Why do the righteous suffer? Why does God allow it? St. Cassian and St. Germanus posed these questions to Abba Theodore after two Palestinian monks had been killed by bandits (6.1.1). These monks were so beloved by the people that two nearby towns fought over the right to their burial and relics (6.1.2). We ask in our frustration, "Why were these righteous monks allowed to be brutally murdered?"We have to look no farther than ourselves to discover why we are so disturbed by such evil occurrences. Souls with "little faith and knowledge" are troubled when evil befalls the righteous, because they assume that the righteous get their rewards in this life rather than the next (6.2.1). If this erroneous assumption were true, we would be the most miserable of men. Instead of ignorantly and faithlessly assuming in despair we must rather focus on the nature of how things are between God and His creation. Only then will we gain true understanding about this perceived problem.
Things in this world are good, bad, or indifferent. The only good is the virtue of the soul--divine faith that makes us cling to the unchanging Good. The only bad in this world is sin, which separates us from the unchanging Good God and unites us with the devil (6.3.1). These ontological truths are fixed and unchanging (6.4.1). Therefore, we must properly understand these truths so that our faith can be strengthened by real knowledge and remain undamaged by temptations.
