When You Are Wronged: Metropolitan Athanasios on Loving Those Who Hurt Us
What the video says
The video reflects on the Gospel's clear teaching about love. It emphasizes showing love even to those who hate, accuse, mistreat, or wrong us, and refusing to take revenge or speak words of malice against them. It encourages starting from these simple things and continuing onward, always keeping before us Christ's love for us.
Key moments
- The Gospel tells us clearly how to act.
- We must show love to those who hate, accuse, mistreat, or wrong us.
- We should not take revenge or respond with words of malice.
- Begin with these simple things and continue to the next, always keeping Christ's love for us before our eyes.
A short reflection by Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol on how a Christian should respond when treated unjustly. Speaking plainly, he notes that Scripture and the Gospel give clear guidance: we are called to show love even to the person who slanders us, accuses us, mistreats us, or wrongs us in any way. The Christian response is not revenge, nor words of malice directed back at the offender, but patient love.
The metropolitan acknowledges that this is difficult, and his counsel is practical: begin with these simple things—refusing retaliation and evil speech—and continue onward step by step. What makes this possible, he says, is keeping always before our eyes the love of Christ toward us; His love for us sinners is both the model and the strength for loving our enemies.
The message echoes the Gospel command to love those who hate us and to do good to those who persecute us, presenting forgiveness not as an optional ideal but as the ordinary path of the Christian life. The post, shared in Greek with hashtags pointing to Orthodox faith and the Diocese of Limassol, drew no recorded discussion in the comments, leaving the bishop's words to stand on their own as a brief exhortation for anyone nursing a grievance or weighing how to answer an injustice.
Main points
- Scripture and the Gospel give clear direction on how to respond to injustice.
- We are to show love even to those who slander, accuse, mistreat, or wrong us.
- Revenge and words of malice are not the Christian response.
- Begin with these simple acts of restraint and continue onward.
- Keep Christ's love for us always before our eyes as the model and strength.