Homily 1. Very beneficial to the soul for those who listen to him. The mind converses with the soul; here also against covetousness

Why, my dear soul, do we unseemly consign to oblivion the glory and bliss of the heavenly crowns, with which Christ, the King of all, promises to crown those who courageously resist bodiless enemies? Why do we not keep in mind the divine purpose for which we were created by God in His image, but as animals alien to reason, we spend all the time of our lives pleasing the belly? Why, having been created to inherit heavenly blessings, is it senseless, O soul, to hold on to earthly things? I am the image of God: accordingly we must also philosophize in order to acquire the original goodness.

Otherwise, let no one call himself the image of God, if he has not acquired in himself all the beauties of the Prototype.

We were created on earth to be guardians of immortal beauty and participants in God's secret conversations. Let us know, O soul, the height of our glory, and let us not senselessly liken ourselves to dumb animals. The end will not be the same for us and for them, O soul, just as the image is not the same for both. They tend to always bend down and constantly fill their wombs with earthly growths; but with us, the soul, the very appearance of the body is beautifully arranged by the all-wise Artist. As for your other God-like beauties, with which you are very divinely adorned, I will not speak: they sufficiently convince us that our fatherland is heaven, and that we can boast that we have the highest God as our father. Therefore, let us always strive to direct our minds to the grief where our Father and our dwelling are. The Most High calls us His sons: then why are we, as men, dishonorably expelled from this (divine) life (Psalm 81:6, 7)? Let us glorify the Most High on earth, so that He also may adorn us with heavenly crowns. Let us glorify the Most High with all our hearts by the right and immaculate keeping of His commandments; let us firmly take hold of eternal life. Let us hate with all our hearts all that is low, and let us cast off the yoke of enslavement to the passions. Let us stand in the firmament of lofty freedom, in the firmament of God-like freedom, with which you were enriched before you fell into the power of a destructive demon, when, having lost your immortal glory, you became like senseless beasts (Psalm 48:21). Face to face, with boldness, you have enjoyed the divine conversations of your Creator: try to enter into this glory again with the godly manners of true piety.

How long, O soul, shall we be enslaved to the lusts of the flesh, whose end is worm and fire, burning without end? How long, chasing after what exists, as if it were something positive, will we be deceived by the mind, dwelling in tempting thoughts? How long shall we love sweet nourishment with fierce love, as if it were infinite bliss? How long shall vain glory deceive us, delight gold, and defile debauchery? Inconstant, O soul, is this life, there is nothing certain in it, it is all full of sorrows and deceit. Fame and all sweet food, wealth, longed-for beauty — all this, like the flower of spring, passes and disappears with time. You have become famous, you have eaten well, you have enjoyed yourself, you have won famous victories, you have lived for many decades; And after that, what? "Worm and putrefaction, a disgusting stench and countless terrible torments in the underworld...

If thou truly desirest to be vouchsafed his divine glory and to enjoy the resplendent grace of his mental beauty, and to be called a servant of the Heavenly Father, then unceasingly "morning" to thy King, Jesus, beseeching Him with sacred prayers and "the earth," unvisited by foul and wordless thoughts, that is, "flesh," exhausted by dry food, cleansed of passions, and "empty," as the God-speaking hymn-singer proclaims, "Appear, O soul, to Him who reigns in the highest, that you may "see" His holy "glory," and that "your lips" may be filled "with fat and oil" of heaven, and sing "with your lips joy; but the pernicious demons who always seek your destruction, "will descend into the underworld" and the dark abysses of the "earth" and "will be given into the hands" of the destructive "weapon of hell," and "will be a part of the fox" (Psalm 62:2-11).

Do not, O soul, prefer the perishable to the eternal heavenly blessings, lest it happen to you that which was said by the Meonian Homer, who says: "A foolish man comes to consciousness when he falls into trouble and there is no longer any way to help himself." After all, the feat of virtue is established in this life, in which we have previously fallen into a terrible fall, where our opponents are always present before us, with whom, if we fight bravely, we joyfully reach our beautiful homeland, the God-created Eden. Our only main goal should be to work joyfully to the very grave for the glory of God. This beautiful feat is granted to those who struggle well by the One Who Himself is the giver and guardian of life. That is the only and truly sweet joy to have divine goodness living in the heart. In this lies the true and firm hope to express hope by doing good deeds. Only that acquisition will usually follow us after death, which is gathered by diligence in the divine virtues; this is the only wisdom and true art to always conquer one's absurd passions; only true wealth is the wealth of the soul, which Christ the King bestows upon his friends. Everything else is laughter, which for a moment rejoices the heart, and then punishes forever with the torments of hell.

Let us not, O soul, be foolishly deceived by the vain wisdom of the flesh-pleasers, but let us take up with great zeal a dispassionate life, adhering to a chaste and honorable disposition. A mirror covered with a thick layer of dust cannot perceive the brilliance of the sunshine: even the soul, enslaved to vile carnal passions, does not accept the rays of unflickering light; but deprived of it, it does not differ in any way from dumb animals; for the beauty of the rational soul consists in a warm zeal for God. This is the soul that we will seek with all our hearts. For everything else that is beautiful on earth, all this is pus and falsehood, completely vain and fleeting. How unseemly it is to weave wool on a gold base, or to adorn a golden image with brass: it is so shameful for those who bear the name of Christ to be defiled by the pernicious passions of the flesh. Christ is the King, fully pure, beautiful and holy, and His followers must also be holy. And those who are not like that will be like those who vainly chase after a flock of high-flown birds. For no one who has no holiness will see God, as the divinely wise Paul clearly testified.

And so, rather, soul, let us know ourselves, and let us philosophize according to our nature, without sinking into sleep and laziness, as if passing through a completely quiet voyage. You have been appointed by the Most High to suffer and to fight against invisible enemies, and honor or punishment is prepared for you, depending on whether you courageously fight or suffer defeats. And if thou wilt be courageous, thou shalt receive honor, ageless life, and heaven itself with all its inhabitants, and thou shalt be a beloved child of the Most High God, feasting upon the great wisdom of thy Father. What beautiful honors are reserved for you, O soul, if you prevail! If you have sound reasoning, then constantly strive for them. But if you turn your backbone, then terrible torments and sicknesses are prepared for you, and the fire that constantly burns the wicked, where there is incessant weeping and gnashing of teeth, where the terrible worm gnaws unceasingly, where there is darkness and gloom and one never-ceasing night — in the very day of hell, from whence to come out, condemned there by the righteous judgment of God, there is no hope. Who has determined both to you, O soul? Is it not He Who shakes the whole earth from its very foundations, and stirs up the seas with strong stormy winds, Who in His hand both contains and bears everything like God, Who by the good and quiet winds of the All-Holy Spirit, and by people who are unlettered, has destroyed the rhetorical speeches and harmful philosophical teachings that raged like a storm, and the insidious and pernicious charm of demons formerly revered throughout the whole world? how He tore apart the cobwebbed fabric, and how He instantly dispelled the deep gloomy smoke from everywhere, and put into human thoughts the teaching of infallible theology and the undoubted mysteries — Christ the King, the One terrible and mighty God, who has the power of life and death? But if in your folly you do not obey, O accursed one, the true and divine words of your Lord, then at least receive the external sages who speak of the same things as guides to the knowledge of the truth. There is no reproach for you to use the herb bird cherry to cleanse the inner pain of the stomach, so long as it does not have a very strong effect and does not cause death. Understand, then, if you have the right reasoning, that I am telling you divination. Do not let the soul-destroying serpent deceive you, assuring you that there will be no trial of human deeds, and that the Lord cares not about the prodigal falls of youth, and that it is impossible to demand sinlessness from everyone without exception. This, O soul, is a soul-destroying thought, this is the charm of the evil serpent, who wants to bring you down with him, the accursed one, to the very bottom of hell. Do not incline your ear to his advice, but stand firm in firm faith, and with divine fear guard yourself strongly, rejecting all unbelief from your heart. There is a righteous Eye, which sees and examines everything, as all the writings of the ancients testify. If no other reliable word and no reason could make you wait for the future judgment, then let the cunning Odysseus, who descended into hell and saw in the Elysian Fields noble people, always illuminated by a beautiful light, and others again given over to bitter torments, convince you. Also let Minos and Rhadamanthus, those fabulous judges in hell, and the fiery rivers Cocytus and Acheron, in which all the wicked are condemned for their wickedness, assure you.

Ponder also wisely about why the Lord adorned you with such divine gifts: immortality, intelligence, the gift of speech, reason and free will, and the fear of torment leads you away from evil, if He had not appointed you reward and crowns for courage, and condemnation and torment for negligence? Know also that the people themselves do not write their laws in vain and prescribe feats and glorious honors combined with them, but also do give glory and honor to those who struggle, and disgrace and sorrow to transgressors of the law. If people care so much about truth and reasonableness, then, soul, how should they understand about God? He is the very goodness, wisdom and truth. The Most High is terrible, and He created all things in wisdom, and He rules by standards, which are very righteous. He has adorned you, O soul, more than all the creatures that exist on earth, enriching you with divine gifts, so that you, following correct reasoning and reason, would always imitate His divine goodness, hate all malice, and by singing God would always honor your Creator, following Him in straight paths. It is impossible for Him to leave your virtue unrewarded, nor to leave your wickedness unpunished. As it is proper for fire to warm and light to shine, so it is proper for God to reward each one according to his deeds. Suppose, the soul, in God there is love for truth, at least to the extent that the earthly authorities have it, who do not neglect the crimes of their subordinates, but torment them without mercy; and those who are known to lead a laudable life, they are glorified, even though they are foreigners. And you praise the earthly authorities when they punish evil, and revere virtue: but of Him Who is in essence the most truth, the depth of generosity, and the only goodness, you think that He does not rejoice in good righteous deeds, nor does He punish the malice of the proud! Truly you alone are the madest of all men, and in no way different from the animals themselves. But, rejecting far from your own thought all such concepts as blasphemous, submit yourself to the laws of piety, and, as one who has a multitude of invisible adversaries against you, always be sober, and beware from their destructive attacks, knowing that the present life is a feat of life and death. Cast off all sloth, knowing that you have Christ God as a witness to your labors, Who from above lovingly stretches out His strong hand to help you. Know also that the most pure heavenly powers are zealously helping you in your labors against the terrible adversaries – the pernicious demons, who are constantly trying to deprive you of eternal life. Oh, how beautiful, beneficent and great, soul, is the feat of your sacred labors! Your podvig is not about temporal life or death, but about either honorably obtaining a place in heaven, or being imprisoned in dark Tartarus and in endless torment.

Cast off every vain thought with all your heart, and stand boldly, arming yourself with that divine weapon with which Paul, raising you up to fight against bodiless enemies, arms you. And instead of a shell, take unblemished faith, instead of a shield hope, and instead of a helmet, unceasing love for God; but instead of the sword, the word of God, which the heavenly divinely inspired books make for you by means of the fire of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the Paraclete (Ephesians 6:17). To this add a pure and unceasingly pronounced prayer, and the bridle of the possessed flesh — scanty food. Know, then, that pure and God-pleasing prayer, which always enters into the ears of the Most High, is that which is kindled in the heart by holy tenderness, by means of the coal of humility, which is pernicious to the passions; Such a prayer the mind infallibly directs to the very heavenly gates and, leading there, places it before the heavenly thrones. The heart, O soul, is likened to a good-voiced harp, and the mind to a skilful artist of musical singing, the tongue to an instrument that strikes the strings, and the good-voiced lips to the strings themselves. You, beseeching the dreadful Judge, if you wish to bring a God-pleasing song to the King and with it to win Him over mercifully, see that all these things agree with one another. For this purpose, let the tongue always sing in harmony with the lips divine songs to the King of all and to God, and from below let the heart be cooperated with frequent sighs, being wholly inflamed by the divine fire; let your eyes wash your earthly composition from defilement with pure streams of tears; but the mind, having transmigrated into heaven, passing over all the stars, let it prostrate itself entirely at the feet of all the King. In this way, soul, you will appear as a beautiful and acceptable sacrifice to the King of all and to God.

Hate acquisitiveness, as the cause of the destruction of the soul, and vain glory, this destroyer of virtues; Love the thinness of the garments and brushes, and the sacred vigil — the mother of chastity; vigil I mean that by which the soul is enlightened in the instruction of the book and is abundantly anointed with sacred prayer. Bridle the insolent tongue with a strong bridle, setting a measure for it both in conversation and in silence, so that you may be told only that which serves to the glorification of the Lord and gives spiritual grace to those who hear. In addition to this, love silence, fearing that sinful abyss into which the unbridled tongue draws. Unceasingly exercise yourself in the reading of divinely inspired books, so that divine love may always grow in you, which, O soul, you will draw abundantly, if you will instill their sacred teachings into your thought, and you will always diligently fulfill them in deed, for the glory of the Most High, and not for the sake of the earth-born.