A parable of Christianity. Heritage of the Holy Fathers: Orthodox parables about life and morality and biblical quotes

During the Great Patriotic War in one of the Russian villages, a mother accompanied her son to the front. The son was a man far from church life and did not wear a pectoral cross. His mother, blessing him, put a cross on his neck and asked him not to take it off under any circumstances. The young man, although he grew up in an atmosphere of atheistic propaganda, obeyed his mother and fought with a cross on his chest. Happened to him with his military unit find yourself surrounded and captured by the Germans.

It was a dry summer, and farmers, residents of a small village, were worried about what would happen to their harvest. One Sunday after mass, they turned to their pastor for advice.

Father, we must do something or we will lose the harvest!

All you have to do is pray with absolute faith. Prayer without faith is not prayer. It must come from the heart,” answered the priest.

On the first day of Lent, one village priest put forty-nine pieces of beans in his pocket so that, by throwing out one piece every day, he could determine the day the fast ended. While washing the priest's clothes, his wife noticed that his pocket was full of beans. “Father loves beans, I’ll add a little for him, let him eat to his health.” I did just that. Father threw one bean out of his pocket every day, but it didn’t run out.

One harlot met a woman on the road whose child had just died in her arms. The mother’s grief touched the harlot so much that she fell to her knees and prayed: “Lord! I am cursed, unclean and nasty, unworthy of anything that You could do for me.

God appeared to one old woman in the village.

She told about this to the priest, who, caring about the spiritual structure of his parishioner, told her.

Evening comes, darkness falls over the city and the children go to their beds to fall asleep sweetly. But before enjoying pleasant dreams, every child likes to listen fairy tales that remain in your heart for the rest of your life. Then why not combine business with pleasure and read to your child at night? useful and instructive parables for children.

A parable is a short story that contains the wisdom of our ancestors. Often parables for children are instructive stories on some topic. moral theme. Previously, they were used as one of the ways to raise children, since they are understandable to every child, easy to remember and as close to reality as possible. In this way, parables differ from fables, which are very allegorical and not always understandable to young listeners. Children's parables talk about friendship, family and family values, good and evil, God and much more.

Biblical and Orthodox parables for children

For many centuries the Bible has been the most famous book all over the world. These are not only sacred texts for Christians, but also greatest monument cultural heritage of humanity. Biblical parables are found on the pages of the Old and New Testaments. Of course, it will be difficult for young children to understand all the sacred meaning that is hidden in biblical texts, but with the help of their parents, the child will be able to understand them. The most famous Orthodox parables for children include the parables “About the Prodigal Son”, “About the Publican and the Pharisee”, which tell children about mercy and forgiveness, the parable “About the Good Samaritan”, which teaches kids kindness and compassion, and many others. Jesus Christ very often communicated with his followers in parables, since they help to understand the meaning of all hidden things.

Short parables for children

Some children, especially very young ones, do not like long stories; it is much easier for them to understand short texts with simple conclusions. In this case, you can read short parables for children to your child every evening. And every time an instructive and interesting story, which will remain in memory.

We especially recommend parables about friendship for children- for example, the parable of the nails. Very often children say something angry and bad to their friends and family. This parable will help them understand how important it is to value loved ones and not offend them with careless words.

Children's parables about good and evil are probably the most useful for our younger generation. After all, a child has no life experience, so it is difficult for him to distinguish bad from good, good from evil, white from black. You need to teach your child this basic concepts, and parables about good and evil will be most useful for children. We recommend reading: “The Good Little Fox”, “Grandfather and Death”.

Parables can teach you everything. The most important and useful little stories are parables about family and family values, because there is nothing more important in our lives. It is especially useful for children to read parables about mothers, about love, about good and bad, about truth and lies.

Teach and raise your child with early childhood, then in the future he will grow up good and kind person, responsive to the suffering of others, merciful and honest. This is the only way our world will become kinder and cleaner!

Poison in the heart

Once upon a time, a girl lived in a village. According to ancient Slavic custom, after the wedding she came to live in her husband’s house. But the young daughter-in-law and her mother-in-law felt very uncomfortable. She constantly lectured her and reproached her for everything.
One morning a young woman went to see a healer who lived on the outskirts of the forest.
-What brings you to me, beauty? Shall I bewitch a man?” asked the grandfather.
“I don’t need anyone, I love my husband, but I can’t bear to live with his mother.”
- What do you want from me?
- Please, help me. Give me poison so I can poison her.
“Will you build your happiness on this, young girl?” Well, oh well. I feel sorry for you. I'll give you a potion. Every morning you will brew it and give this tea to your husband’s mother. Yes, I only have advice for you.
- Which? Tell me, I will do everything, just to get rid of this snake as soon as possible.
“In our village, rumors quickly spread.” They will suspect you. So, to prevent this from happening, change your attitude towards your mother-in-law.
Become affectionate, friendly, smile. You won't have to suffer for long. That's what the woman did. The roosters have barely crowed, and she gets up, kneads the bread, stokes the oven, prepares porridge, and brews her mother-in-law’s poisonous potion. And he kindly invites her to taste the miracle tea. She calls you mom and obeys you in everything. The husband couldn’t be happier: how close the mother and wife became. The mother-in-law dotes on her daughter-in-law. And she responds with love, and sincere love. She hurries again to the healer and throws herself at his feet with tears:
- Grandfather, I beg you. You can do anything. Give me the antidote. I made too much tea for my mother-in-law. He will die. But she became a caring mother to me.
- My dear, calm down. I gave you fragrant herbs, from which you cooked delicious and delicious food for your mother-in-law. healthy tea. There was poison in your heart, but with God’s help you got rid of it.

Footprints in the sand

One day a man had a dream. He dreamed that he was walking along a sandy shore, and next to him was the Lord. Pictures from his life flashed in the sky, and after each of them he noticed two chains of footprints in the sand: one from his feet, the other from the feet of the Lord.
When the last picture of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. And I saw that often along it life path There was only one chain of footprints. He also noted that these were the most difficult and unhappy times in his life.
He became very sad and began to ask the Lord:
“Didn’t you tell me: if I follow your path, you will not leave me.” But I noticed that during the most difficult times of my life, only one chain of footprints stretched across the sand. Why did you leave me when I needed you most?
The Lord answered:
- My dear, dear child. I love you and will never leave you. When there were sorrows and trials in your life, only one chain of footprints stretched along the road. Because in those days I carried you in my arms.

About the strange will of the Father

One believer had an unbelieving son. The father was very worried, but could not instill religiosity in the young man. Feeling the approach of death, he called his son:
- Fulfill one of my requests.
- Which one, dad?
- When I die, you come to this room for about fifteen minutes for forty days.
- What should I do about this?
- You don't need to do anything. Just sit. But every day for at least fifteen minutes.

The son buried his father and fulfilled his request exactly: he came into the room every day and just sat. So forty days passed, after which the young man himself came to church and became a deep believer.

Only many years later did he realize how wise his father's will was. The father realized that young people have too fast a pace of life, a lot of vanity and no time to think about the eternal: about the meaning of life, about their soul, about immortality, about God. But you just have to stop, be in silence - and the Lord will knock on your heart.

Two cherries. Parable of St. Nicholas of Serbia

One man had two cherry trees in front of his house. One was evil and the other was good. Whenever he left the house, they called him and asked him for something. The evil cherry asked for different things every time: either “dig me in,” then “whiten me,” then “give me something to drink,” then “take away excess moisture from me,” then “shade me from the hot sun,” then “give me more light.” . And the good cherry tree always repeated the same request: “My lord, help me bring a good harvest!”
The owner was equally merciful to both, looked after them, listened carefully to their requests and fulfilled all their desires. He did what both one and the other asked, in other words, he gave the evil cherry everything that it demanded, and the good one only what he considered necessary, with the ultimate goal being a wonderful, abundant harvest.
And then what happened? The evil cherry tree had grown greatly, the trunk and branches glistened as if smeared with oil, and the abundant foliage was dark green, spreading, like a thick tent. In contrast to her, kind cherry with his appearance didn't attract anyone's attention.
When the harvest time came, the evil cherry produced small, rare fruits, which, due to the dense foliage, could not ripen, but the good one brought many, many very delicious berries. The evil cherry tree felt ashamed that it could not produce such a harvest as its neighbor, and it began to grumble at the owner, reproaching him for this. The owner got angry and replied: “Is it my fault?” Isn't it me whole year fulfilled all your wishes? If you thought only about the harvest, I would help you bring the same abundant fruits as hers. But you pretended to be smarter than me, who imprisoned you, and that’s why you remained barren.
The evil cherry tree bitterly repented and promised the owner that next year she would think only about the harvest, and would ask him only for this, and would leave everything else to him to take care of. As she promised, she did so - she began to behave like a kind cherry. And the next year both cherries brought the same good harvest, and their joy, like the owner’s, was great.
***
The moral of this simple parable is clear to all who pray to God.
The owner of the garden is the God of this light, and people are His seedlings. Like any owner, God requires a harvest from His plants. “Every tree that does not bear fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire!” - says the Gospel. Therefore, first of all and most of all, you need to take care of the harvest. And we must pray to the Owner - God, the “Lord of the Harvest”, for a good harvest. There is no need to ask the Lord for small things. Look, no one goes to the king of the earth to ask him for some little thing that can easily be obtained elsewhere.
“Our Lord is the Lord the Giver,” says Saint John Chrysostom. He loves when His children ask Him for something great, worthy of a prince. And the greatest gift that God can give to people is the Kingdom of Heaven, where He Himself reigns. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ commands: “Seek first the Kingdom of God, and the rest will be added to you.” And He also commands: “Do not worry about what you will eat, or what you will drink, or what you will wear. Your Heavenly Father knows that you need all this.” And He also says: “Even before you pray, your Father knows what you need!”
So what should you ask God for? First of all, what is the best, the greatest and the most infinite. And these will be those spiritual riches that are called by one name - the Kingdom of Heaven. When first of all we ask God for this, He gives, along with this wealth, everything else that we need in this world. Of course, it is not forbidden to ask God for the rest of what we need, but this can only be asked at the same time as the main thing.
The Lord Himself teaches us to pray for bread every day: “Give us this day our daily bread!” But this prayer in “Our Father” is not in first place, but only after the prayer for the holy name of God, for the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven and for the dominion of the will of God on earth as it is in Heaven.
So, first spiritual benefits, and only then material ones. All material goods are from dust, and the Lord easily creates them and easily gives them. He gives them according to His mercy even to those who do not ask for it. He gives them to animals as well as people. However, He never gives spiritual benefits either without human will or without seeking. The most precious riches, that is, spiritual ones, such as peace, joy, kindness, mercy, patience, faith, hope, love, wisdom and others, God can give as easily as he gives material goods, but only to those who love these spiritual treasures and who will ask God for them.

About the sin of drunkenness

In Egypt there lived a hermit monk. And so the demon, after many years of struggle with him, promised him that he would no longer oppress him with any temptations, as long as he committed one sin out of three. He suggested the following three sins: murder, fornication and drunkenness.

Do, he said, one of them: either kill a person, or commit fornication, or get drunk once - and then you will remain in peace, and after that I will no longer tempt you with any temptations.

The hermit thought to himself this way: “To kill a person is terrible, for this is in itself a great evil, and deserves death penalty both in divine judgment and in civil law. To commit fornication, shame, to destroy the previously preserved purity of the body is a pity, and it is disgusting to defile one who has not yet known this defilement. Getting drunk once seems to be a small sin, for a person soon sobers up with sleep. So, I will go and get drunk so that the demon no longer oppresses me, and I will live peacefully in the desert.” And so, taking his handicrafts, he went to the city and, having sold them, entered the tavern and got drunk.

By satanic action, he happened to talk with a certain shameless and adulterous woman. Being seduced, he slept with her. When he was committing a sin with her, the woman’s husband came and, finding him sinning with his wife, began to beat him, and he, having recovered, began to fight with that husband and, having overcome him, killed him.

Thus, that hermit committed all three sins: fornication and murder, starting with drunkenness. Whatever sins he feared and abhorred when sober, he boldly committed while drunk and through this ruined his many years of work.

A few parables from the collections:

Based on the book: The Desert Fathers: A Collection of Christian Parables and Tales.

From the book series "101 parables".

ONE HERMIT came to complain to the elder that every day from nine in the morning he felt strange hunger in his solitude. Although in the monastery where he lived before, he managed to spend several days without food.
“Don’t be surprised at this, my son,” the elder answered him. - There is no one in the desert who would witness your posts and who would support and feed you with praise. Previously, vanity served as food for you in the monastery, and the pleasure that you experienced, standing out among others by your abstinence, was sweeter for you than dinner.

WERE INVITED ONCE holy elder for advice to decide how to punish the sinful monk. But the elder refused to go to the council. The brothers argued and argued, but, unable to come up with a worthy punishment, they decided to go to the elder themselves.
The old man saw this, shouldered a holey bag of sand and went out to meet them.
-Where are you going? - the brethren ask the elder.
- I’m coming to you for advice.
- Why did you take a sandbag with you?
- How do you know that there is sand in the bag?
- So look back. Your bag is leaking and sand is pouring out of it.
“This is not sand, these are my sins falling behind me,” the elder told them. - But I don’t even look back at them, but I go to judge other people’s sins.
The monks understood what the elder meant and forgave their brother.

ONE PAGE asked:
- How do you have the patience to be alone in this abandoned corner of the earth?
He replied:
- I am never alone. I always have an interlocutor - the Lord. When I want Him to speak to me, I read the Holy Scriptures. And when I want to talk to Him myself, I pray.

WHEN TO ONE The disciple came to the elder with a confession of sins, he always told him:
- Get up!
“But I’ve gotten up and fallen many times before.”
- Get up again!
- How long will I fall and get up?
“Until death overtakes you - fallen or risen,” the elder answered him.

Based on the book: Once upon a time there lived a man...: A collection of Christian parables and tales.

From the book series "101 parables".

A FISHERMAN CARRIED one person on a boat. The passenger hurried the fisherman:
- Hurry up, I'm late for work!
And then he saw that on one oar it was written “pray”, and on the other - “work”.
- Why is this? - he asked.
“For memory,” answered the fisherman. - So as not to forget that you need to pray and work.
“Well, it’s clear that everyone needs to work, but praying,” the man waved his hand, “this is not necessary.” No one needs this, why waste time on prayer.
- No need? - the fisherman asked and pulled out an oar with the inscription “pray” from the water, and he began to row with one oar. The boat spun on the spot.
- You see what kind of work without prayer. We are spinning in one place and there is no movement forward.
From this it is clear: in order to successfully sail through the stormy sea of ​​life, you must firmly hold two oars in your hands: pray and work.

A drought happened in ONE CITY. Summer was in full swing, and the city priest called everyone to the temple in the morning to pray for rain. The whole town came, and the whole town laughed at one child - the child came with an umbrella. Everyone laughed and said:
- Fool, why did you bring an umbrella? You'll lose, there's no rain.
“I thought that if you prayed, it would rain,” the child answered.

IN THE HOUSE OF some rich people they stopped praying before eating. One day a priest came to visit them. The table was set very elegantly, the best food was brought out and the best drink was served. The family sat down at the table. Everyone looked at the priest and thought that he would pray before eating. But the priest said:
- The father of the family must pray at the table, because he is the first prayer book in the family.
There was an unpleasant silence, because no one in this family prayed. The father cleared his throat and said: “You know, dear father, we don’t pray because in prayer before meals the same thing is always repeated. Prayers out of habit are empty chatter. These repetitions are every day, every year, so we don’t pray anymore.
The priest looked at everyone in surprise, but then the seven-year-old girl said:
- Dad, don’t I really need to come to you every morning and say “ Good morning"?

A man was walking along the seashore. Everything around was strewn with algae, small fish and starfish, which had washed ashore after a terrible storm.
Suddenly he saw a little girl. She bent down to the ground, took something, and then threw it into the sea.
- Why are you doing this? - asked the man. - You can’t help them all! There are too many of them!
“Maybe,” the girl answered, throwing another starfish as far into the sea as possible. “But I did everything I could for her.”

Two people were standing on the side of the road and talking about something.
A drunkard passed by them and said to himself:
- They are probably now agreeing to go to the cellar together to drink wine.
And the drunkard, forgetting about all his affairs, hurried to the tavern.
A fornicator walked past those talking and thought:
- Here people, not afraid of publicity, conspire in broad daylight for carnal pleasures. Why am I worse?
Changing his route, the fornicator headed to a den of debauchery.
A righteous man passed by and said to himself:
- People have found time and are having a good conversation, leaving the fuss behind. I, a sinner, have not chosen an hour for three days now to visit my sick neighbor.
And the righteous man, putting aside all his worries, hastened to support the sick man with a kind word.
So righteous people see good in everything, but for slaves of vice the whole world is a temptation to sin.

ONE HAIRDRESSER, while cutting a client’s hair, started talking to him about God:
- If God exists, why are there so many sick people? Where do street children and unjust wars come from? If He really existed, there would be no suffering or pain. It is difficult to imagine a loving God who allows all this. Therefore, I personally do not believe in its existence.
Then the client said to the hairdresser:
- Do you know what I will say? Hairdressers don't exist.
- How is this so? - the hairdresser was surprised. - One of them is in front of you now.
- No! - exclaimed the client. - They don’t exist, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many overgrown and unshaven people like that man walking down the street.
- Well, dear man, it’s not about the hairdressers! People just don’t come to me on their own.
- That's the point! - confirmed the client. - And I mean the same thing: God exists. People just don’t seek Him and don’t come to Him. This is why there is so much pain and suffering in the world.

When a person was still a child, his grandmother always told him: “Granddaughter, when you grow up big, you feel bad in your soul - go to church, it will always be easier for you there.” A man has grown up. And life somehow became completely unbearable for him. He remembered his grandmother’s advice and went to a certain temple. And then someone comes up to him: “You’re holding your hands wrong!” The second one runs up: “You’re not standing there!” The third one grumbles: “He’s not dressed like that!” They shout from behind: “You’re baptizing yourself incorrectly!” And then one woman came up and said to him:

Man, you’d better leave the temple, buy yourself a book about how to behave here, and then come in.

A man came out of the temple, sat down on a bench and cried bitterly. And suddenly he hears a voice:

Why are you, my child, crying?

The man raised his tear-stained face and saw Christ. Speaks:

God! They won't let me into the temple!

Jesus hugged him:

Don't cry, they won't let me in either.

Chanterelle

In Egypt, where in ancient Christian times there were many great monasteries, one monk was friends with an unlearned, simple-minded peasant fellah. One day a peasant said to a monk:

I also honor God, who created this world! Every evening I pour goat's milk into a bowl and place it under a palm tree. At night God comes and drinks my milk. He really likes it! There was never a time when there was anything left in the bowl. Hearing these words, the monk could not help but laugh. He good-naturedly and clearly explained to his friend that God does not need goat milk. However, the peasant stubbornly insisted on his own. And then the monk suggested that the next night they secretly monitor what happens after the bowl of milk remains under the palm tree.

No sooner said than done: at night the monk and the peasant hid nearby and in the moonlight they soon saw a fox sneak up to the bowl and lap up all the milk clean. The peasant was struck like thunder by this discovery.

Yes,” he admitted sadly, “now I see - it was not God!” The monk tried to console the peasant and began to explain that God is a Spirit, that He is completely different in relation to our world, that people know Him in a special way... But the peasant only stood in front of him with his head down, and then began to cry and went to his shack . The monk also went to his cell. But, approaching her, he was amazed to see an Angel at the door, blocking his path. The monk fell to his knees in fear, and the Angel said:

This one has common man there was no upbringing, no wisdom, no bookishness to honor God differently than he did. And you, with your wisdom and bookishness, took this opportunity from him. Will you say that, without a doubt, you judged correctly? But you don’t know one thing, O sage: God, looking at the sincere heart of this peasant, sent a fox to the palm tree every night to console him and accept his sacrifice.

So God blessed!

Once upon a time there lived a peasant who loved God. And his heart loved God so much that he lived only by Him. The peasant had two sons, and now one of them died. “So God allowed it!” - said the peasant, grieving along with his wife. Some time later, another son was born to him. “So God blessed!” - the peasant rejoiced, congratulating his wife on the birth of her child. The next year there was a crop failure in his field. “So God allowed it!” - the peasant said to his wife, coming from the field. The next year he collected big harvest. “So God blessed!” - the peasant shared his joy with his wife. “Why did you get it all right - God and God? It's like you don't know anything else to say! - the wife flared up. “Well, what do you say now?” - “So God allowed it!” - he answered. “Again you’re on your own! Oh well! And it’s good that you love to work and feed your family!” - the wife said, having calmed down. “So God blessed!” - the peasant agreed.

So as not to walk around preoccupied with haste

One day Abba Ammon went to cross the river. He found a ship ready to sail and sat down next to it. At this time, another ship was sailing further, going to the same place, and the people on it began to call him.

He answered:

I will only board a public vessel. Abba had a bunch of palm branches with him; he sat down, braiding the rope, and then unraveling it again, and weaved until the public ship sailed and he crossed to the other side. The brothers bowed to him and asked:

Why did you do this?

The elder replied:

So as not to walk around preoccupied with haste.

The path to salvation

One elder was asked: “How can a zealous Christian not be tempted when he experiences so many temptations: the world opposes him in every possible way, he sees monks returning to the world, he understands his own weakness, etc.?”

The elder replied: “Let him imagine dogs chasing hares. When one of them sees a hare, he immediately rushes after him - the others only see the dog in pursuit and first also run after it, and then return back; the first dog that saw the hare is alone she chases until she catches him. She is not distracted from the goal by the fact that the other dogs have lagged behind, turning back, she does not look at the rapids, nor at the forest thickets, nor at the thorny bushes and, running through the thorns, is often wounded, but does not stop running. In the same way, the one who seeks the Lord Christ steadily strives for Him, conquering all the temptations that he encounters, until he reaches his goal.”

Human ways

A certain monk prayed earnestly saying:

Lord, you are merciful and patient, so why is it so difficult to save a soul and why is hell full of sinners?

He prayed for a long time, asking God this question. And finally, an Angel of God appears to him and says:

Come, I will show you the paths that people walk. They left the cell and the angel led the elder into the forest.

Do you see that woodcutter who is carrying a heavy bundle of firewood and does not want to throw off even a little to make it easier? - asked the cherub.

In the same way, some people bear their sins and do not want to repent. Afterwards the angel shows the old man a well of water and says:

Do you see a madman drawing water from a well with a sieve? This is how people repent. They draw the grace of forgiveness, and then sin again and the grace flows away like water through a sieve.

The angel again shows the man to the monk and says:

Do you see this one who put a log across his horse and is trying to ride into the temple of God on horseback, but the log gets stuck in the door? This is how people do their good deeds - without humility and in pride - without knowing their value. And now, elder judge for yourself, is it easy for God to save such people, matching mercy with His justice?

Useless gift

They said about one of the fathers that for seven years he asked God for a certain gift - and it was given to him.

After this, he went to one great elder and announced to him about the gift. When the elder heard it, he was saddened, saying: Great work! and said to him:

Go and complete the other seven years, praying to God that your gift may be taken from you; because it's not good for you.

He went and did so until it was taken away from him.

Perfect and supreme obedience

One day Francis of Assisi was sitting among his comrades and, sighing, said:

You can hardly find a monk in the whole world who would completely obey those in charge over him.

Surprised, his comrades asked him:

Explain to us, Father, what perfect and highest obedience is.

And he represented the truly obedient in the form of a dead body:

Take the lifeless body and place it wherever you want; you will see, it will not object if they begin to move it, it will not grumble wherever it is placed, it will not cry out if it is taken away. If you put it on the pulpit, it will look down, not up. If you put it in purple, it will appear doubly pale. This is the true obeyer; one who does not reason why he is moved, does not care where he is placed, does not insist on being moved. Exalted to any position, he retains his usual humility. The more he is revered, the more unworthy he considers himself.

Bonfire

A fierce storm that broke out in the open ocean sent the ship to the bottom. The indifferent elements spared no one except one person. He woke up at dawn, washed ashore by a wave, the only survivor.

The man wandered along the shore in the hope of finding people and soon returned to the place from which his journey began. It was an island - a small island, lost in the vast ocean. There were no people here. The man was left alone.

Like Robinson Crusoe, he made himself a hut from branches and shipwrecks washed ashore by the waves. Every day he prayed to God to send him salvation. But day after day, week after week, month after month passed, and the man was still left alone. One day, after spending the whole day in search of food, a man returned to his wretched home and saw ashes in its place. What little he owned was reduced to smoking coals.

God! - the man cried out in despair. - Have I really not had enough trials? Why are You punishing me, depriving me of even the little that I had?

Sobbing from grief, and even more from powerlessness, he fell to the ground, not knowing how to live further. He lay on the ground without raising his eyes, feeling the heat of the day give way to the cool of the evening. And he still lay on the ground and could not get up, because he had no more strength left.

Suddenly he heard sounds - so familiar on the ship, but forgotten on the shore. Quiet at first, then louder and louder. He raised his head and saw a ship with full sails heading towards his island. Not yet fully believing that this ship was real, the man realized that he had never seen anything more beautiful than this ship.

How did you manage to find me? - the man asked the sailors.

We saw the signal fire you lit on the shore! - they answered him. How difficult it is to humbly accept your lot. Unable to comprehend the Creator's plan, we often grumble. But only in grief and sorrow is spiritual strength gained.

Once upon a time, in times past, several brave and courageous people who lived far from the ocean wanted to find out what the ocean was. They asked knowledgeable old men how to get there, and immediately set off. They walked for a long time and finally reached the ocean. “It turns out that the ocean is like a big field!” - exclaimed the first of the brave pioneers. “But it seems to me that the ocean resembles an endless forest!” - the second traveler said enthusiastically. “In my opinion, the ocean is a huge desert!” - the third traveler expressed his opinion. A fisherman passed by and told them: “Don’t argue with each other while looking at the ocean from the shore, but rather plunge headlong into the water, and what you see there will be the ocean!” The travelers did just that - they followed the fisherman’s advice. Soon they emerged from the water and caught their breath. “Well, now what is the ocean like?” - the fisherman asked with a smile. The ocean explorers looked at each other and said: “We don’t know what the ocean is like, but it’s very salty!”

Rich is he who sees the Soul eternal

The master once asked the old man,
Begging for alms from the church:
“I see a poor man before me,
That he hasn’t made a fortune in his entire life.

Here I am rich! And my life is sweet
And I’ll get what I want, of course!
Your Fate is undoubtedly not easy,
And probably dreamed of being more successful?