Conversation about not disclosing the sins of brothers and praying for harm to enemies

“The conversation about the fact that we should not disclose the sins of our brothers and pray for harm to our enemies” (12 chapters) was delivered by St. John Chrysostom, probably in Antioch in December 386. The conversation glorifies the power of prayer: “Prayer done with zeal is light for the mind and soul, an unquenchable and constant light.” When we pray, the devil increases his attacks against us to take away this protection from us. The saint, using the example of the Old Testament righteous, shows that prayer is our great weapon. He condemns those who in prayer ask God not for the forgiveness of sins, but for the punishment of enemies: “This ... means turning the sword against ourselves.” To be inattentive in prayer and to demand punishment for enemies is equally offensive to God. The devil destroys some through negligence, and others through jealousy itself, when it is not in accordance with the commandments. *Title of the work in Greek – Περ τοῦ μὴ δημοσιεύειν τὰ ἁμαρτήματα τῶν ἀδελφῶν, μηδὲ κατεύχεσθαι τῶν ἐχθρῶν. *The title of the work in Latin is Peccata fratrum non evulganda. The Church heals souls; she does not sell her medicines; the latter retain their effectiveness, which is always the same; they act on all people of good will, but on the poor more than on the rich. - Wealth and poverty are indifferent things in themselves; they become good or bad from the use that is made of them. – The devil redoubles the fury of his attacks against us when we pray. – The power of prayer and evidence of this power. – Prayer gave the baby to Isaac, whose wife was barren. – Isaac prayed for twenty years. – Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Elizabeth, despite their natural infertility, conceived in order to prepare people to believe in the even more miraculous conception of the Virgin. – To demand punishment for our enemies is to insult God. 1. I congratulate you, beloved, for the zeal with which you flock to your father’s house. From this diligence, I confidently conclude about your mental health, because the church school is a wonderful hospital, a hospital not for bodies, but for souls. She is spiritual and heals not physical wounds, but spiritual sins; and for these wounds, sins, healing is the word. This medicine is not composed of earthly plants, but of heavenly verbs; it was not prepared by the hands of doctors, but by the mouths of prophets. That is why it is always real; It does not weaken due to the length of time, nor does it lose strength due to the persistence of illnesses. Doctors' medicines have both of these drawbacks: when they are fresh, they exert their strength, but when a lot of time has passed, they, like aged bodies, become weak; often also the persistence of diseases deprives them of their strength, because they are human medicines; but Divine healing is not like that, but even after a long time it retains all its power. From the time that Moses lived (for the Scriptures began with him), it has healed so many people and has not lost its power; and no disease has ever invalidated it. This medicine does not need to be obtained by paying silver, but whoever has a sincere desire and disposition receives it in its entirety. Therefore, both rich and poor alike use this medicine. Where money must be paid, the rich receive the benefit, but the poor often leave without receiving the benefit, because his income is not enough to purchase the medicine. And here, since there is no need to spend silver, but must show faith and desire, then whoever brought them with diligence will benefit most of all, because they (faith and desire) are the payment for medicine. Both the rich and the poor equally participate in the benefit, or better, they do not equally participate in the benefit, but often the poor person leaves having received more. Why? Because the rich man, occupied with many worries, arrogant with the pride that comes from wealth, devoted to laziness and carelessness, does not accept the medicine of listening to the Scriptures with great zeal and not with great zeal; and the poor man, free from luxury, intemperance and carelessness, spending all his time on handicrafts and righteous labors, and from this acquiring great wisdom in his soul, is more attentive and firm and listens with greater zeal to what is said, and therefore, having brought a large payment, he leaves, having received great benefit. 2. I said this not in condemnation of the rich in general, and not in praise of the poor in general, because neither wealth is evil, but evil is the bad use of wealth; neither poverty is good, but good use of poverty is good. The rich man who lived under Lazarus was punished not because he was rich, but because he was cruel and inhuman. The poor man who rested in the bosom of Abraham was praised not because he was poor, but because he bore his poverty with thanksgiving. Of the objects (listen carefully to these words, because they can impart to you sufficient wisdom, drive out every depraved thought and instill a correct judgment about things), some of the objects are good in their properties, others are on the contrary, and others are neither good nor bad, but occupy a middle place. Piety is good in its nature, wickedness is bad; virtue is good, vice is bad; and wealth and poverty in themselves are neither one nor the other, but by the will of those who use them they become one or the other. If you use wealth for deeds of philanthropy, then this object has served as a reason for you to do good; and if - for theft, covetousness and insults, then you turned its use to the opposite; but wealth is not the cause of this, but the one who used wealth to offend his neighbors. The same must be said about poverty; if you bravely endure it, thanking the Lord, then this object has served as a reason and opportunity for you to receive crowns; and if you blaspheme the Creator for it and condemn His Providence, then you have used it for evil. Just as there it is not wealth that is the cause of greed, but the one who uses wealth poorly, so here we will not accuse poverty of blasphemy, but the one who did not want to endure it prudently. Both praise and murmuring always depend on our will and disposition. Wealth is good, but not in general, but for those for whom it does not serve as sin; in the same way, poverty is bad, but not in general, but in the mouth of the wicked, when he grumbles, when he blasphemes, when he is indignant, when he accuses the Creator. 3 So, let us not condemn wealth, nor will we blame poverty in general, but those who do not want to use them well, because in themselves they are indifferent things. But, as I said (it is good to return to the previous subject), both the rich and the poor use these medicines with equal freedom and courage, and even the poor often use them with great zeal. And not only is the peculiarity of these medicines that they heal souls, that they do not deteriorate over time, that they do not lose their strength due to the persistence of the disease, that the benefits from them are offered for free, that this healing is equally accessible to both the rich and the poor, but there is also something else in them, no less than these benefits. Which one exactly? The fact that we do not disclose about those who come to this hospital. Those who come to external hospitals find many spectators of their wounds, and if the doctor does not open the wounds in advance, he does not apply medicine; but here it is not so, but, seeing many suffering people, we imperceptibly heal them. We do not bring sinners into the middle in order to thus declare their sins, but, offering a teaching common to all, we leave it to the conscience of the listeners, so that each one will draw from what is said a cure corresponding to his own wound. The word of teaching flows from the mouth of the speaker, containing in itself the condemnation of vice, the praise of virtue, the reproach of debauchery, the praise of chastity, the condemnation of pride, the praise of meekness, as if a different and varied medicine, composed of all kinds; but to take what is suitable and useful for oneself is the business of each of the listeners. The Word flows out openly, but, being introduced into the conscience of everyone, it imperceptibly produces its healing, and often even before the disease is revealed, it restores health. 4. You heard yesterday how I glorified the power of prayer, how I condemned those who pray carelessly, but I did not declare any of them. Those who realized their zeal received praise for their prayer and became even more zealous from the praise; and those who realized their negligence received admonition and abandoned their negligence; but we know neither one nor the other, and this ignorance is useful to both; I’ll tell you how it is. He who heard praise for prayer and realized his zeal would fall into pride if he had many witnesses to the praise; and now, having quietly received praise, he is far from any vanity. Likewise, the one who realized his negligence, having listened to the condemnation, became better from the condemnation, not having any of the people as a witness to admonishment; and this brought him considerable benefit. In fact, valuing the opinions of many, we, being thin, while we think that they do not know us, try to be the best; and when we become known to everyone and lose the approval that comes from obscurity, then we become more shameless and careless. And just as wounds that are open and often exposed to the influence of cold air become more cruel, so a soul that has sinned becomes more shameless if it is exposed to many of what it has sinned against. So, to prevent this from happening, our word healed you unnoticed. And so that you can be convinced that this secret healing is of great benefit, listen to what Christ says: “If your brother sins against you, go and convict him”; - he did not say: “between you and the city,” or: “between you and the people,” but: “him between you and him alone” (Matthew 18:15). Without witnesses, he says, let there be reproof, so that change for the better can easily take place. Thus, it is a great good to make an admonition that is not public; enough of conscience, enough of this incorruptible judge. It is not so much that you reproach the sinner as your own conscience - this is a more bitter accuser - and you do not know his misdeeds more accurately. Do not add wounds to wounds by denouncing the sinner, but make an admonition without witnesses. This is what we are doing now, as Paul also did, without witnesses, arranging the conviction of the sinner among the Corinthians. And listen to how it is. Therefore, he says: “Brethren, I added to myself and Apollos” (1 Cor. 4:6). It was not he himself nor Apollos who divided the people and caused a schism in the church; and meanwhile he vaguely expressed his denunciation and, covering the faces of the guilty with his and Apollos’ names, as if with some masks, gave them the opportunity to free themselves from such wickedness. And again: “So that again, when I come, my God will not disgrace me among you, and so that I will not mourn for many who have sinned before and did not repent of the uncleanness, fornication and lasciviousness that they did” (2 Cor. 12:21). Look how here he speaks vaguely about those who have sinned, so that, having made a clear reproof, he does not bring the souls of those who sinned to greater shamelessness. Therefore, just as we reprove with such caution, so I exhort you, accept correction with all diligence and pay careful attention to what is said. 5. We told you yesterday about the power of prayer. I showed how the evil devil then plots his intrigues. Since he sees that prayer brings us the greatest benefit, he especially then attacks in order to take away our protection, in order to let us go home empty-handed. And just as those in charge and those close to the leader himself, looking with hostility at those who come to him, drive them far away with sticks, not allowing them to approach, express their grief and receive mercy, so the devil, seeing those approaching the Judge, drives them far away, not with a stick, but through negligence. He knows, knows well, that if they come awake, and express their sins, and weep with a fiery soul, they will leave, having received great forgiveness - because God loves mankind; so he warns them and turns them away from the interview with God, so that they do not receive anything they need. The soldiers of the rulers drive away those who come with violence, but this one does not do violence, but deceives us and plunges us into negligence. Therefore, we are unworthy of forgiveness, voluntarily depriving ourselves of benefits. Prayer, performed with zeal, is light for the mind and soul, an unquenchable and constant light. Therefore, the devil puts thousands of unclean thoughts into our minds, and what we have never thought about, collected during prayer, pours into our souls. And just as the winds, often rushing from opposite directions, extinguish the lit fire of a lamp with their breath, so the devil, seeing the flame of prayer lit in us, brings from here and there thousands of worries and does not lag behind until he extinguishes the light. But as those who light those lamps do, so will we do. What are they doing? When they see that a strong wind is rushing, they close the hole of the lamp with their finger and block the entrance of the wind. As long as the devil attacks from without, we will be able to resist; when we open the doors of the soul to him and accept the enemy inside, we will no longer be able to resist him in the least, but, having darkened our memory on all sides, like a smoking lamp, he will leave only the lips to utter empty words. But just as they close the hole of the lamp with their finger, so we will protect our soul with our minds, we will block the entrance of the evil spirit so that it does not extinguish the light of our prayer. Do you remember both examples - the warriors and the commander and the lamp? For this purpose, we offer you examples from the objects that we handle, which are close to us, so that, leaving here and being at home, you will renew in your memory what has been said through the objects that are in our hands. Prayer is a great weapon, a great protection. 6. Did you hear yesterday how three youths, bound, crushed the power of fire, how they trampled the flame, how they surpassed the furnace and triumphed over the action of the elements? Listen again today to how the valiant and great Isaac overcame the very nature of the body through prayer. Those crushed the power of fire, and this one today broke the shackles of damaged nature. Find out how he did it. “And Isaac prayed,” says the Scripture, “to the Lord for [Rebekah] his wife, because she was barren” (Gen. 25:21). This was read to you today: yesterday there was a word about prayer, and today again proof of the power of prayer. Do you see how the grace of the Spirit arranged for today's reading to correspond to what was said yesterday? “And Isaac prayed,” says the Scripture, “to the Lord for [Rebekah] his wife, because she was barren.” First of all, we need to find out why she was infertile. Both she and her husband had a wondrous life and full of great chastity. We cannot refer to the lives of these righteous people and say that barrenness was a consequence of sins. And she was not the only one who was barren, but also his mother Sarah, who gave birth to him; and not only was his mother and wife barren, but also his daughter-in-law, Jacob’s wife, Rachel. What does this host of barrens mean? They were all righteous, they all lived virtuously, they all received approval from God, because about them He said: “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (Ex. 3:6). About them Paul says this: “Therefore God is not ashamed of them, calling Himself their God” (Heb. 11:16). Much praise was said to them in the New Testament, and much praise was given to them in the Old Testament. In all respects they were glorious and excellent, and all had barren wives and lived childless for a long time. So, when you see that a husband and wife live virtuously, when you see that they love God, are devoted to piety, and, however, suffer from childlessness, then do not think that childlessness is necessarily retribution for sins. There are many ways of God’s economy, unknown to us, and for everything we must give thanks and feel sorry only for those who live in wickedness, and not for those who do not have children. Often God does good things, but we do not know the reason for what is done. Therefore, in everything one must marvel at His wisdom and glorify His ineffable love for mankind. 7. These words can edify us morally. But it must also be said about the reason why those wives were barren. What is this reason? So that when you see the Virgin giving birth to our common Lord, you will not be an unbeliever. Thus, exercise your mind by thinking about the womb of the barren, so that after you see that the damaged and imprisoned womb is opened by the grace of God for childbearing, you will not be surprised when you hear that the Virgin has given birth; or better to say - be surprised and amazed, but do not disbelieve the miracle. When the Jew says to you, “How did the Virgin give birth?” - you tell him: “How did the barren and old woman give birth?” There were then two obstacles: advanced age and the incapacity of nature; and in the Virgin there was only one obstacle, that She was not involved in the marriage. Thus the barren one prepares the way for the Virgin. And so that you may be convinced that the barren preceded them so that they would believe in the birth of a Virgin, listen to the words of Gabriel spoken to Her. When he came and said to Her: “You will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son, and you will call His name Jesus” (Luke 1:31), then the Virgin was amazed and surprised, and said: “How will this be when I don’t know a husband?” (Luke 1:34). What about Angel? “The Holy Spirit will come upon you” (Luke 1:35). Do not demand, he says, the natural order when the event is supernatural; do not think about marriage and the diseases of birth, when this method of birth is superior to marriage. “How will this be,” She says, “when I don’t know my husband?” But the reason “this will happen” is that you do not know the husband. If You had known your husband, You would not have been worthy to serve this cause; Thus, why You do not believe, therefore believe yourself; would you not be worthy to serve this cause, not because marriage is evil, but because virginity is better; and the coming of the Lord should have been more solemn than ours, because it is Royal, and the King enters in a most solemn way. He had to both participate in birth and be different from ours. That is why both things are arranged: to be born from the womb, this is common to us; and to be born without marriage is beyond what happens to us; to be conceived and carried in the womb is human nature; and to conceive without copulation is superior to human nature. Both of these things happened so that you would know the superiority of the One who is being born and His communication with you. 8. And look what wisdom there is in what happened: neither the superiority (of His birth) damaged His similarity and affinity with us, nor did His affinity with us darken the superiority; but both were revealed in all His works, and one was completely ours with Him, and the other was different from ours. But, as I said, for this reason the barren preceded, so that they would believe the birth of a Virgin, so that She herself would be brought to faith in the gospel and the promise that she heard from the Angel, who said: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35). So, he says, You are about to give birth; don't look at the ground; action comes from heaven; this event is from the grace of the Spirit; do not ask me about the nature and laws of marriage. But since these words exceeded Her understanding, he wants to present another proof. Notice how the barren one leads Her to believe in this. Since this proof exceeded the understanding of the Virgin, listen to how he turns his speech to lower objects, guiding Her through the sensual. “Behold your relative Elizabeth, who is called barren, and she conceived a son in her old age, and she is now in her sixth month” (Luke 1:36). Do you see that the Virgin was barren? Otherwise, why did he point out to her that she was born a relative? Why did he say: “in his old age”? Why did he add: “called barren”? Obviously, through all this he led Her to faith in the gospel. For this purpose, he pointed out both age and the lack of nature; For this, he also expected the time that had passed from conception - because he did not immediately preach the gospel to Her from the very beginning, but waited until the barren woman was six months old, so that the enlargement of the womb would indicate pregnancy and would be undoubted proof of conception. And look again at the wisdom of Gabriel. He did not remind Her of Sarah, Rebecca, or Rachel, although they were barren and elderly, and what happened to them was a miracle; but these were ancient events. And what is new and recent, and what is happening in our race, usually leads us more to believe in miracles than what is ancient. That is why, leaving those, he invited Her to understand what was to be with Her from the example of Her relative Elizabeth, in order from this example to raise Her mind to Her own birth, terrible and excellent. Thus, between our birth and the Lord’s there was the birth of a barren woman, which is lower than a virgin’s, but higher than ours. That is why, through Elizabeth, the mediator, as if through some kind of bridge, he raises the mind of the Virgin from the birth of the natural to the supernatural. 9. I wanted to say more and tell you other reasons why Rebekah and Rachel were barren; but time does not allow, forcing us to rush into a speech about the power of prayer. And I said all this so that you know how Isaac’s prayer resolved his wife’s infertility, such a long prayer. “And Isaac prayed,” says the Scripture, “to the Lord for [Rebekah] his wife... and the Lord heard him” (Gen. 25:21). Do not think that he called on God and was immediately heard; he spent a lot of time in prayer to God. If you want to know exactly how much, I will tell you exactly that too. He spent twenty years praying to God. Where can you see this? From the very sequence of speech. Scripture, wanting to show the faith, patience and wisdom of the righteous, did not remain silent about this time, but also told us about it - although secretly, in order to awaken us from negligence, but still did not leave it unknown. Listen to how it secretly showed us time. “Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean, as his wife” (Gen. 25:20). Do you see how old he was when he got married? Scripture says he was forty years old when he took Rebekah. Having found out how old he was when he got married, let's then see when he became a father, and how old he was when he gave birth to Jacob; and thus we can see how long his wife remained barren, and that during all this time he prayed to God. How old was he when he gave birth to Jacob? “The first one came out red, all shaggy like leather; and they called his name Esau. Then his brother came out, holding Esau’s heel with his hand; and his name was called Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old” (Gen. 25:25–26). So, if he was forty years old when he took Rebekah, and was sixty years old when he gave birth to sons, then it is obvious that his wife remained barren for twenty years, and that during all this time Isaac prayed to God. 10. We are not ashamed and embarrassed, seeing how the righteous man waited for twenty years and did not stop praying, and after the first or second petition we ourselves often abandon prayer and become indignant? Moreover, he had great boldness before God, and, however, was not indignant at the slowness of the gift, but remained patient, and we, being burdened with a countless multitude of sins, having a bad conscience and not showing any kindness towards the Lord, if we are not heard before we express the request, we lose heart, become despondent, abandon prayer: that is why we always leave empty-handed. Which of us prayed to God for one thing for twenty years, like this righteous man, or better yet, who only prayed for twenty months? Yesterday I said that many pray carelessly, yawn, stretch, constantly turn in all directions and show every kind of disrespect for prayer; and today I found another evil joining prayers, even more destructive than that. Many, throwing themselves on their faces, striking the ground with their foreheads, shedding hot tears, sighing bitterly from the depths, stretching out their hands and showing all their zeal, use this ardor and zeal against their own salvation. They do not pray to God for their sins and do not ask for forgiveness of their sins, but they arouse all this jealousy in themselves against their enemies, doing the same as if someone, having sharpened a sword, did not use this weapon against the enemies, but struck his own neck with it. So they offer prayers not for the remission of their own sins, but for the punishment of their enemies; This is what it means to turn the sword against ourselves. And the evil one came up with this so that we would destroy ourselves in all ways, both by negligence and jealousy. Some, by their inattention to prayers, insult God, showing disrespect for Him with their negligence; and others, showing jealousy, also show it against their salvation. So-and-so, says the devil, is careless: this is enough for me so that he receives nothing; but this one is zealous and attentive: what to do? I cannot destroy his jealousy and produce negligence in him; I will arrange his destruction otherwise. How? I will make sure that he uses his zeal for lawlessness, because praying for the harm of enemies is a lawless thing. Thus, he will leave, not only having received no benefit from his jealousy, but having suffered more harm than what happened from negligence. Such are the machinations of the devil: he destroys some through negligence, and others through jealousy itself, when it is not in accordance with the commandments. 11. However, you need to listen to the very words of such a prayer in order to see that these words are characteristic of a child’s mind and an immature soul. I am ashamed, intending to express them, but it is necessary to say them, imitating this unreasonable language. What words are these? Avenge me, they say, on my enemies; show them that I also have God. Not then, man, will they know that we have God when we are indignant, angry and vexed; but only when we are humble, quiet, meek and practice all wisdom. So God said: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Do you understand that praying to God to harm enemies means insulting God? How do you say you insult God? So that He Himself said: “pray... for your enemies,” and established this Divine law (Matthew 5:44). So, when you ask the Lawgiver to violate His own laws, you ask Him to contradict Himself, and the One who forbade you to pray for harm to your enemies, you beg that He will hear you praying for harm to your enemies - then by doing this, you do not pray and do not ask, but you offend the Lawgiver and grieve Him who has to grant you the benefits that come from prayer. How, tell me, can your prayer be heard when you irritate the One who has to hear? By doing this, you throw your own salvation into the abyss and throw yourself into the abyss, defeating the enemy in the face of the King. Although you do not do this with your hands, you amaze him with words, which you do not dare to do even with slaves like yourself. Dare to do this in front of your boss: then, even if you had thousands of good deeds, you will certainly be immediately taken to death. Thus, before your superior you do not dare to offend your equal, but when doing this before God, tell me, how do you not tremble and fear, during petitions and prayers becoming so irritated, becoming furious and showing greater cruelty than the one who demanded a hundred denarii? And that you cause a greater offense than this, listen to the event itself. A man owed his master ten thousand talents; being unable to repay, he asked not to allow the debt to be paid to the master through the sale of his wife, house and children. Seeing him crying, the master took pity and forgave ten thousand talents. He went out and found another servant who owed him a hundred denarii, began to strangle him and demand the debt with great cruelty and inhumanity. Hearing about this, the master threw him into prison and the previously forgiven debt of ten thousand talents again imposed on him, and thus this man was punished for his cruelty towards a slave like himself. 12. And you, look how much more unfair and insensitive you are than this person, praying for harm to your enemies. He did not ask the master to demand, but he himself demanded one hundred denarii; and you pray to the Lord Himself for this shameless and forbidden demand. He was not in the eyes of the master, but outside, strangling a slave like himself; and you do this at the very time of prayer, standing before the King. If he, without asking the master to demand the debt and having done so after leaving him, did not receive forgiveness, then you, inciting the Lord to such forbidden torture and doing so in His eyes, tell me, what kind of punishment will you not be subject to? But your soul is inflamed and rebels at the memory of enmity, your heart is indignant, and, remembering the one who offended you, you cannot calm the excitement of your thoughts? Contrast this ardor with the memory of your sins and the fear of future punishment. Remember how guilty you yourself are before the Lord and that you must give an account to Him for all this, and this fear will certainly hold back that anger, since it is much more powerful than this passion. When you pray, remember about Gehenna, about punishment and torment - and the enemy cannot even enter your mind. Conquer your mind, humble your soul with the memory of your crimes, and anger will not be able to confuse you. But this is the cause of all evil, that we examine the sins of others with great accuracy, but overlook our own with great negligence. Meanwhile, it would be necessary to do the opposite: always keep your own sins in mind, and never think about others. If we do this, then God will be merciful to us, and we will cease to be angry with our neighbors forever, and we will never have any enemy; If we do, then we will immediately stop the hostility and receive quick forgiveness for our own sins. Truly, just as someone who bears a grudge against his neighbor does not allow him to be freed from punishment for his own sins, so those who are clean from anger will soon be clean from their sins. If we, evil and servile to anger, according to the commandment of God forgive all sins committed against us, then much more will He, the Humane-loving and Good, and Pure from all passion, forgive our sins, so that for our condescension towards our neighbor He will reward us with the forgiveness of our own sins, which may we all be worthy to receive, by the grace and love of mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever centuries. Amen. You might be interested in: