“Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing” (I Peter 3:8)
The last phrase explains and justifies all that precedes it. “That you may inherit a blessing.” When? When you fall asleep in the Lord and realize the value of blessings. What greater gift can you imagine than to appear before your Lord Jesus Christ as He greets you with a blessing? Why? Because you are one of His flock who had been courteous to all other persons in your lifetime. You loved them as sisters and brothers—especially those with whom you prayed and communed from the Chalice of Christ Himself. Those who knew you spoke of your gentle nature, your kindness and tenderhearted warmth, your courtesy and respect given to the elderly and to the little children.
“Finally” introduces a new point from the Apostle to Gentiles. Having addressed relations between men and women, husbands and wives, he sums it up in the two verses above. In our Divine Liturgy, it is put another way: “Let us love one another that with one mind and one heart we may confess: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Trinity One in Essence and Undivided.” Love joins and bonds us to one another. When several hundred hearts are made into one huge heart, we are then able to proclaim the unity of the Holy Trinity. Why that qualification? What does love have to do with understanding the way that the Trinity is One in Essence and Undivided? Because when our own minds and hearts come together, we then emulate the Trinity in as human a way as our limitations make possible.
Have another look at the famous icon by St. Rublev of the Holy Trinity. Do you notice how they are all leaning towards one another forming a huge circle, and how they are all transfixed on the cup on the table between them? Can you discern the way that they are so involved in the item of interest, yet their hands are expressing a distinction among them? We who come together in the Name of the Trinity have our individuality that is never suppressed, while at the same time through mutual understanding inspired by love, we are one by imitating the Three Persons who are One.
“All of you be of one mind” [
homofron]. At the recent assembly of our diocese convoked to elect a candidate to be presented to the Holy Synod for consecration as the next bishop, three persons were offered; but only one was chosen and affirmed by the body. At every convocation of the Orthodox Church, the first prayer is to the Holy Spirit. We pray for inspiration because without it we might forget that we must be “of one mind and heart.” Unlike our secular government that pits parties and interest groups against each other and then affirming the majority decisions, there are no minority opinions permitted. All is confirmed by Jesus Christ, the sole Head of His Church.
St. Peter insists that there be no “returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling.” He simply proclaims the word of the Lord Jesus: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you” (Luke 8:28). All, which appears so confusing, contrary to human nature and from a worldly point of view plainly foolish, comes together and makes sense when we set our minds to life in the Kingdom of Heaven. Indeed, without the blessing of the Lord Jesus at baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit with which we all had been anointed, we might consider the new commandment of Christ to be impossible—but with God, all things are possible.