Слово I, в котором говорится о том, что христианам следует избавляться от дурных нравов и обретать добрые

Blessed Christians, there are two pairs of concepts that are hostile and irreconcilable with each other. This is virtue and goodness, on the one hand; sin and evil, on the other. The fact is that virtue and goodness came from God, Who is the beginning, cause and root of all virtue and all good; sin and evil are not from God, but from the devil, the first ancestor and culprit of all vice and all evil. Virtue and goodness are a thing and an essence; sin and evil are immaterial and insubstantial, devoid of materiality and essence, just as darkness is devoid of light. As the divine Gregory of Nyssa says, “the existing differs from the non-existent, and we cannot say that the really non-existent is opposed to the existing, but we say that non-existence differs from existence; in the same way, vice is opposed to the concept of virtue, not as something existing in itself, but as something understood by the absence of the best” (Big Catechetical Word, Chapter 6). Virtue and goodness are natural concepts and are included in all the unwritten laws of nature, since they support and observe all of nature and everything that is in heaven and on earth. Sin and evil are unnatural, but exist contrary to nature, and all the laws of nature fight against them and reject them, for they not only do not strengthen, but harm and destroy nature and all natural things. Virtue and goodness are included in all the written laws of God, in the ancient institutions of the Old Testament and in the new Gospels, and are approved and enshrined in them. But sin and evil are not included in any of God’s laws, neither Old nor New, nor are they approved by them. Moreover, all of God's laws are rejected, condemned, and rendered ineffective. Virtue and goodness are inscribed in all the laws of people, that is, divine prophets, spirit-bearing apostles, ecumenical and local councils together, holy fathers, pious Orthodox kings, prudent judges and legislators, wise teachers, venerable counselors and other similar men and all those whose voice is considered by people, small and great, for their good deeds and kindness. Sin and evil are not included in any of the laws: neither among the Orthodox, nor among the prudent and wise, nor among those with sound reasoning, since they are outside the law, unreasonable and devoid of any common sense. In short, virtue and goodness are revered and praised by all the laws of nature, all divine and all human laws, and the one who creates virtue and goodness is glorified and crowned in this life according to these three types of laws, and in another life receives a truly full reward - the Kingdom of Heaven and Eternity. But sin and evil are condemned by all the laws of nature, all divine and all human laws, and the one who creates sin and evil will already in this life receive the most severe punishment according to all the above-mentioned laws, and in another life they will be doomed to eternal torment. How did evil become established in the world? So, if sin and evil are not approved by any laws, neither natural, nor divine, nor human, but, moreover, are rejected by all laws, then how did they gain power in the world and now rule over unfortunate people? To this I will tell you, my brothers, that sin has no basis and it spread throughout the world through the bad morals of stupid and depraved people, through the senseless superstitions of some madmen, through lawless and unreasonable traditions that were invented by the ancients and which were blindly preserved and passed on by descendants. So, for example, someone’s great-grandfather conceived an evil idea and created it; The grandfather repeated the same thing, and then the father accepted this lawlessness. Later his SON repeated it, and in this way, one after another, they, perceiving this vice and following it, established it and turned it into a permanent and long-term habit. Habit, in turn, became a predisposition, and the predisposition became legal and natural, as, on the one hand, Solomon says: then this wicked custom, established by time, was observed as a Law (Wis. 14:16), and on the other, Basil the Great: “a custom established by long-term, receives the power of nature” (Rules, extensively set out... 6). And the wise Nile (Sinai) notes: “...from habit comes skill, and skill turns into nature; It is difficult to transform and change nature” (The ascetic word. Chapter 54). What will come of this? The fact that these unfortunate people will begin to consider the lawless as legal, the unreasonable as reasonable, the unworthy as worthy, the harmful as useful, in a word, they will take evil for good, and sin for virtue. O unfortunate, lost people! O grief worthy of lamentation! O soul-harming misfortune! This is where their terrible blindness led them! But patience: if she blinded the Hellenes, Jews, Ottomans and other infidel peoples, then they, being blind and ignorant in faith and rituals, are therefore blind and ignorant in life and evil customs. But for this blindness and ignorance of evil customs to dominate Orthodox Christians, who are children of light, who contemplate the Truth and have a faith brighter than the sun, then this is unbearable and unacceptable for the Truth! Therefore, I, my Christian brothers, have decided today to talk in general about good and evil customs and urge you to preserve good and soul-beneficial morals, and to reject and hate evil and harmful ones. So here I go. Why Christians should not adhere to customs that contradict the commandments and canons In addition to other evil customs and traditions that existed among the scribes, Pharisees and Jewish elders, there were two of these: one was to wash one’s hands before eating, and the other was to teach children not to honor, not to feed and not to help their parents when they suffer grief and need in old age, (that is, not as the law of God commands), but to leave them without help and care in old age. And in order to have a pretext and plausible justification for this, they taught the children to donate what they have to the corvan, that is, to the sacred treasury of the church. If parents nevertheless turned to their children for help, they answered: “We gave all our property to the church, and we no longer have the opportunity to spend money on helping you.” And as soon as they donated property to the corvan, the scribes and Pharisees distributed the donated money with the children, and thus the poor parents were left without help and support, as Holy Theophylact says. So, when our Lord Jesus Christ came to Judea and taught, then some scribes and Pharisees approached Him and, wanting to find an accusation against Him under a plausible pretext, they self-righteously asked: Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread (Matthew 15:2). The Lord answered them: Why do you also transgress the commandment of God, for God commanded: honor your father and mother; and: he who curses his father or mother shall die by death, but you say: if anyone says to his father or mother: “This is a gift to God that you would use from me,” he may not honor his father or his mother; Thus, you have made void the commandment of God by your tradition (Matthew 15:3-6). Christians should not adhere to customs that contradict the commandments and canons What have we, brothers, learned from this story and the answer our Lord gave? Because the commandments of the Lord and the commandments of the Holy Gospel must be fulfilled with all our strength; The customs and traditions of people, which are contrary to God’s commandments, must be neglected and not taken into account, for it is better for us to listen to God and fulfill His word than to obey people and observe their corrupting customs and traditions. As the holy apostles said, we must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29). Therefore, the divine Gregory the Theologian says: “One should neglect human laws for the sake of the spiritual law” (Homily 6). For the same reason, according to Basil the Great, Christians should not even observe the law of God itself, because a Christian who observes righteousness according to the old law is condemned as an adulterer. What else needs to be said about the customs of people, except that they should not be observed, but rejected, and that anyone who follows them is condemned? If (Jewish) legal righteousness, practiced by any of those who professed in Baptism to no longer live for themselves, but for us, died and rose again (2 Cor. 5:15), entails condemnation of adultery, as is clear from the above, then who would say anything about the traditions of men? (On Baptism. Book 1, Chapter 2) Not only must one disdain such evil customs that contradict the words of God Himself, that is, the old and new Scripture, but one must also despise and turn away from all other human customs and traditions that contradict the sacred canons of the holy ecumenical and local councils and the canons and divine words of the God-bearing fathers and holy teachers of our Churches. Because both the sacred councils and the holy fathers did not speak from themselves and did not preach according to the spirit of this world, as the laity do, but preached with the light and grace of the Holy Spirit, and their words are divine instructions that lead people to the salvation of the soul and to the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, Emperor Leo the Wise in his sixth novella 34 ordered to avoid and not observe a custom that is prohibited by the divine and sacred canons. But the first canon of the Holy Sardikian Local Council determines that a custom that corrupts and destroys church foundations should be eradicated from its very foundations - not so much the bad custom itself, but the most harmful corruption of affairs should be uprooted. Customs that contradict the right word must be rejected as harmful to the soul To what has been said, I will add that if any custom that is emerging does not contradict either the Scriptures, or the sacred canons of councils, or the words of the divine fathers, but does not correspond only to the natural and rightful word, but is harmful to the soul, then this custom must be stopped and rejected; This is how the divine John Chrysostom advises: “Do not look at custom in anything, but always seek what is useful, not harmful to the soul” (Discourse 56 on the book of Genesis). To what has been said about customs, I will add a few more generalizing words. If, my beloved brothers, the deed is good, useful for our soul and appropriate, then let it become a custom according to our word, even if it has not been established as a custom since ancient times; if it is evil, harmful to our soul and useless, let it not be our custom, even if it has been established since ancient times, but it is appropriate to hate it and turn away from it. As Chrysostom advises, “let no one tell me that this is the custom: where a sin is committed, do not mention the custom there, but if what is being done is bad, then even if it was a long-standing custom, leave it; if it is not bad, then, even if there is no custom, introduce and enforce it” (Conversation 1 on marriage). When and what customs are above the law But what do some people object to us? Some say that local custom is more important than the law. Others argue that royal laws dictate that custom should have the same force as unwritten law. Listen, foolish people, no matter how many of you answer this way! Yes, royal laws dictate that custom be considered an unwritten law. But what custom? A reasonable custom, a legal custom, a just custom, a custom that has prevailed thanks to common sense and has been tested by wise and honorable men. As the lawyer Armenopoul says 35, ““no” to unworthy customs, “no” to unreasonable and unhelpful customs, for such should not be accepted or followed, but despised and neglected, as Armenopoul himself says.” Then in what cases does custom acquire the force of unwritten law? Not immediately and not indiscriminately, but only when it has become established and strengthened legally, in the courts or where there is no written law, and only when it does not contradict the written law. This is recorded in the second book of Vasilikov 36 (see: Book II, Chapter 41). And those customs that have not been established in this way, and those that are contrary to the written law, should not prevail, but they should be despised and considered insignificant. There are also those dissatisfied who, making excuses, ask: then what should we do when an evil and destructive human custom gains the power to deceive people and it becomes difficult to protect ourselves from it. Basil the Great and the divine Chrysostom speak about this in the same way. “Consequently,” believes Vasily, “this evil habit deceives us, therefore, this perverse human tradition is the cause of great troubles for us” (Word of the Judgment of God). “Habit,” adds Chrysostom, “is an important matter; it’s hard to get behind her and protect yourself” (Catechetical words. 1) We answer such dissatisfied ones: yes, we also know that custom has the power to deceive people. This is what Chrysostom thinks. However, a person must direct the same, and even greater, power than that of a bad custom to the destruction of this bad and established custom and to getting rid of it, in order to establish a good and soul-beneficial one instead of the bad one. “So,” Chrysostom continues, “the more you know the power of habit, the more try to free yourself from a bad habit and accustom yourself to another, more useful one” (Ibid.). Therefore, it is truly extremely shameful that a bad custom, in other words, evil, sin and ignorance, has such strength and power to mislead people, while a good one, in other words, virtue, goodness and wisdom, sometimes suffers defeat and humiliation, unable to guide people to light and truth. Therefore, according to all laws, it would be fairest if good always defeated evil, wisdom - ignorance, and evil never defeated good, ignorance - wisdom. According to Solomon, wisdom does not prevail over evil (Wisdom 7:30). That is why, my Christian brothers, let us with all our souls hate and turn away from the evil customs that prevail among us. This is what the Holy Gospels, the divine and sacred canons, the holy fathers and the laws of kings command. Let us not remain deaf to so many testimonies to which we referred above. Let us not imitate the innovations that some foolish Christians invent and introduce both in the arrangement of their homes and in food, drink, men's and women's clothing. Regarding these innovations, the Apostle Paul warns Timothy: Flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with all who call on the Lord from a pure heart (2 Tim. 2:22). What are youthful lusts? Saint Theophylact answers this question. According to him, any obscene passion, be it voluptuousness, vanity or love of money, is all stupid inventions characteristic of an unstable mind. After all, they are crazy, these passions and inventions of rebellious thoughts. What harmful customs instilled pagan delusions in Christians? Since innovations and evil customs are like corrupting and deadly winds: whoever breathes them becomes infected and dies and infects others who approach him, dooming them to destruction, so those who follow evil customs and innovations first themselves are corrupted in soul, then they corrupt others who imitate them, even if they do not notice it. Basil the Great said well on this matter: “Just as in unhealthy countries, little by little inhaled air imperceptibly gives rise to illness in the inhabitants, so acquaintance with unfit people brings great evil into the soul, although the harm is currently imperceptible to the senses” (Conversation on the fact that God is not the culprit of evil). And now such evil customs and innovations have taken root in the holy life of Christians. These are superstitions and delusions inherent in infidels and pagans. But look for yourself, my friends, isn’t it a pagan delusion among Christians today to build tall and majestic residential buildings with sophisticated architectural decorations, bright and picturesque on the outside? The Divine Chrysostom denounces Christians who build rich houses: “Let us not be insatiable, ungrateful, let us not build magnificent houses. We do not have a permanent home here, we are on the move. And whoever remembers that real life is, as it were, wandering and military service, that this is, as some put it, a pit, he will not make for himself magnificent palaces” (Conversation 23 on the Epistle to the Ephesians). And Solomon says: He who makes his house high seeks to fall (Prov. 17:19) 37. Isn’t it a pagan custom among Christians (both men and women) to wear excessively bright and expensive clothes, elaborate shoes, precious, gold, and silver jewelry? Isn't it a pagan custom, Christians, to denounce, bear false witness, slander and betray each other? Isn't it a pagan custom to play checkers, dice, cards and similar things, to engage in idle talk, dancing and laughter? Isn't it a pagan custom to ride on young bulls and anoint yourself with ointments and aromas in order to exude a fragrance? Isn’t it a pagan custom for Christians to be effeminate, revelers, and engage in unbridled gluttony and eloquence? In a word, don’t almost all the customs of today’s Christians resemble the customs of atheists and pagans? Do Christians not dance, sing, and utter obscene speeches, like the pagans? Do they not chase after sorcerers and witches, do they practice divination, play cards and tell jokes, like the pagans? Don’t they read godless literature, don’t they wear “magic” amulets that they believe in, like atheists and wicked people? Do they not gallop on horseback like unbridled young stallions? Don’t they go to look at all sorts of spectacles, at hunting, at the races of foolish animals and at people who also run, and jump, and fight, and throw stones, like the pagans? Oh, woe is me! Where now will you find the same Jeremiah to mourn today's Christians, as he once mourned the Jews and said to them: As the gold has become tarnished, the best gold has changed! The stones of the sanctuary are scattered at all intersections. The sons of Zion are precious, equal to the purest gold, as they are compared to pottery, the work of a potter's hands! ( Lamentations 4:1–2 ). How our gold of virtues has become tarnished! How the purest silver of grace has turned black! How were precious stones and shrines scattered along the roads? How did the golden children of Zion become like a potter's pottery? Indeed, pagans and atheists should imitate the good customs of Christians, and not vice versa - Christians should imitate the false customs of the pagans. Because folk customs are copper and lead, while Christian customs are gold and silver. Therefore, just as copper and lead are smelted from gold, and therefore it is purified and becomes shiny, so the pagans should also purify and adorn themselves with virtues and pious customs from Christian life. However, today, alas, everything is happening the other way around, and Christians, who are pure gold, are fumigated and polluted by the copper of pagan customs. Silver has become lead, precious stones have become cheap fragments, and those who should be purified by the light of faith, becoming like snow and milk, become in their lives and labors like soot and black coal. This is why Jeremiah’s lament denounces them: Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk: they were more beautiful in body than coral, their appearance was like sapphire, and now darker than all their black faces; they will not be recognized in the streets (Lam. 4:7–8). And the prophet David adds: They mixed with the pagans and learned their deeds (Ps. 106:35). The nasty customs of Christians prevent pagans from believing in God. Christians will answer not only for themselves, but also for the pagans. God commanded Christians to be holy, just as He Himself is holy: Be holy, for holy am I the Lord (Lev.19:2). Therefore, it is necessary to follow this commandment so that you all become holy, pious, obedient, fearing God, so that when unbelievers and pagans look at you, they praise you as the blessed seed of God. As Isaiah says, their seed will be known among the nations, and their descendants among the nations; all who see them will know that they are seed blessed by the Lord (Isa. 61:9). In addition, they must also be encouraged to believe and accept the Christian faith. However, now unbelievers and pagans, seeing that Christians live according to their customs, do not strive for faith in Christ and for the glorification of God and the Father. As our Lord says, let your light shine before the nations, so that they may see you and your good deeds and glorify the Heavenly Father (Matthew 5:16). On the contrary, our customs now lead them to say: “Christians boast that since the time of the Word they are better than us in faith, but at the same time they turned out to be like us, because their deeds and morals are the same as ours.” It is because of our morals and deeds that we act the same as the pagans. Thus, non-Christians blaspheme God and the holy name of Christians. And we ourselves are the perpetrators of blasphemy. The Lord speaks about this with regret: And constantly, every day, My name is dishonored (Is. 52:5). Therefore, wisely and truly, a certain father noted that we Christians must give an answer to God not only for our words, but also for the pagans and the wicked. After all, if our life were as holy as our faith was holy, then, undoubtedly, we would want to attract pagans and unbelievers to our Christian faith. This is the foundation that the Lord speaks about in the parable of the Kingdom of Heaven in the Holy Gospel, where he likens it to leaven: The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until it was all leavened (Matthew 13:33). He speaks this way to explain to us by comparison that, like leaven, when flour is leavened with it, the entire composition in the flour changes, and all of it becomes leaven; in other words, leaven has the power to change all flour, and it turns into leaven. In the image of this parable, the Lord first sent the apostles, like the leaven of faith, to three tribes, I mean Jews, pagans and Samaritans (the Samaritans lived among Jews and pagans and were not completely Jews and not completely pagans), and they leavened us with leaven, like themselves, that is, Christians. He left the rest of the people, unbelievers and wicked, so that we, Christians, could change them and lead them to faith in Christ and, being leaven, leaven all the rest and become, like us, leaven, that is, believing Christians. Now think about the condemnation we deserve. For the apostles, who were very few in number, taught a huge number of people piety. And we Christians, although we are quite numerous, are unable to convert the few who hold wicked views who live among us. Why does this happen? All because of our evil deeds and our pagan and depraved lives. “Therefore,” adds the divine Chrysostom, “the Lord mixed many nations with those who believe in Him, so that we would convey to others our sound understanding... After all, if twelve people have leavened the entire universe, understand how great the evil is in us, if in such a multitude we cannot correct the remaining people, whom we need to help with all possible means and become leaven for them” (Conversation 46 on the Gospel of Matthew) 38. What punishment do followers of pagan customs receive? Although, brothers, until this day we have followed the evil and soul-harming way of life of pagans and atheists, now, finally, we will repent and abandon the vicious path. Let us also fear the punishments that threaten us, according to the definition of the holy apostles. For the pagan way of life they provide the following: “Whoever follows Hellenic customs or Jewish fables, either let him lag behind this, or let him be rejected” (Apostolic Decrees. Book 8, Chapter 32). Do you hear, Christians, what the holy apostles prescribe? They say that a follower of the customs of the Hellenes and pagans or the Jewish myths must renounce them and stop living in the old way. And if he does not refuse, he will be excommunicated from the sacraments, from the Church and communication with Christians, and be perceived as an atheist. The most amazing thing is that the holy apostles do exactly the same in relation to non-believers who strive for faith in Christ. In a word, if any unbeliever or pagan decided to accept the Christian faith and be baptized, then he must either stop living according to Hellenic customs, or, if he does not stop, he will be rejected. Let's listen to what the Apostle Paul says about this. He commands us, Christians, not to act like other peoples, who are characterized by disorder and darkening of mind and distance from God for their ignorance and callousness of heart: Therefore I say and adjure the Lord that you do not act as other nations do, according to the vanity of their minds, being darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of their ignorance and the hardness of their hearts ( Eph.4:17–18). Let us discover in ourselves, brothers, the obvious features that distinguish us from the pagans and by which others recognize us. How to distinguish a baptized person from an unbaptized one; Christian from pagan; the pious, the believer and the Orthodox from the wicked, the atheist and the idolater? What are the signs of this difference? The answer to this question is given by the divine Gregory of Nyssa. He says that in human nature even the body of a Christian does not undergo change. Christians and pagans have the same human nature, the same bodily signs. What Christians had before baptism remained the same after, for human nature remains unchanged after baptism. The obvious signs of Christians are a change in their consciousness and way of thinking and aspirations for the better: for a pure and holy life, a change in their previous bad morals for new, good ones, befitting a holy life according to the commandments of Christ. This is how the new man differs from the old man. These are the signs that distinguish Christians from pagans, those baptized in the name of Christ from the unbaptized: “Show me, after (receiving) the mysterious grace, a change in morals, and by the purity of your lifestyle, let me know about the difference in the change for the better. For in what is visible to the eye, nothing has changed: the features of the body remain the same, and the outer appearance of the visible nature does not change. But it is quite necessary to have some clear indication by which we would recognize a newly born person, using some clear signs to distinguish the new (man) from the old. Such signs, I think, consist in the free movements of the soul, according to which it, moving away from the ancient habitual way of life and embarking on a new path, will clearly show to those who know it that it has become different, without leaving any old sign on itself” (Word for the Day of Lights on which our Lord was baptized). Christians should not be like the inventors of bad customs, but they also should not fight the destroyers of bad customs, otherwise they themselves will turn into the same destroyers Therefore, if any Christian, whether clergy or layman, man or woman, wants to introduce a new bad custom or something new, unacceptable to Christians and harmful to the soul, whether relating to food, drink, clothing, household furniture or any other things, be very careful and careful, my brothers, so as not to imitate such an inventor. Don't approve of his ideas, don't say, oh, how great it is. For in this case you become accomplices of the same sin as the inventor of the bad custom, and deserve the same punishment as him. As Basil the Great warns, it is not good for us to follow many destructive superstitions and become confirmed in evil by complicity in such matters. I'll add one more thing. Not only should you never do or imitate bad customs and innovations, but you should hate and turn away from them with all your heart. “Don’t tell me about the custom,” notes the divine Chrysostom. – “If this is a vicious thing, then let it not happen even once; if it is good, then let it be permanent.” (Discourse 12 on 1 Corinthians). If, on the contrary, a certain God-fearing Christian is discovered, be it a priest or a layman, a man or a woman, who condemns and denounces some bad custom and seeks in any reasonable way to destroy it, because it harms and destroys the souls of Christians, be extremely careful and careful, my brothers, so as not to rise above this accuser, do not despise or condemn him because he wants to abolish an ancient custom that is observed quite a lot people. After all, if you do this, you are like the lawless Jews who crucified God, who, bearing false witness against the holy first martyr and archdeacon Stephen, claimed that he said that Jesus of Nazareth wanted to destroy the customs handed down to the Jews by Moses: For we heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth would destroy “this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us (Acts 6:14 ). What should we add to this? How many people are there who judge and seek to cause harm to a person who wants to eradicate the nasty and soul-harming customs of Christians and establish other, soul-healthy and good ones. Such people act worse than demons. This is confirmed by the Acts, where many incidents from the wanderings of the holy apostles are described. I'll give you one of them. Once, preaching the Gospel, Paul, along with the apostles Silas and Timothy, came to Philippi. There, one Hellene had a maid who was possessed by the spirit of Python, that is, the spirit of divination. Seeing the apostles heading to prayer, she followed them. The unclean one sitting in it began to shout: These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation (Acts 16:17). Hearing this, Paul was indignant with all his soul and expelled the demon from the unfortunate woman. Its owners, seeing that they had lost the income that demonic prophecies brought them, became angry with the apostles, seized them, took them to the square and handed them over to the authorities, shouting that these Jews were disturbing the city and preaching customs alien and harmful to the Romans: And, bringing them to the governors, they said: these people, being Jews, are disturbing our city and preaching customs that we Romans should neither accept nor practice (Acts 16:20-21). Now, brothers, judge for yourself. The demons said (the truth) that the apostles proclaimed the way of salvation, and people said that the apostles preached new, alien customs. Therefore, Christians who condemn people who seek to abolish ancient bad customs and establish other, good and holy ones, act much worse than demons. However, you, my beloved brothers, should not be like the owners of the maidservant-soothsayer, much less act like the evil demon screaming within her, but you should praise in words, and imitate in deeds and follow those who work and fight against the harmful customs that have taken root in your region! Get to know them in order to make your souls and lives kind and benevolent for the sake of eternal salvation and, through common efforts, eradicate filth from the country and from the lives of Christians. On the one hand, let us uproot the entrenched harmful morals, and on the other, plant trees of good, highly moral and soul-saving morals of our ancient holy Christians and forefathers. Over time, these trees will grow and be strengthened by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Him be glory and power with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. Leo VI the Wise (866–912) - Byzantine emperor and author of novel laws. Novellas (lat. Novellae Constitutiones) are a type of collections of laws in the Byzantine Empire, regulating private issues of socio-economic and political relations of citizens. – Note. ed. Probably, here we are talking about the Byzantine canonist Constantine Armenopul (1320–1385) and his “Manual to the Laws, or the Hexateuch” (Book 1, Chapter l). – Note. ed. Vasiliki (Greek τα Βασιλικα - imperial regulations: initially the name “imperial 60 Books” (τα βασιλικα ξ ϐιϐλια) was also used), - a Byzantine code of laws, the creation of which began under Emperor Basil I (867–886) and was completed in end of the 9th century under Emperor Leo VI the Wise (ruled 886–912). And in another place, the same Chrysostom tells how one philosopher, having once entered the majestic house of a certain ruler, gilded and decorated with pearls and columns, seeing that the floor in this house was lined with pine, spat in the face of the owner of the house - the ruler. When the owner reproached him as to why he had done this, he replied that, since there was no suitable place in the house to spit, he was forced to do it to his face, because only it was devoid of grace and decoration. Below the saint adds: You see how worthy of laughter and general contempt is the one who makes the external beautiful. And rightly so, for what punishment does not deserve the one who decorates walls and houses and other things, but leaves his soul unadorned, ugly, wearing rags, filled with the reproaches of passions and torn apart by countless evils! “Do you see how ridiculous and despicable for everyone who has intelligence is the one who decorates only his appearance? And quite rightly so. In fact, when you try to decorate the walls, the floor and everything else, but do not pay attention to the soul, dressed in dirty rags, languishing with hunger, filled with ulcers, tormented by thousands of dogs, then tell me, what kind of punishment will you not be subject to?” (A word about the soul). Wise people divide the entire population of the known world into thirty parts. Nineteen of the total are pagans and idolaters, five are Christians, six are Muslims. Now think about what kind of punishment we Christians should receive, because because of our careless life, pagans and Muslims are so much more numerous than us? – Note. St. Nicodemus the Holy Mountain. You might be interested in: