Archdeacon Andrey Kuraev. Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture textbook for grade 4. Lesson 12. Mercy. (Translation by Aleksander Brooks, aleksanderbrooks@gmail.com).

Details: Published: November 20 2015

You will find out:

- How mercy differs from friendship

- Who are called "close ones" (neighbors)

One of the most beautiful words in the world is "mercy." Mercy is about a heart that pardons, loaves, and pitties.

Love can be of various kinds.

It is sometimes joyful. When one sees a beloved person, the face shines with a smile and happiness.

However, there is also love with a tearful face. This is love when it is faced with another's misfortune. More precisely, love whispers to you: there is no such thing as someone else's misfortune! Just a minute ago, this person was completely unknown to you. But you found out about his sorrow and could not remain indifferent.

If you see someone who is starving, there is no point in judging whether he is "good" or "bad." We should feed the hungry simply because he's hungry, not because he is your friend.

THE PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN

Once Jesus Christ was asked: "Which is the most important of the numerous commandments?" He said that love for God and man is most important. "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matt. 19:19). And then he was asked a difficult question: "Who is my neighbor?" In fact, there is no man who does not love anyone at all. But many say: "I love those who love me, that is, my family and my friends. These are my neighbors. "

However, Christ answered this question with the parable of the good Samaritan:

A certain person was attacked by robbers, beaten, and robbed. Passersby remained passersby. They passed by. Each of them, at the sight of a bloodied man, told his conscience that he is really in a hurry, that he has very important business and passed by. But one foreigner who did not even speak very well in the local language stopped. The wounded man froze. In fact, just recently he and his friends made fun of this visitor. Surely he will not take revenge? And the passerby leaned down, bandaged his wounds, took the wounded man to a hotel, and paid for his treatment.

Kinfolk and those of his own nation did not see in the beaten man their neighbor and passed by. But a visiting foreigner could treat him as his neighbor.

The parable of Christ means that a neighbor is one who will not leave you in your misfortune and one who needs your help. If a person is hurt, it is not important what language he speaks or what is his faith or skin color. The blood of all people is the same color.

Even if this person is guilty before you personally, one still must forget about their grudges and lend a helping hand in their misfortune.

One should not act according to the principle of "I will treat you as you have treated me !," "It serves you right !," or "You get what you deserve!"

Merciful forgiveness is higher and nobler than just retribution.

Mercy reminds us that there are minor annoyances but that there is real misfortune. Someone tripped you and you got a new bump and a serving of ridicule. This is unpleasant. But time passed and this person comedically slipped on a banana skin. So seriously that he injured his leg and was unable to get up himself. This is misfortune. Can you forget that trip-up? Can you not rejoice in their trouble? Can you come and help him and call the doctor?

It is not easy to get over your long-standing and seemingly just resentment. But it is the highest of the appeals of Jesus Christ: "But I say unto you: love your enemies" (Matt. 5:44). However, if one accepts the grace-filled power of Christ, it is possible.

Once a doctor and a priest were discussing how they could help those in prisons. The priest said that the prison should be hard on convicts so that they remembered the gravity of their guilt. But the doctor recalled that there are also innocent sitting in jail. The priest did not agree: their guilt has been proven by the court. The doctor replied: but what about the innocent convict Jesus? Did you forget about him? The priest became silent. Then, with a sigh, he said: "Doctor, you're wrong. When I said this nonsense, it's not that I forgot about Christ but that Christ that forgot about me at that moment."

The priest was St. Philaret Metropolitan of Moscow. When he said these unmerciful words, he could feel that grace left his soul. He, therefore, stopped, repented, and agreed with the doctor. And since that time, the shackles have been removed from prisoners.

People can learn to be merciful. If you're going to perform works of charity (eg, care for the sick or infants, volunteer your help ...), these works will change your heart over time and make it more humane.

Frog's eyes have a very unusual characteristic: they only see movement and do not see motionless objects. A frog sees a flying mosquito. And it sees the grass and stones, if they are moving. Our conscience is the same: If a man does not work, does not help anyone, the conscience increasingly goes blind. Man ceases to see the meaning in his life.

CHARITY

One of the works of mercy is charity. This is helping another person out of pity for him. Christ said: "Give to every man that asketh of thee" (Luke 6:30). And St. Dorotheus explained: when you gave alms you multiplied the amount of goodness in the world. But the poor man whom you helped got only a tenth of the goodness produced by your kind act. You caused the remaining goodness to be incurred to yourself. For because of this, your soul became brighter.

The great Russian historian V. Klyuchevskii described charity as a meeting of two hands. One expresses a request for Christ's sake, while the other gives in the name of Christ. The historian said that it is not easy to decide which of these hands bore more goodness. The benefactor clearly saw human need, which he alleviated, and his heart was softened. And the one who received alms knew for whom to pray. "A beggar eats off the rich, but the rich is saved by the prayer of the beggar," they said in the old days. This daily, silent, many-handed charity poured rivers of goodness into human relations. It taught the rich to see people in the poor and taught the poor not to hate the rich.

Saint Juliana lived at the end of the 16th century in Murom in a noble family. When she was a girl, she sewed patchwork dresses and other clothes and handed them out to the poor. When Juliana got married, she took no money from her husband or his rich parents. She, as before, helped the whole district by sewing for the poor free of charge. Times of starvation came to Rus. And Juliana, who before ate sparingly, suddenly began asking for more and more food. Her mother-in-law was perplexed: "Before you ate little, but how is it that you are now eating so ravenously?" Actually, St. Juliana secretly took the food and handed it out to the hungry. Eventually, Juliana gave out all the stock piles. And when there was no bread left in the house, St. Juliana of Murom began to bake bread from the bark of trees. It is strange but the beggars to whom she handed it out said that they never ate more delicious bread in their life.

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A passerby saw a young man who was going to throw himself from a bridge into a river and, thus, commit suicide. The passerby prevented him with an extremely inappropriate question: "Tell me, do you have any money on you?" The surprised youth answered:

- Yes, I do ...

- But it seems you no longer need it?

- Perhaps ...

- If so, maybe you can go to that house and leave the poor the money that you do not need?

The youth agreed. He went and never returned to the bridge. At the moment when he gave away his wallet, his heart shone with greater joy than in those who received his gift. He understood the meaning of his life.

(after V. Martsinkovskii)

Questions and tasks

1. Read an excerpt from Pushkin:

And long will I be beloved by the people

That I with my lyre awakened noble feeling

That in my cruel age I praised freedom

And summoned to mercy for the fallen

In what sense do you think Pushkin used the word "fallen"? (Fallen and conquered? A sinner?). Explain the expression fall into sin?

2. Can one charge for merciful help?

3. What do you need to do to become merciful?

4. Make your own definition: "A neighbor for me ... (continue yourself).

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