Unusually bold words! One might think that this person forgets and dreams when, before God's judgment before God, he justifies himself and appoints for himself a crown from God. But his well-known modesty and deeply humble opinion of himself do not allow him to think so. For this same man at another time called himself the least of the Apostles, unworthy of the name of the Apostle (1 Corinthians 15:9), a persecutor of the Church, a blasphemer and an annoyer, who was pardoned only by grace, the first of sinners (1 Timothy 1:13,15).

How did it happen that a man who loves to humble himself so much exalts himself with such boldness? Without a doubt, faith gave him a presentiment of what was in store for him, and I think love prompted him to reveal this premonition. "Suffer evil," he wrote before this to his beloved child Timothy, and immediately, in order to dissolve this bitter commandment with consolation, he pointed out to him the example of his suffering: "I am already hungry" [2 Timothy 4:6] - and to his undoubted reward: "For the rest the crown of righteousness is kept for me, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me in the day." But as soon as love for the disciple has torn out from the heart of the teacher the secret of lofty hope, humility immediately comes and places the high teacher along with the last disciples: Not only is the crown of righteousness unto me, but also to all who love His appearing.

And all the people of God do not like to be in glory among men, and if they appear among them in glory or manifest in themselves the expectation of glory, it is in order to show them the crown of righteousness, and draw them to the path of righteousness. And you, the Spirit-bearing successor and imitator of the Apostles, who didst do the work of the evangelist, who fought the good fight, when with some of the rays of your heavenly crown shine here on earth – and you, Alexis, after your death, like Paul before his death, preach to us the hope of the Heavenly crown and encourage us to seek it. Not only for me is the crown of righteousness, but also for all who love His appearance.

It is worthy of note, Christians, that the Apostle promises a crown of righteousness to all who love the appearance of the Lord. Through this he teaches us that, among other salvific feats, in order to attain the crown from the Lord, it is necessary that we love His appearance, that is, diligently reflect on the coming of Christ, await it unceasingly, desire it heartily, and prepare for it actively.

When Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and the Apostles, although already forewarned of His ascent to His Father, stood with their eyes fixed after Him, either in amazement at the wondrous event, in bewilderment at its consequences, or in lamentation over the separation from the Divine Saviour, then the Angels were sent to calm their agitated thoughts and feelings. What do they do? What kind of medicine is used? As a strong cure, they use the thought of the future appearance of Jesus, hidden from sight: "This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will also come, in the same manner you will see Him going into heaven" (Acts 1:11). And how truly this spiritual healing helped! Having returned, says the Evangelist about the Apostles, after the ascension of the Lord, having returned to Jerusalem with great joy (Luke 24:52).

It is evident that, having accepted the medicine given by the Angels, the Apostles really and abundantly tasted in it the powers of the coming age. That is why they so often give the same medicine to other people, that is, they give them a taste of the hope of the future appearance of Christ, whether it is necessary to cleanse the infected, or strengthen the weak, or relieve the suffering. Christ, - writes the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews, - is brought alone, to bear many sins, the second will appear without sin, waiting for Him for salvation (Hebrews 9:28). Instructing Titus to teach the doctrine of saving grace, he says that this grace teaches us that, having rejected impiety and worldly lusts, we may live chastely, righteously, and piously in the present age, but how can we fulfill such great requirements of grace? In answer to this, he adds: "Blessed am I waiting for the hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:11-13). Encouraging Timothy to succeed in truth, piety, faith, love, patience, meekness, and to fight the good fight of faith, he commands him to keep this commandment purely and irreproachably. "How long? - perhaps an exhausted ascetic would ask." And the clairvoyant teacher, anticipating this, points out the joyful limit of asceticism: "Even unto the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Timothy 6:11-14). Likewise, the Apostle Peter, calling pastors to true pastoral podvig, "Be ye like the flock," arouses in them zeal for podvig only by the thought of the appearance of the Crown-Giver of the Chief Shepherd, and when you appear to the Chief Shepherd, you will receive a crown unknown to glory (1 Peter 5:3,4). With this hope he also dissolves the bitter cup of the afflicted: "Inasmuch as ye partake of the passion of Christ, rejoice, that ye may rejoice also in the appearing of His glory and rejoice" (1 Peter 4:13). The Apostle John demands of the Christian the highest purification of himself, as Christ Himself is pure. By what indestructible fire or by what fiery water does he think to bring about this radical purification? By the hope of the appearance of Christ. "We know," he says, "that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is: and whosoever hath this hope purifies himself, as He is pure" (1 John 3:2,3).

It can be said that the thought of the expected appearance of Christ was in early Christianity the universal foundation by which the whole edifice was supported, the universal force by which the whole body was animated, the universal motive instrument by which great and pure actions were performed. But why did I say "in primitive Christianity"? When and what kind of Christianity can stand without a foundation, live without this power, act without this instrument? By hope we are saved (Romans 8:24), says the Apostle; We are saved in hope, not in the full completion of salvation. What does it mean to be saved in hope? Expectation, as the same Apostle defines it, of blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13). Thus, where there is no expectation, there is no hope, where there is no hope, there is no salvation, where there is no salvation, there is no Christianity.

If these conclusions do not seem sufficiently clear to anyone, because they are derived from the testimony of a teacher in Christianity, and not from the simple and obvious principles of reason, although in matters of faith it is much more reliable to rely on the testimony of those who know, than on one's own searches of natural reason, arrogant and vain, which in such cases, with all its questions and perplexities, does not deserve any other answer, as Christ's accusatory answer to Nicodemus: "If we know, we speak, and when we have seen, we testify, and we do not accept our testimony!" (John 3:11) – if, I say, in spite of this, anyone wishes to investigate by his own reasoning to what extent the hope and unceasing expectation of the appearance of Christ enter into the essence of Christianity, let him consult with his best understanding and conscience. Whoever feels sin within himself does not need the firm hope of perfect forgiveness and purification? Without this, would he not be threatened by despair, which is hell in the soul, before it brings the soul down to hell? Does not he who suffers need the joyful hope of a better state? Whoever experiences, or even sees, injustice, does he not also have need of the hope of justice in order to calm his heart and conscience? Whoever strives to the point of exhaustion, does he not need the encouraging hope of recompense?

A Christian knows that the forgiveness and cleansing of sins has been acquired for him by the blood and death of Christ, but he also feels that the root of sin has not yet been uprooted from him, as the Apostle also admitted, that he feels sin living in himself and that good does not dwell in his flesh (Romans 7:17,18). It can even be said that the saint feels sin in himself more than a sinner, because this inner feeling is not stifled in him either by external sensual pleasures, or by the slumber of his conscience, therefore what would happen to a Christian if he did not constantly hope and await the appearance of Christ, which in all parts, even to the body of humility, should transform him into the glorious image of Christ? Moreover, without a doubt, even the slightest remnants of sinful impurity will disappear, and all the warfare of sin, all temptation will cease forever?

A Christian suffers and suffers almost more than other people, for in addition to the inevitable sufferings common to the corrupt human nature, he has been given a cross similar to the one on which Christ suffered. How miserable would a Christian be if he did not think, if he did not feel in his suffering, that through suffering He who entered into glory (Luke 24:26) draws near every moment to shine with the glory of the sufferers?

A Christian both sees over others and experiences the injustice of the world, according to the prophecy of the Truth: "As ye bear of the world, for this reason the world hates you" (John 15:19). And the more clearly he understands the truth of God, the more ardently zealous he becomes, the more painfully he is consumed by zeal, in vain is the peace of sinners (Psalm 72:3) and the calamities of the righteous. He would have fainted from his own jealousy, if the cool hope of justice had not breathed upon him like a thin voice of coldness: "Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me to repay him according to his deed" (Rev. 22:12).

Finally, the Christian struggles, for since sin has reigned evil in the world, no good has been acquired in it except by podvig, warfare and victory, and must strive according to the example of the Podvig sometimes to the point of bloody sweat and to the exhaustion of all strength. What is more necessary for encouraging him in his podvig and for renewing his strength, if not to see with the eye of hope at the end of the race the Podvig Himself, who is already the Crown-giver - not because in the true ascetic there is greed or vanity, hungering for a crown, but because his soul thirsts for the Most Beloved Podvig and Crown-Giver, for Whom the true ascetic overcomes in all, for our beloved (Romans 8:37)? If the true Christian did not have this one hope, then any other hope could lead him to despair - "If in this life we trust in Christ, we are the most accursed of all men" (1 Corinthians 15:19).

Everything shows that hope and expectation of the appearance of Christ must be essentially united with true Christianity. What, then, should be said of those in whom there is either no hope and expectation at all, or it is weak and for the most part covered with oblivion? That either they do not have true Christianity, or their Christianity is weak, and they forget what they owe to this name. Am I food [Matt. 26:22]? - perhaps a true disciple will think at this, fearing a crime. Am I food? the false one will also speak, fleeing from reproof. We cannot give anyone a sign of accusation, but to those who have eyes all things convict: "By their fruit ye shall know them" (Matt. 7:16).