4. You do not take up perishable weapons, but spiritual ones. You are planted in a spiritual paradise for the last time. You get a new name, which you did not have before. For before this you were a catechumen, but from now on you will be called faithful. At last you are transplanted into spiritual olives; From the wild olive tree you are grafted to the fruitful one, from sins to righteousness, from impurities to purity, you are grafted into the holy vine. However, if you abide in this vine, you will multiply like a fruitful branch, but if you do not remain, you will be consumed by fire. Therefore, let us bear fruit properly, so that the same thing may not happen to us as to that barren fig tree; so that Jesus, when He came, would not even now curse him for barrenness, but so that it might be possible to say this to all: "As an olive tree is fruitful in the house of God, trusting in the mercy of God forever" (Psalm 51:10), the olive tree is not material, but spiritual, light-bearing. Therefore, it is God's work to plant and irrigate, and yours to bear fruit; it is God's work to send down grace, and to receive and preserve yours. Do not despise grace because it is given to you, but when you have received it, keep it reverently.

5. The present tense is the time of confession. Confess what you have done in word, in deed, in the night, in the days. Confess in good season, and in the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). Accept the heavenly treasure. Be diligent in spells. Go unfailingly to catechetical teachings and remember what will be said. For it is not said that you may only hear, but that by faith you may seal what is said. Lay aside all human care, for for the sake of the soul you struggle, you completely abandon all worldly things. Little is what is forsaken, but great is what is given by the Lord. Leave the present and believe in the future. So many years have you spent in vain labors for the sake of the world, and will you not spend forty days praying for the benefit of your soul? Be abolished, and understand that I am God (Psalm 45:11), says the Scriptures. Flee from idle talk, and do not speak ill of anything else, nor listen to another who speaks evil, but rather be prepared for prayer. Show in yourself a recluse by the solitude of your heart. Cleanse thy vessel that thou mayest receive greater grace. For the remission of sins is equally given to all, but the communion of the Holy Spirit is given according to the measure of the faith of each. If you work little, you will get little, but if you do much, then the reward is great. You strive for yourself, see what is useful to you.

6. If you are angry with anyone, forgive them. You are approaching the reception of the forgiveness of sins; it is necessary that you yourself forgive the sinner. Otherwise, with what look will you say to the Lord: Forgive me my many sins, when you yourself have not forgiven even the smallest of your concelebrants? Be diligent in pious gatherings, not only now, when the ministers of the Church demand it of you, but also after you have received grace. For if a thing is good before you have received it, will it not be good after you have received it? If before planting you could be profitably watered and cultivated, then can you not be more profitable after planting? Strive for your soul especially in these days. Nourish it with the reading of the Divine Scriptures, for the Lord has prepared for you a spiritual supper. Say also with the Psalmist: The Lord shepherds me, and will deprive me of nothing; In the place of gold, there I dwelt; bring me up in the waters of rest: turn my soul (Psalm 22:1-3); that the angels also might rejoice with you, and Christ Himself, the Great Hierarch, accepting your will, and presenting you all to His Father, said: "Behold, I and the children, whom God has given me" (Isaiah 8:18; Heb. 2:13). May He keep you all pleasing to Himself. Glory to Him and dominion to the endless ages of ages. Amen.

Catechetical Instruction II

To those who are preparing in Jerusalem for enlightenment, spoken without preparation about repentance, remission of sins, and about the adversary, in response to the words of Ezekiel: "The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him" (Ezekiel 18:20).

1. Terrible evil is sin, and the most cruel illness of the soul is the transgression of the law; it completely deprives it of strength, and throws it into eternal fire; the evil of man himself, the product of volition. "And that we truly sin of our own volition, the prophet says clearly about this somewhere: "I have planted thee a fruitful vine, all true; how did ecu become a sorrow, a strange vineyard (Jeremiah 2:21)? A good planting, an evil fruit: evil comes from the will. The planter is not guilty, and the grapes will be burned by fire. For he was planted for good fruits, but he brought forth evil fruit of his own free will. For God created a righteous man, according to the words of Ecclesiastes, and these sought the thoughts of many (Ecclesiastes 7:30). For Him we are created, says the Apostle, for good works (Ephesians 2:10). The Creator, being good Himself, created us for good works, and the creation of His own free will turned to evil. Thus, sin, as it is said, is a terrible evil, but not incurable. It is terrible for the one who has it, but it is conveniently curable in the one who rejects it through repentance. For imagine that someone holds fire in his hand. As long as he holds the coal, the coal undoubtedly burns it, but if he throws the coal, the heat will cease. But if anyone thinks that he is not burned from sin, the Scripture says to him: "Shall any man bind fire into the bosom, and burn not his garments" (Proverbs 6:27)? Thus sin burns the strength of the soul.

2. But someone will say, "What is sin?" Is it an animal? Is it an angel? Is it an evil spirit? What is so active? This is not an enemy attacking you from without, O man, but a worthless branch that vegetates from you. Look with your right eyes, and there will be no lust in you; guard what is yours and do not steal what is not yours, and the inclination to steal will cease. Remember the judgment, and neither fornication, nor adultery, nor murder will increase in you. When you forget God, then you only begin to think evil and do lawless deeds.

3. However, it is not only you who are the culprit of sin, there is someone else who is the most evil instigator to it, the devil. He incites everyone, yet he does not overcome those who do not obey him. That is why Ecclesiastes says: "If the spirit of him that possesseth ascendeth upon thee, thou shalt not leave thy place" (Ecclesiastes 10:4). Shut up your door, remove him from you, and he will not harm you. But if you coolly allow the thought of lust, then it will turn into your heart, take root in you, bind your mind, and drag you into the abyss of evil. But perhaps you will say: I am faithful, and lust will not prevail over me, even though it is often aroused in my thoughts. Do you not know that a root is implanted in a stone because of a long stay on it? Do not accept seed, otherwise it will suppress faith. Uproot evil before it blossoms, so that you, having neglected it in the beginning, will have no need of axe and fire afterwards. When an eye disease begins, you should treat yourself in advance, so that you do not have to look for a doctor when you are already blind.

4. The first author of sin and the father of evil (John 8:44) is the devil. It was the Lord who said this, and not I. For the devil sinned from the beginning (1 John 3:8). No one had sinned before him. He did not sin because he received from nature the necessary inclination to sin (otherwise the cause of sin would fall on the one who created it); He, being created good, became the devil by his own will, and received this name from his actions. For, being an archangel, afterwards, because of his slander, he was called the devil, and being a good servant of God, he received for himself the proper name of Satan, since Satan means an adversary. This is not my teaching, but that of the spirit-bearing prophet Ezekiel. He, weeping over him, thus says: "Thou art the seal of likeness and the crown of goodness, in the paradise of God thou wast ecu" (Ezekiel 28:12-13).— And a little later: "Thou wast blameless in thy days, from which day thou wast created, until iniquity was found in thee" (Ezekiel 28:15); It is very well said: I was found in you, because evil did not come into you from without, but you yourself gave birth to it. Afterwards he also said the reason for this: Thy heart is lifted up in thy goodness multitude, for the sake of thy sins; and for thy sins thou art wounded, and thou hast been cast down to the ground (Ezekiel 28:17). In accordance with this, the Lord says in the Gospel: "I saw Satan as lightning fell from heaven" (Luke 10:18). You see the similarity of the Old Testament with the New. He, having fallen, carried away many with him; he stirs up lusts in those who obey him. From it comes adultery, fornication, and all other evil. Through him our forefather Adam was expelled, and instead of paradise, which bore wondrous fruit without cultivation, he received a land that brought forth thorns.

5. What, then, someone will say, are we lost deceived, and is there no salvation after that? We have fallen—is it really impossible to rise? We have become blind — is it really not possible to see again? We have become lame—can't we walk upright? In short, we have died, and is there really no way to be resurrected? To Him Who raised up Lazarus four days old, already stinking, is it not more convenient for you, man, to raise up the living? He who shed His precious blood for us will set us free from sin. Let us not despair, brethren, let us not plunge ourselves into a hopeless state. For it is terrible not to have faith and hope for repentance. Whoever does not hope to be saved increases his sins without fear, and whoever hopes to receive healing finally avoids them without difficulty. A thief, if he does not expect mercy, comes to hardness, and if he hopes to receive forgiveness, he often comes to repentance. Likewise, the serpent lays aside his scales, shall we not put away sin? And the land that grows thorns, when well cultivated, turns into fruitful, and for us is not salvation returned? Thus, our nature can accept salvation, only our will is required.

6. God is a lover of mankind, and a lover of mankind without limit. Do not say: I have committed fornication, I have committed adultery, I have committed terrible sins, and moreover, not once, but many times. Will He forgive? Will he consign them to oblivion? Listen to what the Psalmist says: "How great is the abundance of Thy goodness, O Lord" (Psalm 30:20)! All your sins taken together do not overcome the greatness of Divine mercy. Thy wounds do not exceed the experience of thy physician. Only commit yourself to Him with faith, tell the Physician your sickness, say to you and David: Rekh, let us bring out my iniquity on me to the Lord, and the following words will be fulfilled in you: And you have forsaken the wickedness of my heart (Psalm 31:5).

7. Do you want to see God's love for mankind, you, who have only recently begun to listen to the catechetical teaching? Do you want to see God's love for mankind and great longsuffering? Listen to what happened to Adam. — Adam the first-created disobeyed the commandment of God; could not God have put him to death at the same time? Look at what the most loving Lord is doing! Righteousness drives him out of paradise (since because of his sin he has become unworthy of this abode); however, he settles him directly in paradise, so that seeing whence he fell, from what and into what state he was cast, he could later be saved through repentance. The first-born man Cain became a fratricide, the inventor of wickedness, the culprit and leader of murders, and the first envier. But after he has killed his brother, to what is he condemned? Groaning and trembling you will be on the ground. "The sin is great, the punishment is light.

8. Thus the love of God for mankind is truly revealed here, but it is not yet so great, as we shall see later. Imagine what happened in Noah's day. The Nephilim sinned, wickedness then spread powerfully over the earth, for its sake the flood had to follow. And in the five hundredth year (of Noah's life) God reveals His threat; however, in the six hundredth he had already brought a flood to the earth. Do you see the greatness of God's love for mankind, which extends for another hundred years? Could He not have done immediately what He did after a century? But He purposely prolonged the time to give an opportunity for repentance. Do you see the goodness of God? Even if they had repented even then, they would not have lost God's love for mankind.

9. Let us also look at others who have been saved through repentance. And perhaps one of the women will say: I have committed fornication, I have committed adultery, I have defiled my body with all kinds of intemperance — can I be saved? Woman, look to Rahab and hope for salvation. For if she, being an open and public harlot, was saved through repentance, then will not a woman, who once fornicated before receiving grace, be saved by repentance and fasting? Consider how Rahab was saved. She only said, "Your God is in heaven and on earth." God is yours. (Joshua 2:11). She did not dare to call Him her own, being aware of her own impurity. "And if you want to have a testimony from the Scriptures that she was saved, you will find it in the Psalms: "I will remember Rahab, and Babylon that leads me" (Psalm 86:4). Great is God's love for mankind! He even mentions prostitutes in the Scriptures! And moreover, he does not simply say, "I will remember Rahab and Babylon," but adds: "I lead me." Thus, salvation, which is acquired by repentance, is equally possible for the male and female sex.