David was a commander and a hero, from youth to old age he quarreled with foreigners in bloody battles; the number of battles he fought, the number of victories he won; to the banks of the Euphrates from the banks of the Jordan he moved the borders of his kingdom and did not say that in the glory of the victorious and conqueror is the blessedness of man.

David gathered up innumerable riches, gathered them up with his sword. The gold lay in his storerooms like copper, and the silver was thrown into them like cast iron. But David did not say that in riches is the blessedness of man.

David had all the earthly consolations — in none of them did he recognize human blessedness.

When David was a youth, when his occupation was to feed the sheep of his father Jesse, suddenly, by the command of God, the prophet Samuel came and anointed the poor shepherd with holy oil as king of the people of Israel. David did not call the hour of his anointing as king the hour of blessedness.

David spent his childhood days in the wilderness. There his muscles began to feel the valor of the muscles of a hero: without weapons, with only his hands, he threw himself at a lion and a bear, strangled a lion and a bear. There his soul began to move, to be filled with heavenly inspiration. The hands that had crushed the lion and the bear made a psalter, touched the strings, tense and harmonized by the action of the Spirit: harmonious, sweet, spiritual, intelligent sounds were emitted. Far, far away, through time, through centuries and millennia, these sounds have rushed, repeated and repeated by countless voices, glorifying the name of David to all the ends of the earth, to all the centuries of its Christian life. A life in the wilderness, a life full of wondrous feats, of wondrous inspiration, David did not call the blessedness of man.

Blessed is the man, he sings, in whatever place, in whatever rank, in whatever condition and rank this man may be, who does not go to the counsel of the wicked, and does not stand in the way of sinners, and does not sit in the seat of the destroyers [2].

Blessed is the man who is preserved from sin, who reflects sin from himself, in whatever form, in what garb sin appears to him: whether he appears in a lawless act, whether he appears in a thought that advises iniquity, or in a feeling that brings pleasure and ecstasy to sin.

If with such strong courage a weak wife repels sin, then she too is blessed is the husband sung by David.

Participants in this blessedness, participants in the age of manhood in Christ, are youths and children, who firmly oppose sin. There is no respect of persons with the Righteous God.

Blessed is the man whose entire will is in the Law of God [3]. Blessed is the heart that has matured in the knowledge of the will of God, that has seen how good the Lord [4] is, that has acquired this vision by tasting the commandments of the Lord, that has united its will with the will of the Lord. Such a heart is a husband. Blessed is the heart kindled by Divine zeal! Blessed is the heart that burns with an insatiable desire for the will of God! Blessed is the heart, sweet and unbearably suffering of love for God! Such a heart is a place, a dwelling, a palace, a throne of bliss.. From early morning the eagle sits on the top of a high cliff, its sparkling eyes greedily searching for prey, then it rises into the blue sky, swims, spreading its broad wings, in vast spaces, looking for prey. When he sees her, he descends on her with an arrow, with lightning, with another arrow he rises with her, disappears. He fed his young, and again he was on his guard, on the rock or in the sky. Such is the heart infected with the ulcer of incurable love for the commandments of God! And in this love there is bliss. In the commandments there is not only one work: in them the spiritual mind is hidden and through them appears: from Thy commandments I understand, says the Prophet. With all my heart I seek Thee... The path of Thy commandments flowed, when Thou didst enlarge my heart.. Learn in Thy commandments, O thou who loveth the earth.. Good to me {p. 8} is the law of Thy mouth, more than a thousand gold and silver.. Thou shalt love Thy commandments more than gold and topazia.. Thy words are hidden in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee.. I will rejoice in Thy words, for thou hast gained much gain.. Guide me in the path of Thy commandments, as I will [5].

The sun rises: people are hastening to their occupations. Everyone has their own goal, their own intention. What the soul is in the body, so is the goal and intention in every human occupation. One laboreth, cares for the attainment of perishable treasures; another to give oneself abundant pleasures; another for the acquisition of earthly, vain glory; finally, someone says, thinks that his actions have the purpose of state and public benefit. The confidant of the Law of God in all his exercises, in all his deeds, has the goal of pleasing God. For him, the world turns into a book of the Lord's commandments. He reads this book by his deeds, behavior, and life. The more his heart reads this book, the more enlightened it is by his spiritual mind, the more ardent it is to flow along the path of piety and virtue. It acquires the fiery wings of faith, begins to trample on every hostile fear, to be carried over every abyss, to dare to undertake every good undertaking. Blessed is such a heart! Such a heart: blessed is the man.

Night comes with its shadows, with the pale light that the night lamps of heaven emit, gathers people from the surface of the earth to their tents, to their shelters. In these shelters there is boredom, emptiness of the soul; they try to drown out their torment with mad entertainment; idleness and depravity of morals are given over to noisy amusements, and the vessels of the temple of God — the mind, the heart, the body — are used by Belshazzar for criminal use. The slave of the earth, the slave of the temporal cares of life, who has barely escaped from the cares in which he has been drowning during the day, prepares in the silence of the night new cares for the next day; and his days and nights, his whole life is a sacrifice to vanity and corruption. A humble lamp glows before the holy icons, pours languid light into the {p. 9} couch [bedroom or solitary room – Ed.] of the righteous man. And he with his care, with the unceasing care, with the care that devours him. He brings into the couch the remembrance of his daily activity, compares it with the tablets on which the will of God revealed to man is inscribed — with the Scriptures; He heals shortcomings in his actions, in thoughts, in movements of the heart by repentance, washes away with tears; for the renewal and intensification of feats, he asks Heaven for new strength, new light. The grace-filled light, the supernatural power descends from God into the soul, which brings prayers with a painful sense of poverty, weakness, and human comfort. Thus the day of days regurgitates the verb, and the night of the night declares the understanding [6]. Such a life is unceasing success, continuous acquisitions, eternal acquisitions. Thus living: blessed is the man.

And this man will be like a tree planted by the outflowing waters [7]. Such a tree is not afraid of the scorching rays of the sun, is not afraid of drought: its roots are always saturated with moisture; they do not wait for rains, they never tolerate a lack of food, that lack from which trees growing in mountainous and dry places often get sick, often wither, die. Like a tree growing on a height, open to the influence of the winds and the sun, occasionally drinking the rain of heaven, occasionally refreshed by the dew of heaven, is like a man who is disposed to piety, but leads an inattentive, distracted life, little and superficially engaged in the study of the Law of God. Sometimes he too is refreshed by the dew of tenderness; sometimes a life-giving tearful rain of repentance falls on his withered soul; sometimes his mind and heart are stirred up by a movement towards God; But this state does not exist, cannot be, permanent, even long-lasting. Religious thoughts and sensations, when they are not enlightened by a clear and complete knowledge of the will of God, have no definiteness, no foundation, and therefore have no power and life. He who learns in the Law of God day and night is like a tree planted by the outflowing waters. Its cool fresh waters are constantly gushing at its very roots; his mind and heart — these roots of man — are constantly immersed in the Law of God, they are drunk with the holy Law of God; pure, full of strength, streams of eternal life are constantly boiling for him. This water, this power, this life, is the Holy Spirit, dwelling in the Holy and Holy Scriptures, dwelling in the commandments of the Gospel. Whoever constantly delves into the Scriptures, studies them in humility of spirit, asking God for understanding through prayer, whoever directs all his deeds, all the hidden movements of the soul according to the Gospel commandments, without fail becomes a partaker of the Holy Spirit who dwells in them. I am a communicant, the Holy Spirit has proclaimed Himself to all who fear Thee, and keep Thy commandments.

The study of the Law of God requires patience. This study is the acquisition of your soul: in your patience, – commands the Lord, – gain your souls [*]. This is a science of sciences! This is heavenly science! This is science communicated to man by God! Its paths are completely separate from those ordinary paths followed by earthly sciences, human sciences, sciences born by our fallen mind from its own light for our state in the fall. The human sciences boast and puff up their minds, they realize, they grow the human ego! Divine science is revealed to the soul, pre-prepared, contrived, smoothed by self-denial, as if deprived of its originality by reason of its humility, made a mirror that has no form of its own, capable for this reason of receiving and reflecting the Divine marks. Divine science is the Wisdom of God, the Word of God. The son of Sirach says of her: "Wisdom lifts up her sons, and intercedes for those who seek her." He who loves life loves it, and those who morning to it will be filled with gladness: hold on to it, and where he enters, the Lord will bless him; those who serve her will serve the Holy One, and the Lord loves those who love her; Listen to her, judge with tongues, and heed her, and all hope will dwell [*]. Such is the Divine science! Such is the wisdom of God! It is a revelation of God! God is in it! Access to it is through humility! access to it is by rejecting one's reason! it is unapproachable to the human mind! he is rejected by her, recognized as madness! And he, her impudent, proud enemy, blasphemously acknowledges her foolishness, is tempted by her because she appeared to men on the cross and illumines them from the cross. Access to it is selfless! Access to it is by crucifix! Access to it is by faith! The son of Sirach continues: If thou believest, thou shalt inherit it.