An extremely vivid example of such a saint as Seraphim of Sarov is extremely vivid. This man of God, who predicted the trials that would come to Russia, confronted the difficulties of his age, and they were perhaps not so different from those that confront us today. The solution he chose was not to engage in the worldly life of the world, in feverish activity for its salvation. He simply stepped on the royal path of complete self-surrender to the Lord, according to the words of the Scriptures: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden" (Matt. 11:28). In the simplicity of his heart, he went to Jesus. No other path has been paved for us, there is no salvation outside of Christ.

One of the temptations of the age in which we live is to say and think that salvation is in man and from man. Art, thought, politics present us with a whole series of surrogates for salvation. But even today our testimony, like the testimony of St. Seraphim, is to say and show in a transfigured life that salvation comes from God and goes to a person who humbly accepts it.

And we, who have become strong from this main conviction, can only betroth ourselves to Jesus Christ for the sake of the transfiguration of existence. It is precisely by marching in this way to the Kingdom of God that we will realize our witness in history by our words and deeds. We will also be able to transform some structures of society, which is also important. But this is what we must never forget: whoever is not nourished by the bread of life and drunk by the water of life only agitates the world, but cannot profoundly change it, for only the Spirit of God truly transforms the world.

The epistle given by St. Seraphim to a cloud of witnesses, among whom we are, is precisely to wage this mortal battle for holiness, to deeply believe in our only Saviour, Christ Jesus. It is that we need to be saved, which means to realize our insignificance and the transforming omnipotence of God. It is about feeling in our spiritual experience that everything is given to us. To the extent that we are aware of this gift of grace that transforms us, to the extent that this inner transformation has taken place, the world has changed.

God reveals Himself in the divine beauty of being, of all beings. Whoever the Lord transforms so much that his face becomes an icon of Christ, he is a faithful witness. Only the saints fulfill the unity of the Church, only they bear witness to the unity of God and the world. Man will never know the truth with his mind unless God purifies his heart. Whoever God clothes in the light is the bearer of the testimony, and he is also its content.

The Light of the World

A Romanian physicist recently argued that in the final stage of the universe's evolution, only light will exist, because protons—positively charged elementary particles—are the only things that will survive from matter.

However, while matter has not yet been transformed into light, it is possible for a person to become light himself and act according to the word of the Savior: "You are the light of the world" (Matt. 5:14). This is accomplished in imitation of Christ, Who said of Himself: "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). This means that we too are called to become light, like God, freeing ourselves from all the circumstances in which we live, from the conditions of the world, space and time. As if we were not made of flesh and blood, as if we were born by the grace of God and were free from all change and decay.

To hope to reach such a state is to begin to experience it. It begins with faith. Faith begets love. Love motivates us to do good works, which in turn enable us to grow to a vision of God. The vision of God is realized at the level of the heart. That is why it is said that the pure in heart shall see God (Matt. 5:8). This will happen not only in the age to come, in the Kingdom, but already in the present tense. If the love of God makes a dwelling place in you, if you realize that you are loved by God, you will be freed from everything, as the Apostle Paul wrote about it: "I say to you, brethren, the time is short, so that those who have wives must be as if they had none; and weeping as if they were not weeping; and rejoicing as not rejoicing; and those who buy as if they did not acquire; and those who use this world as if they did not use it; for the image of this world is passing away" (1 Corinthians 7:29-31).

Those who do so do not leave this world, but they are no part of the world, for they now live in the kingdom that governs their hearts. They no longer live in the image of this world, since they have taken the image of Christ. They can marry if they want, or not marry, because they have outgrown marital relations. They eat and drink, but they are free from the demands of the womb. They deal with money, but remain poor in their search for God. They are friends with art and thought in order to immerse them in the mind of God and the Divine beauty. Those of them who govern states are the servants of men; Their concern is to fully accept the responsibility entrusted to them. Likewise, those who serve people in the Church take care of this; to ensure the good of these people. Thus reflecting the light that is in them, they enliven it with the heat of those who come to them.

It will be objected that our description of what people who take God's call to sanctification seriously are called to do is very idealistic, that it lacks pragmatism, because the world is not like that. Our answer is simple: In reality, there are only two possible ways: either to leave the world to those who are willing to trade in the truth, which will lead them to destruction, or to lead the world beyond its own limits and thus give it a chance of salvation. We will also be told: "You forget that we live in a world that is evil, deceitful, base, cunning, lustful, and changeable." We will answer that we know all this, but we want to see the maturation of a new world. We want people to become a new creature. We will add that the world has its own logic, and those who seek the Kingdom have their own logic. They are aware that the world will persecute them and cause them all kinds of sorrows. But they also know that "out of tribulation proceedeth patience, out of patience experience, out of experience hope, but hope does not put to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given to us" (Romans 5:3-5).

Simply put, there is no life without effort. Since every effort is crucifixion, those who agree to ascend the cross have chosen their destiny: to be resurrected in this world. Divine logic is also simple. It requires a testimony from us. And the testimony is to see God here and now, and to witness it. If you see only the world, you run the risk of being blinded by it; the criteria of your judgment will be violated because of this. The world will draw you deeper and deeper and finally swallow you up. On the contrary, if your eyes are fixed on God at every moment, He will always be at your right hand, so that you may not be shaken (Acts 2:25). The power given to you by this continuous vision of God will help you to look at yourself and others with the same gaze. This power will give you the opportunity to act without turning away from what you see. Through your mediation, the world will then become the Church, that is, a space for Christ. Nothing that exists in the world – homes, trade, science, technology – will be lost. God wants nothing to be lost, but He also wants the purpose of all these things to change, so that purity is above all use. Nothing will change in creation, nature, matter, soul, but the creature will become a divine creature, and the same will happen with nature, matter, and soul.

When a person becomes like God in this way, the divine power present in him is able to take root in the very depths of history. The face of the world, of course, will remain the same, but its structure and spirit will change. By assimilating God's plans, the world will adapt itself to God's ways of acting.

In the end, you will have to admit that you cannot change the course of things. You realize that war and sin continue to prevail. Realism will lead you to assume that the world has always been like this and that nothing will change. But realism should not kill hope, in other words, stop the effort. Nowhere does Scripture say that at the Second Coming God will find the world a better place. But this should in no way turn you away from the work for which you are responsible: to try to improve the world, with the truth that is in you, to bring the brethren to a new birth. The historical world lives in many registers, and light in it coexists with darkness. This means that you must constantly cut through the darkness and spread the light around you.