Беседа 61

“Then Peter came to Him and said: Lord! How many times should I forgive my brother who sins against me? up to seven times? Jesus says to him: I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:21–22) Forgiving offenses is always our duty. – How great is the difference between sins against God and against man. – The greatness of God’s blessings aggravates the severity of sins against God. – Exposing the vices of warriors, artisans, landowners. – An explanation of the parable about a forgiven debtor who turns out to be an ungrateful debtor. - The benefits of bearing grievances without complaint. – We must grieve for those who cause us harm. 1. Peter thought that he was saying something great, why, as if wanting to boast of his love for his neighbor, did he conclude his question with the words: “Up to seven times”? “You commanded,” he says to Jesus, “to forgive your neighbor’s offenses; how many times should I do this? If, for example, a neighbor often sins and, when convicted, always repents, then how many times will You command us to forgive him? You commanded to leave the one who does not repent and does not condemn himself for sin after threefold reproof, saying: “Let him be to you as a pagan and a tax collector,” and for the repentant you did not set any limit, but ordered him to be accepted. So, how many times should he be forgiven when he repents after reproof? Is seven times enough? What does Christ, the philanthropic and good God, answer? “I do not say to you: up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” The number seventy times septenary is taken here indefinitely, and means continuous or everlasting duty. Just as the expression “a thousand times” is used to mean many, so is the present expression. For example, in the words: “a barren woman gives birth seven times” (1 Samuel 2:5), by the word “seven” the Holy Scripture means multitude. Thus, Christ did not determine the number of times we must forgive our neighbor, but showed that this is our constant and everlasting duty. He explained the same thing in the next parable. So that the command contained in the words: “up to seventy times seven” would not seem great and difficult to anyone, He added this parable, in which he explains the meaning of the previous words, shames the one who would be proud of the forgiveness of offenses, and at the same time shows that such a command is not difficult, but, on the contrary, very easy. That is why He presented His love for mankind in it, so that you would know from here that even if He forgave your neighbor seventy times seventy times, even if he always forgave all his sins, - and then your love for mankind will be as far from the infinite divine goodness that you need at the future judgment when demanding an account from you, as a drop of water is from the boundless sea, even more so. Here are the words of Christ: “Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants; when he began to reckon, someone was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents; and since he did not have anything to pay with, his sovereign ordered him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and to pay” (Matthew 18:23–25). Then, when this debtor, pardoned by the master, came out and began to strangle his comrade, who owed him one hundred denarii, and thereby angered the master, the latter ordered him to be thrown into prison again until he paid everything. That's how great the difference is between sins against God and sins against man! As great as between ten thousand talents and a hundred denarii, and even more. The reason for this lies both in the difference of persons and in the continuous repetition of sins. Before the eyes of man we are restrained and afraid to sin; and we are not ashamed of God, although He looks at us every day; on the contrary, we do everything and talk about everything fearlessly. And not only does the importance of sins depend on this, but also on blessings and the honor with which we are honored by God. And if you want to know what “ten thousand” means – and even much more – “talents”, that is, sins towards God, then I will try to show it briefly. But I am afraid that through this I will either give greater cause for sin to those who are prone to lawlessness and love to sin incessantly, or plunge the faint-hearted into despair, who, like the apostles, may ask: “Who can be saved” (Luke 18:26)? However, I will say this in order to make those who are attentive more firm and complacent. Those suffering from an incurable disease and not feeling it, will not leave their wickedness and negligence without my words. If my words give them greater cause for carelessness, the reason will not lie in them, but in their very insensitivity. At the very least, my teaching can curb the attentive and bring them to heartfelt contrition, and the soft-hearted, by showing them the severity of their sins and revealing the power of repentance, can make them more inclined towards it. That’s why I consider it necessary to speak. Thus, in my word I will set out sins both in relation to God and in relation to people - and, moreover, not private, but general, since everyone can add private ones, consulting with their conscience. And for this, I will first depict divine blessings. So, what are the benefits of God? He gave us existence and created for us everything visible: sky, sea, earth, air and everything contained in them: animals, plants, seeds; but it is impossible to count all God’s works because of their limitless multitude! Of all the creatures that inhabit the earth, we are the only ones who breathed a living soul into us; He planted paradise, gave him an assistant, made them rulers over all the dumb, and crowned them with glory and honor. Then, when a person turned out to be ungrateful to his Benefactor, He honored him with an even greater benefit. 2. In fact, look not only at the fact that God expelled man from paradise, but also pay attention to the benefits that came from here. After being expelled from paradise, He showed countless benefits to people, carried out various works of salvation, and finally sent His only begotten Son to those who had benefited from Him and those who hated Him, opened heaven to us, unlocked the doors of paradise, and made us, His ungrateful enemies, sons. Therefore, it is now fitting to say: “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God” (Rom. 11:33)! He gave us baptism for the remission of sins, freed us from punishment, made us heirs of the kingdom, promised countless benefits to those who live virtuously, stretched out His hand to us, and poured out the Spirit into our hearts. So, what happens after such countless blessings from God? What kind of disposition should we have towards Him? Would we repay not only a worthy, but even the smallest part of the debt even if we died every day for the One who loved us so much? Not at all. And this very thing would turn to our advantage. But do we have such dispositions towards Him as we should have? We break His laws every day. Do not be offended if I turn my word against sinners: I will blame not only you, but also myself. So, who do you want me to start with? From slaves or from free people? From warriors or commoners? From superiors or subordinates? With wives or husbands? With old men or young men? From what age? From what kind? From what rank? From what rank? Would you like me to begin my speech with the warriors? So what? Do they not sin every day, insulting, blaspheming others, raging, and trying in every possible way to make them unhappy? Being like wolves, they are never a stranger to atrocities. And can the sea be without waves? What passion does not outrage them! What disease will not hold their souls! In relation to equals, they are driven by hatred, envy and vanity; in relation to subordinates - selfishness; in relation to litigants and those who resort to them as a haven - treachery and perjury. How much theft they commit! How many deceptions they have! What slander and unauthorized trades there are between them! How much servile caresses there are between them! Now let us contrast each vice with the law of Christ. “Whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be subject to fiery hell” (Matthew 5:22). “Whoever looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her” (Matthew 5:28). “Unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Warriors are puffed up before their subordinates and those entrusted to their power, who tremble before them and fear them, since they are superior to animals in their cruelty. They do nothing for the sake of Christ, but everything for the belly, for greed and vanity. And is it possible to count in words all their lawless actions? Who can describe their ridicule, immoderate laughter, indecent conversations, shameful words? And there is nothing to say about greed. Just as monks living in the mountains do not know what greed is, so do warriors - only for the opposite reasons. The former do not know this passion because they are too far from this disease; and the latter do not feel what a great evil this passion is, for the reason that they revel in it too much. This passion has so completely eradicated good dispositions in them and has dominated them so much that even these frantic people do not consider it a grave crime. But don’t you want, having left the soldiers, to look at others, more meek? Let us turn, for example, to artists and craftsmen. It seems that these people, above others, earn food through fair labor and their own sweat; but they, for all their labors, are subject to many vices when they are inattentive to themselves. To their righteous labors they often add unrighteous buying and selling; out of self-interest they lie, swear and break their oath. They care only about real life, they are chained to the earth: they do everything for selfish reasons and, wanting to increase their property, they care little about giving help to those in need. Who can depict the slander, insults, profits, interest, contracts, and dishonest trade deals that are cunningly concluded? 3. However, if you wish, let’s leave these and move on to others, who are, apparently, more just. Who is this? These are those who own estates and gather wealth from the fruits of the earth. But is it possible to find anyone more unjust than them? If you look at how they treat the poor, unfortunate farmers, you will see that their ferocity exceeds the hard-heartedness of the barbarians. While farmers are starving, exhausting themselves with labor all their lives, they constantly impose new heavy taxes on them, assign them to the most difficult work and use them instead of donkeys and mules, and even instead of stones. Without giving them the slightest rest, both during times of fertility and during times of infertility, they equally oppress them and show them no mercy. Is there anyone more unfortunate than these poor people who, working all winter, spending nights in the cold, in the rain, without sleep, and for all this without receiving any pay, but still in debt, are forced to run away from their masters, not so much to escape and fear of hunger and domestic disorder, as torment, violence, torture, prison and inevitable work - from the stewards? What can we say about the trades carried out through them, and about the unjust profits received from here? The gentlemen who oppress them, filling their winepresses and sinkholes from their labors and sweat, do not allow these poor people to take into their homes the slightest part; but pouring all the fruit from the grapes into their unrighteous vessels, they give them the smallest payment for this. They invent new types of interest, prohibited by the laws even among the pagans; draw up the most dishonest debt instruments, in which they demand not a hundredth part, but half of the entire estate from the debtor; and even if the latter had a wife, raised children, even if he was a poor man and collected his threshing floor and grindstone with his own labor, they do not think about it. Therefore, it is appropriate here to quote the words of the prophet: “Fear the heavens, and fear the earth!” ( Jer. 2:12 ) What a frenzy the human race has reached! Speaking about all this, I do not condemn the arts, agriculture, military rank, estates - but ourselves. And Cornelius was a centurion, and Paul was a tabernacle worker, and after preaching he worked at his craft, and David was a king, and Job was the lord of a large estate and received great incomes; but all this did not serve as an obstacle to virtue for any of them. So, having considered all this and remembered the darkness of talents, let us at least for this reason forgive our neighbors for small and unimportant insults. We must give an account of fulfilling the commandments prescribed to us; but we are not able to accomplish everything no matter what we do. Therefore, God gave us an easy and convenient means of paying off all our debts - that is, forgetting grievances. And in order to better understand this, let us listen to the entire parable in order. “There was brought,” says the Savior, “to him someone who owed him ten thousand talents; and since he did not have anything to pay with, his sovereign ordered him to be sold, and his wife and children” (Matthew 18:24-25). Why did he order his wife to be sold too? Not because of cruelty or inhumanity (in this case, his slave would have suffered new damage, since then the wife would have become a slave), but because of a special intention. With such a strict command he wanted to frighten his slave, and thereby induce him to obedience, without any intention of selling him. If he had meant this, he would not have heeded his request and would not have shown him his mercy. But why didn’t he do this and forgive him the debt before such a command? To make him understand how many debts he forgives him, and through this force him to be more lenient towards his comrade who owed him. In fact, if even then, as he learned both the severity of his duty and the greatness of forgiveness, he began to strangle his comrade, then to what cruelty would he not have reached if he had not been brought to his senses in advance by this means? How did this remedy affect him? “Have patience with me,” he says, “and I will pay you everything” (Matthew 18:26). His master, “having compassion on that servant, let him go and forgave him the debt” (Matthew 18:27). Isn’t his excessive love for humanity revealed here again? The slave asked only for a delay of time, but he gave him more than he asked for: he remitted his entire debt and forgave him. The master had previously wanted to forgive the debt of his slave, but he did not want it to be only his gift, but also a consequence of the slave’s obedience, so that something would be done on his part to receive a reward. However, the reason for forgiveness shows that all this depended on the master himself, although the slave came to him with his petition. “Having had mercy on that servant,” it is said, “he let him go.” However, the master did this so that the slave would have a reason to forgive him the debt (otherwise he would have been completely disgraced), and so that, having learned from his own misfortune, he would be more lenient towards his comrade. 4. And indeed, at this time the slave was kind and sensitive: he did not renounce anything, he made a promise to pay his debt, fell to the master with a request, was disgusted by his sins and recognized the greatness of his debt. But his subsequent actions do not correspond at all to his previous ones. Having left immediately - not after a while, but immediately, still vividly feeling the benefit shown to him - he used both the gift and the freedom given to him for evil. “He found,” they say, “one of his companions who owed him a hundred denarii, and, seizing him, he strangled him, saying: Give me what you owe” (Matthew 18:28). Isn’t the master’s love for mankind obvious, and isn’t the slave’s cruelty obvious? Note this, those who do this because of profits! If this should not be done in consideration of sin, then much less because of profits. So what did the debtor say? “Have patience with me, and I will give you everything” (Matthew 18:29). But he was not moved by these words, which saved him: after all, he, having said the same thing, was forgiven ten thousand talents; he did not remember the pier, saving him from drowning; the same request did not remind him of the master’s philanthropy. But out of covetousness, hard-heartedness and malice, neglecting all this, he strangled his comrade with cruelty unusual even for wild animals. What are you doing, man? Or don't you feel your own seduction? Are you not stabbing the sword into yourself, arming yourself against the mercy of your master and the remission of your debt? But he did not think about it at all, did not remember a similar incident that happened to him, and therefore did not do any leniency to his debtor, although the latter asked for a debt that was not so important. He himself asked the master for the forgiveness of ten thousand talents, but this one only for a hundred denarii; the latter asked from his equal, and the latter from the master. He himself received complete forgiveness, and his comrade asked only for a delay in time, but he refused him this too, because it is said: “he put him in prison... His comrades, seeing what had happened” (Matt. 18:30–31), they accused him before the lord. Even people found it unpleasant: what can we say about God? Those who had no debt were so indignant at him! What did the gentleman say? "Evil slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me; Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your companion, just as I had mercy on you” (Matthew 18:32–33)? Notice again the gentleness of the gentleman! He sues his servant and, as it were, defends himself, intending to destroy his gift (or better, it was not he who destroyed, but the one who received it), and therefore he says: “I forgave you all that debt because you begged me; Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your companion”? Although it seems difficult for you to forgive a debt to your neighbor, you must also pay attention to the benefit that you have already received and are about to receive; although the command was difficult, it was necessary to think about the reward for fulfilling it. Moreover, your comrade did not insult you; on the contrary, you insulted God, who forgave you for your mere request. Even if he insulted you, and it would be intolerable for you to be his friend, then it would be even more intolerable to go to hell. If you were to compare both, you would see that the first is much easier than the latter. When he owed ten thousand talents, the master did not call him evil, and did not reproach him, but had mercy on him. As soon as he acted cruelly with his comrade, the master said: “Evil slave!” Listen, you covetous people (I have a word for you)! Listen, you ruthless and cruel! You are not cruel to others, but to yourself. When you harbor malice, know that you harbor it towards yourself, and not towards another, you burden yourself with sins, and not your neighbor. Whatever you do to the latter, you will do it all as a person, and, moreover, in real life only; but God will not do this: He will subject you to greater and eternal torment in the future life. “He gave him over to the torturers until he paid him all the debt” (Matthew 18:34) - that is, forever, because he will never be able to pay his debt. If your good deed has not made you better, then all that remains is to correct you with punishment. Although the blessings and gifts of God are immutable, evil has become so intensified that it has violated this law. So, what is worse than memory malice, when it can deprive us of such a great gift of God? The master not only betrayed his slave to the tormentors, but also became angry with him. When he ordered it to be sold, the order was given without anger; That is why he did not fulfill the latter, and this serves as the clearest proof of his love for mankind. But now a determination is made with great indignation, a determination of revenge and punishment. So what does this parable mean? “So will My Heavenly Father do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother his sins from his heart” (Matthew 18:35). He does not say: Your Father, but: “My Father,” because it is unworthy for God to be called the Father of such an evil and such a man-hating slave. 5. So, the Savior’s requirement is twofold: that we feel our sins, and that we forgive others. You need to feel your sins in order to make it more convenient to forgive them to others (since he who reflects on his own sins is more lenient towards his neighbor). We must forgive others not only with words, but with a pure heart. So, let us not turn the sword against ourselves with our memory of malice. In what way and to what extent will the one who insulted you harm you, as much as you will harm yourself by feeding anger within yourself and being condemned by God for this? If you are reasonable and wise, then evil will turn on the head of the offender, and he will suffer severely. If you are offended and indignant, then you yourself will suffer - not from him, but from yourself. So, do not say that another has insulted and slandered you, and caused great harm: the more you speak, the more you will show that he is your benefactor. He gives you the opportunity to be freed from your sins, so that the more offenses he inflicts on you, the more he becomes the reason for the cleansing of your sins. Indeed, if we want, no one can offend us; Even our enemies will bring us the greatest benefit. But what about people? Can anyone be more crafty than the devil? But he can also provide us with the most convenient opportunity for our glory, as the example of Job shows. If the devil provides an opportunity to receive crowns, then why fear the enemy - man? Look how much benefit you receive by bearing insults from your enemies without complaint: the first and most important is the remission of sins; the second is patience and generosity; the third is meekness and philanthropy, since the one who is not able to be angry at those who insult him will be all the more meek towards those who love him; the fourth is the complete destruction of anger, which no good can equal, since one free from anger is undoubtedly free from the troubles associated with it, and does not spend his life in vain grief and torment. He who does not know how to quarrel does not know sorrow, but enjoys joy and other countless blessings. So, by hating others, we punish ourselves, just as by loving others, we benefit ourselves. Moreover, everyone will respect you, even your enemies themselves, even if they were demons; or rather, by doing this, you will no longer have an enemy. But most importantly, you will gain God's mercy. If you have sinned, you will receive forgiveness of your sins; if you are right, you will receive greater boldness towards God. So, let us not harbor hatred for anyone, in order to earn love from God ourselves - and then, even if we owe ten thousand talents, He will have mercy on us and have mercy on us. But are you offended by your neighbor? That’s why be lenient with him; do not harbor hatred; cry and weep, and do not despise him: after all, it was not you who angered God, but he; and you, having suffered an insult, acted praiseworthy. Remember that Christ, going to die on the cross, rejoiced over Himself, but wept over His crucifiers: we should do the same. The more we are offended, the more we should mourn those who offended us; For us, great good comes from this, but for them, on the contrary, great evil. But your neighbor offended you in front of everyone, and even hit you? This only means that he dishonored and disgraced himself in front of everyone, and armed a thousand accusers against himself, but, on the contrary, he prepared many crowns for you and gave many heralds of your generosity. But he slandered you in front of others? What do you care about this, when God Himself will consider your case, and not those who heard the slander? He only added an extra reason for his punishment, since he will have to answer not only for his actions, but also for the fact that he condemned you. 21 He slandered you before men, and made himself guilty before God. If this is not enough for you, then remember that the Lord Himself was slandered both by Satan and by people, and, moreover, before those whom He loved most. His only begotten Son experienced the same thing, who therefore said: “If the master of the house was called Beelzebub, how much more of his household” (Matthew 10:25)? And not only did that evil demon slander Him, but he even managed to pass off his slander as the truth, and slandered him not in some unimportant way, but in the greatest and most shameful crimes: he called Him a madman, a flatterer, and an adversary to God. But you, having shown good deeds to your neighbor, suffer offense from him? Therefore, especially cry and be sick for those who have caused you harm, but rejoice in yourself: you have become like God, “He commands His sun to rise on the evil and the good” (Matthew 5:45). But if imitation of God exceeds your strength (although for a zealous person this is not difficult, but let it seem to you beyond your strength), then we will show you an example to follow in slaves like you. Look at Joseph: although he suffered countless disasters from his brothers, he nevertheless benefited them; look at Moses, who, after the countless attacks of the Jews against him, prayed for them; look at blessed Paul, who could not even count the sufferings that he suffered from the Jews, and for all that he still wanted to be under anathema for them; look at Stephen, who, being stoned, prayed for remission of sin to these murderers. Having remembered all this, leave all anger, so that God may forgive you all your sins, through the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, power, honor, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. ινα μη μονον υπερ των οικειων, αλλα και υπερ ων περι σου διελεχθη, παρασχη η λογον. Apparently, Chrysostom expresses the idea that the slanderer must give an answer for those actions that he blamed on another. You might be interested in: