22. To the Lazy

Lazy people always value their labors incomparably more than industrious and honest people do, and they complain incomparably more about the burden of their work than the latter. “What good,” they usually say, “comes from my labors?” “No one works as much as I do, and what comes of it? I have worn myself out, exhausted myself, and have gained nothing for myself, barely scraping by from day to day.” This is what lazy people say—and according to their words, it seems as though everyone else, besides themselves, sits with folded hands, and that work in general is useless. But is all of this really so? Let us see. In the life of the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov we read the following about his labors: his bodily labors varied according to whether the weather was warm or cold. In cold weather it was necessary to heat the cell; the elder prepared firewood with his own hands, carried it into his hut, and warmed it. Besides this bodily labor, he voluntarily endured the cold and frost, for his clothing even in winter remained the same in which he was always seen. In summer he tended the beds in his hermitage garden. To fertilize the soil he walked on hot days to marshy places, gathered moss there, and carried it to the beds. Since he entered the low-lying places without clothing, having only a cloth around his loins, the insects stung his body fiercely, causing it to swell, turn blue in places, and cake with blood. The elder voluntarily endured these wounds. Each summer, fertilizing the soil with moss, Father Seraphim tended the beds without any outside help, sowed seeds in them, watered the soil, cleared it of useless grass unfit for food, and raised some vegetables, using them to sustain his strength (Life of the Elder Seraphim, p. 40). Beyond this, he carried stones on himself in a sack, saying: I afflict the one who afflicts me (Account of Mark, p. 40).

Was there any benefit to him from his labors? Yes, there was. By exercising his body, the labors served the elder as a remedy for the pain in his legs; with the physical exercise of his strength he entered a state of good cheer, which poured forth in the singing of sacred songs; his bodily occupations raised his spirit toward the heavenly, eternal, and divine, and through them he meditated on the wisdom and goodness of God in the creation of the world. In every object, in every task, he perceived its hidden relation to the spiritual life and drew instruction from it (Life, pp. 40–41).

What will you say, after the example given, you who have until now been saying: “No one works as much as I do,” or: “I have worn myself out, exhausted myself, and have gained nothing for myself”? You see how the saints labored and under what sufferings they labored—can your labors possibly be compared with theirs? It is clear that your labors are so insignificant in comparison with theirs that they are not worth speaking of. And consequently, what you have been saying—that “no one works as much as I do”—was false. Your words that there is no benefit to you from your labors are also unjust. There is no benefit to you not from your labors, but from your laziness; for he who labors, God’s word says, will have abundance in everything (Sir. 10:30), and he who tills the earth will increase his harvest (Sir. 20:28). And as you have heard, there is also spiritual benefit from labor. Look at the Venerable One: from his labors he gained good cheer, he was lifted in spirit toward the heavenly, he meditated on the wisdom and goodness of God in the creation of the world, and he drew instruction in the spiritual life. So, you must not murmur or complain about your labors, but learn to accept them, remembering that they are God’s work, for the Lord himself said: by the sweat of your brow you shall eat your bread, and in the fourth commandment he wrote: six days you shall labor and do all your work. And when you keep this in mind, every labor will be light and pleasant to you, your work will be productive, it will give you contentment, murmuring and faint-heartedness will vanish, and in your soul there will always be a pleasant and joyful sense. Amen.