There is human justice and there is Divine justice, and, in our view, how often they disagree! It seems to us that our offenders should get what they deserve right away, but for some reason the Lord tarries. We get angry and annoyed, and more often with God than with ourselves. We want our earthly justice. Should we really seek it and in what cases will it be justified? We talked about this with Priest David Proskuryakov, a cleric of the Diocese of Astrakhan, rector of the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the village of Kirpichny.
Priest David Proskuryakov —Fr. David, how are the concepts of Divine justice and Divine love related from the perspective of the Orthodox faith?
—I have always been afraid of this formulation in a question: “from the perspective of the Orthodox faith”. Now I will talk nineteen to the dozen, and then it will become the “teaching of the Orthodox faith”! Perhaps it’s worth softening the question so that I can answer calmly without feeling the full weight of responsibility. My opinion on God’s justice is based on my own experience.
I was baptized as a teenager—that is, very consciously. Almost immediately, I began to integrate into Church life and to experience the justice of God, which relates to me directly. In a life far from the Church, we get so used to “market relations” that we cannot believe in a different paradigm in communicating with God. It seems that when I behave properly, I am given some material blessing, and when I misbehave, the Lord punishes me with illness or other negative circumstances. But in reality, everything works absolutely differently.
By my personal example, I clearly realized that when the Lord is unfair to me—He is merciful to me. For the sins that I commit as a baptized Christian, in all fairness, the Lord should not tolerate me in this world for a single moment—but I am still alive. Repentance in itself is, superficially speaking, a completely unfair action.
Before my ordination, one day my colleague in secular work, knowing that I was a committed Christian and often attended church services, asked me about the Parable of the Prodigal Son. He knew it very roughly, and rather than retell it from memory, I decided to read it to him. I had a small book of the New Testament with me; I found chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke and read aloud twenty-one lines.
On hearing this, my colleague objected: “The father really offended the elder son—he worked conscientiously, but the fatted calf went to the prodigal and worthless brother who had squandered his father’s estate with harlots!” That’s right, and you can’t even argue with it, but only if it were an employment contract. The reason for our existence is the love of God, and the Lord in this short parable shows the way our Heavenly Father’s heart works. The uncontainable and infinite God gives Himself completely to His creation in love. We cannot exist without His love; He alone is the foundation of our life, and He alone is the beginning and the end of all creation. Son, thou art ever with Me, and all that I have is thine (Lk. 15:31), He says to His elder son, who fails to understand that closeness to his Father, communication with Him, and His love are not just a reward, but the basis of his existence as a son.
The love of God consumes any sin, any iniquity, but if we do not perceive it properly, we break away from the Source of life, losing the contact with the reason for our existence. Therefore, “market relations” are inapplicable here, because if we want to “settle accounts” with God, we have nothing to offer in return for His priceless blessings.
—Can we say that love is the highest justice?
—Divine justice works in the context of Divine love. It should not be confused with the purely human “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth”. The justice of God’s love lies in the fact that the Lord does not divide us by ranks and titles. His love is individual and boundless for everyone, but the secret of perceiving this love lies in the human heart. In other words, the judgment on us is in our hands.
—Eye for eye (Lev. 24:20) is the principle of the Old Testament, isn’t it?
—The ancients gave very much attention to revenge. Offenders were often killed even for a simple insult. Anger, cruelty, revenge—all these are derivatives of the same disease, generated by evil. In the Old Testament, the symptoms of this disease were treated, limiting the maximum damage caused to the offender. In the Gospel, the Lord points out the root cause of our illness—evil. In the phrase of Jesus Christ: But whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also (Mt. 5:39) lies the answer to what extent we should avoid multiplying the evil inflicted. Treat it as a desecrator of everything around you, and first of all of your heart. It does not mean that you should do nothing at all, taking these words too literally. You need to stop yourself if you start responding with a sinful desire for revenge. If forgiving your offender stops the evil, then it’s worth doing so.
The opposite of anger is meekness. That is why the Apostle Paul says in his Epistle to the Galatians: If a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted (Gal. 6:1). Sometimes a meek word of admonition (like the Lord said when the chief priest’s slave slapped Him) is enough to put an end to evil. However, if you cannot stop the evil caused by someone on your own, a Christian needs to stand up for his neighbor, showing valor and fortitude.
—In what form should a Christian seek justice in society? Can he be an active public figure, a politician, a human rights advocate, or is it his lot to just pray and do personal good works?
—Prayer and personal good works should not hinder the manifestation of your civic stand. In my view, these things do not overlap in any way. There are excellent public figures, politicians and human rights activists among Christian believers and religious people. In this case, it is advisable to avoid profanation and understand that you are not able to cover everything at once.
—What would you recommend to somebody who has become hardened after seeing so much injustice in the world, and because of this has begun to doubt his faith?
—Someone begins to lose faith when his mind lacks the knowledge of God. A very common excuse, “How can I believe in God if there is so much evil in the world?” shows that the person in question knows very little or even practically nothing about the true faith. Evil appeared in people’s lives with sin, and the cause of injustice, betrayal, murder and other horrors is precisely sin. Let’s recall the First Epistle of the Apostle John the Evangelist: And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness (1 Jn. 5:19). For a Christian, there is no surprise that the world lieth in wickedness, because sin is a result of human free will. Even though after Holy Baptism we have the New Adam—namely Christ Himself—as our source of life, we are able to resist the merciful Creator by choosing sin, which makes our world different from the Garden of Eden. In case of such doubts, you should immediately take up your own education, such as reading the Holy Scriptures and Patristic works. It would be great to sign up for an Orthodox Bible study club so that you can without delay discuss with a teacher any issues that may arise.
—How can we cultivate a healthy sense of justice in ourselves and our children that will not turn into condemnation and fanaticism?
“Acquire the spirit of peace, and thousands around you will be saved,” said St. Seraphim of Sarov. This is a very deep thought that allows you to get answers to many questions, including how not to fall into condemnation and fanaticism. In order to avoid judging in your heart, you can resort to the method of justification. For example, imagine a situation: You angrily scolded a passenger who stepped on your foot on a bus. In short, without unnecessary details, you are wrong in this situation. But, knowing the “mitigating circumstances” makes the situation different: You had a difficult day, you were overwhelmed by work, you were tired, you had a headache, and a corn on your foot had just begun to heal. And this “bad person” stepped on it—how could you restrain yourself after that? Such a chain of reasoning is also suitable with regard to a complete stranger. You can’t know the details of his biography, but it’s enough to try to find the reasons for his carelessness in your own imagination, and there will be no room left for condemnation.
As for child-raising, even though I have many children of my own, I still don’t know how to bring them up. However, I can say for sure that my own example plays a crucial role in this matter, so the words of St. Seraphim of Sarov are very relevant here.
