On Genuine Love - By St John Chrysostom

Everyone who possesses genuine love keeps on loving his neighbor even if he is despised, cursed, or threatened by that neighbor, his conviction being that love is to be exercised for the sake of Christ in order to follow Him in His footsteps. It was Christ who first showed such love towards His enemies: He not only offered up Himself as a sacrifice for the sake of those who hated and crucified Him, but He also pleaded with His Father to forgive them, saying: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Love does not serve self-interest! The Apostle Paul advises us, saying: “Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s wellbeing” (I Corinthians 10:24). Love does not know the meaning of jealousy, for everyone who loves genuinely considers the wellbeing of his neighbor as if it is his own. Thus, love slowly transforms the human person into an angel, for love delivers the human soul from anger, envy, and from every passion which acts aggressively against the other. Loves lifts up the human soul from the physical state and elevates it to that passionless state of the angels.

But how does love manifest itself in the human soul? Love is the fruit of virtue, and love brings into being that virtue. You may ask, “How does this take place?” The virtuous man does not prefer riches over the love of his neighbor; he does not hold grudges; he is not an aggressor; he keeps watch over his tongue; and, he forebears everything with courage and self-control. Love results from all such actions! In that love is the fruit of virtue, the words of the Lord Jesus explain negatively: “Because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12)—since  lawlessness is a vice, which is the opposite of virtue, hence negatively. In that love brings into being the virtue, the Apostle Paul explains: “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the Law” (Romans 13:8). The resultant virtue here is the fulfillment of the Law.

One of these two things is needed, either love or the virtue. Whoever possesses the former surely possesses the latter. Negatively, whoever lacks love becomes a lawless evildoer, and most certainly, the evildoer does not possess love. Let us therefore strive to attain love which is a fortress capable of defending us from every evil.

The Apostle Paul calls us not only to “love” but also to “pursue love” (I Corinthians 14:1), and this pursuit requires a vigilant battle in order to attain it. Love quickly comes into being and likewise it quickly disappears! Let us pursue it and run after it continuously, so that we might attain it and hold on to it.

Finally, we ought to know that love is not only a force of the will, but it is a sacred duty. You have to love your brother because the two of you are bound in a spiritual bond, and each one of you is a member of the other. If love disappears, only destruction will follow!