Having firmly embarked on the path of a virtuous life, a Christian must direct all the forces of his soul to the acquisition of love for God and neighbor. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself called this love the greatest commandment: "In this I command all the law, and the prophets hang" (Matt. 22:40). Only love can lead a Christian to moral perfection and vouchsafe him unity with God. It is for this purpose that man was created, for this purpose the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth and redeemed the human race, and all the rules of Christian life are directed to this.

Christianity inspires the believer with nothing so often and persistently as love for God and neighbor. And this is for the reason that it is the basis and the main guiding principle of Christian morality. All other Christian virtues are not only born of love, but are also united with it, like body with soul, like sap with wood, or warmth with fire (3:188). They flow from love just as streams flow from their source (3:174). Without the grace-filled spiritualization of love, no Christian activity is possible, and without it a Christian is like a withered, barren tree (3:400). Just as every living organism, if it does not have in itself a motive force and natural warmth, cannot exist, but decays and turns into corruption, so every good deed of a Christian who does not have love in himself is counted as nothing and "cannot be alive, but only shows a false appearance" (2:50). Love alone can transform and change for the better all aspects of human life. The Lord Jesus Christ and His holy apostles testified to this love before the whole world by Their teaching and life, inspiring people to put off the old man with his deeds (Ephesians 4:22) and to put on the new, created according to God in righteousness and holiness, i.e. through moral renewal to attain unity with God and the primordial, blessed state that he had. being in paradise. That is why love can be called not only the root and source of all good and all good (2:283), but also the mother of all joys (5:235). Worthy of praise are families, cities, and even states that arrange life according to the law of love. Truly, life there is like "an earthly paradise, filled with joy and sweetness." And further, basing himself on the statement of St. John Chrysostom, the saint concludes: "If all in the world loved one another, there would be no need for laws, nor trials, nor executions, nor anything of the kind, since all evil would be so removed that the very name of sin would be unknown" (2:340).

Love has such a property that it "unites the lover with the beloved". Thus, on the one hand, God, for the sake of His love, took on human nature and became like man in all things, except sin, in order to bring him to a better state. In the same way, a person, on the other hand, when he loves God, unites with Him, is filled with the Spirit of God, Who spiritualizes him and directs him to the path of salvation. Thus, love determines and conditions all aspects of the relationship of man to God and of God to man (1:167).

A Christian is impelled to love God, first of all, by His goodness, which surpasses all reason and understanding, as well as by the multitude of God's blessings manifested to the human race (1:87). St. Tikhon enumerates and explains in some detail all that God has done in His love for man. "O amiable and highly venerable creature, man! he exclaims. "The image of God, as the seal and banner of the Heavenly King, bears within itself. So highly has our gracious Creator honored us, O men... Whom shall we love if not Him?" (4:351)

All creation bears witness to the blessings of God: the sun, warming and illuminating the visible world, the moon and stars, showing the way in the night, the air that sustains the life of all living things, the clouds that irrigate the earth, after which it is able to grow everything necessary for life, the birds that fly through the sky. "In a word, all creation, created for our service, preaches God's good deeds to us" (1:88). And this all-merciful care of God, extending both to one person and to the whole world, testifies to that supreme love, without which the world could not exist for a single minute (5:234).

A person, due to his limitations, cannot foresee those accidents that can deprive him of this life. "But from all these the loving God preserves us as a compassionate mother preserves her little and senseless child" (1:88). The Lord also assigned angels to man, who would guard his spiritual and bodily life (1:160). And in general, just as a river flows incessantly and a spring pours out water, so God's blessings are constantly poured out on the human race (4:352; 2:279).

However, most of all, love for God should be aroused by the fact that He sent His Only-begotten Son to save sinful man, to deliver him from the power of sin, the devil and death, and to restore him to his former filial dignity. And for this reason the Son of God endured many sorrows, sufferings, and even death on the cross (5:233). In explanation of his thought, St. Tikhon cites the following comparison. If someone were to deliver a person from anger and the death that threatens him, or even to intercede for him a decent rank and position in the world, then how earnestly and sincerely he would love his benefactor! But man, redeemed at the high price of the Son of God and freed from all punishment and even eternal death, forgets his Benefactor and instead of loving Him brings insult (3:152).

Showing concern for man, the Saviour of the world, by His sufferings on the Cross and Resurrection, opened the doors of paradise to him, made him a partaker of His eternal Kingdom, and also sent the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, Who cries out in the hearts of the faithful: "Abba Father" (Gal. 4:6) (2:279). The very name "Father," teaches the Zadonsk ascetic, should arouse the fire of love in every person. And if children in the flesh unfailingly love their father, then with what love should Christians love Him whom they call their Father (5:234).

An important means of arousing love for God are also providentially tolerated sorrows, trials and temptations. And just as a son shows gratitude to his father, if he educates him in good morals and abstinence by timely punishments and thereby makes him a worthy member of society, so a Christian should be infinitely grateful to God for the fact that by His providential actions He not only cleanses him from the defilement of sin, but also makes him a worthy inhabitant of the Heavenly City (4:352).

Man's love for his Creator must extend to infinity also for the reason that He is long-suffering about his sins and does not immediately punish his iniquities, but awaits repentance (1:160; 5:76). If God in His justice punished a person for every crime, then he would not be able to live even a short time, as the Prophet testified: "If thou hast seen iniquity, O Lord, Lord, who shall stand?" (Psalm 129:3) (1:88). God's mercy to the repentant sinner is so great that if the latter has a firm intention not to return to sin again, then the Lord not only forgives him his sins, but will not even remember them forever (5:352).

And finally, the Lord Himself urges the believer to love God, Who gave the commandment (Deuteronomy 6:5) and draws human hearts to it with His reciprocal love (2:278). "The God of Love is, and abiding in love, abides in God" (1 John 4:16). That is why every Christian must show love for God not only in words, but also in his life.

God is the highest Love, Beauty and Goodness, and all these qualities the Lord in His goodness put into man at his creation (4:356-357). The All-Good Creator wanted man to enjoy bliss and all good things in communion with Him. This blessed state, the saint notes, is accessible to a loving person not only in the life to come, where he will test it perfectly and see God face to face, but also in this life, according to the words of the Saviour: "If any man love Me, he shall keep My word, and My Father shall love him, and we shall come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John 14, 23) (2:281).

In its essence, love is indefinable in words, because it has a divine origin (3:148). This is the fruit of the spirit and the work of the Holy Spirit; Only those who have tasted its sweetness can know love (2:276). But just as the sun reveals itself to the world by its rays, as a hidden fire is revealed by warmth, and a fragrant balm by a pleasant smell, so love, although it is hidden in the heart, cannot remain hidden and manifests itself externally by its fruits. And it is only through these fruits that it is to some extent accessible to knowledge (5:234; 2:276) [Speaking of the fruits of love, the Holy Father remarks that he does not mean worldly love].

The first thing that St. Tikhon of Zadonsk draws attention to when he speaks of the fruits of love is the zealous fulfillment of the will of God (2:276). The God-lover constantly strives to fulfill what is prescribed by the will of God, and this, in turn, restrains him from sinful inclinations. And if such a person happens to violate the will of God in any way through weakness, then he "grieves greatly, is contrite, sighs, and often sheds tears" (1:86). It is quite understandable that such sorrow contributes even more to the salvation of the Christian (2 Corinthians 7:10); it moves him even more to fulfill the will of God, and not for fear of punishment, but so as not to offend the Beloved" (2:276). Based on the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who said: "Thou shalt have My commandments, and keep them, that is, thou shalt love Me" (John 14:21), St. Tikhon teaches that love for Christ, the Son of God, must be expressed in the zealous fulfillment of His holy commandments (3:142). And those Christians who treat the commandments with negligence do not have the love of God: "they love themselves and their lusts, and not God and His holy law" (5:235).