Chrysostom
Good and Faithful Servant
When we sin willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. This is the condition of those who have broken down all resistance to dishonesty, for lying is not a light thing but a root of evils, and the love of money from which such falsehoods spring is a root of all kinds of evil.
Yet see how truth shines forth, even through what adversaries do and suffer. The very end of those who persist in lies stops the mouths of all who condemned, and suffers them not to have so much as a shadow of an excuse. You have endured wrong, perhaps wrongfully, from these people, and you pray for them. This is no small thing, for you are being taught to have a human soul and trained in all gentleness, and a great reward shall be laid up for you in not being called to account for your own offenses.
As for them, we do not even wait for others to expose their shame; they wound themselves daily, lying in unseemly fashion and stripped bare of all honor. But if they will turn, even what we said of you has been proved true, that the affliction became an occasion of gladness and progress. Whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and His truth will set free all who embrace it. Yet for those who continue to sin willfully, fiery indignation awaits, like a wild beast goaded to devour. Therefore you do well to pray that their eyes be opened, for the honor that comes from repentance is twofold: both their advance and the proof that truth does not fall short.
Yet see how truth shines forth, even through what adversaries do and suffer. The very end of those who persist in lies stops the mouths of all who condemned, and suffers them not to have so much as a shadow of an excuse. You have endured wrong, perhaps wrongfully, from these people, and you pray for them. This is no small thing, for you are being taught to have a human soul and trained in all gentleness, and a great reward shall be laid up for you in not being called to account for your own offenses.
As for them, we do not even wait for others to expose their shame; they wound themselves daily, lying in unseemly fashion and stripped bare of all honor. But if they will turn, even what we said of you has been proved true, that the affliction became an occasion of gladness and progress. Whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and His truth will set free all who embrace it. Yet for those who continue to sin willfully, fiery indignation awaits, like a wild beast goaded to devour. Therefore you do well to pray that their eyes be opened, for the honor that comes from repentance is twofold: both their advance and the proof that truth does not fall short.
