Cathedral Homilies

Concerning the conduct of purity.
How a person should conduct himself in purity,
and how he should be careful from the passions of uncleanness,
this is the will of God,
your holiness. And that you should be far
from all fornication. And that each one
of you should know to possess his vessel in purity
and in honor, and not in the passions of lust, like
the rest of the nations, those who do not know
God. And no one should overreach
and defraud his brother in this matter,
because the Lord is the avenger of all
these things, just as we also previously said
to you and testified. For God did not
call you to uncleanness, but to holiness.
Therefore, whoever defrauds, it is not a human being
he defrauds, but God, who gave
unto you His Holy Spirit. Concerning the love of the brothers,
however, you have no need for me to write to you;
for you yourselves are taught
of God that you should love one another. And you
are doing so to all the brothers who are in all
Macedonia. But I ask
of you, my brothers, that you excel,
and that you strive
to be quiet, and concerned with your own affairs,
and that you work with your own hands just as
we commanded you, so that you may behave
decently toward those outside,
and that you may have need of no one. But I desire that you know,
my brothers, that concerning those who are sleeping,
you should not be sorrowful, like the rest of the people
who have no hope. For if we believe
that Jesus died and rose,
so also God will bring with Him those who have slept in Jesus.

This, however, we say to you by the word
of our Lord, that we, those who remain
until the coming of our Lord who are alive,
shall not anticipate
those who have slept. Because the Lord Himself,
with the command and with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven,
and the dead who are in Christ shall rise first.
And then we, those who remain,
who are alive, shall be caught up with them together
in the clouds to meet our Lord in the air;
and so at all times we shall be with our Lord.
Therefore, be comforting one another
with these words. But concerning the times
and the seasons, my brothers, you have no need
for me to write to you; for you yourselves truly
know that the day of the Lord
comes like a thief in the night.
When they say that there is peace and security,
then suddenly
destruction shall rise upon them,
like labor pains upon a pregnant woman,
and they shall not escape. But you, my brothers,
should not be in darkness, so that
that day may not overtake you like a thief. For all of you
are children of light, and children of the day.
And you should not be children of the night,
nor children of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep like the rest,
but let us be awake and sober. For those
who sleep, sleep in the night,
and those who are drunk, are drunk in the night.
But we, who are children of the day,
let us be awake in our minds,
and let us put on the breastplate
of faith and of love, and let us put on the helmet
of the hope of life. Because God has not appointed us
for wrath, but for the acquisition of life
in our Lord Jesus Christ,
who died on our behalf,
that whether we are awake or whether we are asleep,
we may live together with Him. Because of this, comfort one
another, and build one another up, just as
you also do. We ask, however, of you,
my brothers, that you should know those who labor among you,
and who stand before you
in the Lord, and teach you, that you
should hold them in exceeding love.