Calling Himself the Shepherd of the sheep, the Lord said that the sheep hear the voice of this Shepherd, and the sheep follow Him, as they lead His voice [44]. The voice of Christ is His teaching; the voice of Christ is the Gospel; the procession of Christ along the path of earthly pilgrimage is an activity wholly directed according to His commandments.

In order to follow Christ, one must know His voice. Study the Gospel and you will be able to follow Christ with your life.

Whoever, having been born according to the flesh, enters into life through Holy Baptism and preserves the state provided by Baptism through living according to the Gospel, will be saved. He will enter the God-pleasing field of earthly life by spiritual birth, and will come out of this field with a blessed end, and in eternity he will find the most abundant, sweetest spiritual pasture [46].

Whoever serves Me, let him follow Me, and where I am, He will be My servant: and whosoever serves Me, My Father shall honour him. Where was the Lord when He spoke these words? Humanity, united with the Divinity, He was in the midst of men, on earth, in the vale of their exile and suffering, abiding as Divinity and where He was from the beginningless beginning. The Word is to God [48] and in God. This Word proclaimed Himself: "The Father is in Me, and I am in Him" [49]. Thither also the follower of Christ reaches: whosoever declares with his lips, heart, and deeds that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in Him, and He in God.

If anyone serves Me, My Father will honor him: to him who overcomes the world and sin, who follows Me in earthly life, I will grant in eternal life to sit with Me on My Throne, as I have conquered and sat down with My Father on His Throne [51].

Renunciation of the world precedes following Christ. The second has no place in the soul if the first is not first accomplished in it. Whosoever wills, said the Lord, to follow Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and come after Me. For whosoever willeth to save his soul, he shall destroy it; and whoever destroys his life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, he will save it [52]. Whosoever cometh unto me, and hateth not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren and sisters, and also his own soul, he cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and follows Me, cannot be My disciple [53].

Many approach the Lord, few dare to follow Him. Many read the Gospel, delight, admire the loftiness and holiness of its teaching, few dare to direct their behavior according to the rules that the Gospel enshrines. The Lord declares to all those who approach Him and wish to be assimilated to Him: Whosoever cometh unto Me, and does not renounce the world and himself, he cannot be My disciple.

This word is cruel, even such people said about the teaching of the Saviour, who outwardly were His followers and were considered His disciples: who can listen to Him? [54] Thus does the wisdom of the flesh judge the word of God from its distressing mood. The Word of God is life,[55] eternal life, essential life. With this word the wisdom of the flesh is put to death,[56] which was born of eternal death, and which maintains eternal death in men: the word of God, for those who are destroyed by carnal wisdom and who willingly perish from it, is foolishness. It is the power of God for those who are being saved [57]

Sin has become so assimilated to us through the fall that all the qualities, all the movements of the soul are imbued with it. Such a rejection of the soul is necessary for the salvation of the soul. The rejection of the nature defiled by sin is necessary for the assimilation of the nature renewed by Christ. All food is thrown out of the vessel when it is poisoned; the vessel is thoroughly washed, then the food to be consumed is put into it. Food poisoned with poison is itself justly called poison.

In order to follow Christ, let us first renounce our reason and our will. Both the reason and the will of the fallen nature are completely damaged by sin; they will not be reconciled to the mind and will of God. He is made capable of assimilating the mind of God who rejects his own reason; he is made capable of fulfilling the will of God who renounces the fulfillment of his own will.

In order to follow Christ, let us take up our cross. Taking up one's cross is called voluntary, reverent submission to the judgment of God in all the sorrows sent and allowed by God's Providence. Murmuring and indignation in sorrows and misfortunes is a renunciation of the cross. Only he who has taken up his cross can follow Christ: he who is obedient to the will of God, who humbly recognizes himself as worthy of judgment, condemnation, and punishment.

The Lord, Who commanded us to deny ourselves, renounce the world and wear the cross, gives us the strength to fulfill His commandment. Whoever decides to fulfill this commandment and tries to fulfill it immediately sees the need for it. The teaching, which appeared cruel at a superficial and erroneous glance from carnal wisdom, is the most reasonable, full of goodness: it calls the dead to salvation, the killed to life, those buried in hell to heaven.

Those who do not dare to voluntarily renounce themselves and the world are forced to do both. When an inexorable and irresistible death comes, then they part with everything to which they were attached; self-denial is extended to the point that they throw off their very body, throw it down, leave it on the ground as food for worms and corruption.