As has already been said above, although man received in the Sacrament of Baptism the beginning of a grace-filled, new life in Christ, he still needs other grace-filled actions of God, which would contribute to his spiritual growth and the closest unity with the Creator. A person receives these grace-filled actions within the fold of the Church through the subsequent Sacraments. Thus, in the Sacrament of Chrismation, the forces are abundantly poured out on the Christian, strengthening him on the path leading to salvation. To the question: "What is Chrismation?" the Holy Father replies that it "is a mystery, in which power is given to us through the Holy Spirit, that we may firmly confess the name of Christ and the Orthodox faith" (1:2). Chrismation, which is performed immediately after Baptism, clearly testifies to the fact that each person who has been baptized has a need for further Divine help for strengthening and perfecting himself in a virtuous life, the beginning of which was laid by holy Baptism. "Human! – exclaims the saint, – you are dear to God... God has honored you in this way: you also honor God with your heart... God has poured out upon you wondrous goodness and love" (4:280). "For as the body is life is the soul, so is the grace of God to the soul" (2:101). Further, the Zadonsk saint, warning those who perform the sacrament of Chrismation, teaches that the Holy Chrism should not be corrupted and, moreover, that the formula should be pronounced correctly ("The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen") (1:2), which is a necessary condition for the celebration of the Sacrament.

In his work "Spiritual Treasure Gathered from the World," the Holy Father, comparing a person blessed with grace to the sun that illuminates the entire celestial realm, says: "When the sun shines in the sky, everything is clear; everyone sees the path along which one must go and where to go, what to do and what to deviate... Such is the case in the soul, which Christ, the Righteous Sun, will enlighten. Such a soul sees everything clearly, cognizes the charm and vanity of this world, cognizes good and evil, vice and virtue, harm and benefit, the path to perdition and the path leading to eternal life, goes out to deeds pleasing to God and useful to itself. Such a soul (has) in mind, as it were, to please God its Creator, and to be among those who are saved" (4:9). However, despite the fact that a person has received the salvific means to strengthen his spiritual strength and has become a worthy heir to heaven, further success in spiritual growth depends on his free will: to preserve through good deeds the grace received in the sacraments of Baptism and Chrismation, or to remove it by his vicious life.

The evil spirit and the world with its temptations are fighting for the human soul. A Christian, although he has received grace-filled help from God, can fall into temptation and incline his will to the path of sin. Therefore, there is also a need for a God-established remedy that would cleanse man of sinful scum and reunite him with the Source of life – God. Such a means is the Sacrament of Repentance. Its essence, according to the teaching of the saint, is that the sinner should have in his heart "pity and sickness for the sins committed after baptism, which through unfeigned and true confession and contrition of heart, through priestly absolution, are felt" (1:2; cf. 4:34). This salvific Sacrament was established by the Redeemer of the world with the words: "If ye bind on earth, they shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye loose on earth, they shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 18:18). The efficacy of the Sacrament, according to the Holy Father, depends both on the one who performs it and on the one who receives it. "Confession shall also be before the Orthodox spiritual father, but a heretic and an apostate will not absolve the penitent from his sins" (1:3). The saint also points out the need for the correct pronunciation of the formula, without which the Sacrament, as such, cannot be salvific (1:1). To the presbyters he gives the following instruction regarding the Sacrament: "When during confession you notice in the confessor a contrition of heart and sorrow for sins: good; Thanks be to God! And if you do not notice in him that desire and contrition of heart, then try in every way to bring him to it" (1:7). As for the confessor himself, the following conditions are required of him: first, he must declare his sins "in detail and one by one" before the priest (1:3); secondly, to have sincere contrition in sins and a firm intention not to return to them again (5:161; cf. 1:3). Sincere repentance contributes to the retention of Divine grace in the soul of a person, which strengthens the will of the penitent in good and gradually regenerates him for eternal blissful life (4:341). Those who sincerely accept this Sacrament of Repentance always feel inner peace and relief from the burden of sin in their hearts. That is why every Christian should approach his healing power as often as possible.

Having been cleansed of sinful defilement in the Sacrament of Repentance, a person can be most closely united with his Savior in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, without whom, according to the Redeemer, there is no salvation. "Unless ye bear the flesh of the Son of man, nor drink his blood, ye have no life in yourselves. He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:53-54).

Following the instruction of the Divine Teacher, the Zadonsk saint in his works also points out the importance and necessity of this Sacrament in the matter of human salvation. He says that "the Eucharist is a mystery, in which the true Body and the true Blood of Christ our God are given to us, in the form of bread and wine, and in it Jesus Christ is truly and sovereignly substantial" (1:3-4).

The saint also puts forward the requirements necessary for the validity of this holy Sacrament: first, the priest must be "lawfully ordained" (except for him, no one can perform this Sacrament); secondly, the bread must be pure wheat, leavened, the wine must be pure grapes, not sour, not mixed with anything (at the proskomedia, according to the rule of the Church, only a small amount of water must be poured into it); thirdly, the altar table or antimension on which the Holy Eucharist is celebrated must be consecrated by the bishop; and, finally, fourthly, the priest must with heartfelt concern, with sincere reverence, with deep faith, pronounce the words of perfection: "And make this bread the precious Body of Thy Christ, and into this cup the Precious Blood of Thy Christ, having changed it by Thy Holy Spirit." "Then the bread and wine," the archpastor concludes, "are changed into the true Body and into the true Blood of Christ by the action of the Holy Spirit" (1:4). This mystery is inherently incomprehensible not only to the human mind, but also to the heavenly powers that wish to penetrate it (1:64). In the Divine Eucharist, under the guise of bread and wine, there is "the Saviour Himself" and "the Holy Spirit descends upon the Holy Gifts offered, performs the sacrament, sanctifies the worshippers" (1:64). The Holy Mysteries impart to man a new direction in life, a new way of being—an eternal beginning. He who partakes of Communion dies to sin in order to be resurrected with Christ... "If we die with Christ," says the Apostle Paul, "we believe that we also shall live with Him" (Romans 6:8).

This Divine food is for a Christian a pledge of immortality and incorruption. In addition, his soul begins to "be the dwelling place of God and the temple of the Holy Spirit; is vouchsafed to have communion with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, to be a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus" (5:350). That is why the Holy Father in his work "Spiritual Treasure Gathered from the World" exclaims: "Oh, how great is this work! How great is the goodness of God! How great is the reverence for man! Man, earth and ashes, touches the Body and Blood of God!" (4:186).

During the reverent communion of the Holy Mysteries, a person feels in his soul the spiritually grace-filled gifts given to him from above from the Redeemer. At the same time, he experiences inner peace and peace of mind (5:195, 281). Such a grace-filled state of the communicant is explained primarily by the fact that the Savior of the world grants him the forgiveness of sins. "The Divine Blood of Christ," says the saint, "atones for all sins" (5:292). Worthily received Holy Gifts remove from the soul of a Christian all that is sinful and vicious. They act in the human soul as a Divine fire, burning up all the thorns of sins. If before receiving the Holy Mysteries a person was under the burden of passions and vices and even death, then after receiving them he is renewed and resurrected to a new, grace-filled life in God. However, Holy Communion produces such a salvific effect on the condition that a Christian receives it with deep heartfelt faith. Then, like a bleeding wife, he will receive spiritual healing, and "infirmity will be healed, and the fountain of pernicious passions will dry up... tormenting the soul" (4:139). By partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, a person is most closely united with the Source of life and becomes one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17). Just as the Son of God fully took on human nature and reunited it with the Divinity, so those who partake of His Body and Blood receive the Divine Being into themselves and are united with Him. The Holy Mysteries serve Christians for "sanctification, enlightenment, renewal, joy and consolation" (5:195). Heaven with its grace-filled life dwells in the hearts of the faithful, and gradually the grace of the Holy Spirit raises the worthy communicants to such a degree of spirituality and holiness that they already here, living on earth, have a presentiment in their hearts the beginning of eternal and blessed life. Calling Christians to worthy communion of the Holy Mysteries, the Holy Father is also very sorry for those who deprive themselves of this salvific Sacrament. "Woe to those people," he says, "who have not bread and water; for from hunger and thirst they faint and die: woe especially to those souls who are deprived of the Bread of the Animal, Jesus Christ; for they fade away and have to die... The true soul is the food and drink is Christ. By this brush and drink it is quickened and lives: without this brush and drink it faints and dies" (4:132).

The Zadonsk saint does not lose sight of such an important point as the need for careful preparation for the reception of the Holy Mysteries. He confirms this necessity for the worthy participation of the faithful in the Holy Eucharist in the words of the Apostle Paul: "For fire is unworthy, burning it. Let a man tempt himself, and so let him eat of the Bread, and drink of the Chalice. For he who eats and drinks is unworthy, he eats and drinks judgment for himself, not considering the Body of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 11:28-29) (4:186). Whoever approaches the Holy Chalice unworthily despises the sacrificial love of God and thereby tramples on the holiness of the Body and Blood of Christ, "eats and drinks, according to the words of the Apostle, for his own condemnation" (1 Corinthians 11:29). Preparation for the reception of the Holy Mysteries should consist first of all in avoiding "all sin, as defilement, which defiles both soul and body" (5:293). As an example of a reverent attitude towards Holy Communion, the Holy Father cites the great Saints Basil the Great and John Chrysostom, who "trembled when approaching such a Sacrament" (5:293). A person who rejects Holy Communion withdraws from God and remains in spiritual death, but no less dangerous is the one who approaches the Holy Chalice without proper preparation (5:293). For the unworthy reception of the Holy Mysteries, a Christian who does not repent of this awaits eternal torment beyond the grave. The Holy Father in his teachings calls such people to true repentance, so that through it they may again earn the mercy of the humane God and find salvation. "How can the Most-Pure Body of Christ," the saint calls out to the sinner, "dare to take it into your hands... who by theft, robbery... Do you defile it with covetousness, beating, unclean touching, and other sinful feces? How can you receive into your mouth His Holy Body and Blood, into those lips which you do not cease to fill with slander, foul language, blasphemy, boisterousness, deceit, lies, stinging reproach, abuse, reproach, and other stench? How will you receive Christ in your heart, which is filled with malice, deceit, hatred, unclean lust, love of money, covetousness, and other evil?" (3:271).

Thus, for the closest union with Christ in the Holy Eucharist, it is not enough to be called a Christian. A holy and God-pleasing life is also needed. Without cleansing from sinful defilement, without the final forsaking of sin, it is very "dangerous... and it is frightful to approach" to partake of the Divine Food (3:266; 3:257).

Moreover, a Christian must not only approach the Holy Chalice with a clear conscience, but also, after accepting it, strictly watch his thoughts and actions, direct his spiritual gaze to the saving haven of Christ, into which, in the words of the Holy Scriptures, "nothing can enter the defilement" (Rev. 21:27). In his sermons, the saint calls on communicants to shun sin, "like a serpent that gnaws at the soul" (1:109). By worthily receiving this greatest Sacrament, a person saves his soul from spiritual death; it is overshadowed and spiritualized by the grace-filled power of the Holy Spirit, which is necessary in the struggle against sin, worldly temptations and the devil. In this way, the inner, mysterious union of the soul with the Savior is accomplished, and this union of love is no longer able to destroy "neither death, nor life, nor sorrow, nor sorrow, nor sorrow, nor persecution" (Romans 8:35, 38). Such a person can say in the words of the Apostle Paul: "I do not live for this, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20).

All the above-mentioned Sacraments, by their grace-filled means, regenerate man, spiritualize and reunite him in the closest way with the Source of Life – God. Without accepting them, no one can free his soul from sinful defilement, both ancestral and personal; hence, without them spiritual life is impossible, without them there is no sanctification, and therefore there is no salvation (John 3:3; 6:53; 20:23).

The other three Sacraments – Marriage, Priesthood and Anointing of the Sick – do not apply to all Christians. Thus, the Sacrament of Priesthood is given by God through the Church through episcopal ordination only to worthy persons who lead their lives in a holy and God-pleasing way, who have no canonical obstacles to its acceptance.

In the sacrament of the priesthood, the Christian receives the authority to secretly act, teach, and guide believers on the path to salvation. Pointing to the divinely ordained and lofty nature of this Sacrament, the Holy Father says that "the priesthood is a mystery, in which through episcopal ordination a special authority is given from God to priests to serve and act in office the Divine Mysteries" (1:4). The Saviour directly transferred the fullness of spiritual authority to His apostles, and they, in turn, invested with this authority the bishops, who also possess the fullness of the grace-filled hierarchical apostolic ministry. It is they who have been given the authority to ordain presbyters and deacons. The Holy Father makes the following demands of the bearers of the priestly rank: "The person who accepts this mystery... let him not be a bigamist, or a widow. Let him who is born not of manifest fornication. Let him not be defiled by abominable sin, much less by open sin or known by many; let him not be defiled by murder... Let us have a contented mind, knowledge and prudence in the structure of the Divine mysteries. Let him have his rods intact, which is necessary for this work, that is, he will not be blind or deaf and so on, according to the rule of the 78 holy Apostles" (1:5).