Two forces in the world
There are two categories of forces in the world: positive, creative, and negative, destructive. Destructive forces are characterized by a turbulent, spectacular nature, and therefore their effects are particularly noticeable, creating a strong impression of elemental power and irresistibility. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, storms, typhoons, and tornadoes—all these formidable natural phenomena strike the viewer's imagination with their magical force. But in reality, this impression is usually exaggerated, and when the storm passes, it almost always turns out that the results of its destructive action are not as great as one might expect from its noisy effect. Moreover, all destructive forces act briefly, and the balance of nature they disrupt is quickly restored. Alongside these destructive forces, there are positive, creative forces. They are quiet, silent, almost unnoticeable, yet irresistible in their action. All the greatest forces of nature—gravity, the power of solar heat and light, the force of organic growth, and so on—act silently, without apparent sudden effects, but continuously, relentlessly, invincibly. In clashes with destructive forces, they always prevail.
The same thing happens in the spiritual world. Here, too, the destructive forces are more turbulent and spectacular in their manifestations, and at times it seems as if they are triumphing over good. But this dominance is only temporary, and the quiet, calm forces of goodness—meekness, humility, love, patience—acting unnoticed, yet continually and faithfully, will ultimately emerge victorious in the life of this world. This is why such quiet forces are valued in Christianity as the greatest virtues, for they lead to the victory of the Christian ideal of goodness.
Conserve your strength, or rather, use it wisely. Don't overburden yourself with unbearable feats, for you won't be able to withstand such a strain over the course of a long life. But, on the other hand, don't weaken the intensity of your spiritual life too much, for the inevitable result will always be laziness, apathy, and a gradual decline of spiritual strength. It's essential to find a middle ground, or, as the Holy Fathers say, to follow the royal path. A certain tension of willpower should always be felt, but it shouldn't be accompanied by a depletion of spiritual strength. And to find this middle, or royal, path, requires the virtue known in asceticism as discernment.
Finally, no matter what happens to you, no matter the dangers you encounter along the way, no matter what moral failures you may experience, do not let go of the robe of Christ, stay steadfast in one direction, and follow Christ. Falls are inevitable, but it is important for a person to not let go of the robe of the Lord, to not lose connection with Him, for then everything can be remedied.
Be like a child who clings tenaciously to its mother's robe. Even if you've stumbled, fallen, and become filthy with sin and the mud of life, there's no certain death in that. Rise and move on, perhaps with tears, with deep sadness over your fall, but don't let go of the robe of Christ!
Life's tasks
Often, when faced with life's great challenges, we habitually give up and sigh hopelessly: "What can I do? Am I alone?" Alone—yes! But we forget that Christ is with us. "And I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," says the Apostle Paul ( Phil. 4:13 ). We need only know the conditions under which His divine help is granted and how to utilize it. Of course, the first and essential condition of every truly great undertaking is that it have a Christian purpose and be built on Christian principles. Any activity, no matter how spectacular and grandiose it may be, and no matter how much visible success it may bring, cannot be called great if it pursues the goals of vanity, self-aggrandizement, or the benefit of an individual.
No man, no matter how much he may be called "great" by the flatterers of history, who admire the acclaim and glory of his career, truly deserves that title if he sought to make of the circumstances and people surrounding him merely a pedestal for himself. The Lord Jesus Christ performed the great miracle of feeding the five thousand with five loaves of bread not to crown Himself with the laurels of a miracle worker in the eyes of the crowd, but because He felt compassion for the hungry people. This same compassion compels Him to teach them profusely, forgetting His own exhaustion. Jesus, coming out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd.
Compassion and love—these are the Christian motives of every truly great deed. And the greatness of each person and each deed is measured by how strongly and completely they are imbued with these motives. The longevity of a great deed depends to a large extent on this. A deed whose purpose is to satisfy the petty vanity of its author is never lasting and, despite occasional dizzying successes, soon disintegrates like a brightly blazing rocket, leaving behind only the soot and smoke of a smoking cartridge case.
But even if a person is guided in their actions by seemingly altruistic motives—that is, concern for others—but does not take the Lord and His teachings as their foundation, their actions usually fail to create true happiness for others, entail numerous disappointments, and never withstand the terrible test that awaits every person and their deeds at the future Judgment of God. Truly, no one can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ ( 1 Cor. 3:11 ).
Great Christian goals require Christian means for their achievement. Christianity does not recognize the principle of "the end justifies the means." Honest goals are achieved only by honest means, and if a person resorts to deception, lies, and violence to achieve lofty goals and grand plans, then it is safe to say that nothing great, or even good, will come of their actions. Either they will disgrace their cause in the eyes of others when their deception is discovered, and the cause will collapse, no matter how well-intentioned, or their lies will only give birth to more lies, containing nothing lofty, and violence will only provoke counter-violence.
In vain do some naive Christian leaders think that in order to achieve higher spiritual goals, they can sometimes resort to cunning tricks, deceit, or, as they call it, "innocent deception." In God's work, this is completely unacceptable. God's commandments are always and under all circumstances, and if the Lord sets before you a task in the general order of building the Kingdom of God, this means that there are means for fulfilling this task that are in accordance with His commandments, for He cannot demand of man activity that contradicts them. We must not forget the words of the most wise Jesus, son of Sirach: "Say not, 'For the Lord's sake I have rebelled'; ...for He has no need of a sinful man. The Lord hates all abomination, and it is unpleasant to those who fear Him" ( Sirach 15:11-13 ). Prayer and invocation of God's blessing are the source of strength and the main means for accomplishing a great work in the Christian spirit.
Spiritual life
In the Christian spiritual life, more than anywhere else, persistence and a relentless pursuit of a single goal are essential. Painstaking, daily persistence is far more important here than a single, great effort of will or a heroic feat. This rule applies equally to both personal and public life. A brilliant, enthusiastic person who quickly loses his or her spirit will be of less use to Christian society than a humble worker who quietly but persistently pursues their work.
Why? Because Christian spiritual life grows gradually, developing organically along with the growth of the soul, and therefore requires constant, uninterrupted, and sustained effort of will. Excessive efforts can only cause strenuous, artificial growth, or, as doctors say, hypertrophy. This, while not completely destroying its young embryos (which often happens), will certainly have very harmful consequences. This is why excessive asceticism, often undertaken in the heat of the moment by novice monks, is usually forbidden by experienced elders.
It's the same with spiritual life: to force it artificially is to ruin it. You can't just leap to the fifth floor at once—you'll strain yourself! You have to climb the stairs, step by step, through all the floors, starting from the first. Spiritual life, like a flower, requires constant attention and long-term care; it requires persistence and continuous self-improvement.
But how can we develop perseverance if we don't have it? If we study the lives of holy ascetics, we'll find three conditions on which the continuity and persistence of their spiritual endeavors depended primarily.
First, unity of purpose. Their entire lives were imbued with a single goal—the pursuit of God and the salvation of their souls.
Secondly, complete renunciation of oneself and surrender of one’s life to the will of God.
Thirdly, the enormous patience that arises from these two conditions.
Unity of purpose is the result of unity of center in life. When a person is completely imbued with love for God, when every detail of their life is connected with the thought of God, when they constantly feel the presence of God, invisibly omnipresent, around them, then, naturally, God is the center of all their aspirations, and every action is determined by the desire to please God and the fear of violating His commandments. In its perfect, fully realized form, we find this unity of center and purpose, of course, in the Lord Jesus Christ, the highest ideal of moral character. His entire life and work are permeated with the thought of God the Father and the sole purpose of saving perishing humanity. Wherever He preached, whatever He said, His primary theme was always God and the salvation of humanity.
Throughout the Gospel, there isn't a single instance where He showed concern for Himself or a desire for any earthly, temporary goals. Everything was obscured for Him by the thought of God. " You cannot serve God and mammon" ( Matthew 6:24 ), He said, and He Himself was the first to embody this integrity of service to God in His life.
As long as a person serves two masters - God and mammon, that is, he mixes the service of God with the pursuit of earthly goals, the service of earthly idols, until then there can be no persistence in him, for these services are incompatible, mutually contradict one another, and a person is forced to alternate them in his life, replacing God with mammon and back, and this makes the general line of his behavior unstable and wavering.
Only when a single center and a single goal are formed in his soul, only then will the direction of his activity become constant and only then can he achieve great success.
This law of the will applies not only to religious life but to every other. All great achievements of the human mind and creativity were achieved in this way. For every Christian, the image of the Lord Jesus Christ should be the central point around which all spiritual life crystallizes, and then the entire will develops in one direction, acquiring tremendous tenacity and perseverance.
The second condition for perseverance in the life of Christian ascetics is complete surrender to the will of God. This seems strange at first glance. When we speak of perseverance, we usually mean the ability and strength to insist on one's own way, to achieve one's desires. But here, renunciation of one's own will and submission to God are required. Perseverance and submission! Are they compatible?
Without a doubt. One can be just as persistent in fulfilling God's decrees and commandments as in fulfilling one's own desires, and even much more so, because in submission to God, the human will finds a powerful support that cannot be found in activity based on self-will and self-determination. Subjectively, this support consists in the fact that the demands of God's law have a far greater authority for a person than their own desires. No matter how proud a person may be, no matter how inclined they may be to exaggerate their own virtues and abilities, deep down they still cannot rank them as highly as a believer ranks God. Therefore, their personal desires may be experienced very intensely, may reach the point of passion, but they will never acquire the moral and imperative force that the commandments and demands of the Divine will have for the believer.
In their own desires, a person either invariably notices elements of selfishness and egotism, which deprives them of moral purity and binding force on the conscience. Or, in cases where their activities are free from selfish motives and are entirely directed toward the good of others, they cannot be absolutely certain of the correctness of the path chosen for their practical implementation, for they recognize that this choice is determined by their own mind, the power of which they cannot consider absolute. In both cases, inevitable doubts weaken the firmness and confidence of their actions. A believer who has completely submitted to the will of God knows no such doubts.
Objectively, the support for activity in accordance with the will of God lies in the fact that the Lord invisibly assists His faithful servant who carries out His will. This great, powerful assistance, on the one hand, and the confidence in the correctness of the path indicated by the finger of God and the unconditional sanctity and infallibility of the norms given by the Lord for human activity, on the other, lead to the believer, who has submitted to God and relies entirely on His omnipotent will, being spiritually infinitely more persistent and stronger than unbelievers who serve exclusively their own ego and are guided by their egoistic desires and the dictates of their own intellect.
The third condition of perseverance is patience. It was always immensely possessed by holy ascetics. Its importance in Christian struggle is perfectly clear: it is necessary to wage a ceaseless battle against temptations, to constantly and intensely work on oneself, and to the last minute of one's life to never retreat, never abandoning what one has begun without seeing it through to completion. To achieve this, one must be able to courageously endure, firstly, the suffering and hardships always associated with Christian struggle, and secondly, the inevitable mistakes, falls, and failures, which can easily cause despondency and weaken the energy of an inexperienced Christian. The devil always takes advantage of failures, trying to inflate their significance to the proportions of a veritable catastrophe, in order to drive the ascetic to despair and force them to abandon the struggle. The ability to endure suffering and not be disturbed by failures is a form of Christian patience. It naturally develops from the two previously mentioned conditions of perseverance—that is, from unity of purpose in life and submission to God—and without them, hardly anyone can attain a high level. Enduring suffering, knowing that it is pleasing to God, and bearing failures, knowing that they are permitted by God for our cultivation in humility, is immeasurably easier than not understanding why and for whom it is necessary. Senseless, unnecessary deprivations, even the most insignificant, are felt far more heavily and irritate far more than great sorrow, the purpose of which is clear to us.
In the matter of cultivating patience, the following remarks may also be useful.
Often, our impatience in Christian work stems from our desire to enjoy the fruits of our efforts and achieve quick, noticeable success. On the second day after turning to God, we already want to be holy.
If this doesn't work, we begin to feel as if our efforts are wasted, and little by little, despondency takes hold of our souls. We are often capable of great heroic deeds, for success is immediately apparent, but in mundane, menial tasks that don't yield quick, noticeable results, our energy soon diminishes and fades. To prevent despondency, we must firmly remember that no effort, no matter how small, is wasted and leaves its mark on the soul. If we don't notice successes, it's most often because our spiritual vision isn't yet experienced enough to discern them unless they manifest themselves on a large scale. But if the effort is made conscientiously, the results are undeniable; one can be sure of that. Observe how slowly, imperceptibly, a tree grows. It's almost impossible to determine how much it has grown in a day, and only at the end of the year does significant growth become apparent. So it is in spiritual life.
It's always better to look not at the ultimate goal of your aspirations, but at the next step that remains to be taken. In the Christian life, this ultimate goal is almost impossible to clearly discern, as the ideal here is infinite and looms in the distance, and comparing the path already traveled with the distance yet to be traveled is both futile and depressing. No matter how far a person has advanced, such an infinitely long road still stretches before them that they always seem to be at the very beginning. Therefore, one should never measure how much you have grown spiritually, but rather focus all your attention on taking the next step as best as possible.
It's better to think about what you have to do rather than what you can achieve. Perform your duty conscientiously and don't worry too much about the results. Trustingly entrust it to the Lord.
The seed of love
Within the nature of every person, created in the image and likeness of God, lies the seed of natural love, along with other godlike qualities. But in its initial, undeveloped form, this germ represents only a vague, unconscious need to love and does not expand beyond this need. This germ develops only when it takes on a concrete form—in other words, when this need for love finds a living object—that is, when a person, driven by this need, applies their feelings to another person, initially, of course, to someone closer—a mother, a father, and so on. Little by little, other people, more distant, begin to enter this circle of love. The number of loved ones gradually increases, and simultaneously the innate seed of love grows, finally transforming into a great, all-encompassing love.
If, at the same time, this love does not remain just a vague, inactive feeling, but a person actively expresses it in good deeds towards his neighbors, in caring for them, in paying attention to them, then it becomes more intense, ardent, stronger.
This is the law of the heart, the law of the development of love.
If a person lives the life of a narrow, selfish person, unwilling and unwilling to apply the natural feeling of love to anyone and to cultivate it through practical acts of kindness and mercy, then this Divine gift of love, given to man, inevitably atrophies and disappears. The tiny embryo requires care and attention; without it, it withers and dries up, and the person is gradually overcome by a dark, spiritual blindness—the blindness of love—when they completely cease to notice and understand their neighbors.
The path of self-denial
Self-denial, or complete forgetfulness of one's personal interests and gains, is necessary primarily for victory over external obstacles, of which there are always many on the path of social and Christian activity. It should not be forgotten that this path inevitably involves a fierce battle with the spirit of malice, which will use every means to pile up a host of unexpected and difficult obstacles before you. It primarily seeks to appeal to your egoism, arousing in you a feeling of self-pity, which can only be overcome through self-denial.
First of all, obstacles arise in the external environment of your work: opposition from people who do not understand you and are hostile, the inability to obtain the necessary funds for the work, difficulties in creating the right environment, deprivations in your personal life, often need, hunger, the absence of the most basic amenities. You must prepare for all this. If you expect to work in complete comfort and with all the conveniences, then you must put an end to these calculations once and for all. Such workers are not needed in God's field, and they will create nothing. Always keep before your eyes the great images of those servants of God who experienced mockery and beatings, as well as chains and imprisonment, were stoned ... subjected to torture, died by the sword, wandered ... suffering deprivation, afflictions, bitterness; those of whom the whole world was not worthy, wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and dens of the earth ( Heb. 11:36-38 ). But they have achieved a great victory over the world and forced it to acknowledge their ideals, their faith, and their hopes. Then come temptations from people. You will be slandered, smeared with dirt, ridiculed, and your name will be carried away as dishonorable ( Luke 6:22 ). This is inevitable. It is infinitely easier for the devil to incite people against you and denigrate your intentions in their eyes than to create external physical obstacles and difficulties for your work, for he has no power to control the circumstances of life, but he is the first specialist in slander and lies, for he is essentially "a liar and the father of lies," and he widely and mercilessly uses this means. The Lord warns His followers of this bitter fate: If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: "A servant is not greater than his master." If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you ( John 15:18-20 ). To overcome this temptation, the caustic bitterness of resentment and injustice that awaits you as the inevitable reward from people for your best and most selfless efforts, to avoid becoming embittered and completely disillusioned, and to avoid abandoning the work despite everything, a rather high degree of self-denial is required. It is essential that love for the work in the name of Christ and a sense of Christian duty infinitely prevail over personal vanity. "The work is first and foremost! It must be accomplished! And I... I am only the most insignificant of Christ's servants, and if I am ground to dust, it does not matter at all if at this price God's work can be won." Such should be the attitude of a worker in God's field.
Finally, the most difficult trial, requiring almost limitless self-denial, arises when you find enemies and traitors among those very people you care about and work for. Receiving insults and reproaches is always difficult, but receiving them from those you care about and love is almost unbearable. Yet it often happens that you receive the most severe blows from those you love most. This, too, is perhaps inevitable. Don't forget that a Judas was found among the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Under such circumstances, remaining at your post and continuing to love, care for, and serve those who curse you, slander you, and cause you all sorts of trouble requires tremendous courage and complete self-abandonment. And this is possible only with a deep inner conviction, permeating your entire soul, that you work not for people, but for God, to whom you will render your final account, and only in Him will you find an impartial, omniscient judge. Only the hope of being justified before Him gives you the strength to endure what seems impossible to the average person.
The power of habit
A believer may suffer the loss of living faith and a living feeling for God, and the danger is especially great for those who, by their position, are obliged to carry out long and tedious work of service, without having an understanding of the laws of spiritual life and without benefiting from the guidance of experienced people.
This state of spiritual coarsening or savagery is very difficult and dangerous, for emerging from it and returning to the right path is much more difficult than for a beginner to begin on that path. Re-learning something incorrectly learned is always more difficult than memorizing something new, unfamiliar, for here one must first break an ingrained habit, which takes much time and effort. This is the ABC of pedagogy. If a music student is given incorrect hand and finger positioning from the very beginning, then freeing themselves from this flaw and transitioning to the correct method can be difficult. Reciters who slur their words while reading quickly, swallowing entire syllables to the point of losing their meaning, often remain unable to learn to read clearly and distinctly for the rest of their lives.
It's the same in spiritual life and in service to God: if the living sense of God is lost, then all external activity, ostensibly aimed at bringing a person closer to Him, is doomed to complete spiritual fruitlessness. Above all, prayer, one of the main means of spiritual life, ceases to be effective. It does not reach God.
“Remember,” writes Father John of Kronstadt , “that if you do not engage in idle talk during prayer, but speak the words of prayer with feeling, then your words will not return to you empty-handed (like a husk without a grain), but will certainly bring you the very fruits contained in the word, like a fruit in its shell. This is the most natural thing, just as the fruit and its shell are natural and common in nature. The more sincerely and heartily you pronounce each word, the more fruit will come from your prayer; each word, like a grain, will bear you spiritual fruit, like a ripe ear of corn. But if you cast words in vain, without faith, without feeling their power, like a husk without a kernel, then they will return to you empty; you cast away the husk, and the husk will return to you.”
What has been said about prayer should also be said about the reception of the Holy, Immortal, and Life-giving Mysteries. Often, a person initially receives Communion with living faith, with a feeling of love and reverence, but then, with the flesh and the devil constantly resisting God's truth, they yield to their victory over themselves and partake hypocritically. The same thing happens with the Sacrament of Penance. The same thing happens with all manifestations of religious life if a Christian does not force themselves to exert spiritual strength. Thus, a destructive habit is created. But one can become accustomed to both good and bad. One can become accustomed to negligence, and then all religious life becomes cold and deathly formal. The life-giving spirit hidden in the holy words of prayer, in the sacraments, and in other religious forms, does not manifest itself to a soul that is careless, lazy, and cold, and has no effect on it. But we can, on the contrary, create for ourselves the habit of reverently, fervently, and heartily fulfilling all religious duties, and then an inexhaustible source of gracious power will open up for us in them, enlivening and strengthening us in spiritual life.
Hence the conclusion: if we wish to avoid spiritual coarsening, if we wish that prayers, sacraments, rites, the entire ritual of religion should not lose for us, through frequent repetition, the Spirit of life and should not turn into an empty formality, saying nothing to the soul; if we wish, finally, that our very virtues, if we have any, should not turn into hypocritical bigotry, then the remedy against this consists, first of all, in fulfilling, from the very beginning of spiritual life, everything that Christian duty requires, with the greatest diligence and attention, with the exertion of all spiritual and physical powers, not allowing ourselves to become lazy and careless.
There are no trifles here that are unworthy of attention, for from trifles great things are created, the entire tone of spiritual life, and therefore every detail requires careful and meticulous execution. God cannot be mocked, and the slightest carelessness in relation to Him will inevitably result in damage to your spiritual life. Therefore, whatever you do in the matter of serving Him, do it with all your might; what is done haphazardly is never done correctly. Conscientious work is required.
To maintain this zeal and not weaken, we must always have a living faith that our God, worshiped in Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is always with us, watching over us and, at the first word of our sincere prayer for help, ready to assist us in our holy work. Remembering that the Almighty is always with us, and keeping Him in mind, even in action, casting from our hearts all thoughts, worldly doubts, worries, and passions, we will always worthily perform God's work.
Egoism
Every task can be done in different ways. It can be done either as a duty of service to others, caring more about their benefit than one's own. Then it strengthens the bonds between those serving and those receiving service, and it becomes a means of strengthening, developing, and flourishing society, a creative and vital force. Or it can be done with purely egotistical calculations, squeezing out as much personal benefit from it as possible, without any thought for the well-being of others. Then it not only weakens, undermines, and ultimately severing mutual attachments between people, but also introduces into their relationships something completely opposite: cooling, bitterness, mutual repulsion. This is the process of decay, disintegration, death. Decay consists precisely in the fact that individual particles of a rotting body lose their force of mutual attraction or cohesion and disintegrate. So it is in the physical world, so it is in human society.
Egoism, selfishness, is always a force of decay and corruption, and this corrosive effect of egoism manifests itself under all circumstances. It is in vain that they say that society cannot be built on the evangelical principles of self-denial and that the best possible solution lies in bringing the personal egoism of each member within a legal framework so that it does not clash with the egoism of its neighbors, or at least knows its limits. Precisely and clearly defining the rights and responsibilities of each and every one, without offending anyone—that is all that is needed for social prosperity.
This way of posing the question is fundamentally flawed. Not to mention the fact that it is utterly impossible to precisely define duties and rights "without offending anyone," for with a selfish approach to life, there will always be those who are offended and dissatisfied. The most important objection here is that it is impossible by any means to force personal egoism into a legal, juridical framework: it will always try to break free and expand at the expense of its neighbors, and ultimately, it will find a way or a loophole to do so. Why do modern capitalist societies decay, despite the precise regulation of rights and duties? Because they are built on a crudely egoistic foundation. But any new society that arises will inevitably be subject to the same law of decay if it remains on the same foundation of selfishness and egoism.
Sins
I dare not sin not only because it destroys me personally, but even more so because it infects and destroys others. On the other hand, if I see a brother sinning, I cannot remain indifferent, because this sin, in one form or another, will reach me too.
Sometimes we think our sins pass without a trace and harm no one. This is an illusion, a self-deception. Somewhere, sometime, one way or another, the consequences of sin will manifest themselves. “Life is like an ocean,” says one of our writers, “an invisible connection everywhere: what you touch at one end reverberates at the other. Imagine you passed by a child. You may not have noticed them; but your wicked image has already been imprinted on their heart, and sooner or later it will be reflected in something: in thoughts, in actions, or in words.”
Human rights
We all think that we can and even must defend our rights from insolent attacks, lest they take advantage of us and bully us. But Christ says: Do not resist an evil person. But whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And whoever wants to sue you and take your tunic, give him your cloak also. And whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two ( Matthew 5:39–41 ).
We all try to live our lives as easily as possible, with the greatest comfort and the least amount of effort, and we do not understand at all why we need to constrain ourselves, limit our needs, take on the feat of deprivation and suffering, but He teaches: Enter ye through the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many are there that go in by it: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few are there that find it ( Matthew 7:13:14 ).
Passion and its development
It is very important for us to understand the laws of development of vice and passion, because in the soul of every person they act approximately the same way, and using the example of Herod we can understand the conditions of our own falls.
The affair begins with lust, an impure love for Herodias, Herod's daughter-in-law and the wife of his brother Philip. Without the slightest concern for stopping the growing criminal passion, Herod quickly gets down to business, easily overcoming the first obstacle and making his brother's wife his own. This first step clearly demonstrates the extent of the passion's development in his soul, for the strength of passion is measured by the magnitude of the obstacles it overcomes; in other words, the greater the obstacle overcome by passion, the greater the strength of the passion.
But having overcome the first obstacle, Herod was immediately confronted by another—the accusatory sermon of John the Baptist, who told Herod: " It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife" ( Mark 6:18 ). These reproaches undoubtedly carried more weight for Herod than his embarrassment in front of his brother and his fear of public opinion, which, thanks to the servility of his Pharisees, was easily silenced. Silencing the incorruptible John or forcing him to soften the blunt tone of his denunciations proved impossible. Moreover, these harsh words must have had a profound effect on Herod's own conscience, for Herod had a grudging respect for the prophet and undoubtedly took his opinion into account.
Yet even this new obstacle could not force him to overcome his passion. Moreover, not only does he not retreat before it, but, incited by Herodias, he arrests the prophet he respects and imprisons him—a clear indication of how far his passion has gone. Finally, in the scene with Salome, he almost completely loses control of himself. Lust, intense to the extreme, clouds him, and he makes his mad vow: to give her whatever she asks (see Matthew 14:8 ). He is already a complete slave to passion! Thus, in the absence of resistance, passion intensifies, capturing the human soul in its despotic power. Along with this, we notice another phenomenon: one type of sin committed gives rise to many others. In this case, following the lust of fornication comes treachery against his brother, incestuous adultery, injustice, cruelty, violence against John, a vain oath, vanity before guests, false pride, and, finally, murder. As if the first snake of awakened passion, conscious of its own power, immediately begins to hiss and stir, a whole flock of other snakes, until then peacefully slumbering in the soul. Finally, one cannot ignore the fact that the temptations presented to Herod become increasingly serious, and his crimes more serious. It is as if a test is being carried out to see to what depths of degradation this man, having succumbed to vice, can sink.
Thus, we see how the noose of sin gradually tightens, and how there is less and less hope that the person caught in it will be able to free themselves. The situation becomes almost hopeless when the soul's last strength and even the desire to break this noose disappears, and murder or another crime, no less grave, then becomes merely a natural consequence, the inevitable final chord of unbridled passion.
Selfish dreams
If your head is clouded by selfish dreams, if you want to be a shining hero on the stage of history, in the intoxicating atmosphere of the adoration of the servile crowd, then you will never accomplish anything truly great. Put that out of your mind. Even if you achieve temporary success, the awareness of the pettiness of your goals will gradually become clearer, and the joy of success will soon fade before the bitterness of the thought that you squandered your strength and talents on trifles. Only from a distance does it seem that something truly great is surely hidden behind the clouds of success and fame. Upon closer inspection and experience, you will almost always find that it is nothing more than an optical illusion.
All attempts to create something great and lasting, having severed all ties with the Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel, are also hopeless and doomed to a more or less rapid failure, for the establishment of the Kingdom of God, which constitutes the essence of the entire world process, is accomplished directly by the power of God the Word according to the laws set forth in the Gospel, and therefore you are always faced with an alternative: either take part in this construction under the guidance of the Lord and in the light of His teaching, and then you contribute your share of labor to the eternal future, or act arbitrarily, contrary to this God's plan for the future structure of the universe, and then your labors will inevitably be wiped out by this insurmountable process of the creation of the Kingdom of God.
Thus, only that work can be great and lasting that which advances the construction of the Kingdom of God. In this sense, it always has two sides: subjective and objective, or, more simply, work on oneself and on social relations. If every Christian is to be a brick in the future building of the Kingdom of God, then their first duty is to thoroughly fire this brick, to make it into the best possible building material—in other words, to educate and perfect themselves in the spirit of the Gospel.
The second part of the work will involve bringing this evangelical spirit into the practical life of society. Both tasks, admittedly, are difficult. That's why many give up before them, and even in the hearts of the deeply religious, moments of cowardice, doubt, and weakness arise.
Christian hope
Hope in Christ and His divine assistance is absolutely essential in Christian work. The tasks we face here are so enormous, vast, and varied that it is impossible to cope with them on our own. Approaching them closely and appreciating their full difficulty, one could fall into complete despondency, aware of one's own impotence, were it not for the life-giving hope! Only hope sustains energy and makes every great undertaking possible. Hope does not disappoint ( Rom. 5:5 ).
Whatever difficulties and trials stand in your way, trust in the Lord, believe that if He has entrusted you with a task, He will also give you the strength needed to complete it. The Lord hears all who call upon Him in need and invisibly helps them. I firmly trusted in the Lord, exclaims the psalmist David, and He inclined to me and heard my cry; He drew me up out of the terrible pit, out of the miry swamp, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings... Blessed is the man who puts his hope in the Lord ( Psalm 40:2-5 ). True, there are hours in the life of a Christian of hopeless sorrow and illness, in which it seems as if the Lord has completely abandoned and forsaken you, for there is not the slightest feeling of God's presence in your soul; There are circumstances so difficult that they seem hopeless. Sometimes the furious waves of life's storm are so fierce that it seems like a moment and they will drown you and destroy your labors to the ground. And there is no help. The Lord is slow. And yet, hope! Hope until the last minute. After all, the Lord sees both your sorrow and the difficulty of your situation. Help can come at the very last moment.
The Lord sometimes abandons His servants to their own devices. It sometimes seems as if He is withdrawing from them, leaving them alone and without help. But this is only an illusion. He never takes His caring, loving gaze from them and is always ready to help. He waits for those tossed about by the waves to turn to Him and call upon Him.
When a storm of enmity and hatred rises above your head, threatening to engulf you, when the whistle and howl of wild malice become deafening, when your plans collapse with a roar and the rigging of your projects snaps like rotten threads, when the forces of nature fail and the rudder is already knocked from your weakened hand, then remember that the Lord watches over you; He has not forgotten you. Call upon Him with fervent prayer, and you will hear His quiet, kind words: "Be of good cheer; it is I; fear not" ( Matthew 14:27 ).
Why does the Lord allow such moments of trial and temporary abandonment? They are necessary for us, to strengthen our strength, our faith, our hope, to cultivate our independence and steadfastness in the struggle.
Christian obedience
Christian hope is inextricably linked with Christian obedience, necessary for every endeavor as a condition for receiving Divine assistance. Commit your way to the Lord and trust in Him, and He will perform it; He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Submit yourself to the Lord and wait patiently for Him ( Psalm 37:5–7 ). This is what the Prophet David teaches. To have the right to hope for God's help, one must surrender oneself to Him in obedience. Only those deeds that are in accordance with God's will and His commandments enjoy His assistance. The Lord cannot help a person where they violate His will and His laws by acting arbitrarily. On the contrary, the more complete the obedience, the more reliable and powerful God's help and support. But obedience is necessary for a Christian leader not only because it attracts the support of God's power to their work. It is also necessary psychologically.
The self-willed activity of a person burning with religious zeal but seeking confirmation for their plans within themselves rather than in the will of God usually leads to demonic delusion or fanaticism, when a person begins to regard their personal views and desires as revelations and commands of God. The evil one often uses such people to destroy God's work. Taking advantage of the fact that a person does not wholeheartedly seek the will of God as the highest law for their actions, the tempter begins to whisper goals and projects that seem good, but which in reality always conceal a cunning plan to bring about the work's ruin. If a person seeks motivation for their actions within themselves, they usually mistake these devilish whispers for their own thoughts and feelings, follow them, and ruin both the work and often themselves. And the more zeal, fervor, and ardor they display, the worse it is for them and the more certain and swift their destruction. The only salvation from this danger is in a sincere search for the will of God and in unconditional submission to it.
Obedience is also extremely necessary and beneficial during times of failure and disappointment. Without it, despondency easily arises in the soul when a person sees the fruits of their labors, sometimes difficult and lengthy, disappear without a trace. Such despondency is impossible in a soul that is obedient and has fully entrusted itself to the will of God. Knowing firmly that life is an eternal struggle between good and evil and that the fruits of this struggle are entirely in God's hands, a person devoted to the will of God sees even the collapse of their plans and the results of their labors as just one of the countless episodes of this struggle, in which God's power is revealed. If their work fails, it means that it is either displeasing to God, or was not done as it should have been, or, finally, was destroyed by God's permission, in order to test or strengthen their faithfulness to Him. In all these cases, they can only thank God. There is no room here for bitterness and despondency.
"The duties are yours, but the consequences are God's," said an ancient sage. With this understanding of obedience, one can always be active and remain calm. So, when enormous and difficult tasks arise on your Christian path, seemingly insurmountable, overwhelming you with cowardice and doubt, then entrust yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ with complete trust, obedience, and selflessness, and you will see that in His hands your talents, strength, and abilities will increase infinitely, just as five small loaves of bread grew, and difficulties will be conquered.
Source: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Vasilij_Kineshemskij/zerno-lyubvi/