The Bliss of Forgiveness

In Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, there is a powerful scene of forgiveness between Anna and her husband Alexey Alexandrovitch. Though his rigidness made him not a very likable character during the first part of the book, this powerful moment in the story changed that for me. Anna had just had a child who was not her husband’s and summoned him to come because she thought she was going to die. Before this moment he had understandably felt great anger towards her, but then as he stood there in front of her seeing her suffering, he changed. The baby’s father Vronski was there next to him, and Alexey Alexandrovitch said to them with great emotion, “I beg you to hear me out; it is necessary. I must explain my feelings, the feelings that have guided me and will guide me, so that you may not be in error regarding me. You know I had resolved on a divorce, and had even begun to take proceedings. I won’t conceal from you that in beginning this I was in uncertainty, I was in misery; I will confess that I was pursued by a desire to revenge myself on you and on her. When I got the telegram, I came here with the same feelings; I will say more, I longed for her death. But I saw her and forgave her. And the happiness of forgiveness has revealed to me my duty. I forgive completely. I would offer the other cheek, I would give my cloak if my coat be taken. I pray to God only not to take from me the bliss of forgiveness!” The forgiveness was so powerful that Vronski, in total shame at the magnanimity of this man whom he had wronged so completely, left and attempted suicide.

                In the story Anna did recover, and as she did her feelings of repulsion for her husband whom she had wronged continued to grow. His righteousness in contrast with her sins was too much for her. He knew she could not stand his presence, and yet his forgiveness did not falter. Alexey Alexandrovitch wrote her these incredibly selfless words expressing his feelings: “I see that my presence is irksome to you. Painful as it is to me to believe it, I see that it is so, and cannot be otherwise. I don’t blame you, and God is my witness that on seeing you at the time of your illness I resolved with my whole heart to forget all that had passed between us and to begin a new life. I do not regret, and shall never regret, what I have done; but I have desired one thing—your good, the good of your soul—and now I see I have not attained that. Tell me yourself what will give you true happiness and peace to your soul. I put myself entirely in your hands, and trust to your feeling of what’s right.” He forgave wholly and completely, and despite having been so wronged he did not turn from that forgiveness. He sought her happiness despite the misery she had given him. He indeed tried to follow these words of the Savior: “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also” (Matthew 5:39-40). That well-known invitation from Jesus is in fact a request to forgive even our unrepentant enemies, and He showed us how in the most difficult moment of His life, pleading on the cross to His Father, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

                In our dispensation the Lord spoke of our need to forgive this way: “Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord;… I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men” (Doctrine and Covenants 64:9-10). To forgive all men does not give us a lot of room to find exceptions, but surely the command is for the blessing of those who have been wronged. The Lord will judge and sin will not go unrequited by Him, but for us He invites us not to be victims of the sins of others. Through the kind of forgiveness that gives the other cheek even to our enemies, we can find with the Savior’s help—as Alexis Alexandrovitch did—“the bliss of forgiveness.”