Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: November 12

 

The Month of November

Day 12

74. Good Competition

(From the Life of Saint John the Merciful)

The Apostle Paul, through his disciple Timothy, gives a commandment to the rich, so that they may become rich in good works in the present life. He says: “Exhort those who are rich in this present age ... to be rich in good works” (1 Timothy 6:17–18). How, then, can the rich best fulfill this commandment of the Apostle? We think that the best way is through competition with one another. One rich man has done good through his wealth; let another, imitating him, in turn do the same good through his own wealth, or even greater good. The first has offered some form of assistance to his neighbor; let the other not fall behind him in offering the same assistance. Through such competition, the virtues of both will multiply rapidly, and both will thus enrich themselves with good works and fulfill the commandment of the Apostle. To help the rich understand this truth more clearly, we shall try to explain it to them through an actual example.

One day, a certain wealthy nobleman came to St. John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria, and saw the Saint's bed, which was covered with a worn blanket. Returning home, the wealthy man took an expensive blanket, worth thirty-six zlatnits, sent it to John, and begged him to cover himself with it. John, not wishing to offend the nobleman, accepted the blanket, but covered himself with it for only one night. During that night, he said to himself:

“Woe to you, wretched John, that you cover yourself with such an expensive blanket! You cover yourself with it, while the brethren of Christ—the poor—suffer from the cold. How many of them, having no dwelling place, spend the night in the wind and frost, and have nothing with which to cover themselves except a small piece of coarse matting or a tattered garment! How many naked people lie on dunghills, trembling from the cold! How many hungry people spend their nights without sleep, enduring the cold along with their hunger! Woe to me! How many more destitute people there are who, like Lazarus, would wish to be satisfied with the crumbs falling from my table! Woe to me! How many strangers and sojourners there are in this city who have nowhere to lay their heads and spend the nights in courtyards without shelter, yet even amid their sufferings give thanks for everything to the Master Christ. And you, John, who wish to receive eternal rest, remain here in luxury and comfort, having everything that pleases you. You live in splendid chambers, dress in luxurious garments, eat fish, and drink wine. And now, on top of all this, you have covered yourself with an expensive blanket! What, then, should you expect in the life to come? Truly I tell you, wretched John, you will not receive the Kingdom of Heaven, but will hear the same words as that rich man: ‘Remember that you received your good things during your lifetime’ (Luke 16:25). No! God is my witness that tomorrow night I shall no longer cover myself with that blanket. Instead, let the destitute and the poor be covered with its price.”

And the Saint truly kept his word. When day came, he immediately sent the blanket to be sold at the marketplace, so that with the money received for it, clothing could be bought for the destitute. But it so happened that the former owner of the blanket, the nobleman, was passing by the place where those sent by the patriarch were selling it. He immediately bought the blanket and sent it back to John, again begging him to cover himself with it. John accepted the blanket, but immediately sent it once more to the marketplace. The nobleman learned of this, bought the blanket again, and sent it once more to the patriarch. John accepted the blanket this time as well, but again sent it to be sold. The nobleman learned of the sale of the blanket once more, bought it again, and sent it back to John. After this, John sent word to the nobleman, saying:

“Let us now see which of us will give in first: you, who keep buying it, or I, who keep selling it.”

In the end, St. John received a large amount of gold from that nobleman for the needs of the destitute.

Consider, then: through what did St. John the Merciful and the nobleman enrich themselves, so to speak, with the virtues of love and mercy? Undoubtedly, it was through holy competition. For the nobleman certainly knew, if not the first time, then by the second or third sale of the blanket, where the money received for it was going. Yet, knowing this, he himself did not wish to fall behind the Saint in enriching himself with love and mercy. Through his competition, he too succeeded in enriching himself with those same virtues.

But even if he wished to buy back his blanket several times solely out of love for John, the result is still the same: it was precisely through competition that he increased within himself the virtue of love, even if that love was directed toward only one neighbor. And if he increased within himself the virtue of love, even if toward only one neighbor, then thanks be to God for that as well.

In view of this, you rich people, whenever the opportunity arises, try to act in the same way as the nobleman and John did. If you act in this way, you too will undoubtedly enrich yourselves with good works and fulfill the commandment of the Apostle. Amen.

Questions for Conversation 74:

1. Why did St. John the Merciful accept the expensive blanket from the nobleman the first time?

2. According to John's words, who suffers from the cold while John covers himself with the expensive blanket?

3. According to John's words, what do the strangers and sojourners who have nowhere to lay their heads do amid their sufferings?

4. How many times did the wealthy nobleman buy the blanket from John?

5. With what virtues did John and the nobleman enrich themselves through their competition?

 

The Same Day

75. What One Sows, That One Also Reaps

(From the Life of Saint John the Merciful)

The Apostle Paul says: “He which sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which sowa bountifully shall reap also bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9:6). What does this mean? It means that whoever does less good for his neighbors will receive a lesser reward from God for it, while whoever does more good should also expect a greater reward. In short, whatever one sows in this regard, that is what one will reap.

One day, as St. John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria, was going to church, a certain respectable and noble man who had been reduced to poverty by thieves approached him and began asking for assistance. The merciful patriarch took pity on him and ordered the church stewards to give him fifteen litras of gold. However, because there was little money in the church treasury, the stewards gave the impoverished man only five litras instead of fifteen.

Later that same day, when the patriarch was returning home from church, a very wealthy and distinguished woman approached him and placed in his hands a document stating that she was donating five hundred litras of gold to the Church. John began reading the document, and at that moment the Holy Spirit revealed to him that the woman had intended to donate a considerably larger sum to the Church, but had not donated the entire amount because God Himself had not permitted her to do so, on account of the stewards' failure to give the man who had been robbed by thieves everything that the patriarch had ordered.

Thereupon, when he returned home, John summoned the stewards and asked them: “How much did you give the man who had been robbed by thieves?”

They replied: “Fifteen litras of gold, as you commanded.”

Then the Saint exposed their falsehood, greed, and disobedience, and said to them further: “Know that for the ten litras you withheld, the Lord will demand a thousand litras from you. For the woman who has just donated five hundred litras to the Church intended to donate not five hundred, but one thousand five hundred litras of gold. But of this sum, one thousand litras were withheld by God Himself because you concealed ten litras.”

Then the Saint called the woman who had made the donation and, in the presence of the stewards, asked her: “Tell us, my lady, how much money did you wish, out of your love, to offer as a gift to God?”

The woman, seeing that her original intention had not remained hidden from the Saint, replied: “I tell you the truth, my lord: at first I wrote on the document that I was donating to the Church, through your hands, one thousand five hundred litras of gold. But when, several days later, I began to read what I had written, to my astonishment I saw that someone had crossed out one thousand litras and left only five hundred uncrossed. Then I thought that apparently it was not pleasing to God for me to give Your Holiness the entire sum I had written down, and so I handed over only five hundred litras.”

Hearing this, the stewards were horrified and ashamed, and, falling at the Saint's feet, they began asking him for forgiveness.

Now, brethren, we have explained to you through an actual example the meaning of the words of the Apostle Paul quoted above. You have surely become convinced that to sow sparingly and reap sparingly means to do less good and receive a lesser reward from God for it; while to sow bountifully and reap bountifully means to do more good and, consequently, to expect a greater reward.

What, then, follows for us from this? It is self-evident that, as the same Apostle teaches, we must become rich in good works and be generous (1 Timothy 6:18). And so, brethren, this is absolutely necessary. For what are the people to whom we do good? Generally speaking, they are a field for us, into which we must cast seeds so that, in the future, we ourselves may reap its fruits. And this field is fruitful. “The field of the poor,” says Blessed Augustine, “is fruitful and quickly yields fruit to those who possess it.”

If this is so, then it is clear that it will be better for us ourselves when we gather more fruit from this field. Therefore, let us sow bountifully, so that we may also reap bountifully, and through generous deeds of charity, through abundant acts of mercy and almsgiving, let us strive to gather for ourselves also a plentiful harvest in its proper season. Amen.

Questions for Conversation 75:

1. By whom was it revealed to St. John the Merciful that the wealthy and distinguished woman had intended to donate a considerably larger sum to the Church?

2. What did John call the wealthy woman who had made the donation when he addressed her in order to find out how much money she had wished to offer as a gift to God?

3. What did the woman call John when answering his question about the amount of money she had originally intended to donate?

4. What did the stewards begin to do when they learned from the woman's words that, on the document, only five hundred litras of gold remained uncrossed instead of one thousand five hundred?

5. According to Blessed Augustine, what kind of field is the field of the poor?

 

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.