ЛОЖЬ

Just as in war a slogan is given to distinguish between friends and foes, so in the cycle of human affairs, the friends of God are distinguished by standing in truth and abstaining from lies, and liars are struck by their own tongue like a sword. Lips that know no lies and oaths soon bow to God with their prayer. If we respect a servant or friend of a non-lying person and do not refuse them their requests, how much more does God, out of favor towards the non-lying person, provide him with all the good things, because, seeing the tongue that loves the truth, pure and undefiled, He accepts his words as a treat on a platter. Lying is so bad that liars themselves hate the one who lies. Like flammable substances from the house, remove lies from your lips; like a fire in a bedroom, extinguish the false oath on your tongue. If a house catches fire, the tree and the body perish, and a false oath, igniting, destroys both soul and body in Gehenna. If I say, “Don’t swear,” you refer to anger; if I say, “give money to the poor,” you imagine poverty and feeding children. And not swearing or lying is not the same as spending money out of pocket. This virtue does not require costs. Why don't we buy it? Purple and a crown are not as fitting for a king as abstinence from lying is for a Christian. For this, he is respected by his relatives, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances. Demons are afraid of such a Christian, but the Angels love him and joyfully open the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven to him (3). Lies are powerless and easily exposed, although on the outside they are painted with many different colors. Just as those who coat walls that are close to destruction with grease cannot repair them through this grease, so people, when they tell a lie, are easily exposed (8). You might be interested in: