The Lord has sent someone in need to you

Contents of the Blessedness of Mercy Don’t justify your coldness towards those who ask Don’t blow a trumpet before you Letter to a benefactor Life of our venerable father Prokhor, the miracle worker “Give to everyone... who asks you,” the Lord commands (Luke 6:30). This is one of the first commandments in Christianity, both the Lord and the holy apostles often remind us of it, and in order to incite us to fulfill it more zealously, they protect it with the most touching motives and the most amazing threats. Everyone knows this and everyone, in conscience, considers himself obligated to help those in need to the best of his ability. Meanwhile, if we reconsider our affairs more strictly, then, perhaps, there will not be a single task that we would carry out with less attention as it is obligatory for us to help those in need. We help somehow, just to get rid of the annoying petitioner, and sometimes we refuse completely - and isn’t it mostly the latter? And what did stinginess and self-interest not come up with to justify their coldness towards those in need! The falsity of petitions, the idleness of petitioners, their own shortcomings, difficult times, the need to stock up for a rainy day, and so on. All these thoughts circulate among those who are not attentive to their duty in speeches and sayings, and also among those who are attentive, and they are often led astray from the right path of action. At a time when it is necessary to help, the first thought that comes to mind is: is the person asking in need - who knows! - and asks, but perhaps has no need. Who says, there are such people, but do we know for sure that the person who stands before us really belongs to this class? And if we don’t know, then why suspect, much less refuse based on suspicion alone? Or maybe this is a mother who left hungry children at home, or a father of a family whose wife is sick and children are naked, or the eldest of homeless orphans? Of course, you won’t refuse this one. But look the same way at everyone who asks you and do not offend them with suspicion. What if a truly needy person, whose heart is already heavy, reads such suspicion in your eyes? After all, this will only increase his sorrow and burden, and, instead of consolation, he will leave you with even greater sorrow. Is this good? The fact that his eyes are not cloudy, his face is not distorted, his step is firm and his clothes are not patched - does that mean he is not worth your mercy? So, do you really want him to go to the last extreme, which, perhaps, will begin immediately after your refusal? But does the Savior’s commandment only want to cover those who have nowhere to go, who have neither shelter, nor food, nor clothing, nor strength? No, there is no need for a special commandment to help this kind of people. He says: “Give to everyone... who asks you.” You will give; just make it a rule not to suspect the person asking, not to paint behind him pictures of supposed contentment, but rather a picture of extreme need and truly oppressive sorrow. Then the heart itself will not give you peace until you alleviate its fate. Nowadays there is a lot of suspicion being spread towards the poor, but all these suspicions can be answered with one solution: make sure who exactly is asking for something that is not necessary, don’t give it to him, and refusing everyone just because there are false applicants is a sin. Saint John the Merciful did not do this: he did not refuse even those about whom everyone knew that they were not poor, and when they told him about this, he answered: “It is true, at that time they suffered extreme need.” Sometimes we turn to ourselves from the petitioner and say: “Where can I get it? We barely have enough for our needs, we have difficulty making ends meet.” When there is nothing to give from, no one obliges you to do so. It is necessary to give from excess: “if... zeal is due,” says the holy Apostle Paul, “it is good for someone to eat according to what he has, and not according to what he has not to have.” For it is not joy for others, but sorrow for you” (2 Cor 8:12-13). But is it true that we will have nothing left to satisfy our own needs? Moreover, have we reasonably defined what should be considered our needs? Need, after all, is something that can be both reduced and expanded. Eliminate spending on what habit, whim, vanity, the empty demands of the world, the pleasures of the world consider necessary - how much will remain for the benefit of those in need!.. Let us assume that even these unnecessary needs do not exist, you just have to want it, then from the most essential need, from food, clothing and other needs, prudence will always be able to separate a part of Christ. Only misers and spendthrifts use their needs to dissuade them from helping out. They also sometimes say: “Why are they wandering around idly! We’d work and get our own bread that way!” The most fair demand. And the apostle commands us to work, “working with our own hands,” so as not only to satisfy our needs, but to have something to give to those in need (Eph. 4:28). But, dissuading yourself from giving assistance under such a pretext, are you sure that the person asking can work? There is no work for the old, the small and the weak! But even though he can work, does he have a job? Some people would be ready to work, but there is nothing to put their hands to. In the parable of the laborers, one part of them had no work until the eleventh hour, that is, almost until midnight, because no one was hiring. But even if there is work, is it such that it will provide funds for all needs? How often they work day and night, and everyone is tormented by needs, especially when one works for many. It’s good to say: work, but it is necessary to arrange in advance so that the one asking can saturate both himself and others with his labor. Then refuse him, and without that, refusing is the same as making him die of hunger. And what don’t people say to excuse their inflexibility and hardness of heart! One says: “Tough times! There’s no point in thinking about others, just to feed yourself!” Another: “You need it for yourself, you need to save money for a rainy day.” Third: “Am I alone or what? If there is more food than me, they will serve me.” Fourth: “Well, well, I serve whatever comes to hand.” Kindly consider, is there anything similar to the truth here? Hard times, they say, but if they are hard for wealthy people, then how many times harder for the poor? This means that assistance should not be stopped, but rather increased in such cases. It is necessary, they say, to save for a rainy day, let’s say that it is necessary, but there must be a measure for this too. Otherwise, our imagined future needs will never allow us to help the poor in their actual needs. Moreover, does the future depend on our foresight or on the arrangement of God’s Providence? Of course, from the latter. Well, then attract God’s mercy to yourself by your mercy towards those in need, and then you will have a sure guarantee of prosperity in the future. Show me an example of a house going bankrupt from generosity to the poor! And I will point out to you thousands of those who have gone around the world from wastefulness... Someone else, they say, will give it - but will someone else give it? And if he also says the same thing: another will give, and then a third and a fourth, won’t this mean the same as leaving the poor to the mercy of fate? No, not like that. The Lord sent this poor man specifically to you - you help him, don’t miss an opportunity that may not happen again. “I serve,” you say, “what comes across and when necessary.” Okay, but does that mean filing to the fullest extent of the debt and to the fullest extent possible? Does this mean turning all your attention and zeal to this holy cause? And isn’t this negligence the reason that the benefit ends up in the wrong hands and is not used properly? Do you give to whomever you have to, and to those who help, whom shame keeps at home and who silently endure, perhaps, more than the need that is crying out about themselves? No, truly Christian compassion is not content with this; it itself hurries to places of poverty in order to touch its wounds with its own hands and immediately apply the necessary healing plaster. That's how many evil thoughts the enemy has come up with in order to distract good people from helping! We admit that, to a greater or lesser extent, we have all, at times, been carried away by them. Let us therefore decide in our hearts not to succumb to them anymore, for if they are all so weak before our simple reasoning, then how can they stand in the judgment of God’s truth, which sees everything - both in deeds and in the feelings of the heart to the last secrets? “Blesseds of mercy!” (Matthew 5:7) Don’t justify your coldness towards the person asking There is nothing to say about the duty to help the poor. Everyone is aware of it and everyone in himself is an intercessor for the poor in the compassion for the needy that is akin to man. And the poor know about this duty, about this need in the hearts of each and every one, and that is why they boldly turn to everyone in full confidence that those who have wealth will not refuse to help them with their excesses. But what is often missing? There is a lack of good dispositions with which almsgiving and non-giving should be surrounded and protected. They serve, but not as much as they should; they serve, but sometimes not quite willingly and with a clenched heart, not generously, not cordially. Why does the hand contract and the heart clench? From wrong thoughts that lead our heart astray from the right path in a moment of almsgiving. The heart strives to help its neighbor, but immediately prescribes the measure and method of charity. At the same time, the enemy comes, instills unkind thoughts and upsets the whole matter: “You have many needs,” the enemy suggests, “and will your alms be of any use?” The heart will shrink, and the giving hand will shrink. In order to direct our hearts to what is due and to give us the strength to prevent the attack of evil thoughts when giving alms, the apostle commands us to look at alms as sowing. “I will say this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” (2 Cor. 9:6). The sower, spending seeds on sowing, does not think at all that he is exhausting himself, undermining his wealth and depriving himself of the opportunity to satisfy his needs. On the contrary, by sowing, he hopes to become rich, expand his methods and avert needs. So do you: give alms without giving in to the thought that by letting go of a coin from your hands or giving away an item, you are depriving yourself of something. You do not spend, but gain, you do not diminish, but multiply, you do not give, but receive. To the sower, when he throws seeds into the ground, it does not even occur to him that he is throwing them in vain, for nothing, for the future; on the contrary, he is confident that the earth will not only preserve the seeds entrusted to it, but will also bear thirty and even a hundred fruits from them. So do you: give alms generously, believing that the hands of the poor are the most faithful guardians of your surplus, and the richest and richest soils, on which even the small sowing of your goodness will bear abundant fruit in its time. He who sows, no matter how much he sows, does not grieve or grieve; on the contrary, the more he sows, the more joyful and trustworthy it becomes. So you too: the more abundant your almsgiving, the wider the circle of your charity, the more rejoice and be merry. The time will come, and the Rewarder will bring you to the field of your life fertilized, sown and fertilized by charity, and will rejoice your heart, showing you a hundredfold multiplied harvest of your righteousness. “Do not blow a trumpet before you,” the Lord commanded (Matthew 6:2), and yet almost everyone blows a trumpet, or rather, almost everyone blows a trumpet. Someone comes to the heart, puts his mouth into it and blows a trumpet, and the person listens and admires him. If only we could calm down the thought that the sound of this trumpet, even though it is ours, is produced by a force alien to us! And this doesn’t even come to mind; on the contrary, the praise seems so fair to us that it seems illegal to contradict it. If we think about it properly, it will turn out that this is where we are not worthy of praise when we blow a trumpet before ourselves. This very trumpeting exposes our poverty and unworthiness. When you hear the sound of this destructive trumpet of the enemy, move away a little from yourself and, opposing yourself to yourself, begin to judge yourself unhypocritically. Someone is trumpeting in front of you that this and that is good in you, or that this and that has been done well by you. Think carefully about why this gets into your head and occupies your attention? Because, I’ll tell you that it’s clear that there’s only goodness in you. If you had a lot of good deeds, or if you only had all the good deeds, then each individual deed would disappear in the mass of them, not allowing itself to be noticed. Just as someone who has a lot of money doesn’t pay attention when they bring him tens or even hundreds of rubles, or like someone who has a lot of clothes won’t take a minute to re-sew clothes, because he has so many of them that a new one doesn’t represent any special feature, so someone rich in good deeds will not focus his attention on any of his private affairs. Every good deed disappears from him, like a drop in the ocean, in the wealth of his good deeds. It follows from this that if someone admires his good deed, it is because, apparently, there is only one thing. A good deed, although imperfect, always attracts the eye, and if there were many of these deeds, then the eyes would wander, not knowing which one to stop at. So, take yourself from this side when you hear the trumpet in you, and explain to yourself that the fact that you have attached your attention to this matter does not lead to self-praise, but to reproach yourself in the poverty of virtues. It’s true, in the whole sum of your deeds there is nothing to look at, only this is the only thing. And if this is so, then your condition is worthy of pity. No, you should not have just one good deed, but your whole life should be an unbroken chain of good deeds. Do not look at the flattery of the thought of self-praise, but, realizing its power, move quickly to the conviction that you are truly poor in good that is pleasing to God when you delight in this or that praiseworthy deed. Do not ascend to a high opinion of yourself, but descend to self-abasement and feelings of repentance. As soon as you do this, the pipe will immediately fall silent. God's mercy be with you! I am very grateful to you for your kind offer to buy me a fur coat for walking on the balcony. I have never doubted and do not doubt your willingness to do whatever I need. During my stay above, I had many experiences that gave me the opportunity to measure the full breadth of your goodwill towards me. I thank the Lord for the consolations that He was pleased to provide me through you. But I refuse your offer to present me with a fur coat, because a fur coat is so kind and expensive in my situation - it’s unnecessary. In winter I only go out to the balcony. A warm, warm sheepskin coat and matching boots protect me from external chills. Besides, the door is close at hand. Little by little I feel chilly, so I take refuge in the hut and warm up there. So please don't be mad at me for refusing. After all, God would have exacted from us that we are wasting such an amount that could be used to warm a dozen cold poor people. Let’s make peace on this, and don’t blame me. May God bless you with every blessing. The Life of our Venerable Father Prokhor, the Wonderworker He created sweet bread from a herb called quinoa, and salt from ashes. God, rich in bounties and merciful, often allows evil to befall the human race in order to attract them to a sound mind and force them to do good deeds with such punishment. But even if he executes and inflicts ulcers, he certainly has mercy and does not hesitate to provide healing to the wounds, as can be seen from the life of this venerable Prokhor. The following story has been preserved about him. During the reign of Svyatopolk Izyaslavich in Kyiv, a lot of violence was inflicted by the prince on the people. Without guilt, he destroyed the houses of the powerful and took away the estates of many. For this reason, God allowed the filthy to overpower him, and during his reign there were many attacks by the Polovtsians and, in addition, internecine warfare, so that there was more than once famine and great scarcity on the Russian land. During these days, blessed Prokhor came from Smolensk to the Pechersky Monastery to Abbot John and received from him the holy angelic image. He began to strive hard in virtues and accustomed himself to great abstinence, so that he deprived himself of ordinary bread, but he collected quinoa grass and, grinding it with his own hands, made bread for himself and ate it. In the summer, he prepared it for the whole year and, when summer came again, he did the same for the next year, so that throughout his life he did not need ordinary bread, and he was nicknamed “the swan-maker” because, apart from the prosphora in the church in his cell, he never even ate vegetables, but only quinoa, and drank nothing but water. God, seeing the saint’s patience in such abstinence, transformed for him that bitterness of bread made from quinoa into sweetness. And instead of sadness he had joy. This blessed one never grieved, but worked for God in joy. He was never afraid of enemy raids, because he lived like a bird, having nothing but quinoa, so he could not compare with the rich man of the Gospel, who said: “Soul, you have a lot of good things lying around for many years: rest, eat, drink, be merry!” (Luke 12:19). But even for that grass, prepared for the year, he reproached himself, saying: “Prokhor, this night they will take your soul from you, but who will have what you have prepared?” In fact, this blessed one fulfilled the word of the Lord: “Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, and your Heavenly Father feeds them” (Matthew 6:26). Imitating birds, the monk easily walked to where the quinoa grew, and from there brought it to the monastery on his shoulders, as if on wings. And so he ate unsown food from unplowed land, like a bird. During these exploits of the saint, a great famine began in the Russian land due to constant wars, so that death threatened the people. God, wanting to glorify His saint and have mercy on His people, then increased the growth of quinoa more than in other years; and therefore blessed Prokhor worked more and more, constantly collecting this grass, rubbing it with his hands and making bread from it, which he distributed to the poor and dying of hunger. Some, seeing how he collected quinoa, also began to collect it in order to feed themselves during hunger, but they could not eat because of bitterness. Then all those in need turned to the saint, and he did not refuse anyone his quinoa bread. And the taste of this bread seemed sweet to everyone, as if it had been mixed with honey, so that rather than bread baked from wheat, they took this bread baked from grass by the hands of Blessed Prokhor. But it is also remarkable that this bread, only if given to the blessed with a blessing, seemed light, clean and tasted sweet; and if someone took it secretly, it became black as earth and bitter as wormwood. One of the brethren took bread from the blessed one secretly, without blessing, and began to eat. And it turned out to be like dirt in his hand, and bitter beyond measure in his mouth, so that he could not eat it. This happened several times. He was ashamed to reveal this sin to the blessed one and ask him for bread with a blessing. But, being very hungry, and unable to bear the urges of hunger, seeing death before his eyes, he came to Abbot John and told him what had happened, asking for forgiveness. The abbot, not believing the story, ordered another brother to secretly take bread from the saint in order to see the truth, whether it was so. When the bread was brought, it turned out to be the same as what the first brother said: no one could eat it because it was bitter. This bread was still in their hands when the abbot again sent to the saint to ask for bread from his blessing. “When leaving him,” said the abbot, “secretly take other bread.” When these loaves were brought, the bread, taken secretly, changed before them and became black as earth and bitter as wormwood, like the first bread; and the bread taken from his hands seemed clean and was sweet as honey. After this miracle, Prokhor became famous everywhere and, having fed the hungry, benefited many. After this, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, Prince of Kiev, began an internecine war with David Igorevich, Prince of Vladimir, for the blinding of Prince Vasilko Rostislavich at Trebovlya, whom Svyatopolk, seduced by David Igorevich, ordered to blind; also with Volodar Rostislavich, Vasilko’s brother, Prince of Przemysl, and with Vasilko himself for the region of his father Izyaslav, which the Rostislavichs captured. And Svyatopolk himself returned from the campaign to Kyiv, driving David away to the Poles and planting his son Mstislav in his city of Vladimir, but he did not defeat Volodar and Vasilko and sent his other son, Yaroslav, against them with the Ugrians. At this time, with great disorder and lawless robberies, merchants from Galich and Przemysl were not allowed to enter Kiev, and there was no salt in the entire Russian land - and then the people were in great sadness. Blessed Prokhor, seeing this scarcity, collected a lot of ashes from all the cells into his cell and, praying to the Lord, began to distribute to everyone in need of salt the ashes from which pure salt was formed for everyone through the prayers of the blessed one. And the more he distributed it, the more it multiplied, so that there was enough not only for the monastery, but also the worldly people, coming to him, took away plenty for the needs of their households. The saint did not take anything for it, but gave it away freely to everyone who demanded it. And one could see how the market was emptying, and the monastery was full of people coming to get salt. Then the enemy created great envy among the merchants who were selling salt at the auction, suddenly deprived of the expected profits. For in those days they hoped to buy the wealth of the whole world with salt, but they were greatly mistaken in this, because before they sold too dearly, but now no one bought even cheaply. Having gathered together, all the salt merchants came to Prince Svyatopolk with a complaint against the blessed one: “Prokhor, the monk of the Pechersk Monastery, took a lot of money from us: he relentlessly attracted everyone to him for salt, and we, who pay you taxes, cannot sell our salt and through him we went bankrupt.” The prince, having listened to them, planned two things - to stop their complaints, and to make money for himself. And he and his advisers decided to raise the price of salt, and, having taken it away from Prokhor, to be its seller himself through his people. And he promised those seditionists: “For your sake, I will rob the monk.” He hid the thought of his profit, wanting to please them, mainly preparing, out of envy, to lead them into even greater losses - because envy cannot put up with what is useful for others. Svyatopolk sent to take all the salt from Prokhor. When she was transported, he came to look at her himself with those seditious people who complained about the blessed one, and everyone saw that there was ashes before their eyes. The prince ordered some to try, and they also found ashes in their mouths. They were much surprised at this change and were perplexed. Wanting to know more accurately how it would all end, the prince ordered the ashes to be preserved for up to three days. And according to custom, many people came to the blessed one to get salt, but when they learned about its plunder, they returned empty-handed, cursing the one who did it. The blessed one told them: “When the salt is poured out from the prince, then go and collect it for yourself.” The prince, having kept her for three days and received nothing but ashes, ordered her to be thrown out at night. And the ashes that were poured out turned into salt again. Having learned about this, the citizens began to flock and happily collected it. When this wondrous miracle happened, the prince was horrified and allowed himself to be violent. And since he could not hide this deed, for it had happened in front of the whole city, he began to investigate what it was. Then they told him everything that blessed Prokhor had done: not only about the salt that came from the ashes, but also about the quinoa bread with which he fed many people, and how they turned out to be sweet when someone received them from his hands with a blessing, and bitter when someone took them secretly. Having learned about this, Prince Svyatopolk was ashamed of his deed, went to the Pechersky Monastery and reconciled with Abbot John. And before, he had enmity with the abbot for denouncing him of insatiable greed and insults to the people, so he even imprisoned him in Turov. But, fearing to incur the enmity of the pious prince Vladimir Monomakh, he soon returned him with honor to the Pechersky Monastery. Because of these miracles, Svyatopolk began from then on to have great love for the Most Holy Theotokos and the venerable fathers Anthony and Theodosius of Pechersk. And he greatly respected and pleased Blessed Prokhor, knowing that he was a true servant of God. Before him, he made a promise to God not to commit violence to anyone else and strengthened this word, saying to the blessed one: “If, by the will of God, I depart from this world before you, you, with your own hands, put me in a coffin to show your kindness towards me. If you repose before me, I, taking you on my shoulders, will carry you into the cave, so that for this the Lord will grant me forgiveness of my grave sin against you.” After this conversation, blessed Prokhor lived many years pleasing to God in an immaculate and meager life due to fasting, and then fell ill. Prince Svyatopolk was on a campaign against the Polovtsians. Then the blessed one sent him a message: “The hour of my departure from the body has already approached; if you want to fulfill your promise and receive forgiveness of sins from God, come to get permission and put me in the tomb with your own hands. I'm waiting for your arrival. If you slow down and I leave without you, then it will not be my fault, and the campaign will end differently than if you had come to me.” Having received this news, Svyatopolk left the army and soon came to the sick Prokhor. The monk taught the prince a lot about alms, about future judgment, about eternal life and endless torment, gave him forgiveness and blessing and said goodbye to everyone around the prince. Then, raising his hands to heaven, he committed his spirit into the hands of God. The prince and the monks, taking the body of the monk, carried it to the cave and with their own hands laid it in the coffin. Then he went on a campaign and won a great victory over the godless Hagarians, captured all the Polovtsian regions and brought the captives to his land. This victory, granted by God to the Russian land, was won according to the prediction of the merciful blessed Prokhor. And from then on, Prince Svyatopolk, going on a hike or hunting, always came to the Pechersk Monastery for a blessing and with great zeal and gratitude bowed in the God-created church before the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos and before the tomb of the Monk Theodosius, also in the cave before the tombs of the Monks Anthony and Prokhor and all the other saints, and only then set off on the road. And his reign proceeded happily, having received, after many punishments, God’s blessing through the Monk Prokhor, and the Christ-loving prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavich himself, being a witness, clearly confessed to everyone the miracles and signs of this saint of God. Through His holy prayers, even now, in the midst of constant struggle, may the Russian people not be deprived of food: especially the eternally abiding and earthly - the creation of God's will, and the heavenly - the saturation of the soul, when His glory appears. And may the Venerable Prokhor and I enjoy this holy feast; no longer by eating quinoa leaves and ashes, but by seeing the nature of God blooming before centuries and the nature of man taken from the earth, which are united in Christ - God and man. To Him, together with the Beginning Father and the Most Holy, Good and Life-Giving Spirit, is due all glory, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. You might be interested in: