3. Someone thought to find out what happened at the marriage mentioned in the Gospel; And having put on unseemly clothes, he went up, and sat down and began to eat, because the bridegroom would allow it. When he saw everyone wearing white clothes, he should have put on the same clothes. However, eating the same food as others, he did not have the same clothes and did not have the same intention. But the bridegroom, although generous, is not without discernment. Going around each of those who sat at table and examining them all (for he wanted to have them not in rags, but in splendid clothes), when he saw a stranger without a wedding garment, he said to him, "Friend! how did he come in (Matt. 22:12)? In what form? With what conscience? let not the doorkeeper hinder you, who in generosity invited you to the feast; even if you did not know in what clothes you had to come to the feast. Thou didst come, and saw the glittering garments upon those who sat at the table; Should you not have learned at least from what you have seen? Was it not necessary to ascend in good time, in order to go out in good time? But now thou hast not ascended at the right time, and thou shalt not be cast out at the right time. And he commands the servants: bind his feet that have dared to enter here, bind the hands that did not know how to clothe him in bright clothes, and cast him into utter darkness. For he is not worthy of the marriage lamps. Do you see what happened to him? Beware of this also.

4. We, the servants of Christ, accept everyone, and being in the rank of gatekeepers, as it were, we leave the door unshut; And so, it is possible for you to ascend with a soul defiled by sins, and with an unclean intention. Thou hast ascended, thou hast been vouchsafed, thy name is written. Do you see this important ecclesiastical order? Do you contemplate order and decorum? Reading the Scriptures? The presence of the clergy and the continuity of teachings? Revere this place, and learn from what you behold. Go out today in good time, and come up tomorrow in good time. If your soul is clothed in the garment of the love of money, then go up dressed differently: cast off your former clothes, do not cover them; cast off the garment of lust and impurity, and put on the bright garment of chastity. I declare to you before the Bridegroom of souls, Jesus, comes, and sees the garments. You have a lot of time for this. You have forty days for repentance. There is a lot of time that is capable of undressing and washing, and dressing and going up. But if you remain in your evil will; then he who preaches to you will not be guilty, but you do not hope to receive grace. The water will accept you, but the spirit will not accept you. Whoever sees a wound on himself, let him apply a plaster; Let none of you be Simon, let there be no hypocrisy or curiosity in you about this matter.

5. It is possible to come here for another reason; A husband can come to please his wife, and the same can be said about wives. Often a slave wanted to please his master with his parish, a friend wanted to please his friend. I cast down the rod, and I catch you, though you have come with a bad intention, but you are saved by the good hope. Perhaps you did not know where you were going, and by what net you were caught. Caught by the snares of the Church; Surrender yourself alive to captivity. Do not flee: for Jesus does not catch you in order to kill you; but in order to be put to death to revive. For it behooves thee both to die and to rise again. I heard the Apostle say: "Dead to sin, but alive to righteousness" (Romans 6:2). Die to sin and live in righteousness; From this day live for her.

6. See what dignity Jesus bestows upon you; Thou wast called a catechumen, having been a catechumens from without. He heard the word about hope, and did not know it; he listened to the mysteries, and did not understand them; he listened to the Divine Scriptures, and did not comprehend the depth of them. Now the catechesis is pronounced not outside, but inside you. For the indwelling spirit (James 4:5) makes your mind the temple of God. When you hear what is written about the sacraments, then you will understand what you did not know before. Do not think that you are getting something of little importance. Being a miserable man, you receive the name of God. Listen to what Paul says: "God is faithful" (1 Corinthians 1:9). Listen to what the other scripture says: God is faithful and just (1 John 1:9). This (i.e., that people are called God's), foreseeing the Psalmist, said on behalf of God: "I am God, and all the sons of the Most High" (Psalm 81:6). But see to it that there is not the name of the faithful, but the will of the unbeliever. He entered the field, the techs; there is no other time like this for you. If the days of thy marriage were approaching, thou wouldst not have despised all the rest, and would thou not have occupied thyself with the preparation of the feast? But desiring to dedicate your soul to the heavenly Bridegroom, do you not renounce the bodily in order to receive the spiritual?

7. You cannot be baptized twice or three times; otherwise I could have said: the first time it was useless for me, so the next time I will correct it. On the contrary, if the first time was useless, then you can't fix it. For there is one Lord, and one faith, and one baptism (Ephesians 4:5). Only heretics are baptized another time, because they were baptized first, they were not baptized.

8. God does not require anything else from us, except for a good will. Do not tell me how my sins will be cleansed? By will and belief, I tell you. What is shorter than this? However, if your mouth says that you desire this, and your heart does not speak, then the Knower of the Heart is the judge. From this time abstain from every evil deed; let not thy tongue utter disorderly words, let not thy eye sin, and let not it wander in useless things;

9. Let your feet hasten to catechetical teachings. Accept incantations with reverence, and whether they blow on you, whether they conjure you, consider these actions for yourself salvation. Of coarse gold and counterfeit, mixed with various substances, with copper, tin, iron, and lead, when we want to obtain only gold; then without fire, gold cannot be purified from foreign impurities; so the soul cannot be purified without spells. They are Divine, extracted from the Divine Scriptures. Thy face is hidden, that thy mind may be free; so that the eyes, wandering, and the heart do not make you wander; and the closing of the eyes does not in the least prevent the ear from heeding the salvific teaching. As goldsmiths, by means of certain small tools, fanning the fire, and melting the gold placed in the furnace, intensifying the flame, find what they seek; so it is with exorcists, when by the Spirit of God they produce fear in a person, and in the body, as in a furnace, they warm the soul; then the devil flees; but there remains salvation, the hope of eternal life, and finally the soul, cleansed of sins, receives salvation. For let us, brethren, be firm in our hope, and having given ourselves over to it, let us trust; that God, the Lord of all, seeing our will, cleanse us from sins; that He may give us the good hope of things, and grant us saving repentance. God has called you, and you are called.

10. Do not shy away from catechetical teachings: no matter how long they are spoken, so that your thought does not weaken someday. For you receive weapons against the opposing forces, against heretics, Jews, Samaritans, and pagans. You have many enemies, try to have many weapons, you place arrows in many, so you must know how to strike a Greek with them, how to fight a heretic, a Jew and a Samaritan. And now the weapon is ready, and the spiritual sword is even more ready. At the same time, it behooves you to stretch out your right hand by good will, in order to wage war against the Lord, in order to overcome the opposing forces, in order to be invincible in any heretical attack.

11. And I advise you also this: learn what has been said to you, and keep it; do not consider these teachings to be ordinary conversations. For though these also are good and worthy of faith; but if we omit anything in them today, we shall know tomorrow. And what is taught to you in order about the bath of birth, if this day is omitted, then when will it be rewarded? Imagine that it is time to plant trees: if we do not dig up the earth and plant them; then at what other time can it be planted well, that at first it is planted badly? Imagine that a catechetical instruction is a structure. If we do not strengthen it properly with ties, so that there are no crevices; then the structure will be unstable. But it is necessary, in order, to lay stone upon stone; to tie the coal to the corner; discard the superfluous, and thus elevate the structure. Likewise, we deliver to you as if it were the stones of knowledge. We must hear about the living God, we must hear about judgment, we must hear about Christ, we must hear about the resurrection; many things must be spoken of in order; now this is said separately, and then it will be presented in connection. But if you do not combine into one, and do not remember the first and the second, then he who builds will build, and your building will be bad.

12. Then, as the catechetical sermon says, if a catechumens ask you, what did the teachers say to you? Don't answer anything to a stranger. For we give thee the mystery, and the hope of the age to come. Keep this secret for the sake of the Rewarder, and do not listen when someone tells you what is the trouble, if I also find out? And the sick ask for wine; but if it is given untimely, then madness is to be produced; from which two evils are born: the sick dies, and the physician remains in ignominy. Thus, if the catechumens hear something from the faithful; then even the catechumens fall into madness; because he does not understand what he hears, yet it denigrates and ridicules what is said, and the faithful are condemned as a betrayer of this mystery. Behold, thou art already near to us; See that you do not tell, not because what is preached here is not worthy of telling; but because hearing is not worthy of hearing. Thou wast once a catechumen; then I did not tell you what was to be reported. When you comprehend the height of the teaching by experience, then you will know that the catechumens are not worthy of hearing.

13. You, whose names are included in the list of those who are enlightened, you have become sons and daughters of one mother. When you ascend before the incantations, let each one of you speak of something pious; and if any of you is not there, send for him. For if you were called to dinner, would you not wait for him who was invited with you? If I had a brother, would I not have tried for his good? However, do not be curious about useless things; For example: what is being done in the city, what is being done in the village, what is the king doing, what is the bishop doing, what is the presbyter doing. Woe1 behold, this is what your time demands; Be abolished, and understand that I am God (Psalm 45:11). If you see faithful servants and those who are not embarrassed, then they have the immutable, they know what they have received, and they keep their blogging. And you are still at the point of equilibrium, whether you will receive it or not. Do not imitate those who are calm, but be filled with fear.

14. When there is an incantation, then, until the arrival of the other conjured, the men must remain with the husbands, and the wives with the wives. By the way, now let's remember Noah's ark. Noah and his sons, and his wife, and the wives of his sons were in it. Though there was one ark, and the door was shut, yet everything was all right there. Though the temple be shut up, and all things within it, yet there must be division among you; Husbands should be with men, and wives with wives, so that the assumption of salvation may not be a case of destruction. A good suggestion is to sit one next to the other; but let the passions be removed. For what reason should sedentary men have a useful book; let one read, and the other listen; if there is no book. then let one pray, and the other should say something useful. And virgins, when they gather, must either sing or read silently, so that the lips speak, but do not hear the ears of others. For I do not command a woman to speak in church (1 Cor. 14:34; 1 Tim. 2:12).

And a married wife should do the same and pray; let the lips move, but let not the voice be heard: that Samuel may come to pass; that thy barren soul, being heard by God, may bring forth salvation. For this is the meaning of the name of Samuel.

15. I will notice the diligence of everyone, I will notice the reverence of everyone. Let the mind be kindled to reverence, let the soul be unchained, let the cruelty of unbelief be broken, let the superfluous captivity be separated from the iron; let only the pure remain; let the rust fall from the iron; Let only the natural remain. And when God will show you that night, the darkness shining with the light of day, of which it is said: "Darkness shall not be darkened by Thee, and the night shall shine like a day" (Psalm 138:12); then let the gates of paradise be opened to everyone. Then let you enjoy the Christ-bearing, fragrant waters, then let you receive the name of Christ, and the power of Divine things. Now lift up your mental gaze to grief; behold the faces of the angels, and the Lord of all, God who sits, and the only-begotten Son who sits at the right hand, and the Spirit who is present; And the thrones and dominions are ministering, and each and every one of you who are being saved. Make it clear to you now, that as you have been catechumens, that pleasant voice which the angels will utter when you are saved: blessed are they who have forsaken iniquity, and whom the sin has hid themselves" (Psalm 31:1). When you, like the stars of the church, will rise pure in body and bright in soul.