Catechumenate—listening (learning, being instructed by apostles, teachers, prophets) to the will of God, the commandments of God, and fulfilling them! Abraham trusted God—he listened to what God said and did everything (creatively, wisely), and became the father (example) of all believers (trusting God as it should be). The commandments are given not to be known rationally, but to be fulfilled. And the fulfillment in obedience-slavery to the will of God (which reaches me through people: prophets, apostles, teachers) makes a person capable of receiving Salvation, undergoing the operation-baptism and becoming a new creation; through humility and submission, receiving the Holy Spirit, the will of God, the law of God (Love and Mercy) written in one’s heart.
The commandments of God (what to do, how to be) are the characteristics-states of a healthy, healed person (who is united with God), that is, a Christian. Love, joy, peace, goodness, thanksgiving…—these are the signs, the light, the actions of a Christian (they cannot hide, they are like a city on a hill, a lamp in a house that everyone sees (who is capable of seeing! The blind are in darkness, even though everything is already filled with light: everything—even the darkness as well!), who is in the house). Catechumens who want to be healed, to become Light (filled with the Light of the Holy Spirit), should strive to be like this, to do the works of light-love, to yearn to have the fruits of the Spirit (to love, even if I have no love, to love without love, that is, to do acts of love, even without having it)—to know spiritual poverty, lovelessness (I love no one, there is no love in me for anyone?!), godlessness—and humble themselves, trust and surrender wholly to God and receive in the Mystery of Baptism-Marriage, as a Gift of Salvation, the Holy Spirit. God-Love only gives gifts, so with God, there can only be loving (free, and therefore conscious) relationships: Giving—Thanksgiving! No agreements, contracts, promises, ultimatums, threats, earnings, merits, calculations… only Freedom and Love: receiving the Gifts—the very God (Who in the Gifts gives Himself)—(through humility-trust) and giving oneself to God through Thanksgiving.
The law, commandments are needed where there is no love (“the law” of the Holy Spirit)—these are instructions on how to act in each (typical) situation, in typical similar (classified by the Law—written and oral) circumstances. The law was given to sinners (slaves of sin), to regulate their cohabitation (to keep the symptoms of sin within permissible limits, to make coexistence possible, so that, driven by passions (symptoms of sin), sinners would not destroy each other; not to make life a paradise, but so that this fleshly life does not become total hell), and most importantly: to make sin exceedingly sinful, to reveal the deadly, hellish disease-deformity—egoism-pride (see Romans 7). Whoever tries to live by God’s commandments (a sinner, a slave of sin, cannot fulfill them, for fulfilling the will of God is a natural property of healthy-whole people!), discovers how sick they are. Before treatment-diagnosis (testing), they felt better, had a better opinion of their health, thinking: “I am good, I have small shortcomings (and if I just want to—they will be gone!), but I am not like other people: fornicators, adulterers, murderers, thieves, liars, sinners…”. But when they started “treatment”—going through the catechumenate—submitting to tests and undergoing examination-diagnosis (for conformity to the Norm, the Healthy Man—Jesus Christ), they, who felt healthy and in the prime of life, discovered a terrible disease: cancer-sin-death (before the catechumenate, they did not feel sin-death, they considered themselves completely healthy, and if they noticed some “insignificant” flaws, they reassured themselves—everyone has this…).
Therefore, the more a person is catechized—tries with all their might, sincerely, as a slave-servant, to fulfill God’s commandments, the more and more they see themselves as worse, more sinful, full of evil and filth. That is, during the preparation period for baptism-operation, the patient gets worse and worse, the better they try to be (zealously fulfilling all God’s commandments)—the more of a sinner they see themselves. And they descend under the guidance of the Church into hell, into the knowledge of their sin, into the knowledge of their weakness-deformity, absolute powerlessness (“I can do nothing good”), into the knowledge of their godlessness (from this logic, the commandment to all catechumens is born: “Keep your mind in hell, but do not despair, but hope in God, Who saves from hell”). The person becomes humble (“poor in spirit”) and capable, having lost hope in themselves and all creatures, of fully surrendering to God the Savior, who is the only hope! The sign of orthodox catechumenate is the growth of humility, submission, obedience! Ontological improvement comes only after the operation, after Baptism-Chrismation by the Holy Spirit, in the new, healthy Body of Christ. After Baptism and in the Eucharistic life (rehabilitation, the assimilation of the New Body), the person should get better and better, moving from strength to strength, from the Grace of the Holy Spirit into even greater grace; if you are baptized and do not feel changes for the better—an increase in the Eucharist of the fire of the Holy Spirit, Divine Love, and generally the fruits of the Holy Spirit—this is a sad signal: either the operation was not performed—no one operated on you, you are not operated on, not baptized, or you are leading the Spiritual, Eucharistic Life incorrectly, not fanning the fire of Pentecost into a greater flame; likewise: if you are a catechumen and your condition is improving (before the operation?!), you see that you are getting better every day (you do not need the Surgeon-Christ, you can heal yourself by taking “diagnostic” pills!?)—this is a very sad signal, as you are in complete delusion, pride—you are either being catechized incorrectly (you do not hear the teachers, but are engaged in self-treatment), or you are being catechized incorrectly (heretically); whatever the reason, this situation is extremely dangerous, God-killing, Christ-killing, you are entering a state of ability and desire to crucify Christ the Savior-Healer. Example: all the Old Testament “righteous”—Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees, high priests—all who considered themselves righteous, deserving of rewards both earthly and heavenly, who thought they could earn, buy, or deserve the Kingdom of God (which is a Gift of Mercy, not a salary) by following the law (in their own, egoistic interpretation)—the “traditions of the elders.” Such “saints,” “righteous,” “seers,” “normals” do not need the Healer-Savior, they need a “messiah”—a president, an emperor who will organize a comfortable, happy, prosperous European life; what does a healthy person need?—”Bread and circuses.” “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” “Righteous” (with their own egoistic righteousness) do not need Christ!