О том, что она созидается посредством Божественных таинств: Крещения, Миропомазания и священного Приобщения

Life in Christ originates in this life and begins here, and is completed in the future life when we reach that day. And neither the present life can completely put it into the hearts of people, nor the future, if it does not receive the beginnings of it in this life. For since in this life the things of the flesh are darkened, and the darkness here, and corruption, which cannot inherit incorruption, Paul considered it best to be resolved in order to be with Christ: “To be resolved,” he says, “and to be much better with Christ” (Phil. 1:23). And the future life, even if it accepts people who do not have the strength and feelings that are needed for this life, will not serve them in the least for well-being, but as dead and unfortunate they will dwell in that blissful and immortal world. And the reason is that although the light shines and the sun delivers a pure ray, not a single person’s eyes are then formed, and the aroma of the smell pours out abundantly and spreads everywhere, but those who do not have it do not receive the sense of smell from this. Through the sacraments it is possible on that day to communicate with the Son of God to His friends and to learn from Him what He heard from the Father; but you also need to come to Him by being His friend and having ears. For there one cannot form friendships and open ears and prepare the wedding garment and prepare other things that are needed in the bridal chamber, but the place for preparing all this is the present life, and those who do not have this before the departure have nothing in common with this life. And the five virgins who were witnesses to this and the one who was called to the marriage, since they came having neither oil nor wedding clothes (Matthew 25), they could no longer purchase them. The truly inner new man, created according to God, is wombed by this world, and already conceived here and completely formed, he is born in this ageless world. For just as the embryo is still in the dark and night life, at that time nature prepares it for life in the light and forms it, as it were, according to the law of the life that it needs to perceive - in a similar way it happens with saints. And the Apostle Paul said this in his Epistle to the Galatians: “My children, I am still sick with them until Christ is imagined in you” (Gal. 4:19). But these embryos never reach the sensation of this life; The blessed also in this life have many sensations of the future. And the reason is that for the first, the present life has not yet arrived, but for them there is literally a future. For in the container of the embryos there is neither a ray nor anything else that supports this life; It’s not like that with us, but this future life seems to flow in and mix with this present one, and the sun also shines for us lovingly, and the heavenly world is exhausted in stinking places, and the angel’s bread is given to people too. Therefore, not only to settle down and prepare for life, but also to live this life and act as a saint even in this life. “I ate for eternal life (1 Tim. 6:12), says Paul, “and I live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). And the divine Ignatius: “There is living water that speaks in me” (Rom. 6), and Scripture is filled with many similar things. Besides all this, when it is declared that life itself is always co-present with the saints, for it is said: “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20), why think otherwise? For He who entrusted the earth with the seeds of life, who cast fire and sword upon it, did not immediately withdraw, leaving people to grow, try to burn and use the sword, but He Himself is truly present, acting in us “even to will and to do,” as blessed Paul says (Phil. 2:13), and the Fire Himself kindles and brings in, and the sword Himself holds. And truly, the ax will not be glorified without the one who wields it, and where the Good One is not present, there can be nothing good. And the Lord promised not only to be present with the saints, but also to abide with them and, what is better than this, to create an abode in them. And what am I saying - when it is said that He unites with them so lovingly that He becomes one spirit with them: “Be joined to the Lord; He is one spirit” (1 Cor. 6:17), and also: “one body and one spirit, as also He was called” (Eph. 4:4), according to the word of Paul. For how the ineffable love of mankind and the love of God for our race surpasses human reason and is befitting of divine goodness alone. For this is “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Phil. 4:7); in the same way it follows that His unity with His beloved is higher than any unity, so that no one can understand or depict this in any way. Therefore, in Scripture, many similarities were needed in order to be able to designate this union, since one similarity was not enough, and it points now to an inhabitant and a house, now to a vine and its branches, now to a marriage, now to members and a head, of which nothing is equal to this unity, for from these likenesses one cannot accurately reach the truth. For it is very necessary that friendship should be followed by union; What can be equal to divine love? Then, it seems that marriage and the agreement of the members with the head best indicate connection and unity, but this is also very far from the truth and much more is needed to explain the essence of the matter. For marriage does not unite people in such a way that those united abide and live in each other, which happened with Christ and the Church. Why did the divine apostle, having said about marriage: “This mystery is great,” added, “but I speak into Christ and into the Church” (Eph. 5:32), showed that he was surprised not at this, but at that marriage. The members are truly united with the head and live by this connection and die when they are separated; but it seems that they are united with Christ more than with their head, and they live by Him more than by union with the head. And this is clear in the blessed martyrs, who endured one thing easily, could not even hear of another; they laid down their heads and limbs with pleasure, but they could not retreat from Christ even with the sound of their voice. And I’ll say something new. For can anything be united with another more closely than how it is united with itself? But even such unity is less than this union. For each of the blessed spirits is one and the same with himself, but is united with the Savior more than with himself. For he loves the Savior more than himself, and Paul testifies to this word, praying to be “severed from Christ” (Rom. 9:3) for the sake of wisdom of the Jews, so that glory may be added to Him. If this is human love, then it is impossible to understand divine love. For if the evil ones show such kindness, what needs to be said about this goodness? When love is so transcendental, it is necessary that the union into which it involves the lovers should exceed human thought, so that it is not possible to explain it by comparison. Let's look at it this way too. There are many things that need to be used for life: air, light, food, clothing, the very natural forces and limbs - but nothing has to be used every time and for everything, but sometimes one thing, another time - another, since something else helps in the presenting need. For clothes clothe us, but do not provide us with food; but those in need of food must look elsewhere. And light does not allow us to breathe, and air does not exist for us instead of a ray; and we do not always use and use the action of the senses of the members, but the eye, and sometimes the hand, remain idle when we need to listen; and for those who want to touch, the hand is enough, but to smell or hear, or see, the hand is not enough for this, but leaving it, we turn to another force. The Savior is always co-present with those who live in Him, so that He fulfills every need and is everything for them and does not allow them to pay attention to anything else or look for anything else. For there is nothing for those in need that He Himself would not be for the saints, for He gives birth, and nurtures, and nourishes, and is light and breath for them, and with Himself forms an eye for them, with Himself illuminates them and grants them to see Himself. He Himself is the Nourisher, but at the same time He is also the food that He reveals as the bread of life. He himself is what delivers. He is life for those who live, peace for those who breathe, clothing for those who want to be clothed. Only by Him can we walk, and He is both the way and, moreover, the rest on the path, and its limit. We are the members, He is the head. We need to strive - He will fight for those who deserve praise, He has put forth our struggles and we conquer - He is our ready crown. Thus, he turns everything to Himself and does not allow the mind to turn to anything else, nor to be inflamed with love for anything existing. For if we direct our desire here, He Himself is present here and gives peace, if there - and there He is, if in another place - and on this path He supports and strengthens those who are ready to fall. “If I ascend to heaven, you are there,” it is said, “if I go down to hell, there you are, if I take up my wings early and dwell in the last of the seas, and there Your hand will guide me and Your right hand will hold me” (Ps. 139:8-10). By some amazing coercion and human-loving violence, drawing to Himself alone and uniting with Himself alone - this, I think, is the coercion with which He forced those whom He invited to enter the house and to the feast, saying to the servant: “Force to enter, so that my house may be filled” (Luke 14:23). That life in Christ not only in the future, but also in the present life is found in the saints, who live and act by it, this is clear from what has been said. And why is it possible to live like this and, as Paul says, to walk in newness of life, that is, with those who do what kind of deeds, Christ is so united and so attached to them, and I don’t know how to express this, we will talk about this further. This happens, on the one hand, from God, on the other, from our diligence, and one is entirely His work, the other requires zeal from us. However, we bring no more than is necessary in order to preserve grace and not betray the treasures and not extinguish the lamp that has already been lit. I mean those who do not bring anything that counteracts life and gives birth to death, for every human good and every virtue only serves this purpose, so that someone does not draw a sword on himself and does not run away from well-being and does not knock off the crowns from his head, since the essence of life is implanted into our souls by Christ Himself, co-present with us in some indescribable way. For He is truly present and helps the firstfruits of life, which He Himself gave by His coming. He is present not as before, and by way of conversation and conversation, and treatment with us, and communication, but in a different and more perfect way, according to which we become co-corporeal with him and co-living, members and the like that only relates to this. For just as the indescribable love for mankind is due to which, having so loved the most humble, He wanted to honor them with the greatest benefits, and just as the union by which He unites with His beloved surpasses every image and every name, so the way in which He is present and does good is marvelous and befitting of Him alone who does marvelous things. For those whose death He truly died for the sake of our life are imitated in certain symbols, as if in pictures, He in fact renews and recreates and makes partners of His life. For in the sacred sacraments, depicting His burial and announcing His death, through them we are born and formed and are prenaturally united with the Savior. For through them we, as the apostle says, “in Him we live and move and are” (Acts 17:28). Because Baptism bestows being and complete existence in Christ, for it, having received the dead and corrupt, is the first of all the sacraments to introduce them into life. And the Anointing with myrrh performs the born, imparting the power of action corresponding to this life, while the Divine Eucharist preserves and supports his life and health. For in order to preserve what has already been acquired and to strengthen the living, this gives the bread of life. Therefore we live by this bread, we move in peace, having received our being from the font. And in this way we live in God, having transferred our life from this visible world to the invisible, changing not the place, but our deeds and life. For it was not we ourselves who moved or ascended to God, but He Himself came and descended to us. For it was not we who sought, but we who were sought, because it was not the sheep that sought the shepherd, nor the drachma the mistress, but He Himself came down to earth and found the image and was in those places where the sheep wandered, and raised it and raised it from wandering, without removing the people from here, He made those who were on earth heavenly and put heavenly life in them, not raising them to heaven, but bowing the heavens and bringing them down to them. For, as the prophet says, “incline the heavens and come down” (Ps. 17:10). And so, through these sacred sacraments, as if through windows, the Sun of Truth penetrates into this gloomy world and kills life in accordance with the world, and restores the worldly life, and the Light of the world conquers the world, which the Savior means when he says: “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33), when he introduced constant and immortal life into a mortal and changing body. For just as in a house, when a ray penetrates into it, the lamp does not attract the gaze of those looking on itself, but attracts them to the all-conquering light of the ray: in the same way, in this life, the light of the future life, penetrating into souls and being introduced into them through the sacraments, conquers life in the flesh and darkens the beauty and lightness of this world. And such is life in the spirit, by which every desire of the flesh is overcome, according to the word of Paul: “Walk in the Spirit and do not commit the lusts of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16). The Lord continued this path, coming to us, and opened this door, entering the world, and ascending to the Father, did not allow it to be closed, but from the Father through this door he comes to people, moreover, he is always present with us and abides, and will remain forever, fulfilling these promises. So, this is not, but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven, - the patriarch would say, by which not only angels descend to earth, for they are inherent in everyone who has received Baptism, but also the Lord of the angels Himself. Therefore, when, as if delineating his baptism in writing, the Savior Himself wanted to be baptized with the Baptism of John, showing that through Baptism only we can see the heavenly spaces and thereby indicated that it is impossible for an unbaptized person to enter into life, it also indicated that the font is an entrance and a door. “Open for me the gates of righteousness” (Ps. 118:19), says David, wishing, as I think, for these gates to open. For this is the very thing that many prophets and kings wanted to see, namely the coming to earth of the Artist of these gates; why, if, says David, he happened to use the entrance and pass through this gate, he would bring confession to the Lord who divides the wall. “When we go in,” he says, “let us confess to the Lord” (Ps. 117:19). since through this gate he would have the opportunity to achieve the most perfect knowledge of the goodness and love of God for the human race. For what better sign could there be of the goodness and love of God than the fact that He, washing with water, cleanses the soul from impurity, anointing with myrrh, reigns in the heavenly Kingdom and satisfies, offering His Body and Blood? That people are made gods and sons of God and our nature is honored with divine honor and the dust is elevated to such glory that it becomes venerable and even similar to the divine nature - with what can this be compared? What else is missing from this abundance of renewal? For this is the virtue of God, which covered the heavens and surpassed all creation and hid every work of God, conquering them with greatness and beauty. For of all the Divine works, so many and so beautiful and great, there is not one that shows the wisdom and art of the Creator more clearly than others, and it cannot be said that anything that exists could be better or more diverse. If it is possible for God’s work to be so good, so good that it competes with its wisdom and strength and art and, so to speak, equals infinity and, like an imprint, shows all the greatness of Divine goodness, thinking that it can overcome everything. For if this is always the work of God, to distribute good things, and for this He creates everything, and this is the purpose of what has already happened and what will come after (so that goodness would flow out, it is said, and guide), then in doing this, God bestowed the greatest good on everyone and did not have a better one to give, so that this is the greatest and best work of goodness and the ultimate limit of kindness. And this is the work of economy done for people. For here God did not simply communicate several good things to human nature, reserving more for Himself, but He invested all the fulfillment of the Divinity, all of Himself, into it as His natural wealth. That is why Paul said that the “righteousness of God” was primarily revealed in the Gospel (Rom. 1:17): for if there is any virtue of God and truth, it consists in this: to unenviously bestow His blessings and fellowship of blessedness on everyone. Therefore, the most sacred sacraments can rightly be called the gates of truth, because the extreme love and goodness of God for the human race, in which Divine virtue and truth consist, have made them for us an ascent into heaven. And in another way, according to some kind of judgment and truth, the Lord erected this trophy and gave us this door and this path. For He did not kidnap the corruptible by force, but gave a ransom for them and bound the strong, not because He had great power, but having condemned him with a righteous judgment, He reigned in the house of Jacob, destroying the violent power in the souls of people, not because He was able to destroy it, but because it was just to destroy it. And David pointed out this, saying: “Righteousness and destiny are the preparation of the throne” (Ps. 89:15). The truth not only dissolved these gates, but also reached our family through them. For in the first times, before God came to people, it was impossible to find truth on earth. For God Himself received her from heaven and searched for her, from Whom she could not hide, if only she had existed, but despite that, he did not find her: “All,” it is said, “have turned aside, being without keys, not doing goodness, not even one” (Ps. 13:3). After the truth from the earth shone to those sitting in the darkness of lies and canopy, then the truth came down from heaven, truly and completely appearing to people for the first time, and we were justified, freed first of all from bonds and punishment, when the one who had not committed untruth protected us by death on the cross, in which he suffered punishment for what we had done insolently; then through the same death we became friends of God and righteous. For by His death the Savior not only freed us and reconciled us to the Father, but also gave us the realm of being children of God, uniting our nature with Himself through the flesh that He assumed, uniting each of us with His flesh by the power of the sacraments. And thus He brought down His truth and life into our souls, so that through the sacred sacraments it became possible for people to know and practice the true truth. If, according to Scripture, there were many righteous people and friends of God before the coming of the Justifier and the Reconciler, this must be understood primarily in relation to the future, namely, that they became such and were prepared to resort to the truth that was to be revealed and were freed when redemption was given, saw when the light appeared, and renounced images when the truth was revealed. And this is the difference between the righteous and the evil, who were in chains and were also subject to slavery, that some endured this enslavement and slavery with displeasure and prayed that the prison would be destroyed and these bonds would be resolved, and wanted the head of the tyrant to be crushed by the captives, while for others nothing real not only did not seem strange, but they were also comforted while in slavery. And in those blessed days there were people like them, who did not accept the sun that shone in them and tried as much as possible to extinguish it, doing everything that, in their opinion, could destroy its rays. Why were some freed from the slavery of hell when the king appeared, while others remained in bondage? As among the sick, those who seek healing in every possible way and are happy to see a doctor are usually better and more patient than those who do not even know that they are sick and avoid medicine, for it seems to me that the doctor, without yet treating them, will call them recovering, unless he realizes that his art is powerless to the disease. In the same way, in those times, God called some righteous and beloved to Him. For on their part they did everything and showed the possible truth, which made them worthy of resolution when the One who is able to resolve appears, but they were not resolved. If this were the true truth, then they, having laid aside this body, would be in peace and in the hand of God, says Solomon (Wis. 9:13-15); now, when they left here, hell received them. For our Lord returned the true truth and fellowship with God, not as it had previously existed in foreign countries, but Himself introduced it into the world, and the path leading to heaven was not only found as previously existing, but He Himself paved it. For if this path existed, then another one of the former would have opened it; now “no one has ascended into heaven except the Son of man who came down from heaven and is in heaven” (John 3:13). Since before the cross it was impossible to find remission of sins and liberation from punishment, how could one think about the truth? For, I think, it would be inappropriate, before reconciliation, to become friends and glorify those still in chains as crowned, in a word, if all this was accomplished by the lamb (Easter), what would be the need for this subsequent one? If shadows and images provided the desired bliss, truth and works would be superfluous. Even the very fact that by the death of Christ enmity was destroyed and the mediastinum was destroyed, and peace and truth shone in the days of the Savior and everything like this, what would have happened if before this sacrifice there had been friends of God and the righteous? And the proof of this is the following. For then the law united us with God, but now faith and grace and the like. From this it is clear that then there was slavery, and now sonship and fellowship serve as the communion of people with God, for the law is for slaves, and for friends and sons - grace and faith and boldness. From all this it becomes clear that the firstborn from the dead is the Savior and none of the dead could come to life into immortal life until He had yet risen. In the same way, He alone leads people towards sanctification and righteousness, and Paul showed this by writing: “Christ the Forerunner for us has come into the holy place” (Heb. 6:20). For He entered into the holy place, offering Himself to the Father, and brings in those who wish, who have partaken of His death, who died not like Him, but in the font who represented that death and who proclaimed in some way that they were anointed and fragrant with Himself who died and rose again. And by introducing these gates into the Kingdom, he leads them to crowns. These gates are much more honorable and convenient than the gates of heaven. Those are not opened for anyone who has not first passed through these gates, and these are open even when those are closed. They can take them out, but they only bring them in, and don’t take anyone out. Those could have been closed and opened again, but in these the veil and mediastinum are forever destroyed and destroyed, and it is no longer possible to restore the barrier and attach doors and separate the worlds from one another with a wall. And not only did they open, but “the heavens opened up,” said the wonderful Mark (Mark 1:10), showing that there were no longer any doors, no shutters, no curtains of any kind. For he who has reconciled and united and pacified the upper world with the lower and destroyed the mediastinum of the fence cannot deny Himself, says blessed Paul (2 Tim. 2:13). For those gates that were opened for Adam's sake, of course, had to be closed when Adam did not continue in what he should have remained in. And these were opened by Christ Himself, who did not commit sin and cannot sin, for His righteousness, it is said, endures forever. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary that they remain open and lead into life, and not give anyone a way out of life. For “I have come,” said the Savior, “and they have life” (John 10:10), and the life that the Lord brought consists in making those who come through these sacraments participants in His death and partakers of suffering, and without this no one can escape death. For he who is not baptized with water and the Holy Spirit cannot enter into life, just as those who do not eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and do not drink His Blood cannot have life in themselves. And let's look higher. It is impossible to live in God if one has not yet died to sins, and only God alone can kill sin. For it would behoove people to do this, for being righteous, we would be able, having suffered defeat, to resume the fight, but this became completely impossible and beyond our strength when we became slaves of sin. How can we become better while remaining in slavery? And even if they became better, the slave is not greater than his master. Because the one who had to pay this debt and win this victory was the slave of the one over whom he was supposed to gain power through the struggle, and God, for whom this is possible, owed no one, therefore neither one nor the other undertook the struggle and sin lived, and it was no longer possible for true life, this victorious reward, to shine for us, on the one hand, having a debt, on the other, having power; therefore it was necessary for both to be united and for one and the same to have both natures: both subject to battle and capable of victory. And so it happened. God takes upon Himself the struggle for people, for He is man, and man conquers sin, being clean from all sin, for He was God. And thus nature is freed from reproach and awarded the crown of victory when sin has fallen. And of the people, although no one won or fought, despite this, people are released from these bonds; The Savior Himself did this by what He delivered, with which He gave each of the people the power to put to death sin and become a partaker of His victory. Because after this victory he should have been crowned and triumphant, but He experienced wounds and the cross and death and so on, as Paul says: “For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, being careless about the shame” (Heb. 12:2), what happened? He did not commit any untruth for which he would bear such punishment and did not have anything in himself that the most shameless slanderer could accuse Him of, and wounds and sorrow and death were originally invented for sins. How did the Lord allow this, being a lover of mankind? For it is not characteristic of goodness to be consoled by fear and death. Therefore, after sins, God allowed death and sorrow, not so much to impose punishment on the sinner, but to offer medicine to the sick. Since this punishment could not be applied to the works of Christ and the Savior did not have in Himself any trace of weakness that would need to be destroyed by the accepted medicine, then the power of this cup passes to us and kills the sin that is in us and the wounds of the innocent become punishment for the guilty in many ways. And since the punishment was great and amazing and much more than what was needed to reward human evil, it not only freed from punishment, but brought such an abundance of benefits that those who are from the earth, hostile, bound, enslaved, defeated, ascend to heaven itself and there partake of the Kingdom of God. For this death was precious, as far as a person cannot understand, although for a small price it was bought by murderers by the permission of the Savior, so that this too would make up for his misery and dishonor, so that through the sale he would endure the reproach characteristic of slaves, to gain treasures of reproach. For He considered dishonor for us to be a gain, and the unimportance of the price means that He accepted death for nothing and for nothing for the world. He died voluntarily, having done no wrong to anyone in anything, either in relation to life or to society, having intended for the murderers benefits that far exceeded all desires and hopes. But what am I saying about this? God died, God's blood was shed on the cross. What could be more precious than this death, what could be more terrible than it? How has human nature sinned so much that such atonement was needed? What kind of ulcer must be that the power of such healing was needed to heal it? For it was necessary that sin should be atoned for by some kind of punishment, and that only those who had suffered worthy punishment for what they had sinned against God should be delivered from condemnation. For the punished can no longer be accused of what he was punished for, but there is no one among people who, being pure, would himself suffer for others, since no one is able to bear the proper punishment either for himself or for the entire human race, even if he could die a thousand times. For what is the price that the most insignificant slave will suffer, crushing the royal image and offending his greatness? Therefore, the sinless Master, having endured many sufferings, dies and bears the ulcer, having taken upon himself the protection of people, as a man, frees the entire race from condemnation and grants freedom to the bound, because He Himself had no need for it, being God and Master. And why exactly true life descends into us through the death of the Savior, this can be seen from the following. The way we attract it into our souls is by performing the sacraments, washing ourselves, anointing ourselves, enjoying a sacred meal. Christ comes to those who do this and dwells in them and unites with them and cleaves to them and casts out sin in us and imparts His life and strength and makes them partakers of victory - oh goodness - he girds those who are washed and praises those who sup. Why and for what reason does victory and a crown come from the font and peace and table, which are the fruit of labor and sweat? Because although we do not strive and do not work in doing this, we glorify this feat and are surprised at the victory and glorify the trophy and show very great and ineffable love. And we internalize these wounds and punishment and death as much as possible. We attract them into ourselves and become of the flesh of the Dead and Risen. Why do we rightly enjoy these benefits, which come from death and these exploits? For if someone, passing by a tormentor, caught and awaiting execution, praises him and honors him with a crown and shows respect to his torment and himself thinks to die with his fall and cries out against the laws, is indignant at the truth and does this not with shame and without hiding his anger, but openly speaking and testifying and pointing to him, what sentence should we honor him with? Shall we not punish the same as the tormentor? Obviously so. It is completely contrary to this, if someone is surprised by the brave, rejoices over the winner and weaves crowns for him, excites a cry of approval and shakes the theater and with pleasure falls to the triumphant and kisses his head and kisses his right hand and is very enthusiastic about the warrior and about the victory he won, as if he himself should have decorated his own head with a crown. Will not well-meaning judges recognize him as a participant in the winner’s rewards, just as he, I think, will share the punishment with the tormentor? If regarding the evil we preserve what is due, demanding punishment for intention and thought, it will not be appropriate to deprive the good of the following. If we add that the one who has acquired this victory himself does not need rewards for the victory, but prefers to see his zealot as glorious in disgrace and considers it a reward for his feat that his friend would be crowned, would it really be unjust and illegal for this latter to accept the crown for the war without labor and danger? And this bath and meal and prudent enjoyment of the world can do this for us. For when we approach the sacraments, we reproach and despise and turn away from the tormentor, but we praise and marvel at the winner, and we honor and love Him with all our souls, so that with an abundance of desire we thirst for Him like bread, we are anointed like ointment, and we are surrounded like water. It is clear that if He entered into the struggle for us and, in order for us to win, He Himself endured death, then there is nothing incongruous or disagreeable in the fact that through these sacraments we reach the crowns. We show possible readiness and, hearing about this water, that it has the power of Christ’s death and burial, we believe completely and approach willingly and are immersed, and He, for He gives much and rewards us with much, lovingly communicates to those who approach what was the result of death and burial, not delivering any crown, not bestowing glory, but the Conqueror Himself, Himself crowned, and coming out of water, we carry the Savior Himself in our souls, in our heads, in our eyes, in our very entrails, in all our members, pure from sin, free from all corruption, as He rose and appeared to the disciples and ascended, as He will come again, demanding this treasure back from us. And so that we, being thus born and sealed from Christ, do not, as it were, bring in any alien form in some form or manner, He Himself guards the entrances of life. And by means of which we, by taking air and food, help the life of the body, through the same thing He penetrates into our souls and makes both of these entrances with His own, touching one as myrrh and fragrance, the other as food. For we both inhale Him and He becomes food for us, and thus introducing Himself into us in every possible way and uniting Himself with us, makes us His Body. And it is for us what the head is for the members. Therefore, we partake of the blessings of all in Him, for He is the head, and what belongs to the head necessarily passes into the body. And this is why we should be surprised that we do not participate with Him in plagues and death, but He alone labored, and when He is about to be crowned, then He makes us His accomplices. And this act of ineffable philanthropy does not exceed reason and conformity. For we were united with Christ after the cross, and when He had not yet died, we had nothing in common with Him. For He is the Son and the Beloved, and we are defiled, and slaves, and in our thoughts we are His enemies; when He died and the price of redemption was given and the prison of the devil was destroyed, then we received freedom and adoption and became members of that Blessed Head. And from this, what belongs to the Head becomes ours. And now through this water we are changed into sinless people, through peace we participate in His blessings, through the meal we live one life with Him, and in the next century we are gods through God and heirs of the same thing with Him, reigning in the same Kingdom with Him, unless we voluntarily blind ourselves in this life and tear apart the royal robe. For on our part, all that is required for this life is to honor gifts and keep blessings and not throw off the crown that God has woven for us with much sweat and labor. This is life in Christ, which is supported by the sacraments. It is clear how much power human zeal has for it, why it is proper for anyone who wants to talk about it to first discuss each of the sacraments, then talk in order about acting according to virtue. You might be interested in: