He gives us all of Himself, so that we too may live in this world according to the way He lived, that is, in the Gospel, the Divine-human way. The main thing is the Gospel measure, the Gospel law for those who follow Christ: as He is, we are and live, as He is, and we behave as He is, and we look at the world and at everything that is in the world.

4:18. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, as fear is a torment: fear is not made perfect in love. (In love there is no fear, but perfect love casts out fear, because in fear there is torment.

Through everything we are led and in everything we are held by the Divine love of Christ. Only with it we have no fear. We are not afraid of death, nor sin, nor the devil, nor torment, nor misfortune.

In Divine love are present all the Divine powers of Christ, and if they are present, then what can frighten us? Maybe death or sin, or maybe hell and all the forces of evil? None of these things. This love, which is always perfect, if it exists in us, it banishes all fear from us. That is why Christians are the only true heroes in the world, the only fearless conquerors of all that is "terrible," of all that is earthly. There is only one way, by which the love of Christ is indelibly and deeply imprinted in us. And this path is made up of all the Gospel virtues. Gospel love develops, lives and is perfected only through the other Gospel virtues: prayer, fasting, righteousness, humility, hope and faith. This is the path that leads out and gives birth to perfect love. That is why St. John the Theologian proclaims: In love there is no fear, but perfect love casts out fear, because in fear there is torment. He who fears is imperfect in love.

4:19. We love Him, as He loved us first. (Let us love Him, because He first loved us.)

This answers the question: why do we love Christ? We love Him because He first loved us. How? For our sake, for our good, He conquers death, sin and the devil and grants us immortality and eternal life. This is the only true love! All other kinds of love are true in so far as they partake of, emanate from, and exist in it. Our love for Christ is the only answer to Christ's love for mankind. No love is as complete, right, and worthy as our love for Christ.

Is there a person who would not love Christ and would be a man, would remain a man? The absence of love in the one who does not love Him is a sign that everything worthy, lofty, and human has been lost in him, which has honored him with the name of human. And because of the lack of love, he degenerated into outrage and obscenity, and descended into a kind of accursed demonic state, where hell exists, and all of it already exists and is in death. Thus this clear, unusual word of the supreme apostle comes true in us: "Whoever does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, anathema, maran-afa" (1 Cor. 16:22). After all, without the love of Christ there is no blessing of a human being, there is no peace, there is no joy, there is no truth, truth, immortality, eternity, paradise, Divine bliss.

4:20-21. If anyone says that he loves God and hates his brother, it is a lie: for if you do not love your brother, whom you have seen, God, whom you have not seen, how can you love? And this is the commandment of the Imam from Him, that you love God and love your brother also. (Whoever says, "I love God," and hates his brother, is a liar: for he who does not love his brother, whom he sees, how can he love God, whom he does not see?

Love for Christ branches out into love for one's neighbor, love for truth, love for holiness, for the world, for purity, for all that is Divine, for all that is immortal and eternal. All these kinds of love are divine, holy, and eternal, because their root is divine, holy, and eternal. And this root is love for Christ. All of these types of love are natural and indispensable manifestations of love for Christ.

If these kinds of love do not exist, then there is no love for Christ. If there is no love for Christ, then there is neither true love of God nor true love of mankind. Christ is the God-man, and love for Him always means: love for God and love for man. It is philanthropy in Christianity. Love of God and love of mankind. Love for mankind is a testimony to the love of God, and the love of God is a testimony to love for mankind. Love for God is manifested in love for man as for a godlike being, that is, as for a spiritualized brother. That is why St. John the Theologian quotes the following saying: "Whoever says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, is a liar: for he who does not love his brother, whom he sees, how can he love God, Whom he does not see? And we have such a commandment from Him, that he who loves God should love his brother also. Only a person who feels his neighbor "in God," only a person who sees his neighbor "in God," only such a person is a spiritualized brother, is an immortal brother and neighbor. Thus, only a person who is close to Christ, who is close to God, who is in His Divine love, feels and sees people.

CHAPTER FIVE

5:1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, that he is begotten of God, and whosoever loveth him that is begotten, loveth him that is begotten of him. (Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begat loves Him who is born of Him.)

Faith in Jesus as the Messiah, as the Savior of the world, is faith in Him as God and Lord. And in such faith are found all the words about immeasurable love for Christ. So faith and love are in reality a dual force, a double virtue. Faith in Christ as God and Savior loves Christ as God and Savior. And love for Christ as God and Savior believes in Christ as God and Savior. And only this can be called faith in Christ, Christian faith. Thus, the one who truly loves Christ is the one who loves Him as God and Savior, and not as something less than this. Only such love is real love for Christ. With the help of this faith and love for Christ, man is born with all his being from God, since his whole being lives in God and for God's sake. This is the gospel of the holy words of the Divine Evangelist.

5:2. Of this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. (That we love the children of God, we learn by loving God and keeping His commandments.)