moreover, we must listen to God, Who is the King of kings and the Sovereign of princes, Who in His word addresses us and converses with us. "When we pray to Him in spirit and truth" (John 4:23), we thus turn to Him and converse with Him, in the same way, when we properly read His word or listen to His servant reading Him, we hear Him conversing with us. 2) One must listen to or read the word of God, not in order to be witty or eloquent, but in order to know God and Christ the Son of God and His holy will, and thus receive eternal salvation. This is the proper purpose of reading or hearing the word of God. For since it is given to us for the salvation of our souls, we must read or listen to it for this purpose. 3) To hide it in the heart, as a precious spiritual treasure, like the Prophet David: "In my heart I have hid Thy words, O Lord, that I may not sin against Thee" (Psalm 118:11); to keep and "learn day and night" (Psalm 1:2), and so to nourish the soul as the body is nourished by bread, and even more. For just as the body weakens and disappears without food, so faith without the food of the word of God weakens, and then disappears. Or as a lamp without oil is extinguished, so faith and all godliness without a word

God's is impoverished and extinguished. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). Therefore, just as we pour oil into a lamp so that it does not go out, so it is fitting to kindle and kindle faith

from the word of God, so that it would not be extinguished, and so we would not be deprived of all the spiritual bliss that consists in faith. 4) To think and not to doubt at all that to all people, so to me and to you, the vile, poor, wretched, accursed and sinful, the great, almighty, holy and terrible God says in His word: "I am the Lord Thy God": repent, believe, humble, love, endure, be meek, and so on. And this is what God says, Whom, as a righteous one, it is fearful not to listen to; as a good and gracious Father, to insult pitifully; as a benefactor, not to be shamelessly revered; As omnipresent and omniscient, it is impossible to deceive. On the contrary, He turns His gaze to "him who trembles at His word, and shows His special mercy upon those who fear Him" (Isaiah 66:2; Psalm 102:11). 5) Not to look at others, what they do, whoever they may be, but to hold on to the word of God alone and to learn what it teaches. For day by day faith and with faith love diminish in people, and temptations multiply, which shake our hearts and want to extinguish the faith that has been conceived. 6) Since our mind is blind without God's enlightenment, our will is blind without God's grace, and our desire and effort are weak without God's help, therefore we must fervently pray to God that He Himself enlighten our minds, correct our will, and help our desire and effort. Imitating the divinely wise Psalmist, who in Psalm 118 fervently prayed that God would enlighten him and guide him on the path of His commandments, help and lead him along the path of truth. One should approach the Word of God with prayer, read or listen to it with prayer, and finish reading with prayer and thanksgiving. Therefore, in the church assembly, before the beginning of the reading of the word of God, that is, the Epistle and the Gospel, we pray and at the end of the reading we thank God for this great gift of His. Those who begin to read or listen to the word of God can pray with the Psalmist in the following way: "Open my eyes" of the soul, "and I will understand the wonders of Thy law," O Lord. "I am a stranger on earth, hide not Thy commandments from me" (Psalm 118:18-19). Or thus: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, open my mind to understand Thy holy word, as Thou didst open Thy apostle" (cf. Luke 24:45). Or pray as God's grace bestows on whom. He who reads and hears the word of God must also pray and stir up prayer by reasoning about what is being read. For example, he who reads or hears the Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3-12) must pray to Christ, the Author of true beatitudes, that the root of the beatitudes, true and living faith, may be planted and strengthened in his heart, for from faith flow sweet fruits, that is, spiritual poverty, tenderness, meekness, thirst for righteousness, love with fruits, sincerity and simplicity of heart, and so on. To him who reads or hears the word of Christ: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord! Lord!' shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 7:21), it must also be remembered that just as it is true and proper to call upon God, so we cannot do the will of God without God: "Without Me ye can do nothing," says God Himself (John 15:5). Reflecting on this, we can add the following prayer to the reading of this word: "Lord, vouchsafe me, a sinner, to call upon Thee "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23); teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art my God" (Psalm 142:10), yes, thus calling upon Thee, and following Thy holy will, I shall be saved according to Thy true promise: "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13)." Whoever reads or hears the word about how Christ opened the eyes of the blind (Matt. 20:34) can add the following prayer: "O Son of God, Who enlightened the blind with the word, as God, enlighten also my spiritual eyes, that I may see Thee, the Eternal Light, and follow Thee in faith and love." Those who read or hear the Apostle's words: "Christ died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again" (2 Corinthians 5:15), can pray thus: "Jesus the Son of God, for all and for me, a sinner, who died, put to death my flesh's wisdom, help me to die sin and the world, that I may live for Thee, my Redeemer, who died for me and rose again." In the same way, one can act in other things, and prayer by reasoning, reasoning by prayer, can be aroused and strengthened. Having finished reading or hearing the word of God, we must thank the merciful God for having deigned to light the lamp of His Word for the enlightenment of our minds for us, who are in darkness, and we should also pray that it may shine in our hearts like a daylight by the grace of the Holy Spirit, Who spoke through the prophets and apostles.

14. Christians who live fearlessly and violate the law of God gather for themselves the wrath of God, according to the words of the Apostle: "O man! Or do you despise the riches of God's goodness, meekness, and longsuffering, not understanding that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But because of thy stubbornness and impenitent heart, thou hast stored up for thyself wrath for the day of wrath, and of the revelation of righteous judgment from God" (Romans 2:3-5). They gather, I say, more than the pagans, who do not know the true God and His holy law. For the Gentiles will be rebuked and condemned only by the natural, and the faulty and hardened Christians by the natural, and the written law will rebuke and condemn them on the day of Christ's judgment. "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath judge unto himself: the word which I have spoken, it shall judge him at the last day," says Christ (John 12:48). The words of Holy Scripture, as St. Basil the Great teaches, will appear at the judgment of Christ. For He said: "I will rebuke thee, and I will set thy sins before thy face" (Psalm 49:21). Then the hardened Christian will be presented with the commandments that he has heard and broken, denouncing him. The threats and promises of God, which were actually fulfilled, written in the Holy Scriptures, which he did not believe, will appear, and they will convict him. Then a conscience will arise in him, which will remind him of God's blessings and grace-filled circumstances, which he despises, such as: Christ's coming into the world for the sake of sinners, suffering, death, and so on; the word of God, so many times heard and despised by him, so many preaching exhortations that were for his salvation and left by him. And this remembrance, or rather remorse, will greatly torment him, especially because he will no longer have any hope of regaining what he has lost through negligence. As a result, he will begin to condemn himself, to reproach himself, but to no avail, to hate and curse himself, to abhor himself and to turn into nothing, but he will not be able to. To this terrible torment and anguish will be added the most grievous feeling of God's wrath and a flame that burns, but does not burn, and so on. Those who despise the law of God will not escape this torment, consoling themselves in vain and softening their evil conscience. For "the servant who knew the will of his master, and was not ready, and did not do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes," says Christ (Luke 12:47). That is why Christ proclaims "woe" to those who hear the word of God and do not repent. The inhabitants of Tyre, Sidon and Sodom will be more happy on the day of judgment than the lawless Christians, if they do not repent (Matthew 11:21-24). "God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7). Therefore, without fail, those Christians who have apostatized from God through a lawless life, if they no longer want to experience the judgment of God on themselves by the pagans, must turn to Him with all their hearts and pray to His goodness with tears, so that they may again be accepted into His highest mercy and produce worthy fruits of repentance. "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (Matt. 3:10).

15. The sign of God's wrath is if in some place the word of God is not preached, as God says through the prophet: "Behold, the days are coming, saith the Lord God, when I will send a famine upon the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a thirst for hearing the words of the Lord. And they will walk from sea to sea, and wander from north to east, seeking the word of the Lord, and they will not find it" (Amos 8:11-12). For as bread is to our body, so is the word of God to our soul. As the body is nourished and strengthened by food, so the soul is nourished and strengthened in faith by the word of God. Consequently, just as hunger occurs to the body when the clouds do not sprinkle, and the parched earth does not bear fruit, so hunger happens to souls when the hearing of the word of God is deprived. For then faith, which is nourished and strengthened by the word of God, becomes impoverished and disappears, and unbelief and superstition appear in its place. That is why it happens that people consider for sin that in which there is no sin; and, on the contrary, they do not consider as sin that in which there is a great sin: virtue is called vice, vice is called virtue. For this reason many consider it a sin to touch certain foods, which God has not forbidden; but they devour the houses of widows, orphans, and other defenseless people, which God has forbidden under the threat of temporal and eternal punishment. Hence also other lawless fruits, which the godless life shows, such as: perjury, covetousness, theft, flattery, deceit, deceit, non-conciliatory malice, all uncleanness and all iniquity. Man himself is blind and therefore requires enlightenment; forgetful - and therefore requires frequent reminders; lazy - and therefore he needs encouragement; he is decrepit and despondent, and therefore he needs consolation; is prone to falling, and therefore requires reinforcement; inclined to doubt - and therefore requires instruction. And all this is drawn from the Holy Scriptures. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17). As a result of the deprivation of all this, there is nothing but a miserable and deplorable state of the soul. Bodily hunger is terrible, but spiritual hunger is more terrible. Bodily hunger is the cause of bodily death, but spiritual hunger causes death to the soul, which is much more terrible than bodily death. As the soul is more honest than the body, so the calamity of the soul is more terrible than the bodily one. No one, neither the righteous nor the sinner, can avoid bodily death, but with God's help we will avoid spiritual death, if we adhere to His holy words. And the body, although it will die, nevertheless, if the soul is alive by faith, will again revive in the general resurrection, uniting with the soul. And if the soul dies, then both the body and the soul will perish forever. Woe to the souls of the poor, who are exhausted by this deadly hunger! But woe to those whose duty is to nourish their souls with the nourishment of the word of God, but do not nourish them when they are exhausted! For thus they themselves do not enter into the kingdom of God, and they do not allow those who wish to enter in. But even greater woe is it when the way to all iniquity is opened by their temptations. For the common people, looking upon them as their leaders, imitate their manners and their lives. So, they say, so-and-so, do this and that: why don't we do it? Thus one thinks madly and blindly, and thus faith diminishes day by day, and with faith love fades away, godliness becomes impoverished, and impiety increases. In such a case, according to the word of Christ, "pray to the Lord of the harvest, that He may send laborers into His harvest" (Matt. 9:38). About this great important matter, in which eternal salvation consists: 1) those who have not extinguished the spark of piety in their hearts should sigh and pray; 2) care and diligence should be applied by those who are entrusted with the helm of the churches.

16. It is also a bad sign if the word of God is preached, but people are reluctant and lazy to listen to it and do not keep it in their hearts, or, what is worse, they distance themselves from it. In the parable of the seed it is written: "A certain thing fell by the wayside, and birds flew in and pecked at it. Some fell on a stony place, where there was little earth, and soon sprang up, because the ground was shallow; but when the sun rose, it withered, and as it had no root, it withered. Some fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew, and choked the seed, and it did not bear fruit. And some fell on the good ground, and brought forth fruit, which sprang up and grew, and brought forth another thirty, and some sixty, and another a hundred" (Mark 4:4-8). The seed is the word of God. Under the good land, which has yielded fruit from the seed sown, good people arise, producing the fruits of repentance, and under the earth, which has not yielded fruit, are understood to be three kinds of negligent people, in whom the word of the Gospel teaching bears no fruit. People of the first kind are likened to the road, these are those who, when they hear, do not hear the word of God: that is, they hear with their carnal ears only the word that is being preached, but they do not allow it to enter into their hearts; they do not think about what they hear, but in other vain thoughts they are amused, and therefore the voice of the word of God only strikes their ears, but does not reach their hearts. And so the devil robs them of the word of God, "lest they believe and be saved" (Luke 8:12). People of the second kind hear the word of doctrine and "gladly receive it," as Christ teaches; but since "they have no root in themselves," they destroy it in times of sorrow or persecution and are fruitless. The third part of people are those who also hear the word of God, but like the seed of thorns, so "the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches" the word heard in them "chokes, and it is without fruit," as Christ Himself explains in the same place (Matt. 13:19-22). From this it is evident: 1) that it is useless to hear the word of God, but with negligence. 2) The word of God heard and accepted with joy, but not deepened in the heart, by the sorrow of this world and misfortunes, or by the vanity of the world, by the love of glory, love of money and sensuality, as with thorns, is suppressed, and is also fruitless. 3) If even those who hear the word of God, but with negligence, and do not hide it in their hearts, do not bear any fruit, then what fruit will those who shy away from the word of God and do not want to hear or read it bring about? (4) From this it is evident how small the number of those who are being saved. As can be seen from the parable, only a quarter of those who hear the word of God are saved. Exclude those who depart from the word of God, exclude idolaters, Jews, Mohammedans, heretics and other superstitions, and there will remain only a small flock of Christ's sheep, as Christ Himself says: "Fear not, little flock" (Luke 12:32), because few people want to walk the narrow path that alone leads into life (Matthew 7:14). 5) Christians, let us consider ourselves and try to be not only hearers, but also creators of the law. Let us produce fruits worthy of repentance, so that the axe of God's judgment will not cut us as barren and throw us into the fire. For it is written: "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (Matt. 3:10).

Chapter 2. On Spiritual Wisdom

"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all freely and without reproach, and it shall be given to him" (James 1:5).

17. The beginning of spiritual wisdom is the fear of the Lord, as St. David says: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Psalm 110:10). About this St. Basil teaches thus: "The fear of the Lord is the purification of the soul, and so the prophet prays: 'Nail my flesh to Thy fear' (Psalm 118:120). Where there is the fear of God, there is all purity of soul; from there all evil and unseemly action escapes. For the bodily members, as if nailed by fear, cannot move to unseemly deeds. As he whose body is nailed to the cross cannot act, so a man who is established in the fear of God can neither turn his eyes to the unseemly, nor move his hands to evil deeds, nor can he do anything, neither small nor great, contrary to his calling, seized with fear of rebuke, as with some kind of sickness" (In the Homily at the beginning of the parables). Thus, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: for it cleanses the soul from the defilement of sin and prepares a place for spiritual wisdom. Just as the beginning of bodily health is when the body is cleansed of harmful juices, so the beginning of spiritual health is when the soul is freed by the fear of God from evil lusts and the heavy oppression of sin, which, like harmful juices, lead it into weakness and impotence.

18. By the fear of God, as by cruel healing, a purified and strengthened soul becomes a receptacle of true wisdom, that is, Christian love. For spiritual wisdom requires not only to shun evil, but also to do good. For it is said: "Turn away from evil, and do good" (Psalm 33:15). But just as we turn away from evil through the fear of God, as was said above, so by the love of God we are drawn to good. And just as by the fear of God we lay the foundation of spiritual wisdom, so by love for perfection we are edified, as far as it is possible in this age.

19. The means by which we come to spiritual wisdom are: 1) the Holy Word of God, with the help of the Holy Spirit. For "the Holy Scriptures," in the words of the Apostle, "are able to make wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 3:15). 2) Sincere prayer. Thus says the Apostle: "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all simply and without reproach, and it shall be given to him. But let him ask in faith, not doubting in the least" (James 1:5-6, etc.). That is why Solomon says: "Knowing that otherwise I could not possess it (wisdom) than if God granted, and that it was already a matter of understanding to know whose gift it was, I turned to the Lord and prayed to Him, and spoke with all my heart" (Wisdom 8:21). We learn the dogmas of spiritual wisdom not in the books of the wise men of this age, but in the books of the prophets and apostles, and we receive the habit in it in the school of the Holy Spirit, Who through His holy word makes the hearts of His faithful wise. Therefore, if Christians want to find spiritual wisdom, they must diligently study day and night in the word of God and fervently pray to the Giver of wisdom – God.

20. Spiritual wisdom has its place and seat in the heart, and not on the tongue; within, not without; in power, not in word. Not everyone who is outwardly wise is such before men, but he is wise who is such in essence; and not everyone who can speak beautiful speech, but who has such a heart. It often happens that life is not like eloquence; and often under the guise of eloquence there is a wickedness, which cannot be together with spiritual wisdom. Hence it happens that a rude peasant, who does not know the alphabet, but lives in the fear of God, is much more skilful and wiser in Christian work than the man of words and the sage of this age without the fear of God.

21. Signs of spiritual wisdom: 1) careful instruction in the word of God; 2) seeking advice from pious and reasonable people; 3) love for instruction, punishment, useful advice, reproof; 4) a reflection on the wondrous Providence of God, on His righteousness and mercy; 5) frequent remembrance of death and its aftermath, that is, of the Dread Judgment of Christ, of blessed and unfortunate eternity; 6) contempt for the world; 7) Most of all, prayer, without which spiritual wisdom cannot be acquired, as has been said above and will be said enough.

22. The fruits of spiritual wisdom are Christian virtues, that is: humility, patience, meekness, truth, chastity, mercy, and others. Thus Solomon teaches: "Its fruits are virtues; it teaches chastity and prudence, justice and courage, which are more useful for people in life" (Wisdom 8:7). And the Apostle James says: "But the wisdom that comes down from above is first pure, then peaceable, modest, obedient, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and without hypocrisy" (James 3:17). She fears God and loves Him; he turns away from the vanity of the world and clings to God alone; everything that is permitted, such as food, drink, clothing, etc., he uses with fear, for the sake of need, and not for luxury; He generously endures misfortunes and misfortunes. She shows herself obedient to God and people for God's sake. It is not burdensome for her to do all that pleases God, and to shun everything that is contrary to Him. Pride, envy, malice, enmity, impurity, love of money and other spiritual ulcers have no place in it. She loves everyone indiscriminately, treats everyone sincerely and simply with her heart. What he declares in words, he has within himself; what he promises in word, he fulfills in deed, if there is no obstacle. She does not need entries in contracts; the word spoken by her and heard from another is for her a solid record. She sees her brother suffering, and she herself has compassion for him in her heart; he helps those who need help; he sympathizes with every misfortune of his neighbor and rejoices in well-being; He weeps with those who weep, and rejoices with those who rejoice; He embraces his friends with his embrace, and does not take away his love from his enemies. Therefore she is peaceful, quiet, calm, joyful, cheerful, although she is disturbed by the evil spirit and his evil servants.