A disciple once asked an elder: Well then, if a good man does not only suffer no evil by being killed, but actually gains a reward from his suffering, how can we accuse the man who has done him no harm but good by killing him?

The elder replied: We are talking about the actual qualities of things good and bad, and what we call “indifferent,” and not about the characters of the men who do these things. No bad or wicked man should go unpunished because his evil deed was not able to do harm to a good man. For the endurance and goodness of a righteous man do no good to the man who is the cause of his death or suffering, but only to him who patiently endures what is inflicted on him. And so the one is justly punished for savage cruelty, because he meant to injure him, while the other nevertheless suffers no evil, because in the goodness of his heart he patiently endures his temptation and sufferings, and so causes all those things that were inflicted upon him with evil intent to turn out to his advantage, and to lead him to the bliss of eternal life.

Based on Saint John Cassian

The cross of the 2nd iconostasis of Vatopaidi’s main church which now is held in church’s exonartex. The actual iconostasis is the 3rd one.

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