Let us renounce love of glory and ambition! Let us not pursue honors and ranks, let us not use impermissible and humiliating methods to obtain them, coupled with the trampling of the Law of God, conscience, and the good of our neighbors. Such methods are most commonly used for the acquisition of earthly greatness by those who seek it. Infected and carried away by vanity, the insatiable seeker of human glory is incapable of believing in Christ: "How can ye believe," said Christ to His contemporaries, "that ye receive glory from one another, and seek not glory from the One God? [65] If God's Providence has granted us earthly power and authority, then through them we will become the benefactors of humanity. Let us reject the fierce poison that is so dangerous to the human spirit: stupid and contemptible egoism, which transforms people infected with it into beasts and demons, making these people scourges of humanity, evildoers to themselves.

Let us love the will of God above all; let us prefer it to everything; everything that is contrary to it, let us hate with a pious and God-pleasing hatred. When our nature, damaged by sin, rises up against the teaching of the Gospel, let us express our hatred of nature by rejecting the desires and demands of nature. The more decisive the expression of hatred, the more decisive will be the victory over sin and over the nature possessed by sin, the faster and more lasting our spiritual progress will be.

When people who are close to us in the flesh intend to distract us from following the will of God, let us show them a holy hatred, similar to that which is shown to wolves by lambs that do not transform themselves into wolves and do not defend themselves against wolves with their teeth [66]. Holy hatred of one's neighbor consists in the preservation of faithfulness to God, in the disobedience to the vicious will of men, even though these people are the closest relatives, in the generous endurance of the insults inflicted by them, in prayer for their salvation — by no means in slander, and not in actions similar to slander, by which the hatred of the fallen nature, the hatred of God, is expressed.

Do not think, said the Saviour, that thou hast come to bring peace to the earth: thou hast not come to bring peace, but a sword. For he came to separate a man from his father, and a daughter from his mother, and a bride from her mother-in-law[67]. "Come," St. John Climacus explains the words of the Lord quoted above, "to separate the God-loving from the peace-loving; the carnal from the spiritual; the lovers of glory from the humble-minded; God is pleased with division and separation, when it is done for the sake of love for Him" [68].

The prophet called the earth the place of his coming,[69] and himself a stranger and a stranger in it: "I am a stranger with Thee," he said in his prayer to God, "and a stranger, as Thou art my fathers."70 An obvious, tangible truth! a truth forgotten by men, in spite of its evidence! I am a stranger on earth: I entered by birth, I will go out by death. I am a sojourner on earth: I was brought to it from paradise, where I defiled and disfigured myself by sin. I will also move from the earth, from this urgent exile of mine, in which I have been placed by my God, so that I may come to my senses, be cleansed of sinfulness, and again become capable of living in paradise. For my stubborn, final incorrigibility, I must be cast down forever into the dungeons of hell. I am a pilgrim on earth: I begin my pilgrimage from the cradle, end with the grave; I wander through the ages from childhood to old age, I wander through various earthly circumstances and situations. I am a stranger and a stranger, like all my fathers. My fathers were strangers and strangers on earth: having entered upon it by birth, they departed from its face by death. There were no exceptions: none of the people remained forever on earth. I will also leave. I am already beginning to depart, lacking in strength, submitting to old age. I will depart, I will depart from here according to the immutable law and powerful institution of my Creator and God.

Let us make sure that we are pilgrims on earth. Only from this conviction can we make an infallible calculation and disposition for our earthly life; Only from this conviction can we give it the right direction, use it for the acquisition of blessed eternity, not for empty and vain things, not for the destruction of ourselves. Our fall has blinded and blinds us! And we are compelled by force, for a long time, to convince ourselves of the clearest truths, which, in their clarity, do not need to be convinced.

A wanderer, when he stops on the way, in a hospice, does not pay much attention to this house. What is the use of attention when he is sheltered in the house for the shortest time? He is content with one thing necessary; he tries not to spend the money that he needs to continue his journey and to maintain himself in the great city to which he is marching; he endures shortcomings and inconveniences generously, knowing that they are an accident to which all travelers are exposed, that an inviolable tranquillity awaits him in the place where he strives. He does not attach his heart to any object in the hotel, no matter how attractive the object may seem. He does not waste time on extraneous occupations: he needs it to make a difficult journey. He is constantly immersed in reflection on the splendid royal capital to which he has gone, on the considerable obstacles that he must overcome, on the means that can facilitate the journey, on the robbers' ambushes that swindle the way, on the unfortunate fate of those who did not manage to make this journey safely, on the happiest situation of those who completed it with the desired success. Having spent the right time at the inn, he thanks its owner for the hospitality shown to him, and when he leaves, he forgets about the inn or remembers it superficially, because his heart was cold towards it.

Let us also acquire such relations with the earth. Let us not insanely waste the faculties of soul and body; let us not sacrifice them to vanity and corruption. Let us guard against attachment to the temporal and material, so that it does not prevent us from acquiring the eternal, the heavenly. Let us guard against the satisfaction of our unsatisfied and insatiable whims, from the satisfaction of which our fall develops and reaches terrible proportions. Let us guard against excesses, being content only with what is essential. Let us direct all our attention to the life beyond the grave that awaits us, which has no end. Let us know God, Who commanded us to know Him and gives this knowledge by His word and His grace. Let us assimilate ourselves to God during our earthly life. He has granted us the closest union with Himself and has given us a time for the accomplishment of this greatest deed – earthly life. There is no other time, except for the time determined by earthly life, in which a miraculous assimilation could take place: if it does not take place at this time, it will never take place. Let us gain the friendship of the celestials, the holy angels, and the saints who have reposed, so that they may receive us into eternal dwellings. Let us gain knowledge of the fallen spirits, these fierce and treacherous enemies of the human race, in order to avoid their intrigues and cohabitation with them in the flames of hell. Let the word of God be a lamp on our life's path [72]. Let us glorify and thank God for the abundant blessings with which our land is filled with temporary shelter to meet our needs. With purity of mind let us penetrate into the meaning of these blessings: they are faint images of eternal blessings. Eternal goods are depicted by them as weakly and insufficiently as the objects from which the shadow falls. Granting us earthly blessings, God mysteriously proclaims: "Men! Your temporary shelter is equipped with various, innumerable blessings, captivating and delighting both the eye and the heart, satisfying your needs to the fullest: conclude from this about the blessings with which your eternal abode is equipped. Understand the infinite, incomprehensible goodness of God towards you, and, having honored earthly goods with pious understanding and contemplation of them, do not act foolishly: do not enslave yourselves to them, do not destroy yourselves with them. Using them as much as you need and should, strive with all your strength to acquire heavenly blessings."

Let us remove from ourselves all false teachings and activity according to them: the sheep of Christ do not follow an alien voice, but flee from it, because they do not know an alien voice. Let us definitely become acquainted with the voice of Christ, so that we may immediately recognize it when we hear it, and immediately follow His command. Having acquired sympathy for this voice in the spirit, we will acquire in the spirit alienation from the alien voice, which is emitted by carnal wisdom in various sounds. As soon as we hear an alien voice, let us run, let us flee from it, according to the nature of the sheep of Christ, who flee from an alien voice by flight, by resolute inattention to it. Attention is already dangerous for him; after attention creeps seduction, after seduction perdition. The fall of our forefathers began with the attention of the foremother to an alien voice.

Our Shepherd not only calls us with a voice, but also guides us in His way of life: He walks before His sheep [74]. He commanded us to renounce the world, to renounce ourselves, to take up and bear our cross: and He did all this before our eyes. Christ suffered for us, left us an image, that we might follow in His footsteps [75]. He deigned to take upon Himself humanity, though from the royal tribe, but descended by its position into the category of the common people. His birth took place during the wanderings of His Most Holy Mother, for whom there was no place in human homes. The birth took place in a cave in which livestock were placed; the cradle for the Newborn was a manger. As soon as the news of the birth had spread, a plot for murder was formed. The baby is already being persecuted! A baby is sought to be killed! An infant flees through the desert to Egypt from an enraged murderer! The God-Man spent His childhood in obedience to His parents, to His betrothed father and natural Mother, showing an example of humility to people who perished from pride and the disobedience it produced. The Lord devoted the years of manhood to preaching the Gospel, wandering from city to city, from all to all, having no shelter of his own. His garment consisted of a tunic and a robe. While He proclaimed salvation to men and poured out Divine blessings upon them, men hated Him, plotted Him, and more than once attempted to kill Him. Finally, they executed Him as a criminal. He allowed them to commit the most terrible crime, which their hearts longed for, because he wanted to deliver the criminal human race from the oath and eternal punishment by the execution of the All-Saint. The earthly life of the God-Man was suffering; it ended with a suffering end. Following the Lord, all the saints passed into blessed eternity, traversing the narrow and sorrowful path, denying the glory and delights of the world, bridling carnal desires with asceticism, crucifying the spirit on the cross of Christ, which constitutes the commandments of the Gospel for the fallen human spirit, being subjected to various deprivations, persecuted by evil spirits, persecuted by their brethren – men. Let us follow Christ and the assembly of saints who followed Him! The God-Man having created cleansing of our sins by Himself, sat at the right hand of the throne of Majesty on high [76]. Thither He calls His followers: Come, by the blessing of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you. Amen.

On Repentance

Repent and believe in the Gospel! Repent: draw nigh for the Kingdom of Heaven [78]. Such were the first words of the preaching of the God-Man. To this day He pronounces these words to us through the Gospel.