4. Let them seek to believe in Christ as they should, and thus begin to live according to God, to receive the light of the mind and to behold God, to have the fear of God, and to lay the foundation for wisdom, since the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Faith without works is dead, like a body without a soul. For faith, which has no works, has no God to give it life, and is dead, for it has not acquired that of which Christ says: "He that loveth Me shall keep My commandments, and I and the Father shall come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John 14:23), that He may raise the soul from the dead by His presence, and give life to him who is vouchsafed to acquire it. That is why such faith is dead, those who have it without works are dead. Whoever lives in Christ also has the disposition of Christ, and whoever does not have the disposition of Christ is dead, and let him not deceive himself, as Christ says: Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and do not what I say? (Luke 6:46). The sign of deadness is inaction, for everyone who is dead is inactive. Why is it that whoever does not act according to God is dead to God, there is no life according to God in him? And whoever does not live for God and according to God, it would be better not to live at all. Our bodily life is simply life, like the life of all animals. But the rational soul must receive the life which God gives, and which is the light of man, given from above by God. Whoever is deprived of this life lives like all irrational animals, but as he descends to this, being rational, he will be condemned together with the incorporeal rational creatures deprived of such life, that is, with demons, to eternal death, or to endless torment in hell. From all that has been said, it is evident that our most important work consists in a God-pleasing life. Those who do not lead a life befitting Christians are weak in their nature, and in their strength, and in their lives, and in their deeds. The strength of Christianity lies precisely in the fact that through Jesus Christ there is received complete well-being from God, Who gave existence. Why are they not naturally vouchsafed to live as they should, both in relation to God and in relation to people who have not sought to receive from God through Jesus Christ the well-being that was lost in the first-created Adam?

5. Therefore he who does not live as Christ commands, is called a Christian in vain. He does not have prosperity, either because he did not believe in Christ at all, or because, having believed, he despised the faith and lost the gift, or because he was not taught as he should and did not know this great and mysterious gift of grace. As of being, we know that having been given directly by God in the beginning according to the law of creation, at the present time it does not come directly from Him, but from husband and woman man comes, as He, the Creator of all, decreed when He said: "And the two shall be one flesh, which flesh is the flesh of the child born of both; in the same way, well-being is clearly God's and ours' work, because if it were only God's work, then all people would have it. Our participation in this is to admit that we do not have well-being and cannot have it by ourselves, because from the time of Adam even to the present day there has not been a single person who would have had prosperity of his own accord, whether he be wise or prudent about himself, as the prophet Isaiah says: "Woe to those who are wise in themselves, and understand before you (Isaiah 5:21). Why, just as we have existence from God and His creative power, so our well-being comes from Him. Well-being is in us from God something higher than mere being, because this being, if it does not become well-being, then it corrupts and perishes. And just as the almighty God, having once creatively created man, no longer gives existence to any man except through husband and wife, because this would be unblessed, so again, He does not give well-being to man, unless this man himself desires it with all his soul and with all his mind, so that otherwise he does not violate the rational dignity of human nature. that is, autocracy. Therefore, whoever desires this well-being, let him seek it from God with a mighty cry and tears, as Christ Himself did, Who, being God and man, as a man, lifted up prayers and supplications to God, with tears and a mighty cry, that He might deliver Him, as a man, from death, as the Apostle says: Who in the days of His flesh, supplications and supplications to Him who is able to save Him from death, with a strong cry and tears he brought, and was heard out of reverence... And all those who obey Him were guilty of eternal salvation (Hebrews 5:7,9). What kind of salvation is this, which He grants to all who listen to Him? The very well-being that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. But the fruit of the Spirit, says the divine Paul, is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control: against such there is no law (Gal. 5:22-23). For the law does not lie with the righteous (1 Timothy 1:9). God the Word and the Son of God, the Creator of natures, was naturally (physically) made man, in order to naturally (physically) grant people well-being. In order that people might receive this well-being, He came, became incarnate, suffered and died, so that believers could receive it as something natural (physical), that is, that they might be loving, joyful, long-suffering, good, merciful, faithful, meek, temperate. For it is precisely these qualities that constitute well-being. And woe to him who does not have such well-being as is granted by Christ, because in this case he is deprived of that great blessing for which God alone was made man, died and rose again. This is what he (a fake Christian) is deprived of, just as those who do not believe in Christ are deprived of it, so as not to say that he becomes even worse than they are. May we not be deprived of this good in Christ Jesus, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

The Fortieth Word. 1. Abstinence is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Those who believe in Christ should know that they receive from Him the gifts of the Holy Spirit, so that those who do not know that they receive gifts from Christ have believed in vain.

The God-bearing Fathers say that Christ came into this world and granted people deliverance and the taking away of sins. And so, if Christ is the One who delivers people from sin and takes them away, then how do they say again that believers mortify the strivings and movements of the passions through abstinence? To this we reply that both of these propositions are true. For those who are baptized into Christ have put on Christ; but they are clothed in Christ by the grace of the Father who proceeds the Spirit, and of the fruits of the Holy Spirit there is also abstinence. The fruit of the Holy Spirit, says the divine Paul, is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Therefore, when someone abstains from sin, it is not he who abstains, but this is the fruit of the Spirit, which is abstinence. Therefore let him who is abstinent not think that the abstinence which he contains is the work of his own strength, but the work of the grace of Christ. For Christ, through the Holy Spirit, grants abstinence to those who formerly desired to be freed from passions and to be delivered from sin, and began to resist it, but all were overcome by it because of their weakness and weighed down — to such, I say, Christ grants abstinence, so that they may know, judging by the abstinence by which they now abstain from all sin, from what great evil they are delivered, and that, when the very movement for evil (sympathy with it) was taken from them, they humbly glorified the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who sent Him for the redemption of His people.

As Christ did not commit sin, so how is it possible for him who puts on Christ to sin? Whoever sins is clearly not clothed with Christ. Let such a Christian strive to put on Christ again, and let him ask day and night with faith, fasting and tears to be vouchsafed to put on again the garment of Christ's justification. For he was already clothed in Christ in holy Baptism, but either he did not know it, or despised it, and for this he again became naked from Christ, and because of this nakedness he began to sin. However, Christ does not leave such a person by complete abandonment, but allows him to come to his senses, to know his nakedness, and, praying with a contrite spirit, to seek to put on Him. For whoever is not clothed with Christ, how can he do His commandments? He Himself says: "Without Me you can do nothing, just as a branch cannot bear fruit, except it abide on the vine" (John 15:4,5).

Christ commands us to believe in Him, not just as it happened, but also to believe that to those who believe in Him, He gives gifts, so that those who have not received such gifts have not yet believed in Christ. A Christian is also called faithful because of the gifts entrusted to him. A Christian is called faithful not only because he believes in Christ, but also because he has been entrusted by God with the sacraments, which even the Angels did not know before us. In this sense the Lord said: "He who is faithful in little and in many things is faithful" (Luke 16:10). Do you see that the faithful is the one to whom he is entrusted? Whoever does not feel and does not know that something has been entrusted to him, has either not received the grace of the Holy Spirit, or is insensible, and because of his insensibility it has departed from him. For the Holy Spirit, Who gives people wisdom, and knowledge, and piety, and the fear of God, and faith, does not want to dwell in the insensible.

As no one can trade without money, the Lord gives to every faithful person, according to his strength and ability, a spiritual denarius, that is, the gift of the Holy Spirit, which would always be with him at all times and in every matter. To whom such a denarius is entrusted and who has received it, it behooves him to keep it good, and with all diligence and patience to try to increase it. And listen to how he can multiply it. For example, someone receives the gift of faith and the gift of patience: by faith he believes in what God has promised him, and by patience he endures the sorrows and misfortunes that come upon him. Seeing that he is met with many things contrary to what God has promised him, he endures complacently, waiting until the time finally comes for the fulfillment of God's promise. Here it seems as if a person himself endures, but in fact the power of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which he has received, produces patience and firmness in him. If he does not forget about this power of grace granted to him, then the gift will increase in him, and he will be vouchsafed to receive what God has promised to give him, for Christians will inherit the promises of God by faith and patience. But if he forgets about grace and thinks that he himself has borne the burden of trial and patience by his own strength, and not by the power of the grace of God, then he loses grace and remains naked of it; and the devil, finding him naked from Divine grace, pushes him around where he wants and how he wants, and there are his last bitters of the first.

Therefore, those who are called faithful by the grace of faith must also be vouchsafed to receive the grace of understanding, so that they may truly understand that patience and good humor are wrought in them by Divine grace, and let thanksgiving be offered to Him Who deigned to act in this way in the faithful, as He Himself testified: "My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). In other feats, the one who acts is victorious, and in the feats of faith and piety, the winner is the one who suffers and endures unto death. He who endures to the end is saved; not the one who is exhausted and lags behind in the middle or towards the end of asceticism, but who endures to the end. And our God is not called the God of idle inactivity and pleasure, but the God of patience and long-suffering. He effectively produces patience and good humor in those who surrender themselves to Him, so that they may gain a wondrous and new victory, like that which Christ the Lord won. Being crucified and having tasted death, He conquered His murderers and the world, and now He gives of His victorious power also to those who suffer for Him, and through them He conquers again the same murderers and the world. This sacrament must be known to every Christian, so that no one turns out to be a believer in Christ in vain, as not leading the sacrament of Christianity. For it is not everyone himself, but Christ with everyone who enters paradise again, that is, every person then receives entrance into paradise when he becomes a partaker of the Divine grace of Christ and by faith again gains what he had in the beginning and what he lost through unbelief, not believing the words of God, but believing the words of the serpent.

Labors and sweats always accompany a person in the present life, according to the providential dispensation of the humane God, so that otherwise he will not lose again what he has gained through labor and sweat. The soul is spiritually vouchsafed the highest good for us, that is, the grace of Christ, through holy Baptism, for as soon as it is baptized, Christ is immediately imagined in it. But since the majority do not know the grace that is acceptable in this way, especially among those who have been baptized as little children, then little by little with time a change occurs in them, and in some the grace of God is completely extinguished, while in others there is still at least a small spark of it, which, by the great mercy of God, is sometimes kindled again in them through faith, pastoral instruction and guidance. In those who, having been rebuked and instructed, arise to faith and hope of salvation, grace in a short time rekindles and makes itself felt in the spirit. Then, if anyone adds to this with joy the handles of humility and almsgiving (humility, because such mercy is not from us, but from God; almsgiving, because he who has received mercy must be merciful himself), then a great flame flares up in him, which shines even on all who come in contact with him, in Christ Jesus, To our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion for ever. Amen.

Homily Forty-One. 1. About feasts, and how should they be celebrated? 2. Against those who boast of festivals. 3. What is the meaning of what happens during them? 4. To those who partake of the Most-Pure Mysteries worthily and unworthily. 5. How does it happen that some are united to God through Holy Communion, while others are not? 6. What is the difference between those who partake of Communion worthily and those who partake of Communion unworthily?

Whoever knows well and understands that he was created out of nothing, and that he entered this world naked, will know his Creator, and will fear and love Him alone, and will serve Him alone with all his soul, preferring nothing of the visible things to Him. Convinced by the knowledge of himself that the pilgrim is for all earthly things, or, better said, for all that is heavenly, he gives all the zeal of his soul to the service of his Creator and God. For if he is a stranger for earthly things, from which he was taken (at creation), among whom he lives and spends his life, how much more is he a stranger for heavenly things, from which he is so far both in the way of his being here and in his way of life.

Such a one, knowing what the God-pleasing feast consists in, has not at all in his mind and in his sense that which is usually sensual at feasts (for only those who do not think of anything higher visible are usually occupied with this), but with an all-wise mind gives birth to spiritual thoughts and is delighted with the contemplation of the festal joy that will take place in the future life, and he heartily enjoys it, as if he were already there in the very act and spiritually celebrating with the Angels and saints, who always have a feast in heaven. Such a person does not look at candles and lamps, nor at a multitude of people, nor at a gathering of friends, but directs his mind to that which is soon to come, when all material lights and the very light of the eyes will be extinguished, and everyone will depart to that house for eternity.

2. And so, beloved, do not count to me the years, months, and cycles of feasts, and do not say: behold, I have celebrated the Nativity of Christ, the Theophany, the Meeting of the Lord, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and Pentecost. Do not say this, my brother, do not count the feasts you have celebrated, and do not think that this is enough for the salvation of your soul. Do not think that if there are bright garments and adornments, food and drink, valuable fragrances, candles and lamps, and a multitude of people, then the whole feast will be there. This is not what makes the feast radiant, and it is not in this alone that the feast consists: it is only a festal appearance.

For if today I am flooded with light, and tomorrow I am surrounded by darkness, if today I am abounding in joy, and tomorrow I am burdened with sorrows, if today I am in good health, and tomorrow I am sick, tell me, what profit will I gain from this? And what is the consolation in all this? The Lord does not love such feasts. Who has found this out of your hands? - He asks (Isaiah 1:12). Christ did not ordain that we should celebrate our feasts in this way. And how? Listen carefully. However, I will say in advance what some say in defense of this. "What do you think?" Not to light lamps or candles? Do not burn incense and no incense? Not to summon the people to feasts, and not to invite singers, or friends and acquaintances, or people of nobility? Is that what you say? Do you say so? - No, I don't say that. Let it not be. On the contrary, I advise you to do all this, even on a large scale. In this I completely agree with you. But I wish that you should know how, in spite of all this, Christians should celebrate their feasts. And so I will explain to you the mystery of the Christian feast.