Проповедь о деле человеческого спасения, совершённом благодаря воплощению Господа нашего Иисуса Христа

Christ comes to be baptized for the sake of obedience to the One who sent John, and also in order to reveal Himself to the world, to begin the saving leadership of the people of God and to assure those who receive baptism that they are given the Holy Spirit. Thus, through His Baptism, He makes our baptism a medicine that cleanses the impurities that have grown in us due to a passionate birth and lifestyle. Although the Lord Jesus Himself did not need cleansing (even as a Man He did not need it, since He was born of the Undefiled Virgin and lived outside of any sin), He performs cleansing because He came into the world for our sake. So, Christ receives Baptism from John, and everything that happens during this Baptism testifies that He is the True Son of God. The water of Baptism receives His Own grace, the grace of the Father and the grace of the Holy Spirit. Thus, those who are baptized following His example are given precisely this grace, which revives, renews and recreates them in a mysterious way. Those baptized in the Name of the Holy Trinity no longer belong to the race of the old Adam and no longer inherit Adam's curse. They were born from the New Adam - Christ, and instead of a curse they inherit a blessing. They are no longer children of the flesh, but children of God, they were born not of blood, not of carnal or male lust, but of God, through Jesus Christ. And if for the sake of achievement, testing and correction they are burdened with the burden of corruptible flesh, then they are still invisibly clothed in Christ. Thus, Christians already here on earth can, with effort, live like Christ, and in eternity become partakers of His bliss, radiance and incorruptibility. Through one person - the progenitor Adam - his descendants became guilty of death. Now, through the One God-Man - Christ the Word - the grace of eternal and heavenly life is transmitted to all who are reborn from Him. And Heaven is open for these people to receive them in due time, when they succeed in faith according to Christ, then they will become heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. After all, previously Heaven was closed to us, and we ourselves were children of wrath. God left us justly because of our sin and disobedience. And now Heaven has been opened to us thanks to Jesus Christ, through whom our nature has become sinless, through whom we worship God the Father as children of favor and beloved sons. Having been baptized, Jesus immediately came out of the water and the Heavens opened. You see, holy baptism is the door through which those baptized enter Heaven. Everything that happened at the Baptism of the Lord happened for our sake. The Heavens have opened for us, they are waiting for our entry. Christ renewed not only human nature as a whole, but also the hypostasis of each of us, that is, an individual person. However, this renewal is achieved when a person receives remission of sins through Divine baptism, keeping His commandments, repentance and communion of the Most Pure Body and Blood of Christ.