4. Let us hate, my beloved brethren, this world and all that is in the world. Why should we have communion with the world and with the affairs of the world, when our Lord says to us in the Holy Gospel: "Bring ye out of the world" (John 15:19)? Let us flow along the path of virtue. Let us strive until we gain something from the ever-abiding and incorruptible. For all the things of this world are perishable and pass away like a dream, and there is nothing in them that is permanent and solid; And the sun, and the stars, and the sky, and the earth - everything passes away, and from everything one person remains. What of these visible things can now serve us for our benefit, in the hour of mortal need, when we pass from this life to our abiding there, in this endless age, and let us leave all this here, and it will decay and pass away? Though all this visible things will not pass away immediately, what is the use of it to us, when we are necessarily separated from it, leaving here only our body, dead and insensible, and our soul will no longer be able to see anything through this body, nor to be seen by anyone itself, but from that hour will heed only the invisible, having entered into other relations and other orders of life? That they may either enjoy the kingdom of heaven and eternal glory, or inherit hell and eternal fire? One of these two must be received from God as an eternal inheritance, according to the deeds that one does in this life.

For this reason, my beloved brethren, let us hate, I beseech you, this world, let us flee from its charms, and from the imaginary and deceitful joys of this life, and let us turn to Christ alone, the Redeemer of our souls, striving in every way to find Him, the omnipresent. Having found Him, let us fall down at His feet and kiss them with all the fervor of our souls. To her, I beseech you, let us strive to see Him while we are still alive. For if we are vouchsafed to see Him here, we will not die, and death will not rule over us. Let us not wait to behold Him in the life to come, but now let us strive to behold Him. We know, says St. John the Theologian, that we have God in our hearts, according to the Spirit, Whom we received from Him (1 John 3:24; 4:13). Therefore, you who have shown your faith in Him, which is firm and known by your works, consider with all attention what I have said to you, and consider well whether you are not deceived when you think that you have Christ in you, when you have nothing, and are in danger of passing out of this life empty-handed, in order to hear that terrible voice, saying, Take it, that this wicked servant thinketh to have, and give to him that hath more (Luke 8:18; Matt. 25:29). Then you will weep and weep, and you will receive eternal sorrow. But let it not be for us to hear such a voice and suffer something like this, for us, who in the hour of divine Baptism renounced the devil and all his deeds and united ourselves to Christ, having vowed to keep His commandments. Let us strive to preserve the divine commandments and purify our hearts with tears and repentance, that we may behold Christ Himself, this Divine Light, and that we may acquire Him here, in this present life, as the Dweller in us, that He may give life to our souls by the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, and that He may nourish them with the sweetness of the longed-for blessings of His kingdom. Amen.

Twentieth Word. 1. Who are those who truly love God, from what is love for God born, and by what is it revealed? 2. What are the works of love for one's neighbor according to God? 3. Love is the head of the law.

Some people are surprised when we say that not all Christians love Christ. But to love Christ is nothing else than to fulfill His commandments, as He Himself said: "If you have My commandments, and keep them, you will love Me" (John 14:21); so that a Christian who does not keep His commandments, when he says that he loves Christ, is lying. For every father who keeps and educates his sons and daughters, and cares for them, and whoever buys a slave for himself, or receives a hireling, certainly desires to have them, feeds and clothes them, and provides them with everything they need, that they may help him and minister to him in the house. But if he sees that none of them does his will and does not correct the work and ministry entrusted to him, will he be satisfied with the fact that his son and daughter will say to him, "You are our father, and the slave and hireling, you are our master"? Of course not. In the same way, God is not satisfied with the fact that someone says that he loves Him, but does not fulfill His commandments. That is why He says through the Prophet: "If I am the Father, where is My glory?" And if I am the Lord, where is My fear? (Mal. 1:6). - Thus, a Christian who does not glorify God by fulfilling His commandments and keeping His commandments is in no way better than the unbelievers, if not worse than them.

The commandments and commandments of God say: do this, and do not do that: it is not enough not to do evil, but it is also necessary to do good. At the same time, it is necessary for us to know and confess that it is impossible for a Christian not to do evil and to do any good, except by the power of the All-Holy Spirit, which is given from the bottom of his soul to those who believe in Christ and renounce Satan and all his works, and all his ministry, and all his pride, and unite with Christ, and unite with Him. Human nature is changeable and perverse, and the Divine nature alone is immutable and unchangeable. But the Christian, having become a partaker of the divine nature in Christ Jesus our Lord, through the reception of the grace of the Holy Spirit, is transformed and changed by His power into a God-like state, becomes a god by grace, like Him Who made such a change in him, that is, Christ the Lord, the Sun of righteousness. A Christian gives himself entirely to Christ the Lord, but Christ the Lord brings about the change shown in him and makes him a god by grace. A Christian cannot produce the desired change in himself by himself, and Christ will not grace him with the gift of this change, if he does not give himself to Him with all his heart. Why a Christian who has not been changed by this good change, let him not condemn his nature in this, but his own will, because he himself did not want to wholeheartedly surrender himself to Christ. For the Apostle certifies that since a man cleaves unto the Lord, he is one spirit with the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:17). And the Lord Himself says: Be ye in Me, and I in you, as the rod cannot bring forth fruit for itself, unless it be on the vine, so are you, unless ye abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the birth. And whosoever shall be in me, and I in him, the same shall bring forth much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If any man abide not in Me, he shall be cast out as a rod, and shall be dried up (John 15:4-5). Again: Be ye in my love; If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; As I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love (9:10). And again: "Of this all understand, that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35).

As the disciple of a grammarian, rhetorician, philosopher, poet, artist, and every other disciple is known by his teacher, so a Christian, a disciple of Christ, is known by Christ, the Lord and God, his good Teacher, Who loved us so much that for our sake He became man and gave His soul for our redemption. Why does anyone who does not have love, how can he be recognized as a disciple of Christ or a Christian? Since, on the contrary, whoever has this love, even if he cannot lift up great feats and labors, but has acquired only this love, he, according to the law of our Teacher Christ, has ascended to the very summit of the perfection of the saints. For thus it is written: Thou shalt love thy brother, thou shalt fulfill the law (Romans 13:8), and Thou shalt not love thy brother, whom thou hast seen, God, whom thou hast not seen, how can thou love? (1 John 4:20). Again: If anyone says that he loves God, and hates his brother, there is a lie (ibid.). But when he hears love, let no one think that it is a manageable matter. The commandment of love is the greatest and most important. Why did God Himself from the beginning put into human nature a certain loving power, and naturally parents love their children, relatives love themselves in return, and friends love their friends? But this natural power of love is given by God to help rational human nature, so that, using it, it may flow into (universal) love, self-willed and voluntary. The great and perfect commandment of love given by God is spoken not of natural love, but of spontaneous love.

2. That the commandment of love is the greatest commandment and is the head of all virtues, the highest of every good life and all laborious deeds, listen to what the Apostle Paul says - this is the mouth of Christ, where he points out that without love the five greatest gifts are vain and useless, namely, the gifts of tongues, prophecy, miraculous faith, almsgiving, and martyrdom, and says: "If tongues are spoken of men and of angels... if the Imam prophecy and the knowledge of the mysteries are all and all the understanding, and if the Imam is all the faith, as if the mountains are lifted away... If I give away all my possessions, and if I give up my body to burn it, I have no love, it is of no use to me (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Then, thinking that the other, amazed at such words, is ready to ask him how it is possible to manifest such great deeds without love, he resolves this perplexity and says: Love is long-suffering, merciful, does not see love, does not exalt itself, is not proud, does not riot, does not seek his own, is not irritated, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth. He bears all things, eats faith in all things, trusts in all things, endures all things. Lyuba Nikolizhe falls away (4-8). By this he clearly showed that he who speaks with tongues can become proud, likewise he who prophesies and has miraculous faith can become vain, he who gives alms can enjoy glory and honor from those who have benefited him, and he who has given himself over to torture can think highly of himself. But since he ended his speech thus: "Love falls away," he showed that the root of love is humility, since the root has nowhere to fall, being always in the depths of the earth. Whoever thinks that he has love, and yet has no patience and mercy, is envious and disrespectful, is proud and disorderly, seeks his own, is irritated and thinks evil, rejoices in unrighteousness, and does not rejoice in the truth, does not cover everything, does not have faith in everything, does not trust in all things, and does not endure everything, such a one does not have love, and when he says that he has it, he lies.

3. The entire law given by God to people is combined in love, which has two stages, since the law is twofold - the old and the new. He who ascended to the first step left the earth to the valley, and he who ascended to the second step also reached heaven. The Old Law says: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Lev. 19:18), and the New Law says: "Thou shalt love thy enemy also" (Matt. 5:44); He also says, "And lay down your life for your friend." Therefore, whoever loves his enemy has ascended to the second step or ascended to heaven. On the contrary, he who not only pursues his enemy, but also hates his neighbor and does evil to him who loves him, such a one has descended to the very depths of the earth.

Let us take care, brethren, to acquire perfect love, that we may also attain the kingdom of heaven in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Homily Twenty-One. 1. About almsgiving: who satisfies God when He hungers, and gives drink when He thirsts, and how can such works be done? 2. He does not receive real benefit who has mercy only on the poor, and does not have mercy on himself, leaving himself in negligence, naked from every good work and from the grace of God.

It is the duty of all of us, both faithful and unfaithful, small and great, to have great attention and diligence in this life: the unfaithful - in order to know the truth and believe in the Creator and Organizer of all things, God, the faithful - in order to live well and please God in every good deed and good word, the small - in order to obey the great, for the Lord's sake, the great - in order to have the least as their own children, according to the commandment of the Lord, Who says: "Wherefore ye have made one of these my least brethren, ye have created me" (Matt. 25:40). For the Lord did not say this only about the poor and those who do not have bodily food (as some think), but He also said this about all our other brethren, who do not hunger for bread, but for hunger to hear the words of the Lord and to do His commandments, since His commandment is eternal life. As much as the soul is more honest than the body, so much is the food of the soul more necessary than the food of the body. And I think that the Lord said more about the food of the soul: "Hunger, and thou shalt not give Me food: thou shalt be thirsty, and thou shalt not give Me drink" (Matt. 25:42), than of bodily and perishable food, since He Himself said before: "Mine is my bread, that I may do the will of Him who sent Me" (John 4:34). And the will of the Father who sent Him is the salvation of men. And truly Christ hungers and thirsts, that is, with an extreme and irrepressible desire desires the one salvation of all men. The salvation of men is the removal from all sin, which cannot be accomplished without the practice of virtues and the fulfillment of all the commandments. Therefore, when we fulfill the commandments of Christ, then we nourish and satisfy Christ, the Lord of all creation. And our holy fathers say that just as the demons feed on our evil deeds and gain the strength to fight against us, but by our separation from evil they are exhausted by hunger and weakened; so Christ, Who became poor for our salvation, is nourished by us when we do His commandments, and is left in hunger when we do not do His will. We can learn this and be convinced of this from the very life and deeds of the saints.

I will leave the rest, for there are many of them, more than the sand of the sea, - by the tale of one person, of one saint, I will try to satisfy your love. Without a doubt, you have heard about the life of St. Mary of Egypt, about whom it is not someone else who has spoken, but she herself, equal to the angels. In her confession she said: I was extremely poor, and although many times others gave me a reward for sin, I did not take it, not because I was rich - I had nothing - but in order to attract more lovers to myself. When she boarded the ship to sail to Jerusalem, she had nothing with which to pay for a place on it, and with what to eat during the voyage. When in Jerusalem, having made a vow to the Most-Pure Mother of God to turn to the Lord, she decided to withdraw into the wilderness, then, having received two coins from a certain Christ-lover, she bought three loaves of bread with them, with which she crossed the Jordan River, and from that time she remained in the wilderness until the end of her life, not seeing a single person, except one Zosima. And so she did not feed the hungry, nor drink the thirsty, nor clothe the naked, nor give rest to the strange, but rather did all the contrary, and threw many into the pit of perdition, dragging them to sin.

But that's not how it is, not like that.

All the things that exist in this world were created by God in common to all people, such as: the sun, from which we receive light, the air, which we breathe, pastures for cattle in meadows and mountains, and so on, all common to all, so that everyone would use them for his own needs, and not take possession of them like a master. But covetousness has come into our life like a tyrant, and that which the Lord God has given in common to all, it has divided to some of His servants who are in his power, some in this way, and to others in this way, fencing off the plots with fences and towers, with gates and bars, and depriving the rest of all of the enjoyment of the blessings which God has given in common to all. And it says, perversely, "I am the mistress of all things, and I possess all things, all that is mine, and not common," and argues that it does not justify anyone. And the servants and saints of this tyranny, that is, lust, are usually not the masters and masters of those things and money, but their slaves and guardians.