NOTES for Mat 5:33-41

The Lord says to us today: do not swear at all. What kind of oaths are being discussed here? Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is Herod's seemingly innocent oath (Mark 6:6-14), which turned out to be so terribly sinister when it was carried out. But is that all that is meant here?

Let us turn to the parallel passage from the book of Numbers. "If anyone makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath, binding himself by a pledge, he must not break his word, but must do everything that has come out of his mouth" (Num. 30:3). Here, on the contrary, the subject is a pious custom. And what about us? Do we also have similar "pious customs"?

Of course we do, even though more than 2,000 years have passed since Christ forbade us to do this. Very often today one can read, even in texts by contemporary hierarchs, that for Great Lent, for example, in addition to bodily abstinence, one should take on various pledges: not to watch television, to reread the Four Gospels, to be more affectionate with one's parents, and so on. All of this is a lie offered to oneself and to God. Every day must be lived as if the aorta could rupture; every day can become the last both for you and for the whole world, and that does not depend on whether the day falls during Great Lent or during the Easter season. Against that background, all vows and pledges are foolish.

Father Georgy Chistyakov, rector of the Church of the Protection at the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital, once recalled how he came to his ministry. "And at some point I understood: since none of the priests had begun working here regularly, then I must be the one to do it. I cannot say now exactly when it became clear to me that I had to be involved in this. I did not make any vow, I did not experience any illumination. It happened very simply, naturally, one might say without my participation, without the participation of our parishioners, my friends - everything happened apart from us."