About the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and about almsgiving

After the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven, and when the disciples were looking intently at heaven, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to them, saying: “Why are you standing and looking at heaven? This Jesus, who ascended from you into heaven, will himself come again to this place, in the same way as you saw Him ascending into heaven” (“Why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who has ascended from you into heaven, ... in the same way you saw him going into heaven”) (Acts 1:11). And now, beloved, I will tell you what His second coming will be like, terrible and awe-inspiring, convicting every breath. First of all, the sign of the Son of Man, on whom the Jews crucified Him, will appear, shining like lightning, which the holy angels will carry; and ahead of him the Archangel Michael will sound the trumpet and awaken those who have fallen asleep from Adam until the end of the age. And the dead will rise, as if from sleep, from their graves, as the Apostle Paul said: “The trumpet will sound, and the dead in Christ will rise incorruptible, immediately, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet” (1 Cor. 15:52). And the angels will gather people from the four ends of the universe in the valley of tears. That valley will shake and the means of judgment will be revealed: a fiery river filled with an unquenchable worm, cruel and unmerciful angels and the deeds of everyone standing around, convicting the sinner. The heavens will change, and the earth will be abolished, and the glory of all will pass away like a shadow; wealth and everything will pass away, disappear like smoke, when even the stars, like leaves, fall from the sky; and no one will intercede for anyone, and there will be no help from anywhere: neither father for son, nor mother for daughter, nor brother for brother, nor for each other, nor master for slave, nor slave for master, nor wealth, nor silver, nor gold, nor expensive clothing, nor houses with golden ceilings - but everyone’s deeds, good or bad, will be revealed. The heavens will open, and behold, the Son of God is coming on the clouds of heaven with much power and glory; He, the heavenly, descends to Jerusalem, and He, the immense, to Zion; and twelve thrones were set up for His twelve apostles and disciples; and behold He is like lightning appearing from the east to the west; from His fear and rebuke the heavens are rolled up like a scroll. Then the whole earth will shake, the mountains will smoke, rivers of fire will be ready to receive sinners, worms, like dragons, with open mouths will thirst for the blood of sinful people; everyone will suffer continuously. That darkness has no light. Think, brothers, about that terrible, great and glorious day! (If) even the angels, who have sinned in nothing, tremble on that day, then what trembling will seize sinners on that terrible and terrible day? Then there will be bitter weeping and gnashing of teeth. And let no one think that that court (will be) in a frenzy. I know that many people say that that judgment will be as if someone is tormented while in a dream. Make no mistake, people! Anyone who suffers in a dream only imagines it, while body and soul rest on the bed. But on that day it is impossible to separate the body from the soul, and together they will stand before that terrible court, where the books of cases are open, the judge is impartial, and the judgment is unchangeable; in much glory He will call everyone to judgment by name, and we will all appear naked. There is no oratory that conquers the truth, there is no verbosity of the tongue, but the testing of works; there is no need for gifts or protectors, but everyone bears their own burden. There they do not believe in old age, there is no celebrity, bodily nobility is not asked for; there the beauty of the face does not confuse the judge, but the dignity of virginity and other virtues confuse the judge, born of a Virgin; there the great and the small are judged equally. Children often condemn their parents at that trial. If you give birth to children and do not maintain equality between them, but enrich one and hate the other, then you will give an answer. Then the slave stands before the master with boldness, and the slave before the mistress, and the student before the teacher. They are all being tried in a terrible court: children with parents, wives with husbands; and everyone's deeds become clear. Therefore, the blessed Apostle Paul, knowing this, commanded everyone with the words: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord... And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger... Servants, obey your masters” (“children, listen to your parents in the Lord... And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger... Servants, listen to the lords”) (Eph. 6:1, 4-5). “Masters, give slaves their due and fairness... Husbands, love your wives, and wives, fear your husbands” (“Lord,...give equal treatment to slaves... Husbands, love your wives... and wives, submit to your husbands) (Col. 4:1, 3:19, 18) so that we all may appear without condemnation before the terrible throne of our Lord Jesus Christ God.” Let us therefore tremble for the day in which the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and places the sheep on the right side and the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those standing on the right side: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). Just think about the joy and boldness in relation to the angels, prophets and apostles! “For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink" ("You were hungry, and you gave me food: you were thirsty, and you gave me something to drink") (Matthew 25:35), and so on. “Go, you blessed of My Father, receive the heavenly instead of the corruptible, the incorruptible instead of the temporary, the eternal instead of the temporary. You have clothed Me with clothing, and I clothe you with eternal glory; you gave Me bread, and I will give you the food of heaven; You have brought fruit to Me, and I will make you partners with the saints; you gave me cold water to drink, and I will bring you into paradise.” Brother, when you hear this, what are you waiting for, why are you hesitating to give yours to those in need? In addition, you give to God himself, as He himself said: “If you do “as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (“to the only one of these least of my brothers, you have done for me”) (Matthew 25:40). Those who persecuted the poor persecuted Christ. And for this He will place them on the left side; and just as they persecuted the poor, in the same way the Lord will drive them out with the words: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry, and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty, and you did not give me something to drink” (“depart from me, cursed into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angel. For you were hungry, and you will not give me food: you were thirsty, and you did not give me something to drink”) (Matthew 25:41–42), and so on. Just think of that shame in front of the host of angels! Already here, if someone is convicted of sin against one friend, how he lowers his face! How he refuses to appear! How he is embarrassed by his friends, neighbors, relatives because of the shame of what he was convicted of! Think about the shame when (there will be) myriads of angels and rows of prophets, choirs of apostles, an innumerable multitude of martyrs, a boundless world, and the judge will say: “Depart from Me, you cursed... I was hungry, and you did not give Me food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me no drink; I was naked, and they did not clothe Me; I am sick and in prison, and you have not visited Me; I was a stranger, and you did not receive Me” (“Depart from me, curse... You are hungry... and do not give me food: you are thirsty, and do not give me anything to drink: naked, and do not clothe me: I am sick... and do not visit me”) (Matthew 25:41-43). How do you justify yourself, he says? I have deprived you of a reason; you have no protection. If I say: “I was hungry, and you did not give me anything to eat,” then perhaps you will say that you had no bread. Didn't you have bread and water? But did you really not have the legs to visit the sick and in prison? Or could you not even groan with the dejected? Are you harming the poor man? Don’t you hit him with your tongue, then don’t let him moan against you?” The Lord soon listens to his groans: “he rewards those who act arrogantly with abundance” (“and rewards those who act arrogantly”) (Ps. 30:24). The Lord does not listen as much to the righteous as to the poor, since the poor have no other protector. Because of poverty, we all reject him: parents - their children, friends - friends, especially brother - brother, neighbors - neighbors; the poor are rejected and helpless everywhere, have no help from anywhere except God, who has mercy on the poor. Therefore, the Lord soon listens to them, just as the prophet says in another place: “Soon the Lord listens to the poor and does not despise His prisoners” (Ps. 68:34). Do you have bread or anything else that consoles poverty? Give it to the poor. If you don’t have it, serve him with a word, care for him, pray for him, so that if he doesn’t find peace with you, he would find it with someone else. He who has nothing to give, and gives good words to the poor, gains for himself a greater reward than he who gives. Moreover, in another place it is said: great is the benefit of almsgiving. No other good deed can ever (so) blot out sins. Let us turn to him, beloved, to receive eternal blessings in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Creations attributed to St. John Chrysostom and in the Patrology of Min, classified as Spuria. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: