Interpretation of the book of St. Erma

See also: Shepherd Apostle Hermas How varied are the paths by which the Lord leads souls devoted to Him to the perfection predetermined by Him in Christianity! He leads one with sorrows, another with prosperity; some by external writings, and others by internal suggestions; this is visible, but this is hidden. In response to this thought, I will tell you what happened to Saint Hermos, the Apostolic man. You will see how caring and resourceful the love of God guides us to salvation, and together you will learn many lessons for yourself in correctly judging whether you are living as a mother-in-law should. Hermas lived during the time of the Apostles in Rome. He was known to the Apostle Paul and boasts of him in his Epistle to the Romans (Rom. 16:14) as one of the best Christians in Rome. The distinctive quality of his soul was the sincere simplicity of faith and unquestioning submission to the suggestions of God. These qualities of the heart attracted special favor from God to him, and the Lord honored him with special visions and revelations, from which his whole life was composed. Since these wondrous signs of God, edifying in themselves, were accompanied by edifying interpretations, Hermas received the command to describe everything that was revealed to him for the benefit of the entire holy Church of God. Hermas fulfilled the command and compiled a book, which he called “The Shepherd” and which in the early times was read in churches along with the Apostolic Writings. I intend to tell you briefly the entire contents of this book. It consists of three parts. The first contains visions, the second commandment, and the third parable. Let's start with visions. There were four of these visions: the first concerned mainly the face of Hermas; the second - more than his family; third - the internal structure of the Church of God; fourth - the external fate of this Church and all those who are being saved. This is how St. is portrayed. Yerma's first vision. “In my youth,” he says, “I knew a beautiful girl, whom I loved like a sister. Having met her once, when I was already the father of a family, I thought how happy I would be if I had such a wife, a wife so beautiful and adorned with such good manners. At this meeting, my thought did not extend beyond this. But that's what happened next! After some time, I walked in a secluded place and turned over the works of God in my thoughts, marveling at their beauty and greatness. There I fell asleep, and in my dream I saw: the spirit took me and carried me to the right. It was impossible to walk through the place where he was carrying me: all the cliffs and water. Having rushed through them, I found myself on a flat valley and, falling to my knees, began to pray to God in heartfelt contrition for my sins. And so, during my prayer, the heavens suddenly opened, and I saw there a maiden whom I loved like a sister. She greeted me. I greeted her and then asked how and why she was there. She answered: “I was brought here to expose your sins before the Lord. God Almighty, the all-powerful Creator of heaven and earth, is angry with you because you have sinned against me.” When and where did I say that obscene word to you? – I asked in confusion. Haven’t I always honored you in my heart as my own sister?! She said to this: “Look closely: an evil thought has entered your heart. Don't you know that this is a sin? ABOUT! It’s a sin, and what a big one! Know that whoever has good thoughts and walks right with God, God is well pleased with him; and whoever holds evil thoughts in his heart attracts death and condemnation. Such are especially those who work after the lusts of the flesh, love the pleasures of the world, magnify themselves in wealth, do not seek eternal blessings and do not trust in the Lord. As for you, I will tell you for consolation: pray, and God will heal the infirmities of your heart.” When she finished this speech, the sky closed. I was left alone, in sorrow and fear, saying to myself: if this is counted against me as a sin, then how can I be saved? or how to appease God for my other great sins, of which there is no number? While I was busy with such thoughts, a large pulpit appeared in front of me, covered with a material as white as snow. Then the beautiful Old Lady came, dressed in shiny clothes, with a book in her hand, and sat down. She greeted me, and I answered her in kind, with tears in my eyes. She asked me: “Why are you sad, Erma, you, whose face always expressed calmness, meekness and inner joy of the heart?” “One good and pious virgin,” I answered, “upset me with a reproach, as if I had sinned against her.” “May the Lord protect His servants from this evil,” she said. “But look, haven’t you really allowed unclean thoughts in your heart in relation to her?” Such thoughts should not have a place in the heart of a servant of God; he should not only do, but also desire and think about evil. For this, the Lord is angry with everyone, and he will be especially angry with you, Hermas, who strictly abstained from everything vicious and was always distinguished by the simplicity of his character and the innocence of his heart. But you will be comforted. I can assure you that the Lord is angry with you not so much because of yourself, but because of your children, who are grievously sinning against Him and against their parents. You love your children too much, so you indulge them and allow them to do lies. This is why the Lord is angry with you. But He is ready to heal the moral wounds of your home. He feels sorry for you. Take heart! Take your family into your hands, interpret the word of God to your children every day, and do not fail to expose their evil deeds. For the Lord knows that they will repent of everything with all their hearts. For this He will write you in the book of life.” Having finished these words, she asked me: “Do you want to listen? I will read it." “With pleasure,” I answered. “Listen now.” And, unfolding the book, she began to read in it about things so amazing and terrifying that I could not keep them in my memory. Those were terrible words that the ear of a mortal man cannot bear. Only the last words remained in my head, namely the following: “Behold, the God of hosts,” she read, “who with His omnipotence created the world, and with His wisdom adorned all creation, who established the heavens with the word of His power, and founded the earth on the waters, who built the holy Church on earth and blessed it, - behold, He remade the heavens and mountains, hills and seas, and filled everything with His chosen ones, in order to justify all His great promises over them because, having accepted the law of God with full faith, they fulfill it with great joy.” That was the end of the reading. The old woman stood up. Four young men approached, picked up the pulpit and carried it to the east. Meanwhile, she called me to her and, touching my chest, asked: “Do you like what I read?” I answered: “I like the last words, but the first ones are cruel.” “These latter,” she said, “apply to the righteous, but the former are directed against apostates and infidels.” While she was still speaking, two men approached, lifted her onto their shoulders and carried her further to the east, where the pulpit was carried. As she walked away, she said to me with a cheerful look: “Take courage, Erma, and let your heart be strong.” This is the content of the first vision. I will briefly tell you the second, now, because it is closely related to the first and serves as its continuation. “The next year,” says Yerma, “the same old woman appeared to me again, but no longer sitting, but walking and reading some kind of memorial notes. When she saw me, she handed them to me and told me to write them off. I wrote letter by letter, not knowing how to form syllables. When I wrote everything down, someone invisible took the book from my hands and carried it away. After this, Hermas fasted and prayed a lot for fifteen days, and the contents of what had been written down were revealed to him. These were the sins of his children and his wife, who was a slanderer. He was ordered to correct them and was promised that his wife would finally become his sister, that is, that they would begin to live in abstinence, which Herma extremely desired. All this was revealed to him in a dream by one beautiful young man, who asked him at the end: “Who do you think is this old woman from whom you received these notes?” “This is the Sibyl,” answered Erma... “You are mistaken,” said the young man, “This is the holy Church.” - “Why is she so old?” – Erma asked. “Because,” he answered, “that she has been in the thought of God from eternity and that she is older than the world, which was created specifically for her.” Then Erma saw another vision in his house. The same old lady, appearing to him, promised to reveal much more and then ordered him to write everything down and inform Clement, Bishop of Rome, so that he would send the lists to the dioceses under his jurisdiction, and Grapta, the deaconess, so that she would pass it on to widows and orphans; She ordered Herma himself to let all the Roman priests know about it. This is the content of the second vision. I will limit myself to this now, asking you to remember everything and draw a lesson for yourself from everything. You see how strictly one is punished not only for deeds, but also for thoughts, and be careful to have a pure heart before the eyes of God. You see that you will have to answer not only for your own sins, but also for the sins of others, for whom the care has been entrusted to us, and take care to save everyone in every possible way: parents of children, leaders of subordinates, shepherds of their flock, teachers of students. You see that not a single deed, not a single thought of ours is lost - everything is recorded. But it is not written down to harm us, but to give us a reason for repentance - and take care to wash away this record with tears and whiten the charter of life. See what awaits the chosen ones! - Take courage and walk with joy along the path that you have entered upon in faith. You see how terrible the fate of unbelievers and sinners is, that the human ear cannot bear the description of it; turn away from unbelief and sin, “put to death your evils that are on the earth—fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil lust, covetousness, ... wrath, rage, malice, blasphemy and shame, ... for whose sake the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience,” as you heard in the present Apostle (Col. 3:4-11). Amen. Let's continue our conversation according to the leadership of Saint Hermas, the Apostolic Man. Have you heard the description of two visions of St. Erma, which concerned mainly himself and his family; the other two visions concern the internal structure of St. God's Church and its external fate, in which, however, everyone can easily see themselves, for their own edification and correction. Try to understand these visions too. Vision three. In the second vision, if you remember, the beautiful old woman, by the way, promised Herma to reveal much more. After that, Erma fasted for a long time and prayed to the Lord to fulfill the promise he heard from the lips of the old woman. One night this old woman appeared to him and said: “Come at noon to such and such a secluded place in the field, and there you will receive what you ask for." Erma in due time appeared at the indicated place and saw there a bench covered with white linen. Seeing this in a secluded place, he came into such fear that the hairs on his head stood on end. But he soon became emboldened and, falling on his knees, began to pray to God, confessing his sins. Then the Elder came with six young men, who had already been seen, and, touching him from behind, said to him: “Stop praying for your sins for so long. Now pray for righteousness, so that your family may also become part of it.” Yerma wanted to sit on her right side; but the Elder gave a sign for him to move to the left, saying: “The right is designated for those who suffered for the name of God. You still have to work a lot to be worthy to sit with them; You have many shortcomings." Then she showed him a great tower, which was built over the waters from shiny quadrangular stones. Please pay attention to the construction of this tower: it contains the essence of this vision. The plan of the tower was quadrangular. It was built by six young men, and many thousands of other people carried stones. Who extracted these stones from the depths of the waters, who took them on the ground and, bringing them, gave them to those six young men. The stones removed from the depths of the waters were completely hewn, so that all that remained was to lay them down. They connected with the others so well that no scars were visible at the junction, and the tower seemed to be made of one stone. As for the stones brought from the earth, between them there were those that the young men used for the building, and there were those that they threw away and broke. Around the tower there were many worthless stones, because some were uneven, others with cracks, others were white but round, so it was not possible to adjust them during construction. Some of the worthless stones were thrown far from the tower and fell towards the road, where, however, they did not stop, but rolled further into the desert, others fell into the fire and burned, others fell near the water, but could not roll into it, no matter how much effort they apparently used. Amazed by everything that was happening, Erma asked the old woman to explain to him what everything he saw meant. The old woman said: “The tower that you see being built is myself, that is, the Church. It is built over water because you are saved by water by invoking the name of the Most Glorious Trinity (by this she pointed to baptism). The six young men building the tower are the six Angels of God, to whom He gave power over all creatures. And those who bring stones are also Angels of God, but the first ones are higher than them. When the building is finished, they will all form a festival together before God and glorify God. Listen now to what the stones mean. The white quadrangular stones, which are well laid out during construction, are the Apostles, bishops, teachers, priests and deacons, whether living or dead, who performed and are fulfilling their duty with all holiness and with vigilant care for the elect of God, carefully maintaining peace and harmony among themselves. The stones taken from the depths of the waters and, as it were, merging with the building during laying, are those of the dead who suffered for the name of the Lord. The stones brought from the earth and used in the building are the converts of the faithful. Of the thrown stones, those that fall near the tower mean those who have sinned after baptism, but who feel contrition and are ready to repent. If they repent while the building continues, they can be used for the building; but when the construction is completed, one day forever, they will no longer find a place for themselves there. The stones that, having broken, are thrown far from the tower, are evil people who accepted the faith feignedly, without changing anything from their previous morals. These cannot be used for construction, and there is no salvation for them. As for other worthless stones, uneven stones mean those who knew the truth, but did not remain faithful to it and did not bother to enter into one spirit with all the saints. The fractured ones mean those who harbor discord in their hearts and have peace with others only in appearance. The stones, too small, are those who accepted faith, but retained most of their former vices. White and round stones are rich people who remained addicted to wealth even after accepting the faith. When persecution comes, they will deny the Lord because of wealth. They can be suitable for construction only when their attachments are cut off, just as the sides of round stones must be cut off in order for them to be suitable for a building. Judge for yourself, Erma,” added the Elder, “when you were rich, you were worthless, but now you are capable of life.” You are one of these stones! Listen to what the other stones mean. The stones thrown far from the tower, rolling towards the road and from there into the desert, are those who believed, but, in their superstition, deviated from the first path and rushed not knowing where, dreaming of finding a better path there, they wander, poor, not finding peace for themselves. The stones that fall into the fire are those that have fallen forever from the ever-living God. They are so devoted to vices and passions that it never even occurs to them to ever repent. This is ready-made food for the fire of Gehenna. The stones that fall near the water and cannot roll into it are those who, hearing the word of God, desire baptism; but when they later think about the holiness required by faith, they immediately turn back and fall into their former passions.” This is how the Church explained Herma's vision of the tower. Then she showed him seven more wives surrounding this building. The first was faith, followed by its daughter - abstinence, then followed one after another - simplicity, innocence, meekness, strict orderliness in everything and love. Each of them is the daughter of the previous one: simplicity is the daughter of abstinence, innocence is the daughter of simplicity, and so on. They supported the tower and opened the entrance to those who served themselves, that is, who were distinguished by these virtues. Herma really wanted to know why the Church appeared to him in three different forms: the first time, very old and sitting in chairs; in the second, with a young face, but with old skin and the hair of an old woman, speaking standing, with more friendliness than the first time; in the third, she was very young and beautiful, only her hair was that of an old woman; she sat on the bench with a smiling face. Wanting to know why all this was so, Erma again devoted himself to fasting and prayer, and then at night a young man appeared to him and said: “Listen; I will explain to you why all this is so. First, the Church appeared to you as an Elder, sitting in an armchair, to show the weakness and corruption of your spirit, when, due to failures in everyday affairs, you indulged in despondency and careless laziness, as in the days of waning old age, instead of surrendering yourself with full faith into the hands of Providence. But after you heard the revelation that God vouchsafed to you, your spirit became rejuvenated, your faith revived, and your strength was resurrected. You were like an old man who, having heard about the gift of a son or daughter, gets up with joy, stands cheerfully and acts with strength. This is what the second state means, in which you saw this woman younger and standing on her feet. The third time she appeared to you with even fresher strength and even more friendliness, to show that your spirit was completely renewed by the vision of the tower and the acceptance of other benefits given to you by God. The bench on which she sat, supported by four legs, signifies the strength of this state.” This was the third vision seen by Herma, the greatest and most edifying vision. Vision four was a bit complicated. Yerma saw him three weeks after the third. He walked somewhere in the field with a feeling of heartfelt contrition, praying for himself and for all the servants of God, that the name of God may be hallowed in all. He walks like this and hears a voice from above: “Don’t be afraid, Erma!” “Why should I be afraid,” he thought, “after such wondrous visions.” But, taking a few steps forward, he saw that the dust was rising to the sky - higher and higher, at a distance of maybe twenty steps from him. A ray of sunshine allowed him to see in this dust a huge animal, similar to a whale, about a hundred feet high, which was spewing fire from its mouth. Erma began to cry and ask God to deliver him from trouble; but remembering what was said to him before: “Don’t be afraid,” he was inspired and boldly walked along the road to the beast. And he walked in such a way that with one blow he could destroy an entire city; but when Yerma approached, he stretched out on the ground, sticking out only his tongue, and did not move until Yerma passed him completely. Having then taken about thirty steps forward, Erma met a maiden who seemed to have just left the room, all in white, except for her shoes. She was wearing a miter, and shiny hair covered her entire figure. – Yerma recognized the Church in her and was delighted. Approaching, she said: “Only your faith saved you from the beast. The Lord sent His angel, and he shut the mouth of the beast so that it would not devour you. This beast means imminent persecution. Go and tell the elect about this, so that they may take courage, and may their hearts be strengthened in trust in God.” That was the end of the vision. These are all four visions seen by Herma. All of them are edifying, but the third vision is the most abundant in edification - the structure of the tower, that is, the Church. Take a closer look at it! All of us Christians are destined to be part of the body of the Church. Shall we come in? Grant, Lord!.. But for this, let us take care to show ourselves like white and quadrangular stones - polished, that is, let us take care to preserve the Holy Whitening Faith, to introduce into our hearts a harmonious combination of pure and perfect virtues, and let there be among us no unhewn stones, nor split, nor round, nor any other unfit for construction. Amen. What have you heard so far from the writings of St. Ermas, this is not all that I intended to convey to you and that may be useful for you in working on the well-being of your hearts. Listen again. I think that the word of the Apostolic man will be more convincing for you than our feeble ranting. That’s why I don’t want to leave him behind until I finish it. After the visions already known to you, follow those of St. Hermas commandments, which form the subject of the second book of his Shepherd. He begins to present them as follows: “I prayed,” he says, “at home and then sat down on my bed. I see a husband enter, his appearance inspiring respect, in shepherd’s clothes. He was wearing a white cloak, a knapsack hung over his shoulders, and a stick was in his hands. He greeted me, and I greeted him. Then he sat down next to me and said: “I was sent to you to be with you the rest of your life.” When he said this, I thought that he was tempting me, and I asked him: “Who are you, for I know well the one to whom I am entrusted.” - “So you don’t recognize me?” – he asked. “No,” I answered. “I am the Shepherd to whom you are entrusted,” he said. With this word his face changed, and I recognized him as my Guardian. I felt ashamed, fear and grief began to disturb me, but he reassured me, saying: “Do not be afraid. I have been sent to show you everything by which you can save your soul. Listen carefully and write everything down for memory, so that by re-reading it from time to time, you will refresh your thoughts and strengthen your shaky will. If you keep everything that is revealed to you from a pure heart, you will receive from the Lord all the benefits that He promised to His faithful. If, after listening to my instructions, you not only do not correct yourself, but, on the contrary, begin to add sins to sins, then the Lord will send trouble after trouble to you until he breaks either your heart or your bones.” Having said this, my Shepherd, the Angel of repentance, offered me twelve commandments in the following order. 1. Believe in one God, worshiped in the Trinity, the Creator of heaven and earth, visible to all and invisible, Who from nothing called all creatures into being and gave them as many perfections as each of them can contain. 2. Live in simplicity and purity, do not harm your neighbor even with a word, on the contrary, help everyone in their needs, without distinguishing who asks and to whom you give. 3. Let no corrupt word proceed from your mouth: love the truth and flee lies. 4. Preserve marital fidelity like the apple of your eye, for this is the immutable law of the Creator - to be pure and blameless before Him either in virginity or in an honestly guarded marriage. If you get married, don’t look for permission or another wife; decided to be a virgin - do not look for a wife. The same thing, when a husband or wife dies, the surviving half does not sin when he enters into a second marriage; but he receives greater honor from God when he decides to keep his widowhood pure and pure. “At these words,” says Erma, “I asked him: “What should one do who sins?” “Repent,” the Shepherd Angel answered me. I tell him: “I heard that besides baptism there is no other repentance, that by plunging into the waters of rebirth, we receive remission of all sins and after that we should not sin in any way. The angel answered me: “Baptism is not called repentance. God established repentance for those who, having been called through baptism into the number of believers, then fall into sins through the wiles of the devil. The merciful God accepts the repentance of such; but you need to know that frequent falling into sin, corrected even by frequent repentance, makes repentance itself suspicious; and you can finally fall so that after that fall there will be no opportunity to get up again and begin to live for God. Let everyone who looks lightly at sins fear this.” Having said this, the Shepherd began again to continue indicating the commandments of God that save us. 5. Walking the path of the commandments, you cannot avoid obstacles and labors. Take courage, and let your heart be strong; be patient in doing good deeds and enduring all the troubles along the way. 6. Remember that with every person there are two angels: good and evil. One attracts him to good deeds, and the other to sins and vices. Pay attention to yourself, and lean towards the first, and reject the second, guessing from the inner thoughts of your heart which of them is giving you lessons at that time and wants to rule over you. 7. Fear the One God - Creator and Provider and Savior of yours, and do not humiliate your childish devotion to Him and your strong trust in Him with the empty fearfulness of dark forces. 8. Make sure to show yourself as a zealous fulfiller of all God’s commandments without exception and a thorough doer of all the deeds that an Angel will inspire in your heart, or indicate a combination of circumstances of your life - and you will be a son in the house of God, and not a slave. 9. Pray, strain yourself in prayer, pray unceasingly, so that every time, as needed, strength will come to you from above to do good, and help to evade evil. Prayer makes the earth-born a celestial being, and clothes him with heavenly purity and holiness. 10. Flee false prophets, fortune-tellers and magicians, through whom the enemy destroys the servants of God. Those who are weak in faith turn to these deceivers, and they, answering them according to the desire of their hearts, fill their heads with dreamy hopes. Immediately, mixing a drop of truth with a sea of ​​lies, they seduce them and again draw them back to paganism. He who sincerely believes and has devoted himself to God will not go to them - such a person is looking for heaven, but usually wonders only about earthly things. 11. Teacher, the only teacher, may the Church of God be alive for you - the pillar and affirmation of the truth. In it is the light of immutable true knowledge. Outside it is darkness and darkness, where the prince of the world has set up his teaching chair and blinds the minds of those who listen to him and do not want to listen to the voices of the Church, because they are secular. Here's a test for you: what disagrees with the teachings of the Church, that is, the voice of the father of lies. - Pay attention and keep yourself clean from this fall. Here is another sign: the word of truth establishes deep peace, tranquility and sweetness in the believing heart; the word of the deceitful raises dreams and doubts and, like salt water, kindles the thirst for knowledge, locking the mind as a prisoner in an uncertain dark desert. 12. Without your closest leaders, you cannot live holy on earth. You will find them in the Church, where the Holy Spirit appoints them to shepherd the flock of Christ. Pray to the Lord to grant you what you need. At the right time, and without your asking, he will speak a comforting word to you. The Spirit of God will teach him what is appropriate to say to you, and you will hear from him what God wants from you. Beware, however, of flattering spirits here too. Humility and quietness adorn a true leader. Where there is pomp in words and life, there is flattery. Heed this and you will be saved. “These are all the twelve commandments that the Shepherd Angel gave me,” concludes Erma. “Having listened to them, I said to him: wonderful rules, but is there a person who could fulfill them properly?” To this the Angel answered me: “Accept them with your heart in simplicity, without thinking, and you will not encounter any difficulty in fulfilling them. But as soon as you begin to decompose in your mind whether and how you can do both, and whether you can somehow free yourself from under this yoke, the enemy will creep up, put relaxation in your heart and make you incapable of any good. But what is there to say? Know that if you don’t do something, there is no salvation for you, there is no salvation for you, nor for your children, nor for your family.” Having said this, the Angel changed in his face and became so terrible that I don’t know if there is anyone who would be able to bear his gaze at this moment. I was scared. The angel, seeing my embarrassment, began to speak meekly to me, with a face capable of spreading joy into my heart: “How do you think and say this? Have you forgotten the omnipotence of God? Is it possible that the One who put everything under your feet did not give you the strength to fulfill His commandments? Know that whoever always has God in his heart will easily fulfill these commandments. Whoever has Him only at the end of his tongue will fall under the weight of them, considering them impossible.” I remarked to this: “Whoever does not ask God for strength to fulfill St. His commandments? But the enemy is strong: he tempts the servants of God and keeps them in his power.” “No,” the Angel answered me, “the enemy has no power over the servants of God. He can tempt those who believe in God with all their hearts, but not rule over them. Resist him with courage and he will run away from you.” That was the end of the angelic instructions; The second book of “The Shepherd” by St. also ends. Erma. For our part, we do not dare to add anything to all this, says the disciple of the Apostles, the husband of the Apostles. - Why do we use our limp words here? I will only say one thing: how comforting it is to know that in our time they say the same thing that was said under the Apostles, immediately after the Apostles, and that, consequently, for eighteen and a half centuries, the same word of truth has been heard unchanged in the Church of God. If, now, every word stands before two and three witnesses, then how firmly should the word of truth stand, preached in the Church of God, when such an immense host of witnesses stands for it? And what should these exclamations of superstition, which the foolish dare to throw in the face of the truth, mean before sanity? Don't you sense God's definitions here? “Heaven and earth pass by, but My words do not pass by” (Matthew 24:35). Amen. Let us now complete our brief review of the writings of St. Erma, so as not to leave any of his edifying thoughts unknown. Now we should review the third book, the content of which consists, as we have already mentioned, of parables and common images of moral Christian truths. The same Shepherd Angel offers them to Herma, mostly through comparisons or contemplation of spiritual things in sensory images. It will take a very long time to convey them all to us in detail. I will limit myself to indicating the general flow of thoughts of St. father. The instructions begin with the statement that we do not have a city that abides here, but must look for the future, which could serve as an eternal shelter for us. After listening to this, Erma asked: “How is it that we do not have a city that resides here, but we are forced to have a lot and have a lot? What to do with this estate? “Don’t worry,” answered the Angel, “there is an opportunity to strengthen this transitory property, which comes and goes, goes and comes. – Give the excess to the poor. Their hands are eternal repositories. But this is not useful in terms of time either. For just as a vine is supported by an elm or some other tree to which it is tied, so the prayerful lifting of the hands of a poor man supports a rich man who is generous and ready to fall. Refrain, says the Angel further, from fussiness, much care, and much enterprise. Being entangled in many things, you will easily forget about God and God-pleasing works. And your thought and heart will be occupied with something completely different. And then you will not be able to avoid many and serious sins. Live in such detachment, be zealous for the strict fulfillment of God’s commandments, in which lies all the hope of salvation. If you have a need or want to earn greater favor from God, make a feat, for example, the feat of fasting, which has great value in the eyes of God. But when you fast, this is how to fast: do not allow yourself any untruth, perform service to God from a pure heart, do not allow evil desires to arise in your soul, and in your thoughts embrace grief, from where all the benefits promised to the working people will undoubtedly descend upon you. At the same time, do not eat other food than bread and water; set aside the amount that you should spend on your full regular table and give it to a widow, an orphan or a poor person. To make it easier to accomplish all this, the fasting person must retire in the morning and devote himself to prayer. Such feats of fasting and fasting are necessary for us to cleanse our sins through repentance. Do not think that the sins of those who have sinned and bring repentance will be immediately blotted out. No, not right away. The repentant must torture himself in all sorts of humbling ways and endure various kinds of labor. And when he endures everything that is due to him, then the Creator will take pity on him and return His mercy to him and with the sweetness of peace he will heal the irritated conscience tormenting his heart. It is easy to sin, but it is not easy to pay for sin. And that is mercy that is given the opportunity to appease the justice of God. And there are sins that so harden and darken the heart that a ray of grace cannot penetrate there to plant the seeds of heartfelt contrition and repentance. Fear sin as a deadly poison. It is difficult to depict all the degrees of damage caused by sin in our spirit, as well as to determine what kind of repentance everyone must bear in order to appease God and calm their conscience. For look: there are apostates who have turned away from God to the point that they dare to blaspheme Him and treacherously betray His servants. Such people finally die in spirit, and it is difficult to believe that they will repent, although they are usually offered this means of propitiating God. Especially if they become wild and, having separated from the believers, indulge in the spirit of hopelessness of salvation. There are hypocrites who, considered believers, dispel harmful teachings, primarily with the goal of turning others away from feelings, work and deeds of repentance. Such people must hasten to repentance, otherwise their doors will not be closed. There are people of dubious faith, slanderous haters, unpeaceful people. There are others who, with good faith, allow themselves to be carried away by envy and enter into competition about rank and advantages. If people of this kind fall into these sins more out of weakness than out of malice, then repentance is not difficult for them; but let them hurry, for even a small sin, once it takes root, becomes difficult to cleanse. Those who, entangled in the nets of everyday affairs, shirk communication with the servants of God and the works of serving God, resemble half-dead in spiritual terms. They are often tormented by doubts and bewilderments. But repentance is also possible for them if they hasten to do it soon. The rich, who have a lot of all sorts of good things, also withdraw from serving God, fearing that they might suffer any damage through this. The desire to become famous among the pagans plunges them into pride, they are clouded by dreamy hopes and, having separated from the society of the faithful, they, like the pagans, lead a life full of pleasures. Some of them do not completely forget God and keep their confession of faith, only without good deeds. Among these rich people there are also those who carry out feats of repentance and do deeds of love, but others, carried away by the spirit of paganism, indulge in all kinds of pleasures, fall into crimes and become worse than the pagans themselves. Those who, always remaining believers, zealots of good deeds, but, carried away by vain pleasures and frivolity, fall into small sins, undergo the feat of repentance very easily; Likewise, those who make some mistakes, but sincerely keep the faith, are charitable and hospitable, easily take upon themselves repentance and willingly carry out labors corresponding to their sins. On the contrary, others hold the Lord only at the end of their tongue, and not in their heart, and are alive only in words, but in their deeds they are completely dead. These are very doubtful. The weak talk of persecution turns them to idols. They are unlikely to turn to repentance if they do not hurry to do this soon. Those who quarrel and quarrel with each other over trifles easily turn to repentance; but for those who, succumbing to strong anger, remember the insults and fall into hatred, it is not easy for them to come to repentance. There are also those who seem to have faith, but are too pretentious, bold and want to show that they know everything and want to teach everyone, although they themselves do not understand anything properly. They themselves are easily mistaken and often lead others into delusion. But if, having learned error, they return to faith and surrender themselves to the guidance of knowledgeable people appointed for this purpose, then the path of repentance is open to them, because they fell not so much out of anger as out of foolishness. There are many other types of sin, which I leave to list. Know that the path of repentance is open to everyone, but not everyone enters it equally quickly and willingly, and not everyone completes it equally successfully. It is better, of course, not to sin and to be among God’s favorites, whom I will mention at the end as a consolation after the sorrowful previous picture of those who sin. Those who believe in simplicity of heart and are zealous for virtue, living in peace with everyone, always ready to do good to everyone and share their labors with everyone without thinking, are the true children of God. God, seeing their simplicity and holy childishness, blesses their labors and favors all their deeds. Those who pleased God most of all are those who, having believed with childlike simplicity and sincerity, do not allow bad feelings or do bad deeds, and throughout their entire lives remain equally faithful to all the commandments of God. Here are the instructions given by the Shepherd Angel to St. Herma, which he then ordered to be written down for memory and edification of all subsequent generations. Enter, brothers, into the goals of the Heavenly Mentor and accept as a lesson whoever finds it necessary. Now the whole conversation was about the deeds of repentance, about its difficulties and hopes. So it came at the right time, for in another week we will hear: “Open the doors of repentance, O Life-Giver!” It was precisely at this time that I wanted to read with you the soul-saving writings of St. Hermas, for in all parts of it: in visions, and in commandments, and parables, he has one main thought - that there is no salvation for us, the fallen, except in the Lord Jesus Christ. Accept with faith all the teachings of Christ, live completely in the spirit of this faith, and you will be saved. If you have sinned in any way, repent; If you sin again, repent again, and so on until the end. And this is what we need to be reminded of in the approaching course of mental healing. You might be interested in: