The world, full of wickedness and iniquity, prospers in its way; he rushes noisily and identically along the path of external development, not knowing God and not needing Him. A pious person, being in the Church, remains completely aloof from this noisy and victorious procession; he cannot morally join it and become one of its leaders and participants. However, the outward success of the world, its victorious cliques, its contemptuous attitude towards the humble Church of Christ – can they not sometimes confuse even the believing heart, can they not sometimes plant a spark of envy and jealousy even in a courageous soul? The people of this world, in lies and without God, overtaking and trampling on each other, conquer the earth and take possession of its blessings. And those who live in Christ, trying to observe the inner truth and live in God's way, of course, but necessity, must lag behind in this contest, and, of course, the proud figures of the world who overtake them on all paths will look down on them and with contempt.

But let's not be confused by this. The ways of the Church are in the hands of God. Let us commit our ways to Him, and let us not be afraid. He will bring out our righteousness as light, and our justice as noonday.

We must firmly believe in the power and strength of our God. We should not even allow anger in our hearts when we see the successes of the wicked, much less be zealous to do evil to them. Did not our God already reveal to us through the mouth of David that those who do evil will be cut off, and the meek will inherit the earth and enjoy the abundance of peace? Can this promise of God not be fulfilled? And did not Christ say the same thing to us: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth? Of course, this promise sounds somewhat strange to us: the unbelief and godlessness of the world have managed to cast their shadow on us as well, and we hesitate to believe in the triumph of the meek on this earth, and we are ready to understand the inheritance of the earth in the general vague and abstract form of some kind of allegory...

But here is the direct meaning and the direct truth, and it will be fully realized when Christ comes to earth with all the saints, when there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and when the meek and renewed, like the angels of God, will inherit this earth, given to them by God as an inheritance at the creation of the world.

And look how in many ways God's revelations regarding the meek Church of Christ have already been fulfilled. Did not the representatives of the Jewish people gnash their teeth at her, and did not God laugh at them, foreseeing the day of their national destruction? Did not the heathen draw their swords, draw their bows, to bring down the church of the poor and needy, to pierce those who walk the straight path? And did not their sword enter into their own hearts, and their bows were not broken? Did not the pagan power bow down to the foot of the cross of Christ, having previously crucified a multitude of innocent victims on the crosses in madness? And whom they wanted to wipe off the face of the earth by all means of torture and death — did they not overcome their tormentors with patience and meekness and inherit their land?

But the struggle of the world against the Church did not stop. Violence has moved from one form to another. Defeated in one kind of weapon, it seized on another. The godless rulers of the innumerable riches of the world, who are now fighting against Christ and the Church, who hold the fate of nations in their hands and take the land into their power – who are they if not the same Jewish leaders who used to gnash their teeth at the apostles, if not the same representatives of the pagan power who scourged and executed them?

But their fate is also foretold. While they, united together, will enter into glory and be exalted, destruction will come upon them; disappearing they will disappear like smoke...

And this law of the fatal self-destruction of evil, of violence, which perishes from its own violence, being fulfilled here on earth, clears the place for the triumph of meekness. Trust in the Lord, and hold fast to His way, and He will exalt you, that you may inherit the earth (Psalm 36:34).

V. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint, anise, and cumin, and have forsaken the most important things in the law: judgment, mercy, and faith; this had to be done, and not to be forsaken. Blind leaders, straining out a gnat, and devouring a camel" Matthew 23:23-24

Here is the answer to the question: how should we relate to the external and petty customs of the Church? Those who carry them out must always know that they are only partial and petty discoveries of the inner and most important, which have significance only if the latter is observed. If they do not fulfill the inner and most important of the Gospel and the commandments of the Church, then they are subject to condemnation, like the scribes and Pharisees, who hypocritically filtered out mosquitoes in order to discreetly and quietly devour the camel.

Those who do not observe the customs of the Church and even consider themselves entitled to be offended by them, must take into account the words of the Lord: "These things ought to have been done, and not to forsake them." The Lord does not say directly even to the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees: "You do not need to do this, not mint, anise, and cumin, but to observe judgment, mercy, and faith." He does not say so; He does not oppose one to the other; He only explains that this must be done and not abandoned; He accuses them only of eating out mosquitoes and devouring camels. But He does not say in any way that you should drink with mosquitoes: strain out mosquitoes, but, most importantly, do not eat camels.

In this way, He points out that the harmony between the main and the secondary has been destroyed, that the observance of petty customs serves only as a diversion of the eyes, only a hypocritical cover to violate the most important and essential. This is the only thing He has in mind when He gives due place to external customs.

The Lord subtly distinguishes between the degree of importance of observing the non-essential and the essential: the first should not be abandoned, should not be omitted, and the second, the main thing, should be done; one expression is in a negative form, the other in a positive form: this is an external decoration, a complement to the main thing; it is like a foundation, a foundation. Whoever throws dust in his eyes with outward manifestations of piety in order to imperceptibly lay a rotten or false foundation is a hypocrite. But whoever conscientiously builds a building for God, building it on a solid foundation, takes care both of the beauty of its forms and of the elegance of every detail, so that in every detail shines the same supreme idea and harmony of the whole. This is all the poetry of the customs of the Church; and whoever builds a building without them builds barracks, and not a temple, a government building, and not God's favorite dwelling...

VI. "Take heed that you 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 yourself, 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. But with you, when you give alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing: so that your alms may be in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly" Matt. 6:1-4