What We Have Found We Must Return To Those Who Have Lost It
October 13*
(A Sermon From the Paterikon About the Monk Philagrios, Who Found a Thousand Pieces of Gold and Returned Them to the One Who Had Lost Them.)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
October 13*
(A Sermon From the Paterikon About the Monk Philagrios, Who Found a Thousand Pieces of Gold and Returned Them to the One Who Had Lost Them.)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
It happens, brethren, that some of you find things or money lost by your neighbors. How should you, the finders, deal with these things? When the loser is not present, then present the find to the authorities, according to the law. But when the loser is present and you are absolutely certain and convinced that none other than the one before you lost what you found, then we advise you to act as the Saints did. The following example will show you how they acted.
In Jerusalem there lived a monk named Philagrios, a craftsman who earned his living from the labor of his hands. One day, while he was at the marketplace selling his work, he saw a bag lying on the ground containing a thousand gold coins. Philagrios picked up the bag and, seeing the gold, said to himself, "I should not leave here; for whoever loses gold here must surely return here." And the elder monk's prediction was correct. Indeed, the man who had lost the money immediately came to the place where Philagrios had picked it up and wept over his loss. Philagrios stopped him and immediately returned the thousand gold coins to him intact. The man who had received his loss, in turn, held on to Philagrios and began offering him a monetary reward; but the elder would not hear of it. Then the man began to cry out loudly to the people, "Come quickly and see this elder! Come and see what kind of people God has!" Philagrios, not wanting to hear praise for himself, not wanting to be recognized and not tolerating human glory in general, immediately, having heard only the first words of the one who had lost money, hid among the people and then left the city.
Thus, brethren, you see how the Saints acted upon discoveries: they immediately returned what they had found to the one who had lost it; they demanded nothing of it from him, and, having returned it, they quickly fled from the one to whom they had returned it, lest they should suffer human glory and lose their reward from God. And as the Saints acted, so, we repeat, we advise you to act likewise. For, otherwise, that is, if you conceal what you have found, then, not to mention the responsibility before God to which you will be subjected for concealing it, you and, perhaps, even yourself without realizing it, could commit terrible evil. Let's say you have found money, but who knows, perhaps it was the last the loser had? And perhaps, as a result of its loss, his entire family will be left hungry? Or, God forbid, will he fall into despair? Or perhaps he has lost someone else's property, and will be considered a thief, deprived of his honorable name, and severely punished? All this, brethren, you must keep in mind when making discoveries, and therefore immediately return what you find. And is it good, besides this, to live on someone else's property? No, brethren, it is evil, very evil. For the word of God truly says: "Woe to him who builds his house with iniquity" (Jer. 22:13)! "Woe to him who multiplies for himself what is not his" (Hab. 2:6)! Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
Notes:
* In the original text, there is no entry for October 13th. There this is the second entry for September 13th.
