The Holy Church reads the Gospel of Luke. Chapter 6, Art. 31 - 36.

31. And as you want people to do to you, so do you to them.

32. And if you love those who love you, what thanks do you have for that? for even sinners love those who love them.

33. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? for sinners do the same.

34. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what thanks do you have for that? for even sinners lend to sinners in order to get back the same amount.

35 But you love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

36. Therefore, be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

(Luke 6:31-36)

Today's gospel passage, dear brothers and sisters, conveys to us that part of the Savior's Sermon on the Mount, which we can boldly title as "A word about unselfishness in deeds of love."

The Holy Hierarch of the Crimean Luke, in his sermon on this gospel reading, noted: “All the words of our Savior are simple, and all His teaching is simple, for it was addressed not to proud scholars who think of themselves that they know the truth, but to those humble, to those who know nothing, who are strangers to pride, who are easily imbued with any genuine truth shining with Divine light.

These in simple words The Lord establishes important standards of conduct for every Christian, the first of which is: And as you want people to do to you, so you do to them.(Luke 6:31). Jesus Christ establishes the "golden rule": to do for others what we ourselves expect from them. Indeed, the essence of the Christian life is to diligently do good deeds.

Teaching that the virtue of loving those who love us does not deserve a high reward, the Savior asks: And if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? for even sinners love those who love them(Luke 6:32). With these words, the Savior wanted to show the disciples that if they love only those who love them, then they will not rise above even publicans or pagans, who do this according to the natural law of love embedded in man.

Bishop Michael (Luzin) writes: “The source of love only for those who themselves love us is more or less our pride; it is not yet completely pure love, perfect; this is also characteristic of the sinful, damaged nature of man, and therefore such love does not deserve such a high reward, since there is still no special feat in it.

Desiring that His disciples be worthy sons of the Heavenly Father, Christ commanded: love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked(Luke 6:35).

Alexander Pavlovich Lopukhin explains: “Only those who in this temporary life act in the same way as God does in relation to all people can have hope for the Sonship of God in the Kingdom of the Messiah: they are in their deeds and now resemble their Father - God” .

Thus, at first the Lord convinces by the natural law: what you wish for yourself, then do to others. Further, the Savior also speaks of a reward: everyone who has love for enemies, as well as who does good and gives, without expecting anything in return, will be like God.

Climbing the ladder of Christian perfection, the reborn person will be granted the highest love for enemies, the commandment about which the Lord concludes the first part of His Sermon on the Mount. And, wanting to show how the fulfillment of this commandment brings a weak and imperfect person closer to God, Christ confirms that the ideal of a Christian is God: So be merciful, as your Father is merciful(Luke 6:35).

Archbishop Averky (Taushev) points out: “This is in full accordance with the Divine plan, expressed even at the time of the creation of man: “And God said: Let us make man in Our image, and after Our likeness” (Gen. 1, 26). Divine holiness is unattainable for us […], but what is meant is a kind of internal likeness, a gradual approach of the human soul to its Archetype with the help of grace.”

In today's Gospel reading, dear brothers and sisters, the Lord reveals to us the meaning of the life ideals that He Himself embodied on earth. Calling on His followers to be merciful, as the Heavenly Father is merciful, the Lord reopens for us the opportunity to become like God, that is, to love and forgive enemies, doing good to them. It also indicates what every Christian should strive for: love, goodness and mercy, thanks to which we become children of God. Help us in this Lord!

Hieromonk Pimen (Shevchenko)

Released by the publisher Sretensky Monastery. You can buy the edition in the store "Sretenie".

And as you want people to do to you, do to them. And if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? for even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what thanks do you have for that? For even sinners lend to sinners in order to get back the same amount. But you love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. So be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Luke, 26 credits, VI, 31-36

***

If people every day remembered God's mercy to them, they themselves would be merciful to each other.

Nothing makes a man so unmerciful as the belief that no one is merciful to him. No one? Where is God? Does not God reward us every day and every night with His mercy for the unmercifulness of people? And is not the favor of the king himself more important for us at the royal court than his slaves? What is the use if all the king's servants shower us with favors, but the king is angry with us?

People become unmerciful, expecting others to be the first to show them mercy. But look, exactly the same is expected of them by others! And in this mutual expectation of mercy from each other, all people, to a greater or lesser extent, become unmerciful. And mercy is not a waiting virtue, but a virtue striving to manifest itself. For how would people ever know about mercy, if God did not first show His mercy? The mercy of God caused mercy in people; and if God had not shown His mercy first, the world would not have known even the very word mercy.

For the one who realizes mercy as an active virtue, and not a waiting one, and so begins to fulfill it, both heaven and earth will soon be painted in a different color. For this man will quickly come to know both God's and human mercy. Mercy is a blow that inevitably strikes a spark. And the one who strikes this blissful blow, and the one who receives it - both feel the presence of God. At this moment, the merciful hand of God is felt on both hearts. That is why the Lord said: Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

Mercy is greater than pity, which the sages of India preached as the greatest virtue. A person may take pity on a beggar and pass him by, but a merciful person will take pity on a beggar and help him. Mercy to the poor is not the most difficult and most important thing in the law of Christ - in comparison with mercy to the enemy.

Mercy is greater than forgiveness. For to forgive an offense is half the way to God, and to do a work of mercy is the other half of this way.

Is it necessary to say that mercy is greater than earthly justice? If there were no mercy, then all people would perish according to this earthly, legal justice. Law without mercy cannot even maintain the existing, while mercy creates in the world something new and great. Mercy created this whole world. That's why It is better for people to practice from childhood in the knowledge of the sweetness of mercy than in the knowledge of the astringency of the law. For the law can always be learned, but if the heart hardens, it is difficult to turn and become merciful. For merciful people will not sin in the law, but those who have fulfilled the whole law may be completely deprived of mercy and lose the crown of glory prepared by God for the merciful.

Today's Gospel reading tells us about the highest level of mercy - about love for enemies. Our Lord Jesus Christ gives a commandment - not advice, but a commandment - to love your enemies too. And this commandment of His is not incidental and sporadic, as it was before Him in some rare places of the law, where on the whole this commandment - more in the form of advice than commandments - flashed; but this commandment about love for enemies is placed in the Gospel in the most prominent place.

Rivers Lord: And as you want people to do to you, so you do to them.. These are the opening words in today's gospel of love for enemies. First of all, if you want people not to be enemies to you, don't be enemies to people either. For if it is true that every person in this world has enemies, it means that you yourself are someone's enemies. How then can you demand that the person to whom you are an enemy become your friend? Therefore, first tear out the root of enmity from your heart, and then just count how many enemies you have in the world. How much better you shoot out this evil root from your heart and pull out shoots constantly sprouting from it, so much less will you be able to count your enemies. So, if you want people to be your friends, you yourself must first stop being their enemies, and then become their friends. If you become friends with people, then the number of your enemies will either decrease significantly, or they will not exist at all. But this is not the main thing. The main thing is that in this case God will become your friend. The main thing for your salvation is not to be an enemy to anyone, and not to not have a single enemy yourself. For if you are an enemy to people, then you yourself and your enemies hinder your salvation; if you are a friend to people, then your enemies unconsciously help to build up your salvation. Oh, if each person thought only of how many people he is an enemy, instead of thinking how many enemies he himself has! In one day the gloomy face of this world would shine like the sun.

The commandment of Christ to treat people as we want them to treat us is so natural and so obviously good - it is surprising and shameful that it has not become a daily habit for people for a long time.

Nobody wants people to do him harm - that means, let no one do harm to people. Everyone wants people to do him good - that means, let everyone do good to people.

Everyone wants people to forgive him sins - so let him forgive people's sins.

Everyone wants people to sympathize with his grief and rejoice in his joy - let him also sympathize with the grief of other people and rejoice in their joy.

Everyone wants people to speak kind words about him, treat him with respect, feed him if he is hungry, visit him if he is sick, protect him if he is persecuted - let him do the same with people.

This applies not only to individuals, but also to groups of people, neighboring tribes, peoples and states. If all classes, peoples and states would assimilate this rule, malice and class struggle would disappear, the mutual hatred of peoples would disappear, wars between states would cease. This is the cure for all these diseases, and there is no other cure.

The Lord further says: And if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? for even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? for sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what thanks do you have for that? for sinners also lend to sinners in order to get back the same. This means: if you wait for someone to do good to you, so that later you will pay for it with good, then you are not doing anything good. Does God wait for people to deserve the warmth of the sun, and only after that commands the sun to warm? Or is He the first to show His mercy and His love? Mercy is an active virtue, not a waiting one. God has shown this clearly since the creation of the world. From day to day, since the creation of the world, God with his generous hand scatters rich gifts to all His creatures. For if He had waited for His first creatures to give Him something, there would be no world, no creature in the world. If we love those who love us, then we are traders who make an exchange. If we do good only to our benefactors, then we are debtors repaying our debt. And charity is not a virtue that only repays debts, but a virtue that constantly lends. And love is a virtue that constantly lends and does not expect a return. If we lend to those from whom we hope to receive back, what do we do? We move our money from one cash register to another. For what we have lent we consider our property, just as when it was in our hands.

But it would be foolish to think that by the above words the Lord teaches us not to love those who love us and not to do good to those who do good to us. God forbid! By this he only wants to say that this is a lower level of virtue, to which even sinners easily rise. This is the smallest measure of good that makes this world poor, and people - slavishly constrained and callous. The Lord wants to raise people to the highest level of virtue, from which all the riches of God and all the worlds of God are visible, and on which the constrained and frightened heart of a slave becomes the broad and free heart of a son and heir. Love for those who love us is but the first lesson on the infinite object of love; and doing good to those who do good to us is only elementary School in a long series of exercises in doing good; and lending to someone who gives us is not evil, but good, but this is only the first and tiny step towards the majestic good that gives and does not expect a return.

Whom does the Lord call sinners here? First, the pagans, to whom the mystery of the truth and love of God is not fully revealed. They are sinners because they departed from the original truth and love of God and instead of God made this world their legislator, which taught them to love only those who love them, and to do good only to those who do good to them. The great mystery of God's truth and love is now revealed again through our Lord Jesus Christ - and even more radiantly than at the beginning of creation - it is revealed first through the Jewish people - but not only for the Jewish people, but for all peoples on earth. And since God has been preparing the Jews for thousands of years through the law and the prophets to understand and accept the fullest revelation of the mystery, the Lord calls other peoples, mired in paganism, sinners. But by sinners - and even worse than the pagans - He means all those to whom the secret of truth and love is revealed, but who did not keep it, returning like a dog to his vomit, to the lower step of good. Among these are many and many of us: Christians by name, but by deeds - the most primitive pagans.

For what gratitude can we have if we love those who love us and do good to our benefactors? Are we not thereby returning what we have taken to its place? Indeed, we have received our reward! Only that deed deserves gratitude, which is at least somewhat similar to the deed of God's love.

But you love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. So be merciful, as your Father is merciful. Here highest altitude to which Christ wants to raise a man! Here is a doctrine unheard of before Him! And here is the radiance of human dignity, never dreamed of by the greatest sages in history! And here is the love of God, which melts the whole human heart into one great tear!

Love your enemies. It is not said: do not repay evil for evil, for this is not enough; this is just patience. And it is not said: love those who love you, for this is the expectation of love; but it is said: "Love your enemies"; do not only tolerate them, and do not wait, but love them. Love is a toiling, active virtue; virtue is offensive.

But isn't love for enemies unnatural? This is the objection raised by non-Christians. Do we not see that nowhere in nature are there examples of love for enemies, but only for friends? So they object to us. What can we say? First of all, that our faith knows about two natures: about one, not damaged, not darkened and not embittered by sin, which Adam knew in paradise; and about the other, damaged by sin, darkened and embittered, which we constantly see in this world. In the circle of the first nature, love for enemies is completely natural, for in that nature love is like the air by which all creatures breathe and live. This is the true nature created by God. From that nature, Divine love shines into this nature of ours, like sunlight through clouds. And all true love that is on earth comes from that nature. In the circle of another, earthly nature, love for enemies could, because of its rarity, be called unnatural. But still it is not unnatural, but - in relation to earthly nature - supernatural, or, better, above natural, for love in general comes into this sinful nature from another, original, sinless and immortal nature, which is higher than ours.

“But love for enemies is so rare that it cannot be called natural,” others object. Well, if so, then the pearl is unnatural, and the diamond, and gold too. After all, they are rare, but who would call them unnatural? Really, the Church of Christ alone knows numerous examples of this love. As there are herbs that grow only in one place on the earth, so this unusual plant, this extraordinary love grows and flourishes only in the fence of the Church of Christ. Anyone who wants to be convinced of the existence of numerous specimens of this plant and its beauty should read the lives of the apostles of Christ, the holy fathers and confessors of the faith of Christ, champions and martyrs of the great truth and love of Christ.

“If this love is not impossible, it is at least extraordinarily difficult,” is the third objection. Truly, it is not easy, especially for the student of this love far away, and not near God, Who alone gives her strength and food. How can we not love those whom God loves? God loves us no more than our enemies, especially if we ourselves are enemies to other people. And who among us can say that no one in the world calls him their enemy? If the sun of God shone and the rain fell only for those whom no one considers their enemy, it would really be difficult for a ray of sunshine to fall on the ground and a drop of rain on the earth's dust. What a scarecrow people make out of a hostile attitude towards themselves! Sin has infected people with fear, and from fear they see enemies in all the creatures around them. And God is sinless and fearless, and therefore He does not suspect anyone, but loves everyone. He loves us so much that even when we are surrounded by enemies without much fault of ours, we must trust that He knows about it and allows it for our good. Let's be fair and say that the enemies are our great helpers in spiritual perfection. If it were not for enmity on the part of people, many, many saints of God would not have become God's friends. Even the enmity of Satan himself is useful to those who are zealous for the holiness of God and for the salvation of their souls. Who was a greater zealot for the holiness of God and who loved Christ more than the Apostle Paul? And yet this holy apostle narrates that, having revealed many mysteries to him, God allowed the demon to be near him and annoy him. And so that I would not be exalted by the extravagance of revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, the angel of Satan, to oppress me, so that I would not be exalted(2 Corinthians 12:7). And if even a demon against his will benefits a person, then how can people not benefit him, incomparably less dangerous enemies than demons? One could safely say that often a person's friends do much more harm to his soul than his enemies. And the Lord Himself said: And the enemies of man are his household(Mt. 10:36; Mic. 7:6). Often those who live under the same roof with us, and who are so busy caring for our body and pleasing us, are the most bitter enemies of our salvation. For their love and care is not for our soul, but for the body. How many parents have destroyed the soul of their son, how many brothers - the soul of their brother, how many sisters - the soul of their sister, how many wives - the souls of their husbands! And all this - out of love for them! The understanding of this, daily confirmed, is another strong argument in favor of the fact that one should not indulge too much in love for one's relatives and friends, just as one should not love one's enemies. Is it necessary to emphasize once again that often, very often our enemies are our true friends? The trouble they cause is to our advantage; their reproofs contribute to our salvation; and the fact that they oppress us in the external, carnal life helps us to go deep into ourselves, find our soul and cry out to the Living God for its salvation. Indeed, our enemies often save us from the doom that our relatives are preparing for us, involuntarily weakening our character and nourishing our body at the expense of our soul.

Do good and lend without expecting anything, says the Lord. That is: do good to every person, regardless of whether he loves you or not; follow the example of God, who does good to everyone, both openly and secretly. If your good deeds do not cure your enemy of his hostility, your evil deeds will heal him still less. Do good also to those who do not demand or expect good from you, and lend to everyone who asks, but give as if you were giving, as if you were giving back someone else's, and not giving your own. (“Merciful is the one who has mercy on his neighbor with what he himself received from God: either money, or food, or power, or instruction, or prayer - considering himself a debtor, for he received more than he needs. God asks him through his brother mercy and makes Himself a debtor.” Peter of Damascus). If your enemy does not accept any good from you, you can still do him a lot of good. Didn't the Lord say: pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you(Matthew 5:44)? So, pray for your enemies and thus do good to them. If your enemy does not accept any charity or service from you, God will accept your prayer for him. And God will soften his heart and turn him to a good disposition towards you. It is not at all so difficult to make an enemy a friend, as it seems to people. If this is impossible for people, then it is possible for God. The one who turns the icy earth into a warm meadow on which flowers grow can melt the ice of enmity in the human heart and grow in it the fragrant flower of friendship. But, of course, the most important thing is not that your enemy, through the good done to him, turns and becomes your friend, the most important thing is that he does not destroy his soul because of hatred for you. It is for this latter that one must pray to God, and not for the former. For your salvation, it does not matter at all whether you will have more friends or enemies in this life, but it is very, very important that you are not an enemy to anyone, but a friend to everyone in your heart, in your prayers and in your thoughts.

If you do this, you will have a great reward. From whom? Maybe partly from people, but most importantly - from God. What reward? You be sons of the Most High and you can name God father his. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly(Matthew 6). If not today, then tomorrow; if not tomorrow, then at the end of time, before all angels and people. But what greater reward could we expect than the right to be called sons of Almighty and call the Most High Father yours? Behold, the Only Begotten Son of the Most High is the One Lord Jesus Christ, and only He has until now called God His Father. And now we, lost and sinners, are promised the same honor! What does this honor mean? This means that we will be in eternity where He is (John 14:3), in the glory in which He will be, in joy that has no end. Means what the love of God the Father unceasingly accompanies us in all the troubles and sufferings of this life and turns everything around and arranges for our ultimate good. This means that when we die, we will not remain in the tomb, but we will be resurrected, just as He was resurrected. Ah, this means that we are only temporarily on this earth, as if on an island of the dead, but honor and glory and immortal beauty await us in the house of the Heavenly Father. However, is it necessary to enumerate all the benefits that an orphan expects when he is adopted by an earthly king? It is enough to simply say: such and such an orphan was adopted by the king, and everyone can immediately guess what treasures await this orphan. And our adoption is not human, but God's, for we will be the sons of the Most High, whose Son is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the sons of the Immortal King, the King of kings. God adopts us not for our merits, but for the merits of His Only Begotten Son, as the apostle says: For you are all sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus(Gal. 3:26; John 1:12). Christ accepts us as His brothers, and therefore God the Father accepts us as His children.

In fact, we can do nothing to deserve the right to be called the sons of the Living God. It would be ridiculous to think that we can do anything, even if greatest love to enemies, to deserve and pay for what our Lord Jesus Christ promised to His faithful servants. If we distribute all our possessions to the poor; if we fast all the days of our belly and stand day and night like a candle in prayer until the end of time; if in spirit we separate ourselves from the body as if from a cold stone and become passionless and insensible to this material world with our soul; if we give ourselves over to the whole world for spitting and trampling, and if we give ourselves up as food for hungry beasts, this is still an absolutely insignificant price for that good, that glory and that unspeakable mercy that the adoption of God brings with it. There is no mercy on earth and no love in a mortal man that could make a mortal man a son of God and an immortal citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. But the love of Christ makes up for what is impossible for man: let none of us boast that by his love he can be saved and by his merits open the gates of paradise for himself.

Therefore, the commandment to love enemies, no matter how great and difficult it may seem, is only a mite that God requires from us in order to let us into Himself, into His luxurious royal abodes. He does not require of us that through the fulfillment of this commandment we deserve His kingdom and sonship, but only that we desire this kingdom and sonship more than anything else. He requires from us only faith in His word and obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ. What did Adam do to deserve heaven? nothing; but paradise was given to him through the love of God. What kept Adam in Paradise before his fall? Obedience to God, only obedience. When he and his wife doubted the commandment of God, by this very doubt they violated the commandment of God and fell into the mortal sin of disobedience. With a new creation Our Lord Jesus Christ requires from us the same thing that he demanded from Adam and Eve in Paradise, namely: faith and obedience - faith that every command of His is saving for us, and unconditional obedience to every command of His. He gave all His commandments, including this one, about love for enemies, so that we would have faith and obedience to His word. And if at least one of His commandments were not good and saving for us, would He give it to us? He knew better than anyone whether this commandment was natural or not natural, feasible or not feasible; the main thing for us is that He gave this commandment, and we - if we want good for ourselves - are obliged to fulfill it. As a sick person with faith and obedience takes medicine from the hands of a doctor - whether it is sweet or bitter - so we, weakened and darkened by sin, must with faith and obedience fulfill everything that the philanthropic Physician of our souls and the Lord of our stomach, our Lord Jesus, has commanded us. Christ, the Son of the Living God. Honor and glory befits him, with the Father and the Holy Spirit - the Trinity of Consubstantial and Indivisible, now and forever, at all times and forever and ever. Amen.

Sermon on the 19th Sunday after Pentecost of St. Luke Voyno-Yasenetsky

How do you want people to treat you?
so do you with them.
Luke 6:31

When a person with with a pure heart for the first time he hears these words of Christ, he is embarrassed, he even becomes embarrassed. Simple, extraordinarily simple is the word of Christ and at the same time deep - bottomlessly deep.

The world had not heard such a demand before Christ. It never occurred to the world to do good to those who hate us and offend us. The world would never have heard, if Christ had not come, that we must love our enemies.

Christ's words are simple, but they place the highest, most difficult demands on us. Is it easy to love our enemies; Is it easy to do good to those who offend us; Is it easy to give without looking back to anyone who asks; Is it easy to lend to people without any thought of getting it back? - Oh, how difficult it is, how impossible, how it does not fit into the consciousness of the people of this world!

But the fact is that the Lord says this not to the people of this world, but to us, Christians. He speaks to those who are to be the people chosen by Christ (1 Peter 2:9), makes these heavy demands on those who are to be a holy nation, taken as a possession, so that by their lives, deeds and words “proclaim the perfections of Him who called us from darkness into His marvelous light.

The perfections of Christ, the perfections of God, we must proclaim to people with our whole life: with our deeds, with all our deeds, with our words.

What do we still see around us, what do we see even in ourselves? Do we treat people the way we want to be treated? After all, we do not want people to humiliate and vilify us, and who does not vilify others, his neighbors, who does not humiliate them?

We want people to help us and take care of us in difficult circumstances of our life and our loved ones. And when we ourselves prosper, we do not need anything, how often do we remember those who have nothing, who are waiting for our help? Oh no, not often. And the Lord requires that we always remember.

It is not difficult, not at all difficult, to love people who love us; it is not difficult, not at all difficult, to love a father, or a mother, or a wife, or one's children. But what is the price of this love? Oh no, it has almost no price, because we love our loved ones, our children, according to the instinct of love, which is embedded in us by nature. This, of course, is good; but does it have the highest moral value? Oh no, it doesn't. Don't a she-bear, a she-wolf protect her cubs, go against a man who comes with a weapon?

We do not deserve the grace of God with such love, such deeds (Luke 6:32-34).

When an unfortunate person who has fallen into difficult circumstances comes and asks for material help, and although he knows that he will not be able to return, in embarrassment, in shame, asks for a loan, only a loan, then if you know that this is so, do not reject his assurances, so as not to he was hurt, and give what you ask with a pure heart, not expecting to receive it back. - Then there will be great grace to you from God, for what you have done is a great good deed.

The Lord further demands that the one who slapped him on the cheek turn the other one, and the one who took away his outer garment should not be prevented from taking his shirt. It is not at all a fantastic claim that it can be done if the heart is such that it can do it.

But here many stop in confusion before the last demand of Christ: “To you who hear, I say: love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28). Loving enemies - is it easy? Oh no, it's difficult, it's the highest requirement of Christ. And if He requires, then He knows what can be done.

Let's see who our enemies are. We have different enemies: these are all those who do dirty tricks to us, all who hate and offend us.

But after all, you heard in the current apostolic reading that the Apostle Paul himself had a dirty trick of the flesh - an evil man, a tinkerer Alexander, who everywhere persecuted the Apostle Paul, everywhere he did dirty tricks, insults, annoyance. It was hard for the holy apostle, and he prayed three times to God to deliver him from this cruel man. And what answer did he get? “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). - The Lord said: no need, let him continue to do dirty tricks, because His Divine power is accomplished in weakness: when we are reviled, when we are persecuted, when we suffer, then we are strong by the power of God, the grace of God's help.

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him with bread; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; for [by doing this] you are heaping up burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you” (Prov. 25:21-22). - Burn, burn these burning coals even his black heart, it will be shocked by the fact that you answer his dirty tricks with meekness.

Who else are our enemies? These are evil envious people, slanderers, false scammers.
But think about this: are such enemies scary for everyone? Oh no, not everyone.
There were many people who did not set themselves the goal of arranging earthly well-being. There were people who renounced everything, preferring poverty and, living in obscurity, did not arouse envy in others. Such were all the monks, all the hermits, hermits: they had no enemies, for having rejected all the blessings of the earth, they disarmed the envious.

There are still enemies, terrible enemies who kill and rob us. How can they be treated with love, how is it possible to love robbers, murderers?
And there were saints for whom this was possible, who answered the villains with love; such was our God-bearing Father Seraphim of Sarov. There were others who themselves helped the robbers to tie their property into knots, they themselves put these knots on their shoulders.

Here is an example of how you can execute<эту>commandment of Christ.

"Be merciful, as your Father is merciful." And the Evangelist Matthew conveys this in other words: “Be perfect, even as your Heavenly Father is perfect,” Who “commands His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (5:45).

Set as your task the purification of your heart and the acquisition of love, set the task of your life to become the abode of the Holy Spirit.
And may Christ help you in this with His Divine grace.
Amen.

On the 19th week after Pentecost - Luke 6:31-36 (start 26):

The Lord said: as you want people to do to you, so do you to them. And if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? for even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? for sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what thanks do you have for that? for even sinners lend to sinners in order to get back the same amount. But you love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. So be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,” Scripture says. Every word of God is life for man. And reading the Gospel, we have the opportunity to drink from this source of life. The very words of the Good News are already life-giving, for they are filled with the Holy Spirit. The fulfillment of these words is the path to the Kingdom of the Father.

“As you want people to do with you, do the same with them,” says Christ, and thereby sets a high standard for His disciples, calls them (that is, us) to an active life position. It is no longer “an eye for an eye”, not a “tooth for a tooth”. And this is not just a call. not do to others what you don't want to do to yourself. This is a call make, a call to live and act. But how to live and how to act? As it is not customary among the sons of this age, as it is not characteristic of this fallen world. Christians must resist the worldly spirit, their business is to be insane for the sake of Christ, to do things that do not fit into the Procrustean bed of common sense.

“Strike a preemptive strike against a competitor,” says modern morality. “Love your enemies,” Christ says. “Get profit at any cost,” we hear on every corner. “Give us a loan without expecting anything in return,” the Son of God calls us.

But if we take a deeper look, we will understand that the Gospel does not offer a new morality, does not build any kind of moral system. The gospel does not deal with ethical issues at all. It simply shows us the way of life, the way of eternal life.

“Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing” – it would seem how easy it is to say, but how difficult it is to fulfill. It is indeed difficult to fulfill, but Christ set an example for us by His life and His death. He truly loved His enemies, even on the cross praying for those who crucified. He did good - did good, did good: consoled, healed, resurrected. He gave us all of Himself, He became a man for us, lived for us and died for us – and in return He does not require anything from us for Himself.

Loving your enemies is almost impossible for those who have no hope for a future life. The enemy is the one who causes pain, causes suffering. How can you forgive him? How can you love him? Impossible - unless we remember that Christ "died for us while we were yet sinners" (Rom. 5:8). We constantly inflict pain and suffering on God, but He invariably has mercy and forgiveness on us.

Doing charity and lending without expecting anything is extremely difficult, especially if you receive in return not “nothing,” but malice, slander, and reproach. But Christ endured all this - misunderstanding, envy, persecution, blasphemy, slander, malice, beating, crucifixion and death. And He not only gave us an example in this way - He is ready to help us in our every good deed, He supports our weak hand, strengthens us in a moment of weakness and despondency, gives hope in a seemingly hopeless situation.

For the fulfillment of His words, Christ promises a great reward: "You will be sons of the Most High." What can be higher than this? Christ is the Son of God, and we shall be sons of God. Heavenly Father is good to us, the ungrateful and the wicked, and we will become like Him if we do the same. The Lord is merciful - and we have a happy opportunity to draw closer to our Creator and Savior, if we do not seek justice for ourselves, if we do not treat our neighbors legally, but give our heart the work to be indulgent, merciful and loving.

This is such a commandment that the whole being of a true Christian should be imbued with, because even at the universal judgment of Christ, only the merciful will stand at His right hand, they will be recognized as blessed by the Heavenly Father, and they will inherit the kingdom of heaven prepared for them. The Lord God and our Savior is the real mercy and the source of mercy; therefore, His merciful follower is likened to Him and to our merciful Heavenly Father, Who is all love.

The commandments of the Lord and our God Jesus Christ.

Rev. Ambrose Optinsky

So be merciful, as your Father is merciful

This commandment, firstly, means that a person must be compassionate towards his neighbors regarding giving alms, not distinguishing between the worthy and the unworthy. And secondly, it requires from us both indulgence towards those closest to us, and forgiveness of any shortcomings, insults and annoyances.

Letters.

Right. John of Kronstadt

So be merciful, as your Father is merciful

Wonderful for me is the knowledge of [Yours] I will exclaim with the prophet, high, I can't comprehend it!(Ps. 139:6). Your wisdom has no end. Glory to Thee, O Lord, our Savior!

Diary. Volume II. 1857-1858.

Blzh. Theophylact of Bulgaria

Ep. Mikhail (Luzin)

So be merciful, as your Father is merciful

Be merciful: Ev. Matthew - perfect, - a concept more extensive than the concept of mercy. Ev. Luke used this word probably because from the speech of the Savior he mainly reports those places where mercy is spoken of (vv. Lk. 6:33-34).

Explanatory Gospel.