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Matthew 6:1. See that you do not do your alms in front of people so that they will see you: otherwise you will have no reward from your Heavenly Father. Having raised us to the highest virtue - love, the Lord now rebels against vanity, which follows good deeds. Notice what it says: Beware! speaks as if of a fierce beast. Be careful that he doesn't tear you to pieces. But if you know how to perform mercy in front of people, but not in order to be looked at, you will not be condemned. But if you have vanity as your goal, then even if you did it in your cage, you will be condemned. God punishes or crowns the intention. Matthew 6:2. So, when you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that people may glorify them. The hypocrites did not have trumpets, but the Lord ridicules their intention here, since they wanted their alms to be trumpeted. Hypocrites are those who appear to be different from what they really are. So, they seem merciful, but in reality they are different. Truly I tell you, they are already receiving their reward. For they are praised, and they have received everything from people. Matthew 6:3. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, He said this exaggeratedly: if possible, hide it from yourself. Or this way: the left hand is vain, and the right hand is merciful. So, let vanity not know your alms. Matthew 6:4. so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly. When? When everything turns out to be naked and obvious, then you will be most glorified. Matthew 6:5. And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stop and pray in the synagogues and on street corners in order to appear before people. Truly I tell you that they are already receiving their reward. And he calls these hypocrites, since they seem to listen to God, but in reality they listen to people from whom they have, that is, receive, their reward. Matthew 6:6. But you, when you pray, go into your room and, having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly. So what? Won't I pray in church? Absolutely not. I will pray, but with pure intention, and not in a way that shows myself: for the place does not harm, but the inner disposition and purpose. Many people pray in secret and do it in order to please people. Matthew 6:7. And when praying, do not say unnecessary things, like the pagans... Much verbosity is idle talk: for example, begging for something earthly - for power, wealth, victory. Polyphony is also inarticulate speech, like the speech of children. So, don't be an empty talker. One should not perform long prayers, but short ones, but continually remain in short prayer. Matthew 6:8. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. We pray not in order to teach Him, but so that, distracting ourselves from everyday worries, we may benefit by talking with Him. Matthew 6:9. Pray like this: Our Father who art in heaven! A vow is one thing, prayer is another. A vow is a promise to God, as when someone promises to abstain from wine or anything else; prayer is asking for benefits. Saying “Father” shows you what blessings you have received by becoming the son of God, and with the word “in heaven” he points you to your fatherland and your father’s house. Therefore, if you want to have God as your Father, then look at heaven, not at earth. You do not say: “My Father,” but “Our Father,” because you must consider everyone as your brothers, the children of one Heavenly Father. that is, make us holy, so that Your name may be glorified, for just as through me God is blasphemed, so through me He is sanctified, that is, glorified as Holy. Matthew 6:10. Thy kingdom come; that is, the second coming: for a person with a clear conscience prays for the coming of resurrection and judgment. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; Just as the angels, he says, carry out Your will in heaven, so grant us to do it on earth. Matthew 6:11. Give us this day our daily bread; By “daily” the Lord means that bread that is sufficient for our nature and condition, but He eliminates concern for tomorrow. And the Body of Christ is our daily bread, for whose uncondemned communion we must pray. Matthew 6:12. and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; Since we sin even after baptism, we pray that God will forgive us, but forgive us in the same way that we forgive. If we hold a grudge, He will not forgive us. God has me as His example and does to me what I do to others. Matthew 6:13. and do not lead us into temptation, We are weak people, so we should not expose ourselves to temptation, but if we fall, we must pray so that temptation does not consume us. Only the one who is consumed and defeated is drawn into the abyss of trial, and not the one who fell and then won. but deliver us from evil. He did not say, “from evil people,” for it is not they who do us harm, but the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Here we are encouraged, for if our Father is a King, strong and glorious, then we, of course, will defeat the evil one and will be glorified in the times to come. Matthew 6:14. For if you forgive people their sins, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you, Again he teaches us not to remember evil and reminds us of the Father, so that we should be ashamed and not become like the beasts, being His children. Matthew 6:15. and if you do not forgive people their sins, then your Father will not forgive you your sins. The meek God hates nothing so much as cruelty. Matthew 6:16. Also, when you fast, do not be sad like the hypocrites, for they put on gloomy faces in order to appear to people as fasting. Truly I tell you that they are already receiving their reward. “Darkness of face” is pallor. He reproaches when someone seems not to be what he is, but feigns a gloomy appearance. Matthew 6:17. And when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, Matthew 6:18. that you may appear to those who fast, not before men, but before your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly. Just as the ancients anointed themselves with oil after washing as a sign of joy, so show yourself rejoicing. But under oil we also mean alms, and under our head is Christ, Whom we must anoint with alms. “To wash your face” means to wash your feelings with tears. Matthew 6:19. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, Matthew 6:20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal, Having banished the disease of vanity, the Lord further speaks of non-covetousness, for people are concerned about acquiring many possessions because of their vanity. He shows the uselessness of earthly treasures, because worms and aphids destroy food and clothing, and thieves steal gold and silver. Then, so that someone does not say: “not everyone steals,” He points out that at least nothing of the kind happened, but isn’t the very fact that you are nailed down by concern for wealth a great evil? Therefore the Lord says: Matthew 6:21. for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 6:22. The lamp for the body is the eye. So, if your eye is clean, then your whole body will be bright; Matthew 6:23. if your eye is bad, then your whole body will be dark. So, if the light that is in you is darkness, then what is the darkness? He says this: if you have nailed your mind with concern for property, then you have extinguished your lamp and darkened your soul, for just as the eye, when it is clean, that is, healthy, illuminates the body, and when it is bad, that is, unhealthy, it leaves it in darkness, so the mind is blinded by care. If the mind is darkened, then the soul becomes darkness, and even more so the body. Matthew 6:24. No one can serve two masters: By two masters he means those who give opposing orders. We, for example, make the devil our master, just as we make our womb god, but our God is by nature and truly Lord. We cannot work for God when we work for mammon. Mammon is all untruth. for either he will hate one and love the other; or he will be zealous for one and neglectful of the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Do you see that it is impossible for the rich and unrighteous to serve God, for greed separates him from God? Мф.6:25 . Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will wear. “Therefore”, that is, why? Because property separates people from God. The soul, as having no body, does not eat, but the Lord said this according to general custom, for the soul, apparently, cannot remain in the body if the flesh is not nourished. The Lord does not forbid work, but forbids us to completely devote ourselves to worries and neglect God. One must also engage in agriculture, but one must also take care of the soul. Is not the life more than food, and the body than clothing? That is, the One who gave more, having formed the soul and body, will He not give food and clothing? Matthew 6:26. Look at the birds of the air: they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your Father in heaven feeds them. Aren't you much better than them? The Lord could have pointed to Elijah or John as an example, but He reminded us of the birds in order to shame us that we are more foolish than them. God feeds them by putting in them natural knowledge to gather food. Matthew 6:27. And which of you, by caring, can add even one cubit to his height? The Lord says: “No matter how much you care, you will not do anything apart from the will of God. Why are you bothering yourself in vain? Matthew 6:28–29. And why do you care about clothes? Look at the lilies of the field, how do they grow? They neither toil nor spin. But I tell you that Solomon in all his glory did not dress like any of them; He shames us not only with the foolish birds, but also with the cranes that dry out. If God decorated them in this way, although it was not necessary, then how much more will He satisfy our need for clothing? It also shows that even though you cared a lot, you will not be able to adorn yourself like the krins, for the wisest and most pampered Solomon during his entire reign could not put on anything like that. Matthew 6:30. But if God clothes the grass of the field, which exists today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, God clothes it so much more than you, O you of little faith! From here we learn that we should not worry about decoration, as is characteristic of perishable flowers, and that anyone who adorns himself is like grass. You, he says, are rational beings for whom God created body and soul. Everyone who is mired in worries is of little faith: if they had perfect faith in God, they would not worry so intensely. Matthew 6:31. So do not worry and say, “What shall we eat?” or what to drink? or what to wear? Matthew 6:32. Because the pagans are looking for all this, It does not prohibit eating, but it does prohibit saying: “What shall we eat?” The rich say in the evening: “What will we eat tomorrow?” Do you see what He forbids? Prohibits effeminacy and luxury. and because your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. Matthew 6:33. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all this will be added to you. The Kingdom of God is the tasting of good things. It is given for living in truth. So, whoever seeks the spiritual, by the generosity of God, the physical is also given to him. Matthew 6:34. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things: each day’s own troubles are enough. The worries of the day mean contrition and sadness. It is enough for you that you lamented the present day. If you begin to worry about tomorrow, then, constantly worrying about yourself because of the physical, when will you have leisure for God?