Through Moses, the Divine wisdom of the Pedagogue calls communication with evil people swine, which is why it forbade the ancient people to eat pork (Lev. 9:7; Deuteronomy 14:8), thus showing that it is not permissible for those who recognize God to move among impious people, who, like swine, give themselves over to carnal desires, accept unclean, passion-nourishing foods, and, arousing sensual itching, with evil joy give themselves over to the service of Aphrodite. But the eating of hawks and swift-winged birds, carnivores (predators) and eagles is also forbidden by the Pedagogue (Lev. 11:13; Deut. 4:12). Do not touch it, it is said that he sustains his life by rapacity. But the Pedagogue expresses the positive commandment with a similar allegory. So, with whom do you need to maintain communication 3? With the righteous, which is allegorically expressed thus: "Every cattle that have cloven hooves and deep slits in the hoofs, and that chew the cud, you shall eat" (Lev. 11:3; Deut. 14:12). Two-hoofed is called righteousness that preserves balance, regurgitates the Logos, the true food of righteousness. This food, like any other, also enters from the outside, through listening to the catechetical teaching; but from the inside it again turns outward, as if from the stomach, i.e. first perceived by cognition, then reproduced by judicious recollection. The righteous are the regurgitator of spiritual food and have the Logos in his mouth. But, without a doubt, righteousness is also two-hoofed, since it sanctifies us for this side of life, but it leads us into a state of bliss on the other side of the grave.

Our Divine Pedagogue no longer commands us to go to the spectacles. It is not without reason that we can rightly call the lists and spectacles assemblies of corrupters (Psalm 1:1). For here an evil counsel is formed against a righteous man, as it were; For this reason this assembly is also cursed. They are full of disorder and lawlessness; and the pretexts for composing them are vulgar. At these meetings, both men and women mingle with each other in order to see each other; and so they are the cause of disorder. Here speaketh and acts the assembly of the wicked counsel. The eyes are nourished by sensuality, desires flare up, and idle eyes, having the opportunity to examine their neighbors more closely, are inflamed with sensual desires. Therefore, we must consider public spectacles and performances with their absurd contortions and idle talk forbidden to ourselves. Because all kinds of dirty deeds are presented on these stages; What shameless words the buffoons do not pronounce here! But whoever finds pleasure in these vulgarities, brings images of them with him and home. On the other hand, those who do not come into contact with this kind of sorcery, and whose spiritual world remains untouched by them, cannot indulge in frivolous pleasures. But even if anyone considered such spectacles to be humorous, arranged for the amusement of the spirit, I assert that the rulers of those cities where they are concerned, as it were, with some important matter, amusements, have little intelligence. And besides, these vain amusements are hard-hearted, accompanied by death for so many. And is it not a vain business to seriously concern oneself with empty and insignificant things? They nourish reckless ambition, and their strength is wasted senselessly. But both excitement and indignation at these spectacles are not at all a joke or entertainment. Moreover, one should not arrange such pleasures for others from the motives of vanity. A reasonable person will never prefer the pleasant to the good. But they say: "Not everyone should be a philosopher." Is it? And don't we all strive for eternal life? What do you say to this? Why did you also accept the faith? Can you love God and your neighbor without philosophizing? "I can't read," someone might say. If you can't read, how can you protect yourself if you don't listen? Listening, after all, does not need to be learned. However, faith is not at all the property of the wise of this world (1 Corinthians 1:26-27), but of the wise in God. It is possible to know God even without knowing literacy; the scroll containing the tenets of this faith and addressed to people, even to the simple and ignorant, is nevertheless divine; it is the Divine self-testimony called Divine love, it is the book of the spiritual seal.

But it is possible to be a listener of Divine wisdom and at the same time correspond to one's civil status; nothing, after all, prevents the grandfather from doing worldly news correctly and pleasing to God. Whoever buys or sells anything, therefore let him not set a double price, one for sale, the other for purchase; let him name only one true one; through this he will remain faithful to the truth, and although he will not make a profit, he will be rich in justice. Especially let everyone refrain from oaths in commercial matters, but also in other cases. This should be the philosophy of both large and small traders. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not leave unpunished him who takes his name in vain (Exodus 20:7). In spite of this, the Lord throws out of His Father's house (Matt. 21:12, 13; Mk. 11:15-17; Luke 19:46), for He does not want the holy house of God to be a place of unrighteous trade or resale, or material profits.

Husband and wife should go to church decently dressed, with a gait that is not feigned, keeping silence, with a flame of unfeigned love for their neighbors (Rom. 12:9; 2 Cor. 6:6), pure in body, pure in heart, tuned to prayer. It is especially desirable for the wife to leave the house completely shut up. This gives her an appearance of sedateness, but even to those who look out she remains invisible, so that no stumbling block will come out of it either for herself, for her eyes will be covered with moral modesty and a veil, but she will not impose a sin on any strange man until she opens her face. This is what the Logos wants; it is proper for a woman to pray with a veil over her face (1 Cor. 11:5). It is said about the wife of Aeneas that she was so modest and so decent that even after the capture of Troy she did not forget and did not throw off her veil, remaining under it even when fleeing from the city engulfed in fire.

And men who have dedicated themselves to Christ in all their lives should not only seem, but also be as dignified and decent as they appear to be in the churches: just as modest, God-fearing, loving. But I wonder why, with a change of place, they change both their appearance and their behavior, like polyps, which are likened to the stones to which they suck, communicating the color corresponding to the color of these and their skin. Leaving the church assembly, they put aside the holy feelings inspired in the church by the Spirit of God, and become like the majority, among whom they move. Or rather, as soon as this feigned and hypocritical sedateness is put aside, it becomes obvious that it was only a mask on their true spiritual physiognomy. Apparently, having heard the word of God with a blessing, they leave it where they listened to it, and outside the church assembly, as if mad in their minds, they do not remember themselves in the company of the wicked from pleasure; Listening to the play of harpists and harpists, they lose their temper at the curry of their amorous chirping, go into a frenzy from singing to the playing of the flute, clap their hands, drink, allowing themselves to be showered and dirty with all kinds of rubbish and other rubbish and rubbish, marked, trained and thrown by the current and the spirit of the time.

Those who had just sung hymns in praise of immortality, now alternately playing along with one instrument, now alternating with another, sing again to their own destruction: "Let us eat and drink, for in the morning we shall die" (Isaiah 22:13; 1 Corinthians 15:32). No, you will not die tomorrow; you are already dead before God, taking care of your dead (Matt. 8:22; Lk. 9:60), i.e. you are digging your own grave in the abysses of hell.

The Apostle contrasts them with all his energy with the following words: "Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor malachs, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor others, enumerated by the Apostle, shall inherit the Kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 6:9, 10). But if we are called to the Kingdom of God, then we must also be citizens of this kingdom, worthy of this calling. Loving God and neighbor. This love does not consist in kissing the world, but in benevolence. Some, however, give and receive their kiss of peace with such shamelessness in church meetings that they produce noise and confusion, having no love in their hearts at all. And this circumstance gives reason to suspect that such an unbridled practice of kissing peace takes place for shameful and impious purposes, when it should have a mysterious meaning. The Apostle calls him holy (Romans 15:16). By this very kiss of peace, giving proof that we use civil rights in our kingdom correctly and for good purposes, let us testify to our spiritual goodwill towards our neighbors by kissing peace modestly and with closed lips; this kind of kissing is especially appropriate to meek morals. But there is another, criminal kiss, poisonous, throwing on only the mask of piety. Or don't you know that some spiders hurt a person as soon as they sit on the mouth 4? In the same way, kisses often infuse the poison of sensuality. For us, therefore, it now becomes clear that Christian love does not consist in kissing the world. It is Divine love (1 John 4:7). But this love of God, says John, consists in keeping His commandments (and not in kissing each other); and His commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3). But even the open embrace in the streets of people who are close to each other, the stupid ease with which they testify their love to each other by these external proofs, are not anything polite. If we must pray to God in secret, even in our own house, in a place where not everyone is allowed to enter (Matt. 6:6), then it is consistent that we should embrace our neighbor, whom we should love most of all after God (Matt. 22:39), with love inwardly and mysteriously, taking advantage of the time (Col. 4:3; Eph. 3:13, 16), for you are the salt of the earth (Matt. 3:3). 13). It is said: "Whoever praises his friend aloud from early morning will be considered a slanderer (Proverbs 27:14).

Moreover, the presence of women in society must be avoided and diligently avoided meeting them; To bring sin into one's soul, touch is not at all necessary; even a simple look can be sinful. Let your eyes look straight ahead, and let your eyelashes be directed straight before you (Proverbs 4:23). It is possible, of course, to remain firm when you see it, but you should still beware of danger. It is possible to slip with your eyesight; but it is impossible that desire should be born in anyone without taming that which may be the object of it. It is not enough for the wise to have a pure heart; they must strive to be above all blame in their outward behavior, and to remove every reason to suspect themselves, so that their irreproachability may be complete; we should not only be faithful, but also prove to be so, and, moreover, prove worthy to be faithful. Beware, says the Apostle, lest we be reproached by anyone, for we strive for good not only before the Lord, but also before men (2 Corinthians 8:20, 21). And the Scripture says: "Turn away thy eye from a beautiful woman, and gaze not at the beauty of others" (Sir. 9:8). And in order that you may know the reason for this, it added: because many have gone astray through the beauty of a woman; from it, like fire, love burns (Sir. 9:9); but when it turns into sin, it leads into even an inextinguishable fire; that inclination is kindled by this fire, which is called "love."

12. A further sketch of the best (ideal) way of Christian life, compiled on the basis of various passages of the Holy Scriptures. Hagiographa.

And I would advise married men (Gal. 7:10) never to kiss their wives in the presence of servants. Aristotle does not even allow masters to smile in front of servants; it is all the more impermissible to embrace wives in their presence. It is much better even at home, starting with marital relations, to behave sedately. Holy morals in marital relations with the hosts spread the fragrance of pure joys throughout the house. This is beautifully described in one tragedy:

Alas, how little influence you wives have on our happiness! For it is not gold, not power, and not the glitter of riches that brings into the common life of people a complete abundance of pure joys, And a good man by honesty

And a moral wife with caring love for him. Why do we neglect these commandments of wisdom and righteousness, which are expressed even by the children of worldly wisdom? Understand each of you your duty, and spend the time of your pilgrimage with fear, says Peter, knowing that you have not been redeemed from the vain life handed down to you from your fathers, but by the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without blemish (1 Peter 1:17-19). For it is involuntary that in the past time of life, the Apostle continues, you walked in the water of the heathen, giving yourselves up to uncleanness, lusts (sodomy, bestiality, thoughts), excess in food and drink, and absurd idolatry (1 Peter 4:3). The pitiful image of our former life is opposed by a barrier, the cross of the Lord; through which we are fenced off and separated from our former sins by a kind of front garden. Regenerated, let us therefore nail ourselves to the cross of life corresponding to the truth (our name, our dual nature, the agreement between word and deed); let us enter into ourselves and be zealous for the holiness of life. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are on their cry. But the Lord's lime tree is against those who do evil (Psalm 33:16, 17). And who will do you evil, if you are zealous for good (1 Peter 3:13)?

The best way of life is orderliness, i.e., propriety irreproachable in all things, and beauty in all things, which has entered into certain norms, and moral strength which is stable in itself, so that everything in the way of thinking and acting receives its proper place, and the virtue of man becomes invincible. "And if I have spoken to you about this truth a little severely," says the Pedagogue, "it is only out of zeal for your good and improvement. The severity of My words is the greatest proof of the goodness of My heart, for whoever condemns with frankness is ready for peace (Proverbs 10:10). Therefore, if you obey Me, you will be saved. And if you do not follow what you have said, I will suffer nothing from it; or not: all this will concern Me, as it is written: Do I desire the death of the wicked? saith the Lord God. Is it not that he should turn from his ways and live?" (Ezekiel 18:23). Again, therefore, the Pedagogue repeats: "If ye will and obey, ye shall partake of the good things of the earth" (Isaiah 1:19). By the blessings of the earth He means human happiness: beauty, wealth, health, bodily strength, material means of life. But in addition to these blessings, true happiness awaits us, of which it is written: eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of man (1 Corinthians 2:9), true happiness is with the true King, who is the Giver, but also the Guardian of this happiness. But by encouraging us to strive to achieve this happiness on the other side of the grave. He speaks of earthly happiness: the Divine Logos, as a Teacher, raises our human weakness for spiritual speculation through sensual images.

Thus, the Divine Pedagogue teaches us everything: which virtues we should especially love and observe, and which of the vices we should abhor and avoid. To correct us. He penetrates even into our homes, teaching us the rules of how to behave and arrange our lives here. He treats us, first of all, the same way He treats little boys when they are taken to school. As the main rules of their conduct during the study before them are usually instilled in them along the way, so in the Scriptures only short and main rules are set forth and offered in it according to the brevity of the path (earthly pilgrimage), the further development of which is left to the Teacher (in heaven). Indeed, the Teacher is a little willing. Loosening the bonds of the law. He desires only one thing, that we should not fear Him (Romans 8:15), but that we should love Him, following Him willingly and without resistance, according to the strength of the freedom of voluntary faith granted to us. "If thou wilt be well-mannered," says He, "then hear, My child, hearken, and learn the chief of the saving laws. I will reveal before your eyes the commandments of My moral law and set forth its main propositions before your face: by keeping them you will reach heaven. The way in which I shall lead you is the only way of salvation; Therefore, leave the ways of error. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked perisheth (Psalm 1:6). And so, My child, follow the good path which I have shown you. Incline thy ear (Psalm 44:11) to hear Me, and I will give thee the treasures that are kept in darkness, hidden and hidden from the Gentiles (Isaiah 45:3), known to us, treasures of wisdom "that do not fail" (Luke 12:33). Astonishing at them, the Apostle cries: "O abyss of riches and wisdom" (Romans 11:33). By the gift of innumerable treasures, God alone seeks us. Some He reveals to us through the law, others through the prophets, others through the mouth of His Divine Son, and the fourth in a seven-tone chord the Holy Spirit sings to us (Isaiah 11:2, 3). But in all this, the one Lord of all people, the same Teacher of them, reveals Himself. Thus, one of His commandments contains, as it were, in the seed all the rules and regulations of His Divine morality: "As I would that men should do to you, do ye also to them" (Luke 6:31). The two commandments below contain all the others, as the Lord Himself told us in these words: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments, He added, hang all the law and the prophets (Matt. 22:37, 39, 40; Lk. 10:27). And when someone asked Him, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He, in turn, asked: Do you know the commandments? And when the questioner answered in the affirmative. He said: "Do this, and thou shalt live" (Luke 18:18, 20; 10:25-28). But we should also know the special love of humanity of our Teacher, which is manifested in an innumerable number of various salvific commandments, scattered throughout the Scriptures, so that we may be able to find here all the more easily and in all abundance all that we need for salvation, and so that we may use the totality of the Scriptures more willingly, each time finding something salvific for ourselves in them. Especially important here is the Decalogue given through Moses, which, in a simple homogeneous ten commandments, describes the realm of salvation through the naming of sins that must be avoided. These are: "Do not violate marital fidelity, do not indulge in idolatry, do not encroach on boys (Lev. 18:22), thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt honor thy father and mother," etc. (Exodus 20:13-16; Deut. 5). Such are the commandments, the observance of which is obligatory for us, but also many other things, the fulfillment of which in other places the Scriptures command us. Through the mouth of Isaiah the prophet, God addressed us with the following words: Wash yourselves, be cleansed; remove your evil deeds from my eyes; stop doing evil; learn to do good; seek the truth; save the oppressed; protect the orphan; intercede for the widow; then come, and let us reason, saith the Lord (Isaiah 1:16-18).