Peace be upon you and blessings from the Lord.

Letter 173

American K., about whom to believe

You describe how one of your fellow citizens, calling himself a scientist, collected money from everyone, including from you, to make wings for each person. People believed him and trustingly gave the money, until that "scientist" on some invisible "wings" disappeared from your city. "People today do not know whom and what to believe," you conclude your letter. And here some baptized people ask: what to believe in? This question will be easy to answer if we first determine who we trust.

We trust the one who manifests three qualities: truthfulness, knowledge, and love. And children believe their parents because they are confident in their truthfulness, knowledge and love. And we believe in Christ, the Son of God, because we are convinced that He is the Truth and that He loves us. Believe Me, – He says to His disciples [276]. And the disciples left everything and followed Him, because they believed.

And we believe hundreds of other strangers, although we have no evidence of their truthfulness, their knowledge, and even more so – love for us.

Our whole life is based on faith. If you destroy this belief, you paralyze all human life.

As in any test of faith, from everyday and ordinary things to faith in the mysteries of heaven, man must first ask: Whom to believe? And only then – what to believe in?

Благословение Христово Вам и Вашей домашней церкви.

Письмо 174

скупому господину, о церковном блеске

Вы недоумеваете, почему Православная Церковь позволяет такой блеск и роскошь в храмах: драгоценные иконы, серебряные лампадки, золотые потиры, парчовые облачения и другие дорогостоящие предметы. Потому, что хочет этим убогим земным сиянием напомнить нам о вечном небесном сиянии;