111.

A condemned man needs an advocate

You see one who is at fault before a monarch, and
due to be sentenced to death according to the law. Having
no hope at all, he turns to the monarch’s beloved friend,
entrusts himself to his intercession, and hopes thus to
receive mercy from the monarch. And as he hoped, he does
receive mercy from him through his advocate. These things
follow in the one who received mercy: (1.) consolation and
joy in the heart; (2.) gratitude and love for his benefactor;
(3.) hope in his benefactor, who is so strong and merciful;
(4.) fear of offending or angering him, and thus falling away
from his mercy. Note, O beloved Christian, what the sons of
this world do when they want to be delivered from a
temporal misfortune, and to receive temporal mercy from
people like themselves.
From this occasion, O Christian, we learn what is the
holy Gospel faith, the faith that true Christians have in our
Lord Jesus Christ. All of us, that is the entire human race,
have sinned before God our King, according to the
Scriptures: all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God
[Rom. 3:23] and every mouth was stopped, and all the world was
guilty before God. [Rom. 3:19] Therefore, we were subject to
eternal condemnation and eternal punishment for our guilt
according to the law of God’s changeless righteousness. But
the goodness of God, arranging all things in Wisdom,
devised the way of salvation for us in a wondrous manner.
The Son of God became man for the sake of men by the
goodwill of His heavenly Father, and made satisfaction to
God’s righteousness by His death instead of us, and thus

1
became the Mediator between the righteous God and us
sinners.
If one entrusts himself to this almighty and merciful
Advocate, and gives and signs over his name and heart to
Him, he receives mercy from God, is freed from sin and
from the punishment following sin, and is counted
righteous as if he had done no sin at all. For he is clothed in
the righteousness of Christ as in a royal crimson robe, which
Christ has earned by His guiltless death and suffering for
those who believe in His name, and thus he is pure,
righteous, and holy before the most pure eyes of God. The
divinely wise Paul speaks of this in the name of all the
faithful: Christ of God is made unto us wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. [1 Cor. 1:30]
He receives this great and unfathomable mercy from God
freely, by faith alone, without any of his own merits, but only
by the merits of Christ. For what can one earn who sinned
and has been righteously condemned, except wrath and the
curse?
Therefore, these things invariably follow in the one
who thus heartily believes in Christ and feels such mercy
from God in his heart: (1.) Consolation and joy, for there is
no faith without them. How can he not be consoled and
rejoice, when he had been subject to the eternal wrath of
God and condemnation, yet received such mercy freely from
Him? (2.) Gratitude and fervent love. For how can he not be
grateful to such a Benefactor, and how can he not love such
great goodness? (3.) Humility. For he is made worthy of
such mercy from God not by his own worthiness, but only
by God’s goodness and by the merits of the merciful
Advocate. (4.) The fear of God, that he may not anger God

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again and so be deprived of His mercy. (5.) Prayer, that God
may keep him in His grace, and by His grace protect him
from sin, the devil, and other things. (6.) Great reverence for
Christ’s salvific providence, incarnation, suffering, and
death. For it is by these things alone that he was delivered
from great misfortune and made worthy of God’s great
mercy. (7.) Unshakable hope of eternal life, for He that spared
not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He
not with Him also freely give us all things? [Rom. 8:32]
Thus the faithful soul meditates together with the
apostle and concludes: if I sin again, after having received
such mercy from God and having been justified freely, will
I lose that justification again? The holy apostle John answers
such a soul: if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins:
and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. [1
John 2:1-2] That is: the one who sinned should not despair,
but should immediately turn back and seek after the
merciful Advocate Jesus Christ, acknowledge his own sin
with humility, and ask Him for forgiveness and mercy, that
He may receive him once again into the company of His
faithful. For His compassions are not diminished, and the
doors of His mercifulness open to those who repent and
knock.
However, we must guard ourselves from sin
extremely, even though there is such mercy from God
toward sinners, so that we may not sin against God’s mercy
and come to know His righteousness instead of mercy.
Without a doubt, God is merciful, but He is also righteous.
If one does not stop sinning while having confidence in
God’s mercy, he should beware of feeling God’s righteous

3
judgement against him. For God is not mocked. [Gal. 6:7]
Thence we conclude that if one does not have the fruits of
faith, that is good works, or worse yet, has evil works and a
fearless life that is contrary to the law of God, he has no true
and heartyi faith, but only a verbal, false, and delusional
faith, even if he preaches and teaches the faith. The mouths
of a great many Christians are filled with such a faith,
especially in today’s age. They confess and preach God with
their mouths, but have godlessness in the heart and in works
they deny Him. [Titus 1:16]

112. An image of Christ crucified

You see an image of Christ crucified on the tree of
the cross. O Christian, here you have plenteous material for
learning the work of Christian piety.ii It is for this end that
the holy Church presents us this terrible and salvific sight,
so that by looking upon it we might by faith look upon
Christ crucified for our sake, and remember what we were
and what we have become by the power of the crucified
Christ. It presents us the following:
(1.) The changeless righteousness of God. Here we see
that the righteousness of God cannot be violated, but
absolutely demands that the eternal and holy law of God be
kept whole and inviolate by us, or that the lawbreaker be
duly punished.
(2.) The grievousness of sin and the wrath of God against
our sins. A man can sin easily, but he will be cleansing his
sin in the fire of Gehenna through all eternity, if he is not
cleansed from it here by repentance and faith in Christ. Sin
is grievous, for no one could take it away from us except the
guiltless Christ, the Son of God. The wrath of God against

4
sin is implacable. To propitiate Him, it was necessary for
Christ the Son of God to die for us and to appease the
righteousness of God for us, which we had provoked by our
sins. No one could have done this, except Him. Learn from
this, O Christian, to comprehend the wrath of God against
sins, that Christ the Son of God, the guiltless One, was so
terribly tormented for our sins, as you hear in the Gospel
story and see in the images of Christ’s crucifixion and the
rest of His salvific passion, and so flee from sin. And if you
are in some sin, strive to cease from it so that you may not
fall under the eternal judgement and wrath of God, and
suffer for all your sins in the fire of Gehenna without relief.
From the terrible suffering of Christ, learn what great wrath
of God will be kindled against unrepentant sinners, who
despised such grace from God and did not want to repent,
forsake their sins, and turn to God; and even more so
against those who confess God, hear His law, and know His
will, but deny Him by their deeds. Words cannot describe,
nor can the mind comprehend that calamity, O beloved
Christian! Unspeakable and unfathomable mercy of God
appeared to us, that He did not spare His Only-begotten
Son for the sake of our salvation, but this mercy will turn
into terrible wrath for those who did not want to receive
that mercy and use it for their salvation: God is not mocked,
as the apostle teaches. Christ, Who is Himself God and the
Son of God, in His flesh was so greatly mocked, ridiculed,
dishonored, wounded, and tormented for our sins that it is
terrible even to think of it. Then how greatly will those who
have despised the great work of His providence be
tormented for their sins in the fire of Gehenna, for the sins
by which they provoked God’s righteousness! God is

5
merciful, and His mercy is preached everywhere in the holy
Scriptures, but only for those who repent and turn from
their sins to Him. The unrepentant inevitably come to know
His righteousness and His righteous wrath against them.
And the more one sins, the more he will come to know the
wrath of God, according to the veritable teaching of the
apostle: after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up
unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the
righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man
according to his deeds. [Rom. 2:5-6]
(3.) This sight presents us the immeasurable
goodness of God, and His incomparable mercy toward us.
For the sake of our salvation, He did not spare His Only-
begotten Son but gave Him over unto death. Having sinned,
we could not save ourselves; could not, by any power, make
satisfaction to the righteousness of God that was provoked
by our sins; could not cleanse our own sins and justify
ourselves. Therefore He sent His Son into the world for this
great work, so that believing in Him, we might be cleansed
from our sins by His grace, and so would receive the
salvation that we lost in Adam. For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. [John 3:16]
Looking up at the image of Christ’s crucifixion, O Christian,
remember the heavenly Father’s unfathomable goodness
and love for man, and thank Him from a pure heart for His
great providenceiii for us. Also look up by faith at the
crucified Christ, risen and sitting at the right hand of the
Father, and ask Him for healing of your wounds of sin, as
the Israelites once looked at the serpent that was lifted up in
the desert, and were healed from serpents’ bites. And as

6
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish, but have eternal life. [John 3:14-15] Draw cooling
water thence for your sorrowful heart, crushed by the
conscience and the fear of sin. If God did not spare His own
Son for the sake of our salvation, will He not spare us and
have mercy on us who have sinned and repented, and are
asking forgiveness for His sake? Fortify your faith by this,
and hope in the mercy of God without a doubt, if you are
truly repenting and have turned away from your sins.
(4.) O Christian, in the crucified Christ we see the
immeasurable Wisdom of God: for she devised the way for
our salvation where it seemed that no salvation could ever
be. Without fail, man who had sinned against the eternal God
had to be punished eternally, by the strength of the
righteousness of God. But the Wisdom of God devised such
a means that the righteousness of God received its
satisfaction, and His mercy was fulfilled toward the sinful
man. Christ the guiltless Son of God, God in the flesh,
suffered and died for sinners. Thus, He made satisfaction
for them to the righteousness of God that had been
provoked, and thus also the door to God’s compassion was
opened for sinners. The righteousness of God was satisfied
by this most holy sacrifice, and His mercy was enabled to
act for the salvation of men. The sinful man is being saved
by God’s grace and mercy, and the righteousness of God
remains changeless. Thus, the righteousness of God and His
mercy were both fulfilled by the Wisdom of God in Christ’s
suffering and crucifixion. By the forbidden tree the curse was
placed on us, [Gen. 3] and by the tree of the cross the curse
was removed from us and the blessing was given to us. [Gal.

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3:13-14] By the wounds of Christ we are all healed, [1 Pet.
2:24] and we were revived by His death. We were consoled
by His affliction, and we received glory by His dishonor.
Our suffering was taken away by His suffering, and our
death was slain by His death. Our debts were erased by His
blood, and we were justified by His perfect righteousness.
Thus, everything is possible to our almighty, Wise, and
good God. O Lord, Who art blessed unto the ages, glory to
Thee!
(5.) In this salvific image, O beloved Christian, we
see the voluntary obedience of the Son of God for our sake,
His deepest humility, greatest patience, and meekness. For
our sake, He voluntarily deigned to be obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. The Lord of glory voluntarily
humbled Himself so greatly for our sake, that there can be
no greater humility. He voluntarily endured such dishonor
and suffering for our sake, that there can be no greater. He
not only endured it, but even prayed for His enemies:
Father, forgive them. [Luke 23:34] He did all this out of love
for His heavenly Father and for us, His vile servants, that
He might propitiate Him, provoked and grieved by our
sins, by His voluntary suffering; bring us, who had provoked
and grieved Him, into His mercy; make satisfaction to His
righteousness for us and earn mercy for us; destroy our
curse and give us blessing. Thus He became the Mediator
between the wrathful God and us who had angered Him.
From His obedience, humility, patience, and meekness we
must also learn diligent obedience, humility, patience, and
meekness, if we do not want to bear our Christian name in
vain and if we want to be Christ’s. [Gal. 5:22-26]

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iThat is faith which is from the heart, “For with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness.” [Rom. 10:10]

ii
His cell attendant Ivan Efimov records the following about a
most remarkable vision the Saint had of the crucified Lord: “In
1770, during the time when he was working on the composition of On
True Christianity, he had the following vision. He had great love for
the passion of our Savior, and not only by mental contemplation, but he
had almost all His holy passion depicted in pictures. He was meditating
on the suffering of Christ the Son of God, and sitting on his bed, opposite
of which, hanging on the wall, was a picture of the Passion, depicting
Christ crucified on the cross, taken down from the cross, and laid in the
tomb. Being deep in meditation, and as if outside himself, he saw Christ
coming toward him from that picture, as if from the mount of Golgotha,
from the very cross, all wounded, tormented, and bloody. From the great
joy of such a wondrous vision, and with hearty compassion, he flung
himself down at the Savior’s feet to kiss them, and spoke these words
aloud: “Art Thou, my Savior, coming to me?” He truly felt himself to be
at the Savior’s feet. From that hour, he immersed himself even more in
the contemplation of His suffering and of the redemption of the human
race.” Translated from “Записки Ивана Ефимова” in Записки о
Святителе Тихоне Его Келейников Василия Ивановича
Чеботарева и Ивана Ефимова. Volume V of The Works of St.
Tikhon (Moscow: Synodal Press, 1889 in Russian), 23-24.

Here by “providence” the Saint means that God provided the

iii

remedy for our salvation in the sacrifice of His Son.