Quotes of the Day for January 14, 2026 – Thoughts on the work of forgiveness
- Michael Haldas
- 7 hours ago
- 3 min read
“Do we refuse to forgive? God, too, will refuse to forgive us. As we treat our neighbors, so also does God treat us. The forgiveness or unforgiveness of your sins, then, and hence also your salvation or destruction, depend on you yourself. For without forgiveness of sins there is no salvation. You can see for yourself how serious it is…Our Lord Jesus gives us the teaching regarding forgiveness. He tells us that forgiveness is an integral part of the kingdom of heaven, and therefore an integral part of the life of a Christian. Forgiveness is everything for a Christian because our whole life in Christ depends on God’s forgiveness of our many sins and failings.” (St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, Fr. James Guirguis)
“If we do not forgive the sins other people commit, God will not forgive our own sins. To forgive the transgressions of others, to let go of whatever they’ve done to us is like removing a heavy weight that we carry on our backs. It enables us to fly away free. The weight that compresses our soul is either from our own iniquities, or from other people’s offences against us that we do not forgive. We could at least forgive others, and then, like Jesus said, He will give us strength. He will provide ways and methods for our own sins to be forgiven.” (Bishop Emilianos)
“The question of forgiveness is not a moral issue. We do not forgive because it is the “correct” thing to do. We forgive because it is the true nature of the life in Christ. As Dostoevsky describes it: it is Paradise. In the same manner, the refusal to forgive, the continuation of blame, recrimination, bitterness, etc., are not moral failings. They are existential crises – drawing us away from the life of Christ and Paradise, and ever deeper into an abyss of non-being.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“How can we learn to forgive? The first thing is to understand that we ourselves need it first of all. We’ll benefit greatly if we learn not to take offense at people. Second is to realize that the man who offended us didn’t know what he was doing. After all, even the most hardened villain has his own justifying version of events. When they crucified our Lord Jesus Christ, the Jews really thought they were doing a God-pleasing deed—they didn’t know Him as the Son of God. It’s another matter that their souls and minds were blinded by sin and the passions of anger and envy, but they didn’t know what they were doing. Thus, Christ prayed from the Cross: Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do (Lk. 23:34). And this “they know not” applies to all criminals and offenders too. For had they known that they were committing a sin, a crime, for which they’d certainly have to answer before God, they wouldn’t have done it. They either don’t understand what sin is at all or they don’t realize the full extent of their responsibility for it. Therefore, these people are worthy of pity; they are unfortunate people, deluded and spiritually ill, and we can’t take offense at the sick.” (Archpriest Pavel Gumerov)
“There are of course the simple offenses that are easier to get over; the minor infractions where we are readily able to forgive and forget. However, what about the ones that are more profound, hurt more, and leave more of a mark? In these instances we should not put pressure on ourselves to instantly forgive. It will likely be more a journey to get to the destination of forgiveness. The critical components often needed to forgive are: acknowledging our experience and feelings, identifying and articulating how it affected us and how it affected our beliefs and perceptions of the other or even people in general, understanding the other (perhaps their motives and life story), and doing what we need to do in order to eliminate all resentment from the memory of what occurred.” (Fr. Joshua Makoul)
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