Homily 12: On the same

 "I will rebuke you, and I will set your sins before you"

(Psalm 49:21)

 This word is also terrible, beloved! "I will rebuke thee, and I will set thy sins before thy face." For this is also the word of the great God. To whom? To the sinner, as it is written above in the same psalm: "To the sinner God spoke." What does it mean? That He will rebuke the sinner for all his sins and present all his iniquitous deeds before him. Where is? At the world judgment, where all the holy Angels will be and all the people who have lived from the beginning to the end of the world will be gathered. At that universal assembly every sinner will be exposed, and his unscrupulous and ungodly actions will be brought before him, and will be revealed to the whole world. "I will rebuke thee, and I will set thy sins before thy face." You, a sinner, did this and that: "If you saw a thief, you hastened with him, and associated with adulterers, your mouth multiplied backbiting, and your tongue wove deceit; sitting (in the assembly), thou hast slandered thy brother, and hast given thy mother's son a stumbling-block" (Psalm 49:18-20). Sinner! Do you destroy My law, and reject my words completely, and think that all these things will go unpunished, and that I will not punish you for them? "With what did the wicked man provoke God to anger? By saying in his heart: "He will not seek" (Psalm 9:34). No, no, it will not be as you lawlessly dream and flatter yourself. I will punish you for all that you have done, and all your iniquitous deeds, words, thoughts, undertakings, designs, and deeds will be presented to you. Behold, thou, O sinner, hast thought and contrived, done and spoken, and thus hast destroyed My eternal and inviolable law, and despised and trampled upon the words of My mouth, the holy words. "I will rebuke thee, and I will set thy sins before thy face." To the fornicator and to every defiler will be presented all his foul dreams, words, views and deeds, where and when he committed them, and with whom he mingled with impurity. The evil one will imagine whom and with what he harmed, to whom and when he gave the poisoned cup with poison, and so his life was either taken away or shortened; whom and before whom he dishonored with his slander, and so was the cause of his dishonor, reproach, mockery, ridicule, sorrow, and so on. The thief and the plunderer will see before them all their thieves' deeds, secretly, or openly, or deceived. Each of them will see where, and what, and from whom he brazenly stole, or insidiously appropriated, or secretly stole. The wicked merchant will see how he shamelessly sold goods and deceived people; how rotten things for good, and cheap for expensive, and some things for others; how much water he stirred into the wine, how many times and for what commodity he demanded a higher price than it was worth, and so he acted shamelessly. Here you deceived this and that, at such and such a time, in the sale of your goods, and so you acted against your conscience, and esteemed your filthy gain more than My commandment, which says: "Thou shalt not steal." The evil one and the flatterer will see all his insidious plans laid before him and will be convicted when, whom and in what he deceived and deceived, and whom he flattered with his tongue. The blasphemer and scoffer will be exposed to all his blasphemy, which he spewed out against God, his Creator and His saints, and against other people created in the likeness of God, and he will be exposed where, when, and before whom he spoke those pernicious words. The impious ruler will be presented with his negligence towards his subordinates, violence, anger of the people entrusted to him, and his other lawless deeds. The negligent pastor will be shown his negligence for the flock of Christ and his other sins. The bribe-taking judge will see the transgression of oaths and oaths, the trampling of the truth and judgment of God, and other iniquities committed by him. A negligent parent will see his negligence in the upbringing of his children, and that because of this they have become corrupt and perished, and the temptations that he gave to children will appear before him. The lawless master will be presented with all his insolence, violence and anger, which he showed to his slaves and peasants, and he either inhumanly tortured them, or burdened them with intolerable work and taxes. In a word, every sinner will have the sins that he has committed secretly or openly will appear with him and will be presented to him. They will also appear to you, whimsical and peace-loving. Your banquets, your banquets, your balls, your operas, your masquerades, your dances, your card games, your dog-hunting, and your other amusements will be presented to you, for you have turned your heart away from God, Whom you have confessed, and have added to this vanity; and not to God and His kingdom, but to the charms of the world, they turned their desire, and in this they found their consolation and joy. Then, instead of transient joy, you will see your present and eternal sorrow, sorrow, sickness, and sighing. "I will rebuke thee, and I will set thy sins before thy face." Then every sinner will be rebuked and hear: "Behold the man and his works!" The fornicator will hear: "Behold the man and his works!" The thief, the robber, and the robber will hear: "Behold the man and his works!" The vindictive one will hear: "Behold the man and his works!" The evil one and the hypocrite will hear: "Behold the man and his works!" The wicked ruler will hear: "Behold the man and his works!" The bribe-taking judge will hear: "Here is the man and his deeds!" The negligent parent and the seducer will hear: "Behold the man and his works!" The lawless shepherd will hear: "Behold the man and his works!" The wicked lord will hear: "Behold the man and his works!" The unscrupulous servant and every subordinate will hear: "Behold the man and his works!" Finally, every sinner who has not been cleansed by repentance will hear: "Behold the man and his works!" He shall hear, and shall cover him with shame and shame, and shall envelop him with fear, trembling, and terror. Then they will say to the mountains and stones, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath has come, and who can stand" (Rev. 6:16-17)? Poor sinners! That great day has not yet come, God still accepts repentance and forgives the sins of those who repent. Let us turn to God with repentance and tears, and let us cease to sin, and with warm tears let us atone for our sins, so that they do not appear with us at that world's judgment and, as fierce enemies, do not denounce us. Weep, weep, sinful soul, regret and sigh that you have sinned against God! Ask, seek, and knock, that the Lord may open to you the doors of His mercy. "Everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened" (Matthew 7:8). Glory to God, the lover of mankind, for this, and let all people say: so be it! Amen.

Homily 13: On Eternity

 "And these shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life"

(Matthew 25:46)

 Nothing moves a sinner to repentance as much as eternity, and nothing is more useful to every Christian than the remembrance and contemplation of eternity. Eternity keeps a person from sin, pacifies passions, turns away from the world and all its vanity, crushes the heart, gives birth to tears of repentance, encourages prayer and makes a true heartfelt sigh. Remembrance and contemplation of eternity can correct even the most corrupt. The contemplation of eternity filled the deserts, caves, mountains and abysses of the earth with inhabitants. Contemplating eternity, the holy martyrs preferred to endure the heaviest torments rather than submit to the will of impious kings and renounce Christ. From the contemplation of eternity, robbers, murderers, robbers, fornicators and harlots, and other grave sinners became saints and God's chosen ones. Glory to God's love for mankind for opening the doors to Himself to all, even the most grievous sinners. It is surprising that the Christians of the present age, having heard in the Holy Scriptures about eternity, nevertheless cling to the vanity of this world, and seek in this world honor, glory and riches, and build, expand, and adorn their houses and other buildings, as if eternity did not exist. This happens in them from forgetfulness of eternity, and their hearts are darkened by the charm of visible vanity. Beloved Christians! Let us imprint eternity on our memory, and then we will invariably abide in constant true repentance, contrition of heart, and prayer, and we will not be deceived by any vanity of this world, and we will turn away from every sin, as from a poisonous serpent. Everything that the sons of this world like, which seems favorable and dear, will become abhorrent to us. Verily, we will be satisfied with a piece of bread, and a small hut, and the coarsest clothing. Remembrance and contemplation of eternity will teach us to be content with them. Do you know what eternity is? Eternity is a beginning without end, that is, it will begin once and never end; It is always and never, that is, it will always be and will never cease. This is eternity. All ages from the creation of the world to the end are like the smallest point in comparison with the whole world, or like a minute against a thousand centuries, or, better said, like nothing. This is eternity. Eternity is twofold: prosperous and unprosperous. In prosperous eternity there will be the kingdom of God, there will be God, Whom man will see face to face, there will be joy and indescribable gladness, soul and body will receive their all-perfect bliss, and man will be vouchsafed good things, which "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of man" (1 Corinthians 2:9). "Then the righteous shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father" (Matt. 13:43). In an unfortunate eternity there will be deprivation and separation from God, all suffering and torment in body and soul. Then people will want to die, but death will flee from them. This is the second death and eternal death. Sinners! We hear the Word of God about eternity and see that there is a twofold eternity: prosperous, full of joy and all good things, that is, eternal life; and unhappy, full of torment, sorrow, sickness, and all evils, that is, eternal death. Let us repent and wash away our sins with tears, so that we may avoid an unfortunate eternity and enter into eternal life and the kingdom of God. After the Last Judgment of Christ, each will go to his own eternity. For then the Judge Christ will give everyone the proper definition. To the righteous He will open the doors of His eternal kingdom and say to them: "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:34). To sinners He will say: "Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:41). "And these shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life" (Matt. 25:46). Remember us also, O Lord, in Thy kingdom! Amen.

Homily 14: On the First Christian Work

 "There is only one thing that is required"

(Luke 10:42)