The Catalog of Good Deeds: Stories and Parables

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Parable of the Day: The Young Man Who Defeated Death

There was a courageous young man who was yearning to find something that couldn’t be found on Earth but at the same time something useful for himself and for other people. He met a grey-haired hermit who lived in the distant mountains and asked him if his dream could be made true.

“Yes, it’s possible,” the hermit replied, “if you follow my advice. Now you will enter this cave and face a serious trial. You should say no to all questions but when you hear the most important question, you must say yes, or else you will die.”

They came closer to the cave. There was no one there. As soon as the young man entered the cave, he heard a thunderous and powerful voice:

“Do you want to be young forever?”

“No,” the young man was a little embarrassed.

“Do you want the most beautiful girl in the world to be your wife?”

“No,” the young man hesitated.

“Do you want to become a famous general?”

“No,” the young man replied more firmly.

“Do you want to possess all wealth of the earth?”

“No,” the young man was adamant.

“Do you want to die for the sake of something that isn’t there?”

“Yes,” the young man responded calmly.

The ground shook and the young man heard a faint groan, “You’ve won, O human being, and now I have to leave the face of the earth…” The young man looked around and could no longer see the cave and the hermit. He found himself surrounded by happy young people. “What was that?” the young man inquired. “It was the Death!” was the answer.

…For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us (1 John 1:2).

By Monk Simeon of Mt. Athos

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Parable of the Day: Searching for Fire in Hell

A king met a wise man on the road.

“Where are you going from?” the king asked.

“I’m going from the Hell,” the wise man replied.

“What did you do there?” the king was surprised.

“I needed some fire,” the wise man explained. “I asked them to share their fire with me. However, their leader said that they don’t have fire. I was surprised—how come? He assured me, ‘I tell you, we don’t have fire, everyone comes with their own fire.’”

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Parable of the Day: The Man by the Window

There were two terminally ill patients in a hospital ward. They had completely equal conditions, with the only difference that one could look into the window and the other couldn’t but he, in turn, had a nurse call button near his bed. Time went by, seasons were changing… The man by the window told the other patient about the things that he could see: the rain and the snow, the trees covered with light sparkles or spring haze or green leaves or yellow and scarlet leaves… He told him about people and cars on the streets—the entire world beyond the hospital walls.

One night, the man by the window felt bad. He asked his neighbor to call a nurse but the latter didn’t. The man died.

The following day, they brought another patient to the ward. The man who had stayed in the ward before, asked the staff to lay him by the window. He finally saw that… the window overlooked a solid gray wall and nothing else. He kept silent for a while and then asked his new neighbor:

“You know what? If I feel bad at night… don’t call the nurse…”

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Parable of the Day: The Arrogant Stranger

There was a man who arrived in Moscow on a business trip. He was tired and went to a tavern. He ordered a meal but he forgot about tableware. He had to leave his meal on the table and go find the spoon and the fork. When he returned, he saw a complete stranger sitting in his chair and eating his soup. What could he do? “It would be un-Christlike to drive that arrogant man away, wouldn’t it?” he thought and, showing exemplary humility, took a clean bowl, poured half of the soup into the bowl, and did the same with the other dishes. Finally, the lunch was over, and the unwanted guest went away, not even thanking the poor traveler for the meal. The traveler also rose to his feet to leave the tavern when he heard the barmaid call out loudly, “Hey!” He turned and saw the woman point at a table in a neighboring room, where his own meal stood untouched…

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Parable of the Day: Anyway, How Should We Pray?

When someone asked a 10th-century Byzantine saint how to pray, he responded:

“The prayer is simple: Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me a sinner. The question is how you say it. Imagine a person accused of a crime. It doesn’t matter whether the accusation is fair or not — he is sentenced to death. All his appeals were turned down, and the verdict was final. He is being led from the prison to the central city square, passing the king’s palace on his way to the scaffold. He seizes this last chance to ask the king to have mercy on him. To do so, he has to shout “Lord have mercy!” so loud as to make the king hear his outcry and help him. That is how we should cry out “Lord have mercy!” I don’t mean that we should shout it out loud but we should do it with a trembling heart and conscience, with hope and despair…”

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Three Short Parables About People Who Left the Church

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

Parable of the Day: Two Monks and a Woman

Two monks had to cross a turbulent river. A pretty young woman asked them to help her to cross the river because it was too deep for her. The old monk put her on his shoulders and carried her across the river to the other bank.

The younger monk didn’t say anything to the old monk until they almost returned to the monastery. He asked the old monk near the monastery gate, “Holy Scriptures forbid us monks even to touch women! Not only did you touch her: you even carried her on your shoulders!”

The elder laughed and replied, “I left her at the riverbank but you are still carrying her.”

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Parable of the Day: Be Careful with Your Reasoning

Long time ago, several brave and courageous men who lived far from the ocean decided to see what the ocean was like. They asked wise elders how to get there and embarked on their journey immediately. They traveled for a long time until they finally arrived at the ocean shore. “It looks as if the ocean is like a vast field!” the first brave explorer exclaimed. “It seems to me that the ocean is like a boundless forest!” the second traveler yelled in amazement. “In my opinion, the ocean is like a huge desert!” the third voyager claimed. A fisherman was walking past them and heard their argument. “Don’t argue on the shore: dive into the water, and you’ll see what the ocean is like.” The travelers followed the fisherman’s advice. Soon, they came out of the water and took a deep breath. “Now, what do you think the ocean is like?” the fisherman asked with a smile. The explorers looked at one another and said, “We don’t know what it’s like. All we know is that it’s very salty.”

An old monk once said, “Never let your reasoning confuse you: get to know God firsthand.”

By Monk Symeon the Athonite

Translated by the Catalog of Good Deeds

Parable of the Day: The Last Wish of the Father

There was a believer who had an irreligious son. The father was upset but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t bring the young man to believe. When his death was near, he called his son:

“Can you do something for me?”

“What exactly, Father?”

“When I die, please stay in this room for fifteen minutes every day during the first forty days.”

“What should I be doing here?”

“You don’t need to do anything. Just sit here for at least fifteen minutes every day.”

When the old man died, his son buried him and did precisely what he had been told to do: he went to that room and sat there for fifteen minutes every day. Forty days later, the young man went to church for the first time and became a Christian.

Many years later, the man realized how wise his father’s last wish had been. The old man saw that young people lived too fast and didn’t have the time to think about the meaning of their lives, about their immortal souls, and about God. If they paused to sit still in silence, they would soon hear God knocking at their hearts.

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Parable of the Day: Talking to Non-spiritual People

An eagle was soaring in the sky and enjoying the beauty of the world. The eagle was thinking, “I cover long distances and see valleys and mountains, seas and rivers, meadows and forests. I see many animals and birds, cities and villages where people live. A rooster does not know anything except his own yard, a few people and cattle. I'll fly and tell him about the greater world.”

The eagle landed on the roof of a village hut and saw the rooster walking amidst his hens bravely and happily. The eagle thought, “He must be satisfied with his fate, but I think I should tell him about the things that I know anyway.”

The eagle started informing the rooster about the beauty and the richness of this world. The rooster listened to him attentively at first but he could not understand anything. The eagle was disappointed that the rooster did not understand anything. The rooster, on the other hand, was bored and tired of listening to the eagle because he could not understand anything. However, each one of them was satisfied with their own fate.

This is what happens when an educated person talks with an uneducated person; even more so when a spiritual person talks with a non-spiritual person. A spiritual person is like an eagle, while a non-spiritual person is like a rooster. The spiritual person studies God’s Law day and night and lifts up his soul to God. The non-spiritual person’s mind is bound to earth or busy thinking his idle thoughts. The spiritual person’s soul enjoys peace, while the non-spiritual person’s soul remains empty and unfocused. The spiritual person is like an eagle soaring in the sky, feeling God and seeing the entire world even if he prays in the darkness of the night. The non-spiritual person enjoys vainglory, hoards up wealth or seeks pleasures for his flesh. When a spiritual person meets a non-spiritual one, both of them are bored and tired.

By St. Silouan the Athonite

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Parable of the Day: Planting Good and Bad Seeds

Some disciples came to their elder and asked him why bad proclivities stick to one’s soul so readily, while good ones don’t, and even if they do, they are easily abandoned.

“What will happen if you expose a good seed to scorching heat and plant a bad seed into the soil?”

“The good seed will die without fertile soil. The bad seed will shoot out a weak sprout and bring forth a bad fruit.”

“That’s exactly what people do: instead of doing good in secret and growing the good sprouts deep inside their souls, they expose them for everyone to see, and thus kill them. At the same time, people hide their shortcomings and sins from others. They grow and poison those people’s hearts. Be wise.”

The disciples thanked their Abba for the parable and went away in contemplation.

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Parable of the Day: Why the Swallows Migrate in Winter

An old legend has it that long ago, there was a time when swallows didn’t migrate during the cold season. Every year, they had to endure harsh frost and snow. Many birds died every winter. A kind-hearted man wanted to help them somehow. He started doing everything he could to teach them. He pointed at the south but the swallows didn’t understand him; he offered them food but they didn’t follow him; he scared them off in the right direction but all his efforts were in vain. So he asked God to turn him into a swallow. God granted his wish and turned the man into a swallow that could think and feel like a human being. The Swallowman easily explained his point to the other swallows and they followed him in the fall.

That was how the swallows started to migrate in winters. Of course, it’s merely a poetic legend. Hopefully, it will help us to understand — at least to some extent — how the eternal Wisdom born of eternal Love turned into a human being among human beings in order to lead those who shiver from the bitterness of the earth into the warm lands, into the Kingdom of God, where there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. Even as a fragile human, the great Lord remained the One, Unchangeable, and Eternal — He always remained the same God that He had been since the beginning, in his boundless Kingdom and his unspeakable glory.

By St. Nikolaj of Serbia, Missionary Letters

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Parable of the Day: How Pride Leads Us to Insanity

The first stage of pride is when one rebukes his brother, when he condemns and smears him as an unworthy being, and considers himself to be superior. If such a proud man does not come to his senses and does not correct himself, he will gradually fall prey to the second stage of pride and start feeling superior to God and start attributing his feats and virtues to himself and not God, as if it was him who achieved them using his own reason and diligence instead of God’s help.

Indeed, my brethren, I know a man who eventually became pathetic. First, when a brother would tell him about anything, he would humiliate everyone and contradict, saying, “What’s that brother really worth? There is no one that deserves fame except for Zosimas and the like.” Later, he started belittling Zosimas, saying, “There is no one that deserves fame except Macarius.” A little bit later, he started saying, “Who’s Macarius? There is no one who deserves fame except Basil and Gregory.” Soon enough, he started diminishing those fathers, too. He said, “Who is Basil? Who is Gregory? I don’t know anyone worth admiration except Peter and Paul!” I remarked, “Look, brother, soon you will belittle the two apostles, too!” Believe it or not, soon he started saying, “Who’s Peter? Who’s Paul? No one is really worth anything except for the Holy Trinity.” Finally, he started criticizing the Lord and went insane.

This is why, my dear brethren, we should work hard to get rid of the first stage of pride so as not to fall into the second stage of pride, i.e., complete pride.

Abba Dorotheus, Homily 2
Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Parable of the Day: Seeing Nothing but Yourself

Someone asked an elderly priest:

“Why are the poor more inclined to help others than the rich?”

“Look through the window. What can you see?”

“I see trees, a car, and children playing in the street…”

“Now look in the mirror,” the priest continued. “What can you see?”

“I can’t see anything but myself.”

The priest concluded in an earnest voice, “You see, both the window and the mirror are made of glass but the glass in the mirror is dusted with some silver powder.”

Prepared by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Parable of the Day: Commiting the Least Dangerous Sin

There was a hermit in Egypt who was troubled by a demon for many years. Finally, the demon promised the monk that he wouldn’t tempt him any longer if he agrees to commit any one of the following three sins: murder, fornication, or inebriety. The demon said, “Just do any of these sins: kill a man, or commit fornication, or drink a lot of alcohol just once — and I promise you that you will live happily and peacefully ever after. I won’t bother you anymore.” The hermit thought to himself, “Murder is scary: it’s punishable by death both in the eyes of God and by the civil authorities. If I commit fornication and lose my chastity, I’d miss it, and it’s really appaling. The third option seems much easier: drinking alcohol isn’t a grave sin after all, and I’ll get sober again the following day. So why not go and drink some booze? The demon won’t tempt me and I’ll stay in the desert peacefully.” The monk took the items that he had made with his own hands, went to the nearest town and sold them. Then he went to a tavern and drank a lot of wine. He met a shameless and adulterous woman in that tavern and was aroused. When he was with her, her husband broke in and discovered them. The angry husband started beating the monk up, but the latter fought back and managed to kill the man.

Thus, the hermit committed all three sins, inebriety, fornication, and murder. He had been afraid and averted by those sins while he had been sober but easily committed them while drunk and ruined his lifelong efforts to become holy. It took him a while to find them again using honest and sincere repentance thanks to God’s boundless mercy.

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Parable of the Day: Why God Did not Give Us Wings

There was a hunter who went hunting in the forest and the fields. One day, it took him a lot of time and effort to climb a high mountain looking for a wild animal. He was exhausted and sat on a big stone to relax. When he saw a flock of birds flying from one place to another effortlessly, he started thinking, “Why didn’t God give wings to us humans? We could be flying instead of climbing mountains.” A humble hermit was passing through that place at the time. He read the hunter’s thoughts and that is what he said to him:

– You complain that God did not give you wings but if you had wings, you wouldn't be satisfied, either. You’d say, “My wings are too weak to fly to the heaven to see what is going on there.” If you received wings strong enough to rise up and see the heaven, you would not be satisfied, and you’d say, “I can’t understand what is going on here.” If God gave you the ability to understand the heavenly matters, it wouldn’t satisfy you. You would complain, “Why am I not an Angel?” And if you turned into an Angel, you would keep complaining that you are not a Cherub. If you became a Cherub, you’d bewail the fact that God did not entrust the whole heavenly realm to you. Even if you were privileged to manage the heaven, you wouldn’t be satisfied, either. You would look for more power, like you know who. That’s why you should humble yourself down and be satisfied with what you’ve got, and this is how you can stay with God.”

The hunter realized that the hermit was right. He thanked God for sending him someone who instructed him and revealed the path of humility to him.

By St. Silouan the Athonite
Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Parable of the Day: Why to Waste Time with Prayer?

A fisherman was ferrying a man across the river in his boat. The passenger was in a hurry and screamed, “Come on! I’m late for work!”

Then he saw that there was “Pray” written on one oar, and “Work” written on the other.

“Why?” he wanted to know.

“I wrote these words to remember that I always need to pray and work,” the fisherman replied.

“Well, I know for a fact that people have to work but—” the passenger waved his hand in disrespect, “prayer is optional. No one really needs prayer! Why does anyone even waste his time praying?”

“Are you sure?” the fisherman asked and took the “Pray” oar out of the water. He began rowing with just one oar, and the boat was spinning around its axis.

“See what it’s like to be working without prayer? We keep spinning around and never move forward. As a matter of fact, if you want to sail across the turbulent sea of life, you have to use both oars—prayer and work—at the same time.”

Prepared by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Parable of the Day: How to Understand You Are Pure Enough

A woman was reading the Book of Malachi:

When she was reading Chapter 3, she was puzzled by verse 3, “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” (Mal. 3:3).

She decided to pay a visit to a silversmith and to watch him do his job. She did not tell the silversmith what caused her interest; she said it was out of sheer curiosity that she came to his workshop. The silversmith was working. He was heating up a piece of silver by holding it above the fire. He explained that this was how silver is purified: it is heated to a high temperature so as to burn out all pollutants. The woman recalled the verse and thought that the Lord purified us with fire like a silversmith. She asked the silversmith:

— So you have to sit here until the purification process is over?

— Yes, I do. Moreover, I must keep an eye on the silver all the time: if I hold the metal in the fire for too long, it will be unusable.

The woman paused to think and then asked the artisan:

— How do you know when the silver is pure enough?

The silversmith smiled and replied:

— Oh, that’s easy. The silver is ready as soon as I can see my face in it.

Prepared by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Parable of the Day: You Have to Live Here and Now!

There was a carpenter — and a good carpenter he was, indeed — who liked to put everything off until a later time. As soon as someone asked him to make something, he would answer with, “Okay, I’ll do it tomorrow!” When he was young, his fellow villagers used to urge him to get married but he would always reply, “Of course, I will do so… tomorrow!”

He always had a lot to do so he kept repeating, “Of course, I’ll do that tomorrow! Tomorrow!” Sometimes he did what he had promised to do, sometimes not, but he wasn’t upset anyway. One morning, someone placed an order with him. Our carpenter replied with his usual, “OK, I’ll do that tomorrow!” But the client exclaimed, “What do you mean? You’re old now, aren’t you? What if you die and don’t fulfill my order?” The carpenter was startled, “Hm, that’s right. How old am I?” He paused to count his age and… gasped in bewilderment, “Oh! I’m sixty! Where has my whole life gone?”

An elderly monk said, “There is no tomorrow in the spiritual life. You’ve got to rescue your soul NOW!”

Prepared by the Catalog of Good Deeds

Parable of the Day: How Is Love Supposed to Unite Us?

Here is a parable passed on to us by the Holy Fathers. Imagine a circle on the floor. In the middle of this circle there is its center. Straight lines that connect the center and the circumference are called radiuses. Now listen attentively to what I have to say: let’s imagine that this circle is our world, with God at the very center. The radiuses that go from the circumference to the center are the ways of life of human beings.

The more the saints go inside the circle, eager to get closer to God, the closer they become both to God and to one another; the closer they become to God, the closer they are to one another; the closer they become to one another, the closer they are to God.

Similarly, when people move away from God, it is obvious that they become farther from God and from one another at the same time; the farther they become from one another, the farther they are from God.

This is the nature of love: we are isolated from our neighbors as long as we stay away from God and don’t love Him. If we love God, then we will unite with our neighbors in love to the same extent that we become closer to God by loving him; and we will be united with God to the same extent that we are united with our neighbors.

By Saint Abba Dorotheus

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

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Parable of the Day: The Young Man Who Defeated Death

Parable of the Day: Searching for Fire in Hell

Parable of the Day: The Man by the Window

Parable of the Day: The Arrogant Stranger

Parable of the Day: Anyway, How Should We Pray?

Three Short Parables About People Who Left the Church

Parable of the Day: Two Monks and a Woman

Parable of the Day: Be Careful with Your Reasoning

Parable of the Day: The Last Wish of the Father

Parable of the Day: Talking to Non-spiritual People

Parable of the Day: Planting Good and Bad Seeds

Parable of the Day: Why the Swallows Migrate in Winter

Parable of the Day: How Pride Leads Us to Insanity

Parable of the Day: Seeing Nothing but Yourself

Parable of the Day: Commiting the Least Dangerous Sin

Parable of the Day: Why God Did not Give Us Wings

Parable of the Day: Why to Waste Time with Prayer?

Parable of the Day: How to Understand You Are Pure Enough

Parable of the Day: You Have to Live Here and Now!

Parable of the Day: How Is Love Supposed to Unite Us?

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