Therefore, if we want the Lord to really be born in our hearts, to grow and live and to lead us into the Kingdom of Heaven, then we must live by faith, we must constantly strengthen and develop this virtue in ourselves. And how to do it? Here I am such a person who is absent-minded, unprayerful, unvirtuous, very far from God, feeling nothing, so I lie and sleep all my life. And my conscience does not particularly torment me for any of my sins. And how can I revive my faith? How can I make it real, how can I make it so that I really have the fear of God?

The fear of God is born of the presence of God. God is near, and man trembles, afraid to sin. Cut him into pieces - he cannot sin, because God is standing nearby. How can I? The Lord Jesus Christ looks at me and says to me: "Learn from me, that I am meek and lowly in heart." Am I going to be angry, proud, insisting on my own way? And you can also die of shame.

How can we acquire such faith? Only by fulfilling the commandments. But in this way: you need to read the Holy Scriptures, and learn the commandments of God, and try to fulfill these commandments. To do it, even if it does not feel the benefit of it and does not see the need for it. And then the Lord will draw near to us. Like Abraham, he didn't see God directly in front of him. The Scripture says, God said to Abraham. But we do not know how the Lord addressed him: whether he heard a voice, whether it was in a dream or in some other way. But you and I have the greatest opportunity that Abraham did not have. In the time of Abraham there was not even the Holy Scriptures, and now we have a whole book - the words of the Lord. The very Word of God came to earth, and we are nourished by this Word. The Gospel, the entire New Testament in general, is a living revelation of God. Every time we communicate with the Holy Gospel, we communicate with the Lord Himself, the Lord tells us through this book. And we need to take these words into our hearts, we need to try to fulfill them. And then our heart will gradually come to life.

How does this happen? Here is a simple example. The man drowned, they pulled him out of the water - he does not breathe, his heart is standing. And he is given artificial respiration, his lungs are made to move. And when they began to move them, he began to breathe, clapped his eyes, and came to life. So do we. Our faith is very poor, we do not have living faith by ourselves, but we need to do such artificial respiration for ourselves - to begin to fulfill the commandments of God. To fulfill them, not even realizing their usefulness, not understanding the full necessity of them, that is, to act as if in reverse.

When a person is a Christian, then God's commandments are fulfilled by him. For example, there is no such force on earth that would force Seraphim of Sarov to steal. Even with the threat of death, with a threat to relatives. He will say: I can't. Why? Because it is before the eyes of Christ. How can he violate the commandment of Christ? Yes, he loves his body - naturally, who hates his flesh? He wants to live, and it hurts him too. But here Christ stands, how can we not listen to Christ? "Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me." He remembers these words. He read the entire New Testament during the week: Matthew on Monday, Mark on Tuesday, Luke on Wednesday. He knew it by heart. And how could he go against the commandment, when it was said: Thou shalt not steal? How could he get over it? He couldn't.

And we, on the contrary, can do everything: we can condemn, and slander, and be malicious, and take revenge, and take all kinds of thoughts into ourselves. And it is very difficult for us to resist. Therefore, we need to act from a completely different side. For example, we take the commandment: for example, to pray unceasingly, and we force ourselves to pray all our lives. Not only in the morning and evening, but also in the afternoon, and always, wherever we are, we try to pray. As he remembered, so he forced himself. And pray until the devil steals our thoughts again. And so pushing all the time. The Lord says: "Push, and it will be opened to you." Or, "Love your enemies." Said? Said. This means that I will try to fulfill this commandment. He has done me evil, I want to take revenge on him. But, remembering the commandment, I will take and break myself, I will not take revenge on him, but, on the contrary, I will do good to him for this evil, reluctantly. I don't want to do him any good, everything is boiling inside me, if I had my will, I would kill him on the spot. But no, on the contrary: once he broke himself, twice he broke, three ... He broke it a thousand times, and then you look - the evil is gone, it is gone.

And so gradually, gradually, our soul, which we will "rock" with God's commandments, will gradually begin to breathe, will come to life. Gradually, we will draw closer to Christ, and gradually then we will learn that there is faith that moves mountains. Although this path is very difficult, it requires great courage, there is no other path - only the path of faith in Christ. And our faith is like that of a corpse. The Lord through the Apostle also says: faith without works is dead. What is the use of this faith if we do not fulfill God's commandments? There is no sense in this.

Therefore, if we want our faith to be alive, we must fulfill God's commandments. And in order to know these commandments of God, one must constantly read the Holy Scriptures. That's when our life will bear fruit, otherwise it doesn't really make any sense. If we do not see God in this life, we will not see Him there either. Do you understand how scary it is? Therefore, you have to try all the time. To learn to put oneself before God in order to revive one's soul. Amen.

Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross,

January 4, 1987

All-Night Vigil for the Circumcision of the Lord and the Memory of St. Basil the Great

Today the Holy Church celebrates the memory of St. Basil the Great and the great feast of the Circumcision of the Lord. In general, every event in the life of the Savior is important for the Church, because in them the salvific meaning is revealed to us. On the eighth day of the Circumcision, according to the law of Israel, the Mother of God brought the Savior to the temple in order to perform this ancient rite. The Creator of heaven and earth was circumcised like a simple, ordinary babe, according to the law that was necessary for all children born in this nation.

Circumcision in ancient Israel was a sign of the covenant with God. Now, in the New Israel, in the Church of God, holy baptism has become the sign of this covenant. Whoever is baptized has a covenant with God, whoever is not baptized does not have this covenant. Whoever is baptized is a communicant of the New Israel, of the Church, and whoever is not baptized is not a communion. And of course, the Lord Jesus Christ, born of the Heavenly Father Himself, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, had no need to have an outward sign of the covenant with God. He Himself said, "I and the Father are one." He was constantly together with God, in Him the Divinity dwelt unchangingly, inseparably, inseparably and inseparably. And yet the Lord did it. What for? If circumcision had no meaning for Him, why was it so arranged by God's providence that He underwent this rite?