Have you heard who are Christ's and who are Antichrist's? "You can probably conclude from this that the attentive can easily distinguish between good and evil. And the inattentive do not know not only other people, but also themselves.

He knows himself only enough to say that it is he and not someone else; but his deeds show that he does not know what he is, does not know his state of mind and does not understand what he is doing. He lives as if he were immortal; with his lips he says: we are today, and not in the future; and immediately in fact he prepares so much of everything that it cannot be used up even in decades; he publicly confesses that the goods of this world are nothing, and yet for some small and insignificant thing he starts disputes and quarrels with his brethren; he philosophizes that he is dust and dust, and yet he always dresses magnificently, showing that he is much higher than all other people; he hears the Divine Scripture, which says: "Woe to those who love pleasure and are affectionate on soft beds" (Ezekiel 16:49, Amos 6:4), and he himself with all care sees to it that his bed be the most magnificent, the most splendid bed, and the table abounds in all kinds of expensive viands.

Tell me now, is it possible to agree that such a person knows himself, knows in what state he is in his soul and to what passions he is enslaved? You can't. No, he does not know himself, although he may think he knows. But he who does not know himself and his condition, how can he know another and his passions? How is it possible that a blind man can examine another and know whether he is blind or seeing? No, no; It's impossible.

And this very thing he cannot understand, that he is among those who are perishing, since this ignorance has the property of being a kind of thick veil over the intellectual eyes of the soul and does not allow them to see clearly the truth when he loves the world and worldly things.

For this reason also Saint David, after having sinned, experienced such evil, turning to God in repentance, besought Him, saying: "Open my eyes, and I will understand the wonders of Thy law" (Psalm 118:18).

Do you see how closed his eyes were? Do you see how he cries out to God to reveal them? Do the same, my son, and the Lord will not despise your petition if you send it to Him with all your soul, but will hear you and open the eyes of your soul. And then, as soon as you see clearly, first and at the beginning of everything you will know yourself and your state, and then everything else that you need to know. The consequence of this will be that with all your heart you will begin to consider incomparably higher than yourself and holy not only pious and virtuous people, but also every person in general, great and small, righteous and sinful, even those who sin openly. And let this be a clear sign to you and to everyone else that you have received the remission of all your sins, if you come to this measure and attain this good state. For holy humility is found at this measure, and to him who attains this measure, it gives him the first gift, so that he thinks that of all people there is no one more sinful and insignificant than he, and that with all the feeling of his soul, with full conviction, he considers himself a sinner alone and believes that he alone has to perish and be given over to eternal torment. And so, my beloved child and my brother, strive to acquire such humility and do not say: "This is impossible for me," nor again: "This goes to monks alone, and not to those who live in the world." For Christ determined His commandments in general for everyone, and did not lay down anything especially for monks, and especially for laymen. Both the forefathers who were before the law of Moses, and those who lived after it, fulfilled this commandment (about humility). Listen to what Job says: "I give myself earth and ashes" (42:6). And David: "I am a worm, and not a man" (Psalm 21:7). Do you see the words of humility? Do you see the soul that considers itself the most contemptible than any man, great and small? Imitate David's repentance, and you will gain his humility. Through repentance, the cloud of ignorance that covers the mind is dispersed, and the veil lying on it is removed. let us see the wounds and defilements of our souls, and then we will not only begin to philosophize and speak humbly, but we will begin to be ashamed of the sun, and the stars, and all the creatures of God created for our sake, to be ashamed because we have angered God, Who created all these things for our sake, and have sinned against Him, transgressing not one, but all of His commandments. For this reason let us not dare to lift up our eyes to look at these creatures, and let us consider ourselves unworthy to partake of the fruits of the earth, having pronounced upon ourselves that it would be righteous for us to die of hunger and thirst. Let us also not dare to look and look at the icon of Christ the Lord and His saints, recognizing ourselves as filthy, unclean and many sinners. It will seem to us that the icons themselves are ashamed of us and of our deeds; therefore we will not have the courage to approach them and venerate them; it will be extremely shameful for us to touch the pure and holy with our unclean and defiled lips. Even when we intend to enter the temple of God, let us feel how fear and trembling overwhelm us, realizing that we are entering unworthy, fearing that the floor of the temple will open and cast us alive into hell. This and more than this will always teach us holy humility, and by changing us, rebuilding and transforming us, our whole nature will penetrate to such an extent that later, even if we wanted to, we will no longer be able to think or say anything great and lofty about ourselves. This holy humility will assure us that without a teacher we cannot learn any good, and those who ask us, saying: "Do you understand more than you read?" It will teach us to answer: "How can I understand, if no one will instruct me?" (Acts 8:30,31). It will teach us not to enter without a guide on a path that we do not know. It will tell us that if we wish to repent, we must not approach God without a mediator and guide. Since, if it prompts us to be ashamed of heaven and earth and of every creation of God that exists in them, to revere with fear before the icon of the Savior and His saints, we should not dare to look at these icons or, approaching, kiss them; Will it not force us all the more not to approach the Creator and Master of all things, God Himself, without an intermediary? For although He loves mankind, He rejoices much in our humility and contrition, and greatly praises when someone considers himself unworthy to approach Him by himself, without a mediator.

In another way (so you can see for yourself). Our Lord and God, wishing to teach us that we must approach God with the help of some mediator and surety, He Himself showed us an example and a model in all other things, so in this He Himself was the first mediator and intercessor of human nature, bringing it in Himself to His Father and God. Then He appointed His holy Apostles as ministers of this mediation and intercession, who also brought to the Lord Christ all those who believed in Him. The Apostles again chose the worthiest from among these believers, and they ordained them as their successors, to be ministers of the same mediation. These again (chose and ordained) others, and these those who followed them. And thus this rite is successively observed even to this day. God does not want us to transgress and trample on His institution and tradition, but wants us to live according to the order that He has determined for us. Why does the Lord and Saviour say, as of Himself with the Father: "No one can come to Me, except the Father who sent Me draws him" (John 6:44), and again: "No one will come to the Father but by Me" (14:6), so He established that no one comes to faith in the Holy and One-in-Essence Trinity, unless he is taught the dogmas of the faith by some teacher, and no one is baptized and no one partakes of the Divine Mysteries by himself, without a priest. And whoever does not be baptized and partake of the Most-Pure Mysteries will not receive eternal life, as the Lord Himself again determines, saying: "He who has faith and is baptized will be saved; but whosoever hath not faith shall be condemned (Mark 16:16), and "Unless ye bear the flesh of the Son of man, neither drink of His blood, ye have life in yourselves" (John 6:53). Thus, since without holy Baptism and without communion of the Divine Mysteries no Christian can be vouchsafed eternal life, and these sacraments are taught to us not through the Holy Apostles and not through the Holy Fathers who came after the Apostles, but are given through those sanctified persons who now exist and live among us, it is obvious that we cannot and must not be alienated from their mediation in the matter of our salvation.

Thus God has ordained, and in order that you may be more willing to obey that law, keep in mind that what the fathers who lived in those times taught the faithful, our spiritual fathers teach us the same: they baptized with water and the Spirit, and these do the same now; they taught the Body and Blood of Christ, and these teach us the same. And just as those who baptized and communed then had nothing superfluous against those who are now, so those who now baptize and commune us have nothing lacking against the former. They taught faith in Christ and in the Holy Trinity, one in essence and indivisible, that is, in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and our spiritual fathers teach us the same thing today. And so, it is evident from this briefly (I do not write everything, so that my word does not become too lengthened), that what the Apostles then did for the faithful and what they taught them, our spiritual fathers do the same for us now - I mean, bishops and priests - exactly the same, without the slightest lack or damage, and they teach and instruct us, as they do. And if they do not differ in any way from the Apostles in this respect, then they are the sons of the Apostles and apostles for us, and those who do not receive them and do not listen to their words, let them hear what our Lord Jesus Christ says to such persons: Amen I say unto you, The land of Sodom and Gomorrah shall be more pleasant than unto you (Matt. 10:15; 11:22). For what did He say to the Apostles: "He who receives you, receives Me" (Matt. 10:40), and again: "Hear you, He hears Me; and be rejected by you, Me is rejected; but cast aside Me, reject Him who sent Me (Luke 10:16), - this applies to those like them, their successors, and those who are now living, and those who will live after them. And consequently, those who do not accept and do not listen to them, but are rejected, do not accept and do not listen to Christ the Lord Himself, but reject Him. And in rejecting Him, they also reject God the Father, Who sent Him.

You know, of course, my beloved son, that now, in these times, no one of the laity, nor of the monks, nor of the priests or bishops, reveres, loves, fears or accepts anyone as an apostle of God and a disciple of Christ, out of the love of Christ, or according to the commandment, or eternal for the sake of the blessings promised to us; but we all despise one another and despise one another: monks condemn monks, priests condemn bishops, laymen condemn all of them, and among themselves one another, and no one at all keeps in mind that the Church of God, as it was in ancient times, remains so now, and as God then ordained for it the first (at first - Ed.) the Apostles, the second - the prophets, the third - teachers and others, enumerated by St. Paul, so now they also abide in the person of their successors, the primates of the Church, so that everyone would receive some as apostles, some as prophets, others as teachers. We have completely forgotten all this, and we exalt ourselves one above the other without measure. Him Who yesterday baptized me, freed me from sin and corruption of my soul, filled me with the grace of the Holy Spirit, communed me with the most pure Body and saving Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and made me a son of God (what else did the Apostles of Christ do for Christians at that time?), I do not want to look at this very thing now, and I do not welcome him, because I consider it a shame for myself; I do not go out to meet him when he comes to me to honor him and receive him kindly, but I say to my servant with vexation, "What does he want there?" Tell him that your master is busy and has not time to receive him. Not to mention the fact that even worse and more dishonorable than this is done not only to monks, but also to priests, the very ones who confess to them and entrust their souls to them.

But if the spiritual father himself goes to him, but does not do his will, and does not indulge his desires, or, better said, does not fall down with him, in order to perish with him, then he leaves him and finds another who would follow his carnal desires.

Thus, everything spiritual among us, as you yourself see and know, is now in disorder, upset; the Apostolic Rite and Tradition have been forgotten and the commandments of Christ have been abandoned. And this calamitous evil lives in the present generation, despite the fact that everyone dreams of themselves, that they have sufficiently studied the divine, know the commandments of God and can judge what and how they should do.

They treat their spiritual fathers in the same way: they think that through confession with them they receive remission of their sins, but they themselves are considered devoid of any virtue, having no boldness before God, and they are placed on the same line with all other people.

Being baptized as infants, they therefore believe that they are not guilty when they do not afterwards give honor to the one who baptized them, and do not revere him as their spiritual father. They also dream that, having learned the rudiments of Christian dogmas in childhood, they know enough for piety, and that therefore God will not punish them for despising the teachers of piety and not wanting to learn anything more from them. It seems to them that they are quite pious and lead a more orderly life than many others, so they hope that they will be justified for this one reason. Again, to speak in spirit of their sins, to confess them and to receive permission from their spiritual fathers, this, it seems, is sufficient for salvation, and then they need no longer have faith in these fathers, nor give them honor, nor show them the reverence that befits them, as successors of the Apostles, mediators and intercessors for them before God.

In this way the whole universe is now filled with this charm and this evil. The violation and contempt of this commandment alone turned everything upside down in the Church of God, threw it down to its very lot. The Church has fallen into such disorder and confusion that there is almost no decent order for her anywhere, and one will not find a sign that this is the beautifully combined body of the Lord. As if we do not have the head of Christ the Lord, as if we are not brothers in spirit, bound together and united by the grace of the Holy Spirit, that we do not allow each of us to be ordained and well-ordered by the first builders of the Church of God?! Because of this, we are separated and scattered, like soulless particles of some substance (like sand). So much have we been enslaved to our desires, so much have the lusts of voluptuousness prevailed over us! Being carried away by them only to please ourselves, we have been divided, and from mutual hostility and pride we have turned away and distanced ourselves from one another, and thus have lost the distinguishing mark and sign of our faith, that is, love, of which the Lord said: "Of this all men understand, that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35). If we have lost it, then it is in vain that we are called Christians.