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There is only one thing we’re allowed to hate, says St. Gregory of Nyssa, and that is evil itself. Writing to three devout women, he tells them that to hate our neighbors is to ally ourselves with the devil.
The Lawgiver of our life has commanded only one hatred to us: the hatred of the Serpent. He has not told us to use the faculty of hatred for any other purpose except as a resource against wickedness. “I will put enmity between you and the woman,” he says (Genesis 3:15). Since wickedness is a complicated and many-sided thing, the Word makes the Serpent its symbol. For the dense array of its scales is symbolic of the many forms of evil.
By working the will of the Enemy, we make an alliance with this serpent, turning our hatred against one another—and perhaps not only against people, but against the One who gave the commandment. For he says, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy,” commanding us to hold the Enemy of humanity as our only enemy, and declaring that all who share that humanity are our neighbors.
But this coarse-hearted age has divided us from our neighbor, and made us welcome the Serpent and revel in his spotted scales. –St. Gregory of Nyssa, Letter 17
IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
When I deal with the people around me, do I usually ally myself with Christ or with the Serpent?
CLOSING PRAYER
Lord, I pray you to visit my house and my family and drive all the traps of the Enemy far from us. Let your holy angels live here,and let them keep us in peace and always be a blessing to us.
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