A Word on Fasting and Alms {*This conversation, classified in the Minya edition as Spuria, is placed in volume 1 of this edition. Since it was not published in volume 1 of our publication, we place it at the end of volume 2.

Fasting is wonderful, and so is reading the Scriptures; but it is excellent in the case when it is followed by action, since if you read and do not do, then reading becomes a condemnation for you and a reason for punishment. “It is not the hearers of the law,” it is said, “who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be justified” (Rom. 2:13); and again Christ says: “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin” (John 15:22). Blessed is he who speaks in the ears of his hearers, especially when they have paid the profit; and profit is obedience and fulfillment of God’s commandments, as the Lord says: “And I, having come, would have received what is mine with profit” (Matthew 25:27). So, what have you, brother, collected through fasting? After all, a farmer sows in order to reap, and a merchant travels to foreign lands to collect property, and a helmsman sails many seas to fill his ship with goods. Do not tell me that “I fasted for so many days, did not eat either, did not drink wine, suffered uncleanness,” but show me whether you became meek, while you were angry, and whether you became humane, while before that you were cruel, because if you are intoxicated with anger, then why do you oppress your flesh? If there is envy and greed inside, then what is the benefit of drinking water? Now I am looking not for what the meal is, but for whether there has been a change in the evil way of thinking. If the mistress, that is, the soul, commits adultery, then why do you scourge the maid, that is, the womb? If the soul becomes dull, then why do you exhaust the body? I say this without blaming you, but for the sake of the frivolous. If I saw that you were flying high, I would still wish you to fly higher: such is the tyranny of love. And, just as money lovers, the more gold they collect, the more they find, so we wish your success more strongly. So, if you want to be accepted by God, then fast, brother, like the Ninevites; they did not receive the law; these are the ones about whom Paul speaks: “For when the Gentiles, not having the law, by nature do what is lawful, then, not having the law, they are a law to themselves” (Rom. 2:14). Therefore, do not boast about idle fasting - fasting alone does not lead you to heaven if it does not have its sister - alms, because it is connected with it, and between them there is not only a brotherly and close relationship, but alms even serves as a support for fasting. And how is this known? The angel said to Cornelius: “Your prayers and your alms have come as a memorial before God” (Acts 10:4). Almsgiving is the wing of prayer; If you don’t give a prayer wings, then it doesn’t fly, but when the soul is inspired, it quickly flies to heaven. How long will the love of money and the desire for property last? All this, brother, is destroyed along with real life. But you will undoubtedly tell me: “Tell this to yourself.” And to myself, brother, I say, and to you, because the admonition concerns everyone. By listening to this and correcting myself, I receive a benefit from you; and even if the one who speaks is a slave, I accept the advice, and even if he is free, I listen readily. It is not the difference of persons, but the benefit of the advice that makes me accept what is said. And if Moses, such a great man who talked with God, did not disdain the advice of his father-in-law, although he was a barbarian, but even he accepted them and God confirmed them (Ex. 18:24), then how much more are we? I do not tell you: become poor, but spend your excess on the poor, so that your excess becomes the basis of salvation for you. Don't you see many poor people on the road? Why do they remain sick and naked? One is very young, the other is very old; one leans on the other, and their suffering is great. So, give to your fellow servant that he may have the Lord as a debtor, for whom it is pleasant to be a debtor and who repays capital with interest. And interest in relation to external affairs is a crime, but in relation to God it is praise. Don't you give to the poor? Pay attention to the One who asks through him, and be ashamed of the dignity inherent in the Receiver: the poor man receives - and God borrows. Consider how your Lord descended to persuade you not to be cruel and inhuman. You saw Me hungry and did not feed me, thirsty and did not give me something to drink, a stranger and did not welcome me, naked and did not clothe me (Matthew 25:42-43), and so on. So, do you not give to the hungry Christ? You and the poor man together receive His body from the table, and you equally partake of His cup. He participates with you in great and terrible things, and you do not give him small things? Is what you give him yours? After all, even if you received it from your parents, even from your ancestors, it belongs to God. Why are you burying this in the ground? Give to the poor, and the Lord will keep it very safe for you. Don't you see what the farmer is doing? Often, due to poverty, having no seed, he pledges his clothes and gets what he wants and entrusts it to the land? Even if bad times often came and even if he left without squeezing anything, he nevertheless trusts the earth because he hopes. So, is it possible that what the earth does cannot be done by the Lord? Imitate that widow in the Old Testament who had “a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug,” as she treated the prophet with this (1 Kings 17:12); or the one in the Gospel who, having thrown in two mites, surpassed everyone, because she threw away all her wealth (Luke 21:2-3). But what are you saying? I am poor and have no money. Don't have two mites? If you don’t have it, then God is looking for an excess of good thoughts. Therefore, He said: if anyone gives “a cup of cold water, ... he will not lose his reward” (Matthew 10:42). Look what He says: “cold water,” not hot, so that by wasting wood you do not lose your reward. And no matter how much gold the king forces you to pay, you, hanged, tormented by torture ropes, give exactly what he wants; even if you were poor, he does not pay attention to the wealth of persons, but to his own benefit. God does not act this way, but demands according to everyone’s strength. Why are they poor? Not because God could not send down a shower of gold, but so that poverty would become for you a relief from your sins. “Great is a man, and precious is a merciful man” 1 (Proverbs 20:6). Look how great the charity is. God compares the compassionate person to Himself. “Therefore, be merciful,” He says, “just as your heavenly Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). If death comes, the treasures remain here. Why don’t you send them there for yourself, so that on that day the poor may become intercessors for you where there is neither rhetorician nor defender? Here the poor show their clothes and bandages and carry you away from the fire. The sun, illuminating the ice, does not cause it to melt, just as alms, when confronted with many sins, destroys them. And so that you understand the height of alms, think: what is associated with greater labor than virginity? Nothing. There are many virtues: some are great, others are great, others are lesser, but nothing is more difficult than virginity: it fights with nature; this war has no truce; it is a battle that never has peace except by the grace of Christ. The Virgin stands, gathering fire against herself and not burning; the virgin, standing on the coals, does not burn; being in the cave, it does not burn, watered, like the three youths; competing with invisible forces, imitates Michael and competes with Gabriel. There was virginity in paradise and was destroyed by the serpent. Therefore, in the intermediate time it did not appear; and when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of the Virgin, came, then it appeared again. Do you want to know the height of virginity? Moses divided the sea, changed the air, sent down manna, and they slandered him because of his own Ethiopian wife, because he married her (Num. 12:1). And Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and also Joseph, although chaste, however, after that entered into marriage. Do you want to understand how great virginity is? Christ, having come, did not bind it with necessity; having exalted the other virtues, at the same time he did not exalt this one, so that you would be crowned if you succeeded in it voluntarily. Those who strive in abstinence and poverty care first of all about her. “For there are eunuchs who... were born this way; and there are eunuchs who are castrated from people; and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven,” not by cutting off their members, but by removing unbridled lust from themselves. “Whoever is able to contain it, let him contain it” (Matthew 19:12). And the apostle, having counted all the virtues, knowing the depth of this, says: “Concerning virginity, I have no commandment of the Lord” (1 Cor. 7:25). Have you seen how great virginity is? And, however, without alms it did not save; Alms saved us without virginity. The five holy fools, who had no oil, but only one virginity, did not enter the bridal chamber; they say to the wise: “Give us your oil” (Matthew 25:8). They are rightly called holy fools, because, having succeeded in something more difficult, they did not do what did not require labor - they overthrew a great enemy and were defeated by the weakest. And when the bridegroom came, the wise virgins entered the bridal chamber; they also came, knocking; and he says to them: “I do not know you” (Matthew 25:12). Why? Because they saw me hungry, “and... they did not give me anything to eat” (Matthew 25:42). But may we not hear such a voice! To those who have succeeded in almsgiving he says: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). Why? Because they kept their virginity? No way; but because “I was hungry, and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you accepted Me; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and in prison... and you visited Me” (Matthew 25:35–36). And so that you understand how great almsgiving is, I again want to remind you of this story. There were ten virgins: five wise and five holy fools: and there was a voice at midnight. Stand up, the groom is coming. Midnight is the resurrection when the angels awaken us all. Having risen, “the virgins... trimmed their lamps” (Matthew 25:7). And the lamp is virginity, which is something pure, fiery, bright. The holy fools say to the wise: “Give us your oil.” The wise tell them: we are afraid “lest there be a shortage for us and for you” (Matthew 25:8-9) (not out of envy they did not give, because there is already a need for gold there, there is neither rich nor poor there), but when you go, buy (Matthew 25:9). And who are the sellers? Poor; you receive more than you give: you give him earthly things, but you receive heavenly things. So, “when... they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut” (Matthew 25:10). When they arrived, they began to knock, and He said to them: “I don’t know you” (Matthew 25:12). You see, since they did not have alms, they lost the labor of virginity and remained outside the bridal chamber. So, having understood the benefits of almsgiving, let us, brethren, do it, so that we may enter the bridal chamber and enjoy eternal blessings, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father, with the Holy and Good and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. Transl. prof. P.A.Yungerova. This conversation, classified in Min's edition as Spuria, is included in volume 1 of this edition. Since it was not published in volume 1 of our publication, we place it at the end of volume 2. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith”