Богатство

It is better to die with the beggar Lazarus and the wounds stinking on a puss, in order to be carried by the Angels to Abraham’s bosom into eternal joy, than with the rich man, dressed in purple and fine linen, among singers and music, to end his life, and be cast into hell, and suffer in eternal flames (see Luke 16:19-25). People consider it great to have the wealth of this world. But for Christians it is great to have spiritual wealth within themselves, that is, living faith, the grace of God and spiritual fruit: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, mercy, faith, meekness, self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). Christians consider this treasure of the soul great. The wealth of the world only serves man, but at death it departs from him, and he goes into that age as one of the poor and wretched... A person carries a spiritual treasure here within himself and in that age he leaves with it, and with it he appears to the Heavenly Father and shows evidence of himself that he is a Christian in name and in essence. And the rich man, who has a lot of material wealth, but does not have spiritual wealth, what will he go away with in that age and what evidence of himself will he show that he was a Christian in this world? Is it because he had a lot? Both the Turks and the idolaters have a lot. Or that he confessed the name of God? And the demons believe and tremble (James 2:19). What is the use of having chests filled with substance, but an empty soul? The rich man is poor who does not have spiritual treasures within himself, although he has everything outside himself. People please him, because they see a lot of things in him, but before God he is damned, for God sees nothing in him except poverty (see Rev. 3:17). Christian! Let us try to have spiritual treasure within us - and we will be truly rich. Let us acknowledge our poverty - may God Himself enrich us with His grace. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that through His poverty you might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9). Wonderful poverty that enriches us, wonderful wealth that comes from poverty! This is the work of Christ, for for Him who, being rich, became poor for our sakes, all things are possible. But it is also written: all things are possible to him who believes (Matthew 17:20; Mark 9:23). You see that the flower soon fades either from the heat or from the frost, or the smoke or bubble in the water soon disappears. So is the wealth, honor and glory of this world: before they have time to appear and appear, when they find or a storm of troubles, or death, everything disappears, as if it had never happened. Look at the graves and you will see that after death the rich and famous are no different from the poor and simple. All, like the dust of the earth, returned to the earth and were converted. They left the world - fame and wealth left them; and the rich became as beggars, and the glorious as simple, and masters were compared with their slaves, the rich with the poor, so that it was impossible to know where the master was and where his servant was, where the rich man was and where the beggar lay. This case and reasoning teaches us to seek true spiritual wealth and glory, which will not depart from us if we acquire them; and don’t chase after the joys of this world, for they, like smoke and a bubble, disappear and instead of imaginary joy, they leave us with true sorrow. Consider, everyone, would it not be great madness for that person who, being in a foreign country and soon planning to return to his home, would begin to build rich houses there, which he would soon be forced to leave, and so his labor would only be useless; or the one who, having definitely been informed that he will die soon, in two days or two weeks, nevertheless collects wealth, seeks honor and glory? Truly, anyone would call both of them senseless! This is what those people do senselessly who in this world build rich and superfluous buildings, collect great treasures, seek honor and glory, knowing that all this should soon be left in this country and go to their place without all this. No one takes anything from this world with them, for we brought nothing into the world; It is clear that we cannot take anything out of it (1 Tim. 6:7). And although every one of those who collect and not become rich in God, God’s voice thunders: fool! this night your soul will be taken from you; who will get what you have prepared (Luke 12:20)? - and although everyone sees every day that the rich and the poor, the famous and the inglorious, the respectable and the simple, are equally admired and move into that age, and are admired differently and often unexpectedly, so that those who hope to live a long time suddenly stop living, and what they see in others coming true, they should also expect for themselves, yet they try to become rich and famous in this foreign country, as if they were going to live here for many thousands of years or forever. Wealth is given to us not for our sake alone, but also for the sake of our neighbors who demand it. You see how unrighteously people do it when they squander the good that is given for the common good on their own whims and thus resist the will of God. Such rich people are spenders of wealth, not builders; and those who keep their wealth in chests are its guardians and slaves, and not God’s servants and slaves. Therefore, every rich person needs to consider where and on what he spends the wealth given to him by God. We must always remember that terrible voice of the righteous Judge: depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry, and you did not give Me anything to eat (Matthew 25:41-43) - and Abraham’s answer to the rich man, who, dressed in purple and fine linen, feasted brilliantly every day: child! remember that you have already received your good in your life, and Lazarus received your evil; now he is comforted here, and you suffer (Luke 16:25). Christ, who gives wealth to everyone, hungers, hungers for His brothers - poor Christians, but is shamelessly despised by the rich, voluptuous and stingy! Even now many Lazarus lie at the gates of the rich, but destructive luxury blinds their eyes so as not to see them, and keeps their hand from doing mercy to them. Oh, luxury and avarice are opposite sisters, but both fatally infect human hearts. One teaches to squander wealth, the other to store and guard, but both are for human destruction: one weakens, the other binds a person, but both of them kill his soul. Self-love, stinginess, love of money and unmercifulness invent many reasons and excuses that are impossible to list. For these reasons, it is difficult for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 19:23), because: 1. they trust in their wealth, and not in the living God, which is idolatry; 2. stinginess and love of money nest in the rich; 3. pride and its daughter - contempt for the poor and wretched; 4. unmercifulness towards suffering brethren similar to themselves; 5. harmful luxury and so on. And the root of everything is pride. It is not wealth that is to blame for the death of the rich, for wealth is God’s gift, and many were rich, but also pious, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and our other forefathers, as many are today, but what? A heart that is proud and clings to wealth and turns away from the living God. Therefore, the psalmist says: if wealth flows in, do not apply your heart (Ps. 61:11). Note here, dear reader, that here we are talking about righteous wealth, and not about that which was collected by untruth, theft, lawless interest, flattery and deceit. This wealth is destructive and will destroy its owner forever, if it does not squander what was collected righteously through evil and does not bring true repentance and its fruits. The part that makes up the bliss of this world is wealth. Many people desire and seek this, like honor and glory, but not all of them gain it, and those who do gain it, gain it with much difficulty, treasure it with great sorrow, and lose it with great sadness. How many people have lost and are losing the wealth they collected through such labors in one hour! All wealth is subject to fire and thief and other calamities. But even if someone remains in this imaginary well-being until his death, will he take it with him when leaving the world? No, he leaves everything in the world that he had in the world. Silver, gold, precious stones, lands, estates, peasants, servants, horses, carriages and all the treasure in the world remains - one departs from the light, as he entered the light. The small coffin receives and contains both the poor and the rich. Everything else is no longer his - it has passed into the hands of someone else. Here everyone righteously recognizes how crazy he is when he believes in wealth. But what if the wealth was collected through untruth, theft, flattery and other iniquities, as is most often the case? Then, leaving wealth to others, he carries with himself the heavy burden of iniquities. Then, instead of imaginary bliss, true disaster meets him: at the very end, a tormented conscience, terrifying with the judgment of God and eternal torment. After the outcome, the righteous reward for deeds comes. Then he will recognize the deception and realize that he worked for the profit and self-interest of others, but for the sake of his own destruction. Then he admits from the heart how great a delight it is to collect wealth, and not to become rich in God (Luke 12:21). The rich man who abounds in money is very poor. Disaster is the wealth that takes away from true bliss. There is no profit where there is damage to the soul. It is very bad for a Christian to chase after temporary wealth, which he is soon forced to leave, and to leave the eternal to which he is called. Ask: “What wealth is true and unshakable?” The one that Christ offers us: lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal (Matthew 6:20). This treasure of faith, which is hastened by love, is gathered here and revealed in heaven to those who love God. There the treasures of eternal blessings will be opened to them, which no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and which has not entered the heart of man (1 Cor. 2:9). The home of Christians is in heaven, according to the teaching of the Apostle (see Phil. 3:20). Therefore, even if wealth flows to us, we should not attach our hearts to it (Ps. 61:11), but send it there through the hands of the poor, for where our treasure is, there will our heart be (Matthew 6:21). When wealth is given to you, do the following: 1. Thank God, who gives to you, the unworthy. 2. Do not attach your heart to it, according to the admonition of the prophet: if wealth flows, do not attach your heart to it (Ps. 61:11), but cleave to God alone and love, saying with the prophet: “It is good for me to cleave to God” 9. For one must love the Benefactor, and not the benefit, and the Giver, and not the gift, and the Creator, and not the creature. 3. Use wealth not for worldly and carnal whims, not for rich meals, houses, carriages, vessels, clothes, etc., as is the custom among lovers of feasts and carnivores, but with fear and humility, as not your own, but God’s good, use it in moderation and abstinence, for needs, and not for pleasing the flesh. Remember that for its expenditure you will give an answer to God: you are a manager, not a master, a worker, not a master. For the Lord alone is the Lord of our estates, as well as of the whole world; we must appear before Him and give an answer for everything. 4. Supply it to the poor, the needy, holy churches and those serving in them, schools, almshouses. Wealth is given to you so that you too can give. God gives it - give it to God for the glory of God. Be like a hand that receives and gives. Be a builder, not a keeper and waster of wealth. 5. Do not be proud, do not be proud of wealth, since it is not yours, it was given to you for a while, for your benefit and your neighbor, and over time it will leave you. Remember that you are poor and wretched, like other people. For we are all born naked into the world, and naked we depart from the world. Wealth either harms or benefits a person. There is benefit from it if you spend it according to the will of God, but harm comes from it if you use it incorrectly. Be a faithful steward of the Lord's property, O man, and you will be truly rich. Wealth in itself is good and does not harm a person, but brings benefit; whether wealth will be harmful or beneficial depends on the person: what kind of person is who has it, such is the wealth for him, either harmful or useful. So wine is medicine to the wise, but poison to the mad; the sword is protection for the good, and destruction for the evil one and for others; fire brings both benefit and harm: it brings benefit to those who use it carefully, and harm to those who act carelessly with it or use it to harm their neighbor. Reason itself is both useful and harmful: useful to those who use it to benefit themselves and their neighbors, but harmful to those who use it to harm their neighbors, and therefore use it for themselves, for a person cannot harm his neighbor without causing greater harm to himself. Likewise, wealth depends on the nature of a person’s heart. But since a person has a corrupt heart and cannot act in moderation in happiness, then for the most part wealth harms him not from his own side, but from the side of a person who cannot use good things correctly. Therefore, the apostle says: those who want to get rich fall into temptation and into a snare (1 Tim. 6:9), and so on. Therefore, the Lord teaches that it is difficult for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven; and he also says: it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God (Matthew 19:23-24). Therefore, the tributary prays: do not give me poverty and wealth, feed me with my daily bread, so that, having had enough, I will not deny You and say: “Who is the Lord?” - and so that, having become poor, he does not steal and take the name of my God in vain (Proverbs 30:8-9). And David, being rich and glorious, prays to God: incline my heart to Thy revelations, and not to covetousness (Ps. 119:36). And he exhorted others: if wealth flows in, do not put your heart on it (Ps. 61:11). And the apostle exhorts: the time is already short, so that those who use this world should be like those who do not use it; for the image of this world is passing away (1 Cor. 7:29, 31). If you have wealth, spend it as the Word of God teaches. Be sure that Christian wealth and heritage are hidden in heaven, and are incomparably better than earthly and temporary things, then you will count everything earthly and temporary as nothing and will strive for the eternal with your everlasting desire. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be (Matthew 6:21). Just as the sons of this age would rather choose gold and silver than copper, so the sons of the Kingdom, true Christians, having despised all the treasures of this world, strive with all their desire for things above. There is their fatherland, and heritage, and wealth, and glory, and honor, and home, and all the treasure there. There is supper, and marriage, and consolation, and fun, and joy in store. There, holiday and wedding clothes are ready for them. There the Heavenly Father and the faces of the saints are waiting for them: blessed is he who tastes bread in the Kingdom of God (Luke 14:15). However, many are called, but few are chosen (Luke 14:24). Let us try, beloved, not only among those who are called, but also among the chosen, so that we too may be worthy to eat and drink at the table of Christ in His Kingdom (see Luke 22:30). O Lord, grant me! Oh Lord, bring it! O Most Gracious One, have mercy and hear us! But we must first taste sorrow and endure with Christ, as the Apostle says (see 2 Tim. 2:12). You have been with Me in My tribulations, and I bequeath to you, as My Father bequeathed to Me, the Kingdom, that you may eat and drink at My table in My Kingdom (Luke 22:28-30). How sweet it will be to eat and drink at that meal! But the charm of wealth, vain glory and luxury and sweets takes the poor man away from this. Open your eyes (Ps. 109:18), O man, and know the beauty. Take your eyes and your mind and your heart away from the earth and turn to heaven. Make sure that you are a stranger and a stranger here, and then you will know the beauty, and you will be satisfied with what you have, even if it is small, and you will use everything in the world with fear as a stranger and a stranger. For who on the way burdens himself? Isn’t it more likely to lift away every burden in order to make it easier to walk? Who in a foreign country hides a treasure for themselves? Isn’t he sending his own to his fatherland? On the road and in a foreign country, you, Christian! You have been called to the heavenly Jerusalem, and there God has shown you your fatherland. Why do you want to enrich yourself on the way and in a foreign country? After all, you won’t take this wealth there, but you’ll leave everything here, in a foreign country. There, wealth is prepared not perishable, but incorruptible and inalienable, but for those who love God (1 Cor. 2:9), and not silver and gold for those who love. If someone has righteously acquired wealth (although this rarely happens), and does not use it for luxury, immoderate buildings and other vanity, but is content with it in moderation, and supplies the churches of God, almshouses and the poor, and does not think highly of himself and does not trust in unfaithful wealth, but in the living God, who gives us everything abundantly for enjoyment; does good, is rich in good deeds, is generous and sociable, etc. (1 Tim. 6:17-18), then wealth not only does not harm him, but also brings benefit. If someone has unjustly collected wealth, he must righteously squander what he collected with offense for his neighbor, imitating Zacchaeus the tax collector (see Luke 19:8). If you gave someone a hundred [rubles] or any amount of money and ordered him to be content with it himself and to provide for the poor, but he either kept it all for himself or squandered it only on his own whims, tell me, wouldn’t you feel insulted and annoyed by the poor, whom he must supply with your goods given to him? Truly, both you and them would be offended! God gives property and wealth to people so that they themselves are content with it in moderation, and the poor are supplied with it. But when people either keep it in their chests, or squander it on luxury and whims, then they also, or even much more, annoy God and offend the poor. For all rich people are God’s servants and agents, not masters. God alone is the Owner and Lord of all good and wealth, and he gives it to whomever he wants and gives it for the common benefit. You ask the clerk about the money given to him, where and for what he spent it, the Lord also asks you about the wealth given to you from Him, and for every ruble you will give Him an answer on the day of judgment, what you spent it on. So, prepare an answer to Him. Here we are talking about righteous wealth. But unrighteousness, which is collected through untruth and interest, is subject to damnation, just like the one who collects it as a criminal. Anyone who wants to be saved must squander such wealth righteously, as collected in evil, and repent, otherwise both wealth and his sin are retained, and the more wealth he collects, the more he collects sin and the wrath of God. Follow-up to Holy Communion.