"We will not offer sacrifices," they answered.

They were thrown into prison. A week passed, and the soldiers came out of prison to their deaths. The voivode gave orders to place the martyrs naked in the water of the lake. The lake was covered with thin ice. The martyrs, calling upon the name of God, immersed themselves up to their necks in icy water. And right there on the shore there was a bathhouse, from which steam poured onto the frozen water of the lake.

Terrible hours passed one after another. The water cut the poor body to pieces. Midnight has passed; The frost grew stronger. One of the martyrs, exhausted, came out of the water and came to the bathhouse, but as soon as his foot touched the threshold, he fell down dead. Seeing his death, the martyrs began to pray not that God would put an end to their torments, but that He would give them the strength to endure them. And the prayer was heard. A bright light, as if from the summer sun on a hot afternoon, shone over the lake. And this light whitened the frost. The ice was broken, and under the warming rays of the miraculous light the martyrs again became healthy and strong. The soldiers assigned to them were asleep. Only the prison guard was awake...

And then he saw the brilliant rays of unknown light and thirty-nine bright crowns descending on the heads of the martyrs and surrounding them with a rainbow radiance. "There were forty of them," he thought, then he remembered the apostate, and he wanted to replenish the retinue.

"I'm a Christian too!" he shouted and joined the martyrs.

In the morning they broke the legs of the martyrs, and then they collected their bodies on a huge pyre and burned them, and threw the bones into the river. And by the will of God, a bright light shone like a white star over their grave-river.

Nothing could separate them from the love of God!

How to learn this love? How to buy it?

This mystery is revealed in the Gospel of John in the words of the Lord: "Whoever has My commandments and keeps them loves Me; but whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father; and I will love him and appear to him Myself (Jn. XIV, 21).

On the one hand, the fulfillment of God's commandments should be an expression and testimony of our love for God, for love is not expressed only in words. My children! – writes the Apostle John, – let us love not in word or tongue, but in deed and in truth (1 Jn. III, 18). If you love Me, keep My commandments, the Savior commands. - ... Whoever loves Me will keep My word... He who does not love Me does not keep My words (Jn. XIV, 15, 23-24).

On the other hand, the fulfillment of the commandments is also a means of developing love for God.

There is a special law of interaction between the soul and the body, or internal moods and external actions. Usually, our external actions are caused by internal motives and moods, but, in turn, external actions can themselves cause the corresponding moods of the soul. Start playing cards or roulette - and you may have a thirst for profit. Take part in a sport and you can get excited. Start fighting, and a feeling of cruelty or anger will almost inevitably grip the heart.

It is the same in this case: do good to people and you will love them. Fulfill God's commandments, act as if you already love God, be obedient to Him, and little by little your heart will be warmed by true love.

Hence the law: one must first surrender to God in obedience in order to unite with Him in love. If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love, saith the Lord (Jn. XV, 10). Thus, the first and perhaps the most effective support for the development of love for God can be found in the will of man. Another support should be sought in his cognitive activity, in his mind.