… “Do you think that you are doing good when you pray for the sick, intercede for them, when, as you believe, the Lord heals them?” – I asked the “healer”.
– Of course, that’s good! Is it evil to pray to God for another? Is it evil to help one another? Is it evil when a sick person becomes healthy? – the “healer” confidently replied.
– So you are doing good, benefiting others and your deeds are good?
– I clarified with the interlocutor.
– Yes!  –   replied,   secretly   proud   of   himself, “miracle-worker”.
After this answer, I cheered up – I don’t want to be a student (pride will not allow someone to teach me, “the smartest”) – in front of me is a blind man; the hardest part remains – to help him see it.
I suggested to my brother, and continued: “‘Only God is good’—testifies Jesus Christ. Elsewhere the Lord says: ‘Without Me you can do nothing good.’ Therefore, only those who are one with God, who partake in Him, dwell in Him, and are real, living members of the Church—the Body of Christ can perform good deeds. (The external sign of this communion with God is church life, at the heart of which stands the Eucharist.) Hence, the Holy Fathers teach that the only good deed is one that is performed in Christ (in the Church, by those who are real Christians, not merely nominal), by Christ (in the Eucharistic life, in the prayer of God for us, when the Lord serves us in us—’it is time for the Lord to act’, the time when He serves us) and for Christ (in the sacrificial self-offering of ourselves, one another and all our life to Christ God by zealously fulfilling His commandments— ‘He who loves Me,’ says the Lord, ‘is he who keeps My commandments,’ not one’s own interpretations of God’s commandments; everything I do—I must do for Christ [See the parable of the Last Judgment]. And if I do for Christ, then it is no longer I who do good to someone—good is done to me, not I who show mercy—mercy is shown to me (in the church we only do what we pray to Christ: Lord have mercy; thus, it is not we who show mercy, but Christ. More in the next part.)). So let’s examine the points ‘in Christ’, ‘by Christ’ and ‘for Christ’, to see whether any of our actions are truly good. Let me note in advance that Saint Macarius the Great, who was so like God in love and mercy towards sinners that he was called ‘a god upon the earth’. And this venerable man says about himself in prayer: ‘God, cleanse me a sinner, for I have never done anything good before You’ (the first morning prayer). The Holy Fathers mourned their good deeds, as sins—they knew that good done poorly is not good but rather brings evil to both the receiver and the giver! And only streams of penitential tears, humble pleas for forgiveness and divine mercy cleansed these deeds from the deadly poison of pride, self-praise, calculation, egoism; and cleansed by repentance, they were no longer harmful to the soul of the one who performs ‘good’ and the one who receives! But here is the 21st century, and the man has reached such ‘holiness’ that he doesn’t even mourn his ‘good’ deeds; moreover, he has no idea that something might be wrong and that they should be mourned and repented of!? (Do you think that after the example about ‘good’ from Macarius and the Fathers the conversation was over? No, no, do not think that a person after the first discrepancy with the spirit of Orthodoxy, with the spirit of the Holy Fathers will repent—it’s not that easy to stop being ‘good’: vanity [vainglory, empty glory]—it’s a terrible passion that smoothly transitions into pride, which cannot be healed by human efforts—only Divine Mercy can save the proud! The proud do not see themselves as proud, and the vainglorious do not see themselves as such! Thus, the conversation continued.)
“Are you a parishioner of any parish?” I asked, and clarified, “Of which community are you a member?”
There was a brief silence followed by a list of churches where he had attended services. I explained to him that being in the Church primarily means being a parishioner of a specific parish, then of the Patriarchate!.. (details in Part II). We talked about this (being a parishioner) and realized that perhaps the ‘healer’ is not in the Church: ‘in Christ’ does not apply to him. A parish is a community united by a common cause (currently speaking physically)—almsgiving, preaching the Gospel, and mutual assistance, i.e., family life. Which family are you in? – I asked him.
“If you understand it that way, then none,” replied
the ‘pilgrim.’
“What common cause do you have with the people with whom you ‘pray’ (being a passerby, a churchgoer, a frequent visitor—every Sunday, or more often, just not a parishioner)?” I asked. The response was silence and misunderstanding of what I was talking about. And I was leading the interlocutor to the point—’by Christ’. A deed accomplished by Christ, if it is done in the context of proper spiritual life, at the heart of which stands the Eucharist, where the rhythm of life is the rhythm  of the community’s Eucharistic life (in which I am a real member)—I live from Eucharist to Eucharist (absorbing the ‘past’ and preparing for the ‘future’). To which the opponent said: