The twenty-fourth step is to consider those who harm us in the same way as those who do us good, and to love them in the same way . St. Barsanuphios teaches that one must manage “to consider he who strikes as he who caresses, he who despises as he who esteems, he who insults as he who honors, he who afflicts as he who consoles.” More than all Fathers, St. Maximus advises us to treat all men equally and to love them all without making any difference, friends or enemies, just or sinners. He wrote: “Blessed the man who can love all men equally.” “He who is good and impassive, by the disposition of his will, loves equally all men, the just for their nature and their good disposition, the sinners for their nature and with the compassionate pity one has for a fool wandering in the night.” He adds that “perfect love loves all men equally. He loves the virtuous as friends, and the depraved as enemies.” “If you detest some people, feel for others neither love nor hate, if you love these, but moderately, and if you love those very much, know by this inequality that you are still far from perfect, as this loves all men equally.” Indeed “the friends of Christ truly love all beings.” St. Isaac the Syrian gives the same teaching: “Consider all men, whether unbelievers or murderers, as equal in good and honor , and that each one by his nature is your brother, even if without knowing it, he has wandered from the truth.” “Compassion” he says “is a sadness born from grace; it feels for all beings with the same affection.” “He who loves all beings equally, with compassion and discernment, has reached perfection.”
