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§ LXXXII. Addressing Hebrews and Other New Testament Texts I can present to you countless scriptures, of which not a single line will pass away without being fulfilled, for the mouth of the Lord, the Holy Spirit, has spoken it. No longer, my son, do not neglect the Lord’s punishment and do not lose heart when He reproaches you. O amazing philanthropy! He exhorts not as a teacher to his disciples, and not as a master to his slaves, and not as a God to his people, but as a good father to his sons. Moses confesses that he was afraid and trembling when he heard the Word; But you, listening to the divine Word, are not afraid or worried? Don't you fear Him and don't hasten to learn from Him, i.e. do you not rush to salvation from condemnation, fearing anger, with love for mercy, rushing towards hope in order to avoid judgment?! Come, come, my young ones, because if you do not become like children and are not reborn, as the Scripture says, then you will not find the truly existing Father and will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. How can a stranger enter? I think when he is included in the lists and endowed with civil rights and receives the Father, then he will remain in what belongs to the Father, then he will be honored to become an heir, then, together with the Only Begotten, with the beloved Son, he will have an inheritance in the Kingdom of the Father. For it is the firstborn Church, consisting of many good children. These are the firstborn children, recorded in heaven and participating in the celebration along with many myriads of angels. The first-born children are we, disciples of God, true friends of the first-born, the first of all people to know God, the first to be freed from sins, the first to be separated from the devil. § LXXXIII. Freedom or slavery, life or death? Nowadays, some are as godless as God is a lover of mankind: for He wants to make us sons from slaves, but they neglect the opportunity to become them. O great madness! - you are ashamed of the Lord. He promises you freedom - you run into slavery; He grants salvation - you rush towards death; He gives you eternal life - you expect punishment and foresee the fire that the Lord has prepared for the devil and his angels. Therefore, the blessed apostle says: I adjure you in the Lord to no longer act as the pagans do in the vanity of their minds, being darkened in mind and alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. They, having become insensitive, gave themselves over to debauchery in order to commit vicious and selfish deeds. § LXXXIV. "Today" and eternity When such a witness rails against human folly and appeals to God, what else remains untrue except judgment and condemnation? The Lord never tires of exhorting, frightening, convincing, awakening, admonishing. He drives away sleep and raises the lost from the darkness. Wake up, he says, sleeping, and rise from the dead, and Christ the Lord will shine upon you, the sun of the Resurrection, born before the morning star, who gave life with his rays. Let no one despise the Word, lest he find himself despising himself unnoticed. Indeed, in one place the Scripture says: If you hear His voice today, do not harden your hearts, as in the murmuring in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tested Me. If you want to know what this test means, the Holy Spirit will explain to you: And they saw My works forty years, because of which I was indignant at this generation and said: they always go astray in heart, but they did not know My ways, so that I swore in My wrath that they would not enter My rest. Look at the threat, look at the exhortation, look at the reward! Why are we still exchanging mercy for wrath and not showing hospitality to God in blameless souls by receiving the Word with open ears? Great will be the mercy of His promise if we hear His voice today. However, “today” grows day by day until it is called “today.” Both it and learning remain until the end of the world; and then truly today, without flaws, the day of God stretches to the limits of eternity. Let us always listen to the sound of the word of God, because “today” is an image of eternity, the day is a symbol of light, and the light for people is the Word, thanks to which we contemplate God. For those who believed and listened to Him, grace will justly abound. But for those who disobey and wander in heart and do not know the ways of the Lord, which John urged to prepare and make straight, God is angry with them and threatens them. And so, the ancient Jews wandering in the desert became a parable, having experienced the consequences of the threat: after all, it is said that they did not enter into rest because of unbelief, before, following the successor of Moses, they finally learned in practice that they would be saved only by believing Jesus. The Lord, being a lover of mankind, calls all people to the knowledge of the truth, sending the Comforter. What kind of knowledge is this? – Godliness: Godliness is beneficial for everything, according to Paul, having the promise of this life and the life to come. For how much, O people, would you agree to buy eternal salvation if it were sold? Even if someone offered the entire Pactolus River, the mythical stream of gold, they would still not be able to pay for salvation. § LXXXVI. The price of salvation (continued) However, don't be discouraged! It is possible for you, if you wish, to redeem this very dear salvation for the treasure that is yours - for love and living faith, which are a sufficient price, gladly accepted by God. For we have trusted in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of the faithful. The rest, rooted in this world, like some kind of algae on sea rocks, neglect immortality, yearning, like the Ithacan elder, not for the truth and not for the heavenly fatherland, and not for the true light, but for smoke. Piety, likening man to God as much as possible, accordingly gives him God as a teacher: only He is capable of making man worthily like Himself. § LXXXVII. Appeal to the Apostle Paul Knowing a lot about this truly divine teaching, the apostle says: But you, O Timothy, from infancy know the sacred letters that can guide you to salvation through faith in Christ. These letters, which make people holy and like God, are truly sacred: the works compiled from them and from sacred syllables - the sacred Scriptures - are accordingly called by the same apostle inspired by God, useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for education in justice, so that the man of God may be perfect, adapted to every good work. No one, perhaps, will be so amazed by the exhortations of the other holy men as by the Lord Himself - the Lover of Mankind! After all, He has no other business than one thing - to save man. He exclaims, hastening to salvation: The Kingdom of Heaven is approaching, attracting people who are not alien to fear. And the apostle of the Lord, convincing the Macedonians, explains the divine saying in the same spirit: The Lord has approached, beware lest you be caught empty. But you are so fearless, or rather unbelievers, that neither the Lord Himself nor Paul, who is in chains for Christ, can convince you! Taste and see that the Lord is good. Faith will lead to the truth, experience will teach, and Scripture will educate you, saying: O children, hear me! I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Then he makes a short addition, as if for those who believed: Who wants to live and see good days? This is us, let’s say, admirers of the good, zealots of the good. Listen, you who are far away, listen, you who are close: the Word is hidden from no one; It is the omnipresent light shining for all people. No one is a Cimmerian to the Word. Let us hasten to salvation, to rebirth! Let us hasten in multitudes to one love, as there is one essence in the Monad. By doing good deeds, we will equally strive for unity by exploring the beautiful Unity. Unity, consisting of many component parts, taking divine harmony from polyphony and dissonance, becomes a harmonious sound, following one choreut and teacher - the Word, resting in the truth itself, saying: Abba, Father. God rejoices most of all with such a sincere cry emanating from His children.