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Let us never plot against others, remembering that through this we sharpen the sword against ourselves and inflict a deep wound on ourselves. But someone insulted you and you want to take revenge on him? Don't take revenge. Only in this way will you truly be able to take revenge. If you take revenge yourself, then you will not take revenge. And don’t think that these words are a riddle; no, this is the truth. How and in what way? So, when you do not take revenge, then you make God an enemy to him (the offender); and when you take revenge yourself, then this no longer happens. “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord” (Rom. 12:19). If we have slaves and they, having quarreled among themselves, do not give us reprisal and punishment, but appropriate them to themselves, then even after they come to us a thousand times, we not only do not avenge them, but, on the contrary, we are still angry with them, calling them vagabonds and bullies. Everything, we tell them, should have been left to us; but since you first avenged yourself, don’t bother us anymore. Moreover, God will say this, Who commanded that everything be left to Him. And isn’t it a shame that we demand such wisdom and obedience from our slaves, but do not provide to the Lord what we demand from our slaves? I say this because you are inclined to take revenge on each other; Meanwhile, one who truly philosophizes should not do this, but on the contrary, should forgive and forgive sins, even if for this there was not that great reward - remission of one’s own sins. If you condemn someone who has sinned, then why, tell me, do you yourself sin and fall into the same thing? Has anyone insulted you? Do not insult him mutually - otherwise you will insult yourself. Did someone hit you? Do not repay him in kind, otherwise there will be no difference between you. Has anyone made you sad? Do not upset him on your part, because there is no profit from this, meanwhile you will again become like him. Only then will you be able to reason with him, when you endure the insult calmly and with meekness; only through this will you shame him and tame his anger. No one heals evil with evil, but evil with good. This is how some of the pagans are wise. If foolish pagans have such philosophy, then let us be ashamed to be worse than them. Many of them were offended and suffered grievances. Many were slandered and did not take revenge, were subjected to slander and benefited. But I am quite afraid that some of them may turn out to be superior to us in life and thereby increase our punishment. In fact, if we, who have received the Spirit, expect the Kingdom, philosophize about heaven, do not fear Gehenna, have the commandment to be Angels, use the Sacraments - if we do not even reach their virtue, then what excuse will we have? If we must surpass the Jews, as it is said: “Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:20), then much less the pagans. If [we must surpass] the Pharisees, then how much more the infidels. If also in that case. When we do not surpass the Jews in life, the Kingdom of Heaven is concluded for us, then how will we be worthy to achieve it when we find ourselves worse than the pagans? Let us remove from ourselves all irritability, anger, and rage (Eph. 4:31)(8). Think about the torment a person suffers when his soul is indignant, thinking every day about how to take revenge on the enemy? First of all, he torments himself and languishes, getting irritated, annoyed with himself, getting excited. It’s as if a fire is constantly burning in you, and when the fever intensifies to such an extent, you do not weaken it, you think about how to cause some harm to another; and meanwhile you torment yourself, constantly carrying a strong flame within you, not allowing your soul to calm down, constantly becoming fierce and keeping your mind in anxiety and confusion. What is worse than this fury - to always be tormented, irritated and inflamed? And such are the souls of the vindictive. As soon as they see the one they want to take revenge on, they immediately lose their temper; If they hear his voice, they will fall and tremble; whether they lie on the bed, they come up with thousands of torments, how to hit and tear their enemy to pieces; and if at the same time they see him prospering, oh, what a punishment for them! Forgive the other for his transgression and save yourself from torment. Why do you constantly torture yourself, so that one day you can strike and punish him? Why do you inflict debilitating illness on yourself? Why do you continue your anger when it is ready to stop? Let not [your anger] continue until the evening, says Paul (see Eph. 4:26); he, like some kind of aphid and moth, eats away at the root of our soul. Why keep this wild beast inside you? It is better to put a serpent or viper on your heart than anger and bitterness; From those we could soon be freed, but this one remains constantly, sinking his teeth, letting in his poison, arousing evil thoughts. I do this, you say, so that he does not laugh at me, does not despise me? Pathetic and reckless man! Do you not want to be a laughing stock for a slave like you, but are you subject to the displeasure of your Master? Don’t you want to be despised by your equal slave, while you yourself despise the Master? You cannot bear contempt [from a person], but don’t you think that you are angering God, laughing at Him, neglecting Him, not showing obedience to Him? And the fact that he will not laugh at you is obvious. If you begin to take revenge, there will be great laughter, great contempt, since this is a matter of cowardice; if you forgive, then there will be great surprise, since this is a matter of generosity. But he, you say, won’t recognize this? Let God know so that you may have a greater reward for it. “Lend,” He says, “expecting nothing” (Luke 6:35). Let us do good to those who do not feel that they are being favored, so that by giving us praise or something else, they will not reduce our reward. If we receive nothing from people, then we will receive even more from God. What is funnier, what is ruder than a soul that is constantly angry and desires revenge? This is a woman's and child's desire. Just as that [angry wife] gets angry at soulless things and, even though she doesn’t stomp on the floor, doesn’t leave her anger, so these [grudgers] want to take revenge on their offenders and become themselves worthy of laughter, because it is characteristic of a child’s mind to be carried away by anger, but to overcome it is characteristic of a mature one. So, it is not we who will be mocked when we show wisdom, but they [the offenders]. Not to submit to passion is not the job of despicable people, but despicable people tend to fear the laughter of others to such an extent that because of this they decide to submit to their own passion, offend God and take revenge for themselves. This is truly laugh-out-loud funny. Let's avoid this. Let him say that he caused us a thousand evils, but he himself suffered nothing [from us], let him say that even if he scolds us again, he will also not tolerate anything. If he had wanted to praise us, he would have preached about our virtue in no other way, nor would he have used any other words than these, with which he thinks to humiliate us. Oh, if everyone said about me that “this is a cold and pitiful person; everyone insults him, but he endures; everyone attacks him, but he does not avenge himself! Oh, if they added that “he can’t even do this, even if he wanted to,” my praise would come from God, and not from people! Let them say that we do not take revenge out of cowardice. This does not harm us at all; God sees and prepares greater treasure for us. If we started looking at those people, we would lose everything. Let us look not at what they say about us, but at what we should do. Some say: let him not laugh at me, let him not mock me. Oh madness! No one who insulted me, you say, laughed at me, that is, I took revenge. But that is why you are worthy of ridicule because you took revenge. Where did these words come from - shameful and disastrous, distorting our life and society? Is this not an echo of resistance to God? What makes one equal to God, that is, invincibility, you consider ridiculous. Don’t we ourselves and the Greeks have the right to laugh at us when we say this in defiance of God?.. We should try not to take revenge, and those who have offended should admit themselves guilty. But maybe it seems funny. When this madness grows too strong, prudent people laugh, and among the multitude of those who are furious, one who is not involved in their fury also seems to be furious. Therefore, I exhort you, let us be patient and not lose our temper, so that, having been cleansed of this disastrous passion, we may be made worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven (10). You might be interested in: