One day a pilgrim came to see us. He complained bitterly about the Jews and
abused them. He had been going about their villages and had to put up with their
unfriendliness and cheating. He was so bitter against them that he cursed them, even
saying they were not fit to live because of their obstinacy and unbelief. Finally he said
that he had such an aversion for them that it was quite beyond his control.
"You have no right, friend," said the starets, "to abuse and curse the Jews like
this. God made them just as He made us. You should be sorry for them and pray for
them, not curse them. Believe me, the disgust you feel for them comes from the fact
that you are not grounded in the love of God and have no interior prayer as a security
and, therefore, no inward peace. I will read you a passage from the holy Fathers
about this. Listen, this is what Mark the podvizhnik writes: 'The soul which is inwardly
united to God becomes, in the greatness of its joy, like a good- natured, simple-
hearted child, and now condemns no one, Greek, heathen, Jew, nor sinner, but looks
at them all alike with sight that has been cleansed, finds joy in the whole world, and
wants everybody—Greeks and Jews and heathen—to praise God.' And Macarius the
Great, of Egypt, says that the inward contemplative 'burns with so great a love that if
it were possible he would have everyone dwell within him, making no difference
between bad and good.' There, dear brother, you see what the holy Fathers think
about it. So I advise you to lay aside your fierceness, and look upon everything as
under the all-knowing providence of God, and when you meet with vexations accuse
yourself especially of lack of patience and humility."
https://web.archive.org/web/20160712040411/http://desertfathers.webs.com/thewayofthepilgrim.htm