An example of charity giving. Do I need to serve to the church beggars and where to carry grandmother's earrings
priest Sergiy Nikolaev
Compassion, the ability to experience someone else's misfortune or pain, to worry about someone's fate, to a greater or lesser extent, is characteristic of every person. This feeling is, as it were, innate, and its absence speaks of a certain flaw in the human psyche, pain. But the manifestation of compassion in actions - mercy - is a matter of the free will of the individual and its special dignity. The Lord grants a merciful person a special grace - bliss, so high is alms in the eyes of the Lord. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will have mercy” (), says the Savior. That is, we are promised a specific reward for charity - the mercy of God, the remission of our sins.
What is charity? When we give something that belongs to us, we do not give it according to law or duty, not in order to receive something more from a person, then out of the kindness of our hearts we do alms. It can be expressed in a sacrifice from one's prosperity, in a sacrifice of one's free time, labor, spiritual participation, in a word of consolation, in forgiving an insult, in a prayer for someone. The saint says about charity: “It is a great deed of charity. Love her, which has nothing equal, she can atone for sins, and deliver from judgment. You are silent - and she stands and protects ... So many benefits from charity, and we do not please and do not care? Give me bread if possible. Do you have any bread? Give, ovol (small coin). No ovol? Give me a bowl of cold water. Not even this? Cry with the unfortunate, and you will receive a reward; for the reward is given not for a forced, but for a free cause ”.
For a believer, charity is a natural act of faith. “What is the use, my brethren, if someone says that he has faith but has no works? can this faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and has no daily food, and one of you tells them: “go in peace, warm yourself and eat”, but does not give them what they need for the body: what is the use? Likewise, faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself ”(). The Apostle James speaks of inactive compassion as a dead deed, of inactive faith as a dead faith.
Alms, perhaps, is the simplest and most accessible God-pleasing deed, capable of giving life to our faith. There is nothing easier and safer than charity. And how important it is for Christians, we can judge by how the first Apostolic Church took care of alms. In the Acts of the Holy Apostles we read that many Christians brought money for distribution to the poor (). What was accepted was “the daily distribution of needs” () and for this “seven people, known, filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom” () were selected and installed. The Apostle Paul advises: “Each one give according to the disposition of his heart, not with grief or compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver ”().
God loves ... And he responds to our generosity with generosity. In our Nativity Church, one altar is dedicated to St. Tikhon of Amaphunt. Saint Tikhon was born into the family of a grain merchant. He was compassionate to the poor, and even as a youth he often gave alms. Having nothing of his own, Tikhon distributed his father's bread. The father was very upset and reprimanded his son for his self-righteousness. But the boy answered him: “I have heard that the giver lends to the poor to the poor. Go open the storerooms and you will see that the Lord has already paid back His debt. " The father opened the pantries and saw that they were filled with wonderful bread. The painting depicting the alms of the youth Tikhon can be seen on the vault of the Tikhon's side-altar in the Church of the Nativity of Christ.
Sometimes people show what they think is reasonable thrift and are in no hurry with deeds of mercy, saying to themselves: “I’ll wait until I’m rich, but now I don’t have enough for myself.” For them, you can remember a long history. In one monastery it was customary on Great Thursday to distribute monastic bread to the poor. But once there was a crop failure in this area, and the brethren of the monastery, fearing to be left without food, begged the abbot not to give out the usual alms. When, after a while, they opened the granary, they saw that the wheat had sprouted and could not be eaten. So the Lord punished those of little faith for unreasonable economy.
But there is another example in the history of the Church. A rich woman, having buried her husband and not needing a large estate, began to distribute abundant alms. She looked everywhere for people in need and did them good. Relatives murmured at her: "You will completely lose your prosperity, you yourself will become a beggar." But the merciful widow continued to give generously. And so she distributed everything. A day later, the city was attacked by barbarians, it was plundered and burned down. Only a part of the inhabitants fled, and among them is a widow. She was the only one who had not lost anything, she had nothing to mourn.
Alms will become our intercessor on the day of the Last Judgment. ... There was a very stingy person. He never gave alms. One day he fell ill. In a fever, he had a dream. He sees that, already dead, he is standing at the last Judgment. In front of him is an Angel holding a scale. On one bowl are his sins. There is a whole mountain of them. And on another bowl, the Angel put a small edge of bread. And this edge begins to drag the mountain of sins. "What is it?" the man asked Angel. - "This is your charity, it almost tipped the cup of sin." “But I have never given alms,” the stingy man was surprised.
“Yes, you didn’t serve, but one day, in frustration, you threw a crumb of bread at a hungry beggar to drive him away. Here it is, this unintentional charity, ”answered the Angel. The man woke up. He understood everything. After recovering, he took advantage of the opportunity for pardon - he gave generous alms. “Blessed is he who understands (understanding) the needy and the wretched, in the day of fierceness the Lord will deliver him” ().
In the old days, it was customary to devote Sundays and holidays to works of mercy. After the church service, the Orthodox visited the sick, prisoners, and the lonely. They brought what they could. So they said: "to visit the hospital, the dungeon and the widow." A very old man goes to a Moscow church. He goes to the early liturgy. After the service, he rests for a while in the church on a bench. Somehow we got to talking. “I go to a nursing home after service. Near here. I'll bring a loaf with me, and sometimes some caramel. They don't really need anything, they are feeding for now. But there is no one to talk to. There are recumbent ones, it is even more difficult for them. So I walk for Christ's sake. I will say, I will drink tea with them, they will be happy. "
The Savior accepts even the smallest gift: "And whoever gives one of these little ones a cup of cold water to drink ... truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward" ().
You can see that people who are merciful, kind, generous in charity are more calm and optimistic. And those who sort out those in need into parasites, idlers and unworthy, responding to a complaint or request: “It’s your own fault,” “there are many of you,” these people are more afraid of life, they are more restless. Of course, after all, our soul knows and feels everything, and that, not showing mercy, and we have no right to count on the mercy of the Lord.
But there is one special kind of charity. Every day, every believing church person, reading evening prayers, pronounces the following words: "Remember, O Lord, those who bear fruit and do good in Thy holy churches, and grant them even petition and eternal life for salvation." Those who go to church, at each service, hear the words of a priest or deacon “We still pray ... for the creators of this holy temple ... for those who bear fruit and do good in this holy and all-honorable temple, who work ...” This is an augmented litany, or a request to believers to pray especially for bearing the fruits of their labors and working people in the temple. Who are these people? And why do they pray for them especially, asking the Lord to fulfill their petitions (if they, of course, to salvation), asking to grant them eternal life?
Having founded the earthly Church, the Savior entrusted the care of its material existence to the mercy of its members. So Jesus Himself, leaving his home, lived for three and a half years as a stranger and a stranger by the mercy and participation of some people: Mary and Martha from Magdala, their brother Lazarus, His relative Salome, a certain Simon and others. And after the death of the Savior on the cross, rich people served Him - Joseph of Arimathea, who gave his tomb for the burial of Christ, and Nicodemus, who bought everything necessary for this rite.
It is traditional for the children of the Orthodox Church to take care of the clergy and the House of God - the temple.
The Nativity Church in the village of Zaozerye was built at the expense and care of Gabriel Vasilyevich Ryumin. His son, Nikolai Gavrilovich, and the merchant Platon Mikhailov took care of adding the side-altars to Nikolsky and Tikhonovsky. The family of local manufacturers Baranovs generously donated this temple. Taking care of him was the lot of V.S. Tchaikov. He was the headman of the Nativity Church at the end of the last century. These people donated their own funds, skills and time for the construction and decoration of our temple. Naturally, we pray for the merciful. In the archives of many churches, the names of benefactors have been preserved, with whose funds certain works were carried out, icons or utensils were bought.
Of course, not all names were preserved in the records, but the Lord accepted their sacrifice and knows them. And we pray for "those who bear fruit and do good." Many worries associated with the life of the temple are taken on free of charge, that is, for Christ's sake, merciful parishioners and even non-local believers. Someone washes the floors, someone sings, someone repairs and sews vestments. And we pray for them.
Participation in the construction and decoration of churches has always been highly appreciated by our compatriots. Looking at the majestic buildings and the splendor of the decoration of Orthodox churches, it will not be superfluous to remember that each family from the surrounding villages contributed to this splendor. From whatever means the amount for the construction of a new church or for the repair of a dilapidated one would appear, but part of it always consisted of merciful donations from parishioners and even strangers, strangers. Collectors with circles, collecting "for the temple", went everywhere. Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov has a poem "Vlas", where the poet paints in detail and surprisingly vividly the life of a beggar for the construction of a church. How is he
Goes to the cold winter,
Walks in the summer heat
Calling baptized Rus
For gifts that are feasible.
And give, give passersby:
So from a bit of labor
Temples of God grow
On the face of the earth, dear.
In the last century, funds were collected for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior throughout Russia for fifty years. And although the required amount could in no way be made up of people's donations (the main funds were provided by the treasury), everyone could participate in the construction of the temple, because this temple was conceived as a grateful sacrifice, like a candle from the entire Russian people.
But the temple needs not only to be built or renovated. In order for him to live, so that the service could be performed in him without hindrance, someone must take care of warmth, light, cleanliness, and utensils.
You come to the temple, you see shining candlesticks, washed windows, clean sheets of icons. Who bothered this? Each church has its own hardworking and merciful parishioners who maintain cleanliness in the church, help ceremoniously perform divine services, and observe order. Whether it's autumn, spring, whether it rained, a lot of road dirt remains on the floor after the service. All this needs to be washed. Moreover, to clean the candlesticks, wash the glass of the icons, lamps. Wash and iron the vestments. Change the veils of the icons for the holiday. And a lot, a lot more that only they, the workers, know. If it happens, a person who does not know the church order will come to the service, they will prompt him, on occasion and correct him: “Do not blame me, they don’t go to a strange monastery with their own charter.” And they do all this not for payment, but free of charge, for Christ's sake. This is their charity. Victim. Whoever was in the Nativity Church and examined the central iconostasis, he, perhaps, noticed on the upper tier the figures of women with jugs in their hands, as if rising along the mountain ledges to the stone opening of the Savior's Tomb. These are the myrrh-bearing women carrying fragrant oil to anoint the body of the crucified Jesus. Oil in both ancient and modern religious art is a symbol of mercy. Charity shown to Christ, that is, for the sake of Christ, as it were, lifts these women to the Risen God Himself. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will have mercy” (). And as soon as I come to the church, just look at the images of the myrrh-bearers hurrying to the Holy Sepulcher, the names of our Christmas “myrrh-bearers” themselves arise in my memory, this is how the merciful toilers who work in the church are sometimes called. "We also pray for the health of Anna, Maria, Antonina, Raisa, Lydia, ..."
It seemed that mercy could not be condemned in any way. But the enemy of mankind, the hater of our salvation, is also trying to interfere with a good deed here. “Why such a waste of funds for the maintenance and decoration of the temple? You can, after all, give this money to the poor and thus serve Christ, ”some would-be Christians repeat after the visiting preachers. In response to these reproaches, one can recall one gospel story. Once, in the house where the Savior was eating, a woman with an alabaster vessel of precious peace approached him and poured aromas on Jesus. “Why not sell this myrrh for three hundred denarii and give it to the poor” (), - one of the disciples was indignant. It was Judas, who later betrayed Christ. “He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because there was a thief” ().
So this is whose words some “merciful to the poor” Christians are repeating! What did Christ answer to Judas? "Leave her ... for you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me" (). Beneficence for Christ is higher than beneficence for man. We call the temple the House of God, the Lord invisibly dwells in it. The decoration and maintenance of the temple is a sacrifice desired and precious for the Lord.
The Monk Erasmus, having loved God's temples, gave all his significant fortune to the Pechersk Church. But after a while the crafty enemy began to embarrass him: “It would be better if you gave your money to the poor. They would pray for you. ” It can be seen that the evil one does not pursue innovation, and uses the usual methods. Erasmus fell into despondency, thinking that he was mistaken in doing good. And then he turned to a dissolute life altogether. But the Lord did not leave him. When Erasmus fell seriously ill and the Pechersk brethren were ready for the fact that he would die without repentance, and was very sad about him, the Mother of God appeared to the sick and said: “Erasmus! Because you have decorated My church, I will adorn you and magnify you with glory in the kingdom of My Son. Get up, repent and take the angelic image (monasticism), and on the third day I will take you clean to Me, because you loved the beauty of My house. ” Blessed Erasmus fulfilled the indicated and, having purified himself by repentance, rested in peace on the third day. This is a wonderful example of God's special favor towards organizers and decorators of temples.
To this long history I would like to add two modern ones. One of them happened to a parishioner of our church. An elderly good, warm-hearted man, a parishioner of the Nativity of Christ Church, died. After a while, his widow turned to me with a question. The fact is that the niece of the deceased saw him in a dream, and he told her: "Everything is fine with me, the only problem is that we forgot to send the money that we promised." What kind of promise and what kind of money, the niece did not know and recounted the dream to the widow. She immediately remembered that shortly before her husband's death they were watching TV, a program about the church of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called. The current account was also named in the program. For some reason, the couple decided to send a certain amount there. Yes, for business - forgotten. Now the woman came with the question, what should she do? How to proceed? Apparently, this is not an easy matter - mercy to the House of God.
I remember another story told by an acquaintance. She, an elderly woman, went every summer to work as a bricklayer to restore or build churches. Helped for free - for Christ's sake. One day she took her five-year-old grandson with her. After some time, already upon his return, the boy told her: “Tonight the Angel of God told me that they wrote me down in a living book because I brought bricks at a construction site.” What is this “living book”? The five-year-old boy was a church boy, he knew about Angels, but this was the first time he heard about the “living book,” or the Book of Life. Well, maybe these bricks will form a ladder to the Kingdom of Heaven for him.
A merciful sacrifice is available to everyone. Arriving at the temple, you buy a candle, put it in front of the icon. What is it? Does the Savior need a candle, or the Mother of God, or the Saint? No. The candle is a symbol of your fervent prayer. And by paying money for it, you are giving a sacrifice to the temple. But if you buy a candle with grieving heart, then it is better not to buy it at all. The Lord will accept your prayer without it. “Give according to the disposition of your heart,” says the Apostle (). People who rarely go to church are embarrassed by boxes or mugs bearing the inscriptions "for repairs", "for a common candle", "for oil." It seems to some that money is constantly being demanded from them. But this is not the case. You put money on a tray or in a mug only when you yourself want it and as much as you want. But tell me, is your sacrifice pleasing to the Lord if it is not given from a pure heart, with grief, with gossip or under compulsion? "The reward is given not for a forced, but for a free cause." But let's not deal with mathematical calculations: who will whom? Are we God, are we God. It is easier, without hesitation, to fulfill the commandment "to the one who asks - give!" Everyone as much as they can.
During the construction of the Temple of Constantinople, a wealthy Roman widow named Marcia presented the temple with eight parfir columns of extraordinary value. At her own expense, she delivered them by sea from Rome to Constantinople. And the Savior pointed to the poor widow, who put only two mites in the treasury of the temple, as the most generous benefactor. Who can do as much as they can.
Previously, each church had its trustees, rich benefactors, on whose funds, in the main, it was supported. After the political upheaval of 1917, it seemed that there could be no question of charity for the church. But no political system can abolish God. The Lord is still the same, the commandments are the same. There are many cases when people who held significant positions, who did not have the opportunity to openly come to the temple, did him good. Someone helped to get the scarce building materials, especially after the war. Someone put their signature on permission to connect the temple to the power grid. And some, even a boss, protected from harassment.
Now directors, business owners, as well as people with great opportunities can freely do good to our Church. A new word has appeared - sponsors. Thank God, some people come into our problems and help. We even started a separate booklet - a synodikon to commemorate benefactors. Without them, in modern economic conditions, not a single church would have survived, as, indeed, in the pre-revolutionary years. Heating, electricity, roof, gas - these are our concerns. But these are people too. Behind the solution of each problem there is a person or several who, not out of duty, not out of any self-interest, prestige or fashion, but by the disposition of their hearts devote to the temple what they can help. Be it money, materials, labor hands, qualified advice. We rejoice for them, for according to the words of the Apostle: “He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly; but whoever sows abundantly will also reap abundantly ”().
And yet it can be sad. One elderly parishioner said that even during the war, our temple looked better because people cared more about it. Their hearts lay to the temple, he was his. Now no one cares. It's a shame, but it looks like the truth. Not everyone, but very many do not care. Finding helpers is getting harder and harder.
Yes, sometimes it seems that our “myrrh-bearers” will go away from illness or because of old age and there will be no one to take care of the House of God, no one to sing in the kliros, or to bake prosphora. Sad.
But then I remember early morning, “deep morning,” as it is sung in Easter chants, and a group of women with jugs of oil, hurrying to the stone Tomb. I remember our Christmas iconostasis with the figures of the myrrh-bearers climbing up the mountain, and the sadness passes.
And it is believed that again someone will come to give their loving heart and laboring hands, their talents and skills for the sake of the Lord, for the sake of Christ, as generous alms to the native church. And it could not be otherwise. Without works of mercy, we cannot be saved, we cannot rise to the risen Savior. Therefore, brothers and sisters, let us not forget about the wonderful charity. And let her stand behind us when we hopefully cry to the Lord even in the shortest prayer: "Lord, have mercy." Amen.
The Holy Fathers teach about charity as follows: Chrysostom says: "A great thing is a man and a precious one - a merciful man. This is, that is, giving alms, greater grace than raising the dead; for here you are benefiting Christ, and there He is for you" ( Conversation 36 to the people). And Saint Basil the Great teaches: "a great deed is mercy: for Christ Himself who sits in heaven accepts what the poor man who lies on the earth receives from your hands" (on the rich).
Is it true? Is it true that by giving alms we are benefiting Christ? And is it just that Christ Himself, who sits in heaven, receives what the poor man who lies on earth receives from us? Know that all this is true truth, brethren, for the deed itself speaks for the truth of the words of the universal teachers.
A certain person who lived in the Tsar - grad was extremely merciful to the poor. When he walked the city streets, many beggars always followed him, and he gave alms to each of them. The man's closest friend once asked him, "What made you so merciful?" He replied: “When I, being a ten-year-old boy, once went to church, then in it from the elder who taught the people, I heard that whoever gives to a beggar puts his alms into the hands of Christ Himself. I did not believe this and thought: Christ is now In heaven sits at the right hand of the Father, how can He be on earth and accept what is given to the poor? With such thoughts returning home, I suddenly saw a beggar over whom the Lord Jesus Christ was. I was horrified. And then what did I see? When alone out of those passing by gave this beggar bread, then Christ Himself accepted this bread and blessed the one who gave it. Seeing such a miracle, I believed that the one who truly gives to the beggar gives Christ Himself, and since then, according to the power, as much as I can, I distribute alms.
So, brethren, justly the holy fathers teach, saying that by giving alms, we are doing good to Christ and that what the beggar who lies on the earth receives from us, Christ Himself who sits in heaven receives from us. And if it is true that they teach, then we should never worry that our charity may be lost, and we will not receive reward for it. No, if Christ Himself accepts it, then it will never be lost, and the reward for it becomes unquestionable, as Augustine says from the face of God: “Az, speak Lord, perceptions? ). And if this is also true, then it means that Christ Himself becomes a merciful guarantee that what they have distributed will not be lost. Yes, it will never be lost. For the Lord is faithful in all His words(Psalm 144, 13), disowning himself cannot(2 Tim. 2:13). Amen.
Bishop of Chita and Trans-Baikal Eustathius
Blessed are the merciful
Alms is one of the basic Christian virtues. The Lord in the Sermon on the Mount says: Blessed are the merciful, for they will have mercy(Mt 5. 7). Those. it depends on our mercy whether we, sinners, will have mercy on God. The concept of charity includes not only material things, but also feelings, mood, disposition, with which a person gives a nice chill.
When it comes to the size of the cute-chill, 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 going, he watched. Rich people came up, put in large sums of money. A poor widow came up and donated only two mites. The Lord said to the disciples: This poor widow put in more than all those who went to the treasury, for they all put in out of their abundance, but out of her poverty she put in everything that she had, all her food.(Mk 12.43-44).
The Church distinguishes two types of charity - material and spiritual. Moreover, spiritual sweetness is much more important.
Both material and spiritual charity should be based on love and compassion for a person. If with such feelings we give alms, not thinking about what needs it will be used for, what we have given will certainly benefit both the person in need and ourselves.
Material charity is known to all. Every Christian is obliged to the extent of his ability, and, of course, to the extent of his faith, to financially help people in need.
SPIRITUAL ALMS
The second type of charity is spiritual coldness. Now, unfortunately, it is less common. What relates to her? First, prayer for a person. For example, a person came to you with some kind of trouble, with some kind of problem, but you feel that you cannot provide him with substantial material assistance. Nevertheless, you are able to express your compassion and compassion 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. The mercy of God will be manifested in what he needs today.
Advice given on time is also a spiritual mercy. When a person shares his experience, how to live correctly, how to do something right - and this will be spiritual charity.
Alms can also be expressed in a kind word. Archimandrite Pavel (Gruzdev) loved to repeat: "A lascivious word will warm you even in frost."
When a person is in a difficult situation, he especially needs affection and attention. And if we are told an affectionate 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 kind of spiritual charity, when a person has some kind of trouble, maybe he has lost a dear, beloved person, or suffers from an illness.
Prayer for the departed is also spiritual charity.
The Church recommends praying for the departed with such words: "Rest, O Lord, the souls of the departed, Thy servant, all our relatives and friends, and forgive them all transgressions, voluntary and involuntary, and grant them the Kingdom of Heaven."
TWO LEPS
I would like to return once more to the parable of the poor widow. God-kind people, as the Lord Himself says, donated from the excess, and the poor woman donated only two mites. But the Lord looks not at the quantity of what was laid, but at its quality, 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 deplete his pocket, and for people in need, even ten rubles is a substantial donation.
Therefore, when a person gives charity, he should not be equal to someone. The main thing is that charity should be paired 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 for the temple. But this sacrifice is soulless if it does not have an accompaniment, which is called love, compassion. It is even worse if the money donated is acquired through fraud. This money, in fact, does not belong to its current owner - he is using it illegally. Such charity is not accepted by the Lord.
There is one more pattern: the richer a person, the more miserly he is, because the passion of silver love captures a person so much that he is afraid to even lose a penny, despite the fact that he has, perhaps, millions of dollars in the bank. ...
The question of charity, brothers and sisters, is not an easy one. Nice-freezing may be small, but pleasing to God and useful to people. It can 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 does alms, the better he does for himself and his loved ones - the living and the dead?
Yes. I have already cited an example of how one woman, seeing off the procession from Vladivostok, donated a decent amount of money to the participants of this procession. “I didn’t seem to give it to them, but gave it to myself,” she said. In fact, she herself received even more than she gave, because charity covers many sins.
***
- I would like to ask a question about spiritual mercy-ni. For a long time I supported my friend in the difficult moments of her life, but gradually began to notice that I myself was losing peace of mind. When I didn't have the strength to help her at all, I began to submit notes to the church about her health. However, her life became even more difficult. How can this be explained?
When it became difficult for you to support your friend, it was necessary to talk about this with a priest or with an experienced person in life. As an assumption, I will say that your friend probably chose completely non-Christian values as a guideline. In this case, you just need to stop helping her, so as not to harm yourself. When you come to your senses, and peace settles 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 give notes for the repose of his soul in the church, but I don’t know if he was baptized. Is it the right thing to do this?
If you don't know whether your grandfather was baptized or not, you need to make every effort to find out if he was baptized. If you are not able to find out exactly this, then you can remember it 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 a 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 the person who consciously accepted Holy Baptism, that is, became a member of the Church, can only be commemorated at a church service. This makes it possible for those close to him to pray for him, as well as other members of the Church. At divine services you can hear the call of the priest to prayerfully commemorate other people: "And all Orthodox Christians." Moreover, the Church commemorates both the living and the dead, therefore church prayer is very important.
If you cannot find out if your grandfather was baptized, then in your home prayer remember him and be sure to try to lead your life with dignity. Both your prayer and your righteousness will positively affect the afterlife of a loved one.
The prayer of the righteous man can do a lot, - says the Lord Himself.
***
- I read that alms given to a female monastery are valued 100 times more than a simple donation to a temple. Is it so?
These figures are not entirely objective. But the fact that Mona-butt is the heart of the Church is true. There is such a patristic saying: "The heart of the world is the Church, and the heart of the Church is a monastery." If you give alms for the monastery, of course, this is of great benefit, because people go there not for some time, but for their whole life, in order to perform feats of fasting, labor, prayer for the whole world. That is, by giving a donation to the monastery, you are helping it, and at the same time you yourself are instructing the prayers of the inhabitants of the monastery.
But this does not mean that the temple does not need to be sacrificed.
The Holy Fathers say that charity covers a multitude of sins, therefore, the one who feels some sinful heaviness on his soul should strive to create charity - not only material, but also spiritual.
***
- What should be done in order to feel the need for a cute chill in my heart?
You need to pray. Reading morning and evening prayers, the Gospel, 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, each person feels that he has a bright mood, he wants to do something kind, useful. On the contrary, when a person does something bad, he immediately loses peace in his soul and feels: his heart is dark and dark, something inside is disturbed. And here it is also necessary to resort to a saving means - prayer. She will restore peace, and again it will be light in the soul, and we will see the right path.
Published according to: Five evenings with Vladyka // Orthodox Transbaikalia. - November 27, 2007. - No. 21 (217).
M ir to you, dear visitors of the Orthodox site "Family and Faith"!
M The scum is the main feature of a Christian! For the Lord measures the hearts of people by virtue. As we are kind to those around us, to the poor brethren, so is our Heavenly Father also kind to us.
A Archbishop Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) delivered a brilliant sermon on the importance of giving alms, which we below and attach for an edifying reading.
About charity
V Epistle to the Corinthians, now read, St. the apostle Paul calls the Corinthians to the great work of alms. He sets them up as an example of the Macedonians, who were deeply poor, were destitute, and nevertheless gave their help out of poverty to needy Christians in Palestine.
And says St. the apostle to the Corinthians: “He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly; but he who sows abundantly, he also reaps abundantly ”(2 Cor. 9: 6).
He is not talking about the harvest, not about the sowing of bread, but about the sowing of alms. "He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly."
This happens in the affairs of God, but in the affairs of the earth it happens differently: it happens that the farmer sows little, sparingly, but God Himself sends a high harvest, and he who sows little will reap much.
It also happens, on the contrary, that the one who sowed generously will not collect generously: he will beat the sown with hail, and the farmer will not collect anything.
And in the affairs of God, this cannot be: always and invariably the one who sows sparingly, sparingly and reaps, and who sows generously, generously and reaps.
The holy apostle commands us to sow much. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself called us to charity more than once, and listen to the tremendous importance He attached to charity - an absolutely exceptional meaning. In his speech denouncing the scribes and Pharisees, who considered it very important to wash cups, mugs and benches, He said: "Give better alms from what you have, then everything will be clean with you" (Luke 11:41 ).
These words do not apply to only the scribes and Pharisees, we must also apply them to ourselves. If we give alms, then, according to the word of Christ, everything will be clean with us.
He said about the scribes and Pharisees that their insides were filled with robbery and deceit, but that if they gave alms, their insides, filled with robbery and deceit, would become clean.
This is how we should think about ourselves. And we have our insides, our hearts are often unclean, very unclean, full of iniquity. We must, we must cleanse our insides, our hearts, and the Lord indicates an unusually simple means to this: just give alms, and then everything will be clean, your whole insides will be clean.
Remember this, remember that the power of charity is immeasurably great.
St. John Chrysostom calls alms the queen of all virtues. He says that charity opens heaven itself for us. He says that by the power of the charity we have given, we can unrestrainedly and unstoppable on any ordeals, unhindered ascend to the very throne of God. He reminds us of the centurion Cornelius, a pagan who was very merciful, did a lot of charity and prayed constantly. And God sent His angel to him, who said to Cornelius: “Thy prayers and thy alms have gone up in memory before God” (Acts 10: 4). Ascended to God ...
Do you hear, they ascend straight to God, ascend to the throne of God, heaven passes non-stop, passes by all the heavenly bodies, past the regiments of angels, past the seraphim and cherubim, and, without stopping anywhere, our alms boldly and quickly ascend to God himself.
You know, more than once I told you about this, how and for what our Lord Jesus Christ will judge mankind when the day of the Last Judgment comes. He will not ask any of us if you went on a pilgrimage, he will not ask if you worshiped My tomb in Jerusalem? Have you been a virgin? He will not ask this, he will ask only one thing: have you done alms? Have you done deeds of mercy?
And at the same time he will say amazing words: “Truly, I say to you, since you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to me” (Matthew 25, 40).
All the good that we do for the poor, our unfortunate brethren, He accepts as being done for Himself. Every charity that we put into the hand of the poor, He Himself takes into His hands.
Oh Lord, our Lord! How great it is: You Yourself accept our alms. To you, our God, we must give alms. And the word of God is true and unchanging, and every charity that we do to our unfortunate, disadvantaged brothers is charity given to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
Oh, how great this is, and how we need to ponder over the words of the Apostle that it is impossible to do alms sparingly, for sparingly and we will reap God's grace for it.
It is necessary to create it always, tirelessly, not only from time to time. We must make charity our constant companion, we must tie our heart with charity.
And if we do not stingy, but generously do alms, then we will reap great grace, for this is what the Lord Jesus Christ Himself says: “Give, and it will be given to you: with good measure, shaken, compressed and overflowing, they will pour into your bosom” (Luke 6 , 38).
You see, for a piece of bread, for a cup of cold water that we give to the beggar, the Lord will reward us with an extraordinary measure, a good measure, shaken down, compressed, and will reward immeasurably more than what was given to Him in the person of our poor brothers.
And how many among us are those who serve with chagrin, reluctantly, as if under duress. And how infinitely far we are from the spiritual state in which the great merciful ones, such as St. John, Patriarch of Alexandria, were.
He was the living personification of mercy. He strained all the forces of his mind to help everyone and everywhere. Having ascended the patriarchal throne, he ordered his colleagues to go around the entire huge city of Alexandria and rewrite all its benefactors.
His subordinates asked in surprise: "Vladyka, what benefactors should we rewrite?" He said: "Beggars, beggars, hungry, cold, undressed."
And they copied seven thousand people, and Saint John fed them every day and dressed them.
The day that passed without deeds of mercy, he mourned with bitter tears and considered lost, a worthless day of life. He did good "not with grief, not with compulsion", he was a willing giver whom God loves.
He never thought that his funds might become scarce; he gave away all his possessions without looking back. And the Apostle Paul says: "But God is able to enrich you with all grace, so that you, always and in everything having every contentment, may be rich for every good deed."
And how many, many times these words have come true on kind, merciful, holy people.
And how often do we read in the lives of the saints that they distributed without a trace everything that was in the monastery to feed hundreds of pilgrims, and the monastery's steward came and said to the holy abbot: what are we going to do? Everything has been distributed, all the bins are empty, the brethren have nothing to eat.
But the saints were not embarrassed, placed all their hope in God, and God did not abandon them: in such cases the monastery barns were always filled, or in some other miraculous unexpected way, what they needed was sent.
So it was with our Venerable Father Sergius of Radonezh, so it was with Euthymius the Great, with Savva the Sanctified and with many other saints.
The Lord did not leave anyone and always helped those who were completely merciful.
“As it is written: squandered, distributed to the poor; his truth abides in the age. "
He squandered everything, distributed everything to the poor, it seemed that he had nothing more, but his righteousness remained, the truth that abides forever, which will ascend to the throne of God.
"But he who gives seed to the sower and bread for food will provide abundance to what you have sown and will multiply the fruits of your righteousness."
We must sow, sow alms, sow righteousness, and what we have sown will increase God Himself, and sometimes grow thirty times, sometimes sixty times, and sometimes a hundred.
“So that you may be rich in all for all generosity, which through us brings thanksgiving to God” (2 Cor. 9: 11).
But it is extremely important how we give alms, how we do deeds of mercy, for if we satisfy the needs of the unfortunate with sincere love, then we do another great deed: we instill in their hearts gratitude to God. Mercy is so powerful that it can turn to God even the hearts of the poor who live without God, for there are such people.
Alms has tremendous, endless power, and here is an example: at the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 5th century, Bishop Peacock the Merciful lived in Italy. He came from a very noble, high family; at the age of twenty he was appointed senator, then consul - these are large, important positions - then governor of the most important Roman region of Campania.
And he despised everything, left everything, distributed his property to the needy and became a monk. He experienced a lot of reproaches, mockery, ridicule even from his former servants, but he was not embarrassed by anything. Having become a bishop, he began to generously distribute church property to the poor.
In his time, there was an invasion of Italy by the Vandals, a savage and cruel people. The Vandals conquered the Romans and took many people into captivity, and Bishop Peacock, as much as he could afford, ransomed the captives. A poor widow came to him, crying and asking to ransom her only son, taken prisoner by vandals. He said: "My dear, I have no more money left, but let's do this: take me to the camp of the vandals, let them take me instead of your son, and let him go." And he himself surrendered to the vandals.
The Vandal prince, this wild, cruel man, was struck by the meekness and nobility of his new servant: he watched him and was amazed at the heart that beat in Peacock's chest. And by chance he found out that it was a bishop. He was amazed and imbued with such reverence for this noble man that he not only released him, but together with him released all the captives of the Romans.
Thus, by himself, Saint Peacock redeemed from captivity many unfortunate captives of the Romans. So these words of Pavlov's came true - "so that you are all rich in every generosity that through us produces thanksgiving to God."
Our mercy produces great gratitude to God in people who are far from Him.
What could be stronger than mercy? Obviously nothing.
This virtue was put by the Lord Jesus Christ above all virtues; to this virtue the apostle of the Corinthians called.
I call for the same virtue, I urge you to be constant and diligent in charity, so that you understand what immeasurable power is in it.
Do alms, each one according to his own strength. It is not required that you give everything, but it is only necessary that you give your neighbors a part of your possessions, however meager.
And in the words of Christ about the widow who put only two mites in the treasury - two pennies - it is said that she put much more than all those who put silver and gold in the basket, for she gave everything that she had, all her food.
The Lord is philanthropic, the Lord does not demand an excessive feat.
He says in the parable of the sower, that if his good word, the word of a sermon, falls on the good earth, then it will grow and give fruit either thirty times, or sixty, or a hundred times.
