Instructions on the Personal Duties of Every Christian

Brief life of our Holy Father Tikhon, Bishop of Voronezh Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk, Bishop of Voronezh (in the world Timothy), was born in 1724 in the village of Korotsk, Novgorod diocese, in the family of sexton Savely Kirillov. (The new surname Sokolov was later assigned to him by the authorities of the Novgorod seminary.) From early childhood, after the death of his father, he lived in such poverty that his mother almost gave him up to be raised by a neighbor, a coachman, since there was nothing to feed the family. Eating only black bread and then very restrainedly, the boy hired himself out to rich gardeners to dig beds. As a thirteen-year-old boy, he was sent to a theological school at the Novgorod bishop's house, and in 1740 he was accepted for government support into a seminary established in Novgorod. The young man studied excellently and, upon graduating from the seminary in 1754, was left there as a teacher, first of Greek, then of rhetoric and philosophy. In 1758 he took monastic vows with the name Tikhon. In the same year he was appointed to the position of prefect of the seminary. In 1759 he was transferred to Tver with his elevation to the rank of Archimandrite of the Zheltikov Monastery. Then he was appointed rector of the Tver Seminary and at the same time abbot of the Otroch Monastery. On May 13, 1761, he was consecrated Bishop of Kexholm and Ladoga (vicar of the Novgorod diocese). The dedication was providential. The young archimandrite was supposed to be transferred to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, but in St. Petersburg, during the election of the Novgorod vicar, on Easter, his name was taken out of 8 lots three times. On the same day, His Grace Athanasius of Tver, against his will, remembered him at the Cherubim Song (at the altar) as a bishop. In 1763 the saint was transferred to the Voronezh see. For four and a half years, ruling the Voronezh diocese, Saint Tikhon constantly edified it with his life and numerous pastoral instructions and soul-saving books. He wrote a number of works for pastors: “On the Seven Holy Mysteries”, “Addition to the Priestly Office”, “On the Sacrament of Repentance”, “Instructions on Marriages”. The saint especially demanded that every clergyman have the New Testament and read it daily. In his “District Epistle” he called on pastors to reverently perform the sacraments, to be mindful of God and to show brotherly love. (“The Instruction on Every Christian’s Own Duties” was republished many times in Moscow and St. Petersburg already in the eighteenth century.) In Voronezh, the saint eradicated the ancient pagan custom of celebrating in honor of Yarila. Within the location of the Don Cossack army, he opened a missionary commission to convert schismatics to the Orthodox Church. In 1765 Saint Tikhon transformed the Voronezh Slavic-Latin school into a theological seminary and, inviting experienced teachers from Kyiv and Kharkov, developed educational programs for it. He had to put in a lot of effort and work to set up churches, schools, instruct and enlighten the shepherds and convince them of the need for education. Governing a vast diocese, the saint did not spare his strength, often spending nights without sleep. In 1767, due to poor health, he was forced to leave the administration of the diocese and retired to the Tolshevsky Monastery, which was located 40 versts from Voronezh. In 1769, the saint moved to the Bogoroditsky Monastery in the city of Zadonsk. Having settled in this monastery, Saint Tikhon became a great teacher of Christian life. With deep wisdom, he developed the ideal of true monasticism - “Rules of Monastic Life” and “Instructions for those who have turned from the vain world” - and embodied this ideal in his life. He strictly observed the statutes of the Church, zealously (almost daily) visited the churches of God, often sang and read in the choir, and over time, out of humility, completely abandoned participation in the services and stood at the altar, reverently protecting himself with the sign of the cross. His favorite cell pastime was reading the lives of saints and patristic works. He knew the Psalter by heart and usually read or sang psalms on the way. The saint endured many temptations, lamenting the forced abandonment of his flock. Having recovered his health, he was going to return to the Novgorod diocese, where Metropolitan Gabriel invited him to take the place of rector at the Iveron Valdai Monastery. When the cell attendant announced this to Elder Aaron, he said: “Why are you raging? The Mother of God does not order him to leave here.” The cell attendant conveyed this to the Right Reverend. “If so,” said the saint, “I will not leave here,” and tore up the petition. Sometimes he went to the village of Lipovka, where he himself performed divine services in the Bekhteevs’ house. The saint also went to the Tolshevsky Monastery, which he loved for its solitude. The fruit of his entire spiritual life were the works that the saint completed in retirement: “Spiritual Treasure Collected from the World” (1770), as well as “On True Christianity” (1776). The saint lived in the simplest surroundings: he slept on straw, covering himself with a sheepskin coat. His humility reached the point that the saint did not pay attention to the ridicule that often rained down on him, pretending that he did not hear them, and then said: “It is God’s pleasure that the ministers laugh at me, and I am worthy of it for my sins.” He often said in such cases: “Forgiveness is better than revenge.” One day the holy fool Kamenev hit the saint on the cheek with the words “don’t be arrogant” - and the saint, taking this with gratitude, fed the holy fool every day. All his life, the saint “thou joyfully endured vexation, sorrow, and insult, thinking that there is a crown without victory, victory without feat, feat without battle, and there is no battle without enemies” (canto 6 of the canon). Strict with himself, the saint was lenient towards others. One Friday before the Vaiy holiday, he entered the cell of his friend Schemamonk Mitrofan and saw him at the table with Kozma Ignatievich, a resident of Yelets, whom he also loved. There was fish on the table. Friends were embarrassed. The good saint said: “Sit down, I know you, love is higher than fasting.” And to calm them down even more, he tasted the fish soup himself. He especially loved the common people, consoled them in their difficult times, interceding before the landowners, whom he constantly admonished to be merciful. He gave all his pension and gifts from admirers to the poor. Through exploits of self-denial and love, the soul of the saint rose to the contemplation of Heaven and insights into the future. In 1778, in a subtle dream, he had the following vision: the Mother of God stood on the clouds and the apostles Peter and Paul were near her; The saint himself, on his knees, asked the Most Pure One for continued mercy to the world. The Apostle Paul said loudly: “Whenever they proclaim peace and confirmation, then all destruction will suddenly attack them.” The saint woke up in trepidation and in tears. The next year he again saw the Mother of God in the air and several faces around her; the saint fell to his knees, and four men dressed in white robes fell to their knees near him. The saint asked the Most Pure One for someone, so that he would not move away from her (who these persons were and for whom the request was made, the saint did not tell the cell attendant), and She answered: “It will be according to your request.” Saint Tikhon predicted many of the destinies of Russia, in particular he spoke about the victory of Russia in the Patriotic War of 1812. More than once the saint was seen in spiritual admiration with a changed and enlightened face, but he forbade talking about it. Three years before his death, he prayed every day: “Tell me, Lord, my death.” And a quiet voice at dawn said: “On the day of the week.” That same year, he saw in a dream a beautiful ray with wonderful chambers on it and wanted to enter the doors, but they told him: “In three years you can enter, but now work hard.” After this, the saint locked himself in a cell and received only rare friends. The saint had clothes and a coffin prepared for his death: he often came to cry over his coffin, which stood hidden from people in a closet. A year and three months before his death, in a subtle dream, the saint imagined that he was standing in the side chapel of the monastery church and a familiar priest carried a veiled baby from the altar to the royal doors. The saint approached and kissed the Child on the right cheek, and he hit him on the left. Upon awakening, the saint felt numbness in his left cheek, left leg and shaking in his left hand. He accepted this illness with joy. Shortly before his death, the saint saw in a dream a high and steep staircase and heard the command to climb it. “I,” he told his friend Kozma, “at first was afraid of my weakness. But when I began to ascend, the people standing near the stairs seemed to be lifting me higher and higher towards the very clouds.” “The ladder,” explained Kozma, “is the path to the Kingdom of Heaven; those who helped you are those who use your instructions and will remember you.” The saint said with tears: “I think the same thing myself: I feel the approach of death.” During his illness, he often received Holy Communion. Saint Tikhon died, as was announced to him, on Sunday, August 13, 1783, at the age of 59. The glorification of the saint also took place on Sunday, August 13, 1861. On the personal responsibilities of every Christian It is impossible to live piously without living faith and the fear of God. Living faith is born from rethinking the word of God and the Holy Spirit in the human heart, therefore it is necessary to read and listen to the word of God and pray that God himself will light the lamp of faith in our hearts. The fear of God is most often born from the awareness of the omnipresence of God and His omniscience. God is everywhere, and wherever we are, He is with us, and whatever we do, say, think and begin, we do everything before His holy eyes, speak, think, begin, and He knows our deeds much better than we ourselves. Think about this, Christian, and listen to this, and with the help of God, the fear of God will be born in you. The fear of God will guard and correct you everywhere and in every deed, turn you away from every evil deed, and encourage you to do every good thing, so you will be cleansed day after day. Always have God before your soul's eyes, and you will have the fear of God, imitating the psalmist: “I see the Lord always before me” (Ps. 15:8). What you should do is explained in the following paragraphs. Read carefully and try to do it this way. You should not live in laziness, but exercise yourself in blessed labors, because laziness is to blame for all evil, and whoever lives in laziness constantly sins. Infirm and elderly people who cannot work are excluded from this. Beware of any sin as a deadly poison, because every sin of the great God offends and angers and separates the sinner from God and hinders eternal salvation. Beware of sin, lest it kill you forever. Whatever your conscience forbids you to do, do not do it, for whatever your infallible conscience forbids, the Law of God also forbids. A good conscience is in accordance with the Law of God. The law of God says: do not kill, do not steal, etc.; You hear the same thing in your conscience, and it tells you the same thing. Therefore, beware of doing what your conscience forbids, because by wounding your conscience, you wound your soul. Honor God not physically and externally, but with a good conscience, fear, love, obedience, thanksgiving, prayer, faith, for God the Spirit is immaterial and therefore is worshiped by nothing other than spirit and truth. Try to please God by faith and obedience, that is, do what He wants and what pleases Him, and do not do what He does not want and what does not please Him. Without obedience, whatever a person does is not pleasing to God. Avoid evil and do good for the sake of God, and not for any other reason, because God forbade the first, and God commanded the second. Everything that is not done for God’s sake is not pleasing to God. May the will of God be in the fruits of all your deeds, which does not desire evil, but desires good. Remember the name of God with all respect, fear and reverence, and only there and then, where and when it is necessary to remember, because the name of God is holy and terrible, and he who remembers Him with disrespect sins seriously. Give all respect to the name of God, as to God himself. You remember the name of the earthly king with respect, as it should be; so much more so should the name of God, the Heavenly King, praised by angels and holy souls, gracious and sweet, be remembered with high reverence. The name of God is correctly remembered in prayer, in doxology, in thanksgiving, in praise, spiritual songs and in conversations and conversations befitting Christians, that is, when the conversation is about the holy word of God, about the Law and the Gospel, about the coming of Christ into the world, about His life on earth, His suffering and cross suffered for us, about death, about the judgment of Christ, about eternal torment and eternal life, and so on. Do not mention it in other conversations unless absolutely necessary; and if there is a need to remember, remember with all possible fear and due respect. In lies and jokes, be especially careful not to mention the name of God. The time will come and God’s judgment will punish you, for our God is a consuming fire. About taking the name of God in vain A deification has become a custom, extremely indecent for Christians, namely: by God, for the sake of God, God is the witness, God sees, for the sake of Christ, etc., and it is remembered by people often and in almost all cases. Such a god is nothing more than a satanic invention for dishonoring the name of God and human destruction. Beware of swearing in this or similar manner. When you need to affirm the truth, the word of Christ will help you: “yes, yes; no, no” (Matthew 5:37). The rest is all from the evil spirit. GOD is the highest good, from whom flows all possible goodness and bliss. Without God, all bliss is wretchedness and poverty; life is death; joy and sweetness are bitterness. To live with God even in misfortune is happiness, in poverty there is wealth, in dishonor there is glory, in dishonor there is honor, in sorrow there is consolation. Without God there can be no true rest, peace and comfort. Therefore, love Him as your highest good and bliss, love more than every creature, more than father and mother, more than wife and children, more than yourself. Cling to Him alone with your heart, and most of all desire and seek Him alone; because he is your eternal goodness and bliss, without which there will be no life and bliss in the present century, and in the future. Every creation of God is good, but the Creator is incomparably better: love and desire precisely this good as true, beginningless, endless, eternal and constant, from which all creatures became good. God is your Creator, Redeemer, highest Benefactor and good Provider. Just as He created you, He gives you every good thing, so that you cannot live even a minute without His goodness. You do not see your Benefactor with your own eyes, but you see His blessings given to you, you see the sun, the moon and His stars that shine for you, you see the fire that warms you and cooks your food, you see the water that quenches your thirst and washes you, you see the food that satisfies you, you see the clothes that cover your naked body, you see other countless benefits that He gave you to satisfy your needs and for your consolation. Seeing this and receiving benefits, remember your invisible Benefactor everywhere and always with love, and thank Him for all His benefits from a pure heart. His greatest and highest good deed is that by His good pleasure Christ, His only begotten son, came to us and redeemed us with His honest blood and suffering from the devil, hell and death. Incomprehensible in this great matter, the mercy of God was revealed to us. We must always look at this great and incomprehensible work of God with faith and always remember, and God, who has so loved us unworthy, from the bottom of our hearts to thank, worship Him, praise, sing and glorify with our hearts and lips: “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, who has visited His people and created redemption for them, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David” (Lk. 1:68, 69). Always remember the great work of God and admire it and thank God from your heart and live as God, who came into the world to save sinners, wants, and do not offend Him with your ingratitude. He wants to save you, therefore He came into the world for your sake and suffered, and sacrificed His holy flesh; Fulfill His holy desire and with great diligence take care of the salvation of your soul. Be grateful to Him and live in the world humbly, with love, meekness and patience, as He himself lived and wants from you. About remembering God in every activity EVERYWHERE and in all your affairs remember with love the Lord your God and His holy love for us. Everything you see in heaven and on earth and in your house prompts you to remember the Lord your God and His holy love. We are contained in the love of God: every creature of God testifies to His love for us. Seeing this creation of God, take advantage of it and say to yourself this: this is the work of the hands of the Lord my God and for my sake it was created. These heavenly bodies, the sun, the moon and the stars, are the creation of the Lord my God: they shine for the whole universe and for me. This land on which I live, which gives fruit to me and my cattle, and everything that is on it, is the creation of my Lord. This water that waters me and my cattle is my Lord’s good; this cattle that serves me is a creation of my Lord, and it was given to me by God for my service; this house in which I live is God’s good, and it was given to me from Him for my peace of mind; this food that I eat is God’s gift to me to strengthen and comfort my weak flesh; This garment that I put on, the Lord my God gave me to cover my naked body, and so on. This image, the image of Christ, is the image of my Savior, who for my sake came into the long-suffering world to save me, who was perishing, and suffered and died for me, and so redeemed me from sin, the devil, death, and hell. I adore His inexpressible love for mankind. This image, the image of the Mother of God, is the image of the Most Holy Virgin, who gave birth to the Lord my God Jesus Christ in the flesh without seed. Blessed is the mother who gave birth to flesh among the wives of God, and blessed is the fruit of her womb! Blessed is the womb that bore the Lord my God, and the breasts that sucked! This image of the Forerunner is the image of that great Prophet who was sent by God before my Savior Jesus Christ and Him, who had already come into the world, announced to people and pointed to him: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29) and baptized Him in the waters of the Jordan. This image of the Apostle is the image of my Savior’s disciple, who himself saw Him and communicated with Him; I saw one working miracles, and heard one teaching, and one who suffered for the salvation of the world, and one who rose from the dead, and one who ascended into heaven. This image of a martyr is the image of that ascetic who did not spare blood for the honor of my Savior Jesus Christ and for His holy name did not spare his life and established our pious faith as true, through his shed blood, and so on. This word, the Holy Scripture, which I hear, is the Word of God, is the word of His mouth, the mouth of God speaks this, and now through it my God says to me: “The law of your mouth is good to me, more valuable than a thousand gold and silver” (Ps. 119:72). Lord, give me ears to hear Your holy word! This sacred house, the church in which I stand, is the church of God, in which prayer and praise are offered to my God from the faithful of all my brethren. These voices of praise and common prayer are the very voices with which singing, thanksgiving, praise and glorification are sent to the holy name of my God. This sacred man, bishop or priest, is the closest servant of my God, who brings prayers to Him for me, a sinner, and for the whole world. This man, a preacher of the word of God, is the messenger of my God, who proclaims the way of salvation to me and other people, my brethren. This brother of mine, every man, is a beloved creation of my God, like me, a creature in the image of God and created in the likeness; and a sinner, like me, redeemed by the blood of the Son of God, my Savior, and called to eternal life by the Word of God. I need to love him as the beloved creation of my God, love him as I love myself; and not to do anything to him that I don’t want to do to myself; and do to him what I wish for myself, because my God commanded me to do so. In a word, every event and every thing can and should awaken you to the loving remembrance of the Lord your God and show you His love for you so that His very punishment from His love for us happens, as in Scripture: “For the Lord punishes whomever he loves” (Heb. 12:6). Remember everywhere, and in every event, under any circumstances, the name of the Lord your God. Beware of forgetting the Benefactor, being content with His good deeds, so as not to be ungrateful to Him; forgetting the Benefactor is a clear sign of ingratitude. What to think about when starting a business Whatever business you begin, judge whether it does not contradict your conscience and the law of God, and whether it is really useful and true for you. If it does not contradict the law of God, start and do it; if it contradicts, turn away from this matter, so as not to fall into the snare of the enemy, who is always looking for a person and wants to catch him in his net. Not everything that seems useful to you is useful, but only that which corresponds to a sound mind and the word of God. Who to ask for help in business When starting any work, call on the name of the Lord your God, and begin with prayer, so that the Lord will help you to begin and complete your work. From this it is clear that a Christian cannot begin something that contradicts the Law of God, but only that which corresponds to the Law of God should be started. Before eating or drinking, ask God for blessings When you want to eat or drink, call on the name of the Lord, and ask Him to bless your food and drink, say this: “Lord, bless!” And at this time think that you want to eat and enjoy the good of your Lord. Because everything is God's good. As it is said: “The earth is the Lord’s... and all who live on it” (Ps. 23:1). Anyone who has property that was stolen or acquired by fraud does not need God’s blessing, and therefore it is not appropriate to call on the name of God. Likewise, those who want to get drunk cannot call on the name of God, because drunkenness is forbidden by God. Love and Meditate on Scripture Love the Word of God, that is, the Scripture handed down to us by the Prophets and Apostles, as God Himself, because God’s word is the word of the mouth of God. If you love God, then you certainly love the Word of God, because the Word of God is a message, a letter from God to us, unworthy, and is His highest gift given to us for salvation. If you love the one who sent it, love the letter sent from him to you: after all, the Word of God was given to me, to you and to everyone from God, and everyone who wants to be saved will receive salvation through it. When the king of the earth writes you a letter, you love this letter, you read it with love and joy; but since the letter of the Heavenly King, the Word of God, is much more precious, one must love and read it with love and joy. The Word of God was not given to us so that it would lie only on paper written, but so that we would use it spiritually, be enlightened, be guided on the true path and salvation, correct our morals and live in this world according to the rules of His Word and please God. If you really want to be a true Christian, you must definitely try to live according to the rule of His Word: after all, the Word of God is the seed of heaven. Therefore, a fruit similar to itself must grow in us, that is, a holy and heavenly life, otherwise it will expose us on the day of the Last Judgment of Christ. Therefore, live as the Word of God teaches, and always correct yourself. On the unreasonable imitation of others What people do, do not mindlessly imitate it: from such unreasonable imitation people become corrupted and corrupted, and hour by hour evil multiplies and piety becomes impoverished; but pay attention to the only thing that the Word of God teaches. Have no curiosity about the sacraments Don’t be curious about the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, the Most Holy Eucharist, and others that are also not revealed in God’s Holy Word - you will fall into the devil’s snare and get entangled in it, and you will not be able to get out of it, and so you will perish. Since what is known only by faith and which our reason surpasses is very dangerous to experience; Beware, therefore, of testing what is above you. Believe in everything as the Holy Scripture teaches and as, following it, the Holy Church believes and teaches. Who are the Christians in this world? True Christians in this world live as travelers, wanderers and strangers, and always look to the heavenly Fatherland with faith with the eyes of their souls and strive to achieve it. Be a stranger and a stranger in this world, and constantly turn to your Fatherland and strive to achieve it. And the world, with its charms and temptations, will disgust you. He who seeks and desires eternal bliss, and strives to obtain it, despises everything temporary, so that in search of the temporary, he does not lose the eternal. Have wise concern for eternal life We were created by our Creator for eternal life, and we were called to it by the Word of God, and renewed by holy baptism; and Christ, the Son of God, came into the world for this purpose, to call us there and bring us there, and only this is the only thing necessary. Therefore, your first concern and desire should be to receive it; Without this, everything is nothing, even if you own the whole world. To receive it, every sin and addiction to worldly vanity is an obstacle; Beware of all this, so as not to lose eternal life. You protect temporary life, although you will certainly leave it, and you do everything so as not to lose it, when you should protect eternal life incomparably more and direct all efforts so as not to lose it, because everything temporary is nothing in comparison with the eternal. Strive for eternal life as your true good, and avoid everything that closes the door to it. God, who loves mankind, wants your salvation; May you also have such a desire, and you will certainly be saved. Desire and strive for it just as a hungry person strives for food, and a thirsty person strives for water, and you will get what you want. Do not imitate those Christians who in this life strive for enrichment, who are ambitious and vain. They forgot that Christ the Son of God died and suffered for them, and through His suffering and death opened the door to eternal life, and called them to it. They only desire and seek what they see, and what they do not see, they do not desire and do not strive for. Every day, like Adam in paradise, they stretch out their hands to the commanded tree, and eat from it with their sin, and so their hearts depart from God. They do like those Israelites who, having left Egypt, turned their hearts back to Egypt and desired food, Egyptian food; therefore the Lord was angry with them. So these Christians, through holy baptism, got rid of the devil's yoke, like the Israelites from the yoke of the pharaohs, and are called to eternal blessings, but in their hearts they shy away and strive for the worldly and material, and, leaving the eternal, they seek the temporary. Because of this, the Lord was angry with them; and they will be punished not temporarily, but forever. Do not imitate such Christians, but strive for eternal blessings with faith and heart. Christian goods and heritage, and honor and glory, wealth and all treasure are not in this world, but in the next century and in the heavenly Fatherland: there all the benefits are prepared for them from the heavenly Father. Strive for this with diligence, and use worldly things with fear and fear of God, and do not anger the Lord your God through excesses. Remember that the Apostle wrote: “For we have brought nothing into the world; It is obvious that we cannot take anything out of it" (1 Tim. 6:7). "Having food and clothing, we will be content with this" (1 Tim. 6:8). Only piety is necessary in this life Compare time with eternity, the present with the future, living people with the dead, and your mind will be enlightened, and you yourself will know and admit that those who “lay up treasures for themselves, but are not rich in God” do evil (Luke 12:21). All the dead have left this world, and you will also leave it, even if you have the whole world under you; only piety goes with us to another world. Be pious to the end, and consider only piety to be a true treasure. Remember death, hell, judgment and eternal life Remember often death, the judgment of Christ, eternal torment and eternal life: and the world with all its passions and temptations will certainly disgust you. You don’t want to get rich, famous and have fun in this world; Only you will strive to please God, to die blissfully, not to be put to shame at the judgment of Christ, to avoid eternal torment and to enter the Kingdom of God. Truly a great and powerful event, so that a person will not be deceived by the vanity of this world and will be in true repentance and contrition of heart, which is absolutely necessary for every Christian. Truly, the memory of this and the correct reasoning of every person, even the most depraved, can motivate and keep them in fear. The mere mention of an unhappy or painful eternity fills a person with trepidation and horror. Because people strive for vanity and sin, it truly happens that they forget about eternity. O eternal torment, even the memory of you is bitter! It is scary and sad to fall into this torment; but it’s scary and sad to lose God and eternal life forever! Remember this last thing and you will never sin. Beware of luxury as a deadly ulcer: it greatly weakens the Christian soul; to steal other people's property, to offend people, and to give alms, which is required of a Christian, teaches one to withhold one's hand. Luxury, like an insatiable belly, like an abyss, devours all good things: it still doesn’t have enough and wants more and more. It’s not good, supposedly, my house is, I need to build a new one; My clothes are bad, I need to sew better ones; I’m ashamed to go out in a simple carriage; I need to buy an English carriage; I’m tired of this food, I need to cook something better; I can’t drink plain wine, I need to buy expensive vodka; It is indecent for my servants to serve me in such and such a dress, I need to dress them better, and so on. So luxury devours everything and weakens the mind, so beware of luxury. Nature is content with little: lust and luxury demand a lot. Do not decorate your body with dandy clothes, like some, but you should wear attire appropriate to your rank. Christian vestments are spiritual vestments: they should adorn the soul, not the body. The beauty of the soul is the image of God, according to which we are created; Strive for such beauty and take care of it. While in church, pay diligent attention to reading and singing. Then tenderness, true prayer, heartfelt singing and thanksgiving will be born in you. Beware that while you are physically in the church, your mind is absent from it, your body is standing before God, but your spirit is in worldly affairs, and let these words not apply to you: “These people draw near to Me with their lips, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8). While you are in church physically, remain there in heart and spirit, for you stand before God. When you look at the icons of saints, remember that the Creator who created them and you is one and that His intention for them was the same as for you, that is: to save them and you. They are glorified, and you will receive the same glory. Just imitate their life and you will be saved. Be careful not to go to feasts and banquets: it is very difficult to attend them without hurting your conscience. You will not return to the house the same as you left the house, so beware. There is nothing better and calmer than to stay at home: what the eye does not see and the ear does not hear, will not put pressure on the heart. Good and godly thoughts do not happen anywhere like in solitude and silence. All the goods that you collect in your home and solitude will be lost among people. If you need to leave the house and go to people, be attentive to yourself and guard your heart with all fear. You must see the Lord your God before you everywhere, and His holy fear, like a candle, will shine before you. Wherever you go and wherever you are, God is with you and knows everything about you, and sees the deed, and hears the word; take care of yourself everywhere. Must avoid drunkenness at all costs Drunkenness in itself is a sin, for “drunkards... will not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:10), according to the teaching of the Apostle, and Christ says: “Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be burdened with gluttony and drunkenness” (Luke 21:34); This results in many and serious sins. Because of drunkenness, quarrels, fights and subsequent bloodshed and murder occur; from him is verbosity, blasphemy, blasphemy; it annoys and offends one’s neighbor; it teaches you to lie, flatter, rob others, steal, so that you have something to drink with. It arouses anger and rage, it causes people to wallow in sewage, like pigs in mud; in a word, it makes a man a beast, a verbal man dumb, so that not only the internal state, but also the outer human appearance often changes. Therefore, Saint Chrysostom says: “The devil loves nothing more than luxury and drunkenness” (Conversation 58, Matt.), therefore no one fulfills his evil will like a drunkard. Drunkenness can cause not only mental, but also physical, temporary evils: a) the body relaxes and leads to weakness, which is why it is written: “Do not show yourself brave against wine, for wine has destroyed many” (Sir. 31:29); b) leads to squalor and poverty: “A worker prone to drunkenness will not get rich” (Sir. 19:1); c) deprives of fame and good name; leads to disgrace, contempt and shame: people are not ashamed of anyone as much as drunkards; d) brings grief and sadness to family, relatives, friends, and pleasure to enemies; e) makes the bearer of any title incapable of anything; and no matter what the rank of a drunkard, there are more troubles and misfortunes than benefits from him to society. Saint Chrysostom, depicting the disasters and destruction of drunkenness, writes: “Drunkenness is a voluntary demon, a revelation of thoughts, causeless laughter - a disease worthy of laughter, a voluntary demon” (The Sermon on the Resurrection), etc. To avoid drunkenness, you should do the following: a) young people should not be allowed to drink drunken potion, because young people quickly get used to it, and what they learn in their youth, they will do all their lives; b) do not allow them to communicate with drunkards and the depraved; c) adults and those who have reached the age of manhood should not drink wine unless necessary; d) avoid evil companies and feasts; e) remember for them that this passion is very difficult to get rid of, and many die from it in soul and body; f) for those addicted to drunkenness, gather strength, hold on, not give in, pray and call on God’s all-powerful help; g) remember the misfortunes that happen during drunkenness and compare a sober lifestyle with the situation of a drunk; h) to think about the fact that many die drunk in their sleep and pass from this world to another in an insensitive state, which means without repentance. If you have wealth, be careful not to attach your heart to it, because in this way you will depart from God with your heart: “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). Also, beware of spending God’s goods on a whim and luxury: it was given to you from God not for you alone, but also for other poor people. Remember that you are a builder, and not a master of good: “The earth is the Lord’s, and its fulfillment” (Ps. 23:1). Be a faithful builder of your Lord, and not a squanderer of the Lord’s property: be content with moderation yourself, and thank the Creator of all good things, and do not forget the poor people. Those who, like watchmen, guard their property, and those who squander it on a whim and in luxury, will be unrequited and put to shame at the judgment of Christ; Beware of this, lest you be condemned with an evil servant (Matthew 25:30). If you have dishonestly acquired property, give it to the poor, and it will not convict you at the second coming of Christ. In this matter, imitate Zacchaeus the publican, whom Christ the Lord set as an example to everyone (Luke 19:9). It is better to live in poverty than in unrighteous wealth; choose the best and squander the goods acquired by evil. If you do this, trust the Lord that he will not leave you and will give you what you need for your life. He does not leave the birds and feeds and takes care of every creature. Never insult a person Be extremely careful not to offend anyone by word or deed, as this is a grave sin. When a person is insulted, then God, who loves a person, is insulted: a human insult cannot exist without an insult to God. Whoever sins against man will also sin against God; It’s hard, as you can see. Therefore, as soon as you offend your neighbor, immediately humble yourself before him and ask him with humility for forgiveness and you will not fall under the righteous judgment of God. Treat every person not flatteringly, but simply, as you treat yourself. Whatever you appear to him on the outside, so be on the inside, and what you say to him and on your lips, that should be in your heart. Flattery and deceit are the works of destructive people, and the devil lives in their hearts, who teaches them flattery and deceit in order to deceive us. Beware of acting craftily and insidiously towards your neighbor and do not leave a place in your heart for the devil, so that he does not take possession of you and lead you as a captive. Beware of testing people's affairs, for such testing gives rise to slander, condemnation and other grave sins. What do you care about people? Know and test yourself: remember your old sins and atone for them with repentance and contrition of heart and do not look at what people do. Look more often into your heart and test whether there is harmful evil hidden in it; and you will have enough to experience. We can never test our hearts, but we know for sure that it contains all kinds of evil. It is useful for you to experience: from this will be born humility and fear, and effort about oneself, and sighing, and prayer to God, and testing and condemning the sins of others is the beginning of all lawlessness and is a hateful curiosity for God and people; beware of this. If you see or hear someone sinning, beware of slandering and condemning him. You will tell one about him, he will tell another, another will say to a third, a third will say to a fourth: and so everyone will know and be offended and the one who has sinned will be condemned, and this is not good; and you will be the reason for all this because you announced your brother’s sin. Slanderers are like lepers, who with their evil smell harm others, or like those infected with pestilence, who carry the infection from place to place and destroy others. Beware of slandering your neighbor, you will sin gravely and give others a reason to sin. Also beware of condemning him, because he stands and falls before his Lord, because you yourself are a sinner. A righteous person cannot judge or condemn anyone, much less a sinner; and judging people is the work of Christ alone. Judgment has been entrusted to him by the heavenly Father, and he will judge the living and the dead, and you yourself will appear before this court. Beware of placing the work of Christ on yourself, it is very difficult, and judging people like yourself. So that without this disgusting sin you will appear in court and not be righteously condemned to eternal torment. Turn your eyes to yourself and evaluate, and expose yourself, and accuse yourself before God for your sins - this is required by the work of repentance: expose and accuse yourself before God, and ask him for mercy, like the publican, and you will be justified. Listen to what Christ the Lord says to the condemner: “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not feel the beam in your own eye? Or how will you say to your brother: “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” but behold, there is a log in your eye? Hypocrite! First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:3–5). You see that hypocrites are false Christians who judge and condemn others; Such people do not recognize themselves and their sins, although outwardly they seem to be saints. About eternal repentance and righteous life Death follows us invisibly, and death comes when we don’t expect it, and it comes where we don’t expect it, and it comes when we don’t expect it. Be in eternal repentance, and be ready to leave at any time and anywhere. A wise slave always watches and waits for his master to call him. Watch and wait, too, when Christ your Lord calls you: He calls everyone through death. Always be in your life the way you want to be before death. Always live piously, and create your salvation with fear and trembling: everywhere and always act carefully and beware, so that you do not lose eternal salvation, which Christ our Lord purchased for us with his blood and death, and so you will die blessedly. What True Repentance Requires True repentance requires that a person turn away from sins and worldly vanity and turn to God with all his heart: he would change internally, and become different than before, and thus acquire salvation for himself with fear and trembling, and would not care about anything except to please God and thus be saved. If you want to be in true repentance, and thus be saved, change yourself, and be renewed, and become different, not the same as you were before, and do not worry about anything so much as to please God and be saved: and so you will become a new creation of Christ. Every Christian who wants to be a true and not a false Christian must become a new or renewed person; or a new creation; do not caress your flesh, and do not do everything that it wants. You must crucify her “with the passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24) if you want to be a Christian or Christ’s. A lot of work and heroism is required for a person to change and become a good tree, which naturally produces good fruits. Try not to think about anything more than to change, renew and correct yourself; and pray about this often and with all zeal and turn to Christ the Lord, so that he himself may renew you and make you good. Without it, our renewal and correction is impossible. And when you find inner renewal and goodness, then your outer life and deeds will become good. On imitation of the holy life of Christ In order for you to correct yourself and become a true Christian and Christ’s, take as an example before your spiritual eyes the holy life of Christ and look at it often and imitate this example; and even if your corrupt heart does not want to, force and convince yourself to imitate the wonderful virtues of Christ. You look in the mirror to see your face to see if there are any blemishes on it, and when you see the blemishes, you remove them. Let the immaculate life of Christ be the mirror of your soul; look into it often and find out what your soul is like: does it want what Christ wants, and does it do what Christ did while living on earth? And what is contrary to the life of Christ is visible in him; Cleanse all these, like vices, with repentance and contrition of heart. Christ the Lord despised honor, glory and wealth in this world, although he could have everything as the Lord of all; Are you not looking for honor, wealth, glory in this world? Christ lived in humility on earth: are you not living in pride and luxury? Christ treated everyone with love and mercy: do you not hate and slander those like you? Christ was reproached, but he did not reproach anyone: do you not reproach a person who reproached you for something? And, what’s saddest of all, don’t you reproach someone who didn’t reproach you with anything? Are you, they say, such and such, are you a liar, a carouser, a thief, etc.? Christ was meek towards all blasphemers: do you not blaspheme those who blaspheme you? Christ did not take revenge on anyone, although he could destroy all his enemies in the blink of an eye: are you not taking revenge for your insult? Christ endured everything: don’t you grumble and blaspheme in the trouble and suffering that happens to you? So compare your soul with the life of Christ; and just as you hold your face in front of a mirror, hold your soul before the mirror of the immaculate life of Christ, and if you see something that contradicts it, try in every possible way to correct it and follow what you have achieved. When you do this, I assure you that day after day you will be better: it is impossible for someone who often looks into this immaculate mirror not to improve. Truly one must follow Christ who wants to be with him in eternal life; It is necessary in this life to be conformed to Christ, whoever there wants to be conformed to him in glory. It was not in vain that Christ said: “For I have given you an example, that you also should do the same as I have done to you” (John 13:15); “And whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). Ponder these words diligently, and you yourself will know and understand that those who want to be saved and enter His eternal kingdom must follow Christ. We must follow Christ with faith and love in this life; whoever wants to follow him into eternal life, or to follow Christ’s path, whoever wants to follow him into His heavenly, eternal kingdom, there is no other way. Notice that Christ says: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them; and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:27, 28). By sheep here we mean true Christians who obey His holy teaching and live as He taught, and serve Him with faith, humility, love and patience; and so He introduces them into eternal life, which will come for them. This means that they are not the sheep of Christ who do not listen to His speech or His holy teaching and do not follow Him, and, therefore, will not come after Him to eternal life. This is scary, Christian, but true; Think for yourself about these words of Christ and you will understand that this is so. Beloved Christian, you must follow the safe path if you undoubtedly want to come to eternal life. What is a safe path? Live in this world following the example of the life of Christ. Live like this and you will be saved. We need God's grace to live God's grace is the life of our souls; without the grace of God our soul cannot be alive; Just as our body is our soul, so our soul lives by God’s grace. Pray always and ask the Lord to give you his grace and keep you in it; We always ask for God's grace. Therefore, speak more often from the depths of your heart: “Create a pure heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit in my womb. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit away from me. Reward me with the joy of Your salvation and strengthen me with the Lord’s Spirit” (Ps. 50:12–14). Do not seek your salvation in anything else, but only in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. If you really believe that He suffered and died for you and that He is your Savior, then love Him with all your heart, listen to Him and please Him as your Savior, and seek and confirm all the hope of your salvation only in Him. We must definitely do good deeds as Christians, but we must ask and expect salvation only from Christ. Do not despair of your sins, but turn to the mercy of God with repentance No matter what sins you commit after baptism, if you are in true repentance, do not despair, but expect God’s mercy. No matter how many there are, and no matter how great and heavy they are, God has even greater mercy: as is His greatness, such is His mercy. Just beware of sinning in the future and act according to the points described above. If you are guilty of anything as a person and sin, do not despair, but immediately, having recognized your sin, fall in humility before the merciful eyes of God and ask for mercy in the publican’s voice: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” and your sin will be forgiven you. Remember your baptismal vows In order for you to act on the points described above, you need to remember the vows you made at holy baptism. If not you yourself, then your successor in your person made such promises before God; then you promised, spitting on Satan and his pride, and his ministry, and his evil deeds, you promised, I say, and swore with faith and truth to serve only Jesus Christ, the Lord, your Redeemer, with the Father and the Holy Spirit; think, Christian, what promises you made and to whom; It’s hard for a person to lie, but it’s incomparably harder for God; it’s impossible to deceive God. If a Christian does not keep his promises and does not keep them, what kind of mercy does he expect from God, to whom he lied? Keep your vows and you yourself will be with God in His mercy and kingdom. Whoever is faithful to God, God holds him in His mercy and protection as his own. And this is what the Prophet sings to God about: “You will be with the venerable saint, and with the innocent man you will be innocent, and with the chosen you will be chosen, and with the obstinate you will be corrupt” (Ps. 17:26, 27). All Christians who do not keep their vows violate the Law and act against their conscience. These include fornicators, adulterers and all kinds of defilers, thieves, robbers, robbers, cunning, liars, deceivers and flatterers, slanderers and evil-tongued, drunkards, reproaches, haters, wicked, living in the pride and luxury of this world, and everyone who does not fear God - they all lied to God and do not fulfill their vows, and are outside the holy church, although they are in churches they walk and pray, and partake of the Mysteries, and build and decorate churches, and show other signs of Christian life. Therefore, at the judgment of Christ they will be severely punished and will suffer more there than the Turks and idolaters. Beware of such deeds, Christian, and do not imitate the lawless people described above, and you will not be condemned with them by righteous judgment into eternal fire. Their fire does not go out, and the worm that gnaws at them does not tire; but try in every possible way to live and act as the word of God teaches and as said above. Remember your vows, and this will lead you to the Christian life and keep you from all evil, and do good. If you notice that you do not adhere to your vows, then repent and begin a new Christian life and you will not appear before God in a lie, and you will not perish with the liars. “But the fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. This is the second death” (Apoc. 21:8). Meditate on the sufferings of Christ A strong and real motivation for the struggle against sin and Christian holy life is reflection on the suffering of Christ. The Apostle says about this: “And if you call Father the One who impartially judges everyone according to their works, then spend the time of your pilgrimage with fear, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from the futile life handed down to you from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:17-19). Do you see, Christian, how did you get rid of sin, the devil, hell and eternal death? Not perishable by what substance, but by what? The precious and priceless blood of Christ the Son of God. So, do you want to arbitrarily sin and offend Christ, your only Benefactor, with sin, and even more so plunge yourself into disaster, from which Christ delivered you with his bitterest suffering; it is as if someone delivered you from fire, or from a flood, or from captivity, or from death, or from prison, or from some other misfortune, loving and pitying you, and you voluntarily plunged yourself into this misfortune. This is what you do when you sin, and through sin you again give yourself over to the devil and plunge yourself into eternal destruction. Sin is sweet to man, but its fruit, eternal death, is bitter and heavy: “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). So we have received the happiness of eternal salvation in no other way than through the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is more precious than the whole world, more precious than heaven and earth and everything on it, because it is eternal and filled with all blessings, eternal and incomprehensible, and was bought at a priceless price: Christ, the Lord of glory and God, earned it for us with His blood. So do you really want to voluntarily lose a great and incomprehensible treasure? Christ, as the omnipotent one, saved you from death and gave you eternal bliss, like priceless pearls (2 Pet. 1:11), but hold on to it by faith and keep it from the enemy, the devil, who wants and strives to steal it from you and make you his captive. Perform exploits against this enemy: reflect on the sufferings of Christ, and they will teach you all virtue. Wise care for the education of the will and inner state Don’t worry about anything more than correcting your will and inner state. This is the whole strength of Christian piety. Any external form without internal content is nothing: what is not inside the heart is not in the thing itself. Virtue, if it is not in the heart, is not true virtue; Correct your heart and will and you will be good, and your external deeds will be good, because the internal is the beginning of the external. If there is no evil inside the heart, then it will not appear externally. Hands will not do evil, feet will not do evil, tongue and mouth will not speak evil, ears will not hear evil, eyes will not look at evil, and so on, if the will and heart do not want. So clean streams flow from a source if the source itself is clean. Also, good deeds will come from the heart if there is a good heart, but without a good heart there cannot be good deeds, just as only rotten and stinking water can flow from a rotten and stinking source. Educate your heart and will, and you will be good, you will be a true Christian, you will be a new creation: after all, everyone is either good or evil from their will and heart. When the heart and will are good, then the person is good. When the heart and will are evil, then the person is evil. A good heart is one that is submissive and in agreement with the will of God; an evil heart is contrary and disagrees with the will of God; faith creates a good heart. The parent of good will is faith, says Saint Ambrose: where there is no good heart, there is no faith. Try, Christian, to correct your inner state and become kind, and you will be truly good; otherwise, just as you were, so you will always be angry, no matter what you do: you see everywhere - faith renews a person and it is the root of good deeds. You will not be able to educate yourself properly if you do not recognize the evil hidden in your heart and the disasters that result from it. An unknown disease can be incurable: the beginning of bliss is to know one’s misfortune and damnation. Who, having recognized illness in himself, does not seek healing; and who, having recognized his misfortune, does not seek deliverance from it? Recognize the evil hidden within you, like a deadly poison, and you will try to get rid of it: and the more you know, the more diligently you will seek deliverance. The evil hidden in the human heart is arrogance, self-will, envy, anger, love of money, uncleanness and all kinds of abomination. From them all lawlessness flows like stinking streams from a stinking spring. Look often into your heart, and little by little you will learn. An incurable disease threatens death; Likewise, evil that remains without correction threatens with eternal death. From the knowledge of this evil will follow the knowledge of one’s own poverty and wretchedness; from the knowledge of poverty and wretchedness will follow the fear of eternity, humility, sighing, desire and effort to get rid of trouble; To the humble, God gives grace, which corrects and renews a person. So a person, knowing himself, begins to correct himself and move towards the better: know yourself, and you will correct yourself. Temptation and misfortune show what lies in the human heart. Temptation is like an emetic medicine: vomit shows what is hidden in the stomach; in the same way that there is temptation and adversity in the inside of a person. God's Holy Word and other Christian books show the corruption of our nature, but in temptations and adversities we recognize this in practice and in reality. Thus, vanity in the deprivation of glory, love of money in the deprivation of wealth, envy in the well-being of one's neighbor, anger in annoyance is recognized. If you fall into various temptations, Christian, this all happens by God’s permission, but it is for your great benefit, so that you know what is hidden inside your heart, and having learned it, correct it. Many console themselves and consider themselves kind, humble, meek, but when tempted they find out the opposite. Do not be discouraged by temptations, but thank God even more that He brings you to self-knowledge and wants to correct and save you. In every effort, ask God for help All our efforts without the grace and help of God are weak; a person can become corrupted and thereby destroy himself, but he cannot correct himself and save himself without God. He can live for himself and his flesh for pleasure, like a boat sailing on a river, but he cannot resist the flesh and live spiritually on his own, just as a ship cannot sail against the rapids of a river on its own. To move a ship, you need either oarsmen or wind with a sail. Likewise, a person in spiritual life and the work of salvation needs the help of a supernatural and omnipotent power. You have to conquer yourself, but is this possible without the power of God, which can do everything? Without it, only great corruption of our nature occurs! In addition, the devil constantly seduces a person and tries to lead him into sin and catch him in his net; the temptations of the world surround and seduce him in every possible way; also an evil custom or habit attracts him even more. Therefore, we see that many begin to repent and live correctly, but are repeatedly led astray and corrupted from the right path. It is impossible to begin a good Christian life and live like a Christian and die like that without the almighty help of God. The tempted one knows this. Therefore, the Lord says: “For without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Every hour and every minute we need God's help. Therefore, Christian, if you want to live piously and be a true Christian and be saved, constantly pray to God and ask him for help with zeal. God, in his love for mankind, commanded us to pray and ask him for all good things, and promised to give us what we asked for, the most necessary for our salvation. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you; For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:7, 8). Know, beloved, that like a bird without wings and a warrior without weapons, so is a Christian without prayer. Pray earnestly to Christ the Lord and surrender yourself to His power, and He, in His love for mankind, will correct and lead you to eternal life and bliss; just try and be careful, and He, seeing your efforts, will help you in everything. Read often and with zeal: “Blessed are the blameless...” (Ps. 119:1) and so on. Prayer does not only consist of standing and bowing your body before God and reading written prayers; You can pray without this at any time and in any place with your mind and spirit. You can, while walking, while eating, lying down, on the road, sitting at a meal, doing work, in front of people and in solitude, turn your mind and heart to God and thus ask for mercy and help from him. God is everywhere and in every place, and the doors to him are always open, and the approach to him is simple, not like to a person; and everywhere and always, out of His love for mankind, He is ready to listen to us and help us. Everywhere and always, and at all times, in every need and occasion, we can approach Him with faith and prayer, we can say to Him everywhere with our minds: “Lord have mercy, Lord help!” and so on. God bless! We are all called Christians, we all confess the One Trinitarian God, the living and immortal God; we were all baptized in the name of the holy and consubstantial Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit; We all believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, crucified and risen from the dead, and to signify this, we signify ourselves with the cross; We all go to the holy church and pray, call, sing and glorify the holy name of God; We all listen to God’s holy word; We all partake of the holy and life-giving Mysteries of Christ; We are all called to eternal life and the heavenly kingdom, and we say in the Holy Symbol: “I believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century.” Thank God for this and for everything! Truly glorious and magnificent are the mysteries of Christianity, listeners! It is great and honorable to be a Christian! But let’s look at ourselves and expose ourselves, are we true Christians, according to the Apostolic instruction: “Test yourselves, are you in the faith?” (2 Cor. 13:5). Without faith, a Christian cannot. We show signs of Christianity, as stated above, but do we have true Christianity within ourselves? After all, everything external without the internal is nothing, and external signs without the truth itself are lies and hypocrisy. We all boast in our faith, but do we do works consistent with faith, as the Apostle says to everyone: “Show me your faith without your works” (James 2:18). We are called Christians from Christ, but we have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts, as befits Christians who believe in the crucified Christ, as the Apostle says: “But those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24). And do we feel spiritual joy within ourselves from the anointing with oil; We believe in the Gospel, but do we live worthy of the Gospel? We confess and call upon the true God, but do we please Him with faith and a clear conscience, which He requires of us? We listen to God’s holy word, but do we listen to it and correct ourselves according to its rule? we partake of the holy and life-giving Mysteries of the body and blood of Christ, but are we renewed from Holy Communion and become spiritual, new people; Let’s consider this and other things, and see how we live, how we think, how we speak, how we act, with what heart we turn to God, the All-Seeing One, and how we treat each other. And having considered this, let us correct ourselves, and not only in name, but also in truth we will be Christians. By the grace of God we became Christians: let us try to have true Christianity within ourselves. We were baptized into the Triune God and received the gift of holiness and justification: let us try to preserve this heavenly treasure to the end. We believe in the crucified Jesus Christ: let us try to follow him by faith and, each taking up his cross, follow him. We confess and call on the heavenly God: let us try to please the heavenly morals. Let's listen to God's word: let's try to live as it teaches us. We believe in the resurrection of the dead and in eternal life: let us try to live in this world worthy of the resurrection of the dead and eternal life, and let us turn away from the vanity of this world and strive only for eternal blessings. Let us begin the holy and heavenly meal of the Mysteries of Christ: let us try to turn this heavenly and life-giving bread into life, sanctification, enlightenment, renewal, joy and spiritual consolation. This is how we show our faith without our works; so we will be Christians not only in name, but also in deed. “God, be gracious to us and bless us, make Thy face shine upon us and have mercy on us: let Thy way be known on earth; Thy salvation is among all nations” (Ps. 66:2, 3). “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16). This word was spoken by our Lord our Savior for our strengthening and consolation: what could be more comforting to a faithful and baptized soul than these words, which promise her eternal salvation? Beloved Christians! Glory to God, and we believe in the Gospel and are enlightened by holy baptism; but let us look at the power of holy baptism and see what we were before baptism and what we became after baptism, and from this we will receive living consolation. Through holy baptism we were delivered from all disasters and received true bliss by the grace of God. Before baptism we were far from God, but through baptism we came closer to God. Before baptism, we were enemies of God, but after being baptized, we were reconciled with God, and God was reconciled with us. Before baptism we were children of the wrath of God, but after baptism the vessels of God's mercy were opened to us. Before baptism, we were children of darkness and children of the devil, but after being baptized, we became children of light and children of God. Before baptism, we were defiled by sins, but, having been baptized, we were washed, sanctified and justified. Before baptism we were lost, but after being baptized we became saved. Before baptism, the doors to eternal life and the Heavenly Kingdom were closed to us, but with baptism they were opened, and those who preserve the grace of holy baptism enter there without prohibition. We receive these and other blessings of God through holy baptism, we receive them immediately, without any merit of ours, from His love for mankind alone. What can a deceased person deserve? Glory to the goodness of God, glory to His love for mankind, glory to His mercy, glory to His bounty! “Blessed be the name of the Lord from now on and forever” (Ps. 112:2). This highest mercy of God was earned for us by the Only Begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, our Savior, with his precious blood and death. Beloved Christians, let us remember holy baptism and examine whether we live worthy of holy baptism; so that this very baptism does not lead to greater condemnation for us on the day of the Last Judgment of Christ, where every word, deed and thought of lawlessness is judged. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1). O goodness! O love of God! Oh, how much God’s love has overcome! Oh, how abundantly God's grace flowed! Poor and outcast sinners have become children of God! The Apostle of Christ rejoices at this and says: “Look what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God.” What could be more amazing than when a sinner becomes the son of God: God’s love for man created this. What is more honorable than to be called and to be a child of God! God's grace gave this to man. It is an honor to be a child of an earthly king; it is incomparably more honorable to be a child of God, the King of Heaven. This honor, glory, dignity, nobility and name are incomparably superior to all the titles of the world. Glory to God the lover of mankind for this! And if the children of God are Christians, “then they are also heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17). If they are children of God, then who and what should they be afraid of? Why be afraid of slanderers, enemies, the devil, demons, death and hell? God stands for us: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31). We receive this highest gift of God in baptism: then we are born of God and receive this honorary title. Beloved Christians! Let us remember holy baptism and God’s highest mercy shown to us then. We then became children of God. Thank God for this! But children are required to be like their parents: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). Christians must be like God, as born of God: So let us show by deeds that we are children of God. Holy is God, let us also be Holy; God is righteous, let us be righteous; God is good, “for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45), we too will be good and we will do good to our friends and enemies, those who love us and those who hate us. God is merciful: let us also be merciful and show mercy to our distressed brethren. God hates sin: we too will hate all sin and turn away from it. God loves us: we also love each other. God forgives the sins of us who repent; we also forgive the sins of people. The Apostle of Christ calls us to this: “Therefore, imitate God, as beloved children” (Eph. 5:1). When we cultivate such morals in ourselves, we will become true children of God, and we will receive the inheritance and all the benefits promised to God’s children by Christ Jesus our Lord. About the renunciations and promises made at our baptisms Holy baptism is like a door through which those being baptized enter the holy church and become close to God and fellow saints, but not simply, before baptism, renunciations and promises are made, a) We then renounce Satan and all his evil deeds: Satan is an evil and evil spirit. He was created by a good God, but with his like-minded people he retreated from Him and so from light he became dark, from good he became evil and evil. His works are: idolatry, pride, wickedness, lies, flattery, cunning, envy, malice, theft, adultery, fornication, all uncleanness, slander, blasphemy and every sin; He is also the inventor of sin. He deceived our first parents in paradise and led them to sin and apostasy from God; we renounce this evil spirit and all its evil deeds before baptism, b) We renounce all vanity, pride and luxury of this world, as those called and renewed in eternal life, c) We promise Christ, the Son of God, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, to serve with faith and truth and follow His footsteps, d) Thus a contract is concluded between God and us. We, renouncing Satan, promise to serve God and be faithful to him. God, in His highest mercy, accepts us and promises us the inheritance of eternal life and the kingdom and washes, sanctifies and justifies those defiled by sins with the bath of baptism, therefore the priest greets each baptized person: “but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified” (1 Cor. 6:11). Beloved Christians! Let us remember these renunciations and promises and look around to see if we are keeping them? It’s hard to lie to God, and it’s very dangerous to be lying before him. Let us look around to see if any of us has returned again to Satan and has not renounced Christ and abandoned Him? Let's look around, whose side are we on, Satan's or Christ's? Whoever fulfills whose will, serves him, and belongs to him. Not only the one who renounces His holy name and does not confess Him, the Son of God and his Savior, renounces Christ, but also the one who unscrupulously and fearlessly violates His holy commandments. This is the Apostolic teaching. The Apostle says: “They say that they know God, but by works they deny” (Titus 1:16), and so on; you see that people renounce God by their deeds, and not just by their lips. Does anyone commit adultery or commit adultery or deny Christ? Is anyone angry with his neighbor and thinking about how to harm him? Has he abandoned Christ? Whether someone steals, kidnaps and takes away goods from his neighbor, has retreated from Christ. Does anyone deceive and deceive his neighbor - no longer with Christ, but in all these matters he obeys the enemy of salvation; and also with promises that he did not keep and that he made to God and lied to God. Let us consider, beloved, our conscience and life, on whose side are we, Christ’s or his opponent, good or evil, are we being saved or are we perishing? He who is not with Christ is an enemy of Christ. Christ Himself says: “Whoever is not with Me is against Me” (Matthew 12:30). Beloved! Let us beware and be with Christ here in this world, as we promised at baptism; We will be here with Christ, and in the next century we will be with Christ according to His truthful promise: “Where I am, there will My servant also be” (John 12:26). Let us serve Him here as our King and God, and on the day of Judgment He will recognize us as His servants and count us among His faithful servants and open the doors of eternal joy to us. About our renewal during holy baptism During holy baptism, Christians, we are renewed for the holy Christian new life and, casting off the old man, we put on the new spiritual man and, abandoning the evil morals of ancient Adam, we accept good morals, the new Jesus Christ, and thus we become a new creation, according to the teaching of the Apostle: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). Therefore, holy baptism is called the “bath of regeneration” (Titus 3:5), since before baptism we were dead, dead from sin, and incapable of any good deed (what can a dead person do?) And for God we were as non-existent; for God he is only alive who is dead to sin. But during holy baptism we are quickened by God’s grace and, renouncing sin, we are renewed for a holy and godly life. Every Christian has a double birth: the old, carnal and the new, spiritual. The old birth has from its parents and is conceived in iniquity and is born in sin (Ps. 50:7). The second birth is spiritual, that is, it is born again for a spiritual, holy and heavenly life and receives it from Christ, which is why it is called a Christian from Christ: whoever is born of whom is called by his name. With carnal birth we receive pride, arrogance, arrogance, arrogance, conceit, contempt for our neighbor; With spiritual birth comes humility, meekness, and self-abasement. With carnal birth we receive unbelief; with the spiritual – faith. With carnal birth we receive fearlessness; with the spiritual – the fear of God. With the carnal birth we receive disobedience, disobedience, disobedience and disrespect for God; with the spiritual - obedience, humility, obedience. With the carnal we receive ingratitude; with the spiritual – gratitude to God. With the carnal we receive indifference to the honor and glory of God; with the spiritual - diligence and concern for the glory of God. With the carnal we receive hope in ourselves, in our honor, wealth, in our strength, in man and every creature; with the spiritual - hope is only in God. With the carnal we receive anger, rage, malice and the desire to take revenge in word and deed; with the spiritual - meekness, gentleness and long-suffering. With the carnal we get immoderate pride; with the spiritual – love of God and love of mankind. With the carnal we receive stinginess, love of money, unmercifulness and care only for ourselves; with the spiritual – mercy, generosity and sympathy, the desire to help one’s neighbor. With the carnal we receive envy and the evil that follows from it; with the spiritual – love and compassion for the misfortune of one’s neighbor and joy from his happiness. With the carnal we receive flattery, deceit, lies, cunning, hypocrisy; with the spiritual - simplicity and truth. With the carnal we receive theft, theft, and all unrighteousness; with the spiritual - the truth. With the carnal we receive uncleanness, drunkenness, intemperance or lust; with the spiritual - purity, chastity, sobriety and abstinence. With the carnal we receive the love of this world, the passion of the flesh, the pride and wisdom of mortals; with the spiritual - contempt for the world and all its vanity and the wisdom of heavenly and eternal blessings. In general, evil behavior belongs to the carnal; to the spiritual - good morals. So we see what the fruits of the flesh are and what the spiritual birth is. Holy Scripture, when* it demands from us to get rid of sin, it demands to get rid of the fruits of the old, carnal birth; but when he teaches to do good, he teaches how to receive the fruits of a new birth. “Turn away from evil and do good” (Ps. 33:15). “Let everyone who confesses the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness” (2 Tim. 2:19). Beloved Christians! We, thank God, were born again and renewed during holy baptism, as stated above. Let us look around, do we have the fruits of the new birth? Are we living as the new birth requires? Birth is not a dead thing, but a living thing, and therefore has fruits consistent with itself. Let us also acquire the fruits of our new birth, so that we do not appear barren before our Lord and hear His terrible word: “I do not know you” (Matthew 25:12). About the struggle between the flesh and the Christian spirit Every Christian has a double birth: old and carnal, spiritual and new, and one contradicts the other. Carnal birth gives flesh, and spiritual birth gives spirit: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). And since both of these births are opposite to each other, this results in enmity and struggle between the flesh and spirit of a Christian, “for the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh” (Gal. 5:17). The flesh wants to kill the spirit, but the spirit wants to kill the flesh; the flesh wants to conquer the spirit, but the spirit wants to conquer the flesh; the flesh wants to possess the spirit, and the spirit wants to possess the flesh. The flesh wants to be proud, magnified, exalted; the spirit does not want, but wants to be humble. The flesh wants to be angry, angry, quarrel, take revenge in deed or word; but the spirit does not want that, but wants to be meek and forgive everything. The flesh wants to commit fornication and adultery; but the spirit turns away from this and wants to remain celibate. The flesh wants to kidnap, steal, rob others in every possible way; but this is disgusting to the spirit; it only wants to have its own. The flesh wants to deceive, flatter, deceive, deceive and be a hypocrite; but the spirit hates this and wants to be in the truth and act simply. The flesh wants to hate a person, but the spirit wants to love him. The flesh wants to live in idleness, to be lazy; but his spirit turns away and wants to exercise himself in blessed deeds. The flesh wants to go out and get drunk, to hold banquets and feasts; but this is disgusting to the spirit; it wants to either live in moderation or fast. The flesh wants to seek glory, honor, and wealth in this world; but the spirit despises all this and strives only for eternal blessings, and so on; Thus the flesh and the spirit are at enmity. A Christian, as one who has been renewed, should live not by the flesh, but by the spirit and subdue the flesh to the spirit according to the Apostolic instruction: “Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16). This is: to crucify the flesh “with its passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24); “Do not turn cares for the flesh into lusts” (Rom. 13:14); “avoid the lusts of the flesh, which war against the soul” (1 Pet. 2:11); “walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4); do not allow sin to reign over you; live in Christ, who died for us and rose again (2 Cor. 5:15). Beloved Christians! Let's look around to see if this struggle is going on within us, are we in this saving feat, are we living a renewed life, are we resisting attempts and carnal lusts, are we not allowing sin to reign and possess us? This is the only way we can live in Christ, when we crucify the flesh “with its passions and lusts.” What is the use of being called a Christian, but not being one; A true Christian is visible not by his Christian name, but by his deeds against the flesh and all sin. Not everything that the flesh demands can be allowed. Requires food, requires drink, requires clothing, requires sleep and everything else she needs, we will give it; but when he wants something that is contrary to the will of God and His Law, we will not allow it, and not only in name, but also in essence we will be Christians. About the plight of a Christian who breaks the law after holy baptism It is impossible to sufficiently describe and mourn the plight of that Christian who, after holy baptism, does illegal things and violates the Law. He is deprived of all the bliss that he received at baptism by God’s grace, and he voluntarily plunges himself into this misfortune, from which he almost got rid of, but ended up in even greater trouble. Because I learned the truth, but did not want to live in it; recognized God, but did not want to honor Him; knew the path leading to eternal bliss, but did not want to follow it; promised to serve God, but lied to Him about it; washed, sanctified, justified, but lost all this; became a child of God, but lost this honorable nobility; became the heir to eternal life and the kingdom, but he destroyed this inheritance. The Apostle says about such: “It would be better for them not to know the way of righteousness, than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them” (2 Pet. 2:21). Do you see, Christian, what is the misfortune of a Christian who breaks the Law! It is not visible now, because you can see it not with the eyes of the body, but with the eyes of the soul. But then you will see when our secret and open deeds will be revealed to the whole world, that is, at the second coming of Christ. Then this unfortunate Christian will know and see his great misfortune and destruction. Truly, it takes a lot of tears and crying to mourn such a Christian. Just as someone who has washed himself in a bath becomes dirty again with dirt and feces, so a Christian who has washed himself in the bath of baptism is again defiled by iniquities. As from a vile rags, one dressed in purple and clean linen again loses that beautiful robe and is clothed in vile rags. This is what everyone does who, after holy baptism, breaks the Law. Because he, too, from the rags of sin, put on the robe of Christ’s justification, but, rejecting this beautiful robe, he again put on the sinful rags. Just as when coming out of darkness into the light, they return back into darkness, so it happened to those who almost came out of sinful darkness into the light to Christ, the True Light, but returned again to darkness. Just as one freed from yoke and captivity is released and again returns to bitter captivity, so a Christian who breaks the Law: almost by the grace of Christ was delivered from the bitter yoke and Captivity of the devil, but again returned to this disaster. Just as a man raised from a deep ditch falls again into that ditch, so a Christian who breaks the Law was rescued from the ditch of eternal destruction, but again he arbitrarily plunged himself into that ditch. This happens according to the true proverb: “a dog returns to his vomit, and a washed pig goes to wallow in the mud” (2 Pet. 2:22). The following people find themselves in this plight: a) harlots, adulterers and everyone who defiles themselves in any way; b) thieves, kidnappers, robbers and those who unjustly steal other people's property; c) people are evil and poison the life of their neighbor; d) crafty people, cunning people, hypocrites and flatterers; e) detractors, scolders and slanderers; f) judges who judge by bribes and offerings, and not by the strength of the oath and truth; g) merciless gentlemen; h) merchants who sell a bad thing for a good one, a cheap one for an expensive one, and a rotten one for a healthy one, and charge a higher price for the goods than they are worth; i) sorcerers; j) everyone who is against their conscience and fearlessly violating the Law of God. They all follow the true proverb: “the dog returns to his vomit, and the washed pig goes to wallow in the mud.” Beloved Christians, washed in the bath of holy baptism! Let's look at ourselves, have any of us turned away from Christ and fallen into the disastrous state described above? Whoever resists the Law serves the devil, but is already moving away from Christ. Woe to Christians who break the Law after holy baptism! “It will be more bearable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment” (Matthew 10:15) than for such Christians. Unhappy Christian! Look around and beware, you won’t be an eternal prisoner of the devil and destruction. Their fire does not go out, their worm does not die. God, have mercy on your intelligent creation, created in your image! For those who have sinned after holy baptism, one hope remains - true repentance. Thank God for this! Thank God, we are not dead yet, sinners! There is still hope, God’s bounties have not yet ended, repentance is still preached to sinners, the gospel is still preached to the poor; The mercy of the Heavenly King is still spreading everywhere, the doors of mercy are not yet closed, the grace of God is still possible for everyone; the Gospel and the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, are also preached; The Kingdom of God is still being proclaimed, sinners who repent are still being saved, and tax collectors and fornicators, cleansed by repentance, are entering the Kingdom of God. The merciful God also calls and expects and promises mercy to all who turn to Him. The loving Father of prodigal sons returning from distant countries receives and opens the doors of his house and dresses them in the best clothes, and gives a ring to each hand, and boots to put on their feet, and commands all the saints to rejoice for them: Rejoice, angels and all my chosen ones! Sinners turn to Me, people, my creation, created in My image and likeness, the lost are saved, the dead come to life and the lost return. Glory to His goodness! Glory to His love for mankind! Glory to His mercy! Glory to His generosity! Wretched sinners, why do we hesitate in a distant country and do not go to our Father? Why are we dying of hunger? Why are we filled with lawlessness, like bran? In our Father's house there is all abundance: there even the mercenaries are filled to abundance. Our Father awaits us with great zeal and desire. And those returning to Him from afar, He sees us with love and looks at us with merciful eyes, and we will be dear to Him: and He will embrace us and kiss us with the kiss of His holy love, and will not reprimand us, and will not remember our sins and our iniquities then. And all the holy angels and His chosen ones will begin to rejoice and rejoice for us. Let us come to our senses and hasten to our Father, and everyone will say to Him with humility and piteousness: “Father! I have sinned against heaven and before you! And I am no longer worthy to be called your son; accept me as one of your hired servants” (Luke 15:18, 19). Let us hasten, let us hasten, sinners, before time runs out, while the Father waits, until the doors of His holy house are closed! Let us repent while God’s mercy operates, so as not to experience the truth of God’s work—eternal judgment. On the Incarnation of the Son of God It is the incarnation of the Son of God and His coming into the world that greatly encourages sinners to repentance. For whom did Christ come into the world? For the sake of sinners. For what purpose? For the sake of saving them. Oh, how dear God has set our salvation! For the sake of our salvation, O sinners, He came into the world. Listen, sinners, and understand! God Himself came into the world for our salvation, and came in our image. “And beyond doubt is the great mystery of godliness: God was revealed in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16). “Lord, what is man that you have known to him? or the son of man, for what reason do you count him?” (Ps. 143:3). Truly wonderful is the kindness of God to man, and this is His work! Foreseeing this, the Prophet exclaimed with fear and horror: “Lord! I heard Your rumor and was afraid. The Lord understood your deeds and was horrified” (Hab. 3:1, 2). Sinners! Let us remember this great work of God, created for us, and repent. Let us remember how for our sake he was born of a Virgin and was a Child, and fed on his mother’s milk, the invisible One was incarnated, and the beginningless One took on the beginning, and was wrapped in swaddling clothes like a baby, and the intangible One was touched, and the Word became flesh. Let us remember how, as a baby, he fled from the murderer of King Herod. Let us remember how he lived and wandered on earth, how he moved from place to place and worked for our salvation; how, inaccessible to the Cherubim and Seraphim, he spoke among sinners; how, having heaven as a throne and earth as a footstool, living in the light and unapproachable, he had no place to lay his head; how a rich man became poor, and through His poverty we became rich. Let us remember how, clothed in light, as if with a robe, he clothed himself with perishable clothing, how, giving food to all flesh, he fed on earthly bread; how the Almighty was weak and worked to strengthen everyone. Let us remember how the Highest of all honor and glory, lawless lips blasphemed, reviled and laughed at Him. Let us remember how sick, sad, sad, cried and horrified. Let us remember how he was sold and betrayed by an ungrateful disciple and was excommunicated from other disciples; how He was bound and how they led Him to trial, how He was judged by the lawless, how they beat Him, how they dressed Him in a robe of reproach, how they called Him the King with mockery: “Hail, King of the Jews!” (John 19:3). How they crowned Him with a crown of thorns and how they beat Him on the head with a cane, how I heard from my lawless people: “Take, take, crucify Him!” (John 19:15). And how they led Him with two villains to be crucified, and on the cross between two villains the Son of God was crucified and died on the cross. The son of God did all this for our salvation. O sinners! We almost lost our salvation because of Adam and all our bliss, but Christ, the Son of God, by the good pleasure of His heavenly Father, returned it to us! Let us judge for ourselves, sinners, is it not the blood of Christ, shed for our salvation, and all his sufferings cry out to us? And if we repent, we will not lose eternal salvation. Without repentance there is no salvation for anyone; however, the damned sinner does not think about this. God, who loves mankind, showed such wonderful care for him that he would repent and be saved, but the sinner does not think about it. Christ the Son of God in the Gospel represents his coming into the world for his sake: for his sake he endures voluntary exhaustion, poverty, deep humility, his labors, illnesses, sorrows, sorrows, suffering and death on the cross, and says to him: “Man, I accepted and endured all this for the sake of you and your salvation, you don’t think about your salvation! You don’t think and don’t want to repent and, renouncing your sins, use my blood and be revived!” But the sinner, although he hears this pitiful and sweet voice of Jesus in the Gospel, does not care about it. Christ promises not to remember his sins and iniquities when he addresses him, but the sinner does not think about it. Christ calls him to himself and promises him peace, but the sinner does not care about this: he remains incorrigible, as he was; violates the Law, as he did; does evil deeds, as he did; loves the darkness, just as he loved; hates the light, just like he hated it. And therefore he does not go to the light and remains with the devil, the prince of darkness! O wretched sinner, wake up and wake up! Isn’t it the very blood of Christ, shed for you, that cries out to you for retribution? Listen to what the Prophet of God in the face of God sings to you: “I will reprove you and bring your sins before you” (Ps. 49:21), that is, all your evil deeds, words, thoughts, plans and undertakings will follow you and appear at the world court of Christ and you will receive for them what you deserve. If you don’t want to repent now to benefit yourself and be saved by the grace of Christ, then you will repent, but it will be too late and it will be useless. “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Eph. 5:14), God standing above all, blessed forever! Death can move a sinner to repentance. Death is known and unknown to us: known because we will all die; unknown because we don’t know when, how and where we will die. The more we live, the shorter our lives, and our days shorten and we approach death. And it is already closer to it today than yesterday, at this hour than in the previous one: death follows everyone invisibly and takes him when it does not expect him. Almost all people, especially healthy and strong ones, dream like this: I will still live, my death is not yet visible; I will collect, and I will be satisfied with the collected benefits. But then death unexpectedly attacks him, and then all his dreams and plans perish. The one who dreamed of a long life will soon die; He who wanted to collect and grow rich leaves both the world and his body in the world. The end is so unknown to us, Christians! God, who loves mankind, caring for us, made our death unknown to us, so that we would always be ready for it and remain in true repentance. Whatever a person leaves this world with, that is what he will bring to the judgment seat of Christ! Sinners! Let us think carefully about this word and repent, so as not to go into another world with our sins and appear at the judgment of God. The merciful God promised to show us his grace and mercy, but he did not promise us tomorrow. Let us remember this and rise from sleep and, remembering our death, we will correct ourselves and prepare for the exodus and die blessedly: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord” (Apoc. 14:13). The one who dies in repentance, faith and true prayer dies in the Lord. That is a terrible time for everyone. All the saints looked at that hour and cried, and so they propitiated the man-loving God to help them at that hour. It is amazing that saints, looking at that hour, cry, but sinners do not cry, although every day they see their dying brothers. Wretched sinners! What are we dreaming about? It is the devil who steals our salvation like a thief. Let us write that hour in our memory and be ready: from this hour a person will either be eternally blessed or eternally miserable. Here the doors to eternity are opened for everyone, and he will go either to a happy or unhappy eternity. From that point a person begins to either live forever or die forever. Where are those who lived in luxury, sweetness, and unrepentance before us now? They left this world and left all their pleasures, and remain in their places, and await the final judgment, where they will receive everything according to their deeds. Therefore, before that hour has come to us, let us turn with a pure heart to our God and through repentance and faith we will be reconciled to Him, and we will receive eternal life. The holy Apostles call and pray to us for this in their writings: “in the name of Christ, and as if God Himself exhorts through us; On behalf of Christ we ask: be reconciled with God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:20, 21). About the Last Judgment of Christ Beloved Christians! I tremble and tremble with fear, hearing and reflecting on these words: “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to reward everyone according to his deeds” (Apoc. 22:12). Who is speaking? God is great and terrible. What is he talking about? That He Himself comes to judge everyone and reward everyone according to their deeds. Unhappy sinners! What do you think about when you hear this word? God Himself comes to judge us, He comes with much power and glory. Have mercy, Lord, have mercy on Your creation! No one is sinless, only You alone. Terrible, beloved, is the day and hour in which God will judge sinners. Human judgment is terrible for us, but God’s judgment is incomparably more terrible. At the human court, a person like us is judged. At that trial God himself judges. At a human court, witnesses accuse or acquit a person. They are not needed there, because the Judge himself knows everything completely. In human judgment, the position of those judged is often taken into account and the rich are preferred to the poor, and the noble to the rootless. There the Judge does not look at the situation, but judges according to conscience and deeds. In human court, people often help people with their intercessions: the noble to the noble, the rich to the rich. This will not happen there, and everyone will be responsible for themselves. In human judgment, silver and gold often protect a person. It won't be there. In human court, eloquence and cunning often help a person. There they will become silent and numb. In the judgment of man, before a few, man is exposed and judged. There the sinner will be convicted and judged before the whole world. At the human court, only external matters are judged. There are secret thoughts there. At the human court, only evil deeds are judged. At that judgment, “for the idle word that people speak, they will give an answer” (Matthew 12:36). Even if you have to answer for an idle word, what do those people hope for who defile their soul and body with uncleanness; those who shed the tears of widows and orphans; those who steal and kidnap other people's property; those who cut and kill their neighbor with their tongue, like a sword; those who are cunning and deceive people; What do other wicked people hope for, who feed on wickedness as on bread: “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his deeds.” Christians, the chosen race! We saw the first coming of Christ our God, we will see the second. He Himself promises: “Behold, I am coming quickly,” and so on. The first was announced to the world by His holy prophets: “Christ is coming, Christ is coming into the world,” and he came; about the second, church teachers announce to us: “Here comes, here comes Christ again into the world” and will unexpectedly appear! His first coming was quiet and humble, the second will be quick and glorious: “for as lightning comes from the east and is visible even to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:27). In the first, the world saw Him suffering and dying for our sins; in the second, it will see Him sitting on the throne of His glory and judging the sins of sinners, and rewarding everyone according to their deeds. Now He says to sinners: “Repent,” then He will say: “Answer me!” Now he calls sinners to himself: “Come to Me,” then he will say to unrepentant sinners: “Depart from me” (Matthew 11:28, 25:41). Where? “Into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (ibid.). Oh, how scary this word is! Wretched sinners! That day has not yet come, the Judge is still patient with us, not wishing death for anyone, he is still awaiting our repentance, he is not yet judging us, he is still showing mercy to everyone who repents and prays. Let us also repent and receive mercy from Him, and we will stand at His right hand at His coming, and we will hear from Him an all-favorable voice: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). This word is scary too, beloved! “I will reprove you and bring your sins before your face” (Ps. 49:21), because this is also the word the great God speaks. To whom? To the sinner, as it is written above in the same psalm: “To the sinner God says” (Ps. 49:16). What is he talking about? That the sinner will be convicted of all his sins and all his lawless actions will be brought before his face. Where? On a worldwide disgrace, where all the holy Angels will be and all the people who lived from the beginning of the world to the end. At that world meeting, every sinner will be exposed, and his unscrupulous and ungodly actions will appear before him and will be revealed to the whole world. “I will reprove you and bring your sins before you.” You, sinner, have done this and that: when you see a thief, you associate with him, and associate with adulterers, you open your mouth to slander, and your tongue weaves deceit; you sit and speak against your brother, you slander your mother’s son (Ps. 49:18-20). Sinner! You destroy My Law and “reject my words,” and you think that all this will go unpunished and I will not call you to account? Why does the wicked despise God, saying in his heart: “He will not require it” (Ps. 9:34). No, no, it won’t be as you lawlessly dream and flatter yourself. I will demand an answer for everything you have done, and I will present all your lawless deeds, words, thoughts, undertakings, plans, and actions before you. Here you are a sinner, you thought and began this and that, did and said this and that, and so My eternal and inviolable law destroyed and the words of My mouth, the holy words, despised and trampled. “I will reprove you and bring your sins before you.” The fornicator and every defiler will be presented with all his nasty dreams, words, views and deeds, where and when he committed them, and with whom he mixed with uncleanness. The evil one will imagine who he harmed and with what, to whom and when he gave our poisoned poison, and so his life was either taken away or shortened; whom and before whom he dishonored with his slander, dishonor, reproach, reproach, ridicule and sadness was the cause of it, and so on. The thief and plunderer will see before him all his demonic deeds, either secretly, or openly, or flatteringly done; he will see where and what, and from whom he brazenly stole or treacherously appropriated, or secretly stole. The lawless merchant will see what goods he unscrupulously sold and deceived people; what rotten things were sold for healthy things, and cheap things for expensive ones, and some things he sold for others; how much water he mixed into the wine, how many times and for what goods he demanded higher prices than it was worth, and so he acted shamelessly. So you deceived this and that, at such and such a time, in the sale of your goods, and so acted against your conscience and honored your own nasty profit more than My commandment “Thou shalt not steal” (Ex. 20:15). The deceitful and flatterer will see all his insidious plans and will be exposed when, whom and in what he deceived and deceived and whom he flattered with his tongue. The detractor and scolder will be presented with all his blasphemies that he spewed against God, his Creator and His saints and against other people created in the likeness of God, and he will be exposed where and when, before whom he spoke those destructive words. The wicked boss will see his negligence about his subordinates, violence, bitterness of the people entrusted to him, and his other lawless deeds. A careless shepherd will be shown his neglect of the flock of Christ and his other sins. The bribe-taker judge will see the oaths and oaths as a crime and violation of the truth and judgment of God and other iniquities committed by him. A careless parent will see his carelessness in raising his children, and because of this they have become corrupted and perished, and other temptations that he showed them are presented to him. The master will be presented with all his violence and insults that he inflicted on his slaves. In a word, every sinner’s sins, which he secretly or openly committed, will appear to him there and will be presented to him. You too, peace lovers and whimsical people, will imagine your banquets, your feasts, your balls, your operas, your masquerades, your dances, your card games, your dog hunting and your other amusements, how you, having become accustomed to them, turned your heart away from the God whom you professed, and in this vanity you forgot Him, and not to God and His kingdom, but to the delights of the world you turned your desires and in that found their consolation and joy. There, instead of past joy, you will see your real and eternal sorrow, sadness, illness and regret. “I will reprove you and bring your sins before you.” Then every sinner will be convicted and hear: behold the man and his deeds! The fornicator will hear: behold the man and his deeds! The thief, the plunderer and the robber will hear: behold the man and his deeds! The vindictive one will hear: here is the man and his deeds! The wicked and the hypocrite will hear: behold the man and his deeds! The lawless ruler will hear: this is the man and his deeds! The bribe-taker judge will hear: here is the man and his deeds! The careless parent and the seducer will hear: behold the man and his deeds! The shepherd who breaks the law will hear: here is the man and his deeds! The wicked master will hear: behold the man and his deeds! The unscrupulous servant and every subordinate will hear: this is the man and his deeds! Finally, every sinner who has not been cleansed by repentance will hear: this is the man and his deeds! He will hear, and will cover his shame and disgrace, and will embrace him with fear, trembling and horror. Then they 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?” (Apoc. 6:16, 17). Wretched sinners! That great day has not yet come, God still accepts repentance and forgives the sins of those who repent. Let us turn to God with repentance and tears and stop sinning, and with warm tears we will atone for our sins, so that they will not be with us in this worldwide disgrace and, like evil enemies, will not expose us. Cry, cry, sinful soul, condole and regret that you have sinned against God! Ask, seek and knock, and the Lord will open the doors of His mercy to you: “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:8). Glory to God the lover of mankind for this, and let all people say: wake up, wake up! Nothing moves a sinner to repentance like eternity; and nothing is so useful to every Christian as memory and reflection on eternity. Eternity keeps a person from sin, pacifies passions, turns him away from the world and all its vanity, crushes the heart, gives birth to tears of repentance, encourages prayer and makes true heartfelt sighing. Memory and reflection about eternity can correct even the most depraved; The inhabitants of deserts, caves, mountains and earthly abysses thought about eternity. Reflecting on eternity, the holy martyrs endured the most severe torment, but did not submit to the will of the wicked kings and did not renounce Christ. From thinking about eternity, thieves, murderers, robbers, fornicators and harlots and other serious sinners become saints and the chosen ones of God. Glory to God’s love for mankind, for it opens doors to everyone, even the worst sinners. It is surprising that modern Christians, hearing about eternity in the Holy Scriptures, are nevertheless so carried away by the vanity of this world and seek honor, glory and wealth in it, and build, and furnish, and decorate their houses and other buildings, as if eternity does not exist. This makes them oblivious to eternity, and their hearts are darkened by the charm of visible vanity. Beloved Christians! Let us write eternity in our memory, and we will invariably be in eternal and true repentance, contrition of heart and prayer, and we will not be deceived by any vanity of this world, and we will shy away from every sin, like a poisonous snake. Everything that we, the children of this world, like, seem favorable and dear, disgusts us. Truly, we will be content with a crust of bread and a small hut and a poor robe: this abundance will create in us remembrance and reflection on eternity. Do you know that there is eternity? Eternity is a beginning without end, that is, it begins once and never ends; or, always and never, that is, it will always be and will never cease. This is eternity. All centuries from the creation of the world to the end are a small interval in comparison with the whole world, or like a minute against a thousand centuries, or, better said, like nothing: this is eternity. Eternity is twofold, both prosperous and unfavorable. In a prosperous eternity there will be the kingdom of God, God will be seen face to face, there will be joy and joy unspeakable: the soul and body will receive their all-perfect bliss, and man will receive blessings that “eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and has not entered into the heart of man” (1 Cor. 2:9). “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43). In a very unhappy eternity there will be deprivation and removal from God, all suffering and torment in the body and soul. Then people will want to die, but death will leave them. This is the second death and eternal death. Sinners! We hear the word of God about eternity and see that there is a double eternity: prosperous, joyful and filled with all good things, this is eternal life; and dysfunctional, torment, sadness, illness and all evils, this is eternal death. Let us repent and wash away our sins with tears, and we will escape an unfavorable eternity, and we will enter eternal life and the Kingdom of God. After the Last Judgment of Christ, everyone will go to their eternity, because the Judge Christ will give everyone the proper definition. He will open the doors of His Kingdom to the righteous and say to them: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). He will turn to sinners: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life” (Matthew 25:46). Remember us too, Lord, when you are in Your Kingdom! About the first Christian cause This word “only one thing is needed” (Luke 10:42), our Savior said to all of us, O Christians! Many Christians care about this or that and try, but often they themselves do not know what they care about. Warning against this useless effort and care, the Lord says to everyone: “only one thing is needed.” What is this? Eternal salvation is the primary Christian cause; Christians should have this as their primary concern. We need food, clothing, a home and other things necessary for this life, and for this we pray to the heavenly Father: “Give us our daily bread for this day” (Matthew 6:11). But eternal salvation is so necessary that without it everything is nothing. “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). There is no benefit, truly none, where there is no salvation. What good will it do us if we gain the whole world, but lose our soul? We take care of temporary life most of all, when we should take care of eternal life, which is more precious than the whole precious world. Just as every person’s first business is to judge, for a farmer to cultivate the land, for a merchant to be a merchant, for a shepherd to graze cattle, for a teacher to teach, for a student to study, etc., so a Christian’s first business should be God, whom he professes and reveres, to please with faith and righteousness, and so to expect and hope from him for eternal life. This is the primary Christian work, care and concern: “only one thing is needed.” Beloved Christians! We were created not for temporary, but for eternal life: by holy baptism we were renewed for eternal life, by the word of God we were called to eternal life. Christ, the Son of God, came into the world, suffered and died for the sake of eternal life. You see how dearly God honored our eternal salvation, he did everything for this, he himself came into the world for this; Our primary concern and concern should be about this. Satan is trying to steal this from us and destroy it forever; We must not sleep and take care of this priceless treasure. But we see and regret that many Christians do not care about this primary matter; they do not care about fornicators, adulterers and defilers, they do not care about slanderers and scolders, they do not care about drunkards and sensualists, they do not care about thieves, kidnappers and robbers, they do not care about liars, cunning people and hypocrites, they do not care about slanderers and reproaches, they do not care about everyone who pleases not God, but the world and their own whims. All such and similar treasures of eternal salvation, obtained through labor, illness, suffering and death, the death on the cross of Christ, the Son of God, are not valued, and they also do not honor the person who suffered and died. Among today's Christians, that which brings honor, glory, wealth and luxury is dear and great; Eternal salvation is considered the last thing, and the same things follow. Eternal salvation “only one thing is needed,” according to Christ, but here it is either gained or lost. Gained by repentance and faith; is lost in an unrepentant life. Hear, sinners, and you blessed Christians! We only need eternal salvation, and here it is either gained or lost. Let us mark this in our memory, beloved. Sinners! Let us remember our promises that we made to God at baptism, and repent, so as not to appear as liars before God; let us think about the hour of death and repent and leave this world with the hope of salvation; let us think about the terrible judgment of Christ and repent, so that we may appear there without our sins; Let us think about the sweetness of eternal life and the sorrow of eternal death, and let us turn to God and appease Him with tears and repentance, so that He may open for us the doors of mercy and His eternal Kingdom. Господи Боже, дай нам сил и просвети нас, и спасемся! God, when creating man, gave the soul his conscience, so that as a rule he could be guided by it and know what to do, what to avoid, and learn. Conscience is nothing more than the natural or natural Law, and therefore it is similar to the written Law of God: what the Law of God teaches, conscience also teaches. The law of God commands to know one God, and conscience teaches this; поэтому и сами язычники, управляемые совестью, единого Бога признавали. The law of God commands us to honor God above all creatures and to give Him the highest honor; conscience commands the same. The law of God teaches that no one should be equal to God; Conscience teaches the same. The law of God commands God, as the Supreme Sovereign, to show submission, obedience and obedience; Conscience teaches this. The law of God commands God, as the most righteous Judge, to be feared; We also hear this from our conscience. The law of God commands that those who blaspheme the name of God should be executed; Our conscience cannot tolerate them either. The law of God teaches us to listen to God more than to man; Conscience teaches the same. The law of God commands to love God more than anything, and conscience also commands, because God is the highest and most supreme good and the source of all good. Therefore, one must love Him more than any created good. The Law of God teaches us to thank God for everything, and our conscience also teaches us. Conscience itself demands to be grateful to a benefactor. The law of God commands to rely only on God: conscience also commands. Because only God can do everything as the Almighty, but every creature without God and outside God is weak. Therefore, hope for him is fickle and not firm. The law of God commands parents and all authorities sent by God to obey and give honor; We hear this in our conscience too. The law of God prohibits harming a person and taking his life; conscience also prohibits. The law of God commands to help a person in case of need; Conscience also commands this. The law of God forbids adultery and fornication; A person hears this from his conscience, and it thunders inside a person so that he does not defile himself with uncleanness. The law of God prohibits touching someone else's property without the will of the owner; conscience demands the same. The law of God commands the one who asks to give; A person hears this from his conscience. The law of God prohibits lying, flattery, and deception; conscience also prohibits. God's law prohibits slandering one's neighbor; conscience also prohibits. The law of God commands us not to covet anything that belongs to others; conscience also commands. Thus, the Law of God and conscience are similar to each other and lead to a single goal, that is, they lead to our bliss. Therefore, even the pagans, enlightened by philosophical teaching, wrote many useful institutions. Therefore, anyone who sins against his conscience also sins against the Law of God and the lawgiver God himself. He who does not listen to his conscience does not listen to the Law of God and God himself: he does not obey his conscience, he does not obey both the Law of God and God himself; irritates the conscience, irritates God himself. And such Christians who sin against their conscience do not truly honor God, and are hypocrites. It is impossible to worship God without a clear conscience. A true Christian does not want to sin against his conscience and thereby violate the Law of God and is afraid and would rather agree to suffer than to sin. In such a conscience, faith lives and makes a person joyful. Because where there is a clear conscience, there is faith and joy. Just as the Law of God convicts a person for sin, so conscience convicts. Therefore, it happens that when a word of accusation is spoken at all, then sinners, hurt in their conscience, are embarrassed. This is how fornicators are embarrassed when fornication is spoken of; Thieves and kidnappers are embarrassed when theft and theft are talked about; Flatterers and liars are embarrassed when flattery and lies are spoken of; they are embarrassed, and this is visible outwardly: it is the conviction of their conscience that acts in them. Just as the Law of God frightens a sinner with the judgment of God, so does conscience frighten, and it says to the sinner inside: man, it will be bad for you! Just as the actions of the Law of God and conscience are similar now, so they will be similar at the judgment of Christ. Там обличит грешника Закон Божий, им нарушенный; обличит его и совесть, грехами его раздраженная. These two, conscience and the Law of God, will be witnesses and accusers there for every sinner. Бывает, что злая совесть будто спит; but when he wakes up and begins to denounce the sinner, then fierce torment will follow from his conscience. Because of this, it happens that many, unable to withstand the torment of conscience, kill themselves. Just as there is no greater peace from a clear conscience, there is no greater anxiety and torment than from an evil conscience. If conscience torments so much here, how will it torment the sinner in the next century, where all his sins will be presented to him and he will be convicted and tormented for them? Sinners! What are we dreaming about? Let us wake up and repent, and cleanse our sins with repentance and contrition of our hearts, and correct ourselves, and stop sinning and irritating our conscience, so as not to appear with an evil conscience, stained by sins, at the judgment of Christ, where the books of conscience will be opened and everyone will receive according to their deeds. Beloved Christians! There is nothing more pleasant, kinder and sweeter to us sinners than the Gospel: freedom is not so favorable to those who are hungry for bread, thirsty for drink, captives and those sitting in prison, as is the Gospel for sinners who recognize their misfortune: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Matthew 18:11). This is the sweetest voice of the Gospel. Who is He, the Son of Man? This is the Son of God, the Heavenly King, sent to us from His heavenly Father, who wanted for our sake to be called the Son of Man. What did He come for? To seek and save us, the lost, and bring us to our eternal Kingdom. What could be more favorable and desirable than this for us who have perished? But let's see what the Gospel is and what it requires of us and for whom is it preached? a) The Gospel is, by its name, all-joyful news: it preaches to the whole world Christ the Savior of the world, Who came to seek and save the lost. Do you hear, all lost sinners, do you hear the sweetest voice of the Gospel? It addresses us all: the Son of Man will come “to seek and to save that which was lost.” We are afraid to be in sin before God! The Gospel preaches that our sins are forgiven in the name of Christ, and that Christ is our justification before God: in you, my Savior, Jesus the Son of God, I will be justified, you are my truth and sanctification. We are afraid to be angry with God! The Gospel preaches that Christ reconciled us to God and, having come, preached peace to everyone, far and near. The legal oath is terrible to us! Because we are all sinners, it subjects the sinner to both temporary and eternal punishment. The Gospel preaches that Christ has redeemed us from the legal oath. We are afraid of death! The Gospel preaches that Christ is our resurrection and life. Gehenna and hell are terrible for us! The Gospel preaches that Christ has delivered us from hell and all that misery. We are afraid to be separated from God and His eternal Kingdom! The Gospel preaches that we will always be with the Lord in His eternal Kingdom. These are the blessed Christians, the sweetest voice of the Gospel: “Taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Ps. 33:9)! “For 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. He who believes in Him is not condemned” (John 3:16–18). “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, that He has visited His people and brought deliverance to them, and raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David” (Luke 1:68, 69). b) It is required of us, Christians, that we gratefully accept this heavenly and sweetest news sent from heaven, and always be grateful from the bottom of our hearts to God, our Benefactor, who has had mercy on us, and show Him holy obedience and pleasing out of gratitude. Conscience itself calls and convinces us to be grateful to our benefactor. He loved us, unworthy, and we will love Him, worthy of all love. Love requires that you not insult your loved one. God is offended by every sin. Let us turn away from all sin, and let us do His holy will, and let us not offend Him as our gracious Father and Benefactor. “Our Father who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9, 10) and so on. c) To whom is the Gospel preached? Christ answers us: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; for He anointed Me to preach good news to the poor, and He sent Me to heal the brokenhearted” (Luke 4:18), that is, to those people who, recognizing their sins, see their poverty, poverty and damnation and have a sadly contrite heart through the fear of God’s judgment. To such people, the Gospel is like a life-giving plaster applied to an ulcerated body; it is useful to preach. Hear, sad and contrite souls, hear the sweet voice of the Gospel: the Son of Man will come to seek and save the lost! Apply this life-giving plaster of the sweet Gospel to your ulcerated souls, heal your broken hearts with this saving healing. The Son of Man will come to seek and save the lost: he will seek and save you too, if you are one of those whom he came to seek and save. If you acknowledge and confess yourself to be a sinner before God, your sins will also be forgiven in the name of Christ. If you repent for your sins and have a longing for God, you too will receive salvation from God. “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” (1 Tim. 1:15). The Holy Spirit says to you through his servant: “The sacrifice to God is a broken spirit: God will not despise a contrite and humble heart” (Ps. 50:19). A repentant and contrite heart offers this sacrifice to God, and it is more pleasant to Him than any offering. God looks upon such a sacrifice with mercy and sends down His grace. From this you see, Christian, that the Gospel is not useful to those Christians who live fearlessly and lawlessly, who do not recognize their sins, poverty and misfortune and do not have a contrite heart. What is the benefit of the oil to the stone? A plaster is applied to the wound, and healing is given to the one who knows and acknowledges his weakness. Such people are told: “Cry, weep and howl; Let your laughter turn into crying, and your joy into sadness. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you” (James 4:9, 10). And again: “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). Sinners! Let us fear the terrible judgment of God and try to have a contrite and humble heart, and then we will draw living water of refreshment and consolation from the Gospel, as a source of salvation, and give water to our souls, and thus we will receive eternal life, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Him be glory with the Father and with the Holy Spirit forever and ever. About the honor and nobility of true Christians Beloved Christians! I cannot be sufficiently amazed at the goodness of God and His love for us, and reflecting on this, I cannot help but exclaim with the Prophet: “Lord, what is man, who was known to... him? or the son of man, for what reason do you count him?” (Ps. 143:3); when I think how much honor the Lord has given to man; The honor and nobility that the philanthropic Lord has bestowed on people, true Christians, is so great and lofty that it is impossible not only to describe, to explain in words, but also to understand it with the mind. “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light” (1 Pet. 2:9), the Apostle says to true Christians. Therefore, we see the incomprehensible goodness and love of God towards man. But let us look and present to our inner eyes the honor and nobility of Christianity, and we will strive for this with zeal. Open the ears of your souls, and listen to the word about true Christians: a) they are called and are children of God. What is more honorable than this name to a person? The Apostle of Christ is worthily surprised at this and says with admiration to Christians: “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1). That is why Christians pray to God as their Father and raise their voices to Him: “Our Father who art in heaven,” etc. Oh, miracle! Sinners turn to the throne of God: Our Father, the only begotten Son of God, Father and our Father; His God and our God. As He himself says to our great consolation: “I ascend to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God” (John 20:17). b) True Christians have close union and communion with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. The Apostle of Christ assures us of this, saying: “our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3). How great this is, you can see for yourself: people consider friendship and communication with the king of the earth to be a great honor, but it is an incomparably great honor to have communication and friendship with God, who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and who lives in the unapproachable light! Oh, how much the goodness and love of God have overcome! Look and see, Christians, the nobility and dignity of Christians: they have communion with God, the great and incomprehensible. Lord, your kindness and love for mankind towards fallen and unfortunate man has increased and become more wonderful, stronger than any word or mind. c) In true Christians, as in living churches, the heavenly God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit kindly dwell. The Lord speaks about this: “Whoever loves Me will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). What could be more honest and noble than that soul in which the Trinitarian God graciously and graciously dwells? It is an honor for people to welcome the king of the earth into their home. It is incomparably more honorable to accept the Heavenly King into the home of your soul and have Him living in it. What could be more blessed than that soul in which God lives, as in his church? There is paradise in it, sweetness and joy, the Kingdom of God is in it. O bliss! O dignity! O nobility of the Christian soul! The kind, beginningless, infinite, most good and uncreated nature, God, prefers to live in the holy Christian soul than in heaven or in any other church. O most gracious and gracious God, our Creator and Creator! Come and visit our embittered souls, souls created by You in your image and likeness! d) True Christians are spiritual particles of the heavenly Head - Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. The Apostle speaks about this: “We are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones” (Eph. 5:30). Holy Christian souls, lift up your eyes and see where your Head sits: at the right hand of God, in the glory of the eyes. By whom is venerated and worshiped: by the Angels and Archangels and by all the heavenly powers and by all creatures. “And God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus He may bow every tribe of the heavenly, the earthly, and the underworld" (Phil. 2:9, 10). You are spiritual parts of that exalted Head. The glory of it and its parts are shared. This is the nobility and dignity of them! e) The souls of true Christians are betrothed to the immortal bridegroom Jesus Christ. The Apostle testifies to this: “he betrothed you to one husband, that he might present you to Christ as a pure virgin” (2 Cor. 11:2). This mystery is great. Glorious is the Bridegroom, and His Bride also joins in His glory. What is more glorious and noble than Jesus, the Son of God? What is nobler and more honest than the Christian soul betrothed to him? f) True Christians are “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17). Theirs is the eternal and Heavenly Kingdom, and all the blessings, but “no eye has seen, no ear has 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). All this and other honorary names and titles of true Christians are promised to them by the Holy Spirit. You see the glory and nobility of Christianity: all the glory of this world is nothing before that! Know that there is no nobler and more glorious than a true Christian. This nobility and glory was earned for us by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, through His suffering and death, given by His heavenly Father, accomplished by the Holy Spirit, and receives true repentance coupled with faith. This nobility and glory is gained here in this world, or lost. Acquired by true repentance and faith; destroyed by unrepentance and unbelief. O you who seek glory in this vain world, boast and exalt yourself in your nobility, in your names and titles! Turn your inner eyes to Christian glory and nobility, and seek this, and you will be truly noble and glorious. The glory of true Christians is now not visible, but only through faith is it comprehended and known. It will be revealed in the revelation of the children of God. “Beloved,” says the Apostle, “we are now children of God; but it has not yet been revealed what we will be. We only know that when it is revealed, we will be like Him” (1 John 3:2). “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 13:43). It is impossible to mourn enough the corruption and damnation in human nature that followed the fall. There is nothing more harmful to a person than sin; but man is not more inclined to anything than to sin; man, I say, is God’s rational creation, created by God’s special desire (“let us make man”), in the image of God and in the likeness of God (Gen. 1:26). Oh, how much our adversary infected us, oh people, how with his deadly poison that snake damaged our pure and immaculate nature! Man strives uncontrollably for every sin. The prophet laments this misfortune and our damnation: “And a man who is ignorant of honor is likened to foolish cattle and becomes like them” (Ps. 48:13). Indeed, man has become like an unreasonable beast and has become like it: the passions that animals have are visible in man. When cattle are proud and behave arrogantly, we see the same in man; cattle are angry, people are angry and angry; Cattle envy, man also envy; cattle fights with cattle, and man fights with man; kidnaps cattle, kidnaps people too; The cattle are eaten, and the man is also eaten; Cattle lust, and man also lusts. And what’s worst of all: all these passions, which exist separately in each animal, are found in one person. He is proud and arrogant, he is angry and spiteful, he is envious, he is lustful and whimsical, he is gluttonous, he is greedy for other people's goods, and so on. O dear creature of God! Where is your beautiful goodness, God's image and likeness? Where is your holiness and integrity and truth? “And a man who is in honor without understanding, is related to senseless cattle and becomes like them.” The holy Apostle describes a man terribly, a man who has not been renewed by God’s grace and appears to our inner eyes: “There is none righteous, not one; there is no one who understands; no one seeks God; they have all turned aside from the path, they are worthless to one; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their larynx is an open tomb; they deceive with their tongue; the poison of asps is on their lips. Their lips are full of slander and bitterness. Their feet are quick to shed blood; destruction and destruction are in their ways; they do not know the way of the world. There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:10–18). But let us see how great an evil sin is, even though man loves it, and so let us avoid sin. a) The great and incomprehensible God is offended and angered by sin. He who created us from nothing, created us in His image and likeness; He who, for the sake of us who fell, sent His only begotten Son into the world; The One who does good to us every day and hour: the one who feeds us, gives us water, clothes us and supplies us with other countless benefits; He, finally, will judge the sinner for his sin before the whole world. Oh, truly incomprehensible evil is sin, because it offends the incomprehensible majesty of God! b) No one can take sin away from a person except the son of God. For the sake of taking away sin, He came into the world and suffered and died to destroy sin. “For this purpose the Son of God appeared, to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Glory to His love for mankind! c) Sin created death: “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). So our first parents sinned in paradise and died and would always have been dead if Christ, the Son of God, had not revived them with His blood. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). His holy blood, shed for the whole world, both now and from the beginning of the world, was healing for the revival of every sinner who believes in Him. d) For a sin committed, a person’s conscience severely torments him, so that a person often kills himself, unable to endure the torment of his conscience. e) For sin there are temporary punishments, such as: famine, fire, war, pestilence, disease, earthquakes, etc.: “Death, murder, strife, sword, disasters, famine, crushes and blows - all this is for the wicked” (Sir. 40:9, 10). Sins are the cause of all evil, says Saint Chrysostom. You see what a great evil sin is, an evil more evil than any evil. Oh, truly it is better to walk naked than to sin; It is better to sit in captivity and prison than to sin; It is better to be wounded and in any illness than to sin: it is better not to see the light and sit in darkness than to sin; It is better to endure reproach, ridicule, reproaches, slander, beatings and wounds than to sin; Finally, it is better to endure any evil that may exist in this world than to sin! Because all evil torments only the body, and torments only temporarily. Death puts an end to all suffering, and so the disaster will end. But sin torments both body and soul, and will forever torment without end. Sin is responsible for everyone and every disaster that happens in this world: if there were no sin, there would be no disaster. Sins began in the world, and all sorts of disasters followed. Sin is sweet to people, but its fruit is bitter: the seed of bitterness produces bitter fruit. Beloved Christians! Let us recognize sin and avoid sin: after all, everyone avoids known evil. People know that poison is harmful and they avoid it; they know that the serpent kills with its sting, and they are afraid of it; know and avoid them. We too, beloved, recognize sin, the evil that comes from sin, and we will invariably avoid it. Sin harms more than any poison, sin is more poisonous than any snake; sin robs us no less than any thief and deprives us of temporary and eternal blessings, and kills body and soul. These are the fruits of the bitter seed of sin. Sin is anger, rage and malice; sin is pride, arrogance, arrogance, arrogance and contempt of one's neighbor; sin is slander and condemnation; sin is obscene language, foul language, violent speech, blasphemy and every rotten word; sin is lies, cunning, deceit, hypocrisy; sin is drunkenness, gluttony and all intemperance; sin is theft, theft, robbery, violence and any wicked appropriation of someone else's property; sin is adultery, fornication and all uncleanness. In a word, every crime is a sin and is an evil that is much more harmful than any evil that harms our body. Because such evil only damages our body, but sin damages and kills both body and soul. Sin is more evil than the demon himself. Sin also created the demon of demons, who at first was a good and bright angel, but was damaged by sin and darkened. Whoever does not recognize sin as a great evil now, and does not avoid it, will in the next century, through experience and practice, learn how much evil sin is, but it will be too late and it will be useless. Therefore, in the present century we must recognize this evil and avoid it. Christ, the true Light, who enlightened the blind, enlighten the eyes of our hearts, so that we may recognize sin and turn away from sin! The beginning of salvation is to know your misfortune. All Christians who want to be true Christians and receive eternal salvation in Christ Jesus definitely need a feat against all sin, so as not to allow it to possess them. “Let not sin reign in your mortal body, so that you should obey it in its lusts” (Rom. 6:12), says the Apostle to Christians. Their faith requires this from Christians, in the words of the Apostle: “show me your faith without your works” (James 2:18). They must listen to God, in whom they believe, and not to sin; live with God, not with sin. What is required is holy baptism, by which one is renewed for a holy Christian life; they require vows given at baptism, with which they promised to serve the Lord with faith and truth; the work of salvation requires, as for those who break the law and do not keep their vows given at baptism, holy baptism is useless for those who are deceitful and have lied to God. Think about this, Christians. A Christian is recognized not by the exclamation: “Lord, Lord,” but by asceticism against all sin. He is a warrior, a true warrior, who stands and struggles against a visible enemy. Likewise, a true Christian is one who constantly struggles against sin. But let’s look at why a person sins, and this way it will be more convenient to resist sin. We note five causes of sin: a) Corruption of human nature. Man is conceived in iniquity, and is born in sins, as the Psalmist says: “Behold, I was conceived in iniquity, and in sins did my mother give birth to me” (Ps. 50:7). The sinful passions with which a person is born incline and attract him to sin: “Poor man that I am! who will deliver me from this body of death? (Rom. 7:24). Corruption and damnation entered into man from the fall of Adam, and incline man to all sin: that which is born of the flesh is flesh. But Christians, by the power of holy baptism and the vows given at it, must stand and strive against the inclinations of the passions and not allow them to turn into deeds. b) The devil leads a person to sin. The Apostle speaks about this and calls on Christians to protect themselves from it: “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” (1 Pet. 5:8, 9). The Apostle speaks about the same thing in another place: “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:10–12). These invisible enemies are always awake to our destruction, O Christians, and try to lead us to every sin; We can’t doze off either. c) The temptations of the world also lead to sin. We see this growing evil: one does this and that, another sees or hears this and recklessly imitates it. Temptation is like a pestilence that begins in one person and infects many living nearby. “Woe to the world because of temptations, for temptations must come; but woe to that man through whom temptation comes” (Matthew 18:7). d) The cause of sin is the unkind upbringing of children. Such children, having matured, strive for evil in every way: this comes from the inattention of their parents. Think about this, fathers and mothers! e) A person’s habit strongly leads to sin: we see this evil, we see that drunkards always strive for drunkenness, robbers for theft, fornicators and adulterers for uncleanness, slanderers for slander, and so on. Their habit, like a rope, draws them to sin: and like a hungry person for bread and a thirsty person for water, they strive for the sin to which they are accustomed. These people sin by instigation; A Christian who wants to be saved and show his faith without works must definitely strive against such people. All these opponents of our salvation are evil for us. The flesh with passions and lusts, which rebels against the spirit, is evil; the devil is a fierce adversary, who constantly seduces and fights us; cruelty and temptations to us, with which carnal lust, like fire, is fanned and kindled by the wind; But for those who are accustomed to evil, the most evil thing is habit; it is like the second nature of man. It is a difficult feat, I admit, for anyone against the opponents described above, but it is necessary and honorable. Many strive and conquer people, but become captives of their passions. There is no more glorious victory than defeating yourself and sin. There is no crown and triumph without victory, and there is no victory without feat against enemies. Beloved Christians! Let us enter into this feat, so that with the help of Christ we may achieve victory, and we will receive from him the crown of kindness, and we will triumph forever in His Kingdom. Help in the struggle against sin is as follows: a) listen and heed God’s word: it indicates where sin is, where virtue is, and leads away from sin and encourages to virtue. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16, 17). b) God is present in every place, and wherever we are, He is with us; and whatever we do, we do it before Him and His holy eyes. How can we break the law before God? We are ashamed and afraid to commit outrages before the king of the earth and the lower authorities. But we should be more ashamed and afraid to show outrages before God, because every sin is an outrage before God. c) Remember the consequences, death, the judgment of Christ, hell and the Kingdom of Heaven, all this takes away from sin. “In all your deeds remember your end, and you will never sin” (Sir. 7:39). d) Avoid occasions that lead to sin, such as: banquets and feasts, evil and indecent conversations: “bad associations corrupt good morals” (1 Cor. 15:33). d) Keep in mind and memory that in the very act of sin a person can die and perish. So Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, pursued in the footsteps of the Israelites, but in the most lawless deed he died (Ex. 14:27). So Absalom, the son of David, sought his holy father to kill, and in that search he perished (2 Sam. 18:9). We see the same thing today: we see that fornicators and adulterers are struck down in the worst deeds, blasphemers in blasphemy, thieves and kidnappers in theft, and other lawless people receive according to their deeds. Thus, the righteous judgment of God strikes the wicked. f) Reflect on the fact that Christ, the Son of God, was subjected to torment for sins and died. “He was wounded for our sins and tormented for our iniquities” (Isa. 53:5). Should you, Christian, then do what Christ, the Son of God, drank the bitter cup of suffering for, and so “crucify the Son of God within yourself again!” ( Евр. 6:6 ). Do not look at what people do, but listen to what the Word of God teaches. So let us evade the temptations of the world. “There is much peace for those who love Your Law, and there is no temptation for them” (Ps. 119:165). Christian, love the Law of God and the temptations of the world will not harm you. g) Our efforts and efforts against sin are weak without God’s help. Therefore, we need to try and pray that the Lord will help us in such an important matter. God helps those who strive and care, strengthens those who struggle, and crowns those who overcome. Beloved Christians! We see our spiritual enemies who want to destroy us not temporarily, but forever. We also see help in the feat against them. Let us stand, let us stand strong and be strengthened by the power of the omnipotent Jesus our Savior and will not allow him to possess us, and we will be crowned with the crown of victory from the Hero of God! Lord Jesus, Conqueror of death and hell, help us! We can’t do anything without you, we can do everything with you. We see threats written in Holy Scripture, with which God threatens unrepentant sinners with temporary and eternal execution. Just like a king, who cares about the good state of his state, publishes a useful decree and in the decree declares what his subjects should do and what not to do, and in the decree he also prescribes execution for lawbreakers; So the King of Heaven, the Lord God, published His holy and righteous Law to all people, so that they would live and correct themselves according to this rule, and what He forbids, they would avoid, and what He commands, they would do. And he announced temporary and eternal punishment to the criminals of the Law: “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). “But the fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. This is the second death” (Apoc. 21:8). If anyone does not convert, He sharpens His sword, bends His bow and guides it; prepares for him vessels of death, makes His arrows scorching (Ps. 7:13, 14). “He will rain down burning coals, fire and brimstone, on the wicked; and the scorching wind is their share from the cup” (Ps. 10:6). “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). These and other threats of God are terrible for us; but God shows us great love for mankind. Because nothing turns a sinner to repentance more than threats of execution. Through the promise of good things, God calls us to himself and eternal salvation; but through threats of execution he excites, instructs and convinces. That’s why he threatens sinners because he doesn’t want to destroy them; For this reason, he manifests his anger, so that through the fear of this anger we would correct ourselves and avoid eternal punishment. If the fear of the earthly king turns us away from many evils, how much more powerful is the fear of the Heavenly King to turn us away from all evil and move us to repentance, if we often talk about His righteous anger against sin and about His terrible threats. Truly, a person will be bound and held by the fear of execution, like a rope, and motionless to any evil. Truly he will not want to sin when before his intelligent eyes he sees the eternal fire awaiting him for his sin. Truly, the memory of execution will not allow you to fall into execution, and reasoning about Gehenna will not allow you to enter Gehenna. Truly we owe a lot to our God, beloved Christians, and for this His love for us is that He declared Gehenna and other plagues on us. The threat of execution moves us more towards repentance than the promise of good, as stated above. But open the ears of your souls and listen to what I want to offer you. It is dangerous, very dangerous, to despise God’s threats and not repent and not correct oneself. Know for sure and have no doubt that the one who despises His threats will actually experience God’s punishment. There is nothing more dangerous than to despise what God threatens; He who does not think about Gehenna will go to Gehenna. He who despises this death will not escape eternal death; He who does not fear the wrath of God and does not repent will experience the wrath of God. Our God is a consuming fire; It’s scary to fall into the hands of the living God. God is not mocked: what a man sows, that he will also reap. God is truly merciful and loving, but also just: He rewards everyone according to their deeds. Sinners! Let us remember and remember this word: it is dangerous to despise God’s threats! God threatened our ancestors in paradise: you will die the same hour that you eat from the forbidden tree. The ancestors despised it and died. The wicked men who were under Noah despised the threats of God and perished in a global flood. The Sodomites despised and burned with fire. Even now sinners despise and perish. The wicked were drowned by the flood, those who did not believe the preaching of righteous Noah about repentance. What can the wicked and scoffers and despisers of God’s Law expect today? They too will be plunged into the most terrible flood of eternal destruction. The Sodomites were consumed by fire from heaven for their vile uncleanness. What should we expect today for fornicators and adulterers and other defilers, except for the fire of Gehenna, in which they will burn and not be consumed forever? Many Israelites were struck down in the desert for their iniquities, and did not reach the promised land. The same will happen to lawless Christians: they too will not be allowed into the Kingdom of God: “But without are dogs, and sorcerers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices iniquity” (Rev. 22:15 ). And this is what the Lord says: “unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way” (Luke 13:5). Sinners! Hear this word and repent! Temporary death is terrible, but eternal death is much more terrible. Let us fear destruction, and repent, and escape it! The Ninevites were afraid, heading towards destruction, and repented, and did not fall into destruction, but received mercy from the man-loving God. Let us also turn with all our hearts to our God and repent and stop irritating Him with our sins, and we will receive mercy from Him. The disgusting sin is pride, but few people recognize it, because this sin is hidden and deep in the heart. The beginning of pride is ignorance of oneself; This ignorance blinds a person, and so a person is proud. ABOUT! If a person knew himself, knew his misfortune, poverty and damnation, he would never be proud; but a person is even more damned because he does not see and does not recognize his misfortune and damnation. Pride is known by deeds, like a tree by fruits. But let's see what fruits come from the bitter seed of pride: a) A proud person seeks honor, glory and praise in every way. He always wants to show something and indicate, command, command others. And whoever interferes with his desire becomes very angry and angry with him. b) Having lost honor and authority, he grumbles, is indignant and blasphemes. Where did I sin? What is my fault? Are my works and merits worthy? And it often happens that a person kills himself. c) He begins to do things beyond his strength, which he cannot do. O man! As for the burden you cannot bear! d) He interferes arbitrarily in other people’s affairs, wants to give instructions to everyone everywhere, although he himself does not know what he is doing. So pride blinds him. d) Without shame, he praises himself and exalts himself: I have done this and that, I have such and such services to society. O man! You count your merits, but why don’t you mention your mistakes? If you are ashamed to announce them, then be ashamed to praise yourself. f) He despises and destroys other people: he is a vile person, he is worthless, and so on. Human! He is the same person as you. Все мы люди. He is a sinner, but I think that you will not renounce that name either. He has sinned in this or is sinning, but you have sinned in another, and perhaps in this too: “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). g) He does not submit to the authorities and his parents, does not obey. The proud have a cruel and unyielding nature: they always want to establish and approve the will of their desires. h) He attributes the good he has to himself, to his own diligence and work, and to his own mind, and not to God. O man! What can you have of yourself if you came naked from your mother’s womb? What can you have if God, the source of all good, does not give it to you? And that your efforts and labor can do without the help of Him, Who alone can do everything, and without Whom everyone is nothing, like a shadow without a body. i) Extremely dislikes reproof and exhortation; imagines himself clean, although he is all dirty. j) In failures, in contempt, in troubles and misfortunes, he does not tolerate, is indignant, grumbles, and often blasphemes. k) In words and actions, he shows some arrogance and importance, etc. All these are the fruits of pride that is hated by God and people; bitter are its fruits from which they are born. “For whatever is high among men is an abomination to God” (Luke 16:15). That is why it is written: “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled” (Luke 14:11). The opposite virtue to pride is humility; and as vile and vile as pride is, humility is so favorable and beloved by God and people. The great and lofty God does not look so kindly on anything as on a humble and tender heart. Therefore, the Most Holy Theotokos says about herself: “that He looked upon the humility of His Servant” (Luke 1:48). When pride recedes from a person, humility is instilled in him, and the more pride decreases, the more humility increases; one thing gives way to the other, as the opposite. Darkness leaves and light comes. Darkness is pride, but humility is light. As we judge ourselves and recognize our misfortune and wretchedness, we will have sufficient reason to humble ourselves. We are born naked and crying, we live in troubles, misfortunes and sins, we die with fear, illness and regret; из земли выходим и в землю возвращаемся. It is not visible where the rich are, where the beggar is, where the noble is, where the rootless is, where the master is and where the slave is, where the wise man is and where the foolish one lies: they all became equal there when they returned to the land. What makes the earth and pus exalted? Beloved Christians! Let us recognize our misfortune and damnation. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you” (1 Pet. 5:6). Let us know, beloved, that we are Christians from Christ, meek and humble in heart. It is shameful and very indecent for Christians to be proud when Christ, the great and high God, humbled himself. It is a shame for slaves to be proud when their Lord is humble. There is nothing so indecent and unworthy of Christians as pride, and nothing shows a Christian so much as humility. Through humility a person recognizes that he is a true disciple of the meek and humble-hearted Jesus. If we want to prove that we are true Christians, let us learn from Christ to be humble, as He himself calls us: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). Let us write and deepen in our memory the word of the Apostle: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). Anger is ossified and inveterate anger. Anger, if not tamed soon, turns into malice. Therefore, the Apostle admonishes us and teaches us to put aside anger at the very beginning and immediately: “If you are angry, do not sin: let not the sun go down on your anger; and do not give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:26, 27). And from here we see that he gives place to the devil who holds anger and malice against his neighbor. The devil, as a spirit of malice, has already prevailed over such people and leads them as his captives. Malice is born either from envy, such as: Cain had a grudge against Abel, his brother, envied his well-being, was angry with him, and killed him (Gen. 4), or from an insult inflicted on a person. So people are angry and angry at those who have offended them and want to repay them with evil for evil, and thus take revenge on their insult. A disgusting and laughable sin is malice. Other sins provide some kind of gain or sweetness to the sinner. A thief steals and satisfies his soul; Fornicators commit fornication and please their own flesh; an evil person becomes angry without all this: he sins and suffers, breaks the Law and causes harm to himself, takes revenge and suffers revenge. So for an evil person, his very anger is punishment and beating. If it were possible to look into the heart of an evil person, then nothing less than hellish torment would appear to us. Why does it happen that evil people darken and dry up? Anger, like poison, destroys their flesh. O fierce passion, fierce and destructive both for those who are angry and for those against whom it rebels and arms itself! If it is not stopped at the beginning, it causes great misfortunes, nothing less than an intensifying fire that consumes many houses. Such is malice, if someone does not stop it at the very beginning, then it multiplies immensely, just like fire, finding dry materials, burns, says Chrysostom. Malice is accomplished in different ways: a) By deprivation of health, as is done by those people who, angry at their neighbor, give him poison and thus damage his health. Why does a person suffer almost incessantly, live and die? This is the action of malice, and its destructive fruit. b) By deprivation of life, as Cain killed his brother Abel, c) By slander and slander, an evil person, wanting to take revenge on his neighbor and not having anything to harm him, invents a vice against him and spreads a false evil rumor about him, or makes a big thing out of a small thing and, knowing a knot, calls it a log. This is why it happens that many people endure false slander and slander: the cause of it all is malice. d) Evil people, having committed evil, often boast about it: I, they say, let him know, let him remember me. The psalm word befits such people: “Why do you boast in wickedness, O mighty?” (Ps. 51:3). This is the sad and vile smell of malice - to rejoice and boast about the damage or death of others. O fierce and destructive actions of malice! It was necessary for a person, as someone who had sinned against God and his neighbor, to feel sorry and repent; but the evil one boasts of this and is exalted, sins and boasts of sin, commits lawlessness and boasts of lawlessness. Then a vile and destructive malice operates in him. Human! You boast and rejoice now in your lawless deed, but if you do not correct yourself, you will then regret, cry and weep when all your lawless deeds appear before you and are revealed to the whole world, like other lawless ones, then you will see your destruction. e) In some people, anger acts so strongly and multiplies that they are not afraid to say: “I myself will die, and I will get him.” O wretched creature! Don't you know that there is destruction? Raise your hand to the fire, and you will partly taste its sorrow. You can’t endure this, will you endure the grief of the fire of Gehenna, into which the whole person will be plunged and drowned, and will burn and not be burned forever? But when you look around, you yourself will recognize that the devil, the spirit of evil, is speaking such words in you. You see, beloved Christians, what a fierce and grave evil malice is! The fruits of malice are evil and bitter; Evil and bitter is the very malice that gives birth to such fruits. Woe to the world from malice! It harms everyone and in every way, as stated above; It is impossible for anyone anywhere to hide from it. When it cannot otherwise harm a person, it releases its poison on the person through the tongue; No matter how many misfortunes, troubles and evils there are in the world, they are all caused by anger. Woe to the world from malice, but more woe to those who are malignant! They harm the body of others, but their own soul; they take away temporary life from others, but eternal life from themselves; They destroy others temporarily, but themselves forever. Malice leads to this grave evil. Those who are evil, if they do not want to perish forever, must correct themselves and change their evil heart. The following reasons contribute to this: a) Christians are afraid to get angry; They must love not only their friends, but also their enemies, as commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ. Christians are afraid to do evil; they are commanded to do good to those who hate. Christians are afraid to take revenge; they are commanded to forgive people’s sins. The avenger will fall into the hands of the avenger God: it is terrible to fall into the hands of the living God. Let the evil soul take heed to this and let the poison of its malice be mortified by repentance and contrition of the heart; otherwise he will appear with his sins at the terrible Judgment of Christ and receive according to his deeds. b) It often happens that evil people, wanting to harm others, first harm themselves. The poison that is prepared for others is absorbed by themselves; with the sword that they draw on others they kill themselves, and their sword enters their hearts; and they themselves fall into the ditch that others dig. And this is what the psalmist sings about: “a pit of destruction and fossils, and he will fall into the pit that he has made” (Ps. 7:16, 17). And the Lord says: “And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2). Beloved Christians! We will listen to the apostolic instruction: “let not the sun go down on your anger” (Eph. 4:26) and at the very beginning we will pacify and tame the anger, and while this lawless child is small, we will kill him so that he does not grow up and take possession of us. “Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit, and hypocrisy, and envy, and all slander, like newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow to salvation” (1 Pet. 2:1, 2). Beloved! Let us not become like the evil, but the good. “Whoever does good is from God; but he who does evil has not seen God” (3 John 1:11). We talked about anger; Now let's talk about love. The opposite virtue to anger is love. As much as anger is bitter, love is so sweet; and no matter how harmful and destructive anger is, so useful is love: and no matter how evil and bitter the fruits of anger are, so good and sweet are the fruits of love. Anger is bitter both to those who are malicious and to others; Love is sweet to both those who love and those who are loved. Anger consumes and fetters the heart; love unchains and expands it. Malice kills; love revives. The one who lives in anger is dead; alive who abides in love. Anger saddens; love consoles, brings joy and makes you happy. Malice is cruel and ferocious; love is soft and meek. Malice is proud and arrogant; love is humble. Anger is merciless; love is merciful. Malice is impatient; love is patient. Anger does evil; love does not create evil, but does good. Malice is hateful and vile to everyone; love is favorable and loved by everyone. Everyone condemns anger; love is praised and extolled. He who lives in anger is unhappy and damned; he who lives in love is blessed and blessed. God and people abhor those who live in wickedness, but God and people rejoice in those who live in love. Malice is the seed of the devil, love is the seed of the Divine. The condition of evil people is wretched and miserable, even if they are revered as gods in the world; преблаженно и утешительно состояние любовью наполненных сердец, хотя они как земля и гной попираются. They are beautiful on the outside, but vile on the inside; These are ugly on the outside, but sweet on the inside. Those outwardly shine, but inside they darken and turn black; These don't look good on the outside, but they have everything on the inside. They are healthy on the outside, but rotten on the inside. Эти внешне не благоприятны, не умеют красиво и гладко говорить, но внутри здоровы, красивы и благоприятны. They are like apples, beautiful in appearance, but bitter and wormy inside; These are like apples, unpalatable in appearance, but sweet and auspicious inside. They are an evil tree; These are good trees. The tree is known by its fruits: as the fruits are, so is the tree. But let us see the fruits of love and we will know, like a tree by its fruit, love by its deeds: love is known by deeds, not by words. Beloved Christians! If we had true love, it would take away all troubles from us and give us all prosperity: our cities, villages, villages and houses would be a heavenly place, filled with joys and sweets. Love does not exist without this. If there was love in people, we would not be afraid of robbery, murder, violence, robbery, because sincere love does not create evil. If there was love, there would be no theft, theft and other evils. Love does not create evil. If there were love, people would not tolerate slander, reproaches, slander, abuse, dishonor and other evil. Love does not create evil. If there was love, people wouldn’t deceive us, wouldn’t seduce us and wouldn’t lie to us. Love does not create evil. If there were love, we would not need judicial places, for there would be nothing to judge and condemn for, and therefore there would be no villains and lawbreakers. Courts for the sake of law-breaking are established; he who truly loves is free from judgment, as well as from sin. If there were love, we would not need guards, locks and bars to store our property, because we would not be afraid of thieves and plunderers. If there were love, people would not be in prison for debts, dues and shortages, love would not have allowed them to do this: for “love is merciful” (1 Cor. 13:4). If there were love, people would not walk around in rags and naked, love would clothe them, for “love is merciful.” If there were love, people would not wander without homes, love would not allow them to do this, but would give them a place of rest, for “love is merciful.” If there were love, there would be no beggars and poor, the love of the rich would complement their shortcomings. If there was love, the authorities would not complain about the ruled and the ruled against the authorities, because the authorities would create a society, and the ruled would be obedient to them. For this reason, shepherds would not complain about people, nor people about shepherds; masters against slaves and peasants, and slaves and peasants against masters; parents against children, and children against parents, and so on. If love were in us, then instead of a strong wall it would be for us against the Turks and our other enemies, and all our visible and invisible enemies: for where there is love, there is God himself, the helper and protector of love. O love, dear and sweet love! Without love, everything is bad and unfavorable; with love all is good and prosperous. Nowadays Christians love to live in rich houses, sit at a rich meal, dress in rich clothes, ride in rich carriages and horses, although they see the shortcomings and misfortunes of their neighbors. And therefore it is clear that they only love themselves, and not God and their neighbors. Why does all sorts of trouble, misfortune and damnation happen in people? Self-love is the cause of all evil. Therefore, the humane God, caring for our well-being, gave us the commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). This was when Christians “had one heart and one soul” (Acts 4:32). Now we see the opposite of this. Now Christians have heart against heart and soul against soul; Now everyone has lips filled with love or more flattery, but very rarely does anyone have love in their hearts. “And because iniquity abounds, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). Christians, woe to us without love! Where there is no love, there is no faith; faith does not exist without love. Where there is no faith, there is no Christ and salvation. Christians! We confess God, who is love. Let us love one another, and with one mind let us confess the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Beloved Christians! All Christians say this: how can one not love God, or who should we love if not God. This is the True Word: how can you not love God? And one more thing: who should we love if not God? God is the highest, uncreated, beginningless, infinite, natural and imperishable good. Just as the sun always shines, just as fire always warms, so God is naturally good and always does good, so that “no one is good except God alone” (Matthew 19:17). God also does us good when He punishes us, because He punishes us in order to correct us; beats us to have mercy on us; saddens us in order to truly comfort us. “For the Lord punishes whomever he loves; and he beats every son whom he receives” (Heb. 12:6). How is it possible not to love God: God is our Creator, created us out of nothing: we did not exist, and now we live, move and exist. His almighty hand created and created us. He created us, O people! not like other creatures, insensitive and dumb: he created with his most special, Divine advice: “Let us make man” (Gen. 1:26). It is said about other creatures: as He spoke, and it was: “He commanded, and it was created” (Ps. 149:5), but not so about man. How? “Let us create,” he said, “a man.” O most holy, most kindly advice! The Trinitarian God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, said about man: “Let us make man.” What kind of person? “In our image,” he said, “and in our likeness.” Oh, the wonderful goodness of God to man! Oh, the highest honor of man! Man was created in the image of God and in the likeness of God. What creature has received such honor from God? We do not know. Man has been honored with this and is honored by God in the image of God. O most dear and beautiful creation of God, man! The image of God is like a royal seal in itself. The king is honest, and so is his portrait. God, the Heavenly King, is worthy of all honor, and his image is man. This goodness, O Christians! God poured out upon us in our creation; How can we not love Him? We fell and perished, for which we cannot mourn enough: “And a man of honor without understanding, was likened to unwashed cattle and became like them” (Ps. 49:13). But the man-loving God still did not abandon us, he gave us a wonderful image of salvation: he sent His only begotten Son to us to save us and bring us to Himself: “For 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” (John 3:16, 17). How can we not love God, who loves us so much? God is a lover of mankind, as we all call him; A person must also be a lover of God. Love is rewarded with nothing other than love and gratitude. God is our provider, he provides for us and cares for us: he gives us food, clothing and a home. His sun, moon and stars enlighten us. We warm ourselves with its fire and cook our own food. We wash ourselves with its water and cool down. His cattle serve us. Its air revives us and preserves our life. In a word, we are in His blessings and love and cannot live without them for a minute. How can we not love God, who loves us so much and is so kind to us? We love man, the benefactor, but we must love God, the benefactor, even more strongly. Yet all creatures and man himself are God’s acquisition: “The earth is the Lord’s and... all who live in it” (Ps. 23:1). God is our Father, we pray to him and address ourselves: “Our Father who art in heaven,” and so on. How can we not love God the Father? Kind children certainly love their father; if we also want to be sincere children of God and unfeignedly call Him Father, then we must love Him as a father. What everyone says is correct, how can you not love God? Like any virtue, so there must be love in the heart; when it is not in the heart, then there is no love itself. God does not say to our lips: love, humble yourself, have mercy, pray, ask, call me, etc., but to our hearts. One must have love, humility, mercy, prayer, etc. в сердце. And when it is in the heart, it will certainly appear outside, like a belch from the stomach. The innermost fire manifests itself with warmth and the fragrant balm with a good smell. So the holy David, the love that he had for God, showed in his sweet songs to God: “The Lord is my strength, and my refuge, and my Deliverer, my God, my Helper, and I trust in Him: my Defender, and the horn of my salvation, and my Protector” (Ps. 17:3), and in many other places. Love, although hidden in the heart, cannot hide itself, and shows its external signs. But let’s see what signs of love for God there are, so that we don’t have a false dream of love instead of love: in nothing is a person deceived so much as in love. The signs of love are as follows: a) The Lord Himself indicates, saying: “Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he loves Me” (John 14:21). A true lover of God is one who takes care of everything that is contrary to God and tries to fulfill everything that pleases Him, and therefore keeps His holy commandments. Therefore, those Christians who do not keep His commandments do not have the love of God. These include those who are malicious and somehow harm others. This includes fornicators, adulterers and all defilers. This includes thieves, plunderers, plunderers and anyone who somehow unjustly appropriates the property of others for themselves. This includes slanderers and scolders. These include cunning and crafty people, charmers, deceivers and hypocrites. Sorcerers and those who call them to themselves and all lawbreakers belong. All of them do not love both the Law of God and God himself: they love themselves and their whims, and not God and His holy Law. b) A clear sign of God’s love is heartfelt joy in God: for what we love, we rejoice in. Likewise, God’s love cannot exist without joy, and no matter how many times a person feels the sweetness of God’s love in his heart, so many times does he rejoice in God. Love, like a sweet virtue, cannot be felt without joy; just as honey delights our throat when we taste it, so the love of God gladdens our heart when we taste and see “how good the Lord is!” (Ps. 33:9). Such joy in God is depicted in many places in Holy Scripture, and especially in the holy psalms; this joy is spiritual, heavenly, and is a foretaste of the sweetness of eternal life. c) A true lover of God despises the world and everything that is in the world, and strives for his most beloved God. He considers honor, glory, wealth and all the pleasures of this world, which the sons of this age seek, to be nothing; he only needs God, the uncreated and all-loving good. In him alone he finds perfect honor, glory, wealth and consolation; to him only God is a precious bead, for the sake of which he considers everything else small and insignificant. He desires nothing, either in heaven or on earth, except God. Such love is depicted in the words of the psalm: “What do we have in heaven? and what did You want on earth? My heart and my flesh are gone, O God of my heart, and my portion, O God, forever” (Ps. 72:25, 26). He uses food, drink, clothing, etc. only out of necessity, and not for voluptuousness. It follows from this that he who does not love God does not love the world, according to the testimony of the Apostle: “Whoever loves the world does not have the love of the Father” (1 John 2:15). These are those who see their pleasure in the pride and pomp of this world, in rich houses, in rich carriages, in a rich meal, in rich clothes, they strive for fame and honor, and so on. Such people love carnal lust and worldly pride, everything that is contrary to God, and not God. d) A true lover of God has in unforgettable memory God, His love for us and His good deeds. We see this in human love: for whom we love, we often remember. Thus, whoever loves God often remembers him, meditates, and thereby is consoled and admires Him: after all, where his treasure is, there is his heart. For him, God is an invaluable and most lovable treasure, and therefore his heart is always inseparable from Him. Therefore, His holy name is often remembered with love, but the heart, filled with the love of God, gives outward signs of kindness. And from this we see that those who forget Him do not love God. Oblivion is a clear sign of dislike for God: a lover cannot forget his beloved. e) The lover desires to be inseparable from his beloved. Many Christians want to be glorified with Christ the Lord, but they do not want to be with Him in dishonor and reproach and do not want to bear the cross. They pray to Him so that they can be in His Kingdom, but they do not want to suffer in the world, and thereby show that their heart is wrong and they truly do not love Christ, and they love themselves more than Christ. Therefore, the Lord says: “And whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). A true friend is recognized in misfortune: he is our true friend and loves us who does not abandon us in misfortune. Thus, a true lover of Christ is one who, here in this world, abides with Christ, and is attached to Him with his heart, and endures the cross with Him without complaint, and desires to be inseparably with Him in the future life. Such a Christian sincerely says to Christ: “It is good for me to cleave to God” (Ps. 72:28). f) The sign of God’s love is love for one’s neighbor: whoever truly loves God also loves his neighbor. He who loves the lover loves the one he loves. The source of love for one's neighbor is love for God, but God's love is known by love for one's neighbor. And therefore it is clear that he who does not love his neighbor does not love God, as the Apostle teaches: “Whoever says: “I love God,” but hates his brother, is a liar: for he who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see? And we have this commandment from Him, that whoever loves God should also love his brother” (1 John 4:20, 21). These are the signs of love for God hidden in the human heart. Beloved Christians! Let us repent and turn away from the vanity of the world and purify our hearts with repentance and contrition, so that the love of God may dwell in us. “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16)! The root and beginning of love for one's neighbor is the love of God. He who truly loves God certainly loves his neighbor; Without a doubt, God loves every person. If anyone truly loves a loving God, he must also love the person He loves: let us love one another, as God loved us. All of us, O Christians! We recognize one, the forefather Adam, we have all akin nature and are called and are people: let us love one another! All were created by one God, created in the image of God and in the likeness: let us love each other! All of us who have fallen have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us: let us also love one another. God loved us all so much, “that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Let us love each other as God loved us! God gave us all His holy Word, like a lamp shining in the darkness. It teaches us to love each other, and out of love to do good to each other: let us love each other! We all listen to this Word of God: let us love one another! We are all called to one holy faith, and we believe in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the one Trinitarian God, who loves us: let us also love each other! We all call on one God, pray and worship Him, sing and praise Him, let us love each other as He loves us! We are all called Christians from Christ: let us love one another! At baptism, we all renounced Satan and all his evil deeds, pride, hatred and other evil, and promised Christ to love each other: let us love each other! We are all called to eternal life, and we say in the Holy Symbol: “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century”: let us love each other! We all approach the One Holy Table and partake of the body and blood of Christ. Oh great thing! O incomprehensible love of God! Let's love each other! Christians, we are all brothers, we have one Father, God, to whom we pray and say: “Our Father who art in heaven,” and so on. Let us love each other like brothers! Out of His love, the Heavenly Father gives us all food, clothing, a home and other blessings: let us also love each other. A Christian has enough reasons to love his neighbor. The main reason is that God loves man. Well, Christian! Do you want to hate God's dear creation, man? Do you want to hate someone who is the same person as you? Do you want to hate someone who was created in the image of God and in the likeness, just like you? Do you want to hate the one whom God loves? Do you want to hate someone who was redeemed by the blood of Christ, just like you? Do you want to hate the one for whom Christ suffered and died? Do you want to hate someone who has been washed in the bath of holy baptism, just like you? Do you want to hate someone who is called to eternal life, just like you? Do you want to hate the one whom God tells you to love as yourself? Do you want to hate someone who approaches the most holy Eucharist, just like you? Do you want to do evil to someone to whom God does good out of one love? Do you want to dishonor and curse the one whom God has honored? Do you want to curse the one whom God blesses? Christians! It is terrible, and very terrible, to hate the one whom God loved, for whom Christ died and suffered. It is dangerous and very dangerous to do evil to someone whom God has done good, to dishonor someone whom God has honored, to curse someone whom God has blessed. Let us love each other, Christians, as God loved us all! About the two fruits of love for one's neighbor Many Christians are deceived in this word - neighbor. Therefore, firstly, let us consider who our neighbor is, and thus we will learn what love for one’s neighbor is. We are all neighbors to each other: there are neighbors who are subject to power and neighbors who are subject to power; there are shepherds to people and people who are neighbors to shepherds; parents are neighbors to children and children are neighbors to parents; masters are to slaves and peasants, and slaves and peasants are neighbors to masters; husbands are neighbors to wives and wives are neighbors to husbands; those who sell and buy among themselves are neighbors; masters and mercenaries are neighbors to each other; there are neighbors who are judged and judged by each other. In a word, all people, relatives and non-relatives, acquaintances and strangers, fellow countrymen and foreigners, are neighbors to each other; and even more so, Christians who are united by one faith, one baptism, one Word of God, one confession and invocation of God, one hope in the resurrection of the dead and eternal life, all the more, I say, Christians are neighbors and brothers to each other. For they pray to the one heavenly Father, and like brothers among themselves they say to Him: “Our Father who art in heaven,” and so on. We are talking here about Christian love, which embraces and contains not only one’s relatives, brothers, friends, acquaintances, but also all people, and even more so those close in faith and fellow Christians in spirit; of such love the two fruits are explained here. The first is not to do evil to anyone, the second is to show mercy and mercy to your neighbor in need. The first mercy and fruit of love is not to offend anyone and not to do harm to anyone. There is evil and insult to parents when their children do not obey; Evil is also an insult to the authorities when those under their control do not show worthy respect, subjugation and obedience: love does not create this evil. He who loves his parents and authorities obeys them and honors them. It is evil to disobey shepherds and mentors: he who loves this evil does not create, but obeys them and submits. Evil is to be angry and angry with your neighbor and harm him in some way, his health or his property: he who loves does not do this evil. It is evil to commit fornication and adultery and to defile oneself and one’s neighbor: he who loves does not do this evil. Evil is either openly or secretly, or it is insidious and flattering to steal and appropriate the property of a neighbor: he who loves does not do this evil. Evil is a lie to testify against your neighbor in court: he who loves does not do this evil. It is evil to slander one’s neighbor and to denigrate the honor of his name: he who loves does not do this evil. It is evil to reproach, scold, insult your neighbor: he who loves does not do this evil. Evil is to deceive and deceive your neighbor: he who loves does not do this evil. Evil is an insidious and flattering way to treat your neighbor: he who loves his neighbor does not do this evil. There is evil and insult to children when their parents do not care about good upbringing and Christian instruction: he who loves his neighbor does not do this evil. There is evil and offense to people when their shepherds do not care about their salvation: a good shepherd who loves his neighbor does not do this evil. There is also an evil and insult to the condemned when judges judge for bribes or acquaintances, and not according to the truth: a judge who loves his neighbor does not do this evil. There is evil and insult to the peasants when their masters aggravate them with either excessive taxes or work: a master who loves his neighbor does not do this evil. Evil is an insult to a husband when his wife comes to him, and an insult to a wife when her husband does not keep her marital fidelity to her: he who loves his neighbor does not do this evil. There is evil and insult to the owner when a mercenary lazily and hypocritically works for him: he who loves his neighbor does not do this evil. There is evil and resentment for a mercenary when the owner delays his payment or does not give it in full: he who loves his neighbor does not do this evil. There is evil and offense to the buyer when the seller deceives him with a product: he who loves his neighbor does not do this evil. So, sincere love does not create evil, this is the first fruit of love, that is, not to wish or create evil for one’s neighbor. The second fruit of love: to have pity on your neighbor in need and to help him in distress. A truly loving neighbor, seeing his misfortune, cannot help but sympathize with him and have mercy on him and give him a helping hand, because “love is kind” (1 Cor. 13:4). He sees a hungry man and feeds him; He sees a thirsty person and gives him something to drink; sees a wanderer and welcomes him into his home; sees a sick person sitting in prison, and will visit him (Matthew 25:35, 36), in a word, help him in every disaster. He sympathizes with the suffering, sympathizes with the sick, and comforts the sad, because love is merciful. A lover's soul hurts for his beloved when he sees him in distress; therefore, he cannot help but sympathize with him and, when he can, not help him in that disaster. So the philanthropic God, seeing the man he loves in great distress and destruction, had mercy on him and sent His only begotten Son into the world to save him and seek the lost. And therefore we see that, first of all, those people who do or want to do some kind of evil to their neighbor do not have love for their neighbor. Those who do not show concern for their neighbors who are in distress also do not have love for their neighbors. Such are those rich people who spend their wealth on their whims, and do not help poor people in their distress. They love their own whims, not their neighbor. Without love for one's neighbor, one does not have love for God, because whoever does not love his neighbor does not love God himself, as the above word says. Beloved Christians! Let us try to have Christian love in our hearts. She will not allow us to wish or do any harm to our neighbor. She will convince us to spend our wealth not on our whims, but on the shortcomings of our neighbors and to give them a helping hand in every disaster. Let us sincerely love our neighbors, and we will be true, and not false, Christians: This is how a true Christian is known, as the Lord teaches: “By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). On the mutual obligation of Christians On the responsibilities of bosses First. Many Christians desire and seek honor and leadership, but not only Christian books, but also pagan books do not praise such people. He who seeks honor is unworthy of honor: people do not know what they are looking for. It often happens that a person’s honor is like a madman’s sword, with which he kills himself and others. A tall tree is open to every wind and when it falls, it crushes many small trees standing nearby; Likewise, a leader is subject to many temptations, and his fall can be heard far away, and he gives temptation. The boss will sin, and everyone knows about it. Do not, beloved, seek honor and authority, but expect a title. Second. When you are called to honor and authority, calculate your strength: not every person can lift every weight, not everyone can be both honored and in authority. One must first learn to control and control oneself, who wants to control and control others; and first do what he wants to order others. A Christian boss absolutely needs reason and a good conscience: without reason, a boss will wander like a blind man; without a good conscience he will ruin, and not build, society. Moreover, honor changes human character, but rarely for the better: many would be saints if they were not honored. Think about this, Christian, and do not take on a burden greater than your strength; and when God calls, although you will avoid honor, you will not escape it. Third. Those walking in honor and the authorities take an oath. The power of the oath is to take care of the benefit of society, to act according to conscience, to seek the truth, to eradicate untruth, to observe and instill the truth; in a word, provide with all zeal for the common good. Many Christians either take the oath for the sake of the ceremony alone, or, having taken the oath and leaving the church threshold, they forget the oath. Such people pursue honor for their own benefit, and not for the common good, and although outwardly they are Christians, they are nevertheless atheists on the inside. Do not imitate such leaders and will not suffer with them at the righteous judgment of Christ. Such leaders will endure as much torment as they rage and commit injustice here; their sins and iniquities cry out to heaven and ask for vengeance. Beloved! Beware of imitating such bosses; but being in honor, remember your oath and act according to your Christian conscience and the power of the oath, remembering the Last Judgment of Christ, for there you will answer to the righteous judge for every word. Be subordinate to your children as a father, and care for them as a father cares for his children. Fourth. Since there are many lying hypocrites among Christians, do not quickly believe the informers, but listen with one ear to the informer, and leave the other to the defendant; Don’t be quick in this matter and don’t believe right away. Fifth. Seek the truth in every way. But when it is impossible to find it, leave it and submit it to the judgment of God, where all truth and falsehood will appear; It is better to leave the guilty without punishment than to punish the innocent. Sixth. In the matter of court, do not know the faces of either friends or enemies, neither acquaintances nor strangers, but let truth and righteousness be your friend; for you do the work of God while sitting in the place of judgment; look at deeds, not at faces, and give everyone your due. Seventh. When you need to punish someone in word or deed, proceed to punishment with reluctance. When you punish with a word, beware of punishing with an offensive word: you are a rogue, you are a spendthrift, you are a thief, and so on. This is scolding, not punishment. When you punish with action, then punish, not torment. Many bosses show their anger and rage to their subordinates and thus torment them, rather than punish them. You punish your subordinate with regret and for the sake of correction. This is the heart and spirit of a Christian – to have compassion for one’s neighbor. Remember that your brother is being punished, and he has the same flesh and weakness as you. Eighth. When you feel anger in your heart against a subordinate, then beware of punishing in word and deed in anger, but wait until the anger is tamed, because in anger it is impossible to punish in a Christian way, but you will do a lot of obscene and indecent things for Christians, which you will later regret, but you will never return what was done or said. Anger, like a storm, crushes everything or, like fire, consumes everything: in anger a person can do no good except evil, but beware of punishing in anger. Ninth. Remember that you are a Christian, you are in charge of Christians. Christians are all brothers with each other. Christ the Lord is not ashamed to call Christians brothers, as we see in Scripture; all the more so for a simple person, even if he is a leader, to have Christians as brothers and to call them that. Beware of despising your subordinates and making them your stool, as some are in the habit of having; know for sure that among them there are saints and chosen ones of God, whom it is hard to despise and destroy, as you yourself see. And although outwardly you must show in word and deed your rank and your superiority, nevertheless think within yourself that you are no better than them; Moreover, God can make a subordinate a boss and a subordinate out of a boss. Think about this, and you will not be proud of your subordinates. Tenth. Without God’s help, no good deed or success can happen, so pray earnestly to the Lord, that He will help you in your rank and deeds. On the duties of subordinates First. Every ruler is established by God, according to Scripture: “There is no authority except from God; the existing authorities were established by God” (Rom. 13:1), therefore, honor the ruler for God’s sake, and give him the honor worthy of him in everything. Second. Since the boss provides and takes care of the society in which you live, then love him as your father and benefactor and be grateful to him. Third. Whatever he commands and establishes for the common good, carry it out and do according to his commandment. Fourth. Beware of believing slander and evil rumors about your boss. Often, a false rumor spreads to a person, and especially to a boss; all the more beware of slandering and condemning him, for you will sin gravely. It is a great lawlessness to slander or condemn an ​​ordinary person, and even more so a boss. Such slander deprives the boss of the respect due to him, and in his subordinates disdain and disobedience and all kinds of evil in society will follow. Fifth. When your boss punishes you, either in word or in deed, endure it without complaint. If you are punished righteously, then you deserve it, you receive it according to your deserts, why be indignant? If it is unrighteous, endure it, and count it among your sins that you have sinned against God. Sixth. Since the boss cares about society, and therefore about you, and demands reinforcement for the sake of reason and in temptations, then like all his subordinates, you too, pray for him, that the Lord will enlighten him and help and strengthen him. The Apostle says about this: “Therefore, first of all, I urge that prayers, petitions, supplications, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and for all those in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and purity” (1 Tim. 2:1, 2). The happiness or misfortune of society depends on the boss, just as the integrity of the whole body depends on the head; therefore, everyone should pray that the boss is reasonable and kind, and so society will be prosperous. For the rest, be extremely careful not to oppose your boss in everything, so that the judgment of God does not immediately overtake you, like Dathan and Aviron and their other like-minded people. Pastors here, of course, are bishops and priests. The very name shepherd shows what they should be: for they do not shepherd dumb cattle, but the sheep of Christ, people created in the image of God, and redeemed by the blood of Christ, the Son of God. Listen to this, beloved shepherd! a) You should not seek this rank or honor, but expect a calling. b) When called upon, judge for yourself whether you can lift and carry such a burden? If you can’t, don’t touch it, so as not to burden yourself and plunge into the abyss. He who wants to correct others must correct himself; You must first teach yourself, who wants to teach others; You have to be careful if you want to shepherd and save others. One must be kind oneself, who wants to guard and preserve others. One must go forward oneself, who wants to be a leader and show the way to others and lead them to the Fatherland; one must be the light of the world, by which everyone is enlightened, the salt of the earth, etc. You must first be pure and immaculate yourself, who wants to be a prayer book to God for others. It is necessary that the conscience itself does not convict, whoever wants to convict others for their sins, so as not to hear: “Physician, heal yourself” (Luke 4:23). Think about this, beloved, and do not touch a burden that is heavier than your strength. c) The shepherd must teach people without fail, lead them to true repentance, plant the fear of God and love in human hearts, frighten fearless and unrepentant sinners with the judgment of God, encourage those who are confused and doubtful and prone to despair with the mercy of God and the consolation of the Gospel, eradicate superstitions, schisms and heresies. All that teaching is to be drawn from the sources of Israel, the Holy Books of the Word of God and given to people who are subordinate to oneself. d) The place of teaching is the holy church. However, the shepherd, wherever there is a meeting, can and should teach the doctrine when the opportunity arises. In this matter there is an example for all shepherds - Christ, the Savior of the world, who taught not only in Solomon’s temple, but also in houses, and in the desert and other places. Chance will tell a diligent and witty shepherd what and where to say, as we see in the Gospel. While sitting at a meal, you can talk about the meal of the Kingdom of Heaven, and so on. e) What you want to say to people, you must first consider it carefully and think it through well, and then offer it to people. The food is first boiled and dissolved with salt, and this is how it is presented at the meal, and is pleasing and useful to those eating; Likewise, a shepherd must first cook the food of God’s word inside his heart and dissolve it with the salt of his mind, and thus present a spiritual meal to hungry people, otherwise the shepherd, without meaning to, may sin in his word. f) Since people are dualistic, living fearlessly and crushed by the fear of God’s judgment, and thirsting for consolation, then the pastor must preach the Law of God and the judgment of God to the fearless in his word and thereby lead them to true repentance and contrition, while giving Gospel consolation to those who are contrite and sad and troubled by conscience. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15). g) The accusatory word is spoken differently to everyone and to one specific person. When it is spoken to everyone, one can speak more strictly and sharply, so that hearing sinners feel the blow of fear in their hearts and thus awaken from their sinful sleep: we see this in the Prophetic and Apostolic writings. But when you want to speak an accusatory word to one person for a sin known to you and to him, then speak carefully so as to heal at least one ulcer, and not hurt him even more; Look for time and opportunity. There is no better occasion than when he confesses his own sin to you; then you can tell him everything, just speak kindly and with regret, and not with anger, so that he understands that you are speaking with love, that you sincerely want to save. h) When people, no matter what they are, break the law and you know this for sure, be extremely careful to remain silent, but everywhere expose their iniquities in your word, so as not to become like a dumb dog that does not bark, when thieves attack a house and plunder it, and wolves attack a flock and destroy it. Be strong in this, beloved, and do your pastoral work, even if you had to suffer in this; You have as an example the Prophets and Apostles and Saints of Christ who lived in ancient times. i) Be careful not to show affection to rich and noble people who live in the luxury and pride of this world and to reduce their vices, or, what is worse, do not consider them anything, so as not to be a caresser instead of a teacher; but directly expose every vice and testify to the truth everywhere and always: you speak God’s word as a messenger of God. Let them all know that you are a shepherd and their teacher and that you have a word to give to the righteous Judge about them. j) For the sake of human praise and glory, beware of speaking God’s word; and you will not sin before God by stealing for yourself what is not yours. God's word was given for the sake of human salvation and glorification of the name of God; That's why it needs to be preached. When you properly correct your pastoral office, you will receive praise even if you don’t want to, but not from everyone. The good and those who care about their salvation will love you and praise you, but the evil and those who do not think about their salvation will hate and revile you: not everyone likes everything. k) Whatever you teach to the people subordinate to you, you must do everything yourself first. You will teach in word and deed when your morals and life correspond to your word. You sit on a high place and stand in front of everyone; Still, they look at you, and they notice what you do and say. Teach them good things both by word and by example, so that they hear useful words from your mouth and see the example of your righteous life, and so use your word and life. Beloved! Be a light to your people in both word and life; be their salt, be the leader to the Fatherland, and not a pillar standing in the way; show them the way and go ahead yourself. Guard them as a watchman, and be guarded yourself; Proclaim to them the will of God, but do it yourself first. Call for a great supper of eternal bliss, but go ahead yourself. m) Both the shepherd himself and the people’s efforts and deeds without God’s help do not correct and do not achieve success; therefore, the shepherd is obliged to pray diligently for himself and for the people to God so that He will help him and all the people. What virtues to possess and how diligent a shepherd should be, in the first and second Epistle to Timothy and in the Epistle to Titus, the Apostle says - read and you will see. Notes worthy of his words: “a bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, chaste, decent, honest, hospitable, teaching, not a drunkard, not a violent person, not quarrelsome, not covetous, but gentle, peace-loving, not a lover of money, ruling his household well, keeping his children in obedience with all honesty” (1 Tim. 3:2-4). On the duties of the flock to the shepherds First. Since the shepherd speaks the word of God, what he teaches, diligently listen to it, Christian, and do according to it. The Apostle speaks about this: “Obey your leaders and be submissive, for they are vigilantly watching over your souls, as those who are obliged to give an account; so that they do this with joy and not groaning, for this is not profitable for you” (Heb. 13:17). Second. A shepherd is God's messenger, who is sent from God to you and proclaims to you the path of salvation, and calls you by the name of God into His eternal Kingdom. Therefore, honor him as a messenger of God, as one who proclaims great blessings to you and calls you to them: “Whoever receives you receives Me” (Matthew 10:40), says the Lord. Accept and honor the shepherd as Christ's messenger. Third. Since the shepherd provides for the common good, and cares about everyone as well as you, so that everyone receives eternal salvation, then love him as your father and benefactor and be grateful to him. You call him father, fine; He gives birth to both everyone and you, not to temporary, but to eternal life. Love him too as your own father. If you love your father according to the flesh, you should love this father even more. Fourth. He cares and provides for everyone and for you; Do not leave him in need, and help him with what he requires, and make up for what he lacks, so that he has time to care for and provide for the common good. He who cares and provides for everyone must provide for everyone; so mutual love and charity will not be without success and there will be common benefit. Fifth. Since many of the people are unkind and do not like pastoral reproof, and want to live of their own free will and invent and spread a lot of slander against the shepherd, then when you hear some slander against the shepherd and an evil rumor, do not believe it and stop your mouth so as not to tell anyone else about it, otherwise you will sin grievously, you will repay evil for good, that great is lawlessness. It is hard to slander and dishonor a simple person, much less a shepherd; therefore, there is great discord among people, contempt and disobedience will follow the shepherd, and so his work may turn out to be useless. Heed this diligently, beware of evil rumors against the shepherd, lest you spread evil rumors about him and experience the vengeful hand of God on yourself. Sixth. If you see any weaknesses, which even the pious have, in a shepherd, do not be tempted and do not judge him, but remember that the shepherd is the same person as you and others, and also has weaknesses, like other people. Seventh. Since the shepherd is subjected to many temptations, and the devil and his evil servants rebel against him most of all, therefore he requires special God’s help and reinforcement. Like all people, you too need to pray to God for him, to help him and strengthen him. The well-being of a home depends on a good owner, the well-being of soldiers depends on a good commander, and the well-being of a sailing ship depends on a good helmsman. Pray that the shepherd will be wise and kind, and that Christian society will be prosperous. Eighth. If the shepherd himself does not do what he teaches, but lives contrary to the teaching, listen to the word of Christ, which says about such shepherds: “The scribes and Pharisees sat in the seat of Moses; So whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do; But do not do what they do, for they say and do not do” (Matthew 23:2, 3). On the duties of husbands and wives in marriage First. Both husband and wife must enter into marriage by voluntary desire and consent, therefore the priest, when marrying both persons, asks: do they enter into marriage by will and with consent? Therefore, marriage cannot be firm without the consent of both persons; and the priests, seeing the disagreement of some person and performing a wedding, sin gravely and are subject to proper punishment, because from this all evil will follow in the marriage. Second. Those who properly enter into marriage must maintain love and fidelity to each other until the end of their lives. Third. Neither the husband's wife nor the wife should leave her husband until death, but, as they promised and agreed, they remain inseparable until death. Fourth. A husband and wife should consider virtue, and not passion, to be the basis of their love, that is, when a husband sees some kind of vice in his wife, he should condescendingly instill in her, and the wife should obey her husband in this. Exactly, the wife, when she sees some vice in her husband, must admonish him and he is obliged to listen to her. In this way, their love will be faithful and continuous, and they will mutually, having thus made their happiness, be delighted with the virtue and well-being of their children, and God’s blessing will be upon them. There is a custom for some husbands to leave their wives and some wives to leave their husbands, under the guise of abstinence, but this is a very dangerous matter: because instead of abstinence, the grave sin of adultery may follow in either one or both. If a husband leaves his wife, and the wife sins with another, then the husband will also be guilty of this sin, because he gave his wife a reason to sin. Likewise, if a wife leaves her husband, and the husband sins with someone else, then the wife is guilty of this sin for the reason described above. Fifth. The apostle says to those who are married: “The wife has no authority over her own body, but the husband does; Likewise, the husband has no power over his body, but the wife does. Do not deviate from each other, except by consent, for a while, to practice fasting and prayer” (1 Cor. 7:4, 5) and so on. It is clear what the Apostle is talking about here. Sixth. Those living in marriage must remember that they are Christians, they profess the holy name of God, they call on God and pray, they partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, etc., and even more so priests and deacons. And therefore we should not live in marriage like the pagans, the Apostle tells them: “lest Satan tempt you through your intemperance” (1 Cor. 7:5). Seventh. A husband should not have his wife as a slave, but as a helpmate; but a wife must obey her husband, as the Apostle teaches: “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” And a little lower: “let the wife fear her husband” (Eph. 5:22, 33). And in another place: “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord” (Col. 3:18). When a husband and wife have the same rights and are good-natured, then the marriage will be prosperous and wonderful, because they will always have like-mindedness, harmony and peace, which is what great well-being consists of. “Behold, whatever is good, or whatever is good, the brethren must live together” (Ps. 132:1), says the Prophet. But since Satan, the enemy of human souls, wants to break the union of love and harmony among good-natured people, then husband and wife should bear with each other in their weaknesses and endure each other with love; and thus harmony and peace are maintained. Eighth. If either the husband is good and the wife is evil, or the wife is good and the husband is evil, then the good person will suffer eternal suffering and the cross. Therefore, in this case, he must get used to patience, and with patience he must endure and overcome the evil that happens. Ninth. We see in stories that many wives corrupted their husbands and led them to destruction. Therefore, husbands should not slack off their wives and allow them to do whatever they want, but restrain the desire for immoral passions so as not to suffer for it. The serpent approached Eve and deceived her. Eve, being deceived, deceived Adam and led him to destruction. This is how it happens now: the ancient serpent also approaches a woman and seduces her, and through the wife draws her husband to lawless deeds. Husband, be careful and do not follow your wife’s will and advice in everything, so that she doesn’t take you over and lead you wherever she wants. Eve always has her own character; love her until God is disgusted. Let her, according to the Apostolic word, fear you, and not you her; and let her obey you, and not you obey her. The Holy Apostle Paul addresses parents this way: “bring up... your children in the teaching and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4), and calls on them to raise their children as Christians should. All Christians in holy baptism were renewed to a new, holy, Christian life and promised to serve God with faith and truth and thus please him. But in order for those who are baptized not to become corrupted and fall into distress, and so that it does not happen as in the true parable: “a dog returns to its vomit, and a washed pig goes to wallow in the mud” (2 Pet. 2:22), it is imperative to prevent this distressful state by raising children well while they are still small and young. With pain and regret we see that many children become corrupted in their youth; this happens to them due to the carelessness of their parents. Many parents teach their children art, temporary life as an employee, others try to teach foreign languages, and spend considerable sums on this, but they do not think about Christian teaching, they do not teach their children to live like Christians. Such parents give birth to their children for a temporary life, but close the door to an eternal life. Saint Chrysostom, speaking about parents who do not care about the good upbringing of their children, says this: “Parents who do not try to raise their children Christianly are the most lawless child killers” (Conversation 3 against detractors of monastic life). Because child killers separate the body from the soul, and they cast both soul and body into fiery Gehenna. According to natural law, ordinary death cannot be avoided in any way, but eternal death would be possible if the carelessness of the parents were not to blame for this. Moreover, the resurrection of the dead can abolish bodily death; Nothing can return spiritual destruction. Therefore, parents, listen to the word of the Lord: “Raise up...your children in the training and admonition of the Lord.” The gardener ties a newly planted young tree to a stake planted and secured in the ground so that the wind and storm does not tear it out of the ground, and he cuts off any unusable branches or shoots on the tree so that the tree is not damaged or dried out. Do the same with your little and young children: tie their hearts to the fear of God, so that they do not waver from the wiles of Satan and lose piety, and cut off the passions that grow in them, so that they do not grow and take possession of them and thus kill the inner new man born in holy baptism. Because we see that when children grow up, sinful passions appear and grow with them, like bad shoots on a tree; therefore, so that these lawless shoots do not grow and damage and destroy a person who has been washed, sanctified and justified by holy baptism, it is absolutely necessary to cut them off with punishment and the teaching of the Lord. Cut off, beloved, such shoots from your children, and bring them up in the “discipline and discipline of the Lord.” As soon as they begin to understand at least a little and distinguish between good and evil, you too begin your work and teach them. Do this with them: a) Remind them often about holy baptism and that they then promised God to live decently and serve Him with faith and truth and to shun all evil and sin. b) Repeat to them often that we are all born and reborn in baptism not to a temporary life, not to acquire honor, glory, wealth in this world, which our death itself speaks of, otherwise we would remain in this world forever, but we are born and reborn for eternal life. Our whole life in this world, from birth to death, is the path along which we go to our promised Fatherland and eternal life. Remind them often so that they do not become addicted to the vanity of this world and learn heavenly wisdom, not earthly wisdom. c) Teach them who the Christian God is, and what He requires of us: that He hates evil and loves good; He executes a person for evil, and rewards for good. And although we do not see Him, He sees us and is invisibly present with us everywhere, and sees every deed of ours, and hears every word. We must fear Him and please Him. d) Enlighten their inner eyes, who is Christ, in whom we believe, and for what He came into the world and lived, and suffered, and died. The reason for this was our sins; and our eternal salvation lies in our getting rid of sins. e) Teach them the Law of God and explain what that Law requires of us, that is, that we love God and every person. Everything that is contrary to this Law is sin and vice; nevertheless, what is consistent and similar is virtue. At holy baptism we promised God to observe God’s law and thus to abstain from all sin and to live virtuously. Anyone who lives differently does not keep those promises and is considered a liar before God; and, when he does not truly repent and correct himself, he will appear at the judgment of God as a liar. f) Present to them the last thing, death, the judgment of Christ, eternal life and eternal torment, so that the fear of God will be instilled in them and they will beware of all evil. Pour this and other things like milk into their young hearts, so that they grow in piety. They call you parents: be true parents. You gave birth to them according to the flesh, give birth also to them according to the spirit; You gave birth to them to temporary life, revive them to eternal life. Beloved Christians! You and your children will appear at the judgment of Christ, and you will give an answer for them to the righteous Judge. He will not ask you: did you teach your children art, did you teach them to speak French, German, Italian, but did you teach them to live like a Christian? Young children listen more to their parents' actions than to their instructions. Therefore, if you want your children to be pious and kind, be pious and kind yourself, and set yourself as an example for them, and so raise them in the teaching and admonition of the Lord. So your children and you will receive eternal salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord. First. Conscience itself convinces a person to honor his parents with love. The pagans taught and legitimized the first honor after God to be given to parents. And the word of God commands to honor parents: “Honor your father and mother” (Eph. 6:2). Give all respect, Christian, to those who gave birth to you, so that it may be good for you; Who should you honor if not your parents? Second. Since your parents are great benefactors, show them your worthy gratitude. Remember their illnesses and labors that were part of your upbringing, and be grateful to them for that. Know for sure that you cannot repay anything for their good deeds shown to you. They lent you a lot, and you owe them a lot. Show them heartfelt gratitude for this throughout your life. Third. Show them all obedience. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is what justice requires” (Eph. 6:1). And again: “Children, be obedient to your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord” (Col. 3:20). Fourth. Do not start any business without their advice and wishes, but you must consult with them about everything and ask permission, so that your boldness does not offend and the business you have begun is not successful. Fifth. It is immoral to act in front of them, to speak words and to do indecent deeds, be ashamed and beware, this is what Christian duty requires of you. Sixth. Be extremely careful not to offend them with a rude word, but speak to them and answer with all courtesy, so that they know that you have love and respect for them. Seventh. If you are being punished for something and you truly know that you are to blame for it, admit your guilt with humility and endure the punishment with meekness. They punish you so that you become reformed and kind. If you know your innocence, and your conscience justifies you, then declare your innocence with all courtesy and humility. Your meekness will be reasonable everywhere, so that they know that you are their child. Eighth. In every need and lack, do not abandon them, but help them and serve them, and especially in old age, remember how much they worked for you, repay them with your services. Ninth. Whatever weaknesses you see in them, which good people also have, cover with silence. But if you see something tempting, be extremely careful not to judge or tell someone else about it. In this matter do not imitate Ham, the son of Noah, who, seeing the nakedness of his father and went out, told his brothers, but imitate Shem and Japheth, his brothers, who, taking clothes and putting them on their shoulders, went backwards and covered the nakedness of their father (Gen. 9:22-28), and so on. Be like that if you see the weakness of your parents. Tenth. If you somehow offend them and recognize them in your conscience, and perceive an insult in them, then do not hesitate, but immediately fall before them and humbly ask for forgiveness, so as not to fall under the judgment of God. If, however, we need to ask forgiveness from every person who is offended by us and be reconciled with him (Matthew 5:23–25), according to Christ, much more should we do the same with our parents, whom we should love and honor more than other people. Eleventh. The pagans themselves have determined great punishments for those children who do not honor their parents in their books. And in the holy Law of God, terrible executions are written on such unfortunate children who slander their father and mother, let them die, and so on. Such children, or rather degenerates of the human race, are vile to both God and people. It is great ingratitude and grave iniquity to be a villain to your benefactors and repay evil for good. Therefore, beware, Christian, so as not to immediately recognize the vengeful hand of God on yourself. After God, there are no greater benefactors for us than our parents; It’s scary and ungrateful to them. Twelfth. Know for sure that as you are to your parents, so will your children be to you, according to the word of Christ: “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2). God commands in the fifth commandment that children honor their parents, and that parents provide for the welfare of their children, referring to the duties of masters and servants. That is why the holy Apostle Paul calls on his subordinates to obey the authorities, calling them God’s servants: “He is God’s servant” (Rom. 13:4). And when he teaches that children obey their parents and fathers do not irritate their children, then he sets out the equal duty of masters and slaves, that slaves must obey their masters, “doing the will of God from the soul” (Eph. 6:6), and masters, remembering that they also have an all-good Lord in heaven, were equally kind to their subordinates. This instruction of the word of God constitutes the following duties of the masters: a) Keep slaves in the fear of God and perfect obedience to their law. To abstain from lawless deeds, so that God may be glorified and well-pleasing not only in masters, but also in slaves. b) On Sundays and holidays, not only do not distract them from worship and prayers with work, but also pray to God for them to be merciful to them. c) Coordinate your orders with the Law of God so that the services of slaves and the benefit of the master do not destroy the commandments of the Lord. d) Take care of their food, their life and health. e) With benevolent orders, lead to the improvement of their family, home and agriculture. f) See that they maintain fidelity and honesty in their marriage. g) Avoid cruelty and, according to the instructions of the Holy Apostle Paul, treat them in such a way that severity is dissolved by paternal condescension towards them. h) Requests to accept and consider them favorably and fatherly. In general, in all your duties towards them, act in such a way that it would not be a shame to appear with them before the Judge of all, God, and, enjoying eternal bliss, increase it by seeing them glorified. The law of God subjects the subordinates to obedience to the masters. The holy Apostle Paul gives sufficient instruction for them: “Slaves, obey your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling, in the simplicity of your heart, as to Christ, not with visible obsequiousness, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the soul, serving with zeal, as the Lord, and not as men” (Eph. 6:5-7). So the commandment of God and the teaching of the Holy Apostle Paul constitute the following rules: a) Honor and love the Lord as fathers. b) Carry out their will with fear and trembling: with fear, that is, not fearing their punishment, but fearing to transgress their will; with trepidation, that is, to have caution, so that sometimes out of willfulness you do not violate their orders. c) In simplicity of heart, that is, not to think about why and what you were commanded to do. d) Do not act as people-pleasers usually do, who only try to be seen by their masters as good, but remember that God looks at your deeds. Therefore, the Holy Apostle Paul inspires you to know that everyone who does good will receive it from the Lord. e) Show diligence and love in all your affairs; thereby God will bless your deeds and incline hearts to you. f) If something seems difficult to you, you must humbly ask for relief, and not stubbornly persist. g) Send prayers to the Lord for them both in church and in homes, so that you can testify to your zeal for them before God. First. Wealth is God's gift given to people: “The earth is the Lord... and all who live on it” (Ps. 23:1). It is given to you, Christian, not for you alone, but also for the poor. Be content with this in moderation, thank God, and satisfy the needs of the poor; this is the correct use of wealth. Remember that you are a builder, not the owner of wealth: you will still be responsible for everything. Second. The Holy Word of God praises and pleases those who are merciful and generous to the poor: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Matt. 5:7), “Blessed is he who considers the poor and needy” (Ps. 40:2). Deeds of mercy are extolled before the whole world from the righteous judge, Christ, and in other places of Holy Scripture. Christian, if you want to be a partaker of this bliss, be merciful and generous to the poor. If you have a lot, give a lot; if you have a little, give a little; but give it from the heart. Alms are valued not by the amount of what you give, but by the diligence of the giver, “for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). You give now into the hands of the poor and needy, but from the hands of Christ you will receive a hundredfold. Come on, don’t be afraid, this won’t perish! Third. Many Christians, despite the fact that almsgiving receives such a great reward, either keep their property as guards, or waste it on whims and luxury. The stored property will remain someone else’s, and often fall into the hands of enemies. What is wasted on whims and luxury perishes, as you can see, man. But both savers and spendthrifts will not only be deprived of bliss, but will also be punished by the Lord as evil slaves. Beware of this, Christian! Wealth either harms or helps a person: it helps when you spend it according to the will of God; It harms you when you use it incorrectly. Be a faithful builder of the Lord's property, O man, and you will be truly rich. The poor who accept alms should be grateful to God, who shows them His mercy through man, and to the man who gives and helps him in his needs, and to love, honor and remember him as his benefactor in his prayers. It is our duty to give to the rich, to gratefully accept the poor, and to pour out fervent prayers for the giver. However, although those who receive alms do not pray for the giver, alms given from a good heart automatically pray more than all other people and constantly intercede with God and silently ask the giver for mercy from Him. On the obligations of those who give a loan Christian love and duty commands us to lend to those who ask, according to the word of Christ: “Give to those who ask you, and do not turn away from those who want to borrow from you” (Matthew 5:42). We see that many Christians do not want to lend without interest or interest, but we also see that many troubles and misfortunes will follow from this to the poor debtors. Many of them reach final poverty and poverty; many are in prison, like villains, sitting and suffering. Christian! Go ahead, but be careful not to take interest from the impoverished and poor. a) This contradicts the natural law: what you do not want for yourself, do not do to others. No one wants to give interest, and no one should take it. b) My conscience itself forbids taking interest. Why should you take what is not yours? Demand and take what is yours, and taking more than what is given is extortion. Be content, Christian, with yours, and your conscience will be calm. c) God’s holy word forbids taking interest: “Lend, do not take anything more,” says the Lord (Deut. 23:19; Luke 6:35). d) Between great sins, interest or interest is assigned, as we see in the psalm: “You will not give your money for interest” (Ps. 14:5). Read the psalm diligently yourself and you will see the truth. e) It is safer both before the all-seeing God and before His righteous court not to take from the poor than to take interest; choose the safest. f) Interest brings people into ever greater squalor and poverty. Christian duty commands us to complement our neighbor’s shortcomings, and not to make them even greater, and to help him, and not to ruin him. Beware of ruining your neighbor under the guise of helping, and when lending, do not take anything beyond what is given. He who takes interest from the poor commits great inhumanity and has lost his last spark of conscience. Beloved! Consider diligently the points described above, and remember the Last Judgment of Christ: you will lend money, but you will not take interest. g) When the debtor comes to such poverty and poverty that he really has nothing to give to the creditor, Christian love demands that the creditor either suffer, or, best of all, forgive the debt to the debtor. Christian! Indeed, your debtor is the one who took a loan from you, but you are a debtor to God. He owes you money, but you owe God your sins. His debt against your sin is very small, no matter how great it is. Asking God for the release of a thousand talents, give your neighbor a hundred pennies (small money): spare the poor, and God will spare you. Be merciful man to man, and without a twinge of conscience you will pray to God: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” Beware of putting a person like you in prison, or perhaps even better, and you will not suffer as the wicked Gospel servant suffered (Matthew 18:32, 34). Remember what is written: “judgment without mercy to him who has shown no mercy” (James 2:13). On the obligations of borrowers Many people ask for a loan and accept it hypocritically, and promise to pay it back; but, having taken it from the lender’s hands, they forget their promise and no longer think of repaying it. It is clear that they want to give until they receive; and to tell the truth, this is why they ask and take, so as not to give back what they have taken. Many make up their own shortcomings, allegedly having nothing to pay the debt to their lender. All such people are not true, but false Christians, and there are charmers and deceivers, but inside they are plunderers and thieves, if they steal other people’s goods flatteringly and insidiously. Indeed, they are debtors to both God and men, and with their debt they will appear at the Last Judgment of Christ, and their debt, their insidious plans, and their deeds will appear before them. Such cunning and deceivers do unbearable harm to society: all the loyalty that should exist in society is taken away from human hearts. People, deceived by such charming people, no longer believe in good people and do not dare to give a loan. And what evil results from this in society, you see for yourself, Christian! When you take out a loan, try to repay everything in due time, so that what is taken and not given back is not counted as theft. Give everything you owe in order to appear debt-free before the judgment seat of Christ; make amends for your debt while it is on the path of your life. If you really find yourself in such poverty that you have no way to pay, as happens in the world, then come with humility to the lender and declare to him your poverty and poverty and ask him to either be patient until you repay him, or to forgive your debt to you, or otherwise give him satisfaction for your debt. “Make peace with your adversary quickly, while you are still on the way with him, lest your adversary hand you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the servant, and they throw you into prison... you will not come out of there until you pay it back to the last penny” (Matthew 5:25, 26), the Lord tells you. Many, selling their goods, sell their conscience, and with their conscience, and their eternal salvation, and buy themselves eternal destruction. These are those: a) who sell a rotten thing for a healthy one and a bad one for a good one, such as: weak cattle for a healthy one, which they feed so that they seem good to people; b) who sell one thing for another, such as: marten for sable, crystal for diamond, etc.; c) who sell every cheap thing for an expensive one, d) who mix water into wine and sand or anything else heavy into salt so that it weighs more; e) this also includes those unscrupulous sellers who demand a higher price for their goods than they are worth, because they are planning in their hearts to deceive the buyer. Even worse and more lawless than these are those sellers who swear lies and call on the holy and terrible name of God in lies. All of the above-mentioned sellers and others like them sin against the commandment of God: “Thou shalt not steal” (Ex. 20:15). And they steal as much as they sell their goods so shamelessly; and if they do not abandon this evil deed and do not repent and correct themselves, then robbers and thieves will appear at the judgment of Christ and receive according to their deeds. Be careful, Christian, what and how you sell, so as not to sell your eternal salvation. When you sell anything, keep your conscience everywhere and in everything, so as not to lose a good conscience and not to destroy your soul: “Let everyone who confesses the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness” (2 Tim. 2:19). About the responsibilities of buyers When the seller demands direct prices for the goods, the buyer no longer has to reduce it, but give the required price. Both the seller and the buyer must have Christian simplicity and truth; without it, every deed will be evil and indecent. On the responsibilities of those hiring and being hired We see that some hire others to work, but we also see that both those who hire and those who hire sin. Those who hire themselves sin and are subject to the vice of theft, and there are real thieves and kidnappers when, having taken a worthy price, they do not want to work diligently, but work lazily and carelessly, and only spend days and hours. They see for themselves that they take payment in vain, and so shamelessly steal other people’s property. Those who hire sin are those who either do not give the mercenaries at all or do not give the full amount of the appointed payment. Such a sin is a sin that cries out to heaven and asks for vengeance from God: “Behold, the wages that you withheld from the workers who reaped your fields cry out, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts” (James 5:4). Therefore, the mercenary must work diligently and conscientiously so that the payment he receives is not considered theft. And the owner must give the hirer all the wages in full, so as not to suffer the wrath of God and His righteous judgment. About those who insult and those who are insulted It happens that those living in society insult each other. This happens either from the cunning of the instigator, the devil, who, hating the love between us, incites us to insult our neighbor, or from the weakness of our nature, or from inattention, and often from habit. In this case, reconciliation is absolutely necessary, and thus brotherly love will be preserved. Many, having offended their neighbor, do not think about it and so enter the church and pray; but it is clear in what dangerous condition they are. Whoever sins against a person will sin against God, and whoever offends a person will offend God himself. Therefore, God forbade sinning against a person and offending him: and so a person, sinning against his neighbor and offending him, sins and offends God, who commanded not to do that. Love for one's neighbor is connected with the love of God. When love for one's neighbor is destroyed, then love for God is also destroyed: whoever does not love his neighbor does not love God himself. And from this it follows that whoever wants to be reconciled with God and have peace with God must first be reconciled with his neighbor and so approach God and pray and ask for mercy from him. From this it is clear that the prayer of those who, having offended their neighbor and not being reconciled with him, approaches God in prayer is vain and in vain. The Lord speaks about this: “So if you bring your gift to the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Make peace with your adversary quickly, while you are still on the way with him, so that your adversary does not hand you over to the judge, and the judge does not hand you over to the servant, and they throw you into prison... you will not come out of there until you give it to the last penny” (Matthew 5:23-26), says the Lord. Look, Christian, how we need reconciliation with our neighbors! God will not accept our repentance, prayer, or anything else from us until we make peace with our neighbor: so dearly does God honor love and peace with our neighbor! Be careful, if you offend your neighbor, do not worry about reconciliation, but immediately make peace with him, so as not to experience God’s righteous wrath. You offended your neighbor with a word, and with a word, make peace: humble yourself before him and ask him for forgiveness. By your deed you have offended your neighbor; by your deed, reconcile yourself: death follows us invisibly and unexpectedly snatches us away. What will happen to a person if he dies in non-reconciliation and enmity? Whatever he leaves this world with, he will appear before the judgment seat of Christ. What is now abandoned and blotted out will not appear there either. Make peace, beloved, with your rival while you live. Therefore, take heed to this, Christian. You knew how to insult your neighbor, but know how to be reconciled with him. But don’t delay so much in an important matter and don’t put it off until the morning: you don’t know whether you’ll wait until the morning? God promised us, the repentant, his mercy, but did not promise the morning. Convince yourself and crush the idol of pride living in your heart and bow with humility to your neighbor whom you have offended. And when you bow with your body, bow with your heart. If you ask him for forgiveness with your lips, ask with your heart. If you repent with your tongue, repent and have pity with your heart. You kiss him with your lips, kiss him with your heart: the external without the internal is nothing, because God judges by the internal state. Should I ask him for forgiveness? I am a noble man, and he is a rootless man. But he is also a man, just like you: with God, the righteous judge, both the noble and the baseless are equal. He forbade both the rootless noble and the noble to insult the rootless; and to His righteous judgment both the noble and the baseless will all be handed over; but look at the tombs of your ancestors, and there you will see your nobility. He is supposedly an evil man. It’s not your place to judge him and it’s not known who is better, you or him. God judges by the internal, and not by the external state. “The Lord will test the righteous and the wicked” (Ps. 10:5). Just as you don’t know how you will die, you don’t know how he will die. Many people start out good but end up bad. Others start out bad but end up well. It is not the good beginning, but the good end that boasts and accomplishes all things. He, they say, will not forgive me, although I will ask for forgiveness. No, humility has such power that it even bows down the hard-hearted; because God, a lover of humility, works through the humble. Just humble yourself before him, and you will see the power of humility: he will certainly hug and kiss you with love and joy, and if he does not do this, he himself will be to blame for his own misfortune. He, they say, will be proud of my humility. It’s not true: seeing your humility, he himself will humble himself; and if he exalts himself, he will certainly humble himself, according to the words of the Lord: “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled” (Luke 14:11). But leave all your excuses: let him do what he wants, you do what is useful and necessary for you, and what is commanded by your Lord. The offended person must forgive the offender in order to be forgiven by God himself, and pray with hope: “Our Father! .. forgive them our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” “If you forgive people their sins, then your Heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive people their sins, then your Father will not forgive you your sins” (Matthew 6:14, 15), says the Lord. Do you see, Christian, how scary it is not to forgive your neighbor’s sins! If you forgive a person’s sins, God also forgives you; You don’t let go, God doesn’t let you go either. What will you have before God? That your prayer is nothing at all. You are angry with your neighbor, and you yourself are angry with God. But this great disaster of yours is from yourself, because you are angry and do not forgive your neighbor for his sins. Indeed, he sinned against you, but you have sinned and are sinning against God. He is your debtor, but you are God's debtor. He asks you for forgiveness, but you ask God, you pray to God: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” When you forgive your neighbor from the heart, you pray heartily and truly and unfeignedly speak these words to God. When you do not sincerely forgive your neighbor, but only pray hypocritically with your words and lips, your prayer not only does not benefit you, but also turns into sin. Do you see where anger and enmity lead a person! Conquer yourself, beloved, and, putting aside your anger, forgive everything to your neighbor, then you will pray sincerely and unfeignedly: “Our Father! .. forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors!” And forgiveness of your debts will be granted to you: the word of God is sure, true and unfaithful. What he says is what he says; and what he promises is fulfilled; and what threatens us will come true if we do not repent. If we forgive the sins of our neighbors, God also forgives us in His mercy; We don’t forgive, and God doesn’t forgive us either. As we do with our neighbors, so God does with us. The forgiveness of your sins and unforgiveness, and on this depends salvation or destruction. Without forgiveness of sins there is no salvation. You can see how scary it is. Should I forgive him? After all, he knows who I am and who he is! And he and you are a man, poor, and high, and low, all equally sinners. But do you know who you are and who God is, Whom you have sinned and are sinning? Before God, whom you have sinned and the whole world is sinning “like nothing” (Isa. 40:17). If the whole world is like nothing before God, who are you before Him, no matter how great and lofty you may be before men? So great and infinite is God, Whom you have sinned and are sinning! What then are your sins, O man, before God? What about your neighbor's sin, which offended you? It is like half a coin against many thousands of gold coins, like a small coin against a thousand talents, or, better said, like nothing against your sins towards God. You don’t want to forgive small and very small things: do you hope to receive great forgiveness? Man is man, and sinner does not forgive sinner. Do you want to receive forgiveness from God, who is eternal truth and incomprehensible majesty? You don't have mercy on someone like that. What kind of mercy do you expect from God? This is how dangerous it is not to forgive your neighbor’s sins! I, they say, am not guilty of anything before him, he insulted me for no reason. It really happens that people insult us for no reason. But what is God guilty of before us? “The Lord our God is righteous, and there is no unrighteousness in Him” (Ps. 91:16). "God! there is shame on our faces” (Dan. 9:8). However, we sin madly and shamelessly against Him and thus offend Him: we repent, and ask for mercy, and receive mercy. Glory to His love for mankind! Glory to His immeasurable bounties! If you want to receive forgiveness from God, forgive the one who sinned against you, before whom you, as you say, are not guilty of anything, and perhaps you are, because it is difficult for those living in society not to offend each other in some way. We sin against each other, and we must forgive each other. I, they say, did good to him, and he repaid me with evil for good. True, it is hard to endure evil for good, but who does more good to us than God? However, despite this, we violently sin before Him. Taking this into account, cover your face and say heartily: I have sinned, Lord, have mercy on me! I forgive my neighbor, forgive me, your indecent servant, who sinned against You, my Creator and Benefactor. I supposedly put up with him a lot. Remember how much you sinned against God in your youth, but the Lord tolerated you. What would happen if God dealt with you in His righteousness? Your soul would have gone to hell long ago. If God tolerated you for a long time out of His mercy, so do you tolerate your neighbor. I know, they say, that God deals mercifully with us; I, a weak person, cannot do this. You can’t, but you don’t want to: you can’t walk on water, but to forgive, what’s the difficulty? Why do you want to fulfill your anger and take revenge on your neighbor? This is not weakness, but malice. But remember that Christians are commanded: “Therefore imitate God, as beloved children” (Eph. 5:1). If, they say, I forgive him, then he will still do harm to me. This is unknown: but although he will do evil, let him do what he wants, do yours, what you are commanded and what is necessary for your salvation. If he does not correct himself, he will receive according to his deeds: “Let the unrighteous still do injustice” (Apoc. 22:11). He supposedly seriously insulted me. There cannot be a graver insult than that inflicted on Christ your Savior, Who was not only blasphemed, cursed, laughed at, spat upon, struck, tied, but crowned with thorns and nailed to the cross, and nailed, passing by, blasphemed and killed. Who – the Son of God and Lord of Glory! Why are you against such a great Person? And what is your offense against Him? Nothing. They don’t spit on you yet, they don’t hit you on the cheeks, they don’t crown you with thorns, and so on. Christ the Lord endured everything with great meekness and longsuffering, for whom? For me and you, His indecent servants, He not only endured, but also prayed for His enemies: “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34). Look at these patience as if in a mirror and reason, and without a doubt you will forgive your neighbor any insult. If, they say, I forgive, then people will laugh at me. For the ungodly, piety, and for lovers of this world, Christian life and the evangelical disposition are a temptation and riot, but before God there is wisdom: do what the Gospel teaches, and not what people say. Let those who laugh laugh, but afterwards they will cry bitterly, and it is already too late: conscience itself will convict them. Beloved Christian! An important matter is spoken of here, in which either eternal salvation or eternal destruction consists. We talk about the forgiveness of sins, about which we sigh to God every day, but sighs and tears themselves are useless to us if we do not forgive the sins of our neighbors: in this lies the wickedness and untruth of the human heart. A person wants to receive mercy from God, but he himself does not want to show mercy to someone like himself. He wants God to forgive his sins, but he doesn’t want to forgive himself. You see how deceitful and wrong the heart of such a person is! But is this just commanded to us, Christian? We are told from our Lord: “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). It is not enough for a Christian to love those who love him; This is also what the pagans do, who do not know the true God and do not accept Christ, as the Lord says: “For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don't publicans do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what special thing are you doing? Don’t the pagans do the same?” (Matthew 5:46, 47). Christians must surpass the pagans in love and show their excellence and perfection in themselves. Since Christians are reborn and renewed through holy baptism for eternal life and a new holy life, therefore they must love not only their friends, but also their enemies. From this the true Christian soul is known, and so does the heavenly Father: “for He commands His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). Christians, as children of the Father, must imitate this, according to the Apostolic instruction: “Imitate God, as beloved children” (Eph. 5:1). It is impossible, they say, for me to love my enemies and do good to them. Not true! It was possible for David, who wept for his dead enemies, Saul and Jonathan (2 Sam. 1:17); crying over the death of enemies is a clear sign of love for enemies. Perhaps it was Saint Stephen, who prayed for his enemies who stoned him: “Lord! Do not count this sin against them” (Acts 7:60). Perhaps it was for all the saints. Perhaps the same for you. You are a man, and they were men; You are weak, and they had the same weakness. Children learning to read books first learn letters, then syllables, and then learn to read. This is also what Christians should do in Christian teaching. First, we must learn to repay them with good for good, which is gratitude, then not to repay evil for evil, annoyance for annoyance, insult for insult, and not to take revenge either in word or deed on the one who offended, and then to love our enemies, and do good to those who hate, and repay good for evil. This is a ladder by which Christians ascend to perfection, that is, to the love of their enemies. Well, Christian, if you are commanded to love your enemies and do good to those who hate you, commanded by Him who created you and redeemed you who perished with His blood and death, and holds your death and life in His hand, will you want and will you forgive those who have offended you? If the king of the earth commanded you not only to forgive your neighbor’s offenses, but also to serve him or die? What would you rather choose, to die or to forgive and serve your neighbor? I hope that you would rather want to forgive and serve your neighbor than to die. The Heavenly King commands not only to forgive those who offend, but also to love enemies, and to do good to those who hate, otherwise eternal death will follow those who do not listen to the commands of the Heavenly King. “Not everyone who says to Me: “Lord! Lord!” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). True virtue consists in victory over oneself: to do not what the corrupted nature wants, but what the holy will of God wants, to submit one’s will to the will of God and to overcome evil with good, pride with humility, anger with meekness and patience, hatred with love. This is a Christian victory and more glorious than conquering nations. This is what God requires of us: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21). Anger, if not tamed at first, turns into malice; Malice, as we read in history and now see, causes great troubles and misfortunes both to those who are angry and to those on whom anger occurs. Because the devil, the spirit of evil, possesses such people, and leads them wherever he wants, and does through them what he wants. Therefore, the Apostle says: “If you are angry, do not sin; let not the sun go down on your anger; and do not give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:26, 27). Beware, Christian, of holding anger against your neighbor, lest you turn into anger and thus destroy yourself and your neighbor; but immediately tame your anger and kill him, like a lawless child, while he is small, so that he does not grow up and kill you himself. The holy Apostle calls and begs all Christians for harmony and peace, and gives convincing arguments for this, saying: “Therefore, I, a prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and meekness and long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, trying to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you are called to one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all” (Eph. 4:1–6). And again: “Strive to have peace with everyone and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). Think about this, Christian, how necessary and necessary peace and harmony are for Christians. Therefore, it is written about the first Christians: “The multitude of those who believed had one heart and one soul” (Acts 4:32). O kind fellowship and dear brotherhood, when many have one heart and soul! To know that they were led by the one Spirit of their heavenly Father! Where there is peace, harmony and unanimity, there is the God of peace: “as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). How good and how pleasant it is to have peace and harmony among ourselves! The holy prophet sang this in a special psalm: “Behold, what is good, or what is good, but how can the brethren live together?” , etc. “For there is a commandment of the Lord, blessing and life forever” (Ps. 132:1, 3). Note, Christian: a) Everyone is one another’s neighbors: leaders and their subordinates, shepherds and their people, parents and their children, their husbands and wives, their masters and peasants, those who sell and buy, and each person to another person: I am yours, and you are my neighbor. Each Christian must give to another what God himself and his faith, and love, and Christian duty, and the written law of God, and his conscience itself require of him. Yet it all comes down to one thing, to a single end, that is, to our bliss, it strives. b) If a Christian does not give to his neighbor what he owes, then he sins against his neighbor: by sinning against his neighbor, he also sins against God, since he violates God’s commandment. c) A person, sinning his neighbor, harms himself more than him; on his body, but on his soul; causes physical and temporary harm to him, but mental and eternal misfortune to himself; deprives him of bodily and visible good, and himself of spiritual and invisible good. He is seduced and deceived, but he himself is already seduced and deceived by the devil. He laughs at him or swears at him, or slanderes him, but he has already given himself up to ridicule, reproach, the devil’s slander, and so on. The reason for this is the following: since he violated the eternal and unchangeable Law of God, by sinning his neighbor, he sinned with God the lawgiver himself, which the devil, as the Christian enemy, both cares about and rejoices at. He makes every effort to plunge a Christian into sin, and thus offend God, and destroy the sinner, and laugh at him. Do you see, Christian, where sin leads you towards your neighbor! A bee, having stung another, as they say, dies itself; Thus, when a person harms another, he harms himself more than him. Beware, man, of doing evil and offense to your neighbor, so as not to fall into greater evil yourself. d) Conscience is similar to the law of God, as we see: what the Law of God prohibits, conscience also prohibits; For what the Law of God convicts, conscience also convicts. The Law of God frightens the sinner with the judgment of God; the sinner hears the same in his conscience. When the Law shows and praises an innocent person, he feels the same in his conscience. By sinning against conscience, a person also sins against the Law of God; by doing in accordance with and in accordance with his conscience, he does in accordance with and in accordance with the Law of God. Act, Christian, as your Christian conscience requires, and you will live according to the Law of God. And that’s why people call a good person conscientious, but they call an evil person unscrupulous. The rule is similar to conscience and the Law of God: what you don’t want for yourself, don’t do to your neighbor. Follow this rule, Christian, and you will not sin in your behavior with your neighbor. What it prohibits, conscience and the Law of God prohibit. You don’t want anyone to offend you, take away your health and life, or steal something of yours from you; you don’t want to be deceived in anything; you don’t want a bad thing to be sold for a good one, a rotten thing for a healthy one, or a cheap thing for an expensive one; You don’t want anyone to slander you, condemn you, curse you, dishonor you, etc., and don’t do this to your neighbor. You don’t want all this for yourself, and neither does he. Everything that is evil to you is also evil to your neighbor. When your neighbor does to you what you do not want for yourself, he does you harm; but when you do to your neighbor what he does not want for himself, you do him harm. If you sin against this rule, which you don’t want for yourself and so on, you sin against your conscience and the Law of God, and thus you are convicted by your conscience and the Law of God as a lawbreaker. On the contrary, if you want your neighbor to help you in your need, to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to welcome and comfort the wanderer, etc., he also wants you to help him in his need: do to him what you want for yourself. This is required by conscience and the Law of God, and this is what the Lord says: “So in everything that you want people to do to you, do so to them, for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12). If you do not do to your neighbor what you want for yourself, you sin against your conscience and the Law of God. So, Christian, adhere to this rule: whatever you want for yourself, do for your neighbor, and you will do it in accordance with your conscience and the Law of God. Whoever acts against his conscience persistently and deliberately sins against the Law of God, and sins gravely. If you don’t want to subjugate your will to the Law of God, such a person is not a true Christian, but a false one. A true Christian does not want to sin in anything against his conscience, but tries to keep a clear conscience from sin and prefers to die rather than sin against his conscience and irritate it: “Let everyone who confesses the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness” (2 Tim. 2:19). Whatever a person does in this life will appear at the righteous judgment of Christ, and for all this he will be rewarded, according to the words of Christ: “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2). Pagans who do not know the true God and His holy Law will be convicted only by conscience and the natural law, but faulty and unrepentant Christians will be convicted by conscience and the written Law of God. Then they will see for themselves how foolishly and badly they acted: it will be easier for the pagans, who do not know the true God and His holy Law, on the Day of Judgment than for Christians who broke the law and did not repent (Matthew 11:22). God says in the Holy Scriptures, “not to our body, not to our hands, not to our feet, not to our mouth, not to our eyes, but to our soul.” What is the benefit: not to steal with your hands, not to kill, not to commit fornication with your body, but to think and do evil with your heart and soul? Also, what is the use of praying and singing with your tongue and lips, but not praying with your heart and soul? Show humility outwardly, but be proud and exalted in your heart? To love with tongue and word, but not to have love inside the heart and soul? Bow down with your body, but be adamant in your soul and heart? Appear kind on the outside, but be evil and faulty on the inside? To repent outwardly, but to be unrepentant on the inside? Human! Correct your soul and heart, and then you will be a true Christian. If the soul is in good order, then the body will do everything in good order. A vessel that has a good smell in itself emits a good smell. God says to the soul: “Believe, love, hope, pray, call on me, honor your father and mother, do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal,” and so on. The soul must do this. The body will not do anything bad unless the soul wants it, but the body is the instrument of the soul. Be kind in soul, and you will do good in your body. “Not everyone who says to Me: “Lord! Lord!”, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21), says the Lord. “Lord, who dwells in Your habitation? or who will dwell in Your holy mountain?” Answer: “Whoever walks blamelessly and does what is right, speaks the truth in his heart: whoever deceiveth not his tongue, neither doeth evil to his own sincerity, nor receiveth reproach upon his neighbor: the wicked one is humiliated before him, he that feareth the Lord shall glorify: swearing unto his sincereness, and not turning away: thou hast not given his money for usury, nor for the reward of the innocent are not welcome. This work will not move forever” (Ps. 14:1–5). “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). “You need patience, so that, having done the will of God, you may receive what was promised” (Heb. 10:36). “If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before you. 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 15:18, 19). “If the master of the house was called Beelzebub, how much more of his household?” (Matthew 10:25). “If we endure, we will also reign with Him” (2 Tim. 2:12). “And whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Apoc. 2:10). Brief Christian Moral Remember, every Christian, that God exists and that He looks not only at your deeds, but also at your very thoughts and intentions, and that you cannot hide from Him anywhere or with anything. Remember that He protects your life, health and strength, that whatever prosperity you have in your life, He has given you everything. So thank Him every hour for the mercy shown to you from Him, love Him with all your heart, honor Him, obey Him in everything and call upon Him to help you in everything you do. When He helps you, then all your deeds and labors will always bring you benefit and be successful. Remember that the Heavenly Father sent our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ into the world, believe in Him and obey His Divine teaching, which is revealed to you in the Gospel and briefly outlined here, so that you can fulfill the promises you made to God at baptism, inherit eternal life and not be called a Christian in vain. On Sundays and holidays, come to church and, falling in reverence before God, remember all the mercies that you received from Him. Thank Him for this with all your heart and promise to live as He commands you as a sign of your gratitude. This is a sacrifice most pleasing to God. Honor, firstly, the Sovereign, as the authority established by God, and submit to him in everything; Honor the spiritual shepherds, the masters, your father and mother and all the old people and virtuous people, and obey their beneficial instructions. Try not only to be virtuous for yourself, but also to instruct your wife, children and household in every good work pleasing to God. Be careful not only to do evil in front of them, but also to speak, so as not to accustom them to evil. So God's blessing will be on your house. Always remember that you were born into the world for this purpose, so that in every way you can and in any case, do good. Love not only your neighbors and benefactors, but also your enemies, so that you can pacify and correct them and make them good people. So, don’t fight with anyone or swear, and if someone offends you, try as much as possible to endure it and, if necessary, do good to him. Have mercy on your livestock, which God has given you for your service. Beware not only of bad deeds, but also of words, so that not only in your deeds, but also in your words, you will be a pure and blameless person. Don’t steal or take anything from anyone, but be content with what you earn through your labors. Be hardworking and avoid laziness, because just as hard work pleases God, so, on the contrary, laziness as the source of all evil is a sin that is very disgusting to him. Never lie, but always tell the truth, because every lie and deception is the most harmful of all vices, and a work inherent only to the devil. Don’t get drunk, because God turns away from a drunk all the more because a drunk can do any bad deed more quickly than a sober one. If you observe this, then the merciful God will not only be merciful to you in this life, but will also glorify you in the future with the glory with which He glorifies His saints, and all people will love you. From the letters of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk My friend and brother in Christ! Thank you for your letter, and especially for sending it to us; but I will answer yours according to my strength. 1. Truly you admit that there is nothing more pleasant than tranquility, this first bliss in this world. Without peace, nothing is pleasant to us. We recognize this in times of battle, finding evil, fear and confusion of all kinds, just as we recognize that health is a great good in the deprivation of health. 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, as if he is looking for something that is not in this world. He retreats from the rumors of life into the desert, but there we are met with the most numerous and cruel temptations from the thoughts and manifestations of demons; in towns and villages we are surrounded by temptations that always touch and kindle our hearts. “Woe to the world because of temptation” (Matthew 18:7)! 2. Although Christians do not find peace outside, as they are always troubled by internal or external temptations, they can and should have peace inside always and in every place. A good conscience, which is not troubled by evil deeds, words and thoughts, and the soul, which has overcome all opposition and strengthened itself with patience, stands in peace, as in a quiet harbor. This is our bliss in this age; This is the most beloved Sabbath, which should not only be celebrated 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: we must therefore hold fast to the 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 better for ourselves than from temptation, occurring both internally and externally; our temptation shows us what we are and what lies within us. Temptation, like an emetic, reveals what ails our soul; how a bell rings and how strong a pot is made again is known by striking, and with what stench the bottle is filled is known by squeezing: and a person does not know for himself until he is tempted in various ways. Many people dream something about themselves before temptation, but having been tempted they realize that they are in themselves, and then they are in a different opinion. And I thought about avoiding “this place” (1 Samuel 7:12), but, having reasoned, I stayed and relied on God’s providence, admitting that it was better for me to know this for myself. We have a simple proverb for everyone: “he who is tempted knows all the news.” There is no better means to self-knowledge than temptation. Thank God that He sends temptations to us! Thus He leads us to knowledge of ourselves; and to know oneself is the beginning of Christian bliss. The more you endure temptation, the more you will understand. 4. The second medium, or rather the first, is the reasoning of Holy Scripture, which presents to us the old and the new man with their deeds, so that we may put off the first and put on the second (Col. 3:9, 10). All Holy Scripture represents these two. But temptation is needed here, as it reveals the old man living in us. 5. The third medium is reflection on the Creator and creation, on eternity and time, on 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; Our life in this world is nothing more than an unceasing journey to the future age. But this path is long or narrow. The spacious one leads to destruction, the narrow one goes into the eternal belly. Extensive is called extensive because people, travelers, live according to their own will, and do what they want; it is cramped, as if people walking along it subjugate and captivate their will to the will of God, and is oppressed by the patience of troubles, sorrows and all sorts of adversities. 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 that we are malignant; “The flesh always lusts after the spirit” (Gal. 5:17). God, establish and strengthen this saving, narrow one, which draws into eternal space, and draws them after Him, so that we may inherit peace! 6. Why do we see that every place and time for knowledge is convenient for ourselves? For at every time and in every place temptation befalls us; 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, as the words spoken cannot be returned. And this worries me a lot. But for those who strive, at least not to lose what is due, and to reward what is lost, with which God will be rewarded with His grace to those who repent and pray. God, turn our minds to eternity! 8. For the sake of the above, there is no more convenient place for you, like a secluded place, where I advise you to move and begin to read the Holy Bible first, with a discussion of the various works of God that it will present to you; and always, morning and 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 God calls you, and thus you will be at peace. 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 it. The air is sometimes gloomy, sometimes clear, sometimes stormy, sometimes quiet; It’s the same at sea: sometimes there is silence, sometimes there are waves, so there is no change in us: sometimes we rejoice, sometimes we are sad, sometimes we are afraid, sometimes we hope; Such is the life of this world. This constant change teaches us how we should support ourselves in happiness and unhappiness, joy and sorrow. Joy has come, and sadness should also be expected; If we fall into sadness, then we can expect joy. But blessed is he who can steer the ship of his soul during storms and bad weather. We must be careful about this; but diligence without heavenly help is not strong: for this reason it is necessary to ask God, the Ruler of all. “God is our refuge and strength, a helper in the sorrows of those who find us great” (Ps. 45:2). Thus, faith encourages itself during sorrowful situations, and protects itself, like a shield, by trusting in the Most High, from the fiery arrows of the enemy. He is “the hope of all the ends of the earth and of those who are in the sea far off” (Ps. 64:6); He is the same for me, the poor one, and for you: “the eyes of all trust in Him” (Ps. 144:15), and in my mournful sorrows I lift up my eyes to Him. He is the Helper and Protector of everyone: the same for me and you. He does not look at the face, but at our heart and faith. Just as the sun enlightens and comforts everyone who looks at Him with its brightest image, so the eternal Sun, which never sets in faith, is enlightenment and comfort for everyone who looks at Him with faith. About this the prophet says: “My eyes have lifted up to You, who dwells in heaven. Behold, as the eyes of a servant are in the hand of his masters, as the eyes of a servant are in the hand of her mistress: so are our eyes to the Lord our God, until he will show mercy to us” (Ps. 122:1, 2). Committing myself and you to God's mercy, I remain your well-wisher, Do you marvel at what I wrote at the end of leaving the world? This not only needs to be understood, but the power is the same as in the above-mentioned letter. We must certainly leave the world, not with our feet, but with our hearts and thoughts. You yourself know what a person who has moved away from his fatherland and home does: he turns to a foreign country, but with his heart and thoughts he is constantly in his fatherland and home: he always thinks about how to return to his home healthy; he walks with his body and feet on a foreign land, but with his heart and soul in his own home; and do not establish anything immovable there: no rich buildings, no gardens, and other things that are impossible to take with you to your fatherland. We are strangers and strangers on earth, just like our fathers. Our Fatherland is heaven, to which we were created, renewed by holy baptism, and called by the word of God. What can we, strangers and strangers, do, how to live here in this world with our bodies and walk with our feet until God calls us from here, but turn our hearts and thoughts to our fatherland; and do not worry about anything other than what is necessary for this life, and do not hide treasures for yourself in a foreign land, “where worms and aphids corrupt, and where thieves dig up and steal: but hide treasure for ourselves in heaven, where neither worms nor aphids decay, and where thieves do not dig up, nor steal, where our treasure is, there will be a heart ours” (Matthew 6:19–21). There is our fatherland, there is a house, there is our Father, there is our brotherhood, there is our peace, there is glory, there is joy, there is rejoicing, there is a great supper, and all our bliss is there. Thus we will depart from the world, although we will be in the world until we depart from the world. You might be interested in: