12/26/2020 5:56:07 AM
"Lord, do not hold this sin against them" (Acts 7:60)
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Saint John Chrysostom (c.345-407)
priest at Antioch then Bishop of Constantinople, Doctor of the Church
Sermon for Good Friday "The Cross and the bandit"
"Lord, do not hold this sin against them" (Acts 7:60)
Let us imitate our Lord and pray for our enemies (…) He was crucified yet, at the same time, prayed to his Father for the sake of those who were crucifying him. But how could I possibly imitate our Lord, one might ask? If you want to, you can. If you weren't able to do it how could he have said: "Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart"? (Mt 11:29) (…) If you have difficulty in imitating our Lord, at least imitate him who is also his servant, his deacon. I would speak of Stephen. Just as Christ, in the midst of those crucifying him, without considering the cross, without considering his own predicament, pleaded with the Father on behalf of his tormentors (Lk 23:34), so his servant, surrounded by those who were stoning him, attacked by all, crushed beneath a hail of stones and without taking any account of the suffering they were causing him, said: "Lord, do not hold this sin against them" (Acts 7:60). Do you see how the Son spoke and how his servant prayed? The former said: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do," and the latter said: "Lord, do not hold this sin against them". Moreover, to make us realize better the fervor with which he was praying, he did not just pray as he stood beneath the blows of the stones but he spoke on his knees with sincerity and compassion (…) Christ said: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do". Stephen cried out: "Lord, do not hold this sin against them". Paul, in his turn, said: "I offer up this sacrifice for my brethren, my kin according to race" (cf. Rm 9:3). Moses said: "If you would only forgive their sin! And if you will not, then strike me out of the book that you have written!" (Ex 32:32). David said: "May your hand fall on me and my kindred,"» (2 Sam 24:17). (…) What kind of forgiveness do we think we shall get if we ourselves do the opposite of what is asked of us and pray against our enemies, when the Lord himself, and his servants of both Old and New Testaments, direct us to pray on their behalf?