«...Иисус Наставник, помилуй нас!»
The Lord Jesus spoke very little to demons, and He spoke only for the sake of people, so that people would know who the enemies who tormented them were. Otherwise, I would not have said this either. He is not like the Buddha who makes friends with demons and benevolently offers them his Nirvana science of salvation. Nor is he like the Egyptian magicians, who give themselves over to the demons, if only with their help to perform some miracle. Nor is he like the yogis of India, who do the same things as the magicians of Egypt and the Pythias of Delphia. No, and not at all. He is the King of light, and He will have no friendship with darkness, no companionship, no alliance with liars and murderers. The pine does not need the help of thorns, and the mountain wind does not need the vapors of corpses.
Who is He talking to, then? With whom does Jesus converse for a thousand days and a thousand nights, Theodoulos? Secretly with His Heavenly Father, and openly with people. What does Jesus talk about with people? Basically, about three subjects:
first, about the Kingdom of Heaven, which is still unknown to people;
secondly, about Himself as the only true Friend and all-powerful Savior of people, but an enemy of demons;
thirdly, about the preparation of people for the Kingdom of Heaven, for the sonship of God, to which no one is allowed to be unfaithful, impudent, impure, unclean, earthly, fearful, unrepentant, unbrotherly, and so on.
We have already talked about the first two subjects, but let us dwell on the third and last. What does it mean to prepare for adoption as sons in the kingdom of heaven?
Repentance first of all.
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, saith the Lord.
Repent and believe in the gospel.
If you do not repent, you will all perish.
Speaking of behavior towards sinners, He commands thus: "But if your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
To Peter's question: Lord! How many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus said to him, "I do not say unto thee, Unto seven, but unto seventy times."
I tell you that thus in heaven there will be more joy over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous men who have no need of repentance.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.