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Let us accustom ourselves, brothers, to blessings, so that we may inherit blessings. The Jews, stumbling over an evil custom, became deicides; and if we speak slander, we will become blasphemers. Diseases do not suddenly become incurable, but, having received a bad start from negligence, they turn into immeasurable damage. And passions in the soul arise from a small reason, but if they are not exterminated, they produce immeasurable negligence. You see how the green scar on the copper is getting deeper and deeper. Understand from this example what passion produces in the soul due to negligence. If you don’t clean the rust, you won’t be able to remove the stain. If you do not exhaust the nature of the flesh, you will not have time to drive away passion from yourself. Rust is closely connected with copper, and so passion takes root in nature. Whoever cleans copper before it rusts will no longer have to worry about it. He who clothes his soul with virtue will not be in danger, nor will he tolerate secret untruth. You can put effort into a rusty copper vessel, but this requires a lot of work and will bring a loss: the time when you could do something for your own benefit will be used to correct the damage. Thus the soul is slowed down, destroying passion in itself when it could acquire the most important thing. If copper has been left neglected, it is cleaned more slowly, rust eats away at it, and even after cleaning it quickly takes hold of it; and in the soul, if it neglects itself in teaching virtue, its good qualities are easily plundered. After cleaning, copper takes on a shine, like clothing, and if the cleaned copper is not yet damaged by rust, it will serve for a long time; otherwise, the induced shine is deceptive, because the vessel is fragile and soon deteriorates, as if made from already damaged copper. And the soul, if already corrupted, begins to practice virtue, then it falls into confusion, and from confusion into corruption. Human nature is like copper and requires great care. If you don’t want to make it shine, then take care not to leave this mixture unattended. If you leave copper wet, you will harm it; If you begin to moisten your nature, you will give room for corruption. And the Savior said that unclean spirits love moisture (Matt. 12:43), and the Apostle commanded: “Do not please the flesh through lust” (Rom. 13:14). From this it is clear that moisture in the soul is the cause of carnal lust. The Gospel explains this apostolic saying. It says that the unclean spirit comes and finds a person “swept and put away” (Matthew 12:44). Consequently, the decoration of the body produces desires in the soul. The unclean spirit of the waterless place passed by: he knew that his seed would not grow if it was not thrown into a wet place; therefore he came and sowed in man; and, having finally arrived, he remains in it, because on his return he found the seed bearing fruit. If a moistened person did not bear fruit, then the enemy, not finding food for himself, would not remain in him. We must tell you how the unclean spirit eats and feeds. The Lord calls His food - to do the will of His Father (John 4:34); so the enemy feeds on him who does his will. The will of God is faith in good, therefore the will of the enemy is unbelief. The will of God is the virtue of good deeds, but the will of the devil is everything contrary to this. He who does the will of the devil feeds him. But I will also explain to you the concept of this and that will, how it becomes food. Christ, when saving the Samaritan woman, told his disciples that He had already tasted, that is, fulfilled the will of the Father. So, if someone saves a soul, he will feed God, and if someone destroys a soul, he will feed the devil. Therefore, let us consider what kind of seed the enemy has, what his removal and return mean, why he was first forced to leave, but finally remained. Again, as evidence, a parable from the Divine Scriptures is shown to us. If anyone is perfect in holiness, then he is the “church of God,” as the apostle said (1 Cor. 3:16–17). Thus, if someone perfects himself in wickedness, he becomes a dwelling place of the devil, and the devil rests in him. Therefore, he sows first in the imperfect, and leaves; and after time passes, he looks to see if a person has become perfect, and if not, then he remains in it. The distinction of perfection will again be presented from pious teaching. Just as those who save the soul are perfect with God, so those who destroy the soul are perfect with the devil. The Gospel explains in what ways both are perfect. At least, the disciples are told: “Be... perfect, like your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:48), because He saves souls and bodies - bodies by shining the sun on them and giving rain, and souls by giving them law and knowledge, and expecting correction from them. But will we find that in Scripture the same parable is used about the enemy? Yes, the same Gospel also says about the enemy that the devil is “a murderer from time immemorial” (John 8:44). Therefore, if someone kills a soul, then he is completely like the devil. It should be said who became perfect in likeness to the devil. Obviously the Pharisees. For Christ Himself said that they have the devil as their father. They destroyed many souls by teaching them not to believe in God and Christ. And I will prove that they surpassed the devil, for they not only taught, but also forced them to do evil. For whoever believed in Christ was excommunicated from the congregation in order to anticipate perfection from the enemy, who through fear forces them to apostatize from God, for by threatening him with death he led many away from piety. And God sows, but in dry and emaciated bodies, because heavenly things increase with incorruption. The seed of God does not at first produce corruption, and does not itself decay, but grows, being thinned by dryness. So, we know what a dry place means; it is nothing other than incorruptibility. In clean and matured (aged) bodies the seed of God grows, because it always produces a combination not in the body, but in the soul. How does this happen? Let's explore this too. The Gospel said that no one “can kill a soul” (Matthew 10:28), therefore it has no need for the blessings of this world. And, without using them, it can remain incorruptible; food is taken to maintain the body. Therefore, when the soul is not enslaved by the body, but subjugates it to itself, receiving into itself the incorruptible seed of God, then the body, as if by the influence of light, makes it partake of incorruption, and it dries up to an increase in thinning. For just as the increase in the body produces an increase in fatness, so the decrease in fatness results in an increase in thinning. The very increase in thinning, having refined the flesh to the extreme, spiritualizes it, and thus it comes into unity with the Divine Spirit, bearing fruit incorruptibility, and improving to accept God into itself. And the Gospel speaks of the perfect: I (that is, Christ) and the Father “will come to him and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). But perhaps you also want to be sure whether it is possible for corruptible flesh to become mingled with incorruptibility; so we need to talk about this a little. If it is proven that the soul is immortal, then it is clear that it is incorruptible. But just as the soul, from union with a moistened body, becomes carnal, so the body, with the incorruption of the soul, in union with the seed of God becomes spiritual. Therefore, Paul also knew spiritual people and carnal people. He knew that those who are carnal have a soul, and those who are spiritual have a body; but, due to the dissolution and predominance of that which is greater in a person, the name of the predominant is acquired by the whole person. If in a person the flesh prevails over the soul, then he is carnal; and if the soul predominates, then he is spiritual. And in another place he says: “The flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh... Do not do what you will” (Gal. 5:17). And the Gospel resolves the issue. It said that the “Kingdom of Heaven” belongs to those who use “effort” (Matthew 11:12). The spirit intensifies to raise nature to the Divine, because nature is drawn towards the earthly by the flesh. This effort of the spirit over nature is a battle, and is carried out in two ways: in the novices, so as not to enter into unity with the flesh, and in the perfect, in order to make the body itself spiritual. For this reason, at first it gives seed, and when it returns, it also gives wine, and makes the perfect food, as we said about the opposite of this. The Gospel explains how we become food and drink for God. “I am the vine,” says Christ, “and you are the birth” (John 15:5). And the apostle says to the faithful Corinthians: “God’s desire, God’s building is natural” (1 Cor. 3:9). This is what he said to the newcomers. What does it mean to be perfect? “To whose house we are” (Heb. 3:6), if only the foundation laid in us at the beginning we keep firm to the end. So, the seed of incorruption is received in dry bodies, because the flesh resists the spirit, not because of the disobedience of nature, but because of lust and striving of the will. If the main thing in a person is an immortal soul, then there is no injustice with God that he turned man to incorruption; and He does not force the complex human nature, but only encourages by force to attract the flesh to incorruption, like a slave corrupted by sin. Just as in a fiery crucible copper takes the form of fire, so the body becomes spiritual if it is dissolved by incorruption. The same copper, buried in the ground, eaten by rust and turned to dust, becomes like pus; this also happens with flesh immersed in passions. But I also want to tell you about the kingdom of the saints, how they will inherit the kingdom in the flesh. The nature of the flesh requires rest; they try more to achieve contrition; those who are embittered rejoice; those who are sick do not heal themselves. Our nature delights in glory; They, the blasphemed, are consoled, conceal their deeds of mercy, and try to hide their piety. The nature of the flesh requires eating food; They exhaust her with fasts, exhaust her with exploits. Nature has a tendency towards marriage; They curb it with abstinence, cutting off all reasons for desire. Nature pursues the comforts of life, but saints, when they are offended, suffer; when they plunder (torture) them, they bear them generously. Therefore, one can almost say that they renounce all carnal life. For this means: Take up your cross and follow Me (Matthew 16:24). That’s why the apostle writes: “For this reason, put to death your lives that are on the earth” (Col. 3:5), because this is done with pious effort. Everyone kills another not with mercy, but with force; So, someone who wants to revive the carnal uses effort. The Apostle said what “uds... even on the earth” mean. For it is not God’s creation that he condemns; he did not simply say: Mortify the bodily members, “but... even on the earth” (carnal lusts). What kind of ouds are these? Fornication, deception, envy, malice, covetousness and all the like. With all that has been said, the flesh is related. Because of wealth there are insults, because of good fame - envy, from pride - deception, from a luxurious life - fornication. Thus, with everything like this, the carnal man is caught, humiliated by sin and in what is natural. It is better to say, as the Gospel says, that sin causes violence to nature. Thus, instead of contentment, nature indulges in gluttony, instead of quenching thirst by drinking - drunkenness, instead of marriage - fornication, instead of justice - inhumanity, instead of love - debauchery, instead of lust - promiscuity. Therefore, it is necessary to force her so that, under control, she cannot express herself more appropriately. For our Savior also said that it is better for an ascetic “who is lame or poor” to gain the Kingdom (Matthew 18:8). Of course, He did not command to cut off the members that He Himself created, but He teaches us not to make nature the author of sin. If the hand is killed by abstinence, and the mind is blinded and plots murder, then, not finding help in the hand, it will not do evil. We can easily assure our friends that we are not plotting against them if we do not get along with those who are plotting. Scripture did not prohibit childbearing, but infanticide. Excessive voluptuousness hinders any spiritual well-being, inciting quarrels, teaching people to do harm and deceive, inspiring envy. You understand what I say so as not to make many digressions for us. The Apostle himself prescribed to have “contentment” (2 Cor. 9:8), but said that “he who feeds... in abundance, dies alive” (1 Tim. 5:6). He himself taught “before outsiders” (1 Thess. 4:12) to act “decently,” but forbade “concerns about the flesh” to turn “into lusts” (Rom. 13:14). Non-covetousness is not opposed to contentment, because “the wickedness thereof shall suffice for the day” (Matthew 6:34). The cross does not resist eating food, because “if you strive, you will abstain from everything” (1 Cor. 9:25). Compelling nature and killing it does not oppose marriage, because it averts the deadness of fornication. Marriage serves life, and fornication serves death, because it harms childbearing. So, he said nothing else, but that sin must be committed by the dead, and to kill it is a matter of extraordinary effort. Understand the power of the Gospel, which wants to put to death sin in a dead person, wants to put to death spiritual death by the death of the body; he strives to weaken the power of passions in a relaxed body, exhorts to force nature so that it does not tolerate the violence of deadness; teaches to neglect the dead part, so as not to lose the beginning of immortality; advises to act according to the word of wise men, to give over to corruption what is corrupt within yourself, without waiting for this from others; wants us to decide to dispassionately crush the flesh with fasting and not allow it to perish in corruption from sin. The corruption to which we ourselves commit the flesh will bring healing, because doctors, if anyone has a hardening or a tumor, either dry up the sore spot, or bring it to fester, or cauterize it, and thereby cure it. Sinful corruption serves to ruin, because, penetrating secretly into the depths, it produces in nature an incurable rottenness, which seems small, but becomes immense because, like leaven, it spreads its effect from head to toe. According to corruption, sin is recognized as something homogeneous, but has many powers, corrupts the body with food, fattening it; for just as illness changes the body, so luxury does not allow a person living luxuriously to notice when he has violated the rules of nature. Corruption is also that refinement that is the result of luxury, because it consumes corruptible flesh. Sin also corrupts through the love of money, for it teaches us to care until death, and it corrupts the body with tedious labors, and defiles the soul with wickedness. He is also corrupted by his love of fame, because he inspires envy and hatred of his neighbors. He also corrupts through virtue, because he teaches him to be vain with it. It also corrupts those who hide virtue when it makes them unscrupulous, and despite great virtues, it instills in them passions that are apparently the most unimportant, and through these it plunges the whole being into disorder. The enemy sets snares for us in our very deeds, because our skill turns into glue, as it were, with which, out of habit of unimportant passion, we mold our wings (I mean virtues), from which not only the wings suffer harm, but the body and soul. Let us focus our attention on the insidiousness of sin, so that it does not laugh at us as foolish. Let us be attentive to his intrigues, because he fights us with them, and when we consider ourselves safe from everywhere, he finds a place for himself to enter. If we run away from a lion behind strong walls, he becomes a dog, so that we will not be wary of him because of his insignificance. If we drive him away, like a dog, he flies into the window like a bird. We fear him when he becomes an eagle, and he is a sparrow. We don’t let him in, like a crow, and he breaks in like a bee. And since we recognize it in all forms, then, having become a mosquito, it will do us a lot of harm. Mosquitoes destroy the first wines, because a lot of them (like leaven dough) ferment the wine with their rotten dust, and often this makes the wine deadly or harmful to health if the mosquitoes previously sat on carrion or tasted poisonous reptiles. This is the habit of something unimportant: it disposes the soul to fulfill every will of the serpent. Such is the subtlety of the enemy, preparing destruction for those who think themselves safe. Ecclesiastes says that “dead flies rot the sweetness of the oil” (Eccl. 10:1), so that the saints would understand the insignificance and impurity of the enemy, and the careless - his malice and subtlety. And in the books of Kings, Elijah called Baal (2 Kings 1:2–3, according to the Slavic translation: “Baal, the bad god of Ekron”) a fly, the god of Ekron. The enemy attacks the souls of the wicked as if they were green pastures, sucks into himself their unclean deeds and feeds on the intoxication of their intoxication. The serpent loves to become a fly in order to delight in the purulent blood of wickedness. Among the wicked he lives like a serpent, and among the dissolute he becomes a fly. And from this it is clear that even among those who consider themselves safe, he can be a restless mosquito. It is an unreasonable thing to close the vessels tightly so that nothing bad gets in, but leave the soul unprotected. It is an unreasonable thing to make oneself safe from the sensory, but to have the mind unguarded. Wisdom in Proverbs commands to go “to the ant” and learn prudence (Proverbs 6:6). And the Gospel tells us to be wise “like serpents” (Matthew 10:16), because it is difficult to catch them, since they are not defenseless. Instead of the dove of the Gospel, the parables point to a bee, and instead of a serpent, to an ant. So, for our benefit, let's look at their similarities. The serpent creeps and is evil to many. But the parable, because the enemy becomes small for the destruction of others, called him an ant. When the enemy appears as an ant and wins, he becomes as bold as a serpent. When he appears as a serpent and is defeated, he humbles himself like an ant, so as not to suffer harm. So we must transform ourselves so as not to suffer harm from the machinations of the enemy. The ant creeps like a serpent, but its legs do not carry the body, but clasp the ground during the procession. He hides the grains underground so that they are not damaged in winter, and blocks the passages he himself has made so as not to lose food during times of need. The serpent does all this. And the Gospel said: “Pray, so that your flight will not be in winter, nor on the Sabbath” (Matthew 24:20). Winter means a time of need, and Saturday means the age of old age, when our life, due to inaction, becomes a Saturday. So, let us work in the summer until the need arises, so that we can have something for the Sabbath. Solomon himself said: work in your youth, before the time has come in which you said: “I have no desire in them” (Eccl. 12:1). What is this need or what is this temptation that misleads and implies ignorance? There is a temptation about which the Lord said: “Pray so that you will not fall into misfortune” (Matthew 26:41). And Paul says that God “will not leave you to be tempted more than you can” (1 Cor. 10:13), showing by this that God allows temptations not for evil, but for good; knowing that we will win, he allows us to be crowned. As for those who are overcome, it is not He who allows it, but the cause of temptation is the will and deeds of each. The enemy did not know that the saints would win, otherwise, as an evil one, he would not have entered into a fight with the one who would be crowned. And if he knew, then that means he became friendly. If he has become benevolent, then why does he overthrow those who fall? But he does not correct himself, and has not stopped doing his own thing. Therefore, what is said: “pray... may your flight not be in winter,” we understand that there are two types of temptations; one is allowed for testing, the other is from arbitrary persecution. The same should be understood about the Sabbath, for it means the bitter end of the labors of persecution, because of which we are severely punished if we are unable to bear them and if, by not enduring them, we harm our souls through the failure of our attempts. The last end is fruitless, because, dying without fruit in persecution, we are deprived of the eternal reward. After this, let's see if we won't find the same similarity in the bee and the dove as we found in the snake and the ant. They have a lot of care for the sake of winter. The bee works in abundance. The dove loves to be sociable, just like the bee. The work of a bee is useful to everyone, and the sight of a dove is very kind to everyone. Both the bee and the dove are not insidious. It is easy for snakes to take on the appearance of a dove, just as it is easy for reptiles to take on the appearance of a bee. The first are likened to those who live wisely, and the last are likened to those who live in simplicity. That’s why Ecclesiastes says: “On the day of goodness... live in glory” (Eccl. 7:15), “keep innocence and see righteousness” (Ps. 36:37). But the Lord said first: “Be ye wise as a serpent,” and then again: “Take aim like doves” (Matthew 10:16), because temptation follows repose. Therefore, David says: “I passed through fire and water, and brought us to rest” (Ps. 65:12). The bee follows the ant. Paul speaks first of the carnal and then of the spiritual, because glory comes after labor. And he talks about the bee, because it is desirable and glorious for everyone. You see, you must first exercise yourself in labors and acquire a crown in ascetic deeds, in order to thus taste Divine grace. The bitterness of achievement is replaced by the sweetness of repose, and the severity of life is replaced by grace. If they do not hate us like serpents, then they will not love us like doves; If we do not become despised like ants, we will not be glorious like bees. Christ first suffered like the serpent of Moses, hanging on a tree, and then, like a dove, rising from the dead, soared into the heavens. First he ate the bitter herbs of Easter, and then, having resurrected, he also enjoyed honeycombs. Understand, brethren, what I say. If anyone wants to bring himself to safety, he must work in order to enjoy his labors afterwards. If you want to work hard, then learn hard from our fathers. Be children of obedience in labor, so that you may become fathers in repose. While you work, you will not get carried away by custom, because work drives out passionate habits. So, I told you, do not adhere to evil customs, so as not to fall into the depths of vice. He said the same way this can be achieved, so that you would not reproach me as a doctor who talks about diseases, but has no experience in healing. Therefore, act in accordance with your vow, so that you may also be worthy of God’s promises in Christ Jesus. Amen. You might be interested in: