Those who read or listen to the sermon about how Christ opened the eyes of the blind (Matt. 20:34) can add the following prayer: "O Son of God, Who enlightened the blind with the word as God, enlighten my spiritual eyes, that I may see Thee, the Eternal Light, and follow Thee in faith and love."

Those who read or hear the Apostle's word: "Christ died for all, so that those who live no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again" (2 Corinthians 5:15), can pray in the following way: "Jesus the Son of God, for all and for me, a sinner, who died, put to death my flesh's wisdom, help me to die sin and the world, that I may live for Thee, my Redeemer, who died for me and rose again."

In the same way, one can act in other things, and prayer by reasoning, reasoning by prayer, can be aroused and strengthened. Having finished reading or hearing the word of God, we must thank the merciful God for having deigned to light the lamp of His Word for the enlightenment of our minds for us, who are in darkness, and we should also pray that it may shine in our hearts like a daylight by the grace of the Holy Spirit, Who spoke through the prophets and apostles.

§ 14. Christians who live fearlessly and violate the law of God gather for themselves the wrath of God, according to the words of the Apostle: O man! Or do you despise the riches of God's goodness, meekness, and longsuffering, not understanding that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But, because of your stubbornness and impenitent heart, you store up for yourself wrath for the day of wrath and the revelation of righteous judgment from God (Romans 2:3-5). They gather, I say, more than the pagans, who do not know the true God and His holy law. For the Gentiles will be rebuked and condemned only by the natural, and the faulty and hardened Christians by the natural, and the written law will rebuke and condemn them on the day of Christ's judgment. He who rejects Me and does not receive My words has a judge for himself: the word that I have spoken, it will judge him at the last day, says Christ (John 12:48).

The words of Holy Scripture, as St. Basil the Great teaches, will appear at the judgment of Christ. For He said: "I will rebuke you, and I will present your sins before you" (Psalm 49:21). Then the hardened Christian will be presented with the commandments that he has heard and broken, denouncing him. The threats and promises of God, which were actually fulfilled, written in the Holy Scriptures, which he did not believe, will appear, and they will convict him. Then a conscience will arise in him, which will remind him of God's blessings and grace-filled circumstances, which he despises, such as: Christ's coming into the world for the sake of sinners, suffering, death, and so on; the word of God, so many times heard and despised by him, so many preaching exhortations that were for his salvation and left by him. And this remembrance, or rather remorse, will greatly torment him, especially because he will no longer have any hope of regaining what he has lost through negligence. As a result, he will begin to condemn himself, to reproach himself, but to no avail, to hate and curse himself, to abhor himself and to turn into nothing, but he will not be able to. To this terrible torment and anguish will be added the most grievous feeling of God's wrath and a flame that burns, but does not burn, and so on.

Those who despise the law of God will not escape this torment, consoling themselves in vain and softening their evil conscience. For the servant who knew the will of his master, and was not ready, and did not do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes, says Christ (Luke 12:47). That is why Christ declares woe to those who hear the word of God and do not repent. The inhabitants of Tyre, Sidon and Sodom will be more pleased on the day of judgment than the lawless Christians, if they do not repent (Matt. 11:21-24). God is not mocked. What a man sows, that he will also reap (Gal. 6:7). Therefore, without fail, those Christians who have apostatized from God through a lawless life, if they no longer want to experience the judgment of God on themselves by the pagans, must turn to Him with all their hearts and pray to His goodness with tears, so that they may again be accepted into His highest mercy and produce worthy fruits of repentance. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire (Matt. 3:10).

§ 15. A sign of God's wrath is if in a certain place the word of God is not preached, as God says through the prophet: Behold, the days are coming, saith the Lord God, when I will send a famine upon the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a thirst to hear the words of the Lord. And they will walk from sea to sea, and wander from north to east, seeking the word of the Lord, and they will not find it (Amos 8:11-12). For as bread is to our body, so is the word of God to our soul. As the body is nourished and strengthened by food, so the soul is nourished and strengthened in faith by the word of God. Consequently, just as hunger occurs to the body when the clouds do not sprinkle, and the parched earth does not bear fruit, so hunger happens to souls when the hearing of the word of God is deprived. For then faith, which is nourished and strengthened by the word of God, becomes impoverished and disappears, and unbelief and superstition appear in its place. From this it happens that people consider for sin that in which there is no sin; and, on the contrary, they do not consider as sin that in which there is a great sin: virtue is called vice, vice is called virtue. For this reason many consider it a sin to touch certain foods, which God has not forbidden; but they devour the houses of widows, orphans, and other defenseless people, which God has forbidden under the threat of temporal and eternal punishment. Hence also other lawless fruits, which the godless life shows, such as: perjury, covetousness, theft, flattery, deceit, deceit, irreconcilable malice, all uncleanness and all iniquity.

Man himself is blind and therefore requires enlightenment; forgetful – and therefore requires frequent reminders; lazy – and therefore he needs encouragement; he is decrepit and despondent, and therefore he needs consolation; prone to falling, and therefore requires reinforcement; inclined to doubt – and therefore requires instruction. And all this is drawn from the Holy Scriptures. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17). As a result of the deprivation of all this, there is nothing but a miserable and deplorable state of the soul. Bodily hunger is terrible, but spiritual hunger is more terrible. Bodily hunger is the cause of bodily death, but spiritual hunger causes death to the soul, which is much more terrible than bodily death. As the soul is more honest than the body, so the calamity of the soul is more terrible than the calamity of the body. No one, neither the righteous nor the sinner, can avoid bodily death, but with God's help we will avoid spiritual death, if we adhere to His holy words. And the body, although it will die, nevertheless, if the soul is alive by faith, will again revive in the general resurrection, uniting with the soul. And if the soul dies, then both the body and the soul will perish forever.

Woe to the souls of the poor, who are exhausted by this deadly hunger! But woe to those whose duty is to nourish their souls with the nourishment of the word of God, but do not nourish them, who are fainting! For thus they themselves do not enter into the Kingdom of God, and they do not allow those who wish to enter in. But even greater woe is it when the way to all iniquity is opened by their temptations. For the common people, looking upon them as their leaders, imitate their manners and their lives. So, they say, so-and-so, do this and that: why don't we do it? Thus one thinks madly and blindly, and thus faith diminishes day by day, and with faith love fades away, godliness becomes impoverished, and impiety increases. In such a case, according to the word of Christ, we must pray to the Lord of the harvest, that He would send out laborers into His harvest (Matt. 9:38). About this great important matter, in which eternal salvation consists:

1) должны воздыхать и молиться те, у которых в серд­цах искра благочестия не угасла;

2) должны попечение и старание приложить те, которым кормило церквей поручено.

§ 16. Также худой знак, если слово Божие проповедуется, но люди неохотно и лениво слушают и не хранят его в сердце своем, или, что хуже того, удаляются от него. В притче о семени написано: Иное упало при дороге, и налетели птицы и поклевали то. Иное упало на каменистое место, где немного было земли, и скоро взошло, потому что земля была неглубока; когда же взошло солнце, увяло и, как не имело корня, засохло. Иное упало в терние, и терние выросло, и заглушило семя, и оно не дало плода. И иное упало на добрую землю и дало плод, который взошел и вырос, и принесло иное тридцать, иное шестьдесят, и иное сто (Мк. 4:4-8). Семя – это слово Божие. Под землей доброй, давшей плод от посеянного семени, понимаются люди добрые, творящие плоды покаяния, а под землей, не давшей плода, понимаются три рода людей нерадивых, в которых слово евангельского учения никакого плода не приносит.

Люди первого рода уподобляются дороге, это те, которые, слыша, не слышат слова Божия: то есть слышат ушами плотскими только проповедуемое слово, но внутрь, в сердце не допускают его; не помышляют о слышанном, но в иных суетных мыслях забавляются, и потому глас слова Божия только ударяет в их уши, но до сердец их не доходит. И так дьявол похищает у них слово Божие, чтобы они не уверовали и не спаслись (Лк. 8:12). Люди второго рода слышат слово учения и с радостью принимают его, как учит Христос; но поскольку не имеют корня в себе, то во время печали или гонения губят его и бесплодны бывают. Третья часть людей – это те, которые также слышат слово Божие, но, как терние семя, так забота века сего и обольщение богатства слышанное слово в них заглушает, и оно без плода бывает, как там же Сам Христос объясняет (Мф. 13:19-22).

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