“Love the sinner as well! Do not fly away from the sinners, but go to them without fear. After all–whoever you may be–you are not much better than they are. Try to love the sinners; you will see that it is easier to love those whom you despise than those whom you envy. The old Zosim (from the “Brothers Karamazov”) said, “Brothers, don’t be afraid of the sins of a sinner; but love a sinner also–that is the record of love upon earth.” I know you love St. Peter and St. John, but could you love the sinner Zacchaeus? You can love the good Samaritan but love, please, the prodigal son also! You love Christ, I am sure; but what about Judas, the seller of Christ? He repented, poor human creature. Why don’t you love him?
 
Dostoyevsky…emphasied two things: first, there is no great man; secondly, there is no worthless man. He described the blackest crimes and the deepest fall and showed that the authors of such crimes are men just as other men, with much good hidden under their sins. Servants and vagabonds, idiots and drunkards, the dirty katorzniki from the Serbian prisons–all those people are God’s sons and daughters, with souls full of fears and hopes, of repentance and longings after good and justice.”
– ‘Religious Spirit of the Slavs’

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