St. Nikolai Velimirovich: Stealing from the state is betrayal of ancestors

The post presents a passage from St. Nikolai Velimirovich's "Teachings of Love" condemning theft of state property. The saint cites Zechariah 5:3, where God declares that every thief and false swearer shall be cut off, calling both acts a curse. He warns that stealing from the state, money, land, forests, materials, or any public property, brings a curse upon the thief, his household, and the state itself.

St. Nikolai argues that the state was bought with the blood, sweat, tears, and lives of one's ancestors who fought, suffered, and died for it. To steal from the state is to steal from one's own kin, from the fatherland, and from the brothers, sons, and daughters of one's forebears. The ancestors, he says, do not recognize the thief as a citizen; they reject him before God and count him among traitors.

The saint attributes this blindness to unbelief in the living, all-seeing God, the terrible avenger of justice. He warns that the hour of realization will come, but it may be the thirteenth hour, too late. The accompanying image text repeats the core message: the state was dearly paid for with the lives of brothers in war; stealing it means stealing blood and tears, which one will feed to one's own children, turning parental dignity into the baseness of a murderer.