Return to this God-preserved city, to which the inscrutable destinies of God have bound me as much as I am a good one, as a terrible bond, because by sacred bonds, I have now to say much from the abundance of my heart, and above all to gratefully glorify God, the author of all the blessings, Who has already deigned to end my fourth distant and prolonged coming from these borders without comfort, if only this can be called the end of the coming for those who are not imams of this city, earthly but coming, heavenly (Hebrews 13:14), then reverently greet you, not only with the high grace of the sacrament, but also with the grace of miracles, Your Eminence, and your companions, you, who worship these ancient strongholds with your incorruptible bodies, and especially in the spirit of your God-pleasing prayers, that you may strengthen my weakness with them, correct my unworthiness, and bless me to appear again in the field after you hereditary service, to greet with love all those who are present here and who live here and who live here the communicants of the faith of one mind in Christ, the companions of the life of one law according to God, in whatever rank one is called to honor the True God, to serve society, to do good to one's neighbor, to build up one's salvation, if only one walks worthily of the highest calling of Christianity; especially to greet with consolation the communicants and companions of the sacred ministry, even in the absence of the Primate, as well as in the presence of those who preserve their order and affirmation without confusion and shame, and thus manifest in themselves the sign of the Church, forever unshaken.

But, like a shore of water, I keep the word of the commandment of the fathers, which commands that everything we do and say should have the testimony of the Divine Scriptures.

With what word of Scripture shall we govern and limit the flow of the present word? Let us listen to what the Holy Apostle Paul says to all the saints about Christ Jesus, that is, to those who were sanctified by the truth of the teaching and the power of the Christian sacraments, who were in Philippi, after Jesus Christ had preached to them and loved them in his womb, not coming to them personally, it is true, but almost all the same, visiting them through Epaphroditus, and conversing with them through a letter. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, he says to them at the beginning of his epistle [Phil. 1:1-2], and apparently not content to pronounce this greeting once, and apparently not having another so excellent, he repeats the same greeting at the end of the epistle: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is with you all." And thus I will tell you, and there is no need, if I say not for the first time: Grace be with you all!

Grace, in so far as this name expresses itself, is a power that bestows good: it is also in accordance with the spirit of the sacred tongue to call it, if it seems simpler, mercy, as a sign of such a quality and disposition of a good being, according to which another being appears to him as sweet, attracting love - as long as there is good, compassion - because it is in need, forgiveness - because it is guilty. Or, if it is necessary to distribute the concepts more precisely, love and mercy, when they come into action, are called grace, and the grace received becomes a gift.

The recently quoted words of the Apostles, and many other sacred sayings, show that the source and immediate beginning of grace is God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Father gives it, Jesus Christ brings it in His name, the Holy Spirit breathes it into the souls of believers and with it inspires them to spiritual life - strengthens and ascetics them to activity, truly beneficial and therefore pleasing to God and salvation.

From this conception of grace, which, however, is incomprehensible in its essence, since it is Divine, it is no longer difficult to understand how desirable it is for us, or, better said, how necessary it is for us. Without it there is no hope of forgiveness for the sinner, there is no sure deliverance for the needy, there is no good for anyone, because every good comes from the One God, and since God is infinite in His perfections, therefore He is all-satisfied with Himself and therefore has no need of anyone or anything, does not borrow anything from anyone, therefore He does not owe or owe anything to anyone, and consequently gives every good not out of any duty or necessity. but only by His boundless love and abundant grace.

Look at the world of earthly plants that is being renewed in the spring and think where its beginning and foundation are. Will you say that this is the earth from which he springs? But take a handful of earth covering the root of a plant, and you will see that it has no power, beauty, nutritiousness, or fragrance at all, which are characteristic of various plants, and what it does not have, it cannot communicate to them. Will you also say that the power of the sun, air, and water is combined in plants? But even this does not explain their origin.

What is the foundation of the earth itself, which seems to be the foundation of what is seen on it? Shall we say with the examiners of nature that this is the force of gravitation or attraction to it, both in the sun and in the stars, acting reciprocally between them? What a dead foundation for a world full of life even now, when death has entered into it, which God did not create! What a narrow foundation for a building so vast! And is this a reason? The searching mind is not satisfied, it asks on what is the basis, in what is affirmed such a tremendous power of attraction, which should hold and move the entire universe. In order not to plunge into the abyss, testing the depths, let us stop. Are we to discover the inner principles and foundations of nature, whether we who live, so to speak, on its bark and shell? The foundation of such a vast building can only be opened by the One Who created it, and reveals the ceiling as He Himself opens. Hang the earth on nothing (Job 26:7), so Job contemplates him. What does it mean on nothing? How can anything stand or hang on nothing? Job does not take away the foundation of the work of God, but despises human sensual knowledge, as one that does not reach the foundation of the works of God. Reach, he says, to the ends of the earth, go down to that side of it which you imagine under your feet, you will find nothing near the earth, above it and below it, except the air, and think: how can such a huge and heavy body be held in such a delicate creature for so many centuries, when even a light down does not stay in the air for long, but soon falls? Your mind is lost, you see the earth hanging, but on what you do not find. How can we not sin in order to explain this miraculous phenomenon? Go up to the Founder and you will find the true foundation. Hang the earth on nothing. God alone is the Founder of all creation, and in Him alone is its deepest foundation. Every thing stands on that on which it is placed in the beginning. Look through the far-sighted glass of the prophetic spirit, and you will see. God said, Let there be light. And there was light (Gen. 1:3). The same is true for each subsequent creature. Therefore God said, Let it be, this is the root principle of all things! The power of God, the word of God, is the deepest foundation of their existence and well-being! For one should not imagine the word of God to be like the spoken word of man, which, having come out of the mouth, immediately ceases and disappears into the air. In God there is nothing that ceases, nothing that disappears, His word proceeds, but does not pass away: the word of the Lord endures forever (1 Peter 1:25). The creative word is like an adamantine bridge on which creatures are placed and stand under the abyss of God's infinity, over the abyss of their own insignificance.

The power of God is, according to the application of the concept to our image, the hand of the Almighty, in which He holds the earthly circle, and each of its specks of dust, and all the circles of heaven, as far as He Himself counts them, numbering the stars alone (Psalm 146:4). This is not my curiosity, but the pure revelation of the very wisdom of God through the Apostle, who says that the Son of God beareth all things by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3), that is, He works continually in creatures by His word and His power, if not in the same way, then at least in the same way as He acted in the first days of their creation. Even to this day, the Word of God, which creates, is the foundation of the beginning and continuing existence of creatures. The Word of God, which blesses, is the foundation of their well-being. By Him the sun shines, by Him the earth grows, by Him and by His inexhaustible and diverse power is made that bread nourishes, wine strengthens, oil softens and heals, by Him every creature lives, grows, is perfected, and each in its own measure is blessed to the glory of creative wisdom, goodness and power.

After this reflection, I ask, what should be closer to God, man or other earthly bodily creatures? The answer almost does not need to be pronounced. But lest anyone say that all creatures are equally close to their immediate Creator, let us bring to mind certain testimonies and signs of the superiority of man's closeness to God: God's advice about his creation, unparalleled for other parts of creation, the taking by God's own hand, so to speak, of the purest dust from the earth to form the body of the first man, the breath in his face from his own, so to speak, the breath of life from the mouth of God, the image of God, shamefully lost, it is true, but all the more gloriously restored by the feat of the cross of the One-in-Essence Image and Son of God, Who did not consider Himself unworthy to become the second man and the last Adam (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:45,47).

This closeness of man to God, which is superior to other creatures, is used by the Heavenly Teacher Himself as a powerful means of instruction when He says: "If the hay of the country, today it is and in the morning it is swept into the furnace, God dresses it in this way, is it not much more than you, you of little faith? (Matthew 6:30). And this is the way of reasoning that we can now follow, reasoning about grace. If God has placed His dwelling place in the sun of this corporeal world (Psalm 18:5), and He shines with it so beneficially and generously against evil and good (Matthew 5:45), how much more must the highest region of the human spirit, in order not to give itself over to the abomination of desolation, so as not to turn into a land of darkness and the shadow of death, be the living abode of the Most High and be enlightened by His true light, which, as the servant of light sees and shows, actually enlightens every man who comes into the world (John 1:9), of course, so long as man does not flee from this inner light into the outer darkness of evil deeds. If the grass is eaten by cattle, and the grass for the service of man (Psalm 103:14), it is also God, if the sons learn about the food of the body, whom Thou hast loved, O Lord, for it is not the birth of fruit that nourishes man, but Thy word to Thee that believeth (Wis. 16:26), sometimes miraculously, and always naturally, both believers and unbelievers, just as the sun shines with His abundant grace on the evil and the good, how much more can no one and nothing nourish the human soul with food proper and satisfactory to it, increase the fruits of virtue, quench the hunger for truth and thirst for truth, strengthen the heart with spiritual strength, rejoice with holy joy, except God and His Word, as His Only-begotten One says: "I am the bread of life, which came down from heaven: whosoever eateth of this bread shall live forever" (John 6:51); Whosoever shall be in Me, and I in him, shall bring forth much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). According to the teaching of the Apostle, not only every good deed is done, but every holy word is worthily pronounced only with the help of the Holy Spirit: "No one can speak the Lord Jesus even by the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:3), in short, if the existence and well-being of the lower creatures depends every minute on the goodness and power of God, how much more so is the spiritual life and blessedness of man, created in the image of God and recreated in the image of God at every moment, for eternally depends on the cooperating grace of God.

And therefore we should be amazed at the carelessness or blindness of people who live and act, who want and hope to be prosperous, without thinking about the grace of God.

Tell me, O soul lacking in grace, but still sought by grace, how do you think to live and arrange your lot? Is it not reason? But if you are wise, then you must know what has long been known, that the Lord gives wisdom, and from His presence knowledge and understanding (Proverbs 2:6), that true wisdom is from above (James 3:17), that saving understanding comes from grace. But if you wish to be exalted by reason, which is born on earth and never grows above the senses, then know also that it, always promising more than it is capable of, and, being constrained by the senses and deceived by the passions, always fulfilling less than it is capable of, has long been condemned to rejection and destruction: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will hide the understanding of the prudent" (Isaiah 29:14). It is this self-praised human mind that is the world's ignoramus, whom the Gospel, sent by Grace, first came to shame, and then to teach or relearn in its own way. For since in the wisdom of God there is no understanding of the world through the wisdom of God, God has deigned to save believers by the exuberance of the preaching of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 1:21). What else, do you think, to live and arrange your own good? Isn't it the law? Yes, the Supreme Lawgiver Himself said of his commandments: "He who created that man shall live in them" (Lev. 18:5).