To Those Afflicted By the Ill Will of Slanderers
December 8
(A Story About a Certain Priest, Slandered By a Bishop, Who Was Locked Up In Prison and Was Delivered By An Angel)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
December 8
(A Story About a Certain Priest, Slandered By a Bishop, Who Was Locked Up In Prison and Was Delivered By An Angel)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
Many suffer harm through slanderers without their fault: they are deprived of a good name, or even lose their freedom, or suffer other punishments, all because of the sheer malice of the wicked. What could be more terrible than this? And where can one find the strength to endure it with fortitude? Slandered brethren! Without the will of God, not a hair of your head will perish. Believe that sooner or later the Lord will reveal your innocence; and reward your reproach with double glory.
A priest was slandered before the bishop by a certain wicked man. The bishop, without investigating the matter, had the priest imprisoned. How long the latter remained in prison is unknown. Only once, on the night before Easter, a handsome young man suddenly appeared to him and, claiming to be sent by the bishop, commanded him to leave the prison and go to serve. “But how can I go,” the priest objected, “when the doors are locked?” “I will open them for you,” replied the visitor, and indeed, he opened the doors and led him out of the prison. In the morning, the prison guard, noticing the absence of the prisoner, reported it to the bishop, who, thinking that the priest had fled on his own, sent one of his servants to the priest’s village to find out whether he was home. The servant found the priest serving the Liturgy and reported this to the bishop. The priest's supposed arbitrariness outraged the bishop. "If he has begun to act thus, then now I will return him to prison with dishonor!" said the bishop. Meanwhile, after the first day of Easter, the man who had led him out of prison again appeared to the priest and commanded him to return again. The priest complied, and the man who had appeared, unbeknownst to the prison guard, locked him up again. During the day, to his surprise, the guard again saw the priest imprisoned and again went to inform the bishop. The latter was horrified and immediately summoned the prisoner. "Tell me," asked the bishop, "how was it possible for you to leave and re-enter the prison?" The priest replied: "Yes, Master, your servant came to me the night before Easter and led me out; and the following night he locked me up again." The bishop brought all his servants to him to find out which of them had liberated the priest, but the latter recognized none of them as such. The bishop then realized that none other than an Angel of God had appeared to the priest, revealing his innocence and so that all might glorify God, Who glorifies His servants. The bishop received spiritual benefit from this incident and dismissed the priest in peace, but severely punished the one who had slandered him.
The Lord will also strictly punish slanderers, brethren. For the Holy Apostle Paul says of them: "slanderers (false accusers), inventors of evil, are worthy of death" (Romans 1:30–32).
You, then, brethren, innocent sufferers, so that you may truly be assured that God will reveal your innocence and overthrow your slanderers, should, keeping in mind this recounted case, also bring to mind other, even more striking examples. For instance, remember Joseph, slandered by Potiphar’s wife and thrown into prison, yet later made ruler over all the land of Egypt; Mordecai, for whom the slanderer Haman prepared the gallows, only to be the one who was hanged upon it; and, finally, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who was also slandered and suffered because of false accusations; yet God exalted Him and gave Him a name above every name (Phil. 2:9). Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
