Homilies on the Conciliar Epistle of the Holy Apostle James

And we read the 15th verse again, ... but lust, having conceived, gives birth to sin, and the sin committed gives birth to death (James 1:15). But lust draws a person to sin. Lust pulls the addict to the syringe, although he does not want to die from drugs! No drug addict wants to die from drugs, no drunkard wants to die from alcohol, no fornicator wants to die from fornication! But the devil is a cunning deceiver, he suggests to the addict: "It's okay, this drug has the right dose, you won't have an overdose." He whispers to the drunkard: "Never mind, you have drunk as much and even more before! Everything will be fine: drink, have fun, rejoice." "Never mind," says the devil to the fornicator, "you have sinned with this woman before, what are you afraid of? It's okay, everything will be fine, you won't get sick with anything!" But we constantly hear about how people die from drug addiction, die from alcoholism, die from fornication. Truly, as the Holy Apostle Paul says, any sin that we commit brings destruction to us [1]. By destroying others, we destroy ourselves. And about the sin of fornication in the Scriptures it is said separately: fornication directly destroys a person's body, it is a sin against one's own body [2].Now, by the way, there are a lot of sins against one's own body. And we must understand that this sweetness of sin, what lust strives for, is only a threshold behind which there is death. Since we have to work with drug addicts at the Rehabilitation Center, I very often hear that very young drug addicts die from drug overdoses, and underage drug addicts die. Not so long ago, just two or three months ago, I met a woman. All in tears, she came to me and said: "One man (he himself was not a drug addict) put my husband and his brother on the needle. And my husband died of a drug overdose. When he died, the man who got them drugs for money called me and said: "If you report to the police, I will slaughter the whole family!" They are already completely impudent - these people who kill our children, who destroy our families. And we must strive to ensure that in relation to these people, who do not live according to the laws of the New Testament, the laws of the Old Testament apply: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth [3]. In relation to such people, who are precisely pagans, this law is necessary. And in many religious countries, there is the death penalty for drug trafficking. Because drug addiction is murder. The murder is so disguised that it is difficult to understand how many people were killed by this or that drug dealer: ten, twenty, a hundred... We now have several million drug addicts, brothers and sisters in our country! Drugs are distributed in schools! Sometimes, in order to accustom a child from a prosperous, rich family to drugs, he is forcibly dragged to the toilet, given an injection, then, the next day - another... People are forcibly made drug addicts. It's death, and it's spreading everywhere—this green serpent of alcohol, this white death of drugs, these deadly diseases of fornicators. But the horror of the death spoken of here is that it is not only a physical death born of sin: it is, first of all, a spiritual death. But the Orthodox die, having prepared their souls for death. We constantly speak of our impending death in the prayer texts of the divine service, when we ask for a Christian death for ourselves. But spiritual death, combined with physical death, born of sin, is what we should all fear. This is what we must resolutely oppose. But alas, people are made in such a way that they pay attention to a problem only when this problem concerns themselves.If a person has cancer, he begins to wonder what cancer is. He begins to find some books about this disease, asks others about it, spends a lot of money.There are many examples in the Bible of how people lost all their possessions in the fight against this or that disease. Remember the woman who was bleeding for twelve years? She spent all her possessions on doctors and various healers, but no one helped her (cf. Matt. 9:20-22).How can we get rid of this death, which is born of sin? (By the way, it can be said that any sin committed is mortal, since it gives birth to death.) What is sin? Imagine a ship, a huge ship. He swims and suddenly gets a hole: water begins to flow into the hold. If this hole is not repaired, then the ship, no matter how powerful it is, will sink.The Apostle Paul warns believers to be wary of shipwreck in faith [4]. When unrepentant sins fill our souls, death floods it. Therefore, the only way to get rid of responsibility for sins (and there is only one responsibility for sin – death) is to confess these sins before the Lord Jesus Christ.We read further:Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no change or shadow of change. Willing, He begat us by the word of truth, that we might be some firstfruits of His creatures (James 1:16-18).How interestingly the Apostle James speaks to us through this Epistle of his! First he says that lust, having conceived, gives birth to sin, and the sin committed gives birth to death. And we fall into despondency from these words. But despondency in itself is also a sin. And the apostle gives us hope in the following verses: Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights. And below we read: Having willed, He begat us by the word of truth, that we might be some firstfruits of His creatures.The reading of the word of God, especially the reading of the Gospel at the Divine Liturgy, — the very sound of the word of God cleanses our soul from sin! Remember how it is said in the Revelation of St. John the Theologian: Blessed is he who reads and hears the words of this prophecy, and keeps what is written in it; For the time is at hand (Rev. 1:3).Truly, if we listen to the word of God prayerfully, with reverence dissolving this word in our hearts by faith, it will bear abundant spiritual fruit. And where we could not get rid of sins and death on our own, the Lord can save us through the preaching of the Holy Gospel. How many people were drowning in sins, but the Lord Jesus Christ, having come into this world, came precisely to sinful people. And that is why He could be seen so often among tax collectors and sinners, among Pharisees and scribes, in the sickest part of society.Imagine if today, say, in Moscow there appeared some priest who, moved by zeal for the salvation of people, entered with a sermon of repentance in various variety shows, casinos, brothels, finally... Surely, there would be people who would condemn him, say that he was doing wrong. And you know that it was constantly said of Jesus Christ: "He eateth and drinks with publicans and sinners" (Mark 2:16). They said this about Him because they did not understand that He came into this world to sinful people. The Lord did not come to save the righteous, but sinners. As it is said in the Gospel: "Those who are healthy have no need of a physician, but those who are sick" (Luke 5:31).And thank God, the Church is now going to criminals: priests in prisons preach the Gospel. Thank God that the Church is now going to hardened people: priests are sent to military units, where relations between people become very difficult because of hazing. The Church is now going to the fallen, to the drunk, to drug addicts. And some are indignant: "Oh, why are you doing all this?!" Some people say to me: "Father Oleg, why are you engaged in these sects? Wonder! Why deal with these drug addicts, these drunkards?" But what is the Church for then? After all, the Church is the house of God, where sinners must come in order to hear the word of God and begin a new life: in Christ and with Christ.Every person who crosses the threshold of the house of God and hears the word of the Gospel, dissolving this word by faith, must become "a certain firstfruits of His creation," as we read in verse 18.And it is said below:Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger... (James 1:19).See how it is said: let every man be quick to hear. Those people who are quick to hear, who are in a hurry to listen to the words of God, they are the executors of God's will. For the word of the Lord teaches that we must be such people: quick to hear. That is, quick in the matter of hearing the word of God, quick to attend church. As the holy king and psalmist David said: "I rejoiced when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord' (Psalm 121:1). That is, when it comes to spiritual life, we must always be fast, impetuous, and then we read that we must be slow. When it comes to sin, we must be very slow! That is why the Apostle James says: let him be slow in words... Because when we say a lot of words, we can say something unnecessary. We must be slow and angry. If anger appears, you need to calm it down, not let it come out, you need to control it. for the wrath of man does not create the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all uncleanness and the remnant of malice, in meekness receive the word that is planted, which is able to save your souls (James 1:20-21). revealed by the law, worked in our members to bring forth the fruit of death... (Romans 7:5) ^Flee fornication; every sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the fornicator sins against his own body (1 Corinthians 6:18). ^Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has injured a man's body, so must he do it to him (Lev. 24:20). ^ Having faith and a good conscience, which some rejected, they were shipwrecked in faith (1 Tim. 1:19). ^

Part 3

See how it is said about the word of God: that it is like a seed planted, it is sown in our hearts. And it sprouts there! And when the word of God grows within us, our lives also change. And people begin to wonder: "How is it, it used to be difficult for us to struggle with sins, but now it has become easier, the Lord helps!" This means that the word of God healed this woman, who for forty years since then has not known what temptations during fasting are! Now she is happy to fast.A man in his fifties used to smoke a lot, it was difficult for him to quit smoking. He told me: "Earlier, when I went to church, about ten years ago, I could not imagine that I would quit smoking. It turned out that he had a very wise spiritual father, who instructed him as follows: "Before Communion you cannot smoke for three days and after Communion for one day." He got used to it and began to take communion in this way. Then the confessor says: "In fact, it would be good for you to take Communion twice a week." — "And when to smoke?" — "Well, here you have to choose one of the two!" And before that, it was a serious problem for him: he even tried to be treated for smoking. But the liturgical life helped him to get rid of this terrible condition. For he who hears the word and does not do it is like a man who examines the natural features of his face in a mirror: he looks at himself, moves away, and immediately forgets what he is like. But whoever enters into the perfect law, the law of freedom, and abides in it, being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the deed, will be blessed in his action (James 1:22-25). One cannot only be a listener of the Law of God, one must also be an executor of it. That is why I specifically emphasize that hearing the word of God can save us if we dissolve the words of the Gospel in our hearts by faith. And faith is active love, it is the effective fulfillment of God's commandments. Orthodoxy is, first of all, a way of life: we have heard what the Lord wants from us, and we want to live the way He wants it to be. But we have our own Law, a perfect Law. And if we delve into this perfect Law of freedom, we will be blessed in our action.If we have such a perfect word, such a perfect Law —

As we have just read, we cannot have any other true action—that is, an action—except by the will of the Creator. And everything obeys the will of the Creator, only proud people and fallen spirits try in vain to resist it. The Sun is subject to the will of the Creator. There is no need to make any parliamentary decision: to rain or not to rain – it will rain when the Lord wants it! And the rain was still pouring! And instead of wasting so many millions, it would be better to donate to the church and ask the priests to pray that the weather would be good. The Lord would have heard the prayer and there would have been no rain! But, seeing people's pride, the Lord humbles us. Because there is one perfect Law – it is God's, it is the word of the Lord.Our criminal law, our civil law, our Constitution are our church statutes, canons and decrees. And the Holy Scriptures are the word of God. And it teaches us that the ways of the Lord are not our ways [1]. That is, our ways are human, imperfect, but the ways of God are perfect.Human laws are constantly changing, being rewritten, and remade. And only the Law that hung the sun above the earth, that governs all the constellations in the Universe, that enters your soul and changes your whole life – the perfect Law! Only he deserves the attention of believers. This is a fundamental truth of our faith. If we do not understand this, we will be mistaken, as the person who stood in front of the mirror looked at himself: everything seems to be fine; then he walked away and immediately forgot what he looked like.The Holy Scriptures, of course, are a true mirror for us. The Apostle James says that the Law is a mirror. But only when we constantly observe ourselves: in what state we are, in what relationship we are to each of the commandments of the Creator. It's not the kind of mirror we look into to look better in front of people. After all, a mirror is usually used for this: how I look, how I will be received at home, on the street... We don't go to church for people to praise us. We do not become religious in order to change the attitude of others. No! We do it for God's sake. And when we all stand on the day of Judgment before God, when the dead are resurrected and all people stand before God, we will remember these longed-for commandments. Then we will have the greatest desire to fulfill the Law: to correct something in our past life, to change something. I once had a conversation with a prisoner, he said to me: "Why didn't I listen to these words before? Then I wouldn't be here!" A true hearer of God's words is the person who hears these words, fulfills them, and completely changes his life. This law shows us our real face: not only so that we constantly remember that we need to correct ourselves, change ourselves, but also so that we may submit to the will of our Creator.If any of you thinks that he is pious, and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, he has empty godliness (James 1:26). We need to control our language. It turns out that if we do not control our language, then we have empty piety. And how to curb the tongue? We understand how you can bridle a horse: catch it, jump on it, throw a rope, put on a bridle... But how to curb the tongue? What is it - a horse, a mule, a donkey? How to bridle it?The Scriptures have much to say about how we, brothers and sisters, can bridle our tongues. First of all, the Apostle Paul says: Let no rotten word proceed out of your mouth (Ephesians 4:29). We should not have rotten words, that is, abusive words.The Holy Scriptures also say that there should be no slanderous words: when we slander people, we disgrace them! Nor should we have hasty words—as we have just read, we should be slow in our words.A woman once came to me for a spiritual talk. And she talked so much – it was some kind of cascade of words! Then she said: "I cannot understand why I sin like this: after all, I quarreled with everyone, quarreled with everyone!" I said to this woman, "Speak four times as slowly, then you won't have as many sins! Indeed, when a person speaks slowly, he thinks over every word, he tries to conform all his words to the will of God. And this will, according to the testimony of the Scriptures, is as follows: there should be no false words, abusive words, rotten words. Those words that can humiliate people, upset them, throw them off balance. Sometimes words can even become deadly – when people are driven to suicide through words! There was a young family - a husband, a wife. They lived normally, everything was fine with them. And one evening the husband says to his wife, just like that, as if by chance: "What a mess you are!" He said it and forgot about it. And a woman cannot forget, this word is spinning in her head: "Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy..." A week has passed, but she can't forget it: "What a mess you are!" A month has passed, the husband cannot understand what happened to his wife, she herself does not tell, but she has lost her appetite, she has lost weight. There is no love at home, indifference and apathy have arisen. It is good that they thought of inviting a spiritually experienced person who talked separately with both his wife and husband: it was then that this rotten word surfaced! The word, in general, is not an abusive word, but how much it hurt the soul of a young woman! Let us read this verse again: If any of you thinks that he is godly, and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, he has empty godliness. 27). Thus, true piety before God and the Father is to look (in Slavonic: to help, to see difficulties, problems) orphans and widows in their sorrows. We rush through life with the egoism of our own will, not noticing that there are people for whom it is much more difficult in this life.By the mercy of God, the parishioners of our church are people who can sympathize with the needs of their neighbors. Recently, we had a collection of donations for the Magadan-Kamchatka Diocese in our church. And more than 30 million rubles were collected [2]. Where does so much money come from? Is it not from here, as it is said in this text: Pure and blameless godliness before God and the Father is to look upon the fatherless and the widows in their afflictions? A huge number of books have been collected, so the whole baptismal room is now littered with these books! And people still continue to carry their donations. May God grant that we will always respond in this way to the needs of our neighbors, even those who live very far from us. May God grant that we live as the Apostle says about the Holy Church: Therefore, if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is glorified, all the members rejoice with it (1 Corinthians 12:26). So that our true suffering is not the egoism of our own will, not suffering for ourselves, but empathy for our neighbors.The Apostle James says that we must keep ourselves undefiled from the world. First of all, it means that we should not accept false teachings and false teachers! The Scriptures say: Whoever comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not greet him. For he who greets him participates in his evil deeds (2 John 1:10-11). In the Epistle of the Apostle Jude it is said that one should abhor even the garb of heretics [3]. The Apostle Paul warns that with those who have strayed from the true path, one should not have a common meal [4].The canons of the Church forbid us to pray with heretics. Now there is a lot of speculation on the topic of Christian love. I once met with an ecumenist and asked him: "Don't you understand that ecumenism is the worst heresy?" — "And what is love in your understanding?" — "Well, it is when we communicate with brothers of other faiths, pray together, sometimes take communion together..." But the Holy Scriptures show a specific path of salvation: it is the fulfillment of God's commandments. If we associate with people of other religions, we do not violate the commandment: after all, the Lord commanded us to love even our enemies (and religious enemies too). But to truly love a religious opponent means to help him convert to the Orthodox faith. And if by our ecumenism we affirm him in the idea that he is the same as we are, then we hate this man, betray him! We read in the Apostle James that the Lord, having willed, begotten us by the word of truth, so that we might be some of the firstfruits of His creatures. The firstfruits are a dedicated community that will have to churchify the rest of humanity. Yes, we are a small flock. Now from the television screen sometimes shouts are heard: "What kind of Orthodox Christians are there in Russia, look – only old men and women go to church! The Church takes on too much!" Yes, there are few of us. But this firstfruits are the salt that salinates our entire earth. These beginnings, these grandmothers, grandfathers, children who go to Orthodox churches – this is the light to the world that Christ has kindled in our hearts. And we must salt this world, we must bring light to every person, but at the same time we must be undefiled from the world, not connected with the errors of this world, with the heresies of this world, with the laws of this world; not connected with the sins of this world. This is what every believer needs! And now it is precisely this position that is being declared too conservative, too illiberal. But the teaching of the Bible is very conservative. The teaching of the Bible is very radically directed against sin, against error. Take the teachings of Jesus Christ: they are also very, very radical in their own way! They were very harsh when the Lord rebuked the scribes and Pharisees, when He wanted to heal people to whom it was necessary to speak, perhaps, very harsh words. But He spoke these words. And the Lord's love was manifested in the fact that He saved people. With us, love, alas, is manifested in the fact that we destroy our neighbor. And here there is a huge difference between the Christian, Orthodox understanding of love and the worldly understanding of it: in religious "love" – in the gross sin of ecumenism – we destroy the souls of people; in the "love" of the flesh we commit the sin of fornication; In the "love" of the interethnic – we commit genocide, destroy the characteristics of each ethnic group. We need a perfect Law that will regulate all the senses in us! Then love will truly be love: the fulfillment of the commandments of the Creator and the totality of perfections. Then faith will not be just some abstract faith (as everyone says now: "We all believe, each in his own way"; but the Scriptures say: have faith in God [5]), faith will then be the faith of the Lord, a revelation from Heaven. Hope, then, will be that active service without which we cannot call ourselves Christians. For Christians are not only hearers of the word, but also doers of it.My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord (Isaiah 55:8). ^The discourse was delivered in 1998 ^Abhorring even clothing, which is defiled by the flesh (Jude 1:23). ^ Do not associate with one who, calling himself a brother, remains a fornicator, or a covetous, or an idolater, or a slanderer, or a drunkard, or a swindler; with such a one he cannot even eat together (1 Cor. 5:11). ^Have faith in God, for verily I say unto you, if any man say unto this mountain, Be thou lifted up, and be cast into the sea, and doubt not in his heart, but believe that his words shall come to pass, whatever he shall say to him (Mark 11:23). ^

Conversation Three

My brethren! have faith in Jesus Christ our Lord of glory, regardless of persons (James 2:1).A person who is a respecter of persons (looks at external things) sins not only against another, but also against himself. Blessed Theophylact explains: ... for the treatment of such things is sent to the doer himself [1]. The measure of how we treat others is the measure of how God treats us. It is said: I do not look as a man looks; for a man looks on the face, but the Lord looks on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Partiality involves the judgment of one person over another, when the basis for condemnation is not even the act of another person, but our attitude to his appearance, gender, age, nationality and social status. But is there any guilt in being a redhead or a brunette; To be born a Russian or a Chechen, a Jew or a Tatar? Can we despise a person for being "too young" or "already so old"? One was born in a rich family, the other in a poor one. What is the fault of the first or the second?Further we read:For if a man enters into your assembly with a gold ring, in rich clothes, and a poor man with scanty clothes also comes in, and you look at him who is dressed in rich clothes, and you say to him, It is good for you to sit here, but to the poor you say, Stand there, or sit here at my feet, do you not reason within yourselves, and do you not become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:2-4) It is sad that this problem remains relevant in our days, but it is even sadder that in apostolic times Christians showed similar partiality. There is no need to idealize any of the periods of church history. There have always been problems that we have to face at the present time. All the more useful for us is the experience of the apostles, how they overcame certain shortcomings among their flock. What words – rebukes or exhortations – did they find for those whom they wished to heal and heal from moral ailments? Really! Whenever we show partiality, we are deceitfully looking for an advantage for ourselves.We see before us a beggar whom we could help, and we immediately find an excuse for our greed. We hasten to convince ourselves that he has become impoverished through laziness, drunkenness, or anything else. We even try to hide our greed from others and from ourselves by reasoning about the ways of God's Providence. We say, "God must have punished him with this poverty. Or he suffers for the sins of his parents."When we see a rich man, we behave very differently. It seems to us that the Lord sent him to us, and in his donations we hasten to see the answer to our prayers. Blessed Theophylact explains: Do you not gossip, that is, you have spoiled your sentence by not having made any investigation in advance as to whether the poor are zealous or the rich are lazy? Here the research means that we cannot accept help from every rich person, and not every beggar should be helped with money.It is sad to realize, but we, priests, are more willing to communicate with rich parishioners than with the poor. For them we have "wise" instructions, time, and cordiality. A poor person alerts us and sometimes annoys us by his very appearance. We ask ourselves: do we have the right to help him from the funds of the church? — as if participation in the life of another person means only monetary assistance. A kind word, spoken at the right time, participation in the fate of another person can bring amazing results, if we have a truly Christian attitude towards our neighbor on our part.The Holy Apostles, who did not have silver and gold [3], gave people incomparably more than the advantages of a well-to-do life – they made their contemporaries partakers of the spiritual life in Christ and with Christ. But this did not mean that they did not advocate social justice where it was more than obvious that some strata of the population prospered at the expense of the impoverishment of others. At a time when not only in our country, but throughout the world, the gulf between the rich and the poor is becoming ever deeper, it is important to understand how the Holy Scriptures relate to this problem.The Apostle James exclaims:Listen, my beloved brethren: has not God chosen the poor of the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to those who love Him? (James 2:5).Indeed, although among the first Christians there were rich people (cf. Matt. 27:57; Rom. 16:23), the overwhelming majority of believers in Jesus Christ were poor people. And here, the words of the Apostle James: "Did not God choose the poor of the world to be rich in faith?" echo the admonition of the Apostle Paul: "See, brethren, who are you who have been called: not many of you are wise according to the flesh, not many strong, not many noble; but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong; and God hath chosen the lowly things of the world, and the despised, and the things that are nothing, to abolish the things that are important (1 Cor. 1:26-28).Of the rich it is said in the Gospel: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God" (Matt. 19:24). On the other hand, is it possible to enjoy wealth in peace while seeing how fellow believers in Him who became poor for our sake (cf. 2 Corinthians 8:9) suffer in the grip of social injustice? And at present, under the domination of transnational corporations, not only individual men and women work for the benefit of six percent of the world's population, but entire countries are forced to work for transcapital to the detriment of the interests of national entrepreneurship. With such a balance of material forces and a deliberately unfair distribution of capital and resources, it is rather naïve to talk about fair competition. Transnational corporations have already seized power over the planet and the levers of their domination in the modern world are different hypostases of the notorious globalization, such as the "international court", the "international bank" and the "international government", waiting for the arrival of their "messiah" [4]. Do not the rich oppress you, and do they not drag you to the courts? (James 2:6).The first part of the verse: "And ye have despised the poor" refers primarily to the rejection of Christ by the Jewish people, who at the coming of the Messiah expected for themselves first of all advantages in earthly material life. But when they heard in the preaching of our Lord a call to self-denial, they felt in it a threat to their very existence. Theophylact of Bulgaria. Commentary on the Conciliar Epistle of the Apostle James. Moscow, 2000. T. 2. P. 545. ^Ibidem. P. 546. ^But Peter said, "I have no silver and no gold; but what I have, I give unto thee: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk (Acts 3:6). ^Messiah. ^

Conversation Four

Part 1

Do they not dishonor the good name by which you are called? If you keep the royal law, according to the Scriptures, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, you are doing well. But if you act with respect to persons, then you commit a sin, and you are transgressors before the law. Whoever keeps the whole law and sins in one thing becomes guilty of all things (James 2:7-10).These words show us how we should relate to the law of God and in what real relation to the law of God each person finds himself in the eyes of God's justice: whoever keeps the whole law and sins in one thing becomes guilty of all. It is difficult for us to imagine a person who would keep the entire law and sin only in one thing. As a rule, it is the other way around: we violate a great many commandments of the law of God. Consequently, even a person is guilty of breaking the law who turns out to be wrong in one way in relation to it, but tries and does everything else. In the same way, those who violate all the commandments of God are guilty! Let's see how Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria interprets this text: None of the people would have survived, because no one keeps all the commandments. But he who has kept purity is sometimes overcome by anger; Whoever gives alms often has envy. That is why it is not said that there should be no shortcomings in virtue at all, but about love, that it should not be done with a lack of partiality, but wholly [1].Blessed Theophylact says here that a person usually has both sins and virtues: he can be, for example, merciful, but greedy. But it is enough for one sin to appear in our life — and we are guilty at once against the whole law! therefore, if you do not commit adultery, but kill, then you are also a transgressor of the law (James 2:11).In this sense, brothers and sisters, we are all in practically the same position in relation to the commandments of God. We are all guilty, and this guilt makes us very similar to each other. Usually we think: "Probably, somewhere there are such special people who live in some holy places – they don't sin, they are not like us!" But there are no such people, brothers and sisters! We are all very similar to each other not only because we all sin. People are similar and sin because we all descend from our common ancestors – Adam and Eve. We often think about Adam and Eve and, remembering them, we are once again convinced that we are very similar to them, and that is why we are similar to each other.If we think that somewhere there are people who are much better than us, then we may well fall into a certain illusion and even into a demonic delusion. In what sense? In the sense that we will have a desire to hide our sinfulness. We will say to ourselves: "There are people who do not sin!" but we know for sure that we sin, and we really want to look like those who do not sin! And then we begin to imitate those who do not exist. But, as we have read, everyone is guilty of breaking the law! And when we are so hypocritical, anger appears: a person begins to prove that he is not a sinner; He begins to argue: he is not a sinner. And he begins to despise sinners, to hate them, just like himself.. But in the Sermon on the Mount the Lord said: Why do you look at the mote in your brother's eye, and do not feel the beam in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother! Let me take the mote out of your eye, when you yourself do not see the beam in your own eye? Hypocrite! first take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see how to take the mote out of your brother's eye (Luke 6:41-42). This means that we are all infected with sin. The Holy Scriptures categorically affirm: "There is none righteous, not one" (Romans 3:10). And can we deceive ourselves? Yes, you did not kill, but you committed adultery! Yes, you did not commit adultery, you were faithful to your wife, but you stole! Yes, you did not steal, but you were jealous! You were not jealous, but you were gossiping! You violated the holidays, you did not honor your parents.. And we have just read: if you are guilty of one thing, you are guilty of everything. If you have broken one commandment, you have already sinned against the whole law! That is why Christians do not have the right to condemn each other: we are all guilty before the Lord.You will say that the saints were special people who did not sin? But this is not true! Ephraim the Syrian, the greatest saint of our Church, wrote about himself: I am drowning in sins as in a swamp. And he continued: What is the meaning of my service? ... I found the meaning of my service before God in the fact that, drowning in a swamp (in sins), I shout to other people: "Do not come close here, you will drown too!" [2] If you read the writings of any of the Holy Fathers that we have inherited, you will be sure to note this spirit of self-abasement when the saints call a spade a spade. St. Macarius of Egypt considered himself a great sinner, and we can find the same thoughts and moods in St. John Chrysostom and many other fathers. For example, the Holy Chief Apostle Paul in his Epistles openly speaks about the same thing... Why do we say this? Why are we discussing this? Only so that, having come to know our sinful nature, we once and for all cease to exalt ourselves over one another. Exalting one person over another is meaningless! Yes, you are righteous in this, but in this you have sinned, with what do you exalt yourself? You say, "This man has broken the law of God," but whose law are you breaking when you sin yourself? Perhaps this is what the Lord had in mind when He said that the mountains would sink and the valleys would be filled [3]?The Lord Jesus Christ revealed to us the real state of each of us. When we read the Holy Scriptures, we see that even the saints, even the righteous, sometimes committed very grave sins in their lives... When we read the lives of the saints, we are also convinced of this. We all have the same nature – fallen nature. But why did the Lord Jesus Christ come into this world? Precisely in order to change this nature! As in Adam we all died, brothers and sisters, falling into various sins, so in Christ we are made alive again.Let us read the words of the Apostle James again in order to make them clear to ourselves: Whoever keeps the whole law and sins in one thing becomes guilty of everything. For he who said, Thou shalt not commit adultery, also said, Thou shalt not kill; Therefore, if you do not commit adultery, but kill, then you are also a transgressor of the law. And further: "Thus speak and act as those who are to be judged according to the law of liberty" (James 2:12).Here the Apostle James teaches us that we, Christians, when communicating with other people, do not stand in such a position as if we were some kind of "special". Christians should say to everyone, "We are just like you, and maybe even worse than you in some ways. But we heard the voice of God, which called us to follow him. We have heard the call of Christ, truly calling out to Him from the depths [4], we have heard His call. We, the people who sit in darkness [5], have seen this light that shines in the darkness, and darkness has not enveloped it (John 1:5); Whom does the Lord call to Himself? In the Gospel we read that He calls to Himself the lame, the blind, and the poor [6]. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself spoke of those who will be the first to enter His Kingdom: "Verily I say unto you, that publicans and prostitutes go before you into the Kingdom of God" (Matt. 21:31). Because we are all descended from Adam and Eve. All people! You can go to Africa, where people sin just as much as they do here; you can go to America, to other countries - and there they sin the same way... Recently, there was a program on the radio "Radonezh": a narcologist told that drug addicts are everywhere now. She said that even priests' children are drug addicts and often turn to her for help... That is, sin concerns everyone, you cannot hide from it. Even being close to the pastor it is impossible to completely hide from sin, but if we confess that everyone is guilty before the law of God, this will reconcile us. When people are in a state of common trouble, they no longer look for someone to blame, they strive for someone who can save them.One man came to me for confession and told me that he had serious problems related to his frivolous behavior: he fell ill with a venereal disease. At first, when those around him suspected him of this disease, he felt extremely embarrassed, then he went to the hospital. And I asked him: "Where were you better?" – "Where everyone is sick with the same disease!" And the patients in the ward did not try to look closely at each other - they only waited for the doctor to come and begin treatment. When we admit only ourselves guilty, it means that we are doing spiritual work on ourselves. And then spiritual results can really appear, the results of our correction.All of us, brothers and sisters, must first of all remember that a person cannot get rid of his sins on his own. When the Apostles asked Jesus Christ who could be saved, He answered: it is impossible for men. Indeed, this is impossible for us: we are all sick with sin. But then Jesus Christ said: ... but not to God, for all things are possible with God (Mark 10:27). Thus, the Source of our salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ; only He is our Saviour.One word is often heard now, a very bad word, the Catholic heresy. This word is compensation. In the Catholic world, there is such a misconception: God forgives you, but you must compensate with your life for the sins that He forgave you. But the Bible directly says that the Lord forgave us not at all for the sake of those good deeds that we would later do if we turned to Him, but solely out of His mercy [7].The Lord has already forgiven us all: He shed His Blood for the sins of the whole world, of all mankind. He brought the fullness of salvation even to those who will never enjoy the fruits of this redemption! At confession, the priest (and through him the Lord) forgave a person's sins, and he said: "Give me more prostrations, give me penance!" ... The priest asks: "Why?" – "But do I need to atone for this sin somehow?" Brothers and sisters! What can we add to what the Lord Jesus Christ did?! Do we not understand that the most expensive price has been paid for us – the price of the Blood of the Son of God?! [8] What other "compensation" can there be on our part?! By what fasts, by what prayers can we add something to what the Lord has done?! No, none of our efforts will be crowned with success, because Christ directly said: it is impossible for men. If it were possible to be saved by prayers and fasts, then we would still be living in the Old Testament: there were prayers and fasts... However, even in the Old Testament it was said who would be saved if the Lord came: there are only three names mentioned! [9] Christ came into this world because without Him we cannot change anything, not even with the help of prayers, even with the help of fasting. Why do the Holy Fathers call us to fast, and why did the Lord Himself call us to fast and pray? In the Holy Scriptures it is said: "Let no man boast" (Ephesians 2:9) — that is why it is free, by grace. And only then, when salvation has come – out of love for the Lord for what He has done to us – we begin to fast, to do works of righteousness. Not to add anything to what the Lord does with us, saving us. Not to add anything to His sufferings on Golgotha. But only in order to testify to his grateful love for Him. Theophylact of Bulgaria. The Evangelist. T. 2. P. 547. ^St. Ephraim the Syrian. Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius. T. 1. P. 247. ^And the mountains will melt under Him, the valleys will be dissolved like wax from the fire, like waters pouring down from a steep slope (Micah 1:4). ^From the depths I call upon Thee, O Lord (Psalm 129:1). ^The people sitting in darkness saw a great light, and to them that sat in the land and in the shadow of death light shone (Matt. 4:16). ^Call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind... (Luke 14:13). ^He saved us, not by works of righteousness that we would have done, but by His mercy, by the bath of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). ^ You were bought with a price (1 Cor. 7:23). ^And if these three men had been found in it, Noah, Daniel, and Job, they would have saved only their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God (Ezekiel 14:14). ^

Part 2

Remember the Gospel story about the healing of ten lepers: only one healed person returned to Jesus Christ to thank Him for healing! (Luke 17:12-19). And this gratitude to the Savior for the miracle of healing from the leprosy of sin is Orthodoxy.What is Orthodoxy? It means to glorify God correctly. But do you agree that they are always glorified for something? If a person is glorified, you will ask, "What has he done that you are glorifying him for?" ... Why do we glorify the Lord? For all that we have in this life; for the miracle that He has performed with us, for our salvation. And by our sins we are all nailed to the wood of the cross... Figuratively speaking, all of humanity is only three crosses: the Lord Jesus Christ, crucified in the middle, to his right are sinners who have repented, and to his left are also sinners who have not repented. And the entire history of mankind is three crosses... We must understand, brothers and sisters, that holy people are those whom Jesus Christ cleansed from sin, and not those who made themselves holy. For example, St. Mary of Egypt. At what point did she become a saint? After living in the desert for many, many years? No. She became a saint already when the power of God did not let her into the church, and she wept bitter tears of repentance. The priest accepted her confession, communed her with the Holy Mysteries, and she took this holiness into herself. She could no longer live among people, because she had only one desire – to thank the Lord day and night! And she went into the wilderness in order to thank the Lord there with her fasts and prayerful vigils.If we admit the thought that St. Mary went into the wilderness in order to cope with her sins there alone, this cannot be: the sinner will not be able to stay in the wilderness, he will flee from there, the demons will drive him away! Make an unrepentant sinner stand for at least two or three hours at the vigil – but he will not be able to stand, he will run away! It will spin, spin, fidget... You probably know this from the example of your unbelieving acquaintances, whom you sometimes manage to bring to church... The Psalmist says bluntly: "Therefore the wicked shall not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous" (Psalm 1:5). The sinner cannot stand in the assembly of the righteous, nor the wicked in judgment.So, brothers and sisters, the true Savior of all people is the Lord. And the works of holiness are Orthodoxy: that is, the correct glorification of the Lord for what He has done to us. And if we know this for sure, we will always be able to resist the false Catholic notion of "compensation." We cannot add anything to what the Lord has done to us—we must always remember this. And when the Apostle James shows our real state (each of us, because we are all guilty), we are all silent. And we hope only for a miracle, because only the Lord can change us; He can correct and sanctify us. Because holiness is that which comes from the One Holy, that is, from the Lord Himself. In the Scriptures it is said: "The Lord our God, the Lord is one" (Deuteronomy 6:4). mercy is exalted over judgment (James 2:13).If we are unmerciful to other people (although now it is difficult to justify this, since we have found out that we are all guilty), then the judgment against us will also be unmerciful. And mercy is exalted above judgment, including the judgment of God. If we treat each person mercifully, mercifully, then God's mercy will certainly turn to each of us. Therefore, if you have got rid of some sin, for example, the sin of drunkenness, then do not say that the narcologist helped you, do not say that you have found willpower in yourself. Say that this happened with God's help, and you will be right! If you have been delivered from the passions of fornication, do not say that it was you who fasted so well, prayed so fervently, and you finally succeeded. Some people pray in such a way that sometimes they fall into delusion, into the sin of condemnation: they begin to consider themselves righteous and perish. Only the Lord saves us, because only He is our Savior. If any good changes occur in our lives, then the Lord gives it to us. We have already read in the writings of the Apostle James: "Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights" (James 1:17); only He can change something in us, in each of us. This must be remembered and it must be very, very cherished. Otherwise, we will divide people into those who have succeeded in the spiritual life and those who have not succeeded very well in it. But spiritual life is not physical education, where one has pumped up muscles, and the other has not yet had time. The Lord looks at our hearts, looking for manifestations of our good conscience so that it responds to His call. And when we respond to God's call, He Himself begins to act in us. And what previously seemed impossible to us is done by the Lord. That is why the Scriptures say: "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5) With His true humanity, that is, with His tormented body crucified on the cross, He intercedes in heaven as the God-man – for each of us. And only in Him can we find a change in our nature. The Lord Jesus Christ is called the second Adam (cf. 1 Cor. 15:45-47), because in Him a new humanity begins: a humanity that is turning away from sin. Yes, we are all sinners. But we see how our life is changing. We see how many of our sins are becoming a thing of the past. And this is what the Lord does with us – He does it Himself! And if we were left alone with our sins, we would have perished long ago. Many would simply have died physically by now! But the Lord saves each of us. Some people ask the question: what will the saved righteous do in eternity? But even eternity is not enough to thank the Lord for His unspeakable mercy to us, sinners, whom He has pulled out of the endless abyss of sin! And if the Lord vouchsafes us blessed eternity, then we will eternally thank Him for the great gifts that He has vouchsafed us. There we will learn how many times the Lord has helped us, how many times He has corrected our feet, contrary to the aspirations of our sinful will. And we will sing His wonderful name, we will glorify Him. We are Orthodox Christians. We are the ones who praise the Lord rightly; who knows why they praise Him. Some people, cleansed by the Lord from sin, say: "I don't know how I quit drinking: if it were not for the Lord, I would never have been able to do it!" The work of purification and correction of each of us is the work of our whole life. And if we are Christians, then this work will continue as long as we are alive.And the devil hates us because we are cleansed from sins: after all, repentance is closed to him! He envies us, he constantly reminds us of our past sins. And his final blow will be directed at us when we are on our deathbed: then he will remind us of all our past sins and will plunge us into despair: "And where are you going with such sins? There is only one way for you - straight to hell!" He will do this so that we will fall into despondency right on our deathbeds and, having sinned with despondency – this mortal sin – we will fall straight to him. No! We must firmly believe that Christ the Savior delivers us from sins! And he openly, in the presence of those around him, began to name such sins that everyone was surprised! He stood and said loudly, "I had such a sin, such a sin!" ... He talked and talked, then even a smile appeared on his face. A smile in which there was the joy of liberation from these sins! And our parishioners shamed him: "It's just as indecent – everyone can hear you!" But he answered: "I am talking about these sins, but it was no longer I who sinned with them, it was another person: I was different then!" This is how we should treat our former sinful life—as the life of another person! The sacrament of confession is called the second baptism. And in baptism we die to one life in order to be made alive to another. This is what immersion in water symbolizes: dying for one life and being born for another. So it is in confession: the priest covers you with an epitrachelion, you cover yourself with it like a burial shroud — and you die to sin. Therefore, brothers and sisters, no matter how grave your past sins were, no matter who the witnesses of your former sinful life were, no matter how sarcastically they remind you of these sins, you say this: "Father has forgiven me this sin." You will be objected: "And who is your father?" The Lord Jesus Christ Himself gave the authority to priests – the successors of the holy apostles – to forgive sins. The keys of the Kingdom of Heaven are in the hands of the Church. What the Church allows on earth will be allowed in heaven. What the Church binds on earth will also be bound in heaven (cf. Matt. 18:18). That is, the Church is an open door to the Kingdom of Heaven!When the Lord expelled Adam and Eve from paradise, the gates of paradise were closed and the Angel was placed on guard. And now these gates are open again! What is a temple? Is it a building? Yes, but incomparably more than just a building. What is a temple, and where is it? On the ground? Yes, on earth, but also immeasurably higher than on earth! The temple of God is the threshold of paradise, it is heaven on earth! Every Orthodox church is what the Lord Jesus Christ spoke about and the prophets wrote: "The Kingdom of God is at hand" (Mark 1:15). So close that it is already on the ground. And not just on earth, but the Kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21).When we partake of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Himself enters into us. We confess, receive Holy Unction, get married... We die, and they bury us... This grace-filled life of the Kingdom of God is already in us and around us, it is here! The Gospel says: "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20). Who's in the middle? The Lord Himself! What are we afraid of then? Are we afraid of our former sins, which are no longer there – after all, we have already confessed them? Are we afraid of the future? But if the Lord protects, we will not have any future sins! We talk about the Lord, we speak with hope, we testify from His word – and we must feel His presence! The Lord does not abandon us, first of all, by His mercy, by His care for us. And we should thank Him! As I have already said, eternity is not enough for us to thank Him for the great miracles that He has wrought with each of us! Can this faith save him? (James 2:14).This text and below, up to verse 26, is the part of the Bible that Protestants do not like very much, people who believe that we are saved only by faith, regardless of works. Can this faith save him? What kind of faith in salvation is it if a person, having realized that he is saved, does not thank the Lord for this salvation with his own life? You are tormented, you are afraid, you feel the approach of agony and the cold of death, which is inexorably approaching you. And suddenly a doctor appears who begins to treat you. And he saves you from this disease – a skilled surgeon, he cuts out the tumor and you go home happy and satisfied. You are asked: "What is the name of this doctor who saved you?" And you say: "Yes, I do not know his name, but I am grateful to him." – "Did you at least thank this doctor, did you do something for him?" – "No... But the operation went well, everything is already behind!" But it doesn't really happen like that, brothers and sisters! If a person (a person!) saves us from death, we certainly want to thank him, we want to do something for him. Such should be our attitude towards God: if we believe that the Lord is our Savior, then we must thank Him with our very lives. That is why faith cannot be without works! Did you believe that God saved you? And how did you thank Him for this salvation? If a brother or sister is naked and has no daily sustenance, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, warm yourselves, and be nourished," but does not give them what is necessary for the body, what is the use? (James 2:15-16).As we have repeatedly said, the Lord Jesus Christ gives us a unique opportunity: serving each person, serving Him directly. If we want to thank the Lord for what He has done for us, we must do good to others! Do you remember the parable of the bishop who forgave the debts of his debtor (cf. Matt. 18:23-35)? And what did this forgiven man do? His debt was forgiven, and he found his debtor, began to shake him and demand that he repay the debt; And he even threw him in jail because he couldn't pay. And when Vladyka found out what this person he had forgiven did, he punished him! Yes, the Lord has forgiven us, but this means that we must also forgive every person. For the measure of how we treat others is the measure of how the Lord will treat each of us [1]. This is very important to remember. If you see that a person is badly dressed, he does not have good clothes, and was not your soul naked when you repented in confession and did not find a single good deed in yourself?.. Like Adam in paradise, you stood then and did not know where to hide, and you were ashamed to stand before the priest, but even more terrible – before God.. But the priest forgave you in the presence of God, clothed you in the garments of righteousness. So why don't you help a poor person who doesn't have good clothes? After all, it is the Lord who sends us earnings. Brothers and sisters, we must repay our debts – debts to God – by helping other people. And no matter what we do, we will never pay back all our debts—we will always remain indebted to God, no matter how hard we work! But let death find us in a state where we are constantly helping others. It is very important to die in the field of charity and mercy, in the field of returning His inheritance to God. This is extremely important: by what court you judge, you will be judged; and with what measure ye measure, it shall be measured unto you also (Matt. 7:2). ^

Part 3

And we often say to these beggars, these needy people: "Go in peace! I have enough problems of my own..." What problems do you have?! If you walk around so impudently and proudly, you will soon really learn such problems that you will go begging yourself! Because God is jealous, like the bishop who ordered the return of the evil lender whom he forgave and punished him, punished him terribly! But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works": show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith from my works. You believe that God is one: you do well; and the demons believe, and tremble (James 2:17-19).Many people say of themselves: "I believe, I believe... We are believers..."Now it is generally fashionable to say that a person is a believer. If, for example, a politician is shown on TV, they will always ask him: "Are you a believer or not?" And if he says: "Yes, I am a believer!" then the host somehow immediately becomes animated and the conversation somehow becomes more lively... For example, a person was in the hospital with a serious illness (let's say, the same cancer), then left the hospital and said: "I'm healthy!" "And what is your health? Is it that you're just talking about it? But you can go back to the same hospital in a month or two, can you?" Only the one who got rid of the disease forever is truly healthy! So if a person says, "I am a believer," it should not mean that he simply shares a concept. A true believer is not one who believes in God—that God exists—but one who believes in God! To believe God means to accept His every word as a commandment to be fulfilled. And in the fact that God exists – this is what many believe, the majority of people. The Apostle James says: "And the demons believe and tremble." And how do such "believers" differ from demons? They only speak in language: "I believe, I believe...", but they still live in sins. They are even worse than demons: after all, demons not only believe, but also tremble! And these people say: "We are believers," without changing anything in their sinful life. Your faith in God, your Christianity must be attested to by life: by good deeds, by a kind attitude towards your neighbors.Protestants are especially guilty of this text from the Bible. They say: "It is enough to believe, and you will be saved!" If you follow their logic, then all the demons will be saved, because they believe and tremble! But faith alone cannot save a person. It is also necessary to fulfill God's commandments: faith is not in God – that He exists, but faith in God – complete trust in Him, trust in His every word, each of His commandments. The law of God should be above all for us! And we must seek such a living faith. Not demonic, but dead, without good works, without a concrete result. Yes, brothers and sisters, the world demands of us demonic faith! Different, constantly replacing one another, rulers tell us: "You believe, only do not interfere in modern life! The Church should not interfere in the life of the state..."How do we understand that we should not interfere? We shouldn't interfere when innocent people are being killed?! Should we not interfere when drugs are already distributed in schools?! If we do not interfere, we will be like demons who rejoice in the death of people! No, we will interfere! This is our fatherland, our land – we are obliged to interfere!And we are taught to believe in the demonic faith: "Okay, believe that God exists; go to church, gather in your church..."But this is not enough for us! The Church must go to military units, to army barracks and preach the word of God there... The church should go to institutes, universities, schools... We want the whole state to become Orthodox! Therefore, we will always defend the position of active Christianity.We are often told: "Do not interfere in our affairs, this is already politics..." But we do not recognize any of their policies! For us, there is only the power of God: the power that the sun and stars hold above the earth, that holds the breath of life in each of us! We recognize only the authority of God, which governs the beating of our hearts, the life of every person on earth! Only the Lord is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.And they want us to have demonic faith: so that the country is as they want, and we want us to pray and not interfere in anything. Brothers and sisters, you and I must actively bear witness to Christ where each of us is. After all, it is no accident that the Apostle Paul teaches: "Everyone remain in the calling in which he was called" (1 Corinthians 7:20). That is, if you believe in the Lord, for example, being a military man, remain a military man. The Church needs Orthodox soldiers – it will be necessary to restore order in the country someday! Are you called as a teacher? Remain an Orthodox teacher, teach children the basics of the faith, the Law of God! Are you called as a doctor? It is always better to be treated by a believing doctor than by an unclear one! You have been called by the Lord to serve the Church, do you want to become a priest? Be a true priest: do not say what is expected of you, preach to people not what you have invented yourself, but what is written in the Holy Scriptures, what the word of God teaches, the Holy Fathers! The social niche that each of us occupies must be sanctified by us. If you are a husband, head of wife, head of the family – take care of your family! If you work at the machine, work at the machine! If the Church calls you to another ministry, go to another service! There is no bad work, as long as this work is honest and does not violate the commandments of God.I remember my young years, when after the 8th grade I went to work in a factory. I had such an interesting job: I put on a gas mask, then climbed into a metal boiler, where resins were mixed, and then drained. On the metal walls of the boiler, the resin dried out, and it had to be knocked down with a sharp tool. And I was in this cauldron and churning the remnants of tar as long as I could breathe. After work, I went to the shower, washed off all the dirt, all the soot and chemicals, put on clean clothes, left the factory and felt like a happy person! Although I was young then, I still felt a sense of fulfilled religious duty after work. I even wanted to work in a factory all my life! Only the death of my grandmother prevented this: before she died, she said that she wanted me to be a priest. It is very important when we treat with a sense of duty any work that is entrusted to us, when we do this work in the name of God, as it is said in the Apostle Paul: "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ" (Col. 3:17). That is why the state must be religious: because there are no spheres of social life that would not be regulated by the Divine commandments. After all, what is the state? This is the body. This is you and me, brothers and sisters, each of us. And what does it mean if the Church is separated from the state? This means that the state body was left without a soul, because the soul of our Russian state is Orthodoxy! And we see how these madmen, these nihilists, who cannot stop drug addiction, say from the TV screens: "We have already lost!" They cannot stop crime and say: "We have lost here too!" Recently, there was a message on TV that a huge gang of criminals had been detained. This whole gang consisted of police officers! All of them were killers: they killed people for money. We constantly hear about such crimes, brothers and sisters... Thus, this demonic path is the path of secularization of society, the separation of religion from the people, the Church from the state. This is the faith that we do not need. This is a demonic path to nowhere. We must fill our state with religious content. You and I, according to the word of the Lord, are the salt that should salt everything, that is, preserve everything from decay and decay [1].Let us read again:You believe that God is one: you do well; and the demons believe, and tremble (James 2:19).And then it is said: "But do you want to know, O unfounded man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by his works, when he laid Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith has worked together with his works, and by works his faith has been made perfect? And the word of the Scripture was fulfilled: "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God." Do you see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone? Likewise, Rahab the harlot was not justified by her works, having received spies and sent them away in another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead (James 2:20-26).Here the holy Apostle James gives us examples: the example of the righteous Abraham, the example of Rahab. These examples are worthy of imitation, because these people not only showed faith, but for the sake of it were ready to change everything both in family life (righteous Abraham lays his only son Isaac on the altar) and in personal life (Rahab, contrary to his natural affection for his fellow citizens, lets spies into Jericho). when, cleansed by the Lord, purified by this gift of faith, in gratitude to their Creator, they change their entire life, both their personal life and the life that surrounds them. Then, brothers and sisters, we will not follow the path of demonic dead faith, not the path of this secularization, the secularization of modern life, but the path ordained by God. "Thy kingdom come... as in Heaven and on earth." That is, we want the Divine order to be the same everywhere sooner or later, both in heaven and on earth. And this Kingdom of God, the power of God, is the perfection that will change both earth and heaven.Holy Scripture testifies to us that that day will come, and then there will be a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1). And the new humanity is already being born. Every day. In every Orthodox church. In every Orthodox diocese. This is the new humanity that will live under a new sky and on a new earth. This is the Kingdom of God on earth – every Orthodox Christian! But each of you brings a piece of the Kingdom of God to your families, to your loved ones. They will not notice it right away, they may not react to it correctly. They may not understand it in your lifetime. But believe me: salt always salts. How many people I have met who came to repent and said: "My grandmother taught me, but only after her death did I realize that she was right!" ... Yes, I can testify about myself: my grandmother's most cherished dream was to see me serve as a priest in the church. But she did not even live to see the moment when I became a deacon.Perhaps in our lifetime we will not see spiritual results in our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. But salt always salts! Spread the Kingdom of God around you, spread this peace of Christ! Do good with gratitude to the Lord for the great deeds that He has done with us. But if the salt loses its savor, how wilt thou make it salty? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out to be trampled under foot by men (Matt. 5:13). ^