Let us continue to develop the infallibility of the Church, borrowed from Christ. The Church is infallible because of its close relationship with Jesus Christ, although it can sin herself. But how to define this infallibility? Is it in calculus, or in measurements? Is it possible to indicate by chapters and places? Faith can only see this, and it is impossible to describe it. The first traces of reflection must be in the shepherds; but sometimes they can be in the last member, for all the members of this body are equally alive and have direct sympathy with their Head. That this happens, a reliable witness to this is Sozomen, who described the First Ecumenical Council. This council was the first and most important; it consisted of many martyrs and confessors, and it should be primarily affected by the action of the Holy Spirit. But it affected more on one, not very famous member: all agreed to forbid marriage to the priests; but one of those present there recognized this prohibition as bad, and thus prevented the error of all; it is evident that in him alone this time there was more of the gift of infallibility than in all the others who were engaged in this work. However, this is a rare case, and for the most part it happens that the traces of infallibility are primarily reflected in the pastors of the Church, for they are, as it were, the cerebral members of the body of Christ, and therefore Christ, as the mind or soul of this body, first of all acts upon them. Does this infallibility extend to the point that the Church cannot fall? Some Churches have fallen; in the Revelation of John the Theologian it is directly said to some Churches: repent... And if not... I will move thy lamp out of its place (Rev. 2:5).

Does the infallibility of the Church extend to the impossibility of deviating from the truth for a time or forever? At the Head of the Church, the truth of the faith is preserved in all its purity and immutability. The truths of faith in the spiritual Jesus Christ and in the written Christ, or in the word of God, are unchangeable and constantly pure and holy; but in fact there may be eclipses in the minds of Christians, which, however, do not harm the Church, which is accepted in general. For the Apostle does not represent it as perfect, but as being prepared for perfection, and therefore now there may be a part of darkness and misunderstanding in it, until it reaches the measure of the age of the fulfillment of Christ; only then it will not have impurity, blemish, or anything of the kind.

In general, there can be no divisions in the reasoning of the infallibility of the Church; This is a matter of faith, not logic. Reading the arguments of the Catholics on this subject, one immediately feels how incongruous and inappropriate their logical divisions are here. To fragment this object is the same as to subject the spirit to anatomy. This incongruity is felt by the Catholics themselves, and therefore they pass from one method to another.

But these restrictions deaden and repulse the very teaching, which, as a purely spiritual action, must be left to faith alone.

Closely connected with the infallibility of the Church is her indestructibility: and the gates of hell shall not prevail against her (Matt. 16:18), that is, the virtue, the life of the Church and her union with Christ will remain until the end of the world.

This is the significance of the Church as a steward and guide, acting in the assimilation of merit to the human race, acting through the declaration of salvation and assistance!

The second means of assimilating the merits of Jesus Christ is the word of God. It declares salvation to people and helps them in assimilating it. Its use in this respect is twofold: 1) general and 2) particular. The common thing is that it serves as a common tool, or the main and only reliable way of preserving and communicating salvation. In him and in him Christianity is preserved. In this respect it is very important, for without it neither the Church nor Christianity could preserve its primitive purity. Even if there were one copy of it, and if none of the faithful except the pastors read it, then even then it would be very important. It is all the more important now, when both pagans and Muslims can read it, and such reading has always been permitted; and the Christians, if they ever hid it, it was only from those who mocked it and perverted its truths, or destroyed and corrupted it. The particular use of the word of God consists in the fact that it can declare salvation to everyone and help them. It declares salvation by presenting clearly and in detail the foundation, essence, and purpose of Christianity, as well as the conditions, requirements, and duties of a Christian. In accordance with these two sides, the declarations divide it into the Gospel and the law. By the law is meant the Old Testament, and by the Gospel the New. This division is not entirely accurate: both the Old and New Testaments contain both a declaration of salvation and demands for the fulfillment of certain conditions. However, it is appropriate, for in fact the Gospel is more of a gospel of salvation, while the Old Testament contains more moral requirements.

The same word of God helps in the application of salvation by indicating the means of this application not only in a theoretical way, but in a more practical way, in persons and actions. In addition, reading and listening to it, as well as reading any beautiful book, naturally helps a lot. It arouses pure and holy thoughts in the mind, pious desires and intentions in the heart, and lively and noble sensations in the feelings, and therefore it is very well compared to eating it. How does it produce this? Natural and supernatural. Naturally, it acts like any book filled with high and holy truths. Its effect in this respect is incomparable and incomparable. For there is no book in the whole world like it in height, divinity, life, and goodness. Despite the fact that the books that make up the word of God are not in a system and without a strict logical order, it is nevertheless better than all books, both in their entirety and in parts. If these books were to be attributed to literature, then of all the verbal names of books there would be no decent one for them, but they would have to invent a new name. For example, how many letters have been written, exemplary in thought and filled with the rules of good morality; but none of them can be compared with the letters of the Apostle John. In the latter, as John Chrysostom puts it, there is genuine grace – a feeling aroused by God Himself, and not by people. After this, what can be said about all the Scriptures? There is a great deal in it that is good, true, and joyful; as much as there is not and cannot be in any human work; all this true, good, and joyful things are filled with the Divine. When reading it, all this resonates in our soul as on a string, and if it is developed to accept all this, it will shake at its very foundation, and these sensations, as well as what it feels - truth, goodness and holiness - become familiar and constant to it. This action of the word of God is natural; there is also the supernatural; it belongs to grace, of which we shall speak later.

This is the meaning of the word of God as a means to apply the merits of Jesus Christ to the human race! It acts both in a general way, preserving salvation, and in a particular way, declaring it to people and helping in its application.

The third means of assimilating merit is the Sacraments. What is the essence of the Sacrament? Theologians usually define them as follows: "The sacraments are God-instituted actions, in which invisible grace is communicated under visible signs." But this definition is not complete. In addition to the fact that they communicate an invisible grace, the Sacraments also express the spirit of some truth or some event. Consequently, the full definition of the sacrament is as follows: "A sacrament is a divinely ordained action in which some important truth or event of faith is symbolically expressed, and invisible grace is communicated in a visible way." From this point of view, theologians do not present the Sacraments: for this reason those who do not see the communication of grace, which cannot be seen, reject the Sacraments; whereas this would not have been the case if they had indicated to them what everyone can see in the Sacraments, that is, what they represent or sensually express the spirit of a certain Christian truth or of a most important event.

Are the Sacraments precisely designated as means to the application of salvation? How is it applied and how many of them are there?

That the Sacraments are appointed as a means to the application of salvation is evident from the Holy Scriptures. For example, the Saviour says: "He who has faith and is baptized shall be saved: but he who has not faith shall be condemned" (Mark 16:16); or: "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God" (John 3:5). This is true of Baptism, but the same can be said of the other Sacraments, based either on the direct instructions of Holy Scripture or on considerations derived from it and indicated by it.

How do the Sacraments add salvation? Since they are all given to believers who know salvation, their purpose is not so much to declare as to help; they are more reinforcing means. However, helping a person, they explain to him many things that he wants and needs to know; they explain to us the approach to God best of all, and they bring the supersensible and, so to speak, turn it into the visible, the sensible. Thus, for example, in the Eucharist, our spiritual union with Christ is announced to us and is made perceptible. Thus, their main and pre-eminent aim is that they apply invisible salvation through visible things, that they clothe the supersensible in the visible, in the sensible. Consequently, through the Sacraments and in the Sacraments, Christianity clearly expressed and did what man wished to achieve with the help of his theurgy (pagan rites); provided, that is, a way of uniting with God in such a way that a person can see God and enjoy Him, or eat as he eats bread or water. In this respect, the Sacraments do what neither the Church nor the Scriptures can do. For the Church and the Scriptures give us spiritual blessings, and the Sacraments communicate the same blessings perceptibly, as if they were sensual, visible. In them, the invisible world is made visible, the Divinity appears to man in signs and symbols, for example, in water, bread, and so on, and man has always desired and desires such phenomena. Consequently, each Sacrament represents an extraordinary revelation of the Godhead, summed up to the senses as much as they can contain. God, establishing the Sacraments, as if said to man: "Since your strength is insufficient and your faith is weak, then I promise to help you, to make up for your shortcomings. But you may not feel My actions, you may not feel the help I give. For this reason here are the signs for you – the Sacraments, and therefore whenever you see what is being done to you, or that any of these Sacraments established by Me is being taught to you, know that I am invisibly touching you."

Thus, the Sacraments are the times of the soul's rendezvous with God, the points at which the Divinity touches humanity in the most perceptible way. From this point of view, the Sacraments appear in the whole world, are revelations worthy of the Divine and necessary for humanity, they are actions with which nothing can be compared.