Why Does the Lord Allow the Righteous to Suffer at the Hands of the Wicked, as Well as to Endure Other Adversities?
October 27*
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
October 27*
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
Reading the lives of the saints, we see that some of them endured cruelty and persecution, while others suffered wounds and even death from wicked people. To the majority of them, the words of the Holy Apostle Paul can be applied without exaggeration: "Some were tortured, not accepting deliverance... Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword" (Heb. 11:35-37). What does this mean? Whose life was more blameless than those of these persecuted saints? Who knew God better than they and served Him more fervently? Who helped their neighbors more selflessly than they, were more compassionate, more peaceable, more pious? Why did the Lord allow the wicked to harass them? Or was He not strong enough to deliver them from the hands of the wicked? Or does He not have love and compassion?
Once the Venerable Nilus the Faster, who was a companion of the Holy Fathers who were massacred at Sinai and Raithu, whose memory is celebrated on January 14, seeing their beating and suffering at the hands of the barbarians, also asked: why were they suffering? “Where,” he said, “are your labors of abstinence? Where is the reward for your patience in sorrows? Where is the crown for many ascetic labors? Is this the reward for your monasticism? Or did you rush in vain to the ascetic labor that lay before you? Or is it fair to accept sorrow as virtue, and that God’s Providence left you without help when you were killed? And so holy corruption has taken hold of your bodies, and malice boasts that it has triumphed.” Thus, in deep sorrow, Venerable Nilus asked himself questions similar to those we ask; but, to his consolation, he soon received an answer. "Why," said the wounded and barely breathing elder Theodoulos to him and the monks with him who had escaped the sword of the evildoers, "why does the calamity that has befallen us trouble you? Do you not know that the Lord subjects His ascetics to their adversaries? Is it not in order to reward those who endure to the end with the greatest recompense, just as He abundantly restored to Job that which he had lost? But, assuredly, He will repay us far more, for 'eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him' (1 Cor. 2:9) and persevere to the end." There can be no better answer to our questions, brethren, regarding the reason for the suffering of the innocent.
But what shall we say when we see that the righteous sometimes suffer, and not from others? Some virtuous people have nowhere to lay their heads their entire lives; while others, even more terrifying, are sometimes overtaken by a cruel and sudden death. And we, too, are perplexed: what does this mean? Why do the righteous suffer? O brethren! Do not be disturbed here; for, although the ways of God's Providence are inscrutable, they always lead to good ends, always serve our salvation and blessedness. A certain monk, having come to the city to sell his handiwork, witnessed the burial of a certain evil nobleman and was amazed that the wicked man was being escorted with great ecclesiastical and civil honor. He was even more astonished by the sight he saw upon returning to the desert: the pious elder, his mentor, lay there, torn to pieces by a hyena. "Lord," cried the orphaned hermit, "why was this wicked nobleman deemed worthy of such a glorious death, while this holy man was torn to pieces by a wild beast?" An angel appeared to the weeping man and said, "Do not weep for your teacher. The wicked nobleman had one good deed, and for that he was deemed worthy of an honorable burial — but his reward is only here, while there awaits him execution for all his evil deeds. Your mentor, on the other hand, although he pleased God in all things, had one vice, from which he was cleansed by a cruel death" (Prologue, July 21).
Therefore, brethren, it is clear that anyone who dares to accuse Him of injustice or lack of compassion has no understanding of the infinite love of our Heavenly Father for us. Let us believe that momentary sorrow leads to endless blessedness if it is borne patiently and for God's sake; and let us remember that the time will come when the Lord will wipe away all tears from the eyes of His servants forever (Rev. 7:17). Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
Notes:
* In the original text, there is no entry for October 27th. There this is the third entry for November 8th.
