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Chapter 4Domostroi.1.4

Како любити Бога от всея душа, тако же брата своего и страх Божии имети и память смертную

The Foundation of a Godly Life

The believer is called to love God and neighbor while maintaining a constant state of readiness for death through the fear of God.

After that, love the Lord your God with all your soul, and align all your deeds, habits, and lifestyle to do what is pleasing according to His commandment. Also, love your neighbor—every person created in the image of God, which is to say, every Christian. Always keep the fear of God in your heart, along with the memory of death; always do God's will and walk by His commandments. The Lord said, "In whatever I find you, in that I will judge you"—so every Christian ought to be ready in good works, in purity, in repentance, and in every confession, always awaiting the hour of death.✦✦✦12

Read the original Latin

Посем же возлюбиши Господа Бога твоего от всея душа своея и подвигни вся твоя дела и обычаи и нравы угодная творити по заповеди Его, паки жи искреняго си возлюби всякаго человека по образу Божию созданна рекше всякаго християнина, страх Божии всегда имеи в сердцы своем, и память смертную всегда волю Божию творити, и по заповедем Его ходи рече Господь в чем тя застану в том и сужу, ино достоит всякому християнину готову быти в добрых делех в чистоте и в покоянии и во всяком исповедании всегда чающе часа смертнаго.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Deut.6.5;Matt.22.37;Mark.12.30 — And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Matt.22.37 — And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' Mark.12.30 — And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.
  2. ↩Lev.19.18;Matt.22.39 — You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. Matt.22.39 — And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
  3. ↩Gen.1.26-Gen.1.27 — Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Gen.1.27 — So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩ORV «покоянии» read as «покаянии» (repentance), the standard sense in this household-devotional context.
  2. 2 ↩«во всяком исповедании» rendered as “in every confession,” covering both the confession of faith and the practice of confession/repentance; context leans toward readiness of life before death rather than a single sacramental moment.

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