Conclusion

Brethren. Behold, so far as I have been able, I have shown you the way into the Kingdom of Heaven, and behold, you yourselves can now see the following:

1) No one without faith in Jesus Christ can return to God and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

2) No one, even though he believe in Jesus Christ, but if he will not act and live as Jesus Christ lived and acted on earth, can be called a disciple of Jesus Christ, and consequently cannot live with Him in heaven.

3) No one without the help of the Holy Spirit can follow Jesus Christ.

4) Whoever wishes to receive the Holy Spirit must make use of the means to it that have been granted to us by the Lord.

And I repeat once more that the way into the Kingdom of Heaven, opened to us by Jesus Christ, is the only one, and there is not, and was not, and will not be any other way besides that which Jesus Christ has shown us. And of course this way is hard and heavy, but in return it leads straight and surely to true and eternal blessedness. Hard is the way into the Kingdom of Heaven, but not only on the way itself, but even at the beginning of it, one may meet with such consolations and enjoyments as can never be found on the way of worldly life. Hard and heavy is the way into the Kingdom of Heaven, but the help of the Lord is always ready upon it: the Lord Jesus Christ is ready to help us walk along it; He grants us the Holy Spirit also, and sends His Angels to guard us upon this way, and gives us instructors and guides, and is even Himself ready, so to speak, to take us by the hand and to sustain us. Hard is the way into the Kingdom of Heaven, and bitter are the labors upon it, but whoever has not seen and not tasted the bitter cannot know the value of the sweet. Hard is the way into the Kingdom of Heaven—but suffering here on earth, we can always pray and in prayer find consolation and reinforcement, and our prayer God will always hear; whereas when we die as non-Christians, then, even if we could pray there, God will no longer hearken to us. Hard is the way into the Kingdom of Heaven: but the sufferings and torments that are eternal are incomparably greater and heavier than earthly sufferings. The sufferings of this place, even the heaviest, in comparison with the sufferings of the hell prepared for the devil and his angels, are precisely as small as a drop in comparison with the whole sea. Hard is the way to heavenly blessedness: but is the way to earthly happiness any easier? Look how they labor and sweat who gather riches and seek earthly honor and glory, and how often we sometimes willingly and with pleasure undertake labors and cares for some empty pleasure! But what then? instead of obtaining pleasure, we only lose time, spend money, ruin our health, and destroy our soul. And therefore, if we examine ourselves more attentively, it is plain that we do not go into the Kingdom of Heaven not because the way into it is hard, but because we have not for it a zealous desire and disposition, and will not take the trouble for it. Whoever zealously desires something will always seek it, notwithstanding any labors and obstacles. Of course, there is not one among us who would not wish to be in the Kingdom of Heaven; but this wish is weak, and is only an inborn desire of well-being. And true it is, there are also among us such as even labor for the Kingdom of Heaven; but how few are such as labor with all faith and devotion to God and with right self-denial! Yet how many are there among us also of such as think that, however one lives in this world, one need only repent at the end of life, and one will be in the Kingdom of Heaven…

Ah, how terribly do those err who think so! Of course, the mercies of the Lord are great and boundless; Jesus Christ brought into Paradise even the thief, who brought repentance only at his very death. But look, was it without suffering and without sorrow that the thief entered there? No! he hung upon the cross, he had before that been judged, had been shut up in prison, and perhaps had been beaten also. True, he suffered as a malefactor and a criminal. But which of us is not a transgressor of the law of God and of the laws of men? If we do not kill men, like robbers, then how many do we kill by our word, by our hardheartedness, and by our negligence concerning their good and salvation? Of course, those same great and unspeakable mercies of the Lord may be toward us also. The Lord can reckon even our last sufferings before death to us for a cleansing, for a certain struggle on the way into the Kingdom of Heaven, and especially then, when we, like the thief, at the same time bring repentance for our sins and with faith receive the last provision for the journey. But who will assure us that, when dying, we shall suffer, and that, suffering, we shall have time to repent? How many men die a sudden death and without any suffering at all! How many die without repentance and without provision for the journey!

And so, brethren, if you do not desire for yourselves eternal perdition, then you must turn your attention to your soul, we must take thought for our future lot. We know that there, beyond the grave, one thing or the other awaits all men, and there is no middle—that is, there awaits us either the Kingdom of Heaven or hell, eternal blessedness or eternal torments. There are only two different states there, beyond the grave—and likewise there are only two ways here, on earth. One way is broad, smooth, and even, easy, and many walk along it; while the other way is narrow, thorny, and difficult. And happy, a hundredfold happy, is he who walks along the narrow way: because it leads into the Kingdom of Heaven. But how few are they who walk along this way! Brethren, if we have not walked and will not walk along the difficult way, and if we die without any cleansing and repentance, then what will become of us? To whom shall we have recourse? To the Lord? But here we will not hearken to Him, and He will not hearken to us. Now, here, He is to us a most merciful Father, but there He is a just Judge. And who will defend us from His just wrath? O brethren! It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God! And so, brethren, take thought for your salvation while you still have the time that is acceptable; work and labor for your salvation while it is still day; but the night will come, and then no one can work. Go, do not put it off from day to day, and make haste into the Kingdom of Heaven while it is still possible to go; but death will come, and then it will no longer be possible to go. Go, and even if only a little, yet go into the Kingdom of Heaven: and then, even though slowly, yet you will all be nearer to it, exactly as a man going somewhere, with every step he takes, comes nearer to his goal.

Whoever wishes to follow Jesus Christ may make use also of the following counsels:

1) Do not look at other vicious men, how they live, and do not justify thyself by their example, and do not say, as many say: what is to be done! I am not the only one who lives so, and I am not the only one who does not fulfill the commandments of Christ, but almost everyone does so. But even though thou shouldst indeed know that all who live around thee, and even those very men who ought to be an example of virtue and piety, live not in a Christian manner, what profit is there to thee from this? Their perdition will not save thee. At the Dread Judgment thou wilt not be defended by the fact that thou wast not the only one who lived ill in the world. And therefore thou hast no concern with others: whether they walk along the way into the Kingdom or do not walk—thou hast no concern with this; do thou know thyself and take thought for thyself, and for those whom God has given thee to instruct. And besides, we can see a man sinning, but we can almost never see him repenting and being cleansed of his sins: and on this account we may very often be mistaken as to which of our neighbors walks along the way of Christ and which does not.

2) When thou goest along this way, then many people—and perhaps even thy very nearest and those of thy household—will mock thee: do not look at this and do not be troubled. Remember that they mocked Jesus Christ also; but He bore no enmity against them, He kept silence and prayed for them; so exactly do thou also.

3) There are many learned men who count the way into the Kingdom of Heaven, shown to us by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as not being what it ought to be, and say that even without this way one can attain the Kingdom of Heaven, and that this way is not for all, but for a few, and so forth. But if any of such men should meet with thee and seek to stop thee or to dissuade thee, then hearken not to him: and even if an Angel should come down from heaven and begin to tell thee that one need not go along the way along which Jesus Christ passed, then hearken not to him either. But neither dispute with such tempters and enemies of thine; rather pity them and pray for them.

4) When thou firmly followest Jesus Christ, then perhaps thou wilt meet also with such men as will revile thee for the sake of the word of the Lord, or slander, wrong, and despise thee: endure and bear it. Rejoice and be glad on that day when thou receivest some insult for the name of Christ, because thy reward is great in heaven.

5) When thou truly walkest along this way, then the devil himself will rise up against thee and will tempt thee with various temptations; he will instill in thee thoughts either of doubt in the very faith and in manifest truths, or even of blasphemy against holy things, and so forth. But fear him not, because the devil without God’s permission can do thee nothing, and thou hast only to pray to the Lord, and the devil will fly away from thee like an arrow.

6) It must be noted that the true Christian is not hindered by that which is counted truly profitable and just, and indeed is such. Such is, first of all, diligence in labor, which does not hinder the salvation of the soul, but even favors it. It is known that idleness is the mother of all vices; thus, for example, from what do men become drunkards? from idleness. Who becomes a thief and a robber? the idle, and so forth. And one may even affirm with certainty that whoever does nothing and occupies himself with nothing, however good he may seem, is a poor Christian and a poor citizen; and if he is not a great sinner, then it is only by a special providence of God concerning him. And therefore be diligent in labor, accustom thyself to labors; toil, work, and do all that is profitable and that is needful for thy household, and that is required by thy duty to the Sovereign and the Fatherland. If idleness is the mother of vices, then diligence in labor may be called the father of virtues. First, because whoever is diligent in labor surely has fewer sins, for the reason that he has no time not only to do evil, but even to think of evil, because he is either laboring and occupied with his duties, or occupied with his salvation and the duties of a Christian. Second, because whoever is accustomed to be diligent in labor will the more readily consent to walk along the way into the Kingdom of Heaven than one who leads an idle life; and it is easier for the diligent man to walk along the way into the Kingdom of Heaven than for the idle. So then, to be diligent in labor is profitable always and everywhere. But in order to be diligent in labor, one must train oneself and grow accustomed to labors from one’s very childhood.

7) There is yet another perfection, just as profitable as diligence in labor, to which one must train oneself and grow accustomed, one might say, even earlier than to diligence in labor. This is forbearance, or patience. Patience is always and everywhere profitable, but for the one who wishes to go into the Kingdom of Heaven, patience is the most necessary perfection: without patience one cannot take even a step on this way, because at every step one must meet with harshness, roughness, and thorns. So then, train and accustom thyself to patience, first of the body, and then of the soul also, and then it will be easier for thee to be both a hardworking member of society, and a good friend, and a good householder, and a good citizen, and a good Christian. And so, my brethren, this is all that I have been able to tell you concerning the way into the Kingdom of Heaven. I will add only this: that the man who zealously walks along the way into the Kingdom of Heaven, for every labor, for every grief, for every victory over himself and for every self-restraint, for every deed and even for every good intention and desire, will be rewarded seventy times sevenfold even yet in this life; and what awaits him there—that can neither be told nor imagined. And so, brethren, fear not and dread not to follow Jesus Christ: He is a mighty Helper; follow Him, make haste and do not delay; go, while the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven are not yet shut to you, and your Heavenly Father will still meet you afar off upon this way, will kiss you, will clothe you with the first robe, will adorn you with a ring, and will lead you into His chamber, where He Himself abides, and all the holy prophets, apostles, hierarchs, and martyrs, and all the righteous, and where you will be glad with a gladness eternal and true. But when the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven are shut to you—that is, if you die without repentance and good deeds—then, however much you may wish and however much you may strive to go there, you will not be let in. You will begin to knock at the doors and to say: “Lord, open to us! we know Thee, we are baptized in Thy name, we were called by Thy name, and we even worked miracles by it.” But Jesus Christ will say to you: “I know you not, you are not Mine; depart from Me… into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels”; “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” Matt 25:11-12, 30, 41.