It is not
a secret that St. Elisabeth Convent is running various charitable project to support
people in need. The Catalog of Good Deeds is one such projects, too. On
September 5, which was proclaimed by the UN as the International Day of
Charity, we decided to ask the fathers from our Convent about what they think
on charity in the context of our Orthodox faith.
Fr. George Glinski:
Charity is an inseparable part of a Christian
community’s life, and we know that from the Holy Scripture. We can read about
the life of the early Christian Church, the circumstances in which that Church
existed and see how numerous early Christian communities, which we could name
local churches today, helped each other and supported each other not only spiritually
in their prayers, but also materially. For example, Apostle Paul writes that
Christians from new religious communities supported the Christians of the
Jerusalem Church. The Gospel calls us upon to help not just our brothers in Christian
faith, with whom we make up the one body of Christ, but also strive to help any
person because we all bear the image of Christ inside ourselves. So, our deeds
of mercy and our love should not be targeted at the humanity only because the
whole universe is called upon to transfigure through the human being, who is supposed to be a
mediator between God and all the other creatures. As St. Maximos the Confessor
wrote, “The human being is supposed to be the one through whom the grace of God
will be spilled all over the world”. This is why it is rather important that we
take part in the life of those people who need our help, drawing on our own
possibilities and forces. If we cannot
help with money, we can help with our wholehearted prayer. We should strive to
do acts of mercy where it is possible by our own forces, and where our forces
are limited, we should ask for God’s help, so that the Lord acts through our
prayer and helps the people who really need His help, whatever help it should
be.
Fr. Andrew Malahovsky:
Charity is one of the possibilities to be within God’s
grace. There is mercantilism in the world and of course, it will exist forever.
This mercantilism is predetermined by certain economical motivations, when we
try to find out whether there is any profit for us or not. So, it is just a
human attitude. But if we talk about charity and mercy, it means that the grace of God’s world is
joining the human world. There is no mercantilism in it, there is only a pure desire
to do good, the desire to take part in other person’s life. Charity always
means sacrifice. A person gives not just something useless, but something what
is essential for him in some way.
It is also great when our charitable work is connected
with the interpersonal relations. When it is not just like someone brings some
clothes or money somewhere or hands them out to a boarding home and forgets
about this. Sometimes it is quite easy for us to leave some things. However,
when there is a personal contact, when the one who gives and the one who takes see
each other, then the work of such act of mercy becomes more deep and spiritual.
One has to find time for another person, to talk to this person, to devote this
time to him. It is not just financial help, which is more simple. Such involvement
in other person’s life is more difficult, because in this case we talk about
the sacrifice of our soul.
Fr. Artemii Tonoyan:
In fact, any liturgy is charity. The Body of Christ
and we all are charity. You know what the Lord says about it: “do not let
your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:3). We cannot
even say more. Our life should be filled with God. We have to keep this state
always inside ourselves, you see? Just do what you can do and leave… Do what the Lord
lets you do. Nothing is possible without God. We all have the heart, and it will say
us what to do. We just need to listen to it and see God in everything.
September 6, 2018
St. Elisabeth Convent
CONVERSATION