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“And having called the nations to be His disciples, He said to them: If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and come after Me; if anyone wants to save his soul, he will destroy it; and whoever loses his soul for the sake of Me and the Gospel will save it: what good does it do to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?” (Mark 8:34–36). When we proclaimed to you, my brethren, the word of God, we always found in you reverent attention to it, so that, to our consolation, we can say with the apostle that you accepted what was preached to you not “as the word of men, but as it truly is the word of God” (1 Thess. 2:13). With all this, we consider it a duty to begin our current interview with an invitation to deepen your attention, to purify and open your thoughts, to open and widen the mouth of your heart. We do this not because we expected to tell you anything particularly important on our own behalf and valued our own words, but because the current Gospel, which we will expound, contains a teaching that is extremely necessary and important for everyone. In fact, brethren, although the words of our Lord and Savior “are all spirit and life” (John 6:63), they are all “to her and ... amen” (2 Cor. 1:20); but He Himself did not speak the same about everything: when he wanted to convey something especially important, he raised his voice, saying: “Amen, amen, I say to you” (John 10:1), or added at the conclusion of what was said: “having ears to hear, let him hear”! (Matthew 13:9). The current conversation of the Lord is such that it must be heard, if it were possible, even by those without ears. Therefore, it was proposed in a special way: “having called,” as the evangelist says, “the nations with His disciples.” That is, the Savior spoke differently from time to time to His disciples, in accordance with their special purpose, and another to the people, in accordance with their needs; He always spoke almost at the same time, prompted by the desire of the listeners: and now He speaks to everyone, He Himself speaks, speaking, calling “the nations and disciples” to hear. This is what He did. He, no doubt, not for any reason, but because the conversation was special, extremely necessary and important for everyone. So come, all of you: small and great, enlightened and simple, noble and honorable, come and listen to what our Lord and Savior is saying to us. “Having called the nations as His fellow disciples, He said to them: If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and come after Me.” Do you see the importance of Christ's preaching? It's not about a little something, but about everything. Who among us would not want to follow our Savior and Lord? This is our very faith, that we all follow Him as the source of truth and the truth itself; This is what our whole morality consists of, that we follow Him as a mentor in virtue, as a model in holiness and holiness itself; This is all our hope, that we follow Him as the Deliverer from all evils, as the Author of eternal life and life itself. From faith in Christ, from following Him, we expect everything. Therefore, it is extremely necessary for each of us to know what this very following requires and what it consists of; who really follows Christ and therefore will reach the goal, and who does not follow Him, although he thinks and, therefore, will never reach the intended end? And behold, the Savior Himself wants to tell us about all this, wants to show everyone what it means to follow Him. Is it possible after this to be indifferent to such a sermon? So, let us repeat: for those who value the salvation of their soul, who really wants to be a Christian, pay all attention to the words of the Savior. If the condition of salvation, which He Himself proposed, is fulfilled in you, then you are on a good path: you are safe, blessed, even if you were the last rabble of the world. And if you do not fit this rule, if the heavenly measure is not according to you, then no matter who you are, and no matter what you mean in the world, among people, you are in extreme danger; and if you remain what you are now, you will certainly perish forever. In order to make it easier for everyone to engage in this so important matter, let us consider, my brethren, with all diligence, every word of the Savior, as if our life and our salvation depended on it (as indeed they do depend). “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and come after Me.” These words offer three conditions that must be fulfilled by those who want to be not their own, but the Lord’s. One must, firstly, deny oneself; you must, secondly, take up your cross; we must finally follow the Lord. Here is a ladder to heaven: there is no other and cannot be. These are the main steps of this ladder; there are no others and cannot be! Let's look at each stage separately. “Whoever wants to follow Me, let him deny himself!” Self-sacrifice is a condition that is extremely unpleasant for our pride, but, as experience shows, it is necessary in all important matters. In fact, when they begin to learn anything, they reject their own mind, listen and believe what the teacher says. Whether they go to battle with the enemy, they reject their own will and submit themselves to the orders of the military leader. Whether they want to be cured of any serious and dangerous illness, they rely on the doctor’s art in everything and put themselves in his hands. This is what they usually do in earthly affairs. Is it surprising after this that the work of our salvation, or, what is the same, following Christ, begins with self-sacrifice. But what should it consist of and to what extent should it extend? And in ordinary matters self-sacrifice extends very far. A warrior, for example, extends and must extend it to the point that, according to one word, not only from the general and main leader, but also from his closest small boss, he is ready to go to obvious death. After this, will we be surprised if Christian self-sacrifice extends to death? And it extends all the way here. Yes, brothers, we would not tell you the truth if we said that the self-denial that our Lord requires from His followers is limited to the rejection of some only bad thoughts, desires or actions; no, it consists in the rejection of the entire carnal mind, the entire unregenerate will, and this is not only in certain cases, not for a certain time, but everywhere and always, for life. Moreover, this complete and constant rejection of oneself should in a Christian extend to self-hatred, as it is directly and clearly written about in the Gospel: “Unless anyone comes to Me and does not hate... his own soul, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). No matter how strict this requirement seems to be, it is as natural as it is necessary in our present state. For in a sinner, as we all are, there is not much that can be loved, and there is very much for which he should hate himself. On the other hand, what we hate is easy to reject; It’s hard to leave and despise only what you love. Therefore, a follower of Christ, in order to succeed in denying himself, must try to hate himself: for having hated, he can no longer help but deny himself. But how can one hate oneself when everyone, by nature, loves himself? How to hate? And how does a criminal hate himself, in whom his conscience has awakened, and wants to be executed for himself? How does a sick person, suffering from some terrible disease, hate himself and call for death? How does a person hate himself if he is simply bored with life and does not want to look at the light of God? In all these cases, our hatred extends beyond all limits; and when we need to deny ourselves in order to follow the Lord to eternal life, then we will be perplexed and ask: how can we hate ourselves? By knowing ourselves. When you saw that there were dirty, torn, stinking rags on your shoulders, you would immediately throw them off, and would never come back to put them on. Find out, through attention to yourself, that your real sensual life is just such rags - and you will hate your sensuality and reject yourself. Likewise, if you saw that there were snakes in your most favorite room, where you rest, you would immediately run away from this room and prefer a clean hut to it; know that evil desires live in your soul and constantly multiply, and you will hate your heart and will not want to have it. Likewise, when you found out that you had become infected with a fatal disease, then, in that case, you would be glad to abandon yourself and leave yourself forever, if it were possible, to the ends of the world; know that you are infected with the deadly poison of sin, that this poison certainly causes eternal death, and you will be ready not only to stop loving, but also to hate yourself, and thus fulfill in all accuracy the requirement of the Heavenly Physician in order to completely deny yourself for the sake of following Him. But be that as it may, beloved brother, without self-denial it is impossible to take a single right step in following the Lord. For think for yourself: how would you decide to leave your path and follow the Lord if you had not stopped loving your path, if you had not become convinced that you yourself cannot be your own leader, in other words, if you had not denied yourself? They follow others when they do not rely on themselves; They do not rely on themselves when they are convinced of their shortcomings, of their thinness. It would be a different matter if the Lord led you along the same path that you yourself followed, but He will lead you along a new path, often completely opposite to your previous path, and will demand from you exactly what is not according to your previous way of thinking and feeling, not according to your sinful disposition and life. How will you do what is required without leaving your old way of thoughts, feelings and desires? How, without rejecting your mind, will you accept the secrets of faith, which are above the mind and contrary to its wisdom? How, without renouncing your pride, will you consider yourself the first of sinners and love your enemies? How, without renouncing your flesh and blood, will you crucify your flesh with its passions and lusts? - How, without hating your soul, will you try to destroy it? - Obvious incompatibility! Because what happens to those who, without denying themselves, think to follow the Lord? They only think of following Him, but in reality they are not following Him, but following themselves: some following their mind and knowledge, some following their hearts and even passions, some following the customs of this age and the examples of others. It cannot be otherwise; because whoever wants to follow the Lord, according to His word, first of all “let him deny himself”: this is the first necessary condition, the first step in the ladder to heaven! The second requirement and the second step: “let him take up his cross”! The cross is an instrument of execution; it is necessary when there is a criminal who must be executed: who is this criminal? We ourselves: our carnal man, our evil will, our criminal pride, our whole old fallen being. By rejecting it, we do a lot, but not everything. Our rejected old man will not lie inactive, as old rags thrown off his shoulders lie: no, this is a fierce beast, which, rejected and even defeated, resumes attacks and becomes the more furious and dangerous the more it is struck. There is one of two things here: you must kill the rejected one, or you yourself must fall under his blows. How will we kill our enemy, that is, our flesh and blood, our pride and passions, our carnality and pride? With your own mind? He himself, until he is reborn from above, “puffs up” (1 Cor. 8:1), lands on the mind of God, and therefore has a need for mortification. By your own will? But she is so weak in goodness that “whatever she wants,” as the apostle puts it, “she strives to do, but does not achieve good deeds” (Rom. 7:18). And how will she lay hands on her own self-love? What is needed is an external, solid, powerful instrument of self-destruction; That is why he is commanded, having denied himself, to take up the cross. That is, what to do? To love, to choose, to assimilate for ourselves everything that mortifies in us our pride and evil will, our sensuality and passions. Therefore, the cross, for example, is poverty and shortcomings; cross - dishonor and slander; cross - illness and weakness; cross - bad marriage and bad neighborhood; cross – childlessness and large families; cross - loss of relatives and friends; cross - all accidents. This cross, this totality of sorrows, annoyances, deprivations, temptations, disasters, must be taken, that is, chosen and adopted by the one who wants to be a true follower of Christ. It is necessary to take it differently from the way a criminal takes an instrument of execution: with disgust, annoyance, out of necessity; no, one must take it voluntarily, with zeal, in obedience to the good will of God, out of love for one’s salvation, in a firm conviction of its benefit and necessity; one must take up this cross, just as a sick person takes the most bitter and disgusting medicine, expecting from it the return of health and strength. Only when the cross is taken in this way does it constitute healing, is it a sign of a follower of Christ, is it a symbol and sign of Christianity. Without such a taking - voluntary, reasonable, in the spirit of faith and love - the cross is an overwhelming burden, killing, but not resurrecting. For you need to know, brethren, that the cross, as a set of deprivations, is inevitable for man on earth; no one can escape from it; it must be carried by everyone, even without following Christ, just as the robber who blasphemed him carried it along with Christ. But such a cross, not taken, but laid down by necessity, does not save, but only kills and tortures fruitlessly. Let us also note that the Savior commands His follower to take up “his” cross - the one that belongs specifically to him, was appointed from above for him. This should be noted because the evil will is capricious in everything, even in the choice of the cross on which it should be crucified. They don’t want to take the one given by God, but want to have a homemade one, in this and not another form, consisting of such and not other sorrows and deprivations. So, for example, such and such a person is apparently destined to suffer and be purified by the exploits of family and social life, but he is looking for the crosses of a hermit’s life. What difficulties and dangers does such arbitrariness and self-righteousness bring people to, apparently not reprehensible, but actually harmful! And the main danger is that in this way they give room to their own arbitrariness, when it is he who is the first and should be subject to rejection and death on the cross. No, beloved soul in Christ, if you really rejected yourself, as you should, and decided to follow your Lord to Golgotha; then you will no longer sort out the crosses, you will stop inventing them in your own way, and you will take the one that has long been ready for you. Yes, it's been ready for a long time! For since the cross is a necessity for everyone, God’s Providence arranges our lives in such a way that everyone has their own cross, their own share of sorrows, temptations, and illnesses. This cross is the most real and life-giving; for it was not created by man, but by God Himself. Therefore, whoever decides to follow the Lord and take up a cross in order to do so must find his own cross, and not take something alien that does not belong to himself, so as not to fall under its weight for his own self-will. But is there really no place for arbitrariness, free self-deprivation and sacrifice in this case? Yes, very much! Only, first of all, we must decide to endure the hardships and sorrows sent from God, those that are inevitable by our very position in the world and society; and then, if you have enough zeal and opportunity and need open up, decide on arbitrary sacrifices. But even in this case, a rule is necessary - to take up the cross again, not someone else’s, but your own, that is, in accordance with your condition, your own strengths, with Christian humility and self-sacrifice. And especially with self-sacrifice, so that, thinking to have a second and greater fruit, so to speak, in the best possible way, you do not lose the first and, having taken up the cross, do not secretly and inconspicuously take yourself in it. This, my brothers, is the meaning of the second requirement from a follower of Christ, and this is the property of the second step in the ladder to heaven! The third requirement and the third step is the procession with the cross behind the Lord: “and he will take up his cross, and come after Me!” . Our life is a continuous path: you can stop on it with your activity, but you cannot stop the flow of things, the development or decline of your own strength and life. All this, without stopping, goes uncontrollably. Moreover, spiritual, Christian life is an unceasing path, always walking in the light of God’s commandments, where one cannot stop without at the same time being left behind. Therefore, the Savior commands His follower, having taken up the cross, not to stand in thought, not to look around, but to walk without stopping: that is, what to do? Firstly, always remember where, from what darkness and destruction he was brought by the grace of God: where, to what light, purity and perfection he should strive, what he has and for what purpose behind him, that is, not pipes and tympani, not roses and lilies, but a cross: and remembering all this, constantly rush to the front, moving along the narrow path from faith to faith, from virtue to virtue, from one experience of self-mortification to another, not being satisfied with any external plausibility of one’s behavior, but stretching to the true purity of intentions, to the perfect godly actions, to the complete mortification of sin and self-love. This is what the Apostle Paul did, who, even after he was already in the third heaven, considered himself to have “not yet attained” (Phil. 3:13) and, bearing “the marks of the Lord Jesus on his body” (Gal. 6:17), having been completely crucified to the world, he still continued to mortify his body all day long, “let it not be,” he says, “that while I preach to others, I myself will be cut off.” This is precisely why it happens that others, as the same apostle puts it, “who are strong in the spirit,” die in the flesh (Gal. 3:3). It is also extremely important that, having taken up the cross, do not follow anyone else, but precisely your Savior: “He will come after Me.” Alas, my brothers, you can bear the cross and go - not in the footsteps of the Savior, but in the footsteps of the same supposedly rejected sinful man! You can suffer and endure, and at the same time destroy the rewards of both suffering and patience! This happens when, in the midst of our cross-bearing, we are guided not by faith in the Lord and His example, not by the rules of the Gospel, but by our imagination and feelings, or by poorly understood examples of others. In this case, they usually go to extremes; they strive for that which, although good in itself, is not characteristic of us; and they do not fulfill what seems not so high, but is necessary for us. To avoid this, the crusader must constantly have before his eyes the life of his Lord and, if possible, imitate it. Whoever acts in this way will not be carried away, for example, by the wrong thought that supposedly for Christian self-sacrifice a person needs to abandon all worldly connections and flee into the desert. The Savior, on the contrary, came out of the desert for His great cross-bearing; He spent about four years among people of all kinds, wandering through towns and villages. Bearing this in mind, everyone can calmly remain in their rank and in their ordinary affairs; only, while staying and living as a member of society, he must not forget that he is a crusader of Christ, and that, as a result of this, he will have his share of sorrows and misfortunes - if not from outside, then from his own heart and passions, until they are killed on the cross. Whoever walks with his cross in the footsteps of his Savior will also avoid that tempting thought that it is completely unacceptable for a crusader of Christ to participate in the innocent joys of life, in family pleasures, to enjoy friendship, the respect of fellow citizens, and so on. No, the Lord Himself did not reject signs of love for Himself, shared the common joy at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, praised the wife who anointed His feet with ointment; was even on Tabor and shone with heavenly glory: only on Tabor itself he did not forget His cross, talking with Moses and Elijah about His exodus, “he wanted to die in Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31), that is, about His death on the cross. Finally, didn’t He have the courage to carry His Cross to the end? And yet, he did not argue when the crucifiers laid His Cross on Simon of Cyrene. Moreover, it is not appropriate for us, weak and fickle, no matter who we are, to shy away when Providence sends someone to lighten our cross, so that otherwise we do not, for our arrogance, fall into captivity to the last enemy - spiritual pride. Briefly: having taken up the cross, one must follow the path of faith and virtue, walk unceasingly, follow one’s Savior, guided by His example and commands - walk without looking back at previous sinful habits, without scattering one’s gaze to all sides, constantly guarded by humility and prayer. But where does this path lead? Where is its purpose, and what is there? The Savior did not reveal this directly in the present case, because when the real conversation was offered, His own path was still ongoing. But is it possible to be perplexed and question much about where the end of the path of the cross is? When they tell you to go with a cross on your back, it’s clearly not for a wedding or a feast. When you need to follow the Lord with this cross, you cannot help but come, finally, to Golgotha. Why did the criminals wear their crosses? To be crucified on them. For the same reason, you must bear your cross as a Christian! Death, death on the cross, this is the goal of your cross-bearing, your following of Christ! “They who are Christ’s,” says the apostle, “the flesh was crucified with its passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24); and presents himself as an example of this crucifixion: “to whom the world was crucified, and to the world” (Gal. 6:14). But if somewhere, then with this truth, our entire fallen being is indignant, all the bones of our carnal man cry out: “We do not want this, let him reign over us” (Luke 19:14). What kind of king has a cross instead of a scepter? What kind of leader is he to victory who leads his followers to inevitable death? Indeed, my brothers, why are there so few true followers of Christ? – Precisely because, following Christ, one must go to the death of one’s sensuality. They partly agree to deny themselves, because they cannot help but see that there is even a lot in them that cannot be tolerated at all. They even agree to take up the cross, that is, to endure sorrow, to undergo hardships, finding this, on the one hand, inevitable, and on the other hand, useful, but to be crucified with Christ, buried, so that later they will not have their own mind, their own will, their own life - only a few, the chosen ones, decide to do this; They don’t think about this at all, the majority of even the so-called good Christians don’t consider this necessary. Let it be known, my brethren, to one and all that without co-crucifixion with our Lord and Savior it is impossible, absolutely impossible, for us to participate in the Resurrection with Him, for our natural life in sin and passions is as opposed to our true life in God as night is opposite to day. For day to come and the sun to rise, night must first pass; Likewise, in order for the life of Christ to appear in us, and with it eternal joy and bliss, sinful life must first be destroyed in us. Therefore, those who think of achieving salvation in some other way, and not through the mortification of their flesh and passions, are similar to those people who would like to receive health without being healed of a severe illness. Our Savior cannot do this for us, for this would mean leaving the Kingdom of Heaven to sin and passions. Therefore, whoever wants to follow Him must decide in advance to kill everything in himself that is contrary to the will of God, and therefore, first of all, to kill his pride, which is the root of all our impurities and crimes. A thing so great, although it can begin in us every moment, obviously cannot be accomplished in a short time; Our whole life should be devoted to it. Therefore, he is in a pathetic delusion who thinks that for the eternal salvation of his soul it is enough, for example, to spend one Great Lent in repentance and prayer. No, this Great and truly soul-saving Lent should consist of our entire life. Easter and the Resurrection after Pentecost are no longer celebrated on earth, but there - in the non-evening days of the Kingdom of Christ. It is also obvious that the mortification of the old man in us is associated with much coercion of oneself, with hardships and sorrows. But what to do? These are diseases of new birth from the spirit. Just as one cannot be born in the flesh without blood and tears, so one cannot be reborn in spirit without sorrow and sorrow for God. The Savior does not force anyone to do this: “whoever wants to”! But we ourselves, having properly understood the matter of our salvation, we ourselves must reject the broad path, which inevitably leads to destruction, and love the narrow path, which alone leads to the stomach. For what good is it if we, having turned away from the yoke of Christ, escape temporary sorrows, but through this, like the rich man of the Gospel, are subjected to eternal torment? (Luke 16:19-31) But will we avoid even temporary sorrows by deviating from following Christ? Alas, the world that deceives us has not only roses, but also many thorns along with them: the first bloom briefly, and the last are always on the tree. What an immeasurable crowd of peace lovers! But how many are happy with their lot? Everyone groans and sighs. Therefore, if suffering is inevitable, then it is better to endure and suffer for Christ and with Christ, than for the world and with the world. In the first case, eternal bliss is redeemed by temporary suffering; and in the latter, temporary suffering will serve as a guarantee and forerunner of eternal torment. Let us understand the mystery of the Cross of Christ and ours. Let us recognize the necessity of both crosses; having come to know, let us love both with an inseparable love; having loved, we will bear our cross, in the footsteps of our Savior, crucifying on it our old man, who is decaying in deceitful lusts. Let us do all this, my brothers; for this is the eternal life! There is no other way to life and the Kingdom for us and there cannot be! Amen. You might be interested in: