Great Judgment at the end of the age. It will be a terrible spectacle
when many baptized Orthodox who did not bother to live the life in
Christ, for Á-°Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart
from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels
for salvation. Equally necessary is obedience to Christ after Holy
Baptism, and living life according to the Holy Spirit-inspired teaching
of the Holy Church. Without this obedience, and effort on the part of
a believer, he will not be saved, regardless of his baptism. The
Christian is running a race, which is the whole of his life, and he that
Á-°endureth to the end shall be saved.
the Á-°arenaÁ-?, as some of the Fathers have called the world in which we
live. Our only goal must be the salvation of our souls, as this is the
purpose of our life on the earth. The Holy Church teaches us
everything we need to know, and here we find the Most Holy Trinity,
and work out the salvation of our souls, with Á-°fear and tremblingÁ-?.
In any struggle, there are victories and setbacks, moments of great
joy, and times of overwhelming sadness. So it is with the Christian
life. We must pray, and keep the fasts, and attend the Holy Services,
considering them to be more important that our jobs, and as necessary
as the air we breath. We must try to learn GodÁ-?s Holy
Commandments, and follow them. When we fall down, we always
have repentance, and Holy Confession. We have the Holy Mysteries,
Jesus ChristÁ-?s very Body and Blood to nourish us, as we struggle to
acquire the mind of Christ and be worthy of the baptismal garment