(Death, Heaven, Purgatory, Hell)
Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults
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The fighter's handbook for the conquest of the kingdom
Maximus the Confessor, c. 580-682
The divine reading of the sacred Books reveals the counsels of the most holy God.
Thanks to reading them each of us knows what he ought to do, and learns the laws of the struggle which he has taken on in order to deserve the kingdom of Christ.
The divine reading of the holy Gospel explains to those who love it zealously what sufferings they must undergo on account of it. The Word comes down from heaven and teaches them ineffable things.
After they have heard it, they gather together among themselves in accordance with it, and in gratitude for their own salvation they offer their testimony; that is, they recite the divine Symbol of faith.
(Translation by Thomas Spidlik, Drinking from the Hidden Fountain: A Patristic Breviary, Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo, MI - Spencer, MASS, 1994)