Against Hypocrisy
October 16
(Concerning the Hypocritical Monk)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
October 16
(Concerning the Hypocritical Monk)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
Very often, one encounters people who fully deserve the name hypocrites or sanctimonious. These are those who, for worldly gain, make every effort to outwardly appear pious, fasting, prayerful, and merciful, while inwardly they have completely denied the power of piety (2 Tim. 3:5). Such people, in the words of the Lord, can be likened to whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all corruption (Matt. 23:27). Woe to them if they do not come to their senses in time and abandon their pretense!
In a monastery called Galatus, there was a monk whom the brethren considered a saint. In reality, however, this was not the case: he was a hypocrite. He fasted, for example, only in public, but never truly observed the fast. Before his death, this pretense was revealed under the following circumstances. Having fallen ill, he asked the brethren to come to him — and they did not keep him waiting long, expecting to hear a word of edification from him as from a saint. Imagine their surprise when, shaking and trembling, he began to speak to them: “Woe to me, the wretched one, O brethren! Now I am given over to a fierce enemy, for I lived impurely. Before you, I appeared to be a faster, but in reality I was not. And for this, I am now in the power of the devil. He, in the form of a serpent, has coiled himself around me and, with terrible torment, is tearing out my soul.” “And having spoken to him,” adds the writer of this story, "he immediately died: and God did not allow him to remain, so that by repentance he could be delivered from the serpent, which he saw.”
Therefore, brethren, if you want to be true worshipers of God, do good works before God, and not before men. Do you give alms? Do not sound a trumpet before you, and do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing (Matthew 6:1-3). Do you pray? Do not be like the hypocrites, but enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who sees in secret (Matthew 6:6). Finally, do you fast? Do not be like the hypocrites, of a sad countenance, but when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that you may not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who sees in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly (Matthew 6:16-18). Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
