"See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called and be the children of God."

 (1 John 3:1)

 Oh, goodness! Oh, God's love for mankind! Oh, how much God's love overcame! Oh, how abundantly God's grace abounded! Poor and outcast sinners were created children of God! The Apostle of Christ is amazed at this and says: "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called and be children of God." What can be more amazing than for a sinner to become a child of God? God's love for man created this. What is more glorious than to be called and to be a child of God? God's grace gave this to man. It is glorious to be a child of an earthly king, but incomparably more glorious to be a child of God, the King of Heaven. This honor, glory, dignity, nobility and name – all the titles of this world are incomparably superior. Glory to God, the lover of mankind, for this! If Christians are children of God, then they are heirs: "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:17). If they are children of God, then whom and what should they fear? Why fear slanderers, enemies, the devil, demons, death, and hell? God stands for them: "If God is for us, who is against us" (Romans 8:31)? We receive this highest gift of God in Baptism, for then we are born of God and receive this most glorious title. Beloved Christians! Let us remember Holy Baptism and God's highest mercy shown to us at that time. Then we became children of God. Thank God for that! But children are required to be like their parents: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). That is why Christians, as those born of God, should be like God. Thus let us show by our deeds that we are children of God. God is holy, let us also be holy. If God is righteous, let us also be righteous. God is good, "for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust" (Matthew 5:45) — let us also be good, and let us do good to our friends and enemies, who love us and hate us. God is merciful, let us also be merciful, and we will show mercy to our needy brethren. God hates sin, and let us also hate every sin and turn away from every sin. If God loves us, let us love one another. God forgives our sins when we repent, and let us also forgive the sins of people. The Apostle of Christ calls us to this: "Imitate God, as beloved children" (Ephesians 5:1). If we show such morals in ourselves, then we will be true children of God, and we will receive both the inheritance and all the blessings promised to the children of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen

Homily 4: On Our Renunciations and Vows Made at Baptism

 Holy Baptism is like a door through which the baptized enter the Holy Church and become close to God and cohabitants of the saints, but they do not just enter, but before Baptism they pronounce renunciations and vows. 1) Then we renounce Satan and all his evil deeds. Satan is an evil and evil spirit; he was created by a good God, but with his like-minded people he departed from Him, and so from the bright he became dark, and from the good – evil and evil. His works are as follows: idolatry, pride, deceit, lying, flattery, cunning, envy, malice, theft, adultery, fornication, all uncleanness, slander, blasphemy, and every sin. For he is the inventor of sin, he deceived our forefathers in paradise and led them to sin and apostasy from God. We renounce this evil spirit and all its evil deeds before Baptism. 2) We renounce all vanity, pride, and pomp of this world, as called and renewed to eternal life. 3) We promise Christ, the Son of God, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, to serve faithfully and truthfully and to follow His footsteps. (4) Thus the covenant between God and us is established. We, having renounced Satan, promise to serve God and be faithful to Him. God receives us into His highest mercy, and promises us the inheritance of eternal life and kingdom, and we, defiled by sins, are washed, sanctified and justified by the bath of Baptism, so the priest greets each baptized person: "Thou hast been washed, thou hast been sanctified, hast thou been justified" (see 1 Corinthians 6:11). Beloved Christians! Let us remember these renunciations and vows and look around to see if we keep them. For it is hard for God to lie, and it is very dangerous for him to be a liar before him. Let us look around to see if any of us has not turned back to Satan, and has not renounced Christ, and has not abandoned Him? Let's look around, on whose side we are, Satan's or Christ's? Whoever fulfills whose will, serves him, belongs to him. Not only the one who denies Christ in His holy name and does not confess Him to be the Son of God and his Saviour, but also the one who unscrupulously and fearlessly violates His holy commandments, renounces Christ. This is the apostolic teaching. For the Apostle says: "They say they know God; but by works they deny it" and so on (Titus 1:16). You see that people deny God by their deeds, and not only by their lips. Whether someone commits fornication or commits adultery, he renounces Christ and turns to Satan. If anyone is angry with his neighbor and thinks how to harm him, he has left Christ and clung to the devil. If anyone steals, steals, or takes away the goods of his neighbor, he has apostatized from Christ and approached Satan. Whether someone deceives or offends his neighbor – no longer with Christ, but with Satan, and so on. All such do not fulfill their vows, which they gave to God, and therefore they lied to God. Let us consider, beloved, our conscience and our life, on whose side we are, Christ's or His adversary, good or evil, those who are saved or those who are perishing? Whoever is not with Christ is with the devil and resists Christ. For Christ Himself says: "He who is not with Me is against Me" (Matthew 12:30)!

 Beloved! Let us beware and be with Christ here, in this world, as we promised at Baptism. Let us be here with Christ, so that in the age to come we may be with Christ according to His true promise: "Where I am, there will my servant also be" (John 12:26). Let us serve Him here as our King and God, so that on the day of judgment He may acknowledge us as His servants, and number us among His faithful servants, and open to us the doors of eternal joy. Amen.

Homily 5: On Our Renewal by Holy Baptism

 "Whoever is in Christ is a new creature"

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

 In holy Baptism, Christian, we are renewed for a holy, Christian, new life, and, putting off the old man, we put on the new, spiritual man, and, putting aside the wickedness of the old Adam, we receive the goodness of the new, Jesus Christ, and thus we become a new creature, according to the teaching of the Apostles: "Whosoever is in Christ is a new creature" (2 Corinthians 5:17). That is why holy Baptism is called the "bath of regeneration" (Titus 3:5). For before Baptism we were dead, as if we had died of sin, and were incapable of any good work — what can a dead man do? — and therefore before God they were as if they did not exist, for for God only he is alive who is dead to sin. But in holy Baptism we are quickened by the grace of God, and, having renounced sin, we are renewed to a holy and pious life. Every Christian has, as it were, two births: the old, that is, the carnal, and the new, that is, the spiritual. The old birth is from its parents: it is conceived in iniquity, and is born in sins (Psalm 50:7). The second birth is spiritual, and through it it is reborn to spiritual, holy, and heavenly life, and receives this life from Christ, and therefore he is called a Christian, for from whom a man is born, he is called by his name. In the bodily birth we inherit pride, arrogance, arrogance, arrogance, self-conceit, contempt for one's neighbor; Spiritual birth is associated with humility, belittling and humiliation of oneself. In the bodily birth we receive unbelief, and in the spiritual we receive faith. In the bodily birth we inherit fearlessness, and in the spiritual birth we inherit the fear of God. Disobedience, disobedience, disobedience, and resistance to God are associated with bodily birth, and obedience, submission, and obedience are associated with spiritual birth. Ingratitude belongs to bodily birth, and gratitude to God belongs to spiritual birth. To the carnal — negligence for the honor and glory of God, and to the spiritual — diligence and concern for the glory of God. In the bodily birth we inherit hope in ourselves, in our honor, wealth, in our strength, in man and every creature, but in the spiritual birth there is hope only in God. In the bodily birth we find anger, rage, malice, and the desire to take revenge in word and deed, while in the spiritual birth we find meekness, gentleness, and longsuffering. In bodily birth we receive immoderate self-love, but to spiritual birth belongs the love of God and love for mankind. To the carnal belongs avarice, love of money, lack of mercy and concern only for oneself, and to the spiritual – mercy, generosity and sympathy, and the desire to help one's neighbor. Envy and all the evil arising from it are associated with the carnal, and love and compassion for the misfortune of one's neighbor, and joy in his happiness are associated with the spiritual. Flattery, deceit, lies, cunning, and hypocrisy are associated with the carnal, and simplicity and truth are associated with the spiritual. With the carnal – theft, theft and all kinds of unrighteousness, and with the spiritual – righteousness. With the carnal – impurity, incontinence or fornication, and with the spiritual – purity, chastity and abstinence. In the bodily birth we inherit the love of this world, that is, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16), in other words, carnal wisdom; in the spiritual we find contempt for this world and all its vanity, and spiritual wisdom, that is, striving for heavenly and eternal blessings. In short, to the bodily birth belongs ill-temper, and to the spiritual – good morals. Here we see what are the fruits of carnal and spiritual birth. Holy Scripture, when it commands us to shun sin, commands us to shun the fruits of the old, that is, bodily birth, and when it teaches us to do good, it teaches us to show the fruits of the new birth. "Turn away from evil and do good" (Psalm 33:15). "Let everyone who confesses the name of the Lord depart from iniquity" (2 Timothy 2:19). Beloved Christians! We, thank God, are born again and renewed in holy Baptism, as stated above. Let us look around to see if we show the fruits of the new birth. Do we live as the new birth requires? For birth cannot be something dead, but must be alive, therefore it must also show fruits in accordance with itself. Let us also show the fruits of our new birth, so that we do not appear barren before our Lord and hear His terrible word: "I do not know you" (Matt. 25:12).

Homily 6: On the Struggle Between the Flesh and the Spirit That Is in the Christian

 "Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh: for the flesh desires that which is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit that which is contrary to the flesh: they resist one another, so that you do not what you would have done."