A lukewarm clergy lulls the people to sleep, leaves them in their former
condition so they won’t be upset. “Look”, they say. “By all means don’t
say that there’ll be a war, or the Second Coming, that one must prepare
oneself for death. We must not make people alarmed!”
And others speak
with a false kindness, saying: “We mustn’t expose heretics and their
delusions, so as to show our love for them.” Today’s people are
water-soluble. There’s no leaven in them. If I avoid upsetting myself to
protect my fleshly comfort then I’m indifferent to holiness! Spiritual
meekness is one thing, and softness and indifference are quite another.
Some say:
“I’m a Christian and therefore I have to be joyful and calm.”
But they’re not Christian. They’re simply indifferent. And their joy is
only a worldly joy. He in whom these worldly seeds are present is no
spiritual person. A spiritual person consists of nothing but pain. In
other words, he’s in pain at what’s going on, he’s in pain for people’s
condition. And divine comfort is bestowed upon him for his pain.
“He Who
Goes Low Goes Sure” Our goal is to live an Orthodox life, not just to
speak or write Orthodox. If the preacher has no personal experience then
his sermons won’t go to the heart, won’t change people. To think like
an Orthodox is easy, but to live an Orthodox life requires effort. Today
God tolerates what’s going on. Tolerates, so that evil people will be
unable to justify themselves. God expects patience, prayer and struggle
from us.
If you anger when you yourself are offended, your anger is
unclean. But if someone is offended in the service of holiness, that
means the zeal of God is in him. Indignation can be righteous when it’s
indignation for God’s sake. That’s the only justifiable kind of
indignation in a person. It’s unseemly to become angry in one’s own
defense.
Resisting evildoers is another matter, however, when it’s in
defense of serious spiritual matters, when our holy faith, Orthodoxy, is
concerned. Then it’s your duty. To think of others, to counter the
blasphemers in order to defend one’s neighbor — this is pure, because
carried out in love.
No comments:
Post a Comment