Never! I will never forgive him!

Two monks used to live at the Lavra of the Kievo Caves, Tito and deacon Evagrios. They were friends and of the same mind and spirit. The love they had for each other was exemplary. All the others in the brotherhood were seeing them as an model to them and hugely admired them.

However, the one who is the enemy of all goodness, the devil, who is used to saw weeds among the wheat and transforms the wheat into weed when men snooze (and do not watch out carefully to preserve their spirituality and are not afraid in case the devil steals their love because they think it is their personal achievement and their own right), transformed this love into loathing. Such was the repugnance that Tito and Evagrios felt for each other that they could not even see eye to eye.

Read more…

The other monks appealed to them many times to be reconciled but they would hear none of this.

A long time passed. Tito became very sick. His illness was so difficult and serious that everybody lost faith whether he would ever be well again. Then he started to cry bitterly about his sins. He sent someone to Evagrios asking him for forgiveness, taking humbly all the blame for their animosity. However, Evagrios not only did not agree to forgive him but swore at him and cursed him. The others, seeing that Tito was dying, took Evagrios in front of Tito’s deathbed by force so that they would be reconciled. When the sick man saw his friend coming to him, he got up from the bed, bowed in front of him and kissed his feet, saying:

Forgive me, father! Bless me!

Evagrios turned his back on him and in front of everybody replied:

Never! I will never forgive him. Neither now nor ever!

As soon as he said these words, he disentangled himself from the brothers who were holding him and fell to the floor. The other monks tried to lift him up. They thought he was dead. They couldn’t even move his hand; close his mouth or his eyelids or even his eyes. On the contrary, the sick monk Titos, as soon as he got out of bed, looked so well as if he never felt sick before!

Everyone was in awe. They begun asking father Titos how was it that he became so well. Blessed Titos told them.

-When I was seriously ill, I glimpsed at the angels deserting me and weeping for the loss of my soul, because it was filled with hate. On the other hand, the devil was dancing with joy for the damnation of my soul because of my anger and animosity. That was when I started pleading with you to bring Evagrios here so that we could be reconciled. When you brought him to me and I bowed and kissed him while he turned his back on me, I saw an awesome angel strike him with a blazing sword. That’s how he fell down and died. Then the same angel gave me his hand and lifted me, and here I am entirely well.

All the brothers mourned for Evagrios a lot because he had such a tragic death and buried him at the place where he had fallen, because they could not move him; He had become like a stone, with eyes and arms outstretched.

Source: Saint Ignat Briantsianinof ”An offering to modern monasticism”.