Who among you works honestly all the hours you are supposed to, without indulging in distractions, giving to it all your energy, knowledge and patience? This applies especially to those who work for a flat wage. We get paid in full regardless of whether we put in an honest day's work or not. If we use time at work for other things, the money we receive is yet another example of dishonest gain.
We do not consider this a sin, even though we are in fact deceiving the government, stealing time and money from society. Perhaps some of you might think, "Well, almost everyone acts that way; it's a rare individual who is a real worker." But Christians, by their calling, are supposed to be especially honest and conscientious workers, to do every job as if it were assigned by the Lord Himself, who observes with what zeal, honesty and conscientiousness we work.
We read in the Morning Prayers: ". . . by Thy loving-kindness I strive to do Thy works." What are these works of the Lord? All those tasks which we undertake at home for the family or at work, or obediences, in the case of monastics, tasks which are ours to do-these are those "works" that the Lord has entrusted us with at the present time, and we will answer first of all to Him whether we have performed our duties honestly and conscientiously. Many of us don't think about this. We work any which-way, just trying to make the time go by faster, to get more money, to work less and with less effort
Archimandrite Ioann Krestiankin
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