CONVERSATION SEVENTEEN. Thanks be to God for averting the calamity that threatened Antioch and praise the zeal of the monks and hermits who interceded for mercy on the city. - The indifference of pagan philosophers to the calamity of the city and the superiority of Christian love. Consolation to the people on the occasion of the deprivation of Antioch of certain rights and privileges. - The true glory of a city should not be in external advantages, but in the internal virtues of its inhabitants. - Antioch is famous for the fact that the faithful were the first to receive the name of Christians in it, it generously helped Jerusalem during the famine and rejected the errors that the Jews wanted to spread. - Such advantages are inherent in it. - Exhortation to maintain piety and religiosity. (Corrections - Lyudmila Zhmurina, St. Petersburg)

CONVERSATION EIGHTEEN. A reproach for those who rejoiced excessively at the fact that half of Great Lent had passed. - We should rejoice at the degree of spiritual progress achieved during this time. - Explanation of the words of Ap. Paul: "Rejoice always." Proofs that neither riches, nor honors, nor health, nor all earthly goods can give pure and true joy. - Such joy belongs only to a Christian who is faithful to the law of the Lord. - The sorrow of the Apostle and the superiority of this sorrow over all the pleasures of this world, because it finds inexhaustible consolation in the hope of eternal life. - Rebuke of the inhabitants of Antioch for having already given themselves up to games and pleasures, although their leaders were still in prison. (Corrections - Lyudmila Zhmurina, St. Petersburg)

CONVERSATION NINETEEN. Praise to the martyrs on the occasion of the transfer of their relics. - Praise to their faith and simplicity. - The superiority of their ignorance over all the knowledge of the ancient philosophers. Explanation of blasphemy and the habit of swearing. - The sad consequences of this bad habit. - The calamities brought upon the people by the oath of King Zedekiah. - The need for efforts in the matter of correction. - An expression of the hope that Antioch will be completely freed from the sinful habit of oaths and perjury. (Corrections - Lyudmila Zhmurina, St. Petersburg)

CONVERSATION TWENTIETH. The inadequacy of forty-day fasting for proper preparation for Paschal Communion. - Virtue is necessary first and foremost. - Exhortation to forget offenses. - Revenge for offenses torments people before the fire of hell. "You must not swear. "Of those who have not yet recovered from this bad habit. (Corrections - Lyudmila Zhmurina, St. Petersburg)

DISCOURSE TWENTY-ONE. On the return of Bishop Flavian and on the pardon given by the emperor to the city of Antioch. - Intercessory speech of Bishop Flavian before the emperor and the answer of Theodosius. Instruction to the Antiochians on how to live and behave in the future. (Corrections - Lyudmila Zhmurina, St. Petersburg)

II. Catechetical Words.

FIRST WORD. To those preparing for baptism. - Praise for the zeal and reverence of those who have been vouchsafed baptism. - Various names of baptism - bath, revival, enlightenment and others. - The difference between baptism and the washings of the Old Testament. - Baptism, in contrast, washes the soul, not the body. - Baptism cleanses us from sins. - On repentance after baptism. - Exhortation to shun sins, especially sins of the tongue, oaths, and perjury.

SECOND WORD. The advantages given by holy baptism. A baptized person is called faithful because he believes in God and God gives him purity and holiness of soul, adoption and the kingdom of heaven. - Duties imposed by baptism. - The meaning of the words: "I renounce Satan." It is necessary to renounce not only Satan, but also all his deceptions, such as the theater, the circus, the superstitious observation of the days, charms, and similar abominations, which a person who has accepted the teaching of Jesus Christ should avoid.

III. Discourses on the Impotence of the Devil.

FIRST CONVERSATION. Praise for the diligence of the listeners, even for lengthy conversations. - On Divine Providence. - It is not God who deprives us of his gifts, but we ourselves lose them. "We have received the best of gifts, eternal bliss. - God always cares for our welfare. - An example of this is the confusion of languages, which also served for the good of people. - On moral and physical evil, the difference between them: the latter serves as a remedy for the former. - What would the devils do if peace were given to them. - Why is it that of two evil people, one is punished and the other is not? An admonition that one should not blame God's Providence.

SECOND CONVERSATION. Greetings to Bishop Flavian, who was present at the conversation. - Return to the previous item. - Why wasn't the devil destroyed? - The destruction of the devil would diminish the merit of the Christians. - Anger does not come from nature, but from the evil use that a person makes of his freedom. - While everything serves for the benefit of a well-intentioned person, everything harms him who does not want good. - The latter abuses everything - creation, his body, the cross, the apostolic preaching. - Jesus Christ Himself, being the light of the world, blinds weak souls. - One must constantly be vigilant over oneself - whether in youth or in old age. - Different ways of repentance. (Corrections - Lyudmila Zhmurina, St. Petersburg)

THIRD CONVERSATION. There were two classes of people: some listened to a conversation about the devil's deceit, while others were in the theater at the same time to enjoy the temptations of the devil. - What does this difference come from? - From the will of both, because only the will makes us either virtuous or vicious. - If we have good will, then even the devil will serve us instead of harming. - That is why God did not destroy the devil and why He allows both the good and the evil to live together. "Therefore it is only our will that makes us guilty, and this truth is proved by the parable of the ten virgins, by the repentance of the Ninevites, by the fall of Adam, and by the triumph of Job. Final exhortation. (Corrections - Lyudmila Zhmurina, St. Petersburg)

IV. Discourses on Repentance.

FIRST CONVERSATION. The preacher's love for his listeners. - Despair and negligence are equally dangerous. - Satan and Judas perished from these two shortcomings. Humble hope saved Ap. Paul, the publican, the Ninevites. - In the Corinthian fornicator Ap. Paul is more afraid of despair than of sin itself. - Further development of this idea and confirmation of its stories of the prodigal son. (Corrections - Lyudmila Zhmurina, St. Petersburg)