But here again one can ask in what sense good deeds are recognized as a condition of salvation: it can only be an external basis for receiving salvation, but it can also be a condition in the proper sense, a producer of salvation. Both answers, being very close to each other in form, are very, not to say fundamentally different from each other in terms of their content: they can serve as expressions of two completely opposite, mutually exclusive conceptions of life: worldly, pagan, and Christian.

The self-lover lives for himself, places his "I" as the center of the world, from the point of view of this "I" he evaluates everything that happens both in his own life and in the life of the world. His goal is his own well-being, the highest good is pleasure, whether in the form of sensual pleasures, or in some kind of nirvana, and so on.

Now, sin (the essence of which is self-love), while giving man pleasure in this life, at the same time brings him immeasurably greater suffering in the life beyond the grave: the world order established by God turns out to be detrimental to self-love and necessarily leads it to punishment. The self-lover, as such, of course, does not care about the truth or falsehood of this world order, moreover, he is ready with all his being to revolt against the latter, with all his being he is ready to protest against this limitation of his "I", the desire of which is law for him – but he, as a self-lover, cannot but wish to avoid the bitter fate to which the unrepentant contradiction of the world order hostile to him leads. And so the self-lover begins, as he says, to be saved, i.e., with extreme regret cutting off his favorite and still dear desires, he begins to fulfill the law laid down by God – to fulfill it precisely because the lawlessness in its final conclusion turns out to be extremely disadvantageous for the self-lover, although it does not cease to be desirable and pleasant for him. The self-lover in his soul is an enemy of God (Rom. YIII, 7) and wants to listen to his father, the murderer (J. YIII, 44), he is ready to bite the Hand that has mercy on him (let us remember the Jews, "who slew the prophets and stoned those who were sent to them", let us remember the crucified Jesus Christ), but he trembles at God, because he knows that He is omnipotent, that everything, even the self-lover himself, is in the hands of God, that one cannot escape from God. The self-lover has to submit to the will of God for his own benefit. He submits, but as a slave, with inner disgust, with a murmur, driven by a whip, or as a mercenary who needs profit, a reward.

A person who is so inclined, of course, cannot understand the "freedom of the children of God" that Jesus Christ brought, the "reconciliation" with God that the Apostles proclaimed to us: "The natural man cannot 'serve God in spirit and in truth' (Jn. IV, 23), he judges everything according to his soul (Cor. II, 14). Coming to Christ, he does not so much want to learn from Him how to live in order to live a true life, as he wants to know what benefit he will be given by following Christ. Therefore, when he hears about the salvation of Christ, he assimilates from this good news mainly its external side: deliverance from calamity, from final perdition, and the receipt of supreme blessedness, and does not notice the other, more essential side of this salvation, does not notice that the calamity here is not suffering, not torment, but sin, that the highest good here is placed in the very will of God. against which his selfish nature is so jealously indignant. He thinks only about what he will enjoy, but what? "He doesn't ask about that.

But if it is only a matter of bliss, as it is in the benefit of man, then it is natural to ask, for what does man receive this benefit? Would it not be unjust to give him blessedness when he did not deserve it in any way? Christ taught that only those who do good are saved. Consequently, the man concludes, the good is that payment, that concession to God, for which He grants man eternal life. The self-lover cannot understand why God pleases this and not other behavior: he himself, fulfilling the desires of his "I" only because it pleases him, is desirable, he is inclined to imagine the law of God as the same causeless desire of the Lord. Of course, man cannot love such a causeless will, just as he cannot love the Lord Himself: he only fears the latter, and fulfills the former only against his will. Hence, his labors, which he endured in fulfilling the will of God, cannot have the force and significance of a self-sacrificing sacrifice to God, a sacrifice of love and thanksgiving. For a person, they are a craving, a slave yoke. Therefore, he is not able to sacrifice them and demands a reward for himself, like any mercenary. Deeds in the eyes of a person acquire the meaning of merit.

Thus, the legal concept of salvation could not be more understandable and convenient precisely for the selfish mood. We have seen the weaknesses of this conception – we have seen how they have a free entrance to all kinds of transactions and direct distortions of Christ's truth in Western Christianity. Now we must reveal how the sacred sources of our faith relate to this idea: Holy Scripture and Tradition.

If we approach these sources with a preconceived thought, and if we tear out from them only individual words and sayings, not coping with their basic thought, then we; perhaps we can find not a few grounds for legal representation in the Holy Scriptures itself. Scripture or Tradition.

First of all, how is salvation understood? "What more do you seek, asks St. St. Gregory the Theologian, except salvation? Future glory and holiness? It is very important for me to be saved and get rid of the torment there. You walk the path that is untrodden and inaccessible, and I am the path that has been trodden, which has saved many" [104]. In these words, salvation is understood, as we see, exclusively from its external, formal side, the destruction of man is taken in the direct and general sense, without defining what exactly it consists in: man is threatened with misfortune, and he gets rid of it. The same meaning can be found in those passages of the Holy Scriptures. Scriptures, where eternal life is contrasted with judgment, perdition, and torment (e.g., Jo. III, 15; V, 24; Mph. XXY, 46, etc.).

If the essence of salvation is in the well-being of man, in his pleasure, then for what is man to be rewarded? "Without podvig no one is crowned" [105], says St. John. Ephraim the Syrian. Does it seem fair to you that earthly and transitory things and perishable glory should require effort and labor, and in order to gain hope of reigning with Christ for the ageless and endless ages of ages, it was not even proper to use this short time of your sojourn on earth for labors and feats, in order to reign for centuries afterwards" [106]. "Pay attention," says another Holy Father, "to the very law of righteousness, and enter into thyself. You have various ministers, some good and others bad; you respect the good, but you beat the bad. And if you are a judge, you praise the good, but punish the wicked. Is it possible that you are a mortal man, justice is observed, and God, the King, the unsuccessor of all, has no righteous retribution? It is impious to deny this" [107].

What is the basis for awarding a great reward in heaven to a person? The reward is given only for the feat; Next, and the heavenly reward is attained by podvig, "by righteous deeds" [108]. Deeds, therefore, give the right to eternal bliss, turn out to be, as it were, a price, a payment for it on the part of man. This assimilation is very common in the Holy Scriptures. Scripture and Tradition.

Thus, the Lord Jesus Christ very often, persuading his listeners to this or that Christian virtue, to Christian behavior in general, pointed out to them mainly that for such behavior, and only for it, the reward is given in heaven. "Take heed," he said, "do not your alms before men, that they may see you: otherwise you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you give alms, do not trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that people may glorify them. Verily I say unto you, they have already received their reward. You... etc., and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly" (Matt. VI, I – 6, etc.). Or, for example, the well-known saying about a single cup of cold water given to a prophet or disciple. "Whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet receives the reward of a prophet; and whoever receives the righteous in the name of the righteous will receive the reward of the righteous. And whosoever shall give one of these little ones to drink only a cup of cold water, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, shall not lose his reward" (Matt. X, 41 – 42).

St. The Apostles also often resort to this form of expression, and also in those cases when it is necessary to induce someone to do good. The afterlife reward is compared with the award on the lists, with the crown of the victors. "Do you not know," says the Holy Apostle Paul, "for example, that those who run in the field all run, but only one receives the reward; and you run so that you get. All ascetics (i.e., fighters) abstain from everything: they to receive a perishable crown, but we incorruptible" (1 Cor. IX, 24 – 5; Gal. V, 7; Philip. III, 14; 2 Tim. IY, 7 – 8; 1 Peter. V, 2 – 4, etc.). Restraining Christians from any vices, they point to the punishment that will befall all sinners from the Lord: "The will of God is your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication,.,, that you should not do unlawfully and covetously to your brother in anything; for the Lord is the avenger of all these things, as we have spoken to you before, and have testified" (I Thess. IV, 3 – 6). These and similar passages are used to justify the legal understanding of the moral life. Later we will see how fair this is.

It is exactly the same in the works of the Holy Fathers. The Fathers of the Church, with the same goal – to substantiate good deeds, to induce it, sometimes resort to such comparisons, which, apparently, directly – for an external understanding of life. Such, for example, is the analogy of buying and selling. "It is necessary," says St. Gregory of Nyssa, strengthened by faith in what is expected, to buy in advance (proemporeuetJai) future grace by virtuous behavior" [109]. The gift of freedom inherent in man is sometimes thought to be explained by the fact that otherwise it would be unfair to reward a person. If God had made everything a gift of nature, we would have been left without rewards and without crowns (astejanoi cai cwriV brabeiwn); and as the dumb cannot receive reward or approval for the perfections which they possess by nature, so we would not receive any of these. For the perfections of nature are for the praise and honor of those who do not possess them, but Him who gave them. Thus, that is why God did not present everything to nature" [110]. Virtue is recognized as a sufficient reason that makes retribution a matter of simple justice. "Spiritual healing takes care of the soul, so that the soul may inherit the heavenly glory for podvig and for the struggle with the earth, and, having been tempted by them here, like gold with fire, it will receive hope as a reward for virtue, and not only as a gift of God" [111]. If souls, says St. Ephraim the Syrian, prove to be skillful, faithful and worthy in all things, having endured to the end and preserved the hope of faith, then, having been vouchsafed deliverance by grace, in all justice they will become heirs of the kingdom" [112]. Or Nilus of Sinai: "On the day of judgment, God will rightly award retribution to everyone, not according to the erroneous assumption here, but as justice requires, according to the very truth of what has been done" [113].

Moreover, not only virtue, as a general and constant disposition of the soul, but also every good action, good deed, in itself, seems to be deserved. Such an idea can be given, for example, by the words of St. Cyril of Jerusalem: "Be only trustworthy; Do only, strive only diligently. Nothing will perish. Every prayer of yours, every psalmody is written down; all alms are recorded, all fasting is recorded; it is also recorded, if the marriage was honestly preserved, the abstinence observed for God is also recorded; the first crowns in this record are presented to virginity and purity" [114]. If we continue to study the works of the Holy Fathers in the same direction, then we can perhaps find in them traces of Catholic super-due merit. For example, in the Ladder we read: "There are souls who have done more than the commandments command" [115]. Or St. Gregory of Nyssa, praising Placyla, says that in her feats (catar Jwmasi) she surpassed the prescribed (purercetai cai taprostetagmena) [116]. In general, human life sometimes appears to be a kind of mechanical cohesion of various feats and merits, each of which expects a reward for itself and is done only for the latter. "Everyone's life is weighed, as it were," says St. Cyril of Alexandria, "retribution will certainly be balanced with our goodness" [117]. Previous good works lessen the punishment for sins, because the righteous Judge pronounces judgment, measuring the latter with the former," says Bl. Theodoret [118].