NOTES for Pe1 4:12-13

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.

What does it mean not to live according to the flesh? Does such a call imply abhorrence of the flesh as something inherently corrupt? Not at all. The flesh must not dictate to us in keeping with our seething physiology; rather, we are called to govern it. Nor do the words that the one who suffers in the flesh ceases from sin speak of denying the body’s natural needs. But if a person does not know how to govern himself under normal circumstances, the body will reap the fruits of excess. Of course, one can continue to sin not only with the body but also with the mind, heart, and thought, yet these act through the body. Governing one’s own body is therefore the beginning of governing the other passions as well. Yes, inward sin does not necessarily disappear quickly when bodily sin is curbed, but without control of the body it certainly will not disappear, just as by refraining from speaking evil we can also restrain the passions raging within us.

People far from the Church often speak evil of Christians because Christians do not take part in their deeds. Paradoxically, one person’s rejection of evil leads to still greater bitterness in others who refuse to renounce evil. But if we are reviled for genuinely good deeds, we must not be troubled. We need only make sure that we who speak of good do not prove to be hypocrites who do evil and are justly punished for it.