When the Lord talked with the Apostles about the
last times, He said that, then, "because of the multiplication of
lawlessness, love will grow cold in many." It would seem that this
prophecy is being fulfilled already in our days - days of mutual alienation and
coldness of relationships. This is especially noticeable now that the enemies
of Christ's faith are planting envy and ill-will in the masses, in place of
Christ's love and good will. And our Savior included envy in the category of
heavy sins. By its very essence, envy is impossible in people who are of a
Christian disposition. For, in every good family, envy is
impossible as all members of the family rejoice over (rather than envy) the
success of any one of its members. This must be the case in the
relationships of all Orthodox Christians - a family, as children of one loving
Heavenly Father. Therefore, Apostle Paul calls upon us not only to commiserate
with those who are weeping, but also to rejoice with those who are rejoicing,
as opposed to those who envy the successes of others. In order to free oneself
from feelings of envy, one must recall that one's own vanity and egoistic
competitiveness are at the basis of this sinful feeling. In their egoism,
people usually fear that they will not be recognized, will not be given their
"due," others will be placed higher than they, etc. The Christian
fears the reverse - he fears being placed higher than others and offending
them.
Together with envy, a strong enemy of good
relationships between people is evil-speaking at various times - speaking
falsely, argumentativeness, abusive speech. How strange it is: people have
become so benumbed and blind that they consider all these sins as nothing and
do not even take notice of the constant sinning in evil-speaking. But here is
what the Apostle James says of these "sins of the tongue." "See
how great a blaze a tiny spark can kindle. And the tongue is a fire, a
boundless iniquity ... an unruly member, evil, full of deadly poison..."
And again he says that "if one considers oneself to be pious but does
not bridle his tongue, he is deceiving his own heart." The Lord,
moreover, pointedly said, "By your words you shall be judged, and by
your words you shall be condemned." So dangerous are the sins
committed by the word.
The most repulsive of these sins of evil speaking
is, undoubtedly the sordid and repulsive habit of unprintable swearing - to
which so many are now subject. What a shame this is, what sordidness, what an
insult to the purity and chastity which the Lord expects of us and has
commended to us. Yet, many people think that all this is "nonsense,"
"of no consequence," forgetting about those fearsome words: "You
will be judged by your words and will be condemned by your words,"
which we have already cited. The Apostle James asks, "Can salty water
and sweet water both run from the same spring?" But we, nevertheless,
profane our lips with this repulsive swearing and imagine that fragrant words
of pure prayer to God will flow through these very same lips; and with these
profaned and dirtied lips we accept the holiest of all holy things - the most
pure Mysteries of Christ. No, "put away everything now; rage, evilness, evil-speaking, the obscenity of your
lips" - whoever has ears to listen, hear this!
In contradiction to all these sources of mutual
anger and arguments, Christianity calls us to be peace loving and forgiving of
all offenses. Again we turn to the commandments of blessedness: "Blessed
are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth ... Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the sons of God." A meek person is above all,
an unmalicious and simple person and an unwavering opponent of all egoism.
There is within him no self-satisfying or self-interest. On the contrary, he
seeks first of all what is beneficial for others, not for himself. While most
egoists usually appear as hungry wolves, outbidding one another in efforts to
seize upon the prey, snatching it away from one another, meek people yield to
everyone and help in everything. It is worthy of note that, according to the
Gospel, this line of meek behavior is the straightest and most solid; for it is
no one else but they, the meek, who will inherit the earth, even though they
pass through this life like sheep amongst wolves, according to the clear image
of our Savior.
Still more exalted is the virtue of peace-making.
And the reward for it is higher, Divine: "for
they shall be called the sons of God." The Christian peace-maker is,
by this deed, like the first "peace-maker" - the Son of God, during Whose birth the angels sang: "And on earth,
peace..." The meek person creates an atmosphere of comfort and peace
around himself and does not anger others. The
peace-maker strives to spread this atmosphere of peace and good relationships
as widely as possible, and he strives to reconcile others. Such a struggle
demands great spiritual exertion, patience and preparedness to meet cold lack
of understanding, derision, enmity and counteraction. A Christian peace-maker,
however, is always ready for all this, since he knows that every Christian
struggle of good deeds is higher and of greater value the more it encounters
difficulties and counteraction.
The Gospel virtue of long-suffering is organically
bound with meekness and peace-making, and must be a distinguishing feature of
every Christian. It is manifested most of all in the forgiveness of personal
offenses and insults, as the Savior commanded us, saying: "If anyone
strikes your right check, turn your left one to him
also." In other words, do not respond to violence with violence, but
respond to evil with good. And Apostle Paul explains: "If your enemy is
hungry, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink. Do not be overcome by evil,
but overcome evil with good." And the reverse; if a person responds to
evil with evil, then he has evidently become a prisoner of this evil and is
defeated by it (of course, we are speaking of personal offenses).
In life, we repeatedly observe that a person who
is offended by someone becomes angry and even takes revenge. But revenge is,
beyond doubt, a sin and, for a Christian, it is unacceptable. "Do not
revenge yourselves beloved," appeals Apostle
Paul. Revenge is a complete betrayal of the Christian spirit of meekness and
forgiveness and it shows the absence of Christian love in a person.
The situation is somewhat different in the matter of
anger. The Lord did not forbid it as a sin except for anger "in
vain." And the Apostle says, "Be angry and sin not," thus
indicating that anger can also be unsinful. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself was
angered by the falseness and stubbornness of the Pharisees (Mk. 3:5). Thus
anger can be naturally lawful and just. It was with such anger that St Nicholas
the Wonderworker was aroused when, at the First Ecumenical Council he struck
the blasphemous heretic Arius on the cheek. This anger came from a pure source,
fervent zealousness about God's glory. Anger is sinful when, firstly, it is
unjust and vain. This often happens when one is faced with the truth and it
strikes one's egoism and self-love. St John of Kronstadt advises us not only
not to be angry at those who offend our self-love, but to value them as
spiritual doctors who reveal the sores of our proud and vainglorious soul.
Still, anger which has a just beginning can become sinful when a person
utilizes it with an unkind heart. Then a person attunes his own heart to anger
and by this he undoubtedly sins. Speaking against this, the Apostle says: "Do
not let the sun set on your anger." Consciously thought out and
retained anger can pass over into spitefulness - which is so opposed to the
spirit of Christian love...
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