Sorrow compels me to speak, and my unworthiness condemns me to silence; and as the sickness of the heart forcibly forces me to open my mouth, so my sins persistently demand that I remain silent. Since I am cramped on both sides, it is more useful to speak a word, in order to receive relief from my heart diseases; for my soul is in sorrow, and my eyes desire tears. Who then shall give water to my head, and shall we clean up the fountain of tears? And I weep day and night (Jeremiah 9:1) for the wounds of my soul, and for the weakening of the catechetical doctrine that is taught in our days! How wounded is my whole soul, and it does not know it; for her arrogance does not allow her to pay attention to her wounds, in order to heal them!

Only one thing is catechetical accounting, which was given in the days of our fathers; for they, like luminaries, shone upon the whole earth, dwelling on it among thorns and thistles, among heretics and impious people, like precious stones and costly pearls. Because of their lofty and pure life, their very enemies became their imitators. Who has not been crushed when he saw their humility? Or who was not amazed to see their meekness and silence? What covetous man, seeing their lack of acquisitiveness, did not become a hater of the world? What predator and pride, seeing the honesty of their lives, did not change his morals and did not improve? What fornicator, or defiled, seeing them standing at prayer, did not suddenly find himself chaste and pure? Who, in anger or irritation, met with them, and did not change and become meek? And so here they struggled, and there they rejoice; for God was glorified in them, and people were edified by them.

Our teaching, however, leaving the straight paths, goes through rapids and unsmooth places. For there is no man who for God's sake would forsake his possessions and renounce the world for eternal life. Not a single one is meek, humble, or silent. No one refrains from insulting, no one tolerates backbiting; but all are inclined to anger, love to reproach, all are lazy and irritable, and take care of elegant clothes, all are vain and lovers of glory, all are lovers of themselves. He who comes to hear the catechetical teaching, before the catechesis, already teaches; without training, he gives laws; not yet understanding the warehouses, he is inquisitive; not obeying himself, he subordinates others to himself, without accepting orders, he orders; not heeding the advice of others, he gives his own statutes. And if he is old, he commands with arrogance; if he is young, he contradicts; if he is rich, he immediately demands honor for himself; if he is poor, he seeks repose; if a craftsman, he takes care of the tenderness of the fingers. Therefore, beloved, who will not weep over our catechetical teaching?

Having renounced the world, we think of earthly things; among us the farmers have neglected the earth, but those who consider themselves spiritual are attached to the land. Or do we not know, brethren, to what we have been called? We do not know, beloved, why have we come? We are called to abstinence, but we desire exquisite foods; they came for the sake of nakedness, but we try to distinguish ourselves in front of each other by clothes; we are called to submission and meekness, but we contradict hardness; when we read, we do not understand, and when we hear we do not receive with our ears.

If someone suddenly encounters murder on the road, his face changes and his heart is terrified; but we, when we read that the Apostles were slain and the Prophets stoned, think that it is in vain to speak of this. And what do I say about the prophets and apostles? We hear that God the Word Himself was nailed to a tree for our sins and put to death, and we laugh, giving ourselves over to distraction. The sun, not tolerating the mockery of the Lord, changed its brightness into darkness; And we do not want to come out of the darkness of our sinfulness. The veil of the church, having not sinned in the least, was torn by itself: and we do not want our hearts to be broken for our sins. The earth, often coming into fear at the presence of the Lord, trembles under us to our terror; And we were not afraid of this either. The cities are swallowed up and the villages are desolate by the wrath of God; and we were not afraid of that. The sun has darkened over us more than once or twice at noon: and we are not terrified even so. The Persians and the barbarians have raised up battles, and have devastated our country, so that we, fearing God, may come to repentance, whereas we have need to repent not only for days or months, but for many years; But this did not change us either.

Let us therefore repent, brethren, that we may propitiate God for our sins. let us call upon him; because they provoked Him; let us humble ourselves, that He may magnify us; let us weep that He may comfort us; let us give up the bad habit and clothe ourselves with virtue as with a garment, especially we, who have been vouchsafed this angelic life. Thus, beloved, let us take this measure, this is the beautiful and perfect rule of the fathers who lived before us: "

But keep for yourself one rule, beloved, according to which you could please God and benefit yourself and your neighbor. If thou shalt mortify thyself and live alone, then listen to what the Lord says: "As ye will, let men do unto you, and ye do unto them likewise" (Luke 6:31). And if, because of mortification of the flesh, you always need the service of others; then beware of doing harm to your neighbor.

For this reason God also dwelt and was glorified in them, and some, seeing them themselves, others, hearing about them, glorified God.

And if a man does not cleanse himself from every evil deed, from impure thoughts, from evil desires, from anger, irritability, envy, pride, vanity, hatred, reproach, slander, idle talk, carelessness (and why should I now enumerate everything one by one?), in a word: from everything that is hateful to God, and if, turning away from them, he does not keep himself apart; then God will not dwell in him. Tell me; If anyone had thought of throwing you into the mud so that you would remain there forever, would you have endured it? And so, if you, worm, do not agree to endure this, then how can the undefiled, most pure, one, holy, and holy God who rests in the saints dwell in you, filled with such a stench?

Therefore, let us purify ourselves, beloved, so that God may dwell in us, and we may be vouchsafed His promises. Let us not insult His holy name, which is called upon us, let not the name of our God be blasphemed for our sake. Let us spare ourselves and understand that our name is one with the name of Christ. His name is Christ, and we are called Christians. The Spirit is God (John 4:24); let us also become spiritual. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, that freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17). Let us try to acquire this freedom. Let us consider what kind of life He has vouchsafed us; let us understand that He has called us to His marriage; let us love ourselves as He has loved us; let us love Him, that He may glorify us; let us be attentive to ourselves, so that on the day of judgment we do not fall into double punishment; For we have forsaken the world, and think of the things of the world, and have despised the things of the world, and have taken care of the things of the flesh, and have fled after the things of the flesh.

I am afraid that this day will overtake us suddenly, and lest, being naked, poor and unprepared, we begin to reproach ourselves. For it was the same with those who lived in the days of Noah: yadahu, piyahu, marrying and trespassing, kupovahu, selling, until the flood came and destroyed all (Luke 17:27, 28). It was a wondrous thing, brethren: they saw wild beasts gathering together, elephants coming from India and Persia, lions and leopards crowding with sheep and goats and not hurting them, creeping things and birds, although no one was chasing them, flocking and settling around the ark - and this continued for a sufficient number of days; and Noah himself diligently equips the ark and cries out to them, "Repent." But they did not respect this, and in view of the extraordinary concourse of dumb and wild animals, they did not come to a state of contrition for their salvation. Wherefore let us fear, beloved, lest the same thing happen to us; for what is written has already been fulfilled, the foretold signs have come to an end; there is nothing left but to come to our enemy, the Antichrist; for all things must be fulfilled until the end of the Roman kingdom.

Therefore, whoever wants to be saved, let him try, and whoever wants to enter the kingdom, let him not be negligent; whoever wants to be delivered from the fire of hell, let him strive lawfully; Whoever does not want it to be thrown to a worm that never sleeps, sober up. Whoever wants to be exalted, let him humble himself; whoever desires to be comforted, let him weep. Whosoever enters the bridal chamber and rejoices, let him take the lamp that burns brightly, and the oil in the vessel. Whoever expects to be invited to this marriage, let him get himself a bright garment.

The city of the King is full of gladness and gladness, full of light and delight, and to those who dwell in it exudes pleasantness along with eternal life. And so, whoever wants to live in the same city with the king, hasten his march, for the day has bowed, and no one knows what will meet on the way. As a traveller, though he knows that the journey is long, lies down and sleeps until evening, and then when he wakes up, he sees that the day is already bowing, and as soon as the march begins, suddenly there is a cloud, hail, thunder, lightning, and trouble on every side, and he is not able to reach his lodging for the night, nor to return to his former place: so we also will endure the same thing if we neglect in the time of repentance, for we are strangers and strangers (Psalm 38:13). Let us try to enter our city and fatherland with wealth.