Choices and the Thieves on the Cross
“The Cross presents each of us with the same choice that faced the two thieves crucified with Christ. The one found paradise, and the other perdition. But when we dare, like the good thief, to believe that this man nailed to the Cross is in fact the Son of God, we are doing nothing other than to believe in the love of God for us…believing in God’s Son means believing in God’s love.” (Holy Cross Monastery)
“God’s boundless wisdom has given each person a cross according to his/her character and strength. If we carry our cross without grumbling, repent of our sins and do not justify ourselves, then like the good thief we shall enter God’s Kingdom. But if we grumble, if we blaspheme God and our neighbor, we shall perish like the wicked thief—in great torment, without the hope of salvation to lessen our grief. The choice lies in our own hands…The first to enter Paradise was the wise thief. The Lord arranged it so for the encouragement and consolation of us sinners. No sinner should despair. Do not say that you have already perished. That thought is from the devil.” (Abbot Nikon Vorobiev)
“Theft is the primordial sin: it is one description of what Adam and Eve did at the Fall in taking the forbidden fruit. Rather than continue the movement of eros out of non-being into the arms of God, we try to pluck some blessing and return to the formless abyss with it. In fact, the first parents in the Garden of Eden are symbolized by the two thieves between whom Christ was crucified. Theft is the opposite of thanksgiving, of the Eucharistic liturgy that gives us life. Moreover, thanksgiving is so much the opposite of stealing that even ingratitude is a kind of theft.…Christ warns us to keep all His commandments. We should also be occupied with constant prayer in order to guard against the coming of the thief. For the thief is the devil who seeks to invade our bodily homes with the darts of his thoughts and allurements in order to ruin us while we are sleepy and careless. It is good therefore that we be prepared.” (Timothy G. Patitsas, St. Hilary of Poitiers)
“A single good word made the thief pure and holy, despite all his previous crimes, and brought him into paradise (Luke 23:42-43). A single ill-advised word prevented Moses from entering the promised land (Num. 20:12). We should not suppose, then, that garrulity is only a minor disease. Lovers of slander and gossip shut themselves out from the kingdom of heaven…The thief on the cross was justified by one word, and Judas, numbered with the apostles, lost all his labor in one night and descended from heaven to Hades. So let nobody boast of doing well, for all who trusted in themselves fell.” (St. John Karpathos, Abba Xanthias)
“God leaves us time and space to change our hearts, examine our souls, and confess. Even the thief on the cross found sufficient time. Let us remember Saint John’s words, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:8-9)…In the midst of his own crucifixion, the good thief sees that the Savior of the world is dying with him, and for this reason, he allows his own crucifixion to be transformed into something else. The good thief is even still being traumatized at that very moment, but he catches sight of Beauty and so is able to assimilate the ugliness afflicting him into his own salvation and recovery. He sees Theophany in the midst of anti-theophany.” (Dynamis 3/26/2024,Timothy G. Patitsas)
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