You certainly know that Christ was called "the friend of sinners and tax collectors" . Not without reason - Jesus hung out with tax collector (Mt 9:10-11, Mk 2:15-16, L 5:29-30), he set one of them as an example in the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee (L 18:10-14), and appointed a tax collector, Matthew, as his disciple. (Mt 9:9, Mk 2:14, L 5:27-28).
It's easy to talk about it theoretically - after all, nowadays such tax collectors are not associated with very negatively by most people, and even those who don't like them do not have such a bad opinion of them as the ancient Jews had of their tax collectors. However, do we realize how controversial these words and actions were?
Let us imagine the person we hate the most, someone who has done us the most harm, and now let us try to pray about him. We can also imagine someone we do not know personally, but who we know does evil. For me, such a man will be Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. He attacked an independent state for no reason, bringing death to tens of thousands of innocent people and suffering to tens of millions. Of course, Russian Patriarch Kirill and Putin's supporters can easily pray for him, but that is not the point. Also, if for someone the war in Ukraine is an abstract topic, they can pray for him, because just hearing that "Putin is killing people" is something completely different from seeing the effects of his actions with one's own eyes, listening to the testimonies of the victims of the uprising and constantly pondering over the scale of this evil, not to mention experiencing the effects of his actions firsthand. But what if someone knows and feels how bad the war in Ukraine is? Or has even suffered from it? Could he really sincerely pray for Putin to turn from his evil path? I honestly admit that as an outsider, although a very attentive observer, I simply couldn't do it.
Someone might say: "I'll pray for Putin, because if he converts and ends the war, all the innocent people will benefit." Okay, but could you pray for him just for his own benefit? Let's assume that 10 years have passed. Putin has conquered all of Ukraine, achieving all of his goals, including the extermination of "resistant" Ukrainians. Now he is old, senile, and sits in a very luxurious nursing home. He has been removed from government and no longer has any power - political or moral. In other words: No one will benefit in the slightest from his change of heart and repentance. Would you still pray for him? After all, what good is it if he repents if it doesn't undo the evil he has done? What's more, it will mean that all the suffering and pain of his victims will go completely unpunished forever. And in such a case, could God punish those who acted on his orders, e.g. ordinary Russian soldiers, in a situation where the main person responsible will go unpunished? Especially since many of them will not even live to the end of the war to regret it, or a victorious war will strengthen them in the belief that their crimes have been rewarded.
Of course, the above question is directed to people who follow the conflict in Ukraine and feel anger because of the unimaginable evil that is taking place there. As I have already written, if for someone this is an abstract topic, then they cannot understand the scale of evil done by Putin and instead can refer in the comment to the examples that appeal to them the most.
I encourage discussion!
It's easy to talk about it theoretically - after all, nowadays such tax collectors are not associated with very negatively by most people, and even those who don't like them do not have such a bad opinion of them as the ancient Jews had of their tax collectors. However, do we realize how controversial these words and actions were?
Let us imagine the person we hate the most, someone who has done us the most harm, and now let us try to pray about him. We can also imagine someone we do not know personally, but who we know does evil. For me, such a man will be Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. He attacked an independent state for no reason, bringing death to tens of thousands of innocent people and suffering to tens of millions. Of course, Russian Patriarch Kirill and Putin's supporters can easily pray for him, but that is not the point. Also, if for someone the war in Ukraine is an abstract topic, they can pray for him, because just hearing that "Putin is killing people" is something completely different from seeing the effects of his actions with one's own eyes, listening to the testimonies of the victims of the uprising and constantly pondering over the scale of this evil, not to mention experiencing the effects of his actions firsthand. But what if someone knows and feels how bad the war in Ukraine is? Or has even suffered from it? Could he really sincerely pray for Putin to turn from his evil path? I honestly admit that as an outsider, although a very attentive observer, I simply couldn't do it.
Someone might say: "I'll pray for Putin, because if he converts and ends the war, all the innocent people will benefit." Okay, but could you pray for him just for his own benefit? Let's assume that 10 years have passed. Putin has conquered all of Ukraine, achieving all of his goals, including the extermination of "resistant" Ukrainians. Now he is old, senile, and sits in a very luxurious nursing home. He has been removed from government and no longer has any power - political or moral. In other words: No one will benefit in the slightest from his change of heart and repentance. Would you still pray for him? After all, what good is it if he repents if it doesn't undo the evil he has done? What's more, it will mean that all the suffering and pain of his victims will go completely unpunished forever. And in such a case, could God punish those who acted on his orders, e.g. ordinary Russian soldiers, in a situation where the main person responsible will go unpunished? Especially since many of them will not even live to the end of the war to regret it, or a victorious war will strengthen them in the belief that their crimes have been rewarded.
Of course, the above question is directed to people who follow the conflict in Ukraine and feel anger because of the unimaginable evil that is taking place there. As I have already written, if for someone this is an abstract topic, then they cannot understand the scale of evil done by Putin and instead can refer in the comment to the examples that appeal to them the most.
I encourage discussion!
