Слово 21

(1) About alms: who satisfies God when He is hungry, and gives water when He is thirsty, and how can this kind of thing be done? – (2) The one who has mercy only on the poor, and does not have mercy on himself, does not receive real benefit, leaving himself in negligence, naked from every good deed and from the grace of God. 1. We all have a duty, both faithful and unfaithful, both small and great, to have great attention and diligence in this life: the unfaithful - to know the truth and believe in the Creator and Organizer of all things, God, the faithful - to live well and please God in every good deed and good word, the small - to obey the great, for the Lord's sake, the great - to have the youngest as their own children, according to the commandments of the Lord, who says: since ye have made unto one the least of these my brethren: ye have made unto me (Matthew 25:40). For the Lord did not say this in relation to the poor alone and those who do not have bodily food (as others think), but He said this in relation to all our other brothers, who are not languishing with the hunger of bread, but with the hunger of hearing the words of the Lord and doing His commandments, since His commandment is eternal life. As much as the soul is more honest than the body, spiritual food is just as necessary as bodily food. And I think that the Lord said more about spiritual food: you are hungry, and you will not give Me food: you are thirsty and do not drink from Me (Matthew 25:42), rather than about bodily and corruptible food, since He Himself said before: My food is, that I may do the will of Him who sent Me (John 4:34). The will of the Father who sent Him is the salvation of men. And truly Christ hungers and thirsts, that is, with an extreme and uncontrollable desire he desires the single salvation of all people. The salvation of people is removal from all sin, which removal from sin cannot be accomplished without doing virtues and fulfilling all the commandments. Consequently, when we fulfill the commandments of Christ, then we nourish and satisfy Christ, the Lord of every creature. And our holy fathers say that just as demons feed on our evil deeds and receive strength to fight against us, but by our removal from evil they become weary of greed and become weak; so Christ, who became poor for the sake of our salvation, is nourished by us when we do His commandments, and is left in greed when we do not do His will. We can find out and verify this from the very lives and deeds of the saints. I will leave the rest, for there are many of them, more than the sand of the sea, - with the legend of one person, about one saint, I will try to satisfy your love. Without a doubt, you have heard about the life of the Venerable Mary of Egypt, which was not told by anyone else, but by herself, equal to the angels. In her confession she said: I was extremely poor, and although many times others gave me bribes for sin, I did not take it, not because I was rich - I had nothing - but in order to thus attract more lovers to myself. When she boarded the ship to sail to Jerusalem, she did not have anything to pay for a place on it or what to eat during the voyage. When in Jerusalem, having made a vow to the Most Pure Mother of God to turn to the Lord, she decided to retire into the desert, then, having received two coins from one lover of Christ, she bought three loaves of bread with them, with which she crossed the Jordan River, and from that time remained in the desert until the end of her life, not seeing a single person except Zosimas alone. And so she neither fed the hungry, nor gave drink to the thirsty, nor clothed the naked, nor gave rest to the strange, but, moreover, did everything contrary to that, and plunged many into the pit of destruction, dragging them to sin. How can she now be saved and enter into the kingdom of heaven along with the merciful, when she did not leave any wealth, did not distribute property to the poor, did not give any alms, and moreover, she was the cause of death for countless people? “So you see, if we say that alms are done only with money and bodily food, and that Christ is fed by us with it, and that only in this way, that is, those who feed Him bodily, give Him food and give Him rest in every possible way, will be saved, and those who, due to poverty, do not do this, will go into torment, then something extremely inappropriate will come out of this, many saints will be expelled from the Kingdom of God. But that’s not the case, that’s not the case. God created all the things that exist in this world in common for all people, such as the sun from which we receive light, the air we breathe, pastures for livestock in the meadows and on the mountains, and so on, everything is common to everyone, so that everyone can use it for his own needs, and not take possession of it like a master. But covetousness came into our life, like some tyrant, and what the Lord God gave in common for all, he divided among some of his servants, who were in his power, in one way, and to others in another way, enclosing areas with fences and towers, with gates and locks, and depriving others of the use of the benefits that God had given in common to all. And it also says, corrupted: I am the mistress of everything and I own everything, everything is mine, and not common, and argues that it does not justify anyone. And the servants and servants of this tyrant, that is, love, are usually not the masters and rulers of those things and money, but their slaves and guards. How can they now be considered merciful, feeders of Christ, doing a work worthy of reward, who expect little from the money and things collected so evilly, or even if they give everything to the poor, out of fear of torment, or in the hope of receiving a thousand times more than what was distributed, or out of shame in front of those very poor people whom so many have always despised and offended? No, they will not be counted as merciful, nor as feeders of Christ, nor as having done a deed worthy of reward. But, as I often say, they need to repent until the end of their lives, cry and groan and do other works of repentance, for all the things that they held in their power for so long, not allowing their brothers to use them for their needs. 2. How can those who became poor for Christ’s sake, just as Christ, who is rich like God, became poor for our sake, how can they, not having anything to give in alms to the poor, be honored as having mercy on Christ, who for our sake became man? Heed good, so that you may understand. God has become a poor man for us; You, who believe in Him, must also be like Him, poor. Christ became poor in order to enrich you, or in order to transfer to you the necessary portion of the riches of His grace. For this reason He took on flesh, so that you could become a partaker of His Divinity. So, when you, having adequately prepared yourself, accept His grace, then it is said that you have received Christ. Why is it that when you hunger and thirst out of love for Christ the Lord, then He accepts your hunger and thirst as meat and drink for Himself. For through this and through similar deeds you cleanse your soul and free yourself from corruption and the filth of passions. But God, who took you and appropriated to Himself everything that is yours, that is, everything human, every good that you do for yourself, considers it done for Him, as if He Himself ate from its fruit. In this sense, His words to those who have mercy on the poor can be translated in relation to you as follows: what you did for your poor soul, you did for me. Otherwise, by what deeds did those who retired to the mountains and lived in caves please God? Nothing except works of repentance with faith and love. Having left the whole world, they followed Christ and, having received Him into themselves, they calmed, nourished and nourished Him within themselves, through repentance and tears. And in another way (I’ll explain this). All those who are made sons of God by grace through holy Baptism are, of course, the last and poorest in this world, for they want nothing from this world. Having realized with the feeling of their souls that they have become the sons of God, they can no longer tolerate any temporary wealth, nor adorn themselves with any perishable and timeless attire, as if they have put on Christ and have treasure in heaven. And what kind of person, tell me, being dressed in a royal robe, would agree to put on some other clothes over it, shabby, torn and dirty? But even those who did not know that they had become sons of God, and were stripped of that royal robe, and then repented, took up deeds, began to do all sorts of good deeds, and thus returned to themselves the grace of Baptism - and they are clothed in Christ, and they are made sons of God, as happens through holy Baptism. Those who do neither one nor the other (that is, do not put on Christ either through Baptism or later through repentance), even if they clothed all the naked people in the world, what good would they do for themselves when they leave themselves naked from Divine grace? Then again (that is, another new explanation) - we, who were baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, are called brethren of Christ, and we are still His members. So, if you honor, repose and in every possible way comfort all others, but leave yourself - the brother of Christ and a member of Christ - in negligence, and do not accept the work and achievement through all the virtues to rise to the height of the perfection of life in Christ, but leave your soul darkened and defiled - let it lie as if dead, in the deepest darkness of sin, let it hunger and thirsts from your laziness and negligence, let him remain imprisoned in the cramped prison of your defiled body because of your gluttony and lust - tell me, I ask you, will you despise the brother of Christ in this way? Is it not him who you will leave hungry and thirsty and wallowing in prison without any care? So - and for this reason you have no time to hear: you did not have mercy on yourself - and you will not have mercy. If someone after this says: since this is how this work is and we will not have any reward for what we give to the poor, then what need is there to give? - Let such one hear Christ Himself, who has to judge him and reward everyone according to his deeds, as if He were saying to him: Oh, foolish one! What have you brought into this world? And have you created any of the things you see in him? Did you not come naked from your mother's womb? Naked you will come out of this present life, and naked of everything you will appear before My judgment seat. For what kind of property do you demand reward from Me? And by what means of your own things did you show mercy to your brothers, and through the mediation of your brothers to Me, who created everything not for you alone, but in common for everyone? Or do you think that I myself desire any of this, or accept gifts, like unrighteous and money-loving human judges? (Due to your lack of thought, you can be expected to think about this too). I command and command all this (that is, works of mercy towards the poor), not because I wanted to have any things from you, but because I want to have you yourself, not in order to take anything from your property, but in order to save you from the condemnation that you are subject to because of it. “Do not think, my brother, that God is poor and needs our wealth in order to feed the poor, and therefore commands us to be merciful to them and, as much as we have the strength, to fulfill this commandment.” Not like that, my brother, not like that. But the man-loving Lord, what the devil brought into our lives through love for our destruction, wants to turn this very thing through alms into our salvation. The devil advised us to appropriate, consider as our property and treasure for ourselves what God created for the common use of all people, so that through such covetousness he could instill in us two sins and make us guilty of eternal torment: the first is the sin of heartlessness and unmercifulness, and the second is the sin of trusting in one’s property and not in Christ. For whoever has hidden money, it is impossible for him to believe and hope in God. This is clear from what Christ and our God said: where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21). So, even if someone distributes the money hidden with him to the poor, he has nothing to receive a reward for, on the contrary, he is responsible for the fact that he unjustly forced them to endure hardships hitherto, and not only for this he has to give an answer, but also for those who died during his life from greed and thirst, whom he could have fed and did not feed: he hid the property of the poor and left them to die from cold and hunger, why will he be considered the murderer of all those whom he could feed and did not feed. But our good and humane Lord, wanting to save us from such condemnation, commanded us to distribute what we had acquired and, in order to be willing to do this, expresses his readiness to condescend to this weakness of ours and not subject us to condemnation for withholding what belongs to everyone, and not only this, but agrees to recognize our property as our own and for distributing it promises to repay not in tens, but a hundredfold - all just to induce us to give away willingly, with a cheerful face. This kindness requires that we do not consider our property to be our own, but think that God has given it into our hands for the benefit of our fellow servants of God - Christians, so that we provide them with what they need with joy and readiness, and not with sadness, and as if with some kind of need and violence. And this is also why we should joyfully empty our treasuries, stuffed with such care and guarded with such caution, in the hope of receiving the true promise of Christ, in which He promised to repay a hundredfold for everything. God knows that we are completely taken over by lust and love and obsessed with a mania for wealth, so that it is extremely difficult for us to part with it and unhook from it, which is why if someone happens to lose it for some reason, then he is not happy with life itself. Knowing this, He used a medicine appropriate to our weakness, promising to reward us a hundredfold for what we give to the poor, just to incline us to such distribution and through this, first of all, to save us from condemnation for the passion of covetousness, and then to wean us from placing our hope in wealth and freeing our souls from its heavy bonds; upon liberation from them, give us space to freely fulfill the commandments of Christ the Lord and work for Him with fear and trembling, not in order to do God any favor, but in order to receive from Him this very mercy and grace - to be His servants and serve Him truly. And it is impossible for us to be saved in any other way. The rich must first of all, according to the commandment, put aside their wealth as a heavy burden that hinders them from leading a true life in Christ, and then take the cross on their shoulders and follow Christ the Lord. For it is not possible for anyone to bear both, that is, both wealth and the cross. But those who are not bound by many things, but are content with the one thing that is necessary to support life, and often suffer from a lack of this too, do not encounter any obstacles when they want to walk along a narrow and regrettable path: they only need to apply good will, so that their narrow procession will be a godly procession, and continue it with patience and thanksgiving - the righteous God will lead them into His eternal kingdom and comfort all-blessed in this peace. But if someone distributes all his possessions to the poor, and then does not begin to fight graciously with all kinds of temptations and sorrows that follow, and does not endure everything not only resignedly, but also with thanksgiving, then, not realizing the salutary nature of the step he has taken, with his cowardice he himself destroys the fruit of his work. We must know that just as strongly rusted iron cannot be cleaned and brought into its proper form unless you put it in the fire and beat it thoroughly with hammers, so a soul, stained with the filth of sin, cannot be cleansed in any other way and regain its former beauty unless it is subject to many temptations and does not enter the furnace of sorrows. That is why our Lord Jesus Christ, after he said: sell what you have and give to the poor, added: and follow Me, let us take up the cross (Mark 10:21). The cross that is commanded to be taken up here refers to sorrows, which must be accepted graciously and endured with thanksgiving. So, those who, having distributed it to the poor, will not then endure to the end temptations, sorrows and sorrows for God’s sake will receive no benefit from distributing their property. And Christ the Lord did not say: Gain your souls by giving away your possessions, but by being patient (Luke 21:19). That distributing one’s property to the poor is a good and saving deed does not require proof, but this good deed alone cannot make a person perfect according to God, without enduring temptations. That this is truly the case and that this is what pleases God, listen to what Christ says, besides His words to the rich man, given above: sell and distribute, and follow Me, take up the cross, where under the cross, as we said, He points to temptations and sorrows. The kingdom of heaven, He says, is in need and the needy delights it (Matthew 11:12), and not a single faithful person can enter it in any other way than through the narrow gates of temptations and sorrows. Enter, he says, through the narrow gate (Matthew 7:13), which the holy Apostles interpreted as follows: for through many tribulations it is fitting for us to enter into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). He who gives from his property to the poor, but does not endure sorrow, hoping to receive a reward for it, experiences great joy and contentment, and from this it may happen that he sometimes falls into vanity and thereby destroys his reward. And the one who, distributing his property to the poor, with gratitude endures everything sorrowful and meekly endures all the temptations that haunt him, who feels all the bitterness and burden of sorrows and, however, keeps his thoughts firm and unshakable, such both here, in this life, and there, in the future life, will receive a great reward, since he imitates the passions of Christ and, enduring, endures the Lord in the days of sorrows and temptations that oppress him. For this reason, I beg you, my brethren in Christ, let us strive, according to the word of our Lord Jesus Christ, to enter into the kingdom of heaven through the narrow gate, that is, by cutting off carnal wisdom and our own will. If we do not mortify the flesh, its lusts and desires, then we cannot find peace and freedom from evil deeds, which is established in us by the grace of the All-Holy Spirit with our strengthened struggle against passions and lusts, the successful conduct of which is greatly facilitated by the distribution of property. When you, brother, distribute your property and money to the poor, you do a good and godly deed, but at the same time you yourself get rid of the tedious worries and worries about these perishable things, and your mind calms down from the inevitable entertainments about them. I praise you for such good action that you give away your temporary and perishable goods in order to receive eternal and imperishable goods. But you must also throw away all carnal wisdom, just as you scatter your wealth, and put on the bright robe of the grace of the Holy Spirit. And this cannot be otherwise than by always fulfilling the commandments of Christ and enduring sorrows. When the soul is under the weight of sorrows and is oppressed by temptations, it is moved to tears, and tears cleanse the soul and make it the dwelling place of the All-Holy Spirit. This is why I insist that for salvation it is not enough to just give away your property; It is also necessary, just as you are scattering your money, to throw away all carnal wisdom and clothe your soul with the grace of the Holy Spirit; to put it briefly, one must sacrifice one’s entire self to God, both soul and body: one must exercise one’s body through physical deeds in deeds of virtue, accustoming oneself to all kinds of sorrows for the sake of God, in order to complacently endure the bitterness of fasting, the burden of vigil, the severity of abstinence and any other bodily suffering, and teach the soul the fear of God through reverence in the spirit, forcing it to philosophize what is appropriate to philosophize, and always think about what pertains to eternal life, to be quiet, humble, meek, contrite and tender, and cry and shed tears day and night, asking for the light and grace of the Holy Spirit, which usually comes into the soul through warm repentance, after it has been cleansed with many tears, without which no clothing is possible the soul to become white, nor to ascend to the height of contemplation. For just as ordinary clothing, when it becomes stained and dirty, cannot be whitened except by rinsing in water and rubbing with hands and feet, so the garments of the soul, when it is stained and defiled by sins, cannot be cleansed except by many tears and the patience of temptations and sorrows. So, those who have desecrated their souls with lawless deeds, sinful and passionate movements of the heart and who have imprinted on themselves the images and likenesses of wordless lusts, may they be forced to purify themselves with many tears and whiten the robe of their souls, because in any other way it is impossible for anyone to see the light, or God, who enlightens the heart of every person who comes to Him through repentance. Only the pure in heart see God, according to the word of our Lord. Therefore, I beg you, my brothers and children, let us strive to keep our hearts pure through good morals and good dispositions, through guarding our conscience and always confessing the innermost thoughts of our hearts. If we confess them often, or better yet, every day, with contrition and heartache, remembering everything and condemning ourselves for everything, whether we did something bad in deed, or thought something unkind in our mind, or said a bad word, then through this we will gain a repentant and contrite heart; such a repentant heart will draw tears from the depths of the soul, and tears will cleanse the soul and blot out all its sins. When all sins are blotted out with tears, then the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit will come into the soul and even more will begin to infuse it with the sweetness of tears of tenderness, with which it will be mentally nourished, become stronger and stronger and multiply the fruits of the Spirit, bringing them abundantly in due time and preparing in them food for itself for eternal and endless life. When, having labored well, she reaches such a measure, then she finally becomes united with God and becomes the dwelling of the Most Holy Trinity, she purely sees her Creator and God, converses with Him continuously, and in some way leaves her body and from this world, and ascends to the heavens of heaven, soaring there on the wings of God’s love and resting there from her exploits in some divine and boundless light, in the joy of all of her. the righteous and the gathering of the holy Apostles of Christ, martyrs and saints and all the ethereal heavenly powers. Let us, my brethren, strive towards such and such a state, by the power of Christ the Lord, so as not to remain behind our fathers, but to achieve a perfect husband, according to the age of the fulfillment of Christ, striving in all good deeds and in fulfilling all the commandments of Christ. There is no insurmountable obstacle to this, if only we want to and get down to business properly. If we arrange ourselves as shown, we will glorify God within ourselves, and God will rejoice in us, and when we move from this life, He will graciously receive us and settle us in the bosom of Abraham, where He will give us peace and delight with the sweets of the kingdom of heaven, which may we all receive through the grace and love of mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. You might be interested in: