Suffering Wrongs

Εἰ δὲ, ὅτι τυραννούμενος φέρω, τοῦτο ἀδικῶ, χαρίσασθέ μοι τὴν ἀδικίαν ταύτην, καὶ ὑπ' ἄλλων ἤνεγκα τυραννούμενος·καὶ χάρις, ὅτι τὴν ἐπι είκειαν ἐνεκλήθην, ὡς ἄνοιαν. Λογίζομαι γὰρ οὕτω, λίαν ὑψηλοτέροις ἢ καθ' ὑμᾶς λογισμοῖς χρώμενος· Πόσον μέρος ταῦτα τῶν ἐμπτυσμάτων Χριστοῦ καὶ ῥαπισμάτων, ὑπὲρ οὗ καὶ δι' ὃν οἱ κίνδυνοι; Ἑνὸς οὐ τιμῶμαι πάντα τοῦ ἀκανθίνου στεφάνου, ὃς τὸν νικητὴν ἡμῶν ἀπεστεφάνωσε, δι' οὗ καὶ μανθάνω τῇ τοῦ βίου τραχύτητι στεφανούμενος· ἑνὸς τοῦ καλάμου, δι' οὗ τὸ σαθρὸν κράτος ἐπαύσατο·μιᾶς τῆς χολῆς, ἑνὸς ὄξους, δι' ὧν τὴν πικρὰν γεῦσιν ἐθεραπεύθημεν· μιᾶς τῆς ἐν τῷ πάθει μακροθυμίας. Ἂν φιλήματι προδοθῇ, ἐλέγχει μὲν, οὐ πλήττει δέ. Ἂν ἄφνωσυλληφθῇ, ὀνειδίζει μὲν, ἕπεται δέ· κἂν μαχαίρᾳ Μάλχου τέμνῃς τὸ ὠτίον διὰ ζῆλον, ἀγανακτήσει, καὶ ἀποκαταστήσει· κἂν ἐν σινδόνι τις φεύγῃ, περιστελεῖ· κἂν πῦρ αἰτήσῃς Σοδομιτικὸν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄγοντας, οὐκ ἐπικλύσει· κἂν λῃστὴν λάβῃ διὰ κακίαν κρεμάμενον, εἰς τὸν παράδει σον εἰσάγει διὰ χρηστότητα. Πάντα ἔστω τὰ τοῦ φιλανθρώπου φιλάνθρωπα, ὡς δὲ καὶ τῶν Χριστοῦ παθημάτων, οἷς τί τῶν μειζόνων ἂν δοίημεν, εἰ Θεοῦ καὶ θανατωθέντος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, αὐτοὶ τοῖς ὁμοίοις μηδὲ τὰ σμικρὰ συγχωρήσαιμεν; Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Ναζιανζηνός, Λόγος ΛΓ'

And if because I endure tyranny, I do wrong, forgive me this injustice; I have endured the tyranny of others; and I am thankful that this has brought upon me the charge of folly. For I think this, employing thoughts much higher than yours, that these things are but a fraction of the spittings and blows of Christ, for Whom and by Whom are these dangers. I do not count them all worth the one crown of thorns which uncrowned our conqueror, for whose sake also I learn that I am crowned for the roughness of life, nor the one reed by which a rotten power was destroyed; nor the gall, nor the vinegar, by which we were cured of the bitter taste; nor of the forbearance of His Passion. He was betrayed with a kiss and he reproved with one, but he did not strike. He is suddenly arrested, He reproaches, but follows; and if through zeal you cut off the ear of Malchus with a sword, He will be displeased, and will restore it. And if one flee in a sheet, He will restore him. And if you ask for the fire of Sodom upon his captors, He will not pour it forth; and if He take a thief hanging upon the cross for his crime, He will bring him into Paradise through His Goodness. Let all the acts of a lover of men be loving, as were all the sufferings of Christ, to which,  if God died for us, we could add nothing greater than refusal to forgive even the smallest wrongs. Saint Gregory Nazianzus, Oration 33