Woe to the man who neglects to preserve the gift of the fear of God and does not strengthen his spiritual strength with it. Such a person often has a discord not only in his spiritual life, but also in his physical life, and there is a discrepancy between the external expression of worship of God and the inner content of life. He becomes a liar who, in an attempt to deceive God, deceives himself. God turns away from this, for He hates "every way of unrighteousness" (Psalm 118:104). "False Christians," says St. Tikhon, "think they thank God when they go to church, sing and praise Him, but since they do not fear Him and do not love Him... then going to church, singing and praising them is nothing but hypocrisy, which God clearly sees in hearts and wombs, and thus does not accept their songs, praises and prayers, and turns away until they correct their hearts" (2:60). Christians who do not have or do not preserve the fear of God only outwardly worship God, "for the shame of men, and not from the fear of God" (1:72), because they are afraid of losing temporal well-being, they are afraid of temporal dishonor, and not of eternal punishment.

As the Zadonsk saint points out, in addition to the salvific fear of God, there are also other types of fear. One of them is the fear of the wicked and unrepentant sinners. Such fear "even the demons have, 'for they believe and tremble' (Jas. 2, 19)" (3:19). Another type of unsalvific fear – fear of animals, the forces of nature, people, and death – is caused in man by sin, which distances him from God. "We see that people there are afraid where there is no fear, but there they are not afraid where there is true fear. They are afraid of losing their honor, glory, and wealth, that everything must be left to everyone, but they are not afraid of iniquity and eternal destruction. This is the blindness of the human mind" (5:91). People are then afraid of losing their temporal well-being when they abandon the fear of God, the fear of eternal torment. "For the sake of temporal torment and death, a man forsakes all things, that he may be saved" (5:40).

Thus sin darkens the spiritual eyes of man. He allows Satan into a person's heart, and Satan plunders the person's spiritual home, so that he completely ceases to fear eternal torments, but is afraid of temporary ones in earthly life. "It is wondrous," says St. Tikhon, "that people of the flesh do not tremble, that the demon-spirits tremble!" (5:40). People who have forgotten about eternal death neglect the salvation of their souls. "People in this world try to come into being in honor, to find glory for themselves, to gather wealth, to please the flesh and lust, and they no longer think how to please God and be saved, but how to please people, and to be honored and praised by them: from this came ... carnal... life" (5:40).

Thus, the above thoughts of St. Tikhon make it possible to conclude that the fear of God is truly the beginning of spiritual wisdom (2:17), the source and foundation of man's salvation in God (5:330). The fear of God is man's guide to Christ and his educator in God. He who has the fear of God in himself and abides in it is conveniently saved from the intentions of the evil enemy, the devil, and worthily walks the field of spiritual achievement. Only in this case will the soul of a Christian be able to serve God with reverence (Heb. 12:28), to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit sanctifying it. It opens to man the entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven, for "the fear of the Lord is the fountain of life" (Prov. 14:27).

5. Humility

The entire structure of the moral life of a Christian striving for salvation is determined by his God-pleasing activity, his good deeds. All virtues have an enduring value for man, for the significance of each of them extends into eternity. However, humility is of particular importance in the spiritual life of a person, which is usually called the foundation in the matter of salvation. In order to find peace of mind in God, the Savior of the world from the pages of the Gospel calls upon His followers to learn His humility and meekness (Matt. 11:29).

In accordance with the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, St. Tikhon of Zadonsk also attaches great importance to the virtue of humility. He points out that this virtue has a Divine origin, for "it has its beginning not from anyone else, but from Christ, the King of heaven and earth" (2:264). The deepest humility of Christ the Savior is incomprehensible to the human mind (2:259). The Son of the Most High and the Lord of glory, possessing Divine majesty and omnipotence, was not ashamed to take on human nature, to live on a sinful earth, to serve people. During His earthly life, Christ the Savior showed many examples of the highest feat of humility. Thus, for example, the Creator of the entire visible and invisible world did not disdain to wash the feet of His disciples, to accept the most shameful and terrible death on the cross (1:44). "To this deepest and incomprehensible humility," writes St. Tikhon, "He was persuaded by nothing else than love for His Heavenly Father, Who was offended by human pride and disobedience, and pity for man, who for the sake of disobedience was rejected from the presence of God" (2:259). For man's pride and disobedience, the Son of God offered as a sacrifice to God the Father all perfect humility, meekness and obedience. The humility of Christ therefore has a direct connection with the work of redemption of all mankind. And only humility, expressed in the obedience of the God-Man to the will of the Heavenly Father, even to the most terrible and humiliating death on the cross, brought satisfaction to God's truth, reconciled mankind with God (2:259). Thus, the humility of Christ the Savior, which lies at the foundation of His redemptive feat, opened for people of all times and peoples the path to salvation, to eternal blissful life in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Every Christian who has entered the Church of Christ must, through personal, conscious and free struggle, strive to imitate Christ and thus become a partaker of His righteousness. By imitating and becoming like the Savior in humility, patience and meekness, the Christian consciously destroys in his soul the consequences of the ancestral fall, i.e. sinful inclinations. If the sin of the forefathers was based on "vile and vile" pride and self-will, inseparable from it, then at the foundation of the new, grace-filled life in Christ there must lie a diametrically opposite principle – humility (5:228). Consequently, a person's desire for humility or pride determines his closeness to God or distance from Him.

According to St. Tikhon, humility is a heavenly gift, which every Christian must acquire, for this virtue lies at the foundation of man's inner relations with God, determines their essence and character. Only after realizing his complete dependence on the Creator, feeling the unworthiness and sinfulness of his soul, the remoteness from the primordial purity and likeness to God, can a person approach God and turn to Him for help. Without humility, it is impossible to approach God (2:39). Every sinner who turns from a lawless life must come to the Heavenly Father with a humble heart and a broken soul (2:263). Only such an attitude attracts the favor and mercy of God, helps a person to lay the foundation for a God-pleasing life, to embark on the path of spiritual renewal and salvation. Thus, the path of ascent to God begins with humility, and the entire process of man's spiritual growth is built on it, as on an unshakable foundation. The consciousness of one's own unworthiness should be inherent in a person not only during the period of his conversion from sin to a new, God-pleasing life; it should accompany a Christian throughout his entire earthly life. Humility determines the degree of his religious and moral development. The purer a person is in the moral sense, the more perfect he is in virtues, the deeper is his humility and awareness of his own unworthiness.

Humility is the ABC of the Christian life, the beginning and foundation of all virtues, without which "all spiritual creation is disturbed and falls" (4:215). "Without humility, repentance is false... without humility prayer is useless" (2:263), i.e. none of the Christian virtues without humility can help a person in the matter of salvation, for all of them are valued by God according to the degree of humility of a person. Any virtue, any kind of Christian podvig can bring the desired salvific fruit only if it is combined with the awareness of the moral imperfection and the Christian's own unworthiness before God. And no matter what heights of spiritual life a person may reach, there should not be even the slightest shadow of self-conceit in his soul, no thought of any merits before God. Otherwise, his spiritual feats become ineffective, unity with God is broken, which often leads to a sinful fall, and therefore to spiritual death. A humble person, no matter what feats he performs, always sees his own unworthiness, his weaknesses and shortcomings, and this prompts him to place his hope and hope only in the grace of the Lord, which works in his soul (4:220). And if humility is the foundation of all virtues, then at the same time it is the best means in the struggle against sin. It is able to tame evil impulses in the human soul, sober up sinners, expel spiritual passions, vices and eradicate human pride (2:262). In addition, humility is the most effective weapon in the fight against the spirits of evil, which set countless snares to trap human souls. Whether a person is sleeping, awake, talking, eating, praying, always and everywhere the devil seeks to relax his soul and turn his mind and heart away from God. Even good deeds and undertakings the evil spirit seeks to bring to naught by means of prideful thoughts and sinful desires. As the Holy Father teaches, the destructive snares of the insidious enemy can be discerned only by those who have acquired the humility of Christ in their hearts (2:260). Only it vouchsafes a person a blessing from above, bestows Divine grace, which helps him in all good endeavors, strengthens and supports him in the spiritual struggle, life's misfortunes, and, with the good permission of the person himself, accomplishes the work of his salvation (4:344).

Without the virtue of humility, the religious and moral perfection of a person is absolutely impossible. One of the factors that determine the successful process of Christian perfection is a person's desire to correct his shortcomings and vicious inclinations. This desire to become better, more perfect, can arise only in someone who has deeply realized his sinfulness and spiritual poverty. Such an inner disposition of a person is a stimulus for his spiritual growth, leading to the heights of moral purity and likeness to God. Without humility, the very spiritual perfection of a Christian is inconceivable. In order to trace the connection between the virtue of humility and Christian perfection, it should be pointed out that the latter is defined mainly as the totality of all the virtues that a Christian performs in his life. There is a close, indissoluble connection between all virtues, for in performing one virtue, a Christian simultaneously performs a number of other virtues to a certain extent. But this is not because all other virtues are contained in one virtue in their content, but solely because all good comes from one source, God. As a result, Christian perfection, as a set of virtues, is nothing other than an abundance of grace-filled Divine gifts. According to the teaching of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, these grace-filled gifts are vouchsafed only to those who are humble in heart; upon them flow "rivers of God's gifts" (2:262).

At the same time, the Holy Father notes that God, rich in mercy and generosity, desires to bestow His grace on everyone, but does not find in everyone a heart that is comfortable to receive His Divine gifts. He who is aware of his spiritual poverty not only attracts to himself the Divine gifts, but is also the best vessel for their preservation. The gifts of God are preserved in a humble heart, as in a treasury, for such a heart the grace and fear of God surround it and, like a faithful guardian, guard it (2:262).

In addition, humility is a necessary key to a correct understanding of the truths of the Holy Scriptures. Only to those who have acquired this virtue, God reveals the mysteries of His economy. Therefore, everyone who wishes to receive true knowledge of the Divine mysteries must not only recognize his spiritual blindness, but also lay all hope in his cognitive abilities, in his own reason. In the words of St. Tikhon, "God conceals His mysteries from those who think they are wise and prudent, and reveals them to infants, that is, to those who are simple-hearted and confess their ignorance" (2:154). Without awareness of his unworthiness, a person, even if he studies all the Holy Scriptures, will remain spiritually blind and will never comprehend the hidden wisdom of the word of God.

The virtue of humility is not limited to the sphere of man's earthly existence, but extends into eternity. And if here, on earth, humility is the cause of all good (1:146), how much more does it make its bearer a partaker of eternal bliss after departing from this world. For God loves the lowly in heart and the poor in spirit, and for them He has prepared the blessings of His Heavenly Kingdom (4:218).