For one who reflects on the coming of Your Imperial Majesty to this monastery, it is not difficult to find the moving cause of it.
Moved solely by piety, and kindled by fervent faith toward God and His saints, you deigned to undertake this labor.
In the hidden place of your soul, you sang that verse of David: 'How precious to me are Your friends, O God'; Ps 138:17.
We acknowledge no small condescension in this undertaking. Yet we also confess that by this condescension Your Majesty is more greatly exalted and glorified.
In this deed, as in all else, you imitate your most exalted and pious ancestors, Great Monarch.
They left posterity in doubt whether they gained immortal memory more by piety or by courage, more by courage beyond the fatherland or by wise rule within it.
Their courage in the field did not prevent them from ruling wisely and providently at home. Both together did not prevent them from performing works of piety with every reverence.
All of them sanctified this place with their sacred footsteps. I shall pass over Your Majesty's more distant predecessors, for this would require much labor.
It is enough to recall that the Great Peter, worthy to live immortally, the most precious grandfather of Your Majesty, was a special patron of this place.
The most glorious monarchs Anna and Elizabeth, Your Majesty's beloved aunts, were most zealous adorners of this monastery. From the abundant fountain of their munificence they watered the stream of Radonezh.
Emulating their piety, Your Imperial Majesty has also deigned, by your monarchical visitation, to honor this Lavra for the second time already.
For this may the Dayspring from on high visit you.
And we, listeners, having in our Monarch an example of piety, shall offer a brief discourse: how much benefit comes to every man if he diligently exercises himself in the pious work of worshiping God.
I most humbly beg you, most pious Sovereign Lady, to confirm this word by your most exalted permission.
Piety requires not only that one have true knowledge of God, but also that one render Him sincere and God-befitting honor.
One must love Him with the whole heart as a most compassionate Father, fear Him as a strict Judge who abhors vices, and place all hope in everything upon Him as a provident Caretaker.
Therefore there is no doubt that without piety it is impossible to receive the grace of God, expect His help, or hope for the Kingdom of heaven.
For 'the ungodly shall not see the glory of the Lord,' sings the Prophet; Is 26:10.
Leaving this aside, since it is very clear in itself and known to all, we shall direct our speech more to this point.
Even the affairs that pertain to this present life cannot be carried on prosperously and successfully by men without piety.
All affairs in general may be divided into public, spiritual, and civil. Let us first consider public affairs.
Public affairs are such things as plowing the land, selling, buying, hiring, working, helping, lending, and the like.
For the perfect correction of these affairs, willing zeal is needed, sincere fidelity, open honesty, labor, and diligence.
There must be no idleness, drunkenness, cunning, deceit, or negligence.
But a man who does not have the fear of God in his heart cannot accomplish these affairs prosperously and conscientiously.
In plowing he will be lazy, or excessively and paganly anxious. In selling he will be crafty. In buying he will be careless, or foolishly lavish.
In hiring he will be oppressive. In work he will be negligent. In assisting another's poverty he will be cruel and without compassion.
In lending to another he will be stingy and insensitive to his needs.
For this reason, when someone wrongs us, refuses to help us in our poverty, works negligently, or acts deceitfully, we are accustomed to say: 'Do you not fear God?'
By this we indicate that if he feared God, he would not act toward us in such a lawless manner.
Deceits, wrongs, disagreements, idleness, drunkenness, and other disorders arise chiefly from the absence of the fear of God.
The pious and God-fearing man, on the contrary, will be diligent in agriculture, but without pagan anxiety, relying more on God's providence.
In selling he will be just and without cunning. In buying he will be prudent, not having an evil and wasteful character.
In hiring he will not be oppressive. Toward another's poverty he will be compassionate and generous.
In helping another in need he will be quick and merciful. For the pious man has mercy even on his cattle.
He is eager for work without compulsion, faithful without hypocrisy, sincere without concealment, diligent and industrious in gaining his own good without envy.
Is it surprising, then, that a man zealous for God will be prosperous, while one who does not fear God will be unfortunate?
The one succeeds in all his undertakings. The other fails in everything. The one is beloved and pleasing to all. The other is avoided and despised by all.
Is it surprising that the pious man abounds in everything, is content with everything, and all day long shows mercy and lends?
But the man who does not hold to piety is poor in everything, lacking, and often compelled to beg for daily bread.
'The curse of the Lord is in the houses of the ungodly, but the courts of the righteous are blessed'; Prov 3:33.
'Possessions hastened with lawlessness are diminished, but he who gathers for himself with piety shall abound. The righteous man is generous and gives,' writes Solomon, famed for wisdom.
And Saint David, having learned this truth by his own experience, cries: 'I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.'
He further sings: 'The rich have become poor and hungry, but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing'; Ps 36:25; 33:11.
The word of God presents Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Job to us as examples of such worshipers of God.
God blessed them with every kind of wealth so greatly that, because of the multitude of their cattle, they were compelled to move their dwellings from one place to another.
So that we might not attribute this righteous enrichment of the righteous to chance, Sacred Scripture warns us.
It specifically declares that every bodily sufficiency is a blessing of God and a reward for keeping His holy law.
'If,' says the Lord God, 'you walk in My commandments, and keep My commandments and do them, then I will give you rain in its season.
The land shall yield its fruits, and the trees of the field shall give their fruit. The threshing of grain shall overtake the gathering of wine, and the gathering of wine shall overtake the sowing.
You shall eat your bread to the full'; Lev 26:3-5.
It is true that the ungodly sometimes become rich and receive good things in their life. Yet a little for the righteous is better than the great wealth of sinners.
The rich man is not the one who has much, but the one who is content with little. He is rich who lives in friendship even with poverty.
When poverty is joined with safety and peace, it must be esteemed above wealth disturbed by unrest and hourly fear.
The unrighteous are sometimes, and not rarely, gifted with wealth, but it is restless. Most often, however, they suffer every want.
The pious, on the contrary, rarely suffer want. Though sometimes, according to God's judgments unknown to us, they are tried by poverty, they are meanwhile consoled and satisfied by the quiet of a peaceful spirit.
Thus we see that piety, profitable for all things, is profitable in every public affair.
Let us consider spiritual affairs as well.
Spiritual affairs are these: to teach, to preach the word, to convert those who err, to strengthen the weak, to console the despondent, to be an example to others by one's life.
They also include celebrating the divine service with fear and reverence, and doing the work of God without negligence.
But how all this could possibly be accomplished prosperously without a pious and God-fearing spirit cannot even be understood.
Without piety, teaching will be ineffective, preaching useless, and service in God's work scandalous.
Instead of a guide there is a corrupter. Instead of a shepherd there is a hireling. Instead of a light of the Church, he becomes a blind leader.
When the clergy adorn themselves with true piety, then we see the Church in a better state.
Then the church shepherd leads the sheep wherever he wishes, and the sheep follow him everywhere willingly. Thus they fulfill the law of Christ.
If we may grieve that some shepherds are not sufficiently enlightened by learning, how much more must we grieve if some are also little zealous toward God.
Their hard soul is not deeply pierced by the fear of God.
A pious shepherd, even without extensive learning, will benefit by his example. A learned man without piety will benefit not at all.
Or what he builds by teaching, he will destroy by his bad life.
God even forbids such men to take His most pure word into their mouths.
'But to the sinner God said: Why do you declare My ordinances, and take My covenant in your' impious 'mouth? For you have hated instruction,' and so forth; Ps 49:16-17.
The Israelites, though they had harps and organs in Babylon, did not dare play them simply because they were in a foreign land.
How much more unfitting is it for a shepherd to sing God's word in the midst of the Church, when the organ of his tongue does not agree with the harps of his soul's virtues.
We have sufficient examples. Many were unlearned according to the opinion of this world, yet they shone forth as great lights of the Church.
Blessed Augustine heard that Antony of Egypt, though simple, had become so renowned by his life that all Africa could not contain his glory.
Moreover, he was counted worthy by God of the power to work miracles.
Hearing this, Augustine examined himself as a man very learned, but at that time still deficient in life.
He cried out: 'The unlearned rise up and seize heaven, while we with our learning fall down to Hades.'
And why? Because there is much learning, but little conscience.
For this reason also many were very learned according to worldly opinion, though not according to God's. Yet they ended their life to the great scandal of the Church.
Still, there is no doubt that nothing can be more precious, more beloved, or more fitting than a shepherd in whom learning is joined with piety.
'For whoever does and teaches, he shall be called great in the Kingdom of heaven'; Mt 5:19.
See, then, the very great benefit of piety even in spiritual affairs.
But let us also look at civil affairs.
Civil affairs are these: to judge, to defend the innocent, to condemn the guilty, to govern others, examining every matter for every satisfaction.
They also include firmly observing justice in everything and striving for every kind of welfare.
But I do not know how one whose soul is not restrained by piety and the fear of God can fulfill all this without wronging another.
His eyes will quickly be blinded by silver so that he does not see justice. His heart will be weighed down by gold so that he becomes insensitive to the plea of the innocent.
His hands will scarcely be restrained from seizing another's goods.
On the contrary, however inclined anyone may be toward injustice, when he brings to mind God, that impartial Judge, the strict avenger of violated justice, he trembles and comes to some feeling.
For this reason the Gospel calls that judge who paid little heed to the poor widow's plea one who 'did not fear God.'
Especially in the laborious and great rule of the state, piety and the fear of God have surpassing power and very great benefit.
There one needs a hundred eyes to examine the circumstances of every matter, and a hundred ears to hear each person's petition.
There are a thousand knots hard to untie, and countless difficulties scarcely to be overcome.
How, then, can all this be resolved? How can all these labors be borne without being weighed down, without God's special help?
If He Himself does not invisibly strengthen and make wise, it is utterly impossible.
THEOSIS