An enemy is by definition one who obstructs, ensnares and injures others. He is therefore a sinner. We ought to love his soul by correcting him and doing everything possible to bring him to conversion. We ought to love his body too by coming to his aid with the necessities of life.
That love for our enemies is possible has been shown us by the Lord himself. He revealed the Father’s love and his own by making himself “obedient unto death,” (Philippians 2:8) as the Apostle says, not for his friends’ sake so much as for his enemies.
“God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
And God exhorts us to do the same.
“Be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us.”
Ephesians 5:1-2
God would not ask this of us as a right and proper thing to do, if it were not possible.
On the other hand, is it not perhaps true that an enemy can be as much of a help to us as a friend can?
Enemies earn for us the beatitude of which the Lord speaks when he says:
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.”
Matthew 5:11-12
Excerpt from The Lesser Rules, 176 by Basil of Caesarea, (source: Patrologia Cursus Completus, Series Graeca, J-P Minge, Paris 31, 1200, translation by Paul Drake).
Top image credit: Charcoal illustration of Jesus Christ being taken down from the cross, cropped image, from Bigstock.com, © by artist Brian Dunne, stock photo ID: 1624757. Used with permission.
Basil of Caesarea, also known as Basil the Great, was born in Cappadocia (now present day Turkey) in 330 AD. He studied at Constantinople and then at Athens (351-356) where two of his classmates were Gregory of Nazianzus (who became a close friend) and the future Emperor Julian the Apostate. Basil wanted to be a lawyer and orator, but his sister Macrina persuaded him to seek the monastic life instead. After making a tour of the monasteries of Egypt in 357, he founded a monastic settlement near his home where he lived for five years. Basil established guidelines for monastic life which focus on community life, liturgical prayer, and manual labor. Basil expressed a preference for the communal life of the monastery over the solitary life of the hermit, arguing that the Christian life of mutual love and service is communal by its nature. His Rules became the standard for monastic life in the East. Together with Pachomius he is remembered as a father of communal monasticism in Eastern Christianity.
Basil returned to public life at the call of his bishop, Eusebius of Caesarea, to join in the battle against Arianism. He was ordained priest and then succeeded Eusebius as bishop in 370 AD. In addition to his work as a theologian and defender of the faith, Basil was known for his care of the poor and underprivileged. In 367-8, when Cappadocia suffered a severe and widespread famine, Basil sold his family’s extensive land holdings in order to buy food for the starving, persuading many others to follow his example, and putting on an apron to work in the soup kitchen himself. In this crisis, he refused to allow any distinction to be made between Jew and Christian, saying that the digestive systems of the two are indistinguishable. He also built a hospital for the care of the sick, housing for the poor and a training school to learn skilled trades, and a hospice for travellers.