— What is the most unshakeable, flawless, and trustworthy hope of the true Christian?

— The hope of eternal life and eternal reward. All those who have striven in truth, according to the spirit of the Church and all the saints, have achieved its fulfillment.

— What is the most frail, most deceitful, most perishable, and most phantom-like hope?

— The hope of earthly happiness, of earthly goods: health, a long life, wealth, earthly glory, honors, pleasures, earthly victories, and various gains.

Were the saints deceived in their hope, in their struggles until the end of their lives? No. Haven't those who have accumulated earthly wealth, who have pursued earthly glory and honors, been bitterly and permanently deceived? Isn't every earthly thing like perishing smoke?

There is nothing more holy and more worthy of trust than the Church of God, than its teaching, than its services, Sacraments, and hierarchy, and there is nothing more deceitful than the world and than pleasing the world.

-Saint John of Kronstadt, On the Troubles of Today's World