Prologue in Sermons: November 28

 

The More a Person is Slandered by Slanderers, the More the Lord Glorifies Them

November 28*

(From the Life of Saint John Chrysostom)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

When our enemies and slanderers begin to slander us among others, spreading bad rumors about us and vilifying our name, we usually become despondent, fainthearted, and say, "Now I'm lost, now everyone will consider me a bad person and will despise me." But in reasoning like this, we are mistaken. When we hear negative words spoken about ourselves, we must always remember that there is an all-seeing and just God above us, that He will not allow our enemies to triumph over us, and that the evil they do to us is always ready to turn and will turn to our good.

When Saint John Chrysostom became Patriarch, he devoted particular attention to the welfare of the church clergy, encouraging and strengthening the good among them, while punishing and rebuking the wicked. Consequently, he was greatly loved by the good and hated by the wicked. The latter, who lived poorly, especially disliked the Saint because he exposed their unlawful deeds and, for these, excommunicated some of them from the Church. And so these wicked clergy, out of revenge, began to spread evil rumors about the Patriarch among the people and blasphemed him, who was worthy of nothing but praise. John knew of the slander against him, but how did he react to it? He paid no attention, leaving everything to God's judgment. What came of this? The more John's enemies slandered, the more his good reputation grew. Before the slander, he was famous only in his own country, but after the slander, he became famous in other distant countries, and many from these countries came to Constantinople to see him and enjoy listening to his high teaching.

Therefore, brethren, hearing this, at the time when our enemies revile us, we must not grieve over the loss of our good reputation, nor be fainthearted, but rather imagine that there is an all-seeing and just God above us, and submit everything, following the example of Saint John Chrysostom, to His judgment, and then all will be well. The holy king and prophet David confirms this to us when he says: "They sharpen their tongue like a sword, they aim like an arrow with stinging words, that they may smite the blameless secretly. They strike him suddenly and are not afraid. They say, Who will see them? But God will smite them; they will be suddenly wounded with an arrow. They will overthrow one another with their tongues” (Psalm 63:4-8). Yes, remember, brethren, that evil will remain evil, and will fall into the abyss of evil; but good will always remain good, and God's double mercy will always remain with the slandered, though innocent. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

 

Notes:

* In the original text, there is no entry for November 28th. There this is the fifth entry for November 13th.