Bearing Insults

“The brothers praised a monk before Abba Anthony. When the monk came to see him, Anthony wanted to know how he would bear insults; and seeing that he could not bear them at all, he said to him, ‘You are like a village magnificently decorated on the outside, but destroyed from within by robbers.'" -The Sayings of the Desert Fathers (Abba Anthony the Great, paragraph 15)

Its curious that Abba Anthony wanted to know how this monk would bear insults before anything else.

He didn’t want to know how devout this monk was.

He didn’t want to know what type of penances he did.

To Abba Anthony, the most important test of this monk was to see how he would bear insults. To see how he would bear being humiliated. Would he answer meekly and humbly or would he lash back?

Well, seeing what Abba Anthony says, it seems he did not pass the test.

What he says cuts deeply into the heart of true virtue. It is not only about what external things you do and what other people think of you.

It is also about what is in your heart and how humble and contrite you are.

What matters is how you respond to those who slander you.

Do you lash back at them, or do you turn the other cheek?

Saint Abba Anthony the Great, pray for us!