Eternal life
Through Jesus Christ, men were reunited with the eternal God and received eternal life. No matter how much they try to twist and distort God’s law, the eternal death of human souls has been destroyed, and eternal life is inevitable! Eternal life is knowing the one true God and Jesus Christ Whom He sent.
To know God means to love Him, to fulfill His commandments, and to obey the Church of Christ. Our earthly life should be the beginning of eternal life, and our union with God in the future age should be experienced while still on earth, for even here He must be for us the source of light, peace, joy, and blessedness. This is felt in prayer, when our soul is wholly turned to God, and the heart becomes so light, calm, joyful, and bright!
The Lord is our eternal life; the Lord is our deliverance from eternal death! Let us serve Him alone that we might live eternally with Him!
The sea of life
Oh, this treacherous sea of life! It’s vast, majestic, deep, beautiful, and mysterious, irresistibly drawing human hearts to it. It’s almost never quiet, calm, and azure, but more so agitated and stormy. The constantly surging waves, as if chasing and fight each other; they roar, converse, argue, and foam with some kind of malice and hatred. Seeking to destroy unlike themselves, these waves hurl themselves with fury and passion against the immovable stones and cliffs on the shore. But breaking against them as against impregnable fortresses, as against indestructible eternity, they run back into the depths of the lawless sea, mimicking the clamor and discontent of an innumerable human crowd with their noise, seething, and groaning.
Men who have surrendered to the will of this raging sea of everyday life, exhausted by the elements, are involuntarily drawn into its passions, eternal struggle, and malice. They stop even considering anything that might challenge their captivity, humiliation, and surrender to sensuality. Тhey’re imperceptibly lulled by the movement and lapping of the waves, and they lose awareness of the danger, the nearness of destruction, and the inevitability of God’s judgment. Many people spiritually sleep day and night, their whole lives, from the cradle to the grave! Those who live by sensuality alone don’t notice how these waves, lifting them to their peaks for the sake of glory and deception, then drop them lower and deeper, ready to engulf, destroy, ruin, and cast them out like unnecessary, disgusting corpses onto the wild, rocky shore.
People are lonely in this sea of life. And how difficult it is for them to come to the realization that they have only one sincerely loving, forgiving, unchanging, and all-powerful protector, true friend, and merciful Savior Christ! They don’t know the truth and righteousness of God and are powerless to overcome their spiritual sleep. Like the blind, they don’t see Christ standing closer to them, sinners, than to the righteous.
Christ the Savior, acting through the attracting power of Divine grace but without violating the human will, awakens those who are spiritually asleep, calling them to rise, to be reborn through repentance, to come to their senses, especially when they’re already beginning to perish in the waves of the sea of life. Grace, like the breath of boundless love, revives the chilled human heart with its life-giving warmth; it doesn’t forsake even the most wretched of sinners.
There is no man who has been spiritually reborn by the Mysteries of the Church whom the grace of God doesn’t visibly and tangibly call to the awareness of his sinfulness and nearness to destruction.
The lives of the saints
Before the Russian people were able to embrace deep Christian truths with their minds, they understood and internalized the truth of God from living examples, from descriptions of the asceticism and instructions of the saints… All of this was so strongly imprinted in their minds and hearts that the Russian people became sincere followers of Christ, learning the truth of Christian life from the lives of the saints.
It was only under the influence of these poetic, highly moral, and historical readings that the Russian people developed such a Christian and Orthodox attitude towards everything “worldly,” which other Western peoples did not and do not have, and therefore failed to retain the truth of precious Orthodoxy in their hearts.
The law of God
The fall of the first man violated his spiritual state; his conscience was darkened, the internal law changed, and man came to know another law, the opposite of God’s.
Then the Lord sent the written Law through Moses, to recreate the inner law, the guide to piety. But this written Law only convicted people of their iniquities, not correcting them. It only pointed to the path, but didn’t give the strength to follow it.
Then the merciful God first promised, and then revealed a different way for people and gave a new law, a new heart, in which He wrote the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:2).
Therefore, it depends solely on us now whether to be in communion with God and always know His will.
It can be known in spiritual discernment, if we discuss every question of life, every heartfelt desire, every intention with the thought of God’s truth and His law. But since we sinful people can’t always be equally spiritually blessed all the time, the holy elders teach that we should pray about every matter three times and then listen to where the heart inclines, if even a little, and do that. The heart always perceives and understands the message.
Seeking the Kingdom of God
Seeking the Kingdom of God isn’t a retreat into the wilderness or a complete renunciation of the world; withdrawing from the world for the salvation of our soul and to serve God is one thing, while seeking the Kingdom of God is another. Renunciation is possible only with a special calling from God. Man can’t renounce the world by his own will, which is confirmed by the lives of the Apostles and other saints.
The search for the Kingdom of God is another matter; it teaches us how to reach a point where worldly and earthly affairs don’t interfere with spiritual and Heavenly affairs. Therefore, Christ said that we must seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness (Mt. 6:33), and then take care of our earthly affairs, which by God’s mercy will be added, arranged by themselves when a man proves his love for God and the desire to save his soul by fulfilling Christ’s commandments.
Therefore, seeking the Kingdom of God doesn’t prevent us from engaging in worldly affairs without detriment to spiritual matters. We can fulfill our professional duties, attend to family matters, acquire scientific knowledge, and glorify the Heavenly Father through work and charity. The Christian life requires only that care for the soul and the future eternal life be placed before all else.
How do we seek the Kingdom of God? The Kingdom of God is sought not by the flesh, not on earth, not by works of the world, but by the spirit, by the heart, by thought, in the Heavenly realm, by fervent prayer and sighs at the feet of the Savior, kneeing before the Most Blessed Mother of God.
Prayers and spiritual offerings can’t interfere with taking care of our family, daily bread, work, and studying the sciences and arts. But for the heart to find the way and reach the gates of the Kingdom of God, it must be pure, free from passions, like those who are blessed in the Kingdom of God. Such a purified, sanctified heart is a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, which is why Christ told the Pharisees: Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you (Lk. 17:21).
Thus, seeking the Kingdom of God is building a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
A test of faith
Every man is obliged to test his faith and make sure whether the faith he holds is true, and if it turns out to be false, then find where the one true faith that leads to the true God and grants eternal salvation is. In order to incline His audience to believe in Him and His teaching, Christ said: Search the Scriptures (Jn. 5:39), and the Apostles also drew men to the faith by persuasion, not violence.
But how, you ask, can we be sure and how should we test ourselves? There are two ways: the external, intellectual path, and the inner path of faith. The first is necessary, but it’s not universal, because it’s based on knowledge that isn’t accessible to everyone. The second, the path of faith, which is more accessible, sincere, lively, and fruitful, is fervent prayer to the one true God for enlightenment.
Take a look at the world around you and you’ll see that all sincere men of faith believe on such grounds and as a result of personal experience.
True generosity
True generosity is the forgiveness of enemies and prayer for slanderers, because such actions and traits make us like God.
True Christians
All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, says the holy Apostle Paul (2 Tim. 3:21). Therefore, all true Christians will be persecuted until the end of the age; they will suffer from sorrows, griefs, temptations, slander, and calamities. We shouldn’t be disturbed by such a state of affairs.
A man who battles evil, says St. John Chrysostom, can’t but be tested by sorrows. A fighter can’t indulge in luxury, a warrior can’t feast in battle. Therefore, let no one engaged in a struggle seek rest or give in to pleasures. The present is a time of struggle, battle, sorrows, and sighs; it’s an arena of spiritual feats. The time for rest will come later, but now is the time for effort and toil.
The righteous suffer tragedies for their testing, and sinners as punishment for their sins. Those who know the Holy Scriptures as they should aren’t tempted by anything that happens; they endure everything courageously, accept some things by faith and attribute them to the incomprehensible providence of God, and for other things they see foundations and find examples in Scripture.
Enmity, persecution, and martyrdom aren’t new, and therefore Christ teaches us to look at it unaffectedly, without fear or confusion, telling us: If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you (Jn. 15:18).
Take courage, and may your heart be strengthened, all you who trust in the Lord!
Look at the true Christian.
He isn’t tolerated among companions who usually serve all worldly things—whoever or whatever they want, only not God.
He’s hated by his elders, although he’s humble and respectful, because he’s independent and sometimes unwittingly becomes the judge of their conscience.
A true Christian is hated by many learned people of this world who consider themselves luminaries and therefore demand reverence, while the disciples of the Gospel are considered darkened, deluded, and backwards people.
He’s boring and shy for modern society because he has nothing in common with it.
He often seems heavy and lifeless for his family, because the majority of modern wives and especially children want to enjoy all the inventions of the age, unconstrained by gender, age, or Christian institutions.
Only a worldly, perverted Christianity is comfortable and acceptable to this world, and therefore it persecutes disciples of the Gospel and truth-lovers with such malice as had the ancient pagans. They’re accused of unprecedented schemes and misdeeds, bombarded with slander and all kinds of filth, dishonored in print and in public, often deprived of service despite their poverty and large families, deprived of the last piece of bread; their family life is disrupted, they try to present them as dangerous and harmful people, subverting existing customs, laws and social life; they’re enthusiastically and delightedly given over to the mockery and ridicule of the crowd, with the glory of the dull-witted and foolish.
“And so when you see a righteous man performing great and excellent deeds, yet suffering innumerable ills, marvel not,” says St. John Chrysostom. “On the contrary, one might well marvel, if the devil receiving so many blows were to keep quiet and bear the wounds meekly. Even as you ought not to be surprised were a serpent, continually goaded, to grow fierce and spring on the person that goaded it.” God allows trials so that the righteous “might be crowned more signally: that the other might receive a severer wound. For when after benefits conferred a man suffers, and that grievously, and yet continually gives thanks, it is a blow to the devil.”1
Such is the will of God that His beloved ones remain in labors, and not in delusions and passions. The Spirit of God doesn’t abide in those who are at rest. That’s how the sons of God differ from others—they live in sorrows, while the world rejoices and prides itself on luxury and rest.
The repentant sinner
The Lord so loved mankind that, not desiring the death of sinners, He gave His Only-Begotten Son over to death on the Cross for them. Therefore, the death of the soul, redeemed by the Divine Blood of Christ, is an infinite sorrow for all the inhabitants of Heaven.
The Son of God Himself told us what joy there is in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth (Lk. 15:7). Therefore, the soul of a man redeemed by Christ is more precious in the eyes of God than the whole world, and the grace of God constantly fights for people and prompts sinners to repentance and reconciliation with the Creator.
What joy there is in Heaven now! The Heavenly Father and the holy angels rejoice over repentant sinners! Jesus Christ said that there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth (Lk. 15:10).
All of you, as children of the Heavenly Father, have come to the house of your God and Father to entreat forgiveness. If you’re weeping or frightened, if you’re in pain or ashamed, so much the better, for the joy of the angels of God is fuller and more perfect. If you’re troubled by the coldness of your heart, the lack of a spirit of repentance, the lack of tears, or uncertainty that your contrition and repentance are genuine and will be salvific, then don’t despair; only be sincere children of your Heavenly Father. This distress is already a sign of dissatisfaction with oneself, and childlike timidity is a sign of humility.
Oaths
God never forbade swearing by His name, but commanded people not to abuse this oath. Ye shall not swear by My name falsely, says God (Lev. 19:12).
Could the Lord forbid people for whom He willingly accepted death on the Cross from taking Him as a witness, and precisely for the sake of righteousness and truth? After all, truth was brought to earth by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. No, He couldn’t forbid it, and we know that the holy Apostles took an oath. For example, the holy Apostle Paul begins one of his epistles with an oath. For God is my witness, he writes, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:8).
You should know, beloved, that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself also swore an oath at trial. The high priest who judged Him turned to Jesus with the words: I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether Thou be the Christ, the Son of God. But Jesus Christ not only didn’t tell the high priest that he was asking for something improper—an oath—but, on the contrary, immediately answered: Thou hast said (Mt. 26:63-64). When taking an oath, the Jews always said either, “Amen,” or “Thou hast said,” or, “Let it be so.” Therefore, Christ took an oath at the trial and showed under oath that He truly is the Messiah, the Only-Begotten Son of God.
Thus, the Lord allows us to swear an oath, but only for the good, and to find out the truth in important and lawful matters.
Oath-breaking
We Christians are obliged to treat an oath as a Divine matter and clearly understand how great the sin of oath-breaking or a false oath is. We know of terrible punishments for breaking oaths from sacred history, for deceiving God Himself must entail the just wrath of God, for God is not mocked (Gal. 6:7).
The sin of oath-breaking will be even clearer if you remember that false witnesses and oath breakers, falsely and shamelessly kissing the Holy Cross and the Holy Gospel, are likened to the traitor Judas, who betrayed the Savior to His enemies with a treacherous kiss.
To be continued…
