The Klarjeti Polycephalion (Klarjuli mravaltavi)

On the Lord’s Day, the day of the Dormition of the All-Holy Theotokos, the Gospel of Matthew, interpretation of the Gospel: “Beware of the work of malice,” the saying of the holy John of Bolnisi: “If you forgive men, God will also forgive us our sins.” Now what is it for us, beloved, not to forgive the sins of our brethren?! If again we do not forgive the sins of our brethren, hear also the second saying from the mouth of the Lord, what it says: “Neither will your Father in heaven forgive you your sins”!... Forgive the sins of our brethren, and the Lord will also forgive us our sins. And when you fast, do not be divided, like the treacherous and the Pharisees, woe, for they disfigure their faces with many kinds of drugs and show the sorrow of their face to men. Truly I tell you: that is their punishment! “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, remove sorrow, be vigilant and clothe yourself in joy, and show the purity of your mind to your Father, who is in heaven and sees the hidden things of your heart, and he will reveal everything to you openly.” “And on earth why do you labor... where the miller and the eater destroy it, and thieves also steal it.

and if your faces are in the heavens, then your hearts should be there as well. "The lamp of the body is the eye; if your eye is evil, do not look in vain, but turn your eyes so that they may not see vanity, and your whole body will be in darkness. If your eye is evil, your whole body will be in darkness." What is the brightness of the sun, or the moon, or the stars to you? "But let that light of yours shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, who is in the heavens." "No one can serve two masters." Truly, no one can serve two masters, "unless he loves one and hates the other, or obeys one and despises the other. No one can serve God and Mammon." For this reason he taught and said to us: Do not worry about yourselves, nor seek any bodily form, what we shall eat, or what we shall drink, or what we shall put on for our bodies. The holy apostle says concerning this: If we eat, let nothing be lacking to us... in that multicolored garment. "Why do you not look to the birds of the sky? For they neither sow nor reap, nor gather their treasure, and that Father of the heavens nourishes them.

But I am better than them, O beloved, for whose sake the innocent blood was shed on the cross. When such a caring one is with us in the heavens, why do you care, for He Himself said: "Who among you is the man who would care and be able to add to his own age a single cubit?" But "entrust our thought to the Lord and He will increase us" and "why do you care about your clothing? Look at the lilies..." But I tell you, that even the wise Solomon never clothed himself like one of these. As that same holy apostle testifies and says: "We brought nothing into this world. It is evident that we cannot take anything out either." "Do you know that the grass of the field, which is today, tomorrow they will cast into the fire?" For all the glory of this world God has adorned as if someone had testified, and He says: "Man's days are like grass and like the flower of the field they bloom," the wind blows upon it and its place is no longer seen at all. When this is so, O beloved, "why do you care and say: What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? ... they seek." But for us it is not fitting to seek what they seek.

It is not fitting for us to care, nor is it fitting for us to ask for what they ask; but as it is said: "Your Father in heaven knows what is needful for you all." Even before you ask, He who judges the heart and the kidneys. "But you cry out and seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and His mercy, and may all this be granted to you." "Would that there were something more to be granted than this... The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ is renewed. But we, O beloved, let us purify ourselves through prayer, fasting, and supplication, and let us all hasten to that day of the Lord, and let us all together glorify the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.