Chrysostom
Beloved Servant
The affliction you describe is heavy, and the plots against you are many. But what are these in the end? The enemy can do nought but frighten, and this frightening is what befalls us from our enemies. For when the persecutors prevail not over the persecuted, the plotters over the objects of their plots, will it not be self-evident that their power is nought, and their part is weak? This comes from God. So be not affrighted, but rather despise them heartily, for by this you make evident their destruction and your salvation.
Yet I would not have you ignorant of a snare that lies hidden in your very prayer. You pray that God remove them, that the harassment cease, that they leave you alone completely. The desire for peace is natural, but see to it that the heat of this affliction does not cause your tongue to speak words that stop your own mouth before the Judge. For if in praying you ask for their removal as you would strike down an enemy, you cut off boldness from your tongue, because you have angered the Judge at the very outset, asking things at variance with the character of prayer.
Consider the Subject of the Sacrifice: He was sacrificed for enemies. Christ continually expendeth many words about gentleness and meekness, and teacheth it by His actions. Those who called Him a demoniac, who desired to kill Him, who cast stones at Him, the same surrounded Him, and not even in this case did He reject them, but answered with great gentleness. For He has presented to you examples in all things: if you lament, weep calmly as He; if you fall into plots and sorrows, treat these too as Christ. He had plots laid against Him, and was in sorrow, saying, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death,” yet He observed the limits in suffering and in agony.
When you ask, “Strike down my enemy as Thou overwhelmedst the chariot of Pharaoh,” do you not recognize how laughable this is when uttered without passion? But how much more dangerous when uttered with the burning of a wounded soul. The enemy’s aim was to drive you back toward the occult, and you have resisted nobly. Now let not the enemy gain another victory by making your prayer itself a work of wrath rather than of freedom.
What then should you do? Recompense to no man evil for evil. Not to the believer only, but to no man, be he contaminated, or what not. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. This is the part of those who stand upright. When you do this, sleep comes fearlessly over you with perfect safety; no care is there, no lamenting. But if you find fault with another who plots against you, why make yourself liable to the same accusation? If he did amiss, how come you not to shun imitating him?
Let us then not have an enemy, and if we have, let us pray for him. Not for his return into your life if the relationships are inappropriate, nor for a feigned reconciliation where stumblingblocks would be placed before your faith. But pray that God would cancel the plots themselves, that He would blind the enemy’s purpose, that He would grant you such calm that the harassers take their own failure as proof of their destruction. When they see that with their innumerable schemes, even with demonic knowledge of your private matters, they are unable to shake you, they flee, you have seen this already when you turned to prayer.
The ground of your soul was once entangled with thorns innumerable from the new age and witchcraft. The seed of faith has been sown and has taken root, but it still needs carefulness that it come to maturity and remain uninjured. One storm of retaliation wished upon them could bring to ruin what has grown. Therefore maintain the limits Christ observed in suffering. So shall you be able to have a mouth like His mouth, and while treading the earth, show forth a tongue like to that of Him who sits on high.
Yet I would not have you ignorant of a snare that lies hidden in your very prayer. You pray that God remove them, that the harassment cease, that they leave you alone completely. The desire for peace is natural, but see to it that the heat of this affliction does not cause your tongue to speak words that stop your own mouth before the Judge. For if in praying you ask for their removal as you would strike down an enemy, you cut off boldness from your tongue, because you have angered the Judge at the very outset, asking things at variance with the character of prayer.
Consider the Subject of the Sacrifice: He was sacrificed for enemies. Christ continually expendeth many words about gentleness and meekness, and teacheth it by His actions. Those who called Him a demoniac, who desired to kill Him, who cast stones at Him, the same surrounded Him, and not even in this case did He reject them, but answered with great gentleness. For He has presented to you examples in all things: if you lament, weep calmly as He; if you fall into plots and sorrows, treat these too as Christ. He had plots laid against Him, and was in sorrow, saying, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death,” yet He observed the limits in suffering and in agony.
When you ask, “Strike down my enemy as Thou overwhelmedst the chariot of Pharaoh,” do you not recognize how laughable this is when uttered without passion? But how much more dangerous when uttered with the burning of a wounded soul. The enemy’s aim was to drive you back toward the occult, and you have resisted nobly. Now let not the enemy gain another victory by making your prayer itself a work of wrath rather than of freedom.
What then should you do? Recompense to no man evil for evil. Not to the believer only, but to no man, be he contaminated, or what not. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. This is the part of those who stand upright. When you do this, sleep comes fearlessly over you with perfect safety; no care is there, no lamenting. But if you find fault with another who plots against you, why make yourself liable to the same accusation? If he did amiss, how come you not to shun imitating him?
Let us then not have an enemy, and if we have, let us pray for him. Not for his return into your life if the relationships are inappropriate, nor for a feigned reconciliation where stumblingblocks would be placed before your faith. But pray that God would cancel the plots themselves, that He would blind the enemy’s purpose, that He would grant you such calm that the harassers take their own failure as proof of their destruction. When they see that with their innumerable schemes, even with demonic knowledge of your private matters, they are unable to shake you, they flee, you have seen this already when you turned to prayer.
The ground of your soul was once entangled with thorns innumerable from the new age and witchcraft. The seed of faith has been sown and has taken root, but it still needs carefulness that it come to maturity and remain uninjured. One storm of retaliation wished upon them could bring to ruin what has grown. Therefore maintain the limits Christ observed in suffering. So shall you be able to have a mouth like His mouth, and while treading the earth, show forth a tongue like to that of Him who sits on high.
