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January 20, 2026

Prologue in Sermons: January 20


Without Love for God and for One's Neighbors One Cannot Be Saved

January 20

(From the Paterikon: the question of three monks to their spiritual father concerning those who labor without mercy and without love.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

The Lord said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37–39). These words clearly show that love for God and love for one’s neighbor are inseparable from one another, and that the former is very deficient without the latter. Yet many think that even without love for their neighbors they will be saved, and that it is enough for them to prove their love for God by fasting, prayers, and other ascetic labors that concern only themselves. Such people are mistaken: whoever does not have love for his neighbor does not have love for God either, and thus he can never be saved.

Once three monks, who did not have love for their neighbors in their hearts, came to an elder experienced in the spiritual life and began to boast of their deeds. The first said, “I have learned the entire Old and New Testament by heart; what will I receive for this?” The elder replied, “You have filled the air with words, but you have gained no benefit from your labor.” After him the second stepped forward and also asked, “And I, Father, have copied all of Holy Scripture for myself!” The elder said, “You too have no benefit.” Then the third exclaimed, “And I, Father, work miracles!” “You also have no benefit,” the elder said to him as well, “for you too have driven love away from yourself.” Then, turning to them all, he said, “If you wish to be saved, have love for all and diligently practice mercy, and then you will be saved.”

Therefore, brethren, know that whoever does not have love for his neighbors does not have love for God either, and such a person will not be saved. “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’” says the beloved disciple of Christ, “and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from God: that he who loves God must also love his brother” (1 John 4:20–21). Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
 
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