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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
Brethren and sisters! Every word of the Holy Gospel is a heavenly ray that illumines our life. But the Gospel we heard today has a truly exceptional significance for the salvation of the Christian.
The Lord said: Love your enemies (Matt. 5:44; Luke 6:27, 35). These words are the very heart of the Christian life. If the heart beats, a person is alive; if the heart stops, there is no longer a person—he has become a corpse. For a while a corpse may still resemble a living person, but then it begins to rot and disintegrate.
So Christianity, without the commandment to love one’s enemies, becomes a corpse. A corpse in a coffin can be decorated with flowers and dressed in fine clothes, but life is nonetheless absent.
Brethren and sisters! Love of enemies is the key to understanding the mystery of Christianity. It is the light that illumines the deepest reaches of the Gospel. Love of enemies is the door into the Holy of Holies of the Christian Church.
The Lord said that on the two commandments—love of God and love of neighbor—all the Law and the Prophets hang (cf.cMatt. 22:40). And in the new commandment—love of enemies—the spirit of the New Covenant is contained. In these words the moral force of the Gospel is concentrated. Love of enemies, like the Lord’s Cross, seemed madness to the world—the world that bows down to its idols and false gods.
There are many kinds of idols; idolatry may be evident, or hidden and unseen. There are terrible idols; the idols of the passions, idols before which human blood has been shed. But, brethren and sisters, there are other idols as well. These idols wear a seemly appearance; I would even say they are those human, earthly deeds and so-called “virtues” that take the place of God in the heart. For example, science becomes an idol for those who believe it will solve all life’s problems and bring man complete happiness. For the ancient Pharisees, the idol was the Jewish nation itself—its customs, language, and history. For some highly poetic natures, the idol becomes the beauty of the surrounding world, the beauty of nature, which they worship as a god. Thus, brethren and sisters, there is secret idolatry when earthly values, temporary and conditional, are placed above the Eternal and the Divine. But these man-made idols cannot give a person true love; they chill his heart, make his soul earthly; and such a person cannot and will not be able to love his enemies.
Many did not and do not understand this commandment and think, “But if we love our enemies, does that mean we should not fight against injustice and evil? Then our enemies will swallow us up and destroy us.” No, brethren and sisters, he who loves his enemies is preserved by the special grace of God. But to love one’s enemies does not mean to love their evil deeds, sins, and crimes. We can fight evil and yet love the person who commits it, seeing in him, as in every person, the radiant image of God—a priceless diamond, even if thrown into dirt and dust.
Once the Albanian Church (now defunct) was led by Catholicos Gregory. He was consecrated a bishop in his youth, when he was only seventeen. He was a man of holy life who brought the Christian faith to Caspian Albania (present-day Azerbaijan). When he was twenty-three, his country suffered an invasion by the Huns. Going before their king-ruler, he began to preach the Gospel. The Hun king listened attentively and seemed ready to allow Gregory to preach among the Huns—and was even close to accepting the teaching himself. But when Gregory began to speak of love for one’s enemies, the Hun commanders cried out: “King, do you not see that he is a spy come to destroy us? If we love our enemies, we must lay down our swords and go out to them unarmed, and then the enemies will destroy us all. Do you not see into what nets he entices you?”
When the king of the Huns ordered that Gregory be tied to a wild horse and released into the field… and the horse dragged him until he died. The relics of the saint were buried in Azerbaijan (ancient Albania), in the place called Maras, where there still stands an ancient Christian church—the tomb of the Albanian Catholicoi.
Some understand the greatness of the commandment to love one’s enemies and say, “This commandment is beautiful, but is it within my power to fulfill it? This commandment is like the summit of a mountain covered with eternal snow. The peak glitters in the sunlight with ice crystals; it seems like a great ship sailing through the sky with white sails unfurled, or like a cliff rising from the sea. We can see how beautiful the summit is and can imagine what a wondrous view must open from it—but can we reach it? The rocks are sheer, the abyss below yawns with black depths. Only a few can reach it; we will remain far below. So if we cannot love our enemies, cannot fulfill this commandment—does that mean we shall all perish? Why, then, were we given life at all?”
Brethren and sisters, remember that the commandments of the Gospel are at once difficult and easy. Easy, because our soul by nature is Christian—easy, because within us lies not only the capacity but the need to love one another; yet difficult, because pride by its very nature inclines us to hate. Humility is the eagle’s wings that can lift the soul to the summit of love. But our pride—these are the terrible chains that bind us spiritually; it is the gravestone pressing down upon our heart.
Brethren and sisters! How, then, can we fulfill the commandment to love our enemies? We must acquire the virtues that lead a person to love. We must pray that the Lord may grant us love for our enemies—this blessed state, this gift of the Holy Spirit, which is given to those who are worthy and prepared. The Holy Fathers say that three virtues lead to love: humility, mercy, and temperance.
The first degree of humility is to see one’s sins—countless as the sand of the sea. Once Patriarch Theophilus visited the ascetics of the Nitrian mountain, where many monasteries and hermitages were situated, and he asked the oldest abbot: “What is the best thing you have found on the spiritual path?” The elder replied: “The best thing is always and in everything to blame and reproach only oneself.” Theophilus said, “That is not only the best path; it is the only path to God.”
The second degree is non-judgment and love of obedience. Saint Anthony, the greatest of monks, used to consult his disciples in important matters and accepted their voices as the voice of God.
The next degree of humility is to thank the Lord for all sorrows and to rejoice in insults as worldly people rejoice in glory and honor.
The second virtue leading to love is mercy. Mercy is sometimes rewarded here on earth, but far more important is that secret mercy toward one’s neighbor turns into love for God, love for people, and love even for one’s enemies. For, brethren and sisters, the highest mercy is the secret and hidden mercy.
Then comes temperance. The Holy Fathers say that in the unrestrained person, the flesh, as it were, consumes the spirit. Such a person’s soul becomes heavy, coarse, incapable of spiritual feeling—it becomes like flesh and earth.
Furthermore, when hatred and malice toward a person seethe in our heart, we must remember that all of us are mortal. The hour will come when both we and our enemy will lie together in the same earth. Then his tongue, with which he once spoke evil and insulting words against us—will be eaten by worms. His brain will turn to putrid matter and flow out through his nostrils and ears. His mouth will be filled with earth. His hand, which perhaps was once raised against us, will lie motionless in the ground like a stone. His eyes, which once looked upon us with arrogance and pride—those eyes will be extinguished and will flow out of their sockets. And our souls will stand side by side before the Judgment Seat of God, trembling in expectation of His judgment...
Brethren and sisters, however hateful our enemy may be to us, we would not wish him to be cast into the fire, to burn alive in the flames. And if we were to see beneath us the yawning abyss of dreadful hell, we would be ready to forgive a man thousands upon thousands of offenses, if only he might not fall into that terrible Gehenna which even the demon himself fears and trembles before.
So then, remember the hour of death; remember that here everything is passing and insignificant. When malice boils in your heart, recall that your enemy too is the image and likeness of God. How can you take from him the image of God, His eternal and radiant beauty? Therefore, honor even in him—though he be the worst of criminals—the image of God. Remember also that every person has a Guardian Angel, and when you forgive your enemy, his Angel rejoices and prays for you, and together with him all the heavenly hosts pray for you as well.
In the Apocalypse there are these words: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered (Rev. 12:2). Some exegetes say that this is the Mother of God, and that her pains are those she endured at the Cross in place of the pains of childbirth. But there is also another interpretation: that the “woman with child” is the Holy Church, the “child” is every Christian, and she gives birth to him in spiritual life with terrible pains, suffering for each of his sins.
Yes, indeed, the Church as a mother suffers from our sins, from our hostility toward one another—her beloved children—and rejoices in our salvation. Brethren and sisters, also remember that every human being is a great mystery, and that in our enemy there is a hidden good which we do not see. Moreover, when in your heart, like serpents lurk resentment, malice, or a thirst for vengeance, recall that when you forgive a person, the Lord also forgives you. Remember too that our enemies are our first benefactors; for by reproaching, insulting, and wronging us, they cleanse the pus from our spiritual wounds and sores. If we understood this, we would be more grateful to our enemies than to our friends.
We must pray for our enemies. Saint Nilus of Sinai says: “Before every prayer, first pray sincerely from your heart for those who have wronged you, and then ask God for whatever you desire. God will hear you!”
And above all, remember the love of Jesus Christ for mankind. Saint John Chrysostom says: “The Lord loves man more than the whole visible world!” Imagine heaven and earth; imagine the beauty of the earth—the carpet of flowers and grasses, the streams and mountain rivers, the golden sun, the stars that shine like heavenly lamps. Brethren and sisters, the whole world before God is nothing compared to a single human soul! Therefore, the soul of your enemy is more precious than all the visible world. And remember also that, according to Saint John Chrysostom, the Lord loves a single human soul just as much as He loves all humankind together.
That means the Lord loves your enemy with the same force with which He loves all mankind, including the righteous and the saints.
Remember that the Lord came to earth and was crucified for every human being; therefore, He came and was crucified also for your enemy. Be awed, then, at this power of divine love—and at our own baseness, by which we dare to call our fellow man, the image and likeness of God, our enemy and send upon him thousands of curses!
Brethren and sisters, the word “forgive” is a great mystery. When we forgive another person, we feel peace and joy in our soul. There is no greater happiness on earth than to forgive one’s offender. And the more unjust and cruel the wrong done to us, and the more sincere and deep our forgiveness, the higher and brighter this joy becomes!
Brethren and sisters! Heaven and earth cannot contain God—but the small human heart can contain Him. If we love our enemies, then our heart becomes a temple, and within it dwells the Lord. But if we exclude even one person from our love, the Lord departs from us—and with Him, joy and light.
Amen.
