St. Paisios of Mount Athos: Injustice Gets God’s Wrath

Injustice is a great sin. All sins have extenuating circumstances, but not injustice — it gets God’s wrath. How terrifying it is! Those who are unfair to others are gathering fire on their own heads. People commit some kind of injustice, and their loved ones die, but they cannot understand the reason for this. <…>

In war, the divine justice and God’s care of people is seen especially clearly. War does not tolerate dishonor – a bullet finds quickly an immoral person. One day in the trenches, our two companies were to relieve a battalion which needed to rest. During the relieving, the Communists attacked us, the battle was in full swing. And one soldier from the outgoing battalion committed the vile dishonor the day before – he raped poor pregnant woman. And guess what: in that battle he was the only one killed! Isn’t that terrifying? Everyone then said: “Serves this jerk right – he deserved death”.

And this also happens to those who are disingenuous, striving to run away and slip away – in the end they are the ones who are killed. Those in whom there is strong faith naturally live honestly, in a Christian way. And here is what has been noticed: such people protect the honor of their body, and this protects them from enemy bullets and fragments even better than if they carried on themselves a particle of the Holy Cross.

Untruth Causes Suffering to Posterity

It may happen that in some family, grandfather or grandmother had committed some unjust acts, but this did not affect them themselves. However, punishment befell their children or grandchildren who fall ill and are forced to spend on doctors the money that was collected by untruth in order to pay the debts of their ancestors.

I remember one family that has suffered many misfortunes. First, a serious illness struck the head of the family: he suffered for several years, being bedridden, and after that he died. Then his wife and children died, one after another. The last fifth child also recently died. Earlier, this family was very rich, but it went to poverty, because in order to pay doctors and cover various other expenses, they sold everything they had for nothing.

“Why are so many diseases and troubles pouring on them?” I used to wonder. I was familiar with some members of this family. It was evident that their troubles had nothing to do with the blessed trials that God sends to His chosen ones. “Most likely, – I thought, – in their case God’s spiritual laws came into force”. In order to dispel doubts, I tried to ask some trustworthy old people – their townsmen, who told me the following about their family.

The head of this family received some inheritance from his father and subsequently increased it by committing various unjust acts. For example, a widow asked him to borrow her money in order to marry her daughter. She would have returned her duty after harvesting and threshing of bread. He gave her money, provided that she would put her plot of land in his name. Being in need, that poor thing gave him everything he asked. Another person asked him to borrow him money in order to pay the debt to the bank. He would return the money he had taken after harvesting the cotton, but the unjust head of the family did not agree and demanded in return a whole field. That poor thing, fearing persecution by the bank, gave him his field. The third asked to borrow some money to pay the doctors, and the evil lender demanded a cow from him. The poor man gave him what he asked. In this way, this man made a considerable fortune. However, the whole murmur of the sufferers hit not only himself and his wife, but even their children. Thus, spiritual laws came into force, and the members of the family of the unjust rich man had to be in the shoes of those who were offended by them. So, to pay doctors and other expenses associated with illnesses, accidents and other troubles, they sold everything they had for nothing. From the great rich men, they turned into beggars, and everyone of them passed away – one by one.

He Who Treats Us Unfairly Benefits Us

If a person is patient, then everything falls into place. God fixes everything. But patience is required, patience in which there is no rationality. Since God sees everything and monitors everything, then a person should entrust himself utterly to Him. If a person in this life has suffered injustice from people or demons, God does not worry about it, because the soul of such person benefits from this. However, we often say that someone treats us unfairly, while, in essence, we ourselves are unfair to others. In this case, we need to be attentive and realize that it’s nobody else’s fault but our own.

Translated by The Catalogue of Good Deeds
Source: https://obitel-minsk.ru/chitat/den-za-dnyom/2019/besedy-s-gerondoj-nespravedlivost

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