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.

They treat their spiritual fathers in the same way: they think that by confession with them they receive remission of their sins, but they themselves are considered devoid of any virtue, having no boldness before God, and they are placed on the same level with all other people. And so this is the state in which almost all of us are: they think that they also receive, or rather steal, all those spiritual gifts which God gave to the Apostles, but the Apostles passed on to those who believed in Christ through them, but do not give worthy honor and faith to those through whom these gifts are given to them: — which honor the Apostles gave to the Lord Christ in the beginning, To the apostles, then to their disciples, and to these those who were under them; but they cherish the audacious conviction that God does not require them to render it even now to their bishops, priests, abbots and spiritual fathers. Being baptized as infants, they therefore believe that they are not guilty when they do not afterwards give honor to the one who baptized them, and do not revere him as their spiritual father. They also dream that, having learned the rudiments of Christian dogmas in childhood, they know enough for piety, and that therefore God will not punish them for despising the teachers of piety and not wanting to learn anything more from them. It seems to them that they are quite pious and lead a more orderly life than many others; why they hope that they will be justified for the sake of this alone. Again, to speak in spirit of their sins, to confess them and to receive permission from their spiritual fathers, this seems to them sufficient for salvation, and then they need neither to have faith in these fathers, nor to give them honor, nor to show them the reverence that befits them, as the successors of the Apostles, mediators and intercessors for them before God.

In this way, the whole universe is now filled with this charm and this evil. The violation and contempt of this commandment alone turned everything upside down in the Church of God, threw it down to its very lot. The church has fallen into such disorder and confusion that nowhere is there almost no befitting order, and there is no sign that this body of the Lord is beautifully combined. As if we do not have the head of Christ the Lord, as if we are not brothers in spirit, bound together and united by the grace of the Holy Spirit, that we do not allow each of us to be ordained and well-built in his order by the first builders of the Church of God!? Because of this, we are divided and scattered, like soulless particles of some substance (like sand). So much have we been enslaved to our desires, so much have the lusts of voluptuousness prevailed over us! Being drawn away by them only to please ourselves, we were divided, and from mutual hostility and pride we turned away and distanced ourselves from one another, and thus lost the distinguishing mark and sign of our faith, that is, love, of which the Lord said: "Of this all men understand, that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35). If we have lost it, then it is in vain that we are called Christians.

Tell me, I beseech thee, when we do not love our spiritual fathers, who have given us such great blessings, that through them God makes us his sons by grace, partakers of his glory, and heirs of eternal bliss, when, I say, we do not love them, and do not honor them, and do not glorify them as we ought to, as the man of God, sent to us from God, should be honored,  "Who can believe us that we have love for our other brothers, our neighbors?" And besides, if those whom we have as intercessors before God and men of prayer, who have received authority from God, to give us absolution for all our sins and to reconcile us to Him, if, I say, we do not receive them with full conviction and faith as saints, but look upon them as sinners, how can we hope that through them we have been granted complete remission of sins? For the Lord says: "According to faith be unto you" (Matt. 9:29). And exactly, according to the measure of our faith, to the extent that we believe in them, so shall we also receive the remission of our sins. Moreover, if the word spoken by the Lord is true: receive you, Me receives, and: "Reject you, Me is rejected; then I wonder how those who do not keep in mind the conviction that we must not only love all people, especially our brothers in spirit, but must also receive any of the present spiritual men as an Apostle of Christ, so that through him we may receive Christ Himself, and we must fulfill every word of Him, as if it came from the mouth of Christ Himself,  — how, I say, and in what other way can such receive Christ, or acquire Him within themselves? And yet many of us do not even know the priest who baptized them; but we, who know them, have turned away from them and despised them, as I said above; and some do not even know whether they have been baptized? "If we do not know this, then how can we admit that we have faith, or even consider us baptized?" I do not understand this: we have not come to know the spiritual father, and even if we have, we do not revere him as a father; a teacher who would teach us piety, they did not bother to acquire; And if we have acquired, we do nothing according to what He teaches us, but we walk and act as our will pleases. What can be said more than this, I do not know, and I do not find for what and for what virtue of yours I could call you Christians?

Poor and unfortunate man! Why do you not revere your spiritual father as an apostle of Christ? "I do not see, you say, that he fulfills the commandments of God, therefore I do not honor him. But this is an empty pretext. For, tell me, do you yourself fulfill them better than he, that you so boldly despise and condemn him? "But even if you have really fulfilled all the commandments, then you should not condemn him, and despise him, and turn away from him, reproaching him for his negligence about a good life, but on the contrary, you should still love him and revere him for the blessings which God has given you through him, and make him a partaker in your bodily life, so that in this way you may repay him at least a little for the spiritual good that he has brought you, so that not only you may preserve what God has given you through him, but also increase your actions in this way. Now, as you see for yourself, because of your unbelief, ingratitude, and abandonment of your spiritual father and teacher, you have not only destroyed all that you received through him, but you have blotted out the very thing that you are a Christian for, and you have lost Christ the Lord. For suppose in thy mind that the king of the earth has sent to thee one of his least servants, dressed poorly, in old rags, not on horseback, but on a bad ass, or even on foot, but who has brought thee a charter under the royal seal, written by the king in his own hand, and in this letter the king declares thee his brother and friend, and promises after a while to make thee a partaker with him in the reign; to crown thy head with a royal crown and clothe thee in royal garments, tell me, how would thou react to this servant? Would you have received him and honored him as a king's servant, and for the sake of such great and truly royal promises and such radiant glory that awaits you, rejoiced with him, did you favor him according to your strength, and promised to do good to him forever afterwards — or would you despise him and send him away empty-handed and dishonorable, for the sole reason that he was dressed in poor clothes and came on foot?! Supposing you to despise him in this way, and the king found out about it, would he praise you for it, or would he reproach and condemn you? If you yourself were this king, would you not consider it a reproach and dishonor to yourself such contempt shown to your servant? And would he not acknowledge this reproach as a reproach to himself? Of course, it would have been. Thou wouldst be so angry with him, as if he were to show thee contempt, as if reproaching thee in thy face that thou hast such servants, and would say, Who hath made him judge over my servants? He did not reproach my servant for wearing such poor and stained rags because of his negligence, but for myself, for being unmerciful, and keeping my servants in such rags. In this way you would repent that you had made such promises to this contempt of your servant for the sake of this very contempt, and would not have received him faithfully, when he came to you, because he, being impudent, had taken away your own judgment and condemned your servant, whom it was inappropriate for him to judge.

Discuss all this within yourself, my spiritual and beloved child, and having perfectly understood the present order of things, try to be a true Christian not only in word, but also in deed. Get yourself a spiritual father, get a teacher, a mediator and an intercessor before God. Cleave to him with love and faith, with fear and desire, and be with him as you were with Jesus Christ Himself, that through him you may be vouchsafed to be united with Christ and become a partaker and co-heir of His eternal glory and kingdom, so that you may sing and glorify Him with the Father and the Holy Spirit, unto the endless ages of ages. Amen.

TWELFTH HOMILY

1. He who repents of his sins will receive no benefit if he does not seek from Christ the Lord and the cure of his infirmity, because of which he sins. 2. Whatever a person does in this life, he does in vain, if it does not contribute to the health of his soul. 3. How does sin happen according to our will and without our will?