Christ's Love
- Michael Haldas
- Nov 12, 2025
- 5 min read
“Love flares up from understanding that the Lord doesn’t turn away from the impurity and sinfulness of man, doesn’t withdraw from our guilt, criminality, and ungodliness: He never pushes anyone away, but on the contrary, always allows approach, draws near, listens, even caresses, shows mercy, and finally, forgives everyone!” (St. Seraphim Chichagov)
“Love is service. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself gave us a great example of this when He washed the feet of the Apostles at the Mystical Supper, saying: ‘If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.’ (Jn. 13:14–15). And Christ loves us not because of something we’ve done (because there’s nothing particularly to love us for), but simply because we’re His children. We may be sinful, disobedient, spiritually ill, but it’s precisely the sick, weak child that parents love the most.” (Archpriest Pavel Gumerov)
“Let him who in Christ has love fulfill the commandments of Christ. The bond of the love of God – who can adequately describe it? The greatness of its beauty – who is capable of putting it into words? The height to which love leads us is beyond description. Love unites us to God, ‘love covers a multitude of sins‘ (1 Peter 4:8; James 5:20), love bears all things, is patient in all things. There is nothing vulgar about love, nothing arrogant. Love knows nothing of schism, love does not rebel, love does all things in harmony; in love all the elect of God are made perfect, without love nothing is pleasing to God (1 Corinthians 13). In love our Master received us; because of the love He had for us our Lord Jesus Christ by the will of God shed His blood for us, gave His flesh for our flesh and His life for our lives (John 6: 38-40; Luke 22:20).” (St. Clement of Rome)
“God is love, and if a person has attained love, they have attained God. But what is love? We often do not feel, understand, or know what it is. The Lord gave His disciples a spiritual testament at the Last Supper. In particular, it concerned how people should relate to each other. Love manifests itself in humility before the one you love. But the Lord desires that we reach a love that extends to every neighbor, where our love does not depend on whether the person is close or distant, good or bad, whether they love us or are our enemy and wish us harm. The Lord gives an example of this kind of love, and we must learn from it. Whether someone irritates us or not, whether they understand us or not, whether we feel love toward them or not, we must still show love to that person. We must reach a state of heart where even if a person does harm to us—and we know he does, and we know what kind of person he is, always bringing us trouble—we must still learn to love them. This is very difficult and takes a lifetime of effort.” (Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov)
“Love is something everyone is capable of. Christians are commanded by Christ to be people of love. St. Luke acknowledges that even sinners can love others. Christian love is distinguished from the love any human is capable of doing because it is not based in reciprocity – you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. Rather Christian love is based in God’s love – giving expecting nothing in return (Luke 6:35). Christian love is not an emotion. It is not a reaction to others, but a choice we make in dealing with others no matter who they are. Christian love is not self-serving; it is not self-love rather it is directed toward the benefit and good of the other.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)
“… Christ has brought salvation to the world, not by merely giving us a religious code of conduct, but by making us participants in His divine life by grace. By becoming fully human even as He remains fully divine, He has restored and fulfilled the basic human vocation to become like God in holiness…If we are truly united with Him in faith, then His boundless love must become characteristic of our lives. Among other things, that means gaining the spiritual health to show our neighbors the same mercy we have received from the Savior. Doing that even for those we love most in life is difficult because our self-centeredness makes it hard to give anyone the same consideration we want for ourselves. The challenge of conveying Christ’s love to people we do not like or members of groups we are inclined to hate or fear for some reason may seem impossibly hard.” (Fr. Philip LeMasters)
“The French writer, J. P. Sartre, in an infamous quotation defined for himself the concept of hell: “Hell is other people.” In contradiction to that sad statement, the apostle Paul is appealing to us to comprehend and to imitate the loving humility of the Son of God who being One of the Holy Trinity “thought it no robbery” to leave the Godhead and become one of what He had created, coming to earth and living the life of a human being. We must return to this profound mystery time and time again, placing our own values into perspective. We who are forever asking good things from Christ are being asked a favor from Him. He wants us to convert our minds from always begging blessings for ourselves and work at forgetting our own endless needs. Abandon selfish interests and incarnate ourselves at least in our desires into all others with whom we are sharing a moment of time in a portion of space. Become agents of Christ’s love and mercy. Take ownership of the needs and life situations of all those whom He loves as much as He loves you and me.” (Fr. Vladimir Berzonsky)
“Not all of us are called to work for "humanity," yet each one of us has received the gift and the grace of Christ's love. We know that all men ultimately need this personal love-- the recognition in them of their unique soul in which the beauty of the whole creation is reflected in a unique way. We also know that men are in prison and are sick and thirsty and hungry because that personal love has been denied them. And, finally, we know that however narrow and limited the framework of our personal existence, each one of us has been made responsible for a tiny part of the Kingdom of God, made responsible by that very gift of Christ's love. Thus, on whether or not we have accepted this responsibility, on whether we have loved or refused to love, shall we be judged. For "inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, you have done it unto Me...” (Fr. Alexander Schmemann)
“Love one another as I have loved you. If we do not have Christ’s love in our hearts; if we put ourselves first and not last; if we wish to be served rather than to serve, we betray the very meaning of the Lord’s Supper.” (Archimandrite Vassilios Papavassiliou)
“Everything in life—our work, dreams, relationships, triumphs and trials—are all given to us so that we might become alive to the beauty and mystery of Christ’s love.” (Jonathan Jackson)
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