Слово 14. О любви к бедным 98

1. Brothers and partners in poverty (for we are all poor and need the grace of God, although one seems superior to the other when we measure people with small measures)! Accept the word of love for the poor, not with the poor, but with a generous disposition of spirit, so that you may inherit the riches of the Kingdom. And pray together, so that I too can offer you a rich word, can feed your souls with it and crush spiritual bread to the hungry (Isa. 58:7), or like ancient Moses, bringing down food from heaven like rain (Ex. 16:4) and serving the bread of angels (Ps. 77:25), or feeding many thousands with a few loaves in the desert, as after Jesus - the true bread ( John 6:32 ) and the true life of the Author. It is not easy to find the most excellent of the virtues and give it primacy and advantage, just as in a multi-colored and fragrant meadow it is not suddenly possible to choose the most beautiful and fragrant of flowers, when one or the other attracts the sense of smell and the eye and, first of all, forces itself to be picked. In my understanding, various virtues can be compared and considered like this. 2. Beautiful are faith, hope, love, these three (1 Cor. 13:13). The witness of faith is Abraham, justified by faith; hope - Enos, who had the first hope of calling on the Lord (Gen. 4:26), and all the righteous who, inspired by hope, endured disasters. The witness of love is the divine Apostle, who dared to pronounce judgment on himself for the salvation of Israel (Rom. 9:3–4), and God Himself, Who is called love (1 John 4:16). Strangeness is wonderful. The witness of this among the righteous is Lot the Sodomite, but not a Sodomite in his morals (2 Pet. 2:8); and among sinners - Rahab the harlot, but not a harlot according to the disposition of her heart, for her love of homosexuality she was awarded praise and salvation (Heb. 11:31). – Brotherly love is wonderful: the witness is Jesus, who was not ashamed not only to be called our brother (Heb. 2:11), but also to suffer for us. Love for mankind is wonderful: the witness is He, Jesus, who not only created man for good works (Eph. 2:10) and combined His image with the flesh, showing the way to all that is best and leading us, strangers, to heavenly blessings, but also Himself became man for our sake. Long-suffering is wonderful: Jesus Himself is again a witness to this, Who not only did not want to call legions of Angels against the tormentors who rose up against Him, not only reproached Peter for drawing the knife, but also healed the wounded ear (Matthew 26:52–53; Luke 22:51). This was later demonstrated by Stephen, a disciple of Christ, who prayed for those who stoned him. Meekness is beautiful: the witnesses are Moses and David, for this they are praised most of all (Num. 12:3; 2 Samuel 16:11-12; Ps. 132:1), and their Teacher Himself, who does not contradict, does not cry, does not let out a voice at the crossroads (Matthew 12:19) and does not resist those who lead Him. 3. Jealousy is wonderful: witnesses of this are Phinehas, who with one blow of his spear pierced the Midianite woman along with the Israelite, in order to save the children of Israel from the reproach, and for his zeal received a glorious name for himself; and after him - those who said: I am zealous for the Lord (1 Kings 19:10); I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God (2 Cor. 11:2); Jealousy for Your house consumed me (Ps. 68:10), and they not only said this, but also felt it strongly. The exhaustion of the body is wonderful: Paul will convince you of this, who does not cease to keep himself strict (1 Cor. 9:27) and by the example of the Israelis he frightens people who rely on themselves and give free rein to their body (1 Cor. 10:5-8), and Jesus Himself, who, having been tempted, fasts and defeats the tempter (Luke 4:2-13). Prayer and vigil are wonderful: God Himself will convince you of this, Who before suffering spends the night without sleep in prayer (Matthew 26:39, 42, 44). Purity and virginity are beautiful: Paul will convince you of this, who prescribed laws for this and sets a fair price for married and celibate life (1 Cor. 7:1-11, 25-40), and Jesus Himself, born of a virgin, in order to honor both birth and give preference to virginity. Abstinence is wonderful: David will convince you of this, who, having taken possession of the well of Bethlehem, did not drink the water, but only poured it out in honor of the Lord, not wanting to quench the thirst of others with his blood (1 Chronicles 11:18-19). 4. Desert living and silence are wonderful: this is shown to me by Elijah’s Carmel, the desert of John, the mountain of Jesus, to which the Lord often went to converse with Himself in silence (Matthew 14:23; Luke 6:12, 9:28, 22:39). Moderation is wonderful: this is taught to me by Elijah, who gave birth to a widow, John, who covered himself with clothes made of camel's hair, and Peter, who ate vegetables that cost no more than an asses 99 . Humility is wonderful, examples of it are numerous; but the best example of all is the Savior and Master of all, Who not only humbled Himself to the form of a servant (Phil. 2:7), not only subjected His face to the shame of spitting (Isa. 50:6), and was counted with the wicked (Isa. 53:12), cleansing the whole world from sin, but also washed the feet of the disciples in the form of a servant. Non-covetousness and contempt for wealth are beautiful: Zacchaeus and Christ Himself testify to this: Zacchaeus - when, having accepted Christ to himself, he brought almost all his property as a gift; Christ - when he pointed out this virtue to the rich young man as the limit of perfection (Matthew 19:21). In short, contemplation is beautiful, and activity is also beautiful: the first because it rises above the earthly, enters the Holy of Holies and raises our mind to that which is akin to it; the other because, accepting Christ to herself and serving Him, she proves her love by her deeds. 5. Each of these virtues is a special path to salvation and, undoubtedly, leads to one of the eternal and blessed abodes. For just as there are different kinds of life, so God has many mansions (John 14:2), and they are divided and assigned to each according to his dignity. Therefore, let one perform this virtue, another another, another many, and someone, if possible, all; just let everyone walk unceasingly, strive forward and follow unswervingly in the footsteps of that good Guide, who directly directs his path and leads him along the narrow path, through the narrow gate (Matthew 7:14), to the breadth of heavenly bliss. But if, according to the teaching of Paul and Christ Himself, the first and most important commandment should be to honor love as an abbreviation of the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 22:37-40; 1 Cor. 13:13), then the most excellent part of it should be, as I find, love for the poor, pity and compassion for those who are of the same kind with us. For no service is so pleasing to God as mercy (because it is most akin to God, to whom mercy and truth come (Ps. 89:15) and to whom mercy must be offered as a gift (James 2:13) before judgment, and the righteous Giver, who has put mercy on the scales and measure (Is. 28:17), does not reward like that for anything With his love for humanity, as for his love for mankind. 6. So, in accordance with the commandment, which commands us to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep (Rom. 12:15), we must open the womb of mercy to all the poor and, for whatever reason, those who suffer; We must, as human beings, bring tribute to charity to people, no matter what their need forces them to seek help - whether widowhood, or orphanhood, or expulsion from the fatherland, or the cruelty of rulers, or the insolence of rulers, or the inhumanity of tax collectors, or the murderous hand of robbers, or the greed of thieves, or an inventory of property, or shipwreck. For they all have the same right to regret and look at our hands in the same way as we look at the hands of God when we ask for anything. However, even of these, those who, having been in a better state, fall into misfortune are more worthy of pity than those who have already become accustomed to a disastrous fate. And we must be especially compassionate towards those infected with leprosy, who, according to the terrible sentence pronounced on some people in the Holy Scriptures, were eaten away even to the flesh, bones and marrow (Job 33:21) and who were betrayed by this much-troubled, humiliated and treacherous body. I don’t understand how I united with him and how, being the image of God, I mixed with the dirt! This body, when it feels good, starts a war, and when I fight against it, it plunges me into sorrow. I love him as a colleague, but I turn away from him as from an enemy; I flee from him as from a bond, and I honor him as a joint heir. Do I dare to tire him out? But then I will have no one to use as a collaborator in good deeds; but I know why I was brought into being, I know that I must ascend to God through deeds. 7. Will I spare him as an employee? But then I don’t know how to avoid his rebellious attacks, and I’m afraid that I might fall away from God, weighed down by the chains that drag me to the earth or hold me on it. This is a gentle enemy and a treacherous friend! Wonderful connection and split! What I fear, I hold on to, and what I love, I fear. Before I even have time to enter into battle, I make peace, and before I have time to make peace, I start fighting again. What kind of wisdom is this being revealed to me and what a great mystery! Was it not for this reason that God brought us into this struggle and warfare with the body, so that we, being part of the Divinity 100 and having come from above, would not become arrogant and exalted in our dignity and would not neglect the Creator, but would always turn our gaze to Him and so that the weakness associated with us would keep our dignity within limits? So that we know that together we are both very great and very low, earthly and heavenly, temporary and immortal, heirs of light and heirs of fire or darkness, depending on which side we bow to? This is how our composition is structured, and this, as far as I can see, is so that the dust of the earth would humble us if we decided to exalt ourselves in the image of God. But let anyone who wants to reason wisely about this. I won’t refuse to think about it together with him at a more convenient opportunity. 8. And now I must talk about what sympathy for my own flesh and my own weakness prompts me to do when looking at the suffering of others; I must tell you, brethren, that we are obliged to take care of the body, this relative and co-servant of the soul (for although I blamed him as an enemy for what I suffer from him, I also love him as a friend, for the sake of Him who united me with him), and, moreover, to take care of the body of our neighbors no less, as each of us does about our own, whether we ourselves remain healthy or are exhausted by the same illness. For we are all one in the Lord (Gal. 3:28), whether one is rich or poor, whether one is slave or free, whether one is healthy or sick in body; everyone has one head - Christ, from Him are all things (Eph. 4:15-16), and as one member is for another, so is each of us for each other, and all things are for all (1 Cor. 12:12-27). Therefore, there is no need to neglect and leave without care those who previously fell under the common weakness of all; on the contrary, we should not so much rejoice in the prosperous state of our body as weep over the bodily suffering of our brothers; We must consider humanity towards them to be the only guarantee of our safety, physical and mental. 9. They must be looked at this way: others are pitiful only because of their poverty, from which, perhaps, either time, or work, or a friend, or a relative, or a change of circumstances will free them; and poverty oppresses these unfortunates no less than those, or even more; since, having lost their bodily members, they are also deprived of ways to work and help themselves in their needs, and, moreover, they are always more afraid of the aggravation of the disease than they hope for recovery, so that hope - this is the only medicine for the unfortunate - almost leaves them without help. But to their poverty there is also another evil - illness, a most terrible and painful evil, which among uneducated people is most likely to appear on the tongue when they curse someone. A third evil is connected with this: many do not want to approach them, do not want to look at them, run away from them, abhor them as if they were something disgusting; and this evil - to see themselves hated simply because they have been exposed to misfortune - is worse for them than the illness itself. I cannot look at their suffering without tears, and at the mere memory of it I become indignant in spirit. Have the same feelings, so that you can get rid of tears with tears. And I have no doubt that those present here really feel this way, who love Christ and love the poor and have the mercy that is characteristic of God and given to them by God. 10. You yourself are witnesses of their suffering. Before your eyes is an amazing and deplorable sight, which hardly anyone will believe except eyewitnesses: people are the living dead, the limbs of most of their bodily members have rotted away; people who can hardly be known who they were before and where they came from, or, better, the unfortunate remains of people who once lived, who, in order to make themselves known, say about their fathers, mothers, brothers and places of residence: “I am the son of such and such a father, my mother is such and such, my name is such and such, and you were once my friend and acquaintance.” They say this because they no longer have the same appearance by which they could be recognized. These are cut-off people who have no property, no kinship, no friends, not even a body; people who are alone from everyone else and regret themselves and hate themselves together; who do not know what to cry about anymore - either about those parts of the body that are no longer there, or about those that remain, or about those that were prematurely destroyed by illness, or about those that are still being saved for the sacrifice of illness: for those died miserably, and these survived for a greater misfortune, those faded away before the grave, and there is no one to put these in the coffin. Because even the kindest and most kind-hearted person can be extremely insensitive to the misfortunes of these sufferers. Here we forget that we ourselves are flesh and are clothed with a lowly body (Phil. 3:21), and we have so little care for these relatives of ours that we even consider it necessary for the safety of our body to move away from them. Another approaches a stale and, perhaps, already stinking corpse, carries the stinking bodies of dumb animals and, wallowing in the mud, does not disdain this; And we run away from these unfortunates as much as we can and - what inhumanity! – we are almost indignant at the fact that we breathe the same air as them. 11. Who is more tender than a father? Who is more compassionate than a mother? But for these outcasts, the parental heart is also locked. And the father of his own son, whom he gave birth to, whom he raised, in whom alone he hoped to have the eye of his life, for whom he prayed so much and so often to God - although he mourns this very son, he drives away from himself - he mourns from the heart, he drives away involuntarily. And the mother, remembering the pangs of birth, with a breaking heart, lets out the most pitiful cries and sobs out loud to everyone over the living, as over the dead, saying: “The unfortunate child of the ill-fated mother, taken from me by a cruel illness, a child worthy of pity, my dear child, whom I cannot even recognize, my child, whom I raised for the cliffs, mountains and deserts! Your life will be with the beasts, the mountain stone will be your shelter, and only the most pious of people will turn their eyes to you. Why,” she cries like Job (Job 3:11–12) in that painful voice, “why were you formed in your mother’s womb? Why, having come out of the womb, did not die at the same instant, so that death would be combined with birth? Why didn't you die prematurely, before you tasted the evils of life? Why did they take you on their knees and why did you need to suckle at the breast when a bitter life awaited you, a life worse than death?” Saying this, she sheds springs of tears and would like, unfortunate one, to embrace her brainchild in her arms, but she is afraid of its flesh as if it were an enemy! And among the people everywhere there is murmur and persecution - not against the evildoers, but against the unfortunate. Another lives with a murderer, shares not only his home but also his meals with an adulterer, accepts a blasphemer as his cohabitant, maintains friendship with his ill-wishers, and turns away from sufferers who have not upset him in any way as if they were criminals. Thus, vice is given priority over disease! We respect inhumanity as a noble cause, and we despise compassion as something shameful. 12. They are driven out of cities, driven out of houses, from squares, from roads, from conversations, from public meetings, feasts and - oh, bitter fate! – they are driven away from the water itself. “The springs do not flow for them to give water to all others; They even consider it incredible that rivers cannot become infected from them. And what’s strangest of all is that we drive away those who, as unclean, from us, those same ones, as if they do not cause us any loss, we force to return to us again, because we do not give them either housing, nor the necessary food, nor medicine for wounds, nor clothing with which we could cover their illness according to our strength. That is why they wander day and night - impoverished, naked, homeless, showing a body stricken with illness, retelling their old life, calling with a cry to the Creator, helping each other by using members that the other does not have, composing plaintive songs to beg for a piece of bread or the smallest part of something boiled, or some tattered rags to cover themselves from shame or to ease the pain of wounds. And in their eyes it is not he who is philanthropic who sufficiently gives them what they need, but everyone who does not send them away with severity. Many of them, overcoming shame, do not run away from solemn meetings; driven by extreme need, they invade here, into these national and sacred assemblies, which we have established for the healing of souls and to which we flock either to remember some sacrament, or to glorify the witnesses of the truth, so that, while honoring their exploits, we learn to imitate their piety. And although they are ashamed, as unfortunate people and as people, of the human face and would rather hide in the mountains, cliffs, forests, or, finally, in the night and darkness, they are nevertheless squeezed into the middle of the people - a pitiful burden and worthy of tears! - which, however, can be sent to us not without a purpose, and precisely for the purpose of reminding us of our weakness and convincing us not to cling to anything real and visible, as if to something permanent. Some of them are crowded in, wanting to hear the human voice; others - to look at people; others - in order to collect at least a meager alms from the luxurious rich to support life; nevertheless - in order to discover your grief and thereby alleviate yourself at least somewhat. 13. Who will not be crushed, listening to their groans, merging into one plaintive song? What ear can bear these sounds? What eye can calmly look at this spectacle? Here are some of them lying one next to the other - not joyfully united by illness into one community, where each bears the traces of some special disaster and all these disasters add up to one common grief, so that each with his suffering aggravates the suffering of others and everyone is pitiful in their illnesses, and even more pitiful in their compassion for each other. They are surrounded by a crowd of spectators, even those who sympathize, but only for a short time. And there others drag along at human feet; They are haunted by the heat of the sun, and dust, and sometimes by severe frosts, rains and storms; they would be trampled under foot, if even touching them were not considered vile. They respond to the sacred chants inside the church with groans and cries of petition, and the mysterious prayers are echoed by bitter sobs. But why should I describe all their misfortunes before people gathered for celebration? If I had accurately depicted this whole sad picture, then perhaps I would have aroused crying and sobbing, and the celebration would have turned into lamentation. The only reason I am talking about this is that I still cannot convince you that sometimes sadness is preferable to joy, and lamentation is more useful than celebration, and praiseworthy tears are better than unkind laughter. 14. Such is, and even more sad than as I imagined, the position of our brothers in God (even if you did not want to hear this), brothers who received the same nature as us, are made of the same clay from which we were originally created; bound, like us, by veins and bones and, like everyone else, clothed with skin and flesh (as the divine Job says in one place (Job 33:6, 10-11), philosophizing amid suffering and laughing at the visible part of our being), or, better, if we must mention the most important thing, which, just like us, are gifted with the image of God and preserve it, perhaps better than us, although they have decayed in body; clothed with one Christ (Gal. 3:27) according to the inner man; we received the same deposit of the Spirit for preservation (2 Cor. 1:22); participate in the same laws, words of God, covenants, meetings, sacraments, hopes with us; for whom Christ equally died (Rom. 14:15), taking upon Himself the sin of the whole world (John 1:29); who are joint heirs of heavenly life, although very much alienated from earthly life; who are buried with Christ and are raised with Him (Col. 2:12), suffer with Him, in order to be glorified with Him (Rom. 8:17). 15. What are we? We, who have inherited this great and new name, to be called according to Christ a holy nation, a royal priesthood, people adopted by God and chosen (1 Pet. 2:9), zealots of good and saving works (Titus 2:14), disciples of the meek and philanthropic Christ, who bore our weaknesses, humbled Himself to our frailty, for us for the sake of the poor (2 Cor. 8:9), who descended into this flesh and earthly church and endured sorrows and illnesses for us, so that we might be enriched by the inheritance of the Divine? What about us, who have such a high example of benevolence and compassion? How will we think about them and what will we do? Shall we despise them? Shall we run past? Shall we leave them as dead men, as vile monsters, as the most evil beasts and reptiles? No, brothers! This is not what the good Shepherd (John 10:11) teaches us, His sheep, who converts the lost, seeks the lost and strengthens the weak (Ezek. 34:16); Human nature, which has implanted in us the law of compassion and through the feeling of weakness, common to all of us, teaches us piety and love for mankind, is not the same. 16. Will they really languish in the open air, and we will begin to live in magnificent houses, colored with all kinds of stones, glittering with gold and silver, where patterned mosaics and various paintings seduce and attract the eye? Moreover, will we live in some and build others? And for whom? Perhaps not for our heirs, but for strangers and strangers, and, moreover, perhaps for people who not only do not love us, but, worst of all, are filled with enmity and envy towards us. They will be shaking from the cold in shabby and torn rags, and maybe they won’t even have those yet, and we will pamper ourselves, covering ourselves with soft and fluffy clothes, airy fabrics made of fine linen and silk, and while with some clothes we will not so much decorate ourselves as disfigure ourselves (for I consider everything unnecessary and dandy to be disgraceful), other outfits - useless and insane care, prey to moths and all-consuming time - will lie in our pantries. They will be in need - oh my destructive luxury! O their misery! – will also need the necessary food; they will be exhausted, hungry and lying at our gates, not even having enough strength in their body to ask; having no voice to weep; hands to stretch them out to bring us into pity; legs to approach the rich; not having enough breath to moan a plaintive song with greater effort, considering the loss of vision, this most serious evil, to be very light and also thanks for the fact that they do not see their ulcers. This is their condition! 17. And we, luxuriously dressed, will recline with importance on high and lush couches, covered with expensive carpets, which no one else dares to touch - being offended by this, if only we hear their pleading voice? We need our floor to be strewn with frequently and even untimely fragrant flowers, and our table to be sprinkled with the most expensive and fragrant myrrh, to further irritate our desperation; it is necessary that the young servants stand before us: alone in a beautiful order and formation, with their hair flowing like women’s, skillfully trimmed so that not a single hair is visible on their faces - in such decoration that even the most whimsical eyes would not require; others with glasses in their hands, barely touching them with their fingertips and bringing them up as deftly and carefully as possible; others, holding fans over our heads, would create an artificial breeze and with these hands, blowing zephyr, would cool the heat of our fattened body. It is necessary, in addition, that all the elements - air, earth, and water - provide us with their gifts in abundance and our table is fully laden and laden with meat dishes and other cunning inventions of cooks and bakers; so that they all vied with each other to try to please our greedy and ungrateful belly more - this heavy burden, the author of evils, this never-satiable and most unfaithful beast, which, together with the dishes it consumes, will soon need to decay (1 Cor. 6:13). For them it means a lot to quench their thirst with water, but with us wine foams in our cups: drink until you are drunk, even to the point of insensibility, if someone is intemperate! Yes, we will send back one of the wines, we will praise another for its smell and color, we will begin to talk about the third with importance, and it will be a disaster if, in addition to our own, we do not have some foreign wine, like a foreign conqueror! For we must certainly lead a life of luxury and exceeding needs, or at least be famous for such a life; as if we were ashamed if they did not consider us vicious people and slaves of the womb and that which is even worse than the womb. 18. What is this, friends and brothers? Why do we carry illness within ourselves—a mental illness that is much more painful than a physical one? For that one, as we know, does not come according to our will, but this one comes from our will; that one ends with this life, and this one passes with us into another life, into which we are now reposed; That one is regretted, at least by sensible people, but this one is hated. Why are we not in a hurry, while there is still time, to help our relatives by nature? Why, being ourselves flesh, do we not cover up the ugliness of the flesh? Why do we indulge in bliss when we see the misfortunes of our brothers? God forbid that I should live richly when they are in need, nor enjoy health when I do not provide help to heal their wounds, nor have sufficient food, clothing, or restful shelter, if I do not share bread with them, do not provide them with clothing if possible, and do not give them peace under my roof! For we must either leave everything for Christ, so that, having taken up the cross, we may truly follow Him (Matt. 16:24); or to share our property with Christ, so that the very possession of property will be sanctified through the fact that we will possess it as we should, and the poor will be partners in it. If I sow for myself alone, then I will say again in the words of Job: let me sow, but let others eat; instead of wheat, let me come up with weed, and instead of barley, thorns (Job 31:8, 40); let the burning wind kill and the whirlwind scatter my crops, so that all my labors remain in vain. If I begin to build granaries, collecting treasures from and for mammon, then let them extort my soul this very night (Luke 12:18–20) to demand an account for the evil acquisition of wealth. 19. Will we finally not feel it? Let us not reject hard-heartedness or—what we would like not to talk about—low ​​stinginess? Let's not think about human fate? Shall we not turn the misfortunes of others for our own benefit? For in human affairs, according to the natural order, there is nothing solid, even, supported by its own forces and remaining in the same position; our fate revolves like a wheel, at different times and often in one day, and sometimes in one hour, undergoing various changes, so that one can rather rely on the constancy of the winds, which never stop, or the traces of a ship sailing on the sea, or on deceptive dreams at night that give momentary pleasure, or on the firmness of those marks that children make in the sand when playing, than on human well-being. So, those who, not believing in present blessings, store up treasures for themselves in the future are prudent and, seeing the impermanence and changeability of human well-being, love charity, which will never change (1 Cor. 13:8). For this, without a doubt, they receive at least one of three retributions: either that they are never exposed to disasters, because God often consoles the pious with earthly goods, calling them with His goodness to compassion; or the fact that even in the midst of disasters they have boldness towards God (1 John 3:21), for they suffer not for a vicious life, but according to a special arrangement of Providence; or, finally, that they can rightfully demand from prosperous people the same compassion that they themselves showed to those in need during their happiness. 20. Let not, it is said, the wise man boast in his wisdom, neither the rich man in his wealth, nor the mighty man in his strength (Jer. 9:23), even if anyone has reached the highest degree or wisdom, or wealth, or strength. And to these words of Scripture I will add something that is in agreement with them: let not the glorious one boast in his glory, nor the healthy one in his health, nor the handsome one in his beauty, nor the youthful one in his youth, in short, let him not boast in anything of the kind that is glorified here; let him who is arrogant boast not. Let yourself only boast about one thing - namely, to understand and diligently seek God (Jer. 9:24), to have compassion for those who suffer and to prepare for yourself something good for the age to come. For the blessings here flow quickly, are given for an hour and, like pebbles in a game, are thrown from place to place and passed on to one or the other; nothing here can be called yours: everything will either be taken away by time, or envy will transfer it into the wrong hands. On the contrary, spiritual blessings are constant and durable, they will never depart or fall away from us, they will never deceive the hopes of the one who believed them. But this very thing, that none of these blessings is untrue to people and fragile, seems to me to be beautiful, like everything else, arranged by a prudent Artist - the Word and Wisdom, which surpasses all understanding (1 Cor. 1:23; Phil. 4:7); This very fact that visible goods are subjected to and expose us to one or another vicissitudes, sometimes ascending upward, sometimes falling down and whirling around as if in a whirlwind, and before we take possession of them, they run away and move away from us, and thus play with us, deceive us - isn’t it aimed at ensuring that we, having seen their inconstancy and changeability, would rather rush to the haven of the future life? In fact, what would happen to us if our earthly happiness were constant, when even with its impermanence we are so attached to it? When its deceptive pleasantness and charm holds us, like slaves, in such bonds that we cannot imagine anything better and higher than the present, and this is when we hear and believe that we are created in the image of God, who, being in heaven, draws us to Himself (Col. 1:15; John 3:13, 12:32)? 21. Who is wise and understands these things (Hos. 14:10)? Who dares to run away from things that run away? Who will cleave to the eternal one? Who will learn to think about the present as transitory, and about the hoped-for as permanently present? Who wants to separate the truly existing from the apparent and strive for the former, and despise the latter? Who wants to distinguish a list from the truth, a low hut from a city on high (2 Pet. 1:13; Heb. 13:14), a lodging for the night from a permanent dwelling, darkness from light, deep wellness (Ps. 69:3) from the holy land, flesh from the spirit, God from the ruler of the world, the shadow of death from eternal life? Who wants to buy the future with the present, the imperishable with perishable wealth, the invisible with visible? Truly, blessed is he who, discerning these things and cutting with a sword the words separating the best from the worst, believes, as the divine David said in one place, to ascend in his heart (Ps. 83:6), and, fleeing as much as he can from this vale of weeping, seeks the highest (Col. 3:1), and, crucifying the world with Christ, with Christ he is resurrected (Gal. 6:14; Col. 3:1), with Christ and ascends to the inheritance of a life that no longer changes, no longer deceives, where there is no longer a serpent that bites in the way, that bruises in the heel and that is bruised in the head (Gen. 49:17, 3:15). And the same David, like some loud preacher, beautifully announces us with a lofty and nationwide sermon, in which he calls us heavy-hearted and lovers of lies, and teaches us not to cleave too much to what is visible and not to rely on all earthly well-being solely in the abundance of wheat and wine (Ps. 4:3, 8) - these soon-to-decay acquisitions. And blessed Amos 101, perhaps, had the same thing in his thoughts and also armed himself against earthly and imaginary blessings when he said: draw near to the eternal mountains: arise and go, for you cannot have this peace (Mic. 2:9-10). And this, even in its very expressions, is almost completely similar to the command of our Lord and Savior. Which one exactly? Get up, let's get out of here (Jn. 14:31), - He said, not only urging the disciples of that time to move from a certain place to another, as anyone might think, but also all His disciples at all times, with this appeal drawing from earth to heaven and from earthly goods to heavenly ones. 22. So, let us follow the Word, seek heavenly peace, reject earthly abundance; let us use only what is good in him; Let us redeem our souls with alms (Dan. 4:24), give from our possessions to the poor, in order to acquire heavenly wealth. Give part also to the soul, not all to one flesh; give some to God, not all to the world alone. Take at least something from the womb and dedicate it to the spirit. Snatch something from the fire and place it away from the devouring flame. Snatch something from the cruel tormentor and entrust it to the Lord. Give a portion to the seventh, that is, of this life, and let us wash (Eccl. 11:2), that is, of that life into which we will pass from here. Give a little to the One from Whom you received incomparably more. Give everything to Him who gave you everything. You will never be more generous than God, even if you sacrificed everything you have, even if you gave yourself along with your property; for the very thing in order to give oneself to God is what a person receives from Him. No matter how much you pay Him, even more will remain on you, and you will not give anything of your own, since everything is from God. And just as it is impossible to get ahead of your shadow, which moves forward insofar as we go forward, and always precedes us at an equal distance; just as the body cannot grow higher than the head, which always rises above it, so it is impossible for us to surpass God with our gifts. For we give nothing that does not belong to Him or that is outside the circle of His generosity. 23. Think about where you get your being, your breath, and your very understanding? Where does this greatest advantage come from, that you know God and hope for the Kingdom of Heaven, the dignity equal to the angels, the contemplation of glory, which is now only in mirrors and fortune-telling (1 Cor. 13:12), and then will be most perfect and pure - you hope to become a son of God (Matthew 5:9), a joint heir with Christ (Rom. 8:17) and, I will say a bold word, even yourself God (John 10:34–35)? Where do you get all this from and from whom? Or - if we turn to less important and visible gifts - who gave you to see the beauty of the sky, the course of the sun, the circle of the moon, the multitude of stars and in all this, as in the sounds of the lyre, always the same harmony and order; the continuity of parts of the year, the change of times, the circulation of years, the proportionality of day and night, the production of the earth, the flow of air, the breadth of the agitated and then calmly standing sea, the depth of rivers, the tendencies of the winds? Who gave you rain, agriculture, food, arts, housing, laws, civil order, a serene life and close ties with your family? Where does it come from that some animals became tame and obedient to you, while others were given to you as food? Who made you lord and king over all creatures on earth? Who - I will say briefly, without calculating everything in detail - gave you everything that a person surpasses them? Isn’t it the One who most of all and instead of everything now demands from you love for mankind? Will we not be ashamed if, having received so many benefits from God and hoping to receive so many, we do not bring Him this one gift - love for mankind? He distinguished us from animals and honored us alone on earth with the gift of reason, but are we really going to turn ourselves into animals? Has luxury really corrupted us so much, so deprived us of our minds or... (but I don’t know how to express this anymore) that we, having an extra piece and something else equally unimportant, and even then, perhaps, having made money by untruth, will therefore think that we are by nature better than these unfortunates? Do we really imagine that we are too high in comparison with them, that we are higher than people, like the ancient giants, who, according to the legend, formed a special race, different from other mortals, or like Nevrod and the sons of Anak (Num. 13:34), who once oppressed Israel, or like those giants whose atrocities brought down a flood to cleanse the earth? If God and the Master is not ashamed to be called our father, then will we renounce our kinship with those like us? 24. No, friends and brothers! Let us not be unrighteous stewards of what has been entrusted to us, lest we hear the formidable words of Peter: “Be ashamed, you who hold back what belongs to you, imitate the goodness of God, which is equal for all, and then there will not be a single poor person.” 102 Let us not torment ourselves by collecting and preserving treasures, while others are languishing in poverty, lest the divine Amos strike us with cruel reproaches and threats, who cries out: Hear now, saying: When the month is past, we will sell and Sabbaths and open the treasures (Am. 8:4-5), and then, in the words that follow, threatens with the wrath of God people who have a small measure and a measure great. May blessed Micah not reproach us, who, reproaching the Jews for the fact that they laze on beds of ivory, anoint themselves with the most expensive aromas, fatten their bodies, eating the tender meat of bulls from the herds and goats from the flocks, accompanying the sounds of organs with applause, and then even more strongly condemning the fact that they consider these pleasures constant and lasting, condemns luxury (since resentment is born from satiety) and adds a new one to this condemnation of immoderate pleasures, imputing, perhaps, an even greater guilt in the fact that sensualists, indulging in pleasures, do not at all have compassion for Joseph’s contrition (Am. 6:4-6). May this condemnation not befall us! Let us not allow ourselves to become so lost in pleasure as to neglect the very love of God, Who is irritated by this, although not suddenly, not immediately after the crime, brings His wrath upon sinners. 25. Let us follow the highest and first law of God Himself, Who sends rain on the righteous and sinners and commands the sun to rise equally on everyone (Matthew 5:45), Who, without any hesitation, provided land, springs, rivers, and forests to everyone living on land, air to birds, water to those living in the waters, Who gave to all people in abundance the first needs of life, of which no power are subject to, are not limited by law, nor are they blocked by the borders of states, but are offered to everyone and everyone in a rich measure and yet do not become impoverished because of it. God has so generously endowed all people, of course, in order to show by the equal distribution of His gifts both the equal dignity of our nature and the richness of His goodness. And people, having buried gold, silver, expensive and extra clothes, semi-precious stones and other similar treasures in the ground - these are evidence of warfare, civil strife and ancient violence of the admirers of the supreme power - then, crazy, they raise their eyebrows and by nature refuse mercy to their needy relatives, not wanting to help them with their needs even with their surplus. What ignorance! What stupidity! Not to mention anything else; at least, they would have imagined that poverty and wealth, free, in the ordinary sense understood, state and slavery and other similar names appeared later in the human race and how some ailments invaded along with the untruth that invented them. At first, as the Scripture says, it was not so (Matthew 19:8). But He who created man first made him free, limiting him to only one law of commandment; made him rich among the sweets of paradise, and at the same time deigned to grant these benefits to the entire human race in one first seed. Then freedom and wealth consisted solely in keeping the commandment, and true poverty and slavery lay in transgressing it. 26. But from the time that envy and strife appeared, from the time when the insidious dominion of the serpent began, constantly and imperceptibly attracting us to evil with the delicious bait of pleasure and arming daring people against the weak, - from that time on, kinship between people was dissolved, their alienation from each other was expressed in various names of titles, and covetousness, calling upon the law to help its power, forced us to forget about the nobility of human nature. You look at the initial equality of rights, and not at the subsequent division, not at the law of the ruler, but at the law of the Creator. Help nature as much as you can, almost primitive freedom, respect yourself, cover up the dishonor inflicted on your family; provide relief in sickness, support in need. Are you healthy and rich? This is how you comfort the sick and the poor. Have you experienced a fall? So pick up the fallen and broken. Are you happy? So encourage the discouraged. Are you happy? So ease the fate of those depressed by misfortune. Give something to God in gratitude for the fact that you are not among those who need benefits, but among those who can provide benefits, that you are not looking into the hands of others, but others into yours. Enrich yourself not only with property, but also with piety, not only with gold, but also with virtue, or, better yet, with virtue alone. Earn preference over your neighbor by being more charitable than him. Be a god for the unfortunate, imitating the mercy of God. 27. For nothing makes a person more like God than doing good, although God does incomparably more beneficence, and man less, according to his own strength. God created man and again raises him from corruption; and you, at least, do not despise the fallen. God showed man the greatest mercy when he gave him, among other things, the Law, the Prophets, and even before that the natural law - unwritten, this tester of our deeds; when he rebuked, admonished, guided people and, finally, gave himself up as a sacrifice of atonement for the life of the world (Matthew 20:28; John 6:51); when he gave us apostles, evangelists, teachers, shepherds, healings, miracles, restoration to life, destruction of death, a sign of victory over him who conquered us, the covenant of the shadow and the covenant of truth, various gifts of the Holy Spirit and the sacrament of a new salvation. And you, if you can provide the highest benefits that benefit the soul (since God will give you this wealth too, if you only wish it), do not refuse to serve someone in need, or, better, such and such benefits first of all and above all, and provide those who ask you, without even waiting for his request; all day long, merciful and mutually giving (Ps. 37:26) the word and unforgivingly collecting the debt with interest, that is, with the increase of edification in the one who used it - the interest that is always added to the accepted word by the one who little by little increases the seeds of piety in himself. If you cannot serve your neighbor with this, then provide him with at least smaller benefits that take second place and do not exceed your strength. Help him, bring food, give him rags, bring medicine, bandage his wounds, ask about his plight, talk about patience; dare, come. You will not humiliate yourself with this; the disease will not stick to you, although people who are too effeminate, seduced by empty prejudices, think so, or, better said, even though they try with this pretext to justify their either cowardice or aversion from piety, resorting to timidity, as if to something important and wise. Regarding this, sound reasoning can reassure you, and doctors, and their servants living in the same house with the sick, not one of whom has ever been in danger while handling them. But even if such a message aroused fear and doubt, you, servant of Christ, lover of God and lover of mankind, do not be overcome by base cowardice! Dare by faith, conquer fear with compassion, effeminacy with the fear of God, carnal calculations with piety. Do not despise your brother, do not run past him, do not disdain him as uncleanness, as an infection, as something disgusting and rejected. This is your penis, although it has been twisted by misfortune. The beggar is left to you to eat (Ps. 9:35), as to God Himself, although you pass by him too arrogantly (maybe even with these words I will bring you to shame). You are offered an opportunity to prove your philanthropy, although the enemy turns you away from your own happiness. 28. Every navigator is close to shipwreck, and the closer he is, the more courage he sails. Likewise, anyone surrounded by a body is close to bodily troubles, and the closer the more fearlessly he walks with his forehead raised, despite those lying in front of him. As long as you sail in a favorable wind, give your hand to the shipwrecked; While you enjoy health and wealth, help the suffering. Do not wait to learn from your own experience what a great evil is inhumanity and what a great good is a heart that is open to those in need. Do not want to live to see God lift up His hand (Ps. 73:3) against those who lift up their necks and despise the needy. Learn from other people's troubles. Give even the smallest thing to the poor - and it will not be a small thing for the one who needs everything, and for God Himself, if the alms are within your power. Instead of a great gift, bring zeal. Have nothing? Comfort with a tear. Great healing for the ill-fated, when someone sincerely regrets him; misfortune is greatly alleviated by sincere condolences. You, a man, should not consider a person worse than an animal, which the law tells you to pick up when it falls into a ditch, or bring it to its owner when it gets lost (Ex. 23:4–5; Deut. 22:4). Isn’t there another, mysterious and deepest meaning hidden in this command, just as in many sayings of the law, distinguished by their depth and ambiguous significance - it is not for me to penetrate into this, but for the all-searching and all-knowing Spirit. But as far as I understand this, and as much as it relates to my word, I will say that here the law has the goal of leading us from mercy towards unimportant creatures to the most perfect and most important mercy. In fact, if we are obliged to be merciful to the dumb, then how great should be our love for those who are of the same kind and dignity as us? 29. This is what reason, the law, and the most just of people teach us, who believe that it is better to do good than to receive benefits, and that mercy is more valuable than self-interest. What can we say about our sages? I am not talking about the pagans who, inventing gods - protectors of passions, give the greatest honors to Kerdoy 103, and, what is even worse, make it a law (as we see among some peoples) to slaughter people as sacrifices to some of the demons, so that inhumanity is part of their worship of God, and with such sacrifices they both delight themselves and think to please their gods - evil priests and secret servants evil! But here is what is especially worthy of mourning: there are also among our brethren people who are so far from condolences and assistance to the suffering that they are not even ashamed to cruelly reproach them, attack them, come up with empty and insignificant speculations, as if speaking from the earth (Isa. 29:4), speak into the wind, and not for ears led by good sense and accustomed to the truths of the Divine. They dare to judge like this: “God sent them misfortune, and us happiness. And who am I to dare to violate God’s decree and show myself more merciful than God? Let them languish, be in poverty, suffer! God wants it that way.” Only in this case do they show themselves to be worshipers of God, where they need to save their money and be brave over the unfortunate! But in fact, they do not think that their well-being comes from God, as is clearly evident from their words. For will he who acknowledges God as the giver of all that he owns, think like them about the poor? He who really has something from God uses what he has in accordance with the will of God. 30. On the other hand, it is also unknown that God Himself always sends suffering to the poor, because bodily matter, which is constantly in some kind of flow, can itself be the cause of disorders. And why does anyone know that one is punished for a vicious life, while another is exalted as worthy of praise? Or maybe it’s the other way around - this one rises precisely because he is bad, and the other one is subjected to temptation for his virtue; this one rises higher in order to fall further; he is allowed to reveal in advance, like a certain disease, all his depravity, so that the punishment that is about to befall him will be all the more just; and he is oppressed beyond expectation, so that, having been tempted like gold in the crucible (Wis. 3:6), he can be cleansed from the slightest admixture of evil that still remains in him (for no one by natural birth is completely clean from filth, as we hear from Scripture (Job 14:4)) and appear even more worthy, since I also find this secret in the Divine Scripture (Wis. 3:5). It would take a long time to count all the verbs of the Spirit that relate here. And who can count the sand of the sea, and the drops of rain, and the depth of the abyss (Sir. 1:2-3)? Likewise, who can explore in everything the depth of the wisdom of God, with which He created everything and controls everything as He wants and as He knows? It is enough for us, following the example of the divine Apostle, to be amazed only at it and to honor in silence its incomprehensible and inconceivable depth. O the depth of the wealth and wisdom and mind of God! For His judgment was untested and His ways were unsearchable (Rom. 11:33). And who understands the mind of the Lord (Isa. 40:13)? Or who has attained His final wisdom, as Job says (Job 11:7)? Who is wise and will understand this (Hosea 14:10), and who will dare to measure what is beyond all measure by intelligible considerations? 31. So, let someone be bold and daring to do this, or better yet, no one. I dare not attribute either punishment in life here to vice, or a calm state to virtue. True, such retribution also happens here, and, of course, for some useful purposes, so that, on the one hand, the misfortunes of evil people stop the pursuit of vice, and on the other, the prosperity of the good ones eases the path of virtue, but this does not always happen and not completely. Full reward belongs to the only future life, where some will receive rewards for virtue, and others - punishments for vice. For, it is said, these will rise for the resurrection of life, and these for the resurrection of judgment (John 5:29). But for real life there is a different law, a different knowledge. However, in this life everything is directed towards the future. And what seems uneven to us is, without a doubt, leveled by God. Similarly, in the body there are protruding and sunken parts, great and small, and on earth there are high and low places; but all this in mutual relationship forms and presents to our eyes a beautiful whole. Likewise, with an artist, at first, a discordant and uneven substance is then very skillfully crafted when some kind of work is built from it; after which we, having seen this work in its absolute beauty, understand and recognize the artist’s art. So let us not honor God as such an imperfect artist as we are; Let us not find disorder in the management of the world because the only reason is that we do not know the way of government. 32. But we - if we need to imagine the state of our spirit in a similar way - we are not much different from people suffering from nausea and dizziness on a ship, who, spinning themselves, think that everything is spinning. These are exactly the ones we are talking about. They do not want God to be wiser than them when they are dizzy with bewilderment about some incident. Instead of either working hard to find the reason for it in the hope that perhaps the truth will be given to a hardworking search, or consulting about this with people who are wiser and more spiritual than them (since wisdom is one of the gifts, and not everyone has understanding (1 Cor. 8:7)), or by the purity of life to grasp knowledge and seek wisdom from the true Wisdom - they - what ignorance! - they grab onto what is closest to their hands, slander that everything in the world is done without a reason because they themselves do not see it, and thus, from their ignorance, they become wise men, or from excessive, so to speak, wisdom they become devoid of wisdom and senseless. That is why some have introduced happiness and randomness 104 - such a fiction, which, truly, was created only by luck and as it happened. Others have come up with some kind of unreasonable and inexorable dominion of the stars, 105 which, by their own will, weave, or, better to say, are involuntarily forced to weave our fate; They came up with the combinations and oppositions of some wandering and non-wandering celestial bodies and a movement dominating the whole world. Others, since they could not comprehend and know Providence itself, brought into the poor human race their dreams, which they imagined 106, and fragmented it into various opinions and names. There were also those who represented Providence as too poor 107 and, having extended His control only to what was above us, did not dare to bring Him down to us, who most need Him, as if fearing that the Benefactor would not be shown to be too good, when there would be too many creatures benefiting from His benefits, or so as not to tire God with many benefits. 33. But let us leave these fools, as I have already said, to themselves, since even before us the word of God well reflected them with this sentence: their foolish heart became futile: professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God (Rom. 1:21-23), distorting the all-encompassing Providence with some fables and shadows. But we, if only, as rational beings and servants of the Word, we listen to reason, we should neither invent such monstrous opinions ourselves, nor accept people who think so, no matter how cunning their tongue may be in composing absurd speculations and teachings and no matter how seductive the news of their inventions may be. On the contrary, we must believe that there is a God the Creator and Creator of all creatures; for how could the universe exist if someone had not realized it and brought it into harmonious composition? We must believe that there is a Providence that contains everything and connects everything in the world; for for those beings for whom a Creator is necessary, a Provider is also necessary; otherwise the world, carried by chance like a ship in a whirlwind, should, due to the disordered movements of matter, instantly collapse, crumble and return to the original chaos and disorder. We must also believe that our Creator, or Creator (it doesn’t matter whether you call Him by one name or another), cares in a special way about our fate, although our life is spent among various oppositions, the reasons for which, perhaps, remain unknown, so that we, not comprehending them, are all the more amazed at the sublime Mind above everything. For everything that we easily understand, we easily neglect; but, on the contrary, what is higher than us, the more inconceivable it is, the more it excites surprise in us; and everything that runs away from our desire thereby ignites the strongest love for itself. 34. Therefore, let us neither value health too highly, in any case, nor discourage illness too much, let us not cleave to fleeting wealth (Ps. 61:11) and more appropriately apply our heart to this stream, spending on this, so to speak, something from the essence of our soul. Let us not rebel against poverty as a lot deserving of contempt, curse and hatred. Let us learn better to despise insanely consumed health, the fruit of which is sin, and to respect piously endured illness, honoring those who have gained victory through suffering; Why do we know if there is some Job lurking among the sick, who is incomparably more worthy of honor than the healthy, although he scrapes off pus from himself and languishes day and night in the open air, suffering from ulcers, and from his wife, and from friends. Let us learn to sweep away unrighteous wealth, for which the rich man righteously suffers in the flames (Luke 16:24), asking for a small drop of water to cool himself, and together to please the grateful and wise poverty with which Lazarus is saved and richly rewarded with rest in the bosom of Abraham. 35. Thus, it seems that we need humanity and kindness towards the poor in order to stop the mouths of those who think wrongly about it and not to give in to their vain wisdom, which we have now considered, that is, not to turn cruelty into law to harm ourselves. But above all let us honor here the commandment and admonitions of the word of God. What is this commandment? See how inspired her husbands are constantly inspiring her and how close she is to their hearts. They do not proclaim it in such a way that they say something about the poor once or twice and then retreat; It is not that some mention mercy and others do not, or that some talk about it more and others less, as if it were not an important and extremely necessary subject. No, they all and each one in particular, considering this commandment to be the main one or one of the main ones, zealously encourage us to fulfill it, sometimes with admonitions, sometimes with threats, sometimes with reproaches, and sometimes with merciful praise, and all this in order to strengthen its effect in our hearts by constant reminders of this commandment. It is said: for the sake of the passions of the poor and the groaning of the needy, I will now rise again, says the Lord (Ps. 11:6). Who will not fear the rising Lord? And in another place: Arise, O Lord my God, let Thy hand be exalted, do not forget the poor (Ps. 9:33). Let us reject through prayer such an exaltation of the hand of God and do not want to see it raised against the rebellious or, what is even more painful, directed at the hard-hearted. And one more thing: do not forget the title of the poor; the beggar will not be completely forgotten (Ps. 9:13, 19); His eyes look upon the poor (Ps. 10:4); and such charity is better and more excellent than the approach of the leaders. The sons of men will test His principles, which is, as it were, a lower and secondary discipline. 36. But perhaps someone will say that this is talking about the poor and wretched, unjustly oppressed. I don’t argue, but this very thing should motivate you to love humanity. If the Lord cares so much for the poor when they are offended, then, of course, He will reward you even more for them when they receive benefits from you. If swearing at the poor irritates the Creator (Proverbs 17:5), then he who cares about the creation honors the Creator. Again, when you hear the words: the poor and the rich are each other’s companions, but the Lord makes both (Proverbs 22:2), then do not think that the Lord made one poor and the other rich so that you could attack the poor even more, for it is not known whether such a division came from God. These words of Scripture show only that both the poor and the rich were created equally by God, although their external fate is not the same. Let this move you to compassion and brotherly love, and if, when you look at your wealth, you become proud, then let the thought of a common Creator humble you and lead you into the limits of modesty. What else? The beggar who has mercy gives back to God (Proverbs 19:17). Who would not want to have a debtor who will repay the debt in due time with interest? And again, through alms and faith, sins are cleansed (Proverbs 15:27). 37. So, let us cleanse ourselves with mercy, we will wipe away with this beautiful grain the impurity and filthiness of our souls and let us be white, some like waves, others like snow (Isa. 1:18), according to the measure of our charity! I'll say something even more amazing. If you have neither broken limbs, nor scabs, nor sores, nor scorching wounds (Isa. 1:6), there is no spiritual leprosy, or tangible sign, or shine (Lev. 13:2), which only partially cleanses the law and which Christ alone can heal, then nevertheless almost the One who endured ulcers and diseases for us. You will honor Him when you appear merciful and philanthropic to the member of Christ. If the robber and tormentor of our souls, either on your way from Jerusalem to Jericho, or in some other place, attacked you, unarmed and not ready for defense, perhaps so wounded you that you should say: my wounds have become stale and rotten from the face of my madness (Ps. 37:6); if you are in such a state that you are neither looking for healing nor know the means for your healing - ah! This is already a truly great plague and extreme disaster. But when you have not yet completely given in to despair and have not become completely incurable, run to the Doctor, beg Him, treat ulcers with ulcers, attract like with like, or, better said, heal greater illnesses with lesser means. And He says to your soul: I am your salvation (Ps. 34:3), He will say: your faith will save you (Luke 7:50); Behold, you are in good health (John 5:14), and he will comfort you with all the sweetness of the words of love for mankind, if only he sees that you also love mankind towards the sick. 38. Blessed, He says, be merciful, for there will be mercy (Matthew 5:7); You see that among the beatitudes, mercy occupies not the last place. Also: blessed is he who considers the poor and wretched (Ps. 40:1); good is the man who is generous and gives (Ps. 111:5); All day long the righteous one has mercy and gives back (Ps. 36:26). Let us delight in bliss, let us earn the name of understanding, let us become good; Let night itself not interrupt the works of mercy. Do not say: when you go away, return, and in the morning I will give you (Prov. 3:28). Do not allow the slightest gap between good intentions and charity. There is one thing that cannot be deferred—philanthropy. Break your bread for the hungry and bring the bloodless poor into your house (Isa. 58:7), and do all this cordially. Have mercy, it is said, with good will (Rom. 12:8); Thus, your readiness will increase the price of your good deed. For what is done out of sorrow or out of need cannot be pleasant and graceful; When providing benefits, one should rejoice and not complain. If you get rid of soza and beating of hands, that is, petty prudence, intelligence, and doubt, and the verb grumbling, what will happen then? What a wonderful and great reward! What and how rich a reward! Your light will open early, and your healing will quickly shine (Isa. 58:8). Who wouldn’t wish for light and healing? 39. But with the same reverence I look at the ark of Christ (John 12:6), which encourages us to feed the poor; and the agreement of Paul and Peter that, having divided the preaching of the Gospel among themselves, they cared for the poor with their common strength; and to the limit and law of perfection indicated to the young man: give your property to the poor (Matthew 19:21). Don't you think that love for humanity is not a necessity for you, but a matter of arbitrariness, not a law, but advice? I myself would very much like to think so, but I am frightened by the left side, and the goats, and the reproaches that they will hear from the One who placed them on the left. They will be condemned not for robbery, not for sacrilege, not for adultery or other sins prohibited by law, but for not serving Christ on behalf of the poor. 40. So, if you, slaves and brethren, and joint heirs of Christ, have any obedience to me, then while there is still time, let us visit Christ, serve Christ, feed Christ, clothe Christ, accept Christ, honor Christ - not only with a meal, like some; not with fragrant ointments, like Mary; not only by grave, like Joseph of Arimathea; not with substances needed for burial, like Nicodemus, who only half showed his love for Christ; not with gold, frankincense and myrrh, as the Magi did before; but since the Lord of all desires mercy, and not sacrifice (Matthew 9:13) and mercy is dearer than fat lambs (Dan. 3:40), then let us offer this mercy to Him in the person of the poor and those who are now languishing, so that when we depart from here, they will receive us into eternal shelters (Luke 16:9), in Christ Himself, Our Lord, to whom be glory forever, Amen. This word was spoken by St. Gregory in an almshouse built by Basil the Great, in which at that time (in 373 AD) there were many people infected with leprosy. Ass is a copper coin weighing 4 spools. This expression should not be understood in a material sense; it, according to the explanation of Nikita, the interpreter of the words of St. Gregory, means the breath of life that God breathed into the face of the primordial man (Gen. 2:7), and together - the image of God. In some manuscripts, instead of the word “Amos,” it is written “Micah.” These words are taken from the Apostolic Constitutions. Mercury, patron of greed.