The quickening of the soul by the Word of God produces a living faith in Christ. Living faith sees, as it were, Christ [1064]. For her eyes, Christianity, remaining a mystery, is made open; remaining incomprehensible, it is clear, understandable, no longer closed by the thick impenetrable veil with which it is closed from the dead faith. Living faith is spiritual reason [1065]. It no longer needs signs, being completely satisfied with the signs of Christ and the greatest of His signs, the crown of signs, His Word. The desire to see signs is a sign of unbelief, and signs were given to unbelief in order to convert him to faith. Let us cling to the Word of God with all our souls, let us unite with Him in one spirit, and the signs of the Antichrist will not even attract our attention. With contempt and disgust for them, we will turn away our eyes from them, as from the shame of demons, as from the deeds of the frenzied enemies of God, as from a reproach to God, as from poison and deadly infection. Let us remember the following remark of particular importance, drawn from the experiences of ascetic activity. All demonic manifestations have the property that even insignificant attention to them is dangerous; from such attention alone, allowed without any sympathy for the phenomenon, one can be imprinted with the most harmful impression, subjected to a heavy temptation.

Humility is inseparable from spiritual reason. St. Isaac of Syria says: "Only he who has humility can be recognized as reasonable; he who does not have humility will never acquire understanding" [1066]. Living faith reveals to the eyes of the soul of God: the Word of God unites the soul with God. He who sees God in this way, who feels God in this way, sees his own insignificance, is filled with ineffable reverence for God, for all His works, for all His commands, for all His teaching, and acquires humility. The humble-minded will not even dare to inquire about what is happening outside the will of God, which is opportunely condemned by the Word of God: the signs of the Antichrist will remain alien to the humble-minded, as having nothing to do with them.

The vision of one's own insignificance and one's weakness, the vision of God, His majesty, omnipotence and infinite goodness arouses the soul to aspire to God in prayer. All the hope of such a soul is centered in God, and therefore there is no reason for it to be entertained by prayer; it prays, uniting its forces together and striving towards God with all its being; she often resorts to prayer as much as possible, she prays unceasingly. At the onset of great tribulations in the time of the Antichrist, all those who truly believe in God will cry out with fervent prayer to God [1067]. They will cry out for help, for intercession, for the sending down of Divine grace to strengthen and guide them. The own strength of men, although faithful to God, is not sufficient to resist the combined forces of rejected angels and men, who will act with frenzy and despair, anticipating their imminent destruction [1068]. Divine grace, having overshadowed the elect of God, will invalidate for them the deceptions of the seducer, his threats unthreatened, and his miracles contemptible; it grants them to courageously confess the Savior who has accomplished the salvation of men and to denounce the false Messiah, Who came to destroy men; she will lead them to the scaffolds, as to royal thrones, as to a wedding feast. The feeling of love for God is sweeter than the sensation of life [1069]. Just as the torments before death and the torments accompanying death constitute the beginning of eternal torment for the sinner [1070], so the torment for Christ and the violent death for Him constitute the beginning of the eternal joys of paradise. We see this clearly from the action of Divine grace in relation to the martyrs of the first centuries of Christianity: at first they were left to manifest their will; after they had received their first torments, help from Above descended upon them, making for them both torments and death for Christ desirable. The Lord, foretelling the sorrows that should precede the Second Coming, commanded His disciples to watch and pray: "Watch, watch and pray," He said to them, "for you do not know when the time will be" [1071]. Prayer is always necessary and useful for a person; it keeps him in communion with God and under the protection of God, it protects him from presumption, from the deception of vanity and pride, both his own, vegetating from his fallen nature, and brought in thoughts and dreams from the realm of fallen spirits. In times of sorrow and danger, visible and invisible, prayer is especially needed: as an expression of rejection of presumption, an expression of hope in God, it attracts God's help to us. Almighty God becomes the agent of the one who prays in difficult circumstances, and brings out of them His servant by His wondrous Providence.

Knowledge of God, living faith, grace-filled humility, pure prayer are the appurtenances of the spiritual mind; they are its constituent parts. Thus, on the contrary, ignorance of God, unbelief, blindness of spirit, pride, presumption, and self-conceit are the attributes of carnal wisdom. Not knowing God, not accepting and not understanding the means offered by God to receive the knowledge of God, it makes for itself an erroneous, soul-destroying way to acquire the knowledge of God, in accordance with its mood: it asks for a sign from heaven. Amen.

Homily

on the thirtieth Sunday

On Salvation and Perfection

If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments [1072], said our Lord Jesus Christ to a certain young man, who, as we have heard in the Gospel read today, asked the Lord: "Good Teacher, what have I done and inherit eternal life?" [1073] — that is, what good can I do in order to be saved? When the questioner asked again: what are these commandments? The Lord pointed out to him, as a Jew who believed in the true God, the commandments of God in relation to his neighbor. The young man answered that he had kept all these commandments, and then again asked: "What am I not yet finished—what do I still lack?" The Lord said: "If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell thy possessions, and give to the poor: and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and thou shalt follow me, and take up the cross" [1074].

From the Lord's answers to the young man we learn that the Lord has prepared two blessed states for those who believe in Him: the state of salvation and the state of Christian perfection [1075]. From these same answers of the Lord it is clearly seen that the blessed state of salvation is accessible to all Christians in general; but perfection can only be obtained by those Christians who at once distribute their possessions to the poor and, renouncing all ties with the world, follow Christ, taking up the cross, that is, having endured with zeal and love all the deprivations, all the dishonors and calamities that will be allowed to them, as befits the true minds of Christ, rejecting all the justifications presented by carnal wisdom, hostile to Christ, hostile to the bearing of the cross.

Fraternity! First, let us consider what the conditions of salvation are, since the receipt of salvation is desired by all Christians and is available to all Christians. We have mentioned above that the Lord gave His all-holy teaching to a Jew who believed in the true God, which is why He enumerated only the commandments in relation to his neighbors, without mentioning the faith of which the Lord spoke on other occasions. It is necessary for those who wish to be saved to believe in God, the Creator and Redeemer. Behold eternal life, said our Saviour, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Whom Thou hast sent Jesus Christ [1076]. Believe in the Son (of God) to have eternal life: but whoever does not believe in the Son will not see life, that is, he will not receive salvation, but the wrath of God remains upon him [1077]. It is necessary for those who wish to be saved to belong to the Orthodox Church, the one true Church, and to obey her decrees. The Lord likened the one who disobeyed the Church to a pagan, a stranger to God [1078]. Each of us, pronouncing the Symbol of Faith, confesses that he believes in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, and consequently confesses that, besides this One Church, there is no other Church, much less any other Churches, even though different human societies appropriate to themselves the name of Church. It is necessary for those who wish to be saved to be baptized in the bosom of the Orthodox Church in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, as the Lord Himself said: He who has faith and is baptized will be saved; but whoever has not faith will be condemned [1079]. It should be noted that in the Greek language in which the Apostles wrote the entire New Testament [1080], the word baptism (βάπτισμα) in the exact sense means immersion. Wherever the words baptism, baptize, baptized, baptized are used in the New Testament, it is necessary to understand immersion, immerse, immersed, immersed. For this reason, immersion in the water of vessels, as dishes are usually washed, is called in the Gospel: baptism of vessels [1081]. Throughout the entire universe, the holy Sacrament of Baptism was performed by immersion during the twelve centuries after the birth of Christ; from the twelfth century in the West they began to use dousing instead of immersion; Subsequently, in some Western societies, pouring was replaced by sprinkling. "It is necessary for those who wish to be saved to repent of their sins and to cleanse them by confession, as the Holy Scriptures testify: If we say that we are not imams, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, let him forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness [1082]. The Sacrament of Repentance maintains and renews the purity acquired at Baptism, and maintains and renews our unity with Christ, granted to us by Holy Baptism. By the second baptism you are baptized according to the Christian sacrament, says, at the command of the Holy Church, the priest who performs the Sacrament of Repentance to the Christian who repents before him. The Sacrament of Repentance has been changed in the West, and rejected by Protestants. — It is necessary for those who wish to be saved to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, the all-holy Body of Christ, and the all-holy Blood of Christ. Amen, amen, said the Lord, if ye do not bear the flesh of the Son of man, and drink of His blood, ye have no life in yourselves. He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life [1083]. The Great Mystery of the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is accomplished through the invocation and inspiration of the Holy Spirit during the preceding and subsequent prayers, which together constitute the Divine Liturgy. Without the Divine Liturgy, celebrated by an Orthodox bishop or priest, there can be no transubstantiation into the Body of Christ of the offered bread, and no wine offered into the Blood of Christ. All the ancient Liturgies of the Universe are in their essential parts completely similar to each other: in all of them the Holy Spirit is invoked for transubstantiation, and the priests are blessed with the images offered, that is, the bread and wine prepared for them. In later times, the invocation of the Holy Spirit was excluded from the Roman Liturgy, and the Protestants rejected the Liturgy altogether. "Thus, for those who wish to be saved, first of all, it is necessary that they believe correctly in God, belong to the Orthodox Church, be baptized in her bosom, be chrismated, be cleansed of sins by repentance, and commune of Christ's Holy Mysteries; secondly, it is necessary for him, as the Lord said to the youth, to keep the commandments of God. The Lord first pointed to the commandments that forbid gross, mortal sins. He repeated what Moses had already said to ancient Israel: "Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness; then he gave orders to honor his father and mother; finally He commanded us to love our neighbor as ourselves[1084]. Why didn't the Lord say anything about love for God? for love for God consists in love for one's neighbor, and he who cultivates in himself love for one's neighbor, together with it acquires in his heart an invaluable spiritual treasure — love for God: If we love one another, said St. John the Theologian, God dwells in us, and His love is perfect in us [1085].

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Life and the Source of life: we are made partakers of this life by faith in the teaching of Christ, by baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, by baptism sealed through the anointing of the baptized with holy myrrh. Chrismation replaced the laying on of hands by the Apostles on the newly-baptized. The Apostles sealed baptism with the laying on of hands and brought down the Holy Spirit on the newly-baptized [1086]. We support and nourish our assimilation to the Lord, bringing repentance for the sins into which we fall due to our weakness, partaking of His Body and Blood, living according to His all-holy commandments. He who neglects to live according to the commandments of God, does not constantly heal himself by repentance, does not support the assimilation of Christ by communion of His Body and Blood, cannot but be deprived of assimilation to Christ, cannot but be deprived of salvation. If ye keep My commandments, said the Lord to His disciples, ye shall abide in My love. If anyone does not abide in Me, he will be cast out like a rod, and will dry up: and they gather it and put it into the fire, and it will be burned [1087].

What does Christian perfection mean? In the face of this question, silence is more convenient than an answer, and weeping is more convenient than flowering. What can a beggar say about the magnificent royal palaces, to which access is constantly forbidden to him because of his rags, because of his stench and poverty, because of his complete inability to appear in a decent way in the royal palace? If this beggar had to look at the exterior of the royal house, or often see it, then such a sight should only aggravate the grief of the beggar, for whom his miserable situation seems all the more burdensome, the more magnificent and richer are the objects that are inaccessible to their enjoyment, which reach his sight. Such a beggar would do well if, having renounced vain dreams of a palace inaccessible to him, he took care to find out the means of obtaining his daily bread and the very delivery of this daily bread. And for us, brethren, bound by worldly cares and duties, it is much more faithful to take care of our salvation, to carefully fulfill the commandments of God, than to dream and philosophize about Christian perfection. Such dreams, such wisdom are almost always erroneous, because only one spiritual person can reason about the spiritual, that is, about the perfect Christian, and only one spiritual person can understand and evaluate it [1088]. Whom has the world recognized as saints? Whom did he bless and exalt with praise? — false prophets, false teachers, hypocrites [1089]. How did he deal with the true saints of God? He rejected them, heaped reproach and slander upon them, persecuted them as enemies of human society, subjected them to the most grievous persecutions and sorrows [1090]. Let us behold, brethren, the path which the Lord has shown us to Christian perfection! Even this path itself is inaccessible and incomprehensible to us. The Lord commands the one who wishes to go to the attainment of perfection not by gradually giving alms, as is required of those who are saved, but commands him to sell all his possessions at once, and all the price received for it, at once, with greater haste, to distribute to the poor, thus severing all ties with the world, all relations with the world, and following Christ, taking up the cross. What does it mean to take up the cross and follow Christ? "To take up the cross means to kiss with faith and love all deprivations, all persecutions, sorrows and reproaches from the world, as Christ took them up; to take up the cross means to crucify the flesh with its passions and lusts, to live in the flesh not for the sake of the flesh, to mortify the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit, to live by the Spirit, to be governed by the Spirit [1091]. What does Christian perfection mean? It is a tangible and obvious renewal of a Christian by the Holy Spirit, which can be accomplished only on one who has died to sin and to the world on the cross of Christ. Man, renewed by the Spirit, becomes a God-bearer, becomes a temple of God and a priest who acts in this Temple, worshipping God in Spirit and Truth. The Apostles and all the other saints of God were vouchsafed such perfection in various degrees [1092].

Blessed are God's chosen ones, called by God to perfection! But truly happy are those to whom the merciful Lord grants salvation. To this happiness, brethren, all of us, without exception, are called. The way to salvation has been shown to us by the Lord with all clarity. Whoever has not hitherto cared for his salvation can henceforth take care of it. Let us cease to be discouraged, let us cease to remain in negligence, lest death unexpectedly creep up upon us, like a thief in the night, and deprive us of the opportunity to acquire from God the gift of salvation, which is so necessary for us for eternity. Be prepared, says our Saviour, for at this hour do not think that the Son of Man will come [1093], and will reward each one according to his deeds. Blessed are they that doeth His commandments, let them have a province upon the living tree, and the gates shall enter into the city. And without them shall be sorcerers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and every one who loves and does falsehood [1094]. Amen.

Homily