Forgive men their trespasses, and your heavenly Father will forgive you
A monk, having been insulted by another, came to Abba Sisoes of the Thebaid and disclosed to him that he had a desire to avenge himself upon the one who had wronged him. Abba Sisoes strove to turn him from this evil purpose, but gained nothing, and said to the monk:
— Come, brother, let us pray together to the Lord, — and, rising, he began the prayer with these words: O Lord! Now we no longer put our hope in Thee, for we ourselves take care of ourselves and ourselves avenge ourselves upon him who has wronged us.
The humbled monk heard these words and with tears in his eyes fell at the feet of the venerable Sisoes.
— I shall forgive my brother all that he has done against me.
Then the elder answered:
— Believe, brother, that he who bears every humiliation without a word will easily receive from our Lord a crown of gold; but an angry man tramples underfoot every good thing and makes himself a slave of the devil.
The elder Isaac told this of himself:
— It so happened that I took offence at one of my brethren and was angry with him. One day, while working in my cell, I suddenly grew so vexed that I could not put my heart to the work and spent the whole day idle. And behold, I see a youth coming into my cell; he did not say the prayer, as is the custom of monks, and said to me:
— I see that thou art grieved; trust me, and I shall heal thee.
I answered him:
— Depart from me, for thou art not of God, and come here no more.
Then the youth answered me:
— I pity thee; I am harming myself, for thou art already mine.
I said:
— Not thine; I am the Lord's, and thou art a demon.
But the youth objected:
— Every rancorous and angry man belongs to us, and thou hast now been angry with thy brother three weeks. Every rancorous man is a debtor of Gehenna; and thou, since thou keepest evil in thy heart against thy brother, art for this very reason mine, and mine only, for I am appointed over the angry.
After this I ran at once to my brother and asked his forgiveness; and when I returned to my cell, I found my handiwork burnt. Burnt also I found the mat upon which I bent my knees at prayer.
The venerable Titus, presbyter of the Caves (twelfth century), had a friend, a monk of the same monastery, the deacon Evagrius. They loved one another so sincerely that all the brotherhood marvelled at their concord.
But the enemy, the hater of good, accustomed to sow tares among the wheat, sowed enmity between them. And he so contrived it that they could not even look upon one another. When it fell to one of them to cense in the church, the other fled from the censer; and if he did not turn away his face, then the other passed him by.
Long they abode in the darkness of sin, and, unreconciled and not forgiving one another, they did not dare to receive the divine Gifts and to commune. The brotherhood begged them to be reconciled, but they would not even hear of it.
By God's providence it came to pass that the blessed presbyter Titus fell ill and was at the point of death. Then he wept bitterly for his sins, sent a man to Evagrius and with a contrite heart sent him this word: “Forgive me, brother, for God's sake, that in my heat I offended thee”; but the other not only did not forgive, but cursed him with merciless words.
The brethren of the monastery, seeing Titus dying, brought Evagrius to him by force to take leave of him. The sick man, seeing Evagrius, rose up that very moment, fell at his feet and in tears said: “Forgive me, father, and bless me”; but Evagrius turned his back upon Titus and said aloud, for all to hear, these merciless words: “Never will I forgive thee — neither here nor in the age to come.”
Scarcely had he said this when Evagrius slipped from the hands of the brethren and fell. They would have lifted him up, but he was dead; nor could they straighten his hands, nor close his mouth, nor shut his eyes, as though he had long been dead. But the sick Titus meanwhile rose up and was made whole. Fear seized them all. They asked the blessed presbyter, now healed, what this might mean.
The blessed Titus answered: “When I was grievously ill and at that time was set in enmity against my brother, I saw angels who departed from me and wept over the slaying of my soul, while the demons rejoiced at my anger. Then I asked you to obtain forgiveness for me from my brother.
You brought him to me, I bowed down before him, and he turned his back upon me. At that moment I saw a wrathful angel, who struck with a fiery spear the one who would not forgive. Evagrius that very moment fell down dead. But to me that same angel stretched out his hand, raised me up, and behold, I am whole.”
The terrified brotherhood bewailed the dead Evagrius with bitter tears. They buried him with open eyes, with mouth agape and with stiffened hands.
