Пятница

(Eph. 6, 18–24; Luke 4, 22–30) The Nazarenes marveled at the word of the Lord, but still did not believe: envy interfered, as the Lord Himself revealed. And every passion is contrary to truth and goodness, but envy is the greatest of all, for its essence consists of lies and malice; this passion is the most unjust and the most poisonous both for the one who bears it and for the one to whom it is directed. It happens to everyone on a small scale, as soon as an equal, and especially a worse one, gains the upper hand. Selfishness gets irritated, and envy begins to sharpen the heart. It’s not so painful when the road is open for yourself; but when it is blocked, and blocked by those towards whom envy has already begun, then I cannot restrain its aspirations: peace is impossible here. Envy demands the overthrow of its enemy from the mountain and will not rest until it somehow achieves this, or destroys the envier himself. Well-wishers, whose sympathetic feelings prevail over selfish ones, do not suffer from envy. This shows the way to extinguish envy and everyone tormented by it. You must hasten to arouse goodwill, especially towards the one you envy, and show it in action - the envy will immediately subside. A few repetitions of the same kind, and, with God’s help, it will completely subside. But leaving it like that will exhaust it, dry it out and drive it into the grave, when you cannot overcome yourself and force it to do good to the envied. You might be interested in: