Against Laziness
April 26
(Commemoration of our Holy Father Stephen, Bishop of Perm, the New Wonderworker)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
April 26
(Commemoration of our Holy Father Stephen, Bishop of Perm, the New Wonderworker)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
No one boasts of his imaginary labors as much as the lazy. “Is it not I,” such people usually say, “who labor? Is it not I who work? And yet no one pays attention to my labors, and people toward me prove altogether ungrateful.” Thus the lazy usually speak, and instead of working, they only trouble others. What is to be said to such people, and by what can they be stirred to labor?
Concerning Saint Stephen, Bishop of Perm, it is said that from childhood he was extraordinarily capable and industrious. Being a youth, he read in the cathedral church, copied books, and in every way, it is said, studied them. He read the entire Old and New Testament, and, having become a monk, he also became an interpreter of books. He wrote books with his own hands. Then Stephen was made a deacon, and soon a presbyter. At this time he learned, for conversations with the pagans, the Permian language and composed its alphabet; he translated Church books into that same language and copied them. Moreover, he also learned the Greek language. In Perm, in great numbers, he converted pagans to Christ. He conversed with the pagans day and night, it is said, “neither eating nor drinking.” Then he went throughout the whole land of Perm, converting pagans to Christ, and established churches in cities and villages. Then, when he had been made a bishop, he again enlightened by teaching and baptized pagans, again established churches, and ordained priests for them. He also founded monasteries, distributed alms to the people, and fed the poor and the destitute. “And having labored much,” it is said in his life, “for the salvation of mankind, he brought the peoples of the Permian land into the faith and baptized them… And he left behind great lamentation among the people of his flock.” Such was the Saint of God!
Therefore, here is how, O lazy ones, we stop your mouths and urge you to labor: by pointing to the man pleasing to God, who labored day and night, neither eating nor drinking, as you have heard, and labored to sweat, to exhaustion, to tears. Thus did the holy saints of God labor. And did they say: “Have I not labored? Have I not worked?” No; rather, they labored, praying to God with tears, as is said of this same Saint, unceasingly. Therefore, abandon your complaints about your labors and works; for they are nothing in comparison with the labors of the saints, and therefore are not even worth speaking of. Break yourselves, restrain your tongue from evil, and by the path of humility, patience, and true labor hasten, after the example of the saints, to the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
