Elder Sofian: Speaking the Truth
If Christ is the Truth, we too must be christs. That is, we must assimilate the Truth in the measure in which Jesus Christ is the Truth. We must be true Christians.
Father, what is Truth, and what does it mean to speak the Truth? How can we become worthy of speaking the Truth?
This question was asked by Pilate. That is, it is posed to him and he in turn asks what is Truth? And Christ does not respond to him; but on another occasion the Savior says that: “I am the Truth.” Truth, therefore, is God Himself.
But what does it mean for us to speak the Truth?
This means for us to be the Truth as well. If Christ is the Truth, we too must be christs. That is, we must assimilate the Truth, in the measure in which Jesus Christ is the Truth. We must be true Christians. Truth is pure reality. And if God is Truth. and God is pure like a teardrop, then Truth does not admit even a drop of falsity. If we are like Him, we too are the Truth.
What does this mean: “The Truth will set you free”?
It is this: when you are not in the Truth, you live in a lie and do not know how to cover it. It is very difficult to fight to defend this lie, because in the end all becomes known. And you do not want to be discovered. You fight with all your power to protect this lie and you cannot defend it. In the end, the lie is discovered. And you are not free. Your mind is occupied; you are not free within yourself.
Sin troubles you. When sin lives within you, you do not have freedom. Sin handcuffs you, it holds onto you; so that when someone comes to help you, and he chastises you, he feels this falsity within you. When you are free, you are pure. You feel that you are free. Sinners are tied. Thus, in the Church there is the Sacrament of absolution of sins: confession. A person cannot be tied by anything else except sin. Thus, sin binds a person.
We have friends or relatives who are far from the Church and we feel a duty to them. When we remind them of God, of true things, they become upset and do not receive it in any way. If we take it easier on them, they accept us. How do we proceed in such a case?
I also know of cases like this - how two parallel railroad lines do not meet, not even in infinity; the same happens with such people. You can talk to someone like this however much about God without him accepting it. He does not accept anything except what he knows. When you speak about God he begins to yawn and gets ready to leave. Thus, only if suffering befalls him, and his only hope is to pray to God, then something shifts within him and his indifference melts; or if he does something, a good deed - of mercy! Otherwise he remains the same. These are very delicate matters.
That is why there is war and disease and suffering in the world. Suffering functions as a fire which melts even steel. It turns it red and finally melts it. Suffering is like fire, and that is why God allowed these states, so that He can melt this steel within us. Only suffering can change these people.
Source:
“Cea Mai Desavarsita Pace Este Pacea Inimii” în Duhovnici români contemporani: Părintele Sofian (Bucharest, Editura Bizantină: 2007), 151-165.