a word. We can only, following them, glorify the Lord and please them... Blessed are you who have heeded the calling of the Lord!.. You walk in the light of His face and rejoice in His name at every hour 61, crying out: my heart disappears in You, O God, God of my heart and my God! 62 Why extend a word to the latter when they are not here and never are?.. They have completely strayed onto the path of destruction. We can only regret them and pray. So, my word is to you - external Christians, without the spirit of Christ, without a heart completely devoted to the Lord, without zeal for pleasing Him alone!.. Or not to you alone, but to us together, for I am the first from you. What will we tell ourselves? Ah, brothers, let us force ourselves to rise to a feeling of fear for ourselves and our eternal fate... Think about what all the true lovers of God say about us - both those who are still here on earth and those who are already in heaven. What else can they say other than the following: “These are people who, it seems, are from us, but are not ours.” It seems simple, but what a terrible word! For if we are not theirs, then they are not ours, and nothing more than theirs is ours. It became not our Christ, not ours, all His promises, not our paradise and eternal bliss. And if it’s not ours, we ourselves know that it should be ours?! See what a disaster! Meanwhile, look around - everything here is almost Christian: Christian orders, Christian concepts, Christian speeches, many Christian rules and deeds!.. What is missing?.. A Christian heart is missing. It is directed in the wrong direction... its goodness is not in God, but in itself and in the world, and its paradise is not in heaven, but on earth. What is missing is this strong, like death, zeal for pleasing God and salvation. It’s as if we fell asleep and froze... and we move as the flow of life moves us. Let us arouse this jealousy in ourselves, for who will do this except us?! We ourselves have become attached to the world, but we ourselves will tear ourselves away from it. Let us go into your cold, careless and careless heart, and begin to persuade it in a friendly manner - to finally come to its senses, shake off the bonds of passions and peace, self-imposed upon yourself, and strive to the Lord. Let us say to the soul this way: “You were created in the image and likeness of God. The infinite God was so pleased to arrange you so as to shine in you with His perfections, like the sun shines in a small drop of water, and to be visible in you - both to you and to everyone who sees you, earthly and heavenly. But you turned away from God and turned to the world, took on his vile image and through this began to bear the bestial likeness of the prince of this age. Remember your first nobility, great and incomparable with anything, regret your present disgrace and turn to the Lord to be renewed in the image of the One who created you. God is looking for you and, searching, surrounds you with all His mercies and care: your life is His and everything you need for life is His: light, and air, and food, and clothing, and housing, and everything that is in you and you is His. And what else is this? For your sake, He descended from heaven, suffered, died on the Cross, resurrected, ascended to heaven, sent the Holy Spirit and established the Church on earth, in which He combined everything necessary for your salvation, and most importantly - by birth, by the order of your external life, He introduced you into this treasury of spiritual blessings!.. You see how much love! And for all this He demands from you one heart of yours. And a drop of water, warmed by the sun, rises up... Why are you hesitating to turn to the Lord, warmed on all sides by the warmth of His love?! Don’t you see, everyone around is coming to the Lord - the poor, the ignorant, and the unlearned. Why are you standing there, allowing everyone to precede you into the Kingdom?! Like you're worse than others? Are you busy 63 with what?! Are you deprived of something that is given to everyone?! Why are you standing there?! Move, hurry, before the door is closed, still open to receive all those who turn now. Why are you standing? Turn to the Lord and begin to work diligently for Him... Time flies... the forces grow old, become coarse and approach immobility in their wrong direction. Meanwhile, now, tomorrow - death. See that you don’t remain completely in this ossified coldness towards the Lord. Remember the terrible end, when God will finally turn away from those who do not turn to Him and reject those who reject Him, and be moved by fear to rush to the Lord. Seek the Lord! God or the world... there is no middle ground. Or are you sleeping so carelessly that you don’t see anything?! Everything is there, nothing here; there is truth, here is a ghost; there is peace, here there are useless worries; there is contentment, here there is unceasing languor; there is joy and joy, here there is only sorrow and pain of 64 hearts. You know all this, you have experienced it all, and yet you remain in the same bustle of mind and heart... You want to establish heaven on earth... It’s already the eighth thousand, how peace-loving people are exhausted in the means to establish paradise on earth... And not only is there no success, on the contrary, everything is going for the worse... You won’t have time either, but will only be exhausted, chasing the illusory good of the world, like children chasing a fleeing rainbow.” With such and similar speeches, we will persuade our souls to love the Lord completely and turn to Him, finally becoming decisively jealous of our salvation. Will the same thing happen to us that happens to balloons... Being filled with gas, the finest element, with what speed they rush upward! Let us also fill our souls with heavenly truths and convictions. They will penetrate into the heart, attract desires, and there our whole being will be directed towards the sky and everything heavenly. However, what soul does not know all this? We all know that we must belong exclusively to the Lord in our hearts and turn everything to please Him alone - small and great. But when we need to get down to business - to renounce everything, we begin to use various excuses in order to remain with our addictions... “Where are we! - they say, “This high life belongs only to the chosen ones... We are somehow... He who is chosen is especially called... Here is the Apostle Paul... and others, like him, apparently called.” To this I will say this: didn’t these chosen ones themselves follow the call of the Lord? Were they bound, as it were, attracted by grace? They heard the word, submitted and rushed to the Lord... Even though there are special chosen ones... and everything is special for them... But there is also a path common to all. Let's go along this common path... In general, we are all chosen. As soon as the word of truth has touched our ears, it means that we are chosen... The Lord calls us, and we are unresponsive if we do not follow Him. Look how others treated... One heard: do not hide treasures on earth for yourself 65 - and left everything... Another read: man is troubled in vain! treasures, and no one knows who will collect 66, I left vanity and entered on the solid path of pleasing God. The third looked at the crucifix with the inscription: “This is what I did for you; what are you doing for Me?..” - and surrendered to the Lord with all my heart... What is this: are all extraordinary callings?! Yes, every day we hear and read a thousand such truths... Can we after this consider ourselves uncalled?.. No, brethren, it is not a calling, but a matter for us. How were these converts converted? They realized that there is no life except in the Lord, and they changed their unlike life. This should be the case for everyone. Internal change or turning point depends on conscientiousness in relation to the conscious truth. And this conscientiousness is always from us... let us apply it and overcome ourselves... No one from outside will enter the inner sanctuary of the heart... There everything is decided by man with his conscience and consciousness... Let us stand within ourselves before the face of God and, having more vividly reproduced everything that God wants, and having realized the inevitability and urgency of that for salvation, let us lay this covenant in our hearts: “From now on I will begin to belong to the Lord with all my heart and to Him alone work with all our might." And our election will be accomplished, for election is the combination of our determination with the calling of God. The Lord is near... 67 He comes to everyone and pushes in the heart, will anyone open it! If the heart is a closed vessel, who is to blame?! The fault is our lack of conscientiousness towards the learned truth. If it weren’t for this, everyone would always be directed towards the Lord. And how much is required?! After all, we are not completely alienated from the Lord. Only pleasing Him is not in the first place for us... is not our main business, but rather an afterthought. Our business is to please ourselves, to please people and worldly customs. Put now please Put the Lord first and rearrange everything else according to the demands of this single goal - and your inner mood will change... Everything will remain the same... only your heart will become new. That's it! Is this too much?! I would like to tell you much more about the same things, but I see that I have tired you. You can tell your soul the rest yourself. For who, besides ourselves, will help the Lord to take possession of our hearts?.. Oh, if only we would submit to Him and surrender our hearts to Him, and contemplate Him face to face in ourselves, and all would revolve in His light around Him, as all the luminaries turn around the sun, turned towards it and illuminated by it, forming their own special harmonious choir! Amen. Our peace is a false peace Is our conversion complete? It is written in the Gospel about one rich young man who was looking for salvation and could not find it 68. This young man wanted to be saved and did something to save himself; but he had some passions that, as his conscience told him, were incompatible with the work of salvation. Having heard about the Savior, he sought a conversation with Him, perhaps in the hope of finding in His teaching some justification for his innermost wrong dispositions. “Perhaps,” he thought, “the very things I do are enough for salvation, and God will not condemn me for the wrongs that are in my heart.” As you know, he was wrong in his expectation. The Savior told him such words that he departed from Him in grief 69 . The Lord demanded from him as a sacrifice exactly what he wanted to keep for himself. The young man had many acquisitions, enjoyed them and everything that came with them: contentment, a prominent position among others, honors, a certain degree of power and the opportunity to do whatever he wanted through others and among others. He did good deeds, but they cost him nothing; their fulfillment did not require any sacrifices from him. The Lord saw from the first glance at the young man what his soul was infected with. Therefore, having lightly touched upon what he was doing, with the whole weight of His Divine determination he laid down on what he wanted to hide in himself - on his addiction to acquisitions... You fulfilled, he says, all the commandments... now, if you want to be perfect, go, sell your property and give it to the poor; and you will have treasure in heaven; give up everything - come and follow Me 71. To have treasure in heaven - what could be more valuable than that? And yet, the young man left grieving... probably because what he had on earth was more valuable to him than what was promised in heaven. Meanwhile, we cannot say that he was careless about salvation. His whole trouble was that he did not have a perfect conversion to God. He wanted to save his soul, and he did not want to give up the love of the world, but these two things are incompatible... Where the Lord is, there is nothing worldly. And where there is something worldly, there is nothing of the Lord. Having such an example of God’s disapproval for imperfect conversion to Him, let us turn, brethren, to ourselves and test whether our conversion is perfect? And if not, we will be jealous to make it perfect. Are we so detached from everything that we can call ourselves ready at any moment for everything that the Lord demands? And if not, let us take care to raise our renunciation to such an extent. For this is the main thing - to sacrifice everything to the will of God. When such a turn is completed within us, then our conversion is complete and there will be no obstacle on any side for us to show ourselves as perfect, and for the Lord to recognize us as such in our deeds. Just as a bird, not tied and not imprisoned in a cage, flies freely through the air, so one who has completely renounced the addictions of the world freely, unhindered, acts in the realm of the will of God. Whoever leaves any addictions to himself is free as long as his affairs do not concern this addiction. As soon as the Lord demands him as a sacrifice, he is troubled, embarrassed, and then, like a young man, he departs from the Lord, although he departs in sorrow. If you look at the young man and others like him from the outside, you can feel sorry, saying: “Look, they worked so hard, and it’s all for nothing!..” But if you were to analyze them on the merits of the matter, it turns out that they had no work at all. The first labor is the one before which they turn back. The sin living in us, or, better, the enemy working through it, is very cunning and knows how to hide under the brightest appearances... Everyone knows that each of us can have many disapproving dispositions and inclinations; but between them there is always one or two dominant ones, around which all the others are grouped. When the desire for salvation is kindled, conscience demands to eradicate everything that is wrong, without sparing oneself and despite any diseases of one’s heart. The internal work begins. A conscientious person willingly sacrifices everything to the Lord. Souls who bury themselves on both sides 72 and suffer from self-pity, although they refuse much that is worth little to them, but always retain for themselves what their selfhood feeds on, and thereby spoil everything. They think that they have done a lot, but yet they have not done anything; They think that in such and such matters it is not very important to have any trait of love of sin or love of peace, and yet for them personally this little thing is everything - all sin and the whole world. Like a tree, when its many roots are cut off and left alone, everything lives, and blooms, and bears fruit, so sin and the world live in us all, although it seems that we serve it only with a small part... And from here this is what comes out: just as one ivy root, growing, entangles the whole tree and sometimes drowns it out, so sin, which side remains in us, fills our whole life with its spirit, and defiles and makes all our deeds obscene in the sight of God. Then the very deeds that are done as if to please the Lord become an instrument of the passion we cherish within ourselves, that is, piety - an instrument of sin and peace, and forms of serving God - as a cover for deeds that are not God's. And it turns out that we are a fruit, red in appearance, with rottenness or a wormhole inside. There are many people who love peace with a clear conscience. The fear of perishing forces them to do some things according to the commandments, and self-pity keeps them in the service of the world and sin. They think that they have corrected themselves, but in reality they are what the Lord says: you are neither lukewarm nor cold, the Imam will vomit you out of My mouth 73 . Deliver us, Lord, from this! Cain made a sacrifice to God... but God did not pay attention to it. Why? Because he brought something that was not dear to him. Abraham is glorified throughout the world as the father of believers, because, at the request of the Lord, he was ready to sacrifice or had already sacrificed his beloved, only-begotten son to God, and brought what was dearest to him... God demands the same sacrifices from each of us... And rightfully so! He Himself has done and is doing everything for us. Not only did He create us, He preserves and provides for us. But when it was necessary to arrange our salvation, He did not use some insignificant creature for this, but sent His Only Begotten Son into the world, and not so that He would act here with power, but so that He would be humiliated, tortured and betrayed to death. After such a Sacrifice on the part of the Lord for our sake, what sacrifice can we legally retreat for the sake of the Lord?! Those who hide some little piece of peace and love of sin in the secret corner of their hearts, perhaps think that their cunning will not become known to anyone. True, Rachel managed to hide the idol she had stolen from her father’s searches. But how can one hide from the all-seeing and all-seeing eye of God? We live and act in the presence of God. Or perhaps someone thinks that what he retains from worldly attachments and sinful habits is insignificant? But everyone stand in your conscience before God and, without misinterpretation or concealment, judge: when we do not want to give up something for the sake of the Lord, it means the same as if we said to Him: “This is for you, and this is for me.” How can we do this when we clearly know that He demands everything from us, and also demands that which we keep for ourselves? No matter how insignificant what we hold in our hearts from the world may be, if because of it we enter into an argument with God, contradict Him, resist Him, then we are complete fighters against God. Moreover, if we refuse to obey God for the sake of passion for something, then the object of our passion is dearer to us than God. If God is dearer than God, then so is our God, for that is the God of the heart, which is dearer to him than anything else. It has become that our God is something that is not God, and we are idolaters... Is this not enough? Isn’t it better, brethren, after this for us to stop considering our peace-loving passions as insignificant and take care to awaken our sleeping conscience and make it jealous of the final renunciation of everything. Our peace, if indeed we rest, is a false peace. The righteous Lord will put us in such circumstances in which everything within us will be disturbed, and the deviations of our hearts will be exposed before everyone. So isn’t it better to forestall this and by peacefully changing your moods avert torments that will no longer bring any benefit? I offer all this to your wisdom, so that, having entered into yourself, you have discussed yourself and, as a gift to the Lord, our Savior, prepared to offer and in fact brought all your loved ones and treasures that are displeasing to Him, reviewed and corrected all the unevenness and irregularities of the heart, which sometimes hides worldly goals and passions under external decorum, in order to present yourself to God as a pure virgin, 74 without filth, or vice, or anything from there are 75 of them. Amen. What to do to be worthy of grace, or what can the kingdom of God be compared to? I remind you of one comforting Gospel story. The Lord is approaching Jericho. There, along the way, sat a blind man. Hearing that the Lord was close, he began to cry out: Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! 76 Others wanted to stop him, but he cried out irresistibly from strong faith: Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! The Lord heard his cry and healed him. Let us bless the Lord, who heeded the cry of the blind man, but let us also bless the blind man, who never ceased crying out to Him for help. And here we have, brethren, an image of our salvation, an image of how the soul is delivered from spiritual blindness, from the darkness of sin and from all the bonds of peace and passion that bind it. The soul seeks and cries out, but until the Lord comes to her aid, her eyes will not be opened and her bonds will not fall away. Without Me, says the Lord, you cannot do anything 77. A Christian can do everything, but only through the Lord who strengthens him 78 , for grace, having come, does in him both what he wants and what he does for good pleasure 79 . Do not be horrified when you hear that spiritual insight and freedom from the bonds of the world and sin, or, what is the same, a complete turning of the heart to the Lord, is a work of grace, in the thought that it seems to be far away... On the contrary, rejoice in this, for what is from the Lord is near, just as the Lord Himself is God, existing near everyone, and not distant. Everything is always ready for us from the Lord; we just need to apply what depends on us. We are expected to have an ardent desire, search and compel ourselves to renounce everything and turn to the Lord. But let no one think that when all this is in him, everything that is sought has already been achieved. No; but, when all this is there, we must expect that the grace of God, having come, will in fact bring about renunciation and conversion. The prisoner diligently desires freedom, seeks it and makes an effort on his part to obtain it... But he is still in chains until the one who has the power to resolve comes and resolves him. The same is true for us... The enemy has bound us with strong bonds through passion and peace. When we come to the consciousness of this captivity and feel the unbearable and harmful nature of this situation, we begin to desire freedom, seek it and use our efforts to obtain it; but despite all this, we all remain in these bonds until the mighty Lord comes, binds, as He Himself said, the one holding us in bonds, releases us and lets us go free 80. Here is a tree with many roots, deeply planted in the soil, embedded in the ground. If it had desired freedom, it could not have received it otherwise than when a strong hand, approaching, snatched it from the bowels of the earth. We have deeply and multi-branched ourselves into the world and its customs... Even though we have already felt the burden and destruction of this, we cannot be torn out until God Himself torn us out, until God, having come, delivers us from this dark power and presents us to the Kingdom of the Son of His love 81 . Someone will say: “What exactly should I do in order to be worthy of such grace?” Do you want to be separated from the world and be one with Christ? First of all, apply to this desire all the sincerity and strength that depends on you, and at the same time begin to seek grace, without sparing yourself. Where to look? In everything in which the Lord was pleased to hide it for us, as in some vessels... This is in the entire structure of our Holy Church and all its rites, especially in the holy sacraments - confession and holy communion. For this, go to the Church of God as soon as possible, pray fervently at home, read holy books, have spiritual conversations with whomever you can, undertake some feat upon yourself - in fasting, vigil, solitude, labors of helping others, do not scatter, do not fuss, do not seek empty glory and the exclamations of people; retire to yourself and fall to the Lord in your heart; Above all, speak as you should, confess and partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. So seek and you will find, as the Lord promised 82. So talk, and it will be opened to you! 83 Everything is from the Lord; but only those who earnestly, without sparing themselves, receive this all receive it... Even if it is difficult; but it is comforting that they will certainly find... Grace will finally come, and then the soul, like a bird freed from its snares, will freely begin to soar in the region of the Kingdom of Christ. Just don’t be lazy to look, and look exactly where you can find it, that is, in the Church and the church dispensation. Those who seem to be seeking the Lord are doing bad things, but they are alienating from the Holy Church of God and everything churchly, or they adhere to this only partially, as if by chance, without confidence in the essential necessity of such an order of life. No, you will not find the Lord and His grace outside the Church. Outside the Church is the world, the kingdom of the enemy of Christ and ours... There they find destruction, and not saving grace... The Church of God, all and in all its parts filled with grace, is a vessel or receptacle for vessels of grace. Have you heard about a substance called electricity? When it is excited in a thing or filled with it in a thing, then that thing becomes a vessel of electricity, and whoever touches it, a spark emanates from it and makes a sensitive blow to the finger or to the part with which you touch it. It’s just as if someone arranged a whole house full of this substance and then filled every thing in the house with this, so that whoever entered, no matter what he touched, would receive a spark and a blow from everything, so God built the Church: he filled it all and everything that is in it with grace, so that those who seek through everything churchly can perceive it. One is converted by the word, another by singing, another by the icon, another by the sacred rite... one is amazed by something great, and another by something small; but in all cases the effect is the same: as a blow comes, it strikes the heart, and from that moment it becomes different, accepting, as it were, some kind of betrothal or pledge, as a result of which, having renounced the world, it begins to live in the Lord alone. So, if you want to be separated from the world and to be with one Christ, sincerely desire this and, without sparing yourself, begin to search, walking in all the ranks and institutions of the Holy Church, under these, as it were, clouds containing blessed water, and you will find. The moment will come when God will open your eyes, take you by the hand from the dark power and introduce you to the Kingdom of the Son of His love. Whether this quest will be long or short is not our business to determine. There is an eye observing your work and waiting impatiently for you to finally ascend to a state in which it is fully possible to influence you. Wait and be complacently patient in the labors of the quest. Just as in external nature - let us use the same comparison - the aforementioned electricity does not act on every body, but only on those that are predisposed to it, so in the spiritual world, until the necessary dispositions to receive grace are imagined in our spirit, grace is not poured into it, so as not to be poured out in vain. The main obstacle, as I already reminded, is our insincerity in relation to the known truth. We know that the world is incompatible with Christ, and yet, intending to embark on the path of following Christ or having already entered it, we regret certain things and passions and drag them along with us, as if in defiance of the immutable determination of the Lord that it is impossible for God and mammon to work 84 . The Lord sees our heart either in the love of peace, or in the love of God, that is, half-worldly and half-Christian, and does not entrust Himself and His grace to it, just as an owner who has eyes will not pour water or anything else into a leaky vessel. No, you must completely renounce the world in your heart and be a stranger in it, although sometimes need forces you to outwardly participate in its affairs. The Lord is waiting for this disgust, and He Himself hastens to produce it in us through the influence of His Divine contempt 85 in the heart, in order to then fill us with Himself. But without us it will not produce it. We ourselves need to desire dislike and disgust for the world and force ourselves to do so. The Kingdom of God is what you can compare it to! Imagine a vast valley full of varied vegetation. In the middle is a beautiful house, in which there is a prince of beauty, intelligence, strength and indescribable wealth... From the house, paths radiate like rays, which the further from the house, the more they mix and intertwine with each other. Despite this intertwining, however, they can all lead to home, that is, they do not represent lost paths. But to the last limits of the valley, paths begin, which intertwine with alien paths, leading not to the house, but in the opposite direction from it, beyond the boundaries of this blissful royal valley. There are many people walking along all the paths. Everyone goes to the prince, who promises those who reach him eternal rejoicing - in a house whose abodes and pleasures are innumerable. The prince sees everyone walking and all the labors that everyone undertakes in this procession. But only those who enter paths that are not mixed with alien paths begin to see and feel it... and the closer they move to the house, the more clearly they see the prince; and, finally, his face is so imprinted on them that they completely disappear in him, as if they dissolve with him in consciousness, forgetting themselves, for he is all sweetness. Those who walk along mixed paths know that there is a prince, but do not see him, desire him, but do not taste him, seek him, but do not possess him. On the contrary, noisy rejoicings from a kingdom hostile to the prince reach them and occupy them, and as they walk, they end up first on the prince’s path, then on the enemy’s, and lean now towards the prince’s house, then in the opposite direction. Some of them, after walking around a little, completely stray into the enemy’s area; others, little by little moving, step onto the unmixed paths and rush towards the prince’s house, others don’t even want to go to the enemy, and are not in a hurry to get to the house, but seem to have decided to wander here for the rest of their lives, reputed to be princely and not belonging to him in appearance. Those who, bypassing the mixed paths, step onto the unmixed ones, for the first time meet the bright eyes of the prince, from which an insatiable fire of zeal for a hasty procession is implanted in their hearts. Here the charming effect of enemy clicks stops... I do not find it necessary to interpret this comparison at length; it should be clear to you. Blessed are those who have crossed mixed paths! These are those who have completely renounced the world. Damned are those who went to the enemy side! These are those who have completely given themselves over to the world and the enemy. Those who follow mixed paths can be both blessed and damned. Those wandering along these paths are those who have not yet completely renounced the world and remain here either because they are going through a period of renunciation, which takes time and does not happen suddenly for everyone, or because, out of crafty self-pity, they do not want to completely part with the world, but are thinking of somehow enjoying the world and not being deprived of the part of Christ. The latter will face the pitiful fate of those whom the Lord threatens with judgment: you are neither warm nor cold 86 . And the first thing to say is: why hesitate, chasing ghosts? Step boldly into the path of renunciation. The prince already sees you and desires you. Blow away these mixed paths - enter the unmixed ones. There your eyes will meet the eyes of the prince... From them fire will fall into your heart and inflame it with all-sufficient love and zeal to go to his house, knowing no rest or fatigue... And so again we came to the same point as last time, that is, that we must completely renounce the world and everything worldly in order to be with Christ. Begin, brothers, like mother-in-law, so that you will comprehend 87. May the Lord bless your undertaking and may you prosper in your efforts! Amen. Where there is God, there is bliss In whom God will reign within. Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness 88 . According to the instructions of this commandment of God, even now I want to talk to you about the same thing, namely, about the complete aspiration of our hearts towards the Lord. Although this is a very ordinary subject, for what is more ordinary than the thought: “Renounce everything and seek the one God, in Whom is the fullness of goodness” - but since He, perhaps more than any other, is forgotten, just as the thought of the sun, which is so necessary for us and constantly illuminates us, is often forgotten, then there is a need to remind of Him, and not only indicate, but also reproduce this sun on our spiritual horizon. What is most important, our consciousness and our heart should not be divorced from that. And what is in the heart, it is sweet to talk about and sweet to listen to, even if it were incessant. So don't get bored. Seek first the Kingdom of God. Seek first... - that is, among your concerns and concerns, the search for the Kingdom of God should come first. This should be our main concern; everything else must be an addition, must follow this, like a fruit and an appendage. What is the Kingdom of God? This is a gift from God. Where is this Kingdom? This Kingdom of God is within you, - the Lord lays down the law 89. This means that the Kingdom of God is the soaring of God within you, and the search for the Kingdom of God is the search for God to reign within us. Over what? Above everything that is in us, above our thoughts, desires, feelings, intentions, deeds, is the search for God to become the King of our mind, heart and will... God is the King of our mind, when the mind, through obedience to faith, having assimilated for itself everything communicated to us in holy revelation, thinks about one God and judges everything that exists and happens according to God. God is the King of our will and conscience, when, having imprinted on ourselves the commandments of God and laid them down as an immutable law, we do not allow ourselves, in either the small or the great, to deviate even a little from the conscious will of God. God is the God of our heart, when, having felt the sweetness of the Divine, it rejects all earthly sweets and, finding no taste in anything earthly, everything lives in heaven, where its treasure is. This happens inside. But the Kingdom of God extends inwardly and outwardly... For when everything that is said within us is accomplished, then everything external is rebuilt in the same spirit and direction; the tongue, eyes, hearing, and all other senses begin to act in the same spirit; the same spirit then guides every outward movement and every action - alone, in the family, in office, in society and in all everyday relationships... In a word, then in all manifestations of our inner life, God is the tactile guide, which is imprinted in the attention of everyone, according to the word of the Lord: so may your light be enlightened before men, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven 90 . The one in whom God reigns within, you see participating in all matters to which his position obliges him; but in them he is only externally; Inwardly, he is entirely in God, from Whom come the beckons for him for all sorts of deeds and undertakings, for their number, breadth and manner of accomplishment. In such, what the apostle commanded is faithfully fulfilled: let those who have have wives be as if they have not; and he who weeps, as if he does not weep; and rejoicing, as if not rejoicing; and those who buy, as if not containing; and demanding this world, but not demanding 91. So: by whom the Kingdom of God is sought and found, in him God is all things in all things 92; so that just as He rests in heaven on the Cherubim and Seraphim, so He rests in him on all the powers of his spirit, which itself, having dissolved in Him with consciousness and self-activity, directs everything, both internally and externally, to please Him alone, having loved Him, as commanded, with all the heart, with all the soul, with all the thought and with all the strength 93 . To this thought, I will bring to your mind one circumstance from the Old Testament history. Among the people of God it often happened that one, two, or more kings, one after another, rose up and, carried away by the customs of the pagans, began idolatry among themselves. Then idols appeared in large numbers - on the hills, in the groves, in the city squares and even in the church itself. They began to serve them then, and service to the true God was forgotten. But when later God raised up a king in him, according to His own heart, like Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah and others, his first task was to cleanse the church, the city, all the hills and groves and the whole kingdom from idols. Iniquity was driven away, piety shone forth. The one true God was honored and worshiped in the church, and in the city, and in the villages, and in the fields. God was again apparently their King for all. Something similar happens in us. Each of us is a small kingdom. The king is ourselves, our consciousness and initiative. Subjects are the strength of our being, the strength of body, soul and spirit. The sanctuary of God in us is the heart. When our king - consciousness and freedom - turns away from God and turns towards himself and creatures, then our entire being is filled with passions and perverse inclinations, like some kind of idols; every power of soul and body becomes a place of priesthood to a special idol... God is forgotten. We then serve in the body, for example, voluptuousness, laziness, lust, sleep, swearing in dances, festivities, theaters, etc., just as the pagans served Venus, Bacchus and others. In our souls we serve vanity, man-pleasing, envy, anger, hatred, the interests of the passion to shine, to please, and so on, all of which make up in us the idol of selfishness and inveterate egoism, that is, we then fully worship idols and serve other gods with all our strength. We are in oblivion of God, aversion to God, hatred of God. But when the mercy of God finally meets us and He sends us the spirit of fear and reverence, then our king awakens - consciousness and freedom and, turning to God, zealously begins to cleanse his kingdom of all idols, drives away passions from all his strength and, instead of them, imprints the corresponding virtues in order to please God with them, setting out in advance to serve Him alone to the position of the stomach; then in our sanctuary it is not selfishness that characterizes, but selflessness and devotion to God, and in the soul and body, instead of passions, the holy fruits of the spirit: humility, meekness, abstinence, purity, love, peace, long-suffering, hard work, and so on, and all this for the sake of God, for the sake of pleasing Him, in a feeling of complete dependence on Him and an obligation of conscience - everything is directed according to His will and to His glory. Then the thought of God, love of God, devotion to God, and worship of God are restored in us. God reigns in us, but everything that is contrary to God, displeasing to God - both small and great, inside and outside - is driven away and destroyed. This is the reign of God in us! Wouldn’t anyone think: “Everything is Divine and everything is God... and nothing extraneous... nothing from the blessings of this world that surrounds us... How hard, dry, joyless it is!..” On the contrary, here is our place, our rank, our paradise, when we rush to God and direct everything to please Him alone. For when this happens on our part, then God is not an outside spectator of such changes within us, but He Himself condescends to us and unites with our soul. And where God is, there is bliss. Like a bride and groom who love themselves mutually, so blessed are the souls who, through dedication to God, have been united with Him. It is only necessary to strictly observe the conditions of this combination and its obligations. The Apostle said: I am jealous of you (believers, converts) with the jealousy of God, because I have betrothed you to one husband, in order to present you to Christ as a pure virgin 94 . Do you know the feelings of the bride for the groom?! Our souls should have the same feelings towards Christ the Lord. Then it doesn’t even occur to the bride to look at anything or anyone, her only thoughts are about the groom, her only feelings are for the groom. This is how we should be disposed towards the Lord. And by thoughts alone, deviation towards anything other than Him is already a violation of the marriage union with Him, and not just by feelings and dispositions. The Lord your God is a jealous God, says the prophet 95. Just as a husband or groom is jealous, so God is jealous of our souls. He cannot tolerate it when we set our hearts on anything other than Him. But just as a wife or bride, although she is on good terms with everyone according to the law of cohabitation, is nevertheless devoted in her heart only to the groom or her husband, so let the soul do everything that cannot but be done according to the conditions of life, but with its inner turning everything should be directed towards the one God. The groom or husband does not discern whether the person to whom the wife or bride wants to bow is large or small, but does not tolerate the deviation itself, no matter who it concerns, so God is angry with the soul, whether it is partial to large or small things. And He sees all this. The bride can still somehow hide her inner betrayal from the groom, but nothing can be hidden from God. He sees everything - and He is not indifferent to the betrayals of our hearts... and then He also sends punishment - first by immediately reducing the outpouring of His generosity into the soul, which, along with deviation from God, begins to experience darkness in thoughts, confusion in desires, disorder in feelings... and this is if there is a slight deviation! What can I say about the big one?! Then the Lord departs... leaves the soul... divorces it. But when it is not the Lord who is united with the soul, then you yourself know who... May the Lord deliver us all from this calamity! So, brethren, this is not the first time I incline my speech to the fact that not in part, but completely, we must submit to the Lord and surrender ourselves to Him, so that if you do not incline to this, at least mentally, in your soul, you will say: “It is impossible otherwise, we must seek the Lord and strive towards Him alone with all our being. There is only one thing left: either death, or do this.” God and mammon cannot work 96. “Whoever is not with Me,” said the Lord, “is with Me; and whoever does not gather with Me scatters 97 . Don't be horrified! Keep one thing in mind: this kind of arrangement of life is not violence, but an exodus to freedom, not sorrow, but bliss, not deprivation, but an entry into the fullness of well-being. And, keeping this in mind, move yourself accordingly to action. May the Lord send courage to your heart and strength to your spirit. Amen. Last time you heard about the Kingdom of God, which is within us 98. Isn’t it outside of us?! It also exists outside of us. Unfold the calendar and read: today such and such a saint, tomorrow such and such, the day after tomorrow such... and so on, every day has its own saint. Collectively, here are placed all those who have pleased God from the ages - forefathers, fathers, prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs and martyrs, reverend fathers and reverend mothers, unmercenaries, fools for Christ's sake. The host is very large! They all rejoice in heaven, they pray for us and help us. This is one part of the Kingdom of God that is outside of us - the Church of the firstborn, written in heaven. Descending from here to earth, we see how, under their benevolent and prayerful influence and here in the Church of God, true believers are reborn by the grace of God, mature and ascend to the measure of the age of the fulfillment of Christ, 99 so that, having lived like them on earth, like them they will be glorified in heaven. It is from these and others, heavenly and earthly together, that the grace-filled Kingdom of Christ, the Church of those saved in the Lord, is made up, the object of God’s blessings and the goal of the desire of all people who truly understand their meaning. Taking your attention away from this blissful vision of the Kingdom of God, now look at what is happening around you, and you will see that, in contrast to this Kingdom of Christ, there stands another kingdom - the kingdom of the prince of this age, made up of all the peace-loving and sin-loving people who have departed and are living, erected and supported by the malicious malice of our primordial enemy, contrary to the compassionate care of the Lord for us, in deception, our deception and destruction. All of us living on earth are inevitably under the influence of both of them and sometimes we lean towards one or the other, sometimes we stand between them, as if undecided, which side to stick to and where to lean. This is what came to my mind now, and I am compelled to tell you, brethren, the law known to all of you: do not love the world, nor those in the world 100; get out from among the peace-loving people and do not touch their uncleanness 101. I would like, however, for you to voluntarily make such a good choice or turn. Therefore, I want to show you the contrast between the characteristic features of the Kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of the prince of this age. I don’t think that any of you does not know the truth and salvation of the former, the lies and destructiveness of the latter. But assuming that no matter how much trouble or something else forces these thoughts out of your head and heart, I don’t think it’s superfluous to remind you of this. In every kingdom there is a king, laws, advantages, or promises and rewards, and the end to which it leads. All these features in the Kingdom of Christ are definitely clear, undoubtedly true and immutable, but in the kingdom of this age they are false, deceptive, illusory. Look for yourself! Who is the King in the Kingdom of Grace? God, worshiped in the Holy Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who created the world and provides for everything, who, having arranged for us salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, authoritatively imposed His commandments and commandments on all who followed Him for their own good; He allows himself to be known, tasted, and spiritually touched by everyone; He has mercy and cares for everyone, helps everyone and confirms to everyone: “Work according to My will in My helicopter city; I see everything and will reward you for everything.” And those who work in the Kingdom of Christ definitely know Who they work for, and this gives them inner strength and patience in their labors. They are confident that they are working in the presence of the all-seeing, much-helping, much-comforting Lord, and they rejoice in all the hardships and tightness in which their diligent work for the Lord is placed. I suffer, says the apostle, but I am not ashamed. We know that we have faith in Him, and have known, that is, I am deeply confident that my tradition is strong to preserve on the day of 102. In the kingdom of the prince of this age - in the world - it is not at all the same. No one here knows who their king is. If the most desperate peace-lover realized that his king was an evil and gloomy Satan, to whom he was subservient to his own destruction, he would immediately rush out of his area with horror. But this is hidden from the sons of the age. The enemy hid his vile image from their gaze. And the peace lovers are servile, not knowing to whom. You constantly hear: “This is not possible, that is not possible... this is how it should be... and this is how it is necessary...”; but ask: “Why? Who ordered? – no one will say. Everyone is embarrassed and burdened by their established order, they even condemn and scold them, but no one dares to deviate from them, fearing someone, as if an overseer, ready to punish, whom, however, no one can point out and definitively name. The world is a collection of individuals working in the unknown ghost of their imagination, although in reality the evil Satan is cunningly hiding underneath it. What are the laws in the Kingdom of Christ? Christ, our true God, definitely said: “Do this and that... and you will please Me and you will be saved. Deny yourself, be poor in spirit, meek, peace-loving, patient, pure in heart, love the truth, weep for sins, reverence 103 before Me day and night, be kind and do good to your brothers... and fulfill all My commandments faithfully, not sparing yourself...” You see how clear and definite everything is, and not only definite, but also sealed forever with inviolable immutability. As it is written, so it will be until the end of the age. Everyone who enters the Kingdom of Christ knows correctly what he must do, does not expect any changes in the laws of the Kingdom, and therefore walks along its path reliably and cheerfully, in the confidence that he will undoubtedly achieve what he is looking for. Not so at all in the kingdom of the prince of this age. There is no way to stop your thoughts on anything specific. The spirit of the peace lovers is still known; this is the spirit of selfishness, pride, interest 104 and all-round comfort and sensuality. But the applications of this spirit - the laws and rules of the world - are so shaky, uncertain, changeable that no one can guarantee that tomorrow the world will not begin to consider what they now admire as bad and disapproving. The customs of the world flow like water, and its rules - for clothing, speeches, meetings, relationships, standing, sitting and everything in general - are fickle, like the movement of air... Today it is... tomorrow, you don’t know where, fashion will swoop in and change everything. The world is a stage on which Satan mocks poor humanity, forcing him to spin around at his beckons, like monkeys or dolls in folk comedies, forcing him to consider as something valuable, important, essentially necessary that which in itself is petty, insignificant, empty. And everyone is busy with this - both small and large, not excluding those who, both by origin, and by upbringing, and by their actual position, could, it seems, use their time and labor for something better than all these ghosts. What are the benefits and promises of the Kingdom of Christ? Our Lord and God says: “Work for Me, and I will repay you everything. Every deed of yours, and your thoughts, and desires, and feelings, revealed and contained by you to please Me, will not be deprived of their reward. What others do not see, I see; what others do not value, I value; for which others may begin to oppress you, I will be your Patron; and for all your labor an eternal abode is prepared for you, and it is being created by your labors.” So the Lord promised, so it is. And all who enter His Kingdom experience the faithfulness of these promises. They already taste the bliss of the labors with which they work in the commandments of God - the bliss of humility, meekness, truth, peacefulness, mercy, patience, purity and every other virtue. And these virtues, being produced by the grace of God, make their heart a vessel of the Spirit of God, which is for them a pledge or betrothal of a future inheritance, undoubtedly expected, for the sake of these firstfruits of it, assimilated by everyone who unfeignedly works for the Lord. Are these the promises of peace? Not at all. The world promises everything and gives nothing. It beckons, irritating hope, but at the moment, so to speak, of delivering what was promised, it kidnaps it... then, again pointing in the distance, it beckons again and again snatches from the hands of the one who has achieved it what seems to have already been received. That is why in the world everyone is chasing something promising, and no one gets anything; are haunted by ghosts that fill the air the minute they are ready to grab them. Peace lovers put on airs, in the empty confidence that by acting in a worldly way they deserve the attention of the world; but the world either does not see their deeds, or, seeing them, does not recognize their value, or, recognizing the price, does not give conditional reward. Everyone in the world is deceived, and is still deceiving themselves with hopes for which they have no support. Let me briefly point out one more feature. Those who work for the Lord are outwardly invisible, often despised and persecuted, but inwardly they always mature in spiritual perfections, which in another world will shine in them like the sun and give them their appropriate place and bliss. Those who work for the world are outwardly visible, brilliant, and often omnipotent, but internally they are consumed by tight, tormented hearts and burning worries. Not having a moment of peace here, they move there to joyless eternal torment, which cannot be described. Such is the fate here and the fate there of those who live according to the spirit of Christ and the spirit of the world. These are the characteristic features of the two kingdoms! I don’t suggest that you choose... because only those who have lost all meaning can hesitate in their choice. And yet, the kingdom of this age exists and is never empty, and yet it is all made up of us. What kind of miracle is this? Is our mind, at times or in some respects, not very smart, or is the spirit of the world that surrounds us so quick to act that it darkens us before we even have time to realize what, attracting and devouring prey with one glance, like some poisonous snakes? But it is true that many Christians cling to the world and the world cannot complain about the rarity of its ranks of admirers... But, brothers, no matter how charming the world is, there is no excuse for those who get carried away. If, says the Lord, I had not come and spoken, you would not have sin. Now, that is, when He has explained everything, there is no excuse for you 105. Why is this so strongly suggested and repeated so often in the word of God: the love of the world... enmity to God is 106; do not love the world, nor what is in the world 107; come out from among it and do not touch its uncleanness 108; cast away wickedness from your souls, and you will live 109 and the like? Then, so that those whom this concerns take hold of their reason, come to their senses, come to their senses from the intoxicating love of peace and, having sobered up, pull themselves together and direct themselves from what is a ghost and a destructive deception to what is a salutary reality - taking firm steps on the right path following such a great host of husbands and wives, shone with virtues on earth and exalted with glory in heaven. The merciful Lord, through the prayers of all His saints, grant to emerge from the devil’s snare to all who experience the misfortune of being caught alive by Him into their will, and may He transfer everyone from this darkness into His wonderful light and from the realm of Satan to God. Amen. What the Lord and his angels say about peace. I have already told you several times against the world and attachment to it. I don’t think that I will bore you because of my confidence in your love for the truth and your readiness to listen to it, no matter how bitter it may be. But the thought comes to mind: don’t you consider strict sentences on peace to be my personal opinion about peace and peacefulness? Don’t you think that the world is not so opposed to Christ and worldly life is not so opposed to Christian life that it would not be possible to unite them and, while living in a worldly way, live together in a Christian way? At least, the current opinion is that strict alienation from the world and everything worldly is an attribute of narrow-minded simplicity or unreasonable jealousy and gloomy melancholy and that, on the contrary, the dignity of the present age and enlightenment lies precisely in the fact that now they know how to combine Christianity with a love of peace, looking with pity at these poor idiots, who, in the form of salvation and pleasing God, deprive themselves of certain blessings and pleasures of the world. I don’t dare to enter into an argument with such wise men. And now I have decided not to speak a word on my own, but to collect only into one everything said in the word of God against peace and peacefulness. Turning to himself, everyone in his conscience, of course, will find a strict injunction to unquestioningly heed what the Lord commands, in spite of all current opinions and all the counterfeelings and oppositions arising from our hearts. What the Lord and His holy apostles say clearly and definitely is law for us. Listen to what the Lord and His holy apostles say about the world, and stop being foolish. How does the Lord speak about peace? But you know in advance that the Lord, Who was so lenient towards sinners and the weak, Who took all our sins upon Himself, Who called His yoke good and reproached the Jewish teachers for burdening people with unnecessary strictness - such a Lord, of course, would not impose on His followers the burden of alienation from the world, if it were possible to combine peacefulness with following Him. And yet, look how He speaks. In what relation does the Savior present Himself to the world? I, he says, am not of this world, and he repeats this word several times 110. I am not of this world, and My kingdom is not of this world 111. The Kingdom of Christ is built in the world and from the people of the world, but on the ruins of the kingdom of the prince of the world. Why does the Lord say: I came down from heaven to bind the mighty, to destroy the works of the devil 112! As this was accomplished by death on the cross, before suffering this is what He pronounced on the world: now is judgment for this world; now the prince of this world will be cast out 113. See what a contrast! How do you want to please the world and be with Christ? Some communication between light and darkness; What kind of agreement does Christ have with Belial 114? Perhaps, however, the Lord is so strict towards the world in His Person? But didn’t He make any concession in this regard for His disciples, who are bound to be in the world and live among peace-loving people? None. And they, he says, are not of the world, just as I am not of the world 115. Therefore, consoling them, he adds in another place: if the world hates you, know that it hated Me before you. If you were quicker from the world, the world would love its own: just as you are not from the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you 116. How do you want to belong to Christ and be at peace with the world? Didn't the Lord promise, at least in the future, some kind of peace with the world? Haven’t we lived to this happy time and can’t we, calmly loving peace, think that we are pleasing the Lord and saving our souls? No, this is not what is promised. I, he says, will send you such a Spirit, which the world cannot accept, 117 that is, a Spirit completely opposite to the spirit of the world. And when He comes, He will expose the world about sin and about righteousness and about judgment 118. Why will there be constant and everlasting enmity between you and the world, as a result of which you will be in sorrow in the world; but dare, for I have conquered the world 119. How do you want to live at peace with the world and belong to the Lord, when the Spirit of the Lord, given to His followers, cannot in any way be at peace with the world? So, you see that in the Lord’s teaching there is no condescension towards the world. You can be sure in advance that you will not find any condescension towards him in the speeches of the holy apostles. Take John, who breathed love, and righteous James, who shone with truth. What are they saying? Both of them say in one word: do not love the world. Do not love the world, says the Apostle John, not even those in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love is not in him; for all that is in the world, carnal lust, and selfish lust, and worldly pride, is not from the Father, but is from this world. And the world passes away, and so does its lust; but he who does the will of God abides forever 120. Do you not know, says the Apostle James, that the love of this world is enmity to God? Even if a friend of the world desires to be, there is an enemy of God. How scary it is! Or do you think, he continues further, that Scripture says in vain: the Spirit who dwells in us desires to envy 121? That is, this Spirit is so jealous that it cannot allow us to belong to the world in any way, and demands complete devotion to the Lord. Look further at what the other apostles say: we have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God 122. Previously, that is, when we were not Christians, we were enslaved under the elements of the world 123 and walked through the age of this world 124 according to human tradition, that is, according to worldly customs. Now, that is, having accepted Christ, having died with Christ from the elements of the world 125, now the world has been crucified to you and you to the world 126, that is, it is dead to you, and you must be dead to it. Therefore, keep yourselves undefiled from the world 127, flee from worldly filth 128 and even lustful aphids in the world 129, and, having rejected ungodliness and worldly lusts, live chastely and righteously and piously in this present age 130. The whole world lies in evil 131 and hates true good, therefore do not be surprised that the world hates you 132 . Rejoice more, accepting the grace by which everyone born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Whoever overcomes the world, only believes that Jesus is the Son of God, 133 that is, the faith of Christ is so closely connected with the victory of the world that, where it is, there is no peace - he is defeated... and, therefore, vice versa: where there is peace, there is no faith, there is no Christ and Christianity. So the apostles show no mercy to the world! Neither the Lord, nor the apostles... Whose disciples are those who want to combine love of peace with love of Christ, who teach this way and want to live this way? I’ll tell you whose, and I’ll tell you in apostolic words. The Apostle John says: tempt the spirits, because many false prophets have entered into the world... They are of the world: for this reason they speak from the world, and the world will listen to them, 134 that is, these false prophets - false teachers - defend the world, because they themselves are from the world, and not from Christ. It became that those who listen to them and those who follow them are not Christ’s, but are also from the world. And is not what the Apostle Paul predicted coming true among us: there will be a time when they will not listen to sound teaching, but will choose teachers for themselves according to their own lusts, with their ears scratched; they will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to fables 135? You see what a severe sentence it is not only for the world, but also for the defenders of peace! So let anyone who wants to, contrive to love peace with the false hope of not becoming in opposition to the spirit of Christ! Don’t get carried away - and don’t imitate them! The mere intention of this malice exposes the absence of the spirit of Christ - the accuser of the world. Is it appropriate for us to think about the union of the world with Christ, when, from the first days of the Savior’s appearance in the world, the world rebelled against him with power, cunning, and malice? Is it not suggested that Christians should not even think of living in harmony with the world, which is so hostile to their Lord? It's always been that way. After the Lord and the holy apostles, all those who truly believed and worked for the Lord went against the world and its spirit, and for this they themselves were the target of arrows from the face of the world - they suffered and were persecuted. And everyone who wants to live piously in the world will be persecuted 136. What kind of frets are there?! Now, I believe, you will all agree that, while I did not approve of the world, I was not expressing to you my private opinion. The Lord and the holy apostles condemned him in clear and definite words, not allowing for any misinterpretation. He who is from God will listen to us, says Saint John the Theologian 137. After this, there is no need for us to differ in our judgments about the world. Perhaps we don’t have similar concepts about the world itself?! Indeed, the world can be understood in different ways, and it is not surprising that among these concepts there will be those according to which worldly life will not seem decisively opposed to the spirit of Christ... In this case, another may say: “And I know that the world is contrary to Christ and that the believer must reject it; but what you call the world, I do not consider to belong to the world. Tell me: what is that world that is condemned by the Lord and the holy apostles, in which those who live perish, and from which all who wish to be saved and please God must renounce?” The question, as you see, is the most natural, but not simple, and it cannot be answered in one word. I'll try to do it another time; and meanwhile I invite you to judge for yourself. In fact, it may be enough to accurately define what the world and worldly things are in order to turn away from them, and that if one or the other is allowed in life, it is only because it is not considered worldly. Take a little work on yourself to understand this. At an opportune time, I will come to your aid with my word, so that together we may succeed in knowing the truth of Christianity, for our salvation and the glory of God, worshiped in the Trinity. Amen. What is peace according to the word of Saint Isaac the Syrian. At the end of the last word, the question is asked: what is the world? - left without a decision. Those who wish to have a solution are offered what Saint Isaac the Syrian says about this. When we hear about moving away from the world, about abandoning the world, about purity from everything in the world, then you first need to understand and find out, using not common people’s concepts, but purely rational ones, what the very name world means, what differences this name is made up of, and you will be able to find out about your soul: how far it is from the world and what is mixed in with it from the world. The word world is a collective name that embraces the passions we have listed. If a person has not first learned what the world is, then he will not achieve knowledge by what members he is far from the world and by what means he is connected with it. There are many who have renounced the world with two or three members and refused to communicate with the world and thought about themselves that they had become alien to the world in their life, because they did not understand and did not see wisely that with only two members they died to the world, while their other members in the body live on the world. However, they were not able to recognize their passions in themselves; and since they did not recognize them, they did not care about their healing. According to speculative research, the composition of the collective name, which embraces individual passions, is also called the world. And when we generally want to name passions, we call them the world, and when we want to distinguish them by the difference in their names, we call them passions. Passions are parts of the continuity of the world; and where passions cease, there the world began in its continuity. And the passions are the following: commitment to wealth, to collecting what things; bodily pleasure, from which comes the passion of marriage; the desire for honor from which envy flows; desire to be in charge; arrogance at the splendor of power; desire to dress up and be liked; the search for human glory, which is the cause of rancor; fear for the body. Where these passions stop flowing, there the world died; and to the extent that some of these parts are missing there, to that extent the world remains outside, not acting with those parts of its composition; just as someone said about the saints that while they were still alive, they became dead, because while they lived in the flesh, they did not live according to the flesh. And look at which of these parts you live; then you will know in what parts you live and in what parts you died to the world. When you find out what the world is, then from the difference of all this you will find out how you are connected with the world and how you have renounced it. And I will say briefly: the world is carnal living and the wisdom of the flesh. By the very fact that a person has extricated himself from this, it is known that he has come out of the world. And alienation from the world is recognized by these two signs: by the most excellent life and by the difference in the concepts of the mind itself. Care, arrangement. – Ed. Lame on both legs. – Ed. Love, ignition. – Ed. Wed. In. 6:38 ; Mk. 3:27, 1Jn. 3:8 You might be interested in: