Translator's introduction (*)

The letter in our hands, “Deeds and Giving,” by Saint Cyprian, Bishop of Cartagena, is an example of one of the writings of the Latin Fathers in the first centuries of Christianity. Anyone who examines the writings of Saint Cyprian* will find that there is a practical line, whether in his sermons or his writings, that shows the reason for the subject of his speech. Therefore, we find that there were two motives behind his writing this letter:

1- In the year 252, the plague spread from Cartagena and continued to threaten the western province of the Roman Empire for twenty years. Christians responded to this disaster and came to the aid of the afflicted throughout the city of Cartagena. Saint Cyprian carried out a special service to relieve the afflicted, and in this act he demonstrated a special mercy for those in need. By urging believers on the necessity of giving, he therefore referred in his writings to the duty of Christians towards the needy and the concern to love one’s neighbor.

2- In the year 253, the barbaric barbarian invasions took place on the province of Numidian, and many Christians were captured. Therefore, Saint Cyprian launched a donation campaign to collect money to recover these captured Christians from the hands of the barbarians in exchange for sums of money to ransom them. On this basis, he motivated Christian groups to carry out the donation campaign. . These reasons were the motivation for Saint Cyprian to write this letter, which was likely written between the years 253-256 AD.

Published in:

Ante–Nicene Fathers
Volume V
Cyprian, Treatise VIII
Catholic University Press,
Patristic Series,
St. Cyprian, Treatises
Treatise VIII, p.227 – 253

I reviewed the German translation published in the collection:

Bibliothek der Kirchenvater
Munchen, 1918,
Bd. 34, s. 260 – 284.

This book is translated by the Coptic Church: This means that we do not agree with everything that was stated in the comments of the translator or the preparer, and sometimes we disagree with it. Please alert us if there is something like this or something that is not understood... To read the text in English, please click here

Acts of righteousness extinguish the fires of sin

1. Dear brothers, the divine blessings are many and great, through which the abundant and abundant mercies of God the Father and Christ for our salvation have reached us, and are still reaching us as well. The Father sent His Son for our salvation, to preserve us and revive us in order to save us. The Son also wanted to be sent and to be called “the Son of Man” so that we would become children of God. He was the one who humbled himself to lift up the fallen, was wounded to heal our wounds, and served in order to free those he served. He passed through death to grant the two hundred not to die. But besides that, you see what is the extent of this great divine providence and what is the extent of this divine goodness, as we have been given a plan of salvation, and provision has been taken to preserve the man who has been saved! Because with the coming of the Lord and His healing of Adam’s wounds that he had borne, and also by curing him of the poison of the ancient serpent, He commanded him to sin no more, lest he be harmed worse. (1) We were (before) besieged and restricted by the command of purity (2). Human weakness was unable to do anything until divine love came to help man, and opened a path for us to secure salvation by alerting us to the importance of righteous deeds. (3) Mercy is to wash away - through charity - all the impurities with which we have been recently tainted.

2. The Holy Spirit says in the Holy Bible, “Iniquity is covered by mercy and truth” (Proverbs 6:16), and naturally what is meant by sin here is not sins that were committed before because they were previously purified and sanctified by the blood of Christ. Likewise, he also says: “Water extinguishes a burning fire, and charity atones for sins” (Joshua ibn Sirach 3:33).

Here, too, it was pointed out and emphasized that just as the fires of hell are extinguished in the fountain of the waters of salvation (referring to baptism), so too, through giving and works of righteousness, the fires of sin are extinguished. Since forgiveness of sins was granted once in baptism, permanent and continuous charity (tzadakah) will also grant - like baptism - on the other hand the grace of God. (4)

The Lord teaches us this in the Gospel, when it was observed that the disciples ate without washing their hands first. He said: (5)“Didn’t he who made the outside also make the inside?” Rather, give what you have as alms, and behold, all things will be clean for you.” (Luke 11:41-40)

Thus, Jesus Christ explains to us and points out that it is not the hands that must be washed, but rather the heart, and that it is the internal defilement that must be removed, not the external, and whoever purifies what is inside has also purified what is outside, and with the purification of the heart, the skin and body become pure. Moreover, he advised us and explained to us how we should be pure and clean when he added that it is necessary to give charity. The Merciful One urges us to practice mercy, and because He wants those whom He redeemed at a high price to be saved, He teaches that those who have been defiled after baptism can be purified again.

3. Therefore, beloved brothers, let us acknowledge the gift of divine healing grace by cleansing and purifying our souls from our sins, and treating our wounds with spiritual treatment, for we are the ones who cannot be freed from some of the wounds of the inner man. Let no one praise himself for his pure and immaculate heart and think that because of his purity he does not need medicine for his wounds, because it is written, “Who says, ‘I have made my heart pure, I have been cleansed from my sin’” (Proverbs 20:9). Likewise, John says in his letter, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.” And the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). If it is not possible for a person to exist without sin - and whoever says that he is without sin is either arrogant or stupid - then how great is the need for divine mercy! How great was his compassion, as he knew that those who had been healed from their wounds would have to be wounded again, so he gave the healing treatment for those wounds so that they could be healed again.

Mercy is for those who show mercy

4. The divine warning, beloved brothers, has never ceased and has never been silent anywhere in urging the people of God to acts of mercy, whether in the Old or New Testament. It also, through the encouraging voice of the Holy Spirit, calls on everyone who is guided by the hope of the Kingdom of Heaven to give charity. God calls and commands Isaiah, saying: “Cry aloud, do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet, and declare to my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins” (Isaiah 58:1). After the Lord blamed them for their sins and placed their sins before them with the full power of His wrath, He made it clear to them, saying that it is not possible for them to offer They cannot atone for their sins, nor by resorting to prayer and fasting, nor even by sitting in sackcloth and ashes. They can seek God’s favor, as He explained to them in the end that reconciliation with God is only by giving. (6) He adds, saying: “Is it not for you to break your bread for the hungry and bring the poor, lost people into your house? If you see someone naked, do you not clothe him and do not neglect your meat? Then your light will break forth like the morning, and your health will spring forth quickly, and your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will gather your feet. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am.” (Isaiah 58:7)

5. The means for reconciling with God have been given to us from the words of God Himself. The divine commandments teach that pleasing the Lord comes through upright works and that sins are cleansed through mercy. (7) In Solomon we read, “Close up the alms in your storehouses, for they will save you from all evil” (Joshua ben Sirach 29:12) and also: “Whoever closes his ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and will not be heard” (Proverbs 21:13) will not deserve the mercy of the Lord. He himself was without mercy, and whoever is not merciful toward the prayer of the poor person will not receive any request from divine love. Behold, the Holy Spirit declares and confirms this in the Psalms by saying: “Blessed is he who looks upon the poor; in the day of evil the Lord will deliver him” (Psalm 41:2). Also, this principle was in Daniel’s mind when he gave a cure to King Nebuchadnezzar (since the king was afraid and worried because of a bad dream) to avoid evil by obtaining divine help, so he said to him: “Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you, and disperse your sins with righteousness and your transgressions with mercy to the poor, so that it may prolong your reassurance” ( Dan 4:27). When the king did not follow this advice, he suffered from the misfortunes and problems that befell him, which he could have avoided and survived if he had redeemed himself from his sins through giving. The angel Raphael also bears witness to this and urges the practice of giving generously and generously by saying: “Prayer is good with fasting, and charity is better than storing up treasures of gold.” Because charity saves from. He explains that “death and blotting out sins” (Totus 12:8-9). Our prayers and fasting have less benefit unless they are supported by giving, and supplications alone are of little benefit unless they are supplemented by adding deeds and deeds. The angel reveals, clarifies, and confirms that our requests are effective through giving, that our lives are saved from calamities through giving, and that our souls are freed from death through giving.

6. Dear brothers, we will not use the following verses for the purpose of proving the testimony of truth spoken by the angel Raphael. In the Acts of the Apostles (8) The truth of all of this has been proven, and we have discovered that through giving, souls are liberated, not only from the second death, but also from the first death, as evidenced by what has already been done and happened. When Tabitha - who loved good deeds and giving - fell ill and then died, he called Peter to her lifeless body, and when he came running with apostolic love, the widows stood around him weeping and begging, showing him the tunics and garments that they had received from her. This is how they prayed for her: not with their words, but with During her work. Peter felt that what was requested in this way would be possible to obtain, and that Christ would not abandon these widows who were asking, since the Lord himself had clothed himself with clothes that the widows had made for him. Thus, when Peter knelt down and prayed, and as a suitable intercessor for widows and the poor, he presented the supplications that they had brought before the Lord. He looked at the washed corpse that was placed on the bed and said, “Tabitha, rise up in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 9:40). The Lord did not delay in helping Peter, and He is the one who said In his Gospel, whatever is asked in his name will be given (9). Thus, death was expelled, and the soul returned to Tabitha, and amidst everyone's amazement and astonishment, the body rose and life came into it again. Such was the power of the virtue of mercy, and such was the benefit of good deeds! She who gave aid to the suffering widows to revive deserved to be restored to life through the requests of these widows.

Giving is a divine commandment

7. Thus we see in the Gospel that the Lord, who is the teacher of our lives and our guide to eternal salvation, who gave life to the people of believers and provided them with everything after he revived them, does not command in His divine commandments and heavenly principles the most urgent thing except that we continue to give and not rely on earthly treasures, but rather lay up treasures. He says: “Sell your possessions and give alms” (Luke 12:33). He also says: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where thieves will not break in and steal, because... Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6: 21-19). And when he wanted to teach the rich man who was perfect and without blemish to keep the commandments, he said: “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me.” “(Matthew 21:19). Thus, he said in another place that whoever wants to trade in heavenly grace and acquire eternal salvation must get rid of his possessions and buy from his earthly inheritance the pearl of great price, that is, eternal life, which is expensive because its price is the blood of Christ. He says: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a man looking for fine pearls, and when he found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all his possessions and bought it” (Matthew 13:45-46)

8. Finally, he also calls those whom he sees as interested in helping and feeding the poor, children of Abraham. When Zacchaeus said: “Behold, O Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have slandered anyone, I will return fourfold,” Jesus answered, saying: “Today it has happened.” Salvation for this house, since he also is a son of Abraham” (Luke 19:8-9). If “Abraham believed God, and this faith of his was credited to him as righteousness.” (10) Certainly, whoever gives charity according to God’s commandment believes in God, and whoever has true faith remains in the fear of God, just as whoever fears God takes into consideration his act of mercy toward the poor. He does this because he believes in God (11)And because he knows that those things that are revealed in the word of God are true and that the Bible cannot lie, and that the fruitless tree (12) - What is meant by it is the barren person (i.e. the one who does not give) - he is cut up and thrown into the fire, and as for the merciful, he invites them to the kingdom. In another place, he calls the doers of good and the fruitful “faithful.” As for the unfruitful and the barren, he does not call them that. Rather, he says to them: “If you are not faithful in the wealth of unrighteousness, who will entrust you with the truth?” And if you are not faithful in what is another’s, who will give you what is your own?” (Luke 16:11-12)

How does a generous giver need?

9. But if you are afraid and fear to give generously, lest your inheritance be exhausted due to your generous giving, and you may necessarily become poor, then do not worry about this matter and be reassured: what is spent in the service of Christ, and in heavenly works (i.e., good deeds) will not be exhausted. I do not promise you this on the basis of my words only, but I promise you through faith in the Holy Books and the guarantee of the divine promise. The Holy Spirit speaks through the voice of Solomon and says: “He who gives: the poor will not need, and many curses will befall him from whom his eyes are hidden” (Proverbs 28:27). Thus, he makes it clear that the time for the merciful and the doers of good will never come when they need something, and on the contrary, the stingy and the barren will come. There is a time when he finds himself in need.

Thus says the blessed Apostle Paul, who was filled with the grace of the Lord’s revelation: “He who provides seed to the sower and bread to the eater will provide and multiply your seed and make the crops of your righteousness grow, making you enriched in everything” (2 Corinthians 9:10-11). And also: “For providing this service not only meets the needs of the saints, but also increases with abundant thanksgiving to God” (2 Corinthians 9:12). Because when the poor thank the Lord in their prayers for our gifts and good deeds, the doer of goodness increases in wealth as his reward from the Lord, and the Lord, as He looks to The hearts of these men and denounces those of little faith and unbelievers. He testifies in the Gospel and says: “So do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For all these things the nations seek. Because your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things He says, “All these things will be given and will be added to you.” (Matthew 6: 30-31) The kingdom.

10. You fear that you will lose your earthly inheritance if you begin to give it in charity generously, and you do not know, O miserable human being, that while you fear losing your wealth, you are losing life itself and losing salvation. And while you worry that any of your possessions will diminish, you do not notice, O you who love money more than you love yourself, that you yourself will diminish, and while you fear for your money for the sake of yourself, your soul is perishing for the sake of your money!

Therefore, the Apostle says well: “For we brought nothing into the world, and it is clear that we cannot take anything out of it. If we have food and clothing, let us be content with them. As for those who want to be rich, they fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires that drown people in anger and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evil, which if some desire it, they have strayed from the faith, and pierced themselves with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:7-10).

11. Do you fear that your possessions will diminish once you begin to practice charity abundantly? When did it happen that a righteous man's wealth ran out? Isn’t it written, “The Lord will not starve the soul of the righteous” (Proverbs 10:3)? Elijah was fed by the ravens who served him in the desert (13)When Daniel was imprisoned in the lion’s den by order of the king, a meal from heaven was prepared for him (14) And you are afraid that you will lack food when you do good deeds and are worthy of serving the Lord? The Lord himself bears witness in the Gospel, convicting the doubters and those of little faith and saying: “Look at the birds of the air, that they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not rather better than they?” (Matthew 26:6) The Lord feeds the birds and gives daily food to the sparrows, and also to those beings who have no understanding of divine matters, they never lack food or drink. Do you think it is possible for a Christian person, a servant of the Lord dedicated to doing good, who is dear in the eyes of the Lord, to lack anything?

12. Do you think that whoever feeds Christ (by feeding the poor) will not be fed by Christ? Or can those who are endowed with heavenly and divine gifts lack earthly things? Where does this belief-free thought come from? Where does this impious and reprehensible thinking come from? What does the heart of an unbeliever do in the house of faith? How can you be considered and called a Christian, who does not believe in Christ at all? The word “Pharisee” suits you the most! Because when the Lord was speaking in the Bible about giving, He had previously given us sufficient and healing warning to make friends for ourselves with our money so that we would be accepted into eternal dwellings (Luke 16:9), and the Holy Bible added the following words: “And the Pharisees also heard all this, and they were lovers of money, so they mocked him.” ” (Luke 16:14) We now see such people in the church. For those whose closed ears and blind hearts do not receive the light of spiritual and saving warnings, we should not be surprised at their mockery of the servant in his preaching, because we see that such people have mocked the Lord Himself.

Stupid rich people lose!

13. Why do you allow yourself to believe these empty and stupid thoughts, as if your fear and anxiety about the future prevent you from doing good deeds? Why do you imagine certain fantasies and delusions to be a false excuse? Confess the truth and reveal the secret things hidden in your heart, because you cannot deceive those who understand. The darkness of barrenness (lack of giving) has closed in on your thoughts, and since the light of truth has leaked out of your thoughts, the deep and dense darkness of stinginess has blinded your fleshy heart. You are then a prisoner and slave of your money and bound by the chains and bands of greed. And you, who were freed by Christ, have been bound again. You are saving your money that will not save you when you save it. You accumulate your wealth that weighs heavily on you, and you do not think about what the Lord said to the rich man who joyfully bragged about the abundance of his abundant harvest: “You fool! This night is required. Your soul is from you, so who will it be for what you have prepared? (Luke 12:20) Why do you think for so long only about your riches? Why burden yourself with the burden of your wealth, so that the richer you become in the eyes of the world, the poorer you become in the eyes of God? Divide your income with the Lord your God, share in your gains with Christ, and make Christ your partner in your earthly possessions so that He also makes you an heir with Him in His heavenly kingdom.

14. You are wrong and deceived, you who think you are rich in the world. Hear the voice of the Lord in the Book of Revelation when it cried to such people (those who are rich in their own eyes), saying: “Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white clothing so that you may put on yourself so that the shame of your nakedness will not be apparent, and to anoint your eyes with eye salve so that you may see.” (Revelation 3:17-18).

Therefore, O rich and wealthy person, buy for yourself from Christ gold purified by fire until you become pure gold when the impurities in you through giving and good deeds are burned by fire. Buy yourself a white dress, you who were naked like Adam and whose appearance was hideous and inappropriate, you can now wear the white dress of Christ. And you, O rich and wealthy lady, anoint your eyes, not with the eyeliner of Satan, but with the eyeliner of Christ, so that you will be able to see the Lord when you deserve goodness from the Lord through your behavior and good deeds.

There is no excuse for those who do not give

15. You, who cannot do good work in the church because your eyes are covered with black and the shadows of the night, so you are unable to see the poor and needy. Do you think, you rich and wealthy person - you who do not think at all about the gift box, you who come to the Lord’s Supper without a sacrifice, you who participate in a sacrifice offered by the poor man - that you can participate in the Lord’s Supper?! Look in the Holy Bible and you will see a widow who was concerned with the divine commandments. She gave even in the midst of the pressures and hardships of poverty, and she threw two pennies into the treasury, which were all she had. When the Lord noticed her and saw her, he looked at her work - not for the amount of money, but for the intention - and answered, saying: Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them, because these of her abundance put in the offerings to God, but this one, out of her lack, put in all the living that she had.” (Luke 21:3-4) A very blessed and great woman, the one who even before the Day of Judgment. She deserved to be praised by the judge’s voice! May the rich man be put to shame for his unfruitfulness and calamity! Here is a poor widow giving, and although all the gifts offered are given to widows and orphans, she gave, and she is the one who should have accepted the gift. This makes us aware of the extent of the punishment that awaits the rich man. This situation teaches us that the poor must also do good. We must understand that these deeds are offered to God, and everyone who does this deserves goodness from God. Christ calls these gifts “God’s offerings” and points out that the widow put two mites in “God’s offerings,” so that it becomes clear that whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord (Mother 19:17).

16. Someone may think that he is exempt from giving for the benefit of his children. Do not, dear brothers, let this thinking restrict the Christian and turn him away from doing good. But in spiritual gifts, we must take into account Christ, who said that he would accept them (see Matthew 25:40). We do not prefer our fellow slaves to our children, but we prefer the Lord over them. He warns us and warns us by saying: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 25:40). 37:10) And so we also see similar things written in the Book of Deuteronomy in order to strengthen faith and love for God. The Lord says: “He who said of his father and his mother, I have not seen them; and of his brothers he did not acknowledge, and of his children you did not know, but they kept your word and kept your covenant” 9). If we love God with all our hearts, we must not prefer: (Deuteronomy 33:9) our family or children over God. John also says in this way that the love of God is not found in those whom we see who do not want to do good to the poor: “But whoever has the world’s livelihood and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17) If by giving to the poor we make God our debtor, and when we give (giving) to the lowly, we give to Christ (Proverbs 19:17). There is no reason, then, to prefer earthly things to heavenly things or to place human matters above divine things.

17. Thus the widow (15) After she ran out of everything due to drought and famine, she baked a cake on the ashes with a little flour and oil that she had left, and it was expected that she and her son would die after eating this cake. Elijah came to her and asked her to give him something to eat first, and then she and her son would eat from it. Stay. The widow did not hesitate to obey him, and the mother did not prefer her son over Elijah in times of famine and need. Rather, she did what was pleasing in the sight of God and quickly and joyfully provided what was asked of her. She did not give a part of much, but rather she gave all of what was little, and she fed another before her son. In poverty and hunger, food was not considered more important than mercy. For the sake of doing good, she despised life according to the flesh, so she saved herself in a spiritual way. Thus, Elijah, as an example of Christ, showing that he gives to all according to his mercy, answered, saying: “For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of meal will not be empty, and the jug of oil will not run out until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the face of the earth’” (1 Kings 17:14-15) . According to the widow’s faith in the divine promise, what she gave multiplied and increased for her, and as her good deeds and virtues of mercy increased and increased, so did the vessels of flour and oil fill up. The mother did not deprive her son of what she gave to Elijah, but rather gave him what she did with mercy and piety. But she had not known Christ, nor had she heard his commandments. She did not offer food or drink in gratitude for his blood, as Christ redeemed through his cross and suffering. Thus, it becomes clear how much the person who presents himself and his children before Christ, hoards his money and does not share with the needy poor in his abundant earthly inheritance, makes a mistake in the church.

18. You may say that you have many children in your house, and that your large number of children prevents you from doing good deeds. But because of the large number of your children, you must rather multiply your good deeds, since you are the father of many children. You have many for whom you should ask before the Lord, and you have many whose sins must be atoned for, and you have many whose consciences must be purified, and many whose souls must be set free. . Just as in this earthly life, the greater the number of your children, the greater the expenses for their sustenance and for the demands of life, likewise in the spiritual and heavenly life, the greater the number of your children, the greater the expenditure on good deeds must increase. Thus, Job offered many sacrifices for the sake of his children, and as large as the number of his children was, so was the number of sacrifices he offered to the Lord. Because no day could go by without someone sinning before the Lord, so the sacrifices did not stop daily until sins were erased by them. The Holy Bible proves this by saying: “And seven sons and three daughters were born to him... And when the days of the feast had passed, Job sent and sanctified them, and rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all.” (Job 1:2-5)

So, if you truly love your children, and if you want to reveal to them the sweetness of your complete love for them as a father, then you must multiply acts of love until you entrust your children to God through your good deeds.

God is the true shepherd of his children

19. Do not consider him as the father of your children, that man (yourself) who is temporal and weak, but rather acquire the Lord who is the eternal and powerful father of your spiritual children. Hand over to Him all the wealth you hold now. Make Him a guardian over your children, because He is the one who takes care of them and protects them with His divine greatness from all the evils of the world.

When your wealth is placed under God's care, it is not confiscated by the state or seized by the tax collector or squandered during lawsuits. Then the inheritance will be safe under God’s care. This is to provide for the needs of the future for your dear children, to provide the needs for those who will inherit you with fatherly love, according to the faith of the Holy Bible, which says: “Also, when I was a youth, I have grown old, and I have never seen a friend abandoned or his descendants seeking bread. The whole day is comforting. And again he says: “And he will lend, and his descendants will be blessed” (Psalm 37:25-26). “The righteous walks in his integrity. Blessed are his children after him” (Proverbs 20:7). If you do not look out for your children’s interests honestly, and if you do not care about their salvation with true and spiritual love, then you, as a father, are considered a sinner and a traitor. Why do you long for earthly wealth more than heavenly wealth? Why would you rather entrust your children to Satan than to Christ? You sin twice and commit a double and double crime. You are not providing your children with the care of God, their Father, and you are also teaching your children to love their possessions more than Christ.

20. Be a father to your children as Tobias was. Give them useful and beneficial teachings, as Tobias gave to his son. Emphasize your children as he also stressed, saying: “Listen, my children, to your father; serve the Lord in truth, and seek to do what pleases him, and command your relatives to do what is right and to do alms, and to remember God and bless him at all times in truth and with all their ability” (Totus 14:10-11) once again. He says: “And you, let God be in your heart all the days of your life. Beware of accepting sin and transgressing the commandments of the Lord our God. Give alms from your wealth and do not turn your face from the poor. Then the face of the Lord will not turn away from you. Be merciful according to your ability. If you have a lot, give a lot. If you have little, strive to give a little for a good soul, for you will have a beautiful reward stored up for yourself until the day of need. For charity saves from all sin and from death, and does not allow the soul to fall into darkness. Indeed, charity is a great hope in the sight of God the Most High for all who give it” (Tobit 4:6-6). 12)

Eternal reward for those who give charity

21. What a great gift, dear brothers. This gift that you give is a great matter in the eyes of God. When the Gentiles give gifts, the presence of the leader or the emperor appears great and wonderful, and the amount of preparation and assignment is very great on the part of those who give the gifts in order to please them. These important figures, what if the present were God (the Father) and Christ? How much more lavish should the preparation be and the spending be more generous when the heavenly forces gather to watch, and all the angels gather, when the one who gives is not rewarded with a four-horse chariot or Under his leadership, eternal life is given to him, and he does not obtain the empty and temporary approval of the crowd, but rather accepts the eternal reward that comes from the kingdom of heaven.

22. As for the lazy and the sterile who do not work hard - even a little in doing good deeds - to obtain the fruits of salvation because of their love of money, let them be disgraced, and let their timidity and disgrace torment their impure consciences, so that each one of them places before his eyes the devil with his servants - that is, with the people of destruction and death - and he He goes into the middle, arousing the followers of Christ - and Christ himself is present and judging - and he (Satan) makes a challenging comparison, saying (16) “For the sake of those whom you see around me, I did not accept the blows, I did not bear the flogging, I did not carry the cross, I did not shed blood, I did not redeem my family at the price of suffering and blood, and so also I do not promise them a heavenly kingdom, and I do not invite them again to Paradise after they are restored to never dying again... And yet, how precious and luxurious it is. The gifts they bring me, and how much effort they exert for my sake through extravagant means, as they mortgage or sell all their money, and if they do not come from a distinguished offer, they are thrown out with insults and disapproval, and at times the anger of the crowd may reach the point of being stoned to death. (17) . O Christ, forgive us your followers who give, these rich men, forgive us those who are extremely wealthy if they give in the church - where you are standing and looking - offerings of this kind after mortgaging and distributing their possessions, or rather turning them into heavenly treasures by exchanging what they possess for something better.

With My mortal and earthly gifts, no one will be fed, no one will be clothed, and no one will be supported by food or drink as a comfort to him. Everything is destroyed in the midst of the arrogance of the giver and the delusion of the spectator, for the sake of the foolish pride that seeks deceptive pleasures. But in the midst of your poor (O Christ), you are clothed and satisfied, and you promise eternal life to those who give alms. Although you honor them with divine rewards and heavenly rewards, your followers are rarely equal to my followers!”

23. How do we respond to all this, dear brothers? In what way do we defend filthy barrenness and the thoughts of the rich covered by a dark night? With what excuse do we, who are less than servants of Satan, acquit them? Since we do not return to Christ even a little the price for his suffering and blood? The Lord has given us His commandments. He has taught us what His servants should do, promising a reward to everyone who gives alms and threatening punishment to the sterile (miserly). He has explained to us his ruling, and he has previously said what his ruling will be. What excuse can there be for someone who does not act like this? What defense does the sterile (miserly) have? If the servant does not do what he is commanded, the Lord will do what he threatened. He said: “And when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory, and all the peoples will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed.’ My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in? Or naked and clothe you? And when? We saw you sick or in prison and came to you. Then the king will answer and say to them, “Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” Then he will also say to those on the left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and I was not a stranger.” You sheltered me naked, and you did not clothe me. I was sick and in prison, and you did not visit me. Then they also will answer him, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and we did not serve you?” And he will answer them, saying, “Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.” Then these will go to me. eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (Matthew 25:31-46)

Could Christ have given us a clearer revelation than this? How can He motivate us to acts of goodness, righteousness, and mercy more than by saying that everything we give to the poor and needy has been given to Him? By saying that he is insulted if we do not give to the poor and needy! Whoever is in the church and does not like his brother’s condition may feel something if he thinks about Christ, that is, Christ’s opinion of his brother. And whoever does not think about his fellow servant who is in distress and need, let him think about the Lord who is in that person whom he despises.

Let us look at the heavenly things!!

24. And so, beloved brothers, let us offer obedience with all faith, with consecrated minds and continuous good deeds, we who fear God, we whose minds have turned to heavenly and divine matters, after (our minds) rejected and trampled on the world to deserve good from the Lord. Let us give Christ the earthly robe so that we may receive the heavenly robe. Let us give earthly food and drink so that we come to the heavenly banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Let us sow very much so that we reap little. As long as we have time, let us think about survival and eternal salvation, as he advises us. Paul the Apostle, saying: “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those of the faith.” (Galatians 9:10)

25. Let us look, dear brothers, at what the group of believers were doing (in the days of the apostles), since from the beginning their hearts were overflowing with great virtues, and when the faith of the believers was burning with the heat of the new faith, they sold their homes and fields and with joy and generosity gave their prices to the apostles so that they, in turn, distributed them to the poor. . They sold and distributed their earthly inheritance, transferring their property to the place where they would receive the fruits of the eternal inheritance, where they would prepare their dwellings in which they would dwell forever.

Such was the abundance of their good deeds at that time, as well as their unity in love, as we read in the Book of Acts of the Apostles: “And the multitude of those who believed had one heart and one soul, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common.” (Acts 4:24)

This means that we are truly children of God by the power of spiritual birth, and that according to heavenly law we emulate the fairness of God the Father because everything that comes from God is for everyone in our use of Him and no one is excluded from His gifts and graces, and there is nothing that prevents all of the human race from equally enjoying His goodness. And the generosity of God, the day shines equally for all, the sun sends its rays, the rain moistens, the wind blows, and sleep is the same for all who sleep, and the shine of the stars and the moon is also for all.

Based on this example of equality, whoever owns something in the world and shares its income and fruits with his brothers is an example of God the Father because he is just and equal to everyone in his excessive generosity.

26. O beloved brothers, how great is the glory of those who give, how great and complete is their joy when the Lord separates His people and distributes rewards according to our merit and our deeds, and bestows heavenly things instead of earthly things, eternal things instead of temporal things, great things instead of small things, and presents us to the Father who has brought us back to Him by sanctifying us, that is, by sanctifying the Lord Jesus to believers, and granting us nothingness. Eternal death that He prepared for us by making us alive with His blood, and He returns us once again to Paradise and opens for us the Kingdom of Heaven according to His faithful and true promise! Let these things be fixed in our minds, let us understand these things with complete faith, let us live these things with the fullness of the heart, let us deserve these things through the generosity of constant good deeds.

Dear brothers, acts of love are great and divine. They are a great comfort to believers, a beneficial guard for our salvation, a bulwark of hope, a protection for faith and a cure for sin. It is a matter placed in the hands of the one who does it, a great and easy matter, a crown of peace for us without the dangers of persecution, a true and great grace from the Lord, necessary for the weak, great for the strong, through it the Christian person carries a spiritual blessing and deserves goodness from Christ the Judge, and counts God as his debtor. Let us strive joyfully and tirelessly for the crown of good deeds, let us all run in the field of righteousness where God (the Father) and Christ look upon us, and do not relax in our struggle for any desire in this life or in this world, for we are the ones who have become greater than this life and this world.

If the day of reward or persecution comes and we are ready and hastening in the field of these good deeds, the Lord will not delay in giving the reward according to our merit. In peace, he will give us who have overcome a white crown for our good deeds, and in persecution, he will give us a scarlet crown for our suffering.

(*) This message is from the translation of “The Family of Saint Didymus the Blind for Ecclesiastical Studies.” We have summarized the introduction and mentioned the most important part of it, which is the reason that prompted Saint Cyprian to write this letter... (Al-Shabaka)

(1) See John 5:14

(2) In this sentence, Saint Apprian refers to the law that bound man under its yoke, but was unable to save him from his sins by which he violated the law. See the letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Romans.

(3) “Deeds of righteousness” as mentioned in many places in the Holy Bible, for example, “...as it is written, He hath given to the afflicted; His righteousness endures forever: and he who provides seed to the sower and bread to the household will provide and multiply the crops of the poor” (2 Corinthians 9:10) carries the concept of righteousness, benevolence. Therefore, Saint Apprian took this evangelical concept and explained it more clearly in paragraph 25 of this sermon.

(4) What St. Cyprian means from this talk about giving is that it is not a material giving from the outside, but rather stems from a heartfelt love for God and the neighbor, that is, faith that works through love (Galatians 5:6). If the heart changes and becomes a lover of God and the neighbor, this change is true repentance. The Church calls repentance - as a lived life - “the second baptism.” Hence, giving is a sign of repentance that flows within the person, and thus the interior becomes pure. When Saint Apprianus linked giving to baptism, he meant giving, which is the fruit of changing the heart through repentance, which is the second baptism that the Christian person lives his life after his first baptism through the church sacrament. This clarification will come in paragraph No. 8 of this book. St. Cyril of Alexandria, in his interpretation of the Gospel according to St. Luke, emphasizes that greed, miserliness, and ugly profit are a disease that possesses

On unmerciful hearts, and recovery from this disease brings a person to purity of thought and heart and thus he becomes a true worshiper of God (see the interpretation of the Gospel of Luke, by Saint Cyril of Alexandria)

(5) See: (Matthew 2:15), (Mark 2:7), (Luke 11:38)

(6) St. Cyprian here attacks formal worship that relies on appearance only without being linked to living works. See paragraph 12 in this book.

(7) See footnote 4 in this book.

(8) See (Acts 9:36)

(9) See (John 14:13)

(10) See (Genesis 5:6) (Galatians 3:6)

(11) See footnote 4 in this book.

(12) See (Matthew 3:10), (Matthew 5:7), (Matthew 7:19), (Luke 3:9)

(13) See (1 Kings 6:17)

(14) Saint Cyprian refers to the story of Daniel being thrown into the lions’ den mentioned in the sequel to Daniel (found in the Septuagint): “So they threw him into the lions’ den, and he was there six days. And there were seven lions in the den, and two carcasses of two ewe lambs were thrown to them every day, but nothing was thrown to them at that time to devour Daniel. The Prophet Habakkuk was in the land of Judah. He had cooked stew, spread bread in a bowl, and set off for the desert to carry it to the reapers. Then the angel of the Lord said to Habakkuk, “Carry the lunch that you have to Babylon to Daniel in the lions’ den.” Habakkuk said, “Master, I have never seen Babylon, nor do I know the pit.” Then the angel of the Lord took him by the sleeve, carried him by the hair of his head, and put him in Babylon at the pit with the rush of his spirit. Then Habakkuk called out, saying: Daniel, Daniel, take the food that God has sent you. (Daniel 14:30-38)

(15) (26:10), (Luke 4-6: 1 Kings 17)

(16) In the following paragraph, Saint Cyprian recounts an imaginary dialogue directed from Satan to Christ, comparing man’s ungrateful reaction to God’s love for him and in contrast to man’s acquiescence with Satan despite his hatred for him.

(17) We are talking here about a form of custom that was common among the pagans.