Three parables
about the people who left the Church because they had been hurt by tactless and
rude people:
1. Archpriest
Dmitry Smirnov gave the following example, “I went to a bakery, and someone was
rude to me, so now I don’t eat bread.”
2. There was a man
who decided to give $1,000,000 to the poor. People lined in front of him, and
there was a girl among them. Suddenly, an old lady started scolding her for
something. The girl was offended and ran away. Since then, she never went to
that rich man again (although he continued to give away his money) and kept
complaining about him and the rude people in the line. Other people sympathized
with her. Many of those who had never been in that queue even concluded that
there was no such sponsor at all, and that they weren’t giving away real money,
just some bills of exchange.
3. A man was in
prison. His mother or father came to visit him. The turnkey rudely ordered the
prisoner to get out of his cell and go see his parents. The prisoner was so
offended that he decided not to see his parents at all…
Translated by The
Catalog of Good Deeds
CONVERSATION