III. Злоба

“Why do you boast about malice, O strong one? iniquity all the day long, thy tongue hath invented iniquity: thou hast made his deceit as with a sharp razor. You loved evil more than good, untruth more than truth. You have fallen in love with all kinds of destructive speech, a deceitful tongue: therefore God will destroy you completely, uproot you and remove you from your village and remove your root from the land of the living. The righteous will see and fear and laugh at him [and say]: “Here is a man who did not make God his helper, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth, and was strengthened by his vanity”” (Ps. 51:1-9). “He dug a ditch and deepened it, but he will fall into the hole that he made. His anger will return to his head, and his iniquity will descend upon his crown” (Ps. 7:16-17). “They prepared a snare for my feet, and oppressed my soul: they dug a pit before me, and... fell into it” (Ps. 57:7). “When the evildoers, my insulters and my enemies, approached me to eat my flesh, they themselves became weak and fell” (Ps. 26:2). Such a thing is malice that if someone does not stop it at the very beginning, then it multiplies immensely, nothing less than fire that has found dry substances (vol. 2, p. 259). Such a thing is evil that even those who do it condemn it (Message to bishops and elders imprisoned for piety). A person filled with malice is so insane that he willfully exposes himself to danger and undertakes completely inconvenient things (Conversation 7 on the Evangelist Matthew). Malice is not born from nature, but from the will (Conversation 19 on the Evangelist Matthew). All anger comes from the will and free will (Conversation 2 on the Evangelist Matthew). Such is the character of an evil person that he does not want to give in to anyone, but by all means he tries to destroy the one against whom he is angry. But the Scripture says: “Whoever digs a hole for another will fall into it” (Prov. 26:27). When we are malicious and deceitful against others, then we sharpen the sword against ourselves and wound ourselves with wounds much greater than others (Conversation 51 on the Evangelist John). Such a thing is malice that it cannot be corrected by any word or deed, but it always contains its own poison within itself, and nothing makes people as crazy as malice (Conversation 41 on the Evangelist John). There is nothing more shameless and impudent than malice (Conversation 13 on the Acts of the Apostles). The first, ascending from below, degree of malice and hard-heartedness is to neglect the fact that the enemy’s cattle are suffering. Another, higher than that, is to neglect the enemies themselves, for to the extent that a person is superior to beasts, so much is this sin greater than the other. The third degree is to despise your neighbors, even if they were strangers. The fourth is to despise friends. The fifth is negligence about them, when not only their body, but also their soul perishes. The sixth is when we neglect not only our friends, but even our children in their destruction. The seventh is when we do not look for others who would care about them. Eighth – when we don’t allow those who intend to do it themselves. The ninth is when we not only do not allow it, but also resist and enmity (Book 3 against detractors of monastic life). The beginning of anger. Anger comes from immense pride. For the self-loving person seeks his own self-interest in every way - in glory, honor, and so on. And when he sees something as an obstacle to his desire, he is extremely embarrassed about it, sad and angry at the one who interferes with him; that’s why he tries to bring his anger into action. For anger is nothing more than a desire for revenge. Malice is committed in different ways: 1) Taking the life of someone against whom there is anger. 3) Backbiting and slander. For someone who is angry, not being able to do anything to take revenge for his insult, invents some kind of vice against his neighbor, and so starts a false evil rumor about him, thereby wanting to darken his honest name, or he makes great things out of small things and adds to them. As a result, it often happens that many needlessly endure evil slander and slander. 4) Others reach such malice that, having committed an atrocity, they boast: this is how I gave it to him; let him know me! The above psalm applies to such people: “Why do you boast of malice, O mighty one?” (Ps. 51:3). And so on. It is impossible to protect yourself from evil people, because they weave many different and secret tricks against the one they are angry at, and they attempt to fulfill their evil intentions in one, another, or a third way. There is only one refuge - holy prayer and hope in God's Providence, which will reward everyone according to their deeds in due time. However, whoever wants to be saved must put aside his anger and forgive his neighbor, for it is said: “Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6 - See this in the discussion about forgiving your neighbor’s sins, § 25). You might be interested in: