Today I speak to you about the most important subject in life, which is salvation: your personal salvation, the salvation of your soul on the last day, your salvation in the endless eternity… How does this salvation come to be…?

Salvation and how it comes?

Your salvation is the work of God, who came to seek and to save that which was lost.

Your salvation is the work of the great redemption. Without the salvation of your soul, there would have been no need for the Incarnation, nor for redemption, nor for the Cross…

Your salvation is also the concern of the angels and their ministry:
Those of whom the Scripture says: “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation” (Heb 1:14).

Your salvation is also the work of the apostles, the prophets, the preachers, and the clergy:
The apostles had no work except the message of salvation, proclaiming it to people, and through it the Lord was adding to the Church daily those who were being saved. They labored as ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through them, calling people to be reconciled with God… Their essential ministry was the ministry of the word. And the goal of the word was salvation, which was also the message of the priests, the preachers, and all servants of the word, as the Scripture says: “Receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls”…

Indeed, the salvation of your soul is the goal of the entire Holy Bible…
Without it, the Bible would not have been written. The purpose of the Holy Bible is not to be a historical or scientific book, nor merely a theological one, but rather a book that explains to us the way of salvation and God’s work in it…

Your salvation is also the work of the whole Church and the holy sacraments:
Everything in the Church—preaching, shepherding, and service—aims at the salvation of your soul. And every one of the seven sacraments has been established for the sake of your salvation, so that you may have a better life and a firm forgiveness in God…

Your salvation is also the work of the Holy Spirit; it is the work of grace:
It is God’s work in you, and the work of all heaven. For heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents. On the other hand, your fall and loss grieve the Spirit of God who is in you.

If this is the case, then work for this salvation with all your strength.
Place the salvation of your soul before you at all times. Care for it, for the whole world is not equal to it. As one of the fathers said: you have one soul—if you gain it, you gain everything; if you lose it, you lose everything. And the Lord said: what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?!

It is astonishing that a person becomes occupied with many concerns and forgets the salvation of his soul!! Therefore, the Lord said to Martha: “You are worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed”…

Perhaps you also are like Martha, concerned and troubled about many things, while the one thing needed for you—the salvation of your soul—has not even come to your mind!! Therefore, the Church continually directs you to this matter, saying:
Be watchful for yourself. Awake. Think about your eternity, your salvation, your destiny.

Think how to be a holy member in the Body of Christ, abiding in Him. Think how to live in God and God in you, how to have life. It is Christ, and you should have no life other than the Lord.

Think how to have one ثابت goal that you care about, and not lose yourself among concerns that do not benefit you, but may destroy you.

And everything that contradicts this one goal—salvation—keep away from it. Leave everything that hinders your salvation. Beware of neglecting so great a salvation, as the apostle said…

Salvation is not a philosophical subject, nor merely a theological or biblical topic, but rather a practical life that you live…

It is strange that this salvation which you desire has been turned by people into philosophy, into debates and discussions, books have been written about it, oppositions arose, and the salvation itself was left, while discussions remained…!

We do not want for you discussions, but a life to live. And perhaps you ask:
What is this salvation?

Salvation is to always preserve the divine image which you lost through sin and which was restored to you through redemption by the blood of Christ…

You were renewed in baptism, you fell through sin, and you wish to return through repentance. But repentance is the negative side of this salvation—that is, salvation from sin. The positive side, however, is the life of holiness and growth in it, as a son of God bearing the image of your Father.

The problem of the majority of people is that they live their entire lives struggling with sin without living in divine love, which is the mark of all who have received salvation and lived in it…

You love the Lord your God with all your heart: you love His ways, His commandments, His sacraments, His Church. You love His fellowship, speaking with Him, and abiding in Him. “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” Without this love, you cannot have salvation.

The Kingdom of God is entered only by those who loved Him… In fact, the Kingdom of God is the love of God. If you depart from love, you depart from the Kingdom. If you live in love, you live in the Kingdom…

All your struggle, all your labor, all your goal is to reach this divine love: to know God, love Him, live with Him, taste Him, and sing with the apostle:
“It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”

Therefore, you cannot reach divine love and salvation as long as you are centered around yourself, its desires and lusts. The Lord said: “Whoever follows Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross.” Thus, this self stands as an obstacle in the way of your salvation. How profound are the Lord’s words:
“He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Have you lost yourself for the sake of the Lord? Have you lost its intentions, its worldly goals, its distractions, and its immersion in the world and its ambitions? Have you lost its love for the body, the world, and the devil? Has this soul died so that it may live? Has it walked with the apostle who said: “For Your sake we are killed all day long” and “death is working in us”? Has it died with Christ so that it may live with Him?

Salvation is not a specific moment that a person lives with God and says, “I have been saved,” and dates it… Rather, salvation is a life you live, not a moment you pass through. It is your whole lifetime…

You walk with God all the way, you live with Him and in Him. God becomes your life, not just a moment of it. You abide in God and live in this abiding throughout your whole life, as a branch abides in the tree continually. You say: “For me, to live is Christ.”

God wants this salvation for you. He is able to grant it and works for it:
God wants your salvation because He desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, and because He does not desire the death of a sinner but that he should return and live.

He is able to grant you salvation because “unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it,” and because He said: “Without Me you can do nothing.” But God wants you to work with Him for this salvation. How profound is the saying of Saint Augustine: God, who created you without you, does not will to save you without you…

God wants your will to unite with His will. He does not want to save you against your will, for you are not compelled. Rather, you walk in the path of salvation by your own will. So when will your will unite with God’s will? God said: “How often I wanted… but you were not willing.” He knocks at the door; if you open, He enters. He knocked on the door of the bride in the Song, and when she refused, He turned away and passed by…

In the matter of your salvation, you must participate with God in the work, entering into the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, as the apostle Paul said about himself and Silas: “We are workers together with God”…

The Lord Jesus used to say to every sick person before healing him: “Do you want to be made well?” Therefore, you also must want. Then you will find all the power of grace working with you. But if you do not want, ask God to grant you this will. He is the One who, as the apostle said, “works in you both to will and to do.”

Hold fast to the Lord, wrestle with Him until dawn, and do not let Him go until He blesses you, grants you strength for salvation, and removes from you every sin. Say to Him: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”

But you cannot sleep while the Lord carries you asleep into the Kingdom—impossible. This is the hour to awake. The virgin who did not rise to open to the Lord was left by Him, until she rose and went about the streets seeking Him, asking about Him, enduring humiliation for His name, and praying: “Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, where you feed your flock, where you make it rest at noon”…

God wants you to work, not only for your salvation but also for the salvation of others. He wants you to labor, and He will give you the reward of your labor, as the apostle said: “Each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor”…

The apostle Paul himself labored for salvation, fought the good fight, finished the race, and finally… finally, the crown of righteousness was laid up for him. He himself said: “I labored more abundantly than they all.” And he told us: “Run in such a way that you may obtain it.” In your struggle, trust that God will strengthen you, and you will say with the apostle: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

The apostle said: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Have you crucified this self and no longer live, as Paul did? Can you say: “I have been crucified with Christ” and also “it is no longer I”?

You cannot be saved unless you ascend the cross and are nailed there. You cannot receive the joys of the Resurrection unless you pass through the sufferings of Golgotha. You must die first and be buried in order to rise in glory.

You must pass through Gethsemane, wrestle with the Lord, and let your sweat fall like drops of blood. You must carry your cross, be insulted, reviled, and scourged for Christ, and taste the sufferings of crucifixion… You suffer with Christ so that you may be glorified with Him… By this, you attain salvation.

Grace wants to save you, but this is the path that grace has chosen to save you, as the Scripture teaches: that you labor for this salvation.

Ask yourself: have I truly been crucified, or is there still something alive from the world within me—in my thoughts, senses, body, desires, and goals? Has the world died in me, or do I need to walk the path of death in order to live?

This salvation which you receive, you need to grow in it. For it is said: “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling”…

If you have received salvation and that is the end, then what is the meaning of the word “work out”?

An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – in Al-Keraza Magazine – the eighth year (issue forty-one), 14-10-1977.
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