Listen, I beg you! Our Lord God, having chosen His disciples and Apostles, revealed to them and entrusted to them all the mysteries of His economy, hidden from eternity, then He gave them the Holy Spirit and sent them, saying: "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that is commanded unto you" (Matt. 28:19-20). The apostles went forth and taught and preached the word of God, and many nations believed in Christ, and churches of believers were established in the cities. When an Apostle, having established a Church somewhere, had the intention of leaving the faithful there in order to go to other places, cities and villages, he ordained bishops and priests for them in his place, and left them as teachers, spiritual fathers and leaders. These again, approaching death, chose other worthy people for such service, ordained them and left them in their place. Thus according to tradition this order went until it came down to us, and such a law is observed even to this day by the action of the Holy Spirit. In the same way, through the intermediary of these same persons, all the traditions and teachings which the Apostles received from the Lord of all and our God have come down to us. But as the flock of Christ multiplied and the people of the faithful became innumerable, the grace of the Holy Spirit arranged that abbots and other spiritual fathers (from among the monks) should be added to the bishops and priests, who by their deeds show firm faith in Christ, our true God, and have the grace of the Holy Spirit in them, so that they also may co-pastor with them and co-operate for the salvation of them, who want to be saved.

If the Lord had not entrusted them with the task of teaching us all this, they would not have taught them, and would have been like all other people.

2.

It behooves us to seek and find such a teacher, who would first hear all this in the word and learn it from words, and then be taught everything mysteriously and in truth by the Comforter Spirit Himself through action and experience; so that he also may be vouchsafed to hear from Christ the Lord Himself, Who taught the Apostles: "It is given unto you to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 13:11). If we seek, of course, we will find, for God is not unrighteous, and He does not rejoice in the destruction of man, but, as it is written, so do God love the world, as He also gave His Only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). If He gave up His only begotten Son to death, that we might be saved through Him, is it possible, when we ask Him to send us, or rather to show us some true servant of His, who would guide us in the work of salvation and teach us to know His will, is it possible, I say, that He would hide such a person from us and deprive us of true guidance? No, no! This is impossible. Let what happened to the centurion Cornelius teach us to believe. He was a reverent man, and fear God with all his household, give alms to many people, and pray to God always. For this he was vouchsafed that he saw in a vision that at the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God came down to him, and spoke to him... thy prayers and thy alms have been lifted up in remembrance before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call upon Simon, who is called Peter. This one wanders with a certain Simon Usmar, who already has a house by the sea (Acts 10:2-6).

Do you see how well I have said that we must use all diligence and diligence in order to find a true disciple of Christ? And note what the Scripture says: Cornelius is a man of reverence, and fear God with all his household. Not only did he keep himself in the fear of God, but he taught all those who dwelt in his house to fear God. And this good is and is pleasing in the sight of God (1 Timothy 2:3), let everyone take care not only of that which is proper for him, but also of that which is useful to all who live with him. In this way, this centurion, before he was taught by the Apostles, had already fulfilled the apostolic commandment, which commands: "Let no one seek his own, but his neighbor" (1 Corinthians 10:24). He also did many almsgiving, and prayed to God day and night; and thus, before he believed, he clearly fulfilled the commandment of our Lord and God, which commands: Watch and pray, that ye may not enter into trouble (Matt. 26:41), and again: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; push, and it shall be opened unto you" (Matt. 7:7). Do you see what this unbeliever in Christ and almost a pagan did? He had not yet heard the word of the Gospel, but was already zealously fulfilling the commandments of the Gospel, before he was taught them by anyone. He asked through reverence, and he received; He sought by almsgiving, and he found it; he pushed him by fasting and prayer, and it was opened to him. Send, he says, to Joppa, and summon Simon, who is called Peter. Behold a wonderful gift! This is a wondrous beneficence! Who wanders with a certain Simon Usmar, who also has a house by the sea. Do you see how the angel revealed to him not only the name of the leader, but also the name of the one who received him, even the place of the house in which he found refuge? And the angel did this so that Cornelius would not be deceived and would not call someone else instead of Peter, and would not fall on the wolf instead of the shepherd.

If you also want to show yourself to be a true, faithful and chosen disciple of Christ, live the same life, do the same deeds, fall down to God in your prayers in the same way, and He will open the eyes of your soul, so that you too may see such a person as Cornelius saw the Angel. Imitate at least the unbeliever, you who proclaim yourself to be faithful, you who are called a child of Christianity, brought up in the teaching of the Apostles and highly intelligent when you hear the mockery of the ignorant. Imitate the centurion, thou who wieldest power only in thy own house, and in every way take care to show thyself and these few, who are under thee and in thy power. But if you despise these deeds, which are in your power and in your will, if you neglect the commandments of God that you know, if you do not care about their fulfillment, and if you are not zealous to show yourself and those who are under your power to be in good order, then tell me, how will God show you a teacher who would teach you the most perfect and highest? And if God does not show it to you, how can you find it yourself, or recognize it? How can you receive him without a doubt, as a saint? And how will you receive afterwards (for such acceptance) the reward of the righteous and holy? No, no! This cannot be.

Wherefore they kept their words as the laws of God, and received a reward according to the measure of those whom they received. And now, if such are found anywhere, acceptable and accepting, surely even now these latter accept a reward to the measure of the former.

They, being darkened by the darkness of their passions, lusts and desires, and walking in this darkness, as in the dead of night, fall upon the same teachers. And naturally. For the ruler of darkness has, of course, disciples and servants who walk in this darkness; Those who are like them fall upon them and receive them with joy, finding them according to their thoughts, and learn from them the same things that they themselves have chosen beforehand and what they have decided to do to their own destruction.

For such do not work for our Lord Jesus Christ, but for their own belly, which deceive the hearts of those who are not malicious with good words and blessings (Romans 16:17-18). Therefore, those who wish to avoid such, as the Apostle commands, must for this reason shun the works of darkness, for as long as one is enslaved to such works and walks in darkness, so long can he not escape such teachers, and cannot come into the world of true teachers.

And you, my spiritual child in the Lord, hearing the Divine Scriptures, which say: "Woe, who are wise in yourselves, and understand before yourselves" (Isaiah 5:21), with fear and trembling, listen to what is said here, for this word is for the salvation of the soul. And if you want to get a true teacher, a holy and spiritual man, do not expect to be able to know him by yourself, by your own consideration, because this is impossible. But above all else, as I have already said, strive in good works, in almsgiving, in fasting, prayer and unceasing supplication, may God be your helper and co-worker in this.

3. Since, with God's help, by His grace, you are vouchsafed to find such a person, show him the utmost attention and all kindness to him, great humility and reverence, high reverence and pure and undoubted faith. For what? In order that, unfortunately, you may not otherwise deserve execution and torment instead of a bribe. For of such our Saviour and God said: "Whosoever receiveth you, receiveth me" (Matt. 10:40); but be rejected by you, and I am rejected (Luke 10:16). And so, it behooves us to receive such as Christ Himself, for that which is shown to them is lifted up to the Lord Christ Himself and our God, and He appropriates it to Himself and has an account of it as if He Himself had personally received all this; as, on the contrary, that which is shown to false teachers ascends to the Antichrist himself, and those who accept them accept the devil himself. And let no one make excuses that he does not know them, saying: "How can I recognize them? And I am a man, and no man knows what is hidden in the soul of another, except the spirit that dwells in him." Do not take this saying as a blessed pretext, for if it were impossible to discern such people, the Lord would not have given such a commandment: "Hearken unto the lying prophets, that is, beware of false teachers, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves," and He would not add after this: "By their fruit ye shall know them" (Matt. 7:15-16).

If now our Lord Jesus Christ is true, as truly He is, then it is evident that we can recognize such from what they say and do. Thus, let us show in advance the fruits of the true Holy Spirit, then the fruits of the evil spirit opposite to Him will be revealed by themselves, and by these fruits we can then very well discern which teachers are true, holy, and righteous teachers, and which are not, but only pretend to be such. I will say nothing of my own behalf, but everything from the words of the Saviour and His holy Apostles, by which I will try to confirm your love, that the signs of true and false teachers indicated by me are true and easily recognizable to us. Hearken therefore to what our Lord Jesus Christ says: Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are they that mourn, blessed are the meek (Matt. 5:3-5). And again: love your enemies... do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who do you harm (Matt. 5:44). Let not an idle word proceed out of your mouth. I say unto you, That every idle word, if men speak, shall give a word about it on the day of judgment (Matt. 12:36). And again: "Except ye be converted, and ye shall be as children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18:3). In another place He says again: "Of this all men understand, that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35). Again: how can you believe, receiving glory from one another, and do not seek glory from God alone? (John 5:44). For everyone who exalts himself will humble himself, but he who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 18:14). He does not say that he will be exalted by worldly glory, but gives a promise that he will be exalted mysteriously by some spiritual change. This is what our Lord and Lord Christ calls out to all of us every day. Listen now to what the Apostle Paul also says: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). And again: love is not exalted, is not proud, does not riot, does not seek his own... covers everything... He endures everything. Love falls away (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). Listen also to John the Theologian, who says: "Love not the world, neither is he in the world, except that any man love the world, and love the Father in him" (1 John 2:15). And again: everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and it is known that every murderer has no eternal life abiding in himself (3:15). For this reason the essence of the child of God and the child of the devil is revealed (3:10), that is, out of love and hatred. He who loves God also loves those who are born of Him, that is, his brethren, but he who hates any of his brethren is born of the devil, and the love of God is not in him. and the fruits of the Holy and All-Good Spirit are those which we have indicated above.

It behooves us now to show also the fruits of the evil spirit, so that, knowing them, you may be able to distinguish between light and darkness, sweet from bitter, good from evil. Hearken again to what our Lord and God says: "A good tree cannot produce evil fruit, nor an evil tree produce good fruit" (Matt. 7:18). And again: A good man brings forth good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and an evil man brings forth evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart (Luke 6:45). Again: "If he destroys the one of these little commandments, and teaches these to men, he shall be called me in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach, this great one shall be called in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:19). And what does He say about the scribes and Pharisees? "They bind," he says, "heavy burdens and are poorly carried, and they lay them on the lash of men; but they do not want to move them with their fingers. And they do all their works, that men may be seen; and they enlarge their storehouses, and magnify the cries of their garments. And they love the reclining at the suppers, and the sitting before the assemblies, and the kissing at the marketplaces, and the names of men, "Teacher, teacher" (Matt. 23:4-7).

Therefore, when you see that someone does such things, carefully seeks the glory of man, and carelessly transgresses the commandments of God in order to please people, then know that this is a charmer, and not a true teacher. And the Apostle says: Where there is envy and zeal and strife in you, are you not of the flesh? (1 Corinthians 3:3). But a man who is carnal and natural does not receive the Spirit of God, for he is a fool (1 Corinthians 2:14). But whoever does not receive the Holy Spirit clearly does not have this Spirit in himself, and whoever does not have the Holy Spirit is not Christ's, as the same Paul affirms, saying: "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Romans 8:9).