St. Theophan the Recluse: The Spirit of Scorn

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Saturday, January 5 (18), 2025
1Pet. 4:12-5:5; Mk. 12:38-44                                                

The disciples of the Lord plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands [Lk. 6:1].  This does not look like a matter of great significance, neither it is such by its nature, ─ yet the Pharisees could not hold back their reproach.

What moved them to raise the issue?  Apparently ─ their excessive zeal, but in truth it was the spirit of scorn.  This spirit picks on everyone for any trivial matter and shows everything in a gloomy appearance of iniquity and peril.  Such an infirmity is more or less common to all those who are careless about their inner life.  Even if scorn is not expressed overtly in words, it is rare to be completely free from scornful thoughts: there are too many traps around us to catch our heart and provoke scorn to flow out of its midst.

At the same time, however, a scornful man does not mind doing wrong – as long as no one can see him: invariably, he has a deficiency himself, in one respect or another.  Once his own sense of integrity and justice is humiliated and suppressed, his scorn could serve a purpose of satisfying it by the reproach directed at others, even if it is totally unjustified.

Those who treasure good and stand in virtue would never fall into scorn, knowing how hard it is to be faultless in conduct, much more so in one’s mental setup. Any minor and even major trespass of others they would be ready to cover with kindness and condescension.

The Lord does not condemn the scornful Pharisees; He calmly explains to them that there is a clear, obvious excuse for the conduct of His disciples.  So also is the case in most instances of our life: think carefully about the object of your displeasure and you will find out that it is not so grave and reprehensible as you saw it in the first place.

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