May: Day 8: Teaching 2: Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian

May: Day 8: Teaching 2:
Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian
 
(Examples of how Christians depart from the law of Christian love, and the necessity of living according to its spirit.)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. What shall we say to you, brethren, on today’s feast? The beloved disciple of the Lord — the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, whose memory we celebrate today — spoke more than anything else during his apostolic ministry about love. Therefore let us also speak today about love.

II. You yourselves know very well that the Lord commanded us to love God and then all people, and said that upon these two commandments rests the whole law (Matt. 22:40). You know that only he who has love toward all is a true Christian (John 13:35). You also know that without love one cannot inherit eternal life, for “he who does not love his brother abides in death” (1 John 3:14); that “without love all gifts profit nothing to those who possess them,” as John Chrysostom says; and that without it all our good deeds mean nothing (1 Cor. 13:3).

You know this, you have heard it many times, and you yourselves reason that it would be good if all loved one another; you yourselves realize that we must love others. But unfortunately, all this is mostly only in words and not in deeds. In words we love, but in deeds — in deeds we are far from love.

a) If, for example, our neighbor sins, instead of praying to God for his correction, we begin joyfully condemning him. But is this love? No. “If you truly love your neighbor, do not mock him, but pray for him secretly; for this kind of love is pleasing to God,” teaches one great ascetic, John Climacus.

“Do you wish to correct your brother? Weep, pray to God, admonish him privately, advise him, entreat him,” says Saint John Chrysostom, but do not condemn him; for then he sins, and you yourself sin by condemning him.

b) If someone offends us, instead of forgiving our offender in a Christian manner and repaying him with good, we instead try to offend him in return — that is, repay evil with evil. But is this love? No, for love “suffers long and thinks no evil.”

“He who loves his neighbor does not take revenge for an injury done to him, but endures it with meekness and without malice, and prays for those who persecute him,” teaches Tikhon of Zadonsk.

If you love your neighbor, then “never harbor malice in your heart; but even if some offense occurs, let it last only one day and no longer than that. ‘Let not the sun,’ it is said, ‘go down upon your wrath,’” teaches Saint John Chrysostom.

c) If someone lives happily and peacefully, instead of rejoicing in our neighbor’s happiness, we often envy him. But is this love? No, for “love does not envy,” but rejoices in the welfare of one’s neighbor.

We often forget that all people are our brethren according to the flesh, and Christians, moreover, are brethren in Christ. We forget this and treat others proudly, rudely, and arrogantly. But is this love? No, for “love is not puffed up and does not boast,” but rather “is obedient to all, humble, courteous, and condescending to all,” teaches Saint Tikhon.

d) If someone is in misfortune, distress, or need, we often pay no attention to it, as though it were none of our concern. But this is not love, because true “love shows mercy”; “seeing the misfortune of one’s neighbor, it suffers with him; it shares the pain of the suffering, grieves with those who grieve, and strives to comfort them; it does not spare itself in helping a suffering neighbor.”

e) Furthermore, in our ordinary occupations and affairs, it is rare for anything to happen without anger and irritation, without quarrels and displeasure. But is this love? No, for “love does not behave improperly, is not provoked, and endures all things.”

The holy saints of God did not act this way. They treated everyone meekly, quietly, and kindly. They never dared to condemn others, but instead covered the sins of their brethren and sought to bring them to understanding.

f) Finally, in works of Christian mercy, we mostly do good only insofar as it requires from us neither special labor nor, all the more, self-sacrifice. But this is not Christian love, which spares nothing for the salvation of one’s neighbor - not health, not peace, not property, not even life itself.

Saint John the Theologian once exposed himself to great danger by even running after a robber, weeping, begging, and falling at his feet in order to turn him to the path of salvation.

The saints not only shared with the poor their last piece of bread — Saint Philaret, for example, gave away his last ox — but even sacrificed themselves for others, like Paulinus of Nola, who, having no more money, sold himself into slavery in order to ransom the son of a poor widow.

This is true Christian love!

III. Therefore strive, beloved brethren, to “love” your neighbors “not in word or tongue,” but chiefly “in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18); strive to unite good words with good deeds.

And if, despite all your desire, you cannot love others, if you do not have good deeds that testify to your love, then pray to the Lord, Who Himself is infinite love, that He may help you love others and direct you to do good; that He may grant you the spirit of humility, meekness, and love. Amen.

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.