NOTES for Pe1 4:12-19

Today the Apostle Peter calls us to accept persecution, slander, and abuse because in this way we follow our Teacher and Lord. Only let none of you suffer for an actual crime, the apostle says. But if you suffer as Christians, you are blessed. What do his words mean for us today, when there is no visible persecution?

First, let us not forget that our brothers and sisters in a number of countries are subjected to persecution and restrictions. Even if they are “separated” brethren and we have no ecclesial communion with them, their suffering is nevertheless the suffering of the whole Church. Prayer and support for our suffering non-Orthodox brothers and sisters would therefore be so important. All through those dark years of Bolshevism, others prayed for us! And today, before any debate, we can pray for the Christians of China and Taiwan, Iran, Sudan, and Indonesia, despite the fact that they are not Orthodox.

Second, anyone who has ever refused to take part in “drinking bouts, revelries, and carousings” (these are the Apostle Peter’s words; the Synodal text smooths them over and says “drunkenness and excess in food and drink”), anyone who has avoided this even once can testify that people look at you as if you were abnormal. “Life is passing you by!” the pagans tell you. And when Christians testify that one must not kill, lie, or steal, that these things are wrong, it provokes undisguised irritation in any society. If our life causes no surprise by its moral character, that is most likely a reason for confession.