“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them” (see Ephesians 5:11). Expose the works of darkness, sin, but not the doers of darkness, sinners. Hate evil, sin and love-have mercy on the evildoer, the sinner. Love-have mercy on them, and expose the work of darkness, primarily for the benefit of the evildoer, the sinner, so that they realize their sin, the evil they are doing to themselves, so that they stop hurting-torturing themselves and repent (begin the path of repentance)! Your task is not to judge, but to have mercy, pity, love. Watch yourself: do you love, do you not harm, are you merciful? For woe to the one who destroys their home (sins: deceives, gets angry, judges, exposes… covering (and justifying) all this evil with the desire to help a neighbor, destroy evil, etc.), to build their neighbor’s home!
“One of the criminals who were hanged railed at Him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.’ And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ And He said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise’” (see Luke 23:39-43). You condemn your neighbor to hell, to suffering, while you yourself are condemned to the same?! Do you not fear God, being angry at your neighbor, despising them, judging them, when you yourself do the same, are sick with the same disease and suffer from the same infernal passions?! In this world, we are all robbers, sinners, all condemned to hell, all crucified on crosses! Woe to those (foolish and blind) who judge others. Blessed are the good thieves, the humble, who know that they suffer their cross according to their deeds, and who pity, have mercy on their neighbors (and the neighbor is the Lord, see Matthew 25), who are also crucified on crosses and suffer great tribulations (“We must go through many tribulations to enter the Kingdom of God” (see Acts 14:22)). The Lord Jesus Christ still leads all the good thieves into paradise! Blessed are sinners: robbers, terrorists, thieves, prostitutes… who have realized by these symptoms their disease – sin, godlessness, and humbled themselves and entrusted themselves to the Savior Lord Jesus Christ.
A passionate person (who sins, indulges in their passions, lusts) is not themselves, not in their right mind. Passion, lust is foolish and blind. Therefore, a passionate person does not see themselves, does not know themselves, does not know the truth about themselves. To realize one’s sin, the disease of godlessness, misfortune, one must stop sinning (indulging passions-lusts); and when a person stops sinning, only then do they begin to see their sin, their hell, that the cause of their suffering is not outside them, but within them. The catechumen realizes that they are in paradise every moment, in the best conditions for a happy life, but still remains unhappy. The person in the process of catechism realizes that the problem is not outside them (outside them (their “I”) is Paradise, the Kingdom of God), but within them! No one and nothing is the cause of my unhappiness and infernal suffering; the evil is not outside me (outside me – all is good – the Kingdom of God, God, God’s Love-Mercy-Provision), but within me – I am dead, godless, sinful; I am in hell, and this hell is within me, not outside of me (my “I”); outside of me – God-Love, Bliss. (We repeat these simple truths thousands of times because the carnal mind does not want to accept them, finds it very hard to do so, very quickly a person forgets that “all is good,” that God is Love, that they are in Paradise every moment, in the best conditions for bliss, happiness…). When the catechumen realizes that the evil, hell, death is not outside them, but within them (“By the law (keeping the commandments of God, fighting passions, nurturing virtues) sin is known,” but not healed by it; sin (godlessness, lack of spirituality) is healed only by the Savior Lord Jesus Christ!) – then they are left to humble and merciful heart day and night to pray to God for salvation from hell (“Keep your mind in hell, but do not despair”).
In this world, everyone is unhappy (only Christians, citizens of the Kingdom of God, Spirit-bearers, are happy), and those who try to change the world (“everything is good,” Paradise, the Kingdom of God) instead of changing themselves are doubly unhappy. This is why they judge everyone, constantly get angry, irritated, and dissatisfied with everything outside themselves; nothing in the world seems right or fitting. But as soon as a person looks into their own heart and honestly examines themselves, it becomes clear that the cause of all their misfortunes and sufferings (infernal passions) lies within them (and not outside them). And since they cannot save themselves, they come to the realization – “I need a Savior!” This is where Christianity begins… intensive preparation for baptism-salvation.