Word of Curse

The conversation “The Word on the Curse” (4 chapters) was delivered by St. John Chrysostom, probably in Antioch in 386. The reason for its writing was the formation of separate heretical societies. During mutual bickering, some of them allowed themselves to curse others. To stop the temptation, the saint gives a speech in the local church in which he says that one must not curse either the living or the dead. He reminds us that God’s commandments require love from us. A person who curses another exposes himself to destruction by being separated from Christ. St. John cites the example of the Apostle Paul, who, having great love for Christ, did not subject anyone to coercion or anathema: “Otherwise he would not have attracted so many peoples and entire cities to God; but, being subjected to humiliation, scourging, strangulation, and ridicule from everyone, he did all this, showing condescension, persuading, begging.” Heresies and ungodly dogmas must be denounced, “but people must be spared in every possible way and prayed for their salvation.” The proposed Word was composed by St. John Chrysostom regarding the separate societies formed in Antioch, one of which consisted of those devoted to Bishop Meletius (Meletians), another of those who recognized Paulinus as their bishop (Paulinian), the third of the Arians with Bishop Euzobius, and the fourth of adherents of the non-Orthodox Apollinaris of Laodicea. Since in mutual bickering sometimes some of them allowed themselves to curse others, to stop the temptation in the local church, Saint John, soon after his ordination as a presbyter in 386, pronounced this Word, the full title of which is as follows: Previously, talking with you about the knowledge of the incomprehensible God and offering many interviews about this, I proved both with the words of Scripture and with the reasoning of natural reason that perfect knowledge of the Divine is inaccessible even to the most invisible forces - to those forces that lead an immaterial and blissful life, and that we, living in constant carelessness and absent-mindedness and given over to all kinds of vices, (in vain) we strive to comprehend what is unknown to invisible beings; We fell into this sin, guided in such reasoning by considerations of our own mind and vain glory before our listeners, not defining with prudence the boundaries of our nature and not following the Divine Scripture and the Fathers, but being carried away, like a stormy stream, by the fury of our prejudice. Now, having offered you a proper conversation about the curse and showing the importance of this evil, considered insignificant, I will stop the unbridled lips and reveal to you the illness of those who use the curse, as it happens. Things have reached such a disastrous state for us that, being in extreme danger, we do not realize it, and do not overcome the most vile of passions, so that the prophetic saying has been fulfilled on us: “there is no plaster to apply, less than oil, less than obligation” (Isaiah 1.6). Where do I start talking about this evil? Is it because of the commandments of the Lord, or because of your unreasonable inattention and insensitivity? But when I talk about this, won’t some people start laughing at me, and won’t I seem frantic? Will they not cry out against me that I intend to talk about such a sad and tearful subject? What should I do? I grieve and am contrite in soul and tormented internally, seeing such insensibility when our deeds surpassed the crimes of the Jews and the wickedness of the pagans. I meet on the road people who have no intelligence, who have learned the Divine Scripture, and even who do not know anything from the Scripture, and with great shame I remain silent, seeing how they rage and talk idle, “they do not understand what they say, nor what they affirm” (1 Tim. 1.7), they ignorantly dare to teach only their own teaching and curse what they do not know, so that those who are alien to our faith They laugh at us - people who do not care about a good life, nor who have learned to do good deeds. 2. Alas, what a disaster! Alas for me! How many righteous people and prophets “desired to see what we see, but did not see, and to hear what we heard, but did not hear” (Matthew 13.17); and we turn it into a joke! Take heed to these words, I exhort you, so that we do not perish. For, if the teaching proclaimed through the angels was firm, and every crime and disobedience received a just punishment, then how can we escape it, neglecting such salvation? What, tell me, is the purpose of the gospel of grace? Why did the appearance of the Son of God in the flesh take place? Is it so that we torment and devour each other? The commandments of Christ, which are more perfect in everything than the commandments of the law, especially require love from us. The law says: “You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself” (Lev. 19.18); and in the New Testament it is commanded to die for one’s neighbor. Listen to what Christ himself says: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among the thieves, who led him astray, and laid wounds, and departed, leaving him barely alive. By chance, a certain priest came along that path, and seeing him, passed by. Likewise, the Levite, being at that place, came and saw the mimoid. A Samaritan came and came over him, and when he saw him, he was merciful; and proceeded to bind his scabs, pouring in oil and wine; Having mounted him on your cattle, bring him to the inn and lie down to him. And the next morning he went out, took out two pieces of silver, gave them to the hotel owner, and said to him: be attentive to him; and if you are dependent, when I return, I will repay you. Who is the neighbor of those three who thinks he has become a robber? He said: show mercy to him. Jesus said to him: Go and do likewise” (Luke 10.30-37). Oh miracle! He did not call the priest, not the Levite neighbor, but the one who, according to teaching, was rejected from the Jews, that is, the Samaritan, a stranger, blasphemous in many ways, this one He called neighbor, because he turned out to be merciful. These are the words of the Son of God; He showed the same thing by His deeds, when He came into the world and accepted death not only for friends and those close to Him, but also for enemies, for tormentors, for deceivers, for those who hated Him, for those who crucified Him, about whom He knew before the creation of the world that they would be like this, and whom He foresaw He created, defeating foreknowledge with goodness, and for them He shed His own blood, for them He accepted death. “My flesh is bread,” He says, “which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6.51). And Paul says in the epistle: “If He had destroyed Him, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (Rom 5.10); also in the letter to the Hebrews he says that He “tasted death for everyone” (Heb. 2.9). If He himself did this, and the Church follows this pattern, praying for everyone every day, then how dare you say your own? For, tell me, what does it mean that you call a curse (αναθεμα)? Look into this word, consider what you are saying; do you understand its power? In the inspired Scripture you will find this word spoken about Jericho: “and this city will be cursed... to the Lord of hosts” (Joshua 6.16). And to this day we have a universal custom of saying: such and such, having done this, made an offering (αναθεμα) to such and such a place. So, what does the word “anathema” mean? It also speaks of some good deed, meaning dedication to God. And doesn’t the “anathema” you pronounce mean that such and such was betrayed to the devil, had no part in salvation, was rejected from Christ? 3. But who are you, who arrogates to yourself such power and great strength? “Then the Son of God will sit and set the sheep on the right hand... and the goats on the left” (Matthew 25.31, 33). Why do you assign to yourself such an honor, which is awarded only to the host of the apostles and their true and exact successors in everything, filled with grace and power? And they, strictly observing the commandment, excommunicated the heretic from the church, as if tearing out their right eye, which proves their great compassion and condolences, as if taking away a damaged member. Therefore, Christ called this the cutting out of the right eye (Matthew 5.29), expressing the regret of those who excommunicate. Therefore, being strictly diligent both in everything else and in this matter, they denounced and rejected heresies, but did not subject any of the heretics to damnation. And the apostle, apparently, out of necessity, used this word in only two places, although not referring it to a famous person; It was in his letter to the Corinthians that he said: “If anyone does not love our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be cursed” (1 Cor 16.22); and again: “If anyone preaches the gospel to you any more than he eats, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1.9). Why, when none of those who received power did this or dared to pronounce such a sentence, do you dare to do this, acting contrary to (the purpose of) the death of the Lord, and forestalling the judgment of the King? Do you want to know what one holy man said, who was the successor of the apostles before us and was awarded martyrdom? Explaining the gravity of this word, he used the following comparison: like a commoner who clothed himself in royal scarlet, he and his accomplices are put to death like tyrants; Thus, he says, those who abuse the Lord’s decree and betray a person to church anathema expose themselves to complete destruction, arrogating to themselves the dignity of the Son of God 2 . Or do you consider it of little importance to pronounce such a condemnation on someone before the time and the Judge? For anathema completely separates one from Christ. But what do people who are capable of all evil say? He is a heretic, they say, has the devil in him, blasphemes God, and with his convictions and vain flattery plunges many into the abyss of destruction; therefore he was rejected by the fathers, especially his teacher, who caused division in the church, meaning Paulinus or Apollinaris. For the most part, they do not touch upon the differences between the one and the other, cleverly avoiding a new division and serving as proof that the error has intensified in the depths of the grossest prejudice. But you teach, “with meekness, punish those who are contrary, so that God will give them repentance into the mind of truth, and they will arise from the devil’s snare; Stretch out a net of love, not so that the one who tempts will perish, but rather so that he will be healed; show that out of great good nature you want to make your own good common; cast a pleasant hook of compassion, and thus, having revealed the innermost, remove from the abyss of destruction the mind mired in it. Teach that what is accepted through partiality or ignorance as good does not agree with the apostolic tradition, and if a mistaken person accepts this instruction, then, according to the saying of the prophet, he will “live, and you will deliver your soul” (Eze 3.21); if he does not want to and remains stubborn, then, so that you do not find yourself guilty, only testify to this with long-suffering and meekness, so that the Judge does not seek his soul from your hand - without hatred, without disgust, without persecution, but showing sincere and true love for him. You acquire it and, even if you do not receive any other benefit, this is a great benefit, this is a great acquisition to love and prove that you are a disciple of Christ. “Of this,” says the Lord, “all understand that my disciples are natural, if we have love among one another” (John 13.35), and without it, neither the knowledge of the mysteries of God, nor faith, nor prophecy, nor non-covetousness, nor martyrdom for Christ will bring any benefit, as the apostle declared: “If...,” he says, “we have all the mysteries, and all the understanding, and imam... faith is like the removal of mountains, but love is not imam... There is no benefit to us. ... And if the tongues... I speak like angels, and if I give away all my possessions, and if I give up my body, having burned it, for love I am not an imam... I am nothing... I love... I am merciful... I am not proud... I do not seek my own; 4. None of you, beloved, has shown such love for Christ as this holy soul (Paul); none of the people except him dared to utter such words. His very soul burned when he said: “I fulfill the privation of the sorrows of Christ in my flesh” (Col. 1.24); and again: “I myself prayed that I might be excommunicated from Christ according to my brethren” (Rom 9.3); and again: “Whoever faints, yet I do not faint” (2 Cor 11.29)? And yet, having such love for Christ, he did not subject anyone to offense, coercion, or anathema: otherwise he would not have attracted so many peoples and entire cities to God; but, being subjected to humiliation, scourging, strangulation, ridicule from everyone, he did all this, showing condescension, persuading, begging. So, having arrived to the Athenians and finding them all devoted to idolatry, he did not reproach them and say: you are atheists and complete wicked people; did not say: you consider everything to be God, but you reject only God, the Lord and Creator of all. But what? “As I passed through,” he says, “and looked at your celebrations, I found a church, on which it was written: to an unknown God; Because you honor Him ignorantly, this I preach to you” (Acts 17:23). Oh wonderful thing! O fatherly heart! He called the Greeks pious - idolaters, wicked. Why? Because they, like the pious, performed their worship, thinking that they were honoring God, being themselves sure of this. I exhort you all to imitate this, and with you, myself. If the Lord, foreseeing the disposition of each and knowing what each of us will be like, created this (world) in order to fully demonstrate His gifts and generosity, and, although He did not create for the evil, but also honored them with common benefits, wanting everyone to imitate Him; then how do you do the opposite, you who come to church and offer the sacrifice of the Son of God? Don’t you know that He “did not break the broken reeds, nor quench the smoking flax” (Isaiah 42.3)? What does it mean? Listen: He did not reject Judas and those who fell like him until each one led himself astray by giving himself up to error. Is it not for the ignorance of the people that we offer prayers? Are we not commanded to pray for our enemies, those who hate and persecute? So we perform this ministry, and we exhort you: ordination does not lead to lust for power, does not lead to arrogance, does not provide domination; we have all received the same Spirit, we have all been recognized for adoption: those whom the Father has chosen, those He has vouchsafed with authority to serve His brethren. So, in performing this service, we exhort you and adjure you to abstain from such evil. For the one whom you decided to anathematize either lives and exists in this mortal life, or has already died. If he exists, then you are acting wickedly by excommunicating someone who is still in an uncertain state and can turn from evil to good: and if he is dead, then even more so. Why? Because he “stands or falls to his Lord” (Rom. 14.4), no longer being under human power. Moreover, it is dangerous to pronounce judgment on what is hidden from the Judge of the ages, who alone knows the measure of knowledge and the degree of faith. Why do we know, tell me, I ask you, for what words he will be accused or how he will justify himself on the day when God will judge the hidden affairs of people. Truly, “His judgment has not been tried, nor His ways tried; for who understands the mind of the Lord, or who is His counselor” (Rom. 11.33–34; Is. 40.13)? Does none of us, beloved, think that we have been worthy of baptism, and no one knows that there will one day be judgment? What am I saying: judgment? We do not think about death itself and the departure from the body due to our blinding attachment to everyday objects. Leave me alone, I exhort you, from such evil. So I say and testify before God and the chosen angels that on the day of judgment it will be the cause of great disaster and unbearable fire. If in the parable of the virgins the people who had a bright faith and a pure life, the Lord, who saw their deeds, rejected them all from the palace for lack of mercy (Matthew 25.11); then how will we, who live in complete carelessness and act mercilessly towards our fellow tribesmen, be worthy of salvation? Therefore, I exhort you, do not ignore these words. Heretical teachings that disagree with what we have accepted must be cursed and wicked dogmas denounced, but people must be spared in every possible way and prayed for their salvation. Oh, that all of us, nourishing love for God and neighbor and fulfilling the commandments of the Lord, would be worthy to meet the heavenly Bridegroom with oil and burning lamps on the day of resurrection, and present to Him the many who owe glory to our compassion, grace and love for mankind of the Only Begotten Son of God, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory now and always and unto the ages. Amen. Of course, Words are against Anomeans. Similar thoughts are found in the letter of St. Ignatius the God-Bearer to the Smirnians, ed. 4–6. You might be interested in: