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Every man finds confidence and intimacy toward God in proportion to his repentance, and this consciously and clearly, as if a friend to a friend, and he converses with Him face to face and sees Him purely with the eyes of the mind. Therefore, those who after baptism do not have with full assurance such intimacy and confidence and participation in the aforementioned good things, nor know that they have put on Christ, nor see in the light of the Spirit the light of His divinity, let them examine their own conscience. And having investigated this accurately, they will find themselves to have violated the covenants of baptism in every way, or partially, or even completely, or if not, then to have buried the talent of sanctification and adoption given to them and not to have worked it, and for this reason to have been deprived of the vision of the Master, since He is true and His gifts are irrevocable; for He said: "He who loves me will keep my commandments, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."

You have heard what the Master says: "He who loves me will keep my commandments, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." If then Christ is truth, as He Himself said of Himself: "I am," He says, "the truth," and the truth cannot lie (for it is impossible, says the Apostle, for God to lie), let no one who does not see the Lord say that this is impossible; for it is not impossible, but even very possible. For if He says: "I am the light of the world," (364) those who do not see Him are completely blind, and they have remained blind because they have not loved Him and kept His commandments. For if they had loved Him and kept His commandments, they would have been in desire to see Him and would have sought this with all their soul, and He Himself would have manifested Himself to them, He who is true, who is by nature true and is the Truth, and for this reason came into the world, that He might enlighten all who are in the world, that is, those who sit in darkness, not with some alien light, but with the light of His own glory and divinity. Therefore, let none of the faithful who do not see the Lord with the mind's eye, nor are illuminated plainly and consciously by His light, nor abide always in the contemplation of His glory and see God abiding in himself, say that this is impossible; for let him not speak these things as an unbeliever, but let each of you, beloved, having examined his own conscience, as we have said, find himself to be the cause of the deprivation of the Master and of the vision of His glory.

Let each of you therefore repent and lament for himself, whenever he sees himself in this state, that he has deprived himself of so many and so great goods, having fallen away from the glory and the vision of the King of heaven, and let him strive through repentance and confession to attain the eternal goods, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be the glory and the power with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

DISCOURSE 14 (365)

Concerning feasts and how one ought to celebrate them and of what the rites performed at the feasts are symbols, and against those who behave wantonly at them. And concerning those who receive communion worthily or unworthily and what is the difference between them; and finally, how one is united to God through communion and how one is not united.

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ἀναλογίαν τῆς μετανοίας ἀναλογοῦσαν εὑρίσκει τήν πρός Θεόν παρρησίαν καί οἰκειότητα πᾶς ἄνθρωπος, καί ταύτην γνωστῶς καί ἐναργῶς καί ὡς εἴ τις φίλος πρός φίλον, καί προσομιλεῖ αὐτῷ προσώπῳ πρός πρόσωπον καί ὁρᾷ αὐτόν νοεροῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς καθαρῶς. Οἱ οὖν μετά τό βάπτισμα τήν τοιαύτην οἰκειότητα καί παρρησίαν καί τήν τῶν εἰρημένων ἀγαθῶν μετοχήν μή ἐν πάσῃ ἔχοντες πληροφορίᾳ, μηδέ ὅτι Χριστόν ἐνδεδυμένοι εἰσί γινώσκοντες, μηδέ καθορῶσιν ἐν τῷ τοῦ Πνεύματος φωτί τό τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ φῶς, ἐγκυψάτωσαν εἰς τό συνειδός ἑαυτῶν· καί τοῦτο ἀκριβῶς ἐξερευνήσαντες, εὑρήσουσιν ἑαυτούς τάς ἐπί τοῦ βαπτίσματος συνθήκας ἐκ παντός ἀθετήσαντας ἤ μερικῶς ἤ καί καθόλου, εἰ δ᾿ οὖν, ἀλλά τό δοθέν αὐτοῖς τοῦ ἁγιασμοῦ καί τῆς υἱοθεσίας τάλαντον κατορύξαντας καί μή ὑπεξεργασαμένους αὐτό καί διά τοῦτο τῆς τοῦ ∆εσπότου θέας ἀπεστερημένους, ἐπεί ἀψευδής ἐστιν ἐκεῖνος καί ἀμεταμέλητος ἐν τοῖς χαρίσμασιν αὐτοῦ· ἔφη γάρ· «Ὁ ἀγαπῶν με τάς ἐντολάς μου τηρήσει καί ἐγώ ἀγαπήσω αὐτόν καί ἐμφανίσω αὐτῷ ἐμαυτόν».

Ἠκούσατε τί ὁ ∆εσπότης φησί· «Ὁ ἀγαπῶν με τάς ἐντολάς μου τηρήσει, κἀγώ ἀγαπήσω αὐτόν καί ἐμφανίσω αὐτῷ ἐμαυτόν». Εἰ οὖν ἀλήθειά ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός, καθώς αὐτός περί ἑαυτοῦ εἴρηκεν· «Ἐγώ εἰμι, λέγων, ἡ ἀλήθεια», ἡ ἀλήθεια δέ οὐ δύναται ψεύσασθαι (ἀδύνατον γάρ, φησίν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, Θεόν ψεύσασθαι), μηδείς τῶν μή βλεπόντων τόν Κύριον λεγέτω ὅτι ἀδύνατον τοῦτό ἐστιν· οὐκ ἀδύνατον γάρ, ἀλλά καί λίαν ἐστί δυνατόν. Εἰ γάρ ἐκεῖνος λέγει· «Ἐγώ εἰ μι τό φῶς τοῦ κόσμου», (364) οἱ μή ὁρῶντες αὐτόν τυφλοί εἰσιν ἄντικρυς, τυφλοί δέ πάντως ἔμειναν ὄντες, ἐπειδή μή ἠγάπησαν αὐτόν καί τάς αὐτοῦ ἐτήρησαν ἐντολάς. Εἰ γάρ ἠγάπησαν αὐτόν καί τάς αὐτοῦ ἐτήρησαν ἐντολάς, ἐν ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἐγένοντο ἄν τοῦ ἰδεῖν αὐτόν καί τοῦτο ἐξ ὅλης αὐτῶν ἐζήτησαν τῆς ψυχῆς καί αὐτός ἑαυτόν αὐτοῖς ἐνεφάνισεν ἄν, ὁ ἀψευδής, ὁ φύσει ἀληθής καί ἡ ἀλήθεια, καί διά τοῦτο παραγενόμενος εἰς τόν κόσμον ἵνα πάντας τούς ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, ἤγουν τούς ἐν τῷ σκότει καθημένους, φωτίσῃ οὐκ ἀλλοτρίῳ τινί φωτί, ἀλλά φωτί τῆς οἰκείας αὐτοῦ δόξης τε καί θεότητος. Μηδείς οὖν τῶν μή βλεπόντων πιστῶν νοερῶς τόν Κύριον, μηδέ τῷ φωτί αὐτοῦ τρανῶς καί γνωστῶς ἐλλαμπόμενος, μηδέ ἐν τῇ θεωρίᾳ τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ διά παντός μένων καί μένοντα βλέπων ἐν ἑαυτῷ τόν Θεόν, λεγέτω τοῦτο ἀδύνατον· μηδέ γάρ ὡς ἄπιστος καί αὐτός φθεγγέσθω ταῦτα λαλῶν, ἀλλ᾿ ἕκαστος ὑμῶν, ἀγαπητοί, τό ἑαυτοῦ συνειδός, ὡς εἴπομεν, ἐρευνήσας, αἴτιον ἑαυτόν εὑρήσει τῆς στερήσεως τοῦ ∆εσπότου καί τῆς θέας τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ.

Μετανοησάτω οὖν ἕκαστος ὑμῶν καί θρηνησάτω ἑαυτόν, ὁπότε οὕτως ἔχοντα ἴδοι, ὅτι τοσούτων καί τηλικούτων ἀγαθῶν ἑαυτόν ἀπεστέρησεν, ἐκπεσών τῆς δόξης καί τῆς θεωρίας τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν οὐρανῶν, καί σπουδασάτω διά μετανοίας καί ἐξομολογήσεως τῶν αἰωνίων ἐπιτυχεῖν ἀγαθῶν, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καί τό κράτος σύν τῷ Πατρί καί τῷ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι εἰς τούς αἰῶνας· ἀμήν.

ΛΟΓΟΣ Ι∆΄ (365)

Περί ἑορτῶν καί ὅπως χρή ἑορτάζειν καί τίνων σύμβολα τά τελούμενα ἐν ταῖς ἑορταῖς καί κατά τῶν ἐναβρυνομένων ἐν αὐταῖς. Καί περί τῶν ἀξίως ἤ ἀναξίως κοινωνούντων καί τίς ἡ ἐν τούτοις διαφορά· καί πρός τό τέλος, πῶς συνάπτεταί τις διά τῆς κοινωνίας Θεῷ καί πῶς οὐ συνάπτεται.