John Chrysostom - aphorisms, catchphrases, phrases, sayings, sayings, quotes, thoughts

About love*

The Lord said beautifully: “My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). Indeed, what burden or what work is it to forgive a brother’s sins - light and insignificant - and thereby gain forgiveness of one’s own sins and quick justification? The Lord did not say: I demand from you money, or bulls, or kids, or fasting, or wakefulness, so that you do not make excuses: I don’t have this, I cannot do this, but what is easy, accessible and simple, that It is He who demands, saying: forgive your brother his sins, and I will forgive you your sins. You will forgive small debts, maybe a few obols or at least a hundred denarii, and I will forgive you a thousand talents. And you just forgive, without adding anything on your own, but I will forgive your sins, and I will give you healing and a kingdom. And I will accept your gift itself when you are reconciled with your enemy, when you do not harbor enmity against anyone, when the sun does not set on your anger, when you have peace and love with everyone; then your prayer will be pleasing to Me, and My blessing will rest on your house, and you will be blissful. If you do not want to be reconciled with your brother, then how can you expect forgiveness from Me? Do you trample my words and demand forgiveness? I, the Master, command, and you do not pay attention - how can you, a slave, dare to offer God a prayer, a sacrifice, or the first fruits, having enmity against someone? As you turn away your face from your brother, so God turns away His eyes from your gift and from your prayer; God is love, and therefore everything done without love is displeasing to Him.

Indeed, how can God accept a prayer, or a gift, or firstfruits, or fruits from a murderer if he does not first properly repent? But you, of course, will object to me: I am not a murderer. I will prove to you that you are a murderer, or rather, John the Theologian denounces you, asserting: “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15). Let us not, my beloved brothers, value anything other than love, let us not care about anything other than it; let no one have enmity against another, let no one repay evil for evil: “let not the sun go down on your wrath” (Eph. 4:26), but let us forgive our debtors all their sins.

Indeed, what is the use, children, if someone has everything, but does not have saving love? If someone organizes a big feast for the king and the authorities with as much luxury as possible, so that there is no shortage of anything, and he does not have salt, will not the whole feast be upset as a result? Of course, he will be upset, and thus the organizer of the feast will incur expenses, and his labors will be in vain, and moreover, he will be embarrassed in front of the guests invited to the feast. So here it is: what is the use of working for nothing? Without love, every deed and every merit is impure and imperfect; Whether someone keeps virginity, fasts, stays vigilant, prays, feeds the poor, brings, as it seems to him, gifts, or firstfruits, or fruits, builds churches or does anything else, without love all this is insignificant. what counts in the sight of God. Do not wait for God's favor in this case. Listen to what the apostle says: whoever harbors enmity against his brother and, meanwhile, makes an offering to God is the same as if he were sacrificing a dog; his offering is no better than the wages of a harlot (cf. Matt. 5:23–24; Isa. 66:3; Deut. 23:18). Never do anything without love, because love covers a multitude of sins.

Oh, what a blessing we neglect! Oh, what blessings and what joy we are deprived of if we are not established in love! Not wanting to acquire it, Judas withdrew from the ranks of the apostles, leaving the true light; Having hated his Teacher and his brothers, he plunged into darkness. That is why the Supreme Apostle Peter said about him: “Judas fell away to go to his own place” (Acts 1:25). On the other hand, John the Theologian says: “But whoever hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes” (1 John 2:11). And if you say that although I do not love my brother, I love God, John denounces you here too in these words: “Whoever says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, is a liar: for he who does not love his brother, whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see” (1 John 4:20)? So, he who has love with all his brothers, who does not harbor enmity against anyone who fulfills the commandments of the Apostle: “Let not the sun go down on your anger” (Eph. 4:26), he loves God, he is His disciple, who said: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one another” (John 13:35). It is obvious from this that the disciples of Christ are known by this sign - by true love among themselves. And whoever hates his brother, even if he thought to himself that he loves Christ, is a lie and deceives himself. So the Apostle John says that “we have this commandment from Him, that he who loves God should also love his brother” (1 John 4:21). In another place, the Lord said: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart:... love your neighbor as yourself,” and to show the power of love, he added: “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22: 37, 39–40). An extraordinary miracle! He who has unfeigned love fulfills the whole law. “Love therefore is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10), as the apostle says.

Oh, the incomparable power of love! Oh, the immeasurable power of love! There is nothing more valuable than love - neither in heaven nor on earth. That is why the Apostle Paul, having learned that nothing is equal to love, declared to all ends of the universe in his writings: “Do not owe anyone anything except mutual love” (Rom. 13:8) and lay down your life for each other. This love is the head of all virtues, the salt of virtues; love is the fulfillment of the law, love is true salvation. She once prevailed in the heart of Abel, she made Noah a helmsman, she assisted the patriarchs, she saved Moses, she made David the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, she inspired the prophets, she strengthened Job. And why not say it stronger? She brought down the Son of God from heaven to us on earth. Through love the Incorporeal One is incarnated, the Beginningless One begins, the Son of God becomes the Son of Man; love arranges the whole work of salvation: death is abolished, the devil is deposed, Adam is returned to paradise, Eve becomes free; love united angels and people into a single herd; love resolved the oath, opened heaven, clarified life, promised the kingdom of heaven. She, having captured the fishermen, made them fishers of men, she inflamed and strengthened the martyrs, she populated the deserts, she filled the mountains and caves with psalmody, she united angels and people into one, she prompted husbands and wives to walk the narrow and cramped path. But until when, finally, do we have to chase the elusive?

John Chrysostom was born around 347 in Antioch. Archbishop of Constantinople, revered as one of the three Ecumenical saints and teachers, along with Saints Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian. Died 14 September 407

Aphorisms, quotes, sayings, phrases John Chrysostom

It is better to be in darkness than without a friend.
A word can create as much as fear can destroy.
The time of trouble is not when we suffer evil, but when we do evil.
He who does not need someone else’s, but lives independently, is richer than everyone else.
Do you want to be shown mercy? Show mercy to your neighbor.
You cannot shy away from battle, nor seek battle yourself: then the victory will be more glorious.
Ordinary people can be bold more than once, but not everyone is able to do so at the right time.
Better is bread with salt in peace and without sorrow, than many valuable dishes in sorrow and grief.
A person's dignity does not lie in his origin. God did not create slavery, but gave man freedom.
When you feed the poor, consider that you have fed yourself. This is the nature of this thing: what we give will return to us.
Nothing confuses the purity of mind, beauty, and wisdom more than causeless anger, carried around by a loud roar.
How else do you dare to call yourself a father, having thus betrayed your son, ignoring his corruption with all his vices?
We cannot do evil or hate any person, be it a wicked person or a heretic, as long as he does not harm our soul.
Let us help those poor people who beg us for it, and even if they deceive us, we should not attach too much importance to it. For each of us deserves such mercy, forgiveness and kindness.
Even if our whole life was prosperous, we will be subjected to severe punishment if we do not care about saving our children. Children are not an accidental acquisition. We are responsible for their salvation.
If you hear that someone at a crossroads or at a market among the people is blaspheming the Lord Christ, come and stop him. If you have to beat him, do not turn away - hit him on the cheek, crush his lips, sanctify your hand with the blow.
If someone kills according to the will of God, murder is better than any kindness. If someone shows mercy out of love for mankind, but contrary to the will of God, this mercy is more unworthy than any murder. It is not the nature of things, but God's judgment that makes them good or bad.
Many people condemn me for attacking the rich, but why are they unfair to the poor? I do not blame the rich man, but the predator. You are rich? I'm not bothering you. But are you a robber? I condemn you. Both rich and poor are equally my children.
We are waging a war, but our war does not make the living dead, but makes the spiritually dead, mired in heresy, alive. I am not persecuting a heretic, but a heresy, not a sinner, but sin. No matter how much someone scolds me, I say from the bottom of my heart: “Peace, for the love of the Father is in me. The more I will love you, the less I am loved by you.”
The soul is timid and unsteady in ignorance, and not in essence. If I meet someone who was once brave and is now fearful, I understand that this did not happen due to the nature of the vice, for nature does not change that much.
We need to look not at making children rich in silver and gold and the like, but so that they are richer than everyone else in piety, wisdom and other virtues, so that they do not need much.
Often, many fathers do everything so that their son has a good horse, a magnificent house or an expensive estate, but they do not care at all about his having a good soul. This is what upsets the entire universe.
Don't tell me it's impossible to curb youth. All vices come from our carelessness, because we do not teach our children piety from the very beginning and from an early age. We often allow them to go to shows, but we never force them to go to church.
If fear were not a good thing, then neither fathers would assign overseers to their children, nor legislators would assign rulers to cities. Nothing destroys sin, and nothing promotes virtue to grow and flourish, as constant fear. Therefore, it is impossible for anyone who does not live in fear to be virtuous.