February: Day 18:
Saint Leo, Pope of Rome
(The Power of a Gentle Word)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
Saint Leo, Pope of Rome
(The Power of a Gentle Word)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
I. Great is the power of the word which comes from a pious, meek heart: it humbles the proud and softens the hard-hearted. In confirmation of this truth, we will relate to you, brethren, the following event from the life of Saint Leo, Pope of Rome, whose commemoration is today. At the time when Leo was Pope, or, what is the same thing as Archbishop in Rome, a wild and warlike people, the Huns, appeared. The leader of this people was Attila, rightly called the Scourge of God, for he burned, robbed and killed people without any compassion; he himself boasted that no grass grew where his horse had passed. Now he had already burned and destroyed up to five hundred cities and was approaching Rome. Fear seized the inhabitants of Rome, everyone fled from the city, throwing down their arms, since they considered the enemy invincible. But Saint Leo did not flee and was not afraid of Attila. At the emperor's request, he met the invincible conqueror with a weapon that turned out to be sharper than all swords - this weapon was the kind, gentle word of the servant of God. "Attila, you have conquered the entire universe," said Saint Leo, "now we ask you to conquer yourself, do not destroy our city, and spare us." The words of Saint Leo were so convincing and gentle that they softened the cruel barbarian, and Attila said to Leo: "Your words touched my heart. Whoever you are, a man or an angel, Rome owes its salvation to you. Old man, in one minute and with a few words you have done more than all the many warriors who fought with me, and I admit myself defeated!"
II. You see, brethren, kindness and entreaties can always do much more than anger.
If you see that someone is planning to offend you, then instead of entering into a quarrel with him, hasten to soften his anger with a kind word. The tongue that corrects a neighbor is like a tree of life. "A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but an unbridled tongue is a broken spirit," says the Proverbs of Solomon (Prov. 15:4).
In order to clearly see what power a word filled with Christian love and meekness has, how powerfully it acts even on rude people who are not enlightened by the light of the Christian faith, we will give two examples here.
When villains came to Abba John the Persian to rob and kill him, he brought a washbasin and begged them with words of Christian love and meekness to allow him to wash their dusty feet. The villains were ashamed; they began to ask the holy elder for forgiveness and repented of their evil intent.
Once the Venerable Makarios, going to the Nitrian mountain accompanied by his disciple, ordered him to go a little ahead of him. The disciple, having gone some distance ahead, met an idol priest, who was hurrying somewhere, carrying a large piece of wood. The disciple exclaimed to him: "Where are you running, demon?" The priest, angry, beat him cruelly, and leaving him barely breathing, again hurriedly continued on his way. Having gone a little, he met Venerable Makarios, who greeted him from afar thus: "Greetings, industrious one, greetings!" The priest, surprised, answered: "What good have you found in me, that you should greet me?" The Elder said: "I greeted you because I saw you laboring and carefully hurrying somewhere." The priest replied: "From your greeting I was moved, and I understood that you are a great servant of God, on the contrary, another, I do not know which, monk, having met me, cursed me, for which I beat him." With these words he fell at the feet of Makarios, embraced them and exclaimed: "I will not leave you until you make me a monk!" They went off together. Having reached the place where the beaten monk lay, they lifted him up and carried him in their arms to the church, because he could not walk. The brethren of the mountain, seeing that the priest of the idols was walking together with Venerable Makarios, were very surprised at this. The priest accepted Christianity, and then monasticism. Instructed by his example, many of the idolaters converted to Christianity.
On this occasion, Abba Makarios said: “A proud and evil word directs good people to evil, but a humble and good word turns evil people to good.”
III. By the prayers of Saint Leo, commemorated today, may the Lord remove from us the spirit of irritation and anger and grant us the spirit of Christian meekness and love in our dealings with all our neighbors, and not only with friends, which is natural, but also with people who are hostile to us.
Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
