In the inner sense, the fisherman means the catcher of spiritual goods, the net - the soul, the sea - this world, the boat - the body. Casting their nets into the sea, these fishermen seek spiritual blessings, spiritual food, or the Kingdom of God, stretching out and immersing their souls in the depths of this world, in order to catch these blessings somewhere. Repairing the nets means their work to correct their souls. The fact that the first two left their nets and followed Christ means that they left their old and sinful souls and followed Christ in order to be renewed, reborn and gain a new soul and a new spirit. And this also means that now they will seek and catch spiritual blessings not by the efforts of their own souls, but by Christ, not by their own strength, but by the power of God, not by their minds, but by Divine revelation. And the fact that the other two left the boat and their father means that they left their sinful body and their bodily father, in order henceforth to be concerned about the salvation of their souls and to go to meet their Heavenly Father as adopted by the grace of God.

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every infirmity among the people. After thirty years of solitary life, our Lord Jesus Christ now begins His Divine ministry, and begins with zeal and determination. This is indicated by the words: he walked throughout all Galilee. His ministry consisted in interpreting the old, in preaching the new, and in confirming both by miracles, healing people. The law was given through Moses and the prophets, and it was witnessed by many miracles, so that people would believe that this law is from God. But the interpreters of the law, having darkened their souls with sin, completely darkened the meaning of this law. For this reason this Old Testament law became dead and as if it did not exist. Now our Lord Jesus Christ, the most pure and sinless, reveals Himself as the only true Lawyer and true Interpreter of that first law. He interprets its meaning and reveals its spirit, which is closed to sinners. He is now the Interpreter of the Spirit, just as the Spirit will later be His Interpreter. He does not reject the Old Testament law of God - how can He reject it, when He Himself gave it? But on the basis of its true spiritual and prophetic meaning, He now gives a new law of salvation by preaching the Good News of the Kingdom. The Old Testament law is like a good and fertile land, which people have neglected to such an extent that its face is completely hidden under thorns and thistles sown by people, that is, by falsely named interpreters. So that everyone turned away his eyes and his heart from this desolate earth. Now the Lord is plowing this land and sowing new seed. And people look at Him with fear and wonder. And just as the Old Testament law was attested to by many Divine miracles, so our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Lawgiver, testified to this new law by many miracles. Those miracles were performed not for an idle and vain demonstration of their power, but in order to bring true benefit to people. All of them consist in the healing of physical and spiritual illnesses and human infirmities. For the Lord has visited us not as a sorcerer, but as a Friend and Physician.

All of you who hunger and thirst for righteousness and the love of God, who in vain catch this truth and love with your souls, like nets, in the sea of this world, hear the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ. For He calls you, as He once called the fishermen near the Sea of Galilee: Follow Me. And when you hear this voice, do not hesitate a moment, but immediately leave all your old efforts and all your old love and follow Him. He is your only Friend and Physician; all others who are outside of Him are either ignorant or charlatans. He calls you not as kings, nor as shepherds, nor as rich, nor as poor, nor as learned, nor as uneducated, but as people full of sickness and infirmity. The cause of our illnesses and infirmities is sin. Therefore, fall down before our Lord Jesus Christ and cry out to Him, as the multitude of the sick and infirm once were: Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner! Forgive me, Lord, forgive my innumerable sins. Cleanse me with Thy power, nourish me with Thy life-giving bread, enter deeply into me, like fresh and pure air in a stifling room, and I will be healthy, and I will be healthy and alive! May the Lord thus be glorified in the strength of our soul and purity of body, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, One-in-Essence and Indivisible, through the help and prayers of the holy Apostles of Christ, now and ever, at all times and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Third Sunday after Pentecost. The Gospel of Purity of Mind

Matt. 18 rec., 6:22-33.

Of all people on earth, the greatest responsibility before God is borne by a person who calls himself a Christian. For God has given the Christian the most, but He will also hold him accountable for the most. To the nations that have departed from the original revelation of God, God has left nature and reason: nature as a book and reason as a guide to this book. To Christians, along with nature and reason, the original revelation of God has been restored and a new revelation of truth has been given through our Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, Christians also have the Church, which is the guardian, interpreter and guide of both these revelations; and, finally, Christians have the power of the Holy Spirit, who from the very beginning gives life and instructs the Church. And thus, while non-Christians have one single talent - reason, which guides and teaches them from the book of nature, Christians have five talents: reason, Old Testament revelation, New Testament revelation, the Church, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Who should see better and read more clearly: the man with one candle, the man with two candles, or the man with five candles? It is certain that each of them will be able to read to some extent, and it is still more certain that the man with the five candles will be able to see farther and read more clearly than the first two. If the candles of the one who had five candles were extinguished, he would find himself in greater darkness than the one whose only candle was extinguished. For when two people find themselves in the same darkness, it is darker in the eyes of the one who has entered the darkness from a greater light. Those who walk with a single candle, that is, with a pure and undarkened mind, can break through the dark gorge of this life to the great light of God, but it is much easier for those before whom the candlestick of five candles shines. And if those who walk with one candle, having turned from the path and lost their way in darkness, are unanswerable (Romans 1:20), then how can those who have received five candles from Him, but still turn away from the path and get lost in darkness, be justified before God? Truly, of all people on earth, the greatest responsibility before God is borne by the person who calls himself a Christian.

In His Gospel today, our Lord Jesus Christ reveals simple and clear truths that many of us, so to speak, stumble over every day and do not see. The truths, meanwhile, are so simple and clear that even a person with a single candle - a God-given pure mind - can see them and recognize them.

Thus says the Lord: The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, if thy eye be pure, thy whole body shall be light; but if thy eye be evil, thy whole body shall be dark. The eyes are the windows of the body, through which the body learns about the light, receives the light, and recognizes everything in the light. If these windows are boarded up, what a terrible prison the body becomes! The eyes are the guide of the body: as long as this guide, keeping a watchful eye, goes forward, the body moves correctly and does not wander without a path; The legs go as they should, the arms work as they should, and every part of the body performs its functions as it should. But if the guide falls into darkness, into what darkness do those who are led fall! If the eyes are extinguished and cease to shine on the body, what an insane accumulation of darkness the body represents! Then all paths are closed for the body: the legs either do not go at all, or go where they do not need to; hands either do nothing at all, or do not do the right thing; And every part of the body does not perform its functions as it should. The foot tramples, and with this tries to replace darkened vision; the hand feels, and with this tries to replace the darkened vision; The ear listens more attentively, and thus tries to replace vision. But all in vain, the followers cannot replace their guidebook. Confusion and confusion ensue. Without eyes, the human body truly becomes a real prison.

The inner meaning of these words is revealed by itself after the next sentence, which reads: "If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, then what is the darkness? It is not said, "The light is upon thee, or the light is before thee, but in thee." In this way, the Lord turns the entire image of the eye and body to the inner world of man, to the mind and to the soul. For the eye is the image of the mind, and the body is the image of the soul. The Holy Scriptures often speak of the clairvoyance of the mind, as well as of its blindness. The Apostle Paul desires the Ephesians that God would enlighten the eyes of their hearts (1:18). And David the Psalmist asks God: "Open my eyes, and I will understand the wonders of Thy law" (Psalm 118:18), meaning here the mental eyes and the inner sight, by which alone the laws of God can be seen. The mind is the eye of the whole soul. The mind is the window of the soul to God. As long as the mind is bright, pure, and open to God, the light of heaven is poured out upon the whole soul, and our thoughts ascend directly to God. All the feelings of our heart merge into love for God and for His law, all intentions, all aspirations, all the deeds of our soul are bright, healthy and directed to the service of God. Like a lighted field, on which the flock grazes and the shepherds rejoice, and on which, fearing the light, wolves dare not penetrate! Only when the sun goes down and darkness descends, the wolves decide to come to the field and look for prey. And our soul, illumined by a pure and sound mind, is free from the wild beasts of vices and passions, which pounce upon it only when it is covered by the darkness of a sick mind.

Once Abba Benjamin fell mortally ill. His grieving disciples and admirers began to pray at his bed for recovery. Hearing what they were praying to God for, the elder said to them: "Pray, that my inner man may not get sick, and I have not seen any gain from this body, as long as it was healthy, and now, when it is sick, I do not feel any loss" (Alphabetical Patericon). If the mind is pure, everything is pure in the human soul, and then the whole person is pure. But to a pure man all things are pure (Titus 1:15). There is no doubt that in every person, even with the greatest purity of mind, there is also impurity; but a person with a pure mind does not want to see impurity. He directs his mind, and the mind controls the whole soul only to that which is pure, both within man and in the outer world. And, striving with his mind only to that which is pure, man is more and more enriched with purity. The more our mind lingers on our Lord Jesus Christ as perfect Purity and Light, the more it becomes, and through Him both the heart and the soul, become purer, brighter, more radiant and more clairvoyant.

If the mind turns away from God, rejects God and blasphemes Him, and the lamp of the soul is extinguished; the window in the upper room is walled up; The Soul Guide slipped and fell into the pit. "As clouds do not gather without a breath of wind, so passion is not born without thoughts," says Mark the Ascetic (Philokalia). "Thoughts are like winds that blow from a shaken mind and stir up the irritable and lustful nature of man." What darkness our soul then becomes! She is confused and, like a blind woman, wanders by touch one way, then another. An instantaneous thought will flare up at the soul's guide like an electric spark, but it will immediately be extinguished and give way to the guidance of a momentary feeling, which is replaced by another feeling, or another thought, or by this or that striving, until at last a person is plunged into the darkness of despair. And the exhausted and darkened soul is completely given over to the guidance of the body, which without the light of the soul is darkness and blindness. And the body becomes the leader. And the blind man begins to lead the blind until both inevitably fall into the pit.

And the words of Christ quoted also refer to parents and teachers, leaders of the people and priests of the Church of God. Parents are eyes for their children, teachers for their students, leaders for their people. If those who go ahead do not see where they are going, how much more so do those who follow them. If parents are wandering without a path, then how can children find the right path? If teachers lie, how can students know the truth? If the leaders of the people are atheists, then how can the people be pious? If the priests of God are unclean, then how can believers be clean? Then the words of the prophets will be fulfilled in all of them, which have been fulfilled many times in the people of Israel: "With your ears you will hear, and you will not understand, and with your eyes you will see, and you will not see" (Matt. 13:14; cf. John 9:39). That is: looking with bodily eyes at spiritual things and events, you will not see them; for the bodily eye sees the bodily, and the spiritual eye sees the spiritual. But because their spiritual sight has been darkened, everything spiritual in heaven and on earth remains invisible and unknown to them, for they see only with their bodily eyes. The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, because he considers them foolishness; and cannot understand, because these things must be judged spiritually (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Listen to what else the Apostle Paul says: "But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16). Blessed is he among us who can say of himself that he has the mind of Christ! Blessed is he who has rejected his mortal, wavering, earthly mind and replaced it with the strong mind of Christ! He will be all filled with the ineffable light, and he will see the whole world immersed in one great light, as Moses was immersed in the bush in the flames. He will easily pass through the gorge of this life, for his path will be illuminated by the best lamp, the keenest eye, the purest mind. For the Lord says: I am the light of the world; whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness" (John 8:12). Christ is our light, Christ is the eye of our life. Whoever wants to know life and see the way of true life must look with this eye. Every other eye is more or less corrupted, darkened, and clogged, and, like glasses, enlarges or diminishes, brings objects nearer or farther away. Only through the eye of Christ can everything be seen as it is, both in heaven and on earth, in man and in things. That is why it will be most difficult to answer before God to those who are given to look at everything through the eye of Christ, but they do not look.