Fidelity... If we are not faithful, then we are traitors not only to God, not only to what we have experienced, but traitors to ourselves. Because if we have managed to deeply experience what was revealed to us through the word or through sight – and forget it, then we will betray ourselves, we are no longer worthy of ourselves. And therefore loyalty is a terribly important character trait. Loyalty must be developed by determination, by cultivating stability in oneself. Only then can we take the word and plow the ground – if it is not deep, cleanse this land – if it is overgrown with thorns, burn these thorns on the ground itself, even if the earth itself is burned on the surface because of this. Then we can resolutely pursue the goal that has been revealed in our souls—not because God has said so, not because someone we respect has told us so, but because our hearts and minds have responded, and we ourselves have replied to what we have heard: "How true this is! How wonderful it is! As the Apostle Paul said, you can die for this, because it is so valuable, so wonderful, so precious...

I have already said that some people hear and the word does not reach them, they see and remain blind. The prophet Isaiah speaks about this, but a little more extensively. The prophet says in the word of God:

And he said, Go and say to this people, You will hear with your ears, and you will not understand, and you will see with your eyes, and you will not see. For the heart of this people is hardened, and with their ears they can hardly hear, and their eyes are closed, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, that I may heal them, Isaiah 6:1.

These words are addressed to all of us. Beware, man, beware, because if you are not yet able to understand everything because of your youth, because of your lack of maturity, then you must understand at least what is available to you. And if you don't understand anything, ask yourself: what is happening to me? why? simple words are spoken, words that any person can understand as words, but they do not reach me. I don't understand, it doesn't mean anything to me. Has my heart become so coarse that it is only capable of responding to such coarse, earthly things? Or did I close my eyes because I don't want to see?..

There is a terrible passage in the Gospel, in the story of the events of Holy Week. The soldiers took Christ, tied Him to a stake, covered His eyes, began to strike Him in the face and say: "Well, Prophet? Now prophesy who hit you..." (cf. Matthew 26:28). Do we not do this, not only to God, but also to many people? We close our eyes so as not to see, we hit the other person in the face and say: "Did I hit you? I love you, I am your friend." Let us ask ourselves the question: have we not closed our eyes through ill will? Did you plug your ears? Have we not become dumbed down by the fact that we are busy with everything except what is essential? (I am now talking not only about the Divine, but also about the human). Am I not closed to what is most profound and human in me: a sense of nobility, a sense of greatness, a sense of dignity, a sense of beauty, a sense of truth? Am I open to all this? Am I ready to hear a voice that calls me to truth, to honesty, to sacrifice, to nobility? Or do I turn my ears away, close my eyes?..

The parable of the sower is addressed to us harshly, and at the same time with such hope, because, as I said, we are not always the same. Today I am made of stone; tomorrow I am covered with thorns; today I have no depth; but if only I give God the opportunity to approach me every day, either by opening themselves directly to my inner intuition, or by reading the Gospel, or through a neighbor who addresses me — if I do this, suddenly one day I will find myself that good soil that will bear fruit thirty, sixty, a hundredfold, which will reward God for His love, for His cross.

After I have dwelt so long on the parable of the sower, I pass on to the next verses of the fourth chapter.

And he said to them, "Is the candle brought to put it under the bushel or under the bed?" Is it not to put it on a candlestick? There is nothing secret that has not been revealed, and there is nothing hidden that has not come out. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear! And he said to them, "Take note of what you hear: with what measure you measure, it will be measured to you, and it will be added to you who hear." For he who has will be given, but he who does not have will be taken away from him even that which he has. And he said, "The kingdom of God is like if a man throws seed into the ground, and sleeps, and rises night and day; and how the seed sprouts and grows, he does not know, for the earth of its own accord produces first greenery, then an ear, then a full grain in the ear. When the fruit ripens, he immediately sends a sickle, because the harvest has come. And he said, "To what shall we liken the kingdom of God?" or what parable shall we depict him? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown in the ground, is the least of all the seeds on the earth; but when it is sown, it sprouts, and becomes greater than all the crops, and sends forth great branches, so that the birds of the air may take refuge under its shade. And with such many parables he preached the word to them, as far as they could hear. He did not speak to them without a parable, but explained everything to his disciples privately (4:21-34).

I want to draw your attention to a number of points in this short excerpt. Why is a candle brought? In order to shine. And to whom? Of course, not only to the one who brought this candle and lit it. It should shine to everyone in the room. This candle, placed on a window or simply standing on a table in a hut, can be a guiding star for a lost person. Christ says the same thing about what we hear, what we have learned, what has been revealed and blossomed in our souls, about that word, that understanding that has already borne some fruit in our souls. I used to say that it is given to us to share with others the wealth that has fallen to our lot, to give others what we have received. And what will be different? Otherwise, we will lose what we have been given. After all, it can be said that in the end, all this, of course, is the work of God. The Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians says: "I planted, Apollos watered, but God grew" (1 Corinthians 3:6). And we must remember this. And we must remember that the rapidity with which a word grows does not necessarily correspond to our desire for everything to be fulfilled as soon as possible. How the word, the image, the understanding sank into the soul, how it sprang up is sometimes incomprehensible. A spiritually revived person does not immediately become a mature person. You need to have patience both with yourself and with others. It is in vain that we sometimes lose heart, not seeing in ourselves and in others the desired growth—God's seed will sooner or later sprout. Before the ear can appear above the ground, something inevitable must happen to the seed under the ground: it must dissolve, as it were, disappear. This seed ceases to be a closed unit, it is permeated, saturated with moisture, it is no longer recognizable, it is impossible to distinguish it from the earth. And only when this seed can no longer be distinguished from the soil in which it is located, then fruitfulness begins. And this fruit can appear not only dramatically, in some amazing way, but in the smallest, imperceptible way.

This is evidenced by the story of the mustard seed. A tiny seed falls to the ground, goes deep into it, begins to melt, as it were, disappears, ceases to have its own separate personality, in order to become related, to grow together with the soil in which it is. Then this tiny seed bears fruit, and a whole bush grows, where the birds of the sky, huge in comparison with the tiny grain, can take refuge. And therefore we must remember that we do not necessarily have to bring something enormous, give some kind of revelation. Sometimes one word spoken at the right time, even if said unintentionally, can change a person's life. And it is not necessarily the word of God, just a word that comes from the depths of something that we ourselves have learned.

Once I taught at the Russian Gymnasium in Paris. I remember once a girl of about fourteen was sitting and crying all the lesson. When she came out, I was standing at the door. I stopped her and said: "Never despair!" I did not know what had happened to that word; but for me this word had a tremendous meaning, because I believe in God's help in this regard. Twenty-five years later, she sought me out and wrote a letter saying that on that day those words had given her the strength to live and hope for the future; This future opened up before her as a victory. At that moment, I only said a kind word to the poor crying girl, but it was spoken from within my own experience and from what I had learned from Christ. And this changed something very much for her.

Further in the Gospel it says: "There is nothing hidden that is not made clear, and there is nothing hidden that does not come out" (v. 22). It would seem to be a difficult word. What does it mean? In connection with what was said in the previous verse about the candle (is it not for this reason that a candle is brought to be placed on a candlestick?), this can be understood as follows. If there is something positive or negative in your soul, in your consciousness, even in your flesh, then sooner or later it will come out. A person who secretly suffers from carnal passion becomes different, he is perceived as such, this is transmitted to others, who either depart from him in disgust or are seduced by it. The same happens with a person who has spiritually comprehended this or that. He may not talk about it, but there is such a change in him that you can feel it around him. People who come into contact with him see, feel, feel that they are communicating with a person in whom there is something special. I remember the words of my spiritual father that no one can tear himself away from the earth and go to heaven, that is, to the Kingdom of God, if he does not see in the eyes or on the face of at least one person the radiance of eternal life. People who came to St. Seraphim of Sarov, to St. Sergius of Radonezh, to saints in general, and even to ordinary people, but who lived and now live a profound spiritual life, feel that it exists. And therefore know that there is nothing secret that will not be revealed. There are no secret sins, no secret inner untruth that would not be expressed and transmitted to others in the form of a destructive infection. Sooner or later, this will be discovered. You must know this from your own experience.

And then Christ warns once again: If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. Listen to what I say, pay attention, because you can both save and destroy those closest to you, not by what you do, not by what you say, but by what you are.

And further: With what measure you measure, it will be measured to you, and it will be added to you who hear. By what measure do you measure... In the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father," we say: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who are guilty before us..." This is what we are talking about here. If we do not forgive others, then there is no forgiveness for us. If we treat others mercifully, with pity, simply in a human way, God's judgment is happening and will continue to happen over us. And this is extremely important for us to remember. We often think that others should adjust to us, that others should take the first step. As a rule, it is more difficult for the one who is guilty to take the first step towards reconciliation; The one who is right, who knows that he is right (not the one who boasts of his truth, offending another and believing that he is still right, but the one who is really, really right), can, without humiliating himself, but out of deep compassion for a person who has been wounded, approach him and ask for forgiveness or look for ways of reconciliation. Therefore, remember: with what measure you measure, it will be measured to you, because no one will treat you, me, or anyone else differently than we treat others.