About Lazarus and the Rich Man

1. The Church is the greatest school for us: here the rich are admonished and corrected, and the poor find peace and consolation. And now, beloved, we have to engage in the work of teaching. Following the instructions of the previous gospel, let us use what we have read now and try to extract from it what is useful for all of you. Today's Gospel reading depicted for us the life of a rich man and a poor man: the rich man drowned in bliss and pleasure, and the poor man spent his life in poverty. “A certain man was rich, dressed in purple and fine linen, and feasted brilliantly every day. There was also a certain beggar named Lazarus, who lay at his gate covered with scabs and wanted to feed on the crumbs falling from the rich man’s table, and the dogs came and licked his scabs” (Luke 16:19-21). This story, beloved, must be analyzed in detail so that, like sailors - from the experience of our predecessors, we too can learn from it to avoid the underwater rocks that cause shipwreck, so that on the one hand the rich will come to their senses, seeing what punishment the rich man depicted here suffered, and on the other hand, the poor, seeing in the example of Lazarus how brilliantly their hopes are justified, will more willingly walk the path of life amid the sorrows that befall them. “Some man was rich. Some person." He is not named, nor was he given the same honor as Job, about whom it was written: “there was a man in the land of Uz, his name was Job” (Job 1:1). His name is silent: as barren, he is deprived of a name (after all, the names of the righteous are in the book of life, and the names of sinners will be blotted out without a trace), he is left only with a common generic name - man: this name, of course, is common to all people. Having no distinctive name of his own, he was distinguished for this by the special severity of his evil disposition. "Some Man Was Rich". Akin to poor Lazarus in physical nature, he was alien to him in terms of the inheritance of Christ due to his embittered will. "There was a certain man". He was human in appearance, but in character he was an animal that fed alone. "Some Man Was Rich". Rich in acquisitions, rich in crimes, rich in copper, rich in sinful poison; illuminated by the shine of silver, but darkened by sins; rich in gold, but poor in Christ; He had many clothes, but his soul had no cover; precious clothes were kept with him, but only a lot of aphids fed on them. "Some Man Was Rich". Blooming with wealth, it did not have the color of truth: an autumn tree, barren, doubly dead. “A certain man was rich, dressed in purple and fine linen.” He dressed in purple, but was rejected from the kingdom of God; His purple was not stained with the blood of Christ, it was stained with the blood of sea shells; It did not serve as a guarantee of the kingdom of heaven for him, but foreshadowed his terrible fire of Gehenna. “A certain man was rich, dressed in purple and fine linen, and feasted brilliantly every day.” He did not rejoice in the Lord, like the righteous (after all, for the righteous, joy is the memory of God, as David testifies, for example: “I remembered God and ... I rejoiced” - Ps. 77:4); his amusements consisted of drunkenness, debauchery, gluttony, satiety; in a word, he was no better than pigs wallowing in the mud. “There was also a certain beggar named Lazarus.” The Lord called the poor man by name, denoting his name, giving him honor. “There was also a certain beggar named Lazarus, who lay at his gate,” almost drowned by the waves of poverty, and a little later carried with honor by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. Poor! He was oppressed by the gravest poverty like a strong hail; scorching boils corroded his body from everywhere; streams of grief rushed at him, destroying his body and tearing his heart; he found no relief, no relief in anything. On the outside, the body was exhausted by abscesses, and inside the heart was gnawing at persistent worries. Neither the fruitful field brought him grain seeds, nor the grapes brought him sweet bunches, nor the tree in the fall gave him its juicy fruits, nor any other product of the earth served as a consolation for him in his poverty. And this man, who had neither an inch of cultivated land nor an cubit of roofing for housing, was thrown out into the open sky on a dung heap! The manure served as a cover for him both day and night, warming him somewhat in winter, and mercilessly burning him in summer. His body was covered with continuous wounds. The work of a farmer was beyond his strength, traveling and trading enterprises were impossible for him, and he was not capable of any other methods of dealing with need. He was lacking in everything, deprived in everything. Moans before tears were born in his heart, like thorns; Streams of tears rushed down his cheeks, so that his cheeks were covered with furrows from the constant flow of tears. In a dream he looked for death and in reality called for it, but it did not appear. He waited for death as deliverance from all labors and worries, like the long-suffering Job. After all, he too, having lost his wealth, herds, property, completely naked, eaten by worms, lay on the rot and wished for death. This is what he said: “Why is light given to the sufferer, and life to those who are sad in soul, who wait for death, and it is not there, who would dig it up more willingly than a treasure, would rejoice to the point of delight, would be delighted that they had found the tomb” (Job 3:20-23). “And he desired,” they say, “to be fed with the crumbs falling from the rich man’s table” (Luke 16:21). Oh, the contradiction of life! The rich man was drowned in a stormy stream of pleasures, and the poor man was exhausted under the yoke of poverty, not having a single drop for refreshment. Why, in fact, did the course of life not lead them to mutual communication? Why? So that the poor man would receive bright crowns for his patience, and the rich man, because he brought his soul to brutality, had to gnaw unripe grapes with his teeth. “And the dogs,” they say, “came and licked his scabs.” The dogs turned out to be more humane than the rich man and kinder than him. He never gave a drop of oil to the poor, and the dogs, taming the sharpness of their teeth with their love for mankind, healed him with their soft tongue, removing from his wounds all uncleanness and dried blood; the smoothness of the tongue smoothed out his severe abscesses, they imperceptibly eased the severity of his wounds. The rich man never honored the poor man with a merciful glance or a word, even if it was useless; He didn’t throw him any rags, no leftover food, not a single penny covered in rust, not a piece of bread, not even a crust of bread touched by mold, but he sent it all down his throat into his womb, as if it were all-encompassing. 2. So what? What is the merit of each, such is the reward. “The beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom” (Luke 16:22). Having barely escaped the burdens and worries of poverty, he arrived at the quiet haven of Abraham. “The beggar died and was carried by the Angels to Abraham’s bosom.” Do you see how, beyond the threshold of this life, poverty is surrounded by the care of angels? “The rich man also died, and they buried him” (Luke 16:22). Regarding the rich man, the coffin is immediately mentioned, in accordance with the words of David: “and their graves are their dwellings forever” (Ps. 48:12). Therefore, it is said to you: poor man, do not be afraid, “when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases: for when he dies he will take nothing; his glory will not follow him” (Ps. 49:17–18). He will leave everything here - slaves, servants, saints, hangers-on, flatterers, chariots, golden-brided horses, baths, estates, houses with gilded ceilings and mosaic floors, kingdom, power, authority - he will leave all this here and leave here naked. And being in hell, “he lifted up his eyes” - notice at what depth the rich man was and at what height the poor one - “he lifted up his eyes,” they say, “the rich man “saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom” (Luke 16:23). Why, however, did not Lazarus see the rich man? Because, of course, he who is in the midst of the light does not see those who are in darkness, but He who is in darkness can see him who is in the light. And he said: “Father Abraham, have mercy on me” (Luke 16:24)! You say: “Have mercy” now that the time of mercy has passed. Have you not heard him say: “There will be judgment without mercy” (James 2:13)? praise You" (Ps. 6:6)? “Have mercy on me and send Lazarus.” Do you know Lazarus? Did you recognize the one who was lying in the dung heap, and whom you never wanted to give equal honor to dogs? But you - in the days of your prosperity - closed your bowels to him; So now, on the day of punishment, I close the depths of mercy before you. Have you not heard how God called to you through all the prophets, saying: “Watch mercy and judgment and trust in your God always” (Hos. 12:6), because “I want mercy, not sacrifice” (Hos. 6:6); “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7), and again: “he who does good to the poor lends to the Lord” (Prov. 19:17)? So where you sow, seek and reap; where you squander it, there you gather it. You never scattered the seeds of alms, you never lent anything to God through alms to the poor, but you collected everything and used it for your belly. And where your treasure was, there let your heart be also. “Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame” ((Luke 16:24)). The tongue that served him to enjoy food suffers punishment; he asks for a drop of water, whereas during his lifetime he never gave even a cup of cold water to a thirsty person in the name of a student. If during your life you had shared your goods with Lazarus, you would now share the kingdom with him; If he had been compassionate towards the poor then, he would now have avoided heavy condemnation, because “blessed is he who thinks about the poor! In the day of trouble the Lord will deliver him” (Ps. 40:2). Throw generously your wealth at the poor, so that they can level that fiery abyss; let your mercy flow in an abundant stream to extinguish that flame; support the lives of orphans - and now you have killed the already vigilant worms; wipe away the widow's tear - and you have freed your soul from the oppression of sins. This is why this was read to you, so that you, following in the footsteps of the merciless rich man, would not be subjected to the same punishment in Gehenna. And you, poor one, don’t be discouraged and don’t lose heart, no matter how the waves of poverty weigh you down. Look at the most glorious Lazarus, direct your gaze here day and night, so that, steering your life with the rudder of patience, you reach the same saving haven in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Creations attributed to St. John Chrysostom and classified in the Minya edition as Spuria.