Вражда

...You have fallen into such a terrible temptation that you do not want to end your enmity with Christian reconciliation, despite the fact that you have simply repaid your opponent in a purely human way: for insolence with a slap in the face, and for a slap in the face you pinned him as best you could, in the full swing of a grieved heart and offended your pride. It seems that this would be enough. But no. You still want to end your enmity in a pagan way, i.e. following the example of unbelieving people who do not believe in a future life, or a future eternal bliss, or a future eternal torment, they end up in a duel, this hellish knot of two murders, or, rather, a combination of murder and suicide, because although one sometimes remains alive, both of them thought of killing and voluntarily subjected themselves to killing, mentally dying in advance. Is all this appropriate for you, an old Christian, who has practiced deeds of piety for so many years and experienced the power of the life-giving commandments of Christ, revealed to us in the Holy Gospel? Look at the Leader of the Faith and the Perfecter of our salvation, the Son of God, the King of Angels and Archangels, how He did not turn His face away from spitting and strangulation and humbly endured every kind of reproach and humiliation! We, who are called His followers and want to reign with Him in His ineffable glory, do not want to humble ourselves in a Christian way even as we have already twice as humanly repaid our opponent for his insult. What example will you set for the young with such gray hairs, if you wisely do not want to end the hostility instead of a duel with Christian reconciliation? Let's assume that he was the first to challenge you to a duel. But he, apparently, is a man of little faith, or even more than that. It is reckless to follow someone who wants to rush into the abyss and invites his interlocutor there too. I beg you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who humbled himself to the point of being a servant, 16 and suffered every kind of insult and dishonor for the sake of our salvation: you bear the insult inflicted upon you judiciously, for the sake of your salvation, without mixing anyone in here, and for no one, and for nothing. It is good to sacrifice your soul for the Lord, for the benefit of your neighbor and for your own salvation. But it is not only not good, but also reckless and worthy of all regret to sacrifice oneself for the destruction of another and for the destruction of one’s own, eternal, endless, never returning. Imitate our Redeemer, who prayed to His Father for those who crucified Him: Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34). The same can be said about your enemy: he doesn’t know what he’s doing, challenging you to mutual murder. Pray humbly and sincerely to the Lord to forgive your mistake and his ignorance. I think that shortly before the temptation that happened, you read the Holy Gospel, where in many places it speaks of forgiveness of offenses and love for enemies. Be a true follower of the Gospel, by faith and humility crushing the machinations of the invisible enemy (and not the one against whom you are hostile), who seeks the destruction of both of you through enmity, and especially through obstinacy in non-reconciliation. Turn your thoughts to the blessed villages of paradise, where all the righteous rejoice and rejoice unspeakably, of which not a single one had to receive the blessed lot without great sorrows and insults (2, part 1, pp. 112-113). You might be interested in: