Parable: Paisios the Athonite on how to share plums correctly
Father Paisios said:
- There is human justice and there is Divine justice.
- And what is Divine justice?, they asked him.
Then the elder gave such an example:
- Imagine that a person came to visit a friend and they had ten plums. One of them ate eight plums and the other got two. Is it fair?
- No, all answered in unison, this is unfair!
Father Paisios continued:
- Ok. Now fancy the two friends had ten plums. They divided them equally, five by five, and ate them. Is that fair?
- Yes, that’s fair!, everybody said.
“But this is human justice,” said Father Paisios. Yet, there is Divine justice! Imagine that one of the friends who had ten plums, having guessed that the other loves them very much, said, “Do me a favor and eat these plums, I don’t really like them. And besides, they cause me a stomachache! I can just do with one.”
Give someone else what he wants, not a half but everything; give him the good, and leave yourself the bad. This will be Divine justice, concluded the elder.
Read also
Paper fortress: The Gregorian schism of 1925
In the 1920s, the cathedrals of Yekaterinburg stood empty with full support from the authorities. How an OGPU project to create a compliant church collapsed against the resistance of believers.
The bone of the land: why the Dniester’s rock monasteries cannot be ruined
Liadova and Bakota are silence within stone, having survived horde raids, explosion and flooding. A story about places where life went underground to preserve itself.
Christian brotherhood in Chernihiv region: an attempt to live by the Gospel
At the end of the 19th century, laypeople created a community in which faith shaped not only worship, but labor, education, daily life, and human relationships. This experiment proved uncomfortable for almost everyone. Why?
The word of God against neuroslop: how to preserve our humanity
Information overload and AI-generated content are pushing human beings toward a state of instinct and reflex. How can attentive reading of Scripture help preserve meaning, reason, and the image of God in the age of “neuroslop”?
Donatism: How the thirst for an ideal Church turned faith into a battlefield
After the persecutions of Diocletian, the Church of North Africa was torn apart by schism. The heroes could not forgive the weak, and their struggle for “purity” ended in social upheaval and violence.
The bronze voice: how the Paschal peal returned to the Lavras
When the Church was meant to be silenced, bells were hurled from their towers. But the sound returned – now it travels over fields and rivers, reminding us that we are no longer alone.