But whoever does not feel the conviction and torment of conscience after committing a sin has lost the last hope of salvation, and this is a sign that he does not consider any sin to be a sin: it only seems that it is impossible for it to be. For this witness is faithful: no matter how you console and soften him, he does not cease to denounce, rebuke and cry out; always seeks judgment on the sinner. Both the written law of God and this natural law, although darkened in the sinner, always convicts sin and means God's judgment to the sinner. The law of God and conscience come together, and what the law of God says on the charter is the conscience within. The law of God says: "Thou shalt not steal," and so does thy conscience tell thee. From whence it happens that even the greatest lawless people seek a hidden place to do lawless deeds. For no one wants to sin openly and conceals the sin committed in every possible way. This comes from nothing else but conscience, which convicts the sinner that he does evil, and makes shame in him.

11) For sin, hell, hell and eternal torment are prepared. What a great and terrible misfortune, in the first place, to be deprived forever of God's mercy and His sweetest sight, with which all the holy angels and holy people will forever be satisfied without satiety; to be alienated and rejected from this blessed cathedral and to fall into the most painful eternal state, to drink the cup with the devil and his evil angels without end of God's wrath, to suffer in that flame that devours, but does not kill (Matt. 13:42; 25:41; Mk. 9:43-45, etc.), where one cala of water is desired, but will never succeed, and the answer will be heard: Child! Remember that you have already received your good things in your life (Luke 16:25). How grievous, I say, in such distress is to sigh, to groan, to weep, to weep, to eat, to gnash one's teeth endlessly, unceasingly, and uselessly! Sin leads to such terrible evil (Rev. 21:8).

12) Sin and temporal punishments are brought about, such as: bloody wars, pestilences, diseases, sorrows, famines, earthquakes, fires, and so on. If there had been no sin, nothing would have happened. Sin is the cause of all evil and calamity.

13) Sin is the cause that even the most innocent nature suffers. Man sins, but the rest of creation suffers: the earth does not bear fruit, cattle and beasts suffer from hunger, the air and water are corrupted, and so on. Human sin is the cause of all this.

See, man, what evil sin is. Oh, sin is an unspeakable evil, for by it the infinite and all-good God is offended and angered! Shameless betrayal is a sin that we betray to the immortal and righteous God! An incurable ulcer is a sin that wounds, torments and devours our conscience! Spiritual leprosy is a sin that no one but the Only-begotten Son of God can heal! The source of temporal and eternal disasters is the source, the root of condemnation and death, the transformation of nature, the darkening of the mind, the corruption of spiritual goodness and all evils – sin! Righteously, St. John Chrysostom wrote: "There is nothing heavier than sin" (on Psalm 121); "There is nothing more filthy and unclean than sin" (Discourse 25 on the Evangelist John). Truly, sin is more evil than the demon, as the same father teaches (Discourse 41 on the Acts of the Apostles). For even the demon, who was created by the Creator as an angel of light, was made a demon by sin. Truly it is better to walk naked than burdened with sins, as the same father says (Discourse 5 on the Evangelist John).

O sin-loving soul! Look and consider what a great, terrible and incurable evil you love! What a vile monster you delight! Feel and look around to what end this foul love leads you, and, turning away from this horror, turn to the beginning and source of all good – God. When thou returnest, and sigh, then thou shalt be saved, and thou shalt understand where thou wast (Isaiah 30:15).

§ 45. Help in the feat against sin:

1) To strive to have a good upbringing in young years, which is in the teaching and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). For the rest of one's life depends on upbringing, like a fresh earthen vessel: with what it is soaked in at first, it will emit such a smell for the rest of its life. Everyone is born evil; for everyone is conceived in iniquity, and is born in sins (Psalm 50:7). Therefore, in order to become good, correction is required, training: as a fierce and untrained horse is trained in order to be fit for riding. Passions, although present in a young heart, have not yet intensified, and therefore, if they are first restrained by punishment and fear, they will be pacified and tamed: we must expect good hope in a young man who has been brought up in this way. A young tree, to which side it bows, will stand to the end: so also a young heart, what it has been taught, will hold on to it until death.

2) To distance oneself from evil and depraved people. For though a man be brought up in good, and live godly, yet if he associates with the wicked, he may become corrupt, as he who touches soot is blackened: "Evil associations corrupt good morals" (I Cor. 15:33). Therefore, like Lot of Sodom, so the good must flee from living with the wicked, so as not to perish, having been corrupted by their iniquitous life.

3) To learn from the holy word of God and to read or listen to other spiritually beneficial books. For the word of God and the other books that agree with it denounce sin and teach virtue, and thus lead us away from sin, showing its abomination and the perdition that follows from it, by which a person can turn away from sin and do repentance and its fruits, that is, good works.

4) Do not disdain, but even love the rebuke and instruction of good and reasonable people, who themselves know sin and abhor it, and can give good advice to others.

5) Often remember that at baptism they renounced Satan and all his works, that is, sins, and promised to serve God with reverence and truth, as it is written in the form of baptism. Is it proper for a Christian to turn to Satan and his evil deeds, which he has renounced and spat upon, and to turn away from his Creator and Redeemer, and to betray Him, Whom, as his King and Sovereign, he promised to serve faithfully and truthfully? Truly, such is the proverb: "The dog returns to his vomit, and the washed pig goes to wallow in the mud" (2 Peter 2:22). For a Christian is washed at baptism from all sinful defilements, according to what is said: "Be washed, sanctified, justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Cor. 6:11).

But when a Christian turns to sins and commits them, then like a dog returns to his vomit and a washed pig to the mud. For every sin is like stinking filth, with which a person, washed by the grace of Christ in baptism, sanctified and justified, is again defiled when he commits sin and betrays God and his Creator, and thus becomes unfaithful to Him Whom he promised to serve faithfully. Oh, how grievous and disastrous is this betrayal! It is difficult, because the sinner betrays God, and not man.

It is a grave crime to betray one's sovereign, the earthly king, how much more to God, the King of Heaven? It is calamitous, for the sinner is again given over to the power of the devil, from which he was delivered by the grace of God, and so again he becomes a child of God's wrath, darkness and eternal condemnation, who has become a son of light, of God's blessing and heir of eternal life. With how many tears and weeping must the sinner mourn this betrayal and wash his defiled soul! Remember, Christian, the bath of baptism, in which you were washed from the filth of sin, and do not return to them; and do not forget the denial of Satan and his angels and the promise to follow Christ, and beware of breaking them, lest you betray your Creator. But if you have betrayed, turn again with tears and weeping to your Father, like the prodigal son, and He will have mercy on you; and henceforth do not depart from Him, lest you lose His mercy forever.