Truly, repentance is the first step of the ladder that leads to the Kingdom of God. No one could ever step on the second step without first stepping on this first one. In the emptiness of this life, repentance is the first and only true knock at the heavenly door. You can bang your fists on the walls of a house as much as you want: no one will hear you and no one will open you. But knock on the door, and it will be opened for you. Repentance is not a knock on the wall, but on the true door that leads to light and salvation. Whoever sincerely repented and wished to enter the house of his Heavenly Father, has already knocked at the only gate through which it is possible to enter this house.

The love of money blinds, only Christ gives sight to the blind. The love of money makes a person lonely and binds him with the chains of slavery; Christ brings the lonely man out of his solitude and brings him into the assembly of angels, and unchains the slave, and makes him free. And to all who repent, who have risen to see Him, He reveals Himself; and to whom He appears, all the mysteries of Heaven and earth, and all the innumerable and everlasting treasures which God has prepared for those who love Him from the creation of the world, are revealed and made manifest. To our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in this is due honor and glory, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, One-in-Essence and Indivisible, now and ever, at all times and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

The Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos. The Gospel of the Archangel Gabriel

Luke, 3 rec., 1:24-38.

The sun is reflected in clear waters, and the sky is reflected in a pure heart.

There are many abodes with God the Holy Spirit in this vast universe, but the pure heart of man is the abode of His greatest joy. It is His true abode, all the rest are only His workshops.

The human heart can never be empty, it is always filled: either with hell, or with peace, or with God. The content of the heart depends on the purity of the heart.

At one time the human heart was filled only with God; it was a mirror only for the babbling of God, a harp only for the praise of God. Once it was truly in the hand of God - and was out of danger. But when man in madness took it into his hands, many beasts attacked the human heart, and from there began what is called the slavery of the human heart, and when viewed from the outside, is called world history.

Unable to hold his heart with his own hands, man leaned it against the surrounding creatures and things. But whatever a person leaned his heart to, it got dirty and damaged because of it.

O poor human heart, the property of many illegitimate owners, pearls among swine! How you are petrified by long slavery, how you are darkened by the heavy darkness! God Himself had to come down to free you from bondage, to save you from darkness, to heal you of sinful leprosy, and to take you back into His hands.

The descent of God to people is the most fearless act of God's love, God's love for mankind, the most joyful news for the pure and the most incredible event for the impure in heart.

Like a pillar of fire in the thickest darkness - such is the descent of God to people. And the story of this descent of God to people begins with an angel and a Virgin, with a conversation between heavenly purity and earthly purity.

When an impure heart converses with an unclean heart, it is war. When an impure heart converses with a pure heart, this is war. And only when a pure heart converses with a pure heart, this is joy, peace and miracle.

The Archangel Gabriel is the first herald of human salvation, or the miracle of God; for there would be no salvation of man without the miracle of God. The Most Pure Virgin Mary was the first to hear this gospel and the first of human beings to tremble with fear and joy. In Her heart the sky was reflected like the sun in clear waters; under Her heart the Lord, the Creator of the new and the Renewer of the old world, had to bow His head and put on His flesh. This is what today's Gospel reading says.