To each his own cross. Parable of the Wooden Cross
It seemed to one man that his life was very difficult, and one day he went to God, told about his misfortunes and asked Him:
Can I choose a different cross for myself?
God looked at the man with a smile, led him into the storage room where there were crosses, and said:
Choose!
The man looked and was surprised: “There are so many crosses here: small, large, medium, heavy, and light.” He walked around the storage room for a long time, looking for the smallest and lightest cross, and found a small, small, light, light cross.
God, can I have this one?
It’s possible, God answered. - This is your own.
One day a man, always dissatisfied with his life, asked God:
Why should everyone carry their own cross? Can't You give me a lighter cross? I'm tired of everyday difficulties!
And this man sees in a dream a line of slowly walking people. Everyone carries their own cross. He himself also goes with them. He was tired of walking, and it seemed to him that his cross was longer than the others. Then he stopped, took the cross from his shoulder and sawed off a piece from it. It became much easier to walk, and he quickly reached the place where everyone was heading. But what is it? There is a deep abyss in front of him. And only on the other side does the earth begin - the Kingdom of God. How to get there? There is no bridge or masonry visible around. The man noticed that the people walking with him were crossing to the other side. They took their cross off their shoulders, threw it over the abyss and crossed over it like a bridge. Only he could not cross: his cross was too short. The man cried bitterly, saying: “Oh, if only I knew.” When he woke up, he no longer asked the Lord for a lighter cross.
Once upon a time there lived a peasant who worked from morning to night, but at the same time barely made ends meet. This went on for many years, and all this time the thought of the injustice of the world order came to him more and more often. “Why did God bless some with wealth and nobility, while leaving others in poverty for the rest of their lives?” And then one day he had a vision. It stands in a huge cave filled with a great variety of crosses of different sizes, types, and weights. There are gold, silver, copper, and wooden crosses here. They even eat from straw. And then an angel appeared to him and said: “Do you see these crosses? Choose any one for yourself and take it to the top of the mountain.” First, the peasant chose the largest golden cross, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not even lift it. Then he decided to take a smaller cross, made of silver, but he could not shoulder it either. He went through all the crosses - some were too heavy, others were unbearable. A simple wooden cross suited him, which he easily took and carried up the mountain. Having carried the cross upstairs, the peasant returned and asked the angel:
- What will be my reward for this work?
So that you can decide for yourself what you deserve, I will reveal to you what kind of crosses they were,” said the angel. – The Golden Cross is a royal cross. Most people think: “How good it is to be a king! Sit on your soft throne and give out orders! But they don’t know that just as gold is the heaviest metal, so the royal share is the heaviest. The silver cross is reserved for those in authority. These people bear a lot of worries and sorrows of other people, and few manage to carry this cross to the top. Copper is the cross of those to whom God has sent wealth. Many envy them, but life is harder for them than for you. After your work, you can sleep peacefully: no one will encroach on your modest home. But the rich man fears for his property day and night. In addition, for his wealth he will have to give an answer to God for how he used it. The Iron Cross is a military cross. Ask those who fought, and they will tell you how they get it. Stone cross among trading people. Their work is not physically difficult, but it often happens that the merchant loses everything and is forced to start over. But the wooden cross that you lifted up the mountain is your peasant cross. The Lord knows that in any other situation you would have destroyed your soul, you would not have been able to carry the cross. So go home and don’t complain about your lot: the Lord gives everyone a cross according to their strength.
Once upon a time there lived an emperor in China. He was young and inquisitive, considered himself a very learned person, and, perhaps, he was. Throughout his short life, he managed to re-read many books and study many sciences, but everything seemed to him not enough and he wanted to learn even more.
For hours, the young emperor wandered through the palace library, looking at the endless rows of books and realizing that in his entire life he would not be able to read them all.
One day he called the court sage and gave him the task of recounting the entire history of mankind in manuscripts. The sage worked for a long time. Years and decades passed, and finally, the servants brought five hundred volumes into the library, which contained the entire history of mankind. And although the emperor was no longer young, the thirst for knowledge did not leave him. But this time too, he realized that he could not spend the remaining years reading these five hundred volumes. Then the emperor asked the historian to shorten the narrative, leaving only the most important.
Years passed, the sage worked tirelessly, and finally the servants brought the emperor fifty volumes of an already abbreviated history of mankind. By this time, the emperor had already become a completely elderly man, and again he realized that he would not have time to read even these fifty volumes.
And again he asked the sage to reduce the content of the books, leaving only the most important.
And the sage continued his work. After some time, he managed to summarize the entire story into a single book. It was solemnly brought to the emperor, but he could not even open it himself - he had become so decrepit.
Already on his deathbed, he asked the historian, without delaying a single minute, to express everything even more briefly. The sage wrote just one phrase on the scrap: “Man is born, suffers and dies”...
Parable of the Cross
One person once decided that his fate was too difficult. And he turned to the Lord with the following request:
Savior, my cross is too heavy and I cannot bear it. All the people I know have much lighter crosses. Could you replace my cross with a lighter one?
And God said:
Okay, I invite you to my storage of crosses - choose the one that you like.
A man came to the storage room and began to pick out a cross for himself: he tried on all the crosses, and they all seemed too heavy to him. While trying out all the crosses, he noticed a cross at the very exit, which seemed lighter to him than the others, and said to the Lord:
Let me take this one. And God said:
So this is your own cross, which you left at the door to try on the others!
Conversation between two wise men
One day Confucius wanted to see Lao Tzu, he went to him, anticipating a thoughtful conversation about higher values. Confucius was much older than Lao Tzu and, of course, expected that he would behave towards him with due respect.
And so Confucius entered the room where Lao Tzu was silent. But he didn’t even move, didn’t stand up to meet the famous sage and, in general, it would seem, didn’t pay much attention to him. Lao Tzu didn't even invite Confucius to sit down!
Of course, the distinguished guest was very annoyed by this reception. He asked indignantly:
Don't you recognize the rules of good manners? Lao Tzu replied:
If you want to sit down, sit down, if you want to stand, stand. I have no right to indicate
you on what to do. I don't interfere in other people's lives. You are a free person, but I am a free person too.
Confucius was shocked. He tried to start a conversation about the “high” in man, but Lao Tzu just laughed and said:
I have never seen anything "higher" or "lower". Man is man, just as trees are trees. Everyone participates in the same existence. There is no one who is higher or lower. This is all nonsense!
Then Confucius asked:
What happens to a person after death? Lao Tzu replied:
You are living, but can you say what life is?
Confucius was confused. Lao Tzu said:
You don’t know this life and instead of knowing it, you worry about the beyond.
Cross of Poverty
Once a poor man, who was complaining to everyone about his cross, about his poverty, dreamed that he was in a large room, which was all lined with crosses of different sizes, and all these crosses were under covers.
And the poor man began to choose. I took hold of the first cross, but didn’t lift it; Although the other one lifted it, it was too heavy for him; The third cross did not seem heavy to him, but its corners painfully cut his shoulders.
So he went through all the crosses, but did not find a single one within his power. There was another cross left in the corner, which the poor man did not experience, because this cross seemed larger and heavier to him than the others. Raising this cross, the poor man shouted joyfully:
This is the cross I will take upon myself: although it is great, it is lighter than others! They removed the cover from this cross, and on it was the inscription: “poverty.”
Wise old man
The old man was carrying a woman and a small child on his sleigh. It was a clear and very cold morning, the road was covered with snow, and the sleigh was moving slower than usual.
Soon the old man felt that he was starting to freeze. He looked at his passengers and saw that they were also very cold, especially the woman. She was already beginning to lose consciousness, and the old man was worried for her life. He took the woman’s child, pushed her out of the sleigh and drove away.
For some time the woman simply stood and looked in horror after the sleigh, carrying away her child and hope for salvation. Then she started running along the road, screaming and cursing the cruel old man as she ran.
When the old man realized that she was all right, he stopped the horse, put the woman in the sleigh and said to her:
Now everything will be fine. I had to do this, otherwise you would have died.
Life and death
A peasant and his son were cultivating a wheat field. Suddenly the young man was bitten by a snake and died. But the father did not pay any attention to the death of his son and continued to work.
A traveler passed by, he was very surprised by the old man’s reaction and asked him:
Who is this young man?
“My son,” answered the peasant.
Why don't you mourn him?
When a person is born, he already takes the first step towards death. “Sorrow and tears will not help the dead,” the father answered.
And no one from the family of the deceased boy mourned him. Mother said:
Life is like a hotel: today a person comes to it, tomorrow he will leave.
People are like the logs of a raft floating on the sea: a storm came, broke the raft, scattered the logs across the sea, and they will never meet again; people come together for a moment, but part forever.
The little sister continued:
The two birds flew together all day and all evening. Having sat down to rest on the same branch, they fluttered up in the morning: maybe they will meet, or maybe not.
The only cross
There lived one man in the world, and he was very lonely and unhappy. And he prayed to God:
Lord, I'm very lonely, I really need a friend! I ask You, send me a beautiful woman.
In response, God asked him:
Why don't you ask for the cross for yourself? The man got angry:
Cross?! Another one? Haven’t I carried the cross of loneliness and misfortune all my life? I don’t need any more cross, I only want a beautiful woman.
And the Lord gave this man a beautiful woman. Very little time passed, and he became even more unhappy than before: this woman brought him a lot of suffering and pain. And the man decided to get rid of her, dreaming of regaining his former loneliness and tranquility. Again he prayed to God:
Lord, I ask You, send me a sharp sword. In response, God laughed:
Why not a cross? Maybe it's time for you to accept your cross?
The man exclaimed:
But this woman is worse than any cross! I ask you, give me a sword!
And the Lord gave the man a sword. He killed his wife, he was captured and sentenced to crucifixion. And already on the cross, praying to God, he repeated:
Forgive me, Lord! I didn’t listen to You, but You asked whether to send me a cross from the very beginning. If I had listened, I would have gotten rid of all this unnecessary fuss.
Immortality
In the old days there lived a preacher who taught how to know the path to immortality. The king sent for him, but the messenger was in no hurry, and that preacher died. The king became very angry and was about to execute the messenger when his beloved servant gave the king advice:
People fear death most of all and value life most of all. If the preacher himself lost his life, how could he make the king immortal?
And the messenger was spared.
A certain poor man wanted to learn immortality and, hearing that the preacher had died, began beating his chest out of frustration. The rich man heard about this and began to laugh at him:
You don’t know what you were going to learn. After all, the one from whom they wanted to learn immortality died. Why are you upset?
The rich man is not telling the truth, said Hu Tzu. - It happens that a person who has a remedy is not able to use it. It also happens that those who are able to use the remedy do not possess it.
A certain man knew how to count perfectly. Before his death, he passed on his secret to his son in the form of a parable. The son remembered, but was unable to apply this knowledge. He conveyed his father’s words to another person who asked him about it. And that man used the secret no worse than the deceased did. That's how it is with immortality! Couldn't the deceased tell us how to know the path to immortality?
memento Mori
One day a dervish boarded a ship to go on a sea voyage. Seeing him on board the ship, other passengers began to take turns approaching him for parting words. He said the same thing to all of them and seemed to be simply repeating one of those phrases which every dervish from time to time makes the object of his attention. He said: “Remember death until you know what death is.”
Almost none of the travelers paid much attention to this advice.
Soon a fierce storm broke out. The sailors, and with them all the passengers, fell to their knees, praying to God for salvation. They groaned in horror, considering themselves dead, and in a frenzy awaited help from above.
All this time, the dervish sat calmly, thoughtfully fingering his rosary and not reacting at all to what was happening around him. Finally the waves subsided, the sea and sky calmed down. Having come to their senses, the passengers remembered how serene the dervish was amid the general horror.
Didn't you realize during the storm that only the fragile planks of the ship separated you from death? - asked one of them.
“Oh yes, of course,” replied the dervish, “I knew that anything could happen at sea.” But even on land, I often thought that in ordinary life, among the most everyday events, something even less durable separates us from death.
Cross the abyss
One day a crowd of people was walking along the road. Each one carried his own cross on his shoulder. One of them felt all the way that his cross was unbearably heavy. This man decided to outwit his fate: hiding in the forest, he armed himself with an ax and cut off part of his cross, significantly shortening and making it lighter. After this, the cunning man caught up with his companions and, as if nothing had happened, went on with them.
Suddenly a bottomless abyss opened up in front of the walking people. Each of the travelers threw his cross over this abyss and thus got over to the other side. And only the most cunning of them did not know what to do, and remained on this side: his cross turned out to be too short
Dry leaves
For three years, the emperor put his beautiful garden in order: he planted trees and flowers, arranged airy gazebos, rock gardens and ponds with goldfish. Many distinguished guests were invited to the opening of the garden, eager to admire its beauty.
Everyone was delighted and lavished only compliments. But the emperor was truly interested in the opinion of only one of the guests - a man who was considered an unsurpassed expert in this type of art, a master of his craft. Looking carefully at the garden, the master said: “I don’t see a single dry leaf in your garden.” Can life exist without death? Because there are no dry leaves, the garden seems dead. They must have swept it this morning. Order some dry leaves to be brought here.
By order of the emperor, some fallen leaves were brought into the garden and scattered under the trees. Soon a breeze flew into the garden and began to play with dry leaves. Their quiet rustling and the subtle aroma of early autumn spread throughout the garden. The garden came to life before the amazed eyes of the guests.
Then the master said:
Now I can say that your garden is beautiful. The problem was that it was too well planned and watered down. Art becomes greatest only when it does not reveal itself.
Request for help
One peasant died. Getting ready to see him off on his last journey to the cemetery, the relatives of the deceased turned to their neighbor.
Help us take our father to the cemetery.
“I can’t,” the young man answered, “I’m busy, I have a lot to do.”
Then the dead man lying in the coffin raised his head and said:
And I had a lot of unfinished business, but death came. I had to leave my business and leave this world. Help me carry me to the cemetery, then after your death strangers will help your family bury you.
Zhuang Tzu's wife died, and Hui Tzu came to mourn her. Chuang Tzu squatted and sang songs while hitting the pelvis. Hui Tzu said:
Not mourning the deceased who lived with you until old age and raised your children is too much. But singing songs while hitting the pelvis is simply no good!
“You are wrong,” replied Chuang Tzu. - When she died, could I not be sad at first? Grieving, I began to think about what she was like in the beginning, when she was not yet born. And not only was she not born, but she had not yet formed a body. And not only did she not beat with her body, but she didn’t even breathe with her breath. I realized that she was scattered in the emptiness of boundless chaos. Chaos turned - and she became breathing. The breath turned - and she became the body. The body transformed - and she was born. Now a new transformation has come - and she died.
All this changed each other, just as the four seasons alternate. Man is buried in an abyss of transformations, as if in the chambers of a huge house. To cry and lament over him means not to understand fate. That's why I stopped crying.
One who is worthy of Paradise
A certain theologian found himself at the gates of heaven after his death. An angel met him at the entrance, asked several questions about his life on earth and said:
You are worthy of heaven. Come in now.
But the theologian tried to object to him:
Wait, I don’t tolerate decisions being forced on me. You say this is paradise. Do you have any evidence? What if this is a trap for lost souls or the center of dreams or fantasies?
The angel took out his horn and blew it. Stalwart guards in armor sparkling in the sun came out of the gate.
Grab this and draw it inside, said the angel. - Everything is fine. He is his own.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
One great Persian king was dying. He was already a hundred years old, but when Death came for him, the king said to her:
Could you hold back a little? I have not yet truly lived, I was busy with the affairs of the kingdom and was not at all prepared for the need to leave this body, have compassion for me, and if you cannot leave empty-handed, take one of my sons?
Death replied:
I'm not against it, but first ask your children about it.
The king had a hundred children. He asked them if anyone would agree to go to the kingdom of Death in his place. The older children immediately refused; only one of them, the youngest and most loving of them all, agreed.
The boy approached his father and said:
I agree.
Even Death was filled with compassion for him: if a hundred-year-old man has not yet lived, then what can we say about a sixteen-year-old boy?
Death said:
You don't know anything, you're an innocent boy. On the other hand, all your brothers are silent. Some of them are seventy to seventy-five years old. They are old, their death will soon come for them, it is a matter of a very short time. Why did you volunteer?
The young man replied:
If my father has not enjoyed life for a hundred years, how can I hope to? All this is useless! It is enough for me to understand that if my father could not make a living in the world in a hundred years, then I will not make a living even if I live a hundred years. There must be some other way to live. There seems to be no way to make money with life, so I'll try to achieve it with death. So let me go with you.
Death took the boy with him, giving the king the opportunity to live another hundred years. Then Death came again. The king was incredibly surprised:
Why so fast? I thought that a hundred years is so long, there is no need to worry. I haven't lived yet; I tried, I planned, now everything is ready, and I began to live, and you came again!
This happened ten times: each time one of the sons sacrificed his life, and the father continued to live. When the king was a thousand years old, Death came again and asked him -.
Well, what do you think now? Should I take one son away again?
The king replied:
No, now I know that even a thousand years is not enough to make money. It's not a matter of time, it's all in my mind. I get involved in the same vanity again and again, I have become attached to the waste of being and essence. Now I'm ready to leave.
The tree and its fruits
The sublunary world is like a big tree, and people are like its fruits. And while they ripen on the branches, filling with juice, they will not fall, because they are firmly attached to the tree, being an integral part of it. But the fruits have ripened and now barely stay on the branches, which have sank to the ground under their weight. And of course, there will be someone who will help the tree: the fruits will be picked, and its branches will rise to the sky again. Or these fruits themselves will fall to the ground.
So the mature age of a person turns out to be the end of his life, his nose matures for years and readiness for death.
The ability to give
One rich man asked a friend:
Why am I accused of greed when it is known that after my death I ordered that everything I have be transferred to charity?
In response,” said the friend, “let me tell you about how the pig complained to the cow that she was being treated badly: “People always talk about your kindness and cloudy eyes. Of course, you give them milk and butter, but I give people much more: sausages, hams and chops, bones, skin and stubble! And still no one loves me. Why is this so?
The cow thought for a while and answered: “Maybe because I give everything during my lifetime?”
In life, everyone has their own cross.
Don't rush to turn into an alluring bush.
God knows why you are carrying it
This heavy seeming burden...
Parable of the cross first
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One man lived a long, difficult life. He decided to turn to the Almighty with a complaint about his difficult lot, saying: “Our Savior, I can no longer bear my heavy cross, I have no strength. Those people I know have a much easier fate. Please change my cross to a light one.”
God agreed to fulfill this desire and invited me to the storage of crosses. The man tried on many crosses, but each one seemed even heavier to him than his own. After much thought, the man noticed a cross standing at the entrance. Of all the ones he measured, this one seemed lighter to him than the others.
The man asked God for this: “Let me take this one.”
God smiled and said: “So you yourself left this cross at the door when you entered the vault. This is the one you carry throughout your long life.”
Parable of the Cross Second
One day a man, constantly dissatisfied with his life, asked God:
- Why should everyone carry their own cross? Can't You give me a lighter cross? I'm tired of everyday difficulties.
And this man has a dream. He sees a line of slowly walking people, and each one carries his own cross. And he himself also walks among these people. He was tired of walking, and it seemed to the man that his cross was longer than the others.
Then he stopped, took the cross from his shoulder and sawed off a piece from it. It became much easier to walk, and he quickly reached the place where everyone was heading. But what is it? There is a deep abyss in front of him, and only on the other side does the land of Eternal Happiness begin. How to get there? There is no bridge or masonry visible around.
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The man noticed that the people walking with him easily crossed to the other side. They took their cross off their shoulders, threw it over the abyss, and crossed it like a bridge.
Only he couldn't cross. His cross was too short. The man cried bitterly, saying: “Oh, if only I knew”...
When he woke up, he no longer asked the Lord for a lighter cross.
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The third parable of the cross
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Once upon a time there lived a peasant who worked from morning to night, but at the same time barely made ends meet. This went on for many years, and all these years the thought of the injustice of the world order came to him more and more often. “Why has God blessed some with wealth and nobility, while leaving others in poverty for the rest of their lives?”
And then one day he had a vision. It stands in a huge cave filled with a great variety of crosses of different sizes, types, and weights. There are crosses here, gold, stone, wood, and straw. Then an Angel appeared to him and said: “Do you see these crosses? Choose any one for yourself and take it to the top of the mountain.”
The peasant first chose the largest golden cross, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not even lift it. Then I decided to take a smaller cross, made of silver, but I couldn’t take it on myself either. He went through all the crosses - some were too heavy, others were unbearable. A simple wooden cross suited him, which he conveniently took and carried up the mountain.
Having carried the cross upstairs, the peasant returned and asked the Angel:
- What reward will I have for this work?
So that you can decide for yourself what you deserve, I will reveal to you what kind of crosses they were,” said the Angel. - Golden cross, which you first liked is the royal cross. Most people think: how good it is to be a king! Sit on your soft throne and give out orders. But they don’t know that just as gold is the heaviest metal, so the royal share is the heaviest.
4:1484 4:1489Silver cross prepared for those in authority. These people bear a lot of worries and sorrows of other people, and few manage to carry this cross to the top.
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Copper cross those to whom God has sent wealth. Many envy them, but life is harder for them than for you. After your work, you can sleep peacefully, no one will encroach on your modest home. But the rich man fears for his property both day and night, lest anyone deceive him. In addition, the rich man must give an answer to God for his wealth: how he used it.
4:621 4:626iron Cross - military cross. Ask those who fought, and they will tell you how they get it.
4:820 4:825Stone cross - among trading people; their work is not physically difficult, but how often does it happen that a merchant loses everything and is forced to start over!
4:1085 4:1090And here wooden cross, which you carried up the mountain is your peasant cross. The Lord, who knows the heart, knows that in any other situation you would have destroyed your soul if you had not carried the cross. So go home and don’t complain about your lot: the Lord gives everyone a cross according to their strength.
4:1587There was one simple-minded villager who lived by the labor of his hands, but earned very little: he barely had enough to feed himself and his family. Once he went to the seashore, sat down on a stone and began to watch how large ships with rich goods approached the pier, and how these goods were then unloaded and taken to the city for sale. And a sinful thought entered his head: “Why did the Lord send wealth and every kind of contentment to some people, and leave others to live in poverty?” And he began to grumble about his miserable lot.
Meanwhile, the midday sun was intensely hot; The poor man began to feel drowsy, and he fell asleep unnoticed. And he dreams that he is standing at the foot of a high mountain; A venerable old man with a long beard approaches him and says to him:
Come after me!
He obeyed and followed him. They walked for a long time and finally came to a place where there lay a great many crosses of all kinds and different sizes. There were crosses large and small, gold and silver, copper and iron, stone and wood. And the old man said to him:
Do you see how many crosses there are? Choose any one for yourself and take it to the top of the very mountain that you saw in front of you.
Our simpleton looked at the golden cross: it was so beautiful, like a red sun shining. He liked this cross, and he wanted to take it on his shoulders, but no matter how hard he worked, he could not only lift this cross, but also move it from its place.
No,” the elder tells him, “it’s obvious that you won’t be able to bring this cross to the mountain.” Take another one - silver. Maybe he will be able to do it.
The simpleton took the silver cross. This one was, however, lighter than the gold one, but still he couldn’t do anything with it. The same thing happened with copper, iron, and stone crosses.
There’s nothing to do,” the elder tells him, “take one of the wooden crosses.”
Then the simpleton took the smallest of the wooden crosses and easily and quickly carried it to that mountain. He was glad that he had finally found one cross within his own strength, and asked his companion:
What reward will I have for this?
So that you can decide for yourself what to reward you with,” he answered him, “I will tell you what kind of crosses you saw.”
The golden cross that attracted your attention at first is the royal cross.
You think to yourself: how good and easy it is to be a king. But you don’t realize that royal power is the heaviest cross.
And the silver cross is the cross of all those who are invested with power - this is the cross of the shepherds of the Church of God, the cross of the king’s closest servants. They all also have a lot of worries and sorrows.
The copper cross is the cross of all those to whom God has sent wealth. You envy them and think how happy they are. And life is harder for the rich than for you. After your labors, you can sleep peacefully: no one will touch your wretched hut and your little property. But a rich man is always - day and night - afraid that someone will deceive him, rob him, or set his house on fire. In addition, the rich man will give an answer to God for his wealth: how he uses his wealth. And if trouble happens, the rich man becomes poor: how many sorrows will then befall him!
But the Iron Cross is the cross of military men. Ask those who were in the war, and they will tell you how they often had to spend nights on the bare, damp earth, endure hunger and cold. The stone cross is the cross of trading people. Do you like their life because they don't have to work like you? But doesn’t it happen that a merchant goes overseas, spends all his capital on goods, and all the goods perish from a shipwreck, and the unfortunate merchant returns home a complete poor man?
But the wooden cross that you so easily carried up the mountain is your cross. You complained that your life was difficult, but now you see that it is much easier than the life of other people. The Lord, the knower of the heart, knew that in any other rank and position you would have destroyed your soul, so He gave you the most humble, the lightest cross - a wooden cross. So, go and do not complain to the Lord God for your poor lot. The Lord gives everyone a cross according to his strength - as much as anyone can bear.
At the last words of the elder, the villager woke up, thanked God for an intelligible dream, and from that time on he never grumbled at God again.
Parable of the Mirror
A man asks an old man:
Why, while a person is poor, does he sympathize with others, but when he gets rich, he stops noticing everything around him?
And you look at the street through the glass in the window, what do you see? - People, trees, children...
Now look in the mirror... - I see myself...
A parable about faith.
Once upon a time there lived a barber. Once, while cutting a client’s hair, the hairdresser started talking to him about God.
If God exists, then why are there so many sick people? Where do street children and unjust wars come from? If He really existed, there would be no suffering or pain. It is difficult to imagine a loving God who allows all this. Therefore, I personally do not believe in His existence. Then the client said to the hairdresser: - Do you know what I will say? Hairdressers don't exist.
How come? - the hairdresser was surprised.
One of them is now in front of you.
No! - exclaimed the client.
They don’t exist, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many overgrown and unshaven people like the one walking down the street...
Well, dear man, it’s not about the hairdressers! People just don’t come to me on their own.
In fact of the matter! - confirmed the client.
And I mean the same thing: God exists. People just don’t seek Him and don’t come to Him. This is why there is so much pain and suffering in the world.
Parable
A certain man died, appeared before God and began to complain about his life: “It was so hard for me, You forgot about me and didn’t help at all.” “Look, this is your life,” God answered. A road opened in front of the man, on which there were two pairs of footprints. “You see,” said the Lord, “I have always walked next to you.” Look! - the man exclaimed, - in some places there is only one pair of footprints, and these are precisely those parts of my life’s path when it was especially unbearable for me, and then I walked alone." “No,” God answered, “it was I who carried you in my arms.” ".
Parable - do not forget to thank the Lord
“There were two angels in paradise. One always rested on a cloud, and the other flew from earth to God. The resting angel decided to ask the other: “Why are you flying back and forth?” He asked and heard the answer:
I carry messages to God that begin
- “God help...” Why do you always rest?
I must carry messages to the Lord that begin
- "Thank God...""
Parable of the Cross
One person once decided that his fate was too difficult. And he turned to the Lord God with the following request: “Savior, my cross is too heavy and I cannot bear it. All the people I know have much lighter crosses. Could you replace my cross with a lighter one?” And God said: “Okay, I invite you to my storage of crosses - choose the one that you like.” A man came to the storage room and began to pick out a cross for himself: he tried on all the crosses and they all seemed too heavy to him. While trying on all the crosses, he noticed a cross at the very exit, which seemed lighter than the others and said to the Lord: “Let me take this one.” And God said: “So this is your own cross, which you left at the door to try on the others.”
Parable: Everyone shares what they are rich in!
There is such a parable: two people lived next door, one was kind and generous, and the other was evil and greedy! The second was always jealous of the first - and he has a better garden! And he has a bigger house, and his wife is affectionate and caring, and his house is full of children! And then one day he took it, filled it with a whole bucket of shit and placed it at the gate of the good one. A good man came out in the morning and saw his neighbor’s bucket standing at his gate, he brought it into the house, washed it clean, filled it with the best apples from his garden and placed it at the neighbor’s gate! - Moral: Everyone shares what they are rich in!
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