God is one, and there are no other gods besides Him. All creatures come from Him, live through Him and return to Him. All power and strength are in God; there is no power apart from Him. The power of light, water, air and stone is God’s power. An ant crawls, a fish swims and a bird flies because of God. The seed’s ability to grow, the grass’s life and a person’s life all come from Him. Every creature receives its existence from God. The Lord gives each what He wills and takes it back when He wills. If you seek the ability to do something, seek it in God, the source of life-giving strength. There is no other source apart from Him.

Do not deify the creation in place of the Creator. If you have climbed a high mountain and encountered the Lord God, why look back at a reflection in a puddle below? If someone longed to see a king and finally stood before him after great effort, why keep looking around at the king’s servants? Perhaps they are afraid to stand face to face with the king, or imagine that the king alone cannot help them.

Can anyone dare to invoke without reason or need the awe-inspiring name of the Lord God Most High? When God’s name is spoken in heaven, the heavens bow, the stars shine more brightly, the Archangels and Angels sing “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Hosts”, and the saints fall down in worship. Who, then, dares to speak the all-holy name of God without reverence and a deep longing for Him?

The Creator worked for six days and rested on the seventh. Six days are for work and daily concerns; the seventh is dedicated to God. In the Old Testament it was a day of special offering: the people gathered for prayer and sacrifices were offered as signs of gratitude, repentance and dedication to the Creator. In creating the world, the Lord entered time without leaving eternity. The seventh day points to this mystery: life is not exhausted by earthly work, and its final purpose is communion with God. In the New Testament, this commandment finds its fulfilment in Sunday, the day of Christ’s Resurrection. It is the central day of Christian life,
when the Church gathers to celebrate the Divine Liturgy. In the Liturgy we offer God not animal sacrifices but ourselves: our life, work and prayer,
and receive the greatest gift — Communion in the Body and Blood of Christ. Christians therefore keep this day not merely as a day off, but as a meeting with God,
a day of the Eucharist around which the whole life of the Church is ordered.

Before you knew the Lord God, your parents knew Him. This alone calls for respect and gratitude. Honour all who came before you in recognising the highest good in this world.

God breathed life into every living creature. Life is the most precious gift He has given. Whoever attacks life on earth attacks this precious gift. Each of us is a temporary bearer and guardian of life that belongs to God. We have no right to take away this life, entrusted to us by Him, either from ourselves or from others.

Do not enter into an unlawful sexual relationship. In this, the teaching observes, even animals can be more obedient to God than many people.

Do not wrong your neighbour by disregarding their right to their property. Do not act like a fox or a mouse if you consider yourself wiser than they are. A fox steals without knowing a law against theft, and a mouse gnaws its way into a store without understanding the harm it causes. They know their own need but not another’s loss. You have been given understanding. Your gain must remain lawful and must not come at your neighbour’s expense.

Do not lie about yourself or others. When you lie about yourself, you know that you are lying. When you slander another person, that person knows you are speaking falsely about them.

As soon as you covet what belongs to another, sin has begun. The question is whether you will come to your senses or continue down the slope on which that desire leads you. Desire is the seed of sin; the sinful act is the harvest of the seed that has been sown and grown.

 From the writings of St Nikolai of Serbia