Saint Symeon of the New Theologian
For every human being, either wise, unwise, sapient, foolish, thoughtful, unscrupulous, educated, uneducated, rich, or poor, whatever you may do in this life, whatever one may fighting for; they do not contribute in any way, in order that the soul gets well, everything is in vain and unhelpful, and they make the soul to live out of the kingdom of the heavens.
For the kingdom of the heavens only accepts those souls which are healthy, and have no illness. For every soul which carry the diseases as we mentioned above, and the appetites of the fleshly desires, the earthly and secular things, the desire of wealth, the vanity of the world, neither on its own nor by any other person can ever be healed, and to be healthy, only our Lord Jesus Christ can heal, He “who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases.”
If the souls of the people, not those of the pagans, and the atheists, could easily hate the secular desires and the fleshly appetites, and thus leave the realms of the devil (through these passions, the devil acquired the power of death), there would have been no need for the righteous, merciful, and benevolent God to be born, to be crucified, and to carried to death into the bowels of the earth, to the Hades.
No one can hate the secular and the fleshly desires, if they do not receive the divine grace, and the power of Jesus Christ.
If all Christians, all those who believe in Christ, do not wholeheartedly loathe, with the divine power of Christ, the secular and the fleshly desires, they will never be able to serve any commandment of Christ, as it is written “Lean from evil, and ask for good.”
This is why anyone who believes in Christ, the first thing to do is to ask God for strength, grace and mercy, to loathe the secular things, the appetites and the desires of the body, and work on it with all the fervor of one’s faith. From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus, as Apostle Paul says.
Those things are done according to the will of God that John the Apostle says, “if what we ask is according to the will of God, He shall give us”.
God wants people to ask for all that things that help everyone find the eternal salvation.
Well, let every man not be preoccupied, nor be diligent in the present life for anything else, except for everything that in the day of his death will keep one’s soul sound and freed from every passion, both earthly and carnal.
Therefore, it is necessary that every soul should remain healthy with no mark of illness, and then it may serve God and His divine commandments, in order to be fearless before the last judgment of Christ.
If someone cannot serve God, and His commandments, at least, on the Day of Judgement, it is necessary to keep one’s soul freed from passions, so it will not burn in hell eternally.
The fire of the hell will only those who have not cleansed their souls in this present life, and they died full of sins.
