Do good even amidst an ungrateful world

 DO GOOD EVEN AMIDST AN UNGRATEFUL WORLD

By Metropolitan Augustinos Kantiotis of Florina (+2010)

Many started doing good, but they stopped because the world is wicked.

A good priest went to a village, and they tried to shoe him like a horse. That's the way the world is. It doesn't want advice, it doesn't want correction, it wants people to conform to its trends.

Did you go along with its trends and habits, smoking, gambling, jumping around, doing what pleases it? Then you're considered good.

But if you go against its desires and want to live a life different from what this world lives, then it turns against you.

But you should not tire of doing good in this world, even if the earth is inhabited by demons.

That’s why there is a saying down in the Peloponnese: "In the devil’s village, never do good." Because they will crucify you. I can give many examples, but I don’t want to.

So, one grows tired when doing good, but instead of receiving gratitude, they receive ingratitude.

I remember in Athens I had a bright child, a good child, pure, clean. One day he said to me, "I will become a preacher of the Gospel." "Don’t rush, my child, not so fast," I told him. "First, go to a monastery, study, and prepare yourself, then later." "No," he said, "I want to work for Christ." So I sent him to a bishop and told him to take him because he was a good boy and an excellent student.

The bishop took him in and sent him to the villages to preach. The boy thought that if he went to the villages and spoke to them about Christ, everyone would applaud him.

He thought, "I’m doing a good thing, I’m preaching, teaching, I’ll be receiving applause." So, he went to one village and saw no such thing. He went to another, still nothing. He went to a third village, and while he was preaching, someone called out from the crowd, "Hurry up! I have to water my goat."

He became so disillusioned because he didn’t expect such behavior. He thought that since he was preaching, he should be surrounded by love, respect, and appreciation, etc.

He became so disheartened that he almost became a disbeliever and an atheist.

We live among criminals, malicious, ungrateful people, and our souls grow cold. See what harm the wicked do.

You must be a hero to do good when they insult you, speak ill of you in the streets, in cafes, in taverns, and you still give your all. Meanwhile, the other person is a thief, a swindler, stealing, pocketing, going to taverns and drinking, going to nightclubs and dancing, dishonoring other people’s wives, going around here and there, and people say: "Ah! He’s a good and great person." And you live an ascetic, prudent, peaceful life, and they criticize you because you correct and admonish them.

So, souls grow cold, and some become disillusioned and withdraw into themselves, while others flee to the desert and monasteries, and thus, good is not done in the world.

I tell my priests, prepare for martyrdom. And Florina will be governed by thieves and swindlers, people you can't even imagine. And the people will gather in the square and cheer for them. That’s where society will fall, and then a bell will ring. Not for a service, but for forced labor. These things will certainly happen because society is like this and does not appreciate what is proper, what is worthy. And within it, there is a satanism and an era of the Antichrist.

So, says the Apostle Paul, in the world where you live, don’t be disheartened. Do good.

Do good even amidst an ungrateful world. It’s like what our simple ancestors used to say: "Do good and throw it into the sea."

Don’t tire, don’t give up. Do good, as much as you can. That’s what you are destined for.

 

Greek source: https://www.vimaorthodoxias.gr/peri-zois/%CE%BA%CE%AC%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B5-%CF%84%CE%BF-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%BB%CF%8C-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9-%CE%B5%CE%BD-%CE%BC%CE%AD%CF%83%CF%89-%CE%B1%CF%87%CE%AC%CF%81%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85-%CE%BA%CF%8C%CF%83/