Everything is bad in the man is only adventitious. Don’t despise anyone, even if you see some troubled, indecent, drunk people or some people who curse using an obscene language. The image of God is preserved even in them, but maybe at a too profound level and they are not aware of that themselves. It is natural that the enemy wants to stain this image and cover it with dirt.
It is not easy at all to see the image of God in those who curse you and behave like some wild beasts. They should be even more pitied since their soul is disfigured very probably without any chance to be recovered and ending in eternal torment…What a difficult thing is for someone to love his enemies!
Saint Gabriel (Urgebadze) from Georgia *1929-1995)
Source: “The young generation of the last times. The last and real rebellion” – the monks John Marler and Andrew Wermuth, Sophia Publishing House, 2008.
