5. The soul of psalmody should be that the singer should be humble and do everything that leads to humility. But what is humility? That is to know and realize one's human weakness. But in order for anyone to know and recognize human weakness, this happens only from enlightenment, from above by Christ the Lord, sent to those who believe in Him. And there is no other way to know oneself and realize one's weakness. Why do the Holy Fathers say that he who is not baptized is not enlightened? Just as the eye cannot see anything without light, so the soul cannot see its weakness unless it is mysteriously enlightened by Christ. And how is such enlightenment accomplished? In the unbelievers, as we have said, by faith in Christ the Saviour and by divine Baptism, and in those who believe, who, having become blind after holy Baptism, do not see their own weakness and therefore are proud and lawless, for St. David says: "I have transgressed the law to the earth" (Psalm 118:51); and in other places it is said: "The Lord resisteth the proud" (James 4:6); the beginning of sin is pride (Sir. 10:15); the beginning of man's pride is the apostasy from the Lord (14) – in such the enlightenment of the soul is accomplished by the renewal of the sacrament of faith in Christ, that is, by bringing to memory all the necessary members of faith and reviving faith in them (for if they had kept the first faith, they would not have been blinded). When they have thus renewed in their memory all the members of the faith, and begin to keep them in thought with a living faith in them, then they will be enlightened in all things, they will see the misery of their situation and will be aware of the judgment of God, and from this, seeing how shameful and evil are the deeds they have done, and realizing what immeasurable torments they deserve, they will repent with all their soul and with all their heart. (Shameful deeds are all carnal pleasures and lusts, and evil deeds are lust, unrighteousness, deceit.) Since everyone who repents humbles himself, then for this reason God gives His grace to him, as a humble one, so that he may hate both lustful and evil deeds, and always remember his weakness and, remembering it, have compassion on those who are obsequious to him, and be indulgent to their infirmities, condemning no one for their sins, so that he may be meek and patient, and find peace in his soul. Having come to this, he will begin to sing a new song to the Lord, praise to our God, that is, he will begin to offer thanksgiving to God from a pure and contrite heart, because a pure heart is a contrite and humble heart. And any other psalmody, except this, is vain and useless. It is impossible for one who does not sing in this way to converse with God through prayer, even if he works hard and for a long time, but with his lips he will sing and pronounce prayers, and with his mind he will think about what grieves God and provokes Him to anger. Just as sensible and visible creatures have need of light in order to be manifest, so all intelligent creatures have need of intelligent light in order to be intelligently seen and known. And just as no one who has produced a multitude of products can say that he has produced them by night and without light, so he who leads a life pleasing to God cannot say that he leads it without intelligent light. If anyone dares to say this, then he is a manifest liar and the son of the devil. Such a person has never come to know himself and his weakness, and has not entered the path of God at all. Wherefore it is written: "Boast, let him glory in the Lord" (2 Corinthians 10:17).

6. But you, my brother, who are enlightened from above by Christ, should take heed to yourself, so that you may not ever forget your weakness and think that the enlightenment that is in you, which comes to your soul from above from Christ, is your own work, because it is hidden, and you do not see when and how it comes. Know that as soon as you dream that it is your own work, that it is the fruit of your mind and your efforts, it will immediately disappear from your eyes and leave you again in darkness. God is invisible and enlightens invisibly, without you seeing it; and this enlightenment is known by his actions, just as the invisible God is known by his works. If you find yourself contrite and humble, know that you are enlightened, and the more humble you are, so much is there light in you, for, as the divinely wise fathers said, the growth of the soul is its progress in humility. The degree of self-knowledge and knowledge of God is determined by the degree of humility and meekness. A soul that has been vouchsafed a divine presence, that is, divine enlightenment and silence, is peaceful and serene. Such enlightenment is extinguished by lack of mercy, condemnation of the brethren and rancor. For whoever has found salvation through the kindness and mercy of God, by his own mercy and diligence towards the brethren, will preserve this salvation in himself, according to the word of Christ the Savior, Who says: "By whom you judge, you will be judged; and in the same measure you measure, it will be measured to you (Matt. 7:2). For this reason, even before receiving God's mercy, it is necessary to have mercy on one's neighbor, and again, having been vouchsafed to receive this mercy, one must have mercy on him.

Thus, the sinner, delivered by the power of Christ from the passions that weigh him down, must rejoice and rejoice in the salvation of Christ. If, having received such deliverance and healing, he becomes proud, then the devil is near, and the instruments of the passions are still in us; the grace of Christ will again depart, and the devil, having come, will disturb his thoughts and direct him to do worse deeds with his body than before. May our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be honor and worship forever, deliver us from such deeds. Amen.

Homily Eighteen. 1. Faith is used in seven meanings. 2. Through faith a person is vouchsafed the grace of God. 3. It is impossible to please God without faith.

Faith is when one believes in the incomprehensible God, Who brought into existence the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all visible and invisible creation. All the ancient prophets and righteous men had such faith, from Adam to the incarnate economy of our Lord Christ. But after Christ was incarnate, faith is to believe in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit, in one Being and three Persons, and in the great mystery of the incarnation of Christ, that is, that the Son and Word of God and the Father, not being separated from the Father, came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and of the ever-virgin Mary, and was made perfect man, from the body and soul of the mind, united with the Divine; that in one and the same person He was God and man, with two perfect natures – Divinity and humanity, united inseparably and unmerged; that He suffered and was crucified by His will, and was buried also by His will, and that when at the time of His death His soul was separated from His body, the Godhead was not separated either from His soul or from His body; that on the third day He rose again, and after forty days He ascended into heaven as a man, and sits on the throne of His Divinity with His flesh, sung with the Father and the Holy Spirit by all the heavenly hosts; that all these mysteries of Christ's incarnate economy were performed in order that those who believe in Him might again put on the Holy Spirit, Whom the first-created Adam put off when he became a transgressor of God's commandment, and this in order that, being strengthened by the grace of the Holy Spirit, they might fulfill the commandments of God and overcome the devil and all invisible demons, for without "the Holy Spirit no one can escape sin, nor to fulfill the commandments of God, nor to repel the power and power that the demons have wielded over us.

Faith is also that one should believe in the promises of good things spoken in the Divine Scriptures to those who fulfill the commandments of God, and threats of eternal torment to those who violate them. Faith is also that one should be faithful to all God, whether it be dogmas or commandments, or, rather, faithful to the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is why every Christian is called faithful. Faith is also that one entrusts himself to God Himself and with all his soul entrusts all his salvation to Him alone. Faith is also that one should be sure that God does all that His goodness pleases, and be convinced that He does it in the best way. Faith is also that one should trust in the great and invincible power of the Almighty God, and dare to speak of it in such a way that he would command, and the mountains should move; to which very few attain faith, as it is written, that not all have such faith (2 Thessalonians 3:2). It is impossible for anyone to be saved who does not have an unashamed and firm faith in Christ the Lord, who does not believe the words of God without hesitation, who does not have love for God and people, love that comes from a good conscience, by virtue of which humility and mercy are born.

2. By virtue of faith, before any other virtue, comes the grace of God as the foundation of every virtue, and by the help of the grace of God every virtue is established in the heart and is effective; so that every virtue that is not from the grace of God is not imputed to God as a true virtue, because such a virtue is not God's. It happens that demons also lead to other prominent virtues, teaching people to appear chaste, merciful, meek, and thereby keeping them in arrogance and pride. The grace of God comes into a person, although unclean and filthy, but who has a truly grateful heart, and true gratitude exists, in order to recognize in the heart that grace is grace. And it is impossible that he who has received grace should be properly grateful and thankful, if he does not first recognize the greatness of the grace he has received. Those who do not realize how great is the grace they receive, do not value it.

Thus, we must know that the grace of the All-Holy Spirit comes to everyone who believes in Christ, not for the good works that he did before (if it came for good works, then there would be no grace, but payment for works), but it comes from God for faith, comes before all good works, and already on it, as on a firm foundation, good works are arranged, which are perfect only with the help of grace; so that the deeds that occur without the grace of the All-Holy Spirit are not counted by God for anything, as if they did not exist at all. Good is no longer good if it is not done good, but it is impossible for good to be done good without the grace of Christ. If this were possible, God would not have come to earth to be made man, in order to bestow such grace upon men, by the help of which alone every good can be done well. And blessed is the man who has come to know that by the grace of Christ every good can be done well; but he who has not known these things is cursed, he keeps the faith of Christ in vain.

That is why the majority of people, when they sing psalms and prayers, only pronounce psalms and prayers with their lips, and their minds converse with demons, because it is they, the demons, who ground his mind and circle it in vain, worldly, carnal, vindictive thoughts, so that good, prayer and psalmody would not be done in a good way, that is, in a proper, God-pleasing way. Is it not obvious from this that good cannot be good done without the grace of Christ? If it is impossible for good to be good without the grace of God, then what true good can a man boast of, as if it were his own work? No. That is why true Christians, who realize that they have nothing good in themselves, but everything from the grace of God, are always humble and contrite, which is the sign of true Christians. And arrogance, arrogance, vanity, audacity, pride, love of glory and ostentatious humility, which happens for the sake of glory for the sake of people, are the signs of not true Christians.

3. Thus, faith and good works are two things that are inseparably linked with each other. Faith is for good works, but good works are done not for faith, but through faith. Without faith, no one can do truly good deeds and please God, because for the sake of faith the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ comes to the one who believes in Him. To the extent of the faith that one shows, grace is also given. He who has great faith is given great grace; who has little faith, little grace. But even then it must be remembered that faith alone, even if it is true and Orthodox, will not bring any benefit to the one who believes in this way, without good works. The manifestation of faith is the power that comes from faith; and the manifestation of power is the zealous practice of God's commandments and God-pleasing works. For life action (energy) comes from the power that one can possess to do anything. Thus, since it is impossible to please God without faith (God is pleased with good works), it is evident that faith gives us the strength to do good and God-pleasing works according to the will of God. Faith here, in relation to what I am saying, is of course not only to believe in Christ and in all His words, but even more so to dare in Christ and to bear in our hearts the assurance that by the power of Christ we can be freed from evil, and accomplish every virtue, as the holy Apostle Paul confessed, saying: "More than all have you labored: not I, but the grace of God, which is with me (1 Corinthians 15:10).

Thus, whoever has not been vouchsafed to receive the grace of Christ and to know it intelligently inherent in his soul, he in vain bears the name of a Christian; He is the same as the infidels. He may think that he avoids all evil and passes through every virtue, but in truth a liar is also a pretender. Let such a person work, but his labor is in vain. Let him distribute all his possessions to the poor, fast, keep vigils, sleep on the bare ground, pray, crying out: Lord, have mercy! But if he does not bear in his heart the conviction that the grace of God, given for the faith, is the mercy of God, and does not seek to receive this grace alone above all else; if he did not even think that it was only for the sake of receiving this grace that he gave away his possessions and subjected himself to deprivation and suffering to everyone; if he does not strive for this purpose, in order either to receive grace for the first time through Baptism, or, if he had it and it departed because of his sin, to return it again through repentance, confession and self-abasement, but gives alms, fasts, performs vigils, prays, and so on, not with this one purpose and not for this one end, but thinks that he does glorious virtues and good deeds that are valuable in themselves before God - then in vain he troubles and exhausts himself.

It is this goal, which I have mentioned, that is the hidden mystery of Christianity from the beginning of the world, which appeared in the last times (Col. 1:26). Paul means it when he says of God that He desires to be saved by all men, and to come to the understanding of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). For the knowledge of the truth is nothing else but this very grace. It is the truth which Jesus Christ was, according to the Holy Gospel (John 1:17). And it is impossible for a Christian to find mercy with God if he does not know this grace. For just as Christ could not work signs and wonders for unbelievers, so He cannot have mercy on anyone who, although they believe in Him, have not previously come to know that the grace of Christ, given by Him and through Him, is mercy and salvation itself. It is impossible for anyone to be saved in any other way unless he receives the Divine grace to deify him, or to make him a god by grace. Let us, brethren, dispose ourselves to this one end to do all our work, that is, to receive and know God's grace and mercy in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Whom be glory and dominion, with His Father without beginning and His All-Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen.

The Nineteenth Word. 1. The soul is purified through faith and the fulfillment of Christ's commandments. 2. She is clothed from above with the descending power of the Holy Spirit and is vouchsafed to behold God. 3. Those who wish to receive good from God must joyfully endure every sorrow, suffering, and temptation that meets them. 4. Everyone should consider himself whether he is worthy to enter the kingdom of heaven.

The mind, united with God by faith, having come to know Him by the practice of virtues, and having been vouchsafed to behold Him by contemplation, sees wondrous and most glorious miracles. He is completely illumined and becomes like light, although he cannot understand and express what he sees. For the intellect itself is then the light and sees the Light of all, that is, God, and this light which it sees is life, and gives life to him who sees it. The mind sees itself completely united with this light and is soberly awake. He realizes that this light is within his soul, and he is amazed; but being amazed, he sees him as if he were far from him; then, having come to his senses, he again finds this light within; and thus finds neither words nor thoughts what to say or what to think of the light which he sees. Who, hearing this sacrament, will not be amazed, and, being amazed, will not run to Christ? Who does not wish to behold these miracles of God for himself? And who does not love Him Who gives us such glorious gifts without price?