Therefore, when Christ has come to us, let us show that we are glad to Him, and let us not do anything that can offend Him. Let us adorn the house into which He came: this is characteristic of those who rejoice. Let us offer Him the table that He Himself wants: this is the nature of those who rejoice. What kind of meal is this? He Himself says: "Mine is Mine, that I may do the will of Him who sent Me"[913]. Let us feed Him who hungers, let us give Him thirsty to drink. Give Him only a cup of cold water, and He will accept this too, because He loves you; the offerings of the loved ones, however small, seem great to the lover. Just don't show negligence. Throw two mites before him, and He will not reject them either, but will accept them as great riches. He lacks nothing, and does not accept it out of any need; therefore he justly measures everything not by the measure of what is given, but by the disposition of the giver. Just show that you love this Guest, that you try to do everything for Him, that you are glad to see Him. See what kind of love He has for you. He came for your sake, laid down His life for you, and after all these blessings He does not refuse to beseech you: "In Christ we pray," says the Apostle, "for we pray to God"[914]. On the negative side, cordiality in giving alms should be revealed in the patience of love, in the absence of reproaches on the part of the giver. On the positive side, this cordiality will be revealed in tenderness, affability, tenderness, when the recipient of alms realizes that the one who helps him helps with joy, and not with burden. "Give alms," admonishes St. John Chrysostom, "and do not reproach, do not beat, do not scold; A beggar, coming to you, hopes to receive healing, and not wounds, almsgiving, and not beatings. Tell me, if a stone is thrown at someone, and he, with a wound on his head, covered in blood, runs past all the others under your protection, will you throw another stone at him and inflict another wound on him? I don't think you would do that; on the contrary, you will faithfully try to heal the wound inflicted on him. Why do you do not do this to the poor? Do you not know how much even one word can either encourage or discourage? Better, they say, is a word than a giving[915]. Will you not consider that you are raising your sword against yourself and inflicting a cruel wound on yourself, when the beggar you have cursed will go away from you silently, sighing and shedding tears? God sends a beggar to you. Therefore, when offending him, think about whom you are offending, when God Himself sends to you and commands you to give, and you not only do not give, but also scold the one who has come. If you do not understand how bad it is, then look at others, and then you will know well the importance of your crime. If your servant, at your command, went to another servant to take your money from him, and returned to you not only empty-handed, but also complaining about the offense, then what would you not do to the offender? What punishment would he not inflict on him, being as if he himself was personally offended by him? Judge God in the same way: He Himself sends the poor to us, and when we give, we give God's things. If, having given nothing, we still drive away from us with abuse, then think how many thunders and lightnings we are worthy of for such a deed? Thinking about all this, let us bridle our tongues, cease to be hard-hearted, let us stretch out our hands for almsgiving, and let us not only provide the poor with property, but also console us with words, so that we may escape punishment for backbiting and inherit the Kingdom for blessing and almsgiving." "If you," says the saint, "do not want to give, then at least do not offend; if you do not want to save him from drowning, at least do not plunge him into the abyss." "For if he who receives alms in the presence of many is to be ashamed, then what offense is inflicted on him when it is still given with reproach and turned away from him? How can they wound his soul with this? We are... we insult those who ask so much and look at them with such disgust, as if they had caused us the greatest offense. You give him nothing: why are you vexed? Admonish them as brothers, said the Apostle, and do not insult them as enemies. Whoever admonishes his brother does not do it publicly, does not solemnly expose him to shame, but in secret and with great caution, grieving and lamenting, and with tears and weeping. Therefore, let us give alms with brotherly zeal, let us admonish with brotherly love, not grieving over the fact that we give alms... If you offend him by giving him alms, you will lose the pleasure (which you give your) generosity. And if you give him nothing, and insult him, then what harm will you not do to this wretched and unfortunate man? He came to you hoping to receive alms, and went away after receiving a mortal wound from you, and he will shed more tears after that. Since poverty compels him to beg, while he is insulted for what he asks, see what punishment will befall those who insult him. Whoever slanders the poor, it is said, provokes him who has done him[918]. Tell me: He has allowed him to beg for your sake, that you may heal yourself, and you offend him who endures poverty for your sake? What cruelty! What ingratitude in this act! Punish, says the Apostle, as brothers. And after almsgiving, he commands us to admonish him. If, having given him nothing, we begin to offend him, then what shall we say in our defense?" [919]. "Thus, there is a double almsgiving, when we give willingly: God loves the giver willingly. But if you distribute even a thousand talents with pride, arrogance, and vanity, you will destroy them all, just as the Pharisee, who gave away a tenth of his possessions, but was haughty and haughty about it, went out of the temple, having destroyed everything." And the Holy Father especially insists on the need for tenderness and a kind of tenderness on the part of the giver of alms towards the receiver, who always experiences difficult moments when receiving a favor. "A wise man," says St. John, for example, "seeing the self-interest and arrogance of human nature and knowing the nature of poverty... in the instruction that no one should be angry at the requests of the poor and from irritation... He did not become a persecutor instead of a helper, he exhorts him to be indulgent and accessible to the needy: incline your ear, he says, to the poor without grief, and tell him peacefully in meekness[921]. He who cares for them (the poor) should be so magnanimous as not only not to increase their despondency by reproaches, but to alleviate their condition as much as possible by consolation. Just as he who has suffered an offense, with great abundance, does not feel the benefit of riches because of the offense, so he who has heard a kind word and accepted it with consolation, rejoices and rejoices more, and the gift itself is twice as great from this way of giving. I say this not on my own behalf, but from the words of the one who offered the exhortation above. "Child," he says, "do not give vice in good things, and in every giving of sorrow in words. Will not the dew wet the heat? Thus a word is better than a giving. Is not her word more than a good gift? And the husband's both are grace-filled"[922]. Using the example of Abraham, the saint clearly teaches what it means to serve the needy with hospitality. Abraham "does and proposes everything himself. He did not even consider himself worthy to sit down with them, but when they ate, he stood before them. What greatness of the love of strangers! What a depth of humility! What a loftiness of a God-loving soul! As they ate, this hundred-year-old man stood in front of them. It seems to me that from great joy and cordiality he then rose above his weakness and, as it were, received new strength... Do we see how great was the love of strangers of the righteous man? Do not only see that he offered bread and a calf, but reflect on the reverence, with what humility he fulfilled the duty of hospitality, not like many others who, although they sometimes do something similar, are vain before their visitors... He who does anything with arrogance and acts as if he gives more than he receives, he does not know what he is doing... But this righteous man knew what he was doing, and therefore in everything he did, he showed spiritual zeal... Let us all imitate him... Our Lord demands of us an abundance of zeal, and not a multitude of viands, not a sumptuous meal, but a heart, services not only in words, but also love that proceeds from the heart and pure intention. Often, after all, a diligent word comforts the needy more than almsgiving. Therefore, knowing this, let us never be indignant at those who come to us; but if we can help their need, let us do so with joy and cordiality, as if we ourselves received more from them than we gave them. let us render them a service, even with a word, and let us speak to them with meekness"[923].

In order to conclude the exposition of St. John Chrysostom's views on almsgiving, it remains for us to say a few words about this saint's comparative assessment of various types of almsgiving. We do not find a detailed development of this aspect in the teaching of alms in the works of St. John. We have already seen that in the concept of alms he includes not only the giving of money to the needy, but also any kind of service to one's neighbor. The criterion of the comparative value of alms in this case is the degree of personal participation of the benefactor in the need of the poor. "I know many," says St. John, for example, "who have reached such an atrocity that out of sheer laziness they leave the hungry without help, making excuses in the following way: now I have no servant, I have a long way to go home, and there is no one to exchange them with. What cruelty! You have promised more, and you do not do less. Is he starving because you don't want to walk a few steps? What pride! What arrogance! If you were to go through ten stages, why be lazy? Do you not think that you would have a greater reward for this? When you give, you will receive a reward only for almsgiving, and when you go yourself, you will receive another reward for it. Thus, we are amazed at the patriarch, because he, having three hundred and eighteen members of the household, himself ran into the flock and took the calf"[925]. "Do not be ashamed to serve the poor with your own hand. Christ was not ashamed to stretch out his hand and take alms through the poor, are you ashamed to stretch out your hand and give money? Isn't that shameful? If one cup of cold water brings forth the kingdom of heaven, tell me, what fruit will it bring if you make a poor man... a partaker of the meal, and will you give him rest? Therefore, let us not be ashamed of serving the poor, let us not refuse to serve them with our own hands, because our hands are sanctified through such service... Giving money is a fairly common thing; but to help the needy oneself and to do it with diligence – for this a great and loving soul is needed"[926]. As for the comparative assessment of private and public, properly ecclesiastical, charity, we have not found such in the works of St. John Chrysostom. St. The Father only decisively distinguishes between these types of almsgiving and, insisting on the duty to do good personally, also strongly advises to bring one's donations to the church treasury, and from the works of the saint it is clearly seen how widely developed and strictly organized church charity was. "Many rich people," says St. John, "as soon as it is necessary to give to the poor, appear to be poorer than the poorest. And how are they often justified? The poor, they say, receive from the church treasury. What do you care about that? If I give, you will not be saved for it; if the Church gives, you will not atone for your sins with this. If you do not give because the Church should give to the needy, then (equally) if the priests pray, should you not pray for that? Others fast—is that why you can constantly indulge in drunkenness?... Everything we say about almsgiving, we say not that you should bring offerings to us, but that you should give them on your own behalf. Bringing it to me, you may fall into vanity, and sometimes, being tempted, you will depart with evil suspicion; and if you do everything yourself, you will get rid of temptation and misplaced suspicion and receive a great reward... Let us not present such pretexts and consider it an excuse for ourselves that the Church has many treasures. When you see in it a great deal of possessions, imagine also the great number of the poor registered, the multitude of the sick, the thousands of cases of expense; sort it out, calculate, no one is in the way; We are even ready to give you an account... The Church is compelled to have what she now has because of your avarice; and if everything were done according to the apostolic rules, then her income would be your disposition, which would be both a safe storehouse and an inexhaustible treasure. And now, when you lay up treasures on earth and lock everything up in your storehouses, the Church is compelled to incur expenses for the societies of widows, for the assembly of virgins, for the reception of strangers, for the relief of strangers, for the consolation of prisoners, for the relief of the sick and maimed, and for other similar needs, what is she to do?... Each of us will give an answer to God for himself"[927].

We do not consider it necessary to enumerate in detail all those types of service to one's neighbor which St. John considers with the meaning of almsgiving and to which he encourages his listeners. Let us only pay attention to the advice of the Holy Father to constantly put a certain part of the money in a special box, in imitation of the practice of the Apostolic Church, as well as a very interesting view of St. John on posthumous charity.

Having told his listeners in detail about the order of gathering for the benefit of the needy in the churches in the time of the apostles, St. John invites everyone to imitate the order legitimized by the holy Apostle Paul. "I," the Holy Father instructs, "say: give to the needy, and I will speak louder than the needy themselves... But in order that my words may be more effective and stronger, for this purpose, having come under the guidance of Paul, I will say to you with him: Let him keep you with him, if anything is in good will. See how easy it is. He did not say, "So much or so much," but, "If there is a good time," whether it is much or little. And not only in this way does he make his advice manageable, but also in that he does not command that everything be brought in at the same time, since if one collects little by little, then the service and expenditure become insensible"[928]. "From Saturdays, that is, on Sunday, everyone places you in his possession, preserving whatever he hastenes. See how it convinces by time itself: this day in itself is sufficiently disposed to alms... He commands not to bring it immediately, but appoints a long period and gives the reason: "And when I come," he says, then there will be meetings... let us constantly turn to God and follow Blessed Paul: let us build in our house a reliquary for the poor, which should be located near the place where you stand for prayer, and every time you begin to pray, put alms beforehand, and then offer prayer. Just as you do not begin prayer without washing your hands, so do not begin it without almsgiving. To lay down alms is no less than to hang the Gospel near one's bed; if you hang up the Gospel and do nothing yourself, you will not receive so much benefit; and having built such a reliquary, you have a weapon against the devil, you give wings to your prayer, you sanctify your house, preserving in it the Royal Brush. Let this ark stand by your bed, and your night will be without dreams; only do not put anything in it from unrighteous acquisitions; Your work is almsgiving, and alms cannot be from hardness of heart.

However, I do not make this a law, I do not forbid postponing more, but only ask that at least a tenth be postponed. Do the same not only when selling, but also when buying. Let the owners of the fields observe the same rule when collecting revenues from them; the same is true of all who acquire righteousness. If we are confirmed in such a habit, then our conscience will reproach us as soon as we do not fulfill this rule; but when we ourselves experience that this is not a difficult matter, then little by little we will pass on to the higher virtues" [929].

It is very interesting to note St. John's view of posthumous charity. We have already seen how negatively the great teachers of the Church reacted to the hope of the rich to atone for their greed and avarice by means of bequests in favor of the poor. In essence, St. John could not have had anything other than a negative attitude towards such a mood: "Thanks be to death, and not to you," says the Holy Father, in agreement with St. Basil, about the hope of the rich to atone for his sins by a testament in favor of the poor. But, nevertheless, St. John significantly softens his judgments in this case and even proves the benefit for the soul of the deceased of alms in his memory on the part of close relatives. "Make Christ heir in your will," advises, for example, the saint. "After all, the heir must be alive; this will also testify to a beautifully directed will; besides, you will become more generous, at least out of necessity. Christ commanded us to give to the poor in order to make us wise alive, to persuade us to despise money, to teach us not to respect earthly things. This is not the contempt for money, that, dying and not being a master, you give it to one or the other. You do not voluntarily give the remainder, but in extreme necessity. Gratitude to death, not to you. This is not a matter of tender love, but of need. However, let it be so, but at least then free yourself from passion... But some have reached such madness and depravity that even then (before death) they do not understand what is due, but act as if they were trying to make God's judgment difficult for themselves." "When someone dies," St. John also advises in another of his discourses, "let his relatives persuade him before his death to leave something to the poor. Let him depart with this hope, let him leave Christ as his heir... Let us begin to clothe the soul, let us begin to remove it throughout our entire life. If, however, we did not care for it during our lifetime, let us come to our senses, at least at death, and bequeath to our relatives to help us, after death, with alms." Thus, St. John sees in the drawing up of a will for the benefit of the poor the last good effort of will and was ready to welcome it as the beginning of virtue. But the Holy Father did not stop there and called on his listeners to give alms in memory of the deceased, pointing out in this alms the way to the purification of the soul of the departed. Obviously, St. John was allowed to adopt such a point of view by the view of almsgiving, according to which it has a proper religious meaning, similar to prayer. Undoubtedly, the special concern of the saint for his flock in distress impelled him in this way to dispose him to almsgiving. "Truly worthy of tears (sinners)," teaches St. John, "when they stand before the throne of Christ, what words they will hear, what torments they will endure! They lived in vain; or, better, not in vain, but to the detriment (of oneself). And it is proper to say of them: it would have been better for them if they had not been born[932]. (This one) has labored all his life in vain, and has not lived a single day for himself, but for pleasure, for luxury, for covetousness, for sin, for the devil. Shall we not weep for him, tell me? Shall we not try to snatch him away from danger? There is, indeed there is a possibility, to alleviate his punishment if we wish. Thus, if we make frequent prayers for him, if we give alms, then, although he himself was unworthy, God will hear us. If for Paul's sake He saved others, and for the sake of others He has mercy on others, will He not do the same for us? From his own possessions, from yours, from whatever you want, render help; pour (on it) oil, or at least water. Can't he show his own works of mercy? Let them be at least related. Does he not have those who are perfect by himself? Let them be (perfect) for him. In this way, the wife can intercede for him boldly, presenting for him what is necessary for salvation. The greater his sins are guilty of, the more necessary alms are for him. And not only because, but also because now it no longer has such power, but much less. It does not matter whether someone creates it himself, or for him. So, the less (in force) it is, the more we must increase it in quantity... We will not care about monuments, not about tombstones. Gather the widows, and that is the best monument! Tell (them) the name (of the deceased); let everyone pray and supplicate for him. This will incline to the mercy of God, although it is not he himself, but another who does alms for him. This is in accordance with God's love for mankind. Widows standing around and weeping can save, if not from present, then from future death. Many have benefited from the alms done for them by others. If they were not completely (pardoned), they at least received some consolation. Otherwise, how would children be saved, who are nothing of themselves, and everyone is parents? And often wives were given children who did not represent anything of themselves. God has given us many ways to salvation, if only we ourselves would not be negligent. But what, you say, if someone is poor? Again, I will say that the worthiness of alms is judged not only by what is given, but also by diligence. Only do not give less than you can, and you will do everything. And if someone, you say, is lonely, a stranger and has no one? And why does he have no one, tell me? For this very reason he is punished, because he has no one so close, so virtuous. Therefore, if we ourselves are not virtuous, we should strive to have virtuous companions and friends, a wife and a son, in order to receive some benefit through them, however small, but nevertheless benefit. If you try to marry not a rich, but a pious wife, you will have consolation. In the same way, if you try to leave behind you not a rich, but a pious son and an honest daughter, then you will have this consolation. And if you take care of this, then you yourself will be like that. It is characteristic of virtue to have such friends, both a wife and children. Offerings for the dead are not in vain, prayers are not in vain, alms are not in vain. All this was established by the Spirit, desiring that we should benefit each other. See: he benefits through you, and you benefit for his sake. You have spent your possessions by deciding to do a good deed, and you have become the author of salvation for him, and he has become the author of alms for you. Do not doubt that this will bring good fruit. It is not in vain that the deacon exclaims: For those who have fallen asleep in Christ, for those who commemorate them. It is not the deacon who utters these words, but the Holy Spirit; I mean His gift"[933].

With an exposition of the teaching on alms of St. John Chrysostom, one could conclude the review of the teaching on alms of the entire Eastern ancient Church, since the question was considered by the saint with exhaustive completeness. But we still consider it not superfluous, in addition to the expounded teaching of the Holy Fathers of the Eastern Church, to make brief remarks on the view of the Christian ascetic monks on almsgiving. We have not expounded their teachings on property, and in connection with this, on wealth and poverty, because the general monastic view of these subjects is revealed with all certainty from the ascetic rules. As for the view of almsgiving, in ascetic writings it is revealed in a somewhat different way, as if in a peculiar way, in comparison with the formulation of the question in the general teaching of the Church. And it is not difficult for us to understand the need for a peculiar formulation of the question in ascetic writing. The fact is that the doctrine of alms is inseparably connected with the doctrine of property, as we have already seen.

And if one sought to fulfill this duty in the form in which it was usually fulfilled in secular life, it meant to renounce practically the basic principle of monasticism – the denial of the right of private property in the monastic community – and to introduce into the monastic life a great temptation to justify the passion of covetousness by referring to the duty to give alms, as the ascetic writings clearly speak of this temptation. It is this aspect of the matter, namely, the reconciliation of the universality of the duty to do alms with the monastic vow of renunciation of property, that seems interesting, in fact, to emphasize in the ascetic teaching, since the other questions about the motives for almsgiving, its properties, etc., are also resolved in ascetic writings in essentially the same way as the general church view of the subject.

It would hardly be a mistake to call St. Isaac of Sarsky as the most brilliant preacher of contemplative asceticism. It is impossible to emphasize the significance of perfect silence and complete renunciation of communion with people for the soul's conversation with God more strongly than it was done by St. Isaac. And yet, in his own instructions we find a very definite indication of the universal significance of the duty to do almsgiving; and moreover, the meaning of alms is characterized literally in accordance with the teaching of the great preacher of the Christian community, St. John Chrysostom. "If you have something superfluous for your daily needs," advises St. Isaac, distribute this to the poor and go boldly to offer your prayers, that is, converse with God as a son with a father. Nothing can bring the heart so close to God as almsgiving, and nothing produces such silence in the soul as arbitrary poverty." "Do you want," asks the abba in another of his words, "to be in communion with God with your mind, having accepted into yourself the feeling of this delight, not enslaved by feeling? Serve almsgiving. When it is found within you, then this holy beauty is depicted in you, by which you become like God. The comprehensiveness of the works of almsgiving produces in the soul communion with the Divinity without the intermediary of any time to union with the glory of light"[935]. "I give you, brother, this commandment: let alms always prevail from you, until you yourself feel the alms that you have for the world. Let our mercy be a mirror, so that we may see in ourselves that likeness and that true image which is in God's nature and in the essence of God. By this and similar things let us be enlightened, so that we may be moved with enlightened volition to live according to God. A heart that is cruel and unmerciful will never be cleansed. A merciful person is the physician of his soul, because it is as if with a strong wind from within his heart he disperses the darkness of the passions. This, according to the Gospel word of life, is a good debt, given by us to God in return"[936]. At the same time, St. St. Isaac characterizes Christian alms as an expression of the good mood of a philanthropist, and his value is not in money, which a monk may not have, but in one or another manifestation of charity. "When you give," teaches St. Abba, — give with generosity, with tenderness on your face, and provide more than you asked. For it is said: "Put your bread on the face of the water, and it will not take long for you to find recompense." Do not separate the rich from the poor, and do not try to distinguish the worthy from the unworthy: let all people be equal for you for a good work. For in this way you can attract even the unworthy to good, because the soul is soon attracted to the fear of God by means of the body. And the Lord shared a meal with tax collectors and prostitutes and did not separate the unworthy, so that in this way He would draw everyone into the fear of God, so that through the bodily they would draw closer to the spiritual. Therefore, by charity and honor, make all people equal, whether anyone be a Jew, or an infidel, or a murderer, all the more so since he is your brother, of the same nature as you, and has not gone astray from the truth with knowledge. When you do good to someone, do not expect recompense from him; God will reward you for both. And if it is possible for you, do good, and not for the sake of future recompense"[938]. "If you impose on your soul your rule of poverty," says St. Isaac, — and, by the grace of God, you will be freed from cares, and in your poverty you will become above the world, then see that you do not love the acquisition of poverty, for the sake of almsgiving, do not plunge your soul into confusion by what you will take from one and give to another; do not destroy your honor by your subordination to people and, asking them, do not lose your freedom and nobility of mind in caring for the things of life... If you have possessions, squander them suddenly. But if you have nothing, do not desire to have it." "For to give to the poor out of one's possessions, to clothe the naked, to love one's neighbor as oneself, not to offend, not to lie, — this was also proclaimed by the old law; And the perfection of the Gospel economy commands thus: "Thou shalt not torment him who asks Thy wife, and give to everyone who asks." And one should gladly endure not only the taking away of some thing and other external things, but also lay down one's very soul for one's brother. He is merciful, and not he who only shows mercy to his brother by alms! But he is also merciful who hears or sees anything that grieves his brother, and burns his heart, as well as he who, if he is stabbed by his brother, does not have so much shamelessness as to answer and grieve his heart."

But if, therefore, it is equally necessary for a monk to do almsgiving, then the practical question arises: how can a monk fulfill this duty after renouncing his property? The holy ascetics dealt with this question quite a lot in their instructions, and both pointed out the true understanding of this duty in the conditions of the monastic order of life, and they also denounced the incorrect or hypocritical idea according to which, for the sake of fulfilling the duty of almsgiving, one can violate the vow of complete non-acquisitiveness.

In the first case, the ascetic fathers pointed out and emphasized the fact that, on the one hand, the amount of alms does not depend on the amount of alms given, and on the other hand, that money is not needed in order for alms to be pleasing to God.

"Let us examine ourselves, beloved," advises St. Abba Isaiah, whether each of us fulfills the commandments of the Lord according to his strength or not; for we all have a duty to fulfill them according to our strength: the small according to his smallness, the great according to his greatness. Those who swept their gifts into the keeper's keeper were rich, but the Lord rejoiced more than the poor widow for the sake of her two mites, because God looks at our will. Let us not give room in our hearts to despondency (which is not much we can do), so that envy of others does not separate us from God, but let us fulfill our services according to our poverty... For He (the Lord) has no hypocrisy toward the small or the great, neither the rich nor the poor, but He seeks good will, and faith in Him, and the fulfillment of His commandments, and love for all." And not a single monk is so poor that he does not have the opportunity to fulfill the duty of doing almsgiving, since its essence is in the merciful heart. "No one can say, according to the words of St. Abba Dorotheus, "I am a beggar, I have nothing to give alms from"; but if you cannot give as much as these rich men who put their gifts into the treasury, then give two mites, like that poor widow, and God will accept it from you better than the gifts of these rich people. If you do not have even this, you have strength and can show mercy to a weak brother by service. Can't you do that? You can comfort your brother with a word; Therefore, show him mercy with a word, and hear what has been said: A word is good more than a giving. If you cannot help him with a word, then you can, when your brother is grieved with you, show him mercy and endure him in his time of confusion, seeing him tempted by the common enemy, and instead of saying one word to him, and still more embarrassing him, keep silent; by this you will show him mercy, delivering his soul from the enemy. You can also, when your brother sins against you, have mercy on him and forgive his sin... And so you will show mercy to the soul of your brother... And thus, having nothing with which to show mercy to the body, you have mercy on its soul. And what mercy is greater than that to have mercy on the soul? And just as the soul is more precious than the body, so the mercy shown to the soul is greater than that shown to the body" [941].

As we can see, St. Abba Dorotheus looks at alms more broadly than only material help. And this is the usual ascetic point of view[942]'''. "It is said in the Prophet Daniel," writes, for example, St. Mark the ascetic, "atone for thy sins with almsgiving, and thy iniquities with the mercies of the poor"[943]. "But perhaps you will say: I have no money, how can I be generous to the poor? You have no money, but you have desires; renounce them and do good by means of them. Can't you do good with your hand bodily? Do good by righteous will: if your brother sins against you, leave him according to the word of the Lord, and this will be a great alms for you... It is a great thing if a man, having money, gives alms to the poor; and to have mercy on our neighbors in their sins (against us) as much more in order to receive the forgiveness of sins, as the soul is by nature more honorable than the body" [944]. In Blessed Diadochos we also find an indication of a type of material almsgiving that was also available to monks who renounced property, namely, abstinence in food in order to donate its surplus to the poor. "Abstinence in food," says the blessed one, "should be observed in this way... so that, removing ourselves from many and useful foods, we proportionately bridle the inflammable carnal limbs, and then, our surplus will be a sufficient saving for the beggars, which is precisely the sign of sincere love"[945].

And when the holy ascetics insisted that the duty to give alms was binding on a monk as well, then, as we said earlier, they also envisaged possible reinterpretations of this duty in the direction of the possibility of not fulfilling one's vow of non-acquisitiveness as one should, under the pretext of almsgiving. In many ascetic fathers there are very definite indications of how human hypocrisy and covetousness did not even stop at perverting the word of God "for the sake of the passion of love of money." Prep. St. Mark the Ascetic, for example, seeks to prevent possible reinterpretations of the universality of the duty to give alms in monastic life by pointing out that the commandment of almsgiving, as part of the more general commandment to give away one's entire wealth, is fulfilled by the monk in its entirety in the distribution of one's possessions at once and by acknowledging the vow of renunciation of property. "Commandments," the monk argues, "are some of them more general, which contain many of the particular ones and cut off many parts of vice at once... For example, the Scriptures say: "Give to everyone who asks you"... and "To him who wants to hide from you, do not turn away"; these are private commandments. And the general one, which includes them: "Sell thy possessions, and give to the poor, and take up thy cross, come after me," meaning by the cross the patience of the sorrows that befall us. For he who distributed everything to the poor and took up his cross fulfilled all the above-mentioned commandments at once" [946]. And we have already seen that St. Mark understands the duty to give alms much more broadly than just giving money to those who ask. He dwells in particular on the incorrectness in the understanding of some of the universality of the duty to do alms.