One of the saints spoke of this saying, “The merciful man, if he be not just, is blind. That is to say, he must give to another man what he has gained by his own labors and hardship and not what he has through fraud, injustice and trickery.

And the same saint said in another place, “If you wish to sow your seed among the destiute, sow from your own seed, for if you wish to sow from other men’s seed, know that what you sow is the most bitter of tares.”

But I say that if the merciful man does not rise above what is just, he is not merciful. That is to say, he is merciful who not only shows mercy to others by giving from his own means, but who also suffers injustice from other men with joy (voluntarily, and who not merely keeps and requires justice in his dealings with his fellow men) but also shows them mercy.

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian

Homily Four