About alms

Divine Scripture says: “He who does good to the poor lends to the Lord” (Proverbs 19:17). Notice what kind of debtor the merciful ones acquire for themselves, how great, how rich. If you lend a person gold, silver, or bread, you take a receipt and thus bind the hand receiving the money with a written obligation. But in relation to God - this is not the case, but you give to the martyrs and the poor, and God is called upon and promises to return to you the debt that you lent to the poor; He hastens to fulfill his guarantee and not only returns what he has taken, but also multiplies the little with great blessing. What happens on the market? Buyers try to buy cheap, and traders ask for more, so both parties agree on an average price and the matter is settled to mutual satisfaction. But when you have acquired with such difficulty what you were looking for, you still do not fully have your acquisition: it often happens that a person does not even have time to return home with his purchase before he dies, or loses his purchase, or discovers some kind of flaw in it, and thus ends up with doubly damage. But in relation to the kingdom of God, nothing like that threatens you - neither the fatigue of the journey, nor the heat, nor fatigue, nor grief from loss, nor anything like that. You’re just sitting at home, and a beggar comes to you and offers to buy heaven, like this, for example: give bread and take heaven; give used clothes - and receive the kingdom of heaven. Moreover, he does not demand from you what you do not have, but only what you have. Not wanting to buy God's paradise, you say: “I have no bread.” Give me one obol, give me a cup of cold water, give me anything, give me what you have at hand - Christ accepts everything - just gain paradise. Imitate the Sarepta widow who gave a handful of flour and inherited the kingdom of heaven, as well as the other widow mentioned in the Gospel, who, having nothing but two single mites, threw them into a church mug and thereby bought herself heaven. God is not looking for piles of money, but a merciful soul and a compassionate heart. Give to the poor, make God your debtor: “He who does good to the poor lends to the Lord.” When, you ask, will this debtor pay? When you leave all your local acquisitions, houses, gold, silver, clothes, and everything else, and go there, leaving everything earthly, then it is He who gratefully returns His debt to you. Go ahead of yourself with your money, do not waste time, do not regret it, so as not to lose eternal life. Death is unknown, you don’t know when it will come, at what time you will have to part with this world. And yet, you go there, but your money remains here, and others, having divided your wealth among themselves, do not even remember your name, and often the heirs squander your wealth, sending curses to you. Send your money ahead of you into endless centuries, so that you don’t have to go into unquenchable fire, like the rich man because of Lazarus. “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry, and you gave Me food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink,” etc. (Matthew 25:34, 35). Notice what the Creator of the world says. He does not say, “I was a king, and you feared Me; I was a ruler, and you showed Me honor,” but: I was “naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me” (Matthew 25:36). Truly, there is nothing equal to alms: a beggar receives money, but God gives. Having become a debtor, in the person of the beggars and those gathering at church doors, God not only repays the debt, but makes the creditors themselves heirs, addressing them like this: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” And when, he says, is it prepared? When you distributed food and clothing to the poor, when you gave charity to churches and at the graves of martyrs, when you celebrated the memory of saints, when you received (the homeless) in your home, when you visited the sick and prisoners, when you did all this, I was preparing this kingdom for you, And now, when you have to leave this life, you will not have to think about who will show you hospitality there. The Lord of the House Himself will greet you with the greeting: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry, and you gave Me food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink." This is the greatness of almsgiving! No virtue can compare or surpass it. It is not said: you observed virginity, or: you fasted for My sake; nothing of the kind is said, but only: “for I was hungry, and you gave me food.” Great, of course, are fasting, virginity, and other virtues, but nothing can compare with almsgiving. Send your goods into that endless world, and you will find in that age what you are distributing here, just as the Lord says: “Make for yourself friends with unrighteous wealth, so that when you become poor, they will receive you into eternal abodes” (Luke 16:9). Oh, friendship of the Lord! Oh, the foolishness of people attached to wealth! He consoles, but the rich man grieves. Do you not comprehend, man, the providence of God? Couldn’t God have given the same amount of money to the poor as he gave you, and made you rich and him? Couldn't he have showered gold and enriched the poor? Why did God give you such an honor - to be rich? Think about what lies ahead; look at the naked bones in the coffin: what is the difference between the poor and the rich? Isn't everything ashes? Isn't everything dust? Where is the king, where is the boss, where is the nobleman, where is the poor man? Indeed, they are all equally dead, stinking bones, a heap of worms. Why do you exalt yourself over the poor? Why do you abhor the sick? Are you not equal before God? Isn't he also the likeness of God? Imagine that God will call this poor man brother and give him preference over you on that day. Of course, God cannot be unjust: He will not deprive the poor of eternal life and the kingdom of heaven if only he patiently endures poverty, and He will not allow you to enjoy heavenly life twice if you do not properly use the gifts given to you by God. “Because...,” He says, “you did it to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40). So, listen (to these words), and fill the bellies of the poor with what God has sent you here, so that you may find your supplies full. After all, if blessed is he who one day tastes bread in the kingdom of God, then how much more blessed is he who is found worthy to dwell in it in endless centuries! Do not tell me that the poor are helpless and cannot give me anything on that day: He is rich who guarantees for them. Do not demand from the poor, God will give you your gifts. “He who does good to the poor lends to the Lord,” and God will reward him according to his giving—he will reward him according to his disposition, because where there is good disposition, there is generous giving. Let us fear the day of the Lord, in which the Householder will send the wheat to the harvest, and will gather the wheat into the barn, and will burn the tares with unquenchable fire. The householder is the Lord, His reapers are the angels, the wheat is the righteous, and the tares are sinners. So, let us strive, with the help of alms, to become good wheat in order to enter into the eternal abodes, prepared by Him who ascended from us, with whom to the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, power, honor, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. Creations attributed to St. John Chrysostom and classified in the Minya edition as Spuria. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith”