Статья 3: О христианской должности к Богу.

Although from the above it can be seen that we, Christians, are debtors to our God, who had mercy and saved us, however, in this article it is more extensively and clearly shown that a Christian, by the strength of his faith and calling, is obliged to provide in relation to God, about which reasoning in its place will be offered. Chapter 1: About Due Obedience to God “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them; and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life,” says Christ (John 10:27–28). “He who is from God listens to the words of God. You do not listen because you are not from God,” says Christ to the Jews (John 8:47). § 303. The obedience that a Christian must show to his God is that he should try to submit his will to the will of God in everything, and whatever God commands, to show his desire for everything, and not to look at what pleases the world or the flesh, but what is pleasing to God, as the apostle wrote: “Walk as children of light, for there is spiritual fruit in all goodness, righteousness and truth, test what is pleasing to God” (Eph. 5:8–10). True obedience does not look at whether it is difficult or convenient, whether what is commanded is difficult or easy, but at every command, whatever it may be, it shows itself ready, with the prophet giving its heart in obedience to God: “My heart is ready” (Ps. 107:2). It talks not about the commanded, but about the will and desire of the commanding person: who and what, and what the commanding person wants from him; He is content with the fact that He who commands is his God, and that which is commanded is what He wants from him. God, I say, is its Creator and Provider, and no one else. Therefore, he does not talk about the command, but about the power and authority of the Commander. Therefore, he shows a desire to fulfill His command. And so, what the Commander wants, he wants and does, and what he does not want, he does not want and does not do. Abraham, the holy forefather, showed such obedience to God, as we read in the book of Genesis. When God commanded him: “Get out of your land, and from your kindred, and from your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you,” and so on (Gen. 12 et seq.), - he did not refuse to fulfill this, he left his fatherland, his family and his father’s house, and went to a foreign, unknown land, as the apostle wrote about this: “By faith Abraham obeyed the calling to go to the country that he had to receive as an inheritance, and He went, not knowing where he was going” (Heb. 11:8). The holy patriarch did an even more amazing thing when, at the command of God, he brought his son Isaac to the altar for a burnt offering, and although not by deed, but by will, he slain him (see Gen. 22:1-12). By God: “Your seed will be called in Isaac” (Gen. 21:12; Heb. 11:18). But the faithful and sincere novice did not refuse to offer him up as a burnt offering, did not look at such a difficult and inconvenient command, but listened to the power, strength and omnipotence of the Commander, “he thought,” says the apostle, “that God is able to raise him from the dead” (Heb. 11:19). And from his sincere obedience the holy forefather showed sincere faith in God. His faith aroused him to obedience, and from obedience His faith appeared like a good tree from good fruit. The Holy Apostle wrote about him: “Was not Abraham our father justified by his works when he laid his son Isaac on the altar? Do you see that faith worked together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect” (James 2:21-22)? § 304. Saint Abraham, who is given above as an example of sincere obedience, is designated by God “the father of those who believe” (Rom. 4:11), for the sake of his faith and obedience, as God said to him: “I have made you the father of many nations” (Gen. 17:4-5; Rom. 4:16-17). And the faithful are the sons of Abraham, according to the teaching of the Apostle: “those who believe are the sons of Abraham” (Gal. 3:7), that is, not in the flesh, but in the spirit, sons of Abraham, not carnal children, but spiritual ones. Therefore, Christian, if we want to be children of Abraham and receive Abraham’s blessing, to be blessed “with faithful Abraham” (Gal. 3:9), we must imitate the faith of Abraham, as the father of the faithful, and show our faith to God from our obedience, like the father of the faithful Abraham, as we saw in the previous paragraph. If we want to be children of Abraham, then we must do the works of Abraham, as Christ says to the Jews: “If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham” (John 8:39). This word was spoken to those Jews who boasted about this great patriarch, calling him their father: “Our father is Abraham” (Matt. 3:9), “our father is Abraham” (John 8:39), but in faith and deeds they did not follow this father. God does not command us to leave our fatherland, our family and home, and go to a foreign land, although we must do this on occasion for the sake of His holy name, when the honor of His name requires it (see Matt. 19:29), but He commands us to leave the world with its charms and lusts. “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world: whoever loves the world does not have the Father’s love in him. For whatever is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is of this world” (1 John 2:15-16). God commands us, as strangers and pilgrims, to “shun our fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11), and “to set our minds on things above, and not on earthly things” (Col. 3:2). He does not command us to slaughter our sons or kill ourselves, although on occasion we must lay down our lives for the honor of His name, but says: “Mortify your members which are on earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil lust and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Col 3:5). He says: “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:1-2). In a word, he commands us to die to sin, the world and the flesh and to live for Him, that is, to serve Him, to do, speak and think what is pleasing to Him, as the Apostle says: “Christ died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again for them” (2 Cor. 5:15). For this is what our faith that we have in Him requires of us, and to this faith encourages a faithful heart. So, if we want to be faithful, to be the children of faithful Abraham, to be Christ’s - and “those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24) - then let us show our faith in Him from our obedience, we will show our faith from our works, as the Apostle demands: “show me your faith” from “your works” (James 2:18). “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). § 305. We, Christians, must show obedience to God, that is, avoid evil and do good, but place the hope of deliverance and salvation only in Christ alone. For: 1) Just as we are delivered from eternal death, hell and torment, so we receive eternal life not by ours, but by Christ’s obedience, through faith in “Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30), who “humbled Himself, becoming obedient even to death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8). “For just as through the disobedience of one man Adam many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one man, Jesus Christ, many will be made righteous,” says the apostle (Rom. 5:19). So, as we are justified before God by faith in Christ, so, therefore, we are saved. For where there is justification, there is salvation. For just as salvation follows justification, so without justification there is no salvation. By our disobedience we fall under the wrath of God and eternal death, but by obedience we ourselves cannot get rid of this and earn eternal life. We must turn to Christ, the Son of God, as our Advocate (1 John 2:1), with faith. By His most perfect obedience He has earned us both deliverance from death and the inheritance of eternal life, if we sincerely believe in Him. 2) We must take care that we do not lose the salvation that He has earned for us through unbelief and disobedience. Hence we are commanded: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12). “Spend the time of your pilgrimage with fear, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, 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). If we want to receive salvation, then we must beware of everything that closes the door to this salvation. It closes disobedience and sin. “Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure,” says the apostle (1 John 3:3), that is, he is careful of his sins and diligently repents of his former ones. 3) Obedience is our debt to God, for a creature owes obedience and reverence to its Creator. A subject to his king and a slave to his master must show obedience and obedience, much more must we show God, Who is our King and our Lord, and “King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15), obedience, obedience and honor, which cannot be without obedience. Offense and insult occur to the king and master when his subject and slave do not show him due obedience. We offend God much more when we do not show obedience and obedience to Him, as our Lord and King. Therefore the Lord says through the prophet: “The son glorifies his father, and the servant of his master fears. And if I am the Father, then where is My glory? And if I am the Lord, then where is the fear of Me? - says the Lord Almighty" (Mal. 1:6). Therefore, when we show obedience to God, we give Him what is due, and thus we cannot earn anything from Him, much less eternal life, which is infinite good. That is why Christ says: “When you have done all that was commanded you, say: We are worthless servants, because we have done what we had to do” (Luke 17:10). 4) Eternal life is the gift of God, which Christ, the Son of God, earned with His Blood to those who believe in His name, as the apostle says: “The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). For man, as a sinner and damned within himself, and subject to eternal condemnation, cannot deserve and does not deserve anything other than death, as it is said: “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). He can destroy himself, and he does, but he cannot save himself. It is necessary for the Son of God, as the Good Shepherd, to take him, like a lost sheep, on His shoulders (see Luke 15:4-6) and bring him to His Father, as Christ says: “I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). He shepherds, saves, and opens to them the door of eternal life, as He says: “My sheep obey My voice, and I know them; and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life” (John 10:27–28). 5) We cannot show our obedience to God without God’s grace. For this is how Christ testifies: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). And the Apostle of Christ: “God works in you both to will and to do according to His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). Therefore, we are commanded to ask, seek and knock, so that God’s grace may be given to us. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). So, how can we earn eternal life by our obedience, when true obedience is not our own, but the work of God’s grace, and this is attributed to us, because we do not resist God’s grace, but when it acts in us, we cooperate with it? Therefore, it was said to the hardened Jews: “You stiff-necked! People with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:51). 6) Our obedience is imperfect. For although a faithful soul tries to obey its God, often the weakness of the flesh prevents it from doing so, for “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). Therefore, the saints are in this weakness, and every saint prays for forgiveness (see Ps. 31:11), and sighs to the Heavenly Father: “forgive us our debts,” and so on. For “who can understand the Fall?” (Ps. 19:13). So, we must show obedience to our God in order to testify from this obedience to our faith, or, in the words of the Apostle, to show our faith from our deeds (James 2:18). And we must ask and seek deliverance from eternal death and the inheritance of eternal life through faith in Christ from God, as we are taught by the prayers accepted and read in the Holy Church, in which we ask our God for mercy, grace, remission of sins, justification, holiness, deliverance from hell and eternal death, and the inheritance of eternal life through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. Read those prayers yourself with attention and reason diligently, then you yourself will recognize this as the truth. § 306. The reasons which encourage us to obedience are these: 1) The goodness of God, by which we are brought from non-existence into existence and honored by His Divine image, can and should move us to obey His commands. He is our Creator, God and Lord, and, as the Creator, we must willingly listen to our God and Lord and fulfill His holy commands. We obey the Father according to the flesh who gave birth to us, our lord who acquired us, our Sovereign, to whose power we are temporarily subordinate - in a word, the man who has power over us not by himself, but by God’s dispensation. All the more appropriate is it to obey God, Who created us, provides for us, and controls all the authorities and subordinates. So, it is shameless and lawless not to listen to the One by whom we ourselves were created, and we receive everything that we have from Him, and are subject to His all-highest and eternal power. 2) May His Divine love, which He showed to us in Christ Jesus, move us to obedience to Him. Christ, His Son, preached this love to us: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The holy Apostle Paul preached: “God demonstrates His love for us in that Christ died for us while we were still sinners” (Rom. 5:8). And Saint John: “The love of God for us was revealed in this, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, so that we might receive life through Him” (1 John 4:9). And he is surprised at this love: “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1). Such His great and incomprehensible love for mankind can and should awaken us to obedience to Him and fulfillment of His commands. He loved us as a Father, we will love Him as the father of a child, and out of love we will try to show obedience to Him as a merciful Father, “like obedient children” (1 Pet. 1:14). Let us also “love one another, as He commanded us” (1 John 3:23). “If God so loved us, then we ought to love one another” (1 John. 4:11). 3) May the vows we made at Holy Baptism move us to obedience. Then we denied Satan and his vile ministry and promised to serve God, “to serve Him in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our lives” (Luke 1:75), which cannot be done without diligent obedience. For to serve God and not show obedience to Him is contradictory in itself, just as it is impossible to serve the master and not listen to him. If we do not fulfill these vows, then they will stand against us at His Judgment, and expose and condemn us as lying and unfaithful to their Lord. And so we will be ashamed before the whole world, for we promised to serve God faithfully, and did not serve, but lied to Him. 4) True obedience reveals a true and unhypocritical Christian, just as disobedience is proof of a non-Christian heart, a false and hypocritical Christian. “And that we have come to know Him,” says the holy Apostle, “we learn from the fact that we keep His commandments. Whoever says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:3-4). For just as the faithfulness of a servant to his master is known from diligent obedience and service, and unfaithfulness - from disobedience and hypocrisy, so a faithful servant of God is seen from the fact that he shows zealous obedience to his Lord and serves Him faithfully, and an unfaithful one is seen from disobedience and disobedience. How great it is to be a true and faithful servant of God, but to be unfaithful and false is very disastrous, as you will see from the following, reader! 5) Having become unfaithful to God through disobedience, a Christian is deprived of all that mercy of God, which he was granted in Holy Baptism, and falls under His righteous wrath and eternal condemnation. For just as a father according to the flesh renounces his disobedient and faulty son and deprives him of his inheritance, so God, the Heavenly Father, renounces a false Christian, does not recognize him as His own, since he himself does not know and does not listen to Him, excludes him from among his faithful, and thus closes the door of the kingdom of heaven to him. This is what Christ says: “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). And other reasons that God's holy Word presents. § 307. The signs of careful obedience are the following: 1) Reading or listening to Holy Scripture and diligently studying it in order to know and do the will of God revealed in it. For Holy Scripture teaches us what the will of God wants and requires from us. 2) Seeking and demanding useful advice from rational people who live according to God, who themselves are trying to do God’s will, and can instruct others in doing so. 3) Removal from such conversations and meetings that give temptation, strike the conscience, and provide an opportunity for sin, and thus lead away from obedience. For “bad associations,” says the apostle, “corrupt good morals” (1 Cor. 15:33). 4) Silence, adopted so as not to sin through idle talk and fall away from due obedience to God. For man sins nothing more and does not destroy the commandments of God than with an unbridled tongue (see James 3:5–8). 5) Diligent and frequent prayer, performed so that God Himself would guide you on the path of His commandments, teach you to do His will, and so on. § 308. The obedience that true Christians desire and try to show to the Heavenly Father is hindered by: 1) Satan and his evil angels. He is that ancient serpent who turned our ancestors in paradise away from due obedience to God, envious of their bliss, and subjected them to every calamity (see Gen. 3). This all-powerful enemy, even now seeing Christians restored by God’s grace, reborn and in His mercy, and envying them of the bliss that is prepared for them in the next century, tries through disobedience to turn them away from God and into their former disastrous state, and so to plunge them into eternal destruction, as He did with their first parents. 2) Our blind and weak flesh also wants to lead us to disobedience. She, like Eve in paradise to Adam an apple from the commanded tree, offers our spirit the world with its gaiety and beauty, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, and this is “not from the Father, but from this world” (1 John 2:16), and fearlessly from those lusts she advises, so that, having tasted what is forbidden, we will ruin the commandment of God and The one who commanded was angered. 3) The temptations of evil and corrupt people who, either through corrupt teaching or the evil and poisonous example of their deeds, corrupt the unwary and want to plunge us into the same disaster. Christians must resist all this evil and keep the commandments of their God. And although our faith and spirit diligently want and try to show obedience to God and fulfill His holy commandments, these enemies conveniently create obstacles if God’s all-powerful help does not arrive and strengthen us. Therefore, we definitely need God’s help, we need it against the enemy the devil, we need it against the ferocious flesh and its disorderly passions, we need it against the temptations of the evil world. And in order for God’s help to come to us in the right case and strengthen us, or even to always be with us, since we always demand it, we need fervent and frequent prayer, by which the helping grace of God is asked. Therefore, we are commanded to watch and pray: “Watch and pray, so that you do not fall into temptation” (Matthew 26:41). Pray: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, Father” (Matthew 6:13; Luke 11:4)! Always pray (see Luke 18:1), pray without ceasing (see 1 Thessalonians 5:17). Therefore, it is commanded to ask, seek, knock: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). § 309. Without true obedience, nothing pleases God: 1) Nor confession of His name, as Christ says: “Why do you call Me: “Lord!” God!" – and do not do what I say” (Luke 6:46)? So, “let everyone who confesses the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness,” says the apostle (2 Tim. 2:19). For unrighteousness includes disobedience, just as truth includes obedience. For the Lord in all His commandments commands both to keep the truth and to shun untruth, and therefore whoever calls, confesses and calls on the holy and terrible name of the Lord must both keep the truth commanded in His commandments and shun untruth, which is forbidden in the same commandments. Without this, confession of the name of the Lord is neither pleasing to the Lord nor beneficial to the confessor. 2) Neither prayer. For it is written: “God does not listen to sinners; but whoever honors God and does His will listens to him” (John 9:31). And God Himself, through the prophet, says to the wicked: “When you stretch out your hands to Me, I will turn away My eyes from you, and if you increase your prayer, I will not hear you, for your hands are full of blood” (Is. 1:15). 3) Neither singing, nor praise, nor glorification, nor other oral worship is pleasing to God without heartfelt reverence, as God speaks of such: “This people draws near to Me with their lips, and honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8; Isaiah 29:13). So, it is imperative to cleanse yourself with true repentance and then call on, sing, praise and glorify the holy name of God, which the holy angels sing with reverence (Is. 6:3). For any verbal worship without heartfelt is hypocrisy. 4) And preaching the word of God without obedience to God is displeasing and unprofitable to the preacher. “God said to the sinner: Why do you preach My statutes and keep My covenant in your mouth? After all, you hated instruction and rejected My words back,” and so on (Ps. 49:16-17 et seq.). For you must first correct yourself, and then correct people, teach yourself, and then teach people, as the apostle says: “How is it that when you teach another, you do not teach yourself?” (Rom.2:21), so that the parable does not suit us: “Physician! Heal yourself” (Luke 4:23). 5) Neither the gift of miracles nor other gifts are useful to us, and with them we cannot please God without obedience. Christ speaks about this: “Many will say to Me on that day (on the day of the Last Judgment): “Lord! God! Have we not prophesied in Your name? And was it not in Your name that they cast out demons? And didn’t they do many miracles in Your name?” And then I will declare to them: “I never knew you; Depart from me, you workers of iniquity” (Matthew 7:22–23). By this Christ shows that not only faith, but also the creation of signs does not bring benefit to the one doing them without virtue. Saint John Chrysostom interprets this word, and, a little later, gives the reason for this: “Don’t be surprised at this. For every gift comes from the grace of the giver. They themselves did not work at all, and therefore deserve punishment, for they were ungrateful and insensitive to the One who honored them so much that he gave the gift to the unworthy” (Conversation 24 on the Evangelist Matthew). For the Lord commanded us not to perform signs, but to fulfill His will and love, as the apostle wrote: “The goal of exhortation is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and an unfeigned faith” (1 Tim. 1:5). For it is not our business to perform signs and wonders, but only His almighty power. And although we cannot do God’s will and fulfill His commandments without the grace of God, diligence, labor, consent and obedience to the acting grace are required on our part. For God helps those who work, not those who lie down. To those who ask it is given, to those who seek it is given, to those who knock it is opened. “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened,” says Christ (Matthew 7:8). On this, see also the first Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 13, verses 1-3, where it is shown that without love nothing benefits us. Love for God is known from keeping His commandments, as Christ says: “Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he loves Me” (John 14:21), and therefore from obedience. For he keeps the commandments of God who shows obedience to God. So, you see, no matter what we do, without obedience we cannot do anything pleasing to God. The reason for this is this: because when a person does not try to show obedience to God, he remains under the wrath of God, and so, when the person himself remains under the wrath of God, then every deed he does is displeasing to Him. For God commands us to repent and produce fruits worthy of repentance (see Matt. 3:2, 8), which cannot be without the remission of sins. God commands us to believe on the name of Jesus Christ His Son and to love one another: “This is His commandment, that we believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another” (1 John 3:23). But when a person does not want to do this, does not show obedience to God and is under the wrath of God, therefore, he cannot do anything pleasing. Therefore, one must first turn to God with sincerity, leave sins, change one’s heart and begin a new life, be reconciled with God by faith in Christ, and so live pleasingly in a new life (Rom. 6). § 310. The fruits of disobedience or disobedience are as follows: 1) Sin. For sin is nothing other than lawlessness or opposition to the law of God, as described by the Apostle: “sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). That is, what God commands in His law, man does not do, and thus resists the law of God, and by opposing the law of God, he commits lawlessness. So the forefather Adam, not listening to the commandment of God and eating from the commanded tree, sinned (Genesis 3:6). And so “by one man sin entered into the world” (Rom. 5:12). So now, when a person does not listen to God and breaks His holy commandments, he sins against the majesty of God. 2) The fruit of disobedience is the restlessness of the conscience, which, irritated by disobedience and lawbreaking, does not cease to expose, disturb and consume a person. So our first parents, having sinned in paradise, hid from the face of God among the trees of paradise (Gen. 3:8), which they did not do before they sinned. For just as before the sin their conscience was calm, and they were not afraid of anything, and therefore did not seek refuge, so after the sin it began to expose and frighten them, which is why they began to hide. The same evil still befalls those who sin: for “the wicked flees when no one pursues him” (Prov. 28:1). 3) Temporary and eternal punishment is the fruit of disobedience. § 311. How great and grave evil and shamelessness is the disobedience that a person shows to God is evident from the fact that: 1) Holy God, Great and Infinite, and the Lord, Who holds the whole world in His hand, Whom the holy angels worship with great reverence, before Whom man must tremble, reverence and with all humility worship and obey - he, “earth and ashes” (Sir 10:9), but gifted with reason, fearlessly and shamelessly does not listen. 2) His holy law, eternal and unchangeable and given to be whole and indestructible, dares to be fearlessly violated. For the holy law depicts the unchanging truth, which teaches everyone to give their own. It is depicted that it should be so, as commanded, and not otherwise. For example, honor God and not do to your neighbor what you don’t want for yourself, and do what you want for yourself. This is what eternal truth and our conscience itself demands of us and convinces us to do this and not otherwise. But a fearless sinner dares to change what is in itself unchangeable, and to violate what is holy, whole and should be indestructible forever. Therefore, in the unrepentant sinner, the conscience, irritated by such fearlessness and shamelessness, will awaken and rise up, and through all eternity it will denounce and torment him for the fact that he acted so fearlessly and shamelessly against God and His holy law. Hence, the righteous wrath of God will kindle against the sinner, which he will feel on himself forever, and thereby suffer very severely, so that he will wish to turn into nothing and die, but will not be able to. 3) From here we can still see how terrible blindness man is struck from the womb of his mother, so that those unenlightened by the grace of God are like those sitting in darkness who see nothing. “They who sat in darkness have seen a great light” (Matthew 4:16). And we cannot mourn the fact that a man, gifted with reason and venerable in the image of God, has become so greatly maddened, disfigured and blinded by the sin of his forefathers. Judge, everyone: is this not extreme blindness? Man, the King of the earth, who has power only over the body, and not without the will of God, and who is the same person as others, fears, honors and listens, but God, the King of heaven and earth, Who has the whole world in His hand (Ps. 94:4), Who “can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28), does not fear, does not honor and does not listen! The king of the earth, whose judgment and wrath is only temporary and concerns only the body, is afraid to anger, but the Eternal God, whose judgment and wrath consigns to eternal torment, is not afraid to anger!.. So, he is afraid and trembles of temporary judgment and punishment, but of eternal punishment, against which any temporary punishment is nothing, he is not afraid and does not tremble, following the senseless babies who are afraid of a dead mask and run away, but touch a hot coal and are burned. Man loves and reveres the Father according to the flesh, from whom he was born and raised, but God, by whom both he and his father were created, and from whom he receives all sustenance for life, food, drink and clothing, and cannot live without His benefits every minute, since “in Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28), he does not love, does not honor, and does not obey His will. And this is what the prophet Moses in his song reprimands the rebellious Israel: “A rebellious and perverse generation! Is this what you repay to the Lord? These people are crazy and unreasonable. Did not your Father Himself acquire you, and create you, and create you?” And below: “You have forsaken the God who gave birth to you and forgotten the God who feeds you” (Deut. 32:5–6, 18). He diligently thanks and pleases a benefactor from whom he has received or is receiving some kind of good (although it is all God’s, for everything we have is God), but he does not thank and does not please God, from Whom he receives countless benefits. A friend who loves him loves and is afraid to offend, but God, Who loves him, whose love for us is inexpressible and incomprehensible, is not afraid to offend by breaking His law. Man himself, from man, for example, father from son, master from slave, and all authority demands obedience from the subject, and is angry when he does not see it, but to God himself, who is the Father and Lord of all, and has eternal power over everyone and over him, does not want to show obedience and does not feel it. You see how blind and insane man is, unenlightened by the grace of God. 4) From this you see that disobedience comes from self-love, which honors its own will more than the will of the commanding Lord, just as obedience comes from love of God, which loves God more than itself, and prefers His will to its own will, and therefore keeps His commandments, as Christ says: “If you love Me, keep My commandments”; and further: “Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me” (John 14:15, 21). 5) You see, finally, that just as true and heartfelt faith is the mother of obedience and good deeds, so unbelief is the root of disobedience, evil deeds and all sins. § 312. From the above, you see, Christian, that Christians who do not obey God, but live according to their own will and whims, follow the old Adam, who, having abandoned God’s commandment, listened to the devil’s advice and thus lost God’s grace, and fell under God’s righteous wrath, curse and death. Likewise, faulty Christians, following him, abandon God’s commandments, and, as the Psalmist says, turn back the words of God (see Ps. 49:17), and listen to the advice of the same enemy, and fulfill his evil will in their carnal lusts, and thus show that although they are baptized, they do not have a new spiritual birth, but remain in the old, are outside the number of true Christians, outside the Holy Church, and so are under the wrath of God and are subject to oath and eternal condemnation. And therefore, Christ, whose name they profess, does not bring them any benefit, according to Christ’s words: “Not everyone who says to Me: “Lord!” God!" - He who does the will of My Father in Heaven will enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 7:21) - until they correct themselves and repent. And when they turn and begin to repent sincerely, and testify to their repentance with the fruits of repentance, - again Christ - their Christ will be with all His Divine merits. On the contrary, Christians who try to show obedience to God, keep God’s will and His commandments, follow Christ, the Son of God, the new sinless Adam, and the Lord from heaven (1 Cor. 15:47), Who perfectly fulfilled the will of God and the law of God, Who “committed no sin, neither was deceit in His mouth” (1 Peter 2:22), Who “humbled Himself, being obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross” (Phil. 2:8). And by this they show that they are true Christians, truly believe in Christ, truly Christ’s: “who have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24), truly born of God and know God (1 John 4:7, 5:1), and believe in God, and are with God in mercy and grace. So, you see that just as a true Christian is known from true obedience, so a false Christian is known from disobedience. For where there is true obedience to God, there is true faith in God, which makes a person obedient to God, and where there is no true obedience, there is no true faith, but a feigned one. For true faith cannot exist without obedience, as we saw in Abraham, who was set as an example of a faithful father. Look at the passages of Holy Scripture about this: “If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham. And now you seek to kill Me, the Man who told you the truth, which I heard from God: Abraham did not do this,” Christ says to the Jews (John 8:39–40). “You are not of My sheep, as I told you. My sheep obey My voice, and I know them; and they follow Me” (John 10:26–27). “What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you, so that you also may have fellowship with us: and our fellowship is with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ,” and so on. “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, but walk in darkness (that is, in sinful darkness), then we lie and do not act in the truth; “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin,” says Saint John with the other apostles, his brethren, and all the faithful (1 John 1:3-7). “And we know that we know Him by this, that we keep His commandments. If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:3-4). “If you know that He is righteous, know this also that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him” (1 John 2:29). “Beloved! 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, because we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3). “No one who abides in Him sins; everyone who sins has neither seen Him nor known Him” (1 John 3:6). And again: “Whoever commits sin is of the devil, because the devil sinned first” (1 John 3:8). And again: “Whoever is born of God commits no sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. This is how the children of God and the children of the devil are known,” and so on (1 John 3:9–10 et seq. See also: 1 John 4:7–8, 5:18; James 2:18, etc.; John 8:34, 44, 15:2; Gal.5, etc.). Listen to this and reason, Christian! The property of faith is to recognize, confess and call God as your God, Lord and King, as we read in the books of the prophetic, apostolic and Holy Fathers and church teachers, we see the same in church songs. Therefore, if you believe that God is your God, Lord, King and Savior, then you must show your faith through your deeds, you must show obedience and obedience to God, the Lord, King and Savior. For what servant of his master and subject of his king does not listen? For a slave of a master to recognize him as his master and not listen, and to be called a slave of this master and not serve him is incomprehensible to the mind, and this is an impossible matter. Likewise, it is impossible to recognize God from the heart as your God, Lord and King, but not to show Him due obedience. It follows from this that if someone does not show obedience and obedience to God, this is a sign that He is not Lord and God for him, and therefore does not have true faith in Him, although he confesses Him with his lips. For not to confess with the mouth alone, but also to believe in the heart in God is true and saving faith, as it is written: “With the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses unto salvation” (Rom. 10:10). Chapter 2: On the glorification of the name of God “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). “Give glory and honor to the Lord; give glory to the Lord his name” (Ps. 28:1-2). § 313. The name of God in itself is both holy and glorious and glorified, and therefore does not require glorification from us. And just as the sun, whether it is praised or blasphemed, always remains bright in itself and emits rays of its light throughout the whole heavenly realm, so the name of God, whether it is glorified or blasphemed by people, always abides equally, always gloriously, holy and terrible, and emits rays of its glory. It publishes in creatures, for “the heavens proclaim the glory of God” (Ps. 18:2), and “the whole earth is full of His glory” (Is. 6:3). He publishes His wondrous and terrible deeds, His glorious miracles. And therefore the glory of His name is not diminished by human blasphemy, nor is it increased by glorification. For the glory of the name of God is eternal, infinite and unchangeable, like God Himself, and therefore cannot increase or decrease in itself. But our Christian duty requires that we both glorify it within ourselves and suppress what is blasphemed against it, and stop the mouths of those who blaspheme as much as we can. For a good son cares about the glory of his father, and a faithful servant about the glory of his master, always and everywhere, and stops what darkens their glory and honor. Moreover, Christians, as sons and servants of God, should care and be jealous of the glory of the Heavenly Father and their Lord, as the Lord Himself says: “A son glorifies his father, and a servant fears his master. And if I am the Father, then where is My glorification? And if I am the Lord, then where is the fear of Me?” (Mal 1:6). § 314. The great name of God contains His Divine properties, not communicated to any creature, but belonging to Him alone, such as: consubstantial, ever-present, omnipotence, goodness, wisdom, omnipresent, omniscience, truth, holiness, truth, spiritual being, and others. The Holy Spirit reveals these own properties to us in His Word, and depicts them in different ways for the sake of our enlightenment and glorification of the name of God. True and real knowledge of God's properties (as much as a person can know in this age), and, so to speak, tasting, according to the prophetic teaching, as he says: “Taste and see how good the Lord is” (Ps. 33:9), brings about enlightenment and change in a person, and so leads to the glorification of the name of God. From the knowledge of the consubstantial Deity it follows that we will know and honor one God, and besides Him we will not recognize or honor any other gods, as He Himself says: “I am the Lord your God, so that you shall have no other gods besides Me” (Ex. 20:2-3), and again: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4). For although we believe and confess the Trinitarian God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, we honor the one Divinity in the Three Hypostases. From the knowledge of the ever-present existence, immortality and eternity of God, it follows that He alone lives essentially and is the Source of our life. Our life depends on Him alone, and our life is nothing more than the shadow of a moving tree, which then moves when the tree moves. And so we learn what we are and on Whom our life depends: on the One who always lives, and cannot help but live, and animates and moves everything. Thus, we are convinced to attribute to Him our being, life and movement with the apostle: “In Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). And from this our pride, pomp and arrogance falls. The knowledge of the omnipresence of God will be followed by reverence for God. For if God is everywhere, then with me, and with you, and with everyone, we walk before Him, and whatever we do, say, or think, we do, speak, and think before Him. In this way, a person will refrain from disorderly acts, but will show reverence before His Face, as His Creator, King and Lord. For if in the face of our earthly King and man we are ashamed and afraid to show even the slightest outrage, then much more in the face of God, the King of heaven and earth, Who is “King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15)! This will be followed by boldness against the fear of the enemy, for God is with us, for we can, together with the Psalmist, in the necessary case, console ourselves: “Even if I walk in the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me, O God” (Ps. 22:4)! Everywhere and in every place we can call on Him and pray to Him, since He is with us everywhere. We cannot escape His judgment anywhere, since He reaches us everywhere and precedes us with His presence (see Jer. 23:24; Ps. 139:7-12). But in this way we are convinced to humble ourselves before Him, to fall with tenderness and ask for forgiveness and mercy. The knowledge of the immaterial and spiritual being of God teaches us to honor Him not with bodily rites and ceremonies, not only outwardly, but with spirit and truth, fear, love, submission of our will and hope in Him: “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth,” according to the words of Christ (John 4:24). God is Spirit—demands spiritual reverence and worship. By knowing the truth of God, we learn to believe Him in everything, whatever He says, reveals, promises or predicts to us. Because God cannot lie, for He is the eternal Truth, but what He reveals is certainly what He reveals, and what He promises and predicts will certainly come true in due time. For “the Lord is faithful in all His words” (Ps. 144:13). “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). From here follows the fear of God’s Judgment, which God proclaims in His Word, and from this comes true repentance. From there comes hope and consolation to the repentant, for God has promised to have mercy on those who repent; hope is in prayer, for he promised to hear those who pray; the hope of the resurrection of the dead, eternal life and future good things, which “God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9). Knowledge of the truth of God, which rewards everyone according to their deeds and demands that sin is not left unpunished, which leads to the fear of God’s judgment, to true repentance and contrition for sins, and with the prophet we are convinced to humbly pray to God: “Do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for no one living will be justified before You” (Ps. 143:2), - leads away from sin, for the righteousness of God is for sin brings execution upon the sinner, and leads to the knowledge of sins, for when we are punished, we must recognize the truth and glorify: “You are righteous, O Lord, and thy judgments are just” (Ps. 119:137)! And it produces patience, for we must endure what we have earned by our sins. For God will not offend anyone, but what He does, He does righteously. Although God, as the Merciful, does not punish our sins according to the measure of our sins. executions on us, but in anger He remembers His mercy and generosity. The tasting of God’s goodness, from which, as from a living and ever-flowing source, countless bounties, mercies and benefits are poured out on us, awakens us to God’s true and heartfelt love. For by the natural law of reason we are convinced to love the good and the benefactor, to give thanks, and out of love to glorify and honor Him. And although it often happens that people love evil, they love it under the guise of good. So they love uncleanness, sweetness, luxury and other disorderly passions, because with them their flesh is comforted and delighted, although the soul is in poverty. The knowledge of the wisdom of God will be followed by undoubted hope in God, for what seems incomprehensible and disgusting to our blind mind, He can and does turn to our advantage. And where it seems to us that there is no way for our deliverance and salvation, there He finds a way, like the Wise One. And what, in our opinion, comes to a bad end, He, in His wisdom, leads to a good end. From here follows patience in all temptations, adversity and hardship, waiting for merciful deliverance or help. Thus we read about Saint Joseph, who by his brethren was sold into Egypt into slavery, but by the wise Providence of God became the master of Egypt, the nourisher of that country, father, brethren and their household, as he himself confessed to his brethren: “God sent me before you to leave you on the earth and feed your great remnant” (Gen. 45:7). And again: “Don’t be afraid! For I am God's. You intended evil against me, but God turned it into good, so that it might be what it is now, and many people might be fed” (Gen. 50:19–20). Also, the Israelites, having left Egypt and coming to the sea, thought that the Egyptians who were persecuting them would harm them, and Moses spoke to them, comforting them: “Be bold, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will create for you today” (Ex. 14:13)! But God’s wisdom invented for them a salvation that they did not expect, and showed the way to salvation, where there was no way, so that from whom they were afraid of destruction, they saw themselves lost, and where they expected death for themselves, there they received salvation (Ex. 14). From the knowledge of God's omniscience will follow fear not only of deeds and words, but also of thoughts, heartfelt counsels, thoughts, ungodly intentions, deceit, lies and hypocrisy. For God not only our deeds and words, but also our thoughts, intentions and intentions, where they tend, clearly sees and writes them in His book (see Ps. 139: 1-5 et seq.). On the contrary, there will be an effort about good deeds, words, thoughts and intentions, about sincerity, simplicity and truth. The knowledge of God's holiness teaches us to “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1), if we want to have fellowship with Him. For it is impossible for one defiled by sinful vices to have communication with Him, as with the purest Holiness, because “God is light,” according to the teaching of the Apostle, “and there is no darkness in Him. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, but walk in darkness, then we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 John 1:5-6). From here true repentance will follow in the sinner, through which he comes to the Most Holy God and receives communion with Him by faith; in the righteous person there is a greater fear of sinful defilements, and the most thorough teaching in a virtuous Christian life. When we feel the omnipotence of God in our hearts, then doubt about His Divine mysteries, incomprehensible to our minds, is driven away. For if God is Almighty, then he can do everything that he has revealed and promised. So, regarding the resurrection of the dead, our mind itself is worried and does not believe, but by the feeling of the omnipotence of God in faith it is strengthened and without a doubt hopes for this, firmly convinced that He who created everything out of nothing can even more so by His power and word gather and revive the scattered dust of bodies. He who “said and they appeared, commanded and they were created” (Ps. 149:5) will say and everything will happen, command and everything will be recreated, which He promised in His Word. Thus affirm, Christian soul, that everything is possible with God. When a person imagines the majesty of God in his heart, then he humiliates himself, since if “all nations are as nothing before God” (Is. 40:17), much less one person, me or you. From here humility will follow, it will follow that with the prophet we will humbly say to Him: “Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to Thy name give glory according to Thy mercy and Thy truth” (Ps. 113:9). From here you see, Christian, that: 1) From true knowledge of God will follow true worship and piety. 2) The more someone knows God, the more diligently he honors Him and keeps His commandments. 3) A lawless life is a sign of ignorance of God, according to the teaching of the Apostle: “Whoever says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). 4) From here you see that it is not the one who knows God who talks and teaches a lot about God, but lives in disagreement with the teaching, but the one who lives piously, fears God, loves God, and keeps His commandments. 5) You also see that true faith and true knowledge of God are inseparable, that is, where there is true knowledge of God, there is true faith, and vice versa: where there is true faith, there is true knowledge of God. 6) You see that faulty Christians, just as they do not truly know God, do not have true faith in God, although they confess God. 7) It follows that they are outside the Holy Church, although they go to church and think that they are calling on God, but Christ is of no benefit to them until they sincerely convert and stop sinning. § 315. The name of God is glorified: 1) When we accept the Holy Scripture, preached by the prophets and apostles, as His true word, and as His great gift, we, the unworthy, sent from Him, honor the gift that His prophets and apostles brought from Him and handed over to us. And when we are pleased to reveal everything in him, we believe without a doubt, and we confess the True God as it is written about Abraham: “he did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but remained steadfast in the faith, giving glory to God” (Rom. 4:20). 2) When we truly believe in the name of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, preached in the Holy Scriptures, according to what is written: “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31). 3) When we correctly think and confess about His Divine properties, shown in the Holy Scripture, especially where the honor and glory of His holy name demands, for example, before the enemies of God, who either do not recognize Him, or philosophize evilly and blasphemously about Him. Hence, in God's servants there is an ardent zeal for the glory of God before His enemies. Hence, free suffering and death are accepted by those who would rather suffer and die than to hear the name of their God despised and blasphemed, which is what the holy martyrs and confessors did, as we read in the sacred Church History. Hence it happens that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). For the pious, both by their deeds of life and by their words, testify to the truth, but the evil world does not like this, and therefore persecutes witnesses of the truth. 4) The name of God is glorified when we tell of His wondrous deeds and miracles, and glorify Him who created them. For this is why they were written in the sacred books, so that, looking at them, we would know the power and omnipotence of Him who created this, and, marveling at the wondrous works of God, we would know how wondrous and wonderful He is who does such glorious deeds. The books of the Old Testament are filled with such wonderful works of God. In the New Testament, the miracle of miracles is that “God appeared in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16), lived on earth with people, suffered from His evil servants for His sinful servants, died, was resurrected and ascended in glory. We see this great and incomprehensible work of our God to our minds. We are surprised and learn from this that the God who created the world mercifully provides for it. Glory be to Him forever! 5) The name of God is glorified by the patience of the innocent servants of God, when for the truth and honor of their God they do not spare not only their possessions, but also their lives, and thereby prove that God is strong, for whom they suffer and who strengthens weak flesh for such suffering and patience. And the hope for which they suffer is not vain, but obvious. Why do we read in Church history that the enemies themselves were amazed at their patience, and recognized God’s power, which strengthened them, and so they joined those who were tormented and glorified the name of God. 6) The name of God is glorified by undoubted hope in Him. For in this way we show that God is True, Who promised to deliver, All-Powerful, Who can save, All-Wise, Who knows how to save, Good, Who wants to save those who trust in Him. And so, with undoubted hope in God, we confess God’s truth, omnipotence, wisdom and goodness. And so, by giving God what belongs to Him, we give Him His glory. “The greatest glory and honor to Him from us,” says St. John Chrysostom, “is when we trust in His power, although it seems contrary to what we see with these eyes. And why do you marvel that God is greatly honored because we do not doubt? And people like us give ourselves great honor when we do not doubt, but believe their promises, in which they present us with something temporary and perishable” (Conversation 39 on the Book of Genesis). 7) The name of God is glorified with sincere thanksgiving for His benefits rendered and being rendered. For in thanksgiving we recognize our unworthiness and God’s mercy and goodness, which also bestows His blessings on the unworthy, as the Psalmist sings: “I will confess to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forever, for Your mercy is great toward me, and You have delivered my soul from the lowest hell” (Ps. 85:12-13). And this is especially manifested when in sorrow and under the cross we thank Him and confess, as Saint David did: “It is good for me, Lord, that You have humbled me” (Ps. 119:71). “For the Lord disciplines whomever he loves” (Heb. 12:6). 8) The name of God is glorified by the pious life of Christians. This is how Christ commands to glorify the name of the Heavenly Father. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Such glorification does not happen by voice, but when a reason is given for the knowledge and glorification of the name of God. Thus “the heavens proclaim the glory of God” (Ps. 18:2). “So the sun, the moon, the stars, the light, the heavens of the heavens” and all creatures praise Him (Ps. 149:3-4 et seq.). For, looking at God’s wondrous creation, and from this receiving untold benefits, we are convinced to glorify the Creator and marvel at the omnipotence, wisdom and goodness of Him who created such wondrous things for the sake of us, rational creatures. Thus, people, looking at the pious and holy life of Christians, cannot help but glorify their Lord, Who has such slaves with Himself that although they have a common nature and infirmities with others, they also have excellent morals and differ from them, like light from darkness, day from night, gold from a swamp. Thus there is glory to the father when his children are born, and honor to the master when his servants remain constant. For people cannot help but praise the father for the constancy of his children, and the master for the constancy of his slaves. They say: know, a good father who holds his children this way, and a reasonable master who teaches and instructs his slaves this way! Thus, those who do not know the True God come to knowledge, seeing the honest and constant life of Christians, and believe in that God who has such permanent servants for Himself, and “they themselves glorify the name of our Heavenly Father. Therefore, we read in Church history that many pagans came to the knowledge of the True God and accepted the Christian faith, seeing the good morals of Christians and their pious life. 9) Finally, the name of God is glorified when, not in our name, but in His name, we seek glory and praise from good deeds, and we attribute everything that good we do to Him, as the Author and Origin of all good, may there be honor and glory for good to the One from Whom all good things come. Saint Basil the Great says: “Then we do everything for the glory of God, when we do everything for the sake of God, according to His commandment, we do not seek human praise in anything.” And further: “He eats and drinks for the glory of God, who remembers God’s blessings in food and drink, and eats not as a slave of the belly, for the sake of sweetness, but as a worker of God, so that through the creation of His works he may gain greater strength” (Brief rules. Question 195). § 316. The holy and terrible name of God is blasphemed in different ways: 1) When a person does not believe His holy Word and the secrets and promises revealed in it. For although the unbeliever does not call Him a lie, this very fact shows, as the apostle says: “He who does not believe God represents Him as a lie” (1 John 5:10). For whoever does not believe the word of God does not believe God Himself, and so terribly blasphemes Him. This includes those who do not recognize the resurrection of the dead and other mysteries that the Word of God reveals. 2) The name of God is blasphemed when a person clearly spews blasphemy against Him, calls Him either unrighteous or unmerciful, or does not recognize His eternal existence, or the Providence of His creation, or utters other similar blasphemous words against Him. And even if someone does not touch His name with a blasphemous word, but in his heart holds thoughts contrary to His Divine properties, then he also blasphemes the name of God. For God sees the depth of the human heart, and equally, by both heartfelt and verbal blasphemy, His Majesty is dishonored. 3) The name of God is terribly blasphemed when His Divine work is attributed to His adversary the devil, such as were the blasphemers of the scribes and Pharisees during the life of Christ on earth, or to some other creature, as was done by the Israelites, who attributed the great work of their deliverance from Egypt to a soulless calf: “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” (Ex. 32:4). 4) The name of God is blasphemed when a person takes away the glory and honor that should be given to God from Him and ascribes it to himself. For he places himself like an idol, in the place in which God should be placed and revered, and thus he departs from God in his heart and falls into spiritual idolatry. Such are those who either rely on their strength, wisdom, intelligence, art, cunning, or take credit for the good deed they have done, or seek praise and glory for themselves from their good deeds. For it is known that without God’s help our strength, reason and art can do nothing. Also, without God we cannot do good. We ourselves can do evil and sin, and we do sin, but we cannot do good without Him (see John 15:5). 5) The name of God is blasphemed by a false oath, when people in their hearts do not have what they declare in word, they swear in the name of God, they call on God as a witness to their conscience and promise to preserve the truth, accepting honor, but in their hearts they plot how, being in honor, they will enrich themselves through bribery and untruth. Also, the name of God is blasphemed by false testimony, when witnesses swear in the name of God that they declare the truth, but in fact they lie. And others who swear in the name of God in lies, blaspheme the name of God. For all such think in their hearts that either there is no God, or He exists, but does not know the secrets of men, or is unjust, or they think something else that is evil and blasphemous about Him. 6) The name of God is dishonored when it is remembered not on necessary and important occasions, but on low occasions and without any proper reason, just as it has become an evil custom among people to remember at almost every word: “By God! That's why God! That's why Christ! God is my witness! God sees! – and so on. For although such, according to long-standing custom, do not notice how they dishonor the name of God, since custom blinds the mind, if they look around, they will see and recognize it as the truth. For the more that honor is taken away from the name of God, the more it is dishonored. But everyone can see that such a fearless and irreverent remembrance takes away His worthy honor. For the name of God, as great, holy and terrible, must be remembered with fear and reverence. But when a person does not show this to Him, he thereby takes away His worthy honor and thus dishonors Him. And this is the cunning of Satan, who is looking for how to dishonor God through man and destroy man himself. People remember the name of the earthly Monarch with respect, and the name of God, as a low thing (which is scary to write, but it is necessary, because of the evil nature and the long-standing evil custom of fearless Christians, that they lag behind this custom), a low, I say, and easy thing in all sorts of base words, and, what is worse, they are not afraid to use them in jokes!.. O Thy long-suffering, God, Who is all this you see and hear, and endure human madness! 7) The name of God is blasphemed by murmuring against God, which happens in misfortune and troubles. There is a custom to grumble like this: “What have I done? What have I done wrong? Am I really the most sinful of all? - and other crazy speeches. For like everything else, troubles and misfortunes do not happen without the Providence of God. Therefore, whoever grumbles against God in troubles, although he does not call Him unrighteous, shows by his deeds and indignation that, as if unrighteously, misfortunes are sent against him from God. A faithful and humble heart acts differently - it glorifies the truth of God in adversity and troubles: “You are righteous, Lord, and your judgments are just” (Ps. 119:137)! It, being humble, worships God and thanks Him: “It is good for me that You have humbled me” (Ps. 119:71). 8) The name of God is dishonored and blasphemed by the transgression of His holy law and lawless life, as the apostle says: “By transgressing the law you dishonor God,” and from the prophet he quotes: “The name of God is blasphemed by you among the pagans” (Rom. 2:23-24; Isa. 52:5). This is what the apostle says about the Jews, who upheld the law of God handed down to them and boasted about it, but they transgressed and destroyed this law. The same must be understood about Christians, who took the place of the Jews who did not accept Christ, became people of God, and took the law of God, which the Jews maintained, and, entering Christian society, promised to keep it, but in fact, not only do they not want to fulfill it and do not try, but even fearlessly violate it. Therefore, both then by the Jews and now by the lawless Christians, the great “name of God is blasphemed among the pagans.” For just as the virtuous life of Christians gives people a reason to know and glorify the name of God, as stated above, so a lawless life gives a reason to turn away from Him and blaspheme Him. For the pagans, looking at the lawless life of Christians, and noticing that their life is better and more reasonable than those (for there are no such iniquities, thefts, extortion, theft, violence, lies, deceit, cunning, caustic ridicule, uncleanness, drunkenness and other outrages in honest pagans, who are governed only by the natural law, as in Christians, in the name of Christian, as wolves covered with sheep skin, and the written law of God of those who boast) - at this, I say, looking, they turn away from the Christian faith, and they abandon God, the Creator of the Christian law, and so they are confirmed in their wickedness and perish forever. Woe to such Christians! They are subject to God's Judgment, which is more cruel than the pagans. Calling on the name of Christ: “Lord, Lord!” will not help them in any way. - and they will hear from Christ: “I don’t know you” (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 13:25-28; Matthew 25:11-12), no matter how they caress themselves and console their evil conscience. 9) God is everywhere, and there is no place where God is not present. From this it follows that whatever we do, we do before Him. From here, consider, Christian, what dishonor a person does to Him when he commits lawlessness. If any disorderly person dared to commit outrages and violate his laws before the earthly Monarch, would he not do great dishonor and shame to the monarch? This truth is indisputable, anyone will admit it. Thus, a person shows incomparably greater dishonor to God when before Him, His holy law dares to fearlessly break His holy law, and so to commit outrages before His most holy presence, without fear of His truth, without honoring the light of His purest holiness, without being ashamed of His infinite majesty. Whether he embraces a harlot and commits lawlessness - God looks at it. Whether he blasphemes Him, or fearlessly in base things and in jokes, or in a false oath, or in some other lie he utters, and brings in confirmation of his lies, as if the truth; whether he robs and kidnaps someone else's property, deceives and deceives his neighbor, beats or slander, reproaches and condemns him - he does this before God, who looks at both the offender and the offended. Whether he speaks foul language and blasphemes, His most holy ears hear it. In short, whatever iniquity he does in word, deed and thought, he does it before His infinite majesty and holiness. From here you can see what disrespect, and therefore dishonor, the fearless lawless one shows Him. Who? Man, subject to Him, His servant, His creation, “earth and ashes” (Sir 10:9)! The man for whom He provides, whom He feeds, waters, clothes, preserves, for whose sake He sent His Son into the world so that he would be saved! Who does he show such disrespect to? Beginningless, Infinite, holding heaven and earth in his hand, Incomprehensible, Great and Terrible God, Creator and Highest Benefactor, Whom one must fear, honor and Whom one must worship! From the above you see, Christian: 1) How great is the malice and cunning of the devil, who always tries to blaspheme God either in tongue, or in deed, or in human thoughts, and thus anger Him, and take man away from God and destroy him! This is what he did with our ancestors, whom he plunged into blasphemy and grave sin with his evil advice. God declared to them: “You will surely die on the day that you eat of the commanded tree” (Genesis 2:17), but the devil, on the contrary, said: “You will not die, but you will be like gods” (Genesis 3:4–5). Having listened to the lie, they did not believe God, as if His word were untrue. For everyone “who does not believe God represents Him as a liar” (1 John 5:10). And so grievously they blasphemed Him. The same thing is being done now, when people do not believe the Word of God, His truth and holy commandments, and thus dishonor the great name of God. 2) What a grave blindness and ingratitude of a person if he does not listen to God, Whom, as the Creator, Father, Lord, Benefactor and Provider, he must listen to, honor, glorify and gratefully worship, and is ungrateful towards Him! What did God not do for man? He decorated the sky with the sun, moon and stars for his sake. I spilled the air for him; He hung clouds on it, which, like bellows, carry water everywhere and spill it on the ground; filled the earth with various fruits; He shed seas, lakes, rivers and springs and multiplied various kinds of fish in them. He sent His holy word, like a favorable message, to him through the prophets and apostles, and in it He revealed His will and blessing to him. He sent His only begotten Son into the world to save man. But a blinded person does not feel this. He does not want to honor such a Benefactor, but either touches His terrible glory with a blasphemous tongue, or blasphemes Him with the unbelief of his heart, or dishonors Him with contempt and transgression of His holy and eternal law, and thus dishonors God, who honored him, as St. John Chrysostom says (Conversation 6 on the Epistle to the Romans). 3) You see from here how great is the long-suffering of God, who endures a sinner and a blasphemer who dishonors Him and does not immediately execute him. What earthly monarch is so patient and meek, who would endure his servant, a man like himself, who was outrageous and dishonored before him? Haven't heard of this anywhere. Human meekness quickly changes and becomes inflamed. Our God is not like that. He sees, and endures, and waits for the sinner’s repentance. From here you see that “no one is good except God alone,” according to the teaching of Christ (Matthew 19:17). 4) From this we can see that the wrath of God will flare up against ungrateful and unrepentant sinners who do not want to accept and use God’s forbearance for repentance and salvation. For the more a person sins and does not care about God’s long-suffering, the more he collects God’s wrath for himself, according to the apostolic word: “O man! Do you neglect the wealth of God’s goodness, meekness and long-suffering, not realizing that God’s goodness leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and the revelation of righteous Judgment from God” (Rom 2:4-5). For although God is Good and Merciful, but also Righteous, His truth demands that the unrepentant sinner, as ungrateful and despising the eternal law of God and God Himself, be eternally executed. This will certainly happen to unrepentant lawless people, no matter what they invent to soften and console their evil and gnawing conscience. “God is not mocked” (Gal.6:7). The goodness of God and long-suffering are shown in the fact that He endures a sinner who violates His holy law, does not immediately execute him, but waits for him to repent, or, as the Apostle teaches, “leads him to repentance” (Rom. 2:4). But if the sinner despises this wealth of God’s goodness and remains in his unrepentance and bitterness, then the truth of God will enter into its work and “will reward him according to his works" (Rom. 2:6). 5) We, thank God, have not yet perished, the goodness of God still endures us, still leads us to repentance, we can still repent and be saved. Come on, let’s turn to God and repent, so that we may be saved. Let us try to beware of sins in the future, for through them the great name of God is dishonored. And let us thank God, who suffered our sins, from our hearts, and let us be ashamed of ourselves that we acted so shamelessly before God and did not give Him the honor and glory due to Him. Let us take care to do this while the goodness of God endures us and leads us to repentance, so that, having neglected the goodness of God, we will not recognize the work of His righteousness in ourselves. For the Word of God is not in vain, but both God Himself and His Word are true, and what He proclaims will certainly be and be fulfilled. What is said will be fulfilled: “He will reward everyone according to his deeds.” Chapter 3: About the Christian sacrifice “Offer the sacrifice of righteousness and trust in the Lord” (Ps. 4:6). “Offer a sacrifice of praise to God and offer up your prayers to the Most High” (Ps. 49:14). “The sacrifice to God is a broken spirit: a contrite and humble heart God will not despise” (Ps. 50:19). “I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1). § 317. The Jews sacrificed various animals to God, as is written about in the books of Moses and the Prophets. And this sacrifice of theirs marked the death of Christ, the Son of God, who, like an immaculate Lamb, had to be slain on the tree of the cross for the salvation of the world. But when this most holy Sacrifice was offered, that one, like a shadow, which represented the truth, ceased. In the new grace, Christians must offer spiritual sacrifice, without which that sacrifice was of no use to the Jews, by faith. § 318. The Christian sacrifice from Holy Scripture is seen as follows: 1) A contrite spirit and a contrite heart, as Saint David says: “The sacrifice to God is a broken spirit: God will not despise a contrite and humble heart.” This happens when we grieve over our sins and have sorrow in our hearts, which is “sorrow for God’s sake” and “produces unchanging repentance leading to salvation” (2 Cor. 7:10). God Himself demands this from us: “Rend your hearts, not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God” (Joel 2:13). Такой дух и сердце есть приятная жертва Богу. Такое сокрушенное сердце Бог не уничижит. God looks upon such a sacrifice from His height and looks upon the one who offers it with His merciful Fatherly eyes. The Apostle Peter made such a sacrifice when he rejected Christ, “and went out and wept bitterly” (Matthew 26:75). We, Christians, must offer such a sacrifice on the altar of our hearts, so that the Lord will look upon us with mercy. 2) Жертва хваления и благодарения, когда мы от сердца благодарим Его за оказанные и оказываемые Им неисчислимые благодеяния. He created us, and honored us with a rational soul and in His image, let us glorify Him. Он нас, падших, восставил, заблудших взыскал и погибших искупил «не тленным серебром или золотом, но драгоценною Кровью Христа» ( 1Петр 1:18–19 ), да усердно и от любви благодарим Его. Он, как чадолюбивый Отец, милостиво промышляет о нас, питает, поит, одевает, сохраняет нас от козней вражьих, Духом Своим Святым нас просвещает и оживляет, движет нас к желанию и исканию небесных Его благ, поощряет к истинному покаянию, и кающимся отпускает грехи, верующим отверзает двери царствия небесного, и прочие блага даром нам подает, да "приносим Богу жертву хвалы, то есть плод уст, прославляющих имя Его» ( Евр.13:15 ). Такой жертвы требует от нас Бог: «Принеси Богу жертву хвалы». Такая жертва Ему благоугодна, как говорит пророк: «Восхвалю имя Бога моего песнью, возвеличу Его славословием; и это будет угодно Богу более, нежели юный телец с подрастающими рогами и копытами» ( Пс.68:31–32 ). Christians should offer this sacrifice in the evening, in the morning and at noon, following the example of the Psalmist: “In the evening, and in the morning, and at noon I will tell and proclaim” (Ps. 54:18), - first of all, bless the Lord at all times, as the same prophet of God says about himself: “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise is always in my mouth” (Ps. 33:2). So, if anyone wants to praise God in eternal life, let him not cease to praise and glorify Him here. 3) Victim of mercy and mercy. For just as the Lord Himself is Generous, Long-suffering and Much-Merciful, so He considers it a pleasant offering to Himself when we show mercy to our brethren, show compassion to the suffering, and give a helping hand to the needy. “For such sacrifices are acceptable to God” (Heb. 13:16). That is why the Lord Himself says: “I want mercy, not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6). To this Christ refers the Jews: “Go, learn, what does it mean: I want mercy, and not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:13)? Christ will extol such a sacrifice before the whole world, and to those who offered it he will kindly say: “I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; “I was a stranger, and you took Me in,” and so on (Matthew 25:35–36). 4) A sacrifice of righteousness and truth, as Solomon says: “When we act in righteousness and truth, this pleases God more than the blood of sacrifices” (Prov. 21:3). For God is “Righteous and loved righteousness” (Ps. 10:7), or even He is Truth and Truth itself, and therefore He loves righteousness and truth. For we honor His eternal truth with truth, and eternal truth with truth, when we do what His truth wants, and we are kept from lies, flattery, deceit and hypocrisy, from which His eternal truth turns away. Therefore, the prophet exhorts us: “Offer the sacrifice of righteousness” (Ps. 4:6). And the apostle says: “Speak every man the truth to his neighbor” (Eph.4:25), for “the Lord requires the truth” (Ps.30:24). 5) The sacrifice of the members of our flesh, which rebels against our spirit, and with its bodily members, as instruments, fights us and wants to kill our faith. Such a sacrifice is then made by Christians when they mortify “their earthly members: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil lust and covetousness, which is idolatry,” according to the admonition of the Apostle (Col 3:5); they purify their hearts and circumcise them with circumcision made without hands; cleanse the mind of vain and evil thoughts, proud undertakings and ungodly intentions; they turn the will away from evil lust and subjugate it to the will of God; malice and all obscenity are expelled from memory; they turn away their eyes “so as not to see vanity” (Ps. 119:37); turn away their ears from slander, slander, songs and seductive words; keep the tongue from slander, condemnation, slander, cursing, blasphemy, foul language, idle talk and other evils; they turn their hands away from theft, covetousness, theft, beating, and unclean touch; keep the belly from overeating and drunkenness; in all members, like dumb animals, disorderly passions are slaughtered: pride, arrogance, anger, rage, envy, gluttony, drunkenness, uncleanness, etc. Thus, mortifying the bites of unrighteousness and the bites of sin, they present themselves to God, “as those alive from the dead, and their members as instruments of righteousness to God,” as the Apostle teaches (Rom. 6:13): the mind is to meditate on the wonderful deeds of God, to expand His glory, for one’s own and neighbor’s benefit; will - to please the will of God; heart - to the love of God and to love for one's neighbor; tongue - for the praise and glorification of the name of God, for the edification of one's neighbor; eyes - to contemplate God's wondrous creation, and in creation - the Creator; ears - to listening to the Word of God, the glory and praise of God, to the crying and petition of the poor, asking for mercy and protection; hands - for giving alms and helping the needy, for lifting up in prayer to God; feet - to going to the churches of God for praise and prayer, and so on. Thus, when they mortify the members of their flesh, instruments of righteousness, they offer a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, their verbal service, as the apostle teaches: “I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1). “When,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “you kill the old man, when you mortify the earthly members, when the world is crucified for you (see Gal. 6:14), and so on, and you become a priest to your body, and spiritual virtues: when you offer chastity, when you offer alms, when you meekness, when you are kind. By doing all this, you offer a verbal service, that is, nothing carnal, nothing coarse, nothing sensual” (Conversation 20 on the Epistle to the Romans). The altar on which Christians offer this sacrifice pleasing to God is a heart cleansed from the defilements of this world by faith in Christ. The church is the composition of soul and body in which this sacrifice is slaughtered and offered up. The knife is a spiritual sword, that is, the word of God, with which this spiritual sacrifice is slaughtered. The fire with which they burn it is the love of God. The priests are ourselves, according to what is written: “Jesus Christ has created us kings and priests to God and His Father” (Rev. 1:6). A worthy thing to be surprised! When the Jews made a sacrifice, a church was needed, an altar was needed, a sacrifice was needed, fire was needed, priests were needed, and so on. It's not like that for Christians. The priests themselves, the church themselves, the altar themselves, the sacrifice themselves with souls and bodies, carry within themselves the fire and sword of the word of God: “They themselves, like living stones, are building themselves into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). The holy apostle exhorts and implores us to offer this sacrifice with the bounties of God, as we have seen. So, let us, Christians, offer this sacrifice, also described in other points, so that we may not appear empty and idle before the Lord our God, as the prophet says: “Let you not appear empty before the Lord your God” (Deut. 16:16). Let us humble and crush our hearts before Him, so that He may look upon us with His merciful eyes. Let us give Him thanks with our hearts and lips for His countless mercies. Let us show mercy to our brethren, just as we are worthy of mercy from Him, for “such sacrifices are acceptable to God” (Heb. 13:16). Let us create righteousness and love the truth, as God requires of us. Let us put to death our members on the earth (Col. 3:5), and crucify the flesh with its passions and lusts, if we want to be Christ’s (Gal. 5:24). For all this our faith requires of us. So, let us show the fruits of our faith, so that without fruits our faith will not be in vain. § 319. Christians who live fearlessly and do not practice true repentance and its fruits, do they offer sacrifice to God? No way. Have you seen what Christian sacrifice consists of? They do not try to do this, therefore, they do not make any sacrifice to God. They will say: many of them build churches of God, make silver and gold settings for the Gospel, sew vestments for the church, bring candles and incense? This does not bring them any benefit, because they themselves remain faulty and unrepentant. For God, as the Spirit (see John 4:24), is not pleased with anything except by spiritual sacrifice, that is, by faith, good will, the submission of one’s will to His will and other fruits of faith. And they, although they do the things described above, do not want to bring their will and obedience to God, without which nothing is pleasing to God. In addition, many of them build stone or wooden churches of God, but abandon the animated ones, or, what is worse, destroy them. They decorate the Gospel, but they don’t want to touch what the Gospel teaches, and so on. Many sew vestments and do other things, but they do not clothe the naked, and, what is worse, they expose others, and in other matters they do lies. They will say: many go to church for prayer, praise, chant and thank God? And it's no use to them. For with their lips they sing and thank God, but with their hearts they are distant from Him, as God says about them: “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), and by their lawless lives they dishonor and blaspheme the name of God. Are they in a dangerous condition? Truly, in a dangerous way. For, if they do not sincerely turn and repent, they are subject to eternal condemnation with idolaters, who are in error and do not worship the One God, but sacrifice their will and soul to sin and in sin to the demon. Do they believe in God? No way. For true faith bears good fruit and avoids evil deeds. And “they say that they know God, but in works they deny,” as the apostle says (Titus 1:16). You will learn more about these in the following paragraphs. However, do not look at them, and do not look at their faith and deeds, but listen to what the Word of God teaches, and its interpreters - the Holy Fathers and Church teachers. Chapter 4: On Imitating God “Be imitators of God, as beloved children” (Eph. 5:1). “Following the example of the Holy One who called you, be holy in all your actions. For it is written: Be holy, for I am Holy” (1 Pet. 1:15–16; Lev. 11:44, 19:2). “Beloved! If God so loved us, then we should love one another” (1 John 4:11). § 320. Christians were born of God in holy Baptism by faith in Christ, the Son of God. For “everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God” (1 John 5:1). Consequently, they have God as their Father, and “are the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26). “And to those who received Him, to those who believed on His name, He gave power to become children of God, who were born neither of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12–13). That is why Christ, the Son of God, commanded them to call on God as their Father, to call God their Father, and to pray like this: “Our Father who art in heaven,” and so on (Matthew 6:9). So, Christian duty requires that Christians imitate God as their Father, and like Him, as beloved children, in their morals, as the Apostle exhorts them to do this: “Imitate God, as beloved children” (Eph. 5:1). For in a Christian who is born “of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5), there must be the beginning of the image of God, according to what is written: “those who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). The image must certainly be similar to the Prototype, just as the image that appears in the mirror is similar to the prototype, that is, to the one who looks into the mirror. Otherwise it would not be an image if it were not similar to the prototype. It follows from this that Christians, who by the grace of God and faith in Christ Jesus have become sons of God and have the beginning of the image of God in themselves, must have God-like morals and a will, as far as possible in this age, in agreement with the will of God. And the better the will, the more it agrees with the will of God, and the more God-like morals a Christian has, the more pure and clear the image of God shines in him, just as the purer the mirror, the clearer the image of the one looking into it. God, as a Father, rejoices at his son, looking at this image and seeing Himself in it. And how is such a likeness depicted in a mirror, what is the face like looking into it, and what does the prototype do, i.e. the face that looks in the mirror is also visible in the mirror, in a word, the image appearing in the mirror is in everything likened, in everything imitates the face looking in the mirror, and so it is fitting for Christians, in everything possible to their strength, to imitate the Heavenly Father, as their Prototype. And just as a mirror destroys the image of a human face when it turns away from the one who looked into it, and what it turns to, it takes that image into itself, so the human soul destroys the image of God when it turns away from God, and what it turns to and cleaves to is depicted in it. For example, when she loves honor, glory, wealth and the sweetness of this world, then an earthly and wordless image is depicted in her. So the forefather Adam, when he turned away from God, lost the image of God and put on an earthly and bestial image. Therefore, Christians, as born of God by water and the Spirit, are led away by the Word of God from the love of this world: “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world: whoever loves the world does not have the love of the Father. For whatever is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is of this world” (1 John 2:15-16). § 321. The Holy Word of God, like a pure mirror, presents to us what the image of God should be in a person born of water and the Spirit, and what it consists of. It guides us so that the image, which was corrupted after the fall of Adam, is renewed in us. “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 Timothy 3:16–17). For just as the old man is the earthly and bestial image, so the new man is the heavenly and bestial image, and we are commanded to “put aside our former way of life, the old man, which is being corrupted by its deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of our mind and put on the new man, created according to God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24). So, this is what the Word of God commands when it commands us to be merciful, “as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36), to be perfect as He is perfect (Matthew 5:48), to be holy because He is Holy (1 Peter 1:15–16), and so on. Therefore, just as we look into a mirror in order to cleanse the vices seen on the face, so Christians should often look into the clear mirror of Holy Scripture, in which the image of God is described, so that, looking into it, they can cleanse through repentance and faith in Christ the vices that have clung to their souls. And the more someone cleanses his spiritual vices, the purer his soul will be. The purer the soul is, the more clearly the image of God, its beautiful and gracious beauty, will shine in it. Think about this, Christian, take care of this. For this is why Christ came into the world, to restore and renew in us the image of God, which we lost in Adam. From this you can see: 1) How much every Christian needs diligent reading or listening to the Holy Scriptures. 2) All Christian life is nothing more than constant, until the end of life, repentance. For everyone, comparing himself with the mirror of Holy Scripture, will see that every day through repentance and faith in Christ he must cleanse and correct himself, “for we all sin many times” (James 3:2). Therefore, every day Christians have the need to ask for forgiveness of sins and pray: “Father! Forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). § 322. Holy Scripture, as a Divine rule and a clear mirror of holy Christian life, presents to us what we must avoid and what we must do if we want to imitate the Heavenly Father. It teaches us to turn away from evil and do good (Ps. 33:15), so that we can follow God, our Creator and Father. He teaches that all evil is disgusting to God and takes us away from God, the goodness of our soul darkens and corrupts, and all good is conformable to God and makes us like God. When he teaches us to imitate God, he does not teach us to create peace, not to raise the dead, not to walk on water, and to perform other miracles, for this is the work of His sole omnipotence, although by faith it is possible for a believer to perform miracles (Mark 9:23). But when He tells us to be imitators of God, He presents us to imitate His goodness, mercy, generosity, truth, truth, holiness, long-suffering, etc., and looking at these His Divine properties, we ourselves learn to do what He does, just like children, when they see what their father does, they try to do it themselves. In this holy mirror we see the truth of God, which cannot lie and deceive, but what it declares, reveals and promises to us is certainly so, as it is announced and revealed, although our mind does not comprehend, as many prophecies that have been fulfilled show themselves. Looking at the truth of the Heavenly Father, Christians should not lie, flatter, deceive and be hypocritical, but should be simple-hearted, speak the truth in their hearts, and not flatter with their tongues (Ps. 14:2-3). What they declare with their tongues, they must have in their hearts, and what they appear on the outside, before people, is what they must be on the inside, in the heart, and what they promise to their neighbor is consistent and not contrary to the Word of God, they must fulfill it, if it is in their power. The truth of God is presented there, which gives its own to everyone. Christians are also exhorted to give “to everyone their due: to whom to give, to give; to whom a quitrent is a quitrent; to whom fear is fear; to whom honor is honor" (Rom. 13:7). What they don’t want for themselves, they shouldn’t do for others, and what they want for themselves, they shouldn’t do for their neighbors. This is the truth that teaches us to give everyone their due. We do not want harm to ourselves - and we should not wish or do harm to our neighbor, that is, to any person. We want good for ourselves, and we should wish and do it for our neighbors. We don’t want anyone to kidnap us, take away something, steal something from us, discredit our name, reproach us, or do other evil things - and we ourselves must avoid doing this. We want our neighbor not to leave us in need, and we ourselves must do the same for our neighbor. This is what Christ demands from us: “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). In that purest mirror we see and are amazed at the goodness of God, which “makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). From here Christians learn not only to love their friends, but also to love their enemies, to bless those who curse, to do good to those who hate and to pray for those who offend and persecute them (Matthew 5:44), not to repay “evil for evil or curse for curse” (1 Pet. 3:9), but “if the enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. Not to be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:20–21). For “if you love those who love you,” Christ says to Christians, “what gratitude do you have for that? For sinners also love those who love them” (Luke 6:32). Christians act no higher than the pagans, who must, like light from darkness, differ from them in their godly life (see Phil. 2:15), when they love only those who love and do good only to those who do good. Looking in the mirror of Holy Scripture, we see the holiness of God as light, not participating in any darkness: “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). This is how it becomes for Christians, as children of light to act (Eph. 5:8), as children of God, to take care of a holy life, to cleanse themselves “from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, practicing holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1), “following the example of him who called the Holy One, and to be holy in all actions. For it is written: Be holy, for I am Holy” (1 Peter 1:15–16). “For God did not call us to uncleanness, but to holiness” (1 Thess. 4:7). “Holiness, of course, consists not only in keeping oneself from filth, fornication and impurity, but also from covetousness, envy, pride, vanity and other evil,” according to the teaching of St. John Chrysostom (2 Cor. 7:1. – Conversation on the word of the Apostle “let us purify ourselves,” etc.). We still see there the bounties and mercies of God, and by our very deeds we taste every day and hour the sweetness of His bounties and mercies. From here Christians themselves learn to be merciful and generous, and, like children, to become like their Merciful and Generous Father: to give to those who require the benefits that they received from His generous right hand, not to close their ears to those who ask, and not to turn away from those who require help. We see there endless mercy for sinners and Fatherly God's compassion for our weaknesses. For he is merciful who moves his soul and sympathizes with his heart when he sees the poverty of another. Such mercy of the Heavenly Father is presented to us in His holy Word, when for the sake of us, who perished, “He did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all” (Rom. 8:32), so that through Him He might seek and save us, who were lost (Luke 19:10), and also when He forgives us, who have sinned against Him and who repent. In this we must follow our Heavenly Father. He has mercy on us - and we must have mercy on our brethren, according to what is written: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). He sympathizes with us, the needy - and we must sympathize and sympathize with our brethren, weep with those who weep (Rom. 12:15), remember "the prisoners, as if we were in bonds with them, and the afflicted, as we ourselves are in the body" (Heb. 13:3). He absolves us who repent of our sins, delivers us from the punishment that follows for sins - and we must forgive our brethren out of mercy our sins ( Matthew 6:14), so that just as the Heavenly Father leaves us many debts, so we ourselves leave a small debt to our neighbors (Matthew 18:27, 33). We see in the same sacred mirror the unparalleled long-suffering of the Heavenly Father, who endured and endures so many sins of the whole world, untruth, idolatry and other grave iniquities, and ourselves, sinning every day, this. we will know. Seeing such long-suffering of our Merciful Father, we must also be patient with our sinning brethren, not be angry, not be embittered with them, not take revenge on them for the insults they have caused us, but wait with patience and meekness for their correction, so that we may win them to Christ and ourselves as true brothers, in the likeness of the Heavenly Father, Who acquired so many sinners with His long-suffering and acquires, as the apostle wrote: “Count the longsuffering of our Lord as salvation” (2 Pet. 3:15). For “the goodness of God leads every sinner to repentance” (Rom. 2:4). There it is revealed to us that “God is Spirit” (John 4:24). And we, although we cannot be spirit, as we have flesh and bones, we can and must be spiritual. “We are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh, not to live according to the flesh, but to mortify the deeds of the flesh through the Spirit” (Rom. 8:12-13). We must “not turn the cares of the flesh into lusts” (Rom. 13:14), walk according to the Spirit, and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh; crucify the flesh “with the passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:16, 24), “avoid the lusts of the flesh, which war against the soul” (1 Pet. 2:11), “so that the rest of the time in the flesh we no longer live according to human lusts, but according to the will of God" (1 Pet. 4:2), - let the Lord say not about us what he said about the first world: “My Spirit cannot abide in these men, because they are flesh” (Gen. 6:3). And the apostle Jude said: “These are natural people who do not have the spirit” (Jude 1:19). They do not submit to God, neither indeed can they” (Rom 8:7–8). Likewise, in other matters, Christians should look in the Holy Scripture, as in a mirror, at the image of the Heavenly Father, so that “as we have borne the image of earth, we also should bear the image of Heavenly” (1 Cor. 15:49), so that Christians may testify to their new spiritual birth, and show that they are truly “born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5), truly “born of God” (John 1:13), truly and They unhypocritically call God their Father and pray: “Our Father! Who art in heaven,” and so on (Matthew 6:9; Luke 11:2), are truly “the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal.3:26), for to Him, as sons to the Father, they are likened in their morals, and they bear His Divine image in themselves. For just as we are born from Adam as sinners and unclean, so from God we are born through water and the Spirit, holy and pure. And just as from Adam we are born evil-willed, deceitful, sin-loving, without love, envious, malicious, proud, lustful, love-loving, voluptuous and self-loving, so those born of God, as of the Good Father, must be good-natured, true, truth-loving, full of love, merciful, merciful, meek, patient, humble, humble in wisdom, self-controlled, lovers of goodness, and loving of the brothers. Just as we were born from Adam caring for the carnal and earthly, so it is fitting for those born of God to care about the spiritual and heavenly, since “God is Spirit” (John 4:24). For “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of God of the Spirit is spirit,” according to the words of Christ (John 3:6). For whoever has what kind of birth should have the same properties. It follows from this that Christians, as newly born of God, must be similar to God, their Father, in their morals. We must imitate the Good God in His goodness, the Generous God in His bounty, the Merciful God in His mercy and mercy, the True God in His truth, the long-suffering, the meek, the Holy God in long-suffering, meekness, holiness and other Divine properties, and so be lovers of goodness, generous-loving, holy-loving, true-loving, truth-loving, merciful, merciful, patient, and other good morals from a pure heart and unfeignedly decorate yourself. § 323. Such imitation of true Christians to the Heavenly Father comes from their true faith and from reflection on His Divine properties, which are revealed in the Holy Scriptures and presented for imitation. For both true worship of God and true imitation of God come from true knowledge of God. For true imitation also relates to the worship of God, and is nothing other than zealous worship of God. For we cannot honor God and please God in any other way than by living in a way that pleases Him, when we want and do what He wants and does, and do not want and turn away from what He does not want and turns away from. This is what true worship of God, this true knowledge of the name of God requires of us. “Oh man! It has been told to you what is good and what the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Your God and Lord, a Christian, does not want any evil, sin and lawlessness, he turns away from it and hates it (see. Ps.5:4-7), since all evil, sin and lawlessness are not His, but the devil’s invention and work, and he seeks from you that you turn away from all sin and lawlessness and abhor them as a devil’s work. So, show your faith by your works and the fruit of the new Divine birth. Follow your God and Lord, hate sin and iniquity, and abhor them. God and your Lord “is righteous and loves righteousness” (Ps. 10:7). He also wants from you that you, having been justified “by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 6:11), should love righteousness and do righteousness. So, show the fruit of that justification, follow your Lord and do righteousness, so that you will show that you were truly born of Him, as the apostle says: “If you know that He is righteous, Know also this, that everyone who does righteousness is born of Him” (1 John 2:29). Your God and Lord will not offend anyone, but whatever he does, he does righteously (see Heb. 6:10). So you, following His example, should not offend anyone, either in word, or in deed, or in any other way. 85:15; John 17:17), and requires this of you. And you must avoid flattery, lies, deceit and hypocrisy, but rather love and preserve the truth in your words and deeds (Eph. 4:24). God and your Lord loves you and everyone, and has mercy on everyone. He wants this from you too. And you, following His example, should love everyone, according to the admonition of the Apostle: “If God so loved us, then we ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11), and show the fruit of love, mercy, to all those who need mercy. Your God and Lord is Generous, giving you and everyone His blessings. He wants you to imitate Him in this, to distribute from His blessings given to you to those in need, to feed the hungry, to give water to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to bring strangers into your home, and so on. Your God and the Lord of yours and everyone wants and seeks salvation, He “wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). Show such a character of philanthropy, follow the good will and philanthropic desire of the Heavenly Father, take care of your own and your neighbor’s salvation. Your God and Lord endures the iniquities and sins of men for a long time, and thereby awaits their repentance. He wants this from you too. So, you too must endure the insults inflicted by people, not be angry or embittered at them, but expect their correction. Your God and Lord forgives your sins and all those who repent, and does not remember them (Ezek. 18:21–23). He wants this from you too. So, you, too, must forgive your brother, as sinner to sinner, man to man, and servant to your fellow man, and forgive your sins for the sake of your Lord, and not remember them (Matthew 6:14, 18:22–35). Your God and the Lord is Holy. He also seeks this from you: “Be holy, for I am Holy” (1 Peter 1:16). You must also preserve the holiness given in Baptism, and therefore keep yourself from all defilement of the flesh and spirit, avoid all uncleanness and other things that separate you from communion with God and His Son Jesus Christ. For “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, but walk in darkness, then we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 John 1:5-6). This is what your God, whom you confess, seeks from you, O man. This is what your faith, this knowledge of His name, this new birth, or your Baptism, in which you were born by water and the Spirit, renounced Satan, the world and his lusts, and promised to serve God and follow Him, requires. We were born in carnal birth unclean, sinful, unclean, but in spiritual birth we were reborn, “washed, sanctified, justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11). So, this new birth and fruits should show, which are nothing other than Christian virtues and God-like living. We fell in Adam - in Christ and through Christ we must rise, “so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). In the new birth, just as we rise by the power and grace of Christ from that fall, so we are reborn, or, more simply, we are reborn by the action and power of the Holy Spirit, therefore, we must show the fruits and signs of our rebellion and rebirth. For just as someone who has fallen bodily and rises walks and does his business, and a born baby shows the signs of his birth and life, that is, he feels, feeds, cries, and so on, so those who have risen spiritually from Adam’s fall - and this rebellion happens through faith in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit - it is appropriate to show the signs of this rebellion: to walk spiritually, to eat spiritually, to think about spiritual things (see Rom 8:5), to do spiritual things. And babies born in Christ, that is, reborn by water and the Spirit, must show the actions of their rebirth, that is, do deeds befitting their spiritual birth and pleasing to God. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,” says Christ (John 3:6). That is, whoever was born only of a carnal parent is nothing other than flesh, and thinks about carnal things, but whoever is born of the Spirit has in himself the properties of the Spirit, and thinks about spiritual things, just as the Apostle says: “Those who live in the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live in the Spirit, think on the things of the Spirit” (Rom. 8:5). That is, carnal people conceive and do nothing other than what is pleasing to the corrupted flesh, but spiritual people, who are reborn by the Spirit of God, think and try to do what is characteristic of their spiritual birth and pleasing to God. And just as that which is born of the flesh is living and active, for example, from a living mother a living child is born, and therefore does deeds befitting the flesh, so it behooves the one born of the Spirit, the inner, or new, man to be alive, and to do deeds befitting his spiritual birth, to have life, strength and action within himself, and by similar deeds to show God, from Whom he was born, his vitality and strength. And just as a son depicts the properties of his father according to the flesh, so he who is born of God must depict the properties of God, righteousness, truth, love, patience, holiness and other things in himself. Otherwise, it would not be a true, but a dreamy birth, if the one born did not have the properties of the one who gave birth in himself. This liveliness in the inner, or new, man is nothing other than living and active faith, conceived from the Holy Spirit, which, like a good tree, shows its liveliness through fruits and good deeds. § 324. In order to follow the properties and good deeds of the Heavenly Father, one must first renounce one’s evil morals. To follow the will of God, you must first abandon your will. If we want to imitate His righteousness, truth, goodness, patience, meekness, mercy, mercy and other Divine properties, then we must renounce untruth, lies, malice, anger, grumbling, impatience, hard-heartedness, stinginess, impurity and our other evil and godly morals. Note, Christian, what it means to renounce your evil behavior and imitate the goodness of God. Each of us has the old man within us from birth, and is born the old man from our parents. His properties and disposition are nothing more than self-love, carnality, love of glory, voluptuousness, untruth, lies, impurity, unmercifulness, hard-heartedness, anger, rage, malice, murmuring, blasphemy and other sins. Such are the customs of the old birth and the old man. With them he is consoled and delighted. He tends to love veneration, worship, praise, and human glory. It is natural for him to be proud, to be arrogant, to be arrogant, to despise another, to murmur, to be angry, to blaspheme, to be angry, to take revenge in word or deed, to repay evil for evil, and thereby be consoled. He is pleased to have everything for himself and not think about anything else; to be comforted by everything that belongs to the senses; there is only pleasure, consolation, delight in believing that the feelings console, delight and amuse; to turn away from what is unpleasant to them, although it is beneficial to the soul and pleasing to God. He cares about only one thing, thinks, begins and does what he sees, about the temporary, about what brings him wealth, glory, honor and bodily and temporary sweetness. Everything that exposes his evil character is unpleasant to him, and everything that is similar to his corrupted will is pleasant. He turns away from everything that pride, love of glory and voluptuousness suppresses. He loves everything that multiplies his whims. To become rich in every possible way, to gather, to console the gathered, to live spaciously, to multiply luxury, to arrange banquets and feasts, to be satisfied, to get drunk, to have fun, to decorate and to fulfill other whims - this is his business, in this he places his pleasure. He loves to dress himself, eat, and have a good rest, but does not care about his neighbor. He loves to have any kind of contentment, although it would be received with insult to one’s neighbor and contempt for the Divine law and the Lawgiver Himself. He does not tolerate insults, reproaches, dishonor, reproaches, slander, curses from others, he becomes embittered for this and takes revenge, but he himself is not ashamed to offend others, rape, expose, reproach, dishonor, condemn, slander them and bring them into any disaster. He is not ashamed to love in himself, to praise what he hates and blasphemes in others. It also notes that he teaches, instructs, enlightens people, but he himself is completely blinded, insane and senseless. In a word, in the old man lies all lawlessness, sin, blindness, and shamelessness. He is nothing more than the one who conceives and gives birth to evil thoughts. For “out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, murder, theft, covetousness, malice, deceit, lasciviousness, an envious eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness” (Mark 7:21-22). One sees in him a bestial disposition, bestial and serpentine. Bestial uncleanness, bestial gluttony, cruelty, anger, fury and bestial cunning. Look at the cattle and beasts, what they do, and you yourself will recognize and admit that everything that you see in them is seen in a man unregenerate and unrenewed by the grace of God, and what you notice in each beast is all in one person. Sly and cunning, like a fox. Poisonous like a snake. Angry, furious and fierce, like a lion. Glutton, like a dog and a wolf. Unclean as a pig, and so on. All this and other evil is hidden in the old man, and is revealed on occasion. A Christian must renounce such an old man with his evil morals, so that he may follow God in His most good morals: renounce lies, hypocrisy, wickedness, untruth, uncleanness, love of money, stinginess, anger, rage, sensuality and other evil morals, and so follow God’s truth, justice, holiness, mercy, long-suffering, meekness, goodness and His other Divine properties. For just as one who wants to look at the sky must turn his eyes away from the earth and turn to the sky, and one who wants to look at the sun must turn to it, so one who wants to imitate heavenly life must leave behind earthly and bestial things, and one who wants to look at God with faith and follow His holy morals must leave behind his natural evil nature. And this means renouncing yourself, your will, your evil nature, that is, not doing what the old man living in us wants, but doing what the will of God seeks and demands from us, if we want to follow God’s properties and morals. But just as we must put off the old man, which is corrupted by lusts, so we must also put on the new, so that we may follow God, our Heavenly Father. Truly, both the old man and the new man are presented to us in the Word of God, so that we may put off the first and put on the second, put aside the bestial and earthly image of the first with the help and power of the Holy Spirit, and take on the second the image of God and the heavenly by the power of the same Holy Spirit; Let us put off the ugliness of the first, and put on the goodness of the second, as the apostle commands us to “put off our former way of life, the old man, which is corrupted by the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of the mind, and put on the new man, created according to God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24). Thus, putting off the old man, whose image is bestial and bestial, vile and vile, and putting on the new, whose image is God’s, heavenly and holy, let us become in our good morals similar to our Heavenly Father, Who created us in His image and likeness, and that image, corrupted by sin, renews in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us be merciful as He is Merciful. Let us be pure and holy as He is Holy. Let us be generous, meek, patient and merciful, just as He is generous and merciful, long-suffering and abounding in mercy. And insofar as we put off the old man, so much will we put on the new, for the putting off of one is the conviction of another, and the death of one is the life of another. For as much as the old man is put off and put to death, the new man is put on and quickened in us. The more we put on the new man, the more God-like our properties will be. The more God-like the properties, the more pure and clear the image of God in us will be. The human soul is like a mirror. Just as in a mirror facing the sun, the clearer the sun is seen, the purer the mirror, so in the human soul, turning to God, the Eternal Sun, the clearer the image of God is depicted and seen, the more it is cleansed of sins and follows God’s holy properties and morals. And just as the likeness of the sun will not be depicted in a mirror if it does not turn towards the sun or if it is sooty and dirty, so the image of God will not be depicted in the human soul if a person does not turn to God and is not cleansed of sins. We turn to God when we change our heart, mind and life and begin a new life, and thus we put off the old and put on the new man, who was created in the image and likeness of God (see Gen. 1:26–27). From the above you see, Christian: 1) What is a true Christian? That is, a Christian who has in himself the beginning of the image of God, and according to the rule of the Holy Word of God, in which the image of God is described, tries to correct his life, puts off “the old man with his deeds and puts on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him” (Col 3:9-10), that is, he suppresses carnal lusts and whims, and shows the properties of the new birth, that is, Christian virtues, and so One is likened to the prototype, the Heavenly Father, and follows His good properties and morals. For this is certainly required by the new birth, in which a Christian is born of God, as stated above. 2) You see that we cannot please God with anything other than the service about which He spoke and commanded in His word, that is, repentance, faith and the submission of our will to His holy will, when we deviate from what He does not want, and try to do what He wants and requires of us. 3) From here you see that without obedience and submission of the human will, nothing is pleasing to God, no matter what a person does or thinks. We must certainly submit our will to His will, which is what faith and the new birth require of us. 4) You see further that a sin-loving and lawless life is contrary to faith, to new birth, which requires its fruits, that is, Christian virtues, and, therefore, is contrary to true Christianity. 5) From here you see that a faulty Christian, who lives contrary to the Word of God and fulfills the whims of the old man, is only born in the flesh, does not have a spiritual and new birth, and so he is not a true Christian, but a carnal, spiritual and unregenerate man, although he is baptized, and goes to Church, prays and shows other Christian signs. For what makes a Christian is not only the appearance of Christianity, but a living faith that lives in the heart and shows its liveliness through good deeds. Therefore, a true Christian is likened in Scripture to a good tree, which bears good fruits within itself, and a false Christian is likened to a bad tree, which also bears bad fruits within itself (see Matthew 7:17–18). 6) From here, finally, it follows that such false Christians, although they are in the midst of the Church, do not have any part in the Church, they are not sons of the Church, they do not have any part in Christ, although they confess Him until they sincerely turn to Him and abandon their lusts. § 325. So, is it possible for Christians who live incorrectly to call upon God as Father, as true Christians do? It is truly impossible to call correctly and usefully until one corrects oneself and truly repents. Judge for yourself how, without a twinge of conscience, they will call on God, the Holy, the righteous, the true, the good, the merciful, the generous, etc., as the Father, and show the opposite with their morals - that they are not His sons, but opponents? How can fornicators and other sensualists say to the Holy God: “Our Father,” when they themselves move away from holiness and purity and become like cattle? How do the unrighteous, predators, thieves, greedy people and others like them dare to say to the Righteous God: “Our Father,” when they themselves separate from Him through unrighteousness and resist Him? How can flatterers and crafty people call God, Who is Truth, Father, when they themselves are likened to the father of lies, the devil, who “is the father of lies and does not stand in the truth,” according to the testimony of Christ (John 8:44)? The same should be understood about other evil Christians who do not show the properties of the new birth. So, God is not their Father? God, as the Creator, since “He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45), because He “wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4), is the most merciful Father to all. But, in fact, He is the Father only of those who are reborn by faith in Christ, the Son of God, and by the Spirit, and honor Him as their Father, fear and love Him, and with their morals become like Him as their Father. To such, Christ commanded God the Father to call upon: “Our Father who art in heaven” (Matthew 6:9)! Can such people even call Him their Lord? God is both the Father, as has already been said, and the Lord of all, since He owns and rules over all, and He is “King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15), but, in fact, He is Lord only of those who serve Him, listen to Him and obey His holy commands. Therefore, only they can call Him their Lord and call upon Him, but they cannot correctly call Him their Lord, because they do not listen to Him and do not serve Him. For how can they say: My Lord and my King, but they themselves do not listen to the Lord and King? For a servant listens to his master, and a subject obeys his king. Why does Christ say to such callers: “Why do you call Me: “Lord! God!" “And you do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46) So, they are not servants of God? They are servants of God, since they are subject to His authority, but they are unprofitable servants, about whom it is said: “Throw out the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30). Whose slaves are they, exactly? The slave belongs to the master for whom he works, for his name means work, and the slave from “work” is called a slave. So, whoever the slave works for and pleases, he is his slave. They please and serve passions and whims, so they are slaves to their passions. Listen to what Christ says: “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34), and the Apostle Peter: “Whoever is overcome by someone is his slave” (2 Peter 2:19). If someone serves sin and passions, he cannot serve God, therefore, he cannot be His slave. Christ testifies to this: “No one can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other; or he will be zealous for one and neglectful of the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). So, it is impossible for them to pray to God? It is truly impossible while they remain so. What should they do so that they can get rid of this heavy slavery, and serve the Living God, and call on His name without inhibition? Answer: You must leave your whims, and turn to Christ with faith, and pray to Him to free them from that heavy slavery, He alone frees such enslaved and captives, according to His testimony: “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36), - and so by the grace of the Only Begotten Son of God, return and come to the Heavenly Father, as He Himself says: “No one comes to Father, except through Me" (John 14:6). Then God will be their God, their Lord, King and Father, and they will be the people of God, the servants of the Lord Most High and the sons of the Heavenly Father, as He graciously promises: “And I will be their God, and they will be My people” (2 Cor. 6:16; Lev. 26:12). And further: “And I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor. 6:18; Jer. 3:19; Hos. 1:11). This, Christian, you will see more clearly below. Just always keep in mind that Christians should not do what the present world does, but what God’s Word teaches. For temptations multiply day by day in the world, and one unknowingly learns evil from another, and so the number of true Christians decreases. For not all those Christians who signify themselves with the cross go to Church, confess the name of God and Christ, and show other signs of Christianity. Know that many ungodly people are hidden under these signs. For without true and living faith, as was said above and will be said below, there cannot be a true Christian. Chapter 5: On prayer, or calling on God “Pray like this: Our Father, who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as it is in heaven and on earth. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors: and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen!" – Christ teaches (Matthew 6:9–18). § 326. Prayer, or invoking the name of God, belongs to the threefold Christian duty: duty towards God, duty towards oneself and duty towards one's neighbor. 1) Our duty regarding God is to show through prayer and invocation of Him our faith in Him, that we truly believe in Him, we know no other God besides Him, we confess Him as the source of all good things, we hope in Him as the True Father, Who loves His children and gives what they ask for, just as children according to the flesh do not come to someone else’s father, but to their own, from whom they were born, and come with a petition. And the apostle says: “How can we call on Him in whom we have not believed” (Rom. 10:14)? And the Lord God Himself says: “I am the Lord your God” (Ex. 20:2), that is, know Me alone, confess Me, trust in Me alone, and seek all good things from Me. “Call upon Me in the day of your trouble, and I will deliver you” (Ps. 49:15). 2) Duty towards ourselves: since we are both physically and spiritually poor, poor and damned, we must seek with faith all good things from the Giver of all good things - the Heavenly Father. 3) The following applies to the duty concerning our neighbor: Christian love requires that we pray for our neighbor, and both for ourselves and for him, ask for good from our God, as the apostle says: “Pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16). § 327. God knows even before our request what we demand, as Christ says: “Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things” (Matthew 6:32), that is, food, drink, clothing and everything necessary for life, and gives His benefits to the righteous and sinners, since He is Merciful and Generous: “He commands His sun to rise on the wicked and good and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). He also knows that spiritual blessings, such as faith, grace, peace of conscience, etc., are needed for salvation. But we must know that all good things come from God, “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). And therefore we must ask God with faith, so that we may recognize and acknowledge that we receive everything from God, and, accepting, thank Him as the Benefactor who freely has mercy on us. § 328. The following reasons motivate every faithful person to prayer: 1) God Himself commands to pray and call upon Him: “Call Me in the day of your tribulation” (Ps. 49:15). “Ask, seek, knock,” says Christ (Matthew 7:7). And in other places of Holy Scripture the same command can be found. 2) Our need, both physical and spiritual, convinces us to pray. The bodily one is needed in the temporary and related to temporary life, the spiritual one – concerning the salvation of our souls. 3) We are faced with many troubles, misfortunes, oppression, sorrows and temptations, which we ourselves, without God’s help, which is given to those who pray, cannot overcome. 4) The ineffable benefits that come from prayer, since humble prayer asks everything from the Merciful and Good Lord, and examples of this can be found in many places in Holy Scripture. 5) The great goodness of God is that a person is granted the privilege of conversing with the incomprehensible God - the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, presenting his needs to Him and asking for them, praising, singing and thanking Him, which happens through true, faithful and humble prayers, as St. John Chrysostom says: “When you pray, are you not talking with God, tell me? When you read, you hear Him talking to you” (Conversation 6 on the first Epistle to the Thessalonians). A man considers his happiness to be talking to an earthly monarch. What a great blessing Christians should consider that they are allowed to have a conversation with the Heavenly King, the Most Good and Merciful God, and not only are allowed, but are also attracted to this by the command and promise that their request will be heard! Therefore, beloved Christian, taste and see how good our Lord is (Ps. 33:9)! For he not only allows us, unworthy and sinners, to come to Him, but also attracts us, and not only attracts us, but also teaches us how to come to Him and pray, as the Lord’s Prayer shows. “Pray this way,” says Christ (Matthew 6:9). How so? - “Our Father!” Call God Father. Who are we? The people who angered Him are worthless slaves, sinners, “earth and ashes” (Sir.10:9). O our Most Merciful God! Your goodness meets us everywhere, wherever we turn. And no matter what we look at, everywhere we find opportunities to be amazed at the great riches of Your goodness. 6) Excites us to prayer when we hear without a doubt the promise: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you,” says Christ the Truth (John 16:23). § 329. What should we ask from the Merciful Heavenly Father? 1) We must ask for everything that concerns the glory of His name and our benefit, both physical and temporary, as well as spiritual and eternal, what is commanded, promised in His Holy Word and what His holy will wants, revealed in the same Holy Scripture. Spiritual benefits include those benefits that are needed for spiritual salvation and eternal life, such as: faith, remission of sins, His grace, renewal of the heart, constancy in faith, patience in sorrows, troubles and distress, and so on. Bodily benefits include everything that our body needs to maintain life, such as prosperous health, reason, contentment with necessities, food, clothing, peace, and so on. 2) We must ask for spiritual benefits in a proper manner and expect without any doubt, as necessary for our true bliss. For God Himself promised to give them to us without any exception when we properly ask. “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom. 10:13). And he confirmed with an oath that he did not want the sinner to die (Ezek.33:11). “If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him,” says Christ (Luke 11:13), “Who wants all people to be saved and to attain the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). So, it is not good to say like this: “Lord, if you want, and it is useful for me, forgive my sins, give me Your grace,” and so on, for without a doubt it is known that God wants, and it is useful for me, or even necessary for salvation, forgiveness of sins, and so on. 3) Temporary benefits, for example, health, continuation of life, well-being and other things, should not just be asked, but with the addition of this: if His holy will pleases, it is useful for us who ask. “For we do not know what to pray for as we ought,” says the apostle (Rom. 8:26). We often ask God for things that are harmful to us and contrary to His holy will. This is what small children do when they don’t want to go to the bathhouse, which is very useful for them, and they ask their mothers to take time off from it. This is also what those who ask God for deliverance from under the cross, sorrow, illness and other disasters do, not knowing that it is much more beneficial for them to be in trouble than in prosperity. The doctor knows what is harmful and what is useful for the weak, and often the weak person asks the doctor for poison instead of medicine, but the prudent doctor does not give it. We are all before God as weak and as babies who do not know our benefit, and we often ask for what can bring us spiritual death, which God, as a Merciful Father and Provider, does not want, and does not want to give His sons who ask instead of bread a stone, instead of a fish a snake, and instead of an egg a scorpion (see Luke 11:11). Therefore, one should always ask for temporary good like this: Lord, if Thy holy will is pleasing and useful to me, grant me what I desire: if not, Thy will be done. The Son of God showed us an example when, before His free suffering, He prayed to His Heavenly Father: “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; however, not as I want, but as You want” (Matthew 26:39). § 330. We must pray, or call upon God: 1) In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as He Himself says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you” (John 16:23). That is, one must pray and ask God, hoping not for one’s own truth and deeds, but for the truth of Christ and His highest merits, and for the sake of His innocent suffering and death of one’s guilt, ask for forgiveness, in the likeness of the tax collector who prayed: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13) “For through Him we both have access to the Father in one Spirit” (Eph.2:18). And “no one comes to the Father except through Me,” says Christ Himself (John 14:6). For whatever blessing God promised to give us, He promised in His name, for “in Him all nations will be blessed,” says Scripture (Ps. 71:17; Gal. 3:8). And so with this hope we must approach the Heavenly Father, and for the sake of the Only Begotten Son, ask the Father for mercy and wait without doubt. 2) With true faith. “Whatever you ask in prayer with faith, you will receive,” says Christ (Matthew 21:22). Faith is confirmed by a true promise, omnipotence, truth, mercy, the wisdom of the promising God and the merits of Christ. And since faith is the gift of the Holy Spirit, who does not dwell in a soul defiled by sins, then “let everyone who confesses the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness” (2 Tim. 2:19). Whoever wants to approach God and receive what he wants must renounce his sins and, with faith in Christ, the Son of God, be reconciled with God. Fornication and all uncleanness, theft, theft, enmity, malice, love of money, covetousness, slander, obscene language, curses, drunkenness, lies, flattery, deceit and the like close the doors of prayer while a person remains in them. So, let him who wants to call on the name of the Lord depart from all this. “It is appropriate,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “to pray, but not to one who is soiled with filth. You say: “What if I fall into sin?” Cleanse yourself. How? Cry, groan, give alms, make peace with those you have offended, cleanse your tongue so that you will no longer anger God, and so on, so that the Lord may not say to you: “When you multiply your prayers, I do not hear” (Is. 1:15 - Discourse 51 on the Evangelist Matthew). 3) One must pray not only with the tongue, but also with the heart, that is, prayer must come from the heart. “From the depths,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “call on God, as he says: “Out of the depths I called to You, O Lord” (Ps. 129:1); take your voice out of your inner being.” And a little later: “For you do not pray to man, but to God who is omnipresent, who hears first and knows the secrets of the heart” (Conversation 19 on the Evangelist Matthew). For in prayer we declare to God our heartfelt desires, and therefore we must think in our minds and have and desire in our hearts what we say with our tongue and words. Otherwise there will be no prayer, but only idle words. Therefore, we must teach ourselves to pray, and ask the Lord Himself for this, so that by His Holy Spirit he can teach us to pray, as the apostles asked Him about this: “Lord! Teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). From this we can conclude that there can be no true prayer without the action of the Holy Spirit. For when this Good Comforter touches our heart, then, like the incense from burning incense, sighing, holy desire and true prayer will come from the heart, and will approach the throne of grace. 1) “At all times” (Eph.6:18), “always” (Luke 18:1), “continuously” (1 Thess.5:17). Praying always and unceasingly does not mean always reading written psalms or prayers and making prostrations - this is impossible, for any Christian needs to do work according to his calling, and also the weary flesh requires rest, sleep, and other things, but it means that often, in every undertaking and deed, raise the mind, heart and sighing to God and ask Him for mercy, help and protection. The reason for this is the following. At any time, Satan with his evil servants makes intrigues for us, and the flesh always resists the spirit (see Gal. 5:17), - and we ourselves cannot resist these enemies, therefore we must arm ourselves against them with prayer and the help of God that comes from it, stand and strengthen ourselves, as the Psalmist says: “I have lifted up my eyes to You, who dwells in heaven. This is how the eyes of slaves are turned to the hands of their masters, just as the eyes of a slave are turned to the hands of her mistress, so our eyes are turned to the Lord our God, until He has mercy on us” (Ps. 122:1-2). 2) One must pray in every place. Thus the apostle says: “I desire that men in every place say their prayers, lifting up clean hands, without anger or doubting” (1 Timothy 2:8). 3) It is possible to pray while standing, sitting, walking, resting, doing something with your hands, in solitude and in a meeting. For always, in every place and in all our affairs, and during food and drink, and in conversations pleasing to God, we can raise our mind and heart to God, present our needs with humility and faith to Him and ask for mercy from Him, and say: “Lord have mercy!” So Moses, in the midst of the numerous people who led him out of Egypt and saw them in cramped circumstances, sang to God with his mind and heart, although His verbal prayer is not depicted in Scripture, for God answered him: “Why are you crying out to Me” (Ex. 14:15)? Hezekiah, the pious king, lying on his bed, prayed, and God heard him (see Is. 38: 2, 4 et seq.). Jonah prayed in the belly of the whale, and was heard by God (see Jonah 2:2–11). Three youths prayed in the fiery furnace and were saved (see Dan. 3:24–49, 50–94, etc.). For God does not look at the outward sign and position of the body in which it is, but at the heart, humility, faith, and heart desire. Therefore it is written: “You have heard the desire of the poor, that is, the humble, O Lord; Your ear has heard the devotion of their hearts” (Ps. 9:38). § 332. The outward signs of prayer in the Holy Scriptures can be found as follows: 1) kneeling (see 3 Kings 8:54; Acts 7:60; Eph. 3:14); 2) lifting of hands (see Ex.9:22, 23, 29, 33; 1 Tim.2:8; Ps.143:6); 3) raising one’s eyes to heaven (see John 11:41, 17:1; Ps. 121:1, 122:1–2, etc.). However, these signs are useless without inner true goodwill and zeal, for God looks at the heart, and not at outward appearances, and listens not to the outer, but to the inner voice of the heart. Therefore, one who reads a lot of prayers, psalms, or bows a lot, but without reason, attention, heartfelt humility and zeal, never prays. For if we offer our petition to a person, then we gather our mind, heart and all our zeal, all the more so when we stand in prayer before God, our hearts and bellies are tested (Ps. 7:10), and we extend our petition. Here it is imperative to gather all your mind and heart, as far as possible for a person surrounded by weak flesh. § 333. Christian duty requires us to pray not only for ourselves, but for all people: 1) For kings and for all those in authority, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and purity” (1 Tim 2:1-2). 2) For preachers of the Word of God, shepherds and teachers, “so that the Word of the Lord may be spread and glorified” (2 Thessalonians 3:1), and so that they may be correct and blameless in their life and rank, so that they teach correctly, and what they teach, set an example in themselves. 3) For each other, as the apostle exhorts: “Pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16). Therefore, Christ commanded all Christians to pray to the Heavenly Father, as if with one voice, and to say: “Our Father who art in heaven” (Luke 11:2; Matt.6:9). 4) Christians should pray not only for their brothers and friends, but also for their enemies. “Pray for those who use you and persecute you,” says Christ, “so that you,” he continues, “may be sons of your Father in heaven, for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:44, 45). This is how Christ Himself prayed for His enemies: “Father! Forgive them” (Luke 23:34). And Saint Stephen: “Lord! Do not impute this sin to them” (Acts 7:60). What to pray about is taught by the Lord’s Prayer – “Our Father”, about which the next paragraph offers a discussion with a brief explanation. “Our Father, who art in heaven!” This verse is the preface to the prayer, from which we learn: 1) that God is the true Father of Christians, and “they are the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26). Consequently, as a Father, they should call upon Him with hope, just as the children of the flesh call upon their parents and stretch out their hands to them in all their needs. 2) God for Christians is one Father. Consequently, they are brothers with each other, as having one Father. 3) Christians, as spiritual brothers, must have love among themselves. 4) Pray to God for each other, and, as it were, emit one voice from the heart to your Heavenly Father: “Our Father!” “By this He teaches,” says St. John Chrysostom in a conversation on this word, “to pray in common for the brethren. For he does not say: “My Father,” but says: “Our Father,” to send up prayers for the common body, and everywhere to see not only one’s own benefit, but also that of one’s neighbor.” 5) When Christians are brothers in God, then they all have the same honor and glory. All, I say: masters and slaves, famous and unknown, rich and poor, high-ranking and simple, like brothers. And therefore, we should not despise each other, since “they are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). “So,” says St. John Chrysostom, “He removes inequality from us, and shows the great equality of the king with the beggar.” 6) How diligently we must guard ourselves from sins, and with more good morals we must become like God, like sons to their father, if without a twinge of conscience they want to call upon Him and call Him Father. 7) It is clear from this that a faulty Christian, until he corrects and cleanses himself with true repentance, cannot usefully call upon God, much less call him Father and pronounce this prayer. It is absolutely necessary to leave sins and carnal desires, repent, and depart from unrighteousness, according to the teaching of the Apostle: “Let everyone who confesses the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness” (2 Tim. 2:19). For how can he say to Him: “Our Father,” but with his morals he himself is likened to cattle or the devil? For those who call God Father and pray: “Our Father” must be the sons of God, and the sons must have properties similar to the father. So, we must certainly, like the prodigal son, come to our senses, turn and return to the Father and before Him with humility admit our sin: “Father! I have sinned against heaven and before You and am no longer worthy to be called Your son" (Luke 15:17-21) - and henceforth not to be separated from the Heavenly Father, but to serve Him with a pure heart, and with His household, that is, with true Christians, to have a part, and so with them together to emit a common voice to Him: “Our Father!” 8) It is said: “in heaven” - not because God is in heaven, but takes the one who prays from the earth and raises him to heavenly abodes, says St. John Chrysostom, and also because there is the Fatherland of the chosen, and there God reveals Himself in His glory, and delights the souls of His saints. God is essential - in every place, in heaven and on earth, as the Psalmist sings: “Our God is in heaven and on earth” (Ps. 113:11). Let's look further at what Christ commanded Christians to pray for. 1) “Hallowed be the name, that is, let your name be glorified,” says Saint John Chrysostom. 2) This means that we should not seek anything other than the glory of God. A worthy prayer, says Chrysostom, who calls God the Father, is not to ask for anything before the glory of God, but to prefer His praise to everything. 3) The name of God is holy and glorious even without our glorification, but we must try so that it is glorified in us too. 4) The name of God is glorified when His word is preached purely, and we correct our lives according to His word, as Christ says: “Let your light so shine before men, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). 5) We cannot do this ourselves, without God’s grace. Therefore, we ask Heavenly Father to graciously give this to us. 6) From here our weakness is visible, that without God we cannot do any good, as Christ says: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). 7) If we ask that the name of God may be sanctified and glorified, then we should not seek glory from good deeds for our own name. 8) Whoever teaches or lives differently from what the word of God teaches does not glorify the name of God. Therefore, so that God Himself does not allow us to do this, we pray to Him: “Hallowed be thy name.” “Thy kingdom come!” 1) According to the teachings of St. John Chrysostom, the kingdom here is of course heavenly - the kingdom that true Christians expect and pray: “Thy kingdom come.” And this, he says, is the word of a prudent son, who does not cling to what is visible and does not consider the present to be great, but hurries to his father and strives for the future. 2) Whoever desires the kingdom of heaven and prays: “Thy kingdom come,” must despise the earthly kingdom, glory, honor, pleasures and wealth. Otherwise, it is in vain to say and pray: “Thy kingdom come.” 3) You must first despise earthly things, and then desire heavenly things. He needs to have a clear conscience, or cleanse it with repentance, and then pray: “Thy kingdom come.” Otherwise, he cannot wish for this and ask for it, when the conscience, defiled by sins, threatens with the judgment of God and eternal torment. For how can one pray and say: “Thy kingdom come,” but his conscience is troubled by the expectation of eternal torment? So, it is absolutely required that those who want and ask for the kingdom of God to come leave their sins and cleanse them through repentance, regret and faith. For the kingdom of God is prepared for the righteous and holy, and will certainly come, but those defiled by sins await it in vain. This desire comes from a clear conscience, says Chrysostom, and from a soul removed from earthly things. “Thy will be done as it is in heaven and on earth.” 1) The will of God happens even without our request. Therefore, we do not ask God to do what He wants, but we ask that we can do what His will wants. 2) From here we see that we cannot do the will of God without God. 3) The will of God is fulfilled when we keep piety intact and remain in it to the end, according to what is said: “be faithful until death” (Rev. 2:10), and also when sinners renounce their sins and repent. “God wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). In order for this to happen, we ask God: “Thy will be done.” 4) “Like heaven and earth.” That is, just as the Angels in heaven fulfill the will of God and live among themselves lovingly, peacefully, in harmony, so we, imitating them on earth, may be able to do His will and live holy, pure, peacefully, lovingly and accordingly. 5) When we pray: “Thy will be done,” we must renounce our will and abandon it. “Give us this day our daily bread.” 1) Daily bread, according to the understanding of St. John Chrysostom, means everyday bread. 2) Here we mean not only bread, but also everything necessary for this temporary life, for example, drink, clothing, rest, home, etc., as some interpret. 3) We do not ask for wealth, but we ask for what is necessary to support this life. It is commanded to pray not for money, not for luxury, nor for valuable clothing, nor for anything else like that, but only for bread, and for everyday bread, so that one does not worry about the morning, says Saint Chrysostom. 4) It follows that a Christian should not care about wealth, expensive clothing, rich houses, rich food, and so on. For a Christian must always be ready for the Lord to call him, and then he will be forced to leave all this. The Lord calls everyone to Himself through death. He wants, says Saint John Chrysostom, “for us to always be ready and be content with what our nature needs. 5) When we pray: “Give us bread,” we confess that we are poor, wretched and poor, and therefore we must ask God for everything, and whatever we have, we must attribute to His goodness, as the Psalmist sings: “The eyes of all trust in You, and You give them their food in due season; You open Your hand and satisfy every living thing with good pleasure” (Ps. 144:15-16). 6) When we say: “Give us our bread,” we show that we are asking not only for our own food, but also for others, out of Christian love. For Christian love requires that we take care not only of ourselves, but also of our neighbors. 7) It is known that God, since He is Generous, gives temporary blessings not only to Christians, but also to those who do not know Him. But Christians must ask Him with all their faith, like sons from a father, and thereby show that everything they have necessary for life is God’s good, and so, accepting the benefit, thank the Benefactor. “And forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors.” 1) Debts here mean sins - words, deeds and thoughts that are contrary to the law of God. That is why Saint Luke wrote in his Gospel: “forgive us our sins” (Luke 11:4). Sins are called debts because, just as in civil life it happens that debts oblige the debtor to repay the creditor, and if the debtor does not repay the debts, then he is imprisoned for debts and kept until he repays the debts, so sins oblige us to satisfy the truth of God (for every sin is against the truth of God), and when we have nothing to satisfy, they imprison us in eternal prison. 2) We cannot pay these debts ourselves, therefore we resort to Christ’s merits and God’s mercy, so that he may leave them to us freely, and we ask Him about this: “forgive us our debts.” 3) When we ask: “forgive us our debts,” this shows that we should pray not only for ourselves, but also for each other and should ask each other for forgiveness of sins. 4) This word: “forgive us our debts,” clearly shows that the saints themselves sin, and therefore must ask for the remission of sins, as it is written: “For this, that is, for the remission of sins, every saint will pray to You in time of need” (Ps. 31:6). Since this is the prayer of the saints, for whoever calls God Father truly and from the heart, he must be a holy child of God, and have The Spirit of God, living within himself, about whom the faithful cry out: “Abba, Father!” (Gal. 4:6). 5) The sins here are not understood to be those that occur voluntarily and deliberately, such as: fornication, theft, embezzlement, malice, wickedness, flattery, etc. - the saints avoid these sins - but we understand weaknesses from which, due to their weakness, they cannot protect themselves, although they try to do so. The saints pray for these sins: “Father! forgive us our debts.” 6) It is said: “Just as we forgive our debtors.” With this word we learn that we ourselves may forgive the sins of our neighbors when we ask God and receive forgiveness of sins. He forgives us our sins out of mercy - and we must, imitating Him, forgive the sins of our brethren out of mercy. When we forgive the sins of our brothers, God also forgives us our sins. We do not forsake - God does not forsake us either, as Christ says: “If you forgive people their sins, 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). 7) Whoever of the sinners who remain in sins and do not forsake them, wants to pray and ask God for forgiveness of sins, he must first forsake his sins himself, and having left, ask God to leave them with His grace and deliver him from the execution with which a sinner is handed over for sins. For God does not forsake us sins when we ourselves do not forsake them. And when our sins are not forgiven, then nothing less than execution for sins will follow. This happens to a debtor to whom the lender does not leave the debt, because he imprisons him and holds him until he pays off his debt. So the sinner, whose sins are not forgiven, will be imprisoned by the judgment of God in eternal prison, and will pay the justice of God for sinful debts with execution, but will never pay. For having angered and offended the Eternal and Infinite God, eternal and infinite punishment is righteously rewarded. For the truth of God demands that the unrepentant sinner accept a worthy punishment. But the destruction of the eternal law of God and thereby the insult to the infinite majesty of God cannot be satisfied with anything other than eternal execution and suffering. That those who repent, stop sinning, regret their sins and ask for remission, have their sins forgiven by God, God does from His mercy alone and for the sake of Christ’s merits, for the sake of which in His word He promised to grant remission of sins to all who repent and believe in Christ, as this mercy of God is depicted in Psalm 103: “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” But anyone who wants to repent and for the sake of the suffering and death of Christ receive remission of sins must certainly forsake his sins. For where there is no remission of sins, there is no true repentance. Where there is no true repentance, there the merits of Christ have no place. Where Christ's merits have no place, there is no remission of sins. Where there is no remission of sins, there follows condemnation and eternal suffering in hell for sins. And so the sinner, when his sins are not forgiven (they will not be forgiven him, since he himself does not want to leave them), as a debtor for debts, for all those sins with which he sinned before God, he will be tortured, and since he has nothing to atone for, he will pay with eternal death. So, one who wants to repent and be saved from sins must leave behind, and resort to God’s mercy, confess himself with humility and regret as guilty before God, ask for forgiveness for the sake of the shed Blood of Christ, which is shed for every sinner, and cleanses every sin. It is necessary to leave a foreign, lawless country with the prodigal son, and return to the Father with regret and self-abasement, casting oneself as unworthy before His merciful eyes and admitting: “Father! I have sinned against heaven and before You and am no longer worthy to be called Your son; accept me as one of Your hired servants" (Luke 15:18-19). Have mercy on me with the grace and love for mankind of Your Only Begotten Son, Who shed His Blood and died both for everyone and for me, a sinner. For the sake of His innocent suffering and death, forgive me, the guilty one, and forgive my debts. Thus, to the one who is converted and confesses his sins with humility and regret and asks for mercy, without a doubt, the Heavenly Father will forgive all his debts, not because of any of his merits, but because of grace alone. For the very Blood of the Son of God, shed for the sake of the sinner, cries out that all his debts will be forgiven and will no longer be remembered. Such a sinner will recognize the mercy of the Heavenly Father, just as the returning prodigal son recognized the mercy of his most merciful father. The Heavenly Father will see such a sinner who has come to Him, and will look at him with His merciful eyes, and will take pity on him. He will not hear from the Father a reprimand for self-will, withdrawal and a corrupt life, but will hear one voice of the Most Merciful Father: “Bring the best clothes and dress him, and give a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf, and kill it; Let's eat and have fun! For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (Luke 15:22–24). And so, according to the word of Christ, “there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:7). But a sinner who has received such great mercy from God must himself show mercy to his neighbor and forgive his sins, so as not to learn for himself what the gospel debtor learned, who owed his king ten thousand talents, who, having received mercy from his king, did not want to have mercy on his comrade, and, having been freed from a great debt by the mercy of his king alone, did not want to leave a small debt to his brother - and therefore fell under the anger of the king, he received his heavy debt again, but with a reprimand: “Evil slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me; Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your companion, just as I had mercy on you?” And, angry, his sovereign handed him over to the torturers until he paid him all the debt. “So,” Christ ends the parable, “my Father in heaven will do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from his heart his sins” (Matthew 18:32-35). "Lead us not into temptation." 1) Temptation can be good or bad for us. The temptation to do good is from God; David and other saints ask to be tempted by it. “Test me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my ways” (Ps. 139:23). This is how Abraham was tempted (see Gen. 22). This kind of temptation is not what we are talking about here. Temptation to evil, or deception, comes either from the devil, who tries in every possible way to catch us, seduce us, lead us to sin and destroy us, or from the flesh, which fights us with passions and lusts, or from the world, which encourages us to evil with its charms, vanity and temptations. There is a word about such temptation here. 2) God, since He is Good, does not tempt anyone to evil. “When tempted, no one should say: “God is tempting me”; because God is not tempted by evil and does not tempt anyone Himself, but everyone is tempted by being carried away and enticed by his own lust” (James 1:13-14). 3) With this word: “do not lead us into temptation,” we pray to God that He may preserve us from the temptation of the world, the flesh and the devil by His grace. 4) And although we fall into temptations, we ask that he will not allow us to be overcome by them, but will help us to overcome and conquer them. 5) From this it is clear that without God’s help we are powerless and weak. If we ourselves could resist temptation, we would not be commanded to ask for help in this. 6) By this we learn, as soon as we feel a temptation coming upon us, to immediately pray to God and ask Him for help. 7) We learn from this not to rely on ourselves and our strength, but on God. 8) When we pray: “lead us not into temptation,” we must not lead ourselves into temptation. “When,” says St. John Chrysostom, “we are called to heroic deeds, we must stand courageously, and those who are not called must remain silent and wait for the time of heroic deeds, so that we may show both the reluctance of vain glory and courage.” “But deliver us from evil.” 1) According to the teachings of St. Chrysostom, the evil one here means the devil. “The Evil One,” he says, “here means the devil, commanding us to have constant warfare with him.” He is so called because of his superiority, because of his great malice, since he is vigilantly armed against us and tries to bring all sorts of troubles, both physical and spiritual, upon us, as the apostle says: “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). 2) With this we pray to the Heavenly Father to protect us from him, because we cannot save ourselves from him. 3) Finally, so that at the hour of our death, when he especially struggles against the faithful, he would save us from him, and after his blessed death he would take our souls to the heavenly Fatherland, and both from him and from all the troubles that he raises, having delivered him, he would give us eternal bliss, which he promised to believers in His name. 4) With this word: “Deliver us from the evil one,” our Savior stirs us up to prayer, and through prayer teaches us to get rid of it. 5) “Remembering the enemy,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “prepares us for heroism, and cuts off laziness from us.” 6) Praying: “lead us not,” and not me, “into temptation, but deliver us,” and not me, “from the evil one,” we learn and are admonished to pray for each other and ask each other from God for help, protection, deliverance and salvation. “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen." This word is the conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer, which means trust and boldness in the Merciful Heavenly Father. You reign over all, and all obey Your authority. You are the strongest, no one can stand against You. Therefore, to Your name will be glory that we, poor sinners, will receive what we ask from You, and from our hearts we will thank You, and here, and especially in the future life, we will glorify Your name with Your chosen ones. “Boldness,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “gives us and raises us up, remembering the King to whom we are subject, and shows Him as the strongest of all, saying: “For Thine is the kingdom,” and so on.” So, if His is the kingdom, then one should not be afraid of anyone, since no one can stand up against Him and resist His power. When he says: “Thine is the kingdom,” he shows that our adversary is subordinate to Him, although he resists, by God’s permission. For he, too, is one of the slaves, although rejected and angry, and will not dare to attack anyone unless he first accepts permission from above. And not only any person, but even pigs, sheep and oxen cannot be attacked without God’s permission. So, although you are weak, you must dare, having such a King who can do everything easily and through you. § 335. Here we briefly offer other examples of prayer from Holy Scripture, which a Christian can use in appropriate and necessary cases and seek and ask for mercy from God with faith. For without prayer we cannot have or do anything good, because we are poor and weak. 1. Prayer of a repentant sinner “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy, and according to the multitude of Your compassions, cleanse away my iniquity,” and so on (Ps. 50). This is similar to the publican’s prayer: “God! Be merciful to me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13). For great sins, great mercy, and for many iniquities, many bounties must be asked of God with faith, so that “when sin abounded, grace abounded all the more” (Rom. 5:20). “Remember Thy compassions, O Lord, and Thy mercies, as they have been since time immemorial. Do not remember the sin of my youth and my ignorance; according to Your mercy, remember me, for the sake of Your goodness, O Lord” (Ps. 24:6-7). Man sins a lot in his youth and ignorance. And when the repentant thinks about this and looks at the truth of God, his conscience becomes much troubled and sad. In this case, the one who has fallen behind his sins and who repents should remember God’s endless mercy and bounties, which he promised in His holy Word to all who repent, and by faith in Christ for the remission of sins to those who ask for the remission of sins, and often repeat with the Psalmist: “Remember Your compassions,” and so on. 3. Prayer of one who feels the wrath of God in his conscience “Lord, do not rebuke me with Your wrath; do not rebuke me with Your wrath” (Ps. 6:2). The prophet Jeremiah prays similarly to this: “Punish us, O Lord, especially in judgment, and not in rage, so that you do not make us humble” (Jer. 10:24). And another Psalmist: “Do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for no one living will be justified before You” (Ps. 142:2). And again: “If you see iniquity, Lord, Lord, who will stand?” (Ps. 129:3). One must ask for deliverance not just from God’s punishment, but from the wrath and severity of God’s truth, which threatens every sinner with eternal torment. The fatherly punishment of God, although our flesh is sad, should desire it, since “the Lord punishes whomever he loves; and he beats every son whom he receives” (Heb. 12:6). And Christ Himself says: “Those whom I love, I rebuke and punish” (Rev. 3:19). Woe to every man when God, in the severity of His righteousness, enters into judgment with him! Nothing less than eternal torment in the fire of Gehenna should await him. For every sin, even the slightest, in our opinion, is capable of plunging a person to the bottom of hell, if the mercy of God, for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ, promised, does not arrive. What can we say about those who sin by will? Therefore, everyone who wants to avoid God’s judgment must give up their sins and pray to God with faith in Christ: “Lord, do not reprove me with Your wrath,” and so on. 4. Prayer in various temptations “Lord, my God! Trust in You, save me from all those who persecute me, and deliver me. Let me not, like a lion, snatch away my soul; I am not the one who delivers, but the one who saves” (Ps. 7:2-3). Satan, with his evil angels and servants, constantly persecutes, and, like a lion, tries to seize and kidnap the faithful, as the apostle says: “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). There is no other remedy against these enemies than fervent prayer with trust in God. 5. Prayer when thoughts confuse the soul and incline to despair of God’s mercy “Lord, why have you multiplied our colds? Many people rise up against me; Many say to my soul: there is no salvation for him in his God. But You, O Lord, are my Protector, my glory, and lift up my head” (Ps. 3:2-4). To a faithful person, and especially to one who has been in sins and by the grace of God has abandoned them and repents, Satan often puts evil thoughts into his mind, remembering his previous sins, and with them his conscience oppresses him, saying: “Stop believing, you will be condemned. You have sinned so much and so much, you have angered the Righteous God, Who rewards everyone according to their deeds. What can you hope for other than torment?” (St. Macarius of Egypt, Conversation 11). And so the evil and insidious spirit wants to lead the repentant to despair. In this case, you can answer the evil spirit: “You are a slanderer, and already condemned, and not a judge; the judgment is given to Christ, who came into the world to save sinners, in whom I also believe, and I hope to be saved by His grace.” And we must turn to prayer and strengthen ourselves with God’s mercy, which no sin can defeat. No matter how many sins anyone has, and no matter how great they are, God has even more mercy. For just as He Himself is infinite, so His mercy is infinite. And Christ’s merits, with which we, who believe in Him, have earned mercy, grace and remission of sins from the Heavenly Father, are as infinite as they are Divine. Console yourself with this love of God, O repentant soul, and with the grace of God and prayer stand in faith. Only those who certainly do not want to repent and renounce their sins will certainly face eternal damnation in hell with the devil. And the doors of God’s mercy are open to those who have fallen behind their sins and who repent. 6. Prayer in all sorrow and distress “Lord Almighty, God of Israel! The soul is in distress, and the spirit is in pain, cry out to You: Hear, O Lord, and have mercy, for You are a merciful God, and have mercy on us, for we have sinned against You” (Bar.3:1-2). The Psalmist is similar to this: “You are my refuge from sorrow, holding me. My joy! Deliver me from those who have passed me by” (Ps. 31:7). We cannot get rid of any sorrow by anything other than prayer and confession of our sins before God. For just as someone who communicates his sorrow to his faithful friend receives a certain consolation and consolation, so all the more so when we communicate to God, Who is merciful by nature and close to those who call upon Him in truth, the sorrows of our hearts, and confessing our sins, we humble ourselves, we fall before His Majesty, we receive either deliverance when His will pleases and is beneficial to us, or certainly relief and consolation: “Call Me in the day of your trouble, and I will deliver you” ( Ps.49:15). Listen to God’s comforting word: “Because of sin I grieved him a little, and smote him, and turned My face away from him; and he was saddened, and went on his way despondent; and I saw his ways, and healed him, and comforted him, and gave him true comfort” (Is. 57:17-18). Every sorrow and misfortune comes from sin, and if there were no sin, there would be no sorrow. This is why sorrow is sent so that sin can be cleansed, and when the sin that brings sorrow is cleansed, the sorrow itself will be taken away. Therefore, one must cleanse one’s sins through repentance, confession before God, prayer and faith, so that sorrow and sadness are taken away by the grace of God, and consolation comes, like the sun after dark days, or like food after fasting - pleasant and entertaining. 7. How to comfort a grieving soul through faith “Why are you sad, my soul? And why are you embarrassing me? Trust in God, for I confess to Him, saying: “The salvation of my face, and my God” (Ps. 42:6). In great sadness, a person does not know what he is doing. In this case, beloved Christian, “cast your sorrow on the Lord, and He will nourish you,” Saint David tells you (Ps. 54:23). Comfort yourself with the infinite mercy of God, for the Lord will not reject you forever, for he who humbles himself will have mercy according to the abundance of his mercy (Pl. 3:31–32). “The Lord kills and gives life, brings down to the hell of sorrows and raises up; The Lord makes the poor and makes rich, humbles and exalts” (1 Samuel 2:6-7). If your enemies, the devil and his servants, say to you: “Where is your God?” - talk with your soul, console it with Saint David: “Why are you sad, my soul?” – and so on (Ps. 42:4, 6). Although it is said to you in your thoughts: “Where is your God?” But you promise: “The Lord is near to all who call on Him in truth” (Ps. 145:18). 8. Prayer for God’s persistent help “Do not forsake me, O Lord my God, do not depart from me; attend to my help, O Lord of my salvation” (Ps. 37:22–23). When a person, having abandoned his sins, despising the world and its charms, tries to please God, to follow Christ with faith and patience, he is met with the hatred of the world, and those who were previously friends become his enemies, as the same psalm says: “My friends and my neighbors opposite me came close and stood up, and my closest ones stood far from me; Those who sought my soul pressed in; those who sought my harm spoke vain things, and all day long they thought of deceit” (Ps. 37:12-13). Although always, but especially in such a case, the heart should be lifted up to God with sighing, so that He does not abandon or retreat with His help. Against enemies and blasphemers one must be both deaf and dumb, as the Psalmist says about himself in the same psalm: “But like a deaf man I did not hear, and like a dumb man I did not open my mouth” (Ps. 37:14). Then God, in whom you trust, will proclaim in your place by his very deed, as the prophet says: “Reveal your way to the Lord, and trust in Him, and He will do it. And he will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your destiny as the noonday” (Ps. 37:5-6). And at the same time, try not to leave the Lord, and not to depart from Him in your heart, but to always pay attention to His law, as He says: “Listen, My people, to My law” (Ps. 77:1). 9. Thanks to God from a sinner who has abandoned his sins and repents “Let me confess to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forever: for Your great mercy is upon me, and You have delivered my soul from the lowest hell” (Ps. 85:12-13). Similar to this: “Thou hast torn my bonds to pieces. I will devour a sacrifice of praise for you” (Ps. 116:7-8). A person living in sins is spiritually bound by sins, and, like a captive, is held by Satan, and his soul is at the gates of hell, although he, being blinded, does not feel it. But the goodness of God, waiting for him to repent, does not allow Satan to kidnap his soul to hell. And when he gives up his sins by the grace of God and repents, he is freed from those bonds, admires Satan’s power, and by the grace of Christ becomes free, as Christ says: “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36), and is admired from the gates of death, and comes among those who are being saved. Therefore, he should always remember his previous misfortune and this great mercy of God, and diligently thank God for delivering him from that misfortune. 10. Thanks be to God for His Fatherly punishment “It is good for me, Lord, that You have humbled me, so that I may learn Your statutes!” (Ps. 119:71). We must admit from the heart that God shows us great mercy when He beats us with the Father’s rod of punishment, although our flesh is weak and sorrowful. For “the Lord disciplines whomever he loves” (Heb. 12:6). Therefore, we should not grumble, but thank Him for this. 11. Prayer for guarding the tongue “Put, O Lord, a guard over my mouth, and a guard over my mouth” (Ps. 141:3). A person does not sin with any bodily member as much as with the tongue, especially during times of sorrow and adversity it is very difficult to restrain it. Therefore, we must ask God for help to help us manage it, and say only what is useful, and remain silent about what is harmful. 12. Prayer taken from Psalm 50 “Turn away Your face from my sins and cleanse all my iniquities” (Ps. 50:11). “Father, Lord of heaven and earth! I pray to You by faith in the name of Your Only Begotten Son: turn away Your face from my sins, and turn to the Face of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, whom You sent “to save sinners into the world, of whom I am first” (1 Tim. 1:15), and by His grace and love for mankind, cleanse all my iniquities, with Him you are blessed and with By Your Most Holy Spirit forever, Amen." 13. Psalm 119 teaches us how earnestly we should ask God to guide us on the path of His commandments, and to open our minds to understand the wonders of His law. 14. General prayer during the invasion of foreigners and in any general disaster: “Rise up, Lord, help us and deliver us in Your name!” (Ps.43:27). Second. “God, be merciful to us, and bless us, make Thy face shine upon us, and have mercy on us!” (Ps.66:2). Third. “Thou hast been well pleased, O Lord, with Thy land; Thou hast returned the captivity of Jacob. You have forsaken the iniquities of Your people, You have covered all their sins. Thou hast tamed all Thy wrath, Thou hast returned from the wrath of Thy wrath. Bring us back, O God of our salvation, and turn away Your wrath from us. Food forever are you angry with us? Or spread wrath from generation to generation? God! You will come to life, and Your people will rejoice in You. Show us, O Lord, Thy mercy, and grant us Thy salvation!” ( Ps. 84:2-8 ). When the enemy raises weapons and attacks our Fatherland, this means nothing more than the wrath of God, kindled by our sins. Also, when our fields do not bear fruit for us, or there are frequent fires, or a pestilence is spreading, or some other disaster comes upon us, God punishes us with a common disaster, so that we come to our senses and repent. This righteous wrath of God is aroused by all kinds of sins, but especially by unrighteous courts, bribery, perjury, insults and evil towards widows, orphans and other poor, the shedding of innocent tears, mutual untruth in trade, mutual kidnapping, theft, mutual flattery, deceit, lies and deception, when they are wary of each other and do not trust each other in anything. This includes vile uncleanness, when people are not horrified to desecrate the bed of their neighbors, and to commit other uncleanness, for which the first world was destroyed by a flood, and Sodom and Gomorrah by fire and brimstone - destroyed by God's righteous wrath. The same righteous wrath of God acts in that country, in which there are fires, from which cities and villages are empty, then there is a shortage of bread and hunger, then one hears about the fall of many thousands of people from military weapons, from which the entire Fatherland falls into trouble: people become beggars, the general treasury is depleted and disappears, the lament, sob and cry of orphaned children, widowed wives, mothers who have lost theirs rise pitifully. the sons who fell in battle, all the sons of the Fatherland, are overwhelmed by sadness and sorrow, confused by the fear and horror of despair at the unfortunate end of the war. In such disastrous circumstances, when people do not feel God’s punishing hand, and not only do not lag behind their sins and do not repent, but also add sins to sins, an even greater general disaster must certainly be expected. Therefore, as always, and especially in such cases, we must all together, having recognized and acknowledged our sins and iniquities, unanimously from the depths of our hearts raise our voice: “Lord God of Hosts! Turn us, and make Your face shine, and we will be saved” (Ps. 79:8), and pour out the prayers given, or others that faith gives, to God. For common sins are punished by common punishment, and therefore we must propitiate God with common repentance. And lawless oath-breakers, predators, bribe-takers, those who shed tears of the poor, innocently condemn and other lawless people, as a common plague of the Fatherland, those to whom the sword of justice has been given by God must be humbled and rendered righteous judgment to everyone according to his deeds, and the earthly judges themselves will not be cut by the sword of God’s righteous judgment, and they will not accept the lot with the infidels. It is bad and unlawful to show leniency there, where severity and justice should be used. Condescension is needed where sins are committed from weakness, to which every good person is subject. And fearlessness and godlessness should be strictly punished, like a common pestilence, so that others also have fear and do not become infected. 15. Prayer and common confession of the faithful “Remember us, O Lord, in the favor of Thy people, visit us with Thy salvation, see us in the goodness of Thy chosen ones, rejoice in the gladness of Thy tongue, rejoice in Thy inheritance. We have sinned with our fathers, lawless, untruthful,” and so on (Ps. 105:4-6 et seq.). We must heartily acknowledge our unrighteousness before God, as Daniel the prophet says: “With You, O Lord, is righteousness, but with us there is shame on our faces” (Dan 9:7). For just as our fathers, that is, our ancestors, so we have sinned a lot and are sinning before God, we commit lawlessness and unrighteousness. “For we all sin many times,” says the apostle (James 3:2). Therefore, all Christians in general must confess their sins before God: “we have sinned with our fathers, we have committed lawlessness and untruth,” and so on, and pray to Him to remember us through mercy, love for mankind and good will, which He promised to show to His people for the sake of the blessed seed of that which is Jesus Christ, so that He would visit us with His salvation for the sake of the same blessed seed, so that we may be worthy to see prosperity His elect, like the sun, shining in His kingdom (Matthew 13:43), rejoice in the joy of His holy people, boast in His inheritance (Ps. 105:5), and those blessings that “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and what has not entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9), to enjoy for ever without end. It is fitting for us to always remember such glory of God’s chosen ones. Raise our desires, mind, heart and sighs to it, while we wander in this vale of tears, and with faith earnestly pray to the Heavenly Father: “Remember us, Lord, with favor,” and so on. For no matter how much you live in this miserable world, you need to move from here to the next world. No matter how much wealth you collect, you should certainly leave it in this world. No matter how much you rejoice in the honor and glory of this world, you must close yourself in a small and dark coffin and return from earth to earth (see Gen. 3:19). And what is the use of the wealth, honor and glory of this world when we are deprived of that honor, glory and wealth that is prepared for God’s elect in heaven? What is the use of the gaiety and luxury of this world, when the body will be devoured by worms, and the soul will be betrayed to ridicule and desecration by demons? It is a bad and disastrous change - from imaginary glory and honor to true and eternal reproach and reproach, from temporary and imaginary voluptuousness to eternal and true torment. Such a most unfortunate change will meet a voluptuous, glory-loving and money-loving soul. On the contrary, it is a very blessed and all-desirable change - from small and temporary sorrow (from small, I say, for whatever sorrow there may be in this world, and no matter how long-lasting it may be, it is nothing against future and eternal sorrow), to move into the eternal joy and joy of God's chosen ones, and to see Christ face to face, like the sun shining and enlightening His chosen ones. Prosperous are those who are honored with a portion of that blessed one, and it is impossible not only to describe their well-being in words, but also to understand it mentally, although they are trampled under foot in this world like obscene rubbish. On the contrary, the poor and most damned are those who, for the sake of their whims, are deprived of their lot, even if they were revered and worshiped as gods in this century. Therefore, it is always worthy to sigh with faith to the Father of bounties and all joy, God: “Remember us, Lord!” – and so on. But first, turn away from the sins and vanity of this world, and turn to Him with all your heart, and so, recognizing your untruth and error, repent and pray. § 336. Prayers to Christ, the Son of God, taken from the Holy Gospel. 1. Prayer taken from the parable of the sower of the seed (Matthew 13:3–8) “The Son of God, Jesus Christ, who appeared in our humble flesh on earth, and sowed the good seed of faith in the villages of this world! Protect my heart with Thy fear, so that the evil one does not come and delights in the seed sown by Thy Word, and cleanse my heart from the thorns of the sorrow of this age, flattery, wealth and all vanity, and make it good soil for the acceptance of Thy Divine Word, so that I may create the fruit of faith and have a share with Thy chosen ones, whose fruit they bring to You is one hundred, one hundred, one hundred. thirty, “for blessed art thou with the Father and Thy Holy Spirit forever, amen.” 2. Prayer taken from the story of the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:22–28) “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of God, Son of David according to the flesh, as You had mercy on the Canaanites: my soul is angry with anger, rage, evil lust and other destructive passions. God! Help me, I cry to You, who walks not on earth, but sits on the right hand of the Father in heaven. Hey, Lord! Grant me my heart, with faith and love, to follow Your humility, kindness, meekness and long-suffering, so that in Your eternal kingdom I will be worthy to partake of the table of Your servants, whom You have chosen. Amen". 3. A prayer for one subject to various temptations, taken from the story of the apostles in distress at sea (Matthew 8:23–27) “Lord! Save me, I'm dying. Behold, my ship is in distress from the temptation of the waves and is near drowning. You, as God is merciful and compassionate with our weaknesses, by Your omnipotent power forbid the disturbance of disasters that want to plunge me and bring me down into the depths of evil, and there will be silence, as if the winds and sea listen to You. Amen". 4. Prayer taken from the story of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1–9) “Co-originating with the Father and the Spirit, the Word, for our sake, man, and for our salvation from the Virgin, born and alive on earth! Make me worthy to taste Your goodness, which Your saints, who love and honor You, still taste, wandering in the deplorable vale of this world, and to behold Your ever-present light with the intelligent eye, which You showed to Your holy disciples in the Transfiguration of Your Holy Flesh, yes, now by faith in vain, then face to face I will be worthy to see Your glory, and with Your chosen ones to praise You and Your Originless Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen". 5. Prayer taken from the story of the lepers (Luke 17:12–19) “Jesus, Physician of our souls and bodies, have mercy on me! To You, who dwells in heaven and looks upon us, the humble, I lift up my voice from the earth with sighing and faith: cleanse my soul, leprous with sins, as You have cleansed ten leper men, so that I may appear clean before Your most holy combs when You come in Your glory, and have a part with Your chosen ones and with them I will praise You with Your Originless Father and the Most Holy Spirit in Your kingdom. Amen". 6. Prayer taken from the story of the blind men (Matthew 20:30–34) “Son of God, Eternal Light, and give light to everyone! Have mercy on me, enlighten the eyes of my heart, darkened by the darkness of sins and passions, just as you enlightened the blind who cried out to You. May the eyes of my heart be opened, so that I may see You, the unstoppable Light, and with faith and love I will follow You, for my sake, the accursed one who walked the earth. Amen". 7. Prayer taken from different stories “Jesus Christ, Son of God! Look upon me as you looked upon the sinner in the house of Simon, upon Peter, who rejected You, upon the thief on the cross, and consider me as the publican, fornicator and other sinner who repented to You, for You are our God and Savior, Who came into the world to save sinners, from whom I am the first. Amen". 8. Prayer for spiritual renewal “Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior and Renewer of the world, made dilapidated by the malice of sin! Renew me with the grace of Your Life-giving Spirit. Give me the mind to understand the power of Your saving coming. Give me a heart to love You - eternal love, consolation and joy of the saints. Give me eyes to continually behold Your passions. Give me ears to hear Your holy Word. Give me lips to speak words that are pleasing to You and useful to me and my neighbor. Give me the ability to walk in the path of Your commandments; and all that is mine, I pray to Thee, take it away, and give it Yours; take away what is old and give everything new, for You are the One who creates all things, and without You we can do nothing (John 15:5), for You are blessed forever. Amen". So you can, beloved Christian, by reading the Holy Gospel and other Scriptures, raise your mind and heart by faith to God and seek mercy from Him. There are many such touching prayers among the church songs and irmos of St. John of Damascus. Standing in the Church and diligently listening to the readings, apply them to yourself and seek the benefit with faith in your soul. And know well that without diligent prayer, any effort, especially in the spiritual, is in vain. § 337. Here it will be presented how a faithful soul converses with God, and God mercifully and lovingly answers her in His holy Word, so that everyone who seeks mercy from God is confirmed in faith, which is necessary in prayer, and the repentant sinner, who is spiritually tempted by Satan, receives consolation in his heart, that is, he sees that the repentant sinner God is His accepts by grace. The faithful soul says: “You, Lord, are a refuge from the sorrow that has come over me. My joy! Deliver me from those who surround me” (Ps. 32:7). God answers: “I will warn you and guide you in the way you will go; I will fix My eyes on you” (Ps. 31:8). A faithful soul says: “Look upon me and have mercy on me, as you do to those who love your name” (Ps. 119:132). God answers through the prophet: “Whom will I look to? Only against him who is meek, and silent, and who trembles at My word” (Isaiah 66:2). The faithful soul says: “Lord! Who dwells in Your dwelling? Or who will dwell in Your holy mountain? ( Ps. 14:1 ) God answers: “He who walks blamelessly and does righteousness, who speaks the truth from his heart, who did not flatter his tongue, and did not do evil to his neighbor, and did not accept reproach against those closest to him, he in whose eyes the evil one is despised, who glorifies those who fear the Lord, swears to his neighbor and does not break an oath, who did not give his money in interest and gifts against did not accept innocent people. He who does this will never be shaken" (Ps. 14:2-5). A faithful soul says: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in my womb” (Ps. 50:12). God answers through the prophet: “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit will I put within you; And I will take away the heart of stone from your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 36:26). The faithful soul says: “The sorrows of my heart have multiplied; deliver me from my needs” (Ps. 24:17). God answers: “Call Me in the day of your affliction, and I will deliver you, and you will glorify Me” (Ps. 49:15). The faithful soul says: “Remember me, O Lord, when You come into Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). Christ answers: “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). The faithful soul says: “Do not leave me, O Lord my God, do not depart from me; attend to my help, O Lord of my salvation” (Ps. 37:22–23). Christ answers: “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). The faithful soul says: “Lord my God! I trust in You: save me from all those who persecute me, and deliver me” (Ps. 7:2). The Lord answers: “Because he trusted in Me, I will deliver him, I will cover him, for he has known My name” (Ps. 90:14). The faithful soul says: “Do not turn me away from Your face” (Ps. 50:13). Christ answers: “Him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). The faithful soul says: “Do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for no one living will be justified before You” (Ps. 142:2). Christ answers: “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). A faithful soul says: “Do not remember the sins of my youth and my ignorance” (Ps. 24:7). God answers: “If the wicked man turns from all his iniquities which he has committed, and keeps all My commandments, and does justly, and does righteousness and mercy, he will live and not die; all his sins that he has committed will not be remembered to him” (Ezek. 18:21-22). A faithful soul says: “My iniquities have gone beyond my head, and weighed me down like a heavy burden” (Ps. 37:5). The Lord answers: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13), and further through the Apostle: “when sin increased, grace began to abound” (Rom. 5:20). A faithful soul says: “I will say to God: You are my Protector, why have You forgotten me” (Ps. 41:10)? And again: “Do not forget your poor to the end" (Ps. 9:33). The Lord answers: “Shall a woman forget her child, and not have mercy on the birth of her womb? Even if the woman forgets, I will not forget you,” says the Lord" (Isa. 49:15). The faithful soul says: “Do not turn away your face from your servant: because I am in sorrow, you will soon hear me" (Ps. 68:18). The Lord answers: “Because of his sin I grieved him a little, and struck him, and turned My face away from him, and he became sad, and went despondent on his way; and I saw his ways, and healed him, and comforted him, and gave him true comfort” (Is. 57:17-18). A faithful soul says: “Teach me, O Lord, in Thy way, and I will walk in Thy truth” (Ps. 85:11). Christ answers: “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6). I am the Way: “no one comes to the Father except through Me.” I am the Truth: he who believes in Me and My word will not be deceived. I am the Life: “He who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live” (John 11:25). A faithful soul says: “As the deer longs for the fountains of water, so longs my soul for Thee, O God” (Ps. 41:2). Christ answers: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). A faithful soul with the apostle says: “I have a desire to be separated and to be with Christ” (Phil. 1:23). Christ says: “Today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). You might be interested in: