"Some
people, if they stumble at all, or are slandered by anyone, or fall ill with a
chronic disease, gout or headache or any such ailment, at once begin to
blaspheme. They submit to the pain of
the disease, but deprive themselves of the benefit. What are you doing, man, blaspheming your
benefactor, savior, protector, and guardian?
Or do you not see that you are falling down a cliff and casting yourself
into the pit of final destruction? You
do not make your suffering lighter, do you, if you blaspheme?
Indeed,
you aggravate it, and make your distress more grievous. For the devil brings a multitude of
misfortunes for this purpose, to lead you down into that pit. If he sees you blaspheming he will readily
increase the suffering and make it greater, so that when you are pricked you
may give up once again; but is he sees you enduring bravely, and giving thanks
the more to God, the more the suffering grows worse, he raises the siege at
once, knowing that it will be useless to besiege you any more. A dog sitting by the table, if it sees the
person who is eating continually throwing it scraps of food from the table,
stays persistently; but if stopping at the table once or twice it goes away
without getting anything, it stays away thereafter, thinking that the siege is
useless.
In the
same way the devil continually gapes at us; if you throw to him, as to a dog,
some blasphemous word, he will take it and attack you again; but if you
persevere in thanksgiving, you have choked him with hunger, you have chased him
away and thrown him back from you. But,
you say, you cannot keep silent when you are pricked by distress. I certainly do not forbid you to make a sound,
but give thanks instead of blasphemy, worship instead of despair. Confess to the Lord, cry out loudly in
prayer, cry out loudly glorifying God.
In this way your suffering will be lightened, because the devil will
pull back from your thanksgiving and God's help will be at your side. If you blaspheme, you have driven away God's
assistance, made the devil more vehement against you, and involved yourself
even more in suffering; but if you give thanks, you have driven away the plots
of the evil demon, and you have drown the care of God your protector to
yourself."
From "Third Sermon on Lazarus and the Rich
Man,"
On Wealth and Poverty, 69-70.
Source: http://orthodoxhealing.blogspot.com.by/2011/02/st-john-chrysostom-when-you-suffer.html
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