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Kind and wicked hearttranslated

August 16, 2026 · 1 min read

By Fr Dimitrios Bokus

In one of his parables, Christ says that to a certain slave who owed the exorbitant sum of myrias (ten thousand) talents (millions of today's money), the debt was written off by his master. But the slave did not give an insignificant debt (one hundred dinars) to one of his colleagues. His boss then canceled the statute of limitations on the debt and imprisoned him until he paid everything up to the last minute (Matthew 11 Sunday).

The slave's master was indignant because the slave was taught nothing by his own magnanimity and goodness. He was not exemplified by his master's mercy. He characterized the slave as wicked, because he showed wickedness, and he condemned him for that very reason. "Do you see and have mercy on your servant, as I have mercy on you?" Shouldn't you also have shown mercy to your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?

The slave's mercilessness is something absurd, at the moment when he himself receives "the great mercy" from his master. Every man is a slave, God is the master and our sins are a debt. We all owe enormous debts to God, but also some debts, small or large, to each other.

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Софья Смирнова

Thank you, Father Dimitri. I especially remember how the owner called the slave “πονηρό” precisely because he did not feel sorry for his comrade after his forgiveness. It happens to me too: it’s easy to accept God’s mercy in prayer, and then at the market or in line at the clinic, you get angry at your neighbor over a trifle. I would like this “shouldn’t have mercy on you” to ring in my head more often.