About meekness.

I think you all clearly know that it is proper for those who listen intelligently to the words of God to practice good morals and virtuous customs. What especially distinguishes the servants of Christ from those who do not know the truth is that they live out of kindness and make their lives worthy of piety. There is nothing unnatural if those who do not know Christ are vicious and worthless according to their custom; and let the servant of Christ be called more by his meekness of disposition than by the name given to him by his parents. God loves the human race not so much for virginity, for fasting, for contempt of property, for the willingness to stretch out his hand to those in need, but for meekness and order in morals; even the readiness to help those in need among all who love Christ comes from nowhere else but from kindness. And just as streams flow from springs, so caring for the poor (stems) from meekness of disposition. Anyone who is kind and meek is easily attracted to philanthropy, and cannot tolerate neglect of those in need, considering the poverty of others to be a misfortune for himself. Envy is the worst; and a kind and meek husband does not allow this evil disease into his soul, but, at the sight of brothers enjoying good fame, rejoices and wishes for happiness, considering the good glory of others to be good glory for himself, considering the common property of friends, rejoicing with them in good, grieving with them in sorrow. Such are the gifts of meekness, such is the life of those who live with kindness: the meek is the father of orphans, the protector of widows, the caretaker of poverty, the helper of the downtrodden, and truthful everywhere. He who lives in meekness is honored—a father to his son, and a son to his father, and a slave to his master, and nothing else helps the master so much to enjoy the favor of the slaves: when they see him rejoicing in goodness and treating everyone meekly, they highly value and are surprised, considering him more a father than a master and owner. So we, to the best of our ability, carefully examine how much good comes to the good from the meekness of their morals. The meek is kind to those who see, and kind to those who know by hearing; There is no one who, hearing that a person is praised for his meekness, would not want to look at him, greet him and constantly see him, benefiting in part from such friendship. And if some quarrel with each other over property, they rush to the good and meek, thinking that every dispute and litigation will be resolved quickly through his kindness. And if it happens that people gloat towards each other, the meekness of the judge puts them to shame, so that those easily carried away by anger and rage become meek. And if some, wanting to lead those quarreling to friendship, show themselves to be different, then respect cannot come to them - because in every matter, I think, the most convincing adviser is the one who first takes on the actions that he advises to adhere to. So, when the teacher of kindness is the first to affirm his instructions, as soon as he appears, he tames even those who are raging, and he does not need suggestions or words at all, he introduces peace before he utters anything. And just as a ray of sun, having appeared, quickly drives away the darkness, so the kind and meek quickly changes confusion and quarrel into peace and silence. It should also be noted that only about those who are peaceful in disposition does Christ say that they are sons of God (Matthew 5:9). So, why did He grant participation in His own name only to the good? Because only he who becomes the cause of friendship and peace among others imitates the Son of God in strength. He, as God and Lord of all, having appeared to us through His divine flesh, united in love the holy angels and people who were in hostility; and a good person convinces brothers, relatives and household, who are hostile to each other, to honor the laws of God and, throwing away enmity, to love each other, according to the divine command. And what is in our body is a good person in the house, church and city. Paul usually refers to the brothers as one another's body and members (Eph. 4:25); bringing to love those who are divided and quarreling confirms the word of Paul, urging everyone not to forget their members, and not to devour one another. So, this word is true - that becoming the originator of peace between brothers, bringing together and uniting those who are divided and quarreling with each other, has the same power in the church, home and city that the veins have in the body. Everyone receives this power over others when he himself is the first to live according to goodness; and one who is easily carried away by anger may seem ridiculous to many when he tries to make those who are irritated meek. What could be worse than people serving as slaves to sin? Who, seeing such a thing, does not turn away his eyes? An angry husband is unpleasant to those he meets, unpleasant to neighbors, and if he is put in need regarding money, he will not easily obtain poverty alleviators; he is the common enemy of both citizens and aliens, when he makes noise and shouts, strikes those he meets, says the possible and the impossible; Such a person's gaze becomes blurred, his face swells, his tongue goes wild, his hands easily rise to everything, he does what is characteristic of someone possessed by a demon, and another, seeing a person in a rage, may wonder whether the demon is pursuing the unfortunate person, or whether he himself was carried away into such madness. Anger is an obedient demon, spontaneous madness, lack of brains; one who is irritated is a toy of the devil, a workshop of demons, a servant worthy of their anger. Tell me, what do demons especially want people to do? Isn't it about insulting parents? To lay their wicked hands on those who gave birth? To slander God? All these are the works of those who are irritated, so that rage easily becomes enslaved to anger and the cause of wickedness. Those who betray themselves to rage cannot even quickly restrain themselves; but, just as in bad weather and a sea storm, in the absence of a helmsman, the waves, taking possession of an abandoned ship, quickly sink it, so rage, just like a thunderstorm and bad weather falling on the soul, quickly makes the one enslaved by it insane and insane. So what? (The work of) well-meaning people is to stop this disease in advance, to restrain the soul and calm the rage with the admonitions of Scripture before being carried away by anger. If animals easily yield to the spells of sorcerers, why are you surprised that the words of Christ quickly change a wild soul into a quiet and balanced one? “Let all irritation and rage,” says (the apostle), “and anger, and shouting, and slander, along with all malice, be removed from you; but be kind to one another, compassionate, forgive one another - if anyone has a reproach against anyone - just as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore imitate God” (Eph. 4:31–32, 5:1). Do you see how meek he is? Who is he called a copycat? Not angels, not archangels, but the Lord of all. Although they are the meekest and full of all virtue, Paul nevertheless called the meek competitors of God, in order by the greatness of this honor to instruct those who listen to be meek, so that everyone who is insulted or suffers something else terrible would bear reproach meekly, and would refrain from anger, as one who follows God in abstaining from anger. What exactly is God's work? He sees and hears everything from above, but there are many offenses in what is said and done on earth. There are some who have reached the point of wickedness that they even slander God when they are saddened by something in their affairs, and, looking at heaven, do not refrain from saying anything; but God endures and does not take revenge, having so much power to take vengeance on the wicked. If God punished all who sinned, very few would be saved, and there would not be enough living for burial. Therefore David says: “If You, Lord, notice iniquity, Lord! who can resist? But with You there is forgiveness” (Ps. 129:3–4). Now, in this very thing, God shows His love for mankind - that He does not punish even with justice. So, whoever wants to be like God, let him be, according to human strength, meek and humble, and let him nobly endure when he endures something terrible from strangers. “Love,” says (the Lord), “your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you and pray for those who mistreat you, that you may be like your Father, for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Luke 6:27–28; Matt. 5:44–45). So, there are many virtues befitting Christian men, but most of all meekness, because Christ calls only those who shine in it zealots of God. We should, when someone insults us, or hits us, or does something else terrible, endure everything nobly with a calm soul, thinking about the fact that meekness makes us imitators of God. And our Lord and Savior himself, being insulted, receiving blows, being nailed, crucifixion, meekly endured the madness of the Jews, and did not take revenge, the name of so much power for vengeance on the wicked, but showed His power in shaking the earth, resurrecting the dead, hiding the sun and turning day into night, and meekness and love for mankind in that he did not punish any of the wicked - so that all the wicked who raised their hands against the Lord would know that by so easily shaking the earth and commanding the sun to immediately become invisible, he could easily punish the madmen; now, since He is humble and meekly endures the madness of the wicked, He not only meekly endured those who crucify and slander, but even begged the Father not to use heavenly arrows against the wicked. So, when anger and rage come to you, enduring something terrible and unbearable, remember the meekness of Christ, and you will soon become humble and meek, deriving the greatest benefit from meekness not only for yourself, but benefiting even the enemy, and instructing (him) to be kind. When he sees that you, restraining yourself from anger, endure to the extreme, he will soon be good and kind and, throwing away his rage, will wish to become a zealot of your meekness. Thus, whoever wants to defeat those who are irritated, let him nobly endure insults and blows, and he will see a lot of change in the distraught and striking; if he, overcome by anger, tries to repel the enemy with equal (weapon) - there will never be a limit to anger and struggle, but those who are always mad and want to defeat each other with insults and blows will be carried away into limitless war and struggle, plotting against each other, imposing slander, daring to swear falsely, thinking of blaming for what they have not seen or heard, during the day, like dogs, raging and looking for the enemy, and spending most of the night thinking about some evil and preparing intrigues. Even sleep does not cleanse such people from passions, but at the thought that there is an enemy, that he is reviling and striking, they awaken during sleep, wanting mutual slaughter more than a meal; and others, intoxicated with anger, the more they receive evil from each other - hiring slanderers and presenting each other with unspeakable circumstances - the more they are incited to madness. What, as they say, drunkards endure, who are carried away by insatiable drunkenness to a stronger thirst, those who are enslaved by anger, who are carried away by immeasurable disputes to ever greater and more severe madness, endure: this one called a slave, that one the son of a harlot, this one a madman, that one a demoniac, this one a thief and an unjust one, that one full of all baseness. Then, intoxicated with anger, having grappled with each other, they are almost like animals when they beat (each other), push, bite, dissect the body, not sparing any part (of it), neither the eyes, nor the ears, nor the nose, nor the face, nor any other member, but, colliding with each other and cutting themselves apart, - and what (only) evil did they not do? - withdraw from the fight: one with an eye torn out, another with his lips, another with some other part of the body, destroying more the soul than the body, in madness, insanity, rage, in ignorance of the law of God and the Savior, who commands those who are beaten, struck and otherwise to endure everything nobly with a calm soul, and to overcome the rage of those who offend with meekness. He who does this is praised by people, and crowned by God and the Savior. Therefore, it is necessary, in view of the crown that God is preparing for the good and kind, to be steadfast and meekly to endure those who are angry. After all, it is stupid that wrestlers in gymnastic competitions, in view of empty glory and a worthless crown, endure dust, blows and wounds - but we, who are to be crowned with Christ, do not restrain ourselves from anger, do not endure everything nobly, but prefer short-lived pleasure and unfair fury to heavenly honor and good glory. And then we know that of the many and great things with which the life of the righteous was adorned, it was this, that is, a life of kindness and a meek attitude towards those who offend, that, above all else, made these men brilliant. Thanks to this, Moses, meekly enduring the Jewish madness and saving his enemies with his prayers, enjoyed heavenly honor and good glory more than others, and was called a friend of God; thanks to this, David, who spared his enemies and enemies, gained much favor and love before God. This can beautify any person, especially those in power. For the omnipotent royal power to restrain itself and make the law of God its guide in affairs is great praise and glory. Both Paul and Peter, who reached the firmament of heaven through this virtue, lived by it, shone with meekness more than other blessings, honoring those who reproached, doing good to their enemies, often saving through their prayers those who were stoned; By doing this, they knew that this was especially pleasing to God, and was honored in heaven more than other blessings. Therefore, they turned out to beautify their lives with meekness, and encourage other people to do so. Seeing also Stephen praying for his enemies during a time of danger for piety (Acts 7:60), we are equally amazed at his meekness and exploits. So, since we have so many such leaders in kindness, let us encourage ourselves and others to follow in their footsteps, and serve God with meekness, who accepts this service with greater joy than all other virtues. And the most divine Paul, intending to show the virtue of the apostle, desires to appear as a servant of Christ especially through meekness (1 Tim. 3:3; Titus 3:2); although he could say a lot if he wanted to talk about the subjects that adorn the apostle - about the expulsion of demons, the resurrection of the dead, however, having passed all this, he talks everywhere about kindness in morals, expounding and saying in what meek attitude he had towards his enemies, in order to convince us to follow in his footsteps and be kind and meek. So, it is right to follow these saints and make them an example of life for ourselves, so that, shining with all that is beautiful, we may achieve the blessings promised by our great God and Savior, through whom and with whom to the Father with the Holy Spirit be all glory, honor and power forever and ever. Amen. For Min, this conversation falls into the category of “dubia” (doubtful). Nothing is known about the author.