Tenth WordFraternal Appeal to Our Valiant Troops in the Fields of Distant Manchuria

My dear brothers, Christ-loving warriors, of every rank, from the highest to the lowest, standing face to face with a treacherous and cunning enemy! Russia, our dear fatherland, is now experiencing difficult days, such as have not happened in all the times of its existence. But do not forget for a moment, beloved, that the calamities we are experiencing, within and without, have been sent upon us by righteous and all-good Providence because the Russians have forgotten their God. His Saviour as he had never been; they boldly trampled on all His commandments, and each one began to fulfill the evil will of his heart, turning his whole life inside out, especially our so-called, unfortunate and distraught intelligentsia. Heavy and extremely painful are the blows sent to us from the Lord God, but these are the blows and punishments of the fathers, temporary, for admonition and punishment.After God and the Mother of God, and all the saints, all of Russia turns its gaze to you, dear brothers, pinning its hopes, expecting a complete victory in the name of the Lord over the enemies who are arrayed against us on all sides. Be of good cheer, stand still, and see salvation from the Lord (Exodus 14:13), says the inspired prophet on behalf of God. And he also says, "When you go out to war against your enemy, and you see horses and chariots and more people than you have, then do not be afraid of them; for the LORD thy God is with thee. And when you come to battle, then let the priest come and speak to the army, and say to him, "Listen, today you are going to fight with your enemies, let not your heart faint, do not be afraid, do not be troubled, and do not be terrified of them; for the Lord your God is coming with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you (Deuteronomy 20:1-4). But do not forget to keep the commandments of your God; keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul, and you will be blessed when you go in and when you go out. The Lord will smite your enemies before you, who rise up against you; in one way they will come out against you, and in seven ways they will flee from you (Deuteronomy 28). Remember, dear brethren, who are bravely fighting on the battlefield for the faith, the king, and the fatherland, that the Lord is with you, and will fight with you Himself, if you firmly place your hope in Him; for the Lord will not save with a multitude of warriors (Psalm 32:16), nor with deadly instruments, but with His almighty power. Remember the solar appearance of the cross in heaven to Emperor Constantine and his army with the inscription in stars around the cross: "By this you will conquer, i.e. by the cross, this is where the power of the Christian army is in the cross, for Christ has conquered and will conquer our enemies, visible and invisible, by the cross." Firmly believe that the Lord is with you: behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20), He says. Remember our chosen Voivode, the Mother of God, who saved Russia without number in battles with enemies. May God grant that even now, after the glorious victory, we may sing with all one heart and one mouth: To the victorious Commander who has been chosen... In a brotherly manner, I advise all of you, before any battle, to speak or sing the dogmatics of the Church: the universal glory of man vegetated (sprung up – from the word germination) and the Lord who gave birth, the heavenly door, let us sing the Virgin Mary, the bodiless hymns and the fertilizer (praise) of the faithful, for this is the heaven and the temple of the Divinity; Thou hast destroyed this barrier of enmity, Thou hast brought peace and opened the Kingdom. For this is the affirmation of faith. The champion of the Imam, the Lord born of Her. Be of good cheer, be of good cheer, ye people of God: for He shall conquer the enemies, for He is all-powerful. (Learn this song by heart).With this sacred song go out to battle – and you will win.Amen.

Eleventh HomilyOn the Day of the Glorious Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos

October 1, 1905What a holy, divine, joyous sight God revealed to the hearts of two righteous men, once enlightened by the holiness of life – and in the mouths of two or three witnesses every testimony – who saw in the vaults of the majestic Blachernae church, the shining Mother of God, the Queen of heaven and earth with the multitude of the Archangel and the faces of all the saints, praying to God and stretching out Her shining omophorion over a multitude of praying people! What joy, hope, and joy this vision instilled in the hearts of all who were in the temple, when this joyful news flew around them with the swiftness of lightning! What profound truth and real help were revealed soon after the miraculous manifestation! For the city of Constantine the Great, besieged by the Saracens, was delivered from the enemy, not by sword and spear, but by the power of God, and the enemies fled, frightened by the power of heaven, leaving their whole camp besieged. Such is the wondrous, salvific protection of the Mother of God the Church celebrates today! I say they are worthy, because, according to the testimony of Church history, at that time the prayer was universal, unanimous, fervent, in the presence of the Tsar and the Queen, the people, and the two great righteous men – Andrew and his disciple. And everywhere we were defeated or voluntarily surrendered with our ships, men and supplies at sea and on land (the fortress of Port Arthur), because we did not have enough faith, courage, loyalty to duty, but we had enough confidence in impunity and acquittal in court! Some of the commanding gentlemen at sea were still guided by the accepted conviction of the famous writer Leo Tolstoy of non-resistance to evil. These traitors betrayed the faith, the Tsar, and the fatherland, and if only our fate had been in their hands, we would all have been betrayed with all our dear possessions. What heavenly help could be given in our lack of faith, unpreparedness, cowardice, neglect of state property, with the moral and disciplinary laxity that existed in some military men, which was proven in practice! In order to deserve heavenly help in the difficult circumstances of the fatherland, we need a firm faith in divine help – and most importantly, repentance for the sins that provoked God's wrath against Russia – the correction of morals, and not the strengthening of vices during the very height of the war. Righteous heaven cannot be in communion with human unrighteousness. What communion can there be between light and darkness, between righteousness and iniquity, between Christ and Satan? (2 Corinthians 6:15). What kind of evil have not yet been done by the Russian people, who live in Russia? What other sins have you not corrupted yourselves? Everything, everything, has done and will do that the righteous wrath of God moves against us: blatant unbelief and blasphemy, the rejection of all true principles of faith, debauchery, drunkenness, all kinds of amusements, instead of putting on the mourning of public repentance and sorrow for sins that anger God, – disobedience to the authorities. Incomprehensible autonomy, which ensures complete unbridled and disobedience to the authorities; a self-willed strike, harmful to everyone, complete anarchy. We have rejected the will of God, we live according to our own will – and soon we will see what it will lead to or has already led. If you bite and devour one another, says the word of God, then take heed that you do not destroy one another (Gal. 5:15). If we do not repent and reform, we will be forsaken by God. Behold, your house is left desolate (Matt. 23:38), says the Lord. But, let it not be. There are still faithful and chosen righteous in Russia, as St. Andrew, Epiphanius, and others were once in the reigning city.

Homily TwelfthOn the Day of the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian

September 26, 1905The Holy Repose of the Beloved Disciple of Christ is a Lesson in the Resurrection and Immortality.Today the Church of Christ commemorates the glorious memory of the repose of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian from temporal life to eternal life, from perishable to incorruptible, from laborious and sorrowful to eternal rest and joy, from laborious to royal rest, for he, together with the rest of the Apostles, was promised by the Truth Itself, by Christ, a royal seat and judgment over the twelve tribes of Israel. The repose of Christ's beloved disciple and confidant was supernatural: three days after his burial, his body was not found in the ground in which he was buried; he was transferred with the body to the heavenly dwellings, to the throne of God, having at the same time received the lot – to remain on earth at will, until the second terrible coming of Christ, in fulfillment of the words of the Lord spoken to the Apostle Peter: If I want him to remain (in the body) until I come, what does it matter to you? such a loud, all-wise, divine Theologian and teacher of the true faith was given to mankind in the person of the beloved Apostle John. His divine, wondrous Gospel, full of divine simplicity and majesty, penetrated to all corners of the world; has taught and is teaching all peoples who have accepted the faith of Christ the true, soul-nourishing and soul-saving Theology.

Let us, dear brothers and sisters, learn our resurrection and immortality from the wondrous death of the Apostle of Christ John, and let us unceasingly prepare for our resettlement into another, eternal world. The Apostle reposed, but did not die, but lives both in body and does not depart from the earth, as the Church says, and awaits the second terrible coming of the Lord to judge the whole world (Stanza for the Lesser Eternity, glory). – and for this reason they have completely lost their way from the vital, rational one. Divine foundations and have become not intellectuals (reasonable), but madmen, doing absolutely insane things; they were imbued with hatred for the faith, for Christian piety, for truth and righteousness, for everything holy, honest and praiseworthy; they proclaimed savage freedom to their senseless passions, declared war on their superiors and on all public order, gave themselves over to disobedience, to all outrage, to murder in broad daylight, to all lies and slander against those whom they hate; proclaimed in word and deed, the so-called terror is kept in fear, while they themselves should be afraid of the authorities: for it is said: there is no power except from God; And the powers that exist are made by God, are they who do not want to fear power? Do good, and have praise from him; If you do evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword without reason (Rom. 13:4).And this is what is surprising: the authorities are afraid to use the sword against those who raise the sword or throw murderous projectiles, while the seditious use murderous weapons against the authorities with impunity; power does not possess the sword given to it by God. But the faithful servants of the fatherland, like sheaves, fall down and there is no one to protect them.And when I say this, I think that these notorious enemies of all truth, enemies of the Church of Christ, are raising their sword against me. But may the Eternal and Cheerful, who dwellest in heaven, preserve those who struggle against iniquity. Behold, he shall not slumber, he shall keep Israel asleep. (Psalm 120:4). We see a phenomenon that has never happened before: youths and youths, who have just entered life and do not understand it, its goals, want to rule over men of experience and science, over people who have served their fatherhood with benefit, honor and glory, over people in power, invested with royal trust. In truth, boys rule over the elders, according to the prophet Isaiah. "When will this end?" When will the authorities carry the sword wisely? When will he receive the power bestowed by God and strike fear into those who want to rule the authorities with fear? Oh, how the Russian people, and especially the so-called liberals, have become unworthy of their Christian calling, unworthy of the Gospel, because they oppose it in everything – unworthy of Christ, the Lamb of God, Who redeemed us with His blood from the righteous wrath of God, from the hereditary corruption of sin, from damnation and death. We accept Thee, Who fell on Thy Persian. Pray to Him, O Theologian, to disperse the impending darkness of the Russian intelligentsia, asking for us peace and great mercy (Troparion of the Feast).

Homily ThirteenOn the Day of the Holy Memory of Our Venerable Father John of Rila

October 19, 1904For the glory of God, in honor and memory of the Monk John, and for our spiritual benefit, let us talk about what is to be understood by the flesh, which is spoken of in the short verse just quoted, and what is meant by the immortal soul; how to despise the flesh given to us by God for the service of the soul, and how to be diligent for the immortal soul. From a lack of understanding of both, i.e. of the flesh and soul, and from negligence about the soul, there are many disorders in our life, and a multitude of people perish temporarily and eternally.In the brief church hymn just quoted, the flesh and the soul are understood to be two opposite things or principles: the evil principle, and the good principle; By the flesh is understood sin or all the passions that struggle with the human race and destroy the soul and body of man: extremely perverted self-love, pride, deceit, stubborn unbelief, doubt in revealed or known truths, freethinking, heresy, sects, schisms; intemperance, luxury, voluptuousness, carnality, drunkenness, fornication, covetousness, envy, laziness to piety and prayer, to repentance, alienation from God, covetous, carnal life, hardness of heart towards one's neighbors, and especially towards the poor and needy – self-will, churchlessness, disobedience to parents and authorities, madness, blasphemy against God and against all that is holy, in general, the flesh should be understood as every sin, and the soul – the immortal principle in man, our soul, created in the image and likeness of God, the image of God distorted in us by sin and the lost likeness of God, and the likeness of the enemy of God, the devil, an apostate from God, who introduced into his angelic nature deceit, malice, pride, envy, disobedience to God, impenitence; all madness, blindness of mind, and all corruption, endless death and eternal torment, and to him who subjected to them the entire human race that labors for him. The meaning is as follows: the Monk John, like every other belonging to the ranks of the saints, taught by his righteous life to despise and repel from oneself every sin, all human passions, to struggle with them, not to follow and not to submit to them, to firmly adhere to faith and virtue, God-pleasing simplicity, love for God and neighbor, and in this way to unceasingly become like God, to attain Christian perfection and eternal bliss. as it is said: "Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). After the first people, created in the image and likeness of God, did not preserve their invaluable treasure – holiness, righteousness, freedom from sin, agreement with the will of God and blessed balance, harmony in soul and body – the flesh began to resist the spirit in everything and incline it to every sin; man became divided, became a slave of sin, darkened by hellish darkness, fell into the most miserable ignorance of God, into absurd idolatry, and in it he deified himself, his senseless and pernicious passions, – he became a slave of evil demons, and not a slave of God, and perished, not being able to do anything truly good without God, and after death descending into hell, the prison of darkness and death. Who took upon Himself our flesh and soul, and fulfilled all righteousness for us, taught us to despise the flesh and all its passions, and to be diligent for the immortal soul, for its salvation and freedom from sin, and gave us all the strength for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). He alone restored to human nature the holiness and wholeness granted to it in the beginning through a mysterious regeneration by water and spirit. He taught: "Unless a man is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God, for that which is born of the flesh is flesh, i.e. a man born of parents corrupted by sin is also sinful, unclean and unworthy of God and His life, His kingdom, but that which is born of the Holy Spirit is spirit (John 3:5, 6), i.e. a man who has been reborn, cleansed from the defilement of sin in baptism, there is a saint with the gift of reincarnation (secondary existence). This is the regeneration or mysterious rebirth that we have received by God's mercy in baptism – and we must keep within ourselves with all diligence and no longer be defiled by all passions, be dead to sin, but alive to God (Rom. 6:11), resisting with all our might the attacks or temptations of all passions, preserving within ourselves the image of God and attaining the likeness of God. All the apostles in their epistles to Christians beseeched them to live worthy of their Christian calling and to be conformed to Christ. I beseech you to walk worthy of the calling to which you have been called (Ephesians 4:1). In all their life and deeds the monks strove to imitate Christ in holy simplicity, in unceasing prayer, meekness, humility, gentleness, abstinence, non-acquisitiveness, patience, complete devotion to God, obedience to the authorities, in unceasing labors, in service to one's neighbors. Their life on earth was an angelic, heavenly life. Living on earth in their bodies, they lived with their hearts in heaven, contemplating with their unceasing spiritual eyes the inconceivable beauty of the Face of the Lord, His infinite goodness, boundless majesty, wisdom, everlasting, omnipotence, and bliss. They preferred nothing on earth to God, they did not attach themselves to anything in their hearts, having in their hearts one priceless Treasure – God. Who am I in heaven? and with Thee I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart faint: God is the stronghold of my heart, and my portion for ever (Ps. 72:25, 26), he and David. Living with God, they had paradise in their hearts, because God lived and walked in them according to the scriptures: "I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God" (2 Corinthians 6:16). Whoever loves Me will keep My word, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him (John 14:23), says the Lord. Thus the monks, with all their lives, with all their thoughts, with all their feelings, with all the powers of soul and body, pleased God, their Prototype, the Lawgiver and the Giver of Rewards, they lived in God and God, and they teach us, each in his own calling, to strive for a holy life and for the predestined eternal bliss in God. From the time of the fall of the first men, the love of this world began, this enmity against God of verbal, sensual creatures, i.e. of the human race, life according to the flesh, according to the prince of the power of the air (Eph. 2:2), and not according to the Spirit, and the streams of iniquity poured into the world below in an endless wave. The fallen spirits founded on earth their evil kingdom, full of all evil and deceit, the kingdom of demons, in order to constantly deceive people into all kinds of evil, by God's permission, in order to test them, and entered into a desperate struggle with God and the human race, especially with the seed of holy and chosen men, and in this way two clearly opposite currents were revealed in the life of the world. on the one hand, good and evil, flesh and spirit, the world lying in evil, and on the other, the Spirit of God dwelling in the godly: the community of believers, the elect and the righteous, and the adulterous and sinful world, lying in evil (1 John 5:19); a war of evil against piety, of sin against righteousness, of faith against unbelief, has begun; the majority of people have forgotten God and have deified creatures and their passions: the image of God in man has been distorted, darkened; instead of striving for his prototype, God, man turned towards the enemy, became like the evil principle or teacher of all evil – the devil; the original purpose for which man was created, eternal life, fell into oblivion, no one thought about it; people became as if soulless flesh, and the Lord said of them before the flood: "My Spirit shall not be forever despised by men: for they are flesh" (Gen. 6:3), i.e. they are full of all iniquity, all that is holy, all righteousness, all virtue are reduced to nothing; only a small community of the elect, patriarchs, prophets, and righteous men, like Job, knew God and revered Him. Man – this is a speck of dust on the earth – has entered into a struggle with the immeasurable greatness of God; a limited mind, blinded by sin, with an infinite mind and with eternal wisdom; falsehood with eternal unshakable truth, malice with immeasurable goodness, bestial fury (persecution of believers) with eternal, unchanging quietness and goodness. And throughout this visible world, this insane struggle of creation with the Creator takes place, which was in the ancient pagan world, has been repeated now, in the Christian world and here in Russia. But the time will come when this struggle will end in the complete defeat of evil and the victory of good over evil: for He must reign until He makes His enemies His footstool. And the last enemy will be abolished by death (1 Corth. 15:25-26).In the present Japanese war, the age-old enemy of God and man, the devil, has risen up against God, against the Church of Christ, and will be defeated by Christ. The war is caused by the godlessness and immorality of the Russian all-class world, and the war gives it a bitter lesson. Our present-day intellectuals have reduced to nothing, to nothing, all the benevolent and all-wise Dispensation of God for the salvation of the human race; reduced to zero in their godless writings the Holy Scriptures.

May the present cruel war sober us up, and may all turn to God and to His Church, all the lost sons and daughters of Russia.Lord, Thou hast corrected our corrupt morals, and taught us all to glorify Thee, our Heavenly Father, with a righteous life. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as it is in heaven and on earth (Matt. 6:9-13).

Homily FourteenOn the Day of Remembrance of the Holy, Glorious and All-Praised Apostle Andrew the First-Called

Such an extraordinary calling by the Savior of two Jewish fishermen, Peter and Andrew, to the lofty apostolic work, for which He Himself came from heaven to earth! From like calls to like: from catching fish to catching men. And why does the Lord call the preaching of the Gospel about repentance and the kingdom of heaven and about the Messiah – the Savior catching? In these flowing words of the Lord, as in all His parables, there is Divine wisdom, righteousness and goodness.To the divine gaze of Christ there was clearly presented the sad spectacle of the world, namely, how the bodiless trapper-devil with his innumerable host of evil spirits catches the human race throughout the whole earth, or rather, has already caught it in his pernicious nets and covered it with the shadow of death; To His all-seeing eye there was clearly a vision of all mankind, immersed in the destruction of idolatry, all its corruption by innumerable vices; He saw His verbal creatures perishing from the mental wolf – diving into the depths of perdition – and He came to seek them out, to extract them from the snares of the enemy, as a precious trap, to offer them to the Heavenly Father – enlightened, purified, regenerated by the bath of baptism and repentance, sanctified, and honored by the gift of deification and eternal life. people whom He Himself taught the great work of catching. He Himself contrived them to accomplish this great deed. He Himself regenerated them, making them from old skins, new skins, and new from old clothes, as He Himself said in the parable: Matt. 9,16; Mr. 2,21; Lux. 5:36-38. He Himself gave them the gift of speech and understanding, and made them capable of carrying the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven to all the ends of the world, so that so great a work as the salvation of the human race might not be ascribed to the skill or power of men, but, as in truth, to the power of God, and that no flesh should boast before God (1 Cor. 1:29). Now the words of heavenly wisdom are understandable: follow Me – and I will make you fishers of men, i.e. you will be like Me, impassible to the world, heavenly acquisitive, forsake, for My sake, home, family, earthly providence, as I left for the salvation of people – heaven and the throne of My Heavenly Father, and came to you on earth, full of the stench of sin, in this vale of death, to mankind alienated from Me by sin, for I came to Mine, to My people, created and raised by Me, and Their own did not receive Me. (Jews). (John 1:11). Follow Me, be strangers and strangers on earth, just as I have become a Pilgrim for your sake, seek heaven, this ancient homeland lost by sin, and draw everyone to it, catch people from the depths of perdition into the land of the eternally living. – how they changed the morals of people and brought to Christ God a great catch of the saved, turning them from the realm of Satan to God. Why does the beginningless, omnipotent God, infinitely wise and righteous, Who could in an instant give over to eternal torment the proud, most cunning and most evil apostate Satan, deprive him of all power to harm people, and thus deliver from his pernicious snares the human race, which has been deceived by him and is constantly deceived by him – why does He still allow him to tempt and deceive people, and destroy them, and bring about innumerable disasters in the world with the universal death of the human race? And what is most surprising, this beginningless and omnipotent Creator Himself, instead of punishing the evildoer completely, deigned to save man from the snares of the enemy, to humble Himself exceedingly, to take the form of a slave and to be a man, remaining God, to suffer and die the most shameful, painful death according to human nature, in order to redeem us from sin for us by His sufferings, from the devil, curse and death! What an immeasurable ransom price! And so why did the Lord allow the enemy to have freedom – to tempt and destroy people; Why is he not completely bound, and continues to do a lot of mischief in the human race, and by the end of the visible world he will receive such power and power that almost the entire earth will serve Satan in the person of the Antichrist, so that when Christ comes, will He find faith for Himself on earth? (Luke 18:8). In allowing the enemy to act temptingly in the world until the Second Coming of Christ lies wisdom, long-suffering – the truth and mercy of God. Satan and his kingdom are not bound, but act in the world to a certain extent so that people, believing and faithful, struggling with sin and enemies and being in the furnace of temptations and troubles, will thereby be purified and strengthened in faith, patience, hope and love, and complete devotion to God, and will be worthy of His holiness and thus receive greater bliss in the future life, the more they were tempted and suffered here, and strengthened in the love of God; It is known that a person who has not been tested in the crucible of misfortunes and misfortunes is weak in faith and love, unreliable and inconstant, and he who has passed through this crucible is as hard as an anvil. On the other hand, evil spirits are allowed to tempt people who are unbelieving, proud, covetous, voluptuous, lazy, and to lead them into various vices, so that these people may receive righteous retribution for their deceit, unbelief, pride, addiction to vanity, greed and laziness, and for neglect of their souls and God's care for their salvation. Let the unrighteous still do unrighteousness, and let the filthy be defiled again. And do righteousness, let him do righteousness more, and let the saint be illumined again. Behold, my reward is swift and recompense with Me according to its deeds (Rev. 22:11-12), says the Lord.To this must be added that our Lord Jesus Christ, through His Incarnation, teaching, miracles, sufferings and death for the human race, having reconciled us to the Heavenly Father, and having removed from us the burdensome curse, interceded for us a blessing and gave to human nature all the grace-filled powers for life and piety, and He made it capable through faith and zeal for every Christian virtue and perfection and for complete victory over the devil and his shame – and therefore He expects from all of us the corresponding fruits of virtue and perfection of life, in order to reward us with the greatest possible blessedness, and so that we may learn by experience how good it is to cling to God and live according to His commandments. Therefore, let Christians always know and remember that the devil is allowed to tempt us either for our good, so that we do not slumber, but watch and work for our salvation, or for our punishment for laziness and negligence about our salvation and for our worldly addictions: for the devil himself, all his dirty tricks will serve to unimaginably increase his eternal torment. that today the morals of Christians have become extremely weakened and corrupted, so that for many there is nothing sacred. Our intelligentsia and partly the common people have been led to such a state of morals by the unbridled press, especially the underground press. For a long time she sought complete freedom, and finally got through. And before it was often dissolute, but now it is more so – and how quickly it spreads and in what multitude! It supplants the word of God and takes possession of minds and hearts, inciting the Russian people to all kinds of dissoluteness. Where do we have the spirit of Christ, the spirit of the apostles, the spirit of obedience to the authorities? Where are the Christian virtues? Where is the aspiration for a heavenly fatherland? The Lord looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see, if there is any understanding or seeking of God. All have deviated together, do not do good, not even to a single one. (Psalm 13:2-3) In the Far East, the sharp sickle of God reaps innumerable intelligent ears of grain, i.e. our dear brothers warriors. One way or another, this sickle will reap us too. And then where will this stubble go? The Righteous Judge determined to deal with us in righteousness and mercy before the foundation of the world. The Last Judgment awaits mankind: it is coming to judge the universe in righteousness and to men in righteousness (Psalm 97:9).

Homily FifteenFor the New Year 1906

By God's mercy, we begin the new year of 1906. Nineteen hundred and five, the ill-fated one, has passed, and may God grant that none of the misfortunes that occurred last year will be repeated in the coming year, since they have been marked by innumerable losses of all kinds, the death of many faithful sons of Russia, the immeasurable sorrows, groans and sobs of our brothers and sisters. May the year that has begun be a new one, full of God's mercy to us, a time of repentance and correction, a year of moral renewal; I appeal to myself and to you the advice and command of the Apostle – to put off the former way of life of the old man, corrupting in deceitful lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind and to put on the new man, created according to God (in the image of God) in the righteousness and holiness of the truth. (Ephesians 4:22-24).The New Year for us is so far only in number, and not in essence, because we all remain old, with the old leaven of passions, inclinations, habits, and have not put on the new man.The renewed, incorruptible holy humanity, which lived and struggled before and has died, dwells in a new incorruptible world, in heaven, where there is no more sin, and where righteousness, peace, and joy reign eternally in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:10). 17). We must imitate him. And so in the new year it is proper to talk about the renewal of the human race. And when it comes to renewal, it is assumed that it is extremely dilapidated, corrupted, stinked of all kinds of sins, and is not worthy of communion with God: for what fellowship is there between light and darkness (Corinthians 6:14)? The prophet depicts this sinful corruption of mankind, before the coming into the world of the Son of God in the flesh, as follows: there is none righteous, not one; there is no one who understands; no one seeks God, all have gone astray, they are worthless to one; there is none that doeth good, there is not one (Psalm 13:1-3). Their larynx is an open grave; they deceive with their tongues; the poison of snakes on their teeth (Psalm 5:10; 139:3); their lips are full of backbiting and bitterness (Psalm 9:28); their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and destruction in their ways; they do not know the way of peace (Prov. 1:16). There is no fear of God before their eyes (Psalm 35:2); (Rom. 3:10-18). This is a gloomy picture of the corruption of mankind before the coming of Christ the Savior into the world. There is no bright place on it where the gaze of an impartial, pious observer could rest calmly and with inner satisfaction – only black colors. The majority of today's people are no better than the ancient world, despite the renewal principles laid down in them by the Gospel and the Church; mankind has become a decaying or already decomposed corpse, of which the Lord said: "Where there is a corpse, there will the eagles gather" (Luke 17:37), thus pointing to His glorious terrible Second Coming with all the holy Angels, witnesses of all human life. This means that before the Lord's second coming to judgment, the nations will be so corrupt, and so corrupt in their morals, that God's long-suffering will come to an end; and the world's shovel will begin its work – it will cleanse the world's threshing floor of sinful innumerable tares, and the Lord will gather the wheat into the granary of heaven, and the tares will burn with an unquenchable fire forever and ever. All filth of sin will be removed from the kingdom of God forever, and the kingdom of righteousness alone will come: nothing unclean will enter into it, and no one who is given over to abomination and falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life (Ap. 21:27). A Christian needs daily renewal, through secret repentance, because sin corrupts all, deceiving us with its innumerable mirages and charms: whoever is in Christ is a new creature (Corinthians 5:17).