Letters sent

A collection of letters “sent to some friends” was compiled by the saint himself. He also gave it the name “Letters Sent”. These letters were written in response and simply “to various persons for instruction, for consolation, and sometimes for reproof.” Some, as can be seen from the letters themselves, were a continuation of an oral conversation that began and for some reason was not completed during a personal meeting. Preparing this collection for presentation in St. The Synod, the saint, apparently placed in it only those that “look more like simple moral teaching than letters, some of them without any greetings or ordinary worldly ceremonies at all.” You asked me: what is our first business? To which I answer you. You reason and pay attention. 1) We were created and, after the fall, redeemed to eternal life, renewed by holy Baptism and called to eternal life by the Word of God, we have the Holy Scripture given to us from God to receive eternal life; The Son of God, Jesus Christ came into the world and lived in peace, suffered and died so that we would receive eternal life. You see that the first and most necessary Christian work is eternal salvation. We need clothing, food, drink, a home, etc., but eternal salvation is so necessary that without it everything is nothing. He who has salvation has everything, and he who does not have salvation has nothing, even if he had the whole world under his power. “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul” (Matthew 16:26)? For eternal salvation “is only necessary,” according to the word of Christ, it is “the good part that will not be taken away” from us (Luke 10:42). Everything we have in this world will be taken away from us. Wealth, honor, fame, luxury, friendship, wife, children and temporary life itself will be taken away on the day of death, but the salvation of the soul, once acquired, will never be taken away, but will go with the soul to that age and will not be separated from it forever and ever. Here's the first Christian thing for you. This work is the very work about which Christ speaks to His Heavenly Father: “I have finished the work that You gave Me to do” (John 17:4). 2) The first thing should be given the very first care, diligence, diligence, labor and feat, so that it comes to perfection. The first task of a warrior is to be brave in battle, to stand against enemies and defeat them, and therefore the first effort of a good warrior should be to be a good warrior. A slave’s first job is to work for his master and please him, and therefore a good slave should have his first concern about this. The first thing for a student is to study and learn from the teacher what he is learning, and therefore his first effort should be about this. The boss’s first job is to manage his subordinates and keep them in order, and therefore his first effort should be about that. The shepherd’s first job is to graze the cattle entrusted to him, and therefore all his efforts should be to ensure that his flock is intact. A judge’s first job is to judge people who come to court, to seek the truth and act truthfully, and to give everyone their due, and therefore he should have all the work and effort about this. Same with other things. For a Christian, since his first work is the work of salvation (as stated in the first paragraph), then his first zeal, care, effort and feat should be so that salvation, through the Blood and death of Christ, acquired at such a great price, is not deprived. Satan is trying to take away his eternal salvation, but he must try so as not to lose it. The more the enemy tries for the destruction of a Christian, the more the Christian must try for his salvation. The first and most necessary task of a Christian is his salvation. Therefore, always and everywhere his first effort should be about this. The economy and everything that relates to this world is the last thing he has to do, therefore the effort about that should be the last, and the very first thing is about spiritual salvation, because everything will leave him, but spiritual salvation will never leave if he receives it. This is the first thing - the first thing and he should be diligent about this in all his deeds and actions. He should have this in his thoughts and heart in the morning, during the day, in the evening, at night, everywhere and always. Let this thought, like a burning candle, in all deeds and undertakings, everywhere and always precede him and show him what he must do so as not to lose salvation. Whether a Christian is a judge, he must judge so, so as not to fall under the eternal judgment of God. Whether the boss is a Christian, he must lead in such a way so as not to lose eternal salvation. Whether he is a shepherd of the flock of Christ, he must shepherd the sheep of Christ in this way, so as not to destroy himself and them. Is he a teacher? This is how he must teach people in order to save himself and them. Whether he is a master, he must rule so as not to destroy himself and his slaves. Whether he is a father, this is what he must do with his children in order to save them and himself. Whether he is a merchant, he must be a merchant so as not to destroy himself. Whether he is rich, he must use his wealth in such a way that this good does not turn into spiritual poison for him. Whether he is poor, he must also be poor in spirit in order to receive the riches of God’s goodness. Whether he is a warrior, he must be a warrior so as not to lose eternal life. In a word, every Christian in every rank and rank must have the first effort and concern for this, so that he does not lose eternal salvation, for without it everything is nothing. Whoever has such a thought and effort, every rank and title will help him to salvation. Let every Christian have the first effort and concern for the salvation of the soul, as the first and most necessary matter, and be saved by the grace of God. For in this way God Almighty helps those who strive and care. 3) This requires enlightenment by the grace of God. A Christian receives enlightenment with the help of God from Holy Scripture. In the Holy Scriptures, God with His properties and His holy will are presented to us for knowledge; the old and the new man, or the one perishing and the one being saved, is described; the path to salvation and destruction is shown. There you will see that he meets everyone after death, that is, in eternity. Be truly convinced that Holy Scripture is the Word of God, and it is spoken for you, as for every person. It was given to you to obtain eternal salvation, so look for it in it. Stop testing what is happening there or in another place, but test from the Word of God what is happening in your soul and to what end you are going, whether towards destruction or salvation, whether you are on the path of the righteous or the wicked. Be sure that God appeared in the flesh for no other purpose than to save you and others for eternal life. Oh, truly a great thing and incomprehensible to the mind: God appeared in the flesh for man, His indecent servant! Blessed be God, who has so pleased! Remember this great thing, which no longer exists, and reason, and you will be enlightened. Make sure that God is in every place, and sees every deed, undertaking and thought, and hears your word, and writes it in His book, and on the last day He will declare everything that is yours, and will reward you according to everything. “I will reprove you and bring your sins before your face,” says God Himself through the prophet (Ps 49:21). Confirm this in your memory - and you will be renewed every day. Be sure, without any doubt, that you truly partake of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. Be assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead on the last day, and everyone will rise either to eternal life or to eternal damnation. Be firmly convinced that there will be a universal judgment of Christ, and a strict test of deeds, words and thoughts, and that day will come unexpectedly; and write on your heart that that day is near. “The Lord will come quickly and will not delay,” and will call everyone to Himself for judgment. Please write this on your heart so that it never leaves your memory. Be assured that there will be eternal torment for the wicked and eternal life for the righteous. You see that your brethren are carried out of their homes and buried in the ground, remember that you are “earth, and you will go back to earth” (Gen. 3:19). They leave everything, and so will you. Their main reasoning at death was about worldly things, that everything in this world is “vanity, and vanity of vanities” (Eccl. 1:2), and you too will have it. No one helped them at death, neither family, nor friends, nor neighbors, nor fame, nor honor, nor wealth - no one will help you either. If they all left them, they will leave you too. They trembled then at the judgment of God, for this is common to all people, and you too will tremble. But blessed is he who “dies in the Lord” (Rom. 14:8), for the Lord does not abandon such a one when everyone else has abandoned him. So, do not forsake the Lord now, lest He forsake you then. Please Him now, as a servant of your Lord, so that He may then recognize you as His servant, and stretch out His omnipotent hand to you, and deliver your soul from your enemies - the demons, who then roar like lions and want to devour us. Remember the hour of death, beloved, that hour is terrible not only for sinners, but also for saints. Throughout their lives they remembered him and in contrition of heart they prayed to the One who was able to save them. Therefore, turn from vanity to truth, and from world and sin to God, and from time to eternity, and, having rejected all worldly amusements, approach the Holy Bible, and adhere to the Word of God written in it, which will enlighten you and guide you to eternal life, and hold on steadfastly. 4) You see what is happening in the world. Christians, for the most part, no longer consider the matter of salvation as the first, but as the last, or as nothing. It is not a sin for others to violate the holy and eternal law of God; they do not consider it a sin to commit fornication, kidnap, steal, rape, offend, shed the tears of widows and orphans, seduce, lie, deceive, scold, slander, blaspheme, and the like. Others only learn this in order to acquire vain glory, honor and wealth. Others try to build and decorate rich houses, dress in rich and beautiful clothes, collect rich tables, ride in rich carriages and horses, go on visits and receive guests, and arrange other amusements. This is their first task, and their first task is their first concern. For whatever someone plans in his heart, that’s what he does, that’s what he strives for. As you can see, these people consider the great work of eternal salvation, for the sake of which God Himself came into the world, lived on earth, worked, suffered and died in the flesh, such a great work, I say, as a small thing, or almost nothing, and so they do not honor Him Himself who came into the world and accomplished the work of salvation. For whoever tries a little for something, considers it to be small, and whoever does not try at all for something, considers it to be nothing. Oh, salvation, eternal salvation, purchased at such a high price of the Blood and death of the Son of God - how cheap among today's Christians! They now hold dear that which “is pleasing to the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). O man who bears the name of Christ, but does not follow Christ’s teachings! Are you not concerned about that for which our Christ labored for thirty-three years or more on earth and drank the bitterest cup of suffering? If you don’t see now, then you will see in eternity that everything that you are trying to achieve is nothing and only delusion and satanic trick, invented for human destruction, and eternal salvation is the most necessary thing and “one” only “for need”, without which everything is nothing, as said above. This is what it means to cast away pearls of great value and to grasp at rubbish, to abandon the truth and to chase after shadows, and according to the apostolic word, “the grace of God is received in vain” (2 Cor 6:1). God sent His Only Begotten Son into the world to save us who were lost. This matter is so great that it is incomprehensible not only to people, but also to Angels. But Christians, knowing about this, leave it as if it were small, and neglecting this great grace of God, and, as if casting down the valuable pearls given to them, they clutch at what in itself is nothing. Therefore, the wrath of God will burn greatly (against them), and it will be more tolerable for the Sodomites, pagans, idolaters and Turks on the day of judgment than for such Christians. Do not imitate such Christians, “do not be jealous of the wicked, and do not envy those who practice iniquity, for they, like grass, will soon wither, and like green grass, they will soon fall away” (Ps. 37:1-2), and do not imitate those who only think about earthly things, but try to live according to the rule of the Word of God, and be in this world as “a stranger and a sojourner” (1 Chron. 29:15), if you want to have eternal salvation as your first priority, and gratefully accept such God’s grace given to us, and so you will be saved. 5) I know that you will ask me: what does it mean to be a stranger and a stranger in this world? Answer. Whoever is removed from his fatherland and home and is in a foreign country is a wanderer and alien there; for example, a Russian who is in German or Turkish soil remains there as a wanderer and alien. So a Christian, removed from the heavenly fatherland and the house of God and found in this troubled world, is a wanderer and a stranger. A wandering person in a foreign land fears everything. So a Christian, living in this world, fears and takes care of everything, that is: demons, sin, the charms of the world, evil people; His parents, relatives, and other acquaintances, and all people who set their minds “on earthly things and not on things above” (Col. 3:2), are suspicious of him. A wandering person does not start or build anything real estate on a foreign side, that is, no houses, no gardens, or anything else, except what is necessary, without which it is impossible to live. So for a true Christian, all things in this world are like real estate for a wanderer: honor, glory, wealth, gold, silver, villages, houses, ponds, gardens, groves, land, carriages, horses, cattle, clothes, etc. - in a word, just as real estate is left behind when leaving a foreign country, he will leave everything in peace, including the body itself. The holy apostle says about this: “We brought nothing into the world; It is clear that we cannot take anything out of it” (1 Timothy 6:7). Therefore, a true Christian does not look for anything in this world except what is necessary. What the apostle says about this: “Having food and clothing, we will be content with that” (1 Timothy 6:8). A wandering person sends or carries movable things, such as money and goods, to his fatherland. For a true Christian, the movable things in this world, which he can take with him and transfer to the next, are virtues: love, mercy, patience, meekness, chastity, etc. He tries to collect all this here, living in the world, like a spiritual merchant, spiritual goods, and transfer them to that age, and appear with them in his heavenly fatherland, and present himself to the Heavenly Father. Our Christ exhorts us about this: brethren! “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:20–21). Everyone is alienated from a wandering person and moves away from him, as from someone who is not their own and a stranger. Thus, all the peace lovers and sons of this age alienate the true Christian, and move away and persecute him, as not their own and indecent to them. Christ speaks about this: “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:19). They say that the sea casts out dead bodies, so the world casts out the one who died for the world. Every stranger and stranger in the world must be dead to the world. It is boring for a wandering person to live in a foreign land, so it is boring and sorrowful for a true Christian to live in this world: he is everywhere in the world in exile, prison and a place of exile, as if he is removed from the heavenly fatherland. Although it is boring for a wandering person to live on a foreign side, he nevertheless lives for the sake of the need for which he left his fatherland. So, although it is sorrowful for a true Christian to live in this world, he nevertheless lives and endures it as long as God commands. A wandering person always has his fatherland and home in his thoughts and memories; he both desires and is in a hurry to return to his fatherland. The Jews, being in Babylon, always wanted to return to Jerusalem, their fatherland. So a true Christian in this world, as by the rivers of Babylon, sits and weeps, remembering the heavenly Jerusalem, the heavenly fatherland, and sighs and desires to come there. “That is why we groan, desiring to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling,” says Saint Paul to the faithful (2 Cor 5:2). This is what it means to be a wanderer and stranger in this world! And the fact that all Christians must be strangers and strangers in this world is clear from the words of the Apostle, who says about all Christians in general: “We have no permanent city here, but we are looking for the future” (Heb. 13:14). Be a stranger in this world, and have heaven for your fatherland, and your first task will be the work of salvation, and thus you will be saved by the grace of God. You are asking me to write you something to strengthen our Christian faith. - Fine. Although this is always the case, it is especially necessary at the present time, when many human inventions arise. I first present to you that everything that God reveals or says, promises or predicts in the Holy Scriptures is invariably true and true, and it cannot be otherwise. And the reliability of this truth is explained and shown from events, prophecies and His promises, which have already been fulfilled by the deed itself. Listen to the following and you will find out on what the holy faith is established. God predicted to our ancestors in paradise that they would “die by death” when they ate from the commanded tree, and it was so; ate and died (Gen. 2:17; 3:19). God told Noah what would happen later on the earth, and there was a flood (Genesis 6:17; 7:17–21). God promised to give Abraham a son (Genesis 15:4–5), and gave him in his old age (Genesis 21:2–3). God told Abraham that his descendants would be strangers in a foreign land, and they would be embittered, and they would humble themselves there, and they would come out from there with much wealth (Gen. 15:13–14), and it was so. They went down to Egypt, and were embittered and oppressed there by the Egyptians, and came out from there with much wealth, as we read in the books of Moses and in Psalm 104. God promised Abraham to give him and his seed the land of Canaan as an inheritance - and he did (read about this the books of Moses and Joshua and Psalms 87, 104, etc.). He promised to send Christ the Savior into the world, and it was so: He sent Him, and “those who loved His appearing” are saved (2 Timothy 4:8). And what had to be fulfilled before the present age from what was predicted about Him in the Old Testament, everything was fulfilled as predicted. Listen and consider the predictions and their fulfillment, and confirm your faith. It was predicted that Christ would be born from a Virgin without artifice: “Behold, the Virgin will be with child and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Emmanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). And it came to pass: Christ was born of the Virgin (Matthew 1:18). It was predicted that a child would be born from the tribe of Judah in the city of Bethlehem: “And you, Bethlehem-Ephrathah, are you small among the thousands of Judah? from you will come to me one who is to be ruler in Israel” (Micah 5:2), - this is the prophecy that the high priests and scribes of the people brought to Herod the king (Matthew 2:5-6). And so it was: “For it is known that our Lord rose up from the tribe of Judah; Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea" (Heb 7:14; Matt 2:1; Luke 2:7, 11). It was foretold that a child would be born of the seed of David (2 Samuel 7:12; Isa 11:1; Ps 132:11), and so the Jews believed and said: “Is it not written in the Scripture that Christ will come from the seed of David and from Bethlehem, from the place where David was” (John 7:42)? And it was like this: Christ “was born of the seed of David according to the flesh” (Rom. 1:3; Luke 1:66; Matt. 1, etc.). That is why Christ is called “Son of David” (Matthew 20:30; 9:27; 22 etc.). It was predicted that they would come to the born Christ with gifts to bow to: “The kings of Tarshish and the islands will present him with gifts; the kings of Arabia and Sheba will bring gifts” (Ps 71:10). And it happened like this: three wise kings from the east came to bow to the infant Christ, “and, falling, they worshiped Him; and having opened their treasures, they brought Him gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11). The Holy Scripture is not silent about the fact that at the birth of Christ, babies will be beaten in the place where He is born, and the voice of their mothers will be heard in the surrounding places: “A voice is heard in Rama, a cry and a bitter sob; Rachel weeps for her children and does not want to be comforted for her children, for they are not” (Jeremiah 31:15). And the Scripture was fulfilled: all infants from two years old and below were killed in Bethlehem, where Christ was born, and in all its borders, which the holy evangelist mentions (Matthew 2:16-18). The flight to Egypt and the return of Christ from Egypt were foretold: “Out of Egypt I called my son,” said the Lord (Hosea 11:1), - this is a prophecy and the evangelist gives about Christ. And it came to pass: Christ our Lord fled as a baby into Egypt from the murderer Herod, and after his death he was returned from there (Matthew 2:14–15, 21). The Lord promised to send His Angel in the presence of His Christ: “Behold, I send My Angel before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You,” God said to Christ His Son (Mal 3:1; Matt 11:10). And it came to pass: an angel was sent before Jesus Christ, an angel not incorporeal, but covered with flesh, John the Great, about whom Christ Himself testified, saying: “He is the one about whom it is written: Behold, I send,” and so on (Matthew 11:10; Luke 7:27). This angel of God preceded Christ and prepared the way for Him, saying: “He who is mightier than I is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down to untie” (Mk 1:2, 7; Mt 3:1; Lk 3:16; Jn 1:27). And he pointed people to Christ who had come and appeared, saying: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. This is the one of whom I said, A man is coming after me, who stood before me, because He was before me” (John 1:29-30). “There was a man sent from God; his name is John. He came for testimony, to testify of the Light” (that is, of Christ), “so that through him all might believe” (John 1:6–7). Therefore, Saint John is called the Forerunner of Christ by the Church (as he appeared before the coming of Christ). It was predicted that Christ would begin His holy preaching in Galilee: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, on the way by the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people sitting in darkness saw a great light, and to those sitting in the land and shadow of death a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:1-2; Matthew 4:15-16). And so it was: first, the Light of the world, Christ, appeared there; there, sitting in the darkness, This Light flashed and enlightened them; there Jesus, our Light, “began to preach and say: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:14–17; Mark 1:14–15). It was predicted that Christ would teach in parables: “I will open My mouth in parables, I will declare things that have been kept secret since the foundation of the world,” Christ spoke through the prophet (Ps 77:2). And so it was: Jesus Christ taught in parables (Matthew 13:34–35). Read His Gospel. It was predicted that many would not listen to the teachings of His saint, and would not believe Him, and would not accept Him. “Go,” said the Lord, “and tell this people” (the Jews): “You will hear with your ears and not understand, and with your eyes you will see and will not see. For the heart of this people is gross, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, that I may heal them” (Isaiah 6:9-10). And it came to pass: the scribes, Pharisees and many other Jews did not listen to the teachings of Christ, and did not believe Him, and did not accept Him. “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him” (John 1:11). Read the Gospel, how the Jews who were waiting for Him resisted Christ. It was predicted that Christ would bring good and joyful news to people: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, for the Lord has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor, He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach liberation to captives and the opening of prison to prisoners, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord,” the prophet said in the person of Christ (Isaiah 61:1-3). And so it was: Christ Himself gives this prophecy about Himself to the Jews: “And He began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:17–21). He “came and preached peace to us” (Eph 2:17). He preached: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, 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). What could be more joyful to lost sinners than this word: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10)? It was predicted that Christ would perform many miracles: “Then” (at the coming of Christ) “the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will sing” (Isaiah 35:5–6; 29:18). And it was fulfilled like this: how many wonders and signs Christ performed, the Gospel testifies. By His command and power the blind received their sight, the deaf heard, the dumb spoke, the lame walked, the lepers were cleansed, the paralytic were healed, and the dead were raised. And when the disciples of John, on behalf of the teacher, asked Christ: “Are you the one who should come, or should we expect something else? - “He himself pointed to this prophecy of Isaiah: “Go, tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk,” and so on, proving that it was then fulfilled (Matthew 11:3-5; Luke 7:19, 22). It was predicted that many of the Jews would hate Christ, Who was promised and sent to them and Whom they were waiting for: “Those who hate me in vain have become more numerous than the hairs on my head,” says the Psalmist on behalf of Christ (Ps 68:5); and again: “And they repaid Me evil for good, and hatred for My love” (Ps 109:5). And it came to pass: the scribes, Pharisees and other Jews hated Christ, therefore they reproached, slandered, blasphemed Him and persecuted Him. Read the Gospel and you will see. The Lord Himself speaks about this and gives a prophecy about their hatred: “Now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father. But that the word written in their law might be fulfilled: They hated Me without cause” (John 15:24–25). It was predicted how quiet, meek, approachable, and humble Christ would be: “Behold, My Servant, whom I have chosen, My Beloved, in whom My soul is well pleased. I will put My spirit on Him, and He will proclaim judgment to the nations; He will not contradict, He will not cry, and no one will hear His voice in the streets; He will not break a bruised reed, and he will not quench the smoking flax, until he brings victory to the court” (Isaiah 42:1-3; Matthew 12:18-20). And so it was. Read the Gospel, and it will show you His most holy and divine morals, which He teaches us to imitate: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). It was predicted that Christ would enter the city of Jerusalem, where he was to suffer, on a colt: “Rejoice with joy, daughter of Zion, rejoice, daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your King is coming to you, righteous and saving, meek, sitting on a donkey and on a colt” (Zechariah 9:9). He will come in with many people shouting: “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (Ps 118:26)! And it was like this: so Christ entered Jerusalem, walking in free passion. “The people who preceded and accompanied exclaimed: Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest" (Matthew 21:9; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:29-38; John 12:12-15)! It was predicted that one of Christ’s closest disciples would betray Christ: “The man who is at peace with Me, in whom I trusted, who eats bread with Me, has lifted up his heel against Me,” Christ spoke through the prophet (Ps 40:10; John 13:18), which is also mentioned in Psalm 109. And it came to pass: Judas, one of the twelve, betrayed Christ: “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the high priests and said: What will you give me, and I will betray Him to you” (Matthew 26:14–15; Acts 1:16)? The Scripture is not silent about the fact that he will be sold for thirty pieces of silver: “And they will weigh out thirty pieces of silver as payment for Me” (Zechariah 11:12). And it came to pass: the Priceless One was sold by a traitor for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15; 27:3, 5, 9-10). It was written about Christ: “I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered” (Zechariah 13:7; Matthew 26:31). And it came to pass: Christ our Shepherd was struck, and His sheep, the apostles, were scattered: “Then all the disciples left Him” (Christ) and “fled” (Matthew 26:56). The reigning prophet sang, foreseeing the lawless council of the wicked against Christ: “Why are the heathen in turmoil, and the nations plotting vain things? The kings of the earth have risen, and the rulers have gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ” (Ps 2:1-2; Acts 4:25-26). And it came to pass: “Then the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people gathered together in the court of the high priest named Caiaphas, and in council they decided to take Jesus by stealth and kill him” (Matthew 26:3–4). “Truly in this city” (Jerusalem) “Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together against Your Holy Son Jesus, whom You anointed, to do what Your hand and Your counsel had predestined to happen,” - this is how the apostles prayed to the Lord (Acts 4:25-28). The princes of the people and the pagan Pilate judged and condemned Christ to death. “Herod and his soldiers humiliated Him and mocked Him, dressed Him in light clothes and sent Him back to Pilate” (Luke 23:11). The Jews screamed at Christ to Pilate: “Take, take, crucify Him” (John 19:15)! Pilate’s soldiers “undressed Him and put purple robe on Him; and having woven a crown of thorns, they placed it on His head and gave Him a reed in His right hand; and, kneeling before Him, they mocked Him, saying: Hail, King of the Jews! - and they spat on Him and, taking a reed, beat Him on the head,” and so on (Matthew 27:28-30). Read the Gospel story about the passion of Christ and you will see how “everyone gathered to Christ the Lord.” It was foretold that there would be false witnesses against Christ: “Unjust witnesses rose up against Me, asking Me about things that I did not know” (Ps 34:11). And it was like this: what false witnesses were there against Christ, and what false witnesses were not sought against Him by the bishops and elders and the whole host! Read the Gospel about the Passion and you will see. It was written about Christ: “I have given My back to the smiters, and My cheeks to those who strike; I did not hide My face from reproach and spitting" (Isaiah 50:6). And it happened like this: Jesus Christ our Lord was scourged, wounded, struck in the face and spat upon. Read the Gospel and it will present this to you. It was written about Christ: “In Him there is neither form nor greatness; and we saw Him, and there was no appearance in Him that would attract us to Him. He was despised and despised before men” (Isaiah 53:2–3). And so it was ( Phil 2:7–8 ). Every kind of brutal inhumanity and malice was committed against Him by His enemies. No villain and robber is so belittled, dishonored, embittered, mocked, wounded and wounded as Christ; and as some kind of terrible spectacle was presented to the Jews by Pilate: “Behold, the Man” (John 19:5)! This is a Man, not even having the appearance of a human! It was foretold about Christ: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). And so it came true. Jesus Christ did not open His mouth to His enemies. He did not open the lawless crowd in the house of Caiaphas: “Jesus was silent” (Matthew 26:63; Mark 14:61). He did not open it before the hegemon: “he did not answer a single word, so that the ruler was greatly amazed” (Matthew 27:14). He did not open it to Herod: “He answered him nothing” (Luke 23:9). Nor did he answer to other enemies who blasphemed, reproached, reproached, slandered Him, and laughed at Him, and wounded Him, just as a lamb is silent before its shearers. He was led to crucifixion and death, like a sheep to the slaughter. It was written about Christ: “They pierced My hands and My feet” (Ps 21:17). And it came to pass: they pierced His hands and feet when they nailed Him to the cross. Read the Gospel and you will see. It was written: “Your life will hang before you” (Deut. 28:66). It happened like this: Life, Jesus Christ, was hung on the tree of the cross, and the eyes of everyone saw Him. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness” (Numbers 21:9), “so was the Son of Man lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:14–15; 19:18). It was written: “And he was counted among the evildoers” (Isaiah 53:12). And this was fulfilled in Jesus Christ: he was crucified and hanged between two thieves, and so He, who alone is righteous and holy, “was numbered with the evildoers” (Mark 15:27–28; Luke 22:37; 23:33). It was written: “And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord God, “that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and will darken the earth in the midst of the bright day” (Amos 8:9). And it came to pass: the sun was darkened at the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. “From the sixth hour there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour” (Matthew 27:45). It was written about Christ: “And they gave me gall for food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Ps 68:22). And it happened like this: they gave Jesus vinegar mixed with bile. “They gave Him vinegar mixed with gall to drink” (Matthew 27:34, 48). It was written about Christ: “All who saw Me mocked Me, they said with their lips, nodding their heads: He trusted in the Lord, let Him deliver Him, let Him save Him, if He pleases Him” (Ps 21:8-9). And this was fulfilled in the suffering Christ. “And those who passed by cursed Him, nodding their heads and saying: He who destroys the church and builds it in three days! save yourself; if you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise, the high priests with the scribes and elders and Pharisees, mocking, said: He saved others, but he cannot save himself; if He is the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him; trusted in God; Let him now deliver Him, if He pleases Him,” and so on (Matthew 27:39–43). It was written: “They divided My garments for themselves, and cast lots for My clothing,” Christ said this through the Psalmist (Ps 21:19). And it came to pass: “those who crucified Him divided His garments, casting lots as to who should take what” (Mk 15:24; Mt 27:35; Lk 23:34; Jn 19:24). It was written about the death of Christ: “Into Your hands I commend My Spirit” (Ps 30:6). It was so, these same words were spoken by Christ, dying on the cross: “Father! I commend My Spirit into Your hands. And having said this, he gave up the ghost" (Luke 23:46). It was written about Christ: “He took upon Himself our infirmities and bore our sicknesses; and we thought that He was smitten, punished and humiliated by God. But He was wounded for our sins and tormented for our iniquities,” and so on (Isaiah 53:4–5). And so it was: Christ suffered for our sins. “Delivered for our sins” (Rom 4:25; 1 Cor 15:3), “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we, having been delivered from sins, might live for righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24). The sacrifices burned outside the camp foreshadowed that Christ, outside the city, must suffer and die for us. So “Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people by his blood, suffered without the gates” (Hebrews 13:12). So Jesus Christ came into the world and fulfilled everything that was written about Him. And “he died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and was buried, and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:3–4), and “he ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God” (Mark 16:19). Scripture is not silent about the fact that Christ will gather His disciples and send them to the whole universe. “In place of your fathers were your sons: you will make them princes throughout all the earth” (Ps 45:17). And it was like this: Christ gathered the twelve apostles and, as the King of heaven and earth, made them princes throughout the whole earth, so that on Him, as on a stone, they would create His Church. They preached Him throughout the entire universe. “Their voice went through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world” (Ps. 19:5; Rom. 10:18). It is also declared in the Holy Scriptures that the pagan peoples will turn to the true God. “All the ends of the earth will be remembered (by God) and turn to the Lord, and all peoples and nations will worship before Him” (Ps 21:28). “I will call those who are not My people My people, and the one who is not beloved I will call beloved. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” there they will be called sons of the living God” (Hosea 2:23; 1:10; Rom 9:25–26). “Those who did not seek Me found Me; I have revealed myself to those who did not ask about Me” (Isaiah 65:1; Rom 10:20). This was fulfilled at the coming of Christ. All the ends of the earth were remembered by God and turned to the Lord, and all nations and tribes worshiped before Him. They honor and glorify the true and living God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, casting down and spitting on their vain idols. “From the east of the sun to the west the name of the Lord is praised” (Ps 112:3; Mal 1:11). And so you see that the Scriptures of the Old Testament preached that Christ was “coming,” and the Scriptures of the New Testament preached that He had already “come.” And just as the Scripture foretold about Christ, so everything was fulfilled, and what was fulfilled is preached in the New. And just as the faithful of the Old Testament believed in the “Coming One,” so we now believe in the Christ who has already come. But just as the prophecies of the Old Testament were fulfilled, which should have been fulfilled to this day, so those things were fulfilled that were predicted in the New Testament and which should have been fulfilled until now. Christ predicted that one of His disciples would betray Him, that all the disciples would leave Him, that Peter the Apostle would deny Him three times, that He would have to suffer a lot from the elders and scribes, and so on - and so it was. He predicted that the city of Jerusalem and the church in it would be destroyed, and not one stone would be left on another. And it was like this: the city and the church were destroyed by the Romans, as we read in history. He predicted that His faithful would endure persecution. And so it was: godly souls are hated, persecuted and embittered by everyone, and until the end of the age “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). He said that “His Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against Him” (Matthew 16:18). So it is: no matter how hard Satan tried through the Jews, kings, wise men of this age, heretics and his other servants to overcome and destroy the Church of Christ, he achieved nothing. It stands and will stand firmly, based on the Stone. The Rock is Christ, the Son of the living God, about whom it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a cornerstone, chosen, honorable: and he who believes in Him will not be put to shame” (Isa 28:16; Ps 118:22; Matt 21:42; Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:7; Rom 9:33; 1 Cor 3:11; Eph 2:20). Christ promised to send the Holy Spirit to the apostles and all the faithful (Joel 2:28, 32; John 7:38–39). And it was fulfilled: the Holy Spirit came on the apostles and on all flesh that believed (Acts 2:1-21). Read the Gospel about this and you will see. You see that everything that the Holy Scripture says is true, not false and “worthy of all acceptance.” So, exactly and irrevocably there is what it says. From here we righteously and firmly conclude: 1) All the prophecies and promises of God that should have been fulfilled until this day have come true, and those that we expect will also come true. Tea, according to Scripture, the resurrection of the dead - it will certainly be. “The dead will rise again and rise from the grave” (Isa 26:19; see also Eze 37:1–13; Dan 12:2; John 5:25, 28; 11:25–26; 1 Cor 15:12–56). We are waiting for the second coming of Christ and His terrible judgment - it will certainly happen. Christ will come to judge the living and the dead, and they will accept everyone according to their works (Acts 17:31; 1:11; Ps 6:9; 2 Cor 5:10). God promised to give eternal life to His faithful, and tea, according to His promise, to partake of eternal life - this will certainly happen, the “righteous” will “live forever” (Wis. 5:15), “will inherit the kingdom prepared” for them “from the creation of the world” (Matthew 25:34); “The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43). It is declared in Scripture that there will be eternal torment for unrepentant sinners, and so it will be. They will have eternal fire, pitch darkness, gnashing of teeth, a never-ending worm, and so on. Everything that is promised and predicted from God will come true. All this must be fulfilled, for God’s promise and word are true, true and true, as said above. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but the words of God will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 23:33). So this is true and reliable, just as it is true that yesterday was and today is. 2) What the Holy Scripture declares to us about God and God’s properties, and about other things, is precisely so, and without a doubt we must believe it. It teaches us that God is one in nature, but three in persons, Father and Son and the Holy Spirit, God without beginning, infinite, ever-present, immortal, omnipresent, omniscient, all-good, merciful, righteous, true, immaterial spirit, wise, incomprehensible, and so on. That's exactly what it is. This is how the Holy Church believes and confesses, and honors the Trinitarian Divinity. 3) Holy Scripture teaches that the Trinitarian God created the world, heaven and earth and everything that fills them out of nothing, by will and word. “I did everything I wanted. He said, and it was; He commanded, and it was done” (Ps 113:11; 32:9). This is true. There is no doubt about this, and Orthodox Christians should not have it. This is how the entire Holy Church believes and confesses, although the creation of the world is known from natural reason, for nothing exists by itself, but receives the beginning of its existence from something else: all art cannot exist without an artist, and so on. 4) Holy Scripture declares to us that the Trinitarian God provides for the world created by Him, and especially for the human race, and most of all for His Church. That's exactly what it is. We recognize and see His wise and wonderful Providence for everyone and every creature, so that “not one of the small birds will fall to the ground without the will of the Heavenly Father” (Matthew 10:29). But Holy Scripture itself is a sign of God’s wonderful Providence for us. For what greater gift could there be from God to us than the Holy Scriptures? It shines for us like a “lamp”, sitting in a “dark place”, and walking in the midst of the wiles of the enemy, and wandering in a foreign country of this world. God's providence for the world is demonstrated by natural reason itself. For if God is the Creator of the world, then he is also the Provider. What owner of his house, what king does not provide for his state? God is the owner of the whole world, everything belongs to Him, heaven and earth and everything that fills them - all this is His, He is the Lord and King of heaven and earth, as His creation. And how can it happen that He leaves His creation without Providence? This cannot be true. This is what the entire Holy Church confesses. 5) The Scripture preaches that Christ, named before the ages, promised by God, preached by the prophets, expected by the world, came into the world to save sinners, and was born of the Most Holy and Immaculate Virgin for our salvation, and lived on earth, suffered, died and rose from the dead, and, having thus arranged our salvation, ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father. This is true. 6) Scripture preaches that Christ our Lord is true God and true man, not divided into two persons, but inseparably cognizable in two natures. This is true. Thus His Holy Church confesses, honors and worships Him. 7) Scripture preaches that there is no other way to obtain eternal salvation except true and living faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, faith which is demonstrated by confession and love. “There is salvation in no one else: for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:11–12). “He became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor 1:30). Therefore, it is called His Church, and is confessed, and is believed as the only Redeemer, Deliverer and Savior of the world. And everyone who is saved is all saved by His name. So it is, definitely and without a doubt. 8) Scripture teaches that “wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and narrow is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life” (Matthew 7:13–14, etc.). This is true. Anyone who wants to be saved must deny himself and, taking up his cross, follow Christ (Matthew 16:24). 9) Scripture declares that there are good and evil angels. This is true. Some tempt, seduce, deceive, and strive against us, and lead us to evil, and try to lead us into eternal destruction, while others take up arms around us and preserve us, and guide us to good, and rejoice at our repentance, and transfer the souls of the saints who have departed from here to the bosom of Abraham. 10) Scripture declares that true Christians “have fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3); that they are “children of God” (1 John 3:1; Rom 8:17; John 1:12; Gal 3:26), “members of Christ” (1 Cor 6:15; Eph 5:30), “the habitation of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 3:16; 6:19; Rom 8:9). So it truly is: they have this great mercy and ineffable honor from God. 11) Scripture declares that in the most holy Eucharist the true body of Christ is and the true blood of Christ is, and Christians partake of them. Truly it is so. This is how the entire Holy Church believes and confesses. So and so on, what the Holy Scripture declares and says is exactly what it is. For Holy Scripture is the true Word of God, which cannot deceive and lie, just like God Himself. You should trust him more than your feelings and the whole world. Our feelings and the whole world can deceive us more easily than Holy Scripture. Establish your faith on this firm and unshakable foundation. And if a satanic temptation is in your thoughts, or some evil and depraved person offers you something contrary, with the sword of the Word of God and the faith of the Holy Orthodox Church, drive away that cunning serpent from yourself, saying this to yourself and confessing with your lips: “Thus the Holy Word of God teaches us, and the Holy Church believes and confesses. I believe and confess as the Word of God reveals and teaches and as the Church believes and confesses.” Anyone who wants to be saved certainly needs to maintain Orthodoxy or the right faith. But this alone is not enough for salvation. “For even the demons believe and tremble,” according to the apostle (James 2:19). They believe that there is one God, that Christ came into the world, and they fear His holy name. Therefore, the apostle demands that we show faith by works: “Show me faith by your works” (James 2:18). For just as a good tree comes from good fruits, so true and heartfelt faith is known from good deeds. Many are called faithful Christians, but deeds show otherwise; they show faith on their lips, but in their deeds they are pagans, or even worse: “they say that they know God, but in their deeds they deny” Him (Titus 1:16). Therefore, it is necessary to have a living faith with Orthodoxy, which will certainly be followed by similar deeds. Try to have such faith and you will be saved. You ask: what do you need to do to have living faith? Answer. Christ tells us: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). We must ask, seek and knock. We must pray, work, and reflect on the ways in which this faith, with the help of God, is kindled in the heart. Do this: 1) Often remember the incarnation of the Son of God and meditate on Him. For He is “the author and perfecter of faith” (Heb. 12:2). Remember and reflect on how the great God and Creator of heaven and earth came into the world for your sake; how he was born in the flesh from the Virgin and how God deigned to become man and the Son of God, the Son of man; how he lived on earth, like one of the poor, and was among sinners, and how for the sake of sinners he walked, worked, hungered, thirsted; How God, revered by the angels, suffered blasphemy and reproach from sinners and was persecuted. Remember that night on which He grieved, yearned, was horrified and wept on kneel before His Heavenly Father, and how He was strengthened by an Angel who appeared to Him from heaven: “And His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44). Remember the night on which he was sold as a disciple and betrayed into the hands of the wicked, and bound, he was led to the assembly, and the Judge of all was judged, and he was struck in the face, and he was mocked, and he was wounded, and he was spat on, and he was abandoned by everyone. Remember that morning on which His lawless people brought him to Pilate, and, like a libertine, the Teacher of truth was slandered before him, and from him he was sent to Herod and reproached, and mocked, and was ridiculed. Remember the time at which the nations cried out to Pilate against Him: “Take, take, crucify Him” (John 19:15)! - and they preferred Barabbas, the robber, villain and murderer, to Him; that time when He “gave up” His “backbone” to the smiters and His cheeks “to those who smite” (Isaiah 50:6); when the soldiers “put a scarlet robe on Him,” and crowned Him with thorns, and spat on Him, and beat Him with a cane, and, like a king, they greeted him with reproach: “Hail, King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:28, 29)! - when he was led to crucifixion, in the presence of a large crowd, as if he had been condemned, and was nailed naked to the cross, and was hanged between two thieves, like a villain, and was ridiculed by those passing by, and when he was thirsty, he tasted the vinegar brought to His lips by the soldiers. Remember the time in which our God and Lord suffered for us, His indecent servants, and firmly hold that He drank this cup of suffering both for the sake of everyone and for your sake, so that we can save salvation from spruce soda; and reason that He is not an ordinary man, but the Son of God and God, the King and the Royal Son, and think that you are worthy of nothing other than eternal torment without Him, as an enemy and apostate of God, but He, pitying you, like everyone else, and wanting to bring you and everyone into the mercy of God and reconcile, and so save, neglected Himself, and gave Himself up to suffering and death, so that, that is, through His suffering and death, He will deliver you from eternal suffering and death and lead you into eternal bliss. Be firmly convinced that He is your Redeemer, Deliverer, Savior, Helper, Defender, hope, and eternal life, and all bliss, and besides Him and without Him there is no hope or salvation for you. When you think about all this and become confident, the grace of the Holy Spirit will certainly awaken in your heart a living faith in Him - a faith that acts through love, thanksgiving, patience and other virtues and shows its vitality. When such faith is awakened in your heart, you will certainly feel faith in His Heavenly Father. For, having learned that the Son of God came to save you and suffered for you, you will immediately recognize the love of the Heavenly Father for you, who did not spare His Son for you, but gave him up to suffering and death. For by the good pleasure of the Heavenly Father and His will, Jesus the Son of God suffered for us. And from there will follow the undoubted hope of eternal life and bliss and the fulfillment of all God’s merciful promises: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not with Him also freely give us all things” (Rom. 8:32)? God did such a great and wondrous thing that He deigned to incarnate His Son for our sake and suffer, how can He not fulfill everything promised to us for His sake? “The Lord is faithful in all His words” (Ps 145:13), “His lovingkindness toward us is sure, and the truth of the Lord endures forever” (Ps 116:2). 2) Holy Scripture presents to us that God is everywhere and sees everything, and looks at all our deeds, thoughts, undertakings and intentions, and understands, and hears every word. Believe that He is with you, and you do everything before Him, you think, you begin, and you plot, and you say, and He knows every deed, thought and word of yours much better than you - and firmly believe in this, without a doubt. Then, without a doubt, you will feel inspiration in your soul, and you will have fear, trembling, reverence, and caution in your deeds and thoughts; and you will walk before Him as his subjects walk before a king, as his children walk before a father, and as his servants walk before a master, and are careful to do everything that is bad, and try to do everything that is good. Look at Him with the eye of your mind and faith as you look at a king, or a lord, or your father, when you are with them, as the prophet said about himself: “I always see the Lord before me, for He is near me, so that I will not be shaken” (Ps 15:8). He is “not far from each of us,” although we do not see Him (Acts 17:27). Believe in this firmly and then you will certainly feel everything else within yourself, then the spirit of fear of God, reverence, hope, prayer, and so on will be born in you. 3) When you pray, think without a doubt that you stand before God and bow down before Him, and ask Him for your needs, and talk with Him as a subject stands before his king and asks him - and then the spirit of humility, and fear, and hope will be born in you. For God, as great as he is, is also immeasurably good and true. Reasoning about His majesty will frighten and humble you, but reasoning about His goodness and truth will encourage you and confirm you in the hope that He has promised to hear us “who call on Him in truth” (Ps 144:18-19). 4) Concerning the Holy Scripture, be firmly convinced that it is the true Word of God, the word of the mouth of God; The mouth of the Lord spoke this, and He speaks the same to everyone in His Scripture. Then reverence and zeal for honoring and preserving the Word of God will follow in your heart. Then, with the prophet, you will cry out to God from your heart: “Your law is good for me, better than much gold and silver” (Ps 119:72). For if you honor the letter of the king of the earth sent to you, or the word spoken and try to fulfill it, then much more will you have the word of the King of Heaven in great honor. For as far as God is removed from the king of the earth as a man, His holy word is more honest and precious than the word of man. If you honor God with the highest veneration, which faith requires of you, you will honor His holy word most of all. From here will follow the diligent keeping of the commandments of His saints and faith in His saints and merciful promises and revelations. God speaks to you, commands you, reveals to you, promises you His mercy, calls you to repentance and eternal life, and so on, in His Scripture. He has no partiality, like a man: He gave His holy word to everyone, and to you equally, for the salvation of the soul. 5) Be confident in your heart that God provides for you as well as for everyone. His sun shines for you, He rains on you, He gives you food, drink, clothing and a home. He protects your life and protects you from the snares of the devil and He does other good deeds to you every day, hour and minute, so that a person cannot live even the slightest minute without His good deeds. All this, out of sheer goodness and love for mankind, makes God most good to you. What will follow from here if not love for Him, and diligent thanksgiving, and careful fulfillment of His will, without which there can be no love and thanksgiving? For if you love and thank a person who has shown you some small benefit, then how much more will you love and thank God, the Giver of all blessings, from Whom you have everything, both your being and your life. For conscience itself convinces of this. 6) Be sure and not only confess with your lips, but also believe in your heart, that Christ is God, consubstantial with the Father and the Spirit, one of the Persons of the Holy Trinity, and for your sake he came into the world, and was born of the holy Virgin, and lived on earth, and suffered, and died in the flesh, and rose from the dead, and so he arranged for you eternal salvation. What will follow from there if not astonishment at the goodness of God, and heartfelt gratitude, and love for Him and His Heavenly Father, by Whose good pleasure the incarnation of His Son took place? Believe me, my dear, I’m telling you the truth: no matter how many times we talk about this great matter with living faith, so many times we will be in surprise and a kind of frenzy. It is impossible to be sufficiently amazed at the goodness of God towards us sinners, although in everything, but especially in the matter of our salvation. Truly “the Lord has done wonderful things” (Ps 97:1)! Although you read all the stories and explore all of nature, you will not find an example with which the great and wondrous work of the incarnation of God could be worthily compared. The great and incomprehensible God, the Lord and Eternal King, for the sake of His indecent servant, and, moreover, for the sake of His enemy, came into the world and appeared in the flesh, and suffered, and died for him, in order to make him eternally blessed. Blessed be God, who has so pleased! Read with attention the apostolic epistles, and especially Saint Paul, and you will see how the apostles are amazed at this great work of God and glorify His goodness. Christ our Lord Himself presents to our amazement the goodness of God. “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). It is great that God created the world out of nothing, but even greater is that He deigned to be incarnate for the sake of man, an apostate and His enemy. Here the mind, not only human, but also angelic, becomes impoverished and dulled in reflection. The created mind cannot worthily glorify this, since it can only truly marvel at it. “Blessed be the name of the Lord from now on and forever” (Dan 2:20)! Talk about this more often and you will always be amazed and grateful from the heart. 7) Be sure and affirm that there truly is the Body of Christ and His Blood in the most holy Eucharist - and this conviction will teach you with what fear, reverence and reverence you should approach this great Sacrament. People come to the royal meal with fear and preparation and reverence - will you not tremble when approaching this divine meal? Then you will not say much in prayer, but you will repeat one thing: “Lord, have mercy, cleanse, Lord, so that I will not be scorched by fire, like dry hay.” For the Holy Mysteries are given to the saints, as the priest proclaims at the Liturgy: “Holy to the saints.” And here you will be amazed at the goodness of God, that the Body of Christ and His Most Holy Blood are given to us, mortal and unworthy, as spiritual food, and from your heart you will bless and thank Him for this great Sacrament of Him, and, remembering this, you will behave more correctly in your life, you will not want to defile your conscience and soul with sins, but you will try in every possible way to live as a Christian deserves. This alone will turn you away from all sin and move you towards all good. 8) Believe truly that there will be a worldwide judgment of Christ, and you and everyone will appear at that judgment before the Judge God, and you will be given an answer for all your evil deeds, words and thoughts. What will follow from there if not the fear of this judgment, true repentance, contrition and heartfelt sighing, and prayer, so that you will not be condemned at that judgment and hear the terrible answer from the Judge: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into eternal fire” (Matthew 25:41)! Human judgment is terrible for people, and they prepare for it in every way so as not to be ashamed - won’t you be afraid of God’s judgment, at which there will be no partiality, and every deed, word and thought of yours is clearly before Him, as it will be now, so it will be then, if you are not cleansed by repentance? “I will reprove you and bring your sins before your face,” says God through the Psalmist (Ps 49:21). Truly he will convict every sinner! Truly he will bring his sins before his face! Truly, then, those who are now not content with some small chambers, but are always planning and building new ones, will want to hide in caves and stones. Then they will know that they are nothing, but here they consider themselves great. Be sure of that judgment, and then you will be different than you were before and are now. Correct reasoning about it changes a person, makes him spiritual from the carnal. A person will not want to irritate his conscience with any sin, but will avoid every sin; by his fear he will be bound like a rope and motionless to all evil. And, what fear adds to fear, the day of judgment will suddenly come, like a thief in the night. He is already close, and already closer today than he was yesterday, and when there is no tea, the “voice of the Groom” will be heard. Stand on guard and wait. Blessed is he who is awake! He will be “caught up in the clouds with” those who died in Christ and then rose again, “to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). 9) Believe undoubtedly and firmly that there will be eternal torment for sinners who do not truly repent and do not have heartfelt faith in Christ. Confirm this, and when you see fire in the furnace, look with your intelligent eye at the eternal fire, and then you will feel everything new in your heart. Then true repentance, sighing and prayer will be born within you. Then you will not say much, but always listen to yourself, and before God often fall down in humility, and sigh, and from the depths of your heart say: “Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord deliver, for Thy name’s sake!” Then all consolation and joy and worldly sweetness will disappear from your heart, and you will shun every sin that leads to disaster, like a deadly poison. Believe me, I’m telling you the truth: this will be on your mind, and you will be trying and worrying about how to get rid of that calamity from which Christ alone delivers us, but delivers those who listen to Him and obey Him, and not those who resist Him. You try to run away from temporary sadness, sorrow, illness, prison, torment, exile and other calamities - won’t you try to run away from eternal and endless calamity? Everything temporary is nothing against the eternal, because the temporary is easy and will end, but the eternal is hard and will not end. Oh, eternal flame, and terrible to demons! Deliver us, most merciful Christ, from that. May Your mercy be to us, O Lord, the same as Your Majesty! 10) Make sure that you are a stranger in this world, a stranger and in captivity, and your fatherland and your home are not here, but in heaven, and there your inheritance, your treasure, glory and honor are prepared from God. You were created and renewed by holy Baptism, like everyone else, not for this world, not for honor, wealth, glory and other visible blessings, but for eternal blessings, which “eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and the things that God has prepared for those who love Him have not entered into the heart of man” (1 Cor 2:9). You have been called to eternal life (1 Timothy 6:12), called to the great supper (Luke 14:16–23), where the righteous “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 "they will receive a kingdom of glory and a crown of beauty from the hand of the Lord" (Wis 5:16), where "the righteous will shine like the sun" (Matt 13:43), where the servants of the Lord will eat and drink and be merry (Is 65:13-14), where they will see God "face to face" (1 Cor. 13:12), “they will see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2), and so on. Be firmly convinced that, according to the promise of God, the faithful in Christ will certainly have eternal life and eternal glory. What will follow in you from there if not an incessant desire to receive eternal benefits? Believe me, I’m telling you the truth: this will be on your mind and thoughts and heart, there all your attention will be, there you will send your sighing and desire, according to the word of Christ: “Where your treasure is,” “there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21; Luke 12:34). So in everything else that God’s holy Word declares, you must be firmly convinced, and from there, with God’s help, a living faith will be born in your heart. “For the Word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). And since the Word of God is alive, it produces living fruit: it makes a person spiritually alive, by the power of the Holy Spirit, from whom it came for our salvation and renewal. However, know for sure that everything is dead and indecent in us, which God Himself does not produce. Therefore, we must pray earnestly and ask God to act in us and revive us spiritually. Therefore, it is commanded to “ask, seek and knock,” as I wrote to you about this at the beginning. You ask: what are the signs of living faith in a person? Answer. Living faith is known by works, like a tree by its fruit. We call that tree good, which bears good fruits. Fruit comes from within the tree, from its roots and sap, because as the root and sap in a tree are, so are its fruits: if the root and sap in a tree are good, then its fruits are good. Likewise, faith is learned from good deeds, from the inside, from the heart and without any hypocrisy. And just as pure streams flow from a pure source, so from a heart purified by holy faith, good deeds occur and appear. And just as a vessel filled with balm, or having some part of it, emits a good odor, so the human heart, filled with the spiritual balm of holy faith, emits a good odor of deeds pleasing to God and useful to people. The signs of living faith are the following: 1) God, Whom faith sees and cleaves to Him, like a little child to its mother, to honor from the heart in the manner described in His holy word, that is, not in substance and appearance only, but “in spirit and in truth,” since “God Himself is Spirit” (John 4:24), and to honor Him alone above all the light, for all the light is as nothing before Him, and to acknowledge and call Him from the heart His God, although He is the God of all, just as He is called the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob for the sake of their faith, although He is the God of all nations (Exodus 3:6, 15–16; Mark 12:26). From there will follow true and sincere obedience and submission to Him. For if He is your God, then you must listen to Him as your God, do His will and command, just as you listen to your father because he is your father. 2) It is unhypocritical to guard against all sin, because He is offended by all sin. You do not want to offend your father in any way and do not dare to do anything indecent in front of him, much less should you offend your God, Who is everywhere and sees everything, and do not do anything displeasing before Him. Every sin is contrary to the Christian faith, therefore faith struggles against every sin. Faith loves to rest in a clear conscience and cannot be without a clear conscience. So the holy apostle wrote: “Having faith and a good conscience, which some rejected, they suffered shipwreck in the faith” (1 Timothy 1:19). On the one hand, to know and honor God, but on the other hand, to sin against one’s conscience and thus offend and anger God is a clear contradiction. Think about this carefully and you will find out this truth for yourself. 3) Thank Him from the heart for all the benefits shown and provided, of which there are many without number, so that we cannot live even a minute without His benefits. We are enclosed in His blessings and surrounded by them; body, and soul, and breath, and all our makeup we owe to Him, and so on. 4) Call on God from the heart and unfeignedly, and in all needs resort to Him alone, and ask for help. Just as a little child runs to his mother, and stretches out his hands, and asks her for protection and everything, and does not know anything else except his mother, so faith clings to God alone, and asks Him for everything, and does not know anyone for its needs except God. For faith knows that God alone can do everything, and hope in Him is firm, and apart from Him, all hope is weak and vain. 5) The Incarnation of the Son of God and all His most precious sight, as the only source of our salvation, is great and dear and is to be revered most of all. For faith sees that as much as this work of God’s goodness is great and incomprehensible to the human mind, so much must we honor and worship Him - with all humility and gratitude. 6) To receive freedom from sin, the devil, hell and all disaster and wretchedness and to receive eternal life with eternal glory, there is no other Mediator to know except Jesus Christ. For He alone is the Redeemer and Savior of the whole world, and therefore the beginning, middle and end of eternal salvation must be attributed to Him alone. Faith sees that all its spiritual bliss lies in one Jesus Christ. He is to her “wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor 1:30). Trusting in this Redeemer, Savior, Helper and Defender of the Almighty, he dares and triumphs over all his enemies, and thereby consoles himself in all temptations inflicted by the devil and his evil servants, and exclaims with the preacher of faith: “If God is for us, who can be against us” (Rom. 8:31)? 7) A clear sign of living faith is to follow Christ, wearing your cross. For the faithful soul has been united to Christ, as the bride to the groom and as the body to the head, and therefore wants to be inseparably with Him both in suffering and in glorification, as the bride is with the groom and the body is with the head. For it is not proper for the bride to be separated from the groom, nor for the body to be separated from the head. The apostle wrote about this this way: “Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21); and again: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” and so on (Philippians 2:5). And the Lord himself says: “I have given you an example, that you also should do the same as I have done to you” (John 13:15). 8) Do not attach your heart to anything in this world, that is: neither to wealth, nor to honor, nor to glory, nor to any of its other treasures, but always to look at future and eternal blessings, to think about them, to desire them and to be comforted by them; “Set your mind on things above, and not on earthly things; seek the things that are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God," as the apostle teaches (Col 3:1-2). For living faith comes from heaven and therefore arouses and propels the faithful soul to heaven. And the faithful soul sees that it is on its way and wandering in this world, and therefore "does not have a permanent city here, but seeks the future, which is the artist and builder of God" (Heb 13:14; 11:10). Hence the desires and We see the sighs of faithful souls in the psalms, which they raise to the heavenly fatherland and its blessings, wandering in this world as in a foreign land. 9) Faith has the fear of God and spiritual joy and gladness. And they act alternately in a faithful soul, that is: now she feels fear and trembling, now she feels joy and joy. Sometimes faith is hidden, and then the soul fears and trembles. Sometimes it appears, and then the soul is consoled, rejoices, rejoices and exclaims in spirit. 10) Faith is humble, patient, gentle, loving, merciful, merciful, peaceful, etc. For where there is faith, there is the grace of the Holy Spirit, which produces all this in a faithful soul. This is what the Apostle says to every Christian: “Show me your faith by your works,” just as Abraham showed his faith by his works (James 2:18–21). Read the Holy Scriptures, and especially the psalms, which vividly depict the actions of living faith. For faith, being a spiritual gift, is known from spiritual actions that occur in the heart. Then we will understand what faith is when we feel its actions in our hearts - which is what I sincerely wish for both myself and you. Here, too, according to my strength, I am writing to you about Christian wisdom, which you once asked me about and which we must study throughout our lives. Consider the following: 1) Know the one true God, fear Him and love Him more than all else and yourself; Show him obedience, obedience and submission of heart; to thank Him from the heart for all the benefits shown and provided, that is: that He created us, that He so miraculously redeemed those who fell, that He feeds, clothes and preserves us and provides us with other blessings of this world; to call upon Him from the heart, to ask and expect help, intercession and mercy from Him; to sincerely hope in Him, in a word, to honor Him as His holy word teaches us - this is what Christian wisdom consists of. 2) God exists in every place, and there is no place where God does not exist. Therefore, whatever we do, say and think, we do, speak and think before His holy eyes: what a person says, He hears; He sees what He does and thinks and writes in His book, and on the last day He will reward everyone according to his deeds, plans, words and undertakings. Nothing is hidden before Him, not only in a secret place, but also in the heart, conceived and done. His Holy Scripture and our faith, which has His Holy Scripture as its foundation, teach us about this. For on the basis of Holy Scripture our faith and all piety are established. Therefore, every Christian must act in all his deeds, words, thoughts and behavior with his neighbor with fear, just as his subjects who are present with him act and walk before their king, and slaves before their master, and children before their father. We dare not do anything before the king of the earth and are ashamed to do anything contrary, especially before God we should not do anything contrary to Him. Blessed and wise is he who lives and walks like this before God and pleases Him! 3) Take care in every possible way from every sin in word, deed and thought, since every sin occurs before the omnipresent and all-seeing God, and every sin offends the great God, and deprives the sinner of His mercy and subjects him to His righteous wrath (Rom. 1:18). Blessed and wise is he who avoids this deadly poison, which kills both the soul and body of man forever. 4) Think and hold that as for everyone, so for me and you, the great God in His Holy Scripture speaks, commands and promises. For God has no respect for persons, but “wants all” equally “to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4), therefore He speaks to everyone in Scripture, which for the sake of our salvation was handed down to us from Him. From there will follow faith in His holy and merciful promises and careful creation of His holy commandments. For if the king of the earth promises, we believe him and expect it from him, and what he commands us, we fulfill with diligence, much more will we believe God, and we will without a doubt expect and hope from Him what He promises us, and we will try to fulfill what He commands us, if we are absolutely sure that He commands and promises us. One must believe in God alone more than the whole world, and His holy word must be fulfilled more than any word of man, since every man, no matter how great, and the whole world are as nothing before God. He who loves and reveres God loves His word and reveres it as great. The royal word and letter are revered as great, especially the Word of God, which, like a letter, was sent from Him to us through the prophets and apostles, should be revered as great and dear. 5) A person living in this world is a wanderer, an alien and a wayfarer. He enters the world and, having lived a little, departs from the world, like someone who, having been on a foreign side, returns to his fatherland and home. So a person will live in the world and move away from the world. Life in this world and everything in it, that is: honor, glory, wealth, luxury, etc., is like a dream, for all this appears for a short time and soon passes away, like a dream. For death, when it comes, takes away life and with life everything from a person. Just as everyone is born equal, so they die equal, except that one is righteous and the other is sinful, one is blessed and the other is damned and poor. Death makes everyone equal: the rich are deprived of their wealth, and the glorious of glory, and the honest of honor, and the luxurious of luxury. The coffins of the dead show this. Where the master lies, where his servant is, where the glorious, where the inglorious, where the rich, where the poor, is impossible to know. Everything here has become equal, everyone has returned to the earth, like the earth, and on top of them not only all sorts of people, but also cattle walk. Consider here what man is, and his life, and his thoughts. “Earth and ashes” is man; “Indeed, all is vanity, every man who lives. Yes, a man walks like a ghost, he only worries in vain, he collects treasure, but does not know for whom he is collecting it” (Sir 10:9; Ps 39:6-7). And “they leave their wealth to strangers, and their graves are their dwellings forever, their habitation for generations and generations” (Ps 49:11-12). Wise is he who understands this. Blessed is he who lives in this world as a traveler, a stranger and a wanderer, and always raises his spiritual eyes to his heavenly fatherland. 6) Since everything in the world, like a dream, leaves us at death, and we, as strangers, strangers and travelers, remain in this world, and we ascend this path at birth, and end it at death, then wisdom and bliss lie in not attaching ourselves to anything in this world, but considering everything - honor, glory, wealth and all the treasures of this world - as a dream, which comes to us with sleep, and goes away with sleep; and to the one God, the highest good and the source of all good, to cleave, and to seek and love eternal treasure, so that where our treasure is, there our heart will be; “Set your mind on things above, and not on earthly things” (Col 3:2). This is Christian wisdom. 7) If anyone is given wealth from God, then do not use luxury and immoderate structures, but be content with it in moderation, and thank God, and provide for the needy, the needy and the needy for the glory of God. If someone is given an honorable position, then, while staying in that position, take care of the glory of God and the benefit of society, and not serve mammon. If glory and praise are given to anyone, he should consider himself unworthy, but attribute everything to one God. For to Him alone is due all glory and praise, as the Source of all good things, and it is fitting for man, as a sinner, to humble himself. “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory” (Ps 113:9). Wise and blessed is he who does this. 8) Always have or remember death, the universal judgment of Christ, eternal torment and the kingdom of heaven before the eyes of the soul. Just as everyone should certainly die, and when, how and where is unknown, everyone should certainly appear before the judgment seat of Christ and render an answer to the righteous Judge for words, deeds and thoughts. And just as the righteous will live with all the heavenly treasure, so unrepentant sinners will have eternal torment in fire and tartarus. Thus, the true and unfaithful God declared in His holy word, and what He declared will certainly happen. Wise and blessed is he who remembers his death and prepares himself in advance. 9) Wise and blessed is he who will not offend anyone by word or deed, but will bless everyone as much as he can. He who sows good seed will also reap good fruit. 10) Wise and blessed is he who prays to God all the time and seeks His mercy, help and protection from the enemy - the devil and his servants - evil people. God does not abandon those who trust in Him. 11) He is wise and kind who, having peasants, servants and subordinates, treats them as brothers. For we are all brethren: we have one Father, God, to whom we pray: “Our Father who art in heaven,” and so on. We are all slaves: we have one Lord in heaven, with whom there is no respect of persons. Christ our Lord and King of kings, the Lord of lords calls us brothers: “I will proclaim Your name to My brothers” (Heb. 2:12). Moreover, every person, even a tall one, should call all his subordinates brothers, for we are all people, both high and low, and we all have one God, the Father and Lord. However, the master must keep his subordinates in fear and subdue the disorderly, so that they do not become corrupted and perish. This is Christian wisdom. 12) Time that is lost, like a spoken word, does not return; do not spend it in vain in laziness, in partying and other indecent activities, but in useful and godly works. “By the sweat of your face you will eat bread,” God says to man (Gen. 3:19). 13) True Christian wisdom is to overcome natural evil, that is: pride, arrogance, anger, malice, envy, hatred, impurity, voluptuousness, love of money, stinginess, intemperance, etc., and to follow the example of the holy life of Christ, that is: His humility, love, mercy, patience, meekness and His other beautiful Divine virtues. To this end the apostles exhort His saints, and Christ himself teaches: “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). From this it follows that those who do not follow the example of Christ’s life walk in darkness and are mistaken. 14) A Christian who fears God and fulfills his Christian office should not place his hope of salvation in anything other than in the one Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world, who redeemed us from death and hell “not with silver or gold,” but with His precious Blood (1 Peter 1:18–19). “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life,” He says, “no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). May glory be to Him for this, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit! This is Christian wisdom, which is found not in the dogmas of the sages of this age, but in the dogmas of the prophets and apostles, who preached to us the Word of God, enlightened by His Holy Spirit (1 Peter 1:25). This wisdom is not in words, but in power. This wisdom is unfamiliar and unpleasant to the world, but loved by God. Seek this wisdom by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word and fervent prayer. May God, the Source of wisdom and all good things, make us wise for our salvation and for the glory of His holy name. You asked me to tell you something related to spiritual benefits. I praise your desire and wish that you have such a desire in your heart. But since I myself am poor and wretched, I take from the psalms of David, as a saving spiritual pharmacy, healing that is useful to our souls and I impart it to you. It is bitter, but it is good for the soul. Salt is bitter, but it drives out worms and does not allow the substance to become rotten, and although the medicine will be bitter, we take it to heal the body. Like bitter salt and bitter medicine, such is the accusatory word for the sinful soul, which is directed at sins, and not at the soul itself, just as any medicine attacks a disease, and not a person, and salt destroys rottenness and worms, and not the substance itself, dissolved with salt. Accept, my dear, this medicine and apply it to your soul. And depending on what she is sick with, apply medicine similar to that illness, and apply it until that illness goes away. Understand what I am writing, may the Lord give you understanding. There, that is, in the psalms, it is sung: “You did this, and I was silent” (Ps 49:21). Who is speaking? God. To whom? The sinner, as mentioned above in the same psalm (Ps 49:16). What does it mean: “Did you do this?” He mentions above, namely: “But you,” a sinner, “hated instruction and rejected My words completely. If you saw a thief, you hurried along with him, and took part with the adulterer. Your mouth has multiplied slander, and your tongue has woven deceits; sitting (in the meeting) you slandered your brother, and caused your mother’s son to stumble” (Ps 49:17-20). This is what this Word of God to a sinner means: “You did it.” That is: you, sinner, have despised My words given to you for the sake of your correction, and you have completely rejected the very words that you should always have before you, honor, love, as the words of My mouth, and correct your life according to their rule, and therefore you lived lawlessly, stole, committed adultery, spewed out malice, flattered with your lips and tongue, slandered your brother and gave temptation, and so on. "You did it." What next does God say to the sinner? “And I was silent. -" What does this mean: “and I was silent"? That is: you, a sinner, did these deeds and iniquities, and I saw them; I saw, but remained silent, waiting for your conversion, repentance and correction - but you remain faulty, as you were, do evil, as you did, sin, as you sinned, live lawlessly, as you lived, reject My words, as you rejected, and despise them, as you despised; you steal, commit adultery, get angry, flatter, slander and give temptation, as you did before; and you never stop doing evil. What next does God say to the sinner? Listen: “You thought iniquity, as if I would be like you. I will reprove you and bring your sins before your face” (Ps 49:21). Do you think that your transgression of My law will pass without punishment? No, you are seduced and deceived! It won't be the way you blindly dream. Do you say in your heart that this will not be required of you (Ps 9:34)? No! All your sins and iniquities have been numbered and written down by Me, and everything that you have done in secret will be revealed, and everything that you have done in word, deed and thought will be presented to you. “I will reprove you and bring your sins before your face.” Likewise, the holy apostle says: “The Lord will illuminate what is hidden in darkness and will reveal the intentions of the heart” (1 Cor 4:5). What will follow that terrible revelation? The apostle answers and says to the wicked: “Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor wicked people, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor 6:9-10). And again: “The works of the flesh are known; they are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, quarrels, envy, anger, strife, disagreements, temptations, heresies, hatred, murder, drunkenness, disorderly conduct and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do these things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal 5:19-21). What place will they have if they do not inherit the kingdom of God? Christ the Lord defines to them: “But the fearful and the unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and fornicators and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars will have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. This is the second death" (Rev 21:8). And the Saint Forerunner also said: “Already the ax lies at the root of the trees: every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 3:10; Luke 3:9). This is what follows for those who despise the Word of God and His holy law: judgment and condemnation to eternal fire (Matthew 25:41). But let us also listen to what David further sings in his psalm: “Understand this, you who forget God, lest He snatch you away, and (then) no one will deliver” (Ps 49:22). Who should understand this? Those who forget God, fearlessly breaking His holy law. What should we understand? This, that is: that He will convict the transgressors of His law in all their sins and reward them all according to their deeds. Therefore, “understand this” and feel, repent and correct yourself, so that the faulty you are not “taken away” by His righteous judgment, and then “no one will deliver” you. Neither the wealth of the rich, nor the glory and honor of the glorious, nor the strength of the strong, nor the nobility of the noble, nor the wisdom of the wise, nor the cunning of the cunning, nor one another will deliver, nor the brother of brother, nor the father of the son, nor the father’s son, nor will man deliver man. “A brother will not deliver: will a man deliver (at all)? He will not give God a ransom for himself” (Ps. 48:8). Here's a bitter medicine for you, brother, but one that drives out rotten and old juices from the soul. What will deliver a sinner from God’s judgment? David shows by his example in the next, 50th Psalm, crying out to God from the depths of his heart: “O God, have mercy on me according to Your great mercy,” and so on. That is: true repentance, coupled with faith in Christ, the Son of God the Savior, delivers the sinner from judgment. Such a one “will not come into judgment, but will pass from death to life,” says Christ (John 5:24). But whoever wants to appease God with repentance and get rid of judgment should no longer anger Him, that is, he should leave his sins, since God is angry with them, otherwise, if sins are not forsaken, repentance will be false and not true. There are no such sins and so many that a truly repentant sinner would not be forgiven by God. The Divine Blood of Christ cleanses all sins and makes him pure who truly repents and gratefully accepts Him as his Redeemer, Deliverer and Savior by faith (Eze 33:11-12, 15-16; Isa 43:25; Mic 7:19; Acts 10:43; 1 John 1:7; 2:2; Luke 24:47; Rom 5:20). Take comfort in this, O repentant soul, and apply this to a contrite and wounded heart like a life-giving plaster. One thing remains for the sinner: to turn to God from his sins and for them to truly bring Him repentance and regret for having madly angered his Creator and Benefactor with them, and so continue to stand and struggle against every sin, beware of angering his Lord with word, deed and evil thoughts. “But with the Lord is mercy, and with him is great deliverance” (Ps 129:6). Here I am telling you, brother, what is good for both my soul and yours, and “there is only one need,” according to the words of our Savior (Luke 10:42). For we need only eternal salvation, so without it there is no benefit, even if we have gained the whole world. “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” says the Lord (Matthew 16:26; Mark 8:36). Let us, beloved, allow God’s accusatory Word to reach our hearts, and let us deepen this in our hearts, in order to drive out all uncleanness and rottenness from there and prepare it for the reception of the living consolation of the Gospel. For one who wants to be worthy of God’s mercy must certainly give up his sins and, with sorrow over sins, crush his heart. Let us repent and appease our God, so that our sins may be blotted out, so that they do not appear with us at the Last Judgment of Christ, so that the Judge does not say to any of us then: “Here is a man and his deeds!” Let us write this word of God: “I will reprove you, and bring your sins before your face,” let us write it in our memory, so that it can always be heard within us, when our enemy encourages us to sin. Now God says to the sinner: “I will reprove you,” so that he will repent and then not reprove him. If he does not repent, then he will certainly denounce him and say: “Here is the man and his deeds!” Now he threatens sinners so that they will repent and be saved, for he is good and philanthropic, but then he will fulfill the threat against those who have not repented. Now he says to sinners: “Repent”; - but then he will say: “Answer Me!” Now He calls sinners to Himself: “Come to Me,” but then He will answer sinners: “Get away from Me!” You did not know Me in the world, and I do not know you today. You did not listen to Me then when I exhorted and wanted to save you, and I do not listen to you now who are praying. “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). Oh, how terrible this voice will be for sinners! So then they will cry out to the mountains and 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; Luke 23:29–30)? Let us now fear this terrible voice, lest we hear it then. “O God, turn us and make Your face shine, and we will be saved” (Ps 79:20). If a sinner begins to repent and abstain from sins, then he must do the following: 1) To be comforted by the mercy of God, that God will have mercy on him, just as he has mercy and mercy on other sinners who repent. 2) Read Christian books and learn what sin is and what virtue is, so that you can protect yourself from sin and learn virtue. 3) Often pray that God Himself will enlighten and enlighten him, and teach him to do what pleases Him, and save him from all sin. 4) And act carefully yourself so that you are not caught by Satan, and so on. Read this and tell your brothers. Do you remember that when you entered the Holy Church through Baptism, like a door, you renounced Satan and all his evil deeds, that is: pride, fornication, theft, theft, flattery, lies, foul language, slander, condemnation, malice, hatred, envy, drunkenness, love of the world and all untruth, and promised to serve the only Jesus Christ with faith and honor and righteousness, and the members of the body clung to Him as to the head, and as to the branches of a vine? If you remember, then blessed are you if you stand in that. If not, then turn to Him, and He will accept you; and reach out before time runs out. Do you remember what the holy Apostle ascribes to Christians: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a special people,” and so on (1 Peter 2:9)? Oh, what a dear, longed-for name: Christian! Oh, what a high and magnificent dignity! It surpasses all the titles of this world. But blessed are you if you understand and keep this treasure within yourself. If not, then seek it by repentance while “the time is acceptable, and the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2). Do you remember that you are mysteriously communing with the Body and Blood of Christ, and therefore the Most Holy of Holies and the Source of holiness - Christ? Oh, what a great and incomprehensible thing! But listen and heed what the priest proclaims at the Liturgy: “Holy to the saints,” that is, the Holy Mysteries are taught to the saints. Both before communion and after communion, always beware of all sin, as filth, which defiles both soul and body, and approach with fear and faith, as the priest or deacon always calls. The great lamps of the world - Basil the Great and John Chrysostom, and others - trembled as they approached such a Sacrament, as their prayers show; How can we not tremble, who are nothing before them? If the pillars tremble and shake, what will happen to the broken reed? It’s bad to leave, but it’s bad for someone who doesn’t work to start. Both are bad. And from this it follows that a Christian must certainly correct himself and live like a Christian, as our faith requires. O God of Hosts, our God, “God who saves! Turn us, and make Your face shine, and we will be saved” (Ps 79:8)! Do you also remember that the Scripture says: “Blessed is he who eats bread in the kingdom of God.” But it also says: “Many are called, but few are chosen.” Why? Because many have renounced that great calling and have become attached to the vanity of this world (Luke 14:15-24). Let us try, beloved, not only to be among those who are called, but also among those who are chosen. “Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life” (Matthew 7:14), and only he who is Christ’s is saved (1 Timothy 2:5; Mark 16:16). “But those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:24). Christ says: “Whoever serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there will my servant also be” (John 12:26). Christ walked the humble way of the cross, and Christians must also follow Him in order to be with Him in His kingdom, for “a servant is not greater than his master” (John 13:16). Do you remember that God has prepared an inheritance and blessings for Christians not here in this world - where everything is common to the pious and the ungodly, those who lead and do not lead God - but in heaven: “goods,” I say, which “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and none has entered into the heart of man” (1 Cor 2:9)? If you remember, then blessed are you if your spirit strives there, where the sweet song is constantly sung: “Alleluia” (Rev. 19:1, 3, 4, 6), where is the “house of God,” in which “many mansions” (John 14:2), and your heart does not cling to vanity. Do you remember what the Lord said: “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 before spiritual salvation, then even more so is a small part of the world. If all the wealth and glory of the world is nothing, then even more so is a small grain of wealth and ringing glory in some corner. Think about this, poor lovers of wealth and fame, because you prefer nothing to everything! “Blessed is the man who trusts in the name of the Lord and does not regard vanity and false worries” (Ps 39:5). Do you remember that the great God and Lord of all, the King of kings and Ruler of rulers commands us, that is, me, you and everyone: “You shall love your neighbor,” that is, every person, “as yourself” (Lev 19:18; Matt 19:19)? We listen to the earthly authorities, our lord, our father and our king and fulfill the command - should we not listen to God, the Heavenly King? Oh, how scary and pitiful it is not to listen to the Creator and the Supreme Lord! Prefer, my soul, the will of your Lord to everything, your own will, your whims and desires. “Shall not my soul obey God? For my salvation comes from Him. For He is my God, and my Savior, my Advocate” (Ps. 62:2-3). Do you remember that the food you eat, the drink you drink, the clothes you wear, the houses you live in, the livestock that serves you, the fire that warms you, the water that washes and cools you, the air that keeps you alive, the land you live on, the grass, the potion that serves your needs, the sun, the moon, the stars that illuminate you, and so on, are all God’s? “The earth is the Lord’s and all that fills it” (Ps. 23:1). You taste the goodness of God, but do you remember the good God? You are satisfied with good deeds, but do you thank and honor the Benefactor? You do not see Him, but you see His benefits. Do you remember that our God is in every place, and you walk before Him, and He looks at you, and sees your deeds, and hears your words? Whatever you do, say, think, you do everything before His holy eyes. Do you honor Him with your actions, as children give to their present father, slaves to their present master, and subjects to their present Sovereign? It is shamelessness and great fury to not pay homage to Him Who is above all honor. Be ashamed to act outrageously before an honest man, especially before God. You are afraid to sin before your father, master, ruler, and king, much less before God, the King of kings and Lord of lords. You do not see Him, but He sees you and looks at you (Ps 32:13–14; Job 28:24); You do not hear Him, but He hears you; You do not touch Him, but He contains you in His almighty hand. “In His hand are all the ends of the earth” (Ps. 94:4). If all the ends of the earth are in His hand, then I and you and everyone are in His hand, that is, everyone who is in different ends of the earth. Listen to this, my soul, and honor your Creator as a dear Father. Do you remember that you confess the holy and terrible name of God, and call upon Him in prayer, and glorify Him? Reason then, are you not desecrating your hearts, which you are raising up to the holy God, with evil thoughts? Do you not defile your lips with foul language, blasphemy, slander, condemnation and other vices - the lips with which you confess and call on His holy and terrible name? Do you not discredit your hands, which you lift up to the righteous God, with robbery, embezzlement, theft, extortion and other unrighteousnesses? Hear that the Spirit of God, through the mouth of the apostles, says: “Let everyone who confesses the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness” (2 Timothy 2:19). Do you also remember, beloved, that “you are not your own? For you were bought with a price” (1 Cor 6:19-20). What price is given for you? Is it silver or gold? No! But what? Honest blood. Whose is it? Who shed His blood for you? Is any person simple? Is he holy? No. But who? Son of God, Lord of glory, God manifested in the flesh. You have been purchased by the Blood of God (Acts 20:28). Oh, what a great price, a priceless price given for you! And therefore “you are not your own”. Whose? The One who bought you for Himself at such a high price, the price of His Blood. You are Christ's, not your own. Christ bought you for Himself. You should serve Him, as the one who bought you, do His will, live for Him as His servants, and not live for yourself, do not fulfill your will, should not serve your own whims. “Christ died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again for them” (2 Cor 5:15). “Glorify God both in your body and in your soul, which are God’s,” the Holy Spirit exhorts you through His Apostle (1 Cor 6:20). O Lord our God! Get us. O our Redeemer! Have mercy on us, so that we may live for You and glorify You, who has honored us so highly. Do you remember and heed what the Lord says: “Why do you call Me: Lord! God! – and do not do what I say” (Luke 6:46)? If you remember and understand, then do what He says, and then call Him: Lord, Lord! A faithful slave does the will of his master and is obedient to him. Do you remember, finally, that the same Lord, who died for all, will come in His glory to judge everyone, the living and the dead, the noble and the noble, the rich and the poor, masters and slaves, princes and ruled, nobles and their servants, judges and those judged, fathers and children, shepherds and their men, commanders and soldiers, teachers and disciples, and every gender and age? Both you and I will appear at that trial. And the Judge will place the righteous “on His right side,” and the sinners “on His left,” and after the judgment and determination of the Judge, “these (sinners) will go away into eternal punishment, and the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:31–46). Do you remember that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night,” that is, it will come unexpectedly when people are not waiting (2 Peter 3:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 4). Then a voice will suddenly be heard: “Behold, the Bridegroom is coming, go out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6). Here comes the Judge, rise up dead, go to judgment! Do you remember that “at the presence of the Judge heaven and earth will flee, and no place will be found for them” (Rev 20:11)? “And the sky will disappear, rolled up like a scroll; and every mountain and island will move from their places. And the kings of the earth, and the nobles, and the rich, and the captains of thousands, and the mighty, and every slave and every free man, will hide in caves and in the ravines of the mountains, and will say to the mountains and 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 6:14–17)? You see what will happen then: what fear, trembling and horror there will be then even for those who are afraid of people here on earth! Those who now cannot fit in their chambers and earth will want to hide in caves and stones, but are captured by strangers. Those who now rise high like the cedars of Lebanon will want to hide under mountains and stones. That day is already “near” (Rev 1:3; 22:7, 10, 12, 20; James 5:8–9). The signs of it are already appearing, and “then the heavens will pass away with a noise, and the elements will burn up and be destroyed, and the earth and all the works that are in it will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). But you who have the fear of the Lord, watch, pray and repent, lest He find you unprepared. “Blessed are those whom the Lord, when he comes, finds watching” (Luke 12:37). Stay awake, my soul, pray, fall before your Lord, so that He may be merciful to you then. Beware of sin like a serpent. Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, O lover of mankind, the sinner! Save yourself, dear ones, and pray for me. You ask, what does it mean: pay attention to yourself? You call yourself a Christian, but do you do things befitting a Christian? Pay attention to yourself. You confess God, but do you honor God with a good conscience? Pay attention to yourself. In Holy Baptism you renounced Satan and all his evil deeds, but have you not again turned to follow his evil and corrupt life? Pay attention to yourself. At Baptism you promised to serve Christ, the Son of God, with faith and truth, but do you remember and keep your vows? Pay attention to yourself. You hear from God’s word that God is in every place, and He sees every deed, thought, undertaking and intention. Listen to what the Holy Scripture says about this: “Where will I go from Your Spirit,” O God, “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 raise my wings early 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). “The eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun and look at all human paths and penetrate into hidden places. He knew everything before it was created, as well as after it was done” (Sir 23:27-29). Thy Osh, O Lord, “are open unto all the ways of the sons of men, to reward every man according to his ways” (Jer 32:19; Proverbs 15:3; Heb 4 and elsewhere). Listen to what the wise Augustine says to God about this: “I confess, Lord, that whatever I do, whatever work I do, I do before You, and everything that I do, You see better than I, who I do. For, no matter what I do, You are always present, as the ever-present observer of all my thoughts, intentions, pleasures and deeds.” And what Augustine admits about himself, everyone should admit about himself. But do you honor Him with your actions in deeds, in words, in undertakings and intentions, as children pay respect to a present father, slaves to a present master, subjects to a present monarch? Pay attention to yourself. It is shameless, and an annoyance for the monarch, to act outrageously before him. Every lawlessness, whether committed by deed, or word, or thought, is disorder before God, and is an annoyance to Him, and harm to us. Pay attention to yourself. Whether you commit fornication in deed or in thought, whether you steal and abduct, deceive, flatter, lie, slander, blaspheme your neighbor, and commit other iniquities, you commit outrage in the eyes of God, and therefore you act shamelessly before God’s Majesty, and you annoy Him and harm yourself. Think about it. Do you lift up your heart to God in prayer? But do you not defile your heart with evil and nasty thoughts and do you hold anger against your neighbor? Pay attention to yourself. Do you lift up your hands to God? But aren’t you desecrating them with robbery, theft and other untruths? Pay attention to yourself. Do you call upon the holy and terrible name of God with your lips? But don’t you defame them with slander, slander, condemnation, flattery, lies and other vices? Pay attention to yourself. Are you standing before God in prayer with your body? But are you standing in spirit? Do you worship before Him with your body? But do you worship with your spirit and heart? Doesn’t the tongue say something else in prayer, and the mind think something else? Pay attention to yourself. Do you ask God for forgiveness of your sins? But do you forgive your neighbor? Are you looking for God's mercy? But do you yourself have mercy on your neighbor, a person like you? You say to God: “Hear, Lord!” But don’t you stop your ears when your neighbor asks you? Pay attention to yourself. For as we want God to be towards ourselves, we must be the same towards our neighbors, and as we are towards our neighbors, so God will be towards us. We listen to our neighbors who ask us, and God listens to us. We have mercy on the poor, our brethren, and God also has mercy on us, the poor. “We forgive our debtors,” God also forgives us our debts. God is more attentive and listens to our mercy than to our prayer, and He looks more at a kind, compassionate, merciful and willing heart than at the frequent repetition: “Lord, Lord.” For God is merciful and righteous: being merciful, he loves mercy and has mercy on the one who shows mercy, and because he is righteous, he righteously takes away mercy from those who do not want to have mercy. Read the parable of the debtor and his companion (Matthew 18:23–35), and you will see this truth. You receive food, drink, clothing, a house and other benefits from God, but do you remember the Benefactor and thank Him from your heart? Pay attention to yourself. We are so poor and wretched that we have nothing of our own except sins and infirmities, and we receive so many benefits from our Creator that we cannot live even a single minute without Him. But when we sin, we shamelessly insult the great Benefactor and are ungrateful to Him. It is hard to offend a human benefactor, but how incomparably harder than God, Who is the only goodness and love, Who never ceases to do good to those who do evil to us and to those who offend Him! Take heed to this. Know for sure, friend, that it is better to die several times than to offend God, eternal goodness, even in a small way. Whoever sins against God and thus offends Him acts like someone who receives every good thing from a human benefactor, but scolds and dishonors him. Think about it and pay attention to yourself. Do you know that Christ the Son of God redeemed you from the devil, hell, eternal death, not with silver and gold, but with His honest Blood? Do you remember this great and incomprehensible deed of Him? Do you remember this every day and thank such a great Benefactor from the bottom of your heart? Pay attention to yourself. He did not spare His Blood for your sake, do you not spare money for the sake of His name? He endured blasphemy and reproach with all meekness for your sake. Do you not take revenge on your neighbor for the blasphemous and blasphemous word and do you endure it with meekness? Pay attention to yourself. He suffered and died for you, do you show yourself ready to suffer and die for His sake? Pay attention to yourself. He bore a heavy cross, burdened with yours and the whole world’s sins; do you also bear the cross that God laid on you, without grumbling and indignation, but moreover, with thanksgiving, and will you follow Him? Pay attention to yourself. “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). He drank the bitter cup for your sins, as the Gospel teaches; do you not delight in the sins for which Christ tasted such sorrow? Pay attention to yourself. You call Him Lord. Truly He is the Lord: “His name is the Lord” (Jer 33:2). But do you serve Him as a servant of your Lord? Pay attention to yourself. He bought you as His slave, not with silver and gold, but with His Blood, as it is said, and therefore you are “not your own,” but His bought slave. Are you living according to your own will and not according to His? Do you obey and please Him as your Lord, as the Apostle says: “Christ died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again for them” (2 Cor 5:15)? Pay attention to yourself. He does not force anyone to please and work for Himself, as the masters of this world do, but He calls with love; and His love shown to us convinces, and our duty, which we must render to Him, as the Creator, and Lord, and our Redeemer, and the highest Benefactor. And the fact that we please and work for His sake is useful to us, not to Him. And if we do not do this, then it is harm to us, not to Him. Pay attention to yourself. He loved you, His enemy, so much so that He did not refuse to die for you, but do you love Him, your Benefactor who loves you so much? Pay attention to yourself. True love is known not from words, but from deeds, not from frequent repetition: “Lord, Lord,” but from doing His will, according to His word: “Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he loves Me” (John 14:21). Your neighbor appears to you as you do to yourself, and you are commanded to love him as yourself. Do you love him? Are you not doing to him what you don’t want for yourself, and are you doing to him what you want for yourself? Do you rejoice with him who rejoices, and do you grieve with him who grieves? Do you have compassion for the suffering? Do you help the needy? Do you try to console the sad? Do you want to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked and show other acts of mercy? And when you can, do you provide it? And when you can’t, do you have compassion for him from the heart? Pay attention to yourself. We are all neighbors to each other: the rich to the poor, the healthy to the weak, the wise to the foolish, the free to those imprisoned, those in power to those in power and those subject to power, parents to children and children to parents, shepherds to men and men to shepherds, masters to slaves and slaves to masters, husbands to wives and wives to husbands, teachers to students and students to teachers, old to young and young to old. In a word, every person owes love to his neighbor, and all Christians are called to “serve one another through love,” according to the apostolic word (Rom. 13:8; Gal. 5:13). You are called by the Word of God and redeemed by the Blood of Christ for eternal life, do you care about that? Do you seek it with all diligence? Aren't you chasing after the vanity of this world? Is your heart not attached to this world? Do you remember that you are a wanderer and traveler in this world, as all pious people think of themselves? Pay attention to yourself. You see that the death of young and old, ready and unprepared, delights in different ways - do you remember this hour, which all the saints remembered, and with sighing, tears and repentance they expected it, and so prepared themselves for it? Do you remember that hour from which you must either live forever or die forever? either to be in eternal bliss, or in eternal torment; either to reign with Christ in heaven, or to suffer with the devil and his angels in the fire of Gehenna - do you remember this terrible hour? Pay attention to yourself. You see that none of the dying take anything with them from here, neither wealth, nor honor, nor glory, nor anything else, but leaves everything in peace. Do you remember that you too will leave everything, and just as you entered the world naked, so naked will you come out of the world? Pay attention to yourself. Unexpectedly that hour comes, and sends away the ready and the unready to that age. Are you preparing for that hour and are you trying now in your life to be what you want to be at that hour? Do you want to die blessed? Are you trying to live piously, to flee from all sin and to practice every virtue, to call on God with zeal and to please Him with faith and righteousness? Pay attention to yourself. And as you depart from this world, so you will appear before the judgment of Christ. Christians approach the most holy Eucharist of the Body and Blood of Christ; This shrine is taught to the pious and saints, as the priest proclaims: “Holy to saints.” How are you approaching this great Sacrament? With what faith and conscience? Do you remember what the apostle wrote: “Let a man examine himself, and in this way let him eat of this bread and drink of this cup” (1 Cor 11:28)? Pay attention to yourself. It’s scary for someone who doesn’t work to start, and it’s scary to leave! Take heed to this. Are you the boss? How do you rule the people of God, your brethren? Are you concerned about their common benefit? Do you eradicate untruth and spread truth? Do you restrain the willfulness of the disorderly and protect the innocent? Pay attention to yourself. Are you a subordinate? Do you honor your superior and obey him for God's sake? Pay attention to yourself. “For there is no authority except from God” (Rom. 13:1). Are you the judge? How do you judge people like you? Are you trying to find the truth, are you keeping the truth as you promised before God? Are you acting against your conscience? Do you not justify the wicked and condemn the innocent? Do you not accept people in court? Do you not fear more than God a man similar to you, albeit a higher one? Do you remember that you yourself will stand before God’s judgment? Pay attention to yourself. If you are called to court, how do you respond? Are you witnessing to people what your conscience is witnessing to you? Is it not the conscience that speaks something else, and the tongue that speaks something else? Pay attention to yourself. Are you a shepherd? How do you feed the sheep of Christ, redeemed by His blood? Do you feed them with the Word of God? Are you leading them by example of good living? Do you keep them from spiritual beasts, devils? Do you turn the lost to the path of truth, etc.? Pay attention to yourself. If you are in the flock, how do you deal with your shepherd? Do you honor him, do you love him, do you obey him? Do you show gratitude to him, who works for you and seeks your salvation? Pay attention to yourself. Are you sir? How do you deal with your slaves and peasants? Are they satisfied with food and clothing? Do they have time to rest? Do you remember that as you want to eat, drink, rest, dress, so do they want; whatever flesh you have, such they also have; just as your suffering flesh hurts, so does theirs. Do you remember this? Do you remember that you also have a Lord in heaven, with whom there is no partiality, to whose judgment you will stand with your slaves and peasants, and how you treated them will you give an answer? Pay attention to yourself. Are you a slave? How do you serve your master? Aren't you just pleasing him before his eyes? Do you obey him, do you fulfill his commands out of good conscience? Pay attention to yourself. Are you the father? How do you deal with children? Do you teach them the fear of God? Are you raising them to be Christians? Do you show them an image of good deeds? Pay attention to yourself. Are you a son or a daughter? Do you honor your father and mother as God commands? Pay attention to yourself. Husband and wife! How do you act with each other? Do you maintain marital fidelity? Do you love each other mutually? Do you remember that you are “one flesh” (Eph 5:31; Gen 2:24)? Pay attention to yourself. Are you rich? How and on what do you waste your wealth? Do you remember that it is God’s goodness, given to you not for your whims and luxury, but for the needs of you and your neighbor? Do you remember that you are a “steward” and a manager, and not a master (Luke 16:1)? For everything is God’s: “The earth is the Lord’s and all that fills it” (Ps 23:3). How do you spend God's goodness? Do you provide for God's poor and needy people? Do you remember what answer you should give about the wealth given to you? Do you remember that wealth, squandered on luxury and whims, perishes, but what is given to the poor and poor is preserved and returned to the giver with great gain in eternal life (Luke 14:13–14; Ps. 40:2–4; Mark 9:41)? Pay attention to yourself. Are you a beggar and accept alms? How and for what purpose do you accept the alms given to you by Christ? Is it for need, or for luxury and whim? Do you not serve the love of money and mammon under the guise of poverty? Are you not collecting wealth from alms? Aren't you stealing goods from the truly poor and needy? Are you pretending to be a beggar when you have enough? Are you pretending to be weak when you are healthy? Don't you live in idleness and therefore have nothing to eat? Pay attention to yourself. Are you a merchant? How do you buy and sell? Do you not sell bad things for good ones and cheap ones for expensive ones? Do you not demand a higher price for your goods than they are worth? Are you not deceiving your neighbor in selling what you do not want for yourself? Are you not calling on the holy and terrible name of God in a false oath for the sake of a nasty profit? Pay attention to yourself. Are you intelligent and have the gift of teaching? How and for what do you use the talent given to you by God? Do you seek the glory of God and the benefit of your neighbor from this? Pay attention to yourself. In a word, every Christian! How do you act before God, who watches over everything? How do you speak, do, think, how do you treat your neighbor with your heart? How and in what ways do you spend the time given to you by God for repentance? Are you not exhausting him in idleness and vain amusements? Do you remember that time is precious, and once a word is spoken, it is lost and never returned? Do you remember that the more you live, the closer you get to death, the judgment of Christ and eternity, and everyone will certainly go either to a blissful or painful eternity? Pay attention to yourself! Do you also remember, my soul, what you advise your neighbor, and do you act on it? Pay attention to yourself! This is what it means: pay attention to yourself. Remember this, reason and pay attention to yourself in order to be saved. I wrote to you about something before, but now I am writing about what the apostle calls “the root of all evil,” and about who can be called truly rich. And at the beginning I lay down the apostolic word about “those who want to get rich,” about whom the apostle says this: “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and into a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts that plunge people into disaster and destruction; for the love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:9–10). Pay attention to the following points and you will see. 1) The lust of wealth is not only evil and harmful in itself, but is also responsible for all evil. It arms a person against all the commandments of God and teaches them to destroy them. Against the first commandment: “I am the Lord your God.” It takes a person away from obedience and hope in God and leads him into fearlessness. Many people collect wealth in order to use it to get rid of the troubles of those who find it, and in the event of a misfortune they say to the treasure: you are my hope - which especially happens at the present time, when gold and silver give their voice in judgment, but truth is silent. Therefore, the apostle exhorts: “Admonish those who are rich in this present age, so that they do not think highly of themselves and do not trust in unfaithful riches, but in the living God” (1 Timothy 6:17). Against the second commandment: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Covetousness is idolatry" (Col 3:5), and "the covetous is an idolater" (Eph 5:5). Covetousness is the lust of wealth and the love of money. How many betray and sign themselves up to the devil, and like slaves they worship him for the sake of wealth! Against the third: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” How many, coming to power and becoming a judge, swear a false oath, and, having sworn an oath, break the oath, and thus “take” the great and terrible “name of God in vain” for the sake of wealth - many thousands testify to this. How many merchants fearlessly and lawlessly swear in the name of God that their goods cost this much, but in reality it is otherwise, and so they lie, and dishonor the holy name of God for the sake of self-interest. Oh, evil lust! Where does it lead a poor man! The great and terrible name of God is false, it teaches us to call in vain and for the sake of evil gain! Against the fourth: “Remember the Sabbath day,” and so on. How many, on holidays dedicated to Divine services, for the sake of profit, leave the church and Divine services and do what pleases their lusts! Against the fifth: “Honor your father,” and so on. How many children leave their parents and do not help them in need and old age, so that their property does not suffer, and become “worse than unbelievers” (1 Timothy 5:8)! How many are there who, for the sake of silver and gold, betray and sell their fatherland, and their houses in it, and their parents and wives and children! Read the stories and you will see. And if only this would not happen now! Against the sixth: “Thou shalt not kill.” How many kill for the sake of silver and gold, and do not spare people like themselves, created in the image of God, and shed innocent blood! How many people indulge in robbery! Against the seventh: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” How many wives and virgins have become and are becoming open harlots for the sake of amassing wealth, stories testify to this. Against the eighth: “Thou shalt not steal.” It is impossible to calculate how many deceitful, open and secret thefts this lust invents, so that few people are free from them, and especially merchants, strong people, the rich, those vested with power and serving them, sitting in judicial places and clerical servants. Truly someone wrote: “The world is filled with thieves.” Against the ninth: “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” How many are bribed with silver and gold, and tell lies in court, and so sell truth and righteousness for the sake of profit, and acquit the guilty, and condemn the innocent and the just! So the guards of the Holy Sepulcher, bribed by the bishops, falsely and against their conscience said that His disciples stole Him at night when they were sleeping, and hid the truth about His resurrection (Matthew 28:15). Against the tenth: “Do not covet.” Why doesn’t this lust desire someone else’s? She needs everything to have in her house. He opens his eyes to everything that belongs to others. You see the root of all evil! Cut off the root, and its evil branches will dry up. Renounce lust and do not fall into evil. “Do not covet”, be content with what you have, and you will be free from evil. 2) Beware of this ulcer, which kills both soul and body forever (1 Cor 6:10; Eph 5:5), and look around to see if it is in you, since it is hidden. Fornication and passion for drunkenness are visible, but no one has ever called himself a lover of money. But few people don’t have this passion, as you saw. Examine yourself carefully to see if it is nesting in your heart. But there is a way to avoid it: think and remember that you will leave everything in the world that you gather, and only piety will leave the world with you, as discussed below. 3) Just as everyone enters the world equal, that is, naked and wretched, so everyone leaves the world equal, except that some are sinners, and others are righteous. “For we have brought nothing into the world; “It is clear that we cannot take anything out of it,” says the apostle (1 Timothy 6:7). And Job said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked will I return” (Job 1:21). And life itself shows this. Where the rich man lies in the earth after death, where the poor man lies, where the master is, where the slave is, it is impossible to know. Here is the remedy against the lust of the love of money: you will come out of the world without everything and appear before the Lord, just be careful not to appear before Him with that lust. She herself will expose and condemn you before Him, and will show what your heart was occupied with in the world, what you loved and what you were looking for, whether God or silver. Remember this, and this lust will depart from you. Blessed and wise is he who says with Job: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked will I return” to where all those living on earth go! 4) Who is rich and who is poor? The one who no longer desires, but is content with what he has, is rich, and the one who desires more and more is poor. We call someone who doesn’t want to eat well fed, and someone who does want to eat hungry. Thus, the one who desires nothing more should be called rich, and the one who desires more wealth should be called poor. It is not the barn, nor the chests, nor the pocket that is called rich, but the man. Consequently, whoever, although he has empty chests and a barn, is content with what he has, is rich, and whoever, although he has full chests, but desires more, is wretched and poor, for he has nothing in his heart, and does not have it because he desires. He who desires much lacks much; little is lacking for those who desire little; He who does not want anything needs nothing. If he has something, it’s good; if he doesn’t have something, that’s good: he’s happy with both his possessions and his lack, and his wealth and his poverty. Food and clothing are his contentment. Blessed is such a heart! This is a traveler and a wanderer in this world. 5) Only the godly are rich, according to the testimony of the Apostle Paul: “It is great gain to be godly and content” (1 Timothy 6:6). What does “acquisition” mean? It is the same as wealth, treasure. What does it mean to be content? To be satisfied with what you have, whether small or great, much or little (this is discussed in the 4th paragraph). He who has piety has great treasure. Why? Because he has a treasure that is incomparably better than the treasure of this world; and has it within itself, and not without; and inalienably has it, and now with him, and in death with him, and after death remains with him. What kind of treasure is this? Living faith, knowledge of God and reverence, the grace of the Holy Spirit and the hope of an eternal inheritance in heaven - all that is contained in piety. This is the treasure and wealth of the pious! They, having placed their hope in God, are content with God as the ultimate good, greater than Whom there is no good and from Whom all good comes. God is their “great reward,” wealth, treasure and glory, and in the blessed life “all will be in all” (1 Cor 15:28). The wicked have the wealth that they have, that is, perishable and fleeting, as in a dream, and therefore are poor and wretched; and leaving everything with which they were content, as in a dream, they will reach such poverty that they will desire a drop of water all eternity, and no one will give them, as can be seen in the example of the rich man in the Gospel (Luke 16:24). And the Lord confirms this by saying: “What will 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)? Although the wicked are rich, they are rich in barns and chests, and not in themselves, and that is as in a dream. Yesterday and all past time are like a dream for us, and the wealth of this world will be like a dream after death. Whoever sees something in a dream sees it as long as he sleeps, and when he wakes up, he sees nothing, but only remembers the dream. So a rich man, while he lives, sees his wealth, but when he dies, everything leaves him like a dream, and he has nothing in himself except memory and an evil conscience, for “he laid up treasures for himself, and was not rich in God” (Luke 12:21). Not so pious, not so! They are rich here and will be the richest there. Here too they “carry” and have their “treasure” “in earthen vessels,” and there they inherit blessings, which “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and nothing has entered into the heart of man” (2 Cor 4:7; 1 Cor 2:9). So, that wealth is true, which is inside a person, and is not separated from him, and goes with him from here to that age - this wealth is piety. And he is only rich who has within himself the treasure of piety. 6) Let us try, brothers, to have this treasure, and not the one that departs from us and repeatedly prevents us from seeking the true treasure about which the Lord says: “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20). Let us not look at those who become rich in this age, for they too will leave everything and go naked. “Do not be troubled,” says David, “when a man becomes rich, or when the glory of his house increases; for when he dies, he takes nothing with him, and his glory does not go down with him (to the land)” (Ps 49:17-18). Wealth in itself is good, and does not harm a person, but brings benefit; whether wealth will be harmful or beneficial depends on the person: what kind of person is who has it, such is the wealth for him, either harmful or useful. So wine is medicine to the wise, but poison to the mad; the sword is protection for the good, and destruction for the evil one and for others; fire brings both benefit and harm: it brings benefit to those who use it carefully, and harm to those who act carelessly with it or use it to harm their neighbor. Reason itself is both useful and harmful: useful to those who use it to benefit themselves and their neighbors, but harmful to those who use it to harm their neighbors, and therefore use it for themselves, for a person cannot harm his neighbor without causing greater harm to himself. Likewise, wealth depends on the nature of a person’s heart. But since a person has a corrupt heart and cannot act in moderation in happiness, then for the most part wealth harms him not from his own side, but from the side of a person who cannot use good things correctly. That’s why the apostle says: “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and into a snare,” and so on. Therefore, the Lord teaches that “it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven”; and he also says: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:23-24). Therefore, the Inflower prays: “Do not give me poverty and wealth, feed me with my daily bread, so that, having had enough, I will not deny You and say: “Who is the Lord?” “And lest, having become poor, I should not steal and take the name of my God in vain” (Proverbs 30:8-9). And David, being rich and glorious, prays to God: “Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to covetousness” (Ps 119:36). And he exhorted others: “If wealth flows in, do not put your heart” (to it) (Ps 61:11). And the apostle admonishes: “The time is already short, so that those who use this world must be like those who do not use it; For the image of this world is passing away" (1 Cor 7:29, 31). Take note, beloved, and think about the words of the apostles: “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and into a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts that plunge people into disaster and destruction,” and about the words of Christ: “It is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven; -" and beware of getting rich, so that wealth does not plunge you into the abyss 7) And if you have wealth, spend it as the Word of God teaches. Be sure that Christian wealth and heritage are hidden in heaven, and are incomparably better than earthly and temporary things, then you will consider everything earthly and temporary as nothing, and you will strive for the eternal with your everlasting desire. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21). Just as the sons of this age choose gold and silver rather than copper, so the sons of the kingdom, true Christians, having despised all the treasures of this world, strive with all their desire for things above. There is their fatherland, and heritage, and wealth, and glory, and honor, and home, and all the treasure there. There is supper, and marriage, and consolation, and joy, and joy in store. There, holiday and wedding clothes are ready for them. There the Heavenly Father and the faces of the saints are waiting for them: “Blessed is he who eats bread in the kingdom of God” (Luke 14:15). However, “many are called, but few are chosen” (Luke 14:24). Let us strive, beloved, not only among those who are called, but also among those who are chosen, so that we too may be worthy to eat and drink at the table of Christ in His kingdom (Luke 22:30). O Lord, grant me! Oh Lord, bring it! O Most Gracious One, have mercy and hear us! But we must first taste sorrow and endure with Christ, as the apostle says (2 Tim 2:12). “You have been with Me in My tribulations, and I bequeath to you, as My Father bequeathed to Me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom” (Luke 22:28–30). How sweet it will be to eat and drink at that meal! But the charm of wealth, vain glory and luxury and sweets, takes the poor man away from it. “Open your eyes” (Ps 109:18), O man, and know the beauty. Take your eyes and your mind and your heart away from the earth, and turn them to heaven. Be sure that you are a stranger and a stranger here, and then you will know the beauty, and you will be satisfied with what you have, even if it is small, and you will use everything in the world with fear, like a stranger and a stranger. For who on the way burdens himself? Isn’t it more likely to lift away every burden in order to make it easier to walk? Who in a foreign country hides a treasure for themselves? Isn’t he sending his own to his fatherland? On the road and in a foreign country, you, Christian! You have been called to the heavenly Jerusalem, and there God has shown you your fatherland. Why do you want to get rich on the way and in a foreign country? After all, you won’t take this wealth there, but you’ll leave everything here, in a foreign country. There, wealth is prepared not perishable, but incorruptible and inalienable, but “for those who love God” (1 Cor 2:9), and not silver and gold for those who love. 9) If someone has righteously acquired wealth (although this rarely happens), and does not use it for luxury, immoderate buildings and other vanity, but he himself is content with it in moderation, and supplies the churches of God, almshouses and the poor, and “does not think highly of himself and does not trust in unfaithful wealth, but in the living God, who gives us everything abundantly for our enjoyment; does good, is rich in good deeds, generous and sociable” and so on (1 Tim 6:17–18), then wealth not only does not harm, but also brings benefit. 10) If someone has unjustly collected wealth, he must righteously squander what he collected with offense for his neighbor, imitating Zacchaeus the tax collector (Luke 19:8). You are calling me to your place. And I wanted to come to you, but my weakness, the distance of the road, and other reasons do not allow it. Sorry for staying at home. I wish you, as well as myself, to be saved in Christ, for this is “the only thing needed,” according to the word of the Lord (Luke 10:42). Let the world love the worldly, let others here seek honor, others glory, other treasures, let others care about earthly things and estates, and try to leave their names on the lands; let others build rich houses, gardens, galleries, ponds, decorate carriages and horses, and arrange other accessories for their consolation, but to us, O Christians, our Christ offers “the only thing we need.” What is this? Eternal salvation, and orders it to be sought as “the only thing needed,” for without it there is no benefit, even if someone has everything. And whoever has eternal salvation has everything, although he will lose everything else. It contains everything that could be desired. Without him, the whole world is nothing, according to the word of the Lord: “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, then much less wealth, although great, much less honor and glory, although it thunders greatly, for all wealth, all honor and glory are nothing against the whole world. However, the whole world is nothing if the soul is deprived of its treasure, eternal salvation. Oh, how precious is eternal salvation! The whole world is nothing against him. Oh, how poor is that Christian who, having left this invaluable and dearest treasure of the whole world, seeks in this world to become rich and glorified! Such a person is poor and blind, and is like one who, being on a foreign side and planning to soon return to his home and fatherland, would begin to build rich houses, gardens, ponds and other immovable things there - that he would soon have to leave everything, and without all that return to his fatherland. So, whoever, living in this world, collects, and does not “grow rich in God,” God says to such: “You fool! this night your soul will be taken from you; who will get what you have prepared” (Luke 12:20)? Who will get your chests of money? Who needs your houses? Who wants horses, carriages, gardens, galleries, ponds, lands, estates, valuable clothes and all the finery? One coffin is being prepared for you, and there is only a fathom of land, but where will the glory and honor you acquired go? Everything will end, just like your life. “When he dies, he will take nothing with him, and his glory will not go down with him (to the earth)” (Ps 49:18). Why look for something that is like nothing against salvation, and why chase after something that moves away from us like a shadow? We are strangers and strangers in a strange land. Our Fatherland is not here, O Christians! Why are we collecting treasures here as if we would live here forever? Why are we not looking for guidance to the heavenly fatherland, but are we chasing after what is blocking our path to that fatherland? Who would want to have all the wealth of this world and glory, but lose his life? What good is wealth and fame without life? For life is more precious than anything else. If temporary life is dearer than anything else, then even more so is eternal life, against which even temporary life is nothing, and for the sake of which even temporary life, when the need arises, should not be spared. And if we leave everything so as not to lose temporary life, as happens during a fire and during the invasion of enemies and other cases, then all the more we must leave everything so as not to lose eternal life. Those who try to become famous and enrich themselves on earth have no time to care about eternal life. “For where his treasure” is, “there will his heart be also” (Matthew 6:21). Such care is a thorn that choke the seed of the Word of God, “and it becomes unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22). Anyone who wants to receive eternal life must accept the seed of the Word of God in the heart and create fruit. Therefore, it is necessary to pluck out the thorns from the heart, so that it will be free and convenient to receive the seed of the Word of God. The vessel must be emptied in order to be filled with others, otherwise one will not fit with the other; the heart must also be freed from unnecessary worldly cares so that the Word of God can fit in it. The love of wealth, honor, and temporary glory must be driven out of the heart if anyone wants to admit God’s holy Word and create fruit into it, otherwise one will not fit with the other. Let us, beloved, uproot the thorns of worries about honor, glory and temporal wealth from our hearts and give place in them to the Word of God, so that, having dwelt in them, it will bear its fruit, the fruit of true repentance, which is what God wants from us, and the work of our salvation demands. We are called to eternal life by God and renewed in holy Baptism; we will diligently seek it alone, to which we are called. Once found, it will never be lost, and the lost will never be found. Honor, glory, wealth and the whole world leave us when we leave here, but eternal life, once found, will always be with us. Why are we looking for wealth that will soon leave us? God promised us blessings that “eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and has not entered into the heart of man” (1 Cor 2:9). And they will forever and invariably be with us. Why are we looking here for honor and glory, which disappears like smoke? God promised us eternal glory in heaven, with which the glory of all the kings of this world cannot be compared. Let us look for this priceless and immovable treasure. It is “the only thing needed.” This treasure is great and priceless, for “it was not purchased for us with corruptible things, silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18–19). We lost this treasure, but Christ purchased it for us with His Blood and gives it to those who truly repent and believe in Him. Let us seek through true repentance, which includes worthy fruits. Let us repent in order to find him. For “God said to the sinner: I will reprove you, and bring your sins before your face” (Ps 49:21). Listen, sinners! God will convict us and bring before our face our sins, which we have committed, openly or secretly, in word or deed or thought. Let us repent and atone for our sins with tears, so that our sins are not exposed and so that none of us hears: “Here is a man and his deeds!” Here is a man who was called a Christian, but did not do Christian deeds. Here is a man who “had a form of godliness, but denied the power thereof” (2 Tim 3:5). Here is a man who “professed to know God, but in deeds denied” Him (Titus 1:16). Here is a man who promised to serve God at Baptism and bore the name of Christ on himself, but served the world and sin! For “everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin,” according to the word of the Lord (John 8:34). Here is a man and his deeds! Oh, how shameful and scary it will be to hear this reproof! From whom? From the Judge God. To whom? A Christian who was called by a Christian name, but did pagan deeds. For “He will bring down snares on sinners: fire and brimstone and a stormy spirit are part of their cup” (Ps 10:6). Let us repent, sinners, so that this fate does not befall us. “Already the ax lies at the root of the trees: every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 3:10). Let us create, dear, good fruits of repentance, so that God’s judgment, as unfruitful, does not cut us down and send us into the fire. Let us do so that we do not hear from the Judge Christ: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry, and you did not give Me anything to eat” (Matthew 25:41–42). Oh, how terrible it will be to hear this voice! It is also terrible to go into eternal fire, where “the smoke of the torment of sinners will ascend forever and ever” (Rev 14:11); where “their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Isaiah 66:24; Mark 9:44), where “people will seek death, but will not find it; They will wish to die, but death will flee from them” (Rev 9:6). God now expects everyone to repent, not wanting anyone to perish, for He is good and loving to mankind. Glory to His incomprehensible love for mankind! But the blind sinner, without thinking about it, is careless and tries to become rich and glorified in the world, rather than repent and be saved, and thus fulfill the will of God. O man! “Or do you despise the riches of God’s kindness, meekness and long-suffering, not realizing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and the revelation of righteous judgment from God” (Rom. 2:4-5). Let us turn, sinners, to God while He waits for us, let us listen to Him while He calls us. Let us give up seeking honor, glory and wealth, for all this will depart from us, and let us seek what will be with us forever. Now God is calling us and promising us mercy, but soon He will call us and judge us. Now he says: “Repent,” and then he will say: “Answer Me!” Now he says: “Come to Me,” and then he will say: “Get away from Me!” Now he listens to those who repent and pray and seek mercy from Him, and then to those who repent and pray he will answer: “I do not know you” (Luke 13:27), since then there will be a time of judgment and testing, and not repentance and prayer. Let us repent, so that we too do not hear: “I don’t know you.” That terrible day is near, and it will come unexpectedly. “And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man: they ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Just as it was in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot came out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from the sky and destroyed everyone; so it will be on the day when the Son of Man appears” (Luke 16:26–30). “The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety,” then destruction will suddenly come upon them” (1 Thessalonians 5:2–3). On that day, “the heavens will pass away with a noise, and the elements will be destroyed with burning fire, and the earth and all the works in it will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). Then suddenly a cry will be heard: “Behold, the bridegroom is coming, go out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6). Then “heaven and earth will flee from His presence, and no place will be found for them” (Rev 20:11). “And the sky will disappear, rolled up like a scroll; and every mountain and island will move from their places. And the kings of the earth, and the nobles, and the rich, and the captains of thousands, and the mighty, and every slave and every free man, will hide in caves and in the ravines of the mountains, and will say to the mountains and 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 6:14–17)? Notice how terrible that day will be for sinners who now live fearlessly and do not want to repent. The same Christ, Who lived humbly on earth for the sake of sinners, will then appear in Divine glory; and the same One who “was wounded for our sins and tormented for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5) will judge unrepentant sinners for their sins and iniquities. Christ suffered so much and terribly for our sins, which He took upon Himself, suffering so greatly and terribly, satisfying the righteousness of God for us - how strongly the wrath of God will flare up against sinners, and especially against Christians who knew Christ who came into the world, and confessed His name, but did not want to obey Him and do true repentance, and thus be saved by His grace, but turned their hearts to the vanity of the world, and cared not about the salvation of their souls, but about gaining honor, glory, wealth, and walked according to the whims of their hearts - it is impossible to depict the wrath of God! Read the above passages from Holy Scripture and reason! Let us turn, Christians, from vanity and repent, so as not to experience the wrath of God on ourselves, but to receive mercy from Him both here and there. Let us write on our thoughts the Last Judgment of Christ, at which it is fitting for all of us to appear. It is scary and shameful for a guilty person to stand in human court, and to hear a reprimand from those present, and to be condemned according to the laws, and to endure execution; everyone avoids it. How much more terrible will it be to stand at that terrible judgment, where the Angels and all people who have lived since the creation of the world will gather, and to hear a reprimand and condemnation from God before the whole world, and to be condemned to eternal execution and torment with the devil and his evil angels. God, have mercy on us, Thy creation! He who truly repents will avoid all this disaster, which is what I wish for you and myself from my heart. May the goodness of God move every sinner to repentance. Judge, man, whose are you, whose business, whose creation and whose slave? You are God's creature and God's servant: “His hands created” you “and created” you (Ps. 118). Why don’t you listen to and honor your Creator? From whom do you receive every good thing every day and hour? From God. The bread with which you eat, the drink with which you drink, the clothes with which you dress, the fire with which you warm yourself and on which your food is cooked, the water with which you wash and cool, the house in which you rest, the light with which you are illuminated, the air with which your life is preserved, the cattle that serves you, the property with which you are content and other goods that you use - whose? All God's good. God gives all this to you. God gives you His goodness, but you don’t honor Him! You honor and listen to a man-benefactor, for example, your father, your master and your ruler, but you do not want to honor and listen to God, the highest Benefactor and Lord and Ruler and your Father! For God cannot be truly revered without the fear of God and true repentance and the keeping of His commandments. Those who are hypocrites are those who worship only God with their lips, to whom God says: “This people draws near to Me with their lips, and honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8). We must honor God not only with our lips, but also with our hearts, that is, to fear, love Him, and do His commandments with zeal. What should especially move us to repentance, obedience to Him, love for Him and heartfelt gratitude is His love for mankind, the fact that for us, sinners, rejected, lost, and the Only Begotten, “He did not spare His Son, but delivered Him up for us all” (Rom. 8:32), so that by His grace we might be saved. May this great and incomprehensible love for us make us wise, and turn us from the vanity of the world to Him and to His love, and to heartfelt gratitude and obedience and encourage us. Without which we cannot create anything pleasing to Him, no matter what we do. Save yourself in Christ, and let one of you who fear God pray for me, a sinner. Let us listen to what Christ our Lord tells us: “As you want people to do to you, do so to them” (Luke 6:31). From this it follows that what you don’t want for yourself, man, don’t do it to another person; and what you want for yourself, do to others. 1) You don’t want anyone to offend you, slander you, condemn you, scold you, dishonor you, deceive you, deceive you, beat you, hurt you, kill you, hate you, be angry with you, take revenge on you for their offense, drag you to court, or take revenge on you in any other way, in word or deed—you don’t want all that for yourself. If you don’t want someone to desecrate your bed, steal your property, steal it, and take something of yours without your will and appropriate it for yourself, you don’t want it - how to want harm to yourself? Do not, man, do to anyone what you do not want for yourself, since he does not want for himself what you do not want for yourself. 2) You want someone not to leave you in your need, that is, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to visit and minister to those who are sick and sitting in prison, to bring a wanderer into your home and give them peace, to build a hut for someone who has no home, to forgive someone who has sinned and endure your offense, and so on; If you want everything, how can you not want good? Do yourself, man, do to others what you want for yourself, since he also wants it for himself. 3) This is the law of God, and the prophets, and the apostles, teach us, according to the word of the Lord: “For this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12). For the law, and the prophets, and the apostles teach us to shun evil and do good, as their holy books testify. The holy fathers, pastors and church teachers exhort us to this, as we see in their books. 4) Consequently, whoever offends his neighbor (as depicted in the first paragraph), does to him what he does not want for himself, and so is sick with pride and blindness, and does not know what he is doing, and fills his conscience with sins. And whoever does not help another in need (as stated in the second paragraph), but can help, does not do to another what he wants for himself, and is also selfish and blind, and burdens his conscience, about which at the second coming of Christ he will be convicted by his conscience and will be irresponsible. Therefore we read that the righteous Judge Christ sends into the fire those who did not show mercy to His lesser brethren, that is, to the poor Christians (Matthew 25:41, 45). Therefore, the stingy rich will be unrequited, who do not help poor people with their property, but squander their property on their whims, on rich buildings, rich tables, etc., or keep it in chests and keep it like watchmen; unrequited are those who do not allow strangers into their home, and others who do not show mercy to their neighbors, for all of them do not do to their neighbors what they want for themselves. 5) Let us listen, Christians, to the prophets, apostles, and church teachers, especially to Christ God Himself, who teaches and exhorts us through them; let us perform true repentance and, “turning away from evil, let us do good” (Ps 33:15); Having begun to do good, we will continue in that until the end, so that our death may find us there, and thus we will be saved by the grace of Christ. For he who begins but does not endure to the end will not be saved. “He who endures to the end will be saved,” according to the teaching of Christ (Matthew 24:13). 6) To those who have begun to do good and to those who do it, the apostle says: “Let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:9). The present time is the time of sowing, but there will be a time of harvest, that is, the time of resurrection from the dead. Then everyone who sows now will also reap. Just as a farmer sows whatever seed, so does the increased fruit he reaps; whether he sows rye, or wheat, or oats, or anything else, such is the fruit he reaps - so a Christian, whatever seeds he now sows, that is, good deeds or evil, such fruit will also be reaped at the time of resurrection, as the apostle says: “He who sows to his flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:8); and elsewhere: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23; Matt 25). Let us turn aside, beloved, from the carnal passions that war against our soul, and let us do “deeds worthy of repentance,” good deeds, in order to reap the fruit at the resurrection of the righteous. Then we will be “rewarded” generously from the hand of the Lord (Luke 14:14). 7) The apostle also says: “Therefore, while we have time, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the family of the faith” (Gal. 6:10). What does it mean: “how long is there time?” Answer. The present or present time, while we live in this world, is convenient for doing good, and not the future, after death, for then there will be a time of reward. Whoever has done anything here while living in the world, good or evil, will appear with that at the judgment of Christ. Then “everyone will receive according to what he did while living in the body, good or bad,” as the apostle teaches (2 Cor 5:10). After death, doing good will cease, but then there will be reward for every deed. Therefore, the present time is likened to sowing, and the future to harvest (as mentioned in the 6th paragraph). Just as farmers at the appropriate time sow seeds and then at the next appropriate time they harvest the fruits, so Christians at the present, appropriate time, should sow seeds, that is, good deeds, so that in the next century they can reap the fruits of good deeds - seeds. Farmers sow seeds, but they reap much greater fruit through the blessing of God, as we see. Thus, pious souls do good deeds in the name of the Lord, but they will receive a hundredfold reward for those deeds, like the most abundant fruit, from the hand of the Lord in the future life. Farmers, collecting the fruits of the sown seeds, rejoice, so Christians, now sowing the seeds of good deeds, will joyfully reap the fruits of their blessed labors. Lazy farmers and revelers remain without fruit during the harvest because they did not work, did not sow, but lay or walked during sowing, and therefore remain in poverty and shame, and, seeing others, their brethren, gathering fruits and rejoicing, they become sad and scold themselves. The same will happen to Christians who miss the present time and do not do good, but use this time for festivities, fun, feasts and other whims, both displeasing to God and harmful to themselves; They too will be ashamed at the second coming of Christ, and, seeing themselves in extreme and eternal poverty, squalor and disaster, and others in eternal bliss, they will weep bitterly and weep - they will weep, seeing themselves beggars and wretched, although in this world they were rich and glorious. “So we have gone astray from the path of truth, and the light of righteousness did not shine on us, and the sun did not shine on us. We were filled with deeds of lawlessness and destruction and walked through impassable deserts, but we did not know the way of the Lord. What benefit has arrogance brought us, and what has wealth and vanity brought us? All this has passed away like a shadow and like a fleeting rumor” (Wis 5:6-9). Let us, beloved, become like hardworking farmers and sow, while we have time, the seeds of good deeds, so that in the future life we ​​may reap the fruits with joy and a hundredfold, which will endure forever. 8) “Let us do good to everyone,” says the apostle. What does this word mean: “everyone?” Answer. We must do good to everyone, good and evil, friends and enemies, relatives and strangers, fellow countrymen and foreigners - in a word, to every person, no matter who demands or asks from us, as Christ says: “Give to everyone who asks you” (Luke 6:30). Let us, Christians, do good to everyone, so that we may be true Christians, “sons of light,” sons of our Father, who is in heaven, “for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45), to whom we pray every day: “Our Father who art in heaven; -" and we will do good according to our strength and opportunity. Having a lot, let us give a lot, and having a little, let us allocate and give, as Tobias admonishes (Tob 4:8), so that for both small and great we will receive a hundredfold from our generous and rich God in mercy. I know that you want to be saved in Christ. Don’t look at what today’s Christians are doing, but look at what God’s word preaches and teaches. Today's Christians for the most part resist Christ, rather than learn from Christ, although they confess His holy name. Christ teaches us to avoid evil, but many Christians do evil. Christ teaches us to live soberly, but many Christians get drunk. Christ teaches to live purely, but many Christians commit fornication and adultery. Christ teaches not to kidnap, not to steal, not to touch someone else’s property, but many steal either secretly, like thieves, or openly, like rapists, or deceitfully, like orderly people who take bribes, and do not do anything until they receive bribes or hear some promise. These include all gamblers who play for money because they play for the sake of winning against each other. One wants to win money from the other, and they play for this, and this sin is against the tenth commandment: “You shall not covet” (Exodus 20:17). And whoever wins money sins against the eighth: “Thou shalt not steal” (Exodus 20:15). Christ teaches not to take revenge for insults, but to leave: forgive, he says, and you will be forgiven, but many Christians do not forgive, but take revenge either in deed or in word, and sue each other. And whoever does not forgive his neighbor, his sin is not forgiven by God, and so God is angry with the one for whom sin is not forgiven (see Matthew 6:12, 14-15; 18:23-25). Christ teaches us to love one another, but many Christians hate others. The apostle calls such people murderers. “Everyone,” he says, “who hates his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15). Oh, how many murderers there are in the world, how many thieves, as you can see from the above! Christ teaches not to judge, not to condemn, but many Christians learn this in order to judge their neighbors and bite their tongues. Christ teaches us to pardon and provide the poor from the wealth given to us, but many Christians waste their wealth on their whims, on rich clothes, on buildings, on horses, on carriages, on tables, rich wines, and so on. Christ teaches us to be merciful, but many Christians, seeing a poor person, say shamelessly: “What do I care about his needs?” Seeing him naked, they do not want to clothe him; seeing a homeless person, they don’t want to make him a hut; Seeing someone who is hungry, they do not want to feed him; seeing a stranger, they don’t want to take him into the house, and so on. But, instead, they exhaust their wealth on whims that are contrary to God and harmful to themselves. Christ teaches us to seek the kingdom of heaven, but many Christians seek glorification and enrichment in this world, and as if they want to live here forever. Christ teaches not to use foul language, but many Christians are not afraid to utter all sorts of foul speeches with those lips with which the holy and terrible name of God is remembered. Christ teaches us to pray often, but many Christians spend all their time either in festivities, or at feasts, or playing cards, or dog hunting, or in empty, idle, shameful and lawless conversations, or other vanity. ABOUT! Like many Christians, Christ is in contempt, for they do not listen to Him, although He and their God, their Lord and King, their Nourisher and Dresser, suffered for them and died, shed His Blood for them, and opened the eternal kingdom to them, and called them to Him and is calling them through His holy word, through preachers and teachers. For a son despises his father if he does not listen to him, and a slave of his master if he does not carry out his orders; so Christians, despising the commandments of Christ, despise Christ Himself who gave them. O ungrateful Christians! Should we give such reverence to Christ, Who for our sake humbled himself, suffered, cried, blasphemed, reproached, spat on, been naked, suffered wounds, crucifixion and death on the cross? Is this the kind of gratitude we should give Him? He did not spare Himself for our sake, but we spare our money, which He gave us, and for the sake of His name we spare it for those who ask us to give it. For our sake, He gave Himself up to wounds, crucifixion and death on the cross, so that we would be saved, and for His sake we do not want to endure a defamatory word, but either with tongues, like arrows, we wound those who insulted us, and we turn away insults with insults, and we turn away evil from us with evil, or we fill the courts with caustic slander. He so honored and loved us, His enemies, that He did not even refuse to die for us, but we dishonored Him, our Benefactor, who honored and loved us, with our evil deeds. Is this what our faith and confession of His name requires of us? Is this the kind of thanksgiving given to the Benefactor? Is this an honor for the King? Is this what obedience to the Lord is? Is love like this for the Lover? Oh trouble! O delusion! Oh, how sin has increased! How the temptation has expanded! How worldly charm has intensified! How Satan has spread his nets everywhere and catches poor people like a fisherman, catching them now with the net of the love of money, now with the net of the love of fame! Oh, how from hour to hour the fruit of the seed of the word of God diminishes, how the tares multiply, how the wheat diminishes, how wickedness increases! True piety is becoming scarce, and hypocrisy abounds, Christians are becoming scarce, and hypocrites are multiplying! "Beloved! Do not imitate evil, but imitate good. He who does good is from God; But he who does evil has not seen God,” says the apostle (3 John 1:12). A tree is known by its fruit, an apple by taste, and a potion by smell, and a Christian is known by faith and love, like a rose by beauty and fragrance. “In Christ Jesus,” says St. Paul, “neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has power, but faith working through love” (Gal 5:8). If this is so, as it truly is, then where to look for a true Christian, if almost everyone is only looking for their own, and not the benefit of their neighbor? Faith looks at the crucified and risen Christ, and recognizes Him as its Redeemer and Savior; How can he not love Him as His Redeemer and Savior, Who redeemed those who believe in Him from eternal death and gives them eternal life? If he loves Him, how will he not fulfill His commandments? Christ commands Christians to “love one another” (John 15:17). If you love Christ, you do not want and are afraid to offend Him, for insult is contrary to love. If you don’t want to and are afraid to offend, you shouldn’t break His commandments. If you are afraid of offending your father, you follow his orders. You don’t want to offend your friend, so you do what pleases him. You respect power and you obey power. You see that love for Christ will be followed by obedience to Christ, obedience will be followed by the fulfillment of Christ’s commandment, and the fulfillment of Christ’s commandment will be followed by love for one’s neighbor. Christ says: “I command you this, that you love one another” (John 13:34). And if you love your neighbor, will you despise him in his need? How can you not clothe the naked one you love? How can you not feed the hungry one you love? How can you not welcome into your home and treat the one you love? How can you not visit someone you love who is sick and in prison? How can you not console the sad one you love? How do you want to insult someone you love with a word? How do you want to deceive and seduce the one you love? How do you want to slander and condemn someone you love? How do you want to steal the goodness of the one you love? How can you not wish every good thing for the one you love? In a word, you will not wish or do any harm to whom you love, and you will wish and do all good to the one you love. You see that every good deed comes from love. So, if you love Christ as your Redeemer, and do not want to offend Him, then love your neighbor unfeignedly, so as not to offend Christ, your Savior, because Christ commanded you to love your neighbor, as it is said. If you want to love your neighbor as you should love, then do not wish for him what you do not want for yourself, and wish for him and do what you want for yourself. For this is the property of love. So, take note of what a Christian is and from what he is known, that is, from faith and love. And where there is no love, there is no faith, and where there is no faith, there is no Christianity, since a Christian cannot exist without faith. Here is the reason described for you, why I wrote at the beginning: do not look at what today's Christians do, but look at what the word of God preaches and teaches. Because one takes an example from another and is tempted, and so temptation and sin multiply, and piety is diminished, and true Christians become impoverished, and hypocrisy enters, and eternal destruction follows hypocrisy. Here's a treat for you! You wanted to come to me, but with what spirit is unknown. God knows your heart. I didn't let you in for a reason. A person, when he was once deceived by someone, does not believe him in the future. So deceivers and deceivers destroy all loyalty in human hearts, that we often don’t trust good people. It is a pity that such tares exist among Christians. God sees them, and people already know them somewhat. God sees them and endures them “until the harvest.” Then they will be gathered into their sheaves and given over to eternal fire to be “burnt” (see Matthew 13:30). I forgive you everything, no matter what you did to me, and I wish everything for you, as well as for myself. So, for my sake, be calm and peaceful, but don’t abandon yourself. Understand what I am writing. Whatever a person does in this world, God sees everything and writes it in His book. Everything worldly in the world will remain, but with a person only his deeds will go into the next world, and the more deeds he does here, good or evil, the more he will appear there. “Whatever a man sows” here, “there he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7). Everyone's labors and fruits will appear there: with the good the good, with the evil the evil will appear. Woe to the poor man will be when all his evil deeds that he did from his youth to his death will appear before the Righteous Judge and before the whole world, and it will be said about him: “Here is the man and his deeds!” What God Himself now says to the sinner: “I will reprove you and bring your sins before your face” (Ps 49:21). The more a person twists the rope, the longer it becomes, and the more he imposes on himself, the heavier the burden becomes; and the more entangled in the net, the more difficult it is to free himself from there; and the more black it becomes, the more difficult it is to wash it off. Do you know what I'm writing?.. It’s time to twist the rope, but it’s time to break it; It’s enough to burden yourself, but it’s time to throw off the burden; It’s enough to get entangled in a network, but it’s time to break the network and free yourself; It’s enough to become more vilified, but it’s time to wash off. God is a Helper in everything. Just rise up, and God will raise you up; start, and God will help you; be of good cheer, and God will strengthen you; awaken, and Christ will enlighten you; take the path of the pious, and Christ will lead you. “Awake, you who sleep, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Eph 5:14). It's time, it's time, oh it's time! “Now is the time for the Lord to act” (Ps. 119:126). Man does not know where the judgment of God will befall him, and there he will fall into a ditch, where he does not care. Pharaoh, the Egyptian king, was chasing after Israel, and wanted to captivate the people of God again, and where he thought to gain profit for himself, there he received a coffin for himself. This enemy of God has been set as an example to the whole world. There are still many pharaohs. But I don’t wish for anyone what happened to Pharaoh, but I wish for everyone what the prodigal son did. Then “there will be joy among the angels of God,” according to the word of the Lord (Luke 15:10). There is no late repentance while a person lives in this world. Only about the repentance that occurs in a patient near death, who has lived the entire past time without repentance, in sins, I don’t say anything: with what hope he leaves here, only God knows. Therefore, it is better to repent in advance and start a new Christian life, then a person will leave with good hope. Not the beginning, but the end boasts. Start while you are healthy, and although death will soon befall you, you will be saved, and all your sins will not be remembered before God. So strong is true repentance before God, but coupled with faith in Christ! Moreover, read Romans 2:3 1 and so on. I haven't written to you for a long time. Sorry, my fault. Now I am writing, and in this picture, according to my strength, I present to you a disgrace to the whole world. Look at him and listen, and think about yourself, how you strive, so that later you do not repent late and uselessly. 1) Our life in this age is nothing other than the path to the next age. We ascend this path at the time of birth, and at the time of death we end it. And everyone living on earth is a traveler. This path is the shortest for others, as for dying babies; for others it is longer, as for dying youths; for others and even longer, as for husbands and old people who are dying. Just as we know the day and image of the beginning of this path, for we are still born, so the day, hour and image of its end are unknown, for we do not know how and when we will finish it. Heed this! Death will befall us there, where there is no tea, and then it will befall us when we do not hope. Reason and remember this. Blessed and wise is he who reasons and remembers this. So, always be on the way what you want to be at the end, and you will be happy! Beware of sin, and repent of the sins you have committed, just as at the time of death people take care of sin and repent. Talk about wealth, honor, fame, pleasures and other things of this world along the way, just as people talk at the end. Pray to God along the way, call upon Him and seek His mercy as people pray at the end, and you will be blessed. Then, wherever death befalls you, and no matter how it befalls you, and whenever it befalls you, you will die blissfully. 2) If our life on earth is a journey, and we are travelers, “strangers and strangers, like all our fathers” (1 Chronicles 29:15; Heb 11:13; Ps 39:13), then our Fatherland, our home, our resting place, our heritage is not here, otherwise we would always have to remain here without departure. So, why do we hide our treasures on the way? Why do we seek honor, glory and consolation on the way and in our journeys? Why do we accept this world as our Fatherland? For we are not born and enter the world for the sake of treasure, wealth, honor, glory and other pleasures, but for the sake of passing on to the next age, since as we entered this world, we must leave it; and just as we brought nothing into the world, we will take nothing out. “We brought nothing into the world; It is obvious that we cannot take anything out of it,” teaches the apostle (1 Timothy 6:7). And the case itself shows this. For neither the rich man of his wealth, nor the high-ranking of his honor, nor the high-born of his nobility, nor the glorious of his glory, etc., carry with him. Death makes everyone equal. For where the master lies in the earth, where his servant is, where the high-ranking, where the lowly, where the rich, where the beggar is, it is impossible to know. Therefore it is written: “A man lays up treasure, and does not know to whom he will store it up” (Ps 39:7). “They will leave their wealth to strangers. When he dies, he will take nothing, and his glory will not go away with him” (Ps. 49:11, 18). You see that everything departs from the traveler at his death, and just as he himself entered the world naked, so he comes out of the world naked, and if only naked, and not intoxicated by the love of the world, which “is enmity against God” (James 4:4; 1 John 2:15), and not burdened with sins! Therefore, the glory of this world, honor and wealth and other pleasures, are like a shadow, like a dream, like a “vapor” that “appears for a little time and disappears” (James 4:14), and turns into nothing. Why chase shadows, dreams and steam, but leave the truth? Why look for something that should be abandoned today or tomorrow? 3) They will say: “I’m looking for something to eat?” Answer. This is not forbidden, you have to work and look for something to eat, but fairly. However, Christians are forbidden to gather and become rich in this world (see Luke 12:15–31). Moreover, nature is content with little: it requires only what is necessary, “it is content with food and clothing” (1 Timothy 6:8). Lust needs a lot, it is dissatisfied with what it has, but it desires more and more, like someone who is hot inside is always thirsty and cannot get drunk. See if you are pleasing Mammon under the guise of need, and where food is offered, if the love of money is hidden. Lust is crafty and deceitful, it invents a lot for its own sake, and always, under the guise of food, it plots poison for the soul. Remember that you are a traveler. And honor, rank, glory, human praise, which the sons of this age desire no less than wealth, what are they needed for, what are they needed for? What's the use of them? The body does not require them, life continues without them, for many live without fame, honor, praise, or rank. The soul will go into this age without all this. What need will be presented here by the person who desires and seeks this? What remains to be said and admitted if not that “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is of this world” (1 John 2:16). You see that the desire for wealth, honor, glory and other things is a burden that burdens travelers and bends them to the ground, and does not allow them, like people, to look at heaven, for which all were created and renewed by holy Baptism. Oh, how many have been burdened by this heavy burden and plunged into the abyss! Look, reason and beware. 4) Who is hiding a treasure on the other side? Doesn't he send him to the Fatherland? Who burdens themselves along the way? Isn't it more likely that he overthrows himself? Who seeks glorification in captivity and exile? Doesn’t he sigh more for the Fatherland and desire liberation? You are a wanderer on earth and an alien, why do you hide your treasure here? You are a traveler, why are you burdening yourself? In captivity and exile, you, expelled from paradise, why are you looking for glorification here? Why don’t you sigh for the lost Fatherland, and don’t you seek its glory, where is honor, wealth and eternal glory, as well as eternal life? You know, you have a foreign country instead of the Fatherland and a path instead of home, if you are looking for a lot here. Woe to those who have a foreign country as their Fatherland and the road as their home! For “where their treasure is, there will their heart be also” (Matthew 6:21). “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul” (Matthew 16:26)? What is the benefit to a person if he finds a temporary thing, which he will soon lose, and loses an eternal thing, which, having been found, will never be lost? 5) The human soul is like a mirror. In the mirror, when it turns to the sky, the sky is depicted, and when it turns to the earth, the earth is depicted, so in the soul what it loves and thinks about is depicted. Does this world and what is in the world love glory, honor, praise, wealth, sweetness - this is depicted in it. Whether the kingdom of heaven also loves God is depicted in it. And what the soul loves, that is what it seeks, that is what it cares about, that is what it thinks about. So, “where” a person’s beloved “treasure” is, “there his heart will also be.” And what the soul loved while living in this world, what it sought, then with it, what is depicted in it, will appear in the next century. Thus, deeds, words and thoughts will follow a person in this age, and will appear at the Judgment of Christ before all Angels and men and the Judge God Himself; and the person himself will then see what he did, loved, sought, cared about and thought about in the world. It is necessary for the soul, just as it came naked from God, so naked from sin and from the love of this world to return to God again. Reason diligently and take note of this, O soul who wants to be saved! Here is the path that has been suggested for you! 6) The path of life here is twofold: narrow and wide. The path is narrow because travelers walking along it are surrounded by temptations, troubles, misfortunes, sorrows that they must endure, and they captivate, constrain, bend and subjugate their will to the will of their Creator and God. This path is followed by pious, God-fearing and faithful servants of Christ, who have given names to Him with their hearts, and “crucify the flesh with its passions and lusts” (Gal 5:24); and each bears his own cross, laid down by God, the Heavenly Father; and follow Christ, the Son of God, their Lord, who bore the Cross for all of us and was crucified on the Cross, and leads them to the heavenly Fatherland. Jesus, the son of Nun, led the sons of Israel into the promised land, as we read in the Holy Bible, and Jesus the Son of God, who appeared on earth in the flesh and suffered and rose from the dead, leads His faithful into heaven - the land “where honey and milk flow” ( Exodus 33:3 ) of eternal sweetness and consolation. Please note here that Jesus brings those who follow Him, and not those who do not, into heaven. 7) The broad path is so called because its travelers live according to their own will, do what they want, do not look at the will of their Creator and God, do not bend their will under the yoke of Christ, but expand the will of their hearts, they rejected the cross and loved this age, and carry on their shoulders the yoke of Satan, burdened with sins and iniquities. These include sensualists, lovers of luxury, bribe-takers, covetous, mammon, and not those who serve God, fornicators, adulterers, predators, thieves, drunkards, haters of their neighbors, evil and revengeful, slanderers, slanderers, scolders, deceivers and flatterers, foul-mouthed people who love foolish speeches, blasphemers, stingy, unmerciful, gamblers, especially those who play for money, and all those who do lies and do not fear God, and do not tremble before His words, for all such people live in the breadth of their whims. Do not enter, my soul, into their council. “Do not be jealous of the wicked and do not be envious of those who practice iniquity, for like grass they will quickly wither and like green grass they will quickly fall away. Submit to the Lord and pray to Him. Do not be jealous of the one who prospers in his way, the person who commits a crime. And a little more, and there will be no sinner, and you will look for his place and will not find it. The wicked will be driven out, and the descendants of the wicked will be destroyed; The righteous women will inherit the earth, and will dwell in it for ever and ever. Trust in the Lord and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the earth; and you will see when sinners are destroyed" (Ps 37:1-2, 7, 10, 28-29, 34). “Trust in the Lord, be of good courage, and let your heart be strong, and trust in the Lord” (Ps 27:14). May “the law of the mouth of God be better than thousands of gold and silver” (Ps 119:72). “Shall not my soul obey God? For my salvation comes from Him. For He is my God, and my Savior, my Advocate” (Ps. 62:2-3). The path of the wicked is broad, but it leads into the narrowness of eternal torment. Look at this in the Holy Scripture, which is “a lamp to our feet,” the passages below (Ps 49:17–22; 51:3–9; 1 Cor 6:9–10; Gal 5:20–21; Matt 25:41–46; Rev 21:8; John 3:14–15; Matt 6:15; 7:23; 8:12; 18:23–25; Eph 5:5; Isa 1 etc.), which all show that a lawless and extensive life leads to eternal destruction. The reason for this is that such people resist the will of God, which “wants everyone to be saved”; and do not want to truly repent, which is what God’s will wants, but they will follow the will of their hearts. And the Lord clearly says: “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). If one is unworthy of Christ, then who is worthy if not His opponent, whose will will be followed? 8) Therefore the Lord says: “Enter at the strait gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many go in through it; for strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few find it” (Matthew 7:13–14). Why do many people take the broad path? Because everyone wants to live in the space of their will and lusts. Why do few people find the narrow path? Because few people want to humble themselves, captivate their will and submit to the will of God, and endure what the narrow path requires. Why does the narrow path “lead to life?” Because those who walk this path truly repent, humble themselves, fear God, endure and follow Christ with humility, patience, love and other virtues. For Christ brings only those who follow Him into life, and not those who deviate from Him. Why does “the broad way lead to destruction?” Because those who walk according to it resist the will of God, do not want to humble themselves, truly repent, stop their sinful life and hate what the will of God hates. Therefore the Lord says: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). And again: “Why do you call Me: “Lord! God!" – and do not do what I say” (Luke 6:46)? 9) Here's a worldwide disgrace for you! You see those making the journey, but not equally, and each strives towards his own center. Honors and crowns are accepted only by those who follow the narrow and sorrowful path of the Cross and the Christian way (see 2 Tim 2:12; James 1:12). The Apostle of Christ commands us to walk in this way in order to receive: “so run so that you may receive” (1 Cor 9:24). It is not the earthly king and the sons of this age who look at this disgrace, but the Heavenly King with His chosen ones, the angels and all the saints, “looks down from heaven (” Ps 10:4-5; 32:13, 15; 13:2; 2 Chronicles 16:9; Zech 9:1; Jer 32:19; 16:17). The Heavenly King looks and praises only those who walk the path of His commandments and patience and bear His good yoke; and he prepares for them crowns that do not fade, but do not fade, and honors that are not temporary, but eternal, and recalls everyone from the wide path and calls them to the narrow path. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls; For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30). 10) Let us listen, Christians, to the Heavenly King, while He is calling, to Him Whom we must certainly listen to. For if we listen to the earthly king and do everything he commands, so as not to lose his mercy and not fall under his wrath, then all the more should we listen to the King of Heaven, God, whose mercy to lose is obvious destruction, and whose wrath brings eternal execution. And having turned away from the perilous space, we will enter the saving cramped space, and through this cramped space we will enter the space of eternal consolations. Oh, it’s time, it’s time, “it’s time for the Lord to act” ( Ps 119:126 )! The path is getting shorter, the end is near, we are closer to the end today than yesterday, and we don’t know when we will finish it. Here, “He who is coming will come and will not tarry, and will reward everyone according to his deeds” (Heb 10:36; Matt 16:27). The Archangel's trumpet will soon sound, and soon "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and having heard, they will live, and all will be changed" (John 5:25, 28; 1 ​​Cor 15:51). Soon “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night,” behold, “the heavens will pass away with a noise, and the elements will be destroyed with burning fire, and the earth and all the works in it will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his deeds” (Rev 22:7, 12). Watch and pray, my soul, “for you know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man will come” (Matthew 25:13). Then the whole world will tremble from the fear of the coming Judge. Then kings and princes, strong and glorious, rich and everyone in this world who consider themselves to be something great, who here expanded themselves in the whims of their hearts, will want to hide in caves and stones. Remember this, O man, and take the path of Christ and be established. May this voice always ring in the ears of your soul: “Rise up, dead, go to Judgment!” “Train me, O Lord, in Thy way: live me in Thy way” (Ps 85:11; 119:37). Believe, Christian, God's word. It is true, reliable, and cannot lie in any way, since it is the word of the True and Righteous God. It, like a lamp, shows us what is harmful and what is saving. It reliably declares that the broad way leads to destruction, and the strait leads to life, for the broad way is Satan’s, and the strait way is Christ’s. So, it is better to take the narrow path of patience and the low path of humility to life, than to go to destruction along the long path of whims and the high path of pride. It is better to endure everything temporarily than to endure it endlessly. If the souls who had departed and were tormented in hell were allowed to return to this world, then they would - without a doubt I say - every tightness and sorrow with eagerness, joy and gratitude and would want to go through many years just to be freed from that misfortune. The rich would like to be in the very depths of poverty and endure everything. The sensualists would like to eat roots, and herbs, and water, and then eat in moderation, and endure everything. Those who love glory would want to be in extreme contempt, dishonor and reproach, and endure everything. Princes, nobles and masters would want their slaves, whom they had for free, if not worse, to be slaves and serve them. In a word, every sinner there would want to endure everything here. But no one will be given this. They heard the word of God here and did not believe; they admonished them, and they did not listen; they corrected them, and they did not correct themselves; called them to repentance, and did not repent. They repent now, but too late and to no avail, and they will repent forever. They hear the word: “child! Remember that you have already received your good things in your life” (Luke 16:25). The same will happen to those who now walk along the long path. So, it is better with Lazarus, who suffered here, to endure temporarily, and there to rest forever in Abraham’s bosom, than with the rich man, who had fun here, to rejoice temporarily, and there to suffer in the flames forever (see Luke 16:19-31). It is better to humble yourself here and be exalted there than to be exalted here and humble yourself there. “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14). It is better to cry about sins here, where crying is useful, and there to be comforted, than here to be comforted by the flesh, and to cry where crying is useless. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). It is better here to persecute, reproach, reproach, embitter, endure all suffering, and have a part there with the martyrs, than here to persecute, embitter, scold and torment, and there to suffer with the tormentors. For here everything is temporary, short, fleeting and light, and there everything is eternal, incessant and heavy. Choose, my soul, the best, choose the easy and short, so that you will avoid the difficult and incessant, and instead of temporary sorrow you will receive eternal consolation, instead of temporary dishonor, eternal glory, instead of temporary disaster, eternal bliss. For you must either endure here or there, without fail. It is necessary to either walk the narrow path and go to life, or walk the long path and go to destruction: everyone living on earth must choose one of the two. 11) Change will greet everyone living on the face of the earth; everyone will get their lot. “It is right for God” to “give” their due to everyone – “to those who offend and are insulted” (2 Thessalonians 1:6–10), to God, who will “render to everyone according to his deeds” (Matthew 16:27): to those who, by persistence in good deeds, seek glory, honor and immortality - eternal life; and to those who persist and do not submit to the truth, but indulge in unrighteousness - rage and anger. “Tribulation and distress to every soul of a man who does evil,” and so on (Rom. 2:6–9). The proud will humble themselves and the humble will be exalted. The scoffers will stop their mouths and be silent, and shame will cover them, and they will stand boldly, and lift up their mocked heads. Those who offend will be in sorrow, and those who are insulted will find joy. The rich and the rich will become poor and hungry, and the poor will be rich, and the hungry will be filled, and “those who seek the Lord will not be deprived of any good” (Ps 33:11). Those who expelled will be rejected, and those who were expelled will be accepted. Those who laugh and rejoice in this world will weep, and those who weep will be comforted. Those who glorify themselves will be humiliated, and those who humiliate themselves will be glorified. Those who rejoice will thirst and desire drops of water every day, and “they will be satisfied with the fatness of the house of the Lord, and they will be drunk with the flow of His sweetness” (Ps 35:9) those who fear God and serve Him. To each his own. “God cannot be scolded. Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal 6:7). “And these” (sinners) “will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:46). Then endless eternity will begin. Some in heaven, their longed-for Fatherland, will endlessly, after labors, sorrows, misfortunes endured here for the sake of piety, rest, rejoice, have fun, be consoled, reign with Christ the King, while others in hell will also endlessly suffer and be tormented with the devil and his angels. 12) Blessed and wise is he who lives here in this world as a traveler, as a stranger and a stranger, and, “having no permanent city here, seeks the future, of which God is the artist and builder” (Heb. 13:14; 11:10). Blessed is he who turns away his eyes from time and the temporal and turns to eternity and the eternal, blessed indeed! For such a one will not seek wealth, glory, honors, consolation on the way and be burdened with this as a burden (for what need does he have for all that he will soon or not soon leave on the way?), but will always raise the eyes of his heart to his desired Fatherland and city, like a wanderer to his home, like a traveler to his goal, like an exiled and captive to his Fatherland, like an exile to his father, like a worker to to his peace, as one in distress to his bliss, as one sitting in prison to his freedom, as an ascetic to his honor and glory. “For where his treasure is, there his heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). There he will send his desires, his sighs and his goods, which are decent for this purpose. Choose and hold tightly, my soul, this bliss. Mad and damned is the one who in this world, on this path, in this exile, captivity and wandering, lives as in the Fatherland, is at peace, comforted, enjoys and does not fear that, living in time, he forgets about eternity, and leaving heaven, he turns to the earth and earthly things, like cattle, and only seeks what the senses see and with which they are consoled. “Turn away my eyes, O Lord, from seeing vanity” (Ps 119:37). “Blessed is the man whose hope is the name of the Lord, and who does not regard vanity and false worries” (Ps. 39:5). 13) Whoever wants to leave the extensive path and take the Christian path (this is necessary for everyone who wants to be saved), must leave behind evil deeds and turn to God with repentance and regret that he lived in the space of his will and despised the will of God, and change himself, and begin a new, God-pleasing life. On the Christian path, at the very beginning, it is required that the person who wants to follow it must deny himself, for this is what the Lord teaches: “Whoever wants to come after Me must deny himself” (Mark 8:34). What does it mean to “deny oneself?” Answer. To become different from what you were before, not by nature, but by inner state: a lover of money to renounce his love of money, a lover of glory from his love of glory, a fornicator and adulterer from unclean lust, an angry and spiteful man from anger and malice, a proud man from pride, an unmerciful man from his hardness of heart, in a word, a malevolent man from his wickedness to renounce. So the nature will be the same, but the disposition will be different. What God created will be the same, but what man himself has made will change; and so the person will be different; and different in disposition, but the same in nature It is narrated that a certain young man lived uncleanly with a harlot, and, wanting to get away from that nasty deed and correct himself, he withdrew from her for a while. And when he felt that his lust for her had faded away, he returned to the house and, having accidentally met her, silently passed by. And when the next day he met her again and, without saying anything to her, walked past, she told him: “After all, I am such and such. How did you not recognize me? “But I’m not the same,” he answered. So, you may not be the same as you were before. Change yourself, and you won't be the same. Do not seek the glory, honor, wealth and sweetness of this world; do not be angry and do not take revenge when they revile and offend you; do not admire, do not delight, do not be comforted and do not be proud when they praise you; Do not regret and do not grumble about your stolen property, etc., and you will not be the same. And this is what it means: “deny yourself.” Then you will walk the narrow path and bear your cross and follow Christ. 14) When a person renounces his bad behavior and corrects his inner state, then his external deeds, words and undertakings will be correct: his hands will not do evil, his tongue will not speak evil, his feet will not walk on evil, his ears will not hear, his eyes will not see evil, since the will will not want evil, but only good; and so there will be good agreement between the heart, or internal state, and the external members and their actions. For every deed and word depends on the heart: from a righteous and kind heart, a righteous and good deed and word happens. So from a clean well, clean streams flow. This is how good harps make a good sound. So the good bell rings well. So a vessel with aromas gives off a good and pleasant smell. Thus, according to the word of the Lord, “a good tree bears good fruit” (Matthew 7:17). 15) True virtue will be followed by temptation. Satan always rebels against Christ’s servants, and with God’s permission, either through himself or through evil people, causes them harm. Here every pious person needs patience, and whatever the opposite happens, he must endure without complaint and magnanimously, and overcome with patience, and accept everything that happens as if sent from God, in order to show that he unhypocritically honors God. Thus Satan is put to shame, and a person who truly honors God is recognized and crowned. Thus, the temptation that came upon Job, the saint from the devil, which he generously endured, showed that he was a true worshiper of God. And the devil found no more than to slander him, the one who had previously slandered and said: “Does Job honor God for nothing” (Job 1:9)? And so, defeated and disgraced by his patience, he fell silent. And this is “taking up your cross,” that is, being ready to endure whatever the opposite happens, even until death, if this is necessary for the sake of God. What does it mean to “carry your cross?” Answer: to endure without complaint and magnanimously whatever happens. 16) So the one who wears his cross must follow Christ, as the Lord said: “And take up your cross and follow Me” (Mark 8:34). What does it mean to “follow Christ?” Answer. Many bear their cross, but do not follow Christ. Such are those who do evil deeds and suffer, such as: villains, thieves, robbers, murderers, robbers, fornicators, drunkards, and so on. They bear the cross, that is, either reproach, or beating, or bonds, or endure exile, or death itself, but do not follow Christ. So what does it mean to “follow Christ?” Answer. To do good and endure every misfortune for the sake of the will of God, which desires our patience, looking at Christ Himself, who suffered so much. Christ did everything righteously, “and committed no sin” (1 Peter 2:22), and taught good, but for our sakes He endured and suffered every calamity and misfortune, “doing the will of the Father who sent Him” (John 4:34), “and finishing His work,” and was “obedient even to death, even the death of the cross” (John 4:34; Phil 2:8). Thus, He taught us by His example how it is proper for us to please God, that is, to do good and endure evil, in order to do God’s will. For the will of God wants us to do good and to graciously endure and overcome everything contrary that happens from Satan or from evil people. “Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example so that we would follow in His footsteps. And this is the apostolic teaching: it pleases God if someone, thinking about God, endures sorrows, suffering unjustly. For what is praise if you endure being beaten for your misdeeds? But if, while doing good and suffering, you endure, this pleases God. For to this you were called” (1 Peter 2:19–21). So, if someone does good and suffers unrighteously, and endures for the sake of love for God and for Christ, the Son of God, that is, because Christ, for the sake of love for His Heavenly Father and for the sake of love for us, the unworthy, suffered and endured so much, he follows Christ with humility, patience and love, and bears his cross, and walks the narrow path of Christ, and goes to the eternal kingdom, as he says: “Whoever serves Me, yes to Me.” will follow; and where I am, there will my servant also be” (John 12:26). So you see that there is a narrow path. From this understand that “those who find” it are “few” (Matthew 7:14). Do you see what it means to “deny yourself, and take up your cross and follow Christ.” Know that there are few who deny themselves and follow Christ. Everyone wants to be glorified with Christ, but few want to be suffering with Him. But Christ says: “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). And again: “Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38). And again: “Through your patience save your souls” (Luke 21:19). And in the Acts of the Apostles it is written: “through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). Look, they enter the kingdom of God not only through sorrows, but also through many sorrows. 17) They will say: “Is it hard and intolerable for me to endure?” Answer. It will be harder to hear: “I don’t know you, where you are from” (Luke 13:25); “Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire” (Matthew 25:41). It’s not intolerable to endure, but you don’t want to endure. With the help of God, everything is possible to the one who wants it. God helps those who truly and truly want what He Himself commands: He commands to endure and helps to endure (see 2 Cor 6:2; Heb 4:16; 13:5–6). What do lovers not do for the sake of their loved ones? How can one not suffer in order to please them? What troubles do fame-lovers not accept in order to gain vain glory? What kind of misfortunes will merchants not face in order to collect temporary wealth? What danger are warriors not exposed to in order to please the king of the earth and gain rank? Is it unbearable for you to endure for the sake of your God and thus please Him, to receive the promised eternal glory from Him, Who both commands you to endure and wants to help you in your patience? Moreover, God does not allow us to be tempted beyond our strength. The master hits crystal and glass vessels lightly so as not to break them, but hits silver and copper vessels firmly; Thus, the weak have an easy temptation, but the strong are allowed a more difficult temptation. “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able,” the apostle of Christ teaches and comforts the faithful (1 Cor 10:13). Therefore, we must shut our mouths and endure in silence whatever happens, and accept it as from the hand of the Lord. Think, Christian, no matter how much Christ, our King and Lord, suffered for our sake and endured, for the sake of us, I say, His unprofitable servants, in order to “seek us and save the lost” (Matthew 18:11)! Read the Gospel and you will see. Doesn’t the truth require that we, His servants, for the sake of Him, our King and Lord, endure everything, and thus gratefully repay Him with love for His love? For love is rewarded with nothing other than love, which is recognized in nothing more than in patience for the beloved. 18) On the narrow path and in bearing the cross, one must pray with zeal so that God Himself will help in patience. “For without Him we can do nothing” (John 15:5). “My friend and brother in Christ!” Often I hear the holy Davith sing: “there they trembled with fear, where there was no fear” (Ps 13:5). And not understanding what this song means, I thought about it a lot. But then my spirit felt that it meant that people fear man, but do not fear God; they are afraid of “those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul,” but are not afraid of “He who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28); they are afraid of losing temporary life, but not afraid of losing eternal life; they are afraid of losing wealth, glory, honor and joy, but are not afraid of losing eternal blessings, honor, glory and the consolation of heaven; they are afraid of bonds, prison and temporary exile, but are not afraid of eternal prison, bonds and exile; They fear temporary dishonor, but they do not fear eternal dishonor. And so this song befits them: “there they trembled with fear, where there was no fear.” And at the beginning of the mentioned psalm, he sang: “The fool said in his heart: “There is no God.” So, the property of the one who says in his heart: “There is no God” is to fear man, but not to fear God. “There they tremble with fear, where there is no fear.” For those who do not fear God alone need to fear everything. “The wicked flees when no one pursues him” (Proverbs 28:1). His conscience is more than any persecutor. But why be afraid of something that in itself is not scary? Every person is the same as me; subject to death and every misfortune, just like me; weak as I am, and everything in him is the same as in me. Satan, the spirit of malice and my enemy, invisible to me, but recognizable to me by the presence of his evil advice, is terrible, but without the will of God, he has no power not only over me, a man, but also over cattle and pigs (see Matthew 8:31), just like every person who is at enmity against me. Also, why be afraid of losing what you need to lose? Wealth, honor, glory and all the treasures of this world will leave us, whether we are afraid or not afraid of losing this, death takes all this away from us. Be afraid of death or not, you will not escape death. No one will send me into exile, into prison, into bonds without God, and if they do, then I know that God signed it. No one will deprive me of wealth, honor, glory without God, and if they deprive me, then I know that God wills it so. “As the Lord wills, so be it done” (Job 1:21). God holds everything in His hand, and without Him nothing happens, no matter what happens to us. And nothing comes from Him except good, like light from the sun, warmth from fire, and mercy and goodness from love. He gives us His goodness because He is good. He allows the devil, evil people, and through them troubles, misfortunes and temptations to come upon us, but, to the extent of our strength, as much as we can bear, he allows us everything for the sake of good, because he is good. For nothing comes from true and eternal good except true good. So, why should I be afraid of what is inevitable for me? If God allows trouble to befall me, I will no longer escape it; she will attack me, even if I am afraid. If He does not want to allow it, then, although all the devils and all the evil people and the whole world will rise up, they will not do anything to me, because He is the only One who is stronger than all, “will turn evil on my enemies” (Ps 53:7). Fire will not burn, sword will not cut, water will not drown, earth will not devour without God, for everything, like creation, will do nothing without the command of its Creator. So, why should I fear everything that exists except God? And whatever God commands, I cannot escape. Why be afraid of what is inevitable? Let us fear, beloved, the only God, so as not to be afraid of anything or anyone. For whoever truly fears God fears no one or anything (Read Psalms 25, 32, 33, 35, 36). He who fears God alone finds everything in God; God is honor, glory, wealth, consolation, life and all bliss to him, although people deprive him of honor, glory, wealth, consolation and life. Because whoever fears God is in God’s favor, because he is afraid of angering and offending Him. And whoever is in God’s favor, why should he fear the disfavor and ferocity of his enemies? God is everything, and apart from God everything is nothing, and the malice of everyone, devils and evil people, is nothing. Let them gnash their teeth at him, but they won’t be able to do anything. “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord” (Ps. 111:1). The one who does not fear the Lord God is wretched and poor, for he fears everything; “there trembles with fear, where there is no fear.” Here is what the holy David sang to me, and made my spirit happy with his sweetest music; I am sending this to you from the desert. Accept, dear one, and strengthen your heart with trust in God. Again the song of David rings in my ears: “What do I have in heaven? And without You, what do I want on earth,” O God (Ps 72:25)? And I ask inside myself, what does it mean? But my spirit gives the following answer: a pious soul, not only on earth, but also in heaven, wants nothing but God. To her, heaven is nothing without God, just like the earth. The wicked and lawless have their pleasures on earth, they have gold, silver, stones, diamonds, yachts, horses, carriages, decorated houses and fine linen clothing, and the like, and they are consoled by this. But the God-loving soul overthrows and tramples all this with contempt, like rubbish and dirt, and leaves not only the earth with its treasure, but also heaven, in order to find one God, in whom it places all its treasure and pleasure. Nothing makes her happy, neither heaven nor earth, neither earthly nor heavenly can console her, if she does not see the One whom she loves. Just as nothing is pleasant for a friend: no matter what he sees, or communicates with, or is comforted by anything, nothing is pleasant if he does not see his beloved friend, so nothing can give comfort to a God-loving soul if he does not see his beloved: “What is in heaven for me? And without You, what do I want on earth,” God? Let those who think about earthly things be comforted by earthly things (see Col. 3:2), let some be content with gold and silver, some with honor and glory, some with the wisdom of this age, some with luxury and sweets, some with their treasure. Let it be a consolation for them that they desire that they consider it a treasure for themselves. None of this makes me happy, my heart turns away from all this; and not only what is earthly, but also in heaven I do not seek or desire anything except You, my God and My Creator! You alone are everything to me. In You alone I find everything that I do not find in all Your creatures. Then I will be content when I see You, then I will cease to desire when I find You; then I will be comforted when I come to You; then I will be “filled” when I “appear” to Your face. “Oh, when I come and appear to the face of God” (Ps 41:3)! Desire also, my soul, That One, and love what you desire, and seek your beloved; and seek until you find; seek while one is sought and found. You have no part with the earth, you, the heavenly one. You are the image of God, seek the Prototype. For like tends to like: waters flow into the sea, earth returns to earth; birds with birds, and beasts with beasts, and cattle with cattle, and fish with fish, and man with man like himself, that is, good with good and evil with evil, there are; and everyone is looking for something like themselves. Seek also the One to whom you are similar, and strive for Him like fire on high. There is your peace, but here you will not find peace. Go around the whole world - you will not find anything that will satisfy you. Every thing finds peace in its center: a fish in water; fire strives to heights, to its center; cattle and beasts will rest on earth; air goes to air; he who wanders in his fatherland and home finds peace. You, my soul, will not find peace for yourself here in this world. All the beauty of this world is corruptible matter, vanity, pus; the earth is his entire treasure. You are an immaterial spirit, immortal, and you have no peace in them. For the spirit does not rest in matter, but the spirit finds peace in the spirit. The earth with all its beauty, the sky with all its amenities - these are bodies, the body is served, the body is contented and put to rest. And you have no participation with them, and you will not find peace in them, since you are a spirit. The sky and the whole world will not satisfy you, since there is no similarity between you and the light. Turn to your Creator, who created you in His image. In Him alone you will find your peace, as in your center. Say with the prophet: “My soul clings to You,” O God! “Return, my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has prospered you” (Ps 62:9; 115:6). And well, my soul, note that David sings there: “all who remove themselves from You,” O God, “will perish” (Ps 72:27). For he who withdraws from life must perish. Here, brother, is another song that I heard from the sweet singer David. Take comfort in her, and remember me, a sinner, with her, and I, too, will sing from my heart: “What is in heaven for me? And without You, what do I want on earth,” God? “Dear friend and brother in Christ!” It is written: “And my neighbors stood far from me” (Ps 37:13). For white does not get along with black, darkness does not agree with light. And piety and wickedness have a constant war. What kind of agreement is there when one strives and forces himself to climb a mountain, while the other is rolling downhill? So, “your neighbors stood far from you,” because you stood far from them, but you stood far away because you did not find anything similar to yourself in them. We remove ourselves from soot and tar so as not to become blackened; and we avoid contagious diseases so as not to become infected; and we avoid lepers, so that we ourselves do not suffer in the same way. That is why it is said: “Come out from among them and do not touch their unclean thing” (Isa. 52:11; 2 Cor. 6:17; Rev. 18:4). He who moves away from such people draws closer to God, and the closer he comes, the more people move away from him, and the more people move away from him, the more God approaches him, as abandoned by people. “A beggar has been provided for you; “be a Helper to the orphan,” O Lord my God (Ps. 9:35)! The one whom people leave behind must be a beggar. O God, in whom are all things! Let everyone leave me, just don’t leave me! I will have everything in You: You are my help, protection, strengthening, protection, refuge, my advice and my consolation. So, abandoned by people, run to God as you should and as you write. Because He finds His action there, where there are no people to act. And that's the first thing. Second: we need to grieve when we offend God; this wound is treated with such a plaster. An insult to God (Oh God! Who are we? Worms, earth, dust and ashes, We insult Your Majesty! Do not allow this to happen in the future by Your grace!), an insult, I say, from God, is healed by sorrow for God. Sin causes sorrow, and through this sorrow it is healed. The bitter offspring is sorrow, but its fierce parent, sin, destroys. This is God’s wondrous wisdom: an ulcer is cured by an ulcer! “For Godly sorrow produces repentance unfailingly leading to salvation,” says the apostle (2 Cor 7:10). “Thy mercy,” O God, may precede us “all the days of our life” (Ps. 23:6)! Save, O Christ God, those whom You came to save and shed Your Blood! Having finished giving myself over to the mercy of God, I remain... At your request, I am sending you an essay that shows how great an evil sin is, and which you heard while you were in our monastery. Read it and reason. There is nothing more useful for a person than to learn how to recognize and admit one’s sin, and for the sins committed, leaving them behind, offering true regret, a sacrifice to God - “a broken spirit” (Ps. 50:19), and henceforth to struggle against every sin, and to overcome it with the power and help of God, and to submit one’s will to the will of God. For this is what God especially demands from us in His Word. Without this, neither prayer, nor singing, nor offerings can be pleasing to God. For a person, while he is in sins, remains in anger with God, therefore everything he does is one “abomination to God,” and so God “turns away” from prayer, singing and offerings (Isaiah 1:13, 15; Micah 3:4). So, a person needs to forsake his sins, and regret that he sinned, and henceforth strive against all sin, and not allow sin to possess him. Sin possesses a person when a person “submits to it in his lusts” (Rom. 6:12). So, if someone commits fornication, or steals, kidnaps someone else’s property in any way, or is angry with his neighbor and takes revenge on him, or flatters, deceives, is cunning, deceives, or curses, slanderes, condemns his neighbor, or does any other untruth, then this is a sign that he is overcome by sin and sin has possession of him. For whoever listens to whom and obeys whom possesses him, as the apostle says: “Whoever is overcome by someone is his slave” (2 Peter 2:19). So whoever listens to sin and obeys it, possesses it, and he serves it, according to the word of the Lord: “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). You ask: how does a person listen to sin and obey it? Answer. “Evil thoughts come from the heart of man” (Matthew 15:18), and they incite a person either to fornication, or to malice and to revenge, or to kidnapping, etc.; and when a person deigns to do this, he listens to sin and obeys it. How to fight against sin? Answer. Do not deign to have an evil thought, and as soon as it arises, suppress it and put it to death. This is the whole Christian feat. And since we cannot do this on our own, since we are very weak and have a corrupt heart, and to strive against sin and overcome it is nothing more than our own heart, nature and self-conquering, which is very inconvenient for everyone, as everyone can see, and therefore we certainly need God’s help in this. And for God’s help to come to us and always help us and strengthen us in this feat, we need frequent and humble prayer, petition and sighing. To sin and please the flesh is as convenient as swimming with the flow of a river, but to stand against sin, mortify it and overcome it is as inconvenient for us as sailing against the current without rowers or sails with a fair wind. He who floats against the current of a river must certainly have either oarsmen or a sail with a favorable wind, so he who wants to stand against sin, struggle and overcome it, “and live godly in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 3:12), needs the power of the Holy Spirit, helping, strengthening and encouraging. For by nature every person strives to please the flesh, to please his will, self-love and every sin; and it is impossible for man himself to resist and overcome this tendency. This requires, as said above, fervent prayer, turning the heart away from love for the world, frequent reminders of death and a blessed and unhappy eternity, reflection on the properties of God, such as His omnipotence, goodness and majesty - with reasoning about who sins against whom: man, earth and pus, sins against the majesty of God and offends Him. Such reasoning can frighten a person, and turn him away from sin, and lead him into true contrition (which is briefly suggested and explained in the following paragraphs in order to better understand). You also need to read or listen to Holy Scripture and other soul-helping Christian books. If a person sins voluntarily, then he sins gravely, which is learned in the following paragraphs. 1) Who is a person? Earth and pus. Who is God? Creator of all creation, visible and invisible. How does he sin before God? He does not want to fulfill His will and commands. God commands man: honor your father and mother and all authorities, do not be angry and do not take revenge, do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not slander, do not judge, do not slander your neighbor, do not covet the good of others, but man does not listen to this command of God, and stands stubbornly against God and his Creator, and His holy commandments, which He “commanded firmly to keep” ( Ps 119:4), fearlessly and boldly violates. And what is amazing, or rather worthy of regret: the same sinner does not dare to transgress the commandments of the king of the earth or his master, but fearlessly transgresses the commandments of God, the King of kings and the Lord of lords!.. Look and reason, man, how gravely you sin, for what is a king or a high lord before God? Like nothing, for all people are “earth and ashes” (Sir 10:9). God alone possesses everyone; For His sake, the king, the lord, and all authority must be obeyed. It is commendable that you listen to the king and your master, but it is lawless and godless that you do not listen to God, before whom the king, and the master, and every authority bows the knee. For what is this but to honor creation more than the Creator and man more than God? 2) Our God is in every place, as omnipresent and fulfilling everything, and everything that is done is done before His holy eyes. So His holy commandments are broken in His sight. Who dares to commit outrages before the king of the earth or his master? Unless he's crazy. But you, man, dare to act outrageously before the Majesty of God, destroying His holy law, and do not pay worthy respect to His infinite holiness! Do you see how grievously you sin against the Lord your God? Oh, if a person were to consider what an annoyance and insult to the goodness of God he is doing and causing destruction to his soul, then he would turn away from every sin with all diligence, tremble, and for the past he would weep and weep inconsolably. But, blinded by the devil’s malice, he does not see or notice this. So, stop, man, destroying the law of God before God, so as not to experience His righteous judgment and taste the legal oath, which strikes the sinner with temporary and eternal execution. You are careful not to act outrageously before your lord and your authority; how much more should you be careful before the omnipresent Majesty of God, to be wary, to be afraid and to act decently. God! Open the eyes of our hearts, that we may see Your terrible glory, and let us give glory to Your terrible and holy name. 3) God holds heaven, and earth, and the whole world, and you, man, in His almighty hand; The Angels worship Him with fear and fulfill His will with all zeal; His demons and all hell tremble, for “even the demons believe and tremble” (James 2:19); before Him “the earth trembles” (Ps. 67:9), the sea flows and the rivers turn back (see Ps. 113:3); and all creation serves Him and fulfills His command. You, man, never cease to anger and irritate such a terrible God! Your great fearlessness, boldness and fury are to irritate the One who has your life and your death in His hand, who can cast you into hell in your very sin! 4) When a person sins, he shows great ingratitude to God. From whom do you have your existence, man? From God. From whom are your body and soul? From God. Who is your entire composition from? From God, as David sings to God: “My composition is from You, O God” (Ps 39:8). God did not create you as cattle, beasts, birds, fish, trees and other soulless and dumb things, but He created you as a human being and honored you with a rational soul. From whom do you receive food, drink, clothing, home and other benefits? From God. Whose light, sun, moon and stars enlighten you? God's. Whose water will drink and wash you? God's Whose fire warms you and cooks your food? God's. Whose clouds sprinkle your water? God's. Whose livestock, birds, fish, trees, herbs serve your needs? Everything is God's. Who commanded the earth to bear various fruits, and for whose sake? God, for your sake. Whom does all other creation serve by the command of God? You. For the creature of God does not serve for its own sake, but for our sake. The sun does not shine for itself, the stars shine, but for us. The earth does not bear fruit for itself, but for us; and so on. Neither is it for the sake of God, for God does not require this service. So, all of God’s creation serves us, so that we bring thanksgiving, praise, verbal service to the Creator, and serve with faith and love. For whose sake did that great deed, that is, the incarnation of the Son of God, take place? For whose sake did He come into the world, was born in the Flesh, suffered and died? For you, and me, and every person. For God “does not respect personalities” (Deut. 10:17; Luke 20:21), but for the sake of every person, for you and me, and for the sake of everyone, He sent His Son into the world, so that all by His grace might be saved. So, for whom was He born, suffered and died? For you and me, man. To whom did He open heaven with all its treasures by His death? Me and you, man. So, if a person sins and is lawless, then he neglects all these blessings of God, and is very ungrateful to God, his Benefactor, and greatly offends, angers and irritates Him; and he does so like one who scolds and reviles his benefactor, the person who feeds, clothes and preserves him. It is our great madness and fury that we irritate and grieve the One from Whom we receive everything, including our existence. Many people, and even animals, are grateful to their benefactors: a dog honors his master and his nourisher, we read this about the animals themselves in stories. But the accursed sinner is so blinded that he does not honor God, his Creator and the highest Benefactor (for without love and fear it is impossible to honor God), but always irritates Him, and therefore he is worse than the cattle and the beast itself, although he is gifted with reason. Such ingratitude and the good deed of God, despised by him, will expose him on the day of Judgment, and his own conscience will rise up against him and will torment, expose and torment him. What if God took away our light? Wouldn't we wander like blind people? Or would he take away the fire? Wouldn't everyone freeze? Or would he take away food, drink and air? Wouldn't everyone disappear? Without air, a person cannot live for even a minute. Every creature is such a great good that we cannot live without it, and we recognize it when we are deprived of it. What a great good is bread in times of famine. What a great good is water in times of thirst. How great is the goodness of fire in the cold. How great good is light, we know in darkness, and so on. But the sinner, enjoying these and other blessings of God, does not honor his Benefactor God, but does not cease to insult and irritate. God benefits man, but man angers God, his Benefactor. God does not stop benevolence, and man does not stop malice and ingratitude. The poor man is stricken with such blindness! The wondrous goodness of God, which even does good to His enemies! The wondrous blindness and bitterness of a sinner who is not softened by God’s forgiveness or benevolence!.. Therefore, man is guilty of the fact that God takes away His goodness from him. “The Lord is righteous, and there is no unrighteousness in Him” (Ps 91:26; Deut 32:4). Whenever we suffer any evil or disaster, it is our own fault that we are deprived of God’s blessings, for we make ourselves unworthy, we, to whom God always wants to do good, even though we are unworthy, do not cease to do good. 5) God, as the most kind and loving of mankind, very much wants and craves to save man and make him eternally blessed, as is clear from all of Holy Scripture, so that for the sake of our salvation, O people, God did not spare His Only Begotten Son, but the devil, as the adversary of God and our enemy, wants to destroy man and into his eternal destruction, from which Christ delivered man by His Blood, tries to plunge man again, and traps man in that destruction through sweetness, luxury and sin, like a fishing rod. But a blinded person, abandoning the saving will of God, follows the destructive will of the devil and grabs onto sin like a fish onto a fishing rod, and stands in sin, and does not want to truly repent, and thus chooses destruction for himself rather than salvation (for without true repentance it is impossible to be saved), and thus greatly offends God, who loves our soul. Look, man, how your unrepentant life offends God! 6) The devil, being at enmity with our Creator and not being able to do anything, rushes at man, and through him seeks to blaspheme and dishonor the name of God, and for this purpose attracts man to the crime of God’s commandments, so that the Lawgiver will be so despised. Man, not understanding this, listens to the enemy, destroys the commandments of God and, by transgressing the commandments, dishonors the One who commanded him, as the apostle says: “By transgressing the law you dishonor God” (Rom. 2:23), and this becomes an instrument of the devil, with which the name of God is dishonored. So the ancestors in paradise, listening to the devil and despising God who gave the commandment, dishonored Him (see Gen. 3). So now a Christian, despising the commandments of God and listening to the devil, dishonors the Commanded One. For just as the name of God is glorified by good deeds done in honor of the name of God, so it is dishonored by the evil deeds of Christians. Oh, how hard and terrible this is!.. Only “those who glorify Me will I be glorified, and whoever despises Me will be put to shame,” says the Lord (1 Samuel 2:30). Tell me, please, wouldn’t you be dishonored and greatly annoyed if your servant, whom you respect, despised your order, listened to your enemy and adversary? What greater fury could there be? This is what a sinner does, who, having despised the commandments of the Lord his God, listens to the enemy of God - the devil, for he is the first adversary and rebel against his Creator, and in the same godless deed he cunningly and insidiously attracted man (see Gen. 3). 7) The devil deceives and leads a person to ruin the commandments of God, but for this he “slanders a person before God,” which is why he is called “our slanderer” (Rev. 12:10). Great is this intrigue, cunning and cunning of a crafty spirit! He seduces into sin and slanderes for sin, seeking nothing other than human destruction. Our God, deliver us from this wicked man! A blind person, without thinking about it, grasps at sin as if it were something pleasant, and as a result he is wounded and perishes, like small children who thoughtlessly grasp at burning coals, get burned and then get sick and cry. 8) Just as a visible enemy, having defeated the enemy and captured him, mocks and laughs at him, so our invisible enemy the devil, having captivated a Christian with sin, holds him as a captive, laughs and laughs at him, and often from sin to sin and from whim to whim, like wheat, he sows and throws it to the love of money, now to the love of glory, now to the love of voluptuousness; and thus entangling him in worldly lusts, like holding a fish in a net, and laughing at him until he plunges him into ultimate destruction, in which he himself finds himself. 9) When a sinner feels the grace of God and begins to repent and seek mercy from God, then the enemy tries to drive him into despair, presenting him with God’s justice, which rewards everyone according to their deeds. “You have done such evil, they say, how can you be saved? God will not accept you because you have violated His commandments. After all, this Righteous Judge will reward everyone according to their deeds, and He will also reward you according to your evil deeds. Why should you hope and expect mercy from Him?” – and so on. Just as the sneaky spirit presents the mercy of God to a person before sins in order to plunge him into sins, so he presents the truth of God to the sinner in order to lead him to despair, and so tries in every possible way to destroy us. Therefore, the apostle exhorts us: “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). 10) Holy Scripture speaks terribly about those who commit lawlessness. “God said to the sinner: “You have cast back My words” (Ps 49:16-17), that is, My words, which you should have before you, remember, love, honor as the words of My mouth, and according to the rule of correcting and leading your life, you, a sinner, have rejected back and do not look at them. This is what a sinner does: he throws back the words of God that he should have before him, and look at them like in a mirror, and cleanse his vices! He also says: “the wicked have not set God before them” (Ps 53:5; 86:14). And even more terrible, God says through the prophet: “They turned their backs to Me, and not their faces” (Jer 42:33). That is, they, as My creation and My servants, having turned to Me, should honor Me, as their Creator, God and Lord, and worship, and listen to and do what I say and command, but they, the lawless, turned away from Me and turned to the creation, the world, sin and the devil, and they please him. For whoever listens to whom pleases him. And he also calls those who commit lawlessness children of the devil. “Your father is the devil; and you want to do the lusts of your father” (John 8:44; 1 John 3:7–10). Look and reason, man, whose you are, although you bear the name of Christ on yourself. You are certainly the son of the one whom you portray in your morals, as the Lord says to the Jews: “If you were the children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham” (John 8:39). And to whom you obey and serve, you are his slave. Pay attention to this and reason diligently, if you do not want to be eternally condemned with the devil and suffer in hell! 11) A Christian man at Baptism renounced Satan and all his evil deeds and promised to serve God “in holiness and righteousness” (Luke 1:75), and so, leaving Satan, he joined God. And God accepted him into His highest mercy, and washed him from the filth of sin, sanctified and justified, as it is written: “washed, sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord our Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God" (1 Cor 6:11). And the servant of God says to the baptized: “Thou art justified, thou art sanctified, thou art washed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” Thus, God accepted the washed, sanctified and justified one as His sons and made him the heir of the heavenly kingdom, as His holy Word testifies (see Rom 8:17; Gal 4:7). A Christian, when he turns to sin and serves the whims of the world, again lags behind God and sticks to Satan and his evil deeds. For “no one can serve two masters,” says the Lord (Matthew 6:24). And then there is crying for the Angels and all the saints, who previously rejoiced over his salvation and bliss. O sinner! Why did you not like the Lord your God that you left Him? He created you and honored you with a rational soul, nourishes you, clothes you and provides you with other benefits; For your sake He sent His Son into the world and gave him up to death; He washed you, justified you and sanctified you with the bath of rebirth, and made you heir to eternal bliss; and wants to live in you as in His house and church, if only He sees a place pleasing to Him in your soul. And why do you like the devil, who wants to lead you with him to eternal destruction, that you do his will? For this, as our true enemy, is his constant concern. So, turn to your Father from Whom you have departed, and cast yourself before His merciful eyes, confess to the prodigal son: “Father! I have sinned against heaven and before You!” He is waiting for you, and is ready to receive you, “and to clothe you in the best clothing, and there will be joy in heaven” and for you “who repents,” according to the word of the Lord. The merciful Heavenly Father will also say about you: “This son of mine was dead and is alive, he was lost and is found” (Luke 15:7, 10-32). "Come," O sinners! “Let us mourn before the Lord who created us, for He is our God” (Ps 94:6). 12) You see, sinner, what a grave and destructive evil is sin. Why do you like this evil? Why don’t you want to turn away from it and fearlessly violate God’s holy and eternal law, which was given to us so that we might keep it safe? Do you say in your heart: “There is no God” (Ps. 13:1)? Or do you think that He does not see your sins and iniquities? Or do you think that He will not repay righteous and sinful deeds? Or do you flatter yourself that God will tolerate you in your sins? Or you don’t know and haven’t yet experienced that there is fire of Gehenna and eternal torment. Or do you dream of something else similar? All this is a lawless thought. How is there no God, whom the whole world preaches (see Ps 19:1–7; Acts 14:17; Rom 1:20)? How does He who gave you reason, eyes and ears not know your sins? “Does not he who plugged the ear hear? Or He who created the eye will not see? Will not he who teaches the nations rebuke” ( Ps 93:9 )? How will He who is eternal Truth not reward deeds? Who drowned the wicked with water and preserved the righteous in the ark? Who burned the wicked Sodom and Gomorrah and snatched and preserved the righteous Lot from there? Who led Israel through the sea and drowned Pharaoh and his entire army? Who saved the pious youths in the Babylonian furnace and burned the wicked around the furnace? Who saved the rest of the pious and executed the wicked? God, God, who will reward everyone according to their deeds. He, as the Righteous One, will reward everyone according to their deeds in the next century. Piety will be rewarded and wickedness executed. There will be life for the righteous, but eternal torment for the sinners. If because of this you do not stop sinning, because God will still tolerate you as He did, then what will happen if this hope lies, if it does not tolerate you any longer, if in that very lawless dream it righteously defeats you? It will happen to you as happened to others: what happened during the flood, or what happened to the Sodomites, or to Pharaoh, or what happened to Defan and Abiron, whom the earth devoured alive (Ps 106:17; Num 16:31), or what happened to Ananias and Sapphira who lied, who accidentally fell lifeless (Acts 5:5, 10), or what and now it happens to those who do wrong. If God continues to tolerate you, because not all the lawless people here are executed according to the unknown destinies of God, then you will be more likely to suffer the wrath of God and eternal punishment. O man! “Or do you neglect the riches of God’s goodness, meekness and long-suffering, not realizing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But, due to your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and the revelation of righteous Judgment from God, who will reward everyone according to his deeds,” the apostle tells you (Rom. 2:4-6). Or do you really want to experience what the wrath of God and eternal torment are? You will experience it if you do not stop sinning and repent; you will experience it, but you will not be able to free yourself from it, although you will earnestly desire it, and you will pay in it for all your sins committed endlessly. For then repentance will cease and mercy will end, then a voice will be heard: “Child! Remember that you have already received your good things in your life” (Luke 16:25). Nowadays people are either in illness, or in prison, or in exile, or in captivity, or in some other way, but they are freed from these disasters either before death, or by death, but from that disaster, illness, sighing, prison, captivity, torment, suffering, they can never be freed. Then they will wish for death, but will not be able to die. This is where fearlessness and an unrepentant life lead! Therefore, now, before you have experienced this, recognize and acknowledge your sins, and leave them, and repent, so as not to experience and taste that sorrow, but to receive mercy from God, which I wish for myself and for everyone from the heart. You see what a cruel and destructive evil sin is, although people love it. Beware, beloved, of it, like the poison of a snake. Here, at your request, I am sending to you the teaching of Saint Chrysostom about the slanderous tongue, from which you will see what a serious and vile vice - condemnation and slander. So, listen to what he says about the slanderer: “Even if, when condemning your neighbor, you spoke correctly about him, and even if you discredited his well-known deed, you will not escape punishment for this, for God will judge you not by his deeds, but by your words. For He says: “By your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:37). The Pharisee said what was correct and known to everyone, but he accepted punishment for this too. If one should not speak of known deeds to expose others, much less doubtful ones” (Conversation 42 on the Evangelist Matthew). “What is the benefit of abstaining from birds and fish when we bite and devour each other? Every slanderer and slanderer gnaws and devours the flesh of his neighbor” (Conversation on the departure of Bishop Flavian). “Even if we ate ashes, such a strict life will not bring us any benefit if we do not refrain from reproach. For “it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth” (Matthew 15:11)” (Conversation on the departure of Bishop Flavian). “What kind of evil does not come from reproach? From here hatreds are born, from here there are enmities and disagreements, from here come evil suspicions that become the cause of countless evils” (Conversation on Psalm 100). “He who loves slander serves the devil” (Conversation on Psalm 100). “Just as a preacher of truth saves many people with his word, so, on the contrary, a slanderer with the same word destroys many, uttering words of immersion, and using the sword of speech for human destruction. Moreover, the slanderer kills not only bodies, but also the souls themselves, when with his flattering tongue he puts false and lawless opinions into them” (Conversation on Psalm 51). “You should not only blaspheme your neighbor, but also others who vilify him” (Conversation 3 on the departure of Bishop Flavian). Until this place - Zlatoust. You see how the great teacher thunders against the sin of condemnation and slander. Many do not kill or wound a person with their hands, but wound and kill with their tongue as an instrument, according to what is written: “the sons of men, teeth are their weapons and arrows, and their tongue is a sharp sword” (Ps 57:5). Many do not eat fish, meat, milk and other foods that God did not forbid, but even blessed those who are faithful and know the truth to receive with thanksgiving (see 1 Tim 4:3–4), but devour living people. Many do not give temptation by their actions - this is good and commendable - but they spread temptations with their tongues, and from place to place they carry evil, like an infected person - an infection, and the wind - a fire, which is why many troubles and misfortunes happen. They contain many fatherly traditions - and this is good, but they destroy the commandment of God: “Do not judge and do not slander” (Matthew 7:1; Luke 3:14), which is blindness and extreme madness. All Christians pray to God, glorify God, and partake of the Body and Blood of Christ, and confess His holy and terrible name - this is a Christian deed - but it is terrible and difficult and truly worthy of regret that many of them defile those lips with condemnation, slander and slander, those, I say, the lips with which they pray, sing praises to God and touch the Body and Blood of Christ. So, beware, beloved, of your mouth, with which you confess God, sing and partake of the Mysteries of the Saints, lest you be all filthy and abominable before God. Think and realize that you are just as much a sinner as others. And when you see or hear something bad in your neighbor, then seal your lips with silence, and sigh about him to the Lord, so that he can correct him; and pray for yourself, so as not to fall into such a prophet. For we are all subject to every fall, as the weak. “If anyone thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall,” admonishes the apostle (1 Cor 10:12). You want to know from me what this word means: “do not steal” (Exodus 20:15), and you demand an explanation for this. Answer. This word is short, but it spreads widely, and many sin in it: some from inattention and ignorance, others from dishonesty and lawless will, which is worse than the first. So, how theft or theft spreads, take heed: 1) Theft is known to everyone, something like this: either people secretly rob shops, granaries, etc., or forcibly take away someone else’s property, as robbers or strong, but fearless and unscrupulous people do. Everyone knows about such theft, both the rudest people and those who do not know the scriptures, and the youngest and smallest children. 2) Theft and embezzlement - when judges and officials judge based on bribes, and not on Christian duty. 3) Theft and embezzlement - when landowners burden their peasants with either excessive taxes or work, because they take away from them what they need for food and maintenance of life for them and their households. And this theft is fierce and inhuman, although people do not notice. The poor peasant works and sweats all summer, but he and his household have nothing to feed and clothe. One gentleman devours everything. Woe to such gentlemen! They shed so many tears and impose so many unnecessary burdens on the peasants. God, the Righteous Judge, sees these tears and those who shed them. 4) Theft and embezzlement - when payment is not given in full or not at all to mercenaries. And this is a cruel and inhuman theft, since the poor are offended. 5) Theft and embezzlement - when mercenaries, having taken a decent price, either do not work or work lazily. 6) Theft and embezzlement - when servants receive wages or food from their masters, but either work lazily or do not work at all. 7) Theft and embezzlement - when a ruler withholds or does not give a subordinate’s salary in full, without any reason, and appropriates it for himself. And this is a cruel theft, since the poor are offended. 8) Theft and embezzlement - when a merchant sells a bad thing for a good one and a cheap one for an expensive one, or mixes water into wine and sells it as whole wine. 9) Theft and embezzlement - when a person deliberately feeds horses or other weak and thin cattle in order to sell them for a good price and thus deceive buyers. 10) Theft and embezzlement is a card game for money, for whoever wins sins against the commandment: “Thou shalt not steal.” And whoever does not win, although he loses all his property and himself, also steals by his own will, for he desires the good of others, and sins against the commandment of God: “Thou shalt not covet” (Exodus 20:17). Likewise, anyone who wants to steal and appropriate someone else’s property, although he does not actually steal it, is a thief, for a person sins by will or does not sin. And such a person who desires someone else’s good already steals by will, even if he did not steal by deed, for sin consists of the will and will of man. When a person wants to steal someone else’s property, he already steals it by his own will; wants to commit fornication, already commits fornication; wants to kill a person, he has already killed with his own will. And if there is no sin in the will, then there really is no sin. When a person's will is good, then the person is good, and when the will is evil, then the person is evil. According to his own will, everyone is either evil or good. So, a person who has an evil will is evil, even if he has not done external evil deeds. In the will and heart of man resides a murderer, a fornicator, a thief and other evil. And what is not in the heart is really not there. You need to correct your will and heart, and then you will be a good person. 11) Theft - when a master covets and asks for something from a slave or peasant, or a ruler from a subject. For the subject cannot argue with the ruler, and therefore reluctantly gives what he asks; forced and reluctantly gives, and not by free will. Scientists teach correctly: the higher ones, when they ask the lower ones, command. 12) Theft and theft - when someone takes money from someone, or some other thing for safekeeping, or as a mortgage, and does not give it back, and says that he either gave it away or did not take it. 13) Theft - when someone takes something on loan and does not give it back to the lender either with this or with something else. 14) Theft - when someone takes money or something else from someone for alms, and keeps it for himself, or uses it for something else. 15) Theft - when someone finds a lost thing and does not announce it, but keeps it. 16) Theft includes usury, or interest, and the most severe theft is when it is taken from the poor, for in this way the naked is exposed and the powerless is reduced to greater powerlessness, and such, out of Christian love, must be helped without return. 17) Theft refers to when people, pretending to be poor and having something to eat, or pretending to be weak, being healthy, ask for alms, so that these people, as weak, and those who are poor and lacking food, can be helped by alms. 18) Theft - when carts are taken cunningly and without a specified price. 19) Theft - when a servant does not allow a visiting person without money to see the ruler and tries to take money from him for a report. 20) Theft - when someone, not wanting to work, being healthy, goes around the house and eats someone else’s bread. 21) Theft - even when a rich man either keeps the wealth given to him by God locked up, or squanders it on indecent expenses, but does not give it to the poor, as a Christian should. For God gives wealth to people not only for their own sake, but also for the sake of the poor and meager people. “If anyone,” says St. Basil the Great, - tears off the dress from its owner, is called an impudent and swindler. He who does not clothe the naked, although he is able to do so, is he not more impudent and a swindler? The bread of the hungry is the bread that you have; the clothes of the naked are those that you keep in your cage; barefoot shoes are the ones that rot; the poor thing is the silver that you keep by burying it in the ground. That’s how many people you offend when, being able, you don’t do any help” (A Sermon on Alms). Let the stingy and the rich dwell in luxury reason, and heed what is written (see Matthew 25:41–46). 22) You see how many types of theft there are. From them you learn other types of theft, which I have not touched upon here. 23) From this you see how many thieves and kidnappers there are in the world! 24) If anyone wants to save himself from theft and not be condemned as a predator at the Last Judgment, he must correct himself and heed the universal rule: what you don’t want for yourself, don’t do to your neighbor; and whatever you want for yourself, do for your neighbor (see Acts 15:20, 29). This is what the law of God and the holy prophets, and our blessed Fathers, and church teachers teach. Here I am sending you about the Second Coming of Christ, about which we spoke briefly when you were with me, and I advise you to act according to what is written. For Christians, and especially in the present last time, when 1780 years and more have passed since the first coming of Christ, in the present time, I say, especially those living should expect the Second Coming of Christ every day and prepare themselves for it with worthy repentance. When the King of the earth wants to come to a city and the city knows about it, all citizens expect him and prepare themselves to meet and receive him. The Heavenly King, Jesus Christ, wants to come again, which He Himself, while living on earth, announced, and His servants, the holy apostles, preached to us, and the Holy Church expects this. So, Christians, as those who know about this coming of Him, must prepare to meet and receive Him, and expect Him every day, because He will come unexpectedly, and even more so because He will not come in the same way as the first time, in humility and poverty, but will come in terrible glory. He will not come to live on earth, teach and suffer (this has already happened), but to judge and reward everyone according to their deeds. If an Angel came to us from heaven and told us: “Behold, in these days will be the coming of Christ,” how everyone would tremble and turn to true repentance! They would beware of everyone’s sin and would appease God with sighs and tears, and so on. But who knows how long the coming of Christ will continue? Maybe it will be these days too. For no one knows God’s advice or definition. After all, it is said: “Be prepared, for at an hour you do not think the Son of Man will come” (Matthew 24:44). Just as the prophets preached about the first coming of Christ, saying: “Christ will come, Christ will come into the world,” and Christ came when the time appointed for Him had come, so the church teachers preach about the Second Coming and say: “Christ will come to judge the living and the dead; will come to judge, and will appear unexpectedly like lightning.” What fear and despair will sinners be in then, who now do not think about that terrible day and do not prepare for it with true repentance! So, beloved, let us think every day, and let us prepare for the meeting of our Lord, for the day of the Lord is already near, and it will shine unexpectedly like lightning. I know what the Apostle wrote to the Thessalonians, saying: “Do not be in a hurry to be shaken in mind and be troubled, either by the spirit, or by the word, or by the message, as if sent by us, as if the day of Christ was already approaching” (2 Thess. 2:2). But since that time, one thousand seven hundred and eighty years or more have already passed, as stated above. Therefore, after so many years have passed, we need to expect it soon, and confess with the Apostle James: “The coming of the Lord is drawing near; behold, the Judge stands at the door” (James 5:8–9), and even more so when we already see that “because of the increase of iniquity, the love of many has grown cold” (Matthew 24:12), and piety is trampled under foot, and wickedness is increasing more and more; the word of God is despised, and everyone is given almost nothing to vanity, and few people seek the salvation of the soul with a sincere heart. So, what can we expect in such circumstances if not that we will suddenly hear the cry: “Behold, the Bridegroom is coming, come out to meet Him” (Matthew 25:6)? So, beware, beloved, of speaking in your heart and doing what is written about the evil servant: “If that servant, being angry, says in his heart: “My master will not come soon,” and begins to beat his comrades and eat and drink with drunkards, then the master of that servant will come on a day on which he does not expect, and at an hour in which he does not think, and will cut him up, and subject him to the same fate as the hypocrites; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:48–51), so that you too will not suffer the same. And move away from the scoffers described by Saint Peter, who say: “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers began to die, from the beginning of creation, everything remains the same.” The Lord is not slack in keeping his promise, as some count slackness” (2 Peter 3:4, 9). “For when the wicked say, ‘Peace and safety,’ then destruction will suddenly come upon them” (1 Thessalonians 5:3). But let, according to the admonition of the Lord, “let your loins be girded and your lamps burn. And we will be like people waiting for their master to return from marriage, so that when he comes and knocks, we will immediately open the door for him. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, finds watching” (Luke 12:35–37). Let us write on our hearts the word of our Lord: “Be ready, for at an hour you do not think, the Son of Man will come,” Who says: “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his deeds” (Rev 22:12). The word of God is true and cannot lie. The Lord is coming, coming to judge, coming soon, and coming when people do not expect, and His retribution is with Him, to reward everyone according to his deeds. And the more time increases from His first coming, the closer the second coming is to us; and the more we live, the closer we come to His universal Judgment; and today we are already closer to this day and hour than we were yesterday and the day before. Let us write this in our memory, and let us prepare ourselves with true repentance. “Let us hold fast the confession of hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. Let us be attentive to each other, encouraging each other to love and good deeds. Let us not forsake meeting ourselves together, as is the custom of some; But let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day of Judgment approaching” (Hebrews 10:23:25). So, let us repent, beloved, so that that terrible day may bring us sinners consolation, and not fear, horror, and despair. “God now commands men everywhere to repent, for he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:30–31). From here the following consolation will follow: Christ the Lord will judge the universe, therefore God commands all people to repent, so that they can avoid that terrible saying of condemnation: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Let us turn, beloved, with all our hearts to God. Let us repent, and He will forgive us our sins, and we will avoid condemnation, and the Judgment of Christ will give us not fear and trembling, but consolation and eternal salvation. For Christ the Lord will not judge those who have sinned, but those who have sinned and unrepented, and will have mercy and save those who have sinned and repented. For this is why He came into the world, in order to save those who had sinned and repented—which is what I wish for myself and you. I hear that your thoughts are confusing you and plunging you into despair, to which, according to my strength, I offer you my advice for your consolation. 1) I myself felt the same in myself, and now I often feel why there is fear, and horror, and melancholy, and I notice the same in others, because this does not happen to you alone. But I do not despair of salvation in Christ, and “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come,” as we read in the Symbol, which I advise to others and to you. 2) Note that the Holy Scripture speaks for consolation to us sinners and troubled ones: “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first,” says the Apostle Paul (1 Timothy 1:15). So, He will also save us sinners, since we too are sinners. And again: “The Son of Man” (that is, Christ), “came to seek and save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). So, he will seek us too, since we too are among the lost. And again: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,” says Christ (Matthew 9:13). And again: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him,” says Christ (John 3:16–17). From this we can conclude that Christ came into the world not to judge us, but to save us, and will certainly save us if we truly believe in Him. He will come a second time to judge. But who? Not just sinners, but unrepentant sinners; to declare to the repentant sinners and those who believe in Him the mercy and blessing of His Heavenly Father and to bring Him into His heavenly kingdom; to them He says: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). So, there is hope for sinners who repent, there is consolation for those who grieve and mourn. The doors of God’s mercy are “opened” to those who knock, their petition is “given” to those who ask, and “found” to those who seek (see Matthew 7:7–8) God with all the heavenly treasure. Thieves, publicans, fornicators and other repentant sinners enter eternal life. There is hope for us sinners, since God “does not look at faces” (Deut. 10:17), but He equally has mercy and saves all sinners who repent. 3) When the thought comes to us like this: how should we be with the apostles, prophets, martyrs and other great saints who shone in so many virtues, let us answer our thought like this: we want to be with the thief, who at the very end of his life alone let out a voice in repentance: “Remember me, Lord, when you come into Your kingdom! -” and heard from Christ hanging on the Cross: “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:42–43). And if we are with that thief in paradise, then we will be with Christ Himself, since that thief is with Christ in paradise, and therefore with all the saints. For where Christ is, there are all the saints. Let us pray to Christ with the thief: “Remember me, Lord, when You come into Your kingdom.” And again: “I believe, Lord, and confess that You are truly the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who came into the world to save sinners, from whom I am the first: I pray to You, have mercy on me,” and so on. 4) Vague thoughts and thoughts that lead to despair come from the devil, who wants to plunge us into ultimate despair and thus destroy us, because despair is a grave sin, for whoever despairs of his salvation thinks that God is not merciful and not true, and this is a terrible blasphemy against God. Satan wants to lead us to such grave sin through vague and desperate thoughts. We must resist such a fierce temptation and strengthen ourselves in the hope of God’s mercy, and expect our salvation from Him. When such thoughts occur, pray like this: “Do not leave me, O Lord my God, do not depart from me; attend to my help, O Lord of my salvation” (Ps 37:22–23)! And again: “Lord! Why do we have a lot of colds? Many people rise up against me, many people say to my soul: there is no salvation for him in his God. You, Lord, are my Protector,” and so on until the end of Psalm 3. 5) Although these thoughts are painful for us, they are useful, because through them we are diverted from the vanity of the world. And so, what Satan, with God’s permission, does to us to harm, God turns to good to us through mercy, if we ourselves do not weaken, but struggle against them. 6) Whoever feels such thoughts and fights against them, this is a sign that he is in faith and grace. For Satan does not fight those who obey and serve him, but only those who resist him, and with those thoughts he wants to overthrow them. Therefore, people who love the vanity of this world, honor, glory, wealth, luxury, do not feel such caustic thoughts. And you, if you loved this vanity, would not feel it. And since Satan notices that you have turned away from vanity and are looking for salvation, he fights you with these thoughts and wants to lead you to despair and thus destroy you. Beware of this enemy's cunning. Take note of both those who love vanity and those who have turned away from it and are seeking God, and you will know that I am writing the truth. Truly, all those who seek salvation complain about these thoughts, and, on the contrary, those who are consoled by the joys of this world do not feel them. Let Satan plot his evil against us, but we must do our own thing, that is, strive against sin, strengthen ourselves in faith and hope, try to do what is pleasing to God, submit our will to the will of God, often pray to God and ask for help from Him against the devil and sin, and not weaken in this feat, and so be established in the hope of salvation. He will not do anything to us, for Christ is our Helper and Savior, Christ Who deposed him. Let us place our trust in Him, and we will not be put to shame. With the Psalmist, let us boldly sing the song: “The Lord is my Enlightenment and my Savior: whom shall I fear?” (and so on, Psalm 26). 7) Woe to unrepentant sinners, because God’s judgment follows them. But those who repent and seek their salvation through prayer and faith must expect God’s mercy: “For with the Lord is mercy, and great is His deliverance, and He will deliver Israel from all their iniquities” (Ps 129:6). "God! Your mercy endures forever; Do not despise the work of Your hands” (Ps. 137:8). “Our soul trusts in the Lord, for He is our Helper and Protector. In Him our hearts will rejoice, and in His holy name we trust. May Your mercy be upon us, O Lord, as we have trusted in You” (Ps 33:20–22). Read this, and reason, and strengthen yourself. May the Lord help you. And remember me, a sinner. Do you want to know what a Christian is and want me to give you a brief explanation? I present to you from the Holy Scriptures what kind of communion and union Christians have with Christ, the Son of God. Read this and reason diligently. From here you can know for yourself what a Christian is, and what one should be like who wants to be a true Christian. The fellowship of Christians with Christ is noted in the Holy Scriptures as follows: Christ is “Light”, but Christians are enlightened (see John 1:9). Christ is “Life,” and Christians are quickened (see John 11:25). Christ is the “Shepherd”, Christians are “sheep” (see John 10:2, 14; 1 Peter 2:25). Christ is the “way,” but Christians are travelers (John 14:6). Christ is the “foundation,” while Christians are the building (see 1 Cor. 3:9, 11; Eph. 2:20–22). Christ is the indweller, and Christians are the Church (see Eph 3:17; 2 Cor 6:16; 13:5). Christ is the “Firstborn,” and Christians are brethren (see Col. 1:18; Rom. 8:29). Christ is the “vine” and Christians are the “branches” (see John 15:5). Christ is the “Bridegroom,” while Christians are the “bride” (see Matt. 25:1–13; 2 Cor. 11:2). Christ is the “Head”, Christians are the “body”, that is, spiritual (see Eph 1:22–23; 1 Cor 12:27). Christ is the “Heir”, and Christians are joint heirs (see Heb 1:2; Rom 8:17). You see the fellowship of Christians with Christ. We see this in Scripture, and especially in the epistles of the holy Apostle Paul. 1) That there is a true, and not a false, Christian, that is, who has a living and heartfelt faith in Christ, the Son of God, lives holy and piously in Christ Jesus. Holy is the Head, holy is the Vine, holy is the Bridegroom, holy and its members, holy and its branches, holy and the bride should be. Otherwise, “what fellowship does righteousness have with iniquity? What does light have in common with darkness” (2 Cor 6:14)? 2) From here you see how high and exalted the nobility and dignity of true Christians are. It is glorious to have fellowship and friendship with the king of the earth, how much more incomparably glorious is it to have fellowship with the King of Heaven, the King of kings and the Lord of lords! 3) You see that those who sin against their conscience are excluded from this holy society, although they think that they are inside the Church. 4) Having learned that there is a true Christian, try to be one, for knowledge itself without action is nothing. For what is the use of knowing the light and being in darkness; to know good and not seek good; see the meal and not eat the meal? And if you want and try to be a Christian, then run away from all sin. Here, at your request, I am writing about a man. But believe me, no matter how many times I talk about man, so many times I am greatly amazed at the goodness and love of God for man, so much so that I am prompted to exclaim with the Psalmist: “Lord! What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you think about him” (Ps 143:3)? Truly a wondrous creation of God - man! All of God's creation is wonderful, but man is far more wonderful than all of them! Diven and God's Providence about him: he was created not like other creatures, created by the special advice of the Holy Trinity: “Let us make man” (Gen. 1:26); man was created “in the image and likeness of God” (Gen. 1:27). All created things are evidence of the omnipotence, goodness and wisdom of God, but man, in addition, bears the image of God within himself. Truly the most beautiful beauty, gracious splendor, the highest dignity, the most precious nobility! Below God, but above all creatures, man is. Man is honored in the image of God. The sky, the sun, the moon and the stars are beautiful, and all of God’s creation, but the most beautiful is man, since he carries within himself the beauty created in the image of God. Reason and reflect on how beautiful God is, uncreated and eternal Beauty. “Oh my God! You are wonderfully great, You have clothed yourself with glory and splendor. You are clothed with light as with clothing” ( Ps 103:1–2 ). From here you will understand somewhat how beautiful the human soul is, created in the image of God. For the image must be similar to the prototype. All creation is subordinate to man. “Heaven and earth with that which fills them” (Ps. 23:1) serves man, for God’s creatures serve neither God, nor the Angels, nor themselves, but one man. But when man fell and perished, in a miraculous and incomprehensible way man was restored and recovered. God Himself - which surpasses all reason and wonder - God Himself, for the sake of man, came into this world filled with many troubles, and for man (oh the goodness and love of God for man! O honor and dignity of man!), man “took on an image” (Philippians 2:7), lived on earth, worked, suffered, suffered and died in His most holy Flesh for man. He did not send either an angel or an intercessor, but He Himself “came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). So, having recognized the merciful, humane and wonderful Providence of God about himself, what other mercy is not a person granted from God! He was defiled, defamed, sinful, lawless, the son of wrath, but “is washed, justified in the name of our Lord” (1 Cor 6:11), becomes a spiritual member of the heavenly Head - Jesus Christ; partakes of the mysteriously life-giving Body and His Divine Blood; worthy to be the dwelling place of God and the temple of the Holy Spirit; He is counted worthy to have fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, “to be a child of God” (1 John 3:1) through faith in Christ Jesus, “an heir with God, and a joint heir” with Jesus “with Christ” (Rom 8:17). Read the Apostolic Epistles and you will see that all this and other things are attributed by the Holy Spirit to man, a true Christian. What else does man lack? God has vouchsafed such great mercy, love for mankind, honor and bliss to man! Here's to you about what man is and in what honor he is held by God! Oh, if only man would remember and reason about this, and would honor God as much as he is honored by God! If God honored man in this way, then who can be against man? The whole world, all hell and all the devils can do nothing against a person. God is in man and for man. “If God is for us, who can be against us? -" St. Paul dares and cries out (Rom. 8:31). But what will happen to man in the future life, according to God’s false promise! What good, what bliss, what honor, what glory! Like a river, his eternal bliss, incomprehensible to the mind and inexpressible to the tongue, will continually flow. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor 2:9). The people of God will shine like the sun in the kingdom of the Heavenly Father; they will be like Angels, they will be like second gods; they will be kings and masters; will reign forever and ever. For all this, let glory be to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, who so honored and magnified our race! You see human bliss. But know for sure, beloved, that all this bliss is ruined by a person when he turns out to be ungrateful to God, and commits lawlessness, and is lower and poorer than any creature. So, beware of sin, like a poisonous serpent, so that it does not deprive you of Christian bliss and plunge you into the poorest state. You ask me: why are bishops and elders called shepherds? Answer. Why are shepherds of cattle called shepherds, therefore bishops and elders are called shepherds. Shepherds are chosen by the entire village or hamlet to graze their livestock. Thus, shepherds, bishops and elders are elected from the Church to shepherd Christian souls. Shepherds graze dumb cattle, and shepherds graze Christ's verbal sheep, that is, people redeemed by the Blood of Christ. The shepherds drive the cattle out onto the field, onto the grass and into good pasture and there they feed them, and the shepherds feed the sheep of Christ with the word of God and the Holy Mysteries. Shepherds take care of and protect their flock from wolves and other animals, and shepherds take care of and protect the flock of Christ's sheep from the devil, demons, heretics, superstitions and other enemies - spiritual animals. Shepherds, if any animal gets separated from the flock and gets lost, look for it and drive it into the herd, and shepherds, if any Christian gets lost from the true path, try to convert him with the word of God and exhortation, and join him to the flock of Christ. Shepherds graze their flock in the field and in the steppe, and shepherds graze the flock of Christ in the desert of this world. Shepherds drive their flock from the field to the homes of their owners, and shepherds send the flock of Christ from this world into the heavenly fence to Christ the Lord. Shepherds receive payment from their owners for their labors and for shepherding, and shepherds from Christ the Lord for their labors and for shepherding His flock will receive a reward - “an unfading crown of glory” (1 Peter 5:4). From the shepherds, if some cattle are not brought into the house, the owners ask: “Where is my this and that cattle,” and from the shepherds, if some Christian dies and does not appear in the heavenly fence, Christ the Lord asks: “Where is my such and such sheep? Where is the sheep that I entrusted to you to feed, and which you received safe in Baptism? Where is the sheep that I acquired not with silver and gold, but with My Blood?” The shepherd cannot say to the owner: “I don’t know where,” because he took the flock to keep it, and the shepherd cannot say to Christ the Lord: “I don’t know where the sheep is,” because he was the guardian of Christ’s flock and took the flock to keep it. The shepherd is deprived of payment from the owner for the loss of livestock, and the shepherd is deprived of reward from Christ for the destruction of the verbal sheep, and is given as punishment. A shepherd is innocent if not through his negligence, but in some other way the cattle dies, but the shepherd will not be guilty and will not suffer from Christ the Lord, if a Christian dies not through his negligence and carelessness, but through his own negligence and self-will, that is, when the shepherd taught, instructed, exhorted and showed him an example of good deeds, but he, as his shepherd, did not listen. This is why bishops and priests are called shepherds. So, reason about this, and test yourself whether you are shepherding the flock of Christ in the proper way 1) How intelligent and teaching shepherds should be. 2) What virtues are they adorned with in order to be an example to the flock? 3) What care and concern should we have for the flock of Christ. 4) How diligently they should read the Holy Scriptures, from which instruction and teaching are drawn. 5) They should become shepherds not so much for the sake of bread, but for the sake of the salvation of Christian souls. 6) When you teach people, try not to be told the parable: “Doctor! Heal yourself,” and you would not have heard from God in your conscience what was said to the sinner: “Why do you preach My statutes and keep My covenant in your mouth? After all, you hated instruction and threw back my words” (Ps 49:16-17). 7) It is better to please one God than the whole world, and to do the will of one God rather than all people. No one will defend you before God when He judges you; Then the princes and nobles, and the mighty, and the kings will hide; your conscience alone will either justify or condemn. Remember this. 8) It is good to “please people,” but “for the good” (Rom. 15:2). Otherwise, it is better for the whole world to fall into hatred than to lose God’s mercy and for His righteous one to fall into wrath. I want and believe so. Let the whole world hate me if it wants, but only God alone will support me in His mercy. Whomever God loves and contains in mercy, the anger and hatred of the whole world and all the devils will not harm him in any way. For God is incomparably stronger and more reliable than the whole world. Everything obeys His command and will. Consider this and deepen it in your heart. You can hear that your conscience is confused by thoughts and drawn to despair. These are the fruits of sins! It is sweet for a person to sin, but it is bitter to eat the fruits of sins. Beware of despair! Despair is a grave sin, and a sin against God’s mercy. God, who loves mankind, “wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). Why despair? God calls everyone to repentance, and He promises and wants to show mercy to those who repent (see Matthew 4:17; 11:28). But if a sinner turns from his sins, and repents of his sins and regrets them, and avoids other sins, God wants this, and this is pleasing to Him, and God looks mercifully on such a sinner, and forgives him all his sins, and does not remember them anymore. Thus, God Himself testifies to this in the Holy Scriptures, saying: “If a wicked man turns from all iniquities, he will have life and will not die; all the sins that he has committed will not be remembered to him" (Ezekiel 18:21-22). What is more comforting than this for repentant sinners? All their sins and iniquities are no longer remembered before God. Glory to God’s love for mankind, that He does not remember our sins and iniquities when we turn away from them and repent! And since the sins and iniquities of those who repent are not remembered, then their former lawless life does not harm them. For they are like those who came out of a ditch and walked on level ground, or like those who came out of darkness into the light, or like those who were freed from captivity and prison and received freedom. For while a sinner commits lawlessness, he walks in darkness and is as in a ditch of destruction, but if he begins to repent of his sins and avoids all sin, then he is freed from all that calamity. And if your thoughts confuse you, it is good for you. 1) Such thoughts humble and crush your heart, which is necessary for repentance. 2) They keep you from sins, past ones and others. How will you sin when you eat such bitter fruits of sin? Who does not beware of the serpent, knowing its poisonous sting? Who touches fire, knowing that it burns and scorches? How can a person sin, feeling that sin is so bitter? 3) Such thoughts turn a person away from the world, its vanity and its charms. 4) They encourage heartfelt and fervent prayer, which a Christian needs, and so on. So, repent, and strive against despair, and expect God’s mercy, just be extremely careful not to return to the former. Satan will draw you with all his might to your former lawless life, but you stand in what you started, take courage and be strong, and pray about it earnestly. Read more often with attention and zeal: “Have mercy on me, O God,” and so on (Ps. 50), and another psalm: “O God, come to my help,” and so on (Ps. 69). Avoid bad companies and friendships. Don't go to the monastery. Let your home and solitude be yours instead of a monastery. Leave often from your household and in solitude bow your knee before God, and fall before Him with humility, and in a publican’s voice pray to Him: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13)! And I repeat: beware of bitter despair, and beware of returning to your previous life, but follow the path you began, and you will reach a blessed death and eternal life, which I fervently wish for you. Remember me, a sinner, in your genuflections. May the Lord help you in everything, entrusting myself and you to Him, I remain Your well-wisher, Tikhon, an unworthy bishop. Who can console the sad except God? Taking sadness out of the soul is not like removing a twig from the body. This is God's work. We must seek consolation from God. It is sought through fervent prayer. God grieves us, but He also appeases us, according to the abundance of His mercy. “Trust in the Lord, be of good courage, and let your heart be strong, and trust in the Lord” (Ps 27:14). God, like a loving father who loves his children, does not leave those who endure without consolation. He punishes them and has mercy, beats them and comforts them. “The patience of the needy will not perish until the end” (Ps. 9:19). When your mother or father punishes you, you endure, although it hurts, why not endure, and especially when God, Who is higher than our fathers and mothers, the Lord punishes us? Have you forgotten the comforting apostolic word: “The Lord punishes whomever he loves; does he beat every son whom he receives” (Hebrews 12:6)? I wrote to you as much as I could, and thereby aroused yours and my soul from despondency. Now I am already exhausted in body. Oh, if only the soul were healthy in a weak body! You see that I am writing with someone else’s hand, because I cannot write with my own. You should try to have useful books, and from there draw instruction and consolation, and pray to God as often as possible, and rarely and carefully communicate with guests. Because this “to the one who desires to live godly” (2 Timothy 3:12) is not at all useful, for what a person gathers in solitude will be lost among guests, and he does it like one who draws water with a sieve, or draws it with another vessel and pours it out again. You write: let us turn like dogs “to our own vomit” (2 Peter 2:22). But listen to what the prophet cries out to such: “The Lord will punish those who are inclined to cunning along with those who practice iniquity” (Ps 124:5). Remember often death, which comes unexpectedly and kidnaps a person in various ways. Remember the Judgment of Christ and the strict test there. Remember eternal torment and the kingdom of heaven as often as possible. Not only every day, but every hour, reflect on this. Such reflection will not allow you to stray from the good path (see Sir 7:29). Temporary execution touches and confuses a person, and leads to fear, and temporary bliss encourages. Will eternal torment not touch, and terrify, and not move our sad heart? And will not eternal bliss kindle desires in our hearts? But the trouble is that people forget about these most important things!.. Although I don’t know you and haven’t seen you, I’ve heard who you are and where you’re from, and how you came to rank. Good start! Oh, if only the end were good, without which the beginning is nothing! For it is not the beginning and the middle, but the end that boasts, and completes the whole work, according to the word of Christ: “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev 2:10). I heard that it’s hard for you from the hatred and bitterness of those living with you, and you want to leave that place and go to one of the Moscow monasteries. If people truly hate you and do evil to you, then this is the machination of the devil, who arouses human hatred and bitterness against a pious soul in order to overthrow it and turn it away from the good path. But poor people, who hate a pious soul and cause harm to it, do not themselves know what they are doing, for it happens that they later repent and regret it. So, you, too, lay the blame for your misfortune on this spiritual enemy of ours, and forgive people, and pray for them. Do not give in to your adversary and stand in your former place, like a brave warrior stands against his adversary and does not give him room. Stand still, and do not yield to him, lest he rejoice over you. Know for sure that wherever you are, everywhere he will bother you through people and through himself. You will live in silence and have good peace if you endure everything that happens to you from yourself and from people with silence and without complaining. For a pious soul living in this world, everywhere there is a foreign side, everywhere there is anxiety, while it goes to its heavenly Fatherland. There she will rest sweetly after her labors and feats, and, moreover, forever, and not temporarily. But even here, in this world, if you want to have some kind of peace, you cannot find it anywhere if you cannot have patience. So, indulge in patience, and you will have peace within yourself, although you will be disturbed a lot from the outside. Let people call you what they want, let them say what they want about you, but look in the mirror of your conscience, and be comforted by its testimony, and look at the future glory that is prepared for those who endure. Everything temporary will pass, although it will be very bitter and lasting, but eternal glory and bliss will never pass. Look at Christ: what did He not endure for us? Look at these saints: haven’t they all followed Christ with faith and patience? What should we show up before them with if we don’t want to endure it here? What difference will we show that we are Christians if we do not want to bear the cross and follow Christ with patience? Are we going to show that we live in monasteries and wear black clothes? We must be careful that this very thing does not expose us there. Monastic life and a black dress mean humility and repentance, and if we don’t want to follow Christ, who humbled us for our sake, then where are our vows with which we promised to serve Christ at Baptism? Where are the vows that were repeated during tonsure and promised to have humility, obedience, patience, meekness, etc.? Is a monk only a monk until he takes monastic vows? Is it the black robe and vows that make a monk, and not the work itself? No, no!.. All Christians are required to walk the narrow and cramped path, but especially from monks and nuns. Who convinced us to enter a monastery and wear a black dress, to endure cramped conditions and sorrow? We ourselves chose it. Why should we run away from what we ourselves have chosen? All faulty Christians will be unrequited The Last Judgment of Christ, but especially monks and nuns who do not keep their vows. Remember all this, beloved, and do not leave the monastery where you are, but endure everything, so that you will receive the crown of life. There is no crown without victory, victory without feat, feat without battle, battle without enemies. So, we must fight, strive and win with patience in order to be crowned by the Hero of Jesus Christ. So, if you began to be a soldier of Christ, remain so until the end, then Christ will recognize you as His warrior, and will give you “the crown of life,” and you will be eternally blessed. Christian victory consists of nothing more than courageous endurance of sorrows and adversity. There is no more glorious victory than conquering your anger and conquering yourself. If you have a blessed reason to leave this monastery, then do not go to Moscow monasteries, but go to some monastery there and live. I just assure you that the demon will bother you everywhere. May the Lord protect us from him! Your well-wisher Tikhon, former Bishop of Voronezh I heard your complaint about your worries, for which, in my poor mind, I offer you advice. Those who turn to God always face many temptations, which is written about in Scripture like this: “Child! If you begin to serve the Lord God, prepare your soul for temptation. Guide your heart, and be patient, and do not be hasty during the visit,” and so on (Sir 2:1-2). And many places in Holy Scripture testify to the same thing. So, we must endure and arm ourselves against them with prayer, and thus overcome them. Satan does not sleep, but is always awake for our destruction, according to the apostolic teaching: “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him with firm faith,” and so on (1 Peter 5:8–9). The Apostle James says: “Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for, having been tried, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12). So, be patient and expect mercy from God, and in the next age the end. When thoughts tear you back to your old life and vanity, beware of this. This is Satan’s intrigue: he wants to deceive you, entangle you in vanity and thus destroy you. Listen to the Holy Scripture about this: “no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God,” says Christ (Luke 9:62). And the Apostle Peter says: “It would be better for them,” that is, those returning to a lawless life, “not to know the way of righteousness, than, having learned it, to turn back from the holy commandment handed down to them. But what happens to them is according to the true proverb: a dog returns to its vomit, and a pig that has been washed goes to wallow in the mud” (2 Peter 2:21-22). And in Psalm 124, in verse five, it is written: “The Lord will punish those who are inclined to cunning along with those who practice iniquity.” And Christ again says: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul” (Matthew 16:26)? Everything here will remain: peace, wealth, glory, honor, luxury, carnal sweetness, jewelry, dresses, houses, attire, horses, carriages, dishes, carnal food, satiety - everything will pass; death will come and snatch us away naked and send us to the next world. Woe to us if he snatches away those who are seduced by vanity, and those burdened with sins, and those naked with virtues! How to appear at the Judgment of Christ? There will be incessant shame and disgrace, the whole world will see our nakedness. The saints of God will not recognize us if we do not imitate them here. We abhor the holy angels because they were called Christians, but were not Christians, that is, they did not have a Christian life. Christ will say: “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23)! “You did not know Me, and you did not keep My commandments, and you did not follow Me in humility, love, meekness and patience, living in the world, and now I do not know you.” Oh, God, do not allow this voice to be heard! So, let us endure a little, so that we may be comforted forever. Soon, soon it will all be over! Behold, “he will come and will not delay” (Hebrews 10:37). Soon the change will be for those who endure it - eternal consolation, but for those who are consoled here with the sweets, and joys, and lusts of this world - eternal sorrow, oppression and melancholy. Save yourself! May the Lord strengthen you and have mercy on me, a sinner. Amen. Your well-wisher and servant, Tikhon, former Bishop of Voronezh beyond the Don. “My friend and brother in Christ!” I thank you for your letter sent to us, and I answer yours according to my strength. 1. Truly you admit that there is nothing more pleasant than peace, this is the first bliss in this world. Without peace, nothing is pleasant to us. We recognize this during war, when evil, fear and confusion of all sorts occur, just as we recognize how great a good is health, when health is taken away. But it is impossible to find peace in this age. The sea is fickle: it comes and goes, and is almost always agitated - so is our life. A person seeks peace and moves from place to place for the sake of it, but does not find it anywhere, because he is looking for something that does not exist in this world. He retreats from the rumors of life into the desert, but there we are met with greater and more cruel temptations from the thoughts and manifestations of demons; in cities and villages we are surrounded by temptations that always touch and kindle our hearts. “Woe to the world because of temptations” (Matthew 18:7)! 2. Christians, although outwardly they do not find peace, because they are always disturbed by internal and external temptations, nevertheless inside they can and should have peace always and in every place. A good conscience, which is not convicted of evil deeds, words and thoughts, and a soul that overcomes everything contrary and has strengthened itself with patience, stands in peace, as if in a quiet harbor. This is our bliss in this age; This is the pre-eminent Sabbath, which must be celebrated not only on one day of the week, but every day and hour. Our God requires this Sabbath from us. Let the Jews, the enemies of Christ's Cross, celebrate their Sabbath, but we must hold on to this Sabbath and keep it strong. The flesh, the world and the devil are trying to destroy it in us, but we must protect and preserve it with all our might with God’s help. In this longed-for Sabbath, “righteousness and peace will kiss each other” (Ps. 84:11). I wish this for you and myself from my heart. 3. We cannot know ourselves better except through temptation that comes from within and from without. Our temptation shows us what we are and what lies inside us. Temptation, like an emetic, reveals what ails our soul; just as the ringing of a bell is determined by the emphasis, and whether a newly made pot is strong, and with what air the bellow is inflated is determined by squeezing, so a person does not know himself until he is tempted in various ways. Many people dream something about themselves before being tempted, but, having been tempted, they find out what they are, and then hold a different opinion. And I thought about avoiding this place, but, having reasoned, I stayed and relied on God’s Providence, recognizing that it was better for me to know myself. We have a simple proverb for everyone: “the experienced knows everything.” So, there is no better means of knowing yourself than temptation. Thank God that He sends temptations to us! Thus He leads us to knowledge of ourselves, and to know ourselves is the beginning of Christian blessedness. So, the more you endure temptation, the more you will know yourself. 4. The second means, or even the first, is reasoning about the Holy Scripture, which presents to us the old and the new man with works, so that we may put off the first and put on the second (see Col. 3:9-10). All Holy Scripture represents two of them. But temptation is needed here, because it reveals the old man living in us. 5. The third means is thinking about the Creator and creation, about eternity and time, about Christ and His incarnation. Why were we born and live in this world? Not for the sake of this age, but for the sake of the future, we are born into this world, for our life in this world is nothing more than a constant journey to the future age. But this path is extensive or narrow. The spacious one leads to destruction, but the narrow one leads to eternal life. The spacious one is called spacious because the people, the travelers who follow it, live according to their own will, and do what they want, and the close one is called close, because the people walking along it subjugate and captivate their will to the will of God, and he is oppressed by the patience of troubles, sorrows and all sorts of opposition. A new man comes to the crowd, but the old man distracts him from the crowd. Here we must look for something new in order to strengthen ourselves and not be led astray. And woe to us, because we are inclined toward evil; the “flesh” always “desires what is contrary to the spirit” (Gal. 5:17). God, place and strengthen us on this saving, narrow one, which draws us into eternal space, and drag us along it with You, so that we may inherit peace! 6. Why do we see that every place and time for self-knowledge is convenient? Because temptation meets us at every time and in every place, and we can always and everywhere think and reflect on the above. 7. You write the truth that time is precious, and there is nothing more valuable than it. We can find everything from what is lost, but it is impossible to find lost time, just as words that have been spoken cannot be returned. And this worries me a lot. But let us at least try not to lose what is due, and to reward what is lost with what is rewarded. May God fill with His grace those who repent and pray. God, turn our minds to eternity!.. 8. Because of the above, there is no more convenient place for you than a solitary place, where I advise you to move and first begin to read the Holy Bible, with reasoning about the various works of God that it will present to you, and always, both in the morning and at night, study in it, and read Arndt, and take a walk in other books, as if on a visit, and sharpen your mind and will for good, and wait for the calling of God, where and when you God will call, and so you will be at peace. I received your letter through your father. Thank you for remembering me. Remember also what I briefly told you. I noticed in your young heart an admiration for future bliss. I wish it to act in your heart and show fruit. The path to that bliss is not the one that Christians of this century follow, but the one described in the Holy Gospel, which you have in your possession. Read it with reverence, attention and prayer, and it will show you, and, taking you by the hand, will lead you to that bliss, just listen to it. However, I offer you my advice: listen to what I write. 1) Remember that you live in St. Petersburg, where you see so much that leads you away from the path of the pious, no matter how much you leave your apartment. Beware! 2) Remember: beware of the corrupt like a pestilence. It won’t be long before you recognize the ulcer received from them on yourself, but it is much more harmful than a pestilence. 3) Remember God in every undertaking, deed and word. He takes note of all our deeds, words and thoughts, and writes them down in His book, and rewards each one according to his deeds. 4) When you go to bed and when you get up from sleep, do not leave your prayers. 5) Receive food, drink, and other blessings with blessing and thanksgiving, and do not imitate those who act like cattle: eat, drink God’s goodness and do not thank God. Such people are lost sheep, and they walk, closing their eyes, into eternal destruction. 6) Do not seek honor, but if it is given to you, and against your strength, accept it, and do not rejoice about it, but have it the way cattle wear a fur placed on it, a fur, I say, filled with something. Be in honor as a common man, but only do what your honor and oath instruct you to do. 7) Treat everyone kindly, but also have a kind heart. For gentle treatment without a tender heart is hypocrisy and deceit. Beware of him! 8) Forgive and do not remember insults and insults, and pray for the one who committed them in the secret of your heart. 9) Always remember death, as an unknown caller to the Lord. For we do not know when our Lord will call us to Himself; and through death He calls everyone to Himself. Also, remember the Judgment of God, torment and eternal life every day, and especially in the morning and when going to bed. This will not allow you to become corrupted. 10) Beware of all luxury in food and clothing, like poison. 11) Close your ears from rumors, and close your eyes from seeing tempting faces, and turn away from monsters. 12) Take care of your tongue, and don’t talk about anyone except needs. 13) Finally, always remember that we will leave everything here in the world and go naked into that light. I am sending this short, but useful message to you, and I remain, wishing you God’s mercy, Your well-wisher, Tikhon. “Alexander Ivanovich, my benefactor!” Thank you for your love. What I told you about the church, I explain in a letter, and I give this advice: make the church low, so that it can be used for both summer and winter, i.e. warm, with a stove. Take the example of the Voronezh “cathedral”, newly made 2, but I don’t recommend rushing into the heights. Less loss for you. The peasants will not be further burdened, and the people who come, and the priest and clergy, and you yourself will stand calmer and more willingly in the warmth; and you yourself can recognize this as the truth. And don’t listen to and don’t imitate the braggarts who want to rise to the clouds and inhumanly tear off the last skin from the peasants. They will someday see that by building churches in this way, they serve not God’s glory, but their own whims and vanity, and the highly exalted churches will not help them in any way when the peasants see the tears shed before the Terrible Judge Christ, and will be horrified and dismayed. For what is the use of building churches and destroying animated churches? Build high walls, and leave the peasants half naked, without food, salt and the necessities of life? This is torture, not worship of God! Christ in the Gospel says: “I want mercy, not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:13; 12:7). Think about what I'm writing. Consult for a long time, and think, and build. I am, by all means, advising and writing for your benefit. May God enlighten you and help you. Entrusting you and your entire household to him, I remain your servant and well-wisher, Bishop Tikhon of Zadonsk. I. Submit a petition to the pastor to dismiss the faulty abbess. II Stay close to your cell, and pray to God, and do your work as best you can. III. Don’t look at what people do, but learn from books to live a pious life. IV. Close your ears and lips and eyes, and only open them in church and in your cell alone. V. Do not have friendship with anyone, unless it be a pious one. VI. No matter what is inflicted on you, endure it. VII. If your mother is looking for salvation, and not to please this world, then decide whether it is not better to go to your mother and live with her when temptations arise in the monastery. You see, now monasteries have become worse than secular houses. Be careful not to perish there, where you hope to be saved. I received your letter. Thank you for copying the notebooks, and I am responding to this and the first letter. On this. In my opinion, there is no better place for you than Lipovka. There, a special cell is ready for you, and a secluded place suitable for reading, thinking, praying and composing any intelligent work, in a word, according to our science, a very advantageous place. My nephew lives there too, you can sometimes dispel the melancholy with him, and by talking with him you can benefit yourself 5. Quia qui docet, bis docetur 6. And when you want to go for a ride, you can go to Ksizovo with your children for a day. I would live there hopelessly: I like the place so much. But people, Potissimum inimici mei arripiunt causam calumnandi ibi viveyntem 7 , that’s why I locked myself in a monastery, and I almost never go anywhere unless absolutely necessary. And if, for reasons known to you, you don’t like living there, then I told Nikandr Alekseich, and he wanted to make you a hut in the garden, for the sake of peace, in Ksizov. However, I give advice, and you act prudently. 1) Knowing yourself and your heart comes from the Holy Scriptures and other Christian books. But most of all and most effectively, temptation brings us into self-knowledge, which occurs both from the outside, through the devil and evil people, and from within, through evil thoughts. Temptation is like a medicine called an emetic, which, taken internally, vomits juices and food from the stomach: thus temptation shows what lies inside our heart. And this, among others, is the reason why God allows temptation to come upon us: so that we might know what is hidden in our hearts. We often imagine something about ourselves, but the temptation that comes shows us that we are nothing. 2) From here we see that there is no true peace in this world. We live in the city and among people - temptations and evil people bother us; We go into the desert and solitude - there are great and numerous worries from Satan and from thoughts of anxiety. Trust what has been tried and tested. And so this world, like the sea, always shakes us and worries us everywhere. 3) If there is any peace in this world, then it lies only in a clear conscience and patience. This is a harbor for us, floating in the sea of ​​this world. A clear conscience is not afraid, and therefore a person is calm. Patience tames and pacifies the moving and agitated heart, and thus brings a person into silence. 4) It is impossible to learn patience without troubles and temptations, for patience is the patience of evil and troubles, and not of goodness and prosperity. It is also impossible to have a good conscience until a person truly repents and corrects his life according to the rule of the word of God. 5) A clear conscience and true patience are inseparable. A clear conscience preserves the word of God, and patience stands against everything that opposes God’s word, and preserves the conscience so that it does not become stained by crime, and so it does not bother it. 6) True, everlasting and serene peace is kept for us in eternal life, which is why it is called “rest” in Scripture (Heb. 4:11). I wish the same for myself and for you. I received a letter from you, from which I learned the sadness and grief of your soul. What to do? Life in this world cannot exist without this. The air is sometimes gloomy, sometimes clear, sometimes stormy, sometimes quiet; also at sea: sometimes silence, sometimes waves; so in us there is no change without change: sometimes we rejoice, sometimes we grieve, sometimes we fear, sometimes we hope; such is the life of this world. This constant change teaches us how we should behave in happiness and unhappiness, joy and sorrow. When joy comes, we should expect sadness; if we find ourselves in sadness, then we should expect joy. But blessed is he who can steer the ship of his soul during storms and bad weather. They must take care of this, but effort without heavenly help is not very strong, therefore it is necessary to ask this from the Ruler of all, God. “God is our refuge and strength, our Helper in the severe tribulations that have befallen us” (Ps 45:2). Thus, faith encourages itself in times of sorrow and protects itself, like a shield from the fiery arrows of the enemy, by trusting in the Most High. He is “the hope of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are far off in the sea” (Ps. 64:6). He is the same for me, poor one, and for you: “the eyes of all trust in Him” (Ps. 145:15), and in my mournful sorrows I lift up my eyes to Him. He is the Helper and Protector of everyone - also to me and to you. He does not look at faces, but at our heart and faith (see Deut. 10:17; 1 Sam. 16:7). Just as the sun enlightens and comforts everyone who looks at it with its brightest appearance, so the eternal Sun, which never sets, is enlightenment and comfort for everyone who looks at it with faith. The prophet says about this: “I have lifted up my eyes to You, who dwells in heaven. Behold, as the eyes of servants are directed to the hands of their masters, as the eyes of a slave woman are directed to the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes to the Lord our God, until He has mercy on us” (Ps 122:1-2). Committing myself and you to God's mercy, I remain Your well-wisher, Tikhon Zadonsky. “My lord, Timofey Vasilyevich!” I heard that you resumed the swing in Voronezh, which was destroyed. Don’t you notice how many temptations and outrages are caused by crazy and fearless people during those swings? Beware that you, as the giver of the reasons for those atrocities, do not count all those temptations and iniquities that occur during those swings as God’s judgment. Are you concerned, perhaps, for the sake of your profit, to serve human whims, which the word of God commands to eradicate? It is a lawless thing to seek one’s profit in that which is the cause of the transgression of God’s law, and the dishonor of the Lawgiver, and human destruction. The current time, especially, does not require amusement, but repentance, tears and crying. He is extremely insensitive and not only sleeps, but also died in soul, who does not feel the hand of God on our Fatherland for our sins. The Prussian War swallowed up how many thousands of our brothers! How many widows and orphans she left crying, she depleted the general treasury! Fires are multiplying everywhere, crop shortages and so on. Before we had time to mourn the evil, here comes another fierce evil! Here again our Fatherland sighs and groans from foreign weapons: again everyone is in confusion and fear, again our brothers accept their wounds, again Christian blood is shed, again thousands of people fall lifeless, again fathers, mothers, wives and children begin to cry inconsolably. But what will be the end of this social evil is unknown; I know that without God’s help there is nothing good to expect from. For it is not weapons that will save us, but God’s almighty help. But God has mercy and saves those who repent, and protects those who trust in Him, and not in silver or other things, and call on Him with true zeal. How and where can repentance be there, where outrages and lawlessness do not decrease, but increase? Is it good for us to have fun and fulfill our whims in the Fatherland, when our brethren abroad are always in all sorts of fear and sorrow? Should we laugh and riot when they give up their heads under the sword, bullets and other enemy weapons for us, accept other wounds, others shed their blood, others give themselves up as a sacrifice to death? Very bad and shameless! Know, friend, that when they fall and diminish, then it comes to us too. So, everyone must help together in the common misfortune, and we will help when our brothers defend us with weapons, and we will help their weapons with repentance and zealous tears and prayer. For thus our merciful Lord will turn away His righteous anger and protect us, teach the “hands” of our brethren “militia, the fingers” of their “battle” (Ps 144:1) “and will overshadow their heads” “in the day of battle” (Ps 139:8). Don't you have anything to feed yourself except the swing? I think that, besides them, you have income. If you want to collect more and more, then beware so that that terrible word of God does not touch you, which was said to a certain rich man (in the holy Evangelist Luke in chapter 12, article 20 it is written 9). Read that parable and reason. If you listen and destroy the swing, you will do better for both your soul and others, but if you don’t listen, do as you want. Our faith teaches us that the Judgment of Christ will be, for which we will all gather, and the Apostle Paul, by the Spirit of God, wrote that “we have 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 that. But those who desire to get rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts, which plunge people into destruction and destruction” (1 Tim 6:7-9). Save yourself in Christ, brother and friend. Your sincere well-wisher, the unworthy former Bishop of Voronezh, Tikhon. June 20, 1769 Zadonsky Monastery. I wrote this to benefit both you and society. If I falsely heard that you made a swing, then this does not concern you, but forgive me, maybe we accept the false rumor; if it is true, then reason about what is written. "Brothers and sisters in Christ!" Now is the time for patience. So, let's be patient now. There will be a time of consolation, and then we will be comforted abundantly. The Lord will comfort us, as a mother comforts her children (see Isaiah 66:13). Then blasphemous lips will be stopped and their shame will be covered. May the Lord convert them and make them our friends. Your brother in Christ and companion in sorrow, Tikhon 10. We see now, Christians, the hand of God punishing us, we see how much our Fatherland sighs and groans from the bloody war with the infidel: many fall and are wounded by foreign weapons; mothers and fathers for their sons, wives for their husbands, brethren for their fallen or wounded brethren weep; the treasury is depleted and impoverished, there are fewer people, in a word, the entire Fatherland is suffering adversity and is in confusion. But to this disaster another no less calamity was added: the pestilence intensified, and trouble was heard here and there. We see all this and sigh, and cry, and endure punishment. But we must admit from the heart that this is our fault and it is not true. It is necessary, bowing our heads, to acknowledge and confess before God: “You, O Lord, have righteousness, but we have shame on our faces” (Dan 9:7). “Thou art righteous, O Lord, thy judgments are just; You are righteous, O Lord, and there is no unrighteousness in You” (Tob 3:2). When we look at our deeds, we will see our great shame and great unrighteousness before God. To break an oath taken before God and His holy Gospel is considered a joke among us. Judicial places, where God's judgment is carried out, have become marketplaces and places of buying. Truth and justice have been cast down from their throne, and in its place Mammon sits and gives her voice. Don't go to court without money, you won't find anything. For a landowner to take five or six rubles a year from one peasant in the Ukraine, where bread is cheap and money is expensive, is considered nothing. It is considered a small thing to work three days a week for the landowner, not counting other work; they are also charged a capitation fee. Great lie and pride! Burdened with such quitrents and work, where can they find what they need? Where does the wife, children and other household needs come from? Where does bread, food, clothing, shoes and house come from? When will they rest again, for the flesh is weak? So some groan from the landowners, others from unjust judges and those corrupted by bribes, and their groans enter the ears of God. A similar untruth exists among the merchants, the peasantry and every rank. It is considered as little or nothing to deceive, deceive, steal someone else's goods, desecrate a neighbor's bed, commit malice and take revenge, hurt a neighbor with a word and denigrate or destroy with slander. Here's our business! This is our Christianity! God calls us to repentance, but we do not listen to Him. God sent His Son to us to save us - we do not listen to Him. He suffered for our sins - we do not heed this and repeat our sins. God did not order us to offend, did not order us to steal, bear false witness, did not order us to covet someone else’s things - we do not listen to Him. God commanded to love each other, to do good to each other - we do not listen to Him. He commanded the judges to preserve the truth - they do not listen to Him. He commanded everyone to shun evil and do good (see Ps 33:15) - we do not heed this. He feeds us, clothes us and supplies us with other blessings of this world - we do not listen to Him and do not give thanks to the Benefactor. God looks at this disobedience of ours, looks, and sees, and writes in His book. What else remains but for the truth of God to intervene in its cause? People do not feel the mercy of God when He has mercy on them - God is forced to reveal His truth. We did not want to know God’s mercy towards us and be so grateful to Him, but now we have learned the truth of God’s action. And those who are not moved by this punishment - a sign that they have hardened hearts - will experience the eternal judgment of God's righteousness. Therefore let us turn with all our hearts; “Come and let us mourn before the Lord who created us” (Ps 94:6). Let us all lift up our voice with one voice from our hearts: “Let Your tender mercies soon appear to us, O Lord” (Ps 78:8), and so on. So, praying and repenting for our sins, let us stop our sins and hate them as our enemies, who slander us before God, like cruel evildoers, and bring His righteous wrath upon us and inflict various executions on us. Let us stop irritating the righteous God and offending His goodness, so that what we see in our brethren will not come close to us. Because we are no better than them. Let us produce “fruits worthy of repentance” (Matthew 3:8). Judges! Keep the truth as the apple of your eye. Priests! Do not forget your title, who you are and what you were chosen for. Gentlemen! Spare your poor peasants. Ordered! Write and do not ruin the truth and be content with the quitrents determined for you by the Monarch, and do not reach out to other people’s goods. Merchants! Conduct trade without offense, without lies, without untruth. All other people, do not do to your neighbors what you do not want for yourself. Covetous people! Leave the covetousness. Fornicators! Leave fornication and love purity. Drunkards! Love sobriety. Thieves and predators! Stop offending your neighbors. Slanderers and mockers! Correct your language. Feuding! Be reconciled and love the Christian world. So God, seeing our correction, will bow to us in mercy and, hearing the groaning of our hearts, will have mercy on us according to His great mercy. If there is no correction, then everyone must expect not only temporary, but also eternal punishment, which, O God, does not allow, by Your mercy. Amen. “Dear brother Stephen in Christ!” 11 God will reward you for your efforts. I advise: is it possible to build now so that the poor will have a place to rest in a decent place, and there will be money for construction. Please ask Kosma Ignatiev and Ignatiy Loktev about money. Try, brother, for Christ's sake. May the Lord help you. I live in the forest so that my ears will ring less and my eyes will see less. Your servant, unworthy Bishop Tikhon. September 30th day, 1771. “Nikita Andreich, my brother in Christ!” A man living here gave one and a half hundred rubles to distribute money to the poor: for some reason, distributing it here is not as useful as in your area. Therefore, knowing your soul and good heart, I send them to you, and ask you to work in this matter with the love of Christ. This is exactly what to do when distributing: 1) Both in your village and in the surrounding villages, find out about the poorest widows, and others who pay capitation or dues, or who are kept under guard for capitation or dues. 2) Having found out the poverty of everyone and how much they have, take the money sent, how much you will get, and write it on a piece of paper in your house. 3) Having done this, distribute it to everyone, depending on their need. 4) When distributing, do not say that it was sent from me when they ask, since this money is not mine, and my relatives, when they find out, will be angry with me and scold me for not sending it to them, but just say that it was sent from a man for the poor. I ask you about this in the name of Christ. 5) To people, although they may be poor, they drink too much or are lazy to work, don’t give them a penny. 6) Set aside ten rubles for the beggars who walk the streets and under the windows of naughty people 12, and, having collected them, distribute them, depending on their poverty. 7) Write what you give to whom on this notebook, which I am sending you with this letter, and that notebook with this person who handed the letter came to me, when he will come here from St. Petersburg. 8) Three rubles for your efforts, and if it doesn’t seem like enough, take five rubles from that money if you want. I ask you to humbly work for the sake of Christ, who will reward your labors with His mercy. I am sending this money, one hundred and fifty rubles, for the above-described matter with this gentleman, His Excellency Alexei Dmitrievich, my faithful friend and benefactor, whom you accept as his rank requires, and as if he had accepted me himself. He wanted to stay with you, and take him to Valdai. I surrender myself and you to God. Be saved in Christ. Your brother in Christ, Tikhon, former Bishop of Voronezh. To my brother on Korotsko and my other relatives "..". 13 nothing, since this money is not mine. Remember what God says to those who want to be saved: “Through your patience save your souls” (Luke 21:19). Read the Apocalypse chapters 2 and 3 and 7, verse 9 and to the end of the chapter, and chapter 19, and chapter 20, and chapter 21 and 22. There the bliss of the higher life is revealed, and the joy, and the triumph, and the glory that is to be given to the elect of God in the next century. Christ says: “Behold, I come like a thief: blessed is he who watches and keeps his clothes, lest he walk naked, and lest they see his shame” (Rev 16:15). Endure whatever happens, and you will receive peace in eternal life. (And pray diligently for your parents to God, may he have mercy on them). In confirmation of your cowardice, I write that this week one heard something in our monastery, when he went to bed and just at midnight he forgot, namely, he heard such singing from above, above him, that his heart melted with joy and sweetness, like wax; and as soon as the singing ended, he woke up, and felt such joy and sweetness in his heart, which he had for some time and soon left him. And then great sadness came upon him, that that joy had departed from him. Discuss this and tell your brethren in Christ. God does not leave us without consolation here either. And how it will console you in the next century! So, endure everything and try to please Christ in everything. Your well-wisher and servant, Tikhon, Bishop of Voronezh. It is heard that in some cities the inhabitants, imitating those places where the wrath of God appeared through a pestilence and struck several thousand, gather and walk alternately at one place or another. Whether this is done here is unknown. Listen, you who gather and rejoice. 1) If you gave someone a hundred or any amount of money, and ordered him to be content with it himself and to provide for the poor, but he either kept it all for himself, or squandered it only on his own whims, tell me, wouldn’t you feel insulted and vexed by the poor, whom he must supply with your goods given to him? Truly, they would be offended by you too! God gives property and wealth to people so that they themselves may be content with it in moderation, and supply the poor with it. But when people either keep it in their chests, or squander it on luxury and whim, then they do the same, or even much more, annoyance to God and offense to the poor. For all rich people are God’s servants and agents, not masters. God alone is the Owner and Lord of all good and wealth, and he gives it to whomever he wants, and gives it for the common benefit. You ask the clerk about the money given to him, where and for what he spent it, the Lord also asks you about the wealth given to you from Him, and for every ruble for which you spent it, you will give an answer on the day of Judgment to Him. So, prepare an answer to Him. Here we are talking about righteous wealth. But unrighteousness, which is collected through untruth and interest, is subject to damnation, just like the one who collects it, like a lawbreaker. Anyone who wants to be saved must squander such wealth righteously, as collected in evil, and repent, otherwise both wealth and his sin are retained, and the more wealth he collects, the more he collects both sin and the wrath of God. Think about it. 2) Is now the time for us to have such fun? (Although this is not always the kind of joy that befits Christians: “for the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). Is this the time, I say, to have fun like this? Now war, now fires, now plagues, now others come to attack us and humble us. But people do not feel this. How can we be more humble? Troubles and misfortunes multiply, but luxury and sins - the cause of troubles and misfortunes - multiply, and the Righteous God becomes more angry. What from here? Greater troubles must be expected, just as a weak person, whose weakness is not healed, but is more irritated, must expect greater illness, or like a fire that is not extinguished, but is fanned, must multiply. Before death, people become more and more enraged. The Lord says: “Unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way” (Luke 13:3). This word is terrible, for it is true: “Punish us, O Lord, but in Thy righteousness, and not in anger, so as not to belittle us” (Jeremiah 10:24). 3) Our brothers fall from bullets, cannonballs and swords in war, others are in constant fear and sadness, and here we are having crazy fun!.. We should have helped them against the enemy, but instead, through partying, drunkenness and other sins, we sharpen the foreign sword on them, and so we fight against ourselves!.. O cruel times and evil days! O blindness of corrupt and unrepentant hearts! Is it possible to have fun in these sad and troubled times? Oh, how sin increases and piety diminishes! These people act like those foolish shipbuilders whose ship breaks and they dance; or like those crazy citizens whose city is burning and they are celebrating. The Fatherland groans from troubles and misfortunes; there are fewer and fewer young men; the treasury is depleted by the war; only the elders and youths and infants remain; and it comes to us; Everywhere mothers, fathers, wives, brothers and friends lament and cry for those who fell in battle and are in danger of death, but these are the only revelers having fun, as if they were not the sons of the Fatherland, and rejoicing with our enemies about our troubles that surround us!.. O luxury, luxury! How you blind, make mad and harden people's hearts! It's time to feel yourself so that you never repent uselessly with the wicked described in the book of the Wisdom of Solomon (chapter 5) 14 4) It is impossible to calculate how many temptations, sins and iniquities there are in such meetings and festivities. There are so many words and deeds, so many sins; how many persons, so many criminals. God and His holy Angels go far from here. There is a place for the devil and his evil angels, who rejoice with those who rejoice and rejoice over their destruction. Therefore, their destruction does not sleep if they do not feel it soon. They have forgotten God and his righteous judgment, “they say that they know God, but by works they deny” (Titus 1:16). So the rich man of the Gospel rejoiced, but, being in torment, he shouts and exclaims: “Father Abraham! Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame” (Luke 16:24). So the one who has been doused with wine asks for a drop of water, but does not receive and will never receive. We also need to be wary of today’s rich people, who have fun every day, violate God’s law, and don’t even want to look at the poor Lazarus. Discuss these points, and so inform those who are having fun. And if you are entangled in their net, break them apart with the fear of God’s Judgment, and run from them, like Lot from Sodom, so that you do not suffer the test of eternal fire with the Sodomites. Tell them to others, so that those who are having such fun will know their sin and repent. And if you do not inform, then it will be a sin for you, since this was written not for your sake alone, but for the sake of all. January 20th day, 1774. Father John, beloved brother in Christ! I received two letters from you, thank you for both. I am sending you, at your request, my advice. Read it and reason, and do so, but more importantly, read the books yourself, and from them learn to shepherd yourself, and the people entrusted to you by God, and pray to God diligently, so that God Himself will instruct you to shepherd the flock of Christ. Moreover, remember this: seek people, not human things, that is, seek the salvation of souls, and not money, and wealth, and veneration. Save yourself in Christ, and pray to God for me, a sinner. Your former shepherd, unworthy Bishop Tikhon. October 24, 1776. Zadonsk. I. Always try to have the fear of God and pray to God that He Himself will instill His fear in you. Fear, with the help of God, is born from attention: who are you and what has been entrusted to you to guard? You are a priest and a shepherd, keep the sheep of Christ, which He acquired with His Blood, and for them you will give an answer to Christ, as you kept them. Remember death, the Judgment of Christ, the kingdom of heaven and eternal torment, always remember. II. Young, keep your soul and body pure. Do not look diligently at the faces of young girls and women, lest Satan disturb your heart. Beware of idle words, jokes, laughter and all kinds of games; Always think that you walk before the face of God and God is always looking at you, your deed, word and thought sees everything clearly. Avoid dinners and meetings to avoid sin. Where there is laughter, jokes and speeches about people, run away from that place. Do not go to wakes and other dinners, but only after the funeral in the church, run to the house, since there is a lot of temptation at those dinners. Be extremely careful not to give temptation both in word and in deed: “Woe to him through whom temptation comes,” says Christ (Luke 17:1). What the priests, your brothers, and other people do, do not look, but listen to what Christ teaches and commands. Remember often the Passion of Christ: what He endured and how terrible the torment for us! Don’t forget the poor, but provide what you can. During the service, and especially at the Liturgy, try very hard to stand with tenderness and fear, remember that you are standing before the terrible God and praying for yourself and people; Also, perform the Holy Mysteries very reverently. Never be idle. Read often the first Epistle of St. John the Theologian, the entire Christian office is depicted there, as well as both Epistles to Timothy and the Epistle to Titus; there the position of the servants of Christ is described. Read other books too, and whatever you read is worthwhile, write it down in your notebooks, so that you can instruct people on occasion. III. Live with your wife like a Christian, and not like cattle. During the service and before the service, move away from her: you know what I am writing here. Exhort her too to love cleanliness. Read the first Epistle to the Corinthians, ch. 7, and especially art. 29th. IV. When confessing, proceed very carefully, be careful not to lead the sinner into despair; also beware that the sinner does not enter into sinful practices. The sinner conveniently comes into the habit when he sins without punishment. Usually priests say: “God will forgive, God will forgive,” but look what his repentance is, whether he truly repents and whether he promises to give up sin in the future. A sinner can also fall into despair when a priest treats him cruelly, shows the gravity of his sin, but does not explain about God’s great mercy. In this case, the priest must present God’s righteous judgment to unrepentant sinners, and God’s inscrutable mercy to those who truly repent. I can’t write everything here; read the book of confession given by your former bishop. Be careful not to confess to young women and girls, since you yourself are young, so that Satan does not sow weeds on your heart. Let another priest confess them. V. After mass, always read something, at least briefly, for the sake of teaching people, and do not leave any holiday without teaching, and whenever you are in a parish, in someone’s house, say something helpful to the soul, so that people will be spiritually built up. If you know about someone that he is sinning in some way, admonish him and pray that he will stop sinning and frighten him with the Judgment of God, and eternal torment, and the unknown end of this life. Woe to faulty Christians and priests who do not try to correct them! Do not be ashamed of any person or be afraid, but reprove everyone who sins, for this is a priestly calling, and ask God for help for everyone, although the evil ones will hate you and slander you for it. Don't be afraid of them, do your own thing, God will protect you. VI. Evil customs, such as deity: “By God, God is my witness,” and other invocations of the name of God in base things, reprove and eradicate, because people sin gravely in this. God, who commands: “You shall have no other gods besides Me” (Exodus 20:2), also commands: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” (Exodus 20:7). Also, when one condemns another, also when one says about another: “God judge him,” and so on, eradicate and expose all this evil. VII. Remind everyone that the Judgment of Christ is “at the door” (Matthew 24:33), the day of Christ has already come, the Lord has prepared His throne for Judgment. This is where fear can arise. VIII. Read the Ten Commandments of the Saints yourself often with interpretation, and read them to your people. They are fairly well interpreted in the book of Plato, the teacher of the Grand Duke, I think that many people in Voronezh have it. IX. Do not please the rich, friends, or respectable people, for it is a great sin to please people, but reprove whatever bad you see in them, and threaten those who are faulty with the fear of God’s Judgment. X. So, if, acting according to your position, you will be despised, and you will endure slander, slander and other persecutions from the wicked, neglect it, but even rejoice, according to Christ’s word: “Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven” (Matthew 5:12). Amen. Remember me too, a sinner. Write here the “Admonition of St. Moses” (it is written in the “Prologue” of December 15th), and read it often, and listen and try to do so, and the Merciful God, seeing your zeal and diligence, will enlighten your mind with His grace and help you, which is what I earnestly wish for you. Living in a cell, do this. Rising from sleep, thank God and pray; When you come from church, read something from books for the benefit of your soul, then take up handicrafts and do them. Having done it, get up and pray, after praying, read something from the book again. And so do everything alternately, that is: now pray, now read, now do handicrafts. But in handicrafts and reading, raise your mind to Christ, and pray to Him to have mercy on you and help you. If you do everything alternately, then there will be great desire and zeal for everything, reading, prayer, for variability gives desire and zeal. So people move from place to place and walk, and so a change of food is more pleasant for people than one supplied food. Change your business too, so that you are more willing to get down to business. If despondency, boredom and melancholy bother you very much, then leave your cell and walk where possible, and as you walk, sigh to Christ to help you. Remember death, the Judgment of Christ and eternity often. This memory, like a scourge, will drive away all despondency, boredom and melancholy. Everything that is temporary is short and will soon pass, but what will happen after death remains forever. The day passes, and with the day everything, that is, sadness and joy, passes, and so all life passes, and it comes closer and closer to death. And whatever death finds a person in, with that he will appear in the next century. Blessed is he who watches and awaits the hour of death! Save yourself in Christ, and remember me, the weak one, in your prayers. “Remember us, Lord, in Your kingdom” - this prayer is often addressed to Christ, the Son God, who sits at the right hand of God the Father in the glory of the Father, work with zeal. Here, for me, a sinner, breathe a sigh. May the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, have mercy on us all, and grant us portions of His chosen ones! Amen. P (after) P (written). Be careful when visiting, so as not to scatter among people what you collect in solitude. It rarely happens that a person returns to his cell the same as when he left the cell among the people. The desert and solitude gathers good, but the temptations of the world scatter. Nowhere is it better for a person to repent than in solitude. Here a person collects all his past life in his mind and, looking at it, sighs to Christ and asks for mercy from Him. A person sins in nothing more than with the tongue, but in solitude he runs away from this sin. Our eyes and ears are like doors through which temptations reach the heart and strike it, and solitude runs away from this, but will not accept temptation. Especially those who are young and unmarried, whose blood is boiling, should maintain solitude so as not to give or accept temptation. Please listen to this and think about what I am writing. We read in history that the pillars fell from the flesh. What are the canes waiting for? Desert and solitude, with the help of God, protects from this. A certain saint heard a voice: “Run from people, so that you may be saved.” May this voice ring for us too. However, when running away from people, we must run away not because of people, but because of sin. We should hate sin, not people, but we should love them, and not hate, but pray for them. It is our need to pray for ourselves, for our neighbors—love convinces us. Your well-wisher, humble Tikhon. Christians! The Judgment of Christ is approaching and is already close, and, like a “thief in the night,” that day will unexpectedly “come” (2 Peter 3:10), and with whatever it finds someone, he will appear at that Terrible Judgment. He will find someone committing fornication and will appear with him; another in murder, and with that he will appear; He will find someone drunk and will appear with him; He will find some in slander, some in slander, others in lies, cunning and hypocrisy, others in insulting and insulting their neighbor - and with that each one will appear. Some will be found during banquets and feasts, others at a card game, others at operas and masquerades, and so they will appear there. Others will be in quarrel and strife, and so they will appear there. He will find others in bribery and harmful bribes, and with that they will appear there. He will find others dancing, dancing, playing and in other excesses, and with that they will appear there. Others in other iniquities, and with that they will appear there. Pious and God-fearing soul! Rejoice, for eternal salvation is drawing near to you. You will stand at the right hand of the Judge, the King of Heaven, and you will hear the most longed-for voice: Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34). Woe to the above and other lawless Christians! They will be executed by the righteous Court of God, will be sent into eternal fire and will be tormented with the devil and his angels forever and ever, more than those who do not know God, the Turks and idolaters. So, I beg you, beloved, I beg you with the quietness and meekness of Christ: have mercy on your souls and repent, so as not to perish forever. God is still waiting for us, still patient. Blessed will be the one who truly turns and repents; He who remains in bitterness will be damned. He will repent, cry and sob at that hour, but it is already too late and useless, for with crying he will go into eternal torment. I am writing this to you out of Christian love and regret. Please accept this brief but helpful admonition. Do not look at those who are already clearly godless and neglect the law of the Lord, because they do not learn from it. So, listen to me, who desires salvation for you, as well as for yourself, but more importantly, listen to Christ Himself, Who hungers and thirsts for our salvation, Who came into the world for this purpose, suffered and died, so that He might see us saved. Fulfill, beloved, the holy and saving will of Christ, and do not lose eternal salvation, valued at the price of the Blood and death of Christ. The Angels of God in heaven and the holy souls will rejoice over us when we turn and repent. Christ the Lord will gladly accept us and forgive us all our sins. So, let us repent and be in constant preparation for the meeting of Christ the Lord, the King of glory, who is coming to judge the living and the dead. “He will come soon and will not tarry” (Hebrews 10:37) The Judge of all. “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to reward everyone according to his deeds,” says the Lord (Rev 22:12). To him be glory forever and ever. Amen. Do you really think, man, that you will escape the Judgment of God by condemning those who do such things and doing the same yourself? This refers to the Arkhangelsk Winter Cathedral, which was begun in 1764 by Saint Tikhon himself and consecrated in 1768 by His Eminence Tikhon II. According to legend preserved in the Serpukhov Vladychny Monastery, this letter was written by St. Tikhon in response to one novice of the Tambov convent, who, tempted by the behavior of the “faulty” abbess, turned to him for advice: how to overcome such mental confusion and how to protect herself from surrounding temptations. Information about Ivan Mikhailovich, to whom the saint writes, has not been preserved in legend. From the letter itself it is only clear that Ivan Mikhailovich sometimes worked on copying notebooks, most likely the saint’s own works. It is also clear that he was not devoid of classical education and scientific aspirations, which of course explains the use of the Latin language in writing, which, it should be noted, the saint almost never resorted to in his writings. This letter was written by the saint, among other things, in response to Ivan Mikhailovich’s question regarding the choice of a place of residence that “would be capable of reading, thinking, praying, and composing all sorts of intelligent things.” As for this, the saint points to Lipovka. Lipovka is a village 15 versts from the city of Zadonsk. My nephew also lives there - the son of Saint Tikhon’s elder brother, Euthymius, who was a deacon in Korotsk, Philip. The saint, apparently, felt especially obliged to his brother (See Chebotarev's Notes). Remembering his brother's goodness, the saint himself, in turn, took care of his brother's children. When he was sent to the Voronezh diocese, he took with him the aforementioned nephew, then still a 14-year-old boy, and raised him in the seminary up to the philosophical class, beyond which the teaching at the Voronezh seminary did not extend at that time. After he retired, the saint continued to watch over his nephew, and, in order to better prepare him for the service ahead of him, he kept the young man in his cell for some time, and then settled him in Lipovka. In this letter, the saint apparently wants to bring Ivan Mikhailovich closer to his nephew, so that “they can benefit each other.” Quia qui docet, bis docetur - whoever teaches, learns doubly. Potissimum inimici mei arripiunt causam calumnandi ibi viveyntem - especially my enemies find in this a reason to slander me when I live there. Nikandr Alekseeich is the son of the landowner of the above-mentioned village of Lipovka and Ksizova, Bekhteev. Insane! This night your soul will be taken from you. Who will get what you have prepared? An authentic, handwritten letter from the saint, presented by the owner to Her Majesty the Empress Maria Alexandrovna. The letter itself does not indicate to whom and when it was written. As the first publisher notes in this regard, “without a doubt,” “this letter came from the pen of the saint under the influence of contemporary events.” That was the period of the brilliant glory of the Empress Catherine II. But, as you know, this period was not alien to temptations, with which God’s Providence was pleased to test faith, strengthen courage and purify the morals of His beloved Russia. The Turkish, Polish and Swedish wars, the terrible plague that consumed more than 130,000 people in Moscow alone, the Pugachev rebellion - all these circumstances could have called St. Zadonsk to words of pastoral consolation, just as they called to words of pastoral reproof. In the city of Livny, Oryol diocese, there was an almshouse founded by St. Tikhon. In a letter to Fr. Stefan is talking about the construction of this almshouse. Father Stefan was one of the local priests, and he was entrusted with overseeing the construction of this building. Shalun (obsolete) – bag, sack. A corner of the letter is torn off in the original. For the hope of the wicked vanishes like dust carried away by the wind, and like thin frost carried away by a storm, and like smoke scattered by the wind, and passes away like the memory of a one-day guest (Wis 5:14). To write this pastoral “exhortation,” as the saint calls it, he was excited by a rumor that had reached him that “some of those who had previously followed his instructions, deprived in the last years of his life (due to his illness) of a personal conversation with him, began to weaken in faith and become impoverished in virtues” (Notes of Ivan Efimov). The saint writes, lying on his sick bed, this is an epistle that we can look at as our last. You might be interested in: