So, having lost this “eye that enlightens every conscience” (Cyril of Jerusalem), his faith, a person loses all his spiritual property – and perishes. Will such a person turn to God? And if he does not turn, then he cannot accept God’s help, His grace. A person does not feel the closeness of God, he cannot understand His goodness, God again for him is only a punisher of untruth. There is no center that would bind the efforts of a person and comprehend them. “Without Me,” said the Lord, “you can do nothing.” Once faith is taken away, every meaning of life and every power to do good is taken away. “Without oil the lamp cannot burn,” without the root every tree will wither.
On the other hand, it is clear what happens if faith is lost by a person. “Faith is power for salvation and power for eternal life” (Clement of Alexandria). Chrysostom, – there is a head and a root if you keep it, then, even though you have lost everything, you will gain everything again with greater glory. Even if a person happened to fall: let him only keep his faith – the broken harmony of his soul will be restored, his disparate forces will again be gathered and rush against sin with new energy. “Faith is the mother of every good deed, and with it a person achieves the fulfillment on himself of the promise of the Lord and Savior of our Jesus Christ, according to what is written:” without faith it is impossible to please God “(Ephraim the Syrian). However, even then “the beginning of his life” (Isaac the Syrian), that “salt that keeps a person intact,” continues to be faith.
A person is gradually cleansed from sin, gradually perfected and strengthened in goodness, and ascends to the perfect age of a husband. The further life of man, as we have seen above, consists in the development of that seed of eternal life which is laid in baptism.
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