80. Раб, обижаемый перед господином

It happens that some rude person offends a slave in front of his master. Likewise, a sinner, when he inflicts any offense on a Christian, inflicts it before the Lord God, as Omnipresent and All-Seeing. These include: 1) Adulterers who unlawfully touch the bed of another. 2) Damaging in any way the health of people. 3) Murderers who beat and kill a person. 4) Those who revile and reproach their neighbors. 5) Secretly or openly slandering their neighbors. 6) Thieves, predators and robbers who unjustly attract other people's goods to themselves. 7) Merchants who, when selling goods, deceive people, sell a bad thing for a good one, and a cheap one for an expensive one. 8) Gentlemen landowners who either brutally torture their peasants, or burden them with excessive taxes, or convince them to work for themselves beyond measure. 9) Judges who judge by bribes and not by truth. 10) Those who do not give wages to mercenaries, or give, but not in full. 11) Mercenaries who have received reasonable wages for their work, but do not want to work for it, or work, but in a crafty and hypocritical manner. 12) Bosses who do not give a certain salary to their subordinates, or give it, but not in full. 13) Anyone who treats his neighbor cunningly, craftily and hypocritically and deceives him, and somehow offends him, belongs to the same number. All such people offend Him before the Lord God. An offense done to a slave before his master also affects the master and annoys him a lot. So the insult inflicted on Christians also concerns Christ the Lord Himself, and greatly annoys Him. Just as Christ the Lord imputes the good done to Christians to Himself, according to what was said: “Just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40), so the Lord imputes to Himself the offense inflicted on Christians. A slave who suffers an offense in front of his master looks at his master and entrusts his offense to him. Likewise, a Christian, as one who is offended before the Lord, must look to Him and convey his offense to Him, as one who judges righteously, for He says: “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay” (Rom. 12:19). From this it is clear: 1) Whoever sins against man also sins against God. He who offends a person also offends the Lord. He who annoys a man also annoys the Lord. For, by offending a person, the commandment of God destroys, and offends a person, the servant of God, before his Lord. 2) How gravely such people sin, you see, Christian! It is annoying for you, and very annoying when someone offends your servant before you. You dare a Christian, a servant of Christ, to offend him before the Lord. Do you think that the Lord of all does not see you, just as you do not see Him? No! No! No one who does evil and no evil deed of his will be hidden from His all-seeing eye. Whether on the road, or in the desert, in the house or in the marketplace, privately or in public, whether you secretly or openly do evil, or in the inner parts of your heart you plot unrighteousness, He is present everywhere, everything that you do and plot, He sees, and writes in His book, and on the last day He will convict you of all this before the whole world, according to what was said: “I will reprove you and bring your sins before your face.” (Ps.49:21). Do you reproach, slander, scold and revile your neighbor? He is present here, and hears your evil word, and sees your insult. Do you slander your brother? He is here and hears your slander. Do you hit or kill your neighbor? He is not far from you, and He sees your evil deed. Do you kidnap and steal other people's property? You are stealing Him before the holy eyes. Do you lie and deceive your neighbor? His eyes see your lies. In a word, whatever you do to your neighbor, you do everything before the Lord of all. And from this you see for yourself how you annoy His Majesty and how gravely you sin. Oh, it is better, truly better, to die repeatedly than to annoy Christ the Lord, Christ, who so loved us, indecent slaves, that He did not even refuse to die for us. O man who in some way offends his neighbor! Look around, please, look around what you are doing, and to whom, and in front of Whom you are doing. Take a look before time runs out! You are called a Christian, you are marked with a cross, you go to church, you worship and pray to God, you sing “Alleluia,” and, most of all, you approach the altar and partake of the Life-giving Mysteries of Christ, you listen to the Word of God, etc. All these are, indeed, signs of Christianity. But if you offend your neighbor and do not stop sinning, beware lest, instead of a Christian, you become an enemy of Christ. Test yourself and think about how you treat your neighbor, and repent, correct yourself while there is time for repentance. “Or do you neglect the riches of God’s goodness, meekness and long-suffering, not realizing that God’s goodness leads you to repentance? But, due to your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous Judgment from God, who will reward everyone according to his deeds: to those who, by constancy in good deeds, seek glory, honor and immortality - eternal life; and to those who persist and do not submit to the truth, but indulge in unrighteousness - rage and anger. There is tribulation and distress for every soul of every man who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Greek” (Rom. 2:4–9). Translation by P. Yungerov – Editorial office of “The ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: