All Generations Will Call Me Blessed: Sermons on the Mother of God

by St Philaret of Moscow

You may profess the Name of the Lord with your lips and with your faith; however, if you confessed as the holy confessors and martyrs did, amidst the horrors of persecution, while being threatened with death for your faith, your confession would not be a mere frivolous word, but it would also be a powerful deed. Then it would be clear that you confess the Name of the Lord unto salvation. But without that, who can know if the confession of his lips comes from true internal strength or from living faith? In the spring, some trees bud that will never bring fruit, for whether their roots are shallow, or they don’t have enough sap, they will wither and fade. What if your tree will only bear small and bitter fruits? What if your apparent faith, which calls itself Orthodox and may even present itself as miracle-working, is actually accompanied by a carnal and sensual lifestyle, by deeds of iniquity and unrighteousness? In that case, no matter how impressive the buds, no matter the abundance of flowers, you cannot hide the fact that the tree is not cultivated, but wild. For every tree is known by its own fruit. These are the words of the Gardener Himself.