A conversation about Elijah and the widow, and also about alms

In the “Conversation about Elijah and the widow, and also about alms” (10 chapters) St. John Chrysostom interprets the story about the prophet Elijah and the widow from Zarephath of Sidon, who showed him mercy (1 Kings 17). St. John exhorts to give alms, revealing the merits of this virtue. Finding herself in a difficult situation, exhausted by hunger, the widow offers hospitality to the prophet Elijah, without even uttering a reproachful word to him. She received him with all friendliness, exhausting all her poor fortune in honor of him, despite the fact that she was a pagan: “She was a Sidonian, a foreigner, a widow woman, cared for many children, saw the danger of famine and threatening death, had to accept a stranger who brought famine, and yet did not spare a handful of flour; and we, having received prophecies, using divine teaching, ... and owning much more property than this wife, what excuse can we imagine when we regret our property and do not care about our own salvation? *The title of the work in Greek is Εἰς τὸν ᾿Ηλίαν. *The title of the essay in Latin is In Heliam et viduam. An exhortation to give alms. - The merits of this virtue, miraculously accomplished by two widows, one in the old, and the other in the new testament. – Famine devastates the land at the command of the prophet Elijah, who finds refuge with the widow of Zarepet. – A picture of this widow’s home. – God, before striking the guilty, always takes care to openly expose them to untruth. – An example is the punishment of the Sodomites. – The prophets and Jesus Christ himself were often rejected by the Jews and accepted by the pagans. “The prophet Elijah himself was subjected to the famine that others were subjected to, so that he himself would remember that he was also a man. - Elijah comes to the widow. - The wisdom of the latter. – The widow offers hospitality to the prophet Elijah, despite all the obstacles she encounters to accomplishing this good deed. – A summary of everything said and a conclusion. 1. On those days when we were all fasting, I often began to talk about alms, but was interrupted by the coming evening, which stopped the flow of our conversation. However, this, perhaps, happened by order of God, who arranged something useful and postponed instruction on this subject until the present day, so that the table of mercy could be offered today, when you are not scattered in the church, not because we had anything great and extraordinary to say, but because the power of alms is great and excellent. Truly, this virtue has great boldness before God; like some queen of our life, she usually traverses the vaults of heaven with great courage; and those powers to whom the gates of heaven are entrusted, seeing the ascending alms, with great honor open those gates for the sake of it and other virtues; and if they see them walking without alms, they close the gates against them. This is clear from the parable of those virgins who were not allowed into the sacred chamber because they did not have constant oil in their lamps (Matthew 25:1-13). And notice the difference: mercy without virginity elevated those who had it to heaven, but virginity without mercy was not able to do this. If such is the power of this virtue, then with all diligence we will listen to the conversation about it. But the best and shortest exhortation for the fulfillment of this virtue would be if we took you to the widow who lived in Zarepet of Sidon, because those who teach with deeds are teachers more reliable than those who advise with words, therefore the widow will be our best teacher in this matter. We exhort with words, but she can teach you with deeds, moreover, having as her colleague another (widow), identical with her in morals, because there are two such widows, one in the new covenant, who contributed two mites (Mark 12:42-44; Luke 21:2-4), and the other in the old, worthy to receive the prophet (1 Kings 17:10). Both of them had the same virtue of wisdom and showed the same friendliness, showing us by the similarity of their good deeds the similarity of the covenants themselves. Just as high towers placed along the piers, which are usually called lighthouses, having an unquenchable fire throughout the night, guide those wandering on the sea to a safe pier with the brilliance of light, so they, embracing friendliness as if some kind of pier, with the light of their generosity guide those in the deepest night, because our life is not at all better than the night, as Paul says: “the night is past, but the day is near” ( Rom.13:12). Thus, they call upon those wandering in the deepest night on the sea of ​​love of money and ready to drown to their safety, having the constantly burning fire of love for mankind and preserving the unquenchable light of alms. 2. But about that at another time, but today we will tell you about the widow who lived in the Old Testament. Moreover, when praises are given to this one, the crowns of praises of that one are intertwined, because those who have the same good deeds have the same praises. During the time of this widow there was a severe famine; It was not the exhausted earth that refused to bear fruit, but the sins of people turned away this gift of God. So, the famine was severe and crueler than any famine; and Elijah brought this hunger, calling him, as if some terrible servant, to admonish slaves like him who insulted the Master; or - better - the sins of the Jews called him, and the lips of the prophet brought him: “As the Lord God of Israel lives,” he said, “...in these years there will be neither dew nor rain, except at my word” (1 Kings 17:1). So there was an unbearable disaster. The terrible voice of the prophet not only made the bowels of the earth barren, but also drained the streams of the rivers themselves, and all the streams then dried up. Just as a strong and inflammatory fever, affecting the nature of the body, not only dries up its surface, but, penetrating into the depths, burns the very bones, so the drought that was then not only scorched the surface of the earth, but, penetrating into its very depths, extracted all the moisture from it. What does God say to the prophet? “Get up,” He says, “and go to Zarephath of Sidon...”: I command, “I commanded a widow woman there to feed you” (1 Kings 17:9). What is this? He has not found any friendliness in his own country, and You are sending him to a foreign country and, moreover, to a widowed wife? Even if she were sufficient, if she were the richest, if she were the wife of the king himself, if she had treasuries filled with many works, then even then the fear of hunger would not make her will more barren than the earth itself? So that the prophet did not say this and did not think, for this reason God fed him in advance through the ravens, as if instilling in him with these events: if I arranged for the unreasonable nature to show you hospitality, then a much more reasonable nature will agree to do this. 3. That is why the widow is after the ravens. And it was necessary to see how the prophet became dependent on his wife, how this heaven-reaching and divine soul, the valiant and exalted Elijah, in the form of a wanderer and supplicant, came to the widow’s door, and with those lips that closed heaven, uttered the words of those asking; give me bread, give me water (1 Kings 17:10–11). This is so that you know that there is nothing so favorable as the house of a widowed wife, like a hut full of poverty and alien to wealth and the evils that come from wealth. Such a place is free from noise, full of all wisdom and calmer than any pier. The souls of saints especially seek such dwellings. So, the prophet went to the widow, who would be a denunciation of the Jewish disposition to receive strangers, he went to the widow, teaching everyone that the Jews were rightly punished. God, intending to punish someone, does not simply send punishment and is not content with determining His judgment, but also before people justifies Himself by deeds, like one who is judged at a public court with the judgments of the multitude present. And just as judges, when they intend to sentence someone to death, sit on an elevated place, order the veils to be lifted, gather the whole city around them, and then, as if at a public spectacle, begin to judge the guilty person, asking him questions before the eyes and ears of everyone, ordering the record of his crimes to be read, and forcing the accused himself to condemn his crimes, and then pronounce the sentence - so God, sitting, as if on an elevated place - the sayings of Scripture, and placing He makes a study of sins around Himself, before the eyes and aloud of all, not by ordering notes to be read, nor by placing writings in the middle, but by presenting to us the very sins of the guilty. 4. Thus, when He intended to send down terrible lightning on the Sodomites and with this terrible flame to destroy the cities and peoples in that country, when He sent this extraordinary and extraordinary rain to the earth, more terrible than anything that had happened before, which the sun had seen for the first and only time, then before He carried out this punishment, He showed us the wickedness of those who were to be punished, not by reading the records, as I said, but by presenting their sins themselves. That is why He sent the angels, not only to bring Lot out, but to show you the vices of the Sodomites, which actually happened. When Lot received them, they all besieged the house of the one who had received the guests, surrounding him on all sides; and this siege was led by unclean passion and the desire for lawless copulation, which went beyond the limits of age and nature. Not only the young men stood around, but also the elders; and gray hair did not restrain fury, and old age did not extinguish rage, but one could see a shipwreck in the pier, a lawless desire in old age. Even this did not limit their iniquity, but when Lot promised to give them his daughters, they did not stop insisting in this case either, saying that they would not retreat until they received those husbands, and threatened to cause a lot of harm to the one who promised to give his daughters out of respect for strangers (Gen. 19: 1-11). Do you see how God showed the wickedness of the Sodomites in every way, and then sent punishment? So that later, seeing how they are punished, you would not be embarrassed by the greatness of their misfortune and would not begin to blame God with them, but together with God would condemn them - for this purpose, He, having previously shown their wickedness, prevented any regret for them and removed us from compassion for them. He did the same now with the prophet. So that you, seeing the Jews exhausted by hunger, do not grieve, He shows you their inhumanity, cruelty and lack of hospitality, because they not only did not accept the prophet, but even threatened to kill him, as can be seen from the words of God. He did not just say: get away, but also: “hide” (1 Kings 17:3). For you, He says, flight alone is not enough for salvation, but you also need to hide with great care, because the Jewish people are a people thirsty for the blood of the prophets and accustomed to the murder of saints; The Jews always stained their right hand with the blood of the prophets. And that’s why, when God sent him out of Judea, he said: “get out of here and... hide”; and when he sent to the widow, he said: “I commanded ... the widow woman” (1 Kings 17:9). You see how at the time when the prophet needed to flee from there, He commands him to do this with great caution; and when it was necessary to resort here, he commands us to go with great boldness and courage? 5. And not only this, but also something else, God expressed by the removal of the prophet to the widow. So that later on some people, seeing how Christ, after the many and unspeakable benefits He showed in Judea, after the resurrection of many dead, after the return of sight to the blind, after the cleansing of lepers, after the expulsion of demons, after a wondrous and saving teaching, was expelled by the blessed, and was revered by the pagans, who had not seen or heard anything like this, would not begin to be surprised, perplexed and consider this an incredible thing, - for Moreover, God, many years before, by the example of his servants, shows us the ingratitude of the Jews and the friendliness of the pagans. Thus, those to whom he carried food even attempted to kill Joseph, and the foreigner elevated him to the greatest honor. So Moses was driven away by the Jews who had favored him, but the foreigner Jethro received him and showed him great friendliness. So Saul drove David away, after cutting off the head of Goliath, after countless dangers that threatened the king and the city, from which David saved them, and the foreign king Achish accepted him and showed him great honor. So now the Jews drove Elijah away, but the widow accepted him. So, when you see that Christ is being persecuted by the Jews and accepted by the pagans, then, remembering the ancient prototypes, do not be surprised at the truth of this event. So now you have heard the words of Christ, who expresses the same thing. Addressing the indignant Jews, He said: “there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah... and Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to a widow in Zarephath of Sidon” (Luke 4:25–26). But perhaps someone is wondering why God allowed such a zealot for the glory of God to endure sorrows and disasters, now sending him to a stream, now to a widow, now to another place, forcing him to move from place to place, as if some kind of exile? That he really suffered sorrows and calamities, listen to Paul about this, who says: “they wandered about in mantles and goatskins, suffering shortcomings, sorrows, and bitterness” (Heb. 11:37). Why did God allow him to endure sorrows? If he had subjected the Jews to such punishment for sins against himself, then another could rightly say that in disasters he experienced sorrow in order to become more meek and soften his cruelty. If he brought such misfortune upon them not out of revenge on the Jews for deeds against himself, but because of their wickedness and insult to the Lord, then why does he himself participate in their misfortunes, and not enjoy complete peace and freedom? Because if he himself enjoyed peace and a rich meal, while others were in poverty and exhausted by hunger, then perhaps someone would really think that this was a matter of cruelty, since it would not seem at all surprising that a person who enjoys contentment is consoled by the misfortunes of others. That is why God allowed him to participate in the misfortune, to experience the disasters that happened and to share the hunger, so that you would know that it was not hunger (he needed), but Divine jealousy that acted in him, because he would not have decided, in such a difficult situation, deprivation, sorrows and disasters, not to cancel the threat if he had pronounced that blessed sentence not out of great jealousy. Therefore, it was more pleasant for him to endure disasters himself and see the Jews corrected than to cancel the threatening need and see them return to their former wickedness. 6. Such are the souls of saints everywhere: to correct others they sacrifice their own safety. So, lest anyone say that Elijah prolonged the famine due to his cruelty, God allowed him to participate in the famine, so that you would recognize the wisdom of the prophet. In addition, since miracles, by their nature, usually puff up miracle workers, and those who look at miracles are disposed to place them above human nature, God eliminated both, adding the weakness of nature. And that this is so can be easily verified from the words of Paul. Namely, that miracles puff up, listen to how he says: “And so that I would not become exalted by the extraordinaryness of revelations, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me, so that I would not become exalted” (2 Cor. 12:7). And that miracles cause those who see and hear to think of miracle workers above what is proper, and this can be seen from there. Having spoken about his revelations, the apostle says: “If I want to boast, I will not be foolish, because I will tell the truth.” Why don't you boast? “I refrain, lest anyone think more highly of me than he sees in me or hears from me” (2 Cor. 12:6). To prevent something similar from happening to the prophet (since although he was Elijah, he was a man), God combined the weakness of nature with the miracle. That is why the one who ruled the heavens could not overcome hunger; he who stopped the fertility of the earth could not stop the needs of the stomach, but had a need for a widow wife, so that you could see both divine grace and human weakness. And not only this benefit was brought by such an event, but also another, no less than this. Which one exactly? So that when someone begins to call you to prophetic zeal for God, you do not lose heart and despair, thinking that Elijah was a man of a different nature, and that is why he had such boldness before God. Someone expressed this by saying: “Elijah was a man like us” (James 5:17), as if to say: do not think that it is not possible to achieve the same height of wisdom that he reached, because he also had the same nature, but the wondrous and divine mood of his will revealed him much higher than other people. 7. But it’s time to return to the widow. “And he arose,” says the Scripture, “and went to Zarephath,” and found a widow wife gathering wood (1 Kings 17:10). A beginning worthy of her inner poverty! What then? Did the prophet return after seeing this beginning of hospitality? No; he obeyed the divine decree, “he called her and said: give me some water in a vessel to drink. And she went to take it" (1 Kings 17:10-11). Truly a valiant and wise woman, and therefore, boldly speaking, worthy of the greatness of the soul of the prophet; however, this was not said boldly, because if she had not been worthy, she would not have been worthy to receive this saint. As Christ told his disciples: “Whatever city or village you enter, visit who is worthy in it, and stay there” (Matthew 10:11), so here God, knowing that this wife is most worthy of receiving the prophet, sends him there, leaving all others. And from the deeds themselves we will see her nobility. “Give me some water,” said the prophet, “to drink in a vessel.” Great is the kindness of the wife. The very fact that she answered that she entered into a conversation, that she did not delay him and did not convene the entire city to punish this divine head, is not it worthy of amazement and surprise? And that extreme hunger could bring a wife into such anger can be seen from the Jewish example. Elisha, the disciple of Elijah, this great Elijah (since in this disciple one could see a great teacher), subsequently foreshadowed the famine; He did not bring it himself, like Elijah, but only predicted that there would be a famine. What did the king who reigned at that time do? He put on sackcloth, says Scripture, because adversity humbled him; however, having humbled himself in this way, but having heard how one wife mourned the disasters that occurred from hunger, he then became so angry that he immediately exclaimed: “May God do this and that to me, and even more, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today” (2 Kings 6:31). Do you see the king's anger? Know the wisdom of this wife; She, having met someone who not only predicted, but brought famine, and, being near the city, did not become indignant, did not become irritated, did not call on others to punish him, but also obeyed him with great meekness. 8. You know that when we are busy with some necessary work, we often do not look at our loved ones with pleasure, and we are not happy with them; and if such sorrow oppresses us, then the light itself seems unpleasant to us. And this can again be seen from the example of the Jews. So, when Moses came to the Jews, announcing to them countless benefits, deliverance from oppression, freedom and return to the ancient fatherland, then those who saw him, the Scripture says, “they did not listen to Moses because of cowardice and the severity of their work” (Ex. 6:9). When they saw the one who brought such good news, they turned away from him; but this one, seeing the prophet who came not to stop the hunger, but to still be a burden to her, did not feel anything like that. They were so rude due to the severity of the work; and this one, being oppressed not by labor, but by severe hunger (and there is a great difference between labor and hunger), not only did not turn away from the husband who approached her, but exhausted all her poor fortune in order to accept the one who brought hunger upon them. “And she went to take it; and he shouted after her and said, “Take a piece of bread for me in your hands” (1 Kings 17:11). What about the wife? And yet she shows no displeasure, but what does she say? “As the Lord your God lives! I have nothing baked, but only a handful of flour” (1 Kings 17:12). Why is she swearing? The prophet asked for bread, but she had no bread. She was afraid that while she was baking, frying, cooking and therefore procrastinating, the prophet, having lost patience, would leave, and in such a way that the spoils of hospitality would not escape. Therefore, she preceded him with an oath, saying: I do not have flour, but baked bread, and I do have flour. And not only with an oath does she certify him of this, but also with the most obvious deeds. “And behold, I will gather two logs of wood, and go and prepare it for myself and for my son; Let us eat this and die” (1 Kings 17:12). Let those who build magnificent houses, buy precious estates, and lead herds of slaves through the marketplace listen to this; or - better - let everyone listen, both rich and poor, because after such a widow there is no excuse for anyone. She had so many obstacles, and yet she overcame and surpassed everything. Listen: she was a foreigner; this is one obstacle; there was a Sidonian woman - another obstacle, because it is not the same thing to be simply a foreigner, or to belong to Sidon, the most wicked city; This city was cited as an example of extreme wickedness by Christ in the Gospel. So, she was a foreigner, and a Sidonian, and a woman - of the weaker sex and in every way in need of help. Moreover, there was a widow - the fourth obstacle; fifth, and greatest of all, is taking care of the children’s food. Let widows and those who support children listen to this: this did not serve as an excuse not to give alms and not to receive strangers; There was only one handful of flour left, and after it death was expected. Even if you spent all your money, even if you deprived yourself of all your property, you can come to the doors of others and receive consolation; and then it was impossible to ask: hunger closed all refuges. But none of this was an obstacle. I will also point out the seventh obstacle - the one who had to be accepted by his wife. He was neither close nor familiar to her, but a foreigner and a stranger, and by his very worship of God he was separated from her; and not only a foreigner and a stranger, but also the very one who brought the famine. 9. But nothing like that stopped this wife; she gave food to the lips that had consumed all her food, and she fed the culprit of the famine with the remnants of hunger. Through you, she says, all my fortune remained in this handful; but I will not spare even this handful for you, but I will put myself and my children to death, so that you, the cause of the disaster, do not experience the slightest presence of disaster. Who can imagine another, higher example of hospitality? Can't find any. She saw the wanderer, and immediately forgot about nature, stopped thinking about the diseases of birth, and, seeing the host of children, was not embarrassed. I know, and have often heard many say, that one man, seeing a poor man, took off the clothes with which he was dressed alone, and clothed the naked man with them, and he himself borrowed clothes from another and went; and this act seems great and amazing. Truly, he is great; but the act of this widow is much higher than him. He, having exposed himself and dressed the naked, could take clothes from another; and this one, having given a handful of flour, could not receive another handful; and it was not the danger of nakedness that threatened her, but after that the death of herself and her children was expected. So, if neither poverty, nor concern for feeding children, nor severe hunger, nor such poverty, nor expected death prevented her, then what kind of justification will we, the rich, have, what kind will we have, the poor? “And behold, I will gather two logs of wood, and go and prepare it for myself and for my son; We’ll eat this and die.” Let everyone inscribe these pitiful, or better yet, these blessed and heaven-worthy words on the walls of their homes, in the bedroom in which we sleep, in the room in which we dine. And at home, and in the marketplace, and in meetings of friends, and when going to the judgment seat, and when entering and leaving, let everyone repeat these words; and I am very sure that even if someone was made of stone, iron, or adamantium, he would not allow the beggar who came to leave empty-handed if he inscribed these words, if he had this widow before his eyes. But perhaps someone will say: bring the prophet to me, and I will accept him with the same favor. Promise this and I will bring you a prophet. What am I saying: a prophet? I will bring to you the Lord Prophet himself, the common one, our God and the Lord Christ. He himself says: they saw me hungry and gave me something to drink (Matthew 25:35). If some do not believe these words and are negligent about love for mankind, then they will learn this then - through punishment and torment, because, as those who have neglected Christ himself, they will be subjected to unbearable punishment. Thus, those who feed the poor, as those who served Christ himself, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 10. Perhaps more has been said than is appropriate. But, oh, if it were possible to offer conversations about alms on all days! If this seems sufficient for you, then let us briefly repeat everything that has been said. I said why the prophet was sent to the widow - so that you do not despise poverty, so that you do not be surprised at wealth, so that you do not consider the rich happy, and the one living in poverty unhappy and pitiful, so that you recognize the wickedness of the Jews. When God intends to punish, He usually justifies us before us through the deeds themselves, so that later, when you see the common Savior persecuted by the Jews and accepted by the pagans, you will not be surprised or embarrassed, having learned in advance the ingratitude of the former and their characteristic custom of persecuting benefactors; so that you do not think that the prayer of the prophet and the continuation of punishment were a matter of cruelty, but consider it a matter of divine jealousy and care; so that you learn that during the greatest exploits our nature also needs admonition; so that you, receiving incentives to zeal equal to the zeal of the prophet, do not consider imitation an impossible task. I spoke about the widow, how she, being in such cramped circumstances, exhausted by hunger, did not even utter a reproachful word to the prophet, although this was natural, as I showed from the example of Jewish arrogance; She did not discover anything of the kind, but she received the prophet with all friendliness, and she spent all her poor fortune in honor of him, despite the fact that she was a Sidonian and a foreigner, and had not heard either the prophets philosophizing about alms, or Christ saying: “They saw me hungry, and they fed me.” What excuse will we have if, after such admonitions, after the promise of such rewards and the Kingdom of Heaven, we do not reach the same level of love for mankind as this widow? She was a Sidonian, a foreigner, a widow, cared for many children, saw the danger of famine and threatening death, had to accept a stranger who brought famine, and yet did not spare a handful of flour; and we, having received prophecies, using divine teaching, being able to philosophize a lot about the future, not seeing the threatening famine and owning much more property than this wife, what excuse can we imagine when we regret our property and are careless about our own salvation? So, in order for us to avoid those cruel punishments, let us show all compassion to the poor, so that we too may be worthy of future blessings, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, be glory forever and ever. Amen. You might be interested in: