How to give alms
From the “Instructive Words” of St. Elijah Minyaty.
P The prophet Daniel, due to the hatred of the Babylonian nobles, was thrown into the lions' den. Six days passed without him eating any food there, and then the Lord sent His Angel to Judea, to another prophet, Habakkuk, who at that time was carrying food to the field to the reapers. The angel said to Habakkuk, “Take this dinner to Babylon, to Daniel in the lions’ den.” Habakkuk answered: “Sir! I have never seen Babylon and I don’t know the ditch.” Then the Angel of the Lord took him by the hair and placed him in Babylon over the pit, by the power of the Spirit. And Habakkuk called and said, “Daniel! Daniel, take the lunch that God has sent to you.” Daniel said: “You remembered me, O God, and did not forsake those who loved you.” And Daniel arose and ate. An angel of God instantly returned Habakkuk to his place (Dan. 14:29-41). Habakkuk, of course, could have said to the Angel when he appeared to him: “I have workers in the field waiting for lunch, and you send me to distant Babylon with this lunch to Daniel, what will my workers eat?” But the Prophet did not say so. God told him to take food to a prisoner who was starving, and he fulfilled the command without any excuses.
How many prisoners are there, how many are starving like Daniel! How many are there who do not have a piece of their daily bread, how many are debtors, helpless, how many are shivering from the cold! God tells us to take care of them and to help them. (Ps. 9:35). Is it possible to have any excuse here? Almighty God, of course, could have fed Daniel with heavenly food without Habakkuk’s dinner, but His wise Providence wants one person to suffer need, and another to help him in this need, so that the poor man suffers the need, and you, the rich man, help him. Why is this so? For the benefit of both: so that the poor one receives a crown for patience, and you for mercy. But so that you don’t work in vain, here’s a rule for you: Go where you need to; give as much as you need; come on as needed; give when necessary. That is: judge the person to whom you give, and the measure, and the type of alms, and the time.
Let's go where we need to go. The Jews donated their treasures in the desert twice: the first time they collected women's jewelry in order to pour out a golden calf from them; another time they took down their gold, silver and copper items, precious stones and fabrics for the construction and decoration of the tabernacle (camp temple). In the first case, they gave their treasures to the devil, and therefore to the wrong place; in the second, they dedicated them to God, that is, they gave them where they needed to be given. So, when you give, donate, spend, squander your property on your whims, which are the same to you as idols, for example, on games, on clothes, on drunkenness and obscene feasts, then know that you are giving it to where it is not necessary, for you are offering it as a gift to the devil. And when you donate to a church, to a monastery, when you use your wealth to help some poor family, for a dowry for a poor girl, for ransoming a captive, for feeding an orphan, then know that you are giving it exactly where it is needed: you are bringing everything it is a gift to the Lord God.
Come on as long as you need, that is, look at the person and his need. For a beggar who wanders the world, two money is enough to buy his daily bread, but these two money are not enough for a respectable person who, due to some unfortunate circumstances, has fallen into poverty, is not enough for a dowry for a poor girl.
When the earth is dry, it cannot be watered with a few drops of water: it needs plenty of rain. What is the need, such is the help there should be. Likewise: what is the condition of the giver, such should be the alms. The rich give more, the poor can give less. And with the Lord they will both receive an equal reward. Why? Because, of course, the Lord does not look at alms, but at good will. A poor widow put two copper mites into the church treasury, where the rich put gold and silver, but Christ praised her offering more than others: everything, He said, they put in out of their abundance, but out of her poverty she put in everything she had, all her food(Mark 12:44), that is, all your fortune. The door can be unlocked with a gold, iron, or even a wooden key, as long as it fits the lock: just as a rich man can unlock the door of heaven with a ducat, and a poor man with a copper coin.
Come on as needed, and firstly: give with a friendly look from a good heart, and not with regret and as if involuntarily: not with grief or coercion; for God loves a cheerful giver(2 Cor. 9:7). Is the one who gives and scolds, gives alms and shames worth the reward?! If you only knew who is really asking you for a piece of food, insignificant help! If you could know, Who says to you: Give me a drink(John 4, 10). After all, this is God Himself in the form of a beggar man! This is what Saint Chrysostom says about this: “Oh, how high is the dignity of poverty! Under the cover of poverty, God Himself hides: the beggar stretches out his hand, and God accepts. He who gives alms to the poor lends God Himself: He who gives to the poor lends to the Lord(Prov. 19, 17). So, think with what joy you should give alms! Give with a generous hand, for just as a sower scatters seeds not one grain at a time, but a whole handful, so in the matter of alms follow the words of King David: squandered, distributed to the poor, therefore the truth interrupts him forever(Ps. 111.9). As you sow, so shall you reap: if you sow generously, you will reap abundantly; if you sow sparingly, you will reap little. He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully(2 Cor. 9:6). Christ Himself teaches how to give alms: When you give alms, let left hand yours doesn't know what the right one is doing(Matt. 6:3). This means: let your alms be a secret, so that not only people do not know about it, but so that you yourself do not count your own good; when one hand gives, the other does not need to know about it: let them both serve - generously and plentifully.
Finally, come on when needed. This is most necessary both for the poor man and for yourself. The road to almsgiving in times of poverty. Help when you can still help, give before it’s too late, before the poor man falls into despair, indulges in theft and other vices, until he dies of hunger and cold. Help a helpless orphan girl get married before she loses herself, so that you don’t have to answer to God for her. Finally, give while you yourself live in the world, without waiting for the hour of death. When you die, you will inevitably be merciful, because you cannot take anything with you into the grave. While you are alive, do good, so that it comes from a good heart, from a good will, and then you will have a perfect reward from the Lord. Almsgiving is good even when leaving this life, but it is much better during life. Oh, how great is the Lord’s reward for her, what consolation it will bring to your conscience! What a joy it is for the heart to be comforted while still alive by the well-being of that orphan whom you brought into the world, to see the happiness of that poor girl whom you arranged to marry, to see the joy of that poor man who, with your help, got out of trouble! Will it be at that time when you are at your last breath? You are about to write a spiritual will, and your relatives and friends will already come to you to close your eyes... But suppose that you have time to write this will: are you sure that your heirs will fulfill your will? What foolishness! When during your lifetime you did not trust them with your belongings, will you really trust them with your soul after your death? The rich are dead! If possible, rise from your graves; I will ask you only one question: if God gave you the gift of resurrection for only one hour, what would you do then? Oh, of course, then you would pay in quadruple for all your unrighteousness, you would give away all your wealth in order to appease God’s justice through this... Now, listener, you now ask, like the rich man of the Gospel: What good thing can I do to have eternal life?(Matt. 19:16). And I answer this question for you: if God blessed you with earthly blessings, like the rich man, then go ahead.
Go where you need to go; give as much as you need; come on as needed; and give when necessary.
And then you will have treasure in Heaven - eternal life, the Kingdom of Heaven. More than this, of course, what more could you wish for yourself?..
Who needs our alms more?
ABOUTstrike your hand against your brother, your poor and your needy in your land(Deut. 15:11). This is what the Lord commands not only about those beggars who go and beg from house to house and in churches: there are many poor and wretched who are ashamed to extend their hand for help and consider it better to silently endure all need and poverty than to be beggars. Especially look for such people with your merciful heart and help them.
There are widows who, after the death of their husbands, were left in poverty, in debt, with small children. Children ask for bread, clothes; boys need science, girls need handicrafts, and lenders demand payment of debts, take the latter as collateral, drag them to the courts... Blessed is he who sees such a need for poor widows and visits them and helps them!..
There are orphans who, like orphaned chicks, cry out for help: who will feed them, who will shelter them, who will take care of them, who will protect them from harm? They are not asking for money, not for property, they need their daily bread. And the more they deserve mercy, the less they understand, due to their youth, their great need. Who will help them? You, merciful Lord! The poor man betrays himself to you; to the orphan you are a helper(Ps. 9:35). You feed the chicks that call on you. But through whom will the Lord God help them? Through the one who carries the image of God within himself, that is, mercy in his heart, whose heart the Lord will place in this great service, who visits the homes of such orphans, for the true poor often do not show up on the street. Have mercy on the orphans, be them instead of their father!..
There are wanderers and strangers who were driven by need to a foreign land, who were robbed along the way. evil people who have been visited by some serious illness, and they have nowhere to lay their heads: they have neither acquaintances nor relatives who would take pity on them... To whom will they resort if we refuse them help and shelter? Truly, such people no less than widows and orphans need our help!
In another house, the owner does not get up from his sick bed for many years, the wife has lived all that was possible for a long time; and another’s wife died, and he was left alone with the children, especially the girls, and he himself was lying sick... The neighbors don’t know, or don’t want, or can’t help him... Who will help him? You alone, merciful Lord, look upon and comfort through those who bear within themselves the image of Your mercy!..
And in another house the husband, the wife, and the children are all lying sick; there is no one to look after them, no one to look after the household: unkind people can take everything away. How not to help such people in any way possible?..
Another one worker in the family - what he earns, he lives with his wife and children: he happens to get sick or become crippled. Today he didn’t go to work, and tomorrow he won’t have anything to eat... How can one not help such a family?
It happens that the owner and his family went to work, returned home - everything was burned, only coals remained... And in cities it often happens that even if they take something out of the fire, a dashing person will steal it from the street... And he waits for the unfortunate fire victims and hunger and cold, and nowhere to lay their heads!
In another house, a widow lives with two or three daughters who are already adults; She does not have the means to dress them decently, feed them and marry them off. There are few Glycerius and Susann who are ready to die for purity and chastity: so often poverty and hunger lead to dirty vice. O Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker! Come to the aid of such people, help them keep both their soul and body pure and holy! Help you in such need with money and care for the placement of such orphan girls! For this there will be a great reward from the Lord.
So a wealthy man has been robbed, he is so upset that he is ready to commit suicide - he has absolutely nothing left, and the devil is already pulling him to the rope. Hurry to help him so that he does not fall into despair, console him, help him at least for the first time! If he knows that there are good people in the world who will not leave him in grief and need, then he will complacently bear his heavy cross.
Another himself was a great merciful man, he spared nothing for the temple of God and for human poverty, but then the time came, and by God’s permission, to test his patience, like the ancient righteous Tobit, he became decrepit, blind, lost his hearing, and became poor; his wife reproaches him for his previous alms... Which beggar deserves more compassion and all possible help?..
Often there is also a great need among poor people: they do not know where or from whom they can borrow money for a while; and if anyone has it, the lender demands impossible interest rates for the loan. It is not only atheists who lose a lot of pawned things; Nowadays there are also Christians who are ready to rob their own brother. Great and cursed is the sin of covetousness; and in Holy Scripture it is strictly prohibited, and even among the pagans it was considered dishonorable. But in our time - alas - many Christians do not consider it a sin - they are engaged in covetousness! That is why it is a great mercy to lend to poor people without growth, as the Lord commands in the Gospel.
But is it possible to list all human troubles and needs? Oh, how many there are - countless! It was for such needs that the apostles Peter and Paul agreed to gather when they left Jerusalem to preach the gospel: they promised not to forget the wretched poor, of whom there were many in Jerusalem. And they collected and themselves brought to Jerusalem the collected alms for widows and orphans, for strangers and the sick, for those imprisoned for the name of Christ and deprived of property for Christ. Let us be just as merciful, let us help such poor people as we can.
You yourself cannot go from house to house looking for the true poor - there are now various brotherhoods, societies, parish trustees: they will free you from this work, and you do not refuse them only your feasible contribution. But how many prayer books there will be for you before the Lord God! And these prayer books, when you depart from this world, will receive you, according to the word of Christ, into their heavenly abodes - into the eternal heavenly tabernacles...
Almsgiving delivers from destruction. Life of St. Peter, formerly a tax collector. Chetyi-Minea St. Dimitri Rostovsky, ed. 1902.
IN In Africa there lived one hard-hearted and unmerciful tax collector named Peter. He never felt sorry for the poor, did not have thoughts of death in his mind, did not go to God’s churches, his heart was always deaf to those asking for alms. But the good and humane God does not want the death of sinners, but cares about the salvation of everyone and, by His inscrutable Providence, saves everyone. He showed His mercy to this Peter too and saved him in the following way. One day, the poor and wretched, sitting on the street, began to praise the people who treated them with mercy, pray to God for them, and reproach the unmerciful. While talking like this, they started talking about Peter, talking about how he cruelly treated them, and began to ask one another if anyone had ever received any alms in Peter’s house; when no such person was found, one of the poor stood up and said:
- What will you give me if I go and ask him for alms now?
Having reached an agreement, they collected a deposit, and the beggar went and stood at Peter’s gate. Soon Peter left the house. He was leading a donkey laden with bread for the prince's dinner. The beggar bowed to him and began to loudly ask for alms. Peter grabbed the bread, threw it in his face and left. Having picked up the bread, the beggar came to his brothers and said:
- From the hands of Peter himself I received this bread. At the same time, he began to glorify the Lord and thank Him for the fact that Peter is so merciful. Two days later, the publican fell so ill that he was close to death; and then he saw in a vision that he was standing at the Judgment and his deeds were being put on the scales. On one side of the scales stood stinking and evil spirits, on the other side of the scales there were bright and handsome men. Evil spirits brought all the evil deeds that Peter the Publican had committed throughout his life, from his very youth, and put them on the scales. The bright men did not find a single good deed of Peter that could be put on the other side of the scales; That’s why they were sad and said to each other in bewilderment:
- We have nothing to put on the scales. Then one of them said: “Indeed, we have nothing to put in, except one piece of bread, which he gave for the sake of Christ two days ago, and even then unwillingly.”
They put that bread on the other side of the scale, and he pulled the scale to his side. Then the bright men said to the publican:
“Go, poor Peter, and add some more bread to this, so that the demons don’t take you and lead you to eternal torment.”
Having come to his senses, Peter began to think about this and realized that what he saw was not a ghost, but the truth; At the same time, he remembered all his sins, even those that he had already forgotten - all his sins clearly appeared to him - it was the evil demons who collected them and put them on the scales. Then Peter, surprised, thought: “If one piece of bread, thrown by me in the face of the poor, helped me so much that the demons could not take me, then how much more generous alms, done with faith and zeal, helps those who generously give away their wealth wretched!"
From then on he became extremely merciful, so much so that he did not even spare himself. One day he was going to his mytnitsa (the place where duties or taxes were collected). On the way he met one ship owner: he was naked, for as a result of the death of his ship he had become completely poor. And so this man, falling at Peter’s feet, asked him to give him clothes so that he could cover his nakedness. Peter took off his beautiful and expensive outerwear and gave it to him, but he, ashamed to wear such clothes, gave them for sale to a merchant. Peter, returning from his toll, accidentally saw that the clothes were hung out in the marketplace for sale. This saddened him so much that, when he came home, he did not even want to taste food, but, shutting himself up, he began to cry and sob, saying: “God did not accept my alms, I am not worthy for the poor to have a memory of me.”
Crying and grieving in this way, he fell asleep a little, and then a certain handsome Man appeared to him, shining brighter than the sun; He had a cross on His head, He was dressed in the very clothes that Peter gave to the bankrupt owner of the ship; This man said to Peter: “Why are you, brother Peter, grieving and crying?” The publican answered:
- How can I not cry, my Lord, if I give to the poor from what You gave me, and they again sell what they have been given in the marketplace. Then the One who appeared said to him: “Do you recognize these clothes that I wear?” Peter answered:
- Yes, Vladyka, I recognize it, it is mine, I clothed the naked with it. The one who appeared said:
- Stop grieving, for I accepted the clothes you gave to the beggar and wear them, as you see; I praise you for your good deed, for you clothed Me, who was perishing from the cold.
Waking up, the publican was surprised and jealous of the life of the poor, saying: “If the poor are the same as Christ, then, I swear by the Lord, I will not die until I become one of them.”
He immediately distributed all his property to the poor and freed the slaves, leaving only one of them, to whom he said:
- I want to tell you a secret. Keep it and obey me; If you do not keep the secret and do not obey me, then know that I will sell you to the pagans. To this the slave answered him: “Everything you command me, sir, I must do.” Then Peter said to him: “Let’s go to the holy city, worship the life-giving tomb of the Lord, and there you sell me to one of the Christians, and give the proceeds from the sale to the poor - then you yourself will be a free man.”
The slave was surprised at such a strange intention of his master, he did not want to obey him and said:
“I must go with you to the holy city, since I am your slave, but I cannot sell you, my master, and I will never do this.” Then Peter said to him: “If you do not sell me, then I will sell you to the pagans, as I already told you.”
And they went to Jerusalem. Having bowed to the holy places, Peter again said to the servant:
- Sell me, if you don’t sell me, then I will sell you to the barbarians into hard slavery.
Seeing such an unyielding intention of his master, the slave had to obey him even against his will. Having met one God-fearing man known to him, a silversmith named Zoil, the slave said to him:
- Listen to me, Zoilus, buy a good slave from me. The silversmith answered: “Brother, believe me: I have become poor, so I have nothing to pay for it.” Then the slave suggested to him: “Borrow from someone and buy it, for it is very good, and God will bless you for it.”
Believing his words, Zoilus took thirty gold pieces from one of his friends and used this money to buy Peter from his slave, not knowing that Peter himself was the master of that slave. The latter, taking the money for his master, retired to Constantinople, and, without telling anyone what he had done, he distributed the money to the poor. From that time on, Peter began to serve with Zoilus. He had to do something that he was not previously used to: he worked in the cookhouse, he carried manure from Zoil’s house, he dug soil in the vineyard. With such hard work, in his immeasurable humility, he exhausted his flesh. Zoilus saw that Peter was bringing down a blessing on his house, just as the house of Pentephry had once received a blessing because of Joseph. He saw that his wealth had increased - therefore he loved Peter, and, at the same time, seeing his extraordinary humility, he had respect for him. One day he told him:
- Peter, I want to free you, be my brother.
Peter did not want freedom, but preferred to serve in the guise of a slave. One could often see how other slaves scolded him, sometimes even beat him and insulted him in every possible way, but he patiently endured all this without uttering a word. One day Peter saw in a dream a radiant Man who had once appeared to him in Africa in his clothes. This one, now having thirty gold pieces in his hand, said to him:
- Do not grieve, brother Peter, for I myself received the money for you; be patient until they recognize you.
After some time, some silver sellers came from Africa to worship the holy places. Zoilus, Petra's master, invited them to his house for dinner. During dinner, the guests began to recognize Peter and said to one another: “How similar this man is to Peter the Publican!”
Having heard their conversation, Peter began to hide his face from them so that they would not finally recognize him. However, they recognized him and began to say to the owner of that house:
- We want to tell you, Zoil, something important: do you know that a great husband, Peter, serves in your house? In Africa, Peter was a very prominent man, but he unexpectedly freed all his slaves and disappeared somewhere. The prince is greatly saddened and regrets that Peter left us; In view of this, we would like to take him with us.
Being behind the doors, Peter heard everything. Placing the dish he was carrying on the ground, he hurried to the gate to escape. The gatekeeper was mute and deaf from his very birth, so he opened and locked the gates only by certain signs.
Saint Peter, hurrying to go out, said to the mute: “I tell you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, open the doors for me immediately!” Then the mouth of the mute opened, and he said: “Okay, sir, I’ll open it now.”
With these words, he immediately opened the gate, and Peter hurriedly left. Then the former mute came to his master and began to speak in the presence of everyone. Everyone in the house was surprised to hear what he said; everyone began to look for Peter, but could not find him. The dumb man said:
- Look, hasn't he run away? - know that this is a great servant of God; when he approached the gate, he said to me: “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I tell you, open the gate!” And I immediately noticed a flame emanating from his mouth, which touched me, and I began to speak.
They immediately followed Peter's footsteps everywhere, but did not overtake him; They searched diligently everywhere for him, but did not find him. Then everyone in Zoel’s house wept and said: “How did we not know that he was such a great servant of God?” And they glorified God, who has His hidden servants. Peter, fleeing from human glory, hid in secret places until his death (the Saint died in the 6th century in Constantinople).
Examples of the benefits of alms given in memory of the deceased.
B The well-established Luke says that he had a brother who, upon entering the monastic order, cared little about his soul and died, not prepared for death. The holy elder wanted to know what his brother had been rewarded with, and he began to ask God to reveal his fate. One day, while praying, the elder saw his brother’s soul in the hands of demons. Meanwhile, money and valuables were found in the cell of the deceased, from which the elder realized that the brother’s soul was suffering, among other things, for violating the vow of non-covetousness. The elder gave all the money he found to the poor. After this, he began to pray again and saw the Judgment Seat of God and the luminous angels who argued with demons for the soul of his brother. The demons cried out to God: “You are righteous, so judge: the soul belongs to us, for it did our deeds.”
The angels said that the soul of the deceased was delivered by the alms given for it.
To this the evil spirits objected: “Did the deceased give out alms? Didn’t this old man give out?” - and pointed to blessed Luke.
The elder was frightened by this vision, but still gathered his courage and said: “True, I did alms, but not for myself, but for this Soul.”
The desecrated spirits, having heard the elder’s answer, disappeared, and the elder, calmed by the vision, stopped doubting and grieving about his brother’s fate.
Holy Abbess Athanasia (April 12) bequeathed to the sisters of her monastery to organize a meal for the poor in memory of her for forty days after her death. But they carried out her command only until the ninth day, and then they stopped. Then the saint appeared to them with two angels and said: “Why have you forgotten my will? Know that alms given for the soul, as well as feeding the poor and the prayers of the priests, propitiate God. If the souls of the deceased were sinners, then the Lord will grant them remission of sins; if If they are righteous, then charity for them serves to save the benefactors.”
Having said this, the Monk Athanasia stuck her staff into the ground and became invisible. The next day the sisters saw that her rod had blossomed.
Quite recently, at the beginning of our century, a great ascetic of works of mercy shone in Russia, whose word was a living deed, and the deed was reflected in the word. We present here excerpts from his diaries, all the more valuable for us because they were written in a recent time, precisely for us, almost his contemporaries, and the author, of course, also had in mind the circumstances of our time. Readers can already guess that we are talking about the holy and righteous John of Kronstadt.
“Looking at the world of God, I see everywhere the extraordinary generosity of God in the gifts of nature; the surface of the earth is like a rich meal, prepared in abundance and variety by the most loving and generous owner; the depths of the waters also serve to nourish man. What can we say about four-legged animals and birds "And here there is so much generosity in delivering food and clothing to man! The bounties of the Lord are endless. Look what the earth does not provide in summer and autumn! So every Christian, imitate the generosity of the Lord, so that your table will be open to everyone, like the Lord's table. The stingy is the enemy of the Lord".
"Look at the ants, how friendly they are; look at the bees, how friendly they are; look at the flocks of pigeons, how friendly they are; look at
a flock of sheep, how friendly they are. Thoughts about schools of certain fish that always love to walk together, how friendly they are. Think how jealously they protect each other, help each other, love each other - and be ashamed of the dumb ones, you who do not live in love, who run away from bearing the burdens of others!”
“What are human souls? It is one and the same soul or one and the same breath of God, which God breathed into Adam, which from Adam has spread to the entire human race to this day. All people are therefore the same as one person or one great tree Humanity. Hence the most natural commandment, based on the unity of our nature: Love the Lord. your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind... and love your neighbor as yourself(Matt. 22:37,39). It is a natural necessity to fulfill these two commandments."
“All people are the breath and creation of the one God, they came from God and return to God as to their beginning: the flesh will return to the earth that it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. As the breath of the one God and as having come from one human beings, people should naturally live in mutual love and mutual preservation and should not be separated from each other by pride, pride, anger, envy, stinginess, unsociability of character, so that they may be one.”
“Use My gifts not separately, not as self-lovers, but as My children, who should have everything in common, not sparing to offer others the fruits of My hands, the works of My hands, remembering that I give them to you freely, according to My fatherly goodness and generosity love of humanity. This happens in a family. When a father, or mother, or brother brings gifts, the father gives them to all the children, or the brother gives them to his brothers, and if the children, brothers and sisters all live in mutual love, then they do not consider themselves satisfied and happy if a father or brother surrounded one of them with gifts and did not give even one of them what he gave to the others. And why? Because, out of mutual love, they feel like one body, because they are all, as it were, one , one person. So do each of you. And I know how to reward you for the love that is so pleasing to Me. If I punish those who do not fulfill My commandments - one rich man had good harvest
(Luke 12:16), then will I not spare My true children, for whom I have actually intended all My bounties?”
“Dislike, enmity or hatred should not be known between Christians even by name. How can there be dislike between Christians? Everywhere you see love, everywhere you smell the fragrance of love. Our God is the God of love; His Kingdom is the Kingdom of love; out of love for us He did not spare His only begotten Son and gave Him up to death for us. At home you see love in those at home (because they are sealed in baptism and confirmation with the cross of love and wear the cross, eat the supper of love with you in church). Symbols of love are everywhere in the church: crosses , signs of the cross, saints, radiant with love for God and neighbors, and Love itself embodied. In heaven and on earth, love is everywhere. It calms and delights the heart, like God, while enmity kills soul and body. And you always and everywhere discover love "How else will you not love when everywhere you hear preaching about love, when only the murderer the devil is eternal enmity!"
Christ, the Son of God, the most holy God, is not ashamed to call us sinners brothers, and you are not ashamed to call at least the poor and ignorant brothers and sisters, ordinary people, relatives according to the flesh or non-relatives, and do not be proud before them, do not despise them, do not be ashamed of them, for we are all truly brothers in Christ, we were all born of water and the spirit in the baptismal font and became children of God: we are all called Christians, we are all nourished by Plotinus) and the Blood of the Son of God, the Savior of the world, the sacraments of the church are performed over all of us, we all pray in the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father... and equally we all call God our Father. We do not know any other kinship except the spiritual, highest, eternal one, which was given to us by the Lord of life, the Creator and Renovator of our nature, Jesus Christ, for this one kinship is true, holy, and abiding. Earthly kinship is incorrect, changeable, impermanent, temporary, perishable, just as our blood is perishable. So, simply treat people as equals with equals, and do not be proud of anyone, but, on the contrary, humble yourself, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted(Luke 14:11). Don’t say: I am educated, but he or she is not, he or she is simple, uneducated; do not turn the gift of God given to you, unworthy, into a reason for pride, but for humility, for From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required, and to whom much has been entrusted, from him more will be required.(Luke 12:48). Do not say: I am noble, and he is of low birth; earthly nobility without the nobility of faith and virtue is an empty name. What is my nobility when I am the same sinner as others or even worse?
“Oh, that our sweet meals would always be an expression of our sweet love for each other, so that our hearts would be delighted by mutual love, just as food is delightful. How sweet is Your love, O Lord, manifested in so many and varied earthly gifts and blessings, and above all in the sweetness of Your words and in the sweetness of Your divine Mysteries, Your Body and Blood! What will be the sweetness of the next century? - Lord, enlighten our hearts! "
“What did the Lord of our life do for us insignificant, ungrateful and malevolent people? He came down from heaven, took on our flesh, performed many different miracles, suffered, shed His Blood, died, descended into hell, bound Satan, destroyed hell, prisoners, hell-bound He allowed and raised us to heaven, He rose from the dead and will raise us with Him. Let us fulfill His dying will: let us love each other! Lord, help us!"
“God did not spare His Only Begotten Son for man, what after this will we spare for our neighbor: food, drink, clothes for his apparel, money for his various needs? The Lord gives a lot to some, and little to others so that we thought about each other. The Lord so arranged that if we willingly share the generous gifts of His goodness with others, then they serve for the benefit of the soul, opening our hearts to love our neighbors, and by using them in moderation, serving for the benefit of the body, which is not satiated and is not burdened with them. And if we selfishly, stingily and greedily use the gifts of God only ourselves and spare them for others, then they turn to the detriment of our soul and body: to the detriment of the soul because greed and stinginess close the heart to the love of God and towards our neighbor and make us disgusting self-lovers, intensifying all passions in us; to the detriment of the body because greed produces satiety in us and prematurely upsets our health."
“Remember Love, who laid down His life for people, and do not spare anything for your neighbor: neither food, nor drink, nor clothing, nor books, nor money, if he needs them. The Lord will reward you for him. We are all his children, and He is everything to us... don’t spare your very life for your brother!”
“We are the image of God, and God is Love. Let us live in love, we will be jealous of it with all our might. Lord, help us! But we will consider everything earthly, all food, clothing, money, as rubbish and will not anger the Lord because of a copy, biting each other, being at enmity with each other. Shall we sell the Lord for food, for money? Either one: either God or flesh. You cannot recognize two gods, you cannot serve two."
“Our life is love - yes, love! And where there is love, there is God, and where God is, there is all goodness. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you(Matt. 6:33). So, feed and delight everyone with joy, please everyone with joy, and rely in everything on the Heavenly Father, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Sacrifice what is dear to you to love your neighbor. Offer your Isaac, your many-passionate heart as a sacrifice to God, temper him with your will, crucify the flesh with passions and lusts. You have received everything from God, be ready to give everything to God, so that, having been faithful to your Lord in little things, you will later be placed over many things. You were faithful in little things, I will put you over many things(Matt. 25:21). Consider all passions as a dream, as I have learned this a thousand times.”
“Through what tube does the devil suck out our love for God and neighbor? Through addiction to wealth, to food, to drink, delicacies, clothing, to houses, to furniture, to rich dishes, and the like. That is why wealth, sweet food and drinking, the beauty of clothes, houses, furniture, dishes - should be neglected by a Christian, and his first concern in life should be pleasing God and his neighbor for the good of creation. Oh, how wise a Christian should be in life! He should be like the many-reader Cherubim - to be all eye, all and unceasing meditation, except in cases in which unthinking faith is required."
“We must be one spirit with the Lord, the spirit of holiness, the spirit of love, kindness, meekness, long-suffering, mercy. Whoever does not have this spirit in himself is not God. So, I must be love, one love, counting everyone as one. May they all be one(John 17:21). God help me!"
“An angry and proud person is ready to see in others only pride and malice and is glad if others speak badly about one of his acquaintances, especially those who live happily, richly, but are not close to him spiritually, and the worse, the more he rejoices, that others are bad, and he is perfection in front of them, and is ready to see only evil in them and compare them with demons. Oh, anger! Oh, pride! Oh, lack of love! No, you find something good in an evil person and rejoice about this good and speak with joy about its good qualities. There is no person in whom there is not at least some good; cover the evil that is in him with love and pray to God for it, so that God will make the wicked good with His goodness. Don’t be an evil abyss yourself!”
“Love every person, despite his fall. Sins are sins, but the basis in man is one - the image of God. Others - with obvious weaknesses, are malicious, proud, envious, stingy, money-loving, greedy, and you are not without there may even be more evil in you than in others. At least in regard to sins, people are equal: all, it is said, have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God, we are all guilty before God and still need God’s mercy towards us. Therefore , loving each other, we must tolerate each other and leave each other, forgive others for their mistakes against us, so that Our Heavenly Father has forgiven us our sins(Matt. 6:14). So, with all your soul, honor and love the image of God in every person, not paying attention to his sins. God alone is holy and sinless. And look how He loves us, what He has created and is creating for us, punishing mercifully and having mercy generously and graciously! Also, honor a person despite his sins, because he can always improve."
"Everything is a dream, except true love. Your brother treated you coldly, impolitely, impudently, maliciously - say: this is the dream of the devil; the feeling of enmity worries you because of the coldness and insolence of your brother, say: this is my dream; but here is the truth: I love brother, in spite of everything, I don’t want to see evil in him, which is a demonic dream in him, and which is also in me: we have the same sinful nature. There are sins, you say, in your brother, and great shortcomings. You have the same. I don’t love him, you say, for such and such shortcomings. Don’t love yourself either: for the same shortcomings that are in him are in you. But remember that there is a Lamb of God, Who took upon Himself the sins of the whole world ". Who are you, condemning your neighbor for sins, for shortcomings, for vices? Everyone stands or falls for his Lord. But you, out of Christian love, must in every possible way be condescending to the shortcomings of your neighbor, you must heal his evil, his weakness of heart (all coldness, all passion is weakness) with love, affection and meekness, humility, as you wish for yourself from others when you are in weakness similar to him. For who does not suffer from all sorts of infirmities?"
“When you give to someone who asks, and your heart regrets the alms given to him, repent of this, for divine love gives us its blessings, while we already have enough of them. Love for your neighbor should say this in yourself: although he has, but it’s not bad if I increase his well-being (and to tell the truth, one or two or three kopecks will not really increase and improve his well-being). God gives to me, why shouldn’t I give to the needy? I say: to the needy, for who will give hand without need? If you yourself only received gifts of His goodness from God based on merit, then perhaps you would have to go beggarly. God is generous to you not based on merit, and you yourself want Him to be generous. How can it be? Don’t you want to be generous to your brothers, having an abundance?”
“Leave all human untruths to the Lord, for God is the Judge, and love everyone diligently from a pure heart, and remember that you yourself are a great sinner and need God’s mercy. And in order to earn God’s mercy, you must have mercy on others in every possible way. Everything is for everyone, the Lord : and the Judge, and the generous Giver of gifts, and mercy, and the cleansing of sins, and light, and peace, and joy, and strength of heart."
“All sacrifices and mercies to the poor will not replace love for one’s neighbor if it is not in the heart; therefore, when giving alms, one must always take care that it is given with love, from a sincere heart, willingly, and not with annoyance and grief at them. The word itself alms shows that it should be a deed and a sacrifice of the heart, and given with tenderness or regret for the poor state of the beggar, and with tenderness or contrition for one’s sins, for the purification of which alms are given: alms, according to Scripture, cleanses every sin. He who gives alms reluctantly and with annoyance, stingily, has not known his sins, has not known himself. Alms are a benefit above all to the one who gives it.
“Alms are a seed; if you want it to bear good fruit, make this seed good, giving in simplicity and from a kind, merciful, compassionate heart, and be sure that you are not losing so much, or better yet, you are not losing at all, but gaining endlessly more through perishable alms, if you give from a good heart, with faith in the Giver, and not from selfish or selfish views. Just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it to Me, your Lord.(Matt. 25:40).
“Do good to the poor willingly, without suspiciousness, doubt and petty inquisitiveness, remembering that in the person of the poor you are doing good to Christ Himself. Know that your alms are always insignificant in comparison with a person, this child of God; know that your alms are earth and dust; know that with material mercy, spiritual mercy must certainly go hand in hand: affectionate, brotherly, with sincere love treatment of your neighbor; do not let him notice that you are favoring him, do not show a proud look. Give, it is said, in simplicity, show mercy with good intentions ". Be careful, do not deprive your material alms of value by not giving spiritual ones. Know that the Lord will test good deeds at the Judgment. For man, God the Father did not spare His only begotten Son, but gave him up to death for him. The devil, in our wickedness, He stumbles us in our good deeds."
“On every occasion, show affection to your neighbor, like a true Christian, who strives to acquire as many good deeds as possible, especially the treasures of love. Not when they show you affection and love, considering yourself rightly unworthy of it; but when you have an opportunity to show love. Show love simply, without any deviation into thoughts of wickedness, without petty worldly selfish calculations, remembering that love is God Himself.”
“Love for God then begins to manifest itself and act in us when we begin to love our neighbor as ourselves, and not to spare ourselves or anything of our own for him, as the image of God; when we try to serve him for salvation with all we can; when we refuse, for the sake of pleasing God, from pleasing your belly, your carnal sight, from pleasing your carnal mind, which does not submit to the mind of God. He who says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, is a liar: for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, how can he love God, whom he has not seen?(1 John 4:20).
“Every day they ask you for alms, and give every day willingly, without bitterness, rudeness and murmuring: you give not your own, but God’s to the crusader children of God, who barely have anywhere to lay their heads; you are a steward of God’s property, you are a daily servant of the lesser brethren of Christ, do your work with meekness and humility, do not be bored by it. You serve Christ the Judge and the Rewarder: great honor, high dignity! Do good deeds with joy! Your labors are generously rewarded, be generous to others yourself. They are not rewarded according to merit, not according to merit and give to others, but for their needs.”
“Be attentive to yourself when a poor person in need of help asks you for it: the enemy will try at this time to fill your heart with cold,” indifference and even disdain for the person in need; overcome these non-Christian and non-human dispositions in yourself, arouse in your heart compassionate love for a person who is like you in every way, for this member of Christ and your own, for this temple of the Holy Spirit, so that Christ God may love you; Whatever the needy person asks you to do, fulfill his request to the best of your ability. Give to the one who asks from you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.(Matt. 5:42)."
“Lord! teach me to give alms willingly, with kindness, with joy, and to believe that by giving it, I do not lose, but gain infinitely more than what I give. Turn my eyes away from people with a hard heart who do not sympathize with the poor, they indifferently meet poverty, condemn, reproach, brand it with shameful names and weaken my heart, so as not to do good, in order to harden me against poverty. Oh, my Lord! how many such people there are! Lord, correct the matter of alms!.. Lord, You Yourself accepted alms from Your poor people.”
“Greedy, greedy miser! Did money and bread give you life? Didn’t it God? Didn’t His Word give existence and life to you and everyone else. Is it just money and bread, water and wine that support your life? Isn’t it about every verb ", emanating from the mouth of God, can a person live? Isn't money and bread dust? Isn't that the least we need is bread to support our life? Everything was created and is maintained by the Word. The Word of God is the source of life and its preservation!"
“What do I need? I don’t need anything on earth except the most necessary. What do I need? I need the Lord, I need His grace, His Kingdom is in me. On earth, the place of my wandering, my temporary training, there is nothing that is mine, everything God, and everything is temporary, is assigned to me for temporary services; my surplus is the property of my neighbors who do not have it. What do I need? I need true, Christian, active love, I need a loving heart that pities my neighbors, I need joy for their contentment and well-being, sorrow for their sorrows and illnesses, about their sins, weaknesses, unrest, shortcomings, misfortunes, poverty; you need warm, sincere sympathy in all circumstances of their life, joy with those who rejoice and crying with those who cry. Give full space to pride, selfishness, try to live only for yourself and attract everything is only for oneself: wealth, and sweets, and the glory of this world, and not to live, but to die, not to rejoice, but to suffer, carrying within oneself the poison of self-love, for self-love is the poison constantly poured into our hearts by Belial. Lord, Witness of my heart and all its movements! Give me the merciful heart I ask from You! It's impossible for me With God everything is possible(Matt. 19:26). Give me true life, dispel the darkness of passions, destroy their power with Your power!”
“Do not trust in piles of money, but in God, who vigilantly cares for everyone, and especially for His rational and verbal creations, and especially for those who live piously. Believe that His hand will not fail, especially for those who give alms, for man cannot be more generous than God. The proof of this is your own life and the lives of everyone before former people who gave alms. May God alone be the treasure of your heart! Cling to Him completely as one created in His image and likeness, and flee from the aphids of the earth, which constantly corrupts our souls and bodies. Hasten to eternal life, to life that does not grow old in endless centuries; drag everyone there as much as you can.”
“It is good in all respects to give to the poor: in addition to pardon at the Last Judgment, and here on earth, alms-givers often receive great mercies from their neighbors, and what others get for a lot of money is given to them for free. Indeed, the most philanthropic, righteous and "Will the most generous Heavenly Father, whose children are merciful, reward them here too, to encourage them to greater deeds, or at least to continue those works of mercy and to correct the unmerciful, who mock the merciful? He will reward them both worthily and righteously!"
“My God! How the love and sincere sympathy of our neighbor for us delights our heart! Who can describe this bliss of a heart imbued with the feeling of love for me by others and my love for others? It is indescribable! If here on earth mutual love so delights us, then what sweetness of love will we be filled with in Heaven, in cohabitation with God, with the Mother of God, with the Heavenly Powers, with the saints of God? Who can imagine and describe this bliss, and what temporary, earthly things should we not sacrifice to receive such indescribable bliss of heavenly love? God, Your name is Love! Teach me true love. Behold, I have most abundantly tasted its sweetness from communication in the spirit of faith in You, with Your faithful children, and I have been abundantly pacified and enlivened by it. Confirm, O God, this which You have done in me. If only this were so all the days of my life! Grant me more often to have communion of faith and love with Thy faithful servants, with Thy temples, with Thy Church!"
“If you have Christian love for your neighbors, then all of Heaven will love you; if you have unity of spirit with your neighbors, then you will have unity with God and with all the inhabitants of heaven; you will be merciful to your neighbors, and God will be merciful to you, and so will everyone. angels and saints; you will pray for others, and all Heaven will intercede for you. Holy is the Lord our God, and so be you!"
“Grant me, Lord, to love every neighbor of mine as myself, always, and not to become embittered towards him for anything and not to work for the devil. Let me crucify my self-love, pride, covetousness, lack of faith and other passions. May our name be : mutual love, let us believe and trust that for all of us everything is the Lord; let us not worry, let us not worry about anything; may you, our God, be the only God of our hearts and nothing else besides You! May we be united among ourselves love, as it should be, and everything that separates us from each other and separates us from love, let us despise it, like dust trampled under foot. If God has given Himself to us, if He abides in us, and we in Him, according to the true word Him, what will He not give me? What will He deprive me of, what will He leave me with? The Lord is my Shepherd, I will lack for nothing(Ps. 23:1). So, be very calm, my soul, and know nothing but love. This is my commandment, that you love one another(John 15:12).
Folk wisdom about mercy.
Alms - crackers for a long journey (that is, to the Kingdom of Heaven).
Prepare food for the family, and then serve it to the poor.
The poor man asks to give it to God.
Almsgiving justifies before God.
Fasting leads to the gates of Paradise, and almsgiving opens them.
The hand of the giver will not fail.
The road to almsgiving in times of poverty.
Collect with one hand and distribute with the other.
God will not remain in debt.
Do not boast about silver, but rather boast about good things.
Money can't buy your soul.
Don't believe in happiness, and don't close the door on the poor.
People rejoiced when you were born; live so that you cry when you die.
To a miser, a soul is worth less than a penny.
The stingy rich man is poorer than the beggar.
As you live, so will your reputation.
The earth will cover the grave, but will not cover the bad glory.
The poor man needs many things, and the stingy man needs everything.
What you store, you will take with you.
It is not the one who lives longer who lives longer, but the one who more good does.
With the world on a thread - a naked shirt.
Live for people, people will live for you.
Nobody likes a narcissist.
God gives to a merciful person.
To do mercy for the unfortunate is to speak with the Lord God.
God save the one who gives water and food, and twice as much the one who remembers bread and salt.
God loves a willing giver.
The gift was accepted by the one who gave it to the worthy.
Good memory.
Judgment without mercy to those who have shown no mercy.
From the book “How to Give Alms.” Father's house, 1997
Blessed Luke says that he had a brother who, upon entering the monastic order, cared little about his soul and died without being prepared for death. The holy elder wanted to know what his brother had been rewarded with, and he began to ask God to reveal his fate. One day, while praying, the elder saw his brother’s soul in the hands of demons. Meanwhile, money and valuables were found in the cell of the deceased, from which the elder realized that the brother’s soul was suffering, among other things, for violating the vow of non-covetousness. The elder gave all the money he found to the poor. After this, he began to pray again and saw the Judgment Seat of God and the luminous angels who argued with demons for the soul of his brother. The demons cried out to God: “You are righteous, so judge: the soul belongs to us, for it did our deeds.”
The angels said that the soul of the deceased was delivered by the alms given for it.
To this the evil spirits objected: “Did the deceased give alms? Wasn’t it this old man who gave it away?” - and pointed to blessed Luke.
The elder was frightened by this vision, but still gathered his courage and said: “True, I did alms, but not for myself, but for this Soul.”
The desecrated spirits, having heard the elder’s answer, disappeared, and the elder, calmed by the vision, stopped doubting and grieving about his brother’s fate.
Holy Abbess Athanasia (April 12) bequeathed to the sisters of her monastery to organize a meal for the poor in memory of her for forty days after her death. But they carried out her command only until the ninth day, and then they stopped. Then the saint appeared to them with two angels and said: “Why have you forgotten my will? Know that alms given for the soul, as well as feeding the poor and the prayers of the priests, appease God. If the souls of the departed were sinners, then the Lord will grant them remission of sins; if they are righteous, then charity for them serves to save the benefactors.”
Having said this, the Monk Athanasia stuck her staff into the ground and became invisible. The next day the sisters saw that her rod had blossomed.
Quite recently, at the beginning of our century, a great ascetic of works of mercy shone in Russia, whose word was a living deed, and the deed was reflected in the word. We present here excerpts from his diaries, all the more valuable for us because they were written in a recent time, precisely for us, almost his contemporaries, and the author, of course, also had in mind the circumstances of our time. Readers can already guess that we are talking about the holy and righteous John of Kronstadt.
“Looking at the world of God, I see everywhere the extraordinary generosity of God in the gifts of nature; the surface of the earth is like a rich meal, prepared in abundance and variety by the most loving and generous owner; The depths of the waters also serve to nourish man. What can we say about four-legged animals and birds? And there is so much generosity in delivering food and clothing to a person! The bounties of the Lord are endless. Look what the earth does not deliver in summer and autumn! So, every Christian, imitate the generosity of the Lord, so that your table will be open to everyone, like the Lord’s table. The stingy is the enemy of the Lord."
“Look at the ants, how friendly they are; look at the bees, how friendly they are, look at the flocks of pigeons, how friendly they are, look at the flock of sheep, how friendly they are. Thoughts about schools of certain fish that always love to walk together, how friendly they are. Think how zealously they protect each other, help each other, love each other - and be ashamed of the dumb ones, you who do not live in love, who run away from bearing the burdens of others!”
“What are human souls? This is one and the same soul or the same breath of God, which God breathed into Adam, which from Adam has spread to the entire human race to this day. All people are therefore the same as one person or one great tree of humanity. Hence the most natural commandment, based on the unity of our nature: Love the Lord. Your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind... and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37,39). It is a natural necessity to fulfill these two commandments.”
“All people are the breath and creation of one God, they came from God and return to God as to their beginning: the flesh will return to the earth that it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. As the breath of one God and as having come from one person, people should naturally live in mutual love and mutual preservation and should not be separated from each other by pride, pride, anger, envy, stinginess, unsociability of character, so that they may be one.”
“Use My gifts not separately, not as self-lovers, but as My children, who should have everything in common, not sparing to offer others the fruits of My hands, the works of My hands, remembering that I give them to you freely, according to My fatherly goodness and generosity philanthropy. This happens in families. When a father, or mother, or brother brings gifts, then the father gives them to all the children, or the brother gives them to his brothers, and if the children, brothers and sisters all live in mutual love, then they do not consider themselves contented and happy if the father or brother surrounded one of them with gifts and did not give even to one of them what he gave to the others. Why? Because, out of mutual love, they feel like one body, because they are all, as it were, one, one person. So do each of you. And I know how to reward you for the love that is so pleasing to Me. If I also show mercy to those who do not fulfill My commandments—one rich man had a good harvest (Luke 12:16), then will I not show mercy to My true children, for whom I actually intended all My bounties?”
“Dislike, enmity or hatred should not be known among Christians even by name. How can there be dislike between Christians? Everywhere you see love, everywhere you smell the fragrance of love. Our God is a God of love; His kingdom is the kingdom of love; out of love for us, He did not spare His only begotten Son and gave Him up to death for us. At home you see love in those at home (because they are sealed in baptism and confirmation with the cross of love and wear the cross and eat the supper of love with you in church). In the church there are symbols of love everywhere: crosses, signs of the cross, saints who have shone with love for God and their neighbors, and Love itself incarnate. Love is everywhere in heaven and on earth. She calms and delights the heart, like God, while enmity kills soul and body. And you always and everywhere discover love! How else will you not love when everywhere you hear preaching about love, when only the murderer the devil is eternal enmity!
“Christ, the Son of God, the most holy God is not ashamed to call us sinners brothers and sisters, and do not be ashamed to call brothers and sisters at least the poor and humble, simple people, relatives according to the flesh or non-relatives, and do not be proud before them, do not despise them, do not be ashamed of them, for we are all truly brothers in Christ, we were all born of water and the spirit in the font of baptism and became children of God: we are all called Christians, we are all fed by Plotinus) and the blood of the Son of God, the Savior of the world, the sacraments of the church are performed over all of us, we are all in In the Lord's Prayer we pray: Our Father... and equally we all call God our Father. We do not know any other kinship except the spiritual, highest, eternal one, which was given to us by the Lord of life, the Creator and Renovator of our nature, Jesus Christ, for this one kinship is true, holy, and abiding. Earthly kinship is incorrect, changeable, impermanent, temporary, perishable, just as our blood is perishable. So, treat people simply as equals with equals, and do not be proud of anyone, but, on the contrary, humble yourself, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 14:11). Don’t say: I am educated, but he or she is not, he or she is simple, uneducated; Do not turn the gift of God given to you, an unworthy person, into a reason for pride, but for humility, for from everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required, and to whom much has been entrusted, from him more will be required (Luke 12:48). Don’t say: I am noble, but he is of low birth; earthly nobility without the nobility of faith and virtue is an empty name. What is my nobility when I am the same sinner as others or even worse?
“Oh, that our sweet meals would always be an expression of our sweet love for each other, so that our hearts would be sweetened by mutual love, just as food is sweetened. How sweet is Thy love, O Lord, manifested in so many and varied earthly gifts and blessings, and most of all in the sweetness of Thy words and in the sweetness of Thy divine Mysteries, Thy Body and Blood! What will be the sweetness of the next century? “Lord, enlighten our hearts!”
“What has the Lord of our life done for us insignificant, ungrateful and malicious people? He came down from heaven, took on our flesh, performed many different miracles, suffered, shed His blood, died, descended into hell, bound Satan, destroyed hell, prisoners, released those bound from hell and raised them to heaven, rose from the dead and will raise us with Him. . Let us fulfill His dying will: let us love each other! God help me!"
“God did not spare His Only Begotten Son for man, what after this will we spare for our neighbor: food, drink, clothes for his apparel, money for his various needs? The Lord gives a lot to some, and little to others, so that we think about each other. The Lord has so arranged that if we willingly share the generous gifts of His goodness with others, then they serve for the benefit of the soul, opening our hearts to love our neighbors, and by using them in moderation, they also serve for the benefit of the body, which is not satiated and not burdened with them. And if we selfishly, stingily and greedily use the gifts of God only ourselves and spare them for others, then they turn to the detriment of our soul and body: to the detriment of the soul because greed and stinginess close the heart to love for God and neighbor and they make us disgusting self-lovers, intensifying all passions in us; to the detriment of the body because greed produces satiety in us and prematurely upsets our health.”
“Remember Love, who laid down His life for people, and do not spare anything for your neighbor: no food, no drink, no clothes, no books, no money, if he needs them. The Lord will reward you for it. We are all His children, and He is everything to us... do not spare your very life for your brother!”
“We are the image of God, and God is Love. Let us live in love, let us be jealous of it with all our might. God help me! But we will consider everything earthly, all food, clothing, money, as rubbish and will not anger the Lord because of a copy, biting each other, being at enmity with each other. Will we sell the gentlemen for food, for money? Any one thing: either God or flesh. You cannot recognize two gods, you cannot serve two.”
“Our life is love, yes, love! And where there is love, there is God, and where God is, there is all goodness. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33). So, feed and delight everyone with joy, please everyone with joy, and rely in everything on the Heavenly Father, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Sacrifice what is dear to you to love your neighbor. Offer your Isaac, your many-passionate heart as a sacrifice to God, temper him with your will, crucify the flesh with passions and lusts. You have received everything from God, be ready to give everything to God, so that, having been faithful to your Lord in little things, you will later be placed over many things. You have been faithful over a few things; I will put you over many things (Matthew 25:21). Consider all passions as a dream, as I have learned this a thousand times.”
“Through what tube does the devil suck out our love for God and neighbor? Through addiction to wealth, to food, to drink, delicacies, clothing, to houses, to furniture, to rich dishes, to books and the like. Therefore, wealth, the sweetness of food and drink, the beauty of clothes, houses, furniture, dishes - should be disdained by a Christian, and his first concern in life should be pleasing God and his neighbor for the good of creation. Oh, how wise a Christian should be in life! He must be like the many-eyed Cherub—to be all eyes, all and unceasing meditation, except in cases in which unthinking faith is required.”
“We must be one spirit with the Lord, the spirit of holiness, the spirit of love, kindness, meekness, long-suffering, and mercy. He who does not have this spirit in himself is not God's. So, I must be love, one love, count everyone as one. Let them all be one (John 17:21). God help me!"
“An angry and proud person is ready to see in others only pride and malice and is glad if others speak badly about one of his acquaintances, especially those who live happily, richly, but are not close to him spiritually, and the worse, the more he rejoices, that others are bad, and he is perfect in front of them, and is ready to see only evil in them and compare them with demons. Oh, malice! Oh, pride! Oh, lack of love! No, you find something good in an evil person and rejoice in this goodness and speak with joy about his good qualities. There is no person who does not have at least some goodness in him; cover the evil that is in it with love and pray to God for it, so that God will make the evil ones good with His goodness. Don’t be an evil abyss yourself!”
“Love every person, despite his sins. Sins are sins, but the basis in man is one - the image of God. Others have obvious weaknesses, are malicious, proud, envious, stingy, money-loving, greedy, and you are not without evil, perhaps even more of it in you than in others. At least with regard to sins, people are equal: everyone, it is said, has sinned and is deprived of the glory of God, everyone is guilty before God and we still need God’s mercy towards us. Therefore, loving each other, we must tolerate each other and leave each other, forgive others for their sins against us, so that our Heavenly Father will forgive us our sins (Matthew 6:14). So, with all your soul, honor and love the image of God in every person, not paying attention to his sins. God alone is holy and sinless. And look how He loves us, what He has created and is creating for us, punishing mercifully and having mercy generously and graciously! Also, honor a person, despite his sins, because he can always improve.”
“Everything is a dream, except true love. The brother treated him coldly, impolitely, impudently, viciously - say: this is the dream of the devil; a feeling of enmity disturbs you because of your brother’s coldness and insolence, say: this is my dream; but here’s the truth: I love my brother, no matter what, I don’t want to see evil in him, which is a demonic dream in him, and which is also in me: we have the same sinful nature. You say there are sins in your brother, and great shortcomings. You have the same thing. I don’t like him, you say, for such and such shortcomings. Do not love yourself either: for the same shortcomings that are in him are also in you. But remember that there is a Lamb of God who took upon himself the sins of the whole world. Who are you, judging your neighbor for sins, for shortcomings, for vices? Everyone stands or falls for his Lord. But you, out of Christian love, must in every possible way be condescending to the shortcomings of your neighbor, you must heal his evil, his weakness of heart (all coldness, every passion is weakness) with love, affection and meekness, humility, as you wish for yourself from others when you are in weakness like his. For who does not suffer from all sorts of infirmities?”
“When you give to someone who asks, and your heart regrets the alms given to him, repent of this, for divine love gives us its blessings, while we already have enough of them. Love for one’s neighbor should say this to oneself: although he has it, it won’t be bad if I increase his well-being (and to tell the truth, one or two or three kopecks will not really increase or improve his well-being). God gives to me, why shouldn’t I give to someone in need? I say: to the needy, for who would stretch out his hand without need? If you yourself only received the gifts of His goodness from God based on your merits, then perhaps you would have to walk as a beggar. God is generous to you beyond what you deserve, and you yourself want Him to be generous. Why don’t you want to be generous to your brothers, having plenty to spare?”
“Leave all human untruths to the Lord, for God is the Judge, and love everyone diligently from a pure heart, and remember that you yourself are a great sinner and need the mercy of God. And in order to earn God’s mercy, we must have mercy on others in every possible way. The Lord is everything for everyone: the Judge, and the generous Giver of gifts, and mercy, and the cleansing of sins, and light, and peace, and joy, and strength of heart”...
“All sacrifices and mercies to the poor cannot replace love for one’s neighbor if it is not in the heart; Therefore, when giving alms, you should always make sure that it is given with love, from a sincere heart, willingly, and not with annoyance and grief towards them. The very word alms shows that it should be an act and a sacrifice of the heart, and given with tenderness or regret for the poor state of the beggar, and with tenderness or contrition for one’s sins, in the cleansing of which alms are given: alms, according to Scripture, cleanses all sin. He who gives alms reluctantly and with annoyance, stingily, has not known his sins, has not known himself. Alms are a benefit above all to the one who gives it.”
“Alms are a seed; if you want it to bear good fruit, make this seed good, giving in simplicity and from a kind, merciful, compassionate heart, and be sure that you are not losing so much, or better yet, not losing at all, but gaining infinitely more through perishable alms, if you give from a good heart, with faith in the Giver, and not from selfish or selfish views. Just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it to Me, your Lord (Matthew 25:40).”
“Do good to the poor willingly, without suspiciousness, doubt and petty inquisitiveness, remembering that in the person of the poor you are doing good to Christ Himself. Know that your alms are always insignificant in comparison with man, this child of God; know that your alms are earth and dust; know that with material mercy, spiritual mercy must certainly go hand in hand: affectionate, brotherly, with sincere love, treatment of your neighbor; Don’t let him notice that you’re favoring him, don’t show him a proud look. Give, it is said, in simplicity, have mercy with good intentions. Be careful not to deprive your material alms of value by not giving spiritual ones. Know that the Lord will test good deeds at the Judgment. For man, God the Father did not spare His only begotten Son, but gave him up to death for him. The devil, through our cunning, stumbles us in our good deeds.”
“Rejoice at every opportunity to show kindness to your neighbor, like a true Christian, striving to acquire as many good deeds as possible, especially the treasures of love. Do not rejoice when they show you affection and love, considering yourself justly unworthy of it; but rejoice when you have an opportunity to show love. Show love simply, without any deviation into thoughts of wickedness, without petty worldly selfish calculations, remembering that love is God Himself.”
“Love for God then begins to manifest itself and act in us when we begin to love our neighbor as ourselves, and not spare either ourselves or anything of our own for him, as the image of God; when we try to serve him for salvation with all we can; when we refuse, for the sake of pleasing God, from pleasing our belly, our carnal vision, from pleasing our carnal mind, which does not submit to the mind of God. He who says: “I love God,” but hates his brother, is a liar: for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen (1 John 4:20).
“Every day they ask you for alms, and give every day willingly, without bitterness, rudeness and murmuring: you give not your own, but God’s to God’s children of the cross, who barely have anywhere to lay their heads; you are a steward of God’s property, you are an everyday servant of the lesser brethren of Christ, do your work with meekness and humility, do not be bored by it. You serve Christ the Judge and the Rewarder: great honor, high dignity! Do good deeds with joy! Your efforts are generously rewarded; be generous to others yourself. They are not rewarded according to their deserts, do not give according to their merits and give to others, but for the sake of their needs.”
“Be attentive to yourself when a poor person in need of help asks you for it: the enemy will try at this time to fill your heart with coldness, indifference and even disdain for the person in need; overcome these non-Christian and non-human dispositions in yourself, arouse in your heart compassionate love for a person who is like you in every way, for this member of Christ and your own, for this temple of the Holy Spirit, so that Christ God may love you; Whatever the needy person asks you to do, fulfill his request to the best of your ability. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you (Matthew 5:42).”
"God! teach me to give alms willingly, with affection, with joy, and to believe that by giving it, I do not lose, but gain infinitely more than what I give. Turn my eyes away from people with a hard heart, who do not sympathize with the poor, who face poverty with indifference, condemn, reproach, brand it with shameful names and weaken my heart, so as not to do good, in order to harden me against poverty. Oh my God! how many such people there are! Lord, correct the matter of alms!.. Lord, accept alms from Your poor people.”
“Greedy, greedy miser! Did money or bread give you life? Isn't it God? Was it not His Word that gave existence and life to you and to everyone else? Is your life supported by money and bread, water and wine alone? Is it not because of every word that comes from the mouth of God that a person lives? Isn't money and bread dust? Isn't it just the least amount of bread we need to support our lives? Everything was created and is maintained by the Word. The Word of God is the source of life and its storage!”
"What I need? I don’t need anything on earth except the bare necessities. What I need? I need the Lord, I need His grace, His Kingdom is in me. On earth, the place of my wandering, my temporary training, there is nothing that is mine, everything is God’s, and everything is temporary, assigned to me for temporary services; My excesses are the property of my poor neighbors. What I need? I need true, Christian, active love, I need a loving heart that takes pity on my neighbors, I need joy about their contentment and well-being, sorrow about their sorrows and illnesses, about their sins, weaknesses, disorders, shortcomings, misfortunes, poverty; they need warm, sincere sympathy in all circumstances of their lives, joy with those who rejoice and weeping with those who cry. Give full room to pride, selfishness, try to live only for yourself and attract everything only to yourself: wealth, sweets, and the glory of this world, and not live, but die, not rejoice, but suffer, carrying the poison of self-love in yourself, for self-love is a poison constantly poured into our hearts by beliar. Lord, Witness of my heart and all its movements! Give me the merciful heart I ask from You! From me this is impossible, but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). Give me true life, dispel the darkness of passions, destroy their power with Your power!”
“Do not trust in piles of money, but in God, who constantly cares for everyone, and especially for His rational and verbal creations, and especially for those who live piously. Believe that His hand will not fail, especially for those who give alms, for man cannot be more generous than God. The proof of this is your own life and the lives of all former people who gave alms. May God alone be the treasure of your heart! Cling to Him completely as one created in His image and likeness, and flee from the aphids of the earth, which constantly corrupts our souls and bodies. Hasten to eternal life, to life that does not grow old in endless centuries; drag everyone there as much as you can.”
“It is good in all respects to give to the poor: in addition to pardon at the Last Judgment, and here on earth, alms-givers often receive great mercies from their neighbors, and what others get for a lot of money is given to them for free. In fact, the most loving, righteous and generous Heavenly Father, whose children have mercy on the merciful, will he not reward them here too, to encourage them to greater deeds, or at least to continue those works of mercy and to correct the unmerciful, who mock the merciful? He will reward you both worthily and righteously!”
"My God! how the love and sincere sympathy of our neighbor for us delights our heart! Who can describe this bliss of a heart imbued with a feeling of love for me from others and my love for others? It's indescribable! If here on earth mutual love delights us so much, then what sweetness of love will we be filled with in Heaven, in cohabitation with God, with the Mother of God, with the Heavenly Powers, with the saints of God? Who can imagine and describe this bliss, and what temporary, earthly things should we not sacrifice to receive such indescribable bliss of heavenly love? God, Your name is Love! Teach me true love. So I have most abundantly tasted its sweetness from communication in the spirit of faith in You, with Your faithful children, and I have been most abundantly pacified and enlivened by it. Confirm, O God, this which you have done in me. If only it were like this all the days of my life! Grant me more often to have communion of faith and love with Your faithful servants, with Your temples, with Your Church!”
“If you have Christian love for your neighbors, then all of Heaven will love you; if you have unity of spirit with your neighbors, then you will have unity with God and with all the inhabitants of heaven; You will be merciful to your neighbors, and God will be merciful to you, and so will all the angels and saints; You will pray for others, and all of Heaven will intercede for you. Holy is the Lord our God, and so be you!”
“Grant me, Lord, to love every neighbor of mine as myself, always, and not to become embittered towards him for anything and not to work for the devil. Let me crucify my vanity, pride, covetousness, lack of faith and other passions. May our name be: mutual love, may we believe and trust that for all of us everything is the Lord; let us not worry, let us not worry about anything; may you, our God, be the only God of our hearts and there is nothing besides you! Let us be in the unity of love among ourselves, as it should be, and let everything that separates us from each other and separates us from love be in contempt for us, like dust trampled underfoot. If God has given Himself to us, if He abides in us, and we in Him, according to His unfaithful word, then what will He not give to me? What will he be deprived of, what will he be left with? The Lord is my Shepherd, I will not need anything (Ps. 23:1). So, be very calm, my soul, and know nothing but love. This is my commandment, that you love one another (John 15:12).”
Bishop of Chita and Transbaikal Eustathius
BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL
Almsgiving is one of the main virtues of a Christian. The Lord says in the Sermon on the Mount: Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy(Matthew 5:7). Those. It does not depend on our mercy whether we, sinners, will be pardoned by God. The concept of alms includes not only material things, but also feelings, mood, disposition with which a person gives alms.
When we talk about the size of mercy, it is appropriate to recall the Gospel story about the widow’s mite. The Lord was in the Jerusalem temple and, stopping at the treasury where donations were collected, watched. Rich people came up and deposited large sums of money. A poor widow came up and gave just two mites. The Lord said to the disciples: This poor widow put in more than everyone else who put into the treasury, for everyone put in out of their abundance, but out of her poverty she put in everything she had, all her food.(Mk 12.43-44).
The Church distinguishes two types of almsgiving - material and spiritual. Moreover, spiritual mercy is much more important.
Both material and spiritual alms should be based on love and compassion for a person. If with such feelings we give alms, without thinking about what needs it will be used for, what we give will certainly benefit both the person in need and ourselves.
Material alms are known to everyone. Every Christian is obliged, to the best of his ability, and, of course, to the extent of his faith, to financially help people in need.
SPIRITUAL ALMS
The second type of almsgiving is spiritual charity. Nowadays, unfortunately, it is less common. What does this mean? First, prayer for the person. For example, a person came to you with some kind of misfortune, with some kind of problem, but you feel that you cannot provide him with significant material assistance. However, you are able to express your compassion and sympathy for this person through prayer. God knows who needs what. Therefore, it is not necessary to name a specific request in prayer. You just need to pray for the person so that the Lord will have mercy on him. God's mercy will be manifested in whatever he needs today.
Advice given on time is also spiritual mercy. When a person shares his experience of how to live correctly, how to do something correctly - and this will be spiritual alms.
Almsgiving can also be expressed in a kind word. The ever-memorable Archimandrite Pavel (Gruzdev) loved to repeat: “A kind word will warm you in the cold.”
When a person is in a difficult situation, he especially needs affection and attention. And if we are told a kind word from a loving heart, it gives a positive spiritual charge, an impulse that inspires and strengthens us, which is accompanied by joy and spiritual uplift.
Compassion and condolences are a type of spiritual alms when a person has some kind of trouble, perhaps he has lost a dear, loved one, or is suffering from an illness.
Prayer for the dead is also spiritual almsgiving.
The Church recommends praying for the departed with these words: “Rest, O Lord, the souls of Your departed servants, all our relatives and friends, and forgive them all their sins, voluntary and involuntary, and grant them the Kingdom of Heaven.”
TWO MITES
I would like to return once again to the parable of the poor widow. Rich people, as the Lord Himself says, gave from their abundance, but the poor woman contributed only two mites. But the Lord does not look at the quantity of what is given, but at its quality, or more precisely, at what feelings, with what disposition the sacrifice was given. Someone today has the opportunity to give alms of several thousand, and this will not make his pocket become scarce, and for people in need, even ten rubles is a significant donation.
Therefore, when a person gives alms, he should not look up to anyone. The main thing is that almsgiving should be coupled with a Christian feeling of love and a desire to help.
It often happens today that rich people give large sums of money as alms or sacrifices to the temple. But this sacrifice is unspiritual if it does not have an accompaniment, which is called love, compassion. It’s even worse if the donated money was acquired through fraud. This money, in fact, does not belong to its current owner - he uses it illegally. Such alms are not accepted by the Lord.
There is another pattern: the richer a person, the stingier he is, because the passion of love of money captures a person so much that he is afraid to even lose a penny, despite the fact that he may have millions of dollars in the bank .
The question of alms, brothers and sisters, is not very simple. Charity may be small, but it is pleasing to God and useful to people. It may be large in monetary terms, but it is neither pleasing to God nor useful to people. Everything determines with what feelings and disposition a person gives alms.
***
- Tell me, the more a Christian gives alms, the better he does for himself and his loved ones - living and dead?
Yes. I have already given an example of how one woman, seeing off a religious procession that comes from Vladivostok, donated a decent amount of money to the participants in this procession. “It’s as if I gave it to myself, not to them,” she said later. In fact, she herself received even more than she gave, because alms cover many sins.
***
- I would like to ask a question about spiritual mercy. For a long time I supported my friend in difficult moments of her life, but gradually I began to notice that I myself was losing peace of mind. When I had no strength left to help her, I began to submit notes to the temple about her health. However, her life became even harder. How can this be explained?
When it became difficult for you to support your friend, you needed to talk about it with a priest or an experienced person in life. As an assumption, I will say that your friend probably chose completely non-Christian values as her guide. In this case, you just need to stop helping her so as not to harm yourself. When you come to your senses and peace is established in your soul, then you will soberly assess what is happening and draw the right conclusion.
***
- I was named after my grandfather, who died in the Great Patriotic War, fighting the Nazis. I often submit notes for the repose of his soul in the church, but I don’t know whether he was baptized. Is it right to do this?
If you don’t know whether your grandfather was baptized or not, you need to make every effort to find out whether he was baptized. If you are unable to find out exactly this, you can remember him in your home prayers. I remember such a case. Saint Macarius the Great, walking through the desert, saw the skull of a dead man. "Who are you?" - he asked. The skull replied: “I am the priest of the idol of such and such. I feel very bad, I'm in hell now. But when you Christians pray, it is joy and relief for us.” Note that Macarius the Great did not pray for this priest, but his words testified that joy and consolation come to all people, even the dead, when Christians pray.
Only a person who has consciously accepted Holy Baptism, that is, has become a member of the Church, can be commemorated at a church service. This makes it possible for his loved ones, as well as other members of the Church, to pray for him. At services, you can hear the priest’s call to prayerfully remember other people: “And all Orthodox Christians.” Moreover, the Church remembers both the living and the dead, so church prayer is very important.
If you cannot find out whether your grandfather was baptized, then remember him in your home prayer and be sure to try to lead your life with dignity. Both your prayer and your righteousness will have a positive impact on the afterlife of your loved one.
The prayer of a righteous man can do much, says the Lord Himself.
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- I read that alms given to a women’s monastery are valued 100 times more than a simple donation to the temple. Is it so?
These numbers are not entirely objective. But it is true that the monastery is the heart of the Church. There is such a patristic saying: “The heart of the world is the Church, and the heart of the Church is the monastery.” If you give alms to the monastery, of course, this is of great benefit, because people go there not for a while, but for the rest of their lives, to perform feats of fasting, labor, and prayer for the whole world. That is, by giving a sacrifice to the monastery, you are helping it, and at the same time entrusting yourself to the prayers of the inhabitants of the monastery.
But this does not mean that the temple does not need to donate.
The Holy Fathers say that alms cover many sins, therefore, anyone who feels some kind of sinful burden on their soul should strive to do alms - not only material, but also spiritual.
***
- What should you do to feel the need for mercy in your heart?
We need to pray. Reading morning and evening prayers, the Gospels, Psalms is the duty of every Christian. By this we cleanse our soul, and it becomes sensitive to the manifestations of the spiritual world.
After praying, every person feels that he is in a bright mood, he wants to do something good and useful. On the contrary, when a person does something bad, he immediately loses peace in his soul and feels: his heart is dark, something has broken inside. And here we must also resort to a saving remedy - prayer. She will restore peace, and again there will be light in the soul, and we will see the right path.
Published in: Five Evenings with the Bishop // Orthodox Transbaikalia. - November 27, 2007. - No. 21(217).
What is alms and how to give it? It would seem that what is so difficult here? It turns out that not everyone can not always be helped, even if asked. Almsgiving is a whole science. Before learning it, you should study and understand the language of theology well.
What is almsgiving? Parable of Alms
There are many parables that say that the rich should give to the poor. And then the one who sympathizes will be rewarded for his mercy, and the one who asks for his patience.
According to religion, almsgiving is giving to the poor. Sharing with one's neighbor is one of the main life tenets of a true Christian. But here we need to correctly interpret the concept of “giving alms.” Who is really worth helping, and who should you bypass and thereby save both your soul and the person asking?
Parable of the Wandering Jews
One of the biblical parables is also devoted to this issue. The Jews, wandering in the desert, sacrificed gold twice. In the first case, they collected all the jewelry of their women and cast a calf from them. They presented this gift to the devil. The second time, all the Jewish husbands collected all the gold and silver coins. They presented them as a gift to the Lord God.
What does this mean? That when a person spends what he earns on all his whims, such as parties, clothes, expensive jewelry, then he presents all this to his demon. That is, thereby feeding it. And if he gives acquired property and money to the poor or buys them food and clothing, then the person saves his soul. After all, he makes a presentation to the bright side of his inner being.
Is a person really in need?
But in our world, it is sometimes very difficult to determine who is truly in need and who is fraudulent, begging for money for their greedy needs. You cannot give donations to everyone who asks, and most importantly, how much he asks. One must be able to distinguish between those truly in need and typical speculators making money. This is also stated in the Bible. That is, everyone should give depending on their income. The one who is richer is, accordingly, more. The poor man can give according to his strength. And they will be credited equally. After all, they give equally according to their capabilities.
You need to do good deeds correctly
So how should you give alms? Remember, do everything from your heart and with good intentions. If you see that a person needs more than you, give it, don’t regret it. Avoid scammers and try to warn other applicants about the unclean intentions of the person asking. The look should be welcoming and bright. Under no circumstances should you give with regret or reluctance. Like, you need to apply, but you don’t want to. Or as many do, especially the rich: they throw alms to the poor with a favor. All this will come back to you with the same pain that the person asking you experienced at that moment.
After all, the Bible says that you give not just to the poor in need, but to your God. Thus, thank him for all your good deeds and daily trials. The saying “As you sow, so shall you reap” applies perfectly here. That is, the more you sacrifice with a pure heart, the more will be returned to you later in the works of the Lord.
"When it serves right hand, the left shouldn’t know about this.” What does it mean? When you donate, no one needs to know about it. And you yourself should not count how much you have given, but how much good is left. If you did something like this, then forget it. The more you give, the more you will receive.
Serve on time
Remember that alms, like everything in this life, must be timely. Serve before it's too late. The poor man has not yet taken the dark road. After all, many may commit crimes in order to feed themselves and their children. They can steal, deceive, force others to give them their property and, worst of all, commit murder. Remember that food should be given when a person is hungry, and not when he died without ever seeing food. Help orphans or those who have stumbled, so that you don’t have to answer to the Lord later. They could have helped, but they passed by, the man laid hands on himself, taking a great sin upon his soul. But you could have done something and didn’t want to, which means that you will have to answer later before the Almighty.
Alms can be different!
After all, almsgiving is a kind human attitude towards someone in need.
You see a woman crying on the street - don’t pass by. Suddenly she was robbed, and she needs help. Or maybe she has a problem at home, and she has no one to share it with, and she cries. It is possible that a person simply feels bad, but does not have the strength to ask for help. After all, you or your loved ones may find yourself in such a situation, and it’s good when strangers don’t pass by indifferently.
Or look around, maybe you have an old neighbor whose children don’t go to see her, or she’s completely lonely and needs help. Go to the store, get water, chop firewood, clean the house, or just talk over a cup of tea. For many lonely old people, your half an hour of time will not only lift their spirits, but will also bring them back to life. And you need to do this every day, and not when you yourself feel bad and think about others.
After all, most of us go to church when one of our loved ones begins to get sick or is unwell ourselves. That’s when we light candles in church and distribute them to the poor. Is this correct? Of course not. Every day someone needs help, and not just when we remember it, and then only in order to save ourselves. It is better to do things when you are healthy and share them with others.
It also happens that rich people are so stingy that they don’t even help their children and don’t share their wealth. And when they are already on their deathbed, they remember them. Then they begin to divide who gets what. Can such a person be sure that his children will fulfill his last wishes? After all, during his lifetime he did not honor them, and they can repay him in kind. If the Lord blesses a rich man through his wealth, then he must share it during his lifetime.
Alms in the church
Many people wonder: what is the correct way to give alms in church? Now you can stumble upon dishonest priests. All of them unanimously claim that if you give alms in church, then you will be rewarded doubly for it. But where is it written and said in the Bible that good deeds in the temple are doubled? All this looks like a marketing scheme of those church fathers who want to put everything into their pockets. Here, too, everyone must distinguish where to leave a donation, and which temple is better to bypass.
Unfortunately, in some modern cathedrals and churches the priests don’t even know all the prayers, and not only do they not know, but they haven’t even finished reading the Bible. But you can’t be categorical about everyone. Most of them still truly serve the Lord. Also, many poor churches need alms or simply physical strength. After all, it’s not the good church that has huge domes and everything inside is bursting with wealth and gold. And the one where the priest will help and forgive sins with a bright and pure soul. The church is considered to be the house of the Lord, where people gather and talk with him. Some people ask for health, others for peace of mind.
A good priest gives thanks for what he already has. Many come to the temple to honor the memory of loved ones and relatives. Or they just bring a donation. But the Scripture does not say that the house of the Lord should be richer in gold and wealth than the parishioners who bring alms to its doors.
Conclusion
To summarize the above, we can say that alms are a good gift from the giver to the needy. Therefore, help people from the bottom of your heart!
It doesn’t matter where the alms are given: or just a busy street. The main thing is to help someone in need, if not with money, then at least with a kind word.
The Prophet Daniel, due to the hatred of the Babylonian nobles, was thrown into the lions' den. Six days passed without him eating any food there, and then the Lord sent His Angel to Judea, to another prophet, Habakkuk, who at that time was carrying food to the field to the reapers. The angel said to Habakkuk, “Take this dinner to Babylon, to Daniel in the lions’ den.” Habakkuk answered: “Sir! I have never seen Babylon and I don’t know the ditch.” Then the Angel of the Lord took him by the hair and placed him in Babylon over the pit, by the power of the Spirit. And Habakkuk called and said, “Daniel! Daniel, take the lunch that God has sent to you.” Daniel said: “You remembered me, O God, and did not forsake those who loved you.” And Daniel arose and ate. An angel of God instantly returned Habakkuk to his place (Dan. 14:29-41). Habakkuk, of course, could have said to the Angel when he appeared to him: “I have workers in the field waiting for lunch, and you send me to distant Babylon with this lunch to Daniel, what will my workers eat?” But the Prophet did not say so. God told him to take food to a prisoner who was starving, and he fulfilled the command without any excuses.
How many prisoners are there, how many are starving like Daniel! How many are there who do not have a piece of their daily bread, how many are debtors, helpless, how many are shivering from the cold! God tells us to take care of them and to help them. The poor man betrays himself to you; You are a helper to the orphan (Ps. 9:35). Is it possible to have any excuse here? Almighty God, of course, could have fed Daniel with heavenly food without Habakkuk’s dinner, but His wise Providence wants one person to suffer need, and another to help him in this need, so that the poor man suffers the need, and you, the rich man, help him. Why is this so? For the benefit of both: so that the poor one receives a crown for patience, and you for mercy. But so that you don’t work in vain, here’s a rule for you: Go where you need to; give as much as you need; come on as needed; give when necessary. That is: judge the person to whom you give, and the measure, and the type of alms, and the time.
Let's go where we need to go. The Jews donated their treasures in the desert twice: the first time they collected women's jewelry in order to pour out a golden calf from them; another time they took down their gold, silver and copper items, precious stones and fabrics for the construction and decoration of the tabernacle (camp temple). In the first case, they gave their treasures to the devil, and therefore to the wrong place; in the second, they dedicated them to God, that is, they gave them where they needed to be given. So, when you give, donate, spend, squander your property on your whims, which are the same to you as idols, for example, on games, on clothes, on drunkenness and obscene feasts, then know that you are giving it to where it is not necessary, for you are offering it as a gift to the devil. And when you donate to a church, to a monastery, when you use your wealth to help some poor family, for a dowry for a poor girl, for ransoming a captive, for feeding an orphan, then know that you are giving it exactly where it is needed: you are bringing everything it is a gift to the Lord God.
Give as much as necessary, that is, look at the person and his need. For a beggar who wanders the world, two money is enough to buy his daily bread, but these two money are not enough for a respectable person who, due to some unfortunate circumstances, has fallen into poverty, is not enough for a dowry for a poor girl.
When the earth is dry, it cannot be watered with a few drops of water: it needs plenty of rain. What is the need, such is the help there should be. Likewise: what is the condition of the giver, such should be the alms. The rich give more, the poor can give less. And with the Lord they will both receive an equal reward. Why? Because, of course, the Lord does not look at alms, but at good will. A poor widow put two copper mites into the church treasury, where the rich put gold and silver, but Christ praised her offering more than others: everyone, He said, put in from their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, put in everything she had, all her food ( Mark 12:44), that is, all his fortune. The door can be unlocked with a gold, iron, or even a wooden key, as long as it fits the lock: just as a rich man can unlock the door of heaven with a ducat, and a poor man with a copper coin.
Give as needed, and first of all: give with a friendly look from a good heart, and not with regret and as if involuntarily: not with grief and not with compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7). Is the one who gives and scolds, gives alms and shames worth the reward?! If you only knew who is really asking you for a piece of food, insignificant help! If you only knew Who says to you: Give Me a drink (John 4:10). After all, this is God Himself in the form of a beggar man! This is what Saint Chrysostom says about this: “Oh, how high is the dignity of poverty! Under the cover of poverty, God Himself hides: the beggar stretches out his hand, and God accepts. He who gives alms to the poor lends God Himself: He who does good to the poor lends to the Lord (Proverbs 19, 17).So, think with what joy you should give alms! Give with a generous hand, for just as a sower throws out seeds not one grain at a time, but a whole handful, so in the act of alms follow the words of King David: he lavished, he distributed to the poor, therefore his righteousness interrupts forever (Ps. 111:9). As you sow, so shall you reap: if you sow generously, you will reap much; if you sow sparingly, you will reap little. He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; and he who sows generously will also reap generously ( 2 Cor. 9:6) Christ Himself teaches how to give alms: When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing (Matthew 6:3). This means: let your alms be a secret, so that not only people do not know about it, but so that you yourself do not count your goods; when one hand gives, the other does not need to know about it: let them both give - generously and plentifully.
Finally, give when necessary. This is most necessary both for the poor man and for yourself. The road to almsgiving in times of poverty. Help when you can still help, give before it’s too late, before the poor man falls into despair, indulges in theft and other vices, until he dies of hunger and cold. Help a helpless orphan girl get married before she loses herself, so that you don’t have to answer to God for her. Finally, give while you yourself live in the world, without waiting for the hour of death. When you die, you will inevitably be merciful, because you cannot take anything with you into the grave. While you are alive, do good, so that it comes from a good heart, from a good will, and then you will have a perfect reward from the Lord. Almsgiving is good even when leaving this life, but it is much better during life. Oh, how great is the Lord’s reward for her, what consolation it will bring to your conscience! What a joy it is for the heart to be comforted while still alive by the well-being of that orphan whom you brought into the world, to see the happiness of that poor girl whom you arranged to marry, to see the joy of that poor man who, with your help, got out of trouble! Will it be at that time when you are at your last breath? You are about to write a spiritual will, and your relatives and friends will already come to you to close your eyes... But suppose that you have time to write this will: are you sure that your heirs will fulfill your will? What foolishness! When during your lifetime you did not trust them with your belongings, will you really trust them with your soul after your death? The rich are dead! If possible, rise from your graves; I will ask you only one question: if God gave you the gift of resurrection for only one hour, what would you do then? Oh, of course, then you would pay in quadruple for all your unrighteousness, you would give away all your wealth in order to appease God’s justice through this... Now, listener, you now ask, like the rich man of the Gospel: What good thing should I do in order to have life? eternal? (Matthew 19:16). And I answer this question for you: if God blessed you with earthly blessings, like the rich man, then go ahead.
Go where you need to go; give as much as you need; come on as needed; and give when necessary.
