Forgiving Others
(25 entries)
...he who would be reconciled to God and have peace with God must first
be reconciled with his neighbor. Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk
...to forgive our enemies and to do good to them is true magnanimity
- one of the greatest traits of likeness to God... Lorenzo
Scupoli (Unseen Warfare: Chapter 7)
Abba Poemen also said this about Abba Isidore that whenever he addressed
the brothers in church he said only one thing, "Forgive your brother, so
that you also may be forgiven." From the Desert
Fathers
Abba Zeno said, 'If a man wants God to hear his prayer quickly, then
before he prays for anything else, even his own soul, when he stands and
stretches out his hands towards God, he must pray with all his heart for
his enemies. Through this action God will hear everything that he asks.'
The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Trans. by Benedicta Ward
Considering all these things then, and counting the recompense which
is given in this case and remembering that to wipe away sins does not entail
much labor and zeal, let us pardon those who have wronged us. For that
which others scarcely accomplish, I mean the blotting out of their own
sins by means of fasting and lamentations, and prayers, and sackcloth,
and ashes, this it is possible for us easily to effect without sackcloth
and ashes and fasting if only we blot out anger from our heart, and with
sincerity forgive those who have wronged us. Chrysostom,
Homily to those who have not attended the Assembly
Do we forgive our neighbors their trespasses? God also forgives us in
His mercy. Do we refuse to forgive? God, too, will refuse to forgive us.
As we treat our neighbors, so also does God treat us. The forgiveness,
then, of your sins or unforgiveness, and hence also your salvation or destruction,
depend on you yourself, man. For without forgiveness of sins there is no
salvation. You can see for yourself how terrible it is.
St. Philotheos of Sinai
Do we forgive our neighbors their trespasses? God also forgives us in
His mercy. Do we refuse to forgive? God, too, will refuse to forgive us.
As we treat our neighbors, so also does God treat us. The forgiveness,
then, of your sins or unforgiveness, and hence also your salvation or destruction,
depend on you yourself, man. For without forgiveness of sins there is no
salvation. You can see for yourself how terrible it is.
St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, Journey to Heaven
Do we forgive our neighbors their trespasses? God also forgives us in
His mercy. Do we refuse to forgive? God, too, will refuse to forgive us.
As we treat our neighbors, so also does God treat us. The forgiveness,
then, of your sins or unforgiveness, and hence also your salvation or destruction,
depend on you yourself, man. For without forgiveness of sins there is no
salvation. You can see for yourself how terrible it is.
St. Tikhon of Zadonsk.
Do we forgive our neighbors their trespasses? God also forgives us in
His mercy. Do we refuse to forgive? God, too, will refuse to forgive us.
As we treat our neighbors, so also does God treat us. The forgiveness,
then, of your sins or unforgiveness, and hence also your salvation or destruction,
depends on you yourself, man. For without forgiveness of sins there is
no salvation. You can see for yourself how terrible it is.
St. Philotheos of Sinai.
Do you not see, brethren, that we toil for nothing when we pray, if
we have enmity against someone? And again the Lord says, ‘If you offer
your gift at the altar, and there you remember that someone has something
against you, leave your gift before the altar, and go first and be reconciled
to your brother, and then come and offer your gift’. Therefore, it is clear
that if you do not do this first, all that you offer will be unacceptable,
but if you do the Master’s bidding, then implore the Lord with boldness,
saying, ‘Forgive me my debts, Master, as I have forgiven my brother, so
fulfilling your commandment. I, weak though I am, have forgiven’. For the
Lover of mankind will answer, ‘If you have forgiven, I too will forgive.
If you have pardoned, I too will pardon your sins. For I have authority
on earth to forgive sins. Forgive and you will be forgiven’.
St Ephrem the Syrian, 'Three Short Discourses', from 'http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ephrem/3disc.htm'
For an offense, whatever kind may have been given, one must not only
not avenge oneself, but on the contrary must all the more forgive from
the heart, even though it may resist this, and must incline the heart by
conviction of the word of God: "If ye forgive not men their trespasses,
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matt. 6:15).
St Seraphim of Sarov - Spiritual Instructions
God is long-suffering and merciful to you: this you experience many
times every day. Be long-suffering and merciful to your brethren, also
fulfilling the words of the Apostle, who thus speaks of love before everything:
"Love suffereth long, and is kind." You desire that the Lord should rejoice
you by His love, rejoice on your part the hearts of others by your tender
love and kindness. St. John of Kronstadt, My
Life in Christ
If a man insults me, kills my father, my mother, my brother, and then
gouges out my eye, as a Christian it is my duty to forgive him. We who
are pious Christians ought to love our enemies and forgive them. We ought
to offer them food and drink, and entreat God for their souls. And then
we should say: "My God, I beseech Thee to forgive me, as I have forgiven
my enemies. Teachings of Saint Kosmas Aitolos
If the Emperor had laid down a law that all those who were enemies should
be reconciled to one another, or have their heads cut off, should we not
every one make haste to a reconciliation with his neighbor? Yes, truly,
I think so! What excuse then have we, in not ascribing the same honor to
the Lord that we should do to those who are our fellow servants? For this
reason we are commanded to say, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our
debtors" (Matt. 6:12).
What can be more mild, what more merciful, than this precept! He has
made you a judge of the pardon of your own offenses! If you forgive few
things, He forgives you few! If you forgive many things, He forgives you
many! If you pardon from the heart, and sincerely, God in like manner also
pardons you...
Do not tell me, "I have besought him many times , I have entreated,
I have supplicated, but I have not effected a reconciliation." Never desist
till you have reconciled him. For He said not, "Leave your gift, and go
your way". Although you may have made many entreaties, yet you must not
desist until you have persuaded. God entreats us every day, and we do not
hear; yet He does not cease entreating. And do not then disdain to entreat
your fellow-servant. How is it then possible for you ever to be saved?
In proportion as the good work is accomplished with greater difficulty,
and the reconciliation is one of much labor, so much the greater will be
the judgment on him, and so much the brighter will be the crowns of victory
for your forbearance.
Saint John Chrysostom
If you want to cure your soul, you need four things. The first is to
forgive your enemies. The second is to confess thoroughly. The third is
to blame yourself. The fourth is to resolve to sin no more. If we wish
to be saved, we must always blame ourselves and not attribute our wrong
acts to others. And God, who is most compassionate, will forgive us.
Teachings of Saint Kosmas Aitolos
If, in the case of one human being who has done wrong to another, God
in His grace has commanded that we should be forgiving to the offender
seventy times seven, how much more will God forgive the person who offers
up supplication for his sins?
John the Solitary in The Syriac Fathers on Prayer
Imagine the vanity of thinking that your enemy can do you more damage
than your enmity.
St. Augustine
It is characteristic of generous, valiant souls not to despair in the
midst of perils; and it is the work of one who is grateful not only to
give thanks to the Lord in good fortune, but to show the same thankfulness
in misfortunes as well. Nothing can embitter the virtuous soul, but everything
that he suffers he considers to be gain for himself. And what can be better
than to bear one's lot generously and without complaint? There is nothing
more generous than to forget the offenses made against one.
Abbot Nazarius, Little Russian Philokalia, Vol. II
Let us love one another, and we shall be loved by God. Let us be longsuffering
toward one another, and He will be longsuffering toward our sins.
Let us not render evil for evil, and He will not render to us according
to our sins. We shall find remission of our transgressions in forgiving
our brethren; for God's mercy toward us is concealed in our mercifulness
toward our neighbor. This is also why the Lord said: Forgive, and ye shall
be forgiven (Luke 6:37). And if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you (Matthew 6:14). After this, our salvation
is already in our power.
Saint Maximus the Confessor
Rightly did the Lord say, ‘My burden is light’. For what sort of weight
is it, what sort of toil is it to forgive one’s brother his offences, which
are light and of no importance, and to be pardoned for one’s own, and immediately
justified?
He did not say, ‘Bring me money, or calves, or goats, or fasting, or
vigils’, so that you could say, ‘I have none, I cannot’, but he ordered
you to bring what is light and easy and immediate, saying, ‘Pardon your
brother his offences, and I will pardon yours. You pardon small faults,
a few halfpennies, or three pennies, while I give you the ten thousand
talents. You only pardon without giving anything, I nevertheless both grant
you pardon and give you healing and the Kingdom.
And I accept your gift, when you are reconciled to the one who is your
enemy, when you have enmity against no one, when the sun does not go down
on your anger.
When you have peace and love for all, then your prayer is acceptable,
and your offering well-pleasing, and your house blessed and you blessed.
But if you are not reconciled with your brother, how can you seek pardon
from me? You trample on my words, and do you demand pardon? I, your Master,
demand, and you pay no attention, and do you, a slave, dare to offer me
prayer, or sacrifice, or first fruits, while you have enmity against someone?
Just as you turn your face from your brother, so I too turn my eyes from
your gift and your prayer.’
St Ephrem the Syrian, 'Three Short Discourses', from
'http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ephrem/3disc.htm'
Some, for the sake of forgiveness, give themselves up to labor and struggles,
but a man who is forgetful of wrongs excels them. If you forgive quickly,
then you will be generously forgiven.
St. John Climacus, “The Ladder of Divine Ascent,” (Boston:
Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1978), Step 9: On Remembrance of Wrongs
The brothers said, "What kind of prayer is that which is not acceptable
before God?" The old man said, "The prayer for the destruction of enemies.
When we ask that evil things may come upon those who do harm to us, and
for bodily health, and abundance of possessions, and fertility in respect
of children, these requests are not acceptable before God. If God beareth
with us, who are sinners and who offend Him, how much more is it right
that we should bear each with the other? It is, then, not meet that we
should ask for the things which concern the body, for the wisdom of God
provideth everything necessary."
"The Paradise of the Holy Fathers," vol. II, translated
by E. A. Wallis Budge, (Seattle, St. Nectarios Press, 1984), p. 332-333
There is no prayer so quickly heard as the prayer whereby a man asks
to be reconciled with those who are wroth with him. For when he charges
himself with the offence, this prayer is immediately answered.
The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian
This is the ladder by which Christians ascend toward perfection, that
is toward love of enemies. What, then, Christian? When you are commanded
to love your enemies, and to do good to those that hate you - commanded
by Him Who created you and redeemed the lost by His blood and death, and
Who holds your death and life in His hand - will you consent and forgive
him who offended you? If an earthly king had commanded you not only to
forgive your neighbor his offense, but also to serve him, or else be put
to death, which had you better choose? To die or to forgive and serve your
neighbor? I hope that you would rather wish to forgive and serve your neighbor
than to die.. The Heavenly King commands you not only to forgive him that
offended you, but also to love your enemies, and to do good to those that
hate you. Otherwise eternal death will follow those that do not hear the
commandment of the Heavenly King, `Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord,
Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will
of My Father which is in heave' (Mt. 7:21).
St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, Journey to Heaven
What are you saying? "Shall I forgive him?" Christ is saying, "Yes!"
This sacrifice was instituted for the sake of peace with your brother.
Accordingly, if the sacrifice was instituted for the sake of peace with
your brother, but you do not establish peace, you partake of the sacrifice
in vain, the work has become of no profit to you. Do first, then, that
for the sake of which the sacrifice is offered, and then you will properly
enjoy its benefits. The Son of God came down for this purpose, to reconcile
our human nature to the Lord. But He did not come down for that purpose
alone, but also for the purpose of making us, if we do likewise, sharers
of His title. For He says: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall
be called sons of God" (Mt. 5:9). You, according to human capacity, must
do what the Only begotten Son of god has done, be an agent of peace, for
yourself and for others. For this reason, at the very time of sacrifice
He recalls to us no other commandment that that of reconciliation with
one’s brother, showing that it is the greatest of all.
Anthony M. Coniaris, ed., "Daily Readings From the Writings
of St. John Chrysostom," (Minneapolis, MN.: Light and Life Publishing Co.,
1988), pp. 22-23
Used with the permission of Fr Seraphim Holland from
his website.
