Cell letters

Contents Letters 1 – 10 Letters 11 – 20 Letters 21 – 30 Letters 31 – 40 Letters 41 – 50 Letters 51 – 60 Letters 61 – 70 Letters 71 – 80 Letters 81 – 90 Letters 91 – 100 Letters 101 – 110 Letters 111 – 123 On this great day, having nothing else to congratulate you on, except on the occasion of universal joy, I congratulate you on it. What is she like? – The Son of God came to save sinners. Rejoice, sinners! Our God and Lord came into the world for us to save us. “A great mystery of godliness: God was revealed in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16)! The King of Heaven appeared on earth, and the Unapproachable Cherubim lived with people. Oh, the unspeakable goodness and love for mankind of the Lord who appeared! Oh, the bliss of those for whose sake their God and Lord came and appeared to them! Blessed are the eyes that saw God in the flesh, and the ears that heard His Divine words, which many prophets wanted to “see, but did not see, and hear, and did not hear” (Matthew 13:17)! Blessed are we too, although with these sinful eyes we do not see Him and with these ears we do not hear His sweet voice, but we believe in His coming. Especially “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). Blessed are we, because for our sake our God came to us, God, having become like people, came to people, and came for the sake of people. He came to save sinners, and that means us too, for we too are among the sinners. He came to seek the dead, which means us too, since we were among the dead. Blessed be God, Who came to save sinners and to seek the lost! This treasure of salvation was revealed to us by eyewitnesses who saw Him, and heard Him, and talked with Him, and lived and communicated with Him, and touched Him, and ate and drank with Him, and were in adversity with Him, heard Him preach the Holy Gospel and the kingdom of heaven; they saw how he walked the earth, and from city to city and from village to village, he labored, performed miracles, cleansed lepers, enlightened the blind, raised the dead, and performed other supernatural deeds; we saw how He suffered for our salvation, died, and died, and was buried, and rose from the dead, and how He ascended into heaven, we saw. These eyewitnesses, according to us, preached: “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and handled with our hands, about the Word of life - for the life has appeared, and we have seen and testify, and we proclaim to you this eternal life, which was with the Father and was revealed to us - what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you,” and so on (1 John 1:1–3). And again: “We announced to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, not following cunningly woven fables, but being eyewitnesses of His greatness. For He received honor and glory from God the Father when such a voice came to Him from the magnificent glory: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And we heard this voice coming from heaven, being with Him on the holy mountain” (2 Peter 1:16–18; Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7). The eyewitnesses and reliable witnesses to this truth did not doubt to confirm this truth not only by word and miracles and various signs, but also by their blood, and by their various suffering and death. “The word is faithful and worthy of all acceptance” (1 Timothy 1:15), which not one, not two, not three, but many eyewitnesses preached in agreement, and not only preached, but also confirmed with signs and wonders, and did not spare their blood and souls. Reason about this, brother, learn from this, stand in this, take courage, be strong, and stop the mouths of the blasphemers and atheists, of whom there are no less, and pray that we, not having seen God who appeared in the flesh for our sake, love Him with all our hearts, “and not having seen Him hitherto, but believing in Him,” rejoice with “inexpressible and glorious joy, finally attaining through our faith “the salvation of souls” (1 Peter 1:8–9). Truly and righteously you answer: God’s great love for mankind is that He Himself came to “seek and save” (Matthew 18:11) man. Here we can righteously proclaim the famous word of the Psalmist: “Lord, what is man, that you have revealed yourself to him, or the son of man, that you think about him” (Ps 143:3)? God's wondrous creation is man! Created differently than other things. Of all things it is written: “God said, and it was; He commanded, and it was done” (Ps 32:9). It's not like that about a person, but what? "Let's create man". Thus the Trinitarian God advised; As if intending to create some great work, God said: “Let us create man.” What kind of person? “Let us create in our image and likeness” (Gen. 1:26). Man was honored by his Creator with great and high honor when he was created, so it cannot be higher. All creatures are witnesses of the omnipotence and wisdom of God, but man, in addition, is honored in the image of God and created by His special advice. Let us recognize, brother, our primitive nobility, dignity and advantage. When this wondrous creation of God, because of the wickedness of the serpent and his own disobedience, was dishonored and perished - which we cannot mourn - the goodness of God again appeared on him, again honored him miraculously, again exalted him. How? God Himself, his Creator, came to seek and save him. He did not send an Angel or an Archangel, but He Himself entered into this work, He Himself took on human flesh, and lived on earth, and suffered, and died for man. You see the goodness of God, you see the dignity of man. God himself came for his sake, who perished, so that the more a man was dishonored by the cunning of the serpent, the more he was honored and exalted by his Creator. Glory to God, who has so favored us! Glory to God who came to save us! May the glory of the Lord be forever! Let us worship God, who came to save us sinners, and with true faith and a grateful heart we will honor Him: let us turn from creation to our Creator and from the vain world to our God, and we will love Him, and we will seek Him, and we will serve Him with a pure heart, so as not to appear ungrateful. It is also due to the incomprehensible love of mankind of the Son of God and to the high honor of the human race that the apostle wrote: “He does not receive angels, but He receives the seed of Abraham” (Heb. 2:16). That is, the Son of God, wanting to save us, was created flesh of our flesh and bone of our bones, becoming like us in everything except sin; The Son of God became the son of man, and God is unchangeable by man. Therefore, we see in His Holy Gospel that He repeatedly called Himself the Son of Man, out of love for us and out of humility, for which reason He “is not ashamed to call people brethren,” saying: “I will proclaim Your name to My brethren” (Heb. 2:11, 12). Therefore, He made God, His Heavenly Father, our Father and commanded to call Him Father, saying: “Thus pray: Our Father who art in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). And after the resurrection he said to the disciples: “I ascend to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God” (John 20:17). Glory to God, who has so highly honored us, the unworthy! Glory to the Son of God, who became like us - for our sake! Let us also honor the Lord who honored us, so that we may be worthy of eternal honor from Him through His grace. You have seen how a man is honored by God. Know for sure that a person, so revered by God, “dishonors God” if he fearlessly violates His holy law, according to the testimony of the Apostle: “By breaking the law you dishonor God” (Rom. 2:23). This word was spoken to the lawless Jews, but now it also befits Christians, who have taken the place of the Jews, accepted the law of God, and boast in the knowledge of God, but are not afraid to violate His holy law shamelessly and fearlessly. Therefore, the wrath of God will befall them if they do not truly turn to God. Oh, when a person would reflect on how God honored him and how he dishonors the God who honored him, he would continually sigh, weep and weep. But, blinded, he does not see this. He insults his father according to the flesh, and complains about it, cries and weeps often, but he constantly insults and angers God, his Creator, and does not feel it. Beware, beloved, of such insensibility, and... pray for me. Do you still want to know how God honored man? I praise your desire and zeal and wish it to take root in your heart. For from this will be born true sorrow for the sake of God, which is necessary for repentance, because, according to the apostle: “it produces unchangeable repentance leading to salvation” (2 Cor 7:10). Therefore, with God’s help, I will propose the same thing even more extensively and clearly. You saw that God, wanting to save man, came Himself for this, and brought about salvation Himself, and not through anyone else. Born of a pure Virgin in the flesh, so that we, who had become dilapidated by demonic malice, would be reborn in spirit. He became the Son of Man in order to make us sons of God. He lived on earth and labored to bring us, who had fallen away, to heaven. He worked and toiled to give us eternal peace. He was hungry and thirsty, so that he could satisfy and drink us with the bread and drink of eternal consolation. He endured reproach in order to take away eternal reproach from us. He endured sorrow and illness in order to make us worthy of eternal joy. He was dishonored and desecrated in order to honor us with eternal glory. He endured terrible and terrible suffering in order to take away eternal suffering from us and give us eternal peace in His kingdom. He died on the Cross in order to revive us, the dead, and so on. See how He honored us. Our life consists in His death. His illnesses and ulcers – ours – heal illnesses. Our honor and glory depend on His dishonor. From His birth our spiritual and new birth will follow. His sorrow gave birth to our joy. Through His works we find eternal peace. Through His suffering we are delivered from eternal suffering. Through His wanderings during His life on earth, we inherit the heavenly fatherland. Through His hunger and thirst we receive eternal refreshment. In a word, the entire essence of bliss that a person acquires is attributed to Him alone, and must be attributed. If He had not sought us, we would have been lost forever. If He had not come to us, we would always have been in captivity to the devil, who captured us from paradise. If He had not suffered for us, we would have suffered in hell forever. If He had not died for us, we would have been buried in eternal death. So His death became our life, His dishonor our glory, His wounds our healing. So from His coming, suffering and death, as from a source, all our spiritual and eternal bliss flows. Those who receive eternal life receive everything by His grace and love for mankind. Read about this in Holy Scripture, the teachings of the Holy Fathers, church teachers, and church songs and poems, and you will see for yourself. This is all our hope, joy, praise, consolation, glory and all blessedness, that Christ the Son of God, crucified and risen, and sitting at the right hand of God, and interceding for us, is our Savior, Advocate and refuge. For if He is for us, who can be against us? Draw from this living source, and during the heat cool your soul, and remember and pray for me, a sinner. I hope that you still want to know about the same thing and better understand what convinced the Son of God our Lord to come into the world, be incarnated, suffer and die for us - and I want to reflect on this and write to you, so that both for me, the meditator, and for you, the hearer, this great matter will always appear before the eyes of the soul. For we must always remember this great deed and thank our God for this from our hearts. It is known from Holy Scripture that all people, no matter how many there were, and are, and will be, have sinned before God. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). Scripture has concluded everyone “under sin” (Rom. 3:9). And “it is written: Cursed is everyone who does not continually do all that is written in the book of the law” (Gal 3:10). Consequently, all people were cursed as lawbreakers (Gal. 3:10), and everyone should, by virtue of the curse, be subjected to eternal execution and torment, for this is required by the law, which curses the lawless. Christ the Son of God “from the curse of the law” redeemed us, not “with silver or gold, but with His precious blood” (1 Peter 1:18) and by death, as the apostle wrote: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Gal 3:13). And so Christ became an oath for our sake, in order to give us a blessing, and took our sins upon Himself, in order to give us His truth by faith, therefore, from the eternal execution that would follow the oath, He delivered us, and opened the eternal bliss that would follow the blessing of God. So the Holy Church sings to him: “Thou hast redeemed us from the legal oath with Thy honest Blood, having been nailed to the cross, and pierced with a spear, Thou hast extinguished immortality as a man, our Savior: glory to Thee.” So, you see what convinced Christ to crucify and die for our sake: that is, His inexpressible love for us and our extreme poverty and eternal destruction to which we were all subject. Read the Apostolic Epistles about this, and diligently listen to the verses and songs of the church, and you will see more clearly, and you will understand, and you will admit that except Christ there is no salvation for anyone. Glory to Christ God, who saved us, to Whom I entrust myself and you into mercy and protection. You have seen how terrible the oath (of the law) is. An oath is terrible, and so is sin. An oath commits eternal condemnation and torment, and sin exposes the sinner to an oath. Therefore, it is terrible to sin and to break God’s law, for a broken law strikes the sinner with an oath, while an eternal oath subjects him to execution. Sin is sweet to people, but its fruit is bitter. People who have sinned and who have not repented will hear: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). Let us fear, beloved, oaths and turn away from sin, so as not to fall again into the oath from which Christ redeemed us with His Blood. It is better to endure everything every day, it is better to be in any illness and suffering, it is better to suffer from beatings and torment every day, it is better to die every day, when possible and necessary, than to sin and be under an oath. Think about this and beware of sin, like a deadly poison that eternally kills both soul and body. To your question: “Did Christ the Lord come to save everyone?” - I answer: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Everyone sinned and died, therefore the Lord came to save everyone. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). All are sinners, that’s why I came to save everyone. “Christ died for everyone” (2 Cor 5:15), that’s why he came to save everyone. Therefore, the Gospel was commanded to be preached to all creation, so that all who heard would believe and be saved (Mark 16:15-16). And “their message went out into all the earth” (the apostles), “and their words to the ends of the world” (Ps 18:5). God does not look at human faces, everyone is equal to Him, He wants to save everyone, He does not want anyone to perish: “He wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). Therefore, for everyone, He sent His Son into the world, so that everyone might receive salvation by His grace. Consequently, for the sake of me and you, and every person, Christ the Lord came into the world, was born, suffered and died. Glory to the Father who sent, glory to the Son who came to save sinners! This is our consolation and joy. From here let us draw consolation that for my sake and for you, Christ the Lord came, suffered and died. May this living source cool the souls of our sinners. With this, cool down during the heat, be comforted, do not become exhausted, stand and take courage. To your question: “Can everyone really be saved if Christ came into the world for everyone?” – I’ll answer you briefly. The will of God wants everyone to be saved, and Christ came to save everyone, as I wrote to you, but not everyone is saved. Christ the Lord, after His resurrection, said to the apostles: “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:15–16). Therefore, whoever accepts Him by faith and is baptized “in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” is saved, and whoever does not accept Him, perishes. So the Jews, being His people, did not accept Him, as it is written: The Lord Jesus “came to his own, and his own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). So the Mohammedans and other nations, and idolaters, and false Christians, who have faith in their tongues but have godlessness in their hearts, do not accept Him, about whom the apostle wrote: “They say that they know God, but in deeds they deny, being vile and disobedient and incapable of any good work” (Titus 1:16). To your question: “How is Christ the Lord accepted by us?” - I answer you according to my strength. You have seen or perhaps heard how the citizens of their king, who came to their city, receive him: they come from their homes, greet him with joy and worship him, and everyone wants to receive him into their home. Christ the Lord King of Heaven came into this world as a great city, created by His hands, in which we live. Let us also go out to meet Him, not with our feet, but with our hearts, and worship Him, and fall down in humility, joyfully calling out to Him with our hearts and lips: “Blessed is the King of Israel, who has come to save us!” As soon as He came into the world, the wise men came from afar and worshiped Him, and “having opened their treasures, they brought Him gifts: gold, and frankincense, and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11). And so they greeted Him with fitting honor as a King. So they showed us an image of how to meet Him. Let us also become like these faithful servants of His, and come to Him with our hearts (for He now does not dwell on earth, as before, but sits in heaven at the right hand of God), and accept Him as our King, and bring Him gifts that are not material, which He does not require, but immaterial, like God: unfeigned faith, heartfelt thanksgiving and obedience out of love, as to our King; let us leave the world with our lust, like a house in which our old man rests, and, having cleansed the houses of our hearts through repentance and faith in Him, let us humbly ask Him to visit us. We read in His Holy Gospel that He did not disdain anyone, as a lover of mankind, but He entered into the houses of those who called Him, and dined, and ate with the most sinful, and spoke and talked, as He who came to save sinners. He will not disdain us, sinners, and will come to us and visit us with His love for mankind, if only we cleanse our homes with true repentance, contrition and regret for past sins, and prepare them as such a King, who dwells and rests in pure hearts, and ask Him with humility and faith. For even if we do not see Him with these eyes, He inseparably remains with those who love Him and invisibly visits them. You are correct in asking: “What is faith in Christ Jesus?” For not everyone has this faith who professes His holy name, but there are many among Christians who deny Him, although they call Him: “Lord, Lord!” For He Himself says to such: “Why do you call Me: Lord! God! “And you do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46) I, according to my strength, with His help, answer you. You diligently discuss this important matter, since in it is the beginning and the end of our salvation. For Jesus is “Alpha and Omega” (Rev. 1:8), the beginning and end of our salvation: without true and living faith in Him, no one can be saved, and therefore a Christian must diligently learn from this faith. I wrote to you that God, our merciful Creator, being impartial, for the sake of all of us who perished, sent His Son to save us. So, Christ, for the sake of one and all, for the sake of me, you and others, came into the world, was born, suffered and died: “one died for all,” teaches Paul (2 Cor 5:14). From this you can understand what it means to truly and heartily believe in Christ, namely: 1) Recognize Him as the true God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, incarnate from the Most Holy Theotokos, the Virgin Mary. 2) Recognize Him as the true Messiah, promised to the forefathers and fathers of the Old Testament, preached by the prophets, expected in the world and sent from God the Father to save the world. 3) To recognize and have Him for everyone who believes as His Redeemer and Savior, that He redeemed both others and him from the curse of the law; as for others, He gave Himself up for him; as for others, he also suffered and died for him, and besides Him, do not recognize any other mediator for obtaining eternal salvation, but in Him alone place the beginning and end of your salvation; His love and blessings shown to the whole world are to be appropriated by every faithful person. That is: you and I, if we believe in Him from the heart, must say from the heart: Jesus the Son of God is my Redeemer, my Savior, my Helper, my Intercessor, my life and so on, for my sake he came into the world, suffered, died and by His death delivered me from death - and feel it in your heart, and not just say it with your lips. This is the property of true, heartfelt and living faith - to call God your God from the heart. So the Apostle Paul says: “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20). The Son of God loved everyone and gave Himself up for everyone, but Paul’s faithful soul appropriates this to himself. So Thomas says to Him: “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28), although He is the Lord and God of all. This property of faith is shown in many places of Scripture, and especially in the psalms, where the Psalmist calls God his God, king, intercessor, helper, refuge, protector, etc., showing his faith in Him. So God Himself calls Himself “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob” (Matthew 22:32), for the sake of their faith in Him, although the God of all is God. So the Damascus saint sings to Him: “I sing to you, for with my hearing, O Lord, I heard and was horrified. You come to me instead, seeking me for the erring one,” and so on (Tone 2, Canto 4). And in another place: “You are my strength, Lord, You are my strength, You are my God, You are my joy,” and so on (Tone 8, canticle 4). For the children of (one) father - each calls his father, one says: my father, and the other also says: my father, although the father of (his) and all of them is the father, therefore, when they talk about him in general, they call him their common father, saying: our father does this and that, or told us, or ordered, and so on. Likewise, the faithful, showing their common faith in God, call Him their God and Father, saying: “God and our Father,” and pray to Him: “Our Father,” and so on. And when everyone especially wants to show their faith, they say: my God, my Creator, my Intercessor, my Lord, my King, my Savior, and so on. For faith of the heart is like a little child, clinging to its mother, always wanting to be with her, and stretching out its hand to her in all needs. So faith, having left all creatures, to God, from Whom it came, always cleaves, and in times of need it resorts to Him alone and asks for help and protection, and to Him - as to its God, the omnipotent, wise, true, and therefore never lying, merciful and gracious Father, in Whom it places all its bliss and from Whom it poses to be separated for extreme misfortune, just like a small child to be with your mother for your safety and bliss, and to be separated from her for your misfortune; - so, I say, faith in Him, God, its Creator and Father, places all its hope and clings tightly to Him as its Defender and Helper, trusting in His omnipotent help, mercy and true promise: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). For what is generally promised to the faithful from God, every faithful soul appropriates for itself in particular, and it attracts for itself the benefit that God has shown to the whole world. Saint Paul generally says about all the faithful: “Christ has become for us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor 1:30), but the faithful soul appropriates all this to itself, saying: Christ is my wisdom, truth, sanctification and deliverance, for the completely faithful soul knows that without Christ there is no righteousness, no sanctification, no deliverance, and all wisdom without Christ is violence. By faith in Christ everyone is made wise, justified, sanctified and delivered. Without Christ, every wise man is foolish, every righteous man is sinful, every pure man is unclean, and everyone perishes without Him. For in Christ both blessing and every spiritual blessedness is promised by God to everyone and every faithful one, and is written in the Holy Scriptures, and is given by faith to those who ask and hope. In a word, every faithful person should appropriate Christ for himself with all His benefits revealed to the whole world. And truly it is. For if Christ loved everyone and gave Himself up for everyone, then He loved me and you, and gave Himself up for me and you, since you and I are among all. If he suffered and died for everyone, then for me and you, since you and I are among everyone, and so on. For God is not partial, and Christ died equally for everyone, although His death is only beneficial to those who accept Him with true faith and show Him a grateful heart. If Christ took the sins of everyone upon Himself and suffered and died for them, then for mine and yours, for both you and I are among everyone, and so on. You see that there is faith in Christ. You can also see from here that whoever has such faith will not want to sin, but will abhor every sin, knowing that Christ, his Redeemer, drank the bitter cup of suffering for his sins - and for the sake of such a Redeemer he will not spare anything as a token of gratitude to Him. And not only money, when someone asks for the sake of Christ, but also his soul, in case of need, for the sake of His glory and honor, and will show himself ready for all suffering and patience for the sake of His love, and not for the sake of any merit, knowing that Christ deserved everything for him through His suffering and death out of love, both for everyone and for him. And truly, every faithful person should do this for the sake of one love and gratitude to his Redeemer, who “redeemed us not with silver and gold, but with His honest Blood” (1 Peter 1:18). For, no matter what we do and what we endure for the sake of His name, we give Him due, since “He first loved us” (1 John 4:19), and gave Himself for us, so that, even if we suffered all our lives, every day for His sake, we could not repay Him anything. “What shall we render to our Lord” for all that He has given us? (Ps 116:3) In a word, we are always debtors to Him, no matter what we do for His sake, because we cannot thank Him in any way. For His merits, performed for our sake, are infinite, just as He Himself is infinite, being God, and we are His creation, our soul and body are His, and our entire composition is His, and what we live and move is His mercy, and our temporary and eternal life must be attributed to Him. We eat His bread, we cool ourselves with His drink, we clothe ourselves with His clothes, we are enlightened by His light, we are warmed by His fire, we live in His chambers, and so on, and whatever we want and do that is pleasing to Him, we must attribute to His grace, for without Him “we can do nothing” (John 15:5). What is our own? – Weakness, corruption, darkness, anger, sins... Glory to His mercy! It is reasonable for you to ask this: what is living and heartfelt faith? For without it it is impossible for a person to be saved. Although you can know it from my previous letter, I am answering you from Holy Scripture so that you may know it better and be confirmed in it. James, the holy apostle, says to each of us: “Show me your faith by your works” (James 2:18). You see that living faith must be demonstrated by works. Just as the liveliness of a natural person is known from actions, breathing, movement, speech, deeds, eating, etc., so the liveliness of faith living in the human heart is known from good deeds, fear of God, love, patience, meekness, mercy, self-control, fidelity, truth, and so on. And just as a good tree comes from good fruit, so a Christian who has living and heartfelt faith is known by good deeds. For just as a good tree cannot produce evil fruit, so a true Christian, as long as he has living faith, cannot create evil deeds. “Whoever is born of God commits no sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9). And you have that servant as your faithful servant, who serves you unfeignedly and fulfills your command in everything; so a Christian is then a faithful servant of God when he serves Him faithfully and fulfills His commandments. So Abraham, the forefather, turned out to be a faithful servant of God out of obedience: at His command he lifted up Isaac, his son, on the altar (Genesis 22; James 2:21). So Rahab, the harlot, seemed faithful to God from her deeds, since she received the spies sent by Jesus to inspect the city of Jericho, and hid them in her house, and brought them out another way (Joshua 2; Jas. 2:25). So the other faithful and saints, both of the Old and New Testaments, showed their faith in God through their good deeds. God says in Scripture to each of us: “I am the Lord your God.” If you recognize Him as your God - which living faith requires - and know who He is and what He requires of you, how can you not honor Him with faith, fear, love, obedience? For your faith in Him requires all this from you. How can you not diligently live according to His word when you know for sure that the word contained in the Holy Scripture is the Word of God, and as He says to everyone, so to you: believe, love, be merciful, let go of insults, be patient, give to those who ask, and so on? For this very word, as the Word of your God, will encourage and move you to obedience. How can it not move you if you sincerely believe that He is your Creator, Provider, Guardian, Defender, Nourisher, the highest Benefactor, and all your temporal and eternal Bliss, and also a righteous Judge and Avenger for disobedience?.. You honor your earthly king as a king, and your father according to the flesh as a father, and, moreover, every honorable man, as well as God, the Heavenly King and Father, who created and redeemed you, and cares for you, before whom “every tribe of things in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth” “bows” with fear (Philippians 2:10), in whose hand you and the whole world are in His hand, - How, I say, will you not honor Him? How will you not love Him, your Creator and Father, how will you not believe Him, true and unfalse, how will you not fear the terrible and impartial Judge? And from here, as from a source, good deeds will flow. Faith teaches a person and shows him that both for the sake of everyone, so for his sake, God did not spare His Son and sent him into the world to save everyone. How can he not show heartfelt gratitude to both the Father who sent him and the Son who was sent, and will he not consider this great deed to be the highest of all the treasures of the world? A faithful heart knows that God, the Creator, Redeemer and His highest Benefactor, is offended, angry and irritated by every sin. How can he not strive against every sin with which God is irritated? You don’t want to anger a person, a small benefactor, but do you want to anger God, the Benefactor, with sin? Faith knows that it is impossible to stand against sin and defeat it with its own strength, and cannot create true virtue, therefore it sighs and earnestly prays to its God that He will help in this. Faith, knowing that the Christian heritage is not in the world, but in heaven, where their hidden fatherland is, looks at it, strives for it, and tries to achieve it, and therefore wants nothing in the world, neither honor, nor glory, nor wealth, nor sweets, which the sons of this age are looking for, and does not apply its heart to anything, and uses everything, food, drink, etc., for the sake of need and the weakness of the flesh, and is extremely afraid, so as not to lose the heavenly inheritance. Therefore, “working out his own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). In a word, a faithful heart in this world abides as a traveler on the way, as a wanderer and stranger on a foreign side, as one expelled from his fatherland and his home, “for” he has “no permanent city here, but” seeks the “future” (Heb. 13:14), of which “the artist and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10). So, you see in part what true and living faith is, that is, one whose liveliness is demonstrated by actions and good deeds. This living faith is opposed to dead faith, about which the holy Apostle James wrote: “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). Those who have a Christian name, but do not live like a Christian, have a dead faith; they hope, or say only, what is written in the Symbol: “I hope for the resurrection of the dead,” but they live contrary to faith in the resurrection of the dead; They hear in Scripture about eternal life and its glory, but they cleave to worldly things, honor, glory, wealth, luxury, and set this world for their fatherland and paradise for themselves. Those who have a dead faith are those who do not spare a lot of wealth for giving their daughters a lot of wealth, but for the sake of the name of Christ they either give nothing to the one who asks, or are content with a penny and small coins. About such, the Apostle James says: “If a brother or sister is naked and does not have daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and fed,” but does not give them what they need for the body, what good is it?” (James 2:15–16)? Such people live for the world and their own whims, for they please them, and not God, Whom they do not please by obedience. To God they are dead, although they live. How? Reason. Just as a dead person does not hear or heed whatever is said to him, so these spiritual dead do not heed whatever God says in Scripture. The Word of God is to them as singing to the deaf, and as if to others, and not to them the word is spoken. Dead faith is then revived in a person when God’s Word is revived in him, and a person begins to think within himself that God speaks and commands to him in His Scripture, just as he does to other people, and according to His holy word he will begin to correct his morals, and will repent of his previous faulty life with true regret and contrition of heart. For true and living faith is always preceded by true repentance and turning from sin to God. Without such repentance and conversion there can be no true faith. That is why the Savior said: “Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15). You see that repentance comes first, and then faith. True repentance, which consists in hating one’s former sinful life and truly lamenting and regretting it, cleanses the heart and prepares it for the perception of faith in Christ, preached in the Gospel, Whom the repentant heart accepts as its Redeemer and is comforted by His grace. Do you want a better explanation of repentance and true regret? A true and good desire. For the whole Christian life consists of true repentance and regret. The life of a true Christian, as we see from the psalms and other holy books, is nothing else, and should be, than constant repentance until his death. Have you seen what a son does when he insults his father, who gave birth and raised him, by disobedience and rude actions? He scolds himself, cries and is heartbroken, and judges himself worthy of his father’s punishment, only because he has angered and insulted his father. This example teaches us to repent and regret that we anger and offend God with our sins. If a son according to the flesh, having angered his father, regrets, grieves and scolds himself, then all the more should Christians pity, lament, grieve and scold themselves, and recognize themselves as worthy of punishment when they anger God, the Heavenly Father, Who is the only love, goodness and holiness. It is hard to anger a father, the man from whom we were born, but it is incomparably harder to anger God, the Creator and Provider. Just consider what God has done and is doing to us. He created us and our parents, and He created us not as cattle, birds and other animals, but as rational people. Isn’t it His sun, month and stars that shine for us? Isn’t it His clouds, which, like bottles, carry water throughout the entire universe and pour it on us and on our fields? Isn't it His air that preserves our breath and life? The fire that warms us and cooks our food is His. The water that gives us and our livestock water, the bread that we eat, the clothing that we wear and keep warm, is His. Our houses, in which we live and rest, are His. In a word, we are so enclosed in God’s blessings that we cannot live even a minute without them. Think of Satan's cruelty and indomitable enmity against us: he constantly fights with us, lays nets, digs a ditch, and “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). God protects us, does not allow him to destroy us, and what is more surprising is that man sins, but God protects him; a person gives himself up to the enemy, but God does not allow him to take him and lead him to destruction; a person retreats from God, but God does not leave him yet; man angers God, but God still does not take His mercy away from him, otherwise man would perish in one minute if God took away His almighty hand from him, which protects him. For Satan is waiting for this, so that he can see a person abandoned and then destroy him. Look at the goodness of God, which also does good to your enemies; Look at the devil’s cruelty, and beware. If we also consider His great work, that for the sake of us, who had fallen and departed from Him, He “spared not His only Son, but delivered Him up for us all” (Rom. 8:32), so that we might be saved—what do we learn from this, if not His ardent love for us? – His Only Begotten Son Himself proclaims this and surprisingly presents this love to us, saying: “God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). You see the goodness of God and love for us, but consider also the sinner man who fearlessly violates the law of God - his ingratitude, rudeness, ignorance and shamelessness. A person should constantly, and how to say, thank God more often than breathe, but he is ungrateful to Him. Man should always and everywhere remember God with love, but he forgets Him and His good deeds. It was necessary to honor God with the highest and greatest reverence everywhere and always, as omnipresent, and preserving, and beneficent, but he dishonors Him by transgressing His law, as the apostle says to the sinner: “By transgressing the law you dishonor God” (Rom. 2:23). He dishonors the Creator, the Provider, the Guardian, his highest Benefactor, he dishonors Him (oh, the long-suffering of God! oh, human blindness!) - He dishonors Him, Whom the Angels and Archangels with fear, reverence and love incessantly venerate, sing and worship. A sinner is not worthy to live on earth because he is a sinner, but God preserves his life, and not only preserves him, but also benefits him. But the sinner does not feel this and despises his benefactor. God does not cease to do good to the sinner, but the sinner does not cease to irritate the benefactor. The goodness of God is inexpressible, and the ignorance and fury of the sinner is indescribable. In relation to God, a sinner acts like that person who reviles and scolds his nourisher, guardian, and protector. The sinner does not see this, for he is blinded by sin, but when his inner eyes are opened, then he will see and recognize this as the truth. Then, when a person enters into the above-described reasoning, true contrition, regret and shame will be born in him. Then he recognizes himself as worthy of all punishment, then he will deservedly scold himself, be indignant at himself, be angry, look for the source of tears, and lower himself more than all creation, and he will recognize himself as unworthy of bread and the slightest blessing from God. And this is “sorrow for God’s sake,” which “produces unfailing repentance leading to salvation” (2 Cor 7:10). He who has such sadness would rather want to die than to sin, and I wish from my heart that I have such sadness both for myself and for you. It is clear that you have not fully understood that a sinner is not worthy to live on earth. I also enclose the following explanation for you about this. Do you know that dishonoring an earthly king is punishable by death, and the one who dishonors him according to the laws is put to death if the king, by his sole mercy, does not forgive him. Consider, then, that the king of the earth is before God’s majesty? - Like nothing, since a person is mortal, like other people. Now consider sin, with which a sinner offends and dishonors God. If a person who has annoyed the king of the earth is guilty of death, how much more worthy of death, not only temporary, but also eternal, is the sinner who annoys the infinite God, and, what is worse, does not cease to annoy him with an unrepentant life. At that very hour, a sinner deserves to die and perish, in which he sins against his conscience, and especially when he adds sins to sins, but the goodness of God still has mercy on him, God, who loves mankind, does not yet execute him, does not execute him who is worthy of execution. Such goodness leads the sinner to repentance (Rom. 2:4). You see that a sinner is not worthy to live, and the goodness of God is that every sinner has not yet perished. If every sinner is unworthy of life, but every sinner is guilty of death, then is he worthy of having the sun, moon and stars shine on him? Is it worthy to be fed and consoled with the other blessings of God? Truly unworthy. But the goodness of God also honors the unworthy, “for He commands His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45). From this learn to know that “no one is good except God alone” (Matthew 19:17). For which of the people is so kind, meek and long-suffering as to be so kind to his enemies? Soon human meekness changes. Such a good, meek, long-suffering and humane God is offended by a person when he sins and breaks His holy law. You see that even if there were no torment of eternal and eternal life, we would still have to grieve, yearn, be indignant, be angry with ourselves, cry and sob that we anger our God, our so good and humane Father, with our sins. For God Himself is worthy of love and the highest reverence. If we love and honor a good person, from whom we see no good deeds, only because he is good, and we are extremely careful not to offend him, then how much more should we love and honor God, our Creator, Provider, Guardian, Nourisher, Protector, Helper, and, let me say briefly, the highest Benefactor and humane Father, as much as we can in weak flesh, and extremely beware of offending Him, as He is the only good one. Believe, beloved, that it is better for a person to choose to die than to offend God by sin, when he enters into a correct reasoning about God, for His goodness is as great as He Himself, and as many of His benefits have been shown to us, as many of the creatures have been created and as many of His glorious deeds have been created for us for His sake, and how many days, hours and minutes have passed since our birth. For without Him and His blessings we cannot live even for a minute. “For in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). You see that a sinner is not worthy to live, but what he lives must be attributed to the goodness of God, which leads him to repentance (Rom. 2:4). If you are unworthy to live, then you are even more unworthy of God’s blessings. For the great goodness of God is not only to give life to a sinner, but also to supply him with the blessings of someone unworthy of life. How? – Consider from the following example. If the king had not only given his enemy life, but also rewarded him with his good deeds, wouldn’t everyone have been surprised at such a thing? Indeed, everyone would be surprised by this. This is how God creates, who not only does not put to death the lawless who deserve death, but also gives them His benefits, awaiting their conversion and repentance, as said above. From here we know how good our God is, to whose goodness and love for mankind I entrust myself and you. Since “sorrow for the sake of God produces unchangeable repentance leading to salvation” (2 Cor 7:10), according to the apostolic teaching, we must always learn from it and have it in order to offer a living sacrifice to our Lord—a broken spirit. Therefore, I am writing to you about the same thing again, so that it will take root in our hearts, which can be gleaned especially from considering God’s properties. 1) From Holy Scripture we see that our God is so great that the whole world and all nations are like nothing before Him. If all people and the whole world are as nothing before Him, how much more so is one man. But this poor creature, a small handful of earth, dust and ashes, irritates such a great God when it sins. Who dares to irritate an earthly king? God, the king of heaven and earth, incomprehensible in majesty, mortal man is not afraid to irritate. 2) The glory of our God is so terrible that all the Angels fear and tremble, they fulfill His commands with joy and zeal, they worship Him, and they sing the thrice-holy hymn to Him: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the heavens and the earth are full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3). Man, earth and ashes, does not tremble before His glory, but does not cease to irritate Him! 3) Our God is everywhere and in every place, therefore, when a person sins, he sins before God, but does not give Him due reverence. Who dares to commit outrages before the king of the earth? Unless he's crazy. For disorderly behavior brings dishonor and annoyance to the royal person. A person who sins is not ashamed and is not horrified by the presence of God to commit outrages and thus dishonor and annoyance to Him. Oh, when God’s glory had appeared even a little to man, he would certainly have fallen lifeless, like the apostles, who heard only God’s voice, fell on their faces and were greatly afraid (Matthew 17:6). But the blinded one does not understand this. 4) Our God is true, so that when he promises something, what he threatens us will certainly come true. He promises eternal life and threatens eternal torment, but the sinner does not believe this, because he does not truly repent, without which it is impossible to avoid torment and receive eternal life. For only those who truly repent are saved, and those who do not repent perish. He doesn’t repent because he doesn’t want to give up his sins. Oh, if he were truly, truly and vividly convinced of eternal torment and eternal life, he would be in constant contrition and sadness, avoiding all sin, and would try in every possible way and sigh and pray to God in order to avoid torment and receive eternal life - which is noted in the truly repentant. But, to his misfortune, he does not believe and thus makes the true God false. “He who does not believe God presents Him as a liar” (1 John 5:10). Also, when he hears in the Holy Scriptures that God, being righteous, will reward everyone according to their deeds - good to those who do good, and evil to those who do evil - he does not listen and does not believe it. For, if he believed, he would certainly shy away from all evil and would try to do all good, hoping to receive the promised good from God and get rid of evil. If a person promises him something, then he believes it, because he sees what he promises, and is afraid of what he threatens, because it is before his eyes. God promises and threatens, but he does not believe, because he does not see what he promises and threatens, and so he blasphemes God. Therefore, grave unbelief is blasphemy against God and the root of all evil. 5) Our God is the highest Benefactor, created us, nourishes, clothes, preserves us, commands the sun to shine on us and sends rain, gives us houses and peace and His other blessings - and we do not love Him, but irritate and greatly upset Him. We love and thank the benefactor, who does good to us not with his own, but with God’s good (for all good is God’s), but God the benefactor, who always and every minute supplies us with his good, so that we cannot live even a minute without His goodness, we do not love and do not thank, but, on the contrary, we insult and anger. Such is our ingratitude to God! 6) The Holy Scripture, as a favorable message, was sent to us through the prophets and apostles, in which He reveals His holy will to us, and, like a lamp, He decreed for us, who are in the darkness of ignorance, and, like a physician, for the sake of healing our infirmities, He gave us, and, like spiritual bread, feeding our souls, and as a living spring, cooling us, He gave us, - but we despise all this, both His words and Himself We don’t love, but, on the contrary, we irritate. 7) He sent His only begotten Son into the world for our sake, so that by His grace we might be saved, which is the height of all good deeds, but we do not love both the sent Son and the sent Father, and do not thank Him for such a great work of His. How big can ingratitude be? Therefore, heaven and earth itself, all the holy Angels and His chosen ones will be indignant at us for such our ingratitude, if we do not turn to Him with pure repentance, regret and contrition of heart. 8) God greatly desires and hungers and thirsts for our salvation, so that He “spared not even His Only Begotten Son for our salvation, but gave Him up for us all” (Rom. 8:32). But with our unrepentant lives we resist His saving will and thus greatly offend Him. Such our blindness, corruption, anger and such darkness and bitterness have taken hold of our hearts! What could God do more for us if He did not spare His Son for our sake? But we neglect all this His grace. This is how Satan wounded us! So darkened by his darkness! So hardened with his malice! Consider these points, especially in solitude and at night, and with God’s help, a spirit of sorrow for God’s sake, contrition and tenderness will be born in you. Do you doubt that the Christian who lives in evil does not believe the Word of God? I answer you: truly it is, truly there is no proper faith in it. Note and consider the following: 1) Who dares to act outrageously before the king if he sees him in front of him? All the more would a Christian dare to sin and violate God’s law if he truly believed that God is with him, who, as the Word of God teaches, is in every place and sees everything, even the most secret thought, undertaking, intention, and not just an obvious deed. Wouldn’t you always tremble and shy away from all evil because of the presence of God, so as not to anger the present God? But, blinded, he does not see it, does not think about it. He trembles before the king of the earth, man; Will he not tremble before God, the Heavenly and terrible King, Who is terrible even to the kings themselves, if by faith he sees Him before him? 2) You yourself know how a person is prepared when he is summoned to a human court, where cunning, eloquence, gold, silver and intercession can do a lot - he considers how not to be disgraced and not fall into temporary execution. Wouldn’t you try to prepare for the judgment of Christ, where the Judge is God, who knows our every deed, word and thought, and judges by deeds, not by persons, and does not accept any apology, intercession or gifts, by repentance, contrition of heart, removal from all evil, sighing and fervent prayer, which alone will appease this Judge, if he truly and truly believed it? Moreover, this Terrible Judgment will come unexpectedly, as the Word of God teaches. He is afraid of human judgment, from which the guilty often escape with the right and which only gives temporary execution - will he not tremble at God's court, from which the guilty escape with the guilty and are put to eternal execution? This is impossible if you believe. 3) A person is afraid of temporary execution and death and avoids such cases that, according to civil laws, are subject to the death penalty, because he sees execution on others. Would you not be horrified by eternal execution, torment, fire, and other bitter sufferings of hell, in which sinners will suffer endlessly, if you truly believed the Word of God, which proclaims this, and would not shy away from every sin that leads to eternal torment, would you not cry, would you not perform true repentance in order to avoid that torment? He is afraid of temporary death; Will he not be afraid of the eternal if he believes? This can't happen. 4) Christ the Lord says: “If you forgive people their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive people their trespasses, then your Father will not forgive you your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14–15). If a Christian believes in Christ who said these words, as every Christian should believe, then why is he angry at his neighbor who insulted him? Why does he take revenge either in word or in deed? Why doesn’t he forgive from the heart, so that the Lord will forgive him too? The Word of Christ is true and does not pass away: he who forgives will be forgiven, and he who does not forgive will not be forgiven. And if it is not forgiven, what follows from there? Nothing other than the fact that for all sins committed in deed, word and thought, one will suffer in eternal fire and pay for the truth of God. 5) Also, if a Christian believes that those who give to the poor and needy for the sake of the name of Christ “will be rewarded at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:14), why does he not do mercy to them, especially when Christ imputes this to Himself (Matthew 25:40, 45)? 6) Also, if a Christian believes that there will be eternal life, bliss and eternal glory for those who live piously in Christ, then why doesn’t he diligently seek this? Why does he seek fame, honor and wealth in this world? Why does this world care for the fatherland? How hard people try, how much work they put in to accumulate wealth! What feats do warriors go to in order to earn a temporary rank! How much farmers work and sweat to collect fruits! What is the reason for this? “The reason is that they see what they work for and hope to get what they work for.” Knowledge of the future and the good they desire precedes hope, and hope encourages them to do any work in order to get what they know and hope to get, although such hope often deceives them. For a person does not receive everything he seeks. Look what the sons of this age are doing, notice how they are looking for the treasures they desire. Nothing is hard for them. They overcome every inconvenience, misfortune and sorrow that happens, looking at their desired treasure. A Christian, when he is sure of eternal life and the unspeakable glory of heaven, will he not leave all the treasures of this world, all this world’s glory, honor, wealth, carnality, and will he not strive for that one treasure? Will he not endure labors and deeds in order to receive eternal life and glory? Will he not go along a narrow and sorrowful path in order to achieve eternal life and glory, where only a narrow path can be reached and “many tribulations” (Matthew 7:14; Acts 14:22; 2 Tim 3 and other places)? A person is so diligently looking for a temporary treasure, which he will soon leave behind - he is looking for it because he sees it. Is there an eternal treasure, unspeakable and incomprehensible to the mind, which, if found, will never be lost - will not one diligently and diligently seek, and endure everything, so as not to lose it when by faith he sees it? It is impossible for this to happen. Believe me, beloved, that a person would want to suffer all his life if there was a need, just so as not to lose eternal bliss if he saw even a particle of it. It is so great, so beautiful, so sweet! It is described differently from the Holy Spirit in the Holy Scriptures and is presented to us for our benefit and comfort, so that we diligently seek it and receive it by His grace. So, whoever believes the Word of God and sees the revealed bliss in it with the eye of faith, he will certainly, leaving all worldly treasures, diligently seek that one thing. 7) If someone saved you from temporary disaster and death, and delivered you with nothing other than his own disaster and voluntary suffering, please tell me, how would you love him, honor him, remember his name, as your benefactor, everywhere with love and respect? Wouldn't you do everything he wants? This truth is indisputable. If you believe that Christ the Son of God delivered you from disaster and death, not temporary, but eternal, and delivered not with silver or gold or any other perishable thing, but through suffering, Blood and His death, and opened the heavenly eternal kingdom to you, then how can you not love, honor, thank Him with all your heart, and please Him in everything, such a high and great Benefactor? How can you not diligently and lovingly obey Him? A small benefactor is a person to whom you owe something temporarily, you love and highly respect; How can you not love and honor the One to whom you are eternally obliged? But where is the love, where is the reverence, where is the sinner’s gratitude to Christ? Only in words. This is not respect or love, but hypocrisy. Many Christians say with their lips: we honor You, Christ, we worship, sing and glorify, but with their deeds they show otherwise. They honor, sing and glorify with their lips, but dishonor them with lawless deeds. Many Christians do not regret spending a lot of money on dowries for their daughters, on rich tables, houses, horses, carriages, hound hunting and other vanities, but for the sake of the name of Christ they give either nothing or a penny. For the sake of a temporary benefactor - man, they do everything, people show every obedience, every kind of pleasure; but for the sake of Christ, the eternal Benefactor, they do not want to do even that for the sake of a human benefactor. Where is the veneration, love and gratitude to the Benefactor? And without honor and true love, where is the faith that the Apostle tells us to show by works: “Show me your faith by your works” (James 2:18)? From these above considerations you see that faith is the root of piety and the source from which good deeds flow like streams: from faith the fear of God, contempt of the world, mortification of the flesh with passions and lusts, renunciation of oneself, that is, anger, malice, hatred, lust, love of money and other ailments; love for God and neighbor, sighing and desire for a blissful eternity, and so on. And from this understand that that Christian does not have faith, who either lives in evil, or is addicted to the world, that is, to honor, glory, wealth and worldly carnality. In a word, he does not believe the Word of God who does not try to correct his life according to the rule of the Word of God. How can you not try to do what is commanded in Scripture if you truly believe that God, your Creator and Lord, commands you to do this? The king of the earth, and even the lower authorities, you listen and fulfill their commands - will you not listen to God, the King of Heaven, and fulfill His commandments? The king of the earth, a man who often does not stand in the truth as a man, you believe if he promises something, and for this you serve him, and you are afraid if he threatens you with something - will you not believe in God, the true and unfalse, and will you not hope for and expect what he promises, and will you not be afraid of what he threatens when you definitely believe His holy word? You see that you must first believe the word without a doubt, that it is God’s Word, and is true and not false; and that it is, like everyone else, so told to you and to me from God; and what he commands, as he commands everyone, so he commands you and me; and what he promises, as he promises to everyone, he promises to me too; and what it threatens, it threatens everyone, me and you and others. For God does not look at faces, but He has declared His word to everyone. Think about it. At your request, I answer and describe the signs of true repentance, which are noted from Holy Scripture and church history, and in current people who truly repent, and in the books of the holy fathers and church teachers. You take note and judge about yourself whether they are in your heart. For without true repentance, the Gospel and Christ preached in the Gospel will not give us any benefit. A plaster is applied to the wound, and the doctor comes to the patient, who admits his weakness. So the consolation of the Gospel is given to a contrite heart. 1) Changing the heart for the better and correcting a sinful life. For the one who truly repents, just as he renounces his former sins, hates them, and abhors them, so he also guards himself from others. 2) “The flesh” crucifies “with its passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24), that is, the glory, honor, carnality of this world is worth nothing. Your passions: anger, rancor, lust, hatred, envy, love of money, etc. - pacifies and tames. 3) He uses food, drink, clothing, and other things and means to support life for the sake of need, and not for the sake of pleasing the flesh. That is, it requires clothing only for the sake of covering and warming, and not for the sake of beauty; consumes food and drink for the sake of strengthening carnal weakness, and not for the sake of pleasure. He doesn’t care what kind of house he lives in, a rich one or a poor one, as long as there is peace. 4) Remembering his previous lawless life, he is horrified by God’s judgment, since he has deserved nothing more than condemnation and hell, and he earnestly prays and falls before the merciful God, so that he may have mercy on him, but bringing to mind the examples of those who have sinned and received mercy from the Lord through repentance, and he himself also hopes for God’s mercy, and so is consoled by the hope of mercy. And a similar blow of fear and horror occurs to a person at the very beginning of his repentance, so that he is driven to despair. Therefore, such a repentant sinner needs to read and remember the comforting passages of Scripture and examples of sinners who have repented and received mercy, so as not to fall into the destruction of ultimate despair. 5) Discussing the majesty of God and his own meanness, for God, the Creator, Redeemer and his highest Benefactor, Whom he should love and honor, he irritated and angered, and He, whom the Angels and all the saints sing and praise with fear, he, earth and ashes, was not afraid of, and Him to whom he owes what lives, and moves, and is, and He has his being, soul and body and all his composition from Him, and God is everything with which he eats, drinks, dresses and is supplied with other benefits - he did not like such a Benefactor, but always insulted him, and was ungrateful to Him, and did not give His Majesty the worthy respect that the Creator demands from the creation. I talk about this and other things, he scolds himself, is angry with himself, reproaches himself, is sad and contrite in heart, and often cries and sobs, and wishes that it would not be that he sinned, but what happened cannot be returned. And such sadness comes from love, and this is true, Christian sadness - to grieve not for the sake of one’s destruction, but for the sake of the fact that one has angered God, the Creator and Redeemer. He who has such sorrow will grieve, even if there is no torment and no kingdom of heaven. Instead of torment, he has only one thing: that he has insulted and angered God, Who is the only goodness, love, truth, holiness, mercy and infinite goodness. Such sadness is a sacrifice acceptable to God. This is how the Apostle Peter grieved, who out of fear denied his beloved Jesus Christ, “and went out and wept bitterly” (Matthew 26:75). And this sadness enters the repentant heart from thinking about God’s blessings, despised by the sinner, and not soon after conversion, but after a considerable time, but all Christians should have it. 6) A truly repentant person humiliates himself both before God and before people, reasoning that he finds nothing in himself except sins, corruption and weakness. He has a soul, but darkened by sins, and a body, but corrupted by the same sins, and thinks of himself as a city or a house, devastated and plundered by robbers, or as a traveler who fell “to the robbers, who took off his clothes, wounded him and left, leaving him barely alive” (Luke 10:30). Therefore, he admits his unworthiness from the heart and, imitating the prodigal son, confesses to the Heavenly Father, saying: “Father! I have sinned against heaven and before you and am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me one of your hired servants" (Luke 15:18-19). And he is consoled by the mercy of the gracious Heavenly Father, which is open to all who repent, and to him, as one of all. 7) Reasoning about his unworthiness, he recognizes himself as unworthy of food, drink, clothing, light, and other blessings given to people by God, for he angered and irritated the Giver and Source of blessings, and was ungrateful to the One to whom he should have been grateful for his blessings, and thus made himself unworthy, but also judges himself worthy of any punishment, not only temporary, but also eternal, since God is eternal and infinite annoying. However, he is comforted by God’s grace promised in Christ Jesus. This is true humility, which God's grace attracts to itself. For “God gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). And “God will not despise a broken and humble heart” (Ps. 50:19). 8) The past time, as lived in sins and iniquities, mourns, and would like to return it, but what has already passed cannot be returned. 9) He forgives any offense inflicted on himself and, seeing his neighbor sinning, does not condemn, but sympathizes with him, remembering that he himself was in the same calamity. 10) He turns his mind and heart away from time and worldly things and turns to eternity, both blessed and unfavorable, and diligently tries and prays to receive the blessed one, and get rid of the unfavorable one, and so on. These are signs of true repentance, which I fervently wish for both myself and you. It is worthy that you ask how to seek remission of sins and healing for spiritual ulcers, for you must first know the source from which this healing, life-giving and cooling water flows for us, and then it is appropriate to draw from it with faith in order to cool our souls, crushed by sins and the fear of God’s judgment. I answer you from the Holy Word of God. The sons of Israel, who came out of Egypt and passed through the desert, when they were bitten by snakes, looked at the snake lifted up by Moses at the command of God, and so they were healed from the deadly wounds of the snake (Numbers 21:9). So we, bitten by the hellish serpent, the ancient serpent, the devil, who wounded our ancestors in paradise, must look with faith to Christ the Son of God, for the sake of our sins on the tree of the ascended tree, and ask Him with tenderness and contrition of heart for healing from the wounds of sin. Without Him there is no healing for us. For He is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). And the ascension of that snake marks the ascension of the Son of God to the Cross, as Christ Himself interpreted it: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). So, the one who has sinned must look to Christ crucified, and lift up the eyes of the heart to Him who now sits at the right hand of God, and so ask for healing of the wounds of sin with faith. You are correct in asking whether there is remission of every sin when a person, having forsaken his sins, repents with contrition of heart. For one of the wiles of the devil is that he often confuses the converted sinner and the repentant with evil thoughts of despair, and so wants to plunge him into despair about God’s mercy and remission of sins, presenting to him God’s justice and saying in his thoughts: you have done so much and so much evil, God is righteous, He rewards everyone according to their deeds, He will also reward you according to your evil deeds. What more should you expect than God’s judgment and condemnation? Stop believing, and so on. Therefore, I answer you from the Holy Scripture, which promises forgiveness and mercy of God to every sinner who truly repents. Listen to the following (words). The Holy Apostle John says: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Note that the Blood of Christ cleanses the sinner from all sin. The Apostle Paul says: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). And Christ Himself says: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13). You see that there is no difference between sinners, but Christ came to call everyone to repentance, to save everyone. It is not said that Christ came to call such and such sinners to repentance and save, but all kinds of sinners, no matter what they were. Christ also says: “The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). You see that it is not said that he came to save this and that lost one, but everyone who perished, no matter who he was. Since all sinned, so all perished, and therefore Christ came to seek and save all those who were lost, who would repent and accept Him as their Savior. The Apostle Paul says: “Christ died for all” (2 Cor 5:15). You see that there is no difference here either, but Christ died for each and every sinner, no matter what he was. Therefore, every sinner, if he truly repents, is saved by the death of Christ. It is true that a person sins gravely when, having been washed by holy baptism, he deviates onto the path of wickedness and fearlessly destroys God’s law. For in this way he breaks his vows, which he made to God and his Creator, lags behind God and sticks again to Satan, whom he then renounced and his evil deeds; destroys all the grace that he was then granted by God, again becomes a son of darkness, despite the fact that by grace he became a son of light, and instead of the inheritance of eternal life he is guilty of eternal torment. With him, “the true proverb happens: a dog returns to his vomit, and a pig that has been washed goes to wallow in the mud” (2 Peter 2:22). But when the same sinner again turns to God with true repentance, then God turns to him with His mercy, and accepts him as a prodigal son, and gives him the robe of justification, which he received at baptism and lost through negligence, and makes him again a member of His holy family, that is, His faithful. Then holy baptism is again useful to him, which was useless to him while he lived in sins. For he renewed the vows that he did not keep, and, admitting his guilt, asks God for mercy, and promises to live regularly and as a Christian and to serve God, therefore God, being merciful, again accepts him into His mercy. The Holy Apostle John, to the faithful and those washed by holy baptism, writes: “If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; He is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world (\" John 2:1-2). You see that it is not said “he sinned lightly,” but it is meant “no matter how someone sins,” and the intercession of Christ to the one who sinned is promised, for the sake of which the one who sinned is cleansed from sin. For if the Lord commands us to forgive each other’s sins every day, not only “up to seven times, but up to seventy times seventy times” (Matthew 18:22), I say to us who are hard-hearted and unmerciful, how much more will God Himself, by nature good and merciful, do this. His bounty has not diminished, and as is His majesty, so is His mercy. Great sin requires great and divine mercy. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy,” David prays (Ps. 50:3). Many and grave sins require the multitude and bounties of God, just as the same David asks: “According to the multitude of Your mercies, cleanse my iniquity.” Therefore, someone who has committed a great sin must resort to God’s great mercy; and to the one who has committed many sins - to the many bounties of God. So, “when sin abounded, grace abounded all the more” (Rom. 5:20). For God, being merciful, “wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4), and calls everyone and every sinner to repentance, so that everyone, having repented, will be saved, as is clear from all Scripture. How then will He who calls every sinner to repentance not accept every sinner, no matter what he may be, and how He who calls every sinner to repentance will not forgive every sin to the repentant? For the words of God are not vain, idle, or vain, but true. What he promises will certainly come to pass, and what he threatens will follow unrepentantly and bitterly. For this is why the Last Judgment declared in His Scripture that people should repent and, having repented, avoid the terrible saying. For this purpose he declared Gehenna and other plagues, so that they would repent and not fall into Gehenna. Likewise, He calls every sinner, small and great, to repentance, so that everyone would repent and receive mercy from Him. Whoever has great and many sins, if he repents, he pours out His great mercy and many of His bounties, “for with the Lord is mercy, and with Him is much redemption” (Ps 129:6). We have many examples of this. Who was Manasseh? - Great sinner. Peter denied Christ three times. David gravely sinned by adultery and murder, but all of them, having repented, received mercy from the Lord. We also read in church history that many harlots, robbers and other serious sinners repented and received mercy from the Lord. Whoever imitated them in sins, let him imitate them in repentance, and thus receive mercy. For this is why these examples were written, so that they could imitate their repentance and be shown mercy with them. God does not look at faces, but He has mercy on all who repent equally. So, it is not greatness, nor the multitude of sins that destroys the sinner, but unrepentant life. He who has committed many, great and grave sins will be saved if he truly repents, and he who, although he commits lesser sins, remains unrepentant, will perish. For God does not judge those who have sinned, but those who have sinned and unrepented, and does not look at how someone lived, but how he now lives and repents, and what zeal, and what disposition of heart he has. He does not look at what he did, thought and began, but looks at what he does, thinks and begins, that is, he demands change and correction of the internal and renewal of the heart. And he judges a person not by what he did before, but by what he (now) does, and in what his end will befall him. Likewise, the righteousness of the righteous will not be remembered if it goes astray, and the iniquity of the wicked will not be destroyed if he forsakes his iniquities and sincerely repents. Whatever the death finds a person, with that he will appear before the judgment of God. Therefore, no one, no small or great sinner, should despair or become bitter, but everyone should sincerely turn to God, and ask, and undoubtedly expect mercy from Him, and, having changed their internal state for the better, from which external deeds will be good, stand in the good work they have begun, and strive against every sin, and not allow any sin to reign over them, which true conversion and repentance requires. Reason about this, and shake off all doubt and despondency, like a demonic work, repent and stand in it to the end, and you will be saved, which is what I wish from my heart both for myself and for you. I see that you don’t really understand what it means to change your internal state. Therefore, according to my strength, I will explain this to you. I happened to read in one book that a certain young man lived with a harlot, having become attached to her with a nasty love. Then, wanting to get away from the bad business, he withdrew from her for a while and hesitated a little at a distance. But when he felt that his love for her had faded away, he returned home, and, by chance, meeting her, he silently passed by, and when the next day, having met her, also without saying anything to her, he passed by, she said to him: “Why didn’t you recognize me? After all, I am such and such.” To which he answered her: “But I’m not the same.” You see a change in the inner state of the young man. He became not the man he once was; instead of being an adulterer, he became chaste. It is necessary for every sinner to become different from what he was before if he wants to truly repent. Sin must die if God wants to live; not to serve the world if he wants to serve Christ. For it is impossible to live with sin and to serve God, and to serve the world and Christ. In the human heart lies malice, that is, pride, hatred, envy, anger, malice, impurity, love of money, or covetousness, love of glory, ambition and all the evil that arises from original sin. All this makes a person evil and unclean in the eyes of God. A person must mortify all this and not allow it to come into action, and just as a gardener cuts off the growing branches of a tree, so a person must cut off their disorderly and ungodly movements, and so, with the help of Jesus, the Consumer of sin and all the power of the enemy, cleanse his heart. And the more thoroughly you cleanse yourself of the above-mentioned defilements, the better the change in your internal state will be. The more the source is purified, the purer the water will be, the more the body is washed and dried, the whiter it will be, the more the tree is pruned from harmful branches, the larger and better the fruits it will bear, and the better the internal state will be, the more diligently a person tries to change it for the better. But in order for a person to change himself for the better, he must first recognize the poor state of his heart, just as someone who wants to be healed of an illness must first recognize the illness. To know this, you need to read the Word of God and other Christian books, which show and reveal the poverty and wretchedness of our heart condition, and teach how to heal and change it. What is needed is reflection on actions and movements that come from the heart, which in itself is nothing more than a stinking smell of disorder and evil. And most of all, internal and external temptation is needed, for just as an emetic medicine reveals the bad juices hidden in the stomach and spews out, so temptation shows what is hidden in someone’s heart. And just as a boil, although it always hurts and is severe, but then its illness and severity are best known when something touches or hits it, so a person, although he knows what is hidden in his heart, but when he finds temptation, he recognizes it more and better. Temptation reveals everything secret and hidden and places itself before a person’s eyes. We see this truth on occasion. Tell me, when will we recognize the anger hidden in our hearts? Is it not when someone offends us? When does envy show itself, is it not with the praise and well-being of another? Unclean lust is especially inflamed by the visible or seen beauty of a face, indignation and murmuring in misfortune and misfortune found. Many in happiness show themselves to be courageous and generous, but when trouble comes they fall, become faint-hearted and despair out of fear. In prosperity, many believe that they have hope in God, but when the storm comes, it turns out that they rely not on God, but on man, on silver and gold, when they seek help from them in sorrow. You see how temptation reveals what is contained in our hearts, and from this you can see how useful temptation is for knowing the inner state. And he who knows his weaknesses needs to heal them with true repentance, regret and calling on Jesus Christ, the Physician of souls and bodies, just as a person who is weak in body does not neglect his weakness, but calls on a doctor and asks for healing from him. So especially for us, Christians, seeing in ourselves, that is, in our souls, the many different ailments with which our souls are weakened and tending towards eternal death, we should not become numb, hesitate and be careless, but call on Jesus the Son of God and ask for healing from Him. He alone knows these ailments completely and heals not with a potion, but with a single word. It also requires work, diligence, feat and tireless effort on our part. We try to heal the weak body, although we know that it will turn to earth, how much more should we care about healing the soul, which is immortal. What is the use of having a healthy body but a weak soul? It is better to rot in body and be healthy in soul, than to be healthy in body and weak in soul. Treat or not treat the body, however, it will rot, and if the soul is healthy, then the body, united with the soul in the common resurrection, will become healthy, and will be clothed with immortality, and will be clothed in a beautiful appearance. You see what it means to change your internal state. To change the internal state one must also have contempt for this world, that is, not to have honor, glory, wealth, carnality in this world, but to turn one’s mind and heart to eternity, to think about one thing, how, by the grace of God, to avoid an unfavorable eternity and receive a prosperous one. Every Christian should be vigilant about this. “For the image of this world is passing away” (1 Cor 7:31). Today a person lives, and tomorrow he dies and leaves the world, and leaves everything with the world - honor, glory, wealth and all carnal lust; and the rich is like a beggar, and the glorious is like a low-born, and the noble is like a low-born, and a master is like a slave. So, when the heart, or inner state, changes, then from the changed heart will follow beginnings, deeds, words and the whole life similar to that. So, from a purified source, clean water flows, from a good tree, good fruits are born, and so on. And this requires a lot of work, effort and achievement, since the human heart is deeply corrupted and damaged by the poison of original sin, and is difficult and difficult to know by anyone, except those who learn from it and experience various temptations, for temptation, as said above, reveals what is hidden in our hearts. You asked me two questions: 1) What does it mean to live by sin, and what does it mean to live by God? 2) Why should the world be despised if it was created for our sake? - to which I answer you according to my strength. 1) Do you know that a dead person does not hear, no matter what is said or commanded to him, so a spiritually dead person does not listen and does not heed what God says to Him in His word, but does only what his lustful heart wants. Such a person is dead to God, for he lives not according to God, but according to his own evil will, since he does not do what God wants and commands, but what the passionate flesh does. He lives by sin, because sin, which lives in the heart, listens and obeys it. Just as a slave lives with that master, whom he listens to, and whom he obeys, and whose will he does, so a person either lives with God when he obeys God and does His will, or he lives by sin if he obeys sin and does it. So, every person either lives for God or for sin. Whoever is in true repentance and fulfills the commandments of God, in which the will of God is depicted, lives for God, and whoever remains in unrepentance and commits sin, lives not for God, but for sin. Therefore, he who lives with God is called a servant of God, for he serves Him as a workman of His will and commandments, and he who lives in sin is called a slave of sin, for he does what sin wants, according to the Scripture: “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). But it is impossible for both sin and God to live because it happens that God forbids what sin or sinful lust wants and advises. God forbids anger, anger, revenge, fornication, theft, slander, etc., but lust leads to this. So, it is impossible to listen to lust and God, and to live to God. “No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). I answer the second question: 1) Whatever is in this world, either expensive, or beautiful and pleasing to people, that is, wealth, gold, silver, jewelry, expensive stones, decoration of buildings, houses, horses, carriages, dresses, persons, honor, glory, power, and so on, which is pleasing to the eyes and other feelings and lusts, all this is transitory and departs from us, like the world itself, as the apostle teaches: “The world passes away, and so does its lust.” (1 John 2:17). At the time of death, we leave everything, and not only what we have, but also the world itself, and the body itself, we leave, and we leave here only as souls, we do not take anything with us. Why bother about something that we will leave today or tomorrow? 2) Every person living on earth is a traveler. One ascends to this path of life when one is born; this path ends when he dies. Why should he seek much and burden himself with unnecessary care? But nature is content with little. Our nature requires food, clothing, drink, home and other necessary things, not decoration and sweets. Lust seeks wealth, decoration and sweetness, but nature is content with only what is necessary - food and clothing, as the apostle teaches: “We brought nothing into the world; It’s obvious that we can’t take anything out of it. Having food and clothing, we will be content with this” (1 Timothy 6:7-8). You see what the apostle teaches: we bring nothing into the world, and we take nothing out of the world. And in fact, we see that we only need food and clothing, and God gives them to everyone according to His goodness. Why should a traveler burden himself? Why look for something that you won’t take with you from the world? You see that those who seek much in the world are deceived by the world; They realize this deception when they die, but it’s too late. So, now everyone must, while he lives, realize the deceitfulness of worldly goods and not have anything dear in this world, therefore, not chase after anything, and not cling to anything. For everything in this world is like a bubble that appears and disappears on the water, or a dream, or a shadow, and so on. Only one thing is firm, constant, unshakable and will never retreat from us - this is what is eternal. One must carefully and vigilantly seek for this, and have everything temporary as if it were nothing. From what has been described above you will see and understand this truth better when you die. I only wish from my heart that you now know. 3) From what has been described above, you see that we are born and renewed through holy Baptism not for the sake of this world (otherwise we would have to remain in this world without origin), but we are born and renewed for the sake of the transition to the future life. Those who here seek honor, wealth and glory are sinning and deceived. For with such care they show that they have this world for their fatherland and, as it were, want to live here forever. They are like those people who, having gone to a foreign country for a short time, acquire immovable things there, for example, houses, gardens, ponds, etc. - everything that they are forced to leave behind when returning to their fatherland, and without all that to return to home. So we also enter this world for a short time, as if into a foreign country, and we each leave it to our own place: the pious into eternal life, and the wicked into eternal torment. 4) Adam, our forefather, was settled by God in paradise, and then he was between God and creation, between heaven and earth. And when, on the advice of the evil spirit, he turned to the creation and ate from the commanded tree, then he retreated from his Creator, and turned the love that he should have had for his Creator to His creation, and so gravely sinned and died. Thus, a Christian, washed and renewed by the bath of holy Baptism, is settled in the Holy Church and dwells between God and creation, between heaven and earth. God says to all Christians: “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world: if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). A Christian, when he turns to the world and earthly things, turns away from God and heaven, and when he loves creatures, he retreats with love from the Creator, and so with his heart he retreats from God and cleaves to the creation, and, like Adam, he always stretches out his hand to the commanded tree. For this peace, like the tree commanded to Adam, is placed for our temptation, whether we turn our hearts to God or to the world. When we turn to God, we turn away from the world, and when we turn to the world, we turn away from God. For it is impossible to love the world and God, as it was said above: “whoever loves the world does not have the Father’s love.” Just as God did not command Adam to eat from that tree, so he now says to us: “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world.” So, you see why we must despise the world, that is, in order to honor our God; not to love the world in order to love God, to leave creation in order to find God, to turn away from creation in order to turn to God. For just as we cannot look to the east and to the west, and to heaven and to earth at the same time, so we cannot cleave to the world and to God with our hearts. When we turn our eyes to the earth, we turn away from heaven, and when we turn to the west, we turn away from the east - just as we turn away from God with our hearts, when we love the world, and when we turn to God with our hearts, then we turn away from the world. Everyone must choose one of the two. “No one can serve two masters: for either he will hate one and love the other; or he will be zealous for one and neglectful of the other” (Matthew 6:24). 5) Our soul was created in the image of God and, having fallen, was redeemed by the Blood of Christ and renewed by holy Baptism!.. Oh, how great is the nobility, dignity and beauty of the soul! The Blood of Christ was given for her, and she carries the image of God within herself... More honorable than heaven and earth and all creation is one human soul. Oh, dear, immortal and magnificent beauty, nobility, honor and dignity of the soul! Below God, as His creation, and above all creation, since it has the image of God in itself. We enslave such a noble and highly respected soul (oh, woe to us, oh, our poverty and blindness!) to an insensitive and base creature when we turn to him with our hearts and love. The creature had to serve us, which is what it was created for by God. But the opposite is being done. We serve the creature, our lower self, when we turn our hearts to it. You see how indecent and bad a person acts when the world loves. 6) A person, when he turns from the Creator to the creature with love, falls away from his true bliss and falls into true wretchedness and poverty. And just as one who, having left his king, cleaves with love and friendship to his most vile slaves and makes himself dishonest and poor, so a sinner betrays himself into dishonor and damnation if, having left God, he cleaves to the creature. It is sung about this, or even said with regret and lamentation: “Man, being in honor, did not understand (this), but became equal to foolish beasts and became like them” (Ps 49:13). For although every creature is “good” and “very good” (Gen. 1:31), yet every goodness of creatures comes from God, as from a source, as do the creatures themselves; and the kindness that exists in all creatures is present in an incomparable, better and excellent way in the Creator; Moreover, all creatures, like man himself, are nothing before God. They have their being, their strength, and their kindness from God, like the shadow of a tree, and until that time they remain and remain as long as the will of God wants and His almighty power preserves them. Therefore, when a person turns from God to creation, he chooses instead of perfect goodness that which is essentially nothing, and so, instead of perfect bliss, he chooses his perfect damnation and misfortune, and makes himself poor and damned. 7) The human soul is spirit. Therefore, being created in the image of God (God is Spirit), he cannot be satisfied with anything other than one God. It came from God - and is content with God. There is no such thing that could be satisfied with except God. Every thing rests in its place: a body on the earth, as if taken from the earth, air goes to air, fire strives to heights, a bird on a tree, a fish in the water has its rest; the soul, being a spirit (and the image of God), is in its prototype - God. The sun, moon, stars and the whole sky are good and beautiful, but they delight the body. The earth with all its fruits and its adornment is good, but the body is content. The water is good, but the body gets cold. The singing of birds is sweet, but it is sweet for the body. The music is pleasant, but it is pleasant to the body. Food and drink are good, but both satiate and cool the body. So, think about other creatures. But no creature can please, satiate, cool, console and cheer the soul. There is another peace with which one rests, there is food with which one is nourished, there is drink with which one is cooled, there is light with which one is enlightened, there is beauty with which one is amused, there is a center to which one strives and, having achieved that, seeks nothing more. God and His Divine grace are everything for the soul: peace, food, drink, light, glory, honor, wealth, consolation, joy, fun and all the bliss with which it will be satisfied when it finds Him. And the more he now seeks Him, the more he desires Him, and until then he will desire and seek what he desires, until he sees him face to face. And then the more he drinks from this living and ever-flowing Source, the more he will thirst for Him, without illness and satiety, throughout all eternity. For the more God is seen, the more he is desired. Hence it happens that a spiritually sad soul cannot be comforted by anything except God and His holy word. And from the fact that the soul cannot be satisfied with this world, one can know that the more peace-loving people look for their treasures here, the more they desire them and cannot get enough of them. No amount of wealth is enough for a money lover: the more he collects, the more he desires. Those who desire honor, the more they rise, the higher they want to rise, so that many, not content with the high royal title, ordered themselves to be called gods, as we read in stories about pagan kings. Luxury lovers and sensualists invent how many whims for their pleasure, how many delicious foods and drinks and other things, everyone knows, but they cannot satisfy themselves and their souls. The reason for this is that they want to please their soul with something with which it will not be satisfied. For the spirit is immortal, and therefore it is not content with corruptible and mortal matter, but with the living and immortal Divinity. So a poor man, having lost the source of living water, God, digs muddy wells in creatures and from them seeks refreshment for his soul! But dig, dig as much as you want, poor soul, these treasures will not quench your thirst, you will thirst for more and more. Do you know where to find living water? Listen, here the living Source calls to Himself: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37); and again: “Whoever drinks the water that I will poison him will never thirst; But the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life” (John 4:14). From this Source the soul draws and is cooled, drunk and amused, so that “it will not thirst forever.” 8) It is known that the world was created for the sake of man, but all things in the world are like traces of God, and testify to man about God; and like streams, they lead a person to a living and life-giving Source, and show Him, and teach our souls to draw and cool our souls from Him. Who would want to drink from streams, seeing the living source itself? Creatures are good, and very good, but the Creator, Who created them good, is incomparably better. Creatures show the goodness and love of God for us and teach us to love, praise and thank God as our Creator and Benefactor. They do not convince themselves to love, but as if they are telling us this: we were created by the Creator for your benefit and use. Love Him who created us for you, and not us, who cannot love you, and using us for your benefit, thank the One who gave us to you. He loves you and, for the sake of His love for you, He created us for your sake. Love Him who loved you and created us for you. The Benefactor must be loved, and not the benefit, and the Giver, and not the gift. The benefactor must remember and, remembering, thank the Benefactor. 9) Man, as stated above, is born not for the sake of this world, but for the sake of the transition to that age, and therefore in this world he is a wanderer and traveler. Therefore, one must use everything in this world out of necessity, and not for lust; one must fulfill the needs and demands of the flesh, and not please lust. That is why it is written: “Do not turn the cares of the flesh into lusts” (Rom. 13:14). Food, clothing, peace or a home are enough for him, as a wanderer and wayfarer, and when he strives to get rich, to be honored, to be glorified, to have fun, and to enjoy himself in this world, this is a matter of lust, not need. He who wanders to his fatherland and his home loves nothing in the world, as was said above, except God, his Creator and Benefactor, and for the sake of God a person like himself, and always to the heavenly fatherland, for which he was created and called, he raises his mind and heart, like a traveler to his goal. So, “where his treasure is,” “there will his heart be also” (Matthew 6:21). When he will always be in this thought, he will certainly not desire anything in this world except God and eternal life, which is hidden in Christ and promised in the Word of God. 10) It is necessary for the soul, just as it came from God, to return to God without the love of this world. Take note of this, beware of the world and go away from it, like Lot from Sodom. You are amazed that at the end I wrote “depart from the world.” This not only needs to be understood, but in the sense in which the above-mentioned letter was written. True Christians will certainly leave the world, not with their feet, but with their hearts and thoughts. You yourself know what a person who has moved away from his fatherland and home does: he turns to a foreign country, but with his heart and thoughts he constantly remains in his fatherland and home, always thinking about how to return to home healthy. He walks with his body and feet on a foreign side, but with his heart and soul in his own home, and does not establish anything immovable there: no rich buildings, no gardens, and other things that cannot be taken with him to the fatherland. We are strangers and strangers on earth, like our fathers. Our Fatherland is heaven, for which we were created, renewed by holy Baptism, and called by the Word of God. What can we, strangers and strangers, do, how to live here in this world with our bodies and walk with our feet until God calls us from here, but to abide in our fatherland with our hearts and thoughts; and not to worry about anything other than what is necessary for this life, and not to accumulate treasures for oneself on a foreign land, “where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break through and steal, but” to lay up “treasures for oneself in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break through and steal, for where our treasure is, there will our heart be also” (Matthew 6:19–21). There is our fatherland, there is home, there is our Father, there is our brotherhood, there is our peace, there is glory, there is joy, there is rejoicing, the Great Supper, and all our bliss is there. There our heart and our thoughts and our desires should be raised. If we always think about this, then we will not desire or seek anything in this world that people have and honor as wealth, as expensive, beautiful, pleasant and cheerful, but we will value gold and silver, as if extracted from the earth, as nothing, like the dust of the earth; expensive stones - beads, diamonds, yachts and others, according to the opinion of this world, are expensive, we will consider them the same stones as those that are littered and trampled on the roads; honor, glory, titles, reverence for us will be like smoke, the decoration of dresses, houses, carriages, horses, and so on - like nothing, or like carrion. In a word, everything that the sons of this age love and honor will be hateful (or alien) to us. We will not take revenge for insults and dishonor, we will forgive everyone, so that the Lord will forgive us too. We comfortably and generously endure any opposition inflicted on us, knowing that this is the path to the mountainous fatherland. Let us avoid every sin, like a deadly poison. Let us honor every virtue, even the smallest, more than any treasure of this world. We will please God, and not people, in everything. Thus let us depart from the world, although we will be in the world, until we depart from the world. It is clear that you still doubt that we will conveniently despise the world when we firmly believe and always think about the future life and glory and the eternal kingdom. I will explain this to you with an example. If you were promised a part of the earthly kingdom and you were sure of it, would you want to seek some low position? Of course not. If someone told you that in such and such a place a great and invaluable treasure lies hidden, and you would definitely believe him, wouldn’t you sell all your property in order to buy this place and land and own that land and treasure? Truly, I would gladly give up all my possessions just to get that hidden treasure. Or if it were said to you from heaven: endure every calamity, misfortune and suffering for one week, and then for seventy years you will live in all the prosperity, consolation, abundance and joy that your soul desires, would you not choose this with joy? Truly, I would have endured everything in such a short time, so that later I would be in great consolation for a long time. Both in this and in the above, there is an indisputable truth. Now talk about peace and eternal life and its treasure. God promised us an eternal kingdom, eternal blessings and treasures, eternal consolation and joy. Shall we really not despise all temporary honor, all temporary wealth, if we believe the Word of God and hope to receive what they promise? Is it really possible that we won’t endure everything but temporarily, if we hope to be in eternal peace, consolation, joy and fun? There is no way that can be. For what is everything temporal and earthly against the eternal and heavenly? Like nothing. Royal honor and glory are earthly versus eternal, like darkness versus light. Earthly wealth versus heavenly wealth is like nothing. Present consolation is against eternal bliss, like stinking and unclean water against clean and living water, or, better said, nothing. For temporary and worldly bliss is like a shadow against the truth. What is a shadow? Nothing, just a hint of the real thing. Eternal life with all its bliss is the truth, and temporary life with all the blessings of this world is a shadow. The shadow is visible while the tree stands and the sun shines; If a tree falls, the shadow also falls, or the sun disappears, and the shadow disappears. So is this life. A man dies, earthly life departs from him, and with it all its bliss, like a shadow, disappears, and it becomes as if both the man and his bliss did not exist. Judge for yourself, where are the kings, princes, nobles, rich, strong, wise now? Where is their glory and bliss? They fell, their glory and bliss disappeared, just as a shadow disappears when a tree falls or when the sun hides. Such is all the bliss of this world! Truth is eternal life, which, once found, never departs. “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid, and for his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field” (Matthew 13:44). The field here means the future age, in which the hidden kingdom of heaven with its treasure. There it is hidden, but in Holy Scripture it is revealed to us and is found here. Who gets it? The one who truly and vividly believes God’s Word and promise, and looks to it with faith, and strives towards it with hope. Such a one, being overwhelmed by the desire to acquire this invaluable treasure, joyfully renounces everything in this world and takes everything dear to the world for nothing. For the heavenly treasure is like a beautiful and priceless pearl, against which all the wealth of this world is as nothing. Let us turn our hearts away from this world and look for those pearls of great value, and let us search diligently, without being lazy, for as much as this treasure is dear, so important and urgent for our day is “there is only one thing that is needed” (Luke 10:42). You ask what it means: “there is only one thing that is needed.” You can judge for yourself that this is talking about eternal life. It is said that we only need it (we can do without anything else, but it is the only one we need). For her sake we are born into this world, we are baptized and renewed in order to receive her. For her sake, the Word of God was announced to us, so that from it we might know God and the Son of God Jesus Christ, and having known it, we would be saved forever. For this reason, Christ our Lord came into the world, lived, worked, suffered and died, and thereby opened for us the door to eternal life, which we concluded with our sins, and showed us the way and way to obtain it. You see that eternal life is absolutely necessary for us, as an urgent need, without which we cannot do without. While we live in this world, we have many needs: we need bread, food, clothing, a house, peace and everything else necessary for this life, but eternal life is such a need for man that without it everything else is nothing and the whole world, if it could be acquired, is nothing. “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? or what ransom will a man give for his soul” (Matthew 16:26)? You see that the salvation of the soul, which consists in eternal life, is more valuable than the whole world and therefore “there is only one need.” Therefore, only eternal salvation, “the only thing needed,” must be sought vigilantly, and in order to seek and find it, one must not cleave to carnality and the vanity of this world. A heart filled with vanity will either forget about the “one thing that is needed,” or, although it will look for it, it will be careless and as if reluctantly, therefore honor, glory, wealth and other treasures of this world should despise and the heart should turn away from all such things. For a person has one heart: when he seeks the temporal, then he forgets about the eternal; when he turns to eternity and deepens his thoughts in it, then he forgets about time; and when he cares about eternal life, then he does not care or care about the vanity of this world - only one of these two has a human heart. When concern for eternal life enters the heart, then concern for vain acquisitions comes out, and when vanity enters the heart, then eternity departs. You write that people went back to their business after the impostor was caught and the fear of him disappeared. From this, note what fear does to fearlessness. When this villain walked, and captured, and destroyed people, and approached our side, then the gentlemen - and many other people - left their houses, peasants and estates, and wanted to leave, and others left. You see what human fear does in people. Why did they leave everything and want to flee, or did some flee? To save your life. What kind of life? Temporary. We honor temporary life so much that we leave everything for its sake, although we should certainly leave it and this church will be destroyed. The fear of temporary and inevitable death shakes our hearts so much, how much will the fear of eternal death shake when it takes possession of the heart? Temporary and brief torment confuses a person so much, how can it confuse something that is eternal and has no end? For the sake of the fear of temporary torment and death, a person leaves everything in order to be saved from it - what will he not leave when the fear of eternal death and Gehenna strikes the soul? This fear and sadness about the salvation of the soul will certainly convince you to leave everything worldly, about which the sons of this age are concerned; will drive away worldly sadness from the heart - the desire for wealth, honor, glory and voluptuousness and, like a whirlwind of dust, will dispel all this vanity. Such a person will not renounce dishonor, reproach, beating, prison, exile and death itself with joy to endure, just to get rid of that eternal misfortune. This truth is clear and true for those who feel the fear of eternal death. For with great fear a small fear is destroyed, and with greater sorrow a small sorrow disappears, and a great illness makes a small one insensitive, just as a weak voice cannot be felt because of a great noise. So the sadness of this age and the fear of temporary misfortune are consumed and extinguished by the sadness of the salvation of the soul and the fear of eternal destruction, like the light from a candle by the light of the sun. This fear made the desert and dens unafraid in pious antiquity, admonished to live with animals rather than with lawless people, to eat grass and roots rather than sweet foods, to wander in the forests rather than turn between temptations, and so on. This fear even shakes the very demons, the disembodied spirits. For the demons are afraid of Gehenna, to which they are condemned, and they try to make the sons of men participants in it, so that they will not suffer in it alone. It’s amazing that carnal people do not tremble at the things that make demon-spirits tremble! When this fear and sadness leaves the heart, then the sadness of this age takes possession, and, like a thief, a house and a city, so it devastates the home of the soul. Then people, forgetting about eternal death and not caring about the salvation of the soul, care only about the temporary. Hence it happens that people in this world try to achieve an honorable position, seek fame for themselves, accumulate wealth, please their flesh and no longer think about how to please God and be saved, but how to please people and be in their respect and praise. From here came the structure and decoration of rich houses, colorful and rich clothing, decoration of carriages and horses, the elegance and affectation of servants, the preparation of meals, banquets, feasts, treats and mutual entertainment, and so on - in a word, carnal, reckless and, to tell the truth, bestial life. When the aforementioned villain, about whom you wrote, was caught and taken to his place, and fear because of him disappeared from people, then everyone took up their previous affairs and began to either visit or receive guests. This is what fearlessness and carelessness do! So, when the fear of death and eternal torment leaves a person, then vanity and love for the world have a place in his heart, as said above. Then such people act like little children. Children of carnival masks and painted monsters, not scary in themselves, are afraid, but not afraid of fire and other things that cause harm and destruction, they laugh when robbers enter the house, and are careless when the house is plundered, although they themselves suffer from the villains, they cry when those villains steal their children's toys. This is what people do who have no fear or sadness about eternity. They are afraid of losing their temporary well-being, but they are not afraid of losing their eternal well-being. Satan, like a thief, plunders the home of the soul, takes away everything: bliss and eternal life, redeemed by the Blood of Christ, and they do not care about this, not noticing that destruction follows from there. And when something temporary is taken away from them, that is, honor, or wealth, or something else that must be left behind at death, they cry inconsolably, and sob, and grieve about what they should not grieve about, and do not grieve about what they should grieve about. There they “fear fear where there is no fear” (Ps 52:6), and there they do not fear fear where true fear is. They are afraid of the painted fire, but they are not afraid of the “consuming fire” (Ps 52:6), from which even demons tremble. All this comes from nothing other than oblivion of eternity. Satan does this oblivion; he darkens the human mind and takes away memory, so that a person does not remember eternity and its accessories. For he knows that a person, when he remembers and thinks about eternity, will easily despise the vanity of this world, and will strive for only eternal blessings, and this way he can conveniently be saved. Therefore, every effort is made to turn a person away from eternity and entangle him in the care of temporary things, like a fish in a net. Beware of this devilish wiles, be in this world like a traveler on the path. Remember that whatever you gather, you will leave here, and, having left everything behind, strive for your own country, “hold on to eternal life, to which you were called” (1 Tim. 6:12). Be content with what God has given you in His mercy. You have food, and clothing, and a house - what more do you want, traveler, wanderer and stranger on earth? The inheritance for Christians is not here, but is prepared in heaven. Honor, glory and all bliss are hidden there for them. Stop looking for that which, even if you find it, you will soon leave behind, and diligently seek for that which, once found, will never be lost, that is, eternal life. Judge for yourself, aren’t the actions of people worthy of laughter who grab a purse intended for money, and keep it, and rejoice about it, but neglect gold and silver? Or those who grab onto the shadows of fruits hanging on a tree, and want to enjoy them, but do not care about the fruits themselves? This is what those poor Christians do who chase after temporary well-being, like an empty wallet, or like a shadow (for everything temporary, like an empty bag, seems to have something in itself, but in itself is nothing, or like a shadow that disappears), but care little or not at all about eternal life and its treasure, not gold and silver, but the priceless Blood of Christ redeemed. Oh, eternal life! How dear and sweet you are, but few people love you! Oh, peace, peace! A deplorable vale - peace, sorrow, sighing, labor and troubles, a world filled with troubles! How bitter you are, and almost everyone loves you! What would happen if you were sweet? The world is bitter, but I love it so much! And how loved would you be if you were sweet? Surely everyone would reverence him for the fatherland and the second paradise. What is there in the world but misfortune, misfortune, labor, sadness, sorrow and sighing, like on the sea, what is there except winds, storms and waves? What seems sweet is mixed with sorrow, and what seems pleasant is rotten and stinking inside. Oh, our misfortune! Oh, blindness of mind! Where is our mind, where is our faith, Christians? Where is the Word of God, which promises us great and wondrous, terrible and terrible, countless blessings, which “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and none has entered into the heart of man” (1 Cor 2:9)? But, leaving everything behind, we chase the shadow. It is truly and righteously written: “Man, being in honor, did not understand (this), but became equal to foolish beasts and became like them” (Ps 49:13). Just as cattle love and seek what they feel, so the poor carnal and unregenerate man only cares about what he sees and what is pleasing to the senses, but is not concerned about what the Word of God promises, since he does not see it. So before the flood, people ate, drank, got married, and only thought about pleasing the flesh, but suddenly the water came and destroyed everyone. So now people drink, eat, walk, get married, get married, then go to visit, then receive guests, but they do not look at the works of the Lord and His fate, but the Archangel's trumpet will accidentally proclaim: Christ the Judge is coming, arise, you dead, go to judgment. From such a reckless and carnal life, it is noted that “the day of the Lord is near” (see Matthew 24; 2 Tim 3; Joel 3 and so on). Read this, reason and beware. Blessed is he who is awake and has his lamp burning, for he will go out to meet the Bridegroom with the wise virgins and enter into the palace (Matthew 25:10). You say that you would like to get away from the hustle and bustle, but you can’t. No, I answer you: you can’t, but you don’t want to. If you want, anything is truly possible. It is impossible for us to walk on water, fly through air, etc., but it is possible to turn away from the love of this world with the help of God. For God, Who commands: “Depart from the world,” helps those who want and try. Other people were the same as you, they were earthly, flesh-bearing and weak, but they despised the world, and now many despise it. It was possible for them - it is possible for you too, because you are of the same nature as them. Force yourself if you don't want to. Thinking about the impending disaster and the undoubted hope of the promised bliss will compel a sad heart. You know what people do in case of a fire or an invasion of foreigners: they give up everything to save their lives, although they regret their home and property. You see what the fear of temporary disaster and death does, as I wrote to you above. Follow them in the matter of eternal salvation. They leave everything for the sake of temporary misfortune and death, but you, for the sake of eternal misfortune and death, leave the world, so as not to perish with the world. People fall into the hands of foreigners and die or are taken into captivity, which is worse than death, taken away if, not wanting to leave their estates, they remain at home. And people often burn down when they return to their houses, engulfed in flames, to take their property out. And so people, wanting to save their property, die themselves. This is what many Christians do, who collect a lot but neglect their souls, but they will suffer in the same way. The property remains a stranger, and they themselves depart for that age without hope of salvation. You also know what warriors do, how they struggle, and how they deal with deaths. For what? To earn fame and rank. Thus they are encouraged by the hope of receiving temporary glory, although they are often deceived. Why doesn’t the hope of being awarded eternal glory encourage us to heroic deeds? Believe me, friend, I am writing to you the truth: if you had seen the future glory of the sons of God, then you would have thrown down the royal diadem, and all the glory of the world, and all his treasure, rejoicing, and you would have been concerned about this one thing, how to receive another. Nothing could stop you from doing this, not only the beauty of the world, but also the most severe torment. “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18). Also, if God showed you hellish torment, then honor, glory, wealth and all the sweets of this world would be like bitter wormwood for you, you would cry and sob inconsolably so as not to come to that place. But this is our poverty and blindness, that what we do not see, we do not desire, and we are not horrified by the calamity that we do not feel, and we do not reason about the Word of God, or do not believe it, although everything for our salvation is revealed in it. And so everyone dies of his own free will. Consider the incarnation of the Son of God and His voluntary suffering. For whom did He come into the world and suffer? For the sake of man. Oh man, man! Wonderful work of God, and wonderful Providence of God about it! For what did Christ suffer? For the sake of man. No other reason than the fact that he took pity on the lost man and through His suffering wanted to save him from eternal torment and lead him into eternal life. Oh, truly great and incomprehensible evil - eternal torment, from which the Lord, wanting to redeem man, did not spare His Blood. Oh, how great and incomprehensible eternal bliss must be if it was purchased at such an incomprehensible price, or, more precisely, returned to us, since we lost it through our sins!.. Truly, the soul of one person and its salvation are dearer to Christ than the whole world, heaven and earth, since He created the whole world with one word: “He said, and it was so” (Gen. 1) - and for the sake of the human soul He Himself came into the world, became incarnate, suffered and died. Oh, the love of the Lord! Oh, the dignity of the soul, for whose sake God Himself appeared in the flesh! And not only did he appear in the flesh, but he also suffered and died for the sake of his soul... Bless the Lord, my soul! Do we want to enslave such a noble soul to the insensible world, and, beloved by the Heavenly King and washed by His holy Blood, to defile with the filth of the world with love, and to commit spiritual adultery, and, like precious pearls, to plunge into the mud?.. Disappear the world with all its charms, let those who have not known Christ seek it and admire it. For us, O Christians, Christ alone is sufficient - beauty, the most beautiful of all beauties, wisdom containing all the treasures of wisdom, sweetness surpassing all sweets, glory, honor and true praise. In Him may there be for us adornment, wealth, glory, honor, wisdom, consolation, joy, gladness and all the bliss that is now hidden in the secret of our hearts, but will appear on His day. Then, that is, in the revelation of the sons of God, the invaluable treasure of all Christians will appear, which they now carry in meager vessels and which is despised by the evil and evil world, like smoked gold, and like a pearl lying in the dirt, trampled on, and like a fruit, although sweet and fragrant on the inside, but outwardly ugly, it is rejected. Do you believe this? If you believe, then turn away from what only seems like a treasure, but is deceptive, from what the world seduces its lovers with, and turn to Christ, and seek the true treasures from Him. And if you don’t believe now, then you will see with your eyes, but late, but to no avail, but with regret, sighing, contrition and tightness of heart, then I say, “when the righteous shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43). And since almost the entire strength of Christian piety consists in turning the heart away from this world, let us take into consideration some methods for this and hide and deepen them in our hearts, so that during times of temptation and adversity from there, as from a vagina, we can take those tools and “stand in the fierce day, having girded our loins” with the truth (Eph 6:13-14). 1) Everything that is in this world is left behind by a person at death, just like the world itself. Naked he enters the world, naked he comes from the world. No one is born rich, noble, respectable, glorious, but everyone is born poor and naked, and they also depart from the world equal. No one takes anything with him, neither the rich of wealth, nor the glorious of glory, nor the venerable of honor, nor the noble of nobility, but everyone leaves everything here, and then everyone righteously talks about these treasures of this world, but it’s too late. Why chase after something that we will leave today or tomorrow? Instead, we attribute the wounded and trembling judgment of God to the conscience. One virtue departs from here with us, and accompanies us, and stops the lips of our slanderers, and leads us to God. So talk about this now, as people talk about death, and then you will fall behind the vanity. 2) Death follows a person on an invisible path. His death befalls him there, where he does not expect it, and then he comprehends it when he does not expect it, and he comprehends it in a way he did not expect. Always be what you want to be when you die, think about it, and pay attention to yourself, and you will not want honor, glory, wealth, or other pleasures of the flesh in the world. Think that today or tomorrow you will die, and then all the vanity from your heart will disappear. For what is the need for honor, fame, wealth and pleasing the flesh at the time of death? Even if they offered and promised him a kingdom or mountains of gold, he does not care about it. He has only one thought, how to die blissfully. Be like this now, and consider every day to be your last, and wait for your Lord to call you to Himself, and nothing in the world will be nice to you, and when you stay awake and stand like that, as if on guard, you will die blissfully. 3) Through death, as a gate, everyone enters eternity. Here a person becomes either eternally blessed, or eternally poor and damned. Here often, and for the most part, the rich become forever poor, the glorious and respected forever dishonest, the master forever humiliated below his last servant, and princes and nobles worse than their subjects, and others, in the opinion of the world great, become and will forever be eternally poor and humiliated. Here the joy that was briefly enjoyed, as in a dream, recedes from everyone, and a fierce bitterness sets in, which will forever be tasted without end. Here the patience of the poor will end, and the beggar becomes forever rich, the rejected forever chosen, the despised and mocked forever glorious, the suffering forever consoled, the mournful and sad forever joyful and cheerful. In a word, everyone accepts his lot forever. Some are blessed, and I repeat, blessed, for they will forever be blessed, and others are damned, for they will forever be damned. Think about this, and such a change for people will change you, and you will become different, not the same as you were before. For reasoning about eternity can greatly move and change the human heart. 4) What is happening in this world, and what prosperity or ill-fate we see here - all this is like a shadow of some future good and true evil. We see how a person fears human judgment and runs away from it. How incomparably more fitting it is to fear God’s judgment! With shame and fear a person goes to human judgment - what shame, fear and horror will seize a person when he is called to God's judgment! A man stands at the human court, shackled with iron, covered in shame, held in fear, exposed by witnesses, hears the verdict, sees his lawless deeds publicly announced, he himself is declared a lawbreaker and a dishonest person, excommunicated from the ranks of the good and condemned according to the laws as a proper punishment. This judgment, this shame, fear and dishonor is a shadow of some future judgment, shame, fear and dishonor. There is true shame, since it is universal, there is true fear and horror, since the Judge is God and the judgment is God’s. There man will stand not before man, but before God the Judge, Who knows the secrets of the heart; he will become bound by fear, like iron, and burdened with sins. He will see the Judge in the terrible and divine glory, surrounded by countless Angels and Archangels, there the book of conscience will be opened to him, and the deeds will be presented to him, in word, deed and thought, done openly and secretly by him, and will appear to the whole world, the Angels and all people. The Judge of God will see the righteous anger of the One who came into the world for him, wanting to save him, and suffered and died for him, but was ungratefully and shamelessly rejected and humiliated by them. Here the poor sinner will be seized by contrition, oppression, horror and trembling, will tremble all over like a leaf in the wind, will hear a sentence from the Judge for ingratitude, will be declared worthy of condemnation and eternal punishment, will be rejected from the face of God and excommunicated from the number of the righteous forever, will be numbered among the evil spirits, and will be locked up with them in the prison of eternal torment, and will drink the bitter cup of the eternal wrath of God. Understand and imagine in your mind the righteous and terrible Judgment, and the love of the vain world will leave you. Believe that constant memory and reflection on the future judgment will turn you away from this vain desire, and will move you to true repentance, prayer, and that one effort so as not to be ashamed there. If people prepare so carefully for human judgment, as you yourself know, then how can the memory of God’s judgment and correct reasoning about it not prompt them to carefully prepare? For the human judgment will be followed by a temporary and light disaster, but the future judgment will be followed by an eternal and severe one. Everything temporary, although lasting, passes; the eternal never ceases, always abides and never ends. What state will the sinner be in then, when the whole world trembles and shakes from fear of the angry Judge, and sees before his eyes a river of fire into which he must be cast, and in it burn forever and not be consumed, taste death and not die? they will want to “hide in the caves and in the gorges of the mountains,” and they will cry out to “the mountains and the stones: fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of His wrath has come, and who can stand” (Rev 6:16–17)?!.. – What will you think then, you who here in the world did not serve God, but served Mammon, not the commandments He listened to God, but thought about vanity alone, did not please God, but the world, not his Creator, but revered himself and his creation, did not love his Benefactor, but His creation, did not seek God’s honor and glory, but sought his own part and glory?!.. Earth and ashes! Think about this and your heart will be corrected, so that the prophetic word can always be heard in the ears of your soul: “The Lord abides forever, He has prepared His throne for judgment, and He will judge the world in righteousness, He will judge people in righteousness” (Ps 9:8-9). The Judge is ready for judgment, His throne is ready, the Angels are ready to sound the trumpet and gather everyone for judgment. The kingdom of heaven is ready for the blessed, and hell is ready for unrepentant sinners, but awaits our repentance. “The Lord is not slack in fulfilling his promise, as some count slackness; but is patient with us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). 5) In this century it happens that farmers who cultivate the land, work and sow, joyfully collect the fruits of their labors, but the lazy and revelers, looking at them and not having anything to be content with, grieve and scold themselves. So it will be on that day. Those who love God will joyfully reap the fruits of faith and piety and receive benefits that “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no one has ever entered into the heart of man” (1 Cor 2:9). And those who love peace, seeing this and learning that they are deprived of such benefits and rejected, will weep and weep and will uselessly scold themselves. “Whatever a man sows, this will he also reap: whoever sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Gal 6:7–8). And the Lord also says: “Behold, My servants will eat, but you” (wicked ones) “will starve; My servants will drink, and you will be thirsty; My servants will rejoice, but you will be ashamed; My servants will sing with joy of heart, but you will cry out of sorrow of heart and weep for brokenness of spirit" (Isaiah 65:13-14). And regret, and bitterness, and sorrow, and illness multiply if you see others in prosperity, yourself in disadvantage, see others in freedom, yourself in captivity, see others in glory, yourself in ignominy and dishonor, see others in joy, yourself in sorrow, see others in wealth, yourself in poverty, see that others eat, drink and have fun, and you yourself experience hunger, thirst and sadness. And so it happens in the world, and here I am, applying myself to a person, and speaking according to human wisdom. How incomparably will regret, and bitterness, and misfortune and illness increase on the day of judgment during the separation of the righteous from the sinners, when sinners will see the righteous in glory, in joy and gladness, in the kingdom, in triumph and in eternal and unspeakable bliss with Christ, who achieved such glory through exploits with the help of God, although they were of the same nature, covered with the same flesh and infirmity, like sinners, who see themselves in extreme damnation, disaster, dishonor, rejected from the Source of life forever - and then they will know that they could get rid of this disaster and receive eternal life and bliss by the grace of Christ, but they did not want to, and instead of the truth they chased after a shadow. They will see and know this, and thereby their grief, illness, repentance and melancholy will greatly increase, but they will no longer return what they lost through negligence. This is exactly what the Lord says: “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves being cast out” (Luke 13:28). And especially when they are seen in glory and among the sons of God, who were despised here, slandered, scolded, called evildoers, like a footstool, trampled upon, and counted as rubbish, as this belated repentance and groaning is described in the book of the Wisdom of Solomon (Wisdom Chapter 5). 6) It will increase the suffering in the condemned, and greatly burden them, and unbearable melancholy, fear and horror will create eternal despair of God’s mercy, that is, that from that terrible disaster and suffering into which they fell through negligence, they will never be freed, but will suffer in it forever. Here, in this world, no matter how severe and prolonged the suffering may be, it nevertheless ends either before death or certainly in death; it will never end there. Oh, ill-fated eternity, how bitter and terrible is your memory! Eternity is a beginning without end. Think about this and you will not want to have fun in this world. 7) Trouble that happens in the world is a kind of shadow and image of the future and eternal trouble. It is hard to endure the royal wrath here temporarily, but it will be much harder to endure the wrath of God forever. It is hard to be rejected by the king’s face and His mercy and sent to prison, but it will be much harder to be rejected by the face of God and His mercy and sent to prison forever. It is hard here to lose the friendship of good people and to be abandoned by them, but it will be much harder to lose the sweet friendship of the Angels of God and all the saints forever. It is hard here to be counted among the villains and to be counted among evil and dishonest people, but it will be much harder to be counted among the devil and his evil angels, and to be counted with them forever. It is hard here for someone tormentor to be under the power and from him to endure reproach, ridicule and all kinds of violence and bitterness, but it will be much harder for Satan, the enemy of God, to be in power and from him to endure reproach, ridicule and bitterness forever. It is difficult to endure the beating, suffering, illness, fever, fever, toothache and relaxation of the body, everyone knows this who has experienced it, but it will be much more difficult to endure the eternal burning of the fire of Gehenna, a fierce and unbearable disease, gnashing of teeth, a never-ending worm, and to suffer both soul and body. It’s hard to sit here in prison, deprived of light and not feel any consolation, but it will be much harder to sit in hell’s prison and never see light, and be deprived of all consolation forever. It’s hard here to endure and desire, but not to have relief, but it will be harder forever. In a word, every suffering that is temporary, either in the soul or on the body, is hard, everyone knows this, but eternal suffering is incomparably harder, since it is infinite, both in the sense of duration and in its strength, while the condemned will suffer both in soul and body. Temporary suffering is a shadow of eternal suffering, but as far as the shadow differs from the truth, so is temporary suffering from the eternal. The shadow is nothing compared to the truth, and temporary suffering is nothing compared to the eternal. Every temporary suffering is not without consolation, but eternal suffering has no consolation. Know eternal suffering by comparing it with temporary suffering, and be careful not to fall into it. Now go to hell with your mind, so that you don’t go down with your soul and body later. If you cannot endure fever and fever, and toothache, and prison, bonds, beatings, and other temporary disasters, how can you endure a fire that burns but does not burn, a worm that gnawing but does not eat, gnashing of teeth, pitch darkness, the vile appearance of demons, crying, groaning and sobbing, and other evils, how can you endure? Think about this and compare temporary suffering with eternal suffering, and such thinking will drive away vanity from your heart like a whip. Truly, neither honor, nor glory, nor wealth, nor the sweetness of this world will come to your mind. You will be satisfied with bread and clothing and a hut, but all your efforts and care will be about how to get rid of that disaster. If you warn yourself against illness and other temporary disasters because you see them, how can you not try not to fall into eternal disaster when the memory and fear of that take root in your heart? Take into consideration the Savior’s word: “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his own soul? or what ransom will a man give for his soul” (Matthew 16:26)? And compare time with eternity and the world acquired with a lost soul. There is no benefit where there is no salvation for the soul. What do you need in the whole world when your soul perishes? So, the salvation of your soul should be dearer to you than all the treasures of this world, dearer than heaven and earth, and dearer than all the glory gathered together from the whole world. For the soul, without all this, will go away to that age and take nothing with it, just as it brought nothing into the world, but carries from here only either salvation or destruction. 8) Let us now turn the eyes of our hearts to eternal life and learn to cognize the future eternal bliss, as from the shadow of the truth, from the world and what is happening in it, to which let our Christian faith guide us. For without faith we can neither understand nor speak about the future and the invisible. The firm and unshakable foundation of faith is the Word of God and its merciful promise in Christ Jesus our Lord. You know yourself with what jubilation and triumph the warriors who have defeated the enemy return to their fatherland, and everyone, according to his merit, receives honor from his king. With what incomparably great triumph the soul, which here struggled against the world, the flesh and the devil, having defeated these enemies, ascends to its fatherland - heaven and receives honor there from the Heavenly King Christ! The warrior, glorified by victory and honor from the king, rejoices. How incomparably more will the soul rejoice when it is glorified by the Heavenly King for deeds and victories! Also, when a son returns to his father from a distant country, with what joy he appears to his father, and sees his face, and is met by his father and accepted! With what joy and joy will a pious soul from this world, a distant country and wandering and a deplorable vale, return to the Heavenly Father, and see His most holy face, and bow to the throne of His glory and embrace His most holy embrace! Then there will be joy in heaven over such a soul: the Angels of God and all the saints will rejoice over such a soul and sing a song of thanks: “Glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:14)! We also see here how sweetly and pleasantly a person rests after his labors, then forgets all his sorrow and illness suffered in his labors. How sweetly and peacefully will the holy soul rest in eternal life, who here worked, struggled and struggled in the work of piety, multiplied the talents of her Lord, served her Lord with fear and her neighbor with love! Then “he will enter into the joy of his Lord” (Matthew 25:21). Then, having “entered into eternal rest,” he will forget all his labors here, worries, sorrows, sorrows and illnesses (Heb. 4:10). Therefore, eternal life in the Holy Scriptures is called “rest” (Rev 14:13). For here, in this world, is a place of bargaining, in which we must multiply our talents through labor, and there is a place of rest. Here is the journey and wandering, and there is our fatherland and home. We also see that here everyone wants and seeks to live in a well-built, beautiful, rich and glorious city and to live in a rich and beautiful house, and in eternal life there will be a beautiful, rich and glorious city - the city of God, the highest Jerusalem, “whose artist and builder is God.” Who can describe its beauty? For “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared” (there) “for those who love Him” (1 Cor 2:9). This city is “pure gold, like pure glass. The foundations of the city wall are decorated with all kinds of precious stones. The streets of the city are pure gold, like transparent glass,” and so on (Rev 21:18–19, 21). There is the “house” of the Heavenly “Father”, in which there are “many mansions” (John 14:2). In that city, beautiful and glorious, and in those sweet abodes, the chosen ones of God will dwell, they will be in dwellings of peace, and in safe churches, and in supreme chambers. We also see here how pleasant it is for people who have love among themselves and have gathered together to have lunch, dinner, eat, drink and have fun. We see this in the world, and there God’s chosen ones “will lie down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” (Matthew 8:11), “they will eat and drink at the table of Christ in His kingdom” (Luke 22:30). Then “they will be satisfied with the fatness of the house of the Lord, and will drink from the stream of His sweetness” (Isaiah 65:13–14; Psalm 35:9), for there is the source of life. We also see here how people love to dress in beautiful and bright clothes, and there God’s elect “will be clothed in fine linen, clean and bright, in the robe of salvation and the robe of righteousness” (Rev 19:8; Isa 61:10). Then the “lowly body” of the saints “will be so transformed that it will be conformed to the glorious body of Christ” (Phil 3:21). “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43). We also see here that everyone wants to live in the royal court and be known as his court servant, and there God’s chosen ones and saints will live in the house of God, in the courtyard of the Heavenly King. “Blessed are those who dwell in Your house” (Lord), “they will praise You forever and ever” (Ps 83:5). It is also noted here that everyone wants to hear sweet singing, and how sweetly he is comforted by it is impossible to say, but there the sweet singing of the angels of the saints and elect will be heard. In that city, on every street, they sing a sweet song: “Hallelujah! for the Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory; For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready” (Rev 19:6–7). We also see and hear here how pleasantly and joyfully people triumph over their defeated enemies, from whom they have suffered many misfortunes and disasters. And there God’s chosen ones will forever triumph over their enemies, death and hell, sing a song of victory and exclaim in joy of spirit, “Then the word that is written will be fulfilled: death is swallowed up in victory. Death! where is your sting? hell! where is your victory? Thanks be to God, who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 15:54–55, 57)! There is nothing more pleasant for people here than to have harmony, peace and love among themselves. This truth is indisputable for everyone, not only for Christians, but also for pagans; everyone desires and seeks it. There will be perfect peace, harmony and love between God’s chosen ones, because everyone will love each other perfectly and will all want the same thing, what the Heavenly Father alone wants, and not want what He does not want. Then the will of the Heavenly Father will be completely fulfilled. Everyone knows how a person rejoices now, having found honest, constant and respectable friends, and there will be friendship between God’s chosen ones and the holy Angels. Then there will be one church, one flock of Angels and people, and with one mouth and one heart they will praise and glorify the Most Holy Trinity, God and their Creator. Oh, dear and longed-for friendship, in which Angels are with people, and people, like Angels, will unite with Angels! For there will be a shameless, unhypocritical, true and holy friendship. Also, how pleasant and kind it is for people to live here in safety, in silence, not to be afraid of any fear, to be free from all the slander of the enemy. There will be complete safety and silence; all fear will have no place there, because all enmity and malice have been removed from there. Enemies and slanderers will be imprisoned in their place, and between them and these “a great chasm will be established” (Luke 16:26). How here everyone is comforted by glory and honor who loves her, everyone knows, although he knows that she fades like a flower, or disappears like a shadow, or departs like a dream, and there will be true, constant, eternal, magnificent glory and honor, then the sons of God will be revealed and their glory will appear. “Beloved! we are now children of God; but it has not yet been revealed what we will be. We only know that when it is revealed, we will be like Him” (1 John 3:2). Then the saints of God, who were here like the Only Begotten Son of God in suffering, will be likened in glory. Because “we suffer with Him,” says the apostle, “so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I think that the sufferings of this present time are not worth anything in comparison with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits with hope for the revelation of the sons of God” (Rom 8:17–19). How great a blessing man considers wisdom. “Blessed is the man who obtains wisdom, and the man who obtains understanding” (Proverbs 3:13). There all the treasures of God's wisdom will be revealed to the blessed, they will clearly know God with His Divine properties, and in God they will see the sacraments that are now hidden, for the mind will be enlightened by the Divine light. Just as now the air is illuminated by the sun, bright and clearly shining, and is pure, clear, and bright, so then the souls of God’s chosen ones will be illuminated by the light of the eternal and never-setting sun - God, and they themselves will “shine like the sun in the kingdom of the Father” (Matthew 13:43). Then the completely prophetic word will be fulfilled: “In Your light” (Lord!) “We will see the light” (Ps 36:10). People here consider it great for the king to always stand before him and look at his face; they are pleased by everyone, and especially when the king is pious, righteous, merciful and wise. For those who stand before the king also partake of the royal glory. There, God’s chosen ones will appear before Christ, the Heavenly King, and see Him in Divine glory, and forever and ever will be with Him, as the Savior Himself prayed to His Heavenly Father: “Father! whom You have given Me, I want them to be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory, which You have given Me” (John 17:24). Oh, how the holy people of God will then rejoice when they stand before the King of glory and the glory themselves will be partakers of Him, for “they suffer with Him, that they may also be glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:17). They will see Him face to face in His divine glory, in Whom they now do not doubt and are not ashamed to believe and confess as their God, although He was born of the Virgin and lived, suffered and died as a man on earth. And although here for His sake they now endure reproach, dishonor, persecution and suffering, there for His sake and with Him, as members of the body with the head, and as the least brethren and sons of God with the Only Begotten Son, they will be glorified, exalted, magnified and crowned!.. If, “even though they have not seen, they love Him, and even though they have not yet seen, but believe in Him, they rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8), then “at the revelation of His glory” how much more “will they rejoice and triumph” (1 Peter 4:13). How insatiably people desire to see God, people whose hearts have been wounded by His love, who with the prophet sing to Him: “As a deer longs for springs of water, so does my soul long for You, O God. My soul thirsted for the mighty, living God” (Ps 42:2-3). Then people will quench this holy desire and cool their thirst with the insatiable contemplation of the most kindly Divinity. “Now we see,” says the Apostle Paul, a God-loving soul, “as through a glass darkly, but then face to face” (1 Cor 13:12). Now, “being at home in the body, we are cut off from the Lord, for we walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor 5:6-7). Then we will see Him “face to face.” Now we see His creation and from the creation of the Creator we know, but we do not see the Creator, but then we will see the Creator himself “face to face.” Now we take advantage of His benefits, we are satisfied and comforted, but we do not see the Benefactor, but then we will see the Benefactor himself. Now we hear His holy word, announced by His prophets and apostles, but we do not see Him who spoke, but then we will see Him Himself. Now His gifts, like streams from a source, generously pour out on us from Him, but we do not see the Giver, and then we will see Him from Himself, as an ever-flowing source, we will draw abundantly, unceasingly, without satiety and without end. Now we feel Him visiting us and knocking on the doors of our hearts, punishing and comforting, like the Father, saddening and joyful, but we do not see Him, and then His most holy face itself, like the Father’s children, we will see, and “our heart will rejoice, and no one will take our joy away from us” (John 16:22). Now in prayer, singing, glorification and praise we stand before Him and pray to Him, we call on Him, we worship Him, we sing to Him and we praise Him, but we do not see Him Himself, Whom we pray, worship and sing, “for we walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7), and then we will see Him “face to face”, and we will see and worship forever, we will sing and to praise without difficulty, and to see without satiety, and “we will see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). Then we will come and appear “to the face of God” (Ps 41:3). Then “we will be satisfied when His glory appears” to us (Ps. 16:15). Then the spoken word will be fulfilled: “As his mother comforts someone, so will I comfort you; and you will see it, and your heart will rejoice” (Isaiah 66:13–14). Then “God will be all in all” (1 Cor 15:28). People here please the one who has a healthy, light, prosperous, beautiful and adorned body with other natural gifts, and then among God’s elect there will be incorruptible, healthy, prosperous, beautiful, glorious, light, spiritual, bright and immortal bodies. For “it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; sown in humiliation, raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in strength; the natural body is sown, the spiritual body is raised” (1 Cor 15:42–44). Oh, beautiful and longed-for spring, which will sprout such flowers in the new land! For “according to His promise we look forward to new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). Then there will be no old, no infirm, no lepers, no paralytic, no blind, no lame, no sad, no despondent, but everyone will be in prosperous and perfect health, and will be forever. To the bliss of God’s elect will be added that they will be as sure of their unceasing and eternal bliss as they will be that God, with whom they will be and whom they will see, is eternal and endless and His kingdom will have no end, and they themselves will not want to lose what they have received. Judge for yourself what joy, joy and exclamation will be in their hearts when they are in such bliss, what language to speak, and mind to imagine, and heart to understand, and the eye to see, and the ear to hear here - and they will be in that bliss forever without end. God's chosen ones will be comforted by heavenly bliss, but they will also be comforted by the fact that they will have it endlessly and without end. They will see God endlessly, endlessly they will be in glory, endlessly they will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father, endlessly they will be in unspeakable and unceasing joy and joy. So, if you see the shadow, you also see the truth; learn the truth from the shadow. Shadow is temporary, but truth is eternal bliss. Leave the shadow and hold on to the truth in order to comprehend the truth. Remember the Savior’s word: “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 20:16). We are called by the grace of God to eternal life, and let us try not only to be among those who are called, but also among those who are chosen. Think about this diligently and often, and the world with its charms and lusts will become vile to you. You write: “What should I do when wealth, honor and glory are given?” Your request is correct. For many seek these worldly treasures, but do not find them, and many do find them, but use them for evil, and so not to their advantage, but to their own detriment they seek and find them. But others do not seek, but are given to them. They need to learn by example how to use them. Therefore, I will answer you briefly. And, firstly, I refer you to the letters written to you earlier: learn from them what these treasures are. Secondly, reason about yourself and know what you are and what your dignity is. The holy prophet sings, or rather cries, about man: “Man, although in honor, did not understand (this), he became equal to foolish beasts and became like them” (Ps 49:13). Man was in honor, revered by God, but did not understand his honor and therefore became like “foolish cattle.” He was dissatisfied with the fact that he was honored in the image of God, but he wanted to be God, which was impossible to be, so he lost what he had and found what he did not want; lost the beauty of the image of God and became ugly and senseless, like an animal. Reason about this diligently and then you will correctly reason about the wealth, honor and glory given. What is a person worthy of if he has become like cattle, except perhaps the same as your cattle? Is he worthy of wealth, honor and glory who lives on earth and is not worthy of a loaf of bread, as I once wrote to you... What can we say about someone who, having been washed and sanctified by Baptism, has again desecrated himself and desecrated himself with bestial morals? With such “it happens according to the true proverb: a dog returns to his vomit, and a pig that has been washed goes to wallow in the mud” (2 Peter 2:22). Think about this and about yourself and then you will see that there is wealth, honor and glory for us. You are amazed at what I wrote to you. Believe, friend, that all this is true: those who now do not recognize and do not recognize their unworthiness will then recognize it when, instead of the wealth, honor and temporary glory that they considered themselves worthy of being, they will be in eternal poverty, dishonor and ignominy. Then they will realize that just as they were unworthy of all this, they also sought unworthily. Their conscience will show them what their worth is. Then the majesty of God, which they angered, and their own meanness and insignificance, which they did not want to recognize and acknowledge, will be revealed to them. They will see how sin makes a person unworthy, vile, poor, cursed and humiliated. For every sin offends the majesty of God. And the fact that God gives us His goodness is because He is good, He gives it according to His goodness and mercy alone, freely and without any merit of ours. And our dignity is worthy of nothing other than temporary and eternal punishment. Take this into correct and correct reasoning, and then you will see the truth and admit it from your heart. Now I’m answering the same question for you in order. First. When wealth is given to you, do the following: 1) Thank God, who gives to you, the unworthy. 2) Do not attach your heart to it, according to the admonition of the prophet: “If wealth flows in, do not attach your heart (to it)” (Ps. 61:11), but cleave to God alone and love, saying with the prophet: “It is good for me to cleave to God” (Epistle to Holy Communion). For one must love the Benefactor, and not the benefit, and the Giver, and not the gift, and the Creator, and not the creature. 2) Use wealth not for worldly and carnal whims, not for rich meals, houses, carriages, vessels, clothes, etc., as is the custom among peace-loving and carnivorous people, but with fear and humility, as not your own, but God’s good, in moderation and abstinence, for needs, and not for pleasing the flesh. Remember that you will give an answer to God for its expenditure: you are the manager, not the owner; a slave, not a master. For the Lord alone is the Lord of our estates, as well as of the whole world; we must appear before Him and give an answer for everything. 4) Supply the poor, the needy, holy churches and those serving in them, schools, almshouses. Wealth is given to you so that you too can give. God gives it, give it to God for the glory of God. Be like a hand that receives and gives. Be a builder, not a hoarder or waster of wealth. 5) Do not be proud, do not be proud of wealth, since it is not yours, it was given to you for a while, for your benefit and your neighbor, and over time it will leave you. Remember that you are poor and wretched, like other people. For we are all born naked into the world, and naked we depart from the world. Second: when honor and dignity are given to you, pay attention to yourself: 1) Sanity or honor for a Christian is a yoke imposed, which must be worn for the glory of the name of God and the benefit of one’s neighbor. He who wants to manage people must be reasonable and wise, and be better than others in order to be an example of good living for many, for all this is required of a person of dignity. A sheep does not herd sheep, but a man gifted with reason, and darkness does not enlighten darkness, but light, and a blind man does not lead the blind, but he who sees. An unintelligent and faulty person who takes over the leadership is like a demon possessed who took a knife, with which he wounds and stabs himself and others. This happens according to the true parable: “a blind man”, when “he leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit” (Luke 6:39). So, you must learn to manage yourself first, and then accept others into management. Think about it. 2) If you need to be in an honorable position, then in it seek God’s honor, and not your own, and the benefit of your neighbors, and not your own self-interest. Be a servant to the servants of God, and not a master, seek their benefit, and do not dominate them, eradicate untruth and plant truth. Whatever you order them, do it yourself first. When it is necessary, proceed to punishment, either in word or in deed, like prudent doctors who cut off a vein, or cut off a member, or give medicine in order to cure a person, and not to torture him. Punish your subordinate too, and do not commit your anger and rage. When punishing, feel sorry for him as for flesh similar to you, and do not be angry with him, and defend God’s honor, not your own, and look for his benefit, and not take revenge for your offense, but at the same time always think and remember within yourself that you are in no way better than the one whom you are punishing in word or deed. For we are all human beings, subject to all sorts of weaknesses and sins, either falling or stumbling, and we will always fall if the hand of God does not hold us. 3) Always remember that you must give an answer to the Judge and King Christ about yourself and about those subordinate to you, how you yourself lived and acted with them. All Christians will be tortured on the day of judgment, but especially the leaders, for not only for themselves, but also for their subordinates, they will give an answer, according to the Scripture: “severe judgment will be given to those in authority, for the lesser deserves mercy, but the strong” (the leaders) “will be severely tortured” (Wis. 6:5-6). Think about this and you will remain in the fear of God and humility. 4) Let your honor humble you rather than elevate you, as happens to many, since you are the same person as your subordinates, and it may be that many are better than you, as happens, but the hand of the Most High has placed you above them. Go often with your mind to the tombs of the dead, and they will teach you that you are the same person as your subordinates. There you will see that all people, superiors and subordinates, are equal, and where the slave lies, where his master is, where the ruler is, and where the subject is, it is impossible to know. Everything is equally incorruptible. And if they are equal there, then all those living here on earth are equal. The same people, without souls, lie there who walked the earth. Remember this and you will be humble, and the grace of God will help you. For “grace is given to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). 5) When you act like this in an honorable position, your honor will be granted to you in heaven. Third: When people glorify and praise you, do the following: 1) Think that you are unworthy, being a sinner. “No one is good except God alone” (Matthew 19:17), in the words of our Savior, Who alone is worthy of all praise and glory. 2) Consider glory and praise like the wind that comes and goes, for people often blaspheme and scold the one whom they now praise and glorify. You see that human glory is vain and disappears like smoke. Be like a dead man, who listens neither to blasphemy nor to praise; like a tree that bears fruit but is silent; He is like a well that overflows with water, and does not fail with blasphemy, and does not abound with praise. 3) Whatever you do that is praiseworthy, attribute it all to God alone, who “works in” us “both to will and to do” good (Philippians 2:13), because “without Him we can do nothing” (John 15:5). To him alone may there be praise and glory, from whom all good things come. Let the word of the Psalmist always be in our memory and lips: “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Thy name give glory, according to Thy mercy and Thy truth” (Ps 113:9). 4) Seek the glory in heaven that God has promised to those who love Him. That glory is true, and once found, it never departs. Here is my answer to you about wealth, honor and glory given to a person. You reason about this and do not conform to the sons of this age, who put all their care into this in order to become rich and glorified here. Such people do not have the slightest spark of Christianity, although they are called Christians. True Christians have all their plans, zeal, undertakings and concerns for eternal life. There they expect their inheritance, wealth, honor and glory, like travelers, strangers and strangers in this world. For there is their fatherland, about which they sigh, and their minds and hearts and desires are raised to it. In short, accept what I wrote above at greater length. 1) Every person exists between God and the world, between time and eternity, as between heaven and earth. When he turns to the world and loves the world, he turns away from God and does not love Him. For the apostle wrote: “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). When he thinks about time, he forgets about eternity, and when he cares about the temporal, he neglects the eternal, just as when he turns his face and eyes to the earth, he turns away from heaven. 2) Every person living in this world is a traveler, stranger and stranger. For he is not born into this world for the sake of this world, not for the sake of honor, glory, wealth and other pleasures of the flesh - otherwise he would always have to remain in this world - but he enters this world as he ascends the path along which he goes to that age. This path begins at birth and ends at death. 3) All people living on the face of the whole earth go towards eternity and, having completed the path of this life, settle into eternity, but only pious Christians, who do not love the world and follow the way of the cross, as the Gospel teaches, achieve blessed eternity. Christ our Lord says: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul” (Matthew 16:26)? If the whole world is nothing compared to the salvation of the soul, then even more so is there some wealth, some honor, and some glory, since we honor temporary life more than the whole world. For who, except perhaps a madman, would want to reign over the whole world one day, and the next day lose his life? Everyone chooses to live better than to receive all the treasures of the world and immediately die. What is the use of a treasure without life? So, if we honor temporary life more than the whole world, how much more should we honor eternal life, which, once found, will never be lost and, once lost, will never be found. Oh, eternal life, how dear you are, and few people look for you! How sweet, and few people love you! The world is bitter, and almost everyone loves it! What would happen if it were sweet?.. Everyone would certainly want to live in it, like in paradise, forever. But man was created by his Creator for the sake of the heavenly, and not for the sake of the earthly fatherland, as the image and likeness of God, and because of sin he lost it, and was sent to this world, to earth, as if into exile. By Christ's grace he is again called to the heavenly fatherland, and is reborn, and renewed. However, our Savior declares to us: “Many are called, but few are chosen.” Almost everyone is comforted by the visible, or even seduced. Feelings divert the mind and heart from the invisible and attract to the visible, thus darkening the mind and extinguishing faith, which is the eye of the soul, the invisible one who sees and ignites the desire for invisible blessings in the soul. Let us try, dear one, to be by the grace of God not only among those who are called, but also among those who are chosen. 5) The human soul, just as it came from God, must return to God naked and undefiled by the love of this world. Think about it. 6) If now you do not want to leave the world, then do you think of leaving the world when God calls you from the world to answer and to judgment to Himself, when you are reluctantly forced to leave it? It is better to leave it in advance in order to move away from it free and with good hope, then instead of temporary wealth you will receive eternal from God, instead of temporary glory - eternal, instead of temporary honor - eternal, instead of temporary - eternal sweetness and joy. 7) Think and remember that today or tomorrow you will die, as happens to people, and you will be called to the judgment of God, and from the judgment of God everyone should go either into eternal torment or into eternal life, as the Word of God teaches: “And these” (sinners) “will go away into eternal torment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:46). Then you truly will not want to seek honor, glory, wealth, or pleasing the flesh in the world. For what good are they to you if either today or tomorrow you leave them unwillingly? Who, when dying, wants to be rich, to be honored and to be famous? Ask patients who are near death: what do they think? Then they reason correctly about all worldly things and admit from their hearts that everything is vanity. Now do this, acknowledge this truth, and just as you don’t chase smoke, so you won’t chase vanity. Then, I tell you the truth, all this will become vile to you: all honor, glory, praise, decoration of houses, carriages, horses, clothes, banquets, feasts, meals, pouring of wine. You will look at gold, silver, and expensive stones as if you were looking at the dust of the earth, and truly: they were taken from the earth and therefore are the same as the earth. There will only be one thing on your mind, how you might not leave unprepared for that time, how you might lay down the sinful burden here and leave here clean. Then true repentance, sighing, zeal, prayer and a change in your entire inner state will be born in you. For the fear of future judgment, like the stench of fire, cleanses all impurity of the heart and prepares it for the reception of true gospel consolation. 8) Hold firmly in your mind that when, according to the Word of God, you do not seek here temporal wealth, honor, glory, pleasure of the flesh, but only desire and seek eternal treasure, then it will be opened to you in heaven, according to His promise, and then the love and desire of the temporal will depart from you. Desire and seek truly eternal blessings - and you will not desire temporary ones. For who, seeing that he has been promised a high royal honor, seeks a low and dubious warm place? Who would ask for a copper coin when he sees that he is offered a treasure of gold and silver? Who is chasing the glory and praise of the low mob, hoping to be glorified and praised by the autocrat? Who grasps at the shadow when seeing the truth itself? So, who will look for temporary treasures that disappear like a shadow, seeing the eternal treasures prepared for those who seek them? 9) Great and incomprehensible are the eternal treasures that God Himself has prepared. -" To whom? – “To those who love Him” (1 Cor 2:9). He gives temporary benefits to everyone - those who love and hate Him, but he gives eternal benefits only to those who love Him. Great and incomprehensible are the blessings that we, having lost because of sins, could not receive by anything other than the Blood of the Son of God. For an expensive thing is bought at a high price. So, it is correct that eternal life with its blessings is a priceless treasure, because the priceless Blood of the Son of God returned to us, but it is given, as it was prepared, to those who love God, and not the world. Take note of this, brother. 10) Wealth is rarely accumulated through truth, but even the righteous spoils and destroys many, for the rich almost always have either stinginess, or luxury and worldly pride. Therefore, the Savior said: “It is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:23). Those in honor or rank have either great virtues or great sins. Whoever sits in a high place, everyone looks at him, and accepts either edification or temptation, and in general everyone recognizes that honor changes morals, but rarely for the better - which is what you actually see. He who sits in an honorable position has many caressers who, while praising what is not praiseworthy, confirm his sin. Honor also follows luxury and pride, that everything is an ulcer in the Christian heart. The glory and praise of men, even of those who do not seek it, leads to arrogance, conceit and arrogance, which is “an abomination to God” (Luke 16:15). What won’t he do to the one who is looking for her? Think about it and don’t look for what is harmful. The safest path is the path of the poor and simple. It is better to be poor in the world, but to become rich in God; it is better to be simple, but a true Christian; it is better to be despicable for the world, but to receive glory in heaven. This path is low, but the sky leads to the high fatherland. 11) The correct use of all worldly things happens for the sake of need, and not for the sake of gratifying carnal lust. “Having food and clothing, we will be content with this” (1 Timothy 6:8). You ask me: what are the signs of the true knowledge of God? And you're doing it right. For in this lies our salvation and eternal life, according to the teaching of our Savior: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). But in response, I offer you the apostolic word: “That we know Him,” he says, “we know by this, that we keep His commandments” (1 John 2:3). You see from the apostolic word that he has come to know God who keeps His commandments. The sign of the knowledge of God abiding in his heart is the observance of God’s commandments. And on the contrary, he who does not keep His commandments does not know God, as the same apostle teaches: “Whoever says, ‘I know Him,’ but does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). The more someone knows God, the more he fears and loves Him, and the more he fears and loves, the more diligently he fulfills His will, and the more diligently he fulfills His will, the more carefully and carefully he keeps His commandments. This is true worship of God and all of Christianity consists. Here is a short answer, but it sums up the entire Christian position. Reason about this and do not be seduced by today’s Christians by their knowledge of God and reverence, who have the confession of God on their tongues, but atheism in their hearts; show knowledge of God and reverence for God by your deeds, and not by words alone. You ask correctly: how is God known and how can a person come to true knowledge of God? - and I answer you briefly, according to my reason and ability, with the help of God. 1) The thing made shows the doer, and the skill of the craftsman, and the structure of the architect, and the good deed of the benefactor; and the better and wiser the deed, the better and wiser the doer it shows, and the greater the benefit of the greater and highest benefactor it represents. Reason proves this truth, and every day it appears before our eyes. For, having seen what work, we immediately ask: who did it? And so from the work we come to know the doer, and we praise a well-done and wisely done work, and we are amazed at the intelligence of the doer. Thus, all creation, heaven and earth, and everything that fills them, shows its Creator, and being great, His creation presents us with Him Great, and being wisely created - Wise, and being created from nothing - Almighty. The holy Psalmist sang about this: “The heavens proclaim the glory of God” (Ps 18:2). Considering with attention this great, and fair, and beautiful, and wise creation of hands Our Creator, we cannot help but be amazed at this, and with the Psalmist we cannot help but exclaim to the Creator: “How majestic are Your works, O Lord, You have done everything with wisdom” (Ps 103:24). 2) Diligent reading and consideration of Holy Scripture and the teachings of the Holy Fathers and Church teachers leads us to the knowledge of God. For Holy Scripture reveals God's properties, and His holy will, and His glorious works. The Holy Fathers and teachers explain all this in their writings and teachings, and thus guide us to the knowledge of God and reverence. For the knowledge of God includes not only the knowledge of the name of God, but also His properties and will. It is necessary to know not only that God exists, but also who He is, what He is like and what He wants and demands from us, and from us, His creation. We draw all this from the Holy Scripture and its interpreters and are enlightened by the knowledge of It. 3) Christ our Savior teaches: “No one knows the Son except the Father; and no one knows the Father except the Son, and to whom the Son wants to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27). And he says to Saint Peter: “Flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17). From this we see that knowledge of God requires revelation. The Word of God preaches God, but we cannot know God without God. Our mind is blind and dark, therefore it requires enlightenment from Him Himself who produces light from darkness. We must listen to the lamp of God’s Word, but we must ask for enlightenment from God Himself; we must drive away the darkness with supernatural light. Holy Scripture is a lamp for us, but it is necessary for the inner eye to open so that it can see the shining lamp. For the blind cannot see the light; one must have open eyes. Therefore, the prophet prays: “Open my eyes, that I may understand the wonders of Your law” (Ps. 119:18). 4) If we want our heart to be enlightened by the true knowledge of God, we must let the world leave the heart. For the world is nothing other than “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16), which are in the heart. You need to get all this out of your heart so that it can become enlightened. For peace and enlightenment are two opposite things, therefore one must come out so that the other can fit in, and the more peace comes out, the more the heart will be enlightened. Hence it happens that those who have renounced the world, although they do not know the alphabet, but, enlightened by God’s light, are wiser than those who know all Scripture, but seek glorification in this world. The Holy Scripture was given to us from God for the sake of our salvation and the glorification of the name of God - for this reason we must read it, study it and listen to it. And if for our own glorification we read and try to know it, then it will not only be of no benefit, but will also be to our detriment, since we seek from God’s gift our own glory, and not God’s, and we attract and appropriate to ourselves that which befits God alone. So, we need to throw vanity and other vanity out of our hearts if we want to be enlightened by the Word of God and His light. For God sees the depth of the human heart, for what and for what purpose a person begins to read the word of His saint, whether for the glory of God, the benefit of himself and his neighbor, or for his own vanity - accordingly, his reading turns to benefit or harm. If by reading and teaching in the Word of God and preaching the glory of God (the preacher) seeks both his own and his neighbor’s benefit, for which it is given, then he is enlightened and achieves his goal, that is, the salvation of his soul and his neighbors; when he seeks to appear wise and be called a teacher among people, then he will be skilled in the letter, and not in power, and even if he brings benefit to others, he will have no benefit for himself. For every gift of God turns to our harm if we seek from it not God’s glory, but our own glory. It is fitting for the Giver alone to be glorified by the gift, but for those who receive it it is sufficient to benefit themselves and others through the gift. So, read the Holy Scripture and pray to be enlightened by it, but read for the sake of salvation, and not for the sake of sophistication of the mind, language and word debate, otherwise, although you will be eloquent, you will not be wise. 5) Finally, those who wish to be enlightened by the knowledge of God must admit their ignorance, blindness and darkness. For God makes wise the ignorant, and not those who think of themselves as wise; and enlightens the blind, and not those who think of themselves that they see. Haughty pride and arrogance do not accommodate enlightenment, moreover, it does not allow it, but always remains in its darkness. Whoever thinks of himself that he is reasonable and wise, the light of God departs from him and leaves him in his reason and wisdom, and therefore, although he speaks a lot about God, he does not know God as such. Remember what was said above: we cannot know God without God, and the more someone knows God, the more he humbles himself, fears and loves Him. You can see better about that below. The knowledge of God depends on the knowledge of His Divine properties, and the more the properties of God are known, the more God Himself is known. We see this in created things: the more clearly the qualities and properties of a thing are cognized, the more clearly the thing itself is cognized. For example, what is a person, or some kind of livestock, or a tree, or grass, or something else? It is necessary first to know the properties of those things and so from the properties to the knowledge of the things themselves. So we know our Creator from His Divine properties, as much as our mind can. Although these properties are known from creation, His holy word presents them to us more clearly. I will offer them according to the reason given to me. You reason, listen and learn from them, and from this teaching build up your soul in the knowledge of Him and reverence. The more we cognize and reflect on His properties, the more we will correct ourselves in true piety with the help of Him Himself. You will see this truth below. Christians have no doubt that God exists and is one in essence, but three in persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and He is the supreme ruler, and owns and rules the whole world, heaven and earth, everything visible and invisible, and is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and everything that is, His almighty hand brought into being out of nothing. For He “said, and it was so” (Gen. 1:20). And like all things, so He created you and me, about which we speak and sing to Him with the Psalmist: “Thy hands have made me and formed me” (Ps 119:73). And He, as the Creator and Father, provides for everyone. “Everyone expects from You” (Lord) “food, so that You may give them in due time” (Ps 103:27). And further: “The eyes of all trust in You, and You give them food in due season: You open Your hand and satisfy every living thing according to (Your) good pleasure” (Ps 144:15-16). And He is “the hope of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are far off in the sea” (Ps. 64:6). 1) We, you and I, must recognize and confess Him alone, as God and our Creator and Provider, and believe in Him with our hearts. 2) To honor Him as the Creator and God and Lord with the highest veneration. 3) To Him, as our Lord and Sovereign and King, you and I must subjugate our spirit, obey, show obedience and subdue our will. For if we obey the king of the earth, and all authorities, and parents, how much more do we obey God, who owns kings, authorities, and parents. And for the sake of God we must obey the earthly authorities, since God established them and commanded us to obey them, how much more should we submit and obey God Himself, as the Supreme Sovereign, for whose sake we obey the earthly authorities. 4) From the heart we offer thanksgiving to Him, as the Creator and Provider, and therefore the supreme Benefactor, from Whom all kinds of generosity and good deeds are poured out on us every day, and especially through the incarnation of His Only Begotten Son. 5) Without subjugation of the spirit and obedience, veneration and thanksgiving to Him cannot be (true). For both earthly authorities and parents, if their subordinates do not show due obedience to them, consider this disrespect and ingratitude, all the more impossible without obedience to honor the Supreme Ruler, God, Who knows all the deeds and thoughts of men. 6) People who fearlessly violate God’s law and do not obey Him, and thus do not honor Him, sin gravely, for conscience itself, the natural law, convinces one to honor God, and condemns a person for disrespect, and threatens with execution. All such, although “they say that they know God,” but “by works deny” Him (Titus 1:16). And natural reason sees a contradiction in recognizing God from the heart and at the same time not fearing Him. For His very name, if a person remembers it, even if he knows and understands a little that there is God, can bring him into fear and trembling. 7) You think and believe so invariably that He is your God, Creator, Lord, King and Provider, although He is the God of everyone, and although He equally commands everyone to evade evil and do good, (you live like this) as if this command concerned you alone. Then, with His help, a new movement and a new spirit will be born in you. And the more often you practice this meditation and teaching, day by day you will feel greater zeal for worship and piety within yourself. But prayer is needed everywhere. For without God we cannot even think about God as we should. A Christian should not doubt that our God is beginningless, infinite, and therefore eternal and ever-present. He alone lives essentially; He cannot but exist; His being and nature are life itself. All created things have a beginning, since He brought them from non-existence into being, and they may not exist again if He were to do so, but the Creator, as he always was before the world, is now the same, and will be the same without end, and just as before he could not help but exist, so he (always) cannot help but exist. Therefore, we not only call Him Eternal, but also Eternity, not only Living, but also Life, not only Ever-present, but also Ever-present, not only Abiding, but also Being; we call Syi (Existing), which means: and was, and is, and will be. And in the Holy Scripture He says about Himself: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end,” says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8). And in other places His ever-present and ever-being is beautifully depicted. Read for yourself and judge. 1) Our existence and life depend on Him, as the inherent Life and Source of life. He cannot but be, and we can be and not be. Our existence and life, like the shadow of a tree, comes from Him. 2) From here, learn to recognize humility and your insignificance. I and you, and even the whole world, in our existence are like nothing before Him. Just as there were previously nothings, so we can be nothings, but He always unchangeably and certainly abides. “You are the same, and Your years will not fail” (Ps 101:28), the prophet sings to Him. 3) Learn from here that to be with Him inseparably is eternal life, and to be separated from Him is eternal death. Just as he who abides in the light must be enlightened, and he who has withdrawn from the light must be darkened, so he who abides with life must live, and he who has withdrawn from life must die. 4) Man moves away from God - Life through sin. Beware of sin, so as not to move away from God - Life and Life-Giving, and so as not to remain in death forever. 5) Give thanks to God and love Him as you love your life by which you are quickened. For there is nothing more precious to man than life; man reveres life most of all. Your life depends on Him, so cleave to Him as your life, saying with the prophet: “For me it is good to cleave to God” (Epistle to Holy Communion) We know the omnipotence of God from the creation, the reign of the world and His miracles in the world created and being done. There was nothing, but God created such great, glorious and diverse things, heaven and earth, and everything that fills them, and created from nothing, without labor, in one word: “He said, and it was; commanded, and they were created” (Ps 33:9). We attribute all this to the almighty force. The same almighty power preserves and controls the created world. Heaven and earth, with everything that fills it, stands and remains as it was created by the Creator, and will stand as long as His almighty will pleases. “He hath made them for ever, and for ever: he hath given a commandment, and it shall not pass away” (Ps. 149:6). Every element remains and will remain in its place, affirmed by the omnipotent word. The sky, air and amphibious circle remain motionless in their places. God commanded them so, and His omnipotent word contains and preserves them so. The earth gives fruit and animals reproduce; bread feeds livestock and people and every animal. All this happens by His almighty word and command. Clouds, filled with an abundance of water, walk along the subtlest element - the air, and move from place to place, and do not fall to the ground, but only emit rain from themselves. We attribute all this to His almighty power, and so on. Just as the owner keeps, maintains and manages his house, so God, as the Lord, contains, preserves and manages the whole world in His almighty hand. “In His hand are all the ends of the earth.” It should also be attributed to His almighty power and strength that He commands the sea - and it divides and parts; commands the river - and it stops; commands the fire - and it does not burn; commands the stone - and it exudes water; commands the earth - and it opens its mouth and devours the wicked; and also that by His word and will in one moment the paralytic is made whole, the blind - seeing, the leper - clean, the sick - healthy; and that with small loaves many thousands are fed and satisfied. The property of His omnipotence is such that everything is possible for Him whatever He wants, and He wants what is good and righteous. This property is spoken of in many places in Holy Scripture. From thinking about the omnipotence of God we should learn: 1) The fear of God, for it is fitting to fear and tremble of Him who is omnipotent and omnipotent, and just as He creates everything from nothing, so He can turn everything into nothing. 2) Humility, to “humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God” (1 Peter 5:6). 3) Faith, for what our mind does not understand, His almighty power can do. For example, the resurrection of the dead is incomprehensible to our minds, but to God, Who created everything out of nothing, it is possible. 4) Hope in exploits against the flesh, the devil and the world, and so on, since what we ourselves cannot do, we will do with His power, and that temptation that we ourselves cannot overcome, we will overcome through Him. We will find strength in God, and He will humiliate those who oppress us. “God is our refuge and strength, a helper in the severe tribulations that have befallen us” (Ps 45:2). Thus the apostles, martyrs and all the saints, by His almighty power, conquered the world. From this we learn that we rely not on our own, but on His strength in everything. For “without Him we can do nothing” (John 15:5). Labor and achievement are required from us, but all labor and achievement is in vain without Him. 5) Therefore, therefore, one must pray and ask Him, as the Almighty, for help. Let us often imagine in our minds the omnipotence of God, “for in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). And let us act carefully in words, deeds and thoughts. Let us tremble at Him, and fall before Him with humility, and count ourselves for nothing. Let us not doubt anything, for all things are possible to Him. Let us rely on Him, and not on ourselves, and diligently seek help from Him for our weakness and infirmity. Now I am writing to you about the omnipresence of God according to my strength and reason, and I am presenting it both before my own and before your intelligent eyes. Oh, if we always really felt this property of God in our hearts, heard it in the ears of our souls, and looked at it with intelligent eyes, and always saw our Lord before us, as the prophet sang about himself: “I always saw the Lord before me” (Ps. 15:8), then we would live and act with much greater fear in our words, deeds, undertakings and thoughts! For if we act cautiously before the king of the earth, who is a man like us, and even before the lower authorities, then even more so we would act cautiously and with fear before the Majesty of God if we thought that God is with us and we walk, do and talk before His eyes. The Omnipresent is represented to us by His holy word: “Our God is in heaven and on earth.” And further the prophet says: “Where will I go from Your Spirit and where will I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I go to hell, You are there; “If I lift up my wings in the morning” (another translation: “dawn”) and dwell on the edge of the sea, then even there Your hand will guide me, and Your right hand will hold me” (Ps 139:7-10). That is, there is no place where God is not present, but in every place He is. He is not confined in any place and is not limited to any place, but He is with me, and with you, and with every person, although we do not see Him as an invisible Spirit, we feel how He is often present with us in sorrows, helps us in our temptations, and comforts us in sorrows, and stirs up sighs, desires, movements and thoughts of spiritual and holy ones, reveals our sins in our conscience, and grieves us for our benefit, and he consoles those who repent and regret. So, before Him man does whatever he does, before Him he says whatever he says, before Him he thinks whatever he thinks, whether good or evil. Reasoning and reflection about this property of God teaches us: 1) Give His Majesty the honor it deserves in words, deeds and thoughts. If we act reverently before earthly power and before our carnal fathers, then much more should we act reverently and with fear before the eyes of God. 2) Beware of all sin, so as not to grieve Him, and not to incite His righteous anger upon yourself, for He is saddened by every sin. We are careful not to commit outrages before the king of the earth, and even more so before God, the Heavenly King (we must be careful). Christians sin gravely when they do not give Him, as present, worthy honor and reverence; they violate His holy law before His eyes. Think about it and see for yourself. 3) Trust in Him everywhere and in every place, since He is with us everywhere, and dare with the prophet and say: “Even if I walk in the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me” (Ps 23:4). 4) Everywhere and in every place, pray to Him, call upon Him, sing and praise Him. “The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth” (Ps 145:18). 5) It also teaches fear, since we are convinced to fear and tremble Him. For who will not fear Him, speaking of His majesty and presence: “Who will not fear You, O King of nations?” (Jer 10:7), says the prophet. Talk about this more often, brother, and you will always feel a new good movement within you. This will encourage and strengthen you in the fears of demons, cheer you up in adversity, turn you away from sin, and strengthen you in heroic deeds against it, and will prompt you to repent diligently and with regret for your sins, and will arouse true prayer in you. I also remind you of the same thing, reminding you of the goodness of God and marveling at long-suffering, and I encourage you to do the same. Truly marvelous and incomprehensible is God’s kindness and long-suffering towards us! God is everywhere and with every person; man sins in His sight and destroys His holy and eternal law. What kind of king will endure, seeing that his law is being violated before his eyes, and not execute the lawbreaker? I can't hear that. Our God is not like that. He sees how man destroys His law, and endures, and does not execute him. And he not only endures and does not execute, but does not cease to do good to him, giving him food and clothing, and His blessings, protects and preserves him from the destroyer of the devil, who watches all the paths and traces of the sinner in order to destroy him and capture his soul and cast him into hell, but God does not allow him. Man angers God, but God does not take His mercy from him. Man retreats from God, but God does not leave him yet. Man follows the devil and betrays himself to him, but God forbids the devil to take him and lead him to destruction. You see God’s goodness and long-suffering! Know that this “goodness of God leads” the sinner “to repentance” (Rom. 2:4). 1) True repentance and regret that we did not give honor and reverence to His worthy Majesty. 2) From now on, beware of breaking His holy law. 3) Thank Him from the heart that He did not destroy us in iniquities. Think about this, and a spirit of true regret and sorrow for God's sake will arise in you. I present to you the omniscience of God to the best of my ability. May God Himself help me in my work, and you in your reading and reasoning, and may He write on my and your hearts both this and His other properties, for His glory and our benefit. God knows everything, not only the present, but also the future. “There is no creature hidden from Him, but all things are naked and open before His eyes” (Hebrews 4:13). “The Lord looked from heaven and saw all the sons of men; from His prepared dwelling He looked at all those living on the earth, He who created their hearts specially and considers all their deeds” (Ps 32:13-15). “You found out when I sit down and when I get up. You understood my thoughts from afar. You searched my path and my life, and You foresaw everything in my path” (Ps 139:1-3). And further: “For the darkness will not be dark from You, and the night will be as bright as the day.” And further: “Thy eyes have seen my unfinished things, and in Thy book they will all be written.” From this holy teaching we learn: 1) God knows all created things and penetrates them. 2) He looks at all our deeds and thoughts and hears our words. God does not have eyes and ears, since He is incorporeal and has a spirit, but by virtue of His all-perfect understanding and knowledge (we can say that He is) all eyes and all ears. He sees and hears everything, Who created the eye to see and the ear to hear. “Will he who opens the ear not hear? and He who made the eye will not see” (Ps 93:9)? 3) There is no hidden or dark place before Him, but everything is clear to Him. There is neither darkness nor night, but always a clear day: and night is like day before Him, and darkness is like light. We have night and day, darkness and light, but with God there is always day and light, he sees equally both night and day, and both in darkness and in light what is created. If the thought sees it, then how much more does it work. For it is greater (a miracle) to see a thought than a deed done in darkness. 4) No matter how many people there are in the world, He knows the word, deed and thought of each of them, and looks and takes note. Moreover, every person’s word, deed and thought, done day or night, are so clearly known to Him, as if only he was looking at and listening to him, leaving all other creatures to watch him alone. Think about it. 5) What a person does, thinks and says, good or evil, he writes it all down in his book and rewards everyone according to his deeds. Take heed to this. 6) Not only does he know and discern our present word, deed and thought, but also what we will do, say, think and plot, and begin, and at what time, hour and day, he knows everything completely from eternity itself. If a person thinks about such omniscience of God and feels in his heart, it will certainly follow in him: 1) Fear and trembling, and from this, careful living and behavior in words, deeds, undertakings, intentions and thoughts. 2) True repentance and contrition for past sins, and diligence to avoid sin in the future. 3) Mental and heartfelt prayer, done inside, and sighing, since God sees the thoughts of the heart. 4) Removal from hypocrisy, which outwardly shows holiness, but inside harbors malice. 5) When a person does not have piety inside, then he does not have it outwardly, no matter how he shows himself. If there is no true fear of God, there is no true piety. For God looks not only at external deeds, but even more at the heart, and judges by that. 6) From here it is clear that lawless and fearless living is a sign of godlessness hidden within the heart. Such a one says in his heart: “There is no God” (Ps. 13:1), and therefore such “say that they know God, but in deeds they deny Him” (Titus 1:16). 7) A person who wants to live piously needs to correct his internal state, and, as it were, be born again and renewed. For nothing external is pleasing to God without the internal. God speaks to the soul and heart of man and therefore demands correction and obedience from the soul and heart. Even if a person does not kill with the hands of a person, but is angry with a person in his heart, then he is a murderer before God. If he does not sin in body with another man’s wife, but desires another man’s wife in his heart, then he is an adulterer in the eyes of God. He does not steal with his hands, but wants and desires to steal other people's goods - a predator before God. For just as man sees the external thing, so God sees the internal as well as the external. So, a person needs to correct his internal state if he wants to please God, for God looks at the heart, and then after correcting the heart, correct external deeds will follow. So, learn from thinking about the omniscience of God to correct your heart, so that your external deeds will be right. Otherwise, a person will be like an apple, beautiful on the outside, but rotten and wormy on the inside, or like a painted coffin, beautiful on the outside, but stinking on the inside. Wanting to (more fully) depict the omniscience of God both in yours and in your mind, since this is very necessary for true worship of God and for our benefit, I offer you more (reasoning) about this, so that it will be more deeply rooted in our hearts. As soon as you want to start and do something, remember that God is with you and already knows your thought, and so judge whether your undertaking is in accordance with the will and law of God, or contrary. If you agree, then call upon Him for help and pray, saying: “Lord, bless and help,” and begin and do it. When you clearly see that this is contrary to Him, then refrain from doing so and also pray to Him, saying: “Lord, help me.” God, seeing your desire and desire for good, and aversion from evil, and diligence, will give His helping hand. People, wanting to commit lawlessness, look for hidden places. Fornicators and thieves love the night and darkness. Covetous and bribe-takers secretly take bribes. Cunning people, cunning people, flatterers, hypocrites and evildoers hide their evil within themselves, and do all dark deeds in darkness, like sons of darkness. “For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed, because they are evil” (John 3:20). All such are trying to hide, but the poor are deceived, for they are hiding from people, but from God, Who is light, brighter than any light, and the witness of their atrocities, they cannot hide anywhere and in any way, since He is with them everywhere, and sees all their atrocities, and writes them down in His book, and will reward them according to their deeds. The Prophet of God cries out to such: “Woe to those who think to hide themselves in the depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their deeds in darkness and say: “Who will see us? and who will know us? "" (Isaiah 29:15). "Can a man hide in a secret place where I cannot see him? - says the Lord. Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? - says the Lord" (Jer 23:24). Always keep in your mind the above-mentioned word: “Where can I go from Your Spirit,” and so on, and that which is from God not only in the house, in darkness, in the night, in the earth and under the earth, in the depths and in hell, but also in the secrets of the heart it is impossible to hide, for “all things are naked and open before His eyes” (Heb. 4:13). Also, when you want to do something, remember that God knows why you want to do it and why. If you shy away from evil and do good, then think again about what and what purpose prompts you to do this, namely, God’s will and honor, or your own benefit, and human praise, and vanity; the fear of God, or the fear of man - God knows all this. Know for sure that everything is displeasing to God, everything that is not done for God’s sake. Therefore, one must avoid evil and do good for the sake of God, because He forbade one thing and commanded another, does not want one thing, but wants another, is offended by some, and pleased by others. And to man, as we see, what is not done for his sake is unpleasant, and even more so to God, Who subtly and completely penetrates our deeds and undertakings. So, we must correct the heart and teach it so that it submits to the will of God and loves the will of God, and follows it, and not its own wisdom and lust. Think about it, and whatever you create and begin to create, apply everything to this rule. Now I want to write to you a little about the wisdom of God, or more precisely, to marvel at it. Let the hypostatic wisdom of God itself be my leader in this - Jesus Christ, “who became wisdom from God for us” (1 Cor 1:30). We learn the wisdom of God from the creation and structure of the world and the wondrous Providence about it; We see it in His holy word, where it is presented to us in different ways. The Prophet sings to Him: “You have created all things with wisdom” (Ps 103:24). “The Lord founded the earth with wisdom, He established the heavens with understanding” (Proverbs 3:19). We see her wondrous vision in creation: there is nothing created that was not arranged for the proper purpose and benefit of us and the glory of the Creator Himself. For the sun, the Creator arranged a constant flow, both approaching us and moving away from us: “the sun knows its west” (Ps 103:19), so that it becomes night, then day, then morning, then evening. The sun sets and leaves the night for rest for us and our livestock. The sun rises and awakens us to action. “A man goes out to his work, and to his work until the evening” (Ps 103:23). The sun departs from us to the south - and leaves us with autumn and winter, and a free path is made through rivers, lakes and swamps, contracted by frost, and the earth and farmers are left alone. The earth, covered with snow like a robe, rests and prepares itself to produce its fruits, and farmers gather new strength in peace and wait for the coming spring. The sun approaches us - and makes spring and summer. The earth is at rest, and filled with snowy moisture, and warmed by the rays of the sun, produces its fruits, is clothed with flowering herbs and gives us, like a mother, her breasts to her children, to taste the goodness and bounty of God, with which the Creator of all has enriched it. This is how the wondrous wisdom of God arranged it, so that everyone would benefit from His wondrous creation and dispensation. The Creator decreed the sun high so that it would enlighten the whole of heaven. He created the thinnest air so that the sun would emit its rays through it to the earth and birds would fly comfortably through it. Without air, it is impossible for animals to live and fruits to grow, so the wondrous wisdom of God arranged air to revive everything, and without air everything would disappear. He created the moon to discern and know the times: “He created the moon to (indicate) the times” (Ps 103:19). He created the stars to shine in the night and for other reasons known to astronomers. The earth was created dense, thick and hard to be the habitation of people and animals; fertile, so that, like a mother, she nourishes people and livestock with her fruits. He planted trees on the ground so that we would have something to build our houses and warm them; forests and oak groves to be a home for animals. He created lakes, rivers and springs to water us and our livestock. I planted herbs to serve to heal our infirmities and to feed our livestock. He gave us fire to make bread, cook food, and warm our chambers. So our wise and good Creator designed other creatures for a good purpose; and there is no such thing that was not created for our benefit. The very last thing, if you take it into consideration, will give you reason to be greatly amazed at the wisdom and goodness of God, so that you will be convinced to confess to Him with the prophet: “By wisdom you have created all things” (Rev 4:11). But the same wise and all-good Creator, just as he wisely created the world, so wisely provides for the created world, and wonderfully directs everything to the proper goals. Let us take into consideration here the story of Saint Joseph and be amazed at God’s wondrous care and Providence for us, which is mentioned in the book of Genesis and Psalm 104. His brothers envied him, since he was very loved by his father because of his good character. For envy always envies the well-being of another and then disappears when his well-being passes. They sold a holy and immaculate soul to Egypt. He became a slave in the house of Pentephry the Egyptian. An innocent man was slandered by a lustful woman, and thrown into prison, and the righteous man sat in chains. At that time, Pharaoh saw wondrous dreams, and there was no one who could judge and interpret them for the king. Then they told him about Joseph, who was skilled in such work, but imprisoned. They brought Joseph out of prison by order of the king, interpreted the king’s dreams and first foretold the harvest, and then the famine. The king recognized and recognized his interpretation as true, as it was true, realized that the Spirit of God lives in Joseph and that he is capable of ruling his kingdom, and made him master of all Egypt. And Joseph gathered grain sufficiently and abundantly during the harvest, and during the famine he fed not only Egypt, but also his father’s house. It is written about this in Psalm 104: “And He called a famine on the land: He destroyed every stalk of grain. He sent a man before them (the forefathers): Joseph was sold as a slave. They bound his feet with chains, his soul was encased in iron, until his word came (to fulfillment), the word of the Lord set him on fire. The king sent (for him) and allowed him; ruler of the nations, and freed him. He made him lord over his house and ruler over all his possessions, so that he would instruct his nobles as himself, and teach his elders wisdom.” We see here the wise and wondrous Providence of God for His servant and for His people. His brothers intended evil against him, but God turned it into good for him and for good for all people, as Joseph himself admitted it. “And he said” (to the brothers) “Joseph: Fear not, for I fear God; Behold, you have plotted evil against me; but God turned it into good to accomplish what it is now: to preserve the lives of a great number of people” (Gen. 50:19–20). When discussing the wisdom of God we learn: 1) Surrender yourself to His Providence and not worry your mind here and there, but wait for the end of our misfortunes. 2) Let us learn patience in suffering and to bear the cross placed upon us by Him. 3) We learn to rely not on ourselves, and the princes of the age, and other creatures, but on Him, for He alone can help us. 4) We learn to direct our deeds themselves, with His help, to a good goal, that is, to the glory of His holy name. 5) The authorities of their subjects, masters of slaves, parents of children learn to punish for a good purpose, that is, for their correction and creation, to crush their ferocious body and flesh, but to correct their soul. 6) All Christians should heed the apostle: “Take heed therefore, and walk carefully, not as fools, but as wise, making use of the time, because the days are evil” (Eph 5:15-16). Think about it and learn from it. May the all-wise and all-good Jesus make us wise for our salvation. You ask what Christian wisdom consists of? 1) Know God and honor Him. 2) Keep within yourself that He is both your God and my God, although He is the God of everyone. 3) That He commands both me and you: turn away from evil and do good, although He commands the same to everyone. 4) Listen to Him as your Lord and King and do His will. 5) Walk before Him with caution, for He sees everything, and looks at everyone, and tests hearts and bellies, tests the righteous and the wicked. To walk, I say, before Him as disciples walk before a teacher, children before their parents, slaves before masters, subjects before authority. 6) Live in this world and treat yourself like a wanderer, stranger and traveler. 7) Be afraid of everything, like a bird sits and fears, looking here and there, so as not to be caught or shot. For many enemies surround us and want to catch us in their net. 8) Do not attach your heart to anything in the world, neither to wealth, nor to honor, nor to glory, nor to luxury, much less seek it. 9) Be content with what God gives and thank Him for it. “Having food and clothing, we will be content with this” (1 Timothy 6:8). 10) While we have time, do good to everyone (Gal. 6:10). 11) Say what should and is necessary, and when it should; and remain silent about what should not be said and when it should not be said. 12) Live in the world with your body, but leave your mind for eternity. Often remember death, the judgment of Christ, eternal death and eternal life. 13) Never be idle, but do something useful, and only abstain from evil deeds, words and thoughts. For only this idleness is useful to us. 14) Be extremely careful not to give temptation to your neighbor. This is Christian and true wisdom. The “beginning” of “wisdom is the fear of the Lord” (Sir 1:15). Wanting to offer you (reasoning) about the truth of God, I also remember God’s righteous judgment, which will take place on the last day, and therefore I write with a trembling hand. For just as His goodness comforts and encourages, so His truth brings not only us sinners, but also His saints into fear and trembling. His truth is that He rewards everyone according to their deeds. The truth of God is learned from the punishment of self-willed and lawless people, and the protection of pious and God-fearing people. We read and see about this in many places in Holy Scripture, especially the Old Testament. The truth of God will be revealed and known most clearly on the day of the Last Judgment of Christ. For not all the self-willed here accept punishment, but others are reserved (for punishment) for that day. Then everyone will be rewarded according to their deeds. Although now unpunished people are becoming ferocious and dreaming that this will not be exacted from them, they will not escape God’s judgment, which will be all the more terrible for them the longer the goodness of God has waited for them to repent. For such are heaping up for themselves “wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment from God” (Rom. 2:5), according to the apostolic teaching. Knowing and feeling the truth of God leads a person: 1) In fear, so that the judgment of God will tremble. 2) In repentance and knowledge of sins and contrition. For if people will give account for an idle word on the day of judgment (Matthew 12:36), then much more for other grave sins. 3) Arouses heartfelt sighing and prayer, so that the prophet will cry out to the Lord: “Do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for no one living will be justified before You” (Ps 142:2). 4) Leads to patience, since a person, when he is punished here in some way, will admit that he is being deservedly punished, saying with the Psalmist: “You are righteous, O Lord, and righteous are your judgments” (Ps 119:137). So, recognizing his guilt and God’s righteous punishment, he will cover his lips with silence. For God will not offend anyone, but whatever he does, he does righteously. 5) Reasoning about God's truth and his guilt, he will not only endure the evil that happens, but will also desire and ask that he be punished here, so as not to be condemned by the world. For it is better to be punished briefly and easily here than to be punished there forever and cruelly. Think about the truth of God and you will be motionless to every disorderly act, nailed by fear like nails. Reason about the truth of God, and you will zealously repent for past sins, you will sigh and pray earnestly for the remission of sins, you will endure every disaster that happens. Why, you ask, are pious people punished and suffer here, as we see and read in Scripture? 1) And pious people are not without sin, and sin does not exist without punishment, therefore the pious here are punished by God so as not to be punished there. The apostle says about this: “Being judged, we are punished by the Lord, so as not to be condemned with the world” (1 Cor 11:32). 2) God sends punishment to the pious out of love, and not out of anger. How a father punishes his children: he punishes them, but does not kill them, beats them, but does not kill them. The apostle speaks about this punishment: “The Lord punishes whomever he loves; he beats every son whom he receives. If you suffer punishment, then God treats you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline” (Hebrews 12:6–7)? And here the truth of God is shown, which does not leave even small sins without punishment, although it is combined with mercy and love for mankind. 3) He pours out the wrath of His wrath on the wicked, and “destroys their memory on earth,” and, depriving them of temporary life, deprives them of eternal life. Such punishment befell the Sodomites who lived under Noah, Pharaoh and others. Think about this and beware of sin, which entails both temporary and eternal punishment. You asked what the words of the apostle mean: “Who” (Christ) “was delivered for our sins” (Rom. 4:25)? Answer: here too the truth of God was revealed to us. We have all sinned and were worthy of eternal punishment, but Christ the Son of God, by His will and the good pleasure of His Heavenly Father, took our sins upon Himself and the punishment for sins, and therefore “was wounded for our sins and tormented for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). Christ was innocent: “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth” (1 Peter 2:22). Christ our Savior was punished for our sins, so that we who believe in Him would not be punished forever. Here we see the truth of God, fulfilled by Christ’s suffering, and towards us who have sinned, God’s indescribable goodness and love for mankind. Glory to His immeasurable bounties, to which I entrust myself and you. In the suffering of Christ we also see the wisdom of God, which there invented the way to our salvation, where there seemed to be no way. God is righteous and good. Since He is good, He wanted to save the lost human race, and since He is righteous, He had to not leave human sin unpunished. For it would be contrary to His truth to leave sin without execution. Here the wisdom of God invented and arranged it in such a way that sin did not remain without punishment, for the Son of God suffered for sin, and the human race receives salvation, and so the suffering of Christ established the truth of God and the goodness of God. For this we thank and worship our philanthropic and wise God, and we praise His holy name, that He may grant us, sinners, His love for mankind, to which I entrust both myself and you, and all who bear His name. May the good and humane God grant us now to “taste and see how good the Lord is.” The goodness of God is preached to us in almost all of Holy Scripture, and there is almost no chapter in which it is not mentioned. For God, the knower of the heart, knows the weakness of our hearts, and the tendency towards despair, and the cunning of evil spirits, and therefore reminds us everywhere of His goodness and love for mankind. The goodness of God is shown by His works. 1) That He “makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). 2) That he does not immediately execute the sinner, but awaits his repentance, as the apostle says: “The goodness of God leads you to repentance” (Rom. 2:4). 3) That he accepts favorably the repentant and forgives his sins (Luke 15:4). 4) That he punishes the sinner, but mercifully and philanthropically. 5) That He Whom the Angels sing and praise with fear does not disdain our prayer and singing and praise, but even calls and commands us to pray and ask Him for everything that pleases His will. 6) That He Himself speaks to us amazingly and kindly in His holy word. Read the Scripture and you will see what kind of king does to his subjects as our God does to us? No, there has never been anything like this in the world! “Taste and see how good the Lord is” (Ps. 33:9). 7) Most of all, the goodness of God was revealed to us in the incarnation of the Only Begotten Son of God. Here all the treasures of His goodness were revealed, which we cannot even comprehend. Our Savior Himself preaches about this: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This is the Gospel, this is joyful news, this is our hope and eternal life. We dare to boast about this, we stop the mouths of our slanderers: the Only Begotten Son of God came into the world for our sake, suffered, and died. “If God is for us, who can be against us” (Rom 8:31)? Glory to the favored Father and the suffering Son and the Holy Comforter Spirit. May the glory of the Lord be forever. 8) Although here we taste and see the goodness of God, we will taste and see and enjoy more abundantly in eternal life, according to His false promise: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor 2:9). Reasoning and tasting the goodness of God. 1) Inflames love for God in our hearts. For conscience itself convinces us to love the One who loves and does good to us. 2) Produces true gratitude to the Benefactor in the heart. 3) Produces indescribable spiritual joy and exclamation. 4) Produces true sadness for the sake of God and indignation at oneself in the repentant sinner, because God did good to the sinner, but he insulted and angered the Benefactor, and madly despised His goodness. Reasoning about this, he will be stung, like an arrow, with sorrow for the sake of God, his Benefactor, despised by him. 5) From there will follow shame for ingratitude, which is needed in repentance, as the prophet confesses: “With You, O Lord, is righteousness, but with us there is shame on our faces” (Dan 9:7). Truly, shame and disgrace befits us for the fact that we, being creatures, earth and ashes, insult our Creator, and due to our insignificant meanness we do not realize His majesty, and besides, being always satisfied with His benefits, we do not thank our Benefactor. God does good to us, but we do not love Him. Shame and disgrace to the person who does not honor and love his benefactor. How much more should we be ashamed that we do not love and honor our God, Creator, Provider and Father. All creation convicts us of this, for with all zeal they serve Him as their Creator. Therefore, “with You, O Lord, is righteousness, but with us there is shame on our faces” (Dan 9:7). 6) Patience in punishment will follow, since the person will admit that he deserves to suffer punishment as an ungrateful person. Reasoning about how much God's goodness has been poured out on him, and about his ingratitude towards God, he recognizes himself as worthy of any punishment. 7) Self-humiliation and humility will follow, for he recognizes himself as unworthy of any of God’s blessings, although all this must be recognized. For God freely gives His blessings to everyone. 8) By reasoning about the goodness of God we are confirmed in hope, when we are tempted by Satan and driven to despair. Diligent reasoning about the goodness of God will not allow one to despair, for God, being good, wants the salvation of everyone and does not want the death of the sinner. 9) He who feels the goodness of God on himself is good to his neighbors. From the blessings of God given to him, he gives to his brethren, feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, and so on, for he knows that all good is God’s. Receiving forgiveness of sins from God and experiencing His mercy, one becomes merciful to those who have sinned and forgives their sins. Truly, if a person considers how great mercy he is granted from God every day, then he will not be able to be unmerciful towards his neighbor, and especially in the forgiveness of sins. Reason and taste the goodness of God, but at the same time omnipresence and omniscience, and let His truth appear before the eyes of your soul. I also remind you of the goodness of God. Nothing shows His goodness towards us more than His long-suffering towards sinners. How many idolaters are there in the world who give His glory to creatures! How many blasphemers who dishonor His terrible and holy name with their foul tongue! How many robbers, murderers, robbers, rapists, adulterers and other lawless people who fearlessly destroy His holy law before His holy eyes!.. But the goodness of God is patient with them, does not execute them, does not reward them according to their deeds, but awaits their repentance, as the Apostle wrote: “The goodness of God leads you to repentance” (Rom. 2:4). And again: “He is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish, but that everyone should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). And not only is he long-suffering, but he also never ceases to do good. Provides food, clothing, and other benefits. Be amazed at the goodness of God, and recognizing for yourself the goodness of God, be good to your brethren, meek and loving of mankind. May the goodness of God move us so as not to recognize the truth of God for ourselves. And if someone abuses the goodness of God and does not correct himself, he will experience the effect of God’s truth on himself. The Lord is good, truly good, but also righteous. Reason about this and, recognizing for yourself the goodness of God, do not forget His truth. Save yourself and pray for me, a sinner. You write that we see and know that without God’s Providence nothing happens. Where do the troubles and misfortunes come from in the world? Answer: God sends troubles and misfortunes to us, but even this shows amazing goodness: 1) God, through His word, calls everyone to repentance, as we read about in many places of Holy Scripture and hear in churches, but when people do not turn and do not repent, He sends misfortunes upon them so that they will be moved to repentance and seek Him. You see the goodness of God here too. God, not wanting our destruction, sends misfortunes upon us: he punishes us here, but does not kill us, he corrects us so that we may be saved, but does not destroy us. God even threatens us with Gehenna in His Scripture so that we do not fall into Gehenna. You see what the purpose of the misfortunes sent to us is. This is what pious authorities do, who do not torture their subjects, but punish them so that they become good. For many are corrected and saved through adversity, as we read in books. 2) Those who are not corrected by adversity already perish in their malice. So Pharaoh was repeatedly punished, but did not reform, but became embittered and died. 3) The good and pious accept punishment in order to be confirmed in piety, for in prosperity a person, because he is weak, conveniently turns away from the good path. Therefore, they are punished in order to become better. For just as a tree, the more it is cleansed, the more fruit it bears, so a good Christian, the more it is punished, the better the fruits of virtues it creates. The Lord speaks about this: “Every branch in Me that bears fruit I purges” (the Father), “so that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:2). Thus, pious people learn beautiful virtues: humility, patience, meekness and love, and with them they can follow and conform to their Lord. 4) Pious souls taste the sorrows of the world, so as not to forget their heavenly fatherland and so as not to regard the world as their fatherland, but to raise their thoughts and strive there, where there are no misfortunes, troubles, illness and sighing. Think about this and in adversity kiss, glorify and magnify the goodness of God. Now let us learn from the truth of God. God is true, and His word is truth. What God reveals is exactly as he reveals, and what he promises and what he predicts will certainly come true in due time. “The words of God will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). We know the truth of God from the fact that His words come true. God predicted to the ancestors in paradise that, having eaten from the commanded tree, they would die - and, having eaten, they died. He announced that there would be a flood, and there was a flood. He told the forefather Abraham that his descendants would come to Egypt, and they would be embittered there, and they would be delivered, and so it happened. He promised to give them the land of Canaan as an inheritance - and he did. He promised to send the Messiah into the world and thus save the world, and so it happened: the Messiah has come, and those who believe in Him are saved. Based on past events, we also draw conclusions about future ones. He declared in Scripture that there will be a resurrection of the dead, there will be a judgment of Christ, there will be eternal torment and eternal life - and it will certainly be so. So this is true, just as it is true that yesterday and other past days were and today is. Therefore, His holy word, written in the Bible, is the foundation and confirmation of our faith and all our piety, since His word is true, unfalse and reliable, like God Himself. We must believe him as if God Himself were speaking directly to us. "The testimony of the Lord is sure." He should be trusted more than the whole world. For all people can lie, but God’s Word cannot lie. From the knowledge of God's truth will follow: 1) Let us not doubt anything that God has revealed, or promised, or predicted in Holy Scripture. 2) We are firmly convinced of the properties of God revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures. 3) Let us know His will, what it wants from us and what it wants for us, that is, it wants to save us and make us blessed, and demands from us reverence, gratitude, and other things. 4) We are confident in the predictions about the future, that is, about the resurrection of the dead, about the judgment of Christ, about eternal torment and eternal life, since God revealed all this to us in His Scripture. 5) And so the knowledge of the truth of God arouses in us faith, hope, fear, love for God and neighbor. 6) Loyalty to one’s neighbor will follow and lies, flattery, deceit, and hypocrisy will be destroyed. God deals truly and truly with us, and we should deal truly with our neighbors. Reason about the truth of God, and read His holy word, and you will be established in the truth. Believe with certainty that everything that is written must be fulfilled. The “Word” of God “is the truth” (John 17:17). The truth of God will teach you to believe all His commandments, to believe in His Gospel, to fear God’s judgment and subsequent execution, to desire and diligently seek eternal life, to despise the world and everything in the world, to repent diligently and pray, and call on His name. Now let us present the holiness of God to the eyes of our hearts, and in thinking about it we will learn for our benefit. God, holy and merciful, help us. His holy Apostle presents to us His holiness and teaches us this: “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Just as light is not involved in darkness, so God is not involved in any vice and sin. His holy will wants what is good and does what is good, and does not want any evil and does not do any evil. God is light, light without darkness, truth and holiness without any untruth, innocence without any vice, truth without lies, wisdom and understanding without any ignorance. From reasoning and knowledge of the holiness of God we learn: 1) Live holy and immaculate if we want to have fellowship with Him. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, but walk in darkness, then we lie and do not practice the truth,” and so on (1 John 1:6). 2) Those Christians are mistaken and move away from God who do dark things, that is, sin. “What does light have in common with darkness” (2 Cor 6:14)? 3) Those who want to approach God and have communion with Him must cleanse themselves with true repentance, and wash themselves with the Blood of the Son of God, and walk in a new life, putting on the weapon of light. “The night is past, and the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and put on the weapons of light. As during the day, let us behave decently, not indulging in feasting and drunkenness, nor in sensuality and debauchery, nor in quarrels and envy; but put on our Lord Jesus Christ,” the apostle exhorts us (Rom. 13:12–14). Let us listen, beloved, to the apostle and, putting aside dark deeds, let us put on the weapons of light, so that we may have communion with the holy God here and there forever. For whoever does not have fellowship with Him here will not have it there either, and having thus removed himself from the light and life that is God, he will be in eternal darkness and death. God promised to live in Christians and have their souls as churches for Himself: “I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people” (2 Cor 6:16). “Having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor 7:1). At the same time, let us mention the Light that appeared on earth. Light the Father, Light the Son, Light and the Holy Spirit, Eternal and Unquenchable Light. Light, the Son of God, Light from Light, true God from true God, appeared on earth and enlightened those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death. About this Light it is written: “The people sitting in darkness saw a great Light, and to those sitting in the land and shadow of death did the Light shine” (Matthew 4:16). This Light “was the true Light, which gives light to every man who comes into the world” (John 1:9). This Light flashed His rays on Mount Tabor, when “His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as light” (Matthew 17:2). Seeing this Light, Saint Peter was so happy that he did not want to leave the holy mountain, but wanted to live there: “Lord,” he says, “it is good for us to be here,” and so on (Matthew 17:4). He says about Himself: “I am the light of the world; Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). And again: “I have come as Light into the world, so that whoever believes in Me should not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). And again: “The judgment is that the Light has come into the world; but people loved darkness rather than Light, because their deeds were evil,” and so on (John 3:19). The apostles approached this Light and followed in His footsteps, the saints, martyrs, saints and all the saints went, and were enlightened, and now they shine like the lights in His kingdom. Let us also “come close” to Him, and we will be enlightened, and our faces “will not be ashamed” (Ps 33:6). Love for the world and sin are darkness; let us turn away from darkness and turn to this Light, and we will love it, and cleave to it, and let us follow in its footsteps, and we will not walk in darkness, but we will have the Light of life. Whoever turns away from the light walks in darkness, but whoever comes to the light will not remain in darkness. The light is Christ, and he who follows in the footsteps of Christ will not walk in darkness; but he who does not follow Him will certainly be in darkness and will go astray. You ask: what does it mean to follow in the footsteps of Christ? Christ now sits at the right hand of God the Father; how can we follow in His footsteps? 1) Without fail, all Christians must follow in the footsteps of Christ, like sheep in the footsteps of their Shepherd, like slaves in the footsteps of their Lord, like disciples in the footsteps of their Teacher, like warriors in the footsteps of their Leader and King, like spiritual members in the footsteps of their Head. They must be united with Christ here, so that in the next century they will be worthy to be together with Him. Whoever separates himself from Christ here will not be with Him there either. 2) You must follow in the footsteps of Christ not with your feet, but with your heart, that is, you must follow the narrow path of the cross, for this is the path of Christ. He walked this path and showed us an example, as the apostle teaches him: “Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21). Christ teaches us through His word and life humility, patience, meekness, love and other wonderful virtues. Let us follow Christ, that is, let us learn from Him - to humble ourselves, endure, be meek, love and do other good things. So all the saints followed Christ, and brought them to the heavenly fatherland. We must follow this path of humility if we want to come to that country, which is what I wish for both myself and you from my heart. Finally, I present to you that our God is incorporeal and immaterial, and therefore He is the purest Spirit. This is how the Holy Scripture testifies about Him: “God is Spirit” (John 4:24). What the Holy Scripture says about Him as having bodily members, it does not actually ascribe to Him, but out of condescension to the weakness and weakness of our concept (so it says), since we otherwise cannot understand His actions, performed by His power. So the hands attributed to Him signify His omnipotent power, the eyes are His omniscience, the ears are the hearing of everything, since neither a word, nor a deed, nor a thought of our heart is hidden from Him. And as about all people, so about every person, what he did, said, thought, and why he did it, and what he does, says and thinks, and for what, and what he will do, say, think, and for what - everything is completely clear to Him. He has no hands, but by one will and command he does whatever he wants; has no eyes, but observes and sees everything, both in hidden places and in the depths of the heart; has no ears, but hears every word, voice, singing, good and bad. Think about this and beware of doing, saying and thinking what is disgusting to Him. From the knowledge of the spiritual essence of God it will follow that man will honor Him not with substance, not with gold, not with silver, and not with other materials, not with food and clothing, and not with visible ceremonies alone, but with spirit, that is, with fear, love, humility, patience, subordination of one’s will to His will, and other deeds commanded by Him. “For such sacrifices are acceptable to God” (Heb. 13:16). The spirit is revered by the spirit. To God, every appearance and substance is unpleasant without the inner spirit, therefore the Lord says: “True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is looking for such worshipers for Himself. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23–24). Let us honor God as the Spirit with spirit, let us do His will and His commandments, for our sins we will offer a contrite spirit, a contrite and humble heart. “The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit: a contrite and humble heart God will not despise” (Ps 50:19). All efforts of a Christian must be to correct his soul. For God speaks to our soul, and not to our body. The body is the instrument of the soul through which it acts. The tongue speaks, the eyes look, the hands do what the soul plans and wants. If the soul is in good order, then external affairs will be in good order. Without spiritual consent, bodily members do not function. Let us correct our soul, like our spirit, into submission and obedience to God, then our external affairs will be correct, and so we will honor our God in spirit and truth. I briefly suggested to you, according to my understanding, about the properties of God and what follows from their knowledge. See what it means to know God! The knowledge of the properties of God, as far as we can know them, leads us to the knowledge of Him, but they bring us with His help and enlightenment, just as we know His properties and are enlightened by them only with the help of His light. All Christians boast in their knowledge of God, but, according to the apostolic teaching, few know Him, only those who keep His commandments: “And we know that we have come to know Him by keeping His commandments. Whoever says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:3–4). Many people preach God and teach about God, but their morals and lives show otherwise. True knowledge of God certainly brings with it a correction of the internal state and from this an external immaculate life. Who, having felt in his heart the omnipotence of God, which creates everything out of nothing, will not fear Him and humble himself before Him? Who, having come to know God's omnipresence, will not render Him, as omnipresent, worthy respect and dare to sin before Him? Before the king, a man does not dare to commit outrages; Will he be bold before God, the Almighty and Terrible King? Never. He will certainly tremble, and, as if nailed to nails, he will be motionless to all evil. Whoever knows His omniscience and His truth will not fear His righteous judgment and will not be moved to true repentance? Take His other properties into consideration and you will see that from their knowledge will follow true repentance, piety and worship of God. It is impossible, having known God, not to honor Him. To know God and not to honor Him from the heart is a contradiction. This is so true and reliable, just as it is true that, having known the highest good, it is impossible not to love it. For everyone by nature strives for good, and desires and loves good, and although many love evil, they love under the guise of good. Evil cannot be loved like evil, but everyone runs away from it. Therefore, the more a person knows God, the more he honors Him; and the more he learns, the more he discusses His Divine properties and studies in His holy word. However, we must always keep in mind and remember that we cannot know God without God. Therefore, we must pray to Him that He Himself will enlighten us with His knowledge, which I fervently wish for both myself and you. Now let us worship the Heavenly King, Who appeared on earth for us, and we will marvel at the goodness of God, which He poured out upon us in abundance, and sent His Only Begotten Son to us to bless us and preach His holy Gospel. What do you hear about either from the Holy Scripture, or from church songs, offer it to me, and with the help of God, as I learned from the Holy Scripture, and the Holy Church, and church teachers, I will answer you. Just offer something that is not above my strength, but that will bring creation to both my soul and yours, and from which we can receive consolation in the necessary case. You ask about the Gospel, what does this word mean? Answer. Gospel is a Greek word that means good, favorable, and comforting news. The Gospel of Jesus Christ reveals to us that He was sent into this world by the Heavenly Father to save sinners and to seek and save what was lost, as He Himself teaches in His Gospel: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). His apostle preaches the same gospel to us: “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). Glory to the Father who sent, glory to the Son who came to save sinners. Let us worship with a joyful and grateful spirit the One who came to save us and the One who was pleased to send Him. Blessed be God, “who desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4)! Let us accept this all-joyful news into our hearts and give glory to God, who has been well pleased with us. You demand a better explanation about this. Accept it; according to my strength I offer it to you. The human race perished because of the wickedness and deceitful advice of the serpent. God, the most kind, had mercy on him and did not want to leave him in perdition. He sent his only begotten Son into the world to save the world. The Only Begotten Son of God Himself preaches the good news about this and assures us: “God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:16–17). You see here all the power of the Holy Gospel of Christ in a nutshell: God loved the world by which he was angry and saddened; sent His Son into the world, but not to judge the world, which had angered and upset God its Creator, but to save the world. This is what the Gospel is like!.. 1) God did not execute us, His enemies, worthy of eternal execution. 2) Not only did he not execute him, but he also accepted him into His mercy. 3) To save us, He did not send an Angel, nor anyone else, but He sent His Only Begotten Son to save us and bring us, who had fallen away, to Him. For our sake He did not spare His own Son (Rom. 8:32). “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, that he hath visited his people, and wrought deliverance unto them, and hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he declared by the mouth of his holy prophets that have come of old” (Luke 1:68–70). Be amazed and worship the goodness of God!.. “Taste and see how good the Lord is” (Ps 33:9)!.. You ask, before the coming of Christ into the world, was there a notice of His coming? Answer: it happened many times. From the very beginning of the world this was announced from God many times and in different ways. Just as the king of this world, wanting to come to a city, sends ahead messengers there, so that everyone there would be notified about his imminent coming, so the King of Heaven, intending to come into the world, foreshadowed His coming through His prophets, as the prophet Zechariah, the father of the Forerunner, sang: “He announced,” he says, “by the mouth of His holy prophets who were from the beginning” (Luke 1:70). They all preached in agreement: the Lord, the Heavenly King, is coming, coming. Therefore, everyone expected His coming and wanted to see Him: “many prophets and righteous people wanted to see” Him (Matthew 13:17), and they prayed to Him: “Come save us” (Ps 79:3). But when he came into the world and arranged salvation for us, and ascended to heaven, from where he came, His apostles preached about this to the entire universe, sent by Him Himself, and made wise, enlightened and strengthened by His Holy Spirit. They all sounded in agreement, like god-voiced trumpets, in all the ends of the earth: Our Lord has come. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). “What happened from the beginning, what we heard, what we saw with our eyes, what we looked at and touched with our hands, about the Word of life - for the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify, and proclaim to you this eternal life, which was with the Father and was revealed to us - what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you (" 1 John 1:1-3), and so on. They themselves saw the Son of God, they themselves heard how He preached His Gospel, and they touched Him with their own hands, and they followed Him as he walked the earth, and they ate and drank with Him, and they preached about Him Himself to the whole world: “their voice went out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world” (Rom. 10:18). They not only saw Him, but also heard the testimony of Him from God the Heavenly Father from heaven, and they announced this testimony to the world, and in their messages they wrote to us as our most reliable assurance: “We announced to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, not following cunningly woven fables, but being eyewitnesses of His greatness. For He received honor and glory from God the Father when such a voice came to Him from the magnificent glory: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And we heard this voice coming from heaven while we were with Him on the holy mountain” (2 Peter 1:16–18). And the whole Holy Church believes, confesses, praises, thanks, glorifies, and worships Him, and is saved by His grace, and from this world moves to Him to see Him, sitting at the right hand of the Father. This is what the Gospel is! Truly good and favorable news! God appeared on earth, lived with people, and Himself arranged salvation; and by His grace sinners are saved, those who believe in Him with a pure heart, and those rejected from God are accepted into His mercy, and the inhabitants of earth are made heavenly, and the lost inherit eternal life. Let us recognize, brother, this great work of God. How “great is the mystery of piety: God has appeared” on earth! It would be great and worthy of surprise if the king of the earth himself personally came to his captive slaves to redeem them. God, the Word of God, the Son of God, the King of Heaven Himself came to us, captives, to redeem us through Himself. The kings of the earth, for the most part, redeem captives for their own gain; The Heavenly King had no self-interest in us. He is blessed without us, and does not require any service from us, and thousands of thousands of Angels stand before Him, and serve day and night without ceasing, but nevertheless He Himself came to earth to seek us, and He only appointed Him for selfishness, so that He could see us saved. This is true and ardent love, which “does not seek its own” (1 Cor 13:5)! Let us believe that God came to earth for our sake in order to raise us to heaven, and let us write this great deed on our hearts. Then we will continually marvel at this, “singing and making melody in our hearts” “to the Lord” (Eph 5:19). Then we will truly love His appearance and turn away from the vanity of this world. Then we will not spare not only our possessions, but also ourselves for the sake of His name. He has no partiality, but for the sake of everyone, so for the sake of you and me, the indecent one, he came. Glory to His bounties! Reason about this, and thereby encourage yourself to love Him, and in the necessary case, when your thoughts say: “There is no salvation” for you “in your God,” console. What I wish for both myself and you from my heart. However, do not think that God left His heaven when He appeared on earth. God does not move from place to place, because He is everywhere and in every place, as I wrote to you about before. But when it is said that God came to earth, this is said in relation to our concept, since we cannot understand otherwise, just as we cannot understand that He is here, and in another place, and in heaven. Even then he was in heaven, and he was glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and we worshiped and were sung by the Angels in heaven, when he walked on earth and spoke among people. This is what His Holy Word teaches us, and our Holy Church confesses. So believe and confess, “do not seek what is too difficult for you, and do not try what is beyond your strength” (Sir 3:21). Are you asking where and in which country did God, God’s Word, appear on earth? Answer. Before His coming, only the land of Judah and Israel knew and revered God, while all other countries were immersed in idolatry and did not know the true God. Therefore, only the Jewish country awaited the coming of Christ the Messiah, as it was promised to them. That is why Christ appeared in that country, to His people who were waiting for him. But also about the country in which and at what time Christ God will appear, and how he will come, and what he will do, and how the people who were waiting for Him will receive Him - all this was predicted by the prophets in various ways - and what was predicted was all fulfilled at His coming, as we see in His holy Gospel. But just as before His coming in Israel alone the knowledge and reverence of God was contained, as it is written: “God is known in Judah, His name is great in Israel” (Ps 76:2), so after His coming the light of knowledge of God and reverence for God spilled and spread to all the ends of the earth. We thank God that he shone into our corner and drove away the darkness of idolatry with which our forefathers were darkened. You just have to be careful lest he be hidden again because of the contempt of His word. For we see that ungodly living is increasing hour by hour and the word of God is being brought into utter contempt. You ask: how did God, invisible and intangible, since He is Spirit, appear on earth? Answer. Christians should know this, and you should not have asked about it, for it is preached every day in the church, but listen to this briefly for the sake of a better statement. The invisible God, wishing to appear on earth, to live with people and arrange salvation for us, deigned to become incarnate from the Most Holy and Immaculate Virgin Mary; He accepted animate flesh, servile to us, with the favor of the Heavenly Father and the assistance of the Holy Spirit, and became a man, like me and you, except for sin; and Jesus Christ was both the Son of God and the Son of the Virgin Mary - not in two persons, but one in two natures, inseparably cognizable. Therefore, Orthodoxy we confess Him as perfect God and perfect man: He, as before the incarnation was God, so after the incarnation remains God, perfect God and perfect man Jesus Christ, in Him there is a dual nature, but one Hypostasis. This is how the Holy Church believes and confesses Him and sings: “The King of Heaven appeared on earth for his love for mankind, and lived with men: for he received pure flesh from the Virgin, and passed from Her with perception, there is one Son, purely by nature, but not by Hypostasis. In the same way, the perfection of that God and the perfection of man, truly preaching, we confess Christ our God,” and so on (Verse. Bogor. Chapter 8 resurrected, at Vespers). We see how God appeared on earth. He took on our flesh and thus appeared. So the Invisible became visible, so the Intangible became tangible, so the Unapproachable to the Cherubim and Seraphim became accessible to sinners, so the Beginningless One accepted the beginning, so the “Ancient of Days” (Dan 7) became a baby, so He who contains all the ends of the earth was held and carried by his mother’s hands, so He who nourishes all flesh was fed with his mother’s milk, so he “grew” over the years and “he was strengthened in spirit” (Luke 2:40) Unchangeable, Eternal and Perfect, so God walked on the earth, The King of Heaven spoke among people, and was visible to people, and the Son of God and the Word of the Father talked with people. So His apostles saw Him, and touched Him, and heard the words of life from His lips, and talked with Him, and walked with Him, and followed Him, and so on, and preached to us. Oh, “blessed is the womb that bore God incarnate, and the breasts that nourished Him” (Luke 11:27)! Blessed are the hands that have handled the Word of life! Blessed are the eyes that have seen the invisible God revealed in the flesh! Blessed are the ears that hear the hypostatic Word of God! Blessed is the time in which God appeared on earth! Blessed is the land on which the King of Heaven walked! Blessed are the garments with which God clothed himself, “who is clothed with light as with a garment” ( Ps 103:2 )! Let us worship, beloved, God incarnate. Let us worship in the place “where His feet stood” (Ps 131:7). For our sake, for the sake of you and me, and for the sake of everyone, He appeared on earth. Our Light has come to us to enlighten our darkness. Our God came to us and became like us. Our Lord came to us and in the guise of a slave wanted to serve His servants. The Heavenly King came to His subjects on earth not to judge them who had sinned, but to seek and save the lost. Our Creator came to us, His creation, to renew and recreate His corrupted creation. The Good Shepherd came to seek His lost sheep. Oh, a new miracle! Oh, the wondrous work of our God! “God is Lord and has appeared to us” (Ps. 117:27). The Lord of hosts, who reigns forever, has come: let all the earth stand in awe at His presence. Let us understand, brother, the power of this great sacrament. He came for us. Let us try to reverently meet Him and worship Him, and love His appearance, and bring a grateful heart to Him instead of a gift, and please Him, so that we may be worthy to please Him in the land of the living, and see Him at the right hand of God sitting in the glory of the Father. Let us write, brother, this great matter on our hearts, and we will learn from it day and night (See Ps 1:2). For there is nothing more useful than this. Remember the Lord Jesus, who came to save us, and from there you will either be confirmed in piety, or be aroused to piety. For this is the root and beginning of faith and piety. You ask me to write to you first of all something else: what happened at the carnal birth of the Son of God. I offer you this from His holy Gospel, since it tells us all of His glorious life and deeds. So listen: 1) Christ our God was born in a den and was laid in a manger by His Most Holy Mother, as Scripture says, “because there was no place for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7). Note here, dear one: there was no room in the inn for the One to Whom belongs the whole universe and everything that fills it; and He was born in a den, and He lay down in a manger, whose “throne is heaven, and the earth is His footstool” (Matthew 5:34). At his very birth, the wonderful Child shows that He is “not of this world,” a stranger and stranger in this world, and “though rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, so that” we “through His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9). From this we learn to despise the wealth and glory of this world, and to be like strangers and strangers in this world, and not to have “a permanent city here, but” to look for the “future” (Heb. 13:14): not to build rich houses for ourselves, but to be content with those that can give us peace and protect us from air storms and rain. We see where the King of Heaven was born and lay down: a den instead of a house, and a manger instead of a bed for Him. Let human pride be ashamed, seeing the King of Heaven in such humility and poverty. 2) This wonderful Baby had just been born, the Angels of God sang the praise and glory of God: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14). They sang of the goodness of God, for He had mercy on us, and rejoiced in our salvation, “for today a Savior has been born to us “in the city of David, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). From this we learn to rejoice not about gold, silver, honor, glory and the other treasures of this world, about which the sons of this age rejoice, but to rejoice in God, our Savior, as the Most Holy Mother of God said about herself: “My spirit rejoiced in God my Savior” (Luke 1:47), - and in the joy of the spirit to thank and sing praises to our God for His greatness. work and other good deeds, may there be consonant music between the earthly and heavenly, militant and triumphant Church. Thus will God be glorified from both heavenly and earthly inhabitants. 3) A wonderful star appeared in the east, which moved the Magi there and led them to Jerusalem, and from there to Bethlehem, where Christ the Lord was born, and standing above the place where the born Child was, showed them Him, to whom they, falling with humility and reverence, worshiped, and presented their gifts - gold, frankincense and myrrh. Look at the majesty of the born Child: no one is born a king, but the wise men who came to Jerusalem asked about this Child: “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews” (Matthew 2:2)? And although they saw Him in wretched conditions and poverty, they honored Him as a great king with reverent worship and gifts worthy of royal honor. Let us also worship Him, following those pious men. Let us bow not to him who lies in swaddling clothes, but to the right hand of God, who reigns in the glory of the Father, and bring gifts: faith, humility, love and gratitude, which gifts He requires from us as our King and Lord. 4) Then, on the eighth day after His birth, He was circumcised according to the law of Moses. For the Jews were commanded by God to circumcise infants on the eighth day after birth. Fulfilling this law, Christ was circumcised on the eighth day, instead of which He established holy Baptism for us. Note, beloved, that the Lord and Creator of the Law, who is not subject to the law, fulfilled the law and the sinless Child underwent circumcision in order to redeem us from the legal oath. Let us also circumcise our hearts from unprofitable lusts and passions, so that we may thus fulfill the law of God. 5) At the same time, His name was called Jesus, which was given to Him by an Angel even before His birth. Jesus is a Hebrew name, and means Savior. Therefore, when naming the name, the Angel said: “For He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Look here: He was called by the name of Whose name is wonderful, “The Lord is His name” (Ps 67:5). For our sake, the philanthropic God was called this way and by his very name shows that He is our Savior, that He came into the world to save sinners. Sweet to us sinners, this name is Jesus. Let us write this name on our hearts, and we will always remember it with love, and with it, like a strong shield, we will take up arms against the enemies of our souls, and defend ourselves and drive them away from us. For all their dark hordes tremble at this name. They learned what Jesus means. O Jesus, hope and praise of Israel, help us and save us! May this name be blessed forever! 6) When forty days were fulfilled after birth, the saint was brought by His Mother to the Church of the Lord, also according to the law of the Lord, as it is written about in the Gospel. Here He was met and received into his arms, reverently and joyfully, by the holy and elderly man Simeon, to whom “it was predicted by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he saw Christ the Lord.” Having seen Him, he recognized that this is Christ the Lord, and taking him in his arms, he exclaimed to Him with joy: “Now you are letting Your servant go, O Master, in peace, according to Your word,” and so on (Luke 2:26, ​​29). Note here, beloved brother, what is the majesty and power of the Child. The God-inspired old man sees and holds the Baby in his arms, but asks Him, as his Lord, to let him go to another life, as the Church sings and says in the face of Christ: “It is not the old man who holds Me, but I who hold him. He asks me for absolution” (Stichera for the celebration of the Presentation of the Lord). For even if he saw the Child, he knew God and his Lord, who appeared in the flesh and became a child. Oh, blessed are those hands that have embraced and touched God incarnate! What joy there was in the old man’s heart then, when he held God, who holds everything, in his arms! Let us also, beloved, cleanse our hearts from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, in order to receive Christ of the Lord in them, for He wants to come and visit us and knocks on the door: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Rev 3:20). Oh, the goodness of Jesus, who walks around and seeks and wants to enter the houses of our hearts! How blessed is the heart that is worthy to receive this sweetest Guest! He will be worthy of such a supper and such blessings as “eye has not seen, nor ear has heard, nor entered into the heart of man” (1 Cor 2:9). Let us also, O beloved, give rest to this sweet and great Guest in our homes, so that He may give us peace in His eternal kingdom. Let us receive Him here, so that He may receive us there too. Let us try to accept this most precious pledge of eternal life now, so that with joy and good hope we may depart for the age when He will call us from this many-poor life. At the same time, let us remember that the holy apostle wrote: “He does not receive angels, but He receives Abraham’s seed” (Heb. 2:16). What does this mean? This means the ardent and inexpressible love of the Son of God for the human race: He so loved the human race that He deigned to accept into union not the angelic nature, which is higher than the human, but the human nature, thereby inexpressibly honoring our nature; became flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bones. That is why he is not ashamed to call us brethren, saying: “I will proclaim Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the church I will sing praises to You” (Heb. 2:12), and in other places. What greater honor can there be for people? The mind cannot comprehend both the love of the Son of God for people and their honor from it. Therefore he says: “To those who received Him” (Jesus), “he gave power to those who believed on His name to become children of God” (John 1:12). And truly, the more human nature was dishonored by the fall, the more it was honored and exalted by the incarnation of the Son of God. Glory to God, who has so favored us! 1) To know God’s love for us. 2) To love Him who loved us. 3) Thank Him for this from the heart. 4) Out of love and gratitude, render holy obedience to Him. 5) Love and honor your brothers and other people. 6) Masters learn how to treat their servants with their brethren and not be ashamed to call them their brethren. For if the Lord, the King of kings, is not ashamed to call us brothers, then how much more should people call people their brothers. Think about this and you will see how bad people do who abhor the vile (simple) brethren. For all people are of the same nature, noble and honorable - all people, one is no better than the other. Remember this, and the horn of pride and contempt will be broken. You ask: what followed after the birth of the Son of God? Answer. His Holy Gospel tells that King Herod wanted to kill Him, and therefore the Most Holy Mother of God and Saint Joseph, Her betrothed, fled with Christ to Egypt, at the notice of an angel, and lived there for some time, hiding from the murderer. 1) The world, lying in evil, does not love true piety and persecutes. Christ, the very piety and innocence, had just appeared in the world and, like a gentle baby, could not do evil to anyone, although he had never done evil, but he began to endure persecution, and from hail to hail, and from country to country. From this it follows that in whomever Christ, the truth, is conceived spiritually, persecution follows, just as truth follows a shadow. “And all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12), according to the apostolic word. Therefore, if persecution and hatred from the world befall you, do not be embarrassed about it. For for the world, true worship of God and piety is a stumbling block and a stone of temptation. The world hates what is disgusting to it and stings its eyes, therefore it rejects from itself and persecutes what is contrary to itself, but blessed are those persecuted by the world, because God accepts them. Take comfort in this when you suffer persecution from the world for your piety. 2) From here we learn not to boldly plunge into obvious adversity, but to evade the adversity. Christ could have saved his life in the place where he was (for all things are possible to Him as to God, although He was a child in the flesh), but he evaded the murderer, giving us an example of evading the evil that finds it. 3) We learn to endure those who offend us, not to resist them, but to yield to them and “give place to the wrath of God” (Rom. 12:19). For true piety and true Christian victory is to defeat those who do evil with meekness and gentleness, which our Savior taught us by His example. 4) We see that from the very shrouds our Savior began to bear the cross for our sake, for just as for our sake he was born into the world, so for our sake he endured persecution. Let us also follow Him, having taken up our cross, we will follow Him, so that after death we may be with Him in His kingdom. You ask, what prompted the lawless king to want to kill the Christ Child? Answer. We read in the Holy Gospel that he heard from the Magi that the Born Child is the King of the Jews, so he, as a power-hungry man, was afraid, so as not to lose the kingdom, planned to kill the newborn King and, not being able to find Him, set out to kill the innocent babies of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16), so that he could kill Christ among them. 1) That lawless people dare to commit any evil, only so as not to lose their whims. And especially the strong and powerful, but lawless, do terrible evil in society, because they are not afraid to dare to do any evil when they see some obstacle to their whims. 2) Lust for power is a great evil in man and the beginning of all evil. It is not afraid to touch kings, overthrow them from their thrones, or kill them. We see here that the lawless Herod was not afraid to kill so many thousands of innocent babies, just so as not to lose royal power. Oh, what a great evil - lust for power! A poor man wants to own others, but cannot own himself. Avoid this evil, so as not to destroy yourself and others. We must first learn to control ourselves and then accept power over others. Reason about this and beware of evil. Do you want to know what kind of persecution later befell the enduring Son of God? Answer. The Holy Gospel tells us that He, having lived a little in Egypt, returned with His holy Mother and Joseph to the land of Israel, at the notice of an Angel, and this return happened after the death of Herod, as the Angel of God said to Saint Joseph: “Those who sought the soul of the Child have died.” But when they came to the land of Israel, Joseph heard “that Archelaus reigned in Judea instead of Herod his father, and he was afraid to go there; but, having received a revelation in a dream, he went to the borders of Galilee and, having arrived, settled in a city called Nazareth, where the rest of the time he lived and where Christ was raised (Matthew 2:20-23; Luke 4:16), which is why it is called a Nazarene (Matthew 2:23). 1) A safe place for the education of the Son of God, wandering on earth, was barely found, and He, to whom the earth belongs and everything that fills it, running from country to country, began to live in the small and despised town of Nazareth. So true Christians, His servants, remain strangers and strangers in this world: “they do not” have “a permanent city here, but” are looking for “the future” (Heb. 13:14). Living on a foreign side, they fear everything, the world and the devil constantly persecute them and try to destroy or harm them, “because they are not of the world” (John 17:16), like Christ himself, their Leader. Let us also land with these wanderers, so that we can come with them to the heavenly fatherland. Let us write on our hearts that we are entering this world not for the sake of the world, but for the sake of the transition to that age, then truly we too will be strangers in this world. Then we will not seek here wealth, honor, or glory, we will not build rich houses, etc., knowing that we will leave all this in this direction, but we will “seek the city that is to come, whose artist and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10). 2) Herod was afraid of losing his kingdom and therefore was not afraid to commit such bloodshed, but he lost not only his kingdom, but also his life. So death puts an end to everything and makes everyone equal. 3) We see that people “are afraid where there is no fear,” but there they are not afraid where true fear is. They are afraid to lose honor, glory, wealth, that everything should be left to everyone, but they are not afraid to commit lawlessness and perish forever. This is the blinding of the human mind. 4) The execution of God befalls villains and murderers. They think to live long and be fierce with lawlessness, but unseen by them a ditch is being dug, and they accidentally fall into it. So Herod wanted to destroy Christ, and he destroyed so many babies, and wanted to reign for a long time, but he did not succeed: “those who sought the soul of the Child died.” So Absalom wanted to kill his father David, but accidentally hung between heaven and earth (2 Samuel 18:9). So Pharaoh, who oppressed Israel, but was convinced by God’s repeated punishment, was about to let him go, but again, repenting of his misfortune, he chased after him, wanting to enslave him and have him instead of a slave, but accidentally, where he hoped to find self-interest, there he found destruction for himself and his entire army, drowning like tin in the water. This is how the fate of God befalls self-willed and faulty lawless people. 5) Let us not be jealous of the “evil ones” and let us not envy “the workers of iniquity, for they, like grass, will soon wither, and like green grass, they will soon fall away,” according to the admonition of the Psalmist (Psalm 36:2). But we will hand over the persecution and bitterness that we suffer from them to God, who judges righteously, and with our “patience” we will “save our souls.” You ask me to write to you more about our Savior. Okay, and it's useful for me. I offer you this (reasoning). We read in the Gospel that when the Son of God “was twelve years old” and when “according to custom” His holy Mother came with Him and Joseph “to Jerusalem for the feast of Easter” and, “at the end of the days of the holiday,” was returning to her home, then on the way she noticed that Her beloved Son was not with them, and, having looked for Him “among relatives and friends and not finding Him,” she returned to Jerusalem to seek Him. Where was He found? Listen to what the evangelist says: “After three days they found Him in the church, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions; all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers” ​​(Luke 2:46–47). 1) Where was our Lord and Savior found by His holy Mother? Not in the market place, or in any other similar place, but in the church, where the law of God was interpreted. There she found Him, “sitting in the midst of the teachers, and listening to them, and asking them questions.” So now He is found in those hearts that “learn in the law of the Lord day and night.” In them He fulfills His teaching title; listens to them as they heartily pray to Him, and answers them in their hearts; enlightens them with His light, instructs them, makes them wise, reveals His secrets and leads them into surprise; awakens in them true and living faith, kindles love and teaches humility and meekness. And he moves away from those who conceive vanity, lies and lawlessness and learn from them. Reason about this and learn from the law of the Lord. “Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the destroyers; but his will is in the law of the Lord, and in His law shall he learn day and night” (Ps 1:1-2). 2) His wisdom, reason, and answers, unusual for adolescence, showed that He is the hypostatic Word of God, the Father’s wisdom and power, manifested in the flesh and living among people. “All who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.” 3) The Son of God, the hypostatic wisdom of God, did not disdain to listen to people - teachers of the law, especially since we, although we consider ourselves wise, should listen to everyone - both the despised, the simple, and the unlearned - when he says something useful; look not at the face, but at the word, and reason not about who is speaking, but about what is being said. For often a simple person who does not know the alphabet will speak better than a wise man. Think about it. 4) Christ the Son of God, the Youth, found in the church and sitting among the teachers, teaches us by His example that from youth we must learn the law of God and go to God’s church to pray and listen to God’s Word. Blessed is he who spends the summer of his youth in this. Just as a seed sown in fresh soil grows better than in another, so the seed of the Word of God vegetates better and more comfortably in a young heart than in an old heart intoxicated with worldly love. Since the young heart is still fresh and not filled with worldly vanities, it accepts the Word of God more conveniently than a heart defiled by worldly vanities. We conveniently pour everything into an empty vessel, but a filled vessel must first be emptied and then pour in what is needed. Therefore, first of all, teach your children the law of God and other Christian piety. Do not follow those parents who strive to teach their children foreign languages, eloquence and dancing, but abandon the law of God. Such parents do not have the slightest spark of Christianity and drag their children into the same ditch like blind people. They give birth to their children for a temporary life, but through their negligence and example they take away eternal life from them. Try to sow good seed in your young heart so that it will bear good fruit when you reach adulthood. From a good seed we expect good and fruit, just as from an evil evil fruit is born. What happened next? Where did the Son of God turn with the Holy Mother and Joseph? Answer. The holy evangelist narrates that “He went with them and came to Nazareth” (the city where he was raised); “and was in subjection to them” (Luke 2:51). 1) The King of kings and Lord of hosts, God in the flesh, was not only obedient to His Heavenly Father in everything, but also obeyed people. “And he was in obedience to them.” Who? Lord. From whom? Among the people, His servants. Why? To make amends for our disobedience and disobedience, which exposed us before God. For our sake, for your sake and for my sake, not only did our Lord come into the world, but he also obeyed people: “and he was in obedience to them.” From whom? With His Most Holy Mother and Joseph. You see the love for us, you also see the humility of the Son of God for our sake. We thank You for this and worship You, Lord! 2) Thus, by His humility, Christ teaches us humility, and therefore says: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). Let us humble ourselves for the sake of Him who humbled Himself so much for our sake. Let us bow our heads not only before God, but also before people. “Let us have this mind which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). 3) From here children learn to parents, slaves to masters, subordinates to authorities, people to shepherds, students to teachers, young people to obey and honor the old. If Christ, being God, obeyed people, that is, the Supreme to the lower, how much more should people obey the people and the lower to the higher. Let human pride and disobedience be put to shame before the Son of God, so humbled. He was great even then, but, hiding His majesty, he showed himself as a humble man, and the Lord of all turned in the form of a slave. Let us, beloved, imprint this living image of humility in our thoughts and try to imitate Him in that He Himself exalts us. “For everyone who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11). Now let's see how great the work for which our Lord Jesus Christ came to earth is. May He Himself help us, and may my mind be enlightened, and may my hand be guided to write, and may your heart be opened to accept what is written. Let us draw everything from His Gospel and other Holy Scriptures, as a living source, for our benefit and consolation. Before the Son of God was to appear to the world and preach the Gospel of the kingdom of God, Saint John was sent from God before Him, like the morning star before the rising sun, as God had previously announced through the prophet: “Behold, I send My angel before You, who will prepare Your way before You” (Mal 3:1; Matthew 11:10), - and this is the prophecy of the Son of God Himself to the Forerunner He attaches it to his own and attributes it to him. The Great Forerunner was born of aged and barren parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and was born according to the promise of God (Luke 1). Then the Truth Himself - Jesus the Son of God testified that he is “greater than a prophet” and that “from among those born of women there has not arisen a greater one than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:9, 11). And the Jews themselves revered him so highly for the sake of his holiness that they hoped and wondered in their hearts whether “he was not the Christ” (Luke 3:15). And he lived in the desert, like an Angel of God, removed from the presence and rumors of men, and he ate food and dressed in the simplest clothes, like a preacher of repentance, which he preached both in his word and in his life. This great man, just before the appearance of Christ, at the command of God, came out of the desert and came to the country of Jordan, and preached to the people who came to him, saying: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). “He who is mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire,” and so on (Luke 3:16). It was he who told people about Christ our Savior. And his other holy sermons in the Gospel are written. 1) How great is He about whom he told people: “He who comes after me.” He himself, like an Angel, was incorporeal, and highly revered by everyone, but he considered himself insignificant in comparison with Him, so that he recognized himself as unworthy to render the last servile service to Him, that is, to untie the thong of His shoes. For he knew that he himself was God’s creation, but he knew Him as the Creator, although he bore the image of a man. 2) His holy sermon was aimed at people purifying themselves with repentance and preparing to receive the Messiah, who had already appeared on earth and was so great that he was unworthy to serve Him: “He who is mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” When the king of the earth approaches a city where the citizens have been waiting for him for a long time, a messenger comes to that city ahead of him and says to the citizens: behold, the king is already coming to you, try to prepare to meet him and receive him with due honor. So, when the King of Heaven, Jesus Christ, preached by the prophets and expected in the world, appeared on earth and the time had come for Him to appear to the world so that they would know about Him, Saint John the Great, the seal of all the prophets, preceded Him as an auspicious messenger, and announced to the people waiting for Him: behold, the Messiah has already come, preached by the law and the prophets and expected by you, prepare to receive Him as you should. “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Matthew 3:3). 3) You see here that whoever wants to accept Christ into his heart must cleanse himself with true repentance; to recognize his sins from the law and to cleanse them with repentance, regret and contrition of the heart, or more precisely, to ask God for their cleansing, and then Christ the Son of God will come to him with His Gospel, and will give him the consolation not of this world, but such as the world cannot accept. 4) You see how the saints of God humble themselves before God: John the Great recognizes himself as unworthy of Christ God to untie the strap of His shoes. So Abraham the saint recognized himself as unworthy to talk with God and said: “Behold, I have decided to speak to the Master, I am dust and ashes” (Gen. 18:27). For they understand the majesty of God and their insignificance before Him. So Peter, from catching fish, of which they caught multitudes by the command of Christ, having learned how great Christ is, who by His command sent so many fish into their net, fell at the knees of Jesus, saying: “Depart from me, Lord! because I am a sinful person. For horror seized him and all who were with him because of this fishing of fish they had caught” (Luke 5:8-9). But the more unworthy they recognize themselves, the more God honors them, for He is good and merciful. Let us also repent, recognize ourselves as unworthy of anything, and Christ God, as a lover of mankind, will honor us with His mercy. For He turns His gaze to the humble and gives them His grace. Let us now listen, beloved, to what His angel, covered with flesh, testified about the King of Heaven. Saint John the Evangelist says: “The next day John sees Jesus coming to him and says: Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” and so on (John 1:29). 1) He calls him not the Judge who judges the world, although He is the Judge, but the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, that is, he testifies to people that He came into the world not to judge sinners for their sins, but to take away their sins, as the Son of God said about Himself: “God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17). According to this, His apostle wrote: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim 1:15). From here, sinners, let us draw consolation that the King of Heaven came to us on earth as a Lamb to take away our sins, and not as a Judge to judge us for our sins. We thank Him for His love for mankind. May we also follow Him, like a gentle Lamb, and may we be kind to our neighbors: let us be silent before those who blaspheme us and offend us, as lambs are silent before their shearers. Then He will take us on His shoulders, like a Shepherd, and bring us to His Father. 2) We see that He alone takes upon Himself the sins of the whole world, but takes the sins of those who truly repent, and cease adding sins to sins, and resort to Him with faith and ask for remission of sins - thereby He forgives sins. Let us also repent, stop collecting sins and burdening ourselves with them like debts, and let us approach this Lamb, so that He will take our burden and lighten us, so that, freed from the burden of sins, we can comfortably enter the heavenly fatherland by His grace. 3) We must remember another word of the Forerunner, which he said about Christ: “His fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather the wheat into His barn, and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Luke 3:17). And again: “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 3:10). In the first coming, Christ came as the Lamb to take away sins, but in the second he will come as the Judge, to judge the sins of those who have not repented. Then He will show His righteousness as a righteous Judge, and just as a shovel separates the wheat from the tares, so with His judgment He will separate the righteous from the sinners, and He will gather the righteous, like wheat into a barn, into the kingdom of heaven, and so on (Matthew 25:34), and the sinners, like unprofitable tares, He will burn with unquenchable fire, and so on (Matthew 25:41; 13:42). 4) So, let us capture and deepen in our memory, beloved brother, that Jesus now to sinners who turn to Him, and repent with a contrite thought, and ask Him for forgiveness, is like a gentle Lamb, taking away their sins, but then, that is, on the day of judgment, He will be like a Judge, rewarding everyone according to their deeds. Now, as the Lamb of God, He blots out the sins of those who repent with His Blood, but then He will also be like a Judge and an avenger for unrepentant sinners. If you ask for an explanation of the word, repent. I once wrote to you in my strength about this, but even now I briefly repeat the same thing. Do you know what people say when they find out they did or said something bad? After all, this is what they say when they recognize their mistake: oh, how badly I did this and that, or said this and that badly!.. You see that they regret the evil they have done, or the bad word they have said, and if they regret it, then in the future they will be careful not to do or say it. The same thing is noted in Christian repentance. Those who truly repent, having recognized a sin, regret that they committed it, and are guarded from it in the future, just as someone who has been injured by something or experienced some kind of harm is guarded from it in the future. For Christians who sin also receive a wound, but not on the body, but on the soul, and whoever truly recognizes this harm from sin is already wounded by sadness, and regrets that he received this wound, and henceforth is protected from the sin from which he was wounded in soul. And he also condemns and reproaches himself: in vain, they say, I did this and that. For sin, recognized in the conscience, creates fear, shame, sadness and illness in a person, which prevents him from sinning in the future. You see what repentance does. A person knows sin, and the knowledge of sin will follow: fear of God’s judgment, shame that he acted shamelessly before God and violated His holy law, sadness and illness that he angered the good God, Whom he should love and fear, with fearlessness. Thus, a person, having learned about sin, also learns about the ulcer in his soul, and having learned about the ulcer, he is wounded by sorrow for sin, and thus, by the ulcer of sadness, he is healed from the ulcer of sin. Beware of sin, like a serpent, so that it does not bite you. It is better to receive a wound on the body than on the soul. You ask: how is sin recognized? Answer: from the law and consideration of conscience. The law says: do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not slander, do not slander, do not be angry, and so on. But when a person hears or reads this, he looks into his conscience, and reasons, and considers whether he has done or is not doing what the law prohibits - and thus he recognizes sin. For conscience agrees with the law of God. What the law convicts, so does conscience, and when conscience does not convict a person of something, then the law does not convict him of that. So, put your conscience against the law, as you put your face against a mirror, and so reason about the law and examine your conscience. For example, the law says: do not offend your neighbor - you see what the law commands you. Looking at this prohibition, look into your conscience to see if you have done or are not doing what the law prohibits, and when you see it in your conscience, you will know that you have sinned against God’s law. Thus, from the law and consideration of conscience, you will recognize sin, and so will you understand about other sins. For conscience cannot lie; it testifies to what is in it. A broken law, heard or read by a sinner, strikes the conscience of the sinner, and the conscience, irritated by the transgression of the law, convicts the person of sin, and so the law and conscience bring the sinner into the knowledge of sin. In conscience, every sin is written down, as in a book, and even if a person wanted to hide the sin, he cannot hide it from conscience. Read the commandments of God, and look into your conscience, and you will see what you have sinned, and so you will come to the knowledge of sins. And from the knowledge of sins will follow repentance, and from there will follow the fear of judgment, for the law broken by the sinner proclaims the wrath of God. Shame will follow, so that he will be ashamed of himself for the fact that he, earth and ashes, did not listen to God, the King and the Lord. Sadness and heart disease will follow, because you did not honor your Creator and Benefactor, Whom you should honor most of all, through disobedience and self-will. All this will follow from reasoning about the law, ruined by sin, and from considering the conscience, irritated by sin. If, having sinned against the earthly king and having recognized the sin, we are afraid of his judgment, we are ashamed and sad that we have done such a bad thing and insulted his majesty, then all the more will it follow when we recognize our sin committed against the Heavenly King. For every king of the earth, although high and great in honor, is nevertheless like nothing before God, for he is the same person as we are. Every sin happens against God, for with every sin His holy law is violated - it happens either directly or indirectly. Directly, when we sin against Himself, that is, we either do not believe Him, or we do not honor His name, and so on. It is mediocre when we sin against our neighbor, either in word or in deed, for God forbade this too. So, you see from what sin is known. Let us recognize our sins. For this is the beginning of repentance. You demand an explanation: how is a sinful ulcer healed by the ulcer of sorrow for sin? Answer. God, in His goodness and love for mankind, promised to grant mercy and forgiveness of sins to those sinners who, having recognized their sins and acknowledged them, before God with humility truly repent, lament, and regret, and ask Him for forgiveness. A sinner who has turned and repented, taking this merciful promise of God into consideration and knowing that the merciful God does not show partiality and, just as he was and is merciful to all who repent and grants remission of sins to them, so He will do the same for him - he is consoled with such reasoning, out of sorrow for sin he accepts consolation, and, like someone thirsty for water, he cools off, and with such consolation and consolation the ulcer the sinful one that wounded his soul is healed, like a life-giving plaster applied to an ulcer on the body. From this you see that in true repentance the law and the Gospel converge. From the law, the sinner recognizes his sin as a spiritual ulcer, and because of this he is wounded by sadness. From the Gospel he receives consolation and consolation of his sorrow, like one who thirsts for refreshment from a living spring. For all God’s merciful promises are based on the Gospel, among which the promise of remission of sins occupies not the least place. From this you see how we need to know the law of God and His holy Gospel and learn from them, in order to know our sins from the law and repent of them with a contrite heart, and to draw living and real consolation from the Holy Gospel. Therefore, if you want to do true repentance, adhere to the law and read it; He teaches us what we should do and what we sin in, and exposes the vices on our faces like a mirror. When you lament your sins, turn to the Gospel like a thirsty person to cold water. The law will teach you what you should do as a Christian, and will convict you of where you have stumbled and are slipping, but the Gospel will not allow you to despair, and will hold back those who fall, and strengthen those who are weary. Thank God for everything! How did our Savior, the Son of God, appear to the world? Answer. The Holy Gospel tells us that when people came to the holy Forerunner to be baptized by him, Christ the Son of God also came to be baptized by him, and although the Baptist refused to baptize Him, knowing Him as their Lord and God, who appeared in the flesh, but obeying His command, as His Lord, baptized Him. Then the Holy Spirit appeared over the baptized Christ in bodily form, like a dove, and a voice was heard from heaven: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). 1) God the Trinitarian appeared to the world: the Son of God was baptized in the flesh, the Holy Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove, the Father testified from heaven with His voice. 2) We see that all three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are working on our salvation. The same God who created us in His image saves us, the fallen. 3) We see, beloved, how the merciful God cares about our salvation. The Son deigned to appear in the flesh by the favor of the Father and the assistance of the Holy Spirit: the Father testified about Him, and the Holy Spirit confirmed this. Glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who had mercy on us! Let us not be ignorant of this great grace of His, so that later it would be useless to repent. 4) The Heavenly Father, testifying from heaven about His Son, admonishes us to listen to Him in everything, whatever He teaches us, if we want to be saved, and therefore at Tabor, speaking the same words, he added: “Listen to Him” (Matthew 17:5). As if he were telling us this: “You perished because of your disobedience, I sent My Only Begotten Son to you who were lost to save you. Accept Him as you should, and obey Him in everything He teaches you, and then you will be saved.” Let us, brother, know the Messenger and Holy Hierarch of our confession, Jesus Christ, and let us obey Him, and the Father who spoke in Him, in order to be saved. 5) With such testimonies, the voice of the Heavenly Father, and the appearance of the Holy Spirit, and the preaching of the great prophet John, the Lord Jesus appeared to the world and went out to preach the holy Gospel. 6) Note here that Holy Baptism sanctifies us as sinners. But in Christ there was nothing to wash and sanctify, for He was sinless, however, with the touch of His holy flesh, He sanctified our Baptism. 7) Behold, beloved, the humility of our Lord Jesus. Many sinners went to John for baptism; He, “the only one who is holy” (Rev 15:4) and sinless, moreover, “Who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), - among them, as one of the sinners, went to the Baptist and asked for baptism; The Lord, Who sanctifies baptism, asked the servant, therefore John also forbade Him: “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me” (Matthew 3:14)? Look how our Lord humbled himself for our sake, how he did not disdain to mingle with sinners, to walk among sinners, to bow his head to His servant, to ask for Baptism from him, and to be baptized, and to wash himself with the water that he created, having no filth or vice. Glory to the Son of God who humbled himself for us! Let us also imitate such humility in order to ascend. Look, dear one, and notice how man sinned in paradise, was expelled from paradise - and paradise was concluded, and heaven was concluded. Look what sin does! But as the Son of God appeared on earth, the doors of heaven opened, and the voice of the Heavenly Father was heard by a man who was expelled from paradise, and people heard: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near.” From all this it is clear that the entrance to the kingdom of heaven has again opened for people. As God came to earth, people began to ascend to heaven, and now earthly inhabitants receive heavenly citizenship, and people live with the Angels. Glory to God, who has so favored us! Save yourself and rejoice in this. Have you seen what humility does? Saint John recognized himself as unworthy to untie the strap of Christ’s shoes: “I am not worthy to untie the strap of His shoes,” that is, he considered himself unworthy to even touch Christ’s shoes, but was worthy to lay his hand on His head. So Peter spoke to Christ: “Depart from me, Lord! for I am a sinful man" (Luke 5:8). But I heard from the Lord: “Do not be afraid; From now on you will catch men” (Luke 5:10). You see where humility leads. The more a person humbles himself, the more God exalts him, “for he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11), according to the word of the Lord. You ask: at what age was the Son of God baptized? Answer. The holy evangelist says: “When Jesus began His ministry, he was about thirty years old” (Luke 3:23). You see that He was then about thirty years old. Having mentioned the years and age of our Savior, we will marvel at the goodness of God. 1) He grew and matured over the years, He, in whose eyes “a thousand years are as yesterday” (Ps 89:5), the Creator of times and ages, unchangeable, eternal, beginningless and endless. In the most holy womb of the unartificial Virgin he was conceived and carried, born and was a child; then he was a youth, then a young man; further, he also “came to a perfect man, to the measure of full stature” (Eph 4:13), like all people, for, being God, he wanted to become like us for our sake in everything except sin. Let us commemorate, beloved, this great deed in our memory, so as not to be among those about whom the Psalmist complains: “And they forgot His good deeds, and His wonders, which He showed them” (Psalm 102:2). There is no greater blessing and miracle than the incarnation of the Son of God. This blessing and miracle of God surpasses all His ancient miracles and blessings. This blessing and miracle is incomprehensible to our minds. The God-speaking Paul exclaims about this: “Great is the mystery of godliness: God was revealed in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16). If you want to see a miracle every day, think about the incarnation and life of Christ every day and you will have something to marvel at. 2) Both conception, Christmas, and maturation over the years and different ages are attributed to the Lord according to humanity, and not according to Divinity. For the Divinity cannot begin as well as be born and grow, since it is beginningless, unchangeable and eternal, and is not subject to any change, always abiding equally in its perfection and eternity. 3) Jesus Christ our Lord, being the hypostatic wisdom of the Father, did not go out on His great work until the perfect years of human age, but appeared to the world when he was about thirty years old, then he went out to preach His Gospel. From here we, blind and foolish, learn not to go into public rank, and especially into pastoral work, but to wait for the perfect age of thirty. For at this age both reason and human character, constant and fickle, good and evil, useful or harmful to society, are learned. You ask: what happened after the Baptism of the Lord? Answer. We read in the Gospel that He was immediately led by the Spirit into the desert and there he was tempted by Satan. “Immediately after this the Spirit led Him into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan" (Mark 1:12-13). Note here, beloved: 1) For our sake, the Son of God, Our Lord, who came into the world, did everything for us. He allowed the evil and evil spirit to approach and tempt Himself. First, “the devil said to Him: If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread,” then “he led Him to Jerusalem, and placed Him on the wing of the church, and said to Him: If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here,” and not only did he say that, but also, “taking Him up on a high mountain” and showing Him “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory,” he said to Him: “I will give all this to You if you fall and worship me.” (Matthew 4:9). You see the shamelessness and anger of the nosy spirit. He approached the One about whom the Father testified from heaven: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17), and dared to approach Him with his wiles. You also see the humility of the Lord: with one wave he could have driven him away, but nevertheless he allowed him. Our Lord humbled Himself for our sake. Think about it. 2) Our Lord was tempted by Satan after Baptism. From this we see that everyone reborn by water and the Spirit must be tempted by the devil. If the head, Christ the Lord, was tempted, how can He leave His members, the Christians, without temptation? 3) You see that the one who is tempted and struggles with the devil is in the mercy and grace of God. A robber does not attack a naked man. Likewise, this enemy does not touch the one whom he sees as poor, but attacks the one whom he sees in spiritual well-being, and envies Him. So he attacked Adam in paradise, seeing Him in prosperity; attacked Job and wanted to expose him. 4) In the desert and in solitude, those who live both have greater zeal for piety and greater temptation from the tempter, and the more someone tries to please God, the more temptations the tempter inflicts on him. Church history assures us enough of this, and those who struggle against this enemy and care about their salvation will learn for themselves. 5) Temptation from the devil, with God's permission, happens for a good purpose. First. So that a tempted person can humble himself in this way. Second. So that we may know our faith. Temptation is like fire, which shows gold, silver and copper and distinguishes it from other metals. In temptation it is shown who is gold, who is silver, and who is tin, who is hay and wood. Gold and silver remain intact in the fire and become purer. Iron deposits rust and remains intact. The tin soon melts, and the hay and firewood are completely burned. Thus, in temptation, it is known who has truly abandoned Satan and his evil deeds and cleaves to God, who truly works for God and who is hypocritical. True and faithful servants of God and hypocrites are known by temptation. Temptation clearly creates everything. Third. So that we know love, whom we love more, whether ourselves and the world, or God, whom we please, whether ourselves and the world, or God, whose will we respect more, our own or God’s, and so on. All this opens up temptation. Fourth. So that we know our enemies and learn to fight against them. For battle trains a warrior for heroism and makes him stronger, but without battle a warrior weakens and deteriorates. Fifth. So that we would know our weakness, our danger, and, having known it, would run to God in prayer. Just as a small child runs to its mother and seeks her protection when it sees its misfortune, so a faithful soul stretches out its hands to God in its misfortune. Sixth. So that the tempter is put to shame, and the one who has endured the temptation receives the crown from the Hero: “Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for, having been tested, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12). The tempter does not know what will follow his temptation: he tempts for evil, but when his temptation turns to the one who endures it for good, the tempter is put to shame and, as it were, wounded by his own arrow. 6) We see that he inflicts various temptations on us: when he fails to tempt us with one, he tries to inflict another, a third, and more. 7) We also see that although it retreats from us for a while, we must always expect it. Because of him, we must always be careful. Think about this and take care, and remember me, the unworthy. How did the temptation end? Answer. The tempter did not succeed in anything he wanted: just as he came, he left with nothing, moreover, with shame. He knew the invincible Jesus, but whether he was the Son of God, which he wanted to know when he said: “If you are the Son of God,” he did not know. He tempted the first Adam in paradise - and overthrew him and captured him, but he approached the second - and did not succeed, and turned out to be weak. Glory to the Winner! For us he defeated our enemy, whom we could not defeat, and taught us how to defeat him, defeated by Him. Just as a skilled commander trains warriors for battle, so our King and our Leader Jesus taught us to struggle against our enemy - the prince of darkness, and to defeat him, already defeated by Him. He gave us His weapons and strength. He encourages us with His strength, “and trains our hands to fight, and our fingers to fight” (Ps 143:1), saying: “Take courage: I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He gave us “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Eph 6:17). We see that He repelled our enemy with the Word of God and, as with a spiritual sword, stopped his machinations, saying: “it is written, it is said.” So we must gird ourselves with the same weapon and stand against our enemy, strive and defeat him. How many times does he attack us and shoot his arrows at us, so many times will we repel them with the spiritual sword of the Word of God. If he tries to lead us to the love of this world, then we will answer him: “It is said in the Scripture: “Do not love the world,” and so on (1 John 2:15). If he incites us to steal, then we will reflect him with the word: “It is said in the Scripture: “Do not steal,” and so on. But at the same time, we will always call on the omnipotent Lord Jesus for help, and He will defeat our enemy through us. For without Him there will be no victory in such a difficult battle. “This is the victory that has conquered the world, our faith. Who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God" (1 John 5:4-5)? About this Victor we will dare. “Greater is he who is in” us “than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). “Thanks be to God, who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 15:57)! What awaited Christ after He endured temptation and defeated the evil spirit? Answer. The holy evangelist says: “Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and served Him” (Matthew 4:11). And Saint Luke says: “And when the whole temptation was finished, the devil departed from Him for the time being” (Luke 4:13). Christ the Lord arranged everything for our benefit, and set Himself as an example to us. Note here: 1) When He endured temptation from the devil and repelled his machinations, the holy angels looked at this, and the Heavenly Father also looked, and when he defeated the enemy, the angels came and served Him. This happens with His faithful servants. During their feat, holy angels are present, “and they encamp around them” (Ps 33:8), and they look at their feat and help them, and the hero Jesus also looks on. And when they successfully complete their feat, they rejoice over them, and by the command of God they accept souls and transfer them to eternal life. So Lazarus, after completing the feat of enduring poverty and illness, was transferred by Angels to Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22). 2) After the one who loves Christ endures temptations and sorrows out of love for Him, there is consolation for the sad. For the hero Jesus does not leave His people without consolation, with which they, like those thirsty for water, cool off and receive new strength for achievement. 3) You see that Satan departed from Jesus before the time. He did not succeed in anything then, so later he attacked Him through his servants, the scribes and Pharisees and other Jewish princes. This is what he does with the servants of Christ. When he fails to overthrow them through evil thoughts and other misfortunes, he sends evil people against them, and through them he persecutes, embitters and torments them. 4) From here you see how narrow the Christian path is in this age. They will face unceasing battle, sorrow and sadness. Christians in this world are not called to a feast and joy, but to an everlasting feat. There will be supper and rest for them, but in the next century. After Baptism and temptation, our Savior came out to preach the word of God: “Jesus began to preach and say: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). The Lord made the same beginning of His preaching as His Forerunner: both He and John the Baptist said from the very beginning: “Repent.” You see how the word of the prophet agrees with the word of his Lord, you see how we need repentance. At the beginning it is offered to us as a door through which we come to Christ and believe in Him. We must first change our disposition, change our inner state and correct our lives, and thus take comfort in His holy Gospel, by which the kingdom of heaven is proclaimed to us. Both the holy Forerunner and our Lord preach to us that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, but at the beginning both put repentance, saying: “Repent.” For true repentance prepares the heart to receive the Gospel, or glad tidings. For the word “Gospel” means glad tidings that proclaim remission of sins, grace, eternal life and the approach of the kingdom of heaven, which was inaccessible to people because of sin. No one can receive these blessings without true repentance. You must first change and crush your heart with sorrow for sins, and then there will be a place in it for the consolation of the Gospel. For the Gospel also, by the meaning of its name, means consolation. How will they be comforted by a heart that is not crushed by sorrow? For consolation is joyful news for someone who is sad, but consolation is unnecessary for someone who is joyful. So, let us repent, so that the consolation of the Gospel may take place in us. Let us change ourselves for good, so that we may partake of the good things proclaimed to us. Let us break our hearts for our sins, so that we may receive the Gospel as a life-giving plaster. The law and the knowledge of sin crushes the heart with sadness, like a hammer, but it is healed by the consolation that flows from the Gospel. Let us recognize our sins from the law, and our heart will be contrite, and the Gospel, the gospel of peace, the gospel of good things, will draw near to the contrite heart. You ask: is the approaching kingdom of heaven being announced to everyone? Answer: certainly everyone. But you saw that in the beginning repentance, as a prelude to that, is offered to everyone. For just as one who wants to enter the chamber must first enter the vestibule, so one who wants to enter the kingdom of heaven must do repentance, change his heart, his thoughts, and crush his heart for the sins he has committed, and so, by the grace of Christ, enter the kingdom of heaven. The Greek word “metanoia” (translated: repentance), in the meaning of its very name, means a change of thoughts and heart. We repent of having sinned (and therefore turn away from evil), as I wrote to you before. So, the approaching kingdom of heaven is announced to everyone, but at the beginning, repentance is offered to everyone and it is said: “Repent.” Nothing filthy will enter the kingdom of heaven, so we must first cleanse ourselves of filth and whiten our garments in the Blood of the Lamb of God, slain for the salvation of the whole world, and thus enter the kingdom of wickedness. No one is allowed to enter the king of the earth’s chamber in rags; Moreover, only those who have taken off their rags, that is, the filth of sin, are allowed to enter the house of the Heavenly and Holy King, and have washed themselves in the Blood of the Son of God, and have put on the robe of His righteousness. Therefore, Christians are told: “Put on our Lord Jesus Christ, and do not turn the cares of the flesh into lusts” (Rom. 13:14). Anyone who wants to enter the kingdom of heaven must have a sign in his soul that he is Christ’s. Without this, no one can enter that place. I know that you will ask me: what is the sign in the soul of that person who is Christ’s? In response, I present to you the apostolic teaching. He clearly announces to us the sign of true Christians: “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts” (Gal 5:24). And in another place he says: “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Rom. 8:9). Here is the sign of the man of Christ, which is given in the first statement, and in the second you see the sign of one who is not Christ. Think about these two signs and tempt yourself, whether you are crucifying your flesh with passions and lusts, or whether you are following the desires of your flesh; Do you have the spirit of Christ, or the spirit of this world, philosophizing about earthly things? Do you want me to continue writing about our Savior? Okay, this reasoning is useful for me too, so I present it to you from the Holy Gospel for your benefit. Listen and take heed. As soon as our Lord Jesus came out to preach His holy Gospel, which He brought from His Heavenly Father, and began to preach it, we see that: 1) He gathered twelve disciples from the lowest class, simple and illiterate people, whom he called apostles. 2) He gathered not by need, did not force any of them to follow Him, did not command them, although he could, like the Lord, but called them, saying to each of them: “Follow Me,” and they followed Him willingly, and followed Him with both their feet and their hearts. He now calls us to follow Him and follow Him with faith, humility, love and patience. Let us follow our Lord, who for our sake appeared on earth and walked on earth. Let us leave everything worldly to the world, and follow Him, and be Christians both in word and in deed, that is, His disciples. For a Christian is a disciple of Christ. 3) With these His holy disciples, from place to place, from city to city, and from village to village, he moved, worked, preached the Gospel of the kingdom, sowed the saving seed of the Word of God, planted faith in the hearts of men and performed glorious miracles: he cleansed lepers, enlightened the blind, raised the dead, and did other wonderful things, as we see in His holy Gospel. Thus he destroyed the kingdom of Satan and, from his dark power, delighted His people, whom he had taken possession of through his cunning. Blessed are those who saw how God, hidden under the flesh, walked the earth, and moved from place to place, and worked for our poor souls. The angels looked at this from heaven, and were amazed at it, and glorified His goodness. Let us, beloved, always look with the eyes of our souls at the time in which God walked with His feet on the earth and the Almighty labored for us, sinners. Oh, how blessed is that time in which the Sun of righteousness turned on earth and spread His rays to those sitting in darkness! “The people sitting in darkness have seen a great light, and to those sitting in the land and shadow of death a light has dawned” (Matthew 4:16). How blessed are the eyes that have seen this Light, who have seen the King of Heaven walking on earth, and the ears that have heard the words from the mouth of God! The human body showed man, but words and deeds showed God hidden in the flesh. “Never did a man speak like this man” like Jesus (John 7:46). “Never had such a thing happened in Israel” (Matthew 9:33), since never before that time had there been a King of Heaven on earth. We do not see Him on earth, but we see His holy Gospel and in it His holy life and His divine morals. We see His holy image, and let us try, beloved, to see Him in heaven, sitting at the right hand of His Father. Let us imprint, brother, in our memory that the Heavenly King was pleased to live on earth and work for us, so that the life of Jesus would never leave our memory, then we too will follow Him, not with our feet, but with our hearts. 4) The people, seeing His glorious miracles and hearing His heavenly and sweet teaching, were greatly amazed and followed Him in great crowds, some to receive healing from Him, others wanting to listen to His holy teaching. The sheep knew their Shepherd, for, although they thought of Him as a man, they saw from His deeds and words that He was Above man. Although He hid His majesty under humble flesh, He revealed the Divinity through deeds and teaching, just as the sun, although hidden, shows itself through its rays. That is why he said to the unbelieving Jews: “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; and if I do, then if you do not believe Me, believe My works, so that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me and I in Him” (John 10:37-38). Let us, beloved, recognize our Shepherd, who has visited us, and let us obey His holy voice, so that we too may become His sheep, that is, humble and meek, since this is the characteristic of His sheep, so that He may recognize us as His sheep, and be our Shepherd, and give us eternal life, as He says: “My sheep obey My voice, and I know them; and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:27–28). Do you see what signs of Christ’s sheep: “they obey His voice and follow” Him. Let us also obey His voice and follow Him to become His sheep. 5) The holy apostles, as His persistent followers, saw all His divine deeds, His holy life and immaculate morals, and heard all His heavenly teaching, and thus became eyewitnesses and His witnesses, and later testified about Him throughout the entire universe, according to His word: “And you will be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). “And they went and preached everywhere, with the Lord’s assistance and the word being strengthened by signs that followed. Amen" (Mark 16:20). Thank God that the testimony of those eyewitnesses reached us, the unworthy. Let us believe, beloved, the testimony of those eyewitnesses who themselves saw, heard and touched God in the flesh, and what they saw and heard they preached to us, so that we too might have fellowship with them (1 John 1:3). God testified from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). His holy messengers testified to the same thing. Let us open the ears of our souls, and accept the testimony into our hearts, and deepen it, and always learn from this that God for the sake of us, His wretched creation, and the King of Heaven for the sake of His indecent servants, appeared on earth, and lived, and labored to bring us to heaven. It would be a great and amazing thing if the king of the earth came to free him for the sake of his captive servant. What an incomparably greater thing is that God Himself entered the embassy for the sake of me and you, His wretched and worthless servants, and came to us in this world to deliver us. Oh, a wondrous miracle, at which even the Angels are worthily surprised! May this miracle always appear before the eyes of our souls, and then we will be truly renewed, and we will obey His Divine words from the heart, and we will be “a new creation in Christ” (2 Cor 5:17). You ask: how to deepen the great vision of Christ’s mystery in the heart? Answer. What we often think and learn about becomes deeply rooted in our memory and heart. Think often about this great and wondrous thing, and pray, and it will take root in your heart. You see His image in church and at home: think that this is the image of the Son of God, and the Heavenly King, and your God, who for your sake appeared on earth, and lived, and worked. You see the image of the Mother of God: remember here that this is the image of that Most Holy Virgin, who gave birth to your Lord in her flesh, and carried her in her arms, and nourished her with her mother’s milk. You see the images of the apostles: think here that this is an image of eyewitnesses and God-seers, who with their own eyes saw God appearing, and heard the words of life from His lips, and looked at the miracles He performed, and treated Him and lived with Him, and walked from place to place, and then preached Him to us. You see the image of the Baptist: think here that this is the likeness of that great prophet who was worthy to baptize your Lord in the waters of the Jordan and pointed to Him with his hand: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Thus, when we often reflect on Him and His actions, the memory of Him will deepen in our hearts, which will bring great benefit to our souls. What do the words of Christ the Lord mean: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has not where to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20)? 1) Christ our Lord with these words represents to us His extreme poverty, for he was so poor that he did not even have his own house where he could lay his head. “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests,” but He did not have His own house. 2) Look how for our sake He, to whom the whole earth belongs and everything that fills it, became poor - he did not even have a place to lay his head. Oh, miracle! He, in whose hand are all the ends of the earth, and heaven is the throne, and the earth is the footstool, became so poor that he had no place to lay his head. This poverty is presented to us by His apostle: “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that through His poverty you might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9). With His poverty, our merciful Jesus enriches us, the poor. 3) We all want to be rich in this world, to live in rich houses and to live in glory, not thinking that we are strangers and strangers here, like our fathers, and will leave everything in this foreign land, but our Lord, although he could have everything, as the Lord of all, nevertheless renounced everything. For our sake He became poor, but we want to become rich, and we do not want to imitate His willful holy poverty, even for our own sake. And thereby we show that we are far from His path. What does His poverty teach us, is it not to despise all the wealth and glory of this world? – What He taught in words: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19). For what is our life if not a journey and a journey? And our fatherland is not here, but in the next century. There is an inheritance, and riches, and glory prepared for us from Him. Let us, beloved, leave earthly things to the earth and worldly things to the world, and let us follow our Lord, imitating His poverty, so that He may enrich us with heavenly and incorruptible blessings. You ask me to remind you in letters about death and about what is usually remembered in connection with death: the judgment of Christ, the kingdom of heaven and eternal torment. Good, and this is useful for me, so I will certainly remind you of this. For there is nothing more useful for us than to always remember this. This takes us away from sin, it teaches us to diligently repent, moves us to fervent prayer, takes us away from the vanity of this world, quenches the love for the honor, glory and wealth of this world, exhorts us to handle ourselves carefully in this world, shows us that we are strangers and strangers in this world, and separates us from time and the temporary, and ties us to eternity, towards which we are all moving. Think about this, which I will remind you of, so that it deepens in your heart. For the coming into the world of Christ our Lord for the sake of eternity was in order to deliver us from an ill-fated eternity, and to give us a blessed one. You ask: how are we enriched by the poverty of Christ? Answer. We were created by our Creator in His image and likeness, and created for eternal blessings, but Satan, by his wickedness, deprived us of all this and made us poor; and although many abound in the visible wealth of this world, yet all are poor before God, like sinners. For sin creates true spiritual poverty. The evil enemy plunged our forefather Adam into such poverty, and with him his descendants, us. A rich man who has a lot of gold, silver, and other perishable wealth, but lives in sins, is certainly a beggar, for he has no hope for heavenly blessings. You see the poverty in which all of us, the poor, find ourselves. Christ our Lord came to us and, being rich, became poor in order to enrich us; he wandered on earth in order to return to us the heavenly fatherland; He took on the image of a servant, being Lord, in order to restore the image of God in us; I had no place to lay my head in order to open to us the house of His Heavenly Father; I was a beggar on earth in order to reveal to us the treasures of heaven; He took our sins upon Himself in order to give us His righteousness. So He takes away our poverty from us and gives us His wealth. Let us try, beloved, to find the wealth He gives us; let us stop looking for earthly things and look for heavenly wealth. Everything earthly remains on earth and soon departs from us, but the heavenly remains with us forever and ever. Death deprives us of earthly things, but sends us to eternal treasure. At death, a sin-loving rich man becomes forever poor, but a God-loving rich man, although poor, becomes forever rich in the grace of God (1 Cor 1:5). For those who love God are destined for eternal blessings. So, remember death, which deprives us of everything earthly and makes a person either eternally poor or eternally rich, and you will not want to get rich on earth. Death follows us invisibly, and the more we live, the closer it comes to us. The Lord said: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28) - what does this mean? 1) The Son of God here calls Himself the Son of man both out of love for the human race and out of humility. Just as he was pleased to be like us out of love, so he was pleased to be called like us. And as we read in His Gospel, He called Himself the Son of man rather than the Son of God. Look at the humility and love of the Son of God for us! Glory to Him who loved us and humbled Himself for our sake. 2) We see here that He, both in human and slave form, did not refuse to serve people, and said to His disciples: “I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:27). That is why I was not ashamed to wash their feet (John 13:5). Notice, beloved, how our Lord humbled himself for our salvation. The great John, Whom the angels serve with fear and servility, considered himself unworthy to untie the strap of his shoes, to serve people, His servants, and to wash their feet. Oh, miracle! O mirror of humility! The Heavenly Father looked at this from heaven and was pleased about it. The Angels looked at Him and were amazed at this. We now see by faith and worship His humility. 3) With such humility, our Lord teaches us humility and says: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). And again: “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say it correctly, for I am exactly that. So, if I, the Lord and Teacher, washed your feet, then you should wash each other’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do the same as I have done to you” (John 13:12–15). Let us look at this living image of humility and follow Him. Let's look into this mirror and cleanse ourselves of our pride. Let us not be ashamed to serve and submit to the same people, the same slaves, the same sinners as ourselves, seeing how the Lord was not ashamed to serve His servants. Let us imprint, beloved, this image on our hearts in order to drive out demonic pride from them. There is nothing higher than humility, and there is nothing baser than pride. Humility exalts, but pride humbles. People are exalted by humility, but they are humbled by pride. Through humility, sinners are made righteous, and through pride, righteous people are made sinners. Humility is both favorable to God and kind to people. Let us learn humility, so that God will look upon us and justify us. Oh Jesus! Give us humility. 4) Remember, brother, that He who humbled himself so much for the sake of man will come again, but not in humility, not in the form of a slave, but in the glory of the Father, and not to serve people, but to judge people. That day is near, and is already closer today than it was yesterday, and as it approaches, it will appear unexpectedly. Let us prepare ourselves, so that that day does not come upon us unprepared. Since it is important to know that for us the humility of Jesus is a mirror, looking into which we must humble ourselves, I repeat this to you. If you happened to see the king of the earth, bowing down, washing the feet of his servants, you would certainly be surprised. And it’s impossible not to be surprised by this. And that deed would be glorified throughout the world, for washing feet is a servile service, and the last of servile ones. Therefore, it would be marvelous if the king, despite the majesty of his rank, performed such a service. But the king of the earth, although great in his rank, is nevertheless a man, the same as his servants. Imagine now the time in which the King of Heaven showed on Himself the image of this humility and service, and that upper room in which the King of kings and Lord of lords “rose from supper, took off His outer garment, and, taking a towel, girded himself, then poured water into the laver” and, kneeling down, “began to wash the disciples’ feet and wipe them with the towel with which he was girded” (John 13:4–5). Oh, what a wonderful sight! Marvelous for Angels and people! He did not look at His Majesty, but he performed a servile and most humiliating service: he “rose from” the meal, “took off his outer clothing and, taking a towel, girded himself,” and “poured water into the laver” and bowed down, kneeling, and began to wash the feet of his servants with His hands, and wiped them. Peter, thinking that this was the last thing, and ashamed of the honor of the Face of his Teacher and Lord, Who did not disdain such slavish deeds, came into great surprise and some indignation, and therefore he did not utter what words and what excuses he did not make, no matter how hard he tried so that his Lord and Teacher would not wash his feet! "God! Should you wash my feet? You will never wash my feet." But what would have happened if I had then seen that majesty, that highness and that glory that was hidden inside the Washing One? At Tabor, seeing a particle of the glory of Jesus, the apostles fell on their faces and were greatly afraid (Matthew 17:6). When washing their feet, would they not be horrified and go into a frenzy of mind? We see Him, Whom we saw so humbled on earth, by faith exalted into heaven, and Him Who washed the apostles’ feet and ministered to them, with joy we see sitting at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father and reigning over all creation, visible and invisible. And in us, beloved, “let us have this mind which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). Let us also follow Jesus and follow the low path of humility in order to come to Him and see Him face to face, reigning in His glory, and be with Him forever. The path of humility is low, but heaven leads to the high fatherland. Why does the Lord say to the leper whom he healed: “See that you do not tell anyone” (Matthew 8:4) - what does this mean? 1) And here the humility of Jesus is presented to us. He healed the weak with His power, but avoided human glory, as he says: “I do not receive glory from men” (John 5:41). He, to whom alone glory is due, avoided glory, did good deeds, but forbade praising Himself. For he did not come to earth to boast and be glorified, but to humble himself and save us. He gave all glory to His Heavenly Father, although He Himself was and is His Only Begotten and Consubstantial Son, but was then hidden under humble flesh. He wanted to be glorified not by human tongues, but by the Cross. He sought one thing, so that people would believe in Him as the coming Messiah and thus be saved. He had a desire and effort so that through Him His Heavenly Father would be known and glorified by people. May glory be to Him for this with the Father and His Holy Spirit and from us sinners. 2) Thus he taught us to do good, but not to seek glory from people, but to give all the glory to God. Although we have someone else’s goods, and give someone else’s goods to our neighbors (for man has nothing of his own except weakness and sins), we nevertheless want to boast and be glorified among people, as if for our own good. This is our weakness and blindness. So Satan takes taxes for himself from our good deeds and plunges us into vanity, so that we seek our own glory, and not God’s, and so do not render to God that which is befitting and fitting for Him alone. This is a disgusting sin, a spiritual, heartfelt departure from God. Therefore, Christ our Lord, by His example, teaches us not to love the glory of this world and avoid vanity, but to attribute all good things to the one God and from Him to seek glory in heaven. Let us try to do good deeds, but for the glory of God, and not ours, so that we may receive true glory where there is eternal glory. Let us sow here, so that there, and not here, we may reap the fruits of our labors. You ask: why is the fact that a person seeks glory from good deeds a spiritual departure from God? 1) God does not look at external affairs, but at the human heart, with what heart and for what purpose things are done, and so He judges according to that. 2) God is the beginning and source of all good, and therefore glory and praise for good are due to Him alone. When a person desires and seeks glory and praise for himself for good, he places himself, like an idol, in the place where God should be, and wants to be praised and glorified like an idol, instead of God. Therefore, he retreats from God with his heart and idolizes himself, although he does not notice it. For what can a man boast about, who has nothing but sins and weaknesses? Is it sins? But what kind of praise is this?! This is not praise, but reproach. You see what satanic poison is hidden in vanity. Vanity turns everything that a person does into pure abomination and desolation, just as the sea turns all the rivers flowing into it into pure salinity. This is spiritual filth, which makes us vile before God. And this vice is so hidden, how disgusting it is. We can conveniently guard ourselves from sensual idols and other sins, since we see them, but from this idol, which nests in our hearts, man guards himself with great inconvenience. So it is hidden in the human heart. Let us try to examine ourselves in our good deeds, so that they are not worthless before God, and we do not appear indecent with them. Let everything we do be for the glory of God and the benefit of our neighbor. A good deed is recognized from the goal, and not from the deed itself. If the goal of a good deed is good, then the deed is good, but if the goal is evil, then the deed is discredited, even if it seemed good. But first the heart must be corrected, so that it thinks about the glory of God, and not about its own, and about the benefit of its neighbor; and then from the right heart, like from a good tree, good fruits and good deeds will come. Jesus, the mirror of all virtues and the Helper of all who sigh to Him, help us. You ask: how can a person correct his heart? Answer. If we want to have our face in good condition, we look in the mirror to see if it is in good order, and there, seeing something worthy of reproach on our face, we wipe it off or wash it. So, when we want to correct our heart, so that what is right is done and what is right is intended, then we must often look into the pure mirror of the life of Christ, and looking into it, see the wrongness of our heart and correct it. A right heart is one that gives its due to everyone: obedience, honor, and glory to its God and Lord; He seeks and does good for his neighbor as for himself. May the mirror of Christ’s life always appear before our spiritual eyes: how He behaved while living on earth, and what morals He showed, and most of all His humility, which is as deep as His majesty is high. This will not allow us to be proud and seek glory and praise from people. Do you want to know what are the signs of humility? Answer. I will show you some signs of it, according to my strength, but test your heart, since humility, like any virtue, must be in the heart. The property of humility is that a person considers himself unworthy of everything: food, clothing, sunlight, rich peace, service from people and other good deeds, knowing that he is a sinner; on the contrary, he judges himself to be worthy of every calamity, reproach and punishment. This is a sign of true humility that exists in the heart. Why? Because such a person sees that with his sins he angered His benefactor, God, Whom he should have feared, loved and revered; and thinking about this, he sees his unworthiness in everything and considers himself worthy of all punishment. Humility is similar to that experienced by a person who has dishonored and angered a person - his benefactor, but having realized his sin and rudeness towards him, judges himself to be unworthy of his benefit, and although he still receives benefit from him, however, remembering his sin, which he sinned against him, recognizes himself as unworthy of his benefit. Thus, every soul, remembering its sins before God, considers itself unworthy of His benefits, but does not despair of the mercy of His good and merciful Father, believing undoubtedly His merciful promise. And from here you see what power the memory of sins and reasoning about one’s unworthiness has to curb pride and encourage humility. And truly, what does a person, being a sinner, deserve in himself, but execution? Everything that a person receives from God, food, clothing, and other benefits, is free, not according to his dignity, but by His grace alone. Therefore, a person must endure when God does not give Him His blessings, since God will not offend Him. Does God give us blessings - He gives His own, freely; if he takes away blessings from us, he takes away his own, and takes away righteously, and for our benefit, so that we may know His blessings and the Benefactor from His blessings. For then we recognize blessings when we are deprived of blessings: how great a goodness bread is, we see during hunger, how good health is, we see during illness. When trouble comes, it opens our eyes, and then we know the price of well-being. And from here we see how great a light the cross and endurance of troubles, misfortunes and temptations bring to our souls. This truth is recognized by those who have experienced it themselves. You see, beloved, the quality of humility: it judges itself to be unworthy of everything. If you recognize such unworthiness in yourself, then you will not want to seek fame, honor, wealth and praise in the world, you will not want to have rich houses, carriages, horses, arrange rich meals, and dress in rich clothes, have many servants, and so on. A person recognizes himself as unworthy of little, but how much does he recognize as worthy? Worldly pride teaches people all this kind of decoration, and those who must admit themselves worthily as unworthy of even a piece of bread are looking for how to become famous in the world. And if they recognize themselves as worthy of everything, then they are truly unworthy of nothing, and if now they do not recognize and do not admit their unworthiness, then they will know when they have lost both life and all temporal blessings and will taste eternal death and its sorrows. For here comes the pride and unrepentant disposition of those who are richly saturated with the blessings of God, but do not want to honor God, the Giver of blessings. Think about this and cling to humility as a haven of salvation. What do the words of our Savior mean: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to you! how often have I wanted to gather your children together, as a bird gathers its chicks under its wings, and you did not want to!” (Matthew 23:37)? 1) The repetition of the word: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem” means the Savior’s great love and regret for this city, which He wanted and tried in every way to turn to God, but which did not want it and rejected all His efforts. Therefore, a mournful voice, coming from strong love, turns to him and says: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” and so on. 2) From this we see what and how ardent love God has for the human race, how he wants and seems to hunger and thirst for its salvation. The Lord here likens Himself to a bird. Everyone knows how a bird loves its little chicks, how it preserves them, how it cares so that birds of prey do not kidnap them, how it screams when it sees an attack on them, how during a storm and cold it gathers them under its wings and warms them, how it tries to nourish them. She herself suffers and suffers only to save her children. Thus, the merciful and good God cares for our salvation. He created us out of love in His image and likeness, but we perished. Then He gave us His Holy Word and through it He calls us to Himself; frightens with examples of the execution of victims, and Gehenna; attracts with His merciful promises, so that they turn and come to Him. He sent His prophets to us, and then He Himself came to seek and save us who were lost. And he sent the apostles to us and commanded them to exhort and pray to us so that we would turn and be reconciled to Him. Excites teachers and shepherds to our instruction, enlightenment and correction. Provides food, drink, clothing and comfort; He commands His sun to shine for us and sends rain to us. He punishes us so that, as if from sleep, awakening from sin, we repent, and so be saved; and countless others invent means for our salvation. So he wants us, like a bird, to gather us under the wings of His goodness and lift us into the eternal shelters of the heavenly fatherland. Oh, ardent love! Oh, the fire that never goes out, but always burns and warms us! “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to you! how often have I wanted to gather your children together, as a bird gathers its chicks under its wings, and you did not want to!” He gave them His law, and they did not want to keep it. He showed them His name with various signs and wonders: He brought them out of Egypt, from the house of slavery, and led them through the desert; He smote many nations before them, and smote mighty kings; drove the nations out of the promised land and settled them. And so in the knowledge of Himself and His mercy and good pleasure He conducted them towards them. But they did not want to know the God of their fathers, but turned to idols - the work of human hands. And then God did not leave them: he sent prophets to them, and they beat them; and sent again, and again they beat me. What else could the philanthropic God do? He Himself moved, He Himself came, the Lord of the beaten prophets. He himself exhorted, he himself worked and tried to convert them, but they were not willing. You see how many means the Lord invents for our salvation. God's goodness is truly amazing! Therefore, He quickly accepts those who turn, and forgives, and grants His mercy. 3) You see how dear our Lord considers salvation, how our Lord cares for us: He Himself came to gather us under the wings of His goodness. Woe to us if we do not want and do not care for ourselves, and are not in a hurry to run and hide under the roof of His wings, as the Jews did not want. 4) You see how our Lord loves our salvation and cares about it. We must also love the glory and honor of His name, and seek it in all our deeds, and observe it in deed, word and thought. He seeks our salvation and eternal glory for us; let us also seek glory and honor for the name of our Lord! He wants to appropriate us to Himself; we will desire Him alone, and besides Him nothing, neither on earth nor in heaven! May He be our only destiny forever! 5) Our Lord cares for us - let us also take care of each other and seek each other’s salvation: some with advice, some with instruction, some with prayer, some with another, so that we may be true members of His spiritual body, for the bodily members care for each other and take care of each other. Satan and his demons all agree to arm themselves against us and want to destroy us, for this is their business and diligence. Let us also resist them unanimously and stand for each other in order to be stronger and overcome them. “The Lord Almighty is with us, the God of Jacob is our protector.” 6) May our Lord’s care for us motivate the shepherds and encourage them to be vigilant about the flock of Christ, in order to protect it from those wolves. For that is what shepherds are appointed for - to shepherd. Lord, Chief of Shepherds, help them. 7) Let us listen to what further, after those pitiful words, the Lord says to the Jews: “Behold, your house is being left to you empty” (Matthew 23:38). The most merciful Jesus wanted to gather them under the wings of His protection and salvation, but they did not want to. That is why they remained in desolation and error and destruction, as they were. Without Jesus there is no salvation for anyone; everyone is subject to eternal damnation whom Jesus does not protect. For “the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). Let us take refuge, beloved, by faith in Jesus, so that He may cover us with the shelter of His wings from the coming wrath. Let us come running while He calls and promises us His mercy, so that He does not say to us: “Behold, your house is left to you empty.” The same Jesus, Who now calls everyone to Himself, on the day of judgment will send away from Himself those who did not want to come to Him: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). This word is terrible: “Depart from Me,” and it is also terrible to go into eternal fire. Oh Jesus! Don't let us get to that point. Remember this word, beloved, and pray for me. Save yourself by the grace of Jesus. You ask: how did the Jews receive the Messiah, our Lord? Answer. All Christians should know this, and therefore you should not have asked about it. However, in response, I present to you the word of the holy evangelist. With surprise, or even regret, He says to the whole world: “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him” (John 1:11). Note here, beloved, who and Whom were not accepted. The subjects of their King, the servants of their Lord, the people of their God who came to them in the flesh, the creation of their Creator who came to save them, did not accept, saying: “We do not want him to reign over us” (Luke 19:14). It would be wonderful and strange if the citizens of the earth did not accept him. But it is especially worthy of surprise that the King of Heaven was not accepted by those who were expecting Him, to whom He was preached by the prophets, who saw how He raised the dead, cleansed lepers and performed other glorious miracles. “To the Israelites belong the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the law, and the worship, and the promises; theirs are the fathers, and from them is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all, blessed forever, Amen,” writes St. Paul (Rom. 9:4–5). He came to them, to his own, “and his own did not receive Him.” We will accept Him, beloved, because we are also ours to Him: He is our Creator, we are His creation; He is our God, we are His people; He is our Lord, we are His servants; He is our King, we are His subjects; He is our nourisher, we are His pets; He is our Benefactor, we are benefited from Him; He is our Shepherd, we are His lost sheep; He is our Redeemer, we are His atonement; He is our Acquirer, we are His acquisition. We recognize Him as Creator, God, Lord, King, Benefactor, Redeemer, Acquisitor and our Shepherd. Let us know that “He is our God; He created us, and not we. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture” (Ps 99:3). He came to us and for our sake, and now visits and comes to us, and says: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Rev 3:20). Let us receive this most welcome Guest, preached by the prophets and awaited throughout the world. Let us accept Him whom “kings, prophets, and righteous men desired to see, and did not see, and to hear, and did not hear” (Matthew 13:17; Luke 10:24). Let us accept Him who came to us and for our sake into the world, and let us serve Him as our King with joy, so that we may hear from Him the words of eternal life, and His words will be for us like a sweet supper. And then “we will taste how good the Lord is” (Ps. 34:9), and how sweet are His words. Let us bow and fall to Him, and give ourselves to Him, and appropriate ourselves to Him, let us be His both in name and in essence. And then He will be our Intercessor, Helper, Teacher and Shepherd, and no one will snatch us from His hand, because His hand is strong. Remember the Lord Jesus, who came into the world to save us - you and me, and everyone. You write: “After all, all Christians accepted Christ, that’s why they are called Christians, how else can we accept Him?” Answer. Thus, almost all Christians of the present century think and flatter themselves that it is enough for them to confess Christ, and therefore, in other matters, no matter what they do, they do not look at anything and do not reason. Everyone accepts and confesses Christ, but few obey Christ. Now you see how they accept Christ! So all “have a form of godliness, but deny His power” (2 Tim 3:5); “they say that they know God, but in works they deny” Him (Titus 1:16). So with the Jews, although not with their lips, but with their deeds and disobedience, they reject Christ: “We do not want him to reign over us” (Luke 19:14). For whoever does not listen to the king and does not keep his law rejects the king. What kind of a slave is he if he does not obey his master? The faithful servant does not show a polite title: “Lord, Lord! - “but obedience and obedience, not the name and title alone, but the deed and fulfillment of the will of the master. That is why the Lord says to such Christians: “Why do you call Me: Lord! God! – and do not do what I say” (Luke 6:46)? The same and another word of the Lord means: “Whoever is not with Me is against Me” (Luke 11:23). No matter how you interpret or transform it, it pricks the eyes of today’s Christians: it, like a mirror, presents them with their untruths, shows them that, although they confess Christ, they oppose Christ with their lives. The adversary of Christ is not only the one who opposes His word by teaching, but also the one who resists His word by life. For many Christians, the only thing on their minds is the thought, care and effort of how to collect wealth, to come in honor, to gain glory, to take revenge on the enemy, to spend their days in joy, to deceive their neighbor, and so on. But how could Christ, who came to save them, please and follow His holy life, there is no thought about that. But Saint Paul says: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). This is said to Christians, and not to Jews and pagans, who reject Christ with their lips. The small flock consists of those who truly accept Christ. Christ says to them: “Do not be afraid, little flock! for it has been your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). To others he says: “Why do you call Me: Lord! God! – and do not do what I say” (Luke 6:46)? And on the last day he answers them: “I never knew you; Depart from me, you workers of iniquity" (Matthew 7:23). Therefore, the Apostle says to every Christian: “Let everyone who confesses the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness” (2 Timothy 2:19). Accepting Christ and not loving Christ is a contradiction; it is the same as not accepting. He came not for His own sake into the world, but for our sake. Think about this and from here you will see how highly He honored us. Our Lord came for us. We are His indecent servants, but He did not despise us. You see what Christ is for us: our Lord and Savior. Therefore, love is required from us for Him, in order to love His appearance and lovingly accept Him as the Lord and Great Benefactor, and from this will follow obedience to Him. He, our King, has come to us; we will accept Him with honor, humility and love. He, our Lord, has come to us; let us serve Him with fear and love. He, our Shepherd, has come to us; let us obey His voice. He, our Teacher and Mentor, has come to us, so let us obey His holy word and instruction. He, our Lover and Benefactor, has come to us - let us be grateful to Him and keep His holy commandments with love. Let us accept Him not only with our lips, but also with our hearts, so that His beautiful image may be imagined in us, that is, in our souls. He always knocks on the doors of our hearts, so that we may open to Him, so that He may enter and rest in our souls, and let us wash and dry His holy feet, which walked the earth for us, and create an abode in us. May we never hear from Him: “I was hungry, and you did not give Me anything to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger, and they did not accept Me” (Matthew 25:42–43). Nowhere else than in the human soul does He rest: in our souls He finds home, peace, food, and drink. That's why he always knocks to come to us. Let us accept Him and let Him inside us. For we have no rest apart from Him. He is our food, drink, clothing, rest, comfort and our eternal life. Apart from Him, the soul is dead and naked, and has no refuge. Let us decorate the houses of our souls in order to receive the King of Heaven, who appeared on earth and lived on it for our sake. It is a shame to refuse and not allow an honest person into the house, and even more so the King, and the King of Heaven, who is knocking on our doors. He opens his home to each other and joyfully accepts it: He is our most faithful friend, who loved us - His enemies and laid down His soul for us, and wants to lead us into His heavenly shelter. Glory to His mercy that He does not disdain us! Remember this mercy of Him. What did the Jews do to Jesus when they did not accept our Lord who came to save them? Answer. The Lord, since He came into the world to save sinners, did not disdain sinners, but treated them kindly and mercifully, and received them, and ate with tax collectors and other sinners, wanting to call them to repentance, as He Himself said: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13). The scribes and Pharisees, who especially opposed Him, grumbled and reproached the Lord, saying: “He receives sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:2). And again: “He came to a sinful man” (Luke 19:7). And again “they said to His disciples: Why does your Teacher eat and drink with publicans and sinners? -" and so on. But the Lord meekly answered them: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick, go and learn what it means: I want mercy, and not sacrifice? For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matthew 9:11-13). 1) Just as for our sake our Lord came into the world, so for our sake He endured murmuring and reproach from His enemies. Our conscience and our enemies the demons reproached us as transgressors of God’s law, but Christ our Lord endured unrighteous reproach in order to deliver us from that reproach. Glory to His mercy and long-suffering! 2) True shepherds who, following Christ, the Chief of shepherds, do not disdain obvious sinners, but treat them humanely and try to convert them to repentance, are subject to reproach and reproach from evil people. For Satan instigates persecution against them and teaches evil people to dishonor them, since with the word of God they destroy his dark kingdom, as many stories testify to. Beware of saying bad things about the shepherds and do not accept evil rumors about them, so as not to be condemned by the Pharisees. 3) Our Lord was reproached, but He Himself did not reproach. By this He teaches us to deal with our enemies meekly and patiently, not to rebuke those who reproach, and not to slander those who slander, but either to remain silent, or to answer righteously without anger and with meekness. If our Lord, being sinless, did not reproach in response to reproach, then how much more should we, His servants and sinners, do this and imitate our Lord. 4) We see how favorable our Lord was to sinners: being “one holy” and righteous, he turned among sinners and saw the conscience of everyone, what was in everyone’s heart and what sins everyone had: “And he did not need anyone to testify about man, for He Himself knew what was in man” (John 2:25). However, he did not shame anyone, or denounce anyone, or condemn him. Although we ourselves are sinners and are subject to all kinds of sins, we often reproach, and reprove, and judge: “You are this and that,” we say. The Lord did not act this way, although he was sinless. For he came not to judge and denounce, but to save us, and even against an obvious sinner, “captured in adultery” and brought to Him by accusers, he did not want to pronounce judgment, but only said to her: “And I do not condemn you; Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). 5) From the words of Christ: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick,” we see whom Christ the Lord heals, that is, the sick. All people are sick in soul, but not everyone recognizes their illness, does not seek healing, and therefore is not healed. Such were the scribes and Pharisees who considered themselves healthy and called themselves healthy, although they were weaker than others, and therefore remained in their former illness, and even worse. For an uncured disease, the longer it continues, the more bitter and terrible it becomes. Therefore, if we want to heal our soul, we need to recognize and recognize its illness, and ask Christ the physician for healing. Human healers also heal the body, but no one can heal the soul except Christ. He alone can and does heal souls. Therefore, one must resort to Him alone, and declare illness to Him, and ask Him for healing. There is no disease that He could not and would not heal, who raises the dead, and cleanses lepers, and by nature gives eyes to the blind. For this is why he came into the world, to heal our souls. 6) From the quoted word of God: “I want mercy, not sacrifice,” we see what is most pleasing to God, namely, the mercy we show to our neighbor. God does not reject sacrifices, but prefers to any sacrifice the mercy shown to one’s neighbor, since He Himself is merciful. Therefore, whoever shows mercy to his neighbor imitates Him and thus offers Him a sacrifice that is better than any other sacrifice. For nothing pleases God so much as imitation of Him (by charity). Therefore Christ says: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). And the apostle exhorts us: “Do not forget also to do good and to communicate” (i.e., giving, almsgiving), “for such sacrifices are acceptable to God” (Heb. 13:16). It is more pleasant for God to hear and accept alms done to one’s neighbor than prayer, song and praise offered to Him. And what can prayer do without alms? She is like a voice without power. Almsgiving naturally prays more than all people. Without our mercy towards our neighbor, all our deeds are worthless, like a tree without fruit. There is no greater mercy than to exhort a sinner and turn him to the path of repentance. Therefore, Christ, our Lord, came into the world for our sake and dealt with sinners in order to convert them to the true path, and by His example teaches us what all Christians, and especially shepherds who are elected for this purpose, must do in order to be one in spirit and thought with Christ: “Let this mind be in them, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). Think about this, beloved, and try to be as (merciful) towards your neighbor as you (see) God towards yourself and want to be. In other words, be merciful to your brother if you want God to be merciful to you. Forgive him all his sins if you want to receive forgiveness of your sins from God. Take care of his salvation as you take care of your own. This is the Christian spirit. This is the sign of a true Christian - to do to your neighbor what you want for yourself. This is the law, the prophets and the apostles, and the Lord Himself teaches the law, the prophets and the apostles. 7) From the words of the Lord: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,” we see what the purpose of Christ’s coming into the world is, namely, to call us to repentance. We have all lost our way from the path of truth. Our enemy Satan captivated us, and led us away from the true God, and plunged us into confusion, and wounded us like a thief, and we lay on the path barely alive, and neither the law, nor the Levites, nor the prophets could heal us. All of us, as one person, from east to west, lay wounded by that enemy, and could not receive healing from anyone, neither from the law, nor from the priests, nor from the Levites. All of them, seeing our incurable ulcer, all passed by and left us, and did not help us in anything. The Lord Himself of the prophets and the law and the Levites, the Son of God, the King and the Royal Son, beloved Jesus, who came not from Samaria, but from the Virgin Mary, came to us and, seeing us, had mercy on us, and offered us healing - repentance, saying: “Repent.” I “came to seek and save you.” Leave your old life, turn around, change yourself, and My medicine is ready for you: “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove your evil deeds from before my eyes; stop doing evil; learn to do good,” and so on. “Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; "Though they be red as crimson, they will be as white as wool" (Isaiah 1:16-18). You see why Christ came: to call us to repentance and to heal those who repent, but those who do not repent seem to resist this. From this we see that the entire Christian life on earth should be nothing other than repentance, which includes deeds worthy of repentance. Christ “came to call us to repentance.” Pay special attention to the words: “I came to call for repentance.” Not fun, not meals, not festivities, not feasts, not rejoicing, and so on, but repentance, crying, tears, sobbing and the cross are offered to us, living in a deplorable vale, by our Lord. Now you see what Christian life means in a world that “lies in evil.” Read the Gospel of Christ and you will see (more clearly). Christians also have fun here, but it is spiritual. They rejoice not about gold, silver, food, drink, honor and glory, but “about God their Savior,” about His goodness and mercy towards them, about the hope of eternal life, and so on. From this you see that those Christians are mistaken who spend their days in the gaiety of this world, who love to ride in carriages, go on visits and receive guests, organize banquets, dances and other fun, leaving the duty of worship and duty to the fatherland. There is no repentance in them and therefore they call in vain to Christ: “Lord, Lord! -” for they do not do what Christ says: “Repent.” Think about this and run away from such things as Sodom and Gomorrah, so as not to perish with them. Christ the Lord calls everyone to repentance, but if someone does not repent and does not do works of repentance, then this means that he did not listen to Christ and, called to repentance by Him, did not obey Him, therefore Christ and the Gospel cannot give such a person any benefit. He is not in repentance who does not leave a sinful life, is not renewed in mind and heart, but remains in the old and carnal life, does not mortify the flesh with passions and lusts, seeks in this world, as in his fatherland, honor, glory and wealth, and not lives as a stranger and stranger, and does not try to avoid losing eternal life. This is every unrepentant person, and these are the distinguishing marks of an unrepentant person. For true repentance renews a person, and leads him away from the world, and encourages him to strive against sin, and binds his mind and heart to eternity. Remember and think about it. 8) Remember the Lord Jesus. Christ, Who was reproached by the tongues of men, will appear in His glory on the last day, and He Who came to sinners will come with all His pure Angels, and He Who ate and drank with sinners will sit on the throne of His glory, and He Who called sinners to repentance will call all sinners to judgment. That day is near, and already closer today than it was yesterday: “The Lord abides forever. He has prepared His throne for judgment” (Ps. 9:8). 9) From the words: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,” consolation flows to repentant sinners. Christ came not for the sake of the righteous, but for the sake of sinners - to call them to repentance. When we repent of our sins and are on the path of repentance, we will also remember what the apostle comfortingly wrote: “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). And the Son of God Himself said: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). So, stand, be strong, take courage, and let your heart be strong, since He came to call you to repentance, came to seek and save, because you are one of the lost and sinners whom He came to seek and save. And He has no partiality, He has mercy on all who repent and saves, for that is what He came for. I marvel that you do not know the infirmities and diseases of the soul. Can't you feel them? Why do you ask: what are the diseases of the soul? Is it a small disease, blindness, which lies on the eyes of the soul and does not allow a person to see God, His judgments and miracles, and not to recognize his own misfortune and damnation? Is deafness a minor disease, due to which the soul does not hear the voice of God? No matter how much the voice of the Word of God calls upon the soul, it does not hear it. Is it a small weakness - anger, which, like a fever of the body, crushes the soul? Look at a person who is angry: how he is shaking all over. When something is seen on the body, then what happens in the soul? Envy, hatred and malice, like consumption, consume the body and soul, so that the body turns pale and fades away from those evil diseases. In a word, there are so many infirmities and illnesses in the soul, as well as sinful and harmful passions. As the body has members, so does the soul have thoughts. The body is weak and sick when its members are weak and sick; The soul also becomes weak when it has bad thoughts. Satan has so wounded the soul and blinded its eyes that it does not see the light of God! Therefore the Psalmist prays: “Open my eyes, that I may understand the wonders of Thy law” (Ps. 119:18). He stopped her ears and did not hear the Word of God, and caused her various other illnesses, and left the poor man barely alive, lying on the path of this world. Therefore, the merciful Jesus came to restore health to the soul. Glory to His mercy with the Father and the Holy Spirit! You ask: what thoughts are bad and what are good in the soul? 1) The Lord says: “From within, from the heart of man, come evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, murder, theft, covetousness, malice, deceit, lasciviousness, an envious eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness” (Mark 7:21-22). 2) Also bad and evil are the thoughts that arise in the soul about seeking wealth, honor and glory in this world (1 John 2:15–16), and other pleasures. 3) In a word, all those thoughts in the soul are bad, which are prohibited by the word of God. 4) When the soul deigns to have such thoughts, they defile it and make it abominable before God, although outwardly these thoughts do not come out through the bodily members; if they manifest themselves externally and commit them in deeds, then they make it even more unclean. “All this evil comes from within and defiles a person,” says the Lord (Mark 7:23). 5) You see that the poor soul, a noble creature created in the image and likeness of God, is bound by these harmful passions, like a man sitting in prison with bonds, and cannot freely do and even begin to do what is characteristic of her as the image of God, for these evil guards and enemies do not allow her. Jesus, our Savior, came to deliver her from such misfortune and damnation, who tells us: “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). For without Him the soul cannot be freed from that calamity. 6) If someone stands against those thoughts, fights and strives, rejecting them and not deigning to them, and calls on his Savior Jesus for help, and asks Him for deliverance - from Him alone there is deliverance - he little by little gets rid of them, and the soul, like the body from diseases, is healed of its weakness, and receives health. Just as a weak body, the more it frees itself from harmful influences, the healthier it becomes, so a weak soul, the more it frees itself from evil thoughts, the greater health it receives. 7) From this you see what good thoughts are in the soul, that is, when she thinks about herself, about her wretchedness and misfortune, when she exercises in the thought of God, and cleaves to him with her thoughts, separates them from the vanity of this world, and with them goes around the heavenly fatherland, and thinks about how to please God, and to fulfill His holy word, and treats her neighbor as she treats herself. himself, and wishes for his neighbor and does what he wishes and does for himself, and so on. 8) When the soul has such thoughts, then its external deeds and words are good, just as pure streams flow from a pure source, as good fruits are born from a good tree, as fragrance comes from a fragrant vessel. So, good deeds and words come from a good soul. 9) When such a state exists in the soul, then this is a sign that Jesus, the Deliverer of our captive souls and the Physician of our infirmities, visits her with His mercy and love for mankind, and heals her infirmities, and returns her to her first health. Let us also call on Jesus for help and let Him work in us with His healing as He wants, since He heals our souls. Since it is important to know about this for our salvation, I am also writing to you about the same thing, so you listen and reason. 1) Try and ask Jesus to open the eyes of your soul, which Satan has blinded. For this is the beginning of salvation, to know oneself, poverty, one’s wretchedness, the vanity of the world and the truth. For a person blinded by the enemy, like a blind man, wanders and does not know what he is doing. He seeks honor, glory and wealth in the world and does not know for whom he is seeking and collecting. This is spiritual blindness. For a person will leave everything in this world, no matter what he seeks, and therefore he seeks in vain for what he will soon leave. Such a person is like that madman who draws water with a sieve and wants to fill the vessel. So is a peace-loving person: “he gathers and does not know who will get it” (Ps 38:7). His undertakings, works and efforts are vain. A person must understand that all this is vanity, shadow and deception - one thing is true, that which never departs from us, but always remains with us, that is, eternal life and its bliss. When this saving ray flashes in the heart, then the lost person will sigh, and raise his eyes to his Lord, and say with regret: “Oh, how badly I acted! I sought and cared about what was not mine, and did not seek what was my true good. He pursued what is false and abandoned what is true bliss.” For everything temporary is false, only the eternal is true. The temporal is like the commanded apple, which deceives us and kills us: if you taste it, it will destroy you. We must reject this apple and turn to the tree of life, planted in the midst of the church paradise, Jesus Christ. Only this tree revives us and gives us eternal life with eternal consolation. We must compare time with eternity and the present with the future, and thus the heart can be enlightened with the help of Jesus. We are wanderers and strangers in a foreign land. Why should we chase after what is not ours and what we will leave on someone else’s land? Think about this and pray to the merciful Jesus that your eyes may be opened, as the blind prayed to Him, and you will receive your sight. 2) Ask Him to open the ears of the soul, which Satan has stopped. Note that the Lord says in the Gospel: “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!” You see that you must not only have ears, but also “ears” in order to “hear.” All people have ears, but not everyone has “ears” to “hear.” You see that there are other ears with which we hear the Word of God, that is, the ears of the soul. When these ears are plugged, the Word of God will not give us any benefit, as if we were deaf. For although it is perceived by external hearing, since a person does not have internal hearing, the word does not reach the soul, just as every voice does not reach a deaf person. Hence it happens that a person hears the preaching of the Word of God and often praises it, but is not renewed by that word, does not move forward and is not aroused to repentance and its fruits, and so the word becomes fruitless for him. For what is the use of speech to a deaf person? No. When he hears that the king of the earth, or his master, or his father, orders him or promises him something, he does it with joy and hope and hopes for it. Why? Because he sees them with outer eyes and hears them with his ears, and sees what is promised. Will he not listen to God, the King of Heaven, great and terrible, and will not believe His false promise, if he sees Him with the eyes of his soul and has open ears of his soul? So, a sign of the ignorance of God in the soul and its deafness is that a person does not listen to the Word of God and does not fulfill His commandments. In such a person, even if he were wise, both the eye and ear of the soul are closed by darkness and mist, like a veil. Think and remember that God, whose word is contained in the holy books, speaks to you, to your soul, and not to your body, and truly so, your soul commands, forbids, promises, threatens, reveals, calls to himself, leads you away from destruction, and calls to eternal bliss, commands you to despise the world and seek eternal life - and pray to Jesus, Who “opened the ears of the deaf and tongue-tied and loosed the bonds of his tongue" (Mark 7:32-35) - and then you will hear the Word of God not only with your outer ears, but also within you. Then your soul will be renewed and changed, then you will be surprised at yourself, because you will hear everything differently than you heard before. Then you will say with David: “How sweet are Your words to my throat, O God” (Ps 119:103). And again: “The law of Your mouth is better for me than much gold and silver” (Ps 119:72). If a person listens to the king of earthly words and speech with joy and sweetness, will he not listen to God? For the Word of God is sweet, gracious, life-giving, and joyful, being the word of the mouth of God. Even though God spoke to us through people, that word came from the mouth of His saints. Then, hearing the Gospel read, you will hear, as it were, Christ Himself speaking, for the same words are read there that Christ spoke when he walked on earth. The beginning of all this is the insight of the soul and its open hearing. For these senses, sight and hearing, both external on the body and internal in the soul, are the most important. And just as the body is blind, deaf and poor without them, so without them the soul is blind and deaf, and therefore is in great distress. 3) The soul has its own sense of smell, taste and touch. When the body is weak, sometimes a person loses his sense of smell, does not feel any smell, and also cannot taste; it happens that he does not feel touch either. We see the same thing in the soul. Although God is always with us, since He is in every place, the soul, being weak, does not smell the incense, and does not enjoy the goodness of His presence, and does not feel the touch of Him. Why? Because he doesn’t have those feelings. Satan took them away from her and made her weak and motionless. Oh, if the soul felt God’s presence, then it would be in great fear, humility, love, and joy! For this feeling does not exist without it. When he feels His majesty and terrible glory, he trembles, humbles himself and falls before Him, as before his terrible King, whom even the Angels cannot look at. When she tastes His goodness, as the prophet says: “Taste and see how good the Lord is” (Ps 33:9), then her throat is indescribably delighted, and rejoices, rejoices and plays, like a man drunk with wine. This is how the feeling of God’s presence operates in her. If the feeling of the presence of the king, who is a man like us, makes a change in us, and then fear, then humility, then joy excites us, then all the more will this be when we feel God’s presence. For what is the king of the earth before God? Like nothing. Then a person will not dare not only do anything, say or think obscenely, but also say a word unnecessarily. He dare not say anything in front of the king of the earth. Will he be bold under God, the Heavenly King, whose majesty and glory is incomprehensible? Believe me, beloved, that your soul would always be in surprise and ecstasy. From this you see that those people who sin and commit outrages do not have spiritual feelings, and do not feel, and do not know God. Such people are blind and insensitive and, to tell the truth, have no life in their souls. So, you see the feelings of the soul, you also see its weaknesses. Let us pray to Jesus, the merciful Physician, to heal the infirmities of our souls. For that is why He came. If he healed mortal bodies, then much more will he heal immortal souls. Oh Jesus! Heal us, Lord, and we will be healed. Think about this and pay attention. You ask: in what other way was the malice of the Jews towards Christ, who came to save them, manifested itself? Answer. They called Him a man who loves to eat and drink wine, a friend of publicans and sinners: “Here is a man who loves to eat and drink wine, a friend of publicans and sinners” (Matthew 11:19). But the Lord meekly endured all this. 1) Just as our Lord came into the world for our sake and became a man, so for our sake he endured caustic words. He endured who, being God, had no need to eat and drink, but had the need to eat and drink when he became a man. He who said to them through the prophet: “If I had been hungry, I would not have told you. For Mine is the universe and everything that fills it. Am I already eating the flesh of oxen or drinking the blood of goats” ( Psalm 49:12–13 )? - This one, having become a man, took on human infirmities, was hungry and thirsty, and therefore had the need to eat and drink, but heard from ungrateful people: “Here is a man who loves to eat and drink wine.” 2) I heard about Himself: “Friend of tax collectors and sinners,” He who alone is Righteous, Who came into the world to call sinners to repentance and save, dealt with them, wanting to justify them, and taking them on His shoulders, like the Shepherd of His lost sheep, bring them to His Father and shut them up in the fence of heavenly villages, - He heard from slanderous lips: “Friend publicans and sinners." He did good and sought salvation for sinners, but suffered slander from people. For our sake, for my sake and for your sake, our innocent and merciful Lord endured. We are people who love to eat and drink wine, publicans and sinners, but our Savior endured reproach for us. Glory to His mercy! 3) We see from here that shepherds who care about the salvation of human souls are subject to slander and persecution from evil people. Satan is displeased with their work, and therefore he sharpens the tongues of evil people against them like a sword, and drives them away. Beware of believing slander against shepherds and stop your ears from slandering lips. These are the devil's tools. 4) From here we see what envy and malice can do. The pious soul cannot please her with anything; everything she does is unpleasant to her. There he invents vice where there is no vice. He defames and blasphemes what is worthy of praise. Thus, the Lord said about the evil Jews: “John” (the Baptist) came, “neither eating nor drinking; and they say: he has a demon. The Son of Man came, eating and drinking; and they say, “Here is a man who loves to eat and drink wine, a friend of publicans and sinners” (Matthew 11:18–19). You see that both the Forerunner, an angel covered with flesh, and Christ Himself, his Lord, light without any darkness and innocence itself, could not please the evil ones, but in both they found something to discredit. When in the light in which there is not a single darkness, and in His lamp malice has found something to condemn, then what will it no longer find in other pious souls who are not without weakness? We see the same effect of anger today: no matter what a person does, he judges everything, blames everything. Beware of envy and malice - this is the great poison of the soul, and just as a worm is a tree inside, so it gnaws and consumes the soul, and as soon as it rises in the heart, kill this destructive worm, so that it does not grow and kill your soul. 5) We see how our soul is damaged by the poison of the ancient serpent, how Satan is envious and evil, how he fed the human soul with the same poison, so that what a person should rejoice about, he is consumed with envy and malice. We see enough of such evil in the world. 6) Further from here we note that piety, like a shadow behind a body, persecution follows. Therefore, a pious soul should expect no joy, but sorrow in this world. 7) Christ Jesus our Savior, with his meekness and patience, teaches us to be meek and patient, and to overcome the malice of people with kindness, or at least with silence. 8) Envy and malice are great plagues in the human soul, as we have seen. From envy, anger, from anger, malice, from malice, murder will follow, as we see with Cain. Therefore, we must work and pray to Jesus until these ulcers on our souls are healed. He wants to heal them, but he wants us to declare our infirmities to him, and ask, and seek it from Him. Let us try to take care of the healing of our souls and pray diligently and persistently to the Physician of souls, Jesus, to heal our infirmities. 9) Remember, beloved, the time in which our Lord walked the earth for us, and spoke among sinners, and heard from the tongues of men: “Here is a man who loves to eat and drink wine, a friend of publicans and sinners.” The same Lord will come again and call us to judgment. That day is near, and it will appear unexpectedly. We wait for Him day by day: closer now than yesterday and the day before yesterday. And although we will not wait for it while living on earth, death approaches us day by day and will lead us into eternity, either blessed or ill-fated. And whatever she finds us with, she will present us with at the future judgment. Blessed is he who is awake and mindful of that hour. “Blessed is that servant whom the Lord, when he comes, finds awake” (Luke 12:37, 43). We will try to be participants in that bliss. Let's look further at how the Pharisees' envy and malice slandered Christ the Lord, Who came to save them. When the Lord cast out demons from people and “the people were amazed and said, “Never has such a thing happened in Israel,” the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the power of the prince of demons” (Matthew 9:33–34), and again: “He casts out demons no other way than by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons” (Matthew 12:24). Do you see what terrible blasphemy envy and malice spew out! Who can cast out a demon except God, Whom this generation trembles? And how can Satan drive out Satan, who have equal power? The one who wants to bind him and expel him must have the strongest strength, and how will they expel each other, who always agree to harm and human destruction? 1) Envy and malice blind a person, as we see here in the Pharisees. They attribute to Satan that which befits the only God. They themselves can see that casting out a demon is a work of God’s power, but they spew out blasphemy: “He casts out demons by the power of the prince of demons.” So envy leads to malice, and malice leads to blindness, but the blinded one does not know what he is doing. Oh, what a terrible mental ulcer - envy! 2) We see here, beloved, what Jesus, our Savior, did not endure! Wanting to deliver us from the power of Satan, I heard: “He casts out demons by the power of the prince of demons.” And He heard this, in whose name even the demons obey His servants, the One from Whom the demons tremble, the One who gives power to His servants to tread on the snake and the scorpion, and on all the power of the enemy - His divine ears heard the blasphemy: “He casts out demons by the power of the prince of demons!” . For our sake, our Lord our Savior endured this. Glory to His mercy! 3) True Christians must suffer persecution and reproach in this world. “If the master of the house was called Beelzebub, how much more of his household?” the Lord consoles Christians (Matthew 10:25). If the Master, the Teacher, the Head were expelled, then how much more will His slaves, disciples and spiritual members be expelled. Servants with the Master, disciples with the Teacher, and members of the body with the Head must certainly suffer. Christ our Lord endured blasphemies; we, His servants, must also endure them. If we want to be among the household of this great Master, we must endure with Him. 4) Remember, beloved, the time in which our Lord heard terrible blasphemies for us: “He casts out demons by the power of the prince of demons,” and expect that He will soon come with His Angels again, no longer endure, but “be glorified in His saints and appear wondrous on that day among all who believed” (2 Thessalonians 1:10), and betray sinners “into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). That day is near, and it will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. Day by day we expect it, day by day it is approaching us. Let us be ready, for at that very hour when we do not expect it, the Son of God will come and the trumpets will sound, and the dead from the beginning of the world will be raised, and the throne will be set, and the Judge will sit, surrounded by many angels, and all the tribes of the earth and peoples will appear before Him, and will reward everyone according to their deeds, and some will go into eternal punishment, and others into eternal life. Remember that day. You ask: what did Christ the Lord answer to the Pharisees who blasphemed Him? Answer. He meekly answered them and proved that He, by the power of the Spirit of God, and not Beelzebub, casts out demons, since Satan cannot cast out Satan, since all demons agree among themselves that they are trying to destroy, and not heal, a person; in addition, the one who casts out the demon must be much stronger than him, and so on. Read for yourself what the Evangelist Matthew wrote (Matthew 12:24–37). 1) How meekly the Lord answered His blasphemers, did not reproach them in response, but lovingly rebuked them and frightened them with the judgment of God so that they would repent, as can be seen from His holy proof and teaching. From here we learn to answer our enemies who blaspheme us meekly or remain silent, and not to blaspheme those who blaspheme us. If He, our Lord and our God, dealt so meekly with those who blasphemed Him, then how much more should we do the same. We, I say, are worthy of all blasphemy, being sinners. If the sinless Lord meekly endured blasphemy from sinners, then much more must we, sinners, meekly endure blasphemy from sinners. Our sins deserve this, and what we deserve must be accepted with meekness. It is better here to temporarily endure blasphemy from people than to be forever reproached by the devil; and although blasphemy occurs due to the action of demons, it happens to us as punishment by God’s permission, and therefore we must endure it and thank God. 2) Christ the Lord says to the Pharisees: “If I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whose power do your sons cast them out” (Matthew 12:27)? The apostles cast out demons, and Jesus Christ cast out demons - the disciples and the Teacher and their Lord Jesus Christ had one thing, but they did not hear from the Pharisees what our Lord heard: “He casts out demons not except by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons” (Matthew 12:24). They did one thing, but they did not hear, but the Lord heard the blasphemy from slandering lips. What does it mean? Our conscience, beloved, is wounded by the words of blasphemy spewed against our Lord. He took our sins upon Himself, therefore execution was placed on Him for them, and the reproaches of those who reproached Him fell upon Him. He did glorious deeds and worthy of wonder: “Never had such a thing happened in Israel” (Matthew 9:33), and he showed good deeds that could never be done again, but for all this he was blasphemed. We are guilty of this: our sins and blasphemies blasphemed our Lord, we sinned before our God and blasphemed Him, desiring God’s honor with Adam, our forefather, and were worthy of eternal torment and the reproach of the devil, therefore Jesus our Lord stood up for us, and took our execution upon Himself, and paid for us the righteousness of God, and “what He did not take away, He had to give” (Ps 68:5). Glory to His mercy! Remember, beloved, that our Lord blasphemed us, His servants, so that we would receive eternal glory. 3) The blasphemy that the Pharisees spewed against Christ the Lord touched God in the face of Christ, since Christ is God, the hypostatic Word of God, consubstantial with the Father and the Spirit. Consider how this blasphemy wounded His holy soul! “Blasphemy hurts every person, but it hurts a king, or any high person, more, because his dignity and high honor are blasphemed in him. So in Christ the Lord, the blasphemy that He endured touched the honor of God, and the miracle-working God was blasphemed against us. In appearance he was like a man, but God was true, covered in human flesh. Therefore, since God was blasphemous in him, this greatly offended His immaculate soul, and therefore showed the blasphemers that they were grievously sinning. For, even if they did not believe that He was God, the works that He did were God’s, for only God alone can cast out a demon, to whom everyone obeys. Remember that even before His passion Christ our Lord suffered for us. Although His enemies did not wound His body, they wounded His divine soul. Blessed be His name! 4) What happened to Christ the Son of God also happens to His servants. Christ did good, but was persecuted by the tongues of men. We see the same thing in the spiritual members of His body, we see how their good deeds are blasphemed and defamed by evil tongues. Prayer, abstinence, patience, meekness, almsgiving, humility and silence are called hypocrisy and wickedness. And what is surprising: the same thing in others is praised or passed over in silence, but in a God-fearing person they blaspheme! From there came unsuitable words, or rather reproaches: praying mantis, holy man, empty saint, and others. So the wicked world does not love piety, and the evil hates goodness. True piety abides in the heart and is hidden; how can one know what is hidden in a person’s heart: truth or hypocrisy? But an evil tongue blasphemes and defames what it does not know. Beware of blaspheming every person, for you do not know what is in a person. Man looks at the external, but God looks at the internal. 5) The Lord healed those possessed by demons. Let us also pray to Him that He may also heal our demonic souls. Fierce demons in the soul are uncleanness, anger, rage, malice, hatred, envy and pride, and they torment the poor soul more than evil spirits do in the body, and lead to nothing other than eternal death. Christ the Lord alone can cast out these fierce demons. Let us also pray with the Canaanite wife: “Lord, my soul is cruelly enraged: help me” (Matthew 15:22); heal me, Lord, and I will be healed." But always remember that the Lord, who endured blasphemy for our sake, will come to judge us, and not only for iniquities, but also for idle words we will give Him an answer. He Himself said: “I tell you that for every idle word whatever word people speak, they will give an answer on the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36). However, take note and listen well, beloved: 1) When evil tongues blaspheme ourselves, we must either remain silent or meekly answer them, since our name and glory are nothing. For we are earth and ashes, and worthless slaves, and truly worthy of all blasphemy. Man, by himself, has nothing but weakness, corruption, sins and repentance, and if he has or does anything good, it is God’s, not his. “No one is good except God alone” (Matthew 19:17). If only God alone is good, then, consequently, every person is evil in himself, and how can an evil person have or do good? “A bad tree cannot bear good fruit” (Matthew 7:18). Therefore, he is not worthy of praise, but praise should be given to God alone, as the only good one. A person should feel sorry and ashamed that he is an evil and worthless slave, for a worthless slave has bad deeds. May thinking about this move us towards meekness and patience. 2) When an evil tongue blasphemes the name of God and torments His honor, then we must not remain silent, but stand for the honor of His name, and stop the blasphemer’s slanderous lips, even before the shedding of blood and the taking of our life followed the matter that our Savior both in the above answer and in other cases showed and taught us by His example. For we must love God more than ourselves. 3) Therefore, those who are jealous of their own honor do bad things, but neglect God’s honor when it is blasphemed. This is a sign that such people do not know that there is a God, that He is the Creator, Provider, Lover, Benefactor, Lord and Father of all, and of them. For who does not stand up for the honor of his master, father and benefactor? Moreover, every faithful servant of God must stand for God’s honor. Don’t imitate such people, but just as you value your honor at nothing, stand for God’s honor to the last drop of blood. Remember that God Himself says: “I will glorify” only “those who glorify Me, but those who dishonor Me will be put to shame” (1 Samuel 2:30). You ask: what does it mean to humiliate God? Answer. A slave humiliates his master when he is reviled and blasphemed, or hears his name being blasphemed, but does not defend him, or does not show him the obedience due, and so on. Such a slave, although he is called the slave of his master, shows by deed that he does not recognize him as his master. This is how he humiliates God: 1) The one who clearly blasphemes His name. 2) He who strives for his own glory, but neglects God’s. 3) The one who despises His holy commandments and does not try to show proper obedience to Him. Whoever does this humiliates God. Think about these points and you will admit it yourself. Isn’t it scary to humiliate the great and terrible God? Answer. Truly scary, but also shameless. It’s scary, because for those who humiliate God’s Last Judgment and terrible torment follow. “We know Him who said: “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And one more thing: The Lord will judge His people. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:30–31)! Shameless, because people humiliate the One who created them in His image, and nourishes them, clothes them, and commands His sun to shine on them. People should cry and sob about this, be horrified and tremble about this. Let us not “be jealous of the wicked, for they will quickly wither like grass, and like green grass they will quickly fall away” (Ps 36:1-2). But our Lord, Who honored us, unworthy, will honor us as our Creator, Redeemer and Benefactor, with fear, love and obedience. Let us render to Him what is due to us, to which our faith, our confession, and His holy word oblige us. “Shall not our soul obey God?” For our salvation is from Him. “For He is our God” and our Savior, our “Advocate” (Ps. 62:2-3). “Know that the Lord is our God. He created us, not we; We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture” (Ps 99:3). You ask: what does it mean “not to be jealous of the evil one?” 1) Those evil people who bear the name of Christ on themselves and are called Christians, but do not have a spark of Christianity inside; They confess Christ, but they do not want to obey Christ. To such people Christ speaks: “Why do you call Me: Lord! God! – and do not do what I say” (Luke 6:46)? In short, such Christians are called hypocrites. Such people have pagan morals under the guise of a Christian name. 2) Not to be jealous of them means not to imitate them, but to do everything and live as God’s word teaches and Christian office requires. Christ our Lord has given us His life to imitate; let us often turn our eyes to Him and imitate His life, which we see in His holy Gospel. His Holy Gospel presents to us many other blasphemies and reproaches, uttered in the tongues of the Pharisees and Jews against our Lord, such as: “He blasphemes” (Matthew 9:3); “Are we not telling the truth that You are a Samaritan and that You have a demon? (Hn" 8:48); “He is possessed by a demon and is going mad” (John 10:20), and so on. Read the Holy Gospel yourself and you will see that our Lord and Master endured for our salvation; you will see how “the Lord came” “to his own, and his own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). If the king had come to his slaves to save them from a great disaster, and they not only would not have accepted him, but also dishonored and cursed him with all sorts of obscene words - truly, that would have been worthy of great surprise. It is hard to hear blasphemy from an equal, harder from an inferior, and even harder from a subordinate; what can we say if a (pious) king has to hear blasphemy from his subjects, about whom he cares, provides, and whom he wants to make blessed? Truly great would be the fury of such people who would show such ingratitude to their king, and how amazing would be the love, mercy and patience of the king (if he had endured this kindly). Jesus the Lord “came to his own, and his own did not receive him,” and not only did they not accept him, but they also cursed him with all sorts of obscene and blasphemous words. They did not accept their King who came to save them. They dishonored Him who honored them with His passing, they blasphemed their Lord, they blasphemed the Lord of glory; The Heavenly King was cursed by his earthly subjects, He was cursed, Whom the Angels incessantly praise, He was cursed, Who wanted to gather them, as a bird gathers its chicks under its wings. Their Heavenly King heard from them: “Here is a man who loves to eat and drink wine, a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:34); “He casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of the demons” (Luke 11:15); “Aren’t we telling the truth that You are a Samaritan and that You have a demon?” (John 8:48); “He is possessed by a demon and is going mad” (John 10:20), and so on. This is what His people rendered to the Lord, His King and His benefactor. Let the man be ashamed who cannot bear to hear a reproachful word, when God tolerated such blasphemy! Remember, beloved, the time in which God in the flesh suffered blasphemy from his people. Oh, dark and gloomy and fierce time in which God was blasphemed with the tongues of men! O frantic tongues that blasphemed the Blessed One! Thus, God incarnate granted us a blessing! Thus, the Lamb of God Jesus took upon Himself our sins, and His dishonor obtained glory for us, and the blasphemy He endured obtained for us blessing from the Heavenly Father. Blessed be Christ God, who was so pleased! Blessed be His name with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever, amen. Remember, brother, that the Lord, Who was blasphemed, will come in His terrible glory and will judge people. He was blasphemed for the sins of people, but he will judge people for their sins. Kings, and nobles, and princes, free and slaves, and blasphemers, and despisers, and sinners, and righteous, and I, and you, and every person, will stand before Him, and no one will run away from His judgment, although they may wish to hide. Oh, that terrible day on which the angry God, the righteous Judge, will appear! Just as humble and meek was His first coming, so glorious and terrible will be the second. It is already close, closer than it was yesterday, and unexpectedly, like lightning, it will appear. Let us watch and pray, because we do not know the day or hour at which the Son of God will appear. How Jesus the Son of God, our Savior, endured all the reproaches, reproaches, annoyances, reproaches and blasphemies inflicted on Him by the Jews, you have seen several times, but I also present this to you so that you may know what the meekness, patience, kindness, love for mankind and humility of Jesus our Redeemer were like, and so that I, the writer, and you, the hearer, may imagine in your mind a beautiful image of goodness. Oh, if only this divine image would be depicted in our souls! 1) Nowhere do we see Him reproaching His enemies who reproached and blasphemed Him: “When we reproached Him, He did not reproach each other” (1 Peter 2:23), says His apostle about Him. We, although we are evil, and sinful, and truly worthy of reproach, when someone reproaches us or blasphemes, we immediately reflect the reproach with reproach, like an arrow with an arrow: “I am like that myself,” or: “You are lying”; either we rush at him with our hands, or we drag him to judgment, or we are consumed with anger at him and want to take revenge on him a hundredfold. Such anger lies in our hearts. Christ our Lord did not do this: He never did this to His enemies. He endured everything with great meekness. From this we see how wonderful the meekness was in His divine heart. 2) Not only did he not reproach or take revenge on anyone, although he could strike anyone with a word or gesture, but he also regretted the death of His enemies. That is why He wept for His unrepentant and bitter enemies: “Looking at him” (Jerusalem, hostile to Him), “he wept for him and said: Oh, if only you, even on this day, knew what serves for your peace! But this is now hidden from your eyes, for the days will come upon you when your enemies will surround you with trenches and surround you, and press you in on every side, and destroy you, and kill your children within you, and will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:41-44). Oh, heart, burning with love for enemies! Oh, tears flowing because of the death of enemies! Oh, weeping over our dying enemies! Oh Jesus, eternal love! Give us such a heart, a heart that pains over the destruction of our enemies and rejoices over their bliss. Many Christians, seeing that their enemies have fallen into some kind of trouble, or have hurt them at will, rejoice and say: now my spirit has calmed down. Why did the spirit calm down? Here, they say, my enemy is suffering!.. The spirit has calmed down, but it is the spirit of hostility, which rejoices over our destruction and laments about our bliss. Christ did not act like this, not like this: He sheds tears for the destruction of His enemies. Therefore, such Christians are not Christ’s, although they are called Christians, because they do not have the spirit of Christ. “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Rom. 8:9). For the Spirit of Christ is at peace even over his enemies. 3) Thus enduring, and dealing meekly with His enemies, and regretting their destruction, the lover of mankind, Jesus, was not worried about His honor, which was neglected by them, but tried diligently for their salvation. Therefore, he brought them to repentance in different ways, presenting to them God’s mercy, which had been shown to them so many times and was always neglected by them, and frightening them with God’s judgment, inevitable for those who did not repent. 4) We see the goodness, love for mankind, patience and meekness of Jesus! We see that He showed in deed what He said about Himself in word: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “The Son of Man came not to destroy the souls of men, but to save” (Luke 9:56). From here we all learn to follow Christ, if we want to be Christ’s: shepherds act with their people as shepherds, and not as tormentors, lead their enemies to repentance, and not take revenge, regret their lack of correction, and not rejoice; other people - to endure each other with meekness, and not to reproach and not to take revenge, to try to correct their enemies and save them, and not to embitter them. For this is what our Christ commanded us, O Christians: “I have given you an example, so that you should do the same as I did to you” (to you people, your Lord and Teacher). “For let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (John 13:15; Phil 2:5). Let us change ourselves, beloved, and correct our steps, and let us follow the footsteps of the humble, meek and humane Jesus. Let us join His warriors, who are fighting under the banner of His Cross, and follow Him with faith, meekness, humility and patience, and He will lead us to His Heavenly Father in the country in which the dwelling of those who rejoice. For Jesus leads and brings there those who follow Him, and not those who do not follow. Think about it and pay attention. You ask: what other lies did the Jews commit against Christ, Whom they did not accept? Answer. They consulted among themselves on how to destroy Him, and tried more than once to commit that murder: they wanted to stone him, and they took him to the top of the mountain in order to overthrow Him from there. This is narrated in many places in the Holy Gospel. 1) What envy does: it leads to anger, and anger not only blasphemes and slander, but also incites murder. Oh, fierce evil is envy, and its daughter is malice! So at first Cain was jealous of Abel, then he became embittered, and in the end he killed his brother. So the sons of Jacob, envious of their brother Joseph, were angry with him and wanted to kill him, and would have killed him if God, who was with him, had not preserved him from murder. However, out of spite, Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt. So the Jews at first were jealous of Jesus our Lord, then they became embittered and out of malice they slandered and blasphemed Him, and then they wanted to kill Him. Envy and malice lead to this end. Beware of envy and malice, as deadly ulcers of the soul, and at the beginning, as soon as they arise in the heart, suppress them with the sword of the word of God and the help of Jesus. For if you do not stop, they will strengthen and defeat you, and plunge your soul into the poorest state. 2) You see here Whom the evil ones wanted to kill: the One Who came to save them, Who wanted and strove to gather them, as a bird gathers its chicks under its wings, Who raised the dead, cleansed the lepers, enlightened the blind, and showed them other countless good deeds - they were not ashamed to plot the murder of such a Benefactor, and the evil hearts were not horrified!.. You see what anger and envy do. Those who are malicious and envious do not forgive their benefactors, and they consult against them on how to harm and destroy them. They don’t look at who and what those against whom they breathe malice are. They do not reason and do not recognize the good in them and their good deeds to themselves, but they only think about how to put their evil intention into action. Thus envy and malice blind a poor man. Oh, envy and malice, the offspring of an evil spirit - the devil! Do you see how this parent of malice has infected the human heart! We see enough of this evil in the world, numerous examples are found of how evil ones and their benefactors are not ashamed and not horrified to do evil. Try in every possible way to guard yourself from envy and malice, so that it does not possess your heart. Many abstain from food and drink, and do not eat meat and fish, but do not want to abstain at all from envy and anger. And what is the benefit of the fact that the body does not consume what is not forbidden, but the soul is consumed by what is forbidden under pain of death? “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; “And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him,” says the apostle (1 John 3:15). 3) We see that temptation and persecution are small at first, but then they rise up more and more. As piety grows, temptation and persecution grow against it. What happened to our Savior also happens to His faithful servants. At first the Pharisees, scribes and Jews persecuted him with tongues, and then they tried to kill him. So Saint Job first suffered from the devil, the taking away of his property and children, and then the taking away of his health, and an increase in external and internal illnesses. We read the same about the holy martyrs and other saints. For the more a person resists and fights against the devil, the more misfortunes the enemy brings him. Let us also, beloved, stand strong against this enemy, and for the name of Jesus our Savior let us strive, and let us be strengthened with patience against every temptation and persecution. He Himself is our Helper in our struggle, and He Himself fought for us even to the point of death, death on the cross. You ask: what did the Lord do with those who tried to kill Him? Answer. We read in the Gospel that He evaded His murderers, since the time had not yet come for His free suffering and death, which He had to taste for our salvation. 1) He who had power over life and death evaded the evil murderers, who could either frighten them, or restrain them from their evil deeds, or defeat His enemies with a single word and gesture, but did not do this, did not demonstrate His omnipotent power, but acted as a weak and humble man, although he was God and Lord of all. Thus, for our sake, He deigned to humble himself and endure, in order to deliver us from our murderer and enemy, the devil, who killed us with his poison. We, infected with the poison of that enemy, rise up against those who rebel against us and raise our hands against them, but Christ did not do this, but was pleased to evade the malice that breathes murder, although He could righteously defeat His murderers. Glory to His humility, meekness and patience! 2) Our Lord, the lover of mankind, did not want to destroy His enemies, but avoided them. What is this if not His goodness that awaited their repentance? What if not His love, which is propitiated even over enemies? You see the heart of Jesus, and merciful towards his enemies! Do you see His love, embracing His enemies with His arms! Therefore, when the Samaritans did not accept Him, the disciples said to Him: “Lord! Do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and destroy them, just as Elijah did? But He, turning to them, rebuked them and said: You do not know what kind of spirit you are; For the Son of Man came not to destroy the souls of men, but to save” (Luke 9:54–56). O merciful and meek spirit! Oh, the comforting words of God's Word! “The Son of Man came not to destroy the souls of men, but to save.” We repay evil for evil and annoyance for annoyance, although we are worthy of all evil and annoyance because we are sinners, but Jesus, the highest of all honor, did not want to judge those who annoyed Him. You see the goodness and love of Jesus! Let us approach Jesus with repentance, such a merciful Lord, who did not want to destroy those who wanted to kill Him. Will He destroy those who repent and seek His mercy? No way, because it is contrary to His goodness. Glory to His goodness and mercy! 3) The Lord, by evading the destructive hands, although He could have saved Himself otherwise, gave us an example of evading those who were hostile to us, yielding to them, even though we could resist them. Christ wants Christians to be unarmed in this matter; He wants them to defeat their enemies not with weapons, but with humility and meekness. Christians should be like humble and meek sheep, who yield to all the smallest animals and find refuge in their shepherd alone. For them came their Shepherd Jesus, who conquered His enemies with meekness and patience. They must arm themselves against only one common enemy, the devil, who is defeated by humility, not pride, patience, not anger. 4) From here we learn not to rush recklessly into attack, but to avoid it. For if the Lord, Who with His omnipotent power could do everything, avoided adversity for a time, then how much more should we, the weak, do this. It is characteristic of a courageous and generous heart not to fall into adversity, but to endure the adversity that comes, and not lose heart in it, and not weaken. 5) From the example of the good and philanthropic Jesus our Lord, we learn to be kind to our enemies and to overcome their malice with our love. For from this the Christian heart is known. Christ our Lord teaches us about this: “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44), and so on. “If you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Do not the publicans also do the same” (Matthew 5:44, 46)? It is characteristic of man to love those who love and to do good to those who do good, but to love those who hate and to do good to those who do evil is characteristic of a Christian man who has the spirit of Christ within himself. Every Christian must have the spirit of Christ. “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Rom. 8:9). Let us remember, beloved, the time in which the Almighty evaded and hid from human malice. For our sake, sinners, our Lord did this, He came into the world to save us. He will come again, but he will come to judge the world, he will come and will not delay. He Himself tells us: “Watch, because you do not know at what hour your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:42). That time, day and hour is approaching, closer today than it was yesterday, and suddenly a cry will be heard: “Behold, the bridegroom is coming, go out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6)! Think about that time and pay attention to yourself. You ask me to further inform you about the saving actions of the Son of God - our Lord. I bring them to you, as before and now, from His Holy Gospel. Listen and reason. Our Lord, knowing that He must certainly suffer from the scribes, Pharisees and bishops of the Jews, repeatedly predicted this to His disciples, saying “that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and on the third day rise again” (Luke 9 and other places). 1) The Lord, predicting His suffering and death to the apostles, showed them, and through them to us, that He, by His will, desired to drink the cup of suffering and death, and spoke directly about this: Therefore the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life in order to take it again. No one takes it away from Me, but I myself give it. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again (John 10:17–18). The Father deigned that the Son should drink this cup for our salvation, and the Son deigned to drink that cup, and thus complete salvation, and was obedient even to death, even death on the cross (Phil 2:8). You see the love of the Heavenly Father for us: He did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all (Rom. 8:32). You also see the Son’s love for us: He willingly gave Himself up to death for us, laid down His soul for us, so that we might find our lost souls. Glory to the Father who was pleased, glory to the Son who was pleased, and to the Holy Spirit who gives life and renews us! 2) Before suffering, Jesus our Lord endured suffering. For he saw how great and terrible suffering he would have to endure, and even from his people, from those to whom he was sent and from whom he came in the flesh. He saw that one of His disciples would betray Him into the hands of the wicked for a small price. I saw that they would spit on him, hurt him, scold him, condemn him and nail him to the cross. He saw all this, and thus His Divine soul was wounded, and before the passion it still suffered. For it is known that the foresight and inevitability of the expected misfortune confuses and saddens the soul no less than the coming misfortune itself. But nevertheless, love for His Heavenly Father and mercy for the lost man prevailed. It was better for Him to endure everything than to see how God was irritated and angry with human sin, and to leave the poor man in the power of the devil and destruction. You see that Jesus despised Himself for the sake of our salvation, and although not in body, He suffered with His holy soul throughout His life on earth. Glory to His love and mercy for us, the unworthy! Let us also render Him love for love and fulfill His holy commandments out of love. 3) The Lord predicted in advance to His disciples about His sufferings, so that they would not doubt and be tempted by them when they actually see Him suffering, Whom they saw working miracles, their Lord, and would not waver in their hearts about Him, but would know that He Who predicted His sufferings endures them by His will. For a misfortune that is foreseen and then comes does not confuse a person as much as one that comes unexpectedly, and, having prepared ourselves, we meet the expected misfortune more generously than if we accidentally fell into it. Therefore, the Lord announced to His disciples about His sufferings, and about theirs, and about other persecutions of the faithful, and sorrows happening to them in the world: “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). Think about this word: “In the world you will have tribulation.” This word was spoken not only to the apostles, but also to all the faithful. Not banquets and fun, but sorrows, persecutions and crosses are offered to us in the world. Let us prepare ourselves for the sorrow that comes, and generously endure it. Our Lord showed Himself ready for all sorrow and suffering for us; we too will show ourselves ready for anything for His name. You ask: what does it mean to show yourself ready for anything? Answer. No matter what sad things happen to us, we must endure everything resignedly and gratefully. Whether people reproach and blaspheme us, we will not reproach and blaspheme in response. They will take our property from us, we will leave it to them. They will hurt us, let us not take revenge on them. They will put us in prison, let us not murmur, but endure. They'll send you into exile, let's go with merry feet. They will condemn you to death and betray you, we will not renounce. This means being ready for anything. What does it mean to be hated for the name of Christ? Answer. If we live according to the rule of the word of Christ, if we are not conformed to the world, if we do not communicate ourselves to the evil deeds of evil people, if we love, honor, and keep His commandments, do not do what is pleasing to the world, but what is pleasing to Christ, and suffer persecution for this, then we will suffer for His name. In a word, when we suffer not as murderers, or thieves, or villains, or other sinners, but as Christians, then we suffer for the name of Christ. For the world does not love Christ and piety, therefore it does not love true Christians. This is what happens to the sons of this age. He who does not love his father does not love his children. He who hates the master also hates his faithful slaves. He who persecutes the owner also persecutes his household. Whoever is angry with a person is also angry with his true friends and acquaintances. Do you see this truth? Note, isn't that what happens? So the evil world, hating Christ the Lord, also hates His faithful slaves. Christ predicted this: “You will be hated by all because of My name” (Matthew 10:22). Note also that while a person lives in harmony with the world and pleases the world, no matter what he does (bad), the world does not seem to see it - all his deeds are hidden, because he is a dear child to the world. But when he despises the world and begins to please Christ, then where will everything come from? Where does the gossip and gossip come from? And no matter what he does, everything is twisted and reinterpreted to vilify and embitter him. So, when a person leaves the world, he also leaves his world, he drives away. In other words, if a person loves truth and piety, the world persecutes and embitters him. He comes to Christ, and the world casts him out as obscene, and, like the sea, casts out a dead body from itself. You see that for the name of Christ the servants of Christ are hated, either by those who do not confess the name of Christ, or by false brethren and hypocritical Christians. Do you see what the condition of Christians is in this world! Just as the world persecuted their Lord, so does His servants persecute. The word of the Lord is not false: “If the master of the house was called Beelzebub, how much more of his household” (Matthew 10:25)? “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). But “he who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:22). Are you writing that it’s hard for a person to endure everything? Answer. It will be more difficult to hear from Christ: “I do not know you, where you come from” (Luke 13:27). You did not know Me in My humility, and I do not know you now in your pride. You did not follow My humility and patience, and now you will not enter My glory. You did not follow My steps, as servants should, and now I do not recognize you as My servants. I hear from you: “Lord, Lord, - “But I do not see in you the sign of My servants. You did not listen to Me when I called you into My kingdom, and I do not listen to you now, who call, “Depart from Me, all you workers of wickedness”” (Luke 13:27). You see how hard it will be to hear such words from Christ on the last day for those for whom it was hard to endure here and follow the footsteps of Christ. He does not recognize anyone as His servant who does not follow Him, His Master. “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). If you are not worthy of Christ, then who is you worthy of, if not His opponent? It was hard for Christ our Lord to bear the cross, burdened with our sins, but he bore it with joy in order to see us saved. Should we slaves, worthy of all execution and torment, be ashamed and refuse to endure everything for the sake of His name and our great benefit? The cross and Christian suffering are madness for the world, but for Christians they are wisdom and glory. Flesh and blood are ashamed and horrified by this, but the spirit rejoices over it. Let the flesh yield and submit to the spirit, and let the spirit triumph. Christian virtue consists of victory over oneself, over the flesh and over the world. What joy can there be about the cross? 1) Don’t you hear what the apostle says: “The Lord punishes whomever he loves; and he beats every son whom he receives” (Hebrews 12:6). What great joy and consolation can there be than to be loved by God and accepted into His fatherly mercy? The cross and suffering are a sign of God’s paternal love for us. 2) How joyfully people follow the king of the earth, and wherever they go, they will follow him - you yourself saw it, or heard it, or maybe it happened to you yourself. How incomparably more joyful it is for Christians to follow Christ, the King of Heaven, and follow His footsteps, and communicate with Christ’s passions, bear the reproach of Christ, suffer and endure with Christ, and conform to Him! All this is madness for the world, but for Christians it is wisdom, honor, praise and glory. The honor and praise of a warrior does not lie in being known only as a warrior, but in fighting bravely against enemies. And for a Christian, a warrior of Christ, glory and praise in feat consists not in the name, but in the deed itself, when he not only bears the name of Christ on himself, showing that he is a Christian, but when he follows his King, when he is conformed to Him, when he does what his King and Lord did. The Heavenly King looks at such a warrior and his feat from heaven, praises him and rejoices over him. What great joy, what greater consolation can there be for the spirit of a Christian, how to conform to his Heavenly King and do what is pleasing to Him in His sight? 3) Look and consider what the Lord says to the crusaders and sufferers: “Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and slander you in every way unrighteously for My sake” (Matthew 5:11). You see whom Christ, the Truth, which never lies, pleases: not the rich, not the glorious, not living in luxury, not feeding on sweets - not those whom the senseless world pleases, praises, glorifies and magnifies - the world, I say, is blind, which, what it sees, either pleases or scolds, and what it does not see, it does not know, and does not even think of desiring or turning away. But whom does the Lord, “righteous in” all “his words” please (Rom. 3:4)? - Those whom the world scolds and expels as obscene, and invents all sorts of evil speeches and blasphemies against them, for no other reason than because they are Christ’s, that they love Christ, honor Christ and follow Christ with love, walk in His footsteps, struggle under His sign, and each bears his own cross. For he is not blessed whom a false tongue that does not know the truth praises, but whom the true and righteous Judge praises. Visible bliss, like a bubble on water, appears and disappears, but invisible bliss is solid, permanent and eternal. The first is imaginary and false, and the second is true. What is the bliss of someone who yesterday was rich, famous, honest, and having fun, but today, just like a beggar, vile and dishonest, lies in a grave? And if only the soul that had left the body had not been locked in the prison of hell! This is the kind of bliss the world praises and seeks! Invisible bliss now begins with faith and hope, and there it is completed by receiving the promise. For confirmed hope both cheers and encourages, and makes a person blessed. Hope in man and in every creature deceives, because it is established on a rotten foundation, but hope in God does not lie, as long as it is firm. What God promised is so true and true that it is as if it had already been fulfilled by deed itself. For God is true and keeps His word firmly, although He often tempts our hope. 4) The Lord further adds: “Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven” (Matthew 5:12). You see that the Lord commands us to rejoice and be glad about the cross and suffering. Why? “For great is your reward.” Where? Not on earth, where everything passes away: sadness, joy, punishment, reward, bliss, and suffering - soon passes; but where? In heaven. Everything there is permanent, and solid, and eternal. Where God Himself will praise and crown, glorify and please, enrich and amuse, give peace and comfort, and He will reveal His Divine face, bright, merciful, entertaining, to His servants. There the reward is great, where good things are in store for those who love God, which “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, neither has entered into the heart of man” (1 Cor 2:9), where “they will see God face to face” (1 Cor 13:12), where they will be “like Him, and will see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2), where “the righteous will shine like the sun” (Matthew 13:43). Where the kingdom is prepared from the foundation of the world for the blessed Heavenly Father (Matthew 25:36), where “the righteous live forever; their reward is in the Lord, and their care is with the Most High; where they will receive a kingdom of glory and a crown of beauty from the hand of the Lord" (Wis 5:15-16), where "they will neither hunger nor thirst any more, neither will the sun beat down on them nor any heat: for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will feed them and lead them to living springs of water; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Rev 7:16–17), where the Great Supper has been prepared, where the servants of the Lord will eat, drink and be merry (Isa 65:13–14), where the glory of the Lord will appear (Ps 16:15), where they will triumph over death and hell and exclaim: “Death! where is your sting? hell! where is your victory" (1 Cor 15:55)? Where, finally, there will be no sorrow, no cry, no complaint, no sadness, no sighing, no lamentation, no crying, no poverty, no hunger, no thirst, no cold, no heat, no trouble and disaster - but there will be joy, joy, exclamation, consolation, coolness, peace, wealth, glory, kingdom, peace, like a river flowing, and every bliss that no one can imagine. cannot understand, cannot say a word, cannot describe with a pen. Then the corruptible will be changed into the incorruptible, the mortal into the immortal, the rotten into the unfading, the temporary into the eternal, suffering into joy, sorrow into joy, oath into blessing, poverty into wealth, weakness into eternal health, humiliation into heavenly glory, reproach into honor. Then the word of the Lord will be fulfilled: “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5). You see where and what reward will be for those who bear the cross and for Christ who follows. Thus they “suffer with Christ, that they may also be glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:17). He will “transform their lowly body so that it may be conformed to His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). Those who are conformed to the suffering of Christ will be conformed to His glory. This cheers them in the midst of sorrow, strengthens them in suffering and supports them in heroism. There is no hope without consolation; it softens and overcomes even the most severe torment. You ask: how did the apostles accept the prediction of the suffering of Christ? Answer. The holy evangelist says that “they were greatly saddened” (Matthew 17:23). But the Lord said that they themselves, and others who want to be His disciples and have participation with Him in His kingdom, must take up their cross and follow Him. “To all he said: If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his soul will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, but destroy or harm himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and of the Father and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:23–26); “And whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). This is what the Lord offers to the apostles and all Christians: not only, they say, should I go to the cross, but you and others who accept My word must follow Me and be ready for any suffering. I am your Lord, you are slaves; follow your Lord. I am your teacher, you are students - follow your Teacher. I am the leader to the kingdom of heaven, you are travelers; follow Me, your Leader, if you want to get there. But let us consider these words of the Lord in order and put them into our hearts. 1) Not only the apostles, but also all Christians are called disciples of Christ. Why? Because they accept His teaching and follow it. After all, a student is called a student because he learns from a teacher. Because of this, we read in the Acts of the Apostles that at that time all Christians were called disciples. Therefore, Christians, as disciples of Christ, need to learn good morals from His word and the example of His life and follow them. For students should be imitators of both the word of teaching and the example of life of the teacher. Otherwise, they cannot truly be or be called disciples. Therefore the Lord says: “Learn from Me” (Matthew 11:29). And again: “I have given you an example, that you also should do the same as I have done to you” (John 13:15). If you accept the word of Christ as truth - it truly is the truth - and you see His divine morals in the Gospel, then whether you learn as a student from a teacher, and whether you correct your morals according to that rule, reason. After all, anyone who wants to be a Christian must certainly learn from Christ. For a Christian is a disciple of Christ. 2) What does it mean to renounce oneself? Answer. Do you know what people do when they see others whom they don’t love being beaten and wounded, or some other evil being done to them? They are negligent and careless about them, and have no regret for them. Apply this to yourself and treat yourself as an enemy whom you do not love, cut off your will and do not do what it pleases. Despise and hate yourself for your own good, and do not love for evil. Whatever entered into nature after the creation (of Adam), cut off everything as obscene, and become different from what you were before—better. Let what God created be intact, but turn away from what came later. Every person is his own worst enemy, so make enemies of yourself, not others. No one will hurt you if you don't hurt yourself. Don't be angry at others, but be angry at yourself. When they praise you, do not be consoled, and when you are persecuted and reviled, do not grieve. After the fall, man became the old man, smoldering in lust. Renounce the old man, renounce all lust that is hostile to the soul created in the image of God. Renounce shame and fear, which is not useful to her, and do not be ashamed or horrified where the word of God does not command. Would you say that it is difficult for a person to do this? And I know it’s difficult, but it’s necessary. Difficulty and inconvenience must be overcome by need. Those who work and force themselves and ask, God Almighty helps. True virtue is accomplished with great inconvenience, and there is virtue where there is victory over the passionate flesh. We do not call a child chaste, since he does not fight against lust; and we do not call a deaf man patient and meek if he is reviled, and is not angry because he does not hear; and we do not call the sick person who does not have bread a faster, since one does not have what to eat, and the other cannot. To conquer oneself is virtuous, commendable, and glorious. This is the whole Christian feat. 3) What does it mean to take up your cross? Answer. Ready to be ready for anything nasty that may happen, that is, for any kind of ill-suffering, even until death, if it is necessary for the sake of the honor of the name of God. What does it mean to bear your cross? Answer. To endure all suffering meekly and generously, even if the heart is greatly wounded. 4) What does it mean to follow Christ, as the Lord says: “Take up your cross and follow Me?” Answer. Evildoers suffer and bear their cross, but they do not follow Christ, because they suffer for their own deeds. What does it mean to follow Christ? - To be in true repentance, and to create the fruits of repentance, and to endure all suffering that may happen, for the sake of the love of God, looking at Christ Himself, who suffered so much; because Christ did everything righteously and did not commit sin, and taught good, but endured all evil for our sake, doing the will of His Heavenly Father and completing His work (John 4:34), “being obedient even to death, even the death of the cross” (Phil 2:8). Thus, He taught us by His example how we should please God, that is, to do good and endure evil, in order to fulfill the will of God for both. For to please God means the same thing as to do His will, for without this it is impossible to please God. The will of God wants us to do good and to graciously endure everything negative that happens and overcome it with resigned patience. “Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example so that we would follow in His footsteps. He committed no sin, and no flattery was in His mouth. Being slandered, He did not slander each other; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but handed it over to the Just Judge” (1 Peter 2:21–23). And this is the apostolic teaching. “For this pleases God if anyone, thinking about God, endures sorrows, suffering unjustly. For what is praise if you endure being beaten for your wrongdoings? But if, while doing good and suffering, you endure, this pleases God. For to this you were called” (1 Peter 2:19–21). 5) What does it mean: “whoever wants to save his soul will lose it,” etc.? Answer. The word “soul” here means life. In the event of persecution, when it is necessary to either die or renounce Christ, one must renounce one’s life and die, but not renounce Christ. Whoever dies this way (without renouncing Christ) “will not die, but will live” (Ps. 117:17) and, having lost temporary life, will gain eternal life. And whoever, in such a temptation, wants to save his life “(save his soul”), he will lose eternal life (lose it).” For a Christian man must renounce not only his property, honor, parents and relatives, but also his very life for the honor of the name of Christ. Christ, who loved us and gave Himself for us, must be loved not only more than our parents, father and mother, and everything else in this world, but also more than our life. You see from here that those who reward their relatives abundantly, but refuse or give little to those who ask for the sake of the name of Christ, have no love for Christ. Such people love their own flesh and blood, and not Christ, for whose sake a Christian should not spare not only his property, but also his life. And our property is His property, given to us from Him, and our life belongs to Him, for it was given to us by Him. For both we and our possessions are His creation. Therefore, when our property or our life is taken away from us, it is not ours that is taken away, but what God has given us. Therefore, with Job, everyone must acknowledge: “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; as the Lord pleased, so it was done; Blessed be the name of the Lord!” ( Job 1:21 ). God gives us both property and life - he may take it away from us, but he wants us, by our own will, for the sake of love for Him, to leave everything when necessary. So, having left everything except God, we will gain God Himself, Who will be our wealth and life, but eternal and incomparably better. In Him honor, glory, wealth, life and bliss are found perfect. Without God there can be no true bliss. 6) “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world,” etc. – what does this mean? Answer. If someone gave you great wealth and the kingdom of the earth, but also told you that, having received it, you would die immediately, then what benefit would that (wealth) bring to you? Does a dead person need wealth, fame, honor and all the treasures of this world? The dead person neither feels nor demands anything; He leaves everything here in peace and takes nothing with him. In death, everyone, rich and poor, noble and baseless, are made equal. If temporary life is dearer to us than everything that anyone knows in mortal cases, then how much more should we prefer to all the treasures of the world and temporary life itself - eternal life, which, once found, will never be lost, and once lost, will never be found. Temporary life, no matter how you take care and protect it, must be left, and everything with it, but eternal life and its bliss endure forever, without end, therefore all wealth, glory and honor, and this life itself, for the sake of eternal life, must be left when necessary. Let us leave behind the bad, the earthly, the corruptible, the deceptive, but let us acquire the best, the heavenly, the incorruptible, the true. In this, faith strengthens us and hope encourages us. God promised us, His word is true: what He promised, He will give without a doubt to the believers. “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev 2:10). He remains faithful in His word; let us remain faithful and receive. Let us say not only with our tongues, but also with our hearts: “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century.” 7) What does it mean: “who will be ashamed of Me and My words,” etc.? Answer. Many want to be glorified with Christ, but few want to be with the humble and suffering. But this is impossible. It is necessary for disciples, slaves and members of the body to be with their Teacher, Lord and Head in humility and suffering. The head suffers, and the other members of the body also suffer. The master is reviled, and his servants are reviled. The teacher endures, and so do his students. Christians are bodily members, slaves and disciples of Christ, therefore they too must follow Christ as their Head, Lord and Teacher. May the disciple, and the slave, and the member of the body not be ashamed to endure what the Teacher, the Lord and the Head endured. “A disciple is not above the teacher, and a servant is not above his master” (Matthew 10:24). Christians see that Christ our Lord endured all dishonor and suffering for us, therefore our righteous duty is not to be ashamed to endure whatever befalls us. If someone runs away and is ashamed to endure reproach and bitterness, the Lord himself will be ashamed when he comes not in humility, but in glory, and “says: “I tell you, I don’t know you, where you come from” (Luke 13:27). I do not recognize as slaves those who did not work for Me, I do not accept as disciples those who did not follow My footsteps. You were ashamed of Me in My humility, and now I am ashamed of you in My glory. You judged yourself unworthy to wear the cross and follow Me, unworthy of Me and I judge you. “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). If you are unworthy of Christ, then you are worthy of the one whose pride will follow. For whoever does not follow Christ and does not remain with Christ must necessarily follow His opponent and have participation with him - he must stick to one side and stick to that side. Whoever does whose will will follow. Life in this world is a constant battle, in which two sides fight not with visible weapons, but with spiritual and invisible weapons, just as this battle is invisible and spiritual. Christ, the King of the world, rules His Church, and protects it, and arms it against the devil, the enemy of Christians, but the devil rises up against them, and arms himself with his horde, and wants not to take away their cities, but to captivate their souls. Therefore, without fail, everyone either fights with Christ and His servants under His cross against that enemy, or is on the opposite side. “Whoever is not with Me is against Me,” says the Lord (Matthew 12:30). Whoever opposes the will of Christ and does not follow Him has already joined the opposite side, fell behind the army of Christ, betrayed Christ and returned to the dark satanic horde, which he renounced at Baptism. For it is not the Christian name, but life that makes a Christian, just as it is not the name that makes a warrior, but battle and heroism. For every name without corresponding action is an empty sound. Isn't it an empty formality to be called a master's slave and at the same time not work for this master? Call yourself a warrior and stay at home? To be called someone's student and not learn from that teacher? Call yourself a Christian, but not follow the will of Christ? Each Christian has his own name from Christ, because, having left the devil, he adhered to Christ and promised to follow Him, as the words spoken at Baptism show. 8) Every Christian is reborn again, called a new man, having put aside the oldness of Adam. Just as we followed the old Adam in malice and sins, so we must follow the new Adam, Who is the Lord from heaven, in goodness and virtues. Since we also received the name from Christ as new people, that is, we are called people of renewal, we must become and be new, and not follow the old evil, but the new good Adam: “And just as we have borne the image of earthy, we will also bear the image of heavenly things” (1 Cor 15:49). 9) Just as the Israelites who wanted to leave Egypt had to follow Moses the leader, and those who wanted to enter the Promised Land had to follow Joshua, so those who wanted to be freed from the work of the devil and his calamity and enter the heavenly fatherland must follow Jesus Christ. “Whoever serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there will my servant also be,” says the Lord (John 12:26). Let us follow Christ not with our feet, but with our hearts. You say: it’s impossible to endure? Answer. It is impossible to walk on water and fly through the air and so on, but it is possible to endure. When an illness torments your body, you endure when a doctor treats you with cruel and nasty medicine, you endure when your father or someone in authority beats you, you endure when they put you in prison, you endure, and so on, you endure everything, although you don’t want to. You see what can be tolerated. It’s better to admit that you don’t want to, rather than making an excuse that you can’t. Put aside your reluctance, and it will be possible. To him who wants, all things are possible, especially with the help of Jesus, who endured everything for us. It is better in everything that the opposite happens, to surrender to the will of God, without which nothing happens, and to endure everything without indignation, grumbling and with willingness, for this will be a matter of obedience, submission and virtue; and if you do not want to and with indignation (perceive the opposite), then this will be a matter of disobedience, disobedience and vice. The first is characteristic of the Spirit that submits to the will of its Lord, and the second is characteristic of the spirit that resists. It is common for a faithful servant of God to believe in himself and say: what my God wants, I want too. He wants me to be sick, so do I. He wants me to be in poverty, so do I. He wants me to endure disgrace, and so do I. Whether he wants me to be in prison or in captivity, or to die, I want it too. This has happened to me, I will endure it, the will of the Lord be done. He gave me this cup, I will drink it, given from Him. But at the same time, know that although your desire will not be, and you will grumble, you will nevertheless drink, but with greater sorrow and without any benefit to you. God, who imposes the cross, is the one who helps us to bear the cross. But he helps those who are willing and willing and obey, but he departs from those who grumble, and so it becomes a grave burden for them. Let us also, beloved, say and sing, in conclusion of what has been said, what the holy prophet sang: “My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready” (Ps 107:2). For this is the sign of a true Israelite and a child of Abraham in the spirit, and not in the flesh: to be ready for everything that God commands. You ask: does God impose a cross, because people do evil to us, incited by the devil? Answer. The devil and evil people are at enmity with us and do evil, but without God’s permission they can do nothing. People took away the property of Saint Job, but he confessed and said: “The Lord gave, the Lord has also taken away; as the Lord pleased, so it was done” (Job 1:21). And our Savior Jesus Christ suffered and endured from evil people, but said to Peter: “Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me” (John 18:11)? The Lord here calls His suffering and death a cup. God gives this cup to pious people to drink when He punishes them, and relaxes and allows the devil and his evil servants to rise up against them, persecute, embitter and torment them, and thus they become conformed to their Lord Jesus, just as the bodily members of the Head are conformed in suffering, so that in glory they may be conformed to Him: “with Him” they suffer, “that they may also be glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:17). Let us accept, beloved, this cup from the hand of the Lord when He gives it to us, and let us drink it with obedience. Let us taste with Christ vinegar mixed with gall (Matthew 27:34), so that we may be worthy to drink sweet wine at the table of His heavenly joy (Isaiah 65:14). You ask me to offer you more information about the saving actions of our Savior Jesus. Well, it’s good for us to learn from that. For this is “the only thing needed” (Luke 10:42). It is better to practice in this than in such matters that are inherent in this age. We are travelers, and our fatherland is not on earth. We cross the earth as a path, and we leave everything earthly on earth, and we leave here as one soul. Therefore, let us think about and take care of that which is useful to our soul and inseparable from it; it leaves here with it, and enters the fatherland with it. Our Savior, having told the apostles that He should suffer and die in Jerusalem for our salvation, some time before suffering, took with Him three apostles: Peter, James and John - and led them to a high mountain, where He was transfigured before them. And His face shone like the sun, and His robe was white as light. Then two prophets appeared to them in glory: Moses and Elijah, talking with the Lord. Then they heard a voice from a bright cloud that overshadowed them: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; Listen to Him” (Matthew 17:5). The apostles, hearing this voice, fell on their faces and were greatly afraid, and so on. With this saving action the Lord showed the apostles: 1) That He is the Father’s radiance, God and Lord and the King of glory, although He hid under the humble image of humanity: outwardly He appears as a man, like others, but inside there is God. The apostles had previously seen His glory from miraculous works, but here they saw His glory with their own eyes, when His face appeared to them like the sun and his garments like light, as they testify: “And we saw His glory, the glory as of the only begotten from the Father” (John 1:14). The glory of Christ was demonstrated by His works, which no one but God can do. But here His divine glory appeared in a visible way, when His divine face was illuminated like the sun, and His vestments shone like light, and the voice of the Father testified of Him. 2) By this he showed that He willingly went to the suffering about which He predicted. For one who knows that He is God, to whom all things are possible, can conveniently know that His suffering is voluntary. For what can force God to suffer - God, who is above all, and to whose word and command everything obeys? Only His love and mercy for us, the poor, moved Him to this Thus, by this saving action, God admonished the apostles so that when they saw their Lord and Teacher suffering, they would not be tempted, and would not be afraid, and would not lag behind Him, knowing that He would suffer willingly, no matter what He suffered. He could have stopped all the evil actions of His enemies, but He did not want to; on the contrary, he wanted to endure and suffer everything, so that the lost person would receive salvation from this. 3) The apostles both saw the Savior in glory, and saw the prophets who appeared as partakers of that glory. From this we see that in eternal life the glory of the saints will be like the glory of Christ, “they will be like Him, and” they will see “Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). Here the face of Christ shone like the sun, and “then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43), “Who will transform our lowly body so that it will be like His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). We also see what joy and sweetness there will be. Peter felt such joy and sweetness in himself when he saw the glory of God that he did not want to leave the mountain, but wanted to stay there: “At this Peter said to Jesus: Lord! It’s good for us to be here,” and so on (Matthew 17:4). Some of the glory of God, and as much as they could see, they saw, but they came into such joy and sweetness. What joy and joy there will be, where all the glory of God will appear, where they will see God “face to face” (1 Cor 13:12)!.. But whoever wants to be a participant in the joy and glory of that must experience the sorrow and reproach of Christ here. “We suffer with him” (Christ) so that we may also be glorified with him (Rom. 8:17). “Through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). You see that it is necessary to enter there not only through sorrows, but also through many sorrows. 4) The Voice of the Father: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; Listen to Him -” concerns not only the apostles, but also all of us. The apostles then proclaimed God from the cloud, but through them His voice came to us, and God says to us: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; Listen to him." How many times we read or hear His holy Gospel, so many times we hear the voice of the Son of God speaking to us, which teaches us nothing other than the path of salvation along which everyone who wants to receive it must go to the glory of God, partially shown on the holy mountain. Let us listen to the Son of God, as the Heavenly Father exhorts us, and, leaving behind worldly desires, let us take up every cross that He imposes, and follow Him, so that He may lead us to His Heavenly Father. So let us run “to receive,” let us suffer with Him, so that we may be glorified with Him, let us not be ashamed to bear His reproach, so that He will not be ashamed of us when He comes in His glory. May the Lord remember us in His kingdom. When the time came for Jesus, the Son of God, to drink the cup of suffering and death for our salvation, He mounted a donkey and rode to Jerusalem. “The multitude of people who came to the festival, hearing that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took palm branches, came out to meet Him and exclaimed: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel” (John 12:12–13)! 1) He who sits on the throne of His glory, and is worshiped and glorified by all the heavenly Powers, did not disdain to sit down and ride on dumb cattle. For our salvation, the Son of God did this, just as he became incarnate. For this reason, let human pride be ashamed, which loves to travel in a train and in gilded carriages. 2) When the Son of God entered the world and was born, he lay down in a wretched den and manger, like one of the beggars, but when he had to depart from the world and suffer and die for us, he walked in triumph, hearing both in front and behind exclamations from all sides of the people surrounding Him. In the 18th century, a particularly ceremonial type of harness was used, in which horses were harnessed one after another, one or two in a row. You might be interested in: