About charity and almsgiving

The book “On Charity and Almsgiving” was written by Sschmch. Cyprian of Carthage in 252 or around 253-256. for the purpose of inducing wealthy members of the Church to support needy brethren. Several quotations from this work were included in the acts of the Third Ecumenical Council. At the beginning of the treatise it is said about the purpose of the Incarnation - the restoration of fallen man: “The Father sent His Son to restore us: the Son deigned to accept the embassy and become the Son of man in order to make us children of God, - he humbled himself in order to raise up people who had fallen before, - he was wounded in order to heal our wounds, - he was a slave in order to lead the slaves to freedom, - raised up death in order to grant immortality to mortals.” In order to achieve moral excellence, a Christian must help the needy, the sick and the dying. Good works are necessary for salvation. They again return to man the mercy (indulgentia) of God, are a means of propitiating and satisfying God, and serve as cleansing from sins committed after baptism. God will not leave merit in deeds of mercy unrewarded. There is no need to fear that having spent your entire fortune on charity, you yourself will not fall into poverty: the spending is done for the sake of Christ, thereby acquiring heavenly wealth, where there can be no scarcity. St. Cyprian writes about the high dignity of charity: it is a triumph for the Angels, a victory over the devil, it brings a crown without martyrdom. The one who shows mercy imitates the Heavenly Father. On the Day of Judgment, the Lord will ask about deeds of mercy: He will give the promised rewards for merits and deeds, reward with eternity and immortality, enter into paradise and open the Kingdom of Heaven. *The title of the work in Latin is De opere et eleemosynis. Many-varied and great, beloved brothers, are those Divine blessings with which the generous and rich mercy of God the Father and Christ has arranged and constantly arranges our salvation; It was precisely for our salvation and revival that the Father sent His Son to restore us: the Son deigned to take upon Himself the embassy and become the Son of man in order to make us children of God, - He humbled Himself in order to raise up people who had fallen before, - He was wounded in order to heal our wounds, - He was a slave in order to bring the slaves to freedom, - He raised up death in order to give mortals immortality. These are the great and manifold gifts of Divine mercy. But what other providence, and how much more mercy is there in that saving care for us, which takes care of the complete preservation of an already redeemed person! In fact, when the Lord, who came to earth, healed the wounds that Adam bore and destroyed the poison of the ancient serpent, He gave the healed the law and commanded him not to sin again, so that nothing worse would happen to the sinner (Jn. 5:14), and by such a prescription regarding innocence we were limited and extremely constrained, so that the weakness and infirmity of mortal human nature would have had nothing to support us if Divine love, again coming to the rescue and pointing out the works of truth and mercy, had not discovered in them some means of preserving salvation, teaching us through alms to wash away those filth with which we subsequently stained ourselves. The Holy Spirit says in Divine Scripture: “sins are cleansed by alms and faith” (Prov. 15:27), - not, however, those that were committed before (baptism); those are cleansed by the Blood of Christ and sanctification. And in another place it says: “Water will quench a burning fire, and alms will cleanse sins” (Sir. 3:30). Here it is shown and affirmed how the fire of hell is extinguished by the water of saving baptism, so the flame of sins is extinguished by alms and deeds of righteousness. And just as in baptism the remission of sins is granted once, so the everlasting, unceasing charity, like baptism, again returns to us the mercy of God. The Lord teaches about this in the Gospel. When His disciples were reproached that they ate without washing their hands first, He said in response: “Whoever has created the external has also made the internal to eat; Otherwise, give alms from those who exist, and behold, everything will be clean for you” (Luke 11:40-41). These words contain a teaching and an indication that it is not the hands that should be washed, but the heart - that internal uncleanness should be cleansed preferentially before the external, and if someone has washed the internal, then he has also washed the external - having cleansed the mind, he began to be clean externally with his whole body. Further, instructing and explaining how we can wash ourselves and cleanse ourselves, He added that for this we should do alms. The Merciful One teaches and instructs in mercy; and, desiring to preserve those who have been bought at a price, He offers a way by which those who have defiled themselves with sins after the grace of baptism can be cleansed again. So, we recognize, beloved brothers, the saving gift of Divine mercy, and - since we cannot do without some kind of ulcers in our conscience, in order to wash away and blot out our sins, we will heal our wounds with spiritual medicines. And let no one deceive himself with the purity and integrity of his heart so much that, in the hope of his own innocence, he could consider it unnecessary to heal ulcers, when the Scripture says: “Who will boast of having a pure heart, or who will dare to decide to be clean from sins?” (Proverbs 20:9). And again John in his Epistle says the following: “if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). If no one can be without sin, and unless only a proud or fool is able to call himself innocent, then how necessary and how saving is Divine grace, which, knowing that those healed may subsequently have ulcers, bestowed saving medicines for new treatment and healing of these ulcers. And, finally, beloved brothers, the Divine voice has never ceased or been silent in the sacred books of both the Old and New Testaments, always and everywhere calling the people of God to works of mercy, and everyone who is instructed in the aspirations of the Heavenly Kingdom, according to the word and conviction of the Holy Spirit, is charged with the duty of doing alms. The Lord commands and commands Isaiah: “Cry with might, and have no mercy; Like a trumpet, lift up your voice and tell my people their sins and the house of Jacob their iniquities” (Isa. 58:1). Then, having given the commandment that they should turn away from their sins, pointing out with complete indignation at their atrocities, saying that they could not satisfy for their sins either by petitions, or by prayers, or by fasting, and that they could not soften the wrath of God, even if they covered themselves with sacks and ashes, in conclusion, pointing out that only with alms one can appease God, He said: “Shatter to those who hunger for your bread, and bring the poor and bloodless into your house; If you see a naked person, clothe him, and do not despise those belonging to your tribe. Then your light will open early and your healing will quickly shine, and your righteousness will come before you, and the glory of God will embrace you. Then you will cry, and God will hear you, and while I am still speaking, he will say, “Behold, I have come” (Is. 58:7-9). So, the words of God Himself indicate the means to propitiate God, and the Divine instructions set forth what sinners must do, namely, to be justified before God by deeds of righteousness, to atone for sins by deeds of mercy. And in Solomon 1 we read: “Shut up alms in your cages” (in the heart of a beggar), “and it will sweep you away from all bitterness” (Sir. 29:15). And again: “He who stops his ears has not yet listened to the weak, and he will call” (God), “and he will not listen to him” (Proverbs 21:13). So, whoever is not merciful himself cannot deserve God’s mercy, and whoever is not favorable to the prayer of the poor will not ask God for anything with his prayers. The Holy Spirit proclaims the same thing in the Psalms and confirms it, saying: “Blessed is he who considers the poor and needy; on the day of cruelty the Lord will deliver him” (Ps. 40:2). When King Nebuchadnezzar was alarmed by an unfavorable dream, Daniel, remembering the righteous commandments, in order to prevent disasters, indicated a means of asking for Divine help in the following words: “For this reason, O king, let my advice be acceptable to you, and atone for your sins with alms and your iniquities with the bounties of the poor: God will not be patient with your sin” (Dan. 4, 24). Since the king did not listen to this advice, he is subject to the misadventures and misfortunes that he saw (in a dream), but he could get rid of them if he atoned for his sins with alms. Angel Raphael testifies to this very thing and, exhorting to willing and generous almsgiving, says: “prayer with fasting and almsgiving is good...; For alms delivers from death, and it cleanses all sin” (Tov. 12:8-9). He shows that our prayers and fasts mean little if they are not supported by alms, that prayers alone will have little meaning in asking for mercy if they are not supplemented by deeds of mercy. The angel reveals, declares and affirms that through alms our prayers are made effective, that alms frees life from danger, that alms delivers the soul from death. By saying this, beloved brothers, we will prove the truth of what Angel Raphael said. The Acts of the Apostles provides experimental assurance that alms deliver the soul not only from the second, but also from the first death - this is proven by the following event. When Tabitha fell ill and died, full of good deeds and alms that she did, the Apostle Peter was called to her lifeless corpse. As soon as, by his apostolic benevolence, he arrived there without hesitation, he was immediately surrounded by weeping widows with a pleading look, who, pointing to the shirts and dresses and other clothes ever received from the deceased, asked for her not in their own words, but with her own good deeds. Peter realized that such a request could be heard and that Christ would not refuse to help the prayers of the widows, because in their person He Himself took on these robes. So, having prayed with kneeling and, as a good intercessor on behalf of the widows and the poor, having raised the petitions entrusted to him to the Lord, he turned to the lifeless body, which had already been washed and laid on the bed, and cried out in the name of Jesus Christ: “Tabitho, arise” (Acts 9:40). And the One who said in the Gospel did not refuse Peter immediate help was that whatever they asked for in His name would be given. So death stops, the spirit returns and, to everyone's surprise and amazement, the revived body is inspired again. That's how much deeds of mercy meant, that's how powerful deeds of righteousness were! She who generously provided life-sustaining benefits to needy widows deserved, at the widows’ prayer, to be brought back to life. That is why the Lord, the leader of our lives and the teacher of eternal salvation, quickening the believers and providing for the eternal salvation of those quickened, in His Divine commandments and heavenly instructions set forth in the Gospel, did not so often prescribe or command anything other than to be diligent in giving alms, not to worry about earthly acquisitions, but to hide treasures for oneself in heaven. “Sell,” he says, “your possessions and give alms” (Luke 12:33). And again: “do not hide for yourself treasures on earth, where worms and aphids corrupt, and where the thieves dig up and steal: hide for yourself a treasure in heaven, where neither the worm nor the aphid corrupts, and where the thieves do not dig up or steal. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matt. 6:19-21). Also, when he wanted to indicate the highest perfection, after fulfilling the law, he said: “Go, sell your property and give to the poor; and have treasure in heaven and come after Me” (Matt. 19:21). And in another place he says that whoever wants to acquire heavenly grace and acquire eternal salvation must, leaving all his studies, try to buy, at the price of earthly treasures, a pearl of great price, that is, priceless, for the sake of the Blood of Christ, eternal life. “Likewise,” He says, “the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a merchant man, looking for good beads, who found one bead of great value, and sold it all, and buy it” (Matthew 13:45-46). Finally, he calls those who help the poor and feed them children of Abraham. Thus, when Zacchaeus said: “Behold, half of my substance, Lord, I will give to the poor; and whoever I have offended, I will return you in fourfold”; then Jesus answered him: “For today salvation has come to this house, for this also is the son of Abraham” (Luke 19:8-9). Abraham was counted as righteousness because he believed God (Rom. 4:3). But whoever, according to the commandment of God, gives alms, believes God and, having true faith, keeps the fear of God; and whoever keeps the fear of God, having mercy on the poor, thinks about God: he does good deeds because he believes, because he recognizes the truth of what is proclaimed in the word of God and the immutability of Divine Scripture, which says that barren trees, that is, unmerciful people, are cut down and thrown into fire, but the merciful are called into the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 3:10, 5:7), and which in another place calls the merciful and therefore fruitful the faithful, but denies the unmerciful the unmerciful in faith, saying: “If you do not quickly return what you have from unrighteousness, who has faith for you in the true? And if you don’t quickly return someone else’s, who will give you yours?” (Luke 16:12). But you are afraid and afraid, lest, having begun to do a lot of charity and having spent all your wealth through generosity, you yourself fall into poverty. Be calm on this side; - where the spending for Christ comes from, how heavenly wealth is acquired, there can be no shortage there. And I, not on my own behalf, but by the holy scriptures and the firmness of the Divine promise, assure you of this. The Holy Spirit speaks through Solomon: “Whatever we give to the needy will not fail; but whoever turns away his eye will be in poverty” (Proverbs 28:27), showing in these words that the merciful and charitable cannot become poor, but rather the stingy and unmerciful will fall into poverty. The blessed Apostle Paul, filled with Divine grace, confirms the same: “Give,” he says, “seed to the sower and bread for food, so that your seed may be supplied and multiplied, and the life of your righteousness may increase, so that you may be rich in everything” (2 Cor. 9:10-11). And again: “the work of this ministry is not only fulfilling the deprivations of the saints, but also abounding in many thanksgivings to God" (2 Cor. 9, 12); because the benefactor’s property is increased by retribution from God at the very time when gratitude to God is offered in the prayer of the poor for our alms and good deeds. The Lord Himself, testing the hearts of such people, warning the treacherous and those of little faith, affirmatively says in the Gospel: “Do not worry about the words: What are the pits, or what are we drinking, or what are we wearing? The pagans are looking for all of these. For your Heavenly Father knows that you require them all. Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all this will be added to you” (Matthew 6:31-32). He says that to those who seek the Kingdom of God and the truth of God everything will be added and given, since, according to the word of the Lord, on the last day of judgment those who have done good in His Church will inherit the kingdom. You are afraid that your property will suddenly become scarce if you generously do good from it; But do you not know, unfortunate one, that as a result of the fear that your wealth will become scarce, your life and health become impoverished, and you, who love wealth more than your soul, when you carefully watch so that your property does not decrease, do not notice that you yourself are depleted, so that at the very time when you fear for the destruction of your wealth, you yourself perish instead. Therefore, the apostle rightly declares and says: “We brought nothing into this world; Indeed, as if below, we can wear out what we can. Having food and clothing, we will be satisfied with these. But those who want to get rich fall into misfortunes and snares, and into many senseless and harmful lusts, which plunge a person into all-destruction and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evil, and there is no one who desires it, having gone astray from the faith and nailed himself with many illnesses” (1 Tim. 6:7-10). You are afraid that your property will suddenly become scarce if you begin to generously use it to do good. But when could a righteous person lack the means to live? The Scripture says: “The Lord will not kill a righteous soul with famine” (Proverbs 10:3). Elijah in the desert feeds through corvids (1 Kings 17:6), - Daniel, by order of the king, thrown into the den of lions, has food miraculously prepared (Dan. 14:30-38); and you are afraid that you will not have enough food as a result of your good deeds and pleasing the Lord, when He Himself testifies in the Gospel in reprimanding the frivolous and those of little faith, saying: “Behold the birds of the air, for they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and your Heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you the best at eating them?” (Matthew 6:26). God feeds the birds and provides food to the sparrows: thus, even those who have no understanding of Divine things have no shortage of either food or drink. Do you think that a Christian, a servant of God, who is dear to his Lord, will not get anything? It is true that you believe that Christ Himself will not nourish the one who feeds Him, or that those who are given heavenly and Divine blessings will lack something earthly. Where does such an unfaithful thought come from? Where does such impious and blasphemous reasoning come from? What makes the heart, in the house of faith, unfaithful? Why is one considered and called a Christian who does not believe in Christ at all? It is more fitting for you to be called a Pharisee. For when the Lord, in the Gospel, spoke about alms and gave faithful and saving instructions that through prudent charity from earthly gains we should make friends for ourselves, who would later accept us into the heavenly shelters, then the Divine Scripture adds to this the following words: “And I heard this, and all the Pharisees, lovers of money, mocked Him” (Luke 16, 14). Even now we see in the Church similar people whose hearing is blocked and whose darkened hearts do not allow the light of spiritual and saving instructions to enter. There is no need to be surprised at such people, after we see that they despised the Lord Himself. What good do you find for yourself in these absurd and stupid reasonings, when you are distracted from good deeds by fear and anxiety for the future? Why do you present some ghosts and deceptions as a vain apology? Better confess the truth and, since you cannot deceive those who know, wipe away the innermost secrets of your thoughts. The darkness of unmercifulness surrounded your soul, and after the light of truth came out of it, the deepest darkness of stinginess completely blinded your coarse heart. You are a captive and slave of money, you are entangled in the nets and bonds of greed; you, whom Christ has already loosed, are bound again. You save money, which, if saved, will not save you; you multiply your property, which burdens you all the more with its weight, and you do not remember what the Lord answered the rich man, who in mad delight boasted of an abundant harvest of the fruits of the earth. “You fool,” He said to him, “this night they will take your soul from you; and what you have prepared, to whom will it be?” (Luke 12:20). Why do you recline alone on your riches? Why, in your condemnation, do you increase the weight of your property, so that, becoming richer and richer in this life, the poorest appear before God? Share your profits with your Lord, share your fruits with Christ, make Christ a partner in earthly acquisitions, so that He will make you a joint heir of the Heavenly Kingdom! You are mistaken and deceived, considering yourself rich in this world. Listen to what your Lord says in the Apocalypse, addressing His just reproaches to such people: “say, I am rich and have become rich, and I demand nothing; and do not think that you are cursed and poor and poor and blind and naked. I advise you to buy from Me gold kindled with fire, so that you may become rich, and have a white robe, and be clothed, and... may the shame of your nakedness not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with collurium, so that you may see” (Apoc. 3:17–18). So, whoever has a lot and is rich, buy yourself from Christ gold kindled by fire, so that, having destroyed your impurities as if by fire, you can appear as pure gold, through cleansing yourself with alms and deeds of righteousness. Buy white clothing, so that you, naked through Adam and hitherto afraid of your ugliness, may be clothed in the bright clothing of Christ. And you, rich and noble woman in the Church of Christ, anoint your eyes, not with the devil’s “stevia” (Jer. 4:30), but with the “colluria” (Apoc. 3:18) of Christ, so that you may become able to see God, pleasing God with good deeds and bloodshed. But you are not like that; You cannot do good in the Church, because your eyes, surrounded by black darkness and covered with the darkness of the night, do not see either the poor or the needy. You have a lot and are rich, and you think that you honor the Sunday of the Lord, when you do not make any oppression (for the Eucharist), when you come to the church of the Lord without sacrifice, when you take for yourself part of the sacrifice that the poor brought?.. Look at the widow of the Gospel: she, remembering the Divine instructions, despite her extreme oppressive poverty, puts her last two mites into the treasury. The Lord, seeing her and assessing her sacrifice not by cost, but by spiritual disposition, taking into account not how much she sacrificed, but from what wealth she sacrificed, said: “Truly I say to you, for this poor widow has cast more of all” (as a gift to God); “All these, out of their abundance, have been cast into the gifts of God, and all this, out of their deprivation, has been cast in, all the life that they have” (Luke 21:3-4). Blessed and worthy of praise is the woman who, even before the Day of Judgment, has earned the praise of the righteous Judge! Let the rich be ashamed of their hard-heartedness and lack of faith! A widow, and a poor widow at that, is rich in charity; and since everything sacrificed belongs to widows and orphans, she, who should have received it, sacrifices herself, so that they will know from here what punishment awaits the merciless rich man, when, according to the example presented, the poor should also sacrifice. And in order for us to understand that such sacrifices are offered to God and that he who does so pleases the Lord, Christ calls these gifts of God and makes it known that the widow “has cast her two mites into the gifts of God” (Luke 21:4), and thus it becomes more and more obvious that “the merciful poor gives back to God” (Proverbs 19:17). Nor, dearest brothers, should the Christian be deterred or diverted from good and righteous deeds by the charity given by some as justification to children: with spiritual alms one must keep in mind Christ who accepts them, as He Himself assures of this (Matthew 25:40); It is necessary, according to His instructions and conviction, to prefer children not to their fellow servants, but to the Lord Himself. He says: “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is worthy of Me; and whoever loves a son or daughter more than Me is worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37). And in Deuteronomy, to strengthen faith and incite love for God, it is also written: “Say to your father and your mother: I have not seen you, and you have not seen your sons; keep Your words and keep Your covenant” (Deut. 33:9). In fact, if we love God with all our hearts, then neither parents nor children should be preferred to God. And John in his Epistle asserts that there is no love of God in those who do not want to do good to the poor; he says: “Whoever has the riches of this world, and sees his brother demanding, and shuts his womb from him, how much of the love of God abides in him?” (1 John 3:17). Thus, if alms given to the poor are given as if on interest to God, and what is given to the lesser brothers is given to Christ Himself, then no one should prefer earthly to heavenly, human to Divine. The widow mentioned in the Third Book of Kings, during a drought and famine, thought to make unleavened bread from the last flour and oil, so that, having eaten it, she would then die with her children: meanwhile Elijah came to her and asked her to give him food first, and then feed with the children on what was left. And she did not hesitate to obey: she, a mother in times of hunger and need, did not choose her children over Elijah: in the eyes of God Himself, that which is pleasing to God is done, - what is required is immediately and willingly brought, - not just any part of the excess is given, but from the lack, everything is given, and at a time when children are hungry, someone else is fed before them: in times of shortage and hunger, mercy is preferred to food in order to preserve the life of the soul, and for the sake of saving achievement, one forgets about bodily life. Then Elijah, representing Christ and showing that He immediately rewards everyone for deeds of mercy, turned to the widow and said: “Thus says the Lord...: The water-bearer of flour shall not fail, and the boasting of oil shall not be diminished until the end, until the Lord gives rain on the earth” (1 Kings 17:14). Thus, in faith in the Divine promise, what she presented to the widow was multiplied and multiplied, and with the increase and multiplication of the works of truth and mercy, the vessels of flour and oil were filled: the mother not only did not take away from the children what she had given to Elijah, but by her merciful and pious deed she acquired even more for the children. Meanwhile, she did not yet know Christ and had not heard His commandments; not redeemed by the cross and His suffering, she repaid the blood with food and drink. From this we can see how sinful in the Church is the one who, preferring himself and his children to Christ, saves his wealth and does not share his great acquisitions with the needy poor. But you have a large family at home; Does the large number of children keep you from generous charity? Yes, the larger your family, the more generous you should be. You must pray to God for many, the sins of many must be atoned for; the consciences of many must be cleared, the souls of many must be freed (from sins). Just as in this temporary life the expense is greater, the greater the number of those who need food and support: so it is also true in relation to spiritual, heavenly life, the greater the number of household members, the more good deeds should be performed. Job made sacrifices for his children, and as many household members there were, the same number of sacrifices were offered to God. And just as it was impossible for someone not to sin daily before God, sacrifices were made daily to atone for sins. This is confirmed by the Divine Scripture, saying: “Job, a true man... righteous... And he had seven sons and three daughters... and he purified them and offered sacrifices for them to God according to their number, and one bull for the sin... of them” (Job 1:1-2,5). So, if you truly love your children, if you show all your fatherly affection for them, then all the more should you do good in order to make your children pleasing to God through charity. And do not honor him as the Father of your children, who is himself temporary and weak, but acquire for them a Father of spiritual children, Who is eternal and powerful, and assign to Him your riches, which you keep for your heirs; Let Him be a patron, trustee for your children and, according to His Divine greatness, their intercessor in all temporary grievances. The property entrusted to God will not be taken away by the state, nor will the treasury be seized, nor will any public disaster upset it. The inheritance that God Himself keeps is in perfect security. Here, according to the assurance of Divine Scripture, is a means of caring for the future of beloved children, here is a way - with fatherly love, to improve the future fate of the heirs! “The youngest was,” says the Scripture, “for he was afraid, and did not see the righteous forsaken, below his seed asking for bread. All day long the righteous one has mercy and gives back, and his seed will be a blessing” (Ps. 36:25-26). And again: “Whoever lives without blemish in righteousness, his children will be blessed” (Proverbs 20:7). So, you are not a father, but a traitor and a traitor, if you do not properly care for your children, if you do not take care of their care with pious and true love. By caring more about the earthly inheritance than the heavenly one, you make your children pleasing to the devil, and not to Christ, and you sin especially, commit two crimes: firstly, that you do not provide for your children the help of the Father God; secondly, that you teach your children to love property more than Christ. It’s better to be the kind of father Tobiah was for your children: give them the same useful and saving advice that he gave to his son; command your children what he commanded, saying: “And now, child, I command you, serve God in truth, do what is pleasing in His sight, and command your children to do righteousness and alms, to remember God and to bless His name at all times.”2 And again: “Child, remember the Lord our God all your days, and do not lust after... transgress His commandments. Do righteousness all the days of your life, and do not walk the path of unrighteousness, because if you do the truth, prosperity will be in your deeds... Do alms from your possessions... and do not turn your face away from every poor person; and the face of God will not turn away from you. If you have plenty, do alms from them; If you don’t have enough, don’t be afraid to give alms in small ways. You are laying up a good deposit for your day of need. For now, alms delivers from death... to go into darkness. The gift 3 for good is alms to all who do before the Most High” (Tob. 4:5-11). What a gift, most beloved brothers, which is solemnly performed before the eyes of the Most High! If at pagan free spectacles it is considered important and glorious when proconsuls or emperors are present, and those preparing the spectacle make great preparations and do not spare expenses, just to please the elders: then how much more brilliant and glorious is that free spectacle that God and Christ contemplate? How much more preparation and expenses should there be where the heavenly powers, all the Angels, gather for contemplation - where the reward is not sought for a chariot or a consulate, but what is meant is eternal life, where they are not trying to earn the empty and fleeting favor of the crowd, but where they actually get an eternal reward - the Kingdom of Heaven? And in order to further shame people who are inactive, unmerciful and, due to their passion for the love of money, who do not care at all about salvation, and so that the shame of their ugliness and vileness will even more strike their wicked conscience, everyone clearly imagine that the devil with his servants, that is, with the people of destruction and death, suddenly bursts into the middle and, in the presence of the Judge Christ Himself, challenging Him as if to a competition, says: “For all these whom you see with me, I did not suffer strangulation, did not endure beatings, was not crucified, did not shed blood, did not redeem my minions at the cost of suffering and blood; I do not promise them the Kingdom of Heaven, I do not call them back to heaven with the return of immortality to them; - and yet how expensive, how glorious, with long and intense labor and with extraordinary preparations, they arrange for me spectacles, for the staging of which they either sold or mortgaged all their property. Moreover, if the execution turns out to be unsuccessful, then don’t they drive them away with noise and whistles, don’t the angry mob sometimes stone them? Show me, Christ, do You have such suppliers of free spectacles among these rich people, abounding in acquisitions? Do they stage such a spectacle in the Church, under Your presidency and in Your presence, having pledged or spent their wealth on its construction, which, for the surest possession, has been exchanged for heavenly treasures? My perishing and earthly spectacles do not feed anyone, do not clothe anyone, do not provide support to anyone with either food or drink; According to the ruinous and stupid vanity of deceptive pleasures, everything ends in the fury of the actor and the delusion of the spectator. While You are fed and clothed in the presence of Your poor; You promise eternal life to benefactors: and yet Yours, awarded by You with Divine rewards and heavenly honors, can hardly be equal in number to my perishing ones! What is our answer to this, dear brothers? How can we protect the souls of the rich, darkened by sacrilegious mercy and some kind of darkness of the night? With what excuse can we justify them? And are we really more insignificant than the servants of the devil, that we will not repay Christ with at least something for His suffering and Blood? He gave us commandments; He indicated what His servants should do; having promised rewards to benefactors and threatened with merciless punishment, He thereby pronounced His sentence. He said in advance why he intended to create judgment. What, after this, can there be an excuse for the negligent? What protection is there for the unmerciful? When a slave does not do what he is commanded, the Lord will carry out what he threatens. He says: “When the Son of man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory, and all the nations will be gathered before Him; and he will separate them from each other, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will set the sheep at His right hand, on the goats' heels. Then the King says to those on His right hand: Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Be hungry, and give Me food; You became thirsty and drank Me; he was strange, and he knew me; naked and clothed; ill, and sit down with me; you were in prison, and came to Me. Then the righteous women answered Him, saying: Lord, when did I see You hungry and drink You? or thirsty and drunk? When did you show strangeness and introduce? or naked and covered? When did I see You sick, or in prison, and come to You? And having answered, the King said to them: Amen, I say to you, since you have made one of these lesser brothers of Mine, you have made them with Me. Then He also speaks to those who are on His side: Depart from Me, O curse, into eternal fire, prepared by My Father for the devil and his angel. You are hungry, and you will not let Me eat; You were thirsty and did not give Me a drink; he was strange, and did not know Me; naked and unclothed; sick and in prison, and did not sit with Me. Then they also answered Him, saying: Lord, when did I see You hungry, or thirsty, or strange, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and not serving You? Then he answers them, saying: Amen, I say to you, because you did not make the least of these, you did not create them for Me. And these go into eternal torment; the righteous into eternal life" (Matthew 25:31-46). More than this, what else could Christ tell us? In what other way could He best call us to works of truth and mercy, if not by saying that everything given to the needy and poor is given to Himself, and that He Himself is insulted when it is not given to the poor and needy. So, whoever is not moved in the Church at the sight of a brother, let him be moved by the contemplation of Christ, and whoever does not think about a slave like himself, who is in misfortune and poverty, let him think about the Lord, who appears in the person of the one whom he despises. And therefore, beloved brothers, we, in whom the fear of God abides and whose spirit from the despicable and unworthy world is enraptured by the highest and Divine, will show our submission to the Lord, pleasing Him with complete faith, a pious mood of mind and constant charity; let us give Christ earthly clothing in hopes of receiving heavenly clothing; Let us give Him temporary food and drink in anticipation of our coming to the heavenly supper together with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; Let us sow as much as possible in order to obtain a considerable harvest; Let us, according to the admonition of the Apostle Paul, strive for eternal peace and salvation, while there is time: “For now the time is imams,” he says, “let us do good to everyone, especially to those who are related to the faith. Let us not be discouraged from doing good, for in its season we will reap” (Gal. 6:10; Gal. 6:9). Let us think, beloved brothers, about what the believers did in the time of the apostles, when at the very beginning the mind was adorned with the greatest virtues; when the hope of believers was warmed by the new warmth of faith: at that time they sold houses and estates, and willingly and in abundance brought money to the apostles for distribution to the poor: through the sale and distribution of earthly acquisitions they transferred their property to where they could receive the fruits of eternal possession; bought houses where they could settle forever. In charity then there was as much generosity as there was agreement in love, as we read about in the Acts of the Apostles: “But the people who believed had one heart and soul, and not one thing was said to be from their possessions, but everything was common to them” (Acts 4:32). This is what it means to be true children of God by spiritual birth! This is what it means to imitate, according to heavenly law, the truth of God the Father! For what belongs to God should be our common property, and no one should be deprived of participation in His benefits and gifts: so that the entire human race should not equally benefit from the goodness, generosity and mercy of the Divine. So the day shines equally for everyone, the sun shines equally, the rain falls, the wind blows, and those who sleep have the same sleep, and the shine of the stars and the moon is common to everyone. And if the earthly owner, guided by such an example of equality, shares his fruits and profits with brotherhood, then he, becoming sociable and fair through free generous donations, becomes an imitator of God the Father. What, beloved brothers, will be the glory of the benefactors, how great and high is their joy, when the Lord begins to judge His people in the distribution of the promised rewards for earthly things, eternal for temporal things, great for little things - when He will present us to the Father, to Whom He returned us with His sanctification, rewarding us with eternity and immortality, for which He restored us, quickening us with His Blood - when He will again lead us into paradise and, according to the immutability of His promise, will open the Heavenly Kingdom for us! Let us firmly hold all this in our thoughts, comprehend with full faith, love with all our hearts; Let us acquire all this through generous, unceasing charity. A wonderful and Divine work, most beloved brothers, saving gratitude! It constitutes a great consolation for believers, a saving protection of our safety, a stronghold of hope, a defense of faith, a cure for sins; it is a deed that is in the power of the creator, a deed that is both great and small, not subject to persecution; - the crown of peace, the true and greatest gift of God, necessary for the weak, glorious for the strong, - with the help of which a Christian preserves spiritual grace, deserves mercy from Christ the Judge, makes God, as it were, a debtor. Let us eagerly and hastily strive for such a high dignity of saving feats; Let us run in the field of righteousness before the eyes of God and Christ, and, having already become above time and the world, we will not allow any temporary and worldly lust to slow down our run. If the day of retribution and judgment finds us ready, hurrying, running in this field of charity, then the Lord will in no way leave our exploits without reward. To those who overcome during times of peace He will give a white crown for good deeds, and to those who overcome during persecution He will crown them with a scarlet crown for suffering. We have already noticed more than once that the book of Jesus son of Sirach by St. Cyprian is called Solomon's. This text is not in our Slavic Bible. We have translated it into Russian as it is set out by St. Cyprian. In the Vulgate this text is read in ch. 14, art. 10, - only here the address is made in the plural - to the son and grandchildren. Note lane Gift - munus sometimes means a free spectacle. This is how this word is used by the Latins in the words of ap. Paul (1 Cor. 4:9): “We have become a “spectacle” (munus) for the Angels” and so on. Note lane You might be interested in: