4 October 2020
We
Have Only One Enemy
It is joyful
to feel that we do not and cannot have any enemies among men, but only unhappy
brethren, who are deserving of pity and help, even when, through misunderstanding,
they become our enemies and fight against us. Woe! They do not understand that
the enemy is found within ourselves, and that first of all one must cast him
out of oneself, and then also help others to do the same. We have only one
enemy: the devil and his evil spirits. But man, no matter how far he has
fallen, never loses certain sparks of light and goodness which may be blown
into a bright flame. But for us there is no reason to fight against people,
even when they consistently send against all kind of blows and rebukes ... To
fight against people is to take a false position of our enemies. Even if we
succeed, we gain nothing from this fight, but rather become estranged from our
own success.
Martyr Roman Medved, Letter to His Daughter from the Gulag, 1932
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