On Forgiving Offenses

For any offense that may be inflicted upon us, we must not only refrain from taking revenge, but, on the contrary, must forgive from the heart—even if the heart resists—and incline it through the persuasion of God’s word: “But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, your Father (in heaven) will not forgive you your trespasses” (Matt. 6:15), and again: “Pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:44).

One must not harbor malice or hatred in one’s heart toward a neighbor who is hostile, but must strive to love him and, as much as possible, to do good to him, following the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ: “Love your enemies… do good to those who hate you” (Matt. 5:44).

And so, if we will strive with all our strength to fulfill all of this, then we can hope that in our hearts the Divine light will shine forth, illuminating the path there toward the heavenly Jerusalem. Let us emulate those beloved of God; let us emulate the meekness of David, of whom the most good and love-of-goodness Lord said: “I have found a man after My heart… who will do all My will” (Acts 13:22). This is what He says of David, who bore no malice and was kind to his enemies. And we will do nothing in revenge against our brother, lest, as the venerable Antioch says, there be an obstacle during prayer. The Law commands us to care for our enemy’s donkey: “If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him” (Exod. 23:5). God testified of Job as a man free of malice (Job 2:3); Joseph did not take revenge on his brothers who had plotted evil against him; Abel went with his brother Cain in simplicity and without suspicion. According to the testimony of God’s word, all the saints lived without malice. Jeremiah, speaking with God, says of Israel which persecuted him: “Should evil be repaid for good?… Remember how I stood before You to speak good for them” (Jer. 18:20).

God has commanded us to have enmity only against the serpent—that is, against the one who from the beginning deceived mankind and drove them out of paradise, the murderer of men, the devil. We are also commanded to wage war against the Midianites—that is, against the unclean spirits of fornication and licentiousness, who sow impure and filthy thoughts in the heart.

The summit of virtue and wisdom is to act without guile yet with discernment.

Why do we judge our brothers? Because we do not strive to know ourselves. A person who is occupied with knowing himself has no time to notice the faults of others. Judge yourself—and you will stop judging others.

Condemn the bad deed, but do not condemn the one who does it.

We must regard ourselves as the most sinful of all, forgive our neighbor every bad deed, and hate only the devil who has led him astray. It also happens that something seems to us to be done badly by another person, yet in reality, owing to the good intention of the one doing it, it is good. Moreover, the doors of repentance are open to all, and it is not known who will enter first—you who judge, or the one you are judging.

If you judge your neighbor, the venerable Antioch teaches, then together with him you yourself are condemned in the very thing for which you judge him. It is not for us to judge or condemn, but for God alone and the Great Judge, who knows our hearts and the hidden passions of our nature (Venerable Antioch, Homily 49).

And so, beloved, let us not watch for the sins of others and condemn one another, lest we hear: “The sons of men—their teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword” (Ps. 56:5).

For when the Lord leaves a man to himself, the devil is ready to grind him up as a millstone grinds a grain of wheat.