What, then, tell me, has happened that is unheard of, what is new, that with reckless haste one should betray, the mystery of Christ, as if something unknown and unexpected had happened? Did not the prophets first announce this, and then the apostles? Have not men filled with the Holy Spirit foretold that the righteous would always be persecuted and oppressed by the Gentiles? Does not the Divine Scripture, which always strengthens our faith and inspires the servants of God with a heavenly voice, say first: "Fear the Lord thy God, and unto that one ambassador thou shalt live" (Deuteronomy 6:13)? And then, does it not point to the wrath and indignation of God, and frighten with execution, saying: "And I bow down to them, because I made their fingers, and man bowed down, and man humbled himself, I will not endure them" (Isaiah 2:8-9)? And again God says: "Whosoever ye offer sacrifice to God, let it be consumed by death, but only to the Lord alone" (Exodus 22:20). Further. The Lord, the Teacher in word and the Finisher in deed, teaching what is to be done, and doing what He taught, did He not first foretell in the Gospel all that is now being done and will be done? Is it not predestined in advance for eternal torments for those who reject Him, and salvific rewards for those who confess Him? O wickedness! All this is forgotten, everything has gone out of memory for some. They did not even wait to go, at least not when they were captured; to renounce when asked. Many were defeated before the battle, overthrown without a fight, and did not even leave for themselves a visible pretext that they sacrificed to idols under compulsion. They willingly run to the market-place, voluntarily hasten to death, as if they were glad of the opportunity that presented itself, which they had always looked forward to! How many rulers there had been respite because of the coming evening, and how many had even asked that their destruction should not be postponed!

You have slain your salvation, your hope there, you have burned your faith with those deadly fires.

For many, their own destruction was not enough - the people were moved to destruction by mutual exhortations: they mutually offered each other to drink death from a deadly vessel. Moreover, for the complete completeness of the crime, even infants brought or attracted by the hands of their parents - minors - and they lost what they received soon after their birth. Will they not say, when the Day of Judgment comes, "We have done nothing wrong, leaving the food and the cup of the Lord, we have not hastened voluntarily to the Gentile feast. We have been ruined by the treachery of others; we consider our parents to be our murderers: they have torn us away from the Mother Church, from the Father-God, and we, small, foolish, who do not understand the importance of such a grave crime, have become accomplices in iniquity through others, caught by the cunning of others. And alas! There is no just and true reason that would justify such a crime.

It was necessary to leave one's fatherland, to leave one's inheritance: for who among those who are born and then die will not one day have to part with one's fatherland and leave one's inheritance? Only Christ should not be abandoned; only the loss of salvation and the loss of eternal abode is to be feared. Here is the Holy Spirit calling out through the prophet: "Depart, depart, depart from within, and touch not uncleanness, depart from his midst, depart from him that beareth the vessels of the Lord" (Isaiah 52:11). And here those who are themselves the vessels of the Lord and the temple of God, do not depart from the midst and do not depart in order to avoid touching impurity and not to be forced to defile themselves with food sacrificed to idols! A voice from heaven is still heard, instructing the servants of God how they should act: "Come out of it, my people, that ye be not partakers of its sin, and that ye be not harmed by its plagues" (Rev. 18:4). Whoever departs and departs avoids participation in sin; and whoever becomes an accomplice in a crime exposes himself to blows. That is why the Lord commanded us to hide and flee during persecution: so He taught and so He Himself acted. The crown is given by God's vouchsafe, and it cannot be received until the hour comes to receive it. And therefore whoever, abiding in Christ, apostatizes for a time, does not renounce the faith, but only waits for the time. But if someone fell without hiding, it means that he remained with the intention of renouncing. Most beloved brethren, we should not conceal the truth, we should not be silent about the cause and cause of our defeat. Many were deceived by blind love for their inherited property: those who, like fetters, were bound by their riches, were not ready and could not retreat. These were the chains for those who remained, these were the chains that restrained their valor, crushed their faith, conquered their minds, chained their souls, and, bound to earthly things, became the prey and food of the serpent, which, according to God's judgment, devours the earth. That is why the Lord, instructing us in good things and warning us for the future, said: "If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell thy possessions, and give to the poor, have treasure in heaven, and follow after me" (Matt. 19:21). If the rich did this, they would not perish through their wealth; If they had laid down their treasure in heaven, they would now have no domestic enemy and conqueror: their hearts, souls, and feelings would be in heaven if there were treasure in heaven, and the world could not conquer him who had nothing in the world over which to be conquered. Detached and free, he would have followed the Lord, as did the Apostles and many under the Apostles, as did others, who, having left their possessions and relatives, cleaved to Christ in an indissoluble union. Otherwise, how can those who are held back by the bonds of inheritance follow Christ? How can those who are burdened with earthly desires reach heaven, ascend to the heights and to the heavens? Slaves to their wealth - they consider themselves possessors, when in fact they are; No, they are not masters, but slaves of their money!

This is the time of these people as well, which the Apostle denotes, saying: "But he who desires to be rich falls into misfortunes and snares, and into lusts many are foolish and damaging, which plunge men into destruction and destruction; The root of all evil is the love of money, which some who desire to go astray from the faith and nail to themselves are sick with many (1 Tim. 6:9-10). Meanwhile, what rewards does the Lord promise us for the contempt of possessions? With what benefits does He reward these small and insignificant temporary losses? "There is no one," he says, "who shall leave home, or parents, or brethren, or sisters, or wife, or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive multiplication in this time, and in the age to come, eternal life" (Luke 18:29-30). Knowing this, and having a correct understanding of the truth of the Lord's promise, we must not only not fear, but also desire such a loss, especially since the Lord again cries out and exhorts: "Blessed will ye be, when men hate you, and when ye shall separate and revile and carry out your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of man." Rejoice in that day, and cry out: for behold, your reward is great in heaven (Luke 6:22-23).

"But then the tortures came, and those who resisted were threatened with severe torments." Can one who has gained the upper hand of torture refer to torture? Can one who is overcome by pain find excuse in pain? He can only plead, saying: "I wanted to fight bravely, and, remembering my oath, I armed myself with the armor of devotion and the faithful, but in the battle I was overpowered by various torments and prolonged tortures. His mind remained steadfast, his faith strong, and his unyielding soul struggled for a long time with painful executions. But when the brutality of the hard-hearted judge intensified, and I, already exhausted, began to be flogged with rods, beaten with sticks, stretched on a wooden horse, scraped with claws, roasted in the fire, then my flesh left me in the battle, the weakness of the womb gave way, and it was not the spirit that fainted in sickness, but the body." Such a circumstance can contribute to forgiveness. Such an excuse may merit compassion. Thus here too the Lord granted forgiveness to Caste and Emilius: He made those who were defeated in the first battle victorious in the second, and those who had succumbed first to fire later became stronger than fire and gained victory over that which they themselves had previously been defeated. But they begged for mercy not with tears, but with wounds, not only with a lamentable voice, but with ulcers and diseases of the body - instead of sobs, blood flowed from their half-burned entrails. What wounds can the vanquished now show, what ulcers of the gaping entrails, what injuries to the limbs, when faith did not fall in battle, but treachery prevented the battle? There cannot be an excuse for the necessity of a crime where the crime was voluntary.

However, I say this not in order to increase the guilt of the brethren, but in order to motivate them more to satisfactory prayer. In the Scriptures it is said: "He who blesses you flatters you, and the paths of your feet trouble" (Isaiah 3:12). Whoever caresses the sinner with flattering caresses, only disposes him more to sin and does not suppress crimes, but nourishes him. But whoever by strict counsel rebukes and together instructs a brother, contributes to his salvation. But if I love them, says the Lord, I rebuke and chasten them (Rev. 3:19). So it behooves the priest of God not to deceive with flattering services, but to provide for saving medicines. The physician who only slightly palpates the swollen convolutions of the wounds is not skillful: by preserving the poison imprisoned inside, in deep hollows, it only increases its strength. It is necessary to open the wound, cut it and, having cleansed it of pus, apply a powerful plaster to it. Let the sick man cry out, let him scream, let him complain of unbearable pain - he will thank him later when he feels well. And then, most beloved brethren, a new kind of defeat has appeared, and, as if the storm of persecution had not raged enough, seductive evil and destruction arose under the guise of compassion to make up for it. Some, contrary to the essence of the Gospel, contrary to the law of the Lord and God, in their foolishness admit the imprudent to communion, give them an invalid and false peace, harmful to those who give and not in the least beneficial to those who receive. They do not seek recovery in patience and true healing in satisfaction. Repentance has been banished from hearts, the memory of the gravest and most extreme lawlessness has been blotted out. The wounds of the dying are closed, and the deadly ulcer, deeply rooted inside, is covered by feigned compassion. Those who return from the altars of the devil, with unclean and scorched hands, approach the holy thing of the Lord. Those who regurgitate idolatrous viands with their lips, which even now breathe out their iniquity and smell of fatal infection, receive the Body of the Lord, despite the fact that the Divine Scripture forbids this, crying out loudly: "Let everyone who is clean eat meat; but if the soul eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of salvation, which is to the Lord, and its uncleanness is upon it, it shall perish from its own people (Lev. 7:19-20). The Apostle testifies to the same thing, saying: "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and the table of demons (1 Corinthians 10:21). And he makes the following threat to the stubborn and disobedient: "Whosoever eateth this bread, or drinketh the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 11:27). Having imputed this to nothing and despised all this, before atoning for their sins, confessing their crime, cleansing their conscience with the Sacrament of Repentance and propitiating the Lord with the laying on of the priestly hand, indignant and threatening for the insult inflicted on Him, they rape His Body and Blood, and thus, with their hands and lips, they now sin against the Lord more than when they rejected the Lord. They consider peace to be that which some in false words offer them as peace. No, this is not peace, but strife. Why should unrighteousness be called a good deed? Why should impiety be called godliness? Why, having prevented repentant weeping, pretend to enter into communion with those who must constantly weep and beseech their Lord? For the fallen, it is what hail is to fruit, a storm to trees, a pestilence to flocks, a hurricane to ships. They take away the consolation of eternal reward, uproot a tree, imperceptibly drag a ship to a deadly infection with a disastrous speech, direct a ship to underwater rocks so that it does not enter the harbor. This indulgence does not bring peace, but destroys; it does not give communion, but serves as an obstacle to salvation. This is another persecution, another temptation, in which the cunning enemy, who still continues to attack the fallen, produces secret devastation by ceasing weeping, silence illness, suppressing the sigh of the heart, stopping tears, and the fallen ceasing to propitiate the offended Lord by prolonged and complete repentance, whereas in the Scriptures it is said: "Remember whence thou hast slept, and repent" (Rev. 2:5).

Let no one deceive himself, let no one deceive himself. Only the Lord can have mercy; He alone can grant remission of sins committed against Him, since He bore our sins, and suffered pain for us, and God gave Him up for our sins. Man cannot be higher than God, and a servant cannot let go of his own condescension or grant that which has been committed against the Lord as a grave sin. Let not ignorance of what is said in the Scriptures be added to the transgression of the fallen: "Cursed is the man that trusteth in man" (Jeremiah 17:5). To beseech the Lord blessedly; The Lord must be propitiated by our repentance. Who said that He rejects the one who rejects, and Who alone received all judgment from the Father. We believe that the merits of the martyrs and the deeds of the righteous can do a great deal with the Judge, but this refers to the time when, with the end of this world and the world, His people will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Meanwhile, if anyone thinks that he is reckless and untimely in his haste to grant everyone absolution of sins, or dares to revoke the commandments of the Lord, then he not only does not help, but also harms the fallen. To disobey the sentence, to think that it is not necessary to pray to God for mercy and, having despised the Lord, to rely on one's own strength, means to draw wrath upon oneself.

Under the altar of God, the souls of the slain martyrs cry out with a loud voice: "How long, O holy and true Master, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood from those who dwell on the earth? (Rev. 6:10). And yet they are commanded to calm down and be patient a little longer. Is it good, therefore, to desire that anyone could, contrary to the Judge, forgive indiscriminately and forgive sins, and protect others, without first being avenged himself? Do the martyrs command us to do anything? If this is just, permissible, and not contrary to the Lord Himself, then the priest of God must do the following: it is easy and convenient to agree to the fulfillment, when moderation is observed in the petition. Do the martyrs command us to do anything? If what is commanded is not written in the law of the Lord, then it is first necessary to find out whether they have asked of the Lord what they demand, and then to do what is commanded: for the greatness of God does not always permit that for which a human promise has been given. And Moses once asked for the sins of the people, but did not ask forgiveness for those who sinned. I pray to thee, – he said, – O Lord: these people have sinned greatly, and have made for themselves gods golden. And now, if thou hast forgiven them their sin, forgive them; if not, blot me out of Thy book, in which Thou hast inscribed. And the Lord said to Moses, "If any man sin against me, I will blot him out of my book" (Exodus 32:31-33). He, a friend of God, who often conversed face to face with the Lord, could not receive what he asked for, and by his prayer he did not atone for the insult that had brought God's indignation! God praises Jeremiah and speaks of his predestination: "Before, if I should create thee in the womb, I shall know thee; and before, if thou didst come out of thy couches, they sanctified thee, and set thee a prophet in tongues (Jeremiah 1:5); and yet, when he often prayed and asked for the sins of the people. God said: "Pray not for these people, and do not ask that they may receive mercy, and do not pray below to come to Me for them, lest I hear thee" (Jeremiah 7:16).

God said that if only they had begged. He wouldn't respect their prayers. "If the earth sins against Me," He says, "if it is shepherded by sin, I will stretch out My hand against it, and I will wipe out the strength of bread, and I will make a famine upon it, and I will take from it men and cattle. And if these three men be in the midst of it, Noah, and Daniel, and Job... neither their sons nor daughters shall be saved, but only these alone shall be saved (Ezekiel 14:13-14; 16). Thus, everything that is asked does not depend on the reasoning of the asker, but on the will of the giver, and a human decision has no meaning or force if it is not confirmed by the judgment of God. But the Lord says in the Gospel: "Whosoever hath spoken of Me before men, let us sing it and I before My Father who is in heaven; whosoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him (Matt. 10:32-33). But if He does not reject the one who rejects, then He does not confess the one who confesses. The Gospel cannot be firm in one and accommodating in the other—either both must remain in force, or both must lose the force of truth. If those who reject are not guilty of a crime, then those who are guilty will not receive a reward for their valor. Further, if the faith that has conquered is crowned, then it is necessary that the vanquished treachery should also be punished. Thus, martyrs can either do nothing if the Gospel can be violated; or if it cannot be broken, then those who become martyrs according to the Gospel cannot do anything contrary to the Gospel.

Let no one, most beloved brethren, let no one dishonor the dignity of the martyrs, let no one deprive them of glory and crowns. With them the power of unharmed faith is unshakable, and he who has all hope and faith and valor in Christ can neither speak nor do anything contrary to Christ. Those who themselves have fulfilled God's commands cannot demand anything from bishops contrary to the command of God.

And thou didst sin against Him, and did not desire to walk in His way, nor to hear Him? And bring upon them the wrath of thy wrath (Isaiah 42:24-25). And in another place it testifies thus: Food cannot save the hand of the Lord? Or have you aggravated your hearing, so that you cannot hear? But your sins separate you from God, and for your sake turn away his face from you, lest he have mercy on you (Isaiah 59:1-2). Let us pay special attention to our sins and, having examined our actions and spiritual secrets, let us weigh the merits of our conscience. Let us remember that we have not walked in the ways of the Lord, we have rejected the law of God, we have never wanted to keep His saving commandments and commandments. And what good can you say about what fear or what faith you attribute to him whom danger could not correct, and persecution itself did not transform? Her proud and erect neck did not bend, though she had fallen; The haughty and arrogant spirit has not been tamed, even though it has been defeated. The lying man threatens those who are standing, the wounded – those who are unharmed, and the sacrileger is indignant at the priests of God because they do not suddenly allow him to receive the Body of the Lord with unclean hands and to drink the Blood of the Lord with defiled lips. Oh, your utter madness, furious! You are indignant at him who tries to turn away the wrath of God from you; you threaten the one who begs God's mercy for you, who feels your wound that you do not feel, who sheds tears for you that you yourself may not shed. By this you only aggravate and increase your crime, and, being implacable to the leaders and priests of God, do you really think that the Lord can be merciful to you? It is better to accept and admit to yourself what we say. Why do not your deaf ears hear the saving commandments that we express? Why do blind eyes not see the repentance that we indicate? Why does the afflicted and alienated mind not understand the life aids that we draw and offer from the heavenly Scriptures?

However, if the unbelievers have no faith in the future, then let them at least be frightened by the present. Here before our eyes are the executions that have befallen those who have denied Christ, whose sad outcome we mourn. They cannot remain unpunished here either, although the day of punishment has not yet come: some are punished temporarily, so that others may be reformed; The torment of the few is an example for all. For example, one who ascended to the Capitol for renunciation, as soon as he renounced Christ, became dumb. The punishment began with the beginning of the crime, so that, deprived of the gift of speech to ask for pardon, he could no longer ask. Another, being in the bath (for the only thing that was lacking for her transgression and sins was to go immediately to the bath, as soon as she lost the grace of the font of life), the unclean, being seized by an unclean spirit, bit her tongue, with which she impiously either ate or spoke. After partaking of the lawless food, the lips that were angry armed themselves for their own destruction. She herself became her own executioner, and after that she could not remain alive for long: she died, exhausted by diseases of the womb and viscera. But listen to what happened in my presence, which I myself witnessed. Some parents, running away, in anxiety and turmoil, left their little daughter in the care of a wet nurse. She took her to the rulers; And they, since the little girl could not eat meat because of her minority, gave her bread to eat before the idol, where the people flocked, mingled with the wine left over from the offerings sacrificed to idols. Subsequently, the daughter was handed over to her mother. But the girl could neither discover nor express the crime that had been committed, just as she could not have understood it or resisted it before. And so, through ignorance, it happened that my mother brought her with her when we were performing the Divine service. The little one, finding herself among the saints and unable to endure our prayers and supplications, began to sob and rush about in all directions as if in a frenzied state: the young soul at such a tender age, as if under the torture of an executioner, showed by all possible signs the consciousness of its crime. When, at the end of the Divine service, the deacon began to bring the chalice to those present, and after being accepted by the others, it was her turn, the little one, by inspiration from above, turned away her face, pursed her lips, closed her mouth, and refused the chalice. However, the deacon insisted and, despite her resistance, poured a little sacrament into her mouth. Hiccups and vomiting followed: the Eucharist could not remain in the body and mouth of the injured entrails. Such is the power, such is the majesty of the Lord! The darkest mysteries are revealed before His light, and the hidden crimes did not deceive the priest of God. The story relates to a child who, because of his minority, could not declare someone else's crime against him. And here is another case: during our sacred service, a woman of full age and already of mature age secretly approached, and, taking not food, but a sword for herself, swallowing as it were a deadly poison, began to suffer and writhe, as if in a fever, and then, having endured the illness not of persecution, but of her own sin, she died in writhing and convulsions. The concealed crime of a feigned conscience did not remain unpunished for long: the one who deceived man found an avenger in God. Another woman, who had attempted to open her ark with unworthy hands, in which the Lord's holiness was kept, was frightened by the fire that came out of it and did not dare to touch it. Likewise, someone who was also defiled, who, after the priest had performed the Divine service, dared to receive a part of the sacrament together with the others, could neither taste the Lord's holiness nor touch it: opening his hands, he saw that he was carrying ashes in them. This case indicates that the Lord departs when they deny Him, and that what is acceptable does not serve in the least for the salvation of the unworthy, since saving grace turns to ashes after the removal of holiness. And how many who do not repent and do not come to the consciousness of their sin are daily possessed by evil spirits! How many, completely losing their minds, are tormented by violent demonic possession! However, there is no need to follow the outcome of everyone: with the variety of misfortunes in the world, the punishment for sins is as different as the number of sinners. It is better for each one to reflect not on what the other has suffered, but on what he himself deserves to suffer. No one thinks that he has escaped execution if it is postponed for a while; how much more let him be afraid of the punishment which the wrath of the Judge of God has granted to himself.

Let also those who, though they have not defiled their hands with impious sacrifices, yet have stained their consciences with writings (libellis), do not flatter themselves that they need not repent. For this is also the confession of the renouncer; what happened testifies to the Christian who refuses: he confessed that he had done what another had actually done on his behalf. And as it is said in the Scriptures: "No man can serve two masters" (Matt. 6:24), then he served a worldly master who fulfilled his command and obeyed the command of man rather than God. Let it seem to him that what he has done should appear in the eyes of people less ugly and criminal. However, he could not hide himself and flee from God the Judge, when the Holy Spirit says in the Psalms: "Thy eyes have seen what I have not done" (Psalm 138:16); And again: a person sees on the face. But God sees in the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Likewise, the Lord Himself reminds and precedes this, saying: "And all the churches shall understand, that I am that they have tried the heart and the bowels" (Rev. 2:23). He also sees the hidden, sees the secret and the hidden. No one can hide from the eyes of God, Who says: God draw near I am, and not God from afar. If any man be hidden in the hidden, shall I not see him? I do not fill heaven and earth with food (Jeremiah 23:23-24)? He sees the heartfelt dispositions of everyone; He will judge not only by deeds, but also by our words and thoughts; before Him are manifest the thoughts and desires that have arisen in the innermost recesses of the heart. Finally, how much higher in faith, and better in fear, are those who, although they have not committed a crime either by sacrificing to idols or by writing, yet by the mere fact that they have thought about it, confess it with sickness and sincerity before the priests of God, cleanse their consciences by confession, lay down the burden of their spirit, seek a saving remedy for their small and light wounds, remembering what is said in the Scriptures: God is not mocked (Gal. 6:7). It is impossible to mock and mock God, it is impossible to deceive Him with any cunning deceit. And he sins more who, reasoning about God as a man, thinks to escape punishment for a crime, when the crime is committed by him secretly. Christ in His commandments says: "Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me, the Son of man shall be ashamed of Him" (Matt. 8:38). And does he consider himself a Christian who is ashamed or afraid of being a Christian? How can one be with Christ who was ashamed or afraid of belonging to Christ? Of course, he sinned less, not seeing idols, not denying the holiness of the faith in the eyes of the approaching and mocking people, not staining his hands with idolatrous sacrifices, not defiling his mouth with unclean foods. All this contributes to the fact that the guilt is less, but in no way so that the conscience remains innocent. It is easier for him to achieve forgiveness for a crime, but he is not free from crime at all. Let him not cease to repent and ask the Lord for mercy, so that what appears as a sin as a small one may not become greater through the neglect of repentance.