Gleanings from Orthodox Christian Authors and the Holy Fathers

Grudges

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In Categories: Miscellaneous Topics

"Abba Isaac recounted how a demon approached him disguised as a youth. "You are mine" he said. I asked how he could say that. "Because three Sundays running you have received holy communion whilst being at daggers-drawn with your neighbor', he said, and I told him he was lying. But he said, 'Are you not harboring a grudge against him because of a plate of lentils? I am the one who is in charge of grudges, and, from now on, you are mine.' When I heard that, I left my cell, went to the brother and prostrated myself before him in order to be reconciled with him. When I returned to my cell I found that my visitor had burned my mat on which I prostrated myself,. because he was so consumed with jealousy for our love." THE SPIRITUAL MEADOW of John Moschos

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"Blessed is he who is not attached to anything transitory or corruptible. Blessed is the intellect that transcends all sensible objects and ceaselessly delights in divine beauty. If you make provision for the desires of the flesh (cf. Rom. 13:14) and bear a grudge against your neighbor on account of something transitory, you worship the creature instead of the Creator." St. Maximos the Confessor (First Century on Love nos. 18-20, The Philokalia Vol. 2 edited by Palmer, Sherrard and Ware; Faber and Faber pg. 55)

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