Then, when the first layer of sin is removed from his soul, the second will appear under it. People often say: what is it, I never knew about myself, and suddenly I got out of me. It's very simple: you have struggled with those sins that are on the surface, and the Lord helped you to correct them, and now the second layer is revealed. If you take it off, there is a third, a fourth, because in our souls such layers of sins come one after another. And we don't need to live in order to process food into manure – there are animals that do it perfectly. Man was created by God to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The Lord wants to lead every person into the Kingdom of Heaven. So these layers need to be removed, removed, and there is no need to be surprised that we have many of them. Life is given to everyone just enough to be completely cleansed of all sins.

And we must try to do so; we must endure the way the Lord heals us, how He Himself heals us with all kinds of sorrows, illnesses, difficulties – He applies plasters to our soul in order to steam this scab. For example, let's say we have some kind of sore on the body, and if we apply a compress to it, it will get wet, it can be slowly peeled off. Slowly, because you can't tear it off with meat, it will be very painful. So is sin. The Lord will send some kind of illness, we will be ill for a day or two, a month, a year – you see, the soul will soften a little, and then we can remove this sinful scab. The Lord Himself chooses medicines for everyone according to their soul, according to their illness. And we must thank God for this.

Some people who are mistaken think that if order is established on earth, if human relations are good, so that everything is fair, then immediately people will be good, beauty will immediately come. And no, nothing works, on the contrary, it gets worse - and crime grows, and people drink more vodka. The question is, why is this? Because you need to deal with the soul first of all. For example, a bad person was born, and his mother raised him badly, and the guys on the street taught him who knows what. How can he become good? Is it possible? I read Gorky, I read Chernyshevsky, I read Mayakovsky – "Who to be?", "What is to be done?". I will know everything. So what, will I become better? No.

Not a single book, not a single movie, not a single wonderful performance can correct a person. Put a criminal in the auditorium, where the actors say the best words from the stage, the dramaturgy is wonderful. So what, will it come out cleaned? No, a play or a book can only give rise to a thought about what is good and what is bad. But neither Tolstoy, nor Dostoevsky, nor Pushkin, nor anyone can purify a person, make him good from bad. Because a writer may write correctly, but he himself does not do the right thing. And if you look at, for example, a biography of Leo Tolstoy or "Confessions", you think, well, well! One sinner cannot correct another sinner.

And a person cannot correct himself. We are often surprised: why can't I do anything, no matter how hard I try, I can't do anything with myself? But if it were possible to be cleansed from sin without God, the question arises, would Christ have come to earth? Only God can correct a person, because He created him, He knows how his soul is arranged. And God loves man. Therefore, if we want to be better, we must turn to God. Only He can give us the grace that will make us better from bad, clean from dirty, clever from fools, beautiful from ugly. And in all difficulties, sorrows, in the struggle with sin, we must ask Him: "Lord, help, you see, I am exhausted, you see how I struggle with sin. You help me."

And if we do our best to refrain from sin and ask for God's help, we will see how the grace of God will begin to heal us, miracles will happen. These miracles are manifested in the Church every hour. We simply do not notice it, because the Kingdom of Heaven does not come in a noticeable way. Gradually, gradually, by the grace of God, all the most beautiful things that were laid down by God will be revealed in us.

Living without God, a person usually becomes worse and worse, more gloomy, angrier, more envious, he cultivates evil in himself, turns into some kind of monster gradually, as if he is maturing in sin. And if, on the contrary, he strives for God, then he becomes better, purer and more beautiful. And if we have such an aspiration, then each of our confessions will turn out to be a step forward towards God, and not just a formality before communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, April 8, 1988, before confession

The beginning of Peter's Fast

If you ask a person: "What do you think is the most terrible sin?" – one will name murder, another theft, a third meanness, a fourth betrayal. In fact, the most terrible sin is unbelief, and it gives rise to meanness, betrayal, adultery, theft, murder, and whatever.

Sin is not a transgression; A transgression is a consequence of sin, just as a cough is not a disease, but its consequence. Very often it happens that a person has not killed anyone, has not robbed anyone, has not committed any kind of meanness, and therefore thinks well of himself, but he does not know that his sin is worse than murder and worse than theft, because he misses the most important thing in his life.

Unbelief is a state of mind when a person does not feel God. It is associated with ingratitude to God, and it infects not only people who completely deny the existence of God, but also each of us. Like any mortal sin, unbelief blinds a person. If you ask someone, for example, about higher mathematics, he will say: "This is not my topic, I don't understand anything about it." If you ask about cooking, he will say: "I don't even know how to cook soup, it's not in my competence." But when it comes to faith, everyone has their own opinion. One declares: I think so; Another: I think so. One says: there is no need to observe fasts. And the other: my grandmother was a believer and she did this, so you have to do it this way. And everyone undertakes to judge and order, although in most cases they do not understand anything about it.

Why, when questions are about faith, does everyone strive to express their stupid opinion? Why do people suddenly become specialists in these matters? Why are they sure that everyone here understands, knows everything? Because everyone believes that he believes to the very degree that is necessary. In fact, this is absolutely not the case, and it is very easy to check. The Gospel says: "If you have faith as a mustard seed, and say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will pass." If this is not observed, then there is no faith even with a mustard seed. Since man is blinded, he thinks that he believes enough, but in fact he cannot do even such a trifle as move a mountain, which can be moved even without faith. And because of lack of faith, all our troubles occur.