If now our Lord Jesus Christ is true, as truly He is, then it is obvious that we can recognize such from what they say and what they do. And so, let us show beforehand the fruits of the true Holy Spirit; then the fruits of the evil spirit opposite to Him will be revealed of themselves; and by these fruits we can then very well discern which teachers are true, holy, and righteous teachers, and which are not, but only pretend to be so. I will say nothing of my own behalf, but everything from the words of the Saviour and His holy Apostles, by which I will try to confirm your love, that the signs of true and false teachers indicated by me are true and easily recognizable to us.

Listen, then, to what our Lord Jesus Christ says: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are they that mourn, blessed are the meek" (Matt. 5:3-5). And again: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who do you harm (Matt. 5:44). Let not an idle word proceed out of your mouth. I say unto you, that every idle word, if men speak, shall give a word about it on the day of judgment (Matt. 12:36). And again: "Except ye be converted, and be as children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18:3). In another place He says again: "Of this all understand that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35). Again, how can ye believe, receiving glory from one another, and seeking not glory from God alone? (John 5:44). For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled: but he who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 18:14). He does not say that he will be exalted by worldly glory, but gives a promise that he will be exalted mysteriously by some spiritual change. This is what our Lord and Lord Christ calls out to all of us every day. Listen now to what the Apostle Paul also says: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control (Gal. 5:22). And again: love is not exalted, is not proud, does not riot, does not seek its own, it covers everything, endures everything, love falls away (1 Cor. 13:5-8). Listen also to John the Theologian, who says: "Love not the world, neither that which is in the world: whosoever loveth the world, loveth not the Father in him" (1 John 2:15). And again: "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer: and it is known that every murderer has no eternal life in himself" (1 John 3:15). For this reason the essence of the child of God and the child of the devil is revealed (1 John 3:10), that is, out of love and hatred. He who loves God loves also those who are born of Him, that is, his brethren; but he who hates one of his brethren was born of the devil, and the love of God is not in him. and the fruits of the holy and all-good Spirit are those which we have indicated above.

Now it behooves us to show us also the fruits of the evil spirit, so that, knowing them, you may be able to distinguish light from darkness, sweet from bitter, good from evil. Hearken again to what our Lord and God says: "A good tree cannot produce evil fruit, nor an evil tree produce good fruit" (Matt. 7:18). And again: the good man brings forth good things out of the good treasure of his heart: but the evil man brings forth evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart (Luke 6:45). Again: "If he destroys the one of these little commandments, and teaches these things to men, he shall be called me in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach, this great one shall be called in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:19). And what does He say about the scribes and Pharisees? "They bind," he says, "burdens are heavy and poorly carried, and they put them on the lashes of men: but they do not want to move them with their fingers." And they do all their works, that men may be seen: but they enlarge their storehouses, and magnify the cries of their garments: but they love to recline first at the supper, and to sit before the assembly, and to kiss the market-place, and to be called by men, "Teacher, teacher" (Matt. 23:3-7).

Therefore, when you see that someone does such things, carefully seeks the glory of man, and carelessly transgresses the commandments of God in order to please people, then know that this is a charmer, and not a true teacher. And the Apostle says; Where there is envy and zeal and strife in you, are you not of the flesh? (1 Cor. 3:3). But a man of the flesh and soul does not receive the Spirit of God, for he is a fool (1 Cor. 2:14). But whoever does not receive the Holy Spirit does not obviously have this Spirit in himself; but whoever does not have the Holy Spirit is not Christ's, as the same Paul affirms, saying: "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Romans 8:9).

Have you heard who are Christ's and who are Antichrist's? "You can probably conclude from this that the attentive can easily distinguish between good and evil. And the inattentive do not know not only other people, but also themselves. For when a man so entangles himself in cares and cares about the things of life, as if he were immortal in this world, day and night he is occupied only with worldly affairs, and devises all kinds of ways to get rich, and at the same time builds good and valuable houses, recruits a multitude of servants, horses, and mules, buys silver vessels, gold-woven garments, costly carpets, and every other thing, gives himself carnal pleasure and comfort, then tell me, can it be shown that such a person knows himself? "No, my spiritual child, no, he probably does not know either himself or what he is doing. He knows himself only enough to say that it is he and not someone else; but his deeds show that he does not know what he is, does not know his state of mind and does not understand what he is doing. He lives as if he were immortal; with his lips he says: we are today, and not in the future; and immediately in fact he prepares so much of everything that it cannot be used up even in decades; he publicly confesses that the goods of this world are nothing, and yet for some small and insignificant thing he starts disputes and quarrels with his brethren; he philosophizes that he is dust and dust, and yet he always dresses magnificently, showing that he is much higher than all other people; he hears the Divine Scripture, which says: "Woe to those who love pleasure and are tender on soft beds" (Ezek. 16:49; Amos 6:4), and he himself with all care sees to it that his bed be the most magnificent, the most luxuriant, and the table abounded in all kinds of expensive foods.

Tell me now, is it possible to agree that such a person knows himself, knows in what state he is in his soul and to what passions he is enslaved? You can't. No, he does not know himself, although he may think he knows. But he who does not know himself and his condition, how can he know another and his passions? How is it possible that a blind man can see another and know whether he is blind or seeing? No, no; It's impossible.

And he cannot understand that he is among those who are perishing; since this ignorance has the property of being a kind of thick veil over the intellectual eyes of the soul, and does not allow them to see clearly the truth when it loves the world and the things of the world. For since the mind withdraws from the remembrance of God, of death, and of the future judgment, and does not think of the good things that await the righteous, and the torments that await sinners, eternal fire, pitch darkness, and gnashing of teeth, but is wholly devoted to the cares of life and the illusory blessings of the world, wealth, glory, pleasures, and everything else that people consider glorious and bright in the world,  "Since, I say, the mind is given over to all such things, the ceiling becomes coarser and coarser, more and more upset, darkened, and in a certain way all covered with an impenetrable veil; the consequence is that he falls out of the circle of knowledge of God's commandments and completely forgets about them. That is why St. David, after having sinned and experienced such evil, turned to God in repentance, and besought Him, saying: "Open my eyes, and I will understand the wonders of Thy law" (Psalm 118:18).

Do you see how closed his eyes were? Do you see how he cries out to God to reveal them? Do the same, my son, and the Lord will not despise your petition if you send it to Him with all your soul, but will hear you and open the eyes of your soul. And then, as soon as you see clearly, first and at the beginning of everything you will know yourself and your state, and then everything else that you need to know. The consequence of this will be that with all your heart you will begin to consider incomparably higher than yourself and holy not only pious and virtuous people, but also every person in general, great and small, righteous and sinful, even those who sin openly. And let this be a clear sign to you and to everyone else that you have received the remission of all your sins, if you come to this measure and attain this good state. For holy humility is found at this measure, and to him who attains this measure, it gives as his first gift that he should think that of all people there is no one more sinful and insignificant than he, and that with all the feeling of his soul, with full conviction, he considers himself alone a sinner and believes that he alone has to perish and be given over to eternal torment.

And so, my beloved child and my brother, strive to acquire such humility and do not say: "This is impossible for me," nor again: "This goes to monks alone, and not to those who live in the world." For Christ determined His commandments in general for everyone, and did not lay down anything especially for monks, and especially for laymen. Both the forefathers who were before the law of Moses, and those who lived after it, fulfilled this commandment (about humility). Listen to what Job says: "I give myself earth and ashes" (42:6). And David: "I am a worm, and not a man" (Psalm 21:7). Do you see the words of humility? Do you see a soul that considers itself more contemptible than any man, great and small? Imitate David's repentance, and you will gain his humility. And when the mind is darkened, then we will know ourselves and our state as it is: we will see the wounds and defilements of our souls, and then we will begin not only to reason and speak humbly, but we will also be ashamed of the sun, and of the stars, and of all God's creatures, which were created for our sake, to be ashamed because we have angered God, having created all this for our sake, and have sinned against Him, transgressing not one, but all of His commandments. For this reason let us not dare to lift up our eyes to look at these creatures, and let us consider ourselves unworthy to partake of the fruits of the earth, having pronounced upon ourselves that it would be righteous for us to die of hunger and thirst. Let us also not dare to look and look at the icon of Christ the Lord and His saints, recognizing ourselves as filthy, unclean and many sinners. It will seem to us that the icons themselves are ashamed of us and of our deeds; therefore we will not have the courage to approach them and venerate them; it will be extremely shameful for us to touch the pure and holy with our unclean and defiled lips. Even when we intend to enter the temple of God, let us feel how fear and trembling overwhelm us, realizing that we are entering unworthy, fearing that the floor of the temple will open and cast us alive into hell.

This and more than this will always teach us holy humility, and by changing us, rebuilding and transforming us, our whole nature will penetrate to such an extent that later, even if we wanted to, we will no longer be able to think or say anything great and lofty about ourselves. This holy humility will also assure us that without a teacher we cannot learn any good; and to those who ask us, saying, Do you understand more that you read? it will teach us to answer: "How can I understand, if no one instructs me" (Acts 8:30, 31)? It will teach us not to enter without a guide on a path that we do not know. It will tell us that if we wish to repent, we must not approach God without a mediator and guide. For if it induces us to be ashamed of heaven and earth and of every creation of God that exists in them, to reverence the icon of the Savior and His saints with fear, not to dare to look at these icons, or to kiss them when approaching; Will it not force us all the more not to draw near without an intermediary to the Creator and Master of all things, God Himself? For although He loves mankind, He rejoices much in our humility and contrition, and praises us greatly when someone considers himself unworthy to approach Him by himself without a mediator.

In another way (so you can see for yourself). Our Lord and God, desiring to teach us that we must draw near to God with the help of some mediator and surety, He Himself showed us an example and a model in all other things, so in this He Himself was the first mediator and intercessor of human nature, having brought it in Himself to His Father and God. Then he appointed his holy Apostles as ministers of this mediation and intercession, who brought to the Lord Christ all those who believed in Him. The Apostles again chose the worthiest from among these believers, and they ordained them to be their successors, to be ministers of the same mediation. These again (chose and ordained) others, and these those who followed them. And thus this rite is successively observed even to this day. God does not want us to transgress and trample on His institution and tradition, but wants us to live according to the order that He has determined for us. Why does the Lord and Saviour say, as of Himself with the Father: "No man can come unto Me, except the Father, who sent me, draweth him" (John 6:44), and again: "No man shall come to the Father except by Me" (Jn. 14:6): thus established that no one comes to faith in the holy and consubstantial Trinity, unless he is taught the dogmas of the faith by some teacher, and no one is baptized and no one partakes of the Divine Mysteries of his own accord without a priest. And whoever does not be baptized and does not partake of the Most Pure Mysteries will not receive eternal life, as the Lord Himself again determines, saying: "He who has faith and is baptized shall be saved: but he who has not faith shall be condemned" (Mark 16:16); and "Unless ye bear the flesh of the Son of man, neither drink of His blood, ye have life in yourselves" (John 6:53). And so, since without holy baptism and without communion of the Divine Mysteries, no Christian can be vouchsafed eternal life, and these sacraments are taught to us not through the holy Apostles, and not through the holy fathers who came after the Apostles, but are given through those sanctified persons who now exist and live among us; it is obvious that we cannot and must not be alienated from their mediation in the matter of our salvation.

Thus God has determined; and in order that you may be more willing to obey that law, keep in mind that what the fathers who lived in those times taught to the faithful, our spiritual fathers teach us the same: they baptized with water and the Spirit, and these do the same now; they taught the body and blood of Christ, and these teach us the same. And just as those who baptized and communed then had nothing superfluous against those who are now, so those who now baptize and commune us have nothing lacking in comparison with the former. They taught faith in Christ and in the Holy Trinity, one in essence and indivisible, that is, in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; Our spiritual fathers teach us the same thing today. And so it is evident from this briefly (I do not write everything, so that my word is not extremely lengthened), that what the Apostles did for the faithful then, and what they taught them, our spiritual fathers are doing the same for us now — I mean, bishops and priests — exactly the same, without the slightest deficiency or damage, and they teach and instruct us, as they do. But if they do not differ in any way from the Apostles in this respect, then they are the sons of the Apostles and apostles for us, and those who do not receive them and do not listen to their words, let them hear what our Lord Jesus Christ says to such persons: "Amen I say unto you, The land of Sodom and Gomorrah shall be more pleasant than unto you" (Matt. 10:15; 11:22). For what did He say to the Apostles: "Whosoever receiveth you, receiveth me" (Matt. 10:40); and again, Hear you, Me hears: and reject you, Me is rejected; but cast aside Me, Who sent Me is rejected (Luke 10:16), this applies to those like them, their successors, and to those who are now living, and to those who will live after them. And consequently, those who do not accept and do not listen to them, but are rejected, do not accept and do not listen to Christ the Lord Himself, but reject Him. And by rejecting Him, they also reject God the Father, who sent Him.

You know, of course, my beloved son, that now, in these times, no one of the laity, nor of the monks, nor of the priests or bishops, honors, loves, fears, or accepts anyone but an apostle of God and a disciple of Christ, out of the love of Christ, or according to the commandment, or for the eternal sake of the blessings promised to us; but we all despise one another and despise one another, — monks condemn monks, priests bishops, laymen all of them, and one another among themselves, and no one at all keeps in mind that the church of God, as it was in ancient times, remains so today, and as God then ordained for it first the Apostles, the second the prophets, the third the teachers, and the rest enumerated by St. Paul, so now they also abide in the person of their successors, the leaders of the Church, so that everyone would receive some as Apostles, some as prophets, some as teachers. We have completely forgotten all this, and we exalt ourselves one above the other without measure. Him Who yesterday baptized me, freed me from sin and corruption of my soul, having filled me with the grace of the Holy Spirit, communed the most pure body and saving blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and made me a son of God (what else did the Apostles of Christ do for Christians at that time?), I do not want to look at this very person now, and I do not welcome him, because I consider it a shame for myself; I do not go out to meet him when he comes to me to honor him and receive him kindly, but I say to my servant with vexation, "What does he want there?" Tell him that your master is busy and has not time to receive him. Not to mention the fact that even worse and more dishonorable than this is done not only to monks, but also to priests, the very ones who confess to them and entrust their souls to them. It happens that someone has just chosen someone to be his spiritual father and teacher through confession to him, and not after a while, but immediately after calling himself his spiritual son, he begins to express pride before this spiritual father, and instead of being a spiritual child and disciple, he becomes a spiritual father and teacher and begins to read lessons to his spiritual father. to contradict him and despise him, if it happens that he says anything to him that is not to his liking; And some time passes, and he completely forgets that he has a spiritual father and teacher. But if the spiritual father himself goes to him, but does not do his will, and does not indulge his desires, or, rather, does not fall down with him, in order to perish with him, then he leaves him and finds another who would follow his carnal desires.

Thus, everything spiritual among us, as you yourself see and know, is now in disorder, disordered; the Apostolic Rite and Tradition have been forgotten and the commandments of Christ have been abandoned. And this calamitous evil lives in the present generation, despite the fact that everyone dreams of themselves, that they have sufficiently studied the divine, that they know the commandments of God and can judge what and how they should do.