About poverty, word 2

The sermon “On love of poverty, the 2nd word” was delivered by St. Gregory of Nyssa on March 2, 384. In it the saint speaks about the benefits of charity to the poor and needy. The treatise has a different name - a sermon on the words “Just as you did it to one of these, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40). *The title of the work in Greek is Εἰς τὸ ἐφ᾿ ὅσον νὶ τούτων ἐποιήσατε ἐμοὶ ἐποιήσατε. *The title of the essay in Latin is In illud: Quatenus uni ex his fecistis mihi fecistis; De pauperibus amandis 2. Again I stop before the spectacle of the terrible appearance of the King, which is outlined in the Gospel! The soul is shaken again, listening to terrible words! She seems to see in some way the King of heaven himself, sitting menacingly, as Scripture says (Matthew 25:31), “on the throne of glory,” and that majestic throne, if there can be a throne that gives place to the Inconceivable, sees those countless darkness of Angels standing around the King; He sees the greatest and most formidable King, from ineffable glory, inclining his gaze on human nature and on all generations of people who have ever existed, from the beginning to the time of this terrible phenomenon - the King, gathering them to Himself, and according to the dignity of the deeds of life, proclaiming judgment to everyone: to those who in life chose what is right, granting standing at the right hand, as it is said, and determining to the unjust and outcast a lot corresponding to the affairs of their lives; uttering these sweet and good words: “Come, blessings of My Father” (Matthew 25:34), and with this a terrible and terrible threat: “go ... curses” (cf. Matt. 25:41). The fear of what I read has taken such hold of my soul that my mind seems completely occupied with the subject itself, and not feeling anything real, I have no leisure to pay attention to anything else that needs to be researched and considered in the word: although it is not unimportant and deserves no small research to find out, for example, how the Eternal One “will come.” “Behold, I am with you,” he says, “all the days” (Matthew 28:20); if, as we believe, He “is” with us, then how is it announced that He “will come”, as if not present now? For if, as the Apostle says, in “He... we live and move and are” (Acts 17:28), then for Him who holds all things, there is no way to locally depart from those whom He contains within Himself, so that either now He will not be inherently possessed by Him, or wait for the last times to come. Again: “What is the throne of the Ethereal One? What is the appearance of the Invisible One? What is the image of the Indescribable? How can the Inconceivable One sitting on the throne be depicted? I will leave this and all the like, as unnecessary for the present time, and for the general benefit I will focus as much as I can on how we can avoid becoming one of the outcasts. For, brothers, the threat struck me greatly, and I do not deny the confusion of my soul. I would like you not to treat fear with contempt; for “blessed is ... he who fears everyone for his reverence” (Proverbs 28:14), and “whoever despises a thing, you will be despised by it” (Proverbs 13:13), says the word of Wisdom nowhere. So, before the time of trouble comes, let us take care not to experience sorrows. How can we free ourselves from these terrible troubles? To choose the path of life that the word of God has now shown us is a truly new and living path. Which way is this? “I was hungry,... I became thirsty,... I was strange,... and naked,... and sick,... and in prison;... before you have created the least of these, you have created them for Me” (Matthew 25:35 – 37, 40); That’s why he says: “Come, blessings of My Father” (cf. Matt. 25:34). What does this teach us? Because blessing is a consequence of keeping the commandments, and an oath is a consequence of negligence in keeping the commandments. Let us love blessings and flee curses; for we must freely choose or not choose this or that; whatever we strive for with diligence, we will receive. So let us bow down to the Lord of blessing, who entrusts to Himself our care for those in need, especially now, at the present time, when an extensive application is opening for this commandment. There are many who are in need of necessities; many are poor even in body, having been exhausted by an evil disease. So, by caring for them, let us try to obtain a good promise for ourselves. I say this clearly about those disfigured by a serious illness; the greater their illness, the greater the obvious blessing for those who have done the work prescribed by the commandment. So what should you do? Do not go against the order of the Spirit, and this consists in not alienating those who have a common nature with us, and not imitating them, condemned in the Gospel - I mean the priest and the Levite, who uncompassionately passed by the unfortunate person in need of help, whom, as the narrative says, the robbers left half dead (Luke 10, 30 - 37). If they are guilty because they did not pay attention to the wounds covering their naked body, then how can we, who imitate the guilty, remain innocent? You see a man, as a result of an evil illness, who has acquired the appearance of a four-legged man, instead of hoofs and claws, he has tied pieces of wood to his palms, imprinting an extraordinary mark on human paths. Who would recognize from this trail that a person marked his path with these imprints? A man, straight in appearance, looking at the sky, having received hands from nature so that they serve his affairs - this man bends to the ground, becomes four-legged, and only a little is missing for him to become dumb. Because of his heavy and intermittent breathing, a moo is involuntarily heard from his chest, and he, I dare say, becomes more miserable than the most speechless. For these, for the most part, retain the appearance received from birth to the end, and not one of them, from any similar misfortune, takes on a different appearance. And here it is as if nature itself has changed, some other living creature appears, and not the one we are used to seeing; his hands replace the use of his legs, his knees become feet; and the natural feet and ankles either fall away completely, or, like boats attached to the outside of a ship, they drag along aimlessly and haphazardly. So, seeing a person in such circumstances, will you really be ashamed of your relationship with him, will you not express compassion for your neighbor, but will you be disgusted by misfortune, and will you hate the one asking for help, running away when he approaches, as if from the attack of some beast? However, you should reasonably consider that an angel touches you, a man, and, being incorporeal and immaterial, does not disdain you, clothed in flesh and blood? But what am I saying, angel! The Lord of the angels Himself, the King of heavenly bliss, became a man for your sake and took upon Himself this fetid and dirty flesh, together with the soul clothed with it, in order to heal your ailments with His touch. But you, being of the same nature as the sick person, run away from your neighbor! No, brother, do not be carried away by evil will. Know who you are and who you pronounce judgment on. Above people, you are a person who has nothing special in you beyond the common nature of all. Don't warn the future. By condemning suffering that still appears in someone else’s body, you thereby pronounce an unlimited sentence on all human nature. But you, like everyone else, are involved in this nature; and so the matter concerns a subject common to all. Why is it that none of those whom you see arouse regret in you? You see wandering people: “like animals, they scattered to find food.” The rags they own are their clothing; the stick in the hands is a weapon, it is also a support, and it is not held with the fingers, but is tied to the palms with some kind of straps. A holey knapsack and a piece of bread spoiled by mold and rot; this knapsack constitutes for them a hearth, a home, a bedding, a bed, a pantry, a table and everything that is required for life. And don't you think who is in this position? Man, created in the image of God, who is destined to dominate the earth and have animals under his authority to serve himself. But he has reached such misfortune and has changed so much that his appearance arouses bewilderment; he does not bear clear signs of either a real person or any other animal. Can you compare him to a man? – but the human image is denied (such) ugliness. Will you turn to animals for comparison? – but they also do not allow similarity with what we see. Some beggars only turn to themselves, gather in a heap with each other due to the sameness of suffering; being an object of disgust for others, they, of necessity, do not disdain each other. Driven out from everywhere, they flock to each other and form a special people. Do you see the joyless singers, this sad and lamentable choir? How do they make a spectacle out of their ugly body, as if some kind of indicators of rarities, show many different diseases to those gathered around them? Poets of sad songs, singers of these bitter chants, composers of a new and pitiful tragedy, using not other people's tragic stories to depict suffering, but filling the theatrical performance with their own troubles! What images! What stories! What stories do we hear from them? We hear how they were rejected by their parents, without any guilt; how they are driven away from public meetings, holidays and celebrations, like murderers or parricides condemned to eternal exile; they are even much more unhappy than the latter; because murderers, after moving to another place, are allowed to live there with people, and they alone are persecuted by everyone everywhere, as if they were public enemies; they are not considered worthy of either shelter or a common meal; they are not allowed to use the same vessels. And this is not quite hard: even the springs common to all people do not flow for them; even rivers are considered to attract defilement from their disease. If a dog laps up water with its bloodthirsty tongue, the water is not considered disgusting from (the touch of this) animal: “if a sick person approaches the water, then the water is immediately declared unfit by that person.” This is what they say, this is what they cry about! That is why, out of necessity, these pitiful people throw themselves at the feet of people, begging everyone they meet. I often cried at this sad sight, often complained about nature itself, and now, when I remember this, I am troubled in spirit. I saw pitiful suffering, I saw a spectacle full of tears! On the passing paths lie people, or better yet, not people, but the pitiful remains of people who need some signs and identification so that one can believe that they were once people. They do not have those natural signs by which we recognize people; They alone of all hate themselves; some curse the day of their birth and rightly hate this day, which marked the beginning of such a life for them. These are people who are ashamed to call themselves this common name, so that by using a common name they do not offend the common nature. Always in poverty in their lives, they have a constant reason to cry. No matter how you look at yourself, you always have the urge to cry; they are perplexed about which parts of the body to mourn, those that no longer exist, or those that remain; whether those who were previously destroyed by the disease, or those who remain for the disease; whether to cry about the fact that they see all this on themselves, or about the fact that they cannot even see, having lost their sight from suffering; whether it’s about the fact that they should tell this about themselves, or about the fact that they don’t even have the strength to tell it, having lost their voice from illness; whether they eat such food, or that they cannot even use it comfortably, because the disease, having damaged the parts surrounding the mouth, prevents them from eating; whether it’s about the misfortune of having the misfortune of feeling within themselves through their feelings what is characteristic of the dead, or about the fact that they’ve lost their very feelings. For where is their sight? Where is the sense of smell? Where is the sense of touch? Where are the other sense organs, which with the gradual spread of the disease are consumed by decay? That is why they wander around all places like dumb people, moving to where food is more abundant, carrying misfortune with them, like travel money to buy food, and extending their illness to everyone instead of asking. Due to illness they need others to guide them, and due to poverty they rely on each other; for being sick, each on his own serves as a support for the other, and everyone mutually uses each other’s members to replace those that are missing. They are not alone; but misfortune also has some wisdom, in its concern for life, in the fact that they want to be seen with each other. For, each being pitiful in himself, they, in order to further arouse the compassion of people, add together mutual sufferings, each contributing his sad share to the common stock, each attracting mercy with a special kind of misfortune: one stretches out his crippled hands, another shows a swollen belly, another a disfigured face, another a rotten thigh; in which part of the body the disease occurs, it exposes and shows. What then? Is it really enough, in order not to sin in any way against the law of nature, to mourn these sufferings of (our) nature, to help the disease with words, and to come to compassion when remembering it? Or do we need some kind of deed that would prove our sympathy and mutual love? For what picturesque images are in relation to real objects are words with which deeds are not connected. The Lord does not place salvation in words, but in doing the works of salvation (Luke 6:46–49). So we ourselves must begin to fulfill the commandment regarding them. And let no one say that it is enough to deliver food to the poor by removing them somewhere far from our residence, to some extreme limit thereof; for such a way of thinking does not prove at all mercy and sympathy, but is only a plausible reason to completely exclude these people from (the circle of) our lives. We allow pigs and dogs to live under the same roof as us; the hunter often does not refuse the puppy in his bed; the farmer even knows how to caress a calf with kisses; but that's not all; The traveler washes the donkey's feet with his own hands, applies his hand, cleans the dung and takes care of its bed. Do we really recognize that our neighbor is more dishonest than the most dumb? No, this will not happen, brothers. May such a sentence not fall on people. We must remember who we are and who we are pronouncing judgment on. Above people, we are people who do not have any special advantage over them regarding our common nature. “One... entrance for all... into the dwelling” (Wis. 7, 6); one way of life, food and drink for everyone; life activity is monotonous; one body structure, and one end of life. Everything complex comes to destruction; nothing composed of parts is stable in its composition. Our body, like a bubble, envelops our spirit for a short time; then we disappear, leaving no trace in life of the spirit’s short stay in our body. The memory remains on columns, stones and inscriptions; but they are not sufficient forever. Having thought this about yourself: “Do not be arrogant,” as Paul says, “but be afraid” (Rom. 11:20). It is unknown whether you are bringing the severity of the law upon yourself. You run away from the sick; What, tell me, is his fault? Is it because the moisture in it is spoiled, and some putrid juice from mixing bile with moisture has penetrated into the blood? This happens if you listen to doctors studying the properties of diseases. But why is a person criminal if (our) nature, being changeable and fickle, has reached this type of illness? Don't you see that even in healthy people, some people, enjoying good health in everything else, often suffer from a rash or an abscess, or a similar disease, because in the moisture in a certain part of the body a heat has arisen that is greater than proper, and from this painful inflammation, redness and some putrefactive decomposition occur? What then? Are we hostile to that part of the body? On the contrary, we turn everything that is healthy in the body to help the diseased part. And so the disease is not vile, for (otherwise) in ourselves, when the disease struck one part, the healthy parts would be shunned to serve the sick one. But what is the reason for keeping us away from such patients? Which one exactly? The one that we are not afraid of the threat of the One who said: “Depart from Me... into eternal fire;... for you have not done this alone, neither have you created for Me” (Matthew 25:41, 45). If they knew that all this was so, then they would not think about the sick in such a way that they can be pushed away from us and consider caring for the suffering to be a desecration of our lives. And so if we consider it true He who proclaimed, then we must set about fulfilling the commandments, without which it is impossible to receive what is hoped for. In this (unfortunate) you see before you a stranger, and naked, and in need of food, and a sick person, and a prisoner, and everything that is spoken of in the Gospel. He walks homeless, and naked, and in need of necessities, due to the poverty caused by illness. He who has nothing of his own from home and is not able to become a hired servant is, of necessity, completely. He is deprived of everything necessary for life. He is also a prisoner, because he is bound by illness. And so you have the opportunity to fulfill the fullness of the commandments over the poor, and through the love shown to them, make the Lord of all himself your debtor (Proverbs 19:17). Why do we rebel against our own lives? For not wanting to have God of all kinds as your cohabitant means nothing more than being some kind of villain for yourself. Just as through observance of the commandment a person is at home with God, so through hardness of heart he moves away from Him. “Take,” he says, “my yoke on you” (Matthew 11:29); he calls the fulfillment of the commandments a yoke. Let us listen to the Commander, let us stand under Christ’s jugular, putting on ourselves the yoke of love. Let us not throw off such a yoke: it is “good”; it is “easy” (Matthew 11:30); it is not a third of the bowed neck, but strokes it. Let us sow “for blessing,” as the apostle says, so that we may also reap “for blessing” (2 Cor. 9:6). A multi-fruited ear will grow from such sowing. The sowing of the commandments of the Lord is abundant; high is the growth of blessing. Do you want to know to what height the growth of these plants extends? It touches the very heights of heaven. For whatever you do for them, you will find fruit in the treasuries of heaven. Do not be distrustful of what is said; do not think that you can conveniently neglect their friendship. The hand is mutilated, but it is strong to give you help: the leg is unusable, but you do not prevent them from flowing to God; the eye is lost, but with their soul they see invisible blessings. So do not despise the ugliness of the body. Wait a little and you will see something that is more incredible than any miracle. For what is characteristic of fluid nature will not remain so forever: but when the soul is freed from intertwining with the corruptible and earthly, then it will shine with its own beauty. The proof of this is that after this life this luxurious rich man did not disdain the hand of a beggar, but asking that the finger of the poor man, once affected by rotting, serve him with a drop of water, he wanted to lick the moisture remaining on the beggar’s finger with his very tongue (Luke 16:19-25), but he certainly would not have wanted this if he had seen something disgusting in the features of the soul, like once in the body. How many, in all likelihood, vain regrets about the past did the rich man have in this changed life! How fortunate he considered the misfortune of a beggar in this life! How he condemned his lot, as if it were destined for the rich to destroy his soul! And if it were possible to come back to life, what kind of people would he want to be among again? Are you among those who are prosperous in this life, or among those who are unhappy? One cannot help but see that he would prefer the lot of the unfortunate; for he asks that one of the dead be sent as a messenger to the brothers, so that they, too, infected with the arrogance of wealth, sliding along the smooth path of pleasure in carnal pleasures, will not be carried away into the hellish abyss. So why don’t we manage to tell such stories? Why don’t we practice this wonderful coupon, which the Apostle advises us: “your abundance,” he says, “is their deprivation” (2 Cor. 8:14), so that the excess of their relief in the life that follows this one would be sufficient for you to be saved. So, if we want to get something useful there, then we will first deliver (what they need here); if we wish to be weakened after this life, let us put them to rest now; if we want them to accept us into “eternal shelters” (Luke 16:9), let us accept them into ours. If we want them to heal the wounds of our sins, then we ourselves must do the same in relation to bodies depressed by illness: “blessed are the mercy that they will receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7). But, perhaps, someone will say: “the commandment is good for the future, but in the present we must beware of the transmission and communication of illness, and therefore, in order not to suffer anything that we do not want, we should, as they think, try to avoid approaching the sick.” These are just tins, pretexts, inventions, some plausible cover for negligence about the commandments of God. But that's not really the case; There is no fear in fulfilling the commandment. Let no one heal evil with evil. How many people can you see who, from youth to old age, have devoted themselves to serving the poor; and this care did not in any way damage the natural well-being of their body! Yes, and it’s incredible for that to happen. Although some diseases, such as alluvial infections and the like, depending on external causes, arising from the depravity of air or water, seem to many to be dangerous and spread from the previously infected to those who approach them, I do not think that even there the disease produces the same disease in the healthy, through transmission; the reason why the disease spreads from those previously infected to others is due to a general epidemic that produces similar diseases. Here, since the formation of such a disease depends on internal causes, and a person is exposed to blood damage from the outpouring of harmful juices into it; then the disease is limited to the sick person. And that this is so can be learned from the following. Does bringing people in good health closer to the sick impart better health to the latter, even if they are very diligent in caring for them? No, that doesn't happen. Therefore, it is also possible to conclude conversely that the disease does not spread from the sick to the healthy. So, if fulfilling the commandments brings such benefit that through it the kingdom of heaven is prepared for us, and no harm occurs to the body of those who care for the sick; then what other obstacle is there to fulfilling the commandment of love? But it is difficult, you say, to overcome the natural disgust that is aroused in many at such a spectacle? Fine; I agree with your words that it is difficult. But what else, of what is done out of virtue, can you point out as not difficult? The law prescribed a lot of sweat and labor to achieve the hope in heaven, and showed people not an easy path to eternal life, constraining it from everywhere with difficult and harsh feats of life; narrow and cramped “put the way into the belly” says the scripture (Matthew 7:14). What then? Should we neglect this hope of blessings, because they cannot be easily acquired? Let's ask our youth whether chastity seems difficult for them, and whether it is not much more desirable, instead of an abstinent lifestyle, to shamelessly indulge in sensual desires? Is it really therefore that we will stick to what is pleasant and easy, and hesitate to choose the severity of virtue? Isn’t this what the Lawgiver of Life suggests, who forbade the broad, sloping and spacious path in life? for “look in,” he says, “by the narrow and straitened way” (Matthew 7:13, 14). So here, too, as one of the things done through labor, we must consider introducing into the habit the fulfillment of the commandment, which our nature is alien to, and the natural aversion of the healthy to heal by constant exercise in work. For habit is strong, and through constant practice you gain some pleasure in doing what seems unpleasant. So let there be no question about whether the work that must be done is difficult, but about whether it is useful for those who do it. And if the benefit from it is great, then for the sake of benefit one should not pay attention to the difficulty; What is difficult at the beginning will become pleasant over time through the force of habit. We should also add to what we have said that, even in this life itself, sympathy for the unfortunate is useful for the healthy. For, for all prudent people, mercy is a wonderful pledge which we entrust to others in their misfortunes. Since one nature governs all humanity, and no one has any lasting guarantee of the constancy of their well-being, we must constantly remember the Gospel admonition, which advises: “If we will, let men do for us,” then do for them (Matthew 7:12). And so while you are swimming safely, extend your hand to the shipwrecked; one sea for everyone, the same storms, the same restless waves: underwater rocks, cliffs, rocks and other dangers of everyday navigation frighten swimmers equally. While you are not suffering, while you are safely crossing the sea of ​​life, do not mercilessly pass by the castaway. Who is your guarantee for a safe voyage? You have not yet reached the haven of peace. Your life has not yet reached the shore; you are still floating on the sea of ​​life. How you show yourself to someone who has suffered misfortune is how you prepare yourself and your voyage companions. May we all rush to the haven of rest, safely guided on the worldly voyage set before us by the Holy Spirit! Let the doing of the commandments and the helm of love be inherent in us! Faithfully guided by them, we will reach the promised land, where the great city is located, whose artist and builder is our God, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. You might be interested in: