Forgiveness

Forgive, Because People Are Suffering

"To look upon another — his weaknesses, his sins, his faults, his defects — is to look upon one who is suffering. He is suffering from negative passions, from the same sinful human corruption from which you yourself suffer. This is very important: do not look upon him with the judgmental eyes of comparison, noting the sins you assume you’d never commit. Rather, see him as a fellow sufferer, a fellow human being who is in need of the very healing of which you are in need. Help him, love him, pray for him, do unto him as you would have him do unto you." -- Tikhon of Zadonsk

"That said, it is not enough to say that we all sin and therefore we ought to give each other a pass — which is how some treat the scriptural injunction against casting judgment. What Tikhon says that if we judge our brother, we are judging ourselves. We all suffer together. But we don’t get on by sweeping things under the rug. We don’t need a pass. We need grace and repentance.

"This is the full meaning of doing unto others, as it relates to judging them. It’s the full meaning of bearing one another’s burdens. We don’t condemn the gossip, the glutton, the griper, or the groper. We instead pray for their healing (and ours). The unkind, the undisciplined, the unchaste, the ungodly need grace just like we do. If we are doing unto others as we would have done to ourselves, we will pray for their salvation as we hope for our own.

"As Duke Ellington said, only God is without fault. And only God can save those who fall short of his glory. That includes the person screwing up and the person judging him for it." -- Joel J. Miller

Forgive Before You Pray

"Before you pray, first forgive all those who have offended you. Then you may pray. Only in this way will your prayer rise up into the presence of God. If you do not forgive, it will simply remain on the earth." -- Aphrahat the Persian

Consider All Men to be Your Brothers

"If your heart has been softened either by repentance before God or by learning the boundless love of God towards you, do not be proud with those whose hearts are still hard. Remember how long your heart was hard and incorrigible. Seven brothers were ill in one hospital. One recovered from his illness and got up and rushed to serve his other brothers with brotherly love, to speed their recovery. Be like this brother. Consider all men to be your brothers, and sick brothers at that. And if you come to feel that God has given you better health than others, know that it is given through mercy, so in health you may serve your frailer brothers." -- St Nikolai of Serbia, Prologue, 31 March

Forgiveness is a Greater Spiritual Gift than Charity

"Patience means practicing forgiveness. To give patience is a far greater gift than to give money. The one who gives money to one who asks of him does indeed do a fine and admirable deed, but such a gift touches only the body. Spiritual gifts touch the soul with redemption. Hence one who forgives does good both to his own soul and to that of the one who has received forgiveness." -- St. John Chrysostom Homily on Ephesians 16.4.31-32

Sometimes What Others Mean for Evil Turns to Good, So Relieve Them of Their Responsibility

I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. Genesis 45:4-5

"That servitude, Joseph is saying, procured for me this position. That sale brought me to this prominence. That distress proved the occasion of this honor for me. That envy produced this glory for me. Let us not simply hear this but also emulate it. In the same way let us comfort those badly disposed to us, relieving them of responsibility for what has been done to us and putting up with everything with great equanimity, like this remarkable man." St. John Chrysostom Homilies on Genesis 64.29.

The One Who Knows He Has Been Forgiven More, Loves More

" It happens that, whatever state of life a man has reached, he sometimes can offer pure and devout prayer. Even in the lowliest place, where a man is repenting from fear of punishment and the judgment to come, his petitions can enrich him with the same fervor of spirit as the man, who attained to purity of heart, gazes upon God's blessing and is filled with an overwhelming happiness. As the Lord said, 'The one who knows he has been forgiven more begins to love more.'" -- St. John Cassian Conferences 2.9