“We are
fools for Christ’s sake” (1 Corinthians 4:10).
Thus
speaks the great Apostle Paul who in the beginning was guided by worldly
wisdom, which is against Christ, until he recognizes the falsehood and decay of
the wisdom of the world and the light and stability of the wisdom of Christ.
Then, the holy apostle did not become angry with the world because they called
him “a fool for Christ’s sake” neither did he, in defiance of the world,
hesitate to be called by this name.
It is not
of any value to us how the world is going to regard or call us. However, it is
important, and extremely important, how the holy angels in the heavens will
regard and call us when, after death, we meet with them. This is of crucial
importance and everything else is nothing.
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| St. Nikolai Velimirovich |
Either we
are fools for the world because of Christ or we are fools for Christ because of
the world. O how short-lived is the sound of a word of the world! If the world
would say to us “fool,” the world will die and its word will die! What then is
the value of its word? But if the heavenly, immortal ones say to us “fool,”
that will neither die nor is it removed from us as eternal condemnation.
Whoever
does not believe in the Living God, nor in eternal life, nor in the Incarnation
of the Lord Christ, nor in Christ’s Resurrection nor in the truth of the Gospel
nor in God’s eternal mercy and justice – is it any wonder if he considers that
one a fool who does believes in all of this?
O, may
every one of us who cross ourselves with the Sign of the Cross not only find it
easy to endure but with satisfaction receive the name “fool” for Christ’s sake!
Let us rejoice and be glad if the non-believers call us such, for that means
that we are close to Christ and far away from the non-believers. Let us rejoice
and be glad and repeat with a powerful echo in the ears of the world: yes, yes,
indeed we are fools for Christ’s sake!
O Lord
Most-wise, strengthen us by Your power that we not fear the non-believing world
neither when they lash us with whips nor when they insult us with words for
Your sake.
By St. Nikolai Velimirovich
Homily for February 22, Prologue of Ohrid
Source: http://www.orthodoxchurchquotes.com/2013/09/10/st-nikollai-velimirovich-it-is-not-of-any-value-to-us-how-the-world-is-going-to-regard-or-call-us/
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